Who Lives In Apartment 48

Chapter 5: The Call.

The call comes in at exactly 3:12am on December 23rd.

"Cranesglade Police Department. What's your emergency?" The dispatcher says cheerfully happy to greet the caller. She sits eagerly waiting for the caller to speak, she knows time is crucial in these moments. The sooner she can send help, the better the outcome might be for the caller. She's surprised to hear silence on the other end of the line. Not quite silence, but the sound of someone breathing faintly.

"Hello? Do you need help?" She askes she begins pulling up the address registry to see where the call was coming from, fearing for the caller on the other end. She'd experienced calls like this before, where the victim would be seriously injured and unable to speak. Calling 911, in the final moments. Many times, she'd heard the last breaths of someone's loved ones.

The moment the address flashed on her screen. Chills overtook her body, and goosebumps ascended up both her arms. The hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up as if they were pointing at the moon.

The address screen read: Cranesnest Apartments, Apt.#48. Building 02.S

She sat frozen in fear. Everyone in the department knew of Apartment 48 and the ghost calls that came from there. Terrified she managed to click her calendar checking the date. The caller was right on time.

December 23rd, 3;12 am. It was marked there like anniversary on every year of the calendar. No matter how far back she scrolled, no matter what year she chose, the date and time remained the same. It was there as a warning, of what might happen if you encounter the call. Some other dispatchers before her left notes. Stating different things, to hang up immediately, to listen all the way through the call. Some state that they even sent an officer to the address, for it to be found as an abandoned empty apartment.

Reading the notes on her screen, she nearly ended the call. Afraid of what might happen next, or what else she might hear.

Just as scrolled her mouse over the "end call" button. That's when she heard it. Someone was there on the other end of the call, barely breathing and quietly sobbing.

"Do you need help?" It was all she could bring herself to say. In the background she heard a faint meowing, like that similar to her own cat Tiger, at home. Hearing that meow, the desperation in the cat's cries kept her on the line.

"Please. Help. Noodles." Three words was all the caller managed to say before the line eerily disconnected in the middle of the caller screaming. It was faint, but she'd manage to hear what sounded like maniacal laughing and the caller being attacked. The caller had been weak, but they were alive and not an eerie ghostly voice. The desperation in their voice matched the desperation in the cat's meows. Something only a cat owner and a dispatcher would recognize. The caller didn't have much time left. She had to intervene to get them help as soon as possible. They would not make it another few hours, especially with the attacker in the room with them.

Hurriedly the dispatcher contacted a local officer that lived near and was familiar with the apartments. She begged the officer to go check on the caller. But, the officer would not go. He refused, telling her it just an old ghost and that the apartments had been abandoned for 20 years.

Still, despite her better judgement the dispatcher wrote address as she headed out of the police department. She knew her instincts were right, and that someone needed help. Getting into her car, she typed in the address on her GPS.

Once the address populated, her route set, she begin to drive. Because, she would not let go of whoever had called.

Despite her fears, she had to figure out exactly what was happening in Apartment 48 and who in that damned apartment needed help.