Suspense Short Story – The Call
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It was already past his working hours. He had to do overtime to fill in for his friend. Was a very tiring and troublesome day for Rakesh. He returned home at 9pm, he had left for work at 8 in the morning. The argument he had with his boss was still going in his mind. He knew his points were right, but the boss won’t listen to him. Just thinking about it was making him frustrated. He was too tired to make anything to eat.
Last night’s frozen pizza and a can of Carlsberg was good enough for him. He was lying on his bed watching TV, some weird horror movie. He wasn’t actually watching anything but surfing through. The work pressure was getting the better of him. Just then his phone rang, he checked the number, and it was his friend Rahul. He picked it up and said,
“Where the hell are you these days Rahul?“…
Rahul answered, “Sorry bro, just got back in town, was away to Delhi for a business meeting, so you want to catch up for a drink like the old times??”
Hearing his friend’s voice seemed to have a pretty nice effect on Rakesh’s frustration, He said, “Sure man, want to meet right now??”
Rahul replied, “Yeah why not…the same old place!??”
Both had a small laugh and hung up, Rakesh did not even get dressed up. He was anyways still in his work clothes as he did not feel like changing after returning home. He went down, started his car and went straight to “that” place. He hadn’t visited there in a long time. Maybe a year or so, but the memories he had can’t be forgotten so easily.
After a good 45mins drive he reached there. It was a small secluded beach where hardly anyone visited. He came out of his car and sat on its bonnet. Staring at the moon, it seemed like an eternity had passed since he last visited this place. After some 5mins he heard another car arriving, it parked right besides Rakesh’s car, out came Rahul holding 2 cans of Carlsberg. After all it was their favourite since college times!
They both shared a handshake and then a warm hug. Rakesh felt like a college student again. Being with his closest friend made him feel really light. They started to chat. And the chats topic ranged from their work to their ex’s and back to those good ol’ college days.
And it seemed just like a minute and it was already past midnight, they had couple of cans of beers gulped down by now. All the topics in the world were almost over discussing.
Rakesh was feeling a bit tired by now. So he laid his back down on the wind-screen, closed his eyes and was talking about how his boss never acknowledges his work and how his best efforts always go in vain, he spoke for almost 10 mins without realizing that Rahul hadn’t spoken a word yet, he opened his eyes to see no one was there!!
He was sitting on bare sand on some random sandy beach. He started to feel something weird has happened in those 10mins he had his eyes closed. But on the other hand he was getting a feeling that it was more than that. A shiver went down his spine. Suddenly he felt a cold breeze through his face. He began sweating heavily, his hands felt frozen. His breaths were the heaviest he had ever taken. He tried looking for someone around, but he couldn’t see a thing, it was all sand and water. He started running. His heart was pounding. Heartbeats reaching their limits. But he still couldn’t see a road; it felt like he was the last person on this earth and that he would give anything to see some sign of human existence around him.
He couldn’t remember since how long he was running. Sweat pouring from every corner of his petrified body. He had lost the sense of time. Suddenly he felt something touching his legs…and catching them…..BAAM!!
He fell straight to the ground on his face. He felt something creeping up to his legs. He was sure he was going to die at that very moment. He wanted to get up and start running again but his legs won’t even budge. He felt something like a tentacle thing crawling its way up to his torso griping his body like a coiling anaconda. But as it came towards his waist it felt like a skinny human hand making hissing sound like a snake, realising that he cannot escape this situation. He buried his face into the ground, as he waited for his end to come, closing his eyes as hard as he could. And then, he heard a phone bell ring. It sounded very far off, and the ringtone was kind of familiar as well….It was his cell phone!!
He opened his eyes…lifted his head…he was lying face down on his bed…with a beer can toppled off the bed leaking on the floor…He couldn’t understand what happened…did he fall asleep while watching the horror film??..Was that real? Putting those thoughts aside he rushed for his cell phone. It was still ringing, he saw the name flashing up….and his forehead filled with sweat and his breaths grew heavier….The name flashing on the cell phone was….”RAHUL”!!!!!!
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