The Call
She called in the middle of the night
“What’s up? You called me?” She asked in a cheerful way.
“No,” I said, kind of taken aback by the late call.
“Yeah you did.”
“No, really, my phone has been sitting by itself on the other side of the room for a couple of hours now.”
“Then how come it rang and your name popped up?”
“I don’t know. But I swear it wasn’t me,” I said still confused.
She was buzzing pretty well, I could just feel it. Not by slurred speech, or incoherent sentence structure, or anything like that. I was more in that giddy, drunken happiness with everything, that enveloped her tone. You know, the kind of giddiness that makes you smile for no reason, even when you’re alone.
That has been one of those things that has always made me excited to celebrate with her. That care free happiness, even without libation, that makes her so joyous to be alive.
By then the voice in the background had caught my ear. Who was that?
“Well, okay then, I’ll talk to you later,” she exclaimed.
“Hey, where are…”
The phone went dead.
That’s when the dread set in. Like walking barefoot across a field and the soil suddenly shifts underfoot. As if, some giant ominous beast lurking beneath you has awoken, and is stirring itself to arise, it clenched my chest with dismay.
I immediately called back.
“Yeah?” she answered. “Why did you hang up?”
“I didn’t.” I said. “We must have been cut off.” I was trying to remain cool and collected. “Piece together the clues,” I told myself. “Then you’ll know.” Knowing what, I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t even sure if deducing that mystery was even something I desired. But, I kept at it. Misery is such an enticing flavor.
“Where are you?” I asked.
She proceeded to explain the situation in a way, leaving out evident details, but I was comforted by the fact that she was okay and clearly in an innocent environ. Purely without harm, this still didn’t damper my woe. I stayed up for hours after that, my mind reeling with consequences and potentials.
I know that I am paranoid. I also know that this paranoia has blessed me with a perception for minutia. I worry that my star is shifting on the horizon, soon to be unseen in the night sky.
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