“Honey, you know I hate being home alone when you travel, when are you coming back?”
“I’ll be back tomorrow night, I promise Nancy.”
As she hung up the phone she shivered at the thought of another night alone in the big empty house. John and Nancy had moved for his new job hoping with the big pay increase they would finally be able to start the family they had always dreamed.
As with any job, more pay meant more work which translated into lonely nights for Nancy. Work, work and more work had been the last six months of his life while Nancy’s had been filled with a slow growing hatred for his new company and the small town they moved to.
*****
Dellio was a small, quiet town with a population in the triple digits. Like most rural towns, everyone knew everyone and was always in their business. When the paper recently published a story about their friend Tammy committing suicide Nancy was left in shock. Two weeks later, the headline in the town paper, the Observer read, “Pastor’s wife dies in terrible accident.” The close knit town had been left spinning while searching for answers to the run of bad luck plaguing their town.
Weeks passed by and the town continued to be beleaguered by unexplained incidents and accidents which always resulted in a loss of another member of their small community. The random occurrences were happening at night, at various times, always leaving the police scratching their heads in wonder.
*****
Nancy decided to make herself a feast and try to relax. Once all of the food was on the stove cooking, she started her favorite movie Casablanca, grabbed a blanket from the bed and lied out on the couch, while her meal was cooking.
Ring….. Ring….. Ring….
Startled, Nancy ran over to the phone.
“Honey is that you? You just couldn’t get enough of me, could you?”
“Honey?”
“Who is this?”
Nancy hung up the phone. She had been nervous all night but crank calls were more than she wanted to deal with. With the hairs on her neck starting to stand, she made her way around the house to check all of the doors and windows were locked up tight.
Ring….Ring…..Ring…..
Staring at her phone on the kitchen wall, Nancy debated to answer. Unable to fight the unknown, she picked up the receiver.
“Listen, I am not in the mood for this crap, who is this?”
“Not funny, who is this!”
She slammed the phone down as tears fell onto her cheek. “If someone want to play games with me, let them. You’re not going to get the pleasure anymore of harassing me!”
With an uneasy feeling she walked around for a final pass and made sure she was all locked up. She turned off the ringer on the phone and opened a second bottle of wine. The first bottle helped calm her nerves; the second was to help her to sleep. She sat on the couch, quiet; listening for the tiniest of sounds and drank her wine. Half a bottle later, she was asleep on the couch with the movie playing.
*****
Observer Headlines: Local woman died as house caught fire. At 11:05 PM, the local fire department received a call from neighbors that the house located at 1202 Plaines Field Road had smoke coming from it. Neighbors attempted to gain access to the house but were not able to. Investigators have determined the origination of the fire to have started in the kitchen while the owner, Nancy Reaghan was asleep on the couch in the living room.
Her husband was not in the house at the time. Once again our small town is left to feel the pain and loss of another random incident in our quaint village of Dellio.
—
©2008 Casey Quinn
Casey Quinn is a writer of prose and poetry. He is also the editor of the online magazine Short Story Library – http://shortstory.us.com
Tags: Casey Quinn, creepy
February 2nd, 2009 at 8:58 am
Very nice! My family and I were thinking of visiting Dellio this summer. Needless to say, our plans have changed.
February 2nd, 2009 at 12:46 pm
I’d say dinner was well done. Nice story!