One Missed Call

One Missed Call

Heather was more than ready to scare her friends like they had scared her.  "Everyone listen up.  This story is going to scare you."
 
"You're so dramatic, Heather," said Amber.  "This better be good."
 
Heather rolled her eyes at Amber, laughed, and then began to tell her story.  "About a week ago a group of my brother's old high school friends decided to go out to the bar.  There was a group of six of them who were best friends.  All but one of them, Eric, decided to go out that night.  They were all having a great time, when Chris received a phone call.  He tried to answer it, but by the time he had heard it, taken the phone out of his pocket, and tried to answer, the call had gone to voicemail.  He was confused because the ring tone was not the same one he had on his phone.  He looked at his list of missed calls and the call had come from Eric's phone.  He stepped outside the bar where it was quiet and listened to the message.  The time stamp on the message was the next morning at 2:04 am.  He heard himself say, 'What the hell'?  Then the message was over.  He thought it was weird, but he put the phone away and went back inside.  Eric was really smart and Chris realized it wouldn't have been hard for Eric to find a way to make this happen."
 
Heather, Amber, Stephanie, and Amanda were sitting quietly in the elevator.  They all knew that Heather had an amazing storytelling ability and they were very engrossed in this one.  The draft coming from the open spaces above and below the elevator was getting colder and the girls knew that it wouldn't be long before they would need a bathroom, some food, and a coat.  They tried to ignore their coldness as they listened on.
 
"Chris mentioned his weird voicemail to Glenn, but didn't make a big deal about it.  They all went back to drinking and made sure they didn't leave before closing time.  All of them had drove in separate cars and even though none of them should have been driving, they did it anyways.  Chris had to drive a different direction than everyone else.  At 2:04 am Chris was in a car accident.  Another drunk driver hit him head on.  He was on the phone with Fara when it happened.  The last words she heard him speak were 'What the hell'?  Then the phone went dead.  Fara called Glenn and Angela and told them what had happened.  They all raced in the direction that Chris had been driving.  When they got there they saw the ambulance and the horrific scene.  Chris didn't make it.  Glenn then told Angela and Fara about Chris' voicemail."
 
"Don't tell me Eric died too," Amanda pleaded.  She didn't like stories that ended in death.
 
"Don't tell us the ending yet, Heather," Stephanie liked surprises.  
 
"I won't," Heather conceded.  "Now let me finish.  Glenn, Angela, and Fara called Sarah to let her know what had happened.  They all raced to Eric's apartment.  They knocked on the door, but no one answered.  Glenn kicked down the door.  All of their hearts were beating out of their chests."
 
Amber interrupted Heather, "I'm really scared."  
 
"Well, that's a first, Amber," Amanda said.
 
Heather continued on, ignoring the fear of her friends.  "When they got inside, they saw Eric.  He was lying on the floor in a pool of blood.  It looked as though he had slipped on some water and hit his head on the corner of the coffee table.  At that moment, Fara's cell phone rang.  It was the same eerie tone Glenn had heard coming from Chris' phone when he got the mysterious phone call.  Glenn tried to answer it in time, but it had already gone to voicemail.  He listened to the message on speakerphone.  It was Fara's voice.  The time stamp was for 2:56.  She was screaming.  No audible words were coming from the other end of the phone.  All four of them looked at their cell phones.  The time was 2:54.  Fara started to cry and ran from the apartment building.  She ran into the street screaming and at that moment a car came out of nowhere.  It hit her and she died instantly.  The cell phone was still in her hand.  Glenn, Angela, and Sarah ran outside and watched the phone.  It scrolled through the numbers and found another name.  It stopped on Stephanie."

At that moment, Stephanie's cell phone rang.  It wasn't her normal ring tone.  All four girls jumped and their hearts began to beat fast and their breathing became ragged.  The fear in her eyes could not be described.  It was a look of sheer terror.  She tried to answer it, but it went to voicemail.  It had only rung once.  Her phone had died and the call had gone to voicemail.  All four girls began to scream.  The lights in the elevator went out and a strong draft of cold air came rushing into the elevator.  
 
Heather had always been scared of ending up alone.  She was never sure that she would be able to make it out alive if she were a character in a scary movie and all of her friends were dying.  Would she soon find out the truth once and for all?  Had death found them?  To be continued...     

Author's Note:

The original premise of One Missed Call is a Japanese film called Chakushin Ari.  It was made in 2004.  An American version was made in the beginning of 2008.  The movie starts with a girl who dies and her phone mysteriously dials one of her friends.  It starts a chain reaction and each person that receives a call ends up dead.  Once these people are dead, the cell phone dials someone in their phone list.  Each person receives a voicemail.  This voicemail has the time stamp of their death as well as the last words they speak before they die.  This movie reminded me of The Ring.  There seem to be a lot of scary movies that have tragic endings somehow caused by new technology.  In The Ring, anyone who watches this particular movie receives a phone call and they die within seven days of watching the movie.  I see it as a message that technology isn't always good.  It can be nice, but in some instances, it can be deadly. 

In the American movie One Missed Call, all of the friends die in different ways.  I tried to keep the storyline of my story similar to the original.  I simply changed the ways the characters died and where they were when they received the phone call.  The mysterious ringtone, the time stamp of the future, and the way the characters learned of their last words, stayed the same.

Coverpage   Introduction  Disappearing Act   Elevator Mist   Bloody Mary

Bibliography

"One Missed Call" by Wikipedia.  Websource:  One Missed Call

One Missed Call.  Websource:  Scared Stiff
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