Wake Up Call

By:  Sierra

 

2:08 a.m.

 

JC jolted awake and took a second to remember his surroundings. Once he did, his thoughts and his easing of his head back down onto his pillow were interrupted by a second, blaring ring.

 

Shaking himself awake again, he flung a hand over to the dresser next to his bed, knocking over a magazine and a clock before successfully reaching the phone. Feeling it's touch, he fumbled to bring it up to his mouth. "Ugh… Hello?"

 

"Good morning sunshine- you sound bright eyed and bushy tailed."

 

"Justin?? It's…" He leaned down from his awkward position in the dim room to stare down off his bed onto the floor. There, the blaring red digits of his fallen clock stared back up at him. "It's 2:08 in the morning, man! There is nothing in the world that important to wake me up from a perfectly good dream at 2:08 in the morning that would…"

 

"It's pretty important, man."

 

From the tone of Justin's voice, JC came awake immediately. He grabbed the holder to the phone and eased it down onto his bed from the dresser. Narrowing his eyes and staring down at his bed's comforter, he tried to steady himself and ran a hand through his scruffy hair. "What is it? What's the matter?"

 

"Oh nothing really…"

 

Still keeping a grip on the phone's holder, JC reached over to flick on the lamp beside his bed, and the light suddenly illuminated the small corner of his room. "First you tell me it's pretty important, and then you tell me it's nothing really… which is it Justin?"

 

"I was stupid to call…"

 

"Tell me Justin. Tell me now." JC ran a hand through his hair again and let his eyes dart nervously around his dim room.

 

"It's her JC. She broke up with me."

 

JC could hear the softness of Justin's voice and immediately breathed a silent sigh of relief. "Awww… I'm so sorry man. Why don't you come over here so we can talk about it or something? By the way you sounded… I thought you had been in some kind of accident. You shouldn't freak me out like that." JC laughed a little, but it was lost into an eerie emptiness on the other side of the phone.

 

There was a pause of silence, which made JC uncomfortable. When he heard Justin's voice again, it was trembling. "You don't understand, man. She found out about me cheating with that other girl I met a week or so ago. She was screaming, she was crying, she was calling me a worthless bastard…"

 

"Holy crap, Justin. That had to be rough…" JC tried to keep his voice partial. He heard something in Justin's voice he didn't understand, and something he knew he didn't like.

 

"No, you don't understand. I loved her JC. I loved her more then anyone in the entire world. I did something so incredibly stupid, and I can't take it back now. I screwed up big time and now she says she doesn’t want to see me…"

 

"Of course she doesn’t, Justin. She's upset- just like you. Give her some time, man. We all know she's just as crazy about you as you are about her. You guys were meant for each other. A stupid fling with another girl isn't going to change that."

 

"….ever again." Justin's voice dropped into JC's ear like lead, and sounded so dark, that it sent a shiver up his spine.

 

"What?"

 

"She doesn’t want to see me ever again. Never. She screamed it so loud that I don't think I'll ever forget how it sounded."

 

JC heard another pause, and began to get up from his bed, still holding the phone holder in his hand. He began to pace across the room, opening his mouth and then shutting it, unsure of what to say. He heard something in Justin's voice that sounded so desperate and so unlike his regular self, that extra nervous energy began to flow through him.

 

"Do you understand me, man?? No of course you don't. You didn't see her. You didn't hear her. She never wants to see me again. Never."

 

"I'm positive she didn't really mean that…"

 

"Never!! I made her cry, man! She was crying like I've never seen. The tears were just streaming, they were everywhere! And I was the one that made her cry like that!! You don't understand. You just don't…" Justin's voice came screaming from the other end, and then quieted and trailed off into a distracted tone.

 

JC paced faster and faster on his carpet and moved his phone from one hand to the other. He didn't know what to say to calm down Justin's screaming. He could hear Justin's shuttering breaths, and could almost see him clutching the phone in a sweaty death-grip. He could almost see the sweat drip off Justin's hand and splash onto the floor, wherever he was. The vision that scared JC the most though, was the picture he could see in his mind of Justin's eyes- wild and red and panicked.

 

"I don't understand, Justin. I really don't. Why don't you come over here so you can explain it and we can talk about it?"

 

"I screwed up big time, JC. I'll never have her again. Never!! She said 'never', also. I can't do this, man. I can't."

 

"Can't do what?"

 

"Deal with this!! You weren't there… you couldn't have seen her… I made her cry!! I made…" There was a shaking in his voice, and JC could hear a randomness, as his thoughts streamed from one to the next.

 

JC stopped short on the carpet and spoke plainly into the speaker. He was certain now that Justin wasn't listening to him anymore, and wasn't thinking straight. "Listen, man. I want you to come over right now. We'll talk it out, alright? I don't want you to go crazy over this by yourself."

There was another long pause. "I don't know JC…"

 

JC threw a violent punch down onto his comforter, but tried to stay silent on his part of the speaker. "Why not?"

 

"I don't know… I just don't…"

 

There was another silence, and as JC listened, he heard Justin's head rest against something hard, and a fluttering in the background followed it.

 

"What are you doing, Justin?"

 

"There she is man. She's right there." Justin laughed a little and JC could hear his finger tapping against something softly.

 

"Where? And who? What are you talking about?" JC lowered himself to his bed and put his head in his hands. He realized it might take a while to talk some sense into Justin and have him come back from wherever he was.

 

"She's right here. In the phone book. Her name, and address, and everything. It's one of those big, yellow, really dirty phone books that people tear the thin sheets out of, JC. Can you believe it? She's really in here- no one tore out her name."

 

JC looked up across his room, the light still dim, almost haunting him. "Why would they do that?"

"Don't know. But I'm glad they didn't." Laughter followed his voice, and by straining, JC could hear a sob in it.

 

Once again, he was lost for what to say to Justin. He wondered if he should call someone else for help… but who? His mind raced as he realized he had never dealt with someone so desperate- and at the same time someone he couldn't see and couldn't get to.

 

"Justin, you're starting to say some pretty scary shit. Please come over and talk with me, ok?"

 

"Can't. She's in the book. Can you believe that?"

 

JC swallowed, and listened closely. He heard Justin pick up something, and turn it over in his hands. It was followed by a soft click, and JC straightened up immediately.

 

"Justin?? What are you doing?"

 

"Nothing really…" His voice was miles away.

 

JC heard Justin cough, adjust the phone at his ear, and lift something up. "Justin, what do you have?!?"

 

"Nothing really…"

 

Bang.

 

A shot rang out into JC's end of the phone, cracking with such an echoing sound that JC jolted backward violently.

 

"JUSTIN!!" JC jumped off of his bed and screamed his name into the phone, suddenly feeling all the energy in him melt away. "Justin!! Holy crap! Justin- answer me!!" Slamming the phone handle down on his comforter harder, he shut his eyes tight and screamed harder into the phone, "JUSTIN!! Answer me, God damn it!"

 

Hearing only silence, JC felt his hand tremble, and the phone fell from his hand involuntarily. The phone made a collision with the floor, but JC didn't even notice, as he tried to steady himself on his bed. His head swam, and as he felt his stomach lurch, he fell to his knees. He tried to open his mouth to call out, but nothing came out. Then a shuttering breath came through him, and as he pounded the floor, shaking his head, he felt tears come to his eyes.

 

"JC?"

 

Suddenly JC stopped his pounding. He raised his eyes up and turned to the phone, that was laid sprawled out on the floor a couple feet from him. He had heard a voice, so soft, come from the receiver. Or was he just imagining it?

 

Not thinking, he ran over to the phone and grabbed it so quickly that the entire holder almost became pulled from the jack in the wall. He paused, and then softly said, "Justin?"

 

Holding his breath for a couple seconds, JC felt his hand tremble again, until he heard a voice answer him.

 

"I'm here man."

 

"Justin!! What the hell did you do?!?"

 

There was another fluttering from the other end and Justin grunted as JC guessed he was trying to pick something up. His voice came to JC very distant and calm. "It made a clear shot right through her name, man. A huge hole, all black, and straight through the center of the book. It has all this smoke just curling up out of it, and all the pages around the hole are all kinda singed. You should see it, JC."

 

JC felt his hands tremble in anger on the phone. "Where are you Justin? Where are you??"

 

"Hmm… let me see. I'm in that really bad part of town- you know? With all the old broken cars and the empty stores? There's no one really around. Only one or two people walking around, and they don't care too much about gun shots, if that's what you're worried about."

 

"Where in that part of town??"

 

"Well… Grand Street. I'm in a pay phone in front of some store. It's this old car dealership I think. They have all those colorful little flags blowing in the wind, you know? High above me. They look kind of stupid though, since they're so old, and have all kinds of holes in them. It's kinda sad, really. All those pathetic colorful flags blowing in the wind, flapping with those holes and tears…"

 

"Alright Justin. I want you to put the gun down on the floor and get out of the pay phone, ok? I'm driving by to pick you up." JC carried the phone holder over with him as he looked out his window down onto the street below and grabbed his jacket from the hook beside it.

 

"Don't bother. I think I'm okay now. I have my own car here anyway."

 

"No. I'm coming." JC tried to make his voice as stern as possible, even though he felt the phone trembling in his hands.

 

"No JC! Listen to me. I'm fine."

 

Bang.

 

JC shook from the echoing shot, and held the phone out away from his ear as it rang out. He then pulled it in closely and quickly, shouting into it as loud as he could. "JUSTIN!!"

 

"Yeah, man?"

 

"What the hell was that??"

 

"The gun slipped. Sorry. It made the glass shatter, though. The glass in the pay phone, you know? It's shattered all over the floor in tons of little pieces. Just kind of… just kind of sparkling in the little yellow light they give you inside the pay phone. It's actually kinda pretty, you know? Guess

someone's gonna hafta pay for that, though."

 

JC ran his hand through his hair in agitation and slumped against the wall with his coat half-way on. "I'm coming for you Justin."

 

"No. I'm really okay. See? I'm putting the gun down on the floor of the pay phone now."

 

JC swallowed, and was satisfied to hear something make contact with the floor on the other end of the phone, crackling on the shattered glass. "Good. I'm still coming for you."

 

"Really JC. Just wait for me at your house, okay? I'm gonna get out of the pay phone with the gun still in it, get in my car, and drive straight to your house without stopping. I promise. I'm driving by as soon as I get off the phone."

 

JC pressed closer to the phone, listening closely for the tone of Justin's voice. He didn't hear the desperateness in it, and didn't hear the shaking in it anymore. He bit down on his lip and turned away from the wall to look out his window again. There was still something very wrong with Justin, but JC decided he could talk that out with him once he was safe in his own house.

 

Closing his eyes and nodding to himself, he slowly opened his mouth.

 

"Okay Justin. I want to see you over here in ten minutes."

 

"No problem."

 

"Justin?"

 

"Yeah, man?"

 

"Drive safely, okay?"

 

He could hear Justin laugh a little. "Sure thing. See you in a few."

 

"Bye, man." JC lowered the phone to it's holder, which had been so abused over the last few minutes, it made him smile a little.

 

But as JC let the phone reach it's cradle softly, something bothered him. Justin's laugh had seemed so different to him… it was something he could hide in his voice but couldn't hide in his laugh.

 

The phone made contact with it's cradle on both sides, but one slightly after the other.

 

Click.

 

Pause.

 

Dial tone.

 

Sigh.

 

Bye… JC."

 

Click.

 

Bang.

 

The End

 

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