When A Stranger Calls

Friday 21st December 2007

When the realisation hit me that my dog wasn’t barking and jumping around me playfully as she always does when I get home from work, I flipped.

I launched myself off the sofa, yanked open the hallway door, which only moments before had been left wide open to emptiness, and flew up the stairs. All was quiet so I decided that if there was an intruder in the house, they’d be ready to do their worst now because I scaled those stairs sounding like a herd of elephants on the loose.

The bathroom door was open; nothing suspicious there. It was never closed even when there was someone convening it. The doors to the spare room and my bedroom however, were closed. In most circumstances this would have seemed quite normal, but when the wind’s been put up you, it poses an altogether scarier prospect. Do I open each door and face it or do I just make a harsh retreat from my home and.....and...do what? I decided on the former. I inhaled deeply and counted to three (obviously in my head) and gripped the door handle to the spare room tightly in my hand and threw the door open.

The lava lamp on the bedside table was casting an alien green glow around the room. This was totally wrong; I never leave anything switched on and by the way the liquid shapes were moving within their glass home, it looked like it had been on for a fair few hours.
By this time I was totally freaked out. I could feel and hear my heart thumping in my chest, practically trying to burst through its ribbed caging. I only hoped to God that the “intruder” (if there actually was one in the house) couldn’t hear it.

There was only one room to go; my bedroom. I was shaking like a leaf and no matter how hard I was trying; I just could not control this involuntary seizure.

Just as I finally mustered the courage to lay one finger on the door handle, I heard a muffled sound; maybe that of a voice trying to call out and then a “shshhhh!” Oh my God, what the hell was I to do? What if it was my Sarah in there? What if she was in pain? I knew I had to do something and I needed to do it quick.

I shot back into the open bathroom and grabbed a pair of nail scissors from the window ledge. Suddenly I felt my fear being pushed to one side by adrenaline, which was now coursing through my body. I was Superwoman! I was going to save my best friend! I was going to beat and stab the living daylights out of the bastard who was doing this. It’s funny what adrenaline can do to you.

My right hand grasped onto the door handle. This was my chance; my chance to do something amazing. I heard another muffled murmur just as I slammed the door open. Adrenaline left my body as quickly as it had arrived when my eyes glanced at the horror before me.