Call Me.

“Mum!” I said, exasperated. “Just go, we’ll all be fine.”

“Bunny,” my mother sighed. I cringed at the nickname, hearing Frank snigger behind me. “I just worry about all of you, is all.”

“Mum, Frank is here too, he and I can handle Mikey. Mikey’s really good, all he ever really does is play the Xbox until he has to go to bed,” I reasoned, nudging my mother out the door.

“We’ll be fine, Donna,” Frank said from behind me.

“If you’re sure…” she trailed off hesitantly.

“Yes, mum. Now go, before you miss the damn movie,” I cried, frustrated.

“Okay, okay. I’m going,” she laughed, walking down the dark path towards the car in which her friends were waiting. I watched her get into the car from the door, waiting until I could no longer see the car’s taillights in the dark street.

“I thought she’d never leave,” I grumbled in relief. Frank smiled at me as I closed the door on the darkness outside and walked into the kitchen.

“What are we going to make Mikey for dinner?” Frank asked, leaning against the bench.

“We’ll order in pizza; Mum left me some cash,” I answered, jumping up on the bench opposite to Frank.

“Shit!”

“Mikey! Stop swearing,” I shouted, having no doubt that he would hear me. I heard a small grumble and then nothing. I rolled my eyes before looking back at Frank who was snickering.

“What?”

“You,” he replied, “You’re like a mother hen.”

I poked my tongue out at him. “Shut up. He shouldn’t be cussing at his age.”

“Yes mother,” he whined in a mocking voice.

“One day you’re going to say something to someone who doesn’t have as much tolerance as I do and when that day comes you’ll get slammed and I’ll laugh at you.”

“Whatever,” he smiled, waving me off. “Let’s go and see if Mikey wants to watch a movie.”

“Yeah, alright.”

In the lounge room we found Mikey, tongue poking out the side of his mouth, concentrating extremely hard on Guitar Heroes III. The kid was addicted to it.

“Mikey, do you want to watch a movie?” I asked, watching his fingers fly over the guitar buttons.

“Mmmmm, in a moment,” he mumbled, eyes not moving from the screen. Frank and I flopped onto the couch watching Mikey, stiff as ever, play the rest of the song. He managed to get ninety-eight percent of the song right, also earning a new high score.

“Okay,” he said, letting the guitar drop onto the ground. “What are we watching then?”

“Frank?” I asked, looking at him expectantly.

“Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?”

“Yeah! That one,” Mikey squealed enthusiastically.

“The answer to the Ultimate Question is…?” I cried, grinning at the joke.

“Forty-two!” they shouted in unison. We all started laughing manically. It didn’t take long to find the DVD as it was still in the player from the previous night when Mikey had started watching it for the eight-billionth time.

“Do you guys want me to order the pizza?” I asked after I had pressed play. They both nodded. In the kitchen all was quiet except for the distant noise of the movie coming from the lounge room. Calling the pizza place was easy; I’d done it many times before.

Before going back to watch the movie, I thought to grab some m&m’s which were Mikey’s favourite. It would help for later when I had to bribe him to go to bed.

Ring, ring.

After a slight jump, I answered the phone. Expecting it to be my mum checking up on me I answered it with a tired tone, “Hello?”

On the other end, a raspy breathing started up. “I’m going to come and get you,” a rough and deep voice whispered, threateningly.

“Who is this?” I asked, frowning. It was probably some of the boys from my school. They were always coming up with new ways to harass me. The breathing became louder on the other end.

“Watch out, little boy.”

I was angry now. “Whoever this is, why don’t you just fuck the hell off?”

I hung up, annoyed at the prank call. They were going to pay for this on Monday. I took the phone with me into the lounge room and sat on the couch next to Frank, being careful not to step on Mikey’s gangly legs that were stretched in front of it.

“Here you go, Mikey. I got you some m&m’s,” I said, chucking the bag on his back.

“Thank you!” he beamed, reaching for it and immediately opening the packet and devouring a handful of them.

“Who called?” Frank whispered in my ear, his eyes still on the screen.

“Just some assholes who thought it would be funny to prank call me,” I whispered back. It wasn’t only a few moments before the phone rang again though. I sighed, grumbling as I left the room to answer the phone again.

“Hello?” I growled.

“What’s wrong, dear? Is Mikey being a hassle?” my Mum’s panicked voice came through the receiver.

“Oh, no. Sorry, I just stubbed my toe on the couch,” I lied quickly. “What’s up?”

“I was just checking on you guys. You know, see if my boys are alright. The movie is about to start,” she answered, sounding a little worried.

“Yeah, we’re fine. Watching Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”

“Okay then. Well, I’ll call after the movie then, okay?”

“Yeah, mum. Talk to you later, okay?”

“I love you, dear,” she whispered, the worry seeping into her voice. She hadn’t left us alone at the house since Dad had left.

“I love you too, Mum,” I replied, my voice gentle.

Back in the lounge room, Frank asked me about the call.

“It was Mum this time, checking on us,” I whispered, amused by Mikey’s manic giggling at the TV.

“Oh, okay then.”

We continued to watch more of the movie but before twenty minutes had passed, the phone rang for the third time that night. I was sure it wasn’t my mum, so I expected it to be the prank callers. I gestured for Frank to follow me into the kitchen.

“Hello?” I answered the phone, putting it on loudspeaker so Frank could hear too.

The heavy breathing was back and the sound sparked immediate irritation in me but still managed to send small involuntary shivers up and down my spine.

“What do you guys want?” I growled, fed up with the stupid prank. Frank was frowning at the phone, not looking to happy.

“You know…,” the voice rasped. The sound of the voice was still horrible, like nails screeching down glass. It was managing to raise goose bumps on my arms and make the hairs at the back of my neck stand on end.

“And I’m closer now. So close…”

The line went dead, the after tone beeps bouncing off the kitchen walls.

“That’s wrong,” Frank whispered. “Do they have no consideration?”

I was frowning, trying to push away my feelings of uneasiness. “Are you sure it’s them? I mean, are they really this smart? One of them would have laughed and given it away by now, surely?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “If they call again we’ll tell them where to go.”

I nodded. We went back into the lounge room where Mikey was still giggling like a little maniac, taking the phone with us.

“Who was on the phone?” Mikey asked, not even turning around.

“No one; wrong number,” I answered. “The pizza people should be here soon.”

It wasn’t long before the door bell rang, causing Frank and I to jump slightly, and the pizza arrived just as I had expected. We ate our pizza in silence, the movie almost over.

“This pizza is really good,” Frank said, his voice muffled through a mouthful of food. Mikey grunted in agreement, having already inhaled about half of a pizza to himself.

Ring, ring.

Frank glared at the phone when I picked it up. Putting it to my ear angrily, I answered.

“Hello?”

“I’m so close…is your pizza nice, boys?” the voice whispered. I swallowed, the saliva in my mouth running dry. I was now sure that it wasn’t the boys from school; they would never take it this far.

“Who the hell is this?” I shouted. Frank and Mikey were startled and stared at me, Mikey confused and Frank furious because he obviously knew what was going on.

“You’ll soon find out.” He cackled softly and then hung up. I put the phone down and looked at Mikey before my eyes slid to Frank’s. I knew that they could both sense and see the fear in my eyes.

“Mikey, buddy? Can you put another movie on while I talk to Frank?” I asked, my voice unusually soft.

Mikey was hesitant with his reply, “Okay.”

“Thank you,” I whispered. I stood, abandoning my half-eaten slice of pizza and followed Frank into the kitchen. When we were alone, Frank whirled around and looked me straight in the eyes.

“It’s not the guys from school is it, Gerard?” he growled. The distant sound of the opening scene from Pirates of the Caribbean started up from the lounge room.

I shook my head, my expression solemn and fearful.

“Who the hell is it then?” he asked rhetorically. “Who is seriously this sick?” he paused, “What did they say?”

“He asked me if the pizza was nice. Then he hung up,” I whispered. I felt like I couldn’t raise my voice louder than the soft tones in which I was already speaking. I was starting to shake and tears were starting to form. I didn’t want to cry but I was so scared, not just for me but for my little brother who was just in the next room over and completely unaware of what was going on.

Frank had gasped when I told him what was said. “This is serious. If that phone rings one more time, we have to call the police or something.”

And, as if Frank had jinxed it, the phone rang. Frank and I exchanged a quick fear-ridden glance before I answered the phone.

I stuttered, “H-hello?”

“What are little boys made of?” came the sing-song raspy voice, the sound echoing in the kitchen. I felt the colour drain from my face at a rate so quick that I felt as if I were about to faint.

“Leave us alone,” I choked, now frightened beyond my wits. Frank was shaking and his eyes were wide with fear.

“Gerard,” Frank whispered, his eyes widening further, “Listen to the song in the background.”

I listened and wanted to vomit when I heard the sounds of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean in the background of the phone noises.

“Mikey’s such a pretty little boy, isn’t he?”

I dropped the phone, just as an ear splitting scream came from the lounge room. I recognised the deep, raspy cackle before I even made it to the lounge room. Frank was right behind me, hot on my heels, when we got to the lounge room I wanted to collapse and just scream. Scream as loud as I could.

There were many more shrill screams before I finally registered that they were my own, each one louder than the last.

“Mikey! No, no, no, no, no, no, no.” I kept repeating the same word unable to move an inch. Only able to stand there and stare, the shock consuming my body. I was shaking violently, my knees getting ready to give way. When they did, I crawled across the floor to Mikey, my vision blurry from my tears.

I cradled Mikey’s head in my lap, not caring about the bright red blood that was soaking through my jeans and bottom of my t-shirt. I didn’t know where or what Frank was doing until I heard his quick gasp. He had flicked the light on and the wall behind the TV had been painted on with what could only have been Mikey’s blood.

Mikey’s such a pretty little boy, isn’t he?

It was eerie with the noise of Pirates of the Caribbean playing in the background, but barely loud enough to overpower the loud ringing in my ears. My thoughts were incoherent. How did he do this so fast? How did he know us? Why us? My little brother…

And the biggest question yet: where was he now?

I hadn’t even noticed that Frank was kneeling beside me, tears of his own streaming down his face and landing on Mikey and my legs.

“We should call 911,” I choked, the noise coming out as a hoarse whisper.

“I already tried, the phone’s disconnected,” Frank whispered back, his voice mirroring my own. It was so difficult to tear my eyes away from Mikey’s pale face stained with his own blood. I looked at Frank, the fear I felt was reflected in his expression.

“Where is he?” I managed to murmur, my eyes wide with fear. My heart was racing at four times its usual rate. I could feel it hammering against my ribs, threatening to break through. I was surprised the whole house wasn’t pulsing in time with every beat.

Before Frank could answer the light and television switched off, leaving us in complete silence and darkness. My grip on Mikey’s body tightened and my right arm reached out to clutch Frank. I found him and he put his arms around me and Mikey, holding on tightly. I could feel his heart beating rapidly through his chest that was pressed against my side.

We didn’t dare make a single sound. We didn’t dare breath. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, my spine tingled; I could feel somethingone behind me.

We both felt and heard it at the same time. The breath that was carefully drawn in and then let out on the back of our necks.

“What are little boys made of?”

We screamed.