The Call

Cara stared at the words written in the steam of the mirror. Her heart racing and fear freezing her to the spot. She couldn't breath. She couldn't move. What was going on? She knew the words weren't there before her shower. She recalled staring into the mirror before her bath. She hadn't heard anyone enter the bathroom during her shower. Was it possible someone had slipped in unnoticed? She stood there with her mind reeling. She could hear nothing but her heart beating in her ears and a faint whooshing noise. She slowly started to become more and more aware of the whooshing noise and began trying to focus solely on it. As she did she closed her eyes. Her heart beat and her breathing began to calm down as she did so. As she focused more and more on the noise she became aware of how rhythmic it was. Puzzled she listened harder. She now could faintly hear a distant beeping noise as well. She was desperately trying to make sense of the noises she heard, when suddenly it felt as though someone gently brushed her hair back out of her face. As shocking as it was to feel this, it was strangely comforting. Then she heard a female voice plead with her to just open her eyes.

Instantly her heart beat raced again and her eyes shot open. It felt as though she had been asleep for ages. She was confused when she saw that she was now laying on her bed. She sat up immediately, scanning the room in shock. Everything was in order. The sun was shining in through her window and birds were chirping happily outside in the trees. In the distance she could hear the faint sound of one the neighbors cutting their grass. It was a beautiful Tuesday morning. She sat there for a few moments blinking repeatedly, trying to make sense of things. How did she get here? How was it that the sun was now shining? What on earth was going on? As she looked around the room her eyes settled on her desk sitting under her window. There were her books and homework stacked neatly on top of it. Her open back pack laid on the ground next to her desk. Ready for her to pack it all back up for school today. She checked the clock on her bedside table. 10:35 am. Great, she had over slept. She finally decided that she must have dreamed the whole thing. Sighing with relief she threw her lavender comforter off her legs and stood up. The fuzzy fusia rug beside her bed felt good on her feet as she raised her arms above her head and stretched as she yawned deeply. What a crazy night she had had. Had it all been a dream? She couldn't remember ever having such vivid dreams before in all of her life.

Walking over to her desk she scanned over her homework. Everything was in fact complete. However, she had absolutely no recollection of having completed any of it. She had heard that traumatic experiences could cause vivid dreams and she assumed it could probably cause memory loss as well. That had to be it. Maybe it was just as well that she had slept in. She probably should just take it easy today. She could get Kaylee to grab any work her teachers wanted her to complete. She decided to run it all past mom. And then it dawned on her, why hadn't mom looked in on her? When she didn't head down for breakfast surely her mom would have been concerned, wouldn't she? It wasn't like Cara to not get up and head to school without being sick or something. And wait a minute, hadn't Kaylee come by to pick her up this morning?

Cara checked her phone. No missed calls. No unread text messages. "What gives?", she questioned as she quickly text Kaylee, asking her to please gather any necessary work from her teachers for the day. She then set her phone down beside her books on her desk. She considered getting dressed, but decided to just use the bathroom and head downstairs to talk with her mom.

As she washed her hands she glanced up at the clear bathroom mirror. Cara couldn't help but think about her unsettling dreams she had had the night before. She shivered at the memory of it all. It had seemed so real to her. Quickly she turned off the tap and dried her hands. She wasted no time turning out the light and leaving the bathroom. She was careful not to look back at the mirror as she did. Just in case.

As she came down the stairs she could hear her mom humming happily in the kitchen and the smell of something baking in the oven. She paused at the bottom of the stairs to savor the aroma. It was definitely cinnamon buns! "Awsome!", she thought to herself as she headed towards the kitchen and the gooey deliciousness that awaited her there.

"Good morning, Mom!", she called out as she entered the kitchen with a huge smile plastered on her face. But there was no reply. To her surprise the kitchen was empty. She stood there blinking and looking around confused. She knew she had just heard Angela humming in the kitchen. She looked through the nine paned window in the back door. Thinking perhaps her mom had stepped outside. But the door was locked and mom was nowhere to be seen. She then looked in the dining room. But mom wasn't there either. Cara turned and walked back into the kitchen. She looked to the oven, it was turned off and cold. Neither were there any cinnamon buns in it, on it, or on any of the counters.

"Mom?", Cara called out tentatively. She then went and knocked on her parents' bedroom door. There was no answer. So she opened the door to find that no one was there. She then went and looked in the garage and out on the driveway. But both her father's toyota Tacoma and mom's Honda Accord were gone. The twins vehicles were nowhere to be seen either. Puzzled, Cara returned to the kitchen and decided to toast a couple Eggo Waffles for herself.

As she was buttering her Waffles she was startled by her cell phone suddenly ringing on the counter. She nearly dropped her waffle when it went off. Shaking her head she sat her waffle and the butter knife on the plate before turning to grab her phone. As she wiped her hands on a hand towel she stopped short of picking up the ringing phone. She distinctly remembered having left the phone upstairs on her desk. How did it get down here? Nervously she reached out slowly with a shaking hand and picked up the phone. The caller ID said Unknown Caller. Swiping the screen and saying hello, she was greeted with static. She said hello several times. But there was only static in her ear. Cara hung up and laid the phone back on the counter.

Still feeling uneasy she turned to eat her Waffles. Two bites in and the phone rang again. This time the caller ID read "Tara". Eye's squinched, Cara tried to figure out who Tara might be. Sliding her thumb across the screen she stuck the phone to her ear and said, "Hello?" At first there was only static. Then she could just barely hear a female's voice faintly speaking. But over the static she couldn't make out what the girl was saying. Cara strained to make out what the girl was saying. But she just couldn't hear her. She tried several times to convey that. Finally, giving up, she just hung up the phone.

Still holding the phone in her hands, she racked her brain. Trying to figure out who Tara might be. She had never known a Tara. Honestly, the only time she had ever heard the name before, was when her parents spoke about her having a twin that passed at birth. She used to pretend that her sister was alive, almost like an imaginary friend to her, when she was a little girl. As she was lost in thought the phone rang again.

This time when she looked at the screen the ID read, "Tara Magdalen". Cara's breath caught and her heart skipped a beat. Sliding her hand across the screen to answer the call, she then touched the speaker icon. Immediately, the sound of static could be heard through the phone. However, this time it wasn't quite as loud. "He-hel-hello", Cara stammered. After a moment she could hear the females voice again. But no matter how hard she tried to make out what she was saying, there was just too much interference. So once again she hung up the phone.

A second later it rang again. Checking the caller ID she saw the same name as before. Hand shaking she once again answered the phone and and again pressed the speaker icon. This time she couldn't speak. This time she didn't hear static. This time the girl on the other end spoke first.

"Hello Cara. I hope you can hear me this time. We really need to talk."

Cara nervously replied, "Talk?" She heard the voice on the phone giggle in response.

"Yes, Sis. We need to talk. Are you ready?"

"Ready?", Cara thought to herself. "Ready?!" How could anyone ever be ready for this?! She closed her eyes and shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts. This was crazy. She must be crazy. This couldn't possibly be really real. There was no way this was really happening! Her dead sister couldn't be calling her! She must have lost her mind! Cara couldn't figure out which was worse. Having gone mad or her dead sister actually calling her on her cell phone!

As Cara struggled with her grasp on reality, Tara spoke again. "I'm sorry. I know this must be very unsettling for you. But you weren't ready before. We are running out of time. I really need to speak with you before it's too late. Please, Cara. Please say you will speak with me."

Cara was dumbfounded. Still questioning whether she had indeed lost her mind or not, Cara finally found her voice. "I-I-I," she stammered, struggling to to form a coherent sentence, "I suppose w-w-we c-cou-could talk. T-Ta-Tar-Tara, are you rea-real-really..... Is it really y-you??!!", Cara questioned the girl on the phone.

"Yes, it's really, really me! Cara, I'm so glad you decided to finally speak to me!! I'll be right there! Don'tmove! I'm coming right now!", Tara squealed excitedly before she hung up.

As the call disconnected, Cara couldn't help staring at the blank screen as though it were an alien object to her. Had that really just happened? Tara. Tara Magdalen. Her dead twin sister had just spoken to her on the cell phone. She didn't question it anymore. She now knew for a fact that she was completely, without a shadow of a doubt, one hundred percent crazy. Cara's arm fell limp at her side. She heard her phone fall to the kitchen rug at her feet. She didn't care. She felt numb. She was in shock. Slowly without giving it much thought she made her way through the den and to the staircase. Mindlessly she grabbed onto the railing and headed up to the second story of the house. Taking one step at a time. Perhaps she should just go back to bed. Staring into space and shaking her head as she went. Yes, she needed to go to bed. She should just lie down until mom came home. Mom would surely be home soon. She would definitely know what to do. Mom would make it all better.

As she reached the halfway point she heard the front door fly open. Spinning on her heels she looked down at her mirror image walking in. The girl had a huge grin on her face. Looking around the living room the girls eyes quickly landed on Cara. Squealing with delight the girl jumped up and down and exclaimed, "I'M HERE, SIS!! I'M REALLY HERE!" At that moment Cara's whole world seemed to spin out of control. Her eyes closed, everything went black and she found herself engulfed once more in the nothingness of the Great void. As she fell deeper into the dark she heard the whooshing noises and the faint beeps once more and then nothing else.