Long Distance Call

  Jack hit the road as the sun began to fill the morning sky. It was a beautiful early autumn morning. He stopped to fill up at his usual gas station and grabbed a hot coffee, bottled water, and some snacks for the road. As he made his way to the counter, he passed by a stack of newspapers. He glanced down at the top paper, but was snapped out his own little world by the man behind the counter clearing his throat. This wasn't the usual guy he spoke with in the morning. In fact, Jack had never seen this guy here at all. He paid for his gas and food, smiled and gave a quick nod at the new cashier, and went back to his car.Now back on the road, he lit a cigarette and cracked his window. The music on the radio was interrupted by the morning talk show hosts and their voices droned on in the back ground. His phone began to ring about twenty minutes into his journey. He answered through the car's blue tooth system. "Hey Aunt Amy, how are you this morning?" There was a moment of

  Jack placed the magazine back in the pile, as Tay called out that the coffee was done. He got up and ran his fingers through his hair. As he left the room, he thought he felt something move by him down to the other end of the dimly lit hall. He glanced in that direction, but saw nothing. A shiver ran down his spine, but he tried to shake the eerie feeling as he made his way down the stairs. Tay was humming in the small kitchen as she prepared her mug of coffee. She glanced over her shoulder as Jack walked in. "How do you like your coffee?" Jack made his way over to the counter beside her. " I just drink it black, thanks". Tay scrunched her nose up at him. " Only psychopaths drink black coffee" she said with a soft smirk. "I guess I'm a psychopath, then" he retorted.She slid him his cup of coffee and they sat down at the round kitchen table. Tay cradled her mug in both hands, and looked him up and down. He was tall and athletically built. Tattoos covered

  Tay nervously chewed her lower lip as she to carefully formulate an answer. "Well?!" Jack said as his patience steadily thinned. Tay began popping her knuckles and finally mustered up a response. " Well, uh,, we...well, the girls and I all kept hearing noises. At first it was just something small here and there. Mostly just at night. We didn't really think much of it at first. I mean, this is an old house." "And then?" Jack lead, cutting her off. Tay held up her hand and continued. "Then, doors started opening. The one at the end of the hallway, mostly. We knew it wasn't one of us, because it's been locked since we moved in. The landlord didn't even have a key for it. It had been wallpapered over, and when we were cleaning and fixing up the place we found it."  Jack quirked a brow. "Why were you removing wallpaper? I thought you guys were renting?" "The landlord told us if we cleaned and fixed the place up, he'd take money off the rent. Toni, one of

 It was Jack's turn to listen with intent. Tay paused to take a sip of her cold soda and continued. " We had peace until about three weeks ago. Someone new contacted us through the board. They called themselves 'M'. M didn't divulge much about themselves, but knew things about each of us. Personal things- things that none of the rest of us could've known about each other." Tay swallowed loudly. "M saidthat Toni...had forged her transcripts... that Leila had been the driver in an unsolved deadly hit and run back in high school... and that I, uh.." She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, and bit her lower lip as tears began to well up in her eyes. " I u-used to steal pain pills from my Nana when I was younger." Jack was flabbergasted. He softly asked "So...what did M say about Catherine?" Tay looked down at her lap, and as she did, warm tears began streaming down her cheeks. Jack left his seat and moved over to sit next to Tay on the sofa. He cautiously moved to wrap his