Don’t call phone numbers off of posters
A while ago I found a poster taped to a telephone pole near where I live. I always check out the posters because sometimes there are missing cats or dogs or something like that.
It was a foggy morning, really early, i got up way earlier than usual that morning because I felt compelled to walk.
I don’t have a dog or anything, so I walk alone in the mornings.
I came across this poster, this black and white poster it was like a missing poster but instead of saying missing at the top, it was a phone number.
Below the number were 4 dates and times written in pen.
I looked at them, and one of the times was only 15 minutes away, so I decided to stick around by the bench and call it in 15 minutes.
I did.
I heard something truly horrible.
It was a terrifying sound. I’m a little bit hard of hearing, so I had it on speaker. It was like meat being crushed and some infernal roaring and… something else in the background… like a child screaming at the top of his lungs. It was definitely a child screaming, he sounded young too. I tried to talk to the other end, but the audio ran again. It was on loop.
Needless to say I hung up. I was sweating very hard. I went home, but not before taking a picture of all of the times.
The next day at 5:00 I called it again
This time all I heard was a pleasant melody, nothing else for 20 minutes, and then the other end hung up. I tried talking, but no one responded. I’m afraid to admit that I was relieved.
The next day I called the number at 4:00 in the morning. I was tired and I fumbled with the phone a lot, I barely made the call at the right time. I winced, worrying that I would hear that infernal noise from the first call.
I heard a man’s voice, but he was speaking under a heavy radio filter, I couldn’t hear a word he was saying. Suddenly audio from the first phone call cut in and I was terrified, and hung up.
That was the last call I would make to that number, whether I knew it or not.
I went back to the poster. I still hadn’t called the last time. In fine print under the last date it said:
Don’t call, we’ll come to you.
That’s the part that gets me.
The last time had no exact date, only the time: 3:00
I can barely sleep at night. I have nightmares with a child screaming in the background, the same child from the call. It always makes it’s way into my dreams, sometimes just off somewhere in the corner, sometimes surrounding me, overpowering everything, till I wake up soaked in sweat, gasping for air.
I’m scared to accept any calls, even from friends. It shouldn’t have affected me so deeply, but the audio is always there. Even when I’m surrounded by people, I feel alone, it digs deep into my head and stays there.
I don’t know what day they’ll come, but it will happen at 3:00.