I had always been a night owl, so when the opportunity came to work as a 911 dispatcher on the graveyard shift, I jumped at it. The solitude of the empty dispatch room and the hum of the fluorescent lights were oddly comforting to me. Most nights were quiet, filled with the occasional lost pet or minor car accident. It was one fateful night that would change everything.
It was around 2 AM when the phone rang, shattering the silence of the room. I answered it in my usual calm and collected manner. “911, where is your emergency?”
A deep, raspy voice on the other end sent chills down my spine. “Help me,” the voice whispered, barely audible. “They’re coming for me.”
I squinted at the screen, trying to trace the call. The location was off the grid, in a desolate area of the county where cell service was notoriously spotty. “Sir, I need you to stay on the line and tell me your location.”
Heavy breathing filled the line, and then a blood-curdling scream pierced through the darkness. It was a scream of sheer terror, the kind that gave me instant goosebumps. “Please, they’re here!” the voice cried, and then the line went dead.
My heart raced as I dispatched units to the approximate location. I could hear the fear in that caller’s voice, and I knew we had to respond quickly. But as I stared at the map, I realized something was terribly wrong. The location was deep within the woods, far from any roads or homes.
Minutes felt like hours as I waited for updates from the responding officers. Finally, a shaky voice came over the radio. “Dispatch, we’ve arrived at the scene. There’s nothing here but trees and darkness.”
My mind raced, trying to make sense of it all. I knew what I had heard, but there was nothing for the officers to find.
“10-4, the call is pinging from that exact location.” Maybe it was a caller in a vehicle or ATV that got lost while out on a joy ride, I thought to myself.
I watched the map, my fingers trembling as I saw the officers’ markers moving deeper into the woods. The minutes dragged on like hours, and the radio was filled with eerie silence punctuated only by the occasional crackle.
Then, a voice crackled through the radio once more, and this time it was mixed with dread. “Dispatch, we’ve found something… something strange.” The officer’s voice quivered as if he struggled to find the words.
My heart leaped in anticipation, but it was soon weighed down by a growing sense of unease.
The officer hesitated before responding, “There’s a car here. An old, rusted sedan. It’s been here for years by the looks of it, covered in dirt and leaves. But… the doors are wide open, like someone got out in a hurry. There’s no sign of anyone around, though.”
My mind raced, trying to piece together this baffling puzzle. An abandoned car in the middle of the woods? It made no sense. “If there’s a registration or VIN I can try and locate an owner,” I replied.
As I waited for the officer to respond, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was deeply wrong. It was as though the forest itself held its breath, waiting in eerie silence.
Then, the officer’s voice came over the radio again, “Dispatch, there are no plates on this thing and the VIN has been etched off.”
My blood ran cold. The pieces of this disturbing puzzle were falling into place, but they formed an image I couldn’t quite grasp. The radio fell silent once more, and I watched the map, my heart pounding in my chest. Minutes turned into hours as I waited for updates from the officers on the scene. The fluorescent lights above me flickered, casting eerie shadows on the empty dispatch room.
Finally, one of the other officers came over the radio. “Dispatch, we’ve searched the area around the car, but there’s still no sign of anyone. We’re heading deeper into the woods to see if we can find any clues.”
My anxiety grew with each passing moment. It was as if the forest itself held the answers to this enigmatic puzzle, and it wasn’t ready to give them up. The officers’ markers on the map moved further into the darkness, their flashlights cutting through the night.
Then, another chilling discovery was made. “Dispatch, we’ve found a trail. It looks like someone dragged something through here. We’re following it.”
My heart sank as I realized that the officers were now walking deeper into the unknown, following a trail that led to an unsettling revelation. I could only hope they would find answers and return safely from this haunting night that had plunged us all into a dark and inexplicable mystery.