When i was in 6th grade i got my first phone. It was a smartphone and i was the first to get one in my friend group.
All my friends thought i was so cool because i had one. While i liked the attention, the phone wasn’t as fun to have as my friends made it out to be. My number somehow got on a telemarketer list and i got so many spam calls. During walks,school, at night while i was sleeping, when i was taking a shower just to name a few.
I never answered these calls, as i was instructed to by my parents. There was this one caller that wouldn’t stop though. Usually telemarketers try to call once or twice maybe leave a voicemail and then stop. This caller, no they never stopped. I would get more than 10 calls from them everyday. It got so bad that i blocked them.
Unfortunately, that didn’t work because they continued with a different number. I finally got so fed up that i answered one day. That day my life changed for the worse. Below is a transcript of the call.
Caller: Hello thank you for finally picking up Alex!
Me: How the hell do you know my name?
Caller: Don’t worry about that. Anyways, i’ve been wanting to talk to you since the day i saw you. Those long eyelashes and dark red hair.
Me: Uh what? that’s really really creepy. I’m a literal child i’m not sure you should be talking to me.
Caller: It doesn’t matter i would’ve found a way. You’re just so beautiful and i know where you live now so i can see you whenever i want.
Me: What the actual fuck? That’s super disgusting. I’m hanging up now. Have fun stalking someone else.
Caller: If you hang up i’ll slit your throat right now. I know you’re in the park next to your house sitting on a bench.
Me: Your watching me? You’re a sick and twisted creep!!
Caller: If it keeps you on the phone with me i don’t mind. I love hearing that pretty voice of yours.
Me: What do you want from me?
Caller: I wanna play a game. If you win i’ll stop calling. If you lose, i’ll take you and you’ll never see your family again.
Me: Absolutely not. I don’t even know you and i sure as hell don’t want to play with you.
Caller: Remember i do know where you are right now and won’t hesitate to slit your throat in front of all these people. You don’t even know where i am but i can see you trying to figure out. Just know you’ll never find me. Now about that game. It’s 2 truths and a lie. If i guess your lie, i win. If i don’t, you can run home, tell your parents and the police and i’ll never be found. Let’s not make this messier than it has to be.
Now remember im a kid at this point, i don’t know how long he has been following me, and i don’t know what he truly knows about me. My twelve year old brain was having trouble comprehending all that was being thrown at me. I decided it would be in my best interest to play along with his game.
Me: Okay fine then i’ll play your stupid game. You have to promise me that my whole family is safe if i lose.
Caller: I wouldn’t touch a hair on their head.
Me: Let’s get this over with then.
I had to think of things that no one would know. I’m talking stuff that sounds so unbelievable he’ll guess one of my truths.
Me: Okay i’ve got my three things. 1: my grandma died when i was a baby 2: I watched someone close to me get murdered by my own brother 3: My grandma was a cannibal in her early twenties
Caller: That’s way too easy. The third is the lie obviously.
Me: You’re actually wrong. You failed to notice I said my brother murdered someone. Why wouldn’t he be in prison if he did that? My brother didn’t murder anyone. However, my grandma that died when I was young did eat someone before she met my grandfather. She skinned him alive and then sold and ate some of him. No one figured it out until she said something on her deathbed.
Caller: I- uhm.
Me: You said you would leave me alone. Get lost and never call this number again.
The caller then hung up and I didn’t stick around to see if I could spot them. I ran as fast as I could back home. I then took my phone into the backyard and broke it with a sledgehammer. When my parents got home, they were fuming. My parents got mad because i gave them no reason as to why i broke it. So they gave me an old Nokia phone because they thought i dropped or damaged it accidentally. I never told anyone close to me what happened because i was scared he would come back. I just knew that i would NEVER answer a spam caller again.