It had been two weeks, two days and three hours since she had last heard his voice and his words still reverberated against her eardrums, spun through her head and shook her inside her core.
She spent the day alone like the preceding sixteen, surfing the net and flipping through channels. Christmas was everywhere and Elvis’ one song that mattered was playing on loop, but it was not making her feel any better at all. But neither had the Oreos, the crisps or the cigarettes.
The phone rang.
Her heart paused.
She jumped to her feet and listened. The sound was muffled. She ran to her bag, still lying in the middle of the hallway. It’s not him. It could not be him, she knew that yet her hands were trembling and the anticipation was physical; pressing against her throat, making her choke. The phone was still ringing and the purse was packed. Did he change his mind? Her shaking fingers felt frantically through the accumulated crap in her bag. It’s not him. Notebooks, money, tissues, make-up bag blocked the way. It’s not him. The tips of her fingers honed in around the cold plastic of the phone which was no longer ringing. A beep. Incoming message. It’s not him. She flipped the phone open, urgently.
“Christmas sale now on at Marks and Spencer.”
It was not him!
—
This little sad story is in response to the Trifecta: Week Fifty-Five challenge:
Anticipation
a: visualization of a future event or state
b: an object or form that anticipates a later type
Sandra's scribbles 
Ouch. The stage where you get your hopes up over robocalls is the worst. I have been there many times!
So have I, this was experience talking 😦
Oh, bummer. Love the detail of the cigarettes and the crisps. And that horrible telephone call.
Thanks 🙂
Perfect ‘he loves me, he loves me not’ rhythm.
Haha that’s true! Thanks for noticing 🙂
[…] this week’s Trifecta writing challenge was a real toss-up. I went with the fictional story; Anticipation, but I couldn’t help but post this one as well. This is a non-fiction piece, unfortunately. I […]
Sad little story, but the anticipation was well described. I felt it with her. Great details with the trembling and shaking and the crisps and oreos.
Thank you 🙂
Ugh. I’ve been fooled by those stupid automated calls….they always seem to come when you’re expecting a call (from someone you actually want to talk to!)
Yup I’ve been there too. Sorry for taking so long to reply, this was lost in the spam folder 😐
The refrain of “It’s not him.” was perfect.
Your refrain of “It’s not him.” is perfect
I tried to show how we try to lower our hopes in such situations. thanks for reading 🙂
that is sad! ANd I know the feeling, getting those ads. Actually the telemarketers. though sometimes it’s a relief as I assume when the phone rings someone has died.
Oh my gosh! my mother does that, every time the phone rings she says a prayer!
It reminds me of the days before caller ID when you actually got excited about a ringing phone. But in this case, it makes me sad for her. Good writing is when you can experience emotion as you’re reading and I did here.
Thanks, a very kind comment 🙂
Awww I feel bad but this is so funny! (:
Glad it made you laugh! 🙂