Thunder shatters the skies. A lonely mansion stands atop a hill. Inside, a marble telephone rings, its cry hardly audible above the ravenous storm outside.
‘Hello?’
Silence ensues.
‘Hello?’
Heavy breathing sets in.
‘Hello?’
The breathing now assimilates bellows propelling a simmering fire.
‘Seriously? You called me at—what—precisely midnight to just breathe into the receiver? Can you be any more of a cliché?’
The voice croaks, ‘The call is coming from inside—
‘That’s. It.’ An eardrum-shattering whistle cracks like thunder through the speaker.
The line goes dead shortly after and the rest of the night passes on peacefully.
—
Copyright: Danny Bowman
For Friday Fictioneers where the prompt this week is the picture on your left.
The inspiration for this story came from a mix of countless horror movies and a little snippet from real life. I’ll not go into details unless you ask me to, but I just want to say that blowing a die-hard whistle into the speaker does indeed result into the annoying caller hanging up with a moan of pain and a bad-tempered harrumph.
Sandra's scribbles 
Now there’s a would-be victim not to be reckoned with. Good one.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thanks, Rochelle 🙂
Cute, and sharp whistle well deserved.
Hehe 🙂
Thanks goodness a victim who refuses to be one!! Obviously NOT a baby-sitter or camper, the usual crazed killer fodder.
I don’t think you want “assimilates” in ” assimilates bellows”. Maybe “simulates”?
Just want you to know I want to be this person if I ever get such a call!
janet
haha 😀 glad for the inspiration.
It used to be ‘assimilates a bellows’, but I didn’t know if it fit. So I removed ‘a’ and then I was lost!
Speaking for myself, I don’t think I’d want to be inside that mansion, alone at night, during a storm (or any other time now that I think on it)! I enjoyed the way you carried the story through from the opening lines to the ending. Great flow! (love the whistle) Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf – not I!
The Big Bad Wolf, Ha! 🙂
Thanks for commenting, Penny.
Good for you. I did something similar once.
Scott
Mine:
http://kindredspirit23.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/friday-fictioneers-52413-wrong-number-genre-humorous-pg13/
I loved yours in fact 🙂
Thank you!
Does that technique also work on robo-callers?
🙂
Hmmm….I’ll need to think up a new one for that!
For me the picture you added set a perfect tone.
I thought it might 😉
We should all keep air horns by our bed for those annoying midnight stalkers. 🙂
That is great advice, David!
Very entertaining.
AnElephant, of course, has no need of a whistle!
I’m sure an elephant’s trumpet is much more effective than a whistle!
That outta got him! Ha ha! Frighteningly funny! 😀
Hehe 🙂 Thanks, Linda.