Disturbing Call

The sun travelled down, hid by clouds as the mist descended. It was getting cold. The day had gone by boringly and nothing interesting happened.

Richard turned on the heater of his car as he drove home. He had dropped by the military HQ for the training but had only stayed for two hours. Priscilla hadn't come.

He felt a little stupid for feeling like this all because Priscilla hadn't shown up for the training. He realised, to his dismay, that most of the times he had actually been putting on a show for her. He would put all his effort and exert all his strength, pulling tricks upon tricks just to show off for Priscilla.

All he could do was mentally slap himself while cursing at his stupidity. His hand gripped the steering wheel tighter. His only relieve was that Priscilla wasn't here right now and what he was beating himself up for had happened in the past.

'In the past…' he thought. 'She wouldn't notice such little details right?'

He exhaled and his breath quickly formed mist around him. As he drove home, his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and almost choked on his saliva. The car swerved a bit to the side of the road.

It was Priscilla!

Richard took a while to calm his racing heart down. He didn't understand why getting a call from her was enough to make his heart jump. He quickly answered the call.

"Hey, what's up?"

"What took you so long to answer?" her voice—the ever so sweet voice that he had become accustomed to—sounded from the other end.

'If she knows I'm having such feelings, I will totally lose face.' He reminded himself before saying. "I was driving. I just left the HQ."

"Oh…" Priscilla said. Her voice was followed by a sound of ruffling. "…I totally forgot about the training…not that I didn't remember it but I lost track of time while doing stuff."

"What sort of stuff would make you lose track of time?" Richard asked. Ever since he got to know her he found that she was rather dedicated and wouldn't simply forget to show up if things didn't go south.

She giggled—at least that's what Richard interpreted the soft laugh on the other end as—and said, "Stuff you wouldn't be interested in, Colonel. How was your day?"

"Pretty great," Richard replied and glanced at the cars that sped past him. "I was bored to death particularly because of your absence."

"That makes me regret not coming all the more," she replied and paused for a while before adding. "I'll make it up somehow."

Richard unconsciously smiled a bit. His hand gripped the phone harder and his heart raced faster again. "How will you do that?"

"I will keep that a secret."

"Okay," he said, his expectations rising by the second. "You're home now?"

"Yes, why?"

"No reason. I just asked."

She giggled again. "I'm actually doing…"

What followed next was static. Richard furrowed his eyebrows to hear what she was saying but then a crashing sound followed which was soon followed by a scream. Something broke again and another scream followed. Richard listened with a pale face. The voice screaming was definitely Priscilla's voice and it seemed like someone was attacking her. Then it sounded like she was rushing somewhere.

Her voice came again. "Richard, help me!"

The call cut. Richard felt his heart palpitate. He threw his phone down and quickly reversed his car. He stepped on the accelerator and zoomed towards Priscilla's house at the fastest speed conceivable.

His heart was beating like war drums and his hands which were clenching the steering wheel were shaking like there was no tomorrow. He gritted his teeth and cursed the damned traffic light for turning red at that moment.

'Hold on, Priscilla. I'm coming.'

His head was filled with the image of the first day they met. She had run out under the heavy rain, helplessly and he had almost knocked her down. He recalled that back then a group of people had broken into her apartment to 'take' her. The situation was much worse when he realised that she was now back at her apartment. The traffic light turned green and he sped away. During this time, he used one hand to control the car while the other hand rummaged through his bag to take out detachable parts of his gun.

His phone rang again and his heart jumped—almost to his mouth. He was a bit disappointed to find that the caller ID was Lily. He didn't think too much and answered the call.

"Richard, where the hell are you going?"

Richard sighed. She was apparently tracking his location using the small device attached to his tooth. She had become edgy when she realised that just a few days ago he had gone to Boulderview alone and had confronted two gangs all on his own.

Despite his best effort to assure her that he fine, Lily still made a big deal out of it. She was also put off by the fact that he didn't drop by to see his mother. She insisted on monitoring his movements to know what he was up to.

Richard couldn't stop her even if he wanted to. Nothing would stop her form monitoring him secretly. She insisted that she had to be aware and if possible help out when such things happened again.

"I don't have time to talk right now, Lily."

She groaned on the other end then said, "Twenty minutes and if I don't hear from you, I'm coming in."

She disconnected the call. Richard drove at full speed and soon arrived at Priscilla's apartment. The lights were on and the door was shut. He cocked his gun and stepped out while scanning his environment.

He approached the door and listened. There were sounds in the living room. It sounded like the TV was on. He nudged the door and it opened without much resistance. He moved in with the gun pointed and at the ready to fill the intruder with holes.

What he saw next made his heart stop for a few seconds. On the sofa, near the TV, was a smiling Priscilla who sat eating popcorn.

She waved at him. "Join me, this movie is fun!"