Unheard Messages

Dave woke up with a start, rubbing his grime covered eyes. He stumbled to get up off of his sofa as he tried to locate the faint ringing noise that had taken him out of his drunken slumber. He remembered very little about the night before, he only seemed to remember the blaring music of the party he had thrown to celebrate his graduating from college. The stench of vomit and cheap beer filled the air of his dingy town house. As Dave stumbled drunkly around his trashed living room, he noticed that the ringing he heard earlier had stopped. Finally, he realized that the ringing had been emanating from his phone, which had been buried underneath the red solo cups that had been filled with spiked punch the night before. He picked up his phone and noticed the 4 voicemails left by his girlfriend, and fellow graduate, Adrianna. He placed his phone to his ear to listen to the messages, his head throbbing like it was being crushed in a vice.

"First unheard message." recited a robotic voice.

"Hey, that was a great party Jeff threw for you, am I right! I just wanted you to know that I made it home in one piece. It seemed you had way more fun than I did last night, considering you were passed out on the couch when I left with Brie. I'm going to bed now, so call me back later tomorrow. I love you so much, Dave. Bye!!!"

Memories of the night before started to flood back into his mind. He vaguely remembered his girlfriend leaving at around 1:15, twenty minutes before the first message. He walked over to the bathroom to grab some aspirin, as the robotic voice announced the next message.

"Hey Dave, is that you outside my house. If it is, it's not funny. You know how easily I get scared. If it's you just move something, don't just stand there."

As he sat back on the couch, he thought about the strangeness of that last message. Her house was way too far for anyone in a drunken state to drive to, let alone walk. Dave lived about fifteen minutes from campus and Adrianne lived with her cousin, Brie, about forty minutes from campus, which made it impossible for someone who was in the state Dave was in to get to her place. He hesitantly continued on with her messages.

"Oh my God, I really don't think it's you! *Phone drops and muffled shrieks are heard* Holy hell, what is that!? Dave, I really hope that isn't you. Whatever is outside my window just turned towards me. Please Dave, call back. It has a mask, Dave. Before, when I thought it was you, it was facing the street but, now it's half way up my lawn and it's looking straight at me. It's wearing a mask, Dave. Please call back, I need help!"

The shattered words of his girlfriend echoed through his head. The thought of anything happening to Adrianna scared him out of his mind. He realized that the next and final message was the call that had woken him up just a few minutes ago.

"Final unheard message." The emotionless voice announced the next phone call. "Dave, I'm in the closet and I've called the police. It's been thirty minutes since I last called and in that time, that thing made it to the door. *loud crashing sound* Damn it! It's in the house. Dave, I can hear it in the house and the police aren't even here yet! I love you so much, please know that in case I don't make it."

At this point in the message, tears of horror made their way down Dave's face, "I can hear it in the room. It's just outside the *loud shriek and loud banging until timer runs out on message*"

Dave couldn't believe what he had just heard. As tears streamed down his face, he noticed someone was standing at the end of his driveway, facing the street.