THE WAREHOUSE HOTLINE

|19|: You Always Know The Right Things To Say

"Welcome to the Warehouse Hotline. How can I make your day even more evil?"

"..."

"Yes, Clarisse?"

"How'd you know it's me?"

"You're the only person that rings at 8:18pm."

"Um, just wanted to say goodnight."

"42 minutes before the hotline closes?"

"Um, yeah. Has no one ever done that before?"

"Not until today."

"Um, okay."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Okay, then. Bye."

"Okay, I'll tell you."

"My best friend is in the hospital."

The line was quiet for a while.

"Okay."

"Everyone thinks it was because her boyfriend cheated on her, but I'm sure it's not that. I had a feeling that someone did this to her."

"Who, do you think might've done it?"

"I think it was a villain — I'm not acting crazy. I swear."

"We were both walking and we saw some faint figure in the distance, but as soon as we stared at them, they were gone like a blink of an eye. I mistook it for my imagination and walked on. I dropped off Georgia, then I made my way home."

Avery paused trying to not recollect the horrible things she heard.

"Then, I felt my phone ring and I answered it. All I heard was screaming in the background. A deep, deep, deep voice laughing and said, 'now you're all mine'. I thought she was gone. So I called the cops, immediately."

"They made their way to her house and found her out in the next alley unconscious. All I saw on her hand was a letter."

Avery sniffled, crying her eyes out due to the horrendous state she'd found of her best friend.

"The lett-letter said, 'you're next'."

"Sapphire?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

"What do I do?"

"Sit down with your best friend and pray. I'm sure she will be fine. Good things happen to good people."

"Th-thanks, Sapphire."

"Don't mention it."

"You always know the right things to say."