Campfire Horror Stories (Vol. 1)

The Tale of the Phantom Caller

The summer equinox is now here, which meant Jessica could finally enjoy a wonderful vacation from high school. Sure she still had to worry about her job but, at least the job involved being a lifeguard at the beach. The ever so handsome, muscular Isaac will be guarding lives alongside her at la plage. And hey, tons of more free time with her best friend, Becky, whom promised to get her discounts on heels at the mall. Totally tubular.

Jessica sat alone in her house, her parents are having dinner at fancy restaurant in commemoration of their twentieth year anniversary, listening to songs in the living room as she relaxed on top of a comfy couch. A normal way to start the first day of summer vacation. An abrupt buzzing sound came from her phone. She picked up the phone and saw that it was Amy from History class texting her about how strange Aubrey has been acting lately.

Jessica let out a cheap scoff. "Maybe her dad performed an experiment on her mind. She never did tell us what kind of stuff he does at Ceter & Demeter Labs," she texted back.

Another buzzing sound came ten seconds later. "That's true lol," Amy replied.

Jessica laughed and continued to text with Amy, coming up with crazy theories about Aubrey's dad. Eventually Amy started to get tired and told Jessica that she was going to go head to bed. With no one to text anymore, Jessica decided to watch a movie on the television. It wasn't long before her phone started to act up again, but this time it was ringing.

"Hey Amy, I thought you went to bed?" Jessica said into the phone.

"Get out of here!" A sharp female voice, unfamiliar to Jessica, responded back. Cold air seeped out of the phone, sending chills all across Jessica's white face, which instantly got paler by the second. "GET OUT OF HERE!" it repeated loudly, then hung up immediately.

Even though the stranger's cold voice spooked Jessica at first, she eventually became disgruntled by the thought that this could have been a prank.

"Oh ha-ha! Very funny Amy! That was a cute prank," Jessica texted to her friend.

*Ding*

"What are you talking about?"

Jessica groaned in frustration. "You know exactly what I am talking about," she texted back.

*Ding*

"No, I don't. I am not trying to prank you, I really want you out of this house."

The hairs on Jessica's arms stood up on end as she began to experience goosebumps.

Could this be a prank? Did someone hack Amy's phone? Why would someone want to do this to Jessica?

Jessica's phone begun to ring again. This time Jessica decided to ignore it, and let it go to voicemail. The phone did not stop ringing; it just continued to ring and ring, which irritated Jessica very much. Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore, and pressed the "cancel" button on the phone.

There was no doubt in Jessica's mind that whoever was calling her was not going to stop. So, she unlocked the passcode on her phone, and made sure to block the caller. If this did not work, then she would have to go to the police.

Jessica felt a bit anxious for the next twenty minutes. But, when she saw that the phone stopped ringing she knew she could relax, and finally find peace within her mind. Now, she could go back to listening music.

*Ring* *Ring*

Jessica shrieked. The phone did not stop ringing, not even when she tried to hang up on the prankster. She gripped the phone hard then threw it hard across threw room, clashing against the wall. She looked outside the window to see a tall lady with rotting flesh, bright red eyes, and long pointed teeth; on closer inspection there was also green acid dripping from her mouth that made a small indent in the ground it landed on.

"I'm coming in," she said in a harsh whisper.

Jessica let out a gasping sound. She fell of the couch and banged her elbow against the edge of the table. "NOOO!" she yelped while blood trickled down the side of her arm. The stinging pain in her arm made it difficult for her to get up from off the ground. She mustered enough strength to push her hand off the table so she could stand up. When she looked outside again, she quickly noticed that the monster was gone but, she could hear the doorknob slowly turning just a few feet away.

"No! This can't be happening! Monsters don't exist!" she yelled out. Tears streamed down her face from all the sudden stress she was feeling.

The tall lady opened the door and walked into her home. Jessica watched as the monster walked slowly down the entranceway.

"AAAH!" Jessica screamed. She ran quickly out of the living room.

Jessica ran as fast as she could to the glass doorway that led to the backyard porch. When she turned around to see that the tall lady was still following her out of the house. Nevertheless, she heaved her body over the railing and leapt off the porch, and onto a rose bush. Her skin got cut up from all the thorns but she did not care, she only wanted to get away from the monster.

Jessica continued to run even though her body was ready to give up due to exhaustion. The police station was only ten minutes away on foot. She could make it.

"Finally, you're out!" a familiar voice yelled out from five yards away.

Jessica kept running, not caring about what the tall lady had to say.

"Now I can finally take over your body!" she yelled out from merely a few yards away.

Jessica continued to ignore her as she urged her legs to keep moving. But, her legs no longer wanted to move, and she collapsed onto the ground. The tall lady stood over her body, and muttered a chant under her breath. Jessica tried to move her arms and legs but, they did not budge; her whole body was paralyzed.

An odd sensation washed over Jessica's soul. She felt nothing, saw nothing, and heard nothing.

In the next moment, Jessica's body stood up three inches taller with a phone in hand. She sent a text message to Amy, asking her if she wanted to hang out tomorrow. As she walked back to her house, a bit of green acid dripped out of her mouth.

"Let's see how long this body lasts."