Dial Tone

Alison Pearce
Author: Alison Pearce
Word Count: 164
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Dial Tone

For Flash Fiction’s Weekly Challenge

Prompt – The phone rings in the middle of the night

Word Count – 150

Inspiration – I have always been fascinated with EVP’s and Thomas Edison’s belief that spirits could communicate through electronics. Here’s hoping that one day, Thomas will call his own spirit phone!!

Dial Tone belongs to the following groups:

! Creative Writing & Poetry !, Core [C.O.R.E], Flash Fiction, If it doesn't belong, Midnight Ramblers, Riginals, Safe Haven, Short stories - Spherical Scriptings, Twisted Tales, Who are YOU to Judge?, WMG and Writers Edge

Shrill and persistent, the phone woke Paul.
‘Hello?’
“Paul.”
The achingly familiar voice thrummed through him. Paul sat bolt upright, pulse racing.
‘Jane? Where are you?’
“Outside.”
‘What?’
“Wait outside.”
He barrelled out of the front door, bare-chested and shoeless, ‘Wait for me.’
“Stay…outside.”
A dial tone filled Paul’s ear. Grief stricken, he sunk to his knees on the footpath when his attention was caught by a loud bang.
Startled, he turned to see his house become engulfed in flames. Later, the authorities would tell him that a faulty gas valve had caused the explosion – that it was a miracle he was alive. Only he knew the source of the miracle.
The phone rang once more. Not even thinking about the impossibility of such a thing occurring, he answered at once, knowing it would be her.
“It was not your time.”
The dial tone sounded for the last time.

© Alison Pearce 2009

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