28/11/2022 - The Phone Call
Reading time: 3 min
Photo by Melanie Brown on Unsplash
The bus was full as always after my forensic class, and all I wanted to do was sit down and listen to my music. Instead, my phone had just died and I was squashed between the window and the crowd, strangers rubbing against my breast as if I couldn’t notice.
When that old lady two meters from me pressed the stop button, I would have killed to take her seat, and with a couple of elbows in the right places, I managed to do it.
In front of me, a hundred kilos of a man, heavily bearded and deep in a phone conversation ignored me completely.
Looking out toward the dark silhouette of the city, craving my phone more than ever, the man’s voice became a good enough entertainment, as he was loud, and although I couldn’t hear what the person on the phone was saying—his massive hand was enveloping the entire device—the man in front of me was doing most of the talking.
“No. No, we haven’t caught him. I don’t think we should. He’s not dangerous. They teased him, they provoked him, what did you expect? It’s a natural reaction.”
He seemed calm, and yet, strangely passioned about this person he was defending, and I wondered if he was a psychiatrist trying to help a patient in a bad situation.
“I don’t think reclusion was a good idea. Why? You tell me. That doctor, Mrs Larson, yes, her; she came in every day in such provocative manners, and she would poke the beast over and over again. Yes, just like his neighbour, lady Jessica. See? There is a pattern. Women hunt him to ridicule him, they tease him and then complain when he reacts. What do they expect? I don’t think it’s fair. I don’t think it’s fair at all.”
People were getting off the bus now and I could hear him a bit better. I made a face when he described the ‘pattern,’ exchanged my idea of a good doctor with a sexist son of a bitch finding excuses for an assault, but I kept listening. It was almost better than a crime podcast.
“She’s fine. A couple of days in hospital and she’ll be like new. But she’ll think twice before poking the beast again. He’s not dangerous, I tell you. He’s the victim here.”
I was also quite surprised he was still on the bus. We were now on the outskirts of the city, and usually at that point I was the only remaining passenger.
We finally got to the last stop, and by then I was really hoping this possible patient of the man had escaped nowhere near my house. He must have been a scary individual.
I grabbed my bag, which was open, and a book ended up far beneath my seat. By the time I grabbed it, the bus had stopped and the man in front of me was approaching the door. With the corner of my eye, I saw him removing the hand he kept on his ear and placing it in his pocket. He was holding no phone.
I didn’t have the courage to follow him, though this was my stop. I was paralysed on my seat, unable to look away from him, and just before the doors closed, he turned, glanced back at me, and grinned.
About this story
Prompt:
ELEMENT ONE: The battle
Your main character(s) must be fighting for or against something. Physical battling is not required.
ELEMENT TWO: The knock out punch
The last line of your fic must be a K.O. Whether it’s most surprising to your reader or another character is up to you, but it should be a shocker.
OPTIONAL ELEMENT: The truth is subjective
Optionally, give us an unreliable narrator. What really happened here? Nobody knows (or no one will say).
From the official page of FFM2022.
Also, this story is inspired by true events!
Notes on the challenge
Each and every story published here has been written, reviewed, polished and published in less than 90 minutes. Which means you’re going to find spelling mistakes, ugly sentences and weird structures. I still hope you’ll enjoy them!
