WORD PROMPT OF THE DAY

We moved into our new home after just closing a week prior. It was a fixer-upper, to say the least. We gutted and remodeled the entire house and didn't bring one thing from our old apartment except for our clothes, a few kitchen items, and ourselves. 

We decided to keep the phone that the previous owners had left behind.
It looked like an antique; I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it.
It reminded me of those old phones in black-and-white films with a distinct ring. It seemed fancy, like something rich people would display in their "sitting room."

Bobby thought it was out of place with the rest of our things, but he finally let it go when I asked who the woman in the relationship was. I've found that questioning someone's manhood always does the trick when it comes to ending an argument with the last word.
Plus, our five-year-old son Nicky loved playing with it. He would pretend like he was talking to his imaginary friend.

At least, I thought Nicky imagined them.

I often woke in the middle of the night, as I was a light sleeper. So that night was nothing new, except this time, a faint ringing woke me up.
I sluggishly dragged my lower body out of our bed, slipped on my bed slippers and felt my way down the hallway towards the noise. Finding my way around in the dark in this house was still new to me, but I was able to find the light switch. A slight shock surged through the tip of my fingers.

Hmph, we gotta fix that.

As I moved closer towards the ringing, it rang even louder. I quickened my pace quietly to the den where we kept the antique phone. There's no way the ringing was coming from a disconnected fifty-year-old phone, but that was the direction of the the noise, so I continued anyway. I entered the den turning on the lamp in the center of the room. The ringing stopped. I paused momentarily, my ears perked, alert waiting for the ringing to start again.
After waiting for a minute or so, I decided that the noises I heard weren't actually coming from inside the house. 

I shrugged my shoulders and let out a sigh then proceeded to turn off the lamp, then...

Ringgggg, rinnggg, rinnnnggg!

It was definitely coming from the phone...but how the hell could that be?
I raised my right hand and proceeded to slap myself repeatedly, somehow hoping that I would suddenly wake from this strange dream.

No such luck.

The phone kept ringing seemingly louder than before. I walked towards it and slowly reached for the reciever and held it to my ear. The logical part of my brain rationalized that if this was a mental break of some sort, it was contained for the most part and was tethered to this object. If I answered it, I would be playing out whatever action my brain felt it needed to in order to return to reality.

"He-Hell-Hello.." I stuttered.
"It's about time. Jesus. It's a good thing my life didn't depend on you picking up the phone,otherwise I'd be dead." The stranger snickered.
The voice on the other end sounded like a female.
My hands began to shake. So aggressively, I could no longer hold on to the phone.

"Hello? Hello? Oh,for Christ's sake! Hello? Mindy! Mindy! Pick up the phone!"

My eyes widened. 

How the hell did she know my name?

I grabbed my hand and held it tightly, breathing slowly in and out in attempts to control my nerves.
I finally calmed myself and held the reciever to my ear once more.

"Wh-Who is this?" 
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

TO BE CONTINUED...