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Call Waiting

March 27, 2017

Call Waiting
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The phone rings and I answer without thinking.

“Hello?”

“Michael? I’m inside. The interface worked.” It’s Susan. It’s always Susan.

“Susan…”

“Why is it so dark?”

She always asks this. For a decade she’s been asking.

“Susan, something went wrong. You… you didn’t make it.”

“What do you mean? I’m…”

“During the upload. You had a stroke. This was all they could save.”

Her voice starts to degrade. “Mi— ichael. I—”

The line goes dead. The digital ghost begins its cycle again.

The phone rings. I answer. It’s my penance.

“Michael? I’m inside. The interface worked.”

It’s Susan.

It’s always Susan.

— Ian Rennie

P.S. If you love flash fiction...we deliver for free.

Filed Under: All Stories, Featured Stories, Writing Contest - Issue 25

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. marcasdom says

    March 27, 2017 at 5:40 am

    Terrifying yet poignant, thanks.

  2. Jenny says

    March 28, 2017 at 2:16 am

    It feels like a very real scenario, which makes it all the more scary! It’s so emotive and I have such a sense of the history between those two characters. Very well done!

  3. Gena says

    March 28, 2017 at 7:06 am

    The rest of the story… Chilling, frightening, dark, great read!

  4. Esme upon the Cloud says

    March 30, 2017 at 9:57 am

    Great story, one of the best I’ve read on 101.

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