Warning
The shrilling of a phone swam nearer as Anna surfaced into consciousness. Next to her, beside the phone her partner Dave was doing his best to ignore the phone. Anna nudged him.
‘The phone, it’s right beside you.’
‘What?’
‘The phone.’ Two more rings and had gone by and any second now the answer machine would kick in, for some reason Anna felt she needed to find out who was calling at 330am on a Wednesday morning. It must be important for someone to disturb her slumber.
Dave’s fumbling fingers finally made contact with the handset. ‘Yesss’ he muttered sleepily and then nodding as if he thought the caller could somehow see him he thrust the phone towards Anna, and as soon as she had relieved him of the handset he turned over and with an over dramatic pull of the duvet feigned sleep.
With trepidation Anna held the receiver to her ear convinced she was about to be given bad news, her heart was thumping and as she struggled to say ‘Hello’ she realised how dry her mouth was. It didn’t help that the only light into the bedroom was from the full moon which cast an eerie glow through the thin gauze curtains.
‘You have to go away love’ came a voice Anna instantly recognised, just the sound of it caused a lump to rise in her throat and her eyes grew wider.
‘Mum?’ the question hung in the air, she was sure she could hear a hum on the line, the kind you get when the call was coming long distance.
‘Did you hear me, take the children and Dave and get away tomorrow, before it’s too late.’
‘Why? Go where?’
‘Go anywhere you can out of town. Love you sweetheart, miss you, I’ll be seeing you’
The line went dead even though Anna still cradled it next to her ear, hoping to hear the voice of her beloved Mum again, a voice she thought she’d never hear again. She hissed Dave’s name several times as her Mothers words whirled through her mind. His response was to bury himself further into the duvet indicating that as she wasn’t urging him to get dressed whatever the early morning caller had wanted could wait until a more decent hour. Anna couldn’t sleep, the words invaded her brain even as she tried to close her eyes and escape into the realms of sleep.
She couldn’t work out why she would be given a warning to go away, it must be a prank, someone playing a cruel joke, as if the week wasn’t going to be hard enough with the party for Megan and the anniversary just a couple of days later, there was too much to do to even consider going away, as much as she would welcome a break somewhere sunny. Trying to dismiss the notion out of her mind she tossed and turned until just before dawn she managed to snatch some sleep.
Getting up was hard that morning, she dragged herself into the shower when she was awoken when she heard Dave reprimanding Stephen for having dirtied his uniform before even getting to school and reminding Megan that if she wanted to make it to her tenth birthday party at the weekend she had better get ready for school. It made Anna feel old to think that her eldest child was reaching double figures. She dressed quickly, keen to help Dave before the morning descended into an uncomfortable shouting fest.
‘Who was the nutter on the phone?’ were Dave’s first words to her as she entered the kitchen.
‘Wrong number’ she said, she shivered as she sent it and without thinking she crossed herself. Dave looked at her accusingly ‘Anna, I want Anna, they said, you sure it was a wrong number?’ Anna met his eye and the look she gave him told him the conversation was over, the last thing she needed was a drawn out discussion about a strange phone call in front of the children. Dave was clearly put out though, he slammed Megan’s half eaten bowl of cereal on the counter top spraying himself with milk as he did so, the situation not helped by Anna’s suppressed snort of laughter.
After a busy day in the school run and half a day spent working at the local library Anna had practically forgotten the mystery phone call. She cooked a tasty shepherd pie, one of Dave’s favourites and sure to earn her a few points after the difficult start to the day. They had a nice relaxed evening in front of the television and the glass of wine had certainly helped them both to relax.
As she closed the curtain she was surprised at how bright the moon was, she vaguely remembered something about the moon appearing to be nearer to the Earth than ever before. Just as she was about to bring the curtain together she saw a movement out of the corner of her eye. Although it wasn’t outrageously late it was odd to see someone out on such a cold night, especially as the person seemed to be an older woman alone. She looked a little fragile and Anna thought she should go and see if she was alright. At the moment the woman looked up at her and waved. Terrified Anna ducked behind the curtain and yelled for Dave.
‘What?’
‘There’s a woman outside, waving at me.’
Dave was perplexed, his usually level headed wife didn’t normally complain about women waving at her, he dutifully peeked out of the curtains as Anna directed but his survey of the street revealed no-one, not even a fox pawing away at a dustbin sack. Anna joined him at the curtains and looked at the spot where she was sure she had seen an old face. When the phone rang they both flinched.
Dave strode across the room and lifted the phone from its receiver in an extravagant gesture.
‘Hello’ he boomed. He listened for a few seconds, turning away from Anna who was watching him closely. ‘No thank you’ he said and replaced the phone.
‘Sales call’ he said to Anna but the little shift in his position told her that he was lying, but she wanted to believe him so she busied herself in her usual night time routine of creams and moisturisers. She snuggled into the covers and the reassuring arms of Dave, she was just drifting into the realm of sleep when the phone screamed once more for her attention.
Anna sat bolt upright in bed, Dave was not quite asleep either and he reached for the phone but Anna was quicker snatching it away and holding it to her ear.
‘Hello’ she said
‘Hello lovey, I’m still here’ said the familiar voice. Anna’s bottom lip trembled,
‘Who is this? It’s not funny you know it’s cruel.’
‘Look lemon drop I haven’t got much time left, you have to get away lemony, before the weekend, take the children away for Megan’s birthday.’
‘But how? Why?’
‘I can’t say any more, I have to go’ the line went dead and as Dave folded her into his arms as the tears flowed.
They stayed up discussing the call, what had been said and what it could mean, neither of them could think of a reason why anyone would want to scare them or get them out of the house at this time of year, a time that was so important to them.
‘It has to be someone we know’ Anna concluded ‘she called me lemon drop, only Mum called me that, that’s all I ever wanted with my pocket money, lemon drops from the jar.’
‘Look maybe we should go away, you know just in case’ Dave said, his uncertainty reflecting her own as they tried to reconcile their assurance that the calls must be a hoax with the oddness of the calls and the information that no-one else had known.
‘We’ll go to the New Forest, bed and breakfast, straight after Megan’s party, we’ll call it a birthday treat, after all she is horse mad.’ The slept close to one another that night, clinging onto something physical and real.
In the morning they told the children about the surprise birthday treat and as is the nature of children they took it all in their stride, delighted at the idea of having a forest to explore for the weekend. Initially Megan had questioned the timing but once that she had been reassured that her party would go ahead as planned she was delighted. On the next two nights the phone remained silent and Anna was relieved to get to Saturday. Megan’s party was at twelve and they were leaving for the New Forest at three, the morning was hectic as Anna cooked some of the party food and prepared the overnight bags for the weekend.
The party was a success, unsurprising as Anna had planned it to the smallest detail, and the drive to the bed and breakfast was uneventful, the children had been captivated by the sudden appearances of the horses that populated the forest squealing as if they were otherworldly, rather than them being the ones invading their home.
Monday arrived and Anna packed with a heavy heart, the fresh air and long walks had been exhilarating but as they travelled home a growing sense of trepidation filled her. They turned off of the motorway and passed the high street and Anna felt the weight of the world upon her shoulders. As they turned into Chestnut Grove they were confronted with a scene of devastation, their house the one in the middle of the small cul de sac all that could be seen was a pile of rubble, the houses to either side were not in much better shape. A policeman waved them over and explained that an explosion had occurred and they didn’t need to be told that their house was uninhabitable.
As they drove away to find a nearby hotel for the night Anna noticed a woman waving to her. The next day was spent sorting things out after one important visit. Anna laid the lilies in honour of her mother whom she had lost just last year, and as she stood she whispered ‘Thank you’ sure that somewhere her mother could hear her.