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“Hello?”
The voice
resounded in the phone’s speaker didn’t sound like her, it
sounded like someone else, someone rougher and more sincere.
“Allys? You
there?” The voice resounded through the phone lines. It sounded
like the man he knew, yet she didn’t know if that was true.
”Allys, I think I’m in trouble.” The voice again, begging. ”I’m
sorry, Allys, I didn’t mean for it to happen, it wasn’t supposed
turn out like this…”
She couldn’t
wait to hear the end of this.
“John? Is that
you?” She interrupted, even though she already knew the answer.
No one else whined like he did.
“I know we said
we were done with the business,” He continued, as if she didn’t
reply at all. “But this was just one last job, just one last
one, just…”
“John, just
slow down.”
“Just one last
one, Allys.”
“What happened?
John, slow down and answer me this. What happened?”
A dry pause,
one so silent that you could hear him swallow on the other side
of the line. “Well,” He started, before he paused again, that
same swallowing sound on the speaker of the phone. “I finished
the job and I was on my way to the drop point.”
“What job?”
Allys asked, yet was just ignored again, as John continued.
“I got on the
bus, and feeling pretty good, but then…” He stopped as he
started choking, and sobs were heard along with the static of
the phone. “Ah man, Allys, you said you were out and done, and
Toni and Dante bailed out on me yesterday.” He continued through
his sobs. “But I thought I could do it on my own and,” Pause as
you could hear snot coming out of his nose. “I’m sorry, I’m so
sorry, Allys. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this, I swear.”
A loud clunk on the other side of the line, as if he banged the
payphone with the phone receiver or something. “Fuck!” He
screamed all of a sudden, as he bangs over and over again with
the phone receiver. “Allys, the Yakuza are gonna kill me!”
“What?” Allys
could hear her heart pump fast. “Wait! What did you say? The
Yakuza? You got involved with the Yakuza?!”
“I’m sorry,”
The sobs came again. “I’m so, so sorry…”
Somewhere
within the realm of the sitcom on TV, someone said something and
someone laughed at the stupidity of it all.
“The Yakuza,
Allys, they’re gonna kill me.” John was hyperventilating now,
sounding pretty much freaked out. “They’re probably already on
their way. They’re gonna find me and kill me!”
“John, where
are you?”
“I’m gonna have
to get out of here soon. I can’t stay long. They’re looking for
me!”
“No, no, no,
John. Don’t leave!” Allys screamed at him, even though she was
sure her voice wasn’t carried through enough to his brain.
“Don’t go anywhere, we’ll handle this! Just tell me where you
are.” With a calmer voice, she asked “Where are you?”
Silence,
nothing but the static swimming in the phone lines.
“I’m sorry,
Allys.” The voice that came over was much quieter, much more
calmer. “I’ve gotta go. I’ve gotta get out here.” A nervous
chuckle, one that Allys imagined was accompanied by John’s usual
non-caring shrug. “I’ll think of something. Maybe I can fix it
all somehow.”
“No, no, John.
Don’t you hang up on me!” Now she was the one getting frantic.
“Where are you, John? Where are you?”
“Sorry, Allys.”
Was his simple reply.
“John, don’t go
anywhere!” She screamed, somehow the fear reflecting in her
voice. “Where are you? Don’t go anywhere, John!”
And there it
was, the buzz of disconnection, the tone that perpetrated it
all.
“Do you hear
me?” She screamed at the phone. “Stay where you are! Don’t do
anything stupid!”
The tone,
nothing but the tone listening to her tears, the ones that
poured out somehow, without her being aware of it.
“John? John?”
She spoke in a lower voice, one almost down to a little whine.
“Hello? John?”
No answer, no
nothing.
And with a hard
slam, she hung the phone up, sobbing, her shoulders shaking.
“Damn it!” She screamed, over and over again. “Damn it, damn it,
damn it!”
And this was
how our story began. |
