Stories by Lloyd Pierce

The Caller in the Static

Author:Lloyd Pierce

For Liam, it was just a tacky old phone, a relic from his grandmother's demolished house. An orange plastic eyesore nailed to the kitchen wall, completely unplugged. But then it started ringing. At first, it was a strange family joke. Then Liam answered, and he heard the whispers—faint, childlike murmurs no one else could hear. Now, the calls are becoming more frequent, the whispers more insistent, and the voice on the other end knows his name. The thing that haunted his childhood home has followed him, and it's using this dead line to reach out and drag him back into the darkness.