XXXV. 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞


۫ ּ ִ ۫ ˑ ֗ 𓏲˖ 𑁍 ࣪ ִ ۫ ּ ִ ۫ ˑ ֗
࣪𓏲ּ ֶָ  ✩◿𝓓𝓣𝓐◸ 🂱 ࣪𓏲ּ ֶָ
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE—
don't answer the phone.


Month two.

Things were getting worse. Way worse. No one thought that Sarah never leaving her room would have been the best part of this process, but it ended up being the one thing everyone wanted back. Now, she had the outside world all to herself. She had anger, she had a new version of the broken girl who's boyfriend got stolen from her. She had no job, her grades were shit due to not being in school, and she made the worse decisions. Decisions that would hurt her worse then loosing Vance did, but maybe that's why she did it.

"Hey, pretty girl." Sarah didn't know her name, she just knew she was pretty.

The blonde from the party looked back. "Hey, Sarah."

The whole town knew her name now, it was all in the papers. The papers she no long threw on Sundays. Now, all Sarah ever did was walk around town in Billys orange jacket. No one knew what she ever did. Sarah stayed leaning against Grab N Go. "I have fifty dollars. Do you have any more of that candy?"

It didn't cross her mind until this morning, recalling how calm she felt at that party Vance brought her to. The last proper memory she'd had. The blonde gave her a look. "You're not gonna take them all at once, right? It'll mess with your brain really bad."

Sarah shook her head, giving her the fifty as she had five placed in her hand. Sarah glanced. "What are they exactly?"

"They're candy. Just, laced with marijuana." she shrugged her shoulders.

"Right." Sarah nodded. They talked about drugs in school so she knew what it was, she just wasn't aware she'd taken drugs at the party. She genuinely thought there were just so sugary that it clouded her head and made her feel like she was floating due to it. "Thanks."

As she walked away, the blonde hesitated. "I'm really sorry, Sarah. About Vance. I'm here if you wanna talk."

For some reason, it pissed Sarah off as she looked back at her. "You don't even know me. Don't pretend to care."

Sarah had taken her moms car. Ella had been staying home with Sarah, but her nap schedule lead to Sarah grasping the keys. She had her permit and was a good driver, it just wasn't necessarily legal until January. But, October was basically January, so she didn't care. Sarah drove down the back roads where no one came through, the fall leaves swarming around the tires as she drove.

Sarah gasped, slamming on her breaks when another car came speeding down the road. They honked immediately due to how close they'd been, Sarah jolted the wheel and drove off into the ditch. She hit her head hard at the impact, wincing as she sat there a second. Her ears buzzed loudly, holding her forehead and slowly pulling back. It was all blurry for a moment. Sarah got out of their car, looking at her Moms car and hadn't seen more then just a small dent that Ella wouldn't even notice. Sarah seemed to take more trauma from the crash then the car did.

Then, she left, going back home as the sun began to set. Sarah didn't listen, she took all five at once in hopes of completely clouding her head long enough to just forget Vance existed. Just for a second, just for one second so she could regain some sort of peace with herself. Sarah laid on her bed. When she was out, her Mom had cleaned her room and gotten her a new bedding it seemed. Sarah thanked her under her breath when she had seen it.

One am.

It was a week day, her parents were asleep and would be for the rest of the night. Sarah's heart was racing and she was floating, but at too fast of a rate that didn't make it enjoyable. She laid there and took deep breaths, shutting her eyes and trying to feel how she felt at the party.

A loud thump from her closet had her eyes flying open, backing up on the bed. She stared at her closet door as another thump echoed, the door raddled this time. Sarah panicked as she called for Bingo, who was asleep on the floor and didn't seem to hear it. "Bingo."

Nothing, he just got into her bed and went back to sleep.

Things started to fall from inside of her closet as Sarah slowly got out of her bed. She grasped a hold of the landline next to her bed and walked closer as the thumping silenced into nothing the second she put her hand on the handle. Sarah yanked it open and rose the phone like she was gonna hit, but nothing was there. It was just her closet, nothing had fallen, and no one was on the inside waiting to get a receiver to the face.

Sarah had to laugh at herself, turning around to look at Bingo. "I think I may have head trauma, Bingo."

Sarah's heart sunk to the pit of her stomach when a loud drop echoed behind her, from inside of the closet. It was right behind her, she'd heard it. Sarah inhaled deeply, holding her breath as she slowly started to turn around. The darkness of the closet was far from welcoming, but she could make out a set of eyes staring at her. Sarah backed up with a shaky gasp. "Dad!"

"Sarah." the eyes whispered to her, a mouth coming into view as he walked forward. "Wake up."

"Vance?" Sarah gapped as she now could make out his entire face, blood falling from his face.

"Wake up!" he yelled at her loudly. "Don't answer the phone."

The light flipped on as Sarah looked over, seeing Jason standing there with a worried expression. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Sarah looked back to where Vance was seconds before, finding it empty. Bingo didn't see or hear a single thing, it was all in her head. The blonde said taking five of the candies would do that to her, Sarah just didn't think it would be in that way.

"Why do you have the phone?" Jason looked at the landline in her hand.

Sarah looked down at it. "It was just a bad dream."

He exhaled, walking over and placing the phone back on the table and leading her into her bed. "That's normal. I'll stay in here until you fall asleep, okay? Maybe it'll help."

Sarah laid down, her heart was still racing. She looked to her closet, staring and waiting for Vance to appear again. "Dad?"

"What is it?" he looked down at her, petting Bingo on the head.

Sarah exhaled as she looked up at him. "I tried to fucking tell you."

Jason was taken back by her words, his eyes wining a little. She'd never spoken to him like that before, she's scream and yell, but it was never fully direction toward him. This was so unlike her, even Sarah thought so. "Sarah."

"I told you it would happen again in August." her eyes read nothing but hatred as she stayed completely still, completely calm, her tone the same gentle one it always was. "I tried to tell you. And you did nothing, now Vance is gone."

She rolled over, leaving him to feel even more guilt then he already did. Sarah didn't actually blame her Dad, even though she knew there had to have been more the station could have done to protect the boys. She knew Billys disappearance hurt him, maybe even Vance's too. She didn't blame him, but she was angry over the matter. She told him about August so many times, and maybe if there had been more police on the roads all through the month, Vance wouldn't have had the opportunity to get taken. He'd still be here, next to her.

But, Sarah's ten months theory would slowly come to an and. Because the next victim wouldn't get taken until another eighteen months from Vance's disappearance, then it would just be four months after him, then just a couple days later for the next. Her ten month theory meant nothing after Vance, but it meant something before. If the station cared about the kids in the community, if they bothered to listen to Sarah Barns or even Max from a few neighborhoods away, then Vance Hopper would have had more protection that night.

After Jason left, Sarah stared at her phone. She thought about what Vance said, or what her imagination of Vance said. Don't answer the phone. Where did that even come from? She didn't know, but the stared at that phone until sunrise and it finally rung, she grabbed it immediately, not caring what he told her not to do. "Vance?"

Silence.

"Vance?" she asked again, her voice broke in pain. "Vance? Is that you? Hello?"

There was ringing, like a buzz in her ear. It got louder and louder, then quieted down. Then he faded to nothing. "Vance?"

The buzz came back. After a second, it was quiet.

"Vance?" Sarah repeated herself, the buzz returned. "I'm gonna shut up for a second, to see if that noise is just me. If someone's there, keep doing what you're doing."

Sarah was quiet, not saying a word.

The buzz in her ear was back. Her eyes went wide as she got out of bed. "Holy shit. Holy fuck! Hey, hey. Can you hear me?"

She was panicking, but she needed to remain still and calm. If he was there, the only way they could communicate was through the buzzing noise. Sarah thought about it as she nodded. "You don't know morse code, but you know the alphabet. One buzz can be A, two B, and so on. Do you got it?"

The buzz came back as Sarah inhaled, grasping her notebook. "Just pause after one letter is finished for a few second."

Fourteen buzz's.

"N."

Fifteen buzz's.

"O."

Twenty buzz's.

"T."

Twenty-Two buzz's.

"V."

One buzz.

"A."

Fourteen buzz's.

"N."

Three buzz's.

"C."

Five buzzes."

"E. Not Vance."

Sarah hung up the phone in fear and gasp for a breath.


kylie speaks

this is all gonna be a bit
confusing for the next two
or three chapters but i
need you guys to trust me
when i say it will all make
a lot of sense soon!!!

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