Don't Scream! (2 page)

“No way!” I cried.

I tossed the phone back onto the seat next to me. I stared at it as if it was alive.

The screen was black. I'd powered it down.

“I'm not going to warn you again,” the girl said angrily.

The bus slowed to a stop. “Here you go, Jack!” Charlene shouted from the driver's seat. She turned and waved me to the front.

I stood up. I glanced back at the phone on the seat.

“Don't leave me here.” The voice rang out clear and sharp. As if she was sitting in the seat. “If you leave me here, I promise you'll be sorry.”

“Like I'm scared,” I said, forcing myself to sound tough. “Like I'm shaking.”

I gave the phone one last, long look. “Good-bye,” I said. “Have a nice life.”

I turned and made my way down the aisle to
the front. I said good-bye to Charlene and hopped off the bus.

It was a cool, gray afternoon with heavy clouds low in the sky. But the fresh air felt good on my face. And I instantly felt better.

“That was totally weird,” I muttered, shaking my head.

The school bus started to pull away — then stopped with a squeal of brakes. And from inside it, I heard Polly scream: “Stop! STOP!”

My heart skipped a beat. I spun around.

Polly stuck her head out the bus window. “Jack,” she called, “you forgot your phone.”

“No —” I started.

But she tossed it out the window at me. I caught it in both hands. “Uh … it's not mine!” I shouted.

But Polly didn't hear me. The bus roared away.

The sky darkened. The clouds seemed to lower over me. A chilly breeze fluttered my hair.

I held the phone in front of me and stared at the blank screen.

“Don't ever do that again, Jack,” the girl scolded.

“The phone is
off
!” I screamed. “Where are you coming from? How can you talk to me? I turned off the phone!”

Two teenage girls rode by on bikes. They giggled to each other. Were they laughing at me?

I must have looked a little weird, standing on the sidewalk, screaming at the phone.

“Listen to me carefully,” the girl said calmly, almost whispering again. “You and I are going to be very good friends. So don't ever try to leave me behind.”

I stared at the phone in my hand. I was breathing hard. I forced myself to calm down.

I rolled the phone around in my hand. There wasn't anything odd or strange about it. It seemed to be a normal phone.

But a voice coming from it even though it was turned off?
That
was definitely not normal.

I felt a patter of cold rain on my forehead. I started to walk up the front yard. I kept the phone in front of me as I made my way through the grass.

I like puzzles and mysteries. I'm pretty good at them. I'm the only one in my family who can finish the sudoku puzzle in the newspaper every morning.

So I decided to solve this mystery. Who was the girl talking to me from the phone? And how was she talking when the phone was off?

Maybe I'll call Eli to come help me
, I thought.

But then I had a good idea.

It shouldn't be too hard to figure out who the girl was. I powered the phone up. I waited for the icons to appear on the blue screen. Then I
shuffled through the pages of icons till I found what I was looking for.

I pressed the
MY PHOTOS
icon. If the girl had any photos saved on the phone, they would give me a good clue. The photos might even show who owned the phone.

My heart started to beat harder. I waited for the first photo to come into focus. Then I brought up another photo. And another.

And then a cry escaped my throat. “No! No way! That's
impossible
!”

My hand shook as I stared at photo after photo. They were all of ME.

My house. My sister Rachel. My parents. The rock-band posters on my bedroom wall. ME. Photo after photo of me.

“But how can that
be
?” I cried out loud.

From the phone speaker, I heard the girl chuckle. “I guess it's
your
phone, Jack,” she said. “You'd better keep it. It seems to belong to you.”

“But — but —” I sputtered.

The rain started to pound down. I ducked my head and ran to the back door. I pulled the door open and stepped into the kitchen.

Warm air greeted me. And the smell of something on the stove. I saw my sister Rachel seated on a high stool at the counter. Mindy stood at the stove, stirring a pot with a long wooden spoon.

They both turned as I stepped in, shaking off rain water. “Hey,” I said. “What's up?”

“I'm making mac and cheese for Rachel,” Mindy said. “For a change.”

Rachel
lives
on mac and cheese, the kind that comes in a box. It's her favorite food and her favorite snack. Mindy stirs some up for her every afternoon.

“You're wet,” Rachel said. “Don't track mud on the kitchen floor.”

“Thank you, Mom Junior,” I said. “But what makes you think I was walking in mud?”

Mindy shrugged.

My sister Rachel is very cute. She has big blue eyes and straight black hair.

But mainly, she has dimples on both cheeks when she smiles. This causes her to be totally spoiled by everyone. Just two dimples. That's all it takes.

She is six — six years younger than me. But her big thrill is bossing me around. Scolding me and bossing me around. She knows she can get away with it because of those dimples.

“Do I have to share my mac and cheese?” she whined to Mindy.

“I don't want any mac and cheese,” I said. “You can have it all.”

“YAAAAAY.” Rachel clapped her hands and cheered.

“
Everyone
likes mac and cheese after school,” Mindy said to me. “What are you — a Martian?”

Mindy spooned out a bowl of the orange cheesy stuff and put it in front of Rachel. Then she stopped. I saw her squinting at the phone in my hand.

“Hey, Jack,” she said. “Did your parents finally buy you a cell phone?”

“No,” I said. I squeezed it in my hand. “I … found it on the school bus.”

Mindy frowned at me. “Why didn't you hand it to the driver?”

“Well …” I hesitated. “There's something strange about it,” I said.

At the counter, Rachel was inhaling her mac and cheese like a vacuum cleaner. Mindy stared at the phone.

And then I couldn't stop myself. The whole story burst out of me.

I told her about the girl and how she said she was my new friend. I told her how I had no idea who the girl was. And I described how the girl kept talking to me, even after I shut off the phone.

When I finished the story, I was breathing hard. I held the phone tightly in my sweaty hand.

I looked up to see Mindy grinning at me. “Nice one, Jack,” she said. “Guess I'm supposed to believe you, right?”

“It — it's true!” I insisted.

She nodded her head. Her dark eyes flashed. “Never joke with a joker,” she said. “That's Rule Number One. You're not a good enough liar, Jack. Not good enough to fool a liar like me.”

For some reason, that made Rachel laugh. “Jack
is too
a liar,” she said. She had orange cheese all over her chin.

“Mindy, I swear,” I said, raising my right hand. “I swear I'm not kidding you. Everything I said is true.”

She squinted at me. “There's a girl talking to you on that phone but the phone is turned off?”

“Yes,” I said. “It's true. I don't know how, but —”

“I get it,” she said. “I'm supposed to take the phone from you. And then it squirts me in the face with water. Is that the joke?”

“No way,” I said. “You've got to believe me. I'm totally serious. It isn't a joke.”

“Okay,” Mindy said. “I'll bite. Hand it over.”

She didn't wait for me to give it to her. She grabbed it out of my hand.

“Let
me
hear this girl,” Mindy said. She raised the phone to her ear. “Hello? Hello?” she called into it. “Are you there, girl?”

Mindy gave the phone a hard shake, as if it was broken. Then she returned it to her ear. “Hello, voice. Where are you?” she asked.

Silence.

Mindy spoke into the phone. “Hello? Hello? Are you there? Or are you one of Jack's little jokes?”

“It's
not
a joke,” I insisted. “The girl knew my name. She said we were going to be friends.”

I grabbed the phone from Mindy's hand. I pressed it against my ear. “Hi. Are you still there? Talk to Mindy. Tell her I didn't make this up.”

Silence.

“Stop talking about it!” Rachel shouted. “It's stupid.”

Rachel thinks everything I do is stupid.

I shook the phone. “Hello? Hello?”

Mindy rolled her eyes. “Someone is having fun with you, Jack. Probably Eli. Didn't you say Eli could do
anything
with a phone?”

Eli! I'd forgotten about him. I
needed
him.

I set the cell phone down on the kitchen counter. Then I crossed the kitchen and picked up the wall phone.

I punched in Eli's number. He picked up after the first ring. “Get over here,” I said. “Right away.”

“I'm doing the Science take-home,” Eli said. “Maybe later.”

“No. Now,” I insisted. “This is more important than the Science take-home. And you're the only one who can help me.”

“Sounds serious,” Eli said. He hung up before I could say anything else.

I turned to Mindy. “Eli is coming over. He —”

I stopped when I saw Rachel. She had the phone gripped tightly in her fist.

“You — you got
cheese
all over it!” I cried.

She smiled and flashed me the dimples. “So?”

The dimples don't work on me. I grabbed the phone away from her.

“You're stupid!” she shouted. She tossed a piece of macaroni at me. It missed.

“Rachel, don't throw your food at Jack,” Mindy scolded.

“Why not?” Rachel replied.

I wiped the phone off with a paper towel. Then I waved good-bye to them both, turned, and walked out.

I carried the phone up the stairs to my bedroom. As soon as I closed the door behind me, the girl on the phone spoke up:

“You shouldn't do that, Jack,” she whispered. “You shouldn't tell the babysitter about me.”

“You're back,” I said. My hand trembled. I tightened my grip on the phone.

“You shouldn't tell the babysitter,” she repeated.

“Why not?” I said.

“Because I won't talk to her,” she replied. “And she won't believe you. I want to talk to
you
, Jack. You're my new best friend.”

I stared at the phone. Every time the girl said she was my friend, it sent a chill to the back of my neck.

“What if I don't want to talk to you?” I said. “What if I give this phone to my parents and ask them to find the owner?”

Silence for a moment.

And then the phone began to buzz in my hand. It grew louder. A painful current shot out from the phone.

A powerful jolt of electricity took away my breath.

I tried to scream but nothing came out.

One painful shock after another made my whole body twist and dance.

The powerful, buzzing current jolted my body. My legs flew crazily. My shoes tapped the floor. Pain shot through my bones.

“GRRRUNNNH.” I made a loud choking sound.

“Can't breathe … Can't … breathe …”

Wheezing and choking, I tried to drop the phone. But it stuck to my palm.

“Okay, okay!” I gasped. “I won't tell my parents!”

Finally, the shock faded away. I bent over double, gasping for air. My whole body trembled and shook. I could still feel a sharp, painful tingle in my arms and legs.

“Sorry about that.” The girl's voice was soft but cold. I tried to pry the metal phone from my skin. But it stuck tight.

“You — you —” I stammered, still struggling to breathe.

“Sorry I had to punish you,” she said. She didn't sound sorry at all. She kind of sang the words. Like it made her happy.

“I can hurt you, Jack,” she said. “I can really hurt you.”

My hand burned. The phone finally came loose
and fell to the carpet. I rubbed my burning palm with my other hand.

The girl laughed. “Sometimes I don't know my own strength.”

“What do you
want
?” I screamed. “Who
are
you? Why are you doing this to me?”

“Pick up the phone, Jack,” she said. “Pick it up. I won't hurt you again … if you listen to me.”

I decided not to fight her. My hand trembled as I bent down and lifted the phone off the rug.

“That's better,” she said. “Don't ever threaten me again.”

“But —” I started. “Will you answer my questions?”

She ignored me. “Don't think you can get rid of me,” she said. “I need you. I'm going to stick with you. Maybe forever.”

Forever?

I shut my eyes. Was this really happening?

At first, I thought it was a joke. But it didn't sound like a joke anymore. And the painful electrical shock was
definitely
not a joke.

I opened my eyes in time to see my bedroom door swing open. Rachel came barging in. She had an evil grin on her face. I knew that grin. It meant trouble.

“Get out of here,” I snapped.

Giggling, Rachel came running at me with both hands outstretched. Before I could move, she swiped the cell phone from my hand.

“Give it back!” I cried.

But she bumped me out of the way and ran right past me. Holding the phone in front of her, she leaped onto my bed.

“Let me play it,” she said. “I want to play it.”

She stared at the screen and started poking at app icons with her finger. Poking. Poking.

I stared at her in horror. I knew what the girl in the phone could do.

Without even thinking, I started to scream at the phone: “Don't hurt her! Don't hurt my sister!”