“Long Distance Call” • by C. L. Sidell

I discarded everything after the funeral. 

Photographs, letters, clothes, anything that contained the scent of you.

But your phone—that, I buried in a shoe box under the bed.

Sometimes late at night I dial your number, wait anxiously for the line to connect to voicemail, for your words to reach my ear: “I’m out-n-about. You know what to do! Leave a message. Maybe I’ll get back to you.”

As long as I can hear your voice, I can pretend you aren’t actually gone.

BEEEEEP.

“Benji? I’ve been thinking about you. I miss you like crazy. Gizmo does too. She looks out the window all afternoon, looking for you. Will you be home soon?”

Time’s up.

The call disconnects. As I lie down and pull up the covers, my phone rings. I look at the caller ID.

Impossible.

It’s your number.

“H-Hello?” I say, trembling.

Static fills the line. And then the words I’d hoped—but never truly believed—I would hear. “I’m… cooommming…”

I drop the phone, chilled to the bone.

That. Isn’t. Your. Voice.

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A native Floridian, C. L. Sidell grew up playing with toads in the rain and indulging in speculative fiction. You can find her on various social media platforms @sidellwrites

A Pushcart Nominee, Best of the Net Nominee, and Rhysling Finalist, her work has appeared in 34 Orchard, Apparition Lit, The Cosmic Background, F&SF, Factor Four Magazine, Impossible Worlds, Weird Christmas, and others. Her most recent previous appearance is Stupefying Stories was “It’s In His Kiss.”  

Ribbit.

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