It was a quarter past 3 in the morning from what Ed could see from the grandfather clock downstairs in the Hughes' study as lighting flashed outside, illuminating the room for a few brief moments. He had been unable to sleep, and left his two sleeping lovers upstairs because he needed to think, and being away from them would allow his mind to roam for a bit.
His thoughts was filled with so many questions, but he still hadn't come to any answers. Were Al and Riza really alive? What was with that cryptic message Greed had given him the last time he met with the Homunculus? Greed had told him to look to the unseen, and before he had been able to ask what that meant, he had been thrust back into his body.
He sat there, listening to the rain hit violently against the window, the thunder rolling through the house. It was just one of those storms where you would half expect to see a ghost come waltzing through at any moment. But no ghost came, only the sound of the rain, and the brief flashes of lightning were there to keep his weary mind company.
Then out of the blue, a phone started to ring, echoing through the house. At first he didn't move, waiting for a light to be flicked on as either Thomas or Elizabeth would have made their way downstairs to answer it. But as he waited, he was left in the darkness with the sound of the phone ringing, begging to be answered.
He finally rose from his seat, leaving behind the blanket he had been using as a shield from the chill, and made his way towards the sound. His travels led him through the dark house, the lightning guiding his way, almost leading him towards the phone. He found himself facing a closed door, the ringing phone still calling through the doorway. He reached for the knob, turning it, and holding his breath as he pushed open the door. He flicked the switch by the door, but the lights remained off, no mater how many times he tried. He allowed his eyes to scan the darkened room finding it was covered in old crates, dusty shelves, and all sorts of odds and ends. He had found himself in the storage room in the back of the house, the sound of the ringing phone getting louder with each step he took inside.
Thunder boomed outside, shaking the windows of the storage room. More lightning flashed, allowing him to get a better glimpse of things as he made his way towards the ringing. From the very far corner of the room, he found an old plunger-style phone, covered in cobwebs, the ring commanding to be answered. He hesitated as he reached out a hand, holding it just above the receiver, before grasping it and picking it up.
He held the phone to his ear, and heard what sounded like a very bad connection. A lot of static and even the lightning crackled through the line. What he heard next almost made him drop the phone. A very eerie, distorted voice spoke only two words "……n…i…i….s...a...n ….h….e….l…p" and then the line went completely dead.
He pulled the phone shakily away from his ear, looking down at the receiver with wide, frightened eyes. The lighting flashed a few more times, allowing his eyes to wander to the phone, his hand picking up the cord and following it a short distance, finding it had a severed end, wires sticking out.