No magic in this story…
Regina is 21 years old and Emma is almost 18.
Emma was sitting in the living room of her latest foster home, surrounded by younger children. They had asked her to play a game, since they were home alone and the youngest children were scared. "Fine," she'd finally said after hearing them beg for a while. "What do you want to play?"
"Let's play truth or dare!" an eleven-year-old boy suggested. When all the other kids immediately agreed, Emma nodded her okay.
The game went on a little while, before it was Emma's turn. "Truth or dare?" The same eleven-year-old asked.
Emma shrugged, rolling her eyes. "Dare."
"I dare you to call a random number." The boy said, grinning widely at his own smart idea. They weren't allowed to use the phone in this home.
Emma rolled her eyes again and went to the phone. She tapped in a random number and waited for an answer.
"Hello, you have reached the voicemail of Regina Mills. I'm not home right now, but please leave your number and I will call you back."
Emma hung up the phone. "Answering machine." She explained to the others.
That night Emma couldn't get Regina's voice out of her head. The next day she was home alone; the other kids had school, which she hadn't been enrolled for yet, and the parents were at work.
Thinking about the woman's voice on the answering machine, Emma decided to call again. Once more she got to voicemail.
This happened every day until the end of the week. Emma had called every day, several times a day and always got the machine.
She guessed no one was on the other end of the line and her loneliness got the best of her. She called the number again and, as expected, got the machine.
"Hi, my name is Emma Swan. I don't know why I'm introducing myself, since there's no one there, but I guess I was just lonely. I wish there was someone I could talk to… Anyways… I guess I don't have much else to talk about. Well okay then… Bye." And hung up the phone.
