I haven't written anything in so long, but I was struck with sudden inspiration for a short story tonight and cranked this out in about an hour. Enjoy!
Phone Booth
The street was about as dark and black as a freshly brewed pot of coffee. The high winds had knocked out the powerlines, so the streetlamps withheld their usual radiance. A flash of lightning illuminated a phone booth at the far end of the street. Spotting it, Isabella held onto the hood of her jacket as she took off at a sprint, ignoring the puddles she splashed through, praying that the phone lines had not been taken out with the power. She pulled open the phone booth door and stepped inside, closing it behind her.
It was 1:42am.
Good thing Danville is the only city in North America that still uses these things, she thought as she fished through her pockets for change. She dug past her still-dripping cell-phone, the electronics useless after having tripped and submerged it in a torrent of water rushing along the curb in the street.
Isabella's finger tips grazed a quarter, which she hastily shoved into the coin slot. She put the receiver to her ear, the dial tone drowning out the sound of the rain drops pounding against the steel roof. She sighed with relief that the phone was still in working order, but the feeling quickly vanished.
Having a cell phone meant that Isabella had forgotten nearly every phone number she had ever memorized, but there was one she still knew. As far as she was concerned, it was the only phone number she would ever need to know.
A faint metallic click accompanied each pressed button on the key pad. Isabella glanced around her through the glass sides of the phone booth as the phone began to ring. She gripped the cold plastic of the receiver hard. Finally standing still, Isabella realized that she was shaking, and she was not sure if it was from being cold and wet or from the sheer terror of what she had seen.
The phone rang twice, three times, four…
"C'mon, c'mon, pick up!" she whispered to herself. She looked around again, but it was too dark to see anything.
The sixth ring was cut off halfway through by a faint click. There was a pause.
"Hello?" a weary voice asked.
"Phineas! It's me!" Isabella whisper-shouted.
"Isabella?" Phineas's voice suddenly went up an octave, concern on his tone. "Are you alright?"
"No, Phineas, I'm definitely not alright!" She glanced around behind her. Still nothing.
"What's going on?"
"I saw something, Phineas. Something really bad. And now it's after me." She spoke so fast that Phineas could barely understand her. "It's going to get me! I don't know what to do!"
"Isabella, slow down! What's after you? What did you see?"
"It was-"
With a deafening *clang!* the roof of the phone booth suddenly caved in six inches as something smashed into the top. Isabella dropped the receiver as she was knocked to the floor. As she looked up, she found that she was suddenly bathed in an eerie, red glow. The glow was being cast by a pair of eyes peering down on her.
The glass on either side of the phone booth shattered as massive appendages grasped the flimsy structure. They ripped the phone booth from its sidewalk anchors, raising it high into the air. Isabella was so gripped with terror that she barely noticed the wind and rain on her face.
The silhouette of a massive cylindrical body was revealed as a massive bolt of lightning tore the sky in two. Though the light was dim, Isabella was positive that she could see blood dripping down the front of her attacker's body.
The head shifted downward, the red light shining in her face. Isabella was frozen in fear.
"HI. I'M NORM."
The phone booth suddenly sailed over Isabella's head and crashed into the ground a few yards behind her. The appendages, now free of their burden, reached out for her.
"WAFFLES ARE THE TASTIEST WHEN MADE FROM SCRATCH."
Isabella pushed herself backwards along the sidewalk, trying to get away, but she was stopped when her back was pushed up against the now-horizontal phone booth. The appendages extended out to her.
"HAVE YOU LOST WEIGHT RECENTLY?"
Massive fingers curled around Isabella's back. She was trapped.
"THE ENEMY OF THE PLATYPUS IS MAN!" bellowed the now angry mechanical voice.
Isabella found herself being lifted up off the sidewalk. She struggled to get away, but to no avail.
And then, the glowing red eyes suddenly faded out to darkness. The huge figure clutching Isabella fell over, crashing into the ground hard enough to shake the concrete sidewalk. Isabella was mostly protected in the fall by the metal fingers still holding her. She turned over, looking at whatever it was that was holding on to her. In the pitch-blackness, she could only see the faint outline of a crumpled body lying on the sidewalk.
Movement caught her eye. Something very short stood up from her attacker's back. She could see no obvious features on it, except for the outline of a wide-brimmed hat and something that Isabella could only imagine was a small cricket bat sticking up from its back. A tiny silhouetted hand quickly touched the brim of the hat in respect, and then the little figure took off at a dead run and vanished into the night.
Isabella picked herself up, pushing the now lifeless metal fingers aside. She stared at the huge figure collapsed on the ground for another second longer, and then took off in the opposite direction down the street. She refused to stop until she had made it to a 24 Hour convenience store several streets over. The place was lit only by emergency lighting and the only person around was the bored cashier, but Isabella could not have cared less. Panting hard, she sank to the ground against the wall.
"You okay, miss?" asked the older gentleman at the counter.
She nodded. "Yeah."
"Your hand appears to be bleeding."
Isabella looked down. Sure enough, blood was streaming from a gash on her palm, which still contained a shard of glass. It must have been from the shattered phone booth windows. She had not even noticed it.
"I guess it is."
"I've got a first aid kit," the cashier said, pulling out the case from beneath the cash register. He walked around the counter and knelt down on the floor beside her. "How did you manage to do this?" he asked as he opened the first aid kit.
"Trust me," Isabella panted. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."