The Phone Call by Regina Falangie

Chapter 6

A/N: OMG, I just noticed that when I uploaded chapter 5, the extra line breaks didn't show up in-between separate scenes so it looks like it's all part of the same scene. Sorry about that! Oh, and I changed it. Phoebe and Joey are only living together. They're not engaged yet.

The next night after a day of site seeing throughout Paris, the group decided to have dinner in the hotel restaurant.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to the ladies room," Monica said, getting up.

"Me, too," Phoebe said. "So did you check out the toilets here, Mon?" she asked, as they started for the ladies room.

"Uh, what?" Monica asked, confused.

"Oh my God, didn't you know that in France, the water spins the other way?"

"Um, Pheebs, that's in Australia."

Phoebe stared at her for a moment. "Okay, you almost had me there, Mon," she laughed. Monica looked at her strangely.

"So I think Joey is planning on proposing here," Phoebe talked to her while she touched up her makeup.

"Really?" Monica asked, excited. "Oh my God, Phoebe that's so great. I'm so happy for you. Then we'll all be married!"

"Yeah! And you'll get to be my maid of honor!"

"Oh, that's right! I forgot about that!"

"Yeah, since Rachel was yours, and I was hers..."

Phoebe continued to speak, but Monica couldn't hear her. All she could concentrate on was Richard's face staring back at her in the mirror. She couldn't move. She was just frozen there as if time had stopped. And all she saw was Richard's dark, evil face grinning at her. And then suddenly something flashed into her mind. Last night. Her dream. A tall, dark, faceless man. She blinked, and he was gone. Breathing hard, she collapsed on a chair in the corner of the bathroom.

"Mon?" Phoebe asked, coming out of the stall. "Mon, are you all right?"

"I-I..." she stuttered.

"Sweetie, what happened?" she asked gently.

"I just saw...Richard...in the mirror."

"What?" Phoebe asked, incredulous. "Mon, that's crazy. You were just imagining it."

"I know---I know it sounds crazy. I---I blinked, and he was gone. But---it just---it just seemed so REAL!" she cried.

"Mon, come on, maybe you should go lie down," she said softly, taking her hand.

"No! Phoebe! If I were you I'd be thinking the same thing, but I couldn't have been imaging it! I just couldn't have!" Phoebe looked at her skeptically. "Last night---last night I had a dream---well, more like a nightmare---that the caller was here and he was trying to kill me. But I couldn't see his face. And now---it seems like---like Richard was his face..." she trailed off.

Phoebe sighed. "Honey, I'm really worried about you. Come on, Chandler will take you back to the room, and when we get back home maybe you should see a doctor or something..."

"But I'm not crazy, Phoebe! I'm not!" she protested, as Phoebe led her back to their table.

"What's goin' on?" Chandler asked, concerned.

"Chandler," Phoebe whispered. "Monica thinks she saw Richard in the mirror. I think you should go take her back to your room."

"Richard's the caller, Chandler! It's Richard! He's here, and he wants to come kill me!"

Everyone looked at her, very alarmed.

"Sweetheart, calm down," he whispered.

"I can't calm down!" she cried.

"Sshhh, honey, I'm sure you were just imaging it."

"I'm not! I'm not! Why won't you believe me?" she sobbed into his shoulder.

"I do believe you. I do believe you," he whispered, rubbing her back. Everyone else looked at them sympathetically.

"Come on, Mon, everything's going to be fine. I promise. Let's just go back up to the room, okay honey?"

She pulled back, eyes red and puffy, cheeks tearstained. "Okay," she said softly. "I'm sorry I'm acting like a baby. I just don't know why all this is happening to me."

"It's okay. You're not acting like a baby at all. It's perfectly understandable considering what you've been through."

Monica paused a moment. "You don't believe me. I know you don't."

"What? Of course I believe you, sweetheart," he whispered.

"It's okay, Chandler," she said, becoming more calm. "I understand. I wouldn't believe me either. Come on. I guess I do need some rest."

Chandler sighed. "Okay, come on, honey."

"Is there anything else you need?" he asked Monica gently, tucking her in.

'I'm being treated like a child,' Monica thought. "No, I'm fine," she smiled. "Thanks, honey."

"Okay, good," he smiled back. "I'm gonna go down the hall and say good- night to the guys. I'll tell 'em good-night for you, too."

Monica sighed. She knew he was just going over to tell them how she was hallucinating. She knew he was just going over to tell them how crazy she was and how in need of a psychiatrist she was. "Okay. Hurry back."

"I will," he kissed her on the forehead and left.

She sighed heavily again and pulled the blanket up closer around her chest. She still hadn't figured any of this out. If she WAS right somehow and the caller WAS Richard...why? Why would he want to do that to her? He had obviously gone crazy. Her parents had told her that he had been in bad shape ever since losing her. But just how bad in shape she did not know. Why would he want to kill her family? A million questions ran through her mind.

"UGH!" she shouted. "What the hell is wrong with me? Why am I even assuming it's him? Everyone's right! Chandler's right! Phoebe's right! I probably AM crazy, and I probably WAS just having some stupid hallucination! Why SHOULD Chandler or anyone else for that matter believe me? They probably think I belong in the looney bin...

"It just...it just seemed so real," she whispered to herself. She felt a cold chill run through her body as she began visualizing Richard coming into their hotel room and first stabbing Chandler to death and then her. She did everything she could to try to save him, but she just couldn't. She screamed out in horror as she watched the man she once thought loved and cared for her more than anyone else in the world, brutally murdered the man that actually did love and care for her more than anyone else in the world. Every time Richard thrust the knife into her husband's body, she felt the pain and cried out in terror. After Richard was threw with him she raced over to his side and wrapped her arms around him until Richard was ready for her. He backed her up into a corner and then-

"STOP IT!" she screeched. "JUST STOP IT! WHY DO I EVEN HAVE ANY REASON TO THINK IT'S HIM OTHER THAN THAT I HAD SOME GOD DAMNED HALLUCINATION? THIS IS JUST SICK! FUCKING SICK!"

It was at that moment that Chandler raced into the room and wrapped his arms around her. "Mon, I---I heard you yelling. Are---are you okay?"

"NO! I'M NOT OKAY CHANDLER! WHY THE HELL WOULD I BE FUCKING OKAY? DO I LOOK OKAY TO YOU? DO I SOUND OKAY TO YOU? NO, I'M NOT OKAY!" she screeched. "I--- Oh God, I'm so sorry, honey. I'm so, so sorry," she whispered, calming down. "Please forgive me. I just---"

"Sshhh," he pressed a finger to her lip. "It's okay. I understand. It's okay...it's okay," he continued to repeat as he rocked her back and forth as she sobbed into his shoulder.

A/N: OMG, this story is just getting WEIRDER and WEIRDER, haha! I can never feel like writing until it's like 1am, but also when it's that late at night I go outta my mind, and a lotta times when I read what I wrote in the morning I'm like, "Oh my GOD! What the HELL is wrong with me" and I'm pretty sure that's what I'll be doing tomorrow morning, lol. Oh, well. I'm probably not going to have more than 2 or 3 more chapters because I got this like REALLY good idea that I wanna start...okay, maybe it's not that good...haha, okay, I'll stop rambling. Could I BE any more crazy right now? If you don't mind, review and tell me how much it sucks, lol. You're gonna be in for a surprise though ;) Thanks for reading this crap! -Marcella