Cell Phones Off
A Boston
Public/Ring crossover
By Monica Edwards
Part 1
Rated: PG
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"Here's the tape but are you sure you want to watch it? What if it's true?" Ronnie Cooke overheard one girl say to another while she was walking down the near empty hallway after school. She stepped far enough away that the girls wouldn't be able to tell that she was listening to their conversation and then she stopped and pretended to look over some of the papers she was holding.
"Look Sam, don't be such a wimp. How could a videotape possibly kill you? Unless you tried to swallow it and choke, or someone ripped the film out and strangled you or..."
"I don't need your morbid descriptions of how someone might be able to kill you with a videotape! Were did you get this?" Sam replied. Ronnie was still interested in the conversation but she didn't have a clue as to where it was leading. She had read about the so called death tape in the student news paper but every generation had their urban legend and she thought it might be all in good fun.
"My sister got it from some cabin that she stayed in over the weekend. So are we going to broadcast it tomorrow or what?" The perky blond haired senior said as she placed a blank black tape into Sam's hand. Sam looked down at the tape, not really sure what to think. She was on the news crew and could easily convince them to run the tape, especially if this was supposed to be the one that was getting so much hype with the student body.
"Yeah sure, why not? It couldn't possibly kill all of them, right?" Sam said as she placed the tape in her locker and shut the door. Ronnie heard the click of the lock. She knew if she really wanted to get into the locker to retrieve the tape she could, and if she didn't want to look like the bad guy she could get Guber to take care of it but she decided to push it into the back of her mind as just another student prank. She was in for one big surprise.
XXX
The next day everyone settled into their homeroom class to watch the latest installment of the Winslow High news report. Scott Guber was safely in his office meeting with Ronnie Cooke both of them were unaware that the broadcast had already begun.
"So what you are saying is that they are going to broadcast this tape that kills people when they watch it?" Guber said trying to hide the fact that he was about to burst out laughing at the idea.
"Yeah, Sam Morgan and Rachel Hanson are the ones who got the tape in the first place. Do you think we should let them run it?" Ronnie replied, she knew that Guber was about to explode with laughter but she was a little bit worried about the entire population of the high school viewing the tape.
"Look we have no evidence that the tape can harm anyone. The most it will do is creep people out or confuse them. I've read about the tape, too. Just about everyone in town knows about it. Do you think it's possible for over 700 people to get a phone call simultaneously after viewing thirty seconds of videotape?" Scott replied as he put away the folder he was going through. "Speaking of that, I believe the broadcast has already started and I would like to see what they have to say about me this week."
"Aren't you just the least bit nervous that it might--"
Before Ronnie could finish her sentence phones began to ring. None in their office but in the main office, down the hall, their ears were flooded with the sounds of hundreds of cell phones and their customized rings.
"I thought I told those students to turn their cell phones off during school hours." He got up from his desk and opened the door to the main office where he saw faces in total shock. Marcie was holding the phone to her ear even as a dial tone played loudly. The TV was still on but the news crew was panicking. Everyone who had seen it had received a phone call.
"It's real," Ronnie said as she stepped into the office behind him. Neither of them knew what to say. No sooner did Marcie hang up the phone then complete panic broke loose in the halls. Some students were screaming that they were going to die, others were just happy that the chaos had gotten them out of class. Even the teachers were spooked to some degree. Marla was the first one to come down the hall towards Guber and he took a deep breath because he didn't even know how to begin explaining what had just happened.
"What the hell is going on here? Is this some sort of a JOKE?" Marla said. She held up her cell phone and although she had not actually gotten a call there was text on the screen; it was scrolling "7 Days."
"How did they rig up something to call all these students and teachers?"
"I'll look into it, I'm sure it's just a prank Marla, but now we have to convince all of them." He motioned to the students that were rioting in the hallways of Winslow High.
"Do you want me to get Sam and Rachel in here?" Ronnie said looking through the crowd to see if she could pick them out. Sam was an oddball; she had long black hair that she rarely wore down and a very pale complexion. Rachel was just a girl who happened to be able to blend into the crowd and she was harder to find--but Ronnie knew that if she could find Sam she would find Rachel with her.
"Get them both into my office," Guber said, and with that Ronnie took off on her journey to find the two girls.
"Didn't you get a phone call, Scott?" Marla prodded as she let herself into his office. He sighed loudly in frustration and walked in after her closing the door.
"No I didn't. Neither did Ronnie. But what does that matter?"
"Did you see the tape?" Zach rushed into the room holding his cell phone in hand too. Guber put a hand on his temple and took a deep breath trying to think about how he was going to explain this to all of them. Danny and then Marilyn who both looked just as upset as Marla and Zach soon followed.
"What the hell is this? Some sort of a prank? What!" Danny yelled, obviously not to happy about this. "The school is in complete panic thinking they all only have seven days to live."
"But what if it's true, and we all only have seven more days to live? I mean how would it be possible for someone to prank call everyone at the exact moment the movie ended?" Zach replied. Everyone looked at him strange but he was very opened minded and ready to accept that this might be a little more then a joke.
"If that was true then this person would have to kill all of us at the same time. That wouldn't be possible. It's just a legend." Marilyn followed his statement quickly trying to quiet any of the panic the teachers might have felt. Then they all turned and looked at Scott, who now had his arms on his desk and his head in his arms. If it was true then him and Ronnie were the only two faculty members that had not gotten the phone call because they had not seen the tape. How was he supposed to calm them down when he had nothing to worry about? Even if the legend was just a legend he still didn't have to be concerned about it affecting him in any way.
"I found Sam but not Rachel," Ronnie interrupted, and not a moment too soon; Scott was afraid they might start to get rowdy.
"That's fine for now. As for the rest of you, out of my office!"
"But Scott we could die any minute and you want to worry about interrogating a student?" Marla yelled but both Marilyn and Danny took an arm of hers trying to pull her out of the office.
"As the legend says, you have 7 days so live it up! Have a good day," he responded as he turned to get the folder out for Sam Morgan.
"Ooo, I'm gonna pound your scrawny white--" The door shut and Marla's shrill voice was thankfully silenced. Sam tried not to laugh at her because she still wasn't sure if the tape was real or fake. She was in the bathroom at the time that it was aired just to be on the safe side of things, and she began to wonder just how many people had actually seen it.
"Is something amusing you Ms. Morgan?" Guber said as he opened her file, there was nothing out of the ordinary, Sam was a straight A student in honors classes and she excelled on the chemistry team and with poet society there was a not a blemish to be found in her record.
"All we want to know is where you got that tape Samantha." Ms. Cooke replied in a tone that was a lot friendlier then the tone Scott was using. Sam looked over to Ms. Cooke and smiled.
"Rachel gave it to me. She said that she got it from her sister and her sister says that she found it at a cabin. Her boyfriend said that some reporter left it there a few days ago and got the hell out of town with her son…"
She trailed off when she saw the look on Scott's face. She looked down at her hands, which she was twisting together in an attempt to make herself less nervous; she had never been in the principal's office before.
"You don't really believe that story, do you Sam?" Guber said. His voice was now taking on a tone that sounded like he was almost accusing her of doing something. "What was her sister doing at this cabin? Did they watch the tape?"
"How should I know? Rachel and I were just talking about how cool it would be if we could get our hands on this cursed tape and show it to everyone as a prank. I had no idea that it was going to go this far!"
"Scott, I don't think she meant to do this on purpose, okay? If there was some 'evil' released by watching it...well it's most certainly not her doing," Ronnie defended. She didn't think Sam was trying to hurt anyone. It was just a practical joke that had gone astray and nothing more.
"She still caused an unnecessary amount of panic and now even the teachers are beginning to worry..." He suddenly stopped his lecture and put on his glasses, he leaned in to examine Sam's file more closely.
"Why does it say here that your name is Samara, not Samantha?" Sam looked up from her already pale and shaky hands, first to Ronnie and then to Scott.
"Because it is."
"Why would you keep that a secret?" Guber said closing the folder. There was nothing in there that could help them with this now.
"Well, there is this thing that goes with the tape: a legend of Samara Morgan. Supposedly she's the girl who is killing everyone. And well, at this time I didn't think it would be wonderful for people to know that I am a descendant of the Morgan family." Sam replied still not making eye contact with either of them. Guber looked at Ronnie to see if she had any opinion on this.
"Well, do you know anything about this Samara that was in your family?" Ronnie asked taking a seat next to Sam.
"I know that she died. And I know about the ranch of my great aunt Anna, and how the horses all died. I know that there is a curse on the family. I know there is a tradition to name all the daughters Samara, in hopes that the memory of her will be carried on and the tapes will stop."
"Really? Do you think I'm buying any of this, Ms. Morgan? Now tell me how you got all the phones to ring!"
"I didn't get all the phones to ring. They did that by themselves! Why would I do that? I'm just as creeped out as the rest of the school!" Sam defended. She looked over at Ronnie, hoping that someone might see that she was innocent in all of this.
"I don't think she had anything to do with this, Scott. She's obviously just as scared as you and I are," Ronnie said as she put a hand on Sam's arm. She didn't know why or how, but Sam was very cold to the touch. Almost as if she were dead. She wanted to pull her hand away but she certainly didn't want to offend the scared girl.
"I'm not scared. I didn't see the tape," Scott replied with a very smug look on his face. Sam clenched her teeth and looked at his desk: as she did this his phone began to ring on all lines, every single one of them lighting up for his attention. Not noticing the icy stare that Sam was giving him he picked up the phone.
"Office of Scott Guber."
"Seven days..." A voice rasped. Scott rolled his eyes and hung up the phone. It rang again, the buttons continuing to flash wildly. He took another deep breath and picked up the phone again.
"Office of Scott Guber."
"Seven days," the voice rasped again. He had to admit he was getting a little spooked, but he hadn't seen the tape so this had to be a prank. He slammed the phone back down and pulled the phone jack from it.
"There! Your prank has been foiled."
"There is no prank! How do you think I can call you if I am sitting right here looking at you?" Sam said, her icy look turned up to look him in the eye. "This isn't a joke! You have to take the curse seriously and listen to me. If--"
"I don't want to hear it! Ronnie get her out of my office," Guber said with out a second thought to the terrified young woman who sat across from his desk. Ronnie gently helped Sam from her chair and walked her to the door slowly. Sam was visibly angry that Scott wasn't listening to her. Before she left the room she turned and glanced at the phone...and it began to ring.
Before Ronnie could even see Scott's reaction to the unplugged phone ringing she ushered Sam out of there.
"Tell me, what do we have to do to save everyone in this school? Assuming the video is real," Ronnie said, feeling like there was a little more to this then Sam was letting on. Sam sighed and started to walk away from Ronnie, down the hallways of the empty school.
"SAM!"
"It's people like him--people who don't care! Until I get an apology, everyone will suffer!" she yelled. Her voice echoed in the hall, and a chill ran through Ronnie's body.
"She just wants to be heard!"
Ronnie suddenly felt alone and scared, like she was trapped in a dark place and no one was going to find her. She backed into the wall and slid down as she brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She closed her eyes to see if that would make a difference...but instead when she opened them she was enclosed in a well.
The water was waist deep. She panicked, trying to claw and scream, doing anything she could to get help. The nail of her index finger snagged on something, probably a jagged part of the wall, and ripped off. But the adrenaline rush was high and she didn't even notice the pain. The smell was horrible--it invaded her nostrils. She could only see a ring of light above her head when she glanced to the sky. Then someone was shaking her.
"Ronnie? Ronnie?" It was Zach. He was crouched by her and his hands were on her shoulders. When she opened her eyes and saw Zach she was so happy. She embraced him quickly.
"You're all wet. What happened here?"
"I don't know. One moment I was fine, and then all of a sudden I was trapped and..."
"It was probably an anxiety attack. With everything that's happening around here everyone is prone to one of those." He stroked her cheek and then noticed something warm slowly oozing its way down the back of his shirt. He moved Ronnie's hand to see if he could figure out what it was and saw that her fingernail had been completely ripped off.
"How the hell did you do that?" Ronnie moved her hand and looked to see blood running down her arm. There was so much of it.
"I...in the dream I..."
"It's not possible to lose your fingernail in a dream, Ronnie. You're just scared--let's get you out of here. You probably slammed it in a door or something," Zach reassured her. He didn't know how to explain why she didn't remember slamming it in a door, but it seemed to calm her down for the moment. Ronnie began to frantically look for her fingernail, almost as if it was some way to prove that imagery and cursed videotapes didn't exist. When she finally did stand up there was no fingernail on the floor.
All that was left was a puddle of water approximately the size of the well in her dream.