Emergency Contact
Jimmy Junior opened up the door to their apartment and held it while his brothers rushed inside. He moved up the stairs more slowly, pulling at the itchy fake fur of his werewolf costume the whole way up. Now that the night was over, he couldn't wait to take it off. His haul of candy thumped behind him as he dragged it into his room.
Once he had changed into some pajamas, he settled down on his bed and dumped the contents of his trick or treat bag out in front of him. Zeke took him and Andy and Ollie to some of the out skirting neighborhoods in their town, and they actually managed to bring in a fairly decent batch. In among the chocolate bars and lollipops, he found his cell phone.
"So that's where it went," he said to himself. He had thought he dropped it somewhere. The screen blinked with an alert for a new voicemail, and his brow furrowed. Who had called him? He held the phone to his ear to play it.
"Hey Jimmy Junior, it's Tina," the message started. "So my brother and sister and I are all trapped on King's Head Island and it's Hell Hunt, so if you could help that would be great. Thanks! See you soon!" Then there was a harsh dial tone before the message cut off.
He stared at the far wall of his room, trying to figure out what that meant. Why were they on King's Head Island? What was Hell Hunt?
It wasn't the first time he had gotten a weird phone call from her. He had been equally confused the other times and hadn't been able to offer her much help, so he wasn't sure why she kept turning to him with these problems. She was better at handling crises than he ever was. Still, he couldn't help but worry as he listened to the message again.
After internally debating with himself for a few seconds, he picked his phone back up and called her. She answered immediately after the first ring, and she recounted her night's adventures to him. Once it was clear that she was okay, he flopped back onto his pillows, surprised at how relieved he was. Yet again, she hadn't needed the help she asked for. Good thing, too, since he didn't even answer the phone in time. If something bad really had happened, well, he wasn't sure what he would do then.
Jimmy Junior closed his eyes and propped the phone against his ear so he could keep listening to her story. As she described their desperate escape, he made a vow to himself that, if the time ever came that she really did need him, he wouldn't miss that call.