Deirdre Collins went for the phone and picked it up off the hook. It was almost an eerie situation. Who would be calling her at this time of night?
“Hello?” she spoke.
In the receiver, she could hear slow breathing, slow heavy breathing. Finally she heard a low monotone voice, “Hello Deirdre…”
She was beginning to get panicked. Who would call her in the middle of the night? Who of her loved ones even knew that she lived there? Who, if anyone knew her number?
“Who is this?” she asked.
The monotone voice answered, “It’s your next door neighbor… Steve.”
Steve sounded different. His voice was much lower than the skinny man she’d known him as. Plus, she never gave Steve her number. She hardly ever spoke to him except once.
“Hi… Steve… your voice sounds different.”
“Yes… I know…. There’s a very good reason why it’s different…”
There was a long pause in between words as Steve began wheezing into the phone.
“I called to ask you… how you’re doing.”
“I’m doing fine, Steve.”
“Have you sat… by the window and looked… at the moon?”
“No I haven’t, Steve.”
“It’s a full moon tonight… the moon does crazy things to the people here…” He began to cough into the receiver.
“Are you alright, Steve?”
“The moon does crazy things… Deirdre… blood does crazy things… have you been bleeding?”
She was overly tempted to hang up. This Steve knew things that he wasn’t telling her.
“I’m not bleeding Steve.”
“Blood does crazy things to the people here. I have a small cup of blood in front of me.” He coughed again. “It’s changing me…”
“Steve, why did you call me?”
“I want you to see something…” suddenly there was a large thump, “I want you to see me… Can I come over?”