Work Text:
(SOUNDS OF COMPUTER BOOTING UP. COMPUTER FAN WHIRRS TO LIFE AS THE PC BEGINS TO RECORD.)
(COMPUTER CHIMES AND SAM KHALID SIGHS. SOUNDS OF KEYS CLICKING AS HE LOGS IN.)
SAM KHALID:
(MUTTERS.) Didn't see Alice or Gwen on the way in… Wonder if that means I'm here by myself. (HE PAUSES.) Yeah, no, I'm not thinking of being alone in the basement during my job of reading scary stories. Not a good idea.
(MOUSE CLICKS, SAM KHALID MUTTERS UNDER HIS BREATH.)
Let's hope it's not a talker- (HE CLICKS AGAIN.) Oh, it's a video.
(MOUSE SCROLLING.)
(HE TAPS THE SPACEBAR AND THE VIDEO BEGINS TO PLAY.)
(CHIMING NOISE AS MEMBER JOINS VIDEO.)
THERAPIST:
Hello, Kate. I know you said you needed to see me right away. Is everything-
KATE:
(DISTRAUGHT.) Are you alone?
THERAPIST:
I- Unless you show signs of hurting yourself or others, then anything you say-
KATE:
I don't care about that. I need to know if you're alone. (SHE BREATHES HEAVILY.) Is there anyone in the room with you? In your house with you?
THERAPIST:
(HESITATES.) No, no, I'm alone, Kate. What's the problem?
KATE:
She keeps calling me! She won't stop!
THERAPIST:
Who? Is this-
KATE:
(VOICE SHAKING.) She called me two months ago. I- She was normal then! She was sweet! I didn't- I don't- (HER BREATHING QUICKENS AND SHE BEGINS TO HYPERVENTILATE. GASPING FOR BREATH.)
THERAPIST:
Kate, (VOICE STEADY, CALM.) Breathe please. Just like we worked on. Close your eyes and think of the water. The beach. The waves.
KATE:
(HER BREATHING SLOWLY RETURNS TO NORMAL. SHE EXHALES SLOWLY.)
She was normal when she called me. Normal. I didn't recognize the number the first time she called, so I didn't answer. It went to voicemail and I forgot about it until later.
I checked my inbox that night and I saw it. I didn't- I didn't know then. The message was only 10 seconds long, and for all I knew it could have been a scammer. Still, I hit play.
It was her, her before she changed.
She had such a nice, kind voice then. So motherly. It was cheery and familiar. Even though I didn't know her, the moment I heard her speak I felt at ease.
"Hey! It's me, your mom. Call me back when you get this, okay? I love you."
That's what she said. I- It was just after the first anniversary of my mom's death then, and I wasn't doing good. That's when I was really bad. Remember?
THERAPIST:
I remember.
KATE:
Yeah…
But that message, it made me feel good. I didn't feel so sad. It made me feel better that day. She wasn't my mom, but it- it felt good. She was just some sweet old mum who had dialed the wrong number.
I honestly forgot about it, deleted the message and went on with my life. But then a few days later, I had another missed call from a different unknown number. I need to stress that. The numbers were different. I checked. They've all been different.
I- (INHALES, PAUSES.) She left another voicemail for me.
“Hey, sweetie.” She said, “call me back when you get this, alright? I love you.”
It was the same woman. The numbers were different, but her voice was the same. I know it. I felt bad. This poor woman was calling me trying to phone her own kids. I had the thought of calling her back to let her know she had the wrong number, I didn't want her to feel like her kids were ignoring her. She was so sweet, afterall. But I got busy and forgot. I had other things to do.
It took a week for her to call again. I had forgotten her by that time. I get so many calls from random numbers that I don't even think about it. But she- she left another voice message. This is when they started to change.
In this message, her tone was totally different. Her voice was still nice, but it was fake. I almost felt- scared listening to it. I felt crazy then for thinking that, but you didn't hear it. The off threat behind her voice. It's like the way an adult acts normal in public when you've messed up, but you know the moment you're alone with them that they're going to punish you.
“Hello, there. It's your mother. You need to call me, sweetie. I love you.”
Even then I didn't call her. I didn't want to. I just pushed it aside and hoped that she'd get in touch with her actual children before calling me again and the whole thing would be resolved.
She called again and again. And I was starting to get more scared because- because her messages just kept going on. She was changing from the nice lady who dialed me by mistake into something else. Something that haunted me and made my stomach drop every time I heard my phone ring.
I woke up one morning to thirteen different missed calls from her. There was a voice message for every single one. I couldn't ignore them, I couldn't. So before work, I sat in bed listening to them all.
They started nicer, like she was back to how she sounded in the first message. But as they went on she just changed. She- she started yelling at me. She called me ungrateful for not picking up the phone and she screamed that she was my mother and that I was nothing but- (SHE BEGINS TO SPEAK FASTER, WORDS SPILLING TOGETHER.) I was nothing but a damn burden and that the least I could do was answer the fucking phone and return her call.
They- they would be like that for a while. Some of the messages were just her screaming at me. But near the end, they changed. She went back to being nice. She'd apologize for being crazy and say over and over again how she's my mum and how she loves me. She'd say that she's just sorry and that she misses me so much and-
(KATE TAKES A DEEP, SHUDDERING BREATH.)
I blocked every single one of the numbers she called me from when I woke up to those messages. I didn't know what else I could do, but- but I was- I am scared. I even changed the settings in my phone to prevent any unknown numbers from being able to leave me a message.
But she worked around that too.
Now- now her calls say they're from my mom's old contact. I never- I never deleted it after she passed. The first time she called using my mom's number, my phone lit up and my stomach fell. I ran to the bathroom and puked my guts out because I knew. I knew it was her.
I don't know why I've kept listening to the messages. It would have been better if I stopped. But I couldn't. And I couldn't block my own mom to stop the calls. I mean- I know, I know that's not my mother. But that's her contact! That's her number! That number is one of the last few things I have of her. I just- I can't. Even now.
I'm so scared when she calls me. I never answer. I won't answer. I will never answer my mother's calls again. Her voicemails are full of screaming and yelling. Every so often in them she apologizes. She's crying. She calls herself a horrible mother. She says she misses me. That she loves me. That she just wants to speak to me.
That was- that was disturbing enough. But- but last night it was different. When she left me a voicemail of her usual guilt tripping last night, she used my name. She said it. She said my name.
Between her tears and her self depreciation at how what a terrible mother she was, she said- she said “I'm so sorry, Katie”.
I started crying when I heard that. That was what my mom- only my mom called me. She- this woman was calling me that. She was calling me ‘Katie’ and pretending to be my actual mother.
I don't know why she's doing this. I'm so scared. She knows my name. What else does she know? Does she know where I live? I tried- I tried going to the police, but they told me there was nothing I could do except change my number. I just want her to stop. I just-
(CHIRPING SOUND OF PHONE RINGING.)
(KATE IS SILENT AS THE PHONE CONTINUES TO RING.)
THERAPIST:
Kate… (WORRIEDLY.) Kate, just leave it. I don't think you should-
(PHONE STOPS RINGING AS KATE ANSWERS THE CALL.)
KATE:
H-Hello?
(INAUDIBLE WORDS FROM PHONE SPEAKER.)
KATE:
No… No! (HYSTERICAL.) Stop saying that (SOBBING AS SHE SPEAKS.) You're not her! Don't- you are not my mother!
THERAPIST:
(RAISING HER VOICE, AUDIBLY CONCERNED.) Kate, Kate, I'm calling the police. I'm- I'm having them send someone to your location just-
KATE:
(SCREAMING.)
Fuck you! I-
(CHIMING NOISE AS KATE LEAVES THE CALL.)
THERAPIST:
Kate? (HYSTERICAL.) Kate? Kate! Rejoin the call! I'm-
(VIDEO CUTS OFF, ENDING.)
SAM KHALID:
(BREATHING SLOWLY.) What… the fuck. I don't even-
(MOUSE CLICKS.)
There's- there's no more?
ALICE DYER:
There usually isn't.
SAM KHALID:
(JUMPING.) Christ, Alice! Don't- How long have you been there?
ALICE DYER:
Since the shouting started. (UNBOTHERED.) It's better to use headphones with any of the files containing audio.
Listen, Sam, you don't look too hot. Why don't you take a breather and I'll file this one for you? I'd say dear old mum is a not them-comma-watching.
SAM KHALID:
(CHAIR CREAKING AS HE STANDS.)
I- (AUDIBLY TIRED.) Yeah, yeah that's a good idea. Thanks, Alice.
ALICE DYER:
Not a problem, Sammy m'boy.