Private Number

The Private Number is a sad scary story about a woman who receives a mysterious phonecall. It is inspired by an old episode of Tales From The Darkside called “Sorry Right Number” which was written by Stephen King.

One day, a woman named Kate Wasserman was just about to start cooking dinner when her son arrived home from school.

“How was your day, dear?” she asked.

“Ugh awful,” the boy groaned. “I’ve got a splitting headache. We were playing soccer and one of the other boys kicked me in the head.”

“That’s terrible, dear,” his mother said. “Do you want to put some ice on it?”

“No, that’s OK,” the boy replied. “I’m really tired. I think I’ll just go upstairs and take a nap.”

“OK, Dinner will be ready in an hour,” she said. “Don’t forget.”

A few minutes later, the phone started ringing. Checking the caller ID, she realized the call was coming from a private number.

“Hello? Wasserman residence,” she said. “Kate speaking.”

She could hear crying on the other end of the line. It sounded like it was a female voice.

“Hello? Who is this?” asked Kate.

“Please… Please take…” said the female voice on the other end.

Then, all of a sudden, the line went dead.

The voice sounded very familiar. She was convinced it was someone she knew very well. It sounded like someone in her family. She just couldn’t put her finger on who it was.

She immediately called her mother.

“Mom, did you just call me, crying?” she asked.

“No, of course not, dear,” her mother said.

Then, she called her sister.

“Mary, did you just call me a minute ago?”

“No, it wasn’t me,” her sister replied.

Kate spent the rest of the night trying to figure out who it was that had called her. She was so perplexed by the anonymous call that she completely forgt about cooking dinner. She was convinced that she recognized the voice. She called every one of her family members and every one of her friends, but they all denied calling her earlier that day.

When she went to bed that night, she was still thinking about it.

“Maybe it was just a wrong number,” said her husband.

“No, that’s just the problem,” Kate replied. “If it was a wrong number, I could just forget about it. But it was the right number. I’m sure of it.”

The next morning she found her son dead in his bed. He had died from a brain hemmhorrage. The kick he received during soccer practice caused internal bleeding on his brain and during the night, he had lapsed into a coma and passed away.

The woman and her husband were devastated. Neither of them could get over the loss of their beloved son. As time went on, they grew apart and eventually, they divorced. They packed up their belongings, sold their house and went their separate ways.

Five years later, Kate was sitting alone in her new house, watching TV when she started thinking about her son. It was the anniversary of his death. She couldn’t believe he had been gone 5 whole years.

All of a sudden, something struck her. She leaped out of her chair, rushed into the hallway and grabbed the phone.

She dialled the number of her old house and listened to it ring and ring.

Then, someone answered and she heard a familiar voice on the other end say:

“Hello? Wasserman residence. Kate speaking.”

She stood there dumbfounded, tears streaming down her cheeks. She was so shocked, she could barely speak.

“Hello? Who is this?” said the voice on the other end.

Kate took a deep breath. “Please… Please take…” she said.

Just then, the line went dead.

“Please take him to the hospital!” she screamed.

She tried the number again and again, but all she got was a recorded message saying the line was no longer in service.