Nina Rodriguez, i’m a police officer, have been for a good seven years. In my time in the force I have seen some pretty… pretty fucked up shit to say the least: crazed druggies, abusive parents, and even a few calls for help from the suicides. But, none of those could ever hope to compare to an emergency call I’d taken last month.
I now abhor taking emergency calls, not because of the over worried people calling about every little squeak in their house, the noise complaints, or even the occasional prank call, though those could get pretty annoying. No, the worst thing about taking an emergency call is knowing that I had to sit on the other side of a phone and, no matter how much I hoped or how fast a squad car could get there, had absolutely no power over the situation. The following is, unfortunately, this situation:
The day was like any other, monotonous in its predictability. It was a Wednesday night and the end of my shift was still a ways off. Don’t get me wrong, I love being a police officer, but I didn’t sign up to be a secretary. I sighed and flipped through the files on my desk, absentmindedly scanning through the different reports from earlier that day.The was nothing of dire importance, no hit-and-runs, robberies, or violence. Life in the country didn’t require as much police attention as, say, any of the major cities. My phone rang on the corner of my desk, waking me from my thoughts.
“991, what’s your emergency?” I said in a monochrome tone.
“Please, I need your help.” A small feminine voice answered. I leaned forward.
“Yes, what’s the emergency ma’am?” I repeated, preparing my pen and pad.
“There’s someone outside my house, he’s just standing there.” She answered, sounding frightened. This was not entirely unusual situation. There have been several different cases filed for crazed stalkers.
“Now, stay calm, everything’s going to be alright.” I said in my most convincing and gentle voice. I then continued with the standard questions. “And how long has he been there, ma’am?”
“I don’t know. I just looked out the window a while ago and he was just standing there. He just appeared there a little while after it got dark… That was about an hour ago. And he hasn’t moved an inch or ever stopped looking at me.” I stopped writing, this was getting a little strange, a person just standing in one place, never moving or even looking away. Who ever this was, I had a feeling that they could be very dangerous.
“Ok, ma’am, we’ll send an officer. What’s your name and street address?”
“Elizabeth Traville, 1465 Wellington Rd.” With a hum, I wrote down the address, and gave it to an officer on standby and he went on his way there.
“Ok, ma’am, we’re are sending a cruiser now.” I could hear an audible sigh of relief.
“In the mean time”, I began,“ can you try to describe the man to me, do you know him?” I asked, identifying the perp and making sure she was safe were the most important things at this time.
“Well..I definitely don’t know him, or anyone with that body type. He’s...tall, very tall, pale, and skinny, almost…. emaciated looking. And He’s…. naked, I think. But, I think he’s too far to tell.”
“Ok, can you see his face, describe it for me?”
“No, it’s too dark to see his face. And I don’t know how to describe it, but I know he’s definitely looking at me, has been the whole time he’s been here.”
“Are all your doors locked?” I asked.
“I think my back door’s still unlocked, i’ll go lock it real quick.”
“Ok, I’ll stay on line.” I heard her walk around and the familiar, resonant click of a deadbolt lock could be heard.
“Ok, I am back, now everythings locked and he’s…” She trailed off.
“What is it ma’am?” I asked.
“Ma’am?” I grew more and more uncomfortable in the silence. The quiet seemed to last forever until she spoke again in a more hushed tone than before.
“He’s closer now. Before he was just at the edge of my woods, tens of yards away, but now, he’s only half that.”
“It’s important that you stay calm. Now, can you see any of his features now that he’s closer?”
“Yeah, It’s weird. He IS naked but I cannot see any genitals or hair or well...any defining features, it’s like he’s wearing some skin-tight suit. I still cannot really see his face but I can tells its deformed in some way. He’s still staring at me, it’s so unnerving.”
“Ok ma’am, I am going to need you to find a safe place to lock yourself in incase anything goes wrong.” I said a calmly as possible, trying not to scare her any farther.
“Y-yeah, ok. My bedroom door has a lock and so does my bathr--” She trailed off once more and I could hear a small whimper.
“Ma’am? Is everything alright?”
“He’s closer.” Her voice was so quiet that if I was not listening so intently, I could have missed it.
“Ma’am?” I asked again.
“He’s so much closer. I just absent-mindedly looked at my bathroom for a second, and then he cleared the almost 30 yards from where he was to the house. But at least now I can make out his….oh god.”
“Ma’am?” My voice came out in a small peep, I was on the edge of my chair.
“Oh god, his face. I can see his face, it’s pressed up against the window. It’s awful. His eyes are so large, like black pool balls bulging out of his head, and he has this….smile that goes from ear to ear, or were his ears should be.” She let out with a sob. I needed to stop her from getting hysterical over… whatever it was on the other side of her window.
“Ma’am, you are going to need to go to that safe place now.” I said regaining my commanding voice.
No reply.
“Ma’am?”
“Ma-” I was interrupted.
“Help me.” Her voice begged through the speaker of the phone and was soon followed by the sound of breaking glass. The phone clattered onto the floor with the clack of hollow plastic. She let out a loud shriek. She said various pleas, begging to be let go, but to no avail. Her screams trailed away, sounding more and more far off until I could not hear her anymore. Nothing but silence followed and time seemed to slow to a crawl. I did not know how long I sat there waiting for something, anything. I also did not realize how tightly I was holding into the phone, not until I heard the sirens of a police car and hung up. That was the squad car that I had sent out not fifteen minutes ago.