Almost anywhere you go, there's a bunch of pests you're bound to encounter. Flies. The housefly, the gnat, the mosquito, the wasp, doesn't matter exactly what they are, they find their way into your life no matter how much you don't want them there and bug the hell out of you.
They constantly get in your face, on your screen, sometimes land on you and when you feel them you can't help but try to shake or swipe them off. Just, the absolute worst. Annoying, but nothing many would ever be too afraid of, besides maybe wasps or their like. Those bastards add a bonus bite or sting if you're real unlucky.
At any rate, a good swatter, some bug spray, no big deal, right? Well, that's what I always thought too, until I realized, the wretches had been the purveyors of not just disease...They were couriers of nightmares. Of course it wouldn't be enough for the worst of them to bring us or our crops' death, they had to wilt away our minds too.
No, not just by stressing out or annoying us, or preying on those more acutely afraid of them...Somehow each person they crossed, they sampled something of their anxieties, their fears, and brought it to bear on the next and the next, stirring them to a greater terror.
Here are just a few accounts of those afflicted...
The Call Center Grind
“Hello, we're reaching out today to offer y-”, I began and the line clicked dead for probably the thousandth time today. Why the hell did I keep at this gig, it's not as if it doing much more to help ends meet than my other two dead-end gigs.
Thoughtlessly I began another call so I wouldn't have to listen to someone later complaining about something to do with performance or whatever, but this time the line didn't immediately go dead.
“So, would you be interested i-”, I started to elaborate for the first time in...A month? How long had it been?
“...This line, it's...It's being recorded, right?” the person on the other end asked.
“Uh...Yes, I'm afraid it is, for service and quality,” I gave the canned reply.
“Good. You can hear it too, can't you? This...It keeps getting louder, like it's trying to get in,” the person spoke a little quieter, but still clearly, and you could hear the unease in their voice rising.
“I'm sorry, could you try moving the phone a little so I might hear it better?” I heard some rustling as it sounded like they were doing so, and then...More quiet, until the person moved the phone back to ask again.
“Did it come through that time? Please, tell me you heard it, I-” the panic was clear in their voice, and unsure of what to do, I decided a little lie might help calm them, as I brushed a fly or something away from me.
“Yeah, I think so. Look, I think us talking like this may be giving you away, okay? So I'll call you some help, just give me your info and I'll call for help as soon as we end this call, alright?”
“O-okay, but tell them to let me know who they are quietly, I-I don't know if I'll be able to hear them when they arrive, got it?” the person spoke so quietly I almost couldn't understand them, but I got their info and called help like I said. The person was clearly distressed and needed someone other than a cold caller clumsily trying to help them.
Then my phone rang. That's...Unusual. I picked up the phone, “Hello, this is-” but then a noise like I've never heard before came from the receiver. I hung up immediately, slightly disturbed until I decided maybe someone had finally found their way to prank calling me. Some of my coworkers had gotten their fair share of prank calls from time to time. It was rare, sure, but it happened.
So I went back to cold calling, and awhile later got another person that stayed on the line, “...No, you tell them to stop, you got it?”
“Oh, um, yes we'll-”
“No, not you, them. You sent them out here, didn't you?”
“What? Sorry, I think you may-”
“I'll send them back to you, don't you worry.”
And they hung up. I wasn't in the business of calling people to have them order anything, nor send service people out, so who the hell did they think I was, and who were they trying to send back?
I wheeled back a little from my space to ask one of my coworkers next to me if they'd had any strange calls today too, only to find them gripping their own phone tightly and muttering rapidly into it. Catching my gaze, their eyes widened and their muttering grew a little louder and faster.
“Yes no you go okay go just go just forget about it you need it you need that to live okay take it take it no-”
Looking to my opposite side, my other coworker wasn't much better, except instead of muttering they had pulled the cord from their phone and were...Trying to...Strangle it? I couldn't make sense of what they were trying to do, but it definitely wasn't calling anyone.
Then my phone rang again, and reluctantly, I decided to answer...The otherworldly sound was now enveloping me, my hand held nothing to my ear, and everything was shifting and...
...Something rang out again, and a phone was back in my hand, “So would you be interested i-” I heard myself from moments ago asking.
This is really good stuff. I love short story anthologies and this was impressive. Thanks for sharing!