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The Voicemail

Sitting in his living room, frozen, staring at the shiny wood floors, Blake listens to one of

the worst messages he's ever received. The traffic on the crowded New York streets always

caused hints of honking and squeaky brakes to seep through windows. For the first time in

forever, he couldn't hear it. Everything was a blur at this moment, except for the voicemail he's

listening to. The voice belongs to Amanda. She was put in Daisy Shores Mental Institution the

year after graduating high school with Blake. He hadn't heard from her at all since then. Amanda

was always by herself because she did weird things that freaked out the other high schoolers.

Blake knew she talked to people that weren't really there, but he never bullied her for it or

ignored her like all their classmates. Now, after everything that happened, she leaves a voicemail

on Blake’s phone. He listens to her words over and over. “I want to see you,” she starts. Those

five small words already make Blake feel sick, but he still sits and listens. She adds, “Don't make

me wait, or trouble will head your way.” Blake finally puts the phone down and wonders what

kind of trouble could head his way. She's locked in a mental institution, and has been for eight

years. If she got out he’ll be in serious danger, and maybe other people too. She’s manipulative,

but Blake didn't know that till they were almost done with senior year. He knows that she could

easily find him, considering he’s the cities best surgeon. Its whatever she wants that he’s scared

of, not her knowing where he is. It's not a secret that her head isn't right. She talks to people that

aren't there, and does what they tell her to do. Unfortunately, it sounds like the voices are stuck

on Blake. Amanda started out being nice to him. She baked cookies and helped him in chemistry,

but then things got bad. After Blake decided he would be friends and hang around with her, he
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started finding threatening notes in his locker and she would show up inside his house when

nobody was there. He stopped talking to her and tried to keep his distance but she started

sneaking in the upstairs window of his house at night, finding her way to his room where he was

sleeping. One night, he woke up to her standing at the foot of his bed watching him. He jumped

and told her she needs to leave, and to go out his window so his parents wouldn't see. She didn't

move. She just stood there with her eyes locked on him and no emotion on her face. Blake was

scooted up against the wall as far as he could to get a bigger distance between them. He yelled

for his mom without taking his eye off of her, too scared of what she’d do if he did. He heard her

get up and footsteps getting louder as she gets closer. When the hallway light flicks on Amanda

runs and jumps out the window. When Blake’s Mom comes in the room she turns on his light,

and he’s still pushed about against the wall with fear all over his face. After he told his parents

what happened, they got a restraining order against Amanda to keep them safe and later, installed

a security system. Amanda wasn't in school for a whole month after that incident. Everything

went back to normal, except for a new habit Blake developed of watching his back wherever he

went. Soon he started to find things that reminded him of her. He didn't think much of it at first.

He thought to himself, “A lot of people have this.” Or, “She wasn't the only person in the world

that owned one of these.” But one day at soccer practice when he sat down on the sideline, he

found that silver elephant charm with her birthstone for an eye. She told him she grew up with

that. He went straight home after practice. What he saw when he walked through his front door

is a memory he never forgot. He still remembers it perfectly. There were pools of red

surrounding the bodies of the people he'd seen everyday since he was born. The people who were

suppose to see him graduate, get married, and have grandkids. Both of his parents laid dead on
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the kitchen floor and right away, Blake knew who did it. Amanda was gone for a month,

suddenly signs start to appear that she’s back, and now this. The police were called. Ambulances

and cop cars lined up on the street in front of the house and Blake told a cop everything about

Amanda since the first time they talked that year. A few days later Amanda was behind bars

waiting for her court date and Blake moved in with his aunt. A judge saw her as schizophrenic

and sent her to a mental institution because of the harm she caused. Blake sits in his living room,

deciding whether he should call the police or Amanda. This isn't something he can set aside for

later. He decides to call Daisy Shores to see if she is still there. A friendly sounding young lady

answers the phone and right away Blake asks, “Can you tell me if Amanda Trindell is still living

there?” The woman on the other end hesitates. “We had one person get out last night-” she went

on but Blake took off out of his apartment and to the police station. He has to tell them that she’s

out there somewhere, the person who murdered his parents is running the streets and has already

tried to contact him. He tells a cop with a barrel stomach and barely any hair what is going on.

He makes a report and sends out a search team, then suggests to Blake that he stays at home with

doors and windows locked. That's all they can say till they find Amanda. Blake goes home and

locks every door and window in the house. It's late at night and she's been out since yesterday

night. Trying to block out the voicemail and the memories from senior year that it brought back,

Blake goes to bed. It's the next morning and Blake is getting ready for work. While standing in

the shower, he hears the bathroom door unlatch. He freezes and moves his eyes toward the door

but can’t see through the curtain. He slowly moves to the end of the curtain and looks into the

bathroom. Nobody is there but the door is open. He turns the shower off and gets dressed. When

he gets to the lobby, the doorman tells him there's a car waiting outside to give him a ride. Blake
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steps outside and the doorman opens the door of a Malibu. He can't ignore anything that could

happen to him. Amanda will find a way to do what she wants no matter what. Considering that,

he gets in the car and sees her. Ash Blonde hair tied in a messy bun on top of her head, brown

sweater, blue jeans, and a smirk on her face. Once he sees that it's her, Blake looks everywhere

but at her. She says, “We’re going to the cemetery. No questions.” He listens and stares at the

floor as they drive away. A cemetary could possibly be the worst place to go with her. It's the

perfect place for a plan like she had with his parents. Nobody would look there. Once they arrive,

Amanda drives the route through the cemetery to Blake's parents’ plot. Blake sits frozen, the

same way he did when he heard the voicemail from her. Amanda silently steps out of the car and

walks around to open Blakes door. “Get out.” He does as she says, gets out of the car, and

follows her to the plot where his parents are buried. There’s fresh tulips, which were his mom’s

favorite, and a rock that held a note down on the headstone. Blake bent down to get the note and

read it. There was no signature, and no way to tell who it came from. Blake handed it to Amanda

and said, “It's from someone who read a news article about what happened. Its addressed to my

parents, like this person imagined they could read it.” Amanda looked at the headstone. A tear

fell onto the fallen leaves from nearby trees which they stood on now. “I know,” she said. “This

is where I went when I got out. I ran and didn't stop until I got here. The person that wrote was a

teenage boy. I saw him put it here when I was outside the gates and came in to read it. It says

everything any normal person would say about what I did.” She sits on the ground and the leaves

crunch beneath her. She doesn't seem like the same person anymore. “After about two years the

medication I started at the institution kicked in and the voices stopped. I know I was crazy and

sometimes I feel like I can't live with what I’ve done,” She tells him, Staring up at the sky
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waiting for the air to dry her teary eyes. Blake keeps some distance, but sits with her and listens,

then asks, “Why my parents, and why did you do it?” She gives up on drying her eyes and starts

to cry harder with her head down. She says,”I have schizophrenia. It was the voices that made

me do it. I was threatened the same way they made me threaten you. I brought you here to see it,

and tell you how sorry I am.” He can't forgive her though. She killed his parents. Blake lets all of

his thought be heard, “This isn't something I can forgive you for. It's great that your medicine is

helping, but you took my parents. You're more than mentally ill, you're a murderer.” Amanda

stands up, says she’s sorry, and starts walking back to the car. Blake realizes what he said and

how bad she took it and rushes toward her. Before he can get to her, she's already in the car with

it started. Blake keeps walking to her window to say something, but she stomps on the gas pedal

plowing through him. After hitting him, she stops the car a few feet away, gets out, runs to him

and sees he's still barely breathing but still awake​.​ She bends over him and and whispers,

“Sometimes the voices have genius plans.” Blake cant do anything except watch her say this to

him, and wait till she leaves to reach for his phone. Tires screech as she speeds out of the

cemetery. A nearby grave digger witnessed the whole thing and runs to Blake. “Hey! I have a

video don't worry, the cops are on their way with an ambulance for you,” the man tells him. He

sits with Blake, asking procedure questions like the date and his name, until the ambulance

shows up. Blake will heal soon, but at this time, Amanda is still running free and her medication

definitely didn't work.