The Dead Sea

                There is a little town on the edge of the dead sea. The town is dead. It seems I am the only person left on this entire planet. I’m alone. I’m all alone. I don’t know what to do. Maybe I should just end this before I go completely insane.  Maybe I already am. I’ve been alone for so long now… But then, off in the distance, I hear a telephone ring. Ring, ring.

…A telephone? The power is still on? Impossible; I’m the only one left here. There’s no one to operate anything… The phone rings again. Ring, ring. Maybe I should answer it? I stand still, unable to move. That can’t possibly be a telephone ringing. Ring, ring. Maybe I’m just hallucinating.   I listen. It rings again. Ring, ring. No, it’s real. I swear it is. I really should answer it. It won’t ring for much longer. This… this could be a living thing, an actual living thing, calling me.

Ring, ring. That’s it. I have to answer it. This is my chance. This could be my one and only chance. What was I doing standing here doing nothing? Ring, ring. I take a step, trying to get my legs to move. I go forth towards the sound. Ring, ring. Shouldn’t it have stopped ringing by now? I keep going, trying to find the dead, abandoned house the sound was coming from. Ring, ring. It must have been on its tenth ring. I step inside a house. The ring becomes louder. Ring, ring. Yes, this is it. This is the house. I look at the phone, across the room from me. I stare at it for a moment. Ring, ring. I take a step forward again and struggle to make it across the room. Finally I reach the phone and put my hand on the receiver. I pick it up.

“Hello…?”

“…” There is a soft breathing on the other end.

“H-hello? Who is that?” I whisper into the phone.

“…Hh… hh…” That’s it? Is there someone on the other end? It’s only breathing… At least, I think it is… How eerie…   I want so badly to just hang up the phone, but… I can’t. The voice on the other end – the mere breathing – in a strange way relaxes me. It makes me feel like I am not the only thing, the only living thing, on this planet. I’m not alone after all, am I? I speak once again.

“Hello?” But the line is dead; the other party has hung up. I stare at the wall. They’re gone.

I’m alone again.

I slowly put down the receiver. There is a soft click as I push it into place. There is a thump outside. I turn. There is a figure in the doorway. A tall figure, breathing. Just breathing. I stare at it. It stares back at me. My heart goes faster, beating: thump, thump. This is crazy, I think, I want to run away, but I can’t. I want to stay, but I’m afraid. We stand there, the figure and I, staring at each other in the empty, dead, forgotten town on the edge of the dead sea…