Page 94 of The Way I Used to Be
“Hello?” he answers, edgy.
Hang up. Redial.
“Eden, is this you?”
My heart sinks deep.
“Eden, if this is you... just... hello?”
I hang up. Fuck. Then my phone starts vibrating in my hand. It’s him. It keeps ringing. I silence it. Shit, but then it’ll go to voice mail. I have to pick up. I do. I don’t say anything. I listen. He breathes.
“Eden?
“Eden!
“Will you just say something?
“I hear you breathing....
“Okay, listen.” His voice is sharp, just like that day in the bathroom when he dumped me.
I listen. I listen closely.
“I don’t know what you want, why you’re calling me like this. Talk now. Or don’t expect me to pick up again.”
He pauses, soundless. Then hangs up.
My hands shake as my fingers punch in the numbers. I hold my breath. It rings. Once, twice, three times. I should hang up. I should. This is crazy.
“What?” he snaps.
I can’t speak.
“Eden, come on....”
No.
“Do you need some kind of help?”
Yes, yes.
“Is there something going on, is something wrong?”
God, yes.
“I can’t—you’re going to have to say something here!”
I wish I could.
“Eden... Eden, come on. Look, are you stalking me or something?”
Stalking him?
“There’re laws, you know,” he adds. “This has to stop. I mean it.”
“No,” I finally whimper.
“What?”
