In the time that followed, I did my best to forget about my strange phone call. I have to admit that for a few days, I felt quite shaken by the experience but as the days turned to weeks, although it still haunted me at night when I lay alone in my bed, I gradually began to let it go and I never mentioned it to anybody. Not even Anna. It wasn't until nearly a full month later, that I was forced to think properly about it again.
It was a Thursday. I can't remember the time but it was dark outside and the last rays of the dying sun had disappeared down behind the horizon. I was in my lounge, reading a book. It wasn't a very good book and I was considering just giving up with it and heading to bed. I'd had one of those days at work where time appears to be running at a snails pace, I was tired and my eyes hurt from spending too long in front of a computer screen.
I put my glasses down on the arm of my chair and pinched the skin between my eyes. Despite my lethargy, it was still too early for bed so I had about a half hour to fill before I settled down for the night. I didn't really want to turn on the television, in case I got absorbed in a programme or film and ended up staying up too late but I reached for the remote anyway.
The television flickered into life. Puzzled, I looked over at my hand. It was still stretching for the remote. I hadn't touched it or pressed any buttons, and yet the television was clearly on. It wasn't showing a picture, just fuzzy white snow and it was making a loud hissing noise.
I leaned forward, the remote firmly in my slightly sweaty palm by now, and continued to stare in a confused way at the familiar object that had, in the space of less than a minute, become a threatening stranger in my home. As I got closer to the screen a face appeared out of the fuzz. I couldn't make out any details, or the sex, but it was definitely a face with eyes, a nose and a mouth. It was looking straight at me. Not just in my direction but At Me. And also through me, as if it could see everything I had ever known or done. I was terrified and yet I wanted to know what was happening. It was my curiosity that stopped me running out the front door screaming like a madwoman.
"Who are you?" I whispered.
"You know who I am." the television hissed back at me.
"What do you want?" I could hear the shrillness in my voice, as if it were coming from another person and not out of my own mouth.
"You. You belong to us and we are coming for you. You have long been hidden from us and now we have found you. You must start saying your goodbyes child, it will not be long."
The television flicked off with a small bang and I found myself on the floor in front of the empty screen. I did not remember making my way across the room, all I could think about was that voice. It was different to the one on the phone, that one had been full of fear. This voice had not been afraid. Despite what it had said, I did not recognise it and the only thing that I knew for sure about it was that I did not want to meet the person, or thing, that it belonged to.
It was time, I thought, to find a good psychiatrist.
