Jillian Chantal

Time for Tuesday Tales again. This week, the writers are sharing snippets of their work with the word prompt hand. I am still in the paranormal story.

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The ringing of her phone on the bedside table woke her.

Fumbling around with her eyes still closed, she wondered what time it was and who’d be calling her so early. Or it could be late. All Lu knew was she was still exhausted.

The phone fell to the floor. Great.

It quit ringing for a second then started again. Her hand patted the floor trying to find the phone without having to open her eyes.

Unable to locate it, she got up and then down on her knees to grab the thing and click it on to accept the call. “Hello?”

“What the hell are you doing, Lu?” Malcolm barked in her ear.

“Sleeping.”

“Very funny.”

“I’m not trying to be funny. I was sound asleep. What is with you calling me, hanging up and dialing right back?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“I seriously doubt that. I haven’t called you.” She shook her head, trying to follow the conversation.

“Maybe you should have.”

“Should have what?”

“Called me.” He practically shouted the words.

“Whoa. What’s your problem? I don’t think you realize how you’re coming across.” Lu took a deep breath. “Or you do realize and you don’t care.”

“You’ve created a disaster for that Kelley woman. She’s in a world of trouble. You should have reached out to me about her situation. Gave me a head’s up about the dead girl. I could have averted this whole situation but, no, you had to go off half-cocked again. This woman could be staring at some serious charges.”

“Who do you think you are?” Lu wanted to cry. Not from a broken heart but from rage. How dare he call me and yell at me like I’m a child. “I’m not going to tolerate you talking to me this way. You have no right.”

“I’m sorry, but this is a real issue for this lady.”

When Lu had a moment for her brain to actually wake up and focus, she got angrier “Hold on just one second here, Detective. I did call you. You thought I was calling about Christmas shopping and cut me off. Like I’d actually call you at work to waste your time about shopping. I was calling to tell you I met Kelley and her daughter while shopping and that we needed to figure out how to get probable cause to investigate the place the child said she’s buried. But no, you had to be rude and cut me off. And now you have the audacity to call me, wake me up and scream at me like some kind of lunatic. Well, I don’t have to listen to this. And I’m not responsible for Kelley’s behavior. She took her own actions. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to bed.” She pushed the end call button and turned the phone off completely.