The Wrong Number

I'm a girl living alone in a new apartment building – the kind where the walls feel way too thin.

It was raining hard, like a proper downpour, around 11 PM, when my phone rang. I didn't recognize the number.

"Hey, is this the owner of the car with the [License Plate Abbreviation, like "CA-123"] plates? Your car window is open, and it’s really coming down out here.”

I was so grateful! "Oh man, thank you so much for letting me know!" I said. I was about to head downstairs, but work grabbed me by the throat.

Ten minutes later, the phone rings again.

I answered and a different guy was on the line.

"Wait, you should say this to her..."

Then it went back to the first voice, a girl this time. "Hey? Why aren't you down here yet? Your car's getting soaked!"

Something felt...off. Like, a little creepy.

The phone rang again. Same number.

I answered, figuring I'd explain.

But this time, it was another guy's voice.

“Hold on, you’re supposed to tell her...” Then, silence.

Where were all these guys coming from?

After a beat, the girl was back: “Hey, why aren't you down here? Your car's getting ruined!"

The background noise was still the sound of rain, but her voice seemed impatient this time.

Was she still by my car?

The second hand on my living room clock ticked. It had been like fifteen minutes since the first call. And judging by the voices, there was more than one person down there.

A weird feeling settled in my stomach. Something didn’t quite add up, and it was nagging at me.

I took a breath and pulled up my building’s management office number. I was going to ask them to check things out while I dealt with the person on the phone.

“Oh, I just found my keys, I’m on my way down," I said, trying to sound casual, and then tentatively, "It’s raining pretty hard out there, huh? You shouldn’t be out alone so late, it’s not safe.”

I quickly typed out a text to the building manager and hit send.

The rain noise on the call briefly faded, like someone had covered the mic.

When the girl spoke again, her voice sounded strange. "Oh, I was just waiting for someone down here and saw your window was down. You didn’t come down for so long, so I thought I should let you know."

Then, a guy’s voice jumped in. “Oh, you were waiting here? That's why I didn't see you. You been here long? Let’s go.”

I listened, there was the sound of footsteps coming closer to the phone.

The building manager texted back saying they were on their way. I felt a little of the tension leave me.

The girl on the phone was saying goodbye. "Okay, well I’m heading out, remember to close your window."

"Yeah, okay thanks,” I replied. Maybe it was just a misunderstanding.

I hung up and called the front desk to see what was going on.

But no one answered.

So, I called a maintenance guy I had his personal number.

He picked up right away. “Hey, I’m down here, and yeah the window’s open, the car's getting soaked! You should come check it out.”

Okay, maybe I was just being paranoid....