The Caller

Seventy-Two

‘Oh, my God, Gwen, what’s happening?’ Erica Barnes cried out in a voice choking with emotion. ‘I... don’t understand.’

The image on her cellphone screen had stopped zooming out and, though her eyes could now see a more complete picture, her fragile brain struggled to make any sense of it.

Her sister seemed to be lying down on some sort of wooden surface. It was hard to tell because in width, the picture on Erica’s cellphone screen didn’t show past her sister’s shoulders. In length, it didn’t show past her breasts, which were fully exposed, and that was where Erica’s confusion began. Her sister’s phone, the one broadcasting the images, didn’t seem to be positioned in front of her. It looked like it had been positioned above her, as if it was somehow hanging from the ceiling, but what really made the scene look absurd was the fact that Gwen’s face lay between two huge, serrated iron jaws. That was why, at first, the image didn’t pan any wider than the edge of her eyes. The demon didn’t want to reveal his murderous device too soon.

‘Do you know what this is, Erica?’ the demonic voice asked, referring to the strange device.

Erica didn’t speak, didn’t blink, didn’t move. Never in her whole life, not even on the day that her muscles froze at the entrance to the cemetery, had she experienced fear like that before. It was like her brain had disconnected from the rest of her body.

‘This is something I created myself,’ the demon continued. ‘And I decided to call it... The Skull Crusher. Good name, don’t you think?’ He laughed the same sickening, throaty laugh from moments ago. ‘I guess it can be compared to... an industrial-size vise, only better.’

‘Please... please... please...’

This time, the desperate cries came from Gwen herself. Her sobbing was so intense, Erica could see her entire body shake from the effort.

‘Why are you doing this to me? Why?’

‘Shush...’ A gloved finger was pressed against Dr. Barnes’ lips. ‘You’re not supposed to speak, remember?’

Dr. Barnes was struggling to breathe, which was something that she could now only do through her mouth. Her nose had completely clogged up.

‘Apparently,’ the demon said, once again addressing Erica, ‘an average human skull can withstand anywhere up to twenty-one hundred pounds of pressure, did you know that, Erica?’

‘Please... don’t do this.’ Tears and fear had caused Erica’s voice to go up almost a whole octave.

‘But I must add,’ the demon continued, disregarding her pleas. ‘I did find that information on the Internet, so there’s a chance that it could all be just bullshit.’ He paused for effect. ‘But let me tell you what’s not bullshit, Erica. Every full turn of the crank on this device adds about five hundred pounds of pressure to the jaws. Isn’t that beautiful? Can you imagine what these serrated jaws would do to somebody’s face?’

In hearing those words, panic, in a way she never knew it could exist, exploded inside Dr. Barnes, spreading like lightning to every atom of her body. As a result, she summoned all the strength she had left in her and tried to free her head from between the jaws, but the demon held her back by powerfully placing the palm of his hand against her forehead.

‘This...’ he said, ‘will hurt... a lot.’

‘Noooooooorghhhh.’ The scream that came out of her throat was gurgling in spit and tears.

Erica was watching everything semi-paralyzed. Even her breathing seemed to have stopped.

‘Let’s have fun, shall we?’ the demon said. His right hand reached for the Skull Crusher’s crank and he rotated it around — one full turn.

The iron jaws, which were already in contact with the sides of Dr. Barnes’ head, began closing in on each other. As they compressed her skull with five hundred pounds of pure pressure, the jagged-edged jaws ripped through her skin. Unimaginable pain caused her eyeballs to stop moving, but her eyes widened as if they were about to explode out of their sockets. The scream she had in her throat died suddenly, as the air was viciously sucked out of her lungs. Her mouth, still wide open, seemed to stutter, with her lower jaw trembling awkwardly in place. The rest of her body began wriggling like a sea snake trying to get away from danger.

With her head now completely immobile, held in place by the powerful iron jaws, the demon moved his palm away from her forehead.

‘Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd... we’re back to the game, Erica.’ If not for the digitally altered voice, he would’ve sounded like a game-show host.

Starved of oxygen, Erica’s brain forced her to breathe again. As she sucked in a lungful of air through her mouth and nose, she almost heaved.

‘Your mother’s death anniversary, Erica,’ he asked again, losing no more time. ‘When is it?’

Through her tears, Erica could barely see the small screen on her cellphone. She brought a hand to her face to try to wipe them away. It made no difference.

‘Five...’

‘I... don’t... know...’ A heart-melting sob strangled her throat between words.

‘Four...’

‘You... don’t... understand...’

‘Three...’

‘I... have... a condition...’

‘Two...’

‘It... hinders... my... memory...’

‘One...’

‘Oh, Gwen...’

‘Time’s up.’

On the screen, the demon’s hand reached for the crank one more time.

‘Nooooooo.’

Another full turn.

Once again, the jaws closed in on each other, but this time, as they started moving, Erica heard a ‘pop’. It was a very similar sound to the first ‘pop’ she heard coming from her microwave less than ten minutes earlier. The main difference was that this ‘pop’ was followed by a heavy crushing sound.

On the screen, all of a sudden, as tens of blood vessels ruptured beneath the tissue covering the white of Gwen’s eyes, they began hemorrhaging and changing color. Her face contorted out of shape — a consequence of both of her cheekbones fracturing.

Another muffled ‘pop’.

Gwen’s jaw dislocated out of place, distorting her mouth, which was now also filled with blood.

‘Oh... my God.’ Erica couldn’t look anymore. She closed her eyes and allowed her body to jolt forward violently before vomiting on to the coffee table.

On her small screen, Gwen’s body stopped wriggling. Her eyes, now completely bloodshot, twitched one last time before the final breath of life left them.

It was done. Dr. Barnes was no more.

‘Sorry, Erica. You lose. I win.’

Erica lifted her head again. Bile dripped from her chin on to the floor between her bare feet. Slowly, her eyes moved back to her cellphone screen. Her sister’s face was unrecognizable, crushed between the two large, serrated metal jaws.

‘Why?’ the question came midway through a sob.

The demon didn’t reply, but the camera began moving again. Then, suddenly, the ugliest face Erica had ever seen appeared on the screen. Her head jerked back in shock as she held her phone with both hands.

It wasn’t a face. It was a mask.

For some reason that Erica would probably never be able to explain, her brain went into automatic mode and she reacted in a way the demon could never have foreseen.