96. Kakali

"This goes here, this here, that goes there, this is trash, that's also trash..."
It was time to move out, and I went through piles of papers, snacks, clips, books, and random paraphernalia, deciding what to keep and what to throw away.

I came to an old, orange plastic phone plugged into the wall, sitting on my window sill. "Oh yeah, this thing." I picked it up and pressed it to my ear. Nothing...Of course. Ever since I moved in and plugged the phone to the campus system, it never worked. Either the outlet in that room was dysfunctional or the phone was too old. Anywho, that thing was left there the whole year as another inconspicuous ornament in my plain, undecorated dorm room. I pulled the wire out and left it sitting on the sill next to my bed. "I'll put it away later."

I looked at the phone again. "Haha, it's the kind with a wire that coils. When was the last time I used one of those? The phone at home is a wee wireless white. Our previous one was a bulky black box... still wireless. Hm..." I stared to my side in efforts to recollect my memories...

"Oh, granola bars!" Forgetting what I was just doing, I ripped open a granola bar and munched away as I watched an old episode of Dragonball Z on my laptop. After my short break, I finished boxing my books and went off to shower.

I blow dried my hair, put some of my clothes in my suitcase, and went to bed, worn out from a day of packing. I laid in bed, smiling by the fact that I'd finally be moving out. As I drifted away into sleep, the echoing voices of the cacophonous college kids outside my window blurred into the background sounds of an opening scene to a promising dream...

Rrrriing!

"Huh? What's that?" I thought. Rudely awakened by the strange noise, I was figuring out if I was still in Garden Grove church, lending Wells my pair of dress pants.

Ring, rrrriing!

There is it again! Oh, I'm back in my room. But wait... my cell phone doesn't make that sound.

Ring, ring, ring!

It's the old phone! Regaining consciousness, I reached over my head to grab the phone.

"Hello?" I muffled with a sleepy whisper.

A deep voice replied, "Kakali. Listen carefully."

"Wh-Whaaat? Who is this?"

[To be continued...]