Help (Part 1)

Yesterday, I was in middle of an important meeting when I received a call from the same mysterious number. My phone was on silent but I saw the screen flashing. I turned the phone upside down. I had been getting calls from this number for the past one month. Whenever I attend the call, nobody says anything from the other side. I only hear some radio noise and electromagnetic disturbances, and the call gets disconnected. I have stopped attending these calls now.

I have also tried calling back on this number several times but I always get the same computer generated response that the number being called is not valid. I lodged a complaint with the concerned service provider and I was told that this number is not active. I sent many short messages as well but never got a reply or even the confirmation receipt.

It was late last night when my phone started ringing. I attended the call while half a sleep and said hello. All I could hear was radio noise. A sheer wave of anger passed through me. Frustrated, I was about to end the call when I heard a faint female voice….help. I suddenly woke up with all my senses and started yelping hello, hello, who is this, but the call got disconnected. I dialed back several times but in vain.

I hardly slept for rest of the night and first thing in the morning I did was to call a friend who worked in a cellular company. With his help I got the call data record of my own cell number which gave me proof that I am getting calls from that particular number. Then through another contact I tried to get ownership information of the mysterious number. I was again told the same thing that the number is not assigned to anyone and is inactive. But this time I had undeniable proof. I managed to get in meeting with a senior executive of the concerned service provider. I showed him the proof and threatened him of going to court on act of harassment. He told me to wait and went out for a while. He came back after few minutes and very reluctantly handed me a chit, and hurriedly walked out of the meeting room again without saying a word.        

Name on the chit was Sumbal and the address was local. I decided to end this mystery today so I straight drove to that area and started searching for the address. I had to park my car on the road before walking into maze of the streets. It was summer afternoon and the area was deserted. I however found a shop in the corner and inquired about the address. The shop owner oddly looked at me from head to toe and then guided me to my destination.

I knocked on the door and a small boy appeared with an inquisitive smile on his face. I asked from him that does Sumbal live here. He immediately ran inside and very loudly said to someone that there is another man asking for Sumbal Baji. I felt extremely embarrassed and started searching for a plausible excuse to be there. After few minutes, a decent middle aged woman came on door and started looking at me blankly. I very politely asked her about Sumbal and she with her eyes full of pain and tears told me that Sumbal was the airhostess in flight which crashed in Margalla hills few years ago. Before turning back inside she also told me that I am the fifth person coming and inquiring about Sumbal since the fatal accident and second in this month alone.

I kept standing there for innumerable minutes before walking back to my car. I did not know what to do next. 

Written By: Nadeem Alam              

Other short stories by same author:
Click 👇
Help (Part 1)
Help (Part 2)
Help (The End)
Lost Girl 
Shadow
My World
Doomsday
Price of Love