Hiii! Sorry if it’s too long. (Also, I had to split it into two cuz it was too long so plz read the part in the instructions first, then the part in the credits) ↓ ↓ ↓ CALL INCOMING… Scarlet could hear her phone ringing from somewhere downstairs, but didn’t know from where exactly. The cheerful song she had grown to hate bounced around the house for a minute before stopping abruptly. Pause. Then, it started again. Rolling her eyes, Scarlet pushed herself up from where she was sat on her bedroom floor, attempting to finish the homework she had been neglecting for the past week and a half, and quickly rushed out the room. Beams of sunlight that peaked through windows cast a golden haze over the hallway as she dashed for the stairs, her feet sliding on the shining wooden floorboards as she did so. If this was her mother calling, she would shout at Scarlet for already missing one of her calls. Scarlet did NOT want to miss another one. She padded down the stairs, stepping over the loose ones, leaping over the last couple of steps, and listened carefully to try to hear where the song was coming from. Game plan: find phone, answer call. She turned into the kitchen. Nope, not in there. Cursing under her breath, Scarlet scampered out the kitchen and into the living room. She only had a couple seconds left before her phone stopped ringing. Sitting on the small table by the living room door was her vibrating phone and the house keys. Since her mother had left for her business trip, leaving Scarlet home alone, she had been keeping her keys exactly where she knew they would be; Just in case she needed to leave quickly. Maybe she was being paranoid, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Sighing in relief, Scarlet lunged for her phone, read her mothers name on the screen, and slammed her thumb down on the answer button. The call was taking a couple seconds to come through so she glanced around the room, waiting. She narrowed her eyes. Blinked a couple times. Held her breath. Was that… her mother? Stood in the corner of the room? Back pushed up against the wall? Wearing Blue jeans, a white shirt, a black cardigan? Yes. Yes, that was her mother. Standing across from her, with a grin plastered on her face. Her eyes as wide as saucers and dilated. Loose strands of hair hanging like rope in front of her eyes, the rest of it writhing around her shoulders like snakes. Her hands were in fists at her sides, her nails digging into her palms. She kept smiling at Scarlet. Scarlet felt herself smiling as well. Did her mother come home early to surprise her? Just before she was about to call out to her, she noticed something different. Scarlet’s mother had a gap between her two front teeth. But, her mother, who was now stood across from her, didn’t. She also had a scar over the bridge of her nose and somehow, it was gone. Strange. It was her mother, though. Her mother was surprising her. Her mother was standing in the room with Scarlet, not saying anything. But she was smiling. That. WAS. Her. Mother.
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ …Was that her mother? There was something off about her. How she was smiling, maybe. How she wasn’t saying anything. How her mother was meant to be out of the country, on an incredibly important business trip, but at home, instead. How Scarlet was on call with her but also standing opposite her. “Scarlet!” Her mothers stern voice suddenly blurted out from the phone. “Why did it take you so long to answer?! I was getting worried!” Scarlet tightened her grip on her phone and trailed her eyes down to it. What? Th-this didn’t make sense. The air was started to feel hot, suffocating even, and Scarlet was trying hard not to start gasping it in. “Hello?” Her mother said through the phone. Feeling suddenly freezing, Scarlet slowly looked back up. The woman who looked like her mother was closer. Much closer. Just a few steps away. Scarlet could smell her mother’s perfume, her favourite one, illuminating from the woman. “Scarlet answer me! You’re scaring me! Is everything okay?!” With blurry vision, Scarlet snatched up the house keys from the table without looking away from the woman and started to back away, out of the living room. “M-mother?” She stuttered into the phone. “You ARE on your business trip, right?” “Yes?” Leave. She needed to leave. She needed to run. Now. That was not her mother. She kept her eyes on the woman while her mother screeched for Scarlet to answer her. She kept her eyes on the woman right up until she backed up into the front door. They were staring at each other through a slit of view between the hallway and the living room. The woman was still grinning. A minute passed. Scarlet was bracing herself. All she needed to do was unlock the door and run. Find help. Scream for help. But… last time she looked away from the woman, she got closer. And quickly. Scarlet would need to unlock the door even faster. If she was caught, god knows what would happen. The only thing Scarlet knew was that it wouldn’t end well for her. But, she wasn’t going to be caught. She was going to make it… right? “Unlock the door, run,” Scarlet whispered to herself. “You are going to make it.” “Scarlet! ANSWER ME!” Her mother yelled. Three. Two. One. Scarlet span around on her heel to face the door. She shoved the key in. She heard the footsteps. She turned the key. It jammed. The footsteps sounded fast. Loud. The phone dropped to the floor. Scarlet tried to turn the key again. No use. She kept trying. “There’s someone that looks like you in the h-house!” Scarlet sobbed to the phone. “I-I can’t leave! I-I’m trying to leave!” A beat. Then, her mother spoke; “Run.” The footsteps were close, so, so close. Scarlet screamed. CALL ENDED.
