"Hey! You! I can't see you. Don't hang up... please, don't leave me here alone!"
The girl repeated these words on the other side of the phone with a frightened tone, while I remained scared and paralyzed.
There's no doubt this is a case for the police, and judging by her expression, she's not joking.
Alright, I need to pull myself together and figure out more about the situation before making any hasty decisions.
First, I need to find out what she knows, it's the only way to understand what might be going on and where she could be.
"How long have you been locked in there?" I asked her.
I don't know... I woke up a few hours ago... maybe two hours ago? I tried to open the door, but it seems locked, and somehow the window won't open either. It never had a lock before..." she said, glancing to her right, probably at the window she mentioned.
From where I was, looking through the phone screen, I couldn't identify anything in the background; everything was dark and blurry. Only her face was clearly visible.
"...and then this strange phone that was on the desk started ringing," she continued.
Wait, I almost let an important detail slip by.
"The window never had a lock 'before'? So, you've been there before?" I asked her, startled.
"Yes, this is my room. It looks a bit different, but it's still my room."
This doesn't make any sense; this must be some sort of prank.
"Is there any chance this situation is a prank on you? Maybe from some friend... I don't know, something you did that could have made someone seek revenge?" I continued investigating.
"No... at least I don't think so... To be honest, I don't really remember what happened to me before I woke up here... everything's still a bit fuzzy, and my head still hurts. It's been like this since I woke up."
She seemed genuinely confused, so I ruled out the possibility of a prank.
"Have you tried contacting your parents or someone you trust? Could this be some sort of ongoing kidnapping?'' I asked.
"I tried, but when I dial, it says the numbers don't exist. My parents spend a lot of time away from home, so I'm not sure if it makes much of a difference... And what's the point of kidnapping me and locking me in my own room? On top of that, keeping this video call with a total stranger?", she answered.
"That's true..."
So, to sum it up... I'm holding a stranger's phone that has access to the phone of a girl locked inside her own room...? What kind of messed-up situation is this? Nothing makes sense, no matter how hard I try to connect the dots.
"So, you don't know why I'm locked in this room, right? What's your name?" The girl seemed as confused as I was.
She started asking me some questions too... and come to think of it, I must seem like the most suspicious person to her since she hasn't even seen the phone's actual owner.
"My name is Rei, and I don't know anything about what's going on either," I answered immediately.
"You don't seem to have started this video call... and you're holding a lost phone?" she asked.
"Oh, right. An elderly man dropped this phone near me on the train while I was on my way to school, and..."
As I talked to her, people kept boarding and getting off the train. I felt somewhat safe staying there because at least there was movement on the platform... but how safe am I, really? I have this constant feeling of being watched.
"And...?" she asked.
"So, I went back to return the phone... wait, hold on. A bunch of people are showing up on the platform now."
I tried to hide the phone and covered the screen, putting it back to my ear as if I were on a call, then instinctively leaned my back against the wall behind me... maybe because of that cordial threat in the message.
"Why? Why are you hiding it all?" she asked.
There was no point in hiding, it would only make me look more suspicious. So I figured the best thing to do was tell her everything.
"I received a message saying I couldn't talk to anyone about this situation. If someone overhears, I might lose something valuable...? Something like that."
"What?!", she says in a louder tone.
''Wait, I'll read it to you," I said, turning to the message and starting to read.
While I was reading, with the call still running in the background, I heard some sounds of indignation and, at the same time, anger from her.
"What kind of psycho... whoever did this... Did they send anything else?"
"Apparently not," I replied.
"Did you notice any movement on the platform? How could they know about the guard?" she asked angrily.
"When the message arrived, there was no one on the platform I was on or the one across. Just me, the phone, and the guard."
"Tsk. This means they've been here in my room too and left this phone... Maybe these phones are hacked. But how would they know about the guard on the platform? Did they hack the station cameras too?" she said in an indignant tone.
After her last question, we both fell silent.
I'm already caught up in this, there's no way out, and it's too late for class. I have no choice but to go through with it.
With the movement slowing down, I went back to the video call.
"Where do you live?" I asked her.
"Near Gidan station. Wait, it's dangerous for you to come here alone."
"It's more dangerous for you to stay there alone!" I replied immediately.
She stayed silent.
She seemed reluctant to tell me. Heading straight to her house probably felt like the easiest and best choice for her right now, but maybe not for me.
"Without involving the police or anyone unrelated... what a situation," she murmured, deep in thought.
I noticed she was still hesitant, so I urged her to tell me her location.
''Give me your address. I'm on my way. I'll try not to be alone.''
Going to her would be a heroic gesture, but I was terrified... Maybe I should call a friend and not tell them about the situation? No... it's too risky. I have no choice but to go alone. Like her, I was unsure.
Then she finally gave me the address, and I looked it up on my old phone so I wouldn't risk losing the video call on the new one.
Wait, had I already accepted that as my new phone?!
Anyway, the address wasn't too far from there; in fact, it was quite close to the next station over. So, I quickly reached her neighborhood.
The street wasn't very busy, but I wasn't completely alone, typical for an upper-middle-class neighborhood.
As I made my way to her house, she propped the phone up on a stack of books on the desk next to the door. That way, I could constantly see her trying to listen at the door while keeping both hands free for self-defense.
I also found out her name was Inertia. Kinda unusual, right?
"Alright, I'm on your street now, standing right outside your house. Do you see me?"
"No... Are you sure you're at the right house? My window faces the street, so I should see you. Where are you?" she said, surprised.
"Number 5, Nowak family, black gate," I confirmed, recalling the features she'd described and waving my hand high so she could see me.
"That's correct. Everything matches. But it's strange; I can't see you from my room," she replied.
So… the only option left was to try entering.
Should I ring the doorbell? That seems like a better idea... If it's the wrong house, I might be mistaken for a pervert or a thief trying to break in.
"Alright, I'll ring the doorbell and then try to enter." I said, a little apprehensive.
I rang it, but no one answered.
"Did you hear the doorbell, Inertia?"
"I didn't hear anything," she replied indignantly.
I couldn't hear any sound from the house either, not even the doorbell from the outside.
Then I prepared to go inside.
So, I put my phone in my pocket to keep my hands free in case I needed to defend myself.
I touched the gate's handle and realized my hands were trembling. I was walking into the lion's den... exactly where this man wanted me to be. It was dangerous and possibly fatal, but even so, I managed to go in.
I passed through the outer gate, which led to the yard, and then followed the stone path that led to the main door.
I touched the handle again, opened the door, and took my first step inside the house.
"YOU GOT IN?! IT WORKED, REI?!"
HOLY CRAP, that was loud. I was tense; the house was dark, and her voice coming from the phone echoed throughout the place. The shock almost killed me right there.
"Yes... I got in. The house is dusty, the furniture is covered, and there's no electricity. There's no sign that anyone lives here," I told her.
"But how...? Could it be that you broke into the wrong house?" she asked in disbelief.
"Maybe?! But where's your room?" I asked her.
"Go up the stairs in front of you. My room is the door at the end. Once you're upstairs, turn left, you'll find it."
I had only one goal there: to get her out of that place as quickly as possible. But I also needed something to defend myself. So, I took my phone out of my pocket and turned on the flashlight. There was a staircase ahead, and to my left was the kitchen. I went in and grabbed a medium-sized knife from a drawer to protect myself in case someone suspicious showed up.
At that moment, everything felt terrifying… even the sound of my own footsteps scared me. No horror movie could compare.
The house was silent, illuminated only faintly by the natural light seeping in from outside.
Well, the worst part was over, so I went up the stairs, turned left, and let out a long sigh before opening the first door I saw, which was supposedly her room.
"Inertia? I think I broke into the wrong house... there's no one in this room."
"What do you mean? Let me see."
I took the phone out of my pocket, switched from the front camera to the rear camera while holding the phone horizontally, and pointed it toward the room. It was dark, but the light coming through the window was enough for Inertia and me to see what was inside.
Since I was focused on holding the phone toward the room, I couldn't see her expression clearly, but her tone of voice mirrored her face.
"This can't be real... it's impossible. That's my room... so why am I not there?"
End of Report 01.