Late Night Call

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❤️Updating Every Saturday Evening (Japan Time)

(Translated and Arranged by Saya)

There was a telephone at my workplace which almost never rang.

It was something that had remained from the days when the company had more departments. The line was alive but no one ever used it to make a call, and when on rare occasions it received calls, they were all wrong numbers.

One night I had a lot of work to do and I was staying in the office until late. 

It was weekend and I was planning to go out for drinks, but something urgent came up and I was forced to work overtime.

Somehow or other I had managed to finish the work and I was getting ready to leave, when that phone rang. 

Again? I thought.

I had occasionally worked overtime until late before, and a few times I had heard the phone ring around midnight.

No one makes business calls around this time of the night, so it must be another wrong number. 

That’s what I would think to my myself every time it rang, and I would just ignore the call.

Usually, the phone would stop ringing after about 10 rings.

But that day, it continued to ring for a long time.

I was already beginning to mentally unwind after a hard day’s work, and those intrusive sounds were grating on my nerves.

I picked up the handset, fully intending to hung up immediately.

But before I did so, I held it to my ear to make sure it wasn’t a fax.

Then I heard:

“Moshi moooshi? Oh good! Finally someone answers!”

A bright voice exclaimed on the other side of the phone. It sounded so cheery that I felt bad about wanting to hang up. 

I’ll tell him he has the wrong number and then I’ll hang up — I thought, and answered:

“Hello, this is *** corporation. I think you might have the wrong number.”

When I said that, the other person said something unexpected.

“Yes, of course you are ***! How can I not know that, T san!”

I panicked a little when I heard him mention “T san.”

There was an employee called T who was the chief of another department. But he had of course already gone home.

“Sumimasen, this is M speaking. I’m afraid T has already left the office.” 

I said politely, although inside I was thinking how stupid it was for the guy to think T would still be here.

“No, you are T san! I know it! T san! I would like to come and see you right now!”

His voice remained cheerful but he was convinced I was Chief T. 

I couldn’t believe that he expected someone would be  available to see him at this time of night.

I got creeped out and tried to end the conversation and hang up.

I repeated to him that T had left the office and he had the wrong person.

But he didn’t listen and continued talking, in that annoyingly cheerful voice.

“T san! T san! I want to see you! I’m coming over right now!”

He repeated the words “T san”

and “I’m coming over right now” over and over again.

That totally freaked me out, and not knowing how to respond anymore, I just stood there listening to him.

Soon, his voice became shrill like a fast forwarded cassette tape, and all I could hear was a high pitched grating noise. 

(Below: Sound of a fast forwarded cassette tape)

When the noise finally stopped, I heard the man say, in a much deeper voice than before,

“Just wait there.”

The moment I heard that, I couldn’t bear it anymore and hang up.

I must leave the office as soon as possible, I thought.

I was heading towards the entrance,when the intercom buzzed.

I was not in the state of mind to answer it, so I peered into the monitor, holding my breath.

A tall, gaunt man was standing at the entrance. 

He was so tall that his head was above the camera and the monitor showed only his body from the neck down. He was holding something in his hand.

The intercom buzzed a few more times. Of course, I was not going to answer it.

I just stood still, trembling. I kept praying in mind for him to go away.

The man stooped down and stared into the camera. 

There was a big smile on his face. He was showing his teeth while he smiled.

His eyes were black and vacant. 

“T san! T san! Are you there ~ !? I have come to see you ~ !” 

The same cheery voice I had heard over the phone came through the intercom and echoed inside the empty office. 

My eyes were glued on the monitor.

The man came even closer to the camera. His vacant eyes filled the entire screen.

He was still talking cheerfully into the intercom.

“T san! Are you there ~ !? T san! Heeeey ~ !”

The man’s head was now swaying back and forth.

“T saaAaaaaahhhhNnnnnn !” 

His voice became low and deep just like before when we were on the phone.

Then he suddenly disappeared from the screen.

I couldn’t move from the spot in front of the monitor for a while.

I didn’t know when the man would suddenly appear again.

As I continued to stare at the monitor, the day began to break.

When I saw the outside getting brighter, I finally felt brave enough to go outside. 

I fearfully inched forward to the entrance. It was all quiet with no sign of people.

I unlocked the entrance and the automatic doors opened.

Then, something fluttered down to the ground. It was a brown envelope. 

I picked it up and opened it, and found a piece of human-shaped paper. 

More creepy stuff? No thank you! 

I put the paper back into the envelope, and then ripped it in pieces before throwing it away. 

By then, the sun had completely risen. I went back home and went to sleep immediately, exhausted from the all-night vigil.

I spent the weekend in a normal way, trying my best to forget the creepy incident.

At the beginning of the following week, when I arrived at the office, I was informed that Chief T had passed away.

Apparently, Chief T was hit by a train on last Saturday night.

His body was torn to pieces, and they only managed to identify him as Chief T by the driving license he was carrying with him.

As soon as I heard that, I remembered the series of events which had taken place at the last weekend, and shivered.

The creepy phone call, the man who came to see Chief T, the human-shaped paper inside the brown envelope…

I wondered if me tearing that paper up had anything to do with Chief T’s death.

I attended the funeral, feeling depressed. 

While I was in the office, I tried always to work with my back facing to the flowers on Chief T’s desk**

Although I couldn’t be sure, perhaps I was partly responsible for his death — this vague sense of guilt continued to torment me for sometime after Chief T’s death.

Half a year later, just when that sense of guilt was starting to fade away, I again had to work overtime because of some urgent business.

Chief A, who belonged to the same department as me, was working overtime too, so there were two of us in the office.

Abruptly, that phone stared ringing again.

It nearly gave me a heart attack. I

was even beginning to forget about the incident half a year ago, but hearing the phone ring again brought back all the memories.

Chief A, oblivious to my pale face, went over to the phone, muttering “ so annoying!” to himself.

Before I could stop him, Chief A picked up the phone. 

“Hello? *** corporation. A speaking.” 

Chief A said in a quizzical voice. I tentatively strained my ears to catch Chief A’s words.

“This is A speaking, not M.” 

“What business do you have with M?”

“I see. In that case, I will relay your message to him.”

“…. What?”

“…. Please excuse me.”

Having hung up the phone, Chief A came back, looking grumpy. He said:

“That guy was saying all sorts of crazy stuff, and in such a cheerful voice too! I got mad and hung up on him.

“You are M san, aren’t you?!” He said. I told him I was A but he wouldn’t listen.

But in the end, he said he wanted to leave a message to M san. 

“I’m sorry about what happened to T san,” he said. I was like what? And he went, “M san could have come instead of him, you know?”

What the hell was he talking about?”

I tried to look nonchalant while I listened to Chief A’s story.

A few days later, I quit the company.

Who was the caller? Did Chief T die because of me? 

I still don’t know the answers to these questions.

—————

Note:

** Flowers on a desk — In Japan, when a person passes away, sometimes they put flowers on the desk they used at work, to pray for the repose of their soul. (See an example of how it looks like from here https://www.asahi.com/sp/articles/photo/AS20180910003642.html?ref=yahoo )

—————-

⭐️The fun place of the week:

Kurochaya, Tokyo

Kurochaya (Black Tea House) is an amazingly beautiful restaurant that serves traditional Japanese food! It has a cafe next to a river too!

I’ve been there once and had a great time ✨

Guide:

https://japantravel.navitime.com/en/area/jp/spot/02301-3000228/

Instagram:

https://instagram.com/kurochaya?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Official Website:

https://kurochaya.com/

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