Last Call

Suspense Stories | Jul 8, 2014 | 16 min read
32 Votes, average: 3 out of 5
Suspense Stories

Last Call

Jason R Lloyd
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Staring into the bottom of his glass Cary Odd watches as the three ice cubes begin to melt into the sliver of Whiskey that is setting in the bottom. With one fluid motion, Cary closes his eyes, opened his mouth and threw the last of the Whiskey/ice mixture down his throat as he feels the ice cubes hit his bottom teeth as he twitches and jitters at the taste. Whiskey was not normally Cary's drink of choice; but then, neither was being in his local pub the Royal Oak on a work night either. Working in a brewery every day for the past six years with the smell of hops and barley permanently embedded in his nostrils and brain pan made going out and drinking in bars and drinking in general quite redundant. And besides, Cary wasn't much of a drinker anyway.
Numerous members' of his family had had a long and unhealthy obsession with the drink and had caused much pain and suffering. (His uncle Frank was top of the heap when it came to drink-related atrocities in the family.) He had been the cause of and the victim in a drink driving accident seven years ago that had taken the lives of not only himself and his girlfriend Gina-who also had a love affair with the drink, but the lives of two teenagers who had been in the other car that Frank had hit on a small country road- killing the boy who was driving the car instantly. The girl (who had just turned eighteen the night of the accident) was not so lucky.
Cary had been pretty lucky when it came to the consequences of drinking alcohol to excess. He had had a few scrapes and the odd caution, but nothing too serious because he kept his drinking in check and never allowed himself to go "over the top" and into the "point of no return" when it came to drunken excess.
When Cary did drink though, which was very rare- he was always more of a beer drinking kind of guy, (Budweiser, Coors and Lone Star beers' were his brands of choice). He only drank Whiskey, scotch and other spirits at Christmas or on special occasions, the same with smoking cigars. But tonight wasn't a special occasion nor was it Christmas, but all the same, Cary needed a drink and something that had a little more kick to it than beer.

Tensions at home between Cary and his fiancé Sara were at an all-time high as of late. If Sara could find a way to set Cary off and start an argument; she would. The latest round of verbal warfare had begun not long after Sara had come home late from work. As soon as she came in through the front door of their ground floor apartment, Cary could smell the unmistakeable stink of alcohol and cigarettes in the air. Cary paused mid-way through the sentence he was typing onto the computer in the small den just off the lounge and looked up and towards the hallway as Sara appeared leaning against the doorway.
"Hi honey, I'm home!" Sara yelled grinning a sad booze addled grin that only came from someone who couldn't handle their drink all too well but thought they could.
"You reek of cigarettes and alcohol." Cary said sneering at her as he pushed back the wheeled chair he was on as Sara stumbled into the den and collapsed in the large comfy leather chair near by.
"Well, looks like someone is in a grumpy wumpy mood tonight?" Sara said slurring her words as she stuck out her bottom lip and folded her arms over her chest.
"I was expecting you back over an hour ago," Cary said stone-faced as he got up from his chair and went over to the mini drinks cooler he had in the corner of the den next to a big lazy boy recliner and took out an ice cold can of soda.
"I had made dinner; Spaghetti Carbonara from scratch with homemade garlic bread and I got a bottle of that good Red wine you like too. You could have at least called to say you were going to be late?" Cary snapped as he opened the can and took a sip.
"Awe, that is so sweet!" Sara said as she tried to sit up properly in the leather chair as she threw out her arms towards Cary. "You are so good to me, you know that? Come give momma a kiss!" said Sara as Cary rolled his eyes in embarrassment.
"Look, I'm sorry I never called but the girls' want to go out for a post-work drink and there's that little cocktail bar called Five and Lime just down from the office so…"
"You've been drinking cocktails?" Cary said sighing heavily as Sara shrugged her shoulders like it was no big deal. If there was one thing that Cary knew for certain about his fiancé Sara, it was this; she was pretty much a lightweight when it came to handling her drink. Normally she could handle two maybe three glasses of a low alcohol wine or three beers or maybe three Gin and tonic's. But when it came to the subject of drinking cocktails; Sara may just about manage to consume three to four cocktails at best before she would lose all sense of balance and decorum unless she was drinking Long Island ice teas'… then all bets were off. The Long Island ice tea was Sara's nemesis, the bane of her existence. If someone said to her;
Would you like a Long Island ice tea Sara?
Those few little words would enter her train of consciousness and begin to race around inside her head, taunting her, mocking her. It was like throwing down the gauntlet to Sara, someone asking her if she wanted a Long Island ice tea; the poison chalice. Her palms would begin to get hot and clammy and her eyes would glass over in a misty haze as her head would begin to rock up-and-down, getting faster and faster. And when that first Long Island would arrive in front of her, she would clasp it with both hands as the coolness of the glass from the ice cubes inside would cool and moisten her hands, she would raise the glass, closing her eyes as the straw would touch her lips as she began to consume her nemesis and she would not stop until they were all vanquished and she was victorious. Or until she could barely stand up or her own accord to which she collapsed on the floor in a heap and have to be picked up and taken home. Which ever came first.

"How many cocktails did you have?" Cary said as Sara slowly began to wriggle her fingers about like a child trying to count. Eventually, Sara managed to hold up three fingers on her left hand and two on her right.
"Sweet Jesus!" Cary said putting the can of soda down as he moved forward, walking past her as Sara slowly began to tip forwards, falling to the ground with a thud as she burst into a fit of alcohol-induced laughter.
"Look at the state of you for Christ's sake, getting wasted during the week. Your not in college anymore Sara, this is the real world." Cary said stopping dead in his tracks and turned back and knelt down to help Sara up to her feet.
"Well fuck you and the horse you rode in on you sour sack of shit!" Sara snapped as she went to push Cary away. "I'm so sorry if some of us mere mortals like to have some fun every now and again. We can't all be "high and mighty" and morally sound and sit up on that pedestal up there with you where the sky is Blue and the birds sing and our shit don't stink."
"You know what, fuck you Sara." Cary said as he got to his feet. "I'm so sorry if me being so "high and mighty" and "morally sound" is such a drag for you. And I'm so sorry that because most my family is nothing but a bunch of drunks' and wino‘s, obsessed with the bottle who have cause nothing but misery to the rest of my family and ruined the lives of others' that I choose not to drink that often, if at all and get a little put out when people get too drunk around me and make fools of themselves or do something worse. I guess I just must be a sad pathetic person then that I prefer to stay sober and actually enjoy my life without resorting to getting shit-faced at every opportunity!" Cary bellowed as he turned and stormed away across the lounge.
"Oh go cry me a river!" Sara yelled as she pretended to play the world's smallest violin as Cary reached the hallway and picked up his keys and took his jacket from the coat stand.
"Where the hell do you think your going?" Sara shouted as she felt the sudden taste of bile in the back of her throat.
"Anywhere where you are not." Cary said glaring at her before throwing open the front door and stepping out into the night as he slammed the door behind him as Sara felt more bile in the back of her throat as she threw up on the shag carpet of the den.

As Cary set the glass down on the bar, Jerry the bartender came over taking the brand bottle of Whiskey that Cary was drinking off the shelf as he began to pour a measure into his glass, followed by dropping two ices cubes into it.
"Haven't seen you round her for a while Cary?" Jerry the bartender said as Cary looked up and smiled at him.
"Not since Christmas." Cary replied as he took hold of his glass and drank from it generously. Jerry could instantly tell that something was bothering Cary. It didn't take a mystic, a genius or the supposed "sixth sense" that bartenders are famed for having to work out that something was troubling Cary greatly.
"Do you want to talk about it Cary?" Jerry said as Cary shook his head and gestured to Jerry to pour out another as Cary went into the back pocket of his jeans and took out two crumpled ten dollar bills and placed them on the bar. Jerry poured out one more measure as Cary knocked it back with absolute fluidity before placing the glass back down on the bar.
"Take care of yourself Jerry." Cary said as he slid off his bar stool and raised a hand to Jerry before turning away and headed for the door.

Pulling open the door and stepping out into the cold brisk night, the cold air hit Cary's lungs like a bullet to his chest as he felt his legs go weak and his head go very light as he suddenly began to sway slightly from side to side. Stepping off the stone wrap around step that ran along the front side of the Royal Oak, Cary began to slowly navigate his way across the Oak's parking lot, still swaying from side to side as his vision became glassy and blurry. Reaching the wooden post that was connected to a long stretch of fencing separating the parking lot of the Royal Oak from a curling stretch of road that ran along side the Royal Oak and down to a set of crossroads one way and connecting to a stretch of main road via a T-junction the other, Cary leant up against it as he felt his head begin to thump repeatedly like it was being worked over with a baseball bat. Straightening himself out, Cary now had a difficult decision to make; which way should he take to get home? Should he take the easy way which would take him down a curling stretch of road, past a small row of houses to a set of crossroads. From there he would take a sharp left turn, heading over a small bridge, and from there it would just be a short walk/stumble from there through the small patch of woods past a secluded property called Wolf Lodge and then home. The second option was going the way long way home which would mean turning right out of the Royal Oak parking lot and walking up the poorly lit stretch of road that went past the ‘Golden Oak' retirement trailer park, the small water treatment plant and the Fir Hill pet hotel before reaching civilisation. But there was a third option. Take the easy route down to the crossroads, but then instead of going left, he could go straight on, extending his journey and staying his execution a little longer. That option began to sit very well with Cary. He only had to go in tomorrow afternoon just before his shift ended to make sure the weekend shift on Saturday had everything they needed so he didn't have to worry too much about getting home late and over sleeping. He could crash in the den in his lazy boy chair like he had done so many times in the past when he had stayed up late watching old horror movies on cable or watching wrestling paper views or the Super bowl. Cary kept two pillows and a couple of blankets behind the lazy boy chair for just such occasions and he knew they would still be there when he got home because he knew that Sara would not have moved them. Sara rarely went in the den apart from tonight and the only reason then was because she was quite drunk. She had her own little cubby hole set just off the main bedroom that she could call her own and where she could do her things that she liked to do without disruption; knitting, reading her romance mystery novels and poetry books and other such things that made her happy that she felt she would not be able to do without privacy.
Cary decided on option 3 quite quickly as he took a deep breath, tried to compose himself and pushed himself off the wooden post and slowly began to trudge down the curling stretch of road that went past a small row of houses before ending at the crossroads.

As Cary reached the crossroads, his head was now reaching critical in the pain department as he threw his arms around a near by street light to keep himself upright. Glancing at his wrist watch (that he could barely see due to his beer goggles) he saw that it had taken him almost forty-five minutes to stumble down the small stretch of road that sober, took him less than ten minutes. Cary could now feel his headache begin to go full steam, his temples beginning to bulge as his brain tried to escape the confines of his skull. Cary took in a lung full of air as he felt his stomach begin to gurgle and bubble as he slowly stepped forward, putting one foot in front of the other as he staggered his way across the deserted cross roads towards the darkened stretch of road that lie ahead. Making it across, Cary staggered towards the fence that ran along side the road- separating it from the farm on the other side. As Cary grabbed the fence he could smell and taste bile on the back of his throat and knew he was moments from throwing up.

So in order to try and forgo the humiliation of throwing up down himself, Cary stuck his fingers down his throat and promptly threw up on the small grass verge next to the fence, pulling his feet back to avoid the splash back of vomit on his hush puppies and the bottom of his trousers. Wiping away the excess vomit from his lips, Cary held his head up and looked into the darkness as he let go of the fence and began to stagger forwards, each step feeling like he was wearing shoes made of concrete, but he pressed on as he passed by the next farm house and the next two properties that were close by after that, stopping on occasion and putting himself almost in the hedge row when a car was coming up his side of the road. Cary was soon making great strides along the darkened road that would eventually bring his old high school up on his left hand side and the road leading to the small cemetery on top of the hill on his right. Stopping to catch his breath, Cary could see the street light that stood on the edge of the high school's boundaries a few hundred yards ahead, shining like a beacon in the darkness. As a car passed him by and sped off into the distance, Cary came back out of the hedge row that ran along the front of a small property and began to carry on down the road. He soon passed a property on his right hand side that looked very familiar to him, but he could not remember why? Then from out of nowhere, Cary could suddenly hear a telephone ringing out in the darkness. Frantically, he began to look around, confused and perplexed; because there wasn't a pay phone along this stretch of road and Cary couldn't imagine that one of the near by properties house phone's would be so loud?

Looking round to try and find the source of the ringing, Cary staggered across the road towards the property opposite that look familiar, but he didn't know why? Reaching the small White brick wall that ran along side the road- separating the house from the road, Cary could hear that the ringing, now becoming even stronger with each ring, was coming from around the side of the property in the general vicinity of the plot of woods that connected on. Taking hold of the wall Cary slowly began to manoeuvre himself along the side of the road and he got to the end of the brick wall which ended at a long cast iron gate. The gate was open slightly so Cary squeezed himself through, wincing as his stomach was pushed inwards between the two gates until he popped through the other side and could breath properly again as he lifted his jacket and shirt to reveal a sore Red indentation from the gates on his back and stomach. Dropping his jacket and shirt back down, Cary staggered along the dirt path that lead from the iron gates up along side the house and round the back of the property. The ringing sound of the telephone was louder and clearer than ever as he drunkenly made his way into the back yard of the property which was very eerie and quiet, a singular security light that sat atop medium sized lamp post just off to one side of the back yard near the dirt path was the only source of light that illuminated the back yard. Cary delved into his pocket and took out his cell phone, he had a ‘flashlight' app on it that he could use to shine more light on the back yard that could aid him the finding of the source of the telephone ringing. Pressing the button on his cell phone to activate the ‘flashlight' app, a sharp bright beam shot out from the back of the phone casting a great light over the back yard of the property as Cary could now see the garden which apart from a small swimming pool filled with dirty water and was full of leaves and an old oak tree that had a tire swing tied to it by one of the strongest branches, the garden was very sparse and empty.

At the very back of the property beyond the garden almost into the woods, was a garage that looked as if it had seen better days. The paint on the garage door was (from what Cary could see with his beer goggles and the light of the ‘flashlight' app on his cell phone) very chipped and not very well maintained. The ringing sound of the telephone was coming from that general direction, from behind the garage so that's where Cary surmised that he should head for. Staggering along the dirt path holding his cell phone in his hand stretched out in front of him, Cary headed towards the garage. Once or twice Cary veered off to the right almost heading straight into the swimming pool and its dirty leaf-filled water but he kept his balance and composure enough to narrowly miss falling in and catching who knows what kinds of diseases. Getting passed the swimming pool, Cary was only now a few feet away from the garage as the telephone ringing was now starting to hurt Cary's ears as he put his left hand up to his left ear to muffle the sound. Reaching the side of the garage Cary collapsed against it as he turned the flashlight off on his cell phone and put it away as he covered his right ear with his right hand. Inching along the wall of the garage Cary could see telephone box which was a faded Red colour and looked almost ancient in design. Cary also saw that the light inside the telephone box was flickering strangely. As Cary reached the door to the telephone box, he took one hand off the side of his head and grabbed the handle and thrust the door open and dove inside, grabbing the receiver and lifting it off its cradle as the ringing suddenly stopped. Taking his other hand away from his head, Cary put the receiver to his ear as he could hear static on the other end of the line and what appeared to be the voice of someone whimpering.

"Hello, is anyone there?" Cary said as the static began to stop and a voice began to speak.
"Cary, is that you?" The voice replied as shook his head for a moment in confusion because the voice on the other end of the line was his fiancé Sara.
"Sara, how did you get this number?" Cary said as he could hear Sara begin to whimper and sniff.
"Cary, I'm scared. It so dark and I'm so cold, please come and get me." Sara replied as she now began to cry.
"Sara, if this is some kind of sick joke to make me feel sorry for you then I'm going to be really pissed." Cary replied snapping down the telephone as Sara's crying became louder and more disturbing.
"I think there's someone here with me," Sara replied as Cary started to get the feeling that Sara wasn't fooling around. "I can hear footsteps behind me and I can hear whispers all around me. Please, you have to come and get me."
"Sara sweetie, where are you?" Cary said as he could suddenly feel himself becoming more sober and clear-headed by the minute.
"I'm at home, please come quickly." Sara said as the line suddenly went dead.

Slamming the receiver back onto its cradle, Cary threw the door to the telephone box open and began to run back the way he came as the sudden jolt of crisp cold night air hit his lungs and made him feel quite dizzy as he felt his heart begin to pound like a jack-hammer, but he could not let that stop him now as Cary began to pick up speed as she ran back across the grass and down the dirt path back towards the cast iron gates. Cary threw himself at them as he almost fell threw them as he was now back out on the dark deserted road. The quickest way back home now was across the high school sports field about fifty feet up the road and to the left, so Cary made his way down the road with great pace and soon found himself at the small gate that lead onto the sports field which he leapt over with some ease as he now began sprinting across the field at break-neck pace and was soon on the other side at another much higher gate which Cary climbed over with relative ease. Bounding down the dirt steps on the other side, Cary ran over the bridge that went over the Deadwater river and was soon bounding down a long dark dirt path, his head and heart racing with worry as he could see the light of the full moon in the sky. Before long, Cary found himself at a dirt cross roads and knew he wasn't far away from home Taking the left pathway Cary could now see an Orange/Red glow in the air and could smell smoke in the air. Reaching the top of the small dirt path, Cary could see that the Orange/Red glow and the smoke was coming from near his and Sara's house.

"Oh god no…" Cary muttered as he broke into a run once more and soon came to the top of his road, looking down it towards his house that was at the bottom of the road Cary could see crowds of people and about three or four fire engines parked up as Cary bounded down the road as one of his neighbours Mr Johnson saw him and went to grab him.
"No son no." He said grabbing Cary as giant flames licked and whipped through the air, decimating the house as Cary began to scream Sara's name as a police officer near by heard the commotion and came over.
"Sir, is this your house?" He said as Cary collapsed to the floor in tears as Mr Johnson let go of him.
"Yes, he lives there with his fiancé Sara, a really lovely girl." Mr Johnson said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets as two EMT'S came over and picked Cary up from the floor and carried him over to on of the waiting ambulances and gave him a mild sedative to calm him down. Eventually, Cary passed out as the firemen did their best to put out the flames.

When Cary woke up he found himself in a hospital bed as he saw Mr Johnson sitting in a chair close by. When he saw that Cary was awake, he quickly got up and went and fetched the doctor as Cary tried to sit up as he felt his head go light as Mr Johnson came back into the room followed by a doctor.
"Easy, just take it easy son." Mr Johnson said as he came round to the side of the bed and helped Cary sit upright.
"Where's Sara? I want to see Sara." Cary said as he felt his eyes begin to roll around in their sockets as Mr Johnson and the doctor both looked at each other grimly.
"I'm sorry son, she didn't make it." The doctor said as Cary sat there staring at him blankly.
"That can't be…" Cary replied as he tried to get off the bed but his legs felt heavy like stone.
"I'm sorry son, I really am." Mr Johnson said bowing his head as the tears began to well up in Cary's eyes.
"We'll leave you alone for a moment to process." The doctor said as he walked forward and placed a clear plastic bag with Cary's personal effects on the bed before turning away and walking out of the room with Mr Johnson behind him. Cary could hold back the tears any longer as they came streaming down his face as he used all his strength to lean forward and grab the bag with his things in.

Ripping the bag open, Cary took out his cell phone and opened it up and turned it on as the screen lit up as a picture of him and Sara with their arms wrapped around each other came on the screen. Cary closed the cell phone and put it to his lips as he closed his eyes when suddenly the phone began to ring. Opening the cell phone back up, Cary saw that the caller ID read- SARA.
Pressing the Green call button Cary put the cell phone to his ear as he heard the sound of static on the other end and then the sound of someone whimpering.

"Hello?"
"Cary, is that you?" The voice replied echoing down the cell phone as Cary put his hand to his mouth to muffle his scream.
"Sara?"
"Cary, I'm scared. It so dark and cold here, please come and get me baby…"

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