The Answer Man

Note: Reader be warned this is a gore filled story with some sensitive topics that may not be for everyone.

It’s a Saturday; Zara invited her friends over for a fun weekend. Only, no one knew what she had planned. She wrote ten questions in a notebook, hoping to talk to the infamous Answer Man. He answered any and all questions, making it seem like the logical solution to her grappling questions. Asking all her friends to sit in the center of the room comfortably. She hands them each a burner phone, the numbers already in the contact list.

“Zara, what’s with the burners?” Jack asked, curiously staring at the phone in front of him.

Sitting down, Zara addresses the entire group, “as you may know, I recently lost my brother. They don’t know where he is, only his backpack was found. I know he’s a teenager, and they run away all the time, but something has been gnawing at me that it’s not the case. I just want to know if he’s safe.”

Nikki stares at her sister, “we’ll never know until someone finds him. What are you going to do with cell phones and a notebook?”

“I read online about the Answer Man, how he’ll answer all questions. I figured it’s worth a shot.” Zara crosses her arms with her head down.

Kenny gives her a half hug, “I don’t think a game is going to work; I mean, it’s supposed to be for slumber parties to scare kids. This seems like a stretch, babe.”

“Yeah, not to sound mean, but this is stupid. We’re all adults; your brother is seventeen. I’m sure he has the senior jitters and will show up soon.” Zavier announces, shaking his head.

Zara sighs in frustration, “what’s the harm in trying? If it doesn’t work, we’ll call it right here and go out tonight for some fun.”

Nikki purses her lips in distaste, “what do we have to do?”

Shocked, Zara raises her head, “you mean you’ll do it?”

Shaking her head slightly with her eyes widened, “I don’t think you’re leaving us much choice in this, sis.”

“Okay, to play, we all have to call the person on our left. I already put each number into the phones. However, only one of us will get through, and we cannot pass the phone around. The person he answers is the only one who can ask the questions.” Zara pauses, wondering if she should tell them the other details. “There is a catch though, he asks questions in return, and you must answer truthfully.”

Henry raises an eyebrow, “what happens if we lie?”

“He rips your bloody handoff, or arm, or leg, depends on what he feels like. Oh, and it might not be yours, he might go for a member of the group’s. Best, to be honest, mate.” Noah takes a drink from his soda.

Elise’s eyes widen in shock, “right then, no lying. Let’s get this over with.”

Zara picks up the phone in front of her, and everyone follows suit, “okay, after the count of three, everyone call the one to your left. First, find the person and highlight so you can just click it.”

The group does what she asks and waits until the countdown. After Zara says three, everyone dials the person on the left’s number. Unsurprising, everyone’s phone got a busy signal, except one who wasn’t expecting an answer.

Nikki repeats the word hello when a man answers. Everyone else hangs up their phone and watches in silence. Zara passes the notebook to her sister with a pen, should she want to write any questions down or answers. She can’t help but feel disappointed she wasn’t chosen. Nikki stares at the notebook; before choosing one of the questions written, she decides to test him by asking something she already knows the answer to.

Before she answers, “don’t waste my time with useless questions.” The deep scratchy voice replies on the other end. Nikki’s hands start to shake; how did he know what she was thinking?

Nikki reads off the first question, “what happened the day Jay disappeared?” unsure what else to ask.

“Don’t ask questions you know the answer to.” The voice snaps, “here’s my question to you. What are you’re feelings for Kenny?”

Nikki looks over at Kenny, locks eyes, and he looks away almost immediately. “He’s a good friend.”

“Liar.” The scratchy voice growls. Kenny feels painful tingles shoot through his foot.

Moving his foot, the tingles don’t cease. “What’s going on?” He shouts as the pain intensifies.

Zara looks at her boyfriend, concerned, “what’s wrong, hun?”

Kenny screams in pain as he falls over onto his back. The group looks on horrified, unsure what is happening. Guilty, Nikki’s mouth hangs open in shock. Zara shifts closer to Kenny, following his hands down to his ankle. Zara’s screams mixed with Kenny’s shouts at the sight of a bloody stump where his foot once was. Shooting an angry look at Nikki, Zara yells, “I told you not to lie. What is wrong with you?”

Nikki stands in shock, unable to respond, when the scratchy voice returns, “your turn.” Malevolent laughter bursts out on the other end, sending shivers down her spine. A tear rolls down her cheek.

“I’m sorry,” Nikki whispers.

Zara shakes her head, “you have to keep going unless we’ll never know where Jay is.”

Everyone starts yelling, calling Zara nuts, and asking if she’s insane. Zavier yells at everyone to calm down as Nikki shouts into the phone, “where is Jay?”

“In the woods of Crystal Lake, hidden off the north trail leading to the island path.” The Answer Man remarks half-heartedly.

Nikki writes the location down and hands the notebook to her sister. “What were you doing the night Jay went missing?”

Tears stream down Nikki’s face, “I was busy with Kenny, so I ignored all calls.”

Zara’s eyes widen at hearing her sister’s confession, “what do you mean? Why were you with my sister?” She questions Kenny.

Noah’s face turns a horrid red, “you told me you had an exam to study for, so we canceled.” He bites his tongue and holds his hands up when Nikki tries to explain.

“It was a mistake; we both were at a friend’s house and had a little too much to drink,” Kenny defends, hoping to diffuse the situation.

Zara shakes her head, “there’s no way that was a mistake. Why would Nikki blow off her boyfriend, and why would you tell me you had plans Friday night? Seems like you two planned it.”

Before Nikki can respond, the sinister voice interrupts, “I don’t have all day.”

Kenny grabs the notebook, writing down a question. He passes it around the group allowing everyone to write an inquiry for Nikki to ask.

While the group writes their requests, Nikki comes up with her own question. “How did Jay end up in the woods?”

“A party lead him to the lake.” The voice answers vaguely, making Nikki wonder what happened.

“Why did the university expel you?”

Nikki shakes her head; things are already bad. I can’t tell them that; it’ll just make everything so much worse. I don’t think I have a choice, though. What if I just don’t answer? “I don’t know.” As the words left her mouth, she soon regretted it.

Lizzy, who had been silently watching everything unfold in horror, felt an odd sensation in her left arm. Needles stabbing her below her elbow created sobbing sounds to come out of her. She tried her hardest to hold back the screams until the pain became too much. The group started to panic.

“We should stop,” Henry shouted as others expressed the same sentiments. The game was becoming too dangerous for anyone to want to continue. Zara didn’t understand why the entity was attacking those around Nikki. Doesn’t she care what happens to us? Is she that self-centered?

Nikki cries as her best friend hugs her arm to her, screaming. “I told you not to lie.”

Angry at Zara for starting this horrible game, Nikki decides to ask one final question despite Zara’s pleas to end the call. “What happened at the party Jay attended?”

The group screams a unison "NO" as many threaten to leave. “No matter what, as long as Nikki stays on the phone, we’re all in danger. She needs to end the call, and we have to destroy the phones to ensure he never calls again.” Zara clarifies to the group through her sobs.

“Jay was a naughty boy that night, stole some drugs, and went to the party. Took a little too much and had far too much to drink.”

Nikki’s mind is filled with thoughts of where she put her stash. He didn’t find it; it couldn’t have been. I thought I had it with me when I hung out with Kenny, and that’s why it was missing. Impossible. Almost dropping the phone, Nikki clenches onto it, her face turning milk-white.

“Who was the father of your unborn child?” The Answer Man shatters her thoughts, returning her to reality.

Not wanting to answer, Nikki instead tries to get off the phone. Sniffling, “I have to go; thank you for your time.”

“Oh no, you don’t; you must answer my question first before we are finished.” The voice snaps, causing Nikki to flinch.

“Fine, Ethan…a-although I’m honestly not sure. That night was a blur.” Nikki stutters, terrified she answered incorrectly.

A searing pain darts down her leg to the tips of her toes; shrieking in agony, Nikki shouts into the phone, “I told you the truth; why?”

“Because you lied, you know very well who it is and what you did.” The disturbing voice hissed at her.

Knowing there wasn’t much more she could take, Nikki tried to end the call again. “Thank you for your time; I have to go.”

“But aren’t we having lots of fun? Don’t you want to know what happened to your brother? I can answer anything you want, free of charge. Just one more question, please.” The Answer Man begged.

Zara could tell her sister was speculating on asking a final question, shaking her head, hoping her sister wouldn’t let the demon persuade her to stay on the line. Nikki repeated herself, and the Answer Man continued to beg. Finally, the line went dead; feeling relief, Nikki chucked the phone away behind her.

“What the fuck happened? Why didn’t you just answer his questions truthfully?” Zara shouted at her sister. “None of this would have happened if you weren’t so focused on yourself.”

Still feeling the horrible pain in her leg, Nikki wondered why he hadn’t taken his payment yet. Looking over at Lizzy, she notices her arm is missing from the elbow down. A bloody stump in its place. Zavier holding her as she sobbed into his chest.

Henry gets up off the floor and steps on the burner phone. Stomping it a few times to make sure it was broken, everyone watches. The group follows his lead and begins breaking their burner phones. As Nikki gets up off the floor, she falls back to the ground. Thinking she must have tripped or dropped from the pain, Nikki looks to find a bloody stump where her right leg should’ve been.

A ringing sound brings her back to her senses. Opening her eyes, she soon realizes she blacked out. Everyone is staring in horror at the phone ringing in the corner by the big window. Nikki drags herself to the phone, seeing an unknown number appear. Taking it in her hands, she smashes it against the wall a few times until the ringing stops.

The group departs; two months go by before Zara and Nikki head to Crystal Lake to see if the Answer Man told the truth about their brother. Nikki struggles walking on the uneven terrain with the new prosthetic the doctors fitted her with. No one knew how to answer what had happened that night, why they were missing limbs. Zara took the lead, unspeaking, still angry over the events that unfolded that horrible evening.

Reaching the spot mentioned, Zara starts investigating for any sign their brother was there. Moving the fallen leaves around, something sharp cuts Zara’s hand. Ignoring the pain, she goes back carefully, removing the leaves. A broken bottle is found in the dirt. Nikki watches her sister rummage around on the ground when her eyes spot a medium-sized rock sticking out of the earth near the island path. Hobbling over to it, she kicks some leaves away to find an intact beer bottle. Yelling for Zara to check it out, they both investigate. Zara starts digging with the shovel she brought in her car.

Shoveling down a few feet, Zara hit something that didn’t feel like dirt. Moving the shovel, getting down in the shallow hole, she started moving more dirt away to reveal rocks. Removing the stones from the pit, Zara’s fingers touched something cold and wet. Grabbing the rocks, Zara started pulling them out faster and faster, wanting to uncover whatever was underneath. Until all the stones were removed, revealing a decomposing corpse of Jay.

A mixture of emotions come over her, relief of finding Zara’s brother, and grief for Jay’s death consumed her. When something in his shirt pocket caused Zara to pause her sobs. Reaching into his pocket, she pulls out a zip-lock bag. Nikki instantly recognizes the contents within. I killed Jay; it was all my fault. I should’ve never brought those back with me from college. Zara looks at Nikki; seeing the terror on her face, she stands up.

“You know what this is, don’t you? Did you give this to him?” Zara shouts at her sister, rage building up.

Nikki shakes her head, “no, he took it from my stuff. I never knew; I never thought he would take drugs.”

“That’s the problem with you, Nikki; you never think about anyone but yourself.”

“Yeah, I forgot miss perfect doesn’t do anything wrong.” Nikki snaps, getting pissed at her sister’s comment.

“That’s bullshit, and you know it. I make mistakes just like everyone else, just not as horrible as others.”

“What is that supposed to mean? That I’m the biggest fuck up? Is that what you’re trying to say.”

Nikki screams at her, “maybe I am a fuck up, but you know, at least I don’t have a stick up my ass. So I fucked your boyfriend, did drugs, got expelled for said drugs, and got pregnant.” The words escaped her before she could even think about it. Wishing she could take it back, seeing her sister’s face.

“Wait, you’re pregnant? Who’s the father? Kenny?” Zara questions the color of her face gone.

“No stupid, not Kenny. Forget it you wouldn’t understand.” Nikki turns to walk away when Zara grabs her sister’s arm.

“Tell me, what happened at college?”

“Had a little too much fun, nothing else. I got pregnant, and I don’t know who the father was. I gave the baby to Lizzy; she has a better head on her shoulders than I do.”

“Was it consensual?” Zara couldn’t help but ask, knowing now how hard her sister partied.

Nikki rolls her eyes in annoyance, “of course it was consensual; I just can’t place his name or face. Granted, I slept with a few too many people that night. Get what I mean, huh, huh.” Nikki laughs, trying to break the tension.

“Nikki quit playing around. I say you’re lying; I bet it was one guy, and you do know but want everyone to think you just had a wild night.”

Nikki stares at the ground, “I am sorry I slept with Kenny. It wasn’t my intention, I actually wanted to tell you sooner, but he wouldn’t let me.”

“Don’t worry about it; we should probably call the cops. We can’t leave Jay out here; he deserves a proper burial.” Zara states, picking up her phone from her pocket.

The police show up, Zara and Nikki answer their questions on how they found the body. They both lied, saying an anonymous caller alerted them to the burial site of their brother. The area swarms with emergency personnel as they recover Jay’s remains. As Nikki gets into Zara’s car, her phone starts to ring. Looking at the caller ID, an unknown caller is scrolled across the screen. Curious, Nikki answers the phone to hear the deep scratchy voice of the Answer Man.

“The game is just beginning.” The voice snarls on the other end.