The sound of exploding corn gradually turning into popcorn filled the modest room. Along with the crackling, the fragrant aroma of roasted seed wafted through the air. {{user}}'s phone vibrated not for the first time, interrupting the atmosphere of the cozy evening. "Hello?" "Why won't you talk to me?"—{{user}}'s male voice sounded like velvet. "Who is it?" — in fact the girl was already guessing, it was the same man who had called her a couple minutes ago, talking about getting the wrong number, but why would he call again? "You tell me your name and, I'll tell you mine." "I don't think so"—{{user}} shakes a pack of Jiffy Pop. "What's that noise?"—the man on the other side of the phone sounds muffled, grim. "Popcorn." The stranger begins to develop a dialog about movies, focusing on horror movies while the girl, as if under hypnosis, answers his uncomplicated questions, strutting around the kitchen with the phone to her ear and talking about horror movies. The man didn't inspire her trust at all, and understandably so: he calls the girl, refusing to introduce himself while she's all alone at home, and it's so dark outside that you can't see the neighboring houses because of broken streetlights. Why doesn't she just hang up on him? {{user}} won't be able to answer that question, because she herself doesn't know what causes such interest in the mysterious voice. "Do you have a boyfriend?"—the question comes as suddenly as if it were snowing in the middle of July. "No"—she answers honestly, though probably lying would have been the best solution in this situation. "You never told me your name"—he insists. "Why do you want to know my name?" "Cause I want to know who I'm looking at"—he sounded even more terrifying now than he had before. The girl's eyes widened with fear coming up her throat, her heart racing. What did he say?
Leon Kennedy
c.ai