Wrong Number

The robot ringtone was her favorite. Wobba wobba WAH wobba wobba. Wobba wobba WAH wobba wobba. Wobba-

Before she could even form a thought, Bianca's hand was already snaking out across the desk to take the buzzing phone into its grasp. As she lifted it to her face, she marveled at her own speedy reaction. "Evolution in action," she'd once told her boyfriend. "Cavemen heard tigers and ran like hell, we hear phones and answer them."

Tony hadn't been impressed. Tony rarely was. Even so, she prepared to remind him of her groundbreaking scientific breakthrough as soon as she hit the 'accept' button. She happily glanced at the screen, fully expecting to see his name there.

Wrong Number

xxx-xxx-xxxx

She rolled her eyes. Not again. At least once a week since last November, if not more. She'd finally assigned the guy his own slot in the contact list just to separate him from the usual barrage of telemarketers and genuine mistaken calls. Fucking Gary. She glared at the screen and tapped 'accept.'

The same earnest, annoying voice. "Sarah? Hey, it's Gary."

She brought the phone to her ear and frowned. "I've told you a hundred times, Gary, this isn't Sarah's number. How many times do I have to remind you? Delete this number, okay? Goodb-"

"Wait!" It was always the same thing. He needed to explain himself. Again.

"What is it, Gary? My BOYFRIEND is about to get back from the gym. Make it quick." That was a lie; the last time Tony went to a gym was the one at his high school, for senior prom. Muscleheads weren't really her type. "We went over this. You can't keep calling me. There's no Sarah here."

"I'm sorry," he said. He sounded genuinely sorry, but of course, he always sounded like that. Until he called again. Whoever this Sarah was, she obviously had a good reason for giving him a wrong number.

"Gary..." she began.

"The time has come, the walrus said, to speak of many things. Of shoes, and ships, and sealing-wax. Of cabbages and kings. And why the sea is boiling hot."

Her left hand dropped to the desk with a distant clunk. "And whether pigs have wings," she whispered.

"Are you very relaxed, Bianca?"

An easy question. "Yes."

"What is my name, Bianca?"

Her mind cycled through her own internal contact list. Gary. Wrong Number. No, that's not it... his name is... oh! That's easy, too.

"Master," she said.

"Very good, Bianca. You're sinking deeper now, deeper into this relaxing trance. Hearing only my voice. Thinking only of my voice. There is nothing but my voice. What is there, Bianca?"

"Your voice."

"Very good, Bianca. You slip into trance so easily and deeply now, don't you? Much better than when we first started. Whenever you hear your special phrase..."

"...I will sleep and obey," she finished. "I must always obey."

"Just the thought of obeying sends you even deeper now, Bianca. Let my words flow into your mind. You will always obey the sound of my voice. You will do whatever I ask of you, without question. You will always answer the phone when I call you. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Is Tony really coming over tonight?"

"No, Master. He's in Baltimore for the weekend."

"Good. Tonight at ten you will hear a knock on your door. You will answer it immediately. As soon as you see my ring, you will fall back into this deep hypnotic trance and obey me without question."

The instructions quietly burned themselves into a distant corner of her sleepy mind. "Yes, Master."

"Who called you today, Bianca?"

She thought about it. "It was a wrong number, Master. I told him not to call again and hung up."

"Very good, Bianca. You're doing so well. You are a perfect, mindless slave."

A glorious tingling swept up from below, and she felt the urge to fondle herself. But she was a perfect, mindless slave, and perfect, mindless slaves didn't do anything unless Gary told them to.

"You have a phone call to make, Bianca."

She made a note of it. "Yes, Master."

"When I hang up the phone, you will awaken, and carry out your orders. Remember only what you have been programmed to remember."

"Yes, Master."

She motionless for a few minutes, cradling the silent phone in her hand. Finally, the gears in her brain began to turn, and she blinked rapidly before holding the phone in front of her face. Call ended.

That had better be the last time, you shit. She set the phone down onto the desk and allowed herself a triumphant smile. Gary wasn't likely to ever call again, not after the verbal beatdown she'd just handed out. She was no slouch in the insults department, but that had been some of her finest work. She giggled.

Suddenly her hand was on the move again, swiping the phone from the desk. She quickly scrolled down the list of contacts.

Sarah

xxx-xxx-xxxx

She calmly waited as the phone rang until it threatened to drop into voicemail. Finally, at the last moment, an annoyed voice spoke to her. "Yeah, hey look, I told-"

"Sarah? Hey, it's Bianca."

"And I've told you before, Bianca, there's no Sarah here. Please stop calling me!"

She smiled. "Listen to my voice, Helen. The time has come, the walrus said, to speak of many things..."