Category: Random Thoughts

Posted in Random Thoughts

Phone Call at 3a.m.

Posted on by Shaily Agrawal

Beware, don’t pick up unknown international calls at late night. They’ll cost you in ISD rates.

johnlmalone's avatarJohn Malone

I get a phone call at 3a.m.

Who calls at 3a.m?

You think the worst.

I glance across at the screen.

The call’s from Algeria.

I don’t pick up.

I don’t know anyone from Algeria.

I used to get phone calls from ‘my mate’

in Mogadishu asking me how my bank account’s going

but since I told him I’m a pisspot he’s stopped calling.

But Algeria?

I don’t even know where the fuck it is.

Africa somewhere?

But here’s the funny thing.
It rings three times then silence.

What’s the point of that?

Is it a scam?

How can you scam someone unless you speak to them first?

Perhaps he’s inordinately shy.

Perhaps he’s a mute.

Perhaps he only speaks Martian.

I knew a young man once, Simon whose father was the Lord Mayor of Mars but that’s another story.

I look up Algeria on the map.

No clues there.

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Posted in Random Thoughts

Aloof

Posted on by Shaily Agrawal

In all relations, I keep myself slightly aloof. I try not to talk very often or discuss pain because I can’t sympathize…

I empathize.

With people I really care about, once I begin to feel their pain, I feel it as my own…until I cannot separate the borrowed pain from my own feelings. Gradually, it begins to push me under and I struggle to keep floating and breathing. Eventually, I drown in a pain not my own and am unable to resurface until I open the floodgates or someone fishes me out.

I prefer to not drown.

So, if you find me impassive and aloof, now you know why.

Posted in Random Thoughts

Tiny Tales Podcast Ep. 38: The Honest Half

Posted on by Shaily Agrawal

Got to hear it to believe it. Left me shivering

R. E. Rule's avatarTiny Tales

Tiny Tales is a weekly podcast of short stories spanning horror, fantasy, comedy, and everything in between. Written and narrated by R. E. Rule. Music and production by Frank Nawrot (www.franknawrot.com).

This Week’s Episode:

Vari discovers the dark secret locked away behind the heavy wooden door in the smoke-stained kitchens.

Find more platforms here

Support us on Patreon:www.patreon.com/rerule

More soon!

~ R. E. Rule

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Posted in Random Thoughts

Haunted

Posted on by Shaily Agrawal

Have you ever felt ‘it’?

R. E. Rule's avatarTiny Tales

Like the ancient curses of the pharaohs, the multitude of explanations for the hysteria and hallucinations of those who have spent extended time in old houses far outweighs the possibility of the paranormal. Drafts and cold spots from wind finding its way through rotting walls, illness caused by mold or gases caught in rusty pipes, strange noises triggered by the introduction of a foreign body into a delicately balanced ecosystem, or simply the habitation of a stray cat or nesting pigeon: I had yet to find a symptom without a cause. Still, each new investigation began with the hope that this time I would find the exception to the rule. As I gazed up at the house, perched on its tree-covered hill like a vulture eyeing its prey, the familiar tingle of possibility crept up my spine.

A century of abandonment had clawed the flesh from it until only bare…

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Posted in Fiction, Random Thoughts

Speak up!

Posted on by Shaily Agrawal

I was new.

He made me sit close. I avoided him.

Next party, he cracked an indecent joke at my expense. I stayed quiet.

He became my boss. I wouldn’t laugh at his jokes in meetings. He killed my appraisal several times.

An year later, a girl reported the same plight. He was kicked out.

I wish that girl was me.

Speak up!

Posted in Random Thoughts

June 23rd, 2006

Posted on by Shaily Agrawal

This is worth a read!

R. E. Rule's avatarTiny Tales

The following was transcribed from an audio file discovered by the Tucumcari Highway Patrol on June 23rd, 2006.

Unknown Speaker, female (US):

It’s a long drive back, so I thought I’d get this down while it’s still fresh in my mind. Honestly, it was a huge waste of time. What is it with whackos and trailer parks?

[sighs]

Alright, I’ll try to keep this official for the archives. The date is, uh, June 16th, 2003. We received a call three days ago on the hotline about some unusual activity in New Mexico. The caller wouldn’t go into specifics, one of those “won’t talk on the phone, you never know who might be listening” types. So, I drove down from Chicago.

Turns out the town was a dustbowl: trailer park, convenience store with a fifty-year-old gas pump, and one stop sign which was apparently optional.

I met…

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Posted in Fiction, Random Thoughts

One-on-One

Posted on by Shaily Agrawal

“Samantha, your Dad and I need to speak to you about the company you are keeping.”

“What are you talking about? Dan and I are just friends!”

“I know, Dan is a friend. I’m talking about Liz.”

“Liz is fine. I know she is a little short-temprered…”

“That’s exactly the point! She is short tempered and tomboyish. She plays football–Men play football. Women are cheerleaders. And the way she looks at girls…something is not quite right about her.”

“She can look at whoever she wants the ways she wants. And she can play football if she wants too. Our country has a women’s football team, for God’s sake!”

“All I’m saying is that you are not safe around her. I think she’s gay!”

“I don’t know what she is but she is my best friend and she won’t hurt a fly.”

(A few minutes later)

“Is that Liz you are texting? I forbid you.”

“No, I’m Googling ‘how to ensure your parents are just insane and not sexist’.”