Do Not Disturb

by Freida McFadden

Who knew it was so hard to get blood off your hands?

“What movie?” he finally asks. “Well,” I say, “it was Scream. You know, with Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox?” He clears his throat. “The one with the masks, right?” “Right. So obviously, there was, you know, screaming.”

but this is how scary campfire stories start.

And the wall is lined with mirrors, so I can see myself no matter where I look.

I flip around the “DO NOT DISTURB” sign on my door, then I close the door and lock it.

“We all go a little crazy sometimes.”

I hang up the phone and drop it down onto the center of the bed. Back when I was a kid, we used to have a real phone. A landline. And when you were mad at someone, you could slam it down. It’s just not the same with a cell phone.

This is like one of those ridiculous riddles, like what goes up and down without moving? (The stairs.)