Gemotions

"Hello?" He jumped at the sound of his own voice, the echo amplifying the silence of the empty house. The phone had rung, but when he answered, only static filled the line. He hung up quickly, a prickling sensation rising on the back of his neck. They said they didn’t remember. Both of them. The two people he considered his closest friends during childhood.

He checked the locks on the doors again, even though he had just done it. He peeked through the peephole, scanning the hallway. A neighbor’s cat sat perched on a welcome mat. He slammed the door, convinced that everything was somehow linked. He felt as if something was closing in. He sat, rigid, and listened to the floorboards.