When Kate awoke, it was dark outside. Groping around for her phone, the memory of what happened to it came back to her. Then the rest of the day’s events flooded back to her memory and the realization that she basically had zero contact with the outside world had Kate rushing to the toilet in the bathroom.

After brushing her teeth and washing the sleep and dried tears from her face, Kate sat down on her bed staring blankly at her alarm clock. The time read 11:26pm. Kate looked over at her phone, in pieces on the soft gray carpet. She stared for so long that her vision started to become slightly distorted.

Kate replayed everything that happened earlier in the day over and over in her head. This morning, she had been so happy and carefree; sure that ‘Pete’ had lost all interest in driving her crazy. Now, as she sat on her bed staring blankly at the pieces of her phone, her face expressionless, she felt so small. The seemingly infinite size of everything seemed to be weighing down on top of her. The size of Chicago, of the University and her daily workload, of the emptiness of her dorm room, and the loneliness that filled the stale air inside it.

Looking around, Kate noticed things that she hadn’t before. Small stains from long ago on the carpet that was fraying by the door frame’s corner. There were many tiny holes in the white paint on the wall from past tenants’ wall decorations: posters, pictures, banners, whatever. Kate realized with a smirk that she hadn’t even bothered to hang a single thing. The only thing that hung on any of the walls was her cork messaging board by the door. And, she noticed, right now it was hanging slightly crooked.

Sighing, Kate thought that maybe the lack of wall decorations was some sort of a ’sign’ or ’omen’ that she wasn’t to be here long. That this college wasn’t really for her, to be a pediatrician wasn’t really her destined career. That her lifelong dream was nothing more than a joke. That maybe she should just leave. Kate could go back to Glendale, leaving Chicago and this entire nightmare behind. She could live a quiet, simple life. But, it would also be an unfulfilled, miserable life. Glendale living wasn’t what Kate wanted, it wasn’t the life she had envisioned for herself as an adult for a long time now. She had wanted to get out of there and make something of herself. She wanted to be a successful doctor, and help hundreds -maybe even thousands- of children. She wanted her name, her title, Dr. Anderson, to be a ’household’ name. she wanted to be well-known, and well-liked. She simply wanted to be.

A knock at the door interrupted Kate’s thoughts. Slowly rising up from her bed, she could only imagine who was at her door. Looking through the eyehole, she couldn’t see anyone out in the hallway through the magnified lens. Kate leaned to the left and right with her head pressed against the door to get the fullest view possible. Seeing no one, and curiosity getting the best of her, Kate slowly unlocked and opened the door.

Peering through the small opening in the door, a maximum of three inches, Kate didn’t see a hint of anyone being in the hallway. Opening the door halfway, she leaned slightly forward, peeking further down the hallway. No one. There weren’t even any sounds, like someone rushing into a room and quickly shutting it behind them. Nothing. Like the knock Kate was positive she heard had been nonexistent.

Moving to open the door all the way and take a small step into the hallway, Kate’s toe bumped into something on the floor. Looking down, there was a small brown box with a piece of orange paper taped to the top with her name wrote across it:

‘KATE A.’

Puzzled, Kate crouched down to get a better, and closer, look at the box. It seemed like your normal, everyday, run of the mill cardboard box. Her eyes suddenly widened with a realization, and Kate held the box close to her ear for a few breathless moments. No ticking. No bomb inside. Holding the box against her, and taking one last look both ways down the hallway, Kate stepped back into her room and shut --and locked-- her door.

Sitting on the bed once more, Kate stared at the box on her lap. Whatever was in it was fairly light. Kate tore off the piece of paper and looked it over. Just her name was on it. Nothing else. A piece of box tape held the top flaps of the box closed. Using her fingernail to pick at a corner of the tape, she got a big enough piece loose that she grabbed hold of the tape with her fingers and pulled it all completely off of the box. Taking a deep breath, and exhaling slowly, Kate lifted the flaps and peered inside.

A cell phone. And a note lay inside.

Her hands shaking, Kate picked up the note with one hand, and the phone with the other, knocking the box off her lap and onto the floor. Setting the phone down beside her, Kate unfolded the note that had been creased through the middle.

‘Now, what good is it if I can’t get a hold of you, Kate? And please, before the thought enters your mind, don’t even think of trashing this phone like you did your phone. I would be very upset if you did, and I guarantee that you wouldn’t like it if I were to become upset. Talk to you soon. -Pete.’

Kate couldn’t do anything but stare blankly, unseeingly, at the piece of paper in her hands. The note ’Pete’ had left was typed out, so there was no way of hopefully recognizing the handwriting, which Kate was sure she wouldn’t have been able to do anyway. Kate looked over at the phone lying next to her on the bed. Sighing, she picked it up. It wasn’t anything fancy. Just an ordinary flip phone.

Opening the ’contacts’ list, there wasn’t a single number listed. Looking at the time on the phone, Kate saw that it was in sync with the clock on her nightstand. There wasn’t anything special about this phone. As Kate refolded the typed note and laid it back in the box, putting the box under her bed, the sound of a ’house phone ring tone’ made Kate jump. She quickly realized it was the new phone that ’Pete,’ or whoever, had left her. Picking the phone up, Kate read the caller I.D.: ’Pete’Then realization slammed into her.

‘Pete’ was calling her!

****