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The phone rings



The phone rings

We’re sitting in the living room

Two are reading
One is knitting

Three are writing

The phone rings

Everyone looks up

There is a phone in this room

It rings again

Everyone looks at the wall

They look confused
Milliseconds of scrunched eyes

There it’s perched
In age and wear

Hangs a phone

You suddenly remember the faint memory of it
Being there

It’s always been there

In the corner on that wall
Always

The phone rings

You think you’re silly for not knowing

Someone smirks it off
Ignoring the fact that everyone
Including Him

Had that moment of confusion
But the phone had always been there

He got up and went to answer
But a slice in the thick membrane that is reality
Slips open
And everyone forgets their memory

That one simple everyday memory
Of seeing the phone perched on the wall

The phone was always there
Wall aged around it, cobwebs intact

But you look at it now
It hadn’t been there before

We all freeze

Stare at the phone

The phone rings again

The person who went to answer is still
Hand outstretched

Eyes darting to Me
To Them
To Us
Everyone in the room looks to Him

About to answer the phone

Everyone stares at the wall in fear
To Him, to the phone on the wall

Memories are being altered

The phone that hadn’t been there
But it was there

Who implemented a memory
You can’t be sure is real
Heartbeats chime together
Anticipation wills it to stop

Who’s on the other line?

The phone rings
-Ella

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