– CERNENTIA »
the phone rings, and rings, and rings… it feels like hours before the familiar, automated voice, tinny through the phone’s speaker, jumps in to let them know that the person on the other end of the line has once again failed to pick up. he almost feels silly for it all, every fibre of his being bristling with anxiety and all on behalf of the stranger before him. perhaps it’s a trick of the light or the constant ringing in his own head, but she doesn’t appear to be as harrowed by the situation as he feels. it should come as a comfort to know that even a blind girl, stranded in a strange place, isn’t falling to her knees with worry, but no such relief is to be found. (he always was a nervous child.)
“oh–” belatedly, he realises that leaving a message might do just as much–if not more–good than constantly re-dialing the number. having never been in the habit of leaving voicemails, the chances of success for doing so had slipped his mind entirely. “right, um.” he stumbles for a second, looking this way and that for someone to tell him what to do, but in the end settles for gently nudging the mobile phone against the girl’s hand for her to take. “here. press the top button, on the very right, when you’re finished.”
when he nudges his phone against her hand, she takes it, slowly tracing a finger over the surface to get a feel of the way the device is designed. she’s not that used to buttons anymore. her father had gifted her her first iphone a while back and she has cherished it ever since. iphones are easy for her - siri always has her back and she doesn’t have to worry about pushing anything except the home button. it feels uncomfortable to be using this model now, to be here in the middle of god knows where, but she locates the button assigned to her and never takes her finger off of it, soft skin kissing hard plastic.
“thank you.”
it takes a second, but as soon as she hears the beep, she begins speaking again - this time not to the kind young man who’s been helpful enough to let her borrow his phone, but to the girl she hopes desperately is going to come to her rescue. nayoung-ah, it’s me, she starts. before she can get another word out, a sense of awkwardness floods through her, causing her to momentarily freeze. for some reason, she feels rude saying she’s in the middle of nowhere with a strange man who could very well kill her, so (knowing her friend speaks at least very basic japanese), she immediately switches languages, tossing out short phrases she hopes the stranger won’t understand, but that her friend will. amusement park, with a man. i’m using his phone. i want to go home. come find me. call this number immediately.
when satisfied she’s given her friend enough information, she presses her finger hard against the button to end the call, immediately holding the phone out for the stranger to take.
“thank you,” is all she says again, words laced with a tone of appreciation. “thank you so much.”