She answered the call, eager to say 'Marc is that you.'

A loud breathing came through. She could tell it was a man from the start.

She dared not say a word. Marc was slim. She could tell this breath didn't belong to him. It belonged to a heavyset man. An older one too most likely.

'Hello" Elena imagined herself saying. But she kept her mouth shut. She wanted to hang up but couldn't. What if it was someone who needed Marc right now.

The man's

breath

s came through. It sounded like she was listening to someone breathing in a quiet room. She begged for the other side to say something. "Won't you say something, dammit!?" she thought.

The man took a final breath. This one sounded different than the others. It showed a sign of, I'm done with this. Then just like that the phone hung up. What the hell? Elena thought.

The first thing she wanted to do was tell her roommate. She leapt out of bed and went into the living room. It was dark. As soon as she was there the feeling was gone. She didn't think her roommate would understand. Not in a genuine way. She'd make a big joke out of this. So Elena went back into her room.