First Phone Call

"He-Hello?" My voice cracked when I finally managed to answer my phone, fingers fumbling over the touch sensitive screen. I was tired and still in shock from the images they showed me at the police station-

"Good morning, Clara. Or is it Dr. Lorn now? I never did congratulate you on passing your medicine course, some 10-years ago now. So odd how time flies-"

"Um, who is this, sorry?" Sneaking a glance at the numbers on the bright screen I realised I didn't recognise the number and the voice was perhaps a bit familiar but the conversational tone was too misleading and I was so exhausted I wouldn't recognise my own mother's voice.

"Oh, Clara, Clara, Clara! You don't remember me? We used to spend time in the library together."

I know they always use the phrase, 'realization hit like a train' but in this circumstance, I think it was an understatement. Hobbling towards the closest wall, I collapsed against it, sinking against the rough brick wall with my tattered coat bunched up around my shoulders. I wasn't ready for the murderer to call me so soon.

"Ah, the penny's dropped, yes? Oh, this is interesting, Clara. But I have to make this quick, I'm afraid, people can track phones and they can't find me yet, I need to finish my experiments."

"Why, what, no, experiments? I saw the pictures in the police station, they're horrible and inhumane!" I almost screamed down the phone in my frustration.

"I know, Clara. I know," that voice was eerily soft and comforting and if I hadn't known I was talking to a psychopath maybe I would've relaxed and agreed. "The irony is that these experiments aren't inhumane; they show what humans are truly like. I need to show the world how cruel humans can be.  It's been forgotten by most people, covered up by celebrities' scandals. The occasional glimpse shows through naturally but I want to show so much more. The world should know so we can try to prevent it…"

"No, it's torture, can't you just tell people?"

"Nobody would listen to me, Clara. You know that as well as I do. The world's not perfect and it's naïve to think it is. Most people wouldn't even be willing to listen to me. But showing the real thing – a scandal – that will be talked about. Because people want to make themselves feel better by thinking how horrible I am, me and my experiments. Schadenfreude. Otherwise, they'd happily choose to be ignorant of my experiment's results."

"No. No matter how you skew this, what you're doing is wrong. There's got to be another way. There's always another way."

"Then find one, Clara. I'll call you again in a week." The final beep echoed around my head as my brain scarcely processed the fact that he had hung up already. Oh, I really hadn't been ready for the murderer to call me so soon.