Contact

After hundreds of blank messages,
a voice,

distant

barely audible amidst the spits and crackles.

It was recognisable only through its content,
spoke of
desperate attempts made;
engaged signals,
no answers,
wrong numbers dialled.
Years

passed.

I had been waiting for this moment,
sitting patiently, staring blankly,
blankly staring at the phone.

Before the voice went it apologised for its absence but alluded to a problem my end.

Curling up with guilt I searched obsessively for loose cabling, unplugging and resetting; enslaved by its suggestion of blame.

I lost my way

Dreams vividly filled the once empty nights with apocalyptic explosions - chasing and falling.

Years passed once more.
Nothing.

And then,

There it was, a clearer line, suspending in mid air a sound I knew.
Wailing cries shook me so, made me tightly grip the receiver, bruising my ear with empathy.

Jumping up I caught sight of myself in the small mirror.
I saw a free cable flapping around my waist and a man sobbing uncontrollably.

I could not be heard now, except when his lips were moving.