Empty Threats

Leila

“I have to make a call,” I said, using my real phone to do a quick search for a phone number.

“Why not use your phone? Is this some kind of teenage prank?”

I looked at her. “Kind of.”

I found the number and dialed it on the prepaid phone. The nerves were threatening to get the best of me. I held the phone in my shaking hand, not pushing the button.

“Stop, Leila, tell me what’s happening,” Kami said, touching my wrist.

I shook my head. “I have to do it.”

“What do you have to do?”

I bit my lip, drew a deep breath and pushed the send button. I held my finger to my lips, telling Kami to be quiet. I listened to the phone on the other end ringing. When a man answered, I did my thing.

“There’s a bomb. It goes off in thirty minutes.”

Kami was staring at me. Her eyes wide as saucers. I dropped the phone on the ground and stomped on it, over and over until it was nothing more than a pile of broken black plastic. I picked up the pieces and moved down the alley. I dropped some in one of the