THE sound of the landline echoed through the silent hallway, making Mal groan in annoyance. She wanted someone else to get up and answer, but the noise kept ringing through her ears, letting her know that no one but her could hear it.

She slowly got up, setting Teo's arm, which was wrapped around her waist, on the bed. Making sure not to wake him up, she got up from the bed and got out of the room quietly.

After she made her way towards the landline, she picked up the speaker and put it close to her ear.

Then giggled.

"Hey, guys!"

"Hey, Mal! We missed you so much." the two voices on the other end spoke cheerfully in an Egyptian-Arabic accent.

"I missed you guys a lot. How is everything going?"

"It's going well! Aya was taking videos of her on an eggplant filter and you have to see it." Farida giggled, making Mal laugh as well.

"An eggplant filter? I have to see it!"

"I know! I'm going to send it to you on iMessage. It's so funny and so stupid at the same time, and I think I'm obsessed!" Aya explained in Arabic, laughing uncontrollably.

"So anyway! How is it going with you know who?" Farida asked, holding Aya's hand so she could stop laughing.

"Teo? It's going great. He moved into this old house with our friends, and he's been going through a pretty tough time. Alyvia says he just misses me, but... I don't know."

"And what else?"

"Last night he told me that he keeps hearing that weird noise from the basement. Neither Alyvia nor Bjorgvin were able to confirm his words because they're both heavy sleepers."

"Well, what do you think of that? Does this sound like him?"

Mal sighed. "Um, not really. He's not the kind to make up things, especially for attention. So, long story short, I think there's something weird going on."

"That does sound odd," Aya muttered, slightly baffled.

"We met Teo before, multiple times, and you're right. He's not the type to ask for attention like that." Farida reasoned, "Did you try to investigate? Did you try to find out what causes him to say things like that?"

"Not really. I was hoping to find out today, but he didn't talk about the situation."

"Why today though? Was something important happening today?" Aya asked.

"Oh yes! Since he was feeling down I offered him to spend the day with me."

"And where is he now?"

"He fell asleep in my room. He didn't act weird today or anything. He was just like the Teo I knew before he moved into that house, so my best guess is that the house is doing something to him, or making him hear things. As I said, it's a pretty old house."

"Oh, you guys are in the same room? Did you, like, you know?"

"Oh, shush! You know I'm asexual."

The three girls giggled. They knew Mal was asexual, but they loved to mess with her.

"But, if the house is making him upset or something, what are you going to do about it?"

"I think I'll suggest to Alyvia and Bj to move into another house, one that's a bit closer to mine too. I think there are plenty of houses like that, right?"

As soon as the three friends were done with their conversation, Mal hang up the landline, relieved after talking with her friends. She was feeling way better than before. She guessed that talking about random issues out loud made her feel better.

A few minutes later, her phone made a little sound of notification.

It was that promised message from Aya.

Mal knew that her friends were right when she saw the video of an eggplant, resembling Aya, screaming and cracking jokes, with her two friends laughing in the background.

She texted the pair a comment of what she thought while laughing, followed by a countless number of laughing emojis before she turned her phone off.

She then climbed into the bed once again, holding Teo's sleeping body closer to her. She fell asleep that night with a smile on her face.

And so did Teo.

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