Dumb Phone Finder Novels & Stories

“Three hundred dollars for rent just went through. Thanks, Claire.” A text popped up on Claire’s phone from a contact saved as “Mark.” I grabbed the phone before she could react and froze. “Rent?” I asked. “You’ve been telling me every month that money was from your side job.” Her face went stiff. She reached for the phone, trying to take it back. “He was my sister Emily’s husband,” Claire said quickly. “After Emily died, he was left with two kids. I was only trying to help.” My hand brushed against the anniversary gift in my pocket, and something inside me went cold. “Which apartment is he paying rent for?” Her lips parted, but it took her a long time to answer. When she finally did, she gave me the name of a neighborhood. My ears rang. It was the downtown apartment my parents had left me. A spacious unit that could rent for ten thousand a month at market rate. And she had leased it to her widowed brother-in-law for the absurdly low price of three hundred dollars.

What will you do if one day, you suddenly wake up with ears above your head and tails behind your back? What if you suddenly came back to how you were, 20 years ago, just with different eyes and hair color? Coming home from a late-night party, Tiffany George passed out as soon as she felt the softness and warmth of her comfy bed. She stinks of alcohol, explaining her carefree behavior, resulting into a deep sleep with her corporate attire on. On the next day, a phone call had woken her up. She massaged her aching temples and reached for her phone on the bedside table. She answered it without even bothering to look at the caller ID, her voice hoarse as she said hello. “Ms. George, what time do you think is it?” a cold voice floated over the phone, waking Tiffany out of her daze. She immediately hung-up the call and rose from the bed. But the moment she tried to reach the floor with her feet… she realized something amiss. She touched her face and felt her chest… A long silence ensued before her loud scream filled the entire room.

My best friend had borrowed money from me 220 times in a single year. Sometimes it was $50 for groceries. Sometimes it was $5,000 for appliances, cookware, or furniture. I knew he was broke, and I knew life had been hard on him, so I never made a big deal out of it. Then one day, while we were shopping together, my phone died. I asked him to cover a $2.50 bottle of water for me. He said, "Your phone always dies when it is time to pay. Could you make it any more obvious that you are trying to freeload?" It was the first time I had ever asked him to pay for anything.

They say that your past is never really left in your past. I used to think that was dumb until I experienced it. Four years ago, I met the Devil. He gave me a chance to flee from him but I refused and ended up shooting him. Unfortunately for me, he returned four years later to claim me as his wife and drag me to Hell. He's going to make sure I pay for shooting him. He's going to punish me in the worst ways possible. He has promised to make me beg for mercy he'll never grant me. But then, he's not the only one hellbent on making my life a living Hell. There's another person causing havoc from the shadows. I would have to choose eventually- be with the Devil I know or side with the Devil I do not know.

When my mother-in-law has a heart attack, my husband, who's a heart surgeon, is busy preparing food for his first love's cat. I call him and urge him to return to save my mother-in-law. He says icily, "What is wrong with you, Esther? How dare you curse my mother just to make me head home!" After that, he hangs up. My mother-in-law dies in surgery, yet he's busy watching a concert with his first love. When he returns the following day to see me holding an urn, he's so angry that he throws the bag he's holding at me. "Look at how Lexie was considerate enough to buy clothes for my mother. All you know how to do is get Mom to pull these dumb acts with you!" I sneer. His mother is already dead—what use are those clothes?

My esports team is engaged in a practice match at midnight. Suddenly, my coach hands a phone over to me. On the other end of the line, my dad cries hysterically. Amid his sobs, he tells me that my mom is currently unconscious in the hospital, and that the doctor has issued him a critical notice. Apparently, my mom's funeral is being prepared in advance, so my dad wants me home immediately. As I stare at the match-up diagram of the final round of the national-level competition as well as the seven-figure prize money, I reply icily, "I'm not going home. I must participate in the final round tomorrow. During the competition, my phone will be turned off. Don't disturb me no matter what."

[This month’s property management fee is $1,500. Please make the payment on time.] My wife, Grace Anderson’s phone screen lit up. I glanced at it and then took the phone. “Did the management office miscalculate this? Our management fee should only total up to $28 a month.” Grace stood up abruptly and tried to snatch her phone back. “He must’ve miscalculated! Let me talk to him.” However, I had already clicked on the link and read the page. [Cloud Mansion, property owner: Ken Smith.] The young male nanny cooking in our kitchen had the same name. Something snapped in my brain. The three of us were living in a very small house, but Grace had bought a mansion for our manny!

Being a poor part-timer, Tynan could only afford a rip-off version of the i-phone called the G-phone. Never in his wildest dreams would he think of getting married to his phone - to be more precise, the thing living in his phone. She claims to be the E-Ghost residing in the G-phone who surpasses AI like Cortana simply because she possesses intellect of her own. Meet Laura, the ghost that lives in a cell phone. Part spirit and part technology, she makes the perfect life companion Tynan could ever ask for. Their problem? The G-phone is on a one year warranty. While they are busy overcoming their dimensional love barrier, G-phone calls. They want to take the phone back. Can Tynan and Laura 'live' happily ever after? ***

I used to be that girl in the mafia—envied, untouchable. Orlando Leone, the big bad Don everyone feared, had eyes only for me. I took a bullet for him. After that? People whispered I couldn't have kids. He tried to shut them up by knocking me up—ninety-nine tries. Try number ten? His shiny new secretary texted, all confused over a decimal. He bailed on me. By thirty, she crashed his sports car while shopping. Claimed she couldn't park. I was left freezing in a bathtub. He said he loved me, but when it counted, he always picked the girl who played dumb and helpless. That's when it hit me—his love was never really mine. And by the time I disappeared for real, he lost his mind looking. Too bad. Me and that promise? Already buried at sea.

Just one phone call. One phone call was all it took for Navaeh's Last year in High School to take a drastic change. Who was on the other end of the phone? What are we talking about? The one thing everyone in Silva High doesn't know about Navaeh, their popular, straight A's student is revealed to one person through the phone call. The cherry on top was the fact that it wasn't Navaeh's friend but an old acquaintance was the one that found out. Meet Quinnel Ashford, the Basketball team Captain and Navaeh's infamous old Acquaintance, the person on the other end of the phone. Navaeh didn't see any reason as to why the whole school had to know her own personal issues and so she kept it away from them for the past three years but now Quinnel Ashford knows. The popular bastard. They were friends when they were young, best friends if you may, but all it takes was deceit and... anger for them to break apart. What exactly happened 13 years ago that made Navaeh decide that she wasn't ever going to talk to Quinnel ever again? Now the question was, why did Quinnel Ashford call Navaeh Thatcher that day when they weren't on speaking terms and will he keep her secret from the whole school and let her graduate with no drama or reveal it? But then... The secret is out. Everyone in the school knows. Uh-oh. Who revealed her secret? The one person apart from her two twin younger sisters that knew about it was Quinnel. Will Navaeh find the truth or just blatantly refuse to see anything and turn her back on her new best friend and crush, Quinnel like he had done 13 years ago? Did Quinnel keep her secret till the end?