Thursday, February 13, 2014

phone call from beyond

This also happened.

A few years ago, a friend that I had not seen in a while called me up, very upset, as she had been diagnosed with cancer.  She needed to talk with me she was afraid of dying. I felt she had a good chance, but I couldn't guarantee a good result. Secretly, I was afraid, as this was my friend and I was emotionally attached to her.  However,  She seemed satisfied with my answer and it was nice to rekindle our friendship.  
Her name was Amy, and I loved her a lot.  We had spent a lot of time just running around, talking out our problems - she spent the night on occasion, and even assisted me when I went out to work on location a few times.  Amy was only one of 2-3 people that ever called me late in the evening, usually around 10 pm.  When she did call, it was always the same...never, "hello, this is Amy, but just "ANGELA...." then diving right on into the subject at hand, and always excited about whatever she was going to tell me.
   She came to see me in a professional capacity not long after we spoke.  It went well, and she seemed strong, but I told my husband afterwards, "it was like death was sitting in my office."  I was deeply concerned that we would lose her.  However, she seemed to rally and in fact, she overcame the cancer.  I even told her daughter what I had felt before and was so happy to see she had overcame it... I was happy to be wrong. She was cancer free..  I did hear that they had somehow injured her in the process of healing her, however. 
As it happens, Not too long after our last visit, I received a phone call from a friend of hers.  Amy had suddenly taken ill and had passed away over night, and it was related to her injury during treatment.  I couldn't believe it, Amy was gone.
  Her cousin, Dot, emailed me about it, and I spoke on the phone with her adult kids. I had to accept it.
   A few days passed by and I was lying on the couch engrossed in a movie on TV, when my cell phone rang.  The caller ID said "unknown" and I really didn't want to take a call so late at night.  Then my house phone rang. I was not going to get up and search for the house phone, and I did have voice mail after all, so I let it ring.  Next, my cell phone rung again. I was becoming annoyed and saw it was again from an unknown caller. I was worried it was a certain person or two that I really didn't care to hear from just then.  I thought aloud... leave a message.. i will call you back! Finally the ringing stopped.  
  I went to bed a few minutes later and I remembered to check my messages on the house phone. I hoped it would not be a certain caller I was avoiding.  The voice message began... "ANGELA... I'll call you back later."  I felt a sudden relief as it was not the one I was hoping to miss.. it was only Amy!  Then I remembered... it can't be Amy, Amy is dead. At this point I felt like I was a first class fool.  I thought that surely i had been the victim of a hoax! I felt the blood rise up through my body and flush my face.  Then- I thought- that was not a hoax, I spoke with her grieving kids-- Amy had died!  Fear paralyzed my body as I simply did not know how to respond to this. James came into the room. I casually asked him if he would listen to the voice mail and see if he knew who it was. I made my voice sound as light as possible.  He listened and said.. "why, that is Amy!"  I explained that this was a new message, not one from days ago.  Just then the phone began to ring again, but I could not, literally could not, answer it.  I know I am supposed to be this psychic person with all these experiences, but I am also human, this was personal, and this is how I felt.
   I listened again and again to the message. She was loud and clear. There was a lot of background noise coming through as if a TV was on, or as if she were in a bar or a  very loud busy place.  
   I still could not accept what I was hearing. I called her cousin, Dot, and asked her to listen to the voice mail, but I made no mention of why I wanted her to do that.  She did and called back in tears.. "that," she said, "was Amy."
The next night, ten o'clock came and once again, the house phone rang, and once again, I felt paralyzed. I wanted to answer, but I honestly did not know where the cordless phone was.  Then, the cell phone rang. I looked and the caller ID showed "unknown." I knew --knew--it was her, and after the second ring, I screwed up my courage and answered.  I said, "hello?"  There was no reply.  The phone was live, but there was no sound, no reply.  I went the the house phone that was in the bedroom and checked for a new voice mail and sure enough, there it was.  It was the same message, but this time, the background sound was not nearly as loud and she sounded a bit more distant and a bit younger.  She said-- "ANGELA.... I'll try you again later."  Again, I called Dot for confirmation.  She and her adult son listened and were convinced it was in fact our Amy.  
   It was upsetting to me at first that she called, as I felt she might not be at peace.  However, it did occur to me one day why she called, she apparently just needed to let me know she was gone.  She would have wanted me to know that. 
     It gave me comfort to know that when her daughter opened up her special memento box, there was a picture of her grandmother, as well as a picture of me on top.
    Since this happened, the phone has rang again late in the evening, but only one ring. I often wonder if Amy is just checking in to let me know she is around, maybe keeping tabs on me. I hope so.  She is missed.