Ringtone Read online

  Contents

  Chapter 1 The Tree

  Chapter 2 The Phone Call

  Chapter 3 The Whisper

  Chapter 4 The Lie

  Chapter 5 The Truth

  Story Facts

  Questions

  Meet the Author

  Meet the Artist

  Copyright Page

  Titles in Dark Reads

  CHAPTER 1

  THE TREE

  I didn’t mean to kill Ben. He was my best friend…

  We did everything together. We even had a special ringtone on our phones for when we called each other. It was us singing our favourite rock song.

  That day, we bunked off maths and went to the woods.

  “You’re too chicken to climb to the top of that tree!” I shouted.

  “No, I’m not!” he shouted back.

  So Ben climbed higher and higher, and I started to shake the branches. Just to scare him a bit. But he slipped and fell. He hit the ground hard and banged his head on a rock. There was blood everywhere.

  “Ben?” I said.

  He didn’t reply.

  CHAPTER 2

  THE PHONE CALL

  Ben had no pulse. My best friend was dead. I had killed him.

  I was scared. What if I was sent to prison for murder?

  I had to hide Ben’s body. I dug a hole in the earth with my hands and dragged him in.

  I covered him up with soil and leaves.

  I ran home, trying not to think about what I had done.

  “Where’s Ben?” asked mum. “You said he was coming for tea tonight.”

  “He changed his mind,” I said. “We don’t do everything together, you know!”

  I ran up to my room and slammed the door. I lay on my bed and cried.

  Then my phone began to ring – with our special ringtone!

  CHAPTER 3

  THE WHISPER

  I picked up my phone.

  If that ringtone was playing, there was only one person who could be calling.

  Ben!

  “Hello?”

  All I could hear was wind howling and leaves rustling. The sound of the woods.

  I went to the window and looked out. Could Ben be out there, watching me?

  No, I had checked his pulse. He was dead.

  Then I heard his voice on the phone. It sounded like a whisper.

  “Why did you do it, Darren?” he asked. “Why did you kill me?”

  “I… I didn’t mean it!” I said. “It was an accident!”

  I quickly pulled the back off my phone and took out the battery.

  Now I wouldn’t have to hear my friend saying I had killed him again.

  CHAPTER 4

  THE LIE

  Ben’s dad came round later that night.

  “Do you know where Ben might be?” he asked.

  I thought of Ben, lying in the grave I had dug in the woods. “No,” I lied.

  Then Ben’s dad’s phone began to ring. He had put it on the coffee table with his car keys.

  I stared down at it in horror. It was playing our ringtone.

  “Are you going to answer that?” I asked.

  “Answer what?” said Ben’s dad.

  “Your phone,” I said.

  “My phone’s not ringing,” said Ben’s dad.

  That wasn’t true. His phone was ringing. Why couldn’t he hear it?

  I grabbed the phone. “Hello?” I said.

  “Why did you kill me?” whispered Ben.

  I dropped the phone and ran upstairs to bed, but I couldn’t sleep.

  CHAPTER 5

  THE TRUTH

  The next day, I was called to the head teacher’s office to speak to a police officer.

  “We know that you and Ben bunked off yesterday,” the policewoman said. “Where did you go?”

  Before I could answer, the policewoman’s radio hissed and crackled with the sound of me and Ben singing our favourite rock song. Our ringtone. But the adults didn’t pay it any attention. They couldn’t hear it.

  “Tell them, Darren…” whispered Ben’s voice on the radio. “Tell them what you did to me…”

  He was never going to leave me alone. I didn’t have a choice. So I took a deep breath.

  “I didn’t mean to kill Ben,” I said. “He was my best friend…”

  Story Facts

  My inspiration for writing this story was The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe.

  First published in 1843, this short story is about the gruesome murder of an old man.

  The murderer buries the old man’s body beneath the floorboards of his house.

  But he believes he can still hear his heart beating.

  The sound gradually drives him insane.

  Finally, he confesses to the police and tells them where to find the body.

  Tommy Donbavand

  QUESTIONS

  Where did Darren and Ben go?

  (page 6)

  What did Darren’s mum ask about Ben?

  (page 12)

  Who did Darren think was calling him?

  (page 14)

  What did the voice on the phone say to Darren?

  (page 18)

  Who came to speak to Darren at school?

  (page 26)

  Who wrote the story The Tell-Tale Heart?

  (page 30)

  Meet the Author

  Tommy Donbavand has written over 60 books for children. Most of them are so scary that you have to sleep with the lights on after reading them! His 13-book Scream Street series is being made for TV now. Recently, he wrote his first Doctor Who novel, Shroud of Sorrow. Tommy lives in Lancashire with his wife, two sons and more and more pets!

  Meet the Artist

  Mark Penman thinks he maybe played one too many fantasy games (on his computer). Now it seems he can only silence the terrifying voices in his head by drawing scary stories starring terrified teens.

  Ringtone ISBN 978-1-78464-258-7

  Text © Tommy Donbavand 2015

  Complete work © Badger Publishing Limited 2015

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any form or by any means mechanical, electronic, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

  The right of Tommy Donbavand to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  Publisher: Susan Ross

  Senior Editor: Danny Pearson

  Publishing Assistant: Claire Morgan

  Copyeditor: Cheryl Lanyon

  Designer: Bigtop Design Ltd

  Illustrator: Mark Penman

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  Titles in Dark Reads:

  Blood Moon

  Barbara Catchpole

  Doctor Jekyll and Little Miss Hyde

  Tony Lee

  Red Handed

  Ann Evans

  Ringtone

  Tommy Donbavand

  Ship of the Dead

  Alex Woolf

  Straw Men

  Ann Evans

  The Black-Eyed Girl

  Tim Collins

  The Girl in the Wall

  Tommy Donbavand

  Badger Publishing Limited, Oldmedow Road, Hardwick Industrial Estate, King’s Lynn PE30 4JJ

  Telephone: 01438 791037

  www.badgerlearning.co.uk

 

 

  Tommy Donbavand, Ringtone

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