February 11, 2026

Torn
by Melissa Miles

A haunting supernatural story about identity and survival about a woman who receives a phone call from herself with a warning.

Click here to listen to this story on the Kaidankai podcast.


She answered a phone call from her own number. She didn’t know that was even possible…but the number was definitely hers, and the phone was definitely ringing, and she, foolish or wise, was definitely answering it.
   “Hello?” She said tentatively.
   “Hi” she heard her own voice answer back.
   “What’s happening?”
   “I’ve just called to warn you” the other her said. She took a moment and swallowed.
   “Who are you? How are you doing this?”
   “I’m you, I’m just a little ahead of you in time.”
   The young woman’s name was Francis, she had been born in the US, but her mother, from Guatemala, had died in childbirth.  Her father had been hopeless and disappeared when she was little, so she had lived with her American grandparents since she was a kid, they all lived in Cleveland…she loved school and reading science fiction, but she didn’t like this, this was like a story…but it was real…well, she was pretty sure.
   “They’re coming for you” the other her said.
   “Who? ICE?” Of course she was afraid of being deported back to a place she’d never been.
   “No, but you’re kind of right, that impossibility has caused a rupture in the fabric of reality…in a few minutes you’ll be in the alternate place I’m in…that is, if you’re not careful…” the phone went dead.
   “What do you mean?” she asked herself in a panic.
   “Franny!” Called a male voice, “we’ve got to leave, they’re coming!”
  Who was that? Her Dad? The one that disappeared when she was three? What was happening? She realised the only person who might know was the person she had just been speaking to, … herself…in the future.
   She punched in her number in panic…it was answered with a tentative “hello?”
   “Hi” she answered. Then after a breath to steady her nerves she asked, “what do I do?”
   “Is he calling you?”
   “Yes”
   “Don’t answer, get out, escape, I can’t…I’ve got to go he’s coming up the stairs to get me…I’m so afraid if I leave this house I won’t be able to connect with you.”
  Francis looked around, ‘that’s right, she was still at home, still in her grandparents’ house, she was in her upstairs bedroom.’ She heard footsteps on the stairs. She ran to her bedroom window, and flicked open the curtain, there was the old fire escape, the one she wasn’t allowed to play on.
  She threw open the window and started to get out. She had left her phone on the bed…she needed it…she hopped back into the room. That’s when the door opened and a man came in. He was foreign, he looked like he might be Guatemalan.
   “What are you doing? You’re meant to be getting ready…your Mom’s already in the car.”
   “What?” asked Francis, her forehead wrinkling in a frown. “My Mom?”
   “Yes, what’s gotten into you? Just pack enough for overnight. Here” and the strange man grabbed a backpack off the floor, “tell me what you want and I’ll get it.”
   “No, I can do it.” She tore the bag back out of his hands, and rushed around the room on automatic, her hands knew exactly where things were. Her mind was whirling, in this reality  her Mom was alive? Her parents were together? She stopped and stood stock still, if her dad was Guatemalan, then her Mom…she was so confused, she burst into tears. The big man strode over and gave her a hug,
   “I know it’s frightening, but you have to hurry, they’re coming.” Then he took her hand in his and gave it a comforting pat. He took her other hand as well, then, quick as a flash, both her wrists were encircled by one of his big mitts. His grip was powerful, she whimpered and tried to pull away, she couldn’t. She tried to get her face down to his arm to bite him. He put his other elbow in her face, he only said one word, “don’t!” But it was enough. He groped in his pocket and pulled out a cable tie with which he deftly secured her hands. “There!” He said, smiling at her, “that’s better. We have to go, they’re coming.”
   He pulled her down the familiar stairs, out the front door and into a waiting car. There was only one other person in it. A woman behind the wheel. The woman turned and Franny saw her face in the light from the streetlamp. It wasn’t her mother, even if she only knew her Mom’s face from old photographs, this woman wasn’t her, but there was something.
   “It will be alright” the woman said. There was the faintest glimmer of kindness in her eyes for a moment, then it was gone. “Get in” she said to the man “they’re coming.”
 He bundled Francis into the back seat and got in with her. The woman locked the doors, she started the car, and turned back to Francis. Francis wore a mask of pure terror and her face was streaked with tears.
  The woman softened slightly, “I’m sorry,” she said. “I know it’s frightening, but there really is no other way.”
   “I don’t understand” whispered Fran.
   “Let’s go, I’ll tell you when I can.” And the woman drove out of the driveway. As they were leaving they passed a car coming in, Franny snatched a breath and squashed her face against the window, it was her grandparents’ car, and they were in it!
   She called out “Gramma!” They drove on by. Francis followed with her eyes, and was certain she saw movement in her upstairs room. Did the curtain twitch?
   “It’s no good. They can’t see you, they can’t hear you.” Fran looked at the woman’s face in the rear view mirror…there was something. The woman glanced up and there was a connection. “I’ll pull over when I can.” Francis nodded, she felt sick to her stomach and her feet had begun to sweat. The woman gave a fraction of a nod, more to herself than to Fran.
   They drove a ways on in the dark Ohio night. At a layby, the woman came to a stop. The man next to Fran shifted around and pulled a knife out of his pocket. Fran whimpered and had to pee. The woman made a shusshing noise. Fran looked between the two adults. The man flicked his knife open and sliced the cable tie, he then smartly folded his knife put it back in his pocket, turned his bulky frame and looked out the window into the night. This wasn’t his conversation.
  The woman turned in her seat. There was something so familiar about her to Francis. She couldn’t place it.
   “There was a fold in reality” stated the woman. “Stupid people did stupid things and put us all at risk. That fold they made, caused a tear in the continuum of time. Some of us paid heavily.” Francis didn’t know if she was breathing in or breathing out, she stared at the woman’s face. “You’re me” she whispered.
   “Yes,” answered the woman…”we, you and I, and others, she glanced at the big man staring out into the dark. We’ve been paying for it ever since.” The woman sighed, opened the door and got out. “Goodbye Fran. You’ll be alright until you get to this…” and she walked away.
  The silence was thick. The man got out of the back seat and slid behind the wheel.
   “Put your seatbelt on Francis, we’ve got a ways to go.”


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Melissa Miles is a writer based in Aotearoa/New Zealand and is delighted to return to Kaidankai. Melissa has had numerous short stories published in online magazines, and has featured in a number of print anthologies. She has one children’s book out, Terri the Tiny Dragon, and is currently working on a short story collection and completing a Steam Punk novel. When she’s not writing she’s caring for her menagerie of rescue animals.
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