If You Get a Call from -111...ANSWER IT — Transcript

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1. 0:00If you ever get a call from -111,
2. 0:03answer it. Don't decline it. Don't let
3. 0:06it ring out. And whatever you do, don't
4. 0:09let it go to voicemail.
5. 0:10There are seven rules and one we're not
6. 0:13supposed to publish.
7. 0:15Most people break the first one in the
8. 0:16first 10 seconds because nobody answers
9. 0:19numbers they don't know anymore.
10. 0:22Your phone is face down on the
11. 0:23nightstand, on silent, the same as every
12. 0:26night. At 11 minutes past 1:00, it rings
13. 0:29anyway. The loud default ringtone, the
14. 0:32one you haven't heard since the day you
15. 0:34got the phone.
16. 0:35Turn it over.
17. 0:36Incoming call. No name, no location,
18. 0:40just a minus sign and three ones.
19. 0:43Phone numbers can't be negative. There's
20. 0:45no country code that starts with a
21. 0:47minus. Your phone doesn't know what it
22. 0:49is, either. So, it's doing the only
23. 0:51thing it knows how to do. It's ringing.
24. 0:54You'll want to decline it. Everybody
25. 0:56does. That's how it got this far.
26. 0:59After the fourth ring, it goes to
27. 1:00voicemail and your greeting plays. Your
28. 1:03voice saying your name, saying you can't
29. 1:05come to the phone right now. That's all
30. 1:07it needs. Now, it knows who you are and
31. 1:10it knows you're not at the phone. So, it
32. 1:13comes to you.
33. 1:14The people who let it ring never get a
34. 1:16voicemail. In the morning, there's one
35. 1:18missed call and the front door is open.
36. 1:22Rule one, answer before the fourth ring.
37. 1:26Slide to answer and hold it to your ear.
38. 1:28Don't say anything yet.
39. 1:30At first, there's nothing. Not silence,
40. 1:33a room, a fan running, a clock ticking,
41. 1:37somebody's bedroom at night, a lot like
42. 1:39yours. Then, you'll hear breathing, very
43. 1:42close to the phone. It breathes when you
44. 1:45breathe, in and out, about a second
45. 1:48behind.
46. 1:49That second is how far away it is. As
47. 1:52long as you're both on the line, it
48. 1:54stays on the line. It isn't in your
49. 1:56house, it's in the phone. Keep it there
50. 1:59until it gets light and in the morning,
51. 2:01it'll be gone. Everything else tonight
52. 2:03is about keeping that 1 second.
53. 2:06Rule two, do not say your name.
54. 2:10After a few minutes, the breathing
55. 2:12stops, and a voice says, "Hello." It
56. 2:15sounds like someone you know, familiar,
57. 2:17like a friend you haven't talked to in a
58. 2:19while. It'll ask who it's speaking to.
59. 2:22Don't tell it. Don't say your name.
60. 2:24Don't say, "It's me." Ask who's calling,
61. 2:27and keep asking every time. It'll say,
62. 2:31"You know who this is."
63. 2:32Don't guess. Your name is what your
64. 2:34voicemail would have given it. Say it
65. 2:36yourself, and it gets the same thing
66. 2:38without the ringing. If you get this
67. 2:40right, it goes quiet, and the breathing
68. 2:43comes back, still a second behind.
69. 2:47Rule three, do not put it on speaker.
70. 2:50Sometime after 2:00, your arm will start
71. 2:53to ache. You've been holding the phone
72. 2:55to your ear for an hour, and the speaker
73. 2:58button is right there. Don't press it.
74. 3:01While the phone is against your ear, the
75. 3:03voice is in the phone. On speaker, it's
76. 3:05in the room.
77. 3:07It's breathing comes out of the little
78. 3:08holes at the bottom, into the dark. And
79. 3:11once it's in the room, it doesn't need
80. 3:13the phone anymore. Swap ears if you have
81. 3:15to. Keep it pressed to your head until
82. 3:17it hurts. If you ever hear it breathing
83. 3:20from the other side of the bed, you
84. 3:22pressed it in your sleep. Turn the
85. 3:24speaker off fast, and put it back to
86. 3:26your ear.
87. 3:28Rule four, do not press mute.
88. 3:31Around 3:00, it'll start telling you
89. 3:34things. What's on your nightstand, where
90. 3:36you left your shoes, that your door is
91. 3:38open a little.
92. 3:39It knows your room like somebody who's
93. 3:41been in it before.
94. 3:43You'll want it to stop, and mute is
95. 3:45right next to speaker. Don't press it.
96. 3:48Mute doesn't stop you hearing it, it
97. 3:50stops it hearing you.
98. 3:52The only thing that tells it you're
99. 3:54still holding the phone is your
100. 3:55breathing. Mute it, and all it hears is
101. 3:58nothing. So, it stops talking. It stops
102. 4:01breathing. And it comes to see if you're
103. 4:03still there. Keep breathing into the
104. 4:06phone, slow and loud enough to hear.
105. 4:09Tonight is the one night you want it to
106. 4:11know you're awake.
107. 4:13Before the case file, one thing. Most
108. 4:16people find these files the morning
109. 4:18after. If you want the next one before
110. 4:20your phone rings, subscribe. And if it
111. 4:22starts ringing while you're watching
112. 4:24this, you already know what to do.
113. 4:27Case file 062.
114. 4:29A man in Michigan slept through it. His
115. 4:32phone rang at 1:11 -62, and he didn't
116. 4:35wake up. It went to voicemail.
117. 4:37>> Hi, it's Danny. I can't come to the
118. 4:39phone right now.
119. 4:41>> At 1:12, his sister's phone rang, -63.
120. 4:45She answered because she always does.
121. 4:47She heard a fan and a clock and somebody
122. 4:50breathing very close to the phone, a
123. 4:52second behind her.
124. 4:54She stayed on the line until it got
125. 4:55light. Then, she drove to Danny's.
126. 4:58His front door was open. His phone was
127. 5:00on the pillow. In his recent calls, a
128. 5:03missed call from -62 and an outgoing
129. 5:06call to his sister at 1:12, 5 hours
130. 5:09long.
131. 5:10Danny was in the kitchen making coffee.
132. 5:12He said he'd slept great. He's fine now.
133. 5:15He just doesn't answer his phone
134. 5:17anymore.
135. 5:18When she calls, it rings four times and
136. 5:20she gets his greeting.
137. 5:22>> Hi, it's Danny. I can't come to the
138. 5:24phone right now.
139. 5:25>> And under it, a second behind, someone
140. 5:27breathing.
141. 5:30Rule five, do not switch to the other
142. 5:32call.
143. 5:34Around half past three, you'll hear a
144. 5:36beep in your ear, another call.
145. 5:38Tilt the phone just far enough to see
146. 5:40the screen. Hold and accept or decline.
147. 5:44The name on the second call is yours,
148. 5:47your own number calling you. Decline it.
149. 5:50If you switch over, -111 goes on hold,
150. 5:54and nothing on hold stays in the phone
151. 5:55for long.
152. 5:57On the other line, you'll hear your own
153. 5:58room, your fan, your clock, and
154. 6:01breathing right next to your ear with no
155. 6:04delay at all. Decline it and the beeping
156. 6:07stops and the first line comes back,
157. 6:09still a second behind.
158. 6:12Rule six, do not let your phone die.
159. 6:16You've been on this call for almost 3
160. 6:18hours. Look at the corner of the screen,
161. 6:2112% then 11. If your battery dies, the
162. 6:25call ends and nothing is keeping it in
163. 6:27the phone. Your charger is plugged in by
164. 6:30the door where it always is. You'll have
165. 6:32to get up and walk to it in the dark
166. 6:35with the phone against your ear. Walk
167. 6:37slowly, keep breathing into it. Every
168. 6:40step you take, you'll hear a step on the
169. 6:42line a second after yours. The same
170. 6:45creaky board a second late. Don't stop.
171. 6:48Don't turn the light on. Plug it in,
172. 6:51keep your back to the wall and wait for
173. 6:53the little lightning bolt. Then walk
174. 6:55back the same way. The steps on the line
175. 6:58will follow you all the way to the bed.
176. 7:01Rule seven, do not hang up first.
177. 7:05Just before it gets light, the breathing
178. 7:07will stop. Then a voice, not the
179. 7:10familiar one, yours. It'll say, "Okay,
180. 7:14you can hang up now."
181. 7:16Don't. On this line, whoever hangs up
182. 7:18first lets the other one stay. Say
183. 7:21nothing, keep breathing.
184. 7:24The window goes gray then white and
185. 7:26after a long time, you'll hear a click.
186. 7:29Three beeps, call ended. 5 hours 11
187. 7:33minutes.
188. 7:34Put the phone face down on the
189. 7:35nightstand and leave it there until
190. 7:37you're ready to look at it.
191. 7:40Rule eight,
192. 7:42we don't publish this one because once
193. 7:44you know it, you'll never sleep through
194. 7:46a phone call again.
195. 7:47You want to know why the number has a
196. 7:49minus. It isn't a phone number, it's a
197. 7:52count. Every time somebody lets it ring,
198. 7:55it goes down by one and it moves on. It
199. 7:58just takes the phone of the last person
200. 8:00who didn't answer and calls someone in
201. 8:02their contacts. 111 people let it ring
202. 8:06before you.
203. 8:07In the morning, open your recent calls
204. 8:09and tap the info button next to -111.
205. 8:13Your phone will tell you the number is
206. 8:15already in your contacts, under a name
207. 8:18you know, somebody who's been in your
208. 8:20room. That's why the voice sounded
209. 8:22familiar. That's how it knew where your
210. 8:24shoes were. They were the last one to
211. 8:27let it ring, and it found you in their
212. 8:29phone. Don't call them back. They won't
213. 8:31pick up. Something else will. And if you
214. 8:34had let it ring tonight, it would be
215. 8:36holding your phone right now, going
216. 8:38through everyone you know. Don't let it
217. 8:41ring.