This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/NoobNoSleeper on 2026-08-08 14:14:59+00:00.

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My daughter Clara really liked one toy in particular.

It was an old children's toy telephone from one of those companies like Fisher-Price.

It had a red handset, little plastic eyes, colored buttons, and a rotary dial with pictures of animals instead of numbers.

Every time you dialed an animal it would produce its sound in the receiver. It was so old only three sounds were still working.

The Cow.

Muuuuu.

The Dog.

Woof woof.

The Cat.

Meaaow.

The day before her death was her first kindergarten day.

That morning I found her sitting on the floor with the phone in her lap.

"We have to go," I told her. "Mom's waiting in the car."

"One more please. Last one. I promise."

She pressed the cow.

Muuuuu.

She laughed.

Then she pressed the dog.

Woof woof.

I laughed with her.

"Okay," I said. "Now we're going."

She grabbed my hand before I could leave.

"No. Wait. I have to give you my number."

"Your number?"

"Yes. Like when Mommy gave hers to you."

My wife likes to tell she did all the work in us getting together, but that's a story for another time.

Clara took my finger and guided it around the little dial.

Cat.

Cow.

Dog.

Meaaow. Muuuuu. Woof woof.

"That's my number," she said. "If you miss me, you can call me at school."

"Okay. Do they have phones there?"

"I don't know."

I smiled.

"I'll call you whenever I miss you." I said.

She gave me a kiss on the cheek as she used to do, put on her backpack and ran downstairs.

"See you later", She said as she was ran away.

"See you later, sweetheart."

That night, I woke up around four in the morning.

I heard noises coming from Clara's room.

At first, I thought it was Clara.

Then I heard her talking.

I got out of bed without waking my wife and walked toward her room.

She was sitting on the floor with the toy telephone pressed against her ear.

"Clara? What are you doing? It's so late."

She jumped.

"Sorry, Daddy. They called me."

"Who called you?"

"First, a lady who was very sad. Then a friend."

I smiled because I didn't know what else to do.

"Who was your friend?"

She shrugged. She didn't know.

I kissed her forehead.

"It's late. Go back to sleep."

She nodded.

I turned toward the door.

"Wait, Daddy."

I looked back.

"What?"

"What day is it?"

"Why?"

"My friend asked me."

I sighed.

"It's the fifteenth."

"Of September?"

"Yes."

"What year?"

I stared at her.

"You should know that."

"Twenty... twenty-five?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Now go to sleep."

She turned over and I left.

My wife was waiting for me in our bed.

"We need to throw that phone away."

"What?"

"I don't like it."

I laughed.

"It's her favorite toy."

"Those eyes freak me out."

"It's better than giving her a real phone."

"I guess."

Then she asked, "Did she give you her number?"

"Cat, cow, dog" I answered.

"Yeah. She's funny."

"Did you tell her the phone number story", I asked.

She laughed and turned around.

"Goodnight", she said.

That day Clara died.

On their way to school my wife said that Clara started going crazy. She was shouting and crying that she wanted to go back home.

Because of this my wife didn't notice another driver who was driving dangerously.

He hit my wife's car. Clara died on impact.

Yesterday my wife came back home after a month in coma.

The doctors spared me the need to explain what had happen when she woke up.

Doctors told my wife to stay in bed as much as possible. She was still too weak to move by herself.

In the month I was alone I had packed Clara's belongings into boxes. I couldn't look at them and without my wife to calm me down I didn't know what to do.

But more often than not I'd find myself hanging in her room and laying in her bed in silence. It was comforting, I guess.

That silence was broken today.

As I was laying in her bed I heard a muffled sound.

Muuuuu.

I stopped breathing.

I sat up.

The sound had come from one of the boxes.

I opened it and dug into it until I found Clara's toy telephone.

I sat on the floor.

And I don't know why but I picked up the receiver.

I dialed the only number I knew.

Cat.

Cow.

Dog.

Meaaow. Muuuuu. Woof woof.

I waited.

I don't think I had ever noticed before, but, from the receiver, I could hear the faintest of noise.

Something you should only hear in the receiver of a real telephone.

Somehow I convinced myself that if I waited, eventually Clara would pick up.

"AAAAAAAH!"

A scream.

Not a child's scream.

A scream of pure pain.

I dropped the receiver.

I ran into my bedroom and found my wife trying to get out of bed by herself.

"You have to call me when you need help," I told her.

"I can do it."

"Wait."

I reached for her.

"Leave me alone!"

She pushed me away, got up and walked out.

That night, woke up and found myself sleeping alone.

At some point, I heard a sound from the hallway.

Meeeaow.

I opened my eyes.

I waited.

Nothing.

Then.

Muuuuuu.

I got up.

The sound was coming from Clara's room.

When I opened the door, my wife was sitting on the floor.

She was on the ground with the telephone. Receiver on her ear. Crying her heart out.

"I thought I heard her voice."

I knelt beside her.

I helped her up and took her back to bed. She fell asleep almost immediately. I sat beside her for a bit longer, just to make sure she was fine.

Muuuuu.

I got up.

"That damned phone", I thought to myself.

I walked into the hallway.

And stopped.

The telephone was sitting on the floor.

In the middle of the hallway.

I knew I'd left it in Clara's room.

I stood there staring at it.

Then the phone moved.

It turned by itself.

And slowly rolled across the floor back into Clara's bedroom.

I followed it.

I sat down next to it, picked up the receiver and dialed Clara's number.

Cat.

Cow.

Dog.

I waited for someone to pick up.

"Hello?" a voice said.

A little girl's voice answered. It was faint. I could barely hear through the noise and interferences.

"Who is this?" She asked.

I nearly dropped the phone. It sounded just like Clara.

"You first." I said.

"Clara."

I closed my eyes.

"Clara?"

"Why was that lady so sad?"

"It's a long story."

"Who are you?"

"I'm a friend."

Then I laughed.

I couldn't help it. It was the kind of laugh that comes out when your mind can't handle what it's hearing.

"I don't have many friends," she said.

"No?"

"No. Just Mom and Dad."

"Not even at school?"

She paused.

"I went today for the first time. But the other children were mean."

My heart stopped.

"Today?"

"Yes."

"Clara..."

I could barely speak.

"What day is it?"

Before she could answer, I heard another voice.

My voice.

Coming through the telephone.

"Clara? What are you doing? It's so late."

The line went dead.

I stood there holding the receiver.

I waited for what felt like an eternity.

I just wanted to hear her voice one last time.

Then, something made it through the static.

"My dad says it's September 15, 2026", Clara said whispering.

The day of her death.

I thought very quickly about what to say.

"Listen to me", I said.

Silence.

"Tomorrow, you cannot go to school", I continued. "You have to do everything you can to stop Mom and Dad from taking you."

I was crying now.

"I don't care what you have to do. Cry. Scream. Hide. Lie. Anything."

Static.

"Or something terrible is going to happen. Alright?"

My voice broke.

Silence.

"Do you understand?" I shouted into the receiver.

Nothing.

"Clara?"

The silence was killing me.

"Okay" her little voice answered.

I closed my eyes in relief.

"Now go to sleep. It's late. I love you, sweetheart. More than anything in the world."

I waited.

"I miss you so much."

A long silence.

"Goodnight", she finally answered.

I pressed the receiver against my face.

"Goodnight, Clara."

The line went dead.

I sat on the floor of her empty bedroom for a moment, then found the strength to go back to my bedroom.

I took the phone with me, just in case she'd call again.

At the time of writing this I have just woken up.

My wife is still sleeping besides me.

But the toy telephone is gone.

And I hear noises coming from my daughter's bedroom.

I think it's the sound of a cow.