"Pick up the phone, it's grandma"

This happened about 15 years ago when I was 12 years old. I'll start with a little background. My parents had recently divorced and my 15 year old sister and I were staying at our mom's house. We alternated weeks between my Mom and Dad. We don't have any other siblings.

Like many single Moms, she worked long hours and wasn't home when she was at her 2nd, part time job. My sister was finally old enough to babysit me so my mom was able to scrape by.

My Mom was 39 when I was born so she's fairly old for a parent. This is important because she had been in her profession for over 20 years at that point. She was a social worker, more specifically a therapist mostly for individuals. She had a private practice office at home that she worked full time at, and then she worked part time in an office building that she shared with other therapists, who would share and rotate offices for their sessions with clients. This allowed her to get lots of referrals and more clients.

This particular night she was working at the office and my sister and I were home alone. The home phone rang and my sister answered but there was no one on the other end. She hung up and we resumed the TV show we were watching, not thinking much of it. The phone rings again and the caller ID indicates it's the same number. My sister decides not to answer it, assuming someone must have the wrong number.

The call goes to voicemail and to our surprise, the person decides to leave a message. Because this was a house phone, we could hear the voicemail as it was being left on the speaker.

The voice on the other end said, "Hi Emily, Abby, (my sister's name and mine) pick up the phone it's Grandma. I miss you and want to talk to you." My sister and I both turned to each other wide-eyed, knowing good and well that that voice was sure as fuck not Grandma, and furthermore we didn't even call either of our grandmothers grandma.

My sister immediately called my mom and my mom came rushing home. She replayed the voicemail and as she listened the look of recognition swept over her face. She knew that voice. It was one of her clients, Laurie.

Because my mom had been a therapist for over 20 years at that point, she had a few long term clients. One in particular, had been seeing her for over 18 years. She saw my mom while she was pregnant with both my sister and I, and had a certain closeness to my mom that came with time. She knew our names from when we were first born.

She must have gotten our home phone number from the yellow pages, or maybe my mom accidentally called her from that number instead of her office phone. We're not really sure.

My mom immediately stopped seeing her and that was the end of it. Im not sure if my mom got the police involved, but she felt certain that Laurie was not a threat. My mom described her as a lonely, anxious woman that struggled with eating disorders and OCD. I never heard from her or about her ever again.

Hey Laurie, let's never meet.