The Phone Call

Heather volunteers as a crisis-center hotline operator. She receives a telephone call from tearful Stan, who is reluctant to divulge the nature of his problem. All she can initially get out of him is that he is despondent and remorseful about an event that happened two years ago, which is now making it difficult for him to continue. The call takes on some urgency for her when she learns that he has taken some prescription anti-depressants. While she tries to convince him to let her call an ambulance for him, all he really seems to want is someone--her--to figuratively hold his hand while he dies. Without any other support staff around, Heather must use whatever clues she can glean from their conversation to provide Stan the help she wants to get to him before he dies.