Sorry, Right Number

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Sorry, Right Number is a teleplay written by author Stephen King for an episode of the horror anthology TV series Tales From The Darkside. It was later included in King's short story collection Nightmares and Dreamscapes, and is notable as the only such work that King has included in any of his anthologies. It appears in script format and begins with an author's note on screenplay abbreviations as a guide for the reader.

The plot follows Katie Weiderman, the wife of a horror writer. There is also a sub-plot about her children that has significance later in the story.

One night, while the children are arguing about whether or not to watch the gory TV adaptation of her husband's novel Ghost Kiss, Katie recives a strange phonecall in which the person at the other end of the line sobs "Take...please take...t-t-" before the line goes dead. She at first thinks it's her daughter Polly, away at college, then her sister Dawn, but neither of them was the source of the mysterious call. The incident is quickly forgotten when she finds her husband slumped over his desk, dead from a heart attack. The story then jumps forward in time: Katie has remarried and Polly is married as well. Five years to the day of Bill's death, Katie is in Bill's old office when Ghost Kiss starts on the television. This gives her the glimmering of an idea, and she picks up the phone and dials the old house number. She is startled when it rings and is answered by herself five years previously. She tries to warn herself of the terrible tragedy that is about to befall her/them but is too late. It's then that she realises the truth of what happened that night. The story ends with Katie crying over her lost chance to save her husband and a close-up shot of the ominous looking telephone.