A Knocking

I would like to apologize again for not uploading anything last weekend. I’ve been really busy the past month or so, and every single weekend I’ve had something. Some weeks it’s been easier than other, so I’ve still found time to post something, but not last week. I also said that I would post a spooky story for Halloween, but I never got around to doing that. It may be a little late, but here’s that story.

Three raps at the door, a brief silence, then two more knocks. Adrian quickly made a note of it. Every day for the past month, this strange phenomena had occurred at exactly midnight. Most of the people in his house were asleep, and the knocks were never very loud, so he was the only person that ever heard them. His preliminary research online ultimately yielded little useful information concerning the strange knocks. He had been compiling extensive notes concerning the phenomena in case something happened or he found something online that would reveal the culprit. Something did eventually happen.

On Saturday, October 30th at exactly midnight, Adrian heard the knocking above him. He took off his headset and set his PlayStation controller down. He quickly jotted down the time and what had happened. This time, however, he heard the door open.

“Hello?” Adrian heard his mother call out into the darkness. There was no response, so she closed the door. Adrian shuddered. He didn’t know why, but something made him shudder involuntarily. He put the headset on and resumed his game of Battlefield. It wasn’t until three hours later that Adrian finally took the headset off, turned his console off, and grabbed his phone to head upstairs.

As soon as he reached the first step, he heard what sounded like music. It was coming from the laundry room. He pushed open the door and turned on the lights. There was nothing in there, but he definitely heard music. It sounded familiar, but he couldn’t place it. Adrian was especially confused, because he knew for a fact that he was the only person still awake.

“Maybe I’m just tired.” Adrian heard a voice say. He jumped, shut the door, turned the lights off, and began to book it up the stairs. Halfway up the stairs, he realized that the voice he heard was his own.

“I’m an idiot,” he muttered to himself angrily. He had absent-mindedly talked to himself without having realized it.

When he finally got up to his room, he opened the door and was about to turn the light on when he froze. He turned his head towards the bed. Slowly, he backed out of the room, never taking his eyes off of the dark shape hovering over his bed. He quickly ran into the bathroom, locked the door, and pulled out his phone. Adrian figured that a quick Google search would remedy the situation and help him. He opened Safari on his phone, but nothing would load. No matter how long he waited or whatever he tried, the Internet wouldn’t work.

The door suddenly swung open. Adrian watched in horror as a shadowy figure walked through the doorway. Adrian wanted to move, but he was rooted to the spot. The figure didn’t look at him, but instead walked past him and through the wall. Once the figure was gone, Adrian started hyperventilating. He was so confused and didn’t know what to do. Finally, he worked up the courage to go back into his room. Nothing was changed. Surprised, Adrian peeled back the covers and reluctantly got into his bed. He quickly drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

The next day, nothing happened. Adrian tried to do research on the thing that he had seen last night, but nothing came up. When he found himself going to sleep in the evening, Adrian was surprised to not hear the knocking. This was the first time that he didn’t hear the knocking, and it worried him. It took him an hour or so, but Adrian eventually drifted off into an uneasy sleep by 2:30 A.M.

In his dream, Adrian saw a red river. The river passed through what should have been a peaceful forest, but sinister fog blanketed the surroundings. Adrian couldn’t see it, but he knew that some twisted abomination lurked in the fog. Still, he knew that he had to pass through the forest. Adrian followed the slender river through the dead forest, ever vigilant for the thing. Adrian eventually came to a clearing. He heard the familiar music again. The river emptied itself into a moderately sized pond, and in the middle of the pond he saw the thing that couldn’t be unseen. It looked like a human, but it had no eyes to see. It turned and stared at Adrian.

It is said that every face you see in a dream is a face that you saw somewhere in real life. Adrian had never seen this face before in his life. he awoke in a cold sweat. He couldn’t fall back asleep, so he spent the rest of the night reading.

The next night, Adrian fell asleep rather quickly after waiting to hear the knocks that never came. He found himself in the same forest, looking at the same river heading the same way. He wanted to turn and run, but he found himself compelled to follow the river again. He thought that maybe things would be different, but they weren’t. When he reached the center of the forest, the thing in the pond turned and looked at him again. It stood up and began to walk towards Adrian, a sickening smile of pure malice on its pale and wrinkled visage.

Adrian awoke again in a cold sweat. He couldn’t go back to sleep again, so he continued to read.

The next night, Adrian vowed that he wouldn’t fall asleep. Every hour he drank a cup of coffee and gave his parents the pretense that he had a big essay to finish. He did have an essay, but it wasn’t due for another two weeks. And so Adrian stared blankly at his computer screen for hours, working tirelessly on the essay while drinking lots of coffee. By 2:50, Adrian had fallen asleep.

He found himself in the forest yet again, but this time Adrian turned around and ran the opposite way. He soon found himself in the same clearing, but this time the thing was already looking at him. It smiled maliciously and stood up. Adrian wanted to back away and run, but he couldn’t as the thing limped towards him. The familar music grew louder. As it grew closer, Adrian saw all of its little horrors in greater detail. It dragged one of its twisted legs behind it and its two arms swung numbly at its side. Adrian started to back away before one of its hands shot forward and grabbed his throat.

“There will be no running today.” The thing rasped. Adrian tried to struggle, but he could do nothing as the thing plunged its other hand into his stomach. Adrian awoke in agony. He tried to stand up, but the figure above him wouldn’t let him move.

“There will be no running today.” Adrian heard a voice say. He tried to rise again weakly, but the thing was too strong. He tried to resist, but it wasn’t long before Adrian gave in to the peaceful annihilation that the thing offered him.