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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/EmmaWatsonButDumber on 2024-09-10 21:16:23+00:00.

You know the moment when you’re at the top of a rollercoaster? You know the feeling of the first 3, 4 seconds of the drop? As much as you adrenaline junkies say it’s amazing, don’t lie - it’s absolutely awful, terrifying.

That’s how I felt two hours ago.

Clink.

I live in one of these duplex type of homes - a house split in two. One side, mine. The other, the neighbor’s. Or, right now, no one’s. No one lives next to me. It’s for sale.

Don’t imagine it’s something fancy - I’ve rented it out to have more room for my paintings. It has a simple layout: downstairs, my living room and kitchen, with a tiny service bathroom. Upstairs, two bedrooms, one mine, the other turned into a painting room, because I can’t sleep in the smell of oil paint.

I was hanging up some paintings in the upstairs hallway, the one that shares a wall with the other home. As I raised my hand with the nail, and my hammer, I tripped (which was odd by itself, because I never trip on thin air) and, since my hand was already swinging, I quickly pulled my other hand, with the nail, away, afraid to hit my finger. My hammer went straight into the wall - carboard walls, typical to cheap American homes.

I stood there in silence, staring like an idiot at the hole I’d just made.

I hadn’t expected the wall to be so thin, so that I could see the darkness from the other home. It was extremely odd and off-putting - I hated living next to no one. That home had been for sale for ages.

In the silence, I suddenly heard movement on the other side. Confusion, then fear, then disgust swept over me. Please. No rats. It’s all I ask.

Hesitant, I peaked through the hole, trying to see the culprit. The other room definitely needed to have windows, so the darkness would not be too bad, I thought. Still, my mind was fuzzy: how on earth did I manage to break into the other home? How? I knew the term paper-thin walls, but I’d assumed that was just an exaggeration.

In that moment, I know I wasn’t the wisest - it wasn’t exactly the best decision to put my eye right into the opening of a stale, dusty room. Even if there were rats, that made it even more unsanitary. Those were the thoughts playing in my head, which were cut short all of a sudden.

I pulled away, eyes wide, mouth open, scarcely breathing.

There it was. The drop of the rollercoaster. Well enough, I’d seen another eye looking back.

The house was silent, but not a welcoming silence, or a comforting one, the one I’d gotten to know since living alone. No, this silence was like a being on its own. I felt it moving through my walls, and I feared it wasn’t the only one.

Clink.

How do I know it was me who was looking back? Well, I have a scar on my left eyelid. Walked into a wire when I was a kid, lucky it didn’t blind me. Two hours ago, I’d seen that same scar through the wall.

My mind raced for answers. It’s a mirror. It’s a fucking mirror.

That’s what it had to be. The other room had a double-sided mirror on the wall. I put my finger through the hole, expecting to feel the glass.

I felt skin.

I think I’ve never screamed so loud before in my life. No, first, I think I gagged. I’m trying to remember the right order of things, but I can’t. My throat is still sore from that scream. I could not think of a reasonable thing to do, because that wasn’t a reasonable situation. What if it was a dead body?

No, I’d heard it moving.

I’ve been pacing through my living room since. I’ve stopped to type this, hoping someone might know how to help.

Clink.

From time to time, I hear this sound. A clink, coming from the hole.

The first time I heard it was an hour ago. It was almost imperceptible. Now, it’s the same sound, but I feel like it’s become deafening.

I turn to look, and I see that whoever is on the other side is dropping pins on my floor, through that hole. Clink. A pin falls, followed by another.

I don’t know what’s scarier - the fact that someone is on the other side - me, perhaps? -, or the fact that it knows I saw it.

It’s a really thin wall, and I’m afraid something can break through it from any side. Tonight, I’m sleeping at my friend’s.

Tomorrow, I don’t know what I’ll do. Wish me luck.

As I’m zipping my back up to leave, I hear another clink. I turn, and, from the door, I can see an eye peeking through the hole in the wall.

I get into my car. I’ll hit post now, then fire up the engine and get out of here. I have one more thing to say - the upstairs room, the one stuck to my home, the one where the hole is supposed to lead, has no windows.

I don’t know what’s in there, and how long it’s been lurking. I don’t even want to think about the fact that for the last year I’ve been living next to that thing.