This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/ChickenJeff on 2024-10-31 17:37:11+00:00.
A wave of shock shot through me. It was our knock. I didn’t dare respond. If that isn’t her… That means whoever it is has been listening to us. Now they’re reaching out to me. They know I can hear them… But what if it’s just her? She came back and was trying to see if I’m still awake. The thoughts whirled around like a hurricane. I couldn’t bear it. I couldn’t bear the silence. I couldn’t bear the uncertainty. It was all too much.
I got up, I grabbed my keys, and I left. As I walked out into the hallway, I saw her door. It looked the same as it always has; but to me, right now, it was a portal to hell. Someone… or something… was on the other side of that door. It might be pressed up against it. It might be looking out the peephole at me. I darted away. I simply couldn’t be here anymore.
I got outside and suddenly I could breathe again. The noise of the bustling city greeted me like an old friend. I never thought I would find such comfort in it. I sat down on a bench in front of my building. I wasn’t going to go back. Not while the sun was down.
I knew where my window was, so I knew where 402’s window was. I didn’t want to look at it but I had to… It was completely black. I couldn’t see anything inside. That was good, I thought. But that didn’t stop me from feeling like I was being watched. I felt eyes up there looming over me. I couldn’t rationalize it, but something inside was telling me that whatever was in 402 wasn’t a person. I fought against that thought for a long time, but I was starting to accept it.
I tried my best to ignore it all. It wasn’t easy. Eventually I laid down on the hard wooden slats and was able to some much-needed shut eye. I slept better than the last few nights.
I called in sick to work the next morning. I wanted to be here when Jane got home… Or to see if she was already home and last night was a massive overreaction.
I felt safer seeing the sunlight beaming through my windows when I got back inside. I tried to occupy myself by catching up on some household chores, as the back of my mind waited anxiously for the next sound.
I heard nothing all day. The longer it went on, the more sure I became that Jane wasn’t home. As the sun set, it was apparent that she decided to stay with her sister for another night. Meaning that yesterday night… definitely wasn’t her. Also meaning that I was here alone for another night.
I tried calling again… I don’t know why I expected the outcome to be different. Still wasn’t in service. I made extra sure I got the number right. It was exactly the number she said. Why would she give me the wrong number? Was it a new phone and she got it wrong by accident? Or did what I said to her really freak her out and… Maybe she thinks I’m not to be trusted. She placated me with a false number and then got the hell away from me. That outcome would’ve hurt the most. But a third idea crept into my mind too… The idea that maybe SHE couldn’t be trusted. I vehemently resisted that idea.
Night fell and the dread came with it. Part of me wanted to go outside to the bench again, but another part of me had to hear it one more time first. One more time to confirm that it was still in there, and then I could call the cops, because this needed to end.
I don’t know why the noises always seemed to start at 2:00, but that’s what I was waiting for. As 1:59 turned over, my senses sharpened. I waited, and I waited, expecting that sit-up sound. Only it didn’t come.
I had hoped that not hearing it would put my mind at ease… But that was not the case. It only put me more on edge. I felt like I was being watched. I felt like the thing on the other side knew I was listening.
I couldn’t hear anything… But I could feel the presence. It was there. I knew it. I just needed confirmation. The longer the silence went on, the more doubt began to creep in. The doubt infuriated me. All of this was doubt. Every second of this nightmare was doubt, and possibility, and “maybe.” I knew nothing. Nothing made sense. I was afraid, and I was frustrated. So… I made a decision.
I stood facing the wall, carefully picking up my phone in one hand and my keys in the other. Ready to run and dial 911 at a moment’s notice. I gathered up all the courage I had, and prepared to speak. I had to call out to it. I had to know that I wasn’t crazy. I opened my mouth, but before the words could escape…
“Leigh.” A soft voice whispered through the wall… It was… Jane. She sounded further away and her voice had a slight echo to it but… It was unmistakably her voice.
“Jane?” The word fell out. My voice cracked.
“Help me.” She sounded afraid. Hushed. Like she didn’t want to wake something.
“Jane, what’s going on?” I had a million questions, I was frantic, but I quieted my voice to match her’s. Suddenly I was afraid to wake it up too.
“Please help me, Leigh.”
“How are you there? When did you get back?” I whispered, not covering my desperation.
“I see it.” She continued. A shiver went down my spine.
“I’m going to call the cops right now. They’ll be right there.” It was the only solution I had.
“I don’t want to die.”
She fell silent after that, but I heard the breathing against the wall again. The hair on my arms stood on end. I was too scared to think straight, but I knew this wasn’t right… It was her voice but… It can’t have been her.
Knock Knock.
Knock Knock.
Knock Knock.
I had enough. I ran out into the hallway and dialed 911. I told them there was an intruder. I kept it vague because vague is all I had. As I spoke, I kept my eyes on her door. I wouldn’t let it out of my sight. If it left, I would see it. If it stayed, they would catch it… I hoped. They advised me to stay in my apartment and lock the door. I didn’t listen.
It took around 40 minutes for them to arrive. Two officers arrived on my floor and the building manager was with them with keys to let them into her unit. I think his name was Larry. Like I said, I forgot a lot of names and faces. He shot me a brief glare when he saw me standing there. I probably woke him up with all this.
I wanted to get a glimpse into the room but I was ushered away, back into my unit. My stomach was in knots with stress, I just wanted this to be over. I didn’t know what to expect. Would there be shouting? Would I hear a fight? Would there be gunshots? A part of me had a feeling… A dreadful feeling… That they would get in there and they wouldn’t find anything.
Minutes passed. I waited and waited, but I couldn’t hear anything from the wall. Not a peep. “Why aren’t they going inside?” I thought out loud. Suddenly there was a knock at my door. I opened the door and sure enough it was the officers, flanked by Larry.
They told me what I was afraid of, “We searched the apartment, and we couldn’t find any signs of someone living in there.”
“You WENT inside?” I questioned. I knew they didn’t go inside.
“We searched the entire unit, up and down. There was no one in there. But if you hear anything again-“ After that point I tuned out. I exchanged the default pleasantries and they went on their way. I couldn’t find a shit to give in any of their words, and I was too frustrated and exhausted to search for it.
I tried to get answers. Instead, I ended up with yet another question atop the pile. Why wouldn’t they go inside? What did Larry tell them?
I knew I wasn’t getting any sleep that night. All I could do was sit on the bed and overthink. This was all bigger than I thought it was. Jane could have been in on it. Larry could have been in on it. The police could have been in on it for all I knew… I really didn’t want to believe that Jane was in on it…
The way Larry glared at me… Maybe it wasn’t “screw you for waking me up in the middle of the night.” Maybe I stirred something up that I wasn’t supposed to. Maybe the problem wasn’t with Jane. Maybe there wasn’t an intruder, a creature, or even a ghost. Maybe it was the room itself.
As I sat and drove myself crazy with these theories, a new sound shot into my ear and sent my heart up into my throat. Some kind of rapid clacking sound. Almost sounded like someone button mashing a controller, but not as plastic-y. I jumped off the bed, and the sound stopped. The room wasn’t done with me yet.
I had never heard this sound before. I couldn’t place it at first, but once the initial shock wore off I knew exactly what it sounded like. It sounded like teeth chattering. I didn’t want to believe that’s what it was. There are lots of things that sound similar to teeth chattering. If it was any other circumstance, I could easily debunk it as the place settling. Little rhythmic cracking of hard materials rubbing together, bending. But this isn’t any other circumstance.
I was frozen in fear once again. The images my mind involuntarily conjured up were instantly traumatizing. A wide, chattering, horse-like, bloody mouth upon a gaunt, sunken face. A naked man with hungry mouths strewn all over his body. A zipper made of teeth going all the way down a human head so it can open like a …
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