Never Let It In

I was yanked out of a dead sleep from a knock at the door. My heart pounded in my ears as I sat up. Trying to figure out if I had dreamed of the noise or if it were really happening. Before I could even begin to calm my heart, I heard the knock again. Louder and more frantic. It is almost as if the person on the other side of the door desperately needed my assistance at that exact second.

But I was too afraid to move at first.

When I finally did, I had to cover my mouth with my hand. Fearing that the sound of my breathing would alert this person. Tell them that I was leaving my room to come to the front door. As I was not sure if I should alert them to me approaching or not. A small voice in the back of my mind reminded me of the various stories that father sent me. Ones about people luring people out at night with frantic knocking. I carefully listened to the door for a second, then I called out,”Excuse me? Who is it?”

The knocking stopped when I spoke. Followed by the most uncomfortable silence that I had ever endured. My heart jumped into my throat as I listened hard against the door. Trying to hear anything outside of its frantic beating. A second later, I heard a soft voice. Almost like a child’s voice. It called,”Please help me. I’m so scared and cold.”

“I can’t find my mother and I’m lost.”,they called. Their voice sounded so very sad. So very much like a child. Though I couldn’t help but notice this strange quality of their voice. It didn’t sound like it came from a real child. Or a real person for that matter. Yet I wasn’t entirely certain as to how I knew that it wasn’t. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it at that moment. My mind chalked it up to me just barely waking up. And being utterly terrified out of my skull from the knocking. Despite this, I couldn’t bring myself to open the door to this little stranger. Calmly, I asked,”Would you like me to call the police for you?”

“They could probably help you much better than I can.”,I explained. Trying to see how the little stranger would react to that. For another long and unbearably silent moment. There was nothing. I started to think that maybe I imagined the little stranger on the other side of my door. Then the little stranger gave an annoyed huff. Followed by them slamming their weight against the apartment door. My heart pounded harder in my chest as I backed away from it. Watching the whole thing rattle in the doorframe as I bit back a scream. Something started clawing outside of my door. A deep voice sounded a second later. Much deeper than any voice that I had ever heard. It boomed,”HOW DARE YOU NOT HELP ME! OPEN THE DOOR AND HELP ME!! YOU WRETCHED COWARD!!! HELP ME!!! HELP ME!!!”

“HELP ME!!! HELP ME!!!”,it bellowed at me. Demanding that I let it in. The very sound of it filling my head as I collapsed to the floor. Curling in on myself as I covered my ears to block out the noise. Tears streaming down my face as I whimpered. Shutting my eyes tight while I lay on the floor. An unknown amount of time passed, and I found myself waking up on the floor in front of the door. For second, there was utter silence. Then there was a knock on the door. Which yanked a startled yelp out of me as I flinched backwards. Ready to run until a voice called out,”Is everything alright? I heard screaming and I’ve called the police.”

It was the little old woman from next door. Soon as I realized it was her, I opened my door and hugged her. Startling her a little as I did so. She hugged me back as I quickly explained to her what had happened. Through a lot of sobbing and stuttering. It took me a lot to tell her but thank goodness she’s so patient. Afterward, she seemed to mull over my words as she looked at my door. Calmly, she stated,”Good thing our doors are so solid. I don’t think you would’ve survived if they weren’t.”

With this, she pointed to my apartment door. Soon as I glanced at it, I felt my blood freeze in my veins. The door was covered in deep scratch marks and dents. Almost as if a bear was trying to claw its way through. I realized just how lucky I was that I didn’t open the door.