The Knocking

"Anna," Hailey whispers across the room in the dark. "Did you hear that?"

Anna groans and rolls over to face her roommate.

"Hear what?"

"It sounded like knocking, like two light knocks. You didn't hear it?"

"No, I didn't hear anything." Anna rolls back over. "It's probably just weird Sampson Hall noises again. Go to sleep."

Anna lets out a sigh as she readjusts her blankets. Their room is a typical, outdated dorm room, complete with white concrete block walls and old, squeaky pipes that vocalize their exhaustion after years of use any time someone in the building turns on the water. She hardly notices the sounds anymore, but a month and a half after move-in, Hailey still has not adjusted.

"It didn't sound like the other building noises, Anna," Hailey says as she sits up in bed.

"Hailey—"

Three knocks echo off the door, louder than Hailey had heard them before.

"Okay, I heard that," Anna said, sitting up in bed herself.

"I don't hear anything else, though, do you?"

"No, it's quiet," Anna answered. "Who's even here right now? I don't even think our RA stayed for fall break."

For the last two days, the girls have barely seen a soul in their hallway. Until Monday, Anna was convinced that the Sampson Hall showers were incapable of producing water hotter than an inconsistent lukewarm temperature.

"I didn't see the light under the door change like someone was there. Maybe they knocked as they were walking down the hall. Should we check?"

A single, booming knock bangs against the door.

"Yeah, I really don't want to do that," Anna says.

"I'm going to check the peephole," Hailey replies.

The room is silent as Hailey tiptoes toward the door as quietly as possible. Without letting her feet get close enough to cast a shadow at the gap below the door, she leans forward to look out into the hall.

Hailey shakes her head and steps slowly backward into the room toward Anna's bed.

"I couldn't see anything," she whispers.

"What do you mean you couldn't see anything?"

Hailey sits on the edge of Anna's bed, still staring at the door to their room.

"It's just gray. I couldn't even see the hall. I think the peephole was covered."

"That's it," Anna says. "I'm calling campus safety."

The knocking starts up again as Anna dials the number, one loud bang against the door, and another, and another, every two seconds until the call ends.

"They're on their way," Anna says. "They heard it over the phone."

"That was terrifying. It stopped the second you hung up."

Anna grabs Hailey's hand, and they watch the door in silence. Three minutes pass before they hear anything else.

"Campus safety," an officer calls through the door as they make three quick knocks on the door. "It's Officer Daniels. Do I have permission to enter?"

"Yes," Anna calls out.

This is what the dispatcher said to expect, so they would not risk opening the door to whoever was knocking.

"Well, girls, there was no sign of anyone in the hall when I got here," Officer Daniels says, "but they left this over the peephole on your door."

She holds up a scrap of notebook paper with the words "GOOD LUCK SLEEPING TONIGHT" written in thick, red crayon.

"I took photos before I took this down, and I'm taking it back to the office with me. Do you ladies know who might have wanted to scare you?"

"No," Hailey whispers, barely able to get the word out.

"Well, your room was secure, and so was the entrance to the building," Officer Daniels says. "It's probably just a sick prank. I'm going to write this up, and if there is any evidence of who did this, we'll follow up with them. I hope you have a quieter rest of your night."

The room is silent again after the officer departs, and Hailey moves back to her own bed.

"Do you think it could be the same person who attacked that girl in Sampson last year? Wasn't that what they left on her door a few days before she finally opened it to address the knocking?"

"It could be, but I really don't want to find out."