I jumped as a hammer like sound came from above. “Andrew?” I asked tentatively. Listening closely, I heard a steady thud beginning to emerge, matching the pulses of my heartbeat.
I stumbled up the stairs in panic as both sounds grew faster.
Taking a deep breath, I tentatively turned the knob. It was locked. Worried, I peered through a crack in the door.
He stared back at me, his eyes wide open, head tilted back, his mouth gaping wide. His skin was a horrid shade of grey, and there seemed to be no life left in him. He started gliding towards me, as if dragged by some invisible force…
“Come.”
I awoke to a distance voice. My palms were sweaty for some reason, though I didn’t know how it got this way. My eyes wandered down the door, and I suddenly noticed something sticking to my hand that wasn’t sweat. Something red, drawn in a strange figure. Like a heart.
My feet seemed to move on their own, moving me out of my bed, taking steps into the dark hallway. A hollow tapping sound started from somewhere below me. A small tapping sound, like something was counting how many steps I was taking. Something was wrong.
“Come now…”
I felt a lump forming in my throat. Desperately, I looked around but I could see nothing. It was pitch black. I could just imagine a man standing at the end of the corridor, his eyes missing and mouth smiling.
“Come, I love you.”
The tapping became louder, more pronounced. I walked away from it, turning to my right. Away from the red door that I caught sight of to my left. Away from the sound of tapping that seemed to slowly be climbing up the stairs. Slowly making its way up.
I didn’t want to let it come up. So I began scratching at the mark in the palm of my hand. It was still wet, and so I scratched it straight through, so that it was broken.
“Co—”
I shook my head. A door slammed downstairs and something screamed. The tapping seemed to stop for a moment before crashing into a wall, and the tapping began again. Faster than before. Harder than before.
Something bumped against my foot. I tried to ignore it and continue walking away from everything that seemed to be going on. Then something brushed against my leg.
Then the tapping was behind me.
“You didn’t come.”
I felt something slide slowly up my leg and up my body before slowly grabbing my neck and gripping against my skin. I breathed in slowly and tried not to panic. Just a dare. Just a prank I hoped.
“I thought you loved me.”
I froze.
“You lied.”
I closed my eyes and opened them again. I tried to wake up, but I couldn’t. There was nothing to wake up from.
I didn’t know what to do.
