The Knocking

It had been three days since he last slept. He was starting to feel a tad delirious from his growing exhaustion. He was also beginning to grow short tempered, a trait that he never had prior to now. But every night he faced the same problem of not being able to sleep. After he was done with his work day, he dreaded going home. Being at work was simply more enjoyable in comparison to being at home.

Once he arrived home from work, everything would seem fine and normal until he was ready to turn in for the night. That is when it would start. The knocking. It wasn't a hard aggressive knock. It was always a low, steady, and obnoxious kind of knocking. The kind of sound that one may not notice right away, but after a minute or so becomes aware of it before getting annoyed and shouting, "Stop it!" But the knocking never stops.

Every night the knocking would begin like clockwork, causing his anxiety to increase with each rapping sound. He wasn't sure how much longer he could take this. He tried to investigate, but there was never anyone there. He lived in a small old building that only had 4 units, three of which were occupied. In true predictable fashion, the disturbances increased. He started to hear running up and down the hallway of the building, giggling, and then the whispering started right in his apartment.

He heard the whispering right near his ear as he laid in bed. He was beyond the point of exhaustion and was advised to take some time off by his manager. He used to be friendly with his neighbors, and now they avoided him. He must be losing it, he was sure of it. He started to hear the whispering in the daytime now, telling him the most horrific things that made him shudder.

Finally, he reached his breaking point. Tonight he makes the knocking, running, giggling, and whispering stop. He quietly walked to his kitchen in the dark and removed the largest knight from his knife block. One by one he went to each apartment, knocked on the door and stabbed his neighbors when they opened the door for him. Now it was silent. He heard nothing, not even the sound of the traffic on the street or police sirens that approached. He was finally content.