The apartment building is quite old. Originally there were two buildings built in the late 80s, both perched above the steep bluff of a small river which runs right through the center of the city like a mini fjord and ends up in a bay in the North. Both were permanently abandoned in the mid 90s when a political riot erupted during which many people lost their lives, including those who died when one of the twin buildings caught fire.
The other one left intact then dubbed the Green River apartment by the locals who still remembered the fire incident, was repurchased, renovated and turned into a modern regular resident in the early 2010s. I had been looking for a small, comfy and affordable place for myself when my father found an ad in the local newspaper. It didn't take me long to make up my mind and my father had agreed to help me with the down payment.
During my first weeks living there, I got to befriend some of my neighbors; the quiet pale-looking German guy across from me and the married couple with a teenage boy next door. The German guy mostly keeps to himself though he sometimes has friends over every Saturday Night.
The family next door are friendlier and we have become quite well acquainted with one another that we sometimes have a long conversation in the corridor while their son plays with my dog.
I remember one night around 2 am waking up to the muffled sound of someone knocking in the corridor. It was coming from the other end of the corridor which opened to a small balcony overlooking the river.
It was not loud enough to awaken the whole floor, but really persistent as if whoever it was was keen on being let inside. They kept knocking all night and then quieted down after a while.
It was only when the morning came that I was informed of the origin of the mysterious knocking by my friendly neighbors. I ran into the husband and their son at the top of the stairs.
He is a portly man in his late 30s with an ever-present friendly grin on his red face. His son looks exactly like a slimmer and younger version of himself. They both have curly fiery red hair.
"The elevator acting up again?" he asked me with a grin.
"Yeah. Bummer!"
"Thought so."
"Someone was having a good laugh last night, don't you think?" I remarked, shaking my head.
He frowned at me.
"Didn't you hear the knocking? Were they drunk or what?"
Suddenly he looked pale as if I had just said something that bothered him immensely.
"Oh goodness. I forgot to tell you. Jo would kill me if…oh never mind. She told me to talk to you about this as soon as you're settled." He narrowed his eyes at his son. "Keep your mouth shut, okay son?"
"Told me what?" I stared at him in confusion.
"There hadn't been new tenants for months when you moved in. So it's understandable that I forgot."
"Man, what is it? What did you want to tell me?"
He motioned for his son to leave then took a deep breath before he managed to pull himself together.
"There's an unspoken rule here in this building among the old tenants. If you hear a knock at your door after midnight, don't open it, ever. Ignore it. The rule includes no talking to it or acknowledging its presence. It will eventually move on to the other doors. Sometimes it would stay longer on one door, sometimes it would only knock once or twice before moving on. Sometimes it would come earlier too. But everyone knows the rule. Don't open the door!"
It was my turn to frown at him now.
"Why not? And who is it? What do they want?"
He motioned for me to lower my voice and looked around nervously as if wanting to make sure that nobody was within earshot.
"We don't talk about it. We moved here about ten years ago. Caleb was still a baby then. And the old woman across from us, she already moved out to live with her son last year, well she told us about the rule and the tragedy that happened years ago."
"Oh the fire, yes. I know about that." I told him, still unsure where he was going with his story.
"You know, the other building, the one that caught fire, it was demolished shortly afterwards and the place where it once stood is now the parking lot. The lady also told us that the people who lived in this building back then started to experience strange things a few weeks after that. Disembodied voices asking for help in the middle of the night, and people smelling what they described as burning flesh. And then the knocking started and it drove everyone insane. It didn't happen like every night, but whenever it did, they knew not to open the door. It happens less and less frequently these days so yeah, kinda hard to believe it."
"Are you telling me that this building is haunted and shit?" I looked at him in disbelief. "By the spirits of those who perished in the fire?"
"That's what they believed." He shrugged.
"What if it's just a prank? Some stupid kids trying to mess with you?"
He sighed and shook his head impatiently.
"They did think of that possibility. They had already checked the security cameras and found nothing. Nobody was wandering the corridor when it happened. It was empty."
"How can you tell if it's not just … maybe a friend or a family member wanting to see you?"
"In the middle of the night?"
"You said it shows up early sometimes? Like how early? Seven? Nine? So how can you tell?" I asked him, still feeling skeptical.
He clenched his jaw a little while looking me dead in the eye.
"You'll know. You'll hear," he replied mysteriously.
"Have any of you ever opened the door to see who or what it was?"
"Yes."
"Who? What happened?"
He opened his mouth and paused, glancing out the window toward the parking lot which looked almost deserted with only a handful of cars soaking up the morning sun in it.
"Okay, Jo doesn't want me to tell you this. But you need to know. Happened last year. It was shortly after midnight. I was about to fall asleep when I heard a blood-curdling scream coming from the new tenant next to us. The poor guy had just moved in a week before and nobody had bothered to warn him. Those fuckers! We would have, but we had been away visiting Jo's parents in Denver. We found him kneeling on the floor in his doorway, shaking all over, sobbing like a little girl, his door wide open. We asked him what's wrong but all he could say was that it was coming to get him and he's going to die. He moved out the following morning, haven't heard from him since."
"It's my apartment, wasn't it?" I asked him.
He gave me a look that was meant to say that he was sorry and didn't mean to scare me.
"Has anyone told the landlord about this?"
I pressed him.
"Told him what? That a restless ghost is haunting the building?" He let out a mirthless laugh. "He wouldn't even care if this whole building were infested by a herd of zombies, that old cow!"
"Well, you just told me that this building is haunted by some restless ghost and it's been disturbing the peace…"
"Ghosts," he corrected me. "Listen, man. You don't believe it, fine. But don't you start pulling a Sherlock on it now. Ignore it if you ever hear it. Whatever it is, it means more harm than good. Don't invite it in. We like you very much. Well, especially Jo. You remind her of her younger brother who died in an accident many years ago. You look just like him. You know, lanky, a bit awkward, dark curly hair. We like having you as our neighbor."
He patted me on the shoulder.
"Gotta go, now. Jo's waiting."
And just like that he started walking down the corridor to his apartment in unhurried fatherly strides, leaving me befuddled in his wake, not knowing what to make of what he had just told me.
I decided to brush it off as people being paranoid due to living next to a 'phantom building' where many lives were lost.
Two days later I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of my front door being knocked on lightly. This time, I could also hear heavy rugged breathing wheezing in and out as if whatever was making it were on the verge of dying. I didn't get out of bed, or even so much as twitch, but listened intently.
They knocked a few more times while whispering something that did not make any sense at all under their breath, then moved on to my neighbor, the friendly couple next door. They lingered there for a while, knocking slightly louder and more persistently while I was wondering if my neighbors were wide awake or asleep, unbothered by the mysterious midnight disturbance.
The knocking had woken up my dog Pedro as well. His ears perked up while he glanced at the bedroom door as if sensing something outside. I stayed up until late in the morning listening to the knocking as it quieted down, feeling uneasy and apprehensive about the whole thing.
It took me about a month to finally settle down and get used to every corner in my new apartment. I loved my new bedroom. The window opens to an amazing view of the river below with willow trees and small patches of flowering bulbs lining up on its steep bluff.
It was a cold and windy day, I had just gotten home, hungry and exhausted, but thrilled to have a few days-off off work to enjoy myself. I decided I might be up for a little post-work hook-up.
All thoughts about the door to door haunting had already been forgotten.
I had just cleaned up the whole apartment and rearranged the furniture and was fiddling with my phone on Tinder in the living room with Pedro, when a notification blipped on the screen. Somebody matched with me. I tapped on it and the picture of a dark-haired girl with a freckled face popped out.
She had that sort of look which made it tricky to guess her age. She looked like she was in her early 20s and late 30s all at the same time. On her profile it said she wasn't looking for anything serious either but would let herself go with the flow if somebody piqued her interest.
We exchanged numbers and chatted for a bit then I invited her over and she said yes. I was so excited that I hopped off the couch, heeled off my shoes and stormed into the shower immediately. It was twenty minutes past ten.
Exactly thirty five minutes later, I heard a light knock at the door. Mating call!
"Coming!" I tried to sound like I hadn't been too excited waiting for her to arrive, just in case she decided that I was a loser (well in a way I was, a little) and booked it before we even met face to face.
I rushed into the living room and down the narrow hallway leading to the front door, almost knocking down stacks of old thick magazines and newspapers piled up against the wall in my hurried state.
Then another knock was heard. It almost made me stop in my tracks. It sounded hollow and flat. For a split second, my neighbor's warning from the other day flashed into my head, but I chose to ignore it. I was expecting a guest anyway. I swung the door open, trying not to grin like an idiot, and saw … nothing.
The long corridor outside looked eerily empty and deserted. No pretty brunette standing in front of my door beaming up at me which I'd been imagining for the last few minutes. Well, that's weird, I thought to myself, stepping out into the corridor. I left the door ajar behind me and walked towards the elevator. The digital display told me that the cars were still on the ground floor. Nobody had used the elevator.
A gust of cold night breeze blew in through the open balcony and I began to shiver a little. It was more unpleasant than invigorating.
Who the heck had knocked at my door? A ghost? I felt chills which had nothing to do with the cold night air and shrugged it off. I was about to step back inside when I heard Pedro let out a shrill angry bark that I had never heard him make before from somewhere in the kitchen.
He barked again louder and whimpered, then I saw him poke his head out from behind the sofa in the living room as if checking if I was there with him. As soon as he saw me, he instantly scampered across the hallway and ducked in between my legs.
"Hey, buddy. What's wrong with you?" I picked him up and kicked the door shut behind me then walked back into the living room. "Nervous about our guest too, huh? Want some snacks?"
I grabbed his empty Donald Duck plate from under my desk in the corner and filled it with his favorite meal. He sniffed it a little and then turned his head to look at me confused and started whimpering again.
"What? Please, buddy. Not now."
He scurried under my desk and let out a long sad howl which made me scratch my head in confusion. He seemed a bit on edge for some reasons and I had no idea what had caused it.
I sighed and proceeded to crouch down on the floor and reach out to give him a reassuring pat on the head, but to my surprise he bared his teeth at me as if not recognizing who I was.
"Jesus, princess? What's with the attitude? Been sniffing my shoe polish again, have we?" I shook my head at him in disapproval. But he ignored me and kept glancing back and forth into the hallway and over my shoulder toward the kitchen.
"For God's sake, Pepé. Are we going to do this all night?" I scolded him. "Go to your room! Now!"
I stood back up and narrowed my eyes at him. He took a last glance into the kitchen, ducked out from under the desk and again, to my surprise, rounded the big table in the middle of the room, which took him a bit longer to get to the bedroom, instead of making it through the narrow space between the long sofa and the kitchen doorway.
I spent a few seconds staring into the enclosed darkness within the kitchen, feeling befuddled, and proceeded to make my way across the living room when somebody knocked on my door again for the second time that night. Having completely forgotten about my date plan, I shuffled quickly into the hallway ready to teach whoever it was a lesson they would never forget.
I opened the door and to my surprise, found myself standing face to face with a dark-haired girl in a periwinkle sweater and jeans. I must have looked like I was about to murder someone because she raised her eyebrows quizzically at me and shrugged.
"Hi! I'm Julia!" She greeted me casually. "Changed your mind already?" she continued with a subtle hint of uncertainty mixed with humor.
She did not sound like what I had expected. Her voice was deeper and a bit throaty for someone so petite and sweet-looking.
"Oh, no. No no. It's uh … the kid next door was pulling a prank on me. Getting on my nerves really." I explained myself and contorted my face into a friendly yet awkward smile at the speed of light, which I was pretty sure made me look like Bruce The Well-Meaning Shark from Finding Nemo.
"I thought it was him knocking on my door again."
"Oh you're expecting another guest?" she asked again, amused.
"No. God, no. It's not like that. Sometimes the kid next door loves to play pranks on the people who live in this building." I rolled my eyes and she let out a really cute laugh which kind of reminded me of a sexy animé character from a TV show that I used to watch a lot growing up.
I opened the door wider to let her in but suddenly a loud growl, followed by a long guttural bark erupted through the hallway. Pedro was standing on the threshold of the bedroom, barking his head off. He arched his body and his hackles went up.
I sighed exasperatedly.
"Whoops! Looks like somebody isn't too pleased to see me!" She sneered.
"Oh, it's just my dog." I hurried back into the living room, looking back and forth at her and Pedro. "Dunno what's got into him. Been acting strange tonight. Come in. Please shut the door again."
I stared at my dog in frustration. He stopped barking and started to whimper as I clenched my mouth and gave him a scrutinizing look.
"What did I tell you about being a good boy when we have a guest over?" I fretted, shaking my head in disbelief. "Go to bed and don't come out until I say so!"
Again, he let out a low whining noise but slowly retreated inside.
"I'm really sorry. I don't k―"
I stared into the hallway and gasped in surprise. The front door was still open but Julia was nowhere to be seen.
"Hello? Julia?" I hurried back to the front door, feeling a bit hurt and confused. But she was gone. I looked around the now empty corridor and the metallic clanking and groaning of the elevator descending told me that it was no use chasing after her.
I stepped back inside and kicked the door shut in frustration. She must have thought I was one of those weirdos or reclusive perverts who spent most of their time talking to their dogs, and decided to book it at the last minute.
I stormed into my room to find Pedro lying in bed looking up at me with those big brown eyes of his. I huffed and raised a finger to his face.
"That wasn't nice, young man! Not nice at all!" I lowered my voice so he knew I was angry with him. "Of all the times and you've chosen to be a naughty boy now? When I was about to uh… I mean…"
Then somewhere in the hallway, several dull thuds echoed off the walls. My blood froze instantly. Somebody was in my apartment.
"Stay there!" I said to Pedro in a barely audible whisper. He just stood there on the bed in silence, as if understanding the magnitude of the situation we were in. I tiptoed into the living room, trying not to make any noise and alert the intruder.
The living room was eerily silent and empty, devoid of any sign of trespassing. I stared into the darkened long hallway and saw the heavy stacks of magazines scattered on the floor, as if somebody had just knocked them off in their haste to get inside. But the door was still closed.
"Hello?" I called out hesitantly. I started to walk across the living room towards the magazines but then I felt a gust of air on my back as if somebody was darting past behind me. I yelped and instantly whirled around to see nothing. The kitchen was dark, a square-shaped mass of blackness engraved into the white wall.
My breathing grew louder as I walked slowly towards the dark opening, squinting my eyes to catch the slightest movement or outline of something hiding in there. Deciding to end this terror quickly once and for all, I stepped inside and lunged for the light switch in the far corner, already feeling creeped out, and right before I flicked it on, I sensed movement off to my right and then something cold and wet brushed against the tips of my fingers.
I gasped and cringed away in great terror as bright blinding light flooded the whole kitchen. I stood there bewildered, scanning the whole room, looking for anything out of the ordinary, my heart thumping in my chest, a chill running down my spine. What the hell?
There would have been a little chance of not being seen in such a small room if somebody had been there, now wouldn’t there? But there I was, staring at the fridge and the stove suspiciously, questioning my own sanity as if I had only been imagining things.
Just then I heard a loud buzzing sound from behind me and I cursed at myself for being easily scared by practically anything. It was my phone which I had left on silent on my desk.
I reached out to grab it and was surprised to see Julia's name flashed across the screen. I picked it up, still feeling awkward about her abruptly leaving, but also confused and creeped out by what had just happened.
"Hi Evan, sorry I just left like that. But you didn't tell me you're that kind of person. You could have told me, you know?"
I stared at my phone screen perplexed. What the heck was she talking about?
"Listen, if it's the talking to my dog thing that threw you off, I 100% get that. But he's family. So he gets to stay. There would be no working around it even if you had decided to stay tonight." I explained myself, still feeling a bit embarrassed but trying to play it off.
"What?" She sounded confused. "No, you didn't tell me that there's someone else there with you in your apartment. I thought it was just gonna be the two of us, you know, having fun. Talking and stuff."
"What the hell? If you hate dogs so much then I don't think we can―"
"Jesus. Stop talking to me like I'm retarded. So what? You and your friend are looking for a guest star to spice up your night a little bit?" she said in an accusing tone.
"Jesus, girl! What are you on about? Is this a joke or something? You could have told me that I looked ugly in person. I'm fine with that. Not one of your typical lovey dovey pale green-eyed dudes, huh? You didn't have to call me and pretend like you're a saint or something and didn't want to hurt my feelings and―"
"Come on now." She let out a mirthless chuckle.
"I have no idea what the hell you're talking about."
I heard a loud bark and saw Pedro standing on the threshold of my bedroom looking up at me as if demanding to let him know who I was speaking with. I raised my index finger to motion for him to be silent.
"Don't play games with me now. It was that fucking ugly bitch standing behind the couch."
"Are you drunk or something?"
"So you're telling me that you live all by yourself? You're all alone? I mean I know there's your dog. But you don't have a girlfriend or anybody else in your apartment now?" she said in a lower voice as if just realizing something.
"Of course not!"
"So who was that girl in your kitchen …"
"What girl?"
"The one wearing the dark sunglasses…" Her voice trailed off.
I could only hear her raspy and heavy breath on the other line for a few seconds.
"Oh my God … Oh my God, Evan. " I could hear her voice quivering as she spoke. "She … she wasn't wearing sunglasses. Those … those were her eyes."
"W-wwhat are you…"
"Get out! Get out of there, Evan! Get out of your apartment! Get the f*ck out RIGHT now!"
Then I heard a sound that was almost inaudible. It was so faint but still distinguishable from anything else. The soft clicking sound of the light switch being pressed. All the hairs on my body stood on end as I turned my head slowly to glance into the kitchen, once again the entrance into the dark realm.
This time, I could faintly make out the blurry and vague outline of a person standing eerily still in the corner next to the fridge, like it was only a part of the wall, blacker than the darkness it was in.
An overwhelming smell suddenly filled the room, it was emanating from the kitchen, unmistakably the stench of burning flesh, followed by a deep, ragged breathing.
"F*ck it!" I yelled and immediately rushed into the hallway as fast as I could, grabbing a dazed Pedro with two hands, careful not to hurt him. He let out a surprised whine but I pulled him into my arms and threw the door open.
Behind me I could hear the sound of heavy feet stomping hard and fast across the living room following us. I ran faster towards the stairs, not bothering to look over my shoulder or even to use the elevator.
My apartment was on the 4th floor but I did not care. I didn't stop until I arrived in the parking lot.
I've been staying at my parents' for two weeks now. I told them what had happened and they did not question me more.
Last night, I was fast asleep in my old bedroom when I woke up to somebody knocking at the door. For a moment I just lay there staring at the door, shaking all over. It was already inside the house. It knew that I knew it was there. It was toying with me. It's only a matter of time before it opens the door and lets itself in.
It's almost three in the morning as I am typing this. I fear falling asleep. I was already on the cusp of passing out again only a few minutes ago. So I lit another cigarette to stave it off. I'm afraid that by opening my apartment door that night, I have invited something evil not only into my apartment, but also into my life.
