Sound, Charlie heard a constant unnerving thumping sound as if someone was lightly knocking somewhere, he tried to ignore it as he was home alone. His parents had left in the evening for an important event. He couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from because of the thunderous rain outside. Finally, he closed his book and decided to go out and find its source.
He was least inclined to leave the comfort of his bed as it had been a long hectic day but the noise had started to make him unnerved. With his torch on, he set foot in his TV lounge, seeing nothing out of ordinary, he decided to continue exploring. As he went near the outer door he realized it was slightly shaking. He could feel the hair on his arms stand up. The steady rain outside somehow made everything a bit eerie and uncanny.
Gathering up his courage, he asked in a somewhat shaking voice, “who is it?” Upon hearing no response he tried again in a louder voice. Still, no one acknowledged his questions. The knocking on the door was happening steadily now. Charlie felt like he was standing there for a lifetime. There was no other noise except the heavy rain and continued knocking. He grabbed the cold metal handle of the door and turned the key to open it.
The sight in front of him knocked his breath out. All he could see was the huge empty eye sockets and ear-to-ear smile of the little girl standing in front of him, he knew at that moment that he will forever be haunted by this unnatural sight. The girl’s head started to tilt and Charlie felt like if he didn’t move now something unimaginable was going to happen. He threw the door closed with a loud thud and ran off to his room. The door was being hit brutally now and it seemed it would come off its hinges.
Charlie could do nothing as he covered his ears and tried in vain to stop his trembling limbs. he closed his eyes but every time the girl’s ghostly face came into view. He felt like he sat there for an eternity trying to make sense of what he saw. Eventually, his parents came home but Charlie was too scared to tell them anything. After a few hours, the sun crept up and Charlie’s mom told him to get ready for school. He reluctantly started his daily routine and in no time was ready for school.
As soon as he got off the school bus, he could feel a slight buzzing in the air, something wasn’t right. Everyone was talking in a hushed voice, discussing something he could not get a hold of. Then he saw it, the posters, posters of an adorable smiling girl who had vanished from her home the previous evening and was still nowhere to be found. He wanted to scream at top of his lungs that he had seen her, he so badly wanted to tell everyone but no one would have believed him.
Charlie often sees the shadow of that girl under the street lights in the darkest of nights, whenever it rains he can hear the light tapping coming from his window and he can never get rid of the uneasy feeling that someone is constantly watching him. He can not make sense of it all but he has learned how to live with it.
