Tale of the Talkative floor boards

The tale of the talkative floorboards

L.Adams

I'd moved into this house with my best friend a month and a half ago and that's when these incidents began, at first it was just food going missing, or stuff being moved around. At first, we blamed it on forgetfulness, but last week everything changed. I should probably start at the beginning.

Indigo and I moved in on July twenty-ninth. It was our first time being on our own. We started our first semester of college in a few weeks. The house is deep in the Appalachian mountains, nearly an hour out from town, but it was cheap so we thought it would be a good idea. Truly, A mistake.

It was fine and normal for the first few weeks or so, as we finally started getting settled. We'd decorated the two-bedroom nicely with throw pillows and art for the walls. The House had two floors, The first floor consisted of; the living room, the kitchen and, and a small dining room. The second floor had 2 bedrooms and two bathrooms. The master bedroom wasn't in use because it had an odd smell, it smelled like Cigarettes mixed with something that must have been from the attic, which was only accessible from that room. Indie and I both decided to steer clear of it, for the time being, we took the adjacent bedroom and shared the bathroom in the hall.

The first odd incident happened one night when Indie and I were watching TV on the couch and there was an odd noise from the attic. I didn't hear it at first, but Indie leaned over and whispered in my ear,

"Did you hear that?" Her voice was a little shaky, I looked at her confusedly.

"Hear what?" I whispered back straining my ears, there was a slight rustle coming from above us. I shrugged it off. "It's probably just a Raccoon or possum or something," I replied, this time and full volume, and turned back towards the movie.

"Yeah Goldie, you're probably right," she said, shaking her head, but I could still see her look up at the ceiling quickly. We ignored the noise and continued to do so.

A week or so after this something even more disturbing occurred. It was a Sunday morning and I had just walked groggily out of my bedroom to head downstairs when I looked up to see the door to the master bedroom wide open. I walked over to close it when I was once again hit with the pungent odor that emanated from it. I had hold of the knob and was in the process of closing the door when I heard the sound of running water.

Has Indigo showered in here today? I wondered as I made my way in to shut off the water, covering my nose with the collar of my shirt to avoid the smell. I walked into the bathroom to see the shower on and the room filled with steam. I stumbled through the haze to the shower and managed to fumble and turn it off, nearly slipping on the water that covered the floor. After this, I rushed out of the room as fast and I could, slamming the door behind me. I headed downstairs gasping for air.

"What's the matter with you?" Indie asked as I rounded the corner into the kitchen. The smell of coffee filled my nose, finally ridding it of that putrid smell.

"You left the door open to The Room when you showered there this morning, and you left the shower on. So I had to go in there," I said before I walked over to the coffee pot and poured myself a cup, and proceeded to throw cream and sugar into it in obscene amounts as she responded.

"I didn't use that Bathroom this morning," Indie looked at me in what I assumed was fake confusion.

"Very funny Indigo. Let me guess, Jesus popped down for a quick bath this morning or something?" I replied with a smug look as I turned to face her, coffee in hand.

"I'm Serious Mari, it wasn't me," she said I rolled my eyes at her and took a long sip of my coffee. I just shook my head and headed back upstairs. By the next morning, I had forgotten all about the little occurrence. There was nothing for the next two weeks, except a few items going missing here and there, but Indie and I just blamed each other for that. Indie would occasionally complain that she would hear odd noises coming from the master bedroom at night, primarily creaking floorboards, but I just blew it off as her being paranoid.

At least until Saturday night, it was three in the morning when my phone started to ring. It didn't wake me, Indie did.

"Your phone's been ringing for 5 minutes straight," she said before dropping it on my stomach.

"Who is it?" I replied, yawning halfway through.

"I don't know, Some random number," She shook her head and sat at the end of the bed.

"Hello?" I said once I picked it up. There was no response, just breathing.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" It took a minute before I finally got a response.

"Always," the raspy whispery voice said before beginning to chuckle. I looked up at Indie in horror as my shaky hand slowly pulled the phone away and pressed the speaker button. I could hear creaking floorboards on the other side of the phone, and then a door opening. It sounded like the speaker was crawling down a ladder, and then walking towards something.

"See you soon," the voice on the line said before it went dead. I looked out our open bedroom door to see the master bedroom door handle turn slowly. Indie saw this too and grabbed my hand and dragged me into the closet. I managed to grab my phone before we scrambled in and closed the door, backing our way into the darkest corner of it. I could hear the floorboards with every step he took as if they were singing some eerie song leading up to our deaths. I had my phone in my hand but Indie snatched it and started dialing.

"911 what is your emergency ?" I heard it Emanate quietly from its speakers.

"There's someone in my house," Indie whispered terror shaking her voice. I squeezed her hand as I heard the intruder walk closer to the room.

"Does this person have a weapon?" The operator replied.

"I don't know, can you please just get someone here now please," She said, I could hear that she was on the verge of tears.

"Ma'am there is a dispatch on its way to your house right this very moment please just stay on the line."

"O-okay" Indie stuttered through shaky breaths.

These footsteps became ever closer, tears of fear were dripping down my cheeks without my knowledge at this point. I heard him step in front of the door, and suddenly it ripped off the hinges. A crooked smiling dirty face met my gaze. In a moment of pure fear and adrenaline I charged, managing to knock him to the floor with one swift knee to the pants. I was still holding Indie's hand and I dragged him out with us as I listened to our attacker groan in pain. I grabbed my keys from the hook as I dragged Indie out the door and jumped into my truck. I didn't even wait to see if Indie had fully closed the door before I pulled out and floored it down the dirt road that led to town. At that moment, I vowed to always check the attic before moving in.