In The Night

Chapter 1

"Joey, do you hear that?," A female voice whispered climbing into Joey's bed.

"Hear what, Rachel?", Joey mumbled, awakening from his slumber.

"I don't know, I don't know.... I think I heard the apartment door close...", Rachel whispered.

"Okay I'll check it out".

Joey crept out of the bedroom and looked around the apartment. He didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, but the front door's lock was busted. He was faintly frightened, but took no notice of it. Back in the bedroom, Rachel was eager and terrified to find out what had woken her. Possibly a burglar? A murderer? Or possibly something much worse.

A loud, deafening scream was heard from the living room. Rachel screamed, fearing what had happened to Joey. Rachel waited patiently, quivering as quietly as she could. The door handle started creaking, turning so slowly... Rachel held her breath, waiting for the dreaded horror standing right outside the door.

The door suddenly swung open swiftly and quickly, nearly falling off it's hinges. A dark figure stood in the doorway, holding an object in the shape of a knife. Rachel shrieked, and sprinted towards the window. She got it open and climbed outside onto the fire escape, into the crisp, winter breeze. 

Joey started laughing hysterically. He flicked on the light, revealing the banana in his hand. Rachel peered through the foggy window and angrily grunted as she realised Joey was pulling her leg. Shivering, Rachel climbed back through the window and charged at Joey.

"You're an ASSHOLE!," She yelled, smacking him across the face.

Joey laughed and jogged into the sitting room, wide awake. Rachel followed, fuming. Rachel flumped into a creamy brown armchair, eyeing Joey suspiciously.

"I suppose you planned those noises? A tape, or something?," She asked him crossly.

"No, I thought that was you...".

"Joey! It wasn't me! If I didn't make the noise..... and if you didn't make the noise...... who did?".

Joey and Rachel scanned the apartment, holding eachother firmly. They looked into every shadow, every corner, every possible space for a person to hide. It was all very strange. Nobody was there, yet the lock on the door was broken, and neither Joey nor Rachel had made the noise out in the living room.

"Hello? Guys? We heard screaming!," Someone said outside the door, knocking on it. A skinny woman with short, dark brown hair opened the door and wandered inside into the eery silence. 

"You guys okay?," She asked, as a medium height man with light brown hair stalked into the apartment. 

"Monica! Chandler! The strangest thing just happened!," Exclaimed Rachel. Rachel explained everything that had happened, as Joey ate the banana. Monica and Chandler listened intently, smirking at Rachel's reaction to Joey's scare. 

"Uh, maybe it was just a creak in the walls? We get that all the time across the hall," Monica suggested.

"Hmm, idk, maybe? It just didn't sound like it...".

"Honey, it probably was, just get some sleep, okay?," Monica started to steer Rachel back to her bedroom, but was denied her gesture as Rachel spun around and started searching the apartment.

"Uh, what are you doing?," Chandler asked sceptically.

Rachel ignored him, opening the cupboards in the kitchen and examining the food. She slammed the doors shut and hurried to the other side of the room, where she began inspecting every item on the shelves. 
After she had searched the entire apartment, including the bathroom and Joey's room, Rachel flumped into an armchair and stared at the wall. All the while Monica, Chandler and Joey exchnaged glances and kept looking at Rachel.

"Gahh!," She yelled, exasperated. "I was sure it might of been a burglar........ but no............ they would have stolen something............" 

"Rachel, it was nothing! Just get some sleep, we can think about it in the morning alright?," Joey said quietly as he pulled Rachel from the armchair and started steering her to her room.

She shrugged off Joey, and turned around to take one last look at the broken lock on the door. She stared intently at it, wondering whether she had imagined the noise and that the lock had broken earlier by accident. 

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