Moments 2.0 | Sweet Home | Cha Hyun Soo

Chapter 4: Just one knock.

JUST ONE KNOCK

*

Yeonha had made the poor mistake of settling too soon into comfort. With such high stakes, there was no time to pause, she had to keep moving, it was the only way to survive, and she had forgotten that momentarily, taking too long in this apartment thinking it was safe. The dismembered half of a body should have been enough of an obvious warning that it was anything but.

And now, now there was a monster on the opposite side of the door.

"You can hear it can't you?" The darkness whispers, its tone almost thrilled and buzzing with excitement.

Yeonha swallows, and slowly she retreats taking small backwards steps, her eyes glued on the door. The scratching continues.

"It knows you're here, and it's hungry."

The snarling persists too, becoming more agitated as the monster behind it struggles to open the door. Its scratching turns to a thumping sound that causes the door to shake around its hinges, this monster was determined, and it almost sounded like it was throwing its whole weight against the door trying to get it to open.

"Will you fight? Or are you going to run and hide?"

She tries to weigh up her options, would she wait for it to break through and fight it off or swing the door open and charge straight at it? Maybe she could time it right, wait for the monster to enter and then before it sees her she could run out the door and not look back. With no idea what kind of creature was on the other side, she couldn't say for sure what the best course of action could be, what if it was faster than her, or stronger? What if it was some kind of monster that spat poison or acid? If that was the case she was no match, and Yeonha quite fancied keeping all her limbs, and her life.

She continues to back away from the door and almost stumbles over the dead body, forgetting it is still in the apartment with her.

Yeonha glances at the blanket-covered body briefly. Was the monster indeed coming back for the other half?

More agitated growling and persistent thumping from the monster manages to knock a hinge from the door, if the monster kept at it, in no time the door would fly open. Whatever kind of monster it was didn't matter, what did was that it was trying to get into the apartment she was currently inside and it was almost about to reach that goal. She flickered her gaze over to the bathroom, would it be worth hiding in there? Probably not-If it could break down one door it would surely be able to break down another.

But what other option did she have?

She looked around frantically and stopped at the window. Yeonha breathed deeply.

I guess the window it is then.

She slips out the window, manages to scamper along the ledge and climbs along to the adjacent window ledge, squeezing it with a tight grip. Moments after she does she hears the door break, hears the sound of animalistic snarling becoming louder as the creature enters the apartment.

It better not come to the window and look out or I'm fucked. She thinks, knowing that with her hands preoccupied with holding her up, she had no means to swing back and attack. She squeezes her eyes shut and grits her teeth, muttering meditative sutras in her mind that she just about remembers from that one time her father had taken her to that monastery in Tibet on a family holiday.

Her blood pounded so loudly in her ears that she was worried the monster could hear it too, but it only seemed interested in one thing. Over the sound of her heartbeat, she can hear the destruction of furniture in the apartment and a loud, heavy dragging sound that starts and stops with another crash followed by a thud before starting up again, and the sound continues with another thud, another crash and then a pause and then another thump until it eventually fades.