Stories That Crawled From My Brain

Knock Knock Knock

Monday

Last night, at about three in the morning, I was awoken by a loud, sharp knock at the front door. I had been fast asleep for a few hours at that time, and I failed to rouse entirely at the first knock. The second knock was louder, and I sprang up to a seating position. Then, a third knock came, even louder than the first two.

Me -Did you hear that?

My wife -Maybe it's just bored kids. 

We are both teachers at the school, you see, and pranks on teachers in a school, including even our school, are not unheard of. I am not afraid to admit that I am somewhat of a stickler for the rules of said school, and this has earned me a reputation among the students, and not only the students, but their parents and the other teachers as a bit ‘strict’. I personally think that kids need a fair amount of discipline to properly learn to fit into society, and if their parents won't do it, then I will. I hand out detentions for infractions which others deemed to be minor, such as use of phones, chattering in class, and improper uniform: in particular I am extremely critical of the way the young girls wear their uniform in the most inappropriate of ways, and I baulk at the relaxed attitude towards this. Many teachers, particularly the male ones, feel somewhat uncomfortable addressing this, but I happily send them home and hand out detentions for it - if I won't, who will?

After the knocks, I sat in the darkness for some time, my heart racing, waiting. Though, there were no more knocks. I sat in the silence, listening out for any sounds, rustling in the bushes, whispers of children or footsteps running from the house. Even though I heard nothing, I still could not sleep. 

Me -I'm going to check.

My wife mumbled something indistinct, already back asleep, as I walked to the window which overlooked the front lawn, the street, and the edge of the porch. I couldn't quite see the front door from the window, but I saw the porch light was now off, which meant that whatever was there was now gone. Satisfied, I went back to bed, and fell quickly into a fitful sleep. 

When I checked the door the next morning, the bloody thing had a small dent in it from the force of the knocking. 

During the school day, I couldn't help but look out for any children who may look overtired, who avoided my eye more than usual, though most children usually avoided it, so this was not exactly easy. But there was no child acting suspiciously, or rather, acting odd, or in a way that caught my attention as being out of the ordinary. When I spoke to my wife later on, she reported exactly the same. Still, a prank is a prank, and though I will do my best to find the bugger who did it, I won't lose any sleep over it.

Tuesday

Last night those damned kids - or whoever they are - were at it again. Three loud knocks at the door happened again, at exactly the same time, perhaps even louder than the night before. This time, my wife awoke with me and was equally startled. I bolted out of the bed, furious, and flew to the window. Again, the lights on the porch had not turned on. They must have sneaked around the sensor or something, little shits. 

My wife -Where are you going?

I could tell from the slight tremor in her voice that this time, she was a little bit scared.

Me -I'm just going to check downstairs, I won't be more than a couple of minutes. 

My heart still racing, I walked down the stairs. I wasn't too scared - we have a full alarm system for break-ins, and the door was fairly robust, or so I thought - but still I walked down the stairs very carefully. The stairs from the first floor descend right into the hallway and face the front door. And so I squinted in the darkness, trying to make out any shadows through the foggy glass of the leaded windows either side of the front door. I couldn't see anything at all. No movement, no hint of someone standing still. I creeped down the stairs.