The House That Never Was

VII: Knock, Knock, Knock

John and Joanne could not believe what had happened. They saw their friend, but she had changed. If she were dead, how could she have decomposed so quickly? They kept wondering if it was all just a bad dream. They couldn't believe that what they were experiencing was real.

"Did you see that too? Joanne asked.

"Yes." John answered, shaking his head in disbelief. "We need to get out of here."

They continued walking. They came to a turn. Taking it, they came to a narrow hall. It was narrow enough that John's shoulders almost touched the walls on each side. The walls were blank. There were no doors on either side. They wondered if they'd ever find their way out.

After making it to a wider hallway, they found a door. It was slightly opened.

Slowly pushing it open, John called out. "Hello?"

Hearing no response, they opened the door the rest of the way. Feeling around on the way, John flipped a light switch. On the wall were strange symbols that were drawn in blood along with the words you will die tonight.

"Oh my God." Joanne said, covering her mouth in shock. "What kind of monsters are these people?"

"I don't know." John replied. "We need to find everyone and get out of here."

At that moment, they heard a knocking sound coming from down the hall. It was three consecutive knocks. They were rhythmic in pattern.

"Did you hear that?" John asked.

"Yeah." Joanne replied.

Again, they heard knock, knock, knock in a rhythmic pattern.

Walking along the hallway toward where the sound had come from, they heard it again. Knock, knock, knock in a rhythmic pattern. It made the hair on the back of Joanne's neck stand up. It gave her goose bumps on her arms. She had an uneasy feeling in her stomach.

"Maybe we shouldn't go down there." She said nervously.

John turned and looked at her, putting his hands on her shoulders, "We have too. What if someone needs help? What if it's Lisa?"

"I don't think it is." Joanne told him. "I think she's dead."

"She's not dead." He told her.

"But what about what we saw back there?" Joanne asked, a tremble in her voice.

"I know what we saw, but it wasn't her." John said. "It couldn't be."

This time the sound was closer. Knock, knock, knock in the same rhythmic pattern. It was coming from just behind the door where they were now standing. Again, knock, knock, knock in the same rhythmic pattern. Looking at each other, they both had the same uneasy feeling. They were both afraid to look, but knew they had to. John decided to open the door.

Inside, the room looked like any other room. There was a desk with a chair. There was an oval mirror on the wall above the desk. There was a light on the ceiling in the center of the room. The walls were bare, which they found odd considering how many paintings they had seen all over the walls in other parts of the house. There was also no window. There was a little girl standing by the wall. She was facing it, slowly banging her head into the wall. They figured that was the knocking sound they had heard.

"Hello?" Joanne called to her.

"They will get you too." The little girl said. "They got me. They will soon get you too."

"Who will?" John chimed in.

"They will." The little girl told him as she turned to face them revealing that she had no face. There was only a black void where it should be. "Why doesn't anyone ever believe me?"

"We believe you." Joanne said.

"No you don't!" The girl shouted. "No one ever does. Your friend didn't believe me either."

"Our friend?" John asked.

At that moment, the girl walked over to the chair and climbed up to stand on it. Facing the mirror, she began to speak. "Mirror, mirror that I see. Two are gone. They'll soon be three."

Then, the lights flickered and the little girl was gone.

John and Joanne looked at each other. They both knew that it was close to time to meet back up with everyone. They started back, hoping someone had found Lisa so they could get out of that nightmare.