Knock, Knock.

“Damn it's hot here! That's why I hate summer, it's too hard to fall asleep.” I mumbled... It was so dark in the room, that I couldn't even read the time on the clock, but I was rather sure that it was past midnight already.

Even thought I lived on the 6^th floor, I could still hear everything that happened outside like it was right next to me, it was so distracting, I just couldn't relax, I couldn't close my eyes and fall asleep. I still could hear some random sounds coming from the TV, so I decided that my mother was in the guest room, watching the it, most likely trying to fall asleep just like me, but usually it took her way more time to do it. My dad, though, was different, he fell asleep in a matter of seconds, even if there is an orchestra playing right in front of him. I have no clue how he did it, but I would give anything to know his secret. He even fell asleep on a cannon while he was in the army.

After a while all the noise finally faded away, and I felt relaxed, the room became blurry, and I barely paid any attention to the TV anymore, I could finally evade from this boring world, now the path that led to the next day was open...

All the sudden, my sweet state of meditation disappeared because of a rather loud sound coming from the entrance door. The sound somehow resembled a knock, but it was way too silent. For a moment I thought it was just a joke that my exhausted brain played on me, some sort of hallucination, but when my mother stood up and strolled towards the door I understood that the knock was real.

My mother slowly approached the door and asked the standard question “Who is there?”, but she received no answer. She asked once again, but the result was the same, so she just went back to her beloved living room sofa. When I almost closed my eyes for the second time, I heard the same sound again, the same knock, and yet again my mother went to check, and yet again silence. All I could hear was some sort of mumbling, most likely coming from my mother, and a couple of seconds later the sound of her body falling in the soft bed. I wasn't really surprised when I heard the noise for the third time, I was kind of expecting it, and so was my mother. She stood up and went towards the door, without any questions she opened the door to witness that annoying bastard who was torturing us. As I was still lying in my bed, I had no idea what was going on there, I couldn't see, my only source of information was the sound, and to be honest it didn't help me that much. There was a moment of silence, it lasted for around 30 seconds, but then the door just closed, and I could finally relax. My mother stood near the door for another 10 seconds, then she turned off the TV and strolled towards the bedroom, where my dad was sleeping.

It seemed rather weird that my mother didn't turn off the light, so I could see her silhouette through the glass door that divides my room from the corridor. I was rather sleepy, but all my tiredness faded away instantly when I saw “her” silhouette. She was way too tall, around 2 meters, even taller than my father. But her height wasn't the only weird thing, she was different, the way she was walking was just wrong, it seemed like she had a broken leg or something, and it scared me to death. I felt paralysed, I could barely move my arms. I was following her moves, every step, every breath, and with every second my fear only grew, she wasn't turning to the bedroom, she was heading right towards my room. When “she” reached the door I almost shouted, but with all my strength I managed to hold myself.

Time passes slow in such moments... After a couple of seconds it put it's hand on the door knob and started to rotate it slowly, gazing at me through the glass, I felt like it could see me, when in reality it was almost impossible because of the darkness in my room and the glass type, it was way too blurry for any image to be visible.

It eventually opened the door and I could witness the creature without any sort of distortions. It was tall, with long hands, and a big hunch on it's back. One thing though scared me the most, a thing that I couldn't have seen through the blurry glass, it was it's clothing. It wore my mother's clothes, and, to make it even more terrifying, it wore her skin too, I could see pieces of her face on “it's” face, I could see pieces of skin on it's hands and legs, but because it was way bigger than my mother, there still were areas where there was no skin, in that areas I could see the dark, semi-rotten flesh that was covered it's body.

All this examination took me less then 3 seconds, so I managed to close my eyes before it stepped into the room, pretending that I was sleeping like a baby. I didn't close my eyes entirely though, and I could still see the room, the image was kind of blurry and vague, but it was more than enough for me, I could see it slowly approaching me, step by step, I could hear it's heavy breathing, and some sounds similar to a wolf or a bear roar but way more silent. When it was around a foot away from me it stopped, I closed my eyes because of fear, and now I couldn't see a thing, only hear. First it was silent, but after a couple of seconds the roars came back, but what made me tremble was the fact that this roars were getting louder and louder, like if the source of this sounds was slowly getting closer to me. I could hear the heavy breathing, and eventually I fell the warm air on my cheek, it was right on top of me, maybe 10 cm, maybe less.

The amount of warm air was growing, it opened it's mouth, I could almost see it's teeth even with my eyes closed, when I felt like the tension was at it's maximum, my dad's phone rang. Since the day he missed a phone call from his sister, who wanted to tell him that his farther is about to die, he never missed any calls again, I think he still regrets that he didn't manage to say goodbye to him... The creature heard the phone too, and stood for a couple of seconds, that's when I could hear a loud yawn, coming from my dad, and the words “Where is the fucking phone?”, after a minute or so he finally picked up the phone, and after talking for 20 seconds he threw it back in the corner and lied down in the bed. The creature was silent, it was waiting for his reaction, and so was I... All the sudden I heard his voice again, he said “Lisa, where are you?”, that's when the creature raised it's head and strolled towards the bedroom, I didn't know what to expect but the fact itself that it went away from me was a huge relief. It closed the door to my room and entered the bedroom. All I could hear was my dad mumbling something and then silence, dead silence. I was shaking of fear, and I couldn't resist anymore, all sort of ideas started to flow through my mind, all I could think of was how to stop it or how to run away, but neither of this was possible. I closed my eyes and tried to throw all the fears away, but a sudden noise coming from the door to my room made me raise my eyelids and witness another image, another scene. Now “It” was right in front of my door, looking through the blurry glass, but it didn't do a thing, it was just staying there, staring, sometimes it would shake a little, or move it's limbs, but not more, and the scariest thing was the tension, the silence, and lack of any actions, it was killing me.

It was the longest night in my life.

At 6 am or so the sun finally came out and the night ended, the light filled the room and I could hear the people rushing to their jobs outside, but the creature was still there, motionless, in the exact same spot. All I could do is stare at it, and after examining it for a couple of minutes in a better lit condition I noticed something weird, there was no hunch on it's back, and the hands were way shorter. I soon figured out that it wasn't the “creature” anymore, it was a human being, so after a moment of hesitation I slowly got out of the bad and picked the chair, after a short pray I threw the chair with all my force towards the door, the glass broke and I witnessed the “creature” behind the glass...

It was my dad.

Tears filled my eyes. I noticed that he had a couple of cut veins, apparently this thing had cut his veins and hung him in front of my door, his vocal cords had been ripped too, so he couldn't even mumble. The worst thing is that I could have saved him, if I wasn't that afraid of facing the creature...

I called the police.

When they came out they told me that there were no signs of my mother anywhere in the apartment or near it, it was like she had vanished or something. They also told me that my dad died at around 3 am, and that he died slowly. That moment I felt an enormous guilt, a tear slowly ran down my cheek.

After 2 weeks, my dad was buried, obviously I assisted at the ceremony, it was painful but I managed to cope with it. Everybody was expressing their regrets, but for me it barely mattered, all I could think of was my blame, I almost fell like the murderer myself... Because I was 16 years old, I wasn't allowed to live by my own in the apartment (not like I wanted anyways), so they asked my aunt, Lucy, to take care of me till I would turn 18, she gladly agreed.

Life with Lucy was boring, she was a regular woman, just a housewife, doing all the dishes, cooking food, and cleaning the house, obviously she couldn't substitute my mother, but she did her best, and I am still thankful for all the care she gave me.

Now I live alone, in Tennessee, and I am 21 years old. Aunt Lucy died 2 years ago. After the autopsy, the police came to the conclusion that it was a suicide case, but I have my reasons to doubt their decision. I still hear the knocks every night, but I never check the door, I don't want to face it, I don't know who or what haunts me, maybe it's death itself, or just a simple crazy bastard. Sometimes when I look out of the window at night, I can see it under the lamppost outside, it still wears my mother's clothes, and her skin, even the hair...

I am so tired, my life barely makes any sense from the moment my parents died, I can't live this way anymore, I don't want to be afraid every time I go out at night, I don't want to shiver every time I hear a knock, it can't continue...

I won't repeat my mistake again, I won't let my fear control me anymore, it happened once and because of my weakness I lost my father. Ironically, I think about it only now, when I barely have anything to lose.

The day is about to end, soon the night will come again, I am lying in my bed, looking at the ceiling, waiting for my visitor...

That's why I hate summer, it's too hard to fall asleep. Time passes slow in such situations, and as I am trying to close my eyes, the knock finally sounds. I slowly get out of my bed, and stroll towards the door. After a brief moment I ask “Who's there?”, as I expected, silence... I ask again, but the result is the same. “Familiar scenario”, I mumble. I go to the kitchen, open the fridge and take out a bottle of cold beer. I hear the knock again, but this time I don't go towards the door, I take the beer. The knock sounds again, I drink the bottle in less then a minute and then think “yea, yea I am coming”, I am a little drunk at this moment, because this bottle of beer isn't the first one I drink this evening. I approach the door and ask again “Who's there?”, no answer. “Perfect” I think, I don't even want to look through the peep-hole, I know who is there. I slowly take out the keys from my pocket and unlock the door, no reaction from the other side, but I know who is there, I can hear that familiar heavy breathing.

I have no idea what to do now, but I don't care anymore, it all happens by itself. I put my hand on the knob, and after closing my eyes I open the door and step towards the creature with the words

“Good Evening, mother...”