The Knock on the Other End of the Door Image

“Knock, knock.”

A little girl heard a knock from the front door on the other side of her parent’s house. It was an insistent knock that caused her to jump out of her bed in fright.

It was dark out, almost midnight. The lights in her room weren’t on so she immediately ran out of her room into the darkened hallway. She ran past various rooms in her house until she got to her parent’s bedroom where she could see both her mother and father asleep peacefully.

“Knock, knock.”

She jumped because the knock continued persistently. It didn’t go away and she knew she wasn’t dreaming.

She was scared and wanted mommy and daddy. She wanted them to hold her, tell her everything would be okay.

It was dark out. Why was someone knocking on our door close to midnight? We never have visitors late this night. It must be a mistake, a misdirection.

Maybe if I answered the door, the person on the other end would go away? Maybe.

“Knock, knock.”

I really wanted mommy and daddy to comfort me. So I awoke mommy first to see if she heard the knock too.

“Ughhhhh,” Mom mumbled as I attempted to wake her up, still half asleep. But she did open her eyes and looked around in their dark room for the source disturbing her slumber.

“Oh, honey,” Mom said to me. “What’s wrong? Why did you wake me up? It’s really dark outside right now. Did you have a really bad dream or something?”

“Mommy,” I responded. “I keep hearing a knock at our front door. Could you please go and see what it is?”

At that moment, however, the knocks ceased to stop. Almost as if mentioning the sound caused it to end.

Mom strained her ears, trying the best she could to hear the knocks I was hearing since I’d woken up. But since the knocks stopped, there was no sound. Only silence. As if the person at the other end of the door were mocking me.

Instead, however, I felt hope. Maybe the person went away, realizing how late of an hour they were knocking on our door and decided to leave us be and come back later?

But as Mom was telling me she couldn’t hear the knocks, they started back up once more. But they were even louder, more insistent this time.

“KNOCK, KNOCK!”

“KNOCK, KNOCK!”

I jumped again, shaking in fear, holding onto Mom with dear life.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” She asked me again. “Are you sure you just didn’t have a bad dream? I’m telling you I don’t hear this knock your talking about.”

I whimpered and continued shaking in response, continuing to hold onto her. The knocks continued and there was nothing I could do about it. I knew this wasn’t a dream and that I wouldn’t be waken up from it anytime soon. I just had to hope these scary knocks would seize and I’d be able to go back to sleep once more.

“KNOCK, KNOCK!”

“KNOCK, KNOCK!”

“KNOCK, KNOCK!”

“Mommy,” I whimpered, hoping I could convince her to stop the source of the knocking because it was getting so loud I could feel the ground underneath me shaking.

“Are you sure you can’t go to the door and see who it is?” I asked, completely scared out of my mind.

Mother looked at my scared form with a sigh.

“Okay, fine honey,” Mom said. “I’ll go check the door then to see whose knocking. But once I do that and come back, promise me you’ll go back to sleep.”

I nodded my head in understanding, finding myself more comforted by Mom’s words of concern.

“Okay. Good girl honey,” Mom said as she patted my head. “I’ll be right back in a minute then and let you know if I see anything.”

I watched as Mother got out of bed and unattached herself out of my grip as she left the room. I still heard the knocks but was also able to hear Mom’s footfalls as she went to the other side of our house to answer the front door.

As she went towards the door, I heard the knocks stop and let out a breath of relief as I heard our front door swing open. The silence continued enough to where I could hear Mom’s voice from the room.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” I heard my mother say as she opened the front door.

But I didn’t hear anything more as I heard footsteps coming back to the room. I held my breath, not sure whether it was Mom coming back or something else.

However, Mom was fine. She came back and got into bed next to Dad. She then turned and looked at me in the darkened room.

“Honey,” Mom said with a sigh. “I checked outside and there was nobody there. I think you were just dreaming so just go back to sleep okay?”

I nodded my head in understanding because once Mom opened the front door all of the knocking stopped as if it never happened. As if the repetitive loud noise I kept hearing was all just a part of a dark dream.

“Okay, well goodnight honey,” Mother said to me in the silence as she got back into bed. She immediately settled herself comfortably in bed and went back to sleep, snoring very softly as if she were in a deep dream.

The knocking really is gone, isn’t it? I thought to myself as I slowly walked back to my room. Finding comfort that Mom had checked the front door and found nobody there, I settled back into bed. But just as I was getting comfortable, the knocking came back in full force. Just like it was when I first heard it.

“Knock, knock.”

“Knock, knock.”

I immediately sat back up in my bed. It definitely wasn’t my imagination at all. The knock was still there, no matter what Mom said.

I don’t know why the knock stopped when I mentioned it to Mom nor why nobody was there when she checked. But the knock was still there, just as persistent as last time.

I needed to find out what was making that loud noise. Nothing could stop me from investigating this noise.

“Knock, knock.”

“Knock, knock.”

The knocking continued as if daring me to adventure towards the source of the noise. It was dark out, but I was no longer afraid. I knew where I was going. I knew this knocking wasn’t all in my head. It was real and I wanted to know where it was coming from. So I’d do the best I could to find out.

I left my bed, treading carefully around the house so as not to arouse my sleeping parents. The darkness was growing more intense with each step I took, the knocks growing even louder the closer I got to the door.

“KNOCK, KNOCK!”

“KNOCK, KNOCK!”

“KNOCK, KNOCK!”

I got more nervous with each step I took towards the door. I wanted so badly to turn around and go back to sleep in my room. To wake up the next day not remembering what happened and find comfort in the morning rays of the sunlight.

But I can’t. I’ve already made my decision and there’s no going back. As I head towards the front door, I nervously look around me one last time before I go to the door. The knocks as I go to the door are so loud I can feel the door shaking as I grab the handle.

But as I grab the front door, I notice something different about its appearance. Our front door is actually white in nature, recently painted. But the door standing before me is of a wooden hue, with black patterns decorating its frame. However, I still grab the door anyway because I want the knocks to cease.

“KNOCK, KNOCK!”

“KNOCK, KNOCK!”

“KNOCK, KNOCK!”

“KNOCK, KNOCK!”

I slowly open the door as the shaking continues. And as I open the door, I find myself in a place far away from home where there’s no way for me to turn back.