BENEATH THE LOCKED DOORS

THE SOUND BENEATH

The first time Claire experienced such a bizarre situation, that week she said to herself, it was nothing, nothing to panic about, just a sound,just her imagination. On that faithful day Claire was in the kitchen, close to her living room, standing barefoot against the cold tiles of the kitchen, starring and waiting for the kettle as it slowly began to hum. While her apartment that day was so quiet, very quiet but she had already gotten used to such quiet environment, silence didn't bother her at all, not anymore. Then she heard it, yes she heard the sound again, a faint sound, soft almost too soft and gentle to notice. Which was a scratch. Right then Claire froze, her fingers began to tightening around the edge of her kitchen counter,as her eyes slowly drifted towards the floor. A scratch......scratch.......sound was heard coming from below, her chest tightening. "No", she whispered under her breath, while still in shock, shaking her head slightly. "No,no....not again", she said.

Meanwhile there was nothing below her apartment, not a basement or even a storage space, nothing of such at least she made enquiries about her apartment before parking in, because she has phobia for dark spaces or room and she was told that non was built in her apartment. Later on the sound stopped, just like that. Leaving behind a quiet moment and a heavy silence pressed against her ears. Claire let out a deep breath she didn't realize she had been holding and forced a small nervous smile."you're fine", she said to herself softly, "you're just tired" but her voice didn't sound convincing not even to herself.

Later on that night the situation got worse. She woke up, suddenly her body became stiff, her heart pounding violently against her chest. Then came darkness, complete darkness Claire blinked her eyes rapidly, hoping she'll adjust them properly into reality,but she felt something was wrong. The air around her environment felt so different and unfamiliar, it became colder, thicker, her breath hitched. "This isn't my room", she said placing her hands beneath her, trying to feel the soft and warmth of her sheets. Instead she was touching a rough concrete. There and then her stomach dropped.

"No......."she whispered in a panic voice "No,no,no____", then a small soft , fragile and gentle voice interrupted her, right beside her saying " You’re not supposed to be awake ". Right then Claire froze her entire body went still. She began moving her head slowly, very slowly and that was when she saw her, the little girl curled up in the corner, watching her, with thesame eyes, same face, just younger than her. Then the little girls tilted her head slightly towards her, her expression calm in a way that didn't feel normal, natural nor right.

" He doesn't like it when we wake up", she said to me quietly.

At that point Claire throat went dry, her lips shaking while she managed to asked "who ?" By whispering. The girl faintly gave out an ordeal smile, but there was no warmth in it."you know who". The sound came again, scratch......scratch, this time......from behind the closed door.