THE MAN BEHIND THE WALL
1660 Words
The whisper seeped through the thin apartment wall like smoke, curling into the room, wrapping itself around Emberly’s throat.
“Emberly…”
She froze completely.
Elias’s hand, which rested lightly on her shoulder, went rigid. His eyes darted to the wall, then back to her, silently asking the question he was afraid to speak aloud:
Did you hear that too?
Emberly nodded, her breath trembling.
She wasn’t hallucinating.
Elias heard it.
The voice was real.
She clutched the front of her shirt, trying to steady her heart.
Elias swallowed hard.
“Okay,” he whispered, “we’re going to stay calm. It’s just a person. A real person. Standing in your apartment. That means—”
“It’s not that simple,” Emberly choked out, shaking her head violently. “He isn’t—he isn’t normal.”
“People don’t just teleport,” Elias whispered back, though his voice lacked conviction.
“Then how did he get into my apartment with both locks engaged?” Emberly’s voice cracked. “How did he hide under my bed without leaving a sound? How did he disappear from the window?”
Elias opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
Because there was no explanation.
Not one a sane mind could accept.
Another sound pressed through the wall.
A slow, dragging scrape.
Like something heavy being pulled across her floor
Emberly’s skin tightened.
Elias stood and moved toward the wall, pressing his ear against the plaster. Emberly’s breath caught.
“Elias, don’t—”
He held up a hand.
“Just trying to figure out where he is.”
But as he leaned closer, the scraping stopped.
Silence.
Then—
Three taps on the wall.
Not random.
Not searching.
Responding.
Emberly’s breath hitched.
“He knows you’re there…”
Elias stepped back, unnerved despite trying to stay composed. “We should go. We should leave the apartment entirely.”
“No,” Emberly whispered, hugging her own arms. “If we go into the hall and he’s waiting—”
Elias cursed under his breath. “Then we don’t go into the hall. We climb out.”
Emberly blinked. “Climb out?”
Elias pointed toward his living room window. “My fire escape. We can get to the street, get distance between us and… whatever the hell this is.”
Emberly hesitated.
Distance wouldn’t fix anything.
Distance wouldn’t stop him.
He had found her after years.
He would find her again.
But staying here meant being cornered—by him, by memories she didn’t understand, by a terror she’d buried for most of her life.
“We go,” she whispered, her voice cracking. “Let’s go.”
Elias nodded once, quickly.
They moved together toward the window.
But halfway across the living room, Emberly froze.
A sound rolled down the hallway.
A sound she recognized instantly.
Her own apartment door.
Hinges creaking.
Slowly opening.
Elias’s face drained of color.
“He left your apartment?”
Emberly shook her head.
“No,” she whispered. “He wants me to think he left.”
Elias grabbed her wrist.
“We need to move. Now.”
They reached the window, and Elias tugged it open. Cold night air rushed in. The metal fire escape outside glinted wet from the rain. Emberly climbed out first, gripping the chilly railing.
The city stretched out beneath her—cars hissing along slick streets, streetlights glowing in the mist, distant neon signs flickering.
The normality of the world felt unreal.
Elias followed her onto the fire escape, pulling the window down until only a small gap remained. Emberly looked at him.
“Where do we go?” she whispered.
Elias pointed downward. “Street level. Then we—”
A loud slam echoed inside the apartment.
They both jolted.
Elias leaned toward the window to peek inside—
—but realized the gap was no longer a gap.
The window was closing.
By itself.
Slowly.
Surely.
Elias grabbed the bottom frame and tried to lift it.
It didn’t budge.
“Elias—” Emberly’s voice cracked.
“I’ve got it,” he grunted, shoving upward.
The window didn’t move an inch.
Then—
A shadow passed behind the glass.
Tall.
Still.
Watching them.
Emberly clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming.
Elias stumbled back, his grip slipping. “He’s—he’s right there—”
The shadow pressed closer, and for a brief moment, Emberly saw the shape of something long and pale sliding across the window.
A hand.
But the fingers were too long.
Too slender.
Almost bonelike.
Emberly’s knees buckled.
She didn’t see features.
She didn’t see eyes.
But she felt them.
Felt his stare like cold metal against her skin.
Her breath trembled.
“He’s not human,” she whispered. “Elias… he’s not—”
The hand lifted and tapped the glass.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Elias grabbed Emberly’s arm. “Down. Now.”
They clambered down the fire escape as fast as the slick metal steps would allow. Emberly’s shoes slipped twice, and Elias steadied her each time. With every flight they descended, Emberly’s panic rose.
Because above them—
The shadow moved.
Not walking.
Not climbing.
Just… appearing.
A shape shifting behind windows, a flicker of darkness in the corner of her eye, always too fast or too far to truly see.
And he wasn’t even on the fire escape.
Elias saw it too.
“Emberly—don’t look up. Just keep going.”
“I can’t—” she choked out.
“Emberly. Go.”
They reached the last level above the alley. The street was just one drop below.
Elias jumped first, landing hard but steady. He looked up at her.
“Jump! I’ll catch you.”
She hesitated.
And then she saw movement above—
The shadow now standing on the topmost landing.
Perfectly still.
Perfectly silent.
He had followed them down.
But he hadn’t made a sound.
Elias shouted from below, “EMBERLY, NOW!”
She jumped.
Elias caught her by the arms, pulling her into the alley. The moment her feet hit the ground, she stumbled into him, her hands gripping his jacket so tightly her knuckles whitened.
Elias pulled her close.
“You’re okay. You’re okay—I’ve got you.”
But Emberly shook her head, trembling violently.
“No… he’s still here.”
“No… he’s still here.”
The wind shifted.
A shadow slid across the brick wall across from them.
Elias’s breath stopped.
He turned Emberly toward the street.
“Run.”
They sprinted.
The alley opened into a busier roadway, headlights slicing through fog. Emberly’s lungs burned as she pushed forward, weaving between pedestrians, between parked cars, between neon-lit storefronts.
She didn’t slow until they reached a crowded bus stop.
Only then, surrounded by people, did she stop.
Her chest heaved.
Her legs shook beneath her.
Her hands tingled with leftover panic.
Elias bent over beside her, catching his breath.
“Okay,” he panted, “we’re… we’re safe. For now.”
Emberly shook her head violently.
“He followed us from my childhood home,” she whispered. “Across states. Across years. He isn’t going to stop.”
Elias met her eyes, trying to stay grounded.
“Then we stop running.”
“We can’t.”
“We can try.”
Emberly’s eyes filled.
“Elias… people who try to stand up to him disappear
He stiffened.
“What do you mean?”
“My mother,” Emberly whispered. “The night our house burned down—I remember something. She didn’t die in the fire.”
Elias swallowed. “Then how—”
“Someone came into my room,” Emberly said, voice shaking. “Someone tall. Someone who told me not to scream. I remember—his hand on my face. I remember… I remember my mother trying to fight him.”
Elias’s heart broke at the way her voice fractured.
“I don’t remember the fire,” Emberly whispered. “Because I wasn’t awake for it.”
Elias stared at her.
“You think… he burned your house down?”
A tear slid down Emberly’s cheek.
“I think he’s been chasing me my whole life.”
Elias looked around—at the street, the strangers waiting for buses, the neon lights flickering overhead—as though expecting the shadow to step out from any corner.
“Then we need help,” he said quietly.
“No police,” Emberly said. “They’ll think I’m unstable.”
Elias gave her a tense look.
“Not the police.”
“Then who?”
Elias swallowed, then exhaled.
“A friend of mine. Well… not a friend. Someone I know.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “He works in private surveillance. Off-record. He owes me a favor.”
Emberly blinked, surprised.
Elias added quickly, “He can track people. Even the ones who don’t want to be found.”
Emberly hesitated.
Could a normal person track something like him?
She wasn’t sure—but she was desperate enough to try.
Elias’s voice softened.
“We won’t face this alone. Not anymore.”
Emberly nodded shakily.
“Okay,” she whispered. “Call him.”
Elias pulled out his phone—and froze.
His screen was already lit up.
A new message.
From an unknown number.
Emberly’s stomach dropped.
Elias turned the screen so she could see.
There was no text.
Just a single image.
A photo taken from above.
From a rooftop.
Looking down on them—standing at the bus stop
Emberly felt the ground vanish beneath her.
Her fingers went numb.
He was watching them.
Even now.
Even here.
She felt the presence behind her before she heard anything.
Something cold.
Something wrong.
She turned slowly—
Her breath caught in her throat.
Across the street, on a rooftop—
A tall figure stood perfectly still against the city lights.
Watching her.
- Writer
