The Misunderstood

Knock Knock

Miranda's POV

Here it was almost the witching hour and Miranda sat alone in her living room. She knew there was no point in going to bed. There was absolutely no way she'd be able to go to sleep. So here she was, sitting in her living room sipping her hot tea, trying to digest everything the old man had to tell her.

After listening to what Sam had to say, she was positive that what she had told Angie the day before was correct. Her worst fear had come to fruition. It was definitely happening again. But how? The boy didn't seem to remember any of it. Carlton was oblivious to it then and now. She hadn't spoken its name in their home ever. Or anywhere else for that matter. How had it found them? Why was it back?

Miranda was snatched from her thoughts when she heard knocking on a wall. It sounded like it was coming from the guest bedroom. The knocking steadily got louder. A single knock everytime. She watched her little dogs run down the hall to investigate. Confirming her suspicions by running directly to the guest room door. She really wasn't in the mood to have to deal with that guy. He was creepy. Always staring, never speaking. But if she didn't go down that hall and handle this situation, between the knocking and the dogs barking, the whole house would soon be wide awake. Taking a deep breath, she sat her tea cup on the coaster on the coffee table. Then she stood and called the dogs out the side door and into the garage. Hoping that if they barked from in there it wouldn't wake her family. It was cold in there. But hopefully this wouldn't take long and at least in the garage they were safe from becoming snacks for the owls in the backyard.

Miranda turned and walked back past the laundry room, through the kitchen, and into the living room. She took one more drink of her Earl Grey, almost finishing it off. With the next knock she sat her cup down and proceeded down the dark hallway and into the guest room.

Once inside the room she quickly shut and locked the door. Then turned to face the apparently empty room. She looked all around the room and saw absolutely nothing. Confused she walked over to the closet and opened the door. Looking into the darkness she flipped the light switch to the right of the door. Again, nothing. The next knock sounded off. It was coming from the guest bathroom.

Miranda flipped the light off and closed the closet door, before heading over to the guest bathroom. The door was standing partially open. As she pushed it open all the way the plug-in night light on the bathroom counter top caught her eye. It was buzzing and burning a lot brighter than usual. While she looked on, it appeared to burn even brighter still. As she used her hand to shield her eyes from the brilliance of the little bulb, she noticed the movement of the shower curtain.

Turning to the shower, she didn't turn the overhead light on as she approached. Instead, she grabbed the curtain and threw it wide open as the final and loudest knock rang out. There standing and facing the far corner of the bath tub, was the man who never spoke. Miranda stood there patiently for a moment. Watching him as he stood there with his back to her. Slowly he turned to face her. He looked concerned. His sad eyes looking deep into Miranda's. She watched as he took a step towards her. After staring at her in silence for a few seconds, he turned and walked through the wall and into the guest room. Miranda turned to walk out of the bathroom. As she walked past the counter and sink with her hand up to shield her eyes, the light hummed loudly and shattered. Miranda jumped and her heart skipped a beat.

As she entered the room she saw the ghost crossing the room. Heading over to the window. Across the room she couldn't help but notice the bulb in the bedside lamp was glowing brighter and brighter by the moment. Angrily, she turned back to the guy and demanded to know if all these theatrics were really necessary. "All of those glass shards will be very difficult to get out of the carpet, if you explode that bulb too. You already have my full attention. It's not necessary to make a mess. What do you want?" She demanded to know. The man turned to face her. His eyes sad, he silently stared back at her. After a moment, without looking away from Miranda, he pointed out the window. She looked from him to the window and back, before taking a few steps towards it. As she approached the window she grabbed the curtains and opened them. Exposing the blinds underneath. Before opening the blinds she turned to look back at the ghost standing behind her. He just stared. Miranda huffed and shook her head in aggravation. What was this guys deal?

Miranda pulled the blinds open to see her side yard. She could see her green shed. Beyond that was the chain link fence. The moon was nearly full so everything was very well lit. She scanned the scenery beyond the fence. Looking towards the neighboring property. She could see the peach trees, bare and eerily standing on the property line. The old hand pump between the trees and the yard fence. It stood frozen, no longer working. As a modern well now pulled water from the ground and directly into their house. As she looked, she didn't see anything out of place. No cause for concern at all.

Exasperated she spun on her heels, arms raised, and half yelled, "What?! What is it?! Why are you making a racket? Why are you making the dogs bark? Why are you blowing light bulbs? Why are you pointing out the window at nothing? Answer me!! Why won't you answer me??" She stood there, thoroughly aggravated with the spirit in front of her. Miranda nearly jumped right out of her skin when from the right of her she heard, "Can't talk... never could." She quickly covered her mouth and stifled a scream she caught in her throat.

She turned and there stood Sam. "Damn it, Sam. You scared the crap out of me." She hissed at the old man. Miranda took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Pinching the bridge of her nose, eyes closed, she suddenly felt very tired. Bringing her hand down and opening her eyes, she looked from Sam to the other guy. Then shook her head. Looking back at Sam she asked, "Ok, so what the hell does he want? What was he trying to show me?" Sam looked at her and then at the silent ghost and back to Miranda. Shrugging his shoulders, Sam replied, "I have no idea. He doesn't talk."

Miranda wanted to scream in frustration. But she could feel herself becoming more tired by the moment. She decided that she had had enough tonight. Her body needed sleep. She was going to bed for now. Tomorrow Angie was coming over and they would sort all this out together. For now she was just done. Without another word she spun around and grabbed the draw string for the blinds. As she pulled it, and before she could release it, a movement by the shed caught her eye. Blinking she tried desperately to convince herself that she wasn't actually seeing what she was seeing.

Standing at the corner of the shed was a shadow she had missed when she previously look. It was a shadow that should not be where it was. It was in the light of the moon. The shadow of a man. But there was no man out there to cast such a shadow. It should not be there. Her breath caught and her heart lept wildly as she watched in terror as the shadow stepped away from the shed. It took three steps towards the window where she stood. Then it quickly glided towards the far end of the shed into the darkness and disappeared. Miranda finally exhaled and closed the blinds. After closing the curtains too she turned and walked out of the room without saying a word to the two watching spirits. After closing the door she turned to her son's door across the hall. There she paused for a moment, resting her hand and forehead on his door. Sighing loudly she said a quick prayer for protection of her son, before moving along. She walked through the house and let Squeakers and Stubbs back in. The two little dogs ran straight to their warm beds in the livingroom. Miranda felt a little guilty for having left them in the cold garage. But it was over now, they were fine. Sitting her tea cup in the sink, she glanced at the clock. 4 am. She had exactly three hours til she had to wake the guys, feed them, and send them on there way. She hoped she might find time for a nap later in the day, as she made her way to her room. Entering she heard the familiar sound of her husband's snoring. Laying down beside him it wasn't long until the rhythm of it lulled her to sleep.