Richard left the main window and walked back to the front door. If she was asleep she would have to hear him. He pounded on the door over and over again. Sometimes with such force that the door shook but there was still nothing. There was not even a sound coming from within. He knew what he had to do. He had to get into her apartment to check on her and the only other person with a key was Lori. The office was a short walk away and as he walked his thoughts drifted towards Eleanor. Had he lost her this year as well?
When Richard opened the main office he wasn’t surprised to find it sitting empty. It almost always was. Lori’s office was just to the left of the main room. It was a small cramped room but she had found enough space to fit a desk and a few chairs. She was right where he left her sitting at her desk messing with something on her laptop. As he walked in she looked up at him with her eyebrows raised silently asking, ‘What do you want?’ Richard had always assumed that Lori was envious that he had received his father’s house and that she was stuck with the complex. Sure it was a nice house, and it was paid for, but Lori had a constant stream of income with this apartment complex. Maybe it was just a grudge she was holding onto.
“I need Eleanor Davis’ apartment key.”
Lori looked at him for a second and then said, “Why? Is she not coming to the door? Did you think that maybe she doesn’t want to see you?” A smirk crawled across her face.
“Just give me the damn key.”
Lori looked at him for a second longer and then reached into her right bottom desk drawer and pulled out what looked to be an old jewelry box container. The box was completely hollow inside and when she opened up Richard saw a pile of keys that nearly filled the box. Each key was attached to a key chain along with a white slip of paper that had various apartment numbers written on it. After some fishing through the mess of keys she finally found the key to apartment 4C. Without standing up she slid it across her desk towards Richard. He grabbed it and started walking out of the room without saying another word. As he left he heard Lori say, “I need that back when you’re done!”
It was eleven-twenty in the morning and Richard was now at the door of Eleanor’s 4C apartment yet again. He tried knocking once more knowing it was in vain. When there was no response he pulled out the key and inserted it into the door. There was a click as the deadbolt resided back inside the door. Richard withdrew the key, turned the doorknob, and the door creaked open slowly.
The first thing he noticed was how dark the apartment was. There was only one main window that faced towards the woods. When Richard came over on Wednesday Eleanor usually had a few well-placed lights turned on that gave the apartment a sense of life. Today there were no lights on and there wasn’t much sun coming from the far window. Once his eyes adjusted to the dark his gaze turned towards the couch that was now facing him. Eleanor’s frail body was lying on the couch not moving. She was lying on her back and wearing a pair of jeans along with a long sleeved light blue blouse. The jeans had stains of what looked like blood around both knees. Eleanor’s head was turned towards the couch trapping her hanging left arm between the couch and her head. The hanging arm’s hand was floating in the air just past the couch. Her right arm had fallen off of the couch. Its fingernails were grazing the hardwood floor beneath the couch. There was no movement by her. There was no breathing. In his heart he knew she was gone but he had to continue. He had to see her for himself.
Richard took a deep breath and started walking towards the couch. The once normal and inviting apartment now felt foreboding. The air felt heavy and something in the back of his mind was telling him to leave, to leave this place at once. Richard approached the couch and knelt down beside Eleanor. Could she still be here? He went to check her pulse and as his hands touched her wrist he recoiled instantly. Her arm was cold.
His hands reached out again towards her wrist to check for a pulse. There was no pulse, no sign of life. As he was kneeling the entire light around him seemed to darken almost like there was a large figure standing over him casting a long shadow. He stood up as fast as he could and scanned the room. There was nothing to be seen. Richard shook the feeling off and went back to Eleanor. He leaned over her to get a look at her face. One look at her face told him what he needed to know. She was definitely gone. Her eyes were open, but not just open. They were wide eyed and alarmed. Eleanor’s face was twisted into a look of fear. It looked like she was awake for whatever happened. She looked panicked. It must have been a heart attack, just like his father. As he thought that he heard an unfamiliar noise come from within the apartment.
Knock Knock
--
Ding-Dong the bitch is dead. That was all Lori could think about after she heard the news. She was gone, she was finally gone! No more having to deal with that old hag. No more having her squatting in that pricey apartment, not to mention the apartment next door could be rented now too.
It hadn't even been twenty-four hours since her brother Richard had found Eleanor in her apartment and Lori was already working on getting the empty apartment that was next to Eleanor's ready to be leased. The paramedics and police took up most of the day but the next morning things had settled down again and now those two apartments were empty. They were hers again and there was no one in her way.
That next morning Lori unlocked the door to the spare apartment next to Eleanor's. She had been in here a few times before mainly out of curiosity. Why did Eleanor have to have two apartments? What did she use that other apartment for? In the past when she had entered the apartment she was surprised to find nothing, absolutely nothing. The apartment was completely bare. There was no furniture, boxes, or any hint that the apartment had been used. It was almost like a time capsule back to when the apartments were first built by her father forty years ago.
Today when she entered the apartment she had one thing on her mind. She had to inspect every inch of this apartment to see if it was suitable for renting. This apartment was going to be leased and soon. She had waited long enough. Lori walked through the main living room flipping on and off all of the various light and fan switches. Each light and fan turned on and off accordingly with no issues. It was the same story for the bathroom and the bedroom. (She had replaced all of the light fixtures and bulbs earlier that year.) Next she checked the faucets in the sink and the bathroom. Everything was working just as it should. The only thing that really needed done to the apartment was the replacement of the various appliances such as the refrigerator, dishwasher, and clothes washer and dryer. After all, appliances from forty years ago aren't going to help her sell this unit.
Lori exited the apartment and began walking back to the central office lost in thought. The secondary apartment would be an easy sale but Eleanor's main apartment would take some work. Eleanor had no known will and now all of that junk and random shit that was scattered all over her apartment would have to go. Complicating matters would be Richard poking his head in over the next few days. She's sure that he would want some memento or something from Eleanor's. Lori reached the main office without even realizing it. She pushed the door open and headed back to her side office on the left of the main room. When she sat down she continued her thoughts about the two vacant apartments. Perhaps she would rent a large dumpster and hire a cleanup crew to gut the place, just throw it all in the trash. She would have to do it soon too before Richard could interfere.
--
Later that same day Lori still sat in her corner office behind her desk staring at her laptop. She had pulled up various listing sites and began to post her new apartment as vacant. She lowered the rent by one-hundred a month compared to the other apartments in her complex. Hopefully, it would spike interest and get the unit sold right away. The dumpster for Eleanor's apartment was scheduled to be dropped off first thing tomorrow morning at seven. The cleanup crew would be starting at eight and work through the day until the entire place was gutted and cleaned.
Lori had gone through Eleanor's apartment looking for anything valuable. The o
ld woman really didn't have much. Lori only found a few thousand dollars worth of jewelry and even that consisted of only a few items. One of them, a white-gold necklace with a string of rubies in the center now hung on Lori's neck like an ill-gotten trophy. Everything else was going in the trash hopefully it would all be done in a few days before Richard could intervene.
It was just past four in the afternoon and Lori was about to finalize her new posting when the front doors to the main office opened. Even though Lori had only been managing the complex for a mere ten months she had already grown and molded herself into a salesman. A young man who looked just barely past twenty years old walked into the room. The younger the better, they were much easier to manipulate she thought to herself. Lori pulled her focus from the laptop and focused her attention on the new arrival. She watched as his gaze went straight across the entry room at first and then began to move upwards tracing the ceiling until it came to the center chandelier decoration in the middle of the room. Her father, Dale, had outdone himself in designing the main office. The entry room was always remarkable to new tenants and almost always helped seal the deal of a new lease. Lori waited and watched the young man as he took it all in. After about thirty seconds had passed she broke the silence with, "Sir, can I help you?"
She had definitely startled him. Most people never notice her little corner office just to the side of the main entry. They just keep on walking towards the main room. When he heard her voice he must have jumped. Lori couldn't see him as he had walked past the French doors that led to her office but she had heard it. She sat at her desk like a snake waiting for a mouse to enter its den. A few seconds later the man appeared in front of her office and walked in. She stood up from her desk, smiled as wide as she could, and said, "Welcome to Shaded Meadows, how can I help you today?”
He looked nervous and after a few seconds of hesitation where it looked like he was debating on what to say he finally said, "Yes, I'm looking for a one bedroom apartment. Do you have an opening?"
Knock Knock Author’s Note
Knock Knock was my second book that I wrote immediately after writing My New Family. The idea for this story came from a recurring dream that I had as a child. My family moved around a lot when I was young and I ONLY had this dream when I lived in a specific house in a small town in Ohio. It wasn’t just a dream about a poltergeist like monster though. There were others. There were other nightmares that would happen nearly every single night when I lived there. (I hope to write more stories based off of these nightmares.)
I’ve never been much of a believer in ghosts and demons but I still go out of my way to not stay in or live in an older house. Too many chances of it being haunted… I had that haunted feeling in this Ohio house. The house was a newly built home and we were the first family to live there but the feeling was there nonetheless. Every night I would have my nightmares and every morning they would be on my mind until the afternoon. Then the cycle would repeat again and again. The worst of it though was that my nightmares didn’t take place in some faraway land. No, they took place in my very bedroom or on the stairs down to the living room. There were many times that I didn’t know if I was dreaming or if I was awake. I only knew once the demons came.
Now that time has passed and that I am thirty years old I very rarely have nightmares. The times I do though I usually wake up the entire house from my screaming. I’ve never heard myself scream obviously but my wife and kids do and they never enjoy it. I’ve always pictured in my head that scene from The Shining where Jack is asleep on his desk and is screaming in his sleep.
Final Notes
I want to thank you for reading my book. Writing is a hobby of mine that I balance between a full time job, being a husband, and being a good father to my two little girls. I strive to put out three to four books a year but sometimes even that is a challenge.
If you wish to read more of my books or to subscribe for future book releases I urge you to visit my website http://www.alecjohnjohnson.com . There is a mailing list that you can subscribe to and you will be notified on any future releases.
Lastly, if you did enjoy this book please take the time to leave a review.
Thanks again,
Alec John Johnson
Close Your Eyes: A Horror Story Collection Page 30