Tap by Kamea Bellows aged 13

Tap                                                                                  

Tap.

A monotonous noise coming from my window. I shrugged it off, presuming it was only a branch or something of the like.

But 3 seconds later, there it was again. Something hitting off of my glass windowpane. It’ll go away eventually, I reassured myself. This wasn’t the first time this had happened, however the last occurrence resulted in me running out to my mother in tears, just to have her roll her eyes and tell me it was the limb of a tree, pairing with the wind to taunt me with the rhythmic racket.

I rolled over, turning my back to the windows and shutting my eyes. Tap. I threw my blankets off in frustration, and stepped into the frigid night air. Tap, tap. The steady beat became slightly faster as I approached the source of the noise, as if it was suspenseful music playing during the climax of a horror movie.

Tap, tap, tap. I threw the curtains open to my window, and the thumping pulse, to my surprise, ceased. Confused and angered I stomped back into bed and pulled the comforter over my head, engulfing my sight in darkness. Tap, tap, tap, tap… the horrifying thudding returned, as did my exasperation. The thumps continued, this time faster and harder, as if something was pounding on my windows, begging to be let inside.

I hoped that wasn’t the case.

I eventually pulled a pillow from under my head and covered my ears with it. I felt like the hammering noises were reverbing off the inside of my cranium, causing my head to ache. I was being driven insane, every twinging thud feeling as if it was being tapped on the interior of my skull, not the exterior of my house.

The pounding continued still, escalating from quiet taps to what seemed like full blown fists banging on the glass. I stuck my head out slightly from under my covers and peered at my alarm clock. 2:58 am. I felt my room shake as the glass of my window bent under the pressure of the beating it was taking. How hadn’t it shattered yet? An even better question, why hadn’t anyone else in my house come to check what was happening? Surely they were able to hear it…right?

I checked the clock once more, almost drowning out the sounds coming from outside. I watched as the red numbers changed from 2:59 to 3am.

I felt my ears ring, the silence startling me. The pounding had finally ceased, to my relief. Not even bothering to investigate, I shut my eyes and let long awaited sleep overcome me.

Tap, tap.

Not again?! What had I done to deserve this? I buried my face into my hands and screamed.

Except, this time it didn’t sound like the taps were coming from my window, this time it didn’t seem like they were outside at all. What was going on?

I felt a chill go through me as I shuddered in realization. This time, the taps weren’t coming from outside my windows. They were coming from outside my bedroom door.