I’d been living in my quaint two-bedroom apartment for a few years and nothing out of the ordinary had occurred until a new tenant moved into the unit next to mine. This all happened a couple of months ago as I was leaving for work in the morning to see someone carrying a couple of cardboard boxes in the cramped hallway of my apartment building. “Uh..Hello…do you mind giving me a hand, please” a soft female voice called out from behind the boxes.
I dashed over to relieve her of some of the weight of the boxes. “Whoa, I got you.” I assured her. Whatever she was carrying was heavy, and I was surprised she could carry it up the stairs without aid in the first place. We shuffled awkwardly to the door of the unit next to mine. “I’m so sorry about this, just give me a second to…” her words trailed off, followed by the rattling sound of keys.
She took a step back into the doorway and guided me through. “Let’s just leave it here.” She spoke in a strained tone. We set the boxes down in unison, my back already cursing me for doing something so strenuous so early in the morning. When I stood up, I was awestruck to see one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen. Her fair skin accentuated her cute freckles, her long blonde hair was tied into a bun, and she looked at me with blue eyes that put the sky to shame.
“A couple down…a few more to go..” she sighed. The young woman glanced at me and quickly composed herself, wiping her hands on her t-shirt then reaching out for a handshake. “Thank you so much! My name is Madison, but call me Maddie!” she said as she gave a warm smile. I shrugged off the pain coming from my lower back and gave her my most welcome greeting. “Hey! I’m Ben. Looks like we’re going to be neighbors!” I said as I awkwardly shook her hand.
“Oh god. What a great first impression..” she said in a dejected tone, “Your helpless new neighbor is already being a bother..” I snapped back, “O-oh, n-no, not at all. It’s early so, yeah, no problem at all. We both laughed for a moment until I realized I really needed to get to work. “Hey, so I’m just over there.” I said as I pointed to the direction of my unit, “If you need anything just, uh…gimme a knock.” She grinned, “Yeah for sure!”
I felt a chill on my lower back as I walked towards the front door. I quickly turned around to see Maddie lifting some things out of one of the boxes. I felt a little uneasy, but dismissed it as nerves from talking to her. “See you soon,” she said as I shut the door behind me. I couldn’t think of anything else for the rest of the day. Before I knew it, the day had passed and it was evening as I walked up the stairs to my apartment.
I paused for a moment as I walked past her apartment. I wanted to tap on her door and asked if she needed anything, perhaps some help with something. “Idiot,” I muttered to myself as I smacked my forehead with my palm. Don’t be creepy.” Thankfully, my logic won out and I was able to return home. The rest of my night I sat on my couch, staring blankly at something on TV, wishing she would knock on my door.
I jolted out of a deep sleep in the middle of the night. As I slowly sat up, I realized I’d dozed off on my couch. My living room was dark except for the dim light from my TV, which had the words “Are you still watching?” displayed across its screen. A sharp pain in my neck made me wince as I groggily lifted myself off the couch. I let out a yawn and then heard something that made me hold the breath in my throat.
A muffled but clearly audible sobbing filled the space around me. I grabbed my phone from the coffee table to check it, but it only showed the time at 2 a.m. I followed the sound which led me to the wall, the crying was coming from the other side…from Maddie’s apartment. I pressed an ear onto the cold surface of the wall and strained to listen. The sobbing sounded high pitched, not like a woman, but more like a child’s.
The sobs started to get louder, as if whoever it was was crying directly into my ear. “It hurts..” the child’s voice whispered. I pushed myself off the wall and stumbled backwards. My whole body suddenly felt cold as I stared at the wall. The crying was gone. Was I dreaming? Did I really hear something? I clutched at my chest to get my heart to calm down. I quickly stepped to my bedroom and I stayed awake for a while longer until fatigue took over.
The following morning the alarm from my phone woke me up. The sunlight pierced through the window blinds and made me wince. I felt exhausted, as if I had only closed my eyes for a split second. I prepared for work, all the while thinking about the crying coming from Maddie’s apartment. “Maybe she has a kid or something..” I muttered to myself as I stepped out of my unit. I made my way down the stairs to find Maddie standing at the base.
“Hey, Neighbor!” she said cheerily, “Headed to work?” I gave her a smile as I shyly answered, “Ah…yep!” As I met her at the bottom of the stairwell I couldn’t resist the urge to ask…”Hey, are you okay?” She looked confused. “What do you mean?” she asked. Anxiety started to wash over me as I thought about how weird I was for even asking her. “I just thought I heard something coming from your apartment last night..”
“Oh I guess I had the TV on too loud. Sorry about that.” she said. Thinking rationally of course it was a show or something playing. “No, no, sorry for being weird.” I said. She gave me a reassuring smile as she punched my shoulder. “It’s an apartment. There’s all kinds of noises going on I guess.” She began to walk up the stairs then paused to turn to me, “This is going to sound even weirder, but after I get settled would you like to come over for dinner?” My response was a barely coherent stuttered yes that made her laugh.
I spent the rest of the day completely elated. The idea of dinner with Maddie was the only thing that preoccupied my mind. After work I parked my car in its usual spot within my apartment complex. As I got out I heard a familiar voice from a parking space nearby, “Shit..” they exclaimed. Curious I walked over to see none other than Maddie carrying some plastic grocery bags with a couple of them in a pile next to her.
I ran over to help her pick up some of her groceries and she apologized profusely as we walked up to her place. She fumbled with the bags and her keys as she got her door open which I thought was extremely cute. When the door opened I was hit with a sudden rush of cold air. “Jesus!” I shouted as a chill ran down my spine. “What’s wrong?” she asked. I was going to comment on the cold, but it was gone in an instant.
“It’s…nothing. Where do you want these?” I asked. I followed her to the kitchen and I even helped her with putting up her groceries. “Thanks for helping me out.” she said. “Oh it’s nothing at all.” I assured her. “So…since you’re here would you like some wine?” My response was a lightning fast yes. Maddie instructed me to relax on the couch while she finished putting up the rest of the groceries. With a glass of wine in hand I stepped over to the other room.
My heart was racing as I sat nervously in her living room. I looked around as she told me how happy she was to have her couch delivered that day and other on goings with her move. There were cardboard boxes everywhere and near one of them were a small pile of picture frames. I moved from the couch and bent down near the pictures to inspect them. The frames were held images of Maddie with a young girl.
I shuffled through the rest of the frames to find more pictures of her and this young girl. She had bushy blonde hair, blue eyes similar to Maddie’s, and a big smile in each of the pictures. “What are you doing?” Maddie’s voice made me jump. I turned to see her standing with a wine glass in one hand and a bottle in the other. “I saw these picture frames and was just curious.” I trailed off and asked, “Is this your kid?”
Maddie’s face twisted into a sad expression and she took a deep sip of wine. “Yeah, that’s Lydia…” Was she the one I heard crying last night? “Oh, does she not stay with you?” I asked. She winced a bit as if my words slapped her, “Her dad and I had a lot of issues and she’s with him, actually.” I felt remorse from my question, “Oh. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t be asking questions like that..” She took another sip of wine before telling me that everything is fine.
I finished the remnants of wine in my glass and excused myself to the restroom. All of these apartments had a similar floor plan so I stepped into the hallway. I easily found the bathroom and splashed some cold water on my face. The air felt so heavy after talking about her daughter and I felt like an idiot for prying. I took a long breath before shutting out the light and moved into the hallway. That’s when I saw something that made me freeze in my tracks.
At the other end of the hallway was a darkened shape of a young child. It stood there with its head tilted all the way to its right side. After my eyes adjusted to the dark silhouette I was able to make out the faint features of its face…it was Maddie’s daughter. She turned her head upright and it made a sickening cracking noise. She began to creep towards me, each step making that nauseating cracking sound. I took a few steps back, my whimpers of fear were stuck in my throat as she grew closer.
She moved into one of the bedrooms and the door slowly creaked closed behind him. My eyes were fixated on that door for a moment until Maddie called out to ask if I was okay. I quickly stepped past the room and made my way back to where Maddie was. I blurted out, “Are you sure you’re living alone?” Her face twisted from concern to anger as she questioned me, “Why are you asking me that?” I felt cold sweat coming from my skin, “I just saw your daughter walking around in the hallway and there was something…something wrong with her.”
“That’s not possible.” she said with a stern voice, “She’s not here. She’s with her dad like I told you.” My neck suddenly began to ache and I started to feel that cold sensation on my lower back. “Get the Hell out of my apartment.” she said. At that moment I could hear that child’s crying echoing in my skull. It was so loud I clasped my hands over my ears in an attempt to shield from the crying but it grew louder and more hysterical.
“GET OUT OF MY APARTMENT!” Maddie screamed. I shouted out, “GOD! GO HELP YOUR DAUGHTER! SHE WON’T STOP CRYING!” Then everything went silent. I slowly lifted my head to look at her…and the once beautiful face I’d so desperately wanted to see again was filled with such an intense rage. “What did you say?” she whispered. I didn’t know how to respond until she started to walk towards me. “I made sure she wasn’t going to cry anymore..”
Maddie took her wine glass with both hands and cracked it to leave its stem. She pointed the broken stem in my direction; its jagged edges were aimed at my neck. Maddie lunged at me, but I was able to step away. Without thinking I ran into the hallway towards one of the bedrooms and slammed the door behind me. I stood there in the pitch darkness of the room while Maddie was pounding her fists on the other side of the door.
“GET OUT! GET OUT!” She screamed with all her might. My focus shifted as within the dark room I could hear that cracking sound followed by the girl’s cries. “It hurts…it hurts..” she cried. Something was horribly wrong…but I couldn’t leave the kid here with this crazy woman. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. I’ll call the police, okay?” I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone to turn it on.
My phone’s screen was bright and its dim light filled my small corner of the room. Positioned in front of my phone…was the girl. She stood there staring at me, her head was tilted completely over her right shoulder. Her neck was completely broken. Bloody tears streamed down her face as she cried, “It hurts…Mommy it hurts..” Then she placed a hand on top of mine that sent a shock through me.
My vision was filled with images of Maddie and a man arguing. Then my vision shifted to her raising her hand over her head to bring down a fist. I could feel the hot impact on my face as darkness overtook my sight. I felt myself lying in a bed with my eyes stinging from crying so much. I could hear Maddie and the man arguing again and the man screaming, “PUT THE KNIFE DOWN, MADISON!” Then there was an eerie silence.
I could hear a door open and I felt a weight press on top of me. My neck started to ache…that familiar pain I felt earlier. “Shh…shh….stop crying..” I heard Maddie whisper in my ear. I felt the weight of her forearm press onto my neck as a sharp cold pain pierced my lower back. My vision snapped back and I was standing in the center of the dark room I had trapped myself in.
I heard the door slowly creak behind me and Maddie whispered under her breath, “There’s no more crying…no one’s going to cry anymore…” I heard her quickened footsteps head towards me and I turned to kick her. I yelled as she stabbed the broken wine glass stem into my leg and I fell backwards. She shuffled towards me like a maddened animal and pulled the glass out of my leg.
Maddie repositioned herself on top of me and with the light from my phone I could see the crazed expression of a killer. Tears began to pour out of my eyes when I came to the realization that she was going to silence me like her child. I blinked and I saw that right beside her…was her daughter. She wrapped her arms around Maddie who was frozen in fear. “What’s this? What’s going on? Why am I so cold?” She shouted.
Maddie couldn’t see her dead child clutching at her, attempting to stop her movements. “No more, Mommy…no more crying,” she hissed. She reached for her hands and moved them to her throat. “Wait, what’s going on?! STOP?! “ Maddie yelled as the glass she was clutching in her hand was nearing impact. I stood there watching as the sharp edge pierced her skin and blood poured out of the hole in her neck.
She started crying…but her sobs turned into gurgles as the crimson blood poured out of her. Her eyes rolled back into her head, and she collapsed onto the floor. The pain in my neck was relieved as the girl slowly turned her head towards me. The sharp chill on my lower back had vanished, and before I could react…she was gone. I slowly picked up my phone and eventually dialed 911…I was attacked and defended myself against a woman who murdered her child. I just wish I…or someone had helped that little girl sooner.