I first heard the humming when I was 5. It was so lighthearted and upbeat. It felt almost calming, if not for the fact that it was outside my door at 2 in the morning.
My room was pitch black and I was drowsy. At first I was sure I had dreamt it. The room was silent.
Feeling unnerved and rattled, I attempted to turn over and go back to sleep.
After a few moments, I was overwhelmed with a sense of dread, as the humming continued from outside my door. The wind picked up outside and I was sure I was hearing things. Until I could hear my doorknob turn ever so slightly as the door creaked to life.
I turned over, to see my door cracked as the humming grew louder. I felt ill as I listen in silence, my heart racing as the humming continued outside my door.
After another few moments, the humming ceased once more.
A sigh of relief, hoping it would be gone for good, but I was left with this feeling of uncertainty and terror.
I waited and watched the door, sure that something could happen at any moment.
My mind began wandering, fearful of what could lay in wait outside.
Moments past as I sat in silence, sure by now, if the humming would return, it should have been back already. As I began to loosen the grip I had on my sheets, the humming had returned, now carrying itself up and down the hallway.
I was in disbelief that my parents weren’t hearing this. Terrified, I started to shift the covers over my head, but in doing so, I bumped the nightlight on my dresser.
As the light shifted, the humming stopped abruptly. I was sure it was coming to get me.
Suddenly, a screech from the neighboring room was quickly silenced. As though a cry for help was interrupted by the removal of vocal chords.
The following hour I spent in agony, listening to the sounds of bones crunching and meat being torn from its flesh.
I awoke the next morning to the sound of my mothers screams of horror and agony.
I came in to find her lying on the floor crying and screaming in agony. I continued past her to find my baby sister or what was left of her in tiny pieces scattered around her crib.
From what I remember, there was nothing left to identify her. She wasn’t even old enough to have her first tooth.
My mom did her best to hold herself together for my dad and me, but it wasn’t long before she took her own life. I found her in the bathtub, wrists split so deep, you could see bone. I don’t know if she intended for me to find her, but I always felt like she blamed me for what happened.
It was until I was twelve, that it came again… The Humming.
This time, more somber and low. Whatever this was, I felt like it was reaching out to me. I was mortified to think what would happen if I let it.
I remember my door creaking to life once more as my dog, Oscar poked his head up at the end of the bed.
I began calling and signaling to Oscar to stay put. I knew the fate that would befall him if he left the room. His ears perked up and I pleaded for him to come to me.
The humming grew closer as I continued begging my dog to stay put.
As a last effort to save my dog, I reached down the bed to grab his collar before he bolted through the door. I started to give chase before I heard the humming stop in the doorway above me.
I froze in terror, unable to look up.
I heard my dog begin to bark as it quickly turned to yelping as a crunch silenced him entirely.
I backed away slowly as the sounds of my dog being ripped apart from the other side of the door commenced.
I crawled back to my bed, hiding under my covers and weeping softly to myself until morning.
My dad never believed me.
Since then I’ve been in and out mental hospitals, but apart from the trauma of losing everyone but my dad, I’m perfectly fine.
I’m 32 now and have a wife and 2 children. It’s been a while since I’ve heard the humming, but if it comes back, I have to decide who I’m going to feed it first.