I keep hearing it. I swear it’s real, but it doesn’t make any sense. I haven’t mentioned anything to dad, cause it might just be my imagination, I hear weird things at mom’s apartment all the time.
I didn’t start school until 1 pm today so I was able to just chill in the apartment for a while. That’s when I heard it again. Just as I was leaving for the bus. There was a stroller in the corner of the floor between the two other apartment doors. I figured that was where the sound was coming from but the second I set foot outside of the apartment the noise stopped. As much as I wanted to stand there in my confusion I didn’t want to miss the bus.
Class was boring as usual. Swedish has never been my favorite subject and I was not in the mood for writing an analysis of a short story so I just wasted time by scrolling through reddit. When class was over I grabbed my things from my locker as usual and after saying goodbye to my friends, I sat down with my headphones in on the black couch next to the ping pong table with a book, waiting for my dad to come pick me up. Aside from a couple of kids and their parents walking past to get to their music class, it was fairly quiet. But I swear I could hear it again. The sound was faint, like it was coming from two rooms over but I couldn’t tell in which direction. It didn’t make sense.
The sound was back and louder than before by the time I got home. As soon as I stepped into the apartment it was there. Louder than the workers outside, louder than my dad speaking to the birds, louder than the birds themselves. But he didn’t seem to notice. Maybe I was going crazy. Or it was all some sick prank with some hidden speaker inside of the apartment. Did that mean someone was watching? How else could the sound stop the moment I stepped outside? If dad’s in on it I can’t ask him, he’ll either pretend he doesn’t know what I’m talking about or actually think I’m crazy.
I started hearing it at night too. It kept growing louder and louder. At first I thought it was coming from underneath my bed, but there was nothing there. The closet was empty too. Every drawer, every box, nothing. I didn’t know what else to do so I just plugged in my headphones and turned the music up, thinking that I could drown out the noise and fall asleep. But then I started seeing things. Small faces pushing through the wallpaper, through the floor, even through the covers. I ripped my headphones out and the sound of it was worse than ever. It felt as if my ears would start bleeding at any second because of how loud it was. My heart started beating faster and my tears threatened to spill over as I quickly tiptoed through my room and out to the living room. The birds had no reaction to me leaving my room, at least I couldn’t hear it if they did with the sound following me.
I didn’t run outside. I didn’t want to waste time pulling on shoes and a jacket, I didn’t want to wake my dad up or go to my mom’s place because then I’d have to explain what had been happening. Instead I ran across the room and around the edge of the L-shaped couch to the balcony door. I pushed it open and stepped out onto the cold wood and the sound stopped. I turned around the grab a blanket to deal with the cold air seeping in through the glass when I saw this mass of billowing shadow on the coffee table. It had been a gift to my dad for his birthday, one, two years ago, I couldn’t remember. We’d covered it with a blanket but he hadn’t noticed anything different. We laughed at it. But this was no laughing matter. I quickly snatched up the blanket and pulled it to myself as I watched the mass of shadow slowly take form. Without taking my eyes off of it, I slowly pushed the door closed until there was only a centimeter or two of space left and turned the handle to lock it into place. Only for a second, I looked away to sit down on the couch and wrap the blanket around myself, I looked away. Then it was there. A crying infant wrapped in a cloth was lying on the wooden coffee table, waving its arms and distorting its features as it wailed. But nothing could be heard from the balcony.
It’s past midnight when I’m writing this. I probably should’ve brought a charger with me because I don’t think I can go back inside without bursting my eardrums. I’m scared what it will do if I go inside again. Maybe it will make it real. Is it still going to be there in the morning when my dad gets up? Will he see it? Will it do something to him? I don’t know what to do, my only plan is to just sit here and wait, hope that it goes away. Maybe dad can help me in the morning, that is if it doesn’t get to him first.
It feels evil.