I know the sound of a heart: its thumping and trembling—it’s a violence, a beating inside. Here I’m screaming with agony, my voice shaky, and every breath of air that escapes my nose is a tremble. Yes, inside, my voice is a trembling, shaky scream.  

 I yearn for comfort.  But no. I will not give in.   

        And with every footstep’s landing—I sense the thumping stop, abruptly. Then waits. And so, too my nose; as my body suffocates beside the wardrobe near the bed.   

I will not let it have the best of me. Yet it persists.   

          In earnest, it climbs up the stairs, lurking within the night.  And it teases.  

          Out of fun.  

          It announces its arrival with action—wordlessly. It presses each finger—slowly, painfully slow, against the wooden wall; and each touch: is a message left, for me.    

I can hear it—    

“I. Know. You. Are Here.”    

 The last bit of hope for me shriveled, fleeing to a place far gone. Again, I tell myself: I will not give in.    

           But then, faint voices entered my ears. The pitch-black room filled with furniture is alive. Soulless beings                       overwhelming all my senses. Chanting that I must— 

 “Open the door.” 

           It’s here. It’s ready to take me away. 

           It wants me to be a part of The Soulless, but I desire so much to be apart from. And there it repeats. 

          THUMPING. THUMPING.  

          THUMPING.  

          Louder this time.  

                       It’s escaping me! I cling so tightly to my chest, hoping what kept me apart from, will stay.

          Taking in every breath I can and holding it, hoping I blend with the lifeless environment. But I just couldn’t, not when the candle near the window illuminated.    

          My heart nearly jumped out of my chest. In excitement? In anxiousness? I could hardly think of what to tell. I had already instinctively risen and was aiming towards the window. With haste, I quickened with every given step. I Halted. The screams of The Soulless were pleading for me to stay.    

“Don’t leave me!” Each individually repeats after another, attempting to string me back into a dreadful state. I knew from this moment on, it was no hallucination.   

                     But I must not give in!  Yet, with each step, I feel like I’m dragging my legs. Forcing.  

The more I struggled, the deeper I sunk into what lurked amidst the night.    

Was the illuminated candle a trick?  

                     An illusion The Soulless play before it catches me? This is all I thought, but still my body clung to the bed frame like it was a pillar as I took a glimpse of the other side.   

                     But oh, when my eyes caught a glance! When my eyes witnessed this being. THAT being. Its hands, coated in blood, raised against my window to stain it. Its body veiled in black—I think it’s whispering to me? I try to lean in close to read its lips. I think it’s telling me to—   

“Open. The. Door!”  Pounding.  It’s pounding—my heart? Pounding. The door? And yet I cannot focus to tell—because they’re grabbing me! They won’t stop grabbing me–pleading for me to join them!   

STOP IT! STOP IT! I shouted.   

                     But it only gets louder while my hands loosen! While their grip—tighter!  And now it’s rattling.    

                     The knob. And the candle? What in God’s name? It has a shadow!  The flame.   

And while my heart keeps Thumping.  

 THUMPING. THUMPING. Between each gasp that escaped my mouth.    

                      The candle revealed a creature that hovered over me. He—four-legged, coated in black, two horns, had red eyes that fixed into my own. It tilted its head like it had heard the frantic beat of my heart. And with deliberate malice, its jagged teeth make way to my face.   

“Open. The. Door.” He mouthed.    

                     But these words felt different! Stronger. Louder. They were not whispers anymore—no. They instead echoed inside my head—plaguing my mind, so much so that my hands released from the pillar and stumbled backward towards the door. My fingers slightly brushed against the metal knob behind me.   

                    And suddenly ,when I had the urge to give in—it stopped. The pounding. They retreated. The Soulless. That being. He…the devil too.   

                   But before I could even think to ask, my trembling hands had already fallen onto the knob. Deliberately aiming to turn it…ever so slightly.    

But then, it came.  POUNDING.  The familiar sound was not from the heart—the window—nor him.  POUNDING.   

Not the door beside me, either.  POUNDING.  

 I spun around immediately to face the wardrobe by the bed I was at earlier.  POUNDING.   

My eyes locked on the wardrobe’s rattling door.   

THUMPING. THUMPING. THUMPING.   

A low, muffled voice seeped through the crack.  “Who’s there?”   

                   My mind spiraled. My pulse raced as I stumbled backward away from the wardrobe towards the window, gasping for air. But as I reached for the latch, I froze.    

                   The being cloaked in black leaned forward toward me with a mocking grin. It mouthed one final sentence. Slowly. Deliberately.  

“Who’s really at the door?”   

                   Behind me, the wardrobe creaked open.