Fear Thy Neighbour
by Dipayan Chatterjee
There's a good chance that you won't believe what I am about
to tell you. Had I not experienced it personally I wouldn't have believed it
either. But now that I have, it will haunt me for life. It's the type of stuff
you read on the internet or watch on shows on Investigation Discovery. But you
never think this can actually happen to you.
Let me start from the beginning. It was already a long
tiring day & the only thing I needed was a good night's sleep. I guess I
should tell you that I live in small trashy apartment in a really old building.
It's one of those buildings that you never want to live in. Most of the
apartments in the building are abandoned and only a handful of tenants are
left. Then why do I stay here?
I am stuck in a sucky ass job and buried neck deep in
student debt. So this is the only accomodation I could afford in the city.
Still it was home. I don't know most of my neighbours & I never bothered
to...except for the family who live in the apartment right next to mine.
As I returned home exhausted from work on that fateful
night, I went straight for my bed. It was just one of those nights when the
silent darkness seems like the perfect lover.
Almost with a jolt I woke up in the middle of the night. I
felt my head was going to explode with the weird loud banging sound that was
coming from next door. It seemed as if someone was hitting a nail with a heavy
hammer into the common wall that both the apartments shared.
2:39 am...the digital clock blinked. Why the fuck would
anyone make that horrendous noise at this hour? Although I should tell you that
the folks living next door were kind of weird to begin with.
The husband & his pregnant wife seemed to fight every
night and their loud arguements had kept me awake many nights in the past.
Their arguments sometimes became so aggresive that I had to intervene to calm
them down. But they seldom listened to me. Their fights continued every other
night and it was mostly about typical family issues.
As the loud banging sound started again on the common wall
beside my bed, I decided it was time for me to take charge & shut them up
for good. I work my ass off all day & by God I deserve a good night's
sleep. I wanted to make sure they knew it. And that was perhaps my biggest
mistake.
As I walked out of my room and into the empty damp dimly lit
corridor, an eerie silence prevailed all around.
I slowly walked over to their door and knocked on it. As I
waited there for the door to open I thought of how & what I was going to
say to sound assertive. But I stood there for what seemed like forever waiting
for a response. For a brief second I wondered if I should return back to my
apartment & just go back to sleep. This was just too weird for me. And the
fact was that horrible sound had also stopped by then. But just as I was about
to walk away, the door slowly creaked open with the slightest gap.
Instantly a chill ran down my spine out of nowhere. A gust
of stenchy warm air came out and hit my nose like a truck. The stink was
unbearable as if something had been dead inside for decades. As I peeked inside
through the gap, darkness as black as death itself peeked back at me. I felt
this deep rooted terror inside me that something more horrible than death was
going to happen to me. Everything inside me begged me to run away that instant.
But for God knows what reason I stood there in horror,
scanning the darkness inside with my rapidly moving eyes. But it seemed there was no one inside, just pitch black
darkness. Suddenly I felt this shock inside me with my heart pulsating almost
out of my chest. It was then I noticed him peeking from behind the slightly
open door, perfectly hidden in the darkness.
It was my neighbour's 8 year old kid. Although I could only
see part of his face in the darkness but something seemed really weird right
away. The terror I felt inside me kept growing exponentially. The way he stood
& the way he looked at me screamed that something was terribly wrong, even
though I could only see his face partially. It seemed that the rest of his body
was hidden safely behind the door. Still I just couldn't get over the way his
head was tilted at an abnormal angle as he kept staring at me with cold blank
eyes.
Trying hard to get a grip on my fear, I managed to speak
out. But I couldn't sound as assertive as I wanted to. My trembling voice
revealed my growing fear.
I asked him about his father & what was making that
horrible noise in the dead of the night. But he just stood there without even
uttering a single word in response. His expressionless face & souless eyes
were starting to teach me a whole new meaning of fear. It was then it struck
me. What the hell is an 8 year old kid doing staying awake at almost 3am?
I spoke again, "Call your father...I need to speak to
him," this time a little more demandingly. But he just stood there in the
exact same position with his head slightly tilted. I asked again. But again
there was no response. Getting tired of his mindless shenanigans, I called out
his father's name hoping he would finally respond. But there was nothing...except
silence & darkness.
I asked the kid again "Call your father...NOW!"
But he just kept looking at me without even flinching once. Then I noticed
something on his face. Why didn't I see this before? As my eyes adjusted to the
surrounding darkness, I finally saw it. Blood. Dry dark blood all around his
neck.
As his head tilted further I felt my heart skip a beat. And
that's when IT happened. It fell down & rolled upto my feet. His head...his
severed head fell down on the floor and rolled up to my feet leaving a trail of
black gooey pulp from the darkness inside.
I stood still in shock staring in disbelief at the small
chopped off head resting near my feet. His expressionless face & dead eyes
still staring at me the exact same way. Instinctively I looked up at the door. For a brief second I
saw what I thought was the pale face of his mother right behind the door. But
before I could understand anything the door slammed shut faster than I blinked.
Needless to say I ran harriedly to my room, grabbed my
smartphone & called the cops.
I spent the next few days mostly in the police station being
the prime witness to the incident. I was repeatedly interviewed by the cops
about what exactly happened. Even though I told them the same thing everytime,
they found it hard to believe me. I suppose initially they considered me a
suspect but after a thorough investigation they finally managed to find out
what exactly happened in that apartment.
Every member of the family was murdered 3 days before I
discovered the severed head, including the unborn child of the pregnant woman.
Apparently, a serial killer has been terrorising the city since the past few
months. The police believed that the maniacal killer had targeted the family
& somehow managed to enter my neighbour's apartment unnoticed. As our
building is mostly abandoned, it was not a difficult task. Police
investigations revealed that the killer caught the family by surprise &
very effectively killed off the husband, wife & their 8 year old child. He
then went on to chop off their limbs & their heads. What was even shocking
was that the killer tore off the pregnant woman's womb and killed the unborn
child.
After I called the cops that night, the investigating
officers had to break open the door to enter the apartment. As soon as the cops
entered they found that the room was littered with chopped limbs & severed
heads. The common wall which both the apartments shared was covered with dark
blood as if someone was trying to paint the wall.
But what struck me most was that the cops claimed the killer
immediately left the apartment right after he was done with the murders. They
said usually there is no reason for a killer to hang back at the crime scene
after they are done & that too for 3 days. In fact, the very next day they
found other victims in another part of the city who were killed with the same
modus operandi...chopped limbs & severed heads. They believed it was the
same killer. Hence, there was no reason for him to return to the previous crime
scene.
Understandably I was pretty shocked with this piece of
information. Then who was inside that apartmemt that night? The cops told me
the investigation was still on & they would solve the case soon. But I
refused to accept that. It did not answer any of the questions that were haunting
me since that night.
Who was in that god forsaken apartment that night? Who was
making that weird banging noise? What was that sound? Who opened the door? Who
was holding up that severed head of the boy? Who slammed the door shut at my
face? Wait...was anyone holding up the kid's head or was it up there by itself?
Or was it the mother whose face I saw for a brief moment before the door
closed? But the mother was also murdered. Then how did I see her standing there
like that? Was she even standing or was it just her decapitated head? Were they
trying to make contact with me? Were they trying to tell me that their family
was brutally murdered?
I was beyond scared at that point. Nothing made sense. I
couldn't find any answers for my questions. Hundreds of weird thoughts started
circulating my mind. I even wondered if the decapitated heads were hitting
themselves on the common wall to create that banging sound...all just to make
me discover the horrible fate that befell on their family. I was terrified even
to think that what if that was the truth. But then why after 3 days?
I was losing my mind. I had to go back to my antidepressant
pills just to calm down my nerves. I decided to move from this apartment as
soon as possible. So I quit my job & arranged to relocate to my hometown.
Tonight is my last night in this apartment. I feel utterly
cringed even to realise I have to spend one more night in this hellish
building. I tried to get some sleep as I felt exhausted by overthinking about
the whole ordeal.
Almost with a jolt I wake up in the middle of the night.
2:39 am...I see the digital clock blinking. I feel my heart pounding with
terror at every beat. There is a weird banging sound at the common wall that I
share with my late neigbour's apartment. It's that exact same sound...all over
again. Tears roll down my eyes as I try to contain my fear. I remember
something. The killer tore off the pregnant woman's stomach & killed the
unborn child. I realise something. The cops never found the corpse of the
unborn child. It's...still...there!
End.
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