The Knock

DECLASSIFIED ██████ b(1)

Formerly: SECRET / NOFORN

Case ID: JTF-UX-25-00311 ██████ b(1)

Incident Report No. 25-03-18-4719

Date/Time of Response: February 2, 2012 01:18 AM EST

Reporting Officer(s): Sgt. C. Alvarez (Responding Officer), Det. H. Callahan (Investigating Officer); Timberline County Sheriff’s Office.

Summary Statement:

At approximately 01:18 EST, authorities responded to a reported disturbance at Cabin █ b(6) located within Timberline Cabin Retreats at ████████████████████████ b(6). Upon arrival, officers observed the front door ajar. No additional points of entry were identified.

Subject ████████████ b(7)(C) was found to be unaccounted for. No other occupant(s) were located on the premises.

Preliminary assessment indicates no observable signs of forced entry, struggle, or foul play. However, the absence of the subject combined with multiple observed site anomalies necessitates comprehensive investigation.

Documented anomalies include, but are not limited to: missing persons indicators, digital system irregularities, environmental inconsistencies, and ████████████ b(1) + b(7)(A) + b(7)(F). Due to the atypical nature of these findings and irregularities within the recovered data set, further evaluation is pending full task force analysis.

This case has been referred to JTF-UX for review.

The following materials represent extracted entries recovered from the subject’s mobile device, located inside the residence near the primary entrance. Entries appear to have been manually recorded and time-stamped by the device user.

Exhibit 1: Recovered Device File ID: RDF-318AM-251201 — Cabin █ b(6) (Timberline Cabin Retreats) [Open in part]

10:30 PM

The winter storm that I got an advisory for earlier today is coming to fruition. I don’t think I will be able to get much rest again tonight.

I don’t want to write this down or even speak it into existence. I just have one more night to stay here, that’s it. I am so ready for this trip to be over and return home. I never wanted any of this. It feels like inviting something. But the knocking started again last night, and the police said to keep a log “for documentation purposes.” So fine. Here it is. Entry one.

The knocking hasn’t happened yet, but it will. It always does. I just want proof this time, even if it is just for me!

10:49 PM

I can’t sleep again. The house keeps settling in that way that sounds like footsteps on the stairs. I’m recording the times tonight so I can tell myself in the morning that nothing happened. That I imagined it. I have been alone too long.

11:00 PM

An hour left till midnight. It seems tonight will be another sleepless night. Time doesn’t feel right here. The house settles again. I hear the storm outside. The digital clocks that plague the kitchen all glow in unison, 11:00 PM . The time a quiet sentinel.

11:07 PM

The house exhales as the storm tightens around the windows. The power feels unstable and the snow is a lonesome blanket on the exterior of this mountain rental. My phone flickers to 11:06, then back.

A minute lost or gained?

11:11 PM

The house was so inviting my first night. Now, I feel a tinge in the air as though I am not meant to be here. As if the house itself has asked me to leave. I am trying to settle my nerves by focusing on the gentle fall of snow, the hum of the heat, and making myself a steaming drink.

Would you look at the time, make a wish. Mine is that I hope the power holds, the lights keep flickering. Maybe I can find a backup generator if it gets too bad. I doubt it, but I can hope. I am sure the loneliness is just messing with my head.

11:24 PM

My phone rings, but no notification. I am in an out of service zone, my phone is on SOS with the ruralness of the house and the storm raging outside. So how the hell is it ringing!? And why is there no record of it, I swear I keep getting calls, but I have no proof…

Time feels slow tonight. Heavier. The clocks tick but don’t seem to agree with each other. Something or maybe someone in the house keeps resetting the digital ones, it’s not me. I just want to leave, but this storm has me trapped…

11:32 PM

Less than thirty minutes before midnight. The walls sound like they are breathing. Do I have a fever?

I hear a whisper in the vents. It says that I should leave… I hope I am not hearing voices now… The isolation must be eating at my mind.

11:41 PM

Footsteps on the porch. Slow. Deliberate. And no reason or cause to be found. The time on the stove says 11:38. The wall clock says 11:43. My phone however while I record this says it is 11:41 PM. Honestly, I am beginning to not have a clue what time it is!

11:45 PM

The smell of cooking tickles my nose awake. Awake now, when did I drift off? All the clocks are frozen at 11:45 and no seconds are ticking. It feels like everything in the house is frozen with the winter weather. With my impromptu nap on the couch interrupted I felt I should inspect the kitchen. I smell dinner cooking and can hear the faint sounds of clacking. I step into the kitchen and it’s empty. Cold. The only smell is of faint soap from the clean dishes by the sink from earlier tonight.

11:46 PM

One of the clocks is chiming as if it has reached the hour. It’s not midnight yet. Is it?

I feel a chill beginning to wash over me, the previous warmth receding to a faint memory. I am being watched. Like I am not welcome here any longer…

11:55 PM

The last five minutes to midnight. The heater has clicked off, the house sighing. The hush that has fallen is deafening. The only sound is the whistle on the wind.

11:56 PM

The landline phone is ringing. The landline? I thought this rental was modern, what is going on here! I picked it up anyway. My ear is met with static.

“Hello?”

I am met with more static and the shiver of a warning rain down my spine.

I hung up the call.

11:58 PM

Something or someone is moving upstairs. But I am here alone. I checked the noise. Making my way slowly up the stairs and around each corner and room. Nothing. There was nothing! It’s just me in the house!

As it should be.

The hairs on my body are all standing. There was a bang at the front door. A knock? One loud concussive sound that appeared to have no source as I hesitantly looked out the windows and through the peep hole. I see nothing but the snow glowing back at me. I feel like someone is pulling a cruel prank on me, I don’t find this funny. When I slowly open the door with creaking, painful slowness, ready to slam it at any second but I am only met with the night. The interior lights washing out onto the snow showing nothing but a void of black and white.

12:00 AM

It’s midnight.

There is a knock at the front door. I choked on my breath. I wasn’t expecting anyone. The knock sounds as if I should have expected company, or maybe the knocker is familiar with the house. A family is standing there. A family of 4.

No. A family of 5. Normal-looking. Calm. Mismatched clothes from different decades. They all only say two words;

“We’re home.”

SCAN ERROR — PAGE 3 OF 5

12:00 AM

Knock-knock-knock.

The knock was gentle, but something in me flinched like I knew the sound. Hadn’t I already opened the door? I already let them in. Didn’t I? They say they used to live here. They say that I invited them.

“Come in,” I heard myself say, though I didn’t mean to speak at all.

12:01 AM

The Knock. One knock only. Soft, like someone testing the wood with a fingernail. When I opened the door, the porch was empty. I turned to find them. Behind me in the hall. Inside the house. They don’t look human anymore. I don’t move. If I stay still enough. Don’t. Move. An. Inch. Maybe whoever–whatever–was out there would think the house was empty.

Leave.

12:00 AM

I am now the one knocking. Begging. Pleading. How am I outside in this bone chilling cold!? My knuckles are leaking red as I pound on the front door, “Let me in!”

The family is inside. Have they always been inside? Are they real? Spectral? Is this family before my eyes even alive? Maybe they never left… Their house. I see them in the hall. I hear them travel up the stairs. Can smell their breakfast already cooking…

I drop down, defeated, “I’ll freeze…” I croak out to them…

12:03 AM

Or maybe it’s still midnight. At least that is the time my gaze falls on before the time flickers off on my cracked phone screen. The frost and snow are tucking me in for a long rest now.

[Page withheld in full under FOIA exemption b(1) + b(7)(A) + b(7)(F)]

12:14 AM

Goodnight.

Released under the Freedom of Information Act

Case No. ████████

Release Date: ██/██/20██

FOIA Exemptions Applied: b(1), b(6), b(7)(A), b(7)(C)