Person detected at the front door.

Person detected at the front door.

His phone buzzed. The doorbell camera sent a notification. He had already been laying in bed, doomscrolling. So the notification hadn’t been the surprise, but the fact that someone was standing at his front door was.

1:37 AM

Maybe it was someone across the hall ordering some late night take out. Maybe another drunk student heading to bed. Either way, it didn’t matter if he opened the app or not. He swiped the notification away.

Just one more video.

One turns to three, turns to ten, turns to being up another hour. He had class in the morning, but he was already miserable and trying to reclaim his nights after a full load of classes and a part-time job.

He still hadn’t eaten. Something about saving money by starving himself. The bed creaked as he got up and headed to the common area. His roommates were out, like every other college student on a Saturday evening. He didn’t bother turning the lights on as he meandered toward the fridge.

The harsh white light blinded him briefly, but he didn’t have to be blind to see how sparse the pickings were. An old bottle of ketchup, a jar of pickles, a few bottles of half-finished water, and a few stray carrots in the veggie drawer.

The pickles would have to do.

His phone buzzed again.

Person detected at the front door.

The notification appeared again. It usually wasn’t this persistent. Even others who passed by the door didn’t really trigger it. This time he tapped the notification. The app loaded onto the screen. A white semi-circle spun in the center as it initiated.

When the camera opened on his phone, it was immediately obvious that there was no person at the door. There was nothing, only the other door across the hall. He waited. The yellow glow of the hallway lights illuminated the kitchen from his screen. There was no movement, no shadow, no bug, nothing.

Maybe there was dust on the lens?

He had already absentmindedly started eating a pickle from the jar. It tasted old, but it was still something. He drifted through the darkened common area toward the front door, all the while watching the camera. Stilling nothing. He closed the app, and looked through the peep hole. More nothing.

He opened the door. A breeze of stale air with a hint of booze and weed drifted into the room. He peered down either end of the hall. Not a soul. It was quiet. That’s how he usually preferred it, but he almost missed the company of even the neighbors TV blasting entirely too loud.

He stepped out to check the doorbell camera. The thing was old, but still functioned. He pulled his shirt up and used it as a cleaning cloth, wiping the lens. He checked above and below for a wandering insect or arachnid. Even a stray cobweb. Clean.

Sure, this hadn’t been the best use of his time.

He stood in front of the camera and waited. His phone buzzed.

Person detected at the front door.

He tapped the notification, the camera loaded, and there he was. Standing awkwardly outside his own room. Watching himself.

Right. Time for bed.

He flicked the app away, closing it.

His mouth tasted sour from the old snack. He headed back inside and straight to the bathroom. Someone should really clean, but why should it be him? He grabbed his toothbrush, and placed the smallest little bit of toothpaste on it. Still needed to pinch pennies where he could. He brushed, singing the ABC’s in his head like his mom used to. Was it two or three times he had to repeat it?

His phone buzzed on the counter.

Person detected at door.

He had to double-take the notification. He should just take the damn camera down for the night if it was going to keep doing this. His finger hovered over the app when he heard something. A noise from the common area. A footstep?

He stopped moving--stopped breathing. Just listening.

The noise didn’t happen again, but his phone buzzed again.

Person detected at front door.

This time he did tap it.

The camera filled the screen again. The same image presented itself. The only difference this time was the long, faint shadow cast on his neighbors door. It hadn’t been there before. Someone was messing with him. They knew he was the only one here and they decided it would be a great time to mess with the sleep addled shut-in.

He tapped the microphone icon on the screen and spoke into his phone, “Who’s there?”

The shadow shifted at the noise. He was ready to key the mic up again, but it moved away. Out of sight.

That had to have deterred whoever it was. It probably wasn’t fun if the prankee knew they're being pranked, right?

He finished brushing his teeth, washing out the remaining sour, stale taste of the pickle. He headed back to his room, or he wanted to. Curiosity got the better of him. He gazed through the peep-hole. The shadow was still gone. The only difference was that he could feel the faintest breeze of cold air coming from under the door. Someone had to have left the doors open in the hallway.

It was way too late to be dealing with this. He headed straight to bed. As soon as his head hit the pillow he passed out.

His phone buzzed incessantly. He probably could have slept through it if he didn’t place it right next to his head. Rookie mistake.

With only one-eye strained eye open, he tapped the screen awake.

The door bell camera was sending notifications… but they were all blank.

3:50 AM

The popups were appearing and disappearing, his phone buzzed with each one. He tried to tap them, but the app didn’t respond. 

Then it stopped. 

The silence filled the room like a tide after the buzzing stopped. He flipped the blanket off of himself, then the phone buzzed again.

Door open.

That wasn’t a feature.

He looked at his door.

It was wide open.

His entire body went rigid. The skin on his scalp buzzed as his hair stood on end.

The darkness of the common room beyond his door was absolute. He couldn’t even make out the faint light that would normally shine in from the windows.

Buzz

He looked back at his phone.

Person.

When he turned back to the door he could make out a faint ring of lights just beyond his doorframe. He held his phone up so that he wouldn’t have to look back down.

He tapped the notification.

The screen was black for a moment. Then the night vision of the camera kicked on. He was looking at himself. Directly through the doorway, the camera was trained on him.

“This isn’t funny!” he shouted.

This had to be the worst prank he had ever had the displeasure of being a part of.

Buzz

People.

What?

He stared at himself in the camera. 

His room was pitch dark, but he could still see it. A long shadow drifted in his direction from the side of his bed. It stopped short. It was within breathing distance of his head. He didn’t want to look up.

A notification popped onto his screen.

Person detected at you.

A whisper rasped into his ear.

“It’s probably nothing.”