KNOCK KNOCK WHO'S THERE

Mindy was home alone for the first time by herself. She was 16 now and her parents decided to leave her alone at home while they went on a weekend retreat. She had been by herself before, but not an entire weekend. “It’s okay” She told herself “I can do this. I can invite a friend over to stay”. Mindy sent all of her friends a text, but they were all busy. She sighed “You got this, what could possibly happen”. She started to fix something easy for dinner when she heard a knock at the door. Mindy went to check, hoping one of her friends made it. She flung open the front door and there was no one there. She thought “How strange, maybe someone playing a prank”. She went back to fixing her dinner. While she was cooking Mindy listened to music. She was dancing around and laughing when she heard another knock. This time it was the back door. “Who is coming to the back door.” She pondered. All of her friends came to the front door. She pulled the door open slowly this time and to her surprise there was no body there.

Mindy didn’t know which neighborhood kid was out pulling pranks, but she wished they would quit. There had been several knocks on windows, doors and even the roof. She didn’t understand why someone would make a knocking sound on the roof. She settled down on the sofa with her dinner. As she flipped through channels she made up her mind to avoid scary movies. Then she decided on a comedy. While eating she heard several knocks at different locations at the same time. They sounded really soft and faint. Mindy had concluded that it had to be neighborhood cats chasing after something. She started getting into her comedy show and forgot about the noises.

Mindy’s parents called to check on her. She reassured them that everything was fine. There was no need to tell them about the pesky noises. After getting off the phone she went back to watching her show. Then it happened again. This time the noises were a little louder and in different places simultaneously. This was starting to get weird. She wondered “Maybe I should have told my parents, but they would have thought I was over reacting”. She continued watching Tv , but had started looking at a movie. She decided to get a shower before finishing it.

Mindy went upstairs to her bathroom and could hear the knocking again. She couldn’t figure out how she was hearing it upstairs. The entire time she was bathing, there were knocks of various types on the bathroom wall. She hurried out of the shower and into her bedroom. She started thinking “I’m sleeping downstairs on the couch tonight”. She grabbed her pillow and a blanket. Once downstairs, Mindy curled up on the couch to finish her movie.

Mindy started dozing off and jerked back awake at the sound of steady knocking. It was first the front door and then the back. This kept on for a few minutes, going from front to back. She had to calm herself down and try to sleep. If it persisted she would have to call the cops. She finally drifted off to sleep and didn’t wake up until about one thirty in the morning when the sounds started. She was so tired and just wished they would stop.

Mindy woke up the next morning and felt relieved that she had made it through the night. She went upstairs to get dressed. No knocking or anything, just a quiet house. After dressing she went back downstairs and looked around. Everything seemed to be okay. She opened the front door slowly and then the back. There was nothing there. It was as if there hadn’t been anything or anyone out there. She told herself “I know what I heard. I’m not losing my mind”. She had to get ready for her shift at The Shake Shack. She was looking forward to her part time job today.

Mindy walked up to her car in the driveway and noticed a piece of paper on it. I had KNOCK KNOCK WHO’S THERE on it! She started shaking and snatched the note off of her car. “This isn’t funny” She thought to herself. She didn’t want to be late, so she tossed the paper in the back seat. She jammed to the radio and put the note out of her mind. Someone was messing with her, but they weren’t going to get her frazzled. She arrived at work where she could be distracted from the craziness, so she thought. Whoever was doing this had decided to pull their stunts at her work.

First there was a tip that had KNOCK KNOCK on a dollar bill. Then she could hear knocking when she was in the ladies bathroom. As if that wasn’t enough a coworker said someone called and left a message for her. The message was KNOCK KNOCK WHO”S THERE. Mindy was over this ridiculousness. She finished up her shift and headed for home. She grabbed a Shack combo with a banana pudding shake to eat for dinner. She had locked her car hadn’t she? The note was out of the back seat and back on her windshield.

Mindy decided to call the police at this point. She was worried they would think she was crazy or worst yet call her parents. She didn’t want to ruin their trip. She drank her shake and ate her food while waiting for an officer to arrive. A police car pulled up and a tall bulky man got out. She was a little intimidated by him. Mindy, a petite young girl, normally didn’t scare easy. Her parents had always taught her to be brave. The officer took the note and put it in a baggy. He asked her several questions, before turning to leave. She stopped him and asked “What are you going to do”? The officer explained that if it happened again for her to call and report it.

After the policeman left, Mindy got in her car and headed home. She knew the officer thought she was making it all up. Didn’t he understand the notes and phone calls couldn’t be made up? She contemplated “Owe well, hopefully it’s all over with. Maybe the person responsible noticed the police and were scared off”. She drove home listening to the radio and looking forward to a peaceful night. It was nice being in her car, it was the only place she hadn’t heard knocking.

Mindy pulled into the driveway and could see something on the front door. She approached the door cautiously and read a note that said KNOCK KNOCK WILL YOU ANSWER. She ripped the note off the door and went inside. She looked around and could see the same note posted on the outside of every window. She said aloud “What the heck is going on”? She left the notes and called the police again. Before they could get there, she heard knocking on the back door. Knock Knock Knock Knock, it just kept on.

The police showed up and Mindy pointed out all of the notes. The officer explained that it was probably just a cruel joke. He told her that if they wanted her they would have gotten her by now. She showed the officer out and smarted “Well I guess if they break in and attack me I will call you back, if I can”. The officer shook his head and walked to the police car with his partner. She wondered to herself ‘Well, I better take all the notes down and try to have a good evening. Fat chance of that”.

After removing all of the notes and settling on the couch with some ice cream, Mindy turned the TV on. “There it goes again” she yelled out loud. She shouted “Leave me alone and find something productive to do”. Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock, over and over again. She felt like she was going batty. She put a pillow over her ears and still heard Knock, Knock, Knock. She thought “Will it ever stop”? She laid down on the couch and buried her head. No matter what she did Mindy could hear Knock, Knock, Knock. Now louder Knock, Knock, Knock. This time so loud she thought the would break the door KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, She just knew they were going to break in. KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK Mindy looked up and screamed.

It was daylight, Mindy didn’t understand. She questioned herself “What happened? Did they drug her”? There it was again KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK like they wanted in. She tried to clear the cob webs in her head and thought she heard voices. She told herself “It couldn’t be, could it”? She got up tangled in her blankets. She freed herself and ran to the door. Mindy flung the door open and standing there were her parents. They shook their heads and asked “What took so long? We have been knocking for what seemed like forever! We forgot and left our keys here. We have knocked on windows, the font and the back doors”! Mindy was bewildered when she asked “Why would you spend days knocking? I don’t understand. You could have called me. Why put me through this for days”? Her Mom was perplexed now and questioned her “My darling what are you talking about? It’s Sunday and we just returned from our trip. Are you feeling okay”?

Mindy explained what had happened. Her parents called the police department and they had no records of her calling. She stated “I don’t understand! I know what happened”! She looked around and there wasn’t an ice cream container on the coffee table. She checked the trash can and the notes weren’t there. Was she loosing her mind. She sat down and looked at her phone. There were no calls to the police department. She laughed “I remember now! I was watching a scary movie when I must have fell asleep. It must have all been a bad dream”. Someone knocked at the door. Mindy jumped and screamed. Her Mom opened the door to find Mindy’s friend standing there. Mindy told her parents she wasn’t watching anymore scary movies.