The digital clock read 3:15 am. I was lying awake, restless, in my bed. There was nothing I disliked more than a long, dreary, and silent night. I sighed, recalling that the nights prior to this one shared a common dullness. I adjusted the sheets in an attempt to cover my exposed feet from the biting cold that the night brought with it. Everything was pretty mundane, until I heard a knock in my room.

“Knock, knock”. I turned over to face the window, opposite to the door. Nothing. “Knock, knock”, it sounded again. It came from the door. Without thinking, I said, “Go back to bed Johnny, there are no monsters in your room”. I sighed, due to the fact that my younger brother was subject to nightmares.

“Knock, knock”. At this point, I began to grow infuriated with Johnny’s antics. I got up from bed, and sauntered towards Johnny’s rooms with gritted teeth. It sounds harsh, but for goodness’ sake, it was well past 3:00 in the morning and I was trying to get some sleep. I approached his door and pushed it open with a slight creek coming from its hinges. I peeked in the resulting crack, only to find, to my surprise, Johnny still sleeping.

“It can’t be”, I thought to myself, “If it’s not him then who could be knocking on my door”? Getting a little scared, I walked back to my room and dragged myself back into bed. I gave the concept some more thought but tiredness took over. As I began to nod off, I heard a rapping on the door, “Knock knock”. At this point, I broke out into a cold sweat and began to think, “What was it that Johnny was so scared of? Monsters”?. It couldn’t be, there are no such thing as monsters. “Knock, knock”, the door sounded. This round of knocking was more intense then the rounds before. As the rounds of knocking continued, growing more intense, I hurled up into a ball. I shut my eyes, waiting for the dreaded knocking to cease.

“Knock, knock”. I was at the verge of tears, praying to whatever was out there to stop the knocking. The knocks grew more consistent, like a heartbeat, like MY heartbeat. The knocking stopped with the onset of this realization. My heart almost gave out in the suspense. “There is no such things as monsters”, I kept repeating to myself. I tried to psyche myself up to look at the door, but my body wouldn’t listen. After five, painfully silent minutes, I slowly brought my head to face the door.

I forced my eyelids open, only to be greeted by a demonic smile with jagged teeth and bloodshot eyes. My heart stopped because at that moment, I realized the knocking wasn’t coming from the outside but rather, from inside my very own room.