Midnight Tales: A Collection Of Short Stories

The Room Next Door

I recently moved in to a new place. It's in the part of the city where the buildings are extremely packed together to the point that not even a foot rule can fit between two buildings. My room is on the ground floor, more specifically, my room is below the ground. It's quite common in these parts to have apartments below ground. It wasn't the best but it was cheap and for a poor student like me, it's all worth it to have a two bedroom apartment all to myself.

The first night, I heard tapping on the wall. At first I thought it was just the rats, then slowly I noticed that the taps were rhythmic, like they were following a certain beat.

“Perhaps it's just my next door neighbours,” I thought and rolled over so I was facing the room and my back to the wall. “I should go say hello tomorrow.”

The tapping continued until morning. When I left for school I heard taps and the sound of something scratching a surface followed by more taps. I paid it no mind. I was going to check on my neighbours to say hello but since I'm already running late I forgot to do it.

“I'll just do it later when I come home.”

At school I wondered why would my neighbours tap and scratch at the wall all night. The taps and scratches have specific intervals between them as well. Coincidentally our topic for that day was about codes used on the old days and my professor mentioned the Morse code which reminded me so much of the taps and scratches I heard last night.

“Ah, maybe it's just my head playing tricks on me. It's stuffy there anyway.”

I went home later that afternoon. I had to do extracurricular activities and my friends invited me to a karaoke bar. By the time I reached my apartment building I was more than ready to hit the sack.

That night I heard it again, the taps and scratches.

Tap, tap, tap, tap. Pause. Tap. Pause. Tap, scratch, tap, tap. Pause. Tap, scratch, tap, tap. Scratch, scratch, scratch.

The more I listened the more I noticed that the scratches were done in short intervals, they were more like someone writing a dash on a piece of paper. Whoever was on the other side tapped the same thing again. By the third time they did it I realised it was indeed Morse code.

“H. E. L. L. O. Hello?”

Out of curiosity, I tapped the same thing back. My neighbour tapped the same word but this time they did it faster and it almost seemed as if they were excited.

A moment of silence fell in the apartment before my neighbour started tapping again.

Scratch, tap. Pause. Tap, scratch. Pause. Tap, tap, scratch. Pause. Tap.

“N. A. M. E. Name. Are they asking for my name?”

Fully awake now, I decided to tell them a fake name.

Tap, tap. Pause. Tap, tap, tap, scratch. Pause. Tap, scratch. Pause. Scratch, tap.

Tap, tap, tap. Pause. Tap, scratch. Pause. Tap, tap, scratch. Pause. Tap.

“Oh, they think we have the same name.” I snicked and told them yes.

Ivan and I continued to have a conversation. At one point I tried talking to him verbally but he tapped that he couldn't speak. I nodded, though he can't see me and told him I understand. Then he tapped that he would very much prefer it if I tapped as well.

“F. A. I. N. T. V. O. I. C. E. C. A. N. N. O. T. H. E. A. R” I slowly wrote down the letters. “I do have a faint voice.”

Over the course of three nights, Ivan and I became friends. We would just have conversations all night. I wasn't getting much sleep. Whenever I tapped to Ivan that I need to go to sleep, he would pound on the wall.

“N. O. P. L. E. A. S. E” is what I always decipher.

He refused to let me sleep but he never said anything when I went to school aside from “B. Y. E”

My landlord was the first person to notice the change in my appearance. My landlord is a heavy set, bearded guy named Marko who's also in a biker gang. He's always sitting outside his office in the mornings, greeting everyone who passed by him.

‘Man, college did you bad, eh?’ he asked then chuckled.

‘Yeah, I uh, finals,’ I lied.

‘Finals? In the third semester? That's just something else. Didn't know you also got classes on Sundays. They don't let you take breaks, huh?’

“Sunday? Shit, I'm so tired I hadn't realized what day it is.”

‘Oh shoot!’ I exclaimed. I heard Marko laugh. ‘I totally forgot! Argh, I'm just really tired.’

‘Don't worry, man. Happens to everyone. Come here, let's have coffee together. It'll help wake you up.’

I sat on the bench beside Marko and he offered me a mug of coffee. The smell alone energised me. I sat there for five minutes, quietly sipping my coffee then I decided to ask about the person living next door.

‘Next door?’ asked Marko, rather shocked.

‘Yeah? His name is Ivan and he's on the left of my apartment. It's your building, did you not know? He wouldn't let me sleep that's why I look like this.’

I hadn't noticed at first but Marko's face had turned white as a sheet.

‘Daniko,’ he said, and clasped my shoulder tightly I feared it might break. ‘Daniko,’ he repeated. ‘What room?’

‘The room beside mine? And why are you so wide eyed and shocked?’

‘Daniko, there is no other room on the ground floor other than yours. And even though the buildings are very close to each other the rooms on the ground floors have about a meter distance between them and that distance is filled with nothing but solid concrete. Whatever you're hearing at night, doesn't exist.’

Taken aback, I then explained the Morse code, the sentences Ivan tapped on the wall. Still, Marko insisted that there's nothing there and even went as far as to show me the map of the underground of the city. Sure enough, there was indeed no room beside mine.

We agreed to have me move to the upper floors immediately after that. The rent will be the same as before for the first three months and after that I will pay the same as those who live on the upper floor.

That very same day, I went down to pack my things and as I was zipping up the last of my bags, the door slammed shut and from the wall I heard, tapped very slowly.

“D. O. N. T. L. E. A. V. E. M. E.”