Do Not Open The Door
A ghost story for Halloween
“Stop pushing”, Katie complains. Christy is huddled behind with her hands on Katie’s shoulders as they slowly make their way downstairs. “Why are the lights out?” She asks.
“For the 1000th time, I don’t know,” Katie whispered fiercely. She was a little jumpy and had no patience for stupid questions. Christy whimpered. Katie sighed deeply, feeling a little guilty. “Listen Christy, the lights are out so just deal with it. It’s not like we have no light”, holding up her smart phone showing the beam of light. Moving their way down the darkened stairs, Katie tried to see with the little light. It seemed darker downstairs, sinister almost. Shaking the feeling, they continued, stopping on the last step, staring at the front door.
“I don’t hear it anymore,” Christy whispers.
Katie holds her hand up, “Shhhhhhh, listen.” Both girls stood perfectly still, waiting. After a couple of minutes, Katie gave a shaky laugh and said, “See, it was nothing.” Shaking Christy off her, she headed for the front door, checking to make sure it was locked.
“What about the lights?” Christy asks again as she hugs the wall. She was scared and didn’t like it.
“It can’t be for long, mom said she was calling the electric company. Let’s go back up to my room, we can wait for the lights to come on there.” Katie turns to go back upstairs when they heard a faint wail of what sounded like a kitten. She jumped back with a yelp.
Sounding scared, Christy points to the door, “There it is again.”
“I know, I heard it,” Katie hisses through her clenched teeth. The faint wail of a kitten was heard again. Her concern starts to come out even though she’s scared. “Do you think it’s a kitten? It sounds like a kitten.”
Christy sneaks over and clutches Katie’s arm, “I don’t like that sound of that sound.”
Katie smiled at her, “There’s nothing to be afraid of. We have to check it out.”
“Please don’t,” Christy pleaded. “Listen to it, somethings not right.”
Seeing Christy was really scared, she got on her knees in front of the door, putting her ear to the door listening with Christy following suit. The wail was heard more clearly. They both jumped a couple of inches causing Katie to land on her behind. Christy was right, there was something strange about it. “Maybe its hurt,” she whispered hesitantly.
“Please, can we just go back to your room,” Christie begged.
Katie leaned her head close to the door and said in a low comforting voice, “Kitty, kitty, kitty.” The wail was louder, more intense, making it sound more like a growl this time. Katie scooted back a little at the noise, giving a nervous laugh. “I’m with you,” she said getting up. Whatever it was, hurt or not had to wait till the lights came back on.
Christy grabbed onto her arm, pulling her back onto the stairs. “Come on,” she whispered. While they climbed the steps in the dark, the wail/growl was heard again. It was Katie’s time to push Christy on. The more they climbed, the louder the wail. When they reached the top, something started scratching on the front door. Both girls screamed as they went running into Katie’s room.
“Help me!” Katie screamed as she grabbed one side of her dresser trying to push it against the door. “Grab the other side!” A crying Christie grabbed the other end and between the both, managed to half drag, half carry the dresser against her door. Grabbing her phone, she calls 911. Crying herself, she tries to explain there is something trying to break into her house. Begging for help, she screams her address into the phone as the wail could be heard downstairs. The operator on the other end tries to calm her, telling her to stay on the line, a patrol car was only 7 minutes away. She can hear Christy on the phone with her dad, hysterical as she keeps repeating there is something after them and come save her.
The wailing was heard, coming closer. Christy screams in terror. The 911 operator yells in Katie’s ear to get her attention. “Any other place to hide?” he asks. She looks around franticly, and sees the bathroom door. “Christy, get up. Get into the bathroom now!”
Christy cringes behind a pillow on the bed, crying for her dad to help them. Katie gripped her arm and jerked her off the bed. “Bathroom, now.” And pushes her in that direction. Christie stumbles her way into the bathroom with Katie right behind her. She locks the door and starts looking for anything to protect them. Her phone shines on candles sitting on the edge of the bathtub. Blessing her mom for her scented candles, she forages through the top drawer knowing that was where the lighter was kept. Finding it, she opens the cupboard that holds her hair spray and grabbed all 3 bottles. Testing the lighter to make sure it works, Katie has Christie get into the bath tub with her, each holding a can. “If it breaks through, hold down and don’t let go. Once I light it, it will work like a miniature fire torch. Let it come near us with these.”
“Please get here daddy, I’m so scared,” Christy cries into the phone.
When the wailing sounded from the bedroom, the sound pumped terror through the girls’ blood. “It’s in my bedroom,” Katie screams to the 911 operator. “Where are the police? Why aren’t they here,” she cries. Her fear level was beyond beyond, she never felt so alone. Something scary was coming after them. “It’s outside the door, it’s outside the door. Oh please please help us, oh please,” she stammers into the phone. She lifts her arm holding the can straight in front of her. “Be ready Christie. If it comes through the door, start spraying.”
Christy whimpers louder, “Oh Daddy.” Katie knocked into her shoulder, “Christy please, you have got to help me.” Christy gets her arm shakily into position.
Katie almost sprayed when the scratching started. It was almost as bad as the wailing. She was scared to death. “You have to help us, it’s trying to get in. We hear it,” pleading into the phone. “Katie, the police are now on your street, they are almost at your house. Did you hear me?” The 911 operator asked anxiously. “The police are outside”. The overwhelming relief Katie felt was almost too much.
“Hurry, hurry, were upstairs, it’s in our bedroom,” Feeling brave for the first time, she yelled at the door, “The police are here.” At that moment, a siren could be heard getting closer. “Do you hear that? They are coming to get you.” The scratching got worse, the wail higher. “Go away, leave us alone!” she screamed with all the fear and frustration from the night. It seemed like forever before the siren finally sounded like it was right outside the house. The scratching abruptly stopped, and then a menacing wail that made Katie’s skin crawl seemed to vibrate through the whole house. The girls hung to each other, cringing in fear. Moments later, Katie heard her name called. “In here, we’re in here,” she called back. A banging on the door by the police saying it was safe to come out, Katie slowly opened the door to see a hero in blue holding a flashlight in her direction. She and Christie flew into his arms almost knocking him over, clinging to him, not wanting to ever let go. Once outside, Christie’s dad came and they went home with him.
Try as they might, they could not describe what it was, only what it sounded like. It seemed their story wasn’t real until after the police investigated the house. The final report stated the front door had almost been knocked off its hinges. Some animal had clawed and pushed its way through the bedroom door and was working on the bathroom door before the police arrived. To the police, the girls had been hunted by a rabid bear perhaps. Hair samples and other evidence had been collected but the lab reported the samples were contaminated so unable to match it to a bear 100 percent.
Katie no longer stays in her home alone after dark, and Christie, she does not come over anymore. They don’t talk about it, just pretend it never happened but there are rumors. It’s a fairy tale.