"Shhhhh...."

“SHHH….”

I recently rented an apartment in New York. It wasn’t nice and it didn’t have a good view. I would have gotten a nicer one but I didn’t have much money. In a week, I would have a job interview and hopefully I would be able to find a better apartment so I could save up money for a house.  My friend, Lucy, had helped me find cheap ones since NY apartments cost a lot of money. She had suggested a website for me to look at since it didn’t cost lots of money. I ended up finding a woman who helped me get my apartment. She was going on vacation during the time I needed a living space. The woman was renting out the apartment for fifty dollars a night. Even though it was only fifty dollars I wasn’t sure I could pay the three hundred and fifty dollars for the week but with persuasion I managed to get the apartment for twenty-five dollars a night.

I gave her a call and we arranged the time that I would be arriving. It would be in a week, the day of my interview. I scheduled a taxi so I could arrive there. I have always thought taxis were a waste of money but I had to get one this time.

 As I was arriving, I looked around and saw the neighborhood. There was a ton of graffiti and I saw a fight in an alleyway but I took the bit of happiness I had left and tried to remain cheerful. I didn’t want to arrive grumpy.

I also surveyed the outside of the building.  The windows were dirty and in between many of the bricks was mold. I considered telling the woman that my interview was canceled but I knew that, in retrospect, this would be worth it. I trudged up to the apartment and knocked on a door. As I was waiting, I saw that on the door was a metal number, twenty-one. Slowly, the woman opened the door and greeted me with a smile that looked fake. She was about in her early forties as far as I could tell. “Come in! Come in!” she exclaimed as she ushered me into the room. It wasn’t as bad as I thought, it had the necessities. A bed, window, lights, a living room, a bathroom, and a small kitchen. In a far corner was a huge makeup light and on the sides, were many Bollywood posters. The room was clean and welcoming. A good choice for twenty-five dollars a night. It was a small space but perfect for a few months living, I would just have to ignore the bad area.

As I was still looking around, she interrupted my thoughts with a giddy laugh, almost if she was on drugs. “So, you’re all set? Great! I’ve already brought my bags to my car.” She then pointed to a truck and in the back, were many bags. “Is there anything I should know?” I inquired. She shook her head no. “What is your name?” I asked. “Dear, time is of the essence! No need for names!” she exclaimed as she left.

After she left, I made myself comfortable, unpacking and such. I ate a quick snack before calling a taxi again and heading to the interview. I’ll spare you the details of it, since they are long and boring and not as important as what happened afterwards.

It was very late when I got back. Everything was pitch black. I walked up the stairs since there was no elevator. Not that I would have trusted the elevator anyways. As I was opening the door, I wondered who else lived in the apartment building. I hadn’t seen anyone else yet but they were probably asleep.

Once I turned on the lights, I noticed that some of my clothes were sprawled over the floor.  I concluded that I must have knocked over my bag spilling my clothes. At the time I didn’t notice that the bag wasn’t unzipped and it was where I had left it.

I was exhausted and I decided to take a shower in the morning. So, I jumped into bed for a good night’s sleep. The mattress was comfortable and not squeaky. I was surprised. And I drifted off to sleep.

There was a loud shuffling in the middle of the night and I awoke. Just before I was about to fall back to sleep, thinking it may have been one of my neighbors, I saw a figure. At first, I thought I was hallucinating but then it moved ever so slowly. The shape was tall and skinny, it nearly resembled a person. I inched my arm toward the light switch, my heart pounding.

Just before I reached it the figure jumped down and crawled out of sight. “What in the world?” I whispered. When I turned on the light I got up and started walking around the apartment trying to find the figure. When I saw nothing, I went to bed. In the morning I called the woman. I must have sounded very peculiar asking if there was anyone or anything else that lived with her. She paused for a while and then and answered with no. She insisted that I was imagining things but her voice was trembling.

I proceeded with my day, heading off to my  first day of work. As I came back that night, I was extra cautious. I locked the door twice and checked each room but nothing was there. I placed a knife on my bedside stand and got in bed and went to sleep.

That night I was woken up again around two. This time the figure was much closer than the previous night. The figure was so skinny that I could nearly make out the rib cage. I could see two dark circles were its eyes must have been. I tried to scream but I just couldn’t. Then, it reached its finger up to its mouth and slowly said, “SHHHH.” The sound was so haunting it sent a shiver down my neck. “SHHHH,” it continued.  

I must have passed out because when I awoke, it was day. It couldn’t have been real! I was taught my whole life not to believe in these things. But what if it was real? I shook my head to be rid of the insaneness. I must have been having nightmares. But this happened, not every night, but many nights.  Over and over.

I went to my final day of work, the last day I would have to be here. As I arrived back, I couldn’t help lingering outside of the door. Should I go in? But I did. All I had to do was last one more night.

I decided to sleep on the couch this night so I could be closer to escape if it came with intentions of harm. It took me a long time to fall asleep, but, I did manage to finally drift off.

I awoke at three because of a cold breeze. I sat up to see that the window was open. I got up to close it, ready to scream and call the police. I heard a soft “SHHHH,” beside me. I closed my eyes ready to cry. “SHHHH.” It got louder. I got my courage to turn and face this creature. It was about seven feet away. It just kept its finger up and kept shushing me. “SHHHH.” I feared that if I tried to call the police it would jump and kill me. “Please.” I whispered. “Go away.”

“SHHHH,” it said, “don’t tell.” It stayed there for a few minutes until it crawled back out the window, looking at me one last time.

I jolted for my phone to call Lucy. I was surprised she understood me since I was a mess. “Should I call the police?!” I screamed. “No,” she replied. “They won’t believe you, you need to come home. You’re just seeing things.” My heart sunk, she didn’t believe me. “But...” “Go to sleep and then tomorrow come home as soon as possible.” I curled up into a ball and stayed there awake for the rest of the night.

The next morning, I packed my bags and rushed to call a taxi. I didn’t care about my car, even though it was still in the parking lot. It was silly but I needed to be with someone, anyone. As I was leaving I bumped into the woman, she was back early. She asked how my stay was but I looked at her and rudely pushed her aside. “I have to go. My friend isn’t answering my calls.” “Wait!” the woman said. I kept on going down the stairs. “Why isn’t she answering?” she asked again. I sped up my walking and made it to the taxi stop, which was next to the apartment, when she said, “Did you tell? You did, didn’t you?” I stopped. “What have you done?” she said and then she collapsed to the ground. She whispered, “ Tell your friend never to tell. Never…..SHHHHH” then she shut her eyes.

       I called 911 and an ambulance came and took her to the hospital. Some of the workers gave me dirty glares as if I was the one who did it to her. I wanted to scream at them that I didn’t do it, but I held it in.

       As they took her away one of the workers told me to go home. But I didn’t. I went up to the apartment, room twenty-one.

       I left my luggage downstairs since I wouldn’t need anything. But I put my phone in my pocket in case Lucy called back.

       My heart was pounding as I walked in, yet I knew that the monster wasn’t there. He only came at night. I was looking for any sign of that monster.

       I pushed aside a Bollywood poster and a tin of makeup. I found nothing. I moved to the kitchen, then the bathroom, the bed, and lastly the living room. Yet I still found nothing.

       I was about to leave when I heard a screeching noise outside. It scared me so badly that I fell backwards between the makeup mirror stand and a wall. As I was getting up my hand brushed against a small round shape, that was under the mirror stand. It was a zip drive.

       Quickly, I rushed downstairs to where I stowed my luggage and took out my computer and ran back upstairs. I plugged in the zip drive and pulled up the image.

       The image made my heart nearly stop. It showed the exact picture of the monster. This was the first time I could get a good look at it.

       Underneath it was words in Greek, Αυτός που λέει, θα χαθεί. Θα είχε μια μέρα which meant, “He who tells, will perish. He would have one day. “

       There were also plans to create more. They would take over the world. The woman was going to make more, but I accidentally killed her. And I was going to die in a few hours.

       I reached for my phone and started texting Lucy. I was telling her not to tell anyone, ever. And I told her that I was going to die.

       After I hit send, I collapsed to the floor. I thought I was going to die. But instead my limbs grew and I became something. I looked in the mirror and I smiled. I raised my finger to my lips and whispered “SHHHH…” then I leaped out the door, looking for my next victim.

THE END