Chapter 5 – Patterns in the Night
Lucy didn’t sleep at all after the knocking.
She lay awake in bed, staring into the darkness while the memory of the sound repeated inside her mind.
Three knocks.
Pause.
Two knocks.
It hadn’t sounded like random noise.
It had sounded structured.
Almost like… a signal.
By the time pale morning light crept through the curtains, Lucy had already made a quiet decision.
She wasn’t going to ignore it anymore.
If the house was making sounds, she was going to understand them.
The First Night of Watching
That evening, Lucy changed her routine.
Instead of going to bed early, she stayed awake.
Emma went upstairs at nine as usual. Lucy tucked her in and waited until her breathing slowed into sleep.
Then Lucy returned to the kitchen.
She opened a small notebook she had found in one of the unpacked boxes and placed it on the table.
Beside it she set her phone.
If the knocking happened again, she would write down everything.
Time.
Pattern.
Duration.
Lucy glanced at the clock on the wall.
10:17 PM.
The house was quiet.
Outside, wind rustled softly through the trees.
The maple branches scratched faintly against the window glass.
Lucy wrote a single line in the notebook.
10:20 PM – House quiet.
Then she waited.
Minutes passed.
Nothing happened.
Lucy began to feel slightly embarrassed with herself.
Maybe she had overreacted.
Maybe the noise had simply been pipes.
Old houses were full of unpredictable sounds.
But just as Lucy was about to close the notebook—
She heard it.
Tap.
Lucy froze.
Her eyes lifted slowly.
The sound came again.
Tap.
Her pulse began to rise.
Lucy stood quietly and moved toward the staircase.
The knocking was faint, but unmistakable.
She climbed the steps slowly.
Each stair creaked beneath her weight.
The knocking stopped.
Lucy paused halfway up the stairs.
Silence filled the house again.
She waited.
Five seconds.
Ten seconds.
Nothing.
Lucy continued up the stairs and walked toward Emma’s bedroom.
The door was slightly open.
Emma slept peacefully inside.
Lucy stepped into the room.
The wall beside Emma’s bed stood perfectly still.
No movement.
No sound.
Lucy frowned slightly.
Had the house simply shifted again?
Then—
Tap.
Lucy spun toward the wall.
The sound came directly from behind the plaster.
Not from the pipes.
Not from the window.
Inside the wall.
Lucy slowly reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone.
She checked the time.
10:42 PM.
Then she whispered quietly to herself.
“Okay…”
The knocking began again.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Lucy’s heart pounded harder.
Three knocks.
Just like the night before.
Then silence.
Lucy counted slowly under her breath.
“One… two… three…”
Then—
Tap.
Tap.
Two knocks.
Lucy stared at the wall.
The exact same pattern.
Three knocks.
Pause.
Two knocks.
Lucy felt a strange mixture of fear and curiosity rising inside her.
Because patterns meant intention.
And intention meant something was causing it.
She slowly stepped closer to the wall.
Emma stirred slightly in her sleep but didn’t wake.
Lucy placed her palm gently against the cool painted surface.
The knocking stopped.
The house fell silent again.
Lucy waited.
Nothing.
Then suddenly—
Tap.
Lucy jerked her hand back.
The knock had come from directly beneath her palm.
Her breathing quickened.
Lucy stepped backward slowly.
The pattern repeated again.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Pause.
Tap.
Tap.
Lucy swallowed.
Then she did something she hadn’t planned.
She raised her hand.
And knocked back.
Two quick knocks.
Tap.
Tap.
The house went completely silent.
Lucy’s heart hammered in her chest.
Seconds passed.
Ten seconds.
Twenty seconds.
Nothing happened.
Lucy felt foolish.
Of course nothing would respond.
She shook her head and turned toward the door.
Then—
The wall answered.
Three knocks.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Lucy froze.
The pause came again.
Then—
Two knocks.
Tap.
Tap.
Lucy felt the air leave her lungs.
Because the pattern had returned exactly the same.
Not random.
Not mechanical.
It sounded almost…
Like a conversation.
Lucy slowly backed toward the doorway.
Her eyes never left the wall.
The knocking stopped again.
Emma shifted in her bed.
Lucy stepped quietly into the hallway.
Her hands were trembling now.
She walked downstairs and sat at the kitchen table.
The notebook still lay open.
Lucy stared at the blank page for a moment before writing.
Her handwriting looked shaky.
10:42 PM – Three knocks. Pause. Two knocks.
Repeated multiple times.
She hesitated before writing the next line.
Then she forced herself to finish the sentence.
When I knocked twice… it knocked back.
Lucy set the pen down.
The quiet house seemed heavier now.
More watchful.
Lucy leaned back in her chair.
For the first time since moving into the house, she felt something deeper than curiosity.
Something colder.
Because the sounds in the wall no longer felt like part of the house.
They felt like something else entirely.
And whatever was inside that wall—
Had just answered her.
