The first knock came at exactly 3:00 a.m.
Three slow taps.
๐๐๐๐๐. ๐๐๐๐๐. ๐๐๐๐๐.
Emma opened her eyes. The sound had come from her bedroom door.
"Mom?" She whispered.
No answer.
She checked her phone. No messages. The house was silent except for the ticking clock downstairs.
Then came a sound.
๐๐๐๐๐. ๐๐๐๐๐. ๐๐๐๐๐.
Her bedroom door shook ever so slightly.
"Who's there?" She asked forcing herself to look brave.
Silence.
She walked to the door, placed her trembling hand on the knob...and stopped.
Her grandmother's word echoed in her mind.
๐ผ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข โ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ก ๐๐๐โ๐ก, ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ค๐๐ ๐ข๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข ๐๐๐๐ค ๐คโ๐'๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐.
Emma laughed nervously at the the memory and stepped away.
A minute later her phone buzzed.
It was a text from her mother.
๐ท๐๐'๐ ๐๐๐ธ๐ ๐๐ป๐ธ ๐ท๐๐๐
. ๐ผ'๐ ๐๐๐๐ถ๐พ ๐ผ๐ ๐๐
๐ด๐น๐น๐ผ๐ถ. ๐ผ'๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ป๐๐๐ธ ๐๐ธ๐.
Emma's blood turned cold.
If her mother wasen't home...
Then who had knocked the door?
Then from the lther side of he door came her mother's voice.
"Emma, darling...open the door. Its me"
The voice was perfect.
Every word.
Every breath.
Emma stared at the door.
Her phone vibrated again.
๐โ๐๐ก๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข โ๐๐๐, ๐๐๐'๐ก ๐๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐๐.
The voice changed to her father now...
"Punpkin...Daddy's home"
...But he died 5 years ago.
Her eyes was filled woth tears.
The voice then changed to her brother.
"Emma...I'm cold. Let me in"
She backed into the corner shaking.
The knocks retured, but this time...harder.
๐๐๐๐. ๐๐๐๐. ๐๐๐๐.
Pictures fell from the hallway wall.
The voice laughed. Not loudly. Quietly. Like someone trying not ro wake the neighbours.
Hours crawled by.
At sunrise, the knocking stopped.
Emma waited until daylight filled her room and then she opened the door.
The hallway was empty.
Nothing seemed disturbed.
She almost convinced herself it was a nightmare...
Until she noticed the front door.
It was wide open.
Her mother stood behind a police officer.
The officer looked pale.
"We found footprints around your house" he said.
Emma looked down.
They're were muddy prints circling the house.
Hundreads of them.
All lead to her bedroom window.
None led away.
The officer swallowed.
"We also found something else..."
He handed a photograph taken by the security camera.
At exactly 3:00 a.m., someone had been standing outside the bedroom window.
Not knocking on the door.
But, knocking on the glass.
The figure had no face, there only consisted darkness.
But, it's hand...
Where it should had been, were claws the size of a pen and sharp as knife, as if he could kill anyone with just a single scratch.
Emma stared at the photo.
Then she noticed sonething nobody had.
The hand wasen't touching the glass...
...It was pointing.
Pointing...
...Behind the camera.
The officer frowned.
"What is it?"
Emma couldn't answer.
Because in the reflection of the window...
...Was the same faceless figure.
Watching.
Waiting.
