Knock Knock , Who’s There?

By Arunanshu Chatterjee

My wife and I shifted houses this summer. We moved to a small gated community, whose houses were right beside each other.

She is a school teacher and I work in sales. We chose this community because it was friendly, and her school was not far away.

But on the first night we moved in, we heard someone knocking on our door, and twisting the knob, trying to get in. The lights were off and a cold wind blew through the air.

We looked through the keyhole, but there was no one outside.

This happened the next night as well. 

Only, it became even louder.

As though the knocks were the sounds of thunder.

And it happened the same time as before, 12.30 in the morning.

Eventually, I lost my patience and decided to do something. But my wife stopped me, “Let’s not rush into this because of anger. Let’s speak to our neighbours first, get to know them and see what they have to day.”

I initially refused.

But then my wife recites a line she tells her students,” Anger can start a war, but kindness can bring down kingdoms.”

She smiles after she says this, knowing I am convinced. I smile when she is not looking, this is why I love her to bits.

A few nights pass; the knocking intensifies. On one night, I even hear footsteps outside the house.

But I do not tell my wife.

Then, on Friday night, we hold the dinner party. We call everyone from the community.

The young couple with their two daughters, who live next door.

An old woman and her caretaker who live down the road.

Then the foreign student,

And the bachelor who’s in-between jobs.

And finally, a single mother, her son and their pet dog.

Since, it’s a small, closed community, everyone knew each other very well. My wife and I were the outsiders, so we took time to introduce ourselves.

They hardly listened.

Instead, they chatted away, often laughing at inside jokes that we did not know of.

We felt like outsiders inside our own home. They were laughing and conversing in a world of their own. 

Eventually, I stopped trying to be a part of the conversation. I noticed one of the daughters and the foreign student.

They had not eaten.

I asked the student, “Are you not hungry?”

He shook his head. He did not say a word to me.

This went on for a while, until I stood up and got to the point.

“Someone has been banging on our door since the night we moved in.”

There is sudden silence in the room.

The table that was filled with laughter, never made another sound.

Instead, each person looked terrified, got up and made their way out.

“Wait!” my wife says, but nobody listens.

They leave in the order they arrive.

The single mother and her son and their dog,

The bachelor,

And then the student.

But before he goes, he says, “Whatever you do, do not let her in.”

We are puzzled and frightened, as we look at our guests’ faces.

Then leaves the woman and her caretaker,

And finally, the young couple with their daughter.

My wife and I look at each other.

“Wait…”, we say,” where is your other daughter?”

“What?”, asks the couple,” we only have one daughter.”

And then, from the room inside our own home,

We hear a terrifying laughter.

By Arunanshu Chatterjee