Apartment 4E

Jake sat in the back of his mother’s old beat up car with his dog, Gunner, panting in his lap. He’d left her in the front alone and ignored every attempt she’d made to talk to him the entire trip. Staring out the window, he watched mountains and forest pass them by as they traveled down the empty highway. He thought about his old neighborhood and his old friends that he’d probably never see again. He thought about his old house and the memories he had, good and bad, living there for sixteen years and he thought about what his mother said when she told him they were moving. A change could be good for both of us. Jake doubted it. Eventually nature gave way to garbage ridden streets and run down apartment buildings with bars over the windows. They had been driving for five hours in silence, when she finally pulled the car over and turned off the ignition.

Turning in her seat, she looked back at Jake and said, “We’re here.” Jake looked up in disgust at the building they sat in front of. She held out a golden key to him. “I have to get the U-Haul ready to unload. Why don’t you go up and check out the apartment? Ours is 4A.” He took the key and opened the car door, but she stopped him. “I know having to make new friends and go to a new school is tough, and if I had any other options I wouldn’t have dragged you away, but I really needed this job. We’re just going to have to make the best of it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He got out of the car, then looked back and said, “Come on, Gunner.” The small pug followed him out onto the cracked sidewalk.

The apartment building had the same black bars over the front windows and door as the rest of the neighborhood. Parts of the red bricks were crumbling and worn pink, and some were graffitied over with spray paint. Inside, the wallpaper looked at least thirty years old with a flower design. It looks like grandma’s bathroom, he thought. He climbed the creaky wooden stairs, dust floating visibly in the few streams of light that somehow passed through the small stained windows. There were five apartments on each floor located down a single hallway, two doors on each side and the last straight ahead at the end of the hall. When he got to the fourth floor, he turned towards the hallway but saw only a black hole. The dim yellow light that lit the other floors was out at the end.

Jake walked to his apartment, barely able to make out the next two doors down. The last one was engulfed in darkness. A growl came from behind him and it was Gunner, staring from the mouth of the hall into the blackness, teeth bared and his fur on edge. Jake used the key to open the door and said, “Gunner, come.”

The little dog cautiously crept forward, never breaking eye contact with the end of the hall. When he was a foot from the door, he scurried past Jake’s feet and disappeared into the apartment. Jake looked down the hall one more time before closing the door and exploring his new home.



It was a long and tiring weekend of moving boxes and unpacking belongings. After two days of dusting, cleaning, and arranging furniture, the apartment started to look like a home. Jake and his mother sat on the couch, eating pizza and watching television on their small fuzzy screen.

“You excited about starting school tomorrow?” his mother asked.

“Oh, yeah. I love being an outcast,” Jake said through the excessive amount of pizza filling his mouth.

“You’ll only be an outcast if you choose to be. If you try making friends, I promise you, your experience will be a lot more enjoyable.”

Jake took one last bite of his crust and gave the rest to Gunner before throwing his paper plate into the garbage. “Great, Mom. I’ll be in my room.”

“Hold on, Mister. Drop the garbage and the pizza box down the chute in the hall.”

Jake sighed, gathered up the garbage and went out to the hall. Without the light, the whole hallway was dark at night, and filled with faint shadows made by the little moonlight that did sneak in. He walked to the staircase, opened the chute door and shoved the bag and folded up cardboard box into the hole. After some struggling, everything went down, and he walked back to the apartment.

He was about to go inside when a door started slowly creaking open to his right. He paused with his hand over the knob, as it continued for half a minute. Jake squinted, searching the still darkened hallway, trying to see who opened it.

“Who’s there?” he asked, but got no reply.

As he stood there in silence, an uneasiness came over him. His breath quickened and fear gripped him. He sensed something malevolent in the dark, hiding and watching him from its hole. He took an unsure step forward, but his visibility didn’t improve. He was about to take another when the door started creaking again. Jake paused, struggling to see any kind of movement, but the only thing that came to him was the sound of a door clicking shut. The hall was silent again. The uneasiness left him, and his breathing returned to normal, but fear didn’t leave him. Jake wasn’t sure what had happened but he knew he didn’t like this building, especially the blackened void at the end of his hall. He waited another minute, and when nothing happened, went back into his apartment.

“Is anybody going to fix that light in the hall?” he asked his mother when he entered the living room.

She drank down the last of her soda, then said, “I’ll talk to the building manager tomorrow.”

On the way to his room he found Gunner staring at the door. “Come on, boy,” he called, but the dog ignored him. Jake picked him up and together they went to his room for the night. He was so exhausted from all the moving that it didn’t take long for him to fall asleep.



To Jake, school was nothing more than a nuisance you had to deal with as a kid. He got good grades and never ditched class, but he didn’t really enjoy school. Today, I hate school, he thought as he rose from bed with butterflies filling his stomach. He couldn’t think of anything worse than entering a new school midyear and not knowing anyone. The thought of food made him nauseous so he skipped breakfast and got to school early. To his relief the day went by quickly and mostly painless. The worst part was having to introduce himself at the beginning of every class, and by third period he was yearning to get out. When the final bell rang relief washed over him and he walked home with his new friend, Miguel.

Twenty minutes later he was walking down the hall to his door. As he put his key into the lock, he heard the familiar creaking coming from the darkened hall. He didn’t bother to look this time. “This is getting old,” he called out, then turned the key and opened the door. Gunner was there waiting and ran out into the hall, barking at whoever was hiding in the dark. “Gunner, get in!” he yelled, but the dog didn’t listen. Jake picked him up and gently tossed him back into the apartment. “Get a life, bro,” he said before closing the door and locking it.

It wasn’t until way past dinner time that his mom came home with a bag of Chinese food. “Sorry I’m so late. Traffic was,” she let out a frustrated grumble, “unbearable.” She made them plates of lo mein and fried dumplings. “How was school?” she asked.

“Not bad,” Jake flatly said as he mixed his noodles around with his fork.

“Did you make any friends?”

“This kid, Miguel, was pretty cool. We walked home from school together.”

“That’s great, honey.” She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “I told you it wouldn’t be so bad.”

Jake used his napkin to wipe his mother’s lipstick off. “I guess, but he’s a little weird.”

“Why would you say that?” she said, putting her fork down and staring at him.

“When we got to our building, he practically ran away without saying bye.”

“Maybe he was in a hurry. This neighborhood is dangerous at night.”

“I don’t think so. He only did it while walking past our building, like he was afraid of it.” Maybe with good reason, he thought, remembering the creaking door at the end of the hall.

She picked her fork back up and stabbed a dumpling. “Don’t start off assuming the worst about people. That’s all I’m saying.”

They continued eating in silence. When Jake finished, he put his dish on the floor to let Gunner lick, but he wasn’t there. Gunner always waited for his scraps. He got up to look for him, heading out to the living room. “Before I forget,” his mom said, stopping him at the doorway, “I spoke to the manager, and he said there’s something wrong with the power line to that light in the hall. I told him not to worry about fixing it since we’re the only ones on the floor. It’d be more trouble than it’s worth.”

Jakes heart sank into his stomach. He thought he might throw up everything he ate. “We’re the only ones living on this floor?”

“Yep. I don’t want to bother the guy to fix a light we don’t use.”

Jake left the room, his pulse racing and his mind scrambling for answers. Who was behind the creaking door? A homeless person? A drug addict? Jake hadn’t a clue, but the uncomfortable feelings inside him when he looked down that hall made him not want to find out. He entered the living room and found Gunner staring at the door again. When Jake walked over and picked him up he didn’t react. He just kept staring at that door.



The rest of the week soon became like any other. Interest in Jake faded at school as time went on, and the curious glances he received diminished. The familiar and loathed routines of a school week set in quicker than he thought they would. He’d wake up miserably early to have enough time to walk to school, and by the time he got out the sun would already be setting, so he’d walk with Miguel to get home before dark. The only time he spent outdoors was during lunch when he’d play handball in the school yard. That’d soon end also as the days grew colder and snow blanketed the ground. For now though, he savored the half hour a day he had for himself outside.

There were strange things about his building that he was still trying to figure out. Every time he walked down the hallway, a feeling of being watched came over him, and it became hard to breathe. It felt like anxiety was taking over him. Gunner lived on the floor by his apartment door, staring at it day and night, growling at noises only his ears could hear. Jake had to bring him his food dish or he wouldn’t eat. The only time he’d leave was when Jake took him for a walk, barking viciously at the darkness every time they came or left. And then there was the creaking door that opened slowly every time Jake came home, even though there was supposedly no one else on their floor.

Jake bounced his handball as he walked home with Miguel.

After that first day, Miguel never walked down his block again. They’d always part ways at the corner and Jake didn’t say a word about it. He didn’t want to ostracize himself from the only friend he had.

He bounced the ball on each stair as he climbed up to his floor. He could hear Gunner barking frantically from the apartment. When he got to his door, he tossed the ball down, but this time it didn’t return to his hand. It hit the floor and rolled into the darkness.

Jake kneeled, searching for what the ball hit and saw indents in the wooden floor. There was a trail of them, disappearing down the hall from the doorway of apartment 4B. He was running his fingers over them when the creaking started ahead of him. Jake stood back up, searching for movement again. This time there was. Rubber bounces echoed through the hall, and the ball bounced back to Jake from out the darkness.

Jake caught the ball and asked, “What’s your name?” Silence was the only answer given.

He threw the ball back down the hall. When it reached the darkness, it stopped bouncing, there was a pause, and then it bounced back. Someone was there and Jake didn’t understand why they refused to talk. Jake bounced it back one more time, then opened his door and went to the kitchen. He grabbed the flashlight his mother kept in a cabinet and ran back to the hall, concealing it in his hand. You can’t hide now, he thought.

“Sure you don’t want to talk?” he asked. When no response came, he clicked the flashlight on, the beam of light shining down at his feet. Before he could direct it down the hall, the handball zoomed out from the blackness and struck his face hard. Jake staggered back, pain radiating from his nose. He touched a hand to it and found blood dripping from his nostrils. The door slammed shut hard in front of him. By the time Jake was oriented enough to lift his light, all he saw was the number 4 and the letter E on the door that stood at the end of the hall.



The next day went tortuously slow. After his encounter, Jake was eager to talk to Miguel but it wasn’t until their walk home that they were alone. When they got to the corner of his block Miguel said goodbye as he always did, but Jake stopped him. “Is there a reason you won’t walk past my apartment?” he asked.

Miguel looked down, shuffling his feet uncomfortably. “It’s easier for me to walk this way,” he said. Jake stared at him, waiting for an honest answer. Miguel slowly broke down until he exhaled in surrender and sat on the nearest stoop. “There’s this stupid story that’s told around the neighborhood about your apartment building. No one really knows if it’s true or not.”

Jake sat down next to him and asked, “What story?”

“It’s more a string of rumors, but supposedly there have been a few deaths in your building.”

“People are bound to pass away, it’s a big building,” Emory said, dismissively.

“These weren’t old people croaking in the middle of the night. If what’s said is true, they were all bizarre deaths. Young, healthy people who all lived on the same floor, at different times.”

“They were murders?”

“No one really knows. I’ve heard all the cases are still open.”

“And they all died on the same floor?”

Miguel nodded. “Four different people. My older brother told me about it when I was little. I always thought he was trying to scare me, but then three years ago my friend Eddie moved into your building with his dad. I even hung out there once. Twenty days after they moved in, his dad was found dead in one of the empty apartments on the floor.”

Jake grabbed Miguel’s arm. “What floor was it?” he asked.

“The fourth,” Miguel said. His eyes were vacant as he reminisced. “I’ll never forget the hallway. I remember feeling helpless, like a small animal staring into the eyes of a predator.”

Jake couldn’t believe it. Four deaths occurred on the floor he was living on, and he would’ve bet the apartment at the end of the hall had something to do with it. “How’d his dad die?”

“I don’t know. After the funeral his mom moved them away, and I haven’t spoken to him since. I’ve heard stories…horrible stories, about the bodies being mangled and disfigured, and there was one about the victim being slit open chest to groin, but I don’t know if they’re true. Probably just exaggerations fueled by the mystery of it.” They sat in silence for a minute, then Miguel remembered something. “There was one thing the same in every story though. They found scratch marks on the floor of the apartments leading into the hall.”

Jake remembered the marks he found etched in the wood floor the day before. “Even if those people died on the same floor, it had to have been just a coincidence,” he said, but he wasn’t even convincing himself.

Miguel shrugged. “You’re probably right,” he said, then let out a nervous chuckle, “but I’d still rather keep my distance.” Jake sat wondering if the stories were just neighborhood rumors or if there could be some truth to them. “It’s getting late. I’ll see you on Monday,” Miguel said, before continuing down the block.

Jake gathered up his backpack and walked to his building, dreading the dark hallway he knew waited for him. He climbed up the stairs, each one moaning under his weight, announcing his presence to whatever was living in that dark apartment. Slipping his key into the lock, he stopped, waiting, and like before, the door creaked open slowly. That’s enough.

He walked forward determinedly and shouted, “Hey! If you have something to say, then say it!” He held his arms out, inviting whoever it was to approach him.

He got to the edge of the darkness, a little before apartments 4C and 4D, when a pair of blood red eyes appeared. They glowed distinctly in the blackness that surrounded them. In the center was a thin horizontal slit for a pupil.

Jake let out a frightened scream and stumbled back, tripping over his feet and hit the ground hard. The eyes penetrated through him. He felt them sifting through his brain, looking at his memories and beliefs, his hopes and dreams, until it found what it wanted. His fears. It saw his fear of bugs. His fear of the ocean. His fear of his father. It seeped down into his core and saw the thing that frightened him most. The thing that instilled a fear so intense that it could keep him up at night. Jake hadn’t even known it himself until that moment, but it was the hallway. The one he was staring down.

A deep cackle came from the darkness that grew slowly out of control, mocking him for the fear he held inside. Jake glanced back and saw his key still in the lock. He slowly moved towards the door. The laughter grew louder until it consumed the whole hall and shook through his body like a heavy bass. Then it stopped and there was silence again.

Jake paused a foot from his door, the red eyes still watching him. He didn’t know how much time passed as he tried working up the courage to get up. Then the eyes came closer and that was all Jake needed. He scrambled to his feet, wasting no time looking back, and frantically turned his key. The door opened and Gunner was there growling viciously. He practically kicked the dog across the room trying to get himself inside, then slammed the door and locked all the locks.

Breathing heavily, he placed his ear to the door and heard heavy footsteps coming from down the hall, closer and closer. Gunner was barking wildly, making it hard to hear. “Gunner. Shut up.” The dog continued in a low growl. When the footsteps were outside the door he looked through the peephole, but it was as black as the hallway he;d came from. The doorknob rattled for a moment. Jake heard a shuffling of feet, and then the lock on the door turned, first the bottom and then the top. Jake tried grabbing the knob before it turned, but he was too late. The door was swinging inward and stopped when the chain lock went taut.

“Jake? Since when do you put the chain lock on the door?” his mother called through the slot.

“Mom,” Jake exclaimed, letting out a breath of relief. He shut the door, took the chain off and pulled her inside.



“I’m not lying!” he screamed at his mother. “There’s something evil in that apartment, and we need to get out of here.” They’d been arguing all night, but his mother wouldn’t believe him.

“Do you have any idea how lucky we were to find an apartment so fast? And with such low rent?” she yelled back, stirring mash potatoes over their small stove.

“The rent’s low because there have been four deaths. Miguel said there are stories about it all over the neighborhood. No one wants to live on this floor. And what about the eyes that I saw?”

“You expect me to believe that you saw red eyes in the hall that were able to read your mind and see your fears?”

“It’s true!” he shouted, punching the doorframe of the kitchen and crying out in pain.

His mother looked at him disapprovingly, set the mixing spoon down and said, “I don’t have time for this, Jake. I have to finish making you dinner, then I have to go back out and show an apartment. I can’t be arguing with you about this. Do you want me to go knock on the door and show you there’s no one in there?”

“No!” Jake screamed, terrified. “Promise me you won’t go down that hall.”

His mother looked at him sympathetically. She walked over to him and brushed his disheveled auburn hair out of his face, then said with finality, “This is our home now, and you’re just going to have to get used to it. I’m sorry.”

He realized she wasn’t going to believe him. The fight in him was deflating and in a small defeated voice he said, “Like I had to get used to dad? You didn’t believe me about him either.” Jake stormed out of the room.

“Wait a minute, that’s not fair,” she said, but he didn’t stop.

Jake sat in his room thinking about how he could prove he wasn’t lying when he noticed his wrist was throbbing. He figured it was from the fall earlier, so he went to the bathroom and drew a bath to soak it in. He lowered himself in the tub and let the heat cover him. Immediately the tension left his muscles, relaxing him for the first time in hours..

After a few minutes there was a light tap on the door. “Jake?” his mom said, “I’m leaving to show the apartment. Your dinner’s in the microwave. We’ll talk some more when I get back, I love you.”

Jake ignored her. He felt bad about what he’d said. It was a low blow, but she deserved it, he thought. He dunked his head under the water and savored the hot sting on his face. When he emerged, she was gone. Ten minutes later the water had cooled, and Jake got out of the tub to dry off. He walked to his room with the towel around his waist and put on a pair of shorts, then decided to watch some television.

He went to the living room and froze, eyes wide and his mouth gaped open. Across from him, the apartment door was wide open. That’s when he noticed he hadn’t seen Gunner. He called his name several times and tried coaxing him with a treat, but he didn’t come.

Something at his feet caught his attention. He bent down and saw claw marks etched into the floor going from the living room, out the door and left, down the dark end of the hall. They looked like the ones he’d seen the other day but smaller, and he realized they were the size of Gunner’s paws. Then he heard whimpering coming from the hallway.

Jake tip-toed to the door slowly. His heart was racing in his chest as he stuck his head out and looked down the hall. He was sure it was Gunner crying somewhere in the darkness and took a step out, then a second and the red eyes appeared again. It took everything inside him to not flee back into his apartment.

The deep voice spoke to him but not with a voice. It was speaking to him inside his head. “You want him back, Jakey? Come and get him,” it said, then began giggling psychotically.

“Leave me alone! What do you want from me?” Jake yelled to whatever was behind the demonic eyes.

The laughter stopped, and Gunner let out a sharp cry, then a snarl. “I want you to come get your dog,” it said, more agitated now.

“Just let him go,” Jake pleaded.

“I’m only going to tell you one last time! Come take your fucking dog,” it screamed at him.

Jake tried to move his legs forward but they failed him. All he could do was stand there and beg for his dog back. “Please! Give him back to me.”

The thing growled with such intense anger that Jake flung his hands up to his ears in pain, but it didn’t help. “Fine, take him,” the voice said. There was a crack, and Gunner yelped. From out the darkness his body was thrown, landing motionless on the ground five feet from Jake.

“No!” He ran to the body and picked him up, hugging his friend as tears rolled down his cheek and dripped onto the limp, lifeless body. The laughter started again, growing more hysterical as the realization set in and Jake became more unhinged.

When the laughter ceased the voice said, “Now you’re going to stand up and come to me.”

Jake’s world was shattered. Gunner had been his family for seven years and one of the only friends he had in this new city his mom brought him to. Now he’d never share his scraps with him again. He’d never feel him lying by his feet as he slept. He’d never look back to see him following at his heels. The anger built inside him, slowly filling him up until it boiled over. Jake kissed his dog on the head, then looked up at the red eyes still glowering at him.

“Fuck. You,” Jake growled.

The creature roared, and the eyes rushed towards him. Jake turned, sprawled on the floor and scrambled towards his apartment with Gunner held in his right arm. He only got a few feet before he was grabbed by his ankle and pulled back. Gunner slipped from his grip, and Jake kicked wildly with his other foot, connecting three times before he was free. There was an angry howl behind him but he didn’t waste time looking back. He picked himself up and ran for his apartment door. When he crossed the threshold, he slipped behind the door and put his full force behind it. The door swung shut but just before closing it stopped abruptly, jolting back into Jakes face.

Blood streamed from his nose, down his lip and dripped onto the floor. He looked for the obstruction on the floor but found none. Then he looked higher and saw a black claw protruding through the slot, scraping at the wall with its yellow nails, sharpened to a deadly point. Blood trickled from where the door was crushing it, a black syrupy blood.

“You think your father was scary?” the voice bellowed inside his head. “I am the nightmare your father could never be!”

Jake pressed his weight against the door and yelled out for help, hoping that someone above or below would hear him. The laugh came again, mocking him for his fear. Then the creature behind the door slammed into it, opening it some before it slammed back on its claw. Once, twice, three times it did this before it knocked Jake back on his ass. The door swung open and for the first time Jake saw the creature that dwelled down the hall.

Its hairless body was twisted and hunched, yet muscles rippled under its black, slimy skin. It stood naked before him grinning a smile of rotten teeth, pointed and perfect for ripping flesh. The sclera of its eyes, where it should’ve been white, were as black as its skin. The only other colors that could be seen were the red haunting pupils and the mustard yellow of its teeth and nails. It took two steps forward with its overgrown feet and bent the wrist that was caught in the door, testing it.

When it was satisfied it was uninjured it set its gaze upon Jake again. “You’ll pay for that,” it told him, then got down on all fours and began walking towards him.

Jake rolled onto his belly and crawled toward his bedroom hoping to reach the fire escape, but his hope was cut short when he felt the claw seize his ankle again. This time it was crushing. It snapped Jakes foot sideways, breaking the bones and sending waves of pain up his leg. He cried out, whimpering for mercy, but it was unacknowledged by the creature. His pleas continued as he was pulled back out the apartment and down the hallway, deep into the pit from which the creature came from. Jake tried digging his nails into the wood floor, but the speed he was being dragged ripped them from his fingers, leaving behind a small trail of blood. The last thing Jake saw was Gunner’s small body lying in the middle of the dimly lit hallway for his mom to find when she came back to an empty apartment.