Night descended slowly over the house.
At ten p.m., Nara still wasn't brave enough to sleep.
She sat in the main room with the lights on, Grandma Sari's black book resting on the table.
She had already checked the bedroom doors on the second floor.
They were all closed.
At least for now.
Nara glanced at the wall clock several times.
10:17 p.m.
Still less than two hours until midnight.
She tried to distract herself by opening her phone.
There was no signal.
The message she'd been trying to send her friend for some time still hadn't gone through.
Nara sighed.
"I'm leaving tomorrow morning."
She said it softly, as if making a promise to herself.
After that, she'd find a place to stay.
This house could be left empty.
An inheritance didn't mean she had to live in it.
Suddenly, she heard a small sound.
Creak...
Nara raised her head.
The sound had come from the kitchen.
She waited.
Nothing happened.
Maybe it was wood expanding in the cold air.
Nara turned her attention back to her phone.
A few seconds later...
Knock.
She froze.
That sound was different.
It hadn't come from upstairs.
It hadn't come from a door.
The sound had come from the wall of the main room.
Nara slowly turned her head.
The wall beside her looked ordinary.
The old painting still hung there.
There was no one around.
Knock.
This time, it was louder.
Nara stood up.
Her heart began to race.
"Who's there?"
There was no answer.
She immediately regretted speaking.
Grandma Sari's message flashed through her mind.
If you hear knocking from inside a room, don't open it.
But this wasn't a room.
It was a wall.
Nara slowly approached the wall.
She raised her phone's flashlight.
She directed the beam at the wall's surface.
There were no gaps.
No door.
Only old wallpaper beginning to peel.
Then...
Knock... knock... knock...
Three knocks.
Right in front of her face.
Nara stepped back.
Her breath caught in her throat.
The knocking came again.
Knock... knock... knock...
This time, it moved.
From the wall on the left...
toward the wall on the right.
As if something were walking inside the wall.
Nara covered her mouth.
"Oh, God..."
The knocking stopped.
Silence.
Five seconds.
Ten seconds.
Then came a long scraping sound.
Srrrkkk...
Like someone's fingernails scratching the inside of the wall.
Nara ran to grab the black book.
She opened it with trembling hands.
The earlier pages offered no answers.
She flipped through the pages quickly.
Nothing.
Then a sheet of paper that hadn't been visible before fell to the floor.
Nara picked it up.
Grandma Sari's handwriting filled the page.
> If the sound comes from the wall, don't knock back.
Nara swallowed.
Beneath it was another sentence.
> No matter what happens, don't answer the first three knocks.
Nara read the sentence over and over.
The first three knocks?
That meant...
there would be more knocking?
As if answering her thoughts—
Knock.
Nara froze.
One.
Knock.
Two.
Nara stepped back.
Knock.
Three.
She held her breath.
Nothing happened.
Then a very soft voice came from behind the wall.
"Nara..."
Her body went rigid.
It wasn't Grandma Sari's voice.
It wasn't the little girl's voice from earlier, either.
It sounded like a young woman's voice.
A voice that felt strangely familiar.
"Nara..."
Nara covered her ears.
"Don't..."
The voice came again.
"Do you still remember me?"
Tears began to well in Nara's eyes.
She didn't know who the woman was.
But her body reacted as if it knew her.
Suddenly, her head began to ache.
A shadow appeared in her memory.
A little girl.
A white dress.
Long hair.
Standing in a hallway.
Little Nara was holding her hand.
Then came the sound of crying.
Smoke.
Fire.
And a door being closed from the outside.
Nara jerked.
The memory vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
She gasped for breath.
"Who are you?"
The moment the words left her mouth, the house fell silent.
Nara regretted it.
Too late.
The wall in front of her began to tremble.
Softly.
Then more and more violently.
Thud.
Thud.
THUD!
Nara ran toward the front door.
But before she could reach it, every light in the house went out.
Click.
Darkness.
Nara froze.
Then dozens of voices whispered together from inside the wall.
"Nara..."
"Nara..."
"Nara..."
She covered both ears.
But the voices continued to ring out.
Then one final knocking sound echoed.
Not from the wall.
From behind her.
Knock... knock... knock...
Nara slowly opened her eyes.
In front of the doorway leading to the main room...
stood a little girl.
Her face was pale.
Wet hair covered part of her face.
She stared at Nara without blinking.
Then she raised one finger and pointed at the wall.
Nara followed the direction of her finger.
A long crack slowly appeared across the wall's surface.
Creak...
The crack formed a rectangular outline.
Like...
like a door being made from the inside.
The little girl smiled.
And whispered,
"They've found a way out."