Noise
Pursuit Of Quiet
Unknown Noises
The house was quiet.
He was alone.
He wanted to be alone, he wanted quiet, no television, no radio. He switched off his phone. He wanted peace. He wanted to rest, He would have it.
He sat on the settee and sipped his coffee. It was instant. The kettle made noise as it boiled but it was quiet now.
He closed the curtains as it was going dark, and he switched the lights on. It was peaceful.
Then heard something, a rustling, it was like someone scrunching paper, but it was coming from behind him. He put his coffee down on the side table and looked over the settee, but could see nothing, but the rustling continued, it was in the wall and it was an internal partition wall, so not solid. Did he have a mouse?
Then it stopped and it was quiet once more.
He took his coffee cup and drank once more then he heard something in the blocked-up chimney in front of him, it sounded like a bird or a rat, but the chimney had been blocked up years ago.
He then started to wonder if the noises were real or was he imagining them. He heard people walking past and the odd car in the street outside so he was fairly sure he was actually hearing things, but bar ripping the walls apart he could not be certain.
He could hear the noise, he was certain of that, and he needed quiet and he knew he had to have that. Now the rustling and the scratching noises from the blocked chimney started again and he thought the started to hear words in the noises.
He knew he should switch on the television or radio to drown them out, or even make a phone call, but he didn't. still trying to hear the unintelligible pseudo words from the walls.
This was too much, they weren't words, they were trying to drive him mad, or rather his own mind was. Hi didn't feel he could trust himself, but decided to go to bed and hope that falling into the realms of Morpheus would keep him safe from these noises.
He got into his pyjamas and under the duvet and buried his head in the pillow, this would keep him safe. Then the noise started again rustling, scratching and then words started to become clear.
"We know where the bodies are, and we will tell if you don't confess"
How did they know? No one knew but him. He had buried them under the new kitchen floor which had then been concreted and tiled.
To be honest he had not slept since he had killed them after kidnapping them, subjecting them to unspeakable terrors then burying them alive and sealing them under concrete.
Were the voices them?
He didn't think so, they were dead and under concrete. So who were these voices in the noise from the walls?
His own conscience?
The ghosts of the murdered pair?
He had to do it. They said they knew things and were demanding money which he did not have, so he was only left with one option.
No one could blame him, but now he was home alone they were planning their revenge.
The messages were clearer
"Your life is ours and we will take it tonight"
The Real Noise
The police were called when the screaming woke up the neighbours. It was so bad that no one wanted to go into that charnel house.
They found him on his blood-soaked bed, he had torn off his own ears and scratched his eyes out and bitten off half his tongue.
The verdict was death by misadventure, but they did not have the full story.
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Comments (30)
Damn this was creepy! I love how you built the suspense. At first I was feeling bad for the guy. I live in an old house and often think I hear stuff, but then it turned kinda sinister. What a wild ending. Got the Tell-Tale Heart vibes, and loved it :) Sorry I missed congratulating you on Top Story, so I'll add it now. Great work!
I’m only just seeing now on the comments below. Top Story! Yeah!! Pauline 🌸
I wish my insights weren’t glitching! I’d choose all. To listen to music as I read you work particularly with this piece causes tension! Blondie? I recognised straight away and how it juxtaposed with ‘the house is quiet. He was alone.’ You totally caught me with the twist!! Pauline 🌸
Bravo! Well-deserved Top Story!
Nice one congratulations on your top story
Wow!!! Amazing storytelling!!
Ooh, delightfully creepy. Love this.
"Death by misadventure" is absolutely wild, and I like it a lot. The way this story shifts from being about a person seeking peace and quiet to his descent into madness is really fun. Well done!
That's great. It makes me think of an Edgar Allen Poe short story. Although the plot was quite similar, it was not the same. Although it was quite intriguing, I like this.
Bizarre and cool 😉✨😆Congratulations on your Top Story💖🎉❗
very nicely written. ❤👌💖
Very creepy. Congrats on the TS.
https://vocal.media/education/7-top-softwares-for-small-business-management-2023 read mine too if you like :)
Very good and Congratulations on your Top Story, Mike!
This is good. It reminds me of a short story by Edgar Allen Poe. It was a very similar storyline but not the same. I like this though it was really interesting.
Dude it’s a master piece
Horrific! Love it congratulations 🥇
Love ❤️ it!!!!! This had me going! Like the Tell-Tale Heart by Poe, ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️Congratulations brother
ooooooh this had me in goosebumps!
Ohhhh, a bit of the old telltale heart going on here. Very nice. Wouldn't it be nice if real criminals experienced such all-conmsuming guilt?
An interesting concept
Oh wow! I wish this would really happen to criminals. Because not all of them get caught or convicted. This was so brilliant!
A good read! That was all kinds of disturbing. 😳 Thanks for sharing. 😊
Ooh that was brilliantly paced out, arriving to a satisfying to the conclusion
Oh Mike, so eerie! Nicely done. Reminds me in a way of the Tell Tale Heart -- guilt gets the better of them.