The Rapping in Bell House

Dane, knew every haunting tale of Bell House. The stories of its various owners being driven to madness or them disappearing and the house being sold off to the next fascinated him since his adolescence. He took a keen interest in the supernatural during his formative years.

He eventually found friends with like interest and they decide to hunt and seek out the supernatural together. It was a hobby that persisted on well into his forties. He never married or had any kids as a result of it. No woman ever stayed long enough to endure his lifestyle.

Dane had a couple of good decades thrill chasing in the most haunted places in the country with his friends. Eventually, they all either married and started families, made career changes, or became disinterested in it all to persue other passions. Dane, felt he was left with no choice but to do the same.

So, he decided to buy a home, with the hopes of moving a young woman into it, starting a family, and perusing other interest. Soon enough, he’d be too distracted with everything else to even consider the supernatural, he thought to himself. But, he just couldn’t let it go.

The Bell House was his solution. After a day of moving he showered and laid down in bed for the night. A few minutes just after one in the morning he heard a tapping. He smiled and recalled a part of the story the realtor told him, ‘when you here a tapping between the first and fifth hours of the forenoon, it is better not to seek the source hidden in the walls of Bell’s rooms.’ With that, he sunk deeper into his sheets and drifted off to bed.

Time passed and Dane settled into life in the small town. He made new friends, started new hobbies, and was in thralls of courtship. His life was just as he planned and it was time he made things permenant with his girlfriend. He had asked for her hand in marriage and she agreed, under one condition. He was to rid the house of its haunting or sell it and move someplace new.

Dane, loved her, but he loved the supernatural much more. He promised to rid the house of the tapping or convince her regardless. As time went on he tried everything to rid Bell House of the haunting that plagued it for so many years. He brought in priest to pray over the house, mediums to commune with the spirit(s), and many more methods to cleanse his house. They all remedied the problem for a time. But, it wasn’t enough to win the approval of the woman he loved.

Sometime after, as they lay in bed and the tapping was a thing of the past, he heard it early in the morning once more. It persisted on just as before day in and day out. The tapping was enough to drive the only woman he had ever truly loved away. ‘You sell the house or we part ways.’ Those were the last words she said to him before his lack of response drove her to pack her bags, load her car, and leave.

He couldn’t explain it but he knew he just wasn’t ready to let Bell House go. Something was keeping him and he lacked the will to fight it. Try as he must Lauren stood firm on not returning to him until her terms had been met.

Dane handled it well in the beginning. But, the less she engaged with him, the angrier he got. He became furious with himself for staying, choosing Bell House over her. Such anger needed a source to take the blame, and the tapping was the culprit.

One night, like many he had since she left, he lay awoke in his bed. His mind raced about Lauren and how he missed her so. Then, a few minutes past one in the morning, a tapping sound filled the room. He placed muffs on his ears to drown out the sound but somehow it penetrated through. In his frustration, Dane ripped the covers off himself, threw off his muffs, and jumped out of the bed and dashed to the door. He swung the door open and stared down the hall.

Tap…tap…tap

But, he saw nothing. He creeped from his room to the stairs and listened closely.

Tap…tap…tap

It was coming from downstairs. He ran back into the room, slipped on his house shoes and rushed down the stairs as quickly and quietly as he could, still listening.

Tap…tap…tap

When he reached the bottom, he listened keenly to determine which room.

Tap…tap…tap

The kitchen! He moved swiftly into the kitchen and flicked the light switch. The tapping got louder, clearer. Then, suddenly it stopped. Dane tore the kitchen apart, frantically searching for the source of the tapping.

Once he grew tired he sat down at the table with all the furnishing and food strewn about all around.

Tap…tap…tap

The sound begin again, more maddening than ever. Dane got up from his seat quickly and rushed to listen into the walls.

Tap…tap…tap

He dragged his ear around the kitchen wall and it grew louder and more intense.

Tap…Tap…tap

Closer

Tap…Tap…Tap

Louder

Tap…Tap…Tap!

More intensified

TAP…TAP…TAP!

He jumped back away from the pantry door. And the sound stopped. He opened the door slowly, turned on the light, and peaked inside. There was nothing but shelves of food that he had thrown about earlier. Containers and grains littered the floor. As he looked around.

tap…tap…tap

He heard it again, really faint now. He moved into the pantry cautiously. He followed the faint tapping to the back wall of shelving. He searched it up and down, knocking all the food to the floor.

tap…tap…tap

He pushed and pulled at the shelf and searched around it for a secret latch. He found nothing. He stood in front of the shelf, despondent.

tap…tap…tap

‘Please’ he begged. ‘Please stop.’

tap…tap…tap

The room fell silent and he watched as the shelf swung from the wall on its own, revealing a set of steep stairs into a dimly lit chamber below. Dane was confused and frightened all the same. There had been no mention of the room or a basement in the home by the realtor. He slammed the shelf back against the wall and turned to run back upstairs, pack a bag, and leave.

Before he could make it out the pantry the shelf swung violently back open and Dane was swept from his feet. The landing left him winded and he struggled to pull himself back onto his feet. Without warning a force more powerful than he could fight off pulled him down into the stairwell and his screams sounded through the room as the shelf slammed shut after him.

It didn’t take long for his screams to stop and it began again.

tap…tap…tap

**********

“The police had been called after a few too many days passed and no one had heard from Dane. A few things were noted in the report: A missing Dane. A missing car. A ruined kitchen. Clothes thrown about his room. Police didn’t know what to make of the case and it fell into the pile with all the rest.”

+++++++++REMARKS++++++++++

Inspiration was drawn out of my desire to write something in the horror genre. I’ve always wanted to craft a nice horror story. I’ve had a few ideas over the years but didn’t actually write anything. When I woke up this morning to write this I wanted to do just that, write it. So, I did.

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