Zombies, the Knocking Gets Louder

Zombies are real, everybody knows. Just like ghosts, dragons, dinosaurs, magicians, aliens, unicorns, and mere-folk. If they were not real, we would not have stories about them passed down for generations. They lie in wait, like the story in Tell Tale Heart, they lie in wait to tell their story and bring retribution to those who wronged them. Listen closely to the story, and you will then learn to see them too.

Rainie had just moved in, the house was old and rumored to have a ghost. However, that did not scare Rainie, she did not believe in ghosts. The old owners told Rainie that the ghost was a child and used to play with their kids, or so their kids told them. Rainie did not believe them. After the first few months of living there, the screams only got louder from the locked room. The landlord said nothing was in there. The old owners said that's where the ghost lived.

The ghost threw tantrums, dashed imaginary stuff against the walls, cried inconsolably. Early mornings and late evenings were the worst of times. It was especially embarrassing when Rainie had company and the company would grow concerned that a child was locked in that room. Rainie would sometimes explain and sometimes pretend she did not hear it.

Nearly a year had passed, it was late October, and Rainie was growing tired of the noise that came from the locked room. So she had the landlord open it to show her that it was just a storage room. The screams only got louder after that. Finally she grew tired o them and told the ghost flatly to leave in peace, that it was a ghost who could walk through walls and leave anytime it felt. It was not trapped here and could peacefully pass on to wherever it needed to go. For a few months after that, she heard nothing but silence.

About 3 months after that, a mysterious knocking started up. Usually, just as she sank into bed or early in the morning. Sometimes it sounded like someone knocking on the window above her head, or at the front door, or even, the other closed up bedroom. She would look out and not see a single person out there. Moments later, it would always knock again. Then, it began knocking on the floor. As if someone was trapped under the house. Rainie passed it off as an old house settling in on its foundations.

One day she noticed that her pipes were leaking. She peeked under the house to see if she could find the leak. The house was flooded beneath. So she opened the crawl space in the hall, and there on the end of a long arm jutting from the mud, poised for action, was the zombie hand "knock, knock, knock -- ."