I’ve always loved this place.

I’ve lived here for a few months now, I guess, pretty much all by myself. No landlord ever shows up. No new tenants. Just an empty, cheap, apartment building, a little run down, but perfect for me.

And my life’s work. The walls are thin here, so the isolation is welcome. No nosy neighbors to hear when things get a bit noisy, which they sometimes do, if a gag isn’t tight enough, or someone manages to slip a restraint, and go thumping around, trying to get out. I don’t blame them for wanting to escape, but they all have done wrong, and need to be punished. That’s what I do. I capture the wanton, the greedy, the vain–sinners all–and bring them here, and give them their just punishment.

And if they don’t survive? Well, no great loss. The world is better off without them. They wait, tidily bound and bagged, in the empty apartment next door, till I have a chance to drag them away.

It’s very gratifying work, improving the world, and thin walls or no, I’ve never had a bit of trouble. No-one is close enough to hear or see anything suspicious.

Just the last few days, though, I’ve been hearing some odd sounds myself, coming from over there. Muffled voices, whispers. Thuds. I’ve gone and checked the whole place, but find nothing.

I know I’ve been careful to cover my tracks. No-one could’ve found me out. I know my “storage space” is empty; I dragged the last two girls out last week and buried them. And I refuse to believe in vengeful ghosts, but those whispers–they sound like…scheming. They sound sly.

Now it’s evening again–I don’t have electricity here, and my candles are making odd shadows, and the thumps and whispers are starting up again. Scraping sounds, too. And a knowing little taptap on the wall, by my kitchen table. Fear is such a foreign feeling to me, but it comes creeping in from the corners of my room, and I wonder if I really did bury those girls, all of them, or if they are still over there, waiting for me, and wanting revenge.

I’ve never been afraid before.

I am not losing my mind.

taptaptap

The walls are so thin here…

Original author: Queenofscots