"Tap Tap"

Author’s note: In eighth grade, my literature teacher had us write for 7 minutes on a different prompt every day. On Fridays, we could write about whatever we wanted, and I wrote this short horror story. It has been almost a decade since I wrote it, and to be honest, it’s still one of the best stories I’ve ever finished (read: one of the only stories I’ve ever finished.)

Tap tap.

“What was that?” Leah sat bolt upright in bed.

Tap tap.

She looked slowly around the room and out the windows. There were no trees outside her windows; this was the city, after all. So what was making that noise?

“Whatever it is, it can only kill me.” That was what her Uncle Joe said when anything bad happened. Thinking of Uncle Joe made her feel braver. She slowly got out of bed.

Tap tap.

It was coming from her closet.

“It can only kill me,” she whispered to herself.

Tap tap.

She moved closer to the closet. One step, two steps, three.

“It can only kill me.”

Tap tap.

Four, five, six steps.

“It can only kill me. It can only kill me,” she whispered again, and, feeling reckless, she leapt the last few steps and flung open the closet door.

She screamed.

Oh well.

It only killed her.