The Scratching

 As Cecelia walked into her new apartment on Halloween night after trick-or-treating, she noticed it was not like the others. The peeling paint on the off-white colored walls, the cobwebs that lined every nook and cranny, and the creaky, splintery stairs made Cecelia shudder. “Thank you sir,” She handed the doorman a tip, but noticed that he had a long scar stretching across his eye, making him blind, and overgrown fingernails. He walked away and slammed the door behind him.

 Cecelia started to take her  belongings out of the boxes , but then she went to the lobby to ask if there was any other rooms available. The woman at the front desk said there wasn’t any because it was such a popular building, so Cecilia decided to stay and clean it up. An hour later she went off to sleep. She got into her bed and turned out the lights.

 Scratch, scratch, scratch! It was exactly 12:00am when Cecelia woke up to the horrible sound. It seemed to be coming from outside her door. She suspected it was just her radiator and went to sleep.

 About two weeks passed, and every night at exactly 12:00 she heard scratch, scratch, scratch! Every time she ignored it. One night at 11:59 she crept up to her door, fed up with what was happening. Scratch, scratch, but before the third could happen, she opened the door. In front of the door was the doorman, blood dripping from his head.  Cecilia’s eyes locked on his. For a second they just stood there, but then the doorman lunged at Cecelia and pinned her down, knife in hand. The doorman used it to cut across her eye. She tried to call for help, only to be muffled by the hand covering her mouth.