chapter 13
I quickly accepted his friend request.
Then I asked him: [Why do you say that?]
[Did you hear the dog on the third floor barking tonight?]
Oh, right.
I just remembered.
The young lady on the third floor keeps a Husky.
Huskies are lively by nature and naturally noisy.
So it’s common to hear the dog barking in the middle of the night.
I thought back carefully.
Tonight, I really hadn’t heard its voice.
I replied to him: [Maybe it’s just asleep?]
[There was such loud thunder and lightning just now. Dogs have very sensitive hearing. That thunder would have woken it up.]
True.
There were a few loud claps of thunder just now.
Even with my window tightly shut, I was startled.
But even so, I hadn’t heard the dog on the third floor bark.
[So, what do you mean?]
His side showed ‘typing’, and after a long while, he sent: [Maybe… it’s just what you’re thinking.]
Hearing him say that, my hair stood on end.
What I was thinking.
The dog on the third floor…
Could it be that a murderer really got into our building?
No way.
[Let’s call the police.]
Just as I finished typing this sentence,
Another flash of lightning streaked across the sky.
Then came a huge clap of thunder.
After the thunder, through the tightly closed window, I vaguely heard two barks.
I hurriedly opened the window.
Amidst the dense sound of rain, I heard the dog barking.
It was a false alarm again.
I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead.
[Listen, the dog on the third floor is barking. Maybe the first thunder didn’t wake it up, but now it’s awake. Did you hear it?]
502: [I heard it, but you should still be careful. I just feel something’s off tonight. Check your doors and windows, make sure they’re locked. I’ll keep watching, and contact you if anything happens.]
[Okay.] I replied to him.
He did remind me.
Let me check the doors and windows again before bed.
I glanced at the door. It was closed, but it could be more secure.
I planned to move a small square table to block it, just to get through tonight.
I quietly moved to the door.
It was stormy outside, with strong wind and heavy rain.
Cold gusts blew in.
A gust of wind swept by, sneaking in through the cracks in the window and door.
Making a ‘woo woo’ sound.
I stood at the door.
The cold wind seeping in from both sides of the door chilled my ankles.
Wait.
Why is the wind coming in from both sides of the door?
I moved my feet to both sides of the door, then slowly to the middle.
Sure enough, the wind was really coming in from both sides.
Very quickly.
I realized there was someone at the door.
But when I looked out through the peephole for a long time,
the hallway light wasn’t on.
Under the faint green light, there was no one standing at my door.
So… that person was…
I quietly crouched down.
On the other side of the door in the darkness,
there was someone pressed tightly against the bottom of my door.