Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-25941663-20151213010850

John shifted lazily through his keychain, looking for the key to his grandma's apartment block. He needed to get some papers, but his grandma was away so he had to go get them himself.

With a push, the heavy wooden door opened. John walked down the dark hallway, the apartments left and right dead silent. He went up the winding staircase, careful not to trip in the darkness. He reached the second floor and he stood in front of his grandma's apartment. The lights were off, but he managed to find the keyhole and open the door. As he stepped inside, he noticed the next apartment's door was open, the darkness hidden within seeping into the hallway. "Weird," he thought. "I swear it was closed just a second ago."

He discarded the thought and stepped inside, closing the door behind him, not before taking another peek at the next door apartment. It was still open, but he couldn't see anything inside. "Probably a nosey neighor, that's all."

The air in the apartment was musty and smelled of closed space. He flicked on the lightswitch and the room filled with light. John went on with his business. He went into the kitchen and turned on the light. He searched for the papers, but he found nothing. As he was turning off the kitchen lights, he heard a door creaking just outside the apartment. "Probably the nosey neighbor went inside."

John continued searching the apartment for the papers. He turned back towards the kitchen and he froze in horror. Something moved at the other side of the room. He took a deep breath and sneaked towards the movement. He peeked around the corner and was relieved to see a curtain dancing under a rogue breeze. "Man, I'm such a wuss."

Before he completed this thought, he heard a shuffling sound coming from outside. Someone was out there. John tried to calm himself, but to no avail. His imagination was getting the better of him. "I must get it over with quickly," he thought and he started marching quickly up and down the apartment, eyes darting left and right with manic speed, scanning the rooms for the papers.

Finally, he spotted them. He picked them up and turned to leave.

Suddenly, footsteps echoed outside. A chill went down his spine. The footsteps continued for a couple seconds before stopping in front of the apartment door. John slowly approached. "Someone is definitely outside. Shit." He could very clearly hear heavy breathing. "What do I do? Do I open the door? Fuck, what the hell is going on?"

His mind was racing. He didn't want to admit it to himself, but he was terrified. Out of nowhere, the sound of nails scratching against hard wood invaded his ears. "Fuck," he mumbled under his breath. "This is insane! What on earth is happening? I should get out of here... Maybe I can jump out of a window. It can't be that high," he thought.

"No. I need to calm down. It is all in my head. I've just been watching a lot of horror movies lately and I'm very tired. Yeah, that's it."

He took a deep breath and stepped towards the door. The sounds from outside had stopped. "See, it was all in my head."

With trembling hands, he reached towards the doorknob. Holding his breath, he opened the door. The cold and unforgiving darkness outside greeted John.

He closed the door behind him and run towards the stairs, not even glancing at next door, but he suddenly stopped. "Shit shit shit. I didn't lock the door."

Slowly John turned back around.

His screams echoed through the building, but they fell on dead ears. 