Nothing No One

The knock at my door came some time past midnight. It was faint and ominous. Small fist.

 

I opened the door to no one.

 

Ten minutes later came the knock again. This time a bit heavier.

 

My chewing stopped.

 

Knock, knock.

 

I chewed the rest of the chips in my mouth and stood up. Stared at my hunting knife on the kitchen table. I heard my futures self saying, “you should have grabbed that knife,” with a dying tone. I waited by the door.

The knock came again, this time gently and in two-second intervals.

Quietly I unlocked my door and yanked it open.

 

Nothing. No one.

 

Closing the door, I glanced at my staircase next to the front door and considered sitting there and waiting for the next knock.

Walking gently back to my living-room couch, I thought I heard sounds in the vacant room upstairs.

The sound of running water. Somewhere. The next apartment, maybe. Upstairs?

 

Knock, knock, knock, knock.

 

I looked at my cell phone to see if a call might be coming in of the person on the other side. Black screen.

My feet hurt from work and now here I was wondering who was playing these games.

A hot shower would do wonders right now, I whispered, and I wouldn’t be able to hear this nonsense anymore.
I stared at the off-white walls around me, the glass sliding door and its dripping patterns, my feet, the water spinning down the rusty drain.
My jaw was tightened up. When did I start biting the inside of my lip? I wondered.

The rushing sound of water abruptly ceased and I stood there motionless. Drip, drip, drip…

 

Ding, dong, came the door bell.

 

Fuck, I thought, this better be someone with a problem, I am now ready to break someone’s mouth open. I walked out naked and wet and answered the door with attitude.

 

No one. Nothing. A soft breeze.

 

A distant dog barking.

An automobile passing by a few blocks away.
I walked over to the couch wet and small-cocked and smiling.

 

What fun to have nothing better to do…
than to bother

the

gods.
∞