The Third Floor
February 27, 2025
The apartment building had three floors. But there were only two listed on the directory.
No one spoke about the third floor.
Lena moved into 2B after her promotion, thrilled to finally have a place of her own. The rent was suspiciously cheap, but the landlord had shrugged when she asked why.
“The building’s old,” he said. “People hear things sometimes. Nothing to worry about.”
She should have worried.
12:03 AM
A noise woke her.
Soft footsteps above her ceiling.
Lena blinked at the dark. There was no third floor. At least, there wasn’t supposed to be.
She sat up, listening.
The footsteps were slow. Heavy. Pacing back and forth.
She checked her phone. No service.
Taking a shaky breath, she got out of bed and crept toward the hallway. The building was silent except for the faint sound of movement overhead.
The third floor.
She should have ignored it.
Instead, she grabbed her keys.
The stairwell leading up was blocked by a rusted gate, chained and padlocked. A DO NOT ENTER sign hung crookedly.
But the lock was broken.
Lena hesitated, then pushed the gate open.
The air was wrong. Heavy. Stagnant, like no one had breathed it in for years.
The hallway stretched before her, dimly lit by a single flickering bulb. The doors lining the corridor were old, their numbers scratched off.
Then—
One door creaked open.
Apt. 3C.
Lena’s breath hitched.
Something moved inside.
Not footsteps. Not a shadow.
Something crawling.
Then she heard it—
“Lena…”
Her name. Whispered from the dark.
She stumbled back. The door slammed shut.
A new sound filled the hall.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
A rhythmic, deliberate knocking.
Not from the door in front of her.
From every door.
As if something inside each apartment had woken up.
Lena ran.
Down the stairs, through the rusted gate, back to her apartment.
She locked the door, heart pounding.
Silence.
Then, from inside her apartment—
A single knock.
She turned.
Her closet door was open.
It hadn’t been before.
Inside, something shifted.
And from the darkness came a whisper—
“You shouldn’t have come upstairs.”
The lights went out.