Peace and quiet
You know when you move into a new house, and even if it isn’t very big- every wall, every corner seems to just go on and on?
Well that is the exact feeling I had. Even a year after my family had moved into a new neighborhood, into a new home, new life. When I’d be left alone- even though I was almost a teenager I still felt scared of the narrow hallway connecting our living room to the rest of the house.
Something about it seemed off, how close the walls were , two people couldn’t fit side by side while walking down it.
I remember I was playing piano in that living room. It was one of those days where everyone had left the house, leaving me to entertain myself. I was practicing for an upcoming recital, the chords fitting awkwardly into my small hands, when faintly through my playing I heard,
“Be quiet.”
I stopped for a moment, I knew I was home alone, and the voice was faint enough for it to have been someone’s radio from outside. I rationalized to myself and kept playing. A moment later I heard,
“Be quiet..”
The voice was closer, clear even through the noise from the piano and I stopped once more. Staring behind me at the long, narrow hallway that separated me from the rest of the house- that separated me from my bedroom. I shook my head, pushing the disembodied voice in the back of my mind once more. ‘I have to practice for my performance’ I remember saying out loud, maybe I believed I was talking to someone.
I continued to play.
“SHUT UP!!!”
I heard it clear as day, a feminine voice shouting from directly above my shoulder when no one was there. I shot up from the bench and raced to my room.
Never did I play the piano alone again, and never did I hear the unseeable woman speak again.
