Leave Squeaky Floorboard Alone

That one squeaky floorboard in the spare room always sounded like a voice. I didn’t notice this until the last tenant moved out. I would hear the noise when the room was occupied, but just thought it was the squeaking of the student girls who frequently rented it out.

I decided to fix the panel with a small nail. When I drove the nail into the wood I heard the loudest scream I’ve ever heard in my life. I removed the nail and the screaming stopped, but quiet weeping went on for an hour.

After the weeping stopped I began to undo the panel next to the noisy one to see what made the sound. When I shined a small flashlight to see what was underneath I saw a bloodshot eye looking back at me. All I could see was the one eye.

It spoke, “Hello Roger.”

It knew my name.

“Hello.”

“Can you put the panel back on? It is getting cold down here.”

“Ok.” I carefully laid the panel back on.

“Thanks mate.” it replied, a little muffled from the panel now.

I walked back into the living room and stared into the wall for a very long time.

The next morning I heard the voice ask me, “When are you going to get another lodger in here mate? I do get lonely
sometimes.”

I said soon, I would have one very soon. It thanked me and fell silent.

Next day the same thing. “When are you getting a new lodger, Roger?”

“Someone’s coming tomorrow.”

“Ok… We’ll see.” It replied grimly.

I went to sleep in my room, now terrified. I can hear someone say, “Goodnight”. The voice sounded like it was coming from
underneath my bed now. It added, “I don’t want to be lonely anymore Roger.”

The new tenant, a pretty blond haired woman, came
by in the afternoon with a new aerobed and a few small bags. She was going to drop off some things and spend her first night in the room the following night. I could hear scratching sounds coming from the spare room after she left for the evening.

Underneath my bed the voice said to me in a

tone that went from gentle to malicious in the space of one sentence and rising in volume, “Thank you, Roger. Let’s hope this one stays you fucking little SHIT!!”

I slept on the couch. The floor in
there was more or less solid concrete. Thankfully I didn’t hear anything from
the voice again the rest of that night.

When the girl returned to spend her first night, she repeatedly had to re-inflate the aerobed. Between the noise of the
motor was the squeaking floorboard. It dawned on me that I forgot to nail the floorboard back in. Oh god I hope she doesn’t try to open it…

I fell asleep fitfully that night and had a
horrible nightmare of being absorbed into an amorphous ether that swallowed all sound and life like the blob. I named
this blob Bob. Deep inside the blob were sharp, stained teeth. I awoke at 5am and moved into the living room to lay on the couch, trying to forget the
nightmare I just had.

The next day I knocked on the door of the
spare room. After no answer for 20 minutes I let myself in. The girl wasn’t in there, but I didn't hear her leave.

After a couple days I made a call to the phone
number she left and got the answering machine of the office she worked at.

I sat on my bed and could see from across the
hallway a trace of blond hair sticking out from between the floorboards.

When I lifted the panel up with a hammer I saw
a half-eaten girl’s torso covered in small maggots.

From my bedroom I can hear Bob say quietly, “I’m lonely.”