In The Walls

Note: I know the prompt mentions we have to meet the guy in the street but we’re not telling anybody that I cheated and put him in the walls instead.

Don’t ask, just read.

The hidden eyes and hidden faces of his past haunted him far beyond the painted walls of a place some would call his “sanctuary.” Others would call it the place of his awakening. Some would give it the simplistic name of a house, a home.

But it was known to him as a living hell.

Right after his parents tragically passed in a hit and run biking accident, Gerald found his way to Jason. A good friend, and even a bit more than that.

Our story starts in a small, one-story, single-family home located in the suburbs of Chicago. The house was nothing special, having the same look like all the others on the street. Near carbon copies of each other, they were. Each one with the same beige exterior and creamy white interior.

But this house was different.

Instead of the traditional creamy white found in every other house on the block, this one was filled with the ugliest, grimiest, looking green wallpaper you ever did see. Crisscrossing patterns of paisleys and crosses dotted every room, every wall, every ceiling in the house. The iridescence of the patterns oddly sickening.

The color wasn’t pleasing either. It was more of a sickly rotting green than it was a bright, cheerful shade of lime green. It contrasted greatly with the deep brown of the fake wood that adorned the house as well. Spreading far into the deepest corners of the three bedrooms and one study located within the house. One for guests, one for Jason and His husband, Gerald, and a room for there newly adopted baby girl, Sara.

If the house was so ugly, so odd and unappealing, then why did they buy it? The house’s price was too good to resist, that’s why. Both of them hated the strange house’s oddly colored interior, but they figured it wouldn’t be too hard to get rid of. With a small budget, low hopes, and a small salary the house’s price seemed too good to be true! They ended up bidding full price, getting the house, and by February fourth of nineteen ninety-five, they were fully settled in the house.

They’d been living in the house for about two months at that point. Empty cardboard boxes and strings of boxing tape littered the room, as common as dust in the house. This bothered Gerald since he was an extreme neat freak. The day prior to that he’d cleaned the bedroom, the most needed room in the house for a good clean. Along with the kitchen, and living room. And the entire house.

An uncluttered bedroom strengthened the soul, so after putting Sara to bed that was where he laid. Gerald lying in the king-sized bed he and Jason picked out. The yellow of the sheets clashing terribly with the wallpaper. The clashing of the colors and it’s awful imperfection hurt Geralds’s eyes more than it hurt Jasons, but he had been promised to change out the wall color soon. A promise worth being kept.

Gerald was reading when Jason walked in. Both of them already in their pajamas. Gerald had on reading glasses but took them off as Jason climbed into bed, pressing himself up against Gerald’s bicep.

Gerald continued to read, with much difficulty due to the fact that he could barely keep his eyes open. He hadn’t been sleeping much lately. Or he might’ve been sleeping, just not well. The strange sleep cycle started the week after they moved here. Jared seemed to be sleeping fine though, so Gerald told him nothing in hopes not to worry him.

“Sara’s low on diapers,” Jason said, breaking the silence.

“I’m low on sleep,” Gerald responded, yawning as if to emphasize the fact that he could barely function anymore.

Jason stifled a laugh. “So I’ve noticed. You’re always acting like a huge grouch.”

Gerald yawned and smiled again. “Not as much as a grouch as you’re going to be if I don’t go get diapers tomorrow.”

Jason shifted his position so his head was level with Geralds. “Thanks, hon,” he said, planting a small kiss on Geralds’s cheek.

Gerald yawned again, resulting in more laughter from Jason. “Go to sleep, babe,” Jason said. Before Gerald could retaliate though, Jason was already reaching over to turn off the small reading light

“Thanks, hon,” Gerald responded, turning over in the bed. He slept on the right side of the bed, Jason on the left. Not that it made any difference though.

And then, he fell asleep. Or at least attempted too. He was frightened and scared of the strange noises he knew were coming. The noises that haunted his sleep. The noises that Jason either couldn’t hear or slept too heavily to care to hear.

Eventually, though, he drifted off.

——————————————————————————————

Tap tap. Tap tap tap.

Gerald opened his eyes to the strange tapping noises that came from inside the walls every night. Every night he was awakened with a gasp, cold sweat dripping down his forehead and his fists clenched into fists, grabbing the bedsheets with insane amounts of force.

Tap tap. Knock knock.

After the third week of living here, Gerald had stopped checking to find the source of the knocking. It seemed to come from everywhere in the room, such a strong echo inside the hollow walls.

Tap tap.

Gerald sat bolt upright, shivering at the strangeness of the noise. He was never a huge believer in paranormal activity. But he couldn’t help but firmly suspect that whatever was going on wasn’t anything human.

Rap. Knock knock.

The knocking and rapping slowly intensified until it was finally a banging and crashing against the walls.

Bang. Bang. Crash.

Gerald sat there, frozen in terror as it happened. Feeling both powerless and vulnerable. It sounded as if some sort of wild animal was caught thrashing inside of the wall, begging him to be set free.

But there was never any animal to be found.

After about seven minutes of intense banging, there would be a final, deafening boom

And then, pure silence.

——————————————————————————————

This constant rapping and tapping continued for weeks. Gerald was starting to feel fatigued, he could barely get up out of bed in the morning he was so frightened something bad would happen to him. Or worse, his family.

Jason had started asking questions. Being the great husband that he was, he was naturally suspicious of Geralds's strange character. Gerald blamed it on the death of his parents, not being able to sleep due to the fact that he was both sad and grieving. Jason didn’t question him and would give his condolences and plenty of hugs.

Sara was still her little energetic self. Always making messes, and whining and crying. Being a stay at home dad while Jason worked was tiring and mentally exhausting.

At this point, his bones were made up of pure coffee and adrenaline.

The night that it all changed though started off as any normal night. Jason got home from work late that night, Sara was already in bed. He sat down ate some dinner and they chatted for a while. Eventually, after a small binge of game of thrones, they both went to sleep.

Around midnight the noises started. It was a ritual at this point. Sit up and just wait it out. Gerald was starting to progressively get more used to it, more comfortable as well.

But after the deafening bang that would usually finish off the symphony of sounds that echoed through the house every night, a dull throbbing started within the walls.

Confused, Gerald stood up to go check it out. It was thudding and throbbing of what sounded to be a beating heart. And it was coming from inside the walls.

Gerald tentatively rested his palm on the green wall and pulled it back, shocked to feel the wall throbbing in rhythm the strange heartbeat he was hearing.

Gerald took a small step back, watching the walls as they went from a dull throb to a steady vibration. The beating was getting so loud and so fast Gerald covered his ears. He was about to scream when he remembered his sleeping partner. But when he looked over, Jason was gone.

Now, Gerald really did scream. The walls convulsing louder, and the sound was progressively pounding its way deeper and deeper into his skull.

“Jason!” Gerald screamed, barely able to hear himself over the deep thudding of the heartbeat. There was no response but the shaking and rumbling of walls as they creaked under pressure.

Gerald continued to scream Jason’s name, hoping for an answer.

There was still no answer.

The heartbeat quickened once more. The sound so loud it stung the hollow of his ears.

“Stop!” He finally screamed exasperated.

And the sound did stop. It came to a final crescendo. A final beat. And just stopped.

The silence was deafening. Geralds's ears rang with the effort of the silence, his ears hurt so badly he couldn’t hear the sound of his own sobs as he closed his eyes and sighed with relief. Relief that it was finally over relief that he’d look behind him and see Jason snoring, sound asleep.

When he opened his eyes though, he was greeted with the shifting of wallpaper. Gerald flung himself backward, to the point in which his back was pressed up against the coolness of his metal bed frame.

The wallpaper shifted and convulsed erratically until it finally gave way to a face.

Two faces actually. Both oddly familiar, but Gerald couldn’t seem to match the faces to anybody he knew or had seen before.

They st there in the wallpaper, the wallpaper sinking in and out of there hollow mouths with every breath they took. Gerald screamed.

The wallpaper stretched over there pointy noses and thin lips which were set into malicious grins as they stared at him.

The wallpaper sunk into there hollow eyes.

Then, Gerald heard the screaming.

It was the sound of his beloved daughter and husband, coming somewhere within the house. Gerald fueled with adrenaline and a need to rescue his family dashed outside the bedroom, the people in the walls following his every move.

His heartbeat thudded in his chest as he dashed through the kitchen and living room, peeking into the study and bathrooms as he ran. He could see the strange people in the walls swimming through the wallpaper, there ugly deformed shapes so prominent as they walked on ceilings and behind kitchen cabinets.

Gerald finally came to his daughter's room, losing sight of the strange wall people. He could hear the thudding of a heartbeat coming from within his daughter's room.

Then he realized it matched up perfectly with his own heartbeat. It was his heartbeat convulsing through the walls. Gerald took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down He then opened the door.

On the far wall were two figures hunched over one another. Each one covered in tattered green wallpaper.

“Jason, Sara!” Gerald screaming, running towards them.

Jason looked at him, a happy gleam in his eyes before dread washed over his face.

“No, Gerald!,” he screamed, “don’t-”

He was cut off as two ghostly figures appeared in the rip in the wall, one of them clenching their fingers tight around his throat. The other one attempting to strangle his screaming newborn.

Gerald screamed in rage before the figures stepping into the light. He immediately recognized the sharp nose of his mother and the calloused hands of his father.

He didn’t recognize the hollowness in their eyes as he watched his so-called “dead” parents pull the two people he loved most in this world through the tear in the wallpaper. Either of them still gasping for air.

Inspired by the "There's something living in the walls creepypasta." Written by R.T Maxim

Pt. 2?