The Machine Doesn't Sound Like That

Content: Mild swearing

“It’ll jam if you go too fast,” Lillian instructed, “but it’ll also jam if you go too slow. So just go like a normal speed.”

Casey stared at the machine with a squinted eye. Upon Lillian’s words she had thrown her head back, rolling her eyes in the process, “Gee, thanks for the advice,” she remarked. 

Lillian threw her hands up in annoyance. Casey sighed and brought her attention back to the machine. She had never realized how complicated sewing could be. Wasn’t it something that mostly old ladies did? Well, old ladies plus Lillian. 

“Just go for it,” Lillian said, apparently forgiving Casey for her sass. With that, Casey pressed her foot on the pedal. She was shaky at first, going too slow, but then too fast when she applied more pressure. She watched the shiny purple fabric of her soon to be new dress pass through the needle and out the other end. When she reached the end, Lillian grabbed the piece and examined it.

“Not bad Cas,” she held it up to the light in order to get a better look, “a little crooked, but that’s to be expected when you’re beginning. I think you’re a natural!”

Casey smiled as Lillian handed the fabric back to her. She pinned the next piece to the already sewn fabric and began once again. Eventually, Lillian stepped away, leaving Casey to continue with her work as she zoned out to the sound of the machine. 

Suddenly, a loud knocking sound filled the apartment. It wasn’t the type of knock someone would give you after a packet arrived or maybe when they were trying to sell you something. It was urgent, aggressive, and made it clear that whoever behind that door was extremely unhappy. 

“What the heck?” Casey exclaimed as she jumped from her chair. Lillian came running into the living area from her bedroom. She approached the door and looked out the peephole. Casey watched as she rolled her eyes and whispered the identity of who stood before them. Apparently, it was their next door neighbor. Neither girl knew his name, Lillian must have just recognized him from when they crossed paths. As Lillian hesitated to open the door, Casey figured she probably was waiting to see if he would just leave. However, another knock came shortly after which seemed even more intense.

“I’m sorry, is there an issue?” Lillian spoke as she opened the door, revealing the man looking incredibly sour. Now that Casey could see him, he was indeed their next door neighbor. He was tall and skinny, probably the type of guy who spent more time than he would admit trying to bulk up at the gym. He wore a green tank top and clashing striped gym shorts. More Lillian's type than Casey’s. She believed his name was Joseph, but she only knew because she had heard his roommate refer to him as that before. 

“I don’t want to be rude or anything, but whatever you’re doing in there, it’s annoying as hell, so please stop,” he said with a dry tone.

Casey hoped this wasn’t his attempt at being polite, because he was doing a seriously horrible job at it. Him and Lillian exchanged a few frustrated words each while Casey watched silently. The door hadn’t even been open for a minute before it was once again slammed as the guy stomped away.

“What a tool,” Lillian muttered as she made her way to the couch, he’s all pissy because of the noise. He must be hearing the sewing machine.”

Casey sat down next to her, “That’s weird, you sew all the time. I don’t know why it would suddenly be bothering him,” she said.

“Who knows,” Lillian sighed, “maybe the stick that he has up his ass was just wedged a little further up today.” Casey laughed at her friend's genuine annoyance at the guy. She was a bit surprised something so small was allowing her to get so worked up. It wasn’t in Lillian’s nature to allow such a thing to annoy her so deeply. 

“Why are you so upset? Did you think he was cute or something?” Casey asked, and immediately Lillian jumped up.

“Absolutely not!” She said despite turning red in the face, “It’s not like we know him either. I’ve just seen him around. After that I will be avoiding him as much as possible.” Casey laughed again, but she didn’t blame her for making such a claim.

With one final chuckle Casey got off the couch, “Darn, I was kind of hoping for an enemies to lovers thing between the two of you,” Lillian violently shook her head as Casey continued, “but I’ll leaving the sewing alone for a while just so he doesn’t show back up again.”

*****

Casey shoved her hand into the popcorn bowl as she absentmindedly watched the TV alongside Lillian. Like many other nights, Lillian had chosen to watch some cheesy horror movie which barely interested Casey. It wasn’t her night to choose what they watched though, so she had to put up with it. Only after another scene where the main character narrowly escaped the masked killer that Casey had enough.

“I’m going to make a sandwich, do you want one?” Casey asked as she got off of the couch and made her way over to their tiny kitchen.

“Peanut butter and marshmallow, please!” Lillian exclaimed, seeming like she was overjoyed that Casey had offered. 

“Gross,” Casey remarked, but began to make her choice regardless. After completing Lillian’s, she began to make a ham sandwich for herself. However, before she was able to finish, there was a knock at the door just like earlier. Casey sighed and headed over, deciding to open it herself this time.

“Grab a knife, just in case it’s him again and he really gets on our nerves,” Lillian ran over the kitchen as Casey said this. She gave Casey a thumbs up as she stood next to the knife holder. 

Casey opened the door, and unfortunately she was not surprised. There stood her neighbor once again, now in a plain white t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants.

“Don’t you think it’s kind of late to be banging on the door?” Casey asked, looking to the kitchen and seeing it was past ten.

He scoffed, “Don’t you think it’s a little late to be making so much damn noise?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re literally just watching TV,” Casey began to close the door. It was probably just someone to the other side of his room and the idiot didn’t have a sense of direction or something.

“Maybe it’s coming from your other neighbor,” Lillian shouted over, as if she had read Casey’s mind.

“They can’t be,” he replied before diving into an overly detailed explanation of how they’re on vacation and he’s been watering their plants.

“We get it, it’s not them,” Casey groaned, “but it’s not us, so maybe you and your roommate should go get your ears checked or something.” Again, Casey started closing the door. This time, Lillian walked over and nudged herself between Casey and Joseph.

“What do you even think you’re hearing?” she asked. He explained that it was a knocking sort of sound which would stop periodically but then begin shortly after again. After a few more unhappy words, Lillian pushed past Joseph and out the apartment.

“Okay, let’s go and see then. I bet if Casey and I go over there, the sound will still happen,” she grabbed Casey’s hand and pulled her as she walked towards Joseph’s door. He gave a halfhearted protest, but after constantly complaining he didn’t really have it in him to fight it.

As the two girls barged through the door, Casey took the environment in. Obviously, the layout was the same as her own apartment, but the main area was far less tidy. There were dishes in the sink, the furniture didn’t match, and dirty clothes were scattered throughout the room. His roommate was sprawled out on the couch, seeming much more annoyed by the girls coming in than whatever noise Joseph was insisting he heard. He sat up, showing off his matching pajama set off which had dinosaurs. 

“Nice pajamas,” Casey commented before he even asked why they were there.

“Thanks,” he replied, “Why did you bring them over here Joe?”

Joseph explained what the girls had told him just before. However, his tone made sure to signify that he didn’t believe what the two were saying. The other man introduced himself as Connor, and insisted that he was hearing the noises as well. Casey waited a moment after he finished speaking, wanting to see if there were in fact noises. The four were quiet for at least a minute, but the room remained silent.

“Oh would you look at that,” Casey remarked, “there isn’t any sound.” She turned to begin to leave.

“We told you, it doesn’t happen all the time,” Joseph fought back, insisting that she wait another minute or two for it to begin again. As skeptical as she was, Casey decided to just stay put in hopes of appeasing the boys so they would then leave Lillian and her alone. As she waited she was tempted to tap her foot as she grew impatient. However, she figured that may upset the two boys as she’d be interfering with any potential mysterious noises. 

After another two minutes, Casey spoke up again, “Okay, this is clearly-”

She was abruptly cut off by a light knocking noise. It was very quiet at first, only as loud as if someone were tapping their finger against the wall. Gradually, it became louder and more prominent until it was a full audible thump that didn’t stop. It wasn’t extremely aggressive or anything, but it clearly came from the wall that was shared with the girl’s apartment. 

“Okay, that is strange,” Lillian commented as she stepped closer to the wall, “but clearly it isn’t us if it’s happening while we’re not in there.”

“That’s actually true, it can’t be them,” Connor said as he stepped closer to the wall, “but if it isn’t you guys then what the hell is it?”

Lillian threw out suggestions. Maybe it was their air conditioner acting up. Maybe the water heater was making that noise. Even a small animal living within the wall making the noise. 

“Whatever it is, I’m sick of it,” Joseph sighed, stepping closer to the wall himself and pressing his ear against it.

“I think you owe us a bit of an apology,” Casey said as she crossed her arms, “you were pretty aggressive towards us.” Joseph rolled his eyes, but didn’t turn to look at her.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sorry-” He began to furrow his eyebrows, “wait, the sound is beginning to change. It’s like scratching.” The other three pressed their ears to the wall as well. There was a scratching sound, and just like the thumping, it was getting progressively louder as well.

“It has to be a squirrel or something,” Casey decided, “you should call animal control,” she suggested and she stepped away from the wall once again. She grabbed Lily’s hand in hopes of leading her out of the apartment. It was getting late, and now that it was proven the two girls weren’t making the sound she didn’t want to be there any longer.

As the two girls began to walk towards the door, Lillian gave them an apology for the misunderstanding (though Casey felt she had no need to apologize) and wished them a good night. As they reached out for the doorknob, the scratching stopped, but was immediately replaced with loud banging. This time, it really sounded like whatever was in there wasn’t just making noise, it was trying to break through the wall.

“What the actual hell,” Connor ran backwards from where he had his ear against the wall as Joseph did the same. 

“That sounds like there’s a person in there or something,” Lillian whispered.

“That’s impossible,” Joseph insisted. 

“Okay, this is ridiculous,” Connor said as he ran over to their closet. From it, he grabbed a shovel. Joseph tried to protest, but Connor slammed the shovel through the wall, insisting that he would fix it afterwards. As he made the hole, the noise stopped. Eventually, it was big enough for the four of them to gather around it and peer inside. 

As she looked closer inside of the hole in the wall, Casey struggled to find anything. It was dark, there didn’t seem to be much movement, and there was no noise at all. Joseph said he was going to get a flashlight. Curiosity drove Casey to move closer in, now placing her hands on either side of the hole and sticking her head in.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Connor warned, standing farther back than the two girls were.

Casey ignored him, looking deeper in as she heard Joseph in the kitchen rattling through drawers. Eventually, as her vision continued to adjust to the darkness, she saw what looked like a humanoid figure pressing itself against the other side of the area between the walls. She called out, but there was no reply. Casey took a step back, and whispered to Lillian to call the police. She pulled out her phone immediately and began to do so.

The figure then chuckled. It was a low, menacing chuckle. The type you would hear in the beginning of a horror movie when you didn’t know what type of monster you were dealing with yet. 

“Girls,” Connor whispered, “get out of here. Go slowly so it doesn’t hear.” The two girls began to make their way towards the door. Connor held the shovel he used to break the wall up in self defense. As he did, the low chucking that came from the figure turned into a full screech-like laugh as it jumped from the hole in the wall onto Connor. 

All four of them screamed, but Connor’s was one of pain. The girls ran from the apartment, not looking for even a moment behind them. Casey practically threw herself down the staircase towards the ground floor. As she did, she yelled for help. She wasn’t sure who she was asking for or what they could even do, but she yelled nonetheless. 

Eventually, the two made it outside of their apartment building. As the girls stood in the middle of the empty street, both out of breath, Lillian struggled to report what had just happened on the phone to the operator. When she finished, she dropped her phone on the ground and collapsed after. Casey attempted to catch her, but ultimately ended up sitting on the floor alongside her.

“We-” Lillian managed to choke out, “are finding a new apartment to live in.”