An Officer Responds

The people who live in that part of Jersey City, between Bergen Avenue and Lincoln Park, have always talked about what that noise is. It happens eleven in the evening, when the traffic is finally dying down and the shops have closed. You’ll hear it coming from an old apartment building. For some, it sounds like a sick man crying out, for others, it sounds like two people arguing. It depends on who you ask.

But tonight, someone get’s angry enough to call it in. And its Officer Robbie who responds.

The night began with Officer Robbie sitting in the squad car and talking on the phone with his son. Today was the first day of eight grade, and an especially challenging day since he and his son Samuel had moved from Sacramento only six days prior.

Officer Robbie had taken a job in Jersey City, hoping life would be a bit easier if they were closer to Officer Robbie’ parents. But life was anything but easy. Tonight marked six months since Sophia passed, and while Officer Robbie was still adjusting to life as a single parent, Samuel simply couldn’t handle the idea of not having his Mom.

At 11:02 pm, radio dispatch chatter invades Officer Robbie’s SUV. He puts his phone down, still hearing Samuels voice, and listens in on the chatter.

It’s a 10-615, a few blocks from the park.

He clicks on the radio. Says he’ll be right there, then brings his phone back to his ear. His son is still talking about the math problem their working on. Quadratic equations.

“Duty calls Sam,” Officer Robbie says.

“It’s almost midnight. Isn’t your shift over?”

“Last call,” Officer Rob says.

The radio chatter breaks out again. Dispatch relays the same location. The person has complained again.

He tells Sam he’ll work on it as soon as he gets home, which he means because its math and Officer Robbie loves math. Its simple logic. There are rules and things makes sense.

He pulls back onto the highway. The sky is pitch black, its darkness broken only by dimmed office lights. There are people on the street, talking to themselves or talking to no one.

The address of the house comes over the radio. Officer Robbie grips the steering wheel. Then he whispers to himself, asking for Sophia to be with him.

***

The flashing lights of Robbie’s SUV flood the house. He stares at it as he talks to his Seargent on the phone. But really, he wants to go home. Sure, he’s a brave police officer according to all his files from Sacramento PD, but he can’t help it. He wants to go home. Something about this house doesn’t make sense.

“Just be careful,” the Seargent says.

Officer Robbie can hear it in her voice. She’s trying to sound brave. As if it’s totally normal that she’s calling him just before responding to a simple noise complaint.

“It’s just that the house is a bit ‘unlucky’,” she says.

“There’s no way a building can be unlucky,” Officer Robbie says.

“Well, I hope your right. Its just that –”

“What?”

A car goes by, slowly. Then a second one. They slow down as they approach the house, then stop. Officer Robbie knows he’s being watched.

“People die in that house. And in some pretty weird ways. Ways that some might consider to be…unnatural,” she says.

As she talks Officer Robbie stares at the house. There is something particularly unhealthy about the entire property. Old moss drapes itself on the falling grey brick adjacent to the sidewalk. Weeds consume the gardens, wrapping themselves on the withering flowers. Even though the air blasting in the SUV, the smell of sickly water pooling in yard fills the air. Theres’s a sign in the front, saying how important his house had been during the revolutionary war. That is housed Washington and his generals before they retreated to Pennsylvania

Officer Robbie can feel it. Something…he’s not sure what. The house pulling at him. Calling him. Something inside disturbing him. To the right, just beyond the collapsing brick wall there’s a warehouse, flanked by a narrow cobbled road that leads into darkness. Officer Robbie can feel it. Something…he’s not sure what. The house, or perhaps something inside it.

Pulling at him.

“You still there?” The Seargent says.

“Yes,” Officer Robbie says.

“Just find out what the hell is making that noise, then get the hell out of there.

A woman answers the door. Her hair falls just short of her neck, and her eyes scream of exhaustion. Dry sweat stains have pooled around her night gown, and the wrinkles in her forehead and neck form lines of hatred.

“Moved in just last night,” she says, ushering Robbie into the foyer. “Its coming from up there.”

“When did start?” Officer Robbie says.

The woman continue talking. Officer Robbie stares at her mouth. Her lips are chapped and her are rotten. Debris rests in the corners of her mouth and her voice is starts to give Officer Robbie a headache.

Then, he hears it. The cry.

It’s an unnatural sound, like its bended between notes, Its stops for a moment, providing a temporary relief, only to return again. The sound of it, for brief moments, conjures visions of Sophia.

“You alright?” The woman says.

Officer Robbie is leaning against the wall, rubbing the temples of his forehead and whispering to himself. A few second pass, then he says, “Which way?”

She points past the hallway, and several other doors, towards the stairs.

***

The stairwell is narrow. The steps creak, creating an echo that bounce off the cracks walls. The walls were so close together it was hard to breath, it did; however, provide temporary relief to that horrible cry and the images that came with in.

When he reached the top of the stairs, Officer Robbie grabbed the butt of his service rifle.

The sound echoed from the end of the hallway. Officer Robbie walked forward, steeling himself for the voice that would penetrate his ears and fill him with levels of horror he hadn’t known since Sophia passed.

Halfway down the hall now, he’d blocked the images from coming. But there was another quality of the sound. It was as though, with each cry Officer Robbie could hear the sound of multiple people. The combined screams of man and woman. Of a little boy and a little girl. It was unnatural. Impossible. Surely, there must be two people in there. Whatever the rumors are, they can’t be true.

Regardless, just the sound itself, it ate away at Officer Robbie, and by the time he reached the door, he was drenched in sweat, his hands were trembling, and again, those images came flooding back.

***

The sound of someone moaning greets him at the top of the stairs. Droplets of blood line their way to the closed door on the left. He clicks on the radio, asks for the status of the back-up.

There’s no response.

He knocks on the door.

“Come in,” a voice says. “Its open.”

It’s the voice of a woman. There’s a calmness to it.

Officer Robbie steps in. He wonders if it could possibly be a trap.

“I said. In. Here. Open the door please.”

“Police,” Officer Robbie says. He’s place his sweat-filled palm on the butt of his pistol. The images of Sophia are coming in hard. He can feel it. He’s losing focus.

“You look weak,” the voice echoes from behind the wall. “Don’t worry, this place gets to most people its not just you.”

His hand grips the pistol tight now. This is the closest he’s ever come to having to use it. The man standing in front of him, he’s wearing some type of a uniform. A striped blue and grays shirt with his name stitched in the upper-left hand corner. Like’s he an everyday man, just going to work.

Its all fake.

This is a side he must show everyone. But Officer Robbie knows there is evil in this building. Even on this floor, and in this room.

“You must be new. Most officers know not to come to this side of the city.”

“I’m just – ”

“You should leave,”

“What?”

“I’m trying to save your life. Everyone’s lives. You shouldn’t have come here,” the man says.

Officer Robbie takes a step forward. Glares hard at the man standing in front of him. His eyes are sunken to the back of his skull. He looks like he hasn’t slept in weeks. Still, there a deep calmness to him makes Officer Robbie wonder what darkness is buried deep inside him.

“Here,” the man says. “I need you to help me.”

When Officer Robbie takes another step, the screams begin again. A pounding behind the door follows. He’s trying to focus on the man in front of him. On what’s he’s going to say. If he’s going to arrest him, but the horror of the screams behind the door bury themselves deep inside.

“I’m not here to help you,” Officer Robbie says.

The man turns around, smiles at him, then turns back to the door. When he opens it the screams shoot-out, filling the room.

Officer Robbie drops to his knees. His eardrums go dumb. Sweat drips onto the hardwood. When he looks up, he see’s small bodies, wrapped in blankets. He’s not sure what’s inside, but he can tell.

They’re moving.

The man takes the bodies, then climbs the stairs to the attic. A few minutes later, he’ comes back down. He’s going back into the dark room, and repeating the process.

After a few more times, the man says, “Do you know who I am?”

Officer Robbie pushes his off the floor. He stands up, brushes off his uniform. Finally, he pulls the revolver from his belt, aims it at the man’s head, and says tells him to stop what he’s doing.

There are more screams coming from the dark room behind them. Standing here, Sophia’s voice is echoing from the walls, telling him to go home. To back to their son. All of it. All of the noise. Its too much. But still, Officer Robbie stands strong. His eyes are focused. The pistol is level.

“There are evils that worse than the ones that you see here. More terrible than those who start the wars you see on TV, or that you read about in books. Evil that puts to shame all the atrocities this world has ever seen,” the man says.

“Your coming with me,” Officer Robbie says.

“Your so oblivious, aren’t you. Everyone is.”

The man takes a step toward Officer Robbie, then picks up what is in the blanket. When he reaches the stairs, he says, “follow me.”

Officer Robbie follows him up the stairs, keeping the gun pointed directly at his head. is gone pointed directly at his head. Whatever is in the blanket, its pushing hard now, trying to get out. When Officer Robbie asks him what’s in there. What is doing that, he simply says, you’ll see.

When the man removes blanket, Officer Robbie falls to his knees. He watches as the man, removes a blade from his belt. One he’s never seen before, with writing that does not look natural. He looks at Officedr Robbie then raises it high in the air, regrips, then bring it down hard. The screams make Robbie Officer Robbie go deaf.

An hour later now and its early morning now. Officer Robbie is sitting in front of the Seargent. There’s a cup of coffee on the table. Its full and gone cold now.

He regards the Seargent as she leans forward. “Can I see the blade again?”

“Please, we’ve been here for an hour already. Give me something. What did you see in that closet?”

“There are secrets in this world that don’t make sense to me,” Officer Robbie says.

“What kind of secrets?” The Seargent says.

Officer Robbie pushes away the coffee.

“I don’t want to explain anymore,” Officer Robbie says, closing in his eyes.

In his mind, he can see the burned lips and eyes of the thing in that blanket. The two tails that danced in the darkness, barely visible in the dim light.

“We have people that are back at that house, but it doesn’t match the description you gave us,” she says. “How do I know you aren’t lying to me?”

“Did a squad car go get my son yet. I told them I wanted to leave first thing. Its not safe anymore.”