The Secret Wall - S01 E04

Story 4 months ago

The Secret Wall - S01 E04

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 4

Episode 4: The Secret Wall

The sound of the key in the lock was like a loud crack of thunder in the quiet house. Amina felt her heart jump into her mouth. She wanted to pull her hand away from the picture frame, but her muscles felt like they were made of stone. She was frozen. The door swung open with a heavy creak. Joe walked into the room. He did not walk like a man who was happy to be home after a long day of work. He walked very fast. He walked with a purpose. He did not look at the kitchen. He did not look at the mail on the table. He walked straight toward Amina.

Joe stood right between Amina and the big brick wall. He was so close to her that she could feel the heat coming off his body. He was breathing very hard, as if he had been running a long race. His face was very stiff. His eyes were wide and dark. He did not say hello. He did not ask her how her morning was. He did not ask why she was standing in the middle of the room in the dark. He just stared at her hand. Amina’s hand was still hanging in the air, right next to the gold frame of the mountain picture.

Amina felt a cold sweat on her forehead. She tried to smile, but her lips felt dry and tight.

"Oh, Joe," she whispered. "You are home early. I was just... I was just fixing the picture. It looked a little bit crooked."

Joe did not smile back. He did not move a single muscle. He just looked at her hand with a look that made Amina want to run away and hide. When he finally spoke, his voice was very low. It was a scary voice. It was the kind of voice a person uses when they are trying very hard not to scream.

"Stay away from that wall, Amina," Joe said.

Amina took a small step back. "I was just trying to help, Joe. The picture was leaning to the side."

Joe stepped closer, pushing her further away from the bricks. "I told you to stay away. The paint on this wall is very fresh. I spent all morning fixing the spots. If you touch it, you will ruin the finish. If you move the picture, you will leave marks on the bricks. Do not touch it again. Do you understand me?"

Amina looked at the wall. She looked at the bricks behind the picture. She knew Joe was lying. There was no smell of wet paint in the air. There were no brushes or cans of paint anywhere in the house. The bricks looked exactly the same as they had looked for the five years they had lived there. There were tiny bits of dust in the corners of the frame. You do not have dust on fresh paint. Amina knew he was telling a lie, but she was too afraid to say it. The way Joe was looking at her made her feel like she was a stranger in her own home.

"Yes, Joe," she said quickly. "I understand. I will not touch it."

She did not wait for him to say anything else. She turned around and ran into the kitchen. She started to move very fast. She opened the fridge and took out some vegetables. She grabbed a knife and started to chop onions. She wanted to look busy. She wanted to show him that she was being a good wife and minding her own business. But her hands were shaking so much that she almost cut her finger. She kept her head down, but she was listening. She was listening for every sound in the living room.

All through the evening, the house felt very strange. Usually, when Joe came home, the house was full of life. Joe liked to turn on the television to watch the news. He liked to play music on his small radio. He would tell Amina funny stories about the people he met at work. They would sit together and talk about their plans for the future. But tonight, there was no music. There was no news. There was only a heavy, thick silence.

Joe did not even go to the bedroom to change his clothes. He just sat on the sofa. He sat very still, like a statue. He did not pick up his book. He did not look at his phone. He just sat there, staring at the wall. He was staring at the mountain picture. He looked like he was waiting for something to happen. He looked like a guard watching over a treasure. Amina brought him a plate of food, but he did not even look at it. He told her he was not hungry. He told her to go to bed and leave him alone.

Amina went to the bedroom, but she did not go to sleep. She could not sleep. She lay on top of the covers with her clothes still on. She left the bedroom door open just a tiny bit so she could hear what was happening in the living room. She felt like a prisoner in her own house. She kept wondering what was so important about that wall. Why would Joe lie about the paint? What was he so afraid she would see?

The hours went by very slowly. The clock on the wall kept making that loud tick-tock sound. Amina watched the shadows move across the ceiling as the moon moved across the sky. She waited and she listened. She hoped that Joe would eventually give up and come to bed. She hoped that tomorrow everything would go back to being normal. But deep down, she knew that things were changing. The man in the living room was not her Joe anymore.

At exactly twelve o'clock, the big clock in the hallway began to chime. Dong. Dong. Dong. Amina counted every single one. As soon as the last chime ended, the house became perfectly silent again. It was a silence so deep that she could hear her own heart beating.

Then, she heard it.

The floorboards in the living room made a long, slow creak.

Amina sat up in bed. She held her breath. She knew that sound. It was the sound of Joe standing up from the sofa. She heard his footsteps. He was walking toward the wall again. He was walking slowly, as if he did not want to wake her up. Amina got off the bed. She moved like a shadow. She went to the door and peeped through the tiny gap.

The living room was very dark, but she could see Joe’s shape against the wall. He was standing in the exact same spot as the night before. He leaned his head against the bricks. Amina expected to hear the same low whispering. She expected to hear those strange clicking sounds that made her skin crawl.

But Joe did not whisper this time.

He stayed silent for a moment, and then his shoulders began to shake. At first, Amina thought he was crying. She thought maybe he was sad or in pain. But then, a sound came out of his mouth.

It was a laugh.

It was not a happy laugh. It was not the loud, belly laugh that Joe used to have when they watched a funny movie. It was a cold, sharp laugh. It sounded like metal scraping against stone. It was a laugh that sounded full of a dark, scary secret. He laughed louder and louder, his head still pressed against the red bricks.

Amina felt the hair on her neck stand up. The sound of that laugh in the middle of the night was the most terrifying thing she had ever heard. It felt like the house was shaking. It felt like the wall was laughing with him.

Joe was laughing at something Amina could not see. He was laughing at the secret inside the wall.

Why do you think Joe lied about the paint being fresh? What is he trying to hide behind that mountain picture?

What could be so funny or so scary that it makes Joe laugh at a wall at midnight?

Amina is now very scared. If you were in her place, would you stay in the house or try to leave while Joe is distracted?

Do you think the wall is talking to Joe, or is Joe losing his mind?

The mystery is getting deeper and more terrifying! What will Amina do now that Joe has started laughing at the wall? You won't believe what happens in Episode 5!