Ezra was still standing in the same spot. His hand gripped his phone tightly, while his eyes remained fixed on the words that had appeared on the wall behind his house.
I'M WAITING FOR YOU, EZRA.
The sentence kept spinning through his head.
How could someone know his name?
How could someone write something on the wall of his house without him noticing?
"Ezra? Answer me."
Dika's voice over the phone snapped Ezra back to reality.
"Dik..."
"Yeah?"
"There's writing on the wall."
"What does it say?"
Ezra swallowed.
"My name."
Dika immediately fell silent.
For several seconds, the only sound was their breathing over the phone.
"You're kidding, right?"
"Do you really think I'd joke about something like this?"
Dika didn't answer right away.
"Ezra, get inside the house now."
"But..."
"No buts. Get inside."
This time, Ezra did as Dika said. He slowly backed away without turning his back on the wall. An odd feeling made him afraid that something would happen if he turned around too quickly.
When his hand touched the back door handle, the knocking sound came again.
Knock...
Knock...
Knock...
Ezra threw open the door and went inside.
He shut it quickly and locked it.
"Are you inside?" Dika asked.
"Yeah."
"Good. Don't go back outside."
Ezra leaned against the door. His breathing still hadn't returned to normal.
"Something's weird, Dik."
"What?"
"Yesterday, it was just the knocking sound. Now there's a message."
"Who do you think made it?"
Ezra looked toward the window.
"I don't know."
That night, Ezra didn't sleep well. He kept his bedroom light on and checked outside several times. Every little sound woke him up.
The next morning, Ezra looked exhausted.
His Mom, who was preparing breakfast, noticed right away.
"What time did you go to sleep?"
Ezra sat down in a chair.
"I don't know, Mom."
"What's wrong?"
Ezra wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her everything about the knocking, the writing on the wall, and the empty house.
But he stopped himself.
He knew his Mom would panic.
"I just had trouble sleeping last night."
His Mom looked at him worriedly.
"If something's bothering you, tell me."
"Yeah, Mom."
After breakfast, Ezra went to school. But throughout the journey, his thoughts were still back at home.
When he reached class, Dika was already waiting.
"You look like you haven't slept in three days."
Ezra sat down.
"Because I practically didn't sleep."
Dika pulled something out of his bag.
A small camera.
Ezra looked at it.
"What's that for?"
"I took it from home."
"A camera?"
"Yeah. If that sound shows up again tonight, we'll set up the camera and see who's coming."
Ezra thought for a moment.
"You sure?"
"Nope."
Dika's answer made Ezra stare at him.
"Then why do you want to do it?"
"Because I'm curious too."
Ezra let out a small laugh.
"This is the first time I've seen you scared and still willing to go along with it."
Dika shrugged.
"That's what friends are supposed to do. Help each other."
After school, they went straight to Ezra's house. They checked the area behind the house before night fell.
Dika looked at the wall where the message had been written the night before.
But now, the writing was gone.
"Ezra..."
"Yeah?"
"There's nothing here."
Ezra moved closer.
He was right.
The wall was clean, as if no writing had ever been there.
"But it was definitely there last night."
"I believe you."
Dika looked around.
"But someone erased it."
That made Ezra fall silent.
They set up the small camera facing the backyard and the empty house.
"If someone comes, we'll know," Dika said.
Night began to fall.
Ezra and Dika sat in the bedroom, watching the laptop screen connected to the camera.
At first, nothing happened.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
Thirty minutes.
"Looks like nothing's happening tonight," Dika said.
Ezra was about to answer when the screen suddenly flickered.
The image from the camera behind the house became blurry.
Then the shadow of someone appeared.
Ezra and Dika immediately leaned closer to the screen.
"There's someone there," Dika whispered.
The shadow stood in front of the empty house.
Still.
Motionless.
Ezra zoomed in on the image.
But the person's face couldn't be seen.
"Who is that?"
Suddenly, the figure raised a hand.
It wasn't knocking on the door of the empty house.
It was pointing toward the camera.
As if it knew it was being watched.
Then the screen went black.
Dika immediately stood up.
"It knows."
Ezra stared at the blank screen.
"What do you mean?"
"It knows we set up the camera."
A few seconds later, the laptop chimed.
A new file had appeared in the recording folder.
Even though they hadn't created it.
The filename was just one word.
EZRA
Hesitantly, Ezra opened the file.
The video began to play.
At first, all it showed was the backyard.
Then a sound appeared.
The knocking sound.
Knock...
Knock...
Knock...
After that, someone could be heard speaking.
The same voice as the night before.
"Ezra..."
Dika immediately looked at Ezra.
"Do you recognize that voice?"
Ezra didn't answer.
Because slowly, the voice in the video became clearer.
"I know you're looking into this house."
Ezra felt his body turn cold.
Then the voice continued.
"If you want to know the truth, come to where it all began."
The video stopped.
The final image appeared on the screen.
An old photograph.
A photograph of someone standing in front of the empty house.
And written on the back of the photograph was a date.
A date from twenty years ago.
And one name.
A name that made Ezra fall completely silent.
Because that name was the same as his family's last name.