The noise

The noise… That blasted god awful noise! It’s always banging away in the field. I hear this awful banging noise out in the field. It always happens around 2am. The world gets all quiet like. Then, BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG. In the same beat in the same loud tone. It rings through the field and straight into my room every night. And the worst part is I can never tell quickly enough where it’s coming from. It just sort of happens. I feel the banging rattling the walls, despite nothing actively moving. Some nights I’d look around the room and try to catch anything that I thought would fall. Others I’d throw myself to the window and try to catch a glimpse, never seeing anything. Every night for the last 49 nights. And every time that noise would shake me awake. Like it was reverberating through me. I just wish it would warn me or just stop. I just wish it would stop. 

The noise stopped… It didn’t wake me up the last two nights. I still woke up at 2am though. The quiet ringing was alarming enough to wake me up. I didn’t quite understand why it stopped. It just sorta… stopped. I went back to sleep thinking it wouldn’t be over. Then the next night came. Nothing. The night was quiet and the banging wasn’t happening. I was very disturbed now, thinking something was up. I thought this was some sort of trick, some sort of tactic. A way to mess with me by making the next night of banging louder. Then it happened again, and again. The nights were quiet and yet I still woke up. Some nights I wandered around the house. Some nights I sat by my window with a smoke. And last night I went to check the field. As if something was wrong with it. Nothing. At some point I began to question why I still woke up. And so, I went back to bed. The next night I woke up and calmly told myself to go back to sleep. 

Then I began to dream. Long stories of whimsical adventures. Me as some form of knight that wore gilded armor. I went along to save a damsel in distress from a large beast. That I wore a blue cape stitched with silver. And wielded a great lance. The stories were always sweet and peaceful. Ending with a wonderful little send off. Then the dreams became more intense. I was beginning to fight monsters that weren’t polite. Some who would say terrible things while using rude gestures. Then the monsters became more violent and harmed the civilians. Gutting and disemboweling them. And yet I would still stand firm in this sight, fighting onwards. The monsters now threatened the whole kingdom as they actively slaughtered the outer villages. I told the princess that I would take care of this threat and fought with all of my might. And yet the monsters kept coming. The sinful would try to coerce me and goad me to do sin. The evil would poison my body and mind attempting to break me. And yet I still tried to keep fighting. The fighting had become too much, I’m sorry princess. I ran, I ran far and fast, I ran until I couldn’t run anymore and then kept running. 

I woke up in the field. I was wearing my night clothes and covered in bruises and bumps. The sun bore down on me. I could feel the burn on my face. Went back inside and got cleaned up before going back to my normal day. I acted like nothing had happened and went to work. It wasn’t until the end of the day I went inside to go make food. I took off my boots and went to the fridge. I felt one of the bumps on my leg which reminded me of that morning. I wondered why I had woken up outside. And nothing really came to mind when I thought back to the dream until I remembered how it ended. The banging had thumped in my ears while I was running. Almost as if the noise had been a part of it. I didn't know what to think of that. So I hopped in the shower and got ready for bed. I got as far as the bedroom before I went back downstairs to check all the locks. After securing my home and double checking the gun was still loaded, I went to my room. Went to sleep and began the same dream of me running. I ducked through trees and shrubs, afraid of every shadow. Then I heard the banging, ringing through me as I just kept running. I sprinted until my legs were shaking, fighting with everything in me. Then I collapsed. 

This time I was on the floor in my living room. The front door looked like it had been smacked a couple of times from the inside. Dents and signs of a blunt object scattered near its center. I continued about my day once again working as if nothing was wrong. I got home and saw the front door from that morning. And decided to go to bed early. I woke up before 2am, and sat in the living room with my gun. And almost as if on que. The banging went off. I sat on my chair staring at the front door. Eventually I got up and checked the front door. Going towards the door I felt the carpet slide. I fell down and woke up wearing my armor and cape. I was wielding my lance. I got up from the ground, looked upon the front door. I finally saw it. The thing making the banging noise. A group in the middle of the field with large drums. I took off towards them with my lance held high.