Neighbor on the 16^th floor
by Hojin Kim

Drrr, Drr clunk, clunk.

12:00 AM is what the clock said as I slightly opened my eyes. Drrr, Drr clunk, clunk.

I heard it again, the sound from the16th floor I had heard a week ago. Drrr, Drr clunk, clunk.

My heart beat faster, and the image of a bogeyman popped into my head. I put my head into my pillows. I didn’t want to open my eyes. I hoped the sound would go away as soon as possible.

In the morning, I looked at the mirror. I found a dark circle around my eyes like a tired panda. I couldn’t sleep since somebody moved into the 16th floor and makes the bogeyman’s sounds.

In the kitchen my family sat at the table for breakfast. "Did you guys hear the sound last night? It has been going on for a week. Oh, my God, that’s the sound of a monster who doesn’t sleep at night," I said.

My father said, "The sound waked me up, too. So annoying. It must be the sound of children running, and I don’t know why people let their children do that."

The sound doesn’t go away until the night, and my family lost their patience. The sound made them nervous like a cat with its claws out.

So Mom decided to go upstairs to stop the sound and I followed her with hope of seeing the real bogeyman.

Mom knocked on the door.

Until the door opened we had to wait a couple of minutes. I heard the bogeyman sound again. It made us feel anger about how the people could be so rude like that.

Finally the door opened and somebody said, "Hello, nice to meet you."

Then the anger was completely gone. My mom’s face blushed like an apple and I felt my face burning with shame. There was no such thing as the bogeyman and also there was no child who makes noise or parents who don’t care about the other people. However, a woman in a wheelchair was smiling at us. She and my family had lived in the same apartment for about a week. Why hadn’t my family nor I visited her house and said hello? Then we wouldn’t have to feel ashamed now, I thought. Between her place and ours there is a ceiling about 1 foot of thickness. Other than that the distance between her and us was only about a couple of meters. But the cold ceiling with 1 foot of thickness also existed in our minds, it kept us from opening our mind to our new neighbor.

"I’m sorry my husband is on a business trip, so I had to move by myself and it made noises. I see how annoying it is," she said

That was the sound of the bogeyman, the sound of indifference between neighbors.