At exactly 3:17 AM, Daniel woke up to three quiet knocks on his bedroom door.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

He lived alone.

At first, he thought it was a dream. He pulled the blanket over his head and waited.

Nothing.

Then came another three knocks.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Daniel slowly got out of bed. The hallway was completely dark. He reached for the light switch, but before he could turn it on, a voice whispered from the other side of the door.

“Daniel… open the door.”

His blood went cold.

It sounded exactly like his mother.

But his mother had been dead for six years.

He stepped backward.

The voice came again, this time louder.

“Daniel, please. It’s cold out here.”

He didn’t answer.

Suddenly, his phone buzzed on the bed.

A message from an unknown number:

DON’T OPEN THE DOOR. I’M HIDING UNDER YOUR BED.

Daniel stared at the screen.

Then he heard breathing behind him.

Slow.

Deep.

Right underneath the bed.

He didn’t dare move.

Another message appeared.

IT KNOWS YOU CAN SEE THE PHONE.

The bedroom door slowly began to open.

And from underneath the bed, something whispered:

“Daniel… whatever you do, don’t look at the door.”

Daniel looked anyway.

There was nobody in the doorway.

Just his mother’s old photograph, standing upright on the floor.

In the photograph, she was smiling.

But Daniel noticed something he had never seen before.

Behind her, in the background, stood a dark figure.

And it was looking directly at him.

The phone buzzed one last time.

I TOLD YOU NOT TO LOOK. NOW IT KNOWS WHERE YOU ARE.