The rattling was getting in my nerves. How long had it been? Days, weeks? I took this job thinking it would be simple. Guard duty, night shift. Just watching one room.

Granted, the room was in a building far in the outskirts of the city. On the bottom level, down a dark hallway...you know the drill. Still, for what they were paying me it was worth it.

They wouldn’t tell me what was in the room, and I was told never to ask. Did I mention the pay was good? So I sat at my chair, reading my book, listening the constant rattling.

My mind would wander. Was it a deranged criminal, one whose crimes were so unmentionable they didn’t even warrant execution, but study? A space alien? A zombie? Could it be a failed science experiment? Was I the experiment? I wondered if someone somewhere was watching my reactions, to see when would break.

I tried to keep my cool. I needed this job, and it was easy. Easy enough. Just the rattling. I went through many books, lost weight from my pacing when sitting became tedious. And still the rattling. I wasn’t allowed to listen to the radio, “just in case.” I tried dancing to the rattling, but that was absurd.

The rattling, the rattling...how much longer could I take it?

One day, it might have been around the one year mark, the rattling stopped. I laughed, oh the joy of silence! I closed my eyes in relief.

The I felt the pain, as if my body was being torn apart.

Last thing I heard, before the sweet dark silence claimed me, “Odd. The door was locked.”