Beth had never been a hundred percent certain, but she strongly believes that her anxiety had originally stemmed from the undisclosed trauma that she had experienced when she was six years old. Of course, since she doesn't remember what that trauma was ... because her family doesn't speak about it, as per the recommendation of their family doctor, who believes that since Beth's mind had chosen to suppress that trauma from her memories, it may be harmful for her to be reminded of it ... this is merely an assumption made on her part.
One thing Beth is a hundred percent certain about is that whatever that trauma was it must have been quite significant ... significant enough to have caused her to essentially lose the first six years of her life. Because other than fragmented pieces of what she believes may be some of her memories, Beth can't remember anything from her early childhood ... nothing before she was six; and even some of the memories from around that time are still vaguely fuzzy to her.
However, some of those fragmented memories have been deeply embedded into her subconscious, and when Beth finds herself under times of overwhelming severe stress and high anxiety ... which she is currently experiencing now in this house ... those fragments emerge; and, whether done intentionally or unintentionally, Beth can't help but to recall them.
After that frightening incident in the kitchen earlier, Beth has been sitting in the living room for hours with her mind aimlessly wandering. Right now, Beth starts recalling those nights she spent at her grandmother's house as a child ... a house, which coincidentally enough, was very similar to their present house.
During the night as a child, left in the darkness alone, you're most vulnerable to that which you fear the most; and that's when your mind begins playing tricks on you ... especially when you dared to venture out on your own. Beth experienced this firsthand when traversing that immense house of her grandmother's alone at night.
Alone in the dark at night, those already elongated hallways and staircases would seemingly exponentially stretch out even farther with every single step she took. And the faster the pace Beth walked ... sometimes she would even run ... the further her destination would seemingly move away from her; until some sort of magic formula in quantum physics allowed her to catch up with it.
And then there were those horrid noises in the dark at night; things that go bump in the night as they say. Every individual sound magnified ten-fold, resoundingly throbbing in Beth's ears throughout the night. Eerily unnerving sounds that were meant to haunt her memories for the rest of her life.
Beth never managed to get them out of her head completely; they had engrained themselves too deeply within her subconscious and lay dormant, waiting for the time for them to be awakened.
Now is the time for Beth's noises to awaken ... now in this house.
************
Beth's been mesmerized by seemingly surreal, fragmented recollections of those fear-inducing nights spent at her grandmother's house; and is currently in a complete stupor brought on by her self-induced trancelike state ... when she's abruptly 'awakened' by pounding knocking at the front door.
Being suddenly startled, Beth jumps to her feet in front of the couch; and with her head still in a fog from that stupor, she struggles to get her bearings.
There's another sudden burst of pounding knocking on the front door, causing Beth to sharply turn her body in the door's direction, while jumping back simultaneously in the same movement.
And once that burst ceases, Beth remains intensely staring at the door. Whoever ... or whatever ... is on the other side of the door has gotten Beth's full attention.
There's a momentary silence ... then a sudden single sharp knock on the door.
Beth's voice falters, cracking a little as she calls out, "Wh-who is it?"
No reply ... but no knock either.
Beth tries calling out again; this time a little louder, "Hello? ... Who's there?"
No reply ... but then, another sudden single sharp knock.
Once again startled, Beth jumps back a little further. She takes a brief moment to try and compose herself a bit, then hesitantly decides to go to the door to see who it is ... but not before grabbing a heavy, antique sterling silver candlestick holder off of the fireplace's mantle.
There are a few pertinent facts which Beth is mulling over in her mind at this time...
First ... their house is fairly secluded within a predominately densely wooded area, with their nearest neighbors living a couple of miles away as she understands it; so, there is no one close enough by who would be able to help her should something happen.
Next ... referring back to those distant neighbors, she hasn't met nor spoken with any of them yet; nor has she made any effort to socially associate with any of the folks in town either. In other words, she doesn't know anybody who would be dropping by for an impromptu visit ... nor has she put out an open invitation for anyone to just stop on by when they wanted to.
Finally, and probably the most important and concerning fact to her ... the fact that no one has answered her when she called out to them; nor has made any attempt whatsoever to identify themselves.
This has Beth thinking that whoever ... or whatever ... is waiting on the other side of the front door might possibly have some nefariously ill-willed intentions ... thus the need for the candlestick holder.
An apprehensive Beth is warily moving in closer towards the front door, slowly shuffling her feet along the way, when another sudden burst of pounding knocking reverberatingly resounds from the door.
Beth immediately stops in her tracks; as she clenches onto the candlestick holder tighter in her hand with a vise-like grip, while simultaneously pulling it to her chest. She takes in a deep breath and loudly shouts out one word at a time...
"Who ... is ... it?!"
No reply. No knocking. Just an eerie silence. ... Then a frighteningly disturbing realization rushes into Beth's mind ... hitting her like an epiphany ... Anna's outside somewhere by herself!
If ever there was a time calling for reckless abandonment, now was that time. Beth throws all caution to the wind and rushes over to the door to look outside...
But just as she reaches her hand out for the doorknob, she now hears that ominous, pounding knocking loudly resounding from the back door in the kitchen.
With her rising trepidation and heightening concern for Anna's well-being ... without any hesitation or care for her own safety ... Beth frantically spins around and charges through the living and dining rooms; blindly rushing into the kitchen to get to the back door.
The pounding instantly stops just as Beth forcefully twists the doorknob and thrusts the door open. She leaps out onto the back porch with the candlestick holder at the ready ... and by that, meaning ready to clobber whatever awaits her...
But nobody's there. Absolutely no one. Nothing.
As Beth does a quick scan of the vicinity near the back porch, she happens to notice Anna skipping rope over by the barn. At that instant, realizing that her daughter's safe and sound, a 'tsunami-like' wave of relief washes over Beth.
Shortly, Anna notices Beth on the back porch and takes a moment to stop skipping rope to smile and wave to her mom. Beth immediately reciprocates, and then Anna goes back to skipping rope.
At this point, Beth is totally dumbfounded and suddenly starts to laugh hysterically; and continues to laugh hysterically. She doesn't want to, but she can't seem to help it.
Then she hears it ... and the laughing stops.
The front door had just slammed shut.
Beth does a brief but scrutinizing overview scan of the area to make sure nobody's around before leaving Anna alone out back again; then, she re-enters the house to investigate.
Keeping a firm grip on the candlestick holder, while raised up to her ear in a 'batter-position' like stance, Beth cautiously proceeds through the kitchen, then dining room, and finally stops behind the couch in the living room; then begins carefully surveying her surroundings.
There are no evident signs of anyone being there. So, presuming that perhaps whoever it was that slammed the front door may have left already, Beth slowly lowers the candlestick holder down from her ear; but still maintains a firm grip on it just in case.
Still a bit apprehensive over it ... however, realizing that she still needs to know for sure ... Beth warily steps out from behind the couch and moves towards the front door, intending on taking a look out front.
When reaching the front door, Beth makes a dreadfully disturbing discovery ... a discovery causing her to rapidly raise the candlestick holder back up to her ear in a 'batter position' like stance; with her knuckles immediately turning white from clamping onto it with a vise-like grip.
Beth's heart starts pounding, feeling as if it may burst out her chest at any moment; and her breathing becomes extremely labored, as she takes in deeply heavy, rapid breaths. Her whole body's trembling uncontrollably, while a profuse sweat begins to pour down from her forehead.
The deadbolt had been locked and the door rechained. Beth immediately comes to the chillingly terrifying conclusion that whoever slammed the front door shut must still be in the house.