Damn! Some things man was never meant to know, I guess. If you find some little toy with a dead battery in 6 months, though, come back and tell us!
Yes, yes yes! You’ve found me out! I admit it!
“It grew louder – louder – louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! – no, no? They heard! – they suspected! – they KNEW! – they were making a mockery of my horror! – this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! – and now – again – hark! louder! louder! louder! LOUDER!..”
I see a great deal more helpful suggestions and ideas, and I thank you again for them all.
But I have to get going to the hospital, so I have to stop now. I’ll come back when possible to reply to the rest of the comments…
I hope your mom is okay, ambushed.
You have in this thread the makings of a very good short story. Just write a different ending – perhaps one in which the house is completely dismantled and the sound continues.
It was beginning to get on my nerves here in Nashville!
When I was in my early teens I had to come home from school to an empty house in a fairly rural area. One day I heard what sounded like someone dropping bed springs on the ceiling in the attic. It frightened me. What or rather who was in our attic? It happened again a few minutes later. I began to panic. The sound continued every few minutes.
Finally I couldn’t stand being in the house with whatever was in our attic. So I went outside. But I could still hear that same sound outside too! That didn’t make sense. How could I hear something being dropped on our attic floor from outside.
I remained outside for an hour or so – I don’t really remember how long – until my mother came home. I told her about the sound. She knew what it was. What I had thought was right above me head was actually about fifteen miles away. The arsenal there was testing explosives and/or weapons.