The Song at Midnight
Nora and her dad move into an old house at the end of a quiet street. One room upstairs stays locked, and nobody will say why. Every night, at exactly midnight, a soft music box song plays somewhere inside the walls. Nora just wants to know where the song is coming from.
Table of Contents
Part 1: The Locked Room
Nora and her dad moved into the old house in early September. It had tall windows, creaky wooden floors, and one small room upstairs with a locked door.
“What’s in there?” Nora asked on their first day, pulling gently at the old brass handle.
“Just storage,” her dad said. “The landlord kept the key. Don’t worry about it.”
Nora didn’t think much about the locked room after that. She was too busy unpacking boxes and getting used to her new bedroom, right next door to the mysterious little room.
On her first night in the house, she fell asleep quickly, tired from the long day. But something woke her in the middle of the night.
It was a song. A soft, slow melody, like the kind that plays from an old music box, drifting faintly through the wall beside her bed.
Nora sat up and checked her phone. It was exactly midnight.
She listened carefully, her heart beating a little faster. The song continued for almost a full minute, gentle and a little sad, before it stopped completely.
In the morning, she told her dad about it.
“Probably just an old pipe, or the house settling,” he said. “Old houses make strange noises. Don’t worry.”
Nora wanted to believe him. But she noticed he didn’t look at her when he said it.
Part 2: The Song Gets Louder
The song came back the next night, at exactly midnight again. This time, Nora got out of bed and pressed her ear against the wall of the locked room.
The melody was clearer this way, close and delicate, definitely coming from somewhere inside that small, forgotten room.
By the third night, the song was louder than before. Nora couldn’t ignore it anymore. She knocked softly on her dad’s bedroom door and told him everything, her voice shaking slightly.
“I need you to hear it too,” she said. “Please.”
Her dad followed her back to her room, tired and doubtful, and they both waited quietly by the wall. At midnight exactly, the melody began again, soft and clear.
Her dad’s face changed. He didn’t look doubtful anymore. He looked worried.
“I’ll call the landlord tomorrow,” he said quietly. “I want to know what’s actually in that room.”
The landlord finally agreed to send the key the next afternoon, though he sounded strange and hesitant on the phone, according to Nora’s dad. He kept saying it was nothing important, just old furniture nobody wanted.
That night, Nora and her dad stood together outside the locked door, the small brass key finally in her dad’s hand.
Part 3: What Was Inside
Her dad turned the key slowly, and the old door creaked open.
Inside, the small room was completely empty except for one thing: an old wooden rocking chair, covered in dust, sitting perfectly still in the middle of the floor. On the wall above it, someone had drawn a simple picture of a little girl, in faded, childish crayon lines.
“There’s nothing here,” her dad said, stepping inside carefully. “Just an old chair.”
Nora stood frozen in the doorway, staring at the empty rocking chair. Then, without any wind, without anyone touching it, the chair rocked gently, once, all by itself.
At the exact same moment, the music box melody started playing again, clear and close, coming from somewhere inside the room’s bare walls.
Nora grabbed her dad’s arm. “We need to leave. Now.”
They backed out of the room together, and her dad locked the door immediately, his hands shaking slightly as he turned the key.
“We’re not opening that door again,” he said firmly. “Ever.”
They kept the little room locked from that night on, exactly as the landlord had left it. Sometimes, late at night, Nora still hears the faint melody drifting softly through her bedroom wall, right on time, every midnight.
She never asks her dad to open the door again. Some questions, she decided, are better left unanswered.
The End
Key Vocabulary
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Melody | a simple, pleasant tune or song | She hummed a happy melody while she cooked. |
| Landlord | a person who owns a house or apartment and rents it to other people | Our landlord fixed the broken window last week. |
| Hesitant | unsure or slow to do or say something, often because of doubt or fear | He was hesitant to answer the strange question. |
| Creaky | making a squeaking sound, especially old wood or doors | The creaky stairs woke everyone in the house. |
| Frozen | unable to move, usually because of fear or shock | She froze when she heard the strange noise behind her. |
Quick Check
- What does Nora hear every night at exactly midnight?
- What does Nora’s dad say the sound might be, at first?
- What do Nora and her dad find when they finally open the locked room?
- What happens to the rocking chair while they are standing in the room?
- Do you think Nora’s dad made the right choice by locking the room forever instead of investigating further? What would you have done?
Ready for another scary tale? Try The Light Under My Door, another A2 horror story.
