They Told Me To Endure Her, Until They Faced Her Nightmare Too Chapter 08

Hannah hesitated in front of the lens.

In one hand, she held the brass doorstop. With the other, she pulled a roll of black electrical tape from her

pajama pocket.

The screen went black.

The audio kept running.

The sharp tearing of tape. Then, her voice, low and bitter.

“Record this, bitch.”

A cold knot tightened in my spine.

Fingernails scraped against the plastic casing as she pressed the tape flat.

“Think you’re so smart? Let’s see you sleep tonight.”

BANG.

The steel reverberated like a struck anvil.

I stayed inside, deadbolt locked.

I dialed 911 first, reporting an active assault on my apartment with a weapon, then buzzed Miller’s basement

line.

Two more brutal impacts shook the frame before Wendy’s door flew open.

“Hannah, step away from that door!” Wendy yelled. “I’m filming you!”

The banging stopped instantly.

Then came the familiar voice-shaky, dazed, performing sleep.

“Wendy? Why… why am I up here again?”

I stared at the black screen on my phone, keeping my breathing level.

The sheer speed of the switch was chilling.

Derek stepped onto the landing.

Wendy stayed behind her own threshold. “Put that wedge on the floor. Now.”

Hannah started sobbing. “I can’t control it, I swear-”

“Drop it!” Derek barked from the top stair.

Miller lumbered onto the landing with a heavy flashlight. Only then did I turn my deadbolt and step out.

Hannah was crouched against the wall, the brass stop sitting on the runner between her slippers. The

second she saw me, the tears redoubled.

“Summer, I’m so sorry…”

I said nothing. I peeled the tape off the lens, pulled out my phone, and played the raw clip on speaker.

Her entering frame. The tape. The black screen.

And her clear, venomous whisper echoing down the hallway.

“Record this, bitch… Let’s see you sleep tonight.”

“You said that in your sleep?” Wendy asked, deadpan.

Hannah froze. “It was an episode! People talk in their sleep-you can’t prove anything!”

I paused the video on the high-res frame of her pocketing the tape dispenser.

“Explain the premeditation,” I said. “And explain why you keep coming to my door.”

“I was out of it!” Hannah scrambled, lunging toward my phone.

Miller stepped his wide frame directly between us. “Hands to yourself.”

The stairwell door banged open. Karen hurried onto the landing.

She took one look at the taped doorbell, then at the brass stop on the floor.

“We had a meeting just hours ago,” Karen said, her voice arctic.

Hannah’s tears spiked. “You don’t believe me either?”

“I believe my eyes,” Karen said. “Police are on their way up. We’re doing this on the record.”

Hannah whipped around to me. “You called the cops?”

“Someone’s beating on my door with metal,” I said. “What did you expect?”

The tears vanished. Raw spite took over.

“Over a few knocks? You’re trying to get me arrested?”

The landing went dead silent.

No confusion left. Just an argument over whether a few hits warranted a charge.

Two patrol officer.

Ons kicked the brass wedge away: the other put Hannah against the

They split us up and took quick statements.

I showed the officer the fresh dents and played the Ring video. Wendy held up her clip.

Hannah tried claiming sleepwalking until the officer asked why she brought electrical tape up a flight of

stairs.

Karen didn’t give her room to lie. “Tell the officer why you bought it, Hannah. Because tomorrow morning, I’m filing an emergency notice to quit.”

Backed into a corner, Hannah broke, pointing a shaking finger at me.

“She reported my stream!” Hannah screamed. “She started this!”

Wendy blinked. “You did all this over a noise complaint?”

“She ruined my stream!” Hannah screamed. “Karen threatened to evict me because Summer called it in! Why

does she get peace while I get shut down?”

Karen cut her off. “I told you to stop screaming at 2 AM. I didn’t tell you to attack a neighbor.”

Hannah’s chest heaved. “I wanted her to know what it felt like!”

The words hung in the narrow stairwell.

She realized what she’d admitted to a second too late and snapped her mouth shut.

I looked at her. “What about the other nights, Hannah?”

“You claimed you were unconscious. You just said you wanted me exhausted.”

The officer looked up from his notepad, pen poised. “Were you conscious during the previous incidents?”

Hannah stared at the linoleum.

“…Yes,” she whispered. “All of them.”

Wendy stepped back into her doorway.

Derek stared at the floor, silent.

Every time they had told me not to escalate, they had just handed her permission.

The officers wrote Hannah a criminal citation for harassment and warned her she’d be arrested on sight if

she stepped onto five again.

“Pack your bags,” Karen said behind them. “A notice to quit will be on your door by morning.”

As the officers escorted her toward the stairs, Hannah reached for my arm.

I took a clean step back.

“Summer, please,” she whispered. “I just lost my temper. Tell them not to press charges.”

I looked at her empty hand.

“You brought tape tonight, Hannah. That wasn’t a temper.”

I pulled my steel door shut, the latch engaging with a heavy, final click.