[ WP ] You suddenly find your doors and windows wo n't open . You log in to Reddit and find the most upvoted thread with over a million comments and just two hours old `` Help , my door is stuck , any tips to get it open ? ''

Virgil stood panting in the entryway of his home, holding a large ax, staring at his front door now riddled with large gashes. The doorknob laid severed on the ground, and light peaked in through the fogged glass windows of the door. 
 
 `` You saw what they were saying on the thread, this wo n't work!'' Alyssa screamed at Virgil, keeping a safe distance from him. `` Just stop!'' 
 
 `` I will not let us starve in here,'' Virgil said in between labored exhales. He eyed the door, looking for some sort of weakness. It had only been a week and a half since *The Lockdown*, as redditors had began to call it, started. At first it had seemed fun, almost like being snowed in, not having to go to work or anything, but cabin fever and hunger were quickly engulfing Virgil's mind. *I have to get out of here*. 
 
 Virgil raised the ax for another slash at the door, and charged at it, yelling with all of the voice he had left. 
 
 A knock came from the door. 
 
 Virgil froze. 
 
 It was a casual knock, like a delivery man dropping off a package. 
 
 Virgil slowly lowered the ax and began creeping towards the door, one step at a time, glancing questioningly, almost fearfully, at Alyssa as he moved. Alyssa's expression turned into terror as Virgil delicately placed his ear to the door. 
 
 How could anybody be outside? Had the cabin fever set in, making him hallucinate? *No, Alyssa heard it too. She did... did n't? she? * 
 
 After about 30 seconds of holding his breath, listening, Virgil peeled his ear off the door, backing away one or two paces. `` Who's out there?' he shouted. 
 
 Three knocks responded, in a steady, rhythmic beat. Knock... Knock... Knock... 
 
 Virgil backed up at a quickened pace with panicked breathing. `` Get downstairs,'' he said urgently to Alyssa while still staring unblinking at the door. `` Check the thread.'' As Alyssa ran down the stairwell in the entryway, Virgil eased his way toward it, never turning his back to the door, as if the door were some wild animal. Once he reached the stairwell, he bolted down it. 
 
 `` What was that?' Alyssa said, rushing towards their desktop PC. `` Just check the thread,'' Virgil said as she logged on to reddit. `` Someone oughtta know.'' Virgil kept nervously glancing at the stairwell, paranoid that something was going to descend from them. `` Who knows, maybe it's some sort of rescue team,'' he said, trying to calm any fear she had, and to soothe his own paranoia. 
 
 Alyssa turned her head and squinted at Virgil, confused, but she dismissed it with a shake of her head and continued to type furiously. The front page of reddit was nothing but threads about The Lockdown, which had become normal over the days, with everyone trying to solve the mystery. `` It's a miracle the internet and electricity have n't given out yet,'' Alyssa said as she navigated to the megathread on *The Lockdown* subreddit. 
 
 She began scrolling through the thread with Virgil looking over her shoulder, both skimming the comments. Most were general discussion about attempts to break through to the outside, or futile pleas for help as people's food stocks ran out, but as they read the most recent comments they found what they were seeking. 
 
 One comment read: `` Did anybody else just hear someone yell'help' from outside their door? I feel like I'm losing my mind.'' 
 
 A reply to that comment read `` I heard something that sounded like tiny legs crawling everywhere.'' 
 
 `` I heard some weird whispers, wtf,'' another reply said. 
 
 All of the replies reported hearing a different sound. Virgil and Alyssa looked at each other with confused expressions. `` You heard the knocks... right?' Virgil said. 
 
 `` No,'' she replied. `` It sounded like chirping.'' They looked at each other in disbelief. 
 
 The lights and computer screen went out. 
 
 Knocks began to resonate on all of the windows and doors, increasing in number and volume in some sort of twisted crescendo. Alyssa covered her ears. `` It's the chirping again! Make it stop!'' 
 
 `` Chirping... do n't you hate birds?' Virgil said in vain, as Alyssa tried to drown out any sound coming into her ears. 
 
 The knocks grew louder still. 
 
 *Make it stop, make it stop, * Virgil thought cupping his ears with his hands. The knocks' intensity never peaked, piercing Virgil's ears. 
 
 Virgil blacked out. 
 
 
 * ( First time posting a story in this place. Hope you guys enjoy! ) * 

