1.02 a.m

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump. The thumps were becoming louder.
The digits of the clock glowed 12.50 AM in the thick dark. I returned to staring at the ceiling.
Thump, thump. The monotonous sound continued. The silence exploding into a thousand pieces as my neighbor’s bed hit my wall. Once again they had woken me up. Right down to the cursed second. It is amazing how people can be so consistent. Since they moved in a month ago, they had stuck to the same pattern.
12.52 AM, the thumping and muffled moans had become even louder. The dull sound vibrating in my head like screaming demons.
A month ago, I had listened. Hell, I never said that I was a saint but I was no pervert either. I was just curious. So on that first night, I was quite puzzled when the thumps began.
Thump, thump.
What the dickens, I wondered as I turned the TV volume down.
Thump, thump, thump.
I listened closely now as I heard the strange sound again. Then suddenly, the sound increased in its intensity and frequency.
Something was definitely happening in my neighbor’s room. As I sat staring at the silent TV, I was a crossroads, I could either turn up the volume and drown out the strange sounds or I could investigate.
Don’t investigate, continue watching Desperate Housewives, you surely want to know why Mary Alice committed suicide!
Colin, you have to investigate. For all you know; someone might be smashing your neighbor’s head to bits.
Watch
Investigate
Watch, find out, wat…
Aaarrrgghhhh! The voices were like a maelstrom within my head. I concentrated and shut them out. Still I had to choose.
I chose to listen as I stood on the bed and laid my ear to the wall. Eureka, the mystery was solved. Well the neighbor was not being smashed in a murderous way. Just being pounded away at by a man. I was delighted at the thinness of the wall. The thumps now boomed like cannons. I could also hear my neighbor and her lover moaning and panting away.
Oh my god, sex was actually happening just a few feet away and I was aurally present. Finally, the years of waiting and fantasizing had come to an abrupt end, though aurally. I smiled as I pressed my ear harder against the cold, vibrating wall.
Their love schedule soon became apparent. They went at it Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. 9 o’clock on Sundays, which meant I stopped watching Desperate Housewives and started tuning in to Neighbor Love 1101. Then 12.50 AM on Tuesdays and Fridays. I listened faithfully.
I listened faithfully
to the sound of the lover’s
honda as he pulled up to the
house.
House, which vibrated as
the neighbor shut the door,
after letting him in.
In my head, anticipation
builds up faithfully.

I listened faithfully to
the ten minutes of
muffled laughter
and giggles in the
room next door.

Room, which thumped as her
bed hit my wall.
It only lasted about two or three minutes. Contrary to my beliefs as a teen, sex did not last very long. I did not mind in the least. Then as in the countless Harlequin novels, next came the fierce cry of simmering ecstasy.
I loved my new aural experience. I found myself looking forward to Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. I could not think about anything else. Their sounds echoed all day in my head.
After a while, I realized that sex was really ordinary. My neighbor and her lover did the same thing every single time. There was no change. I could help but ask myself if this was all there was to sex. The painful answer was yes and that sex was boring.
Yes, it had been exciting at first but were was the allure and the mind-blowing experience that the sex driven society promised. Now I only heard two adults huffing and puffing their way through a boring routine.
I had matured since that first night but now I had a problem. I could not stop listening.
I was addicted. I tried to stop but I always found myself waiting in the dark, listening for the thumps to begin. I tried to rationalize my situation. If the event occurring next door was boring, then I should stop listening. Well, I could not as each time I heard the first thump, my mind went blank and my body went on autopilot. I always ended up standing on my bed, ear to the wall, listening to my neighbor pant and groan her way to a boring orgasm.
Ironically, I sought my earlier innocence but it was gone forever. I didn’t want to listen but still I listened Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
I tried talking to the owner of the house. He promised to talk to my neighbor. Obviously he didn’t as my neighbor’s love life continued unabated.
Now after a month, my addiction was painful. I was no better than a smoker who wanted to quit but still kept lighting the next cigarette. The thumps now echoed endlessly in my head, hounding my sanity and peace away. Still I listened.
12.55 AM, I still stared at the ceiling. I cursed the day they moved in; cursed the sex driven society; cursed my parents for not talking to me about sex and most of all, I cursed my addiction.
Thump, thump, thump.
The thumps were becoming louder. Then my mind staring going blank and the urge to listen was starting to overwhelm me.
12.50 AM, I stood on my bed, fighting the urge to listen. I squeezed my eyes tightly as the voices raged in my head.
You don’t have to listen, fight it
No! you don’t have the strength to resist. Listen, surely you want to hear your neighbor moaning like a bitch in heat!
1.02 AM, I lay my ear to the wall. Thump. The thump vibrated endlessly in my head as my mind shattered into a thousand pieces. I screamed continuously in my head as the thump echoed again and again.
I have had enough. I lifted my head from the wall and resolved to find my peace.

*********************
I watched him as he came down from his bed. I glided through the water watching him intently. It was difficult seeing him, as the water was so murky. It was dirty, as he had once again neglected to change the filter.
Filters are changed for a reason I screamed wordlessly at him.
He turned on the light. I saw the glow in his eyes. He had obviously decided to do something. He seemed confused as he kept on looking around the room, searching for something. Then he smiled as he went and took Reaper off the wall.
Why he would want his tennis racket was beyond me.
1.05 AM, the thumping continued to send ripples across my tank as he put on a shirt and left the room.
I heard him fumbling in the kitchen. Then the backdoor slammed shut. I heard his footsteps on the walkway in front of the house as he walked past his room. What was he up to?
The ripples sprung forth with more rapidity as the neighbors progressed into high gear.
The thumping and muffled moans stopped. Then I heard voices, then the sounds of running feet on the wooden boards. Then the screams of the neighbor amidst the sounds of a violent struggle.
Suddenly, a gunshot roared in the still night. I recognized the sound because gunshots were regularly fired in the neighborhood.
1.09 am, the woman continued screaming. Then her screams stopped abruptly. The night was silent again. The silence was heavy as my mind filled with horrible possibilities.
Then I heard footsteps on the walkway, then the creaking of the backdoor. Then he entered the room. He staggered towards his bed but he collapsed heavily with his second step. As he fell to the floor, I could see the bright blood on his shirt.
****************************
1.12am, I lay on the floor, staring at the far wall.
I could see the goldfish swimming rapidly in the murky tank. I ought to have changed the filter a long time ago. Well it was too late for that now.
My chest felt heavy. I could feel the wetness of my blood as it pooled beneath my chest. The man had been packing heat. He got off a shot before Reaper smashed his head.
The far wall was beginning to fade. I could no longer feel my chest. Yet my mind was clear for the first time in months. I no longer heard the thumps in my head. I felt reborn.
Thump, thump, thump.
Suddenly, the sounds resumed but the darkness consumed me before I could wonder.