The sound behind the wall

Source: an original fiction extract.

The knocking began when Hana turned off the drill. Three taps, a pause, then a scrape that travelled along the wall behind the empty bookcase. She stood with the tool still in her hand. The flat next door had been vacant for a month, and the corridor outside was quiet. Downstairs, a bus pulled away from the stop. Hana waited for its engine to fade. The taps came again, softer this time. She put the drill on the floor and pressed her ear against the plaster, feeling foolish before she heard anything.

Earlier that morning, the caretaker had warned her about the pipes. They made noises when the heating started, he said; the old building was full of sounds that seemed to belong to somebody. Hana had laughed. She had moved in only yesterday and was determined not to become the sort of person who complained about every creak. Now she touched the radiator. It was cold. She knocked once against the wall with her knuckle. After a few seconds, something on the other side knocked back.

She went into the corridor and rang the neighbouring bell. Nothing moved behind the frosted glass. A folded leaflet lay beneath the letterbox, its corner caught in a spider's web. Hana called the caretaker. While he searched for the keys, she returned to her room. The sound had stopped. She waited, counting the holes she had drilled above the bookcase. There were four. She counted them again. At last the scrape resumed, lower down, as though whatever made it had slipped towards the floor.

The caretaker arrived with a torch. They entered the empty flat together. Dust covered the kitchen tiles, but a thin wandering line crossed it beside the cupboard. He crouched, opened the small inspection panel and shone the torch inside. Two bright eyes looked back. A young cat was wedged behind the loose board, one paw extended through a gap. While the caretaker lifted the board, Hana held his coat across the doorway. The cat shot beneath it, skidded on the tiles and disappeared under the sink.

An hour later the caretaker carried it downstairs in a borrowed basket. It had eaten half a tin of fish and objected strongly to being rescued a second time. Hana returned to the bookcase. The four holes were still empty, and the drill lay where she had left it. She picked it up, then put it down again to listen. The radiator clicked. Water moved somewhere inside the wall. These were ordinary sounds, she knew that now, but she waited until each had finished before starting the motor.

Consider the whole source. Analyse how the writer structures the text to create suspense and then alter the reader’s response to the noises. You could consider the order of information, shifts in time or place, changes in pace and the ending. Support your explanation with references to the source.