After the divorce, she lived in a storage unit. One night, she heard a knock from the other side of the wall, and what followed left her frozen…

She held her breath, waited. Nothing else happened. On the third night, after a particularly difficult day, she had seen a girl with blonde braids like Alice’s at the market.

Livia burst into tears again as soon as she closed the bedroom door. She didn’t bother to stifle the sobs this time. She let the pain flow, sitting on the floor with her back against the wall.

Knock, knock, knock. There they were again. The same three knocks, in the same rhythm, in the same spot on the wall.

It wasn’t a coincidence. Someone was responding to her crying. For a moment she felt anger.

What right did this neighbour have to intrude on her moment of pain? Was it some kind of complaint because of the noise? But there was something in the rhythm of those knocks. They weren’t impatient or annoyed. They seemed kind, like someone saying, I’m here, I’m listening.

On the fourth night, when the crying came, Livia waited for the knocks. They came right on time. This time, with a racing heart, she raised her trembling hand and responded, knock, knock, knock.

From the other side, after a brief silence, a single knock, like a confirmation. That’s how that strange communication started, a code only they understood. Three knocks to say, I’m here.

One knock to respond, I know. Gradually, the nights became less lonely. Livia found herself waiting for the time to go back to her room, not to cry, but for that strange ritual that had become her only comfort.

One month after moving in, she discovered a pile of old papers in an abandoned box in the building’s hallway. Without much thought, she took some to her room. That night, instead of starting with tears, she wrote, who are you? Carefully, she folded the paper and pushed it through the small gap between the floor and the wall.

Then, she knocked three times. The response was slow. Livia was almost giving up when she heard the sound of paper being dragged back…