This was a project for english. We had to write a sequal to "The Monkey's Paw." Hope you like it.

AN: Takes place right before Mr. White makes the third wish.

"The Knock"

Thud, thud, thud. There was a knocking the door. I frantically searched for the paw, but it was already too late. Mrs. White was on the last lock and the door would soon be opened. I quickly ran upstairs to hide from what might be my dead son. I couldn't bear to see him. I hide under the bed waiting for something to happen. That was when I heard a scream.

"Honey, honey come quick," screamed my wife. "It's Herbert, it's really him."

I carefully crept down stairs. I wasn't sure what a dead man might look like after ten days.

"Dad is that you?" Herbert asked.

I couldn't believe my eyes. He wasn't a morbid, mangled man, he was my son. Herbert looked like a magnificent angel, almost gleaming in rays of light. I must have seemed clearly confused.

"Dad, you and Mom saved me. You wished for me to come back," Herbert exclaimed." "I was working then just appeared here. You guys saved me."

I couldn't be happier. Everything just seemed too perfect to be true. I accepted this and continued on with my happy life. We had a party that night. The whole town came to celebrate Herbert's return. Even everyone from Maw and Meggins came. They were shocked but accepted that he was back. We went to sleep satisfied with the way the whole day had turned out. The next morning I woke up and when downstairs to eat breakfast. The house was quiet, so I assumed that everyone was still asleep. When my foot hit the bottom step, it hit a small object. I looked down; it was the monkey's paw. I put it into my pocket, thinking I might need it later. That was when I heard screaming. There were two consecutive screams: first from my son, then from my wife.

"Oh my, Herbert, what happened to you?" shrieked my wife.

"I haven't the slightest clue," protested Herbert. "I just woke up and looked like this."

I went upstairs and was greeted by a zombielike man. He had dead was skin peeling off from all over his body and he smelled like death. Herbert covered up with some bandages and we went on with our day.

"I'm going to take a nap," Herbert said at about noon. "I didn't sleep to well last night and I'm stressed out about my appearance."

At about one in the afternoon I heard a groaning noise. I was greeted an angry Herbert.

"Your stupid friend and his stupid paw did this to me," cried Herbert. "He had to come with a magic paw and tell us about it."

My wife heard his shouting and came to investigate. Obviously anger, Herbert charged at both of us and we began running. He was chasing after us. We ran all around the house, outside, and he even chased us down the street. I tried to motion to my wife to hide behind a bush I saw, but it was too late. I heard a blood curdling scream. I peeked out of the bush just in time to see my wife being chopped to pieces. My wife, the love of my life, was dead, chopped to pieces by her own little boy. My thoughts were cut short when I heard footsteps. They sounded like they were only feet away. I tried to stay as still as I could. Stomp, stomp, stomp.

"I know you're in there, Daddy," Herbert shouted, "and I'm coming to get you."

Just then I remembered that I had the paw in my pocket. I took it out and wished that it was the day that Sergeant Morris came. I held it slightly up and shouted "I wished it was the night that Morris came, right before I made that stupid selfish wish."

"Well, wish for two hundred pounds, then; that'll just do it," proclaimed Herbert.

"No, I don't believe in the magic of this paw. It's just irrational," I said, "just foolish." I threw the paw into the fire and watched it burn. "We are ourselves not monkeys anymore. We should act intelligent and make reasonable choices."

"Why'd you do that?" my wife questioned.

I responded, "Please just trust my decision; it was for the best."

I still remember that night and the time I really did make that first wish. The whole experience with the paw and the wishes and the knock changed the way I look at life. It changed my life forever.

AN: REVIEW but please be nice this is my first time doing this stuff