At three in the morning, I woke up to go to the toilet.
Because of that, the neighbor downstairs used a vibration device to rattle my apartment for three straight days, saying I ruined her sleep by flushing the toilet.
I didn’t argue or complain. I quietly moved away and let my place be used by my younger sister, who was rushing to prepare for the college entrance exam.
The following day, every neighbor in the building and the property management went wild, calling me, begging me to come back quickly.
——
Not long after I settled into the new home, the downstairs neighbor, Gale Hawkins, came to see me.
She said she slept lightly and strongly hated noise, and warned me to be careful.
To avoid trouble with neighbors, I covered the whole place with carpets that same day.
After that, inside my house, I became overly careful, walking without noise, keeping my phone muted all year, and never turning on the television.
I only ran the washing machine and vacuum cleaner at times when she was surely not around.
I believed I had already been thoughtful enough.
Until this moment, when I truly couldn’t bear it anymore and got up late at night to go to the toilet.
Not even one minute after flushing, Gale rushed upstairs and slammed hard on my door.
The door was hit so loudly that the whole place shook. All my drowsiness disappeared at once.
The second I opened the door, I saw Gale looking mad, pointing at me and yelling, “Are you seriously awake in the middle of the night trying to make noise and drive people crazy?!”
I was shocked, but I still explained in a calm way.
“Sister Gale, I just got up to use the toilet.”
After hearing this, she became even more upset.
“Use the toilet? Couldn’t you wait until morning?!”
“That flushing noise sounded like thunder! I had just fallen asleep, and you woke me up!”
“You know I sleep lightly, and you’re doing this on purpose to make my life miserable!”
I was shocked.
“So I’m not even allowed to use the bathroom in my own place when I need to pee?”
Her voice rose, and saliva almost splashed onto my face.
“Stop giving excuses!”
“You’re just low class! Self-centered! Only thinking about your own comfort!”
“I’m telling you, this isn’t finished!”
After saying this, she spat toward me, turned around in anger, and walked away.
I believed she was only letting out anger and didn’t take it seriously.
I returned to my room, preparing to keep sleeping.
As a result, a huge sound suddenly came from below.
The noise felt like a huge hammer slamming hard into my floor.
The crushing sound made my whole bed shake, and even the light hanging above my head began to swing.
Hearing those steady, heavy vibrations, I suddenly understood: Gale was using a vibration device on me?!
She was crazy!
I never thought that just because I used the toilet in my own place, I would be paid back like this!
The sound from the vibration device was unbelievably loud.
No matter if I wore earplugs or pulled a blanket over my head, the noise still stabbed into my head like needles.
While my head was hurting badly from the sound, the neighborhood group chat also went wild.
“What is that noise? It’s late at night, are people supposed to sleep or what?!”
“So loud! Which rude family is fixing things?”
“That doesn’t sound like fixing anything. What time is it?! My heart is jumping!”
“Who is making that sound? Stop right now! My child still goes to school tomorrow!”
Just my neighbors were complaining and guessing, Gale spoke up. “If you want to blame someone, blame the animal upstairs in room 703!”
“She does this on purpose late at night to bother me. I had no choice but to use this way to teach her a lesson, so she knows I’m not someone to push around!”
As soon as she said this, the group chat blew up right away.
“703, what is wrong with you? Why are you bothering everyone in the middle of the night?!”
“I hate this kind of neighbor the most, having no manners and dragging everyone else into it!”
