27 Horror Stories Animated (Compilation of July 2021)

i was in college when i met marcus we became friends in no time marcus and i were also part of the popular group hence we were always around each other we went to a party at a friend's house and marcus asked me to be his girlfriend everything happened so fast that i barely gave it a thought on whether i loved him or not when i looked back at it now i feel the reason i said yes was to remain in the popular group everyone in the college started addressing us as the most popular couple and i enjoyed all the attention anyways after dating for four months i moved to his place because that's where our entire group used to hang out most of the time it was a rented house with two bedrooms a living area and an open kitchen marcus and i shared the big bedroom which was at the end of a long corridor the other bedroom mostly stayed empty unless one of our friends passed out after a heavy night of drinking i won't go into too much detail about a relationship because that's not important regarding the incident i'm about to share marcus was a party animal and almost every night he drank himself to the core and passed out on the bed on a similar night like that we partied hard and marcus went to bed i was bidding goodbye to my friends as they all started to leave we wrapped up earlier that day because we had an important seminar to attend in the morning i cleaned the living room a bit and started to walk to the bedroom to get some sleep the house was feeling extremely quiet as the loud music and crazy laughter ended for the night i was almost close to the bedroom when i heard a gagging sound i quickly entered the room thinking maybe marcus is feeling sick but what i saw creeped me out marcus was still lying on the bed with his eyes wide open staring at the corner of the room i could tell he was trying to move but he couldn't it was as if he had no control over his body seeing me enter the room his gaze shifted at me and his eyes turned even wider as if he had gotten 10 times more scared i rushed over to him and started screaming marcus what's happening to you get up but he couldn't move a single muscle i got so freaked out that i started calling our friends when suddenly he gasped and sprung out of bed it was as if he broke free from a state of trance he was breathing heavily and his body was shaking with fear oh my god are you all right what the hell was that water just give me some water i immediately poured himself a glass of water and marcus drank it in one go i waited for him to calm down and after 10 minutes his breathing finally became normal and he got up he went to the washroom splashed water on his face and came back to bed i said in a worried voice do you want me to call our friends we can take you to the hospital if you're feeling sick i'm fine now what happened to you a few moments back it was sleep paralysis god i haven't felt that way in a long time it's nothing to be worried about why were you staring at the corner of the room people hallucinate during sleep paralysis i'm telling you it's nothing even though i heard many things about sleep paralysis this was the first time i witnessed someone having an episode like that we slept on the matter and the next day didn't tell any of our friends about it marcus behaved as nothing happened but one thing kept bugging me what did he hallucinate that night time went by and this memory started to fade away marcus started drinking almost every night and i didn't like this anymore we had several fights about his drinking habit one night we had a huge brawl right in front of our friends everyone got awkward and they called off the party that night marcus slept in our common bedroom and i locked myself in the guest bedroom that night i cried myself to sleep and passed out on the bed it must have been 2 30 in the morning when i opened my eyes and found the door wide open i remembered very well that i locked the door as soon as i stepped into this room suddenly i heard footsteps outside the room i wanted to get up and see who it was but no matter how much i tried i couldn't move a muscle was i experiencing sleep paralysis my heartbeat got faster as i realized what happened to marcus that night is now happening to me i can't explain the scariest feeling from that moment but it was like i was all awake in a terrifying dream soon the footsteps started to come closer and i saw a creepy bony hand grabbing the wall adjacent to the door i wanted to close my eyes but my body was not in my control slowly a dark figure started to lurk in behind the wall a pitch-black face peeked right into the room and i saw a pair of eyes staring right at me they were such big yellow eyes with no eyeballs inside them i wanted to scream but i couldn't the figure then gave a huge grin and i saw his rotten teeth gushing out of his bloody gums just then i heard footsteps coming towards the room and i woke up screaming out loud sally sally marcus was banging on the door and calling my name surprisingly the door was locked this time i somehow stood up and stumbled to the door with trembling hands i opened the lock and fainted on the floor when i woke up sunlight was flooding the room and birds were chirping in the sky marcus was sitting right next to me with a worried face he asked me why i screamed last night and i told him everything i saw but as soon as he heard about the yellow-eyed man his face turned pale he said in a fumbled voice is this true please don't make things up why would i lie marcus i'm scared what is happening to me i've never experienced sleep paralysis before i know it was just a hallucination but it felt so real marcus kept quiet for some time and then held my hand there's something i didn't tell you that night what night the night you saw me having sleep paralysis i looked at him with confused eyes and he went on saying when i was 13 years old i had my first episode i watched myself sleeping in that episode i thought it was just a dream hence i didn't bother with it but as time passed i started seeing this dark figure walking into my room and sometimes standing in the corner i've never seen someone so scary it was a pitch-black human figure more like a shadow the only thing that stood out in his feature was his yellow eyes and a terrifying grin with rotten bloody teeth my mom took me to see many psychiatrists and after heavy doses of medication i somehow stopped having experiences like that but that night after a really long time i saw him again he was standing in the corner of my room and watching me but when you came into the room i saw him standing right behind you that's why i got so freaked out but but is it possible for two people to hallucinate the same thing i shouldn't have brought this on you we both felt paranoid and had no idea what to do about the situation i mean there's no way we could share this with someone without being labeled as crazy we had no other choice than to keep it in us also i didn't have any episode after that night which is why i thought to ignore this matter until one night things got out of hand i woke up again in the same manner finding myself caught in a trance i could see marcus deeply asleep beside me and no matter how much i tried i couldn't wake him up because i couldn't move or scream at all i gazed at the room waiting to get [ __ ] scared by that yellow-eyed man once again but i didn't see anyone around my breathing got heavy and i waited to wake up when i suddenly heard a chuckle right next to my ear i looked at the side and saw the yellow-eyed man lying next to me i can't tell you how horrifying he looked and i almost felt my heart would stop when i just blinked once the man was gone i got up panting in fear and started to wake up marcus get up marcus he's here please you must get up while pushing him vigorously i kept my eyes on the door expecting the yellow-eyed man to return but suddenly marcus sprung on his bed and started to strangle me he choked me with all his strength and i kicked in the air to free myself the pressure on my chest made me feel that my heart would explode just then i finally woke up yes that was the craziest sleep paralysis experience one could ever have marcus was still asleep and i realized that this sleep paralysis episode is just getting worse for me i couldn't sleep the entire night next morning i didn't say a single word to marcus and moved out we still dated to the end of the term but things changed between us i was too scared to spend nights with him and he had this guilt which he obviously didn't deserve we parted ways and it's been seven years i haven't heard from him i don't know how we both hallucinated the same thing but whatever it was i consider that phase to be the darkest time of my life i still don't know whether that yellow-dyed man was real because marcus never told me about him until i saw him myself what do you think hey guys i see many of you commenting on my videos that this channel deserves 1 million subscribers but i also see the percent of people who watch my videos aren't actually subscribed to the channel so if you like the content want to support my channel and want to see this channel reach 1 million subscribers or maybe 500 000 subscribers then go ahead subscribe and hit the bell icon it's free and you can always change your mind later before i begin this story i wish to make it very clear that when this incident happened i was neither sick nor intoxicated i know what i saw and i believe it was all real i work in real estate hence i travel a lot to meet clients all over the world generally i am from sydney but i mostly stay in la if i'm not traveling so this one time i went to scotland to meet a high priority client i stayed at his place and cracked a big deal i was on cloud nine when i booked the return ticket i generally prefer late night flights to early morning ones after searching for some time i got what i was looking for it was gonna be a 12 hour ride so i booked a flight of 1 30 a.m i bid farewell to my client and spent the day in a motel i couldn't get much sleep because i had a huge amount of paperwork i had to finish but i thought i would sleep on the flight after finishing my dinner at the motel i left for the airport i arrived quite early and grabbed a seat it was a weekday and unusual hours to expect a busy airport i plugged in my earphones and started watching videos on my phone just to kill the time apart from there was an elderly couple and a woman supposedly waiting for the same flight i was almost hooked up in my phone when i felt a sudden touch on my shoulder i looked up and saw a woman dressed as a flight attendant standing next to me she had a huge smile on her face yes sir your flight is about to take off i think you missed the announcement i looked around and i saw i was the only one sitting in the waiting area all other passengers were gone but my my flight was at 1 30 am yes it's 1 15 sir i was going through the passengers list and saw one missing this is the only flight taking off tonight so i just came back to have a quick check i checked the time in to my surprise it was indeed 1 15. i didn't realize how time flew away i got up and thanked her for a kind gesture honestly i was feeling stupid at that moment i stood up and started to follow her the entire airport premise was pretty empty we reached the boarding gate and saw another woman standing there i was taking out my boarding pass but she smiled and said go ahead i followed the attendant into the flight while walking through the corridor i noticed a huge scar on her left leg it was as if some sharp metal-like object cut her leg open but the scar did seem old another odd thing about her was the excessive pale color of her body as i entered the plane i saw a surprising sight the entire plane was filled with passengers i have been sitting in the wedding area for a long time and i don't remember seeing any of them the ambiance inside the flight was absolute silence i mean it was so damn quiet that i thought for a second no one's breathing every passenger kept their head down and it looked like they were all sleeping i felt very weird after entering the flight the attendant whispered in my ear please take your seat i would have screamed if i was alone the way she whispered her cold breath froze my ear i saw a third row window seat i guessed it was mine because that was the only vacant seat on the flight beside me said a thin man dressed in formals maybe it was his business tour the flight felt excessively cold and soon a wreaking stench started to occupy the air around i buckled up my seat belt and waited for the takeoff but i didn't see any change of behavior in any other passengers they all set like before quiet and expressionless i said to the man beside me isn't it cold in here he didn't answer just set keeping his head down i thought maybe he's asleep or doesn't want to talk so i plugged in my earphones again and looked out from the window the pilot started the engine and the flight got on the runway we just took off and i could see the ground moving behind me vertically when all the lights started to go off the emergency alarm went on too and the plane started to shake violently a huge boat of lightning took place in the sky and a jerk took place making the luggage drop down from the upper cabinets oh my god what's happening i screamed in terror but this time no one else seemed to freak out everyone was sitting like a statue as if they didn't even care what the hell is wrong with all of you i started to unlock my seat belt but it got stuck excuse me please wake up this flight is going to please we need to do something or else we'll all die i was panting in fear and flocking like a wounded bird on my seat when the man besides me lifted his face and our eyes met his partial face was burnt and his left eye was hanging on his cheek he smiled showing his horrifying grin and said we are already dead the demonic laughter echoed through the entire flight every passenger lifted their face and started to laugh like demons from hell their spine chilling voices numb to my ear i screamed please let me leave just that moment my seatbelt came off and i sprinted towards the gate to jump but the flight attendant came from nowhere and stood in my way she was looking like nothing before her mouth was slid open and blood was all over her clothes we can't let you leave now sir someone please help me help me i pushed the door leading to the pilot seat and what i saw made my skin crawl two headless pilots were controlling the flight and the flight was burning from the front end rushing towards the ground at full speed oh my god sir sir are you all right a man dressed as airport security was sprinkling water on my face and calling me i slowly opened my eyes where where where am i am i am i dead no sir you were screaming and then passed out on the floor but why did you come on this flight didn't you see it was out of order i got back to my senses and looked around this was nothing like the flight i saw when i entered i found myself sitting on the damaged floor of a burnt flight buggy no doubt this plane is under construction but this was my flight that that woman she called me saying no sir this unit is under construction since last week on its way to take off a boat of lightning struck the flight it caught fire and crashed on the ground no one survived the flight attendant and the pilot's remains were never found seventy percent of the bodies turned to ashes i missed my actual flight intentionally that night i still know what i saw was perfectly real the attendance ghost lured me into the flight that night and i witnessed a group of passengers submitting to a horrible death i don't know if those haunted remains of that flight are still on that airport or not but don't ever follow any mysterious person if they come to escort you saying the flight is about to take off sir i was in junior high back then there was this one boy named kurt who used to bully me whenever we came across it in school i still don't understand the cause of his hatred towards me maybe bullies are unreasonable the more i tried to avoid him the more his tortures increased he would always find a way to make my life miserable he pushed me in the hallway for no reason dunked my head in the toilet when no one was around and snatched my pudding almost every day one day i was about to go home after school when i saw kurt waiting for me at the main gate i overheard him saying to his gang let that [ __ ] come we'll have fun today i knew he will torture me again so i sneaked in from the back gate just to avoid any more trouble i had to walk amidst the woods to get home because i knew he would be on the main road looking for me i was so upset with my life that i didn't even care walking alone in the woods birds were chirping in the wilderness and after walking for five minutes like this i heard footsteps behind me like someone was following me i turned around but there was no one i turned back and saw a creepy looking woman standing in my way it gets on your nerves huh um sorry that boy you're trying to avoid how do you know do you know what the day after tomorrow is of course it's the fourth of july our independence day but why are you you will be free soon [Laughter] the woman was dressed like a lunatic her hair was all messed up and mud was all over her clothes the way she smiled made me feel like i'm standing in a dumpster i got so freaked out that i started running at full speed i looked back once and saw the woman standing in the same way waving at me with an ear to ear smile i heard her screaming i will set you free [Laughter] as soon as i entered my home i slammed the door hard behind me and sat on the floor panting who was she and how did she know about me being bullied by kurt so many thoughts were going through my mind but i couldn't tell my parents about any of these our towns started to deck up in the celebration of 4th of july the mayor declared that a barbecue night with fireworks will be held in the city park everyone was feeling excited almost every house and store put up american flags to honor this day my dad and i were fixing the u.s flag in our backyard when something caught my eye i saw someone standing across the street and watching me it took me some time but i figured out it was the same creepy woman whom i met in the woods yesterday i froze in fear did she follow me home that day she waved at me and smiled hold the flag help me dan i came back to my senses hearing my dad's voice and in that fraction of a second the woman disappeared somewhere i couldn't sleep the entire night i saw a disturbing dream where the woman was standing near my bed and telling me i will set you free [Laughter] right at that moment someone pushed me and i almost sprung on my bed in fear it was my mom she hugged me and said did you have a bad dream dan you look shocked i gave a frail smile and said it's nothing she caressed my cheek and said come down for breakfast dad made 4th of july special pancakes everyone was so happy and already in the mode of celebration hence i kept this uncanny feeling inside me and tried to avoid whatever happened so far soon after the sunset everyone started to get ready to go to the city park for our special night bands and clowns were all over the roads everyone was crying in joy and laughing out loud the entire town looked like a fairy tale with all those colorful lights and posters my dad loaded beers on the back seat this one night everyone broke free soon we reached the city park and it was an even more exciting setting balloons and chains of light were everywhere the music boxes played cheerful music and in the middle of the park some people were seen installing the firecrackers kids were running around the ice cream trucks the smell of freshly barbecued chicken made me hungry i ran to get some just when someone pulled my collar from behind having fun [ __ ] kurt was standing there with his two sidekicks he smiled at me in the meanest way possible and said you think you're smarter than me huh kurt i don't want any trouble tonight just let me be man look who's talking relax kiddo we're all here to have fun tonight i just want you to join us that's all i knew he was planning something worse for me because to kurt having fun means torturing people i saw my mom and dad standing far away enjoying with their group before i could call them kirk grabbed my t-shirt and started to drag me towards the secluded area of the park the park is connected to the woods and he took me inside those bushes where no one would notice us he threw me on the muddy ground happy fourth of july guys tonight's entertainment is [ __ ] dan all of his gang joined him i sat on the ground while they went on humiliating me just let me go okay i've had enough oh someone's getting angry that's a change what are you gonna do [ __ ] you gonna fight me i'm telling you for the last time kurt someone grew a spine he came at me and grabbed my hair the other two boys held me to the ground do you know what dirt tastes like let's try that for a change shall we before i could say or do anything he started rubbing my face into the muddy ground dirt and soil went into my mouth and nostrils and i started coughing i could barely breathe i wanted to scream for help but i didn't even get the chance suddenly i don't know what happened but he let me go i fell to the ground on my stomach and saw with blurry eyes those two boys running away in fear as if they had seen a ghost i got up and cleaned my face what i saw terrified me even more that woman was standing behind me and she grasped kurt tightly with her filthy bony hand let me go please we were just playing dan tell her we were just playing oh really that's how you play fine then it's my turn to play with you [Laughter] what she did next will forever remain in my memory she started scaring kurt's face with her long sharp nails kurt kept screaming but right then the fireworks took place the entire park lightened up with joy and kurt's scream got suppressed in those sounds she then took out a knife and looked at me i said i'll set you free happy independence day damn she then slashed kurt's stomach and his entrails came out splattering blood everywhere the woman rubbed her bloody hand on her entire face and laughed you are free now happy 4th of july i ran to my mom i didn't even look back for one second after that night kurt went missing his parents ran a search and we told the cops what we saw that night the two other boys said how a creepy woman chased us and we ran for our lives i even said the same i didn't tell them that she killed kurt right in front of my eyes this is not my revenge it's just better to let his parents know that kurt is missing and alive then telling them he's dead and gone that was the last time i saw her i have no idea who she was and what she did with kurt's body but she set me free from the bully by captivating me with a terrifying memory for life i used to want to be a streamer i loved playing video games and liked talking to people who shared my interests so i thought that becoming a video game streamer would be right up my alley i get to do what i enjoy and potentially get paid for doing it if enough people enjoy my content just one problem i wasn't confident about my appearance and i was more than a little nervous about showing my face to everyone on the internet it might be egotistical for me to think that i'd make it big before i even started but on the off chance i did i didn't want to get stopped in the streets by random strangers who recognized me from what i posted online plus there are a lot of creeps on the internet and i'm a reasonably good looking girl not super model material or anything but i've gotten compliments from people outside my friends and family the last thing i needed was for some nut job online to develop an unwanted obsession with me i've heard some pretty bad stories about online stalking that bled into the real world from streamers i follow if i was going to become a streamer i wanted there to be a defined barrier between the person i presented myself to be online and who i really was in everyday life at first i considered being a streamer who only showed her voice on stream but after listening to several samples of my own voice recordings i didn't think my voice was distinct enough to carry an entire stream alone just as i was about to give up my brother who lived in the same apartment as me and studied animation and university came up to me with an idea he told me about the type of streamer called virtual youtubers or v-tubers for short that have become popular in recent years instead of showing their real face on stream they show a virtual avatar of an anime character that's mapped to their real face so that the avatar will blink and open their mouth at the same time as them to simulate talking it seemed like the perfect solution to me i got to stream and interact with people online all i wanted without having to worry about losing my anonymity i also loved anime like my brother anyways so pretending to be an anime girl online seemed right up my alley since he was an experienced animator my brother helped me design and map my virtual avatar he also helped me come up with a theme and backstory for the character i'd play on stream the character we came up with was miyako nightshade a centuries-old vampire who looked like a teenage girl with a calm slightly snarky personality yeah i never quite grew out of my goth phase my brother drew up the design made the avatar and taught me how to manage the software for my part i started thinking about what kind of catchphrases my online persona should have and started looking through games to play for my debut when the big day came for me to debut myself online for the first time my brother was right there with me in the room to silently support me i started the stream and almost immediately regretted it i hadn't even picked a signature greeting from my character yet but the fact that there wasn't even a viewer on my stream yet helped ease my nervousness enough to just blurt out the first thing i could think of good evening whatever time it is and with that my signature greeting for the rest of my v tubing career was decided the next few months were great i streamed regularly with my brother helping me off screen with any technical problems that arose i wasn't quite what you'd call successful yet but i was getting there my sub count grew slowly but steadily and a few of my channel members donated regularly to me if i kept going i might have been able to reach a major milestone within a year had it not been for an incident that made me quit streaming altogether one day i was streaming as usual it was an online game so i was actually playing with a few people who were also watching the stream one of them let's call him donny was a regular who watched and donated to almost all of my streams in the past few months as much as i appreciated his sponsorship he always kind of weirded me out i always read his messages on stream because he'd donate high amounts of money never less than a hundred dollars their contents range from harmless to straight up creepy the worst ones said things like i beg of you please marry me my queen our love will be eternal as your everlasting beauty every drop of blood in my body belongs to you my pale mistress i'll give it all to you if you only let me you are my everything my heart beats for you and you alone my little nightshade donnie was either really dedicated to his bit or clearly mentally unstable i was pretty convinced that he actually thought i was a vampire anime girl who decided to spend her own life playing video games still i didn't want to break character so i never made a big deal about his messages after reading them he was a fan who donated money that allows me to keep streaming so i felt it wrong to push him away for a few quirks besides beggars can't be choosers right halfway through my game with him my brother called out to me from outside my room he usually wouldn't disturb my stream like that but i'd forgotten to tell him that i was streaming that day and he wanted to know what i wanted for dinner i quietly texted him on my phone to tell him that i was streaming and he left me alone i hope that would be that but my mic had picked up his voice and everyone watching my stream was able to hear him messages instantly flooded the chat asking who the male voice in the background was i ignored them at first again not wanting to break character or reveal that i had a brother donny immediately lost it he immediately disconnected from the game and hopped into my chat with a series of increasingly disturbed messages all with a hundred dollar donations attached to grab my attention my little nightshade who's that my queen are you alright is that man in your house going to hurt you please say something i don't know what i'd do if you were hurt by that ruffian don't worry my little nightshade my blood shall save you i had no idea what he meant by that but i elected to just ignore him this time the buzz about my brother's voice eventually died down as the stream went on without me bringing attention to it and donny didn't send another message for the rest of the stream once everything was wrapped up i had dinner with my brother i told him about donny but he assured me that v tubers had to deal with stuff like that all the time and that having a creepy obsessive fan was a sign that i was starting to get popular we laughed it off and i forgot about donnie my brother went to bed early while i browsed my social media on the living room couch making posts and character as my v tuber persona i was thinking of what game i could play for the next day's stream when a knock came from my door i was startled but assumed that it was a night delivery for something my brother ordered i'm coming i called out as i walked to the front door the moment the words left my lips i heard a raspy voice come from the other side of the door my little nightshade it said in perverse excitement i'd never heard the voice before in my entire life but i immediately knew who it was nobody else called me my little nightshade donny i blurted out before i could stop myself you remember me donnie shouted in joy from the other side i knew you felt the same way i didn't reply i just stood in front of the door frozen in fear while donnie professed his devotion to me from the other side and begged to be let in how the hell did he even get my address i could only assume that he traced my ip address somehow when i offered no response donnie's knocks turned into violent bangs it's that bastard in your home keeping you locked in there isn't it he shouted angrily don't you worry though i'll give you all the strength you need i kept my mouth shut i knew donnie was disturbed before but now i know that he was certifiably insane i just peeked through the peephole of my apartment door so that i could give the police a physical description when i made a police report i saw a dirty disheveled young man with long black hair matted with grease and a sickly pale face covered in bleeding warts his teeth were yellowed and crooked twisted into a blood-curdling grin my unsullied blood shall liberate you drink from it and find the strength to break free my little nightshade i watched in horror as he brought a knife up to his own throat and stabbed it in the side with both hands he dragged the blade across his own neck until a river of blood gushed out like water out of a broken dam all the while his crazed bloodshot eyes never stopped staring at the peephole he knew i was watching from i only snapped out of my stooper when his blood flowed under the door gap and i felt its warmth as it touched my bare feet i called the police and explained what had happened donnie had lived in the same city as me and like i suspected traced me through my computer although he was known to be an expert at computers he was also mentally disturbed enough to think that a vampire girl who only existed on a computer screen was real since that night i've avoided ever showing myself online my brother assured me that it wasn't my fault but in a way i had enabled his unhealthy behavior by accepting his donations and giving him the attention he wanted from it i should have seen the signs so much sooner i've since abandoned my miyako nightshade persona that way donnie will be her last and only victim my name's jonathan and there was a time when i used to suffer major sleep paralysis episodes i used to wake up in a vegetative state where i knew i was conscious but there's no way i could move my body and during that state i experienced some pretty bad hallucinations these episodes occurred so frequently that i still can't figure out how much of it i hallucinated and how much of it actually happened because there is this one time where things got real freaking the hell out of me in the beginning it started with me waking up at night feeling stuck in my own body i could see feel hear everything around me but couldn't act on it until my body was released slowly the state turned into a more complicated condition for example i woke up one night and saw myself standing near the bed and watching myself i can't tell you how terrified i was after breaking free i decided to see a psychiatrist for this dr berman gave me sleeping pills and said with time that it'll pass he said there's no particular treatment for sleep paralysis other than improving sleep habits including going to bed at the same time every night ensuring a comfortable sleep environment free of distractions and avoiding caffeine before sleeping i followed his instructions and for a month i did quite well but things took a bad turn all of a sudden one night i dozed off on my living room couch and it happened again there's not much furniture in my apartment because i recently moved in apart from the couch there's a tv set a lamp and a rocking chair the chair was already in my apartment before i moved in i think it belonged to the previous tenant and i let it be as it was extra sitting arrangement for me i woke up with the same feeling of being stuck but this time neither i saw myself nor i felt alone instead i saw someone sitting in the chair and rocking back and forth i could tell it was a woman probably in her late 70s the most terrifying thing about experiencing sleep paralysis is that you will know that you're awake but you'll also know that you're seeing something that isn't there in real life i knew there's no one in this apartment except me when i saw this woman sitting in her rocking chair she didn't turn her face towards me and made a single sound she just rocked back and forth this phenomenon started to occur every night but i was confident that it was all my imagination because as soon as i broke free from the state of trance the lady was gone i told my psychiatrist dr bergman about this and he too said the same thing that it was nothing but mere hallucinations i opted for meditation before going to bed because dr berman said it would help my sleep and i did it for a few weeks i was almost feeling relieved that i stopped having further episodes until one night i experienced a living nightmare i had a friend over let's call him matt for the sake of the story matt and i watched a football match and drank a couple beers matt drank a bit too much so he stayed the night at my place around three a.m i heard heavy breathing from a very close distance as soon as i opened my eyes i saw a horrifying face leaning over me and looking directly into my eyes her white frail hairs were all over me it was that woman who rocked in the chair i wanted to scream but i realized that i was having an episode and started telling myself that it wasn't real but this is all my imagination the woman then spoke to me you think i'm not real huh i was gasping for air as i couldn't breathe out of this shock she got up and started walking to matt's side of the bed i watched her approach my friend with a sinister smile she slowly came near him and then leaned on him in the same manner her jaws then started to stretch into a huge hollow mouth and started devouring matt's head she was eating my friend's head like a python gulps its prey saliva was dripping from her mouth and matt's head was completely inside it i can't explain how terrifying that scene was she looked at me with her hungry eyes while sucking the life out of my friend i wanted to break free and pull matt out of her mouth but i couldn't do anything but lie like a living corpse suddenly my alarm went off and i sprung on my bed screaming matt woke up with this shock and the lady was nowhere to be found what the hell bro what happened that woman she was and i passed out without finishing my sentence matt took me to the hospital the doctors thought i had a panic attack in my sleep due to the fit of intoxication my psychiatrist dr bergman was also informed and i stayed in intensive care for a week matt still doesn't know what i saw that night and i don't think i'll ever be able to tell him i no longer live in that apartment but before leaving it i asked the landlord about the history of that rocking chair to which he told me many years back this apartment was a healthcare unit for mentally deranged people they had lots of violent patience among which one patient was the most dangerous it was a 65 year old lady who couldn't stand children in her sight she was brought to the unit after trying to devour a newborn from a local hospital people claimed her to be possessed and some even thought she was a practitioner of witchcraft at her young age she used to sit in that chair and rock back and forth all night and all day after knowing i don't think anyone could have stayed in that apartment but the surprising thing is that no one lived there before i saw this lady or experienced anything of the sort i don't know if i imagined her completely because i knew nothing about her when i started hallucinating her the other most terrifying thing is that last week i met matt in a nightclub he was there partying with his colleagues i noticed a ring of bruises on his forehead which wasn't there before as i asked him what happened to his head he gave me a very weird reply he paused and looked at me for a few seconds and then said i must have fallen from my rocking chair [Music] instagram is a popular platform to become famous in a short period but this craving to be popular can turn into madness because i have seen that and that's why i'm here today to tell you the story of my daughter who took social media too seriously sophia is my only daughter when my husband left me for another woman she became my world i moved to florida for a fresh start i took a job in an advertising company sophia grew up to be a beautiful girl i still remember her being nervous on her first day of high school but i knew she will get along and she did with time sophia became one of the most popular girls in school teenage is such a confusing age where you are not a kid and also not an adult sophia like to buy clothes and do her makeup all the time this obsession to look pretty is quite common in teenagers so i didn't pay much attention to that in the beginning one day when i came home from work i saw sophia applying melted chocolate on her face i asked her what is she doing she replied she read at some websites chocolates make your skin look younger i mean i was surprised to hear that but aren't you already young darling oh mom you won't get it please leave me alone i could have scolded her for talking like that but i always went easy on her thinking she needs more love as her father is not there for her being a single parent is not easy and i didn't want to drive her away she's everything i have as more time passing i noticed sophia leaving for school wearing new clothes every day i thought maybe she is earning for herself from her babysitting job one day i accidentally entered a room while she was taking a selfie standing in front of her mirror there was nothing wrong with it but just to keep an eye on her i opened an instagram account with a fake name and followed her it was an open account which means everyone can see her content i realize she almost posts and everything from waking up in the morning and going to bed at night a picture of her doing almost every basic thing there is on her instagram profile but there was nothing wrong in her pictures to hold her accountable for so i commented in one of her pictures what a lovely lady that night i received a notification that she liked my comment it was a picture on the beach i took that one my dear girl looked so pretty in that yellow dress i was admiring how beautiful she is becoming when another comment took place in that picture a guy named monty commented your hair needs red highlights some people are overly opinionated in social media irrespective of others choices anyways sophie and i had dinner and went to sleep the next morning when i woke up i heard the shower and the bathroom going on sophie never wakes up that early so i thought there must have been a water leak but as i tried to enter twisting the doorknob sophie said from the inside i'm in here i got surprised to see her wake up so early i went to the kitchen to fix her breakfast after 15 minutes sophie came out of the bathroom are you feeling all right as i turned back i saw the streaks of red highlight in her brown hair she turned her hair red after that comment in her insta profile she left for school as if it wasn't a big deal i wanted to say something but again i couldn't with more days passing i started to realize my daughter is severely obsessed with her looks and she gives way too much importance to what people say on social media i thought that this will pass but had no idea things will get out of hand she started to lose weight quite rapidly she stopped eating her meals and only drank liquids i couldn't stand the sight of her becoming a skeleton wrapped up in human skin so i sat her down and decided to stop this nonsense once and for all sophie what are you doing what you barely eat look at yourself you're becoming malnourished oh god this is a trend mom i was becoming fat anyways what who told you that your fake instagram followers you know those people actually don't give a damn about you how how do you know do you follow my account you're sick no it's you who's becoming sick that's it i'm taking you to a psychiatrist tomorrow i'm not your [ __ ] toy she slammed out the door on my face and left the house i sat on the couch weeping i never thought my daughter can talk to me like that an hour went by and she didn't come back i was about to call 9-1-1 when my next-door neighbor called me and said sophie is lying unconscious on the sidewalk nearby i rushed and saw she passed out on the street due to her poor health condition we took her to the hospital and the doctor said apart from malnutrition she's also suffering from bulimia whatever she eats these days she even vomits that out secretly in a room and all this because someone on instagram called her fat i took her to therapy after that and she started to recover gradually her psychiatrist miss miller gave her some really good advice and tried to talk her out of the madness over social media i was getting my hope back the old happy and cheerful sophie was coming back after a month she joined back to school i returned her phone thinking she will be fine now i don't know what happened in school but after coming home she didn't talk she just finished dinner and went to bed before going to her room she looked at me and asked mom am i beautiful to which i replied you are the most beautiful girl in the world my dear i did the dishes and went to my room as well i don't know why but i casually opened my instagram account and searched for sophie's profile as soon as her account opened i saw her last picture received too many comments it was a picture she took during her poor health phase she was looking really skinny in that picture i scrolled down to see the comments and i saw people flooded the comment section with negativity and hatred people were calling her the skeleton girl and making fun of her some of them provoked her to kill herself because she's too ugly tears rolled down my eyes thinking people can be this heartless and cruel to a 17 year old teenager the more i scrolled the more i felt bad for her i decided to tell her to delete her account and get rid of all of this i was going back to bed when a new comment popped up in the same picture it was from sophie as i read the comment my heart sunk in fear she replied ending my ugly life goodbye i sprinted out of the bed and ran to her i twisted the door knob but sophie locked it from inside sophie sophie open the door i started banging on her door but she wouldn't open it i took out the key from the wardrobe nearby and opened the door in one go sophie was lying on the floor covered in blood she slashed her wrist with a cutter i called the ambulance and admitted her to the hospital she's still unconscious doctors are saying she'll be fine i've decided to take her some way far away from the city i will keep fighting for her as long as i'm alive all i want to request to the people of this generation is please please be kind to each other it doesn't matter how you look from the outside beauty has no face to it only a loving heart i traveled to find myself after college it's a tale as old as time college student graduates with a degree that he has no idea what to actually do with it and wanders the country by himself in an old car he bought on ebay hoping that he'll find some profound meaning to life at a pit stop somewhere for one entire year after graduating i went on a cross-country road trip going nowhere in particular i often stopped by small towns and took part in whatever obscure local traditions it had pie baking contests annual dance festivals weird delicacies anyone else in america would consider disgusting that sort of thing though they were all from the same country it was interesting to see how different they all were from one another i enjoyed my time stopping by them even if i had to do odd jobs every now and then when my savings wouldn't cut it one day on my self-realizing road trip i came across a town that would change my life forever it started out with a rusty old sign behind the road in the middle of nowhere i would have missed it had i not been driving slower than usual to take in the sight of the vast expanses of wild grass to the either side of me i parked right beside the sign and had to squint to read what it said through the brown rust that had gathered on it it read rory 100 miles accompanied by an arrow curving left i assume that rory must be a small town and i started to look forward to learning some new local customs i continued to drive down the long road keeping an eye out for a left turn eventually i came across a small dirt path branching off the main concrete road into a dense forest vegetation had grown over the path but i could tell that just below the foliage was a smooth paved surface that might have once been used by people i probably would have missed it entirely had i not been looking for it the town must have been happy in its isolation to leave the path and it's so hard to find i turned the car onto the overgrown path and into the forest shadows casted by the tall trees above engulfed my vehicle only the faint spots of sunlight from the thicket lit my path up enough for me to not accidentally drive into a tree after about an hour or so of driving over crunchy leaves i finally reached the end of the path in front of me was a small town with short boxy buildings flanking either side of its roads on the surface it looked like all the other towns i'd visited since starting my trip and yet something about it felt off as i drove through it i quickly realized what it was the place was way too quiet usually when i rolled into a new small town i'd at least get a look or two from a local wondering what the banged up car was doing in their town but here there wasn't even anybody outside doing anything and i couldn't see anyone in the buildings through the windows either at that moment i knew i'd either stumbled into a town full of introverts or an abandoned one i held out hope that it might just be a quiet day for the town and drove to a building with a hotel sign in front of it my car was the only one in the early empty parking lot i pushed open the door to the little hotel like the rest of the town there was no one to be found the receptionist desk sat empty and nobody came when i rang the bell on it i knew at that point that the town must have been abandoned by its residents though for what reason i still couldn't tell after only a moment's hesitation i swiped a key from the key rack behind the receptionist desk and went to the room it was for while i didn't relish the thought of squatting in an unoccupied building i was itching for a comfortable bed to lie on after spending the past few nights in my car the door to the hotel room creaked open with a loud squeak i looked inside hoping to find a bed to rest on for the night although the room seemed well kept enough i knew i wasn't going to be sleeping on the bed anytime soon when i saw it some sort of red mold was staining the white sheets of the bed and the smell was unbearable too like roadkill that had been left to rot i gagged and closed the door before going back to the front desk to get a key for a different room to sleep in but when i did i was met with the same exact problem in the new room the same pungent red mold that had covered the sheets of the first room was on the cushioned chair of the new room i picked the smell was also just as terrible and once again i went back to the front desk to get the key for a different room i found the same red mold in every single room i entered in the hotel sometimes on the chairs and sofas most of the time on the beds i was about to give up after checking the tenth room when something on the moldy bed caught my eye something that glinted in the golden sunlight that shone past the closed curtains holding my breath i approached the bed to see what it was my eyes widened when i saw a gold diamond ring on top of the red mold my body moved before i could think twice i tried to pick up the ring no longer caring whether i touched the mold or not the moment my fingertip touched the red mold i felt a burning pain shoot through it and into my arm i let go of the ring and took a step back i suddenly didn't want the ring or to stay in the town anymore i ran out of the hotel and back into my car i grabbed the first aid kit i kept in the glove compartment and poured rubbing alcohol over where i'd touch the mold the moment the alcohol touched my skin a searing pain erupted in my fingertip upon closer inspection i could see that my fingertip had developed a bloody blister that bulged out of my skin like a bulbous water balloon i gently poked at it with my other hand and the blister instantly burst at the slight pressure the blood from the blisters splattered all over my hands i felt a burning sensation whenever the blood touched my skin i scrambled to wipe them off with a towel but realized with horror that they wouldn't come off the blood had permanently seeped into my skin turning into reddish sores that looked eerily similar to the red mold i encountered in the hotel it's been a week since then i'm still in the town and the sores have spread every day i can feel the sores that now cover my arms eating away at my flesh my arms are little more than skin and bones now i'm sure that it'll soon eat at my bones in time as well i felt a burning sensation whenever the blood touched my skin i scrambled to wipe them off with the towel but realized with horror that they wouldn't come off as i returned to the road in search for help i pray that i have not accidentally doomed the rest of the world to the same fate as that abandoned town i am a 21 year old petite woman after spending a long time apart last year i finally got the chance to fly back to my boyfriend mark this was my second time traveling through the air so i was still nervous i remember how early i reached the airport panicking what if i missed the flight it was an early morning flight that took place on a foggy winter day i even thought the flight would get canceled because of the weather after the security checks and other formalities i went to get a coffee i just took the first sip when i noticed a boy around the age of seven or eight years old standing near the dustbin in the corner and staring at me he was holding a candy wrapper which he was about to throw in the dustbin but instead i caught his eye and he paused he was staring at me with wide shocked eyes as if he couldn't believe that i was there few seconds went by and when he still didn't move i walked to him hey that's a cool t-shirt he was wearing a spider-man t-shirt and i thought to chat with him for a bit also his stare was making me uneasy i approached him just to break that hearing words of praise about his t-shirt a big smile slowly appeared on his face i mean i know i shouldn't talk about a kid like this but his smile was way more disturbing than his stare um what's your name are you playing with me huh you know my name already he said this with such confidence that for a moment i tried to recall if i knew this kid or not sorry kiddo but i am meeting you for the first time are you still angry with daddy mommy what i am not your mommy sweetheart you have me mistaken is my son bothering you i turned back immediately after hearing a man's voice a man in his late 40s was standing behind me with a serious face but excessively bright eyes after seeing his eyes i had no doubt that he is indeed the father of this boy both of them had this disturbing stare no your son must have me mistaken yeah my wife passed away recently he is still trying to get over that trauma don't mind his words calvin let's go the boy held his father's hand and started to walk away he was constantly turning back and staring at me the father-son duo was so weird that i stood there for another 10 minutes thinking about what just happened the way the man spoke about his wife's death and his son's grief felt so lifeless to me as if he had no emotion i came back to my seat and got back to my coffee the airport was almost empty from my seat i could see the entire waiting area without any obstacle the father-son duo was sitting at some distance from me but i still point out that wicked grin on that boy's face he just couldn't stop smiling at me there was two more hours before the flight and i was already feeling anxious to leave when i travel i always carry a book with me i took out a novel from my backpack and started ignoring this creepy child i must have dozed off while raiding when i felt someone's breath on me i opened my eyes but didn't see anyone near me the father-son duo was gone i saw the time and realized i have an hour more before boarding needless to say i felt relieved seeing them gone i had to pee so i got up and started to look for the washroom it took me five minutes to find it a long corridor led to the washroom it was so quiet around me that i could almost hear my heartbeat i got inside and closed the door to do my business while i was doing so i heard a burst of laughter and running footsteps inside the washroom the hair on the back of my neck stood up immediately i know this laughter i just heard it some time back it's that creepy kid but suddenly i heard another heavy footstep entering the washroom i thought the kid might have sneaked in again and now his father is here to take him back i didn't come out of the washroom i waited for them to leave after a few minutes when everything got silent i stretched my hand to open the lock but immediately pulled back hearing a whisper two voices were whispering in a very weird way what's wrong with these two why can't they just leave me alone i saw a shadow from the space under the bathroom door i crushed down and peeked to see who was outside as i tilted my head to look out i found another face looking back at me from the space under the door it was the father of that creepy kid our eyes met and a chilling shiver ran down my spine he had a scary looking expressionless face my voice choked inside my throat and i just forgot to scream i was about to get up when suddenly that creepy kid jumped on me from above and started to laugh hysterically boom mommy i screamed and tried to get him off me but he was grasping my hair so tightly that the more i moved the more he pulled my hair out boom mommy get off me get off me the man started to laugh as well [Laughter] then why don't you open the door margo this is not the way to behave with your son and husband he then started banging on the bathroom door open it open it now i knew no one would be able to hear me from this washroom i have to save myself i need to get out of here i grabbed the kid by his neck and pulled him off my back he bit me on the neck and then kicked in the air but i was at him as soon as i pinned him on the bathroom wall he realized i am bigger and stronger than him the smile on his face wiped out and a tense look appeared he said in a fumbling voice but but mommy i was just playing with you i looked him in the eye and said i'm not your [ __ ] mommy no matter what i didn't want to hurt the child so i just opened the door in one go and threw him on the man's lap and started running for my life i was sprinting down the empty corridor while screaming for help i turned back once and saw the man and his son both were chasing me like mad dogs i luckily reached the waiting area before them and screamed at the top of my lungs help me a few cabin crew associates came rushing and the security guards were called too they caught the father and son at that moment and called the cops i didn't take the flight that night because i wanted to know what the hell is wrong with these two i went to the police station and gave my statement without missing a single detail after a heavy interrogation the cops finally found the truth it was true that the man lost his wife and since then he is having mental issues but but the kid wasn't a kid he is a full-grown man with a rare case of hypopituitarism it's a rare hormonal disease that stunted his physical growth and caused proportional dwarfism he spent most of his life posing like a little boy not just that taking advantage of his medical condition he has manipulated his brother in doing several criminal activities such as petty theft and robberies and today they plan to sexually abuse me or maybe even abduct me because the cops found chloroform and several sleeping pills from their bags i wonder how they managed to fool the security in the airport still at night i wake up seeing bad dreams i see myself tied to a chair and that man standing beside me all of a sudden that creepy dwarf man jumps on me screaming boom mommy every year before the 4th of july i start getting nightmares a memory of my high school days has cursed this auspicious day for me i was a brave boy since childhood my mom once told me she passed down on the couch during one rainy afternoon and forgot to lock our door a thief snuck into our house and was ravaging the kitchen she got up hearing the sounds and saw that man stealing our belongings i was only 10 years old then but instead of being scared i chased the man with a baseball bat and he ran away like a coward but even my bravery failed me that one frightening night on the 4th of july i was 15 years old at the time the independence day celebration was going around my family asked me if i wanted to go with them to check out the fireworks but i really didn't want to go it had nothing to do with the fireworks actually i wanted to go out and drink with my friend cooper we decided to break into the abandoned school building in our area it was a hot spot for teenagers to smoke and drink without getting in trouble i met up with cooper and he had scored some pretty good stuff i wasn't a smoker but every once in a while i didn't mind he was a bit worried that being the fourth a lot of people would have broken into the school but i assured him saying so far we hadn't come across any other teenagers there like normal we snuck through an opening in the fence surrounding the place at that point everything seemed perfectly fine no red flags there wasn't really anything to indicate that anyone else would have been there we went behind the building and there was a broken door we used to get in still there was no indication that we weren't alone we found a room and began smoking and drinking a little bit it was really nice we weren't too far away from the fireworks display so we could hear the fireworks going off in the sky we were probably in there for over an hour when cooper gave me a really weird look he stared behind my shoulder looking at the passage outside the room and said did you hear that hear what the fireworks he shook his head no i think i heard something over there i thought maybe he was just enjoying a little too much cooper you better slow down on the beers you're already starting to hallucinate no man i know what i heard someone's out there he insisted though that he heard someone in another room when i suggested it was probably just more teenagers drinking he decided we should go look for them and see if they wanted to hang out i really didn't care too much to do that but i went ahead with him we were walking down the hallway it was dark but we could see because of the moonlight coming from the broken windows also the flash of the fireworks were lighting up the school now and then we walked almost for five minutes and i still didn't hear anything but cooper kept telling me that we were not alone there are people here other than us i began to think that maybe cooper was messing with me or trying to scare me or something i had to brace myself waiting for him to try and scare me or something but he didn't do that i was getting impatient when suddenly i heard something as well it was a firecracker it had to be i may have even heard it before but mistook it for something from the display there had to be someone in one of the other rooms letting off fireworks no big deal really fireworks were illegal for just anyone to have the displays were done by the city we came here for illegal drinking and illegal smoking so it made sense someone might come out here for illegal fireworks so we followed the sound and eventually found the room there was an open doorway and there was a little bit of light coming from it we decided to go through the doorway and introduce ourselves cooper told me he'd offered them smoke so they wouldn't take us as threats i mean that was the plan we had in mind as we looked inside the room we froze there were two people in the room but they had weird pig masks on their face one had a pig mask and the other wore a wild boar mask with long teeth the pig mask guy was sitting on the floor with a bunch of firecrackers in his hand the other was standing near a man tied to a chair the man looked at us with his horrified wide eyes but he couldn't scream because dozens of sparklers were shoved into his mouth and if i'm not wrong they were about to light him on fire the man with the wild boar mask had a huge sparkler in his hand you know how when someone has a sparkler they write words in the air he wrote hi with a sparkler to us we didn't say anything we just stood there had a shock soon the man with the pig mask stood up and made a creepy grunting noise like pigs do and clapped in a very freaky way um hey we were just heading home sorry to disturb before cooper could finish his sentence they sprinted towards us like a four-legged animal we looked back once and those creams were chasing us down the hallway run liam run i was running while gasping for air cooper was panting too but we didn't stop we had no idea in which direction we were running but we knew if we fall or stop these guys will not let us go we saw a broken window right in the wall ahead of us without wasting a single second we jumped outside from that window stomping on the ground i took out my phone and dialed 9-1-1 on our way home when the cops arrived there they found that man tied to the chair like before but his face was partially burnt with the sparklers in his mouth he was rushed to the hospital and luckily he made it alive when the man regained his consciousness he told the cops those two guys abducted him from the highway he didn't see their faces as they always had those creepy masks on the cops are still searching for them but i don't think they'll find those guys but the most terrifying thought that runs through my mind almost every night is that maybe we haven't seen their faces but they surely got a good look at me and cooper what if they come for us again i used to love going to amusement parks as a kid my favorite one was called wonderwood park it had an alice and wonderland theme that was just different enough from the house of mouse's version to not get sued since it was close to where i lived every summer i'd go there with my parents as an annual tradition those days gave me some of the happiest memories of my life they couldn't last though my father got a job far away from our old town and we all had to move with him it became impractical to travel to wonderwood park every year so we eventually just stopped going i was just about to graduate high school when my mother told me that she heard the part closed down due to unknown reasons i remember feeling sad when i heard the news but i was too busy with things like finals and college applications to be too down about it it was only after i'd graduated college and moved out of my parents house that i decided to return to my old hometown once more to revisit wonderwood park i pulled over to the nearest hotel and rented a room there before proceeding to where wunderwood park once was on foot wearing a medical mask to cover my face i doubted anyone actually cared whether people went to those ruins or not but i was still technically trespassing it was better if nobody saw me there and for them to not see my face if they did late that afternoon i hopped over the fence past the lock gates and into wonderwood park for the first time since i was 12. as expected a lot has changed since my last time there but i was still able to recognize it as the place that made my childhood the rides i had once waited and humungous lines to get on lay rusty and dilapidated from years of neglect the food stands had completely collapsed ravaged by the elements and scavenging animals that ate whatever was left behind even the towering ferris wheel that had once been the highlight of my every trip stood deteriorated with the wheel looking like it could fall off the rickety hinges at any moment it was a shame to see the source of so many fond memories in such a state but i couldn't help but feel just a little happy that i was able to return to see it one last time i took out my phone to take some pictures as a keepsake i walked around the theme park taking pictures of all the attractions i used to love as a kid the slingshot ride that was made to look like a heart-shaped guillotine the water ride based on the time that alice cried enough tears to cause a flood and even a winding hedge maze decorated with the now long dead roses that was supposed to resemble the queen of hearts garden i got a little lost in the last one i must have passed the same crumbling statue of the queen of hearts at least three times even when covered in bird [ __ ] she still manages to look like a pompous prick by the time i managed to find my way out of the maze night was already beginning to fall i got ready to leave the place before it got too dangerous to walk outside alone but as soon as i took a step beyond the maze entrance i heard something that stopped me in my tracks hissed a soft voice somewhere behind me it sounded like the voice of a child startled i spun around to see what it was standing with her face half hidden behind a hedge wall was a pale little blonde girl in a tattered looking blue dress she stared at me with a pleading eye but didn't utter a word as i stood there dumbfounded by her presence uh hey i said once i got over the initial surprise what are you doing here the little girl didn't reply she just continued to stare at me with that glassy blue eye that seemed to see through my soul i was a little creeped out to be honest but i wasn't about to abandon her there in the ruins hey sweetie are you lost i asked do you know where your parents are she didn't reply she just turned away and ran off behind the head's wall wait i called out after her it took me a long time to figure out the hedge maze myself i didn't want her to get lost in it as well so i ran after her i turned the corner just in time to see the blue hem of her dress disappear behind the left hedge wall corner i ran after her my footsteps echoing throughout the otherwise silent ruins like banging drums each time i turned a corner to find her i'd only catch a glimpse of her trailing dress telling me which direction she went in the maze it was almost as if she was doing it on purpose finally i followed her to the wide open center of the maze where there were no corners for her to hide behind she stood stock still in front of the queen of heart statue with her back to me it was the same queen of heart statue i'd accidentally passed several times trying to get out you're not gonna run away again are you i said between heavy pants though the little girl didn't seem tired at all please just stay there i'll call the police they'll make sure you're safe okay i promise the little girl shook her head her face still turned away from me it's too late for that said the little girl in the most sorrowful voice i'd ever heard before i could ask what she meant the girl turned around to look at me but the first time i was able to fully see her face it made me immediately wish i hadn't the left half of her face had been completely torn open i could see your cracked white skull peering through the bloody gash in her flesh and her eye was hung from its socket dangling over her ghostly pale cheeks like a macabre pendulum i would have screamed had the shock of it all not caused my body to freeze in fear without another word the little girl turned her back to me again and sunk into the dirt in front of the queen of heart statue it was then that i noticed that the dirt looked like it been disturbed there was a small mound of dirt no bigger than a basketball hidden by the overgrown grass that surrounded it i managed to compose myself enough to approach it and examine it closer sticking out of the dirt was what looked like a human finger bone small enough to belong to a child i immediately called the police naturally they asked me what i was doing in the ruined amusement park in the first place and detained me for a few days while they investigated the girl's body buried under the queen of heart statue thankfully i was able to get off on minor trespassing charges after it became clear she'd been rotting there for at least five years i don't know if the police will ever find out who put her there i don't think even she knew herself i just hope her spirit can finally find peace now after being trapped in that park for so [Music] long i was in high school when this incident took place i lived in a suburb where modes of entertainment were less there was a small pub a shopping complex and a single screen movie theater for the entertainment of young minds i on the other hand was a loner because of my confused sexuality phase i couldn't gather the courage to open up to my parents about being gay hence i cut myself off from any social interaction my parents on the other hand were having marital issues so i decided to give them all the space they needed often at night i used to sneak out of the house when i couldn't bear the sound of two adults screaming at each other their relationship made me realize life is beautiful until you get married i was a minor so there's no way i could go to the pub to grab a drink the shopping mall closed after eight hence my only recluse was the movie theater almost every night they put up a late night show from 12am to 2am my distant cousin jack worked there as a janitor he helped me to get in and watch those movies without buying a ticket he called the late night shows dead hours as only a handful of people came to see them it was a warm summer night and i was feeling disgusted with the loud fights and obscene language of my parents i dialed jack's number to know if a show was going on or not he picked up my call and replied about to start in 10 minutes hurry up i sneaked out immediately the roads were empty the sounds of crickets and the dim street lights calm me down it might feel weird to you but back then i was going through a really troubled mental state the only solution was isolation but being too alone has its consequences too i could see the blinking signboard of the movie theater from the end of the road the more i walked towards it the name of the movie started to become visible i found out it was a horror movie i heard about that movie from a bunch of boys in my school so i got excited i quickly walked inside and saw jack standing near the red colored ticket counter shielded with a glass cover he smiled and told me to go in by pointing his finger inside the movie hall the advertisements had already started it was quite dark but the lit movie screen helped me navigate my way through the dark i didn't want to be bothered so i grabbed a corner seat from the second row apart from me i could see a couple making out in the front row and two other individuals scattered in the big theater they were probably homeless people who came to sleep under a roof the movie started and i took out a pack of cigarettes this movie theater was never in its best shape on weekdays that too in such odd hours you can just smoke or drink and no one cares once i saw a guy doing meth sitting in the front row i watched the movie on the screen and he saw a movie in his mind i was already in deep [ __ ] so spending night after night in such an unsafe environment never got me worried i just put my hoodie on and fired up a cigarette there were small air vents built up in the corners near the last rows so it made an ideal spot for me to smoke in peace the movie started and i was hooked on it i was watching attentively while smoking after a point of time i realized i have to put off the slow burning cigarette butt i had no intention to burn this place down so i took my eyes off the screen and started to put it out with my sneakers suddenly i heard heavy breathing and i looked up to follow the sound a man was sitting at the left side of the middle row and watching me because he sat in the middle it was possible to see his face he had a very disturbing stare as he could see through me not just that but his breathing didn't feel normal to me his bony face had no blood and there was something wrong with his right eye it was twitching at times in a very creepy way he smiled at me for no reason and i knew this was just another meth head i ignored him and started watching the movie again i thought he would pass out on his seat so it's better to avoid him god i wish he passed out a moment later out of curiosity i looked back at him again but this time i saw an even more filthy sight the man's mouth was open and he was drooling like a dog i can't even explain how disgusted i felt drops of saliva were all over his chin i felt like i was going to puke on the floor but as i said i've spent night after night in this doomed place so i got my [ __ ] together and returned to the movie i thought that i'm not the only one inside this movie theater also my cousin is outside there's no way this man could cause harm to me i took out a beer can that i stole from my dad and started sipping from it in the next five minutes i had the worst experience of my life that still scares me to go to a movie alone i don't know what got inside that drooling dude but he got up trembling like a corpse and started to change seats to get closer to me his breathing got way more intense like he's dying to get close to me i was so shocked and freaked out that i forgot to move the man slowly crawled over the seats like a zombie while stretching his arms towards me and exhaling all the air in his lungs he was probably three rows away from me when my cell phone buzzed and i got up screaming get away get away from me i jumped from my seat and ran towards the exit door while crossing the front row in a hurry i tripped over the couple who were busy on their own and it resulted in a huge brawl the boyfriend got up and grabbed my hoodie to teach me a lesson i tried to explain this to him the situation but he was being the alpha male at that point i knew i was going home with a black eye and maybe some bruises but as he lifted his arm to punch me his girlfriend screamed in terrible pain and the lights were on we all saw the man was sitting on the floor near us and biting the girl's left leg with his rotten teeth jack rushed in and the two other homeless men woke up the paramedics were called in and so the cops it came to know that the man was neither a psycho nor drug addict he was suffering from the last stage of rabies there's no doubt he lived in the streets and not in very hygienic circumstances the paramedics found a bite mark probably caused by an infectious street dog on his right arm the rabies patient suffers acute pain with the difficulty in swallowing that leads to a dry throat when this man saw me taking a sip from the beer all he wanted was to quench the horrifying thirst he was experiencing that's why he started to come close to me or rather towards my beer can the girl who got bitten was immediately vaccinated and i hope she didn't end up like that poor homeless man although the paramedics took him in it was too late for him he passed out in some hours and i came home with a freaking scary memory that still haunts me at night my little sister used to be a v tuber for convenience sake i'll call her suzy and her v tuber persona suzuki suzy and i couldn't have been more different she was a quiet girl who didn't go out much and i was a social butterfly who loved getting to know new people still we were as close as a couple of sisters could be thanks to our shared interests we often bonded over our mutual love of anime and video games so when she told me she wanted to become a v tuber after we moved into the same apartment after high school i was fully supportive of the idea i thought that it could be a good way to get susie to open up to people in a safe way she wouldn't have to go outside which she didn't like to do anyways and she could talk through a fictional avatar so she didn't have to worry about showing a real face online for strangers to see both of us had loved to draw ever since we were kids so i helped her come up with the design for her v tuber persona as well as the backstory and personality she'd play for her we ended up with suzuki a half american transfer student to japan who doesn't speak japanese but is trying her best to learn sometimes on stream suzuki was the complete opposite to susie she was a bubbly red-headed anime girl who always greeted her viewers with a hearty heyo you guys while the real person behind her was a quiet brunette who spent most of her life as a background character in everyone else's story to make her sound even more cutesy during the streams we even downloaded a live voice changer on her computer to make her sound more high-pitched i only realized after we'd finalized the character design that suzuki shared an uncanny resemblance to me and even had a similar personality when i did i felt a pang of guilt in my chest although they never said it aloud our parents always seemed to favor me over her growing up if we both had events on the same day they'd always choose to attend my event and on our birthdays my gifts were just a little bit more expensive than hers intentionally or not she must have been trying to make her avatar resemble me because of that childhood favoritism nevertheless i continued to support her v tuber career off stream i always left her alone whenever i knew she was streaming in her room to not interrupt whatever she was doing at most i'd send her a text message on her phone the dinner was ready on the table so that my voice wouldn't be picked up on her live stream our neighbor was not as considerate however we lived right next to a bitter old woman who i'll call liz liz was in her 40s with pale warty skin stringy gray hair and a perpetual scowl that could make milk go sour despite all the soundproof padding we put in susie's room she would often stop me in the middle of the hall just to complain about the noise susie was apparently making with her live streams i only ever pretended to listen none of our other neighbors complained so i was pretty convinced that she watched susie's live streams as suzuki and just wanted an excuse to bother us probably because she disliked every person younger than her by default one day i had to go out on a week-long business trip for my company i was a bit worried about leaving susie alone but i didn't exactly have a choice if i wanted to get a promotion at my job are you sure you're going to be all right i asked on the day i was supposed to leave for the trip i'll be fine susie replied my v tuber career's been taking off i should be able to live off donations until you get back okay but just in case i'm leaving you some money in the drawer do not forget to take care of yourself okay oh and avoid liz like the plague you don't need to tell me that twice susie said with a chuckle we shared one last hug and i left with a traveling bag full of clothes for my business trip i spent the next week sharing cheap hotel rooms with people i barely knew and attending business meetings that had me brain dead for the most of it it was long and boring and made me appreciate my comfortable bed at home all the more my only highlight for each day was getting to see susie stream as her suzuki persona on my phone at the end of each day hearing her happy high-pitched avatar say hey all you guys at the start of each stream never failed to put a smile on my face for the first time i knew what it felt like to be a regular watcher of her streams instead of a hidden part of it it was nice while it lasted on the day i returned from my trip i decided to pick up a gift for susie on the way home at the electronics store knowing how dedicated she was to her blossoming v-tuber career i bought a brand new microphone for her to use during her streams when i returned to our apartment i headed straight for her room to give her the gift i bought her i opened her bedroom thinking that i'd see my sister playing video games or watching anime as she usually did during her free time instead my blood ran cold when i saw the person sitting in my sister's chair her stringy hair had been dyed the same shade of red as suzuki and shoddily tied up in a similar twin-tail style the warts on her wrinkled face were poorly covered in makeup that was dripping off from the sweat coating her cheeks and her mouth usually twisted into an angry scowl was instead showing off a crazed smile full of crooked yellow teeth it was liz my neighbor i let out an audible gasp in surprise the moment i did liz snapped her head in my direction she stared through me with bloodshot eyes filled to the brim with madness as she shouted in a loud eerily cheerful voice heyo you guys i ran out of the apartment as quickly as i could one of the neighbors heard the ruckus and opened the door to check what was going on i told him to call the police and stayed at his apartment until the police came liz was giggling like a demented schoolgirl the entire time the police dragged her out of the apartment after thoroughly searching the apartment they found susie tied up in the tub of our bathroom she had a large bruise on her head where liz had hit her that was already covered in dry blood by the time she was found she was extremely thin and malnourished but still barely clinging to life the doctor at the hospital told me that she must have been kept in the bathroom without food for at least a week for an entire week liz must have been impersonating my own sister with her v tuber persona i can only assume that she was trying to regain some of her lost youth but in doing so she robbed susie of hers susie is in a coma now though the doctors are hopeful that she'll make a full recovery someday in the meantime i've been keeping her v tuber channel alive by streaming as suzuki in her stead i feel bad lying to her fans but i just couldn't stand the thought of suzuki fading into obscurity after all the hard work susie put into her i still pray for the day my sister wakes up to take back her place so i was literally raised in a barn my parents were farmers in the countryside and i grew up helping them with chores for as long as i could remember milking the cows gathering eggs from the chicken coop carrying hay bales that sort of thing we country folk valued the virtue of hard work like that my parents were the old-fashioned sort especially my father he was the kind of man who couldn't tell the difference between corporal punishment and straight up child abuse over honest mistakes i wasn't a particularly naughty child but i was a bit clumsy one time i accidentally spilled a bucket of milk during chores and my father whipped me with a leather belt so hard that i passed out while my mother only walked sadly from the corner eventually i got tired of the country life with my uncaring family and moved out of the farm to find a new life for myself in the big city my parents didn't approve of course but it wasn't like they could stop me as soon as i was 18 i drove out of the farm in my cheapest second-hand car and didn't look back all i left behind from my parents was a note telling them that i was going to make a new life for myself far away from them yeah i didn't exactly have the best relationship with them i wouldn't return to the farm again until 15 years later when i got a knock at the door of my cramp studio apartment i opened the door thinking that it was odd since i didn't get many visitors due to always being too busy with my work at a soul-sucking corporate job to make any friends a middle-aged man in an ill-fitting grey suit stood at my door holding a brown leather briefcase in one hand my first thought was that he was a door-to-door salesman trying to sell me something and immediately felt annoyed i was still mentally recovering from a whole week of mind-numbing work and this was supposed to be my day off when i could do whatever i wanted without my manager breathing down my neck look buddy whatever you're selling i'm not interested i said in an irritable tone i tried to close the door right afterwards but felt the door jamb when the man placed a boot-clad foot between the door and door frame i'm not a salesman kid the man said his voice calm but clearly exhausted i'm a private investigator i need to talk to you about something curious i eased the door back open but kept my hand on the handle why would anyone hire a private investigator to find me the man's expression turned grim it's about your parents he said in a somber voice what he said next made me feel like my soul left my body he explained that my father had died over three years ago my mother apparently driven mad from grief was recently admitted to a mental hospital against her will for her and everyone else's safety with my father dead and my mother deemed mentally unwell my mother's lawyer hired a private investigator to find me so that the ownership of the farm could be transferred to me the next couple of days went by in a blur after confirming who i was the private investigator brought my mother's lawyer to me so that i could sign the documents transferring ownership of the old farm to me i signed wherever he told me to sign and the two offered me shallow condolences before disappearing from my life forever it took me another week to gather the courage to go back to that old farm at the end of it i called my boss to let him know that i'd be gone for a week i got into the same busted up car i'd left the farm in to go back to it for the first time in over a decade to say that that place was in bad shape when i got there would be an understatement despite all the bad memories i had at that place thanks to my father it was still my childhood home it pained me to see it in such a sorry state weeds grew over the crop fields that had once been so carefully tended to the few remaining pigs on the farm were so scrawny and malnourished it was a miracle they were still alive their feed bins were completely empty and collecting dust it didn't look like anyone's touched them in a long time i wondered for a moment how they were able to survive without anyone feeding them then i noticed a small group of younger pigs gathered in a corner loudly eating something buried under all their hungry snouts i strained my eyes to see what it was and felt sick to my stomach when i recognized it they were gathered around the corpse of an old pig and were eagerly tearing away at its flesh and bone to eat without anyone to feed them the pigs had resorted to cannibalizing each other to survive i immediately left the barn in disgust to check on the cows instead they were still grazing the field as usual but there was one dead cow that had been left to rot with flies swarming all around them i couldn't even tell if it had died from old age or was killed by a predator with how desiccated its body had become after taking a moment to process just how messed up the farm had become i went to the farmhouse to clear my head only to find it just as neglected as the rest of the property everything was covered in a layer of dust and cobwebs adorned every dark corner there was even a tower of dirty dishes in the sink left to stagnate in feted gray water according to the lawyer my mother had been living on the farm up until her admission to the mental hospital just about a month ago yet it looked like the place had been abandoned for years i could only assume that she started neglecting it after my father's death my parents bedroom was a mess with clothes strewn about on the floor or haphazardly stuffed into the drawers with no rhyme or reason oddly enough the only place in the entire property that had been well kept was my old bedroom the place was spotless save for a few dusty corners everything was just as i'd left it from the metal music poster i hung on the walls as an edgy teenager to the bookshelf filled with heavy adventure books that i couldn't bring with me even the goodbye letter i left on my desk before leaving the farm was still there though i could see several dried up liquid stains that weren't on it before i tried hard to convince myself that they weren't my mother's tear stains sitting on my perfectly made childhood bed i realized with a heavy heart that out of all the things in the farm that needed tending to my mother only ever took care of my room deep down my mother must have really cared for me even if she was never able to stop my father from beating me as a child i decided then and there that i would fix the farm up so that it would be in better shape for her to return whenever the doctors deemed her fit for release i spent the next day cleaning the farmhouse and feeding the pigs in the barn their first proper feeding for the first time in years i even cleaned up the cow carcass in the field by burning it on a large pyre usually a dead cow would be composted but i couldn't tell whether it had died from a disease or not and didn't want to risk creating tainted compost i sat on a folding chair and watched as the raging fire consumed the carcass with a fire extinguisher on my side and a hunting rifle slung over my back if the cow had been killed by a wild predator i wanted to be ready to defend the farm if it returned to kill another cow i must have watched the fire for about an hour before i caught sight of something in the corner of my eye the sun had gone down by then and i was only able to see by the light of the burning pyre through the flickering light of the fire i could only tell that whatever it was was approaching me from a distance and shrouded by the darkness of night i couldn't make out what it was but the hazy shaggy outline made me think that it was some sort of animal thinking it was a wolf i brought up my hunting rifle and shot at the thing i didn't expect to actually hit it in the darkness i just wanted to scare it off with the sound of gunfire but right after i pulled the trigger i heard the sound of whatever it was yelp and pain right before collapsing to the ground but the sound it made wasn't that of an animal my eyes widened in horror when i recognized it as a human cry but when i reached it the horrible truth became clear to me lying on the ground with a bullet in her chest was the corpse of an old woman her hair was overgrown and shaggy so much so that i'd mistaken it for the fur of an animal in the dark the only thing she wore were a light green tunic and matching baggy trousers the kind you'd probably see a patient wear at a hospital after a whole minute of gawking horrified by what i'd accidentally done i snapped back to my senses and tried to think of what to do i should have called the police it was a genuine accident after all and the person was technically trespassing on my property but in my panic and cowardice the only thing i could think of at that moment was finding a way to get rid of the body i picked up the woman's body and tossed it into the pyre alongside the cow carcass for what felt like forever i watched as both of their bodies were consumed by the flames with sweaty hands though my body felt frozen in fear in the end all that was left were brittle bones that i easily crushed into dust i slept fitfully that night scared that someone would come looking for whoever that woman was the next day my fears came true when i heard a knock on the door the next day as i was eating breakfast i saw the police car parked outside through the window and thought that things couldn't possibly get any worse i was wrong i answered the door and was met with a young police officer good morning officer i said in the most normal voice i could muster is something wrong it's about your mother the officer said what about her i said in surprise she escaped the mental hospital last night one of the nurses told her that you'd return to the family farm and we were wondering if she broke out to visit you here or not he opened a picture on his phone gallery and showed it to me i've been told that you haven't seen her in a while so you might not recognize her but this is what she should look like now have you seen her i looked at the picture and felt my heart nearly stop sitting on a hospital bed in the picture was the same woman i'd shot the previous night that woman i'd accidentally killed and intentionally burned in a pyre alongside a common farm animal was none other than my very own mother fighting back the yards to vomit i told the officer that i hadn't seen her i couldn't hide all the horror in my voice though thinking that i was merely worried about my mother's safety he assured me that they'd find her soon there weren't a lot of places to hide in the countryside after all i thanked him though i knew nobody would ever find her i left the farm shortly afterwards to go back to the city though i've tried to return to my normal life my mind kept reminding me of what i'd done with nightmares of my mother crying still bleeding from the bullet hole i put in her chest that was over a decade ago i'm gonna return to the farm one last time i can no longer live with this guilt so i've decided that i won't live at all i'm bringing my hunting rifle there too but this time the only one who will be shot by me is [Music] me i worked in a movie theater at the beginning of my struggling years my job was to serve snacks hence i spent most of the time behind the counter i joined as a replacement for another girl who used to work there before me there was another girl named corey who worked along with me she was sweet and jolly we became good friends in no time apart from us there were three other guys who worked as maintenance staff there was this one guy named sam who was a big flirt i saw him flirting with corey and she too definitely had a crush on him because every time he looked at her she blushed like a red rose anyways one day i was cleaning the popcorn machine when i noticed something sparkling under it i crouched down and picked it up from the floor it was a silver bracelet with a small red heart attached in the middle it obviously wasn't mine so i thought maybe it's corey's when she arrived for work i showed her the bracelet hey you must have dropped this last night i found it under the popcorn machine that's not mine oh i see it was jillian's bracelet um who's jillian the girl who used to work here before you everyone called her jill oh why did she leave the job she didn't leave the job then she just stopped coming all of a sudden no one knows where she is now that's strange did anyone look for her come on riley she's not lost she once told me your family stayed in utah she might have just returned home that's all i guess i'll throw it in the bin then yeah whatever we got back to our work but i couldn't stop thinking about this girl jill why did she stop coming all of a sudden even though i thought about throwing it i ended up keeping the bracelet with me after the end of the shift sam came asking for corey she was out to pick up some supplies so i was watching the counter for her did she tell you how long it would take no but she'll be here soon you can wait here well i'd love to do that anyways so what's your deal sorry what do you mean you know you're like the shy girl and also too pretty to make the first move can you believe this guy it hasn't been five minutes since we met and he already started flirting with me as well his cheesy pickup lines made me feel ugh but it's hard to be rude to someone who's praising you i smiled and said thanks but i'm not like that seems like we need to spend more time together to know each other well huh sam what are you guys talking about uh nothing riley told me to wait for you here that's all huh i see corey gave me a fake smile but i could tell she heard sam flirting with me and she didn't like that i didn't want to give any wrong signals because i wasn't interested in her guy at all i said in a calm voice i'm gonna go home you two have fun now and left immediately i turned back to see the reaction and i saw corey getting all mushy again with sam what does she see in this jerk after coming home i went to the basement to wash my clothes i was about to put my pants in the washing machine when i noticed jillian's bracelet hanging from the pocket i almost forgot about it that entire night i kept staring at the bracelet and thinking about jill's mysterious disappearance due to lack of sleep i woke up late and reached work late as well i saw a rush on the counter and corey managing everything single-handedly i felt really ashamed of my irresponsibility and joined her immediately sorry corey i woke up late and it's okay remember we're friends relax riley she was a sweetheart and it wasn't just one time she covered for me whenever i took leave she happily did all the extra work and i couldn't thank her more one day i went to throw wastages in the dumpster it was at the back of the movie theater i was emptying the waist when i heard footsteps behind me i turned around and saw fred coming towards the dumpster with his mop fred swept the floors of the movie theater he hardly talked to anyone our eyes met and i smiled out of courtesy he smiled back and started cleaning the back area fred has been working here for a long time suddenly an idea came to my mind i walked up to him and asked hey do you mind if i ask you something go ahead um you knew jill right who jillian the girl you used to work fred looked at me with surprised eyes and said do you know where she is i wasn't expecting this question at all so i kept staring at him with an even more confused face no didn't she return home hmm maybe why are you asking about jillian do you know her no not exactly i just found her bracelet the other day i showed fred the bracelet and his eyes lit up in anger the son of a [ __ ] played with her feelings what who sam he's the main reason jill left her job saying this fred bolted out from there and i stood there in shock so sam flirted with her too this guy is desperate did he hurt her so many questions were going in mind and i had no answers i decided to confront him and get the actual truth i walked to the counter and saw corey standing there laughing with sam as soon as he noticed me his eyes shifted at me and a mysterious smile appeared on his face beautiful sam i need to talk to you sure i'm free for you anytime corey's face turned sad i could tell she got really upset as sam gave me all his attention suddenly she didn't say anything just walked away quietly sam doesn't bother about this at all and kept smiling at me i uttered to myself girls are like toys to you huh i'll teach you a lesson this time hey what is it that you wanted to talk about not here can we meet somewhere else sure we can meet at my place tonight around nine o'clock okay text me your address i'll be there sam left with a big smile on his face i was about to head home when corey came to me and said i didn't know you had a crush on sam it's not what you're thinking corey well if you want i would definitely move out of your way no you're thinking it wrong i told corey everything i heard from fred she became shocked as well she told me she had no idea sam is that kind of guy but i knew he was the evil one after dinner i went to sam's house i was ready to dial 9-1-1 if i saw one wrong move i knocked on the door and waited a minute went by but no one answered i pushed the door slightly and it slid open the house was in complete darkness sam sam where are i woke up with the throbbing pain at the back of my head as i opened my eyes i witnessed a shocking scene sam was tied to a chair he was bleeding from his nose what what's happening here sam who did this to you all of a sudden i heard a humming tune and corey came out in front of me corey what are you doing here there are so many men in this world why do you women keep chasing mine then what i'm not poor jillian i told her to stay away from sam but she didn't listen to me why would she anyway she was getting all those expensive gifts and his attention corey's face was furious and her left eye kept twitching in a freaky way all this time it was her she's the one behind jill's disappearance i couldn't believe it she walked towards sam and slapped him hard saying and you selfish men one woman will never be enough for you huh fine i will go to any extent to make you mine i've finished jill and now it'll be riley she then took out a spanner and started to walk towards me i'll beat you to death i thought we will be good friends but you too wanted to take what's mine i knew she is a psychopath and no matter what i say she won't stop people like her believe what they want to believe but i wasn't ready to die at the hand of a freaking obsessed psycho she lifted her hand to stomp me on the head and i kicked her on the leg she fell on her face breaking her nose the sound of her nose breaking still echoes in my ears she lied on the floor in terrible pain sam and i somehow freed ourselves and called the cops cops arrested corey for the charges of attempted murder and the murder of jillian jillian's body was found in her basement she had multiple stab wounds with [ __ ] engraved in her forehead with a sharp knife-like object i never thought corey could be so cruel and ruthless and that's what scared me the most we will never know from a person's face what devilish deed is lurking inside their mind so this happened in recent times and honestly i don't know what to believe anymore i'm a 23 year old male when i was 10 years old my cousin judith lost her parents in a car accident my parents adopted her and we grew up together she studied in the same school as me and moved out as soon as she turned 18. even though my mom tried to be a mother figure judith always kept her distance from us i know she created a wall after losing her parents after moving out she cut all ties with us my parents sent her gifts on her birthday but she never returned our calls last week my grandma called me saying judith has arrived and she's in very bad condition my mom and i rushed to see her she was a completely different person her pretty face was filled with scratches and scars her nails were filthy and her eyes were always moving junith got into severe heroin addiction we took her to the doctors and helped her get over it i still remember those nights when she woke up screaming because of her withdrawal she scratched her skin so badly that her flesh tore up and started to bleed i had to come back for my work but my parents stayed with my grandmother to take care of her i stay in a one-bedroom apartment one night i was sleeping in my room suddenly i woke up hearing a knock on my door i got up and walked to the main door i was thinking who could it be at this hour of the night when i saw judith standing in front of me i obviously didn't expect her because last time when i talked to my mom she told me judith was living in rehab judith how did you get here is everything all right judith didn't say anything she just smiled and slowly walked in her face was different this time she was looking calm and pale at the same time i closed the door and followed her into the living room she stood near a shelf and kept staring at our childhood photograph that i kept there judith is everything fine does mom know you're here she turned around and kept staring at me as if she forgot to speak i got worried thinking she might have escaped from rehab and came here i was going to call my mom and let her know about this when the phone rang sit down i'll be back in a minute i went back to my room and picked up the call surprisingly it was my mom hey mom you won't believe what happened judith but before i could finish i heard my mom crying over the phone mom what happened max judith no more the people called from rehab she slashed her wrist with broken glass poor judith my senses went numb my heart was pounding in my ears if judith is dead then who the hell is standing in my living room i slowly turned around and there she was standing right behind me i screamed and passed out on the floor when i woke up i saw daylight coming from my window i slept on the floor the entire night but i couldn't tell if it was a dream or i imagined everything the next day i went to my grandmother's house to attend judith's funeral i didn't tell my mom about that night after the funeral my parents insisted that i stay the night at grandma's we had a quiet dinner and went to sleep my parents and grandma slept downstairs i slept upstairs judith and i used to share this room when we used to travel here during our summer vacations i couldn't help to think about judith that night i dozed off thinking all this when i heard my alarm going off i opened my eyes and realized that i couldn't move i could only move my eyes and it took me a few seconds to understand i am having sleep paralysis my breathing increased rapidly it was the most terrifying state of mind one could ever experience before going to bed i hung my jacket behind the door i kept staring at it while wanting to break free from the situation when my jacket started to float in the air it started to come at me floating on its own when judith appeared from the darkness she stretched her hands and showed me her slit wrists blood was dripping from her cuts she didn't say anything she just stood there suddenly i wiggled my toe and understood my body had been released but judith didn't disappear this time she stood there staring at me with her wide eyes i asked in a gasping voice what do you want from me we never did anything wrong to you we loved you stop torturing me like this my mom rushed into the room hearing my voice and as she opened the door she saw judith standing near my bed junith turned at her and screamed in a demonic voice my mom didn't even get the time to scream she just fainted on the floor we had to hospitalize her as her pulse dropped rapidly and she had a mild heart attack i stayed the entire night at the hospital the next morning my mom regained consciousness she started crying and i tried consoling her mom please we've done enough for her it's no one's fault that she there's something we never told you max we thought if you knew you would think the same thing judah thought about us what is it mom judith wasn't your cousin she was your sister what what are you saying i got pregnant when i was in high school your father and i weren't in the position to take responsibility of a child so we gave her up for adoption but fate always plans differently for each one of us your uncle and aunt were childless so they went for adoption and look at my luck they ended up adopting my daughter even though it pained me to see my daughter being raised by someone else i couldn't do anything we wanted to tell judith but we didn't want to take her away from them as more time passed i started to notice something different in judah's behavior and appearance i found bruises on her body and came to know that your uncle and aunt abused her we immediately confronted them about this violent crime and a huge brawl took place they took judith with them and got into their car to escape your father and i chased them and unfortunately they met an accident in their way we saved judith but your hand and uncle died she took a pause and the silence in the room started killing me i screamed why didn't you tell me that she was my sister why didn't you all these years you made us live in a lie the situation was such and we didn't want to escalate the matter further also we got judith back didn't we adopt her and shower her with all our love oh my god you must be kidding me showered with all your love your daughter never knew her real parents she grew up in an abusive home and that's the reason why she took her own life we could have saved her you could have saved her hell i could have saved her i bolted out of the hospital cabin in furious anger and saw my dad standing in the hospital corridor with a fragile face i looked at him and said you knew all this time and still kept your daughter away still kept my sister away i don't think i'll be able to ever forgive you that's the last time i saw my parents it's been three years since i haven't met or talked to them but every 6th of august i wake up in the same state of trance where i can't move a muscle and i see judith standing near my bed crying tears of blood i don't know if it's her ghost or my guilty conscience that regrets not doing enough for my sister i was always close to my little sister sarah her mother was always busy with work and our father left us when we were young so it was mostly up to me to raise her she's four years younger than me and this story happened when i was 18 and she was 14. my mother had just gotten remarried to a guy named ben who seemed nice enough to me i didn't really mind him he was rich enough to help my mother support us and he always treated my mother with respect so i was okay with her dating him sarah didn't feel the same way about him though she avoided eye contact with ben at the dinner table every night and never spoke to him unless he spoke to her first she'd even avoid walking past the living room to get snacks if he was on the couch watching tv there i had to be the one to go get stuff for her downstairs on several occasions i chalked it up to her not being comfortable around someone she didn't know and assumed that she'll get used to him being around eventually on her 14th birthday ben decided to win her hard over by bringing her to the shopping mall to pick out any gift she'd like i thought she'd be ecstatic at the idea but she outright refused to go outside with him unless i went with them ben joked that she must have really loved her older brother and said that he'd let me pick out something too if i came so of course i went with them we strolled through the local mall looking at clothes purses and a bunch of other stereotypical girly stuff that ben thought sarah would like she didn't like any of them sarah was pretty short for her age and looked far younger than she actually was too so almost none of the clothes she tried on even fit her meanwhile i was just tagging along waiting for us to walk into a section of the mall that sells stuff geared towards teenage boys eventually we came across a little antique shop nestled in a quiet corner of the mall i was getting really bored and tired of walking around so i pointed it out to ben and sarah hoping that i'd be able to sit down and check my phone inside ben said he didn't think there'd be anything a little girl like sarah would like inside there but sarah insisted that they check it out since i suggested it the three of us entered the antique shop and i immediately gravitated towards the sports section where a bunch of vintage sports paraphernalia were on sale sarah wandered the shop with ben watching over her from the entrance of the little shop eventually she stopped walking and i looked up from a signed baseball card of a famous player to look at what got her attention she was staring at a fancy glass display cabinet containing a variety of knick-knacks that looked decades-old at the very least there were some silver plates a fine china tea set and something that looked like an old gas lamp but the star of the display was an antique doll that sat at the very top row of the cabinet the doll was dressed like a noble lady going to a funeral with a long black dress black gloves and a translucent black veil over its face the pitch black clothes made the pale white porcelain of its face behind the veil all that more pronounced when sarah picked it out of the cabinet and lifted the veil from its face it revealed a sorrelful frown accompanied by large blue eyes that seemed to bore into my soul even from a distance i told sarah that that was one dour-looking doll she's holding there to my surprise she told me that she thinks she wanted to buy the doll i asked her why on earth would she want a depressed looking thing in her room she said that she couldn't quite explain why she liked it something about the doll just resonated with her according to her anyways sarah was always weird like that i thought she was a little too old to still be playing with dolls but i kept that to myself and let her ask ben to buy it for her the moment the old shopkeeper saw the doll she was holding she told her that she could have it for free apparently she'd been trying to get rid of it for years but people kept returning it because of the sad vibe it gave off she seemed glad that such a beautiful doll might finally find a permanent home by someone who didn't mind the way it looked since we got the doll for free ben allowed sarah to pick out another thing from the store for her birthday she ended up buying a much less depressing looking navy blue dress that the store owner said could fit on her new doll which she decided to name sally as for me i got a wooden baseball bat that had been autographed by a famous old player to brag to my friends about later that night i was awoken by the sound of crying i'm normally a pretty heavy sleeper almost nothing can wake me up once my head hits the pillow but the crying sound wasn't normal it didn't feel like i was hearing it through my years more like the sound was being directly projected into my brain i had no idea how that's even possible but decided to ignore it for the time being and asked sarah about it the next day when the morning came i asked sarah at the breakfast table if she was crying last night ben was already out for work that morning so she was a lot more talkative than she would have been otherwise she seemed surprised by my question but insisted that she didn't make a sound the night before she asked if i was feeling well and i shrugged the entire incident off it was probably just a dream anyways with ben around to hog the tv sarah decided to spend that morning on the couch watching her favorite shows on the big screen i went back up to my room with the intention of gaming on my pc all day on my way to the bedroom i saw sarah's bedroom door wide open i assumed that she had just forgotten to close it and went to shut it for her so that no bugs would get in as i did i caught a glimpse of sally sitting on sarah's nightstand with her veil lifted up it looked like red tears were streaming from her blue eyes staining her porcelain cheek i was taken aback by it and slammed the door shut before going to my room i reasoned that it was probably just my eyes playing tricks on me or sarah trying to put makeup on the doll and tried my best to forget about it that night i woke up to the sound of crying again but something was different this time this time i could also feel the weight of something on the bed with me my eyes flew open and i looked down to see sally sitting at the foot of my bed her blue eye still crying tears of blood with a mournful frown i push kicked her out of my bed on instinct she fell off my bed but instead of the sound of shattering porcelain i heard a loud thud followed by the currying of tiny feet leading out of my open bedroom door i grabbed the baseball bat ben bought me and bolted out of my bedroom door i was just in time to see the skirt of sally's black dress disappear behind the slightly cracked open door of sarah's bedroom i threw sarah's bedroom door open baseball bat in hand and intending to shatter the little doll into a million pieces instead i was met with a sight that will haunt and shame me for the rest of my life ben was in sarah's bedroom sitting right in bed with her touching her in ways i don't even want to remember ben's eyes widened in surprise when he saw me and my eyes saw red when i saw what he'd been doing to my sister without me knowing the autograph on the baseball bat was hardly legible underneath the bloodstains after i beat the living [ __ ] out of ben with it when my mother heard the commotion and came to our bedroom to ask what was going on sarah broke down in tears and i helped explain what happened she called the police an ambulance though not before helping me beat the [ __ ] out of ben even more in the end i wasn't charged for any crimes as for ben he's behind bars now far away from my family sarah still keeps sally around and i've learned to tolerate the occasional sound of scurrying feet in the night a couple of things are different about her now though these days sarah has her wear the blue dress more often than her black one and instead of a sorrowful frown sally now has a content smile on her porcelain face this happened to me during halloween when my friends and i were still in elementary school we didn't have a lot of money for costumes but still wanted to join in on the fun so all five of us decided to go as ghosts for halloween you know the kind the ones with a costume was basically just a white bed sheet draped over the person's head with some eye holes cut out and covered by transparent black cloth the people we trick-or-treated from didn't seem to mind either some of them even complimented us for all agreeing to go with the same thing by the end of the night we each had a bucket full of candy and we're looking for a place to sit down and eat them in keeping with the spirit of the season we decided to hang out at the local graveyard for a bit as we counted our spoils we gathered at the center of the cemetery near a giant angel statue that towered over all the crypts and tombstones around us according to the plaque it was supposed to depict the guardian angel of the graveyard meant to help guide the souls there to heaven after about an hour or so snacking on countless mini chocolate bars in the occasional bag of gummy worms our sugar rush had hit its peak and we decided to play a game to burn off some of our excess energy it came down to a vote whether we should play tag or hide and seek with me as the deciding vote i didn't feel like running around a cemetery for fear of accidentally damaging anything so i voted for hide and seek to decide on who would be the seeker we drew lots in the form of sticks of licorice i bit a chunk out of one of the licorice sticks and we each drew one after everyone drew a licorice stick from my hand i was left with the shortened one and became the seeker i covered my eyes against the angel statue and counted to a hundred as my friends giggled and scattered around the cemetery behind me still wearing their simple bed sheet costumes so that no one could tell who they were if they were caught fooling around in the cemetery when i finished i set out into the cemetery to find them all i found the first one laughably easy he was crouched behind a particularly big tombstone eating a candy not far away from the guardian angel statue where we started from i asked if he wanted to help me find the others or not but he said that he'll just be waiting at the angel statue sleeping off his early sugar crash the second one i found almost by complete accident he had somehow managed to climb up an old half-dead tree to hide in its branches while still wearing his ghost costume i might have completely missed him if the tree had a few more leaves left on its withered branches when i called him out from beneath the tree he leapt down from the branches the white sheet of his cheap ghost costume billowed in the air as he fell i nearly had a heart attack worrying that he might hurt himself for me by falling on top of me but he landed on both feet and excitedly told me that he'd help me look for whoever's still hiding we scoured the area of the cemetery furthest away from the guardian angel statue looking behind every gravestone for our hiding friends finally my friend pointed out that the door to one of the old stone mausoleums was slightly open the two of us ran to the mausoleum or at least walked as quickly as we could with our costume impeding our movements it was one of the smaller mausoleums there being smaller than the size of our classroom at school but it was located in the oldest area of the cemetery so it must have been a century old at the very least its immense age showed in the ivy growing from the cracks and its walls that generations of groundskeepers had decided to ignore and the fact that a schoolchild was able to bust open its rusty door lock when i pushed on the door it flew open with surprising ease our nostrils were assaulted by the dank musty scent of the moss and grime that had gathered in the mausoleum over the decades i silently gagged under the bed sheet that made up my costume if someone really was hiding in there they either had no sense of smell or had a will made of iron to win the game we took a moment to let our eyes adjust to the utter darkness of the mausoleum my friend's vision was the first to adapt to dim light and he immediately pointed out the two bed sheet ghosts huddled in the corner of the small stone room i called for them to come out because we found them one of the bed sheet ghosts let out a playful chuckle and ran out of the mausoleum right away the other one slowly sauntered out towards us with them fully illuminated in the moonlight the three of us immediately noticed how filthy their costume had gotten the once presumably white sheen had taken on a dull gray hue from the dust that had been seeped into the seams of the fabric blackish grime covered the face area making it difficult to tell where the eye holes were whoever they were they were clearly not having a good time we just assumed that they had gotten that way because of the dirty mausoleum and the four of us walked together back to the angel statue the kid in the dirty bed sheet costume trailed behind us which thankfully kept the musty smell they'd picked up from the grime now covering their costume a good distance away from the rest of us they never said a word the entire way back to the angel statue as the rest of us laughed and joked with each other none of us thought much of it at the time i probably wouldn't have been in a talkative mood either if my costume got ruined like that i was just glad that the person they were hiding in the mausoleum with them didn't get dirty and smelly as well when we finally got back to the guardian angel statue at the center of the cemetery all four of us froze in our tracks sitting underneath the guardian angel was the guy i found first and another one of our friends both of them were out of their costumes which lay on their sides i would later find out that the first guy i found came across the other guy hiding behind a gravestone on his way back to the statue that made six of us in total one more than we came to the cemetery with all of our eyes turned to the kid in the dirty costume that looked like it had been collecting dust for decades or centuries one by one we took off our bed sheet costumes revealing friends we knew underneath until only the stranger in the dirty costume remained we backed away from him eyes wide in fear until we felt the stone base of the angel statue pressing against our backs the top of the dirty white sheet raised slightly as if the person under it was looking up at the guardian angel statue behind us before the thought of running could even cross our minds the dirty sheet fell and crumpled onto the floor as if whatever was holding it up had just disappeared it took mustering all our collective courage to examine the dirty crumpled white sheet lying on the grass i took a long stick and used it to flip over the sheet our blood all ran cold at what we saw there was nothing underneath the sheet but staining the fabric of its interior side hidden by the muck and grime of its outer side was the image of a screaming human face and printed in dried decades-old blood [Music] i went to visit my grandma before the pandemic took place she lives in ohio even though the entire trip was quite fun it took a scary end after a tiring flight when i finally landed at the airport i was feeling exhausted i was walking towards the baggage claim when a woman bumped into me accidentally what the i i am sorry she quickly walked past me i couldn't tell if she was nervous or in a hurry anyways i let it go and saw her disappearing among the passengers ahead i reached the baggage claim and stood in the queue all of the luggage was being dropped off one by one on the moving track i was waiting for mine when i noticed that same woman standing on the opposite side she had a tense look on her face i have never seen anyone waiting for their luggage to arrive so anxiously don't know why but i felt i knew her from somewhere she was sweating out of nervousness maybe she needs to be somewhere else that's why this sudden rush in her behavior slowly the crowd near the baggage claim started to loosen up as people picked up their bags and went on their way i had a black rucksack after waiting 15 minutes i finally saw my bag rolling towards me i picked it up and noticed the woman had also received her bag she had a blue trolley she grabbed the trolley in such a manner that people would take it away all this time she didn't notice me observing her but suddenly she looked at me and we made eye contact i got awkward and took my eyes away from her but still i could make out with my peripheral vision that she was walking away once i saw her going out of my sight i looked back again i could mark the blue trolley skating in the airport as she picked up speed also it was the only blue trolley i could see at the time the woman looked here and there while dragging the trolley i could tell from her body language that she was carrying something highly secretive inside that trolley but the obvious thought that came to mind is if she has something illegal in that trolley then how come she passed the security check without being noticed i followed her yes i did because my instinct was telling me something bad is going to happen the woman slowly walked to the washroom and got inside there was no way i could enter the women's washroom so i waited outside i got close to the washroom door and tried to listen to what she was doing in there don't get me wrong i was just trying to overhear a secret conversation which she was making with someone over a phone call yes i have it now no i'm not gonna leave it here are you crazy i got sure that this woman is part of something really bad i want it to be surer before taking any drastic step what do you have any idea how many people will die no you told me there are drugs inside it you didn't tell me it has explosives what the hell i bolted inside the washroom and the woman looked at me with terrified eyes who who are you what are you doing in here ma'am you better come with me you don't want to do this this is but before i could finish she pushed me with a trolley and ran towards the wedding area i chased her and screamed security security she stopped right in the middle of the passage and screamed if you don't let me go i will press this button and lifted her hand that had a small pager type remote inside it the security circled around her and a panicked situation took place inside the entire airport i know i won't be able to run away if she presses that button the entire airport will blow up why are you doing this they have my son i can't let him die backup was called along with a bomb squad everyone was waiting for her to lose the remote so they could capture this woman and defuse the bomb inside that blue trolley people all over the airport started sobbing in fear one mistake could lead to the death of thousands at that moment the general stood in front of the armed forces and pleaded to the woman ma'am please give us the remote we promise we will get back your son no they will kill him if i don't do this i am sorry as soon as her finger touched the green button on the remote i heard a loud gunshot everyone gasped and screamed while the woman fell on the floor bleeding terribly paramedics took her to the hospital the general shot her in the arm otherwise she would have killed god knows how many the bomb squad opened the trolley and found a time bomb installed inside it they defused it immediately but everyone was shocked and furious at how the trolley passed the security check i mean it traveled the entirety with her and no one knew there was an explosive inside it the security team got fired and taken to the police station for interrogation i came home somehow and felt relieved that no one had to die that day later when this incident made headlines in the news i came to know all about it that woman and her husband got mixed up with a terrorist group that made them do many criminal activities but the husband tried to escape from them and he got murdered the poor woman pleaded for her and her five-year-old son's freedom to which they demanded her to plant an explosive inside the airport the police have kept her in custody and they are still searching for her son i pray to god that the little kid is doing fine and he gets back to his mother soon i'd call myself a casual fan of v tubers especially indie ones without many subscribers sometimes i'd even donate a few dollars to them if my paycheck would allow it there's something about being able to make the day of an up-and-coming talent that just puts a smile on my face i got to witness the rise of many talented v tubers as a casual viewer but there is one among them that i will never forget i first found her one sunday night as i was browsing through wiki pages to find a v tuber i hadn't seen before until one of them caught my eye the wiki listed her name as an english-speaking v-tuber named madame miriam the character design was of a typical cute anime girl with blue eyes and braided brown hair what really made her stick out was her avatar's outfit a classic fortune teller getup consisting of a medieval looking blouse complete with a generous cleavage window a purple shawl decorated by gold chains and several golden medallions in the shape of a cult symbols hanging from her neck most v tubers played a character centered around a certain theme or personality type cheerful cat girls seductive vampires brash tomboys you name it i'd never even seen or heard of a v tuber with a fortune teller theme before so she immediately caught my interest my interest in her only grew when i saw her listed sub count and debut date in the span of a couple of months she'd somehow reached over 50 000 subscribers on youtube that might not seem like much but it's practically unheard of for a small independent v tuber to grow that fast i clicked on the link to her youtube channel and saw that she had a live stream on i was immediately struck by the view count at that moment over 50 000 viewers were watching her even popular v tubers with more than a million subscribers typically only have a fraction of their subscribers watch their live streams at any given moment for this small independent v tuber to have that many people watching her almost every single one of her subscribers had to be present to watch her i've seen some pretty dedicated v tuber fandoms before but something like this should have been impossible by logistics alone the content to the live stream itself didn't seem like anything special it just seemed like a casual chatting stream though her choice of topic was a bit odd so as you all know i've been trying to unlock my chakras with some new crystals i was able to buy because of all of your generous donations it's really helped me become more connected with the universe now i can give even more accurate predictions just for my fans weird i thought but it fit with the theme of her fortune teller character so i didn't find it too strange and kept the live stream on one screen while i got some errands done on my other screen then i saw someone donate two hundred dollars to her in the chat attached to it was a message that she read aloud to everyone else watching the stream hey madame miriam i'm sorry for missing the last stream so i'm giving you double the usual amount today i just wanted to know is there any advice you can give me to get my crush to like me the username was nondescript just a typical nonsense nickname you can find in any youtube comments section and yet in her answer she referred to the person by an actual name well seth she said i don't think sally is going to like you anytime soon considering that she's already got a boyfriend the chat was flooded with oofs lols and emojis either laughing or crying at her words i was just surprised how she somehow knew the real name and love life status of a random viewer i stopped what i was doing to fully focus on her stream there is a way to fix that however she continued you actually know her boyfriend he's the one who works a couple of cubicles away from you would work his dame's chris in case you didn't know but don't worry if you want to get rid of him all you have to do is drink three full glasses of water from the office water cooler tomorrow morning before work starts for everyone else i was confused i expected her to say something generic like there are plenty of fish in the sea or be assertive i had no idea why'd she say something so random if it was a joke then it must have been an inside one because i didn't get it at all but instead of understandable confusion the chat became filled with messages praising her for her supposed wisdom and wishing seth good luck stealing sally away from chris i closed the stream thinking that all madame miriam's fans must have been just as weird as she was something about what she said bugged me i actually did know a person named chris who's dating a girl named sally in real life they were my co-workers at work and i'd sometimes chat with them at the water cooler when there wasn't any work to be done it was surreal hearing their relationship to be described by some anime girl online in response to a random question still i chalked it up to a coincidence and went to bed the next day i drove to my workplace ready for another uneventful day instead i saw smoke coming out of the office buildings windows in the distance as i drove there when i got to the building there were a dozen fire trucks at the scene trying to put out the fire on the same floor i worked in firefighters streamed out of the building hauling out injured people on stretchers i even recognized one of them it was chris or what was left of him at least he'd been seriously burnt half of his face had been burned off and his entire left arm was so scorched that i could see bulging blue veins and charred bones sticking out of the burnt flesh i'm no doctor but even i could tell that he didn't have much longer to live i walked up to one of the resting firefighters and asked him what had happened here a freak accident he explained details are iffy but according to some witnesses the janitor was trying to refill the water cooler when he slipped and spilled the water on a faulty electric socket it caused a spark and well all of this happened i couldn't believe what i was hearing for something so small and random to be the case of such destruction the mere thought of it was absurd i didn't connect what was happening to what i saw the previous day until i saw sally chris's girlfriend crying on the steps of the building sitting beside her with a comforting hand on her shoulder was a guy i'd seen around the office before but never bothered to learn the name of sally spoke to him through her sobs and everything finally clicked thank you for being with me sally said to the man you're such a good guy seth i used to stalk my ex's girlfriend on instagram i wasn't obsessed with him the breakup wasn't tough at all actually i was the one who called it off for the sake of this story let's call him ed ed and i met in college and dated for a year and a half before graduating he was into music and in the beginning i loved the way he talked about pursuing it but soon i figured out that he was just a talker and not a doer everyone started to gear up for the next phase as in what to do with life which job to choose and where to settle but ed had no such plans he was too laid back and depended on his father about his future i on the other hand had always been a careerist i wanted to become a writer hence pursue higher studies i told him that i'm going to apply for my phd and i'm planning to settle down in london i asked him if he would like to come with me because there are several options there if one wants to pursue music but he gave me the same lazy reply that he will think about it as the last semester came knocking at her door everyone started to grab a job or internship or whatever they could i too got a scholarship to a renowned university for my high studies my professors and friends appreciated me for this big achievement but ed went all jealous and started to keep a distance from me one day we went to a local pub and he was short on cash so i pulled out my wallet to pay suddenly he got all furious and started screaming at me i got so embarrassed that i left the pub in tears i was staying at his place back then i stormed inside the bedroom and made up my mind that the next morning i'm going to leave this guy ed came home really late and really drunk we had a fight again and things went out of hand i left his house heartbroken and humiliated at 2am in the morning i called a friend of mine and the next day left him a text that i was done with this relationship a year went by and i shifted to london to do my phd but i kept following him on instagram a few months later he posted a picture with another girl named ashley and that's how i came to know that she is his new girlfriend i had no grudge against ed but i can't help but following ashley she is a pretty blonde girl and i think she comes from a very simple background where most posts revolve around makeup and dressing up for parties no hate or judgment because she is also a woman like me thinking she found the man of her dreams the first four months of following ashley i didn't see anything different she used to post a lot of pictures of her in ed and i could always see them drinking and hanging around with people but as time went by her pictures changed or rather her way of looking and pictures changed she started doing loud and heavy makeup which made her look like a creature from another world before she used to put light-colored lipsticks and nude makeup mostly but now she only wears blood red lip colors and the blush she uses is too pink to be called beautiful i could tell she was trying to look different or i don't know what was happening in her life a week went by and i was trying to stay out of whatever i was doing one day i was studying and making some notes for my research paper when i received a notification on my phone i opened my phone and saw it was from instagram it was a post by ashley she was lying on a couch with plaster in her hand what the these people post anything and everything these days i said to myself i read the comment section where someone asked her what had happened to her to which she replied i fell down from the stairs thank god my boyfriend was home he's the one who took me to the hospital i don't know why but it felt like too much info to me a week after that ashley posted a video flaunting her wedding ring and i came to know that ed and she is about to get married that too in london she later shared a video of her doing makeup that's when i realized i have to meet her to stop her from taking this wrong decision yes marrying ed is a wrong decision because i could see he was doing the same thing with her than he did to me the night ed came home drunk and started the fight i took a stand for myself eventually he slapped me so hard that it resulted in bruises on my cheek i haven't told anyone about this and i didn't take a step against him which i know i definitely should have i kept following ashley's every post and one evening i saw her uploading a video where she's seen partying in a nightclub in london i realized that this is my chance i have to meet her i drove to the club and waited in the car for her to come outside once i waited for two hours and finally at around 1am i saw her coming out she stood on the sidewalks and lit a cigarette i walked to her ashley yes do i know you no but i know you i don't think you should marry ed excuse me he hits you doesn't he that's why you have this loud makeup right i don't know what you're saying she turned to walk away and i grabbed her hand ashley please i'm saying this for your own good you can't keep tolerating this guy she freed her hand from my grasp and smiled at me i was stunned to see her level of stupidity she said in a calm voice thanks but i can take care of myself stay out of my personal life please and walked away i came home with a sad face after hearing her i couldn't overstep anymore i got married the next month and i stopped following ashley time went by and i almost forgot about this too when a piece of shocking news reached me someone posted on the instagram page of our college about ed's sudden demise he died last week in his own home everyone knew he was an alcoholic he drank too much one night and stumbled down the stairs of his house hitting his head his wife ashley was sleeping in her room and didn't know until she came out in the morning but it was too late for ed the college group posted about the time and venue of his funeral i won't say i was happy to hear this news because no matter what a person's death is always tragic but i felt a little relieved that ashley got saved from his physical abuse she also inherited ed's property and i was sure it would be enough for her to start fresh i attended the funeral yesterday ashley was standing near the open casket wiping her tears while everyone consoled her for her husband's death i went to her with an awkward face and said i'm sorry ashley i didn't introduce myself earlier because she took my hands into hers and squeezed my palms saying thank you for your concern didn't i tell you i can take care of myself i moved into a new apartment shortly after graduating from college my girlfriend moved in with me and we were both excited about starting a new life together the apartment was big but empty with hardly any furniture in it so we had to do a lot of shopping to fill it up with stuff being a couple of recent graduates with entry-level jobs we had to look for the cheapest options for our new home antique shops and second-hand stores became our go-to places to look for furniture one day we were looking through a secondhand carpentry store for a coffee table when a sign caught my girlfriend's eye it was a paper sign placed over a small ornate cabinet advertising an absurdly low price for it i'm no craftsman but even i could see the level of intricate detail that must have gone into carving the floral engravings on the cabinet even at a secondhand shop it should have been able to easily fetch triple the price of what it was listed for i asked the shop owner why it's so cheap and he told me that it's kind of faulty i asked him what he meant by that he explained that the cabinet's key is missing so that it's practically useless for anything other than being a decorative piece my girlfriend tapped my shoulder and told me that she could probably pick the lock open if we bought it as for why she knows how to pick locks well let's just say we both got mixed up in the wrong crowd during high school we bought the ornate cabinet plus the wooden coffee table we were looking for from the shop as i was carrying the cabinet to the back of the car i was struck by how surprisingly heavy it was something seemed to rattle inside it too i felt excited at the thought that something unknown might be inside it it might even be some valuable treasure that we could sell for more than we bought the cabinet for when we got home i carried and placed the coffee table into the living room my girlfriend immediately put the cabinet on top of the coffee table after i did she spent the next hour so trying to pick the lock with everything from hair pins to paper clips to the sound of a true crime documentary playing on the tv whoever made the lock for the cabinet did not want anyone to open it without the key you'd think that would deter us from opening it but all it did was want to make us open it even more we reasoned that if someone had gone so far to make it unopenable without the correct key then whatever was inside must be valuable like jewels or antiques or even stacks of paper cash i suggested that we just bust open the cabinet several times but my girlfriend pointed out that it might damage whatever was inside and besides it was still a nice cabinet it'd be a shame to destroy it finally my girlfriend was able to unlock the cabinet using a bobby pin and a sewing needle she twisted the keyhole to open the cabinet and we were finally able to see what was inside we were mildly surprised to see that the cabinet was stuffed with hay after scooping out a few handfuls of the hay we found out what it was hiding under the hay that was presumably used to cushion it was a small unopened bottle of what looked like red wine the majority of the bottle was a clear green glass but the neck of it was decorated by intricately etched silver it had no label but if the bottle was any indication then it must be something pretty fancy my girlfriend and i shared a smile after an entire day of shopping for secondhand furniture and trying to pick a ridiculously secure lock we were both feeling like we could use a stiff drink i got a couple of wine glasses and my girlfriend popped open the bottle with a corkscrew we immediately regretted the decision the moment we did a rancid smell that was some sort of mix between cat urine and rotten fruit exploded into the air around us the moment the cork was removed from the bottle i repressed the urge to gag my girlfriend who was the one holding the bottle immediately set it down and went to the bathroom to vomit i joined her there moments later after voiding both our stomachs and calming down we shared a self-deprecating laugh between us it was a bottle of wine that had been locked inside a possibly century-old cabinet we played a game of rock paper scissors to decide who had to go to the living room to empty the bottle and of course i lost i held my breath and pinched my nose with one hand as i grabbed the bottle by its base and went to the kitchen sink to empty its contents the liquid that i had initially thought was red wine was black and viscous as it slowly rippled out of the bottle with an almost sludge-like consistency once i emptied the bottle i opened all the windows to let the smell out took a big breath of fresh air from outside and went back to wash the bottle from the inside out contents aside the bottle was still pretty i was sure that the silver decorating its neck would be worth something if i took it to a pawn shop i told my girlfriend when the coast was clear we set the now empty cabinet on the kitchen counter we put our own bottle of wine in it and left it there we spent the next day out furniture shopping again when we got back and finished unloading all the stuff we bought we were tired my girlfriend suggested that i pop open the bottle of wine we put in the cabinet last night the moment we popped open the bottle the same rancid smell from the day before returned with a vengeance somehow the wine in our relatively new unopened bottle had become rotten just like the wine we found in the cabinet i emptied the bottle in the sink and just like the bottle from the day before the wine had been turned into some sort of viscous black liquid once the smell dissipated my girlfriend and i sat down and talked about what happened we came to the conclusion that it was the cabinet that caused our wine to go bad as strange as that would seem still it was a nice looking cabinet and could probably fetch a decent price so we decided to post it for sale online to make a quick buck maybe that's selfish of us but we needed the money and doubted that anyone would be stupid enough to drink wine soured by the cabinet with how terrible it smells anyway we both woke up the next day to the same rancid smell of cat urine and rotten fruit the moment the smell hit our nostrils we ran out of the apartment and into the hallway only to find it permeated with the same god-awful stench most of our neighbors were outside their apartments as well they all looked like they were about to throw up a crowd was gathered at the receptionist desk complaining about the smell i overheard one of the neighbors say something about the water turning black i rushed back to my apartment pinching my nose and opened the kitchen sink tap sure enough rancid black liquid came flowing out in our panic my girlfriend and i rode into the city with the cabinet in our trunk we went to the pawn shop on the other side of the city and sold it for barely any more than we bought it for even the shopkeeper seemed surprised with how quickly we agreed to his offer but didn't ask any questions the water in the apartment continued to be black and rancid for the next couple days before returning to normal the police came to investigate the black substance at one point fearing a mass poisoning incident i only heard news of the police lab report long after the black water had disappeared according to them traces of human blood and liquefied organs were found within the black substance investigations were ongoing but the leading theory is that a sewer worker must have died on the job and his remains somehow found its way into the water system i know better though to this day i regret not destroying the cabinet when i had the chance the pawn shop owner told me that he'd already sold it when i went to buy it back if i ever come across it again i'll burn it once and for all maybe then whatever restless spirit that resides inside it can finally rest my grandma had this weird ability to see things before they even took place for example she used to wake up every morning and put dog food on our porch when we asked her why she was doing that because we didn't have a dog she replied you're soon to get one that week on my birthday our neighbor gifted me a puppy incidents like this didn't bother us much in the beginning but as time passed her foretelling habits started to scare us one day my dad was leaving for work when she stopped him saying he shouldn't go to the office that day that something bad was going to happen there after a huge argument my father left for the office anyway he had an important meeting that day and because of grandma he got laid but as soon as he reached near the building he saw the entire office was on fire ten employees died on the same floor where my dad was supposed to have his meeting it seemed like she saved my father's life that day after that incident a weird belief grew in our house that if grandma's saying something bad is coming everyone stopped and listened to her my mom always lived with fear around her i didn't know how my grandma did it out of curiosity when i finally asked her how she could tell what was going to happen she said people tell me only i can see them i asked her who these people were to which she never gave any answer she only smiled and walked away we never discussed her abilities with others because we feared the townspeople would call us weirdos but some things are hard to keep secret even though we all tried our best to keep this underground we couldn't at one time i was eight years old back then my dad is the local sheriff hence everyone knows our family quite well one day i went to buy firecrackers and some decorations with my mom for the celebration of independence day we were roaming around the shops when i heard a familiar voice behind me gina here i turned around and saw that it was my aunt helena she lives across the street and is also a good friend of my mom's my mom smiled and she came over to talk to us already started prepping for the 4th of july huh you know paul he and minnie are getting too excited this time hey minnie how are you i'm good aunt elena antolina kissed me on the cheek and said come on let's go for ice cream we started to walk to the food court while my mom and she chatted about the big plans of the celebration every year our town organizes a local fair and that happened to be the main attraction of the night we were heading home and i was in the back seat while my mom and aunt sat in the front we were almost near the house when we saw a gathering in the middle of the street my dad was standing there with the mayor and they were discussing something my mom pulled over and we all got out to see what happened we've decided to shift the independence day celebration to the ground behind the old church this year as soon as my dad said that people around us started to gasp in fear a guy from the crowd said but after that incident yes robert we all know what happened there but it happened 15 years back i think it's time to move on also we've decided to make it a grand celebration for that we need more space the ground behind the old church will be appropriate for this let's forget the past and enjoy it for a day shall we everyone agreed with him and the matter was resolved after coming home i asked my dad what happened 15 years back dad he and my mom exchanged looks um minnie it's not a very joyful story but let me put it this way in earlier days we used to celebrate the 4th of july on that big ground the church wasn't abandoned back then there used to be a priest named mr muller one day a man was passing through the church when he heard obscene chanting coming from the church he peeked through the window and found mr muller conducting weird rituals that weren't christian so the town people caught him and punished him do we have to tell her the whole story my mom said in a tense voice gina it's her town and she deserves to know the history my dad went on but mr mueller was an evil man he cursed everyone and said we will never be able to have any kind of celebration in that land he claimed that area as his land people ignored that and went on prepping for the 4th of july that year on that very night of independence day as soon as the fireworks took place a huge fire broke out and many deaths took place now the townspeople have the superstition that the church ground is cursed well maybe they're right paul my mom said no no there's no such thing as a curse what happened 15 years back was nothing but an accident a tragic accident that's all everyone went to bed after a quiet dinner surprisingly grandma didn't say a single word that night with time the town started to buckle up for the grand celebration people put up stalls and games on the church ground i visited the place with my dad a couple of times and with all the colors and decoration the ground didn't give any negative vibes to me the final night came and we dressed in our best attire i wore a red frock that my dad got for me we hopped into our car and started for the church ground when we reached there i felt like i have come to a fairyland it was indeed a grand celebration the fair was filled with people laughing in joy kids were running here and there my mom and dad got busy with the local committee so i went to get a cotton candy with my grandma the cotton candy stall was in the corner of the ground from there the abandoned church building was visible behind the bushes as soon as we reached there i saw grandma's face turning pale she stood like a statue and kept staring at the church what is it grandma it's going to happen again we shouldn't be here it's going to happen again what are you saying grandma i have to find your dad i must tell him my dad was helping in the fireworks preparation i saw grandma disappearing into the crowd looking for him frantically before i could act on what just happened my friends came and dragged me towards the game zone i was a child so to have fun i let it go i didn't understand the gravity of grandma's words back then the celebration grew bigger everyone got louder i was enjoying myself with my friend when suddenly my mom came to me and said minnie where's grandma she went to look for dad she was being weird mom my mom didn't wait to hear more from me and started looking for her in a panicked mode after a time the mayor announced to begin the fireworks just when a spine-chilling scream took place no you won't take my people this time we all followed the voice and saw grandma was standing near the cotton candy stall and warning someone with wide eyes but we didn't see anyone there except the abandoned church building i won't let you this time muller this must end today the entire fair went quiet and everyone kept looking at her with frightened eyes my dad rushed to her and said ma what are you saying paul we must leave this place if we light the fireworks none of us will live to see the sun tomorrow he wants us all dead what rubbish are you speaking you're scaring everyone stop it no no no you have to believe me please paul let's listen to her you know she can see things oh stop it jenna don't make this more difficult for me my dad didn't listen and addressed the crowd saying light up the fireworks she's just not feeling well everything's alright the fair once again became alive with laughter and joy the mayor walked to the setup and lit the fireworks colorful firecrackers started blasting in the sky showering light everywhere the town's people awed and wonder after seeing this beautiful scene my dad turned to my grandma and said look there's no curse here it's all [ __ ] but before he could say anything more suddenly a rocket misfired and flew to the big tents set up sheltering the stalls and game zone in a fraction of a second the entire fair got fired and people started screaming and running around like mad cows i don't remember how we got out of there but i remember the sound of the fire truck coming and splashing water to extinguish the burning flames 20 people died that year those who couldn't escape burned down to ashes and those who were admitted to the hospital passed away in two to three days my grandma was one of them i miss her and i know my dad will never get out of this guilt of not listening to her that night our town doesn't celebrate the 4th of july anymore at least not in a grand way i wish we all listened to her then lots of people would have remained alive i want to warn everyone at the very beginning that you are not going to like this story because it can make you nauseous so back off now before it's too late for you those who are still willing to watch i have a small piece of advice for you always rely on your basic instincts this is the only thing that can save you from trouble now let's get to the story i was 16 years old when my father died of a heart attack i lost my mom at a young age and i was the only child with no other relatives of my grandma she raised me and somehow i finished high school and inherited my dad's farming business i could have left for the big city but the memories of my childhood and parents made it difficult to go away also my grandma died when i became 18 and i've been my guardian ever since losing so many close ones and inheriting big responsibilities were too much for my young shoulders my father's business was enough for me to have a sustainable lifestyle so i didn't look for any other option of earning even though the work pressure was a lot i liked being my own boss at the end of the day my entire week went by working on the farm it was the weekends that i looked up to every saturday night i went to the local bar to drink as much as i wanted one weekend i was sitting at the bar chugging a mug of cold beer when someone spoke from a close distance hi i'm nina do you mind if i join you i saw an average height girl standing near me she had red curly hair that made her look enchanting and wicked at the same time her eyeballs were excessively blue making it difficult to maintain eye contact for long um sure my girlfriend ditched me for a rich guy and moved out with him after high school since then i haven't been with anyone so i thought i might get lucky tonight i won't deny i wanted to find someone too we started drinking together and had some casual conversation when she suddenly got up and came right at my face i got a bit startled at first but then she whispered into my ears i have some good stuff want to smoke up i've smoked occasionally with my friends but at that moment i thought why not anyways i have no rush to go home but i don't think this is the right place just don't want to get in trouble relax i know a good spot let's go we came out of the bar and sat on my motorcycle the girl sat behind me she kept giving me directions after 10 minutes we got onto a dusty road amidst the deep woods i took a left turn and she pointed out to a building behind the bushes i saw it was an old abandoned movie theater the theater was so old that i could see worn out posters of whatever happened to baby jane stuck on its bulletin board whoa this place is older than my dead grandma i come here often when i want to be alone this used to be a famous movie theater but a terrible fire broke out and everyone died inside while watching the movie the idea of getting high inside a burnt out movie theater didn't appear thrilling to me anymore especially when nina told me people died in there but i couldn't leave her and return home come on let's go she started to walk inside and i reluctantly followed her i turned on the flashlight on my phone but nina casually walked in the dark as if she was in her own house walking down the halls of the theater gave me chills broken glasses and dirty rags were scattered here and there the old ticket counter was covered in thick layers of dust changing its color forever there were framed posters of some of the oldest movies still on the walls some were still readable nina stopped in front of the door and looked back at me a weird smile appeared on her face she said this is my favorite room here come on favorite room how could this place be someone's favorite nina's behavior started to creep me out she pushed the door and we entered inside the huge movie hall burnt broken chairs were all over the floor the big white screen that once showed god knows how many films stood there like a dirty old rag can you imagine how many people have been here yeah and also died here we sat down on two chairs which were moderately in better condition than the others nina lit up you know what and we started to smoke i was already drunk and after smoking i got really high but nina seemed completely fine i wanted to kiss her but it would have been too rude if i did it without her permission so i waited for her to make a move the more i waited the more my vision started to blur having fun oh this is some strong [ __ ] aren't you feeling something nina's face started to become diluted in a very freaky way i knew i am too high and this is all my imagination but suddenly she stood up and started looking around like someone else has entered this place what is it is someone here nina she started to panic and tremble in fear i had no idea what was happening so i just sat there like a stone and watched her crazy behavior she jumped from her seat and sat on the floor holding her hands in a posture of praying and screamed look i've brought him to you now please please give me the powers what what the hell is this please accept my offering she didn't even acknowledge me and kept praying to whoever invisible lord she was praying to i got up and realized that i must get out of this place this woman is crazy she is not what i thought her to be i started to walk away when nina grabbed my t-shirt from behind and said where do you think you're going they're all coming to get you i've spent years in awakening them and now they want their offering soon their powers will be all mine [Laughter] as soon as she said that i heard terrifying screams rising from every nook and corner of the movie theater it was as if hundreds of people screaming in excruciating pain and pleading for help their screams numbed my ears and nina started to laugh like a maniac a smell of burning flesh made the air heavy and started to choke me all i wanted was to get the hell out of there and never come back but something unexpected happened nina suddenly stopped laughing and i saw her face changing color like she was scared why aren't you taking him i brought him for you what is but before she could finish the sentence her body caught fire she literally started to burn in fire that some invisible force lit on her she screamed in pain and all those voices around started to laugh and devilish joy while burning in flame nina started to walk towards me stretching her fiery arms flesh was melting and dropping on the floor from her body i ran from my life without looking back once as i came out i kept hearing nina's scream and that demonic laughter but i didn't stay to watch anymore that night i drove my motorcycle at the highest speed possible i didn't go out for a month after a week of this incident cops discovered a girl's burnt body from the movie theater she's currently listed under jane doe because there's no way anyone can recognize her the case is still going on and call me mean selfish or whatever you like but i'm not going to the cops to tell what happened that night because there's no way they would believe me i moved into a new house with my parents and older brothers when i was about eight years old it was an unusually big house but also extremely old the walls were cracked and just about everything was covered in dirt but eight-year-old me didn't care i was just excited to explore the new house to see what it had to offer with my brothers we didn't even mind that we had to do it while cleaning the place our first day there was spent moving our stuff in and cleaning what would become our bedrooms my brothers and i were excited when we found out that we'd actually get our own rooms we spent the entire day decorating our rooms adam our eldest brother at 12 years old got a bedroom that was almost as big as our parents eric my 10 year old brother and the middle child of the family got a pretty decent room with a nice view of the neighborhood through the window as for me being the youngest sibling i of course got the smallest and shittiest room on the top floor right under the attic i didn't mind though i was just glad that i'd no longer have to listen to my brother snoring every night i went to bed on my first night there feeling hopeful for the next day we had about a week until we would have to start going to the new school our parents enrolled us in and i was thinking of ways to make the best of it for once i wanted to go to sleep early so i'd have more energy to do things the next day but sleep didn't come easy to me that night as i laid on my new bed trying to force myself to sleep i heard the sound of old wood creaking from somewhere nearby i'm a light sleeper so i just laid there with my eyes wide open waiting for it to go away at first i thought it was just the house settling itself or just the old wood creaking under the weight of its own age but the more i listened the more i was able to pinpoint where the sound was coming from it seemed to be concentrated above me in the ceiling with eyes almost adjusted to the dark i skimmed through the dirty speckled ceiling and noticed that each time i heard the noise it would be accompanied by a tiny stream of fine dust falling from above mice in the ceiling i thought or maybe raccoons i always wanted to see one up close i put exploring the attic on my to-do list for the next day when the next morning came i ate breakfast with my parents before they went to work once they were gone adam and eric called me over to the backyard for a round of tag before i could finish my meal i scarfed down the eggs and bacon and took a couple of bites in the toast before leaving the rest of it on the plate to go play with my brothers our game of tag went about as well as you'd expect from an eight-year-old going up against kids who were two and four years older than him i got tagged almost immediately and spent the next hour desperately trying to catch up to my older brothers in our enormous backyard they had some fun laughing and teasing me at first but started to feel sorry for me after a while and called off the game by the end of it i was sweating on the grass and gasping for air as my brothers sat beside me waiting for me to catch my breath when i did they asked me if i wanted to keep playing and i told them that it would be great if we could play something else preferably something with an even playing field for the three of us in the end we decided on hide and seek it'd give us a fun way to get to know the house better too so we'd be killing two birds with one stone adam volunteered to be the seeker since his height would help him look around more easily and eric and i should have an easier time hiding because of our smaller size adam turned around and loudly counted from one to a hundred while eric and i scrambled into the house to find a hiding spot we both dashed past the dining room in a hurry but as i did i noticed something odd my plate at the dining table laid empty even though i distinctly remember leaving a bit of toast on it before joining my brothers outside i didn't think much of it though i was in the middle of a game after all and after my humiliating defeat and tag i was determined to win and hide and seek i ran around the top floor trying to find a good place to hide all the while the voice of adam counted from outside i was going to hide in the wardrobe when i noticed that the attic entrance was ever so slightly ajar the entrance to the attic was a trapdoor with a pull down staircase on the ceiling attached to a piece of rope long enough even for me to pull down the first thing i thought was that the attic would be a perfect place to hide nobody had been there before not even mom or dad so adam and eric would have no chance trying to find him there i pulled the string in an old wooden staircase lowered smoothly from the ceiling despite its immense age i carefully ascended taking care to not put too much weight into my steps and to not accidentally break them they were a lot sturdier than i thought they'd be there wasn't even any dust on them i poked my head into the attic to see if there were any good hiding spots i wasn't expecting to see what i did strewn all around the floor were empty bags of junk food and wrappers there was also a trail of dark brown crumbs from toasted bread that led deep into the shadows of the attic i could even hear the sound of the toast crunching as something or someone was eating it in the attic i thought that it was probably just the raccoon i'd heard the night before and followed the trail of toasted breadcrumbs with my eyes and waited for them to adjust to the darkness i felt my blood freeze in fear when they adjusted to the darkness enough to let me see the thing that had been hiding in the attic instead of a raccoon i saw a person a man in dirty tattered clothes crouched on top of a patch of old newspaper laid on the floor as a sort of makeshift bed munching down on my leftover toast with both hands i let out an audible gasp in surprise before i could stop myself the moment i did the man's head spun in my direction and i was able to see his face for the first time he had a filthy ragged beard covered in crumbs and lice and his gaunt frame spoke of years of malnutrition but worse of all for his eyes black bloodshot eyes staring straight at me with a desperate hunger i can't even begin to describe i knew at that moment that i didn't look like a person to him just an easy meal that'll fill him far better than the leftovers he's been living on drool overflowed his ravenous jaws and he lunged at me with arms outstretched to catch me i ducked just in time pressing myself against the steps the man flew over me and tumbled down the old staircase i took the opportunity to make a run for it as fast as i could i found adam still searching for eric and i in the living room and quickly told him the situation he took me outside and called the police on his phone we were able to wait outside in safety until the police came by to search the house eric wasn't so lucky when the police searched the house for our intruder they found him hunched over eric's eviscerated body in the master bedroom holding a knife he stole from the kitchen he was pulling out my brother's organs one by one from a wide slit in his abdomen and eating them with the ferocity of a starving animal according to the police the last thing the man said before they shot him dead was this i know all the places to hide in this house my father suddenly passed away shortly after i graduated college according to the police he died from a boating accident on the lake behind his house he left me the house and his will and i decided to move back in after the funeral i'd planned on getting my own apartment after graduation but i just couldn't let my old childhood home just sit there forgotten and abandoned the moment i arrived at the house i immediately noticed all the redecorating that it must have gone through in my absence the photos on the walls that used to be in my mother were replaced with photos of the woman my father married after her untimely death i never did like her she always seemed too full of herself and thought she deserved everything my father had to give what he saw in her i'll never know i decided to take down every photo of her from the walls of the house if i had to guess she probably insisted that all the photos decorating the house be of her and occasionally her cat i silently thanked my father for leaving the entire house to me instead of forcing me to split it with her i just wish she had the decency of cleaning up the house before the court kicked her out of it the entire place was in disarray claw marks marred the walls presumably from my stepmother's cat and several pieces of furniture were tipped over or damaged my stepmother probably caused the mess in a temper tantrum after learning that my father didn't leave her the house in his will i spent the entire first day back in my childhood home cleaning up her mess that evening i opened the door to a room that used to be a guest bedroom and was surprised to find it turned into a miniature homemade art studio there were racks still lined with tubes of paint and several paintings lining the walls i knew my father had taken a painting in recent years but i didn't know just how good he'd gotten at it until i saw his art studio most of it was landscape paintings featuring familiar looking scenery a lot of them were of the nearby forest the local park or even neighboring homes but the indisputable star of the entire collection was the one that hadn't been framed yet it was a gorgeous painting of the house from the back that included the enormous lake that my father had died in floating on the lake in the distance too far to clearly make out was the very same blue boat that my father was on when it capsized and killed him i felt sad seeing it both because it reminded me of my father's death and because it was proof of his incredible artistry that never got the chance to shine when he was alive i decided to frame the painting and put it up in my room to remind me of my father and the talent he discovered far too late in his life i fell asleep that night while staring at the blue waters of the lake in my father's painting i kept thinking about what i'd call the painting and before i knew it it was the next day and i had to go to work before i left i decided to officially christen the painting with the name i made up somewhere in my dreams the sapphire lake when i returned home after a long long day at work i headed straight from my bedroom for a quick nap but just as i was about to rest my weary eyes i noticed something off about the painting i could have sworn that the boat that had been barely distinguishable the day before had gotten bigger i ultimately brushed it off and just took my much needed nap when i woke up i opened my eyes to find that the painting had changed yet again this time the blue boat was already halfway to the shore of the lake and two human figures could be clearly made out on it one of them was my father and the other was my stepmother leering at him behind his back i thought that i must have been going mad and went downstairs to get myself a drink the stress and grief must have been getting to me i thought i concluded that i may have to take a couple days off work for the sake of my mental health i called my boss to tell him that i'd be absent the next day he was understanding and said that i can take all the time i needed to mourn that night i dreamed of what i'd do the next day to relax when i woke up i saw that the painting had changed yet again all thoughts of relaxation left my mind when i noticed what had changed in it my father was in the middle of walking out of the lakeshore my stepmother stood behind him the red oar of the boat gripped tightly in both hands and raised high above her head i realized with horror what she intended to do with it i rubbed my eyes trying to convince myself that i was seeing things but when i looked back at the painting it had changed yet again my father was lying dead on the shallow lakeshore his head cracked open and bloody behind him was my stepmother holding the oar dripping with blood that was almost impossible to make out against the red paint i immediately ran out of my room and towards the lake behind the house the blue boat was still there as were both of its red oars one of which had a barely noticeable faint red stain on the flat of its blade i called the police and asked them to come over to investigate once i pointed out the stain to them the investigation on my father's death reopened my stepmother was arrested shortly after she admitted in interrogation that she had killed my father in the hopes of inheriting his house and money in prison she would have neither i still live in my childhood home and the sapphire lake still hangs on my bedroom wall it no longer changes though now only the figure of my father is visible smiling gently at me i grew up in a small town in the middle of nowhere with my parents and twin sister everyone in the town knew each other and looked out for one another so it was a safe place to grow up in at least that's what i thought before our new neighbors moved in one day a new family came to town they moved into the house right next to mine i watched from my bedroom window as they moved all their stuff into the house by themselves there was a mother and a father both in their mid-30s and a daughter who was about the same age as me and my sister even back then i thought it was a bit weird that they didn't just hire a moving company to help them carry their stuff the house they were moving into was pretty expensive and they had a very nice looking car so it was obvious that they could afford it in the end i just chalked it up to people from the city being weird i remember at the time looking forward to meeting someone who knew what life was like outside our little community as much as i left my town i had to admit that it was a bit boring of a place to live my twin sister and i got excited when our parents told them that we'd be having our new neighbors over for dinner the very same day they moved in we were both on our best behavior as we greeted the slick city folk who wanted to make their new home next to ours i never questioned why they'd want to move to an obscure little town like ours the parents were a polite soft-spoken couple who effortlessly won my parents over with their big city charm meanwhile my sister and i had a hard time trying to get close to their daughter despite all of us being the same age she introduced herself as olivia when her parents told her to and remained almost completely silent through the rest of the night olivia wasn't rude or anything in fact she was way more well-mannered than any other kid i knew back then but she only spoke when spoken to and always replied in the shortest answer possible and a voice barely any louder than a whisper there was just this overwhelming air of sadness around her like she was on the verge of breaking into tingers at any given moment she didn't even smile once throughout the dinner my mom made for them at most she'd say thank you whenever someone helped put food on her plate i noticed her shooting nervous glances at her own parents on more than one occasion during the dinner as if she was afraid of them a little strange but i just assumed that her parents must be strict with her in private to be honest i was a bit weirded out by her but at the same time i couldn't help but feel a bit sad for her as well i didn't know what it was that made her look so miserable i knew i wanted to help her get through it whatever it was thankfully my sister felt the same the next day i went to the neighbor's house with my twin sister and rang the doorbell we waited for the parents to open the door so that we could ask them if we could play with olivia but instead of her parents olivia herself opened the door she seemed surprised when she saw us but politely asked us what we were doing there my sister and i excitedly told her that we wanted to invite her to play over at our place we asked her where her parents were so we could ask them to our surprise she told us that she was staying home alone while her parents were out taking care of business her 12 year old me and my sister having your parents trust you enough to leave you with the entire house to yourself just seemed impossibly cool our plans changed and we immediately asked olivia if we could come in to play in her house instead both me and my twin sister were itching to see how a trendy modern family decorated their home olivia didn't seem to know what to do it looked like she wanted to but was hesitating to say yes probably out of fear of her parents i gently nudged her by saying that i was sure her parents wouldn't mind having us over to play as long as we didn't make a mess my twin sister chimed in saying that it's common to have friends over in a small town like ours and that we've both been to just about every house on the street before at some point when in rome do as the romans do right after both of our convincing olivia finally let us in and we enthusiastically but politely entered the house there was a lot of old furniture left in the house from the last occupants years ago but there were also lots of modern looking art pieces and photos of her parents on holiday decorating the walls few if any of them featured olivia though we hung out with olivia in the living room talking about what life in the city was like and other normal kid stuff like our favorite movies and video games the three of us shared a surprising amount of things in common slowly but surely olivia began to open up to us my twin sister told a joke at some point though i can't remember what it was exactly i think it was a bad pun or something equally stupid but it was just funny enough to finally break through olivia's defenses she laughed and smiled for the first time since we met her and we joined in on the laughter despite how bad the joke was we played on her gaming console in her room for a while before i asked her something i'd been wondering about the house i asked her why there weren't any photos of her decorating the walls when there were so many of her parents around the smile immediately melted from olivia's face when i asked i quickly apologized for upsetting her but she assured me that she was fine she went to her desk drawer and pulled out a photo of her to show us except it wasn't just her standing next to olivia was a girl who looked exactly like her holding her hand as they smiled at the camera my twin sister and i immediately guessed what must have happened and felt a wave of sympathy wash over us olivia explained what we already knew she was a twin or used to be her twin had disappeared one day presumably killed and they moved to our town hoping that it would be safer than the city neither of her parents wanted to be reminded of their loss so they didn't put her picture up anywhere in order to lighten the mood in the room my own twin sister suggested that we get out of it to play something else we decided on hide and seek with olivia seeking while my sister and i hid as olivia counted down in her room my sister and i split up to find a place to hide in the unfamiliar house after a whole minute of aimless running i stumbled upon the trap door entrance to the basement thinking that it'd be a perfect place to hide i pulled it open and descended down the steps halfway through the staircase the steps beneath me suddenly gave way i brought my arms up to shield myself as i stumbled down the stairs before crashing into a pile of dirt i picked myself up and looked around hoping that i didn't accidentally break anything else the basement was empty it hadn't been installed with flooring yet yet something in the corner of the dirty basement caught my eye i walked over to it to investigate and found a shovel with a blade buried upright in the dirt beside it was a huge pile of dirt and a deep oval hole curious i peered into the hole to see what laid in it my stomach churned did what i saw and smelled half buried in the unfinished shallow grave was a desiccated body of a girl no older than i was her eyes had long been eaten by worms that were still crawling in the empty sockets and maggots feasted on the rotten flesh of her cheeks and yet i could clearly see that she had the exact same face as olivia i got out of the basement and went to get both olivia and my own sister out of the house as quickly as possible i couldn't explain everything to them in my panic but my sister could tell i was serious and trusted me enough to help drag olivia out of the house i told my parents what i found in the neighbor's basement and in less than an hour the police were there to search the house when they got to the basement they found the body of olivia's twin sister where i saw her and arrested the parents for murder fingerprints on the shovel in the basement match the parents and they confessed to killing their own daughter for in their words being naughty olivia was put into foster care and moved out of the town immediately after her parents arrest i haven't seen her since wherever she is i hope she's doing all right and that she never has to meet with her parents again i don't use instagram anymore and the reason is my fault in high school i started modeling i had to tie up with lots of media pages and brands to update my experience in the field for that i uploaded almost every other day but to avoid any negative attention and creepy comments i tried to keep a low profile i never posted any explicit photos because almost everyone in my family followed me on instagram one day i was going through comments on a recent picture i uploaded i was casually scrolling when one comment caught my eye it was from a profile named your wish my command i kind of liked the name but the comment was a bit odd it read whenever you need help being famous is competitive these days i opened the profile to do further research and saw pictures of gothic art most of his contents were based on voodoo rituals witchcraft and occults but people try to gain attention in every way possible these days so i ignored it a few weeks later my uncle came to visit with his daughter i was close to my cousin until she went to college and got into modeling too she got aloof from me and once i started modeling her jealousy went to another level let's call her jill so jill came to stay with us for a while my father and my uncle were planning to sell our family home hence they needed to work together to prepare the papers and other official necessities my mom kind of forced me to share my room with jill because the guest room was given to my uncle she wanted to be a [ __ ] but chose not to probably she couldn't gather the courage to tease me while staying under my dad's roof anyways we both had to click pictures for our profiles and upload them so there were times when jill and i both used to dress up and stand in front of the mirror to get a nice click things were going fine until one day i crossed ten thousand followers while jill remained at five thousand needless to say she followed my account she was pissed off the entire day and didn't say a single word to me i didn't bother much i was making a video thanking my followers for their support and love when jill walked into the room with a glass of orange juice and intentionally spilt it on me it took a fraction of a second for a huge brawl to take place i screamed at her calling a jealous [ __ ] and she called me a [ __ ] bag our parents stepped in to stop our fight and i stormed out of the house in anger i went to the local park and sat on a corner bench i was feeling very angry and suddenly i remembered about that weird account in instagram your wish my command i sent him a text hi i got an immediate response well hello there um can you help me depends on what kind of help you need uh can you hack into an account and remove it like forever i can do so much more than that what is the name of the account jill craig underscore one and only i'll need the phone number for that and her email i know what i was going to do wasn't only wrong but a criminal offense but i did it anyhow i was out of my mind no doubt i gave him my cousin's phone number and email id just after that your wish my command blocked me and i realized this guy was just messing with me although i was calmed down by then i told myself i returned home and my uncle made jill apologize to me eventually i apologized too and the matter got sorted out that night but it was always in the back of my mind that i have indeed shared her phone number and email to god knows who i wanted to tell her but i knew she will play the victim bringing out the previous fight and i will be in huge trouble for doing what i did few days went by and i almost forgot about the account when i suddenly overheard a phone conversation between jill and her boyfriend one night she was saying yeah i've reported this account but every time i block it someone reopens it with the same username and drops creepy messages i'm telling you it's the same guy with the name your wish my command as soon as i heard that my hands turned cold in fear [ __ ] i have appointed a stalker on my own cousin i could see the tension on jill's face but still kept quiet i was making mistakes after mistakes just to keep out of trouble but that only led to more trouble in the upcoming future it was a saturday night jill and i went clubbing with some of our common friends we were partying really hard and i got pretty drunk what happened next is a combined memory of fragments but overall it was like this and it was terrifying i was sitting at the bar and jill was dancing in the crowd i could see her jumping and tossing her hair here and there when suddenly i saw a man dressed in a robe-like thing standing behind her i mean i was intoxicated but trust me i didn't hallucinate that for a moment the entire club shifted to a slow-motion movie scene where everyone is dancing on the floor except the man dressed in a creepy black robe he noticed me seeing him and he lifted one arm to wave at me at the time he whispered something to jill's ear and she started to follow him like stupid she was drunk too i got up because i knew that man had bad intentions but there were crazy party animals everywhere by the time i reached the exit i saw jill being abducted by two men they grabbed her and forced her into the back seat of the car the man in the robe stood near the car and waved me goodbye before hopping into it the car then drove away at full speed and i collapsed on the floor crying for help my friends came out and they called 9-1-1 hearing what happened by the time the cops reached the car was gone and so was my cousin i received a text after 15 minutes it read wish granted target destroyed i freaked out and told everything to the cops and the presence of my parents and uncle after a tedious search of one long week the cops finally found jill unconscious near a roadside dumpster she was beaten badly and can't remember a thing that happened to her or where she was taken by those mysterious men the cops left no stones unturned to search for those men and i gave them every detail i could finally they caught them and it came out to be a group of kidnappers who are also associated with women trafficking jill hadn't been physically assaulted but her wounds are enough to make me live a life full of guilt and despair my uncle has cut all ties with us and my parents don't see me the way they used to earlier i'm now just a jealous [ __ ] who shoved her cousin into a terrible fate out of anger i hope those guys rot in jail forever so that they can't hurt anyone anymore for me i will spend the rest of my life in culpability and solitude

Channel: IMR Scary Tales

Views: 473,151

Rating: 4.8684368 out of 5

Keywords: 27 horror stories Animated, Horror Compilations, horror stories animated, animated horror stories, horror stories, true scary stories, true horror stories, scary stories, true horror stories animated, horror story animated, stories animated, true horror story animated, horror story animated compilation, horror animation compilation, Animation, IMR

Id: p3wM0IZicMo

Length: 223min 4sec (13384 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 02 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/pretty_kingz]

It's like I can see the face but when I try to describe it I can't

[u/pretty_kingz]

I have sleep paralysis I often find something on top of me something with a face