CREEPYPASTA COMPILATION- AUGUST 2019「PART 3」

[Music] I should have known he was a dodgy link no excuses he wasn't as obvious as those messages you get advertising free followers but he wasn't far off I can't remember the name of the Twitter handle it came from anymore when I checked earlier this morning on my phone my head still pounding from a night of half-price cocktails the whole message thread and vanished all I have is a hazy memory of the profile picture it was a little icon showing earth like you might get for a travel company and the text that came with the link congratulations you've been selected for a once-in-a-lifetime adventure I read that DM about 3:00 in the morning slumped in front of my iMac after a heavy night of work drinks late-night social media binges isn't a new thing for me but work drinks most certainly are I started a new job at a media company last month after being unemployed for three months this was our first social I must have been a little nervous because I ended up drinking way too much I guess it was the booze that made me click the link my memory of that 3 a.m. session in is pretty blurry but I know what happened next nothing at least not at first I click the link my cursor did that spinning beach ball thingy for a moment and then that was it I was feeling mildly disappointed when my email pinged sender faraway destinations subject line preparing for launch Sam you have friends in high places you have been specially selected to go on a once-in-a-lifetime trip and the adventure starts now the seed has been planted and in just a few short hours the countdown begins for the time being all you need to do is get a bag packed and await further instructions cancellations if you do not wish the claimer prize click here please note refunds cannot be made after the countdown timer begins doors will close two hours prior to departure just before I fell into a drunken sleep I remember wondering what countdown timer meant I woke up this morning about nine o'clock you know that horrible post strong feeling where you want to sleep more but your headache keeps waking you up my brain felt like it had swollen in my skull my mouth is dry and sticky I needed to pee but even the thought of rolling over and trying to get out of bed made me feel sick after another half hour of trying and failing to go back to sleep I finally admitted defeat i sat up slowly and as I was reaching for the pint of water next to my bed the computer caught my eye I frowned for the briefest moment as I tried to work out what I was seeing on the screen even the pain in my head faded my first thought was did I leave my computer on last night my second I must have changed my screensaver by accident the screen of my iMac was black all black all over except for the center right in the middle was a sequence of large blocky numbers in green font at the time they read 846 hours as I stared at a screen there's a soft beeping sound and the N digit switched to a 5/8 45 hours I got open tiptoed over to my computer keeping in a half crouch to try and ward off the worst of the pain in my head I already thought I knew what must have happened for whatever reason in my drunken state I had added some weird screens over to my iMac possibly one that acted as an alarm or something when I reached out to move the mouse and clear the screen though nothing happened the numbers stayed in place I was moving my hand over to the keyboard to give that a go when I saw it damn covering about a third of the keys was this sticky half dried purple substance it wasn't just over the keys either I hadn't noticed that at first because I've been distracted by the numbers in the screen but the stuff was on the left-hand side of my desk as well not to mention spreading across the carpet below dammit dammit dammit I couldn't remember spilling a drink but I figured I must have knocked over a glass of Ribena or something I was tiptoeing away to start the long painful journey downstairs for a cloth I suddenly remembered the Twitter DM that dodgy link and made my cursor spin I shut my eyes this wasn't good at all at some point between getting in last night's and falling asleep I'd managed to royally screw up my computer first that managed to spill liquid all over it without even noticing and then I clicked something that was most probably a virus idiot as I reached the door of my room my head still pounding I heard a soft bleep behind me I turn back 844 hours the email of my phone pinged as I was eating breakfast white bread fried bacon brown sauce at some point during the long trip downstairs I'd made the executive decision that sorting at my computer could wait I felt terrible and scrubbing sticky stuff off my keyboard and calling up the Apple store were pretty much the last things I wanted to do - what my phone has my pockets and thumbs the message icon sender faraway destinations subject line the clock is ticking Sam final preparations are being made for your trip we hope your bags are packed the seed is spreading and it's only eight hours to departure please remember that doors will close two hours prior to takeoff so now is the perfect time to purchase any final supplies and visit with loved ones to let them know your travel buns we hope you're as excited as we are cancellations refunds are no longer available doors will close in six hours the first feeling I had while reading that email was confusion the second was mild relief it was a joke that was all the whole thing had to be I suddenly remember the email I'd received the night before surely before falling asleep and how ridiculous that had been the link I clicked in the Twitter DM and obviously installed something on my computer the countdown timer was evidence enough of that but my guess was that it was probably the only thing in it installed just some elaborate social media prank or a PR stunt a jokey countdown to go along with the dumb jokey emails it wasn't ransomware at least that much seemed clear my guess was that once the countdown reached zero there'd be some final joke or some big effort to sell me something and that would be it I'd still get the computer checked out of course and I'd still have to clean up that spilled drink but maybe my files and photos weren't at risk I finished my sandwich and washed it down with an alka-seltzer so that the sauce made plates in the sink then I made what I now realize might have been the biggest mistake of my life I went and sat down on the sofa stomp down on it's actually my headache was fading slightly and I was starting to feel tired again I put the TV on found some mindless comedy as can laughter drifted from the TV screen I fell asleep I woke with a start I've been having a nightmare something about being trapped in a building I didn't recognize unable to find my way out the headache was gone but my nausea was still there only now I felt less like a hangover sickness more like a kind of anxious churning load down in my belly like the butterflies you get before something big is about to happen that feeling is still in my stomach now as I record this it's worse now though much worse and I don't know how much time I have left so I have to keep this short after sitting up on the sofa and turning the TV off the first thing I did was wonder over it's my back door I have a tiny little garden and all I wanted at that moment was to feel some fresh air in my face helped me feel more alive the door is on the far side of the kitchen and I knew something was wrong before I even reached it have you ever had that feeling where you see something out of focus something on the edge of your vision and it takes a couple of seconds to realize what it is maybe a dark spot on the bathroom ceiling that turns out to be spider or shadow standing still in an alley that suddenly takes the shape of a man it's a hard one to describe without feeling that sudden gut punch of dread was exactly what I experienced as I walked towards my back door it was covered in purple goo not like a stain or a spillage but a whole web of his stuff it was thickest around the doors edges and the handle but it was everywhere running in skinny strands down the wood covering the small frosted glass window in a light film all over it took me several seconds of staring before I realized it was the same stuff I'd seen in my computer upstairs that's sticky looking half dried purple the worst of it the stuff around the edges of the door had hardened making a dark Ridge that looked almost solid I traced the gunk with my eyes it had run down under the door from the ceiling above which a criss crossed in sticky trails like the slime patterns left by slugs I remember thinking these trails covered the entire length of the kitchen ceiling leading out the doorway and into the hallway beyond feeling like a sleepwalker no longer in control of my own body I followed them that walk from my kitchen through my hallway and not the stairs to my bedroom felt surreal it was like something out of a dream the purple stuff had spread through my entire house it ran in thick streaks across the ceiling poles of its stain the carpet it wrapped itself around my banister like some gooey exotic vine as I walked through the hallway and followed it up the stairs I glanced once and my front door I already knew what I'd seen when I did and I wasn't surprised the door had pretty much vanished a thick purple web had descended over it from the ceiling covering my only other exit roots like a curtain by the time I was halfway up the stairs I had to watch where I was putting my feet the purple goo was thicker up here and hung down his strands from the ceiling and spread in patches across the carpets climbing to the upstairs of my house and then making my way across the corridor to my bedroom felt like it took a very long time despite what I had already seen none of it prepared me for what was waiting in my room I left the door open when I came downstairs earlier and the threshold was as far as I was prepared to go now beyond that everything was purple strands hung down from the doorway like vines the goo darkened every inch of the walls ceiling and floor beyond my bed had disappeared they neither seemingly solid mass of the stuff towards the far end of the room where my desk rested against the wall the goo took on a different quality it was darker like this stuff that had hardened around the doors downstairs it sparkled looking at it reminded me of the broken geodes which studied in biology as kids the ones that opened up to reveal shining crystal interiors standing in that doorway staring through those hanging purple vines no longer felt like I was looking into a bedroom it was like I was looking into a cave the only thing in my room that I recognized the one parts that remained unchanged was the screen of my iMac it started out from the glittering purple mass like an eye as I watched it gave out a soft bleep and the numbers changed 156 hours I'm recording this downstairs on my laptop sitting on a sofa at some points in the last half hour almost without realizing I was forced to lift my feet up to keep them away from the carpet to avoid touching the purple goo which has been slowly spreading across the room as we speak after making the discovery in my bedroom I have to admit I panicked a lot I ran through my whole house avoiding the goo while I checked every single window that I could looking for an escape route it didn't work of course the windows just like the doors have all been sealed shut next I tried to call for help my mum the police friends anyone who might pick up it didn't make any difference no matter which number I tried I got an automated recording telling me the call couldn't connect then I tried texting then DMing people on Facebook but none of that worked either despite the fact I'm connected to the Internet none of my messages go through I did get one text through my phone though shortly after I attempted the first few calls uh-oh you were detected trying to make a phone call the time to communicate with loved ones has now elapsed Wi-Fi is available until the point of takeoff but messages phone calls and other forms of direct communications have been disabled to ensure a smooth departure best wishes the faraway destinations team that was when I decided to record this I figured if I can at least post this online somewhere rather than telling someone directly then maybe there will be enough and not for the word to get back to my family of what's happened to me I think that's the best I can hope for now I don't think they're ever going to find me because here's the thing five minutes ago I received another one of those weird emails and I think I finally understand what might be happening to me I think I know where I'm going after the timer reaches zero I once read out the final email because it didn't contain much text it was the same sender and all the subject line said was we hope you enjoy your trip the email itself didn't contain any text at all just the map the map was zoomed in on my street and a small dot presumably me was blinking on the place where my house is a dotted line led away from my house off the edge of the map when I hovered my cursor over it though I was able to use a scroll wheel to zoom out to make the objects on the map smaller and smaller soon I could see my entire town in miniature and then as I kept scrolling the whole of the UK the dotted line ran in a northeast direction still off the edge of the screen and I kept zooming out and the line just kept going and going and going if zoomed out so much I could see the entire earth in the maps Center a small globe in the middle of a vast black ocean and then I just kept scrolling after zoning out for another 30 seconds the earth was nothing but a tiny white dot in the middle of the screen after a minute and a half the entire galaxy filled it a swirling blue and white helix with an orange Center after another minute or so of zooming I gave up because I just couldn't handle it anymore I couldn't handle the sight of a thin dotted line stretching on and on into all that black space seemingly without end the purple goo is creeping up the sides of the sofa now as stuff on a ceiling walls and carpet is hardened to like the stuff I saw around my computer the surface of it flashes and twinkles like thousands of stars I have to post this now I don't know how much time is left on the countdown but it can't be helped very faintly like a far-off vibration I can feel the house beginning to shake our sister suicide affected not only our family but the entire community in which we lived she was beloved by nearly everyone wherever she went she left an impression of kindness and comfort our town mourned communally over the death of Elise she had a personal philosophy she followed which essentially stated that life was amazing an incredible phenomenon made even more wonderful by its ability to self-replicate and alter its own environment to facilitate further reproduction she was forever or struck by something we as a species consider so commonplace our own existence my younger brother was somewhat the opposite in fact they'd argue fairly often her humanitarian views clashing against his sometimes outright misanthropic beliefs they'd wage a moral and ethical Wars in the living room of a home flinging insults and spoon rhetoric never convincing each other it was entertaining for a while then last week things turned sour and their last debate ended abruptly before they had been heated and energetic both siblings were aided dramatically gesturing as if speaking before a greater audience when I was the only one watching they still retained a fundamental respect for each other and despite the shouted insults and profane gestures they never spoke her for each other or became physically confrontational last week's debate starts the same as they've always had my brother burst into the room to relate some new observation that he thought proved without a doubt that humanity as a whole was inherently an irreparable flawed unremarkable in the scope of the cosmos and deserving of no greater consideration than that of any other material object in the universe his observations and the basis of that particular arguments was compelling and I'll give him that he said that he had witnessed the man Lyrid a woman while waiting in a line at the grocery store the man had been with his family a wife and two children the woman was alone obviously dressed for a night out the man's gaze settle and the woman's body long enough for his child a boy of about ten to notice and presumably old enough to understand what his father stare suggested the boy had poked his dad playfully admonishing him against tearing and the father swiftly struck the boy in the face no one had noticed my brother said the strike alone was enough to condemn the man but what unsettled him more was that the boy reacted almost robotically as if the behavior was something to which he had been accustomed he turned his head away from his father and stared on eyes peering emotionless into his mother's back who hadn't seen anything the sister who had seen all that occurred simply ignored it as if she too were accustomed to her father's violence Alysse had listened quietly preparing her rebuttal internally and giving Shawn a chance to provide his supplemental arguments and any personal additions he felt necessary when he had finally finished she stood with the reserved grace that I'd only seen her exhibit during formal occasions and said no people are merely forms of life not the essence of it one man does not represent the concept of life and his actions were not born of some maliciousness inherent to life life is still good by virtue of what it is and what it isn't beliefs though certainly an intelligent girl especially for a 17 year old I never spoken so philosophically or specifically separate to the concept of life from its human representation before she we spoke of people and life synonymously ascribing intrinsic goodness to both after her intended refutation she left the room leaving my brother and I equally dumbfounded Elise was never one to simply leave an argument so soon especially after providing such a relatively short winded counter I said that she was perhaps tired she ran track after school and their arguments usually took place after she arrived home and to leave her alone for the night Shawn visibly disappointed by the lack of a real fight yet understanding of how unusual such behavior was for our sister left to go spend time with his friends after he left I visited my sister in a room where I found her sitting on a bed staring out her window there had been fast winds that day and the lone tree in our front yard swayed slightly while its leaves rattled as if it was shivering Alisa changed from a track attire to a white t-shirt and gray sweatpants and hadn't done a ponytail letting a dirty blonde hair fall carelessly around her shoulders I know how to make him see she had spoken so softly I asked her to repeat the words and when she did louder there was an acutely grave suggestion to her tone I know how to make him see I figured it out Isaac how to prove once and for all that life in its true nature is good his holy we weren't a religious family our parents had never taken us a church and we hadn't felt any compulsion to seek spiritual education I wouldn't say were a family of science but we definitely prefer a more straightforward empirical approach to what is and isn't present within our universe so her words were shocking to say the least what do you mean holy I tried to speak calmly because something about her expression which a change from distant almost full lawn to a little excited had a nerve to me her eyes were wide a forehead creased and a body stiff as if in anticipation of something of which only she has been aware perhaps sacred is a better word I don't mean to suggest any mundane religious connotations I'm not talking about divinity as applied to your average man conceived belief system life is good sacred fascinating because of its power life brings about change of everything life is the only force the only energy that cannot be dissipated dispersed or disrupted if the form life takes is persistent enough her words were nonsense to me and her agitation grew until she had sat perched on the edge of a bed kicking back and forth rapidly I don't think she was even aware of the physical manifestations of her excitation Elise you're tired you should get some sleep she cocked her head at that as if I'd said something humorously naive the will Isaac I speak of the will that spiritual engine which drives us to survive to propagate as a species to persist people believe that emotions like grief anger or regret can make a person survive partially after death in spectral form they believe that if something is felt enough just before death the feeling can store the person's annihilation allowing them to subsist immense the shadows as ghosts spirits wraiths etc it's all nonsense her voice grew louder her expression crazed her physicality manic delusions all of it but the will it's different it is the amalgamation of all those things combined with something deeper something baser most people are feeble unremarkable wills when they die so too dies their will to reject death to sustain life they accept their invitation to oblivion those with strong powerful wills those revenants who returned to life regardless of the physical mortal trauma they have suffered those are the true Divine's they are the best representations of life and its beauty I speechless as a 15 year old with zero experience in such a way see topic incapable of participating in any sort of debate or discussion with her when I did not respond she nodded her head and smiled as if I had expressed in some way my agreement with her deranged oration I will show you how strong my wellies Isaac I'll show you right now she removed a knife from under a pillow one of dads expensive kitchen set and brought the tip to her throat and said see you in a bit then sank the blade just under her chin she let out a sort of Yelp and then choking sounds as she pressed the blade deeper she had almost gone to the handle and all the while staring at me placidly when she said her last words I will be remade she then died with both hands grasping the handle of the knife the blade fully plunged into her throat a wide red streak had fallen from the wound and down a shirt a single torrent of crimson that pulled silently on the wooden floor I stood there unsure as to what had happened when I first started to process things I started screaming and that's how my brother found me two hours later he said our sisters eyes was still open even then fixed in a lunatics gaze as if she was still alive staring into something beyond her perception we buried her three days later my parents didn't talk to us much while Alise had been alive they both worked together in some pharmaceutical corporation and rarely had time to do family things they were attentive enough but still distant after Lisa's suicide It was as if they lived somewhere else I rarely saw them after the first few days following her burial and when I did he was only in passing as if we were acquaintances offering unenthused gestures of recognition on the street they behaved furtively as if they knew something about Elise that I didn't when I could not extract answers from them I investigated her room I won't disgrace her memory by sharing any of the uniquely personal items I found the only relative discovery was a series of medical documents they did a few weeks earlier all intended for Elise they detailed the results of a series of tests performed over the last few weeks all of which indicated without question that Elise had a tumor on her brain her symptoms some of which she had apparently described others which were detected listed such things as lightheadedness blurred vision hallucinations and on one occasion seizure I wasn't aware of any of this I thought I'd understood then her pre suicide ranting had been the combined result of stress a fear of death and its permanence and the Warped thoughts of someone whose brain has been corrupted by a malignant tumor it all made sense under that context that tore me apart that a last moments had been expressed through a filter of mild insanity my sadness was replaced with fear when I began to hear her voice in my head I said I told you I'd return my will has beaten back death I live I first heard her while mindlessly watching TV thinking about nothing I didn't even need to look around I knew that her voice had originated within my mind not from somewhere within the room or somewhere else in the house she continued to speak with me after that excitedly constantly never letting me have a minute of peace she wasn't angry or hateful or anything that would have suggested she was vengeful towards her brother who had failed to savor would simply screamed and screamed for hours but she wasn't kind either before during her arguments with my brother she would allow him as much time to speak as he wanted but in my head she went on and on stepping over my thoughts silencing my inner voice for hours while she expounded about her experience quote beyond the bounds of mortality it was dreadful nightmarish stuff but she spoke of it almost lovingly I started getting headaches the more she spoke the longer she took control of my cognition the more she made me think and perceive as she would have I went to the doctor and after a series of tests was told that I had a tumor growing on my brain I asked the lease about it and she said that my will was weak and perhaps she could make better use of my body once I had vacated it she spoke softly kindly as a nurse would a moribund patient I told her that maybe the tumor that was in her brain was a part of her that her will regardless of the body was corruptive that she was inherently bad she stopped talking after that but I can still feel her in me I think she's just waiting for me to die I don't hate her I don't think she's evil but I do think she's wrong about life wrong that it's good just because it has the potential to surmount all adversity survive all conditions I won't let her have my body she didn't want to be consumed by her tumor wouldn't accept that kind of death I won't either you I was seven when it first happened I never had much in the way of friends st. with cash come to think of it I was doing what I had always done when I was bored at that age playing in a field near my parents is small wooden cabin we were poor very little to do when your parents didn't make much money they had to spend a dime pods and stuff like heating in the taxes oftentimes I was glad just to have running water and a bed to sleep in at night anyway the field it was surrounded by woodland all the trees being tall skinny conifers mostly spruce with outstretched limbs that clawed at the sky the field was quite large and was perfect fit imitating my favorite scenes from all manner of media and literature I would pretend to be Darth Vader fighting a Luke Skywalker or Captain Jack Sparrow making a narrow escape or even Valkyrie Cain wielding magic to save the world once more my father worked as a low-level convenience employee my mother well she tried to work as a streetwalker often taking a rusty old ford pickup truck into the city she tried she did but I knew she hated it her and dad had discussed it argued for days and then he finally gave him as long as she had contraceptive methods at the ready we couldn't afford another child even though she worked she rarely got customers she was over 40 years old and a bit too plump for most folks prowling the streets to see as sexy at least what Sexy's thought of these days it was any ordinary day I'd come home from school my mother having to drive me into the city in order to get there after school I took the bus as close as it would take me to the forest where I lived it was usually an hour-long walk to get home from there after that walk I always went to the field making my way through the coniferous trees and humming my favorite songs most of what I entertain myself with during my time that field came from my imagination I would occasionally get to watch movies and videos and the school computers during the lunch hour I always signed out as many books as I was allowed from the school's library I don't quite remember the story I'd made up for myself that time but that doesn't matter I was in the field like always when he appeared he came from the woods most strange things do a man of the long and thin proportions who pushed between the hundreds of conifer needles and scraggly branches I was at the opposite end of the field as he was and I simply watched him walk towards me taking huge exaggerated strides with his spider-like legs he was about halfway across when I finally got the sense that I should run from this man this creature I tried to but my movements were sluggish and I didn't get five paces before he was in front of me I didn't know what he was at first without the man saying a single thing I knew him as mr. long nose and I knew what he wanted mr. long nose was wearing a simple dark red trench coat that switched the grass as his feet he had tall black combat boots on his feet and a pair of mirrored sunglasses perched upon his nose and what a nose he had even though his disturbingly tall and gangly form not to mention his arms that draped all the way down to his feet whilst downright horrifying his nose scared me the most it stretched out from his face like a bird beak pale white like the rest of his skin and curved downwards sharply the appendage seemed as though it should have weighed down his head especially because his neck was so wiry he didn't say anything but I suddenly became aware that mr. long nose wanted me to play a game he didn't speak at all but I could hear a voice or some sort of presence I began counting down from 60 it resonated from mr. long nose like a pulse instructions had appeared in my mind I had to hide from mr. long nose I starts to run I ran across the field into the woods between the trees towards my house soon my throat was raw from the exertion and I dropped behind a fallen tree to catch my breath I could hear something walking through the soft pine needles a few twigs cracked mr. long nose was looking for me his game was hide-and-seek an entertainment I was familiar with I could feel the air from his movements and sense the swish of his coat my teeth were chattering my tongue was cold and dry I felt antsy and paranoid I couldn't stay still any longer I scrambled to my feet and ran I didn't get far before mr. long nose came into my peripheral vision he was still taking those extensive steps his head turned towards me I could see my ramshackle home in the distance and I could hear my father using his mallet to pound nails and seal the hole in the roof dad that helped me I screamed mr. long nose was right behind me now he was making some sort of clicking noise like the sound of a metal fork on someone's teeth my foot caught on a log and I was sent sprawling into the dirt when I looked up mr. long nose was looming over me one of his hands came forward and touched my chest a pain so intense forced my muscles rigid and I let loose a Christ so loud that my voice was hoarse within seconds and still I kept wailing as mr. long nose plunged his skinny phalanges deep into my flesh my vision blurred until it was just a mass of gray and brown when I woke up mr. long nose was gone and my father was cradling me in his bulky arms my father immediately pointed out a tattoo on the left side of my neck it was shaped like a plague doctor mask from the 1600s I didn't know what it was when I first saw it but my dad enlightened me telling me it was something old doctors wore in medieval times of course we were both perplexed because I had never gotten a tattoo I was only seven after all I was confused and disoriented from my experience so my response was blurry and gobsmacked my father no dad that's mr. long nose was what I said he tried to ask me what I meant but I'd gone catatonic I stayed that way for a week after I met mr. long nose I saw mr. long nose three more times the second time after the first incident he appeared in a cafe when I was in London I've been 13 years old at the time and my parents are better off at that point I tried to call for help from the other patrons but they only looked confused it seemed as though I was the only one who could see mr. long nose I ran from the cafe and into the street I ran and didn't look behind me I was faster this time so I had already put quite some distance between myself and mr. long nose all was looking well until a car swerved around the corner and crunched against me I could hear mr. long nose getting closer but my legs wouldn't push me up off the ground he reached me and touched me with his hand again I awoke in the hospital this time there was a tattoo of an eye on my right palm the third time I didn't have a chance he woke me up while I was sleeping in my apartment still living in London I was 21 then he began to count down and I only made it down the elevator another front door before he caught me again another stab of agony and a new marking on my flesh now made a black rhombus tattoo on my left cheek after their third encounter I received the package in the mail it was a plain brown shipping box there was no weight in it the only pressure on my hand was the box itself I took it up to my room and opened it there was nothing inside but a piece of paper it had three symbols on it left to right first was the bike doctor mask identical to the one emblazoned on my neck next was the eye again the exact same as the marking on my palm then the rhombus identical there was a message beneath the sigils you have been found three times if there is two more it's the long nose will claim you five is all he needs hide for three more and mr. long nose will be impressed when mr. long nose is impressed hide-and-seek is over there was no signature just a picture of a crudely drawn face with a hideously long nose that I recognized very well the fourth total time was different this time I was prepared for mr. long nose as soon as I heard his countdown I hopped my car and started driving it had been five years since the last time I had just turned 26 I drove for hours no place in mind as long as it was anywhere where mr. long nose wasn't I stopped many times for gas until I ran out of money I saw mr. long nose in the distance taking his giant cartoonish steps directly towards me three weeks later are still going i drawn money from a bank account to keep buying gas to stay away from mr. long nose distance doesn't seem to be too much of a trifle for him I started my fleeing in London and after three weeks I'd gone across the English Channel and into France then from France to Switzerland on to Germany another week I had gone across Czechia and was in the middle of Slovakia in four weeks I had traveled all over Europe I was actually considering taking the drive to Greece but then all of a sudden I got an air of snapped tension in my mind and during a short rest up at a restaurant I knew it mr. long nose was gone for now at least since then I've worked out a way to estimate when mr. long nose will come for me he seems to appear about every four to seven years and all seek me for the first three weeks or so if he makes any physical contact with me I will lose that game of hide-and-seek mr. long nose has won four games of hide-and-seek so far and they've been six in total i won the fifth game of hide-and-seek two down one to go I'm quite a bit older now I think I've at least close this sixty by this point all I need to do is win one more game and mr. long nose will leave me alone but mr. long nose only needs the win one more game to claim me whatever that means I'm an old man my memory is foggy I've been checked for memory ailments and been diagnosed with at least one I'm writing the whole story down for myself in a recent moment of clarity it's been six years since I've seen mr. long nose and even while I write this I can feel his foreboding presence getting closer once I finished this document I'll print out some copies and put up on my walls so I don't forget then mr. long nose is coming I don't know if I'll even get that far with the way I can sense mr. long nose nearing me I need to go all I need to take is my food my water my cash and my car guns don't work amidst the long nose but it's just seem to dissipate before they hit him knives pipes axes none of that does anything to him he's getting closer I can feel it mr. long nose is ready for our last game and there's no way in hell I will let him win it I was the first to notice an extra person had joined our group I counted six of us sitting around the campfire but I knew we had left home with five the sixth person had joined us somewhere along our way but where and when exactly I could not be sure all the glowing faces looked familiar like I'd known them for all a lifetime that was why it took us so long to find the man out of place I had to go through the faces one by one I went through my history with them recounting how I met them how I knew them I fed each one into my memories like puzzle pieces first there was mark he was sitting next to Sarah chatting her up as always I met Saren marks six years ago in the tenth grade mark and I played wide receiver together on the school football team Sarah was a cheerleader and Mark always had a thing for her the three of us started hanging out after games marked flirting non-stop and Sarah always hilariously rebuking him after a while then there was Ben we had been best friends since the first grade inseparable ever since we bumped heads playing tag during recess he had his arm around his longtime girlfriend Justine she started at a school when she moved from Chicago in the seventh grade Ben said next door in English and soon she became a part of a group at the time she was quiet and shy when she first arrived but once we got to know her she opened up she was one of the coolest and nicest people you could ever get to meet she had also become close with Sarah in the past few years and then there was the sixth face the piece that did not fit I stared at him and his name escaped me that is if I had ever had it in my memory banks in the first place he looked familiar but I could not place him in my memories but why if I recognized him could I not remember his name why did he sit among us acting as if he belonged he stared at Mark and Sarah as they chatted he left when they left smiled and they smiled I couldn't figure it out the question burned in my head how had he a stranger joined our little group without any of us noticing something amiss yo Porter been pulled me from my thoughts you head up in the clouds or something I was just telling Justine about our fifth grade teacher what was his name again mr. Smith I said oh yeah mr. Smith I was telling Justine how you could rile up that guy like nobody else remember the time you handed in an assignment printed in yellow ink Ben and Justine left here I remember I guess they'll see the steam coming out of his ears they laughed again and I joined in half-heartedly when I glanced the strange man's way he was watching us grinning he was always watching always on the periphery never partaking part of the reason he had flown under the radar I was struck with a sense that he was studying us my skin crawled been drained his beer and threw the empty can in the cooler well I gotta take a leak he said and walked into the woods swallowed up by the dark you really know how to push people's buttons when you want to huh Justine said I shrugged I was having trouble focusing on the conversation the weight of the situation the reality of it was starting to hit me a strange man had attached himself to our group unnoticed and who the hell knew what his motivations were questions were raced through my mind none I could answer how had no one else noticed yet why did it take me so long to notice was I going insane did I have an EVA and forget this one friend of ours what in the hell was going on here a strange man stood with jerkiness I gotta take a leak he said it was the first time I heard him talk he spoke with an odd lisp it sounded as if he had to force the words from his throat he walked with an awkward gait and like Ben disappeared behind a dark fail of the trees no one else flinched justine kept talking i always loved that long relationship you and Ben have it was so hard moving cities and leaving all my old friends behind I mean I can't complain too much I wouldn't have met Ben and all you guys otherwise Justine don't you see what's going on here huh you're telling me you haven't noticed noticed what Porter what are you talking about who was that guy i gestured to the vacated spot the strange man left behind Oh him he's uh she trailed off she frowned into the fire I could see her mind ticking over and her eyes twinged with concern I knew I wasn't going crazy I don't know she said who is it that's what I'm trying to figure out we stared at each other maybe Justine was cut off an ear piercing screech came from the woods it sounded like a shrill injured cat a large cat the sound split the air and cut our conversations short her blankets of silence fell over the four of us only the crackling campfire persisted the woods were still and quiet the hell was that mark broke the silence I don't know Sara said I've never quite heard an animal like that before sounded like some messed up mountain mine Justine said you ever heard anything like that before reporter I shook my head my fingers tingled with adrenaline Ben was still in the woods and a strange man was out there with him dread filled my gut there's no mountain lions out here Mark said it's probably an elk they can make some creepy sounds Sara agreed Justine bit a lip and scanned the woods it's probably okay I think mugs right I said to her but I wasn't sure I believed it mark and Sara had started up their conversation again when a strange man bumbled out of the woods they paid him no mind I was hoping something would have triggered in them by now but they were oblivious a strange man took a beer from the cooler he fumbled with it struggling with the tab It was as if he had never opened a can before when he finally had opened it he sat beer in hand and continued to watch mark and Sara a thin smile on his face he never did take a sip I watched him from across the campfire his head were wavering behind the heat I touched on what made me uneasy about this strange man aside from the fact he had managed to infiltrate our group without any of us noticing for a long time he moved with jerkiness an awkwardness like a newborn animal nothing he did was smooth or well practiced he made everything he did look like an act an imitation I didn't make the connection at the time but I should have seen this man was not quite human but at the moment I wasn't sure what to think I guess I just thought he was a freak I considered calling him out then and there I wanted to ask him just what the hell he was doing but I'll admit I was scared I'd visions of this guy being some horrific serial killer and I didn't know how dangerous he was or if he was armed I didn't want to push him into doing something drastic that got us all killed as time went by without any sign of Ben I became convinced the strange man had done something to him I watched him plotting planning and marking his next target anger sprouted from my fear and I started to see red I needed to stop him we use the next the chopped firewood for our campfire and it was leaning against my seat this man was dangerous I was sure of it I convinced myself I needed to do something before another one of us was next I clutched at the axes handle this smooth wood felt reassuring in my hand Justine touched my arm hotter where's Ben and getting nervous it's okay I lied patting her hand I'm sure everything is okay I stood with axing hand I'm going to get some more firewood I announced more awkwardly than I hoped uh okay dude Mark said Porter Justine's voice wavered speaking up was mistake HR on the attention of the strange man I walked past him trying to act as nonchalant as possible but I was never a good actor he watched me the whole way he maintained his glare as I reached the perimeter of the woods and as he looked back his head rotated around an unnatural distance that was enough to chill my spine I was hoping he would turn around to look away and give me an opening but he never did I'm not exactly sure what happened next I never saw him stand up or walk over to me I never even saw him move a single muscle but in an instant he was standing in front of me inches away from my face It was as if he teleported metallic smell stung my nose the strange man stunk of blood and copper the extreme built in my hand any thought of actually using it fled my mind I locked into my place my skin covered in goose bumps power radiated off him he spoke to me yet some firewood he said in a forced tone and he smiled wide at that moment Ben emerged from the woods Ben just think right Jesus Ben said has Justine squeezed him did you guys have a cat thing we think it was an elk mark said where were you why did it take so long Justine asked I guess I wandered off too far and I lost sight of the campfire took me a bit to find my way back for a second I thought I was going to have to freeze my ass off out there alone tonight the relief washed over my body like a wave crashing into my muscles I felt each one relaxed at least Ben was safe I looked for the strange man but he was gone he somehow slinked away while I was distracted he was good a going undetected when he wanted to I thought it's turned to getting out of there even though Ben was unharmed that guy was still trouble I started back towards the group and caught the middle of their conversation I don't know actually yeah who was that guy Ben said I thought he was with you guys sarah said yeah isn't he your friend mark added I thought he drove over with you three no Ben said I don't know who he is the panic spread over everyone's faces they were finally feeling what I was feeling the realization and set in we need to get out of here I said before he comes back yes please Justine said we have to leave now that guy was a freak right Porter yeah I said I explained to them how I noticed he was the odd man out when we were sitting around the fire they explained the odd behavior and they all agreed the guy was strange and possibly dangerous none of us could pinpoint exactly when he had joined the group it's that an unnoticed and unaccounted for it was uncanny we bite our tents in record time we trekked the 15 mini store cars through the dark woods flashlights in hand we heard a screech of the elk again if it was an elk which I have doubts about now and we took some comfort from the fact it sounded farther away even so we picked up our pace with a final stretch of the walk I felt like I could finally relax behind the wheel and lock the doors of my SUV Justine and Ben sat in the back or Mark and Sarah followed behind marks beaten up ford laser we were heading out of the woods and were planning to shack up in a motel for the night before heading home in the morning I thought we were free and clear we wound away around the dark roads that snaked through woods and as a smile open up on my face when we finally reached the exit road it was an arrow straight stretch of asphalt that split through the last few miles of the woodland I pressed on the accelerator I couldn't wait to get the hell out of there and I think Mark was feeling the same way because he sat closed and my rear bumper I remember thinking at least we'll have a strange tale to tell after all this I didn't think it was about to turn into a horror story the trees and the dashed lines in the road blurred past us my headlights reached out for the seemly endless road my speedometer needled its way towards 100 miles an hour I don't know what possessed me to go that fast and I wish Mark didn't follow my lead it was a mistake the man appeared from behind a tree he walked into the middle of my lane I slammed the brakes it was too late the next sequence of Vence happened so fast it played like a slideshow in my mind the tires screeched and there was a smell of burning rubber the strange man folded over my bonnet and got sent flying down the road he skated across the pavement on his back moving with such speed he looked as if he were gliding on ice more tire screeching mark flew past us in the opposite lane fishtailing he fought it and for a moment I thought he had saved it but the car hooked right and into the trees the secondly sound of crunching metal reverberate it in the air Mark's car slammed into a tree driver side first sending fragments of glass and metal flying the car bounded off one tree and into another the front passenger side impacted this time the front light exploded and the passenger side cavity caved in sending a wheel bounding into the woods the crumpled heap of a car came to arrest justine was first out the door crying out Sarah's name Ben went after her and I followed after him everything felt surreal a shock cost in my body It was as if I was watching it through a screen I floated over the ash felt as Justine and Ben sprinted towards the steaming wreckage the crash scene dimly lit by my SUVs one remaining headlight there are two screams I will never forget they imprinted themselves on my brain and I'll hear their echoes at night forever if I happen to get Alzheimer's later in life I know the last thing to go will be these screams the first one I heard when I was 13 it came from my mother it floated the house splashing off the walls I ran out of my room to see a crumpled at the front door with two police officers standing by they had notified her that her eldest son my brother had died the second came from Justine and she saw what was waitin for us in that Ford laser mark was unrecognizable he was a shattered mess of bone skin and blood melded and intertwined with a crumpled steel Sara was blinking slowly her breathing labored her one arm shattered broken in too many places to count her legs crushed at the knees from the front of the car which crumbled back into a leg space her legs would have been flat if I could see them Justine turned away and fell to her knees face buried in her hands shoulders heaving Ben tried to comfort her but he had to turn away and throw up off the side of the road I pulled out my phone and struggled to dial nine-one-one with my fingers shaking I kept pressing the wrong numbers my voice was small and distant as I tried to explain what happened to the operator she told me to stay in the line but as I looked down the road I dropped my phone the strange man was standing there his grin reaching from ear to ear showing a grandstand of teeth his shoulders shrugged up and down as if he was laughing in fact that asshole was laughing if I were not in shock I would have gone after him right then and there I would have torn his heart if he had won right from his chest but all I could do was stare mouth agait struggling to keep the tears behind my eyes a strange man started for the woods I watched him go and I watched him change I saw it I know I did this was no illusion no trick of the mind this was real I saw him shape-shift I saw its true form we were not dealing with something human that night after countless hours of research I believe I saw what others have called the goat man his horns stuck out unevenly from its head his grinning snout bared rows of sharp teeth and walking upright like a man with an awkward gait it vanished into the shrouded woods it has been eight months since that night I've only seen my friends a handful of times since then relationships have shattered and are left in ruin all beyond now to me Chava is a stark reminder of that night mark is dead Sarah survived but as a triple amputee Justine and Ben broke up and Here I am rugged the scraggly beard and uncut hair after spending every sleepless night researching the monstrosity I saw that night the goetzmann I'm going back to those woods so help me God I'm going back I'm coming for the goatman and I'm not stopping until one of us is dead you I've worked at this place for as long as I remember and it's pretty weird and even harder to describe its your usual family fun indoor park I guess there's a million of them all over the place they all have different names we have a crappy little cafe and overcharges for stale hot dogs and then a buttload of warehouse space filled with random crap to keep kids entertained as a jungle gym and arcade with ancient games a greasy bowling alley and obviously there's a ball pit honestly it's a pretty cool job although it has taught me that kids in general are super weird I remember this one time a random kid came up to me and handed me some marbles and then just started laughing it took me a few minutes to get it out of him but he told me that he shoved the marbles up his butt and now I was touching his butt marbles and he just thought it was the funniest goddamn thing anyone has ever done ever we have a high turnover rate that's for sure we chew through new employees like popcorn and I think it's because kids have this weird ability to home in on anyone they make them comfortable and just thrive off the awkwardness at least teachers and parents get to deal with only one set of kids right they get to know them over time and sure those kids will occasionally explode or have prolonged periods of crazy high energy but for the most part the parents and teachers are there to manage the kids but that's the exact opposite of what we do we're here to manage the center not the kids every kid here is meant to blow off steam that's why parents bring them here it's why they pay the entry fee and we can't make these kids sit down or write lines we can't threaten to go door shout what we have is a revolving door of kids who are permanently psyched out and we're just meant to keep them occupied long enough for their parents to smoke a joint around the back or cry in the toilets where no one can see them break down I gotta say and stuff I only stuck it out because I'm in management and that means my job is to get a bunch of teenagers to do all the dirty work it's like a pyramid scheme but grosser nobody at Enron had to brush vomit out of a crying nine-year-olds hair still I limit my exposure to the kids and for a damn good reason they scare the hell out of me for one thing there's always the wrong number this place is always full no matter how many tickets we sell most people don't even stay here long enough to notice but I have I spent a few years now counting tickets and then heads and I know for a fact that there are rainy days in the middle of the coldest winters when we sell 10 maybe 20 tickets at most but no matter what the floor is crawling with kids another thing kids go to the ball pit and don't come out nobody complains everybody's reported missing but I know for a fact that not only do some kids never come back out but some kids that do come out never went in in the first place I already know what you're thinking that I'm nuts but I wants trialed a photo day just to confirm my suspicions I took pics of the kids and parents coming and going I said it was for a competition and I swear to God I have dozens of photos of parents coming in with one kid and leaving with a totally different one I thought what about trying to empty the ball pit out to see if there's anywhere they could go like a tunnel I never knew about I did try to empty at once it was he here's ago and I wanted to clean it properly so I waited until after hours and started scooping balls out and dumping them into empty bins but after a while I got scared and stopped something about the experience just freaked me out it was like the more balls I pulled out the quieter everything got like the whole place started to anticipate something all those weird cartoon characters painted into the walls with freaky eyes that follow you around the room the zombie shooter arcade machines I mean there's stupid fake ghoul noises the twist the airplane rocket that rocks back and forth and busting obnoxious music it all kind of faded out it was like the whole place held its breath and my head started to throb like the world's worst hangover my mouth started tasting all coppery and it made me want to retch it freaked me out and I stopped and just tip the balls back in as soon as I did the pressure in my head released and the place was full of noise again like nothing had even changed now I just clean the ball bit out with one of those Nets they used for swimming pools there's always the weirdest stuff in there dead mice crossed insects dog poo or random goo and what I can only describe as a series of gifts or messed-up experiments I don't know where they come from but a week hasn't gone past where I haven't had to fish some half-dead tortured animal as are the depths of that pit if I'm lucky the animal dies as soon as I pull it out but I keep a spare pillowcase around here just in case I don't know how humane it is to be stuffed into a sack and smashed against an alley wall but I know it has to be more humane in keeping them alive I used to think the kids dragged a roadkill in there but after I started paying a little more attention I noticed things like badly suited wounds stitched together with random threads or even half healed amputations I don't think it's even possible for a kid to pull off such a successful trepanning on a squirrel and keep the thing alive half paralyzed at the bottom of a ball pit it just doesn't make sense but I keep finding them half stuffed with bugs violets cut off Jesus Christ the worst one didn't even have any cuts I still don't know who did it or how I don't know how the ball got inside the rat it was alive with no scars or open wounds but it was like it had swallowed the whole damn ball it wasn't crying or making any noise it was just shivering alive and in shock and what had happened to it the pain must have been overwhelming all of its organs crushed its bones pushed out of sockets just looking at it maybe wanna hurl it was the most unnatural thing I've ever seen it's just another reason but I couldn't ask anyone else to do this job I think most people come and go so quickly they never realized just how weird it is I'd rather no one start asking questions I think if I was braver I tried to dig a little deeper and I'd encourage others to help me but no one else has seen the weirdness up close like I have and I guess my conclusion is this if we don't know what's down there why bother it it's clearly best to just leave it alone that's my home glad we have a high turnover rate people get super weird if they stick around too long I've moved a few people on because they started to go a bit loopy first we see paranoia setting in they start looking at you funny all the kids I mean the kids I get but me what's wrong with me second we see them started to fixate on the ball pit people who stay too long obsess over it and you're not looking they'll sneak over and try to jump broomstick into the bottom when they can't find it they'll start freaking out talking about foundations and floor plans finally the worst ones will start trying to go over my head and speak to corporate they go nuts asking questions and ring numbers and just bugging me over and over if you're not careful they can actually become quite threatening I know you wouldn't think it but people get really wound up about this kind of stuff one girl I had to call the cops on she developed a real unhealthy interest in me she even asked me where I lived she wanted to know where I slept and ate and who my parents were even after I fired her she kept coming back even tried to burn the place down I think this place messes with people's minds because she started talking about how the number to HQ just went to my office my driver's license was fake my code said someone else's name sewed onto them how did I even go at night where did I sleep where was my car she even revealed that one night she camped outside the building and waited for me like some god damn stalker when I confronted her about it she had no defense she was completely gone over the edge talking about how the old manager went missing years ago now I was wearing his uniform and no one had ever seen me outside the center I'm glad she's gone now because she made me really uncomfortable with a paranoid rambling I still don't know what she was implying honestly just listening to her gave me a really bad headache with a coppery taste I still wonder what happened to her but she's a good example of why we should just leave this thing alone because sure enough the next week I found myself fishing one of her shoes out of the ball pit I think what was weirdest about that was that it wasn't covered in blood or anything like that it just had a small note asking me personally for help she was so troubled I tried to tell her stop tried to give her some clue when I advised her just before the stalking started she started asking me all these questions about how long I'd been working here and whether I'd seen the bottom of the ball pit and I kept trying to tell her I've been here for as long as I can remember and I'm pretty sure the ball pit is bottomless well now she can be sure about it too I never heard of the brand before but it was cheap and I needed one I assumed they were all made in the same Chinese factory anyway here we shrink rats to protect the screen and had no manual but something about it appealed to me it seemed different somehow I told the staff I wanted it but he put it on a rolling cart and carried it out to my car unfortunately I didn't notice the strange inputs on the back until I got home then I understood why it was so cheap compared to the others they had with the same screen size it was probably his store returned from someone who didn't know what to do with it I figured the art ports were for a newer technology I wasn't familiar with instead of returning it like the previous owner had I made a mental note to take a photo of the back panel if I could find the correct adapters to hook it up to my older AV system I'd be way ahead of the tech curve that was always the problem with no electronics they changed connectors to my amazement there was programming on the screen even though I hadn't said the Wi-Fi up yet I wasn't sure if I was polling in local on air free broadcasts or if it had somehow set itself up automatically if so that was a bit alarming I hadn't entered my password or login credentials I just pressed the power button and it was instantly up and running doing the setup is always a pain on new devices so it was an unexpected perk to avoid the headache but I was still freaked out that he could do all that without my help did the new TV communicate with my modem and router to bypass the security protocols if so how did my internet equipment know the monitor was ok to communicate with my head swam with crazy theories perhaps it was so advanced that all of my devices were already in full communication when I carried it into the house if my internet firewall recognized the phone in my pocket as me it might have sensed it was ok to trust the new device since I brought it in amazing I didn't have much time to dwell on it though the programming on every channel was beyond strange it was like nothing I'd ever seen it certainly wasn't local public broadcasts that much was for certain while flipping through the myriad of choices I failed to find anything even remotely familiar or recognizable I stopped trying to explain where the bizarre content came from anymore that was irrelevant the disturbing visuals on the screen continued to come they filled me with a deepening sense of dread which I couldn't shake it was as hypnotizing as it was mortifying for lack of a better term I was glued to a consuming parade of personal train wrecks and humanitarian catastrophes the footage on every channel was like the faces of death non-stop reality programming the gritty visuals were painful to watch yet I couldn't force myself to avert my eyes even when I mustered the strength to turn the channel it was just more of the same grisly violence and carnal gore war suicides automobile accidents natural disasters wild animal attacks executions it was all there to witness in vivid blood red collar it was an ugly collection of concentrated pain there weren't any commercials or station breaks though no Network wards marks on the side of the screen either it was awkward and surreal channel after channel of inhumane atrocities flashed in front of my unblinking eyes and leached into my brain like a deadly drug it was a constant stream of raw negativity that I wanted to recoil in horror from but couldn't somehow I managed to look down on my watch and did a double-take at first I assumed it was broken but I looked past the flickering carnage and saw the unmistakable darkness outside my window six hours of my life had simply evaporated I'd been entranced by bloody mayhem an unapologetic violence to the exclusion of all else shown in every shade of the rainbow the shock of lost time was enough to temporarily break the hold it had on me I reach for the remote to shut it off I had to act fast before I was reluctantly drawn back into the addictive oblivion of the mystery footage I press the power button nothing the visceral bloodletting continued on unabated I said the remote down they always provide those cheap no-name batteries that are almost dead when you get them I had to turn the TV off manually another four hours transpired in a zombified trance my eyes watered and my throat grew parched I'd witness more evil and unnatural death that a person should see in 20 jaded lifetimes I leaned forward and pressed the physical button on the front bezel it too failed to shut off the unit part of me didn't care at all I didn't mind if I never ate again or if I watched it all day and lost my job I was transfixed on the eternal glow of the 50 inch screen in front of me with an unknown broadcast source with the remote a manual button not working I struggled to get up and unplug it from the wall it wasn't easy to tear myself away from it but I felt as if the constant stream of dark atrocities was physically draining me of life to my dismay the plug wouldn't come out of the socket a closer inspection of the receptacle and power cord revealed they had melted into an organic looking solid connection stranger than that all of my hdmi and AV cables were also joined the unknown ports at the back of the unit it was like vines genetically spliced to their mates I couldn't begin to explain the unnatural technology fusion that had occurred but my new flat-panel didn't want to be disconnected that much was obvious it was some kind of life-form and it was feeding of my bewitched attention like a hard slap on the face realizing the depth of what was going on served as a much-needed sobering influence it did no good to tug on the chords they were permanently fused together knowing that all living creatures have defense mechanisms in place to protect them from harm I didn't waste time trying to save the cords or cables with a knife or scissors that would probably result in some serious retaliation on its part I had no idea what it could or couldn't do but I wasn't taking any unnecessary chances it had already managed to hypnotized me for 12 hours straight while I neither ate drank or slept it had a deeply powerful sense of attraction I went are doing on I went to do an internet search about it I figured there would be others who experienced this dark phenomenon that's when I noticed my laptop looked very strange there was something odd about it which I couldn't place it looked Sonia than before as a matter of fact it looked newer than new it positively glowed on my desk I went to wake it up but stopped myself at the last second instead I crouched down and looked behind the desk at the outlet it was plugged into I couldn't believe it the damn thing was fused to the wall receptacle just like the new flat panel downstairs somehow it had infected my computer too I raced upstairs to inspect the bedroom TV it was permanently fused together and the screen display the same cavalcade of depressing carnage all throughout my house every piece of electronics and appliances I owned was physically joined to a power source even the toaster was connected I had an old tube TV in the basement it still worked but it was so how they did that I just stored it on the pile of unusual things until I could haul it to the dump I was curious to see if it was untouched on the wall there was a foreign electrical tether extended from a nearby outlet and stretched across the floor like an ambitious vine it slowly snaked its way toward the old TV to complete the circuit as soon as the umbilicus could reach the power cord it would be fused to to say I was in a crisis would be an understatement some creepy alien entity was slowly taking over my home I'd brought it inside just like an electronic Trojan horse the unit at the salvage store was basically just the disguised seed like a fool I carried it home and planted it I wanted to call the store to warn them or some of the police to witness the creeping Bayesian I triggered but even my home phone was fused to the jack my cell was almost dead too but I couldn't very well plug it up to recharge it I tossed it down in disgust and Gratz my car keys I had to get out of the house before the TV stereo on my computer lured me back to the zombified trance I'd narrowly detached from predictably my escape was interrupted in the hallway by my front door was the main household fuse panel its door was wide open sticking out of it was a large 220 volt electrical line that certainly didn't exist before I tried to imagine what the electrical entity was trying to merge with now the dryer was in another part of the house and I couldn't think of anything else that you used the power line that thick then the gel in reality dawned on me this unnatural tether was intended to fuse with me I backed up slowly and sought another escape route out of the house in desperation I ended up climbing out of a window at that point I was running on pure instinct I didn't even think of all the electrical lines in my car I just got in and turned the key my doors will lock to me and the radio started blaring it started playing most caustic malevolent music I'd ever heard I tried to open the door but the handle wouldn't work and my seat belt had me fully restrained my mind fought but the music started drawing me in the vicious pattern of the rhythms and the blast beats started to be more appealing with each passing moment I resisted less I was starting to enjoy the sonic brutality just like the deadly influx of carbon monoxide into the bloodstream I was rapidly being taken over by the influence of it every passing moment made it exponentially harder to fight in a final act of resistance I shouted above the din of the death metal and reached for my pocketknife I sliced the seatbelt strap and managed to get out of it the heat came on inside the car it was already a hot summer day and when the windows rolled up the inside temperature was well over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit sweat boiled out of my pores and down my face we unknown electrical based organism was punishing me for resisting it the window switch wouldn't work either but I had another emergency solution Haeju my knife savagely into the canvas of the convertible top and sliced hard I managed to escape my would-be tomb via internal caesarean section I don't know how far the infection is spread beyond my house but I've managed to find an uninfected computer in an internet cafe downtown I must hurry and detail the horrors of this bizarre epidemic and warn the unsuspecting public before it's too late for all of us I believe this horrific thing can be defeated but the easiest way is just to avoid the infection in the first place be careful what you buy and plug into your home time is of the essence I'm asking for some brave volunteers to go back with me to my home and towards the place before it spreads to an area that can't easily be contained so who's with me in this deadly mission you I have a very logical view of things I believe in evolution and the natural order after my experience with the unknown species hiding under our noses I still think that way but I'm a little more open to the existence of things we could be overlooking higher ranks on the food chain that we are blissfully unaware of there is still much of our world left unexplored and even if we did trample through our entire globe searching I believe there would still be creatures that exist completely undisturbed and undiscovered by us at its core evolution is pretty straightforward the most desirable traits are based on how well they help you thrive they are passed on because what makes you strong and unique increases your chance of survival and the survival of your offspring if you try to think of giants existing in the world you can't conceive it because if they are bumbling heavy and slow it would make it too easy for us with our advantage and speed and firepower we'd probably control them or kill them off if we thought they would endanger our chances of survival if they did exist they'd have to hold the opposite traits live fast and lightweight so we couldn't hear them coming camouflaged so he couldn't notice them passing by hidden so well they could never be found it sounds like an impossible task but with enough time and careful selection anything is possible I believe that wholeheartedly now I have reevaluated what I associate with Giants and how I perceive the world I've never really been superstitious and up to this point I never really believed in ghosts fairies demons vampires or anything like that but I can see them now I know where the true Giants are and with that knowledge I know for them speak other things smart enough to avoid us intelligent enough to realize that making their presence known would only speak their doom they use what they have to simply avoid conflict live in peace hunt in the deepest and darkest parts of the world or live amongst us undetected those are the ones we fantasize about tell stories of in the eerie glow of fire flickering off of fearful wide eyes I grew up in an area where the night skies were bright with thousands of stars and the grounds were the heaviest of shadows in Charles eyes I've seen a giant Panther the size of a mansion we've blindly through the trees so careful not a single strand of hair touched the branch so unfathomably light-footed but not one leaf shifted under its body it kept his eyes shut that night but on another occasion in face my house and I saw it through my bedroom window I thought it was the moon but I knew the moon had risen and passed over the house hours ago the panther only had one eye open he was strange bleached and speckled with dark spots by the surface of a giant rock that's sat in our sky white flecks glowed across his face like stars I've realized with age but sometimes we think is so small we see a stick bug and think something so huge couldn't possibly mimic our environments without unnoticed like the small ones can but in the right circumstances why couldn't they it was many years before I saw another I lived in a rather peaceful town now a place I knew I would have a difficult time finding a giant so I went places I thought no one else would I believed many of them hidden the cloak of Darkness so I took many walks at night staring at the moon and wondering what else could possibly be out there unfortunately my second encounter was not so peaceful rarely did people show up to some of the deserted places I visited but if they did they often had different intentions than I did I stood in the middle of a pathway near the lake mostly uninjured my wallet emptied and a group wandering away from me with grins plastered on their faces and an extra couple hundred dollars to split among them I rest it against the tree trying to regain my bearings when I heard the Harris of cracks echoing along the shoreline of the pond I looked towards the mob that had taken my wallet one of them had strayed behind the others he was walking towards a strange formation of rocks counting bills I swore the focal point a massive rock had been settled on the ground before when I passed it not long ago it now sat up at an impossible angle it was the size of a small speedboat in the vague shape of a jaw the tip curving down almost like the wide open beak of a snapping turtle the others had walked past it but in his distraction he walked under it there was barely any sound but I witness the formation shift in the blink of an eye the thump was so dull and quiet I still feel as if I imagined it the men continued walking entirely unaware one of their members was now missing I didn't want them to realize his disappearance before I left the area I contracted a new fear that night as I ran as quietly as possible out of the park and back home my eyes wide and flickering across my surroundings the entire journey I did not walk at night after that the desire to seek the Giants out the window along without hobby I knew then that I've been lucky to survive two encounters of thus far so I wasn't looking for the third especially not in broad daylight when I discovered it I was reading a book under a massive old tree that stood tall and towering in the middle of campus it was a feature of the University located smack in the middle of the new city I called home it's odd when you suddenly become conscious of your breathing it happens to all sorts of people the sudden realization and awareness of something your body does automatically it's awkward to transition back to ignoring it I never thought that the awareness might have been a response to your own body being thrown off course your mind losing its tempo in the presence of another beat I took my eyes off my book and glanced down on my chest rising and falling I suddenly held my breath to try and reset the mindless action my chest continued to move and a part of my brain connected dots I hadn't paid any mind to in years I closed my eyes leaned back against the tree and ceased breathing again I felt it the sudden movement that was not my own the large oak was breathing in tandem with me or it was trying to in the light of day I was not as afraid but I also did not push my luck I resumed my regular breathing as well as my book the branches and leaves rustled in the breeze and I thought of the Silence of the Panther and the stillness of the turtle and I knew now that some did not need to be so still a tree too still would stand out among the others that followed the patterns of the wind I tried to see the world through larger eyes but I still was only able to see a few more Giants throughout my lifetime I've never thought to mention the Giants to others until now I'm getting older and I want to let people see more of the wonders our world holds the only difference it will make you as you may be able to open your eyes a little wider and witness something others only dream of be warned you must not seek them out they live their lives and we live ours if you meet your death by the hands of one of them it would simply be the natural order of things the circle of life and death I would say that we outnumber them but I do not know if we do they do not mean us harm so you must leave them be unless you're really looking you'll never see them anyway but let it be known that we are not at the top of the food chain not by a long shot [Music] you

Channel: CreepsMcPasta

Views: 36,325

Rating: 4.75 out of 5

Keywords: creepypasta, creepy pasta, creepypastas, reddit, reddit stories, scary story, nosleep stories, creepypasta compilation, reddit horror stories, creepy story, nosleep, r/nosleep, creepypasta reading, horror stories, creepsmcpasta, horror, Scary Stories, creepypasta stories, paranormal, asmr, podcast, audiobook

Id: raGm2WLDlhs

Length: 118min 1sec (7081 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 19 2019