My name is Campbell, and I have a scary story
to share with you. It’s not scary because of ghosts, or demons,
or anything like that…it’s scary because it’s the story of how I thought I was literally
going insane. I’ve been told it’s an unbelievable story,
but trust me – it’s all true, and It happened to me just over a year ago. Let me set the scene. I was 18 years old, just out of high school
and getting ready to go to college. I wasn’t accepted at any of the schools
close to home, so I ended up going out of state. Moving so far from home was a little nerve-wracking,
but I was also really excited. It felt crazy that I was allowed so much freedom,
you know? New city, new me. I could do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I had to figure out where I was going to live,
and after looking at all the options, I decided to live off campus. I think it was that urge to have as much freedom
as possible taking control of my decisions, but it turned out to be my first mistake. My second mistake was not meeting my potential
roommate in person before signing the lease. To be fair, I was a five-hour drive away,
so it just made sense to find someone – anyone - looking for a roommate. I found a great little apartment, off campus
but still pretty close to school. The price was really reasonable, and technically,
since it was a 2 bedroom, we wouldn’t even be roommates, we’d be apartment-mates. I was sold! I didn’t even have to sign anything yet,
because the guy living there, Mark, was just trying to sublet the space after his other
roommate moved out unexpectedly. So, got the living situation checked off! One less thing to stress about. All summer long Mom and I shopped for stuff
for my new apartment. Mid-August I quit my job lifeguarding at the
pool, and we packed up all my belongings. My parents were going to road trip with me,
our van packed full of practically everything I owned. It was a long, slow journey, especially because
I get REALLY carsick. When we got to the city, found the address
of the apartment on Google Maps, and felt a weird mix of emotions – sort of a combo
car sickness/anticipation. A new chapter of my life was about to begin. I felt like an adult, for the first time. I texted my new roommate to let him know we
were in town. He was at home, ready to give me my key and
show us around the place, so he said just come on up. Once we’d found the right apartment building,
we took the elevator up to the second floor, lugging a couple of suitcases of my stuff
with us. It felt weird to not get a key from the front
desk or anything, and I started to get nervous about the whole situation – I’d never
met this guy! What if he was a murderer? Or just a total creep? No worries – the guy who answered the door
looked totally normal - average haircut, jeans, a band t-shirt. All in all, he looked like me, but maybe a
couple of years older. “Hi, I’m Mark,” he said, holding out
his hand.“You must be Campbell! And these must be your parents. Well, come inside – there’s not really
a lot to see, to be honest, but I’ll give you a tour anyway.” Mark showed us around, and he was right – there
wasn’t a lot to see. My room was bare, and Mark’s was pretty
messy but it all seemed like…just normal college kid stuff. Some beer bottles, posters, a pile of dirty
clothes on a chair. Pretty standard. He hadn’t exaggerated the amount of privacy
– for a roommate situation, it was pretty good. “Technically I think this was just meant
to be a one bedroom with den,” he explained, “but it’s way cheaper to split it between
us than have all this extra room for one person. It all works out pretty well.” “Why did your old roommate move out so suddenly?” I asked. “Family issues, I think. He didn’t really give many details, and
I didn’t want to press. It seemed sensitive.” Mark said lightly. “Do you guys want some help carrying stuff
up from your car?” “Oh, that would be lovely,” my mom answered. We made the trek from the car to the apartment
a couple of times, lugging everything up, until finally, the car was empty, and my now-bedroom
was full of random piles of stuff. I gave my parents goodbye hugs, and then started
to unpack. For the first couple of weeks, things were
pretty normal. You haven’t noticed anything weird yet,
right? Well, neither had I, and unlike you, I didn’t
have anyone at the beginning of the story telling me that things were about to get insane. I decorated my room, started going to orientation
stuff, and mostly, I didn’t see my roommate at all. We had some pretty basic interactions, ya
know, asked about each other’s days and stuff, and sometimes I would hear him playing
music in his room. But because his room was on the other side
of mine from the living room and kitchen, I never had to walk past his room to get anything. So I never really saw him. He seemed to keep to himself, which was cool. I did too. Looking back, the first kind of strange thing
I noticed was hearing conversations coming from Mark’s room – definitely two sets
of male voices, usually at night or super early in the morning when I was still in bed. They weren’t loud or disruptive or anything,
they were just…noticeable. One of them was definitely Mark, but I could
swear I could hear someone replying, although they were obviously trying to keep it quiet,
and I couldn’t make out what they were saying. At first, I’d hear voices pretty infrequently,
maybe once a week or so, but after a while, I felt like there was another guy there more
often than not. It made me feel really weird. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not homophobic
or anything – that wasn’t the problem. The weird thing was that Mark and I shared
a bathroom, we shared a kitchen, and I was at home a lot. And I NEVER saw anyone else there. Like…NEVER. Whoever this mystery guy was, he didn’t
seem to eat or pee, or come out of Mark’s room. At. All. Mark was around – cooking, showering and
all – but by himself. It was so weird. I tried dropping hints to make sure he knew
I wasn’t a massive homophobe, but it didn’t seem to change anything. The longer I stayed there, the more I started
to notice “stuff.” It’s hard to explain, but sometimes he just
seemed…different. Spacey, maybe? He would forget things I had recently told
him, like asking me how college was going when he’d just asked that a day ago. But he was equally interested to hear the
exact same answer again. I started to wonder if he had some kind of
memory problem, or if he was on drugs. That was another thing – Mark was like,
always AWAKE. Sometimes I would see him making a bowl of
cereal at 3am (hey, I don’t judge) and sometimes I would see him going off for a morning run
at 6. He seemed to have no kind of routine at all,
even though I knew he worked at the coffee shop down the street during the days, so he
wasn’t catching any naps. Then one night, I was out at a bar with some
friends. I’m talking late, like 2am, walking from
club to club chatting about nothing in particular. At the last bar of the night, I swear to god
I saw Mark, but not drinking like the rest of us – he was bartending. Mark couldn’t be working all day at the
coffee shop and then all night at a bar, could he? I blinked and moved closer, but the next thing
I knew, he was gone, and I could only see the other bartender, a girl. I hung around for a while, but never saw him
again. Maybe I was too drunk, and imagining things? Man, Mark had really gotten in my head. The day at the bar was the beginning of real
insanity. And I do mean insanity. I started to wonder if the stress of college
and the amount of partying I was doing was doing something to my brain, and making me
hallucinate. I seriously thought I was losing it! I’d see Mark walk out the door, and then
20 minutes later, I’d see him walk out the door again, as if the first time had never
happened. He’d go out to get McDonalds, but then on
my way to my room I’d see him coming out of the shower. When I brought it up a couple of times, He’d
just laugh and ask if I was getting enough sleep. I was at my breaking point. The only person I could ask about this was
Mark, and Mark seemed pretty convinced that I was either joking, or making things up. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Then one night I was lying in bed, staring
at the ceiling, just listening to the sounds of Mark and the guy mumbling away in the next
room. Suddenly, I sat upright. I walked closer to the wall, and put my ear
against it. I realized that part of the reason I felt
so unnerved was because they had THE SAME voice. I was listening to Mark talk to Mark! Either he was insane, or… I burst through his door. I know I shouldn’t have done it, but I just
had to know. Right there in the middle of the room stood
Mark, dressed in his usual outfit, hair neat, looking like he was ready to go out somewhere
even though it was nearly midnight. Then lying in bed, in pajamas and his hair
a mess - but CLEARLY recognizable, was… Mark. Standing Mark was wearing the exact outfit
I always saw Mark wear. Bed Mark was wearing the pajamas he always
wore when he was making breakfast. They were both…Mark. “WHAT THE HELL,” I yelled, backing away
from their shocked faces. “I knew it! I thought I was going crazy, but I wasn’t
– this is why your old roommate moved out!” “Calm down,” said standing Mark, moving
towards me. “Stay away from me! No, I won’t calm down – why would you
lie like that? I mean, what the—” I wildly gestured at
both of them, and the room. “THIS? WHAT IS THIS?” Bed Mark sighed. “We needed to save money. Obviously, we’re identical, so we had the
idea – why not pretend to be the same person, so we only have to pay half of everything? Steven works nights at a bar, and I work during
the day, so it was almost perfect—” I’d seen enough. I ran out of there and called my Dad, who
was completely shocked. He wanted me out of there right away. He got me a hotel for the night and came the
very next day to help me pack up my stuff and move. We ended up finding the owner of the apartment,
and showing him the proof that they had been advertising for a roommate and pretending
that they were one person. Mom wanted me to contact the police, but I
was pretty sure they’d think I was a crazy. The landlord said he was going to evict them
for breaking the terms of the lease. I wish I could say I knew how Mark and Steven’s
story ended, but I never asked, and I never saw anything about it in the news, either. I mean, for all I know, they didn’t give
me their real names, either. I decided to move into a dorm on campus – one
WITHOUT a roommate, thank you very much. Obviously I know this type of thing can’t
happen often – there aren’t many identical twins, anyway – but I don’t want to risk
it. I’m glad that I wasn’t going crazy, but
I still can’t believe that the whole situation actually happened, and I can’t believe Steven
and Mark thought they could get away with it! I’m just thankful that I wasn’t living
with a crazy person, and I never felt like I was in danger, and I never got hurt. Things are going a lot better for me now that
I’m living on my own. I know I’m mentally stable (ha!), and school’s
going better now too, now that I can focus on studying instead of fixating on my roommate
situation. So, there you have it: my story about how
my one roommate was actually TWO (identical) people. How about you guys? Does anyone have a nightmare roommate story
that can top mine? Or even just a story about how someone tricked
you into believing something that wasn’t true? Let me know in the comments – I read them
all! Thanks for listening, and don’t forget to
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