3 Hours of Scary Stories for Sleep | with Rain Sounds | Black Screen Compilation

so for a bit of background I'm 28 and a female I work second shift security downtown getting off of work at 11:00 p.m. and I have to take the train home every night well about a third of the way home we get told we all had to get off the train because there was an accident on the tracks up ahead and there likely wouldn't be any more trains for the rest of the night so we get off the train and start walking grumbling to fellow passengers about how far the places we have to get to

are when two other guys in security uniforms who' been on the train with me said their car was just a few blocks over and they were headed towards my neighborhood and offered me a ride if I wanted it at this point due to all the delays on the train from the accident it was already almost midnight and I wasn't even halfway home yet so I said sure now before you start telling me how stupid it was to accept a ride I know as a small female I would never normally take a ride with two males

I didn't know but they were also fellow security guards and where I live security guards all have a sort of camaraderie of looking out for each other regardless of what company we work for so I figured that these guys being two fellow security people were probably just trying to help out another security person you know as we started walking towards the car I noticed one of the guys was acting kind of weird and possibly drunk which had me a bit concerned because I was like well he's not the one driving and the other guy seems

okay so I should be fine right I was wrong I was so wrong we get to the car and it wasn't a car at all but rather a van that one of the guys was apparently actually living out of sketchy as and I even said to myself in Al holy this looks like a murderer van little did I know how right that assessment would actually turn out to be here's where I up and up hard instead of being a sane in rational human being and immediately running away upon seeing what I'd literally already dubbed in

my head as murder van I got in the van it was one of those moments of social conditioning that so many women experienced of being afraid to say or do something for fear of offending others or causing a scene which is stupid I know because they're literal strangers so who cares if you offend them right but that social conditioning that women experience to not make a scene is so strong especially when you're scared and afraid of what the person might do when you try to leave so while yes it was incredibly stupid of me to

not immediately run away it was was definitely a combination of social conditioning and one of those fear freeze moments so anyways my stupid ass gets in and the drunk guy who weirded me out while walking to the van just keeps getting worse talking about how he wants Trump to be president again about all the good he's done talking about race riots just all kinds of fun crazy and UT nonsense the whole time I'm sitting in the front seat with my phone open rapidly messaging my partner that I've made a horrible decision and I'm honestly scared

that I might not make it home that night probably the only smart thing I did that night was not tell them directly where I lived I had them stop a few streets over from my house and I took a weird backway home even cutting through bushes in someone's yard to be safe well 2 days later I'm at work looking at the news only to see that at approximately 11:00 a.m. the day after my wild ride home another fellow security guard had been shot and killed in the labor and delivery Ward over at the hospital by

my house who was the shooter you might ask well I think you can tell where this is going yeah the shooter ended up being the crazy guy in the back seat that had me terrified and the guy who actually drove me home ended up being the guy's getaway driver away from the shooting I started hyperventilating terrified upon reading that because that could have been me so let this story of my stupidity be a lesson to you all never get a ride home from strangers hey all so I just got back from a trip to New

York City I go there multiple times a year as I have family and a handful of close friends that live there I've been meaning to post this since it happened a couple of nights ago but I wanted to make sure I had the time to sit down and reather all the details correctly I'm sure we've all heard crazy Subway stories at one point or another but I never thought I would end up in one this terrifying so I was heading back to my hotel from a friend's house at about 3:00 a.m. the other night my

friend lives deep in Brooklyn my hotel was in Manhattan so if you know the city you know that's about a 30 to 45 minute long train ride give or take my train finally arrived and I was happy to be headed home I was exhausted and it was late my trip had been going unexpectedly well up until this point so I had Faith I'd be able to get home with no worries especially since since the trains and streets were basically empty at this hour the train was brand new and it had just been cleaned something I've

never seen before how it even smelled like a new car and still had fresh mop water on the floor there was only about three other people on my train all minding their own business so far so good about two stops into the train ride a man that looked like he was in his late 20s stumbled into our train car mid rght through the connecting doors of the cars he had on a Nike ski mask which usually isn't a good sign on a nice 70° night in general context but I'm not one to judge by appearances

plus I know the shyy mask is sort of a trend nowadays so I didn't think too much of it at first he sort of hobbled in and he was clutching his stomach almost as if he was concealing something or hiding a wound his eyes were bloodshot red and at first I thought it was because he was high or something he immediately hobbled into the nearest corner and sort of soaked into the corner facing it until the next stop he then ran out the closest door and erupted into the most painful crying I've ever heard he

was just screaming and moaning and crying all while stumble running along the stopped train on the platform still clutching his stomach screaming things like why and gasping through his tears keep in mind I'm sitting in the middle of the train facing away from the site he got off so I'm kind of breaking my neck as he's running behind me so I can watch what's going on he then ran back inside the same car through the door on the opposite side of the car now he was on my right before and now he's on my left

there's no one in between me and him now since everyone was closer to the right side he did the skulling while facing into the corner on the other side of the car now but this time he kept scream crying and yelling things like why again but he was crying so hysterically that it was hard to make out a lot of what he was saying from the certain words I gathered though I'm almost positive that a very close friend of his had just gotten killed or something it's the only thing that would explain the way he

was acting and the things he was saying plus he was suited up like he'd just come back from a street Mission gone bad or something at this point everyone on the train was frantically flicking their eyes over to him every few seconds you could tell they were panicked but not trying to cause a scene about it or rile him up I was getting a little stressed out myself but I'd seen and heard about worse on the subway and if someone he knew had really just died then I felt horrible for the guy before any anything

else but then the entire situation escalated to a point that I'd only seen in movies or crime shows until now the man stayed in the corner crying screaming and muttering things to himself for another 3 minutes or so while still clutching his stomach as if he was concealing something I definitely seen a black object in His Hands by this point but I couldn't tell if it was big enough to be a gun or not after I saw this I tried not to take my eyes off of him for too long at a time since I

was the closest person to him but I also didn't want to stare by this point he was starting to say concerning things like someone's got to pay for this and then he would just repeat it louder and louder and then he burst into a dialogue that made my heart drop keep in mind he's still facing the corner hunched over clutching his item all you sitting on this train right now you're all going to feel me tonight you hear me you're all going to feel me tonight and you're all going to hate it too oh my

God you're all going to hate this you're all going to hate me he kept getting louder and louder as he was saying this to the point where he was basically screaming by the last part I don't know what he said after that because his as soon as that train stopped next I bolted he was screaming at me as I got off but I couldn't hear it and I definitely wasn't going to turn back I ran back up to the nearest Street exit chain smoked a couple of cigarettes and waited 20 minutes for the next train

to come I've seen enough in my life to know that this wasn't a situation that I was willing to gamble with at all I pray the last three people on that train got home safe and nothing happened I briefly searched Twitter and the News the next day for any possible information I could find and I couldn't find anything but who even knows what's worth a headline anymore so to the man in the Subway at 3:00 a.m. I pray you find the Solus you need and heal from whatever trauma you're going through please let's not ever

meet again okay so very weird experience my ex-girlfriend and I had back in 2004 to 2005 in rural Louisiana we were hanging out at her parents house on a summer night watching movies nothing out of the ordinary we were around 16 and 17 at the time so so when 12:30 to 1:00 a.m. rolled around it was time for me to head home I didn't have a vehicle at this point so she usually dropped me off keep in mind this is rural area in Louisiana and we lived on complete opposite sides of town at this time

of night there were hardly any cars on the road and it was rather spooky driving through the wooded areas to get to my place which was secluded to say the least we're about halfway to our destination and at Mid conversation she stops talking and asked me if I'd noticed the headlights that had been behind us for quite some time I replied no that I hadn't noticed but I assured her there was nothing to worry about we continue our conversation but now I'm really paying attention to the headlights behind us and I noticed they're getting closer

to get to my house there were a lot of turned down roads that weren't main roads and these headlights were staying with us at this Point Panic starts to set in for both of us as we try to come up with like a worst case scenario plan I thought of just pulling into the first driveway but then thought well what if no one's home and would they even help at this time of night scratch that idea I had an old flip phone at the time and decided the best course of action was to call my

house phone and hope that my dad would answer between that point and US turning down my Dead End Road I probably called eight to 10 times with no answer with the headlights still following us at every turn I told my girlfriend to just pull into my driveway and lay on the horn we pull in and do just that the other vehicle pulls in right behind us no one is coming out of my house so my girlfriend decides to cut across my front yard to try and get back on the road I'm still calling as we

go to turn around the other car cuts us off and that's when I get a look at the man probably 50 to 60 years old large Rim glasses and smoking a cigarette our eyes meet and he gave me the weirdest creepiest grin and that's when I'd made my mind that I was going to have to get out and confront the man right as I was building up the courage to do so my dad ran out of the front door and the Man in the car sped away needless to say we did get very much sleep

that night my girlfriend stayed at my place and we reported the incident with the best description we could give but to no avail this is one of many stories that I have from working night shift at a lrat in a bad area it's definitely the freakiest so for context my mom took a job years ago at a local laundromat because we knew the owner and needed extra money I was around 10 when she got the job and she allowed me to come with her because she would give me a little allowance for helping her do

small tasks I ended up going with her every night for years and as I got older I mainly went to make sure my mom was safe because I was worried about her we regularly dealt with angry customers refusing to leave most of which were drunk or high and we had to call the police a few times my mom was always worried about me tagging along but I insisted and to this day I still can't say I regret it a lot of good came out of it mainly the work experience and that made up for how

intense it could be I had a lot of interesting stories from that time but this one takes the cake for the most horrifying and it took place when I was about 12 being the young and dumb kid that I was I designated myself the job of chasing people off when it was closing time we would have people parking behind the building pretty regularly so I would walk to the side of the building and start yelling that they were now trespassing and that I'd call the cops if they didn't leave I feel that this is important

to bring up because I now realize that I let any Shady person hanging around the building at night know know of my presence and that's a dangerous thing to do when you're a 12-year-old girl I was blissfully unaware that anything could happen to me until one night when we showed up to find that the door lock had been broken my mom had unlocked the building that morning so it wasn't like this was a Breakin attempt since it had been unlocked all day we were a bit shaken up but my mom texted her boss to let

him know about it she told me to tell her if I saw anyone pull up after about 30 minutes I finished my few tasks and sat down to draw in my Sketchbook I had barely been sat down for a few minutes when I heard the door swing open which startled me because normally people just knock when they see the closed sign my mom noticed it too and yelled out that we were closed I heard an older man's voice respond explaining that he just come in to use our drink machine we normally let people in to

use our snack and drink machines so my mom told him he had a few minutes and went back into the closet to grab something I was sat about 7 ft away from the drink machine so I heard him walk up but didn't really pay much attention to him I continued to draw until I started getting the feeling that someone was watching me and I realized I didn't hear this guy put any money into the drink machine I nervously glanced to my left and saw a tall man in his mid-60s staring right at me with a

big smile on his face I jumped a bit but forced an awkward smile back at him and directed my attention back to drawing as soon as I did this I heard what sounded like shuffling and when I looked over again he was closer I didn't know what to do so I tried to just not look at him but every time I would look away he would Shuffle closer his body was still facing the drink machine but his neck was craned in my direction and he wouldn't stop smiling and staring I began shaking and panicking and

my eyes were darting back and forth between him and the closet door while I tried to plan a fast Escape I went to reach for my knife in my bag because I couldn't even imagine this man's intentions and I quickly realized that it was not there I'd left my knife at home when I needed it the most and I was petrified I decided to just stare back at him despite being terrified and trembling violently and after what felt like an eternity he suddenly broke eye contact and yelled to my mom to have a good night

before turning around and walking out relief hit me instantly and I tried to calm myself down after what had just happened I thought I was finally safe and started to get up to go splash some water on my face when I saw him sit down on the bench outside panic and Dread hit me like a brick and I sprinted into the closet to hide I filled my mom in on everything and she told me to run to the car and she'd get between me and him and that she'd pepper spray him if needed I did

as she told me and ran to the car and as I passed him he stood up and began walking toward the car my mom yelled at him to get away from it and his reaction was to try to calmly start a conversation about the making model of her car all while staring right at me she ignored him hopped in the car locked us in and started backing up as quickly as she could I duck down in my seat but I could still see him standing there and I know he could see me because I watched

as he lifted his hand and waved me goodbye before walking around to the back of the building and disappearing into the darkness I felt sick I couldn't sleep that night and I never dared set foot anywhere near the back of that building again so I guess that was a lesson learned so creepy old smiling man let's not meet again so my husband took me to the Stanley for my birthday we stayed only one night when we got there we joined this ghost tour that they had going on and they talked about the history of the

hotel and whatnot I left during the tour to go to the bathroom I come back and the tour is pretty much done no biggie right fast forward to the butt crack of dawn I'm the lightest sleeper on Earth and I hear this lamp scratching at our door and I'm immediately Wide Awake it stops after about 20 seconds and I lay back down and a few seconds later the scratching starts again I sit up in bed and was weirded out because to get to our room you had to go through this Corridor where our room was

and furthermore you had to have a key pass to get through that first door so it wasn't like you could just walk up to our door or anything and there was nothing outside our door when we went to bed the scratching was loud and sounded like claws on the door and you could tell it was coming from the bottom part of the door I woke my husband up finally and asked if he could hear that scratching on the door the scratching stopped the second he woke up he thought I was crazy and laughed he said

it was probably people outside and I said no it was coming from the door I was adamant that it was the door because I got close enough to know it was the door I could hear it as clearly as I could hear him he said I was just looking for a reason to be scared by a ghost so I must have imagined it I was getting annoyed because I never mentioned anything about a ghost all I said is that there was a loud scratching at the door and I was wondering what it could possibly be

because we're in a corridor and it sure as hell wasn't people outside our door I was dumbfounded and irritated because I had no clue what it was it was bothering me what was it I didn't imagine it the next morning when we went to check out I asked the worker what could possibly be scratching at my door that early in the morning his eyes got big and he went and got another worker who worked there for a long time I told told him everything and he said it was a ghost dog that used to wake

people up at the crack of dawn by scratching at their door my husband chimes in oh yeah you were in the bathroom when the guy was talking about the ghost dog I almost choked my husband out my dog scared off what I believe to be robbers or home Invaders I was at home cooking dinner one night and I was about 8 months pregnant at the time my husband had to work about 2 hours away from our home on this particular day anyways as I was standing in our kitchen cooking our dog blue healer suddenly got

alarmed out of nowhere and the hair on his back raised and he was growling and barking well next thing I know someone is not knocking at our door so I go to answer the door and our dog stepped in front of me as soon as I open the door our dog almost ran out in pure anger but I held him back by his collar there was a man standing on our porch I asked can I help you the man then said we're here to pick up the washer and dryer after he said that I looked

in the driveway and there was a tiny car no bigger than a Honda Civic out there I immediately said there's no washer or dryer here for anyone to pick up the man then said aggressively I told you we're here to pick up the washer and dryer mind you this whole time I'm having to hold back our dog by his callar he knew something wasn't right and so did I I then said sir there's nothing here for you so please leave you could tell the man was getting more and more scared of our dog because he

he kept backing up he then just turned around and walked to his car I could tell there were multiple people in that car as well I let go of my dog's collar and he stood on the porch growling the entire time with his hair raised the whole time the guy was walking to his car and when the guy got into his car they all sat there for like 10 minutes my dog never moved off of the porch he stayed there watching them and grab knowing the whole time by this time I grabbed our shotgun that

we kept by our door by the time they drove off my dog came back inside with me and wouldn't leave my side I called my husband in a panic because what if they tried to come back my husband said he was about 15 minutes away from the house and that he was going as fast as he could our dog truly saved mine and my baby's life he was so protective and I know if I would have let him go he would have attacked this man without question it was truly a scary experience I wish our

dog was still alive to this day but he sadly passed a year ago he absolutely adored our son I live in Denver Colorado and I'm a sex worker last year a girl went missing in Thor in Colorado and was shot to death this year a few months ago another girl went missing and was found stabbed to death and now a girl my friend is close with has been missing since last week and we still haven't heard from her they are all sexw workers and I'm starting to worry that this girl could be dead because of

the other two I've contacted the police already but nothing's been done about it they still have no suspect for the shooting in Thorton Could It Be A Serial Killer or am I just overthinking it November of last year the first girl went missing for a few days and was found dead in Thorton Colorado then in February another one of our girls was found stabbed she went missing for almost a week before she was found dead last week another girl went missing and we still haven't heard from her at all we don't know if she's safe

or not we strictly work in Denver and refuse to go out of a certain vicinity the girls are all in their 20s they had brown hair and the girl who's currently missing also has brown hair with two blonde streaks in the front we also know to be aware of who we get into cars with and meet up with my friend and I went to the police when the third girl went missing we mentioned men the other murders so they could see if it's connected at all and that it's urgent and that she needs to be

found recently my friend sent me a message saying someone was following her we don't know if it's related or not but she sent this he was tallish had brown hair but it was styled clean shaven and he was wearing a suit this happened years ago I think I was about 16 years old back then 16-year-olds could buy alcohol and cigarettes in the Netherlands where I am from it was a Friday night and I was on my way to a friend's house cycling as we do into the Netherlands I took a detour as I wanted to

buy a few beers snacks and cigarettes at the local supermarket as I walk into the supermarket it a man who's about 50 years old walks out as we walk past each other he looks at me and says wow I think nothing of it do the shopping pay and walk out I look around and I noticed the guy from before standing behind a charity clothing bin he was sitting on his bike looking at me it was getting dark the streets were deserted and I still had a 10-minute cycle ahead of me I had this bad feeling

about it so I unlocked my bike and started cycling this is when that bad feeling proved to be justified as soon as I started cycling that man started to cycle as well he catches up with me and the conversation goes as follows hi where are you going the man asks I'm going to hang out at a friend's house I replied where does he live the man questioned trying to make the man feel like I'm almost at my friend's house I say just a minute from here can I accompany you there he asks no thanks I

responded as I said that he grabs my bicycle handles and pulls me closer I almost fall over I regain my balance and kick his bike I start cycling as fast as I can and he does too yelling at me I get to my friend's house after what feels like an eternity unfortunately my friend lives in a flat so I have to ring the doorbell so he can Buzz open the door as I'm ringing the doorbell frantically the man just stands a few meters behind me waiting I hear my friend asking who's there over the intercom

I scream and cry telling him to let me in and he does luckily my friends are all very big scary looking guys they heard the panic in my voice and as they see me as their younger sister came down with chairs ashtrays and other makeshift weapons unfortunately the guy had already left I didn't want my friends to hurt him just scare him I'm 8 years older now but I'm still scared that I will meet another person like that man I live in a small small town you blink and you miss it best we can boast

about is a single stop sign at the gas station which we only have because of the nearby Highway any actual semblance of a town is 25 minutes away so when things get scary out here it's Amplified the occasional homeless person is no big deal the were often drifting through drug addicts run rampant and will steal everything they can from your house but it's the normal out here however what happened a few years ago certainly wasn't normal originally I was dead asleep in my bed I only woke up because it was burning hot in my room

but it was summertime and not much I could do I just remember tossing and turning until I got a creepy feeling that fell into the pit of my stomach I glanced over to the bathroom door that was open with the light on everything was normal I left the light on so I wouldn't trip and die if I had to pee in the middle of the night next I glanced at the window directly across from my bed I had no curtains but I did have a shitty set of blinds parts of the blinds are broken from

wear and tear and the shitty AC output beneath it would make them move back and forth so you'd get a glimpse of outside every so often the yard light was still going but what made me stop was the outline at my window the figure of someone was directly at my window almost like it was waiting for the blinds to move to watch me I didn't have an imagination as a child that had been trained out of me but the sight was enough to pour every horror film into my head at that moment I squeezed my

eyes shut and pulled my blankets over my head and I slept in the cloth oven that night by morning time the figure was gone I remember running to my mom's room on the verge of tears in the morning telling her what had happened she laughed at me like I was an idiot and told me that it was probably just a stray cat that had climbed up there for one odd reason or another I almost believed her since my window was pretty high off the ground but something didn't sit right later that day when we were

doing yard work I glanced over at my window and I saw one of our metal patio chairs had been pushed up to it I pointed it out to my mom who proceeded to chew me out that's how the cat probably got up there stop leaving Furniture everywhere but I hadn't moved it it was Heavy enough that I struggled with it so we moved it back and so began a pattern at night I'd see the figure complain to my mom and we'd find a chair moved back every single morning this went on for a few weeks

my mother stopped caring about my concerns until one morning we saw where the outside screen of my window had been sliced open I still remember her shaking her head and complaining about those damn stray cats that we had still yet to see I could tell she was unnerved by that development I couldn't handle it anymore and I opted to sleep in our living room that night the only problem was our kitchen and living room connected which meant there were always several Windows the first night of my move went well despite my back hurting from the

couch I avoided my room like the plague it wasn't until about 4 days later we ran into an issue I woke up and glanced at the clock above the fireplace it read a little past 3:00 a.m. I couldn't realize why I'd woken up until it happened again there was a beam of light shining in from the kitchen window almost like someone was shining a flashlight in I saw it Trace along the windows and land on the love seat across from the couch I was on I was mortified when I told my mom she continued to

laugh at me I gave in and decided I would sleep in my dad's room even though it had a gigantic window he slept in the recliner with a huge TV so I felt more safe having someone around the yard light was directly outside the window anyways it seemed foolproof that was until I woke up out of Habitual fear and watched through the window across from the bed everything seemed normal as time drug on and I felt like a maybe my mom was right that was until I saw a lone figure Come Out of the Woods

by the backyard shed walk directly under the light and head to the patio furniture like he'd been there plenty of times before I still remember the large build the man had and the confidence like he was the one who lived here and wasn't creeping around in my yard in the dead of night I just remember listening to the TV until I fell asleep again hoping to get another Glimpse my dad would have been pissed if I'd woken him up he was grumpy on a good day and terrifying on a bad day I didn't feel like

risking it unless I had solid proof because I was scared the next morning morning my mom chewed me out again for the patio furniture which was routine almost a month later but this time something new happened she demanded I stopped playing in the tool boxes of the garage a bunch of tools had been taken out and left on our doorstep screwdrivers a large Hammer flashlights whatever else it wasn't me I begged with my mom and pleaded with her just stay up with me one night we couldn't close our garage because it was an open car

port and I wasn't going to get my ass beaten for touching tools because of someone else it was driving me mad finally she agreed that night we would stay awake in the living room I finally fell asleep before my mom did but I remember her waking me up in a panic she pointed to the window that overlooked into our garage we could see the top of someone's head as they walked back and forth there was a sound of someone placing metal tools down on the brick steps as if they were trying to be quiet but

couldn't fully muffle it she whispered for me to go wake my dad my dad was angry having been woken up in the middle of the night by his frantic daughter he grabbed his pistol and headed out from the back door towards the front of the house where the garage was located we heard my dad screaming and someone dropping tools then the shots of a gun twice the Frantic footsteps pounding out of the garage felt like they were coming from out of my chest my mom peaked out the window then opened the door my dad stumbled

in he had missed both shots because of his unstable aim but he told us that there was a man crouching in our front door looking at our door handle none of us slept that night and in the morning the law from the closest town arrived D they didn't do much besides ask if anything had been stolen for a description of the man and then told us to install cameras that was it they said the guy was probably just looking for something easy to steal for quick money if that had been the case why hadn't he

stolen the tools the generator the welder or broken into any of the vehicles just sitting in the garage we finally set up hunting trail cameras around the house but nothing has happened since coming home from college for holidays I still have nightmares about the incident years later when I sleep in my own bed I don't know what he was looking for or why he did the things he did whatever the case may be man at the window let's not meet I've been debating whether to share this it was so traumatic But ultimately I feel like

I need to share this experience so that I can start to move on and for anyone who finds themselves in a position similar to any stage of my story please learn from my mistakes do not go to a second location with someone you don't know do not lead someone to your address and please please do not write off your intuition as paranoia listen to your gut this happened last year and I'm still deeply affected by it for a bit of background I'm a 27-year-old female and I decided to dive back into the dating pool after

a long Hiatus I met this guy on Bumble let's call him Jake we started sending messages back and forth on the app Jake seemed perfect at first he was tall with dark hair and piercing blue eyes his profile mentioned he was a software developer loved hiking and was an Avid Reader everything that matched my interests we texted non-stop for a week sharing jokes memes and stories from our lives I felt a genuine connection after a few days of chatting we decided to meet up for dinner at a popular restaurant restaurant in my city on the

night of our date I spent extra time getting ready excited yet nervous when I arrived at the restaurant he was already there waiting with a charming smile dinner was great he was attentive asked all the right questions and genuinely seemed interested in what I had to say conversation flowed easily and I was genuinely enjoying myself we laughed about our shared love for obscure Indie bands discussed our favorite movies and bonded over our mutual disdain for cilantro we seem to have a lot in common and he listened to me I had been on so many dates

where that was not the case yet Jake would wait to hear about the movies I loved the bands I liked and all of my quirks and strangely he would Proclaim that he and I were so similar I should have been tipped off by that but you know what they say about hindsight I honest ly didn't think all that much of it at the time after dinner he suggested we grab a drink at a nearby bar I agreed thinking it would be a nice way to end the night here's where things started to get weird he

essentially took me to a dive bar as soon as we entered I felt uncomfortable this wasn't my usual Scene It was dimly lit and mostly empty save for a few sketchy looking patrons Jake seemed unfaced to though and ordered us both a drink I wasn't intending to have more than one but he did not ask my preference we found a booth in the corner he insisted I slide into the booth first and slipped in after me scooching as close to me as he possibly could he became more intense almost predatory in the way he looked

at me and started stroking the shell of my ear our drinks arrived and that's when Jake's questions started to get personal he asked about my family how close we were if I lived alone where exactly my apartment was at first I choed it up to genuine interest but the more he asked the more uncomfortable I became I tried to remain calm as I moved closer to the wall and put my purse between us he then started asking me questions of a different nature they were subtly invasive inappropriate even about my sexual preferences when I tried

to steer the conversation away he would steer it right back to my family my job where I lived he was starting to make me very uncomfortable I excused myself to the restroom needing a moment to collect my thoughts as I washed my hands an older woman in Leathers entered the restroom she was probably in her mid-50s with tired eyes that looked straight into mine and she gave me a concerned look she approached me and quietly said it's none of my business but be careful honey the pit in my stomach grew I thanked her and decided

to listen to my gut I called a lip before I returned to the table there was something very off about my interactions with Jake and although I had placed a lot of expectation on tonight he did not seem like the person I'd been chatting to I did not want to spend more time with him when I returned to the table he was smiling but it was all wrong it was too wide too forced and did not reach his eyes I lied and told him I wasn't feeling well and needed to go home his smile faded

and for a split second I saw something threatening in his eyes but he quickly composed himself and offered to walk me home I told him my lift was already on the way as I turned to leave Jake grabbed my wrist tightly too tightly his grip was like iron that's when he pulled me flush to his front and breathed in my ear I will walk you his voice was low frighteningly insistent it was a demand his grip was painfully tight on my wrist his eyes cold and calculating my heart was beating too fast and I was

was finding it hard to breathe at this point I was so terrified I didn't know how else to get out of his grip so I nod it playing along as soon as he stepped back and released my arm I ran for the door as I ran I heard a female Voice Ask is everything okay here only afterwards did I realize it must have been the woman from the bathroom and I may owe her my life because I didn't look back back until I was outside and by some miracle my ride was pulling up just then

I jumped in slammed the door and begged the driver to lock the doors barely able to keep my voice steady as we drove away I saw Jake standing in the doorway of the bar watching us leave with an expression that I can still picture now it makes my skin crawl his eyes were now Angry that's when the impact effect of what had happened started to hit me the driver asked me if I was okay I was a quivering mess at this point I told him I'd had a bad first date that that guy had grabbed

me the driver an older man around my dad's age seemed concerned he turned up the heat in the car and said you're safe and asked me if Jake had my personal information when I answered just my phone number he nodded good and and advised me to block Jake and have no further contact with him he sounds like a bad man but you got out of there we'll get you home safe my wrist was stinging and as I sat there absorbing the driver's words I remembered the look of Fury on Jake's face as he stood in

the doorway he was that angry that he was not walking me home through the dark and sometimes very quiet streets the driver was right and I realized how close I came to going to a second location with Jake the driver could see how shaken I was and he offered to wait until he saw me LED myself in we sat there for about 5 minutes before I gathered the courage to leave the car as soon as I was inside my apartment I blocked him on the app and my phone I double checked all my locks and

barely slept the next morning I found a note slipped under my door why did you leave we could have had such a good time it read in messy handwriting no I felt violated exposed he knew where I lived I felt watched I can still remember that wave of Terror my heart pounding The Rush of Blood roaring in my ears I was in a blind panic I packed a bag and called my best friend Sarah who insisted I move in with her temporarily I could not for the life of me understand how he found out where

I lived until I told her about how the lift driver had kindly waited for me to gather the courage to get out and made sure I made it inside and it dawned on both of us that he probably followed the lift from the bar he must have driven like a madman she said that was what I was afraid of what still terrifies me is the realization that he had insisted on walking me home whilst having a vehicle parked nearby I still have nightmares about it maybe that was his plan all along Sarah helped me notify

the police we took the note down to the station but they said they couldn't do much at this stage but to let them know if he did anything else I was Furious I did not want him to attempt anything I was in two minds over whether I should unblock him in case he sent a message that I could show to the police that would convince them he was dangerous but I was just too terrified I just hoped he was done with me now and would leave me alone but it did not feel like the end

of it I had a constant feeling like I was being watched it was small things at first a shadow that seemed to linger too long outside my window that I could barely make out with my eyes the feeling of being followed on my way home from from work Sarah my best friend who I was staying with tried to reassure me that maybe I was on high alert because I had been so badly scared but I'm not sure she even believed that the only thing that I had going for me was that he didn't know where

I was staying one night about a week after I moved in with Sarah I was walking back to her place from the grocery store it was late the streets eerily quiet halfway I heard footsteps behind me at first I thought it was just another pedestrian but the steps quickened to match my Pace I was instantly terrified I knew he was behind me and I was almost Frozen in fear I glanced back and saw a dark figure a block behind me I picked up my Pace clutching my groceries like a Lifeline the footsteps grew louder closer

I broke into a run my breath coming in ragged gasps I could see Sarah's building in the distance I didn't dare look back again focusing only on getting inside I reached the door and fumbled with my keys the footsteps almost upon me I threw myself inside slamming the door and locking it behind me my legs gave out and I collapsed on the floor shaking and sobbing after a few minutes I gathered myself enough to peek through the peole the hallway was empty I never saw the figure's face but I knew it was Jake it had

to be the next day I reported everything to the police they took my statement and promised to keep an eye out but there wasn't much they could do without more evidence I felt helpless like I was trapped in a nightmare I couldn't wake up from a month passed without any incidents and I started to believe maybe I was finally free from Jake's Shadow I moved into a new apartment one with better security and a doorman it felt like a fresh start Sarah insisted I start seeing a therapist and it helped but the fear never completely

went away every time I left the house I was hyper aware of my surroundings constantly looking over my shoulder I changed my roots my routine everything one evening as I was coming home from work the doorman handed me a small package this was left for you he said not knowing what he was handing me I took the package up to my apartment hands shaking as I opened it inside was a single piece of paper with a message that chilled me to the Bone I found you that night I didn't sleep I sat in the living

room lights on clutching a kitchen knife listening for any sound of intrusion morning came and I knew I couldn't live like this anymore I decided to take a leave of absence from work and stay with my parents in another state they welcomed me with open arms and for the first time in months I felt a semblance of safety I wanted to file for a restraining order against Jake but without knowing his real last name or having any concrete evidence I couldn't months went by and gradually the fear began to fade I got a new job

in my parents City and started to rebuild my life therapy helped and I began to feel like myself again then one night I received a text from an unknown number miss me it read my heart stopped the fear came rushing back more intense than ever I showed the message to my parents and we contacted the police but being a different department and not knowing the backstory they said it was likely a prank my dad was Furious and asked to speak to the sergeant who explained that I had moved states to escape this guy and that

there was a history that had been logged with a department in my home state the sergeant apologized for their inaction and said he would speak with someone from that apartment and that he would make a note of everything I had mentioned after hearing my account of all that had happened and speaking with the other department he said he would take any further contact from Jake seriously With a View to a stalking charge and to let him know if there was any further contact I had no further encounters with Jake for weeks I was torn between

hoping he was out of my life and desperately wanting something to take to the police so they would hold him account accountable I desperately wanted the security of knowing he could not get to me one evening my dad was taking out the trash when he noticed a beat up Van parked on the other side of the street my dad had noticed a man with his arm slung out in the open window looking over at my dad livid with this man who had been terrorizing me and now seemed to be watching my parents' house he approached

the van ready to confront Jake but as soon as my dad began crossing the street Jake peeled out of there at speed my dad managed to take note of the license plate my dad stood there watching the van until it disappeared from sight he then hurried inside to tell me and to call the police that night I saw a sight of my father I'd never seen before a fierce protector it was both comforting and terrifying a reminder of how real the threat still was we called the police my dad giving them the plate number he

told them the man in the van matched the picture I'd shown him of Jake the police finally managed to get Jake's last name from his registration number and it turned out that this was not the first time that he'd been in trouble for stalking they told me I could pursue assault charges with the help of the other department the investigator also suggested we install sec security cameras for added peace of mind I feel a mix of relief and lingering dread I know Jake won't be in prison forever I'm in the process of relocating so that

by the Time Jake gets out he won't be able to track me back to my parents house my mom wants to move but my dad says he will not let Jake drive him out of his home and that if he ever comes around again he will be waiting for him I'm always looking over my shoulder this experience has changed the way that I view the world be careful out there you never know who you might meet and if your gut tells you something is wrong listen to it trust your instincts I wish I'd been more

cautious but now all I can do is try to move forward and hope that one day I'll feel truly safe again I've only recently managed to go on a date with someone I met online line and all I can say is if you're going on a date with anyone you don't know or even do know have a set of rules in place to ensure your safety meet in a busy Place tell someone where you're going and trust your instincts thank you for hearing my story be safe out there this is the first time I've ever

posted anything in let's not meet I keep reading all these dating horror stories and it had me recall a nearly forgotten first date with a guy my friend Mark fixed me up with I'd known the guy a little because he worked with my friend at a local music store he seemed cool and he was actually pretty good-looking the first time we'd met was at an ICP concert that we had all attended the guy who we will call Mike was pretty normal on the surface and through Mark got my number and called me we went out

on a date and as the night Drew on he asked if I minded if we go hang out at a local park and chat because we'd been at a really busy bar that had allowed bad playing I was 19 and highly stupid back then so I agreed to it it was in the summer and wasn't yet dark so I wasn't thinking it seemed weird and as we were just chatting he leans in kisses me and I look around realizing it had gotten really dark I'm in heaven because at this point he hasn't given me any

reason to think he's a creeper we had a great night he was charming and funny and we had a ton in common then after our first kiss he gets this creepy grin he looks out the window and then says to me I'm taking you in those woods and we're going to have a really good time I kind of laugh a bit nervously because at the time I hadn't had my first experience with a guy I tell him I'd rather just stay in the car he gets really weird and angry and it's like he's two different

people why can't we just go into the woods I promise I won't assault and kill you by now he's trying to laugh it off but I'd gotten really creeped out I tried to play it off like I'm not ready to run away I should have been more creeped out than I was but I was so naive it creeps me out now writing this he looks at me again and leans back in his seat and he begins to start fake whining oh come on just let me take you Into the Woods it'll be fun I'm having

none of this and start getting mad and I tell him I'm ready to go home I I finally talk him into just taking me home he was oddly quiet the rest of the drive home and then as he gets to my house he proceeds to apologize profusely about it I heard later from my friend Mark that he said I was a tease when I talked to my friend about what happened he stopped talking to Mike he said that he heard he could be kind of a sex maniac how about borderline psycho so guy I went

on a cre be first date with let's never ever meet again 3 years ago I tried Tinder for the first time I was 25 at the time and while most 25-year-old women have dabbled on Tinder or the like I hadn't been single since I was 17 I met my ex while I was in high school 6 years later we got married had a baby and I was happy but those last couple of years together he had really begun to resent me and the family we created together I fought to keep our relationship together but the

abuse became more frequent and more intense it got to the point where I took our baby and fled the house in the middle of the night my mind was scarred and my heart was raw it was a really difficult time in my life a couple of months after I left I had a new home a new job and A Renewed sense of life I was starting to open up and could feel myself healing I was however lonely I was adjusting to shared custody and spent my weekends alone I didn't want to jump into a relationship

but I did want to experience some of the things my 8-year relationship hadn't allowed me joining Tinder felt fun it was new and scary and after so much trauma it felt nice to have so much positive attention my self-worth was low so the cheap compliments and instant gratification of the app felt incredible who am I to deserve their attention why would they choose to speak to me of all women not my healthiest coping mechanism but I wanted to feel desirable that's when I met Derek Derek was an unassuming average guy he was cute enough but

not so attractive that I felt self-conscious Derek and I shared a few interests craft beer hiking and he had a sense of humor that I liked we agreed to meet up at a local restaurant I was so nervous my first date in 8 years I dawned my cutest dress got made up and headed out as I was in the restaurant my my Palms were sweaty my heart was fluttering and I began to question myself he arrived and everything was awkward at first we ordered our first beers and started to break the ice as soon as

the buzz of the alcohol began to hit our conversation took off we had relaxed in each other's company and the rest of the date went smoothly we joked about karaoke across town he laughed about how he didn't like karaoke I am a huge fan of karaoke while No Superstar I have spent a good amount of time in choirs and can carry a tune while enough one of my favorite Rowdy weekend activities is going to that bar and busting out some songs with the Sweet Taste of Jin on my tongue I convinced him to go with

me and we left the restaurant we sang into the night taking shots flirting laughing we ended the night in his truck clumsily f Ling with each other's buttons and zippers Hearts racing with excitement this had been what I needed we texted back and forth more often and soon we were talking about another date I had enjoyed our time together and like that I didn't feel a deep connection with him it was fun and that was it because my heart wasn't Tangled Up In feelings he felt safe we decided for our second date that we would

go tubing down a river that runs through our town we had parked his orange truck at the end of the tubing run and took the tubes in my truck up a river we agreed that he would zip my truck key with his into a pocket on his shorts and that he would drop me off at my truck afterwards bright summer heat warmed our skin and the water felt crisp and fresh on our toes the afternoon slipped past as we floated down the river when we reached the bottom we deflated our tubes and headed back to

my truck only when Derek reached into his pocket his face sank he looked at me and said Your key is gone I left surely he was joking he insisted this wasn't a joke gravity pulled at my stomach and I began to panic this was the only copy of my truck key and I'd taken it on the river I felt foolish and worried about how I would get a new key if we couldn't find it the river was long we had been tubing for hours we'd stopped at several places to swim he offered to drive me

home and I accepted during the drive we made a plan to meet up the next day to search for my key at some of the stops we'd made we spent the next afternoon combing our swimming holes for my key up and down we swam with very little hope that we would ever see my keys we had to try though and we kept at it from one spot to another we drove we swam and we moved on at the very last place we checked as the light of afternoon faded into a hazy orange something caught his

eye underwater near the shore were my keys we were elated and could not believe our luck to celebrate we went back to his place for some drinks he drove me down a long wooded driveway and at the very end was a shaded trailer he told me that he was only renting a room here from an elderly couple but they were on vacation so we would be alone we walked over the creaking porch and entered the trailer Inside I could see the kitchen was messy not just a couple of dishes but every surface was covered with

mess he ushered me a way to show me his room it was small and not very clean either dirty clothes mattress on the floor a Rubbermaid bin with some snacks like Doritos and cheap warm beer we had sex the yellow light of the trailer accentuating the stains on the walls afterwards the spark of fun I'd felt when we first met had withered and I felt gross I decided that it would be our last date a week passed and we hardly texted our brief fling was ending and I didn't expect to see him again my mind

moved onto other things the coming weekend my friends were coming to town and I was excited we made plans to go karaoke together on Saturday night when the day arrived I was surprised to see a text from Derek on my phone are you going to karaoke tonight it read I responded that I was and he texted back that he would be there I thought you didn't like karaoke I asked him and he said that he'd been invited by a girl he worked with and he thought he should give me a heads up that he would

be there with a date in case I was there I thanked him for taking the time to let me know reassured him that I wouldn't be bothered at all and I said that I hoped he had a great date at around 9:30 that night my friends and I arrived at the bar the dim lights and reflective foil Stars an all too familiar scene we got our our drinks and picked a booth with a good view of the stage I had a strange sensation like someone was watching me I turned my head scanning the bar and

our eyes locked Derek and his date were a few booths away and he was watching us he waved zealously with a big smile his date turned around to look and I managed an awkward wave I was absolutely fine with him being on a date but I didn't want to advertise that we we knew each other or make his date uncomfortable my friends were all aware of the time we'd spent together my thoughts on the experience and the text he'd sent me earlier we were all thinking it was a bit odd that he would go out

of his way to interact with me in front of his date but no harm no foul he was just being friendly the evening carried on and we all had a great time basking in the atmosphere drinking in the songs and laughter a couple of hours in we were sitting in our booth when Derek stumbled over to our table with his date he introduced her as Kate and sat down beside me pulling her down into our booth next to him the strong smell of alcohol oozed off of them and I could see they were hammered it

became obvious theyd both had too much to drink their eyes glazed and words slurred Kate seemed really nice despite her state and she launched into a drunk story to the whole table my friends and I were fairly uncomfortable and were unsure what was going on under the table I felt Derek's sticky hand slide onto my thigh his date was right there and I was stunned without making a scene I suddenly removed his hand and excused myself to get another drink as I walked across the room I could feel his eyes raking my back and sure

enough when I turned around he was watching when I got back Kate was slurring that her taxi had come she and Derek exchanged a sloppy kiss and good nights and then it was just us and Derek Derek's mood shifted after that he was drunkenly unaware of how uncomfortable the table was and we could tell that he was brooding about his date having left without him Derek turned his attention to me he slung his heavy arm arm over my shoulder and leaned in his sour breath managing to come together to form clumsy sentences you're so cute

I love your laugh I was rigid and just wanted him to leave when he got up to get another beer my friends and I spoke about the situation one of them remarking you know you can do better than this right I said that yes as casual as this had been I had made a mistake AK we came to the conclusion it would be best if we ended the night early as we didn't see him leaving alone as a backup plan if anything went South we agreed that the girls would go to the bathroom and leave

out at the back door while our male friend would distract him and slip away Derek arrived back at the table sloshing his beer onto his front he slurred where are we going next I hesitated but my friend told him that we would all be going home Derek said he would walk us there and we politely declined he was leaning up against a wall and barely holding himself up at this point we asked him how he was going to get home and if we could call him a cab Derek drunkenly pouted that he could just come

to my place with me trying to shut him down as politely as I could I told him that my child was there with a sitter so I couldn't have him over he didn't need to know that wasn't true however he refused to taxi and said he would just sleep in his truck since his eyelids were drooping and looking at the rest of his state it seemed reasonable that he would be able to fall asleep in a truck and we accepted that answer as we started to leave he stumbled after us we stopped and reminded him

that we were going to bed he argued again that he should come with me my friends and I locked eyes it was time to engage with our backup plan the two girls and I excused ourselves to the washroom while our friend distracted him slipping out the back door the cool Rush of night air HIIT us and we hurried to the path that led to their hotel our friend caught up with us and said he'd left Eric behind at the bar we were all relieved to be out of there and we started to walk back to

their hotel one of the girls was sober and offered to drive me home when we got to the hotel and I accepted a few minutes down the path my phone began to ring I looked at the caller ID and I felt my stomach drop it was Derek I turned the volume down and let it ring and to my surprise he left a voicemail I turned on the speaker and played it out loud Derek's voice sounded confused as his words melted together into the phone where are you guys I thought we were going to hang out

I don't understand we were all glad we'd left and agreed that this had been wild that's when the phone rang again another voicemail popped up on my screen in the dim light of the trail I played the new voicemail aloud once more his drunken speech was much more intense this time as he launched into how he didn't understand why I had left I'd hurt his feelings and he was in love with me the tone of his voice shook me when I heard him say I love you there was something dark and heavy about it that

left me feeling unsettled we were all creeped out but happy to see the bright sign of the hotel ahead we traveled the carpeted hallway to their room so my friend could grab her keys to take me home as we entered the room my phone began to ring again this time the voicemail sent shocks of fear through through my body Derek's voice had taken on an edge as he repeated that he loved me but he was actually really mad at me for leaving him at the bar he went on about how could I do that to

him he didn't know what he was going to do his voice shook with anger as he stumbled over himself expressing how I had betrayed him the last thing he said before hanging up echoed in the hotel room you know I'm really really starting to hate you this guy was unhinged and I was terrified I was grateful this side of Derek hadn't shown up when we were alone in his secluded trailer my friends gave me a hug and told me to call them if I needed anything and to keep them updated my friend took me home

and as I unlocked the door and stepped into the comfort of home I felt exhausted it had not been the night out I expected and Derek Sur Behavior had really freaked me out fresh out of an abusive relationship his actions at the bar then the voicemails rank some all too familiar Bells that's when I saw the headlights it was very late for anyone to be driving down my street I peaked through the curtain my blood ran cold and I trembled sitting in the cab of his orange truck was Derek mind racing I panicked this guy

could barely hold himself up when we left he was blackout obliterated how did he drive across town to my house how did he find me I immediately remembered the other week when he dropped me off after my key was lost how could I have been so stupid I barely knew him we'd only met three times Derek's face was Stony and etched with rage as he sat in the dark cap staring at my house he wasn't getting out he was just staring while I was on my hands and knees peeking out of the window all the

lights were off inside I was sure he couldn't see me then the screen on my phone lit up he was calling me again I quickly hid it so he wouldn't see the light hands shaking I played the voicemail as quietly as I could Derek only said one thing this time a phrase that sent Terror shooting down my spine in a drunken sing song voice almost taunting me he quietly said where are you click I was terrified somehow I hadn't really considered that I could be in danger and chocked up all of the fear to my

past experiences surely I wasn't overreacting and it was my fault for reading too much into this I shouldn't be this is scared and I don't want to make a scene that last voicemail sealed the deal I figured even if I was overreacting at the very least he was a drunk driver I called 911 and the dispatcher said someone would be there in a couple of minutes as I peaked out of the window I saw him get out of his truck he was done waiting his heavy feet stumbled as they hit the pavement and he looked

around Derek's voice cut through the night he started yelling my name the wild anger in his voice was tangible through the walls and he just yelled into the street where are you Derek started to stumble towards my house when the flashing red and blue lights cascaded down the street lighting up his face and highlighting every ounce of Rage carved into his features two police cars pulled up and the officers got out I was still peeking out from inside my dark house and couldn't hear much of what was happening I watched them breathalyze him which he

obviously failed the officers inspected his truck they all spoke for a while and one of the officers came to my door I spoke to him about what had happened and he was very empathetic he said as unsettling as his actions had been there wasn't much they could do without a direct threat the officer let me know they would be taking him in for the night and he would be charged with drunk driving but that he would be out tomorrow he told me to make sure I kept my doors locked and stayed safe the tow truck

came to remove his orange truck from the road and I could see him arguing the officers weren't having any of it and they turned him around to cuff him as the Handcuff locked around his wrist he yelled out one last time looking directly at the window I was speaking out of I know you're in there Chelsea why don't you come out to say good night as quickly as my street had filled up it was empty the quiet Shadows of late night swallowing the earlier chaos into nothingness Derek texted me the next afternoon I'm very sorry

about last night I was in a bad place I responded that his actions were unacceptable and how dare he show up at the the house my child lives at and that I would prefer not to hear from him again he apologized one last time and I haven't heard from him since over the next few months I would see him on a bike going to and from his workplace so I know he lost his license I was always wary that we would bump into each other which thankfully never happened I can only imagine how much angrier

he was after that night long lost him his license I found out that he moved to the mainland a while back which was quite a relief for me and I no longer feel this on edge around town so Derek let's never meet again my wife passed away after many years years battling an awful degenerative disease we were married 13 years and after several months of not being able to find my footing I made the decision to move out of state and start a new chapter to force myself into beginning a new life I was immediately

validated by getting my first job in over 8 years things slowly began to start moving forward and after pting from my friends I signed up for a mobile dating app I met a couple of people that I really didn't have a lot of chemistry with the first date I went on was cordial but not of any consequence she wound up asking me to fix a laptop she had the second person I met called me and we decided to meet for Chinese food since I didn't have a car I walked the five or six blocks but

not before it started to rain she had already sat at the table and was waiting for me to arrive we exchanged PL pleasantries and soon it's all about her divorce and why she lost her kids and all of the legal proceedings of her current case Okay and then she would pause clasp my hands on the table turn her head lean in a bit and say but that's nothing compared to what you went through tell me all about your dead wife like clockwork she would ramble on about the craziest stuff about how they're all trying to

get her then stop her crazy babbling and ask about my details and how bad it felt and my poor wife's Decline and condition I'd only put in my profile that I was a widower nothing else it was at this point that I got seriously weirded out I mean deep in my gut fully weirded out what I could not figure out was she trying to mimic what she thought a sensitive person would be like or was there a possibility that she wanted to know those painful graphic details for other perverted reasons I made short work of

the entree and paid the entire check she called my phone a few times and I made several excuses why I was unable to meet again I got a couple of calls from block numbers that didn't say anything but they stopped after a month or two I'm blessed and remarried but I'm so grateful I noted the right out of there and never messed with this lady again growing up in the 1970s my parents hired a maid this was a common thing Becky had been with the family since the early 1960s she worked for my grandparents as

well I'd often see my grandfather waiting for Becky at the corner bus stop when I was riding to school in the morning Becky was truly part of our family she worked for my grandparents 2 days a week and for us 2 days a week I was always a little jealous of her third family where she worked that other day I didn't know them but felt like Becky belonged to me my name is Rebecca I was supposed to be called Becky but when our Becky came to work for us it would have been too confusing so

I was always Rebecca Becky was a kind gentle soul she always put candy under our pillows she cleaned our rooms and if she found coins or money in our clothes she'd iron the bills and stacked the coins in a neat pile on our dresser at Christmas time she gave my sisters and I gifts she was so sweet and thoughtful she loved us Becky and her adult nieces Linda and Sylvia babysat us when my parents were on vacation I was interested to see where Becky lived and one day my mother took us downtown to her apartment

it was nice a place where elderly people lived a safe building she lived up high maybe on the 10th floor what struck me was she had every single school photo of me and my two sisters framed and hanging on the wall like 20 or so school pictures of these white kids from the suburbs we really were her family my parents separated when I was 14 almost 15 my mother was absolutely despised she cried all the time Becky obviously concerned for my sisters and I confided to us that her husband had left her many years prior

she identified with my mother Becky took care of my mother comforting her it must have been hard for Becky to see our family dissolve this way my grandfather the one at the bus stop had died the previous fall and we were still in mourning over that my mom mom had died the previous August so my mother was in a really bad State of Mind Becky was our Rock someone who arrived twice a week to keep our home running then the unthinkable happened and the summer of 1980 we returned home from summer camp my mother told

my sister to tell Becky that lunch was ready my little sister who was 11 at the time came into the kitchen and said Becky is asleep with her eyes open my mom and I just shot each other a knowing look my mom ran downstairs to Becky while I dialed zero there was no 911 at the time the paramedics took her to a hospital she died later that day from a stroke we weren't allowed to see her in the hospital we followed the ambulance because we weren't family but yes we were Becky spent more time with

us than her real family I saw her daughter and a few other family members behind the glass that was as close as we were allowed to her room she was really brain dead by the time she went to the hospital I saw the paramedics try to revive her in our family room she basically died in our home why this long story you ask I want you to have some background my Mom finally started going out trying to meet men one night out every weekend I had to babysit my little sister my older sister had moved

out at 18 I wasn't happy about this because I was in high school and I wanted to be with my friends while I was babysitting I'd hear noises upstairs I'd run upstairs our dog would be asleep on the sofa and my little sister was fast asleep in her bed but I swore I heard footsteps this kept happening and I tell my mother but she did didn't believe me my mother and father reconciled briefly he moved back in I wasn't happy about it he'd hurt my mother by cheating on her one night while my dad was

there I heard this weird wailing I thought it was the neighborhood Fox who routinely wailed at the moon or was crying for its pups or whatever but this sound was closer I thought maybe the fox was on the other side of the house by the woods as I tried to lift up my roller blind I could hear this wailing it was coming from above my head the attic I got in bed too afraid to tell my skeptical mother I knew she wouldn't believe me at breakfast my dad said did anyone else hear that weird noise

last night I said yes I wasn't crazy there was a weird noise my dad said it was coming coming from the attic he set animal traps up there but there weren't any animals in the Attic then my dad and my mom split up for good I'd still hear the footsteps when I was alone in the house years went by I moved out and got married in 1992 I separated from my husband and moved in with my mother my mother went to Florida for the winter and I was alone in the house I started dating one

day in the family room downstairs my boyfriend said what in the heck is that he heard footsteps I was immune to them at this point I said I think it's Becky she died in this house she loved us if it is her she's here to watch over us a couple of weeks went by my boyfriend and I were in the living room having a romantic date by the fire the lights were off the it was just the light of the fire he went upstairs to use the bathroom he came out of the bathroom and I

looked up the stairs he just stood there Frozen with his eyes bugging out I thought he was drunk I said what's the matter didn't you see that he replied what I asked a woman in a pink sweater just walked by you he said I quickly looked around but I I didn't see anything but I knew it was Becky I'd never told my boyfriend that Becky wore a white maid's uniform and a pink cardigan she wore that pink cardigan all the time I called my mother and she finally believed me I forgot to mention my father

grandmother and sisters went to Becky's funeral my mother didn't go she was angry with my father at the time I guess everyone there was under the impression that I was named after Becky in truth my mother told me she named me Becky after Becky Thatcher from Tom Sawyer but I let Becky's family believe that I was named after her it made them happy they told me how much Becky loved us I already knew that but it was so nice to hear hey guys I'm going to give the next story a trigger warning for domestic violence

though it's a work of fiction please skip to the next story if needed when my husband first hit me I wasn't surprised I wasn't even hurt at least not in the physical sense I've been expecting it for a while every time a muscle in his jaw twitched or his breathing shallowed a short fuse ready to explode at first it was words murmured under his breath a disapproving shake of his head then it was the frustration along with an impatience reserved for children who don't know better or an untrained pet the way he spoke to me

slowly became more and more hateful his vile words often puncturing me like knives the worst came when he was drunk which was pretty often but he wasn't half as Brave when he was hung over he never apologized instead blaming his bad temper on work-related stress saying I only added to it basically he was a poor excuse for a man the first time he actually swung his fist he punched a hole in our wall all because I accidentally bought the wrong kind of beer for days the whole stayed untouched why like a yawning mouth every time

I looked at it I knew that I was next in line As for the beer he still drank all of it at one point he even passed me to patch up the hole either by my own hand or with my own money a vase flew by my head when I called him crazy I learned after that not to talk back even if it didn't change anything not long after when my husband's fist got got tired of plaster and glass My Flesh sufficed in a way I was almost offended how he didn't consider me first even

for this always on the back burner the toy forgotten in the back of the dresser the ghost that watched things unfold for everyone else but you know what the worst part is I couldn't leave him see when I married him I didn't do it out of love I did it out of a need so great that it was almost a tangible thing threatening to consume me I was young and very poor desperate to get out of my parents' shabby little house they wouldn't miss me anyways I was one of seven kids they couldn't feed and

much less care for they probably didn't even remember me Frank my husband was a little older than me a College Dropout that had a job as a mechanic he wasn't ugly not necessarily but girls weren't throwing themselves at him either he had a bit of a mean face too with dark flat eyes and early onset wrinkles from frowning so much he was a good kisser though I'll give him that we met after my father almost total his old pickup truck bringing it in for repairs he really couldn't afford in Frank I saw an opportunity and

my need overpowered any feelings of warning we we both just settled for each other unconsciously knowing there wouldn't be anything better in our shitty little town we got married as soon as I graduated high school moving in together soon after our wedding was about as romantic as you'd expect small town Chapel with all the guests sitting on the groom's side his lips tasted like greasy gas station taquitos when we kissed to seal the ceremony I got a job waitressing and also helped stock at the supermarket a couple times a week we were definitely struggling but

our cramed department was infinitely better than my childhood home the days began to blend into each other turning into months and then years those first few years weren't so bad they were monotonous yes but at least we mostly stayed out of each other's ways and focused on making enough to pay our bills he was a heavy drinker like my father and his party days never really seemed to end most nights he was too drunk to do anything but yell and pass out with me cleaning up the mess behind him things went to when we found

out I couldn't have children we and when I say we I mean just him had been trying out for a while with no luck and a trip to the doctor brought us Clarity it was out of my control obviously and while I was a little sad I was also infinitely thankful it was a blessing in disguise to him his news was only a curse he made sure to always remind me that I was a defective woman that it had been a mistake to marry me that he had lost his prime years being with me blah

blah blah he was insufferable but I did nothing and said nothing when he started younger girls at least he'd left me alone when it comes to well that I can't lie and say that I hadn't dreamed of having a daughter one day perhaps if I wound up somewhere much better in life with a stable job that paid me well enough and the unshakable courage to stand up for myself I'd run away with my daughter and be the parent I desperately needed as a child I would have named her Cassie and it would have been us

against the world I was stupid enough to dare to Hope I knew that to bear his child and bring it into this world would be condemning it to a life of suffering I would never forgive myself for it I cried often when he wasn't home but after a while I ran out of Tears life had never been lonel you may think I'm a coward but I don't really care I don't think I need to reiterate that I couldn't afford a divorce and going to bed with brues was better than sleeping in Alleyways wreaking of piss

I still had some sense of self-worth still I had my own way of dealing with things my own Dirty Little Secret during the day I was the perfect wife Placid and quiet and always of service I packed his lunch in the mornings along with extra strong coffee to nurse his hangovers I kept the house impeccable paid bills on time and learned how to cover up the evidence of his violence on my body I had deep teeth-shaped grooves on my wrists from holding in my screams so I always wore long sleeves I learned early on that

making any sort of noise would only make things worse for me nobody suspected a thing perhaps because they didn't care to look too closely at night as I lay awake in bed I thought of Carnage all the violent ways I wanted payback be it by my hand or not in reality I could never actually bring myself to get physical like that I hadn't thought it possible for me to even conjure such scenarios but years of repressed anger and hatred can really bring out the worst in a person it all had to go somewhere these thoughts

followed me into dreams where my imagination ran free I dreamt of graceful arcs of blood spurting out of his jugular staining our eggshell walls how his large intestine would spool out of his sliced abdomen like unused yarn snapping one of his rib bones to pick the meat off my teeth and suddenly I wasn't myself in those dreams there was a creature one so like me yet so different at the the same time at first it was hard for me to discern its features but it became clearer with every night that passed it had my hair

a dirty blonde that I always hated but it was matted and falling off in chunks exposing bald craters it had no eyes no nose or ears but the mouth took up most of the space needed for those jutting out like an animal's m it was long and spindly and when I dreamt of it crawling at top my husband it reminded me of an arachnet closing in on a fly it was a beautiful nightmare the sight of it felt familiar too like it had always been there an extension of My Flesh that had been waiting for

me to unearth it at the right time a projection of the unfathomable strength and brutality I wish I possessed during the daytime so naturally I latched on to it addicted to the nocturnal Rush of adrenaline nobody could take this Carnage away from me I began to wake up feeling more refreshed More Alive than I'd ever been like I'd been practicing lots of self-care and catching up on years worth of rest I was sleeping a lot better drifting through my days with ease and a syrupy sweet smile plastered on my face someone at work even told

me I was glowing asking if I was pregnant to which I bluntly responded with I'm infertile he didn't think it was funny but the look on his face was priceless not that I cared what he or anyone else thought of me for that matter making friends wasn't really a priority given that I was on survival mode 24 7even the crazy thing is I did feel like I wasn't alone anymore there was an overwhelming sense of peace that had suddenly flooded me and at the very back of my mind there was a reassuring voice that I

couldn't quite hear but still understood the Beast fed off of my hatred and rage deepening my thirst for Revenge at times I thought perhaps I was losing it but would that really be so terrible I would have welcomed living in muddled reality where I had the upper hand for 2 weeks my husband even kept his hands off of me he avoided me at all costs instead of berating me for every little thing he slept away instead of bringing girls to the house the bruises on my body were healing turning a soft yellow and red against

my pale skin things seemed to be okay for once that was until the night one of his many skanks fed him some new drug an amphetamine of sorts and he came home crosseyed and drooling like an animal it was the middle of the night when he barged into our room bellowing some nonsense that my barely awake mind couldn't comprehend at the moment I thought it more annoying than frightening I got up and tried to coax him into calming down to get into the bed and get some sleep but he wouldn't listen he swung his big

beefy arms as I tried to reach for him smacking me across the face in the process his pupils were wide and dark swallowing his irises in a Vortex of nothingness his breath alone could light a raging fire with a single spark if only I had thought to get a lighter or a box of matches what more poetic way to go than by the cleansing of flame for the first time in all our time together I thought enough in a blind Act of Bravery I shoved him and he lost his Balance Falling onto the mirror that

hung on the door and shattering it when his mind registered what I'd just done he looked at me with an animalistic rage he didn't even seem to notice his arm was Bleeding full of tiny cuts we were both tense our bodies coiled like Springs about to snap I felt powerful in that moment but it was a feeling that quickly died down he was the first to move and he was so fast that I was barely able to react from one second to the next he was holding a Shard of glass and advancing on me once

more he had all control over me snatching all the power I felt for even a fraction of a second he swung wildly screaming I'm going to kill you or while I scurried back quickly barely Out Of Reach of The Shard in my haste I tripped over a pillow and fell backwards for what felt like an eternity time slowed down until suddenly there was a sickening crack at the back of my skull then there was only Darkness I had been snu out from existence in an instant quietly without so much as a gasp more so I

thought I wasn't sure how long I was passed out for but I woke up to a Squatch and the acurate coppery smell of blood my vision swam and I lay there on the floor as I tried to Blink away the splitting headache a movement on the bed caught my eye and I stared hard trying to make out why I was seeing a long thin arm sliced through the air sharpening into a right angle as a bloody hand gried the lower edge of the bed frame my eyes followed the pale flesh and I saw a flash

of pink stained teeth long and thin as fingers on the walls large Crimson Roar shock stains the image was so familiar that I thought for a moment I was in a dream again though a more Vivid one the pain grounded me as did the memory of what had caused me to pass out breathing mechanically I found some strength within me and slowly sat up there was more blood under me and the back of my head felt slick and warm I placed a hand down to keep myself upright but instead of feeling the wooden floor it

was something tough and seny the bed creaked and I looked up my mind unable to process what was in front of me the Creature From My Dreams smiled which looked weird given its elongated mouth it was covered in blood and gore but seemed intact it had my husband pinned underneath its body one long hand pressed against his cheek he was unconscious bruised and battered with a couple of bites here and there beside the creature something long uncoiled off the side of the the bed and snaked on the floor underneath my hand and still going it

was a sickening white pale blue and purple in color one end seemed to be connected to the creature's stomach while the other instinctively I reached a hand up towards the back of my head where the edge of my nightstand hit my skull the other end was firmly attached to the nape of my neck going into a small fleshy CR raer that should have been my demise that's when it hit me an umbilical cord the creature had freed itself from the dark womb of my unconscious mind out into reality my dreams with the gestation every night

the creature growing stronger I nourished it fed it and even came to love it I was a mother despite what I've been told I was not broken or useless or any kind of things my husband called me I was the one in control of my life and my body I moved and the creature followed I raised a hand and it did the same it mirrored me like a child learning a parent mannerisms despite the fact that it had no eyes to see me love is blind or so they say I knew this creature would do

anything for me and I for it the creature helped me up and steadied me on my feet underneath my husband groaned a little yet remained unconscious both of us looked down at my husband's prone body detached the hindrance that stood between us and the life we wanted oh how glorious it would be now that we had each other the next step was to get rid of the obstacle hours later there was no more Frank at least nothing discernable we reenacted so many of those violent fantasies but as much as I wanted to hear him scream

we couldn't alert the neighbors his vocal cords were separed first but the look of abject mute horror and Agony on his face was worth it we left before morning came catching a brand new day to start a new life we needed sustenance for the road so we ate and we drank as much as we could by the time they found his bones they would be bleached by the sun based on the bed pathetically if not a little melancholic I made sure no one would come looking for a while it was a fair trade after all

one man's nightmare being a woman woman's dream it's what I deserve I'd like to begin by describing myself because I believe it's relevant to the story I have to assume that I'm not the average author here I'm 25 male and a bit above average height I've been doing sports five to six times a week since I've graduated high school gym running CrossFit squash swimming and any team sport my friends decide to play at any given time my favorite hobbies are mountaineering hiking and bouldering I've just recently purchased a new pair of high altitude mountaineering boots

because it's near the end of the summer season and they were on sale the plan is to wear them in the Alps next summer on a few ascents I live in a European Capital One that's surrounded by wonderful nature with many trails and opportunities for hiking I decided to break in my summer boots last Saturday more specifically because it would have been my grandfather's birthday and he also loved to hike before he died These Boots Are overkill for these woods but I needed to try them I selected a nice route that's around 255 km and

set off at about 900 in the morning it rained just the day before so I expected a fair amount of mud and not so many people as they are easily scared off by the weather since the summer was excruciatingly hot it was a nice change of temperature especially between trees and such where it's a few degrees cooler than in the city in the not so distant past my dog would have definitely joined me on this hike but she's turning 14 this year and she doesn't enjoy longdistance walks anymore my girlfriend had to do something for

work on short notice so I knew from the moment I woke up I would be doing the hike alone the first half of the hike was perfect the altitude difference along the trail is minimal I barely broke a sweat and I misjudged how many people would be out due to the storm the day before I met at most 6 to seven people during the first 2 to 3 hours and most of them were CrossCountry Runners it's worth mentioning that I wasn't walking quickly I stopped on many occasions to take pictures or study some animals tracks

there are deer and wild bores in these Woods nothing more menacing not animals anyway but I won't get ahead of myself between 12: and 1 the path ran into an actual Road one where where cars can go this road is asphalt but deep in the forest and can only be used to reach certain landmarks that are also in the forest so car seldom go here my trail required me to take this road for a few hundred M as I was walking along the road I heard a car approach from behind me it went past me

not too quickly or too slowly it was an older green SUV with a fresh registration you can tell by the license plate probably an import anyway I thought nothing of it at the time then I heard it drive back it drove past me for the second time now very slowly and I could clearly see two men sitting in the front seats wearing baseball caps and sunglasses both had a stubble SL beard game going on as well I assumed they were gamekeepers even though those cars have a Crest on the hood and on both front doors

as I hike a fair amount I know these things I see them around quite a bit they would also not be driving a car like this they have Jeeps which are more suitable for the forest still I felt no discomfort and again I thought nothing of it then my trail left the asphalt road and began snaking in the woods again I walked ahead serenely gazing at trees and whatnot then I suddenly had the strange sensation that something or someone was behind me an engine sound was becoming more and more clear as well at this point

the trail was quite narrow but if for whatever reason you'd want to drive a car on it you could just about now when I turned around the aformentioned SUV was basically in my face it was an arms length away from me and and it stopped just as I had I looked at the driver who was staring back as I can only assume as he was wearing sunglasses I calmly asked him what's wrong shall I let you go in a polite tone as his window was rolled down he didn't speak he slowly started reversing and he

soon disappeared behind a curve now I was quite uncomfortable I also noticed that was alone in the car unlike earlier I listened intently standing still since I wasn't sure what was going on at this point I was not scared but there was a faint feeling of unease in the air and bad thoughts began gathering in the back of my mind I heard the car and the engine stop just behind the curve I heard a door open and shut but nothing from that point on I I turned around and began walking towards my destination at a

much faster Pace than before now I was a bit scared I didn't understand why he didn't answer and why he just reversed and left without a word I wasn't sure what to make of it and I had no desire to ask him again or to see him again for that matter I had just walked enough for these unpleasant thoughts to slowly be erased from my mind and as I had been drinking a lot of water as I usually do I decided to take a piss I saw a perfect spot a very narrow path off my

trail that led quite clearly to a little hunting Tower I walked over to the tower put my bag down by the ladder that led up to it and then began pissing I was also interested in checking Google Maps to see where I was but since there was no signal I decided to check my map I also had a sip of water I'd been standing there for a good few minutes before I headed back to the trail from where I deviated to take a leak right before I arrived back to the main trail I thought to

myself how extremely quiet it was no wind no noise of any kind absolutely nothing this made me realize just a moment later how alone I was except for the man who was was standing maybe 50 m away from me on the trail in the direction where I was headed I only saw this as soon as I stepped back on that trail since the small one to the tower was well hidden by trees and you couldn't see the main trail as it was running perpendicularly to the small one I looked at him and I was instantly

chilled to the Bone he was dressed in Tactical clothing with a baseball hat on his head the only reason he was standing still I believe was a moment of surprise that I had appeared from a place where he didn't expect me to appear from at this point I was fully and utterly alarmed he was holding a rifle that had a scope on it had this happened without the incident with the SUV I would have probably walked along the trail thinking he's a hunter however in light of the strange encounter with the SUV from which the

second man was missing something in me snapped instantly in hindsight it's also illegal to hunt in these Woods this time of year I figured in the matter of 2 seconds that I was going to Sprint through the woods until exhaustion towards and past the tower as it seemed natural to do at the time if there was no malicious intent on this man's behalf or the others he'll just think I'm an idiot and forget about me in 2 minutes if I'm right it's the best call I will have ever made and for sake he began running

towards me adrenaline blossoming within me I began sprinting away I sprinted past the tower and deep into the bushes not sparing my legs as I was wearing shorts and a thermal jumper I crashed through branches small trees and slipped on several occasions I really did Sprint until I was exhausted it must have been several kilometers I even crossed some smaller Trails but didn't even bother to look either way my pulse was a billion the whole time I began checking my phone for signal but nothing I was already really angry at myself for not memorizing the

license plate after a while I began power walking but still off Trail Straight Ahead in a direction that I knew would sooner or later ler Lead Me Out of the Woods when my phone got signal I told the story to several people frantically but no one took me seriously they said I was overreacting and whatnot saying You must have misunderstood the situation well I'll let you decide if I did or not finally I reached a trail that led directly to a cute little town that borders this rather large forest and it felt like eternity but

I walked the last kilometer to the main Square took off my jumper and put it in my bag at least I looked a little different from far away I waited for a bus that took me back to a station near my car rather anxiously I must admit after the bus ride during which I studied each car on the road I walked back to my car got in and drove home my dog welcomed me like I was coming back from a 2-year deployment dogs are just amazing she must have felt that something shook me up I

spent the afternoon contemplating my life in the bathtub the boots destroyed my feet but they aren't meant to be sprinted in for large periods of time I called the forest gamekeeper's office I inquired about whether they have such cars in service as the one I came across they do not they're gamekeepers also don't typically work in pairs like 99.9% of the time they are alone I told them my story and they took me a lot more seriously than my friends but they assured me that the police wouldn't no one could have been legally hunting in

the area during summer either I've been keeping up with local news but nothing extraordinary has been reported yet I really hope nothing will be reported either so gentlemen in the empty Forest at lunchtime let's not meet again watching me as I got off I thank the bus driver got off and realized that the guy was still on the bus I started walking up the hill to my house like I always do and I noticed that the bus was still sitting at the stop instead of pulling out and putting on its to terminal sign like it

normally did weird sure but I kept walking I'd made it about 500 ft I heard the bus pull out and drive off and then I heard someone running up behind me without even looking back I knew it was the guy from the bus he was 50 ft behind me at this point I could hear him having to catch his breath and he yelled out princess please wait and of course I didn't wait I just kept going but he didn't stop he kept yelling please please princess I want to make love to you I have money

please I will pay you I didn't stop walking I didn't want to make make eye contact or acknowledge Him but I'm also walking down a dark street with no cars and no people and he is hot on my trail but can't keep up with me and seems pretty winded by the time I made it down the block he was yelling at the top of his lungs princess princess please let me make love to you I will pay you just stop princess please please and started sobbing I mean absolutely wailing all while yelling that he wanted

to make love to me and would pay me for it and calling me Princess he wouldn't stop sobbing and he was so loud I'm surprised he didn't wake anyone in the neighborhood up at this point he's still 50 ft behind me and crying I was five blocks from my house and I didn't want to let the guy know where I lived so I decided to call 911 he kept loudly crying and sobbing and pleading to me I let the dispatcher know that some guy was following me and propositioning me and crying and she could hear

him sobbing in the background and said a deputy would be there soon I yelled at the guy I just called the cops so leave me the alone and he just stopped standing there still sobbing I keep walking but slowely since I'm so close to my house a couple minutes pass and there's lights a sheriff was coming down the street and when I turned around the crying guy was nowhere to be found the officer asked if I wanted him to go look for him or if I just wanted a ride home I didn't ever want to

deal with that guy again so I accepted the ride and asked him to just check out the area around my house after he dropped me off since it's pretty unusual ual to see an overweight guy in a sweater in slacks wandering around crying at 1:30 a.m. on a week night in a residential area I have no idea if they found him no idea what would happen if they did find him since I'm not sure if anything he did was actually illegal we're just creepy as hell needless to say I dead bolted my house and stayed

up all night talking to a friend in a different time zone until it was morning so guy from the bus let's not meet again this is a story that's really been bothering me lately for absolutely no reason whatsoever a few months back I just had this dream that brought back this memory I tried to suppress growing up but as of recently it's been weighing on my mind growing up in 2005 on the edge of the suburbs there was a large Grove of trees and Hills by some railroad tracks that lead to a big Forest about

half a mile from my house when I was 9 years old my neighborhood friend and I would ride our bikes to the railroad tracks and walk to the forest to go explore the random pieces of furniture and junk in this peculiar Forest we'd play card games do homework and hang with friends out there for about an hour or two but we never sat out there too long there were small abandoned houses here and there in this Forest that we stayed away from as one neighborhood friend Michael told me there was a homeless man who lived

in one of them and if you saw him run so right off the bat after hearing this going near this house in the woods was Gary as could be one chilly November afternoon after school I came home and dropped off my backpack at my house and immediately went to the woods my bike was broken so I walked Michael had told me at school that day to meet him in this open area of the forest to play Pokémon with him this was something we'd frequently do growing up just to pass the time until our parents got

home at 400 p.m. so it was nothing unusual as I crossed the railroad tracks into the forest I instantly felt a weird Sensation that feeling you feel when someone is watching you I looked all around and couldn't see anyone so I thought I was just getting spooked as the rather overcast day was very eerie anyway trekking through the Autumn Leaves scattered across this large wooded area I Came Upon the big open area where I was supposed to meet Michael near the area where we normally met was his notebook open on the page was written hey

I had to go back home and grab some batteries for my Game Boy wait for me here I'll be back soon Michael I waited being alone especially feeling like someone was watching me made this particular moment very uncomfortable however I convinced myself I was just being a wood and decided to wait for Michael I sat down and began playing my game boy it wasn't too long until that sensation of being watched grew into utter paranoia I kept frantically looking up from my Game Boy and checking my watch to see how long I'd been waiting I'd

been sitting there for 30 minutes it was beginning to get dark then I heard some leaves crunch I looked in the direction ction of the sound and briefly saw a dark hooded figure peeking from behind a few trees then hide back behind them my skin crawled and I immediately jumped up from where I was sitting and I froze in my tracks staring I screamed hello to see if anyone was there I was quickly reminded I wasn't alone when I saw this tall dirty looking hooded man peek back around from the trees he called back hey

buddy I picked up Michael's notebook and ran for my life I ran so fast I barely had time to look behind me however I heard leaves crunching not too far behind me it was the man running after me he was screaming for me to come back and I just wanted to talk to you I'm sorry I began crying as I was running thinking this was exactly how those missing kids disappear I ran and ran and ran until I literally tripped over the railroad tracks and cut up my knees Michael was just getting to the railroad

tracks he saw me dirty and bloody and crying hysterically and I screamed at him to run without question we ran all the way home the hooded man was nowhere to be seen once we left the railroad tracks I last saw him standing in the woods defeated that he couldn't catch me or something I don't know I told Michael everything and we never went back to the woods ever again years later in 2016 they bulldozed the woods and built a neighborhood there we later found out from fellow neighborhood friends who were in the area the same

thing happened to to them growing up to this day this is probably one of my scariest stories growing up I was around 16 at the time of this happening firstly I'd like to explain what type of person I am just so my actions make a bit of sense I'm an average looking girl a bit overweight which for my country makes me really undesirable for this reason I'm not used to men hitting on me or even considered it a possible occurrence back then you can say that I'm usually the man in our group you know the

girl that looks after every other friend when they're drinking and if a guy's being rude or harassing someone I'm the one to shut him down I don't know why I took on this role probably because my friend are way too naive and nice well I'm like that to strangers when I'm alone I always try to be helpful to people if they look confused or ask me for directions or anything else on this particular night I was going home from school my high school is in the city center and I take the bus home since the

buses get overcrowded during peak hours and I really hate being between crowds of people I normally wait around 30 minutes to an hour to catch the bus this night I walk to another bus stop around five stops before the one to my school so I can kill time and take an empty bus it was dark and I was the only one at that bus stop I usually don't have a problem with going out alone late at night is I don't have the men bad assault mentality drilled into me so I'm just minding my own business

when this 45 to 50-year-old man comes up to me he has a very friendly face and to smile so I don't think anything of it he asks me something and then I realize he's Turkish I tell him I don't understand so he uses basic Bulgarian words he knows and I somehow understand that he's just asking for directions of course I try my best to explain and after I feel like he understood I expect him to just stop talking to me no he sat disturbingly close to me and started to talk to me but but again

in Turkish I try to be polite and politely ignore him as best as I can while nodding my head with a smile looking at the timetable for some reason this guy starts asking me for my phone number at this moment I realized that this was definitely not a lost Foreigner I tried to shut him down saying I don't have a phone don't ask why I thought that was going to work I finally give in and give him a random number he says something else to me again in Turkish and then the worst happens all this

time I'm looking at the one minute the bus will be coming in I'm praying for him to please not try to call the number well he does and he shows me and asks me why my phone isn't ringing my stomach flips I tried to think of something fast then I remembered that I have my old Motorola in my bag I usually brought it to school to give to teachers who collected phones during class I also liked playing games on it in 2014 that is fortunately the battery was dead so I just pretended that this is

the reason the call isn't going through I see the guy try to argue but at this moment the bus comes and I get on I sit on the seat behind the driver as always after 10 minutes I get this weird feeling feeling I don't know what it was but I felt watched so I look around but since I'm in the front seat I can't exactly see everything luckily our buses have this gigantic mirror on the inside that shows everybody on the bus I look into that mirror and I can clearly see him he's sitting on

the last seat his leg clearly visible I start to panic I'm not sure he's following me but I'm also a very cautious person so I can't really ignore this I start checking for him at every stop and he's still there I get paranoid and say it and I get off the bus the stop was at our local mall and luckily it was open until 10 p.m. I decide to go in and if he follows then I'll try to sneak out he follows all right you have to understand that in my town almost nobody goes out

after 9:00 p.m. am so the mall is close to empty I look around thinking of ways to disappear but there's just no way the mall is an open space there are three floors all almost empty I'd be easily spotted anywhere I go now you'll probably say you should have asked the security for help no in Bulgaria we don't do that that literally never even went through my mind the security is is just some grandpa that walks around all day they don't actually do work or anything if it were today I might not be a stupid

but back then this wasn't even an option in my head and besides security wasn't even around so I do the most logical thing I can do and I decide to utilize the knowledge I had acquired in the previous week you see the mall had a cool Corridor system behind the stores it was completely unmarked by any signs and if you didn't know where you were going you'd probably get lost because it's just endless white corridors that lead to empty rooms for storage or some other stuff well me being an avid anime fan loved going around

these corridors and pretending I'm a ninja from Naruto on a mission so I can proudly say that I learned the right path to the back stairway of the mall because I was smart and obsessed with the idea of being a spy I decided to lure This creepy guy into the corridors and then just exit from the back end of the mall I first entered H&M and pretended to look around just to see if he was really stalking me he didn't even try to hide it he stood outside the store just staring in I got really

scared for a moment but then I remembered I'm like the best7 agent out there so I just continued walking over around the mall I finally entered the corridors and at this point I booked it to the staircase I ran out and then didn't stop running for two bus stops I tried looking back but there was no one so I proudly decided that I was a hero and went home today being a 21-year-old grownup I just think about how stupid that is and how I'd probably be 10 times as scared today than I was back then

well I hope it never comes to that I have a lot of creepy things that have happened to me I might get around to riding the rest I was 11 when this happened Anna my older sister was 14 and Becky my younger sister was eight my dad was a freelance programmer when I was younger he made great money on his jobs but because he was so heavily in debt 500,000 plus and my mom was not the most gifted person on balancing a budget we never had much free money available this meant that we went on

a vacation once every few years and usually that was to a relative's house my dad had just finished a long project for a big client and we were celebrating the occasion with the new movie final destination because my dad loved watching scary stuff and scaring the Daylights out of my sisters and I we were in the middle of the movie when the phone rang he went to get it and came back to grab my mom while we kept watching the movie Becky took the opportunity to pause the film and take Duchess or dog captive because

she was scared they came back about 10 minutes later and announced that we were going to be spending the weekend in a c cabin we didn't know what to make of that but apparently the client he'd been helping owned a nice cabin by a lake in the mountains and offered to let us Lodge there that weekend for a considerably reduced price it was Thursday so my mom went into a panicked frenzy of packing so we didn't see the rest of the movie that night after school the next day we packed up the family van and

headed to the mountains it was a 2 and 1/2 hour drive so it was late by the time we got there we unloaded the van and went exploring in the cabin it was a ranch style cabin with a little Nook thing you could climb up to that was about head height it was about 3 ft tall and probably meant for storage but it was an excellent place for the three of us to hang out in and play games there were a few Dusen board games up there so we started playing once we decided on the

rooms my mom and dad got the largest one one Anna claimed the smaller one with a twin bed so Becky and I got the last room which had a queen-sized bed we could share we had a window on the right side of the bed without a curtain and the lamp on the left side of the bed it was the only light source in the room and there was a closet opposite the bed it was locked and we couldn't get in it I never did figure out what was inside there we went to bed at around

11: Becky is a kicker so I slept by the lamp in case she ended up knocking it over I remember lying down and I must have instantly fallen asleep because the next thing I knew Becky was gripping my arm and trying to Burrow under me she was squeaking something in Fright and I couldn't understand what was happening I sat up looked towards her and I saw something pale and human shape moving away from the window my sleepy brain took several moments to process that and then I was shooting out of bed and dragging Becky with

me we rushed to our parents who told us we were imagining things my mom told us to go back to bed and if we saw anything else to let them know I much to my current annoyance agreed with them and went back into the room with Becky we switched positions because she refused to go back to bed by the window I told her a story Dory to get her to sleep and promptly conked out after her I didn't wake up until morning the next day we went exploring around the lake for about an hour before

my Dad decided we'd spend the day in town they had a lot of small shops and my parents went into every one of them we ate lunch and dinner in the town and finally went back to the cabin Anna made a joke about something as we neared the cabin and I remember everybody laughing before my dad D suddenly held up his hand to make everyone stop he took another step towards the cabin and pushed the door open with a single finger I thought it was strange that the door wasn't latched but I didn't put the

obious together right away dad Anna said as she shuffled nearer to Bell andai but my dad gave his head a shake to let her know she needed to be quiet he went into the cabin and disappeared inside for a minute or two while we stood on the porch my mom called out his name and he called back that we could come inside we did and found him standing in the middle of the living room/dining room with a frown on his face he locked the door once we were inside and he took my mom to the

bedroom for a quick chat Anna having caught on to what was happening opted to distract Becky and I by suggesting another the round of the board game we'd been playing the previous night we hadn't been playing for more than 5 minutes when my mom and dad came back my mom went about cleaning the dishes from breakfast while my dad joined our game we played for a few hours before Dad told us we needed to go to bed it was only 9: at that point which made Anna mad she was allowed to stay up until 10:30

on school nights and later on the weekend nights Becky and I got into bed while they argued we climbed back into the same spots we slept in Becky by the window and I by the lamp I read to Bell for a bit before we drifted off I woke to my dad rushing into our room he scooped Becky out of the bed and grabbed my hand he dragged me out of the room and into the Hall where I saw Anna getting similar treatment by my mom I became aware of a high-pitched wine in the living room

and saw our dog sitting at attention by the back door she was bristled and seemed anxious my dad didn't put Becky down and didn't let go of my hand they rushed out of the house and into the van my dad went back to get our dog and then he burned rubber getting out of the cabin he drove all the way back home without saying a word it took a half hour for Duchess to calm down he told Anna what happened the next day but Becky and I didn't find out until years later he'd woken up

that night to what sounded like moaning outside the window in his room he jumped up and looked to see what was going on and he found the front door unlocked stuff in the kitchen had been moved and Duchess started to growl at the back door which was a jar he locked it and got us out of the house he went back the next day to get our luggage and found several pairs of footprints outside the window of the room that Bell and I slept in all right so I'll try to keep the backstory as short

as possible a couple years ago my living situation evaporated faster than IID expected it to and I had to pack all my possessions into my car and leave where I was living there was going to be a short stretch of time where I had next to no money certainly not enough for a week or two of $80 a night motel fees I had a little over $100 all in so I bought a cheap tent and other similarly shitty camping equipment and some ramen and decided I would crash in the woods that way I could leave

my car full of my stuff and still have a place to sleep I lived in a fairly forested area at the time and since I grew up in the area and partied out in the woods a lot in high school I knew a decent amount of trails and discreet hiding places not far from set Trails so I brought my gear out to a very small mountain and since it was going to rain that night I hunted around for a nice place to set up being a mountain I couldn't just find high ground but I did

find this nice little Plateau that projected a few hundred ft from the nearest slope before falling off and by my best judgment it seemed a safer place as any well it turns out my judgment sucks Not only was the place right in the path of the rain but all of the water from above had sosed into an impromptu stream whose course ran right through my tent I woke up at maybe 2:00 a.m. to find my sleeping bag half immersed in water and all of my possessions soaked through both my phone and flashlight were ruined so

I had no source of light despite the lack of Illumination I knew I had to get back to my car because I was freezing cold since my clothes were literally soaked through I decided to leave them and embarked wearing nothing but my boxers my wallet was ruined too so I didn't bring it I quickly realized that I was not going to be able to find the trail so I went back and took my machete so I could hack through the brush now most of you can probably see where things are going but I would remind

you that you are sitting someplace warm and reasonably safe if you want to put yourself into my frame of mind think of those cold winter days when you go outside and your stream of Consciousness transforms from normal thoughts into an endless stream of oh and out a bunch of your possessions being ruined into the mix so I faced the general direction of my car and just started walking angrily chopping at anything that happened to block my path eventually after much effort I see an end to the tree line ahead of me I walk out and

realize that I'm in somebody's backyard worse however is the fact that said backyard has a screened in porch with a small table lamp and standing on that porch is a woman smoking smoking a cigarette now really picture this scene in your head imagine a man walking into your backyard half naked and enraged swinging a machete around like a madman the porch lights went off and I immediately went into I'm definitely going to get arrested mode I hustled out to the street and ran towards my car and I spent the next hour huddled in a ball

on the seat just waiting for the flashing blue lights to come up behind me they never did however I have no idea what that woman thought when she saw me but it can't have been good I almost want to go over there and apologize for scaring her but I'm guessing she doesn't want to meet this was a situation a couple weeks back that left a bad taste in my mouth per se for context it might be a bit long but hopefully it will give a bit of background to what made this encounter so creepy for

me this encounter happened about around the time lockdown was in its prime here in Australia I'm a 23-year-old female living near Byron Bay about a 20-minute driveway in the surrounding Hinterlands I was born and raised in the city though so I like to think my judgment of character is a bit finer developed than country folks for those not familiar Byron is a major tourist attraction in Northern New South Wales really close to the Queenland border it's a Beachside Town known for its laid-back lifestyle because of this we get a lot of passer by even a

bit further out because of the nice views in Rich Bushland those kind of reasons and it's not unusual to meet a few odd people here and there there's also your dose of strange activity I.E Backpacker theoh haas's disappearance not long ago lots of people up here have theories on this ranging from Colts to just straight up coldblooded murder in my suburb it's still quite rural on our street there's about 5 houses in total covering a good couple of hundred acres and at the end of the street there's a path to a bush to a lovely

waterfall the journey from my property to the beginning of the track is about 5 minutes and the path lead leads to two destinations the first destination is about 5 minutes into the track at the top of the waterfall it has a little wooden platform you can stand on to look out over the waterfall and the stream leading into it the second is about another 5 minutes down the track which is the waterfall itself most people keep to the left of the waterfall and will sit under it in the cave as the almost non-existent clearing to

the right of it is quite inconvenient and tricky to get to if you aren't planning on getting really wet this is important for later I used to go there quite often to write in my journal and clear my head and my favorite place is just next to the top of the waterfall I climb through the fence next to the wooden platform and sit next to the stream on the Rocky Face that covers either side of the stream The View was the nicest here and I also like to sit facing the wooden platform so I could

keep better tabs on my environment this particular day I went down and coming up to the track I noticed a camper van park with lots of tools and rope attached to the roof I couldn't see anyone in there but just had a bit of an inkling there was so I gave the car a pretty white birth social distancing but also my everpresent paranoia thanks to this and other True Crime subs and as I passed it I noticed the S door was opened which quickly slid shut straight up I thought it was pretty weird it's illegal

to set up camp there and also we're in a period of essential travel only so I wasn't really expecting to see anyone down there except for a neighbor going for a stroll however I passed it off as a trade wanting to get out of the house into nature for a bit after work or something and I kept on I went to my usual riding place but as we'd had about of pretty heavy rain in a few days prior the stream was full and I wasn't up to Crossing it so I sat on the same side

as the wooden platform about 10 to 15 M away I wasn't there for long maybe 5 minutes of riding with my headphones in when I heard something it sounded like a bird over my music so I just went back to doing what I was doing but then a few seconds later I saw someone out of the corner of my eye coming onto the path I ignored them and tried to go back back to what I was doing partly because I was in a pretty foul mood and wanted to be left alone but also because it's

not really common for anyone to talk to each other out in the bush apart from the occasional how you going passing someone on the track so I thought maybe they were on the phone no he yelled out to me again which I ignored and then again I got the feeling he wasn't going to let up so I fainted surprise along long the lines of oh sorry I didn't see you and I couldn't hear you over my music he was in his late 30s to early 4S just a pretty normal looking guy the rest of the

conversation is hard to recall for btim but essentially it went like this are you going to jump off the waterfall he asked no I replied why not he proceeded because I don't know how deep the water is I replied girl good answer he said it seemed pretty harmless and I assumed he was just visiting the falls for the first time so I tried to cut off the conversation by going back to my writing he didn't let up however and this is where it started to get a bit weird I was already feeling quite unsettled by

his presence as he wasn't very focused on the surroundings and more on me which was pretty strange considering the entire world is in a state of encouraging no communication at the moment what are you one of those nature people who likes to come out here by thems he asked no I told him what are you doing out here then he asks trying to clear my head and right it's nice and quiet out here I replied am I bothering you he asked yeah but it's whatever I replied to him honorable mention to my ADHD for making

me always susceptible to saying the wrong thing and pretty much incapable of lying there was just a bit of lull here both of us just kind of sizing each other up I guess me just really wanting him to off but also not being too worried if he did try anything as I had a large stick with me it was still pretty warm out so I always carry it with me because of snakes how did you get here he asked I just climbed down off the path through the fence I told him no I mean how

did you get here to this place he pushed I walked I replied pretty long walk to be out here by yourself he commented not really I just live up the road I countered something about that response changed something in his behavior but as we were pretty far apart it was a bit hard to figure out what regard regardless I wasn't vibing the situation at all and I was also kicking myself for making it glaringly obvious to some random guy that I was out here alone and also for not having told my family where I was

going huh well I guess I'll leave you to your writing this calmed me a lot and once again just passed him off as a passer by I then tell him the View's a lot nicer under the waterfall if you follow the path down h oh I don't know if I could go alone there could be some people down there waiting to mug me you'd have to come with me he says who says like this especially to someone you've just met in the middle of nowhere no probably just having a picnic or a swim I returned

he stood there for a bit longer than I would have liked looking at me and then finally left me alone with them all right see you later as he headed back up The Path toward the parking lot and I assumed he was going home I still felt a bit uneasy so I turned off my music completely and tried to go back to writing some time passed but I was struggling to concentrate but it wasn't my usual restlessness I just felt so uncomfortable almost exposed so I took a break to enjoy the scenery and I look

down at the bottom of the waterfall and this guy is St standing to the right of it and that's exactly what he was doing just standing there staring at me I thought I was just overthinking it but no I could literally feel his eyes on me I kned the out of there even if he was just a creepy guy with Innocent enough intentions I wasn't going to wait around to find out and I'd have a 5-minute Head Start if he did try to follow me so I ran back home and what was left of my

job J entry for that day was essentially just about that weird ass guy I waited to hear his car go by as well but it didn't I thought that was weird I assumed he must have set up camp there or whatever or just left later that night either way it sufficiently creeped me out and ruined that spot for me I haven't been back since thanks for listening and stay safe out there everyone the house in the cornfield the snowy hill was filled with children and parents alike all sledding blissfully utilizing the first snow day of

the year Jacob had never experienced snow like this before at least in any way as memorable as this Jacob had moved from South Carolina quite the cultural difference sure but still being in middle school he wasn't exactly partial to the South the snow was fresh and still falling at a considerable rate that you could expect the next couple of days off from school it was an early snowfall at least for Davis County the clear Hill was quite dense with all ages of people enjoying the first snowfall as if snow itself rendered everyone the same age

and maturity it didn't take long for Jacob to find his handful of friends he had made since the beginning of the school year since Jacob's parents were separated and his mother would be working all day he knew that he had virtually no curfew after spending a good portion of the day the hill slowly diminished of people the baress of the Hill made the once fun and exciting place to be more somber and isolating the woods that surrounded both sides seemed to become darker despite Jacob being with his friends he now became aware of the time

not that he needed to get back but that the Shadows of the woods began to creep across the hill the sun was still up and would be for the next couple of hours but Jacob and his friends quickly realized that they were the last ones on the hill stories of kidnappers and grome serial killers that frequented the dark woods surrounding them caused their snow day to become shn if anything were to happen to these boys no one would know about it for quite some time it's getting kind of late I'm soaking wet Ethan said while

glancing around the empty Hill same time tomorrow assuming that school is still cancelled Jacob nodded his head he was glad someone said something since he didn't want to be the first to end such a great time the small group of boys did one last run before all meeting up at the bottom of the hill and going their separate ways Ethan and his brother Jason went their separate ways from the rest of the boys since they lived on the other side of town Jacob Gary and Trevor began the cold walk alongside the woods which bordered some

kind of abandoned cornfield of some kind after 5 minutes of walking Trevor pitched the idea that there was a shortcut in the cornfield that would take about 15 minutes off their walk back to the main road Jacob had seen the cornfield when he was walking to the hill earlier that day the brown and black stocks of corn stood at a height that made visibility quite difficult especially at their pre-teen sizes but thankfully the field was clearly not taken care of the once perfect field of rad corn was now slowly losing the crop that once grew

here getting lost in the field was possible but not likely Trevor and Gary began pushing their way through the dying crop when they looked back to see Jacob he was clearly not comfortable with the idea idea are we allowed to go in the cornfield doesn't someone own this Gary began to chuckle does it look like anyone owns it it looks terrible Jacob was unconvinced what if we get lost in there then we'll really be in trouble Trevor piped in we all get lost I've done this before there's a path in here somewhere that lead you

to the other side by the road you don't have to come but you will have to walk back by yourself up to you the two boys continued walking slowly out of view of Jacob the woods behind him were menacing especially so since he was slowly becoming more alone by the second the irrational thoughts would quickly triumph over reason as Jacob quickly found himself chasing after his friends in the cornfield thankfully he didn't have to go too far to find them worst case scenario he could simply follow the footprints in the snow to find them but

he didn't have to the young boy chuckled through their wet scarves as they knew Jacob was too afraid to be alone the three continued together trudging through the snow and toppled cornstalks that filled the field about halfway through the field a small clearing emerged revealing to the surprise of all the young boys an old and decrepit two-story home quietly Gathering snow whoa this wasn't here before Trevor mumbled Trevor was telling the truth when he had said he had crossed the field many times but in none of his instances of taking the shortcut had he ever

come across the home Gary and Jacob were silent taking in the Hideous form that neglect inflicted upon the exterior wood of the house the clearing wasn't terribly large just enough to imprison the strange structure within it it was a home for sure but there was no Road or path leading to this bizarre destination and the building itself emitted no light only dark thick clouds of snow began to swell in the sky shading the dimming Sun even more so the three boy silently agreed that this might have been something fun to investigate perhaps with an older

brother or on a warm summer day but right now this place was Dreadful a place that surely must have held Terrors and pain a Serial Killer's Hideout no doubt none of the boys even suggested entering the excuse of being late in the day or being too cold didn't even have to arise as they all walked past the house they continued into the field seeing how that for once the idea of them no longer being alone began to fester in their young minds they had a couple of hours of daylight left so Panic didn't initially find

them when they were not able to find the other side of the field the dogs were too tall shrouding any possibility of peering over to find a hint out of this unintended maze rather than fear or anxiety frustration kept the boys company as they wandered aimlessly in the cornfield the shortcut which should have taken maybe 10 minutes in its entirety was now almost an hour in effectively removing this path from the title of being a shortcut thankfully the boys were smart at least when it came to problem solving I suppose they weren't that smart seeing

how they put themselves in this situation but nonetheless they realized that all they had to do was backtrack by following their snow prints and they would have found the way that they came in the field but time and weather were against them snow continued to fall slowly filling the shoe prints that would guide them out of there the boys stopped guessing their way back and turned back the snow prints weren't easy to follow the uneven ground and the Fallen stocks of corn made tracking their path not the easiest but definitely possible a Brisk 15 minutes

passed and the boys found themselves back at the house following their Footprints and trying to hurry had greatly minimized the time needed but his fate would have it the young boys were not able to find their initial Trail leading to the house again there was no rush in regards to daylight but the idea that they were lost begin to slowly Dawn on them causing them to resort to an unpleasant reality all they needed to know was which direction they needed to take to get them out the fastest if they could only just simply glance over

the stocks of Cor porn they would know in a matter of seconds but the only way for them to do that was if they entered the House of Horrors if you will go to the Second Story and glance out the window now this was obviously easier said than done the thought of someone still living inside seemed unlikely due purely to The house's condition but that didn't mean a hobo or some desperate animal didn't take this structure as its new home the three considered drawing straws but that idea was pointless seeing how whoever was going to

go inside would be too scared to do so alone the boys realized that if they wanted to get out of this field then they would all need to go inside to do so the front of the house looked empty the bottom level Windows had been boarded and what remained of the front door appeared to be chained a sigh of relief came across the boys as they could say with a probability that no one was inside but this did make their plan more difficult seeing how they needed a way in the boys quickly circled the house

Gary who was on the backside shouted guys come here I think I have something Jacob and Trevor quickly sprinted and saw Gary trying to lift a storm Celler door but was struggling with the wa a heavy chunk of ice and snow made the door three times as heavy with the help of the other boys they were able to open the door and pure inside a dark set of stairs LED them into a dark basement the the three looked at each other as they slowly went inside thankfully the stairs didn't go too deep but the sun

was on the wrong side of the house to properly illuminate the basement fully inside the basement was a treasure Trove of junk and other miscellaneous items that served no real purpose but to young boys this was a jackpot old farming equipment laid on the floor insides of the walls while a particular item laid in a cleared area in front of a strange metal door Gary and Trevor were preoccupied with picking out what they wanted to take that they didn't notice Jacob walking over to the metal door the metal door looked as if it didn't belong

in the house if anything it looked like a bank vault but that's not what caught Jacob's attention laying in front of the door as if it was watching it was a skull not any ordinary skull but one with twisted and dark bone it didn't appear to be human at least to Jacob but surely this was some kind of creature he was unfamiliar with he was drawn to it mainly out of morbid curiosity he went to pick up the item and once he touched it his vision went black a disembodied demon voice spoke to him a

wretched Soul touches the totem his vision was now filled with Horrors and pain people screaming from torture and violence a gathering in the woods of strange people wearing mask chanting and sacrificing poor victims to a strange and dark god of the woods a vision of a dark entity looking upon his soul with no barrier of concealment you are now cursed with the totem what felt like a thousand years of torment and Agony ended up being only a few moments as Jacob was brought back to reality neither Gary nor Trevor had realized what had happened they

were too busy Scavenging through garbage until Jacob came to and began to vomit violently sludge of black filth escaped his body causing the other two boys to forget what they were doing and gave attention to Jacob who was now on his hands and knees dry heaving what little vomit remained you okay bro Trevor said worriedly no I'm not something's not right before Jacob explained what it happened Gary saw the metal door ahead of them whoa this looks like a safe door or something something there's probably some treasure behind it Jacob stood to his feet don't

touch the door he was exhausted he was no longer subjected to the cold of the snow but was now sweating from every pore dude what are you holding the thing looked scary Jacob looked down to see he was holding the totem skull by its antler before he could get a word out a loud slam came from the other side of the door and a scream the scream shook the boys except for Jacob who was still coming to terms with what he just experienced the door shook its frame as rapid banging be to twist and mangle

its shape something strong was behind it the boys made their way out of the basement up the stairs and up to the second floor Panic controlled their bodies but they still remembered to look over the cornfield to find their way out after a quick glance the three then saw the direction they needed to go and began to lift the old window whatever was behind the door in the basement had gotten out a loud slam of the metal door Landing flat on the concrete floor told the boys they only had a couple of seconds before whatever

it was that was being detained had gotten out the boys got the old window to budge but not enough thinking quickly on his feet Gary grabbed a drawer from a fallen dresser that was sitting in the room and threw it out the window shattering the glass and the frame that held it together the thing was now out of the basement and on the main floor none of the boys had time to think about jumping out the window but just did it the snow and the stocks of corn provided little cushion to their fall but the

inrent in their bodies made up for the damages they sprinted into the cornfield after 10 minutes they finally escaped and made it to the other side neither of them were sure what was in the basement nor if it followed them out but they didn't wait around to find out it wasn't until Jacob had a moment to breathe that he realize he was still holding on to the totem he thought he left the cursed item in the basement with whatever hell-like creature was in there but he was still grasping it tightly the boys continued to run

down the street to a more populated part of the town from there they began to feel safe the boys took a moment to recall what had happened and they all agreed on what they experienced it was clearly that they had nearly escaped some terrible f they didn't get a good look at whatever it was but that didn't mean it didn't see them Gary and Trevor began walking towards their street and Jacob went his own way home vomit on his winter jacket had covered the front of his clothes and began to harden from the cold the

sun which the boys had taken advantage of had now began to set the traumatic experience made it so that Jacob never wanted to see this totem again but any thought he had of throwing it away into the woods would cause a voice to speak in his head you cannot relieve yourself of such a fate you are bound to the totem Jacob continued his way home and found his mother was still at work unsure of what to do with the totem Jacob placed it under his bed and took a shower Jacob woke up the next morning

to his alarm clock his last memory was him taking a shower but he didn't remember leaving not only that but he didn't remember having dinner or even going to bed but the strange thing about all this was that he did remember his dream from last night normally Jacob for the life of him could not remember his dreams but from the night prior was totally different he dreamt he had walked home with Gary and Trevor except they didn't make it home something had grabbed them dragged the two back into the corn field and into the basement

of the house Jacob was covered in sweat as he rubbed his face he glanced around the room to see if the totem was there or even real but thankfully he was not able to find it it was 5 or so in the morning his mother should have been home but was probably still asleep Jacob went to check the news on the TV to see if school was still cancelled but the news caster was talking about sports from over the weekend Jacob was about to make himself a bowl of cereal but realized he wasn't hungry not

only that but thinking about eating anything other than meat made him nauseous about an hour later around 6 or so the news finally covered the school districts that were closed Davis County was open dang this was frustrating as no kid wants to go to school on a perfectly good snow day but Jacob wasn't opposed to getting some social interaction the thought of him going back to the hill or even near that cornfield was too much it would cause him to panic and get anxious unlike anything he had ever felt before his mother entered the living

room rubbing the sleep out of her eyes you have school today bud Jacob nodded uh that's too bad give me a minute and I'll give you a ride Jacob was quiet the entire morning normally he would interact with most kids or would answer the teacher questions but he was filled with anger and Malice it was around third period when something strange occurred two policemen entered the classroom with principal Roberts and asked to speak to Jacob Jacob shot up out of his desk and walked over over to the three men he knew it must have been

about entering that home and probably stealing things that didn't belong to them the four of them walked to the principal's office and Jacob was about to confess when the officers asked about Gary and Trevor Jacob was stunned but was also silent apparently neither Boy made at home yesterday Jacob saw the officer's badge with the name Wilkins on it now the parents tell us that you're good friends with both the boys I'm guess that you were with them sledding on that Hill like every other child did anything strange happen Jacob was afraid Jacob shook his head

and was about to lie when he blurted out we went into the cornfield and something chased us out of there both officers were stunned and began writing down on their notepads surprisingly neither officer was angry but rather understanding and supportive okay well thank you for your honesty tell us what happened Jacob began to tell the officers what had happened but when he mentioned the house both officers had a look of confusion wait there's a house in that cornfield you sure it wasn't a shed or anything no it was a house we had to go inside

to see which direction we needed to go to get out of that field the officers continued riding are we talking about the same sledding hill the one on the other side of town I'm not sure said Jacob I'm new here I don't know of any other Hill in town well the reason we asked is that that specific cornfield had been abandoned since the 80s there was a farm there but it burned down now the reason we're worried is because the officer stopped you know what forget it thanks for your honesty you may go Jacob was

not able to focus the rest of the day both his friends were missing and he had a sickening feeling that he had something to do with it however he was thankful the voices in his head and the totem were no longer around the day dragged on and school eventually let out on the way home he couldn't stop thinking about what the officer was trying to say before he had stopped himself what was he going to say the bus arrived on his street and he got off his body was sore from yesterday but the cold air

took his mind off of it Jacob reached the driveway to his house when he had noticed the front door to his house was open his mother's car was not in the driveway so this concerned him Jacob had no cell phone so calling the police would require him to go to a neighbor's house or to go inside with how everything was recently with not only this encounter from yesterday but his friends going missing he decided to ask his neighbors thankfully Mrs Wilson was home Jacob called the police and told them that someone had broken into his

house surprisingly enough the same two officers from the school happened to arrived at his house Jacob right Officer wilin said we checked out that cornfield earlier today couldn't find anything Jacob was silent so what's going on here someone broke in Jacob nodded well that was smart of you to call us rather than entering your own home can't be too careful hang tight while we go inside both officers Drew their weapons and entered the home Jacob waited outside by their Cruiser unsure of who or what they would find to his surprise the officers were not quick

in fact other officers arrived on the scene before he saw those two again eventually Jacob's mother caught wind that the police were at her house and left work early the original officers eventually came out sometime later and requested both the mother and Jacob come with him down to the station for questioning Jacob's mother was not pleased by this why do you need us to go to the station what's going on here the officers tried to calm her down but to no avail something happened inside and you guys are no longer safe here we need you

to come back to the station and from there we can brief you on what's going on Jacob and his mother finally agreed and drove down to the station with the officers it was dark out roughly 8:00 the snow began to pick up again once outside the station police finally shared what they had found inside firstly the house itself was destroyed as if someone purposely vandalized the house but also in a way that someone was looking for something but that wasn't the concerning part in Jacob's room the police found a decapitated deer and blood smeared all

over the room etched into the deer were three words return the totem no one knew what it meant except for Jacob his eyes went wide as struck him paralyzed what does this mean Jacob his mother cried I I saw something yesterday I didn't think it had value but I might have found something that was evil the officers began writing again and the mother stared at him with a look of shock what are you talking about I thought you went sledding yesterday we were but afterwards we found a house in the cornfield inside were all these

strange items and I touched something I shouldn't have but I haven't seen it since yesterday I don't know where it is now before anyone could say anything officer Wilkins spoke up I think we found it at the scene is this what they were after officer Wilkins bent down and picked up a box with evidence tape on it inside was a skull to the item alone made Jacob's worried mother burst into tears what have you gotten yourself into she cried the other officer ERS removed the mother from the room and Jacob and Wilkins remained we think

that if you return this item to the house in that cornfield whoever had kidnapped your friends will release them now we can't be sure that's what we have to do but would you at least be willing to show us where this house is Jacob felt sick the idea of going anywhere near that corn field riddled his body full of anxiety but he thought about his friends how scared they must have been how cold and hungry they were that is if they were still alive I'll do it I'll show you where it is on one condition

if I show you that house you'll have to help me put back the totem and fight whatever took my friends officer Wilkins agreed Wilkins his partner Officer Taylor and Jacob drove from the station back to the hill it was much later now the moon provided some light but clouds were thick Jacob sat in the back of the cruiser with the box holding the totem he could almost hear it speaking to him open the box take me out I can make you immortal the whisperings were getting to him but luckily they finally arrived to the field

the field was dark both officers put on protective gear and mounted flashlights on their rifles but they didn't call him back up taking a young boy to a potential kidnapper's house in the middle of nowhere was completely against regulation but they were desperate at this point this was a time sensitive situation if they were lucky they would be able to save the other two boys and take down the sick freak that would have for sure killed them Jacob exited the cruiser holding the Box his breath warmed his face as the bitter night air howled in

the distance Jacob was afraid even though he had two highly trained officers with him he still feared for his safety and that of his friends all right did you're on point lead us to this freak's house and we'll save your friends Jacob led the officers into the field the field and the corn stocks were bigger than he remembered the Dark Knight definitely didn't help as the three pushed their way through both officers made sure to break as many stalks as they could clearing a path out for them to get out quickly if needed Jacob began

to shiver not from the cold air but that he knew he was going to slowly reach the place he swore he'd never go to again from behind Officer Taylor exclaimed oh my gosh there it is he shined his light up ahead and sure enough the Phantom house appeared in the field this can't be we searched this field for hours today this was not here before something's wrong Officer Taylor began to panic there's something off about this this is more than just a house this is something much worse I can feel it Jacob and Wilkins looked

back seeing how Officer Taylor was now having a panic attack I can't do this this place will kill us all of us Wilkins pulled him aside what are you doing you and I have been through way worse you need to get it together the kids fine and he was the one before without any weapons you need to push through for me do it for the kids that are inside but Taylor just froze completely petrified as if his mind knew of the evil that lurked Within after a few minutes Wilkins and Jacob continued on well it

looks like it's just you and me kid let's go find your friends Jacob took him over to the storm ciller door that he and his friends had found the other day the door was still open okay I'm going to leave the way and you stay behind me don't say or do anything that will give away our position Jacob nodded the two entered slowly as if time itself slowed the light on the rifle pierced into the dark Darkness Illuminating the basement the Box holding the totem began to vibrate we're getting close Jacob whispered a search at

the basement revealed to the officer and Jacob that there was indeed something down there but not at the moment the basement was clear but a soft crying could be heard upstairs they're upstairs wlkin whispered as he found the stairs leading up and led the way the cry became louder the higher they went up it sounded as if at least one of the boys was still alive but Jacob was unsure which of his friends it was the Box vibrated more as if a rapid animal was trying to escape from within the box is shaking on its

own I'm not doing this jacob assured we need to get this guy now you stay on the main floor and I'll take care of him wilin then rushed up the stairs and barged into one of the rooms on the second floor stop please here up Wan shouted multiple screams could be heard his friends were alive Jacob looked up the stairs intently trying to see what was going on but it was too dark gunshots could be heard in a loud bang he's killing him the Box whispered you can still save him take me to the Beast

Jacob was no longer in control of his body his thoughts were consumed by hunger and pain he knew what was up there what was waiting for him him in the darkness his instincts were telling him to run drop the box and run as fast as you can but he was now being commanded by the totem Jacob walked up the stairs slowly screaming and binging continued he ascended the stairs and saw the light shine from the next room as wilkin's gun laid on the floor Jacob entered the room to see a pale skinny man standing over

Wilkins the man had blood on his mouth and hands as Wilkins laid lifeless on the ground the Box shook so much that Jacob dropped it and the totem rolled on the floor the creature stopped and looked at Jacob this man was tall his body hardly looked human he looked as if people evolved to be killing machines he can't be killed screamed Gary Jacob then felt immense pain shoot throughout his body the man went to pick up the Twisted schull totem but when he did it burned it he dropped it and Jacob fell to the ground

vision begin to fill his mind as his two friends looked on in horror Jacob's limbs began to grow and snap twisting and elongating much like the man that took the boys after a few painful seconds Jacob looked almost identical to the demon man that stood before them officer Wilkins began to come too seeing that they were now two beasts in the room he went to reach for his rifle but the boys told him to stop Jacob then stood towering over the much smaller window the two Beast began to fight as the boys grabbed the officer

and left the room screams from both could be heard as they left the house and found the path that Wilkins and Taylor Made for them to escape the three of them continued to hear screams until it was abruptly stopped none of them waited to see who had won the Battle of the beasts siren lights could be seen through the stalks as Wilkins realized Taylor had called him back up dozens of Cruisers sat outside the field with men ready to enter but this would be pointless as officer Wilkins knew that without Jacob they would never find

that house the summer of 1997 I was nine and scared of my own shadow so this experience only furthered my fear of the world my mom and I drove up from Riv Massachusetts to bearbrook State Park in New Hampshire to Camp my dad was going to drive up the next morning to meet us because he had work so everything was going normal at the campsite we set up the tent built our fire all was well it was still daylight when we noticed that the lone greasy-haired man in the campsite connected to ours was continually running

and leaping onto a wooden post then attempting to balance himself on one foot he kept doing this over and over and over it was odd but we just figured he was some lonely C and we had a good laugh at his expense my mom thought maybe he was trying out for the circus cut to nighttime absolute Darkness if not for the campfire my mom and I were sitting and roasting s'mores over the Flames when we heard footsteps approaching from the other campsite out of the Pines the lone man stumbled onto our campsite and he was

ghastly and ragged in the Fire Light I could tell my mom was tense she asked the stranger what he needed hey he mumbled I need your help in my campsite we waited and he didn't go my mom asked what he needed help with the filthy man said I locked my keys in my van I need you to come over and help me he then looked at me and said don't worry kid you can stay here with your fire I remember getting Goosebumps at that my mom said I don't know how I can help you with

your lost Keys you must have a spare hanger lying around somewhere suggested the man my mom told him that she didn't the ghoulish man wouldn't let up though yeah you must have a hanger lying around here somewhere maybe you dropped one on the ground found near your tent my mom adamantly told him she did not have a hanger and quickly added my husband will be here soon maybe he can help you he's a pretty strong guy yeah all right the creep slurred and he started to trudge away into the dark but he turned his head

and said well if you do find a hanger come help me I'll be here and with that the horrible man left my mom and I barely slept that night I felt her moving at every Sound Outside the tent looking back my poor mother must have stayed up through the long night worrying a butcher knife was going to slash through the tent wall and so morning eventually came and when we stepped out of the tent we immediately saw that the lone man and his camper fan were gone later that day I heard my mom exclaim I

ran over to her and watched as she picked something up from the ground beside our tent she held it between us staring at it not speaking it was a metal hanger I found out later in life that four dead females were found stuffed into metal barrels in bearbrook State Park back in the80s hey guys I hope you enjoyed that if you have a scary story you'd like me to read on the Channel please send me an email or post it to my subreddit you can find details of this in the video description it's the stories

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