Its 3am right now, I had woken from my comfortable dreamless slumber and had to use the bathroom. I am back in bed with my bf soundly sleeping next to me, I have locked my door and turned on all my lights, only shadows present are in the far corner and under my bed. I was a fool, I know this now… how could I not check the clock before venturing out into the darkened house! See my bf lives in a house with roommates, or I would leave all the lights on, instead I get randomly dim pools of light leading to the restroom….
I don’t think fear of the dark is foolish, I don’t care if you are a creationists and believe in demons, god and the devil, or believe in evolution that we were pack creatures and fear the dark, because we could easily become prey…push come to shove that primitive piece of our mind that screams don’t go into the dark, be it fear of evil or fear of being prey… they’re both right… there is a soft thud right now at our locked door, and I fear not finishing this… so let me quit prattling on and get to how this all started.
3 weeks ago.
I was so excited. I had just moved in with my bf. Only glitch is I am a night shifter at a local medical facility, while he works swing shift at a local factory…it wasn’t that bad to start because the other roommate was also working nights, so I had someone to chew the fat with while the rest of the world slept.
Then he lost his job and went on unemployment, suddenly I was roaming the big dark house because I couldn’t sleep and didn’t want to disturb anyone. It lead to a lot of boring hours. I didn’t mind, I’ve always seen well in the dark, and never even had a fear of it… all it was, was a stupid fear many have. There is nothing that hides, no boogeyman waiting to evicerate you… boy was I wrong.
A week in our roommate Jay vanished. Our landlord, fellow roommate and former night shifter called the police when by day 2 there was no sign of him still, no response on his phone, no new social media posts…nothing. The cops came, took everyone’s statements and left… still never heard back, I guess they have bigger worries than a missing 27 year old man… a few days later his stuff was packed up and stored in the basement incase he ever came back for them. The room wasn’t empty long a day or 2 before a middle aged latino divorcee moved in. He seems nice and makes yummy tacos.
It was towards the end of that week that I was sitting out on the porch swing listening to the crickets, that I got the feeling eyes were on me. I am not the paranoid type, I figured maybe a local bar hopper was tromping by and had glanced this way. But the feeling didn’t lessen and I realized I didn’t hear any footsteps.
I stopped rocking the swing, suddenly aware the crickets had stopped. When did that happen? Had I dozed off? I suddenly felt very exposed in that halo of light from the bulb above me. I didn’t know then, but the same light that had made me feel exposed had also kept my skin intact.
I was sitting there in the light, listening, unable to see very well because of that said light. I heard nothing, but could make out a tall thin figure across the street. He or she was just standing there facing this way. I stood and shielded my eyes with my hands to try and tell if I knew them.
It looked like Jay! I called to him, he just stood there…I yelled about how everyone’s been worried.
No response.
I suddenly had this feeling of dread run up my spine, that anxiety that makes your nerves twinge with adrenaline, that lovely fight or flight response. Right now everything in me screamed run. I stood there in a cold sweat as this Jay figure waved for me to come over. That was a big nope for me. I stood took a side step and glanced back just long enough to grab the doorknob. I look up again and there is Jay only now he’s on this side of the street! I realized then why he looked so wrong.
He looked like a doll, a puppet…and there was something off about his shadow. I don’t know how I did it I felt rooted in place, yet my body on its own accord ran inside slamming the door, locking it.
I ran thru the house ensuring all lights were on, shades closed and windows locked as well. The unusual commotion woke my bf and 2 other roommates. I explained the best I could but the 3 of them exchanged looks that screamed ‘girl with overactive imagination’.
Later that night as I laid in my locked room in my bfs warm arms I started to picture Jay and what was wrong with his shadow… it hit me, the shadow moved when Jay didn’t! Pictures of angler fish luring unknowing fish to its deadly jaws came to mind, but I pushed it away rationalizing that the guys were probably right and I had most likely dozed off and it had just felt real… I still slept with the light on and door locked.
That day my rationalization dissolved when Jay’s body was discovered in a dumpster less than a mile away. He had been mutilated but no real details had been released. The cops took my statement but they didn’t appear to believe me either.
I stayed in our room with the light on and the door locked the rest of that week, I just couldn’t shake the fear of that shadow. My bf feared I was developing a serious phobia.
A few times I tried to go near shadows but I’d reach into that dark room and click on the light just as something tugged my hand. I even installed a light under our stairs one day cus my ankle was clawed while walking down them. The worst was then I had dozed off, lost track of time and woke just as light was dimming.
I saw the Jay shadow without the Jay corpse puppet.
It was couched eagerly waiting for the shadows to reach me, it was flexing its long claws in anticipation, the even darker black pits where eyes should be gazed at me, the only thing not black on it were its rows of razor sharp teeth dripping with saliva. I felt like a little girl staring at the closet monster. I felt warmth spread as I lost control of my bladder. The shadow seemed pleased… no Idea how I knew that, I just did. I realized shadows blocked me from the light switch… I was screwed.
I shifted my weight in my dread and felt something hard slide out from under my pillow. My phone…. omg! My phone!! I picked it up aimed it. The Jay shadow seemed confused by my change of mood. I clicked my phones flashlight on and the evil thing let out an inhuman scream of pain. It retreated under my door to the shadows in the dark house. I started always keeping my phone fully charged, always keeping lights on, and staying up at nights just incase… which brings me to present.
I didn’t do my night routine, so I don’t have any of my back up lights on me, this phone is at 30%, that will not last long while using the flashlight, the Jay shadow is scratching at the door, probably just trying to season my flesh with terror. I still don’t know what it is, not sure where it came from or why it suddenly targeted Jay and then myself. All I can hope is it lets my bf live and that this documentation saves it from getting someone else. Please don’t let the thing figure out the fuse box.
***
I reported Addy missing today. I can’t believe she just dumped me like the cops suggested. She would never leave her phone behind, plus it was night time. She’d recently developed a severe fear of the dark…so why would she go out in it. It was weird that someone tripped the fuze box too. I just don’t even know what to think right now.
What is that?
It looks like Addy standing across the street waving at me to come over…