Living most of your life with insomnia gives you a lot of time to think, it also forces to find ways to keep yourself busy. For me, I used to enjoy going for long night walks. They gave me the freedom to think and do my own thing without bothering anyone at home. At the time, roughly 3 years ago, I lived in a studio apartment with my girlfriend up town New York. We lived in a quiet neighborhood with not too much traffic, which wasn’t I never ran into any problems while out for my walks assists from a few drug dealers and drunks. My girlfriend was always worried about me but reluctantly, she let me keep doing my night walks.
I refuse to go out past 10PM now. The walk started off as any other, I took the elevator down, and left the building around 2AM, I don’t recall the exact time. I headed up through the alley that leads to an old skate park, it’s always quiet in there because it’s so out-of-the-way. When I got there, I noticed a particularly odd piece of graffiti that must have just been painted as it was still running. It resembled an upside down diamond with two long curving branches extending off the top half painted in a dark brownish red. I regret to this day looking closer at it. It wasn’t in fact paint, But blood, paint doesn’t flow that fast, nor does it smell of metal. I should have turned back and gone home, called the police from there and that would have been the end of it. Instead, I tried to call the police from the skate park, there was no signal.
After leaving the area where the skate park was, I decided to continue on my walk, but stay out in the open where I would be able to get reception on my phone. Unfortunately I never did. I knew that the cops liked to patrol the neighborhood next to where I was, so I headed in that direction. That’s when I noticed “him” first. This figure, cloaked in the shadows was about twenty feet away from me, standing, staring at me. As I began to walk away from him I heard the sounds of frantic footsteps, like some one was running. I span around to see him, again standing behind me, but significantly closer. I wasn’t able to make out any features, the shadows hid his appearance but I knew he was still looking at me. Assuming he was just some crazy paranoid drunk or high person, I quickly crossed the street, the lights weren’t as bright but at least I wasn’t on the same side as him. I continued walking, looking over my shoulder every now and then to ensure he didn’t continue to follow.
I neared the turn-off for the next neighborhood, leaving the figure long behind me, and this feeling of dread set in. I don’t know exactly how to explain it, But the feeling you get in your gut, when a car accident is about to happen, or something else bad, the hairs on your arms stick up, you get this ringing in your ears, and this sinking feeling in your stomach. As I approached closer to the corner, the feeling grew worse and I began to hear this scratching noise, accompanied by the smell of rotting meat. I turned the corner and was faced with the most horrific sight I have ever witnessed, I saw, kneeling down before me, a man, pulling apart, and presumably eating the corpse of another, right there, no more than ten feet away from me. I began to tremble, I felt my stomach churn and a small whimper escaped my lips. The real fear didn’t set in until he turned my way. His face was covered in blood, the same dark brown/red as the graffiti. His eyes, were blood-shot and he had what looked like the horns of a ram sprouting from his forehead. I screamed, and ran, as fast as I could in the opposite direction, I heard a crazed laugh echo out behind me, followed by the frantic sounds of feet hitting the pavement. I ran for as long as I could, My lungs burning in my chest, and my heart beating against my throat. I looked around but saw no one, I had no idea where I was, But at least I was alone.
After I caught my breath, I began to figure out where I was. Thankfully, I was closer to my apartment, only about a half hour away. That’s when I saw him again, this time, he was walking, but as if he was injured. The man limped towards me, trying his best not to put pressure on either of his legs. At the time however, I didn’t recognize that it was in fact the same person. I assumed it was some drunk stumbling about and I just turned the other way and continued walking. I started to notice the rotting smell again, and it caused my heart to start beating faster, I was so caught up in the smell and the memories it brought back, I didn’t even notice that the limping man had made his way up to me, I only noticed when he grabbed me by the arm, yanking me towards him. I stumbled, and was turned, I stood, face to face with what I can only describe as the Devil. He had dark skin, plastered in dried blood, his eyes yellow and blood-shot, and the unmistakable curved horns of a ram, he stood about an inch shorter than me, he wore no clothes. His top half, that of a man, but his lower half hairy and hooved. The smell of rotting meat was over powering. Now, I wish I could say that I hit him, or that I screamed out for help, or ran, or anything, instead, I broke down. I sobbed, and wailed and struggled in his grasp. My cries and incessant flailing was met only with an animal like laugh. I managed to break free of his hold, and with tears in my eyes I ran, I ran to my apartment and up all four flights of stairs, his insane laugh ringing in my ears. I burst through the door, ran to the window to look to see if he was on the streets below. He wasn’t there thankfully.
My girlfriend and I moved the next day. I convinced her to leave the apartment and city all together. Thankfully she believed me. The police didn’t believe me, hell they still don’t. My dreams are plagued by the devil every night; I sleep less than three hours. I can feel myself slipping. I may have escaped the devil that night, but I fear I will seeing him again soon.
