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Prepare for a spine-chilling night with our collection of adult horror stories, crafted to keep you on edge as you drift into sleep. This volume features eerie, unsettling tales seamlessly woven with the calming sound of rain — the perfect mix of terror and tranquility.
Whether you're a die-hard horror fan or simply seeking a hauntingly immersive background for rest or relaxation, these terrifying stories will make your night unforgettable.
🎧 Pop in your headphones, dim the lights, and let the rain and whispers of fear guide you into a dark, dreamlike world.
👻 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more horror volumes to fall asleep to.
Sleep tight... if you can.
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0:00
story one have you ever heard a voice when no one was there not a loud voice not a
0:07
whisper just a sound like someone speaking behind a thin wall like someone
0:13
hiding just behind the edge of the dark i used to hear it every night in my old
0:20
house it's You hear it every night in my old house it started one autumn when the wind
0:28
would scream and the trees would scrape against the windows like long fingernails on
0:35
glass and something else came with it a voice not outside not inside but
0:41
somewhere in between i would lie in bed staring at the ceiling listening to the
0:46
strange low hum that seemed to echo from the corners of the room it was not the
0:53
house it was not the blood rushing through my ears it was
0:59
words always just on the edge of understanding always slipping away like
1:06
water through cupped hands but they were there i know they were there and I began
1:12
to wonder if it was trying to say something if it wanted me to listen so
1:18
one night I did i stopped thinking i stopped moving i let myself drift into
1:24
that place between sleep and waking and I listened and the words came slowly
1:29
like they were walking through a deep fog and they were my name again and
1:36
again not shouted not whispered but said in a voice that did not belong to
1:43
anyone i knew a voice that did not belong to anyone i knew a voice sounded
1:50
hollow like it had been buried a long time ago and dug up just to speak to me
1:55
i told myself it was my imagination i told myself dreams are
2:01
strange and the mind plays tricks especially when you are tired and alone and scared but that voice kept coming
2:10
back every night the same time the same rhythm my
2:15
name my name over and over until one night it said something
2:22
new it said come and I should have told someone but I didn't i should have told
2:30
someone but I didn't because something interest that voice felt like the truth
2:35
like it knew me better than anyone else ever could so
2:40
I followed it not in the real world not yet but in my dreams i saw a hallway
2:46
that stretched forever and I walked down it barefoot with the cold floor biting
2:51
at my my skin in and the walls breathing in and out like lungs and the voice was ahead of me always
2:59
just a few steps beyond saying my name and come come until I reached a door and
3:07
behind the door there was darkness thick like oil and I stepped through
3:16
it without thinking without fear without thought
3:22
the next morning I woke up with dirt under my nails and scratches on my arms
3:27
like I had been digging like I had been crawling through the earth and my mouth was dry and tasted like metal and my
3:36
eyes was dry and tasted like metal and my eyes burned like they had been
3:42
staring into something too bright or too deep and from that day on the voice was
3:47
not just in the night it was in the walls it was in the floor it was in the silence between words in
3:55
conversations I could hear it when others it could not and it always said
4:00
the same thing my name and come and now I stopped sleeping I stopped eating I
4:07
stopped speaking because every time I closed my eyes I saw that door and every
4:13
time I opened them I saw the shadows that moved when no one else did the mirror showed something that was not
4:20
me the reflection blinked when I did not the lights would flicker and I could
4:27
hear laughter in the static and I began to see things at the corner of my vision
4:32
faces hands shapes that vanished the moment I turned my head but they were there i knew they were there one night I
4:42
saw someone at the foot of my bed a figure thin and tall with limbs too long
4:47
and no face just skin stretched tight and dry like old
4:52
parchment and it leaned closer until its head was beside mine and it opened a
4:58
mouth that was not there and the voice came again not from its throat but from
5:03
everywhere and it said "Come home." And that is when I
5:09
remembered i was not born here not in this world not in this skin not in this
5:16
skin not in this this light I was taken brought into the warmth into the
5:23
safety but I did not belong and now they had found me
5:29
now they wanted me back and the voice was not a
5:35
warning it was an invitation and the dreams were not
5:40
dreams they were memories and the door was not a door it was a gate and it was mine to
5:49
open so I went back i went to the woods where the trees whispered in languages
5:54
older than sound where the air was thick and tasted of iron and ash and I walked
6:01
until I found the circle the one that till I found the
6:11
circle should not be there stones worn smooth by hands long dead carved with
6:18
symbols that burned to look upon and in the center was a hole not dug but born
6:24
of the earth itself and it pulsed like a heartbeat and I climbed down into it
6:30
because the voice was was so loud now so close and I could feel it in my bones
6:36
there was no light only warmth and pressure like being underwater and the deeper I
6:41
went the more I remembered faces places things that do not belong in this world
6:48
things with too many eyes and not enough
6:55
faces things that live in places you cannot point to on a map and names that
7:01
are not sounds but feelings and I knew them all and they knew me and they were
7:07
hungry i do not know how long I was gone i do not know if I ever left or if I
7:13
ever came back because when I opened my eyes I was in my bed and the sun was
7:18
rising and the birds were singing and the world was as it always had been but
7:24
different like it was wearing a mask and beneath it something else watched
7:29
through the cracks i do not speak anymore because when I open my mouth
7:35
their words come out i do not sleep because the dreams are not
7:42
dreams they are lessons and I do not look in mirrors because sometimes my
7:48
reflection smiles when I do not and now and now the voice is not calling me it
7:55
is calling you can you hear its story
8:00
two people said the forest behind the old orphanage is cursed not because of
8:05
ghosts not because of witches but because of silence deep heavy silence
8:11
the kind that eats
8:19
sound kind that lives like a thing with teeth the children used to say "If you go past
8:26
the first row of dead trees you will not come back the same if you come back at
8:31
all." I never believed them until I did my brother disappeared in those woods
8:37
his name was Elliot he was 10 i was 12 we had a fight he ran away into the
8:44
woods and I did not stop him i should have but I was angry so angry i waited 3
8:52
hours then I followed thinking I would scare him drag him back make him
8:59
apologize but I never found out him only his footprints and then nothing like the forest swallowed him
9:05
whole they searched for days no one found anything not a sock not a scrap
9:13
not a scream only that silence and the forest has never let me forget because every
9:20
year on the same day I hear him not clearly not
9:27
loudly but like a thought I did not have like something behind my eyes like his voice calling for help so I went back i
9:35
was 17 i waited until night i packed a bag i told no
9:42
one the forest was the same worse maybe empty or wrong i walked through rows of
9:49
trees that looked like bones tall and brittle and black their branches curled
9:55
like hands reaching for something that would not come and I heard it the
10:01
silence thick and alive it pushed against my ears against my ears against
10:07
my chest against my breath but beneath it was something else a sound soft
10:14
repeating like a child sobbing i followed it my flashlight flickered i
10:19
walked faster my feet sank into mud that was too warm too soft like flesh the
10:26
trees moved not with the wind but like they were breathing with lungs too large
10:32
to see and the sobbing grew louder but not closer like it was everywhere and
10:39
nowhere i called his name Elliot again and again and then he
10:46
answered a voice behind me cold and perfect not aged not
10:52
changed just Elliot i turned and there he was standing in the middle of the
10:58
path not a scratch not a tear wearing the same jacket he wore the day he
11:04
vanished blue with a broken zipper he smiled but not with his eyes they were
11:10
empty not sad not angry just blank he said i found the quiet you will too i
11:19
stepped back and he followed i said "Come home," he said "this is home." I
11:25
ran i ran through branches that tore my arms through thorns that gripped my legs
11:34
but the forest did not want me to leave it closed and tight heavy i tripped i fell i tasted
11:44
blood and then he was there above me looking down face inches from
11:49
mine expressionless he opened his mouth but it was not his voice that came
11:56
out it was the silence it poured out like black like black smoke like
12:03
ink like drowning i choked i screamed but no sound came out
12:11
i reached for something anything and found my flashlight i turned it on light
12:17
real light pure and bright and warm it burned his
12:25
skin his eyes he hissed no not hissed
12:30
screamed without sound like a wolf howling in a vacuum and then he was gone
12:37
i ran i did not look back i ran until the silence cracked and the wind
12:43
returned and the trees looked like trees again and the moon was real i collapsed
12:50
just beyond the orphanage gate they found me in the morning shaking bleeding
12:56
half mad i never went back but now the quiet comes to me in my sleep in my
13:03
walls in the spaces between thoughts i see him standing at the edge of my bed
13:10
mouth open silence spilling out waiting
13:15
calling and I know one day I will answer because the quiet never forgets and it
13:22
wants me to story three I was 6 years old when the
13:29
dreams began always the same always the hallway long narrow and
13:35
endless the walls were green but not like
13:41
grassmore the walls were green but not like grassmore like
13:47
sickness more like something rotting behind skin the lights buzzed above me
13:53
and the floor was sticky like syrup or blood i was barefoot i was always
13:59
barefoot and something followed behind me it never ran never screamed never
14:07
touched me but I I felt it and that feeling was worse than anything in the world the kind of fear that makes your
14:14
bones hurt and your teeth itch the kind of fear that makes you forget your name
14:19
i would run but the hallway stretched forever always one door just
14:25
ahead just a little further and when I reached it I would wake up sweating
14:32
shaking breathless years passed and the dream stayed with me not every night but
14:37
often enough to feel like a warning like a whisper waiting to become a scream i
14:42
told my mother once i told my mother once she said it was just stress but her
14:49
eyes went wide and her hands shook and she never let me bring it up again
14:55
i found out later she had the same dream when she was a child and her mother too
15:01
but they never talked about it and maybe that was their tongue up mistake
15:08
maybe silence fed it when I turned
15:17
15 the dream changed the hallway ended at the door
15:23
and this time it opened inside was a room filled with mirrors tall narrow
15:30
warped mirrors and in them I saw myself or something that looked like me
15:37
wrong the face was mine but the eyes were empty black holes that pulled at
15:43
the glass like gravity each mirror showed a different version of me but
15:49
they all had the same eyes the same smile wide and wrong and hungry one of
15:56
them stepped out of the mirror i turned and ran but the hallway behind me was
16:01
gone only darkness no walls no floor no
16:06
air just void i floated in it or fell or both i could not breathe but I did not
16:14
die i just kept falling inside myself inside the thing wearing my face and
16:21
then I woke up screaming after that the real world felt different colors were dull sounds echoed too
16:29
long and people moved like marionets with tangled strings i stopped sleeping
16:35
much i stopped talking much the mirrors in my house made me sick
16:41
too talking much the mirrors in my house made me sick to look at and eventually
16:48
we covered them my mother did not ask why maybe she
16:53
knew maybe she saw what I saw one night I stayed at a friend's house a sleepover
17:01
normal fun we watched movies and laughed and it
17:06
felt safe but when I closed my eyes the forey always came back brighter
17:15
this time cleaner and the thing behind me was closer i could hear it breathing
17:20
or maybe it was me maybe I had become it i reached the
17:27
door opened it stepped into the mirror room there was not alone
17:39
there were others five of them six all wearing my face all
17:45
watching they circled me humming a tune i did not recognize but somehow
17:51
remembered a lullabi maybe from before birth maybe from after death they sang
17:57
and the mirrors cracked but did not shattered a glass bent outward as if something was pressing from
18:04
within something wanting out they told me we are you and you are us and it is
18:11
time I woke up in the corner of my friend's room my nails torn and bloody
18:16
my face wet with tears or sweat or something else they never invited me
18:22
again and I did not blame
18:30
them face down smashed the ones I could not cover stopped going out
18:37
at night the hallway followed me into the day not in sleep but in flashes in
18:43
windows in polished metal in the way a door frame cast a shadow like an open
18:49
mouth it wanted me and I was beginning to want it too because the fear had
18:55
faded now there was only
19:00
numbness the kind of numb that comes before a scream the kind that means surrender
19:06
i tried to tell someone a teacher a priest even a stranger once no one
19:12
listened and why would listen and why would that what proof do I have that I
19:18
am not just insane i stopped talking stopped trying
19:23
the hallway became my only comfort because at least it was honest it never
19:30
lied never changed only stretched forever one day I followed it further than ever before past the door past the
19:38
mirrors into something else a room with walls made of teeth or maybe bones or
19:43
maybe fingers and there was a chair and on that chair was me tied with ropes
19:49
made of hair mouth sewn shut eyes wide and screaming without sound without
19:55
sound to around the room were more chairs more copies more versions more
20:01
nightmares some crying some laughing some missing pieces and they all looked
20:08
at me they all whispered "Welcome home." I
20:13
woke up in the woods 10 miles from my
20:19
house barefoot bleeding alone my mouth filled with ash
20:26
and my hands full of broken glass no one believed me they took me to doctors none
20:33
of them helped they gave me pills that made the hallway brighter made the
20:38
voices louder made the mirrors crack on their own and now I call
20:45
I know I will return i do not fear it i
20:50
long for it because that place is more real than this because the thing wearing
20:56
my face has waited long enough and it is time to take its turn to sleep while I
21:01
walk in its skin and smile at its friends and speak in its voice no one
21:06
will notice no one ever does and if they do it will be too late because I have
21:11
learned how to hum that song how to pull others and how to build the hallway brick by brick in someone else's mind
21:19
and now it is your turn tomb dream story
21:26
four they said the asylum was shut down for a reason not just because it was old
21:33
or unsafe but because something happened there something that left a scar on the
21:38
land a darkness that never fully went away when I was a child the other kids
21:44
told stories about it how they could see faces in the windows even though the place had been abandoned for over 50
21:51
years how sometimes at night they would hear screams drifting down from the hills long and sharp like someone being
21:59
torn open slowly but I was always skeptical
22:05
stories are just stories and kids lie all the time i thought it was all nonsense until the day my brother dared
22:12
me to go inside it was a cold October afternoon the sky was gray and heavy and
22:18
the wind moved like a sail whisper through the dying leaves he
22:24
told me to bring back something from inside something
22:33
real to prove I had gone in so I did i walked up the cracked steps pushed
22:44
open the rusted door and stepped into the dark the smell hit me first thick
22:51
like rot and mold and something sweet beneath it something metallic the kind of smell that clings
22:59
to your skin and your memories the floor creaked beneath my feet and every sound
23:05
echoed too long like the building was hollow and hungry the walls were covered
23:11
in peeling paint and old handprints some small some far too large the kind that could not belong to
23:19
any human i wandered through empty rooms each one colder than the last some still
23:26
had beds with straps and stains others had broken chairs others had broken
23:33
chairs and walls covered in scratches and numbers carved deep like someone was trying to count the days or maybe the
23:40
screams the air felt heavy like it did not want me there like it pressed down
23:45
on my shoulders and wrapped around my throat i found an old and old patient file on the floor soaked with moisture
23:52
but still readable the name was Eliza Ward age 8
23:58
admitted for hallucinations screaming at night claiming she saw people inside the
24:04
mirrors she was kept in solitary her final note said she vanished during a
24:10
lockdown never found no explanation and beside the note a child's drawing stuck to the wall with
24:17
something dark like glue it showed a girl with no eyes surrounded by shadows
24:23
with teeth and below it written in shaky letters they live in the
24:28
shardium glass i wanted to leave right then but
24:34
something pulled me deeper like a thread tugging at my bones telling me I needed to see more to understand so I kept
24:41
going down the hallway where the lights above flickered even though there should not
24:47
have been any power where the shadows moved like they were
24:52
breathing i reached the staircase that led to the lower level the basement where they kept the most unstable
24:58
patients according to the files and the rumors where people said the walls still
25:04
whispered at night the stairs groaned with each step like they remembered
25:10
every foot that had walked down them and screamed for each one that never came back the lower level was colder than
25:18
outside even colder than death the walls were covered in death the
25:24
walls were covered in strange drawings spirals and eyes and mouths too many
25:30
mouths all open all screaming in silence the lights did not work down there so I
25:36
used the flashlight on my phone and it barely pushed back the dark it felt like
25:41
walking underwater like every step it took more effort like the air was thicker and full of unseen things
25:49
i turned a corner and saw a door slightly open inside was a small room with a mirror on one wall untouched not
25:57
cracked not dusty almost new like it had just been cleaned and there in the
26:03
mirror was not my reflection but a little girl with black hair and hollow eyes she stood still
26:10
stared at me and smiled slowly and then her mouth began to open wider and wider
26:15
until it stretched across her entire face and I dropped my phone it tied my phone
26:22
i hit the floor with a crash and went out and the room went black and I heard
26:27
footsteps not behind me not in front of me but above like someone was walking on
26:32
the ceiling and breathing in my ear i fumbled for my phone turned it back on
26:39
and the mirror i fumbled for my phone turned it back on and the mirror was
26:44
just a mirror again and the room was empty but the air still
26:50
smelled like iron and sugar and something was humming very softly like a
26:55
lullabi plate in reverse i ran out of that room down the
27:00
hallway back up the stairs and out into the gray back up the stairs and out into the
27:07
gray light of day but when I reached home I realized I had not come back
27:13
alone the mirrors in my house began to act strange first small things like my
27:19
reflection blinking when I did not or turning its head a second too slow then worse I saw her
27:27
again the rare girl with hollow eyes staring from the bathroom mirror or from the dark screen of the
27:34
TV when it was off just standing there waiting and then I began to dream of the
27:41
asylum again walking its halls of the tour the blueprints rooms filled with
27:47
bones and broken toys and scribbled messages on the walls saying things like "Open the door and
27:54
let us out and we see you watching." At first I thought I was going mad but then
27:59
my brother saw her too he he screamed one night pointing at the
28:06
hallway mirror saying "She is in there she is watching." And the next day he stopped
28:14
talking completely just sat in his room staring at his reflection like he
28:19
was waiting for something and then one night he vanished he vanished his window
28:24
was locked from the inside his door too no signs of struggle just one message
28:29
left on his mirror written in something dark and wet she took me home i tried to
28:35
tell people but no one believed me they said he ran away but I know the truth
28:41
i know she is real and she wants more every night she comes closer now
28:48
not just in mirrors but in reflections in glass in water in anything that shows a face and each time she looks more like
28:55
me less like the girl from the asylum more like something wearing my skin and
29:01
I know soon she will step out and I will step in and no one will know the difference no one ever does they will
29:09
see my face and hear my voice and think I am still here but I will be on the
29:15
other side screaming behind the glass but and you might be next because
29:20
once you know her once you see her she sees you too and she never forgets and
29:28
she never lets go story five the town of Black Hollow was not on
29:34
any map not anymore not since the fire and even before that people
29:40
avoided it not out of fear exactly but out of instinct the kind of instinct that tells
29:47
animals when to run before a storm hits or when the ground is about to shake they said the town was cursed but no one
29:55
could agree on why some said it was built on stolen land others said
30:02
something ancient lived beneath it something that should never have been woken when I found the place i was not
30:08
looking for it not really i was on a road trip trying to clear my head after the kind
30:15
of year that takes everything from from you job gone relationship over family
30:21
distant and cold i was just driving with no destination no plan when the sign
30:29
started to appear first just one a rusted road marker that read black
30:34
hollow 5 miles the letters looked like they had been
30:40
burned the letters looked like they had been burned into the metal and yet the
30:45
sign looked new the kind of new that should not exist out there in the middle of nowhere
30:52
i drove on something pulled at me not curiosity not fear something deeper like
30:58
a thread wrapped around my ribs tugging gently insistently and so I followed the
31:03
road as it narrowed and the trees pressed close and the light began to dim
31:08
even though it was midday i reached the town as the sky turned
31:14
gray the buildings were still standing mostly old wooden structures leaning like tired bones windows shattered doors
31:23
a jar the main street was lined with shops all abandoned yet strangely
31:29
untouched no graffiti no signs of animals no dust even just empty
31:36
like everyone had stepped out for lunch and never came back i parked and stepped
31:42
out the air was thick with silence not just quiet but silence like the world
31:48
itself was holding its breath like sound was not allowed i walked down the center of the
31:55
street my footsteps the only thing that existed then I saw her a girl maybe 10
32:03
years old standing in front of what looked like an old bakery her dress was pale blue and her hair hung in long dark
32:10
strands over her face she stared at me without moving without blinking I called
32:17
out asked if she was lost if she needed help she she turned and walked through
32:23
the bakery door which closed behind her i followed the door creaked open with a
32:28
groan but the bakery was empty dust coated every surface the floor was
32:34
covered in ash and soot like there had been a fire but the counters and shelves were untouched and there was no sign of
32:40
the girl I should have left then I should have gotten in my car
32:47
and driven until the road disappeared but the thread inside me tugged again and I stepped deeper into
32:54
the town exploring each building finding more signs that people
33:00
had lived here recently but no people no animals not
33:06
even insects just silence and the occasional whisper that was not a whisper like the wind pretending to be a
33:12
voice calling my name from a direction I could not place I found the town hall at the center of
33:18
Black Hollow a tall building with broken glass and twisted beams inside i found a
33:25
wall covered in photographs old black and white portraits of the town's people
33:31
their names written beneath their faces all of them men's written beneath their
33:37
faces all of them smiling but their eyes were wrong not
33:43
just empty but aware aware of me aware of something behind the camera something watching them and in the center of the
33:49
wall was a large mirror framed in wood that looked freshly cut as if it had been
33:55
installed yesterday I saw my reflection but the room behind me was
34:01
different the photos in the mirror were moving the people inside them were
34:07
walking turning blinking their heads twisted slowly toward me and I backed
34:12
away the mirror rippled like water and the girl stepped out she stood
34:19
before me again same pale dress same dark
34:25
hair but this time her eyes were black as pitch and her mouth opened not to
34:31
speak but to scream except there was no sound just the image of the
34:37
scream a silence so loud it hurt my ears i turned and ran out of the town hall
34:44
but the town had changed the streets were longer the buildings
34:49
taller the sky darker the air thicker i ran to my car but it was gone and its
34:58
place was an old carriage broken and rotting i was not in my world i was not
35:04
in my world i anymore not in my time the sun was gone
35:11
and the lights in the buildings flickered with a cold blue glow figures moved in the windows people but not
35:18
people tall thin eyes glowing limbs too long and spines that bent the wrong way
35:24
they watched me as I walked backward down the street trying to find something anything that made
35:31
sense then the whispers returned louder this time clearer they said "We see you
35:39
we know you we have always known you and then the girl was beside me
35:45
holding my hand and the girl was beside me holding my hand and leading me to the
35:51
church at the end of the road its steeple broken its bell silent we
35:56
entered and the doors slammed shut behind us inside were rows of pews and
36:02
dozens of children all pale all staring all silent they turned in unison as the
36:09
girl led me to the altar where a book lay open its pages blank until I touched it
36:18
and then words appeared your name your sin your
36:24
silence and the children began to hum low and cold and wrong and the girl
36:30
climbed onto the altar and her face split open not with blood not with pain
36:36
but like paper torn down the middle and inside was light not warm not
36:42
bright but hungry and that light pulled at me stretched me unraveled
36:49
me and I saw my memories flicker in the air above the children my lies my
36:55
regrets my regrets my failures all laid bare like wounds and then the whisperer
37:01
said "Stay stay." And the children said "Stay with us." And the girl said "You
37:08
belong here now." And I screamed but it was not a
37:13
sound it was a thought
37:21
and then I was outside again standing in front of my car the sun was out the birds were
37:28
singing and everything was normal except it was not the road was gone replaced by
37:35
trees and mist and when I looked in the rear view mirror the girl stared back
37:41
from the back seat smiling eyes black and mouth shut and the radio whispered
37:48
"Welcome home i drove for hours days maybe but every road led back to Black
37:55
Hollow every sign pointed the way and every time I tried to escape the sky
38:00
would darken and the silence would return and now I live in the town not
38:07
because I want to but because it is part of me and I am part of it and soon you will be
38:12
too because you read this because you listened and now it knows your name it
38:19
will whisper to you in your dreams it will show you the girl in
38:24
reflections it will show you the girl in reflection in the corner of your eye in the places between
38:31
moments and it will wait and one day you will follow the signs just like I
38:38
did and we will be here waiting in the silent story six people said "Do not go into
38:46
the forest pass the old mill not because of wolves or
38:52
bears or quicksand but because of the bell that rings when there is no wind and the path that appears where no path
38:58
was before the old folks called it the hollow path and
39:05
said "It led to a place not meant for the living a place that remembers your
39:11
sins and shows you what you deserve my cousin." Ben never believed in those
39:17
stories he laughed when we told him about the bell and the whispers in the shadow that
39:23
follows you home so one summer evening when the sky was the color of a bruises
39:28
and the air smelled like burnt leaves he decided to go he told me he
39:35
would walk the forest path until he heard the bell and then he would keep going just to prove it was all made up i
39:43
went with him because I was scared for him and because he dared me and because something deep in me wanted to see if it
39:49
was true we brought flashlights and water and a compass even though none of
39:54
that would matter once we stepped off the trail the trees in that part of the woods grow too
40:02
close together their branches knitting overhead like twisted fingers blocking the sky the air gets heavy like it is
40:10
soaked in water or blood and the sounds of the world fade until even your breath feels loud we walked
40:18
for almost an hour before we heard it faint and far away like a church bell underwater deep and slow one ring then
40:26
another and another ben grinned and looked back at me like he had caught me
40:32
in a lie and he said "See nothing to it
40:37
probably an old animal trap hitting metal or the wind shaking a rusted
40:43
sign but the air was still and the wind was dead and every sound around us had
40:49
stopped not even the bugs made a noise then we saw at the path winding off to
40:54
the left where there had only been trees before a narrow trail lined with dead leaves with for a narrow trail lined
41:01
with dead leaves and pale stones like bones turned gray with time ben walked
41:06
ahead laughing and I followed because I was too scared to be alone and too proud to turn back the deeper we
41:14
went the colder it got even though it was still summer our breaths came out in
41:22
summer our breaths came out inch clouds and the trees looked older like they had
41:27
been carved by time itself the bark was split and weeping dark sap and the
41:33
branches seemed to lean toward us as if they were listening we began to see
41:38
things small things at first faces in the trees that vanished when you looked
41:44
straight at them shadows that moved the wrong way and once I saw Ben step in a
41:51
patch of dirt that seemed to ripple like water but he did not notice or pretended
41:57
not to we came to a clearing at the heart of the path a circle of stones covered in moss
42:04
and inside the circle was a wellm an old stone
42:10
well with no bucket no rope just a black hole in the
42:17
earth Ben said we should drop a rock in and
42:22
see how deep it went he picked one up tossed it
42:27
in and waited there no sound not even a
42:34
splash just silence that grew thicker like it was climbing out of the well itself
42:40
then the bell rang again loud and close and the shadows in the trees leaned
42:45
forward like they were waking up then turned to me and laughed but his
42:52
face was pale and his eyes too wide and then something grabbed him not with
42:57
hands or claws but with the ground itself the earth cracked and pulled at
43:02
his legs and he screamed and grabbed my arm but he was too heavy or I was too
43:09
weak and he was too weak and he
43:15
was sinking fast i tried to hold on i swear I
43:21
did but he looked at me with those wide eyes and said "Run just run." And then
43:27
he was gone swallowed by the earth like he had never been there i ran not caring
43:33
were just away the path behind me shifted trees moved stones rearranged
43:39
themselves and the bell kept ringing louder faster like a heartbeat and the whispers came then low and cold and
43:46
angry they called my name told me I was
43:51
next told me I was next told me the forest knew and done nothing told me the
43:57
forest knew remembered and would not let go i
44:02
stumbled through brambles and roots that reached for my ankles and branches that tore at my face i saw shapes moving just
44:10
beyond the edge of vision long and thin and wrong like something drawn by a hand
44:15
that had had that had never seen a living thing i tripped and fell and when I looked up the forest had changed the
44:22
trees were taller and blacker and the moon above me was red and cracked like an open wound i crawled until my hands
44:29
bled and then I saw the mill the old broken building where we had
44:36
started but it was not broken anymore it stood tall and new its wheel turning
44:42
slowly in the black water and the windows glowed with a pale blue light i
44:49
got up and walked to the door because there was nowhere else to go because
44:54
there was nowhere else to go and inside I found the town's people not alive not
45:00
dead just still frozen in place with their eyes open and mouths moving silently like they were stuck in the
45:06
moment they were taken and Ben was there too standing by the fire staring into the
45:12
flames and when he turned to look at me his eyes were black and empty and he said "You left me." And the others said
45:19
"You brought us." And the bell rang again and the ground shook and the light turned red and then I woke up outside
45:26
the forest on the edge of the forest on the edge of the path covered in mud and
45:31
blood and leaves my hands raw my shoes gone my compass broken i ran home and
45:39
locked every door and told no one but I saw Ben in my dreams every
45:45
night and the bell still rings sometimes just once just enough and last
45:53
week I found a note on my window in handwriting that was not mine it said
45:59
the path remembers the forest waits and you are marked now you belong to it and
46:05
one night I know the trail will appear again and I will follow it not because I want to but because I want to but
46:12
because I have no choice and when that day comes I will not return and someone
46:18
else will hear the bell and find the path and the forest will grow story seven someone told me never to
46:25
speak the name of the house on Black Ridge Hill they said it was cursed they
46:32
said the ones who built it were never seen again and the ones who entered it were never the
46:37
same but I did not believe in such things not until I saw the house myself
46:44
not until it called to me it was on the edge of town far from the
46:49
roads wrapped in ivy and shadow with windows like open eyes and doors that
46:55
never stayed closed the air around it was cold even
47:00
in summer and the grass never grew no birds ever landed on the roof no animals
47:06
ever wandered close it was like nature itself had a declared
47:12
it forbidden when I was a boy i would stare at it from the woods across the field daring myself to get closer every
47:19
year inching forward until finally on a dare from some older kids i crossed the
47:24
dead yard and placed my hand on the front on the front door it was warm like
47:31
skin and I felt it pulse under my palm and then the wind howled and I ran
47:37
faster than I ever had and for a while that was enough but as I grew older the
47:43
house never left my thoughts i would dream of its halls its staircases its
47:48
staircases its rooms lined with mirrors and fire light even though I had never seen them and when I moved away and
47:56
tried to forget the dreams only grew stronger they whispered things to me
48:01
showed me flashes of figures with hollow eyes and mouths full of teeth and mouths
48:06
full of teeth and but always the house waiting patient hungry so after a decade
48:13
I returned not for closure but because I could not bear to stay away any longer
48:19
the house had become a part of me and I had to know what was inside i arrived
48:25
just before dusk with only a sucked flashlight and a journal where I had written down the
48:31
dreams the sky was bleeding orange and the air was thick with silence not quiet
48:38
but deep silence the kind that fills your ears and presses on your chest the door was
48:46
open not wide just enough to see darkness beyond and when I stepped
48:52
inside the air was warm and damp and the floor creaked like it remembered me the
48:57
foyer was grand covered in dust but untouched by time chandeliers of bone
49:02
and glass hung from the ceiling and the walls were drunk lined with portraits whose faces
49:09
changed when I looked away some smiled others wept but all of them
49:16
watched me i walked slowly deeper into the house past doors that opened on their own past furniture that shifted
49:22
when I was not looking i came to a room filled with clocks none
49:28
ticking yet all set to different times and when I closed the door behind
49:34
me they all began to chime at once the sound like screaming metal and breaking bones i fell to my knees and covered my
49:42
ears but it did not stop not until I
49:48
whispered "I am here." And then silence returned and the door opened on its own
49:55
i continued exploring drawn by something deeper than curiosity the walls pulsed like lungs
50:03
the floor felt soft like skin and the lights flickered not with electricity
50:09
but with fire that had no source in one room I found a mirror that showed not my
50:15
reflection but me as a child crying in the woods calling for someone who never
50:20
came and when I touched the glass it felt like water and my hand
50:26
disappeared for a moment and came back covered in something black and sticky
50:31
and cold i wiped it on the wall and it hissed
50:36
like steam then I heard it footsteps slow and heavy coming from the upper
50:42
floor i followed them up a staircase that twisted like a spine at each step moaning under my
50:50
weight and at the top I found a hallway lined with doors and each one had a name
50:55
carved into it and one of them was mine i opened
51:05
I opened it slowly inside was a
51:16
room poster same crack in the wall and sitting on the bed was me not a
51:23
reflection not a memory but me eyes wide in mouth sewn shut tears streaming down
51:32
my face i backed out and slammed the door but the footsteps were still coming
51:38
from down the hall now now faster angry I ran through the corridor opening doors
51:45
at random finding impossible things a library with books that whispered in
51:51
tongues a nursery filled with dolls that turned their heads in unison a ballroom
51:57
where shadows danced without partners and in every room the house felt more
52:02
alive breathing pulsing whispering my name again and again until it became a
52:08
chant i found the stairs to the attic and climbed up and at the top was a
52:13
single chair facing a window and in the chair was her thief lady in white from
52:19
my dreams hair floating like smoke fingers long and thin eyes like
52:25
stars she turned to look at me and smiled and it was the saddest thing I
52:30
had ever seen she said "Welcome home." And her voice was a thousand
52:37
voices layered over each other and she reached out to me and touched my chest
52:43
and my heart stopped but I did not fall instead I saw everything the house
52:50
had seen the people who had come before me the things it had shown them the
52:56
horrors it had become for them and I saw what it wanted from me not fear not
53:03
worship but memory it fed on what we left behind on our guilt our shame our
53:11
broken dreams and in that moment I understood I could not leave because I had given myself to
53:17
it long ago in those dreams in those thoughts I had fed it
53:24
piece by piece and now it owned me she stood and walked through me and I
53:29
felt her inside my bones and now I walk the halls of the house each day seeing
53:35
new rooms that were not there before hearing new voices calling to me and
53:41
sometimes I see others people like you standing at the door wondering if they should come
53:47
in and sometimes they do and I watch and
53:52
I wait and I remember because that is what the house
53:59
is it is memory it is
54:05
pain it is the past you cannot bury it will grow
54:11
and shift and become you and when you finally leave if you ever do you will
54:17
not be whole and you will dream of this place and you will return just like I did and
54:25
the house will open for you and it will remember your name
54:34
story eight they always said the marsh beyond the ridge was
54:42
cursed not because of old legends or whispered tales but because people who went there
54:48
sometimes came back wrong or not at all they said the ground was soft and
54:55
the fog never left and the air smelled like things that should not
55:01
be and if you listen too long you would hear your own name being called in
55:06
voices that were not yours i never believed any of it until
55:12
my sister went missing we had been camping by the ridge with a group of friends celebrating the end by of summer
55:19
when she wandered off sometime after midnight the others said she went to find a better signal for her phone but I
55:27
knew she had heard it too the soft singing that came from the trees just before dark the sound that made the birds go
55:34
silent and the fire flicker blew we searched for hours calling her
55:42
name until our voices
55:49
cracked but the marsh swallowed every sound and the fog grew thicker until we
55:55
could not see the stars and then something started following us slow and patient like it knew we would tire
56:02
before it did we made it back to camp without her and called the police and
56:07
the search teams came with dogs and lights and boats but found nothing not
56:13
even a shoe not even a footprint
56:19
they called it an
56:26
accident said she had fallen into the deep mud and sunk out of
56:32
reach but I never believed them because sometimes at night I would hear her
56:38
voice outside my window calling my name softly asking me to come help her and
56:45
when I looked there would be nothing but mist on the glass i sheared tried to move on tried to
56:56
forget but something in me had changed like a part of me had been left in that fog and it was still reaching out
57:02
pulling me back i began to dream of the marsh standing at its edge
57:09
barefoot in the cold mud watching shadows stance in the fog and always the
57:16
voice calling me deeper and every morning I would wake up with dirt under my nails and wet footprints on the floor
57:24
and I knew then that I had to go back not to find her not really but to end
57:30
whatever had started that night so I packed light and left
57:37
just before dawn when the sky was gray and silent and the world felt like it
57:43
was holding its breath the path to the ridge was
57:49
overgrown but familiar and the closer I got the colder it became like the heat
57:56
had been bled out of the earth itself the trees leaned in and the birds stayed
58:02
quiet and when I reached the edge of the marsh the fog was waiting thick and low and unmoving like a blanket held by
58:08
unseen hands i stepped in and the mud welcomed me like it had had been waiting
58:15
soft and warm and hungry i walked for hours but the landscape never changed
58:20
water trees fog again and again like the world was looping around me then I saw
58:25
her standing between two twisted trees barefoot and smiling eyes hollow in skin
58:32
pale like paper she said come home in a voice that was almost hers but not quite
58:39
and when I stepped toward her she vanished into the mist and the ground gave way beneath me i fell into black
58:46
water deeper than it should have been and hands grabbed at me pulling me down
58:51
and I saw faces in the dark bloated and broken eyes wide with hunger and mouths
58:57
full of mud i kicked and screamed until I hit something solid and dragged myself
59:04
out coughing up brackish water and blood the fog was thicker now and
59:11
oh the fog was thicker now the trees were wrong too tall too thin moving when
59:17
they should not i wandered until my legs gave out and then I crawled and then I stopped
59:24
and that was when it spoke not my sister not the wind but
59:30
something older deeper it said "You came." And I said
59:37
"I want her back." And it said "She is part of me now as are you." And then I
59:46
saw them the others the ones who had gone missing over the years staring from
59:52
the trees blank and still eyes glowing faintly with the same cold light that
59:58
now pulsed under my skin with the same cold light that now
1:00:03
pulsed under my skin and I realized then that the marsh does not kill it keeps it
1:00:08
absorbs it feeds and it waits for those who listen too closely those who love
1:00:14
too deeply those who refused to let go and I screamed but there was no one to
1:00:19
hear and I ran but the trees but I ran but the trees moved to block my way and
1:00:26
the fog grew thicker until it was inside me until I could not tell if I was breathing or drowning
1:00:35
and then I saw my sister again she reached for me and said "Stay." And I
1:00:41
almost did because her voice was softer now more like I remembered and for a
1:00:47
moment I forgot where I was but then I saw her feet not touching the ground and
1:00:53
the way her smile did not reach her eyes and I turned and ran with everything i
1:00:59
had no longer trying to find her just trying to get away the marsh just trying to get away the marsh
1:01:05
shifted under me pulling and twisting and the voices screamed in rage but I
1:01:10
kept running until I burst through the fog and found myself back at the ridge covered in mud and shaking and empty i
1:01:19
do not remember how I got home only that I woke in my moch i got home bed days later with
1:01:26
bruises on my arms in the shape of hands and mud still in my hair and now the
1:01:32
dreams have stopped but something else has taken their place i see things out of the corner of my eye long thin
1:01:39
figures standing still in the shadows reflections that linger to long
1:01:49
lights that flicker when I pass and I know it is not done with me because at
1:01:56
night I still hear her whispering through the walls asking me to come back
1:02:02
saying it is better in the fog saying we are never alone
1:02:08
there and sometimes when I am tired or sad or thinking of her I almost believe
1:02:14
it and one day maybe I will go back because part of me never left and the
1:02:20
marsh always remembers story nine it was the kind of place that no one
1:02:25
ever remembered but everyone knew about the house at the end of Old Willow Lane hidden by trees that never lost their
1:02:31
leaves and a fence that was always crooked the kind of place that children dared each other to
1:02:38
touch but no one ever stayed too long it was always there yet no ways
1:02:47
there yet no one could say when it was built or by whom the house had always
1:02:53
stood like a shadow at the end of the street old crooked windows and a door that never seemed to shut properly when
1:03:00
the wind blew and if you stared too long at the house its windows seemed to move like eyes and one
1:03:08
afternoon when I was a child I found myself standing in front of it alone i
1:03:14
had heard the stories of the house how it was abandoned how the family who
1:03:19
lived there had vanished without a trace but none of
1:03:25
that mattered then curiosity was stronger than caution i pushed open the
1:03:32
gate which creaked loudly and stepped into the yard the air was thick with the scent of damp earth and something else
1:03:40
something else something sour like something rotting inside the
1:03:45
walls i stood there staring at the front door which hung a jar it beckoned me
1:03:51
like a whisper in the dark and something inside told me to walk in so I did as if
1:03:57
my feet were moving without my permission i stepped onto the porch and heard the boards groan under my m wait i
1:04:04
stood there for a moment staring at the door and I don't know why I didn't turn back then maybe it was the
1:04:11
silence maybe it was the emptiness around me but I walked in
1:04:17
anyway the door opened without a sound and the inside was dark so dark so
1:04:25
dark so dark that even the shadows seemed afraid of the
1:04:30
corners the air was thick and cold and the floor creaked with every step I
1:04:36
took i remember the feeling of the old wood under my feet the smell of decay that seemed to
1:04:43
cling to every surface and the silence that wrapped itself around me like a blanket so tight that it was hard to
1:04:50
breathe i wandered through the house rooms that had been left just as they were the day they disappeared chairs
1:04:56
turned to the wall tables stacked with old newspapers that had a yellowed with age mirrors that were covered in dust
1:05:03
and cobwebs but as I moved from room to room the house seemed to stretch further ahead of me no matter how much I walked
1:05:11
it never ended i turned a corner and found a staircase leading up to a second
1:05:16
floor i knew I shouldn't go up there but I did anyway the stairs
1:05:23
groaned under my weight and when I reached the top I saw a hallway that
1:05:29
seemed endless just doors on either side stretching into the
1:05:34
dark the walls were covered with faded wallpaper that peeled away in
1:05:40
places and there was something about the air here something that made my skin
1:05:46
prickle like fingers touching me from all directions as I walked down the
1:05:51
hall unsure why I didn't turn back i reached for one of the doors but it was
1:05:59
locked i tried another and then another but they were all locked until I reached
1:06:05
the last door at the end of the hall and when I opened it I saw nothing at first
1:06:11
just a room full of dust and broken furniture but then I noticed something
1:06:16
on the floor a piece of paper i bent down to pick it up and when I read it the words seemed
1:06:24
to swim on the page they said "You shouldn't be here go back now." And
1:06:30
before I could move the door slammed shut behind me and I turned to find the room was
1:06:35
no longer empty something had changed there was a
1:06:41
figure standing in the corner a figure so tall that its head brushed the ceiling its face was obscured by
1:06:51
shadows but I could feel its eyes on me and the air grew
1:06:56
colder still I tried to scream but no no sound came out i turned
1:07:03
to run but the door wouldn't open the figure stepped forward its footsteps slow and deliberate like it had all the
1:07:10
time in the world it reached out a hand long thin fingers stretched toward me and I tried to back away but my tried to
1:07:18
back away but my legs wouldn't move i could feel its cold touch brush against
1:07:23
my skin and then everything went black when I woke up i was outside in front of
1:07:28
the house again the sky was gray and the trees seemed darker than before i had no idea
1:07:36
how long I had been how long I had been unconscious or how I had gotten back
1:07:43
outside but I knew one thing i would never go back into that house again i didn't speak to anyone about
1:07:52
what happened not then not ever and for years the memory of that day faded into
1:07:57
the back of my mind as memories do but I could never forget the feeling of those
1:08:03
cold fingers on my skin the way the air seemed to hum with something unseen and
1:08:09
the sound of footsteps in the dark and every time I passed that house I felt it
1:08:14
watching me i tried to ignore i tried to ignore it i tried to forget that the
1:08:21
house was always there lurking at the end of Willow Lane always waiting for me i grew older and
1:08:29
life went on but there were nights when I couldn't sleep when I would lie awake
1:08:35
staring at the ceiling and thinking about the house and the figure standing in the corner of that room and I began
1:08:42
to wonder if the house had been a dream if it was just my imagination or
1:08:48
if it had been real because sometimes I thought I could still hear the footsteps echoing down the hall and the soft
1:08:56
whisper of a voice calling my name in the dark and sometimes I would wake up in the middle
1:09:02
of the night with the taste of dust in my mouth and the feeling that something was standing at the foot of my bed
1:09:08
watching me i would get up and check the doors and the windows but there was
1:09:13
never anything there just the empty silence of the house that was never truly empty
1:09:20
it was always there waiting in the shadows for me to return for me to remember i moved away from the town and
1:09:27
forgot about Willow Lane or so I thought but sometimes when I close my
1:09:36
eyes I can still see the house standing at the end of the street waiting waiting
1:09:41
for someone to walk through its door someone to enter its darkness and never leave
1:09:49
and sometimes when I dream I hear the footsteps again slow
1:09:54
and patient and I know that someday I will return to that house whether I want to or not and when I do it will be
1:10:01
waiting for me because the house does not forget and neither does what waits
1:10:06
inside it and when I cross the threshold again it will know my name and it will
1:10:14
take me story 10 there is a house just outside town on the hill near the edge of the forest its
1:10:22
windows are always dark and its doors never seem to stay closed not that anyone ever
1:10:28
goes near it the people in town say it is cursed but no one knows why they just
1:10:35
know it is a place of bad luck of things that go wrong for anyone who dares to
1:10:41
approach it the house has stood there as long as anyone can remember and the
1:10:46
stories surrounding it it had grown more twisted over time when I was young my
1:10:52
grandmother would tell me about it she would sit by the fire and talk about how the house was once full of life full of
1:10:59
laughter and warmth but then something happened something happened something
1:11:06
happened something had that changed everything
1:11:14
the family who lived there disappeared one night without a trace they say the father was a
1:11:20
scientist who worked on strange experiments in his spare time trying to unlock the mysteries of life and death
1:11:27
they say he became obsessed with the idea of immortality and that he found something
1:11:33
that changed him something that made him do terrible things he started locking
1:11:39
himself in his study for days on end never eating never sleeping the only
1:11:44
sound that came from the house that came from the house was the scratching of his pen against paper but one day he stopped
1:11:52
coming out and no one ever saw him again the rest of the family was never found
1:11:58
either but some say that the house itself took them that it took their souls and trapped them
1:12:05
inside the walls where they still roam to this day my grandmother would tell me
1:12:10
these stories in the dead of night when the wind howled outside and the shadows crept across the
1:12:17
floor and even though I knew they were just stories part of me believed them because the house was real i had seen it
1:12:23
with my own eyes i had stood in front of it with the air thick with silence and the ground hard
1:12:29
underfoot but I never went inside i had always been too scared it was a place no
1:12:36
one talked about a place people avoided and as I grew older I forgot about it or
1:12:42
at least I thought I did but there was something about the
1:12:47
house something that always lingered in the back of my mind i couldn't shake the
1:12:53
feeling that it was waiting for me and one night I decided to go back to that
1:12:58
hill to see the house with my own eyes for the first time in years i walked up
1:13:04
the path through the trees the air was cold and thick with fog and the wind
1:13:10
whispered strange things in my ears as I walked I thought I could hear voices
1:13:16
faint and distant carried on the breeze but when I turned to look no one was
1:13:22
there the closer I got the more uneasy I felt but still I pushed on i reached the
1:13:29
house just as the sun began to set casting long shadows across the
1:13:36
yard the house stood there tall and empty its windows like hollow eyes
1:13:44
staring down at me i could feel it watching me as I stepped closer
1:13:50
the door creaked open on its own as if inviting me inside i hesitated
1:13:56
for a moment but then I stepped across the
1:14:02
threshold the eerie air inside was thick with dust and the scent of something
1:14:08
stale and old
1:14:14
the floorboards creaked under my weight and the walls seemed to groan as if they were alive i stepped further into the
1:14:22
house the door swinging shut behind me with a soft thud and I felt a chill run through me i
1:14:31
was not alone the feeling was unmistakable i was being watched i walked down the hall the
1:14:39
walls lined with old portraits of people i didn't recognize their eyes
1:14:45
seemed to follow me wherever I went and the air grew grew colder the deeper I went the house felt like it was alive
1:14:53
breathing with me with every step I took I could feel the weight of its presence
1:14:59
pressing in around me like it was closing in on me i found myself at the base of a
1:15:05
staircase leading up into the darkness i knew I shouldn't go up there but
1:15:10
something pulled me forward i had to know what was at the top i climbed the stairs slowly each
1:15:18
step groaning under my feet the darkness at the top seemed to swallow the light
1:15:23
from the hallway below and there she when I reached the top the air was
1:15:29
heavier the silence more oppressive i walked down the hallway and the doors on
1:15:36
either side were closed but I could feel something behind them i tried the first
1:15:41
door but it was locked i tried the
1:15:47
second but it too was locked and then I reached the last door at the end of the
1:15:52
hall i hesitated for a moment but then I pushed it
1:15:57
open the room inside was dark and cold and I stepped in my footfalls muffled by
1:16:04
the thick carpet the air smelled of decay and rot and there was something on
1:16:10
the floor a strange shape half hidden under a tattered rug i bent down to
1:16:17
look and when I moved the rug aside my heart
1:16:22
stopped it was a body not just anybody but the body of a man his eyes
1:16:30
wide open staring at me with a look of terror frozen on his face his mouth open
1:16:36
as if he had been screaming but there was no sound i could feel my blood run
1:16:42
cold as I looked closer his hands were bound and there were marks on his skin
1:16:48
like something had been carved into him i stood there for a moment unable to
1:16:53
move unable to breathe but then something in the corner of the room
1:16:58
caught my eye it was a book an old leatherbound book lying on a desk in the
1:17:04
corner i walked over to it and opened it the pages were yellowed and opened it
1:17:11
the pages were yellowed and brittle and the writing was faded but I could make out a few words at the top of the page
1:17:18
the father i felt a chill run down my spine as I read on the book was filled with notes and drawings of strange
1:17:25
symbols and formulas things that made no sense that made no sense to me but they
1:17:32
felt familiar somehow I turned the page and saw a drawing of a house the very house
1:17:39
I was standing and the symbols around it seemed to pulse and shift as if they
1:17:45
were alive the words beneath the
1:17:50
drawing said the house feeds it feeds on those who enter its
1:17:57
doors and I realized then what had happened to the family that had lived here they had been taken consumed by the
1:18:05
house trapped in its walls forever but worse than that was
1:18:10
the realization that the house had not forgotten
1:18:17
it has had not forgotten it had been waiting for me and
1:18:23
it would not let me leave not without a price the door slammed shut behind me
1:18:29
and the lights flickered as something cold and heavy settled in the room i turned around and saw the shadows shift
1:18:36
moving like liquid crawling up liquid crawling up at the walls and the floor i could feel the weight of them pressing
1:18:41
in on me closing in around me trapping me and I screamed but no sound came out
1:18:48
the shadows reached for me and I realized then that the house was not
1:18:54
just alive it was hungry and I was hungry and I was It's Next Meal Story
1:19:03
11 it was a quiet evening when I first saw the figure standing at the edge of the woods the sun was setting casting
1:19:10
long shadows across the field and the air was thick with the scent of damp earth and fresh grass i was white
1:19:17
walking home from the bus stop taking the usual route through the field when I saw it standing there motionless as
1:19:24
though it had been waiting for me its outline was dark and indistinct like a
1:19:29
shadow cast by something much larger than the trees that Da surrounded it i stopped dead in my tracks my heart
1:19:36
pounding in my chest my legs frozen to the ground my first thought was that it
1:19:42
was just my imagination playing tricks on me but then it moved it was slow at
1:19:49
first just a subtle shift in its position but then it took a step and my
1:19:56
breath caught in my throat i wanted to turn and run but my feet wouldn't move
1:20:01
it stepped forward again and then again and each step it
1:20:07
took was one step closer to me my mind screamed at
1:20:12
me to run but my body refused to to obey
1:20:18
i just stood there frozen unable to tear my eyes away from the figure that was
1:20:23
now moving toward me faster its form growing clearer with each step its long
1:20:30
limbs stretched unnaturally thin and its face shrouded in darkness like it had no
1:20:37
features at all just a void that seemed to suck in the light around it
1:20:43
it was then that I noticed the sound the soft shuffling of its feet on the ground
1:20:49
the rustle of the grass as it moved through the field i could hear it growing louder and
1:20:56
louder and louder until it was all I could hear until everything else in the world faded
1:21:02
away except for that sound and the steady thump of my own heartbeat i
1:21:07
opened my mouth to scream but no sound came out and the
1:21:13
figure kept moving closer its head tilting slightly as
1:21:19
though it was studying me taking in every detail of my frozen form when it
1:21:24
was only a few feet away I finally found the strength to move i turned and ran as
1:21:30
fast as my legs would carry me my heart racing in my chest but as I ran I could
1:21:37
feel the ground beneath me shifting like the
1:21:42
earth itself was alive and reaching for me every step I took felt like I was
1:21:49
sinking deeper into the earth itself and I heard it behind me its footsteps
1:21:54
following mine at the same speed i didn't dare look back i I just
1:22:00
ran and ran through the field through the trees my breath ragged in my lungs
1:22:06
my legs burning with the effort but no matter how fast I ran it was always there just behind me just a step away i
1:22:15
thought I could make it to the road but when I could make it to the road but when I reached the edge of the
1:22:23
field the road was gone there was nothing but more trees more woods
1:22:29
stretching out before me like an endless maze I had no choice but to keep
1:22:35
running but no matter how far I went it felt like I was running in in
1:22:46
circles woods twisted and turned in ways
1:22:51
they shouldn't have trees loomed over me like silent sentinels blocking my path
1:22:56
at every turn the air grew thicker and colder with each step and the smell of
1:23:02
something rotten filled my nose the sound of the
1:23:12
figures footsteps never stopped it never slowed it just kept coming i stumbled
1:23:19
and fell more than once but each time I picked myself up and kept going because
1:23:24
I knew if I stopped I would never get back up i had to keep running but I
1:23:30
didn't know where I was going or why all I could think of was that thing behind
1:23:38
me getting closer and closer until it was right on top of me i didn't know how long I had been
1:23:44
running when I finally saw the clearing through the trees my heart leapt with
1:23:50
hope as I ran toward it thinking that maybe there was
1:23:55
a way out but when I reached the clearing I stopped dead in my tracks because
1:24:02
standing in the center of the clearing was the figure it was waiting for me
1:24:07
its head tilted to the side as though it was amused by my my futile attempt to
1:24:14
escape its form was even clearer now and I could see its eyes hollow and black staring at me with an unblinking gaze
1:24:21
that seemed to pierce through my very soul it was taller than before towering
1:24:27
over me its limbs stretched long and a thin like a spiders and its mouth was wide open in a silent scream that echoed
1:24:34
in my mind the moment I saw its face the ground
1:24:40
beneath me shook and I felt a wave of dread wash over me my body went cold and numb and for a
1:24:49
moment I couldn't breathe all I could do was stare at the thing in front of me my mind screaming
1:24:57
to run but my body no longer obeyed it took a step toward me and my legs
1:25:04
buckled beneath me i fell to the ground gasping for air the figure leaned down
1:25:11
its face inches from mine the fake its breath cold and
1:25:17
foul and I could feel its presence pressing in on me filling the air around
1:25:22
me until I thought I would suffocate i tried to close my eyes to block it out
1:25:28
but I couldn't i couldn't look away from it i couldn't look away from those
1:25:34
hollow black eyes i wanted to scream but the sound caught in my throat i wanted
1:25:41
to move but my body wouldn't respond it was like I was trapped in my own skin
1:25:47
unable to escape the nightmare that was unfolding before me and then I heard
1:25:54
it the voice but that wasn't a voice at all it was like a thought not spoken but
1:26:02
planted directly into my mind a whisper that wasn't a whisper but a
1:26:08
scream a scream that wasn't a sound but a feeling a sense of terror and dread
1:26:15
that filled every corner of my being a sense of terror and dread that
1:26:22
filled every corner of my being it said "You shouldn't have run you shouldn't have come." And I felt the ground
1:26:29
beneath me give way as the figure reached out a long bony hand and touched
1:26:36
my shoulder its touch was ice cold and
1:26:41
burning at the same time like it was
1:26:49
burning through my very through my very skin and then I saw it the thing that
1:26:57
had been following me the thing that had been chasing me it wasn't a creature at
1:27:03
all it was the forest itself the trees the ground the air they were all
1:27:10
alive they were all part of it they were all connected to to it and it had been
1:27:19
watching me waiting for me to come back it had been calling to me all along i
1:27:25
tried to scream but no sound came out all I could do was feel the weight of
1:27:31
its presence closing in on me suffocating me with its hunger its
1:27:37
thirst for sea and wise fear and then everything went dark
1:27:43
and I don't know how long I was gone but when I woke up the forest was
1:27:49
gone the figure was gone the air was warm and the sun was
1:27:56
shining through the trees but I wasn't alone i could feel it
1:28:02
watching me still following me still waiting for me to make the wrong move and I
1:28:10
realized then that the woods never let you leave they never let you go once
1:28:17
you've been touched by them you are theirs forever and I couldn't shake the feeling
1:28:23
that it was still out there in the trees waiting for me to come
1:28:29
back story 12 there is a place deep in the woods
1:28:35
where the sun never seems to shine the trees are so thick and
1:28:41
twisted that they block out all light the ground is soft and spongy and the
1:28:48
air is damp and the heavy with the smell of decay it's a place that no one goes
1:28:54
to anymore not since the last time anyone ventured there and never came
1:28:59
back it's a place that the old folks warned the children about telling them not to stray too far from the path and
1:29:07
to never go near the woods at night because that's when the things come out
1:29:12
and no one really knows what those things are but there are whispers that float around
1:29:17
town about what they might be some say they are creatures that have lived in the woods for centuries others say they
1:29:25
are the souls of those who have gotten lost in the dark and never found their way back but the truth is no one knows
1:29:33
for sure all they know is that anyone who goes into those woods is never seen
1:29:39
again and that's how it's always been at least that's how I thought it was until
1:29:47
one night when I was walking home from my friend's house and I took the shortcut through the woods i had never
1:29:53
been afraid of them before i had heard the stories sure but I had never been
1:29:58
afraid of them before i had heard the stories
1:30:04
sure but I had never really believed them i always thought the woods were just another part of the town something
1:30:11
that was there but never really meant anything i didn't understand what all
1:30:16
the fuss was about but that night as I walked through the trees I couldn't
1:30:22
shake the feeling that something was watching me at first I thought it was just my imagination but as the darkness
1:30:28
settled in and the wind picked up I could feel it i could feel eyes on me
1:30:35
even though I couldn't see anything i tried to convince myself that
1:30:40
it was just the shadows playing tricks on my mind but the feeling grew stronger and
1:30:46
stronger until I could hear the rustling of leaves and the snapping of twigs behind me i turned around
1:30:55
quickly but saw nothing just the trees standing silent and still in the
1:31:01
darkness I tried to brush it off and keep walking but then I heard it again a
1:31:07
faint whisper like someone calling my name and I froze i stood there in the
1:31:14
dark with my heart pounding in my chest i called out but there was no answer
1:31:20
only the wind and the rustling of leaves i took a deep breath and turned to continue my
1:31:26
walk but that's when I saw it standing between the trees at the edge of the
1:31:31
path it was tall and thin with limbs that stretched too long and moved in
1:31:36
ways that stretched too long and moved in ways that didn't seem quite
1:31:42
right its skin was pale and stretched tight over its bones and its face was a
1:31:48
hollow void with only two glowing eyes staring at me i couldn't move i couldn't
1:31:56
speak i just stood there staring at it as it stood there staring at me its
1:32:04
eyes burning into mine like it was trying to reach into my very soul i
1:32:09
wanted to run but my legs wouldn't move i wanted to scream but my throat was dry
1:32:16
and no sound came out i was trapped in the darkness with this thing and it was
1:32:22
getting closer its steps were slow and deliberate its fingers stretching out
1:32:27
towards me and even though I knew I should run I couldn't bring myself to look away i was frozen paralyzed by fear
1:32:35
as it came closer and closer until I could feel its breath on my
1:32:40
face and then I felt it touch me its fingers cold and clammy against my skin
1:32:47
and I could feel something inside me breaking something inside my mind that had been holding me together something
1:32:54
that was unraveling with every second it touched me and in sh that moment I
1:33:01
realized I wasn't alone in the woods there was something else out there something far worse than the creature
1:33:07
standing in front of me something that was watching from the shadows waiting for the right moment to strike and then
1:33:14
it it happened i heard the sound of footsteps behind me the sound of
1:33:19
something moving through the trees and then a voice whispered in my ear and I
1:33:24
turned and saw them there were more of them more creatures like the ones standing before
1:33:34
me their eyes glowing in the darkness their bodies thin and twisted
1:33:41
their skin stretched tight over their bones their mouths open wide in a grotesque
1:33:47
grin and I knew then that I had made a mistake i shouldn't have come into the
1:33:52
woods i shouldn't have taken that taken that shortcut i had walked right into
1:33:59
their trap and now they were closing in on me i ran but it was no use no matter
1:34:06
how fast I ran they were always there always just behind me their footsteps
1:34:13
echoing in the darkness their laughter filling the air like a haunting melody and the trees seemed to close in around
1:34:20
me squeezing tighter with every step I took the path disappeared the ground
1:34:25
turned soft and uneven and I couldn't tell where I was anymore the woods were
1:34:31
alive twisting and turning in ways that made no sense the air was thick with a strange
1:34:38
fog and the darkness seemed to press in from all sides i was lost completely
1:34:44
lost and no matter how much I tried to call out no one could hear
1:34:49
me there was no one out here no one to help me i was alone in the dark with
1:34:55
them and I realized then that no one had ever come back from the woods because
1:35:02
the woods didn't let you leave once you entered they claimed you they kept you
1:35:09
they made sure you would never escape and the thing in front of me wasn't the
1:35:14
worst of it it was just the beginning there were more of them deeper
1:35:19
in the woods more twisted and more horrible than anything I could imagine they had been waiting for me waiting for
1:35:26
someone foolish enough to wander into their domain and now they had me i don't
1:35:32
know how much time passed after that it could have been hours or days or even weeks but eventually the creatures grew
1:35:39
bored of me they let me wander the woods in a haze unable to remember how to escape unable to remember how to escape
1:35:47
unable to remember anything except the fear that clung to me like a second skin and I realized that I was no longer the
1:35:54
same person I had been when I entered those
1:36:01
woods the darkness had changed me twisted me into something else something
1:36:07
that would never leave these sear woods something that
1:36:12
would always belong to them and when someone else walks that path when they take the shortcut through
1:36:19
the woods they won't see me they won't hear my
1:36:30
screams but I'll be there watching them i'll be waiting just like the creatures
1:36:40
waiting for the next fool to wander into the woods so I can show them what it's
1:36:45
like to become part of the forest to never leave to be lost forever in the
1:36:50
dark where nothing ever grows
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