I'm Blind, I'm Not Sure How Many Steps My Staircase Has | Creep Cast

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Welcome back to Creepcast.

Today we have an unbelievably spooky story called I'm Blind.

I'm not sure how many steps my staircase has.

God, that would suck.

They're just kind of hitting the title.

Oh my god.

I'm blind.

I'm not sure how many steps my staircase has.

That's got to be a predicament for every blind person, right?

Or do you think they count them?

I think you do count them because I think you are very aware of every like spatial thing around you, right?

Because like I've talked to blind people who are like, yeah, I know how to get through my house because I know exactly how many steps it takes to get to every part of my house.

They know how to talk?

I'm just kidding.

No, the

this is this is an interesting I was really caught by two things with this.

The title is creepy because it alludes to like, oh,

there's more stairs than there was last time or there's fewer stairs than there was last time.

I think it's good.

And then I like that the author's username is Emma Watson, but dumber.

I enjoyed that as well.

Yeah, it's a pretty good name.

I checked her out.

out.

Her name is Helena.

No, cut that out.

Watch out, Helena.

He's coming.

Let's all focus.

He is coming, though.

Let's all focus on Hunter making fun of blind people.

I think that's the important thing here.

As a matter of fact, I'll add it to the list of things he hates, the disabled.

I love.

What are we going to say?

Go ahead.

I love disabled people.

That's what I thought you were going to say.

That is somehow even worse.

I do.

That's even worse.

That is even worse.

Okay.

Her name is Helena Castellan, I believe it's pronounced, or Castellan.

She seems like a very prolific no-sleep writer.

A bunch of different stories on her subreddit and on her Reddit.

She also has a Buy Me a Coffee account, it seems.

But otherwise, I don't see any links to her being published anywhere, at least from like just a cursory glance.

This is actually an interesting model.

I haven't seen a lot of people.

On her Ko-Fi, like her buy me a coffee, you can purchase like extra parts to stories and stuff like that, which I think is a cool idea.

Show a lot of the story-free.

And then if if you want more of it, well, there it is.

I think from what we saw here, there's four parts we're going to be reading today, and there's more parts on her coffee.

So, if you like it, support the author, go participate in the coffee, indulge more into all their art.

You know, it does nothing but support them and help them create more and more cool shit.

So,

yep, it looks pretty sweet, but for now, we'll go ahead and get into it.

I gotta admit, this one is a hunter find, so you know, those are few and far between.

Um, and I gotta say, I like the title.

I think

Sorry, I got choked up complimenting you.

Good fucking Lord.

I say, I like the title.

I think it's an interesting topic.

I do think it's interesting.

I don't really think about like

how life is different for some people.

Like, I remember when I was reading House of Leaves in the intro, it talks about like

the police are investigating an apartment building that someone died in.

And they're like, at first, the police had questions as to why

none of the, the,

what was it?

Nothing in the house had labels.

The light in the fridge was out, stuff like that.

It's like, oh, he was blind.

And it's like, oh, yeah, I guess you wouldn't need the light bulb in the refrigerator.

It would take a lot more for me to make that delineation.

I think

there were more layers than that, actually.

Hold on.

Man, you're really putting, you're really selling a house of leaves is a real crime thriller here.

I mean, they went in and the fridge didn't have a light bulb.

So put two and two together.

He's blind.

That's not a crime thriller.

Wow.

I feel like I'm listening to Jody Foster in Sons of the Lambs right now.

That's impressive, man.

Wow.

His apartment, however, didn't come close to anything envisioned by Joel.

Okay, hold on.

Hold on.

Hold on.

I'm trying to let me make my case.

Until...

Okay, here it is.

Sure, his place was eclectic, but hardly grotesque or even that far out of the ordinary.

Until, of course, you took a more careful look and realized, hey, why are all these candles unused?

Why no clocks?

Not on the walls, not even on the corner of a dresser.

And what's with these strange, pale books or the fact that there's hardly a bulb in the whole apartment, not even in the refrigerator?

Well, that, of course, was Zampano's greatest ironic gesture.

Love of love written by the brokenhearted, love of life written by the dead, all of this language of light, film, and photography.

And he hadn't seen a thing since the mid-50s.

He was blind as a bat.

So, but I don't have a clock on my walls.

Listen, the reason that's significant is because when the police investigate his house, it's covered in writings.

There's like stories written across books and books and books, and there's journals everywhere.

And he's been writing on the wall, but then he's blind.

So how is he doing that?

And that's where the question comes from.

Yeah, the kicker was the light bulb in the fridge.

You really have to go out of your way to remove the light bulb in the fridge.

Well, if it goes out, you're not going to be able to get it.

When have you ever

in your life?

When have you ever heard someone be like, hey man, real quick, I just got to turn up, I have to change the light bulb in my fridge.

Listen, no, I have had a garage fridge.

We know every white middle-class family has the garage fridge, right?

You know, I'm talking about no comment.

Okay,

that fridge,

You're not holding up a sign right now or anything, or no, no, because you do that to me sometimes.

You'll have a sign that's like psychopath or whatever.

That fridge out there, I have had the light go out there, but everyone just leaves it because they're like, well, it's a garage fridge.

Who cares?

It is possible for the light bulb to go out of a fridge.

Yeah, but that's a blind person's house.

That happens, so you would never know.

So you would never know.

That's true.

Uh,

okay.

The uh, the

hey, if you guys are listening to this, this enthralling episode of Cat and Mouse,

listen to it on Spotify.

We appreciate you.

I really, and I got to tell you, too, we really need a, this needs to be a strong story.

Last week, I've been seeing the people.

Our viewers are revolting against us.

We need a strong one here.

If you didn't enjoy that, then I don't know who you are because I was having the time of my life.

You were me.

You're him.

If you didn't enjoy that, you were me.

And you didn't know that Fridge's light bulbs could go out.

That's you.

That's what you sound like.

God, my stomach hurts today.

Fuck.

That's true.

Well, I'm just letting you know, I've been drinking this chocolate milk.

I think it's spoiled.

I think it's gone bad.

Why are you still drinking it?

I mean, it's almost done.

I feel bad if I just dump it out.

If it's bad, throw it out.

You and Kayla are the same way.

She will eat rotten food because she's like, I don't want to be wasteful.

It's like, it's already gone to waste.

This is definitely,

it's almost,

it's like a Greek tragedy.

I'm like, it's like Oedipus Rex or something.

I'm looking at this and it's resembling the last bit of chocolate milk in the bottom of the chateau local milk bottle.

It looks like the diarrhea that's going to be in my toilet later.

That's what it feels like.

Okay, can we go to the story before you say something else I don't like?

Sour like a warhead.

Yep, let's do it.

Milk should not be.

Okay, actually, I'm going to step right here to my mini fridge, and I'm going to grab a drink.

So, one sec.

You pull out a

giant ball of vodka.

All right, I was actually sitting here listening to see if you had anything snarky to say, and you did, so you failed.

I thought you could hear me.

I was obviously talking to you.

And that time I got up actually to get the drink, so I tricked you twice.

Uh-huh.

You're sick, fuck.

that's very house of leaves of you okay shut up that's an amazing book

well I'm just saying that like brilliant cat and mouse game you're playing with me it reminded me of my favorite horror crime novella what are you talking about cat and mouse game just cat and mouse that's what uh all crime throwers are you're trying to catch the perp when they go in they're like how exactly okay the cat's no no no no the cat no no no no no what i was reading is opening the house of leaves that i said no no no no the cat no no no.

The cat asks,

if he's blind, how did he write on the wall?

And then the mouse does,

you'll have to find out.

Cat and mouse.

Okay.

All right, let's get into it.

Okay, let's get into it.

I've always been blind, and that's fine by me.

I'm glad I never got to see and then lose my sight.

That would have been too depressing.

Instead, I don't get to mourn something I've never had.

I've lived in this upper east side flat for a really, really long time.

As a writer, it's important for me to have my own space.

I've been told my writing style is exquisite.

Because I cannot see, I focus on the other senses and my writing shines by stimulating them.

I don't say a red apple.

Red has no meaning for me.

I say warm, firm, and sour.

A bit sweet, fits in your hand, smells of grass at childhood.

I'm not gonna lie, this flat was nice for a while, but really tiny.

And I want to learn to play the piano.

So naturally, since I've saved up a lot of money for my works, I bought this beautiful mansion in the suburbs.

At least that's how my friends and family called it.

I don't care.

I can't see anyway.

I just needed to feel the warm sunlight in the kitchen and the crisp air from my balcony.

I drink my coffee in the morning and listen to the birds, and I work day and night.

People thought it would be a problem if my house had an upper floor because, according to them, even if I've lived my whole life blind, I cook, chop up things, take baths, and clean the house, I apparently can't climb some damn stairs.

No problem for me.

I counted the steps of my staircase.

14.

Eventually, I got used to it, and I even started going up and down the stairs faster since I knew exactly how many steps I needed to climb.

That's the thing when you're blind.

Some movements become reflexes.

Since you live alone, you learn how to position certain things and you always find them in the same place.

One day, however, I was going down the stairs and I tripped.

Where I expected the floor to be, there was this additional step, and I didn't think much of it.

Figured I must have not paid attention.

I mean, yes, it was odd because after 30 years of being blind, tripping wasn't really a common thing, but I don't look much into it.

Haha, look.

However, when I went up again, I tripped at the top.

That was definitely unusual.

Sure as it was, one extra step.

I went back the stairs and counted.

15.

Counted again.

14.

The fuck?

Sure enough, 14 steps.

Whatever.

I went to sleep.

A few days passed and I didn't trip anymore.

I played it off as some error my tired mind made.

Then one night, as I went downstairs to get a glass of water, I tripped again.

This time, I really fell down on my foot.

That was not a skip step.

There were at least two additional steps.

I felt around and stood up.

My foot hurt a lot, but the ankle was good.

I couldn't really stand up on it, but no serious damage.

I went up carefully, counting.

16.

What the fuck?

It's funny because there's no quotes.

You're just coming in to say the obscenity.

Yes, that's really funny.

I like it.

That's good.

Keep it going.

Sure, you mess up.

You count one more or one less, but two more.

The house was so still, so silent.

No birds, no bees, no cars passing.

Normal people fear the darkness.

I feared the silence.

I went down the stairs again, counting.

By the time I reached the bottom, I counted 14 again.

I went up again, 18.

That was absolutely ridiculous.

Was someone messing with me?

How could they even mess with me like that?

I've never heard of a burglar.

Burgular.

Burgular.

I've never heard of a burglar to break into someone's house and add steps to their stairs.

Still, I went to check to see if I locked the door.

I can make my way around pretty neat, but through the kitchen, then into the hallway.

And then I bumped into something.

I froze.

My organs tensed up.

My hair stood up.

All ears.

I had never felt so much fear in my life.

Decided to go on and check the door.

Yeah, locked.

I made my way back upstairs.

This time I didn't bump into anything or anyone.

18.

For fuck's sakes.

All night, all I did was go up and down like a lunatic.

Each time I got different results.

Back upstairs, I decided to go down and make one final count.

14.

Okay, it's probably going to be more.

15.

Nope, still going.

17.

19.

21.

That's a record.

27.

33.

That could not be possible.

52.

88.

I could absolutely feel the sense of impending doom.

Something was there with me.

And it was vile, disgusting, and unnatural.

And this staircase was never ending.

102.

I finally gave up.

Whatever this was, I didn't want to reach the bottom.

I went back up.

The moment I turned my back to go up, I tried to be brave, but something got over me and I ran on all fours, desperate to reach the top, desperate to run, run, run back to my bedroom.

I don't remember how I got inside and locked my door, but I did.

And now I'm sitting here and typing.

This house is strange.

It's eerie and disturbing.

And I think if I'd gotten to the bottom of the staircase, I would have left this world.

I don't think that was my house anymore.

However, no matter what stupid, cryptic, eerie, unnatural staircase I involved, it is important not only that I don't go down there, but that nothing comes up here either.

And right now, I can hear it creaking.

End of part one.

That's awesome.

That's the end of part one.

That was that was sick.

No, okay, so we don't really talk about this a lot because we're kind of

like we operate under the impression of like, well, this is a horror story that's submitted to no sleep.

And then the author has to act like they're really there or whatever, right?

But this is one of the only stories we've read where it, because of its length and the way it's written, it actually kind of feels like the tone of someone who is in this situation.

Yeah.

Well, I think

I just think that there's not a lot of fat around to it.

Like, I mean, exactly.

Yeah.

It's just so to the point.

The use of numbers, and I think the idea to what really elevates this is you could do this as well and have it be creepy if you could see, but having it be blind is now even we, the audience, are left to imagine what is like what is happening to the house around them to have it, you know, just magically these stairs keep adding or, you know decreasing in in number and it's it's it's just a lot of fun and to just this subtle element of like not really emphasizing too much on what's in there with this person something's in there with them it's just creepy i mean it's nice to go like

it's you're stepping into this pit effectively or like if the staircase keeps going who knows like it goes all the way down to hell right you have this like infinite staircase but they can't see it like it could be one step at a time right in front of their feet or it could be this chasm that's opened up

But them being blind adds a layer to it.

The way that it's worded makes it feel very real,

given our situation and stuff.

Like, yeah, I really like that.

That was a great intro.

Do you think that this author is blind?

Do we have any evidence for that?

This is, I would say no, because the title of this story is I am blind.

So it's like, that's the unique thing there.

And then a bunch of our other stuff doesn't, none of the titles seem to do that.

yeah well i mean just because you're blind doesn't mean everything has to be about being blind but just just curious just because it was so well spoken too i really like the idea too of uh people say that her writing is rich because she doesn't say the apple's red it's you know like more of the taste and feel of something just little little things that i mean we were kind of talking about you just you you really take for granted your eyesight and stuff you know i think like you you really reject a lot of the other senses because of that so yeah i don't know.

It's a lot of fun.

That was a really quick one, too.

So I'm curious to see if the other parts are as, you know, are they as condensed?

Does she start getting longer with her writing?

Gonna be curious.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's got me hooked.

I certainly liked it.

Even if that was just a standalone vignette, like by itself, I'd be like, that's cool.

That's cool.

Yeah, just a spooky little, you know, story is nice.

Yeah.

So, part two.

As I typed out the first post, actually dictated it, I would stop from time to time to listen.

The creaking was not consistent and almost imperceptible.

A normal person couldn't probably hear it, but my remaining four senses were overly sharpened.

I guess what scared me most was the silence in between.

That was one thing, too, I forgot to say in the first part was

really like the use of like the silence, like kind of really raising.

Like the absolute the nothingness from all your other senses would make you so scared versus being like in the dark and not being able to see anything imagine being in a place where you're descending these steps and like all you can hear is just your the sound of your feet on the floor you know like no cars nothing absolutely no idea what's going on it really does feel like your house just gained more steps all of a sudden yeah yeah

you have no visual line yeah yeah i'd speak to dictate i'd hear the creaking i'd stop the creaking would stop too it's almost as if it's almost as if it was mocking me i didn't want to think of the thing I'd bumped into.

Felt like bumping into a coat rack or something, but I didn't stop to feel around.

I have a consistent urge to flee any dangerous situation I'm in because I know I can't fight it.

Even if I were fast, even if I were strong, I can't fight something I don't fully understand.

They could be standing right in front of me, and if they were still enough, I wouldn't know.

As I finished writing, I reached for my phone.

I figured I'd call my sister.

I was starting to feel the warmth of the morning light on my shoulders through the windows and hear some birds.

Judging on how stiff I felt, I must have been up all night.

The creaking had stopped.

Had it made its way up to my door?

Was it standing on the other side?

Hey, Siri, call Daphne.

My voice sounded so hoarse.

Usually I talk to myself a lot.

I sing, whatever.

I play music.

This time, I've been so quiet, so afraid to make a sound, so afraid to breathe.

The phone was ringing.

Hi there.

You good?

It's kind of early.

What time is it?

Like 6 a.m.

Damn.

I'm sorry.

Everything okay?

I stopped.

Slowly, I crept up to the door and place my ear on the oak wood to listen.

I can feel someone's presence outside.

Waiting.

Oof.

That's creepy.

I think someone broke into my house.

And they're being very discreet about it.

I've started...

noticing things.

Unusual stuff.

I trip when I shouldn't, and last night I bumped into something.

Like a coat rack.

What?

Are you sure?

Yes.

And the staircase kept creaking.

Right now I've locked myself into the bedroom, but I think it's waiting on the other side of the door.

Fuck.

That's so creepy.

Um, I have to be in the office at nine, but I'll phone it if I'm late.

I'll come check it out.

Thanks.

Do you have a key?

Silence.

Daft, do you have a key?

No.

What?

Why?

Didn't I give you you one?

You did, but I didn't take it.

I felt weird having a key to your house.

For fuck's sake.

Whatever.

Just come.

I'll fucking go downstairs again and let you in.

Okay, stay safe.

Yeah, whatever.

After that, so here, that silence, do you think that something inter like...

It feels like something was interjecting into the conversation, right?

A complete tonal shift.

Am I wrong?

No, I think you're right.

Where it's like, do you, you know, everything was fine up until do you have a key?

What's up?

Okay, for also, Daphne's response, you would think, would be more intense, where she's like,

I think someone's in my house, right?

You think it'd be like, oh my gosh, I'm calling the police.

I'm getting whatever.

But she's just kind of like, that's creepy.

Well, I have to be at the office at nine.

She's kind of almost dismissive of it a bit.

So then that,

do you have a key?

Silence.

Do you have a key?

No.

And then you did, but I didn't take it.

I felt weird having a key to your house.

I think the whole idea of like being you're waking up at 6 a.m.

They're like, it's kind of early.

It's 6.

She's kind of groggy.

And then she's like, I think someone's in my house.

I feel like you'd be like, what?

What the fuck?

That's weird.

Like, I think she was giving off normal vibes.

And then, even when she's like, well, I'll just call in and say, I'm going to be late and I'll swing by.

Like, it's very receptive.

And then all of a sudden, do you have a key?

No.

It's like very short answered.

Before it was very ever-flowing.

So I don't know.

There might be something there.

That's interesting, though i think you're right though that there was definitely a tonal shift on purpose there no matter what the um one thing's for certain is that that chocolate milk is work i mean like i am having to hold everything in right now go ahead you can you can run to the bathroom no i i want to see i'm i'm kind of hooked right now on seeing if you can hold it in or the story the story maybe both what what would happen if you just

violently if i had a violent diarrhea in my pants i would show the audience i would show you the back of my legs and everything Okay.

But I want to...

I want to know what happens.

Okay.

All right.

If that if that milk gets too bad, you need to let me know.

I'll let you know.

I'll switch to mobile and I'll record that way.

Okay.

All right.

I hung up.

I hung up.

I'm imagining now that like the camera's cutting back and forth between my normal setup and you like in a dark bathroom with the phone right under your chin and like you can just hear very loud toilet noises.

I don't want to come to that.

Please read.

I hung up and sat on the floor, back against the door, waiting, listening.

Nothing was going on.

Did I scare it off?

She texted me.

She had 10 more minutes until she got to my place.

Okay, finally.

I stood up and unlocked the door.

I stood there in silence for a while.

My options were very limited.

Normal people could literally look around and make out if they were alone or not.

I couldn't.

All I could do was listen.

If whatever was there was being really still, really silent, my worst option was to feel around.

That terrified me.

I've talked to others.

Something similar for them was sticking their hand out in complete darkness.

The thought of touching that thing made my skin crawl.

The direct contact was so unbearable, so much more dangerous, but I had no choice.

Because everything was silent, so I stuck my hands out.

My heart raced with every step.

I wanted to keep going, but at the same time, I wanted so badly to stop and turn around.

Made my way to the stairs.

14 steps, back to normal.

I was barefooted and the hardwood floors felt so cold, so unusual against my skin.

I thought that bothered me until I stepped into something sticky.

What the fuck?

I gagged and wiped my foot on the carpet.

I was going to ask Daphne what that was.

Made it to the door without any other occurrences.

I unlocked it and was greeted by the familiar voice of my sister.

Hi, oh god, I'm so sorry you have to go through this.

I'm ready to call 911, dialed up and everything.

I'll take a look.

I wanted Ryan to come too, but you know how it is with him and work.

I felt her warm hands around mine and her sweet perfume.

Thank you.

It's such a comfort that you're here.

Yeah, no problem.

Please take a look.

Tell me if you noticed anything unusual and uh I stepped into something sticky in the living room.

Please tell me what it is.

Okay, I will.

Let's see.

I heard her pace the room carefully without saying a word.

Silence.

So.

What is it?

Anything weird?

Um.

Silence.

Why wasn't she speaking?

It's nothing alarming.

It's just odd.

What did I step on?

First of all, that is jam.

Jam?

Yeah, jam.

Are you sure?

Yep.

There's a drawer on your counter.

Open.

Maybe you forgot about it?

No, I didn't.

I did not fucking eat jam.

Hmm.

But that's nothing.

Things are a bit out of order.

How?

Usually pretty neat right now.

It's a bit of a mess.

But weird.

Got a pan on the floor and this painting propped up on your dinner table taken from the wall a pile of clothes spread around almost in a pattern What the fuck?

Go upstairs and check too.

Bro,

if someone has just been living in her house, someone not only has someone been living in your house, but they are like basically doing some kind of like fucking ritual or something.

And they're eating her place.

Yeah.

Yeah, they're just like, they're just throwing clothes and they're eating.

You know how terrifying that?

I have never considered that.

If you were blind in a really big house, there is, if someone was really quiet, really sneaky, they could just live in the house with you.

Yeah, 100%.

Oh my gosh.

No, sir.

No, sir.

Oh,

that would be...

Oh, man.

I could tell she didn't want to, based on her hesitation.

Eventually, I heard her climb the stairs and walk around a bit.

So,

anything?

Please speak.

There's nothing weird upstairs and

no one.

Anywhere.

It's pretty neat.

That bothered me for some reason.

How neat?

Oh, the usual bed made, things in order.

My bed is made?

Yeah.

I didn't make it.

Oh, God.

Oh, gosh.

I don't like that.

I don't like that at all.

I didn't make it.

Oh, no.

I was literally sleeping in it, then I woke up to get a glass of water.

Then the weird shit happened.

I locked myself in the bedroom.

Didn't stop to make my fucking bed.

Oh.

I mean, it's not perfectly made.

Like a child tried to.

Oh, God.

What a haunting detail.

God.

You said no one was there.

That brings me out a little bit.

Yeah.

You said no one was there.

No one.

Call the police.

I heard her getting downstairs.

Look, I can't.

Why not?

Someone's definitely fucking around in my house.

And tell them what.

Someone made your bed.

Placed your pan on the floor.

No signs of forced entry.

You didn't get hurt.

I bumped into something.

in the middle of the night, in the dark.

How unusual!

Okay, well, someone was definitely there.

Look, there's not much I can do.

I've checked everything.

You're pretty safe.

You have no attic, no basement, no back door.

Windows locked.

Doors locked.

You're good.

I'll help you clean up and I'll get going.

If there's anything weird, call me.

Okay.

I had to ask her, even though she was going to think I'm crazy.

How many steps does my staircase have?

What?

count them for me um

14 as usual

okay

okay uh for one i want to call out her daphne's comment where she says uh

our author says i bumped into something and daphne says in the middle of the night in the dark how unusual that was a jerk thing to say that was very rude to be like oh it was dark out how could you see Yeah, it seems a bit odd because it's like, well, that doesn't really matter.

But I'm still under the impression.

I don't know,

the sister character, it just seems like it's not, well, I'm making leaps and bounds, but I'm like, it just seems odd.

I don't know.

I feel like there's something up with her.

I also feel like...

Yes, I understand.

Like, if my sister called me right now and I came over, she was like, I think someone's been here with me.

Granted, my sister's not blind, of course.

But I'd probably be like, have you considered the possibility that you're stupid?

Yeah.

Have you considered not being dumb?

Have you ever thought of that?

Like, I don't know if I'd immediately be like, you're right.

I'm calling the police and telling them that there's a man living in your house.

It's not broken into, you know?

So I kind of get it, but

I also feel like painting off the wall and like the living room situation was a bit odd.

The thing about it, it's like a child made it.

Yeah, that comment is fucked.

This is great so far, by the way.

Just the premise of like a blind person having someone live in their house is terrifying.

I definitely felt I had flipped a switch with that question because after that question, the way she talked to me changed.

She was overly patient, overly calm, kept telling me to put on some music, distress, take a bath, listen to one of my audio books and don't panic.

I felt an ounce of heartbreak to think my sister didn't believe me, but I moved on.

After that, a few days passed, when I kept staying alert, but nothing happened.

No weird stuff.

Everything had gone back to normal.

Christmas came and I hosted, Had friends and family over and forgot about how lonely and desolate I'd felt in that house.

Maybe I'd just had an episode of

Wandering.

Maybe my mind had just been somewhere else.

When you live with a disability, sometimes it's hard to stay on track.

And to be fair,

she was just going back and forth.

Like you could, you could make an argument for herself of being like, I mean, I was counting my steps and it was crazy.

Who knows?

Maybe I just like had a weird...

You know what I mean?

Like just.

Yeah, I well, yeah, granted, I'm not in her position, but I feel like a hundred steps, I would be like, okay.

Well, it's all that's what I mean, though, is maybe she's like, maybe I did have like a fucking weird mental

so what if my mental health had taken a hit?

I was aware of it and decided to see a therapist.

Months passed and nothing happened.

I was happy.

My new book had been published, and I hadn't felt scared or watched in ages.

Things were good.

One night, I was on the couch drinking some wine and watching The Bachelor.

Well, not exactly watching, but listening.

You know what I mean.

It's still entertaining.

The AC was on and blasting waves of warmth around the house, and I was starting to feel sleepy.

I reached out my leg out of the blanket and touched the floor.

The cold floor.

Reached my hand out and felt the couch.

Cold, too.

This coldness was everywhere.

How could it be?

I had the AC on for the whole evening.

Why was it so cold?

I reached for the remote and turned up the AC.

It wasn't working.

Stupid fucking air conditioner.

I'm gonna turn it off and on.

ROM problems require modern solutions.

I told you I talked to myself a lot.

So I pressed the big button.

The AC beeped.

Hmm.

The beep was wrong.

It should have been lower.

It's higher when it turns on.

Was it off this whole time?

Couldn't be.

I literally felt its warm breeze on the back of my neck.

Oh, it's like a gut punch.

Oh, Hunter.

I'm scared.

I'm scared.

I'm afraid.

Oh, wait, when did she say she felt it while she was on the couch?

Yeah, it was just behind behind her breathing, right behind her.

So I was like, oh, my word.

And like, it's just like she's just watching TV and it's just there with her the whole time.

And it could be anything.

It could be a giant fucking baby.

It could be a baby monster.

Don't like that.

I wonder if like we have to have some blind viewers, right?

Well, listeners, I guess.

We have to have some blind audience members, right?

Is this like...

Is this like, I guess it would be a recurring fear or a common fear about someone being in a room with you you don't know about, right?

Yeah, I mean, there's that great movie called Hush.

I think it's about a blind woman in the house.

And I mean, I don't know.

I would assume just somebody watching you.

No, Hush is a deaf woman.

Oh, deaf woman.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, that movie rules too.

But yeah, no, I think it's just the idea of someone being in your house you just don't know because you're just...

You're missing one of your senses and it just leaves you a little more vulnerable.

Yeah, I wonder if that's like a common thing Because now that I'm thinking about it, that would be,

I mean, obviously, as someone who like

isn't used to it and just like afraid from a distance, I feel like that would be like nightmare fuel story.

I feel like stories like this would be like terrifying.

Yeah.

You know?

Even just home invasion stories.

Like I know people who are super susceptible to just like home invasion stories and stuff.

Very real, weird thing.

But yeah.

I stood there in silence, trying to process.

It was as if I was just stalling, delaying the moment of realization, because I didn't want to.

I didn't want to admit,

someone

or something

had been breathing on my neck.

It was probably still there, but the breeze had stopped.

I turned the TV off.

I needed absolute silence to focus.

I stood there for what felt like hours, listening.

The floors didn't creak, but I could almost make out the carpet being pressed.

Steps.

Normal people wouldn't have noticed, but I did.

The steps were irregular.

The pattern was weird.

The pacing uncoordinated.

I heard when it left the carpet.

Then the thump indicated it was right next to me.

The couch shifted.

I was over it.

People hallucinate.

I stuck my hand to the side, ready to feel whatever was there.

I didn't get the chance.

Suddenly, the couch shifted back up and I heard a whoosh.

The thing had seen me try to reach and it moved.

It didn't want me to touch it.

Then I heard a click.

My TV turned back on.

Whatever it was, it was telling me to ignore it.

Why?

I was not going to sit around and watch TV with that thing next to me.

I was going upstairs.

After I counted the 14 steps, for some reason, I knew the 15th would be there.

Went back down, 17.

Went back up 19.

Back down.

I was 20 extra steps in and counting when I realized it was not going to end.

Stairs were tweaking again.

Turned around, went back up into the bedroom, door locked.

The TV is still running downstairs.

After a while, I heard it turn off.

Others would have been terrified.

I was relieved.

That meant the thing was downstairs and not here.

with me.

Wonderful.

This is wonderful, bro.

I'm having such a good time with this.

What a banger, dude.

That whole segment about like from the breath on the neck to like you could hear it on the carpet to setting down on the couch.

It's also just

no fat.

Just

it's very just like to the point.

To the point.

Yeah, just bam.

Here's your story.

Yeah.

Gosh, what a, this is sick.

Yeah, this is.

You know what?

You were right.

We needed something after last week, and I think this is our medicine.

I think this is doing a great job right now.

Part three.

I'm down.

Part three.

Let's go.

How's your, how's the milk doing?

You know what?

It's one of those things where I feel like it's kind of bubbled back up and my gutty works.

So I think I'm okay.

Okay.

I'm proud of you.

All right.

Part three.

I've decided to install some cameras around to be safe.

If anything peculiar happened, I wanted to have a friend check them out or at least tell me I was being crazy.

I set them up the next day after the incident I posted earlier.

After that, I kept minding my own business.

I was terrified, and I know what you guys would say.

Why would you still stay there?

Why were you, why are you, why were you so calm?

Well, there was this odd feeling I had.

Something was definitely off, but somehow I was able to go through that, be okay.

Almost as if you're walking on a tightrope and you know that it's dangerous, but you don't want to hesitate or stop or even slow down.

Because you somehow feel that the less you think about it and go on, the safer you are from falling.

Although, in my case, I didn't exactly know what my fate would be.

I think also it's just

it's hard to just be like, oh, get up and move, leave.

But then also too, I think that earlier in the story, it does a good job.

I even, I think that she may be rationalizing that.

I think that she believes she is in there with something now, but we have seen a back and forth with like questioning some of her actions or decisions or like even her own, like, you know, can she trust herself as a narrator kind of thing the story has done in my opinion three things right now to not make me think of that option until she brought it up because i feel like any other story you or i read uh we would be like why are you just get the fuck out of the house just drive away get out right but it's done three things for one our character's blind which limits options right uh assuming this is out in the countryside like she said it's implausible for her to just start walking down the road right um she can't drive and then the other thing is it's already pre-established in the story that maybe part of this is her mind playing tricks on her and her blindness causes her to have these moments of not really delirium, but she gets too caught up on one thing and doesn't realize what's happening around her.

You know, her senses are impaired.

So like that's two good reasons to not immediately leave because maybe she's overreacting.

And even if she wasn't, how could she?

And three,

this writing has been doing so well and I've been so hooked in, I didn't even consider that an option.

Yeah.

The story brought it up which goes to show that a lot of your plot holes and like issues with stories if you just write everything around it really well most people won't care about it's true it was Thursday I had just come home from my job I also teach creative writing at a university it's important that I write down my routine that day so wait how do you

I guess she I mean so she's out in the countryside but I imagine there must be like public transport or something like that or I imagine I just imagine that she just got a lift or something from yeah like someone else at her job.

I locked the door, got inside, locked it back, took my coat off and hung it up, took my shoes off, put my keys on a table, went upstairs, changed, washed my hands, came back down to cook dinner.

Chopped, stirred, turned the oven on, set the table, worked my way around the stove, sat down and ate my dinner, washed the dishes, so on.

Then went upstairs, bathroom, sent some text.

Went back downstairs and turned on the T V.

After a while I began dozing off.

I could not keep keep up with whatever fight was going on on the show, and my mind began lazily sweeping away until a dream made its way in.

Mixed with reality, I fell asleep.

I awoke and was greeted by silence.

No eerie sounds, no movement.

Silence.

Weird.

Hadn't I left the TV on?

Oh, okay.

I reached my hand out for the remote.

which wasn't in the usual spot.

The whole room was silent, so the thing was either very still or it had left.

I needed to call my friend and ask them to come over so that I could have them check the cameras.

The house remained silent for a while until I heard his car in the driveway.

Good.

I let him in and he asked me if he noticed anything unusual around.

Not really.

I opened up my laptop and had him access the footage.

Okay, let's see.

So we're looking into today, right?

Yeah.

All just down to the last 12 hours.

That should be enough.

Or the last six.

Just do 12.

Fine.

I heard the keyboard clacking for a bit, and then we waited until he said.

There it is.

Hmm.

Fast forward.

Nothing unusual.

House empty.

Here you are coming home from work.

You're taking your coat off, shoes, keys, went upstairs.

Nothing there.

Fast forward.

Here you are again.

Back down, open the fridge.

He fell silent for a while.

at first i figured he wasn't seeing anything so he got tired of narrating what i was doing i even thought the thing might not even show on camera i didn't need another person to think i was crazy but then the silence had gone on for too long

so

what do you see

are you fucking with me or what

look i'm really not in the mood so please tell me if you're fucking with me what what did you see

let's just go to my car i'll take your laptop with us and phone.

And I'll download some more footage.

And you'll be spending the night with me.

My gosh.

I'll tell you, I will.

Let's just go.

Bro.

Oh, fuck.

God damn, he's a girl into it.

Good lord, dude.

God damn.

That's terrifying.

That's terrifying.

His voice was shaking a bit, and I knew he was trying to be calm, but his movements were too rushed, too unhinged.

He was freaking out.

Put my coat on, took my wallet and keys, and we left.

We got inside the car.

He immediately turned the engine on and hit the gas without saying a word.

What did you see?

Just tell me.

Just you're freaking me out.

I'm really sorry for you and what you've had to go through.

That is some paranormal activity shit.

What?

What did you see?

Okay, I'm.

So you opened the fridge, took out some stuff, then started preparing dinner.

I saw some movement upstairs, so, like, in the corner of the screen.

Then, uh, this...

Fuck, I don't know.

I don't know how to explain it.

It was a, it was a thing.

It was, like, it was so fucking creepy.

Looked like a...

It looked like you, but, but not really, because it was longer arms and legs and had a very bony face wearing some clothes.

I assume yours?

Soul was human.

No, I don't think so.

It's its arms bent so weirdly, and it was taller than you and it walked.

Fuck, what the fuck?

It walked so strange and acted so strange.

And it had this hair thin and falling off and the face.

Face?

Yeah, its eyes were really big, but

that was without a doubt the scariest shit I've ever seen and fixated on you the whole time.

What?

What was it doing?

This is gonna sound crazy, but I think it was mimicking you.

It literally watched you non-stop, and the shit that freaks me out the most is that it was in front of you the whole time.

While you cut the vegetables, while you ate, while you were watching TV,

studying you, poorly mimicking what you were doing.

Then you fell asleep.

Yeah?

I watched you the whole time.

Took its bony finger and at some point pressed the

pressed the off button on the remote.

Its face literally sat like two inches from from yours for a while.

Just stared.

Until you woke up, then walked.

I don't know if I can call it walked upstairs, but.

Wow.

Wow.

Fuck!

Fuck!

My God.

It's just right in front like a giant spider.

Just a giant.

Just a giant you spider.

Also, just so weird too, like wearing your clothes.

It just like wants to be you.

It's staring at you.

It wears your clothes.

It makes your bed for you.

It turns the TV off for you.

It breathes on the back of your neck.

After he finished talking, we sat in silence for a while.

I didn't know what to say.

He parked his car and we went up to his apartment, sat down to download the rest of the footage.

For fuck's sakes.

Lois, Will, I swear to God.

It's been watching you non-stop.

Like, I've downloaded the footage since the cameras were set up.

So there's there's two months ago, and it's here all the time.

Sometimes it climbs up to the corner of your wall or on the ceiling and watches.

Other times it shadows you.

I felt sick all this time when I thought I was alone.

And this isn't even the weirdest thing.

Two months ago, it didn't have hair.

Oh, it's cool.

Oh my gosh.

Two Two months ago, it didn't have hair.

I think the hairs is not its own.

What?

I think it got it from somewhere.

Like, that thing's been picking out your hair while you're sleeping.

It's trying to become human to become you.

Oh, God.

Fuck!

I'm back to paranoid.

Isaiah, I've got the door open.

I'm like,

I'm angling it to the right monitor.

There's going to be some gangly giraffe bastard in your bathroom picking out all the hair from your fucking drained.

Oh my gosh, dude.

Oh,

gives me chills, man.

Just the idea of it being like right behind you all the time.

It being up in the corners, like looking down at you.

Ugh.

Even the moments when you're not there, it takes your things.

Tries them out.

It looks fucking terrifying.

It is literally learning, studying you.

I knew for some reason, and I didn't even need proof.

I just knew it had to come from the stairs.

Climbed up from whatever portal had been there, and I knew it was trying to lure me down there so it could take my place.

So it could become

me.

I explained everything to my friend.

There was nothing I could do except get out.

I didn't know how to close the portal and I needed my friend's help if I wanted to try.

I was trying to evaluate my risk, my options, but my friend said something that made my blood run cold.

Look, if you don't groove through that portal stuff, it'll probably just kill you and take your place.

I think the next time you return home, you will have figured that out.

Yeah, so the only logical solution is to never go home and firebomb the house.

Yeah, so basically he's just saying, if you go back, you're going to die.

100%.

If you go back, this thing is certainly going to kill you.

Yeah.

There's no question.

All right.

Are we ready for the final part?

Oh, boy, I'm ready.

How are we doing, Milk Boy?

You ready?

Can you do it?

I am so stoked.

I can't wait to have a diarrhea after this.

It's going to be awesome, isn't it?

And then while you're doing it, you can think about a hunter, a spider hunter right behind you.

A gangly spider hunter who's learning how to have diarrhea.

Yeah, he's like taking all of his sour milk and drinking it profusely.

And he's just like, oh, up in the corner.

Oh.

And I'm like, first time, bud.

Yeah, Hunter just makes friends with it.

Yeah, I'm like, you're all right, buddy.

You want some more sour milk?

This big, nasty, cicada person.

Yeah.

No, I don't want to do more sour milk.

I'm like, fucking pussy.

Drinker.

All right, last public part.

I'm stoked.

If you guys haven't noticed yet, you should 100% sign up for this coffee and read more of this story.

Yeah,

that's great.

I think Emma Watson but Dumber has proven herself quite well, if I do say so myself.

Very stoked.

Last part, I'm ready.

Let's go.

My sister knew now that I wasn't crazy anymore.

Everyone had seen the footage.

It's become some sort of news around my family, friends.

They were all dying to watch it.

Some morbid curiosity making them want to see what traumatized me for the past months.

I was grateful they saw it too, but at the same time, I had to move out and sell the house.

And that was a bummer.

Sell is a strong word.

I would have.

Has no one contacted the news yet?

Yeah, I mean, is there a thing here?

I guess just as like a, well, I mean, we don't have to derail the story too much, but like, would you just, I mean, could you even show this to the authorities or would it be just something where they're just like, you should just burn the house down?

Or like, you know what I mean?

I don't know if that'd be legal advice, but I think

that that's what I would come to.

That's the decision.

I feel like there's no regard you could show the police this and they would believe it.

It'd just be like, okay, that's all right.

Thank you for that.

I was struggling financially and I knew I couldn't just buy another house.

I had to sell this one first, and that obviously meant I had to go back there and get my things.

I was not planning to go alone, though, or not.

I mean, maybe it's its things now.

Yeah, I think I can just like get a new TV.

I think that's fine.

I'm only going back if I have like a SWAT team.

You know, if I, if I, if I can walk in with SEAL team six

around me, you know.

Well, here's the thing, right?

She assumes that it is a thing that lives in this house because of the staircase and because it showed up when she got there, right?

But, like, could it this thing be anywhere?

Why does it have to be part of the house, right?

I am still like, you're assuming that there's one,

you know.

How do we know though?

I didn't even think we know there is that more than one point.

You know, I don't know way more.

It could be like a nest of them.

That's what I'm saying.

Like some weird fucking bug family.

I don't know.

Oh,

oh, that'd be sick.

Would you, what would it take for you to go back into the house?

I think that like to like, I think it would be to go back and help somebody.

Like, if it's, if it's like, oh, my wife's stuck in there or something.

Yeah.

You know, like that.

Although, I really don't know of earthly possessions where

you would be like, yeah, I can't think of anything I own that would make me go back.

What about a pet?

Would you go back for a pet?

Yeah.

Yeah, I'd go back for my dog.

I don't know.

How many guys would you bring with you?

God.

I knew me.

New me fucked up.

It would be something where I'd be like, hey, Isaiah, you want to help me move something?

And I'd like, I'd be going and I'd shut the door.

I'd hear the rustling, and then I'd just make a dead sprint for my beagle and I would leave.

My bass and hound and I'd leave.

And I'm like pressed up against the window, like, oh, humming.

You could see it like pulling the hair out of my head.

Like,

right behind me.

I'm like, well,

giant lips kissing the window.

Okay.

All right.

Yeah, you would be the one that, as I'm being torn apart, would be like, oh, he has big lips.

That's why that thing has big lips.

It's funny.

It would look like its face would be your drawing of me.

That's perfect.

That would be its head.

That's perfect.

Well, it's a beautiful representation, so you should be happy.

Okay.

When I said I die, you said that's what I get for what?

What were you about to say?

Oh, I can't remember.

Okay, I'm sure it was something.

My asshole asshole is like Alcatraz right now, and a few little prisoners are about to escape if you catch me.

I wonder how much longer if I keep rambling until you get to the point.

I desperately want you just to read so much.

What if I did it, though?

What if I said it?

It took a while to try to convince my friend to come with me.

He was really scared, but I had to get off my shit.

It'll be even longer

with me reading no shit.

All right, all right.

It took a while to try to convince my friend to come with me.

He was really scared, but I had to get my stuff out, and that meant spending a few more nights there.

Why?

Why would you do that?

Anyway, so last month, me and my friend went back to the house.

Just one friend, by the way.

Unarmed, I imagine.

As soon as we entered, he let out a sigh.

I asked what was wrong, and he just replied with.

It's been making some changes around here.

What changes?

Well, it took food out of your fridge.

Your clothes are torn.

I think it's even slept in your bed.

It's not going to like you being back.

That's funny.

I'm going to assure that thing that I'm not saying.

Yeah, I feel there's some weird language here and stuff like that.

Maybe the maybe English is a second language.

I don't know.

I'm going to assure that thing that I'm not staying.

Like, I'm going to make sure it knows that I'm not sticking around.

This is its house.

Okay.

I'm going to assure that thing that I'm not staying.

I'll leave you.

I'll leave.

Oh my fuck.

I'll leave soon enough.

And I'll be free to.

And it'll be free to torment whoever comes here next.

I fucking hate my life.

Right?

I hope your guys are reading the screen because I'm like a nonsensical fucking schizophrenic right now reading this shit.

God,

I hate.

I hate myself.

I hate my fucking ape brain.

How's that milk doing, buddy?

It's not good.

Not good.

So we started packing and cleaning.

It was a bit harder for me, and we called for backup.

My other friend, Jessica,

she refused to come without her boyfriend.

Now, the four of us versus that thing meant it would be too scared to do anything.

Yeah, you hope.

Yeah, what the fuck?

Where are you getting that math from?

I didn't know much about it, but from its behavior, I learned it mainly focused on me.

And when its transformation would be complete, it would try to take over my life and send me to the other place, down the stairs.

We worked on it for a few days, and what we'd left was just some furniture to be moved.

I was extremely grateful for my friend's support who, unlike my sister, believed me from the beginning.

We'd had so little to do left.

Just some furniture, as I said.

So little.

I hadn't expected it to end like this.

It was me, my friend, the one who saw the footage first, we'll call him Adam, my sister Lisa.

They were downstairs wrapping up the TV, and I was upstairs lifting up the mattress.

I could hear their voices downstairs.

Yeah, like that.

Wait, no.

Hold it.

Hold it.

Hold it.

You're literally.

You're not holding it so heavy.

Okay, now help me up with the wrapper.

Yeah.

You dropped it on my foot.

Please just be careful.

Bring me the scissors.

I'm thinking I'll just cut this tape up like this.

I'd mostly ask them to speak more just so I wouldn't listen to the silence.

Silence for me meant danger.

After a while, they stopped talking.

I go,

I could only hear the sound of footsteps and things being dragged around.

Oh, fuck.

Lisa.

Lisa?

Eh?

Adam?

No answer.

Guys?

My heart dropped.

I made my way downstairs.

I subconsciously counted the steps.

16.

Whatever.

Lisa!

Adam!

No answer.

Feeling around, the house was empty.

No one was in the living room.

No one was in the kitchen.

Just boxes and clothes.

I sat on the couch, listening, hoping to hear some footsteps.

But I was only greeted by silence.

So heavy,

almost a being of its own.

I had the urge to leave.

Made my way to the front door, but just as I was about to turn the doorknob,

something,

this feeling, stopped me.

I turned around and pressed my back on the door, feeling the phone in my pocket.

Hey, Siri.

Cole, Lisa.

She picked up.

Yeah.

Will,

is that you?

Yes, where are you?

Where are you, Lisa?

Where's Adam?

Why would you leave like this?

You know you shouldn't leave me here alone.

What do you mean?

Where are you?

In the living room?

Will, where are you?

In the goddamn living room.

There's no one here.

I don't understand.

You came down the stairs as you're now sitting on the couch looking at me.

Who is this?

Who's calling me from your phone?

It's me, Lisa.

It's me.

I'm telling you, I'm in the living room.

And who is sitting on the couch if it's not you?

The moment of realization hit both of us gradually.

I knew who was on the couch or what was on the couch, and I knew that wherever I was, that wasn't my house anymore.

I'd finally managed to go down to the other place, and the thing had come back up, but this time with a more efficient disguise.

Listen to me, Lisa.

That is not me.

I need you to leave the house.

Take Adam with you.

Please, just get out.

Suddenly, she said something that shocked me.

How do I know?

How do you know what?

But it's not you on the couch.

It's the thing just sort of staring at you?

Yeah.

Well,

move around a bit.

It knows I'm blind, so it'll pretend if it's blind too.

If you do something unexpected and it follows you with its eyes, you'll know.

Okay.

I didn't hear much next.

Just movement.

Then I could hear her say, Oh my god, it's true.

What do I do now?

Well, I'm scared.

I don't think it'll hurt you.

Just don't let it know.

You know it's not me.

Wouldn't it know already if on the phone call?

It doesn't.

Okay.

I'll just go back upstairs, and I hope I can somehow make it out.

Anything understands what we're saying?

I don't know.

Because if it does, then it also knows it, no.

Then it also knows it.

No.

I felt helpless.

For the first time in my life, I wished I could see so badly.

I just wanted to get out of whatever this place was, back to my real house, but I could not find the staircase.

I was stuck.

What if I wasn't going to make it out of this place?

Please stay on the phone with me.

Okay.

Adam, come here.

No.

What?

He talked to the thing.

He thought it was you.

And what's going on?

Adam, here.

Take the phone.

I heard Adam's voice.

Yeah?

Adam, listen.

This is me.

This is Will.

I'm stuck in this place.

That up there is not me.

Please don't talk to it.

Don't let it know you know it's a copy.

What, Will?

Is that you?

Are you serious?

Shut up, shut up.

Don't touch me.

Stay there, freak.

I need to call the police.

Don't call the police.

If it it knows you don't believe it's an illusion, I don't know what it will do.

Lisa, take this.

I'll call the police.

I'm tired of this shit.

I heard some muffled voices, and then Lisa again.

Maybe it's good that he's calling the police, right?

Maybe the thing doesn't understand.

We know it's not real.

She stopped.

Don't act scared of it, Lisa.

Act normal.

I'm trying, but it just stood up now.

Please!

I don't know what I can do.

It's walking towards me.

I'm I'm just scared.

What the fuck?

What?

I listened as her voice changed from confusion to disgust to fear to terror.

What?

Lisa!

Adam!

I couldn't make out what she was saying.

At some point, I thought I heard Adam.

I was still desperate to feel around for that staircase.

I heard a thud, meaning she dropped the phone, and some screams, then muffled crying, and some sounds I could not make out.

At this point, my whole body was tensed up, and my heart was beating so hard I was about to faint.

The more noises I heard, the more I was convinced something sinister had happened, and as much as I tried to deny it, I knew.

I had no chance but to listen to this scene through the phone, unable to help, and even if I'd been able to get out of this place, I couldn't see anything either.

At some point, after I'd screamed my lungs out, my face drenched in sweat and tears, the noise stopped and the silence remained.

The silence.

I hate silence.

I kept wailing, hoping someone would respond.

It could have been hours until I got a response, but not the one I hoped I would get.

I heard some harsh movement, and then this hoarse, rotten voice.

That wasn't even a voice, but something like an animal trying to mimic a human.

For some, it would have been comical, but I knew that was just one of the phrases I used to say.

It had just mimicking me again.

I listened, petrified.

Meanwhile, my foot hit something.

Stairs.

Was it letting me go?

I climbed up the stairs and found myself in the hallway.

I could feel the familiar carpet under my feet.

I went downstairs and sensed the smell that I couldn't identify.

The floor was slippery.

Lisa, Adam?

I heard something run up the stairs.

Just like that, I knew the thing had left for now.

But my mind wasn't on the creature, but on Adam and Lisa.

Guys?

Walking around on the slippery floor, my foot hit something.

It felt like...

hair.

Nothing in the world could describe how I felt in that moment.

There's nothing I can type down here, which will help you visualize, because not everything feels like something else.

There's no analogy I can make.

When you discover a crime scene, you usually see it first.

I had it.

I've just been walking around the bodies clueless for a good few minutes.

You know how it feels to not know if something is blood until you slip on it.

To have to see if someone is alive, I desperately feeling around her to find their hand, neck, pulse.

Just crawl around in their blood, running your hands through the mess, trying desperately to see any signs of life, calling out their name.

I heard the door open.

I realized the police had come.

Adam had probably called them, and they had finally managed to make an appearance.

They found me, obviously, covered in their blood, next to them.

I didn't even know what the creature had actually done to them.

No matter how hard I tried, they would not listen to me.

They thought I was crazy.

The next following days were a blur.

Luckily, I had the footage of the thing from the past months and the testimony of my remaining friends and family.

Plus, Adam's call that clearly said, something is pretending to be my friend and it may hurt us.

They had downloaded the footage of the actual murder, but they refused to describe it to me.

They just asked me to rest.

But I can't, because no matter what, I want revenge.

I'm determined to find out the story of this thing, the story of this house, and its weird portal staircase.

And I want to kill this creature, even if it's the last thing I do.

For now, this is my final update.

I might post more on my account, depending on what I come across.

For now, I need rest.

I've begun seeing a therapist, and I'm recovering.

I still get nightmares.

I wonder what I could have done better.

But the truth is, I think I was doomed from the beginning.

From the moment I counted one extra step on my staircase, the nightmare had begun.

And that is the story.

And that is the story.

That was good.

I enjoyed it.

Yeah.

The tension was really well done.

Yeah.

I feel like.

I feel like she is not justified for going back to the house, and I think she's directly responsible for her friend's death.

Yeah, 100%.

I think that the only part where the story kind of slips up for me is that kind of rationalization: I think that the monster should have left the house, like it gathered enough, and it should have been trying to find her or something.

Going back and staying and like putting people in that predicament is

a bit silly.

Yeah, that was a bit too much.

I also feel like I am glad it didn't do the thing I thought it was going to do, where it's like, I am now in jail for my friend's murder, but it was like, no, the police like saw the footage and then they were like, you should go home.

Yeah.

I think,

I don't know.

I kind of wish we never even went to that angle.

I kind of

almost just be trapped in the house.

And now she's just kind of writing there forever, but she can't leave.

The portal, the portal aspect, I'm not really totally sold on either.

Kind of wish that it's like this, if it was this thing's house.

Because also, I made this connection earlier of when she's like, so I bought this new house and people said it's a mansion.

I was like, what the fuck?

You know, like you're an author and you're getting this mansion.

But it's like, if it's this weird place that people have like, they don't want to buy or it has some weird history that she doesn't know about, of course, this large house might be super cheap.

But if the thing is living inside of it trying to like mimic somebody, you know, maybe it's like something where it like opens up a door and like the staircase is extended down into some weird cellar.

That's what I was thinking.

That's what my mind was, that there's like a house underneath the house and they switch.

It's like mirrored.

Yeah.

But that being said, I don't think that the ending completely didn't just like...

trip and stumble.

I still think it landed it, albeit a bit shaky, but I love the idea of like just like taking an element of someone being blind and throwing like a home invasion twist into that.

I honestly think that that segment where she's sitting on the couch watching The Bachelor and she goes from turning on the AC to feeling it set down is like an all-time moment.

Like that was

one of the strongest creepy moments.

It felt similar to

like in Pen Pal, we're on the river and like the person's on the outside watching them like, you know, running through.

Is that your favorite moments?

Is that your favorite moment from any story we've covered?

Which moment the the pin pal river moment that might be yeah that i remember that one being the the creep it just the way it was described and even like the woman and the house and the old woman they used to be friends with it was just it was really nice that one and also the whenever uh the thing was like living under the the uh the the like under the what is it the porch or whatever they thought that was great too um

yeah i don't know this story was awesome i think that i really like that it was short sweet and not tons of fat Like I said, albeit it seems like trying to explain this like weird portal thing or how they came across that is kind of like, it's a little, it's a little

doesn't stick landing precisely to, you know, what I'm saying, but I'm just being,

you know, just trying to, I guess, justify the thoughts I'm having that are running through my head right now.

But I'm also diarrhea ridden.

So you are.

So we'll, we'll go ahead and get over it.

I will say one last time that you could check out Helena.

Oh, yes, please do buy me a coffee, coffee, whatever.

And you can buy more parts to this very story.

So that's a cool model to have like your story set up.

And then it's like, well, there's a sequel to it if you want over here.

So if you're interested, you could check that out or just support her online.

Check out her Reddit at Emma Watson but Dumber.

But yeah, thank you very much, Helena, for such a cool story.

Yeah.

That was great.

I really loved that.

And a much needed change from last week's, if I might add.

Yeah, I think that

I'd love to just check out more of what this author has done.

And And just a lot of fun.

Yeah.

Had tons of fun and just appreciate

how to the point it was.

It doesn't linger or anything like that.

It just is really to the point and it delivers the scares in a fun way.

Very elegant in how it's written.

So all in all, fucking amazing.

We appreciate you.

And just want to say thank you guys so much.

If you were listening to this on Spotify, thank you so much for listening to this on Spotify or Apple Podcast.

It does help us out.

We appreciate it.

And until next time, everyone, you stay scared, you fucking imbeciles.

We'll see you next next time.

Well, that was a little harsh.

I'll just say that I love you, and I hope it was creepy.

Bye.

Checkmate Hunter.