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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/NotJustSomeNumbers on 2024-10-12 21:22:25+00:00.
It all started with a small nip at my ankle in the middle of the night.
I was half asleep when the pain came. I jumped at the small sting but didn’t stop moving. I needed to go to the washroom. Nothing else mattered at the moment. After finishing my task, I paused in the well-lit room to glance at my ankle. I wet down a cloth to clean away a small bit of blood. At the time I assumed my ankle had caught on the edge of my bed, or the lid of a storage bin under it. I never would have guessed what actually happened that night or how much danger I was in.
I work three jobs at the moment: one full-time job, one part-time, and another, which I only get three hours on Sunday. I barely have enough time to get from one job to another, let alone relax. My main goal is to save up, buy a house, and retire early. It’s depressing that this simple dream is nearly impossible for people my age.
I’m currently renting a room in a small three-floor condo. There were three of us, but the one roommate moved out. Our landlord wants to redo the basement to turn it into another space to rent. I need to find a new place before that happens. I’m barely sleeping as is. I don’t think I could handle more people in this place if they were all like Ryan.
I’ve had a suspicion that Ryan pays his rent by less than legal means. In this economy, you need to do what you need to cover your bills. I disliked him because he committed every bad roommate sin.
He was loud at night. Smoked in his room. Ate food that wasn’t his. Brought friends over on the weekends and let them stay for days. And sometimes didn’t flush. That was what bothered me the most. I hated going all day downstairs at night to use the small washroom to avoid the mess Ryan left behind. Of course, I told my landlord all this, but he hasn’t done anything about it aside from bothering Ryan to not smoke in the house.
I was exhausted from dealing with too many hours at work and a terrible roommate. Even so, I should have taken some events more seriously.
It was two in the morning I got home from work. Collapsing in bed I was ready to pass out before I got ready for another shift.
Some scratching kept me awake. What was Ryan doing? Did he get a pet while I was gone? Raising my tired head, I carefully listened. The scratching sound wasn’t coming from his room but nearby. I realized it came from under my bed.
Did we have mice? That would be annoying. I got out of bed and grabbed my phone for a flashlight. An odd sound came as if something large bumped into the bottom of the bed frame. My heart jumped as I glanced around expecting to see a wild animal.
Nothing. There was a lack of dust bunnies even though I haven’t cleaned recently. One of my storage bins had been slightly moved. I didn’t see any other traces of an animal or the cause of the scratching noise. I did hear Ryan start blasting God-awful music in his room.
Sighing, I got up to go down the hallway. His bedroom door was right across from mine. When our doors were open, you could see our beds from the hallway. I pounded on his door asking him to keep it down.
The music was lowered but not turned off. His excuse was he didn’t know I was home. He was still making some noise but I was able to fall asleep. I wasn’t expecting to see Ryan that morning because he normally crawled out of bed after I left for work. I saw him pacing the kitchen waiting for me agitated.
“Dude, I know you don’t like me but you can’t take my stuff.” He said sounding annoyed.
He looked like he didn’t sleep. That was the only way he would be up around this time.
“What are you talking about?” I said wondering if I used the last of his condiments by accident.
“Come on, don’t be like that. All of my socks are missing and three bags of my product are gone.”
I raised an eyebrow. Who would want his disgusting unwashed socks? I shook my head figuring he just misplaced them.
“Have you checked your entire room? Maybe it’s-” I started but he cut me off.
“I know you need the money but I have customers waiting on that stuff.” He was getting angry which was not how I wanted to start my day.
“Who would I sell your weed to? And it’s legal now. Why would anyone get it from me? I don’t have the connections you do to start with. And I don’t even want to look at your dirty laundry let alone touch it.” I shrugged.
He narrowed his eyes at me letting the thought run through his head. He saw me as too much of a nerd to have friends who did cool things like smoking his product. I had been the only person in the house since he noticed it was missing. Unless it was in his room somewhere, he didn’t understand where his things went off to.
“I don’t want to accuse your friends, but would any of them copy your key and take this stuff as a prank?”
I didn’t know how often Ryan left the house. Then again, he slept like the dead so someone could walk right into his room and take anything while he was passed out. This answer made more sense to him than his roommate suddenly stealing from him.
“Maybe. But if I find out it’s you there will be hell to pay.” He threatened.
I didn’t take him seriously. After all, I wasn’t stealing his stuff. We requested to get our locks changed and I hoped that would put an end to all of this.
A few days later Ryan’s product appeared in the middle of the hallway the bags ripped open. I saw it the moment he was coming out of his room to use the washroom. I just got home. He saw me in my uniform and didn’t see any traces of his premium weed on my clothing. So, I was in the clear. We spent the next hour making sure there wasn’t an animal living in the condo and all the entrances were sealed. If we heard noises, we would need to call a pest control company to deal with it.
I really thought we had figured it out. It was either an animal we hadn’t seen or one of his friends. Another week went by. Every day Ryan seemed to get more and more agitated. None of my things went missing or were tampered with. I didn’t own much. The few storage bins kept winter clothing because I didn’t have a dresser. All my dirty laundry went into a basket and I kept my clean stuff in another basket. Aside from some important papers and books, I didn’t have anything of importance in my room for someone to mess with. No wonder they went to Ryan’s room first. It was cluttered with useless high-end items. Countless never worn shoes. So many LED lights and a layer of clothing collecting dust on his floor. How did he even notice his socks were missing in that mess?
I had been hearing scratches at night, but when I turned on the lights it stopped. I thought I was just hearing things because we found no traces of our mystery animal.
It all came to a head during one of my rare nights off and when a storm hit. I couldn’t work even if I had a shift. Powerful winds with heavy rain kept most people off the road. Thunder rumbled outside. The power went out leaving the only light the constant flashes of the storm. I was worried about the food in the fridge. For once I was glad Ryan had eaten most of it. I made a sandwich before the lunch meat got too warm and headed upstairs only to be confronted by my roommate.
He was standing in the middle of the hallway holding his phone to use as a flashlight. I had gotten a battery-powered lantern in case the power went out like tonight.
“What’s up?” I asked him.
A pressure started behind my eyes. My body knew this encounter would end in a migraine.
“Where is all my stuff?? My phone cords are gone. More socks. Sheets, blankets. I had a bunch of gold chains. I put a camera in my room but I don’t know how you messed that up too.”
That was odd. He hadn’t had any friends over since the locks were changed. I wasn’t taking his stuff, so where was it going?
“You’ve cleaned your room?” I suggested.
He slapped my food out of my hand which I wasn’t pleased by. He stomped a foot and gestured towards his door.
“It’s a small ass room! Where do you think it’s hiding?!” He shot back.
This time I put my foot down as well.
“I can smell your mess from here! You don’t clean at all! Your room is a biohazard and I have no IDEA how you live in that. God, when was the last time you even showered?”
On top of all my hours, I was the only person who cleaned the common areas. Ryan created a mess, and never help with chores. He only cleaned out the fridge. He never stole my body wash though because he never baths. He must be misplacing his stuff because no one would want it because of the smell.
“That has nothing to do with anything! I pay for my room and I can do whatever I want with it! My friends aren’t taking my shit, and if you claim you’re not, then what? Some little gremlin shows up in the middle of the night to take it?”
His face was red from anger and he raised his cellphone blinding me for a second.
“Christ, and can you get rid of that tacky Halloween decoration under your bed? It scares the shit out of me every time I go piss in the middle of the night.”
I frowned. What was he talking about? I turned my head to follow his eyes. My adjusting to the darkness. I normally kept my bedroom door open when I wasn’t at home or sleeping. An unfamiliar white shape was under my bed squished between it and the floor. It must be what Ryan had been seeing the past few weeks. My heart started to race in fear and I found myself taking a few steps backwards until Ryan was in front of me.
“That’...
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