This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/PleasantNightLongDay on 2024-11-07 01:53:51+00:00.
I moved into my new apartment 10 days ago, after landing a new job that pays enough to warrant this crosscountry change. I’m in a new city where I don’t know anyone; I’m brand new here, and things are already getting weird.
I need to know if I’m going crazy - this has to be some distasteful prank, right? I feel like I'm going insane.
My new apartment complex can be classified as “high end”. I’m definitely not used to living in this kind of “privileged” environment, but I quite like it. It’s a gated community, with a security guard in the entrance booth 24 hours a day. Every street, parking area, and sidewalk are always well-lit. The Community Center has a gym and “club house” with all sorts of amenities. There’s a sizable dog park that my Chance (a 2 year old Lab mix) already loves. Even the dog visitors are well behaved.
Everything is normal and not threatening. Which is why I keep thinking I’m making myself crazy here.
I’ve had a few “run ins” with a tenant that are increasing in severity.
On my 2nd night here, I took Chance for a walk around the complex; he only feels at home after he sniffs, smells, and pees on everything. So I was giving him the chance to do just that. Everyone I encountered was occupied in their own business. Some had headphones on. Others were on the phone. Families chatted on their evening walk. All except an old and wiry lady. I felt her gaze well before our paths crossed. From about 30 meters away, I felt her eyes lock onto me. I met her eye line, was taken back by her disturbing look, and turned back down towards Chance. Her eyes were wide, bloodshot, and unblinking. Under most circumstances, her look would be almost comical, with her eyebrows wrinkled her forehead with how elevated they were, and her eyes were wide enough you would think she was trying to keep from falling asleep. Except she was walking directly at me. You never notice a person’s walking rhythm and cadence until you encounter someone like her: He took steps of all sizes at varying speeds, making her seem intoxicated.
As we crossed paths, Chance, being his usual self, approached her; but she never broke eye contact with me. It was as if the 75 pound goofball wasn’t slobbering at her feet. She continued walking, staring at me, shaking her head slightly. Her blood shot eyes were those of a terrified person, begging for blinking lubrication.
At our closest proximity, she whispered “Get…Out” in an airy and raspy tone, as if struggling to find air to breath.
I pulled Chance closer to me and walked away, pretending to have not heard her or noticed her peculiar demeanor.
That was the first one, but the threats, warnings, whatever you want to call them, only have become worse.
On the 5th night, I was in bed, reading with my bed stand light on. Chance slept at my feet. I was deep in my book, but the sudden silence created by the absence of Chance’s snoring caught my attention. I put the book down and noticed his head was cocked towards my bedroom door. He huffed and puffed suspiciously, as if wanting to alert me with a bark, but being unsure of what was going on. He jumped onto the ground with the clumsy and ungraceful thump of a Labrador, and exited my room. Instantly, he was barking wildly. I ran to see what was going on. The possibility of any sort of danger never crossed my mind - this was a very “nice” complex. I found Chance pawing and scratching, unaware that a note had been slipped under the door. I picked up the folded message, and this time, I got a little more information.
“GeT oUt. hE IS cOmiNG foR yOu.”
This actually made me chuckle. I read about people writing in a mixture of capital and lowercase letters to add a spooky factor to their message in books, but I had never encountered it in real life. I pretended not to notice the fact that there were a few brown streaks that resembled blood throughout the paper. I folded it and placed it in the trash. I returned to bed, still warm and cozy.
If it were just these two instances, I would have dismissed them. I definitely do not have that special element that allows people to believe in the supernatural. But what happened tonight has me doubting my intuition.
An hour ago, at approximately 2AM, Chance repeated the same alerting routine. He plopped out of bed, waking me up, and ran to the front door. I got up very groggy and stumbled out. I half expected another note of the sPoOKy nature, but there was nothing there. Chance scratched at the door, barking aggressively. Without thinking (my brain was still in bed asleep), I opened the door to find the same wiry lady that I encountered on my first night. Except this time she looked fully psychotic, distraught, and potentially injured. Her clothes were drenched, as if she had been submerged in water. They highlighted how skinny she truly was, hanging onto her like a scarecrow. She was covered in something thick - maybe mud - that clumped her thin hair. Her eyes were the same, wide, red, and unblinking. She had light cuts around her arms, neck and face.
Her voice - I must have dreamed this - didn’t quite register in my brain. It was as if two voices were coming out of one mouth, one voice was extremely high pitched - almost inaudible - and the other extremely low pitched, like a rumble. But it still remained raspy and airy, as if she had just sprinted up the stairs and was out of breath.
“Get out…He is coming for you…” She said.
I stood staring at her, my brain barely getting out of bed. My first thought was of the security guard at the entrance. Surely security here is tight. As if reading my mind, she added, “Get out…before it’s too late and they don’t let you leave anymore..He is coming for you.”
Instinctively, I shut the door on her. Chance continued barking for a few minutes. He then determined the threat was gone, and crawled back into bed. I sat next to him, in shock.
I’ve been staring blankly at the floor and couldn’t do anything else other than write this.
I’m crazy for feeling any sort of fear, right? Surely it’s just one - assuming the note came from her - crazy lady freaking me out. I don’t know what to think.