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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/bobbdac7894 on 2024-11-10 08:09:32+00:00.
It was the summer of 2022. I just finished my freshman year at college. I wanted to get a job over the summer. Especially since my college tuition was so high. My roommate, Troy, suggested working at his father’s restaurant. I considered taking him up on this offer but then I saw a job on craigslist.
“No experience necessary. Work is for one month. 24/7 on the clock work. Location: Oregon Pay: $100,000”. The job posting was only up for a few minutes. I immediately rushed and applied. Thinking back on it now, I was a dumbass for not questioning the job posting at all. It had no details. Location was in Oregon, which would mean I had to travel across the country (I lived in Massachusetts). But I didn’t question it. A few minutes later I got a text. It said my application was accepted and gave me an address, date and time to meet.
The next week I flew out to Oregon, rented a car and drove to the specified location at the specified time and pulled up to a mansion. The mansion was in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t one of those modern mcmansions. It had gothic style architecture that you would see in Europe. It was beautiful. Standing outside of the mansion was a middle aged man. He wore a suit, his dark hair was combed back and he had a well trimmed mustached. I extend my hand and said, “I’m Samuel. Nice to meet you”.
He didn’t shake my hand. Instead he stared at me intently for a few seconds before saying, “Henry Butler”. He took out a one hundred dollar bill and put it in my shirt pocket. “There’s more where that came from”.
“Uh… thank you, Henry?”, I puzzledly said.
“Please, please.”, he said, “Call me Mr. Butler. We should be on casual, friendly terms”.
I was so confused. Don’t people who are on casual terms call each other by their first name instead of last name? I shrugged and followed him to the mansion. I opened the front door for him. He smiled and said, “Thank you”. Took out another one hundred dollar bill and put it in my shirt pocket. What a strange man, I thought to myself.
He showed me a tour of the mansion. Constantly putting hundred dollar bills in my shirt pocket. Near the end of the tour I had over two thousand dollars in my shirt pocket. The mansion was sick. Had a movie theater, swimming pool, basketball court.
“I have to say, you’re really brave for taking this job Sam”, Mr. Butler said walking in front of me as we were continuing the tour.
“So … what is the job exactly?”, I asked.
He immediately stopped and turned towards me, “It’s quite simple really. You just take care of this mansion for a month while I’m away. You’ll have to live here 24/7. There’s a bedroom upstairs for you to sleep in.”.
Wait, that’s the job? I thought to myself. For $100,000, I pretty much do nothing and enjoy this sweet mansion? This is the sweetest gig ever.
Trying to not sound too excited I asked, “What is the catch”.
“Uh, well”, he nervously replied, “Well … you know what. Maybe it’s better if I show you. Walk with me”.
We walked down a large hallway. He immediately extended his arm to stop me when we reached the end. “Don’t get any closer”, he sternly ordered.
About 5 meters in front of us were stairs which looked like they were leading to the mansion’s basement. The basement was pitch black. All you could see was the stairs leading down darkness. But the weird thing was I could hear moaning and screaming coming from the basement.
“What is that screaming and moaning”, I whispered.
“Well … um”, he sheepishly replied. “What if I tell you this is an entrance to hell?”.
He studied my face to see what I was thinking. To see if I thought he was crazy.
“Excuse me?”, I eventually blurted out.
“What if I told you that if you go down these stairs you will be going to hell and you won’t be able to get back up to the living. The screaming and moaning is the sounds of people getting tortured. If you get any closer than where we’re currently standing someone from hell could grab you and drag you down to hell with it. And again, you won’t be able to come back up once you’re down there”.
I started bursting out laughing, “You got me for a second. I actually belie...”. I was suddenly interrupted by even louder screams from the basement.
“Oh great, now they know you’re up here dumbass”, Mr. Butler said shaking his head, “They want you down there with them. They’re jealous that you’re alive.” He turned around and started walking away from the basement.
“So yeah, never go near the basement”, he said as he continued walking, “If you avoid going near that area you should be fine.”
I just stood there, bewildered. Trying to take in what I was just told.
“Well, are you coming or not”, he said while continuing to walk away and not looking back. After a few seconds, I rushed towards and started following him.
“There is one more thing”, Mr. Butler said, “The demons and other souls from hell can come up the stairs and roam the mansion from 12am – 6am everyday. And trust me, based on the reaction we just heard from them, they want you. They want you bad. The only safe place in the mansion during those hours is in your bedroom. Close and lock your bedroom door from 12am – 6am every day. You must do this!”.
He looked at me sternly. “A few other things. You can’t leave the mansion once in this month. You should have more than enough food in the fridge and food cellar to last you that long. Just stay in this mansion. If you do this I will give you the $100,000”.
“But why”, I asked, “What exactly is the point to all of this?”.
He smiled, “My job is to watch over this gateway to hell. I’ve been doing this for decades. Someone must monitor and be in the mansion 24/7. Your job is to watch over it while I’m away”.
We walked back to the entrance of the mansion. “And that should be it, as I soon as I leave this mansion you’re in charge. Any questions?”.
I thought for a few seconds. Honestly, it is kinda creepy. But it still should be a pretty easy job. Just avoid the basement, lock my bedroom door from 12-6 am everyday. Easy. And $100,000 after all of this. Should be enough to pay off my college tuition and still have some money left over.
“Nah, I’m good”, I said, “I’m ready”.
“Great”, Mr. Butler exclaimed, “You have my number if you have any questions”. He took out another one hundred dollar bill and put it in my shirt pocket.
“Why do you keep putting money in my shirt pocket?”, I asked.
“I like showing off my wealth”, Mr. Butler said chuckling. "He is a strange guy", I thought to myself.
The first few days were pretty easy. The place had no internet. So that was a bit tough. I honestly spent most time in the movie theater. The place had cable and a large selection of movies. So yeah, even though there was no cable, I was still entertained. At midnight I did what he said, went to my bedroom and locked the door. The first few nights I had trouble sleeping because the concept of people from hell roaming about in the mansion while I was in the bedroom was kinda disturbing to me. I could sometimes hear footsteps and moaning outside my bedroom door. I think they were trying to find me and didn’t know I was in the bedroom. But after the first few days, I started to sleep like a baby. But then, after the first week, they figured out I was in the bedroom.
I woke up on the 8th night to screaming and banging on my door. They were trying to get in. I decided to call Mr. Butler.
“Hello?”, he replied.
“Mr. Buter”, I whispered, “They know I’m in the room”.
“Speak up, dude”, he sounded annoyed.
“They’re… they’re banging on the bedroom door”, I said a little bit louder, “They know I’m hear”.
“Is your door locked?”.
“Yes.”.
“Then you’re fine”, he said and immediately hung up the phone.
The nights continued like this. Constant screaming and banging on the door. The stress started to get to me and I couldn't sleep. I started sleeping during the day and stayed up during the night. I would put on airpods and listen to music to drown out the noise. Eventually I started getting used to this.
But then things got even worse during the third week. I was catching up on sleep during the day when I woke up to a moaning sound. “That must be my imagination”, I thought. I’m in the bedroom. I only hear the moaning or screaming sounds during the daytime if I’m near the basement. But then I heard even more moaning and screaming sounds. It wasn’t my imagination. In fact throughout the whole mansion I could hear it. I soon figure out the sounds were still coming from the basement. It just that the residence from hell were now being much louder and it was echoing throughout the hall mansion. I decided to call Mr. Butler again.
“No worries”, he said.
“What do you mean no worries?”, I asked, “I can’t deal with this shit. It’s now 24/7 screaming”.
“They just want you really bad and are getting annoyed that they can’t get you”, he chuckled.
"Is that suppose to make me feel better!", I shouted.
“But they can’t get to you. Don’t worry. They can’t come out of the basement during the day. And as long as you lock the door during the night, they can’t get to you.”
“But the screaming is now 24/7! I can’t take this anymore!!!”.
“Look, you have less than two weeks left. You can manage”. Then he hung up the phone.
So I tried to deal with it. But I couldn’t get any sleep. 24/7 sounds of agony and screaming started to torment and traumatize me. Eventually, during the night, the demons started replicating my family and friends voices out...
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