"My Roommate Let Something into Our Apartment, and I Don't Think It's Going to Leave" by Michael Marks | CLANCYPASTA

[00:00:03] I'm not exactly sure where to turn with this. Paranormal forums have been no help, and most places on the internet just start talking about salt, iron, and calling Sam and Dean to fix the issue. This is real though, and its getting worse, and I'm fucking terrified.

[00:00:33] About a week ago, I came home late from work at my usual time. I usually get off around 1030, and my roommate Jackson works pretty early, so its not uncommon to see him passed out on the couch.

[00:00:48] That night though, he was wide awake, sitting and watching a scary movie with the lights off. I greeted him, and he tossed my keys on the table, but as I went to reach for the lights, he turned and yelled at me, LEAVE IT OFF! I jumped back, startled.

[00:01:11] What the fuck, man? Sorry. He settled back on the couch, his eyes turning towards the screen again. We're just trying to enjoy the atmosphere of the movie. I looked around, and didn't see anyone else in the room. Tension filled the air. Who's we?

[00:01:39] You got a mouse in your pocket? I joked, hoping to lighten things and make it feel normal again. Instead, he turned to me with wide glassy eyes and corrected himself. Me. I'm trying to enjoy the atmosphere of the movie.

[00:01:59] He slowly turned his head back towards the screen where some masked killer was stalking his victim. A combination of the intensity in his eyes, the dark room, the scary movie, and the way

[00:02:15] he'd reacted to my arrival sent a shiver up my spine and put a sick feeling in my stomach. Whatever, man. I tried to shake it off. See you in the morning. I walked away towards my room, but he didn't respond.

[00:02:43] His eyes glued on the screen as he silently watched the movie with a stiff, backed posture. I turned back to him one last time before I shut my door, and I could swear I saw something out of the corner of my eye standing next to the couch.

[00:03:06] I did a double take, and it was gone. Instead, I noticed Jackson had turned his head towards me. His eyes were still glassy, and his mouth stretched itself to a toothy smile. I quickly shut my bedroom door and locked it.

[00:03:32] I flicked on my TV and put on some random YouTube videos to hopefully distract me from what I just saw. Was he fucking with me? Trying to scare me? What the hell had just happened? Jackson had always been a bit of a prankster.

[00:03:54] One time he hid the vacuum in my room and set it up to an electrical switch on a timer. Same thing went off at three in the morning and scared the shit out of me. That was funny, though. This was not.

[00:04:12] I spent the rest of the night laying in bed and staring at my TV with his bizarre smile imprinted on my brain. I thought about getting up and confronting him, but before I knew it, I heard the TV

[00:04:31] shut off in the living room and him go to his room and close the door. Any expectation I had of him coming to my door, knocking, apologizing, and explaining what the hell just happened died.

[00:04:48] Instead, I decided to try and get some sleep and ask him in the morning. Sure, it was weird, and yes, it creeped me out, but at the time I didn't realize I was living in what would become a nightmare.

[00:05:10] So I gave him the benefit of the doubt and shrugged it off. I can hear you wondering why I didn't just book it right then and there, but the guy had been my roommate for three years with barely any issues.

[00:05:26] He was a nice dude with no history of anything weird as far as I knew, and it was much easier to assume it was a strange night and my eyes and brain were playing tricks on me after a long night of work.

[00:05:42] I convinced myself it was a badly timed joke on his part, and in time, I fell asleep. The next morning, I woke to find Jackson sitting at the kitchen table, eating a bowl of cereal and scrolling on his phone. I could smell coffee brewing in the pot.

[00:06:10] Morning, dude, he said in his typical cheerful tone, not looking up from his breakfast. Made coffee, help yourself. Morning, I side-eyed him as I walked through the kitchen and finally, he caught my gaze. What?

[00:06:34] He shot me a confused look and shrugged his shoulders as he spooned some more cereal into his mouth. Last night, dude, not funny, I couldn't believe he was playing stupid with me. You actually freaked me the hell out. He laughed and shook his head.

[00:06:58] Sorry, man, I was just fucking with you. I guess the horror movie put me in a mood. I actually remember breathing a sigh of relief. I had figured he was messing with me, but hearing it confirmed made me feel a lot better.

[00:07:23] I don't mind a prank now and then, man. Just save it for when I'm not exhausted. I poured myself some coffee and started heading back towards my room to try and relax during my day off. You got it, brother.

[00:07:42] He raised his bowl to me in a cheers and smiled a normal smile, but as I walked away, I heard his tone change and lower to be almost imperceptible. He spoke words that once again filled my gut with ice. We'll try to be more considerate next time.

[00:08:09] What did you just say? I turned to him again. Me? He said with a mouthful of cereal. Nothing. You definitely said something, I insisted. Dude, you are being weird as hell. He got up and put his now empty bowl in the sink.

[00:08:34] Listen, I'm sorry I messed with you last night. I promise I didn't say shit, though. Again, I know what I heard, but he was convincing as hell. It was easy to trick myself into thinking I was psyching myself out.

[00:08:56] There was no reason the guy would be gaslighting me. At worst, he was just messing with me. And if I told myself I just needed to let it go, everything would go back to normal.

[00:09:13] I guess I'm still just tired and a little tweaked out from last night, I said to him. I sipped my coffee and headed towards my room again. Sorry, man. No worries, he said, heading towards his room as well. Sorry I tweaked you with my joke.

[00:09:38] I thought that would be that, but two nights later, things got way worse. I woke up at about 1.30 to the sound of scratching at my door. It was like a dog begging to be let in, despite the fact that neither Jackson or I have a dog.

[00:10:08] I wiped the sleep from my eyes and stared at the door with an intense focus. The sound continued. Small scratches, short and quick. It made me think a bit of scurrying rats gnawing on support beams in the walls.

[00:10:30] I slipped out of bed as quietly as I could and got closer to the door. I pressed my ear to the wood and could feel vibrations of whatever was scratching on the other side. Jackson? I called out, unsure if I was expecting a response. What's up, man?

[00:10:58] I heard him right away, but not next to my door. He sounded like he was in the living room. I flung the door open to… Nothing. Moonlight crept in through the window and cast an eerie blue over the apartment, but Jackson wasn't there.

[00:11:22] No rat, no dog, no roommate. Nothing to have made the noise and no one to have called back to me. Maybe I should have been scared, but honestly, I was irritated. He was still trying to mess with me and I just wasn't in the mood.

[00:11:48] I walked across the hall to his door and knocked on it aggressively. Jack? I almost shouted, but thought better. I kept my tone firm and knocked again. Jack, what the fuck, man? Silence. I pressed my ear against his door. Jack? I said again in a softer tone.

[00:12:19] He didn't respond. I tried his knob and his door wasn't locked. As I turned the handle, this creeping dread filled me that something awful was waiting for me on the other side of that door. Hey, man. Are you alright in there?

[00:12:45] I slowly pushed the door open and as the room slowly came into view, I saw Jackson sitting on his bed with his back to me. His posture was stiff like before while he was watching the movie, hands on his knees, his body still as a statue.

[00:13:10] Dude, what the hell is... My words caught in my throat as the rest of the room came into view. I still can't fully believe what I saw standing there. A figure stood next to Jack. Tall, I would guess almost seven feet.

[00:13:37] A sheet was draped over it like an old ghost costume but without the eye hole. It was just a white sheet and would look to be a person underneath. I'm... Jackson spoke but not alone.

[00:14:00] The thing underneath the sheet spoke with him in unison, its gravelly rotten voice tangled with his. I'm just hanging out with my... I almost screamed but I was so goddamn scared that at that moment I was frozen in place.

[00:14:27] Something about this made me realize this was no joke. The thing under the sheet gave off the worst air of danger I'd ever felt in my life, like staring down the barrel of a gun. He came knocking the other night.

[00:14:48] They both spoke, the thing just a half second before Jack though, like it was guiding his voice. I let him in. He likes it here, so warm and inviting. Backed away slowly, a terror filled me and told me to flee.

[00:15:17] I felt like if I ran it would chase me, like locking eyes with a predator in the wild. Can all be friends now, the best of friends? Jackson says you're easy to scare. It was speaking alone now, show me.

[00:15:47] I grabbed that and moved across the room and then it was directly in front of me. It didn't walk or run, it was like it, fucking fast forwarded. Startled, I stumbled backwards and into the wall behind me, cracking my head on a framed picture.

[00:16:12] I scrambled to my feet and looked up. Jackson was once again wearing that stiff smile and standing next to this thing, this intruder. Come on brother, they said together, let's all watch something scary. The sheet lifted ever so slightly and a gaunt grey arm slid from underneath.

[00:16:47] Thin bony fingers reached for me and snagged the collar of my shirt as I attempted to bolt down the hall and to the front door. I heard the fabric rip as I tore myself free and sprinted to the exit.

[00:17:08] We can all live here together, no need to run. The voice got muddier, uglier, it sounded like it was underwater and distorted shredded vocal cords. I flung open the front door and flew into the hallway.

[00:17:32] The hall lights burned my eyes for a second as I ran to the stairs. All around me, at every apartment door, I heard knocking as I tore my way down the hallway. I saw some people opening their doors to find out what was going on.

[00:17:53] Each of them went blank. As soon as they did, I watched some of them fling the door open ready to scream at whoever was knocking so late. Their expression dropped and their eyes went as glassy as Jack's.

[00:18:11] I jumped down, skipping three to four steps at a time, my bare feet slapping against the cold vinyl floors of the building's hallways. More and more doors opened, people standing frozen at the threshold and those tall sheet-covered entities standing next to them.

[00:18:33] Some were guiding them back into their homes, some just watched me as I moved as quickly as I could down the hall. I burst out through the front door into the warm night air.

[00:18:51] I must have ran three or four blocks before the realization hit me that I was in my pajama pants. No phone, no wallet, no keys, no shoes, and no fucking idea what to do. I ended up finding an all-night diner that let me use their phone.

[00:19:20] I thought about calling the cops, but what do I say? Cops have taken over my apartment building and the residents are hypnotized? Possessed? Nothing I could say wouldn't sound insane. I would get treated like a fucking crackpot. I called my sister.

[00:19:46] I wasn't even sure what to say to her. I told her something was wrong with Jackson, he was acting crazy, and I was not comfortable staying in the apartment anymore. Here for three days now, I don't know what to do anymore.

[00:20:11] At the urging of my sister, I called the police to at least do a wellness check on Jackson. I was terrified of sending someone to that apartment building, but they told us they checked on him and everything seemed fine.

[00:20:31] He answered all their questions normally, told them he had pulled a bad joke on me and he was okay. This was not a joke, and I feel like I'm going crazy.

[00:20:52] My sister Ashley and her husband are urging me to just go home and talk it out with him or at least get my things. I don't know what to do, though. I feel like I'm losing.