"There is Someone Who Works in the Backrooms" | CLANCYPASTA

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[00:01:24] I'd washed down that dry sandwich I just had with a soda. But as I stood at the vending machine,

[00:01:32] going back and forth in my head over what exactly it was I wanted to drink, I noticed it.

[00:01:40] A small, almost imperceptible gap behind the machine. I only noticed it because the gap between

[00:01:48] the vending machine and the wall was itself so unnaturally large. It almost looked like

[00:01:56] a hallway going deep into the heart of the mall. I'd never seen anything like it in my life.

[00:02:07] Well, I was bored and looking for something to do. So I waited until no one was looking this way

[00:02:15] and then I squeezed myself behind the machine and turned the corner, stepping into the corridor.

[00:02:27] The passage was narrow. Both of my shoulders just barely scraping by and was very dimly lit.

[00:02:35] In fact, it seemed a little odd to me that there was lighting here in the first place.

[00:02:41] Some dim flickering office building-type light fixtures dangling above.

[00:02:47] The walls were lined with peeling off white paint and old posters that seemed to date back decades.

[00:02:55] I stopped in admire to a couple as I was walking along. One said,

[00:03:01] Repent for the sins, eat the vitamins.

[00:03:06] Kind of a forced catchphrase I thought but if it ever helped anyone get their vitamins in,

[00:03:14] well I kept on walking.

[00:03:19] It stretched on far longer than I anticipated. Curving slightly as if winding around an unseen center.

[00:03:27] The deeper I went, the thicker the atmosphere became.

[00:03:32] Stale and thick with a scent of dust and something else,

[00:03:38] something faintly metallic.

[00:03:43] Finally, the tiny corridor opened into a vast expanse of space that quite frankly defied logic.

[00:03:53] It looked like an unoccupied office space, but unlike any I'd ever seen before.

[00:04:00] The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, their relentless glow illuminating

[00:04:05] row upon row of empty desks and chairs.

[00:04:12] The space was devoid of life, of personal touches of any kind.

[00:04:19] It was like the desks and chairs had been copied and pasted all throughout my visual field.

[00:04:25] It was like I'd stepped into a photograph of a creepy old office from the 1940s or something

[00:04:32] frozen in time and dead.

[00:04:39] After soaking in the place for a few moments, I called out

[00:04:44] Hello?

[00:04:46] And listened as my voice echoed back to me, multiplying until it finally fizzled out.

[00:04:58] It was then I realized where I was, what had happened here.

[00:05:04] Somehow, I had stumbled into the back rooms.

[00:05:10] Those mythical, liminal spaces discussed across internet forms and social media

[00:05:16] supposed thresholds between our world and another far stranger one.

[00:05:24] I remember watching some CGI animated videos that were supposedly depicting

[00:05:30] back room areas on YouTube that were pretty cool.

[00:05:35] But honestly, the place I found myself in now was much less interesting and much more eerie

[00:05:43] than some of the stunning works of art I'd seen online.

[00:05:49] As panic began to set in, I spun around about to sprint my way back out of this place

[00:05:55] and to the vending machine without another second's thought.

[00:06:00] But the corridor, the hallway out of here I'd seen, was gone.

[00:06:06] Just a flat empty wall behind me.

[00:06:10] Not even a trace that anything was ever there to begin with.

[00:06:17] I was trapped.

[00:06:19] I was trapped.

[00:06:21] Frozen for a moment, I suddenly realized I had my phone with me.

[00:06:26] I fished it out of my pocket and unlocked the screen.

[00:06:30] Crap. Not only did my battery have about 20% but there was no service.

[00:06:37] I tried to make a call anyway hoping maybe I'd be able to connect to something.

[00:06:43] But it wasn't meant to be.

[00:06:45] I just couldn't believe it.

[00:06:49] I slipped the useless perk of a phone back into my pocket and after standing around for

[00:06:56] probably way too long.

[00:06:59] I took the only option I seemed to have and began walking straight ahead deep into the maze.

[00:07:07] 4 hours.

[00:07:12] Stretched into what I could only imagine were days, I wandered essentially aimlessly through

[00:07:18] the fluorescent labyrinth.

[00:07:21] The sheer vastness of this place was mind-numbing.

[00:07:25] With corridor after corridor unfolding before me, each one indistinguishable in the last.

[00:07:32] The relentless hum over the overhead lights became a constant companion.

[00:07:37] They're bright, unforgiving glow casting long eerie shadows that seemed to flicker and dance

[00:07:45] just at the edges of my vision.

[00:07:50] After my phone died I was left without any hope of knowing what time it was.

[00:07:55] Whether it was day or night or even how many days had passed.

[00:08:02] As I trudged through this endless maze, the surreal quality of my surroundings began to

[00:08:09] wear down my resolve. The monami of this landscape rose upon rows of abandoned office spaces

[00:08:18] to both my sides. Each filled with dust-covered desks and empty chairs began to feel increasingly

[00:08:26] unbearable. Here and there, however, I would come across a room that seemed to deviate from

[00:08:33] the pattern slightly, its contents scattered as if its occupants had fled in haste,

[00:08:40] leaving behind a snapshot of a day like any other frozen in time.

[00:08:46] In one such room, I found a piece of paper on the desk. Walking over I found a handwritten list.

[00:09:00] It read, 1. Clear out desk, 2. Wash your ears, 3. Take your vitamins.

[00:09:17] 4. For some reason, shivers ran up and down my spine as I read.

[00:09:25] I set the page back down in the desk and continued walking down the endless halls.

[00:09:34] Desperation had more than set in, the thought that I might never find my way out,

[00:09:40] that I could become another disappearance case, wondering these liminal spaces indefinitely,

[00:09:45] was a thought too terrifying to entertain. Yet, I knew it was true,

[00:09:53] a specter of despair and a place that seemed designed to erode hope and defiance,

[00:10:00] an equal measure. Time went on.

[00:10:08] By what I estimated to be somewhere around the sixth day, exhaustion and despair brought me to my knees.

[00:10:18] I collapsed. I remember lying on the carpeted floor, the texture of the short trim carpet

[00:10:25] rough against my cheek, whispering pleas into this empty labyrinth.

[00:10:31] Just get me out, just get me out, with the love of God get me out of here.

[00:10:39] I begged over and over again until my voice was nothing more than a raspy whisper.

[00:10:48] It was then as my eyes wind-stupend in my darkest moment yet that I saw it.

[00:11:01] A dim red glow emanating from down one of the countless identical halls before me.

[00:11:08] I blinked trying to make sure I wasn't just seeing things.

[00:11:13] No, it was really there. Clear as day completely stood out from the blinding white and

[00:11:21] grays that surrounded me. Driven by mix of hope and sheer desperation, I found the energy to stand

[00:11:33] and stumble towards the light. This glow led me to a small office,

[00:11:41] similar in a way to these seemingly abandoned rooms I had stumbled upon in my desolation,

[00:11:47] except for the fact this one was not abandoned.

[00:11:54] A man sat there, typing away at an old-fashioned typewriter, seemingly oblivious to the surreal nature

[00:12:02] of our surroundings. The office was oddly normal looking, the more my eyes soaked it in and his

[00:12:10] presence was both comforting and utterly bizarre. He seemed to be a typical ordinary man,

[00:12:21] middle-aged bald, stocky glasses, typing away in the back rooms as if it were the most natural

[00:12:29] thing in the world. I was so shocked looking at this scene that I found myself just standing there

[00:12:39] with my mouth hung wide open. When you finally locked eyes of me, there was only a quick nod of

[00:12:46] acknowledgement. His demeanor oddly nonchalant as if my sudden appearance in his office was

[00:12:52] unexpected even mundane event in his day. He kept on typing away. His desk was cluttered with

[00:13:04] papers along with the old dust-covered typewriter that clacked away under his fingertips.

[00:13:12] He was really engrossed in whatever he was typing. I took a step or two towards his desk.

[00:13:24] I began to talk, trying to tell him how thankful I was to have found someone,

[00:13:30] and that I was in deep need of help, but he quickly raised a hand and spoke a stern,

[00:13:36] shhh, just a minute! Cutting me off. I shot my mouth and stood there still just as confused

[00:13:47] as he typed away for what seemed like an eternity. At some point, he nodded down towards

[00:13:55] a little office chair and I sat down. As I looked around the office, I realized it looked very,

[00:14:04] very lived in. There were family photos on the desk, a coffee mug with a faded logo,

[00:14:11] and bookshelves behind him crammed within a collectic mix of books and sports memorabilia.

[00:14:20] It felt oddly homey, a stark contrast to these sterile, unending corridors just outside the doorway.

[00:14:29] Suddenly, he stopped typing and looked me straight in the eye.

[00:14:40] Yeah yeah I know, he started as he swiveled around in his chair and started looking through

[00:14:46] his bookshelf. I got your petition last night and have been working on nothing else since.

[00:14:53] I've been typing out the proper paperwork all night for you, alright so

[00:14:57] you just relax yourself and try not to distract me if you can. Your processing is almost finished.

[00:15:06] I opened my mouth to reply but I couldn't find a word to speak. My mind ran past the past several days

[00:15:19] but I could only pull up the endless sprawling, labyrinthine trap I'd found myself in.

[00:15:26] I most certainly didn't submit any petition. Who in the world would I have sent a petition to? Anyways

[00:15:34] none of this made a lick of sense. The man's words rest perplexing as the literal existence

[00:15:41] of the back rooms themselves. Eventually, he grabbed a leather-bound book off the shelf

[00:15:52] and swung back around, slamming it atop his desk. He flipped it open to reveal it wasn't actually

[00:16:00] to be read but was a cleverly disguised container. In the cavity cut deep into the pages of the inside

[00:16:09] of this book, the man pulled out a bulky old cell phone, an old model from the early 2000s.

[00:16:18] He pulled it out and yanked on the antenna until it was well over three foot long,

[00:16:24] towering so high it almost touched the ceiling. I almost laughed at the side of the thing.

[00:16:32] It looked so ridiculous. I don't think I'd ever seen even on one of those old ones,

[00:16:38] a cell phone antenna that huge. Well, he punched a number into the pad and held it to his ears.

[00:16:50] I could barely hear the sound of ringing from the other end, and then he spoke.

[00:16:59] Hello? Yeah, it's Roger. Yeah, well uh another one fell in. Again, yep.

[00:17:06] Yeah, I know. I know he's sitting right here. Well, I don't think he's going anywhere.

[00:17:16] Huh? How soon? Ah yes that'd be great. Thanks. All right, bye-bye.

[00:17:26] He clicked a button and collapsed the antenna surprisingly fast.

[00:17:31] He then turned his attention back to me with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

[00:17:39] All right, good news. Someone will be here to pick you up in just a few moments so you just sit tight,

[00:17:45] relax and I bet you're probably a bit thirsty, aren't you? Haven't had anything to drink in

[00:17:52] quite a while? Yes, his tone shifting to something softer, almost compassionate.

[00:18:01] At the exact moment I began to nod a yes, a glass filled with what appeared to be orange juice

[00:18:09] seemed to appear in his hand and he set it down on the desk. Then right next to the glass

[00:18:19] he placed a small pill-like object. And here's a little vitamin C pill to kickstart the system.

[00:18:30] He said with a wink. I initially picked it up but as I held it in my hand,

[00:18:39] a sudden rush of adrenaline shot through my system. I felt I'm easy about this.

[00:18:49] Well, come on, you gotta take the vitamin if you wanna have the strength to leave.

[00:18:55] He said a little pushy is insistence that I take this vitamin felt a little disturbing.

[00:19:08] I think there's probably a decent amount of vitamin C in this orange juice.

[00:19:18] I began lifting the cup to my lips. I don't think I need the vitamin but thinks anyway.

[00:19:27] His half smile turned to a stern grimace. He looked to his desk and then back up to me.

[00:19:38] All right, I'll just tell you. If you don't take that vitamin,

[00:19:45] you are not going to be leaving this place and I know you want to leave this place.

[00:19:52] So will you please for your own good now take the vitamin C?

[00:20:00] I felt a sharp pain in my chest and inability to digest his words.

[00:20:12] Was he being serious? There was something seriously wrong with all this, I knew.

[00:20:20] And for a moment, I was about to throw the drink in his face and run out of there as fast as I could.

[00:20:26] But then I felt my aching muscles and the breath I could hardly keep moving through me.

[00:20:34] I was in no physical shape to fight this. In plus, this guy was really my only hope.

[00:20:44] I knew that if I ditched him and ran out of here, I would most likely be running straight into the arms of death.

[00:20:56] I had no choice. Reluctantly, I took the vitamin.

[00:21:08] He seemed pleased a smile immediately returning to his lips and said,

[00:21:15] ah, very good, very good. You just relax now as I finish up the last little piece of your

[00:21:21] paperwork. You'll be out of here very soon now, very soon as far as your concern.

[00:21:31] I just nodded as a wave of lethargy seemed to permeate through my limbs.

[00:21:37] I remember leaning down and back into the chair which was suddenly feeling oddly comfy to me

[00:21:44] as I led my eyes, relax and close.

[00:21:51] The details of what followed are quite hazy, a blur of half dreams and dark emptiness that seemed to take

[00:22:00] over. I seem to lose consciousness. But when I awoke, I found myself lying

[00:22:14] on a sidewalk. It was the middle of the night and as I sat up, looking around trying to make out

[00:22:23] where in the world I was, I found I was just outside the mall, the sounds of the city night

[00:22:31] bustling around me. Despite the fact that a headache pounded through me worse than ever before,

[00:22:40] and despite feeling like I barely had the energy to move an inch,

[00:22:45] I was happier than I'd ever been in my entire life.

[00:22:51] I was finally free. I actually made it out of there alive

[00:22:59] that itself almost felt like a dream.

[00:23:02] It took a while, but when I got back to my apartment, I found my mom was somehow inside

[00:23:14] along with my landlord. As soon as she saw me, she screamed and ran over practically tackling me

[00:23:22] in a bearhuck. As it turned out, I'd been gone for almost two weeks, which is actually almost

[00:23:33] double the time I thought I was gone. I didn't make any sense either. If I had gone two whole weeks

[00:23:41] without food or water, I should have easily died. But… well… clearly, I didn't.

[00:23:53] I didn't know what to think. Given my complete exhaustion, I didn't have the will or

[00:23:59] intelligence to not give the truth. I told her everything. And she listened, thankfully,

[00:24:10] growing more and more quiet as I went on, however. By the end, she just nodded and left the room.

[00:24:22] An hour or two later, a detective walked in.

[00:24:29] Apparently my mom had reported me officially missing, which was a little inconvenient, but I did

[00:24:36] understand why she did that. He started asking me questions and it became apparent

[00:24:44] my mom had told him what I told her. By this time, I'd had enough rest to realize the truth was too

[00:24:55] crazy to believe so I just fed him a load of bull he would digest. I went out into the forest

[00:25:06] behind the mall and got lost. I told him. He scribbled it down in his little pad.

[00:25:15] I don't know, that went on for a while and then he left. And then I never heard anything more about it.

[00:25:27] It took weeks of processing this to finally get the courage to write this up.

[00:25:34] But I didn't write this for my own personal amusement, or even just to get this off my chest,

[00:25:40] or to see if anyone else has had a similar experience. I came here with a very clear intention.

[00:25:52] In all of my reading around online, I have never heard of anyone having a similar experience to me.

[00:26:02] Meeting some guy was able to rescue me from that nightmare.

[00:26:08] I felt I should post my story here, just in case in the future.

[00:26:14] If anyone who reads this story shouldn't fall prey to the horrible nightmare I found myself in with

[00:26:21] the back rooms, you should know that there is indeed hope. There is someone in there,

[00:26:32] there is someone who can save you. Don't lose hope. Do not give up if you just keep walking.

[00:26:43] If you just keep praying, you will find him. Or perhaps maybe he'll find you.

[00:26:58] Don't give up, but if you can simply avoid exploring the back rooms at all costs.

[00:27:12] Well thank you for listening to tonight's episode of Clancy Pasta. I really hope you enjoyed.

[00:27:35] Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, subscribe or follow if you haven't already.

[00:27:40] Give the video a like. And if you're listening on any podcasting platform, you can always go to youtube.com slash

[00:27:47] Clancy Pasta to get new episodes first. And huge thanks to all of my patrons and YouTube supporters.

[00:27:56] And shout out to Sliangul who let me know that in the last video when I read out the $5

[00:28:03] or up Patreon things and updated the end scroll credits that I actually missed a few of my supporters.

[00:28:11] I was really confused by this, I guess I must have accidentally clicked something in the settings

[00:28:17] when I was compiling the list that left a few people out but regardless I went back through

[00:28:22] and so I'll just quickly read them off. Huge thanks to Sliangul. Guile? I probably must pronounce

[00:28:32] that I'm sorry, Guile Guile and Jared B and DC Devon Live. I've also updated some credits in the

[00:28:40] Google section which is the $2 enough. So seriously thank you all so much for your support.

[00:28:46] Apologies about screwing up the end scroll credits but hey you know I got them updated.

[00:28:52] If there's any topic you'd like to see covered like this was about the back rooms if you have any

[00:28:57] other general ideas for story topics or genres or anything you'd like me to cover, feel free to

[00:29:04] put it in the comments down below. Okay I really really hope you enjoyed and I will talk to you all

[00:29:14] very soon. Have a great night everyone. Cheers.