I’m an avid reader of nosleep, as I assume most of you reading this are. I read it every night before bed as well as on my breaks at work, as well as any other time of the day. Yet I honestly don’t waste my time with anything less than 500 upvotes. I know, I know―I’m one of those people, but I’ve always prefered to let others waste their time testing out uncharted ground.
So when a story appeared in the coveted number one spot one morning, a story that somehow had no upvotes at all, I passed over it. What only helped fuel my disdain for the story was the fact that the title of the story was ‘Read me. Help us.’ Guys. Come. On. It literally had READ ME in the title?
Pathetic.
That night the story was still in the number one spot. All the stories had shifted around it, but this story was still on top. Still with no upvotes.
At that point I literally dismissed it. It was a glitch, some impossibility I could not understand that I did not care. Spot number two was my new spot number one, and that was fine with me.
My suspicion of system malfunction was only confirmed when the story was still on top the next day. And the next. And the next week. And the next month. I got used too tuning it out of my radar and automatically skipping one story down. I did this for about three months until finally, I realized, hey, why don’t I just read this story? Yeah, it was annoying having this junk at the top of my computer that never had any votes, but why couldn’t I just give it a chance?
When I opened the story, the first thing I noticed was how it was formatted, with a name then a paragraph, then a name then a paragraph. Because I’d told my brother Lenny about this annoying story, when I opened it, I took a picture of my screen and sent it to him. That’s the only way I have the original words to some of it.
The first part was titled NICK. This was his story.
‘Nick was lonely. Nick’s girlfriend had just broken up with him. Nick needed something too do on saturday night. Nick opened reddit. Nick read some creepy stories. Nick liked the stories. Nick liked too read so much, Nick kept reading. Nick read until his stomach shrunk. Nick read until his feet stopped working to. Nick read until his eyeballs shriveled. Nick read until we took him.’
That was it of the first story. What was this junk? I decided to keep reading, but the second one was basically the same.
GRETEL
‘Gretel was ugly. Gretel wanted too be pretty. Gretel tried too be pretty by putting on makeup. Gretel was still ugly. Gretel cried for an entire day. Gretel felt sick. Gretel stayed home from school. Gretel decided too read a creepy story. Gretel liked the stories. Gretel found her favorite story. Gretel did not stop reading when it was time too eat. Gretel did not stop reading when it was time too go too sleep. Gretel read until we opened her mouth. Gretel lost something important through her mouth. Gretel tasted pretty.’
First off, these stories weren’t really stories at all. They were ridiculous, terribly written and made no sense. There were dozens of them, stories upon stories, and each was as terrible as the last, ending the same way with them being eaten by whoever ‘we’ was. As they progressed, the endings grew slightly more descriptive with something white coming from there mouths, but each story was still stupid. To make it worse, each usage of ‘to’ and ‘too’ was reversed and wrong.
So why couldn’t I stop reading? I realized after about twenty of the stories what time it was: almost half an hour after I had begun. After a hundred mini-stories, I started to get worried for myself. I had already missed the time I was supposed to leave for work, but I couldn’t seem to get up. After about two hundred stories, I stopped worrying. All I could focus on was the words. The story. How good it was. How much I loved it. How much I would give just too keep reading. Everything.
Something was wrong. Deep inside I knew it, but wouldn’t let that feeling out. I just couldn’t comprehend it while I was reading, being taken over. The last thing I remember is getting to a name on the page, not the final name with the final stupid story, but a name that mattered.
My name. How exactly the story went, I’m still not sure, but I think it was something like.
‘Tim was bored. Tim read scary stories. Tim read a story he tried not too. Tim liked the story very, very much. Tim could not stop reading. Tim had a tasty soul we wanted. Tim read and read and read. Tim opened his mouth. Tim―’
My phone buzzed.
Like that, the trance was over. I looked down at my phone and realized my mouth was open. Immediately I slammed the computer shut, and when I tentatively opened it later, the story was gone.
Guys, I’m still not sure exactly what happened, but I think I can figure it out. Nosleep is great― I probably won’t stop reading it― but I think there is something on here, something alive and wrong, that you need to watch out for. The story I read was a story I could read, but I think, sometimes, the living thing finds its way into other stories.
Other people, my brother included, have told me similar stories, all where their mouths end up open and they only stop reading when somebody walks into the room. The only thing the stories share is that they never use the right ‘to’ and ‘too.’
So please, if you come across a story on here you can’t stop reading, smash your computer if you have to, but stop. And whatever you do, don’t open your mouth or you might end up like one of those names on the page to.