let’s cut to the chase: I’ve been dancing on and off for 7 years now. I’m 25 and I have the age old story of dancing to help me through college and now I work in nonprofit which in the name doesn’t pay the best so every so often I still pick up a shift in order to get a little extra cash.As all dancers know January is notoriously a slow month fortunately I’ve perfected my hustle and even a slow night I’m still able to leave pretty comfortably. But it was starting to not cut it, I live in Hollywood and as you can imagine the price of things add up. I started picking up extra shifts at the club, that with my day job has been leaving me feeling pretty exhausted.
About a week ago a gentleman came. I was on stage and in the dimly lit club, the pulsating lights created a mesmerizing atmosphere as I swayed to the beat. I noticed him as soon as he came in. He was tall, taller than tall like just shy of seven feet, he wore a hat, and had sharp bone structure, his eyes caught mine and gleamed with an otherworldly light that sent shivers down my spine. He approached my stage and placed not one not two but three hundred dollar bills on my stage simply saying, “You’re different, come see me when you get down.” Setting the tone for a series of eerie encounters that would change the course of my nights.Upon sitting with him we engaged in conversation. Weirdly all of which focused on me. Generally in these places the men can’t wait to share all about themselves. I ask open ended questions and let them ramble away ensuring I’ll be able to get a few VIP dances from them or if I’m lucky a champagne room. This wasn’t the case with the mysterious man. He asked all about me, my day job, my hobbies, my schooling. I answered as honestly as I felt comfortable l. Within the first 15 minutes he suggested getting a private room in the club.“Just to talk, it’s so loud out here. You’ve intrigued me I must hear more, Dani.”
He spent a total of over three thousand dollars on me that night. We spent two hours in a champagne room and then he left inquiring about my schedule as to when he could see me next. I have a burner number I give to customers who become regulars but when I offered to exchange contact info he said, “that won’t be necessary, I’ll be back though don’t worry.”
The next morning I woke up feeling particularly drained. I was fatigued and all I wanted to do was to sleep. I called out sick from my day job and slept on and off the whole day. My roommate coming to check on me but I wasn’t sick, I had no fever, I was just inexplicably exhausted. Curiosity got the best of me though and I went back into the club that night. Intrigued as to if he’d come back. He did and much like the night before he spent a generous amount of money on me. Leaving me completely juxtaposed between puzzled and incredibly grateful.
With each appearance, this mysterious stranger seemed to wield an endless flow of cash, accompanied by extravagant gifts that sparkled like forbidden treasures. It was a dreamlike scenario, but beneath the glittering surface lurked a dark underbelly. The more I received, the more it felt like something unseen was draining the very life out of me. Mornings after his visits became a battleground; I woke up feeling as if I’d traversed through a nightmare, sick and utterly exhausted.
Our conversations took a bizarre turn as the nights unfolded. “I’m not like others,” he confessed, his once-human features distorting into something straight out of a macabre tale. A haunting pallor overtook his face, and an unsettling transformation unfolded before my eyes. It was only for a split second. Quick enough so that I was able to dismiss it as my exhaustion getting the better of me.The opulent gifts were like a twisted charm, casting a spell that left me both captivated and depleted. Unable to bear the weight of this unnerving secret any longer, I confided in my fellow dancers. The dressing room buzzed with a mix of concern and fear as they, too, noticed the toll it took on me. Whispers of curses and supernatural pacts permeated the air, amplifying the already palpable tension within the club’s walls.
“Just be careful and be safe, no money is worth risking your wellbeing for, you know that.”
My closest friend at the club Savannah comforted me. I nodded in agreement but something about this man just was so hard to resist. Not to mention the fact that he somehow always seemed to know when I was working despite me holding no consisted schedule.
On a dead Wednesday night while we were enjoying a drink upstairs he muttered, “I can’t escape this,” he muttered with a voice that seemed to echo from the beyond. The club’s atmosphere thickened with an indescribable vibe, an eerie tension that made every encounter feel like a dance with the unknown. I cut that night short and went home early. Something felt unsettled within me.I was Stuck between the allure of the gifts and the heavy toll on my very essence, I grappled with the growing horror that accompanied each passing night.
As the spooky encounters persisted, my connection with the mysterious figure evolved into a full-blown dance with the supernatural. Each visit left me more drained, walking the tightrope between the realms of life and death. The club’s hushed whispers hinted at a climax shrouded in chilling mystery. Uncertain of how this creepy tale would unravel, I continued to navigate the nights, wondering what awaited me in the ominous shadows of the club, my heart pounding with both fear and curiosity.
One night, as the ominous shadows lengthened, the mysterious figure approached with an air of finality. “It’s time,” he said cryptically. The club held its breath, and I felt a strange mix of fear and relief. In that moment, the mysterious figure vanished into the shadows, leaving behind an unsettling stillness.
The following night, the club felt different, the air lighter without the ominous presence. As the weeks passed, the supernatural drain on my life gradually lifted. The whispers in the dressing room ceased, replaced by a collective sigh of relief.With the mysterious figure gone, the club returned to its usual rhythm, and I found solace in the absence of the eerie encounters. Yet, a lingering question remained – what was the true nature of the mysterious stranger, and why had our lives intersected in that haunting dance? The answers remained buried in the shadows, leaving me to navigate the nights with a newfound sense of mystery.
I haven’t seen him since but something has been happening, something strange. I haven’t felt the urge to sleep recently not at all. I haven’t been eating I’ve been trying but nothing is sufficing and all tastes like a bland mush. I’ve always been lucky enough to have pretty decent skin but recently it’s been growing a bit paler but has completely cleared itself of any blemishes. More than anything though, the days all feel like a blur. I try to do my day job and I get these overwhelming headaches, trips to the grocery store have started to make me feel dizzy and faint. I feel completely normal as the dusk settles in. Another strange thing is everyday my bank account grows more and more without me putting any deposits in. I don’t quite know what’s happening to me but I’m as much scared as I am intrigued. I’m writing this in hopes of finding any semblance of answers. Do you have have any ideas? Please help, I’m so confused and scared