Link to part 1
https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/s/5GR7XApBjQ
I have no idea where to begin here, so, I’m Nada, hi.
After my dads and I talked they decided that maybe letting me tell you guys a few things about what’s going on could be healthy for me. Personally I’m just hoping that maybe, even if things go bad, I can help some people. Let them learn from my mistakes or something.
To make things less annoying, I’m just going to call them by their first names from here on out. I’ve got 5000 words, I’m not wasting half of them with “dad”.
And in case folks are wondering, my parents and I have a deal. We don’t read each other’s posts…from here on anyway. Kurt said it was so I could share anything I wanted, but I’m pretty sure it was really because I said Dan sounded like a sad Ghostbuster.
I mean, this stuff with Crow, it’s messed up, but at the same time, a little cool. I don’t mean the murders or Kurt getting hurt ( by the way, he wasn’t missing fingers, he had them, they were reattached. Dan is a little dramatic sometimes.), but how many people can say they know monsters are real?
I guess this is where I can start, my pet monster, Crow. He loves to learn, I think that’s why we get along so well, because so do I.
After a year of living with Crow, I’ve came up with a few rules.
As far as what I know about him?
He knows a lot, but I think he’s young, I don’t know if that means young for whatever he is, or just, young, though.
The doll is filled with something, hot and almost rubbery. I call it Skwish, Crow can be hurt, but I don’t think the Skwish inside can be destroyed. At least by anything I can find and was brave enough to use.
Crow is the doll, and the more he learns the more he can move, if you are wondering about what committed the murders, Crow explained it like this.
The doll is like his head, the monster thing, more like his body. The more we work together, the more of himself he can use, and the better he can use it.
As far as him killing people, and hurting my dad. I want to say, it’s messed me up, I want to try and keep my stuff light, I know Dan is going to be all serious, but it feels like I have to not care, in a way. That I have to accept this is a part of my life now.
Crow, I don’t know, sometimes I think he gets why he shouldn’t do things, other times, it feels like I’m just his leash.
He can talk, but it takes a lot to understand. It’s like listening to a crowd have an argument and trying to pick out one individual voice. At this point, it’s only been to me though, Kurt and Dan say he’s silent.
Eventually I’m going to get to how I lost Crow, but at the moment the thought of writing out my dumb-ass mistake, is a bit much. So, let’s talk about why I always have to be up at 2am.
“Crow, why are you looming, you know I hate night looming. “ I say, rolling over and looking at the clock, 1:45, 6 hours till school and 4 till I have to get up.
He stands beside my bed, shiny plastic eyes catching the light of my vintage led clock. As my eyes focus I see he’s pointing to a corner of my room.
I look, I don’t see anything.
“It’s too late for not making sense Crow, go to bed. “ I grumble, rolling over.
I feel a hot, long fingered hand on my shoulder. I know Crow won’t hurt me, but he can be really annoying when he wants something.
I sit up and turn toward him, he keeps pointing toward the same corner.
I get up, and walk over, Crow following me silently.
I’m confused as he walks right into the corner, like he’s been given a time out. He starts to mumble and whisper in that strange, crowd that hates each other language, softly.
At first the corner begins to get darker, then, I can’t really explain it, almost like the corner started folding in on itself.
It looked almost like a doorway, but every time I tried to focus on it, it would shift or change.
Crow waves at me, asking me to go through.
I have to believe Crow won’t hurt me, and not just because the creepy old man told me to.
See, I know this is all some kind of trap. But if I thought that all of it had no rules, that it was nothing more than a crazy old man killing me with a haunted toy, I couldn’t keep doing this.
So I trust him.
I put on a pair of pants and a sweater, and grab my overnight bag from the closet, and put the Crow toy inside. Crow can follow me pretty far away from it, but I’ve never really tested how far.
It feels cold, it doesn’t hurt, but it starts to feel, overwhelming. Thankfully the trip through the doorway is over in a couple seconds.
I look around and it’s a store of some kind, but one that was abandoned a long time ago. I hear mice in the walls, smell pee, and see broken glass everywhere. I regret only grabbing my flip flops.
I slowly walk to a cracked, yellow window and look out.
I’m in a town, but not one that I’ve ever seen before. Kinda sketchy area. Across the street, the only store open, seems to keep Crow’s attention.
‘The Pale Snail : Vintage Video, board and Card games bought and sold’ flashes from a neon sign. A glowing, happy snail makes up the bottom half of the sign.
“Okay, do you want to get a Nintendo or something? “ I say, still trying to wake myself up.
Crow points toward the store.
“Crow, can we hurry this up? “ I ask.
Crow then tells me things, a lot of which I’m not going to write here. It sounds dramatic, but here’s the thing.
Crow is my friend, but let’s be real, he’s a curse. And something I’ve figured out is that part of this curse is for me to know things that nobody should. The kinds of things that make you see the world differently, the kinds of things that hurt to know.
But one thing I will share with you guys is that Crow says, spooky things, well most of them have either gotten into some form of business, or been caught and made to be part of one.
If you look hard enough, you can find these places, it doesn’t have to be a big chain, or some small blockbuster in Alaska. These places are all over, every city in every country on earth.
Finding them, and learning about them, is one of the things Crow has to do.
After an hour I start to notice the pattern. The people coming in have a really high creep factor. Covered faces, strange body language, old looking clothes and cars.
But eventually, another type of customer walks by.
I think they might be tourists, they seem too interested in the mostly closed shops and buildings. A man and his wife, really old, maybe even 50. They look well off, and maybe have had a bit to drink.
I can’t make out much through the dirty windows, but the couple enter, and within minutes there is a shriek that cuts through the night.
They don’t come back out.
“We’re here to stop them? “ I say.
Crow shakes his head, “Watch, learn. Do not Disturb. “ he says.
When I say living with Crow has messed me up, a good example is that I’m becoming kind of impulsive. It’s not like I’m doing it on purpose, I’m not looking to get hurt, or attention, but, I’m starting to feel like my life is going to be too short to worry about every little thing.
“Nope. “ I say, simply.
I walk over to a door that has nothing resembling a lock, but also hasn’t moved in a few decades.
“Danger. Death. Use at own risk. “ I can tell Crow is serious by how slow and focused his speech is.
But so am I, I pat the toy in my overnight bag.
“I’ve got you to protect me. “ I say, boldly.
The door cracks open enough I can squeeze through it, I march toward the neon lit shop, feeling strong.
The door opens and I hear a bell above me, as I walk in, even before the glass door closes I smell the worst funk I’ve ever came across.
There is blood, both on the floor, and in the smell, but it’s overpowered by a toxic combination of sweat, fungus and junk food. The air feels thick, almost greasy.
I gag, my eyes watering. I feel a sense of, wrong and evil here.
Laughter, harsh and mocking. I blink, trying to see whoever finds this so funny.
My vision starts to clear, and I’m already pulling out my cell phone. Planning on dialing the police, and spoiling whatever horror movie is going on here.
It works for a moment, the next, an electric noise, and my phone is a lightly smoking useless piece of plastic.
I don’t know exactly what I was expecting, but what I see in front of me makes me feel small, and weak. The collection of, things leering at me like I’m a piece of food, make me see that, I’m just a kid.
They are all pale, and vaguely person shaped but that’s about where their similarities ended.
On the far left sitting behind one of the many rotten, food stained card tables was a tall, incredibly skinny thing. It wore a soiled t-shirt that was white once, but now was a collage of stains I couldn’t begin to name. It’s skin was rashes and pimples, with small, skittering insects moving between them.
The next has clotted, greasy hair covering it to the elbows, it wears a sweatshirt I can’t make out the logo of and a pair of khaki pants stiff with gore. My eyes widen as I see the hair twitch and lurch of it’s own accord.
In the middle was a red skinned lumpen thing with eyes deader than Crow’s. It moved In a way that seemed like something was controlling it from deep within that pile of scabs and rolls.
The two on the far right were identical, short, gaunt, and with horseshoe like rings of short brown hair. The moved like insects and spoke to each other in a strange clicking kind of language.
The back of the store seemed to be a workshop of some kind, a trail of blood leading to it makes me think it ended up being the final resting place for the tourists.
And from this comes the last member of what I’m assuming is the world’s most screwed up family.
He looks, normal. A total neck beard mind you, with his Anime boob dress shirt, cargo pants, and ratstache, but then I see his eyes.
There’s something there, behind them, the kind of thing that Crow would probably know a lot about.
“What just came walking into my shop? Are you lost, little girl? “ The guy in the cringe shirt says.
He walks up to me, too close, I start to sweat.
“No, I know exactly where I am. “ I say, my voice shaking.
I’m waiting for Crow, he should be right behind me.
The entities behind the wild eyed neck beard start to get up, the reeking cramped shop feels like it’s closing in on me.
He leans forward, and takes in a huge breath, smelling me.
“You don’t smell like anything I need to give a shit about. I’d say your either brave of stupid, but let’s face facts, you were born stupid with no possibility to change. “ the room bursts into dark laughter, the blob shaped thing blocks the door.
My heart is starting to hammer in my chest, I’m plenty mad, I’m scared as hell. These things should be sending Crow into a frenzy.
“Stupid little girl. “ The impossibly tall, zit ridden thing says from behind it’s more human looking brother.
I don’t know what makes me say this out loud, but I regret it almost instantly.
“How tough could this possibly be making you feel incel Jason Vorhees? “ I haven’t even stopped talking when the man in the anime shirt punches me.
I’ve been punched, I’m twelve, and I have 2 dads, things happen. But some kid on the playground is one thing, this guy, probably someone more than human, hits me full force. I stop hearing for a second, my head bounces off of the clouded glass case beside me. I don’t get knocked out, but I black out long enough I drop to my hands and knees.
Blood pours from my torn cheek, forming sludgy pools in on the dusty floor.
Then it hits me. Something I thought I understood.
Crow isn’t a gun. Some dangerous thing that can do good if someone is really smart and safe with it. His purpose is to mess with me, make my life worse. Friend or not, he’s not predictable, he’s not reliable, and there is so much I don’t know about him, I’d be an idiot to think I’ve figured him out by now.
I struggle to my feet, and the twins each grab an arm. They click and snicker to each other, as they go out of their way to knock me into chairs and tables.
“What’s your name little female? I’m Kyle. “ The man with the haunted eyes says.
“Doesn’t matter. “ I say, trying to stop my head from spinning.
I hate these things, I hate Crow, and most of all I hate my stupid self for thinking I was the special kid in some screwed up Harry potter knockoff.
I’m forced into a chair, my arms duct taped.
I look around me and see things I kind of recognize, lots of old video game cartridge parts, soldering irons, a few grimy monitors showing retro games I can’t name.
One wall though, it doesn’t have technology, it has a selection of saws, blades, tools that are dripping with blood and pieces of bone.
I scream, I can’t control it, I thought I’d seen enough to make me fearless, but the world has too much scary for that to happen.
The pale, creepy things love this, and with a slap, Kyle gets my attention.
“I know what you think you are.
You think you’re the hero. Was this some kind of Nancy drew thing? One of us got sloppy and you’ve been following some breadcrumbs?
Or did you do some dark web ritual, see us, and think you’d come in here and put an end to it?
You stupid little bitch. “ As Kyle talks he walks over to a bench.
He turns on a bunson burner, above it is a small metal bowl with a long handle. Whatever inside smells like coin soup.
“Do you know what we are?
Of course you don’t. You read a story about a cursed game or television, and you never ask who made it, who took it and elevated it to something worthy of a legend.
Oh little thing, you are no hero. And I’m going to prove it to you. “ He grins, his teeth are yellow splinters riddled with holes.
He grabs the boiling metal pot and brings it over to me, he holds it close to my face, the inside is a shiny liquid with black streaks. The heat feels like it’s giving me sunburn.
“This is my own special blend of solder. This can bind a blob of grease to a piece of rice paper for eternity if I want.
There are lots of things that make a hero, first, you have to be a guy . “, a chorus of laughter from the reeking, evil things around me, “ I won’t get into the whole list, one of them, though, is losing a hand. Don’t ask me why, but to be a real hero, the kind that could maybe, stop something like us, it’s part of the deal.
So, little not-hero. Me and my brothers, we are going to tear you the fuck apart, probably over the course of a few days. But that entire time, I want you to know, you’ll never be a hero. So let’s make sure this hand stays exactly where it is. “ Kyle is shaking with anticipation.
He begins to tip the metal bowl slowly, with every quarter inch he tilts it I keep expecting Crow to come in, saving me at the last minute. I see the bag sitting on the floor of the shop in the corner of my eye, and the lump of the toy within, so I know he’s here.
But Crow isn’t my guardian angel, he’s my curse.
The molten metal hits my wrist, the pain makes me start to cry, it dries quickly into thick, almost spider web like patterns. Kyle tilts the bowl backwards as I cry and scream.
The thing with the moving hair drops to the floor like a dog, it’s twitching oozing hair drinking my blood off of the floor.
I have so many things I want to say to them, I know this is where I die, but the pain, it’s all I can do to clench my teeth and try and breathe.
“Regret. Violence. Viewer discretion is advised. “ I hear, and only I hear this.
Crow stands inside the door of the shop, seven and a half feet of felt skin, feathered arms, and claws that can cut bone. He walks, silently toward me. The entities still haven’t noticed.
Kyle sniffs, then turns around quicker than I can track with one eye swelling shut.
“Well, that’s something I’ve never smelt before, the hell are you birdy? “ Kyle says, the group turns, almost as one.
I hear something from below the floor, almost like a yelling, then a pounding.
Crow cocks his head toward the group briefly, then starts to walk forward.
Kyle steps behind his brothers, “Go. “ he says, taking out a small black cigar with a long white tip and beginning to smoke it, watching the horror that unfolds.
I’m confused as he takes out a second, offering it to me.
“Might as well, not like you’re going to have to worry about cancer. “ Kyle pulls out a small, gaudy pocket knife and cuts my non injured hand free.
I want to tell him the worst things I can think of, I can’t, I’m still close to blacking out with pain, and maybe blood loss. But I do manage to look up and keep eye contact for a few seconds.
“Your loss. “ He says, exhaling a thick, cloud of nasty smelling smoke.
As Kyle watches, the brothers move almost in unison, getting around the cramped, garbage strewn shop effortlessly. In fact as I watch things happen, I notice the shops setup is designed to take advantage of their creepy mutations and quirks.
At first Crow keeps walking forward, their punches, kicks, rusted blades, and all other manner of hidden weapons taking pieces from him, or cutting gouges into his body, but not slowing him down.
But I notice that Crow is, slow, as he tries to grab the brothers, even the lurching, rolling blob like thing avoids him easily.
My heart starts to sink as Crow stops, the tall, lesion covered thing slamming him to the floor with one arm. They fall on Him, and after a minute of violence I’ll never unsee, Crow lays on the ground, one arm barely attached, eyes gouged out, still and silent.
“Well that went quickly didn’t it? “ Kyle says, “So what was that, you a little witch, that your familiar? Pet demon?” he rustles my hair, I shudder at his greasy touch.
The brothers give Crow one last kick and turn toward me, my fear making them giddy.
“Your gonna get it real hard for making us work for it. “ the tall, puss dripping brother says, “ we’re…. “ he never finishes his sentence.
A blunt taloned, feathered arm bursts through his chest. Not fast, but instant. Crow stands behind the thing, not a scratch on him.
He lifts the entity, ribs shattering, flesh ripping, and with another movement that happens in the space between milliseconds the Slendernerd is torn raggedly in half from shoulder to waist.
Kyle is shocked, his brothers stand in disbelief, Crow simply stands, looking slowly at each of them.
What happens next isn’t a fight, it’s not some Godzilla movie battle of monsters, it’s just, murder.
The brothers attack, but it’s like they are playing a game and Crow isn’t following the rules.
The twins jump on him and start to bite and tear with long yellowed claws, but no matter how much of the black material they manage to remove, more just takes it’s place. He grabs one, then the other, as he walks, crushing them like paper cups, and tossing them aside in much the same way. The noise, and their screams, almost made me feel bad for them. I couldn’t take my eyes off of their, mangled, ball like corpses.
The Blob thing tries to block him, but Crow keeps walking, the layers of muscle and fat doing nothing to stop his plodding stride. Crow reaches down, casually, like picking up a quarter from a sidewalk, and jams his hand down the things throat. Still walking toward me, he rips out something from the creature in a spray of black, congealed blood.
It’s small, deformed and writing, like a baby that was never born, but somehow grew up. Crow turns it into a red stain on a concrete wall.
The banging and shelling from the basement is getting really loud now, Kyle looks shaken, but starts to get a nasty smirk.
The hair creature tries to run, but Crow’s hand wraps around its head, yanking backward. The hair still struggles weakly as my friend shows Kyle his brothers severed head.
I’m shocked, monsters or no, watching these guys die like this, it can’t be good for my brain.
A door to the basement flings open, and a voice, loud enough to shake walls screams “ The fuck is going on up there? “
Kyle tries to keep a brave face, and looks to Crow “Don’t worry, we have a big family, in Steve’s Case, literally. “
The thing takes out a few feet of wall as it drags itself out of the doorway to the basement. It’s head is wider than a couch, massive clouded eyes, row upon row of thick, blunt teeth, a black, festering hole for a nose, I knock my chair over trying to get as far away as I can.
It drags foot after foot of it’s worm like body out of the doorway, Arms of all sizes and shapes stick out at random angles.
When it’s done it nearly fills a corner of the shop with it’s bulk, it stands face to face with Crow, dozens of clawed, hooked and barbed limbs twitching.
It grabs Crow and begins to pull him apart like a crab leg. I can see the strain on its face as it curses, drool spraying everywhere.
First Crow stretches, then I hear a tearing noise, and I can feel his pain. With a scream and a smokers cough laugh the thing throws Crow down in two pieces.
“Crow! “ I scream, this time, I know he’s hurt, I can see the, ropey, purple meat inside of him.
It starts to spill out of the fabric, and I hyperventilate as I watch Crow die.
Or at least, that’s what I thought was going on. See, this is where I learned something new about my friend.
I thought, like me, his skin was there to protect what was inside. But, to be a little cliché, Crow is built different.
The skin, the feathers, all of that is to keep what’s inside contained.
No pausing for effect this time, the ropey strands of meat lash out, and start to connect to each other, and spread, forming a massive, skinned looking face on the ceiling.
The skin begins to spread like a shadow at sunset, the store becoming covered in thin, solid darkness.
Steve and Kyle can’t help but stare at the bloodshot eyed, pickup sized head anchored to the ceiling.
The blackness begins to cover the flesh, as tendrils of purple muscle grab Steve by the head and arms. As big as the basement dwelling thing is, Crow’s head dwarfs it now.
But by bit the blackness overtakes the flesh again, harnessing it. But not before Crow had eaten about a dozen feet of the worm like creature.
The giant tube pumps blood, arms lifeless, shadows fade from the walls and floor, contracting to a single, small point, Crow, the toy, waving at me from a table.
“You probably want to just let me go now. “ I say, almost passing out.
That wild eyed look is gone, Kyle is blank eyed, shocked, humbled. He cuts me free, and sitters to the back corner of his shop like a beaten dog.
I didn’t go to school that day, and when my parents asked how I got hurt, all I would say is, “Crow things. “. This is one of those situations where I have to keep things hidden, for their safety.
I’m smarter about our little 2am trips now, I understand I’m not some kind of superhero. I watch, and I learn, and I try and figure out what the hell I can do to save my family from this curse.
Looks like I never did get around to telling you how I lost Crow. Going to call accident on purpose on that one. I still feel really stupid about it, and maybe I will just let Dan do the breakdown. Somehow he doesn’t think it was my fault.
Link to part 3
https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/s/c7Ktr3ZrK3