It’s funny how you can be so sure of something one day and completely unsure of it the next. That’s how it was for me and TikTok. I’d always found comfort in the familiar, easily digestible content that populated my feed. The short bursts of comedy sketches, dance trends, and cat videos were my sweet escape from the mundanity of everyday life. But everything changed three weeks ago.
It was a Tuesday night, just like any other. I had wrapped up my work for the day, eaten dinner, and was ready to unwind with some mindless scrolling. As I tapped on the TikTok app and started swiping, I immediately noticed something was off. The first video was normal enough, some guy attempting the latest dance challenge. But the next one caught me off guard. It was a dimly lit room, with a single, bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. The faint sounds of static filled the air, and something about the way the shadows danced on the walls sent a chill down my spine. I quickly swiped past it, but the next video was just as unsettling.
It was a series of empty streets, filmed in the middle of the night. The only light came from the flickering street lamps and the glow of the moon. The roads twisted and turned, leading to a point in the distance that was impossible to see. The whole video was eerily silent, save for the soft hum of the wind blowing through the trees. This was definitely not the usual content I was used to. I exited the app and tried to shake off the discomfort.
The next day, curiosity got the better of me. I opened TikTok again, hoping that the previous night’s content was some sort of anomaly. But the eerie videos were still there. In between the happy, upbeat content, I’d find these strange, unsettling clips. A dark forest with the sound of twigs breaking underfoot, a close-up of an eye shedding a single tear, an old house at the end of an abandoned road. It was as if a shroud of darkness had fallen over my feed.
I tried to ignore it, to dismiss it as some weird trend or an error in the algorithm. But the more I tried to ignore it, the more persistent the videos became. They started appearing more frequently, and each one was more disturbing than the last. A doll with its eyes sewn shut, a staircase that descended into darkness, a door creaking open to reveal an empty room.
As unsettling as these videos were, what really got to me were the comments. They were filled with cryptic messages and symbols, a jumbled mess of letters and numbers that made no sense. I couldn’t tell if they were some sort of inside joke or coded messages.
Then, one night, a video popped up that made my blood run cold. It was a live stream from a user I didn’t recognize. The screen was pitch black, and all I could hear were faint, uneven breaths. Just as I was about to exit, a voice whispered my name. My heart pounded in my chest as I hastily shut off the app. It was probably a coincidence, just a common name being whispered in the dark. But I couldn’t shake off the feeling of dread that washed over me.
I was left with a choice. I could delete the app and try to forget everything, or I could dig deeper. I was scared, but I was also intrigued. Something was happening here, something that went beyond a simple glitch in the algorithm. I decided to keep a closer eye on these videos, to try and understand what was happening.
Looking back now, I wish I had chosen differently. But there was no way of knowing how quickly things would spiral out of control.
For a few days, nothing much changed. The strange videos continued to appear, each one more unsettling than the last. But then, the knockings started.
It was late at night, and I was lying in bed, struggling to fall asleep. The unsettling videos had stirred up my anxiety, leaving me restless. Just as I was about to drift off, I heard it. A soft, barely perceptible knock on my front door. I sat upright in bed, straining my ears to listen. There it was again, a little louder this time.
I got out of bed and made my way to the front door, my heart pounding in my chest. I looked through the peephole, but there was no one there. I opened the door a crack, but the street outside was empty. I closed the door, convincing myself that it was just my imagination playing tricks on me. But the knockings continued, night after night. They would start soft, gradually growing louder and more insistent. And each time, there would be no one at the door.
Things took a turn for the worse when I started seeing them. The people from the videos. I would catch glimpses of them in my peripheral vision - a figure standing at the end of a street, a face looking out from a window, a shadow slipping around a corner. They were always just out of sight, disappearing the moment I tried to get a better look. But I could feel their eyes on me, watching my every move.
My life was starting to resemble the eerie videos that had taken over my TikTok feed. I was living in a constant state of fear and anxiety, unable to shake off the feeling of being watched. I stopped going out, afraid of what I might encounter. I barely slept, the knockings and the haunting images from the videos keeping me awake.
I tried to tell my friends about it, but they dismissed it as a result of stress or too much screen time. They suggested I take a break from social media and get some rest. But I knew what I was experiencing was real. I had to find a way to stop it.
In a desperate attempt to understand what was happening, I started studying the cryptic comments on the videos. I spent hours, days even, trying to decipher the strange symbols and codes. And slowly, I started to see a pattern. The messages weren’t random, they were a puzzle, a riddle that I needed to solve.
I’m writing this from my closet, the only place where I feel somewhat safe. The knockings have gotten louder, more frantic. I can hear footsteps inside my house, the cracking of the floor under an unseen weight, and the sound of uneven breathing. I don’t know what they want or why they’re here. All I know is that I’m scared. I’m so, so scared. And I don’t know what to do.
Help me