Pt 1:
https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/x17yp4/we_moved_into_a_new_house_but_something_isnt_right/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
The next day, in the morning, we returned to our house ready to do whatever it takes to seal that hole… that grate… that gateway to whatever reality we had discovered.
I bought lumber, nails, a hammer, and a saw. I figured, if I can just cover it, maybe, just maybe it will go away?
Maybe that thing won’t be able to get out.
We pulled into the driveway and a heavy feeling fell upon us at the pain of returning to what was supposed to be our dream house, which we had been robbed of.
I put the car in park and turned to look at Audrey.
“I guess we’re doing this. Just going to seal it up and hope for the best.” I told her. “What other options do we really have?”
“I don’t know. Maybe we could call some kind of paranormal investigators. I’m sure they’d love this.” She answered.
“And then what, turn our house into a science experiment? A pilgrimage spot for all kinds of scientists and whackos to just show up and try to gain access?
I just want our home.
I want peace and quiet.
I don’t want to become involved in this thing…” I explained, exhausted by the situation.
“I know… but this could be world changing.” She answered.
I sighed, “We cover it up, then we decide our next steps, okay?”
“Okay.” She answered.
I got out, grabbing the hammer, and walked to the door.
Audrey came with me, and kept looking in through the front window while I unlocked the door and stepped inside.
Audrey followed in, and we headed to the bottom of the stairs.
Looking up, I could see the sunlight emanating from the bedroom window into the stairway, and began to ascend slowly.
With each step, I listened for any movements, or anything unusual, but the house was still and silent.
I reached the landing, clutching the hammer tightly, I raised it above my head and turned into the bedroom.
What I saw shocked me beyond anything that had happened so far.
It was gone.
The whole vent.
The hole in the floor.
Just gone completely.
Wooden boards, an intact floor, wall to wall, like no vent had ever been there in the first place.
“What the fuck…” I gasped.
“It was right here, wasn’t it?” Audrey asked, stepping into the room, she walked over to the spot on the floor. The dresser was still beside it from when we had used it to cover the hole.
We pushed the dresser back to the wall, but nothing was there.
“Audrey, are we losing it?” I asked.
“No! No, this all happened! I know it happened! How could it not have?” She started tapping on the floor, listening for hollow spots, but it all sounded the same.
“What if it’s like…carbon monoxide poisoning? I’ve heard stories on Reddit, it can do crazy things to you.” I suggested.
“We have detectors, they would have gone off.” She reasoned.
“Something in the water? Radon gas? Something? It doesn’t make sense!” I continued to ramble out suggestions.
“THIS. HAPPENED.” She stated firmly, pointing at the spot on the floor.
There were still screws on the ground which we had removed from the grate.
“Do… Do you think we’re safe now?” I asked.
“Let’s check the other vents. I’ll go downstairs, see if you can see me.” Audrey told me, and headed downstairs.
“Can you hear me?” I heard her voice from the vent on the window-side wall and headed over. Looking down, I could see her hand waving just above a table.
“Yes, I see you, let’s check the other room.” I called back. She headed to the next room, and I followed.
“How about this one?” She called up. I looked down through the vent to see her face looking up at me from below.
“Yes, I see you! One more!” I yelled back and headed to the other vent in that room.
Shortly after, she appeared below me, waving again. I waved back.
She started laughing, and so did I.
She ran up the stairs and we hugged and laughed and cried.
It was gone.
I didn’t care why, or how.
It was gone, and we could finally enjoy our new house in peace!
Several weeks passed, and things seemed to be going perfectly.
Aside from the noisy refrigerator, the old house was pretty quiet.
Sometimes, on colder nights, you could hear the house creaking as the temperature shifted, but nothing unusual.
The house didn’t really have many closets, but to avoid having to carry heavy boxes into the attic we used the long crawl spaces that ran the length of the house on both sides, with a door in the wall of each of the two upstairs bedrooms.
As we moved in, we packed boxes away into the crawlspace, things we didn’t need right away, like holiday decorations, fine china, winter clothes.
“Audrey, have you seen the extra blankets? It’s getting chilly and I think we should get them out. I’ve been looking through all the boxes and I haven’t seen them.” I asked her.
“We probably put them in the crawl space. Why don’t we take a look up there?” She suggested.
“Sure thing.” We headed up together.
The crawlspace didn’t really have much room for people and boxes, so in order to get to the boxes further in, you’d have to pull out the ones in the way, then scoot in to grab the next one.
Audrey headed to the second bedroom to look on that end, and I went to the door in our bedroom, opened it, and grabbed the first box.
Halloween decorations, that’s not it.
I slid it back out of the way and reached in for the next box.
Winter coats. That would be useful in a few months, but not what I’m looking for.
I had to crawl fully inside to reach the next box.
I looked down the tunnel and noticed no light coming from the other end.
Why hadn’t Audrey started looking on the other side?
I pulled the box out into the bedroom and looked at the label.
Christmas decorations.
With a sigh, I headed into the second bedroom to see what Audrey was up to.
When I stepped inside, I froze.
Audrey had two boxes in the middle of the room, the door to the crawlspace was wide open, and she was nowhere to be seen.
“Audrey?” I called out.
No answer. I couldn’t hear her moving inside either
I walked up to the door and crouched down to look inside.
Peeking to the right was just a long, empty crawlspace, no boxes left in it.
“Audrey?” I called out.
Again, no answer. My heart started pounding.
Getting down on all fours, I started crawling into the dark passage. I could see light at the other end from the door into our bedroom… at least, I hoped.
It was very dusty, and I had to be careful not to lift my head too much, as above me were wooden beams, insulation and nails sticking out.
“Audrey?” I called out again.
Then I heard the door behind me shut.
A cold chill ran over my forehead, down my neck and back.
Do I continue forward?
I couldn’t easily turn around in the narrow passage…
I was about three quarters of the way to the open door to the bedroom, but something felt off.
I began to scoot backwards towards the door I had entered through.
With the door closed, I was now moving into the darkness, unable to see behind me.
I had to be careful not to slide my hands on the floor too much for risk of splinters, but I wanted to get out of there, fast.
Then, I heard her voice.
“Hun, where are you? I found the blankets.”
It was from the closed door behind me.
“Audrey? I’m in the crawlspace. Where were you?” I shouted back.
“I went to the bathroom. Hold on, I’ll be right there!” She called, and I heard her heading out of the room toward our bedroom.
She must have assumed I was on that end.
Surely she would soon poke her head in the other end, and I would be able to crawl to the other door, knowing it’s just a normal pass from one room to the other, and everything would be fine…
I waited a few minutes, getting increasingly anxious.
And then, there she was, at the other end.
“What are you doing all the way down there?” She called out.
“I came looking for you!” I responded.
“Where did you think I went when there was no one in the crawlspace, silly?” She asked.
“Well… I was worried… the crawlspace… you know… like the vents.” I tried to explain.
“OH! Oh, I’m sorry! I should have let you know. Well come on now, it will be fine! I’m right here.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and started crawling forward towards her.
“Had myself going for a minute there!” I laughed, as I made my way toward the light and her pretty face.
And that’s when I heard something which made my brain absolutely separate from reality in waves of terror.
“Hun, where are you?” Audrey’s voice came from the shut door behind me.
I froze in the middle of the crawl space.
“A-Audrey?” I shouted.
“Are you in there? I didn’t see you on the other side.” I heard her voice call from behind the closed door to my rear.
“Hun, are you okay?” The Audrey in front of me asked.
“Audrey…” I yelled, “I think there’s something wrong with the crawlspace.”
“What do you mean, silly? It’s just a crawlspace. Come on!” The Audrey at the end smiled.
“Wrong how?” The muffled Audrey from the second bedroom behind me asked.
I didn’t know how to answer. I just kept staring at the Audrey in front of me, half her body illuminated by the light from the room behind her.
“Hun, are you okay? What’s wrong?” The Audrey in front of me asked.
I began crawling backwards, away from the light.
“Hun? You’re scaring me. Come on!” She called to me as I shuffled backwards towards the door I had come from.
“Audrey? Audrey, can you open the door?” I called back.
“Hold on, the latch is stuck. Stupid former owners painted over it, makes it hard to lock and unlock it.” She yelled through the door. I could hear her fighting with the latch.
“Hun, who are you talking to? I don’t like this, you better not be messing with me after what we just went through…” Audrey in front of me called down to me.
“Audrey, just break the door, I don’t care, please, you need to get me out!” I called back.
“Why can’t you just get out the other end? Why didn’t I see you in there!?” Her voice yelled through the door.
“Something is wrong Audrey and I need you to get me out right away!” I yelled back.
The Audrey at the end crawled in further, “Hun, no! Come on, you have to get out of there!” She started crawling towards me.
“Stay right there!” I shouted at her.
“Who are you talking to?” Audrey from outside the door asked frantically.
I heard the door shaking more and more as she fought with the latch, and finally I was next to it.
“Audrey, please, just rip it open if you have to!” I shouted at the door.
“I’m trying!” She shouted with a strained voice.
I’d had enough, with what little room I had to move, I threw my hip into the door. I heard the latch snap, and it swung open.
I backed out into the room, slammed the door shut and placed my back against it.
“Audrey… oh my god… there was… there was another… another you in there!” I shouted between gasps of breath.
She stood over me, her face full of fear and concern, “Another me? In there?”
“Yes! She tried to get me to go all the way through. I don’t know where it would have taken me. Oh my god. What the fuck. We need to seal this door.”
Audrey looked so distraught, but she ran into the bedroom and began pushing the dresser into the extra bedroom.
“And the one in our bedroom… we should block that one as well.” I told her.
I stood and we pushed the dresser against the crawl space door, then headed into the bedroom and moved the second dresser in front of that one.
I sank back to the floor, “Audrey… I’m so tired. I can’t… why is this happening?”
Audrey just looked at me with sadness in her eyes and sat on the side of the bed.
“I need to go outside… I don’t feel safe in this house.” I told her, and got up, heading down the stairs and out the front door.
I walked outside, onto the driveway and looked back at the house.
Audrey came out shortly after and stood in the doorway, watching me.
“Wait… Audrey… where are the cars?” I asked.
I turned to look at her, then I looked up.
Something was wrong…
The sky?
There was no sun… anywhere in the sky.
The sky was a flat greyish overcast, without texture. It was brighter in one direction, but with this much light, like a thin cloud cover, it would definitely show where the sun was.
All I could see was a shallow gradient from light to dark.
“Fuck…” I whispered under my breath.
Audrey looked at me, then stepped back into the house and shut the door.
“Audrey!?” I heard the door locking behind her.
“Fucking shit!” I screamed, and ran to the door, grabbing the knob.
It was locked.
“Audrey!? What’s going on! AUDREY!” I screamed at the door.
I couldn’t believe it.
I couldn’t accept it.
It wasn’t her.
But if it wasn’t her, who was it?
Where was I?
I backed away from the door and looked around.
The trees… they were wrong. I couldn’t put my finger on it.
The leaves maybe?
They were in all the wrong places.
I could usually hear traffic from the street, birds in the trees, but there was nothing.
No wind either. Everything felt so still. So sterile… unalive…
I began walking around the house.
What else was wrong?
The house was the only thing that seemed right.
All the windows, the decorations, even the abandoned wasp nest in the corner.
I looked down at the ground. The grass was wrong too, it felt spongey, yet too rigid, crispy, fake, like plastic, but not.
Kind of like when there’s a winter frost and the grass is crunchy, but it was only a cool fall day.
I grabbed a tuft and ripped it out of the ground.
The dirt fell away like dust from the roots, drifting away into the air.
I brought the grass to my face and smelled.
The grass was scentless, but the dirt smelled rotten…sulfurous.
I figured, it’s definitely not my house, might as well just break in, right?
I went to the side yard to find a rock.
But the stone wall was gone… the rocks…
There were no rocks anywhere.
Following the edge of the woods, I headed into the back yard, where there should be another rock pile, but again, nothing.
“Are you fucking kidding me.” I screamed.
And my scream was answered with a distant wail.
“Fuck…fuck no…” I whispered, looking across the yard.
There it was, the pile of rags, or whatever the fuck it was, on the edge of the woodsline, just beneath the trees.
“Fuck this.” I hissed under my breath, and grabbed onto a sapling and started to bend it.
The small tree snapped strangely, too brittle. The fibers didn’t look like real wood.
I quietly began heading back toward the house.
Another low wail rose from the pile, growing louder as the rags shuddered.
“No. No, fuck this, I’m getting back in the house. I’m gonna go back in the crawlspace and find my way the fuck out of wherever this is.” I reassured myself, backing away from the pile of rags, I shuffled toward the house, grasping the stick like a bat.
As I watched the pile of rags, an appendage began to emerge from amongst the shredded, stained cloth.
A long, thin limb, covered in dried, wrinkled, dark flesh.
At the top was a single leaf-shaped digit, like a mitten, with a single, long talon that seemed to be able to extend and retract from within it.
It reminded me of sand worms from when I used to go ocean fishing, and the way their teeth would just shoot out from their fleshy little mouths.
Another limb emerged, and they began feeling about the ground near the rag pile.
I tried my best to breathe quietly and continue to walk away silently.
A third and fourth appendage appeared, and began stretching and feeling the ground around the pile of rags, and then, it lifted off the ground, first on four limbs, then standing on two, like feet.
It was hunched over, but still exceedingly tall. Maybe eight or nine feet if it stood upright.
“Fuck this…” I hissed, and turned, running to the front of the house.
I heard the creature’s wail turn into a shriek. I didn’t have time to waste.
I charged up to the front door and smashed the sapling against the glass window
The brittle sapling shattered into pieces, having no effect on the glass window.
“SON OF A BITCH!” I screamed, and kicked at the glass.
I nearly stumbled down the stairs. The glass did not shatter, but it cracked, and came loose inside the mounting hardware.
I drew back and kicked again, holding onto the railing this time.
One of the glass panels fell inside and shattered.
The wailing scream of the creature grew louder as it moved across the back yard.
“Come the fuck on!” I reached through the broken glass panel and felt around for the locks. I could feel glass shards biting into my arm, but there was no pain amongst all the adrenaline.
I found the deadbolt and turned it, then reached down, grabbed the knob and unlocked the door.
Pushing inside, I turned and slammed the door behind me and relocked it.
Hopefully that would slow down the pile of rags.
Fake Audrey would still be in here…
I headed straight to the stairs and ran up to the second bedroom.
Audrey was standing in front of the crawl space door, the dresser had been moved.
“You can’t go.” She told me.
“I don’t know who the fuck you are, but I’m going back to my real house, with the REAL Audrey.” I told her.
I wanted to strike her, to push her down the stairs, to bash her over the head.
But I couldn’t.
She looked just like Audrey… I could never forgive myself. Even if, in my brain, I know she’s not the real Audrey…
“I’ve been so alone…” Audrey whispered.
“I’m sorry… but I can’t help you.” I felt sympathy for this thing…this girl… this other Audrey.
“I have to hide… I have to stay safe… or it will get me.” She stated weakly.
I heard the creature wailing outside the house, and strange cooing noises. I could hear it nearing the door.
“If only someone would protect me and stay with me. I would be safe, and I wouldn’t have to be all alone.” She began crying.
I couldn’t take it.
Audrey’s tears destroyed me. I couldn’t stand to see her cry.
It was rare, but when she did, it dismantled whatever stoicism I had in me.
But this wasn’t Audrey…
“I’m sorry. I don’t know who or what you are. I can’t help you. I need to go back. Please.”
She looked up at me with her tear soaked face, and stepped towards me.
I stepped away.
What was she doing?
She stepped forward again.
I backed out onto the landing between the two rooms.
“Please… please…” she whimpered between sniffles.
“I… can’t.” I told her.
“PLEASE!” She screamed in a voice which sounded nothing like Audrey, and pushed me.
My heart sank into my stomach as I tumbled backwards into the stairs. I reached out to try to grab onto the wall, or handrail, but it didn’t help.
I fell sideways, and landed hard on my left shoulder.
Something snapped, and pain shot through my arm.
I tumbled over and slid down several more steps, crashing on my hurt arm with each step until I stopped.
“You bitch! Fuck!” I screamed. I could hear the rag beast outside the door crying and wailing. The door was shaking on its hinges. The creature was trying to get in.
“Fuck!” I cursed again, rolling onto my stomach, I used my right arm to slowly pull myself to the bottom of the stairs so I could regain my feet.
My ribs hurt with every breath, and my left arm was immobilized. Any attempt to move it shot blinding pain from my fingers to my collar bone.
I could hear shuffling from atop the stairs…
She was going into the crawlspace…
“AUDREY!” I shouted.
What would she do if she got to the real Audrey?
I got to my feet, the pain was so bad, but I had to follow her.
The beast outside was slamming into the door. I could hear the door frame buckling against its blows.
I didn’t have long…
I gritted my teeth and began to ascend the stairs, each sway of my body brought with it shocks of pain.
“Come on…” I encouraged myself through gritted teeth as I reached the top. I looked at the open crawl space door.
Crawling with one arm was going to suck…
I heard the door break open and the creature step into the kitchen, there was no more time to waste.
I shut the second bedroom door behind me.
I dropped to my knees and slid into the crawlspace, reaching behind me with my uninjured arm to close the door.
Hopefully the rag creature would not know where to look…
I started dragging myself along the floor and shuffling with my knees towards the door on the other end.
A woman’s scream echoed from the bedroom ahead.
“AUDREY!” I shouted.
I could hear fighting.
The pain no longer mattered, I shuffled with every ounce of strength in my body.
My left arm flailed about limply, bumping into my side and the wall, each swing causing excruciating pain.
“I’m coming!” I called out.
My one good arm, and bashed up knees, brought me to the far end, and I emerged into the light of the bedroom.
There on the floor before me lay Audrey in a pool of blood, her head caved in.
And standing above me was Audrey, holding a bloody a hammer.
“Aud… Audrey…” I stammered.
She dropped the hammer to the ground and sank to her knees, shaking.
“She… she came out of the crawlspace… She’s me. She’s fucking me. What the fuck. What the FUCK!” She stammered through tears.
“Audrey… is… how… how can I know it’s you?” I looked across to her, over the body of the other Audrey, as the pool of blood grew from her head.
She just stared at me distantly, “Hun… it’s me. I don’t know how else to explain it…”
“But… I mean… look at her.
I didn’t really talk to her.
I don’t know how much she knows.
She talked just like you.
How do I know…” I stammered through tears.
Audrey took to her feet and carefully stepped across the dead Audrey and held out her hand.
I took it with my one good arm, and she pulled me to my feet.
Then, careful to avoid my injured arm, she wrapped her arms around me and held me close, and her finger tips danced on my shoulder the way they always did when we hugged.
Her smell… it was all the way it should be.
“I’m sorry. What do we do now?” She asked.
“I don’t know…” I responded.