I have always considered myself a rational person. The sort of person that could rationalize or at least escape any apparent paranormal activity. That all changed on a night just like any other. I discovered a sinister truth lurking within tap water. I woke up one late night, I believe it was close to somewhere around 3:03 AM with a debilitating case of dry throat. I walked down to the kitchen in the pitch black of night, It gets really REALLY dark in the rural areas like the one I live in but I’ve memorized the layout of my house to the point it was no issue for me. I poured myself a glass of water from the kitchen sink, I could no see the color of the water and was certainly unaware of the malevolent presence that was within my glass.
As I took a sip, a chill ran down my spine. The water tasted different, and no, it wasn’t the thirsty at 3 AM type of different, it tasted almost metallic, with an unsettling aftertaste. Ignoring my initial unease, I dismissed it as a mere glitch of the water purifier I had installed yesterday. I did not know at that time that I had drank something far more sinister than just some above protocol level of chlorine. It started my descent into nightmare.
Night after night, the tap water beckoned me, It sounds really stupid typing out now, but I could not sleep and at least once I tossed and turned the whole night without it, its tainted allure was impossible to resist. Each sip of carried a hidden danger on those dark nights, something beyond human comprehension. I started to notice changes within myself—strange dreams that felt all too real, whispers that echoed through the walls of my mind. It was as if an otherworldly force was taking hold, slowly consuming me from within. I stopped eating so I would have an excuse to drink more water. I was losing weight and when I looked at myself in the mirror my eyes looked pitch black for a second before my mind could rationalize what it was seeing.
Anyone that’s been on the internet for as long as I probably knows that if you are looking for some weird conspiracy about tap water, it probably is out there. I am not referring to that sort of myth or exaggerated fluorine scare, I’ve done real research on this topic nothing like what I described. Deep web forums and obscure conspiracy theories with more than a few grains… drops of truth to them led me to a shocking revelation—an extraterrestrial species, demonic in nature, had infiltrated our water supply or at least my water supply (the purifier has been in the trash for weeks). They feed on our life force, slowly draining the essence of our souls with each drop of contaminated water.
The more I learned, the thirstier I got. I at first tried to avoid tap water entirely but do you know how impossible it is to genuine spring filled water when you are living in the boonies with enough money to maybe not starve this summer? I don’t think that filtration can even affect whatever this thing is or that it even matter because I had become a target. Shadows danced in the corners of my vision, lurking just beyond my line of sight, watching me, getting closer. They knew that I knew, and they would rather I didn’t.
I am not even going to mention the vivid, long true to life nightmares I had for any ounce of rest I could scrounge. But what was scarier was I had started sleep walking or sleep… Whatever. I woke up several times in front of my sink in the kitchen, at least one more time in middle of the empty road. I am not sure if the hallucinations are related to whatever is in the water or my severe dehydration but I started sort of hearing them, I even tried to write down their unearthly language but I have yet to hear the same word twice, but it all sounds full of malice. The once-familiar sound of running water became a symphony of dread, a constant reminder of the impending doom that awaited me.
My desperation hit it’s peak this week. I tried running my water through several new filters, back to back. I’ve poured enough charcoal into water to make it a chocolate smoothie. I’ve even tried that one really stupid method of purifying water using bleach but the demons found a way to seep through to my body somehow. They would all go quiet before I sipped my latest concoction before erupting at the laughter when they saw it did not work, they loved the torment I went through whenever what I tried did not work.
I’ve lost friends, those I have even tried talking to anyways and I hope I can finish this story before whatever final solution my mother found to get me into an asylum. But I know that I am not going crazy. How else can water spill upwards from a water bottle.
Now, as I sit in my dimly lit room, barricaded from the outside world, I can hear them scratching at my door. Their chanting is growing louder, their presence more palpable as if in just one more bottle I can touch them, and they can touch me. I am soon to be their prisoner, their vessel.
I heard the first coherent thing they’ve said as I was writing this. “We’re also thirsty,” it said, “Thirsty for your life.”