Most nights I sleep like a literal baby, I knock out after I am full and I wake up when I am hungry. It’s like my internal clock.
Last night however I was studying for my final exam and I started feeling sleepy as it was getting really late, but I just wanted to get a few more practice questions in before I knocked out since my eyes were already sore from the lack of sleep.
I finished up the last of the practiced questions and got onto my bed ready for my power nap of 4 hours before I had to wake up and face my biggest nightmare.
I stretch out my limbs and make my way towards my bed, getting so ready to crash. I get under the covers and cover every single part of my body except for my face since I like to be swaddled when I sleep.
5 minutes…..10 minutes…..20 minutes………..45 minutes…….
I was not falling asleep no matter what. I wasn’t hungry, I wasn’t feeling uncomfortable but I was tired as hell. I sat up frustrated and feeling flustered from how hard I was trying to fall asleep. I looked around my studio apartment and a sudden urge of needing some fresh air had me putting on a hoodie and sweatpants. It’s literally the middle of the summer but I was trying to make myself look buff and like a man. I hide my hair in a bun and put the hood over my head.
Just to preface this I never take walks in the night time. NEVER. I live in New York City and it’s not even safe to walk around in the morning, not to mention at night. I was thinking of just standing near my building and taking a quick breather, I wasn’t planning on wandering too far.
I grab everything I need and I head outside but my surroundings genuinely shocked me. The street lamps lit the streets in every corner, there were close to no blind spots. I live in Queens, a more rural area so you would have to walk a good few streets from the resident block into an area where there’s stores and restaurants.
I look around and look at my phone, the time read 3:36AM. There was not a single person walking the streets however there were still a few cars driving up and down the streets once in a while. I walked to the end of my building and suddenly remembered there was a chinese barbecue/skewer restaurant that was open until 5AM in the morning and reopens at 10PM that same day.
The idea of grilled chicken and beef skewers has me waddling towards the direction of the restaurant. The walk was fairly quiet and I slowly approached one of the bigger intersections where the buses ran and oddly I saw a person. It was an old lady sitting on the bench of the bus stop and instantly I felt a pang of sadness hit my chest. My nose tingles and the urge to cry rises above all my other emotions. It was so sad to see an old lady out at this time, it was so late and she was all by herself. She was probably lost. I walked towards the bus stop and I didn’t want to scare her but I also wanted to make sure she was okay so I stood a good ten feet behind her and checked the app for when the bus would arrive. The app said that the next bus was going to be in 10 minutes since buses run by the hour late at night.
Sure enough, at around the ten minute mark the bus came and I heaved a sigh of relief, happy that the lady was going to get help finally. I start backing away slowly as I see the bus get close to the bus stop and slightly slow down. I looked at the bus and the bus driver took a quick glance at the bus stop before he sped off. I stood there shocked and in disbelief that the bus driver would leave a elderly lady stranded in the middle of the night. I looked down at my phone to check when the next bus was going to arrive and it was going to be 49 minutes before the next bus was coming through. I was racking my brain on what I can do to help. Do I call the police and report a lost elderly? Or do I maybe ask her where she lives and call her an Uber? Finally deciding that maybe I should ask for her opinion first before I make a decision.
I looked up and she was gone. I couldn’t have been looking at my phone for more than a few minutes. I jog up to the bus stop and look at all the connecting streets to see if I can catch a glimpse of which direction she went in so I can catch up to her.
I didn’t see anyone.
Maybe she’s a fast walker? Because 2-3 minutes would be enough for me to walk a block.
Not knowing really what to do I continue on what I came out to do.
I continued walking down and two-three streets later the bustling street came into view and it no longer felt like 4AM in the morning. There were multiple parties of people walking up and down the streets.
I walked into the restaurant to smell of barbecue filling every pore of my body, I was in food heaven. I ordered a chicken and beef skewer combo which was 5 chicken and 5 beef grilled skewers. My food was ready in 5-10 minutes and I opted to take it to go because I needed to get home and sleep. I lost a whole hour of sleep since I made the decision to come out and buy food.
I ate my skewers happily as I made my way back home, once again pulling myself out of the bustling streets and into the quiet neighborhood. I was humming softly to myself and listening to the sound of my shoes hitting the ground.
Not just my footsteps, I hear footsteps behind me as well. It felt like it was trying to mask my footsteps but always a few milliseconds slower.
I turned around suddenly nervous, anxiety shot up from the pit of my stomach. My appetite dissipated within seconds and I saw the lady who was sitting at the bus stop maybe 20 feet behind me. She also stopped walking and she was staring blankly at me.
Feeling slightly better since she was an older lady and I was a healthy female college student.
I stared back at her wondering if she was going to approach me for help. The silence dragged on and I started getting a little skeptical of why we were just staring at each other. The slight relief I felt earlier was replaced by a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. Before I could figure out what to do next I felt my feet turn around and walk towards my house.
It was like my body was telling myself to get the hell out of there. Now I was focusing 100 times more on the sound and footsteps around me. Sure enough I heard a set of footsteps mirroring mine and it actually sounded closer than before.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up and a chill ran down my back. I felt panic surge through my veins and without a second word I sprinted down the streets. I observed my surroundings and saw the bus stop where I first spotted the lady. From the bus stop my building was still about 5 streets away. I continued down one more street before I realized all I heard was the sound of my own footsteps and my heart pumping in my ears. I slowly slowed down and took a quick glance behind me and I didn’t see the lady.
I came to a full stop and turned around looking for the lady, I looked further down and she was two streets away from me, exactly where I left her. Confused by this I started walking backwards down the street towards my building and keeping my eyes strained on her.
She stood still for maybe about a minute before she started walking towards me. She was walking at a alarming slow pace, almost as if she’s saying “Run all you want I will eventually catch up”
My hands ran cold from the and shook from the fear that gripped my body. Deciding not to waste another second out on the streets I turned around and ran full speed towards the direction of my building and when I was one street away from my buildingI started to slow down and started jogging instead of sprinting. I took a quick glance behind me as I continued to jog towards my building and what I saw made my stop to take a closer look. The lady was on the ground on all fours crawling towards me. And she wasn’t crawling slowly like a baby, she was crawling so fast. The three street distance I kept between us instantly became two and she was closing the distance between us so fast I could see her facial features growing clearer and clearer. She was wearing a smile that was inhumanely wide, if a regular person tried to smile like that it would definitely hurt. I surge of chills ran down my back, I felt like I was frozen in place as she was crawling towards, a screech surged threw the air followed by a series of laughter that I can only describe as
HEHEHE…….HEHEHE
She was now only a street away and I felt tingles run down my legs before I forced myself to run, I needed to run away. No longer caring about the food I was still holding I dropped it on the ground and started running for my life, fear gripping every cell in my body, my knees threatening to give out but I knew I needed to keep running. My building was right in front of me now and Not knowing how far back that creature was, a scream ripped out of my throat so loud I scared myself, I wanted others to wake up and come down and help me. I needed to catch the attention of other people. My studio apartment was on the third floor and I was screaming my head off as I raced up the stairs, not knowing if the sound of the following footsteps was simply the sound of my footsteps bouncing off the walls or from the creature that was crawling on all fours. But I was not about to find out.
Adrenaline coursed through my body as I pulled the key out of my pocket and shoved it into the keyhole. In one swift motion I turned the knob, opened the door and threw myself into the room bringing the door with me and slamming it shut. My door automatically locks upon closing but I had an extra security notch and I pulled the metal chain into the notch before I collapsed on the ground exhausted from the running.
I closed my eyes trying to calm down my heartbeat as I felt like I was going to jump out of my chest, a sudden ear piercing sound froze me from all thoughts and action. I whipped my head around and I saw a face pressed against my window with the same wide smile but this time I could see her eyes, it was as wide as golf balls and there was something different about it. There were no pupils.
I sat on the ground in shock as I watched her run her long nails across the window making a noise so high pitched I had to cover my ears. It was like the sound of forcing a piece of chalk against the blackboard.
I jump up and run towards the door, I unleash the chain and run across from me banging on the door, the middle aged couple opened with concern on their face. Told them that there was some weird creature on my window, which obviously does sound kind of dumb.
They hesitantly make their way to my studio apartment and look around and there was nothing there. It was dead silent like everything that I saw was all in my head. I ran towards the window and looked around and like they said. There was nothing out there.
The couple patted my back and told me to stop watching so many horror movies and helped me close my door as they returned to their own homes.
Just to be sure I made sure my window was locked and closed my blinds before I collapsed on the ground once again.
Not sure how long I laid on the floor because when I opened my eyes again it was due to my alarm ringing. I know I am not dreaming because I am still in my hoodie and my shoes are still on and I have an exam today.
I don’t know what that thing was or what it wanted from me, I just know that I am never ever going out at night ever again.