I heard you love a good story? Well, why don’t you sit down and I’ll tell you a tale?
It was winter break and I found an ad online for a house sitting job offering $15k for two weeks. I don’t need to do anything, I just need to keep the house in pristine condition and I am even allowed to bring some friends over the weekend as long as nothing is broken. Easy money, right?
So there I was at last arrived at the house, the journey was a bit harsh, since the house is really out in the boonies. The house is pretty far away, up in the mountains by the lake. There are a couple other houses down the road but they seem empty for the season. I’ve been there for a few days and up until that point everything was quiet and chilly.
But then weird things are starting to happen. It started on my third day there. There’s this little town about 30 minutes away and I was gone to get some food and supplies enough for the week. When I got back that evening, there was something strange on the door. It was a sack of small bones tied into the door handle. I didn’t think much of it so I took it and tossed it out somewhere and just went to bed early.
The next morning I pretty much had forgotten about the weird shit on the door, until I went out to the patio with coffee in my hand. The thing that I found yesterday? Instead of one, there are several of them hanging in the trees. Some are the same and some of them are tied with a small rock instead of a bone.
I went to retrieve it, I found about 13 in total, hanging in trees all around the house. I was more annoyed than anything, it needed more than some ugly goth ornaments to scare me.
Then it happened, I found something that actually made me nervous. As I went to search for more of these ornaments, I found an encampment. There were a dark hoodie, a couple old socks, a pair of what I think was underwear, a few old napkins, plastic spoons, and an old notebook. I flipped open the notebook, aside from a whole bunch of pages that had been ripped out of it, on the last few pages written abruptly “they took my eyes” over and over again. That did freak me out, so I immediately ran back to the house and called the police line. Almost an hour later, two police officers came and I took them to where I found the encampment but there was nothing; the encampment was gone. The officers didn’t believe my words and let me go with a warning to not waste their time for mere pranks.
I don’t believe in ghosts or any supernatural stuff, but if there’s a chance someone camped out near the property where I stay by myself. Let’s say I don’t want to end up in a true crime series.
I was mad at myself and feeling scared all alone in the house, so I locked all the doors and left out the back. I went down to the lake because I didn’t know where else to go. I just knew I didn’t want to be in the house at that moment.
I walked a ways down the lakeshore, then sat for a while looking out at the water. I thought about getting in my car and just going home, I do have to give back the money though. So yeah, I decided to stay at least until the two weeks are over. But I made up my mind that I absolutely did not want to stay in the house that night.
I was ready to go back to the house as the day got dark. That’s when I noticed something in the water by the shore. It was round and seemed covered in white pinkish tissues. At first I thought it was a brightly colored rock, but I never saw a rock that round. I regret what I did.
I went to the shore and picked up the thing that I thought was a rock. I was wrong. It’s an eyeball. I threw it back in the water and hurriedly headed back to the house to get my car and drive into town to find a motel for the night.
And that’s when I saw It. A figure, standing right in the middle of the front lawn, staring straight at my house. The figure wearing the dark hoodie that I saw the day before. I froze in place, completely in shock and in that moment, It turned its gaze at me. Then it hit me. Whatever that is, IT HAD NO EYES. Just holes over where eyes should be.
It smiled at me.
I can’t figure any of this out. I didn’t know what’s happening. I ran inside the house. I scrambled upstairs and looked out from the bedroom window at the front yard, but It vanished. Unable to sleep, my mind was blank. The pitter-patter of rain lingers in the background didn’t help me either.
It was the middle of the night, I was alone but I had a weird feeling that someone was in the house. I laid there in bed, too terrified to move, too scared to breathe.
And then I heard something downstairs. I hesitated for a second, then crept out of bed and went down the hall, trying to be as quiet as possible.
There she was standing in the middle of the room with her back facing me. I tried to calm myself down, phone reception was bad in that area– so in order to call the police, I have to use the house line and the house phone is in the kitchen.
I was trembling, thinking that was it– I’m going to die because I took the job from craigslist. Then as if she sensed my fear, she turned around.
I gasped, SHE ALSO DON’T HAVE EYES, just like the figure I saw before. Yet even without eyes, I can feel that she’s different than the other one I saw, there’s no hostility from her.
She said in a shaky voice,
“Leave.”
I couldn’t move. I was petrified.
Then she continued to speak to me. She told me she meant no harm. Apparently the sticks I found were her doings. Those were for my protection.
I then asked her what she’s trying to protect me from, but she went quiet.
Then she muttered, “It’s too late.” Before letting out a high-pitched scream so loud I closed my eyes and covered my ears in reflex. As I opened my eyes, she was gone.
In panic, I took my car keys and bolted out of the house. As I opened the door, what I saw sent a chill down my spine.
I saw not just one, but a dozen hooded eyeless figures standing in the front lawn, chanting in a language that I don’t understand as they marched forward to the house. The figure that I saw previous days ago seems to be the leader of them.
“Don’t be afraid. He chose you, therefore you shall see.”
Yeah fuck no, I ran back to the house and escaped through the back door. I ran around the house, I ran into the woods. I don’t even know where I was going. At some point the rain had stopped. It was dark and I couldn’t see anything. But I could hear things all around me. Things moving through the trees. I don’t know. I had no idea where to go or what to do.
As I ran, I realized the woods seemed quieter. I couldn’t even hear any birds. It was dead silent. My footsteps seemed so loud. Every twig that cracked under my shoe sounded like a bone breaking. I ran for what seemed like an eternity. Ran in circles, branches scraped my face as I ran blindly. I had no idea where I even was. All I know is if I had stopped running, something bad would have happened to me.
And I could see lights in the distance. Dim but sufficient. The lights gave me hope, I ran until I reached the town. It was so quiet, more quiet than it was supposed to be. My legs gave up on me and I felt like I’m about to pass out soon. Whatever, I thought… I reached the town, I should be safe here.
I ran, trying to knock on every door but no answer. I kept banging and hoping someone would answer my cry for help. Then I realized something. It’s not like no one wants to open the door, it’s more like no one is there, not a single soul.
I remembered the town sign
<Welcome to Hampstead
Pop. 0>
That’s not possible as I went to that town to get supplies, I went to the diner on the first day I’m there. I chatted with some people in town. The kids running around town.
It’s not possible for the people to just vanish without trace. I was still there in the morning.
I yelled, I cried, I felt sick. I didn’t have enough energy to keep on running. I stopped in my track. The hooded eyeless figures were there.
I fell on my knees, I lost hope.
The leader walked towards me. He kneeled down. I closed my eyes when I caught a close glimpse of his face. He doesn’t have eyes yet it seems that he stared directly into my soul. I closed my eyes because I feel like if I didn’t, it’ll absorb my whole soul.
He leaned closer and whispered to me.
“Don’t be afraid, my dear.”
That’s the last thing I remember.
Apparently I was found by a forest ranger and rushed to the hospital. As soon as I woke up, I couldn’t see anything, I could feel the bandages wrapped around my eyes. An officer came and asked me some questions about my identity and what happened to me. I told him everything, he might not believe me but I didn’t have any rational explanation for the things I’ve seen. After I told him everything, he replied,
“I’m sorry, miss. But there’s no town with that name around here. ”
I had so many questions, but didn’t know which ones to ask. So I just sat there in silence and took it all in. The police officer continued,
“Do you have any family members that we can call for you?”
“….. no, I don’t have any.”
After what I presumed hours of investigation, they left. That couldn’t be possible. They can’t trace the job ad, there’s no town with that name, and according to the forest ranger… there’s no house up in that mountain area.
They found my car near the forest entrance with the keys still in the ignition and it seems that I willingly walked into the forest.
They put a suicide watch on me, because that’s what they concluded: A pitiful young woman without any relatives tried to kill herself in the woods but ended up just gouging her eyes out.
But I know what I saw, I know what I experienced, I know for sure that they’re the ones that took my eyes.
I felt completely bewildered. None of this made any sense to me, but at the same time it did, somehow.
I lost my eyes yet I don’t feel like I lost them.
Because how can I still clearly see the tall dark figure with horns and wings standing in the corner of the room?
His hand reaching out to me as if he’s waiting for me to grab his hand. I can see his mouth that is moving but there’s no sound coming out. Yet I know that he said,
“Don’t be scared, my child.”