Part 1
https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/wh2hrr/us_girls_have_to_stick_together/
Part 2
https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/wl3xpb/us_girls_have_to_stick_together_part_2/
Part 3
https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/wobg9h/us_girls_have_to_stick_together_part_3/
So. This will be my last update. I did not want to write it down at all in the first place, I am terrified..but I also didn’t want to leave people hanging, wondering what happened. But don’t expect anything considering Miss Lamia after this. I have read up on supernatural creatures a bit and apparently they feel drawn to you if you keep mentioning them? I don’t want to risk it.
I came into work the day after my first sale and was immediately greeted with my boss huffing at me before slamming the lease for Lamias house down onto my table. I saw Adrian looking at me with guilty eyes before directing my attention towards the lease.
Lamias signature was lacking.
This was bad. Really bad. A lease without signature is worth nothing. I stared at Adrian , did we really make such a stupid rookie mistake? Our signatures were written on the lease plain as day, but the tenant’s was missing.
“I want this lease signed and delivered to our agency today” my boss said in a tone dismissing every contradiction. “You will get it “ he nodded at me “It was your customer, after all”.
Adrian started suggesting for him going with me because the area was dangerous but my boss cut him off “She is a big girl, she can handle herself”.
What an ass, I thought to myself as I went down the stairs to my car. What if I get jumped by drug addicts, does he think I am Superwoman?
Determined to get this done as soon as possible I drove towards Lamias house, borderline speeding. I sent her a short email, announcing my coming and apologizing for such a short notice. I even called her (yes, I know she hates that) but despite the phone ringing on the other end, no one picked up. I parked directly in front of her house and checked my phone, seriously debating if I should text someone to alert the police if I am not heard from in the next 15 minutes. The area was sketchy like that. After gathering the documents and my purse, I tucked my car keys away into my pocket and approached her door. Something was different about her house but it took me several steps to figure out what exactly.
The windows were entirely boarded up. Not very skillfully, but the attempt was made to fully shut out the light. I tried to peek through the few cracks in the wood but didn’t see a lot.
I knocked at her door and nearly jumped out of my skin as I heard the sound of a window slamming shut. Looking upward , I noticed that the windows on the second floor were boarded up too. But that means someone was home.
“Miss Lamia?” I called out, knocking a bit harder this time “Terribly sorry for disturbing you, but this is important!” I kept knocking and calling for her and it is in that moment I heard a weak “help me..” from inside the house.
Frowning, I pressed my ear to the door and listened close. Did I just hear that? Yes, there it was again, a sobbing “help me..please..”. Did she fall down? It sounded so fragile. Should I call medical assistance? But if she needed CPR I would lose valuable time.
I still had the second pair of keys for the house so I yelled “Miss Lamia, I am opening the door!” before sliding the key into the lock. The door jammed. I scowled. It was opening just fine yesterday. It took several pushes and hard rattling before I managed to open the door fully. All this time, there were those quiet pleading “help me”s and sobs. She seemed to be hurt really bad.
As I walked in I was already speed-dialing the ambulance but I did not get a signal. At all. Seconds later, as I tried to turn on the phone light, the device died. Out of the blue. Cussing, I shoved it back into my purse. I would have to just follow her voice, which seemed to be coming from the kitchen.
I slowly shuffled towards the table. I could not see anybody, did she fall underneath it? I decided to look for her phone but as I wanted to set down my purse on the hard wooden surface I noticed that it was covered in piles of something soft, cool to the touch and slimy. I carefully poked at it and held my finger up to the thin light beam coming through the cracks between the wooden boards. There was nothing out of the ordinary on it and yet the texture of those piles felt so familiar. I put my palm onto one of those piles and pushed against the slimy surface. It slowly gave away and finally my brain was able to identify what I was touching- it was raw meat.
I stared at the mounds of flesh before me. As my eyes adjusted more to the semi-darkness I was able to distinguish lungs, guts, livers..this was so strange. I know she mentioned being in the butcher business, but what kind of butcher would store their products on a wooden table in a house with zero refrigeration and electricity? And where were the tools, cleavers, knives and the like?
My thoughts were interrupted by a loud slam of a door. I whirled around, trying to dash for the exit and couldn’t move. Looking down my leg I noticed a white hand coming from under the table, holding my ankle. But it was not Lamia, it was not her hand with delicate elongated fingers and impeccably manicured red nails. It was someone..something else and it was keeping me in place.
I screamed, trying to pull my leg out of the creature’s grip when another hand shot out from underneath the table and grabbed my ankle right above the first one, digging the nails deep in. I felt a hard pull and the table started wobbling and shaking, sending bits of meat to the floor as the creature slowly crawled from underneath it.
To this day I don’t know what it was, I am not sure I want to know. The pale skin had a sickening yellow tint to it and it was covered in sores. Stitches crisscrossed its emaciated torso. Its limbs had several joints that were pointing backwards. It had a long snout filled with rotten teeth. It did not have any ears nor eyes but somehow I knew that it didn’t need them to be aware of its surroundings. It looked vaguely humanoid but was moving forwards in a strange, jerky fashion. Shrieking, I kept trying to pull my leg away as it stood up, having to slouch because it was too tall to fit into the kitchen.
In my desperation I hurled my purse at it, hoping to distract it long enough to bolt for the door. I knew that trying to jump from a window was useless, I would never be able to break through the boards. The creature stumbled back, emitting another “help me” as my purse hit its head and I was running to the exit, sobbing and weeping, my voice hoarse from the screams.
As I was turning the knob, it lay one of its hands on my shoulder and I gagged from the putrid smell being so close to my face. Throwing the door open, the pale sunlight illuminated that thing behind me and I heard it screech another “help me”. It withdrew it hand from my shoulder, I was one foot out the door already when it dig its hand into my hair and yanked me back.
I was seeing stars as my head hit the floor and it was dragging me back towards the kitchen by my hair, my feet flailing in the air. I succeeded in kicking the door shut and the thing breathed another “help me” as it lay a hand on my throat and squeezed. I tried to scratch and claw it but it kept pulling me further back into the house.
The grip around my hair loosened but instead the thing grabbed my throat with both hands and held me up. My feet lost contact with the ground. I felt as if it was looking straight at me but it still had no eyes and just kept repeating “help me please”. I was suffocating, trying to kick and claw it but I was getting weaker by the second. It pinned me to the wall and I heard tissue ripping as another pair of arms emerged from its back, the nails covered in brown stains. The creature screamed for help once more, so loud that my ears started ringing. My consciousness slowly faded and the last thing I saw was a dark silhouette jumping at the creature from the general direction of the storage. I felt the creature drop me to the ground and I was out.
I don’t know for how long I was gone but eventually I felt something..someone pull and move my hand. Like a child it would tug and turn at my fingers. I whimpered and the movements immediately stopped. Something was placed in my lap, my hands folded above it. Before I slipped back into darkness again I heard the soft hum of a lullaby.
Again, I came to myself but this time the awakening was not so gentle. Something was constantly pushing and bumping against my leg. And I was hearing flesh being torn, loud slurping and smacking of lips. My body jolted sideward and I could no longer ignore the pain in it. I slowly squinted one eye open and I was greeted by the face of the creature that attacked me, staring up at me from the floor.
Its snout was ajar and someone had given it eyes- that is, he carved two holes slightly above the mouth. Blood trickled down from the wounds and made it look like it was crying. I heard it whimper “help me please” again and my heart sank, there was so much sorrow and pain in the voice of this monster. I closed my eye again and opened the other one.
Someone was crouching before the white thing, long hair flowing down their back. The figure was obstructing the middle of the many-armed thing and I was glad for it, because I heard the tearing sounds again and a thin white arm rose in the air, pulling the intestines out of the twitching and howling monster. It was wasting no time, shoving the warm flesh inside it’s mouth, effectively eviscerating my assailant while he was still alive.
The many-armed creature screeched and I saw a white arm reach towards my hand, trying to entwine its fingers with mine. I jerked away, whimpering and then the eating sounds stopped.
My eyes squinted shut I winced. I knew it had no use to pretend being unconscious anymore, they both knew I have regained my wits and what would be the point anyway? I could not pretend to be out forever.
The long-haired humanoid stood up, leaving the half-finished meal before me. I heard it walk to the hallway and unlock the door, leaving it open before returning to the feeding.
As soon as it crouched down again I jumped up, swaying towards the door, bawling my eyes out as I stumbled outside. It was late evening and I heard the heel of my shoe break as I ran towards my car, managing to unlock it on the fifth try and speeding away. I kept speeding until I made it to the city, to the lights and the humans, crying, flinching every time another driver honked at me. My face was a mess, covered with runny mascara and my entire body hurt. I knew I forgot my purse and my phone at this house but nothing would make me come back. Nothing.
I hobbled towards my flat, grateful that I always keep the keys on my person, always in a pocket. I triple-checked the windows and the doors, everything was locked and bolted. I remember crawling into the shower, weeping as I saw my blood stream down the drain from all the wounds where the creature touched me. Afterwards I crawled into my bed, curling into a ball. I left the nightlight on. But I barely slept, constantly jerking up to any sound, imagined or not.
In the morning I looked in the mirror and the severity of my wounds shocked me. Hand imprints were clearly visible on my neck and the entire left side of my face looked bruised. I could not go to work like this. I would call in sick.
My boss was not pleased but he could not do much. Nothing would make me leave my flat today. Maybe tomorrow. Today I would have food delivered to me and tomorrow? We would see. Maybe tomorrow I would go to the police and pretend I was assaulted while walking down the street to my car. People would ask questions and I would have to provide an answer.
I ordered my favourite comfort dish- kebab with fries and a salad. As the door rang I shuffled towards it, convinced it was the delivery. I swung it open, only to be greeted by Lamia’s smile.
I stared at her, mute with terror as she carefully put my purse before the threshold of my door. “You forgot this” she chirped, her eyes fixating me “The..lease I had to sign is inside your purse” I was holding onto the doorframe, convinced I would keel over again. And she just smiled and stared, and with every second her grin became more wider, more unsettling while I was only able to think one thing: how did she know where I lived?
Footsteps were coming up the stairs and she turned her head towards it, breaking eye contact with me. I was able to think clearly, snatching my purse and pulling it inside. She looked at me again, with the grin on her lips, retreating into the shadow of the alcove that my direct neighbors had built as a little extension to their door. As the grumpy delivery guy shoved the plastic bag with my food into my hands before shuffling back downstairs I could see her follow him with her eyes.
She stepped forward again, her body poised in anticipation.
“I would appreciate your..discretion”. Her smile was unnerving. “Nobody would be happier if you would..start telling stories of my little hobby” She extended her hand towards me “Deal?”
I stared at her hand. She had a point, in a way. No one would believe me. I would only be known as the crazy woman if I would try and tell people the truth. I had no proof of what happened and I would NOT go back and try to get said proof.
But what sealed the deal for me was that I did not want to make someone like her angry. So I extended my hand towards hers and sighed “Deal”.
She held my hand in hers for a minute and it felt as if my skin was on fire, I felt her nails scratching me and yet I couldn’t let go. As she finally released me I brought my hand to my lips, only to see the skin unblemished. I gulped and stuttered “I..I am glad we came to a mutual agreement”.
Lamia just laughed, her eyes nearly popping out of their sockets, lips spread in a grin from ear to ear.
“Don’t mention it. Us girls have to stick together, right?”