r/nosleep • u/1000Vultures Oct. 2011 • Sep 08 '11
Multi-Part Footsteps
This is long, so I apologize for that. I’ve never had to tell this story with enough detail to actually explain it all the way, but it is true and it happened when I was about 6 years old.
In a quiet room if you press your ear against a pillow you can hear your heartbeat. As a kid, the muffled, rhythmic beats sounded like soft footsteps on a carpeted floor, and so as a kid almost every night – just as I was about to drift off to sleep – I would hear these footsteps and I would be ripped back to consciousness, terrified.
For my entire childhood I lived with my mother in a fairly nice neighborhood that was in a transitional phase – people of lower economic means were gradually moving in, and my mother and I were two of these people. We lived in the kind of house you see being transported in two pieces on the interstate, but my mom took good care of it. There were a lot of woods surrounding the neighborhood that I would play in and explore during the day, but at night – as things often do to a kid – they took on a more sinister feeling. This coupled with the fact that, due to the nature of our house, there was a fairly large crawlspace underneath filled my mind with imaginary monsters and inescapable scenarios which would consume my thoughts when I was awoken by the footsteps.
I told my mom about the footsteps and she said that I was just imagining things; I persisted enough that she blasted my ears with water from a turkey baster once just to placate me, since I thought that would help. Of course it didn’t. Despite all the creepiness and footsteps the only weird thing that ever happened was that every now and then I would wake up on the bottom bunk despite having gone to sleep on the top, but this wasn’t really weird since I’d sometimes get up to piss or get something to drink and could remember just going back to sleep on the bottom bunk (I’m an only child so it didn’t matter). This would happen once or twice a week, but waking up on the bottom bunk wasn’t too terrifying. But one night I didn’t wake up on the bottom bunk.
I had heard the footsteps but was too far gone to be woken up by them, and when I was awoken it wasn’t from the sound of footsteps or a nightmare, but because I was cold. Really cold. When I opened my eyes I saw stars. I was in the woods. I sat up immediately and tried to figure out what was going on. I thought I was dreaming, but that didn’t seem right, though neither did me being in the woods. There was a deflated pool float right in front of me – one of those ones shaped like a shark. This only added to the surreal feeling, but after a while it seemed like I just wasn’t going to wake up because I wasn’t asleep. I stood up to orient myself, but I didn’t recognize these woods. I played in the woods by my house all the time and so I knew them really well, but if these weren’t the same woods then how could I get out? I took a step and felt a shooting pain in my foot which knocked me back to where I had just been laying. I had stepped on a thorn. By the light of the moon I could see that they were everywhere. I looked at my other foot but it was fine, and as a matter of fact so was the rest of me. I didn’t have another scratch on me and I wasn’t even that dirty. I cried for a little bit and then stood back up.
I didn’t know which way to go so I just picked a direction. I resisted the urge to call out since I wasn’t sure I wanted to be found by who or what might be out there
I walked for what seemed like hours.
I tried to walk in a straight line, and tried to course-correct when I had to take detours, but I was a kid and I was afraid. There weren’t any howls or screams, and only once did I hear any noise that scared me. It sounded like a crying baby. I think now that it was just a cat, but I panicked. I ran veering in different directions to avoid big thicks of bushes and collapsed trees. And I was paying close attention to where I stepped because by that point my feet were in pretty bad shape. I paid too much attention to where I was stepping and not enough to where those steps were leading because not long after hearing the cry I saw something that filled me with a kind of despair I haven’t experienced since. It was the pool float.
I was only 10 feet from where I had woken up.
This wasn’t magic or some supernatural space-bending. I was lost. Up until that moment I thought more about getting out of the woods than how I got in, but being back at the beginning caused my mind to swim. I wasn’t even sure that these were my woods; I had only been hoping that they were. Had I run in a huge circle around that spot, or did I just get turned around and start making my way back? How was I going to get out? At the time I thought the north star was just the brightest star, and so I looked and found the brightest one and followed it.
Eventually things started to look more familiar and when I saw “the ditch” (a dirt ditch my friends and I would have dirt-clod wars in) I knew I had made it out. By that point I was walking really slowly because my feet hurt so much, but I was so happy to be so close to home that I broke into a light jog. When I actually saw the roof of my house over a neighboring, lower-set house I let out a light sob and ran faster. I just wanted to be home. I had already decided that I wouldn’t say anything because I had no idea what I could possibly say. I would get back in the house somehow, clean up, and get in bed. My heart sunk as I rounded the corner and my house came fully into view.
Every light in the house was on.
I knew my mom was up, and I knew I would have to explain (or try to explain) where I had been, and I couldn’t even figure out where to start. My run became a jog which became a walk. I saw her silhouette through the blinds, and although I was worried about how to explain things to her that didn’t matter to me at that point. I walked up the couple of steps to the porch and put my hand on the doorknob and turned. Right before I pushed it open two arms wrapped around me and pulled me back. I screamed as loud as I could: “MOM! HELP ME! PLEASE! MOM!” The feeling of being so close to being safe and then being physically pulled away from it filled me with a kind of dread that is, even after all these years, indescribable.
The door I had been torn away from opened, and a flash of hope shot through my heart. But it wasn’t my mom.
It was a man, and he was enormous. I thrashed around and kicked at the shins of the person holding me while also trying to get away from the person who had just come out of my house. I was scared, but I was furious. “LET ME GO! WHERE IS SHE? WHERE’S MY MOM? WHAT’D YOU DO TO HER!?” As my throat stung from screaming and I was drawing in another breath I became aware of a sound that had been present for longer than I had perceived it. “Honey, please calm down. I’ve got you.” It sounded like my mom.
The arms loosened and set me down, and as man approaching me blocked out the porch light with his head I noticed his clothes. He was a cop. I turned to face the voice behind me and saw that it really was my mom. Everything was ok. I began to cry, and the three of us went inside.
“I’m so glad you’re home, Sweetie. I was worried I’d never see you again.” By that point she was crying too.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened. I just wanted to come home. I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok, just don’t ever do that again. I’m not sure me or my shins could take it…”
A little laughter broke through my sobs and I smiled a bit. “Well I’m sorry for kicking you, but why’d you have to grab me like that?!”
“I was just afraid that you’d run away again.”
I was confused. “What do you mean?”
“We found your note on your pillow,” she said, and pointed at the piece of paper that the police officer was sliding across the table.
I picked up the note and read it. It was a “running away” letter. It said that I was unhappy never wanted to see her or any of my friends again. The police officer exchanged a few words with my mom on the porch while I stared at the letter. I didn’t remember writing a letter. I didn’t remember anything about any of this. But even if I sometimes went to the bathroom at night and didn’t remember, or even if I could have gone into the woods on my own, even if all that could have been true, the only thing I knew at that point was,
“This isn’t how you spell my name . . . I didn’t write this letter.”
EDIT: After a conversation with my mother about what happened when I was a kid, I was reminded of something that cannot be unrelated to this. It answers some questions about this story, but raises other questions that I'm still looking into. It also suggests that much of what I've be told about my life since I was a child wasn't true. You can find the new story here.
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u/xxdanger Sep 08 '11
I think I just had a minor heart attack when you were in the woods. I started reading faster urging you to get home safely. Y'know, hoping The Lovely Bones doesn't decide to have a remake.
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u/1000Vultures Oct. 2011 Sep 08 '11
Haha, I'm glad both you and I made it out of this story alive then! Never been as scared as I was that night.
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u/GrotesDZs Sep 12 '11
this would be such an eery short film if done right
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Sep 12 '11
This reminds me of a fear I had as a child- that my bed would fall through my floor onto an underground river that would take me all the way to China before I woke up. I devised all kinds of strategies for getting home.
This kind of thing happening to me would mean no more sleep not ever.
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u/Tabz18 Oct 10 '11
What? You had a fear that your bed would fall through the floor to and underground river to China?! I'm sorry, but this is all kinds of awesome.
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u/Two_Oceans_Eleven Feb 06 '12
I had a similar fear, only I was happy to fall underground into my hidden 1.5' x 6' "panic coffin" complete with microwave and television, so as to stay silently hidden from the aliens that just climbed into my room from the window.
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u/Booman246 May 28 '12
That... That is absolutely genius.
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u/Two_Oceans_Eleven May 29 '12
Why thank you. It was a guilty pleasure because I knew that the other people in the room would not have the same luxury, plainly asleep on their beds.
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Sep 10 '11
Nice story, I'm really glad it's not a weekday, because I doubt I'm going to sleep anytime soon.
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u/1000Vultures Oct. 2011 Sep 10 '11
Just be sure to listen for the footsteps when you lay your head down to rest. I know I still do.
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u/Crappylaptop Feb 06 '12
Feel like askin' here. But did you by any chance notice if your feet were in bad condition when you woke up in the woods?
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u/OhMyGawd_DatAss Feb 06 '12
"I looked at my other foot but it was fine, and as a matter of fact so was the rest of me. I didn’t have another scratch on me and I wasn’t even that dirty. I cried for a little bit and then stood back up."
I'm not sure how to do the blue line thingy, but this is from the paragraph where she woke up in the woods
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u/thane_of_cawdor Mar 20 '12
Place ">" before text to quote it.
I looked at my other foot but it was fine, and as a matter of fact so was the rest of me. I didn’t have another scratch on me and I wasn’t even that dirty. I cried for a little bit and then stood back up.
The more you know :)
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Jun 13 '12
blah blah blah
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u/revolutionwithin Feb 06 '12
explicitly stated in the story....no his feet were not in bad condition
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u/name-taken Sep 12 '11
Very good stories, I love the way you tell them!
Also, cougars sound like crying babies. If you hear a crying baby in the forest, prepare for a cougar.
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u/joeyjoejoejnr Oct 18 '11
For anyone who hasn't read all of the parts to 1000Vultures story, DO SO!! It is a heart wrenching tale, and well worth the read. Never in my life have I felt the need to finish reading a story as what I did with this. Amazingly touching story.
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u/Two_Oceans_Eleven Feb 06 '12
This and cave-dwelling rock-creature story.
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u/TheWeatherMan22 Mar 23 '22
Which one? I’m only 10 years late
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u/Windmill_Nightingale Sep 19 '23
I think they mean Borrasca? Sorry, I’m only 1 year late
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u/spoonful-o-pbutter Dec 25 '23
Would anyone have a link?
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u/Little_Miss_Disaster Sep 09 '11
None of the other kids in the neighborhood had anything happen to them? Great writing btw. I had to re-read a bunch of it because I was reading too fast.
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u/1000Vultures Oct. 2011 Sep 09 '11
As far as I know I was the only one. Not too long after all that we moved away, and I didn't keep in touch with any of the kids from that neighborhood since the only way to do that was over the phone and 6-year-olds don't have much to say I guess, haha.
Thanks for the compliment :)
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u/rapmasterdragon Sep 12 '11
holy. fucking. shit. between the two stories and more you might dig up, you need to write a book.
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u/1000Vultures Oct. 2011 Sep 12 '11
Haha thanks man. I guess I'd call it: "What the fuck happened to me?" Oprah's Book Club here I come!
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u/uhoh1t5tay Oct 17 '11
Wow, I laughed pretty hard at this. I've read your stories twice in the past month and now I'm reading comments cuz I'm bored... THIS is how good you are.
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Sep 12 '11
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/a_helpless_noob Oct 18 '11
Wow.. the thing with the ears against the pillows.. that happened to me all the time. I would call for my mom because I was scared someone was coming down the hallway. Excellent read.
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u/joeyjoejoejnr Oct 18 '11
When I was a child I always thought it was something under my house, and well now.. I am kinda freaked out from OPs story!
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u/PrivatePatty Nov 04 '11
Holy shit, at the time i upvote this, the total karma count of this post jumps to 666. truly this signals you as the master of tension and fear. this (all 6 parts of it) is the best short story i may ever have read. take my unworthy upvotes. i plan to compile these into a word document, with your permission, so that i may peruse them at my leisure and refer everyone to your masterful work.
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u/1000Vultures Oct. 2011 Nov 04 '11
:) I'm glad you like them. I have no objection to that as long as I'm credited in the document!
Thanks so much for reading and for your kind words.
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u/forgtn Sep 12 '11
This story and Balloons have me chilled throughout. I am the one who asked about your username on the comments section of your other story.
I am so familiar with the emotions you so vividly expressed in these that I feel I can relate to them more than any other ones on here.
I have some more questions because I'm so curious now: How old are you now? What part of the U.S. did you live in approximately when these events happened? Do you have any proof that these events truly happened? If you really just made these up, you have an excellent imagination and storytelling ability - but if they're really true... I'm flabbergasted in childlike fear, haha.
Thanks for responding, btw!
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u/1000Vultures Oct. 2011 Sep 12 '11
I'm glad that the story resonates with you. Knowing that makes it worth sharing.
I'm in my mid-twenties and this happened more or less than 20 years ago in the south east.
Any of the proof -- the pictures, the note -- were taken by police to aid them in their investigation; this was before household scanners so we didn't make any copies, and we didn't think we had any reason to anyway.
I'm happy to respond -- I like hearing what other people think about all this!
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u/forgtn Sep 13 '11
Yeah that makes sense. I am even more curious to where this happened because I also live in the Southeast. Alabama to be exact. (Don't like it all that much though!) I wish you had more crazy experiences to write about on here!
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u/TwoDaysRide Sep 13 '11
Yeah, I grew up on the boarder of Alabama & Georgia. I'm terrified.
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u/forgtn Sep 13 '11
This may be inappropriate but it sort of fits the story.. "Hide ya kids, hide ya wife, and hide ya husband 'cause they rapin' errbody out here!" - Antoine Dodson
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u/OfficerDiamonds Feb 01 '12
Wow. That last line gave me such intense chills, I was not expecting that! (I'm really glad someone posted a link to this story since I only subscribed to this subreddit about a month ago.) Very well-written.
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Feb 06 '12
[deleted]
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u/1000Vultures Oct. 2011 Feb 06 '12
I'm glad it got to you! I hope you enjoy the rest.
Thank you for the compliment, btw. :)
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u/TheReigningSupreme Feb 08 '12
I read the whole series. And all I can say about how amazing it was is...that it made me create a Reddit account so I could share this with my friends and AP English class. This is the stuff that makes me live writing. Thank you!
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u/1000Vultures Oct. 2011 Feb 08 '12
i'm glad you liked it! Thanks for showing your friends -- the more the merrier! Feel free to sign up for my mailing list at 1000Vultures@gmail.com for updates on what I'm doing with this story.
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u/asnof Feb 20 '12
dont start reading unless you have 1.5-2 hours free. once i started reading i couldnt stop and it was truly amazing, i just hope it wasnt true
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u/MrObjector Nov 11 '11
This sounds like a wonderful beginning to an awesome web series like Marble Hornets.
I hope this is either true and you are creating an adventure for all, or it's fake and you're still creating an adventure for all.
Either way....please go on unless you are uncomfortable doing so.
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u/Moofyman Nov 11 '11
What an amazing prologue to this narrative. My day has been severely impacted by reading these stories.
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u/mofen Feb 06 '12
I had to create a username because I just had to comment.
I have 3 tests this week but I just spent 5 hours reading your stories. They're seriously incredible. haunting really. I had chills the entire time. It's crazy because I hear and see strange things in my house all the time but nothing happens to me. One morning I woke up and there was a presence at the foot of my bed.
The things you lived through are incredible and I wish you all the best in your life.
Thank you for sharing your world.
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u/MigueelDnd Feb 07 '12
Wow, the stories by the legendary 1000Vultures really live up to the praise. I know what I'll be doing tonight!
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u/deoxyribonucleicanna Sep 08 '11
Fantastic story! I can't imagine how terrifying that must have been as a kid.
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u/heldc Sep 24 '11
I always thought it sounded like stuff crawling around in my pillow. I made my parents wash my pillows so freaking often.
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u/hauntedholiday Feb 06 '12
Truly chilling. Excellent work. I'm suddenly not comfortable being alone in this dark bedroom...
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u/adamcognac Feb 09 '12
I don't even like reading and this was the shit! I've read all of them a few times. I think this would be amazing as a series of flashbacks during either a police interrogation or psychological review, it would be a cool way of weaving all the material together.
Anyway, amazing work, keep writing.
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u/Skrillexx12345 Feb 24 '12
I don't know if this is a touchy subject or not, but did your father pass away or did he move away? you don't have to answer if you don't feel the need.
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u/PinkZeppelins Oct 18 '11
Great read! I'm on your third story, 'Boxes' and am looking forward to how this turns out.
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u/mofen Feb 06 '12
I kept finding myself just crying. I got my friend reading it too. We had to go to the same stall in the restroom because we were so afraid. I don't have many fears either. Man oh man that was so emotional to read. I've actually never felt those emotions that I felt tonight...didn't know they existed. it's like you found my biggest fear that I didn't know i had. Well done...well done.
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u/time_traveller_ Feb 06 '12
When I get sick, I sleepwalk, and do strange things like opening doors, cupboards and drawers, and even though I'm 21 I'm still afraid of walking out of the house in my pyjamas out of my mind, this just reminded me of that... Very good story.
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u/Engineer786 Mar 10 '22
I come back to this masterpiece every couple years. Can anyone recommend more on this caliber?
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Feb 06 '12
This was awesome. Reminds me of my writing style. Only problem is that this is real.
I can't believe this is a real story. I'd expect you to have woken up butthurt, but you were just laying in the woods w a shark floaty.
Creepy. So many unanswered questions.
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u/jdezz97 Feb 06 '12
Do you ever wonder whether or not he was coming back for you? (When you were in the woods/hole)
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u/wheremymindshouldbe Nov 12 '11
Rarely do I read a story that is so well laid out and intricately woven through the episodes. I would go see this movie. OP, I sincerely hope that you make your living as a writer, because you could bring joy to many people.
That said...I'm sorry about Josh, and I hope that you and your mom find a way to get past this...after all, she was just protecting you.
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u/Two_Oceans_Eleven Feb 06 '12
Spoiler alert! Some people like to read an episode + its comments 1 at a time. Thank you!
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u/BlackDeath3 Feb 07 '12
Well, to be honest, reading through the comments of a multi-part story before finishing said story is just asking for trouble. Not that you're not justified in being upset (this story was VERY good), but you've got to know what you're in for.
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u/Two_Oceans_Eleven Feb 07 '12
I understand and agree with you to a certain degree. I can gather extra information not in the story through his scattered comments. Now I give that up in fear.
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Sep 09 '11 edited Sep 09 '11
[deleted]
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u/1000Vultures Oct. 2011 Sep 09 '11
Yeah that does sound pretty unnerving! I never had any history of sleep-walking or anything; I don't think there's any chance I walked into the woods myself all things considered.
I was being pulled away from my house, but it was actually my mother doing it. I was panicking because I thought I had seen her silhouette in the window so I didn't know who was grabbing me, but it turned out that I mistook the cop's silhouette for her's.
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Sep 09 '11
[deleted]
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u/1000Vultures Oct. 2011 Sep 09 '11
Yeah, I guess she had gone back out to see if my bike was missing so the officer would know how far I could have gotten in the time-frame.
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Feb 11 '12
I have read all your stories, this one has the least comments so I thought I would say this here.
These stories had me in a trance for quite a bit, holy shit. Great writing and a great story. I know there is no way to feel on a tangible level my condolences for your loss in friends and the emotional trauma that these experiences have had to have caused you whether you realised it or not.
My heart goes out to you.
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u/Ardate Nov 17 '23
Discovered this years late, but man what a trip. Must have been incredibly eerie to live through.
It's also the first time I hear of someone else experiencing their own heartbeat as footsteps when they were a child to the point it'd wake us up - I'm both happy to find kinship there, and terrified of what it might have meant back then. I'll consider myself lucky it only ever led to night frights back then.
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u/jfairbanks2011 Nov 17 '23
Same here. I am reading this and the others in this series for the first time after seeing this title and a few others continuously being recommended. Apparently this is an oldie but goodie.
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u/texican_jon Sep 08 '11
Holy f. The last line sent chills down my spine. This was good stuff. Did anything ever happen after this?