WRITER – James Harper
The first thing I heard was breathing.
Slow.
Wet.
Close to my ear.
I opened my eyes in darkness.
For a few seconds, I could not move. My body felt heavy, like something was sitting on my chest. My room was cold. The fan above me turned slowly, making a soft clicking sound.
Click.
Click.
Click.
The breathing stopped.
I stared into the dark beside my bed.
Nothing.
Only shadows.
I swallowed hard and tried to calm down. Maybe it was a dream. I often watched horror videos before sleeping. My mind was probably playing tricks on me.
I reached for my phone under the pillow.
3:14 AM.
Sleep Paralysis Demon The screen light filled the room for a moment.
My room looked normal.
The chair near the window.
The table with books.
The old mirror hanging beside the closet.
Nothing strange.
I laughed nervously at myself.
“Idiot,” I whispered.
Then my phone screen went black again.
And I heard footsteps.
Very soft.
Bare feet walking on the floor.
Not outside my room.
Inside.
My blood turned cold.
I slowly sat up.
“Who’s there?”
No answer.
The footsteps stopped near the closet.
I stared at it for a long time. My heart beat so hard it hurt.
Then—
Tap.
Sleep Paralysis Demon
A small sound from inside the closet.
Tap.
Tap.
Like fingers touching wood.
I grabbed the flashlight from my table. My hands shook badly.
“Stop playing games,” I said, though my voice sounded weak.
I lived alone in the apartment. No one else had keys.
The tapping became faster.
Tap tap tap tap tap.
Then silence.
I stood up slowly and walked toward the closet.
Every step felt wrong.
The floor felt colder near it.
I reached for the handle.
My fingers touched metal.
And suddenly—
BANG!
Something hit the closet door from inside.
I screamed and jumped back.
The flashlight fell from my hand.
Darkness swallowed the room again.
Then I heard whispering.
Very close.
So close it felt like lips near my neck.
“Don’t open it.”
I froze.
The voice sounded like an old woman.
Weak.
Afraid.
“Please,” she whispered. “It wants you awake.”
I turned around fast.
Nobody there.
My chest burned with fear.
I grabbed the flashlight from the floor and pointed it everywhere.
Empty room.
Empty bed.
Empty chair.
But the closet door was now slightly open.
I knew I did not open it.
A cold smell came from inside. Like wet soil after rain.
I backed away slowly.
Then my phone rang.
The loud sound almost stopped my heart.
I answered immediately just to hear another human voice.
“H-Hello?”
Static.
Then a man spoke.
“Do not look into the mirror.”
The call ended.
I stared at the phone screen.
Unknown Number.
My hands felt numb.
I slowly turned toward the mirror beside the closet.
The flashlight beam shook.
At first, everything looked normal.
Then I noticed something.
My reflection was not holding the flashlight.
I stopped breathing.
The reflection stood still while I trembled.
Its eyes looked darker.
Its smile slowly grew wider.
I stumbled backward.
“No…”
The thing inside the mirror lifted one finger.
And pointed behind me.
I turned around instantly.
Nothing.
When I looked back—
The reflection was normal again.
I almost cried from fear.
I rushed to the room light and switched it on.
Nothing happened.
Power outage.
The entire apartment was dark.
Outside, rain suddenly started hitting the windows.
I heard thunder far away.
Then came the sound again.
Breathing.
Under the bed.
I backed away from it immediately.
The breathing was deep now.
Animal-like.
I wanted to run from the apartment, but my legs refused to move.
The breathing turned into quiet laughing.
A low voice whispered from under the bed.
“You looked.”
I felt tears in my eyes.
“What do you want from me?”
Silence.
Then scratching.
Long nails dragging slowly beneath the mattress.
I rushed to the door and pulled it open.
The hallway outside was empty and dark.
The emergency lights glowed red.
I ran barefoot down the hallway toward the elevator.
Every apartment door was closed.
No sounds.
No people.
Only the rain outside.
I pressed the elevator button again and again.
Nothing.
The elevator was dead.
Then I heard my apartment door slam shut behind me.
I turned slowly.
At the end of the hallway, something stood there.
Tall.
Too tall.
Its head touched the ceiling.
Its arms hung almost to the floor.
I could not see its face clearly.
Only two pale eyes.
Watching me.
The emergency light flickered.
The thing moved closer.
Not walking.
Sliding.
I ran toward the stairs.
The stairway smelled damp and old. My footsteps echoed loudly.
I jumped down two steps at a time.
Floor 7.
Floor 6.
Floor 5.
Then I heard another set of footsteps behind me.
Slow.
Calm.
Coming down after me.
I did not look back.
I reached Floor 3 and pushed the stairway door open.
The hallway lights here worked.
Warm yellow light filled the corridor.
I almost collapsed from relief.
A woman stood near apartment 308 carrying grocery bags.
Real person.
Thank God.
She looked surprised seeing me.
“Are you okay?”
I ran to her.
“There’s something upstairs!”
She frowned. “Slow down.”
“I’m serious! Something is in my apartment!”
The woman looked worried now.
“You should call the police.”
I nodded quickly.
Then her expression changed.
Her eyes slowly moved past me.
Toward the stairway door.
“What is that?” she whispered.
I turned around.
The stairway door was slowly opening.
Darkness inside.
No movement.
Then a hand appeared on the doorframe.
Long fingers.
Black nails.
The woman gasped.
I grabbed her arm. “Run!”
We ran together down the hallway.
Behind us came slow footsteps.
Not rushing.
Like it knew we could not escape.
The woman unlocked her apartment with shaking hands.
We rushed inside and locked the door.
She quickly turned on all the lights.
The apartment smelled like coffee and soap.
Safe.
Normal.
I almost broke down crying.
The woman handed me water.
“What happened to you?”
I tried explaining everything.
The breathing.
The mirror.
The thing upstairs.
She listened quietly.
Then she became pale.
“What?” I asked.
She pointed toward my neck.
I walked to her hallway mirror.
There were fingerprints on my skin.
Dark purple fingerprints.
Like someone had grabbed me hard.
I touched them slowly.
Cold.
The woman whispered, “You need help.”
Then the lights went out.
Complete darkness.
The woman screamed.
Something crashed in the kitchen.
I grabbed her hand.
The apartment suddenly felt freezing cold.
Then we heard it.
Laughing.
Inside the apartment.
The woman started crying.
“Who’s there?!”
No answer.
A door creaked open somewhere in the dark.
Then another.
Then another.
Every door in the apartment slowly opened by itself.
The laughter moved through the rooms.
Closer.
Closer.
I pulled out my phone flashlight.
The beam shook across the living room.
Empty.
But wet footprints covered the floor.
Huge footprints.
Leading toward us.
The woman backed away.
“Oh God…”
The footprints stopped directly in front of us.
But nothing was there.
Then her body jerked suddenly.
Like someone pulled her hair.
She screamed and fell backward.
I saw it then.
A shape behind her.
Tall and black.
No face.
Only a mouth stretched too wide.
The woman screamed again as invisible hands dragged her across the floor toward the dark hallway.
I grabbed her arms.
Something pulled harder.
Impossible strength.
She cried and begged me not to let go.
But my hands slipped.
And she disappeared into darkness.
Her screams echoed through the apartment.
Then silence.
Terrible silence.
I ran.
I did not even think.
I ran out the apartment door and into the hallway.
The lights flickered violently.
Every door around me slowly opened.
People stood inside their apartments.
Not moving.
Just staring at me.
Their eyes looked empty.
Their mouths hung open.
Then together, all of them whispered:
“You let it in.”
The hallway lights exploded.
Darkness swallowed everything.
I ran blindly toward the stairs.
Behind me came hundreds of footsteps.
I could hear people running after me.
Crying.
Laughing.
Whispering.
I reached the ground floor and burst outside into heavy rain.
Cold water hit my face.
The parking lot was empty.
No cars moving.
No people outside.
The city looked dead.
Streetlights flickered.
I ran across the road toward a small convenience store still open nearby.
The bell above the door rang as I entered.
A young worker looked up from behind the counter.
“You okay, man?”
I could barely breathe.
“Please… help me…”
He stared at my face.
“You look sick.”
I looked around the store.
Bright lights.
Music playing softly.
Normal.
Maybe I was safe here.
Then the worker frowned.
“Who’s your friend?”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
He pointed behind me.
I turned slowly.
Nothing there.
When I faced him again, the worker looked confused.
“There was a tall person standing behind you.”
I backed away from the counter.
“No…”
The store lights dimmed.
The music stopped.
Then came the breathing again.
This time from every corner of the store.
The worker looked terrified now.
“What the hell is happening?”
Something slammed against the freezer doors.
Glass shattered.
The worker screamed.
Then all the lights turned red.
Emergency lights.
Just like the hallway upstairs.
The worker grabbed a baseball bat from beneath the counter.
“Stay behind me.”
The breathing became louder.
Wet.
Hungry.
The aisles suddenly looked darker than before.
Too dark.
Like the light could not enter them.
Something moved between the shelves.
Fast.
The worker raised the bat.
“Come out!”
A woman’s voice answered softly from the darkness.
“Help me…”
The worker hesitated.
Then the voice cried again.
“Please…”
He looked at me. “Someone’s hurt.”
“No!” I shouted. “Don’t go there!”
But he already stepped toward the aisle.
The darkness seemed to swallow him slowly.
I heard his breathing shaking.
Then silence.
A few seconds later, he whispered:
“There’s nobody here.”
Then his scream exploded through the store.
Bones cracked loudly.
Blood sprayed across the shelves.
His body flew out from the darkness and crashed near the counter.
His chest was torn open.
I stared in horror.
The thing slowly stepped out from the aisle.
Now I could see more of it.
Its skin looked black and wet.
Its arms bent the wrong way.
Its mouth stretched from one side of its face to the other.
Inside the mouth were hundreds of tiny teeth.
Its eyes looked human.
Sad.
Hungry.
It tilted its head at me.
Then smiled wider.
I ran out of the store into the rain.
Cars stood abandoned in the streets.
Traffic lights blinked yellow endlessly.
My phone had no signal.
I kept running until my lungs burned.
Finally, I saw a police station two blocks away.
Light inside.
People.
Safety.
I rushed through the doors.
Two officers looked up immediately.
“Sir?”
“There’s something chasing me!”
One officer stood. “Calm down.”
“No, listen to me!”
I explained everything quickly.
The officers exchanged worried looks.
Probably thought I was crazy.
Then the older officer asked quietly:
“What did it look like?”
I described the creature.
The officer’s face slowly lost color.
He whispered something to the other officer.
“What?” I demanded.
The older officer looked at me carefully.
“How long have you lived in that apartment building?”
“Six months.”
He nodded slowly.
“There was a fire there twelve years ago.”
Cold fear crawled into my stomach.
“What?”
“A woman locked herself inside her apartment with her son.” He swallowed hard. “Neighbors heard screaming all night. Nobody called police until morning.”
“What happened?”
“They found the apartment burned black.” He looked toward the dark window. “But the bodies were never found.”
Thunder shook the building.
The lights flickered.
“No…” I whispered.
The officer continued.
“After that, people reported strange things. Voices. Shadows. Sleep paralysis. Some residents disappeared.”
The younger officer suddenly froze.
He stared at the station entrance.
I turned.
The glass door slowly opened.
Rain blew inside.
But nobody stood there.
Then wet footprints appeared on the floor.
One after another.
Walking into the station.
The officers stepped back.
The older one pulled his gun.
“Stay behind us.”
The wet footprints stopped in the middle of the room.
Silence.
Then all radios in the station burst with static.
A voice whispered through them.
“You looked.”
The lights exploded.
Darkness.
Gunshots filled the station.
Officers screamed.
Something slammed into walls.
I crawled beneath a desk covering my ears.
The screaming stopped suddenly.
Then came chewing sounds.
Slow.
Wet.
I cried quietly under the desk.
Heavy footsteps moved across the station floor.
Closer to me.
I held my breath.
The footsteps stopped beside the desk.
Silence.
Then a head slowly lowered upside down to look at me beneath the desk.
That horrible stretched smile.
Those human eyes.
It whispered softly:
“Still awake?”
I screamed and crawled out the other side.
The station door was open.
I ran back into the storm.
The city felt wrong now.
Empty.
Dead.
Like the whole world disappeared.
Only I remained.
And it.
I hid inside an old bus stop shaking badly.
Rain poured endlessly.
My clothes were soaked.
I wanted to sleep.
But every time my eyes closed, I heard whispering.
“Don’t sleep.”
“Stay awake.”
“It comes closer when you dream.”
I looked around wildly.
Nobody there.
Then I noticed writing on the glass beside me.
Wet words slowly appeared by themselves.
IT WEARS THEIR FACES.
I backed away.
Another line appeared.
DON’T LET IT TOUCH YOU.
Then another.
IT IS NOT ONE.
I stared at the message.
Not one?
What did that mean?
A bus suddenly stopped in front of me.
The doors opened with a hiss.
Empty bus.
Driver waiting silently.
I slowly stepped inside.
“Can you help me?” I asked.
The driver did not answer.
He kept staring forward.
I sat near the back shaking from cold.
The bus started moving.
Outside, the city looked darker than before.
No people anywhere.
Every building window was black.
Then I noticed something strange.
Shapes standing on rooftops.
Tall figures watching the bus pass.
Dozens of them.
The bus lights flickered.
I looked toward the driver.
His head slowly turned all the way around.
Too far.
Bones cracked.
His face split open into that same horrible smile.
I screamed and rushed toward the emergency exit.
The bus suddenly stopped.
The doors opened.
I jumped out onto the street and fell hard.
Pain shot through my knees.
Behind me, the empty bus drove away into darkness.
I lay there breathing hard.
Then someone touched my shoulder.
I spun around ready to scream.
An old man stood there under an umbrella.
Human.
Real.
“I know what follows you,” he said quietly.
I stared at him.
“Please help me.”
He nodded slowly.
“Come.”
I followed him into a small church nearby.
Candles burned softly inside.
Warm light filled the room.
For the first time all night, I felt slightly safe.
The old man locked the church doors.
“What is that thing?” I whispered.
He looked tired.
“Long ago, people believed some places could trap suffering. Pain stays after death.” He sat slowly. “Sometimes it grows.”
I listened carefully.
“The woman in your building practiced strange rituals after losing her child. Neighbors heard her talking to something at night.”
My stomach twisted.
“She opened a door,” he continued softly. “Something answered.”
Thunder shook the church windows.
“She tried to stop it later. Burned the apartment.” He looked at me sadly. “Too late.”
“Why is it following me?”
The old man stared directly into my eyes.
“Because you saw it.”
Fear tightened in my chest.
“Can it kill me?”
“Yes.”
Silence filled the church.
Then he added quietly:
“But death is not the worst thing it does.”
The candles flickered violently.
The old man stood suddenly.
“It found us.”
The church doors shook hard.
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
Something scratched the wood outside.
Then came many voices together.
“Open the door.”
Children.
Women.
Men.
Crying.
Begging.
The old man grabbed my shoulders.
“Whatever happens, do not answer the voices.”
The scratching became louder.
Wood cracked.
I heard my mother’s voice outside.
“Please let me in.”
Tears filled my eyes instantly.
My mother died three years ago.
The voice sounded exactly like her.
“Please,” she cried. “I’m cold.”
I covered my ears.
The old man prayed quietly.
Then the church windows shattered inward.
Dark figures crawled through the broken glass.
Too many arms.
Too many mouths.
The candles went out.
The old man shouted for me to run.
I ran through a side door into the rain again.
Behind me I heard screaming.
Then silence.
I did not stop running.
My body felt weak now.
My mind blurry.
The sky slowly became lighter.
Morning coming.
Maybe it would end.
Maybe sunlight could stop it.
I reached my apartment building again without realizing it.
The front door stood open.
Darkness inside.
I should have run away.
But something pulled me back there.
Like the building was calling me.
I stepped inside slowly.
The hallway lights worked again.
Everything looked normal.
Too normal.
No blood.
No broken lights.
No people.
I walked to the elevator.
It worked now.
The doors opened immediately.
Inside, the mirror walls reflected my exhausted face.
I pressed Floor 8.
The elevator moved silently upward.
Then another reflection appeared beside mine.
Tall.
Black-eyed.
Smiling.
I closed my eyes tightly.
When the elevator opened, it was my floor.
I rushed to my apartment.
The door stood slightly open.
Inside, silence.
I slowly entered.
The room looked exactly as before.
The fan turning slowly.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Then I noticed something on the wall above my bed.
Words scratched deeply into the paint.
YOU SHOULD HAVE SLEPT.
The closet door creaked open by itself.
Darkness inside.
I heard crying from within.
A child crying softly.
Then the old woman’s voice whispered again:
“Burn it.”
I looked around desperately.
How?
Then I saw the candles near my kitchen.
And matches.
The crying inside the closet became louder.
Angrier.
The apartment temperature dropped sharply.
The mirror beside the closet cracked suddenly.
The reflection inside smiled at me.
Not my smile.
Its smile.
I grabbed the candles and threw them into the closet.
Then lit a match.
The whispers became screaming instantly.
Dozens of voices together.
I dropped the match.
Fire exploded inside the closet.
Black smoke filled the room.
The creature screamed.
A terrible sound.
Like thousands of people crying together.
The walls shook violently.
The mirror shattered.
Dark hands reached from the flames.
I stumbled backward coughing.
The fire spread quickly across the room.
The creature crawled halfway from the closet.
Burning.
Its skin melted.
But it still smiled.
Still coming toward me.
I grabbed a broken mirror piece from the floor.
As the creature lunged, I stabbed it into one of its eyes.
It screamed louder.
The apartment lights exploded.
Flames covered everything now.
The creature grabbed my arm.
Its touch felt freezing cold.
Images flooded my mind.
People screaming.
Dark rooms.
Faces trapped inside walls.
Endless hunger.
I screamed and pulled free.
The creature burned harder now.
Its body breaking apart.
The whispers became weaker.
Then finally—
Silence.
The creature collapsed into ash.
The fire alarm screamed loudly through the building.
I crawled out of the apartment coughing badly.
Smoke filled the hallway.
People finally appeared from other apartments.
Real people.
Confused.
Afraid.
Someone called firefighters.
Everything blurred after that.
I woke up in a hospital two days later.
The doctors said I survived smoke inhalation.
They said the fire started from faulty wiring.
Nobody believed my story.
The woman from apartment 308 was missing.
So were the two police officers.
The convenience store worker disappeared too.
No bodies found.
Sometimes I tell myself it was all in my head.
Trauma.
Hallucinations.
But every night at exactly 3:14 AM, I wake up suddenly.
Always freezing cold.
Always hearing breathing near my ear.
Last night, I opened my eyes slowly.
And saw wet footprints leading from my bedroom door to my bed.
Stopping right beside my pillow.
I did not move.
I did not breathe.
Then, in the darkness beside me, a voice whispered softly:
“You stayed awake.”
And something smiled.
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