u/StaticVoicesYT

Yes, that does sound very cliche but I don’t care. It’s true.

I’ve been on the job for about 12 years. I’ve been patrolling this town for about 3 of those years. I’m not going to say where the town is because I do not want to face any backlash from the higher ups. The department has “opinions” on what gets talked about. Just know that this town is a place where everyone knows everyone. If anything interesting happens expect everyone to have heard about it in 20 or so minutes.

When I first started working in this town, I treated it like every other place I’ve worked at. I was friendly but stern when I needed to be. I wanted to make everyone feel safe and like they could reach out to me if they needed. That would have been fine if this place was normal and as you could have guessed, it’s not. Things happen here that if they were to happen anywhere else it would be all over the news and internet. Everything here is kept in house, for the most part. Occasionally we do get help from a nearby church and psychic but those are stories for another day when I have A LOT more time. For now I’ll just touch on a few of the weird happenings that occur here.

I guess I’ll start from when I first got transferred here. Oh yeah, coming here was not my decision. It was kind of a “voluntold” situation. It was strongly suggested that I come here because of how I handled chaotic situations in the past. I was under the impression this was a step in the right direction for my career. A way to get in the bosses good graces. That was my first of many wrong assumptions when it came to this town.

Wanna hear about my first day? Of course you do, you wouldn’t have gotten this far otherwise. I was excited about the change in scenery. It was a fresh start for me, so when I strolled into the precinct that first night, I had my head high and a smile plastered across my face. The first thing I noticed was how oddly quiet it was. There was no desk officer sitting behind the desk and the Sergeant’s office door was closed. I awkwardly made my way to the locker room to put on my freshly pressed uniform. It was there that I had my first interaction with someone who works here. For story purposes we shall call him Officer Brad. Actually no. Steve. We will call him Steve.

Steve was an older cop, he was what we like to call “A salty vet”. He would get bothered real easily over nonsense. He had just finished putting on his gun belt as I was walking in. Trying to make a good impression I went up to introduce myself.

“Hey, how’s it going? I’m Chris just uh, just transferred in. It’s my first shift”

Steve looked at me with zero expression on his face. I’m talking not even an eyebrow raise. After what felt like 30 seconds he finally responded.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

Well off to a great start, I thought.

“Ha, yeah. How is it here? Anything I should be aware of?”

“Yes, lots of things you should familiarize yourself with.”

I was waiting for the second half of that sentence. Hoping he would tell me what to get familiar with exactly. Instead he just kind of brushed past me and walked out.

I figured he was just counting down the days to retirement and chalked up him being an asshole to that.

After finding my locker and putting on my uniform I headed back toward the desk to try and locate my patrol car keys. To my surprise there was still no one seated behind the desk. Everyplace that I’ve worked at, it was mandatory to always have someone behind the desk. You needed someone to dispatch, receive calls, or handle walk-ins. But here I was standing alone at the desk. I figured I would try and find the Sergeant. As I approached the office I noticed something that wasn’t there before. There was a note taped to the door.

“Keys in visor, car parked out back.”

“Alright…” I said to myself.

I headed toward the back door expecting to run into some more cops at the very least but it was like no one else was in the building. When I reached the patrol car I was let down to say the least. The car was in horrible shape. Dents on the body and scratches on the window. Guess that’s what you get when you work in a small town. I thought. I opened the door and sure as shit the keys were in the visor. I put the keys in the ignition and the engine coughed to life. I turned on the car radio and pulled out to the road to start my first shift.

Before I continue with details from my first shift I want you to understand how strange this all was. Normally when you start your shift there is a roll call. Think of it as attendance in school. Basically a way to make sure you are there. There is also post assignments that are supposed to be given out. None of this happened. Not only did none of that happen but when I say no one else was in the building, I mean no one. Not just desk officers or supervisors. I’m talking no other cops besides Salty Steve, not even a cleaning crew. Once I had my keys I really just wanted to leave that building.

Night one was pretty quiet for the first half. Not a single call. I actually thought my radio was off or broken with how quiet it was. I even tried keying up the radio just to make sure it worked and it gave an audible beep which let me know it was in fact working.

I was about 3 hours into my shift when I heard the radio go off.

“Unit 1 on the air?”

I didn’t answer because I had no idea what my post designation was. I thought maybe it might be somebody else.

“Unit 1, come up on the air.”

Radio silence.

“Chris…”

I wasn’t expecting that. No one has ever dispatched me by my first name it was always Officer (insert last name) or my post. I fumbled the microphone and responded.

“Go for unit 1?”

“Yeah, thats you. Got a job for ya.”

“Copy, go with it.”

“Head over about 2 blocks. You’ll see a blue house with its porch light on. A man will be waiting outside for you. He called 911 stating his wife isn’t feeling well. EMS is about 5 minutes out. Check and advise once you’re on scene.”

“Roger, show me responding.”

I arrived on scene 5 minutes after dispatch sent me. There was a man standing outside of a blue house flagging me down. I put the car in park and walked over to the house.

“Evening, Officers. Thank you for your timely response.”

“Sure thing, what’s going on?”

“It’s my wife she’s sick. It started out as a cold but it’s gotten a bit worse.”

Oh great let me be her hero and grab her a tissue box.

“I see, is there anything else? Is she throwing up? Anything that requires immediate attention?”

“Nope, just that Officers. Just not feeling well but I would really appreciate if you could go and check on her.”

Alright the first time I brushed it off. Why was he saying “Officers.” It was only me, no one else was on scene.

“She’s right inside, bedroom is the first door on the right.”

The lights in the house were on, but dim. Before i stepped inside I radioed over to dispatch.

“Unit 1 to dispatch, I’m on scene. Gentleman is stating his wife isn’t feeling well. I’m gonna step inside and make sure she’s okay while I wait for EMS.”

No response from dispatch.

I took a cautious step inside and headed for the bedroom. As I approached the door I felt the husband walking slowly behind me. I stepped to the side.

“Why don’t you lead the way, you know your house better than me.”

“Surely!”

He stepped in front of me and reached for the door handle.

“Fair warning, she’s a bit tired. She hasn’t been able to get much sleep with this damn cold.”

“Got it…” I responded.

As the door opened I could see the bed was disheveled. The blankets were thrown about and the pillows were on the floor. With that being said I didn’t see this sick woman. All I saw was an empty bed. As I stepped into the room I was immediately working up a sweat. The bedroom was so unbelievably hot. It was like stepping into a sauna. I asked him where his wife was and before he could answer I heard someone behind the door.

“I’m right here silly…”

I jumped out of my skin not expecting a “sickly” woman to be on her feet hiding behind a door.

“Jesus! What the hell are you doing?!”

She frowned “I can’t sleep!” She responded in a child like voice.

“Okay ma’am, I’m going to need you to sit down on the bed. EMS is coming to evaluate you and help you out.”

“Oh let’s play a game! Up for some hide and seek?!”

What the hell was going on? This woman who was supposed to be sick was not only standing up but pacing around her room. All while her husband stood idly by just smiling.

“I’ll hide first and you have to find me!” The woman said. Her eyes were open as wide as I have ever seen.

“Oh, she’s really good at this game! She always picks the best spots, you guys could never find her!”

What the fuck was happening. This had to be some sort of new guy hazing. It had to be. Either that or these people were out of their fucking minds.

The woman sprinted out of her room giggling and screaming “You’ll never find me!!!”

“Go on Officers, find her…before she finds you. she HATES when you don’t play the game right.”

Yup, nope, I got the fuck out of there. I 100% ran back to my car and radioed dispatch to send another unit. Just as I had finished my transmission EMS pulled up.

“Do not go in there! This woman is batshit crazy!”

EMS just stared at me.

“You’re new here huh?”

“What? Yes, well no. New here, not new to the job. It doesn’t matter I know fucking crazy when I see it.”

“Nah they do this. We will give her a tranq and this won’t happen for another week or two.”

And with that EMS entered the house and I sat there in shock. Sure enough a few minutes later they were back outside and heading back into their truck.

“You’ll get used to it. A lot of weird shit happens around here just understand that this was a tame incident.”

“Uh, uh, yeah yeah got it, thanks”

“See ya Chris.”

That was the first night of my time here. As you could imagine I definitely have some more stories. If you’re interested I’d be happy to share some more.

Yes, that does sound very cliche but I don’t care. It’s true.

I’ve been on the job for about 12 years. I’ve been patrolling this town for about 3 of those years. I’m not going to say where the town is because I do not want to face any backlash from the higher ups. The department has “opinions” on what gets talked about. Just know that this town is a place where everyone knows everyone. If anything interesting happens expect everyone to have heard about it in 20 or so minutes.

When I first started working in this town, I treated it like every other place I’ve worked at. I was friendly but stern when I needed to be. I wanted to make everyone feel safe and like they could reach out to me if they needed. That would have been fine if this place was normal and as you could have guessed, it’s not. Things happen here that if they were to happen anywhere else it would be all over the news and internet. Everything here is kept in house, for the most part. Occasionally we do get help from a nearby church and psychic but those are stories for another day when I have A LOT more time. For now I’ll just touch on a few of the weird happenings that occur here.

I guess I’ll start from when I first got transferred here. Oh yeah, coming here was not my decision. It was kind of a “voluntold” situation. It was strongly suggested that I come here because of how I handled chaotic situations in the past. I was under the impression this was a step in the right direction for my career. A way to get in the bosses good graces. That was my first of many wrong assumptions when it came to this town.

Wanna hear about my first day? Of course you do, you wouldn’t have gotten this far otherwise. I was excited about the change in scenery. It was a fresh start for me, so when I strolled into the precinct that first night, I had my head high and a smile plastered across my face. The first thing I noticed was how oddly quiet it was. There was no desk officer sitting behind the desk and the Sergeant’s office door was closed. I awkwardly made my way to the locker room to put on my freshly pressed uniform. It was there that I had my first interaction with someone who works here. For story purposes we shall call him Officer Brad. Actually no. Steve. We will call him Steve.

Steve was an older cop, he was what we like to call “A salty vet”. He would get bothered real easily over nonsense. He had just finished putting on his gun belt as I was walking in. Trying to make a good impression I went up to introduce myself.

“Hey, how’s it going? I’m Chris just uh, just transferred in. It’s my first shift”

Steve looked at me with zero expression on his face. I’m talking not even an eyebrow raise. After what felt like 30 seconds he finally responded.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

Well off to a great start, I thought.

“Ha, yeah. How is it here? Anything I should be aware of?”

“Yes, lots of things you should familiarize yourself with.”

I was waiting for the second half of that sentence. Hoping he would tell me what to get familiar with exactly. Instead he just kind of brushed past me and walked out.

I figured he was just counting down the days to retirement and chalked up him being an asshole to that.

After finding my locker and putting on my uniform I headed back toward the desk to try and locate my patrol car keys. To my surprise there was still no one seated behind the desk. Everyplace that I’ve worked at, it was mandatory to always have someone behind the desk. You needed someone to dispatch, receive calls, or handle walk-ins. But here I was standing alone at the desk. I figured I would try and find the Sergeant. As I approached the office I noticed something that wasn’t there before. There was a note taped to the door.

“Keys in visor, car parked out back.”

“Alright…” I said to myself.

I headed toward the back door expecting to run into some more cops at the very least but it was like no one else was in the building. When I reached the patrol car I was let down to say the least. The car was in horrible shape. Dents on the body and scratches on the window. Guess that’s what you get when you work in a small town. I thought. I opened the door and sure as shit the keys were in the visor. I put the keys in the ignition and the engine coughed to life. I turned on the car radio and pulled out to the road to start my first shift.

Before I continue with details from my first shift I want you to understand how strange this all was. Normally when you start your shift there is a roll call. Think of it as attendance in school. Basically a way to make sure you are there. There is also post assignments that are supposed to be given out. None of this happened. Not only did none of that happen but when I say no one else was in the building, I mean no one. Not just desk officers or supervisors. I’m talking no other cops besides Salty Steve, not even a cleaning crew. Once I had my keys I really just wanted to leave that building.

Night one was pretty quiet for the first half. Not a single call. I actually thought my radio was off or broken with how quiet it was. I even tried keying up the radio just to make sure it worked and it gave an audible beep which let me know it was in fact working.

I was about 3 hours into my shift when I heard the radio go off.

“Unit 1 on the air?”

I didn’t answer because I had no idea what my post designation was. I thought maybe it might be somebody else.

“Unit 1, come up on the air.”

Radio silence.

“Chris…”

I wasn’t expecting that. No one has ever dispatched me by my first name it was always Officer (insert last name) or my post. I fumbled the microphone and responded.

“Go for unit 1?”

“Yeah, thats you. Got a job for ya.”

“Copy, go with it.”

“Head over about 2 blocks. You’ll see a blue house with its porch light on. A man will be waiting outside for you. He called 911 stating his wife isn’t feeling well. EMS is about 5 minutes out. Check and advise once you’re on scene.”

“Roger, show me responding.”

I arrived on scene 5 minutes after dispatch sent me. There was a man standing outside of a blue house flagging me down. I put the car in park and walked over to the house.

“Evening, Officers. Thank you for your timely response.”

“Sure thing, what’s going on?”

“It’s my wife she’s sick. It started out as a cold but it’s gotten a bit worse.”

Oh great let me be her hero and grab her a tissue box.

“I see, is there anything else? Is she throwing up? Anything that requires immediate attention?”

“Nope, just that Officers. Just not feeling well but I would really appreciate if you could go and check on her.”

Alright the first time I brushed it off. Why was he saying “Officers.” It was only me, no one else was on scene.

“She’s right inside, bedroom is the first door on the right.”

The lights in the house were on, but dim. Before i stepped inside I radioed over to dispatch.

“Unit 1 to dispatch, I’m on scene. Gentleman is stating his wife isn’t feeling well. I’m gonna step inside and make sure she’s okay while I wait for EMS.”

No response from dispatch.

I took a cautious step inside and headed for the bedroom. As I approached the door I felt the husband walking slowly behind me. I stepped to the side.

“Why don’t you lead the way, you know your house better than me.”

“Surely!”

He stepped in front of me and reached for the door handle.

“Fair warning, she’s a bit tired. She hasn’t been able to get much sleep with this damn cold.”

“Got it…” I responded.

As the door opened I could see the bed was disheveled. The blankets were thrown about and the pillows were on the floor. With that being said I didn’t see this sick woman. All I saw was an empty bed. As I stepped into the room I was immediately working up a sweat. The bedroom was so unbelievably hot. It was like stepping into a sauna. I asked him where his wife was and before he could answer I heard someone behind the door.

“I’m right here silly…”

I jumped out of my skin not expecting a “sickly” woman to be on her feet hiding behind a door.

“Jesus! What the hell are you doing?!”

She frowned “I can’t sleep!” She responded in a child like voice.

“Okay ma’am, I’m going to need you to sit down on the bed. EMS is coming to evaluate you and help you out.”

“Oh let’s play a game! Up for some hide and seek?!”

What the hell was going on? This woman who was supposed to be sick was not only standing up but pacing around her room. All while her husband stood idly by just smiling.

“I’ll hide first and you have to find me!” The woman said. Her eyes were open as wide as I have ever seen.

“Oh, she’s really good at this game! She always picks the best spots, you guys could never find her!”

What the fuck was happening. This had to be some sort of new guy hazing. It had to be. Either that or these people were out of their fucking minds.

The woman sprinted out of her room giggling and screaming “You’ll never find me!!!”

“Go on Officers, find her…before she finds you. she HATES when you don’t play the game right.”

Yup, nope, I got the fuck out of there. I 100% ran back to my car and radioed dispatch to send another unit. Just as I had finished my transmission EMS pulled up.

“Do not go in there! This woman is batshit crazy!”

EMS just stared at me.

“You’re new here huh?”

“What? Yes, well no. New here, not new to the job. It doesn’t matter I know fucking crazy when I see it.”

“Nah they do this. We will give her a tranq and this won’t happen for another week or two.”

And with that EMS entered the house and I sat there in shock. Sure enough a few minutes later they were back outside and heading back into their truck.

“You’ll get used to it. A lot of weird shit happens around here just understand that this was a tame incident.”

“Uh, uh, yeah yeah got it, thanks”

“See ya Chris.”

That was the first night of my time here. As you could imagine I definitely have some more stories. If you’re interested I’d be happy to share some more.

Yes, that does sound very cliche but I don’t care. It’s true.

I’ve been on the job for about 12 years. I’ve been patrolling this town for about 3 of those years. I’m not going to say where the town is because I do not want to face any backlash from the higher ups. The department has “opinions” on what gets talked about. Just know that this town is a place where everyone knows everyone. If anything interesting happens expect everyone to have heard about it in 20 or so minutes.

When I first started working in this town, I treated it like every other place I’ve worked at. I was friendly but stern when I needed to be. I wanted to make everyone feel safe and like they could reach out to me if they needed. That would have been fine if this place was normal and as you could have guessed, it’s not. Things happen here that if they were to happen anywhere else it would be all over the news and internet. Everything here is kept in house, for the most part. Occasionally we do get help from a nearby church and psychic but those are stories for another day when I have A LOT more time. For now I’ll just touch on a few of the weird happenings that occur here.

I guess I’ll start from when I first got transferred here. Oh yeah, coming here was not my decision. It was kind of a “voluntold” situation. It was strongly suggested that I come here because of how I handled chaotic situations in the past. I was under the impression this was a step in the right direction for my career. A way to get in the bosses good graces. That was my first of many wrong assumptions when it came to this town.

Wanna hear about my first day? Of course you do, you wouldn’t have gotten this far otherwise. I was excited about the change in scenery. It was a fresh start for me, so when I strolled into the precinct that first night, I had my head high and a smile plastered across my face. The first thing I noticed was how oddly quiet it was. There was no desk officer sitting behind the desk and the Sergeant’s office door was closed. I awkwardly made my way to the locker room to put on my freshly pressed uniform. It was there that I had my first interaction with someone who works here. For story purposes we shall call him Officer Brad. Actually no. Steve. We will call him Steve.

Steve was an older cop, he was what we like to call “A salty vet”. He would get bothered real easily over nonsense. He had just finished putting on his gun belt as I was walking in. Trying to make a good impression I went up to introduce myself.

“Hey, how’s it going? I’m Chris just uh, just transferred in. It’s my first shift”

Steve looked at me with zero expression on his face. I’m talking not even an eyebrow raise. After what felt like 30 seconds he finally responded.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

Well off to a great start, I thought.

“Ha, yeah. How is it here? Anything I should be aware of?”

“Yes, lots of things you should familiarize yourself with.”

I was waiting for the second half of that sentence. Hoping he would tell me what to get familiar with exactly. Instead he just kind of brushed past me and walked out.

I figured he was just counting down the days to retirement and chalked up him being an asshole to that.

After finding my locker and putting on my uniform I headed back toward the desk to try and locate my patrol car keys. To my surprise there was still no one seated behind the desk. Everyplace that I’ve worked at, it was mandatory to always have someone behind the desk. You needed someone to dispatch, receive calls, or handle walk-ins. But here I was standing alone at the desk. I figured I would try and find the Sergeant. As I approached the office I noticed something that wasn’t there before. There was a note taped to the door.

“Keys in visor, car parked out back.”

“Alright…” I said to myself.

I headed toward the back door expecting to run into some more cops at the very least but it was like no one else was in the building. When I reached the patrol car I was let down to say the least. The car was in horrible shape. Dents on the body and scratches on the window. Guess that’s what you get when you work in a small town. I thought. I opened the door and sure as shit the keys were in the visor. I put the keys in the ignition and the engine coughed to life. I turned on the car radio and pulled out to the road to start my first shift.

Before I continue with details from my first shift I want you to understand how strange this all was. Normally when you start your shift there is a roll call. Think of it as attendance in school. Basically a way to make sure you are there. There is also post assignments that are supposed to be given out. None of this happened. Not only did none of that happen but when I say no one else was in the building, I mean no one. Not just desk officers or supervisors. I’m talking no other cops besides Salty Steve, not even a cleaning crew. Once I had my keys I really just wanted to leave that building.

Night one was pretty quiet for the first half. Not a single call. I actually thought my radio was off or broken with how quiet it was. I even tried keying up the radio just to make sure it worked and it gave an audible beep which let me know it was in fact working.

I was about 3 hours into my shift when I heard the radio go off.

“Unit 1 on the air?”

I didn’t answer because I had no idea what my post designation was. I thought maybe it might be somebody else.

“Unit 1, come up on the air.”

Radio silence.

“Chris…”

I wasn’t expecting that. No one has ever dispatched me by my first name it was always Officer (insert last name) or my post. I fumbled the microphone and responded.

“Go for unit 1?”

“Yeah, thats you. Got a job for ya.”

“Copy, go with it.”

“Head over about 2 blocks. You’ll see a blue house with its porch light on. A man will be waiting outside for you. He called 911 stating his wife isn’t feeling well. EMS is about 5 minutes out. Check and advise once you’re on scene.”

“Roger, show me responding.”

I arrived on scene 5 minutes after dispatch sent me. There was a man standing outside of a blue house flagging me down. I put the car in park and walked over to the house.

“Evening, Officers. Thank you for your timely response.”

“Sure thing, what’s going on?”

“It’s my wife she’s sick. It started out as a cold but it’s gotten a bit worse.”

Oh great let me be her hero and grab her a tissue box.

“I see, is there anything else? Is she throwing up? Anything that requires immediate attention?”

“Nope, just that Officers. Just not feeling well but I would really appreciate if you could go and check on her.”

Alright the first time I brushed it off. Why was he saying “Officers.” It was only me, no one else was on scene.

“She’s right inside, bedroom is the first door on the right.”

The lights in the house were on, but dim. Before i stepped inside I radioed over to dispatch.

“Unit 1 to dispatch, I’m on scene. Gentleman is stating his wife isn’t feeling well. I’m gonna step inside and make sure she’s okay while I wait for EMS.”

No response from dispatch.

I took a cautious step inside and headed for the bedroom. As I approached the door I felt the husband walking slowly behind me. I stepped to the side.

“Why don’t you lead the way, you know your house better than me.”

“Surely!”

He stepped in front of me and reached for the door handle.

“Fair warning, she’s a bit tired. She hasn’t been able to get much sleep with this damn cold.”

“Got it…” I responded.

As the door opened I could see the bed was disheveled. The blankets were thrown about and the pillows were on the floor. With that being said I didn’t see this sick woman. All I saw was an empty bed. As I stepped into the room I was immediately working up a sweat. The bedroom was so unbelievably hot. It was like stepping into a sauna. I asked him where his wife was and before he could answer I heard someone behind the door.

“I’m right here silly…”

I jumped out of my skin not expecting a “sickly” woman to be on her feet hiding behind a door.

“Jesus! What the hell are you doing?!”

She frowned “I can’t sleep!” She responded in a child like voice.

“Okay ma’am, I’m going to need you to sit down on the bed. EMS is coming to evaluate you and help you out.”

“Oh let’s play a game! Up for some hide and seek?!”

What the hell was going on? This woman who was supposed to be sick was not only standing up but pacing around her room. All while her husband stood idly by just smiling.

“I’ll hide first and you have to find me!” The woman said. Her eyes were open as wide as I have ever seen.

“Oh, she’s really good at this game! She always picks the best spots, you guys could never find her!”

What the fuck was happening. This had to be some sort of new guy hazing. It had to be. Either that or these people were out of their fucking minds.

The woman sprinted out of her room giggling and screaming “You’ll never find me!!!”

“Go on Officers, find her…before she finds you. she HATES when you don’t play the game right.”

Yup, nope, I got the fuck out of there. I 100% ran back to my car and radioed dispatch to send another unit. Just as I had finished my transmission EMS pulled up.

“Do not go in there! This woman is batshit crazy!”

EMS just stared at me.

“You’re new here huh?”

“What? Yes, well no. New here, not new to the job. It doesn’t matter I know fucking crazy when I see it.”

“Nah they do this. We will give her a tranq and this won’t happen for another week or two.”

And with that EMS entered the house and I sat there in shock. Sure enough a few minutes later they were back outside and heading back into their truck.

“You’ll get used to it. A lot of weird shit happens around here just understand that this was a tame incident.”

“Uh, uh, yeah yeah got it, thanks”

“See ya Chris.”

That was the first night of my time here. As you could imagine I definitely have some more stories. If you’re interested I’d be happy to share some more.

Yes, that does sound very cliche but I don’t care. It’s true.

I’ve been on the job for about 12 years. I’ve been patrolling this town for about 3 of those years. I’m not going to say where the town is because I do not want to face any backlash from the higher ups. The department has “opinions” on what gets talked about. Just know that this town is a place where everyone knows everyone. If anything interesting happens expect everyone to have heard about it in 20 or so minutes.

When I first started working in this town, I treated it like every other place I’ve worked at. I was friendly but stern when I needed to be. I wanted to make everyone feel safe and like they could reach out to me if they needed. That would have been fine if this place was normal and as you could have guessed, it’s not. Things happen here that if they were to happen anywhere else it would be all over the news and internet. Everything here is kept in house, for the most part. Occasionally we do get help from a nearby church and psychic but those are stories for another day when I have A LOT more time. For now I’ll just touch on a few of the weird happenings that occur here.

I guess I’ll start from when I first got transferred here. Oh yeah, coming here was not my decision. It was kind of a “voluntold” situation. It was strongly suggested that I come here because of how I handled chaotic situations in the past. I was under the impression this was a step in the right direction for my career. A way to get in the bosses good graces. That was my first of many wrong assumptions when it came to this town.

Wanna hear about my first day? Of course you do, you wouldn’t have gotten this far otherwise. I was excited about the change in scenery. It was a fresh start for me, so when I strolled into the precinct that first night, I had my head high and a smile plastered across my face. The first thing I noticed was how oddly quiet it was. There was no desk officer sitting behind the desk and the Sergeant’s office door was closed. I awkwardly made my way to the locker room to put on my freshly pressed uniform. It was there that I had my first interaction with someone who works here. For story purposes we shall call him Officer Brad. Actually no. Steve. We will call him Steve.

Steve was an older cop, he was what we like to call “A salty vet”. He would get bothered real easily over nonsense. He had just finished putting on his gun belt as I was walking in. Trying to make a good impression I went up to introduce myself.

“Hey, how’s it going? I’m Chris just uh, just transferred in. It’s my first shift”

Steve looked at me with zero expression on his face. I’m talking not even an eyebrow raise. After what felt like 30 seconds he finally responded.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

Well off to a great start, I thought.

“Ha, yeah. How is it here? Anything I should be aware of?”

“Yes, lots of things you should familiarize yourself with.”

I was waiting for the second half of that sentence. Hoping he would tell me what to get familiar with exactly. Instead he just kind of brushed past me and walked out.

I figured he was just counting down the days to retirement and chalked up him being an asshole to that.

After finding my locker and putting on my uniform I headed back toward the desk to try and locate my patrol car keys. To my surprise there was still no one seated behind the desk. Everyplace that I’ve worked at, it was mandatory to always have someone behind the desk. You needed someone to dispatch, receive calls, or handle walk-ins. But here I was standing alone at the desk. I figured I would try and find the Sergeant. As I approached the office I noticed something that wasn’t there before. There was a note taped to the door.

“Keys in visor, car parked out back.”

“Alright…” I said to myself.

I headed toward the back door expecting to run into some more cops at the very least but it was like no one else was in the building. When I reached the patrol car I was let down to say the least. The car was in horrible shape. Dents on the body and scratches on the window. Guess that’s what you get when you work in a small town. I thought. I opened the door and sure as shit the keys were in the visor. I put the keys in the ignition and the engine coughed to life. I turned on the car radio and pulled out to the road to start my first shift.

Before I continue with details from my first shift I want you to understand how strange this all was. Normally when you start your shift there is a roll call. Think of it as attendance in school. Basically a way to make sure you are there. There is also post assignments that are supposed to be given out. None of this happened. Not only did none of that happen but when I say no one else was in the building, I mean no one. Not just desk officers or supervisors. I’m talking no other cops besides Salty Steve, not even a cleaning crew. Once I had my keys I really just wanted to leave that building.

Night one was pretty quiet for the first half. Not a single call. I actually thought my radio was off or broken with how quiet it was. I even tried keying up the radio just to make sure it worked and it gave an audible beep which let me know it was in fact working.

I was about 3 hours into my shift when I heard the radio go off.

“Unit 1 on the air?”

I didn’t answer because I had no idea what my post designation was. I thought maybe it might be somebody else.

“Unit 1, come up on the air.”

Radio silence.

“Chris…”

I wasn’t expecting that. No one has ever dispatched me by my first name it was always Officer (insert last name) or my post. I fumbled the microphone and responded.

“Go for unit 1?”

“Yeah, thats you. Got a job for ya.”

“Copy, go with it.”

“Head over about 2 blocks. You’ll see a blue house with its porch light on. A man will be waiting outside for you. He called 911 stating his wife isn’t feeling well. EMS is about 5 minutes out. Check and advise once you’re on scene.”

“Roger, show me responding.”

I arrived on scene 5 minutes after dispatch sent me. There was a man standing outside of a blue house flagging me down. I put the car in park and walked over to the house.

“Evening, Officers. Thank you for your timely response.”

“Sure thing, what’s going on?”

“It’s my wife she’s sick. It started out as a cold but it’s gotten a bit worse.”

Oh great let me be her hero and grab her a tissue box.

“I see, is there anything else? Is she throwing up? Anything that requires immediate attention?”

“Nope, just that Officers. Just not feeling well but I would really appreciate if you could go and check on her.”

Alright the first time I brushed it off. Why was he saying “Officers.” It was only me, no one else was on scene.

“She’s right inside, bedroom is the first door on the right.”

The lights in the house were on, but dim. Before i stepped inside I radioed over to dispatch.

“Unit 1 to dispatch, I’m on scene. Gentleman is stating his wife isn’t feeling well. I’m gonna step inside and make sure she’s okay while I wait for EMS.”

No response from dispatch.

I took a cautious step inside and headed for the bedroom. As I approached the door I felt the husband walking slowly behind me. I stepped to the side.

“Why don’t you lead the way, you know your house better than me.”

“Surely!”

He stepped in front of me and reached for the door handle.

“Fair warning, she’s a bit tired. She hasn’t been able to get much sleep with this damn cold.”

“Got it…” I responded.

As the door opened I could see the bed was disheveled. The blankets were thrown about and the pillows were on the floor. With that being said I didn’t see this sick woman. All I saw was an empty bed. As I stepped into the room I was immediately working up a sweat. The bedroom was so unbelievably hot. It was like stepping into a sauna. I asked him where his wife was and before he could answer I heard someone behind the door.

“I’m right here silly…”

I jumped out of my skin not expecting a “sickly” woman to be on her feet hiding behind a door.

“Jesus! What the hell are you doing?!”

She frowned “I can’t sleep!” She responded in a child like voice.

“Okay ma’am, I’m going to need you to sit down on the bed. EMS is coming to evaluate you and help you out.”

“Oh let’s play a game! Up for some hide and seek?!”

What the hell was going on? This woman who was supposed to be sick was not only standing up but pacing around her room. All while her husband stood idly by just smiling.

“I’ll hide first and you have to find me!” The woman said. Her eyes were open as wide as I have ever seen.

“Oh, she’s really good at this game! She always picks the best spots, you guys could never find her!”

What the fuck was happening. This had to be some sort of new guy hazing. It had to be. Either that or these people were out of their fucking minds.

The woman sprinted out of her room giggling and screaming “You’ll never find me!!!”

“Go on Officers, find her…before she finds you. she HATES when you don’t play the game right.”

Yup, nope, I got the fuck out of there. I 100% ran back to my car and radioed dispatch to send another unit. Just as I had finished my transmission EMS pulled up.

“Do not go in there! This woman is batshit crazy!”

EMS just stared at me.

“You’re new here huh?”

“What? Yes, well no. New here, not new to the job. It doesn’t matter I know fucking crazy when I see it.”

“Nah they do this. We will give her a tranq and this won’t happen for another week or two.”

And with that EMS entered the house and I sat there in shock. Sure enough a few minutes later they were back outside and heading back into their truck.

“You’ll get used to it. A lot of weird shit happens around here just understand that this was a tame incident.”

“Uh, uh, yeah yeah got it, thanks”

“See ya Chris.”

That was the first night of my time here. As you could imagine I definitely have some more stories. If you’re interested I’d be happy to share some more.

You guy are seriously amazing! When I started this subreddit I just wanted it to be an outlet for people to write their stories but I didn’t think we would reach over 1k members so fast!

The comments I’ve seen on each other’s posts is truly what it is all about!

From supporting me and my writing, to my youtube, to supporting each other it truly is amazing to see.

THANK YOU FOR BEING AMAZING, LETS KEEP IT GOING!

Hey everyone!

I’ve been a huge fan of the podcast from the early days! Between the laughs and the voice acting it’s been great watching it grow.

The more I watched the more interested I became in narrating myself. After a few months of steady growth on youtube I am close to reaching 1000 Subscribers!

As a way to giveback to this awesome community I would love to narrate a few stories from some of you! If at all interested just comment with a link to your story! I will pick a few that I like and edit the post once I choose the stories!

I won’t post a link to my youtube out of respect to the rules but you can visit my profile if you want to check me out.

Thank you all for being such a great community!

UPDATE:

Wow I appreciate the overwhelming response! I will go through these tonight and choose 2 or 3 tomorrow that I will narrate in the upcoming weeks!

If I don’t choose your story don’t worry, I will go through over time and try to sprinkle more in here or there!

You guys are great and this is why I love this community!

UPDATE #2:

After going through the stories, I have decided to choose 4 to narrate!

Again this doesn’t mean I won’t narrate more in the future!

The narrations will be put out over the course of the next couple of weeks and all credit will be given to the writers in the description.

Thank you to everyone who sent their stories!

Here are the 4 stories:

u/Sir_Mycoal :
https://www.reddit.com/r/creepcast/s/bPbf2dZj1n

u/Suspicious_fact5106 :
https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromTheCreeps/s/3Kh1cIsvlg

u/SteveMcnellyFiction :
https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromTheCreeps/s/Ga29351j7C

u/AugustusMartisVT :
https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromTheCreeps/s/z9vrNLp7Xs

A few weeks ago I was woken up by the sound of my son screaming in the middle of the night. As a single parent it fell solely on me to comfort him and let him know that everything would be alright and that it was just a nightmare.

He looked at me, tears welling in his eyes and then broke down crying.

“Daddy it was so scary! I was in the basement and it was dark and someone was telling me not to be scared but I was. I was so scared!”

“I know, I know but I’m here now and there is nothing to be scared of. It was just a bad dream.” I told him as I hugged him. “Sometimes they happen and they feel so real! I have them too. And you know what I do when I’m scared? I sing a song!”

“A…song?”

“Oh yeah, my favorite song. You are my sunshine…”

“My only sunshine!” He finished.

“That’s right kiddo! You can always call me and I’ll come running but next time try singing that song and see if it makes you feel any better!”

“Okay Daddy, can you stay with me until I go back to sleep.”

“Of course I can.” I whispered.

That was the first night of a string of a nightmare filled week.

Like clockwork every night for the rest of that week, my son would wake in the middle of the night and yell for me, cry, or sing that song to try and soothe himself. I would always go check on him to make sure he was okay and every single time the cause of his fear was a nightmare.

Sometimes he would be trapped in the basement by himself with “someone” talking to him. Other times he would hear a voice downstairs that told him to come play. One time he even made me check under his bed and open his closet door to make sure the “scary voice” wasn’t in there.

If I am being honest, it was getting exhausting. I pride myself on being the best Father I can be but with the amount of time I’m working, the little sleep that I get being interrupted by these nightmares it was taking a toll on me.

After about a week of the incessant nightmares I began to do research. I wanted to know what was happening and if there was a way to help him and in turn help me get some rest. I searched everything I could. Sleep regression, craving attention, fear of the dark. Nothing gave any real answers, but I was getting a bit desperate. I needed to provide for us and I wasn’t going to be able to do that with no rest.

I decided I was going to take him to the Doctor. It was the sensible thing to do and I was hoping he would be able to calm both our nerves. The Doctor did his normal check up and proceeded to ask the reason for our visit.

“So, tell me what’s been going on?” He said with a smile directed toward my son.

“I…I’ve been having bad dreams.” My son said weakly.

“I see. And what are these bad dreams about.”

“Sometimes I’m locked in the basement and it’s scary and sometimes I hear someone call my name downstairs and sometimes they ask me to play and one time he asked me to hurt daddy.”

He never told me about that. That concerned me. Why wouldn’t he tell me about that? I know he was scared but now I was worried that it was more than just bad dreams. Internally I was scared and nervous. Externally I kept a smile on my face to reassure my son he was going to be okay.

The Doctor stood up and looked over to me and then back to my son.

“Ah, I see. I can understand how that can be scary for you! The good news is that you have nothing to be worried about!”

He turned to me.

“This is completely normal. Could be attention seeking, could be a string of bad dreams, maybe some slight trauma after the separation. As of right now just keep being there for him. If it progresses contact me and I will set you up with a great children’s therapist.”

After leaving the office I tried to get his mind off the nightmares.

“You up for some ice cream?”

“Ice cream?! Oh yeah!”

I laughed and tussled his hair. It was nice to see him laugh and not be afraid in the moment.

The next few nights were much of the same. Nightmares, running to check on him, calming him down, staying with him until he fell asleep. My birthday was that Sunday and I planned on calling the Doctor the next day to tell him the nightmares hadn’t stopped.

Sunday came about and all I wanted was a relaxing night with my boy. I decided to take him to get some pizza at our favorite place. He had blurted out to the waitress that it was my Birthday and before they brought us the check, she came out with a slice of a delicious looking chocolate cake with one candle lit. After feeling slightly embarrassed being serenaded by the staff I was going to blow out the candle when my son stopped me.

“Daddy! Daddy! Don’t forget to make a wish!”

“Ah you’re right! How could I forget?!”

And so I did. As silly as it was to make an ACTUAL wish, I did it.

I closed my eyes.

And I wished for my son to stop having nightmares.

After tucking him in for the night, I headed to the kitchen to pour myself a celebratory glass of Whiskey. It had been a rough few months and we were doing pretty good apart from the nightmares. I sat down on the couch with the glass of whiskey in hand and took a few sips.

I must’ve fallen asleep after finishing it because I woke up with an empty glass in my hand to the sound of my son singing “You are my sunshine” quietly. Prepared for another night of bad dreams I walked over to his room. I expected him to look over to the door as I pushed it open.

Instead, all I saw was him sleeping. Eyes closed. His small chest rising and falling with his breath. I closed the door and paused for a second. I heard that song, I know it. I started to think maybe the whiskey was stronger than I thought.

That night was the first night my son slept straight through since this all started. I woke up in the morning feeling refreshed. A full night of sleep can do wonders. I got ready for work and got my son ready for school. I asked how he slept.

With a big stretch he said, “I slept great daddy!”

After a long day we hung out all night. I made us dinner and we watched a movie on the couch. With our stomachs full and popcorn all over the couch I told him it was time for bed. I once again tucked him in and he fell asleep within minutes.

I decided to hop in the shower and planned on making it an early night when I got out. I had just finished washing the shampoo out when I noticed something on the other side of the shower curtain.

It was my son.

Or,

What I thought was my son. Standing there. I had figured he must’ve had another nightmare or maybe he couldn’t sleep. After rinsing off the remaining shampoo I asked him, “Everything alright bud?” Before he could answer I was already moving the shower curtain. Shockingly, no one was there. I quickly grabbed a towel and with wet footsteps made my way over to his room. There he was. Sleeping soundly once again.

I dried myself off and headed to my bedroom. It was there that I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. The bags under my eyes were dark. My face looked worn out. I looked exhausted. Maybe one night of peaceful sleep wasn’t enough, I thought.

That night was the worst night I had in a long time.

After some difficulty falling asleep I had finally managed to get some much needed rest.

I had the most vivid, horrible, and shocking nightmare I’ve ever had. I was standing in front of my house at night. I noticed my son’s light on upstairs. It was then, that I noticed a figure walking out of my front door. I couldn’t make out any features but it was holding something.

A gas canister.

I tried to take a step but I couldn’t move, I couldn’t react to what was happening. I looked up to my son’s window and he was standing there, screaming, crying.

“Let me out! Please Daddy, let me out!”

He wasn’t looking at me when he said it though. He was looking down, at the person holding the gas canister. I looked at the figures other hand and noticed the lit match. Within seconds the house was up in a blaze. I tried screaming, I tried running, but I couldn’t even manage a whimper.

The figure began to slowly turn around.

The rage inside me reaching a boiling point.

As I made eye contact, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

It was me. I lit the match. I set the house on fire.

I woke up in a panic, drenched in sweat. It all felt so real. There was no chance I would be falling asleep again. The next day couldn’t come fast enough.

As I sat in my kitchen, I couldn’t fully process what was happening. I was in no condition to work so I decided to take the day off. I would drop my son off at school and come home and relax. Do everything I can to ease my mind.

As my son was leaving the car, he looked at me with a smile.

“Thanks for taking away my nightmares daddy!”

And off he went to school.

At home, I melted into the couch and put on junk television. I was doing my best impression of a couch potato.

After about an hour of “relaxing” I decided to be productive. I needed to get some laundry done and there was no better time to do it. I loaded up the washer and made my way back upstairs.

I made myself some lunch and was so full I passed out on the couch. When I woke up I was feeling great. The fog of the last few days seemed to be lifting and I finally had some much needed energy. It was almost time for pick up at school. I ran downstairs to throw the clothes in the dryer.

I have a front load washer. I had almost transferred all the clothes except for a few pieces towards the back. I reached into the wash and I could barely feel them on my finger tips. I stretched my arm one last time and that’s when I felt it.

A hand.

It grabbed my wrist. I tried to pull it back but I was stuck. I don’t know how to describe it. I yanked and yanked and every time I did my wrist was pulled from the other side.

“What the fuck! Get off of me! What the fuck!”

With a last desperate try I yanked my arm out and felt immediate pain. Whatever had grabbed me had left long finger imprints on my wrist. It looked like someone had dug their nails along my forearm. I was bleeding.

I didn’t waste another moment. I sprinted up the stairs, grabbing my keys on the way out. I was going to get my son and I was damn sure not letting us come back to this house.

I did my best to not show anything was wrong. I didn’t want to scare my son any more than he had been the past few weeks. I tried to keep it normal, casual. Took him to the park, took him bowling, and took him for some dinner.

“I’m tired Daddy, can we go home?”

“How bout one more adventure? What do ya say?” I said, trying to buy time.

“Okayyy one more adventure.” He replied, clearly exhausted.

We went to Walmart to grab some basic clothes and essentials.

I brought us to a hotel and told him we were having a “big boy” sleepover.

He was excited. I was scared, still. I gave him a shower and let him sleep in his own bed.

I’m sitting here now AFRAID to fall asleep. Scared something will visit me in my dreams that I won’t be able to shake off. I don’t know where to go from here or who to talk to. I can go to the police but I’ll sound insane. I can go to a Doctor but I don’t think this is a problem they can help with.

I’m lost. I’m finally admitting that now.

Help me.

Help us.

A few weeks ago I was woken up by the sound of my son screaming in the middle of the night. As a single parent it fell solely on me to comfort him and let him know that everything would be alright and that it was just a nightmare.

He looked at me, tears welling in his eyes and then broke down crying.

“Daddy it was so scary! I was in the basement and it was dark and someone was telling me not to be scared but I was. I was so scared!”

“I know, I know but I’m here now and there is nothing to be scared of. It was just a bad dream.” I told him as I hugged him. “Sometimes they happen and they feel so real! I have them too. And you know what I do when I’m scared? I sing a song!”

“A…song?”

“Oh yeah, my favorite song. You are my sunshine…”

“My only sunshine!” He finished.

“That’s right kiddo! You can always call me and I’ll come running but next time try singing that song and see if it makes you feel any better!”

“Okay Daddy, can you stay with me until I go back to sleep.”

“Of course I can.” I whispered.

That was the first night of a string of a nightmare filled week.

Like clockwork every night for the rest of that week, my son would wake in the middle of the night and yell for me, cry, or sing that song to try and soothe himself. I would always go check on him to make sure he was okay and every single time the cause of his fear was a nightmare.

Sometimes he would be trapped in the basement by himself with “someone” talking to him. Other times he would hear a voice downstairs that told him to come play. One time he even made me check under his bed and open his closet door to make sure the “scary voice” wasn’t in there.

If I am being honest, it was getting exhausting. I pride myself on being the best Father I can be but with the amount of time I’m working, the little sleep that I get being interrupted by these nightmares it was taking a toll on me.

After about a week of the incessant nightmares I began to do research. I wanted to know what was happening and if there was a way to help him and in turn help me get some rest. I searched everything I could. Sleep regression, craving attention, fear of the dark. Nothing gave any real answers, but I was getting a bit desperate. I needed to provide for us and I wasn’t going to be able to do that with no rest.

I decided I was going to take him to the Doctor. It was the sensible thing to do and I was hoping he would be able to calm both our nerves. The Doctor did his normal check up and proceeded to ask the reason for our visit.

“So, tell me what’s been going on?” He said with a smile directed toward my son.

“I…I’ve been having bad dreams.” My son said weakly.

“I see. And what are these bad dreams about.”

“Sometimes I’m locked in the basement and it’s scary and sometimes I hear someone call my name downstairs and sometimes they ask me to play and one time he asked me to hurt daddy.”

He never told me about that. That concerned me. Why wouldn’t he tell me about that? I know he was scared but now I was worried that it was more than just bad dreams. Internally I was scared and nervous. Externally I kept a smile on my face to reassure my son he was going to be okay.

The Doctor stood up and looked over to me and then back to my son.

“Ah, I see. I can understand how that can be scary for you! The good news is that you have nothing to be worried about!”

He turned to me.

“This is completely normal. Could be attention seeking, could be a string of bad dreams, maybe some slight trauma after the separation. As of right now just keep being there for him. If it progresses contact me and I will set you up with a great children’s therapist.”

After leaving the office I tried to get his mind off the nightmares.

“You up for some ice cream?”

“Ice cream?! Oh yeah!”

I laughed and tussled his hair. It was nice to see him laugh and not be afraid in the moment.

The next few nights were much of the same. Nightmares, running to check on him, calming him down, staying with him until he fell asleep. My birthday was that Sunday and I planned on calling the Doctor the next day to tell him the nightmares hadn’t stopped.

Sunday came about and all I wanted was a relaxing night with my boy. I decided to take him to get some pizza at our favorite place. He had blurted out to the waitress that it was my Birthday and before they brought us the check, she came out with a slice of a delicious looking chocolate cake with one candle lit. After feeling slightly embarrassed being serenaded by the staff I was going to blow out the candle when my son stopped me.

“Daddy! Daddy! Don’t forget to make a wish!”

“Ah you’re right! How could I forget?!”

And so I did. As silly as it was to make an ACTUAL wish, I did it.

I closed my eyes.

And I wished for my son to stop having nightmares.

After tucking him in for the night, I headed to the kitchen to pour myself a celebratory glass of Whiskey. It had been a rough few months and we were doing pretty good apart from the nightmares. I sat down on the couch with the glass of whiskey in hand and took a few sips.

I must’ve fallen asleep after finishing it because I woke up with an empty glass in my hand to the sound of my son singing “You are my sunshine” quietly. Prepared for another night of bad dreams I walked over to his room. I expected him to look over to the door as I pushed it open.

Instead, all I saw was him sleeping. Eyes closed. His small chest rising and falling with his breath. I closed the door and paused for a second. I heard that song, I know it. I started to think maybe the whiskey was stronger than I thought.

That night was the first night my son slept straight through since this all started. I woke up in the morning feeling refreshed. A full night of sleep can do wonders. I got ready for work and got my son ready for school. I asked how he slept.

With a big stretch he said, “I slept great daddy!”

After a long day we hung out all night. I made us dinner and we watched a movie on the couch. With our stomachs full and popcorn all over the couch I told him it was time for bed. I once again tucked him in and he fell asleep within minutes.

I decided to hop in the shower and planned on making it an early night when I got out. I had just finished washing the shampoo out when I noticed something on the other side of the shower curtain.

It was my son.

Or,

What I thought was my son. Standing there. I had figured he must’ve had another nightmare or maybe he couldn’t sleep. After rinsing off the remaining shampoo I asked him, “Everything alright bud?” Before he could answer I was already moving the shower curtain. Shockingly, no one was there. I quickly grabbed a towel and with wet footsteps made my way over to his room. There he was. Sleeping soundly once again.

I dried myself off and headed to my bedroom. It was there that I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. The bags under my eyes were dark. My face looked worn out. I looked exhausted. Maybe one night of peaceful sleep wasn’t enough, I thought.

That night was the worst night I had in a long time.

After some difficulty falling asleep I had finally managed to get some much needed rest.

I had the most vivid, horrible, and shocking nightmare I’ve ever had. I was standing in front of my house at night. I noticed my son’s light on upstairs. It was then, that I noticed a figure walking out of my front door. I couldn’t make out any features but it was holding something.

A gas canister.

I tried to take a step but I couldn’t move, I couldn’t react to what was happening. I looked up to my son’s window and he was standing there, screaming, crying.

“Let me out! Please Daddy, let me out!”

He wasn’t looking at me when he said it though. He was looking down, at the person holding the gas canister. I looked at the figures other hand and noticed the lit match. Within seconds the house was up in a blaze. I tried screaming, I tried running, but I couldn’t even manage a whimper.

The figure began to slowly turn around.

The rage inside me reaching a boiling point.

As I made eye contact, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

It was me. I lit the match. I set the house on fire.

I woke up in a panic, drenched in sweat. It all felt so real. There was no chance I would be falling asleep again. The next day couldn’t come fast enough.

As I sat in my kitchen, I couldn’t fully process what was happening. I was in no condition to work so I decided to take the day off. I would drop my son off at school and come home and relax. Do everything I can to ease my mind.

As my son was leaving the car, he looked at me with a smile.

“Thanks for taking away my nightmares daddy!”

And off he went to school.

At home, I melted into the couch and put on junk television. I was doing my best impression of a couch potato.

After about an hour of “relaxing” I decided to be productive. I needed to get some laundry done and there was no better time to do it. I loaded up the washer and made my way back upstairs.

I made myself some lunch and was so full I passed out on the couch. When I woke up I was feeling great. The fog of the last few days seemed to be lifting and I finally had some much needed energy. It was almost time for pick up at school. I ran downstairs to throw the clothes in the dryer.

I have a front load washer. I had almost transferred all the clothes except for a few pieces towards the back. I reached into the wash and I could barely feel them on my finger tips. I stretched my arm one last time and that’s when I felt it.

A hand.

It grabbed my wrist. I tried to pull it back but I was stuck. I don’t know how to describe it. I yanked and yanked and every time I did my wrist was pulled from the other side.

“What the fuck! Get off of me! What the fuck!”

With a last desperate try I yanked my arm out and felt immediate pain. Whatever had grabbed me had left long finger imprints on my wrist. It looked like someone had dug their nails along my forearm. I was bleeding.

I didn’t waste another moment. I sprinted up the stairs, grabbing my keys on the way out. I was going to get my son and I was damn sure not letting us come back to this house.

I did my best to not show anything was wrong. I didn’t want to scare my son any more than he had been the past few weeks. I tried to keep it normal, casual. Took him to the park, took him bowling, and took him for some dinner.

“I’m tired Daddy, can we go home?”

“How bout one more adventure? What do ya say?” I said, trying to buy time.

“Okayyy one more adventure.” He replied, clearly exhausted.

We went to Walmart to grab some basic clothes and essentials.

I brought us to a hotel and told him we were having a “big boy” sleepover.

He was excited. I was scared, still. I gave him a shower and let him sleep in his own bed.

I’m sitting here now AFRAID to fall asleep. Scared something will visit me in my dreams that I won’t be able to shake off. I don’t know where to go from here or who to talk to. I can go to the police but I’ll sound insane. I can go to a Doctor but I don’t think this is a problem they can help with.

I’m lost. I’m finally admitting that now.

Help me.

Help us.

A few weeks ago I was woken up by the sound of my son screaming in the middle of the night. As a single parent it fell solely on me to comfort him and let him know that everything would be alright and that it was just a nightmare.

He looked at me, tears welling in his eyes and then broke down crying.

“Daddy it was so scary! I was in the basement and it was dark and someone was telling me not to be scared but I was. I was so scared!”

“I know, I know but I’m here now and there is nothing to be scared of. It was just a bad dream.” I told him as I hugged him. “Sometimes they happen and they feel so real! I have them too. And you know what I do when I’m scared? I sing a song!”

“A…song?”

“Oh yeah, my favorite song. You are my sunshine…”

“My only sunshine!” He finished.

“That’s right kiddo! You can always call me and I’ll come running but next time try singing that song and see if it makes you feel any better!”

“Okay Daddy, can you stay with me until I go back to sleep.”

“Of course I can.” I whispered.

That was the first night of a string of a nightmare filled week.

Like clockwork every night for the rest of that week, my son would wake in the middle of the night and yell for me, cry, or sing that song to try and soothe himself. I would always go check on him to make sure he was okay and every single time the cause of his fear was a nightmare.

Sometimes he would be trapped in the basement by himself with “someone” talking to him. Other times he would hear a voice downstairs that told him to come play. One time he even made me check under his bed and open his closet door to make sure the “scary voice” wasn’t in there.

If I am being honest, it was getting exhausting. I pride myself on being the best Father I can be but with the amount of time I’m working, the little sleep that I get being interrupted by these nightmares it was taking a toll on me.

After about a week of the incessant nightmares I began to do research. I wanted to know what was happening and if there was a way to help him and in turn help me get some rest. I searched everything I could. Sleep regression, craving attention, fear of the dark. Nothing gave any real answers, but I was getting a bit desperate. I needed to provide for us and I wasn’t going to be able to do that with no rest.

I decided I was going to take him to the Doctor. It was the sensible thing to do and I was hoping he would be able to calm both our nerves. The Doctor did his normal check up and proceeded to ask the reason for our visit.

“So, tell me what’s been going on?” He said with a smile directed toward my son.

“I…I’ve been having bad dreams.” My son said weakly.

“I see. And what are these bad dreams about.”

“Sometimes I’m locked in the basement and it’s scary and sometimes I hear someone call my name downstairs and sometimes they ask me to play and one time he asked me to hurt daddy.”

He never told me about that. That concerned me. Why wouldn’t he tell me about that? I know he was scared but now I was worried that it was more than just bad dreams. Internally I was scared and nervous. Externally I kept a smile on my face to reassure my son he was going to be okay.

The Doctor stood up and looked over to me and then back to my son.

“Ah, I see. I can understand how that can be scary for you! The good news is that you have nothing to be worried about!”

He turned to me.

“This is completely normal. Could be attention seeking, could be a string of bad dreams, maybe some slight trauma after the separation. As of right now just keep being there for him. If it progresses contact me and I will set you up with a great children’s therapist.”

After leaving the office I tried to get his mind off the nightmares.

“You up for some ice cream?”

“Ice cream?! Oh yeah!”

I laughed and tussled his hair. It was nice to see him laugh and not be afraid in the moment.

The next few nights were much of the same. Nightmares, running to check on him, calming him down, staying with him until he fell asleep. My birthday was that Sunday and I planned on calling the Doctor the next day to tell him the nightmares hadn’t stopped.

Sunday came about and all I wanted was a relaxing night with my boy. I decided to take him to get some pizza at our favorite place. He had blurted out to the waitress that it was my Birthday and before they brought us the check, she came out with a slice of a delicious looking chocolate cake with one candle lit. After feeling slightly embarrassed being serenaded by the staff I was going to blow out the candle when my son stopped me.

“Daddy! Daddy! Don’t forget to make a wish!”

“Ah you’re right! How could I forget?!”

And so I did. As silly as it was to make an ACTUAL wish, I did it.

I closed my eyes.

And I wished for my son to stop having nightmares.

After tucking him in for the night, I headed to the kitchen to pour myself a celebratory glass of Whiskey. It had been a rough few months and we were doing pretty good apart from the nightmares. I sat down on the couch with the glass of whiskey in hand and took a few sips.

I must’ve fallen asleep after finishing it because I woke up with an empty glass in my hand to the sound of my son singing “You are my sunshine” quietly. Prepared for another night of bad dreams I walked over to his room. I expected him to look over to the door as I pushed it open.

Instead, all I saw was him sleeping. Eyes closed. His small chest rising and falling with his breath. I closed the door and paused for a second. I heard that song, I know it. I started to think maybe the whiskey was stronger than I thought.

That night was the first night my son slept straight through since this all started. I woke up in the morning feeling refreshed. A full night of sleep can do wonders. I got ready for work and got my son ready for school. I asked how he slept.

With a big stretch he said, “I slept great daddy!”

After a long day we hung out all night. I made us dinner and we watched a movie on the couch. With our stomachs full and popcorn all over the couch I told him it was time for bed. I once again tucked him in and he fell asleep within minutes.

I decided to hop in the shower and planned on making it an early night when I got out. I had just finished washing the shampoo out when I noticed something on the other side of the shower curtain.

It was my son.

Or,

What I thought was my son. Standing there. I had figured he must’ve had another nightmare or maybe he couldn’t sleep. After rinsing off the remaining shampoo I asked him, “Everything alright bud?” Before he could answer I was already moving the shower curtain. Shockingly, no one was there. I quickly grabbed a towel and with wet footsteps made my way over to his room. There he was. Sleeping soundly once again.

I dried myself off and headed to my bedroom. It was there that I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. The bags under my eyes were dark. My face looked worn out. I looked exhausted. Maybe one night of peaceful sleep wasn’t enough, I thought.

That night was the worst night I had in a long time.

After some difficulty falling asleep I had finally managed to get some much needed rest.

I had the most vivid, horrible, and shocking nightmare I’ve ever had. I was standing in front of my house at night. I noticed my son’s light on upstairs. It was then, that I noticed a figure walking out of my front door. I couldn’t make out any features but it was holding something.

A gas canister.

I tried to take a step but I couldn’t move, I couldn’t react to what was happening. I looked up to my son’s window and he was standing there, screaming, crying.

“Let me out! Please Daddy, let me out!”

He wasn’t looking at me when he said it though. He was looking down, at the person holding the gas canister. I looked at the figures other hand and noticed the lit match. Within seconds the house was up in a blaze. I tried screaming, I tried running, but I couldn’t even manage a whimper.

The figure began to slowly turn around.

The rage inside me reaching a boiling point.

As I made eye contact, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

It was me. I lit the match. I set the house on fire.

I woke up in a panic, drenched in sweat. It all felt so real. There was no chance I would be falling asleep again. The next day couldn’t come fast enough.

As I sat in my kitchen, I couldn’t fully process what was happening. I was in no condition to work so I decided to take the day off. I would drop my son off at school and come home and relax. Do everything I can to ease my mind.

As my son was leaving the car, he looked at me with a smile.

“Thanks for taking away my nightmares daddy!”

And off he went to school.

At home, I melted into the couch and put on junk television. I was doing my best impression of a couch potato.

After about an hour of “relaxing” I decided to be productive. I needed to get some laundry done and there was no better time to do it. I loaded up the washer and made my way back upstairs.

I made myself some lunch and was so full I passed out on the couch. When I woke up I was feeling great. The fog of the last few days seemed to be lifting and I finally had some much needed energy. It was almost time for pick up at school. I ran downstairs to throw the clothes in the dryer.

I have a front load washer. I had almost transferred all the clothes except for a few pieces towards the back. I reached into the wash and I could barely feel them on my finger tips. I stretched my arm one last time and that’s when I felt it.

A hand.

It grabbed my wrist. I tried to pull it back but I was stuck. I don’t know how to describe it. I yanked and yanked and every time I did my wrist was pulled from the other side.

“What the fuck! Get off of me! What the fuck!”

With a last desperate try I yanked my arm out and felt immediate pain. Whatever had grabbed me had left long finger imprints on my wrist. It looked like someone had dug their nails along my forearm. I was bleeding.

I didn’t waste another moment. I sprinted up the stairs, grabbing my keys on the way out. I was going to get my son and I was damn sure not letting us come back to this house.

I did my best to not show anything was wrong. I didn’t want to scare my son any more than he had been the past few weeks. I tried to keep it normal, casual. Took him to the park, took him bowling, and took him for some dinner.

“I’m tired Daddy, can we go home?”

“How bout one more adventure? What do ya say?” I said, trying to buy time.

“Okayyy one more adventure.” He replied, clearly exhausted.

We went to Walmart to grab some basic clothes and essentials.

I brought us to a hotel and told him we were having a “big boy” sleepover.

He was excited. I was scared, still. I gave him a shower and let him sleep in his own bed.

I’m sitting here now AFRAID to fall asleep. Scared something will visit me in my dreams that I won’t be able to shake off. I don’t know where to go from here or who to talk to. I can go to the police but I’ll sound insane. I can go to a Doctor but I don’t think this is a problem they can help with.

I’m lost. I’m finally admitting that now.

Help me.

Help us.