Rainard Keir, November 1994

She wasn't listening to me, she never listened to me. But now that it has her I can only hope I’m not next.

I heard more screams last night. The first sound to be heard in what felt like weeks, and when I finally left my room, when it was safe under the morning sun, she smiled and continued on as if she didn’t hear them. But she isn't real anymore is she?

I heard the screams a few nights after this all started. After something took up space in my wardrobe. Watching me as I lay awake begging for sleep to take me. I could feel its eyes on me, waiting; but I didn’t dare take a glance at where it was. And then, as if it knew that I KNEW it was there, everything went silent. Like it had somehow cast me into a soundless void while the thing watched as I lost my mind. I tried to call for help, hoping that maybe this was just a horrid dream. But no sound came from my throat. I think it liked that, the fear I carried in my bones knowing I could not cry out. I think it enjoyed tormenting me, hoping I glance its way so it could finally do what it came here for. I don’t know how long I laid there in fear, trembling quietly under the blanket. Every second I hoped to wake from this nightmare that trapped me in my own bed. But nothing came.

When the morning sun finally started to peak through my curtains that quiet void and the watchful eyes left with the dark of the night. I assumed it was a nightmare, I wanted to believe nothing happened that my mind was playing silly little tricks. But once night fell again, it returned, taking up space in my wardrobe. Again I could hear nothing, could not scream for help. I lay awake preying for the sun to come quickly, making sure to never glance its way to confirm there was actually something watching me.

That second morning she found me sleepless in the kitchen. She said it looked like I had seen a ghost, but truthfully I don’t know what it was. I told her about that thing in my wardrobe and the sound it takes when it appears. She just…. laughed. She shook her head and said something about having “sleep paralysis” and when I tried to explain that’s not what this was she laughed again. Anytime I brought it up she just refused to believe me.

𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙚?

I don’t know how long those nights went on. Some nights it wasn’t there and I was able to sleep. Or perhaps it was still there and I just stopped caring about what happened in that soundless void. Some nights I could feel its eyes on me from a different location, like it was trying to trick me into accidentally glancing at it. Egging me on to find out what would happen if my eyes ever made contact with whatever it was. I never looked. I stopped talking to her about this, and she continued to pretend to be worried about my health. Then that night came. I felt at ease for once when I needed to go to sleep. I climbed into my bed looking forward to any sort of rest. I did not feel its eyes on me that night. But, sometime around midnight I awoke with a bolt. The soundless void was back, but the thing in my wardrobe was… missing?

No, not missing.

It was just visiting someone else.

I figured out who when I heard her screams. I couldn’t move, couldn’t call out to her or check to see if she needed help. But her wails pierced through that void and I was left with their echoes for what felt like weeks. When the sun came up I left my room. Glancing at her door made the hair on my neck stand up. So I did what was normal. I made coffee and had breakfast at the table while I thought about the incidents of the night prior. And then she came out of her room on time, with a smile on a face that just didn’t look right. I knew at that moment it wasn’t her looking at me. She never said a word that morning, she hasn't said a word since the night before…

At least I know now what the thing in the wardrobe looks like.

[𝗘𝗡𝗗]

TBI NOTES: Statement from Rainard Keir, November 1994. Keir claims his roommate has been replaced with something that's been stalking him at night. Roommate, Noelle Holmes, mentioned in the statement is alive and seems of sound mind and body; nothing unusual to note.