nosleep
r/nosleep
When I was a kid, I grew up in the rural areas of North Dakota, I lived in a big family and we had this odd game called the "No talking" game, It was honestly a simple game with two rules.
Rule 1: The game starts when the Eldest member of the house (Which in this case is father) announces (To everyone), "Everybody quiet you gullets and start this task", the game lasts until the end of the month and only the Eldest is allowed to talk.
Rule 2: When the game has started there is no Talking, Writing, signing or any other form of communication allowed until the end of the month.
Now of course there was three clauses to these rules and they're the following, the "Lifeline clause", this clause states that if your words can save someone's life in one sentence, you can use them. the next clause is called the "Speak up clause", this states that your allowed to use your words if your telling on someone for speaking and nothing more. finally there was the "Sabotage clause", this states that if you were caught doing direct sabotage to someone you get "Double penalty".
How this game was won is a little complicated, every time you spoke you got a "Penalty", if you did some incoherent babbling you got a "Quarter penalty", whoever got the most "Penalties" at the end of the month had to sit in the "Quiet room" an hour for every "Penalty" they got, all I know about this room is that it changes people, I never lost a game.
I played my first game when I was 8 years old, that's how old you have to be to play, I had three other siblings, my older brother Martin who was 10, my older sister Bree who was 12 and my eldest sister Jane, who was 17, before we started the game me and Martin made our own special clause between us and we called it "Don't squeal", this unofficial clause stated that if we were away from everybody else we could talk, but we'd have to start our sentences with "Don't squeal", if you messed up you had to choose between Three punches on the arm or they'd tell.
The moment the game started Jane immediately though of something, she went on the piano and started playing the instrumental to "Don't stop, believing", Bree hummed the first note when she realized her mistake, Father looked at her and said softly "That's a quarter penalty sweetie and no, that wasn't sabotage, that was your own damn fault", I never heard Father talk like that but I thought it was kind of funny, afterward not much happened that day.
The next week me and Martin were walking in the forest and were throwing Pinecones at each other, of course we were following the "Don't squeal" clause until I threw a stick a Martin's foot on accident, Martin yelled "Aw fart" and then covered his mouth really fast, I quickly replied with "Don't squeal, lets make a deal", Martin said "Don't squeal, three punches", I of course punch Martin as hard as I could in the arm three times and we went home.
On the second week me and Martin were wondering how to trick Jane into getting more "Penalties", she already had one because Father caught her talking to the dog, we knew about the "Sabotage clause" so Scaring, hurting, blackmail and offers wouldn't slide, we knew she thinks out loud though, if we can get her to think out loud, we'd win, so what we'd do in let her pick up a bowl from the counter, then we'd replace it with an identical one, we did this about 4 times until she muttered "What the hell", it was Bree that hear her say that, she promptly used Clause 2 and now Jane had two "Penalties".
At the end of the month Jane was sentenced to two hours to the "Quiet room", after two hours passed she didn't speak, in fact she didn't speak for another two years, every time I ask here what happened in there she either ignores me and doesn't say anything or tells me to "Lose and find out for yourself", all I can say is that was enough motivation for me to never lose.
When I returned home from work that evening, I was surprised to hear water splashing in the bathroom. The sound resembled ripples and made it obvious it was coming from the bathtub. It wasn’t like my husband didn’t bathe, of course. It was just that he’d always preferred showers.
I, on the other hand, adored baths. Our tub was designed with two people in mind, but I always relished in having it to myself and my glass of wine.
“I’m home!” I called, dropping my bag onto the floor, and making my way towards the bathroom.
“Oh! Hey, honey! Hold on a moment!”
I slowed my pace, wondering what on earth was going on. My husband and I had a no-lock policy and didn’t stress about seeing each other naked. Our rooms didn’t even have keys, so while I was sure it wasn’t locked, I didn’t want to disrespect him by barging in anyway.
“Um, what are you up to?” I asked, placing my hand on the handle.
I could hear water sloshing and the squeak of the bathtub as he moved.
“Okay! You can come in now!” he called from the other side.
I pressed down the handle and pushed the door open. The first thing I noticed was the foggy mirror. In fact, the whole room seemed to be enshrouded in a cloud of steam. My husband was sitting in the bath, which was overflowing. Foam was crawling down the side of the tub into a puddle on the floor.
“Hey,” he grinned at me, “How was work?”
I was trying to renew my drivers license. That was one of the things I remembered bothering me initially, since it was a government website. Of course it was state rather than federal but I don’t see how that makes a difference. I had to renew it not because it expired, not because I’d had it revoked or withdrawn or anything reasonable. It was because of the stupid Real ID bullshit the government was trying to pull on us all to keep me from flying on vacation without taking a brand new but equally terrible photo of myself against the DMV backdrop. Luckily I discovered that for this ordeal that was a section of the experience I could avoid. I got to keep the ancient image of my unshaven mug that had been bearded for almost three years now. But of course, it wouldn’t be your typical long boring online form without a ReCAPTCHA or two.
Whenever they pop up it’s nothing but a chore. I used to loathe the ones where you’d have to type in all those numbers and letters that you’d need to strain so hard to see that it looked like another language. I’d miss it thrice before either passing the test or being told I was in fact an artificial lifeform to my obvious dismay. Luckily you don’t see those much anymore. It’s all the picture ones now. You know, “click all the pictures that have a boat (or a bridge or a bike or a bus or some other b-word) and then hit next.” Now in a way this sounds much easier and faster than the scrambled text. On paper that is. Until it gives you another page or two of those nine picture grids. Or better yet, the boat (or bridge or bike or bus) simply isn’t in any of the pictures at all! In these cases you have to click skip, after which the computer will give you a totally different prompt and image set altogether. I hate those. This was not those.
It wasn’t even a b-word. Honestly it didn’t even look like a word at all. At first I thought maybe they’d mixed in the old word scramble style with the new image selection style to create some horrible new type of ReCAPTCHA designed to strike terror into the hearts of receptionists and assistants globally. Then I looked closer. There were no hidden or scratched out characters. “Select all images with ילדי אלוהים. Click verify once there are none left.” I wasn’t sure what language it was, but it wasn’t English, and I’m no multi-linguist. What the hell was ילדי אלוהים? My initial thoughts were of frustration. Like, damn, how am I supposed to find ילדי אלוהים? I don’t even know what ילדי אלוהים is! I tried not to get too worked up over my computer screen. Maybe it was just a weird glitch. I’m sure if I look down at the images there’s some b-word repeated and I’ll just figure it out by process of elimination.
When I did turn my attention to the images, no pattern emerged. I was practically straining my eyes seeking some kind of vehicle or structure repeated throughout the pictures. There were a couple of buses. Ah, but shit. There were a couple SUVs too. And plenty of roads. I was so absorbed in trying to find a link that I didn’t even notice the one image that was different from the others at first. I’m not quite sure what caused me to notice it first, maybe that it was the only photograph taken at night. The whole thing had a yellowish hue, different from the other eight pictures. It was roosted in the top left spot. There was an alleyway, small not very big, with a building on the right, and some bushes on the left. The photograph was illuminated by a single streetlight, the source of the yellow tint. It wasn’t the backdrop that took my attention however. It was the figure.
The being was black, silhouetted by the streetlight. Most details sunken into the shadows. It’s body was thin and slender, yet it’s head was huge, almost equal in size to it’s torso. I briefly wondered how you could hold up a head that big. That’s when I noticed the size of the figure overall, at least as tall as the building beside it, perhaps a bit taller. I know that shadows and light can play tricks on perspective, but this wasn’t one of them. I knew that, somehow, deep in my gut. I’d have said the thing was photoshopped or edited if I’d been asked right then, but that same gut feeling. I knew it was a real image. Knew those white specks of eyes were looking at something. Me? I shivered in my chair. Goosebumps. It was silly. Just a weird ReCAPTCHA error clearly. Except…
The chills knocking some sense into me, I decided that this thing, ילדי אלוהים or not, wasn’t something I’d like to keep looking at. If it was an error or prank it’d probably fix itself. I locked eyes with the being, and took a quick screen grab for IT as I clicked to skip the heinous puzzle. I should’ve just clicked on ילדי אלוהים. The nine square grid changed. But this was different than normal. At the top, the ReCAPTCHA prompt stayed the same. Find ילדי אלוהים. But the images below were no longer images at all. That strange picture of the figure in the alley way had been split into a mosaic, a sector of it taking up each slot on the nine point grid. The photo now filled the whole puzzle. My eyes widened. I felt cold. This was not normal. It had to be a hacker or a joke or a mistake. The image enlarged, I finally took a better look at the environment behind the silhouetted thing.
I recognized this place. It was an alleyway in my neighborhood. Barely a block away. Another set of goosebumps. Fuck, I could see that streetlight out my window when I laid in bed at night. I know it pretty well. You can only see it clearly when all the lights are out in the room, because it doesn’t actually light up, making it hard to see in the dark if there’s light pollution. In the five years I’d lived here, that was the only lamp that didn’t light in the whole neighborhood. As far as I knew. I was certain it was hackers by now, and more than a little concerned that they knew approximately where I lived. But that picture had to be old (because of the streetlight) and it had to be edited (despite the strange feeling that groped my mind when I looked into the silhouette’s eyes). I was pretty on edge at this point and had practically forgotten I was there to renew my driver’s license. All I know was that there could be no doubt in my mind: this was ילדי אלוהים. Whatever the hell that meant. Since the skip button just made things worse I tried a new tactic.
I selected every picture on the grid, all nine, with a baited breath. Fearing the next grid would be some shot inside my room, a hidden camera filming my every move, I clicked verify. As quick as it was there, the grid vanished. I’d completed the ReCAPTCHA. The thank you message rang a bit hollow. It realized I had been holding my breath and took in a bit of air. The government website had progressed to the next stage of the license renewal, some lengthy form which I had no desire to fill out. I instead reached behind my monitor and shut it off. I could renew my license in the morning. Maybe I’d even just go into the DMV and do it for real. I wouldn’t mind getting out of the house. I could even shave, try a clean face again. I was due a new photo after all if I did say so myself, despite my earlier thoughts to the contrary.
I got out of my chair and just kind of stood there for a moment, the buzz of my AC unit ambiently humming in my ears. Though I’m not sure how long I stood there, eventually I went and grabbed a glass of water, taking my time, still unable to shake this odd cold feeling. After a brief piss, I took my leave. Shutting and locking the door to my room, turning out the lights, and wrapping myself in a blanket cocoon in bed. I felt like I would have a difficult time going to sleep this evening. And I still didn’t have a Real ID. I pulled the covers tighter, still cold. I tried, but couldn’t sleep. Bothered by a yellow glow on the backside of my eyelids, one I was unaccustomed to. I opened them to realize I’d tossed and turned and was facing the window. A block or so away was the streetlight. It was on.
I stared at it for what seemed like an eternity. Without looking away from the golden light, I reached up and grabbed the cord for the blinds. I pulled tight, and the blinds clattered the rest of the way shut. The room now fully dark, I shut my eyes once more, and the sandman took me. The next day I did a web search for ילדי אלוהים. Apparently it was Hebrew. It means "Children of God."
4
3
2It didn’t make sense, the way he was standing there. Just on the other side of the automatic doors, like some kind of cardboard cutout. Standing there waiting, that fuckin’ smile, toothy and wide and unexplainably unrealistic. Eyes an extreme contrast of black and white, looking at me through the glass–
“Uh, helloooo?” The guy at the register snapped, startling me.
“Gosh, I’m sorry. What did you want again? The menthol?” I said, embarrassed. I had been on my way to grab his vape pods when I noticed the guy (thing?) outside. The man sighed exasperatedly, leaning against the counter like I had ruined his night. He was tall and lanky, wearing a tuxedo that seemed to shrink whenever he moved. Dressed like some sort of gentleman, but moved like Jack Skellington.
“No. Virginia tobacco.” He said impatiently.
“So sorry.” I grabbed the pods from the shelf and scanned them, unable to help myself from side-eyeing the automatic doors. He was still there.
“Nineteen, twenty-six. Would you like a bag?” I asked, and he shook his head while reaching for his wallet.
“H-hey, do you see that out there? That guy?” I whispered, nodding at the automatic doors.
He inserted his card and raised his eyebrows.
“What?” He said, annoyed.
“Outside. The guy, standing there.” I motioned to the entrance, at the guy who was very much still there, very much looking like a photoshopped disaster. His eyes were just as menacing as his broad smile, and he was still staring–
When I was little, my mom dropped me off at my uncle's house over the summer. It was already challenging enough for her to raise a child alone and make enough money to sustain our little ecosystem. She recently moved up in her position and found a second job, so she usually wasn’t home until late at night. Poor thing, she barely managed to get any sleep. It would be impossible for her to spare me any time to watch me during my break. Fortunately for us, we found a simple solution. For that summer, I would stay over with my Uncle Ted.
I never really saw my Uncle Ted. My mom never really talked about him. I always viewed Ted as a peculiar man. He had very thin, greasy hair and wore angular glasses tinted so dark that you couldn’t see where he was looking. He was, by definition, obese but proved to be surprisingly mobile. I distinctly remember my first meeting with him; his plump, chubby face with gruff, unkempt stubble, looking at me with hollow eyes and a toothy grin. During the day, he would be in his room most of the time while I was out playing outside or reading a book in the living room.
I usually only talked with him during mealtimes. Unfortunately, he didn’t know how to cook food, so I had to do it for the both of us. Fortunately, because of my mother's frequent absence, I usually had to make my own food and, as a byproduct, became an excellent chef. During our discussions at the table, we would always chat about all the worldly things like the weather and events of the day.
"How was your day, Daisy?" he would say, and I would respond by telling him all the fun things that happened, like playing near the stream and my attempts at catching frogs. As I told him about my adventures, he would look up from his plate and give me a big silly smile and crack a joke. Ted knew how to make me laugh. He was a pretty humorous guy so it was pleasant to chat with him.
Every night before I went to bed, Ted gave me multivitamins so I could grow up to be a "big, strong girl." They weren’t labeled and didn’t have a container; he just pulled them out of a little plastic bag. I don’t know what they were, but they really helped me sleep. Put me out like a light. Sometimes I would wake up a little sore in the mornings and I would think they were working and I was growing taller.
Because this was a long time ago, some parts of my memory are a little hazy and I can’t really recall what we did together. However, I do remember that he loved taking me to the public pool when the heat began to grow intolerable. Ted showed great interest in teaching me how to swim. He would wrap his hands firmly around me and wade me through the water as I thrashed my limbs around. Eventually I got the hang of it, but he always insisted on "perfecting my technique," so I never really had the opportunity to swim on my own.
Sometimes we would play games together. There was this one game we played often, but it’s hard to remember. He called it the "senses game." He would take a blindfold and wrap it around my head, then spin me around in a circle seven times. I would have to use my other senses to navigate the room and find the hidden lever to escape the "dungeon". I felt just like an adventurer from one of my novels.
One day, he was in his office, and I wanted to peek inside to see exactly what he was up to. It was really dark there though. I never saw much other than the dim blue light of a monitor and the junk littering the floor. One day, I told Ted that I could help him clean his room since it was starting to smell fishy. He got really angry and snarled "never go there again." Truth be told, I was pretty scared since I had never seen him so furious before. I silently nodded and promised to never go near his room again.
Whenever we went shopping, Ted bought me all kinds of dresses and skirts, saying things like, "You’ll look so pretty in this Daisy, do you want to wear it?" Of course, I couldn’t refuse after being showered in praises and compliments, so I wore whatever he got. One time I was in the yard climbing up a tree to grab a cool looking bug, but I slipped and got my dress stained. When Ted saw it that day, he got very upset and chided me about how I absolutely cannot get my clothes dirty.
During those two months, Ted would express his desire to take baths together. "It’s OK," he said. "We’re family after all." I didn’t see anything wrong with it at the time, I took baths with my mom all the time to conserve water so this would not be any different. The bathtub was small, and I would have to be really close to Ted. I would be leaned up against his chest and could hear him breath in my ear. The heat usually made me drowsy, and I don't remember when I went to sleep or how I got into bed after that.
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