This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/No-Original890 on 2024-09-13 23:38:56+00:00.

The first time it happened was when I was about halfway through a twelve-hour shift in my warehouse job- real draining, soul-sucking work- and I left the main packing area to go out through the back door and smoke. It’s a habit I’ve been trying to quit for years but this job really puts me through my paces when it comes to patience and self control. I smoke to clear my head. The ‘smoking area’ of my job is pretty nice anyway- a nice little quiet street with dim little streetlamps and the occasional fox trotting by. I always like to stand out there and just stare into the street and try to listen to foxes.

I was standing statue-esuqe in my same spot, burning a hole into the ground with my stare and rolling a cigarette around my fingers. The smell of them made me dizzy and nauseous at this point- my exhaustion was catching up to me. A car started to creak around the corner with full beams on- as well as all of the lights inside of the car and a floodlight fixed to the top of the windshield. It was like being next to a heater with all of the warmth coming off of the light. it rolled up next to me, rumbling softly as it idled. I couldn’t see who was driving, but they opened their window a sliver and started to speak in a deep, guttural croak.

“That’s a terrible habit to have, you know.”

I couldn’t find any words to say back. It was like my brain had been wiped clean. I stood there gasping like a fish for a second, before gathering my thoughts.

“It helps whatever I have going on right now.”

“Would you ever want to try to quit?”

Again, I felt my mouth clamp shut as I couldn’t respond. I could feel a sharp pain impaling the back of my head. A warning.

The voice chuckled. “We all have our vices, I guess.”

The bright light made me squint- like the headlights of the car seemed to be getting brighter. The driver had fully opened the window now so all of the light from the inside also streamed into my eyes. Every time I tried to look up, my eyes would snap shut- the blaring light blinding me. As I was going to put my arm over my eyes and shout at this asshole to turn their headlights off, a whisper of a voice brushed against my ear. The sharp warning pain in the back of my head turned into a full-on migraine fast. I couldn’t make out what it was whispering, but it was whispering loudly something like ‘pie-man’ over and over again.

The voice was simultaneously surrounding me on the outside and filling the inside of my head, worming its way through my ear canals. It was a shill scream and a thunderous whisper that made me cry out, dropping my lit cigarette on to the damp concrete. There wasn’t a chance I was opening my eyes at this point, my teeth gritted together as the voice had migrated from whispering to screaming in the inside of my head in a thousand shivering voices. This went on for hours. I guess the car must have moved on at this point, as the feeling of having a flashlight pressed against my eyelids left. Every nerve ending in my body crackled like a live wire and I felt myself curl inwards and keel over pathetically. After that, I don’t remember much- I passed out on the wet concrete and one of my co-workers found me. He said that I was screaming in pain- wailing, convulsing and shivering whilst foaming at the mouth. He also said as he tried to reach his hand out to me I grabbed his hand and twisted his wrist so hard I broke it.

I had to take a few weeks off of work because the higher-ups were so spooked about the incident. After a few weeks of trying to remember what happened and only being able to think about the bright light and being so peculiarly drawn to the thought of it, I went back to work.

I got about half-way through my shift, again, and my co-worker asked me if I wanted to go and smoke. I went to say yes, but the words died in my mouth before it could reach my lips. I just kind of stood there gasping so my co-worker gave me a weird look and walked out to the smoking area. All I could think about was the bright light.

I don’t want to assume things, but I haven’t wanted to smoke ever since seeing the bright light and hearing ‘pie-man’ over and over in my head.

Ever since then I’ve tried to see the bright light again. I’ve tried to smoke, but now it makes me nauseous, and I stand in that same spot for hours. I’d been fired for weeks now, but I just stood in that spot for hours on end to see the bright light. I didn’t care how long it took. I didn’t sleep for days on end and when I did, I would wake up in agony, confused and covered in cigarette burns. This light was the best thing to ever happen to me. It was a beautiful, agonising experience- whatever had happened had changed me. I needed to see the bright light.

I’d become obsessed- I was rail thin and shivering constantly, my hands shook constantly and I slept rarely in a crumpled pile next to the spot where I saw it. I feel like I’d become a different person, like I’d split in two- and the person I’d become and the person I once was were fighting to take over me again. When I did sleep, I’d wake up with notes and signed burned into my body.

My old co-worker (who had since recovered from the broken wrist) decided that enough was enough and he let me stay at his apartment and sleep on his couch until I could ‘get back on my feet’. I don’t remember a lot from this time, but he says that in the middle of the night I would either wake up screaming about burning or he would have to wrestle me to the ground to stop me from leaving his apartment to go and sit in the spot again.

There is one night I could remember. The second time I saw the bright light.

There was a quiet buzzing in my head, like tv static, and chanting of the ‘pie-man’ name got louder and louder in my head. I could finally see the light again.

My co-worker was found with several broken bones, burns all over his chest and arms and and a snapped neck. He’s seen it now as well.