This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/02321 on 2024-10-09 19:47:11+00:00.

I’ve always had a bad habit of getting myself into trouble. But I’ve never accidentally walked headfirst into a disaster before.

A group of friends invited me to a newly opened bar. Work ran late and I was the last one still on the way. The address led me downtown to an area I’d never been to before. I’d only moved to the city a year ago so I was still finding my way around. I took the bus relying on my GPS. At some point, the signal was lost because of the large buildings. My GPS jumped around confused about where I was. I’ve always had issues like this on the rare trip to the larger populated areas. Normally I had someone with me to fill in the blanks before I got too lost. This time my phone guided me to the wrong location.

I stepped off the bus and followed the jumpy directions on the screen until it told me I arrived at my destination. In front was a small alleyway that led to a bright red door. I heard the sounds of music mixed with voices. Assuming this was the back entrance to the bar I walked forward hoping I could go in that way. The door opened to worn wooden steps with flaking paint. If it weren’t for the clear sounds of activity, I would have second-guessed myself.

At the bottom was a dim smokey room with a large wooden bar on one side. A handful of tables filled the rest of the space. Most were empty aside from a few people with their backs turned towards the door. I didn’t see my friends and started to think I got the wrong place. Maybe I could ask for directions since I was here.

My eyes adjusted as I walked closer to the bar. The person behind it appeared… odd. This must either be a themed place or some sort of early Halloween event was happening. At first, I assumed he had some kind of hairpiece. When he turned to face me, I stopped in my tracks seeing his face. It appeared bright blue flowers were growing out of the left side of his face upwards mixing with his long mossy hair. Whatever makeup he used was very impressive. The sight of the leaves coming through the skin made me internally squirm.

“Um…” I started getting the attention of the others.

Sweat started at the base of my neck. The others were also dressed up. Some had horns or glowing eyes. I swear I noticed a pair of realistic hooves peek out from under the table.

“Could you-” I got cut off by a smaller person suddenly slamming into my side and hooking their arm into mine.

“There you care! You’re late!” A thin whispery voice said.

Looking down I saw it belonged to a short person with long grey smoke-like hair. At first, I thought it was a girl but the loose top gave away his gender. My eyes must have been playing tricks on me. His bare feet looked to be floating off the ground for a moment and a long lion tail flicked behind him.

“Barry, I’m taking my client to one of the comfort rooms. Can you ask Mitty to drop off some drinks?” He asked the bartender who nodded.

I found myself getting pulled aside with strength I didn’t think this guy had. I was confused to put it lightly. He guided us to a hallway lined with more doors. We quickly ducked inside into a small room with a deep red leather couch taking up most of the space. I started to panic wondering what on Earth I got myself into.

The stranger sat down letting out a massive sigh. His face was red from embarrassment. He didn’t appear threatening. I sat beside him waiting for answers.

“What is going on?” I finally asked after giving him a moment.

“I should be asking you that! How did you even get in here!” He pressed leaning forward.

His voice was so light that even though he was raising it, it sounded like it could be lost in a gust of wind.

“I walked in here? What kind of dress-up event is going on? How does your tail work?”

I reached out for the tail on the couch cushion for it to be pulled away from my hand. The stranger studied my face deciding if I was lying or not.

“You really don’t know what kind of place you walked into?” He said cautiously.

“It’s just a bar.” I shrugged.

My words were proved very, very wrong after a knock came to the door. It opened a second afterward, a set of drinks on a small silver serving tray in one of the many hands of the creature that appeared. My body shrank back, the massive shape spilling through the door like liquid. It appeared to be made up of a mess of dark limbs swimming into each other. The drinks were set down on the small table and the creature slipped away leaving behind a strange burnt smell.

I sat in shock trying to get my heart to slow down. I was too scared to move aside from glancing to my side to see if the other person in the room was freaked out as well. When I was able, I grabbed the drink chugging it in one go. If it was poisoned, then I wouldn’t need to deal with seeing any more of those monsters.

“What the fuck was that?” I gasped.

“Bitty. He’s nicer than Mitty.”

Yeah, that didn’t explain anything at all.

“What about you?” I said when I realized we never introduced ourselves.

“I’m Wisp.” He awkwardly held out his hand for me to shake.

“Joey.” I said feeling odd that a simple handshake calmed me down a little.

I stood trying to pace around the room attempting to make sense of all of this.

“What is even going on? I mean, that was a monster. Things like that aren’t real. How can they be without people knowing about it?” I questioned my fear coming back.

“Do you want the really long and complicated answer you might not understand or the simple one?” Wisp offered.

“Simple.”

“Magic.” He shrugged.

I let myself sink back down onto the couch head swimming. Ok sure, whatever, monsters and magic were real. That didn’t help me out right then. I needed to get out of there.

“I’m sorry this happened. Normally humans can’t enter this place. I’m not sure if it was by accident, you were able to get in here or it was on purpose to lure in an unaware meal by the bar owner.” He looked distraught over the mix-up.

I had the feeling no one would expect Wisp to step up and help an unsuspecting human giving the lie that he had been waiting for me some credit. He saved my life by some very quick thinking.

“Can I just wait a few minutes and just leave?” I questioned.

Wisp shook his head, his hair moving slowly as if underwater.

“Maybe. There is a chance you’ll be able to walk out of here after it seems like you’re done with my services. The issue is I owe a few people outside favors. If one of them asks me to hand you over for a meal, I’ll need to listen to them or give up myself instead. I would like to think of a way for both of us to get out of here.” He explained with another shake of his head.

I studied him closer than before. He had slim delicate features and clothing made of a light almost sheer fabric. I found my mind wandering over what kind of services he offered. He did call this a comfort room after all.

“You uh… What services? I mean, surely they’ll be listening for certain noises…” I commented feeling my face starting to turn a shade of pink.

An amused smirk appeared on Wisp’s face following my train of thought.

“I’m good at massages. What do you think I offered?” He teased.

My face turned a deeper shade of red as I refused to answer.

“Can’t I just sneak out the back door?” I suggested.

His face lit up with an enthusiastic nod. He grabbed my wrist ready to lead.

“We’ll try that!”

He opened the door and poked his head out seeing that the coast was clear. Slowly we walked down the long hallway of red doors the stress building. I stopped when I heard a scream cut short behind one of those doors. A Faint crunch came that made my skin crawl. Glancing at Wisp his expression confirmed what I suspected. These rooms were used for monsters to eat in private as well as to do other things. I tightened my grip on his small hand relieved he had been the one to approach me at the bar.

We finally found the end of the hallway. It ended in two paths. One appeared to go further inside with another line of doors, and the other led to a double set of doors. Through the circular window, I saw it was a kitchen. There was also a set of doors I assumed to be for some washrooms. We needed to get through the kitchen without anyone noticing us and we were in the clear.

Somehow something had been following us without making a single sound. I suddenly felt eyes at my back. Glancing over my shoulder I was met with a horrifying sight. The monster behind had been the same one that served the drinks. The body filled the entire hallway behind us. The shapeless mass silently moved the countless limbs and black liquid connecting them.

A hand from the mass reached out and pointed in the direction of the washrooms. Wisp gave me a stressed expression showing I should go inside the room. Dragging Wisp behind me we stumbled inside locking the door behind us. The room was small with only a single sink and two stalls. I waited for my heart to slow down enough to think clearly.

“Should we-” I started.

Voices outside made me shut up really fast. My hands flew to the door hands to keep it locked.

“Do you know what room they’re in?” The deeper voice asked.

“Why are you asking? Unlike me, Wisp doesn’t owe you a meal.” The softer voice pointed out.

“It’s a human that walked in here with his own free will. He exposed himself to us. I can eat him if I want to without breaking any rules. Come on, I’ll share.”

I held my breath, my brain almost shutting down from fear. God, why did I ma…

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