Scary Stories with the Slugcats

Survivor and Nightcat's Story

The trigger warnings on this chapter are: liminal spaces, glitchy atmosphere and eyestrain text (please comment if there's anything else I should add!)

The story begins with a young adult slugcat who had recently graduated school and now had to find a job or starve. Their uncle owned a small yet fancy hotel that they hoped to get some job experience working there. After all, how hard could it be to change towels and leave chocolates on the guest's pillows? Their mother had already spoken to her brother regarding the idea and now it was just a matter of waiting to see whether they would get the job. They were currently walking home from the library when their phone began to ring. The slugcat looked at it and gasped at what they saw, terrified. Instead of the usual "mom is calling" it said "B̸̖̚ȃ̴̧d̵̨̀ ̶̯̽I̷̪̕d̷̛̰e̴͇͝ǎ̴̱" They blinked in shock and when they opened them again, it was back to normal. They let out a long sigh and waited for their heartbeat to slow before picking up the call. "Hello dear! Guess what? Your uncle said that one of the workers there retired and he needs someone to fill the spot!" They smiled, feeling relieved that they had been accepted. "That's great! When should I head over?" "He said that you should come by next cycle at around eight AM, okay?"

"Alright, that about covers it. Any questions?" Their uncle was tall and serious, looking very serious wearing his suit but he was still kind despite his businesslike attitude. "No, sir! You did a very good job of explaining it. I'll get to work right away!" They began to make their way towards the exit of the office when he spoke once again, this time in a more serious tone. "Oh, one last thing. Don't go into room 999." Confused, they wondered how such a small establishment could even have that many rooms but ignored the urge to ask more. "I won't, thank you for the warning." They walked out of the office, pushing open the large double doors that led to the hallway. They looked down at the list of tasks they had been given and saw that the first one was to deliver a pot of blue fruit tea to room 16. "Sounds easy enough."

As they wandered down the halls, they noticed lots of staircases and grand archways which seemed far too large to fit inside the modest exterior building. There were no windows here so maybe it went underground? They walked up a tall staircase that led to the first floor of guest rooms and looked for the "16" door. The doors were deep, chocolatey brown and had small golden numbers on them. It didn't take long for them to spot the gleaming number and knock on the door, trying to look professional. As they waited for someone to answer, they once again looked at the golden number, admiring its shine. As they stared, the numbers began to slowly morph into another entirely. "9̷̬̍9̴̠̌9̸̼̒" the plaque now read and the golden hue began to darken to a cold, dead black. They looked around to see what was going on and saw each of the little numbers on the doors had turned into words that seemed to be glitching out of existence. "Ĩ̸̱ ̶̭̉Ẅ̶̻A̵̛̩R̸̝̀N̶̺͘Ê̵̩D̴͓̿ ̶̦͘Y̷̠̒Ö̶͓́U̶̟͝" one read while another simply said R̵̬̈́u̶̾͜n̷̡͌. All kinds of cryptic messages lined the doors which now too seemed to be getting pulled into some unseen void. The room began to spin around at an alarming pace while they did not move at all. The gilded mirrors lining the walls now depicted dozens of staircases at odd angles all twisting together but leading to nowhere and the hallway seemed to stretch on forever. Aften what could have been anything between seconds or hours, everything went dark and they

heard a voice fuzzy with static. "̵̭̀Ę̴̀R̷͙̎R̴̮̆Ọ̴̕R̶̟̐:̸̨͆ ̸̱̂R̴̳͊E̶̟͂S̶̮͠T̸͓͌Ȁ̶̬Ŕ̵̡T̵͈̈́Ī̵͎N̸͇͝Ģ̴͆ ̴̭͒P̸̭̌Ř̵͚O̵̧̎G̵̹̽Ṛ̶͛A̵̻̎M̶̮̌"̸̓͜ it said ominously and the world began to come back into vision. However, the atmosphere was different this time. It was wrong. All of the doors now had the number 9̷̬̍9̴̠̌9̸̼̒ on them and while the mirrors still contained illusions of the staircases, they had manifested into the physical world and had replaced every real staircase. The hallways went on for a long distance in every direction and went so far that the end wasn't visible, though, that is supposing they had an end at all. They tried to run away but seemed to be making no progress towards an escape. They ran for what felt like an eternity with the voice laughing over the speakers that were mostly emitting loud static. Then, the maniacal laughter stopped and was replaced by words. "̷͚͋Y̷̜͑Õ̵͕U̶̢̐ ̸̙̅C̴̹̓A̴̼̐N̶̨̋'̴̻͐Ț̵̕ ̵̪͆E̴̗͝Ś̷̫Č̴͉A̷̺̐P̶̥̎E̷̛͖ ̶͓͛T̶̩̿H̶̹̅I̴̟̓S̵̜̍ ̵̝͠P̷̦̈L̴͚͑Ḁ̴̕C̵̭͆E̴̲̿"̸͍͛ it taunted as they ran up yet another staircase, out of breath and terrified. "̷͍͗Ị̵̎T̸̹͆'̶͙͌S̶͙̐ ̸͉͘P̷̨̉O̶̙̕Ï̴͜N̵͚̋T̶̤̂L̵̢̛E̷͔̓S̵͇͂S̷̭̾"̷̪͛ After much more of the voice trying to get into their head, they arrived at the top of the stairs and saw other slugcats at last! They were walking up and down the hallways, still carrying out their duties in their fancy suits as if nothing were happening. "Hey!" they called out to one of the butlers and he turned around to reveal that his mouth was taped into a grin and he was unable to stop smiling despite the pain and horror in his eyes. Looking at the others, they saw that all of the workers didn't just all have their mouths taped but also wore the same faces. "Wh... what's going on?" they asked, almost not wanting a reply. "̷̤͝W̸͕̑h̷̞̔Ŷ̶̫ ̵͓̿i̶̥͋'̶̘͋m̶̪͗ ̶̧̾Ǧ̶̟L̵͔̃ä̴̡́d̴͈͝ẙ̴̭Ô̵̮U̶̟̕ ̵͙̋A̴̢͊s̶̯̆K̷͎͛e̶̖͐d̷̥̔!̴̦͝ ̴̼̇t̴͙̕h̷͙́ȩ̵̒Y̸̬̐ ̴̧͝A̶̙͑R̷̖̋ȩ̷̋ ̴̦̈T̵̹̀ĥ̸̠ẹ̸̕ ̷̣́f̷̙̌O̷̯̓O̵̱̓l̸̲͛s̴͕̏ ̷̪̑w̵̺͝H̶̺̓O̵͈͠ t̷̟̑h̴͍͘O̷̢̅Ủ̵̲ġ̴̙h̷̰̓t̶̻͒ ̵͙͑t̷̜̍h̶̢̕e̷̟͑y̸͕̋ ̸̜̀w̶̱̔Ë̴̡Ȓ̷̢E̵͔̚ ̶͓̈t̴̼̿á̸͔K̴̡͆I̵͇͒n̷̡̐Ḡ̸̥ ̷͍̈́o̴͐ͅn̵͋͜ ̵͔͑A̵̪̐ ̸͍͂N̴̢̉ô̷͖r̸̙̕M̶͙̀Á̴͍L̷͈̓ ̷̩̀J̸̺̌ȏ̵̻B̸̪̅ .̷͝ͅa̶̻͑s̵̻̎ ̴̣͌Y̴̩͑O̷͕̚Ų̵̎ ̶͇͝c̵͙͒Â̵̤n̴̞̓ ̷͓̓ṣ̴͌e̸̼͐Ẻ̶̪,̵͈̽ ̸̬͒T̶̘̀h̷͎͂ḁ̵̈́T̸͐͜'̴̛̬s̴͖͝ ̶͓̔f̶̲͒ä̴̦́R̶̪̈́ ̸͚͛f̶̜̈́r̶̯̕O̶͇͂M̵͖͌ ̵̯͛ţ̵͒H̷͎̀e̸̝̓ ̵̲̆t̴̤̆r̵̜͊u̶̞̿T̷͚̊Ḥ̶̌.̶̙̎" Horrified, they continued to run away as fast as they could but the voice followed them still. Y̷̲̑ọ̸̍Ủ̸̻'̵̗͝v̵̰̓Ḙ̶͝ ̵͙͆p̵̲̐R̴͓̕Ǒ̴̻B̸̫̀ą̸̿b̷̩̈́ḻ̸̔Y̸̘͌ ̵̢̎n̸͚̍O̷̥͝T̸͕̒Į̵̎c̵͎͝e̸͓̚D̷̯́ ̶̺̚b̶̀ͅy̴̭̐ ̸͎͋N̶̉ͅõ̵ͅẈ̵́ ̸̣͌t̵͕͛h̷̝͗E̵̺̔Y̵̱͗ ̷͈͋a̵̬͗L̸͉͗L̸̻̕ ̶̻͒W̷̠͒E̵̮̾A̵̞͂r̷̘̽ ̴̘̀t̷̪͒ḥ̸̓E̸̳̅ S̶̥̐Á̵̡m̷̚͜E̴̼̎ ̴̨̋f̷͍̚a̵̖͐C̶͓͆e̵̦͗.̵̧͐. ṡ̷̗O̸̠͌O̸̜͆n̸̗̄ ̶͓͊y̵͉͆Ö̸͍́U̶̞͛ ̷̧̏w̶͓͋i̷̱͊ḻ̵͘L̵͔̀ ̵̲̒T̷̗̈́Ǫ̴͂o̴̳̓.̷͍̓."They kept running even faster, trying not to let this strange entity get to their head. "̴̡̀I̵̳̅Ť̶̠'̵͚̓s̸͓͌ ̷̢̊t̴͓͑R̸̼͂Ú̸̪e̷̜͂.̶̣̐ ̴͎͛Y̶̝͊o̴̯̊ũ̸͔ ̵̪̔D̵̮̚O̶͇̎N̶̢̈́'̵̫̌t̷̡̚ ̷͖̾É̴ͅV̵̞̏Ê̶̻n̵̤͛ ̶͎̽h̵̤̄Ȁ̵̮V̵̼̈́e̴̻̒ ̸̗̌A̵̲͌ ̸͔̒n̶̻͒a̸̗̓m̶̼̽E̷̤̕!̸̥̚"̶̧̍ They stopped short hearing that, remembering that no one had ever actually called them by a name and that they had never been given one. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" they yelled, covering their ears and running forward with tears streaming down their face.

Eventually, they came to the large double door that led to their uncle's office. It seemed to be the only thing unaffected by the sudden change of environment. They burst through the doors calling out to their uncle, practically tripping over their own words in the haste to tell him. When they caught their breath and opened their eyes, they saw the taller slugcat standing before them with a solemn expression. "I'm sorry. It's what the entity wants," saying these words, he held a mask up to their face, looking sad and empty. It was the mast that would turn them into another one of those mindless servants. "Wha-" but they had no time to finish that sentence before it connected with their face, taking their entire sense of self away.