Scary Stories and tales

Midnight Snack

Every night before I went to bed, I performed my night time ritual. I would take a shower, clean my face, apply night cream and lie down in bed and turn off the light. Because my room didn't have proper blinds, I always wore a little mask that covered my eyes. I was also very sensitive to sounds while asleep, so I wore ear buds to block out any sounds. My phone would wake me up in the morning by vibrating, so it wasn't a problem, I couldn't hear a thing.

Last May, we had a few very hot days. On these days I would open the tiny windows right under my roof, barely big enough to fit a cat through. I lived in an apartment on the third floor, so no cat or other animal would get to the window.

I usually woke up a few times during the night, especially on these hot days. The first time I woke was around midnight, only two hours after I went to bed. I got up and had to use the bathroom, which was just one room down the hall. I got up, opened the bedroom door and immediately took a left to the bathroom. After I finished, while turning off the light, I glanced to my left, down the hall; I saw a shadowy figure standing there, completely still. I quickly dismissed it as the coats hanging from the rack and went back to bed.

I fell asleep again and immediately started dreaming. In this dream, I saw myself lying in bed from a birds-eye view. I could see the curtains gently blow in the wind and the bedroom door open. I hadn't closed it after my bathroom visit. From the hall, a high-pitched male voice came, which gleefully said:

"Ohohoh... you didn't close the door, pretty girl!", followed by the
sound of someone lightly dragging something over the floor. The shadowy figure started to slowly move towards the bedroom, seemingly floating, but his cloak was touching the floor. When he was right outside the bathroom door, I woke up, sweating.

I quickly took off my sleep mask and flicked the light on, my heart pounding fast. I looked down the hall to see there was no shadow by the coat rack, luckily. All I could see was the shadow of the open bedroom door cast into the hall, up to the bathroom door. I took a sigh of relief and shut off the light and closed my eyes again, this time leaving my mask off.

I started dreaming the same dream again. The same voice sounded, now even happier than before: "Very pretty... and so tasty looking..." The figure slowly moved closer to the bedroom door. His cloak was still dragging,
and I could make out his head. He seemed to wear a top hat and had bright, red eyes over his enormous mouth, wide open and filled with several rows of sharp teeth. "Eenie meenie miney moe... I think
I'll start... with your toe!", the shadow cackled, as I woke up again.

I immediately turned on the light and didn't see any shadow, other than the shadow of my bed, inside the bedroom. As I was scared because of my nightmare, I closed the bedroom door, since staring into that dark hallway gave me the creeps. I felt a bit silly as I left the light on before I fell asleep, but I was very spooked, so it seemed best. Still, the nightmare resumed.

"Pretty, stupid girl... Thinking this would clear your fright? Did you
not ever learn... a shadow can only be where there is light?" The
shadow figure grew, consumed all the light in the room, before devouring me in one gluttonous bite. I tried to scream, I tried to wake, but to no avail. I never would again.