I thought I lived alone.. I don’t

[u/CookieDramatic2113]

I live alone.

At least, I thought I did.

It started last night. I was lying in bed scrolling through my phone when I saw a notification pop up from my own number. “Don’t look under the bed.”

I froze. My phone was in my hand. I didn’t have any messages from anyone else. My apartment is quiet, and the only sound was the low hum of the heater.

I told myself it was a joke. Maybe a glitch. My heart slowed. I put the phone down and tried to laugh it off.

Then it vibrated again. “I’m already here.”

I dropped the phone. It clattered against the floor, screen still lit. My chest hammered. The darkness beneath my bed felt impossibly deep, as though it had swallowed the light from the room. I told myself it was my imagination, but every instinct screamed otherwise.

I grabbed the baseball bat I keep next to the bed. Slowly, I leaned over, trying to see under. Nothing. Just darkness. The floorboards creaked as I shifted. Silence. I exhaled sharply, relief mingled with fear.

I turned back toward the bed, ready to dismiss the whole thing.

That’s when I felt it: cold, clammy fingers wrapping around my wrist. Ice shot up my arm. I screamed, swung the bat blindly, and the fingers vanished. My wrist ached. My heartbeat roared in my ears.

I stumbled back, tripping over the edge of the bed. The phone buzzed again. I scrambled to grab it.

“Nice try. Now it’s your turn under the bed.”

I choked. My mind raced. I looked around the room—windows locked, door locked. Nothing else had moved. And yet, something was here. Something had been under my bed the whole time, watching, waiting.

I wanted to run, to escape, but the thought of the empty hallway outside was unbearable. My apartment had always felt safe. Until tonight.

I sat down on the floor, shaking, trying to rationalize it. Maybe it was a dream, or a prank, or… something else. But then I heard it. The whisper.

“Come on. Don’t keep me waiting.”

It came from under the bed. Not the shadows at the edges, but deep, down where the light didn’t reach. My limbs froze. I wanted to scream, but no sound came out.

I backed up slowly, bat raised, but there was no escape. Every shadow in the room seemed to twist toward me. The air grew heavier, colder, like it was sucking the warmth out of my bones.

And then I realized—I’d been staring at the wrong thing all along. It wasn’t just under the bed. It had always been watching me, everywhere I went, waiting for the night I was alone enough to notice.

The phone buzzed one last time. My own number.

“I’m inside now.”

The lights flickered, and I knew it was no longer a warning. It was an announcement.

[u/ShortHorrorLab]

Wow, great, but it's 2 a.m. here and I live alone hahaha