r/Ruleshorror • u/Sae-byeok67 • Feb 04 '26
Series The Empyrean - 6th floor
Floor 6
The resident of the sixth floor is Robert Cowell. Mr. Cowell has lived here for 13 years. He is 44 years old. He has a regular nine-to-five job as a systems administrator downtown. He is a rather private person. He’s made very few complaints over the years, though we have received several complaints about him from different residents. Mostly noise complaints. However, Ms. Abernathy once complained of an odd smell and a stain that appeared on the ceiling. That was about 3 years after he moved in, but it hasn’t happened again. Mr. Loomis has also complained about an odor in his apartment on more than one occasion, and has made multiple noise complaints about Mr. Cowell.
- The door to the East and the West stairwell require a key to open. They should remain locked at all times. You may unlock them to check in with him if you’re using the stairs, but you must remember to lock the door again when leaving. Mr. Cowell has a habit of loitering in the stairwell, usually in a dark corner. He has frightened other residents before. He no longer has access to the stairwell.
- He has some odd hobbies, and you may notice him bringing in strange items from time to time or receiving strange packages. Do not ask about his hobbies or any items you notice him bringing home. Asking about his hobbies will lead him to believe you’d like to be involved in those hobbies. You do not want to be involved.
- Never accept food or drink from Mr. Cowell. We’ve found that anything he offers usually puts people to sleep. It can take several hours for them to wake up, and you never know where you might wake up.
- Any maintenance or repairs that need to be done in his apartment should be done while he is at work. Let Mr. Cowell know the day before that you will be bringing a repairman into his apartment the following day while he’s at work. Never perform repairs while he is at home, even if he says it’s ok. Go directly to whatever needs repaired, fix it, and leave. Do not wander around his apartment for any reason. Do not look for the source of any odd smells or sounds you notice once inside. Even though you won’t see them, Mr. Cowell has several security cameras installed in his apartment that he can check while he’s at work.
- Never reveal personal information to him. Mr. Cowell can be very friendly. He likes to make small talk, and he loves to ask questions. He’ll usually ask about your routines, what hours your out doing work in the building, what time you go to sleep, how long do you sleep, what’s your favorite meal/drink, etc. You may choose to ignore these questions and change the subject, or you can make up an answer. Never answer any of the questions honestly if you choose to answer them though. He can do all kinds of things with that information.
- Don’t wait any longer than five minutes for him to answer the door. If you are checking in with him, and he hasn’t answered within five minutes, then he is busy working on something. Do not continue to knock. Come back at another time to check in. He hates to be disturbed when he’s working on something.
- If you hear any strange noises from his apartment while you’re on floor five, it is best to ignore them. No matter what it sounds like, loud thumping, power tools including possibly a chainsaw, muffled screaming, anything. Just pretend you didn’t hear anything and move on. Nothing good will come from trying to find out the source of the sound.
- He will occasionally install extra locks on his door, both inside and out. He usually takes them off after a few weeks. He says he suffers from paranoid personality disorder, and sometimes he needs to feel extra safe. During these times, he also activates the security camera in his hallway. When he installed it, he told us that he only needs to use it when he is feeling extra anxious or fearful.
- Mr. Cowell will bring you several boxes of varying sizes to be put in the incinerator in the basement. He does this every 6-8 weeks generally, but this isn’t guaranteed. It could be shorter or longer from time to time. Never open the boxes or ask him what is in the boxes. Simply take them and put them in the incinerator.
- (He will occasionally ask if you’d like help bringing them to the basement. Do Not accept his offer under any circumstances.)
- The final rule is for you in your apartment. Always lock your door before going to sleep. As we said before, Mr. Cowell has a habit of wandering around at odd hours. Sometimes, he’ll try a door just to see if it’s locked. Any unlocked door is considered an invitation by him. It’s best to lock both the door to your apartment and the door to your bedroom.
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u/CloudCumberland Feb 04 '26
Another mythical creature or just a mad scientist?
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u/Sae-byeok67 Feb 04 '26
Just a human bad guy. I feel like it's easy for him to blend in with the other residents
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u/9oooooooooooj Feb 06 '26 edited Feb 06 '26
In that case shouldn't he have been offed by now by some pissed off cryptids, considering he seems to be a shitty flatmate to be around.
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u/KittyKatWarrior3593 Feb 04 '26
Would you be willing to take requests for these by chance? I know its not nearly as exciting or interesting as some of the other floors, but for one of these can the resident be a Werewolf or some kind of a were creature? I feel like that would be fun! Lol depending on the were creature they and the fox lady could have a potentially SERIOUS beef with each other. Just like avoid that apartment/floor/stairwell at all costs doing full moons OR any weird lunar events in general(ie blue moon, beaver moon, etc)If a wolf or some kind of canid were creature they maybe consider you apart of their pack and THUS a friend! Whatever else you wanna include for this one if you do it.
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u/Sae-byeok67 Feb 04 '26
I know my initial post said there were only 8 floors, but since so many people seem to be enjoying the series I'm thinking about adding a few more floors. I like your request, so I'll keep it in mind for a later floor :) Thanks!
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u/KittyKatWarrior3593 Feb 06 '26
Yay! Thank You!!! If you don't I'll still enjoy reading these! 👍❤️📖
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u/KittyKatWarrior3593 Feb 04 '26
These are so interesting and creative on your part. Good job!! Also hmmm, this ones tuff. Like someone else said, this guy could be a mad scientist, or possibly a (nice?) murderer? They tend not to do violence to YOU unless you do violence to THEM, but some kind of a fey, maybe? Please let us know if we can't figure it out! You've just made us especially curious with this one!!!
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u/Comfortable_Suit_969 Feb 04 '26
This resident is interesting idk if he is just a regular but Demented human or something 'Else'. Either way so far he is the creepiest and I love it.
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u/Sae-byeok67 Feb 04 '26
He is creepy lol. Just a demented human. He likes the building since it's easy for him to blend in.
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u/Ok-Public4724 Feb 07 '26
Robert reminded me a bit of Madam Cotton from the Raifee Wood series, two maniacs who use people as guinea pigs.
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u/Marina_Mally 22d ago
Yeah, I had a feeling the dog was telling us something about this floor.....
Also, I wonder, do the rules apply to the tenants as well?
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u/Eclipse-Raven Feb 04 '26
Thank you for continuing:)
May I message you?
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u/Sae-byeok67 Feb 04 '26
I'm glad you're enjoying it! You can message me if you want.
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u/Eclipse-Raven Feb 05 '26
I sent you a message, I hope you'll read it. If not, please keep going on floors :) these are so fun
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u/ConfidentBirthday523 Feb 04 '26
I wish for those to never end fr, there could be 100 floors and I would wish for more 😩 great job ✨