This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/YeetManXD69 on 2024-04-09 20:24:40.

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When I was in eighth grade, something unexplainable happened to my best friend Jerald. Like any other summer night, he came to my house to sleepover. Outside, mosquitos buzzed, rain drizzled, and frogs croaked. The fragrance of raindrops was among my favorite sensations, so I kept the window open. My room was upstairs, far away from my parent’s, so we were always noisy. At around eleven pm, my older brother Sam agreed to take us to Taco Bell.

“Dude seriously, you’re just getting water?” I ask.

“Come on dude, you know I’m not allowed to drink soda.” Jerald says, looking concerned.

“Your parents aren’t here, it’s all right.” says my brother, putting his hand on Jerald’s shoulder. He then motions to Dr. Pepper on the soda machine. Jerald shakes his head and refuses. I wish I could go back, and force him to pick a soda instead. There’s no telling if it would’ve even made a difference, but these thoughts persist. That was the last time I’d ever go to Taco Bell, can’t bring myself to go back after what happened, having since cut off anything that serves as a reminder of that night.

After enjoying our tacos, Sam drove us back home, and we hung out for a bit before Sam called it a night, saying he was tired. What that really meant was he was going to his room to call his girlfriend. Naturally, Jerald and I headed up to my room for our usual Cod Zombies.

The flickering glow of my ancient television rested on our faces as we plowed through zombies. Unable to handle only getting to round ten five times in a row, we shut off the tv and crawled under our respective covers.

Of course, we continued to stay up late into the night discussing girls in our class, mostly who had the nicest ass. Jerald rattles his near empty ice water cup in his hand as he speaks.

“You can toss your drink over there if you’re finished, besides, kinda gross to leave it out all night.” I say.

“Eh, It’s fine”. He said as he sat it down on the nightstand beside him.

“Fine, I’m just telling you, my mom always gets onto me for leaving cups out.” He nodded. Looking back, God I wish I had said more, if only I had just made him throw away that cup. Not long after, Jerald and I both drifted to sleep mid-conversation.

It’s 4 am. I wake up to unsettling noises. A horrific hybrid of wheezing and snoring. Its presence sent goosebumps across every inch of my body. Just thinking of it now, my eyes are welling up with tears.

“What’s wrong?” I called out, still half asleep, jumping out of my bed towards Jerald’s sleeping bag. His face was losing color, and he was trying to say something, holding a cup in his now shaking hand. Blue veins bulged across his face like running rivers. Vehemently, he regained his composure and spoke.

“Something’s in the cup.” he said, now sweating immensely. “I woke up thirsty, so I grabbed the cup to have a drink. Oh god! It swam into my throat! It had legs! It’s moving around in my stomach!”

I stared in disbelief. That couldn’t be right, how would something alive get into his cup like that? It even had the lid still on. Still remains a mystery. Gross as it is, at first I thought it might have been a cockroach. Now, I really wish that were the case. Something told me he was serious, I’d never seen him this way in our many years of friendship. He looked frozen like someone who had just been caught doing something wrong.

“I… what? How?”

I couldn’t even think straight. I watched on with absolute disgust as I could now see his stomach writhing under the covers. Before I could react, he pulled himself out of the sleeping bag and darted towards the window. It was open, of course. But it didn’t matter either way, he broke right through the glass. I still remember the sound when he hit the driveway.

His body… vanished. By the time I made my way to the window, he was long gone. The local police had a search party looking for weeks, not a trace. I don’t know if that thing caused him to jump, or if he couldn’t stand it swimming around in his body. I shudder writing this, every night I have nightmares, and I fear I’ll never stop having them. The recurring ones are the worst, especially the one where I wake up to Jerald standing beside my bed, vomiting out blood and organs. To this day, I boil the water I drink, and I only drink from translucent cups. I doubt it helps but I’m not taking any chances.

But four months later, they found his body. This poor group of kids geocaching in the woods found his bones arranged into one enormous pile. Everything else was gone. They were traumatized. My nightmares persist too, my most recent one involving me watching Jerald spit up his bones one by one.

Today, I went for a stroll with my dog, Bella. Took her to the usual spot, because I prefer the isolation. Pinecones littered the forest canopy beneath my feet. Everything was normal. Until I smelled it. This horrific stench that permeated the forest air around me. It made my eyes water, and I started gagging. The sound that came after was awful. It was this wheezing noise. Familiarity set in. I panicked. My heart beat at a million miles an hour. Bella sensed something was up, too. She started growling. Now, the sound came from behind me. I slowly craned my neck to see. I wish I did not do that.

Imagine how a person looks when they’re missing their bones and all their internal organs. It’s not a pleasant sight. A rotten husk of flesh somehow crawling towards me, gasping for air. The wheezing, the stench, I couldn’t stand it as it inched closer and closer to me. It attacked all my senses. My body didn’t know how to react, I began to shut down just like that night Jerald disappeared.

I didn’t stay to discover its intentions. I’m unsure if that was still the same Jerald, or that creature controlling his brain. But either way, I will not be sleeping tonight, not ever. I’ve decided to relocate. Unbelievable that I’ve continued living in this godforsaken town after everything.

This evening I brushed my teeth as usual. As I stared into the mirror, trying to grasp what I had seen today, I reached for the clear cup on my bathroom counter and rinsed out my mouth. I wish I never did.

Jamming my hand into my mouth i attempt to stop it before it’s too late. To no avail. With seemingly just seconds to react I try to weigh my options. My frantic decision leads me to lock myself in the bathroom. Every piece of furniture that would fit is now pressed up against the door. I can feel my heart pounding all the way in my stomach, imagine the sharpest stomach pain you’ve felt, then multiply that by forty. As I writhe on the cold tile floor, the familiar whirring of the garage door briefly shakes the house. I hear the front door pop open. My mom is home.