John's Lawn

This must sound like a joke. I know, the very idea of happening across a paranormal being when looking for roommates is completely bonkers. Let alone the man himself, slenderman. But let me get real with you for a second, this guy has to be at least 7’4” or something like that. Sure, maybe he’s a basketball player, or hell maybe he has something that caused him to grow really tall. The strange thing is, he doesn’t want to show me his face. Unless wearing a ski mask and sunglasses everywhere you go is just the new fad or something. He said he’s worried about the virus going around and has really sensitive eyes. But based on some of the other things I’ve seen from him, I’m pretty sure there’s more to it than that.

I don’t wanna get too in-depth into my situation cause I’m assuming you guys don’t wanna hear about some guy in his early 30’s talk about his problems. But, long story short, I ended up having to get a new job after I got laid off cause I hadn’t come into work for… personal reasons. My new job at a nearby convenience store paid me about enough to lay awake hungry at night if I didn’t get a new place to live. So, I ventured to craigslist to try and find people who need roommates. I had been searching for the past month, but just couldn’t find anything in my dogshit price range. One day though after a month of searching, I found an amazingly suspicious deal at a relatively nearby apartment. The listing stated the person was looking for one roommate willing to pay 20% of the monthly bill. I figured it would just be some group of broke teenagers trying to pay as little as possible. I mean, realistically, that would be the only real reason I would have to pay so little. So I kept reading and found that it currently only had the lister living there. A man by the name of Terry. I thought it must’ve been a joke or a typo or something. But when I called to see if it was still available, the man confirmed that it would just be just him and I living there. I asked why he was offering such a low percentage for a roommate to which he responded, 

“I don’t get out much, just kind of want someone around, you know?” Considering the pandemic, I figured he was one of those work at home types that prefers not to leave the confinements of his home. But even still, it seemed pretty suspicious. Regardless, I needed somewhere to stay and considering the debt that had begun to pile up, I didn’t have many options. I called him once I decided this was my only option, and we decided I would have the best opportunity coming at noon. After a restless night of hunger pains and pirated movies, I had about as much energy as ten Mike Tysons on cocaine.

The next day I arrived at the place I would soon come to call my home… well, house… living quarters? I don’t know, it doesn’t exactly feel like a home but does at the same time. Sort of like how your parents in law’s house is kind of like your own parents’ home, but you’re still uncomfortable eating dinner with them.

So, I arrived at his place at around noon that day and knocked on the door. I heard Terry respond with, “One moment, be right there.” When he opened the door I was NOT expecting to see some circus freak on stilts standing in front of me. His voice was so normal, I was expecting some six-foot-tall guy with brown hair or something. Not some tall skinny weirdo in black dress pants, a hoodie, ski mask… you get the idea. His hands were rather pale too, not ghost white, but just like someone who hadn’t seen the light of day in years. He must’ve seen the look of confusion on my face because he started laughing and said, “Man, it looks like you’ve just seen a ghost. Do you wanna check out the place or what?” 

“I mean I’m already here. No point in turning back now.” I responded sarcastically, before following him inside. Yet again more shit that didn’t make sense. It was a pretty average apartment, maybe a little above average even. I have no idea what I was expecting, but seeing a normal apartment like he was just your average Joe did not make sense to me in the slightest. It had a comfortable looking couch that was definitely not cheap, a huge ass TV with every console known to man underneath and a whole fuck ton of games inside a cabinet next to the TV. He saw me with my mouth agape staring at the impressive setup, 

“You play games kid?” He asked me.

“Yeah, but I’ve never seen so many consoles just sitting in one place before.” I was genuinely amazed at the collection, the only times you see something like this is in movies where there’s a rich guy who’s really chill. “Wait, why did you call me kid? I’m 32 you know?”

“Yeah, compared to me… you know what, nevermind that. I just call anyone younger than me kid, don’t let it get to you.”

“Whatever, so where’s my room gonna be then?” I asked with slight irritation.

“Right, I’ll show you.”

We had begun to walk down the short… hallway type thing? The small ass hallways you only ever see in apartments or small houses. Just as we began to walk past what I was assuming to be his room, he quickly slammed his door shut but not before I saw one of his walls lined with a few anime posters. I didn’t quite catch what shows they were from, but I looked at him and raised my eyebrows in a knowing manner. “So… you like anime?”

“I-I don’t wanna talk about it.” He said, stammering.

“Alright, I won’t judge,” I said with my eyebrows still raised. I took a couple more steps, while Terry only had to outstretch one stilt to make the same distance. 

We reached the door on the left and he spoke, “Well, this will be your room if you’re still interested.” I could hear he was still flustered. As to be expected, it was a completely empty room with white walls and a small closet inside. I turned around after looking through the door and was about to tell him it looks good, but I hesitated. I could’ve sworn I had seen some kind of shadowy tentacle-like thing for a split second before it vanished. Weird, but I was so sleep-deprived and hungry I just figured I was seeing things.

“L-looks good,” I said with only a modicum of existential dread.

“Great, when do you plan on moving in then?” He said with slight enthusiasm.

“I can start tomorrow if you don’t mind.”

“Sounds great, how long do you anticipate it will take?”

I hesitated, remembering I had sold most of my belongings I considered unnecessary so I had some money to pay my bills. Considering I had only had my new job for a couple weeks and hadn’t had a job for a couple months before that, it was the only course of action I could take. So pretty much all I had was a mattress, no bed frame, it being one of the things I sold. My PC, monitor, desk, chair, blanket, pillow, and clothes.

“Eh, I’ll probably be finished tomorrow, I don’t have much to move.”

“Really?” He seemed truly surprised which seemed weird considering the guy was only asking me to pay about 400 a month for the place, no financially stable person is gonna trust that. But I am in fact very poor and couldn’t afford to find another place.

“Yeah, had to sell a bunch of stuff a while back. See you tomorrow then.” I stated.

“We’ll just fill out your paperwork tomorrow. See you then.” With that, I was off. I went to McDonald’s for a little bit of food to satiate some of my hunger then, went home to try and get some sleep at 4 pm, like a real man. I should mention that I have weekends off which is why I didn’t have to work the day before, or rather, night. You get the idea.

So, the next day, I packed my stuff into my SUV, strapped my mattress to the top of my car, and headed out at about noon. When I arrived shortly after, I knocked on the door and waited… no answer. I knocked again and still, no answer. So I did what any good unofficial roommate would do, I burst through the door saying, “The man of the hour is here!” But no one was there. I briefly considered why he wasn’t ready for me, until I realized that we hadn’t even agreed on a time for me to show up. 

I knocked on his door, forgetting that I had called him the day before and already had his number in my phone. He responded almost immediately. “Oh shit, you’re here already? Hold on, take a step back.”

“Oh come on man, I already saw your guilty pleasure posted all over your wall yesterday,” I responded.

His tone suddenly became way more serious than it should’ve given the situation, “Seriously, take a step back.”

Figuring he must’ve had something up on his computer he didn’t want me seeing, I did as he said, “Alright, you’re good now.” He quickly came out of his room wearing the same getup as the day before. This time though, he appeared a bit more pale. “You good man? You aren’t looking too hot.” I remarked.

“Yeah, just not feeling too well today is all.” He responded with a nervous laugh.

“Alright, wanna help me move my stuff in? It isn’t a lot but I could use some help with the mattress.” He agreed to help, and we had everything moved in rather quickly, but as we were setting my bed down he told me something.

“Oh and by the way, if you ever hear any… noises? Coming from my room at night, don’t worry about it. I suffer from night terrors and so I can sometimes make a lot of noise in my sleep. I tried to soundproof my room as best I could a while back after some complaints, but it isn’t perfect.” I thought it was a bit strange that it only happened to occur to him then to let me know, but I told him it wouldn’t be an issue since I work the graveyard shift at my job, so I wouldn’t be sleeping at night anyway. Afterward, I filled out the proper paperwork and we played some games till nightfall. He is actually a pretty cool guy, the only strange thing is that he refused to tell me what he did as a job. But I figured it may have been confidential or something like that.

So, as 11:30 came around, I got ready to head to work. I let him know I was heading out and then had an uneventful night at work. When I came home, I saw Terry chilling on the couch, but for a split second, I could’ve sworn I had seen that tentacle thing again, I know I was exhausted. But I know for a fact, I wasn’t THAT exhausted. I blinked and it was gone again. 

“I swear Terry, I think I’m losing my mind,” I said in a state of bewilderment.

“Long day at work?” he commented, for some reason refusing to look away from his show.

“Yeah, definitely. I’m gonna hit the sack, Jack. Goodnight.” He gave me a pity laugh and said goodnight. I know I know none of this proves he’s slenderman in any way, maybe I’m suffering from some kind of minor schizophrenia. However, a few hours later, I awoke to some weird sounds coming from Terry’s room. It definitely wasn’t night so I highly doubted he was having night terrors. I walked over and knocked on his door… no reply. I knocked again and still, no reply. A few moments passed and I realized the noise had stopped, I slowly opened the door and as I did I saw… Terry, I realized that I hadn’t even been the one to open the door. But stranger still, for a second, I could’ve sworn I had seen nothing behind his sunglasses. I just told him the noises were keeping me awake and asked him to quiet down a bit, then I walked to my room. Which is where I’m writing this now, in my room. And I am almost certain, my roommate is slenderman.