Chapter 1

Everything started after my uncle died. He had been single his whole life and left me, his only niece, a lofty inheritance.

My parents insisted I was too young to move out on my own, but after my 23rd birthday I just wanted something different. And now I had the money to make that dream a reality.

So I found an old farmhouse in bum fuck Tennessee and bit the bullet. It's beautiful despite being a bit dated. Three bedroom three bath with a jet tub in the master bathroom. To me it's practically a mansion.

A stupid cheesy sign on the wall is what really sold it for me.

"It's never too late to live happily ever after".

Probably some hobby lobby bs but for me it felt like a sign from the universe. So despite my parents' protests, I bought it.

And then I found the rules in a kitchen drawer.

Never let a guest stay over

Always wear protection at night

Don’t sleep with the window open

I thought it was a silly prank. As a lesbian, I’ve never bought condoms in my life and I didn’t plan on starting now. Given my contrarian nature, I intended to break every single rule.

The first one was unintentional. I'm not sure if any of you have ever lived in Tennessee in August but it's akin to boiling alive in a swimming pool. Unfortunately this particular structure lacked central air, so after a night of tossing and turning in a pool of sweat I crumbled and cracked open my bedroom window.

The breeze was so refreshing I didn't even consider the rules I'd glanced at months ago. Until a pair of glowing eyes peered at me cautiously from the end of the bed. By the time I saw them, I was so exhausted I fell asleep and didn't remember them again till mid breakfast the next day.

I nearly dropped my spoon in my cereal as the image flashed across my foggy brain. Surely it was just a dream, right?

I didn't think about it again until record heat waves forced me to buy a window AC unit. I slept like a baby with it's comforting purr as it turned my room from a sauna to a fridge. I felt like a happy celery stalk living my best life, forgotten in the crisper drawer. Until one night, I awoke again in a pool of sweat. I groggily wiped my eyes and realized, the AC unit was off. I turned it back on and stumbled back to bed.

A few night later, the same thing happened. My AC unit turned off moments after I fell asleep. After a few searches on the internet, I hired a local electrician to inspect for some kind of circuit short or something. Yet after an hour of inspection and $150 later, he told me nothing was wrong and maybe I was sleep walking and turning it off. I argued with him for quite a while. He asked if anyone else had noticed it. I told him I lived alone. He then told me he thought I was cute and asked for my number. I dryly informed him I was a lesbian. His response surprised me. He laughed! He told me he knew that. He saw my carabiner and the Subaru in the drive way. He opened his phone to show me photos of his bisexual sister. He promised it was for her so I relented and gave him my number. I probably shouldn't have done that but I was so embarrassed that he clocked my sexuality so easily.

After finding no electrical issues with the house, I did the next logical thing. I installed a camera in my room. Perhaps it was out of spite to prove the electrician wrong, maybe it was out of fear of my house burning down. Regardless, I never expected what I saw on that tape the first night.

A whole lot of nothing. Just me sleeping and the AC humming without issue.

It wasn't until over a week later. I awoke to the sensation of my foot being touched or perhaps, licked?

My instinct was to pull it away but I couldn't move. Sleep paralysis. I did my best to glance down at the thing touching me but my feet perfectly obscured it.

Just the sensation of someone or something gratifying itself with my feet. I fought to stand, scream or even move my head to behold my captor but I couldn't move. I laid there, helpless. Until I fell back asleep.

The next morning I awoke drenched in sweat. I jumped out of bed. The AC unit was off. I switched it back on. I googled if sleep paralysis was related to sleep walking. Apparently they are opposite problems and I couldn't find anyone who had both. Then I looked at the bottom of my foot. There were teeth marks. This sent me into a frenzy. I scoured the house. Hammer in hand I looked in every closet, under every bed, behind every dresser, ready to hammer anything even remotely creepy. Nothing.

I posted photos of the teeth marks to reddit. Some people claimed it was bats screaming at me to get rabies shots, others thought I was biting myself for karma (imaginative, but I'm really not that flexible). And then one user posted an image of the end of her bed with the caption "It bites me too. Make sure to wear socks as protection at night". And her photo triggered my memory from my first night in the house. Directly behind her feet were two beady glowing eyes and a dark figure. Exactly what I saw the night I opened the window.

I went back to the kitchen drawer and found the list of rules. I was about to call the original owner of the house to question them about this when my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hi. This is *****. My brother gave me your number. Sorry to cold call you like this but it's been so long since I've met a woman who's into women in these parts. Les-be-friends. Oh God. Please forget that I just said that."

She was even cuter in person. ***** was several inches shorter than me and super femme. Her long brown hair danced as she flitted about like an hummingbird. She was super giggly, easy to make laugh and fun to talk to. Not to mention silly. She insisted on trying to open doors for me in order to be "chivalrous" despite it being my own house.

After a few beers and pizza, we settled into my couch to watch a movie. Her yawns and mumbling were endearing. I gently poked her cheek.

"You getting tired?"

"What does it look like?" She didn't even open her eyes.

"You probably should head home." I insisted. At least until I could figure out what was going on.

"I can't drive. I drank." She pouted.

"I'll order you an uber." She was angry at me but I didn't have a habit of letting strange women sleep over on the first date and I wasn't about to start.

That night I barely remembered to put on socks before passing out to dream about *****.

Nothing happened for a week. Until again I woke one morning to the insufferable heat and my socks missing. There were new teeth marks. I shuddered.

Then I remembered the camera.

I checked the app on my phone. A blurry object thrown in the dark flew towards the camera and covered it. Then the sounds of slurping and heavy breathing. I winced. I tried to look at past videos but there was only the one from last night. The apps default setting was checked, "erase footage after 48 hours". Goddamn it.

I went to check on the camera itself and realized it was no longer sitting on the night stand where I put it. I tried pairing with it to track it's location but my phone listed it as "too far to pair, please move the camera within 100 miles of your phone". WTF.

My train of thought was instantly hijacked by *****, texting me to ask if I was free to spend time again. I slowly forgot all about my intruder woes as romance blinded me. Her and I did everything together and I couldn't think about anything else.

Until the night she decided to sleep over. It started with Chinese food and wine. She was telling me about her job at the mall and the various people she interacts with. I remember feeling really nauseated. I rushed to the bathroom. For some reason I couldn't bring myself to vomit. Maybe I had too much wine? The bathroom mirror shimmered and warped in weird ways. Then sudden gaps in my memory. Her tickling me on the floor? Then us in our underwear in bed? I remember a moment before falling asleep insisting that she and I put on socks despite her giggling and telling me that it was too hot.

I awoke to an empty bed and the AC unit off.

On my floor the only remains of the girl I loved and the electrician were their severed heads and a heart drawn on my floor in their blood.

I glanced at the dresser to see my camera had been replaced. Despite knowing what it would show I watched the video anyway.

Watched as the electrician and his "sister" tied up my body and removed my underwear. Watched as he worked up an erection ready to use it on me. Watched her kiss him and fondle me in front of him.

And then as two glowing eyes appeared in the corner. Every graphic detail of my rescuer's efforts perfectly documented. It faintly appeared humanoid but its limb proportions defied logic and combined with the darkness, I could barely make out its figure. Like something humans had evolved to not notice, something tucked away in our dark past. But I saw with perfect clarity my attackers eviscerated and consumed alive, while I slept unaware in my bed. Then it gently dressed me and tucked me back into bed before returning to its place at my feet to lick and bite before disappearing underneath.

Unsure what to do, I wrapped the heads in parchment paper and tucked them into my fridge. I wasn't sure if I hung onto them as a snack for the creature later or as proof of what had happened. Maybe it was a sick trophy of vengeance over those who had lied and manipulated me.

Regardless of the reason, with two heads in my crisper drawer, I realized how I'd forever shoulder the burden of the monster at the end of my bed, on its knees, worshiping my toes.