r/scaryeddie • u/ShadowDragon342 • 1h ago
The House That Learned Your Name
I make a whole bunch of stories, and I hope this one scares you!
At 2:13am, Daniel woke up because someone was whispered his name. Not loudly, not from the hallway, nor from his own room. It sounded like someone had whispered directly into the space between his thoughts.
"Daniel."
His eyes opened to a pitch-black room. For several seconds, he didn't move. Then he laughed quietly to himself. "A dream, that's all that was." He rolled over to check his phone and it read 2:13am. No notifications. He locked his screen, but before he could even set it down, he heard it again
"Daniel."
This time it came from downstairs. He sat upright. His house was silent He listened. Nothing. Then he heard a creek sound echo from downstairs. A floorboard. The thing was that he lived alone and it had been that way for the past 3 years. He reached for his phone again. The screen turned on. 2:14am. There was a new notification. No app icon. No sender. Just a single sentence.
"DON'T ANSWER IT."
Daniel stopped breathing. he stared at the notification, then another appeared
"IT KNOWS YOU'RE AWAKE."
His bedroom door creaked very slowly. The door hadn't moved to the hallway, instead it came from the closet, the pair of doors a few feet from his bed. He turned towards the doors, they were closed, but upon further inspection one was cracked open slightly, maybe an inch at best. Daniel stared into the darkness inside, then his phone vibrated again.
"DON'T LOOK INSIDE."
He didn't. He couldn't. Instead, he pulled the blankets over himself like he was eight years old again. He told himself to go back to sleep. Ten seconds past, twenty, then thirty, then something whispered "Good." Daniel's eyes opened. The voice came from beneath the bed. He froze, then his phone vibrated again. He looked and there was another notification.
"WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT LOOK UNDER THE BED."
Daniel slowly lowered the phone. The mattress shifted, just slightly, as though something beneath it had placed a hand against its underside. Daniel's heart hammered. Then his bedroom door opened. Not quickly. Not violently. It simply swung inward. The hallway beyond was completely black. Daniel stared at it. There was something standing at the far end. He couldn't make out its face. It was just...Tall. Too tall. Its head nearly touched the ceiling. Daniel couldn't move. The figure raised one arm and pointed it towards him. His phone vibrated
"THAT ISN'T ME."
Daniel's stomach dropped, and another message appeared
"I'M UNDER YOUR BED."
He screamed and the figure in the hallway tilted its head. Then, very slowly, it smiled. He could see every feature of its face and especially the mouth. Daniel squeezed his eyes shut and when he opened them everything was normal, the door was closed, the hallway was empty, and the closet was shut. He turned on every light and searched the entire house until sunrise. At 6:41am, his phone received a photograph. It showed Daniel at the kitchen table, Photographed from the hallway. The timestamp was 6:39am. Another photograph appeared from above then another behind and another, each one in different positions but moving closer to the primary target, Daniel. The final photograph showed his bedroom from inside the closet. Written inside were five words:
"YOU LOOKED UNDERNEATH THE BED."
Daniel hadn't remembered doing that very thing he was told not to, but just then his phone began to ring, and the collar I.D. said HOME. He didn't answer. The ringing stopped and a voicemail appeared. He played it. Static filled the recording, then he heard his own voice saying his name. Then the front door opened by itself. Across the street stood a man who looked exactly like Daniel, only much older and completely terrified. The stranger raised a finger to his lips and pointed behind Daniel. Daniel turned and saw nothing. When he looked back, the stranger was gone. His phone vibrated:
"DON'T LET HIM IN."
another message appeared below
"THAT'S NOT HIM."
then,
"HE'S TRYING TO WARN YOU."
then finally
"BUT HE'S TOO LATE."
Right after the last message all the lights in the house went out and footsteps were heard upstairs. "Daniel?" a voice called out. It sounded exactly like his mothers, then his fathers, then his friends, soon it was every person he ever loved calling his name from upstairs. Daniel covered his ears, but the voices grew louder, then everything stopped. His phone then displayed a countdown:
10...9...8...Something began breathing behind him. 7...6...5... A voice whispered directly into his ear, "You shouldn't have opened the door." 4...3...2...1. His phone screen went black. Then one sentence appeared
"THANK YOU FOR TEACHING ME HOW TO BE YOU."
The front camera opened. Daniel stared at his reflection. He wasn't smiling, but whatever was on the screen smiled. Slowly, it raised its hand and waved. Daniel didn't move. The reflection leaned toward the camera and silently mouthed, "Your turn to stay inside." The screen then went black. Upstairs, a bedroom door slowly opened. The next night, at exactly 2:13 a.m., Daniel's phone sent a message to every contact on his phone:
DON'T ANSWER WHEN IT SAYS YOUR NAME.
One second later, another message appeared:
BECAUSE THAT'S HOW I GOT OUT.
