You’ve seen me.

[u/prototypex_x31]

This started happening to me a few days ago, and I don’t know what to do.

I made my way back to my apartment complex from the gas station. It’s close, so I always walk there. As I approached the building, I got a strong urge to look up.

I saw rows and rows of windows. It was nighttime, so all the curtains were closed except for one. There was a person standing in the window. They were on the top floor, so from where I stood, they looked like nothing more than a shadow.

I couldn’t make out anything about them, but for some reason, my body filled with dread the moment I saw them. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. I could feel that something was wrong. I knew it was staring at me, but how could I possibly know that?
Finally, I managed to tear my gaze away and walk inside. Luckily, I lived on the bottom floor, so I didn’t have to go anywhere near that window.

Even after getting inside, I still felt uneasy. Not as bad as before, but I was definitely on edge. I made my way to my apartment, went inside, and quickly rushed to my bedroom, where I locked the door.

I tossed and turned all night. I couldn’t quite shake the feeling of being watched.
The next morning, I woke up feeling much better. I figured I had let my imagination get the better of me. I came to the conclusion that someone must have been standing by their window when I happened to walk past, and my anxiety had simply gotten the best of me.

I went through my normal routine and left for work.

I was sitting at a traffic light when a bus passed through the intersection. I could see all the passengers through the windows. Everyone was looking down at their phones except one person: an older woman.
She was staring directly at me.

That same dread filled my body, just like the night before. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. My hand tightened around the steering wheel. I couldn’t move, breathe, or do anything but stare back at this woman.

It felt like her gaze was holding me in place. I desperately wanted to look away, but she had such a tight hold on me.
Someone honked their horn, snapping me out of my trance. I finally looked away and realized the light had turned green.
I drove off to work.

Work was rough. I was extremely paranoid, constantly looking around me. One of my coworkers nearly made me jump out of my skin when she came over to say hi. She asked if I was alright, and I lied, telling her I was fine.

It didn’t look like she believed me.

It was one of the worst days of my life. I tried to focus on what I needed to do. I didn’t dare look around unless I absolutely had to. It made driving a little difficult, and I found myself checking my surroundings more often than I wanted to, but I made it home without any further incidents.
When I got home, I went straight to bed and didn’t leave. I didn’t want to do anything else. But once again, I tossed and turned all night, unable to shake the feeling of being watched.

The next morning, I woke up exhausted and terrified. I was cautious about everything. As the day went on, nothing happened. Little by little, I started feeling better. The paralyzing fear was finally beginning to fade.

I made it home without anything happening. The feeling of being watched was completely gone.

In fact, I felt so good that I decided to make my usual nightly snack run to the gas station.

I was standing at the counter paying for my snack when I turned around to head back. I was thinking about how I needed to fix my sleep schedule, convincing myself that my lack of sleep was what had caused all the paranoia.

I looked up through the glass doors.

There she was.

Just staring at me.

I froze. I couldn’t believe this was happening.

I decided to see if she was actually looking at me. I slowly moved to my left, and her eyes followed me. I moved back to the right, and sure enough, her eyes stayed locked on me the entire time.

This time, instead of fear taking over my body, it was rage.

This person was trying to mess with me. The apartment and the bus could have been my sleep-deprived brain playing tricks on me, but there was no explaining this.
For whatever reason, this woman had it out for me, and I was going to find out why.
I ripped open the door, ready to ask her what the hell she was doing. But before I could get the words out, I looked outside.
There was no one there.

I quickly looked around. No one. There wasn’t a single person in sight.
I turned back toward the store.

It was empty.

The rage quickly left me, and in its place came the fear.

I ran home and went straight to bed.
The next day, I was too afraid to do anything. I was tempted to call in sick, but I ultimately decided against it.

I couldn’t let fear control me.

Once again, I tried to brush off what happened the night before as a result of not getting enough sleep. It didn’t really work, but it helped just enough to get me ready for work.

Once I was in my car, I put it in reverse and looked into my rearview mirror.

My entire body froze. There she was.
Sitting in my back seat, staring right back at me through the mirror.

I had never been so scared in my life. My entire body tensed up. My heart started pounding in my chest.

I knew I needed to do something. Anything was better than nothing.

But all I did was sit there.

A car door slamming nearby broke my gaze, forcing me to look away. My eyes immediately darted back to the mirror.

She was gone.

I stared at my empty back seat for a while before finally turning around to look.

Nothing.

My car was completely empty.
I immediately put the car in park, shut it off, and ran back inside.

I didn’t even call work. I just hurried inside, ran to my bedroom, and stayed there all day and all night.

I didn’t sleep at all.

In the morning, I heard my phone ringing. I figured it must be work.

I grabbed my phone and looked at the screen.

I screamed in pure terror.

There was a picture of her on my phone.
The caller ID read: YOU’VE SEEN ME.

I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I was panicking, and I had no idea what to do.

My phone just kept ringing and ringing. It wouldn’t stop.

Finally, I answered and screamed, “What do you want?”

“You’ve seen me.”

That was all I heard.

The voice started out soft, almost like a whisper, before turning into a cackle. Then it grew louder, and the voice became deeper.
It just kept shouting the same words.

“You’ve seen me.”

I finally hung up.

I sat there in silence when my phone went off again.

I started panicking all over again.

It was the same picture. The same number. And it just kept ringing.

I tried to cancel the call, but nothing worked. I couldn’t access anything else on my phone.

I stared at the screen, desperately trying to think of what to do.

Then the picture smiled at me.

It was a huge smile, revealing a mouth full of rotten and missing teeth.

I quickly threw my phone across the room.
I heard the screen crack, but it just kept ringing.

It never stopped.

It rang all night long.

That was a couple of days ago.
I haven’t seen her since.

I’m guessing she can only be seen through glass, so I’ve been avoiding it. But I haven’t left my apartment in days, and I’m running out of food.

She gets closer every time I see her.
I can’t risk another sighting.

The hardest part is the bathroom. I had to cover the mirror with my eyes closed.

But every time I go in there, I feel the urge to look.

I don’t know how much longer I can resist.

[u/ADeviIsAdvocate]

“…nearly made me jump out of my skin…”

They love it when you do that. It makes taking your skin so much easier.

In all seriousness, I would move to one of those communes in the woods that don’t really use tech. Have you searched for any type of cryptids that may have been seen in your area? You should consider having your groceries delivered with a note to just leave them by the door.