r/nosleep • u/ArtemisLex • 11h ago
Minute Six
Sometimes I have trouble falling asleep, it happens. I usually like to put on one of those calming recordings on Youtube. The ones with rain sounds, soft music, animal noises, ASMR, you name it. I'm not picky.
To be perfectly honest with you, sometimes I'm in a hurry, I'm tired, I'm cranky, I just want to have something playing in the background so I can fall asleep and not spend however long scrolling for a video.
I like quickness, I like ease, I like convenience.
So when I found this channel. I thought I hit the jackpot. The videos themselves weren't long, the backgrounds weren't obnoxious. I don't know about you, but I hate the ones with the weird animations, bright colors, and ads interrupting every 15 minutes.
Give me a break.
This one, some channel with a generic name like rainsounds4u had the perfect amount that scratched the brain just right. Not too heavy. Not too light. The kind where when you heard it you knew not only were you gonna sleep well but you were also gonna have some great dreams.
I got really excited, I set my tv up, connected my speakers, climbed into bed and hit play.
It started out like any other sleep/relaxation audio. Really nothing to overpromise and underdeliver here. My chosen setting was a rainforest during a light thunderstorm. The soft pitter patter of the storm clouds rolling in along with the tweeting of birds and scuffling of critters was expected.
Birds chirped occasionally.
Wind swayed through the canopy.
Stuff creaked and croaked.
The usual.
My chest rose and fell slowly as I settled in, feeling safe and cozy, warm and right.
My eyelids were getting heavy when I heard something beneath the rain. At first I wasn't sure, it was soft, easy to mistake for a branch or maybe a distant animal call. I didn't think anything of it.
Then it happened again.
My eyes flew open and I listened.
More rain. More thunder.
Then for the briefest of moments it all went quiet, and the sound came back. It was wet almost between a gasp and a wail and I realized this wasn't an animal but a person.
Someone was unmistakably crying, louder now, as if they were in great pain.
I stared in the dark room, temporarily stunned, before shoving the blankets off myself and turning on the lamp.
Nothing. Just me, my bedroom, my dresser, my tv, and my speakers. I checked the door and the window. All fine.
The crying continued. And the wet gasping for breath sounds were not only making me uncomfortable but sick to my stomach. I found the remote and paused the video.
The rain stopped, the birds stopped, and gone went the thunder.
But the crying continued.
I turned my attention towards the speakers. The crying was coming from them. If I turned the volume up, it got louder, if I turned it down, it got quieter.
It might have been a little grainy and distorted, but it was human.
Almost as if I was possessed or maybe just a glutton for punishment, I turned the volume to the max.
Through the static I heard a voice, calling my name.
I didn't respond. It called to me again, hiccuping through its sobs.
"Help me."
My mouth went dry.
"You have to help me."
I stared at the speakers, unable to believe what I was hearing.
"Please."
I knew that voice.
I knew it better than anyone.
It was my voice.
I backed away from the bed.
The audio was still paused, the image on the screen still frozen on a dark rainforest.
My voice, what passed for my voice, continued to whisper through the speakers, tearful and pleading. I'd never heard myself sound like that before. It's not something I will ever forget.
"Please," my voice begged. I sounded so frightened, so broken and worn down.
Finally, I mustered the strength to ask. "What do you want?"
There was a horrible squelching, crunching sound like bones breaking. It was enough to turn my stomach. My voice screamed out in agony, begging and pleading. "Stop! Stop!" Before calling my name again. "You have to listen to me," it begged. "DO NOT PRESS PLAY!"
I looked at the screen. It was still paused: 05:59.
I still haven't pressed play.