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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/gayass_warlock on 2025-01-30 19:02:43+00:00.

Read Part 1

I've heard a lot of people's theories on what happens to your brain when you're about to die. They all seem to conclude the same thing: your life flashes before your eyes, leaving you satisfied or disappointed depending on what kind of life you led.

Personally, I say that's a crock of horse shit.

When that thing grabbed me by the throat and dragged me deeper into the darkness, the only thing on my mind was finding a way to kill it before it could kill me. I lashed out in a blind rage, grasping at anything I could get my hands on as whatever had me in its grasp yanked me towards certain death. Before it could pin me down in some dark corner, I somehow managed to latch onto something sharp. There was no time to think - I plunged the business end of the tool in my hand upwards with as much force as I could muster, praying to whatever benevolent godlike figure out there that my attacker had eyes that could be stabbed out.

My prayers were answered. It let out a horrible shuddering cry, one that put nails on a chalkboard to shame, and dropped me on my ass. I could barely make out its silhouette, but it looked like it was clutching at its face.

Before it could wise up to what I'd done, I scrambled backwards on all fours, ducking behind a dusty old coat rack. I vaguely remember thinking "why the fuck is there a coat rack in a grocery store" but that train of thought was cut short by a menacing growl.

After that it was mostly a blur. I remember flattening myself against the rack and holding my breath until it felt like my lungs would burst. Later Quinn told me he found me hiding in that very same coat rack, clutching a box cutter to my chest and white as a sheet.

When I came back to, the store was no longer pitch black. Slits of dim red light traced the outer edges of the carpeting in each aisle, stretching on as far as the eye could see before they trailed off into a shroud of mist. Someone had draped my jacket over my shoulders and taken the box cutter, the closest thing to a weapon I had.

Helpless with no sign of my friends and no weapon to defend myself, I surveyed my surroundings. I was propped up against a wall near the restrooms, which should've been right next to the entrance, but something was off - the sliding doors were completely dark. Not even the solid foot of snow that coated the outside world was visible through them. I waved my hand in front of one. It didn't move. I couldn't even see my hand's reflection in the glass. Granted there wasn't much light, but there should've been enough to see by.

This had to be a nightmare, right? Even if ghosts or demons or whatever these creatures were supposed to be did exist, what were the odds of the four of us running into them? I should've been deeper in denial, hell, I was the skeptic to Frankie's believer, I had always refused to believe there was any evidence of an invisible world alongside our own.

A flicker of movement in my peripheral vision made me whip my head around. The spot where that thing grabbed me burned and stretched painfully with the movement, like its handprint had been seared into my flesh. When I finally managed to blink the stars out of my eyes, an unfamiliar silhouette loomed over me. Cursing under my breath, I curled my hands into fists, raising my arms in a feeble attempt to block the blow I knew was coming.

Instead, my would-be attacker spoke: "There's nowhere to run, we have you surrounded. Your safety will depend entirely on whether or not you choose to cooperate. If you understand, put your hands down. No sudden moves or you'll regret it."

The voice was low and feminine; it never once wavered as it ordered me around. In it, I could hear a subtle venom, the kind you only found in people who were at the end of their rope and had very little left to lose. I scrambled to comply with its owner's instructions.

"Good. I want you to answer some questions for me. Don't say a word, either shake your head no or nod yes. Do you understand?"

I nodded.

Two more shadowy figures stepped forward. One was tall and muscular, the other short and round. I craned my neck to see if I could see any others, but the mist obscured everything beyond the checkout lanes. The figure in front of me, the same one who'd spoken, knelt down across from me. She was too far away for me to get a good look at her face, but I could tell she was brandishing something big and sharp, and if I hadn't already decided to comply, that was more than enough convincing.

"Are you human?"

I nodded again. The figure sat in skeptical silence for a few moments before she continued her interrogation.

"Did you come here alone?"

I shook my head. She shifted and I realized she was glancing over her shoulder to share a look with her companions.

"So you got separated from your group?"

Another nod.

I'm not gonna lie, this method of communication had started to wear thin on me. I opened my mouth to speak and would've done just that if she hadn't shifted her weapon so that it was level with my skull.

Fine. Fine! She could take all night with her questions, it wasn't like three of my friends were missing in a haunted supermarket.

At the very least, some of the tension in her posture seemed to relax with each question I answered. This time when she spoke, there was a slight quiver in her voice, a hint of desperation in the question: "Do you have any idea what's happening?"

I hesitated. She must've been able to see it in my body language that I knew something, because she grabbed me by the shirt and jabbed her weapon up under my chin.

"If you and your friends had anything to do with this, I swear to god-"

The smell of burnt wiring filled the air as the fluorescent emergency lights popped and crackled to life. The sound surprised her enough to let go, and I quickly moved back out of range.

The girl in a cashier's uniform brandished a garden shovel like she was a Roman gladiator readying her prized spear. She didn't need it, of course; she would've been able to pin me to the spot with the sharpness of her gaze alone. Her face and pinstriped green apron were caked with dirt and blood, neither of which seemed to bother her all that much. Her nametag read 'Katherine.'

"Easy, Kat," said the muscular figure, resting a tentative hand on her shoulder. "Why don't we let him tell his side of the story before we start pointing fingers?"

The cashier looked like she wanted to say something, maybe tell him off, but her eyes fell on the mark around my neck. She pursed her lips sympathetically and motioned for me to talk.

I'll admit it, I did a double take the first time I looked at her companion. He was an absolute behemoth of a man, at least half a head taller than Casey with camo patterned cargo pants and a military buzz cut to boot. Between the two of them, I'd expect him to have the worse temper.

The third figure I'd seen, the shortest of the bunch, was revealed to be a portly businesswoman. She looked the least disheveled out of everyone - hair slicked back in a tightly tied bun, not a speck of dust on her skirt, tights, or jacket. The only thing about her that looked out of place was her shoeless feet. When she noticed me staring, she clicked her tongue disapprovingly and turned away.

I tried to suppress a smile at the mental image of the fiery cashier chewing her out for running around the store in noisy high heels. Judging by Kat's scowl, I failed.

"Fine, I'll ask him nicely. What the hell did you do?"

I reluctantly explained the turn of events that led up to tonight's unfortunate ghostly incident. The man, a soft-spoken navy vet named Arnold, listened thoughtfully as I walked them through the rules, the legend of Red-Robed Sadie, and the botched summoning ritual. Vivian, the businesswoman, stayed quiet through most of it. I think she was deeper in denial about the whole situation than the rest of us. She kept staring at her watch like if she concentrated hard enough, she'd wake up to find herself safe in bed.

Kat on the other hand took every pause as an opportunity to scoff and seethe at my stupidity. "Really? Your friend said 'hey, let's summon a ghost in a crowded store' and you just went along with it?"

"Technically she's a spirit," I muttered. "Look, we- I didn't think it would actually work, okay? Even on the off chance it did, Frankie said Sadie was supposed to be benevolent. Grant us a reward or lead us to treasure or something. If you're asking me why a monster showed up, your guess is as good as mine."

Kat pinched the bridge of her nose and let loose a long suffering sigh. The dark circles under her eyes seemed to deepen with the exhale of breath. A nagging, guilty voice in the back of my head made me wonder if I'd ruined any chance she had of getting a full night of sleep. How many times had she worked the graveyard shift this week?

"Alright. You said you didn't do this on purpose and I want to believe you. I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but I'm too tired to think of a nicer way to ask: do you know anything useful? Like who or- or what else is in here with us, or how to leave?"

I frowned, turning to look behind me. "Weren't the doors right-?"

Where the entrance had been a minute ago, there was only a blank expanse of painted bricks. Disbelieving, I stretched out my hand, certain that what I was seeing...

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