Scary Horror Stories by Dr. NoSleep - I can’t stop playing Xbox for long enough to move the rotting corpse out of my apartment

Episode Date: June 10, 2022

🎧 Check out my new True Crime podcast called Crimehub. Just search Crimehub in the search bar to find it. 🎉 Ad-free episodes + bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/drnosleep 🎥 YouTube:��https://youtube.com/c/DrNoSleep ✅ Send all advertising inquiries to: [e-mail] Author: Matt Doggett Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/MatthewDoggettAuthor/ Website/Newsletter sign up: matthewdoggettauthor.com DISCLAIMER: This episode contains explicit content. Parental guidance is advised for children under the age of 18. Listen at your own discretion. #drnosleep #scarystories #horrorstories #doctornosleep #truescarystories #horrorpodcast #horror Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Don't miss what the movie blog calls something you need to watch. Saving those children is how we all go home. From binge all episodes exclusively on Paramount Plus. shot was good. The guy's body jerked and then fell down like he'd been hit by a hammer. Smiling, I moved my position and looked for my next target. The sense of accomplishment like a drug all by itself. Suddenly, bullets came out of nowhere, smashing into me. I came out of my body to see it lying on the ground for a few seconds before I respawned. I was playing BlackOps 1 on my Xbox 1 console. I'd been at it for a couple of hours, although it didn't. It didn't

seemed like much more than 15 minutes. There were plenty of other games available, but I liked the older Call of Duty games the most. Maybe because they're what I grew up playing. I didn't mind the outdated graphics, or the fact that not many people play them anymore. However, there were still enough players like me shooting at each other in Team Death Match. Glancing at my phone, I realized that my girlfriend Bethany would be over soon. I hadn't even showered yet or anything, and my apartment was a mess. So I shut off the game and got up to get ready for Netflix and chill time. I cleaned up the takeout boxes and the beer cans and the empty snack bags I had lying all around the place,

filling up my kitchen trash can. This was the routine. Both Bethany and I were pretty busy with work, so we only got together once or twice a week, usually Fridays and Saturdays. So when I'd get home from work all the other days, I'd usually plonked down in front of the tea, TV, fire up the Xbox, and play Call of Duty while drinking some beers and chowing down on some snacks. Then, when Friday came around, I'd clean up the apartment. I really didn't think Bethany would mind if my apartment was a little messy. Hers always looked like a tornado had rolled through, but it was an excuse to clean my place up once a week, really more for me than for her. It was just so easy to get sucked into the routine of video games, sleep, and work during the weekdays.

But I was trying to be a responsible adult, kind of. So cleaning the place up seemed like a good idea. I pulled the trash bag out and headed out the front door to take it to the dumpster. It was about 9 o'clock at night, and my little apartment complex was pretty quiet. The orange lights and the humid summer night gave the air a kind of heavy feeling. It was a feeling I usually enjoyed, kind of peaceful, like I was the only one around. But tonight, it was unnerving for some reason. The nearest dumpster was in a little concrete U at the edge of the parking lot.

There wasn't a light near it, so I stepped out of the orange illumination and into the darkness around the dumpster. A horrible smell came to me, and not just the kind of nasty dumpster smell that the area always had. This smelled like death. I gacked. I covered my mouth and nose with one hand, but it did a little good. As soon as I tossed the bag in the dumpster, I turned to head back. But something moving in the dark space between the back of the dumpster and the concrete wall caught my eye. Whatever was moving was low to the ground, and I thought it was a rat or something at first.

But as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I made out the back feet and tail of a dog. Even though I could only see this fraction of the animal, I knew by the way it was lying that it was dead. there was an unmistakable slackness to it. Keeping my left hand over my nose and mouth, I stepped closer, turning my body sideways to fit between the wall and the dumpster. Lots of my neighbors had dogs, and I wanted to see if I recognized the poor animal.

I'd left my phone inside my apartment, so I had no flashlight to shine on the area. I stopped and peered down into the darkness, seeing a mass of writhing maggots on the dog. I gagged again and looked away for a moment. Then I looked back, thinking that the dog was familiar to me. It was a brown and white beagle, so skinny that its ribs showed through its ragged fur. It wouldn't have surprised me to learn that it had died of starvation.

I realized I didn't actually recognize the dog, but it didn't make me feel any better about it. Of course, I wasn't about it. touch the thing, not without some serious precautions. Taking one last look at the dog, I noticed its ear was moving. The ear was lying flat against the side of the dog's head, and it looked as if something small was under it, moving it in little jerks and starts. I suddenly realized that something was coming out of the dog's ear canal. Sure enough, something small and strangely shaped darted out from beneath the ear and scurried under the dumpster. It didn't look like any insect I'd ever seen.

In fact, it didn't look like anything I'd ever seen. Of course, it was dark, and I'd only caught a glimpse of the thing. I turned around and headed back to my apartment, trying not to think about how that poor dog had died. As I stepped up the curb from the parking lot to the grass around my apartment building, I felt something snagged the back of my right pamphleg. I stopped and looked back over my... my shoulder, but didn't see anything that it could have snagged on, so I shrugged it off and headed

back inside. With my apartment somewhat clean, I headed to the bathroom to take a shower. As I dropped my pants, something darted out from them, scurrying along the bathroom floor and disappearing behind the toilet. I jumped back and made a noise that I never would have lived down if any of my friends had heard it. What the heck was that thing? I said to myself. It was about the size of a small cricket, but with too many legs and the shiny body of a slug. I was almost sure it was the same thing I'd seen come out of the dog's ear. I hurried out of the bathroom and grabbed one of my shoes that went back in. Shoe held up and ready to strike.

Crouching down next to the toilet, I contorted my body to see if I could locate the thing. It was nowhere to be found. After a few minutes of searching, I gave it up and took a quick shower. I was getting dressed when Bethany showed up with delicious smelling Italian takeout from a nearby restaurant. The amazing food and the company made me forget about the dog and the weird bug. We went to bed around one in the morning. It didn't take me long to fall asleep.

And once I did, I had a very strange and vivid dream. In the dream, I stumbled out of my morning. bed and into the bathroom, shutting the door and slapping at the light switch. It felt like I was drunk, my vision swimming, my eyes seeming to go out of focus. I stood in front of the mirror and looked at myself. My skin was shiny with sweat, and a vein in my temple was pulsing. The walls around me swelled and bubbled before they transformed. Ragged white and brown fur replaced the walls of my bathroom, and on the fur, football-sized maggots squirmed, their yellow-white skin glistening from the lights above the mirror. My eyes tracked around

the room as these maggots seemed to grow bigger while the fur-covered walls closed in, the pungent reek of death suddenly overpowering. I looked back at myself in the mirror, only to see that my face was no longer my own. It was a dog's rotting head. I wanted to scream, But I couldn't. I put my hands to my head and shut my eyes, willing this nightmare to go away. But when I opened my eyes again, the walls had closed to the size of a phone booth. I looked down to see that I was standing in a pile of these huge maggots, up to my knees and rising.

The stench of dead flesh was all I could breathe. I closed my eyes again and screamed. This time I could. And suddenly I was sitting in my living room, playing call of duty, and everything was fine. More than fine, actually. A sense of euphoria settled on me as I made a headshot. I laughed and whooped and kept playing. Next thing I knew, I was waking up in my bed, the dream fading away like the ephemeral thing that it was.

I could hear Bethany in the kitchen, and I could smell coffee. Checking the time, I saw that I'd slept in. It was 11 o'clock already. I'd slept for nearly 10 hours, which was definitely out of character for me. Stumbling into the kitchen, I saw Bethany sitting on the couch reading a book with a steaming cup of coffee in hand. She had dark hair and a small smattering of freckles on her face under light brown eyes. She was a knockout and incredibly cool. We'd been dating for about eight months, but we'd known each other for several years.

How are you feeling? She said with a knowing smile. I'm good. I overslept. Why? You don't remember getting up in the same thing? the middle of the night last night? She asked. I furrowed my brow and shook my head. What did I do? You had some kind of nightmare, Bethany said. I woke up to you screaming in the

bathroom. It kind of freaked me out, actually. I remembered my dream and shuddered at the thought of all those maggots and the stink of that dead dog. When I tried to wake you up, you said something about playing video games. Bethany continued. That's when I remembered hearing somewhere that you shouldn't try waking up someone who's sleepwalking, so I didn't try again. I just watched you as you came out here and started playing your Xbox. I figured you'd fall asleep on the couch, so I went back to bed. You don't remember any of that? No, I said.

Well, I mean, yeah, I do. But I thought it was a dream. I didn't realize I was actually up and walking around. That's crazy. Yeah. Have you ever sleepwalked before? Like when you were a kid? I shook my head.

I don't think so. That's really weird. Yeah, well, it's no wonder you're tired. I woke up to use the bathroom at five this morning, and you were still playing video games. I said your name, but you didn't respond. I shrugged and stepped into the small kitchen to get a cup of coffee. The kitchen was divided by the living room by a bar-type counter,

so it was easy to talk to. someone in the living room from the kitchen. So while I got my coffee, I told Bethany about the dog I saw by the dumpster, then I told her about my nightmare. She seemed to care more about the dog than about my freaky nightmare, but I guess I was still alive, and the dog had died what looked like a terrible death, so I couldn't blame her. But I felt uneasy about the whole thing, and I thought about the dog many times throughout the day. It was Saturday, and we went over to a little bit of a Mutual's friend's house that evening for a chill get-together. There were a few of our regular circle of friends around, Drew, Taylor, Mandy, and Dylan. Most of them were hanging out in the

backyard around a fire pit, drinking beer, and shooting the shit. It wasn't cold out, so the fire was just for the hell of it. There were some other friends, people I'd met, but didn't know too well, hanging around in the house. Two of them were Jose and Reggie. They were both playing Xbox on the big screen television in Drew's living room. They were taking turns playing Halo Infinite on Big Team Battle mode. The living room was right next to the front door, so it was the first thing I saw when I walked in with Bethany. I stopped behind the couch and watched for a little while. Suddenly, the sound of Bethany's voice faded in, and I looked around. What's going on with you, Chris? She was saying. She seemed mad about something. And while Reggie was still playing,

Jose had turned in his seat on the couch and was looking up at me with a confused look on his face. What? What's wrong? What's wrong? She said. I asked you to come with me and say hi to the others like three times. You were just staring at the television. Sorry, I said.

I'm just tired, I guess. We went out and said aloe to the others, but my heart wasn't in it. I was starting to worry that something was wrong with me. For the life of me, I couldn't remember. I couldn't remember Bethany asking me to come outside with her. All I could remember was watching the game. And I thought I had been watching it for about 10 seconds. But according to her, it had been closer to two minutes.

I sat in a camp chair next to the fire for a while, just staring into the flames. Dylan offered me a beer, but I refused. I was starting to feel sick. It's never too early to plan your summer story in Europe with WestJet, From rolling countryside to cobblestone streets, begin your next chapter. Book your seat at westjet.com or call your travel agent. Westjet, where your story takes off. As I stared into the flames, the world around me seemed to lose its solidity.

Everything but the flames looked fake and two-dimensional. I started getting chills. Sorry, I said, standing up and rushing inside to the bathroom. I made it to the sink and started dry heaving, unable to throw anything up. I looked at myself in the mirror, half expecting to see a dog's rotting face in place of my own. Instead, I saw my own head, but it was bulging out here and there, as if something inside my skull was pressing out. The middle of my forehead bulged out, followed by my left and then my right temples. Something scratched at the back of my throat,

and I opened my mouth to see some insect with long, pointy legs retreating down my throat. I shoved a finger down there, trying to get the thing out, causing me to gag. I hacked and coughed and spit, obsessed with getting the bug out of my throat. Pretty soon, people were knocking at the door with concern in their voices. Ignoring them, I continued spitting, but nothing came up. Finally, I looked up into the mirror and jerked back when I saw that my eyes were bleeding. No, they weren't just bleeding. They were full of blood, and it just kept spilling out.

An unbearable pain seated itself in the middle of my head, like a spike being shoved deep into my brain. I clenched my jaw as my fists balled up into stones. Suddenly, something shifted somewhere inside me, and I closed my eyes. The pain disappeared as quickly as it had come. When I opened my eyes again, there was nothing wrong with me, nothing at all. I opened the door to the bathroom to see Drew, Bethany, and Dylan all there. Dude, you okay? Drew said. I'm good, I said.

Must be a stomach virus. I just need to sit down on the couch for a little while. You want to go, babe? Bethany said. No, no really, I'm good. I just want to sit down for a while. The three of them followed behind me, silent with concern. As I made my way to the living room and plopped down on the couch next to Reggie. Jose was sitting in a chair over to the right.

Xbox controller in hand. They were still playing Halo Infinite. After hovering around behind the couch for a while, Bethany went back outside to join the others. I'd already asked if I could play. And once Jose died for the second time, he handed me the controller. That was how they were doing it.

Two deaths, and your turn was up. As soon as I started playing, the world seemed to fade away. I no longer cared about the strange hallucinations or the dead dog or pretty much anything. I focused all I had on the game. It was as if I entered it, and there was no other life for me. Every hit dodged, every surprise I worked my way out of,

every time I captured the flag, and every kill just pulled me further in. The sense of accomplishment and well-being boosting me up into the clouds. I only came out of the trance when someone shoved me. What the hell? I said, looking to my right at Reggie. Why are you shoving me? You've died six times, man. Reggie said, clearly pissed off.

Don't try to tell me you haven't heard us talking to you. Jose was staring at me from his chair, looking at me like I'd just taken a dump in the middle of the floor. Sorry, I said, handing the controller to Reggie. I didn't realize. Bullshit, Reggie said. You're just a fucking asshole. Before I knew what I was doing,

I stood up and slapped the controller out of Reggie's hands. I felt something raging inside me, something I'd never felt before. It was primitive, deeply embedded in my lizard brain, as if my food or my woman or my very existence was under threat, and I didn't even try to fight it. I just let it take over. I punched Reggie in the face twice before Jose got up and pulled me off. He was shouting at me to stop, but I didn't. I elbowed him in the side of the head, knocking him down. Then I turned back to Reggie, who was standing up from the couch coming at me. His face covered in blood.

I kicked him in the stomach, sending him back onto the couch. Then I hit him in the face again. What the hell are you doing? Bethany screamed. She'd come in from outside, drawn by the shouting. Everyone else was behind her. I looked at them, not really seeing them at all. They didn't seem real.

Their feelings and all their social constructs seemed as flimsy as wet paper. Seeing that Jose and Reggie weren't going to fight anymore, I picked up the controller from the floor and sat back down on the couch to resume my game. My hand was slick with Reggie's blood, so I wiped it on the couch before playing again. In my peripheral vision, I saw Drew come into the living room and start messing with something on the wall near the TV. The screen went blank, my game disappearing into oblivion. I jumped up from the couch and got in Drew's face.

What the hell do you think you're doing? I said. Plug it back in. You need to leave, Drew said. Now! I looked around at all the wide eyes, staring back at me. Jose was still on the floor, gazing fearfully up at me. Reggie seemed only half-conscious on the couch. Fine, I said, tossing the controller down. Fuck you!

As I went out the front door, I heard Bethany apologizing to everyone, telling them she didn't know what was wrong with me. Nothing, I thought. Nothing's wrong with me. I got into the car and started it up, putting it into gear just as Bethany opened the passenger door. What are you doing, Chris? She asked with venom in her voice.

Were you planning on leaving me here? You're in the car, aren't you? I said. Just drive. She said. As soon as we get back to your place, I'm going home. You need to see a psychiatrist or something. Your behavior tonight has been insane.

I wouldn't be surprised if those guys pressed charges. As we drove home, I felt that primitive urge to fight fade away. Instead, my mind turned to sex. It was like the urge to fight was replaced by the urge to fight. Walk. Suddenly, that became my goal, but I knew it wouldn't happen if Bethany was mad at me. So I started talking to her in a soothing voice, apologizing for my behavior, and begging her to forgive me. I said anything I thought would help me get her into bed. I lied, saying I would go see a doctor on Monday. I'd never been much of a salesman or a smooth talker before, but now, it was as

if I was Don Juan himself. And by the time we got to my place, Bethany, had cooled considerably. She promised she would stay the night, which I took as a good sign. I put a movie on in the living room, and we got settled in. Then I made a move, but she wasn't having it.

No, she said, pushing me away. I'm still mad at you. You're not getting late tonight. We need to talk about what the hell happened tonight, okay? But I'm willing to wait until tomorrow, so let's just watch this movie and then go to bed. Clenching my jaw, I leaned forward and grabbed the,

the Xbox controller. I turned the movie off and started playing Call of Duty Black Ops. Wow, Bethany said. Okay, I'm out of here. This time, I let her go, not bothering to say goodbye. I don't know how long I played that night, but I don't remember sleeping at all. In fact, a week went by, and all I did was play video games. I ignored phone calls for my boss, Bethany, and my friends. I only left the house to get food. usually sweets and sodas and snacks. When Friday night rolled around, I heard a knock at my door. At first, I ignored it, expecting them to go away.

But when they didn't, I paused my game and got up to answer it. Bethany rushed in as soon as I opened the door. Chris, I'm worried about you. I think... She stopped talking as she looked around my trash department, wrinkling her nose up like she smelled something terrible. Have you gone to work once this week? he asked. I shook my head. And when was the last time he took a shower?

I don't know, I said. I've been busy. Doing what? Playing video games? I sighed and stepped around the discarded soda bottles and candy wrappers, sitting on the couch and resuming my game. Bethany kept trying to talk to me, but I just ignored her. A few hours later, something made me stop playing.

I just paused the game and stood up. looking around for something, but I didn't know what. Something compelled me to go to my bedroom. I pushed open the door and saw that Bethany was sleeping on the bed, fully clothed. Suddenly, it clicked. She was what I was looking for. It was time. I went over and leaned down, opening my mouth about a foot above her head.

I felt something crawled down the back of my throat from my nasal passages, but I didn't move. I kept my mouth open. breathing as little as possible. The thing crawled out of my mouth and dropped onto Bethany's forehead. It looked like a tiny slug with legs, a lot of little legs. It crawled around on Bethany's face before disappearing into her nose. She snorted and coughed, but didn't wake up. Suddenly, a kind of clarity came to me.

I don't know what caused it, maybe seeing that thing disappear into Bethany, but I had a flash of knowledge that I recognized as my own. old self. It was only with this flash that I even register that there was an old self. Until then, I hadn't realized I had changed, but I had. And there was still a part of me somewhere deep inside. That old self had put the pieces together, and it was screaming to get out. It was me, the core of me, and it had been scratching at the surface for a week, only I could not hear it. Whatever was inside me was too powerful. It was all about dopamine. It was all about dopamine. The thing inside me, the thing that had taken over, it fed off of dopamine that pleasure

chemical released during sex, eating sweets, and even when playing video games, for me, especially when playing video games. That was how I'd been getting dopamine released before, and the thing burrowing in my brain somehow knew this. It was the biggest reward for the least amount of effort. And in that flash of clarity, which didn't last much more than a minute, I realized that The thing, the creature, had been living in the dog. Somehow, I knew that.

Because the creature had brought some of the dog with it, some consciousness or memories or essence had been transferred to me. And after a week, I had provided the thing with enough dopamine for it to reproduce. And the creature that slipped into Bethany was its offspring. This, more than anything, got me moving. I ran out to the kitchen and grabbed the knife out of a drawer, flipping the sharp point around toward my face. It was in there somewhere, behind my eyes, hunkered down in my pleasure center. The hallucinations, the erratic behavior, the violence, it was all the things doing, the creature,

the organism, the parasite. I had to get it out, and a knife would do it. A knife would get it out. Holding the tool in both hands out in front of me, I readied to plunge it into my right eyeball. I took a deep breath and jerked my hands toward my face, closing my eyes on reflex. But there was no pain. In fact, there was no more panic, no more despair. I opened my eyes to see the point of the knife there, centimeters from my right eye, my hands rock steady. What was I thinking? There was nothing wrong with me, nothing at all. I put the knife back in the drawer, chuckling at the absurdity. A parasite feeding off of dopamine in my brain? How crazy can you get? Sitting down on the couch, I picked up the controller and resumed playing my game.

In the early hours of the morning, I heard Bethany screaming in the bedroom, but it didn't last long. And a little while later, she came out and sat next to me on the couch. Can I play? she asked. I reached down and grabbed my other Xbox controller from a basket under the coffee table. I handed it to her without a glance. That was eight months ago. We've been using credit cards and loans from our parents to survive without jobs. At least, we had been until they started refusing to give us more money.

I'm not exactly sure when Bethany died, but it must have been recently because her body is only just starting to stink. The apartment is littered with fast food trash, candy wrappers, and two-liter soda bottles. I can't even see the floor anymore. I think that's how Bethany died. She tripped on a half-full bottle of Mountain Dew when she got up to use the rest room. She hit her head on the countertop that divides the kitchen from the living room. She may have been alive for a day or two after that.

She was making noises now that I think about it. But she's certainly not alive now. As for me, I've gained about 50 pounds, but it doesn't really matter. As long as I can keep playing, everything will be okay. I wonder briefly where all the offspring we produce. over the months have gone, probably to the neighbors. It certainly is much quieter here than it used to be. But even if there were parties going on every night,

I wouldn't care. Nope, I have everything I need right here. Just so long as my Xbox keeps working. Lazzang sur-gillet, puissance-molyne, for 15 minutes. We're like to dojo. Prere to play.

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