I should never have taken this job

Please forgive typos and the rambling. I’m freakin out and im sorry if this doesn’t make any sense.

Im so fuckifn scared I just wanna go home

But I’m on duty waiting for the cops so I have time to type this up

I work overnight security at a local park.

One of my responsibilities is kinda disgusting but I used to just do it anyway: cleaning up animal carcasses

It's kinda morbid and sad, I know, but those remains need to be removed from public areas to keep the park nice and clean. We obviously dont want some little kid to find a rotting bird or somebody's dog to come running out of the woods with entrails in its teeth.

So we remove the bodies.

We dump them off an old service road out back.

And the remains always disappear, I used to think coyotes took ‘em

But…

About a 5 minute hike past the dumping grounds there's a small compound of abandoned buildings. They’ve always creeped me out so I rarely go back there. but a few years ago I did post pictures on Reddit to see if anyone knew what those buildings may have been for

I dug up that post if yiu want see:

Back when I took these pics I heard stranfe noises coming out of that brick building… almost sounded like a woman moaning. I thought it had to be a mourning dove or something but even then it freaked me the fuck out.

Anyway just being near those creepy buildings gives the dump this charged, negative energy.

Guess I'm just a baby about it, but I usually don't mind the dark elsewhere in the park

Only there.

if I’m at the dmup and a hear a branch crack it makes my skin crawl.

During the daylight i can shake it off, but after dusk the noises really settle in, you know?

One time I had to dump a deer around midnight, and I saw a bunch of eyes staring at me from the treeline

I assumed it was coyotes waiting for their snack. But they never took their eyes off me. they just stared.

I remember going bakc in daylight to try and find tracks but they weren’t like anything I’d seen before. If you’re curious:

people said it was just a double imprint from a deer… but deer don’t watch you like those eyes were watching me

Around that time, I had to move the body of a wild raccoon that I sorta recognized. we had a big giy who would visit our dumpsters same time very night. I liked seeing him around and started to think of him as my buddy.

But then he stopped showing up and I found a roadkilled raccoon, same size.

I couldn’t just dump him for the scavengers

So I took a lunch break to build a burial mound, of heavy sycaomore logs.

Each log weighed around 50+ pounds, and I wedged them in so they’d stay put

I know this is morbid. But I would periodically check the mound and check on his remains aas a way of remembering my raccoon friend

It became like a ritual almost, a way for me to mourn

at one point his skull was mostly defleshed so I posted a pic on a bone photography group, thinking that would sorta be honoring the raccoon in a way.

I know how weird that sounds

But if you want to see the picture here it is:

But the crazy thing was, like a week after that I found the mound totally opened up and the skull missing

Back when this happened I felt so guilty for not truly burying him. I try not to feel any sentimental attachement to the poor creatures that i placed back there, but this one poor guy just felt special

Nd the “coyotes” getting him really hurt.

But I remmeber thinking: atleast wherever he ends up, he will eventually reintegrate into the earth. Sounds cheesy, but that’s the circle of life, right?

Well, I was wrong.

I hate this memory. But I have to share it.

One night at a little after midnight, I went back to the office to charge the park phone.

but i wasn't being careful, when I opened the door the park cat (Simba) ran right out.

he is NOT an outdoor cat.

So I ran after him.

Word of adviee if you're ever trying to retrieve a cat DO NOT RUN AFTER IT.

Simba bolted right towards the dump.

I zipped back to the office for a treats and his laser pointer.

Then I hiked after him rattling his treats and calling his name. of course cats don't fucking come when you call, so it was pointless.

And my own voice kinda scared me in the silence of the dump

But I had to keep looking

I took a video on my own phone. in case the worst shoukd happen I didn’t want to be accused of not trying to find simba

Then my light caught a little shadow in an old concrete culvert thing. I thought it was simba!

I went for a closer look….

probably would have shat my pants if I hadn’t taken care of that earlier in my shift.

The video is crap. But you can see: that’s a pile of animal bones.

Clearly arranged with purpose

part of me was like, Its my job to investigate…

but I was trembling, and I had this strong, unexplainable feeling that I was being watched. I was simply to scared to stay on duty or keep looking for simba.

im ashamed to admit: I ran.

Full on panic-spring back to office

When i heard simba's bell under one of the trucks I couldn’t believe my luck!

But. My stomach was still in my throat.

Simba was spooked too. I begged him to come out but he wouldn't even budge for treats, or the laser pointer

It cuts off because I had to put everything down, climb under the truck, and scoop simba by hand.

Even all these years later I remember that night too clearly. I didn’t do any more rounds. Just sat there with all the lights on and the door barred with a chair.

I had my back to the wall and a hatchet in my hand. Just in case

I just kept replaying what I saw.

I convinced myself it was just teenagers. Dumb edgy kids trying to prank me.

But who goes to these lengths for a prank? Fucking psychos.

How far would these freak kids go to terrify me? Could they be violent?

When the morning crew showed up I didn’t tell them shit.

what could I have said?

“good morning guys. Just want to let you know I’m a fucking crybaby coward.”

So I kept it bottled up.

For a day or two

but I had to tell my boss. This really was a security issue and it was my job to report what I’d seen.

I drove in on my day off and told him straight.. even requested a transfer to a different park in the county.

He ddint' acknowledge that part, just went, "THOSE DAMNED KIDS!!"

there was this crazy look in his eyes that legit kinda scared me

He paused then he said something like “just punks trying to party. DOn't worry bout it. Just come in for your next shift. As normal”

I reiterated that I was BEYOND uncomfortable. You know how embarassing it is to admit to your boss that ypu're chickenshit?

Still

I thought he’d work with me, but he stepped right to me and actually yelled in my face: "They're just stupid fucking kids! If you don't show up for your shift, you’re fired!”

God! I remember thinking “I should call HR”

But I never did.

Instead I nodded and left and sat in my car and cried while I cleaned his little spit droplets off my glasses.

As a single dad with custody of three kids… I needed the money more than I needed dignity.

When I got in next shift he just asked how my day was, and if I needed anything from him before he left for the night and left me in charge.

I looked at him like, are you fucking serious?

I told him if I saw any roadkill I wouldnt be willing to dump it. He shrugged and said, "Just document it. I'll have the morning guys get it”

so things just kinda….

Went back to “normal.”

Kinda forced myself to forget about it, put the whole thing out of my mind.

Then yesterday I saw a random meme about asbestos in old abandoned buildings and there they were again: looming in my mind’s eye.

I guess they’d always been there, standing in the dark of memrory, waiting for me

since then I’ve had this ugly sense of foreboding. an anxiety that’s made it impossible to sleep.

Well at the start of my shift tonight, before my boss left I started, "past the dump. Those abandened buildings--" His eyes narrowed…

but I pressed on: "-- I was wondering what they used to be."

All he said was, "some kind of waste treatment facility. DOn't go back there. Its not safe."

THen he said, "Oh! And did you notice: those kids haven’t caused any trouble since your report from a couple years back?”

Then he left.

And I'm...

I'm not trying to sound paranoid, but hte way he smiled when he said that.... it made me feel contaminated.

the more I thoyght about it the more I worried that maybe he did something to them?

I know that sounds insane, but honestly.

I felt like reality was slipping. It’s worse now

But remembering the way he yelled in my face? Violence didn’t seem impossible

I did NOT want to go back to those buildings again, but the fact that he warned me not to and then seemed to gloat about those kids not causing mischief anymore...

i had no choice but to go look

Fearing the worst— fearing I’d discover a pile of dead teens hidden behind boarded windows like a mess under a rug

i got a crowbar and a powerful light, then i went to the building where I’d heard that mourning dove alm those years before

When I got there door wasn’t even boarded up!

Still

I was glad for the cold iron bar in my hand.

Made me feel safer

I shined teh light through the door and i swaear to fucking GOD i heard a giggle, then clear as daylight, a woman's voice from deeper in the dark of the stairwell: "Are you back to play, my prince?"

I fucking jumped out of my skin

I though she must have been a junky or psycho hiding down there, in the basement.

Maybe she’d attack me

But I told myself “I’m on duty. This is my job.”

I said, "Ma'am, I'm park security, you need to exit this building immediately. it's not safe."

Her laugh was like spoiled milk

I wanted to hurl.

I told her I was calling the police

Then she stopped laughing and said, "I'm sorry. just scared. He chained me down here and it's been years since I've heard a human voice."

My head was buzzing. Chained her up? Years? Who?

My instninct should have been to jsut fucking get far far away and call the poliice riht then and there.

But the idea that some poor woman was trapped down there made my blood boil.

couldn't leave her, so I buttoned up what little courage i had.

I stepped into the building.

It smelled terrible . LIke feces and…. If you’ve ever smelled a dog with a gangrenous wound, it smelled like that.

Sharp, dizzying.

Thick.

There was broken glass and rusted scrap metal everywhere. I shined the light down the stairs

And I heard her kinda crooning, "Are you coming to rescue me mister? I'll let you... do anything you want to me. I don't think my prince will mind."

I hissed at her to shut up. And she did, but the silence wasn't any better. I felt like id stepped through a gate to hell, and every step took me deeper.

I’m not a believer, haven't been to church in probably two decades. But I found myself whispering a prayer wjth each breath

Then finally I was at the top of the stairs

i had to decend.

Each step I just kept saying "Jesus please."

I don't even know what I was really asking, just: Jesus please. Jesus please.” on repeat

At the corner, I swung the light and saw her. Must have been a 30 year old woman, chained to the ceiling, completely nude.

There were festering sores, where her shackles dug into her skin, and her toes wiggled through a heaped puddle of her own filth.

Her skin was grotesquely pale. Like a cave fish. And her eyes were utterly mad. Maddening to witness.

But she had this pouty look on her face and kept licking her lips.

THe worst part is that she looked very pregnant. She was thin, but her belly was massively distended.

I think I saw an imprint: a hand pressing against the inside of her womb.

She said, "give me a good fuck before my husband comes back. If you're lucky you might even feel the baby kick. But leave the chains. THey get me so wet."

I looked again at her wounds and grimaced.

I could barely keep my feet, and felt light headed.

"Jesus please."

When I said that she recoiled and that seemed to break my shock.

I turned back up the stairs and rushed out into the daylight then I puked all over myself. I fell to the dust, shaking.

I gasped for fresh air but the smell of her shit and her rot lingered in my nose

She yelled after me, "why don't you come back here and let me eat that hard cock?!"

I stumbled away from that building and her voice crept after me. "Do you like the little love letters on the kids’ room? My husband wrote those for our babies. I’m glad you told him what they did with your bones! because they dishonored their mother and father and needed to be punished.”

Her voice rang in my ears and I thought I'd go insane. I clamped my hands over my temples

My eyes swung around the complex.

I saw the graffiti on the other building

fuck

KILL

leering cartoonish faces

DADDY <3 YOU

A pentagram

I closed my eyes. I was losing my mind.

But that woman seemed real. maybe she was crazy too? IF she'd been down there for YEARS... she prolly had Stockholm syndrome or something.

God. poor lady.

one thing was certain, though… she was pregnant, and she had been talking about other babies.

kids.

Who had been punished.

My boss had said the kids hadnt caused any more problems.

He'd warned me away from these buildings.

And I'd found a pregnant madwoman chained up talking about her prince

I was overwhelmed.

Understatement

My mind was a shitstorm of chaos and fear

Nothing made sense

I wanted was to run far away and forget evreythjng .

but there's some stupid part of me that's good.

It wasn’t heroism or valor. I just knew I couldn't live with myself if I ran from people in need.

I heard her voice high, gleeful: "oooh, you gonna go check on the littles?"

How the fuck she had any idea what I was doing, I didn't know or care.

Distantly I heard her voice: "They're over there, just peek on in."

I was looking at the building with the graffiti.

I walked up the stairs, the sun was still out

that little scrap of goodness in my soul wouldn't have been enough to if it had been night.

I used the crowbar and popped open the door.

I shined my light in there and felt my mind break. There were bone stacks EVERYWHERE.

The stacks were all different patterns. SOme were tall skeletal cairns. Others were patterned mandalas of antler and bone, sprawling across the cracked floor.

And along the walls were chained the freaks.

Their beady eyes were on me.

They were infantile, childlike, but sure as hell NOT human. Some had gangly claws, some had beastly legs. Some had hooves and others had horns.

These children were uglier than sin. As if picasso and Goya had collaborated a nightmare

They were stunned, silent

But only for a breath

Then one clacked its slavering jaws, and then there was a cacophony of hellish noise pouring out of that evil room: rattling chains, howls and whoops.

Not a word. Only shrieks and giggles and moans, but I could tell by the their eyes and by the drool on their haggard lips:

THey were hungry.

Clear as crystal, a miserable image blinded my mind: my bones arranged in their own little stack. my ribs splayed like wings, and my skull grinning stupidly atop my propped up spine. All my bones gnawed clean, just like those roadkill bits decorating the floor between me and the beasts.

I stumbled back, slammed the door and finally found the strength to run.

I actually ran to the office and when I got there I wasn't even panting. It was like I had wings.

I Grabbed Simba and carried him to my car.

Then I got in and called the police....

I told them everything

They told me not to leave

That fucing sucks because my gut is telling me to drive home NOW and never set foot in this fucking park again

WAIT

I jsut got a text form my boss.

He said, "I warned you not to go back there. We're on our way."

How does he even know? What the fuck am I supposed to do?