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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/NoCardiologist1353 on 2026-05-15 05:42:26+00:00.

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I will never go inside again.

Ever since the 2020 lockdowns, I’ve refused to step foot inside any building, I just can’t risk it. Everything started in March of 2020. At the time I was living in a small two-bedroom apartment in a crowded corner of one of the nation’s largest cities. I had no goals in life, my parents called me a bum; after barely passing high school I had no plans for college, nor did I plan to tie myself to some corporate desk. So instead, I drifted from one part time gig to the next, finally stopping in a closing shift position as a fry cook at some greasy local diner. The pay along with the unused college fund my parents begrudgingly handed over, afforded me the small yet comfortable apartment I called home, while leaving room for the essentials like Steam and Taco Bell.

It was a day like any other, I slowly woke closer to lunch than to breakfast. The gentle buzzing of my phone shook the sleep from my eyes. It was my boss, I gulped when I saw his name on the screen, hoping I had remembered all my closing tasks the night before. Lifting the phone to my ear I answered,

“Hey Kyle, is everything ok?”

“Well not exactly Tim, have you seen the news?”

“No, what’s going on?” I said shaking my head instinctively

Kyle grunted softly “you should probably switch the news on, we’re going to be closing for the time being.”

“Okay?” I responded in confusion

“You still got a job, and I’ll give you a call before we open again, stay safe out there.”

“You too” I replied though I didn’t really know why.

After Kyle hung up the phone, I entered my living room and flipped on the TV to the local news, just in time to hear the surgeon general explain the dangers of COVID-19 and announce a fifteen-day lockdown to slow the spread. My first reaction wasn’t the standard one, I was thrilled. I don’t consider myself a very social person, and the thought of a fifteen-day staycation was like a dream come true.

This was my excuse to become even more of a homebody, and I decided then I wasn’t going to go out for anything, I could facetime my parents and siblings even though they lived on the other side of town, if they complained I’d tell them it was for their own safety, especially if they invited me to go hiking which I hated. I wouldn’t even need to go to the store I could just DoorDash everything, it was an introvert’s dream. With a smile on my face, I plopped onto the couch and powered up the Xbox. Everyone was on, Brad and Mikey had been sent home from college, Chris was on standby at Red Lobster, and even Evan who hardly ever played anymore had been sent home from his corporate job. Even now I consider that first night of grinding Call of Duty with the boys to be one of my fondest memories.

I woke up at noon the next day to absolute quiet. Even though my apartment was on the sixth floor, I typically could hear the distant traffic and hustle and bustle of the street below. Slowly I pulled myself out of bed and walked over to the window, looking down I saw a barren street, no cars, no people. It was like watching a zombie movie, it was as if the whole world decided to stay home today. I chuckled quietly to myself, and said aloud

“This is awesome”

as I returned to the warm embrace of my bed. That night the Boys and I returned to the packed Call of Duty lobbies.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. By the time June arrived most people were feeling ready to move on, they were finding ways to get out and about. I saw on Facebook that my younger sisters were constantly hiking and even went on a cross-country road trip with some friends. My parents joined a social distancing pickle ball league, and even the boys weren’t online has often anymore. Brad and Mikey had really gotten into camping, Chris returned to Red Lobster, and Evan was stuck in zoom meetings, and met a nice girl online. They were all moving on, but not me, I enjoyed the isolation, and even if I wanted to get back out there, at that point I don’t think I would have known what to do.

It wasn’t until halfway through July that the lockdown started to get to me. As I sat in my living room waiting to load into a Fortnite match, a sudden wave of loneliness knocked the wind out of me. I hadn’t seen anyone in person for months, and it hit me like a load of bricks, I was lonely. I needed someone, in that moment of clarity I realized my life was wasting away on this couch as I immersed myself in digital worlds. I felt lost and alone, almost without thinking about it I turned off the Xbox, and sat there staring at a blank TV, in an apartment that smelled of old Taco Bell and unwashed dishes. I wasn’t ready to get out there, in fact the idea of going outside frightened me, I just didn’t want to be alone anymore.

As a few tears escaped my eyes, I spoke aloud for the first time in a few days, “I wish someone was here with me”. It was the first time in my life that my own company wasn’t good enough, and I craved the companionship of another person. As I sat there, my phone binged with a notification, I picked it up and saw a Facebook announcement that Evan had proposed to his girl and they were engaged. Mixed feelings of happiness for my friend and jealousy arose in me, and as I stared at the pictures a thought entered my mind “maybe I should try dating”. I remembered the dating app Evan said he met his Fiancée through, and within the hour I had finished setting up an account.

As I started to take pictures to post on my bio, I realized how disheveled I looked, my beard was patchy and unkept, my hair was greasy, and I also became painfully aware that the smell in my apartment wasn’t just the trash, but it was me too. I decided then and there to turn a new page in my life, a page that included showers, good grooming, and a clean apartment. That evening was the first one in months I wasn’t online, instead I shaved my beard, cleaned every inch of my apartment, and decided to invest in both a new wardrobe and a new set of hobbies. I decided to take up reading and journaling. After confirming an Amazon order full of books and clothes, I headed to bed. Excited for this new phase of my life.

The next day I woke earlier than usual at 10:30, I was going to work on that. I hopped in the shower and brushed my teeth. Heading into the living room I looked around, proud of how clean the space was, I hadn’t seen it this clean since I moved in, and it made the place feel bigger. Sitting on the couch I opened the dating app and saw I hadn’t matched with anyone overnight. Which didn’t surprise me, no girl would have been interested in the nasty looking picture I had added last night. It was a place holder, when the clothes I ordered arrived, I would post more appealing pictures. I sat there editing my bio, adding in my interests, hobbies and what I was looking for in a relationship. As I did something behind the screen of my phone caught my eye. There on my small coffee table, which had been empty the night before sat a coffee cup.

I stared intently at it until my mind hurt. How did it get there? I wasn’t really a coffee drinker and only had the cup because it had been a gift, so why was it there? Had I for some reason moved it from the kitchen to the coffee table? I don’t remember doing that. But eventually I convinced myself that in my cleaning frenzy the night before I must have set it there and forgotten about it, probably while I was doing the dishes.

I spent the afternoon watching YouTube videos about how to better yourself and become an interesting person, in between videos I heard a creaking sound coming from the hallway that led to the bedrooms. It was quiet but it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Slowly I stood up, turned and walked to the hallway, I saw that the door to the guest room was slightly ajar. I almost never go in there and had never heard it creak like that.

“Old apartment,” I muttered. “Door frames probably warped.”

I shut it until the latch clicked and tried not to think about it again.

That night I decided to start reading before bed, so I picked one of the few books I currently owned, got ready for bed, and climbed in with the book. A chapter in, I called it good for the night and turned off the lamp on my nightstand. As I did, I saw something, it was there for only an instant, a fraction of a second, but as the light was consumed by the darkness, I saw it. It was blurry, like the faint outline of shapes that remain when you close your eyes, but it was clearly the outline of a man standing in the doorway. As soon as I saw it, it was gone. I sat up quickly in bed, looking around but by the time the light of the moon flooded the room it was clear that nothing was there. I got up and shut the door, tried to convince myself that I was just overtired but that night I slept with the lights on.

The next day my package arrived, I excitedly opened it and put away the new clothes and books I had gotten, after following a ‘how to cut your own hair’ video, I put on my favorite of the outfits I had gotten and did my best to take some nice pictures, I then added them to my dating profile. That very evening, I got a notification that I gotten a match. Her name was Violet. Excited, I wrote her a quick message and was surprised when I got a response a few minutes later. We hit it off and spent the next several hours texting. Violet was sweet and seemed genuinely interested in me, something I hadn’t experienced from a girl since m...

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