Submitted by JBalentine t3_zxq2sq in nosleep

As a disclaimer, if after reading the title you have no clue what I’m talking about, I’m sorry to say, but this post isn’t for you. You can go ahead and read it if you want, there’s nothing I can do to stop you, but you’re not going to gain anything from this.

If you know what I'm talking about after reading the title, then I guess you’re who I’m looking for. With that in mind I’ll ask again, have you noticed the faceless people recently?

If you answered yes then I’m glad to hear that. It means I’m no longer the only one.

If you’re like me I don’t know how much help I’ll actually be to you, but I will share what I know. I should probably start off by saying I have no idea where they came from or how long they’ve been here. Personally, I’ve only spotted them recently. For all I know that’s when they first popped up. If you have any more information on that topic specifically please let me know.

Now on to my story.

It was earlier this month when I spotted one for the first time. I was out Christmas shopping with my mom. We were casually walking through the mall, browsing through the various stores, when I caught my first glimpse of one. It walked out of a store by itself, glanced quickly over at the crowd me and my mom were walking in, then turned the other way and took off. In that brief moment it turned its head I managed to catch a glimpse. I wasn’t sure what I had just seen. Nobody around me had any sort of reaction, at least from what I could tell, so I assumed I was mistaken. I had simply seen things wrong, and as the man disappeared into the crowd ahead, I soon lost track of him. From behind he looked like nothing more than a bald man.

After about an hour of mindless strolling, we made for the food court. We grabbed lunch and a seat at an open table. I ate my burger pretty quickly and proceeded to mindlessly look around as I sipped on my soda. That’s when I saw him again. It looked to be the same guy as far as I could tell, and he was walking away from burger king with his tray. This time there was no mistaking it, the guy just didn’t have a face. If you’ve ever seen one of those wooden drawing mannequins then you'll know what I'm talking about. Instead of the clearly defined features of a nose, browline, mouth, and eyes, all that was there was smooth semi-round flesh.

I sorta jolted up right when I spotted him again but it took a minute for my brain to process what I was seeing. From the neck down he was completely normal, dressed in a green jacket, a Metallica shirt, and jeans, but his face was gone. I couldn’t help myself from watching as he set down his tray and took a seat. From what I could tell he wasn’t aware that I was staring at him. If anything I was more intrigued at the time than freaked out. People have faces, it’s a defining characteristic of, well, people. We’re so accustomed to them that we find them in things whenever we can. Not seeing one where you expect one to be honestly creeped me out, that said, I just assumed it was a mask or something. Maybe some weird take on modern art about the perception of others or you know something else artsy. I didn’t know what it was I was looking at but I didn’t jump to anything insane.

Genuinely perplexed by what I was seeing I looked around to see how everyone else was reacting to the guy, but to my surprise, nobody paid him any mind. Everyone around me was either eating, talking, or scrolling on their phones. Even the other people watchers didn’t seem to find the guy strange. No one whispered or pointed. It was like everyone simply ignored him. If anything it was more the lack of attention he was getting that struck me as strange. That was the oddest thing about the masked man. Nobody cared, as if they didn’t even notice him.

The feeling I felt here I can only compare to what it must feel like to spot a unicorn in a herd of horses and being the only one to notice. Not really being able to take it, I grabbed my mother's attention.

“Hey mom, check out that guy’s face.” I said as hushed as I could and signaled with a point of my thumb.

She took a quick look and then glared at me. All she said was. “You know better than to make fun of others.”

I looked back at her confused and this time a little louder said. “But mom, his face, its-”

“Timothy Richard Scott! That’s enough!” Her chair screeched as she stood and looked down at me, clearly irritated. “Since you're done, clean this up and meet me by the bookstore.”

She grabbed her purse and proceeded to head out of the food court, not paying any mind to the faceless man. She wasn’t the only one though, her outburst had caught the attention of everyone around us. I heard muffled laughter from those nearby and wiped the shocked look from my face wanting nothing more than to get out of there. I scraped everything onto the tray as fast as I could trying my best to keep my head down. When I was done I gave a quick look around to see if anyone was still watching me. Most people had gone back to whatever they were doing prior but I noticed the faceless man looking over. On instinct, I looked away, threw out the food, and rushed from the food court. There was something about his empty face looking at me that unnerved me. Oddly enough, when I looked over, it looked like he hadn’t touched his food once. All he did was sit there wearing that strange mask. It was likely just in my head, but I thought I could feel his gaze linger on me as I walked away.

When I returned to my mom I could tell she was slightly irritated with me. She didn’t say anything directly, but her demeanor was off. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why though. I didn’t do anything wrong. If anything it was her reaction that was over the top. I mean sure, It was a strange mask, but scolding me for merely pointing it out wasn’t exactly fair. The thing is, I had learned the hard way one too many times that talking to her when she gets like that can be a risky move. I still wanted to talk about how weird it was, the masked man, but decided I’d wait until she had calmed down a little.

We stopped at one or two more stores before exiting the mall. When we left the snow had started coming down fairly hard and we wasted no time getting out of there. After about ten minutes of listening to some random pop station on the radio, I figured I’d bring up what happened. She seemed calm now and was even humming along to whatever was playing at the time. I turned down the music which caught her attention.

“Ummm, so about that guy in the food court?”

“Here we go again. Why do you insist on making fun of that poor man?”

“What? I’m not. I just found it odd that nobody noticed how he looked.”

“Seriously That's enough. You should be ashamed of yourself. I really thought your father and I did better. He’ll be hearing about this by the way.”

After that, she cranked the music back up and we drove without speaking another word to each other. This continued even after we arrived back home. My mom grabbed her bags and sped walked into the house, slamming the door behind her and leaving me standing in the snow. I had no clue what her problem was. It wasn’t like he had a physical disability or anything wrong with him. All he was was some guy in a mask, yet she acted like I was making fun of him for something out of his control. I entered the house and found she was nowhere to be seen. It was probably better that way. Now I was irritated with her probably as much as she was with me. Kicking off my boots I walked up to my bedroom in the hopes of blowing off some steam.

When I entered my room I shot off a quick text to a friend explaining the situation briefly and then distracted myself. For the next few hours, I listened to music and played games from my bean bag. My phone went off once with a text calling my mom a bitch and asking if I took a picture of the guy. Honestly, I didn’t want to care anymore. The whole thing had been nothing more than a headache. So I decided I’d get back to that later and focused on my game instead.

Around seven I received a knock on my door from my sister informing me it was time for dinner. Like usual we all sat around the table mostly listening to my dad complain about work. Something something coworker this, something something jackass boss that. The conversation then shifted to my sister who informed us she had got an A on her test and asked if she could have her friends over for the weekend. I sat there silently, intentionally keeping my head down, hoping to avoid any potential arguments about my “rude” behavior. I could tell these plans instantly were about to come crashing down when the conversation fell to my mother, who skipped over the lovely day we’d spent shopping and jumped right to my poor behavior. Informing my dad I had made fun of some poor guy for how he looked. Instantly I could tell he was irritated with me even before he opened his mouth.

“Now why the hell would you think it was acceptable to make fun of a stranger like that?”

“I wasn’t making fun of him. I just thought he was odd. I thought the whole situation was weird. What do you want from me?”

“Yeah well, you’re not five anymore. You know better than to do that.”

“If you would have seen him, you would have done the exact same thing. I have no clue why this is such a big deal!”

“How dare you!? your father would not have pointed at a man for being disfigured like that!”

“Disfigured? What are you even talking about? It wasn’t even real! The guy was wearing a mask!”

“You can’t be serious.”

“You thought that was real? He didn't have a face.”

“What on earth are you talking about? The man had been horribly disfigured.”

“Mom, it was a mask! There was nothing there!”

“Stop! Both of you! My day’s already been long enough.” My dad groaned heavily while he rubbed his temples. “Beth, just tell me what happened.”

“Like I said we were sitting in the food court when your son decided to point out this poor man sitting all by himself. His face had been brutally scarred. I can’t even imagine what he must have gone through to end up like that.” She shifted her eyes back to me. “And he seemed to think the whole thing was funny.”

My dad went to speak but I cut him off before he could. “Who are you even talking about!? There was no scarred man! Just some creep wearing a mask that made him look like he didn’t have a face.”

“The man in the green jacket who you so thoughtlessly pointed out.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it!”

“That’s enough!” There was a pause as my dad considered what to say next. “Go to your room. You’re done here.”

“But dad I’m not lying.”

“I said that’s enough.”

“Fine. Whatever.”

I left the table not really knowing what just happened. All I could think was how did she not see him? He stuck out, to say the least. Then a thought hit. Was I the only one who saw him? Did nobody else draw attention to the man because they didn’t notice him? That was insane. How was that even possible? A worse question that I found roaming through my mind as I fell onto my bed was could it be possible I had simply imagined the entire thing? That the reason nobody noticed the peculiar man in the mask was because he didn’t look like that to everyone else. With my anger fading my emotions shifted more and more towards confusion and self doubt. It didn't feel possible for me to be the only one.

I picked up my phone and saw the message from my friend still waiting for my reply. I informed him that no, I had not taken a picture of the man and that the entire situation led to a massive fight with both my parents. Which I then recapped for him, with admittedly less detail than I’ve included here. His response.

“You might just be crazy man.”

Not the comforting reply I was hoping for. My parents were both working the next day and my sister would be at school, while I was enjoying a few days off with next to no exams that year. I didn’t want to accept that I might have hallucinated the entire thing. I didn’t really like the implications of that, but laying there I had nothing to say otherwise. On a whim I found myself on Google, searching the words “Faceless man.”. Aside from a few interesting images, there was nothing. I then tried “Faceless man at mall.” and got the same results. No news articles. No videos. Nothing at all about the guy. As things stood I really had just made an ass of myself.

As I fell asleep that night I decided I’d apologize to my parents when I saw them after they got home. My anger was completely gone at that point and I felt more like an idiot than anything else. I woke up around 9 the next day and after getting some breakfast and taking a hot shower I figured I’d venture out into the world outside to take the dog for a walk. The man was still on my mind but I figured it was best to distract myself. Slapping the leash on him we did just that.

Since its start the previous day the snow had hardly let up for a minute. While previously coating everything it seemed to have decided it wasn't ready to be forgotten. Snow banks now began to rise high like white barriers separating the road from the sidewalk. Hitch didn’t seem to mind this one bit taking the opportunity before him to pounce through every bit of snow he could. We got him a few years back and no matter what he always knew how to cheer me up. Just watching how excited he’d get while we were out never failed to put a smile on my face. He’d frolic through the snow around us then jump back on the sidewalk, run up ahead a little, then look back and wait for me. Rinse and repeat. Every once and a while, whenever I found myself lost in thought, he’d wait for me to catch up with him, then rub up against me. To that, I’d scratch him behind the ears and thank him.

Eventually, we made our way to the park, which to my surprise had more people than I was expecting for 11 am on a Wednesday. I assumed they were likely enjoying their holidays like I was. Dog walkers passed by and we’d make small talk as our dogs sniffed one another before going our separate ways. As we were passing by the lake I heard two kids excitedly pointing out to us. They ran over and asked if they could pet Hitch as their worried mother hurried behind them. She apologized and I told her it was no problem. My little guy ate up their attention rolling onto his back and I could tell we’d be there until the mom pulled her kids away. After they got their fill they left. We continued with our lap around the area, with Hitch still running through the snow and eventually finding a stick he seemed to plan on taking home with us. After about an hour though we finally made for the exit.

As we neared the edge of the park I mindlessly found myself distracted by a cardinal sitting atop a branch, when all of the sudden I was pulled backwards. The leash had tightened and stretched to its limit. First went my arm then my body followed as I was thrown back slipping on the snow. Once steadied I looked back to see that Hitch had stopped. I gave him a slight tug but he wouldn’t budge. He stood solid, refusing to move an inch forward. I approached him and noticed all the hairs on the back of his neck were standing. I took a knee and gave him a pet, asking what was wrong like I’d get an answer. Now Hitch isn’t too big of a dog and more importantly, he’s friendly as all hell. Anything willing or otherwise he will try and play with, be it people, dogs, raccoons, the occasional unlucky skunk, or even just flowers blowing in the wind. He was not an aggressive dog by any means. So seeing him hunch down with his teeth starting to slip out from his mouth worried me. After a few more tugs of his leash it was obvious he wasn’t taking another step forward, and when I looked ahead, it became perfectly clear why as I felt my stomach drop.

Just down the winding path, about twenty feet or so sat an old lady on a bench. She looked slightly frail from what I could tell wrapped up in her bundle of winter clothes. I’d say she looked like a sweet old lady, and I’d say she looked almost peaceful sitting there watching the birds, but both those statements would be lies. Beneath her neatly knitted hat was nothing. No wrinkles, no eyebrows, no cheekbones. The old woman's face was missing. Round like the side of a baseball, but with a texture that appeared to be as smooth as an egg. An egg oddly enough describes the featureless lump of flesh that I saw perfectly.

My mind began to spin at the sight of her. I felt oddly dizzy and my breath fell out of me in shaky waves. On instinct, I wanted to run, but I feared any sudden movement might call her eyeless attention towards me. The thought of one of these things looking at me again made me feel sick. I shut my eyes and held them closed for a moment, hoping all I would see was a normal old lady once I opened them. A lady with grandkids. One with years of stories to tell. One with a face. When I opened them and was greeted with what I had already seen I felt like my sanity was slowly slipping. I soon realized that very much might be the case.

Just ahead of her a young couple walked. Maybe in their early twenties and home for the holidays. They held hands smiling and talking with one another. The world slowed down for a moment as they passed the faceless woman. The couple's eyes met the expressionless face. I heard voices drift down the path as they spoke. Quick and simple hellos and how are yous were exchanged. She spoke without a mouth and heard without ears. The couple laughed and the old lady nodded her head before they said goodbye and walked their separate ways.

They could see her. They acknowledged her. Unlike the man, she wasn’t ignored. Only I could see what was missing. I didn’t know what was worse. Seeing something everyone else was ignoring, or being able to see something everyone else couldn’t. I felt almost like I could cry. Two days prior I had been sane but now I clearly must have lost my mind. Even if it was just a mask, why wasn’t anyone addressing it? I stood there maybe fifteen, twenty feet, down the path clutched in the tight grip of fear.

Then Hitch growled.

His sudden recognition of danger instantly snapped me out of it and brought all my attention to him. Hitch was looking directly at the faceless woman. He acknowledged what I was seeing, but not only that he saw it as a threat. The most friendly dog in the world looked ready to attack if needed. I say if needed because from what I could tell he was in full protection mode, not wanting us or her to get any closer. I wasn’t crazy. At least that was my first thought. I didn’t know what else to think but something told me we needed to get out of there as quickly as possible. I didn’t want that faceless thing's attention. When the faceless man in the mall looked at me it sent a shiver down my spine. At the time I merely thought it was because of my brain's reaction to seeing the absence of something in a spot you’d normally expect to see a face. Instinctively it unnerved me, but now with a dog just as bothered by what I was seeing, I dreaded having her eyeless face look upon me.

Hitch didn’t seem to be on the same page as me because before I could make a move he barked. It was loud and aggressive. The instant he did it I saw birds jump from nearby trees and the heads of the couple lock onto us. It was a kind of bark I had never heard come out of him before. In a panic, I yelled his name and turned to head back the way we came. With all my strength I pulled back on the leash and finally he gave in. We took off quickly but the moment my back was to her I could feel her attention. Out of instinct, I turned to look back as we fled. Sure enough, she was looking right at us. The sensation of someone watching me didn’t leave until we were far out of sight. Maybe I was just being paranoid but for the rest of our walk, my head was on a constant pivot. I kept an eye on everyone around us endlessly waiting to see her again. Hitch seemed to be in the same boat. He didn’t leave my side for the rest of the walk and every couple of minutes I’d see him watching our backs. We made it home without encountering her or any other of the faceless.

Over the next few days, the sightings didn’t let up. Throughout the day I’d see them walking down the street from my bedroom window. Notice them while out shopping. They were everywhere. Never more than one or two at a time, but no matter where I went I’d end up seeing them. It was almost like it was spreading. I remember one night we’d just finished dinner and dad went to watch the news in the living room. As I was headed up to my room I looked in and saw one of the anchors had become one of these things. Across the internet, I started to see them, but nobody ever said a thing. I spent hours searching but couldn’t even find a passing comment. I noticed one day that a YouTuber I was watching had become one of these things. All of his old videos were fine, you could see his face perfectly, but in his most recent uploads, it was gone. I tried sending one to a friend and simply asked if he could spot anything wrong with the video, which he failed to do. Hitch had also been getting worked up every day, slowly growing more aggressive. I have yet to see any of these things walk a dog, and with everything with Hitch, I’m under the belief they can spot them as well.

Everything came to a head on Christmas eve. The night prior my parents had gone out to a party. They spent the night and I didn’t think too much about it. The next morning I woke up to Hitch losing his mind. I rushed downstairs and could see him at the back door. He was practically frothing at the mouth, barking like all hell and pawing at the door. This instantly put me on edge. I looked out there but our yard was free of any of the faceless. Same for the neighbors. I heard my mom's voice in the kitchen and rushed in asking what was going on. She told me she didn’t know. She said when she and my dad got home he freaked out and so my dad grabbed him and tossed him outside. I could see him through the kitchen window. He’d stopped barking but was now pacing in front of the door. I’ve never seen a dog look so anxious before, at least not like that. I figured my dad might have more information and went to the living room to find him. He sat in his favorite chair reading a newspaper. He held it high, covering his face. The moment I stepped into the room I couldn’t help but feel like something was off.

“Hey, dad.” My words came out meek and timid.

“Hey, son.” His voice almost sounded deeper than usual, and I felt like it echoed in my head.

“Umm, what’s going on with Hitch? Why’s he freaking out?”

“Damn dog must have lost its mind. He’s been acting strange recently hasn’t he?”

“I guess so.”

Instantly I feared the worst. Instinct told me to run but my legs wouldn’t move. It was the worst form of morbid curiosity. The kind where all you hope is to be proven wrong. I needed that. So carefully I walked towards his chair, circling around the room. As I walked I watched his body twist to follow me. He matched my pace without looking. Like he knew where I was at all times. His arms stayed still, holding the newspaper perfectly in place, but his torso twisted at his waist. Inch by inch my father’s face was revealed. The lack of a right ear. Smooth almost soft looking skin. A bald scalp replaced his once receding hairline. When I finally made my way around the newspaper I was greeted by a man who was not my father. Everything was so close except for his face. My body began shivering as I held back the overwhelming sensation to fall to my knees and cry.

“What’s wrong son?” The faceless creature said without a mouth.

“Just worried about the dog.” I said as my world shattered. “How was your night?”

“Absolutely perfect, but I’m glad to be home with my family now.”

I stumbled out of the living room in a daze and returned to my bedroom. I didn’t have any clue why this was happening, why I was seeing these things. I still don’t. All I knew is that my father had become one and there was nothing I could do about it. No one would believe me. As far as I know, I’m the only one who can see these things. For the rest of the day, I sat in my room in silence, jumping at every noise throughout the house. Hitch barked periodically. Every now and then I could hear him scratching at the door below. I thought about running away. My mother would never listen to me. My sister might but where were we supposed to go? It’s not like we could just show up at grandma’s house saying “Hey our day has been replaced by a monster” and that’s if I could even convince her. With nowhere to go, feeling powerless, I waited. When dinner eventually came I made my way downstairs and took a seat at the table. I kept my head down and said very little throughout dinner. It made me sick to see this thing talking to my mom and sister like it was part of the family. Laughing and joking like none of us knew it was a monster. Whenever my eyes did leave my plate I’d see it looking at me. Its grotesque face always staring at me. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get that sight out of my head.

After dinner, I returned to my bedroom and locked my door. I sat late into the night listening to Hitch bark and whine from the back door. Around 2 am I heard a door creak open. After a moment faintly I heard someone slowly tiptoe down the hallway. At times it was hard to hear. They were so careful. Next, the stairs groaned as someone began their descent. Hitch began freaking out. He barked again and again. Then only for a few brief seconds, it got louder before he let out a loud whimper and fell silent. I sat there watching my door, with my breath held, too scared to swallow or risk making any noise at all. After a minute of nothing but silence I allowed myself to breathe again. After five my body relaxed. And after about ten I almost found enough confidence to open the door and look. I inched closer but froze in my track as the footsteps started once again. They crept their way back up the stairs and slowly walked down the hall. I stayed completely still with my hand hovering around the doorknob as finally they came to a stop on the other side of the door. I did my best to stop myself from shaking as I waited for the creature to come crashing through. The knob twisted but the door remained closed. Then to my surprise came three gentle knocks.

“I know. You’re awake in there. Listening. You know the truth. You’ve seen us. Can spot us. I know.” There was a long moment of silence then it spoke again. “We don’t like you.”

I didn’t respond, I didn’t move, I didn’t even breathe, I simply stared at the door. After a moment I heard it shuffle off down the hall and return to my parent's bedroom. I don’t know how long I stayed standing there, still frozen, but after the house gave into a permanent silence I returned to my bed. Day eventually came and with the sun’s rise my body could no longer stay awake and I succumbed to sleep. When I awoke it was already dark outside. Initially, I refused to leave my room, but the thought of my mother and sister stuck out there with that thing stirred something inside of me. I didn’t care anymore. I had to do something. Even if they couldn’t see it I needed to protect them. With dad gone it was my job. I had to do something before it was too late. Mustering up every bit of strength I had, I unlocked my door. Stepping into the hall I was greeted by nothing but darkness at first. Turning my head to the stairs I saw a faint glow. Following the light, I eventually came to a stop just before the dining room. The glow wasn’t consistent, it seemed to flicker and dance periodically while the rest of the house behind me stayed dark. With a deep breath, I turned the corner.

Sitting straight ahead was the thing pretending to be my father. The table before him was decorated in the finest Christmas display. Four of our family's best plates waited in front of each chair tucked between silverware with a wine glass in front. Two candelabra stood around a large cut of ham. Every inch of the table was littered with plates of food ready to be served. A wonderful assortment consisting of Stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, green beans, etcetera. Below lay a green and red tablecloth. Patiently sitting in her seat to the right of the table was my sister. Her empty vacant face stared up at me. Behind her, my mother entered the room from the kitchen carrying a bottle of wine. Much like my sister, her face was gone as well.

“You’ve come to join us. Finally. I knew you’d come around eventually.” My faceless mother said.

“Smart choice. We were worried we’d have to come and get you ourselves. Now sit.” Said my faceless father.

“Do we get to eat now?” My former sister said, looking up at my mother as she made her way to the table.

“Shortly dear.”

They all looked at me. Waiting. So doing as I was told I took my usual seat across from my sister. My mother placed the bottle next to one of the candles and took her seat to my right, across from my father. The weight of the situation hit me as I sat, surrounded by bodies resembling my family, each one missing their face. I had no clue why they felt the need to pretend. They knew I could see.

“Dig in son.”

“I’m hungry, I want to eat now.” My faceless sister said.

“Patience. I know you’re hungry but you’ll have to wait a little longer.” The one pretending to be my mom said. She reached over and placed a hand over hers.

“When will he be joining us?”

“Soon dear.”

With all of them staring at me, I gave in. Leaning forward I took servings of every item before me. I was too late to save them. I should have done something sooner, but instead, I locked myself away in my room and now there was no going back. Whatever had taken the place of my father had replaced them, be it literally or by changing them into whatever he was now. I didn’t know if there was any point in fighting them. They knew I could see them but this felt like some sort of cruel game. Sitting pretending to be a family like everything was normal. I hated it. Tears welled up in my eyes as I cut into the ham. My fingers tightened around the knife as it slowly sliced the meat in two.

Each one of them stared at me with their blank faces waiting for me to take a bite as I brought the cut of ham up to my mouth. Tears now rolled freely down my face as I did so. I swallowed slowly then complimented the food. They gave no reaction. With a false smile, I looked from right to left at each of them landing on my father. I closed my eyes for a brief second, then with a sniffle, I opened them back up.

Moving as fast as I could I twisted the knife in my hand and without a second thought lunged toward my father. His reaction was just as quick as he raised his hand to catch the blade. The knife shot straight through and out the other side. The thing didn’t even flinch. Instead, with his other hand, he grabbed me by the hair before I could react. With a hard shove, he brought my head down onto the table below. My head shattered his plate upon impact as the whole table shook, tossing cutlery and knocking over wine glasses. He lifted my head back up and slammed me down once again. Still not satisfied, he repeated this act again and again. Each time sent a shock wave of pain through my head. When he lifted me for the second time, I caught a glimpse of my mother and sister sitting back and watching without a single care. On the third hit, I heard the table crack and on the fourth, when I looked down, I could see blood. The world spun and my vision grew blurry but I needed to do something. In my last hope to save myself, I reached for one of the shards of plate still remaining on the table after my head hit for the fifth time. Quickly I latched onto it and as I was raised up once again I swung. It wasn’t much but the tip of the shard slid across his face cutting it open.

He clutched at the wound, shrieking horribly, and I fell to the ground. With my head aching, I wanted to rest but knew if I hesitated it was likely over for me. The faceless stumbled backwards and I grabbed a fork up off the ground. Pushing myself up I charged at him as he stumbled, behind me hearing chairs slide backwards. I threw myself at him once more, wrapping my arms around his waist and taking him to the ground. When we hit his head it let out a loud smack. I thought it almost sounded damp, like a wet towel being swung against a wall. With no time to spare I vaulted myself towards his head, raising the fork into the air before dropping my arm with all my might. With little to no resistance, it stabbed through his flesh. Bits of blood shot out like a burst pimple then oozed down his face. I didn’t let up though and repeated this four more times before a hand wrapped around my shoulder. It clamped down and I heard something in my arm snap. I felt like little more than a rag doll as I was effortlessly tossed back. I cried out as I crashed into the ground shoulder first. Now standing above me, towering over, was my faceless mother.

She went to rush me but I delivered a swift kick to her kneecap, tripping her in the process. I scrambled to my feet and made a break for the door. Swinging it open I went to move but a hand slammed it shut. She had recovered just as quickly as she had gone down and had now caught up with me. Before I could make my next move her hand was wrapped around my throat. As she raised me into the air I felt the tips of her fingers ever so slightly push through the skin around my neck. Like a desperate animal, I began clawing and kicking at her. Nothing I did seemed to have any effect until finally, my nails caught on her skin. The texture, while similar to skin, almost reminded me of leather. I yanked my hand down hard, tearing through her flesh. Her grip loosened and I raised my leg and planted my foot into the center of her chest. She dropped me and with the front exit blocked I turned and made for the back door. Standing in front of it my father already waited, the edges of his body highlighted by the faint glow of the moon. Stumbling slightly I turned to my left and entered the kitchen.

I ran for the counter and grabbed the biggest knife I could find. When I turned back around he was already standing at the exit. In the darkness, it almost looked like his head had deflated slightly. I readied myself and took a cautious step forward which he matched with one of his own. My eyes went wide and I screamed as a blistering pain shot throughout my leg. I collapsed onto my knees and looked down to see my sister. Just like when I had been lifted into the air her fingers had pierced the skin around my calf. Unlike the previous time however it was more than just the fingertips, her’s were buried down to the knuckle. Suddenly the veins in her arm began to glow through her skin. I could feel her fingers twitch inside my leg as the glowing in her arm only grew brighter. With gritted teeth, I looked away while I brought my fist down onto her head. I hit her again and again until I could feel blood on my knuckles. With a jerk of my leg, I was able to pull free. Her fingers slid out of my leg and I rose just in time to see my faceless father standing no more than a foot away.

Clasping the knife with both hands I brought it down to my side then drove it forward as I lept towards him. Unlike before I no longer had the element of surprise on my hand and he was ready. He Sidestepped my blade with ease then plunged his fist into my gut. I lost all air immediately. My hands went limp, dropping the knife as I fell to the ground once more. With the wind knocked out of me I desperately gasped for breath. He raised his leg then kicked me in the shoulder sending me onto my back. Crouching down he wrapped both hands around my throat and instantly tightened his grip. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see my faceless mother approaching from the dining room.

“Careful. He’ll be useless pretty soon.”

“Not like this.”

She left my sight but I heard her feet come to a stop where I had left my sister. “I know it's tempting but told you we’d eat later.”

It didn’t take long before my vision began to blur then start to fade to black. I fumbled through my pocket looking for my last line of defense. Just as I approached the edge of consciousness I managed to find it. A small knife which I had tucked into my pocket as a backup. Pulling my arm out I swung it over his shoulder and through the back of his head. Once it was in there I extended my arm as far as I could, slicing through his skin. His grip stayed tight for a moment, then loosened before he dropped lifelessly on top of me. The mother wailed as I rolled out from under him, covered in the blood from the thing pretending to be my father. I rose to my feet barely able to catch my breath. In what I can only describe as pure rage she lunged towards me but I was able to just barely jump out of the way. Crashing down on my knees for what would be the final time I stood once again, the large steak knife now returned to my hands. She went to turn but was too slow and I plunged the thick blade into her head.

The screaming stopped quickly after that. She fell and I turned to my faceless sister. I raised the knife but I couldn’t do it. Even if it didn’t have her face, it looked too much like her. With the last of my energy, I was able to grab a hold of her and toss her down into the basement. I could hear her scream and beat against the door but once it was locked she couldn’t do much. I collapsed just behind the door and finally cried. I don’t know how long it went on, but I didn’t stop for what felt like forever. Even after my eyes burned from the tears.

I have little doubt that I most likely have a concussion, I know I should see a doctor but I’m too scared of seeing more of these things. The last thing I want is to be trapped in the same room with one of them again. I’m horrified that the others know and are just waiting to come get me. I don’t know how long I have left. They seem to be everywhere. Around fifty percent of the people I see through the windows are faceless now. I don’t know what to do.

As far as I know, I am still the only person who can see them. Nowhere online have I found anyone mentioning them. That’s why I’m sharing this with you all. If you can see them two please let me know I’m not alone. I don’t want to be the only one.

If you’ve read this and you can’t see them I wish you luck. I think you’re really going to need it.

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Comments

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AncientTombRaider t1_j23781u wrote

But Hitch 😭😭 maybe he’s okay and he’ll come help you????

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JBalentine OP t1_j24grmx wrote

I've looked in the backyard but he's not out there. I hope he's okay but I have a bad feeling about the whole situation.

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BrightNight246 t1_j2292u9 wrote

Oh dear gosh.

I absolutely cannot imagine how traumatizing that would be. I really hope you solve the mystery. Though I can't see them, I can promise you that if I find anything I'll comment it. Hang in there. Be careful.

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JBalentine OP t1_j24j56j wrote

If you do let me know. At this point, I'll take anything. I will say just be careful. If you have a dog I think that's a pretty good way to spot them, even if you can't see them. Though I wouldn't rely on it one hundred percent either.

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NienieDreamer t1_j23u8j4 wrote

Listen here OP. It’s a defense mechanism. That’s why your mother saw scars. It’s probably something they let other people see because as you have noticed people don’t take too kindly to people mocking those with different appearances. They seem to want to feed on people with faces. Be very careful. Who knows why you’re the only one that can see them. Is there anything, any reason you can think of? Weird stuff happening in your life? A strange event?? Anything??

If your dog is okay, let him in. If you do have a concussion, be sure to sleep for only short amount of times. Take pain killers but not too much. Figure out some way to wake up every hour/half hour. Head injuries can be very very serious and it’s optimal to have someone there ti wake you up to see if you’re alright. If you seem to not remember stuff more and more then it’s serious.

Best of luck to you.

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JBalentine OP t1_j24ios7 wrote

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my post. I appreciate it.

I think you might be right about it being a defense mechanism, but if that is the case, I still don't know how they're able to do it. As for myself, life was normal until recently. The first time I noticed anything strange was when I saw that guy at the mall. I honestly can't think of any reason why I'm able to see them.

Hitch isn't here anymore. I wish he was because at least that way I wouldn't be alone.

I've been trying my best to manage my injuries, and I think your advice will help, so thank you for that.

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UpliftinglyStrong t1_j27bszs wrote

Have you seen the lizard people walking around? They’re very nice people.

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