That cold fear

February 24, 2025

by Jacinto

I found this place and wanted to share something strange that happened to me a couple of years back.

A little about me—I work in construction, been doing it for years. I don’t do drugs, and I stopped drinking a long time ago. My mom always said I was sensitive to things, that I could pick up on emotions around me, even if I wasn’t feeling that way before. I’ve had small weird experiences all my life—whispers, feelings of being watched, sometimes even shadows moving where they shouldn’t be.

But this night was different.

That day, I had been working long hours at an old building. It had been standing for decades, maybe since the 1940s. The place felt strange—heavy, like something was pressing down on me the whole time I was there. It wasn’t just me, either. My coworkers said the place gave them the creeps, but we didn’t talk much about it. We just wanted to get the job done.

When I got home, I was beyond exhausted. I went straight to bed, no TV, no lights, nothing. Just sleep.

I woke up suddenly, but something was wrong. The air felt ice-cold, like the kind of cold that makes your body lock up in fear. I tried to sit up, but I couldn’t move. I could only move my eyes. I struggled, told myself to get up, but nothing worked.

Then I noticed something strange. The TV—completely off when I went to sleep—was now on. The screen was glowing, just a blank blue screen at first. Then, something changed.

A dark red mist started spreading across the screen, like smoke creeping out of the TV. And from that mist, a shape appeared. A black figure with horns.

It didn’t move. It just stared at me.

My whole body went numb with fear. I wanted to scream, to move, anything—but all I could do was make my fingers twitch.

Then, out of nowhere, I felt warmth. Like someone had wrapped a blanket around me. A hand touched my back, gentle but firm. And I heard a voice say, “Johnny, wake up.”

Only one person ever called me that—my grandpa. But he had passed away more than ten years before.

I blinked. Suddenly, I could move again. I sat up fast, heart racing. The TV was still on, but the mist and the figure were gone.

I told my fiancée about it later, and she said it was probably just a bad dream. But I know what I felt. That cold fear. That warmth at the end. And my grandpa’s voice.

What do you all think?

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