Pentaw

*Written by reddit user 1000Vultures on r/nosleep. This is a long read—so long, in fact, that each part was originally posted as a standalone story (so it's really more like a series of six stories). The stories have garnered a considerable fanbase since their original postings on r/nosleep, even prompting the author to adapt them into a full-length novel, named* Penpal*; what follows, though, are the original postings from reddit.*

## เนื้อหา

* 1Hand clap
* 2Mario.vore
* 3Vs godzilla red devil

## Hand clap

This is long, so I apologize for that. I've never had to tell this story with enough detail to actually explain it all the way, but it is true and it happened when I was about six years old.

In a quiet room, if you press your ear against a pillow, you can hear your heartbeat. As a kid, the muffled, rhythmic beats sounded like soft footsteps on a carpeted floor, so as a kid, almost every night—just as I was about to drift off to sleep—I would hear these footsteps and I would be ripped back to consciousness, terrified.

For my entire childhood I lived with my mother in a fairly nice neighborhood that was in a transitional phase—people of lower economic means were gradually moving in, and my mother and I were two of these people. We lived in the kind of house you see being transported in two pieces on the interstate, but my mom took good care of it. There were a lot of woods surrounding the neighborhood that I would play in and explore during the day, but at night—as things often do to a kid—they took on a more sinister feeling. This, coupled with the fact that, due to the nature of our house, there was a fairly large crawlspace underneath, filled my mind with imaginary monsters and inescapable scenarios which would consume my thoughts when I was awoken by the clap hands.

I told my mom about the clap hands and she said that I was just imagining things; I persisted enough that she blasted my ears with water from a turkey baster once just to placate me, since I thought that would help. Of course it didn't. Despite all the creepiness and footsteps, the only weird thing that ever happened was that, every now and then, I would wake up on the bottom bunk despite having gone to sleep on the top, but this wasn't really weird since I'd sometimes get up to piss or get something to drink and could remember just going back to sleep on the bottom bunk (I'm an only child so it didn't matter). This would happen once or twice a week, but waking up on the bottom bunk wasn't too terrifying. But one night I didn't wake up on the bottom bunk.

I had heard the handclaps but was too far gone to be woken up by them, and when I was awoken it wasn't from the sound of footsteps or a nightmare, but because I was cold. Really cold. When I opened my eyes I saw stars. I was in the woods. I sat up immediately and tried to figure out what was going on. I thought I was dreaming, but that didn't seem right, though neither did me being in the woods. There was a deflated pool float right in front of me—one of those ones shaped like a shark. This only added to the surreal feeling, but after a while it seemed like I just wasn't going to wake up because I wasn't asleep. I stood up to orient myself, but I didn't recognize these woods. I played in the woods by my house all the time, so I knew them really well, but if these weren’t the same woods then how could I get out? I took a step and felt a shooting pain in my foot, which knocked me back to where I had just been laying. I had stepped on a thorn. By the light of the moon I could see that they were *everywhere*. I looked at my other foot, but it was fine, and as a matter of fact, so was the rest of me. I didn't have another scratch on me and I wasn't even that dirty. I cried for a little bit and then stood back up.

I didn't know which way to go, so I just picked a direction. I resisted the urge to call out since I wasn't sure I wanted to be found by who or what might be out there.

I walked for what seemed like hours.

I tried to walk in a straight line, and tried to course-correct when I had to take detours, but I was a kid and I was afraid. There weren't any howls or screams, and only once did I hear any noise that scared me. It sounded like a crying baby. I think now that it was just a cat, but I panicked. I ran veering in different directions to avoid big thicks of bushes and collapsed trees. And I was paying close attention to where I stepped because by that point my feet were in pretty bad shape. I paid too much attention to where I was stepping and not enough to where those steps were leading because not long after hearing the cry I saw something that filled me with a kind of despair I haven't experienced since. It was the pool float.

I was only ten feet from where I had woken up.

This wasn't magic or some supernatural space-bending. I was lost. Up until that moment I thought more about getting out of the woods than how I got in, but being back at the beginning caused my mind to swim. I wasn't even *sure* that these were my woods; I had only been hoping that they were. Had I run in a huge circle around that spot, or did I just get turned around and start making my way back? *How was I going to get out?* At the time I thought the north star was just the brightest star, and so I looked and found the brightest one and followed it.

Eventually things started to look more familiar and when I saw "the ditch" (a dirt ditch my friends and I would have dirt-clod wars in) I knew I had made it out. By that point I was walking really slowly because my feet hurt so much, but I was so happy to be so close to home that I broke into a light jog. When I actually saw the roof of my house over a neighboring, lower-set house I let out a light sob and ran faster. I just wanted to be home. I had already decided that I wouldn’t say anything because I had no idea what I could possibly say. I would get back in the house somehow, clean up, and get in bed. My heart sunk as I rounded the corner and my house came fully into view.

Every light in the house was on.

I knew my mom was up, and I knew I would have to explain (or try to explain) where I had been, and I couldn't even figure out where to start. My run became a jog which became a walk. I saw her silhouette through the blinds, and although I was worried about how to explain things to her, that didn't matter to me at that point. I walked up the couple of steps to the porch and put my hand on the doorknob and turned. Right before I pushed it open, two arms wrapped around me and pulled me back. I screamed as loud as I could: "MOM! HELP ME! PLEASE! MOM!" The feeling of being so close to being safe and then being physically pulled away from it filled me with a kind of dread that is, even after all these years, indescribable.

The door I had been torn away from opened, and a flash of hope shot through my heart. But it wasn't my mom.

It was a man, and he was enormous. I thrashed around and kicked at the shins of the person holding me while also trying to get away from the person who had just come out of my house. I was scared, but I was furious.

"LET ME GO! WHERE IS SHE? WHERE'S MY MOM? WHAT'D YOU DO TO HER!?"

As my throat stung from screaming and I was drawing in another breath I became aware of a sound that had been present for longer than I had perceived it. "Honey, please calm down. I've got you." It sounded like my mom.

The arms loosened and set me down, and as a man approaching me blocked out the porch light with his head I noticed his clothes. He was a cop. I turned to face the voice behind me and saw that it really was my mom. Everything was ok. I began to cry, and the three of us went inside.

"I'm so glad you're home, Sweetie. I was worried I'd never see you again." By that point she was crying too.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what happened. I just wanted to come home. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, just don't ever do that again. I'm not sure me or my shins could take it..."

A little laughter broke through my sobs and I smiled a bit. "Well I'm sorry for kicking you, but why'd you have to grab me like that?!"

"I was just afraid that you'd run away again."

I was confused. "What do you mean?"

"We found your note on your pillow," she said, and pointed at the piece of paper that the police officer was sliding across the table.

I picked up the note and read it. It was a "running away" letter. It said that I was unhappy and never wanted to see her or any of my friends again. The police officer exchanged a few words with my mom on the porch while I stared at the letter. I didn't remember writing a letter. I didn't remember anything about any of this. But even if I sometimes went to the bathroom at night and didn't remember, or even if I could have gone into the woods on my own, even if all that could have been true, the only thing I knew at that point was,

"This isn't how you spell my name... I didn't write this letter."

# Mario.vore

แก้ไข

I always liked *Super Mario 64* when I was a kid. I remember playing it at my aunt's house all the time. Well, one day a pop-up appeared out of nowhere as I was watching gameplay footage on YouTube. I was a little startled, and was about to close the window, until I realized that it was a website showing a mint condition copy of *Super Mario 64* for sale. There was a picture and everything. I usually don't trust these things, but the feeling of nostalgia overpowered me, and I wanted to buy it.

The whole business was peculiar, seeing as how the owner of the game wanted the buyer to send an envelope containing $10 to and address on the site, instead of using something like PayPal. What made things even more strange was that when I tried to gain access to the website (I wrote down the URL) after encountering... problems with the game, the page was nowhere to be found.

A few days after the $10 was mailed, I got a package containing the new copy of the game. The first thing I noticed when I opened the small box was that the "official sticker" with Mario flying in the air was apparently peeled off or something. In its place was a piece of duct tape with "Mario" crudely written on it in permanent marker. I felt a little ripped-off, but as long as the game worked, I didn't care.

I got out my Nintendo 64 and put the cartridge in. The screen turned on with the familiar Mario face that you could stretch and twist aimlessly. I remembered laughing all the time at the results as a kid and decided to mess around for old times sake. I moved the cursor over to Mario's ear and pulled it to elven proportions. I was going to do the same to the other ear, when the TV suddenly produced loud static. Mario's whole head started deforming and twisting in ways that I didn't even know were possible for the model. Random sound effects from the game started playing along with the static. As all this was occurring, I could hear a faint voice whispering in Japanese. The voice was stammering and whimpering.

I immediately shut off the game and tried again. I didn't bother with the Mario head this time. Just selected a new file and started playing.

When I selected the file, the game skipped the opening monologue by Peach and the courtyard outside. Mario was just placed right inside the castle. Creepier still, Bowser didn't say anything either. I tried to ignore it and played anyway. However I also noticed that there was no music. Just dead silence. There weren't even any Toads around to talk to. The only door I could enter was the Bob-omb Battlefield. The other doors wouldn't even respond to my button commands.

The portrait to Bob-omb Battlefield wasn't the usual picture. It was just a stark white canvas. I was still trying to convince myself that these were just minor glitches, and that they wouldn't effect the gameplay at all. Once I entered the portrait, the image suddenly went from a blank canvas to the Lethal Lava Land painting. You know, that slightly unsettling image of the flame with the evil smile? Yeah, that's when I started getting really suspicious.

The mission select menu came up, and yet another weird detail was present. Instead of "Big Bob-omb on the Summit", the mission was called "TURN BACK". I have no idea what drove me to press A, but I did.

The level seemed normal. Everything was how I remembered it. I thought I could finally enjoy my favorite childhood game. But then I saw him. Luigi. I was absolutely shocked. He was never in this game. His model wasn't even a Mario palette swap. He looked like a completely original model. Luigi just stood there until I tried to approach him. He started running at unexpected speeds. I followed suit and went through the level. Strange things happened as I pursued him. Each time I picked up a coin, the enemies and music would get slower, and the scenery would look darker in color and more morbid. It kept gradually getting worse until I collected a 5th coin. Then, the music just stopped. The enemies laid down on the ground like they were dead. I was seriously freaked out, but I kept chasing Luigi.

I went up the hill. No cannon balls rolled down trying to knock me over. I really wasn't surprised at this point. Luigi was always just out of my sight as I ran. Once I reached the summit, I saw yet another object out of place. A small cottage was all that was seen on the top of the hill. Luigi was nowhere to be found. The cottage was certainly odd-looking for a Mario game. It was old, plain, and broken down. Regardless of my fears at that moment, I had Mario enter the cottage.

As soon as the door closed. A disturbing picture of a hanged Luigi immediately popped up along with a very frightening scare chord. It sounded like a violin screech accompanied by loud piano banging. Mario fell to his knees and sobbed for roughly 5 minutes, then the screen irised-out.

I returned to the castle. Mario just slumped out of the painting. The image switched from the Lethal Lava Land portrait to the image of Luigi hanging himself. The room was different this time. It was now a small hallway. Toads with blank expressions and white robes lined the sides of the hallway. There was another painting at the opposite end that just completely and utterly scared me. It was a picture of my family It wasn't even a photo from the time *Super Mario 64* was released. It was a very, very recent photo. I remembered posing for it last weekend.

I reached for the on/off switch on the N64. There was no way I was going to play this anymore. However, when I flipped the switch, the game was still on. I flipped it back and forth, but to no avail. I tried unplugging the whole system, but it never left the screen. I was even still able to control Mario. I couldn't just leave it on forever... so I kept playing. I went to the photo of my family, and jumped in. Only one mission was available, of course. This one was called "Run, Don't Walk". I selected the mission. 'Let's-a-go'...

The level started in a flooded hallway with platforms floating on the water. Mario landed on one of these, and the camera turned to show what was behind. A silent black void was slowly approaching Mario. It didn't look like anything. It didn't even look like finished graphics. Just a giant, blocky, black blob. I started jumping from platform to platform. With no goal in sight, I kept running, the darkness slowly but surely gaining speed. This kept going on for what felt like hours. I was really doubting there would ever be an end. Mario was just going in circles. Finally, the black blob/void/thing caught up with Mario, and enveloped him in darkness. He didn't scream or resist at all. It just consumed him.

Mario fell out of the painting and back into the castle. I lost one of my 3 lives. The room was different now. Some of the Toads were gone, and the painting looked different. My family and I were in the same positions, but our bodies were partially decomposed. It looked too real to be Photo-shopped. It looked more like someone just took our dead bodies and posed them.

Regardless, I jumped into the painting again. Mario was in a small room. There was still only one mission available. It was called "I'm right here." spelled just like that. I selected the mission and prepared for the worst. Mario landed in a small, dark room. There no visible way out. The room was empty except for a piano in the corner. I knew what that meant. I was stuck in there with the Mad Piano. I approached it and it started chasing me as always. There was no way to damage it, so I had no choice but to let Mario take damage.

When he lost all his health, the usual death animation didn't happen. Mario just got mauled by the piano. He fell as his blood and guts spilled on the floor, and the camera panned to a top down view of his corpse. A distorted version of the merry-go-round music from Big Boo's Haunt played as the screen slowly transitioned from the in-game shot to a photo-realistic sketch of Mario's dead body in the same view as the shot. It was very unsettling. I was crying softly as I gazed upon the image. I lost another life.

The photo of my family was shown again. We were even more rotten than before. The view zoomed into the painting, like I was warping again. I was greeted with a shot of Peach's castle from the outside. The castle was crumbling in ruin. The fields were on fire. The sky was pitch black. Bowser's laugh played on a loop in the background as children mockingly chanted, "You couldn't save her!" This went on for a long time, until, a close-up of Peach's face accompanied by an extremely loud screech interrupted the loop without notice. Peach's mouth was wide open as if she was screaming, and her eyes were empty, black holes.

Suddenly, I was back in the hallway as Mario was once again ejected out of the painting. Now all of the Toads were gone, and me and my family looked positively repulsive. Maggots were wriggling around in holes in our flesh. Guts were spilling out of our bodies. My dad's eyeball was hanging loose from its socket. It was too much to bear, but something still urged me to trudge on. I jumped into the painting, with only one life remaining.

This time, there was no name for the mission. Just a blank space where the title would be. I selected the mission, and Mario landed on a very small island in the middle of the ocean. There was a solitary sign. It only read "DIVE." I did just as it said and entered the water.

The ocean was dark and empty. There were no fish. I wasn't even able to see anything in the water besides Mario. I swam downwards. I kept going for quite some time, yet Mario never ran out of breath. I counted roughly 10 minutes of swimming until I decided to go back up. Just as I turned Mario around, it came. A huge, and I mean huge Unagi the Eel came out of nowhere and swallowed Mario whole. I was dumbfounded. It went by so fast I wasn't even sure what I saw. The Game Over screen didn't show up. All that happened was a fade-out.

The photo of my family and I was shown again. We were plain skeletons now. Once again, it looked very real. I couldn't move the camera at all. It just stayed focused on the picture. I shut off the game and turned it on again. I chose my file, but it just went to the skeleton photo of my family. I tried this about three more times before giving up. I desperately wanted to stop, but some force kept me from walking away. I decided to select the only other saved file. The camera once again focused on the skeleton picture, but this time they were in a different position. As if they were a different family.

# Vs godzilla red devil

แก้ไข

"Oh dear god."

That was my first thought on realizing I would have to fight "Red", the creature that tormented me through nearly the whole game.How would I be able to fight something that can kill with one touch? It seemed totally impossible.

Thankfully, Red was no longer able to deliver one hit kills. But despite that, this was still the most difficult battle I've ever faced, in this game or otherwise. If I had any real comprehension of what I was getting into before I started the fight, I would never have done it.

I very soon learned what a horrible mistake I had made. Red reached out and clawed at Godzilla. And when those claws cut through him, I felt it.

I know that it's common for people to cringe up when their video game character gets hit or loses a life. But this was not that. This was genuine, physical pain.

When the pain struck me I paused the game. I hadn't suffered any actual injuries, but it felt just like my shoulder had been clawed through. I had seen and experienced many unpleasant things at this point, but the game causing me real pain was where I drew the line. Yes, I would be disappointed that I wouldn't get to see the ending, but the risk was no longer worth it. I was about to get up to take one last screenshot and turn off the NES, when I realized something else-

-I couldn't get up.

I was paralyzed to my seat. The only muscles I could move were my fingers and thumbs. As the terror set in, a new message appeared on the screen.

I started to scream, but only a weak choking sound was coming out. I desperately tried to get my body to move, but it did nothing. I was looking every direction, and then I looked over at the computer.

Somehow, the computer was taking screenshots of the game on its own when I began the fight. I still don't know how or why. Something in the game must have been causing it.

Since Red could hear what I was saying, I tried begging for him to let me go. From here things start to get hazy as I was under extreme stress at the time, but from what I can remember I said:

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I insulted you. I didn't mean it. I didn't know things would get this serious. Please just let me go. If you let me go I promise I will never tell anyone or turn the game on ever again. PLEASE!"

And Red replied:

"Only one will survive."

The statement could not be any more clear. If I couldn't kill Red, then he would kill ME. Like an idiot I had played around with something I didn't understand, and now it might cost me my life.

I stopped struggling to move and accepted the reality of the situation. There was only one way to get out of this alive. I had to kill Red.

It all went by so fast. If it weren't for the screenshots, I might not have remembered any of this. Just like in the chase levels, Red moved at a horrifyingly fast speed. There was barely enough time to process a thought

And thus, there was no time to form a strategy. I had to rely solely on my wits and reflexes. To make things worse, there was no way to predict what kind of attacks Red might use, so I constantly had to be on the offensive AND defensive.

I felt every hit that Godzilla took. They all hurt. I tried so hard to avoid the damage, but every attack that I dodged left me vulnerable to another. And the pain would only get worse.

After he jumped over me, Red's eyes started to glow. I moved as far back as I could and ducked, but there was no dodging this one:

When THIS hit me, I really did scream. I screamed so loud that someone else in the apartment should have heard me, but they didn't. Just looking at the image hurts me, making me remember the incinerating burn.

I paused the game because it hurt so bad, but Red unpaused the game to attack me again, which made me furious.

I immediately counterattacked with the heat beam, again and again until the power meter was totally diminished. I wanted Red to hurt like I did.

Just before the timer ran out, Red transitioned into his swimming form. I didn't think the timer would still be affecting a battle like this. I'm thankful for it, because it gave me a few minutes to collect my thoughts and decide what to do next.

I chose to fight Red's next 2 forms with the monsters I had encountered them with, so Anguirus was next. It probably wasn't all that smart of an idea, but it's what I did.

I jumped up and heat beamed Red in the face, and he moved offscreen where I couldn't reach him. Then a wave of large mines started to fall from above.

I felt this was unfair so I shouted:

"If you're going to cheat, then why do you even let me use the controller?!"

And then he came at me, rushing from the top left of the screen downwards:

"DAMN IT!" Now I wouldn't even be able to see where his next attack was coming from. Red continued to strike from random angles, I constantly moved to swerve around him.

Another forty seconds went by and Anguirus was nearly gone, but together we had forced Red into his flying form, so it was Mothra's turn next.

Deciding to fight Red with Mothra was a terrible idea. Mothra was instantly overwhelmed by Red, and the life meter was devastated in a mere fifteen seconds.

And once Mothra's life was down to two bars, Red did something I didn't see coming:

He reached out, grabbed Mothra, and ate her.

After Mothra was devoured I felt an agonizing pain, like being crushed to death. Mothra had been killed for my stupidity and I would share the pain. It was a short transition from the battle to the board, but it felt like an hour.

The pain, combined with being unable to move was driving me insane. I wanted so badly for this to end. I never wanted anything so much.

But I still had hope. There was only one monster left that could be brought to full health by engaging Red in battle. Solomon. If any of them had a chance to save my life now, it would be him.

Solomon apparently has some history with Red, as when the fight started this dialogue happened:

Red took me by surprise again by immediately burning me with his demonic fire a second time:

As much as it hurt, it actually worked to my advantage: since Solomon started at full life he still had some to spare, but now Red had used up all his energy and could not use his ultimate weapon any longer. Now he would die.

As he drew close to the end of his life bar, Red turned his whole body to face the screen and flew upwards, then slamming back down in an attempt to crush Solomon:

When that failed to work, he tried to devour Solomon like he had Mothra. But he wouldn't be eating my monster this time:

I thought I had won. But something was wrong. Red wasn't sinking to the bottom, and I still couldn't move. Red was still alive...

and my family is death

After his seeming defeat by Solomon, Red had reconstructed his body into his gigantic Final Form, transporting us to a blazing inferno in the process. It was reminiscent of our first encounter. Except now the scenery,much like the true power of Red, had become very real. The music had erupted into a loud blaring sound, a furious drum of death.

Faced against Red's insane amount of health, my own demise was imminent.

Solomon was my strongest monster. But not even he stood a chance. It was like trying to fight a mountain.

Within seconds Solomon was overpowered and dropped to the floor, when Red crushed him to death underneath his foot. The sadistic demon took his time as he snapped Solomon's vertebrae and ribs like dry, brittle twigs. I could tell he was enjoying our pain.

"This is hopeless. I'm a dead man."

I had to no choice but to send another monster to his death. We were all going to die. I only hoped they would forgive me.

After decreasing Red's health by a miniscule amount, Anguirus was also obliterated. Red unleashed a hail of blazing hot needles into his face, until he collapsed.

Another moment of unspeakable agony, then nothingness as my ally faded away.

I asked Red how he knew my name.

And then, he said it.

For years she was being tortured by something nobody understood. Now I knew what it was.

Now I understood why I was mocked about Melissa's death, and how the game knew about it. Because HE knew about it, because HE was the one responsible. And this time, he was going to kill me.

I was taken back to the board to send Godzilla to his final stand. Barely anything was left of the board, just Godzilla and Red's icons, and...

...the fifth monster.

In the midst of everything that was happening, I had completely forgotten about it. I tried yet again to select it. I cursed, I begged,I screamed at it to do something, ANYTHING to help me. To no avail.

There was only one thing to do.

I knew Godzilla didn't stand any more of a chance than the rest did. But maybe, maybe now that all the other monsters were gone, the fifth monster might finally awaken.

I managed to get the creaure's icon selected, and I pressed the A button as fast as I could. The icon started to shake, as if it were trying desperately to move!

It was then that Red decided he was done playing fair, and before I could activate the monster, he went for the killing blow: paralyzing my heart.

My hands started to become numb and unfeeling, but even as my vision was fading away, I still tried to pressed the A button.

Red surely was breaking one of his rules, but he must have thought that if he could kill me quickly, then it would be too late for any consequences to matter, he would have won.

He was wrong.

Red's power was being challenged by another force. It prevented him from killing me, and when I regained my vision I saw a familiar sight:

"...Who are you?"

"What? How is that possible! I...Red told me that he killed you..."

"But how will I be able to stop him now?"

Her words stirred something inside of me. I wasn't going to die like this. And I had more to fight her for than just my own life, I had to fight to save Melissa, and the world she inhabits.

With her help, the 5th monster was finally unleashed:

It was time to end this, once and for all. Together, we would take this damned hellspawn out of existence.

Acacius was by far the strongest playable monster in the game. He had to be, if we were to have any chance of surviving. His "punch" involved turning his hands into blades, which caused tremendous damage. But Red had more than enough life to spare. In the end, this would come down to pure skill:

With one final strike, Red was destroyed. His body disintegrated and sank below, accompanied by a soar of triumphant music. Slowly, the paralysis wore off, and I was able to stand up again!

We had done it. Melissa's death had been avenged, and I felt overwhelming happiness...until I remembered all the death and pain that led up to this point. All the other monsters who had fought and died. I was about to mourn them, but the game had yet to conclude.

Tears of joy streamed down my face, and I broke out crying. I cried harder than I have in several years, maybe in whole life. All I had been through, all I had discovered, and now the game was coming to an end. But before she and the others left, Melissa had something to tell me: