Trouble Sleeping

Trouble Sleeping is a creepy story from Japan about three girls who have a sleepover and visit a scary website. In Japan it is known as “The person who wrote this is not human”.

A few months ago, my friend Yoko and I went to a girl’s house for a sleepover. I didn’t know the girl very well. Her name was Emi and she was a friend of Yoko’s. They went to the same school when they were kids.

Emi was a strange girl. She was very quiet and seldom said anything. Her parents went out for the night and we were left alone in the house. We got changed into our pyjamas and sat around trying to tell ghost stories. The problem was, we didn’t know very many and the ones we knew were kind of lame.

All of a sudden, Emi perked up. “I know a good website,” she said.

She opened up her laptop and clicked on one of the bookmarks. We gathered around her and looked at the website. It had a lot of scary stories from all over the world, including Japan. Emi scrolled down the page while we stared at the monitor.

Yoko pointed to one of the stories. “What’s this one?” she asked.

For a moment, Emi’s face changed to a serious frown. “You’re not supposed to read that one,” she said. “It’s dangerous.”

“This whole website is creepy,” I said.

“Is this supposed to be for kids?” asked Yoko.

“No,” Emi replied in a serious tone. “It’s definitely not for kids. Some of the stories and games are really dangerous… like this one.”

She clicked on the link for one story. It seemed very strange. There was a picture of a woman with long dark hair, but her face was disturbing. It made me sick to look at it.

The text said, “The person who wrote this story is not human”.

“You’re not supposed to listen to this story,” said Emi.

“So let’s not listen,” replied Yoko.

“Yeah, let’s just go to bed,” I said.

I had a strange feeling about this site. I mean, where did they get all these weird stories from and why did they collect them? Who would even make a site like this? There was something very unsettling about the whole thing.

Emi didn’t take any notice of us. She pressed play on the video and we heard the start of the story. As soon as I heard that weird voice, it freaked me out. I put my hands over my ears and left the room. Yoko followed me. We waited in the bathroom until it was over. I can’t remember what the story was about, but I do recall that it was very short. It seemed more like a poem than a story, but it didn’t rhyme.

When we came back in, Emi had a strange look on her face.

“See, nothing happened,” she said.

Not long after that, we decided to go to bed. We were very sleepy. Emi got into her bed and I lay down on the futon beside Yoko. We turned off the lights and went to sleep.

I always have trouble sleeping when I stay in someone else’s house. In the middle of the night, I was awoken by a strange sound. After a minute or so, I realized it was Emi. She was making small noises in her sleep, like… hmm… hmm… hmm.

It sounded as if she was having a bad dream. I shook Yoko to wake her up.

“Maybe Emi shouldn’t have read that story before going to bed,” she mumbled.

I tried to go back to sleep, but Emi’s moans became louder. Then, she started talking in her sleep.

“How did you find?” she muttered.

I nudged Yoko and we both lay there listening to her.

“How did you know?” she muttered.

I, I do not think sleep talking very tone that was clearly, I said.
You are facing over there still, but I thought kana happened already, is Yoko,

“Must be a weird nightmare,” said Yoko.

Just as she said that, Emi suddenly got up out of bed. The way she moved was jerky, like a puppet. When I saw that, a cold chill ran down my spine.

Emi had her back to us and her head was hanging down. Her long black hair ws covering her face. She just stood there, facing her bed, moaning softly. Slowly, very slowly, she began to turn around.

Just then, Yoko flew into a panic. “That’s not Emi,” she hissed.

Emi was still slowly turning.

Yoko was staring at Emi, her eyes wide in fright.

I didn’t want to look, but I couldn’t turn away.

I was trembling uncontrollably. In the dim light, I could make out Emi’s face as she turned.

It was Emi’s face, but somehow it wasn’t.

Her skin was pale and her eyes bugged out abnormally. Her mouth was distorted and twisted into an evil grimace.

It wasn’t Emi…

It was as if her face had been mixed with the face of someone else…

…as if someone else was pretending to Emi…

In a voice that didn’t sound human, she whispered, “I want to know how…”

I don’t remember what happened after that. I think Yoko and I passed out.

When I woke up, it was morning. Yoko was lying on the futon beside me, but in the bed, there was just a discarded pair of pajamas. There was no sign of Emi anywhere.

We went downstairs, but the house was empty. We were really freaked out and the events of the night before were fresh in our minds. Yoko and I grabbed our bags and left as fast as we could.

We tried call Emi on her mobile, but it was out of range. We tried again and again that afternoon, but it was always out of range.

Later that evening, we called her home phone number and her mom answered. She said she didn’t know where Emi was either. Yoko and I became more and more scared. We texted all of our friends, but none of them had heard from Emi. It was like she had dropped off the face of the earth.

Emi’s parents went to the police and filed a missing persons report. They started a search for Emi. Most people thought she had run away from home. Nobody could find any trace of her. The police came to question myself and Yoko, but there was nothing much we could tell them. We both knew Emi didn’t run away from home.

One day, Yoko came over to my house. We got on my laptop and searched the internet for the scary website Emi had been reading. With trembling fingers, Yoko clicked on the link.

A notice came up on the screen. “This story has been removed,” it read. “Do not try to find this scary story. It is too dangerous.”

We searched through the site, but we couldn’t find it.

Ever since then, I’ve had trouble sleeping.

I’m scared that when I wake up… I won’t be here anymore.