Dan Melsner

This is a creepypasta I wrote with a bit of a twist. WARNING: This creepypasta contains suggestive themes of a disturbing nature. Viewer discretion is advised.

Dan Melsner
There once was a man named Daniel Melsner, but all his friends and co-workers just called him “Dan” for short. Like many people, he worked in a downtown office building in a cubicle for a slimey boss and a shit salary. But Dan had a secret condition that no one knew about. He was getting the proper psychiatric care and pharmaceutical therapy to keep it under control, but Dan was a pedophile. Mind you, he had never acted on his urges and had been fighting them since day one. It was never easy, but he managed to keep himself from ever actually hurting a child. He would bury himself in his work every day so that he could keep it that way. He frequently worked late hours and even spent most of his weekend double-checking every T.P.S. report and data entry form his company would assign him. One night, his therapist was hit by a drunk driver and killed.

Upon hearing the news the next day by her assistant, he was shocked and greatly saddened. However, he also knew he had to start looking for a new therapist immediately, or else his urges might one day get the better of him. After speaking with the assistant some more, he got a temporary referral to another psychiatrist and all went back to normal. Except, he didn’t feel quite the same and he could swear he was being followed as he walked home from the train station every night. He figured it must have been his mind playing tricks on him, as he was still shaken up by his recent loss. After all, he had felt closer to his therapist than to his own family, who had cast him out years ago when they suspected something was wrong with him mentally. About a week later, his company hosted a weekend camping trip to the forest, which was about an hour and a half outside of town. Dan didn’t really want to go as he’d never been an outdoorsman, but he felt obligated to show support for the company. When he arrived, he was surprised to see that his boss had brought his 9 year-old daughter. He immediately checked his bag to make sure his pills were with him, and they were. He breathed a sigh of relief and set up his tent for the night. He tossed and turned in an uneasy attempt at sleep. He still felt as though he was being stalked, but it was only a feeling and he hadn’t seen anybody following him. When he did sleep, he had terrible nightmares. He would see the campsite through blurred, hazy eyes. He reached for his bag but it was empty, containing no pills or comforts of any kind. He saw himself roaming the campsite, around all the tents of sleeping employees, but he felt like his body was being controlled by some outside force that he could not stop. He was pulled toward the little pink tent and he was so horrified that he wanted to throw up. He heard whispers telling him things about how much he hated his self-important boss and how he deserved to be punished. One phrase that he heard several times was “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” followed by “Go ahead, take a bite”. Dan fought against the voices with everything he had and struggled to wake up. But his body still seemed to be under someone else’s control and he witnessed himself performing unspeakable acts of violence and evil.

He finally woke up and immediately reached for his pills, but they were missing as was everything in his bag. He panicked, before thinking that one of his co-workers was simply playing a prank on him as a few of the more juvenile of them were keen to do. This had calmed him down a bit, but he could not shake the awful feeling that his nightmare had brought him. He decided to go for a walk to clear his head as early dawn revealed the slate grey of the cloudy morning sky. It appeared that everyone was still sleeping, and Dan took a quiet stroll around the campsite so as not to disturb anyone. After a few minutes, he decided to look through the tents to see if he could find his pills because he was still quite shaken. He checked the usual suspects first and found nothing until he decided to check his boss’ tent. Dan figured that since his boss was a general asshole, he might have stolen his things. Upon entering the tent, Dan saw little specks of red splattered all over the inside of the tent. His bosses head had been bashed in with a rock, which happened to be something he felt compelled to do in his nightmare. “How is this possible?” he thought. “Was I possessed? Did I only THINK I was dreaming?” Many thoughts screamed inside his head as he clamored outside to yell for help. He tried waking up his co-workers, but they were all dead too with snapped necks. Finally, he reluctantly went to look in the boss’ daughter’s tent, fearing what he may have done to her. He peeled back the tent flap and slowly willed himself to look, but she was missing. Confused, he ran as far as he could, but he saw no cars and no end to the woods he was in. He couldn’t get the girl’s image out of his mind and he began hearing more whispers like the ones in his nightmare, this time saying “You know what you did. She’s with us now.” He found his way back to the campsite and checked inside his bag again, which now had three items in it: a notepad, a pen, and a rope. It felt as if he had willed them into existence with the agonizing guilt he was feeling over what he knew he must have done. He began writing in the notepad “God, help me! I did it. I must have done it. There is no one else left. I tried to escape this hell that I’m trapped in, but I can’t run from this! Maybe I am being stalked after all, by my own personal demons. Or maybe it was just my primal urges fighting to be unleashed and finally succeeding. Either way, I can’t look at what I’ve done anymore. If I do, it will take me over completely. The only thing I can do now is end my suffering and hope that I find forgiveness and peace on the other side. If anyone finds this, please tell my estranged family that I always loved them.” He then threw the rope over a nearby tree branch and tied it into a noose. After a moment of hesitation, he stood up on one of the camping grounds’ picnic tables and placed it around his neck. He kicked the table away and the rope snapped tightly around his neck. As he slipped away, he heard one last whisper. “You are special. You have been chosen.”

Dan suddenly became aware again and he found himself in a dark place that felt empty and cold. He was strapped to a torture rack which slowly began moving, pulling his arms and legs in separate directions. Before long, he felt as though he was being smothered, though he could not feel any material against his face. It was like being suffocated by a ghost, but the inability to breathe was only causing him more pain rather than killing him. It seemed to go on for hours, even days, before he finally blacked out.

When he awoke again, Dan found himself back in the forest where the campsite had been. He felt very strange and while he was aware of his surroundings, he was unable to differentiate parts of his body. For instance, he couldn’t tell where his nose ended and the rest of his face began. He walked around for what seemed like an eternity, looking for any signs of life or ideally, a way out of the forest. The only thing he found was a camcorder. He checked to see if it was still working and turned it on. He positioned the preview screen to face the same direction as the lens so he could use it like a mirror. When he turned it towards himself, he saw a pale featureless face covered in a screen full of static.