Latest / Shallow Nights: Scary Bedtime Stories / Jackpot of Despair - Scary Paranormal Story

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Jackpot of Despair - Scary Paranormal Story · Shallow Nights: Scary Bedtime Stories

0:17
From the moment I bought the lottery ticket, it didn't feel
0:20
right. I never spent money on lottery
0:22
tickets and thought they were a waste of money, but a sign on
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the street corner caught my eye when I was walking home from
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work one day. Community lottery money raised
0:32
that goes to a good cause. Current Jackpot.
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Current jackpot $2,234,423 I was intrigued for some reason.
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It was a lot of money and I didn't imagine a lot of people
0:45
were playing since it looked like a small operation.
0:49
I went inside and a small old man with a fine mustache stood
0:52
behind the counter. The store looked a little rough
0:55
inside. The paint was peeling from the
0:57
walls and the shelves were half bare.
1:00
It smelled a bit like mildew and spoiled meat.
1:02
The shopkeeper smiled at me warmly as I walked up to the
1:05
counter, the light dancing in his eyes behind his round
1:08
spectacles. He wore a distinctive black suit
1:11
with gold cuffs and collar. Welcome, welcome, what can I do
1:15
for you? He said in a friendly tone.
1:18
I saw your sign outside and wanted to buy a few tickets for
1:21
the lottery, I said. Of course, of course.
1:24
All money raised goes to a good cause, $2.00 for one, $5 for
1:29
three, $10 gets you 7 tickets. How many you want?
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It was pulling out a crisp stack of tickets.
1:36
Their faces appeared to have been inked by hand, but that was
1:39
impossible considering the size of the jackpot.
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I thought they had to have been stamped.
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Yet each one looks unique and different.
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They weren't numbered. They look like Rorschach tests,
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each one a unique black blotch of ink.
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I was feeling lucky. I told him I would take as many
1:56
as $50 would get me. There wasn't a price break past
2:00
$10.00, so I ended up with 35 tickets.
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I flipped through them, amazed at how different they each were.
2:06
Good luck, Remember, all money raised goes to a good cause.
2:10
The man's face was bemused, his mouth turned up at the corners
2:14
into a little smile. Anything I should know?
2:17
How do I find out if I won? I asked the man, His brow
2:20
wrinkled. His face looked annoyed by this
2:23
question. I've never played this lottery
2:25
before. It seems a bit strange.
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Someone will tell you if you would, don't worry.
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He said cryptically. I didn't understand how they
2:33
would find me, but he refused to take any of my information.
2:37
I left the store feeling like I had been ripped off $50.00 for a
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handful of black and white tickets with cool designs on
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them didn't seem like a very good deal.
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I was experiencing buyer's remorse for the first time in
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years as I walked home. I was usually very frugal.
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I couldn't help but wonder what had gotten into me.
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A week later, someone came to my door.
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It was another old man wearing the same black suit trimmed with
3:02
gold as the shopkeeper. He was holding a ticket with a
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black abstract pattern on it, like a war shack test.
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He didn't say a word, he just held up the piece of paper and
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stood there smiling. The black splotch looked like a
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devious little monkey, and I recognized it immediately.
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I ran upstairs, excited, and grabbed the stack of tickets.
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I shuffled through them and found one that matched.
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I made a high pitched yell of excitement.
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I was rich. I waved the ticket with the
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monkey ink splotch on it above my head and dance.
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I had never won anything before in my life.
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I couldn't believe it. I brought the whole stack of
3:39
tickets down with me, just in case, but kept the monkey one
3:42
separate. I showed it to him and he
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smiled, nodding his head. He took out a check from his
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pocket and handed it to me with a flourish, then began to walk
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away. It was a check for $2200.
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Furious, I tried to contain my rage.
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I ran in front with a man and cut off his hasty escape.
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He looked surprised. I told him the sign had said the
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prize was over $2,000,000 2002. $100 was a long way from that.
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Money goes to a good 'cause you are not a good 'cause you take
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$2200 and be happy, the man said.
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I couldn't believe my ears. His smile had faded and he
4:21
looked very serious now, as if I had broken some unspoken
4:24
contract. I thought of a 5050 draw at a
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Stag and Dough, or at charity events where the winner was
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expected to donate their winnings to the cause.
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Was that what this was? I thought of the man's words.
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All money raised goes to a good 'cause I hadn't even bothered to
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ask the name of the charity. Listen, if you try to screw me
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here, I will come after you guys for false advertising.
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I see what you're trying to pull.
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I won this thing fair and square.
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Now give me what's mine. I told him I'm gritting my
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teeth. I had never been a greedy
4:56
person, but the idea of $2,000,000 that was rightfully
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mine being taken from me rubbed me the wrong way and brought out
5:04
a very bad side of me. I had already mentally begun to
5:07
spend the money and felt robbed and cheated.
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If I wanted to give some of it to their charity, that was my
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decision to make, A greedy and unfamiliar little monsters voice
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said inside my head. He furrowed his brow.
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His eyes looked sad for a second, but he reached into his
5:24
pocket and pulled out another check.
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He put the other one away and handed me this one instead.
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The amount written on it was $2,234,423.
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I jumped up and down, giddy with delight.
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When I opened my eyes again, the man was gone.
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I couldn't believe my luck. I had thought I would only get
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half that amount at the very most.
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After some negotiating, no one contacted me to ask if I wanted
5:51
to have my picture taken with a big cardboard check and I was a
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bit disappointed, but I decided I wouldn't let it bother me.
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I had over $2,000,000 to spend on whatever I wanted.
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No one called to ask me to donate a portion of it to the
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organization's charitable cause, but I just assumed they would
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send something by mail. First things first, I thought,
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and called my job. I quit without notice, playing
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punk rock on my laptop as I did so and singing Take This Job and
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Shove It Out Loud. As the hold music played in my
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ear, I sang the lyrics to my manager, letting him know I
6:26
ain't working there no more. My boss was furious, but I just
6:30
hung up on him. Holiday in Cambodia came on the
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playlist next, and I listened to the furiously jovial tones of
6:37
Jello Biafra with a big smile on my face as I lay on the couch.
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It felt good to be in charge of my own destiny for once, or so I
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thought. I went to the bank to deposit
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the check. After talking to managers for a
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while, they made a phone call and confirmed the check was
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real. Probably should have checked
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that first before quitting. They told me it would take a
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little while to clear and said I would have to wait a week or two
7:00
to spend any money. I sat around my apartment for a
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couple weeks, playing video games, watching old movies, and
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enjoying the unemployed lifestyles of the soon to be
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rich and famous. Finally, the bank called and
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said I could play with my cash. The manager tried to tell me
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something else, but I hung up on him before he could waste any
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more of my time. The guy's voice was dry and
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boring, and suddenly I had no attention span for boring.
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After a lifetime of normality, I was ready to have some fun.
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I went to the BMW dealership first.
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I'd always wanted one and decided I would treat myself to
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an M5. They obliged and I burnt rubber
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out with a car lot, watching their surprise faces as I drove
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away. The car had a lot of torque and
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was tough to control due to my lack of experience with high
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performance vehicles. I didn't let that bother me
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though and gunned it down the main roads until the cops pulled
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me over and gave me a hefty speeding ticket.
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The price of it didn't bother me, but the points against my
8:00
license did. I already had a couple of recent
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speeding tickets from prior infractions and the cop told me
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with the most recent mistake I would need to go in front of a
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judge to plead my case for why I should keep my license.
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I bit my tongue and tried not to scream at him.
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My license would be revoked for up to six months if the judge
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decided I didn't need it that bad and or wasn't remorseful
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enough. I tried not to worry about it
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too much, but two weeks later my license was revoked.
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The judge hadn't liked my attitude.
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Apparently. To get the bad taste of that
8:36
experience out of my mouth, I contacted a real estate agent.
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I was in the market for a house. I told her something big with a
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pool, the greedy little voice inside me said.
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She showed me a few options and I settled on the nicest one of
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the bunch. It cost a cool million, but it
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was worth it. I spent another day shopping and
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filled the house with top of the line electronics and comfortable
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leather furniture, a pool table, a Pac-Man vintage tabletop game,
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and outfitted the back deck with a gigantic Weber BBQ with a
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buttload of BTU's. After all that shopping I gave
9:12
some money to friends and family who began to hound me for cash
9:16
to help them pay down debts and to replace aging and broken down
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vehicles. They had always been good to me
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so I felt guilty saying no. I had some student loan debt so
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I wiped that out with a sigh of relief as well.
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I had a terrible feeling when I logged onto my bank account and
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realized how much I had spent. I knew I was no longer a
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millionaire but was surprised to see the balance was $655,573.24.
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I spent 2/3 of the money in three weeks, but at least I had
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a sweet ride in a great house to show for it.
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I thought. I made a mental tally of all the
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things I had purchased and tried to make myself feel better but
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couldn't. I felt empty and hollow inside.
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Suddenly I couldn't understand the feeling and try desperately
10:04
to get rid of it. I took a trip to Hawaii.
10:08
I got sick the day I arrived with a virus the doctors
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couldn't figure out. My travel insurance covered the
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hospital bills for the most part, but the vacation was a
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bust. I came home a month later after
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spending all that time in the hospital.
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I hadn't even been to a beach while I was on my trip.
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I was so sick I couldn't spend more than 10 minutes out of bed.
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Wounds and bed sores developed all over me and my skin became
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paper thin from the steroids the doctors prescribed to try to
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fight the illness. I got a cut on my foot the day I
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got home and it stubbornly refused to heal.
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It wouldn't even stop bleeding and quickly became infected.
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I ended up in the hospital again, this time in an isolation
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room as my wound picked up another infection, nosocomial
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and resistant to antibiotics. Perfect, I thought, just one
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more thing, what else could go wrong?
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I started to regret not just keeping the check for $2200.
11:07
I was beginning to get the feeling my life perhaps would
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have been better if I had. This all felt like a punishment.
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The greedy voice inside told me I was wrong, but I didn't trust
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it. My friends and family abandoned
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me and stopped visiting. I had become stingy with my
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remaining money and they resented me for it.
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They said I had changed, that I was greedy and indifferent to
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them. All I wanted was to keep some of
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the wealth as a nest egg. I told them was that so bad?
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I was finally discharged from the hospital.
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I lost 70 lbs and was emaciated and weak.
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I could barely walk and just getting out of bed exhausted me.
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When I got home I tried to enjoy my big house, but it was too
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large to get around. Now that I was deconditioned
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from my long hospital stay, I had to get a nurse and a
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personal support worker to help me bathe and do housework.
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I had no strength left suddenly and felt used up and hopeless.
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I was afraid to look at my bank account now.
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The money in there was no good. It was toxic.
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One night, lying in bed restless as I wriggled and squirmed
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trying to find a way to ignore the pain from the bedsore, my
12:19
coccyx, I decided I should give the money back.
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Something told me that was the only way to fix things.
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I sold the house and brought the BMW back to the dealership.
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After selling everything else of value, I ended up with around
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$1.8 million back in my bank account.
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I felt like I needed to return the rest as well, but was in no
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state to do any physical labor in order to make money.
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It would probably take 20 years to save up the amount I needed
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to pay it all back, I thought. I prayed the men in black and
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gold would forgive me and return my life to normal somehow.
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I called each member of my family and told them more or
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less what I plan to do. Fudging the details only
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slightly. I said I plan to give all the
13:03
money to charity. I thought they would be angry,
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but everyone told me I was making the right decision.
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They said the money had changed me and certainly not for the
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better. I made my way back to the little
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shop the next morning with the help of my PSW.
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He drove me there and helped me inside in my wheelchair.
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The man at the counter was not the same and my heart dropped
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immediately. He was dressed in a white
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T-shirt that said Florida on it and blue jeans.
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He spoken to Twangy Southern Drawl and when I asked about the
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lottery he said he had no clue what I was talking about.
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We got all kinds of scratchers if that's what you're after.
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He said pulling out the scratch and win tickets from beneath the
13:44
plastic countertop. I shook my head and thanked him
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for his time. We left the shop and I realized
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I had no clue what to do next. I knew I had to give the money
13:54
back, but how would I find the men in the black suits with gold
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trim? I stopped a woman walking by and
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asked if she knew the people who owned the shop before the ones
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who ran the community lottery. The woman shrugged and said she
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had lived there for years but had never heard of such a thing.
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I looked around and saw the street looked worse than it had
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the day I bought the ticket a couple months before.
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The people looked sadder. The buildings were dirtier and
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looked in disrepair. Cars on the street belched thick
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Gray smoke and rattled over potholes.
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Homeless people clustered on a corner where a little shanty was
14:28
erected. Windows were boarded up in
14:31
abandoned storefront. Windows were smashed, left
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unrepaired, the broken glass still laying scattered on the
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sidewalk. I went home anxious and upset.
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I needed to find the men in black suits with gold trim.
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It was the only way to get my life back, I thought.
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In my motel room that night I lay in bed cold and scared.
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It didn't seem to matter how many blankets I put on, I could
14:56
never seem to stay warm. I'd never put back on any of the
14:59
weight I had lost. In fact, I lost more every week.
15:03
I couldn't keep food down and had never ending nausea.
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I thought I had cancer, but all the tests came back negative at
15:10
the hospital when I was still there.
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Still, it felt like something horrible was festering and
15:16
growing inside of me. The greedy little monster voice
15:19
was always there in my head, but I now ignored him and his awful
15:24
desires. Still he whispered to me
15:27
constantly. The greedy thing inside you will
15:31
eat you up, A voice said from the shadows in the corner of my
15:34
dark room. The clock on my bedside table
15:37
said 3:23 AM. I tried to call out for help,
15:42
but my voice came out as a strangled whisper.
15:45
I tried to scream, but no sound came out.
15:49
The light danced in the eyes of the man in the shadows, although
15:52
there was no light in the room to be reflected, I saw him step
15:56
forward out of the darkness. His smile was bemused, still
16:00
barely visible. You should have kept your
16:02
winnings when they were offered, he said.
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I'm sorry. I managed, tears streaming down
16:08
my face. What can I do?
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I want to give it back. Let me give it back.
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You have all of it? He asked with a sly and knowing
16:17
look in his eyes that said he knew.
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I didn't. I tried, but I have most of it
16:23
over 1,800,000. I please take it back, I don't
16:29
want it. My words sounded pathetic to my
16:32
own ears, but I didn't care. I only hoped he would accept.
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He didn't. You must give it all back.
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The horde must be whole to tip back the scales so they rest
16:43
even once again he said. How?
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Just tell me what to do and I'll do it.
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I pleaded with him desperately. There are many ways to make a
16:51
dollar. Find one of them and do it again
16:54
and again until it's whole again.
16:57
His face looked a little gleeful.
16:59
The bastard was enjoying this. I can't, don't you understand?
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It's impossible. I'll die before I can make $10.
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I was angry, but tried to plead once more with him.
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There must be some other way. Please, I'll do anything,
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anything. My voice came out a whisper.
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Well. The man said, playing with the
17:20
corners of his fine mustache. You have one other option,
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although you may not like it. The next day I went to the
17:29
address where the man had told me to go.
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I walked in and they gave me a hospital gown, although this was
17:35
no hospital. I was directed to lie flat on a
17:39
cold steel table and told the doctor would be in shortly.
17:43
The man who came in was wearing black scrubs with gold trim.
17:46
He introduced himself as Doctor Gold.
17:48
An assistant came in next, an older woman in glasses dressed
17:53
the same. She said her name was Nurse
17:55
Black. They told me what would be done
17:58
and I said that would be fine. Whatever I had to do to get my
18:01
life back, I would do it. They explained they no longer
18:05
had an anesthesiologist. He had paid his debt, so I would
18:09
be awake for the procedure. They scrubbed large swaths of my
18:13
body with a disinfectant that turned my skin pink.
18:16
Then they began to cut. The scalpel left a red trail of
18:21
blossoming blood wherever it went, and soon the stuff was
18:24
everywhere. Nurse Black mopped it up calmly
18:27
with clean towels, wiping the sweat from Doctor Gold's brow
18:30
every so often. I screamed and wept.
18:33
I gnashed my teeth and pounded my fists into the hard steel
18:36
table as they reached into my body, severing arteries and
18:40
veins and pulling out slippery, blood soaked organs which shone
18:44
like rubies in the bright light of the overhead lamp.
18:48
I passed out after they cut off a portion of my lung.
18:51
When I felt like I could suddenly no longer breathe.
18:55
The doctor looked around with wide eyes for a moment, as if
18:58
he'd made a bad mistake. I woke up once more and wished I
19:02
hadn't. What I saw should not have been
19:05
seen. The price of my organs on the
19:08
black market didn't quite cover the cost of my mistakes.
19:12
Doctor Gould said as my eyes fluttered open.
19:15
His words were fading in and out.
19:18
I nodded my head when he asked me a question, though I didn't
19:21
understand it. He handed me a pen and I took it
19:23
in my shaking hand. I remember signing something but
19:27
didn't read what it said. I wish I could tell you things
19:30
worked out for me, I really do, and maybe they will someday.
19:35
I only wish they'd told me what a crappy rate people pay for
19:38
black market organs. I would rather have had my
19:41
kidney and left eye than $20,000 to wipe for my debt.
19:46
I have to pay the rest back in labor anyways.
19:49
At least they pulled that little monster out of me, kicking and
19:52
screaming. A tiny, inky black monkey made
19:55
of green and hate, screeching and howling as it dug its claws
19:59
into my belly. In a futile effort to stay
20:02
inside me, to destroy me. That's the last thing I saw
20:06
before the world went dark. Maybe one day I'll get to work
20:11
behind the counter somewhere selling tickets, but for now I'm
20:14
only tasked with inking them. Each blotch of ink has to be
20:17
distinctive and different, and there's thousands, millions of
20:21
tickets to make. They don't give us breaks
20:23
either. We live at our desks receiving
20:26
whips to the back from a cat of nine tails when we fall asleep
20:30
or slow down. They have Ivs hanging from the
20:33
ceiling full of vitamins and amphetamines, which infuse into
20:37
us all day long as we hunch over our desks.
20:40
I'm told the cost of the fluids and amphetamines are added to
20:43
our debt every day, that it just keeps growing and growing.
20:47
But that's just a rumor. No one gets to see their
20:50
balance. People disappear sometimes, and
20:54
we hope they paid their debt and didn't just die of exhaustion.
20:59
I look ahead and see rows of people puttering away at their
21:02
desks, fading into the distance. This warehouse, or whatever it
21:07
is, it's enormous. There are thousands of us here,
21:11
all dressed in black with gold cuffs and collars.
21:16
Someone smuggled in this phone the other day.
21:18
We've been discreetly passing it around, making fruitless efforts
21:21
to contact the outside world. So I decided to use it to tell
21:25
my story and to plead with you to beg you.
21:30
Please help send money.