# 5 True Domino's Horror Stories For Sleep The Last Order Before Closing

An episode of [AfterDark Reddits](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1896809423), 26 Oct 2026, 41 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74987382/035_5_true_domino_s_horror_stories_for_sleep_the_last_order_before_closing.mp3



## Transcript

[0:03] Speaker 1: It was 2.27 a.m. when I pulled into the Domino's
[0:05] Speaker 1: parking lot on Halstead. I remember the exact time because
[0:09] Speaker 1: the dashboard clock blinked like it always did when my
[0:12] Speaker 1: car battery threatened to die. Just one of those little
[0:15] Speaker 1: worries piling up after a double shift at St. Luke's.
[0:20] Speaker 1: My stomach was in knots not from stress but from hunger.
[0:23] Speaker 1: I hadn't eaten since lunch, some vending machine crackers and
[0:26] Speaker 1: half a soda I found in the break room fridge.
[0:28] Speaker 1: Domino's wasn't exactly a gourmet option. but I wasn't in
[0:32] Speaker 1: the mood to be picky. Everything else nearby was closed
[0:35] Speaker 1: or sketchier than I wanted to deal with at that hour.
[0:39] Speaker 1: But this place? It had the glowing blue sign flickering
[0:43] Speaker 1: above the entrance, like it was fighting to stay alive.
[0:47] Speaker 1: It felt weird seeing it still open so late, but whatever.
[0:50] Speaker 1: I just figured someone else must have been desperate for
[0:53] Speaker 1: greasy carbs like I was. I parked close to the door,
[0:57] Speaker 1: under one of the sad little security lights. No other cars.
[1:01] Speaker 1: No music from inside. No noise at all, actually. It
[1:05] Speaker 1: was dead quiet except for the dull hum of the
[1:08] Speaker 1: neon sign and the occasional rustle of wind through the
[1:11] Speaker 1: alley beside the building. The windows were fogged slightly from
[1:15] Speaker 1: the inside. Maybe they were cleaning up. Maybe they were
[1:19] Speaker 1: closing late. None of it really registered as strange yet.
[1:24] Speaker 1: I just wanted food. I pulled the door open, expecting
[1:28] Speaker 1: the cheesy, Sent to hit me like a wall, the
[1:31] Speaker 1: way it usually does. But the air inside was cold.
[1:34] Speaker 1: Not freezing, just wrong. Like something that used to be
[1:37] Speaker 1: warm had been turned off hours ago. I stepped in
[1:40] Speaker 1: and said, hey, anybody here? No answer. No one behind
[1:44] Speaker 1: the counter. No sound from the ovens. Just a half-boxed
[1:48] Speaker 1: pizza sitting there like someone left in the middle of
[1:50] Speaker 1: making it. That's when the first real chill hit the
[1:53] Speaker 1: back of my neck. I should have left right then.
[1:57] Speaker 1: But I didn't. The place had that abandoned in a
[2:01] Speaker 1: hurry feel. You know what I mean? Like someone left
[2:04] Speaker 1: a movie on pause. One of the prep tables still
[2:07] Speaker 1: had flour on it. A single pizza cutter was on
[2:10] Speaker 1: the edge, half dangling. The display screens were off, but
[2:14] Speaker 1: the heat lamps were still on, casting this orange, dying
[2:18] Speaker 1: light kind of glow on the counter. And that pizza...
[2:22] Speaker 1: It looked fresh, still warm. Pepperoni and mushrooms. Exactly what
[2:26] Speaker 1: I usually order. That gave me pause. I called out again. Hey,
[2:32] Speaker 1: if you're still open, I'll pay cash. Still nothing. I
[2:36] Speaker 1: reached for my phone, figured I'd call the store just
[2:39] Speaker 1: to see if anyone would pick up. The number rang
[2:42] Speaker 1: twice and then went straight to voicemail. That's when the
[2:46] Speaker 1: lights flickered once, then cut out completely. Just like that.
[2:51] Speaker 1: No buzz. No dimming. One second they were on. Next
[2:56] Speaker 1: second I was standing in total darkness. I froze. Couldn't
[3:00] Speaker 1: even hear my own breathing over how loud my heart
[3:02] Speaker 1: was thudding. Then I heard footsteps. Slow. Deliberate. Coming from
[3:09] Speaker 1: behind the kitchen line. I couldn't see who it was
[3:12] Speaker 1: at first. I turned on my phone flashlight and held
[3:15] Speaker 1: it up. And that's when he stepped into the beam.
[3:18] Speaker 1: A man. Maybe late 40s. No uniform. Just a white
[3:23] Speaker 1: t-shirt stained with what looked like tomato sauce or something
[3:26] Speaker 1: red anyway. And a pair of rubber gloves that glistened
[3:29] Speaker 1: under the light. He didn't say anything right away. Just
[3:33] Speaker 1: stood there, staring at me. Blank expression. Not angry. Not confused. Just... present. Then,
[3:43] Speaker 1: in a voice so hoarse it sounded like it hadn't
[3:45] Speaker 1: been used in days, he asked, You here for the delivery?
[3:50] Speaker 1: I didn't respond. I was too busy calculating how fast
[3:53] Speaker 1: I could bolt through the door. The air in the
[3:56] Speaker 1: room changed after he spoke. Got... heavier. like breathing through
[4:00] Speaker 1: wet cloth. I didn't ask questions. I didn't wait for
[4:04] Speaker 1: him to take another step. I turned and ran. I
[4:08] Speaker 1: hit the door with my shoulder so hard I thought
[4:09] Speaker 1: I dislocated something, but it flew open with a loud
[4:12] Speaker 1: metallic clang, and I stumbled onto the pavement. My phone
[4:17] Speaker 1: flew from my hand and skittered under a bench, but
[4:19] Speaker 1: I wasn't about to waste time grabbing it. I jumped
[4:23] Speaker 1: into my car, heart jamming in my throat and fumbled
[4:25] Speaker 1: with the keys. My fingers wouldn't work. I could see
[4:28] Speaker 1: him through the glass door now, just standing there, watching.
[4:32] Speaker 1: No expression. Like he was disappointed I didn't take the pizza. Finally,
[4:37] Speaker 1: the ignition caught. I floored it out of the lot
[4:39] Speaker 1: so fast my tires screeched like something out of a movie.
[4:43] Speaker 1: As I turned onto the street, I glanced into the
[4:45] Speaker 1: rearview mirror. He was outside now, not chasing me. Just
[4:51] Speaker 1: standing in the lot under the flickering dominoes sign, watching
[4:54] Speaker 1: me drive away. his white shirt almost glowing in the half-darkness.
[4:59] Speaker 1: And then the sign, the only light on the block,
[5:02] Speaker 1: cut off. Gone. Like the whole place had never existed.
[5:09] Speaker 1: I drove around for an hour, just aimless, trying to
[5:11] Speaker 1: rationalize what happened. Maybe I imagined it. Maybe it was
[5:15] Speaker 1: some messed-up prank. Maybe I was just too tired to
[5:19] Speaker 1: be thinking clearly. But none of that explained the man
[5:23] Speaker 1: or the pizza that looked just like mine or the
[5:27] Speaker 1: fact that I still hadn't eaten and no longer felt hungry,
[5:29] Speaker 1: just sick. I went home eventually, slept with the hallway
[5:33] Speaker 1: light on for the first time since I was 12.
[5:35] Speaker 1: The next morning, I called Domino's. I needed answers, something
[5:41] Speaker 1: to make sense of it all. I figured I'd talk
[5:44] Speaker 1: to the manager, say I stopped by around 30 and
[5:47] Speaker 1: ask if something weird had happened. Maybe there was a
[5:50] Speaker 1: new night shift guy who didn't know the routine. But
[5:53] Speaker 1: the guy who answered, some middle-aged manager named Barry, sounded
[5:57] Speaker 1: confused from the jump. We close at midnight, he said.
[6:01] Speaker 1: Always have. Nobody works past 1230. Are you sure you
[6:04] Speaker 1: were at our location? Positive, I said. Blue sign, right
[6:08] Speaker 1: on Halstead. I walked in. There was a pizza half-boxed
[6:12] Speaker 1: on the counter. Then the ear. Lights went out and...
[6:16] Speaker 1: I stopped myself. Saying it out loud made it sound stupid.
[6:20] Speaker 1: Like a ghost story or something you'd read on a
[6:23] Speaker 1: Reddit thread. But Barry didn't laugh. Weird, he said slowly.
[6:29] Speaker 1: There shouldn't have been anyone there. Place was locked up,
[6:33] Speaker 1: I closed it myself. What about the cameras, I asked.
[6:36] Speaker 1: You've got security footage, right? He hesitated. There was a
[6:40] Speaker 1: power surge that night, he said. Fried a few systems.
[6:45] Speaker 1: Lost the footage between midnight and 3am. It's looking into it, but... Yeah,
[6:51] Speaker 1: nothing from that window. I didn't know what to say
[6:54] Speaker 1: to that. What were the odds? A freak power outage
[6:59] Speaker 1: that just happened to wipe out the exact time frame
[7:03] Speaker 1: I needed to check. He asked if I wanted a
[7:06] Speaker 1: coupon for the inconvenience. I hung up. Later that night,
[7:11] Speaker 1: I checked Google. That Domino's had been involved in a
[7:15] Speaker 1: robbery six years back. A guy posing as a night
[7:18] Speaker 1: janitor went off the rails and attacked two drivers. The
[7:21] Speaker 1: case was sealed, but Reddit threads hinted the guy had
[7:24] Speaker 1: disappeared before he could be arrested. Nobody knew what happened
[7:27] Speaker 1: to him. Some people thought he still showed up in
[7:30] Speaker 1: closed stores late at night. I haven't ordered delivery since.
[7:34] Speaker 1: Not pizza, not Chinese, not anything. If I'm hungry after midnight,
[7:39] Speaker 1: I make toast or go without. Something about that night
[7:41] Speaker 1: snapped something in me, like a wire that never quite
[7:45] Speaker 1: got reconnected. A few weeks later, I drove by that
[7:48] Speaker 1: same Domino's again. Just curiosity. The sign was still off.
[7:53] Speaker 1: The windows were boarded. a for lease sign, had been
[7:57] Speaker 1: slapped across the glass faded from rain. I parked across
[8:01] Speaker 1: the street and stared at it for a long time.
[8:04] Speaker 1: I don't know why. Maybe I thought I'd see him again.
[8:08] Speaker 1: The man in the stained t-shirt. Maybe he'd be inside waiting.
[8:12] Speaker 1: Maybe he never left. Six months later, the location shut
[8:17] Speaker 1: down officially. People said it was due to low foot traffic.
[8:21] Speaker 1: but I heard from a nurse who lived nearby that
[8:23] Speaker 1: cops showed up one night after reports of movement inside.
[8:27] Speaker 1: They found nothing. No signs of a break-in. But one
[8:31] Speaker 1: officer swore he saw someone through the kitchen window. They
[8:34] Speaker 1: called it a false alarm. Probably was. Still, when I
[8:40] Speaker 1: drive home late and pass other Domino's stores, I look in.
[8:44] Speaker 1: Just for a second. If you ever see one open
[8:47] Speaker 1: past closing time, with a half-made pizza waiting on the
[8:50] Speaker 1: counter just keep driving don't go inside because sometimes the
[8:57] Speaker 1: scariest thing at domino's isn't the calories or the grease
[9:01] Speaker 1: it's realizing you were never meant to be there and
[9:05] Speaker 1: someone else was waiting hungry just like you but not
[9:09] Speaker 1: for pizza Working closing shifts at Domino's in Detroit wasn't
[9:19] Speaker 1: exactly my dream job, but it paid the bills. I
[9:22] Speaker 1: was a 22-year-old community college student studying criminal justice by
[9:26] Speaker 1: day and a shift manager by night. You'd be surprised
[9:30] Speaker 1: how often those roles overlapped. It was late July, just
[9:34] Speaker 1: shy of 11 p.m., and the kind of heat that
[9:36] Speaker 1: makes the dough rise by itself had the city soaked
[9:39] Speaker 1: in sweat and tension. Our downtown location sat on the
[9:43] Speaker 1: edge of Woodward Ave, just close enough to the club's.
[9:46] Speaker 1: To get drunk walk-ins and just far enough to attract
[9:48] Speaker 1: the folks who wanted to scream about their coupon not scanning.
[9:51] Speaker 1: That night started like any other. A couple delivery orders,
[9:55] Speaker 1: a few DoorDash pickups, and then a lull. I was
[9:58] Speaker 1: closing solo. Our other ship... runner had called off i
[10:02] Speaker 1: was just wiping down the prep station when the glass
[10:04] Speaker 1: door burst open the man who stumbled in looked like
[10:08] Speaker 1: a relic from a different decade mid-50s balding under a
[10:12] Speaker 1: sweat stained tiger's cap with a greasy denim vest and
[10:15] Speaker 1: jeans that hadn't seen a washing machine this side of
[10:17] Speaker 1: the pandemic He reeked of cheap beer and motor oil
[10:21] Speaker 1: and his boots left black smudges across the tile. He
[10:24] Speaker 1: stomped up to the counter, slammed his hands down and barked,
[10:27] Speaker 1: give me two medium two toppings, $ 5. 99 carryout deal. I
[10:31] Speaker 1: didn't flinch. I've had worse. Sorry, sir, I said, keeping
[10:36] Speaker 1: my voice level. That promotion ended in 2018. He stared
[10:40] Speaker 1: at me like I'd spit in his mother's spaghetti. The
[10:43] Speaker 1: hell you mean? I saw it online just last week.
[10:46] Speaker 1: I motioned to the backlit menu board. Updated in big
[10:49] Speaker 1: bold letters. New value deals, starting at $ 7, 999. It's been
[10:55] Speaker 1: gone for a while, man. He didn't like that. In
[10:59] Speaker 1: the time it took me to blink, he booted the
[11:01] Speaker 1: tip jar off the counter. It shattered against the tile
[11:05] Speaker 1: quarters and crumpled ones flying everywhere like metal confetti. You
[11:09] Speaker 1: people are all the same. Bait and switch. Thieves. I
[11:14] Speaker 1: stayed behind the counter. I've learned never to escalate. no
[11:18] Speaker 1: matter how pissed. Off someone gets, they expect you to
[11:21] Speaker 1: bark back. Staying calm throws them off more than yelling
[11:25] Speaker 1: ever could. The website must have cached an old page,
[11:28] Speaker 1: I explained. Domino's has been using different deals since 2020.
[11:33] Speaker 1: You're probably seeing some random blog or coupon aggregator. That's
[11:38] Speaker 1: when he ripped down the now hiring sign taped to
[11:40] Speaker 1: our sneeze guard and crumpled it in his fist. I
[11:43] Speaker 1: half expected him to eat it. I drove all the
[11:47] Speaker 1: way down here in a truck running on fumes and
[11:49] Speaker 1: now you're telling me you won't honor what's owed? You
[11:51] Speaker 1: think I'm stupid? No, sir. But I am calling the
[11:55] Speaker 1: police if you don't leave. He froze. The rage dropped.
[12:00] Speaker 1: Off his face for a beat. Then, almost casually, he
[12:03] Speaker 1: walked backwards to the door, eyes never leaving mine. You
[12:07] Speaker 1: close up alone, don't you? He said with a smile
[12:10] Speaker 1: that chilled my spine more than any threat could. You
[12:14] Speaker 1: college boys think you're safe behind the counter. Then he
[12:17] Speaker 1: was gone. His truck, a rusted 87 Dodge Ram, backfired
[12:22] Speaker 1: as he tore out of the lot. It sounded like
[12:24] Speaker 1: gunfire echoing off the empty brick buildings. I stood there
[12:28] Speaker 1: in silence. Just me, the blinking order screen, and a
[12:32] Speaker 1: floor covered in spare change. The rest of the shift
[12:35] Speaker 1: was quiet. Eerily so. I tried to shake it off.
[12:40] Speaker 1: Told myself guys like that bark more than they bite.
[12:44] Speaker 1: I swept the floor, locked the doors. And started. Counting
[12:47] Speaker 1: the drawer. $ 242 in cash. One receipt smeared with marinara. Routine.
[12:54] Speaker 1: At 12.58am it started. I heard metal scraping against the
[12:58] Speaker 1: back door. The one only drivers and staff use. We
[13:02] Speaker 1: keep it bolted. No one ever tries to come through there.
[13:06] Speaker 1: Then the oven timer went off. I hadn't used it
[13:09] Speaker 1: in over an hour. The screen read. Bake cycle complete.
[13:14] Speaker 1: I checked the camera feed. Nothing. Just the alley. And
[13:17] Speaker 1: then my phone buzzed. Unknown number. I let it go
[13:21] Speaker 1: to voicemail. Seconds later, it rang again. Same number. I answered. Static.
[13:29] Speaker 1: Not just regular static, it sounded. Layered. Voices beneath it
[13:34] Speaker 1: or breathing. Then silence. When I checked the call log,
[13:38] Speaker 1: it had traced back to Vince Kowalski. Yeah, I later
[13:42] Speaker 1: learned his name from the cops, but in that moment
[13:44] Speaker 1: all i knew was the man had my number and
[13:46] Speaker 1: likely my schedule i stayed till close armed with nothing
[13:50] Speaker 1: but a pizza peel and pepper spray i kept taped
[13:52] Speaker 1: under the register left through the front double locked every
[13:55] Speaker 1: door and checked over my shoulder three times walking to
[13:58] Speaker 1: my car the next morning i filed an incident report
[14:03] Speaker 1: our gm derrick took it seriously called the cops they
[14:08] Speaker 1: pulled footage took statements told me to keep my phone
[14:12] Speaker 1: on me and not to close alone for a while
[14:14] Speaker 1: Later that week, Detroit PD showed up during the lunch rush.
[14:18] Speaker 1: They found Vince's truck behind our store's dumpster. It had
[14:22] Speaker 1: been there two nights, running on idle. The engine was
[14:26] Speaker 1: still warm. Inside, they recovered a box cutter, zip ties,
[14:30] Speaker 1: and a duffel bag containing four empty beer cans and
[14:33] Speaker 1: what looked like a handwritten manifesto on Domino's pricing practices. Apparently,
[14:39] Speaker 1: Vince had called the Domino's complaint line 37 times in
[14:41] Speaker 1: a single night. left long, slurred voicemails demanding the restoration
[14:47] Speaker 1: of 2018 promotions. When the cops pulled him in, he
[14:51] Speaker 1: claimed he just wanted what he was owed. I wasn't surprised.
[14:56] Speaker 1: Guy looked like every unhinged regular I've dealt with over
[14:59] Speaker 1: the years, except this time he brought zip ties. I
[15:02] Speaker 1: transferred not long after. Derek helped me land a spot
[15:06] Speaker 1: at the Domino's in Royal Oak, a bigger store, brighter,
[15:10] Speaker 1: and right, next to a police substation. I finished my
[15:14] Speaker 1: shift before midnight now, but that night stuck with me.
[15:18] Speaker 1: It wasn't just the threat. It was the way it
[15:20] Speaker 1: felt routine. Like the heat, the noise, and the anger
[15:24] Speaker 1: had all been simmering in that man long before he
[15:26] Speaker 1: kicked in our door. Like it was only a matter
[15:28] Speaker 1: of time. They banned him from every Domino's in Wayne County.
[15:32] Speaker 1: But word is he's been spotted yelling at a little
[15:35] Speaker 1: Caesar's kiosk off 8 Mile. Something about breadsticks not being
[15:39] Speaker 1: real garlic. And me? I still check the back door twice.
[15:44] Speaker 1: Not because I'm scared. Because I know some people don't
[15:47] Speaker 1: want pizza. They want the past. And they'll kill for
[15:52] Speaker 1: a deal that expired six years ago. I was just
[16:00] Speaker 1: beginning to forget the smell of old pizza when Jack disappeared.
[16:04] Speaker 1: It's funny how quickly you can push something out of
[16:06] Speaker 1: your head when you have to. But I couldn't escape it.
[16:09] Speaker 1: Jack's last shift that Friday night. would haunt me for months.
[16:14] Speaker 1: Jack was 17. Young, scrappy, and had that type of
[16:17] Speaker 1: reckless enthusiasm that only a teenager could carry. He wasn't
[16:20] Speaker 1: supposed to work the late shift at Domino's, but he
[16:22] Speaker 1: picked it up because he needed the extra cash for something.
[16:26] Speaker 1: Always for something. He'd just started driving deliveries in that
[16:29] Speaker 1: beat-up scooter, the one with the cracked side, mirror, and
[16:33] Speaker 1: the peeling blue paint. It was a mess, but it
[16:35] Speaker 1: was his. And on that night, everything was normal. He
[16:39] Speaker 1: clocked in around 4 YPM and had a few routine orders.
[16:42] Speaker 1: He was supposed to be home by midnight. He always
[16:45] Speaker 1: texted me when he left work. It was our little ritual,
[16:49] Speaker 1: just to let me know he made it out of
[16:50] Speaker 1: the parking lot, safe. That night, though, he never did.
[16:55] Speaker 1: I didn't think much of it at first. He'd gotten
[16:58] Speaker 1: caught in traffic before or maybe stayed late to chat
[17:00] Speaker 1: with the other drivers. But as the night wore on,
[17:03] Speaker 1: I got that feeling in my gut. The one you
[17:06] Speaker 1: can't ignore. At around 3 on AM, I called the store.
[17:11] Speaker 1: The phone was off the hook, just giving off that low,
[17:13] Speaker 1: garbled static. It didn't sit right with me. I couldn't sleep.
[17:17] Speaker 1: I kept pacing the living room, imagining what could have happened.
[17:21] Speaker 1: At 3.30 AM, I decided to go out and look
[17:24] Speaker 1: for him. But then I remembered his voicemail. Yo, save
[17:28] Speaker 1: me some garlic knots. The last words I'd ever hear
[17:31] Speaker 1: from him. It played over and over in my mind
[17:34] Speaker 1: like some kind of sick loop. Something wasn't. Right. The
[17:39] Speaker 1: Newark police arrived the next morning. The officers went through
[17:42] Speaker 1: all the motions, asking questions, looking at his phone, tracking
[17:46] Speaker 1: his deliveries. But all they found was his scooter idling
[17:49] Speaker 1: behind the dominoes, keys still in the ignition. No signs
[17:53] Speaker 1: of a struggle. No broken glass. No reason for him
[17:57] Speaker 1: to just disappear. The real problem started with the security footage.
[18:02] Speaker 1: The night of Jack's disappearance, the video feed from the
[18:05] Speaker 1: cameras was corrupted. completely wiped out. The police tried to
[18:10] Speaker 1: ask the store manager, but the guy was sketchy. He
[18:13] Speaker 1: kept talking about system errors, saying he couldn't pull up
[18:16] Speaker 1: the order log or retrieve any helpful information. I could
[18:20] Speaker 1: tell he was hiding something. I started calling around. My
[18:24] Speaker 1: phone bill became one long series of calls to anyone
[18:27] Speaker 1: who might know something, but nobody had a clear answer.
[18:30] Speaker 1: The store had gotten its delivery orders mixed up all
[18:33] Speaker 1: the time. It was a small, run-down location in the
[18:36] Speaker 1: middle of Newark, but they were consistent. That's all I
[18:39] Speaker 1: could say. They got the orders to the customers on time,
[18:43] Speaker 1: and the pizza was hot, mostly. I dug deeper. I
[18:47] Speaker 1: even went to the store and tried to see the
[18:49] Speaker 1: delivery log for myself. But when I asked, the manager,
[18:53] Speaker 1: whose name I could barely remember, said, Sorry, those records
[18:56] Speaker 1: are locked up in the system. It felt like a
[18:59] Speaker 1: dead end. I could sense it in my bones. Someone
[19:03] Speaker 1: wasn't telling me the truth. That's when I started listening
[19:07] Speaker 1: to the voicemail more obsessively. Over and over, Jack's voice
[19:10] Speaker 1: echoed in my mind. Save me some garlic knots. What
[19:15] Speaker 1: did that mean? Why did it sound so eerie? Maybe
[19:19] Speaker 1: I was just losing it. Or maybe something was off
[19:22] Speaker 1: about his last delivery. The dream started three nights after
[19:26] Speaker 1: Jack vanished. I could hear his voice calling me from
[19:29] Speaker 1: the back of the Domino's freezer. Just faint enough that
[19:32] Speaker 1: I couldn't make out the words. but close enough to
[19:35] Speaker 1: know it was him. The sound of ice scraping, the
[19:39] Speaker 1: low hum of the fridge compressor, and then his voice,
[19:43] Speaker 1: always muffled like he was trapped behind something. I woke
[19:47] Speaker 1: up sweating, shaking, and the sheets felt cold against my skin.
[19:50] Speaker 1: The first time I chalked it up to stress, but
[19:53] Speaker 1: then it happened again and again. The worst part? After
[19:58] Speaker 1: waking from those dreams, I'd always find flower handprints on
[20:02] Speaker 1: my sheets, the kind that only come from a kitchen,
[20:05] Speaker 1: fresh dough or flour. I didn't know how to explain it.
[20:09] Speaker 1: Jack wasn't a baker, he was just a delivery guy.
[20:13] Speaker 1: But every morning the handprints were there, as if something
[20:16] Speaker 1: or someone had been touching me in my sleep. I
[20:19] Speaker 1: tried to rationalize it. Maybe I brushed against something. Maybe
[20:23] Speaker 1: the flower was from a dream, a memory of the
[20:25] Speaker 1: Domino's kitchen where we used to go together. But it
[20:28] Speaker 1: felt wrong, too real. And it was only getting worse.
[20:33] Speaker 1: That's when I started to notice the notifications on my phone.
[20:38] Speaker 1: One night I received a delivery notification to an address
[20:41] Speaker 1: I didn't recognize. It wasn't just an address. It was
[20:44] Speaker 1: a location that didn't exist. Or maybe it did. I
[20:48] Speaker 1: couldn't find it on Google Maps. I kept looking at it.
[20:51] Speaker 1: The address glowing on my screen and my hands started
[20:53] Speaker 1: to shake. What was going on? Was Jack trying to
[20:57] Speaker 1: reach out to me? Or was there something deeper buried
[21:00] Speaker 1: in all of this? I had to find. Out, no
[21:04] Speaker 1: matter what it took. It wasn't long before Domino's closed.
[21:08] Speaker 1: They said it was plumbing issues, but I knew better.
[21:10] Speaker 1: The staff left in a hurry and rumors started circulating.
[21:14] Speaker 1: The store was shut down for good. For a while,
[21:17] Speaker 1: I tried to get information from the employees. None of
[21:21] Speaker 1: them seemed to care about Jack's disappearance. They were just
[21:24] Speaker 1: worried about getting their last paycheck, but I couldn't let go.
[21:28] Speaker 1: I knew something was wrong. The night they locked the
[21:31] Speaker 1: doors for the last time, I couldn't just stand by.
[21:34] Speaker 1: I had to get inside. I waited until it was dark,
[21:38] Speaker 1: until the last of the streetlights flickered off. Then I
[21:42] Speaker 1: broke in. I made my way through the back alley,
[21:46] Speaker 1: slipping through a cracked window at the side of the building.
[21:49] Speaker 1: It felt like trespassing, but I didn't care. I needed answers. Inside,
[21:54] Speaker 1: it was freezing cold. I remember the smell, stale grease
[21:58] Speaker 1: and rotten dough. I moved quickly, my flashlight scanning the
[22:03] Speaker 1: kitchen area. And there, taped to the inside of the
[22:06] Speaker 1: walk-in freezer door, was Jack's name tag. His name. Still clear.
[22:13] Speaker 1: As day. I froze. The realization hit me like a brick.
[22:18] Speaker 1: I didn't have time to think. I kept searching and
[22:20] Speaker 1: that's when I found the address again. The same one
[22:23] Speaker 1: Jack had delivered to that night. It was scratched out
[22:26] Speaker 1: in his log, but now it glowed under the blacklight.
[22:30] Speaker 1: A hidden message. And there, on the manager's desk, was...
[22:35] Speaker 1: One last sign, a steaming garlic knot. Still hot, as
[22:39] Speaker 1: if someone had just placed it there. I could barely breathe.
[22:43] Speaker 1: It wasn't just pizza anymore. The police came back after
[22:47] Speaker 1: I reported what I found. They took everything from the dominoes,
[22:51] Speaker 1: Jack's name tag, the glowing address, and the garlic knot.
[22:55] Speaker 1: But the security footage from that night was still corrupted,
[22:58] Speaker 1: and they couldn't make sense of anything. The former manager,
[23:02] Speaker 1: who hadn't, been around for a while, was found running
[23:05] Speaker 1: a food truck down in Florida. When they questioned him,
[23:08] Speaker 1: he refused to talk about anything related to Domino's. He
[23:11] Speaker 1: said he didn't do pizza anymore. They said the case
[23:14] Speaker 1: would remain open, but I knew in my heart that
[23:17] Speaker 1: they weren't ever going to solve it. Jack was gone,
[23:21] Speaker 1: and all I had left were pieces of a story
[23:23] Speaker 1: that didn't make sense. I moved away a few months later,
[23:27] Speaker 1: left Newark and everything behind. The Domino's building eventually became
[23:31] Speaker 1: a laundromat. A fresh coat of paint slapped over. The
[23:35] Speaker 1: old walls. But sometimes when the night is quiet I
[23:38] Speaker 1: can still feel that weight in my chest. Somewhere in
[23:41] Speaker 1: Newark there's a cold pizza box that never stops vibrating.
[23:50] Speaker 1: It was a quiet, boring Tuesday night. The kind where
[23:53] Speaker 1: you could hear the faint hum of the fridge in
[23:54] Speaker 1: the back and the sizzling of pizza crusts in the oven.
[23:58] Speaker 1: Domino's on Main Street in Carbondale, Illinois was nothing to
[24:01] Speaker 1: write home about. It was small, the paint chipped, the
[24:06] Speaker 1: sign flickering like a dying star. But to me, 16-year-old
[24:11] Speaker 1: Jack Morrison, it was home. My parents used to joke
[24:15] Speaker 1: that I spent more time here than in my own room.
[24:18] Speaker 1: It wasn't far from the truth. There was something comforting
[24:21] Speaker 1: about the late night hours, the smell of melting cheese,
[24:25] Speaker 1: and the soft glow of the pizza tracker lighting up
[24:27] Speaker 1: the front counter. I worked shifts, mostly late nights, making pizzas.
[24:33] Speaker 1: and managing deliveries the perfect job for a kid who
[24:35] Speaker 1: didn't have much else going on. I was decent at it, too.
[24:39] Speaker 1: My signature move? Extra cheese smiley faces. They were a
[24:44] Speaker 1: hit with the regulars. My co-workers thought it was cheesy,
[24:47] Speaker 1: but hey, it gave the customers a laugh. That night
[24:51] Speaker 1: I was tasked with delivering a single medium pepperoni pizza
[24:54] Speaker 1: to the old Miller farm, a good ten minutes out
[24:56] Speaker 1: of town. No big deal. but the Millers had this
[25:00] Speaker 1: creepy old house that looked like it was straight out
[25:02] Speaker 1: of a horror movie. Still, the tip was good, and
[25:06] Speaker 1: I wasn't about to turn down easy money. I grabbed
[25:09] Speaker 1: the pizza from the counter, adjusted my red Domino's cap,
[25:12] Speaker 1: and grabbed my bike. No deliveries were due after this one,
[25:15] Speaker 1: so it was just me and the quiet streets. I
[25:18] Speaker 1: didn't know it then, but that pizza would be the
[25:20] Speaker 1: last one I'd ever deliver. The bike ride was uneventful.
[25:25] Speaker 1: Wind in my hair. The soft glow of streetlights passing.
[25:29] Speaker 1: by and my thoughts bouncing off the walls of my
[25:32] Speaker 1: head but when i pulled up to the miller farm
[25:35] Speaker 1: things felt off the house was dark like it hadn't
[25:40] Speaker 1: been lived in for years the windows were boarded up
[25:42] Speaker 1: and the yard looked like a graveyard for old tools
[25:45] Speaker 1: and abandoned cars still i knocked on the door handed
[25:48] Speaker 1: over the pizza and left the millers didn't even say
[25:52] Speaker 1: anything just handed me the tip and closed the door
[25:54] Speaker 1: without a word i never should have come back i
[25:58] Speaker 1: rode back The pizza delivery done. But something strange settled
[26:02] Speaker 1: in my chest. The air seemed heavier now, colder, like
[26:05] Speaker 1: the town had shifted when I wasn't looking. My bike
[26:08] Speaker 1: wobbled a little as I turned the corner and came
[26:10] Speaker 1: back down Main Street. The old domino sign buzzed in
[26:13] Speaker 1: the distance like a broken neon light. It was nearly midnight,
[26:17] Speaker 1: and I could already see the glow of the pizza
[26:19] Speaker 1: tracker flashing inside. The shop. I parked my bike behind
[26:23] Speaker 1: the dumpster, a habit I'd gotten into after a few
[26:26] Speaker 1: weeks on the job. The back of the building was
[26:28] Speaker 1: always empty at this time. No deliveries, no customers, just
[26:32] Speaker 1: the sound of the occasional car driving by. I figured
[26:35] Speaker 1: I'd be inside for a bit, helping out with whatever
[26:38] Speaker 1: order came through next. But as I went inside, I
[26:41] Speaker 1: noticed something strange. The front counter was empty. Usually Lenny
[26:45] Speaker 1: was there, fiddling with the register or making small talk,
[26:48] Speaker 1: but tonight, nothing. It wasn't that unusual. Sometimes the place
[26:53] Speaker 1: was dead after 11 p.m., but tonight felt different I
[26:59] Speaker 1: went to the back to grab a coke and ran
[27:01] Speaker 1: into Greg the shift manager who was sitting at the
[27:03] Speaker 1: kitchen table staring at the wall. Hey Greg, you okay?
[27:07] Speaker 1: I asked. But he didn't respond. His eyes were glassy, unfocused.
[27:13] Speaker 1: It didn't seem like he was asleep. I waved a
[27:15] Speaker 1: hand in front of his face and he blinked, shaking
[27:18] Speaker 1: his head like he'd just come out of a fog. Yeah,
[27:21] Speaker 1: I'm good, kid. Just... tired. I shrugged and went back
[27:27] Speaker 1: to the front counter. That's when I noticed it. My
[27:31] Speaker 1: red Domino's cap. It was sitting right there on the
[27:34] Speaker 1: counter exactly where I had left it earlier. I shook
[27:37] Speaker 1: my head. Must have been a weird night, I thought.
[27:41] Speaker 1: Around 1 a.m., the atmosphere in the store began to shift.
[27:45] Speaker 1: The clock on the wall ticked down the minutes as
[27:47] Speaker 1: the smell of garlic crust and grease thickened the air.
[27:50] Speaker 1: Everything was starting to feel... wrong. There was no real
[27:55] Speaker 1: explanation for it. No eerie sounds. No sudden flashes of light.
[28:00] Speaker 1: Just this overwhelming sensation that something was out of place.
[28:05] Speaker 1: Lenny came back from the storage room with his arms
[28:07] Speaker 1: full of boxes. He tossed them onto the counter and
[28:10] Speaker 1: went to the walk-in cooler to grab more supplies. I
[28:13] Speaker 1: was zoning out staring at the flickering pizza tracker screen
[28:15] Speaker 1: when I noticed something that made the hairs on the
[28:18] Speaker 1: back of my neck stand up. The door. The front
[28:21] Speaker 1: door of the Domino's was wide open. I froze. Lenny
[28:25] Speaker 1: came out of the cooler and stared at the open door.
[28:30] Speaker 1: Was that you? he asked, his voice shaky. I shook
[28:34] Speaker 1: my head. We both stood there for a second, confused.
[28:39] Speaker 1: The chill in the air had suddenly gotten colder like
[28:41] Speaker 1: it was coming from outside. But there wasn't a breeze, nothing,
[28:46] Speaker 1: just stillness. I stepped towards the door to close it,
[28:50] Speaker 1: but before I could, the screen flickered. A strange sound
[28:53] Speaker 1: came from the pizza tracker. An eerie beep that wasn't
[28:57] Speaker 1: supposed to happen. I turned back and that's when it
[29:00] Speaker 1: hit me. The store was empty. All of a sudden
[29:04] Speaker 1: there was no sound. No hum of the fridge. No
[29:07] Speaker 1: sizzle of pizza crusts. Just the quiet. The screen flickered
[29:11] Speaker 1: again and the pizza tracker went dark. I turned to Lenny,
[29:16] Speaker 1: but he was gone. Just like that. Panic set in
[29:20] Speaker 1: as I walked through the store calling for Lenny, for Greg,
[29:23] Speaker 1: for anyone. But no one answered. The place felt like
[29:26] Speaker 1: it had been abandoned for years, not a single soul left.
[29:30] Speaker 1: I headed toward the back and stopped dead in my tracks. There,
[29:34] Speaker 1: in the walk-in freezer, the light was still on, glowing
[29:36] Speaker 1: through the cracks in the door. But it was unplugged.
[29:40] Speaker 1: The freezer shouldn't have been on. I pushed the door open.
[29:44] Speaker 1: Inside was a pile of pizza boxes, stacked neatly. But
[29:48] Speaker 1: it was the smell that got to me. Something rancid,
[29:51] Speaker 1: like spoiled food mixed with something... darker. It made my
[29:56] Speaker 1: stomach turn. And that's when I saw it. A handprint,
[30:00] Speaker 1: melted cheese, shaped like a fist. I stepped back, my
[30:05] Speaker 1: heart racing. This was all wrong. I stumbled backward, my
[30:09] Speaker 1: feet slipping on the greasy floor. I needed to leave,
[30:12] Speaker 1: but then I heard it. A whisper from somewhere inside
[30:15] Speaker 1: the freezer. Jack, you never left. The sheriff's report said
[30:21] Speaker 1: there was no evidence of foul play. The store manager
[30:26] Speaker 1: burned the delivery logs like it never happened. but the
[30:29] Speaker 1: Morrison family didn't stop searching. Jack's father still heard the
[30:33] Speaker 1: door chime late at night, every night, at exactly 2 a.m.
[30:38] Speaker 1: His mother found the handprints on the porch steps, melted
[30:41] Speaker 1: cheese forever cemented into the concrete, and Jack's younger sister.
[30:45] Speaker 1: She kept getting texts. The dominoes closed its doors and
[30:49] Speaker 1: the town moved on, but some things don't vanish that easily.
[30:53] Speaker 1: They say when the wind blows just right, you can
[30:56] Speaker 1: still hear the faint beep of the pizza trackers. counting down.
[31:06] Speaker 1: You don't just become a med student, you sell your
[31:08] Speaker 1: soul for it. I was in my second year at
[31:11] Speaker 1: UB's medical school, buried under a crushing load of anatomy flashcards,
[31:16] Speaker 1: caffeine hangovers, and the constant hum of fluorescent lights in
[31:20] Speaker 1: my windowless apartment. The days blurred, the nights bled, and
[31:25] Speaker 1: when my stomach growled louder than my ambition, There was
[31:29] Speaker 1: only one thing that ever brought me comfort. Domino's pizza.
[31:33] Speaker 1: Don't judge. It started innocently enough. After I bombed my anatomy, midterm,
[31:41] Speaker 1: missed the difference between the ileum and the ischium like
[31:43] Speaker 1: an idiot, I ordered a large extravagant ziza. You know,
[31:47] Speaker 1: the works. Pepperoni, sausage, onions, olives, cheese that clogs your
[31:52] Speaker 1: arteries just looking at it. It was my edible therapist.
[31:56] Speaker 1: That was the first time I met Dave. He knocked.
[31:59] Speaker 1: Three slow, hollow raps. When I opened the door, he
[32:03] Speaker 1: was standing there with this strangely warm smile. Tall guy. Pale.
[32:10] Speaker 1: Uniform looked too new, like it had just been pulled
[32:13] Speaker 1: from packaging. His name tag sat crooked on his chest.
[32:18] Speaker 1: Dave R. He handed me the box, paused and said,
[32:22] Speaker 1: You've got the hunger, huh? I remember my last, first
[32:26] Speaker 1: customer who ordered this much. I laughed. Awkwardly. I mean,
[32:31] Speaker 1: I was used to weird, small talk. But something about
[32:35] Speaker 1: his breath stuck with me. It reeked of pepperoni and
[32:38] Speaker 1: something sharper. Like chemicals. Like... formaldehyde? I didn't think much
[32:44] Speaker 1: of it then. I was hungry, tired, and desperate for comfort.
[32:49] Speaker 1: But looking back, that night marked the beginning of something darker.
[32:52] Speaker 1: Something that clawed into my routines, my body, and my sanity.
[32:56] Speaker 1: Over the next few months, my life got strange. Not
[32:59] Speaker 1: med school strange. Haunted. Strange. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
[33:06] Speaker 1: Let me start from the beginning. Let me tell you
[33:08] Speaker 1: how Domino's became a ghost story I couldn't wake up from.
[33:11] Speaker 1: It wasn't just the midterm that broke me. It was
[33:14] Speaker 1: the silence afterward. You fail in med school and it's
[33:18] Speaker 1: not just a grade. It's a crack in your whole identity.
[33:22] Speaker 1: So I did what any spiraling 24-year-old would do. I
[33:25] Speaker 1: ordered carbs and cheese. Domino's app knew me too well.
[33:30] Speaker 1: Two taps and the extravaganzat was on its way. I
[33:33] Speaker 1: didn't expect the delivery to feel so... odd. Dave showed
[33:38] Speaker 1: up again. Same uniform. Same crooked name tag. This time
[33:43] Speaker 1: he stood in the doorway just a beat too long.
[33:46] Speaker 1: Like he was waiting for something. You're my last stop,
[33:49] Speaker 1: he said with a grin. You know what they say
[33:52] Speaker 1: about saving the best for last. I chuckled. Even tipped
[33:55] Speaker 1: him a ten, then shut the door. But as I
[33:58] Speaker 1: turned to set the pizza down, I swear, I heard
[34:00] Speaker 1: him whisper something through the door. A single word. Soon.
[34:06] Speaker 1: I told myself it was just the wind in the hallway.
[34:09] Speaker 1: That night, I ate almost the whole pizza by myself.
[34:13] Speaker 1: Shame tasted like garlic crust. From then on, Dave became
[34:18] Speaker 1: a regular. Even when I didn't remember placing an order,
[34:21] Speaker 1: my phone would buzz. Domino's order confirmed. Always at night.
[34:27] Speaker 1: Always Dave. Three slow knocks. I started gaining weight. Fast.
[34:34] Speaker 1: Forty pounds in six months. My classmates noticed. I wasn't. Sluggish.
[34:40] Speaker 1: Always tired. My doctor said my iron levels were through
[34:44] Speaker 1: the roof. Too high. Unnatural. Then I started finding black
[34:49] Speaker 1: hairs in my pizza. Long, coarse ones. I'm Chinese. I
[34:53] Speaker 1: have black hair. But these weren't mine. Once I called
[34:57] Speaker 1: the store to complain. The guy who answered sounded confused. Uh,
[35:02] Speaker 1: are you sure it was our location? We've been closed
[35:05] Speaker 1: since 2019. What? I asked, staring at the hot pizza
[35:09] Speaker 1: box still steaming on my kitchen table. Yeah, robbery shut
[35:14] Speaker 1: us down. Driver died in the freezer. It's kind of
[35:18] Speaker 1: a thing you might want to call corporate. I hung up.
[35:22] Speaker 1: My hands were shaking. I looked down at the receipt.
[35:26] Speaker 1: Printed at the bottom, just below the usual, have a
[35:28] Speaker 1: nice night, line were three words in faded red ink.
[35:32] Speaker 1: Paid in full. I tried to stop ordering. I deleted
[35:35] Speaker 1: the app, blocked the number that sent the confirmations, even
[35:38] Speaker 1: went full on clean eating for a week. But every
[35:41] Speaker 1: night at exactly 3.17am there'd be a knock. Same pattern.
[35:46] Speaker 1: Three slow raps. And each time I looked out through
[35:50] Speaker 1: the peephole, Dave was there holding a pizza box, smiling.
[35:54] Speaker 1: He never looked tired or older or normal. He just
[35:57] Speaker 1: stood there like a delivery driver stuck in time. I
[36:01] Speaker 1: stopped answering the door, but the pizza always made it inside.
[36:05] Speaker 1: Sometimes on my kitchen counter. Sometimes sitting on the couch
[36:09] Speaker 1: next to me when I woke up. Once, God help me,
[36:13] Speaker 1: it was on my bed. I moved my bed to
[36:15] Speaker 1: the other side of the room. Didn't help. I became obsessed.
[36:20] Speaker 1: I dug into old news articles, police reports, and Reddit threads.
[36:25] Speaker 1: Found a few comments about the Domino's location on Grant
[36:27] Speaker 1: Street shutting down after a robbery. A driver, David R.,
[36:32] Speaker 1: was found dead, locked in the freezer overnight. He was
[36:37] Speaker 1: never supposed to be there. He picked up a last-minute order.
[36:42] Speaker 1: Last stop of the night. I found his picture. Same uniform.
[36:48] Speaker 1: Same crooked tag. Same smile. One night I confronted him,
[36:53] Speaker 1: opened the door mid-knock and screamed, What do you want
[36:57] Speaker 1: from me? He didn't blink, just handed me the pizza box.
[37:02] Speaker 1: Extra sauce tonight, just how you like it. The food
[37:05] Speaker 1: poisoning hit hard. Violent cramps, fever, nausea so bad I
[37:09] Speaker 1: thought I'd die on the bathroom floor. ER visit, IV fluids.
[37:14] Speaker 1: They said I had a rare bacterial strain. The kind
[37:17] Speaker 1: found in spoiled meat, decaying meat. I knew then that
[37:22] Speaker 1: I couldn't stay. I broke my lease, packed my stuff,
[37:26] Speaker 1: and moved across town. Small studio, no roommates, no forwarding address.
[37:33] Speaker 1: The first week was quiet. I thought I'd escaped. Until
[37:37] Speaker 1: one night, 3.17 a.m., my smoke detector beeped. I got up, groggy, annoyed,
[37:43] Speaker 1: and walked into the kitchen. There it was. A Domino's box,
[37:47] Speaker 1: still hot, sitting on the counter. My fridge was humming.
[37:50] Speaker 1: Bright and cold. The display read, Three-order gruff. That's the
[37:56] Speaker 1: exact temp Domino's stores their dough. I backed away slowly.
[38:00] Speaker 1: That's when I saw the receipt. No total. No order number.
[38:06] Speaker 1: Just one line in that now-familiar red ink. Paid in full.
[38:13] Speaker 1: I tried to burn the pizza. Microwaves sparked. Oven died.
[38:18] Speaker 1: Box wouldn't catch fire. The cheese... Hissed but never melted.
[38:23] Speaker 1: I threw it out the window. Found it back in
[38:25] Speaker 1: the fridge the next morning. I contacted a medium. Yeah,
[38:28] Speaker 1: I know how that sounds, but when the supernatural becomes
[38:31] Speaker 1: your everyday, desperation makes believers of us all. She walked
[38:35] Speaker 1: into my apartment, froze near the fridge and said, He
[38:39] Speaker 1: died cold. Now he warms your hunger. I asked her
[38:43] Speaker 1: what to do. She looked me dead in the eyes.
[38:47] Speaker 1: Stop feeding it. But how? The hunger didn't feel mine anymore.
[38:54] Speaker 1: I'd wake up starving. My skin pale. My lips chapped.
[38:59] Speaker 1: My doctor said my blood work made no sense. Iron
[39:02] Speaker 1: levels like I'd been eating raw liver daily. I started
[39:05] Speaker 1: keeping a journal. Tracking every knock. Every. Order. The entries
[39:11] Speaker 1: got messy. I started blacking out. Once I woke up
[39:15] Speaker 1: with pizza sauce under my nails even though I hadn't
[39:18] Speaker 1: opened a box in weeks. One night. The knock came early. Midnight.
[39:24] Speaker 1: I didn't answer. That's when the humming stopped. The whole
[39:27] Speaker 1: apartment went dead silent. Not even the fridge. Then the
[39:32] Speaker 1: whisper came. You're not full yet. It's been a year.
[39:37] Speaker 1: I sleep in motels now. No fridge, no microwave. I
[39:41] Speaker 1: eat only what I can hold in, my hands. But
[39:44] Speaker 1: it still finds me. Sometimes I wake up to the smell. Garlic, oregano, decay.
[39:51] Speaker 1: Sometimes I hear the car outside. No engine. Just wheels
[39:55] Speaker 1: on gravel. A familiar knock at a motel door that
[39:58] Speaker 1: isn't mine. I write everything down. Doctors. Say my blood's weird.
[40:04] Speaker 1: My eyes look hollow. The hunger never stops. I stopped
[40:07] Speaker 1: seeing my reflection in the glass door of mini-marts. Last
[40:11] Speaker 1: week I found a pizza warmer sitting in the alley
[40:13] Speaker 1: behind a 24-hour laundromat. It clicked on at 3.17 a.m.
[40:18] Speaker 1: Still hot. Still waiting. I think I'm delivering now. Final
[40:23] Speaker 1: journal entry. Dave said I was his last stop. I
[40:26] Speaker 1: think I'm next.

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