THE DARK BENEATH: The Job Application That Asked the Wrong Questions (Case File #20)
- Loretta & David Allseitz
- Dec 30, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 20
The Dark Beneath is fiction—lore, not evidence. If you take it as fact, that’s between you, your lying uncle, and whatever’s creeping around your woods at 2 a.m.
CASE FILE #20
If you live in East Texas long enough, you learn not to be picky about work.
You take what’s hiring.
You don’t ask too many questions.
And you don’t look a gift paycheck in the mouth.
Especially when the mills shut down.
Especially when the oil slows.
Especially when a man’s got bills and no patience left for pride.
Around here, a trucking job isn’t suspicious.
It’s survival.
The Job Posting That Didn’t Raise Red Flags
The posting showed up the way most of them do—shared in a local Facebook group, screenshot and reposted with a simple caption:
“They’re hiring.”
The company called itself Pine Knot Freight.
Nothing fancy.
Regional routes.
Night hauls.
Weekly pay.
No CDL required for warehouse support roles.
No benefits listed.
Just a phone number and a one-page application link.
No website.
But no one thought much of that.
Half the outfits out here barely keep a Facebook page alive.
The Application That Felt a Little Too Personal
The first page was normal.
Name.
Address.
Availability.
Emergency contact.
Then the questions changed.
Not abruptly.
Just… sideways.
Questions like:
Who would notice if you didn’t come home one night?
How long could you go without contacting anyone before someone got worried?
Do people depend on you, or do you mostly take care of yourself?
If something went missing around you, would anyone immediately start looking?
Some people laughed.
Some paused.
Most answered anyway.
Because when rent’s due, you don’t get picky about tone.
Who Got the Calls Back
Pine Knot Freight called fast.
The people who heard back had things in common, though no one noticed at first.
Single.
Recently moved.
Between jobs.
Living alone or with roommates who kept to themselves.
The ones with spouses, kids, loud families?
They never got a callback.
The Work Itself
The job descriptions stayed vague.
Night shifts.
Short notice.
Temporary assignments.
Some worked warehouse loading.
Some rode along on runs they couldn’t clearly describe later.
Routes changed.
Supervisors rotated.
Names were hard to remember.
No one ever really quit.
They just stopped showing up.
The First Name That Went Quiet
The first person people noticed missing wasn’t dramatic about it.
He just… faded.
Stopped posting.
Stopped answering texts.
Didn’t show up to his usual spots.
Someone said he’d finally gotten steady work with Pine Knot Freight.
That explanation held for a while.
Until his truck stayed parked too long.
When the Questions Came Back
A few months later, someone reopened the application link out of curiosity.
The questions were different now.
More specific.
Has anyone ever tried to look for you before?
Would anyone challenge paperwork filed in your name?
Do you expect to be missed loudly, or quietly?
Some answers were already filled in.
Not theirs.
But close.
The Pattern Nobody Wanted to Acknowledge
It wasn’t just one person.
Over time, names stopped coming up in conversation.
Tags on old photos broke.
Emergency contacts rang unanswered.
People didn’t grieve.
They adjusted.
That’s what made it worse.
It was like the town learned how to absorb a loss without reacting to it.
What Pine Knot Freight Really Hauled
Locals don’t say Pine Knot Freight was a front.
They say it was a filter.
A way to find people who could disappear without friction.
Without noise.
Without paperwork becoming a problem.
Not murdered.
Just… removed.
Processed the way freight is.
Loaded.
Moved.
Delivered somewhere else.
The Last Thing Anyone Admitted
The job posting stayed up longer than it should have.
Until one day it vanished.
No announcement.
No closure.
Just gone.
But people still swear they see it sometimes—shared in a comment, screenshot in a group chat, a link that works just long enough to load the first page.
And they say if you answer the questions honestly enough…
someone will call you back.
⚠️ FINAL WORD
Not every disappearance needs violence.
Some just need the right paperwork,
the right questions,
and a system that knows exactly who won’t be missed loudly.
Alright, Villains—what’s your theory?
The dark doesn’t explain itself. And Neither do I.
If CASE FILE #20 is the first you're reading, make sure to go back and check out "The Dark Beneath" series of posts! The Dark Beneath: Scary Folklore & Whispers in Texas
-Unmasking Evil
Villains Welcome.
*If you’re drawn to dark truths and the stories they leave behind, start with The Dollmaker of Point on Amazon.
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