Stories to Keep Your Soul Cold | Creepypasta Compilation

Hey there kids it's me Mr Creepy Pasta and before we get started on tonight's story I'm going to let you know about a new video game that myself and general drown just put out it's called lunar Echoes it's a short horror narrative featuring the voices of myself and Autumn Ivy about a geologist on the moon who experiences the earth exploding we finished this for a game Jam it's available now for PC Mac and Linux and Like I said it's free you can check it out in the link in the description down below and now on

to tonight's story on October 16th 1962 every man woman and child disappeared from the town of Edmonson Kentucky the date is relatively easy to pin down the day before October 15th a traveling salesman named Arnold Johnson passed through the small town in an unsuccessful attempt to sell an exciting new product Product the bagless vacuum cleaner during an interview with authorities afterwards Johnson said he noticed nothing unusual about Edmonson in the day before the disappearances he did however remark that none of the housewives he spoke with during his brief stay seemed remotely interested in his product

something he found slightly surprising compared to the response he typically received when demonstrating the vacuum Cleaner to a similarly sized house not only did I not sell a single vacuum cleaner but no one even wanted to see the product in action he said during the interview if you can get in the door and show the woman what the vacuum could do you were guaranteed a sail Johnson chocked up his failure to the apprehension related to the Cuban Missile Crisis which had begun a day before and had been dominating the airwaves it's hard to sell a

vacuum Cleaner when your audience thinks there's a possibility there'll be radio active dust by the end of the week he said Johnson left the town of Edmonson the evening of October 15th the next town on his sailes route Clement was 80 Mi away he drove all night and didn't think about Edinson until the investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation knocked on his door 2 weeks later during the early morning hours of October 17th Randall Pierce a farmer who sold his produce to the only gross in Edmonson drove into town to discover empty streets en

closed storefronts it was Eerie Pierce told the County newspaper later usually at 7: in the morning that little town is bustling I thought thought may be driven up during a holiday Pierce lived with his wife and three children on a farm 15 minutes outside of Edmonson like most farming families in the early 1960s Pierce's wife homeschooled their children when they weren't weren't helping their father tend the farm and I couldn't think of any holiday that would close up a town in the middle of October so I started getting a little spooked Pierce said I knocked

on the doors of a few houses I didn't get a response not many of them at 8:00 I realized there wasn't a single soul in Emmon shaken and a little disoriented Pierce returned home to his wife and children he told them what he had seen or not seen in Edmonson and with nationalistic fears of a communist Invasion running rampant his wife convinced him to drive to Clement and Report what he had seen to the authorities the Pierce family had no phone at their Farm Pierce arrived in Clement shortly afternoon and immediately pulled into The parking

lot of the local police department he told the authorities what he had witnessed in Edmonson initially as Pierce tells it his story was met with disbelief and ridicule but after multiple calls to edmonson's police chief went unanswered Clement Sheriff Jonathan Ambrose gathered a group of men and traveled to Edmonson to investigate Pierce's claims Sheriff Ambrose died of lung cancer 1968 however in spite of being a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War on his deathbed Ambrose said that his visit to edmanson on October 17th was quote the most disturbing and haunting experience

of my entire life end quot and thinking about the events of that day would still quote turn the blood and his veins to ice according to the most recent census 236 individuals lived in Edmonson in 196 It was a small town nestled between the hills of Western Kentucky named after a captain who was killed during the battle of 1812 Edmonson was populated primarily by the ancestors who founded the town in 1825 Edmondson had one Public School a grocery store a bank Wells Fargo a hospital clinic two churches Baptist and Methodist and a post office most

of the men worked small farms like Pierce who ran a trade Edmonson like most small communities in rural areas was Self-sufficient and self-sustaining every 2 weeks the grocery store would be restocked and the post office would deliver mail every Tuesday for entertainment the residents of Edmonson would have to visit Clement another nearby town on October 17th 1962 Clement Sheriff Ambrose two deputies and the Clement primary physician piled into a squad car and followed County farmer Randall Pierce back to Edmonson Ambrose carried his service pistol an m1911a1 and ordered his deputies to bring their shotguns Browning

12 gauge pump actions The Physician Alan Cathy was brought along in case a mass casualty event had taken place before he died in 1968 Ambrose recounted the events of October 17th to his older son who transcribed his father's testimony and published it in a Men's magazine the little Fanfare in 1974 it was a 2-hour drive from Clement to Edmonson we all expected to show up in that little town and find nothing wrong except for a drunk police chief who overslept a shift Ambrose said however I couldn't deny the fact that aable tension was present in

squad car my two deputies kept fiddling with their shotguns Kathy wouldn't stop rumaging through his Physician's bag same type of Behavior I had observe among soldiers before we set up to launch a big assult upon arriving in Edmonson they immediately realized something was in fact very wrong Pierce and Ambrose parked their cars in front of the grocery store along the Main Street it was just as Pierce had described it the town seemed completely devoid of Life Ambrose who who personally knew edmonson's police chief and where he lived decided they should check out his Home first

the five men set out on foot into the residential neighborhood all the men were struck by the silence it was then that one of the deputies realized that not only were there no people in town there were no animals to speak of yards with fences that clearly meant to keep in dogs were noticeably empty the men arrived at the police chief's home to find the front door unlocked Ambrose with his gun drawn entered the house first and was followed By his two shotgun toing deputies I don't know what we expected to find Ambrose said I

honestly thought we'd find a body maybe po his gas leaked from the ground at some point during the night and killed off the whole town the police chief's house was empty the bed was made up in the bedroom and the fridge still contained bottles of fresh milk the men were baffled maybe they thought the town's People had left to attend a large community picnic but as the hours dragged on and the search continued that possibility grew less likely now we searched six other houses in the neighborhood after we canvased the police chief's house Ambrose said

always the same story house seemed fine no signs of forced entry unlocked doors no occupants however a few similarities Began to make themselves apparent as the men made their way from house to house for one there was no luggage to be found anywhere in the homes and it appeared as if a majority of the clothing was missing from drawers and wardrobes pierce the farmer also noticed that most of the food left in the pantries and refrigerators were perishable there were no canned goods Ambrose who had just finished reading CS Lewis's the great divorce remembered Thinking

it's as if the whole town just packed up their belongings and barded a bus to Heaven some of the discoveries were less benign in the backyard of one home the men discovered a dead labador retriever one of the deputies stumbled across an animal and thought at first he was sleeping the dog was wearing a collar and was Loosely chained to a tree in the backyard was the first animal they'd seen in Edinson since arriving 2 hours Earlier while the men searched the home Kathy The Physician performed an ad hoc autopsy on the animal rer Morse

had only recently set in indicating the dog had not been dead for more than a day additionally Cathy found raw hamburger meat in the animal's stomach hamburger meat that had been peppered with small white pills the dog had been poisoned in another home they found the words Revelation 9:7 scrolled on a Bathroom mirror and light pink lipstick the men were unfamiliar with the Bible verse and this led to the next squiring Discovery they couldn't find a single Bible in the town Edmonson had two churches and it could be deduced that a majority of the township

probably attended one or the other in the early 1960s a vast majority of Americans considered themselves Christian and even those who wouldn't consider themselves very devoted could Be expected to at least own a Bible however Ambrose and his men couldn't locate a Bible in any of the homes they searched when they inspected both churches they found only heemels and books of common prayer in the pews except for the poison dog during their 3-hour search of Edmonson they found no signs of violence or struggle every home's interior looked impeccable and running water and electricity Appeared to

be in working order Ambrose was reminded of the model communities in the US Army those that were built in New Mexico to test the destructive power of the atomic bomb as the sun began to slip beneath the trees and the men's Shadows grew longer and dimmer Ambrose detected another palpable sense of urgency Brewing amongst members of the group it was obvious the m in one remain in Edmonson after sundown Ambrose said I felt it too and I somehow sensed that if we stayed in Emon overnight it'd be another group of men from Clement trying to

find us the next afternoon I don't think they'd find us before Twilight ended the men loaded up in their cars the two deputies Kathy and Ambrose in the squad car Pierce in his truck and they left Edmonson even though they knew the town was empty each man reported a creeping Sensation That they were being watched from the darkened Windows of the homes they passed on their way out of town we didn't talk much on the the ride back to Clement I'd be lying if I said I was driving with any regard towards the speed limit

Ambrose said we had to get out of there at some point I was convinced we'd stumbled across Ground Zero is some new communist weapon system you something that would vaporize the inhabitants of an entire town Without causing any collateral damage even then I knew that story didn't completely add up after the men arrived back in Clement they agreed that Ambrose would contact the federal government in the morning none of the man expressed any interest in returning to Edmonson that night Ambrose retrieved his family's Bible from their study and flipped to Revelation 9:1 and the fifth

angel Sounded and I saw a star fall from Heaven unto the Earth and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit I didn't know what to make of that Ambrose said [Music] the next morning Ambrose reported what he had seen in Edmonson the governing authorities in Frankfurt things began moving very quickly after that while the rest of the world was transfixed by the escalating tension between Cuba and the United States the FBI sent an investigation team to investigate The Disappearance of Edmonson fearing a communist plot or as Ambrose had suspected the use of

a powerful new weapon the FBI shut down access to Edmonson in October 19th of 1962 The Strange Case of Edmonson made its way into a few local papers but it was a story that always ended up buried beneath pages of international news because many of the town's Inhabitants were ancestors of the people who founded the town there weren't too many relatives inquiring about the status of their loved ones the roads that passed through Edmonson there were very few were rerouted around the town the FBI finished their investigation in 1967 by then no really cared about

Edmonson anymore in between the town's Disappearance in 1962 and the FBI's final report on the incident the nation's attention had been distracted By a number of earthshaking events the assassination of President Kennedy the civil rights movement and the US's involvement in Vietnam unfortunately the results of the FBI investigation were sealed and deemed confidential as the decades progressed nature began to overtake Edmonson Kentucky no attempt was made to rebuild or resettle the town Edmonson soon became a little known historical footnote in ky's history while many of The structures collapsed due to exposure a handful of homes

and one of the churches remained standing and Tred by thick Vines and a thriving deer population in 2002 the official report from the FBI was made public after a local historian placed a Freedom of Information request Dennis Miller president and sole member of the Edmonson Historical Society learned the FBI officially declared the reason for the town's spontaneous abandonment as Fears related to the possibility of nuclear Annihilation and unexplained Atomic phenomena ones that had led to a panic induced dispersal of the town of course that reason was [ __ ] Miller said the reason didn't even

mention the fact that none of the town's folk had ever been accounted for there were no reports of atmospheric phenomenon by anyone in the area however by then a new Theory had Emerged regarding the fate of the Edmonson inhabitants a theory that began circulating after two self-proclaimed backyard adventurers stumbled upon a hatch in the basement of the abandoned First Baptist Church of Edmonson the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky is the world's largest known cave system at least 400 miles have been mapped and some scientists estimate there could be another 600 miles that are unexplored and have

never been seen by human eyes As of 2016 26 entrances into the cave system have been discovered and in 1981 one of those entrances were discovered in the ruins of Edmonson Kentucky during the late 1970s the abandoned ruins of Edmonson attained a cult status amongst Backpackers and Hitchhikers in the area with the roads leading to Edmonson in despair getting to the abandoned town is extremely difficult but every year Intrepid Amateur adventurers and curious locals would make their Trek to one of the country's greatest but forgotten Unsolved Mysteries 19 years after the disappearances hikers Emilio Stevens

and Julie pagee parked their vehicles 30 Mi outside the edge of the forest that surrounds the abandoned Township and began their trk to Edmonson we'd visited Emison uh 2 years before that day Steven said to a scientific journal afterwards oh it's Creepy as hell uh takes about a day and a half to reach the town from the trail head and when you get there you really don't feel like around most hikers pass through it or they camp overnight on the outskirts that November Julie and I uh planned on staying overnight in the church I think

it was what about testing our nerves you know than anything else the church Steven was talking about is the First Baptist Church of Edmonson it's the largest structure still Standing in the town the grocery store and Methodist Church collapsed in the late 1960s oh we were in Edmonton around Nightfall on the second day Steven said Julie wasn't feeling too hot and I it was beginning to sprinkle so we set our tents in the center of the church and we prepared for our night I could tell it was going to be like a a miserable night

you know the roof of the church leaked a lot of pews had been destroyed by Vandal Raccoons as they settled in for the night Stevens and Paige both couldn't shake a creeping sense of dread even though they had hiked into Edmonson before they both felt unprepared for the degree of of uneasiness that they were experiencing around midnight however exhaustion got the better of the two of them and they fell asleep 2 hours later Stevens awoke to a loud cracking sound at first I thought It was Thunder but then the floor slanted and we were falling

Steven said there's nothing more disorienting than waking up in ATT tent and experiencing the sensation of Freefall the of the church had collapsed in the middle of the night flinging Stevens and Paige into an as of yet undiscovered basement luckily both Stevens and Paige survived the fall without any Serious injury now we were both pretty shaken and frankly a little Banged up Steven said but in all the time that we had spent in and around Edmonson we never heard of a basement in the Baptist Church we knew that we'd found something no one else knew

about armed with only their flag lights Stevens and Paige sat exploring the decrepit basement the room was hidden beneath the floorboards of the church and was small and appeared to have been carved into the Bedrock beneath the building's Foundation Steven said there Wasn't much to see it looked as if the room had been used to store extra tables and chairs presumably for after church socials but then they found the hatch Paige found it in the far corner of the basement Steven said it was set flush against the floor of the basement and it was made

of four thick wood planks the hinges they had been bolted into the Bedrock on the left side the door had one of those those Old-fashioned drop ring handles Stevens gripped the hole of the dro ring handle and after several tries wrenched the hatch open a square of Darkness stared back up at him Paige activated and dropped the glow stick into the shaft the pale green glow of the stick stopped about 5 ft from the mouth of the hatch I mean we had to go down there Steven said it's probably 3: in the morning it be

for sure as how weren't about to go back To sleep Stevens tied a climbing rope to his back pant Loop and dropped down through the hatch Paige stayed above and metered out the Rope as Stevens progressed into the darkness so at the bottom of the shaft uh p passageway open up to my left it was pointing Westward it was obvious by then that I was traveling through a cave tunnel and that it was not you know Man-made Steven said eventually the tunnel tightened and Stevens found himself crawling on his hands and knees the roof of

the passage scratched by his back and His Hands began to get rubbed raw by the Cave's rough floor I'm not claustrophobic but started getting really tight Steven said I began worry about not being able to turn around and get back to the hatch but I started to hear something coming up from Ahead of me just something freaked out but at that point I figured that I just gone too far to bail out after 15 minutes of crawling Stevens was straining to put his shoulders through the ever tightening passageway with the Eerie noises emanating from a

head drove him deeper into the cave however his Adventure came to an abrupt end passageway ended at a pile of rocks Steven said each Rock looked to be about The size of my head completely blocked any further spelunking I could hear noises clearly now I could even distinguish words and phrases but my journey you know Journey was done however right before the passageway terminated at the cave in Stevens found a couple of objects he put them in his jacket and began backing out it took him 30 minutes to back up out of the tight passageway

when he made it up Out of the shaft and back into the church's basement to a relieved page he took out the objects and inspected them I found an old pair of glasses like oldfashioned reader glasses and a woman's shoe with a heal missing I didn't mean anything to us at the time Stevens and Paige hiked out of Edmonson early the next morning battered and Spooked when they reached their car they immediately headed into Mammoth National Park and reported what they had found to a park ranger in the investigation that followed it was determined that

Stevens and Paige had discovered an entrance to an unmapped portion of the Mammoth Cave but fortunately geologist deted that the cave in the one that had stopped Steven's progress was at least 100 ft thick unless they used Explosives there was no way to investigate further however it was the discovery of the cave entrance coupled with the objects that Stevens found that held disturbing implications for the unsolved mystery of The Disappearance in Edmonton 20 years prior historians dated the eyeglasses and the woman's shoe to the late 1950s in the early 1960s most historians and geological Experts

are now in near unanimous agreement about what happened to the inhabitants of Edmonson Kentucky in 1962 driven by fear of a first strike by Cuba during the Missile Crisis and religious fanaticism the people of Edmonson sought refuge in a secret Labyrinth Cave System underneath their Town unfortunately a cave perhaps triggered by their panicked influx through the tight passageway trapped every man woman and Child deep underground yeah it's deeply unsettling when you realize that at the same time Sheriff Ambrose and his men were exploring the town you know everyone they were searching for is probably about

400 ft underneath their feet said Tom S a ranger at Mammoth National Park if they had fresh water and food and if the cave had a clean air supply some experts believe that the people of Edmonson could have survived for at least 6 months underground I reckon it's it's a pretty good theory Steven said but it still doesn't explain what I heard that night you know the reason I dropped down through the hatch and and crawl to my hands and knees for like 15 minutes doesn't explain the singing I heard while I was crawling down

there I I clearly heard voices I heard them singing The Hem Come Thou F Dennis Miller started the Edmonson Historical Society in 2001 to raise awareness about the town and the Mystery surrounding it he was 12 12 years old it really is a 20th century Rowan Oak Miller said referencing the New England colony that disappeared in the 1590s and there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to figure out what happened Miller lived in Clement and on his days when he's not researching Edmonson he runs a small pawn shop many people would consider Miller's fascination

with Edmonson to border on obsession but when they learn about Miller's personal history with the area it begins to make sense during a family camping trip in 1997 Miller's father and mother went missing after making camp in the wilderness 3 miles north of Edmonson Miller who was seven at the time was with them when they disappeared oh yeah we camped often and uh we used a Big tent the three of us that night we went to bed around 9:00 after cook hot dogs I woke up and 1 in the morning and realized my parents weren't

in the tent anymore and the front flaps were open Miller spent two days alone in the woods never straying far from the Campsite in case his parents came back after sustaining on hot dog buns and marshmallows he was discovered by by Another set of campers passing through the area after searching the area for 2 weeks the police officially concluded that I had been abandoned in the Woods by my parents but but that's not true see my parents loved me I never doubted that and if they had abandoned me why didn't why didn't they hike to

their car it was found untouch to the trail head after the investigation closed Miller spent the next decade of his life in and out of the foster care system driven by a desire to protect his parents's reputation and validate their love for him Miller began reviewing historical records in libraries and did a sweep of the police records in the surrounding areas some might accuse Miller of attempting to connect unrelated dots but some of his data and findings are shocking to say the least for example The Three Counties that Border the location of Edmonson have a

missing person's rate 177 times higher than similarly sized counties in the United States it's an area we sometimes refer to as the Kentucky triangle said FBI agent Britney Hooper head of the state's missing person division for some reason a lot of people seem to disappear in those counties some of the disappearances can be attributed to caving accidents the Vast swath of unmapped wilderness and the recent boom of meth operations in the rural areas also Stevens wasn't the first person to report hearing strange voices and singing in and around the Mammoth Cave System some people consider

Mammoth National Park to be the most haunted National Park in the United States there have been dozens of accounts of people hearing strange noises in the woods and caves since the 1970s as well as sightings of a tall Humanoid likee creature called the black demon according to unrelated local lore ologists and historians dismiss many of these accounts after Stevens told authorities that he had been following the voices of singing as he made his way through the passageways expert cavers were quick to point out that even if he had heard people singing it could not have

come from behind the cave-in Rocks the cave-in was too thick for sound to penetrate also because Mammoth National Park sits on top of the Mammoth Cave System it's not unreasonable to assume that a lot of the strange noises and voices are a result of sounds bouncing and echoing throughout the caves caves are after all notorious for their disorienting Acoustics but Miller had a different Theory a theory as maob as it would be revelatory if it turned out to be true I think the people of Edmonson are still alive Miller said think they're Down there in

an unmapped portion of the cave system and that they've chosen to stay below it's been about 70 years since they went in which means the first Generations probably mostly died off and it's an entire second or third generation that only knows life underground as for the disappearances Miller has an answer for that too every now and then I think they Found other exits every now and then they come out and take people you know hikers Drifters campers locals Miller said I think that's what happened to my parents it's been happening years before they were taken

in and it continues on till today on his days off you can find Miller searching the forest around Edmonson in the outskirts of Mammoth National park for additional entrances into Mammoth Cave System he carries a GPS locator repelling gear and multiple flashlights and a Colt 45 automatic pistol now for some reason they don't want to be seen by us Miller said I don't know what they do with the people they take but I know what it takes to maintain an underground Society requires food a fresh Jean Pool and like thinking about what that meant for

my mom and dad but even if the truth Is ugly at least I know I'll be able to do something about it in spite of being armed as soon as the sun begins to slink behind the trees Miller make sure to abandon his search and head back to his vehicle you know you'll never find me spending the night in those woods never again I've spent my entire professional life studying the Titanic but nothing could have prepared me for How Deeply The ship would eventually consume me my name is Dr Michael Hartley and I'm a maritime

historian specializing in the RMS Titanic for 20 years I've dedicated my life to understanding every minute detail of that tragic Voyage the passengers the crew the intricate social dynamics the Fatal design flaws but began as academic Fascination gradually transformed into an obsession that would ultimately unravel my entire Perception of reality the artifact came from a private collection in Southampton an elderly collector Harold Jameson had contacted me after hearing about my reputation he claimed to have something unusual personal effects recovered from the wreckage that had never been properly documented most researchers would have been skeptical but

my Hunger For Untold stories always outweighed my caution when the package arrived it was surprisingly modest a small leather satchel water stained and fragile contained what appeared to be personal documents a tarnished locket and a small fragment of fabric the moment my fingers brushed against the items something felt different a chill ran down my spine that had nothing to do with the room's Temperature the fabric was what caught my attention first a small roughly triangular piece of third class passenger clothing it's of course dark Wool with intricate stitching as I examined it under my magnifying

glass The Edge unexpectedly caught my skin thin precise cut opened across my palm tiny droplets of blood in immediately welling up it should have cleaned the wound Immediately I should have been more careful but something about the artifact held me transfixed the blood seemed to absorb into the fabric not seep not stain but absorb like the material was drinking it and for a split second I could have sworn the Fabric's color deepened becoming richer more vibrant and that was the first moment that I heard the Whispers faint at first so quiet I Initially thought it

was the wind or the ambient noise of my study fragmented words in a language that felt both foreign and intimately familiar desperate terrified No Escape Water Rising God help me I dismissed it as imagination exhaustion for weeks of intense research but as the days progressed The Whispers became more Persistent more defined by the third night I knew something fundamental had changed Ed the dreams began Vivid horrifyingly detailed nightmares that felt less like dreams more like Memories I wasn't observing I was experiencing that was Thomas Thomas Riley a 22-year-old Irish immigrant from a small village outside

Dublin third class passenger dreaming of a better life in America scraped together every penny for that ticket on the Titanic and these dreams these memories I could feel the cramped conditions of steerage smell of unwashed bodies constant background noise of children crying and adults speaking and a dozen different languages the hope the desperation and then the Eyes the first impact was nothing like the dramatic Hollywood depictions a subtle shudder most passengers didn't even realize something was wrong but Thomas knew something in his bones understood the terrible mathematics of what was happening water cold Rising Panic

would come later first would be the terrible suffocating realization of Doom every night the dreams grew more intense more real I'd wake up drenched In sweat my lungs burning convinced I was drowning and my sheets would be damp smelling of salt and Industrial coal smoke something was happening to me something I couldn't explain the cut on my hand didn't heal properly what began as a simple wound transformed into something different the skin around the cut remained perpetually raw with an iridescent quality that shifted colors when caught In certain lights blues and Grays like deep ocean

water sometimes if I stared too long I could swear the wound moved not not visibly but with a subtle internal Rippling my research became increasingly erratic colleagues noticed the change Dr Elizabeth Moro my longtime research partner approached me during a conference her concern etched deep in the lines of her face Michael you look terrible she said Not unkindly when was the last time you slept I couldn't tell her about the dreams about Thomas but the memories that weren't mine the artifacts from the Southampton collection began to consume my every waking moment I cataloged them obsessively

discovering minute details that had escaped previous researchers ticket stub with a partial fingerprint fragment of a letter water damaged but Still partially legible A brass button from a third class Steward's uniform each item seemed to seemed to pulse with an energy I couldn't explain the Whispers grew stronger during the day they were subtle background noises that could be mistaken for the hum of fluorescent lights of the distant murmur of traffic but at night at night they became a symphony of Terror hundreds of voices overlapping Desperate the water can't breathe too cold I started keeping a

journal not for academic purposes but as a desperate attempt to maintain my sanity to track the progression of whatever was happening to me entry October 17th the dreams are becoming more specific I'm not just experiencing Thomas' memories I'm beginning to understand his entire life His hopes his fears smell of his mother's bread calluses on his hands from work in the fields the weight of his single best suit purchased specifically for the journey to America I know the exact moment he realized the ship was doomed it was a sudden realization not a dramatic moment of Terror

just a slow terrible understanding that crept into his Consciousness like ice cold Water the cut of my hand started to change small intricate patterns began to emerge around the wound patterns that looked like nautical Maps like the complex network of corridors inside the Titanic thin blue gray lines that seemed to move and I wasn't directly looking at them my sleep became a battlefield one moment I was Dr Michael Hartley respected historian meticulous researcher the next I was Thomas Riley poor desperate trapped the boundary Between us was dissolving and something else was emerging something that that

had been waiting buried deep beneath the cold Atlantic waters for over a century something that wanted to be remembered by November I was losing myself my apartment became a sprawling Archive of Titanic ephemera walls covered in Maritime Maps passenger lists photographs but there Weren't just historical documents any they were they were alive the photographs God the photographs the third class passengers Frozen in Seaton moments they would shift when I wasn't looking directly at them faces would turn slightly eyes would follow me I not all of them just select images always the one showing people who

would die that night Thomas's memories were no longer confined to Dreams I could taste the salt water during faculty meetings Feel The Impossible cold of the Atlantic while lecturing about Maritime engineering sometimes mid sentence I'd forget who I was was I the professor or the desperate young immigrant clutching a wooden panel and freezing water the wound on my hand became a map literally intricate blue gray lines now formed a precise topographical representation of the Titanic's Lower Deck if I Trac the lines with my finger I could feel the ship's internal layout I could sense the

exact location of each Corridor each compartment the precise angles where water would first breach the hull Dr Moro stopped calling my department chair suggested a sabatical I was becoming something else something between a historian and a Haunting one night I discovered something in Thomas's memories that chilled me more than the Phantom Maritime cold that now perpetually surrounded me he wasn't supposed to be on that ship whose original ticket for a smaller vessel leaving a week earlier had been lost stolen actually by a man whose name was never recorded in any manifest a man whose face

Thomas remembered with a strange specific Terror a man who seemed To know what was coming The Whispers grew more insistent no longer just memories of Terror and drowning Now They Carried something else a warning he's coming he's always been coming I realized then that the haunting wasn't about the ship it was about something much older much darker and I was just beginning to understand Christmas came and with it a Strange peace The Whispers didn't stop but they changed Thomas's memories became less a torment and more a companionship I understood now that he wasn't trying to

possess me he was trying to warn me Dr Elizabeth Moro visited me on Christmas Eve I hadn't seen her in months and the concern in her eyes told me I looked as fractured as I felt I brought you something she said Placing an old leatherbound journal on my desk it was my grandmother's she was a maritime historian too I thought well well I thought you might appreciate it the journal belonged to a researcher from the 1930s someone who had been investigating the Titanic long before modern technology made such research easier as Elizabeth left I open

the pages tuck between yellowed sheets was a photograph not of the Titanic not of any Passenger a man standing alone on a foggy Pier his face partially obscured but familiar in a way that made the hair on my neck stand up the man from Thomas's stolen memory that night the wound on my hand now a living map of Maritime tragedy began to speak differently no longer desperate Whispers of drowning but something more measured more in intentional some stories are meant to be Remembered some warnings must be [Music] carried I think I understood then that Thomas's

Spirit wasn't a victim he was a guardian the cold that had haunted me for months began to recede not completely but enough that I could breathe enough that I could think clearly outside my window snow Fell pure silent and for the first time since touching the artifact I felt something like [Music] hope the story wasn't over but I I wasn't afraid at least not [Music] completely I worked in gramps's shop for Most of my life it's been the first job for not just me but all my siblings and most of my cousins Grandpa runs a

little pawn shop downtown the kind of place that sells antiques as well as modern stuff he does pretty well I don't think I've ever seen him worry about paying rent that he can afford to pay us kids better than any other place in the neighborhood all the other kids quit on it after a while but you know I I Enjoyed the work and Grandpa always said I had a real knack for it you keep at it kid someday this whole shop will be yours Grandpa and I live above the shop he offered me the spare

room after grandma died a few years back it's been a pretty good arrangement you know every evening he turns on the the radio cracks a beer we sit around we drink he tells me stories from back in the day the radio never seem to make any noise I always ask him why he kept it Around told me of something that he'd had for a long time and that it was special I asked how the old radio was special he said he said that was a long story if I had the time for it I said

I didn't have anything else to do but sit here listen to the Rain and Grandpa settling in as the old thing clicked and clunked in the background Grandpa grew up in the early 60s I mean technically he grew up in the 40s and 50s but in a lot of his stories it doesn't really seem like his life began until 1962 he describes it as one of the most interesting times of his life and a lot of it's because of his father my my great grandpa he grew up in Chicago and the town was just starting

to get its feet under it after years of war and strife his mother had died when he was 14 and his father opened a pawn shop With the money that he had gotten from her life insurance policy they weren't called pawn shops at that point I think grandpa said uh what my great-grandfather had was a brokerage or something but all that mattered was that people came in and they tried to sell him strange and wondrous things sometimes well great grandpa had run the place with his family which consisted of my grandfather my great-grandfather and my

great uncle Terry great great grandma lived with them but she didn't help out around the shop much she had dementia so she mostly stayed upstairs in her room as she knitted and waited to die they lived above the shop in a little three-bedroom flat it was a little tight Grand said but I mean they did all right grandpa worked at the pawn shop since he needed money to pay for his own apartment and he said they got some of the strangest things sometimes Especially if his Uncle Terry was behind the counter Uncle Terry was an

odd duck and that's coming from a family that wasn't quite strictly normal dad us usually buy things he knew he could sell easily appliances tools cars furniture that sort of thing Uncle Terry however he would often buy things that were a little less easy to move bought a bunch of old movie props once from a guy who claimed they were genuine props from an old bosi film dad lost his [ __ ] on them alary was also the one who bought that jewelry turned out to be stolen that was okay as they turned it into

the police the reward was worth way more than they had spent on it Terry Terry was like a metronome he'd make the worst choices and then the best choices and sometimes they were the same choices all at Once so of course Terry had been the one who bought the radio well Dad had been sick about a week and had been bad enough the family had worried that he might not come back back from it now people in those times didn't always get over illness unless you had money to go see a doctor you either got

better or you didn't he finally hacked it all up and got better was ready to return to work so he comes Downstairs to the floor where Terry's sitting there and reading some kind of artsy fartsy magazine he looks over and see they've taken a new radio it was this big old German model dark wood cabinet dials look like they were out of Frankenstein's lab he thinks that looks pretty good and he congratulates Terry telling him everybody wants a good radio that'll be really easy to sell now Terry looks over his magazine Tells him it ain't

a radio D ask him what the hell it is then the Terry lays down the magazine gives him the biggest creepiest grin you've ever seen it's a spirit radio Terry announces like it's supposed to mean something now I was working when uh dad and Uncle Terry had that conversation Dad just pinched the bridge of his nose shook his head like he was trying not to bash Terry skull In after buying a bunch of counterfeit movie props guy and the dad didn't even need an expert to tell him were fake Uncle Terry had been put on

a strict $100 a month budget of things that he could buy for the shop anything over 100 bucks he had to go talk to Dad about the dad hadn't had any visits from Uncle Terry other than to bring him food in the last week dad knew that it either had cost less than $100 Uncle Terry hadn't Asked how much this thing cost Terry dad asked till we expecting to be angry Terry seemed to hedge a little nothing Brian thing will pay for itself by the end of the month you'll see I'll show you the thing

really is now how much my dad asked that sound like a threat $500 but Brian I've already made back 20000 of that give me another week and out but Dad had heard enough you spent $500 on this thing it better be goldplated because $500 is a lot of money for a damn radio but Terry tried to explain but that wouldn't having any of it he told Terry to get out of the shop for a while otherwise he's probably going to commit fat side and Terry suddenly remembered a friend that he had to see and made

himself scared then Dad rounds on me like I had Something to do with it he asked how much ter really spent on that thing I told I mean actually spent about 550 on it they had asked why in Heaven's name no one consulted him before spending such an astronomical sum now the truth of the matter was I was a little spooked by the radio the guy had brought it in on a rainy afternoon valy covered in an old blanket and when he wielded up to the counter I had come to see what he brought Terry

Was already there reading doing a lot of nothing and he perked up and the old guy told him that he had something miraculous to show him I didn't care much for the old guy myself he sounded foreign East West German and his glass eye wasn't fooling anybody he whipped the quilt off the cabinet like a showman doing a trick and there was Spirit radio humming placidly before the front desk Uncle Terry asked him what it was the man said he'd be happy To demonstrate he took out a pocket knife cut his finger sprinkling the blood

into a bowl of Crystal on top of it and the blood fell on the Rocks the AIS began to glow and thing come to life Uncle Terry had started to tell the man that he didn't he didn't have to do that but as it glowed and CED protest died on his lit Spirit radio man said who win tomorrow's baseball Game the Phillies the Box in toned in a deep and unsettling voice they'll defeat the Cubs 9 to7 Uncle Terry looked very to buy it on the spot but when he asked what the man wanted for

he balked a little at the price they dickered back and forth nearly an hour until they finally settle on $550 I could see Dad getting mad again so I told him the rest of it to ter isn't wrong either he's been using that Spirit radio thing to get B on different stuff the Phillies actually did win the game the next day 9 to7 and he's been making bets and collecting debts ever since he's paid the store back $200 but I know he's won more than that the dad still looked mad but he looked intrigued too

that didn't put a lot of stock in weirdness he understood money I saw him look at the Spirit radio look at the bowl of Crystal on top of it when he when he dug out his old buck knife I turned away before I could see him slice himself he grunted and squeezed a few drops over the bow when the radio purred the life I turned back to see it glowing and that near Blue glow the dials softly admitting light through foggy glass and it always made me shiver and I watched it and to this day

I think those were Spirits ghosts or those who had used it but who Knows dad hesitated maybe sensing what I had sensed too and when he spoke his voice quavered for the first time that I could remember who wi the first raise of the dog track tomorrow yeah the radio softly hummed contemplated and finally whispered mama's boy will win the first race of the day at olssen Park Track tomorrow and Dad rubbed his face and I hear a scrub of stubble on his palm he Thought about it resting a hand on the box went to

the register to see what we had made while he was gone when Uncle Terry came back Dad handed him an envelope told him to shut up when he tried to explain himself he said you'll be at Olen Park Track tomorrow for the first race you'll take the money in the envelope and I'll bet every scent of it on mama's boy to win the first race and you'll bring me all the winnings back And if you lose that money I'll put this thing in the window I'll sell it as a regular radio and you'll never be

allowed to purchase anything for the shop again said if he he said and if he wins and ter asked and dad didn't answer Grandpa took a sip of his beer that and got a far away look as he contemplated that was just how Grandpa told stories he always looked like he was living in the times when he was Talking about and I suppose in a lot of ways he was going back to the 1960s the most interesting time of his young life to a time when he encountered something he couldn't quite explain so did he

win I asked invested now as we sat in the apartment above the shop drinking beer and watching it rain oh oh yeah grandpa said he won when Uncle Terry came back with money I think Dad was as surprised as Terry was Terry been using it but it always Felt like he was operating on the idea that it was some kind of monkeys paa situation after a while there'd be an accounting for what he'd won when a month went by however and there was no downside using the radio Terry got a bit more comfortable he started

asking other things results of boxing matches horse race sporting events and anything else that he could use to make money got so bad that his finger started To look like a pin cushion started cutting into his palms his arms seemed like more blood equal better results and sometimes you get a play by play if you bled more for it Dad would use it sparingly still not liking to give it his blood Uncle Terry was adamant about it it was it was a Mania in him and even though it hurt him he used it a lot

he could always be seen hanging around the radio talking to it and feeding it Dad didn't like the Method but he liked the money it brought in the shop was doing better than ever thanks to the cash injection from the Spirit radio and dad was buying better things to stock it with he bought some cars luxury Electronics there was always a net gain to the store once they sold times were good everyone was doing well that's when Uncle Terry took it too far he brought the bottle to his mouth but didn't quite make it seemed

to get Stuck halfway there the contents spilling on his undershirt as he watched the rain he jumped when the cold liquid touched him and writed it putting it down before laughing at himself he shook the drops off his shirt and looked back at the rain running his tongue over his dry lips one night we tied on a few too many my uncle he had this really serious look in his face he staggered downstairs despite Dad yelling at him asking where He was going when he started yelling we ran downstairs to see what was going on

and we leaned over to the Spirit Box tip of his finger dribbling as he yelled at it he held it out and the blood fall into the crystal dish on top of the radio as it came to life he put his Rudy face very close to the wooden cabinet and blistered out his question clearly not for the first time when will I die The radio was silent likes blinking but it didn't return an answer he cut another finger asking the same question but it it never returned an answer before we could stop it he split

his palm almost to the wrist as the blood dribbled into the stone he nearly screamed his question at it when will I die Spirit radio still said nothing and Dad and I had to restrain him before he could do it Again we don't know what brought this on we never found out but Uncle Terry became very interested in death more specifically when he was going to die I don't know maybe all this Spirit talk got him thinking maybe he was afraid that one day his voice was going to come out of that radio whatever the

case dad put a stop to using it he hid the thing he had to keep moving it cuz Uncle Terry always Found it again he'd hide it for a day or two but eventually we'd find him bleeding from his palms pressing his face against it sometimes I could hear him whispering to her like he was talking back to her and like those times was creepy Uncle Terry was attached to it the hip it went on for about a month till Uncle Terry did something Unforgettable and he Uh he got his answer he watched the rain

for a moment longer his teeth chattering a little as he was trying to get the sound out of his head Grandpa didn't much care for the rain I had known him to close the shop if it got really bad and it always seemed to make him extremely uncomfortable that's why we're sitting up here in the first place and I believe that Grandpa Grandpa would have liked to be Drinking something a little stronger then I got a call about something big something he always wanted was an old armoire antique from the Civil War era the guy

selling it he scoring the dad is asking way less than it was worth he wanted me to come along to help move it so that he didn't feel like Terry would be any use to it he' been flaky lately obsessed with that damn radio don't even leave the house to say that Terry had been flaky Was an understatement Uncle Terry Uncle Terry been downright weird never left the shop just kept looking for the radio I started to notice a weird smell coming around the house suped he wasn't bathing never saw him eat or sleep just

hunted for the radio felt FedEd his blood when he found it but dad had always asked him Terry said he was busy so Dad told him to keep an eye on the mother mother my great great grandmother Had been suffering from dementia for years dad and Uncle Terry decided to keep an eye on her instead you know instead of just putting her on a home Terry agreed as we left the house the rain had started to come down that's what I always remember about that day where the rain came down in buckets sky was crying

what was about to happen we got the armir into the trailer guy had a thick old quilt put over over To stop it from getting wet and we got back to the shop we brought it in and left it in the back room and dad was smiling knew he had something special here he was excited see what he could get for it we both squished as we went upstairs to get fresh clothes on joking about the trip until so we got to the landing and dad put out his hand his nostrils flared as he sniffed

I could I could could smell it Too I couldn't identify it at the time that must have recognized it cuz he he burst in the apartment like a cop looking for dope Uncle Terry was sitting in the living room his hands his hands red his knees getting reded by the minute he was rocking back and forth Spirit radio glowing besides him repeated the same thing over and over again he had found it whenever Dad had hidden It he' clearly been out to his old tricks again Dad stood over him as he rocked his fist tightened

he wanted to hit him when he growled at him I took a step away sensing the rage that was building up there what have you done he said today it's today today it's today here he kept right on peting it rocking back and forth as he solved To himself my dad turned the bowl on top of the spirit radio must have not like what you saw I saw it later after everything come next was just full of blood crystals were swimming in and practically floating in the thick red blood dad seemed to be doing the

math there was more blood than a finger pricker a palm cut dad was clearly getting worried getting given the terror was still Conscious and said where's mom his voice low and dangerous today it's today where's our mother Terry dad yelled Ling down to grab him by the collar pull him up un Terry had blood on his hands up the elbows but instead of dripping off on the floor it stayed caked on him and thick dry patches Shen seemed to have broad him out of his Haze it said it said if I Wanted the answer I

had to sacrifice Terry said his voice cracking said I had to give up something important if I wanted to know something so important something I Lov the others weren't enough I didn't even know them but my mother mother was mother was he stopped he stopped stammering when Dad wrapped his hands around his throat he choked him shook him violently as he Screamed wordlessly into his dying face and when he dropped him when he dropped him Uncle Terry didn't move dad and I just stood there for a second dad seemed to remember that I was there

at all when he caught sight of the softly glowing radio the subject of my uncle's Obsession he pivoted lifted his foot to kick the thing I could tell he meant to destroy it but not stop kicking until it was splinters on the floor but Something stopped him whether it was a regret for what he had done or some otherworldly force my dad found himself unable to stuck the cabinet maybe he was afraid of letting the spirits out I would never know instead he went to call the police so they could come and collect their bodies

might also collect him but he didn't talk about that as we sat in silence until they arrived dad told the police my uncle had Admitted the killing their mother and he had killed him in a blind rage they went to the back room confirmed my grandmother was dead dad didn't tell me until he Lay Dying a cancer years later but Terry had cut her heart out offered it to the Bowl on top of the radio we assume he did at least cuz we never found any evidence of it in the house or in the bul

it was never discovered but at least Believe had to have it ground up they also discovered the bodies of three homeless men rotten in the back of Terry's closet he had bled them something that had stained the wood in that room so badly they had to replace it how he' done all that without anyone noticing we we had no idea he had to been luring him in while we were out doing other things and if it hadn't been for my Grandmother's death being directly linked to him I truly believe dad dad would have been as

much of a suspect as Uncle Terry and they took the bodies away they took the bowl away and they returned it later I ended up moving in with Dad he got kind of depressed after the whole thing and helped to have someone here with him I I've lived here ever since eventually taken over the business You pretty much know the rest we sat in silence for a few minutes just listening to the rain come down and static and the old radio as it crackled an play have you ever used the radio a little afraid of

the answer Grandpa shook his head I saw what he did to Uncle Terry and to a less degree what it did to my dad I've run the shop since his death and did it without the Radio then why keep it I asked looking at the old thing a little differently now CU like that I can't bring myself to destroy won't sell it to someone else I can ruin their life too when the Shop's yours it'll be your burden choice of what to do with it it'll be up to you I couldn't help but watch the

radio seeing it differently than I had earlier as we sat drinking I thought I Could hear something under the sound of rain it sounded like a low Melancholy moan that came sliding from the speakers like a whispered scream is my great uncle's voice in there somewhere I suppose one day I might find [Music] out Emma was an extrovert but she hadn't always been One I suppose it's my fault that we drifted apart in the end the truth is I fell for all that [ __ ] I listened to that voice the smearing one that niit

at the back of my ears with it sharp incizors the one that that asked why is your only friend a girl I fell for the indoctrination every 12-year-old boy does and it wasn't like she was a tomboy Either she was a real proper girl complete with the star and heart-shaped hair clips sweeping blonde bangs posters of horses boy bands all over her purple painted walls she liked fairies she liked unicorns I liked her anyways she was funny she always asked me questions she always shared she was quiet around others her long face always pointed down

at her shoes but but she wasn't like That with me it was my fault we drifted apart but I I couldn't stand how they looked at us all of them when when we were playing together next to the basketball courts I didn't like how the girls scoffed how the boys shouted things like I I couldn't quite make out and then shoved each other laughing uously but the worst were the adults I saw the looks that they gave Each other when Emma and I showed up the class side by side you know secret looks but I

knew what they meant hope we get invited to the wedding right so I stopped hanging out with Emma I made new friends boys who liked soccer and spitting contests and the the looks and Whispers he stopped and [Music] Emma stayed Alone that wasn't until till High School when we got to high school I started to notice that Emma had changed at lunch when I went out to the front lawn with my friends to toss a frisbee back and forth like a wannabe college kid I started to see her with other people and when I passed

through the halls I saw her with boys leaning against lockers laughing and placing her hand on their shoulders every day it seemed like there Were more people more friends surrounding her like a school of fish shipwreck I this wouldn't be unusual except that Emma was always such a small timid girl she she'd been a loner since she was Tiny this was when I truly realized I didn't know who she was anymore I mean I didn't necessarily miss her anymore it it had been years since we had so much as spoken to each other but it

still gave me a strange Pang in my chest to Think it Emma was an extrovert now I realized she was nice to everyone huge smile was always pulling at her glossy lips her hair was always perfect falling in little swoops at her shoulders she wore bright pinks and oranges and Blues in the form of tight skirts and frilly blouses she was attractive to the boys in a approachable way but so nice to the girls that she was never considered a Threat just just a friend and even from a distance I could observe that everyone liked

Emma how could you not like Emma at graduation I looked for her while I was accepting my fake diploma up on the stage my friends and family cheered for me from the Sea of Faces I searched the crowd for Emma I spotted her quickly near the back someone was talking to her animatedly it was a girl With a tight Brown ponytail and braces and she was smiling a strange smile but she wasn't responding instead she stared straight forward felt my face get a little hot was she looking at me should I wave or something but

when I squinted my eyes I could tell that it wasn't me she was looking at she was looking somewhere behind me after the ceremony I looked for her Again I tried to part the mass of bodies muttering excuse me and sorries as I went she was surrounded by a throng of her peers all speaking so loudly and cheerfully that I couldn't make out anything she was saying I got a glimpse of her face for a split second she was she was smiling in that same strange way almost sad I finally heard her say something her

pink lips parting like they were crumpled up as if she was Crying I'm going to miss you all so so much and then came College Emma and I ended up at the same school one that was far enough away from home to feel like a grown-up but not far enough away to actually be one in college I saw her less so I thought of her less College was much bigger than high school and I had much more to think about than my old childhood friend but when I did see Emma things seemed the Same always

surrounded by people always smiling I made new friends I tried out for the soccer team I made it mcgraves were okay B to see average and my roommate was weird but he always left me alone I felt content with the little life that I've been building that was until the party it was by no means the first college party of the year nor the Craziest I was told it would be just a couple of friends at one of the houses on campus being rented out by seniors but in typical college party fashion it got out

of hand pretty quickly I went with a couple of my own friends and we mostly stayed in the kitchen crammed into the corner with mystery drinks clutched in our hands the whole place rre of smoke and all the light bulbs had been changed to colored ones giving the house almost an eerie nightclub Vibe it It wasn't anything special but feeling the warm Buzz brought on by a mixed drink and a red plastic cup crouched in a stranger's kitchen with new friends I was feeling pretty good I knew when Emma got there I could claim I

sensed it like think it was some sort of psychic superpower but I just knew by the chatter the air suddenly felt livier the people funneled from the kitchen to the living room calling out greetings my friends and and I used the Temporary quiet in the kitchen to get ourselves fresh drinks and then we filed out to the porch to smoke my warm feeling only grew and soon I was laughing so hard I felt I might piss myself elbowing my friends in the way that's only okay when you're drunk the music thumped from inside the house

muted by the sliding glass door and I didn't even feel the cold when we finally decided to go back Inside I was surprised to find the kitchen entirely empty I frowned and checked my phone it was only around midnight why would everyone be gone and that was when I heard someone shout from the other room and my friends and I eyed each other I felt a guilty twinge at how excited the prospect of a fight breaking out made me but I wanted stories I wanted the college experience so we all Rushed into the living room

and that's when I saw [Music] her Emma was on the table and everyone in the room was facing her as if she were a caged animal in the zoo she was on her hands and knees but in a way that told me she hadn't been standing up before clutching a clear bottle in one hand and the edge of the table with the other I watched horrified As she wretched over the side wobbling back and forth like a swaying ship everyone shouted in dismay and crashed backwards towards the wall wanting to avoid the Splash Zone and

I was very nearly forced out of the room no she moaned wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand the bottle clanked against her shirt buttons I'm sorry I'm so sorry clearly she had had too much to drink and I wondered what I had missed before I'd come in my friends were Laughing nudging each other and me but I didn't join them Emma kneeled over flopping pathetically on the table as someone shouted get down their voice Brash and cruel someone else laughed someone else started taking pictures of her I've never seen her like

this and I had never seen anyone be mean to Emma not since middle school at least I like to think I saw her wet skirt before anyone else did at least I Hope that's true I would hate for everyone there to remember their the last time seeing her alive as her slumped over on someone's table he trickling down her legs and pooling at her hip hugging An Empty Bottle like a teddy bear I shoved through the crowd on an instinct ignoring my friend's questioning shouts trailing after me I reached Emma in a few seconds gently

trying to pry the bottle from her hand And pull her from the table she finally acknowledged me when I scooped her up into my arms when ing at the wetness soaking through the I like to think I saw her wet skirt before anyone else did at least I hope that's true I'd hate for everyone there to remember the last time seeing her alive as her slumped over on someone's table hugging An Empty Bottle like a teddy bear I shoved through the crowd on Instinct ignoring my friend's questioning shouts trailing after me I reached Emma in

a few seconds gently trying to pry the bottle from her hands and pull her from the table she finally acknowledged me when I scooped her up into my arms wincing at the wetness soaking through my shirt sleeves her eyes fluttered open and she stared up at me her eyes glazed over Andrew she slurred I nodded my face made of stone the people all around us Leted out a collective ooh and I was back in middle school letting go of Emma's hand if you refusing to look her in the [Music] eye I looked her in the

eye then though and she smiled in that sad way that only I seemed to ever notice and then she threw up on my shirt I got her to the bathroom and locked it behind us as THS of people pounded against her with their fists Chanting our names Emma Andrew Emma Andrew you've become the most interesting thing at the party I thought we've become the spectacle Emma sobbed as I helped her into the bathtub figuring it would be the easiest to clean off later Emma's head fell back against the tile and she groaned I silently slipped

off my shirt and scrubbed at it in the bathroom sink choking back my own bile as I did I wasn't drunk anymore or at least I Didn't feel it Andrew she whispered after a long time I looked over at her she had pushed her blonde hair away from her eyes stringy with spit and vomit she stared up at me watery and trembling yeah Emma I gave up on my shirt inside shaking it out and pulling it back on I shuddered at how it clung to my skin I'm sorry it's okay Emma I closed the toilet

seat so I could sit on top of it next to where she was laying are you Okay she shook her head quickly then slower her eyes open wide and I re recognized something new in them fear I've ruined everything she whispered frantic her voice frayed I frowned and leaned closer wanting to hear her what do you mean you ruined everything maybe I wanted to I don't know she buried her face in her hands whimpering into them maybe I meant to Andrew maybe I'm sick of this Maybe I can't do do this anymore do what anymore

I pleaded a little bit alarmed she was rocking back and forth now her breath coming in raspy wisps she peaked at me from between her fingers now as if she were surveying me she hiccuped and that somehow triggered a new wave of bling sobs tears dripping from her chin like fat raindrops I used to be so jealous of you she snuffel wiping at her red nose it's so many Friends so many friends and I couldn't have any of them and then and then and then I was jealous of you cuz you didn't have you didn't

have to have any my eyebrows furrowed almost a painful amount and I searched her face unsure if I should feel offended by this or not the pounding on the door continued Elma El Emma what do you mean Emma I I don't understand her eyes glazed over her Tears still falling and she stared through me at the bathroom door half there half not it follows me she whispered so weak I could barely hear her her breathing quickened what follows you she shook her head and pulled at her hair finally her eyes met mine again as if

she were phasing back into reality it's in them she spit jabbing a finger at the door it's in all of them It's watching me always it always knows when I don't have any friends it gets angry Emma Emma Emma I could do nothing but stare at her trying to figure out if she was serious or not she must have been pretty drunk but right then she seemed Stone cold sober I have to have friends she continued the tears never slowing down I've done all my research I wear the right clothes I go to their houses

and I peek through their windows I know what They like what they don't like I have a binder everyone I meet is in my binder everyone has to like me Andrew or it'll kill me I know it will it gets closer every time I lose a friend it it started with you I felt suddenly very cold I heard the words she wasn't saying you were the very first friend I ever lost I thought of her at graduation staring at something that wasn't there Behind me that strange smile on her face and I started to believe

her and now they all hate me she sobbed bitterly hugging herself I did it to myself all of that work and one night one night one mistake is going to kill me it's going to kill me now it's going to kill me no it isn't I heard myself say I knelt next to her catching her franticness like a cold no it's not you're safe in here it's going to kill Me she mumbled I wasn't sure if she even heard me all that work and it's going to kill me you're safe in here and I'm your

friend I'm I'm still your friend I reached out and I took her hand her skin was white and cold as if she was already dead Emma Emma Emma Emma Emma Emma the voices had all morphed into one horrific amalgamation the door hinges creaked and Shuttered like they were only just Clinging On the lock rattled Emma let out a little shriek without thinking about it I climbed into the tub with her and pulled the curtain Shut I didn't care anymore about getting any of her bodily fluids on me besides it was was too late for that

anyway she stared at me her eyes looked almost gray and they were shiny flickering with something I had never seen Before it'll happen to you next she told me her voice solemn I don't know how I know but I do I'm sorry Andrew it's okay Emma for what it's worth I I wish we stayed like we were she scooted close closer to me resting her head on my shoulder at an awkward angle I do too and then the bathroom door gave way when the police arrived I told them The truth I didn't know what else

to say I was far too out of it to make up a story so after hours of interrogation and psych evaluation I was finally released to go home and scrub her blood off of me probably because it was impossible to Fathom how I one boy could possibly do to her what was done to her it brought me no relief a week later I went to her old House it was 2-hour Drive Away about a block away from my old house her mom was there she let me in here eyed she remembered me would you mind

if I went through her things a bit I asked my voice gentle but I couldn't Force much emotion into it I was still reeling from what I had experienced at that party I think there's something she Wanted me to have her mother nodded led me to a room it was exactly how I remembered it purple wallpaper a Dorn with various brightly colored posters unicorn figurines stuffed animals covering the bed and the carpet untouched she had still been such a little loser even in high school and I thought she was Cool I rifled through her drawers

until I found it a purple binder I almost smiled at the butterfly stickers decorating the surface one scratch away from peeling off completely I flipped through it slowly she she hadn't lied she really did do her research everyone from our high school was there their pictures taped haphazardly next to lists lists things about them things That Emma never should have even known she'd been trying desperately to save her own life when I got to my own entry I hesitated there was significantly less content on my page as if she decided it wasn't even worth it

my picture cut straight out of the yearbook seemed to look right at me a thought flashed my head then burning behind my eyelids and tears began to Form I wiped them away quickly alarmed you are so so alone and somewhere far away I could hear it pounding in against wood chanting Andrew Emma Andrew Emma Andrew Emma Andrew Emma day one I keep having nightmares that I'm Trapped in a box these came out of nowhere and never had a recurring dream more than two days in a row something's always different but these nightmares they're mean they're

all exactly the same that's why I'm starting this diary or the dream journal and these dreams I'm in a box but it's all kind of blurry like when you try throwing a punch in a dream and it moves in slow motion that's how it's Been every single time four nights in a row I read that having a dream journal helps you lucid dreams so I can slowly manipulate my dreams with practice if these dreams continue I should be able to change them eventually day two same dream again last night I feel like the dream's actually

becoming a bit clearer I'm not positive so I'm not going to get my hopes up day three the dreams are definitely becoming Clearer I I have no idea this dream journal idea would actually work at all much less so quickly so I've been reading up on dreams more and decided to set an alarm so that I could catch myself waking up in the middle of like REM Cycles it should make it so my dreams become more Lucid day three continued well I tried setting multiple alarms to keep falling asleep and waking up but I'm just

not really tired Today I'll set in alarm and wake up earlier tomorrow so I'm sleepier during the day day four I feel too well rested again my apartment is starting to feel a little small ironically it's 500 fet so it's not huge but it's enough for one person and I I did decide to get rid of a few extra throw pillows extra being the keyword it's probably just a side effect of the dreams feeling like I'm stuck in A box every night isn't great never lasts long but it's it's right before I wake up so

it's always still so like Vivid in my mind oh well day five okay major breakthrough I was finally able to move around while stuck in the Box it's very uncomfortable it's definitely made of cardboard but I mean that's progress you can even hear a slight white noise in the background that was all though I woke up and for once didn't want the nightmare to end I Mean I just love seeing progress looking forward to tomorrow day six honestly who even invented throw pillows I got rid of all the ones I had had my bed looks

so nice and clean optimal for dreaming I could smell the cardboard last night day seven everything's surprisingly clear in the dream now I could feel the cardboard and it's it's pretty solid he's not much give at all I don't have any way to get out I'm too Cramped to kick or punch I don't have any blade or anything I think with enough lucid dreaming I could conjure one but at that point would I just be able to dream the Box magically opening and maybe maybe I could give myself laser vision you know and burn through

it to Too Much Superman on the brain lately day eight I thought day seven would mark one week but technically day eight would be one week right I'm not Sure I just I realized the dreams become more Lucid when I get rid of things you know and honestly my apartment's been feeling small ever since day four so my stuff isn't too expensives I'll just get rid of a bunch of things it's kind of funny day nine nothing different in this stream I'm still unable to move or do anything the White Noise sounds sort of like

an engine or something it's a low hum I don't know if realizing more Things about it will help me escape but I mean I can't hurt right I'll just focus on everything I can during the dreams day 10 maybe I've been going about this wrong maybe I need to force another dream instead of trying to change this one when it happens time to focus all of my efforts today on one thing cooking the mix of smells and tastes that'll make my day very memorable so hopefully my dreams will have me in a Kitchen day 11

I woke up screaming today I I didn't have a different dream and this time I felt like I could barely breathe like the air in the Box was running out I screamed in the dream and then I screamed in real life not the wisest tactic when you're running out of air but it's not it's not like I had much control over these dreams I can't even control myself Sometimes my apartment was feeling a little stuffy so I got rid of my couch and some spare blankets and towels more open air you know that should help

day 12 the dreams the same every night but honestly my real life is starting to feel like a nightmare I keep feeling like my apartment's getting smaller I got rid of some more stuff today just you know things I don't need it wor me out so I'm going to go ahead and go Sleep early tonight day 13 the issue seems to be my big furniture taking up so much space my TV stand bookshelf desks I got rid of them all and it's not feeling as cramped but I I don't know how my apartment feels so

small nothing different in the dream I'm constantly trying to escape with no way out focusing on making things operate just doesn't work day 14 got rid of my shower curtain Today my floor gets more wet now but when I was taking showers it was feeling too cramped luckily I have a washer dryer unit in my closet so I can reuse my towels as needed who would have known those spares would have been missed smelled a little oil in that dream today day 15 I swear I I swear my apartment is still getting smaller I have

no idea how with the big furniture Items gone I'm unable to comprehend how I even fit them in here you know I'm going to try sleeping on the floor tonight see if I can get rid of my bed too day 16 uh oh the dream was the same uh and I slept surprisingly fine the bed's already gone at the time of writing this All the Small Things I kept in the bookshelf desks Etc they've been in storage containers but I haven't really accessed them in a while I mean they're Taking up space so those those

are gone too day 17 I was doing a load of laundry today and when I turned around my closet it felt incredibly tiny so I I I took a hammer to the walls right and now it's an open wardrobe laundry area my bedroom's a lot bigger thanks to that well I my security deposit is definitely gone Whoops on a side note I think I'm developing or have already developed claustrophobia to a degree that it should be treated by a professional already scheduled a meeting with a psychiatrist bringing up this dream seems like a good idea

too right it's time to get an expert's analysis on it day 18 well I took out my bedroom wall today right after I woke up I calmed down after but it felt like I couldn't control myself this obviously Isn't sustainable and I'm definitely going to have to pay a lot when I move out but I I really need to worry about my mental health issues first future me can figure the finances out day 19 I figured that i' done plenty of damage already so a little more wouldn't harm much right so I CED myself into

getting rid of the washer dryer fridge range and cabinets took a lot of straps pulling pushing sliding probably damage On my spine that I just can't feel since I'm young somehow I did it I don't recommend trying it yourself but I bet anyone actually could if they wanted to surprisingly painless or I'm surprisingly strong I feel great I have the psychiatrist appointment in two days I wonder if I would have kept my things had it already happened day 20 my room's basically one big empty Room now I've been sleeping on the pile of what few

clothes I still have have this journal my phone the internet what else does someone else these days really need I know I should be concerned but when I woke up this morning I I was feeling so anxious and cramped it was so bad that now I feel so relaxed it's literally crazy I know but that's what tomorrow psychiatrist appointment is for all these changes in My life actually make me appreciative of the dream since it Remains the Same day 23 it's been a few days since I last wrote on what would have been uh day

21 I woke up feeling extremely cramped I felt like I was almost in the Box in my dream my shower felt like it was almost reachable from where I was sleeping as a matter of fact everything in my room felt like I could almost touch It I I had no idea this was what people with claustrophobia felt like I went to psychiatrist and they were afraid of what would happen the next few days as the room would keep getting smaller in my head they weren't sure what I would do when when cornered they suggested a

hospital that they know really well and I've been here since there was a 48 hour hold before I could have my journal they gave us tasks activities to do honestly everybody here Is they seem to have it worse than me you know a few people are very depressed otherwise normal in social situations so they're they're the ones that I I really talk to my room is it's extremely nice accommodating my wall is basically a giant window I can see things happening outside at all times of day and I I've been having the dream in the

box but my waking hours are much more peaceful now I turn my journal in every day so that they can read where I'm writing I Don't actually have to do this but they asked if I would and I I don't mind I'm not really crazy in any other way so it's fine if people read this day 27 they asked if I wanted my journal each of the last few days and I said no cuz honestly there hadn't been much of an update dream's been the same but the reason I'm writing this now is because the

room has been feeling Smaller me I kind of feel like I'm in a fish tank yeah let us go outside a lot but it's not like I can camp out on the Stars I guess because this is kind of my plea for help too hey doctor figure something out just kidding kind of day 28 they put stars in my room those glow-in-the-dark ones that people have as a kid it's I don't know it's a sweet Gesture I hope it helps day 29 it uh that was not I I woke up in the middle of the

night and I guess the Stars had lost their charge from the daylight cuz my room was dark felt incredibly small like almost like the Box day 37 they wanted to see if my journal could have been an issue so we went a week without it which is fine really just trying anything to get better something really bad happens they decided I could have my journal back I punched and slammed my head into the wall repeatedly because I I felt like it was closing in they both bled a lot and I lost some hair but I

I didn't Feel like I had a choice I didn't want to get crushed by the walls my body sort of just moved on its own my room feels like a tiny little fish bowl during the day and the blocks at night I was having a hard time distinguishing my dreams from reality this past week I think I think I figured it out though the expression pinch me I must be dreaming it's Accurate pain is the key I just I just wished my hands in head head hurt instead of the Box be so uncomfortable my teachers

used to force us to exchange love notes you know we were given lists of everyone in class and made to spend money on themed boxes of cards which have these uncomfortable personal sayings be mine someone likes you you're so pretty I love you so much the idea was to be anonymous in our Delivery but when 25 kids and they're all stumbling over each other in a room meant to handle 15 it's not exactly a discreet process some kids went home with lollipops expertly fashioned to the cards and a few enthusiastic parents made goodie bags with

Pez dispensers and colored paper sacrifices to the elite of our class one kid never got Anything despite the lists and the rules against discrimination and the fact that she was always nice to everyone it was always one desk left horribly obviously bare I always told myself I didn't mind but that was elementary school when the ultimate display of affection was pushing each other on the swings and at some point down the line people discovered Ed how to order boutiques of roses and perfected the art of making Out in full View and way of everyone except

the teachers I guess cards are sort of obsolete but people get other things mostly fluffy button-eyed things with bows like nooses around their necks the fact that those things never used to make it to me is my own fault and I know that I know I should be more outgoing or prettier or just better but it's more comforting to blame everyone else Instead that's the kind of mood I was in early last week when I was sitting on my polka dot bed scrolling through frilly websites complete with gifts of dogs chewing heart-shaped treats not because

I was bitter or anything just that Valentine's Day was coming up and I had to do a love letter for creative writing fishing for inspiration even if resentment is the only fish biting I clicked a random link and a brightly colored interface popped up it was a Flat red with a few sparse Graphics the title and a button beaming sign up today the character was posed on the top of the screen looking up at the button it was impossible to tell if it was a baby or a child its head was swollen out and up

with a masculine torso and four fat limbs toughs of blonde hair swooped over huge blue eyes and everything about it from its blue clothes to its red skin was grossly oversaturated the title was instant Valentine curious I hovered over the sign up button not sure what I was expecting part of me thought it was going to be a joke that the text would flash calling me a loser and somehow add me to a public spreadsheet of how many others had clicked the link I clicked it anyway and instead of a form popping up asking for

an email and a name bad as this is going to sound I never really cared about giving away my email to Sites like this I did it often enough at malls to get Wi-Fi and with those sketchy GradeSaver websites I figured as long as I never put my real name I wasn't really giving up anything now I know better I typed in my email and an alias that I spent 30 seconds choosing Gwen it's the name I used to wish I had from when Ben 10 was my favorite show in the world a minute later

I got a notification and checked my email again Expecting an advert or a punchline well I transcribed it here to Gwen you light my life be mine there was no send her the email was just a site name and a string of numbers I opened the attachment and found a drawing of a little girl holding a candle it looked like the first mascot too red and lumpy like those vintage cherub kids some kind of gushy mailing list It's cool I closed the email and went to bed a while later secretly excited by the digital [Music]

admirer this was last week the next morning I checked my email again and there was another note from the instant Valentine Gwen you look sweet enough to eat be my Valentine attached was another old timey drawing of a girl sitting in a comically large cauldron an open fire Beneath I know it's dumb but something about the note was reassuring there were something to look forward to for one but there were also Windows into another world Gwen's world the notes kept coming all of them came with drawings increasingly saturated a pirate shoving a gooey hook through

a girl's heart let's hook up girl be mine a Betty Boop type with rubber hos legs in a melting pile around her bright Flames eating away at her skin you're hot stuff Valentine be mine a little devil holding a pitchfork with hearts at the tips only her expression was twisted with pain and the horns and tail looked surgically attached I love you from hell and back be mine at first the art was Charming in a weird way you know stuff that you'd find in a garage sale or in an attic but as the week progressed

they only got more Graphic I tried to Google the pictures by description hoping to find the artist and they came up empty I Googled instant Valentine nothing relevant I couldn't even find the original site anymore and I didn't remember the random series of clicks that got me there in the first place but I wasn't too worried more Curious than anything I didn't even realize how much I enjoyed the daily acknowledgement until some girls from Class asked if I I even had a boyfriend yet as I walked away from them I wondered why I'd said yes

the days passed I started filling out Gwen's World a bit I imagined her as a perfect version of me taller smoother skin a smile like Gatsby and a voice like Daisy Gwen was confident and everyone wanted to be her Valentine I even created a persona for the note Giver I called him Josh and he Grew inside my head as a shy artsy kid who had been in love with Gwen since they were kids love you dear be mine Gwen's friends recoiled from the bloody carcass of a girl wearing a sexy deer costume painted across the

page but she knew it was special I gained another reason to hate Valentine's Day I knew the notes would probably stop then but sometime in the next few days the notes started to change they stopped being addressed to Gwen and they started being addressed to me I spent an hour trying to find out how he it knew my name my lame conclusion was that it could read other emails in my inbox although I'm still not sure the thought chilled me but there wasn't a way to cancel the subscription I couldn't even reply to the email

so I did nothing waiting for the issue to resolve itself the cheesy pickup lines thend out replaced them with with a Constant emails several per day with just two words be mine be mine be mine the drawings were still there but they were wrong somehow like the ink was running smudged and blackened faces screaming at me from my computer screen always different girls one was wearing a bikini or underwear and her head was submerged in a bathtub another chubbier girl girl had on a pig costume and was roasting over a spit with an apple between

her Lips I mean those things have been okay in Gwen's world but now they were real they were threatening I need you to know that I wanted to show someone friends or parents even I I need you to know that I tried but I couldn't bring myself to the embarrassment would have crushed me and and I I think maybe there was still a tiny part a sick and shriveled thing just under my skin living in my fingertips and between my hips that Wanted to keep it secret wanted to have something all my own and maybe

that part of me was glad to see my name Grace the screen because just as quickly as I created Gwen I started to resent her I need you to know this because because I deserve it there's always a new girl in the drawing they're getting worse I can hear their screams and today's Valentine's Day and I'm sitting alone in the cafeteria Surrounded by red things fluffy Lacy things everyone has a rose the office is giving them away so no one will feel left out but I didn't pick one up I had to write this down

I had to check my email again Happy Valentine's Day let's tie the knot the picture is in the same ridiculous style but the ink looks fresh and the lines are sharp the girl has ugly brown hair pulled into pigtails and she's Sitting on a polka dot bed spread heavy ropes crisscross her body there's tape over her mouth but she doesn't look afraid my mom just called me saying I need to come home she said she was picking me up I could see her car through the windows the person inside isn't my mother an office Aid

is walking around the cafeteria with a green slip looking for me to send me away only a matter of Time now the bed in the drawing looks like my bed the girl in the drawing wearing my clothes I wish I was afraid the office Aid is making eye contact walking towards me the car outside is honking a girl is crying over spilling her chocolates there are roses in the garbage bin mascara's running but I'm not I should be afraid Happy Valentine's Day who the kids it's me this ritual has Been passed down throughout the centuries

it originates from the British Isles during the Middle Ages but it was viewed as devil worship by Puritans and a way to protect your home by those who knew that what was really standing in their fields was not the devil if completed successfully the ritual will ensure you one year of safety physical fiscal and or mental depending on your events that occur during It you will need a house in the countryside preferably with a field of crops out back technically all that's required is a large backyard the larger the better but success as only come

from houses in the countryside a candle attempting to use a flashlight cell phone or any other electronic source of light will be unsuccessful causing the light source to Flicker and die after only a few seconds this is why either a candle an oil lamp Or any sort of non-electric illumination is required a crucifix I'll explain that later a watch or clock to carry around with you again cell phones will not work during this ritual to begin the ritual make sure it is late enough for no one around to be outside and make sure that the

sun has set the being the ritual is based around will not appear if anyone other than the Summoner is around to detect its presence the earliest successful summon was at 9:00 go out into your yard and Whisper seven times but who will scare the crows away while facing the house on the seventh whisper you should hear from behind you that's not your biggest problem walk back to the house without looking back as soon as you reach the house get inside and close the door now the ritual Begins everything in your house that could open has

take your crucifix into a room with only one door close the door and leave it there that will be your safe room in case the ritual goes wrong make sure all the doors cupboards cabinets and whatever else that can open is closed if he gets into your safe room you're doomed your goal is to close everything that is open before your watch reaches Midnight it sounds easy in description but think about it every bag every door every window every container in your house has just opened the challenge isn't closing them all it's remembering them all

as you make your way through your darkened house you'll notice that out of the corner of your eye you'll be able to see a man dressed in simple farmer clothes his skin is Ash Gray don't look at him and whatever you do don't look directly into his eyes don't be afraid of him this is not the man in the fields he's merely a Herald a referee of sorts to make sure that you're closing every container he'll follow you but he will not get in your way make sure not to look out into your backyard if

you do you'll notice that there's a scarecrow that wasn't there Before its head is a crow's skull and its limbs are impossibly long versions of a human being's arms and legs while the skin on them is pale they're not skeletal the only thing that's missing is aead if you fail the ritual or do not reach your safe room in time you'll take yours the reason I was telling you not to look at the backyard is that when you Notice the Scarecrow he will notice you you'll then begin to get off of his post this is

the man in the fields if you don't look at the backyard don't see the post and the Scarecrow you'll have until midnight to complete the ritual if you are 100% sure that everything in your house that can be opened has closed make your way to bed and go to Sleep for exactly 1 year you'll have complete and Total Safety in everything you do depending on when you started the ritual if you started at 3 hours from Midnight you'll only be completely physically safe A lot of people have used this to elongate their lives past where

they would normally end people like cancer patients the elderly if you start at 2 hours from Midnight you'll not only be physically Safe but financially safe for a year you could quit your job and still never have a need for money either you wi the lottery people just feel compelled to give you things for free however you'll need to set up a plan for the end of the year as your safety will wear off and you will lose all the money that you've won make sure to either set up a business or make some smart

Investments if you start the ritual 1 hour from midnight and somehow manage to Finish it which is highly unlikely you'll be completely and totally safe for one year none of your actions will have any negative consequences I tell you not to do anything immoral but if you're going through your entire house in one hour and somehow manage to close all the boxes doors windows cupboards bags cabinets and drawers then you can do whatever you want if you did look out at the Backyard if you saw the man in the fields you'll not get any of

this not even if you finish the ritual the man in the fields will get down off of his scarecrow post he'll look at you he'll begin sprinting you have a minute at most to get to your safe room run inside lock it tight double check to see if everything is closed inside if you don't want him getting In you have to endure him scratching and clawing at the door shrieking threats and Promises of Mercy if you open it whatever he says do not open the door there's no circumstance in which you should leave your safe

room to confront the man in the fields so good luck and stay safe there was an ominous silence in the air as we approached the edge of town the clamor and hustle of City Life had Been replaced by the soft murmur of the wind as it turned out there was a pretty good reason for the weird muted atmosphere everyone was dead every single person in the entire town most of the victims had been decapitated every now and then we'd encounter a body with its head still attached by a ragged strip of Flesh and that was

somehow worse I knew the bodies weren't Real that didn't make it any better once again it just made it worse Falling Sky finally broke the silence he stopped in the middle of the street his tail swishing in agitation this is dark magic he's a clever one this Bookman of yours we can't ask any questions if there's no one left to answer them my head was throbbing like a rotten tooth I rubbed my temples again and suppressed the urge to start screaming I grumbled yeah this Is definitely a setback population sign and the city limits claimed

just over 40,000 people it'll take forever to check out every Parlor Room in town it's going to be a lot of freaking houses I don't even know if I would recognize it to be honest her habitat might be different from the original room Falling Sky grunted well either way get off my back ride's over and remember what I said to you back at the farm Billy white bread never tell anyone you Wrote on my back that stays between us until the end of days I awkwardly dismounted from his back and snorted tell who I'm not

even supposed to be here I doubt Vic would be okay with any of this [ __ ] you know what I mean anyway what now I think we're screwed I started to walk around in the street in aimless circles deep in thought I was gripped by a sense of impending doom dead bodies lined every street in All directions they were hanging from open windows and dangling from carriages hundreds of bodies thousands of them as far as the eye could see I could hardly wrap my head around it we don't need the spirit world for this

part of our journey Falling Sky answered in a r tone the place you're looking for exists in the present understanding struck me like a bolt of lightning I said we need to go back wait for me and your Hogan until I Find some answers I'll try to be quick but I don't know I don't even know what I'm looking for falling sky gave me a wondered look he said take me with you come on I never get to go anywhere I shook my head and snorted are you nuts there's all those microphones and cameras and

[ __ ] if if Vic found out you left your habitat he'd let Len throw me off a rooftop and after that [ __ ] I pulled on him a while back Len would be More than happy to oblige he isn't my biggest fan these days the skin walker stomped his hoof and a petulent display of disappointment he flared his nostrils and retorted you said vic doesn't know what happens around the zoo I'll turn into a field mouth hide in your pocket you'd never know I rubbed my temples and muttered well Cass would know and

I'll be honest with you man I'm not sure if that would be such a good thing Falling Sky did a Double take Trot it closer to me he lowered his voice and whispered you think Kazmir is the Informer you don't have to whisper it's not like Cass could hear us um look I don't know for sure but maybe yes maybe no Vic killed his assistant because the dude was plotting to sabotage the zoo somehow but how did Vic even find out I mean I doubt this dude was running his mouth about his Plans but I

can see how it might be tempting to share the secret with someone close to him you get what I'm saying here so yeah I don't know anything for sure but I have my suspicions the horse shimmered and flickered for a moment and then Falling Sky was standing before me in all his human Glory he squeezed my shoulder and [Music] said suspicion is always is better than blind trust all right then I'll just take it easy and watch TV and my Hogan for a while he smirked at me and added don't forget you drank the tea

me I'll be fine but you this should be interesting another story for the ancestors oh and they're going to love this one I'm grimed atam and said Ah hell yeah I forgot about that this is going to suck but it is what it is okay Man I'm as ready as I'll ever be let's do this I closed my eyes and I imagined I was hanging onto that rope again only this time I didn't let go instead I climbed the top my body weightless and ethereal and the Nexus between life and death when I reached the

top of the Rope I opened my eyes to the real world unfortunately in the real world I was a hot sloppy mess of a human being nausea hit me with a closed Fist and I Collapsed on my hands and knees in the sand Falling Sky shook his head at me as a spray of puke poured into the dirt he said the sacred teas and for beginners is heavy very heavy you should probably just hide yourself away in my Hogan until you come down we'll watch TV and smoke some tobacco what do you say I'll turn

on the lava lamp we'll ride the waves I squeezed my eyes shut and moaned I'm regretting this pretty bad I can't do this I was wrecked no joke my thoughts were skittering around my brain like alien spiders the world around me was a soft focused nightmare of contrails monstrous shapes and shifting patterns I could hardly bear to open my eyes the intercom came to life with a loud click and kazmir's voice crackled over the speakers overhead do you require assistance Billy you don't look like you're doing very well I flapped my hands in a dismissive

Gesture and yelled back no I'm good I don't need anything just uh just give me a minute okay I turned back to the skinwalker and croaked give me a hand over here I'm not sure if I can walk on my own floor keeps moving falling sky made a rude noise with the lips and said unless you're done getting sick no offense Billy but I can't take it when people throw up the sound the smell no thanks makes me want to throw up too I Gritted my teeth and groaned just come here for a second man

I got to tell you something okay like he was already shaking his head no I snarled for [ __ ] sake and forced myself to stand up I just had to ride the waves how hard could it be I took a deep breath and told myself it's not real none of it is real just ignore what you see one foot front of the other they grew more confident with each Step Falling Sky CLA me on the shoulder as I drew closer and he said that's it Billy white bread just stay afloat it'll be okay he

ushered me into his Hogan and tried to make me sit down in a chair made of woven branches I said no I'm okay now it kind of okay listen man I changed my mind about you staying here I I need someone who's got it together and Cass already said that he doesn't want to get involved I mean even even if he did want to help we can't both be inside The habitat at the same time so it's got to be you no other choice a smile spread around the skin Walker's face he rubbed his hands

together and said my physical being hasn't been outside these walls for many years going to enjoy this I softly replied keep it down okay listen don't get any ideas about escaping okay we're going straight to Catherine's habitat then we're coming right back remember Vic knows your true name if you manage To get past the goons Vic will speak it out loud just out of spite okay as long as he can still talk you're stuck here in the zoo Falling Sky held up his hands and protested no need to get firm with me Billy I'm just

happy to be doing something new I growled I'm glad you're having a good time me not so much your face is melting walls are breathing everything's [ __ ] I just Want to curl up in a ball and start babbling about the Universe I can hardly think straight this isn't fun man it sucks Falling Sky shook a finger at me and countered maybe you're the one who sucks Billy white bread you ever thought of that you have a good heart yes but you're always complaining no don't deny it you're a cry monkey and you know

it do you have a very angry domineering kind of mother because an overbearing Mother figure can often be the root of a lot of issues I snapped oh good skin walker Freud not now okay just do your thing Mr Mouse and let's go you're going for a pocket ride [Music] Cass raised an eyebrow at me as I came stumbling into the service tunnel he said you look like a maniac your hair is dripping with sweat and your eyes are like salers I muttered te's kicking my ass how long have I been gone the big Russian

gave me a ghost of A Smile as he gently said you did not go anywhere you sat on a log for perh s 10 minutes then you began to vomit into the sand I let out an off-kilter Giggle and said it's time's different over there look we have to go back to Catherine's habitat we need to find something no don't ask me what cuz I don't really know just yet but I guess we I figure it out when we see it Cass paused in midst step and he gave me a considering Look he asked who's

we Billy I cannot go inside I must stand watch of the door I froze and my poor drugged up brain started to panic I felt my stupid yapper drop open and I stammered I didn't we no uh no I wanted to say me not we it's me alone Falling Skies and soon as the last sentence started to cross my lips I had to restrain myself from clapping my hands over my mouth Cass gave me another probing stare but he Stayed silent and followed me down the tunnel I tried my best to walk like a normal

human being I just had to sail the waves One Foot In Front of the other as I navigated the spaces between if I didn't think about it too hard I could keep moving forward felt like I was doing it all wrong at least I was moving when he got to the entrance of Catherine's habitat I asked Cass to punch on the code pushing the buttons in the correct order was a tad Beyond my ability at that point he wordlessly obliged but he stopped me as I was about to Lurch Across the Threshold of the habitat

he said remember to watch in the mirror do not get to yourself killed I gave him a blank look then I snorted yeah of course as I fumbled for the mirror in question truth be told i' forgotten about it entirely I know that sounds really [ __ ] stupid but keep in mind that I could barely form a rational thought at That point mirror now safely in hand I stepped into the habitat and the door slid shut behind me I found the polter guy sitting in her rocking chair her severed head resting in her lap

as usual I approached her with Extreme Caution she watched me Shuffle closer with a hopeful expression on her face even in my confused state of psychedelic delirium I felt my heart shrivel a bit in my chest I desperately wished I had some good news to share but I Didn't I was failing I tried to order my thoughts before I spoke it was really difficult that's putting it mildly it was almost like someone had smashed open an ant farm in my brain and I was attempting to round up the entire Colony with a pair of top

sticks just a fuckload of these Speedy guys running skit scatter all over the floor and there I was trying not to step on them as I clacked my little sticks together finally I blurted Out I'm still trying to figure it out you know all this uh I mean this whole situation is kind of [ __ ] up right so I did some drugs and I went to the spirit world at first I was like oh man this sucks and there's all these [ __ ] fog everywhere I can't see anything but then I I freed

my mind and the universe answered by by setting up a sort of like a uh this old timey version of our own City but it was like back in your time on the day of your Funeral it was kind of like one of those dinner theater murder mysteries but then I had to come back here to the president because the Bookman killed everyone in in in the in the it failed off and we looked at each other for a few moments in the mirror her hopeful expression had crumpled into a look of crushing miserable disappointment

I saw look I'm doing my best to to find his name but he's doing his best to stop me I need your help a man's voice came drifting out of my pocket he said we need your help we as in more than one two in fact was very rude Billy white bread wasn't it the wise and knowledgeable Falling Sky who showed you the path to freeing your mind I've been with you every step of the way on this journey that was very rude I glared into my pocket and hissed be quiet man not so loud

Catherine was staring at me with Great interest she lifted her head into the air for a better look I tried my best to Shield my hands from the cameras and I showed her the talking Mouse who was stowed away in my pocket the Poltergeist was mesmerized by the spectacle her expression softened into a look of Wonder the skinwalker stood up in his tiny hind legs and he lifted a paw in greeting he said my name is falling sky he want to help you Catherine but we need to learn the Bookman's real name do you know

what it is Catherine silently meled no and her lower lips started to quiver tears wed up in her eyes in a gentle tone Falling Sky said don't despair little one you won't let him win please tell us everything you can remember about him I nodded in agreement and said any little detail might help what was your relationship to him was he your teacher a neighbor Catherine slid out of the Rocking chair and walked over to the fireplace she tucked her head under her arm and flucked a knickknack from The Mantel piece with her free hand

solemnly she held it out for inspection it was a ceramic figurine of a fluffy sheep Catherine put the figurine back on the shelf and then she knelt down to write something in the cold cres the fireplace when she was done she tapped the word for emphasis Falling Sky looked Up at me and whispered I never learned how to read English what does it say I blew out a frustrated sigh and muttered it says person and the figure was a sheep so what a Shepherd a human Shepherd I don't know what the hell she means by

any of this [ __ ] I don't I don't know man I think I'm just [ __ ] terrible [ __ ] detective like I suck at this so bad I wish she could just show me what happened somehow but that's Catherine abruptly seized me by the Wrist making me falter in mid-sentence Falling Sky let out a startled squeak and jumped out of my hand as her ghostly fingers encircled my living flesh a painful jolt ran out my arm and slammed into my brain and then I found myself somewhere else not another place but another

time and another existence it was the 1890s and was Catherine I was cowering in the parlor with the curtains drawn shut I was Hiding because the person was visiting with mother in the drawing room I didn't know the person's name he was always carrying a large book under his arm so I thought of him as the Bookman I was terrified of the book man he was very tall and his demeanor was cold and Stern he was always surrounded by a disagreeable odor of old pipe tobacco and animal dong when the weather was foul the Bookman

wore a long black coat with a Hood that hid most of his face all you could see was his curled smile and the rest was obscured in Shadow all of this was frightening enough on its own but the real reason I was afraid of the Bookman was his smile there was something awful lurking behind that corroded nicotin stained grin he was hungry mother couldn't see it but I Could I didn't know what he was hungry for but I could sense it was very bad mother often referred to the Bookman as our Good Shepherd but he

wasn't a Shepherd at all he was he was a wolf mother didn't understand why I was afraid of the Bookman and try as I might I couldn't seem to adequately put my fear into words she thought it was all very silly I knew my fear of the person made her quite annoyed with me so whenever he came to our house I just Tried my best not to be seen I sat there in the Gloom and listened as their voices drifted down the hall from the sitting room mother laughed at something the Bookman said and then

the voices began to move further away before long I heard the front door open when it closed again I felt a flood of relief washed through my entire body he was gone I pulled the curtains back and the pale light of a gray afternoon Illuminated The Parlor mother called out Catherine I must be off to do the shopping mind yourself while I'm gone stay out of mischief and don't open the door for strangers she stepped out into the porch the dead bolt slid home and I was left all alone in our big Silent House mother

was still searching for a new governess and the maid only came on Tuesdays and Fridays I wandered about the house for a While and then I selected a picture book from the bookshelf and sat down in my rocking chair the rocking chair had been gifted by father on my 7eventh birthday when you're only seven everything around you seems like it was made for a giant but my rocking chair was perfect for me and only me in my opinion it was the finest chair in the whole world I sat there rocking and daydreaming but the book

forgotten in my lap when I was startled by a rapid Knocking at the front door I peaked out the to see who it was and my heart crawled into my throat it was the Bookman he had returned and Mother wasn't here to protect me from his hungry smile he saw the curtain twitch and he stared at the window with narrowed eyes I dropped to the floor and huddled against the wall the Bookman knocked again and then a third time when no one answered the Bookman finally turned away I heard his boots clomping down the steps

and then there was silence I waited for a minute or two before I dared to peek out the window again there was no sign of him in the street I let out a huge sigh of relief and I ran back to the Parlor I rounded the corner and crashed into his legs while I had been cowering and praying for him to go away the Bookman had slipped to the back of the house and Pride open a window I staggered away from his Savage smile my heart slamming in my chest I wanted to run but my

legs felt sluggish and heav heavy I tried to yell at the top of my lungs but nothing came out except for a tiny squeak of Terror his eyes glittered in the dim light of the gray afternoon he stooped down to look into my face his hands planted on his knees and he said such a pretty Girl do you believe yourself to be innocent You're Not Innocent not at all you're an isn't that so Catherine or should I call you by your true name Lilith Jezebel Harlot I cowed Against the Wall the Bookman leaned even closer

he was breathing heavily and his breath was hot and putrid he cred it's written in the Good book The faithful will bring their children to see the shepherd so he can lay his hands on them and pray the Bookman inhaled deeply savoring my fear like the finest perfume he continued the disciples rebuke their presence but the shepherd told them suffer the little children to come unto me because anyone who doesn't receive God as a little child he shall not enter Heaven they understand the meaning of his words I want to save you my child receive

me and I will deliver you to God I suddenly became aware that his hands were tugging at the fastenings on my dress my paralysis finally broke I darted past him and ran for the door screaming from mother with every step the Bookman caught me as I was pawing at the Deadbolt he clamped his callous hands over my face suffocating my terrifying wailing and he dragged me back to the Parlor he was growling like a dog in the grip of a terrible rage his eyes were blazing like Hellfire a butcher's knife appeared from a fold in

his cloak the sharp tip was pressed against my throat I cried out for mother but she wasn't there to save me it was just me the Wolf and his hunger panting his foul breath into my face the Bookman snarled you will receive me young Jezebel you will receive me you will receive me the blade was shoved into my neck and I I felt a sharp snap across my entire being like a like a rubber band that had been stretched to its limits then released to fly across the room and The next instant I was curled

up on the floor in Catherine's habitat back in my own time I was screaming Falling Sky was running in agitated circles on the floor and Casmir was demanding to know what the hell was going on over the intercom I sat up and wiped a stream of tears from my eyes my heart was pounding in my chest I called out I'm okay man I'm [ __ ] hell um I'm I'm okay I cleared my throat ATA just hang on a minute I scooped up falling guy with trembling hands and I tucked him back into my pocket

they whispered stay quiet man we're almost in the clear he whispered back I thought you were dying Billy white bread glad you're still alive I let out a shaky little Breath and murmured me too buddy me too C was waiting with crossed arms and a stern look as I exited the habitat he rumbled you fell to the ground you began to scream I'm starting to wonder if I should allow this to continue I closed my eyes against the undulations of the walls was making me feel sick I croaked she reached out and grabbed my arm

and then I I I watched it happen through her own eyes her murder I I [ __ ] saw who did It Cass starting to think that it was U you know the Whatchamacallit at the church the the clergy man or whatever you know he was like conveniently absent when we visited the church and I thought it was kind of weird plus the whole thing about the book and teaching and Shepherds and sheep and all all that [ __ ] you know but this guy I don't think he was a preacher he looked pretty rough

he smelled like sheep [ __ ] I think he was a Shepherd Like an actual Shepherd like not a metaphorical one Cass gave me a vaguely puzzled look and said I have no idea what you're talking about but I believe you never mind man just a bunch of stuff that happened on the side he like I mean I don't understand why a dude like that would ever be a regular guest of a wealthy family I mean especially back then and there's that book that he was always carrying under his I'm like what Was it I

kind of assumed it was a Bible but now I'm not so sure Casmir looked thoughtful he said perhaps he butchered his own livestock and delivered the meat to clients around the city the book could be a business ledger where he would write down dates and payment information it is possible I frowned in concentration mulling it over and shook my head I I I don't know but I'm going to find out I'm going to go back and find this evil [ __ ] you know back to the spirit world Casmir looked trouble he peered down at

my sweaty pad face and asked are you sure this is a good idea you look terrible I snorted well let's see I'm high as [ __ ] and I've seen like a zillion dead bodies tonight not to mention I was just horribly murdered in a ghostly Vision so how am I supposed to look man jeez just give me a break over here I Hesitated my side man I want to level with you here okay I might be in danger I felt an angry little scuffle in my pocket and I added Falling Sky too we're both

probably in danger the the Bookman he isn't an ordinary spirit it's like if it's like he became something uh something a lot more dangerous I think he's trying to avoid you know actually [ __ ] killing us but it's not because he's a nice guy he's pretty much Pure evil and believe me this guy is going to do what he needs to do Caz winced at the news and he Gravely shook his head we already have a vengeful Necromancer who sends resurrected bodies to murder us do you really need this in your life as well

see this is what you get for meddling in the Affairs of the undead very well Billy do as you must all I will say is that Victor will be very displeased when he has to start Looking for another assistant I grumbled okay man yeah thanks for the pep talk and I headed back to Falling Sky habitat Cass followed behind with a amused expression on his face this time I was able to ignore the landscape of Rippling walls and visual distortions I was starting to realize that our world is basically a mirage there's a lot more

stuff around us than we could ever perceive let alone understand our narrow Slice of reality is kind of like peering through a cosmic Kaleidoscope can completely change with the smallest Twist of the lens in the end the only constants are good evil and our profound inability to truly understand either one humankind is lost in a Shadowland of deceitful specters and Sinister illusions they're blind the truth and I fear we'll never be able to see the light when we got back to the privacy of Falling Sky Hogan I pulled him out of my pocket and set

him on the floor he transformed back to his true self a middle-aged Navajo man who looked like he ate right and worked out regularly even though he looked pretty damn good for an 800-year old man there was a sadness in his eyes that was never touched by his laughter I could sense a horrible tragedy in his past life something so awful and Unthinkable his only choice had been to submerge the trauma into the depths of his soul I vowed to myself that if we managed to come out of the situation in one piece I convince

him to talk about it confession you know it's the first step to Healing he gave me a puzzled glance and said what are you staring at no offense Billy white bread but I don't like you that Way I snorted me thinks the skin walker doth protest too much never mind dude we'll talk about it some other time ready to do this he smiled a little to himself and asked are you ready this Bookman of yours will try to kill us when we get back we at war with a powerful enemy he will not show us

Mercy softly replied yeah I know right on the weak and innocent that was his pastime he was A serial killer wonder how many women and children were he victimized when he was still alive the skinwalker gave me a grim look he said he even one is too many he thinks he's Untouchable he's never gone to war war with Falling Sky and Billy white bread as he he's about to get an unpleasant surprise I nodded and said I hope so man they really do shitbags like him they like to operate in the dark so we'll Have

to drag him into the light then we'll let him burn we locked eyes with each other and the physical world fell away in strips and fragments we are going back to finish what we started we are going to war I've been consumed whatever remains my voice is Now hidden beneath the doubting Buzz of 880,000 Souls my body is now a vessel for something much greater than myself my sense of individuality has been martyred for the greater hole beneath the copney of the many footed Hive that's taking control there still is a trace of something human

it always sneaks up on you doesn't it you go through your life thinking that you've gotten used to being single that all the feelings from your past Flames have gone dormant but then February 14th rolls around and you get the feeling for that scorching fire of loneliness out of nowhere the whole world decides to sing the Praises of their love life and you you are reminded of just how lonely you [Music] are it's been 3 years since we split and I want to believe that I've been getting better But every year the wounds are reopened

Valentine's Day always provides me with a sense of dread seeing all those happy people write down posts about how filling they are in their relationships you me feel like I failed as a human being this year however there was an extra layer of dread this year there was a stinging suspicion that Ally would get Engaged in the morning I couldn't get out of bed the initial torrent of romantic social media posts had me paralyzed the only way that I could get through the day without breaking down was to find a distraction something to help me

block out everyone else's happiness as I lay in bed scrolling through the internet it came to me a headline to answer all my woes St Valentine is also the patron saint of beekeepers enjoy your romantic evening But don't forget the bees are going extinct a headline gave me strength to rise out of bed as I ate breakfast I read half a dozen articles about how important the bees are to the planet's ecosystem the scientific evidence was overwhelming bees were dying at an unprecedented rate something had to be done by the time I got into the

office I had made a conscious decision this Valentine's Day wasn't about love it was about Bees I spent the entire morning chucking out be facts did people know that most of the world's food supply relied on bees did it know that 40% of all the bees in the United States had died between 2018 and 2019 could they believe that no one was doing anything about it there was something tranquil about the thought of an impending ecological disaster I mean if our entire civilization ceased to exist then there Wouldn't be ex-girlfriends to worry about Ally wouldn't

be falling in love with someone else CU she'd be dead I mean hell it seemed silly to worry about her even while she was still alive it didn't matter if she was spending her evenings with some hunk eating mangos having amazing sex there were bigger issues at hand the bees were dying my newfound be Obsession managed to Shield me from all the Notions of Small talk throughout the morning but by the time I went into the break room for lunch the Valentine's Day mood became inescapable the break room was covered in pink streamers stack of

heart-shaped cookies was on the table for anyone to grab everyone was chatting away about their happy relationships these people didn't care about the world ending all they wanted to talk about were their plans for the Evening no one wanted to talk about bees being in that room made me think about my own evening plans I grabbed my sandwich and went outside the park was calmer there was the occasional sighting of people holding hands but the faint smell of exhaust fumes helped me focus on the real issue didn't matter that I was single what really mattered

was how our species was destroying the planet everything around me was the product of Human Ingenuity the Slick cars the impressive highrises even the park I was sitting in they were all monuments to human inventiveness in just a couple centuries we had managed to take the planet from a place where nature tried to murder us at every step to a world where people could tweet and jump out of planes for fun it was a shame that our drive towards Innovation was also responsible for the pesticides for the pollution for The impending death of the bees

my thoughts about the terrifying nature of humanity had woven themselves into a likeworthy Facebook status after I finished my sandwich I shared a couple of B related articles and thumbed my philosophical treaties into existence I secretly hoped that Ally would stumble upon my thought piece and spend the night thinking about the plight of the modern bee I was meant to be back at work my Musings made me lose track of time yet as I got up to leave the park I noticed something a lone bee sat beneath my bench motionless seeing a bumblebee in February

would have been bizarre 10 years ago but the concept of a cold winter is something that's slowly thawed from reality into the realm of childhood memory I crouched down and observed casualty of the ecological disaster that I had helped Perpetuate I poked it the Stinger of the little hairy creature sluggishly reached from my finger its wings dragged across the concrete as it attempted to defend itself but it was clear that the bee was scarcely conscious I snapped a picture of it and then rushed over to a nearby corner store this little guy wasn't going to

die on my watch all the Articles suggested that the best way to help a tired bee was to provide it with A mixture of water and sugar at first the bee was motionless scared that it had died while I was out buying the supplies but after a while its antenna started to move within half an hour it was on its feet and ready to fly away I live streamed the entire Affair when I returned to work there were some intrusive questions about how I spent my lunch break but I managed to sidestep everything by saying

I had a personal Emergency I went through the rest of my work day knowing that whil everyone else was slaving away for their corporate overlords I had managed to actually make a difference I didn't check any of the notifications until I return back home I wasn't helping the bees for clout I was helping them because it was the right thing to do I was helping them because I wanted to live in a world where my grandchildren would be able to Feast on Honey I would have been content with doing my part without any attention from

the world but being public about it helped spread awareness of their plight when I finally checked on my post the engagement was off the charts I was the champion of the bees nearly a hundred people had heard my message the articles that I shared got reposted a dozen times my status update had instigated a lively discussion I knew that somewhere out There during those stupid candle dinners people would be talking about how Monsanto is responsible for the plight of our little hairy friends I scrolled up and down my newsfeed drinking the sweet nectar of success

and then I saw it her hand the hand I nervously held on on night there was a ring on it 600 Likes 300 comments I slam my laptop shut and paced around the room I tried focusing on climate change on corporate lobbyists paying politicians to turn a blind eye to harmful pesticides on the ice caps melting but I couldn't thought of Ally getting engaged burrowed into my mind like a brain parasite a film reel of all of our happy moments played in my head our first date The first time we said our I love yous

our trip to the mountains the saxs all the memories played on and on in my head but it was as if someone had spliced me out in my stad there was someone taller someone cooler someone who had their [ __ ] together someone who would who would be a great dad I felt sick my stomach spun between a dizzying emptiness and a sudden urge to vomit they would get married they would Have kids they would have grandkids their grandkids would eat honey I hugged my toilet bowl and dry heaved I could feel the world spinning

on without me after the panic attack had passed I returned to my bedroom and shut off the lights my mouth tasted of acid my eyes were burning there weren't enough tissues in the world to clear out my nose I was exhausted but sleep refused To come all I could think about was Ally being happy with someone who wasn't me for the past 3 years I'd lived in quiet hope of us getting back together of a random text coming through one morning where she would announce that she missed me and thought about me every single day

since the breakup and I was faced with the Cold Truth our feelings weren't Mutual P the sound was imperceptible at first I too busy thinking of the sex that Ally was having but the Taps slowly grew louder punk punk punk I sat up and looked around trying to focus on the source of the sound a hint of a swelling Orchestra could be heard from upstairs my neighbors were probably cuddling beneath a blanket watching some Romantic Period piece P PK PK sound wasn't coming from my neighbors it's far too loud for that I held my Breath

and listened the sound was coming from my room P PK PK a lone bumblebee was tapping its little stick Stinger on the glass of my window I got out of bed and turned on my light p p p pong before the absurdity of the lone bee traveling to the sixth floor apartment complex could dawn on me three friends joined the bee they tapped away at the window chaotically as if as if They wanted something p p p p more bees materialized out of the night and drifted towards my window the world outside was starting to

disappear beneath a layer of black and yellow pong pong p p pong pong whatever comrad ship I had felt for the bees was gone these little Stingers were aimed right at me memories of wasps and hornets nest filled my head with Terror I ran through my apartment making sure that all the windows were closed These weren't just knocking on my bedroom every window in my apartment was covered in a thick layer of bees as I moved through my apartment their Stingers reached a thunderous Roar p p p p p p p p p I stood

in the center of the apartment as far away from my Windows as possible my arms started to itch memories of previous stings were preparing me for the pain it felt as if there was a unity in the Stinger knocks now as if there was a voice hiding Beneath the cacophony but my mind refused to accept it P pong pong pong let us in there was a faint buzzing sound coming from beneath my front door the knocking of The Stingers had reached so high a frequency that I was barely able to comprehend my own thoughts my

apartment door gently shook looking through the peephole revealed Blackness and a Blackness that shifted around with The intensity of a thousand feet pong P pong pong we want to pong pong pong pong help I could hear the voice clearly now Beneath The Hive lured something sentient something sweet as soon as I focused on it the noise of The Stingers died down a wave of syrupy calm spread through my veins we know you're trouble we know you feel pain the same skin which itched out of Fear of being stung was now draped in a warm blanket

of cosmic Harmony felt like I was a part of something much bigger something much better I drifted towards my bedroom window the knocking and The Stingers had stopped only a faint Buzz remained you helped us now let us help you let us ease your mind let us Aid you on your journey I opened the window there is much more work to be Done they covered me before I could comprehend what was happening my body was coated in an army of tiny bees my apartment disappeared beneath a carpet of fine yellow hair let us in let

us help you let us ease your burden my knees buckled beneath the wave of sweet ecstasy my skin could no longer perceive a difference between me and the bees my jaw relaxed my mouth filled with Movement we can save it all if we work together we can save everyone you've Done good work but together we can do so much more let us in a faint memory emerged in some other life I sat in a cinema Ally was leaning on me a bit of popcorn stuck to the back of my throat the audience laughed at something

on the screen I washed on the popcorn with her soda yet the memory drifted away as gently as it emerged this didn't happen to Me this didn't happen to us they made their way down our throat each arrival sending another Ripple of pleasure through our body we could feel them in our veins we were a whole and then the the room was empty but we didn't feel alone a sense of wholeness radiated throughout our entire universe do you want to say goodbye somewhere within us is still the Hint of a person person but he's irrelevant

if we let the bees die the food chain the food chain of this planet will collapse we will work together to keep us all alive our grandchildren will taste honey if you're reading this I I apologize in advance sorry this is so Long there's a lot I've been keeping on my shoulders for a long long time I trust all of you here I have to share my story you don't have to believe me I'm sure most of you won't but I'm laying it all out here so at least it won't go to my grave with

this horrible secret so so I'll stop rambling now and I'll lay it down for You for a long time me and my two closest friends Logan and Joel we've had a ridiculous tradition but one of us had a birthday the birthday boy got pranked a little background of my friends Joel was always the skinny kid no matter how much junk he ate he always seemed to be 10 lb underweight he usually wore the same clothes t-shirts jeans if it was cold he wore a hoodie if it was warm he wore Shorts he had Shaggy blonde

hair that usually fell over his face couldn't grow facial hair if he tried and believe me he tried Joel Was Naive endearingly so Logan was the outgoing person in our Crew He was athletic and at least a foot taller than the other two of us he had buzzed black hair and thick eyebrows came from a family with Mediterranean Roots Logan Could be very persuasive he had this amazing way of talking himself out of almost any situation he could diffuse people without saying anything he always said it was his award-winning smile and me you can call

me Edward anyway our tradition started when we were high schoolers in the late '90s Joel and I decided to pull a practical joke on Logan for his birthday in July we showed up at his house before he got Up and prepared him for the worst morning of his life we almost woke him up giggling like idiots just a few of the highlights we put plastic wrap over his toilet seat we filled his shower forehead with red Kool-Aid powder and replaced his face soap with school glue let's just say that he had an interesting morning of

course he swore Revenge shortly after Joel and I got a good laugh out of it since my birthday is in mid- October I would have been Next on the list I braced myself for retaliation first I thought I was off the hook as my birthday came and went uneventfully the prank didn't come until Halloween night I spent the entire evening out in my neighborhood with my little cousin trick-or-treating who was dressed as a secret service agent complete with a little black suit aviator sunglasses and a coiled earpiece he was even strapped with a plastic pistol

in a Holster when I got home I was exhausted chasing a 9-year-old around and making sure he didn't get run over was a lot more tiring than I had anticipated at the end of the night I ambled to my room like a zombie and flung the door open and intent on passing out the second my head hit the pillow as soon as my door completely opened an earpiercing siren assaulted my ears instantly triggering my fight ORF flight response and filling me with Adrenaline my brain struggled to understand while my body decided to attack the door

frame clawing helplessly at the wall I spun around on my heels and bolted in the opposite direction slamming my shoulder hard into the door frame after my senses returned I realized the noise was coming from inside my room when I check behind my door I found an air horn duct taped to the wall perfectly aligned with the door handle I Instantly knew who was responsible Joel of course was next his birthday was late January Logan and I got together and planned our prank carefully Logan invited Joel over for a night of Starcraft pizza and various

sugary junk Foods I was was also invited but pretended to have other plans so I wouldn't be able to make it while the two of them were hanging out I snuck in Joel's house and kidnapped Roco his 2-year-old in laasa abso the next day Joel came to school thinking his dog ran away which for him was the cruestv bad it wasn't long before we told him the truth he didn't speak to either of us for a week after that and so this tradition was born and this went on for years that is until things went

wrong one year when we were all in our mid-20s Logan and I ran into each other at a party we hadn't seen each other for a couple of years after catching up we Started reminiscing about our old pranks it was only a matter of time before we had formulated a plot to prank Joel the first part of the plan was to invite him to Logan's grandfather's cabin for a weekend he was situated in the Woods by a lake around 3 hours out of town of course Joel knowing his birthday was just around the corner and

the fact that we hadn't hung out in a while immediately suspected Foul Play and called us out on The prank miraculously we were able to convince him that we were done pranking and too grown up for dirty tricks when we finally got out of the cabin we actually had a great time bonding and doing buddy stuff this basically amounted to drinking goofing off and telling ghost stories around the campfire pit behind the cabin the second night after we were good and toasted the second part of the plan was engaged we were passing a Cigarette around

when Logan suggested we' take his Grandpa's boat out into the lake to go fishing catch the little [ __ ] while they're asleep he said laughing this was after all a tradition of ours as well three of us had fished together countless times on that Lake over the years this was a good a time as any it was cold but not cold enough for the lake to freeze we climbed into the boat and I paddled us out into the center of The glassy Lake I could see my friend's breath puffing out swirly wisps we then

proceeded to drunkenly fumbled through an old stained Tackle Box attempting to bait hooks suddenly Logan shouted at me hey be more careful he grabbed my left hand as blood ran down his finger you slashed me with your hook jackass I stood up in the boat you did that yourself you drunken idiot I fired Back Logan stood up and shoved me with his good hand he forced me back down into the sitting position within moments we were wrestling and rolling around on the floor of the small fiberglass boat stop it the boat's going to tip over

Joe yelled helplessly I let go and Logan stood up abruptly and yelled something at me he lost his balance suddenly pitching off the side of the boat he fell backwards and was swallowed up by the Black Water Instantly he sank like a stone holy [ __ ] [ __ ] Joel screamed looking over the edge into the water it was too dark to see our friend he wasn't thrashing around he didn't seem to be surfacing either I pointed a flashlight into the water Joel quickly hit the switch on his duracel headlamp the beams cut into

the murky Lake but apparently not deep enough to make Contact First there were bubbles lots of them then there was nothing do something shouted Joel on the verge of tears Joel's head was on a swivel checking back and forth for Logan in the water we silently shown our lamps from point to point looking for any sign Logan was just gone Joel turned to me his headlamp Shining in my eyes what the hell man he said he crying now Lan's a good swimmer it doesn't make sense Joel slumped back into the boat cradled his face and

his hands I leaned back over the boat's Edge shining my light again Logan was nowhere to be found now of course I knew Logan was a good swimmer he was an exceptional swimmer as a matter of fact he spent time at the lake every summer growing up he was such a good swimmer that Joel didn't realize he had swam under the boat and toward fidget bar a small island near the center of the lake the actual name was box Island if you were to look it up on a map in an age long past Logan's

grandfather had an Australian Shepherd named fidget and he named the island after the pooch allegedly long before they did so we always called it fidgets bar the island was only 100 ft or so away from where our boat was situated so I had no doubt the swim was a breeze to Logan at this moment Joel looked back at me again do something why don't we do something I started to remember back in high school when he made Joel think his dog had run away that feeling of guilt that the joke had maybe gone a little

too far I saw Joel's face now his eyes red and swollen his nose running his hands were trembling I shouted to Joel let's Go to Fizz bar and regroup I grabbed the ores and started to paddle in the direction of the island Joel grabbed onto the front of the boat anxiously soon the boat made landfall scraping ashore Joel sprung out and pulled the front of the boat in he yanked hard as I was getting up and I fell backwards into the boat I didn't say anything as I was climbing out of the boat Joel already

stripping his clothes off what are you doing Joel I Asked I'm going in after him he shouted as he pulled his shirt off look look Joel I started but he wasn't hearing any of it Joel waited out until he was way steep in the frigid water of the lake I shouted after him Joel it was a prank Logan's here on the island the word prank escaped my mouth I could see Joel's shoulders go up he didn't turn around but he was frozen in place there was a long pause as I stood At the shore near

the fiberglass boat looking out at Joel an icy wind dragged across the surface of the lake the trees on the island behind us thrashed about in the gust for a moment my eyes caught the moon in the sky and I looked up just for a moment the hit came next and I didn't expect it Joel's fist collided with the bridge of my nose hard I heard a pop and Then nothing then I was on the ground the cold wind was still blowing but for the moment my face was hot I heard a ringing in my

ears for a few seconds Joel paced around the rocky Shore when the wind stopped blowing it was suddenly eerily quiet on the shore of fidgets bar I stood up and saw that Joel was standing with his back to me still shirtless shoeless and only wearing wet boxer shorts his ribs stuck Out as he breathed I didn't say a word but started to pick up his clothes once I had gathered all of his stuff I handed it over to him Joel took the clothes and got dressed meanwhile I sat back and lit a cigarette I ran

my hand over my face and felt my nose my hand came back bloody so Joel asked me quietly where's Logan now I pointed my thumb behind me at the thick mass of trees the ones leading into absolute Darkness I have no Idea he should be here on the bar somewhere I pulled myself to my feet and looked at the Dark of the woods there was no noise on fidgets bar the wind had ceased to howl the trees Stood Still and Silent Joel and I stood side by side at the precipice of Darkness it occurred to

me that I had never actually explored the island before neither a Joel to my knowledge Logan used to talk about blazing trails In the brush of the bar with his grandpa but that was years ago presently we stood at the edge of the dark woods with no real knowledge of what lie ahead in fact one fact remained Logan hadn't shown himself yet then Joel inhaled sharply and took a step towards the woods he flipped the switch on his headlamp casting a beam into the darkness of the forest I turned my flashlight on and followed suit

Joel's head was on a swivel sweeping Back and forth to dimly reveal our surroundings together we walked upon what appeared to be a trail that led deep into the Trees of fidgets bar up ahead there seemed to be some kind of clearing at this point I wanted to find my friend and get the hell off the island I I wasn't upset about the punch I deserved it probably mostly I was still in shock of what happened and regretted the whole prank Idea also something felt wrong we had disc just hiding on the island like this

we should have seen Logan by now the original plan was to regroup on the island and then Logan would jump out scare Joel that should have been the end of it Joel would have laughed and got me and we would have headed back to the cabin for drinks and shenanigans this plan had gone sour and I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach One that I couldn't shake up ahead in the clearing we you could see a well it was an oldfashioned well built from stone with pulley suspended above the Rusted crank looked

like it hadn't been touched in ages Ferns and spinley Vines of Ivy had grown around the base of the well and coiled up around the wooden frame above no rope or bucket to be seen just beyond the well nearly swallowed by trees was a small shack buried in the underbrush I Couldn't hear a single sound here for a brief moment I felt as though I might have hurt my ears Joel hit me maybe it was the fall there were no birds no voices no wind no nothing but Stillness silence in the forest finally a noise

it was nearly inaudible at first and it grew it was a voice calling out I recognized it as Logan's initially I was Flooded with Rel but his voice sounded far away and echoed Joel And I Ran towards the sound which appeared to be coming from inside the shack it was a dilapidated old building not much larger than a detached garage once we looked into the one of the foggy cracked Windows it was obvious that someone at some time lived in there most of the windows were broken or covered in branches the siding was unpainted the

roof collapsed the front door had once Been painted green but was all bubbled and rotten splitting from the inside one hard push from Joel and the door disintegrated we went inside and saw a pale blue table turned upside down with a heap of broken chairs there were some utensils scattered about the floor as well as broken plates and rusted out Kettle a pile of ancient newspapers Bound in string were stacked to the ceiling in One corner place was wet it smelled like mildew then we heard the voice again Logan's voice it didn't seem to be

coming from the house this time no it was coming from below us somewhere Joel and I noticed this at the same time and started searching The Damp floor for a trapo a hatch of some kind to get below the shack I pushed the pile of newspapers over and they fell to the floor with a Heavy thump meanwhile Joel was throwing the rotted old chair Parts aside looking underneath it occurred to me the part of the floor we were standing on was actually matted with the remains of an AAL rug I pushed with my shoes to

try and move it but seemed to be fused to the floor that dropped to my knees and felt around for a seam it was in Vain we didn't find anything after our exhaustive search we went outside to look for a Sellar Hatcher and thing to get to Logan's voice below I realized it almost immediately when I stepped out into the crude porch the well the two of us made our way over to the ancient looking Stone well we stood on either side and peered down Joel's headlamp cut down ways but The bottom of the well

remained dark I shouted down the shaft hey Logan are you down there Joel yelled too Logan can you hear us and then Logan's voice echoed up hey you guys made it finally Joel gave me an inquisitive look what are you doing down there Joel said to the darkness of the well there was no answer Logan I said how the hell did you get down there finally his voice came back hey Ed Remember what he made Joel think his dog was gone Joel and I exchanged a glance yeah I remember Joel said smartly right here dick

Logan's voice again hey Ed it's really cold down here how do we get you out Joel shouted back so [ __ ] cold you guys Logan's voice said give us a second Logan we'll think of something I shouted grabbing Joel's jacket and pulling him Away from the well when we were a few feet away from the well I pulled Joel close enough that our faces were nearly touching Joel he's not making any sense I know what do you think he's doing down there Joel asked maybe he fell maybe he was in shock maybe there's maybe

there's another way down there we should ask him I said we went back to the opening of the well and I shouted down Logan is there another way into the well There was a long silence Logan shouted Joel the well said Logan's voice finally what are you talking about you're in a well Logan they said back hey Ed said Logan's voice you should really come down here it's delightfully cold when Logan's voice said delightfully cold something sounded wrong about his voice it was almost sing songy chilled me to the Bone Joel and I looked at

each other I could see the fear in Joel's face Joel whispered the [ __ ] is he talking about Logan's voice rose up from the darkness again we got you good with that air horn didn't we at I almost forgotten the air horn on Halloween all those years ago yeah yeah you got me said let's get you out of there don't you want to go home yeah Logan this Island's creepy as hell Joel said down the well maybe we Could lower something down for you to grab on to huh Logan's voice came back just jump

on down guys I can catch you we need to get you out of there I said back there's no way in hell we're coming down such a beautiful day Logan said in that strange sing songy voice again such a beautiful day that was the last time I ever heard Logan's Voice Joel and I shouted for him for nearly an hour before we decided to go back to the cabin and call the police for the following week the search crew including the local police searched fidgets bar top to bottom they combed the entire half mile long

stretch of the Forest without finding anything after that they searched the lake police boats dredged the lake for days until finally they Found something 9 days after the search began they found what they were looking for Logan's body was extracted from the lake about 80 yards away from the shore of fidge bar the police would tell us his neck was broken when Logan fell from the boat he hit his head on a large submerged Rock his death was instant they told us he would have been dead before he was completely in the [Music] water because

of the sudden trauma he exhaled sharply and sank into the bottom they said he never drew another breath [Music] so if Logan was dead when he hit the water who did we talk to in the forest on viet's bar whose voice was that I you understand what my story Needed to be told I me like I said I I I don't expect you to believe me but why would you it's crazy but at least it's out there and now you can decide for [Music] yourself hey there kids it's me Mr Creepy Pasta and I just

wanted to tell you thank you so much for watching tonight's video or for listening to Tonight's episode of the podcast it's still cold I don't know if you guys have that major freeze that happened to me but uh yeah it's in Texas and it's snowing so it's pretty damn cold but you know what's not cold a hot cup of tea and my wife still sells tea and as always I want to give a very big thank you to everybody who supports me over at patreon that's as well as acid system ball arms the rat Blake

Rattler Randon Mendoza grow Brimstone pandemonium Cuna chain smoker dealer Chicago Hitman Cory Kenshin Cronut 508 Crusader chocoo Cur pox Primark Dakota best dangel pson Dante concade Diana Krauss Ellie hotm Enchanted buns estan JMA Hy ha's nephew Kimbo Jerry hour minute seconds time J kees jett's pet Jordan humble king crab Mr Marcus Blitz old penguin peaceful Buddha psycho Red Shadow Cat remember the sun Rinku star salty surprise Samara line seclude Simba's bloody Mojo Sky Harbor Smiley The Psychotic Sully man T sue the shavez brothers thank you guys so much for being here thank you for listening

thank you for watching in sweet dreams [Music]