CreepCast - My Sugar Daddy Asks Me For Weird Favors

Episode Date: June 15, 2025

In this collection of stories, rules determine your fate. So when a sugar daddy asks a young girl to perform a task. She better make sure she did it right. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit mega...phone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome back to Creepcast. Today we are doing an author grab bag from user EAPA, T-B-P, aka Gabby, on R-slash-N-N-Sleep. She has the most popular story, most upvoted story on our, our slash no sleep and we it finally is coming around also the title of it my sugar daddy asked me for weird favors i love how that's the most upvoted uh story on our on all of no sleep which makes sense yeah yeah but i the titles here on some on her most popular stories are just fucking awesome my sugar daddy asked me for weird favors we're reading every month the parade would pass through my hometown but we were never allowed to look at it hello and then lastly there's a man
Starting point is 00:00:56 who follows me around and narrates my life and he started to say some unsettling things I love, and you know that I love, you know that I know that I love stories like this that have that nice kick of nuts title. You know what I mean? Just something immediately, you're like, oh, hello. I'm window shopping already. I'm sneaking. My hands are pressed against the glass and I'm like, hello?
Starting point is 00:01:18 What's in there? I'd love to read what you have. And also like, you know, we got to read this one. We read so many no sleep stories. And if you go to no sleep and sort by top and of all time, your number one is my sugar daddy asked for weird favors like that sounds like a hunter formula if i've ever heard one oh baby i love i love it i love the idea too of um because i feel like this could also just be a regular reddit post and it would still be just as horrifying so i'm really curious to see like does it
Starting point is 00:01:50 does it slip into the paranormal does it slip into like you know all all these like other kind of like non-normal conventions or is it just going to be a really sleazy man either or it's going to be disgusting and i love that i'm excited it's going to be brutal whatever it is i'm certainly excited for it too so you can check out the author e a pt i feel like there's an easier way to say this i can't figure out epitabig e a p a p uh p on their link will be in description they seem to be kind of no sleep royalty because everything they post like blows up gets a ton of upvote so hopefully this is cool it seems like they have like a really dedicated fan base on our slash no sleep which is pretty sick i mean
Starting point is 00:02:35 even stuff that's come out this year thousands of votes which you know we're past the i would say the heyday of our slash no sleep so to still get that kind of engagement's really cool um and i think that it just goes to show that there is some kind of uh reader base that is there with them so as always we have the link in the description not only of the youtube video but the online uh like spotify apple podcast wherever you're listening us we will be having some kind of link to make sure you get that engagement there and uh go support the reader or the authors uh because they are the lifeblood of the show they are they are they're the only reason this train keeps ticking and uh also i mean it's cool work so always support cool work um now that listen to this hunter
Starting point is 00:03:23 i didn't realize this until we i started looking at the top of all time on no sleep okay so first place is this one the sugar daddy one right right right second place is my wife has been peeking at me from around corners classic on that one third is something walks whistling past my house every night done that one we haven't done the fourth one uh she sold my happiness in glass jars um or she she sold happiness in glass jars uh that's you know i i immediately thought of that meme where it's like you put the figurine in the glass jar and you fill it with with grum yeah yeah so we haven't done that one
Starting point is 00:03:59 we I'm just going to ignore what you said we haven't done that one the fifth one is called a shattered life but it's by user I'm pretty sure we've read one of his stories M59 Gar but then after that six is my job is watching a woman trapped in a room seven is I'm a search and rescue officer for the US Forest Service which is the stairs in the woods we need to and I want to put this out there we've covered a lot of the top one as eight is the Glenmont Metro yeah so we so we have we've covered quite a bit of them then which is the first is the first time I think we've ever actually gone to like our slash no sleep and like what is the top story we were talking about that today we found this one we were looking through her profile all of the names of the stories are fucking awesome she's like super active in the storytelling community I think that's great and we were talking about this before too we have got to re redo stairs in the woods in the way that we do it now like the first episode of the show it was just kind of talking about the story yeah yeah it was more so us just being like then this happens instead of of just reading it and reacting to it. Well, we thought at the time, we're like, surely, no one's going to sit down and listen to us read an entire story. That was the problem. I was like, people are going to think this is so boring. And then that became the thing that people wanted more than anything.
Starting point is 00:05:15 So that is one story. I would love to read, like a proper reading. I think that should be our two year anniversary, I think. Yeah. I mean, we're coming up on it here in, you know, four, four or five months or something like that. Yeah. And there's a lot of other parts to the series now, so we could cover the whole thing. And I also know the author. We work together in a bunch of projects.
Starting point is 00:05:38 So I'm sure they would, they'd be happy for it. I can figure out specifically like how many parts we should read or like what would be canon, what isn't canon, stuff like that. So I think that'd be a good two year anniversary. Yeah, I think so too. But as always, guys, be sure to check out EAPA, T-B-P. on Reddit for all the new stories that she posts. Also, we will leave links in the stories to these specific stories, but feel free to just redirect and check out their whole catalog
Starting point is 00:06:08 because they are very active and it's pretty sick. I think that's awesome. But without further ado, why don't we start off with the top rated, top upvoted story on our slash no sleep. My Sugar Daddy asked me for weird favors. Let's get into it. Be sure to continue to support us on Spotify, YouTube, all that. It means a lot.
Starting point is 00:06:27 we are now what we're like 10th place in the world or something like that on Spotify we were 11th we were we are almost top 10 ladies and gentlemen so if you want to help that crusade and fucking help us keep pushing and get our goofy ass in the mix of the Joe Rogans the Theo vons oh oh hunter hunter we're nine right now we're nine we're nine why not number one we're so close we're ahead of Tucker Carlson we're two spots behind caller daddy we got to see collar daddy it was once talked to a but now it's evolving. Well, last year, do you remember we hit number one for a day last year on Spotify? Because we got notified about it during our wrap that we, we hit. There was no notification. No one told us anything, but we were number one in the world for a day and no one said anything. We just find out until the end of the year. For a brief, brief moment.
Starting point is 00:07:18 And God damn it, you guys can help us get there again. It was like February 26th. There's something just completely random. It was a random day. I don't know why it would happen that day, but I'll tell you this right now, everybody. We have, I dare I say, the strongest, most dedicated fan base of podcast out there on the internet. Shout it from the rooftops in the comment sections. The amount of interaction and love in the comments is fucking unbelievable.
Starting point is 00:07:44 And that's why I love you all so much. Thank you for making the show a reality, a possibility. And for us to even be in the top 10 of podcasts. You can't even believe how giddy we have. are and how lucky we feel. So please know that it never goes unnoticed. We love you all. Appreciate you guys very much. Well, without further ado, let's go ahead and get
Starting point is 00:08:05 into it. My sugar daddy asks me for weird favors. My sugar daddy asks me for weird favors. All right. Well, I don't know how to feel about that accent. I don't like it either. Okay. His Tinder profile said he was 45, but he looked to be in his
Starting point is 00:08:20 early 30s at most. Looking for a sugar baby. $700 weekly. No sex. Oh, that's so funny, Hunter. That's the same thing that, uh, you know, I saw when you first message me. God, talk about an unbelievable deal. A sugar, a sugar baby, $700 weekly and no scrum, no scrum, no scrum. How great is that?
Starting point is 00:08:40 You would do it in a heartbeat. Oh, my God. Oh, God. Instantaneously. I'd be like, I'd even do a little grum, a little scrum, a little grum. I'd be your little barnacle on the bottom of your boat. Why not? Scrape me off, Daddy.
Starting point is 00:08:55 I don't even want to picture what that, what that act would translate into what the barnacle might mean. We're just going to keep going. I'm sticky and I'm spread out and I'm stuck. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.
Starting point is 00:09:10 All right. All right. The part I was mostly making fun of you for was the part where it says you're actually 45, but you look in your early 30s. So. Oh, good. Yes. Well, I am a youthful man for my age. Of course.
Starting point is 00:09:24 It sounded too good to be true. But as a broken university student, broke, not broken, I'm broke. I can't do it anymore. It sounded too good to be true, but as a broke university student, I was willing to take my chances.
Starting point is 00:09:38 Swiped right and Tinder let me know it was a match. His message came seconds later. Hey there, sweetheart. I cringed at that word. I hated it, but $700 was $700. So I sucked it up and replied. Hey. His name was Jack, and he told me he owned his own business,
Starting point is 00:09:55 although he never specified what kind of business it was. We talked for a while before he asked for my Venmo to send me the first pavement. After a few minutes, I got the notification. I stared at the $700 for at least 20 minutes, expecting to wake up from a dream at any second, but it wasn't a dream. You still there? I clicked on the message. Yeah, sorry.
Starting point is 00:10:16 If you don't want me asking, what are you looking for in return? stared at the chat until he replied. I'm just looking for you to do a few favors for me. It sounded like it was going to be sexual to me. Like what? For example, the first thing I need you do is pick up a delivery for me. That sounded innocent enough, but I was still expecting there to be some kind of twist. $700 to pick up a package?
Starting point is 00:10:40 Come on, even I wasn't that naive. From the post office or something? No. I'll send you the address. I'd rather not do this through Tinder. You got Kik? Or can you give me a number? Kik.
Starting point is 00:10:53 What is this? I decided to give him my number instead, and he texted me the address immediately, followed by the address to his house where I would have to drop off the package. I'm not home right now, but there's a key on the bottom of the blue flower pot near the door. Go inside to put the package on the coffee table in the living room. Make sure that you lock the door when you go inside the house, and then lock it again when you leave. I would immediately assume I was going to be kidnapped and murdered.
Starting point is 00:11:21 Murdered. Of course. Almost instantaneously. I'd be like, no. sir, but I'd keep the 700. I'd say, no, but thank you. So I'd say, yeah. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:11:33 You get some every time. Thank you, Daddy. Is what I would say, just like that. I feel like this is how you approached women before. This just feels fitting. I called women, Daddy. Thank you, Daddy.
Starting point is 00:11:47 That too, that too as well, but mostly the like, you're $700. That's going to be a package. Blue flower pot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The classic blue flower pop bit.
Starting point is 00:11:59 I grabbed my car keys and wallet and got in my car. Putting the address into Google Maps. Got it. On my way. My phone buzzed as I backed out of the driveway. I'm serious. Locked the door both times. Please.
Starting point is 00:12:12 I thought that was a little excessive, but I promised him that I would. The house looked abandoned. Had a broken chain link fence around it with a small door that was hanging on to deer life. Stuck out like a sore thumb. Trying to buy houses. that were a lot nicer than this one in comparison. You have a jack shit? I looked up to see a man standing in the open doorway of the house.
Starting point is 00:12:30 He took up almost the entire space, his head skimming the top of the doorframe. He was huge, in height and muscles. His entire torso was covered in tattoos. Uh, yeah, I guess. I replied, not moving from my spot on the sidewalk. Stay right there. I did. Actually, I don't think I would have moved if he had asked me to.
Starting point is 00:12:50 Looked around and realized that there was no one else on the street. I was a 21-year-old woman alone in the street. I gripped my car keys. A few minutes later, the man came back out carrying a cardboard box. It was about the size of a shoe box, but stained and damp on some of the corners. Can you open your car? I opened the trunk, not wanting that inside of my car seats, and he set it in. All right, there you go.
Starting point is 00:13:13 Thanks. I walked around to the driver's side of the car and opened the door. Oh, and one more thing. I looked at him. Watch out. I didn't reply. I blasted my music as I drove to Jack's house. hoping it would drown out my anxiety.
Starting point is 00:13:26 It didn't. I parked my car in the stone driveway and stayed inside the car, admiring the house. It was a huge house, stone pillars on the front porch, and the greenest grass I had ever seen in my life. I turned the car off and got out. Grab the package, walk to the front door, getting the key from where he said it would be. I opened the door and stepped in, closing it behind me.
Starting point is 00:13:47 I thought about what he had said, about locking the door when I got inside. I thought that was a little overboard, but as I stared at the closed door, something made me reach out and lock it. I walked inside, my feet cushioned by the thick maroon carpet, and admired the inside of the house. All the furniture was wooden and looked incredibly expensive. I would probably finish school a dozen times with the money that it took to furnish this place.
Starting point is 00:14:08 Set the package down on the coffee table, and as I walked back to the door, I heard a phone rinking from somewhere inside the house. I froze. In my pocket, my phone buzzed. Took it out to look. answer any calls that aren't from Marvin put my phone back and followed the sound of the phone poking my head into a different room before i found it in an office i walked over to the desk
Starting point is 00:14:32 and looked at the caller id incoming call from jack that was odd i grabbed my phone to look at the message again i was starting to get a little bit creeped out and decided i wouldn't answer just to be safe left the house remembering to lock the door as i left okay so he has her go to this place to pick up the package, deliver it to the house, lock the door, both times. But then she hears a phone ringing from elsewhere in the house. And at the same time, she gets the text, don't answer calls that aren't from Marvin. Do you think this is something supernatural? Do you think this is like some crime ring she's found herself connected to?
Starting point is 00:15:10 It's got to be some kind of crime ring. Here's the thing, too. He specifically went on Tinder and is looking for a woman to do this thing, right? Yeah. That feels targeted. so it feels like he's looking for someone who like wouldn't appear threatening you know she hasn't looked she hasn't looked in the box yet either which
Starting point is 00:15:29 assuming off of the stains in the corners I mean it's it's trying to be I think blood or some kind of gunk I'm wondering if there's something in the house that is I like it almost was like a feeding ritual or something drop the thing off leave make sure and lock both the doors because when the thing comes out if the doors aren't locked properly it could get out it's where my is kind of where
Starting point is 00:15:51 my mind goes from it. But it's just the, her being like going specifically on Tinder looking for a woman, which is presumably, you know, in the age range he wants, probably like the look he wants. That motive
Starting point is 00:16:07 is still unclear to me. If we're not looking at this as a no sleep story, it's just logistically, I would expect this to be drugs. Like if I was the girl and it's like, oh, this rich guy wants me to drive to the bad part of town to leave something at his house, I would expect it to be like heroin. See, I was thinking if it's not the R slash no sleep thing, I would think that it's like
Starting point is 00:16:26 hiding like a body part. Just with how she described the bottom of the box so far, I would think, oh, it's, I, I feel like I'm covering up a crime in that way. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Like you're doing, I'm the middleman for something. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:16:44 Same vibe though, even if it's drugs. Like, yeah, like a middleman and it's just some kind of thing where obviously someone doesn't want to be seen. yeah yeah exactly you need someone who shouldn't be tied back to you for the job yeah I've done a few more favors for Jack since then I drove a BMW to a random park in another city
Starting point is 00:17:04 only to get out and drive a different car back to Jack's house he had me meet one of his employees at lunch who then gave me a briefcase to deliver to the first house I'd gone to and told me he would know if I looked inside several occasions he asked me to drive down to the same house and stay with the guy whose name was Julio for a certain amount of time. In total, I've made around $3,500. Damn. Most recently, Jack asked me to stay in his house overnight. I woke up to a text message from him. I need you to spend the night of my house.
Starting point is 00:17:34 I just got to say, by the way, this is the kind of ride or die every man needs. Just gets a text like, hey, take this car to the city, don't ask questions, get the other one. Or here, drop this briefcase off somewhere. Don't look at it. I like the motive of like a 21-year-old girl, a 20-year-old girl who's like, I'm getting paid more than any other job of her head. Like, it's, it's like very believable. Well, you'd be like, well, yeah, I don't know. I mean, I just drive a car here. And you really don't, maybe like, you're not trying to like pry too much because you don't want to ruin a good thing.
Starting point is 00:18:03 Right, right. Yeah. It's like, uh, you know, I'm making money. I need this money. So I'm not going to ask a lot of questions. And I like also, I feel most of these stories would have the character be like, well, I have to look what's in it or I thought locking the door was stupid. So I didn't do that.
Starting point is 00:18:17 But no, she's like. I, this is good money. I'm going to continue to make it. I think it's also more believable that you don't look. I like in these situations that seem really odd, it's like what there's some like psychological test where it's like people in grocery stores tend to not steal something because they feel like they're being watched or something.
Starting point is 00:18:35 The idea of like, well, this is a trap. I'm being trapped. Like it's too good for me to just take or whatever. So when I was thinking about it, it's like the idea of wanting to be like, oh, I bet you. This is such a weird predicament that I feel like, oh, the person has cameras on me or something.
Starting point is 00:18:51 So I'm just going to set it down and leave. You know? Like, why rock the boat if you don't have to? Yeah, yeah. I mean, like, just if you have a good thing going, you have a good thing going. Yeah. I take cybersecurity very seriously. So it frustrates me that Hunter doesn't.
Starting point is 00:19:06 In an attempt to educate him on the matter, I have doxed his mother on multiple online platforms through a simple Google search. It was so easy to find her home address, phone number, and even her email address. And who knows what else is that? out there. So maybe now Hunter will take protecting your privacy seriously. Maybe now he'll use today's sponsor for it. It's scary how easy it is to Google someone and find their private information like home address, phone number, email address, and more. These sites are run by data brokers who collect your personal information, package it up and sell it to anyone who
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Starting point is 00:20:16 information to access my credit or bank accounts. I'm sure several of you are familiar with a very stupid decision I made lately where I fell for a scammer that may or may not have got access to my Twitter account. Well, as soon as this happened, I immediately got on ORA. And sure enough, the email that was associated with that account was showing up in a lot of places I didn't want it to be. And as soon as they showed up or was already submitting opt-out request on my behalf, which took a huge load off my back. Plus, they give me up to $5 million in identity theft insurance should the worst happen. They also have a world-class VPN that lets me browse and shop safely from any location I choose. Most VPN stop at just hiding your IP, but ORA helps
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Starting point is 00:21:25 We are now back to the episode. I hadn't ever seen him in person, but I had talked to him on the phone a few times. He proceeded to tell me he would pay me $1,000 to spend the night at his house, provided that I followed a few rules. He drove to his house that evening. The driveway was empty, and it normally was, but the porch line, was on. Walked up, unlocked the door, went inside, then locked it again. Everything in the house looked the same. Jack had told me over the phone that he would leave the list of rules on the dining
Starting point is 00:21:53 room table. Said all my stuff down in the living room. My bags look like garbage compared to the fancy furniture in there, wandered into the kitchen and into the dining room. Sure enough, there was a piece of paper on the wooden table held down by an empty glass. Lock the door when you come in. Only answer calls for Marvin. Don't turn on any faucets between 9 p.m. p.m. and 11 p.m. Don't open the door for anyone, no matter who they say they are after 10 p.m. If the door to the closet at the end of the hall is open, sleep in the library. If closed, sleep in any of the bedrooms. The gardener comes at midnight. He starts knocking on the windows, hide. Ooh, fuck. Turn the tube.
Starting point is 00:22:36 That was kind of creepy, huh? Yeah, if he starts knocking on the windows hide, yeah. Yeah, what the fuck? I'd be like, huh? It's also like the gardener comes at midnight It's like I don't think that's a gardener I don't think that's a standard Issue Turn the TV on and let it play on static
Starting point is 00:22:54 Through the night Do not forget this Help yourself to anything in the fridge I'll pay you in the morning Good night Those last two things I'd be like What?
Starting point is 00:23:06 What? I made sure to follow all the rules To be honest I was regretting my decision But seeing as I was already here and I was getting paid, I decided to stay anyway. I figured as long as I followed all the rules, I'd be perfectly fine. Still, it felt a little odd. What was this? Haunted House? Nevertheless, I lounged around the house for a few hours, so I was planning on going to sleep around nine since that's the time that all the weird shit would begin to happen. In 8.50, I brushed my teeth,
Starting point is 00:23:34 using the faucet for the last time before 9. Checked the closet in the hallway, and upon seeing that it was open, I moved my stuff into the library and got ready to sleep on the couch. I I locked doors just in case, laid on the couch, scrolling through my phone, and I got any more messages from Jack, and I started to think of scenarios and reasons as to why he had such strict, peculiar sets of rules in this house. I had josed off at some point because at exactly 10.16 p.m., I was woken up by the doorbell ringing.
Starting point is 00:24:03 About to get up to check, but then remembered the rule. Don't open the door for anyone. No matter who they say they are after 10 p.m. stayed on the couch, trying not to make. move, paranoid that they would hear even the slightest sound. It's the police. Open up. Did it move. Hello?
Starting point is 00:24:21 It's the police. Open up or we're coming in. I still did a move, but I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. There's a silence for a while after that. Then the doorbell ring again. Hey, it's Jack. Let me in. Sounded like Jack. Still, I didn't get up.
Starting point is 00:24:39 He would have a key, wouldn't he? Why would he need me to let him? him in. This continued for almost a full hour. Different people would ring the doorbell, announce themselves, and then disappear when I didn't respond. That would be so fucking anxiety-inducing. Could you imagine that? Oh, my God. Just sitting there and it's like, hey, it's me. Open up. Especially if it goes through different like women, children, all kinds of stuff. It's, it, ugh, that idea of going on for an hour is so long to. I mean, even like five minutes of that would be fucked. What's actually standing
Starting point is 00:25:14 there is like a giant in my head it's like a cannibal creature you've ever seen like a giant windico beast. And it's just like, hey, it's me, Jack. You know me, right? Let me in. There's just something so threatening about somebody who is just like
Starting point is 00:25:31 somebody just lying straight to your face. Hey, it's Jack open up. And it's clearly something pretending to be other people is so, it's just so threatening. It's It's such a simple way, but it's such a good way to elicit fear. What about that video I just sent you? Let me see. What if it was that?
Starting point is 00:25:49 One man, one jar. What is this? Oh, yeah. That's so fucking stupid. I hate that this works so good for the story. is flipping between all these like, oh, it's me, your mom, you know me, right? Or it's like
Starting point is 00:26:17 Hey, it's me, Goku. And then immediately back to like, it's me, Paul from the fifth grade, remember? We're friends. Like, just like, oops. So it's turned into my entire family, an anime character,
Starting point is 00:26:35 and a boy I knew in fifth grade. What is this creature outside my door? the hang it's me Goku and then knocking it's so creepy it's yeah there's a menace to it like let me in
Starting point is 00:26:52 also go to fucking wide in the door from you looks huge I don't know why that got me the most I was like Jesus Christ oh gosh okay yeah so that's happening out front the switching between voices
Starting point is 00:27:08 is great I love that in any story any mimic creature in like a horror tale is awesome i like it oh yeah yeah very uncanny just odd yeah wait we just want to thank today's sponsor chubbies it's time to give your legs the summer they deserve with our sponsor chubbies the weather's hot but your legs can be hotter with chubbies shorts and swim trunks see and right now they're having their biggest sale of the year that means forty five dollar bottoms up to 65 percent off select gear chubbies let go of your old ratty shorts and get an upgrade to Chesh and I'm happy to say that I did and I'm not looking back because I've gone full Chubbies. The Dune's khaki shorts are my everyday short go-to with a perfect
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Starting point is 00:28:40 Hey, let's get back to that story. Chubbies. I was finally able to fall asleep, and the gardener never came. When I woke up the next morning, I heard someone in the kitchen. I got up slowly and unlocked the door as quietly as possible, taking my phone with me, walking across the living room, and into the kitchen. I stopped at the entrance and peered in. It was Jack.
Starting point is 00:29:00 He was standing in front of the stove, stirring something as the coffee machine brewed coffee on the counter behind me. Hey, good morning. He said when he saw me. Hi. I replied nervous I didn't see him in person before but he looked exactly like his pictures online scrambled eggs
Starting point is 00:29:16 yes motioning to the pan with a wooden spoon yeah thanks walking over to take the plate from it I had my breakfast and drank some coffee in silence so how was it it was okay nothing super freaky happened cool he's such a jerk
Starting point is 00:29:32 to force her through that great there's an awkwardness in the room I think I'm going to go now. I have class. I didn't, but I really wanted to get out of there. Oh, no. Yeah, sure.
Starting point is 00:29:45 I'll take you some other time. Grab my stuff and he walked me to my car. I could see him standing in the driveway, staring at me as I left. When I got home, I unpacked all my stuff and noticed that I still had the list with me. Set on my bed and read it again. Felt my body tense up as I realized that I had forgotten something. Turn the TV on and let it play on static through the night. Do not forget this.
Starting point is 00:30:07 Turn the TV on and let it play on static through the night. Do not forget this. Do not forget this. Stared at the words on the page until they lost meaning. Beside me, my phone buzzed, snapping me back to reality. It was the $1,000 payment. I looked at my phone and then back at the list. Maybe it wasn't an important step.
Starting point is 00:30:27 As I was thanking this over, text from Jack came. I'm not in town right now. I should be back next week. So you're free from running any more errands for me until then. Just at the payment. Go do something fun. Uh-oh. I stared up the message and read it again, and again, once more for good measure.
Starting point is 00:30:45 I'm not in town right now. Thought back to this morning, and how Jack was in the house, how he kept me breakfast. I'm not in town right now. Within minutes, a new text came in this time from a number that I didn't recognize. Did you forget to do something? The text was followed by a picture of Jack, who, whoever this version of Jack was, standing in front of the TV. there respond. Next came another picture. This one was of the outside of my house. It was followed by another text. Watch out. Ooh, and that's the ending. That's fun. That's fun. That's good. Yeah,
Starting point is 00:31:19 it's a fun little like gut punch. I see why it did so well because the title works great at getting people to click on it. It's like, oh, what could this story be about? And it's short. It delivers on it seems it also like the mention of like all the rules and then we hear if the gardener comes taps on the window and uh you know don't answer it or hide from the windows it's like yeah that's creepy but then the gardener never came so we don't even get to see what the gardener was what that looks like it kind of leaves the mystery in your mind and it leaves the mystery at the end of what this mimic of jack was probably the same creature that was outside trying to get in the night before but because she forgot to turn off tv like it was able to get inside maybe
Starting point is 00:32:01 and now it's tracking her. And like maybe this Jack figure she was talking to was like part of some occult group that was like that's aware of these creatures. Like there's so many different places you could take it in your mind. But from what the story gives us, it's so minimalist and it works well on everything
Starting point is 00:32:15 it sets out to do. I understand why it's so highly rated. It was really good. I feel like the uncanny valley is a, is like the internet's favorite form of horror. Yes, of course. Absolutely. I think that being able to deliver
Starting point is 00:32:29 on something like this is, just it's so simple and fun and I think that just the idea of doing these minimal weird tasks and just having these like once again uncanny and uncanny valley kind of things and I got to ask when I was talking to you a little bit about this before we recorded was the idea of rules enlist it feels like such a popular like why do you think that's so popular in these stories have you noticed that like I was telling you so many of the stories are just like I worked at the station, there was five rules, or I worked at this place, or I, you know, I lived here, we had one rule. What do you think rules, like obviously besides the taboo or whatever, or, you know, rules being broken or following things and it's like maybe an easier archetype to write around where it's like, okay, well, you had these rules and you didn't do X, therefore this is going to happen.
Starting point is 00:33:23 Besides that, what do you think makes it so compelling for viewers? because they always seem to be a part of the most, I would say like sought after stories too. Like even left right game had that kind of thing. We have to do this. These sets of things, you know, structure that gives it to it.
Starting point is 00:33:38 Why do you think that's so popular? I think it's because it establishes, especially for short stories, it establishes these clear parameters of like, uh, you have this has to be followed, uh, or else.
Starting point is 00:33:53 And it gives us two things. It's like, okay, for one, why does this have to be followed? Why does this keep the thing we're talking about at bay? And also, what is the or else? What can happen?
Starting point is 00:34:01 So it gives you two options. It immediately hearing that you step into a place and there's a list of like supernatural rules, it gives you already enough tools to start to piece together lore in your mind to be like, what are these creatures, you know, and whatever I think they are, why does this set of rules hold them back? Why is this enough to beat them? So it's just an easy way, I think, to flesh out a story or at least let people flesh it out in their own. minds very quickly. Like, for example, if Hunter, I was like,
Starting point is 00:34:31 Hey, Hunter, uh, when you get into your car the next time today, be sure to like, turn it on, turn it back off, turn it back on. It's like, okay, why, like, what did I do to the car? And also, why does that stop whatever was done to the car? Yeah, I think it, I think it sets up being able to, is it a lie in the first place? Is it just a superstition to make you go somewhere else? Like it, it creates so many questions with just a basic. I think that's an easy way to set of questions, I think.
Starting point is 00:34:59 I think tension and anticipation as well of like it's almost like being at your friend's house and you're too loud at night or like you drop something and you're like waiting for one of the parents to like yell at you like, go to bed or something. It's just it's a simple way of really establishing a set of parameters and like a rule like rules of the world that when broken it's going like some shit's going to stir. And I think it just lets you kind of be once again a bit. ambiguous or it lets you kind of like really ramp into like maybe more interesting concepts without having to like justify shit it's just like well you broke the rule therefore this is happening now
Starting point is 00:35:36 yeah yeah this thing happened uh oh you know it's uh what's the one for mandela catalog you shouldn't have done that mark yeah you shouldn't have done that decision uh oh sorry mark oh okay well let's move into the next one here which is every month that that was pretty good i also kept it together I was about to start laughing by Kevin together at the end when she was looking at the piece of paper and it's like I'd done something about and she's repeating the lines just in my head it's like there was a knock at the door
Starting point is 00:36:04 I look over in Goku Yeah Yeah Hey what's up slucker Hey it's me Goku I'm gonna take it right on my nimbus cloud It's me Goku
Starting point is 00:36:18 Come on Yeah well I just kept It's funny you said that too Because I just kept hearing that the knocking I got to find the dragon balls Like you're four feet from the doors You can see him clearly And he's just like making eye contact like
Starting point is 00:36:39 It's me Goku I'd love to see an edit of that Instead of him saying it's Goku After that it's him like doing the power up Sounds like Ha He's behind the door But then there's still the knocking it in there
Starting point is 00:36:53 So he's like like that got a thing the power energy it's all muffled through the other side of the door but still there's the just the nice knock i love the idea of like normal people come into this podcast because they're like oh they're covering horror stories and i'm really into literature i'll listen and then it's like we just talk about goku hey it's me goku yeah all right yeah anyway are we ready to move into our next story for this author yeah we are so like i said the second uh story we're reading from gabby is every month the parade would pass through my hometown but we were never allowed to look at it which i want to say i was talking with a friend
Starting point is 00:37:42 the other day just about like even uh like Halloween parades and stuff and he was like you know oh in my town there's a like a nice parade and i was telling him i was like oh, I really wish that we, because when I was younger, there used to be way more parades or like, you know, you'd go into your town and do more communal things. But it seems so weird now, doesn't it? Like, if you told someone younger that, they'd probably like, why the fuck would I go do that?
Starting point is 00:38:06 That sounds lame. Like, I, like, I, yeah, stories and titles like this. Some regions, yeah. Yeah, well, yeah, I'm sure not, you know, not all encompassing, but I would say, I would say a majority. But stories like this makes you think, like, just as like an older person that,
Starting point is 00:38:22 you know, like just seeing this parade. or whatever and then seeing this title like you were never allowed to look at it it almost feels like you have like a repressed memory or something we're going to be like oh shit did I even look at like I love I love a title like this it's just there's there's something that hits so close to home that I think with the with just like the title yeah it works like um well you know this is actually kind of similar to like the whole thing you were asking with rules where it's like in the title alone where it says but we were never allowed to look at it it's like okay why what is the parade that can't look at it. Why does not looking at it stop whatever it is or keeps it from affecting
Starting point is 00:38:58 me? Um, so it creates a lot of questions with one point, which I think is one of the reasons the whole rule ideas. So, why so many people latch on to it in like online. Yeah. I mean, there's probably a sense. There's probably like justification that there's probably rules and everything. But it was more so like, man, there was just so many stories I was looking at where it's like, yeah, a very typical one was like, I worked at X place. I was given, like, and they had weird rules. It was just that kind of vibe. There were so many, but, yeah, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:39:31 I just found it kind of interesting. It also seemed, all the stories were written around the same time to where that might have just been like a popular archetype at the time to. Yeah, I mean, it was, I mean, we see that this one, the Sugar Daddy one was top rated on no sleeps. A lot of writers probably just went and it was like, okay, rules got it. That's what I mean, that's what I got the story. We're going to do this.
Starting point is 00:39:51 Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's a good chance. all right so I've lived in Arizona for the past 15 years of my life but I had a very different life before that I used to live in a small town in the middle of nowhere I couldn't even tell you what side of the country it's on or if it even is in the United States it was a well I think you could tell that I lived in Arizona what you're talking about I couldn't even tell you what side of the country it's on or even the United States I mean I understand what they're saying
Starting point is 00:40:20 is that what I said before Arizona before Arizona Oh, okay. I had a very different life. Yeah, it's like, I could tell you. You know, I say it's like, okay, well. Yeah, they're just in, like, Illinois. Where am I? Is this Saudi Arabia?
Starting point is 00:40:33 I can't tell. Or it looks the same. It was a small forest town with dense trees in all directions. But where exactly this particular forest is? Well, your guess is as good as mine. The only thing I know for certain is the name of the town, Point Pine. I lived in Point Pine for the first 10 years of my life before we moved summer after my 10th birthday.
Starting point is 00:40:56 Once we left, my parents never spoke of it again. In fact, they acted as if it never even existed. And to them, I guess it didn't. I don't really blame them either. Okay, ma'am, I keep mush-mouthing today because I had, as before we started recording, I had a milkshake, and it just, like, completely froze my lips. So anytime I have to say, like, two consonants back to back, it's rough.
Starting point is 00:41:17 Yeah, I mean, if big frozen fat lips like that, it would be hard to throw around if you can't feel them. that felt oddly no i'm just saying that if you had giant fat fucking lips like you do and they got all numbed up and frozen yeah it'd probably be like to be like a bunch of down pillows being thrown around talking talking about me throwing my lips around feels very suggestive
Starting point is 00:41:43 and i'm just saying and i'm not even saying it but i'm just saying that if you had large fat i mean like like your lips could be considered morbidly obese you know my you know my wife you know my wife loves these lips actually big fan big fan you could ask her well i'm i'm i feel is kind of inappropriate to me but i'm not going to i'm not going to now so now i'm the one being improved i'm the one being inappropriate we haven't addressed that that drawing you made of me on the show yet that you decided to do a piece about me and it was it it the lips are so big not only do they take up my entire torso but they lay over my shoes and are like they
Starting point is 00:42:23 hang out to the sides like drapery i thought you would have liked it okay i was at a waffle house and a guy walked up to me and said is this you and held up that picture it's true did you say yes or you said i said i said i don't you know you probably said i don't know what that picture you probably said this you probably said oh and you're like so i just drink a milkset by whipsaw one double talk is probably what you said i said i don't know who that is i don't know what you're talking about but whoever drew that picture should probably call his local FBI hotline and should
Starting point is 00:42:58 probably report him for certain threats he has made towards certain people especially political figures I also just really like how I think something should be done about but I don't know who that is I loved how childish your sentence was too and you're just like I kind of believe but I drank I drug a milkshake and now it's like
Starting point is 00:43:13 my mouth are all lived up and it's a weird numb I can't every time I said back back consonants I can't can't even do it it's weird I drink a big old milkshake Drink a big old I had to think that you were like a 1950s Diner
Starting point is 00:43:28 Like doing a little Doop in the parking lot It was a Sonic Thank you All right So basically the new age version of that Oh my God When I got
Starting point is 00:43:41 When my Twitter account got stolen When I fell for that scam A little bit ago And the video of me started going around Everyone was like not him Lips aren't big enough It's true It is. I will say that that was freaky.
Starting point is 00:43:54 For people that don't know, Isaiah's Twitter account got hacked and the guy made like a deep fake video. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, that was me. That was me. That was a video I took because I thought the scam was that I was talking to Twitter's verification team and that there was an attempt to my account and I was dumb and fell for it. So I made the video to like certify the account or whatever. But then after they stole the account, they're like, hey, it's a crypto thing. so you wait the video you recorded was you was you promoting a no no no no no let me back up let me back up yeah
Starting point is 00:44:32 because you you you have okay yeah please tell me okay so i get a phone call yeah where someone claims to be with like twitter or xes or whatever support and safety team and then they send me v emails to verify like the the case is opened or whatever that are from twitter.com it's like support slash Twitter.com and I look up the URL and it's like it was legit a few years ago back when X was Twitter. But now that it's rebranded, I guess people can just like spoof the email or someone's bought the domain or something like that for Twitter.com or whatever. So it all came from like Twitter.com. And they already had information like phone number account email tied, stuff like that. And they sent like a portal to like verify login through. So I go through everything
Starting point is 00:45:16 looks like X and they're like, we need to verify identity. And when I signed up for the blue check mark. They did add the thing where it's like, oh, a picture of yourself. And like, I've got my account back from other websites before where you have to send a video of yourself. And they're like, yeah, I was on the phone with this supposed tech guy. It was like, yeah, just send a video of yourself with your name date and then, uh, this code. And the code was dollar signed W.E. And yes, in hindsight, in hindsight, I should have realized what that meant. I thought it was like a code. It's like a symbol. and then three letters card of the account name.
Starting point is 00:45:53 Oh my God. I should have known, but I did it for like the Twitter guy. And then as soon as he has that, I've already entered the password. I get locked out of everything at once. And then they log in, they log in,
Starting point is 00:46:08 change all of my stuff and then post that video. Oh my God. That is so funny. It was not funny for me at all. And my wife, my wife, who was not with me because she was feeling bad and my family was in for the holidays. So I was doing this between hanging out with them. We were out. We went on another tour of New Orleans, which I know you're fond of.
Starting point is 00:46:32 We go out on another tour. And while I'm on the tour, all this happens. So my wife who wasn't with me saw the video and was like, well, surely he wasn't stupid enough to fall for this. So she says it was AI and a fake. even though I assumed that's what everyone assumed because how could I be that stupid it's not even that Isaiah it's not even that
Starting point is 00:46:55 it's like it's like your emotion you look like a fucking robot like the lighting is all weird you're like in this like you're in this prison cell and you're just like her so this is Isaiah Isaiah Dickles the way that this I was because I thought it was
Starting point is 00:47:11 I was a fairification everybody I was like oh yeah you got a heck it's an AI video whatever and I remember being like man they even got like the kind of like grainy like dark room like he's like he's like just like a weird to think that you to think that you look like a fucking guantanamo bay to hostage and you were like in your room with a no pad and wrote that crypto coin down is so fucking funny oh my god my favorite thing too later was the follow up but i was like oh damn because people are like wait he's doing that he's promoting this whatever and everybody i saw was
Starting point is 00:47:46 be like, no, he got hacked or whatever. And then I go to Instagram. And that's whenever I see your story, you have your shades on, you're outside. You're like, okay, so here's pretty much what's going on. You're like walking outside. And you're recording yourself with these sunglasses on. Like, so pretty much I got hacked and it was like a whole weird thing.
Starting point is 00:48:08 Say, sorry about that. Sorry about that, guys. I was under a lot of duress. Thank you. It was a stressful time. I didn't think that you were getting off like a fucking alligator bayou tour or whatever. Ah, she,
Starting point is 00:48:30 you know what? She's a cracker. Son is just unfortunate. All right. We better go on this ghost tour. You know, it's crazy. You know,
Starting point is 00:48:38 it's crazy. It was literally an alligator bayou tour. there was a gator next to me and it was a boat tour like down down to it I was under a lot of duress what do you want my shades were on what do you want me to do oh gosh no I was standing in my room I thought it was a verification so I'm just like I'm just low energy I have the phone I just show my face and I show the paper and stuff and I'm like okay is this good and I was on the phone with the guy still and he's like okay that should do it and I'm like is that good good. He's like, yeah, that's good. And then he spends 10 minutes explaining to me like what the hack was, how it happened, how I can provide safety. And at the end, I thanked him and said, sorry, I thought you were a scammer earlier. And he's like, oh, no problem. He just said, oh, yeah, no problem. No, bro. No, worry about it. Was he sicker? I talked to this guy for like 20, 25 minutes. And he was like, oh, it's no problem. He kept being like, it's good that you're aware. It's good
Starting point is 00:49:38 that you're aware of like scammers online. And you're trying to be proactive. that is fucking crazy man yeah it happened to a couple other guys to a couple other YouTubers got hit with the same one at the same time there's also there's like another scam going around right now where it's like it'll say oh YouTube sent you a private video or something I get those all the time yeah I don't even know how many I have reported and blocked and they still just keep sending it from like their or YouTube email addresses yeah yeah they're all like YouTube YouTube.com and it'll be like um Oh, well, like if you click on the video, it's like an AI video of the whoever, what's the CEO's name right now?
Starting point is 00:50:22 After Susan, the guy they're placed with, whoever that is, it'll be his face AIed. And it's like, you need to change your payout to this number below. You need to send all the money from your account here. Thank you. God, dude. Appreciate it. Anyways, I forgot. God, I totally forgot that we're even recording a fucking episode.
Starting point is 00:50:44 That is so funny. It's so funny that the first time we've talked about it. Well, it happened so recently. Anyways. Yeah. I'm glad I'm glad. I feel like we should start with the fucking top or what we're sure. I mean, we started talking about where were we at?
Starting point is 00:50:59 I don't really blame them either. I think so basically of what's happened so far, been in Arizona the past 15 years. Where they came up before that was a small town that was basically like in the middle of nowhere. And it's a place. and it's a place called point pine. Yeah. Oh, yeah. This all started because my lips are.
Starting point is 00:51:14 Oh, yeah. It brings me back. People were seeing that video of me and they were like, oh, wait, no, I think this is actually him. And they would Photoshop a screenshot from that video, but my lips are the whole screen. So that's what my point. Also, I just love your youth pastor energy about it too. Just like, my wife loves these lips because they're good at kissing.
Starting point is 00:51:34 And she loves these kisses from these big soft croissants on my face. That was the big thing was like, I was looking at your lips. and it looked like big fat fucking croissants like giant pigs and blankets that's why that's why if you look at the image they look like like croissants hello that that youth faster dig was a deep cut
Starting point is 00:51:54 all right back to the story I don't like this bit anymore this is become too personal I don't like this world anymore I don't like this direction these jokes have gone I'm going to continue So anyway, yeah, weird place, Point Pine.
Starting point is 00:52:13 I don't really blame them either. I caught on pretty quickly and realized that they were trying their hardest to forget the memory of Point Pine. Whenever kids at school asked me where I was from, I simply told them I was from a small town they had never heard of. I also learned early on that any questions about Point Pine would be met with punishments. A few months after we moved to Arizona, my older sister Felicity had a school project about family history. She did it in our life in Point Pine, wrote about something. of the things she remembered from there our mom found her project the day before she turned it in and burned it in the backyard which felicity came home that afternoon parents took her up to her bedroom
Starting point is 00:52:50 or heard felicity crying out every few minutes in what i assume was pain were they just beating her a word does it sound like that a little bit yeah said nothing from that moment on neither of us mentioned point pine again except for me right now i've decided to tell you all about it i don't know what is causing me to remember all these things that I had locked up in the deepest parts of my brain. Maybe it's the fact that my father died about a week ago. Since he died, my mom's remained silent.
Starting point is 00:53:18 Hasn't said a word to anyone. He hasn't even cried. In fact, she ended up sending my father's remains off to God knows where. My money in... My money in on point pine. My money is on point pine. Oh, that makes more sense. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:53:33 My money's on point pine, although I'd be crazy to ask. I've started recalling random little things about the town that at the time seemed like normal everyday things that we as residents were all used to. Now, as I look back, I realize that they're not as normal as I thought back then. One peculiar thing about Point Pine had to do with the Point Pine Bakery. Whenever you were in there, the owner, Mr. Terrance, always knew what you were about to order. I remember the kids have some sort of rumor about Mr. Terrence being a magician who could read minds. Although whenever you paid for your baked goods, you had to tip Mr. Terrence
Starting point is 00:54:09 with an old item of clothing you had grown out of. What the fuck? There's a giant box up by the register that everyone tossed old baby clothing and shoes into. What the fuck? That is fucking haunting. That's cool. That's cool. It's like he collects memories or he collects old
Starting point is 00:54:26 all beliefs. Like he knows the future because he holds the past or something like that. I love this. I love these settings by the way. Like small like Twin Peaks, whatever. Yeah. Yeah. It's very Gravity Falls, Gravity Falls vibes or the town from Allen Wake. I forget the name of it right now.
Starting point is 00:54:45 But yeah, like, or Twin Peaks, very Twin Peaks. Yeah. I just, I did. I did. I did. I literally couldn't hear you. But I liked it better when I said it. I liked it better when I said. That's fair. That's fair. That was one of the odd things.
Starting point is 00:54:59 Although you'll come to realize that it won't seem that weird in comparison to some of the other things about Point Pine. Every year on your birthday, you had to get blood work done. I don't think anyone really knew what the point of this was, or if they were actually looking for something. We all just knew that our birthdays would start off with a trip to the Point Pine Labs. Everyone had to be up at 8.13 a.m. There's a system of speakers placed around the town like an amusement park or something, and at 813, without fail, the wailing alarm sound would ricochet through the neighborhoods, waking everybody up. This was followed by parents coming to wake up their children and get them out of bed as quickly as possible,
Starting point is 00:55:34 like the house was on fire or something. Sometimes I expected it to be. All the Point Pine schools were placed in different areas of the town. Point Pine Elementary was towards the east. Point Pine Middle School was in the west. Point Pine High was in the dead center of town. Point Pine University was up on a small hill towards the south. If you had it noticed by now,
Starting point is 00:55:55 every place in town was named Point Pine Blank, Point Pine Cafe, Point Pine Mall, Point Pine Grocery, etc. Certainly, one of the weirdest things by far that took place in Point Pine was the Point Pine Monthly Parade happened every month without fail. It was never on the same date and each month a student from Point Pine High
Starting point is 00:56:13 was chosen to be in it. The weird thing about this parade was that we weren't allowed to watch it go by not out on the streets, not from the windows, not even on television. That was one of the most enforced rules. You must never, under any circumstance, look at the parade.
Starting point is 00:56:29 In fact, for the most part, we weren't even allowed outside when the parade passed through. We always knew when the parade was about to start because it always happened the same way. You would hear a chorus of voices, like a church choir, singing a melody. It wasn't a familiar one that I knew. I was only familiar with it in the sense that I heard it once a month. It sounded like it could be from a nursery rhyme or something similar.
Starting point is 00:56:51 The voices seemed to come from everywhere, nowhere all at once. It was like they were coming from the sky, the ground, the trees, the buildings, like everything in Point Pine was singing. Once you heard the first note, you had five minutes to get inside. a house or building that had locks on the doors. This might come as a surprise, but in Point Pine, not many buildings contain locks. So if you happen to be out and about on the street,
Starting point is 00:57:14 when the singing started, you had about three options on the places you could go. One of the schools, staff break room in the Point Pine bar, or the fridge in the Point Pine Pizza Shop. Man, that's wild that there's only three different locations in town that have locks. That feels like very intentional. But everyone knows. Yeah, but everyone knows where those three.
Starting point is 00:57:34 parts are too. That's why I'm wondering why they make it so, so easy to basically get fucked out in the open. And also the, the parade sounds like a rapture almost. It's like, oh, you hear the voices like a church choir singing a melody. It comes from the sky all at once. Like, yeah, it has that. I mean, it almost like, I don't know why my mind immediately went to the 1970s wicker man, like the weird pagan kind of. Yeah, yeah. Like dancing, like the choir, people in the costumes and stuff like that but the idea of it coming from like the trees and the earth and stuff i thought was just kind of like just kind of interesting one year in the month of august my friend lee and i decided we were going to break the rules and not go inside when the parade
Starting point is 00:58:17 passed now that i think about it i'm surprised that kids didn't do this more often considering that well when you tell kids that they must absolutely never do something they often do that exact thing since we didn't know when the parade was coming where it started or the exact path that it took around town we decided the smartest thing to do would be to wait in the forest near the point pine library until the parade eventually came down the street so basically decided to spend about half of the month of august hanging out near or around the library around the third week of the month while we were sitting on the steps of the library talking about some random things that aren't important heard the music start lee and i looked at each other and then took off running into the trees
Starting point is 00:58:56 like everyone else race to the nearest school. We were far enough into the forest that someone on the street wouldn't see us but stay close enough that we were still able to see a part of the road. This is also like you, this is what I mean about like questions or like rules do a good job
Starting point is 00:59:12 like creating world building because it's like what were those moments like then? Did everyone go hide in the school and the teachers lock all the doors and then just look at the kids and say just a little longer the parade will be on any moment,
Starting point is 00:59:25 just wait like. I love whenever the rules affect in a whole town, though. My God, it's fun whenever it's the entire community is abiding by this thing as well. Yeah, this is, I don't know, it makes me ask so many questions about it. It feels good. Fun world building, for sure. Yeah. We waited for a while, whispering to each other, and then shushing one another as we waited for the infamous parade to pass.
Starting point is 00:59:47 This year, my sister's friend Reed was chosen to work on the parade. She's a few years older than my sister, but they were friends because Reed used to live next door to us when we were younger. We were crouching in the bushes and leaves when we heard the chorus of voices getting louder, therefore closer. Dude, I totally see it. Straight in my back a little bit of my crouched position.
Starting point is 01:00:08 Try to see what Lee was seeing. I was always a short kid. Even now, I'm shorter than most of guys my age. We're in age, really. So Lee always pretty much towered over me. I can't see anything. I hissed, shifting my position. Shh, they might hear us.
Starting point is 01:00:24 Stop moving and instead waited for them to get closer, where they were bound to pass right in front of my line of sight. Oh, no. Oh, crap. Suddenly, Lee dove to the ground, landing in the fetal position, with his head cradled in his hands. What? I asked, looking from him to the street. I saw her. I saw that girl.
Starting point is 01:00:45 Reed? I asked, looking over to try to spot her. Lee grabbed me and slammed me down to the ground. What was that for? You don't want to look. at it. I noticed that for the first time in all of the years that I had known him, Lee looked absolutely terrified.
Starting point is 01:01:03 Turn my back on the parade and sat down to look at Lee instead. What did you see? Those things, they did something to her. They're eating her, Cody. But she doesn't even care. Oh. Good God.
Starting point is 01:01:20 Oh, that's so fun. Oh, my word. Oh, that's great. I looked at Lee, who still had his head in his hands. And he was crying now. Set with my back to the parade, no longer wanting to see. Did the singing get louder. Cody.
Starting point is 01:01:38 Don't look. Cody. Cody. Now the voice sounded like Reed. Look at us, Cody. I shut my eyes. The voices went on for a few minutes longer, and at one point, Lee started wailing. kept my eyes shut the entire time.
Starting point is 01:01:56 After that, it moved along and continued its way through town. Once we began to hear everyone coming out of their hiding places, I stood up and leaned down to help Lee get up. Once he stood up, kept his head down. Lee, what's wrong? I could hear him sniffling. Lee? Finally responded as he lifted his head.
Starting point is 01:02:18 It took my eyes. Oof. I will never forget the dark, bleeding holes in Lee's face and the cuts around his skin. I threw up in the forest for a good three minutes. Before I was able to help Lee out of the forest, few adults saw us and got our parents. Came and got us right away. Day after that, my family moved out of Point Pine. I never knew what became of Lee after that day.
Starting point is 01:02:45 Minutes after we left, my parents acted like Point Pine never existed. It was ever discussed. And I never had the nerve to ask about Lee again. As far as I know, Lee was the only person who ever saw the parade, and he was never able to see anything else after that. I don't know if Point Pine still exists. I'd like to go check it out again, but even if I knew where it was or how to get there,
Starting point is 01:03:06 I don't think I'd ever go back. I have a feeling that I wouldn't exactly get a warm welcome, although I can't shake the thought that my parents were somehow still connected to the town. And after all those years. And that's the end. That was cool. That's fun.
Starting point is 01:03:23 I love the I love the way that Gabby's ending the stories too which the cool thing about this for for audience members that the first time like reading her stories apparently there is a whole plethora of point pine
Starting point is 01:03:37 stories and she has made a thread that you can go and look at that has like all the stories attached to this town which so it's pretty sick I mean three four five six of eight it is an eight part story the point pine point pine series they work as individual stories but it's cool to know that there's like an entire kind of lore i guess
Starting point is 01:03:58 that you could like build or you know just if you like the existence of this town and the kind of weird things that happen in it it's cool that there's a just like a nice backlog of stories that just fit exactly in this town yeah that i got to say so far this author is batting two for two uh both of these have been great point pine like i said i love the i idea of you have this town where like these one off series could happen and the issue I always have with these continuation series whenever we cover them
Starting point is 01:04:31 is that you need so much context to understand what's going on like that's the reason I got I got so upset when we read my job's watching a woman trapped in a room it's like okay well I don't want to read a bunch of other stories to understand this one whereas with the point pine it seems like these are standalone stories that just so happen to happen so happen
Starting point is 01:04:47 to happen in the same town yeah and the one we just read by the way, it's the first one in the series. So if you want to read the other seven parts, well, you've already heard the intro now. So you can continue from there. But that's great. It feels like a natural.
Starting point is 01:05:01 I would be down. I'd be down depending on how people like these to do the point pine series. That would be pretty sick. That was fun. I enjoyed that. I like the idea too of like just the little details in that story of the parade happens once a month. Because it has to be a sacrifice or a sacrificial offering to also a parade. when I think it's just a monster that's in the street
Starting point is 01:05:24 that's like singing and bellowing. It might be like a manifestation or maybe like a conjoined thing that's like kind of crawling through the streets but it's like acting as a parade but it seems like an entity that's moving through the town and kind of like making a display of the sacrifice.
Starting point is 01:05:38 What's it? Lee said they're eating her but she doesn't care. It's like she's in a trance almost being consumed by whatever they are. Even the song makes it seem like maybe that's the trance. You know, like it's like a spell or something like that. But I love the idea of
Starting point is 01:05:51 which I could be totally wrong misreading it but I love the idea of like oh yeah when you're a kid there was a parade that happened every month but really it's like oh no it's not a parade it's like a fucking abhorrent thing crawling through the streets like making a making a spectacle of its of its sacrifice you know I think that that's like such a sick idea they have to give up something to whatever the I mean it seems like the idea with point pines but there's a bunch of different entities in it but there's some entity where something has to be sacrificed and they have to sacrifice up. you know they're young to give it give into it but at the end whenever that voice is speaking to our main character he says that it's using reeds voice now so it's like are they like assimilating her into itself like again you when you leave the door open like that it lets people ask questions and they think about the story a lot longer than they read it yeah i think that's impressive which you know it leaves me at a place where i would love to just hear the next couple months of like yeah you know i i had to know like i was so this this obsessive obsessive curiosity that keeps dwelling, which, you know, I think they always say leave people
Starting point is 01:06:56 wanting more, but these older stories, as we've said before in the past, they're just so like drive by, you know, like, here it is, boom, we're done and move off. Uh, these, some of these stories, it'd be so sick to just see how they get flushed out a bit, you know, and, you know, we found it as well that if you have flushed out too much, it loses its mystique and it's, you know, it's mystery, but still, that was just a lot of fun. Like, I was at a spot where I was like, oh, my God, yes, please more. and then it just kind of, you know, just slowly fades out into being done.
Starting point is 01:07:26 But I, yeah, I had a lot of fun with that one. I just love that idea of the parade monster. I think that's just really cool. But luckily, we are on our last one, which is also a sick name of a story, which is there's a man who follows me around and narrates my life. And he started to say,
Starting point is 01:07:41 and he started to say some unsettling things. So I love the, I love already the same way with the weird favors. the sugar daddy that kind of stuff the evasive feeling of like somebody being around you and just constantly just like i mean like a plague or like a fucking virus or something hanging around being like could you imagine being or like if it goes the way that i'm thinking of being like he put up his he put up his jacket and walked over like you're having somebody narrate your entire life like it would drive you insane yeah it's kind of kind of like how i am with you
Starting point is 01:08:20 you're kind of like the thing that follows me around and torments my life it's true or i'm a guy on twitter who's like hey by the way uh right down right down this crypto thing okay he wasn't even at twitter he wasn't even at twitter it's just he just said he's that you thought so with the email i thought he was i thought so i missed your musk himself for all i knew just hugline and sync i'm hitting you all person like to help you with this is he swedish he has such a weird accent i can never do He's just kidding. I am become meme.
Starting point is 01:08:52 Where do we? I am become meme. That is like the cringiest, one of the lamest fucking things we're heard. I am become meme. He looks forward and he's like, where do we? Remember when he started a government agency called Doge? He says, he says, uh, put it much. Pretty much.
Starting point is 01:09:11 I become a meme. Put it much. You're so cool. Wow. This is great. I love the everything app. I do too. I especially love how it,
Starting point is 01:09:27 when all the emails for the old one got stolen, they use those to push a crack. Whatever entity, by the way, that's in this story, we'd fucking hate having to narrate my life, man. He wakes up. He masturbates. He continues to masturbate.
Starting point is 01:09:43 He's masturbating again. He took a shit. He masturbates while he shits. He's masturbating. Yeah, gross. he's masturbating it smells in here I'm like that's not narrating
Starting point is 01:09:54 that's your own thing he's like I'm sorry I'm sorry he masturbates like you're you're just holding eye contact with him yeah exactly he puts on his socks
Starting point is 01:10:04 he masturbates before you're even out of the bed that's rough dude straight from the go then he says he gets out of bed sigh another day here
Starting point is 01:10:20 he does hot yoga he masturbates all right anyway he drives to work he calls Isaiah he masturbates ew cut that out right now
Starting point is 01:10:36 they say enough stuff already on the subreddit we don't need to encourage that okay I'm going to read the story now he's always been here although I actually don't don't know if he's a he. And though I wouldn't want to assume anything, the voice is definitely a male's voice. I've never seen his face, always the back of him. He wears a black trench coat
Starting point is 01:10:56 with a popped collar so that all I can really see is the very top of his head and part of his black boots. I can't communicate with him, and I figured this out a few years back. He just stands a few feet away from me at all times. It's back to me narrating my entire life. No one else can see him. I figured this out a few years back as well, or can they hear him? Vine day usually starts off the same. Always wake up to the same sentence. Natali wakes up and rolls over in her bed. Every single day, he says that, because that is what I do. It's all very mundane. My life is not that interesting after all.
Starting point is 01:11:32 Sort of learned to live with it, and I can almost tune him out now. I've never really told anyone else about him because I know that no one would believe me. so I really don't have much of a choice other than learning to deal with it and tuning him out when I really need to about a week ago I was cooking dinner matched potatoes and black bean tacos tuning him out as normal
Starting point is 01:11:53 as I was chopping up some cilantro for my tacos however said something that caught my attention Natalia is innocently chopping cilantro without any knowledge that she is in grave danger fuck that dude I'm like excuse me I like to think that every time she looks at him too like what
Starting point is 01:12:13 kind of hides he's like that kind of goes behind a corner and he's just like looking at her well it says that he's always a few feet away but with the back facing him or facing her so does that mean when she tries to get closer he just like takes a step away at the same time like if she starts running after him will he start running natalia or does he just float that he runs it's like you hear like his like his like duck footsteps slap on the ground but after Natalia can make it jiggle Wouldn't it be terrified
Starting point is 01:12:43 If like You got into your house And you shut the door behind him And then a few minutes later You hear the door fly open Him sprinting over to you Yeah he's spreading backwards Because you never see his face
Starting point is 01:12:54 So he's right Yeah don't turn around so I can run towards you Now that's Bro that's a horrifying idea Think about something running like full sprit speed But backward It's so like you just see the back of its head getting closer.
Starting point is 01:13:08 That's an awful visual. I froze. The knife in the middle of my small pile of cilantro and looked over at him. He was standing on the other side of the kitchen island, facing my dinner table. What? I asked, knowing that he wasn't going to reply. At this point, I think I'd be more freaked out about him replying than him not. He said nothing for a few minutes.
Starting point is 01:13:27 So I finished chopping, wiping the pieces of cilantro that got stuck to the blade, my finger, cutting it in the process. Fuck! I walked around and turned. earned on the faucet, rinsing the knife in my finger. Natalia cut herself, and her blood oozed out, pleasing the one who
Starting point is 01:13:44 watches. Nope. No, no, no, no, no. What do you mean, please? I don't, yeah, I don't, I, no, absolutely. This is, this is already, I'm like, you know what? Shame on you. What, what do you want her to do? I mean, fuck, I mean, what can you do? Fucking nothing, right? Well, you said shame on you, implying that she needs to do something
Starting point is 01:14:04 about it. No, no, no, I'm saying shame on you, the guy who's saying that. like pleasing the one who watches. I see what you're saying. Yeah, that... Well, I mean, like, it's some entity, like some supernatural entity that follows you around, and now it's saying it likes it when you bleed
Starting point is 01:14:16 and that you're in grave danger. Like, uh, excuse me? You getting hurt makes me chortle. I turned the faucet off and turned around. He had it moved, but I was sure that I heard him correctly. Walked over to the window on the wall to my left and pulled on the cord,
Starting point is 01:14:32 shedding the blinds as I became paranoid. I managed to eat my dinner and do the dishes without any other weird comments and got ready for bed. I got sleepier, reached over and turned off the lamp by my bed, rolling over onto my left side and closing my eyes. The Tully rolls over, closing her eyes and peacefully lying in her bed.
Starting point is 01:14:51 What she doesn't know, however, is that she will soon face a horrible fate that will end in her death. I'd be pissed, man. We've been doing this fucking game for years and this is the kind of bullshit you want to pull. it's like okay all right we've been good to each other
Starting point is 01:15:09 you know I let you stay in my home yeah what the fuck is you've been to my house for this long and you're really gonna just start pulling the shit now it totally it's it's overreacts yeah exactly I just I just keep saying chortling
Starting point is 01:15:23 she begins to chortle she's like I'm not laughing she chortles tortles more than anyone never chortles it's funny to imagine that like he's communicating like a
Starting point is 01:15:36 dad who doesn't know how to work through feelings like she's yelling and he's just like natalie is upset natalia is mad at me natalia is mad at me natalia is mad at the one who watches i love to chortle yeah you are almost exact you're not quite there but you're really close to the voice you did for mr wide mouth it's fair the same note very similar there you go yeah that's it's it i opened my eyes sitting up and looking over at his silhouette, slightly lit by the moonlight. Wait a few minutes, but he said nothing else
Starting point is 01:16:12 and I eventually fell asleep. I woke up the next morning as my alarm went off. Latalia wakes up and rolls over in bed. One day closer to an inevitable death. Wouldn't it be messed up if he just started doing that? Like, she's not actually about to die her in any danger, but he just starts doing that to make... I mean, it kind of fucking sounds like it.
Starting point is 01:16:29 Really, out of all the years you've been doing this, and now you're just like, ha-ha, just kidding. But am I? technically not really is it real i don't know i guess you'll have to find out you'll have to find out today when you're in your car no big deal i'm sure it's fine i'm sure you can go start it it won't blow up trust me yeah there's definitely not a pipe bomb underneath your seat don't even look and starts up just fine he's like i told you to trust me what i tell you you're perfectly safe i swear i got up walking into the bathroom and slam me the door shut annoyed and a little bit scared
Starting point is 01:17:01 he'd been narrating my entire life and it never said anything creepier out of the ordinary so what was going on now opened the faucet and began splashing water onto my face Natalia washes her face but she doesn't seem to realize that it is much easier for someone
Starting point is 01:17:15 to attack when her eyes are closed that would be such a jerk move to start doing that she's completely fine in there but just says stuff like that he's like I have a trident you're like What?
Starting point is 01:17:33 Nothing. I really didn't say anything. Why would he have a trident? I don't know. You tell me. Poseidon, Poseidon, God of the sea. I don't know. I goof around.
Starting point is 01:17:48 It's what I do. I like to have fun. I'm a silly man. I'm silly. Anyway, do you want to kill yourself today? Yeah. Why don't you put this in your mouth and jump on it? Put this in your mouth and jump on it.
Starting point is 01:18:05 Just hop up and down. It'll be fine, I swear. I'm fucking with you. I'm fucking with you. It's a joke. Calm down. It's a joke. You're so serious.
Starting point is 01:18:18 You'd be much pretty if you smiled. There it is. He's like a passively misogynist. It's like, yeah, it's like one day she just realized and she's like, yeah, actually he was like a misogynist this whole time, but he just really amps it up. Are you seriously worrying that today? You should try wearing makeup. She's like, I do. Maybe your boss will give you that promotion if you dress better, if you smiled nicer.
Starting point is 01:18:55 Why don't, why are you working? Shouldn't you try cooking? You like that. That stresses you out less. Or no, he's doing it in like the third person thing. So as she's getting ready for work, he's like, he's like in the corner. And he's like,
Starting point is 01:19:08 Natalia thinks that she will be fulfilled by continuing her day at work. Little does she know. She would be much happier as a stay at home mom. She's like, excuse me? And he's got like, he's got like a red pill podcast in his ear. He like pulls out his bud real quick. Like, never mind.
Starting point is 01:19:22 Natalia, Natalia looks at baby clothes online, even though her eggs are totally dry. She's far too old. Little does she realize she should have had this revelation 12 years ago. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:19:35 She's like, why are you doing this? You just like shrugs. I like the thing too, he just shrugs all the time. Yeah, she asks them. He does the Jim Halpert
Starting point is 01:19:44 like lip thing and he just shrugs. She looks over every now and then and he just like, he starts shaving his head, smoking cigars. He's just becoming, it's just getting red filled over time.
Starting point is 01:20:00 I rinse the soap away from my eye area I looked at my reflection in front of me and at his standing behind me finished rinsing my face with my eyes open and managed to try it without completely covering my eyes the rest of my week went pretty similar normal narrations for the most part with some creepy stuff sprinkled in
Starting point is 01:20:19 he is coming for her very soon it is unavoidable Natalia must die at one point it's like get out of the car like I'm pulling over what are you talking to me about Yeah. Stop.
Starting point is 01:20:32 Every time he said something, I looked around at my surroundings, paranoid. Spent the entire week anxious and paranoid. Barely slept, fearing that I would wake up in the middle of the night to some performing spontaneous surgery on me. Put a knife in my bedside drawer and pepper spray under my pillow. Yesterday, there were more creepier things than usual. Natalia's days are numbered. Natalia has been feeling anxious, as she should. The one who watches is arriving shortly.
Starting point is 01:20:58 the one who watches is very excited to kill Natalia there will be no escape only death the thing too that makes it creepy is that he's just feet away he's so close yeah yeah I didn't if I mean like if you want to he could just turn around and kill her at any time because who knows what he is
Starting point is 01:21:15 he's some supernatural being obviously there was a story I read in college during one of my literature courses we had a semester in short stories and there's one short story we read that was about this couple who it was in a world where doctors had developed a science that can predict your date of death. It was fucked up. So it became a thing where like around the United States, like some people saw it as taboo, like Bible Belt regions were like denounced it said it was of the devil and like in more like progressive city areas.
Starting point is 01:21:49 People would go get it and they would have parties up until then people became more risky up until it, stuff like that. And the story centered around this couple who the wife really wants to go get it and the husband disagrees and then one day she gets it without telling him. And then it's like the next five years of their life are miserable because like it said she was going to die in five years. So the next five years every day they're just sad, depressed, they can never come out of it. And then eventually I think the way it ends, if I remember right, is they're sitting around that night waiting for her to die. And then the clock strikes midnight and the story ends. So she didn't die or like the test was wrong. or something like that.
Starting point is 01:22:27 But it's like the anticipation of it absolutely ruined what time they did have, regardless of what happened. And it's got, I don't know, this story reminded me of it because it's like, she was okay with this entity living near her,
Starting point is 01:22:41 but now that it's become menacing, it's adapted this tone of, like, it's become dread. It went from something that she got over to scary all again just because of what it's saying. But for all we know, it's just,
Starting point is 01:22:51 it's doing it to mess with her. It could be the agent that wants to kill her. And there's not really a lot she can do about it. yeah no it's it's psychological torture yeah it's like the embodiment of dread like he is a manifestation of like anxiety or like impending death i didn't go out anywhere for fear that would somehow cause whatever was going to happen happen sooner last night i was getting ready for bed brushing my teeth and staring at his reflection behind me in the mirror as i swished mouthwash around in my mouth he spoke again natalia brushes her teeth for the last time tomorrow she dies
Starting point is 01:23:25 spit out the mouthwash, choking on a bit that had made its way down my throat, coughed and wheezed. Natalia choked on the mouthwash, feeling like she was dying. But it's not her time yet. Her time is tomorrow. That's really funny to imagine that he's like a jerk about it too. She like chokes and he's like up up up, not yet. Exactly. Now it's not the death date.
Starting point is 01:23:46 That's tomorrow. Don't worry. Don't worry. You won't die here. You're going, it's tomorrow. You're fine. It's tomorrow. Just coughing out.
Starting point is 01:23:52 Today, enjoy. Choke as much as you want. You're fine right now. I managed to catch my breath and walked over to my bed, crawling in and leaving the lamps on. The last thing I needed was to be woken up at midnight and have to fight off a killer in the dark. I woke up today a few hours before my alarm and got up. I was still alive. Nothing was out of place. Maybe I wasn't going to die today.
Starting point is 01:24:12 Maybe it was all some sort of fluke. I walked into the bathroom and grabbed my toothbrush, squeezed out some toothpaste to brush my teeth and put the toothbrush in my mouth. I looked up in the mirror, at my reflection, and then I froze. I spit into the sink and looked around the bathroom. Stuck my head back into my bedroom and looked around there as well. I made my way through every single room in my house, but he was nowhere to be seen. He was gone. 25 years following me around and narrating my life, and now suddenly, when I was supposed to die, he just disappeared.
Starting point is 01:24:44 Somehow this made me feel worse. As I realized that while the things he was saying were creepy, they were also helping me by warning me how much time I had left. Now I had no warning and no choice but to wait it out and see what happened. I can't shake the feeling that I'm definitely going to die. But how? By who? Who was the one who watches?
Starting point is 01:25:05 What did that even mean? I spent my entire day in the kitchen. Figured there are more exits here as well as weapons. I'd probably be safer here than in another smaller room of the house. So far nothing has happened. Sitting in silence, which is odd because I've never been in complete silence. about an hour ago all the lights began to flicker in the house but that only lasted a few seconds it's gone back to normal now
Starting point is 01:25:28 still don't know what to expect but I think I'm probably safer at my house well I thought I would be until the doorbell rang got up and walked over to the living room walking up to the door and peering out of the people it was him he was standing outside my porch with his back to me as usual didn't move I didn't even breathe so I just watched him standing there Still out there now, but he hasn't said a word. Still in my kitchen, not knowing what to do.
Starting point is 01:25:58 I could hear him mumbling outside the door a few minutes ago. And I finally decided to get up and listen. 2,000, 1,999. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, my God. Dude, fuck that. Oh, that freaked me out.
Starting point is 01:26:19 Just, oh, the idea of the guy that's always been there just is back to you counting down. Oh, my gosh. Ugh. He's still counting down, and I've now got about 20 minutes left. I can see that it's getting darker and darker outside as he counts down, though it's not even 3 o'clock in the afternoon yet. The time I look out the window, something disappears. A house on my street, a car, a tree, whenever something banishes,
Starting point is 01:26:48 it's replaced with darkness and he keeps counting down despite being my last chance at communication I'm going to die today it almost seems like it almost seems like a like an angel of death or something
Starting point is 01:27:04 but the idea of death too just being that when you counts down you're just going to be nothing is fucking horrifying disappears right it doesn't seem like she's going to get attacked it just seems like her world is collapsing like there's nowhere to go she'll just disappear yeah and there's
Starting point is 01:27:18 stuff that you i mean it's like i said earlier he's like the embodiment of like the fear of death but he's literally standing there counting next to her and also there's something medicine about this guy has followed you everywhere you've gone for 25 years and you wake up one day and he's gone like you would feel you would feel alone in a way that you probably don't remember feeling you know it would be so the psychological horror of this is just jesus so fucked i mean God, like having him be gone, would that not absolutely have that just be riddled in your brain? Like, you're like, well, what's wrong? What's happening?
Starting point is 01:27:56 Why is this different? Like, even if it's a positive change, it would never fully be positive because you'd be so freaked out. Yeah, the inevitability of death, like I said, but also there's this note of, what am I trying to say? Oh, of like the unbeatableness of it. Like, it's, it's, like, what do you do? You can't run from it. You can't get away. And when it does get away, it's just standing outside now.
Starting point is 01:28:17 the world's disappearing it is like it's like mortality it's good i like it's uh the countdown so menacing that's such a fun note yeah no i fucking i really such a fun little oh such a fun story god i almost want you want to read one more i'm just i'm kind of stoked they're so short and to the point see what the fourth one is there's one that i wanted the one to do was called my family's cursed a clown shows up at everyone's 10th birthday but no one ever hires one I thought that one sounds so sick. Isn't that fucking crazy? It's a funny title.
Starting point is 01:28:52 Yeah, let's do that one. All right. So we're going to tack on one more here. And this one is, as Hunter said, my family is cursed. Cloud shows up at everyone's 10th birthday, but no one ever hires one. Also, this is same author as always,
Starting point is 01:29:07 she is killing it so far. These are three great stories in a row. My earliest memory of the clown is from my cousin Jake's 10th birthday party. I was only five, but I distinctly remember the commotion surrounding the clown. I remember my parents preparing me
Starting point is 01:29:21 before we left the house and on the drive there. There's going to be a clown at Jake's party. My dad said. Just be nice. All you have to do is be nice. My mom added. I didn't understand why they were so worried.
Starting point is 01:29:36 My mom kept wiping her hands on her dress the entire drive to Jake's house or why my dad kept taking deep breaths. Weren't Cloud supposed to be at birthday parties? When we got to Jake's house, there was something going on. The kids were running around the backyard and jumping into the bouncy castle,
Starting point is 01:29:51 but the adults were standing around in silence. Their eyes starting back and forth across the yard while some of my aunts and uncles walked in and out of the house periodically. It was like they were all waiting for something to happen. This feels very it. Like how every 27 years,
Starting point is 01:30:07 or however long it, I think it's 27 years in dairy. I was going to say, I mean, that comes back. The it thing makes sense, jibers, but at me they may think of Tommy Taffey. oh yeah yeah this is tommy you're right that's the perfect one-to-one draw or at least just that kind of you know and you know just that world of creepy things shows up at x time hey kids i'm tommy yeah yeah not the drug's gonna happen here everything's fine we should really uh read the rest of
Starting point is 01:30:37 tommy i think that there's more to it yeah there's two more parts we read half of it oh wow I didn't know. Yeah. Hey, kiss. Hey! That's all I have. Watch out, watch you. That's all this.
Starting point is 01:30:54 Hello! That's the old bit. That's all of it. There it is. As I jumped at the bouncy castle along with the rest of my cousins, I noticed a movement in the bushes near the gate that led into the backyard. Here it comes. Continue to bounce, trying to get higher each time in order to get a better look at whatever was there.
Starting point is 01:31:13 Finally, saw the clown appear from behind the bushes and watched as he unlatched the gate. Here we go. I stopped bouncing and tried to maintain my balance as I watched the clown step into the yard, close the gate behind himself. Push my fingers through the mesh in the bouncy castle and press my face against it, staring at the clown as he scanned the backyard until his eyes landed on me. He stared at me for a few seconds, and I stared back, not really knowing what to do.
Starting point is 01:31:38 Nobody else seemed to have noticed him yet. My cousins continued bouncing around behind me. He was short, and he wore a curly, rainbow-colored wig. His face was white, and it seemed like his skin was naturally that pale. Didn't look like pain at all. His lips were normal-sized, but bright red. He had a giant, round red nose. His eyes were dark, so dark that I couldn't distinguish the pupil from the iris. He had two black lines that started above the black eyebrows and ran down his eyelids to the top of his cheeks, which appeared to be inflated with something. They were round and
Starting point is 01:32:13 protruding, the pink blush on them. His skin was smooth, like porcelain. He wore yellow polka dot pants that were held up by red suspenders and a white shirt with giant red buttons down the front. Red ruffles around the neck, chest, and sleeves. He wore shiny red clown shoes and he carried a gift bag in one hand. I don't know how long I stood there watching him, but suddenly I was being pulled out of the bouncy house by my mom.
Starting point is 01:32:38 She dragged me to the table and sent me down in a chair in between herself and my dad. I continued to watch the clown as he approached my cousin Lisa and pulled out a pink balloon from a pocket in his pants. He blew up the balloon and then twisted it into a dog, handing it to her. She took the balloon dog from the clown and ran to her mom, my aunt Chelsea, who grabbed Lisa roughly and dragged her away from the clown. There was an impalpable amount of tension from the remainder of Jake's birthday party. Our parents wouldn't let us stray too far away and the clown stayed the entire time, wandering around the yard and handing out balloon animals or honking his nose for the children. Yeah, you are completely right about this being a Tommy Taffy thing.
Starting point is 01:33:15 Feels just like it. When it came time to open presents, we watched his Jake unwrapped countless video games and action figures, along with a few clothing items. Once he finished opening the last gift from the family member, the clown walked up to Jake and handed him the gift bag he had been carrying around the entire party. Watched his Jake's mom tried to stop the clown from handing Jake the gift while my uncle held her back.
Starting point is 01:33:39 What? It's just funny. be like, no, no! And the uncle's hold her back. And the jigs are like, oh, cool, a present. It's like, you fucking run, kid. Run. God.
Starting point is 01:33:52 What the fuck? I mean, like, I mean, 10, they should know something's up. Well, yeah. I don't get like a whole jar. 10 years old is your mom like, no, no. And your uncle's like holding her back. Whatever he's like, oh, that cool. Thank you for the gift.
Starting point is 01:34:08 fucking idiot what the fuck that would be you as a kid yeah it's just candy it's like hamburgers and candy I'm like I'm super hungry thank you your mom's crying and you're like what's your problem exactly Bob would you shut the fuck up I'm eating candy burgers Jesus the fuck's your problem
Starting point is 01:34:32 dude cut we all watch his shake think the clown and open the gift bag taking out handfuls of tissue paper until he reached in and pulled out the gift is a book i saw his mom sign relief jake turned the book over in his hands looking at it it was a small hard cut i just i just laughing if the bomb was if the book was like a bomb yeah just kills everyone in the party like oh thank you for the boom It was a small, hardcover book with the glossy dust jacket that had a drawing of a beach on it. Jake thanked the clown and walked away from him, through the gate and away from the house.
Starting point is 01:35:20 Once he was gone, Jake's dad snatched the book from him. Asked him about it later, but he told me his parents to throw it out. Saw the clown a few times after that. At every cousin's 10th birthday party, he would show up in the same outfit every time and give them a hardcover picture book that their parents would get rid of. Yeah, I like the idea if it's like a family, curse like maybe generations back one of them made a deal or something and now
Starting point is 01:35:42 this entity shows up at every party and they have to just let it happen or else again it's one of those real things the consequences of getting rid of it are worse than putting up with it whatever that means. When I was 10 the same thing happened and although I begged my parents to let me see the book
Starting point is 01:35:58 they declined. The night of my birthday party snuck out of my room and saw my dad go up into the attic with my book tried to find it a few times after that day but he had hidden it well It was nowhere to be seen. I once asked my parents why any of us had birthday parties, if they were so afraid of the clown.
Starting point is 01:36:16 But they told me that the clown would show up anyway. He always knew. I didn't see the clown for a couple of years. All my cousins had passed the age of 10, and none of them were old enough to have their own children yet. When I turned 20, my parents died in a car accident, and I inherited their house. By that time, I'd forgotten all about the clown in the book
Starting point is 01:36:37 and didn't care to read it or figure out why they had taken it away. And then, about 12 years later, my daughter, Wendy, had her 10th birthday party. My wife knew about the clown, and we had already seen it appear once before at Jake's twin's birthday party. We had prepared Wendy, and had given her the same warnings my parents had given me, Be nice to the clown. About 30 minutes into the party, the clown jumped over the backyard fence and wandered over
Starting point is 01:37:01 to the table where Wendy and her cousins were getting makeovers. Stopped myself from running over and stopping him. He looked exactly as I remembered him. Not a single thing of change, not even his outfit. I watched as he caught my niece, Alice's eye, pulled out a blue balloon from his pocket. He blew the balloon up, pulled out another blue one, and then used them both to form a hat. She gently placed on her head. I watched as she thanked him, and he clapped his hands together, and then continued to walk around my backyard.
Starting point is 01:37:30 Nobody ever tried to stop him, because we had always been warned on to. We were never specifically told what would happen if we tried, but we knew it was bad. None of us wanted to find out what it would be. When it was time to open presents, I continued to eye the gift bag in the clown's hand. Once Wendy was done with opening the gifts given to her by family members, the clown approached her and handed her the bag. She took it gently, slowly opened it, digging around the tissue paper until she pulled out the book. Thank you.
Starting point is 01:38:00 She said, smiling at the clown. he took a bowed and walked away, jumping back over the fence. I let out a sigh of relief once he was gone, and I approached Wendy, taking the book from her. She didn't seem to mind that it was being taken. She seemed glad. I decided to hide it up in the attic, just as my parents had done with me.
Starting point is 01:38:20 But as I stared at it in my hands, curiosity was beginning to set in. It was the same as all the other books I had seen, hardcover with a glossy dust jacket that contained a drawing on the front, but no title. This one had a drawing of a girl that resembled Wendy, standing in front of a birthday cake, and about to blow out the candles. She had the same curly brown hair and green eyes as Wendy.
Starting point is 01:38:43 I opened the book and noticed an inscription on the inside of the cover that said, Happy 10th birthday, Wendy! The first page was blank, but the next page is where the story started. There was a drawing of the girl on the cover, wearing a party hat and holding a pile of gifts. Under that, it read, Today is Wendy's 10th. How happy is she? She got every gift she wants,
Starting point is 01:39:06 even things she doesn't need. Turn the page as I continue to read the story that depicted various drawings of a girl that resembled my daughter. She did various birthday party activities. Wendy laughs along with friends, and all her guests are filled with glee. Wendy tries to sneak a peek at every gift that she receives.
Starting point is 01:39:25 There were drawings of Wendy with family and friends. Everyone's smiling and hugging Wendy. And then? From beyond the backyard fence comes the best guest of them all. A funny, funny cloud. Here to have a ball. Man, I'm so hooked in right now.
Starting point is 01:39:43 On that page was the drawing of the clown as it jumped over the fence. This cloud loves to party. And it loves its 10th birthdays too. He will never miss a chance to show up where he's due. The next drawing was at the clown in the center of the page surrounded by black. But this birthday,
Starting point is 01:40:01 stays a bit different. Except the big is going to happen. The clown is so excited. This doesn't happen often. Like I'm looking around the room. I'm getting a little freaked out. I turned the page to see a drawing of the clown, running around the party chasing guests who appeared to be frightened.
Starting point is 01:40:22 They've been drawn with their mouths open and wide-eyed as they ran away from the clown. The clown runs around the yard and pulls something from his pocket. Not a balloon, not a magic handkerchief, or something big and sharp and shiny. The next page has a drawing of a gleaming butcher knife, gripping with blood. A lot of guests must die, but don't worry, Wendy will be fined. The next four pages contain various drawings of the clowns slaughtering people at the birthday party. Some of their neck sliced open, some were stabbed, some lost body parts. The cloud had his fun. His job has been done.
Starting point is 01:41:00 Happy 10th birthday to Wendy He will see you At the next one The last drawing was of the clown Jumping back over the fence Leaving a pile of dead bodies behind him I shut the book as a chill ran down my spine I realized why our parents ever showed us the books
Starting point is 01:41:16 Especially if they were all this creepy I wonder what the clown would even give us these books I decided to do as my parents had done And get rid of the book at the end of the party As I tossed the book on top of the fridge Heard the first scream I ran to the door and thought threw it open just in time to see everyone running away from the clown. He was back and he stood
Starting point is 01:41:35 right by the fence with a butcher knife in his hands. On the ground next to him was my cousin Paola's child, Trevor, face down in the grass. I scanned the backyard looking for Wendy, but she was nowhere to be seen. All the guests ran across the yard, trying to get as far away from the clown as possible. I watched as Jake tossed his children over the fence into his neighbor's yard, followed by his husband and then himself. I looked for my wife and I spotted her running towards me into the house. Where's Wendy? I asked grabbing her arm. She jumped the fence a while ago. She's fine. We need to hide. She dragged me inside with her as the screams continued. A few more family members made it inside and we hid in the kitchen in the living room. After a while, the screams died out and I
Starting point is 01:42:15 slowly got up, opening the door and peering out of the backyard. He's gone. Said as I threw open the door and walked outside. There were a total of 10 dead people. And a few minutes after the cops arrived, so did Jake, his family, and Wendy. I ran to her as I saw her coming up the driveway, picking her up into my arms. I'm so glad you're okay. I kept her by my side for the rest of the night as we answered questions. I didn't tell the police that I knew the clown, as they would never believe my story about the curse. Instead, we all told them we had no idea who the clown was and that we hadn't hired anyone.
Starting point is 01:42:48 Hours later, everyone was finally gone. Wendy had gone to bed, and I went downstairs and helped my wife clean up some of the mess. Once we were done, grabbed the book from the top of the fridge and handed it to her. What's this? It's what he gave her, Rose. Read it. I waited for her to finish reading the book. When she was done, she tossed it on on the counter.
Starting point is 01:43:11 What the fuck? Did he plan all that? Is this supposed to be some stupid joke? I shrugged. Did this happen to everyone else? I don't know. Our parents never let us read the books. This is so fucked up, David.
Starting point is 01:43:26 He stood in silence as Rose grabbed the book again, giving it a disgusted look. I'm going to go look for something. I made my way to the attic entrance in the hall and pulled down the ladder. Sully made my way up, each step creaking as I stood on it. When I reached the top, I flipped a switch and the lights turned on, illuminating the attic enough for me to see. I dug through countless boxes and moved old decor and furniture around until I found it.
Starting point is 01:43:48 A book that had been given to me on my 10th birthday. It had hidden under the cushion of an old chair. I pulled it out and looked at the drawings of the house, with a single light on in one of the windows. opened the book and found a similar engraving on the inside cover that read, Happy Tenth, David. Turned the pages and began to read the story, ignoring the pictures. Today is David's 10th birthday.
Starting point is 01:44:12 What a good one it will be. David eats pizza. His favorite topping is cheese. He has a water blue fight with his cousin Eric, and they take cover in the trees. Everything is fun, and soon it will be great. Here comes the clown. He's never late.
Starting point is 01:44:28 David's birthday was a blast. and his gifts were also fun but don't be sad that it's over the fun has just begun years go by and the clown scene's David again it's now his daughter's 10th birthday and today the fun will end a lot of guests had fun
Starting point is 01:44:44 and for others this day was their last but David's family's alive thank the clown for that and now it's time for bed time to get some sleep don't forget to check on Wendy she hasn't made a peep bro
Starting point is 01:45:00 that's the final oh man the final drawing in the book showed an empty bed in a dark room with a window that was wide open I stared at it for a second before it hit me
Starting point is 01:45:12 I tossed the book aside as I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach something was wrong Wendy what's going on I didn't reply as I hurried down the ladder
Starting point is 01:45:23 and ran down at the hall in a Wendy's bedroom throwing the door open flipped the light on looked around the room but it was too late she was gone bed was empty and her window was wide open oh that is such a good ending i i'll tell you right now i was like i don't know like killer clown with a knife blah blah blah that that little last bit at there at the end totally fucking got me yeah it well what i kind of figured as they were explaining everything that the
Starting point is 01:45:53 whole part about the book. Because it says this doesn't happen often. And then it goes to like the clown's murder spree. So the book only comes true if you look at it. If you don't look at it like all the parents did, it doesn't happen. It's the beckoning. It's like literally a seance. The book is a seance that when you read it, it like
Starting point is 01:46:13 it is something that when you flip to the pages, it like is basically creating a seance for you and gives the clown like or whatever fucking entity this clown is. The like ability to come back and like take people's lives also the reason why that the adults are just like just throw it away just never even look at it ever you know such a fun way of going about it you know because at first i was like you know i really like the setup i like the whole idea of this book and i was like would it be more effective if literally it was just like the person the kid that it was
Starting point is 01:46:43 like if you read it the kid gets taken like you don't know what happens to him yeah but it is fun that it's like this killing spree thing but see i think that the ending it really is where it's just like wait, what the fuck? And you go down and it's gone. And to the pictures that are accompanied by it. It's so creepy. Like I love the idea too that it's like, you know, it opens and the book has already formed. Like it's like by you touching it and even opening it. It's already done. Like the seal is broken. It's also so minus because I know it's supernatural, but it's so wild to think that at David when he was 10 at his 10th birthday party, he got a book. And then in that book was the detail of his daughter when she's 10, how she'll be kidnapped by the clown. That's such a cool
Starting point is 01:47:22 touch do you think that it's that or do you think that because i read it like this that i think that the books are empty and whoever opens said book it's like that whatever seal is broken that's how the book manifests its story i mean that too it could it could certainly be that way it's like the vessel for it yeah or the clowns like some entity that knows when the book will be open so it's yeah i mean if it is that foreshadowing or it just knows he's like oh it's not going to open up yet it's almost like this predestination thing that's also pretty fucked up i think that for a killer clown story honestly banged that was fucking sick that's one of the better killer clown stories i've ever read this author goes stupid hard in the paint by the way also just i've been awesome we had the same
Starting point is 01:48:07 thing with last episode with the spalunking kind of torturous uh you know the the the torturous spulunking claustrophobic nightmare where it's just that nice short and sweet these are all just this like just like a nice like palatable story that's just like a fun quick read like I would love to see a compilation of these stories in a book like almost like scary stories to tell in the dark like it has that kind of thing where it's you could like sit down and read it to your friends and you get freaked out like oh read another one oh no we'll wait you know it's just it has that kind of digestibility that I think is really really fun yeah This author does great.
Starting point is 01:48:46 Just scrolling through the rest of their stuff, there's so many titles, like some of these titles, how would you like to die today? The boy in the paper bag mask. The elevator at work took me to a floor that doesn't exist. Like all of these sounds so good. And also,
Starting point is 01:49:01 like I said, the point pine, there's an entire series about Point Pine. There's got to be a point pine to check out. We should do a Point Pine read true. We got to get a point pine read through. Listen to some of these titles from the Point Pine series. the day the angel came
Starting point is 01:49:15 there's a new guy in town and we don't like him the thing in the giant bear costume won't stop handing out popcorn I love it listen to this one due to recent violent events pumpkins are no longer allowed in point pine that's awesome
Starting point is 01:49:37 I love it because I think that Gabby uses the title like the scheming of these our slash no sleep things to really like make it something very enticing like it uses the format in a really great fucking way and I think that it goes to show that people are connecting with it with the amount of like you know upvote she gets and the kind of like fan base she appears to have I think it's just fucking awesome so I will say that if you enjoyed the stories today as much as we did please go support ea p a tbp that's the username for gabby on reddit you can look at her entire body of work there it's fucking awesome there's so many I it's so many I it
Starting point is 01:50:13 this is just such a fun to read man i had a great time this episode one month ago gabby has a story called if you meet me please kill me like these titles are great every one of them makes me want to see what the rest of the story is about this is yeah i understand why like they're considered no sleep royalty all their stuff does well because so far we've read four and normally when we read through a bunch of author stuff there's like oh that one wasn't that great that one wasn't that great all four of those short stories were awesome yeah and i you know it just goes a show that once here's the thing too when doing the creative process of writing and stuff you're going to write some things where things just like can just doesn't line up or people don't resonate with
Starting point is 01:50:52 it that doesn't necessarily you know it's not like that doesn't give it any value it's just impressive seeing a writer here where the the stories that we read which granted they were the top voted ones or the most of voted ones basically but the amount and and with how consistent she's been with posting it's just cool to see somebody that's still active still being creative because we do read a lot of stuff where somebody was just like somebody's phase where they were like,
Starting point is 01:51:15 I just wanted to write a couple stories here. Yeah. So it's cool to see someone that's still proactive in writing and still has this like creative itch to get out there and make shit because it's fucking draining.
Starting point is 01:51:24 Man, it's hard. And then two, if things don't kind of like line up for you, it's very easy to like, you know, let the wind out of your sales and just kind of be like,
Starting point is 01:51:31 oh, fuck it, never mind. I'm just not going to. So to see somebody who is so motivated in writing, I just think it's really cool. And I definitely want to give that shout out and please go support these.
Starting point is 01:51:41 and read them give them up votes comment on them engage with them show your buddies that's the best way to support these people what what was your favorite of the ones who read today oh man i don't know i mean ending wise i really enjoyed the clown one the clown uh that one was really great um you know i like the premise of the narrow reader one a lot i like the premise a lot i think if i had to say which one i like the most i think every month the parade and i think that's just because the concept of that monster is a lot of fun. I enjoyed the world that Point Pine was setting me up to do. But even just like the little bits, that was the thing though with all of these, I feel like the ending really in every single one of these, the ending
Starting point is 01:52:23 really, it had a nice, strong fucking punch at the end, which was good. Even there's a man who follows me around, like the counting at the end, I think was fucking fantastic. Even though conceptually, I feel like the idea of there's a man who follows me around. I think that one was the most frightening of just an idea of a man that's like just around you at all times kind of narrating your life and then he kind of slowly starts to predict your death or he's like an angel of death it's just really cool but I will say I think I liked all of them in their own respects like I don't think anyone I don't think any one of them overshadowed any of the others like they all felt very uh on par with quality
Starting point is 01:52:58 yeah yeah I think they banked that was yeah that was good all those stories are great yeah support the author uh Gabby deserves it Those were awesome. Please keep writing stuff. I need more. Thank you. Also, the point pine,
Starting point is 01:53:14 I don't know if the series is done because there's eight parts and the last one was five years ago. So the series may be completed now. Who knows? Anything we have linked for Gabby in the description, please shout it out. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:53:26 And just to reiterate again, just because I don't know if there's a way we're supposed to be saying it, but the username is capital E, lowercase A, capital P, capital A, lowercase T, B, P. So please, do go check them out. Be sure to show them some love. And I think that it's just a lot of fun.
Starting point is 01:53:43 It's just cool saying once again, I love whenever we find readers that are writers that are still active and still making stuff. It's just really exciting. So and also just wanted to say real quick, thank you so much for if you've listened to this on Spotify, have a podcast. Be sure to give us a nice rating there. It really does help us out. And until next time, everyone, stay creeped and stay creative. Keep writing. We love it. Also, once again, like I said, the top of the episode, thank you so much you guys are the best fucking fan base any podcasters you ever asked for we appreciate you and uh we'll see you in the next one we will see you guys in the next one and if a random clown shows up at a kid's 10th birthday party and gives you a book don't read it unless you really don't
Starting point is 01:54:24 like that kid bye I don't know, I'm gonna... You know, I don't know. I'm going to be able to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to.
Starting point is 01:54:51 I'm going to. And... ...you know. ...and... ...and... ...you know... ...and... ...and...
Starting point is 01:55:05 ...and... I don't know. ... I don't know. I don't know. I'm going to be. I don't know. And...
Starting point is 01:55:22 ...and... ...and... ...the... ...the... ...the...

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