CreepsMcPasta Creepypasta Radio - "I Abandoned My Childhood Friend, But He Didn't Abandon Me..." Creepypasta

Starting point is 00:00:01 I grew up with a kid named Len Briad. I don't think Len was ever really a kid though. He was more grown up than half the adults in town. Whenever his parents argued, he'd do something to distract them. He'd throw himself down the stairs, eat something inappropriate or just throw a fit. This earned him a reputation of being both dumb and unruly. But I knew better. I could see Len for who he really wanted.

Starting point is 00:00:31 and in a way I was his only real friend. A lot of the kids on the playground would make fun of Len or force him to do stupid things. That's how he got his nickname. Dumb again Len. He would encourage this image. It was the only thing he could truly control. But to me, he was just Len. And when all others looked away, I could see him finally led his side.

Starting point is 00:01:01 card down. We talked about the things he really loved. At age eight, he was self-teaching himself the piano, and he loved card tricks. He was clever and amazing at sleight of hand. Not too surprising, seeing as he tricked the entire world into thinking he was an idiot. When he was just the two of us, we'd play card games. All kinds of card games. Everything from Blackjack to go fish.

Starting point is 00:01:30 sometimes two-player spades. Len didn't have just any deck of cards. He was on those dirty nude decks with raunchy women. He'd stolen it from his dad, who'd forgotten it in his pocket after a poker night with his work friends. I guess Len didn't want him to get in trouble. Len was uncomfortable with the scandly women, though, so he coloured in clothes with a black Sharpie.

Starting point is 00:01:56 Sometimes at recess, he'd tell me they're made-up names and backstories. like the Queen of Spades, who he named Elise after the song. He told me she was a concert pianist, and one day he'd get so good at playing piano that even she would take notice. She'll take me away, Lynn said. She'll teach me how to really play. I humoured him.

Starting point is 00:02:21 I asked him about all the people in the deck, the names, their backstories, their dreams and wishes. He had an answer for everything. They turned from adult stars into chauffeurs, bankers, painters and dancers. All it took was a Sharpie and some imagination. I'm not stupid, Len said. I know they're not really those people. I know.

Starting point is 00:02:47 He looked up at me as the bell rang us back inside, bitter batter of horrid sneakers passed us by. But I think this is who they wanted to be when they were small. That moment was my first. taste of adulthood. It was the time I realized that none all kids grow up to what they want to be. Len and I stayed friends all the way up to high school. I was having a hard time fitting in, and admittedly, a lot of it was because of Len. He was one bad day away from being placed in a special needs class, and the name calling was getting to me. We were the Tard buddies, and I got sick of

Starting point is 00:03:31 being called the boyfriend, the boyfriend to dumb again Len. It was high school, it was a social hellscape. I wanted Len and I to be friends forever, but it just didn't turn out that way. I got tired of standing in the way of the punches, kicks and insults. After a while, I just stepped aside. On the outside, Len didn't seem to mind, but I knew better. He just did. He just did did like he always did, sacrificing himself for the sake of others. I stopped walking with Len to school, I started taking the bus, and I saw it passing by every morning. He never looked up at me, not once. He just kept his head down, fiddling with his playing cards. The Elise card was getting a bit worn out at the edges, but a sharpy dress was as fancy as ever.

Starting point is 00:04:27 By now, Lynn could play the piano well enough for a concert pianist to take notice. I could sometimes hear him playing in the auditorium when other students had gone home. I think he was playing for his Queen of Spades, hoping she'd come and take him away. As we inched closer to graduation, my thoughts were occupied with girls, cars and sports. I was on the basketball team and having trouble choosing which girl to take to play to play. prom. My dad was getting me an, albeit cheap, car, as a graduation present. It was damn proud of my varsity letter, having it as a centerpiece in the living room. It was an amazing time to be alive, and the days were passing me by so fast. I'll be honest, my thoughts rarely drifted back to where

Starting point is 00:05:20 Len and other painful memories lived. My eyes would pass right through him in the hallways. It was only in those quiet moments when I was alone that I could feel a tinge of regret. On the night of the prom, I'd asked the girl named Fran to go with me. She'd insisted on picking me up. Her dad owned a limo service, so we would have the fanciest car in town drive us. How could I say no? My parents were out that weekend, so when the doorbell rang, I was all dulled up and ready to rumble. I opened the door, grinning ear to ear, and there.

Starting point is 00:06:04 Was Len, I just stood there, flawed. He was pale and thin, mostly from malnourishment, seeing him this close and what he turned into gave a whole new perspective of him. He looked miserable. Then again, deep down, I always knew he was. He had the same blue jacket as always, in that cheap plastic material. You...

Starting point is 00:06:34 You're okay, Len, I asked. Yeah, he said. Can I come in? Sure, I nodded. Come in. He stepped inside and wiped his shoes. He walked straight past me and sat down by the kitchen table.

Starting point is 00:06:51 He pulled out his deck of cards and gestured for me to join him. My date will be here any minute, I said. I don't think... You've never turned down a game before, chuggled Len. Is this going to be the first? We both smiled. He didn't seem angry and I had no reason to be either.

Starting point is 00:07:13 In a way, it was nice to see him again. It felt right, despite being completely unannounced. We'd started our childhoods together. Now, we'd end them. He set at the table for a round of spades. He could take hours to play. So I raised my hand in protest. Len just shook his head.

Starting point is 00:07:36 Just one round, he said, winner takes it all. No bids, just as many tricks as you can. Sure, he set the cards down and we started drawing. One by one, we drew and discarded our way through the entire deck. I drew the final card of the deck. The queen of spades herself, Elise. I had a hard time imagining her without the sharpy dress by now. What are you going to do after this?

Starting point is 00:08:10 Len asked. I mean, after tonight. College, I said. Sports medicine. You got in? Minnesota. Go huskies, I guess. Nah.

Starting point is 00:08:22 Len won the trick with a king of hearts against my six. What about you? I'm done, said Len. After this, I'm... I'm just done. Come on, man, I smiled. You got talent. Make it count.

Starting point is 00:08:40 His eight of clubs beat my two. Nah. We played down to the final trick. By now, I knew there was nothing more than Spades left. I'd kept the queen for last. If he had an ace or a king, I'd be screwed. I hope you have a good one, said Len. Not just tonight, you know.

Starting point is 00:09:03 Thanks, man. You too. He put down the jack of spades. I held up a lease. Lynn just leaned back and clapped. She'll come around someday, he smiled. Just not today. That's rough, I nodded. Good game.

Starting point is 00:09:24 Something honked outside. It was time to go. Len shuffled his cards and followed me out. He hugged each other for the first time in you. years. We'll play again, right? Of course. Fran waved at me from the back window. I stepped into a limo, and Len stepped away into the night. Later that night, Len Briard shot himself while holding the Queen of Spades. Apparently, he'd messed up the audition to the music school he'd applied to, all four of them. I guess he had.

Starting point is 00:10:07 hated his fragile nerves so much that he had to kill them. There were only a handful of us at his funeral. I left the playing cards on his closed coffin. Someone played the piano, but not as well as he would have. But life has a way of moving on, whether you want it to or not. My date with Fran came and went. Then there was Anne, Rebecca and Casey. Finally, there was Eda.

Starting point is 00:10:38 There would be no one after Eda. We had our first and only child, Michelle, at the age of 25. I did get into sports medicine and it paid well. I could afford to buy my family a house down by Frog Lake, two cars, two dogs and the biggest TV in the neighborhood. We ate at a restaurant every Sunday and we'd go to the movies every last Saturday the month. danced our lives into a wonderful routine. While there were plenty of kids like Len who never got to be what they wanted, at least I did. I was a husband, father and a working man.

Starting point is 00:11:22 There was nothing to complain about. As the years passed me by, I found myself at the night of my daughter's prom. Ida was beyond excited and busy taking photos. I was in a strange mood. Ida was having drinks with her friends later that evening, and I was going to drown my nostalgia in a few shots of whiskey. As I waved goodbye to Michelle and a date, I decided to take a walk. Ida humoured me, despite never having seen me, take a walk like that on my own. She figured I was just being emotional. In a way, I was. I took a walk down by the lake.

Starting point is 00:12:08 There was an old chessboard set up there, years ago, that no one played anymore. The pieces had long since been thrown into the lake, but the board itself was fine. The chairs too. I sat down, listening to the croaking frogs. Early summer smells brought up memories and feelings I'd hoped to forget. Moments later, the seat across from me was occupied. I would recognise that cheap, blue. blue jacket anywhere. A few stubborn strands of hair clung to patches of leathery skin. A dry mouth

Starting point is 00:12:48 pulled back in a skeleton grin, shielding a black tongue. There were no eyes and a bullet hole in the side of his temple. His movements were forced like a puppet pulled by an unknown force, limbs hanging lifelessly at his side, moving only in quick bursts. I didn't know what to do. do or say. I thought I was hallucinating, but he was right there. It was all so real and unceremonious, like waking from a dream, as casual as someone sitting next to you on a bus. I could feel the stone tiles of the chessboard under my fingers, the cold wind blowing in over the lake. All these years, and Len came through for one more game on prom night. spades.

Starting point is 00:13:47 A voice untouched by time. His head slumped over and his mouth stayed still. I tried to meet his gaze, but there were no eyes to meet mine. I caught myself staring, losing track of time. Yeah, I agreed, sure. One round, he said, winner takes it all. I nodded. no bids

Starting point is 00:14:15 They were the same cards we'd played with all those years ago Some were misshapen and bent And there were spots of dirt They were difficult to shuffle Len raised them to his mouth As to blow the dirt away

Starting point is 00:14:31 But his lungs couldn't hold any air Instead he just stared at the deck As if trying to remember how to breathe He stretched concentrated and forced air into his body. It didn't stay inside him for long, as the cracks in his leathery skin made the wind howl through him like a rotting bagpipe.

Starting point is 00:14:55 He painstakingly shuffled and dealt the cards. We played the first trick. My ten of hearts beat his eight. You got a bright kid, weised Len. She good. Best in class. Michelle is a math whiz, I smiled. Then held onto his cards.

Starting point is 00:15:17 I met his empty gaze. There was something there, something sinister, like an unspoken threat. That's not what I asked, he said. I asked if she was good. She's good, I said. You'd know if you met her. Fair enough. King of clubs, no way I could beat that.

Starting point is 00:15:44 Card by card, the game continued. I had a hard time keeping my mind on my hand. Len was taking plenty of time choosing which card to play and his broken fingers kept fumbling with the cards. It was hard to tell if he was just being deliberate or working against his decaying fingers. Frog Lake had gone quiet and the birds had long since fled.

Starting point is 00:16:11 Why'd you do it, Len? I asked, playing a nine of hearts. I lost, he said. The queen went with you. That doesn't mean you had to go. It did. I'd always hoped Len would find peace. Instead, it seemed like he was stuck in the past,

Starting point is 00:16:34 wearing the same tattered clothes and the same tattered face. Maybe no God or afterlife came to collect him. Maybe some people fall so far out to the collective mind that even death forgets about them. It was an even round until it came down to the final trick. I had no idea what Len had, but I knew neither of us had played the Queen of Spades yet. I played my final and highest card, the Jack of Spades. The Queen might have been discarded.

Starting point is 00:17:07 when we picked our first cards, but I had my doubts. Something about Len was different. There was a smile there, somewhere beneath the rot. Of course, he played the Queen of Spades. Elise, the love of his life, finally came to him. Winner takes it all, he croaked. Good game. Well played Len, I said, you earned that win.

Starting point is 00:17:37 Finally, he chuckled. I get to be what I wanted. He was as if a force pulled him up from the chair, like a bone-snapping puppet. Old sinew and tissue crumbled as he moved. A trickle of dust rolled out of his sockets, like tears from a grave. Finally. His skin dried up, his lips pushed back. In the blink of an eye, he decayed in front of me.

Starting point is 00:18:07 spreading his dust in the wind. Specks of lens scattered all over Frog Lake, leaving nothing behind. His carts danced away in the wind, scattered along the lakeside. I walked back home and sat down by the dining room table, shaking like a leaf. I bought myself a shot of whiskey,

Starting point is 00:18:31 spilling over the counter. Ida was still out with her friends, leaving me alone in that big, empty house. I never really noticed the echo of my shoes against the kitchen tiles until now. Two shots of whiskey passed and I had to use the restroom. I did my business and washed my hands, catching a brief glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror. I looked older.

Starting point is 00:18:58 I tried to process what had happened, what I'd seen, dumb again, Lynn. Winner takes it all. The words, were coming from me. But I wasn't the one who said them. It had been forced out of my mouth like a hiccup. A realization dawned on me. I couldn't feel my hands. I wasn't making these movements. I wasn't the one saying these words. I saw my mirror image twist and turn, growing older.

Starting point is 00:19:32 My wrinkles grew deeper. My skin hardened. Second by second I could see my life. I could see my life, Life melt away, turning my image to that of my dead friend. Hollow eyes, crackling skin, patches of hair falling out. I get to be what I always wanted. Looking down at my hands, I saw that nothing had really changed. The face in my mirror was my own. But in a way, it was different. A thin veneer hiding a rotten core.

Starting point is 00:20:07 I could feel Lenn hiding just beneath the surface of my face, itching to get out. I felt my hands dig something out of my pocket, my keychain. My legs were moving. I was out of control. I couldn't even speak out in protest. The same invisible threads that had pulled Lenn along were now pulling at me, leaving me defenseless. My body stepped into the closet, reaching for a lockbox on the top shelf. Such a small key to hide such a dangerous weapon.

Starting point is 00:20:45 I checked my phone, loading a clip, and I saw my finger scroll past name after name of friends, family and acquaintances, smiling faces and nicknames. All the while, I was screaming inside, screaming to stop, to get me out, screaming to play another round, to listen, whatever it took. But that wasn't how Len was going to play this. He'd finally won, and he was going to claim his prize. As I heard the front door open, I felt my soul descend into a deep, primal panic, a hole in my mind where nothing but terror existed.

Starting point is 00:21:32 Dumb again, Len was going to take it. all away from me, one bullet at a time. Then, the front door opened, and I felt my body smile.

CreepsMcPasta Creepypasta Radio - "I Abandoned My Childhood Friend, But He Didn't Abandon Me..." Creepypasta

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