Day 19 - The House That Remembers Its Owners & Lucky 13
00:00I'm John Grills from Creepy, and I listen to the Be Afraid Podcast Network.Creepy presents the 31 Days of Horror.Day 19.No.This is creepy.A podcast dedicated to sharing the most famous, chilling,and disturbing creepy pastures and urban legends in the world.Whether these stories truly happened or, not simply fabrications, is for you to decide.
00:42These stories may contain graphic depictions of violence and explicit language.Listener discretion is advised.Didn't he blow up once?Yeah, but that was a long time ago.He's got to be fine by now.I don't think that's how CTE works.Yeah, but then he forgot that he invited a bunch of podcasts to camp that other year.It was kind of fun spending time with other podcasters.
01:19It was that kind of awkward that felt like being in an episode of the office.Whatever it was, if it led to this finally, I'm not complaining.My ears are burning.Owen, what the hell, man?What?You said your ears were on fire.I had to put out the invisible flames lest they consume us all.Owen?
01:49That's just an expression people use when they think people are talking about them.Also, that wasn't water.If my ears really were burning, I'm pretty sure whatever that was would have just melted all my skin off.Is that rumplements?What are you in college?It's minty.Okay, well, I've smelled worse.Excuse me?
02:15Can I get a bar towel?Thank you.Anyway, are you guys sitting here talking about my not-so-greatest hits?With love.I'm sure.I'm sure it's all 100% accurate and in no way embellished over time.Listen, I know I haven't been around as long as the rest of the narrators,but it feels like if these aren't embellished,
02:39there's literally no way to make this stuff sound crazier.Don't encourage him.Oh, come on.Do you all really have that low of expectations for me?I mean, we did.This month has gone a long way to mend things.I can't remember the last time I could just sleep in and not worry about anything.2026 has been a long year.
03:06Yes, yes, yeah.That's a beast.Unless you count that time we left John in the swamp and partied on Bourbon Street for an entire month,That was relaxing to you?I guess we should take a little ownership over some of this.We haven't exactly always been completely innocent in all of this.It's fine, Michelle. Really?I get nervous when John says it's fine.
03:35Yeah, I get that.But really, it's in the past.You've got to just keep looking forward.Living in the past doesn't make anything better.either you're pining for the way things used to be or you're reliving bad times.It's all in your mindset.Not to sound like a broken record, but I feel like I need to ask again.Who are you and what have you done with John?
04:02It's just perception.I mean, people misremember things all the time.Things they think are facts that never happen.Stories they heard that suddenly turn into this thing I read.memories change all the time.John, are you okay?Yeah, it just, uh, just reminded me.One sec.
04:34Hey, everyone.Sorry if I'm stepping on someone's time,but I just remember the story I wanted to share.It's about the house that remembers its owners.The moving company refused to unload our furnitureuntil someone opened the front door first.They wouldn't explain why.But the next morning, I understood.
05:00The house had been empty for 12 years.Yet on our first night, something whispered,Welcome back.None of us had ever lived there.People say houses hold memories.I never believed it until we moved into one that remembered its previous owners.I was 15 when my parents decided to leave the city.Dad had lost his job.
05:24Our debts were growing, and mom's illness.made him believe we needed somewhere quieter.When he found the old Victorian house on the edge of Black Hollow, he seemed relieved.It was the only place we could afford.The price was unbelievably low, but Dad called it a blessing.Mom wasn't convinced.She wondered why such a beautiful house had been for sale so long.The estate agent only smiled and said the previous owners had moved away.
05:54He never said where.The drive took almost four hours.Cell service disappeared halfway there, and the road narrowed with every mile.By the time we reached the house, the sun was setting.As the moving truck passed through the rusted gates, I noticed every curtain was closed.Still, I felt like someone was watching this.I blinked and a feeling vanished.The house stood alone at the end of a gravel driveway, surrounded by thick woods.
06:24The silence didn't feel peace.peaceful. It felt wrong. When I stepped onto the porch, the floorboards groaned. I told myselfit was just an old house. I would spend the next two nights wishing I had trusted that feeling.Dead vines covered the walls. The porch sagged and the paint had peeled away. Inside the house smelledof old wood, dust, and something unfamiliar. Mom opened windows while dad carried boxes upstairs.My little sister, Dira, explored the hallway as if she already knew the place.She claimed she knew where her room was.We laughed until she walked straight to the only bedroom with its door already open.
07:09None of us remembered opening it.The rest of the day disappeared into unpacking.Dad fell asleep on the couch.Mom complained about the plumbing.And Dera couldn't stop talking about her new room.By the time I went upstairs, I was too tired to think about the strange moments.Old houses make noise.Floor boards settle, pipes groan, the wood changes with temperature.
07:35I repeated that to myself whenever another creek came from outside my room.I don't remember falling asleep.I only remember waking up.My room was dark except for moonlight through the curtains.The clock read 243 a.m.I stayed until I heard him.Footsteps.Slow, careful, and deliberate.
08:00Not someone getting water, but someone who knew exactly which floorboards would creak.They stopped outside my door.I held my breath.After a few seconds, they continued down the hallway and faded away.I told myself it was one of my parents, but something felt wrong.Curiosity 1.and I slowly opened my door.The hallway was empty.
08:27Cold air passed by, carrying the smell of damp wood.I looked toward the upstairs, then down the hall.Every bedroom door was closed.I called out softly, but my own voice sounded far louder than it should have.No one answered.Feeling foolish, I closed the door and climbed back in the bed.I didn't sleep much after that.By morning, the fear had faded into something easier to dismiss.
08:56I told myself I'd imagine the whole thing.Moving was stressful, and my mind was probably inventing problems or none existed.That explanation lasted until lunchtime.I'd been unpacking books in the sitting room when I noticed the family photograph we'dtaken the day before we'd moved in.Mom had insisted on printing it out and framing it as soon as possibleto make the place feel more like home.I'd left it on a fireplace mantle while deciding where to put it.
09:28Now it was lying face down.I frowned, picked it up, and stood it upright again.The frame we used was old but sturdy.It hadn't fallen.Someone had deliberately turned it over.I looked around the room.No one was there.I decided one of my parents had probably moved it without thinking.
09:52I carried another box into the dining.room, unpacked a few plates, then returned less than five minutes later. The photograph wasface down again. This time, my stomach tightened. I picked it up more slowly and looked aroundthe room. Still no one. I asked the area if she had turned it over. She wandered in holding hercoloring book and shook her head. When I asked who did, she looked at the photograph beforeanswering that she didn't like touching it because the lady behind us kept looking at her.A nervous laugh escaped me.I looked at the photograph again.
10:34It was just the four of us.No one else.When I looked back at Dira, she'd already wandered away.I studied every corner of the photograph before finally deciding I needed some sleep.I slipped a picture into a drawer instead.It felt ridiculous.But it also made me feel like.little better. Later that afternoon I decided to explore the house properly. We spent so much time
11:02unpacking that I hadn't really looked around. The upstairs hallway stretched farther than I remembered.Doors opened and empty bedrooms coated in dust. One room contained nothing except faded floralwallpaper peeling away from the walls. I was about to leave when something caught my eye.There was a faint rectangle on the wall where a picture frame at once hung. The wallpaper around ithad faded with age, but the space beneath it was brighter, untouched by sunlight.Curious, I brushed away the dust with my sleeve.Someone had written on the wall, not in paint, not with pencil.A word looked as though it had been scratched into the plaster with something sharp.
11:46Please don't let it remember you.I stared at the message for several seconds.It had to be a prank.Maybe teenagers had to break.eight years ago.Abandoned houses attracted people like that.I touched the letters.The grooves were deep enough to catch my fingernail.
12:06Whoever carved them had taken their time.Each letter cut slowly and carefully.Mom appeared and asked what I was doing.I pointed at the wall and asked if she saw the writing.She looked directly at it and said she didn't see anything.My stomach tightened.I insisted it was there.She smiled like parents do when they think a child's imagining things and blamed the dust.
12:35She told me dinner was ready and walked away.When I looked back, the message was still there.Clear as day.Dinner felt uncomfortable.Dad was cheerful, talking about repairs while Mom kept looking toward the kitchen.Suddenly she stood and said she thought she made enough for five.Dad laughed and reminded her there were only four of us.She looked confused and said she didn't know why she said it.
13:04No one spoke after.While clearing the table, I noticed five place mats, five plates, and five glasses.One chair was pulled out like someone had just left.I asked Dad about the extra place.He looked and asked what extra place.I counted again.One, two, three.three, four. The fifth setting was gone. The chair was back in place. I stood there holding a plate,
13:36wondering if I was losing my mind. That night I refused to sleep. I left my door open and watchedthe hallway, waiting to see who moved through the house after midnight. The grandfather clock chimedmidnight. Then one. Nothing happened. Around two, my eyes grew heavy. I closed them for onlymoment before a soft click echoed. I looked up. Every bedroom door upstairs was slowly opening byitself, one after another. Not violently, just opening, as if someone unseen was checking,everyone was home. Then a woman's gentle voice came from downstairs. It sounded like a mothercalling her family to the table, saying dinner was ready. A moment later, another voice answered.from Dira's room.
14:34The problem was that Dira never called our mother, Mama, before.The moment I heard that, I was on my feet.My bedroom door swung open, and I stepped into the hallway and called for Dira.No answer.Her bedroom door was standing wide open now.I was certain I'd closed it before going into my room.The hallway was empty, but the air felt different.colder somehow.
15:04The kind of cold had seeped through your clothes and settled deep in your chest.I hurried toward her room.She wasn't in bed.The blanket had been thrown aside and her stuffed rabbit lay on the floor.My heart lurched.I called her name again.Still nothing.And then I heard it.
15:27Soft footsteps.Not upstairs, not downstairs.Someone was walking slowly across the wooden floor below.I rushed to the landing and looked over the banister.A faint yellow light spilled from the dining room.Someone was moving inside.I couldn't see a who, only a shadow, crossing the wall.I called dear his name, and this time my voice echoed through the house.
15:55The footsteps stopped.The silence that followed was somehow worse.I forced myself down the stairs, gripping the banister so tightly my knuckles hurt.Every step groaned beneath my weight.The closer I got, the stronger familiar smell became roasted meat, fresh bread.The same dinner we'd eaten hours earlier, only fresher as if it had just come out of the oven.When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I slowly leaned around the corner.The dining room was lit by the chandelier.
16:31The table was set again.Five plates, five glasses, five chairs.Steam curled lazily from bowls that hadn't been there when we'd gone to bed.But the room was empty.I called for Dira.A chair scraped across the floor.I jumped.It wasn't pushed by anyone I could see.
16:54It simply slipped backward a few inches, then stopped, as though someone had just stood up.My breathing became shallow.I told Deere, this wasn't funny.A child's giggle drifted from the kitchen.I spun toward the sound.Nothing.Then another laugh echoed behind me.Then another came from the hallway.
17:17I turned again, still nothing.The house had become impossibly quiet,until a clock somewhere struck three times.On the final chime,every light in the dining room went out.Darkness swallowed everything.I froze.Then in the darkness, I heard breathing.
17:41Not mine.Someone else's slow, patient, standing only a few feet away.I reached for the wall, desperately searching for the light switch.Before I found it, a warm hand gently rested on my shoulder.I spun around and hit the switch at the same time.switch at the same time.The lights flooded the room.There was no one behind me.
18:08No one in front of me.The dining room was empty again.The table was bare.Only four chairs surrounded it now.I stumbled backward, trying to convince myself I'd imagined everything.That's when I heard Dura's voice from upstairs, soft and sleepy, saying,good night, Mama.I looked toward the staircase.
18:33Dira was standing on the top landing in her nightdress.Her eyes were closed.She wasn't awake.She was sleepwalking.One small hand rested on the shoulder of someone I couldn't see.The shape beside her wasn't visible,but I knew someone was there because Dira's hand wasn't hanging in the air.It was resting on something.
18:56someoneshe smiled as a listening to a storythen nodded and whispered that she rememberedmy heart poundedremember whatshe'd only lived here for two daysI started toward the stairsbut a violent coughing fit stopped me
19:19it was momthe sound came from my parents' bedroomfor a second I forgot everything elseI told Dira to stay there, already running upstairs.By the time I reached my parents' room,Dad was sitting beside Mom, helping her catch her breath.She'd been struggling with those coughing spells and dizzy spells for months.Some nights were worse than others,
19:44and this sounded like one of the bad ones.I asked if she was okay.Mom managed a weak smile and nodded, saying she'd be fine.She always said that.Dad looked exhausted and told me to go back to bed that he had her.I glanced toward the hallway.Dira was gone.My stomach dropped.
20:10I told Dad I had just seen her.He frowned and asked who.I said Dira that she was standing outside.He looked toward the door before shaking his head and saying she'd been asleep for hours.I insisted she was right there.Without another word, I hurried to her room.She was tucked beneath her blanket exactly as if she'd never left.Her stuffed rabbit was back in her arms.
20:40I stood there unable to move.Did I imagine the whole thing?Was I sleepwalking?Then I noticed something lying on her bedside table.A small glass bottle.Dark brown.Old enough that the label had almost peeled away.It wasn't one of mom's medicines.
21:02The only word I could still read was, remember.The bottle disappeared the moment I blinked.I stood frozen.First the writing on the wall, then mom setting a place for five, then Dira.Now the bottle.Everything seemed to point to the same word.Remember.I went back to my room, but I barely slept after that.
21:28Every time I closed my eyes, I saw dear a smiling at someone who wasn't there.By morning, I'd almost convinced myself it had all been a nightmare.Almost.Then I noticed the scratches on my fingertips.I'd forgotten about the writing on the wall.The grooves had been so deep they scrape my skin when I ran my fingers across them.It hadn't been a dream.I got dressed without saying much during breakfast.
21:56Mom looked better, much better.She hadn't coughed once.The color had returned to her face,and for the first time in months she actually laughed at one of Dad's terrible jokes.Dad noticed it too and said he told me this place would do her good,that she already looked healthier.Mom smiled and said she did feel different.She paused for a moment and added that it was almost like she'd been home for a long time.
22:25Something about the way she said it made my stomach twist.Dad smiled.I couldn't.To me, home wasn't a word anyone should be using yet.Especially not our family.It's just not how we talk.After breakfast, Dad announced he was driving into town to pick up groceries and collect some medicine for mom.I said I'd come immediately.
22:50He shook his head and told me to stay here and help my mother unpack.Before I could argue, he grabbed the truck keys and left.The sound of the engine faded down the long gravel road.The house became quiet again.Too quiet.My mom carried a box toward the living roomand said she was going to sort through some old booksand would be downstairs if I needed her.
23:15I waited until I heard the floorboards creaked beneath her footsteps,then I headed upstairs,straight to the room with the warning.The words were still there.Please don't let it remember you.I searched the room again, checking the windows, fireplace, and floorboards.Nothing.As I turned to leave, my foot hit the old wardrobe.
23:37It shifted, revealing a narrow gap behind it.The wardrobe was heavy, but I was able to push it aside.I pushed it aside.Behind it was a hidden wooden door with no handle, only a rusted keyhole.It blended perfectly with the wall.I pressed my ear against it.Silence.I pushed, but it was locked.
24:03Then something clicked, and the door slowly opened by itself.Cold air escaped, carrying the smell of old paper.Inside was a tiny room filled with shelves of journals.A desk sat in the center with a frame photograph on it.I picked it up.A family of four stared back at me,a father, mother, little girl, and teenage boy my age.The parents and the girl's faces have been scratched away.
24:31Only the boy remained untouched.He looked strangely familiar, almost like me.Below the photo were the words,The Carter family, summer 2014.Twelve years ago, I grabbed the nearest journal.At first it was normal, homework, soccer, school,and I found a sentence that froze me.Mom called me Daniel again today.
25:01My name isn't Daniel.The pages continued.The house keeps correcting her.Dad says we've always lived here.That's impossible.Alice won't answer to her real name anymore.The house remembers us now.The final sentence was pressed so hard the pen tore the paper.
25:24If you're reading this,It's already starting to remember you too.The room suddenly felt smaller.The journals weren't just books.They were warnings.Every family that had lived here had experienced the same thing.Forgotten names, changing memories, photos that changed overnight.Children speaking to people no one else could see.
25:50Only one person always remembered the truth.The oldest child.I turned another page.One writer had written,The house isn't evil, it's lonely.It doesn't kill families.It keeps them.I looked around the shelves.
26:09Dozens of journals.Dozens of families.How many people had disappeared here?How many had forgotten who they were?Before leaving, I noticed an old calendar on the wall.Every date had faded except one.October 18.Today's date.
26:31It had been circled repeatedly.Below it were five words.It always begins today.A loud bang came from upstairs.Mom called from the kitchen.I quickly shut the hidden door and pushed the wardrobe back.The journals, the warnings, the Carter family.It couldn't be real.
26:55But everything Daniel wrote matched what had happened since we arrived.When I reached the stairs, I froze.The family photograph was sitting on the fireplace mantle.I picked it up.It showed mom, dad, Dera, and me standing outside the house on moving day.I almost relaxed.Until I looked closer.Our clothes had changed.
27:21Dad wore suspenders in a white shirt.Mom wore an old-fashioned floral dress.Dira wore a faded white dress.Only I was unchanged.Then the photograph shifted.The people inside moved without a flash or sound.The porch became older, paint peeled, mom's flowers disappeared.A wooden rocking chair appeared beside the door.
27:49The house was changing the picture.Someone was sitting in that rocking chair.An elderly woman.Her face was turned toward us.Except she didn't have one.Where her eyes, nose, and mouth should have been, was only smooth, pale skin.I gasped and nearly dropped the frame.When I looked again, the rocking chair was empty.
28:14The woman was gone.My breathing became uneven.I flipped a photograph over.Written across the back and faded black ink were words I knew hadn't been there before.The Carter family, summer 2014.My stomach lurched.I looked back at the front of the photograph.This time I wasn't standing there anymore.
28:36The teenage boy smiling between my parents wasn't me.It was the boy from the hidden room.Daniel.He smiled straight at me.Then, so slowly I almost convinced myself I'd imagined it.He winked.The photograph slipped from my trembling fingers and hit the wooden floor with a dull thud.At that exact moment I heard Dad's truck pulling into the driveway.
29:04I didn't pick the old photograph up.I couldn't.Whatever was happening inside this house wasn't confined to whispers in the night anymore.It was changing reality itself.That was the moment I realized I couldn't keep any of it to myself.No matter how impossible it sounded, I had to tell my family.Mom was unpacking dishes as though nothing had happened.When she turned and saw me, she smiled and asked if I could help her set the table.
29:32She looked normal, too normal.I studied her face.She seemed healthier than she had in months.The dark circles beneath her eyes had almost disappeared,and she moved around the kitchen with an energy I hadn't seen in a long time.She asked if I was okay.I nodded automatically and said, yeah, but I wasn't.Not even close.
30:00I couldn't focus on unpacking.Every time I looked at my family, I remembered the journals.Mom hummed softly as she folded towels.Dira sat cross-legged on the living room floor, quietly arranging her dolls.At first I assumed she was making up stories, then I noticed something.She kept pausing as though someone else was answering her.I walked closer and asked who she was talking to.She looked up and smiled and said, The Nice Lady.
30:32Every muscle in my body tightened.I asked what lady?She pointed toward the staircase and said the one who says we've almost remembered.I turned so quickly my neck hurt.The staircase was empty.When I looked back, Deer had gone back to playing as though nothing strange had happened.I wanted to ask her more.Instead I walked away because I was afraid of the answers.
30:59A few minutes later, Dad came in carrying grocery bags and said he managed to find everything my mother needed.Mom kissed his cheek and called him a lifesaver.I stared at them.They looked happy, normal, like the family we'd always been.Maybe I really was imagining everything.Maybe the journals belonged to someone who lost their mind.Then Dad looked at me and called me.and called me Daniel.
31:31The smile vanished from his face almost instantly.He blinked and apologized saying he didn't know why he kept saying that.Mom laughed softly and mentioned he'd called me Daniel three times today.He frowned and said it was strange.I didn't laugh.My chest tightened until it became difficult to breathe.The journals, Dura, the photograph, the warning on the wall, the hidden room.Every single thing was happening exactly as Daniel had written.
32:02I couldn't keep pretending anymore.If I stayed quiet, whatever had happened to the Carter family was going to happen to us.I looked from dad to mom, then to Dira.They were my family.If there was even the smallest chance I could save them, I had to try.My voice came up barely above a whisper.I said we needed to talk.Dad paused halfway through unpacking the groceries and asked, what about?
32:33I swallowed hard and said I'd been hiding something from all of them.The kitchen fell silent.Even Dera stopped coloring.I took a shaky breath.My heart was pounding so hard I thought they could hear it.I said, I knew this was going to sound impossible, but I thought this house was changing us.No one spoke.I gripped the edge of the table to stop my hands from shaking.
33:01I said I phoned something upstairs.Dad's expressions slowly changed from curiosity to concern, and he asked what I found.I said a hidden room.I hesitated remembering the shelves packed with journals.I said it belonged to the families who lived here before us.Mom frowned and asked what families.I said the ones who never really left.For the first time since we'd arrived here, I told him everything.
33:32I told him about the hidden room, about Daniel's journal, the warning scratched into the wall,the photographs changing, the voices at night, Dira calling someone else mama, the houseremembering people who no longer lived there.When I finished the silence that followed was heavier than anything I'd ever felt.I waited for someone to tell me I was wrong.instead dad slowly stood up from his chair for several long seconds nobody spoke dad looked at me the wayparents do when they're trying to decide whether their child is frightened or imagining thingsfinally he sighed and said my name in a calm voice he said moving here had been hard on all of us
34:17i started to protest but he told me to let him finish he rested both hands on the table and said i'd barelyslept since we arrived. I'd been hearing noises, seeing things, and now I was telling them I found a hiddenroom full of journals. I insisted I did. He said there isn't a hidden room upstairs. I argued that thereis and that I'd show him. Dad shook his head and said if it makes me feel better, we'll look afterdinner. I blurted out that it won't be there by then. The word surprised even me. Dad frowned andasked what I meant. I didn't know, but somehow I did. The house had a way of hiding things,of making people forget. Mom reached across the table and held my hand. She said that I alwayshad a vivid imagination. Lord always caught my attention. She said I used to tell stories about
35:17this house when I was little, pretending there were secret rooms. I reminded her we had only moved in threedays ago. Her smile faded. For a moment she looked confused, then laughed and said she didn't know whyshe said that. Before anyone could respond, Dira looked up from her coloring book and said thatMama remembered. The room went silent. Mama asked her what she meant. Dira explained that she meantthe other mama. Dad laughed nervously and called it an imaginary friend, but Dira shook her headand insisted it wasn't. She said the woman lived upstairs.She continued coloring and added that the woman had told her this was her house first.The crayons slipped from Mom's hand.
36:06Even Dad looked uncomfortable.Tara pointed toward the stairs and said she didn't hear the woman.She just told her.Then a floorboard creaked upstairs.Dad grabbed a flashlight and went to check.I wanted to follow, but he told me to stay with Mom.minutes passed.Then we heard his voice from upstairs calling out to mom that he'd phone something.
36:32Our family pictures and saying they had always been there.My blood ran cold.The journals were right.It had started.When Dad finally appeared, he was smiling.Not normally, peacefully.He said he found photo albums where his grandfather always kept them.I told him he never had a grandfather here.
36:58I told him our grandfather had never been here.He looked confused and said he'd been here his whole life.Mom nodded beside him.She said she remembered her wedding in the gardenand how they planted the roses themselves.I looked outside.Where dead weeds had been that morningwas now a garden full of roses.
37:21The house wasn't just changing their memories.It was changing reality.Dera smiled and said the nice mama said they were almost finished.Then every grandfather clock in the house began ringing.The walls shook.Hundreds of photographs appeared, showing families I didn't know.The Carter family and others before them.Then the pictures changed.
37:48The strangers became us.Dad wore clothes from another century.Mom stood beside people who weren't there.Dura laughed beside the faceless woman.Only I remained unchanged.Daniel's journal came back to me.Only the oldest child remembers.I ran to the hidden room.
38:10Behind the wardrobe, I found the journals.When I pulled Daniel's diary from the shelf,an iron key fell out with a note.If you still remember, burn the heart of the house.A mat beneath it led under the staircase.I raced down a staircase.stairs and found another hidden passage.Inside was a small room with a wooden cradle filled with photographs.
38:32Every family, every child, every memory, the house had stolen.Beneath them was a black wooden heart, beating with every tick of the grandfather claw.The house breathed with it.Then footsteps sounded behind me.I turned.The faceless woman stood in the doorway, wearing the faded white dress from the photograph.She whispered that I had called.come home.
38:57Her voice wasn't frightened.It was lonely.She said her family left, so she found another.I told her she couldn't keep them.She whispered that they would remember.They always do.She reached toward me.The wooden heart beat faster.
39:17I remembered the warning.The house isn't evil.It's lonely.It keeps them.I grabbed the lantern from the wall and threw it onto the wooden heart.For a moment nothing happened.Then the house screamed.The walls shook, windows shattered.
39:38The photographs caught fire.The faceless woman reached toward me, begging me not to leave her again.She crumbled into dust, whispering that she only wanted her family back.The wooden heart cracked once, twice, and split a little.apart. The screaming stopped. Silence filled the house. Outside the roses vanished. The wallpaperpeeled away. The strange warmth disappeared. Mom collapsed. Dad fell to his knees.Deer blanked like she'd been woken from a dream and asked why we were downstairs. One of themremembered anything. The hidden room was gone. The journals were blank. Every photograph showed only
40:27our family as if nothing had happened.We left the house before sunrise.Dad didn't argue.Mom never looked back.Three weeks later, the house was demolished.Or at least that's what the newspaper said.Years passed and I almost convinced myself it was all a nightmare.Then a package arrived with no return address.
40:51Inside was an old photograph.The Carter family, summer 2014.but Daniel was goneI was standing beside themon the backwritten in fresh black inkwere six wordswelcome home
41:10we remember you nowJohndid you just intentionallydo some spur of the moment public speakingwhata guy can't changeI think we need more than thatdid something happen to you recently
41:40come onYou guys have heard me this year.I've been in a place and I don't want to be there anymore.I've been planning this since I first showed up at the radio station.When this October is over, I want things to be different.I want a full system reset.That sounds great, but don't change too much.You have provided some much-needed comic relief at times.
42:07You did get yourself trapped in the giant spider web at camp.Okay.I think Michelle should switch to water for a little bit.Why?No offense, Michelle, but you gotta be drunk to think anyone would be dumb enough to get caught in that big web.John, I literally got you out of a...Okay, next up to the mic.We haven't actually scheduled storyteller, Michelle.
42:33Um, okay, I guess it's my turn.Hi, I am Michelle, and I want to tell you about Lucky 13.My human Tim is literally the best human in the entire world.He found me when I was a baby on the side of a busy highwayafter my mom and litter mates had left me behind.I'd gotten confused on where they went after they all jumped over the barrier.I was lost and alone.I remember how hot it was.
43:19The Texas sun baking down on me.and how I was so scared, with those big machines racing by trying to squash me.I was just about to give up and fall asleep forever when Tim found me.He stopped on the road, ran back, and picked me up, and held me to his chest the entire way home.I remember hearing his heartbeat, much louder, slower, and slower.stronger than mine. I felt safe, but still tired. I remember letting go and falling asleep in his kindhand. When I woke, Tim was giving me a bath. It was weird, but it actually felt good to get the dirtand the bugs off. Later on, I had to do a lot of cleaning on my own to smell right again, but overall,
44:19he did a great job. After that, he gave me the best food I'd ever had in my young life,along with plenty of water, a roof over my head, and all kinds of cool toys to play withfrom something called Amazon. To say that he saved my life is an understatement, and I willalways love him for it. My name is 13.I am a cat, a black cat, thank you very much, and a damn gorgeous one at that. Like I said,Tim takes very good care of me, and I know how lucky I am. Because of that, I take very good careof him too. I always meet him at the door when he comes home, and I jump up to the couch so I canpet him and purr to let him know that I missed him too. We snobbing him. We snobbing. We snobes.
45:19together when he watches movies about orcs and lightsabers, we share snacks, and we evenspend time in the backyard, sunbathing by the pool. When he goes to sleep, I make sureto curl up under his arm and we drift off together. We've been through a lot over the years,and I try to make sure he knows that I care for him. He was there for me when I caught a diseasedmouse, and after eating a juicy leg, I was burning with fever. He took me to the vet and gotpoked a lot, which was not fun, but I pulled through thanks to Tim. Likewise, I was therefor him when we didn't have much food to go around. When times were lean, I brought him thecatches I made in the backyard. Lizards, snakes, small birds and mice, all became gifts for him.
46:19When he found them, he'd make a funny face, but I could tell that deep down, he knew I was helping.Lately, we've done quite well for ourselves. However, it was tough. I watched him spend a lot oftime on this thing he calls a laptop, pecking away furiously on the keyboard, in spite of myefforts to make him pay attention to me. Once I even got sprayed with the water gun for layingdown on it and apparently flipping the screen upside down. That was a rough day. Still, I was therewith him when he had to stay up late and wake up early. I was there when he failed, and I was therewhen he succeeded. He worked hard and he worked honestly so that he could provide for thetwo of us, and we were very happy. We did it all together, and again, I know how lucky I am.
47:23Even now, he always gets me the best food, the good, yummy wet food from a can, with the realpieces of fish in them. None of that crunchy hard stuff for me thinks. I had to train him out ofthat bland garbage, but he caught on quickly, thank goodness. He even put small ledges around the wallsof our entire house so that I can find places to perch and people watch whenever I want. This is importantbecause Tim has a lot of friends. They're almost all males and they love to come watch football,and they all wear the same shirts called jerseys. All of the boys do a lot ofof whooping and hollering when they get together, and someone always spills beer, but that's okay.They're all actually very nice, and they let me jump on their laps, and a few of them even
48:20share their snacks with me. Those guys are the best. Still, sometimes the noise can get a littleoverwhelming, which is why the ledges are nice. They also give me an advantage for keeping an eyeon the other people that come over.The females.For me to call another creature catty is ironic, but it's the only way to describe them.A lot of the time, they stay in the kitchen drinking wine and talking about the males.When they're not doing that, they're talking about each other.Some of them are okay, and they'll give me scritches while I'm up on my ledge,
49:04and they tell me how pretty I am.But I can also tell that these females are always sizing each other up.One particular afternoon, one of the females, Tracy, the others called her,said to another female, Genevieve, that she wanted to introduce my Tim to a friend of hers.He's such a catch, and you know they'd make a cute couple.Tracy said, almost purring. I re-centered myself on my perch to get a better look at her and narrowed my eyes.I didn't care for where this conversation was going. Oh, absolutely. Genevieve gushed. They'd be perfect together.From there, I overheard an entire scheme to get my Tim together with some other female named
50:01Sadie, who apparently wasn't there that evening. There was talk about a party and then some kind ofthing called a hot girl walk, like Tim doesn't get enough exercise, rude, and then somethingcalled a date. While I admittedly didn't understand many things that humans did, I felt somethingstirring in my mind, and I openly didn't like it.I could tell that these females were trying to take my Tim away from me.And that simply would not do.Meanwhile, I noticed in the coming days that Tim was getting upset when he was working.Tim got to work from home because some human disease that almost wiped all of the humans out,
50:56but that suited me just fine, more time with Tim.Still, I could clearly see that his body would always get tense when he had to talk to a particularperson called the boss. Apparently, the sweaty little man in Tim's laptop was unhappywith how Tim was doing his job, though from what I'd heard, other people say, my Tim was wonderful.That sweaty little man's whiny, bottled voice bothered.me so badly, I always ran out of the room. Finally, one day, after a particularly long session withthe boss, I quietly came back into Tim's office. Tim had his head in his hands and was weeping.I quietly crept closer, and he turned his head to look at me. He had tears in his eyes.
51:57Oh, hey, girl, hi, honey.He said, holding his hands low.I trotted over and rubbed my face against his hand.And with what sounded like a sob, he scooped me up.I could hear his heartbeat, slow and strong, but I also heard his sadness.It lasted for a while.I was there for him.Thanks for making me feel better, 13.
52:25He said his tears covering my fur once he was done crying.I guess I'll have to find another job before we lose all this, huh?Lose all this?No.That won't do either.That evening, after Tim had gone to bed,I trotted out the small door he had installed for me and went for a hunt.This was not your normal everyday hunt, however.
52:54No lizards or mice this time.And I would be coming home with a different,prize for Tim. While it did take me most of the night to get across town, it was still fun.Being outside in the night is something cats are born to do. We, as a species, are the verypinnacle of predatory perfection, eyes that see in the dark, ears that pick up the slightest sound,razor-sharp reflexes, and claws. Yes, all made to take our prey down.with ease. Still, as I waited on the front porch of the boss's house, I had a different plan inmine. I casually took a bath and waited for the small sweaty man to come outside. His front porch
53:46was made out of brick and had a number of wide stone steps that lead down to a sidewalk.It would have been nice to sunbathe there. After all, I'd been up all night, but I had to staysharp and ready to pounds. As the sun began to come up, I heard the front door unlock, and the bossmade his appearance. He was even more disgusting in real life than he was on the laptop. He was veryshort, much shorter than my tim, and was fat, with sweat stains under his arms. He smelledlike both lona and coffee, and was, without a doubt, one of the most repulsive creatures I'd everseen. Still, for the moment, I had to act nonchalant. I hopped down and casually trotted over to him,rubbing my side against his leg and looked at him. What the? The boss, said, looking down,
54:49fumbling with some keys. Shoot, get away, foul creature!He kicked at me. He actually kicked at me. At me. As he turned toward the stairs, I rolled back on myhunches and got ready. As his foot came down toward the first step, I immediately ran betweenhis legs and under his descending shoe. As everyone knows, humans have horrible balance,and sure enough, my plan worked flawlessly.The boss tried to adjust his foot to avoid stepping on me, and in almost slow motion he lost his balance, and down he went, hitting every one of those stone steps on the way down.Near the bottom, and by now he'd picked up an impressive amount of speed.There were a few delightful cracks, and the boss hit the sidewalk and laid still on her.
55:54his back. I slowly descended the steps and paused to look at him. He was still alive, but his neck wasbroken, and there was blood coming out of his ears and nose. One eye had gone completely red.He gurgled something, and he looked at me, right into my green eyes. He stared into me with astrange combination of rage, fear, insults, and panic.I was still looking into his eyes as the life left him with a long questioning sigh.With that, I headed home, quite pleased with myself and knowing how happy this would make Tim.As it turned out, due to the tragic loss of the boss, Tim was moved into his positionand was apparently very well received with the people he worked with.
56:52He started making much more money, which I understand is how we get cat food and litter and toys from a mason,and had definitely returned to his normal happy self.Still, over the next few weeks, Tim had become much less available.He talked on his phone more, both during and after work.He'd leave our home for hours at a time, coming home with a house.a smile on his face late at night, but barely paid attention to me. Soon after that, he'd be goneall night. And when he came home in the morning, he smelled like flowers and spices, and, and yes, a female,Sadie.
57:47This was an outrage, the things I do for him, and this is how I'm repaid?No, no, this will not do.One October afternoon, Tim came home, bursting through the door with more groceries than usual.After awkwardly putting the bags in the kitchen, he huffed.Guess what, 13? We're having Sadie over for dinner tonight. I could hear the excitement in his voice.I can't wait for you to meet her. I think you're really going to like her.And with that, he started taking things out of the bags and immediately began chopping and cooking and baking.He set the table with a bunch of what he called the good plates and way more stuff than when we would just eat on the couch.
58:43He turned some music on, and while normally I enjoy Tim singing, this time, it began gratingon my nerves.As the sun started to go down that evening, and as the air became crisp with the coolsnap of autumn, there was a knock at our front door.Tim opened it and in walked an admittedly lovely young woman with honey-colored hair and greeneyes. She gave him a quick kiss on his cheek, followed by a smile and a hug. As she stepped intoour home, she noticed me on the couch where I always welcomed Tim home. Well, hello there!She said with a smile as she reached out to pet me, goodness, you're just gorgeous, aren't you?
59:35You must be 13. I let her pet me, only because I knew Tim would get mad.if I was ugly to her. However, my instinct was to maul her face. While I let it slide, I laid my ears back andnarrowed my eyes at her. Sadie and Tim had a lovely dinner as I watched from my perch. They had salmon,which apparently causes amnesia because Tim didn't even share with me. They talked and laughedand held hands, and then later turned on something called Netflix, though they certainly weren'twatching the TV. Watching the mating rituals of humans is gross, so I went outside by the poolto collect my thoughts. Sadie had to go soon. Finally, as the evening got late, Tim and Sadie went toTim's room and got into bed. I noted that Sadie was also laying on my side of the bed and on my pillow.
01:00:50After some quiet whispers to each other, they soon fell asleep. Sadie, fortunately, was a verysound sleeper, which suited my purposes just fine. I quietly jumped up on the bed and stealthily crept closer to her face.So close now, I could feel her breath on my fur, smell the flowers and spices she wore on her skin.So, this was the woman who thought she could steal my Tim away from me.This is the woman who, after everything I'd done for Tim, thought she could just saunter into our lives and take him away from me?No, the thought made my blood boil.My eyes narrowed in hatred of this female, and I knew the moment had come.My paw shot out like black lightning and with razor precision.
01:01:55I sliced open the large vein in her neck with a single claw.Blood spurted out, clinging to my whiskers and dappling my paw.Oddly, however, Sadie never even opened her eyes or made a sound.To this day, I'm not sure if she even knew what happened.I sat there and watched the blood flow out, darker and darker, slower and slower,and listened as her breathing became more shallow, until it finally stopped.At first, I felt kind of bad.But then I thought about it and decided I hadn't acted rashly in the least.
01:02:42With Sadie dispatched, I crept over to my tent and seeing him still sleeping soundly, I took a quick bath.Blood can be hard to get out of your fur if you don't take care of it quickly.It can get kind of tacky, so it's best to clean up as soon as you can.After getting presentable, I patted onto my face.tin's chest and listened to his heartbeat, much louder, slower, and stronger than mine,knowing he still belonged to me alone forever.Nicely done.Thanks, but are we?
01:03:33I can't promise that things are going to be 100% different as far as my personality's concerned,and I can't promise that there aren't still going to be days this month that I'm not moping around.But look at it more like me,getting it out of my system and saying goodbye to old John.Honestly, it's best just to ignore old John when he shows up.I know it's a lot to ask and I'm sorry, but really, it'll make the transition easier andbe better for all of us.Now, who wants mozzarella sticks?
01:04:03Yeah!What's a mozzarella sticks?Bring to me to Mots!But they come with marinara, not ranch, we're not monsters.See, things are looking up already.I got to run to the bathroom.Hey John.What's up?
01:04:23Sorry.Bartender just asked me to remind you that you forgot to pay out your tab last night.I did.Oh, geez, sorry.Let me take a look.I'll take care of it.Thanks.Jesus.
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