Day 26 - Behind Closed Doors & Carved
00:00I'm John Grills from Creepy, and I listen to the Be Afraid Podcast Network.Creepy presents the 31 Days of Horror.Day 26.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 are simply fabrications is for you to decide.These stories may contain graphic depictions of violence and explicit language.
00:48Listener discretion is advised.Oh, crap. I'm sorry I'm late, everyone.A little caught up in some things.What things?I'm sorry?What things were you caught up in?Sorry, I'm from Minnesota.I'm not used to direct questions about my vague reasons.
01:16It's a fair question, though, right?I mean, this was supposed to be a team-building trip,and it seems like you've been disappearing somewhere for half of it.And when you're actually around,half the time you're all sad and half the time you're the life of the party.You can understand that's at least mildly concerning to us, right?Yeah, no.You're right.
01:40I suppose I should have been a little more forthright with things.I honestly didn't think it would distract me this much.It's just...What?Is everything okay?I mean, no.But it will be.It's just that there's someone in town that I don't really get along with.
02:04And no matter what I do, we just don't see eye to eye.And we've worked together in the past and...Well, let's just say that we don't see eye to eye on a lot of things.So I've been spending more time than I'd like to trying to deal with them.Do you need us to kick someone's ass?Or at least write them some strongly worded social media posts?Or we could sign them up for 25 extremely specific magazines,like modern beekeeper, tractors monthly, modern taxidermy, etc.
02:35And then we create a spreadsheet ranking them by how incompatible each magazine is to this person's personality.Then we time the subscriptions so that each one arrives on a differentday of the month. Then...Owen. How many more steps does your plan have?Um, 17.Cool. Can we skip to the last one?Profits.Nice.
02:58Well, I appreciate the thought, everyone, but I have it handled.Really? Don't worry. None of this is going to involve you.I'm not going to involve any of you in it. It's just between me and him.and before you ask, no, I won't need an alibi, I think.I know this is supposed to make me feel better, but is it weird that I kind of feel left out now?Yeah, yeah.Just a little.So let me get this part straight.
03:32When y'all get draged into something ridiculous, you assume one or all of you are going to die.But when you're all kept clear of anything stupid, you feel left out?I don't say soNotedAnyway, you all can rest easyFor the remainder of the monthNothing bad is going to happen to youWhy are you all staring at me
04:01I'll go get the first roundI'm honestly not sure which concerns me moreThe idea that John would intentionallyPut us in situations that put us in dangerOr that now he wouldn'tDefinitely the second oneBut what are we supposed to do about it?Demandie be less thoughtful?
04:28I said we just give him space and treat this like a gift.All right, looks like we got the technical issue squared away.So let's get Nicole up here.Wow, there's a lot of people here.Well, my story is called behind closed doors.I was adopted at the age of seven.Not many people know that about me,and when someone finds out, I just tell them I don't like talking
05:07about it. They'll give me a sad smile and say, I understand. It must have been hard for you.They must think my parents died or abandoned me. Maybe I was abused or neglected and didn't want torelive awful memories. The truth is much worse, much darker. It's easy to forget about it,to push those memories to the very back of my mind and lock them tightly away. But sometimessomething triggers them. And this time, I just can't ignore it.Let me start from the beginning.I was the middle child in a family of five.I'd enjoyed a few years of being the youngest daughter,
05:45doted upon by my mother, father, and my older sister, Sarah.Then Sam showed up,and the new baby brother brought an unexpected burden to the family.Don't get me wrong.I was ecstatic to be a big sister.And my parents adored the three of us.But Sam was a sickly baby, and our finances dwindled.I was too young to even think about money.
06:07All I knew is that we were getting fewer presents on holidays, and we didn't get to travel anymore.So about two years after Sam was born, when my dad had a business trip just out of state,the whole family jumped at the opportunity to take a small vacation.I remembered stopping at my Aunt Lydia's house after a long car ride.She was my mom's only sister, and actually the only extended family member I can remember.Mom and dad were exhausted.Sarah and I had been bickering the whole way.She was 15 and had no time for pesky little sister.
06:37Sam had slept soundly until the last hour when he broke out into an inconsolable whale.We weren't staying with my aunt, but she lived close to the hotel we'd booked, so it was theperfect place for a pit stop.I'd always felt a little uncomfortable around my aunt.She was nice enough, but she kept stroking my hair, petting my cheek, and kept me in hersight for the entire stay.Mom said later that Lydia had been unable to have kids and thought of me as a daughter,even though we rarely came to visit.
07:05We had the same red hair and gray eyes, I noticed, and wondered if that was why she preferred me to Sarah.Casey, my aunt said as we were leaving, I have a gift for you.She produced a woven necklace from her pocket and tied it around my neck.There was a small charm on the end, a small disc carved out of wood, and it had some kind of drawing on it.I wondered if she'd made it herself.She put her finger to her lips and smiled.I realized she'd only gotten a present for me,not Sarah or Sam, and didn't want them to know.
07:39Thanks, Aunt Lydia, I said shyly and hopped in the car.After arriving at the hotel and unpacking, we had a pretty uneventful first night.There was a pool at the hotel and Sarah and I were excited to go swimming first thing in the morning.Sarah had spotted some cute boy one floor below us, so she spent an hour picking out a swimsuit to wear.I flipped through the TV channels while Sam toddled around unsteadily, laughing as mom played peekaboo with him.Dad had left for his conference already.I first noticed something strange a few hours after we'd gone down to the pool.Sarah had gone back up to the room about 15 minutes after leaving.
08:14The cute boy was nowhere to be found, and she wanted to trade her cute swimsuit for a comfortable one.I'd waited and waited for her to return, as she promised to show me how to do a handstand under water.Finally, I swam over to where my mom was, sitting by the kitty pool as Sam splashed in shallow water.I asked where Sarah was.Who?Mom asked.She looked up from her book.I thought she hadn't heard me, so I repeated,
08:38Where's...Who's Sarah, honey?Chills ran down my spine.I didn't even know how to respond.Just then, Sam tripped and dunked his head underwater,and mom whisked him out of the pool and onto her lap,momentarily forgetting about me.Who's Sarah?
08:55The words rang in my ears.I must have misheard her or she was joking.A knot formed in my stomach and I couldn't bring myself to ask a third time.I spent the rest of the day in the pool, trying to touch the bottom of the deep end,diving deep until my lungs burned and my ears felt like they would burst.Sarah never came back.You're probably wondering why I didn't make a big deal about my sister going missing.I guess I felt that if the grown-ups weren't worried, I shouldn't be worried.
09:21Maybe they'd let her go somewhere on her own and my mom just misunderstood when I asked about her.What other explanation could there be?But to this day, I don't know why I didn't bring it up again when she didn't return that night.or when I noticed her things had disappeared from our room.The next day, things got worse.Sarah still hadn't returned.And what baffled me was that no one had even mentioned her.It felt like it was a taboo subject
09:44and I wasn't going to be the first to break the silence.Dad didn't have a meeting till that evening,so he was going to spend that afternoon with us at the pool again.Up you go, Case, he said as he threw me over his shoulder.I giggled in some of the tension I'd been feeling since yesterday lifted slightly.We were still up in the hotel room.Mom and Sam were downstairs in the lobby already.Dad carried me out into the hallway and pressed the elevator button.
10:09Oops, he said.Forgot the towels.He set me down and said,hold the elevator for me, I'll be back in two shakes.About a minute later, the elevator came.I stuck my foot against the door.I could see our room's door at the end of the hallway and waited for it to open.The elevator doors tried to close.
10:26Once, twice.On the third time, a buzzer sounded.Obviously I'd been holding it too long.so I took my foot out and let it close.Three more times the elevator came,and each time I held the doors until I heard the buzzer.Dad didn't come out of the room.The hallway was empty, and I felt so alone.
10:46Tears began to stream down my face.The next thing I knew, the elevator opened again.Mom was inside holding sand by the hand.The second she saw me, she began to yell.Where were you, Casey?I've been looking all over for you.Don't you ever wander off like that.My once silent tears turned into sobs.
11:04I was with Dad, you knew that.Mom's face turned from anger to confusion.What are you talking about?Dad went into the room.He was going to get to tell so he could go swimming.I choked out through my sobs.Fear flickered across my mother's face.Just then, the door to the stairwell opened up and a maid came into the hallway.
11:26My mother grabbed her arm.My daughter says there's a man in our room.She whispered frantically.She said he claimed to be her father, but I'm a single mother.My mouth gaped.What was Mom talking about?The maid nodded, eyes wide, and rushed off to find security.Bewildered, I took Sam's hand.
11:45I said nothing.Hotel staff searched the room and found nothing.Dad wasn't there.Neither were his things.They checked the cameras, too, and said there was no man there.They just saw me leaving the room and waiting by the elevator.Mom scolded me for telling lies and said I couldn't go swimming.today. She said I was to stay in the room all day and think about what I'd done. It was as I walked
12:06towards the hotel room, humiliated and utterly confused that I felt it. It was a dizzy feeling,like I was standing on the edge of a cliff. I stopped at the doorway of the open room, my toes justat the edge of the doorframe. I felt, no, I knew that if I took just one more step, I would topple,plunge into nothingness. I swear I could even hear the hollow echo of a bottomless abyss.In seconds, it clicked.It was the room.Sarah had gone back to the room to change,and with the closing of a door she had vanished,
12:37disappeared from existence.Dad had gone back, shut the door in, poof, same thing.But Mom, Sam and I stayed in the room too, I wondered.Then I realized,Dad and Sarah had gone in alone.And now, so had I.The realization had happened in seconds.I took three huge steps backwards and ran smack into Mom.
13:00She, still furious with me over my lies, grabbed me by the arm and started to drag me towards the room.My heels dug into the carpet and I started to scream.No, no, no, let me go!I shouted and she pulled me closer to the room.I scratched at her arm and kicked her legs.Even then, I was appalled at myself.This was my sweet, adoring mother and I had never lashed out like this before.She had no idea she was pulling me towards death or worse, nothingness.
13:29Guests poked their heads out of their rooms at the commotion.Sam sat down in the middle of the hallway and began to wail.We were at the edge of the room and in a desperate attempt to free myself,I bit my mother on the hand that was holding me.Hard.Shocked, she dropped me and stepped back into the room.I fell to the ground.Then, though it was an accident, I did something that I regret to this day.
13:51While scrabbling backwards, my leg kicked out and slammed the door shut.All was quiet.I stared at the door in horror.after what seemed like an eternity I stood up and, against my better judgment, turned the doorknob.It was locked.Oh, right, I thought, and fumbled for the magnetic key in my pocket.I turned the knob again and the door swung open.The room was empty.
14:15Fresh tears pricked my eyes and I turned away.That's when I noticed Sam wasn't crying anymore.His face was unstained with tears and the only flush in his cheeks was the glow of a happy baby boy.It was as if he had never been crying in the first place, as if he didn't remember Mom and Me fighting at all.He just looked up at me and cooed.Just then the stairwell door swung open.It was the same maid who'd gotten security for us earlier.She was pushing her cart of cleaning supplies past us when she noticed my expression of horror.
14:43She knelt down and asked me what was wrong.When she looked at me, there wasn't even a flicker of recognition.I can't find my mom, I said after a few seconds.I didn't know what else to say.I sunk down on the floor and hugged Sam to me.The police came that night along the CPS.The hotel staff had been stumped as to how two children had shown up in their hotel alone,and no one had noticed it until now.
15:07I told the police my home phone number and address,and they had my hometown's precinct to check it out.The house was empty, and the number disconnected.I didn't know my aunt's address, but I gave them her name.I didn't tell them anything else after that.It was on the official report that Sam and I had been abandoned at the hotel,for reasons unknown. No foul play was detected. It seemed that no family members came forward.So Sam and I went into foster care for a brief while before he was adopted.
15:34They don't like to split up siblings, but it still happens. Luckily, I was adopted soon after bya wonderful couple, and despite what I've been through, I've been living a happy life.My previous life has all but vanished without a trace, aside from Sam, who I see only occasionally.He doesn't remember a thing. One fear has still lingered.I refused to be alone in a room with the door closed.Now, back to where I started.Why I'm writing this now?Well, my boyfriend Ryan and I decided to take a short trip
16:04before heading back to college for our sophomore year.Not to anywhere in particular.We just thought we'd go where the road takes us.On the third day, I guess I hadn't really been paying attention to the map.And we found ourselves very near that fateful hotel.It was getting dark.And I only realized where we were when Ryan pointed at a sign and said,hey, maybe we can stop there for the night. I froze when I read the sign. It was exactly the same
16:28hotel. I broke into a cold sweat, but at the risk of Ryan thinking I was absolutely crazy, managed tostay calm and suggested we get another hour or two of driving into night. I hoped he couldn't hearthe twinge of fear in my voice. Ryan shrugged and said that was fine by him. I breathed the sigh ofrelief. But it was just a couple of miles down the road when I saw something that made me slam on my brakes.Ryan cursed as the car behind us blared its horn and swerved around us, but I didn't care about that.What I did care about was the house just in front of us.Even in the fading light, I recognized it.Aunt Lydia's house.
17:05And outside in the garden was a familiar woman with a shock of red hair.I was in shock.I couldn't speak, and I certainly couldn't drive anymore.I'll never forget how Ryan didn't freak out when he saw what state I was in.He gently pulled me over into the passenger seat, went around to the driver's side,and drove us to the nearest motel. He didn't say a word as he helped me up the stairs and into the room,just held me until I was ready to talk. And when I still couldn't talk, I wrote. So that's my story.You've read it, Ryan's read it, and I'm finally ready to take a huge step. Tomorrow I'm going to see my
17:39aunt. I wonder if she'll remember me, or if she'll remember her sister, my mother. I can't bethe only one to remember them after they'd disappeared. I just can't. And as unlikely as it seems,I still have the carved necklace she gave me.One small token from my previous life.I'm sure Aunt Lydia made it herself.So she has to remember.The morning after I wrote my first post,Ryan and I drove back to my aunt's house.
18:07We parked outside for almost an houras I worked up the courage to walk up to the front door.Ryan and I had been up almost the entire night talking about my past.My family, the hotel, the disappearances.I'm not even sure he believed me.What sane person would?But he believed in me, and that's what mattered.I got out of the car, gave him a small wave, and headed across the street to the house.
18:30I had to do this alone.I knocked.Once, twice.The third time, I stopped mid-knock when I saw the curtains rustle in the window next to the door.Hello?I called out.Lydia?The door creaked open.
18:45I gasped as a woman stepped forward.Red hair, gray eyes.It was her.It felt like it was.a dream come true or a nightmare. This woman, my aunt, was evidence of a terrible part of my lifeI wished weren't real. But here she was in the flesh. She peered at me and with a sinking heartI knew she didn't recognize me. That I was a stranger to her. But I'd come this far to give up.Aunt Lydia? I said in a small voice. My hands were shaking. Her eyes narrowed and then opened wide.
19:16Casey? She remembered me. Without thinking Iflung myself into her arms and began to sob.She hesitated for a second and then hugged me back.Casey, my dear, all these years have been so worried when your mother and father...She trailed off and continued to hold me wordlessly.She remembered Mom and Dad, I'm not crazy.I sniffed and took a step back.Lydia stroked my hair and looked at me, smiling fondly.
19:42The last time I'd seen her, I was a child.And now I was just an inch or too taller than she was.There was just so much to take in and Lydia's...seem to understand.Why don't you come in for a cup of tea?She offered and held the door open.As I entered the house, I heard Ryan's car start up.I had my cell phone in my pocket.
20:01He'd come back to pick me up when I called.Inside the house looked the same as I remembered it.The walls were a little dingy with peeling wallpaperand the shelves were lined with all sorts of little knick-knacks,ceramic figurines, decorative plates and utensils, and strange dried flowers.The whole house smelled of herbs of some sort.I wondered if she cooked off.I looked for photos on the wall hoping to see one of my family, but there were none.
20:26Aunt Lydia handed me some tea.It was bitter, but the warmth felt good.I sipped it and waited for her to speak.When your parents left you, the police did contact me.She began slowly, sitting across the table from me.They said you told them my name.It was strange, though.They weren't able to prove that I was your aunt.
20:46In fact, they weren't able to prove who you were or who your parents were.I was distraught.I told them you needed to be around family, but they couldn't even tell me what happened to you.Because my parents were sucked into a haunted hotel room, I thought.And the second I thought that it seemed absolutely ridiculous.I was a child then.Could I have remembered it wrong?Did my parents actually abandon me and I twisted it around in my head so it wasn't their fault?
21:11I flushed as I realized, that's probably exactly what happened.Aunt Lydia mistaked my embarrassed blush for one of sadness and patted my arm.There, there, everything's okay now.We spent the rest of the day talking.Not about the sad subject of my abandonment and subsequently our estrangement, but of my life.I told her about school, Ryan, and my friends back home.She listened intently to my every word.She told me a bit about her life as well, her gardening, her job, and even her fiancé who lives down the road.
21:42Before I knew it, it was dark out.I'd been here the whole day.I stood up to go, and Aunt Lydia stopped me.I have a spare room.Please stay the night, you're always welcome here.I hesitated.But still elated that I'd finally found my aunt decided to stay.I called Ryan and apologized profusely, and he agreed to pick me up the next day.
22:02Lydia asked me to stay downstairs while she readied the room.I busied myself by coming through my hair in the bathroom.I found myself wishing I'd brought a toothbrush in PJs.Maybe Lydia had some upstairs?I climbed up the steps and saw three doors.The first one I passed was obviously her bedroom.She wasn't in there, so I peeked into the next room.Inside was a crib, a rocking chair, and a changing table.
22:26Strange, I thought.Didn't mom say she couldn't have kids?Your room's this way, came a voice from behind me.I jumped.Lydia took me firmly by the hand and led me to the third room.She seemed a little agitated, and I felt bad for snooping around.My room had two double beds, which I also found strange for someone who lived alone.But I was glad I'd be able to stretch out comfortably.
22:47There was an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach, though, and I wasn't sure why.Thanks, Aunt Lydia, I said, and I meant it.This whole day felt like a huge weight had been taken off my shoulders.She smiled warmly and started to leave.Just then a thought popped into my head.This whole time, she hadn't once asked about my sister or brother.Not that I knew what happened to Sarah, but she must want to hear about Sam.A Sam's doing okay too, I called out.
23:13She turned but didn't say anything, so I continued.was adopted into another family. They live far away, but they're pretty nice, and I see him onholidays. Oh, that's nice, sweetie, Lydia said. I'm glad to hear it. She turned and walked away.That was weird, I thought. It was like she didn't even care about Sam, but all day she'd beenenraptured with my mundane life. I'd always been her favorite. But I thought she'd at leastwant to hear if Sam was okay. I pushed the thought out of my mind. It was late and I'd hardlygotten sleep the night before, so I just wanted to go to bed.I left the door open a crack, a habit born from my fear of closed doors.
23:51Even with my new revelation that I'd imagined the whole hotel incident, that fear wasn't going to go away so easily.I took my phone out of my pocket, and with it came the woven necklace my aunt had given me so long ago.I'd forgotten I'd brought it with me to remind her, and it turned out I didn't need it after all.I placed the necklace on the drawer and thought maybe I'd find some PJs in the dresser drawer.It was locked.I sat down on the bed, still feeling uneasy.Then it hit me.The room was exactly the same layout as the hotel room.
24:22I felt a little sick.Surely it was a coincidence, but it was exactly the same nonetheless.I didn't want to bother Lydia, but I needed to get out.Just for a minute, though.Just for some fresh air.I crept out of the room, past Lydia's closed bedroom door, and left the house.It was a breezy night and I felt so much better the second I was outside.I'm overreacting, I thought.
24:46But I still wanted to go for a while.walk before heading back inside. Just a couple houses down, I noticed something odd. One house had the doorwide open. The house was dark except for a dim light in one upstairs window. It seemed like a safeenough neighborhood, but I still doubted the owner would have chosen to leave his front door open.I ran up to the stoop and called into the house. Hello? After a moment, I heard footsteps coming downthe stairs. My pulse quickened. What if I just stumbled into a robbery or worse? I wished I'dbrought my cell phone. A man appeared by the door. He looked disheveled, a little annoyed,but otherwise harmless. I wondered if I had just woken him up. Sorry, I saw your door was open,
25:28so I just wanted to make sure everything was okay, I explained. I'm staying just on the road. Maybeyou know Lydia? The man smiled softly. Oh, sorry, I've been keeping the door open lately. You must beCasey. Lydia's told me so much about you. I was puzzled. When did she have the time to talk tosomeone else since I'd arrived. I thought back to our earlier conversations and decided this must bethe fiancé she was telling me about. I nodded and the man continued. Lydia's been so kind lately.I've been going through some issues. He took a deep breath like he was getting ready to tell a bigsecret or confession. My wife and baby disappeared a few months ago. They didn't walk out on me.They just disappeared. First, my little boy, one minute he was in his room, then I noticed he hadn't
26:12cried in a while, so I went to check on him. He wasn't.there. And my wife, she, she said we didn't even have a son. His words were coming out in a rush.He looked apologetic like he wasn't sure why he was telling me this. But he couldn't stop himself.My eyes grew wide. He continued. She was insisting we had no kids and I started to yell at her.She was frightened and I grabbed her arm and dragged her upstairs to the nursery. She couldn't denyher son while standing in his nursery. She screamed as I threw her in the room and slammed the door.Then she stopped screaming. I thought she was hurt.or worse, so I opened the door.
26:47She was gone. Just gone.He raised his eyes upwards in defeat.Then he looked back down at me and saw the terror in my eyes.I am so sorry, he said.I don't know where that came from, but Lydia's the only one who believes me.Everyone else says I never had a wife or son.I guess I just wanted to talk to someone else who'd believe me.And you are her daughter, after all.
27:09The word daughter snapped me out of my days.I'm not her daughter, I said, and another lie again.occurred to me. And you aren't her fiancé, are you? The man looked confused. I'm sorry. She's alwaystalking about her daughter Casey who lives out of town. And I didn't think Lydia had a fiancé.Actually, I thought she might be interested in me, but considering the circumstances, I cut him off.I believe you, I whispered. Pieces of a puzzle were starting to fall into place, but I couldn'tmake out the whole picture. A hotel room where people disappeared behind closed doors. A nursery where awife and child vanish, a man who shared my fear of closed doors, and somehow Lydia is in the
27:51middle of this. I shuddered as I remembered the rooms in her house, a nursery and a hotel room.I glanced back at the man hoping for more answers and gasped. For the first time, I noticed somethingtied around his neck. It was a woven necklace with a wooden carving, exactly like mine.Over the course of an hour, I told the man Nathan everything. He was pale and shaken by the end of mytale, but mostly he was furious. We couldn't be sure, but we had an idea of what had been going on.He said he'd seen strange books while at Lydia's house. They looked like they had symbols andmaybe spells written in them, but she'd whisked them away before he could get a good luck.It would seem that Lydia, unable to have children, coveted her favorite niece as her own.
28:33Using some sort of witchcraft on the spare rooms in her house, I imagine, she'd concocted a plan toorphan her prospective daughter, but the plan backfired. Years later, a handsome but married manmoved into the neighborhood, and Lydia's jealousy flared up again. The necklace, Nathan said,was given to him for protection, according to Lydia. He wasn't superstitious, but he wore it inappreciation. We assumed she gave us the necklaces to keep us from disappearing as well.I also wondered if it was the reason we could remember those who disappeared. After we toldeach other our stories, Nathan became agitated. It's all her fault, he muttered over and over.Then without warning he took off toward Lydia's house.
29:14I was scared of what he would do when he got there, and even more scared of what I would do.I ran after him.When I got within sight of the house, my stomach dropped.Ryan's car was parked out front.I don't think I've ever run that fast in my life.I overtook Nathan, who'd had a good head start on me and ran into the house.I wanted to call out to Ryan to see if he was okay, but my gut told me to stay quiet.The living room and kitchen were dark and silent.
29:41I paused, not breathing, and heard a muffled sound coming from the second floor.Then I nearly leapt out of my skin when Nathan appeared behind me.I put a finger to my lips and pointed upstairs.We crept up the stairs, wincing at every small creek that might give us away.Lit candles dotted the shelves and floors casting long, ominous shadows.The noise I heard grew louder and I realized it was someone chanting in a raspy voice.As Nathan and I reached the landing, I saw the door to the room I had made.given was open. I stifled a scream when I saw what was inside. Brian was tied to a chair,
30:14his face bloody as if he'd been attacked. Lydia was standing over him, a book open in her hand.I inched closer and saw that the dresser drawer was unlocked now and open. Inside I could see morebooks along with what looked like strange dried plants and different shaped rocks or bones.There was something drawn on the floor around Ryan's chair. It looked like the same symbol thatwas on my necklace, but it could have been different. Before Nathan or I could make a move,Lydia turned around. Her face was covered in some sort of white dust. It was streaked through her hairand down her front. A mass of bones and teeth and—was that hair? Was strung around her neck and hung downover her chest? I couldn't even tell if she was wearing a shirt underneath. When she saw as she let out
30:54a guttural yell and leapt forward. Nathan froze as Lydia approached. I only caught a glance of hisface and saw it was a terrified grimace. But what I was focusing on was the bedroom. I had no idea whatLydia had done to Ryan, but if she had turned yet another room into a death trap, once that doorclosed, I would never see Ryan again. I wouldn't even remember him. As Lydia rushed forward outof the room, I dodged to the side and sprinted towards Ryan. Outside the room, I heard Nathan yell,then a series of thumps and a final crash. Then silence. Complete silence. I tugged at the ropes aroundRyan, and he started to stir. Every couple seconds, I glanced towards the open doorway into the darknessbeyond. I was terrified. Was Nathan okay? Where was Lydia? The ropes were almost off when I glanced up
31:42again and saw a figure standing in the doorway. It was Lydia. Her face still chalk white and her eyesburning. You ungrateful bitch, she snarled, looking at me. In one stride she crossed the room andwith superhuman strength, grabbed Ryan and tossed him effortlessly out of the room. She then slammedher fist hard into my stomach and I fell to the floor, completely breathless. I'm not wearing the necklace,I thought. I'm not safe. My vision faded as I watched her leave the room and swing the door shut.I'd lost. But seconds passed and my sight returned. I'd only blacked out from the blow.I looked up and saw Ryan, his arms pinned between the wall and the door, keeping it from closing.The door was shaking as if something on the other side was hitting it with tremendous force.
32:27I shakily got to my feet and ran toward my boyfriend, stopping only to grab my necklace that was stillsitting on the dresser, for protection.Using all the strength I could muster, I slammed myself against the door.It swung open, freeing Ryan and sending Lydia flying across the hallway.In an instant, she rushed back towards us.Adrenaline pumping, I braced myself and stepped aside at the last second, grabbing Ryan in the process.Lydia tumbled into the room.Without missing a beat, Ryan slammed the door shut, and then, silence.
32:57We waited, holding our breaths, and looked at each other.Then I looked down.Our hands were clasped, knuckles white from the pressure.Clutched between our palms was my necklace.Feeling brave, I opened the door.It was empty.Not only was Lydia gone,but her trinkets and spellbooks were nowhere to be seen.
33:16My phone lay on the bed.Ryan picked it up and turned to me.She called me with this.She saw you were gone and I guess she thought you'd run off with me.She said,I'll take away everything she loves until all that's left is me.I came right over to make sure you were okay.I shuddered and put my arms around him.
33:34Suddenly, I felt like all I wanted to do was sleep.After finding Nathan at the bottom of the stairs, shaken but okay, we drove back to the motel.It's been some time now, and Ryan and I haven't talked about the incident much.His arm is still badly bruised where the door slammed on it.But it'll heal.I'm actually not as upset by the whole incident as I should be.It all just feels like a bad dream.But there is one thing that's been bothering me.
34:00When we got back to the motel, there was an extra caught in our room.Ryan and I didn't remember asking for a cut,and the motel manager said he was sorry he must have thought there were three of us.Then I found some shirts packed in with my clothes,shirts that I didn't remember buying.Finally, as we were leaving the motel,I found a half-empty pack of cigarettes in my car.I don't smoke.
34:22And I'm certain Ryan doesn't either.Back in Lydia's house, Ryan had been there for a while before Nathan and I arrived.I was able to save him from disappearing.But I wonder, was there someone else I didn't save?Nice work, Nicole.Oh, thanks, John. You going up there?I don't know. I feel like I've been doing a lot of stories lately.Which you do every October.
35:01Yeah, but not in front of a live audience.Plus, I can only think of one story right now, and I don't know if it's right for this crowd.All right, next up is...Oh, surprise, surprise. John.Listen, I need to preface this a little.I actually didn't put my name on the list, so I'm not sure if it's bad timing, bad writing, or someone's just messing with me.But the story I'm about to tell involves a carved pumpkin.Bit of an overreaction, don't you think?
35:44It's just a story.A story about being carved.It took weeks to figure out what they had was a pumpkin patch.months, really, if you counted the time right after their midsummer move,when they were convinced the greenery in their makeshift backyard was purely decorative.As also brand new, the suburban life, the quiet, the in-your-face presence of nature.When the patch sprouted a gourd, they were delighted.Lucy proclaimed it to be zucchini, and Ted, not knowing any better, agreed.
36:26It didn't look like any zucchiniThey'd ever seen in the produce aislesBut according to the internetThe things came in many shapesIncluding this peculiarButternut squash oneLucy took it off the vineAnd made it into a stir fry
36:41The flavor was pleasantBut much too lightEven for a zucchiniThe next gourd rounded itself upIn the shape of a small watermelonIt even sort of looked like oneThe innards, though, were all different, stringier.Lucy turned it into a hearty stew, carrots, onions, and all.
37:06It lasted for days.They email pictures of the gourds to friends, like proud parents,sharing their discovery with the delighted bewilderment of people getting to know and love their new home.No one thought it was a zucchini.No one knew what it was.When the third gourd came up, this time the size of a large watermelon, perfectly round and strided green.Lucy left it alone and Googled it extensively.What you couldn't learn on the internet wasn't worth knowing, she joked.
37:40What she found out was that they had a pumpkin patch.And one last pumpkin left.The previous owners must have planted it.Either way, Halloween was Ted and Lucy's favorite holiday.and they found the patch to be serendipitous.They waited for their last pumpkin to turn orangewith the wink-wink-wink-nudge-nudge glee of an inside joke.They were like that as a couple,
38:06unburdened by kids,unpeathered by pets,living in a world for two.Lovers, best friends,partners in crime.Their new house was a culmination of a decade's worth of plans and aspirations.It was almost,everything they'd ever wanted, and they treated it like a cross between a dream come true
38:29and a brand new toy. A pumpkin patch right outside their window was an unexpected and lovely bonus.The window technically belonged to a dining nook, but Ted had taken to using it as his writingstation. Unlike Lucy, he didn't have a proper office. Not yet, anyway. He was waiting to achieveenough success to warrant one.Since the move, he wrote wherever the mood struck him,trying out different setups until the convenience of the already-their-tableand the delicious warmth of the sun streaming through the window anchored him in the dining nook.The writing thing was new to Ted.
39:09Or rather, Ted was new to it.Having lost his day job that he'd never been a fan of in the first place,he decided to follow every motivational poster ever made and pursue his dream.Do what you love and you'll never want to be.work a day in your life, they said. Well, his bank account for the last year looked like a bankaccount of someone who wasn't working all that many days. In reality, Ted was making strides,though. He had several short stories accepted by small publications, and it just about secureda publisher for his debut novel. While Lucy, saintly, in Ted's opinion, was bringing home
39:46the proverbial bacon. He was doing his best to earn her faith in his talent, churning out Petit McCab'sone after another. Their couple's dynamic, however unconventional, worked for them. Things madesense. The sun shined, and there was a pumpkin ripening into Halloween-orangeness right outside.Coffee? Yes, please. Lucy stretched and cracked her spine. She was still adjusting to their newmattress. For a while, they shared their morning brew and companionable silence, watching the world outside.Then they began talking about what their days held.He emailed again.Ted said, shaking his head lightly.
40:30The weirdo?Ted grinned.Technically is my number one fan.It went with the territory, they supposed.Fame, no matter how slight, attracted attention.Occasionally, of the wrong kind.They had set up a website for Ted,a place where he could list his publication credits and talk about his work.
40:50and soon enough emails began arriving.But I'm your number one fan, Lucy pouted playfully.You are, Ted winked.Of course you are.Nothing wrong with a little friendly competition.They joked about it because taking the emails seriously would creep them out.The emails were creepy, possibly unintentionally so.But who could tell?
41:18The internet rendered most communication,tone deaf and nuance-free.And with the sort of stories Ted wrote,What's he saying now?Ted and Lucy had gendered the emailer as a he.Let's see.He grabbed his reading glasses and pulled up the message on his iPhone.I think about you all the time.
41:41Think about what's going on in that head of yours.I mean it in the nicest sense.Something about the idea that we can look at the same thingsand see something so different boggles my mind.That latest story of yoursthat made me afraid to use the toilet at night.I had to get a nightlight.Haven't had one since I was a kid.
42:02Kudos, Ted.You've regressed me.Happy nightmares.You're number one with a bullet.That was how the fan always signed off.Lucy, a dedicated Googler of things,I looked up to phrase's origin.It wasn't a threat, as she was concerned, it might have been.
42:19The bullet in the phrase simply referred to an icon placed next to a song that made rapid progress in the charts.When he starts signing off number one with a knife, we'll start worrying.She half joked.Nah, we won't worry at all.Ted pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head, which conveniently came up to his chin.He's just some lonely weirdo with exceptional taste in indie horror and lamentable social skills.Ted had never been much into technology.Social media appealed to him purely as a source of self-promotion,
42:56but he never posted any personal information out there.It made the world feel remote, just how Ted liked it,with him being a mystery among the mysterious.They were both private people, only just now getting to know their new neighbors.They relished anonymity so much that Ted had almost ended up publishing under a pseudonym,him, but at the last minute decided against it.He hadn't made much of himself prior to taking up writing, and rather liked the ideaof having his name associated with something he was proud of, an accomplishment all of his own.
43:32Ted kissed Lucy again, enjoying the taste of strawberry chapstick-flavored coffee on her lips,and wished her a lovely day.Then he got back to writing.Clay spent his mornings drinking tea and watching his neighbors leave for work.partly wishing he had some place to go, partly glad he didn't.The tea was a leftover affectation from his British mother,and all the years they lived together before she went into a home.Nowadays, her mind wandered and strayed too far for even the simplest of conversations.
44:06Sometimes she thought Clay was his father,a man who abandoned them decades ago,a ghostly presence from faded photographs.Other times she mistook Clay for the orderly she suspected,of stealing. Either way, he got the brunt of her ire. When what he wanted, what he missed,was company. Living on his own was strange, like there was suddenly too much space and too muchsilence. The excess suffocated him. They put him in mind of those percussion instruments withbeans rattling around a dried-out gourd. He was the bean, existing in an echoy solitude. Like many
44:47lonely people, Clay spent entirely too much time on the internet. He'd never been a sound sleeper,frequently haunted by nightmares. It made him curious about the nightmares of others.Horror had always been his guilty pleasure, ever since his mother let him watch Psycho with her.He'd been young then, perhaps too young, and the movie left an indelible impression.The parallels were hard not to draw. A young man living with his mother,as his entire world.Clay, too, went a little mad sometimes.But it was nothing.
45:25Not really.When he found Ted Maxwell's story online, it was a revelation.Something about the spin the author put on the haunted house trope truly spoke to Clay.It reminded him of his own nightmares,specifically the one where he was lost in an old dilapidated manse,and every turn yielded no exit.Clay tracked down and read every single Maxwell's story after that.He found the man's website and learned all there was to learn about Ted Maxwell,
45:56which wasn't much.But he didn't need the internet to tell him things because he had an ace up his sleeve.Ted Maxwell was Clay's neighbor.That was how he found out about Maxwell's writing in the first place.By bringing in the wrong package from their shared porch,He looked up the name out of curiosityAnd voilaClay had no illusions about his social graces
46:22He wasn't the sort of person to go introduce himself to the neighborsOr make small talkBut he did have an inquisitive natureAnd an act of imaginationResulting in countless hours spent fantasizingAbout becoming friends with Ted MaxwellAlas the author seldom left the houseAnd when he did it was with his wife
46:42since Clay couldn't start a conversation in real life,so he turned to the internet.He started emailing Maxwell.There was never a response,but he thought maybe Ted was just shy, like him.He waited.When Clay saw a giant pumpkin blossoming right under Maxwell's window,he recognized a perfect opportunity to make contact.
47:09Ted Maxwell considered himself a connoisseur of nightmares.He drunked them, read them, wrote them, a lifelong horror-fuccino.And yet the thing before him turned his blood to ice.Something about it, the violation, was profoundly unsettling in a way his writer's braincould never describe.Lucy's screams had brought him outside.He was deep in a story, became rushing out.Someone had carved their pumpkin.
47:41They were saving it for the, but they were saving it for the,weekend, a shared project.They'd been looking forward to it for weeks, and had a mischievous design in mind,something from one of Ted's lighter stories.Nothing like this.The pumpkin was a nightmare, carved with crude expertise to resemble Ted's face,feature by feature.The etching was unmistakable.
48:07Erie, candle lit from the inside.It gave Ted a demonic countenance.Lucy's hands were pressed to her mouth, her eyes wide with fear.Ted put his arms around her, turning her away.He found himself unable to look anywhere, but at his evil doppelganger.Ted wanted to find humor in this situation.The levity failed him.The way the pumpkin innards were arranged around the gourd,
48:34their red dye that looked unsettlingly like blood.It wasn't funny at all.He led Lucy inside, then came back.out, stomped out the gourd, gathered the remnants into a trash bag, and threw it out.They had a long talk inside, deciding against calling the cops but opting for a security camerasystem. For the first time since taking up writing, Ted seriously considered his life choices.Fear, it seemed, was only fun to write about. In real life, it was a different story altogether.I thought you'd love it.
49:14It's Halloween.I guess everyone's entitled to one good scare.You've given me so many.I'm sorry.Clay sent the email.But in truth, he felt more angry than sorry.His effort had failed.He'd never be friends with Ted now.
49:33Never know what went on inside that man's mind or where his stories came from.Unless...The anatomy books had lied.Clay learned the hard way.Carving up a person's head was way different than a pumpkin.Harder.Messier.Breaking into the house was easy enough, but this?
49:56This took work.Clay had tied them both up.The woman was screaming, so he gagged her.She stopped making noise after a while.Clay hadn't checked on her,didn't want to know what her silence.meant. Ted Maxwell's brain refused to yield its mysteries. It was bloody, mushy,unpleasantly juicy, and slippery. Gray, pinkish, with white fibers at first. It was now turning
50:26shades of an ugly bruise, and Clay didn't know what made it tick. Guess he never would now.He sighed. There was a loud knocking echoing through the house. Trick-or-treaters, Clay figured.It was after all Halloween.His mother had eschewed the tradition,calling it a crass American thing.But Clay had always secretly enjoyed it.He sighed again and went looking for the candy.For more information on this podcast, including how to submit your own story for consideration,
51:15please visit creepypod.com.You can also follow us at creepypod.on social media and YouTube.All stories told on this podcast are done so through creative common share-a-like licensing,or with written consent from the authors.No portion of this podcast may be rebroadcast or otherwise distributedwithout the express written consent of the creepy podcast production team and the stories author.
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