Creepy - The Hole To Hell

Episode Date: August 23, 2021

Don't look down...***Written by Sum Gigh***Bonus episode: I'm a Bookstore Owner and I'm Getting Sick of Entitled Customers, written by NemesisLuce and narrated by: Michelle Kane***See how you can support the show at patreon.com/creepypod***You can also subscribe to us on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/creepypod***Sound design by Pacific Obadiah***Title music by Alex Aldea***Intro/Outro Narration by Joe Stofko Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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These stories may contain graphic depictions of violence and explicit language. Listener discretion is advised. The Whole to Hell, written by some guy. From the beginning of time, there's been competition. Competition for money, for land, for love and affection, for control. For over four decades, the United States of America and the former USSR engaged in their Cold War for dominance. A sort of cat and mouse game that relied on perception and intimidation. The space race, nuclear proliferation, the red scare,

just a few things to come of saber-rattling and threats, both veiled and overt, competing in sports, competing in innovation, Sputnik, Apollo 11, Bobby Fisher v. Boris Basque, the 1980 U.S. Olympic men's hockey team, also known as a miracle on ice. The eyes of the world shifted from one event to another, all while one of the single most horrific instances, one of both scientific and divine significance, took place with little to no fanfare. The race to the moon may have made most of the world look to the stars, but all the while there were those looking down at the soil beneath their feet.

Supposedly it started with the search for oil. It makes as much sense as any other reason given the Earth's reliance on fossil fuels. Should one of the world's great superpowers be the first to tap into a great, previously unknown bed of oil? It could change the course of international trade and even human history. The race was on. Who could drill further, faster, in search of the great reserve of black gold? What they found was something more than they could ever prepare for.

As it goes, the USA quickly gave up on the search due to low, funding and lack of results, along with the rest of the world, while Soviet mining teams continue to dig deeper and deeper into the earth's crust at an undisclosed location in the Siberian wilderness. Until years later, it was assumed that the Kola well on the Kola Peninsula near Mermansk, Russia, was the deepest well. Drilling the Kola borehole started on May 24th, 1970, using a E.O-Mash 4E, and later the Euromash 15,000 series drilling rape, and reached the deepest man-made hole depth in history in 1979. The boreholes measured approximately 9 inches in diameter. The deepest of the boreholes, named SG3, reached 12,262 meters, or just over 40,000 feet.

In 1989, it became publicly known as the deepest true vertical depth borehole in the world, while Al-Shaheen oil well in Qatar holds the public record for measured depth, surpassing Kola by roughly 100 feet. In reality, the Kola well was only approximately half as deep as the hole that would become known as the well to hell. By 1989, as part of a dual effort, a race as it were with Kola, The second Soviet drill team managed to drill a hole approximately nine miles deep. This information was kept from the public. Sometime in 1989, the drill team broke through a layer of rock into a previously unexpected cavity.

It was assumed at the time that the composition of the earth was one of near solid stone. Temperature readings from inside the hole indicated ambient temperature in excess of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, approximately the same temperature as molten lava. Tests were run with little success until a specially designed microphone, specifically engineered to steady volcanic activity, was lowered into the hole. It captured nearly 20 seconds of sound from the deepest parts of the hole before melting. The sounds recorded on that fateful day were marked top secret by the Russian government, and all knowledge of the hole and the program, were eliminated.

possibly even at the expense of human life. It wasn't until 2002 that sounds from the recording were leaked to the public. This is what they heard. Between the unprecedented heat and the sounds, which can only be described as human-like screams of dozens, if not hundreds of voices, the project became internally known as the well to hell. Supposedly, a well-known Christian-based broadcasting company even caught wind of the story.

and was able to acquire quotes from scientists that involved likening the heat to the blazing inferno of fire. In 1990, a story was even published entitled, Scientists Discover Hell in Siberia. Information about what happened on site next is muddled. Some claiming the government removed all non-essential personnel. Other reports that engineers walked off the site in terror, believing that they had indeed drilled into hell itself, or somehow broken through the veil that kept hell from earth.

Theologians and biblical scholars were divided on their stance as to what the discovery may mean, with more apocalyptic-minded of them believing that this was the start of Armageddon. Revelations 1411. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night. These worshippers of the beast and its image, and whoever received the mark of its name. Same. Allegations from inside the site claimed that the heat inside the hole and the sounds

weren't the only things to occur, perhaps alluding to the aforementioned beast. One account being that a bat-shaped plume of smoke flew out of the hole to confront onlookers flying across the sky. Another claim to have heard a voice coming from the hole itself, heard without the aid of microphone equipment saying, I have conquered. Reports are the medical staff were brought in to treat the multiple cases of shock from site personnel, administering medication that affected the short-term memory of those involved in the incident. Those who received the medication claimed to have no memories of voices from the whole or any other mysterious occurrence.

The story itself was widely discredited from sources around the world for any number of reasons until 2002, when the previously heard audio recording was leaked to the public through the widely listened to Coast to Coast AM radio program. According to an anonymous correspondent, quote, My uncle collected videos on the paranormal and supernatural. He passed away fairly recently. He let me listen to one of the audio tapes that he had on the sounds from hell and Siberia,

and I copied it. He received his copy from a friend who worked at the BBC. Since then, the story has largely faded into internet lore with YouTube videos and blog posts still discussing the nature of the whole. Some debunking the inconsistencies in the story. Others heralding this as proof of another level of consciousness

and evidence of an afterlife. Perhaps the most valid argument in it all has been the inability to identify where the hole was actually drilled. Clandestine operation reports available through the Freedom of Information Act have revealed a startling truth. The location of the drill site

itself has no official working name, as it was unceremonically classified as a closed city. A largely unfamiliar concept in North America and other First World countries. A closed city was a Soviet implementation where travel or residency restrictions were applied, so that specific authorization was required to visit or even remain overnight. These places tended to be locations of sensitive military establishments and secret research installations. There may also be permanent residents there for individuals linked to clandestine services in order to protect their identities during the Cold War. Most closed cities existed in the Soviet Union from the late 1940s until it's the solution in 1991 at the end of the Cold War.

However, there are currently still 44 publicly acknowledged closed cities in Russia, with a total population of 1.5 million people, mostly administered by the Russian, Ministry of Defense. There are another 15 of these closed cities believed to exist. However, their names and locations have not been publicly disclosed by the Russian government. On April 26, 1986, 1986, and the days and weeks and years that followed, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster captured the attention of the world, much to the dismay of the Soviet government.

Anything short of a show of power was viewed as a loss in the constant. and Cold War struggle. While much of the former Soviet Union and the world scrambled to contain both literal and figurative fallout, reports from embedded foreign government officials showed a great deal of parallel internal movement. In other words, someone used the opportunity with the world distracted to make other potentially volatile situations disappear. Some believe the number of closed cities doubled near overnight.

Other closed cities appeared scattered around Siberia, many utilizing the Lenin-era gulags as bases of operation. One report suggests that the drilling site was intentionally located in a river valley, near Verkoyansk, where the lowest temperature recorded was a deadly negative 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The suggestion being that this location would help to counter the expected heat from the drill, others scoff at this idea, as the brutal temperatures are. would have had devastating effect on any equipment exposed to the polar winds. Some theologians believe that long since closed gulags would be the exact place for hell to exist on earth, by whatever means.

The idea that the veil between life as we know it and whatever hell may be would be thinnest at the site of human atrocities. It estimated that under the rule of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, up to 18 million people died in gulags across Russia. Other locations supposedly believed to be, quote, closer to hell exist in Rwanda, the location of the 1994 genocide, where as many as 1.1 million people were killed over a mere month-long period. Cambodia, where as many as 2 million people, were systematically persecuted and killed over a four-year period. And the remains of German concentration camps, where it's estimated that as many as 6 million people

were killed during the years that led up to and during World War II. And while the United States' own persecution of both indigenous persons and African slaves has not gone unaccounted for, it's also been hypothesized that one such location could exist in the United States, specifically in Minnesota, the location of the largest mass execution in United States history, where 38 members of the Dakota tribe were convicted of war crimes in 1862 and hanged N. Moss on a single, specially designed, yellows. Further indication of the wells location had been periodically discovered over the years via satellite heat signature tracking. The following dates have stood out as showing significant one-day temperature increases

in a particularly isolated location in Siberia. December 26, 2004, April 29, 1991, January 12, 2010, and August 17, 1999. These dates, among other things, coincide with four very specific events in human history, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that claimed the lives of 227,898, Cyclone Argus, and Myanmar, that claimed 138,373, the Haitian earthquake that claimed over 100,000, and the Ismet-Turkey earthquake that claimed 17,217.

Put simply, these were single dates in human history where, if hell is real, the population could have suddenly increased. More so, weather satellites detected something else startling in early 2020, suggesting the ambient temperature in northern parts of Russia had gone up. Originally, this was linked to the ideas of global warming. However, the increased heat is not only sustained, but isolated in a particular region known to have several abandoned gulags. This heat signature is only slightly waned in the last year, but has remained. And overlapping the heat increase reported in the area against the increase in global death rates shows unmistakable correlation. Of course, all this was just a matter of conjecture and speculation. There were no video interviews with scientists from the site, no quotes from government officials sitting in the shadows to hide their identities.

In the information age, stories without proof, particularly video proof, bare little weight. That was until last year. In June 2020, a video appeared on a 4chan X forum for a single day, posted by a Russian vlogger with a username Spetnazzi. While the video was deleted within 24 hours, several copies of the audio were saved and shared. Unfortunately, the quality of the video is so minimal, largely attributed to someone possibly using an old flip phone, that no usable information was recovered. It is unknown if the original poster had any idea of the location they had stumbled upon, or if it was simply a matter of bad luck. What follows is the original audio along with the voiceover translation of that uploaded video. See, Sergei, I told you I'd make it.

I end on video, so don't even try to say I wasn't really here. It's just up ahead. I shouldn't have worn a jacket. It's so warm here. It must be close to 30 degrees. I swear I was no more than 18 where I left my bike. What? I don't know if you can see this.

At this point, the video cuts out in a rough. before starting again. The uploader sounds winded, as if running. They chased me. Why are there people here? Sergei, you jerk. You said this place was abandoned. Oh, shoot. The video cuts out and starts again, an undetermined amount of time later. They have dogs. Why do they have dogs? The audio cut out again. This time, while there were some pixelated images in previous sections of the video, now the screen is completely black. I don't know what's going on, Sergey. I need you to know what's going on here. This is your fault. You said it was safe. As soon as I got over the hill, I saw the fence, but it wasn't old. It was new. There was an alarm and man with dogs came

running out, chasing me. I hid and they went right past me. But they moved in circles away from the fence so I couldn't run. I just stayed there. But then I heard them coming back, and all I could think to do was run towards a fence. I don't know how they didn't see me. I'm in some kind of warehouse now. Please, I'm so scared.

I don't know what to do. I don't have reception here. It's them. The audio shuts off again. When it starts, there are sounds of walking and an echo, as if the person is walking down in a closed tunnel. I don't know how much battery is left, and I don't know where I am.

I just have to keep walking. At least it's warm in here. Hot, actually. I'm so tired and thirsty. It's been hours trying to find a way out. This place, I don't understand it. There's security, but it's like the further inside I go or less anyone is around or even watching.

Why? Hold on. There's a large door. This must go outside. I don't even care if they catch me now. I'm just a kid. I got lost. They'll...

I don't understand. The audio cut off again. The sounds heard at the end of that section of audio have not yet been identified. It is an undetermined amount of time later that the audio starts again. When it does, there is light in the video, suggesting the person is once again outside.

No hope. Sergei, how could we know? The audio ends with this final statement. Any attempts to identify either the person who recorded the video or Sergei have been unsuccessful. It is unknown who posted the video. Since the posting of the video, the location of the original poster has come under intense debate, and it's considered to be the white whale of sorts for internet vloggers, tracking down the most dangerous and mysterious location.

locations on Earth. To date, no other video has surfaced with details or follow-up. Through the vague clues in this video, some have linked to the supposed location of the well to hell. Indications that the location is in a closed city, as well as heavy security place there to specifically keep people away, suggest that the well itself may still be open. In fact, it may not be possible to close it. from within the site, from when the original recording occurred, spoke of periodic spikes

in heat, a sort of warning signal before a pillar of fire would erupt out of the hole, not unlike the old faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park. The flame supposedly shot hundreds of feet into the air on an almost daily occurrence, if this is the case. It would stand to reason that the Russian government would want to conceal such an event from the prying eyes of spy satellites floating miles above the earth that would expose the site, for better or worse. It would also stand to reason that this sort of enclosure would most likely not be manned or have minimal staffing present due to the danger from the heat. Security would be required, but would anyone actually need to be at the drill site itself?

And if the site itself were sealed in some way, behind lock and key, as it were, or a blast furnace door, who is to say what might continue to happen in the site. If there were voices captured on the recording, what created those voices? And if sound and flames could travel up the hole, couldn't something else? Mining and mining disasters have captured the imagination of the public for years. Even as a mining industry struggles in favor of clean energy, there's a certain captivation that the world has with the job and the people who do it. Thousands of miners die each year in accidents, particularly in developing countries. in rural areas where safety measures are not fully practiced.

On April 26, 1942, the worst mining disaster in history took place in China, costing the lives of over 1,500 people, starting with a fire in the mine, who then decided to seal off the tunnel and block the flow of oxygen, essentially cutting off the fuel source of the fire, but trapped miners suffocated to death as a result. It was found that most of the deaths were. were not caused by the initial fire, but by carbon monoxide poisoning and suffocation. Of course, not all mining accidents end in death. In 2010, the collapse of a Chilean mine and the trapping of 33 miners' 23 feet underground

captured global attention as people waited for news and signs of hope of survival. After 69 days, all 33 miners were rescued. Mining even has its place in popular fiction. from movies like My Bloody Valentine to video games like the Silent Hill franchise. It's been said that the town of Silent Hill was based on the real-life mine fire in Centrilla, Pennsylvania, when an underground fire found a vein of coal deep in the mines, creating a fire that still burns to this very day, and causing for the slow evacuation of the town.

The town has since been condemned, despite seven individuals still claiming permanent residence within its border. Deep fires burn for a long time, and sometimes there's nothing anyone can do about them once they've started. The Russian well, if it exists at all, has been out there open for over 30 years. So why does it matter now? Why bring up any of this and stir up to speculation again? Because once again, our eyes are on the sky, with billionaires racing to put people in space, and the privatization of space travel, everyone is looking up,

hearkening to the days of Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong, minds focused on wonder and possibility and the positivity of advancement. At least, we think everyone is looking up, because if there's one well, one hole, one gateway, there's always the chance for another, and it's when we are the most distracted with our attention focused in the wrong direction. that something terrible can break through for your bonus episode. Crippy Presents

I'm a bookstore owner and I'm getting sick of entitled customers written by Nemesis Luce and narrated by Michelle Kane. Don't get me wrong, I love my job. Cute little bookstore and a quaint little town. I love helping customers find the right book for their mood. I love showing cute children's books to curious kids. I love talking with sales reps and figuring it out exactly which new releases to order from them. I also fucking hate my job.

It was 10 minutes past closing time, and I had my brightest, fakedest smile on when trying to get the last customer out of my store. No, sir, I cannot look up a book on the computer if all you know is the cover was read when you saw a poster for it five years ago. No, sir. I think it was about the Cold War and a detective who drank too much, but maybe it was something else,

does not help me at all. Look, sir, all my historical thrillers are on, this shelf. Does anything ring a bell? No? Was it made into a movie? You don't know? Okay, then I'm sorry to inform you that we are already past closing time. Here's the store's number. If you remember the title, give us a call and we'll order it for you if it's still available. Thank you. Good evening to you, too, sir. Goodbye. Yes, you have your umbrella it's right here in your hands, sir. Okay, bye-bye. I sighed and gave my cashier the biggest eye-roll I could manage, before locking the door and turning over the sign that previously said,

come in, we're open. I heard the coins clanking in the coin counting machine. Do these have a name? I don't know. Coin counting machine is pretty self-explanatory, and I've never bothered to check if that's what they were actually called, signifying that Alice had started to sort her cash drawer. I would only need to take out the profits of the day, make sure she had enough cash for tomorrow, and send her home. I went through the motions mechanically, only thinking about the nap I was about to have in the break room. It was going to be glorious. I really needed it if I wanted to be alert for the night shift. Oh yeah, we've got a night shift here. It's my store's most peculiar aspect. We close at 6 p.m., but we open again at 11, up till 5 a.m. Then we open again at 10 a.m.

So when I said nap earlier, I actually meant the first half of my night, since I'm working both shifts. Yes, I live in my store. Please buy books and buy books. instead of reading stuff on the internet, I would really love to be able to afford another employee. So there I was, counting money fully on autopilot, daydreaming about drinking a nice cup of herbal tea and hugging my pillow. When Alice said something that ruined my plans, I forgot to tell you, something weird happened when you were on break. I snapped out of my daydream instantly and shot her a questioning, Yeah, this old lady came in, looking for something about fairy tales. I showed her this section, but she didn't want to have a look there, apparently, and she

asked me about something from the back. And I was like, do you think we're hiding books from our customers or something? So I just told her everything we had was on display in the store, but we could order any book if we didn't have it if she wanted. And she just shook her head and mumbled something and then handed me this pamphlet, and I was like, okay, feel free to look around, and didn't even look at the pamphlet before shoving it in my pocket because a kid entered the store holding an open juice box and that was a disaster waiting to happen. So yeah, but that was weird, right? She had actually run out of breath by the

end of her sentence and I wasn't surprised. I was pissed, though. Alice, for fuck's sake, give me the pamphlet, don't look at it. I'll write that you were fired because of the store's financial situation and give you a glowing recommendation. All color drained from the young girl's face. I wasn't mad at her, but I was still mad. She was supposed to know the rules. Hell, I even had her train the attempts we hired to help her own Christmas time. In retrospect, it was a miracle nothing bad had happened. Okay, I was slightly mad at her, but I really didn't want to be. I saw in her eyes that it had finally clicked. She understood the gravity of what she had done and handed me a crumpled pamphlet from her pocket, making sure to avert her gaze. God damn it. She had one momentary lapse,

and it cost me a good cashier. Fucking hell. I'm sorry, she started. It's okay, Alice, you didn't mean to. You were alone on the floor, and she was an old bat. It could have happened to anyone. You'll be missed around here, but please don't visit. She nodded. She finally remembered the rules, and she understood that there was no other way. I put the cash drawer in the safe while she gathered the stuff she had left in the break room. I opened the back door to light a cigarette. She had tears in her eyes as she exited the store. I gave her a smile and clasped her hands in mine. You were a good employee, Alice. You'll do great in a regular bookstore. Don't doubt yourself and avoid the street for a few weeks. Call me if you run into any trouble, okay? Thank you for the

opportunity, boss. I really loved working here. I know you did. Now hurry home. Don't answer to anyone knocking on your door. Be safe. She nodded and scurried away. She nodded and scurried away. her backpack bouncing with her steps. I crammed my half-finished cigarette into the already full, but I keep forgetting to empty it, ashtray, and went back inside. The pamphlet was sitting on top of the safe, and as I grabbed it, I felt the urge to read it. Nope, in the bin you go.

I was accustomed to these old tricks. First rule of working with my clientele is to know when you can't trust your instincts because something's fucking with them. second rule is to trust your instincts. Confusing? Welcome to my life. So I ended up sitting at my desk typing furiously on my computer instead of napping. I still had a few hours until night shift, but I absolutely had to get started interviewing prospective employees in the next couple of days. In the meantime, I just had to hope one of my part-time employees would like to work a few

extra shifts. I just have too much work to spend all my time manning the register and keeping the tables neat. While the store isn't that big, it's still a lot for one person. I obviously had to update the employee rule book as well. Just emphasize that you can't take chances with crazy old people. You never know if they're truly crazy or something else. Never accept anything a customer hand you directly if it's not real money. If they're promoting something, make them leave any cards, pamphlets, posters at the register. If you end up accepting whatever they gave you,

don't look at it, and come to me immediately. Yes, it's weird. I know it's weird. Look, I pay my employees a fair enough wage that they make sure to follow the rules. I don't care if they think I'm crazy. I probably am. It doesn't matter.

I pressed enter and added. If a customer asks if they can see what we have in the back, politely decline, and offer them to order whatever book they need. If they persist, come get me. God damn it. Alice actually handled this part well, but she grabbed the pamphlet, and I had to protect her.

I don't write the rules to make my employees better workers. I write them to make sure they survive. The main reason any infraction is cause for termination is that, well, it could be the cause for their actual termination of their existence on earth. Getting fired from a job is a way better alternative. Alice accepted the old lady's pamphlet. It could have been anything else. A tissue, a cigarette, a glass of water. She unknowingly made a bargain with whatever the woman was.

I gave you something, now I'm free to take something. Entities like the old lady abide by archaic rules. In a store, this is what applies. I lost a regular day customer that way. The poor lady was watching over her kid who was merrily making a mess. Scratch that. Who was merely looking through the three to five-year-old section. When a young girl came up to her,

Look, miss, look, I made a drawing, she said. My customer grabbed the piece of paper, and the girl ran off. A couple days later, posters popped up everywhere in town for a missing toddler. I was obviously pissed. I'd been waiting to see that little girl again and tell her that business rules applied only between merchants and customers, and she had no right to force an innocent, unaware person into a contract. My night clientele is well aware of that.

treasure having a place to find literature enough to not risk jeopardizing the fragile balance between both worlds. Non-humans can be facetious little shits, though, and I've never seen that little girl again. Some entities enjoy chaos just for the sake of it. This one just danced around the rules, grabbed what she wanted, and ruined two lives. My customer sank into a deep depression and ended up gouging her eyes out during a manic episode. Her toddler was never found, but I don't think he would grow up to be a respectable, human, adult. I checked the time and decided I could get two hours of sleep before having to get the store ready for night shift. So obviously, I went to check out who, or what, was knocking on the glass window near the entrance, because who needs sleep anyway?

It was an old lady, her wrinkled, bloated nose pressed against the glass. Her skeletal fingers tapping against it in a rhythmical fashion that was getting on my nerves. She had piercing, blood-injected eyes that were fixed on me, and a grin so large it couldn't possibly be natural. I didn't have time to be scared, but I still felt the fear creeping up to my stomach, slowly making its way. through my body. No matter how hard I tried to reject it, I couldn't. Stupid human nature. I adorned my best customer service smile and walked up to the old lady. My apologies, you seem to be a bit early. We will be open for business at 11. I didn't need to yell. I knew she could hear me clearly in spite of the glass separating us.

One, two, three taps on the window. Her already impossibly white grin grew even wider, revealing rotten teeth sticking out of black, putrid gums. Thick, yellowish saliva was dripping down in strands from her non-existent lips. By the time the corners of her mouth reached her temples, I was sure I would lose my fake confidence and run in the opposite. direction. No matter how many times you deal with unnatural entities, being mere centimeters away from a nightmarish mouth full of rot and decay, will shake you to your core. I tried to breathe calmly, being secretly thankful for the glass that separated me from what was probably the foulest smell I had ever submitted my nose to, hoping the old lady would see me standing my ground and respect

the rules of business. I could deal with her inside my bookstore, where she would be a customer. I just needed to stay brave and meet her transfixed, unwavering gates. Her eyes were more blood vessels than pupils, and I found myself focusing on those instead of whatever was moving in her mouth. I did not want to see her tongue, not after seeing the state of her teeth. And I sure as hell did not want to see whatever I clearly caught moving around in her mouth if it wasn't her tongue. No, her eyes were scary, but I could deal with them, no matter how unsettling it was to see them bulge in and out of her head in a slow motion, almost as if they were breathing. The glass became foggier and foggier on her side, due to her heavy, animalistic panting. But I kept my gaze straight, only catching glimpses of fog and movement in my peripheral vision.

If I were to treat her like an animal, I needed to assert myself as the alpha. I don't yield to rude, entitled customers. And I wouldn't yield to rude, entitled non-humans, breaching the unspoken contract that allowed them, to enjoy my store. After what felt like forever, she stopped tapping on the window. Her grin reverted back to a normal, almost friendly smile.

She blinked, soggy wrinkled eyelids covering those eyes I had stared at for far too long. I guess I'll see you when you're open then. In spite of the glass panel separating us, I felt her putrid breath

against my ear as she whispered her parting words. Just like that, she turned and left. Understandably, I was not looking forward to seeing her during the night shift. My regular customers were unsettling enough. I did not want to add the bat-shit insane, nightmarish grandma to the list. I'm a business owner. The customer may not always be right, but they are always my priority.

I will have to open tonight. Because while some may not consider books to be a necessity, I guarantee you that it is vital, not only for my business, but for some of my night customers that I open every night. I complain about my life a lot, but some of them face issues they simply can't look up on the internet, nor ask a friend or even a therapist. They may urgently need something from the night inventory, and I will do my best to provide it for them. I've always loved being a bookseller, that helping non-humans find whatever fits their very specific needs has given me a sense of purpose. I'm not ready to give up just yet. I will open tonight, and I will protect my business and its rules to ensure that I can open tomorrow night. podcast, please visit creepypod.com. If you'd like to submit a story for consideration or recommend a story, please see our

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