Creepy - The World Isn't Flat, But It Isn't Round Either...

Episode Date: January 17, 2022

It's something else...***Written by Derek Walker***Bonus Episode: "My sister and I went to a cabin in the middle of winter" written by EekPeek and narrated by Alicia Atkins***Find our reward tiers and how to get your bonus magnet 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 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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Listener discretion is advised. Creepy presents. The world isn't flat, but it isn't round either. I learned that the hard way. Written by Derek Walker. Ten years ago, I pulled my wife's scorched lifeless body out of a Florida swimming pool. We'd only been married for three days. You heard that right.

Three days. I wish the story didn't start there, but it does. Avery Jones was my soulmate. She was funny, spunky, and cute as hell. I was so deeply, ridiculously in love with her, and for good reason. She was way out of my league. but somehow she liked me enough to marry me. After six months of dating and another six months of engagement,

we got married in a humble chapel in the Wasatch Mountains just outside of Salt Lake City. The next day we flew out for a 10-day honeymoon at a beachfront resort in Fort Lauderdale, a wedding gift from my parents. On our second day there, while lying out on the beach, gnarly clouds blew in, accompanied by the heaviest rain I'd ever seen. We laughed at our luck, packed up quickly, and ran with the rest of the beach and pool goers towards a hotel.

Come this way, Avery said, pulling me down a narrow stone path through the landscape to secluded cave installation under a bridge. Laughing hysterically with the help of our rain-deluded mitis, we shed our dripping wet clothes and towels and sat. down on the pool chairs in the cave. You know, we could swim right here. Avery said, pointing to the portion of the pool covered by the four rocks. I pretended to think it was a bad idea, then tackled her into the water. We splashed and wrestled around for a few minutes by ourselves. The heavy rain clapping outside the cave.

After a few minutes, I hopped out and grabbed a couple dry towels from a nearby chair. I kicked my feet up and sat back, sipping my drink. Avery began an interpretive, synchronized swimming routine in her bright blue bikini. She whipped her auburn hair back and forth and swung her hands above her head with effortless grace. Even though she was joking, I was mesmerized. She was mine. I was hers. It was surreal.

But then I got a feeling. A horrible feeling. One that's a disaster was imminent. I didn't say anything to Avery though. Since I prided myself on being rigidly pragmatic, giving credence to a feeling on only our third day of marriage seemed like a bad idea. Whether it was a premonition or not, lightning struck the pool with a deafening crack.

A deadly shockwave surged through the pool. killing Avery instantly and shooting me back against the rock wall. Once my hearing insight returned, I saw Avery floating face down in the pool, 20 feet away from the cave. I yelled for help and jumped in. Hotel staff ran over and together we got her out of the pool. Medical staff arrived shortly thereafter and then an ambulance. She was pronounced dead on sight. The next day, we flew home. home. One of us seated in coach. The other in a body bag stashed below deck. I fell into a funk after the funeral and never recovered. I was convinced Avery was my soulmate. So when she died,

the world fell out of working order. Nothing made sense anymore. I never dated again, nor had any interest in women, or people, for that matter. I took a job. in Texas, bought a town home and quickly got into a routine. I talked to my parents occasionally, but only returned home maybe three times over the last 10 years. Not a day goes by that I don't think about her. Well, not even an hour. As our 10th anniversary approached, the data analytics firm I worked for was bought by another company and I was let go. Though I was initially pissed, my tune shifted once the generous severance check came in the mail. The night the check came, I drank a lot and stumbled through Avery in my wedding album.

Sometime around one in the morning, I made a decision. I decided that a decade of mourning was long enough. I decided that the next ten years of my life weren't going to be steeped in self-pity. I would make something of myself. I'd read books again, I'd make videos again, I'd make friends, I'd pick up the guitar. The next night, with a drink in hand and money in the bank, I sat down at my desk and developed a plan with a vague goal of getting out of the country for a little bit. Somewhere around two in the morning I fell into the rabbit hole called the Flat Earth Theory. I spent the next three hours reading and watching YouTube videos.

For some reason, it all got fun. funnier and funnier as the night went on. I didn't accomplish much that night, but by the next night, I had a solid plan. Over the next couple months, I sold my town home, bought a camera, and booked in a round-the-world trip in five flights. My objective was to document my travels and prove once and for all that the world was round. For the three weeks before my trip began, I moved back to Salt Lake City with my parents, who were surprisingly supportive of the endeavor. In my first video, I explained the rules.

I would travel east until I made it back home. I would have a compass on me at all times. I would be awake and alert at all times of travel. Anyone who is staunch enough in their belief that the world is flat will likely think I'm faking the whole thing. But that wasn't really the point of the trip. I was trying to become a new man, remember. The day before I left I was feeling nervous and oddly existential, more so than normal.

This was big. Traveling around the world by myself. I never dreamed I could have done something like this, especially since Avery died. Part of me was proud of myself. The other part of me was questioning what the hell I was doing. Whatever it was, I decided to leave something behind to commemorate my existence. I stayed up late scrolling through thousands of pictures and ultimately choosing four for print. Avery and me on her wedding day.

My cousin and me on skateboards. My parents and me last Christmas. And a horribly awkward picture of me standing by myself outside of my Texas townhome. I rolled the pictures uptight, stuffed them in a dry Guinness bottle, then took the bottle and a shovel up the mountain behind my parents' house. About a quarter mile up the hill I found a nice clearing amongst the scrub oak and dug a hole two feet deep. With my headlamp, I could see Avery's eyes peering at me through the thick brown bottle. I cried for a good five minutes, then tossed it into the hole.

I covered it the best I could and returned home to get a couple hours of shed eye before flying out. My dad drove me to the airport the next morning. I flew from Salt Lake to New York, New York to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Shanghai, Shanghai to Los Angeles, then Los Angeles to Salt Lake. I'm intentionally not getting into too much detail about the trip itself, because that's not really the point of me telling this. Okay, okay, I'll indulge a little bit. How long did the trip take? A little over a month. I spent about a week in each place and three days.

in L.A. Did I have fun? Hell yes. At the time of my life. I realized that being away from the drudgery in my routine allowed some of my old self to reemerge. My pre-lightening strike days. I made friends. I was funny. I was charming. It was a little weird, honestly. Was it good for me? Other than what I'm about to tell you, yes, it was fantastic. I truly feel like a changed man. Did I gain a following? I actually did. I didn't go viral or anything, but as of this, I have about 50,000 subscribers.

Most think the flat-earth theory is BS, but some are believers. I don't know if any of them will ever hear this. How do you feel about that lame time capsule now? I know you probably didn't have this question specifically, but this is important to me. The longer the trip went on, the more embarrassed I felt about the time capsule I left in the ground behind my parents' house. The life I conveyed in that bottle was tinged with regret, loss, sorrow. Particularly in my apathetic face standing in front of my stupid townhome or with my parents on Christmas. I decided, on my trip, that I wouldn't replace any of the pictures in the time capsule,

but I would add some. Change the ending of my story, if you will. Okay. Enough of that. So, is the world round? That's where things get complicated. I successfully stayed awake all hours of travel, which was very difficult, especially that Amsterdam to Shanghai like.

Good God. But I can confidently say that I traveled east the whole time and successfully made it back to Salt Lake, which would rule out the whole flat earth thing. But I can't confidently say the earth is round either. Here's what happened. When I got home, both the front, back, and side doors were locked. I tried the garage keypad, but it didn't work.

When I texted my mom, it failed to go through. Then I tried my dad. Same thing. I brushed it off, telling myself that a month is a long time. My parents could have switched cell carriers, could have changed the garage code. With no way into the house and nothing to do, I decided to make the planned modifications to my time capsule right then, even though it was dark out. I trekked up the mountain with a shovel from the back porch and found the spot 20 minutes later. I dug cautiously and successfully extracted the bottle.

I saw Ivri's eyes again peering at me through the brown bottle, this time a little foggy from sitting underground for a month. As I pulled the rolled-up pictures out, I had decided that merely adding new pictures wasn't going to solve my problems. I needed a ritual, a way to symbolize my rebirth. I thought about ripping up the old pictures or burning them. I thought about collecting everything I still. alone of Avery's and throwing it into a bonfire.

Perhaps I wouldn't be able to move on until I could erase Avery, the personification of my old deceased self for my life. Like I said before, I was a new man. Then I saw something at my feet. With the flashlight on my phone, I saw that I dropped one of the old photos. It was the picture of me and my parents at dinner last Christmas at the Grand American Hotel. Only in this picture, there was a fourth person. A beautiful woman about my age with fair skin and long, auburn hair.

It was Avery. I was confused at first. Perhaps I'd put a different picture in the bottle than I thought. God knows Avery and I had gone to plenty of dinners with my parents when she was alive, but I wouldn't have done that. I already had a picture of Avery and me on our wedding day. That was enough. I remember distinctly thinking one picture of Avery was enough.

Then I looked closer at myself in that picture. It was definitely from last Christmas. It was 33-year-old me, not 23-year-old me. I had a beard last Christmas. A feat I could not have managed when I was 23. Since I printed the pictures only a month before, I pulled up the original on my phone with numb, shaking, fingers and held them side by side. It was the same picture. I had before me two distinct

realities, one in which Avery was alive and one in which Avery was dead. Everything else was the same. How the hell is this possible, I thought. The picture of our wedding day was the same. So was a picture of my cousin and me skateboarding. A picture of me standing in front of my Texas town home was different though. Instead of a town home, it was a small red house, apparently still in Texas. And of course, Avery was standing next to me wearing a green plaid button-up shirt. Avery would have pursued her degree in nursing at she lived, I'm sure. The dueling come would have allowed us to buy a house instead of a townhome, I figured.

But still, what the fuck is happening? My knees grew weak and I sat down, looking back and forth between the two pictures with Avery now in them. She truly was stunning, more beautiful than I remembered. I stumbled into a new reality. I don't know how or when, but here I am. In a world where Avery lives. I'm sure that isn't the only difference. But it's the only one I'm aware of as of this recording.

If I truly am in a new reality, what happened to the old one? Am I missing? Did I get duplicated? Did that old reality disappear? I laid on my back in the crunchy snow and closed my eyes. Where do I go from here? A pair of headlights flashed through the aspen trees and I sat up abruptly. A car was pulling up the driveway.

I shuffled my way down in the snowy bank. close to the house. I remained perched there for about five minutes before the kitchen lights clicked on and I saw four people emerge. Two of them were my parents, looking the exact same as they did in the other reality. Then in walked Avery. Then, in a moment even more unsettling than seeing Avery alive, I saw myself enter the room. My heart was pounding.

Other me was wearing the same. outfit I'm wearing today, even sporting the same scruff. The only difference was a little bit of gray hair above his ears. I slid further down the hill to get a closer look. For a moment, a long moment. I forgot about my replica and watched Avery. She was gorgeous in person. More gorgeous than in pictures.

She'd always been that way. This is what my life would look like if I hadn't been such a coward. thought, feeling a tear trickled down my cheek. The four of them talked and laughed excitedly, eventually shedding their coats and moving to the front living room. I climbed down the rock wall and ran around the front of the house, hiding behind a group of pine trees near the front stairs. My dad left for a couple of minutes and returned with a bottle of wine and four glasses. I fell deeper into a day's watching them, mostly Avery. They had a great time. chatting for at least a couple hours while I sat like a fool between the pines, my toes and hands

freezing. She was so effortlessly charismatic, so charming. The way she talked with her eyes, where her teeth flashed when she smiled, the way she leaned in when she was engaged. Everything about her was perfect, what I wouldn't do to steal this man's reality. I watched other me and Avery say their goodbyes and exit through the kitchen. Their car doors slammed shut and I realized I was going to lose them. In my reality, I was living at home while I did my around-the-world trip. Where would I have lived if I was still married to Avery? We had always talked about returning to the Salt Lake area eventually.

Maybe they did it. As they rolled down the driveway in their 2019 Honda Accord, nice choice, I ran to the side of the house and found an old bike for my childhood rusted against the wall. Both the tires were flat and the front brakes didn't work. But since my parents lived way up in the mountains, wherever other me and Avery were going was downhill. Even though I went as fast as I could, they were long gone. Obviously. My 25-year-old junkyard bike didn't stand a chance.

But I kept going, rolling past the church, the junior high, Then through the Oak Hill's neighborhood, all while racking my brain. If Avery and I were still married, where would we have lived? It wasn't a fair question to ask myself. After all, we had known each other for a little over a year, and had only been married three days when she died. In this other reality, other me and Avery have been married ten years. That's a lot of time to know someone. People change, opinions change, circumstances change.

I can't read the other means mind, so all I could do was hope for a miracle. As I was about to turn the corner onto Orchard Drive, I saw a pair of taillights in a driveway off a side street. Fair Oaks Drive. Of course, I thought. Avery and I talked about renovating an old home on Fair Oaks one day. But man, that was one conversation when we were engaged. Impressive that they, we pulled it off. My vision was blurry from biking almost a mile down hill in freezing temperature.

But as I got closer to the house, I recognized the car to be theirs. I snuck around the back of the house where I had a view of the living room and kitchen. I smiled looking at the renovated, well, mostly renovated at home. of Avery and the other me lying the walls. It was even an old stand-up piano in the corner. Just like the one Avery had always talked about, I found a little slice of heaven. This is everything my life would have been had I acted on that inner voice to pull Avery out of the water ten years ago.

Instead, I'm a depressed bum living with my parents. They made their way into the kitchen and took off their coats. Other me started on the dishes and Avery sat on the couch. eyes glued to her phone. I figured they were exhausted. It was after midnight, after all. After a minute, Avery stood up and walked down the hall. I ran to the other side of the house to try and get a view of her.

Where they turned the corner, the outdoor security light came on, and I ducked down in some bushes. Other me put the dishes down and walked to the back window to inspect. Then I heard a crash from inside, where Avery was. Other Me jerked around and stopped in his tracks. Go help her, I thought, you cowardly bastard. I returned to my original post and time to see Avery stomping down the hallway and into the kitchen. She was red-hot, furious. She walked right up to Other Me with a piece of paper in her hand.

I couldn't hear exactly what she said, but she screamed something and threw the paper at his face. Other Me put his hands up as a weak defense. What did you do to Avery this time? As Othermey tried to explain whatever was on that paper, Avery grew more furious. She pasted the kitchen and barked something else, then picked up a glass. Other Me had been in the middle of washing and threw it across the room, shattering on impact. Who the hell is this woman? Othermeet continued to speak calmly in defense, but there was no slowing Avery down.

She grabbed a picture. off the wall and threw it hard on the ground. The wooden frame crunching. Other me backed away slowly, moving to the other side of the kitchen island. Then, Avery pounced. She ran at him with unrestrained vengeance and shoved him hard against the kitchen cabinets.

He held his hands out again, pleading for her to calm down. She grabbed a plate from the sink and swung it at him, but he moved out of the way and it shattered violently against the cabinets behind. him. This only made her matter. She shoved him again, then clawed at his face. Othermee got tangled in his feet and stumbled against the fridge. She slapped him hard against the side of the head and he yelped in disbelief. Again, he begged for her to stop, but she didn't. She hit him three more times in the

face while he slumped to the ground. After the third hit, one of his eyes was already swollen shut blood streaming down his face. Avery walked to the other side of the kitchen island, and I breathed an audible sigh of relief. Avery, the girl of my dreams. The girl that made all my friends jealous. The girl I had on a pedestal for the last decade. A monster.

I know that we tend to forget people's negative attributes after they've passed. But there was not one violent, bone in Avery's body when I knew her. Not even an aggressive one. She was sweet, kind, loving. Not like this. Not at all. What happened to her?

As I watched the other bruised and bloody version of myself weep on the kitchen floor, my world crumbled. All this time, I had hated myself for not listening to that voice. for not pulling her out of the pool and saving her life. If only I had done that, we could have gone on to create a beautiful life together, finish school, build careers, buy a house, get a dog. We do it laughing and playing the whole time, like two kids in love.

I'd be complete forever, but with that one lapse in judgment, Avery died along with the entire vision for my perfect future, but no. That's not how my life would have been. This is how life would have been. With me crying on the kitchen floor with blood running down my face and shattered dishes all around me, is it possible that my reality, the one I came from, was the better life? There was another crash in a scream from the bedroom.

Avery Rone too. She stomped back into the kitchen. The other me stumbled to his feet. Again, he tried to calmly plead, but again, she wasn't having it. She yelled at him for another minute, then threw a coffee mug at him, shattering against his shoulder. He backed away from her, moving to the back door close to where I was hiding. I ducked down further. The door burst open and other me went sprawling past me, tripping and falling into the snow.

Avery stopped in the doorway and scoffed. You think you're better off without me, don't you? That's what this is all about, she said. Avery, please, think about what you're doing. Look what you've done to me just now. We can't keep living like this. I cannot keep living like this. I've put up with it far too long.

Other me sad and stood up. Ivory began sobbing quietly. Her arms folded tight. Other me took a step toward her. Don't get closer to that thing. thing, I thought. You're right. You're so right.

Avery said, tears running down her cheeks. God, I'm so horrible to you. You don't deserve this. You deserve someone better, far better. Someone who love you, no matter what, no matter... Other mistake composed while she cried. Will you ever forgive me? She said.

There was a minute of a moment of... silence. I tried to steady my breathing despite feeling like I was going to explode. Other me swallowed hard and widened his stance. No, Avery, this is it. I'm doing this. It doesn't mean we're over. It just means I need some time. Away. He turned his back to her and walked to the front of the house where the car was parked. Avery huffed and slammed the back. back door, returning to the kitchen. I peered my head up and saw her going to the knives next to the stove. I thought about intervening, but didn't know how. She carried a knife to the front door. I ran around the side of the house past the security light to the front. Other

Mia just turned on the car and was starting to back out of the driveway when Avery appeared with the knife. Stop! She screamed at him, trying to block his path. Other me continued backing out his eyes growing wide when he saw the massive knife in her hand. Stop this fucking car right now! She screamed and tried stabbing one of his tires, but its rotation kicked a knife from her hand. She quickly picked it up off the driveway. He pulled into the street and sped away, leaving Avery standing in the driveway in her pajamas shorts with a giant knife dangling by her side.

When the headlights were gone, she dropped the knife and began crying again. My first instinct was the comfort. her, an instinct that I quickly overruled. I only watched her in pure bewilderment. Never should have left fucking Texas. After a few minutes, she returned inside and I could hear her cleaning up the mess. That's when something dawned on me. I made a time capsule because I was about to do something big, something life-changing.

For me, I was about to embark on a round-the-world trip. But why would other me make a time capsule? Was he also planning something big? Before I could follow the train any further, I realized that the paper that set Avery off a few minutes before was now sitting in the middle of the driveway. I stood up carefully, making sure I was out of sight and grabbed it. With my phone as a flashlight, I read the paper. SLC to JFK, December 28th, JFK to AMS, January 4th, January 4th. AMS to PVG, January 12th, PVG to LAX, January 19th, LAX to SLC, January 23rd.

I let the crumple paper fall to the ground. He was planning the same trip I just came from, which meant he was going to experience what I just experienced. Probably. If he makes it around the world and returns to Salt Lake, he would be stepping into a new reality. If anyone deserves a new reality, it's that guy. So I didn't try to stop him.

Lightning struck a tree nearby, knocking me to the ground and killing the power to the rest of Fair Oaks. It began to rain. I walked to Orchard Drive and followed it to D's, the only 24-hour diner on this side of town. I'm recording this on a borrowed laptop in a booth that Avery and I had occupied many times when we were younger. I don't know what happened to the reality I came from.

If I'm now missing or dead or what, I don't know what will happen to other me if and when he makes a trip around the world. I don't know if there are other me's planning around the world trips too, thereby disrupting who knows how many more realities. How many other realities are there? Infinite? Frankly, I don't even know what'll happen to this post once I publish it.

I assume it'll be trapped in this reality forever, but who knows how this works. Just a few hours earlier, I smugly thought I'd figured out the answer to the embarrassingly juvenile question is the world round. My cab just got here, so this is the end of the line for me. There are plenty of unanswered questions here. questions I hope I'll eventually find answers to. All I know now is that I don't like the reality I came from, and I don't like the reality I'm in now. So there's only one way to go.

See you in New York. Other me. For your bonus episode, Creepy Presents. My sister and I went to a cabin in the middle of the woods, written by Eekpeak and narrated by Alicia Atkins. Around five years ago, my sister graduated from college with a master's degree. She was always wicked smart. She graduated not only with honors, but six months early as well.

Instead of graduating in the beginning of summer, she graduated in the middle of winter. I promised her we'd do something fun when she graduated, and I wasn't one to let the snow stop me. She deserved it. Originally, I had planned to take her to Cancun. She had been talking about wanting to go there since we were teenagers. It was going to be a surprise. Well, I wasn't about to take her to Cancun in the middle of winter. It just didn't seem logical, even though the weather there is slightly warmer.

I still wanted to take her on a vacation, though, once she'd always remember. Taking the weather and everything else into account, I opted to go for a cabin. A nice one, not one of those. authentic cabins. It was basically a beach house cosplaying as a cabin. It sat in the middle of a dense forest. It was three stories, four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a hot tub, five flat screen TVs, heating, AC, a full modernized kitchen, and other miscellaneous luxuries. It was about the same price as Cancun would have been, and we'd be staying an extra two

days at the cabin than we would have at the hotel in Cancun. When I showed her the cabin in our reservation receipt. My sister was beside herself. Her eyes beamed with excitement. She started to pace and talk quickly, something she'd done since we were kids. It's how you could tell when she was genuinely excited about something. I felt like the best sibling in the entire world. I told her we'd be leaving in a couple of days and we should start packing right then and there. She was more than happy to oblige. Now, I didn't just randomly pick this cabin. I swear I didn't my research. I wanted to make this a great time for my sister, and I wanted my money to be well spent. I searched for days, and this is one of the most highly rated cabins in the world. It claimed

to be so luxurious that you'd never want to leave. That kind of defeats the purpose of going exploring, right? Weird sales pitch for a cabin, but that went right over my head. The cabin was across the country, and it wasn't snowy. We could still go along the trails and explore the forest without freezing to death. It seemed perfect. The reviews were surprisingly all well-written and said great things. I thought I saw the same comment twice here and there,

but thought nothing of it. I think I was about just as excited as she was. Two days of packing and making more plans than we'd probably have time for, we finally set out for the trip. It was a 12-hour drive, and I think she only slept for about an hour. She talked the whole way there,

even when we switch places so I could take. take a break from driving. We got there around 10 hours after we'd left our house. My sister definitely shaved off some time when she was driving. I'm honestly surprised she didn't get a ticket. She had to drive down a beaten path about 30 minutes into the woods to even reach the cabin. The trail was tight, giving no leeway to swerve. It was surrounded in dense forest. If you walked away from the trail, you'd get lost in minutes. It was eerie. The sun was setting in the darker it got, the creepier it got. The second we reached the cabin, though, all of those feelings were washed away. It was beautiful. Unlike any cabin I've ever seen, the wood was dark and polished. The exterior had a wide front

deck that wrapped around the entire first floor of the cabin. You could walk from the front door all the way to the back deck. The back deck had a hot tub that was shielded by a small pavilion. You could access the sliding doors to one of the bedrooms from the back, and if you walked up a small flight of stairs, you'd entered the back entrance. It was incredible. We hurried our stuff in and quickly picked out our rooms. After we had settled, we stocked the fridge. I made us each a steak with mashed potatoes,

and I pulled out an expensive bottle of wine I'd been saving. I poured us each a glass, and we ate in the living room so we could find something to watch. Each TV had a streaming service list, and we picked one we already had an account to. We put on a show we've been watching back home and turned on the fireplace below the TV. Everything was perfect.

The next day, we had planned to go exploring along the trails that lay about a quarter mile from the cabin. We had a map with us and felt pretty confident. We didn't plan to explore for long, but we had to give it a go. I didn't really like hiking or really the woods at all. She loved nature, though, and I loved her. This was all for her, after all. Seeing her enthusiasm about the whole trip was enough for me to put my fears aside and be excited for her. Everything was going so well.

Rereach the trail in no time. Me, being asthmatic, though, I had to stop for a few minutes. I used my inhaler and waited for my breathing to return to normal. After that, we were on our way. Halfway into the trail, I realized my sister hadn't said anything in almost an hour. I thought she was just consumed in the nature surrounding us. It was cool outside. Not cold enough to make you shiver, but cold enough to need it jacket.

It didn't matter much anyways. as we were sweating like crazy going through the trails. After about two hours, I finally broke the silence. Hey, sis, I think we should head back now. What do you think? I was over walking, but I tried to sound cheerful. Okay, I guess. Her voice sounded happy, but I could tell she was shielding disappointment.

On our way back, she started to talk very quietly. I was about ten feet behind her at all times because I wasn't exactly in the best of shape. She was trucking along while I was struggling. I didn't complain, though. She seemed to be enjoying herself, even with all the silence. I sprinted for a second to catch up with her. She was still talking, but once I caught up with her, I realized it was more of a mumble. She was mumbling so fast I couldn't make anything out.

Hey, what's up? What are you talking about? I asked quietly. As soon as the words left my mouth, she went completely silent. Whoa, I never thought you'd catch up to me. You don't have to strain yourself. Walk at your own pace. I'll slow down.

She smiled. No, I know. I just... I thought you were talking to me. What were you saying? I asked, a little more concerned. Nothing. I haven't really said anything since we've been out.

You're losing it already? She said, jokingly. She really didn't remember? I thought maybe she just didn't want to tell me. She wasn't known to talk to herself, but we weren't in our usual environment either. Maybe she was just thinking out loud. I guess so. You know the woods creep me out.

I tried to remain cheerful. We got back to the cabin around 6 p.m. I was starving. My sister immediately went upstairs to her room and shut the door. I figured she was probably getting a shower and I started dinner. "'Sys, dinner's ready!' I shouted, hoping to get her attention. No response.

"'Hey, are you good up there?' My voice was quieter this time. No response. I walked up the spiral staircase that led to the second floor. I went up to her door and knocked. The door creaked open. After a few moments, she opened it the whole way. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot,

like she hadn't blinked in an hour. Are you okay? Dinner's ready. I locked eyes with her. Yeah. Okay. Dinner. Okay.

What's for dinner again? She sounded confused. Chicken dumplings. One of your favorites. I smiled, but I was worried. Okay. I'll be down. She sounded monotone now.

Around 9 p.m. she finally came down. Dinner had been cold for hours. I was getting tired. As I was laying down on the living room couch, she walked by without even acknowledging my existence. I washed her grab a plate and two dumplings. She ate standing in the kitchen. I looked over again a few minutes later and she was putting her plate in the sink already. Wow. Hungry much? I asked lightheartedly. She didn't even look at me. I was officially worried and weirded out now. This wasn't like her at all. She never liked being pressured, so I didn't try to pry information out of her. She didn't even get done rinsing the plate before she was sprinting to the bathroom. I could hear her vomiting. I remember asking myself if she could have gotten sick. Even when she was sick, though, she was always bright and cheerful.

Not even the highest fever could break this girl's spirit. Was she pregnant? That would explain her sudden mood change in the vomiting. If she was pregnant, she wasn't ready to tell anyone. I wasn't about to ask either. After she didn't come out of the bathroom, I went to see if she needed help. Before I could even reach the bathroom door, she swung it open. Her eyes were even worse than before.

Thank you for dinner. What a wonderful trip this is. You're an incredible big brother. She smiled so wide I could see every single one of her teeth. "'You're welcome,' I replied. I was trying to remain calm, but I could feel myself shaking. She bolted past me back up to her room. Now, by this point, I knew something was seriously wrong.

It wasn't even about the vomiting, the weird and fast mumbling, or the odd behavior. She called me an incredible big brother. I was two years younger than her, and a girl. I went to call my mother and I realized I had to call my mother, and I had to call my mother. no service, only Wi-Fi. I decided to try and download a free texting app that didn't require data, but my calls and text still wouldn't go through. Around 11 p.m. I went upstairs to go to my room. I could hear a faint scratching sound coming from my sister's room. I quietly made my way over and pressed my ear against the door. My sister was talking fast and almost manic-like.

What a wonderful beach. I love the beach. I love the beach. I love the beach. What a wonderful trip. I'm happy. Dad came. I love Dad. Thank you. for coming, Dad. What a wonderful trip. Her voice sounded monotone despite the speed. She was talking about our father. To our father? I couldn't tell, but

our father had died years ago. Panicked, I grabbed the doorknob to open the door. It was locked. As soon as I tried to open it, though, the scratching stopped. I heard shuffling and then the click of the door unlocking. This time she didn't peek

first. She whipped it open. The white parts of her eyes were now completely bloodshot. I stared at her and watched a tear of blood rolled down her face. She was smiling. Hey, we're going home tomorrow, okay? You're not well. I tried to sound reassuring. She cocked her head to the side.

Okay, she replied, still smiling. I stepped out of the doorway and ran to my room. I quickly gathered all of my things together. I wanted to leave right then, but there's no way I could drive us out of here at night. The vehicle trail was too narrow. All it would take is one wrong swerve, and we'd either go over a cliff or into a tree. I stayed up until I couldn't anymore. Ever since I left my sister's room, it had been silent.

I figured she finally went to bed. I tried to stay awake all night, but I finally succumbed to the exhaustion. I only slept for a few hours before I was awoken by a loud bang. It was roughly eight in the morning. After I was fully awake, I heard another loud bang. It was coming from my sister's room. This time I didn't knock or act stealthy. I barged in her room, which was unlocked to my surprise.

She was sitting in the corner of the cabin, facing the wall. I watched her swing her head back and slam it against the wall. It let out another loud bang. I ran over to her and pulled her away. Her forehead was bruised and bloody. She was still smiling. Behind her, I got a glimpse of the wall. It was absolutely torn to shreds.

There was wood all over the carpet. She had scratched into the wood until she reached the middle. The center of the wood was covered in black mold. There were chunks of mold missing. That's when I noticed her once bright smile was a dark gray. She had been eating it. Come on, we're leaving. Now. This time my voice was sharp.

Okay. I'm going to play in the snow first. Isn't it beautiful? Her head still cocked to the side, smiling. No, we're done. You're sick and there's no snow. We're on the west coast. There's no snow. See? My voice was growing more panicked as I pulled up the blinds. See? No snow. I was shaking. It's beautiful. said I could go play. He's waiting for me. She straightened her head, still smiling. Before I could grab her arm, she fled down the stairs and out the front door. I tried to chase her, but she was out of my

range of vision in minutes. She went towards the trails, but she didn't have the map. There's no way I'd be able to find her if she went off the trails at all. I contemplated my options and opted to get the hell out of that forest. I needed to get a signal. I wasn't going home without her. I made it to the main road in about half an hour. As soon as I was out of the forest, my phone lit up like a Christmas tree. I had missed calls from my mother and multiple texts from friends. They were all saying how worried they were about me. We hadn't even been here a full 48 hours.

Why were they so worried? I called my mother first. She was frantic. Where have you been? It's been two weeks. Everyone is looking for you. Are you okay? She was in tears.

Two weeks? No way. We pretty much just got here. How could that be possible? My mother said she looked for the cabin everywhere online but couldn't find a single thing about it. It's like it didn't exist, but it did. I was there.

We were there. I told my mother about my sister and she started crying even harder. I couldn't make out of things she was saying other than she was coming to pick me up. I googled the nearest police station and told her I'd be there. When I got to the police station, I was swarmed by police. They started examining me and asking a million questions at once.

I remember being scared and them taking me to a hospital. No one was listening about my sister. I was screaming she was lost, but not a single person paid any attention to what I was saying. The next thing I remember was my mother holding my hand while I lay in a hospital bed. The doctor said you're going to be okay. They pumped your stomach and they'd be. monitoring your vitals around the clock. They say you're extremely lucky to be alive. My mother's voice was gentle. I started to cry. I didn't understand. I pleaded with my mother to

let me talk to the police. We had to find my sister. My mother sighed. The doctor said your hallucinations would start going away soon. She said, still very gentle. What hallucinations? What are you talking about. We need to find her. She ran off into the woods. She's lost and sick. We need... My mother cut me off. Honey, your sister has been dead for over a year now. She's not lost. I'm sorry, honey. I really am. I know it feels fresh, but once you regain your memory, I promise it won't hurt as bad as it does right now. Her gentle voice was calming, but her words were terrifying. I closed my eyes and started to sob. I couldn't understand what was happening. The only thing the doctor isn't sure of is how you managed to consume so much black mold without

dying. They're also not sure how you made it the whole way out here without crashing. Do you remember why you even left the house? Her hand was still holding mine. I promised her I would take her on vacation when she graduated. I promised. She deserved it. My voice was faint. I remember you did promise her that, but she's been gone for a while now.

Your father and sister knew how much you loved them. Why did you do this? Her voice had lowered into a whisper now. I promised her, I would. I promised. My voice now a whisperer too. You also promised me. me, you wouldn't stop taking your medication, and there's not a trace of it in your system.

She was still whispering. I closed my eyes and fell asleep. When I awoke, I was in the hospital near my house. My mother's still beside me. I'm sorry, Mom. I just wanted to see her one more time. I had to keep my promise. My voice sounded hoarse. My mother's eyes filled with tears. You kept your promise to her a while ago, sweetheart. It's not your fault what happened. You can't keep going off your medication. Last year when you two went camping, she fell down a ravine when you two were hiking.

It was an accident. You have to let her go. You have to move on. I can't lose the only child I have left. I haven't stopped taking my medication since. Sometimes I want to Just to see her one more time I have a new promise to keep, though

And I won't let my mother down again For more information on this podcast Including how to submit your own story for consideration Please 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 Commons share-a-like licensing, or with written consent from the authors.

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