Creepy - There's Been An Incident
Episode Date: September 16, 2021It was an accident...***Written by AM_Hathazard (read more at r/HazardousImaginings) and narrated by Danielle Hewitt***Content warning: Domestic Abuse, Child Death***Check out our reward tiers at patr...eon.com/creepypod***You can also subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/creepypod***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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Welcome to the bloody disgusting network.
No.
This is creepy.
A podcast dedicated to sharing the most famous chilling and disturbing creepy pastors and urban legends in the world.
Whether these stories truly happened or simply fabrications is for you to decide.
These stories may contain graphic depictions of books.
violence and explicit language.
Listener discretion is advised.
Creepy presents.
There's Ben an incident.
Written by A.M. Hathard and narrated by Danielle Hewitt.
That's what they told me.
An incident.
An accident.
Like it was some freak of nature thing that no one could have predicted.
prevented, just destined to be.
An incident.
That was the same thing, they told my sister,
when Steve finally put me in the hospital.
Shattered collarbone, busted lip,
black and blue from tip to tail.
It was my fault he'd gotten out of it that time.
I'd taken off in his car and wrapped it around a tree
about a block away from our house.
No one believed me when I told them the injuries had happened first.
All because of the five glasses of wine he pressured me into drinking while he played nice for dinner.
It was when I turned down the sixth that he'd thrown his glass in my face.
An incident. Just destined to be. My sister believed me, thankfully, even when the judges didn't.
And I was granted visitation rather than custody of our eight-year-old son.
He'd always told me he had friends in high places.
He'd always said that if I left
He'd destroy me
Say what you want about Steve
But he's not a liar
I existed in my sister's spare bedroom
While living for supervised visits with Bailey
It was impossible to explain to him what was happening
Why mom couldn't come home
So I just held him
Red to him
Fought back the tears that burned my eyes
Every time I saw his round red chie
cheeks and big blue eyes. The nights were the worst. I couldn't sleep without seeing Steve's face,
his fist, feeling every pinch and shove and blow I'd acquired over the years. During the day
I job hunted, kept it together. But as soon as the sunset, I started to shake as if something
deep inside me wanted out. One night, I grabbed my tennis shoes and every evening since,
I did my best to find relief in the worn dirt paths of the park down the street
to outrun the sneered barbs and insults buried deep within my psyche.
My family hated it.
They said it was dangerous.
There was a small creek in the park, leading off into the rain-drainage tunnels under the city.
Some ten years back, a girl, Emma Wilson, had been found dead inside them.
Her parents moved away shortly after.
and the neighborhood never really recovered.
How could I explain to them
that this small rush of danger
was the closest I felt to home
since my face had hit the steering wheel?
Besides,
I didn't have much of a say in it.
My feet moved underneath me
and I was helpless to follow.
One second, the scratchy fabric
of my floral comforter was prickling at my arms.
The next, the wind was rushing past my ears.
Trees and playground equipment darted by,
me in a blur, and I didn't come to until I was huffing, hands on my knees, staring into the dry
creek bed, in the black abyss of a tunnel at its end. Time moved slowly during those long,
lonely nights. Sometimes I lost minutes, sometimes hours. Each night drew me closer in. Once, I pulled out
of my days while teetering over the jagged rocks, nearly ready to dive in face first to the stones below.
It was a night like that when I got the call.
My cell phone sprung to life in my pocket,
and consciousness crashed back into me.
Mud squelched beneath my shoes,
and the darkness was heavy, suffocating.
I blinked and realized the tunnel was right in front of me.
Somehow I ended up in the creek without realizing it.
Another ring sent me scrambling,
raising the phone to my ear with trembling hands.
I'm sorry, ma'am.
there's been an incident.
A new kind of numbness settled over me, into my bones.
I was completely aware, but frozen in place.
Gaze pulled into the tunnel as if it were a black hole, as a police described,
what had happened to my son.
My Bailey.
Eventually the line went dead.
The phone dropped from my hand.
Eventually I was shaken out of my stupor by a different police officer.
One called by a new police officer.
neighbor awoken by the sound of screams echoing off the stone like a ping pong ball.
I can't believe our boy is gone.
That's what Steve said to me at the hospital,
wrapping his heavy arms around me like a straight jacket.
Tears streaked his face, but his eyes were as empty as ever.
I swore I could make out a hint of a smirk on his thin lips.
He'd been running around the pool, late at night.
That's what they told me.
what Steve told them,
snuck out, and slipped in.
He was gone before the ambulance made it on the scene.
Steve was a hero,
apparently performed CPR until they pried him up our son's cold body.
They didn't know that Bailey hated the pool.
He was so scared to death of the water
ever since Steve pushed him in as a joke four years earlier.
The only ones that knew
that were me and Steve. Before we left the hospital, he leaned down close to my ear and said,
if only his mother had been there to watch over him. Already slow days moved even more sluggishly
after that. Each movement was difficult, like crawling through molasses. I was trapped in a vicious
grief that was determined to pull me under. But at night, I still ran. I still ended up at the
that tunnel. Each day I drew closer to it, until I was at the mouth of the tunnel, then several
feet inside. Just before the spell wore off, and I found myself back inside my body, I swore
I could hear the sound of Bailey laughing in the distance. I'm worried about you, Meg,
my sister told me over lunch one day. It was actually breakfast for me, considering I couldn't
drag myself out of bed until mid-afternoon.
But Ray dutifully whipped up some eggs in sausage anyway.
God bless her.
Huh.
I mumbled between small bites staring out the window.
Meg, look at me.
I blinked, rolled my head slowly to the side.
Just that small movement felt nearly impossible.
An uphill battle.
I could see my sister's face,
but it felt so far away,
bade in a strange sepia hue
Like I was looking out from an amber cage
You're streaking mud in every night
Staying out till dawn
I know you have so much on your mind right now
I can't imagine how difficult this must be
Maybe it's time you talk to someone
Her words sounded like static feedback in my ears
I struggled to pull the bits and pieces
I caught into something coherent
I'll clean up the mud, I said before dropping my fork and retreating back to my bedroom.
I curled up in the rocking chair, sitting just in front of the window, wincing against the bright
daylight that rested outside of it. I could see the park in the distance, bright green and filled
with life, children squealing in the play area. During the day, it lost its pull on me.
My eyelids grew heavy. Just before they slipped closed,
I caught a sight of Steve's red ford, parked on the street a couple houses down.
My dreams were filled with Bailey's laughter, and a teenage girl standing at the mouth of a black hole motioning me forward.
By the time my eyes fluttered back open, the sun had dipped low in the sky and Steve's truck was gone.
Had I imagined it there in the first place?
It was possible.
Everything these days seemed to exist somewhere on the cusp of fantasy and reality, sleeping and awake.
I'd woken earlier than usual.
Of that much I was certain.
I didn't notice what had woken me
until several seconds later
when my ears cut my sister's hushed whispers down the hall.
It's time for a restraining order, Dad.
This is the third time I've caught him.
I let her words fade back into oblivion
and I slipped on my running shoes.
Her back was turned as I snuck past her open bedroom door.
Cell phone shoved against her ear.
I crept down the stairs and out the door without a sound.
As soon as my feet hit the cement, my body kicked into action, knowing exactly what to do, exactly where to take me.
The last remaining tendrils of light cast gloomy shadows off the houses and trees, and kept me in my body as it pushed forward.
I sucked in the hot summer air, grateful to feel sticky droplets of sweat dripping from my forehead.
Even with a vague and unwanted level of consciousness,
I was still drawn toward the tunnel,
helpless to the gravitational pull that it had over me.
I stood on the jagged rocks overlooking it,
and closed my eyes,
taking in the peaceful, distant sound of laughter.
And then, two strong hands planted themselves against my back,
shoving me forward.
My heels dug down into the stones below me,
but with nothing to find purchase in,
I jerked off the side of the wall. A shocked squeal escaped my lips, only to be cut short as I hit the
muck-covered cement that lay below. I threw my arms out to cushion the fall and groaned.
Low and distant as my elbow took the brunt of the impact and snapped like a twig on the forest floor.
Megan!
Steve's voice floated in the air above me like a storm cloud, electric and ready to burst.
I think you and I need to have a conversation.
My groaning turned to whimpers in my throat.
That sentence, so familiar, was like a blow on its own.
Be quiet, it told me. Be small.
If you do what you're told, it'll be over soon.
If not, his loafers crunched against the loose gravel as he started down the slope.
They'll get dirty, the voice told me, and it's all your fault.
I pulled my feet underneath me and pushed up with all my might.
That voice, it wasn't mine.
I used to think it was, but through the space, through the grief.
I knew better now.
It was his.
I turned toward the dark of the tunnel, my only way forward.
The last remnants of daylight refused to puncture the darkness.
But for a split second, I swore I could see something poking out.
A stark, white hand gesturing me onward.
I stumbled forward, bracing my broken elbow against my body as I went.
Steve splashed down the road and rancid water behind me as I slipped through the opening, swallowed hole.
Every time I'd ended up in the tunnel beforehand, I'd done so in a near dream state.
wandered out with a flashlight on my cell phone and a tingling fear deep in my gut.
This time, I was running in blind, but so was he.
Blinded by the darkness and his own rage.
I heard him thrashing behind me cursing.
Megan, get your ass back here.
But my body knew what to do.
For real this time.
Not the false reaction he'd beaten into me.
I ran.
A blinding light tore through the tunnel from behind me.
I ducked around an upcoming turn sticking close to the wall,
fingers brushing against it to keep myself steady.
The walls were lined with layered, colorful graffiti.
RIP.
It all ends here.
Emma, can you hear me?
Can you hear me now?
I kept moving.
Steve rushed at me.
Gaining ground. I had practice and familiarity on my side, but his legs were longer, his rage
cleaner. Soon I was farther in the tunnel than I'd ever been before. Up ahead there was a
sudden hole in the wall, a small hallway jutting off to the left. I turned so fast, I bashed my
right shoulder into the wall, making my elbow scream in protest. There was no time to slow down.
Without the flashlight shining behind me, I was blind again, shoving through the inky blackness
like a linebacker until the floor gave out from underneath me and I found myself tumbling forward once
more into a basin of stale water. I sucked in a breath involuntarily, quickly sputtering and coughing
to expel the liquid from my lungs. Light burst into my peripheral as I staggered to my feet.
I spun in place, searching for another hallway to duck into.
All I saw were grimy stone walls and more graffiti.
My eyes caught on a stick figure and a dress,
two large X's in place of its eyes.
Goodbye, Emma.
A splash from behind pulled my attention away from the wall.
Steve was in the water with me, knee deep and livid.
The shadows cast from his flashlight made his eyes seem darker, rabid,
like two more little dark tunnels running through the sockets.
How had I ever looked at this man and thought he was handsome?
Thought he was kind.
I'm sick of the shit, Megan.
He huffed, water rippling around his knees as he stepped forward.
You're coming home tonight.
That's final.
You killed Bailey!
I sobbed sloshing backwards.
You killed him, Steve!
He scoffed.
I killed him?
A boy needs his mother, Megan.
You took that away from him.
My head bobbed violently back and forth.
No, no.
I hated how small I sounded, how quickly he shook my foundation.
I took another step backwards only for my calf to catch on something thick under the murky surface of the water.
I began to tilt backward, just as he rushed me, burying his hand in the collar of my shirt and yanking me forward.
You think I wanted this? You think I like what you make me do?
Whatever was behind my legs shifted, shuddered, rippled against me.
The sensation sent a burst of bile rushing up my throat,
before a slap across the face brought me back to the moment.
The thing jerked behind me.
I started to tumble again.
This time my husband followed the movement, letting me collapse to the ground.
He fell with me, knees landing on either side of my body until he was straddling me in the water.
Fist still clenched against the side of my neck.
He needed you, Megan. I needed you, you selfish fucking bitch.
He shoved me down, under the thick, dark water.
I gasped in a breath just before I went under, and it was as if it brought a small bit of fight back into me.
I thrashed wildly, kicking, clawing, fucking like a bull.
He stayed firmly planted on top of me, his distorted shouting, bubbling just above the surface.
Pushing against him was like pushing against a brick wall.
And so my hands flailed outward,
searching through the muck for anything I could grab a hold of.
When one landed on something solid,
I wrapped my hand around it and pulled with all of my might.
My chest began to burn, lungs screamed for air.
Just when I was sure they were about to explode,
he released me,
falling backward away from my body.
I rushed to the surface gasping desperately.
He was gasping too, I realized.
Sprawled out on his ass in front of me.
A dark, modeled figure with blonde-matted hair
and red marks around its neck sat kneeling between us,
back turned to me.
It, she, was naked, skin bloated and graying,
raising one arm in Steve's direction.
The other was still gripped tightly in my hand.
I dropped her arm, a deep tremor rumbling through my shoulders.
Steve's black hole eyes were wide as baseballs fixed on her.
There were four long gashes in his cheek, leaking crimson blood into the sludge below.
The figure rose to its feet.
It was just a girl, I realized.
Thirteen at the oldest.
Even with her back turned, a wave of recognition washed through me.
That blonde hair.
the angry ligature marks.
I'd seen her face countless times before,
staring out from the missing persons' posters
scattered around my sister's neighborhood,
even long after they discovered the body.
Emma.
I stood as well.
All the fear and adrenaline that had been rushing through me,
cooled to a distant whisper through my veins.
I heard Bailey's laughter echoing off the rounded walls,
and I smiled.
She'd been trying to bring me here all along.
We both step forward, Steve scrambling back.
I wrapped my hand around hers, squeezing slightly, smiling down at her.
Her face was only a shadow of the pretty girl she'd once been.
Her lips cracked and peeling, busted teeth poking out from behind them.
But looking at her, I couldn't help but think of my Bailey the first time I held him.
Emma, I said softly. I'm here now. She let my hand fall, jerking forward in a burst of speed. I barely saw her move until she was on him.
Thin, bony figures wrapping around his neck, broken teeth sinking into his cheekbones.
His screams were as sweet as children's laughter, until she dunked him under, and those screams became a garbled white noise.
I knelt down beside the two of them. She pulled him up to look at me.
It was like staring into my own eyes for so many years, scared and helpless, and oh, so confused.
It made me smile.
I reached out to brush a hand along his bloody cheek, and then leaned in close.
Fuck you, Steve.
I jerked my hand back and let it crash back into him, reveling in the crunch I heard as his teeth broke loose and cut his lips.
And then I stood and let his wimper's furrow.
fade into the distance as I made my way out of the tunnel. The sun had fully set by the time I made
it out. A cool, lovely breeze blew through the trees rustling my damp hair. Even with my clothes
sticking against my skin, I felt lighter than ever before. Free. Couldn't wait to come back
the next day to thank Emma for everything she'd done for me. My sister was waiting at the dining
room table when I made my way back into the house. She gasped, taking in the blood and the dirt soaking my
close. Oh my God, Megan, she said jumping to her feet. What happened? I smiled. There's been an
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