The NoSleep Podcast - NoSleep Podcast S5E15

Episode Date: May 31, 2015

It's episode 15 of Season 5. We have six tales this week featuring stories about chilling childhoods, encroaching entities, and scholastic screams. The full episode features the following stories. The free version features only the first three tales. Trigger Warnings "Gamer" written by R.D. Ovenfriend and read by Jeff Clement & Jesse Cornett. (Story starts at 00:04:05) "Happy Childhood" written by Maggie Webster and read by Nichole Goodnight. (Story starts at 00:22:22) "Obscurity Man" written by Braedon Balko and read & co-produced by Mike DelGaudio & Jessica McEvoy. (Story starts at 00:33:45) "I Found a Laptop" written by Quentin Mayhew and read by David Cummings. (Story starts at 00:54:15) "God Made Girls" written by Rona Vaselaar and read by Jessica McEvoy. (Story starts at 01:13:10) "An Incident at My School II" written by Paul Bae and read by David Cummings & Jesse Cornett & Erika Sanderson & Jessica McEvoy. (Story starts at 01:27:45) Click here to learn more about The Black Tapes Podcast Click here to learn more about R.D. Ovenfriend Click here to learn more about Quentin Mayhew Click here to learn more about Mike DelGaudio Click here to learn more about Jeff Clement Click here to learn more about Jesse Cornett Click here to learn more about Erika Sanderson Podcast produced by: David Cummings Music & Sound Design by: Brandon Boone & David Cummings "God Made Girls" illustration courtesy of Lukasz Godlewski This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons License 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Warning. This is a horror fiction podcast. Beware. It's intended for mature adults, not the faint of heart. Aware. Join us at your own risk. Close your eyes. Cails of horror to frighten and disturb as the sleepless hours take past.

Brace yourself for the No Sleep Podcast. Episode 15. Welcome to the No Sleep Podcast. I'm your host, David Cummings. We have six tales this week, featuring stories about chilling childhoods, encroaching entities, and scholastic screams. I hope you season past members saw your first special bonus episode of season five in your feeds this week. We featured the great story, Blue Ridge, by C.K. Walker. It features a full cast and production by Jeff Clement. Make sure you listen to that one, preferably while cozied away in a secluded cabin in the woods.

And of course, it's never too late to pick up your season pass five to hear that story and the other upcoming bonus episodes for season past members. Now, with this new episode and that bonus episode, you may be thinking you've been thinking you've, have enough great audio to listen to, right? Well, just hold your horses, because I want to introduce you to a new podcast which I'm sure many of you no sleep listeners will love. Author Paul Bay, the man who brought us last episode's stunning final tale entitled, An Incident at My School, is part of a team producing The Black Tapes podcast. The Black Tapes is a serialized docudrama about one journalist's search for truth, her subject's mysterious past, and the literal and figurative ghosts that haunt them both. If you enjoy podcasts like serial, welcome to

Night Vale, and even, oh, I don't know, the No Sleep podcast, I know you're really going to enjoy the black tapes. It features excellent writing with outstanding audio production, and the first two episodes are now available, so you can get in on the ground floor, as they say. It's well worth checking out. You'll find a link to it in the show notes. And speaking of author Paul Bay, we're not done with his story. This episode's final tale features the conclusion of an incident at my school. Yet another reason to consider a season pass, or perhaps purchasing both this and last week's individual episodes. So that's a lot of great audio options for you.

And since we're all about providing great stuff to listen to, let's start the show. In our first tale, we hearken back to the days when video games were not played from your couch, but rather in video arcades. As we hear from author R.D. Ovenfried, a young boy learns of rumors of a secret, back room at his local arcade, where the extra special games are held. He soon discovers one

game in particular is far more realistic than he could imagine. The narrating team of Jeff Clement and Jesse Cornett, our friends from Chilling Tales for Dark Nights, read this tale for us as we find out about the allure of that secret room. It's easy to understand, especially, if you're a gamer. You know that little boys aren't supposed to go into strange rooms with men they just met, right? When I was 10, I knew this too, but I was a huge video game nerd. In the 1980s, if you wanted to play video games, you had to go to the arcade in the mall. The arcade had a wide variety of video games in the lobby area,

but the best games were hidden in a secret room at the top. back of the store. I had heard about it from other boys at school. They said if you spend a lot of time and quarters playing video games on the main floor, the owner, Stanley, would take you to the back room where the secret games were kept. The guys said that Stanley got access to the arcade games months before they came out. It was also rumored that there were some games in the back room that were too risque for the main floor. Weird underground video. games from Japan that involves sex and gore. I'd been coming to the arcade with my friends for over a month, but Stanley never showed

any interest in me until I came by myself one day. You have to understand that this was a safe, quaint college town in the 1980s. Things were different. Moms would drop their kids off at the mall, armed only with stern warnings about talking to strangers and leave them there for hours. Everyone did this. It wasn't neglectville. I was playing Street Fighter when Stanley approached me.

You've spent a lot of time at that game. I was a little shock that he was right here. I had seen him around the store, but never this close. It was like seeing a celebrity in person for the first time. Yeah, I've almost gotten a high score three times. Do you want to play some other games in the back? And that was it. It was like he had asked me if I wanted a million dollars.

I backed away from my game right in the middle of a hard level and said, Yes. Right away, no hesitation. That's how stupid I was. As he led me back through the game lobby, he asked, Has anyone told you about the back? room? I didn't want to get anyone in trouble for telling the secret. He promised that they wouldn't get in trouble. He just needed to know who it was. I gave him Jonathan Blakely's name.

When we entered the back room, I felt a pang of disappointment. I quickly scanned the arcades along the wall but didn't see anything particularly salacious. A few older games, one or two that had recently broke and were removed from the game floor. There were three separate doors to some further rooms on the side. I guess they might be bathrooms or an office area. There was also another boy about my age and the room. He was playing one of the Wild West shooter games. Stanley walked me over and introduced the boy as Ian.

Ian greeted me with a casual... Hey! And a smile. He lowered his plastic gun. looked at Stanley and said, Hey, now that there's another kid, can we play that special game? Stanley nodded his head slowly and deliberately. Yes, we could play that special game.

Ian grabbed me by the arm and said, You're going to love this one. I heard all about it. Stanley asked if I wanted to play the special game. Yes, I wanted to play. Stanley told me to wait while he grabbed Ian by the shoulders and led him into one of the side rooms. He closed the door behind them and I waited. Stanley hadn't given me any instructions. Were they going to be one minute or 20?

Was I allowed to play the other games while I waited? I couldn't exactly process what was happening so I just stood there staring at the closed door with Stanley and Ian inside. I listened very carefully and I think. thought I heard their voices behind the door, maybe some jostling. After a few minutes, Stanley bounded out of the room and said, Okay, let's get you set up in your cockpit. I was so impressed. I had seen a picture of a cockpit simulator in a gamer's magazine, but I never thought

I would get to play one. Stanley opened a different door next to the one Ian had gone into. He mentioned for me to go inside. As I walked past Ian's door, I saw it was cracked open slightly, and I caught a quick glimpse of Ian sitting in a cockpit mechanism, wearing a black helmet with a dark-tinted visor. A similar mechanism waited inside my room. I climbed into the chair and Stanley adjusted the safety harness straps around my chest. He put a black helmet over my head like a real fighter pilot wears. It took him a while to get everything properly adjusted.

I sat in a large metal frame with a well-padded seat in a monitor in front. Overhead fluorescent lights illuminated the room. The chair had joystick-style controllers at each hand. Stanley left me alone in the room and closed the door behind him. Then the game started. I heard Ian's voice through the helmet speakers. Yes, I could hear him. It was really cool like walkie-talkies, but the graphics were much less impressive than the rest of the setup.

Unambitious green squares and circles floated around on a simple black background. I giggled and told Ian that I could probably draw something better on my Commodore 64 at home. The green lines began rotating as a woman's pre-recorded voice came through the headphones. Player one, you are the trigger man. Pull the trigger before the countdown. You do not want to fail. The screen displayed a 15 in big block letters. 15.

Then it changed to 14. 14. Then 13. 13. The countdown was on. My favorite type of games are the ones that don't make any effort to explain themselves. You just figure them out as you go along. Player 1.

Ian didn't know. When I grabbed both joysticks, I was surprised that they didn't swivel, and they each only had one button. I clicked the buttons. The voice continued counting down. Seven. I don't think I'm player one. My trigger doesn't do anything. And halfway through his sentence, I felt a jolt of static electricity run through me, and I yelled.

Ian called through the headphones. I responded, No, something messed up with my seat. I got shocked when you did that. After the shock, the counter reset to 15 and began counting down the seconds again. 15. Stanley, this is broken. The timer was at 10.

My safety harness wouldn't unlock. 10. Ian started protesting two. Something's wrong. Seven. Six. Five. Between calls.

Calling the numbers, the woman's computer voice said, The game must go on. You do not want to fail. The shock was even bigger this time. 15.14. The first shock didn't really hurt. It just scared me. This one actually stung.

I kept trying to unbuckle the seat. Shocks me when you push the button. The shocks are getting bigger. Don't push it anymore. And then much louder, I yelled, Out! Ian promised you wouldn't shock me anymore. Six.

Five. The game must go on. Stan Lee, let me out. Three, two, one. Another shock came, stronger than the previous two. And then the computer made the noise that every 80s arcade game, makes when your turn is over. I breathed a sigh of relief, but only for one second. Player two, you are the trigger man. Pull the trigger before the countdown. You do not want to fail.

Ian had figured out the real nature of the game before I did, but I was still in denial. Maybe it was just a malfunction with my unit. Maybe it won't shock you if I pull the trigger. Ian said it couldn't be a malfunction. But if I don't pull, it will still shock you. Big turns taking shock. Five, four, three. Maybe it won't shock you. I squinched my eyes and squeezed the trigger as Ian yelled in pain through the headphones.

I could tell from his screaming that his shock was as bad or worse than either of the ones that I got. The countdown started over again. 15. 14. I waited until the last possible nanosecond before pulling the trigger, but I pulled it. 15. 14. As a 10-year-old, I had a surprising grasp of the game. I was terrified, but I knew what had to be done.

Give you control. How do I know you won't keep pulling the trigger? If I lose control, you'll get. keep shocking me to protect yourself, then I would be the one begging you to switch control. You could shock me to death. Six. I promise I won't. I give you control earlier. I just need a break.

Besides, they won't kill us, surely. Please take two little shocks. Then I'll give you control again. Please. Between tears, I said. No, you won't. It hurts too much. You won't switch.

Three. Two. I'm so... I needed him to forgive me for what I was doing. I heard Ian thrashing against his restraints and he yelled. We both begged as the seconds ticked down. The door to my room stayed closed. When the countdown was almost over, I shocked him.

Again and again. Every 15 seconds. The shocks kept getting stronger and the screams got louder. I could hear him screaming through the walls in addition to the headphones. I still think about this every day of my life. At a certain point, the lights would dim when I pulled the switch and I could hear the crackle of electricity through the wall. My memory of this is so vivid. Thirty years later, most of my nightmares involve flickering and dimming fluorescent lights.

His screams turned to whispers as the electrical current crushed him. Then he stopped making any noises. The lights dimmed and hissed with each click of the button, but no human sound came from the other room. But I didn't dare give up control. I kept shocking him until the computer voice said, Game over. The seatbelt clicked open,

and I burst through the door of the simulator room and into the room where Ian was. His door was locked and I banged on it. Ian, I'm so sorry. Stanley came out and said, Son, I need you to... Not going into the next room. No!

I sprinted to the door that led back to the lobby, but it was locked. I kept screaming and yanking on the door, weeping tears of terror as Stanley approached. He tried to grab me with his arm and I jerked away again. No. Son, Ian's okay. Magically, Ian was okay.

His door opened and he stood there. Ian's an actor. This was an experiment. This door has been funded by several groups that value traditional morality to see how regularly playing violent video games impacts moral behavior. we wanted to see how far you would push the experiment. He had a cash bill in his hand. He knelt down beside me and said,

Here's $10 for your participation in the experiment. If five of your friends say you told them about the back room, we'll give you an extra $10. He explained that I had to keep the nature of the experiment. secret so that I didn't tamper with the results. The next day at school, my friend Paul stopped me. I was still in the days. I was still in shock.

He didn't seem to notice. Hey, I was at the mall and I saw Stanley lead you to the inner room. What was it like? Were there any naked games? I heard there's a flight simulator that'll lift you off the ground. I heard it feels like a roller coaster. I was almost catatonic. I stared out through the window to a bird in the grass, picking at a worm.

He ripped it out of the ground in one motion as it wriggled around before dying. It was awesome. Maybe he will let you in sometime. It seems there are fewer and fewer people out there who can boast about growing up in a home with two loving parents and all that their hearts desire. But as we learn from author Maggie Webster, she grew up just like that. In fact, the only thing she wasn't allowed free access to was TV. Narrator Nicole Goodnight reads the tale for us as we learn why TV was very limited to this girl, and why, in spite of it, she had such a happy childhood.

Growing up, I had an awesome childhood. My dad was a contractor who worked long hours to provide for our family while my mom was a part-time bank teller, but she got off just in time every day to pick me up from school. I saw my dad very rarely on the weekdays as I was put to bed before he got home. Oftentimes, we had daddy-daughter weekends because my mom was worried we weren't bonding. I mean, we were all close. I just was a lot closer to my mom for obvious reasons.

We lived in a beautiful two-story home. It looked a lot like one of those houses you'd see in a home in gardens magazine. We had a giant backyard with an oak tree, equipped with a tire, and when I was eight, my dad built a treehouse up there for me. My room had enough toys and clothes in it to please an entire litter of kids. But I was the only child, so my mom spoiled me to death.

I could have anything I wanted if I put up enough of a pout. Life was great. The only thing I couldn't get my mother to budge on was letting me watch TV. I was never allowed to watch it, supervised or not. I felt it was pretty unfair to keep one in the house, especially one of those big ones with surround sound. I tried everything I could to watch cartoons on it, but they had those parental controls on it that required a password. It was a pretty routine fight in my household. I would beg her for around an hour, at which point she'd get fed up and start yelling.

I'd cry and scream, I hate you, with a force I don't think I could replicate today. As a special treat on Christmas, or my birthday, she'd pop in an old VHS for the whole family to watch, but that was the extent of it. It kind of sucked in school because all of the other kids would talk about their favorite cartoon character, and the only ones I really knew were all old. They'd make fun of me for being so behind on the times, and I can still hear their laughter piercing my ears. But I was active in sports and school plays, so I still had a lot of friends. It wasn't really all that bad, I guess. One day I was at school. I must have been around 10 because I remember I was in Mrs. Fitzgerald's class when I got the call to go to the principal's office.

All the shits of my class began the Ooh, Maggie's in trouble bit Which I didn't appreciate as I was definitely a goody-goody. The whole walk there, my heart was pounding in my chest. What did I do? I kept thinking to myself. When I got there, the principal just told me my mom was going to work late today because one of the girls at her office had gotten sick and wasn't in. I was told that my friend Brantley's mom would pick me up from school and drop me off at home.

As I was turning to leave, the principal stopped me and said, Oh, and Maggie, be sure to call your mother once you're home safe. When I got home, my dog Roscoe was rowdy, so I let him into the backyard and walked to the kitchen phone. I picked up the receiver and pressed in the familiar number of the bank. I put it to my ear and nothing. I checked the phone and whatever genius used it last forgot to put the receiver back on the charger, so it was dead. I went to the living room and found that phone, which was luckily charged.

I dialed the number and was greeted by Greta, a nice old lady my mom worked with. She passed me through to my mom who told me to have a little snack and do my homework, and before I knew it, she'd be home. I hung up with her and put the phone back on the charger. but that's when I noticed the little blinking red dot indicating messages. I was worried it was about the soccer game for that next evening. They kept saying it was going to rain and they'd keep us updated on whether or not they're going to cancel it. So I pressed play and walked to the door to grab my backpack. It was my dad.

Hey, honey, it's Rick. Sorry I didn't get a chance to see you this morning before you left for work. I wanted to see if you knew of anyone who could watch Maggie this. weekend. I got us tickets to that violinist you wanted to see. Anyways, I love you and I miss you. I'll see you tonight. The next message begins to play as I had just started working on my math homework. I forgot to mention in my last message. I changed the password this morning. It said it had expired when I turned it on this morning. The new one is 90537. Love you. said I had already pulled out my homework and was working on it, so it took a moment to register

what he had just said. But when it did, boy, did I jump up like it was Christmas morning. I quickly formulated a plan. I replaced the message so my mom and dad had no clue I listened to it. I did my homework so my mom didn't think I was disobeying her. I rushed through all my homework and ran to let Roscoe in. I figured he could hear if mom came home and alert me. I grabbed a pillow off the couch and plop down on the floor in front of the TV. Ah, yes, time for some cartoons, I said, turning on the TV. It popped up with a message. Password required.

Zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero. I carefully entered the five-digit passcode. I felt a rush of excitement throughout my whole body. Like I said, I was a good kid, so, This was totally out of my nature. I don't know what show was on, but I think it was probably left on the channel my parents watched last night. They were into a lot of those police shows

where they go after the bad guys who kill or hurt people really badly. I knew this because a lot of the time at night, I could hear the TV in my room, and I could hear a lot of loud screaming. When I asked my mom about it, she told me about those shows like Law and Order and stuff. I messed around with the remote for a little, clicking up and down the channels, but each channel is the same, even had the same white logo on the bottom right-hand side,

just with a different actress. They were off-shackled by their wrist to a cylinder block wall in a dimly lit room. Each of them were dirty with torn clothes and unkept hair, what I assumed was blood, or probably ketchup, was caked on where the fake cuts covered their skin. I had cycled through all the channels. I threw the remote across the floor for me just out of arm's length. I was so frustrated. Where were the cartoons?

The girl on the TV began to cry. I could hear a static, and then I could hear her sobs. She looked up directly into the camera with tears flooding her eyes. Roscoe had started whining and circling in front of the TV. Shut up, you kiev, I said, rubbing his big head. He rested next to me, but the more the girl on the TV cried out, the more he did. I kept watching, waiting for the police to come rescue her. But nothing happened.

The girl continued to cry and plead, but nothing really changed. I watched until I heard my mom open up the garage door, at which point I quickly flipped off the television and put the remote back in its rightful place. The rest of the night went as normal. Mom made dinner. I took a shower and went to bed before Daddy came home. I was just drifting into sleep that night when it hit me. I knew the girl on the TV.

I, Maggie Webster, knew a celebrity. I remembered I had met her at the park with my daddy on one of our daddy-daughter outings. She had a puppy, just like my Roscoe. My daddy had urged me to go introduce myself to her side of the pet pee. the dog. So of course I did. My daddy and the lady talked for a while I played with the doggy. The next day, my daddy brought home my Roscoe and gave him to me. Now you have your very own doggy, just like that nice lady yesterday. He said, kissing my forehead. I was so happy for her that she became a big star. She was such a good actress. But boy, I could. I could. I could. I was so happy for her. I

Couldn't wait to go to school and tell all my friends. Finally, I had the upper hand because I knew a celebrity off the show, closed circuit television. It's easy to see how rumors and urban legends spread around so quickly, especially when online correspondence is so widespread these days. But in this tale from author Braden Belko, The legend of one strange creature has a twist. Those who learn of him find themselves becoming far too aware of him and the danger he poses.

Narrators Mike Delgado and Jessica McAvoy read the tale for us about what happens when you learn about obscurity man. I found out about him through a friend. I guess that's how most people find out about him. I guess it's sort of awful if you think about it. It would make more sense if your worst enemy told you about him. His name is Robbie. We've been friends since high school. We bonded over Tarantino movies, video games, comic books.

I guess he was my best friend. He told me on the bench in the park while we were chomping down on some street meet. He didn't know the consequences that telling another would have or he would have never told me. never would have told anyone. Halfway through his sausage, he turns to me and brings it up out of the blue. My friend told me the weirdest fucking thing. I thought it was stupid when I heard it, but it's been like stuck in my head ever since. I stare at him quizzically as I take a sip of my iced tea.

Listen to this. He says, finishing up his meal. And then he told me the story that his friend told him, who was told by a friend, who was told by a friend. It went something like this. He's called Obscurity Man, but he's hardly a man, although he's really quite obscure, in all senses of the word. He draws his power from obscurity.

The fewer that know about him, the stronger he becomes. He would be the strongest if only a single person knew about him, but he's far too cautious for that. You see, if that person died, he'd simply cease to exist entirely, so at all times he keeps just three people in the know. Those in the know usually don't last long. Most of the time, somebody can't help but tell somebody else about him. That makes four and he doesn't like four. The one who's been in the know the longest needs to be culled from the herd of those who know. He is fast. There's only

four for a few hours before there are three, once again. He knows who is in the know almost from the moment they hear his name. He sees into their thoughts, pushing at the forefront so he can never be forgotten. My friend finishes telling me and looks at me. I'm baffled by what has just come out of his mouth. It isn't like him to say something so weird. Pretty fucked up shit, yeah? Yeah, I guess.

Who told you this? This guy I met on League of Legends. Username was Hey Jude 5565. Real name was Jude something or other. Not a bad player. We dual cue a lot. He played with Cherry before he played with me. Lives in the UK somewhere.

Cool guy. Not very social, though. He won't play with anyone except Cherry and I. Cherry was another one of our friends from high school. She was one of the few girls in the school who played video games, so naturally we got along pretty well. There was a while when Robbie had a thing for her, but I suppose that the phase passed for both of them. That's hardly relevant, though. After that, we changed the subject, and everything was normal for a couple of days,

except for the fact that every once in a while I'd think back to that ridiculous story that Robbie had told me. And although it seemed stupid at first, there was something strangely alarmed. to it, something that caused me to keep replaying the story over and over in my head. A few days passed, the only conversation worth noting here was one that I had with Robbie on Skype one night while we were playing Minecraft. While we were industriously building on our creative server, he mentioned that Jude hadn't been online in a couple of days. He also noted that during the conversation with Cherry, that she tried to tell him the obscurity man's story. He told her that he'd already heard it from Jude.

She expressed her surprise that he would tell him. Apparently, Jude is a really shy guy and says that she had known about it for months. And that was all. Two days ago, I was sitting in my Canadian history lecture next to this girl that I really like. I'd rather not divulge her name, so let's just call her Sarah. I met Sarah in history on the first day. She was a bubbly sort of personality, and she's an optimist through and through. She's the kind of girl who's always smiling, constantly kind and very pretty.

She sat next to me on the first day, with a shy smile asking if I minded her sitting next to me. I told her that I didn't mind at all. So she sat down and we introduced ourselves, and by the end of the class, I already knew that I'd like to be more than friends with her. Things were moving at an average pace. I hadn't asked her out yet, but we texted on a daily basis, and we used. usually ate lunch together. We had broken the touch barrier, as we tended to lean against one another while taking notes during lectures. Whenever her bare arm touched mine, it sent delightful shivers down my spine. Anyway, so a few minutes before class starts, we're chatting about random topics.

There's a noticeable lull in the conversation, so I tell her about the first thing that pops into my head. Yeah, you guessed it. The obscurity man. after I tell her she gives me a funny look that was weird sort of creepy I guess and that was when our professor came out and started lecturing about William Lyon McKenzie's failed revolution or something and everything was normal until yesterday morning

that was when I got a call from panicky incoherent weeping Robbie I couldn't make out what he was saying so I was obviously deeply concerned I rode my bike to his house and knocked on the door. He answered, puffy eye, blubbering, and motioned for me to come in. He got himself together and in a tired voice he told me what happened, pausing liberally throughout.

Apparently, Cherry's mom had called him pretty early in the morning. She told him while sobbing herself that the night before that Cherry had killed herself. She had slit both of her wrists after gulping an entire. bottle of Tylenol. They found her in blood-soaked clothes with her head resting in a puddle of vomit. This came as a shock to everybody. Cherry was generally a very happy girl, satisfied with life and never displaying even a touch of mental illness.

She never stressed out about things and was known for her relaxed attitude, you know. She'd be the least likely candidate for suicide. But her mother had called Robbie for a reason. Apparently something was not right. The back of her neck had strange marks on it. Three blue bruises. The police were convinced she managed to do it to herself somehow. To make matters worse, the Tylenol bottle didn't have the lid twisted off, but rather torn off.

Which is hard to do, considering the caps are built with a safety feature, you know, that requires the cap to be turned in a certain manner? Of course, the police dismissed this as well. However, she saved the scariest detail for last. Four letters were scrawled on the wall in her own blood. The letters were O, B, S, C. She asked Robbie if he knew if she was involved in something, knew some dangerous people, anything.

Robbie told her that he didn't know anything. But Robbie lied. He did know one thing. You could say he was in the know just like Cherry, just like I am. But there was no way he was going to tell her that. When I heard what happened, I just stared at Robbie for a minute. I knew he wasn't joking, but I was still tempted to ask if this was all one big joke. And then after a moment, I cried. I cried and I cried and I cried and so did Robbie.

And after we were done crying, I turned to him. asked what was on both of our minds. You don't think that the letters... Yes, that's exactly what I think. What other words starts with OBSC? I thought for a moment, came up blank. This is fucking scary, I said after a moment. Wait, hold up.

I told Sarah about obscurity man yesterday. You don't think... Fuck, man, I don't know what the hell to think anymore. But we soon dismissed our fears. Maybe the story just sort of drove her over the deep end, we rationalized. Although neither of us truly believed it. However, it was certainly easier to accept than the alternative. Anyway, I decided to stay at Robbie's that night.

His parents weren't home, so I didn't feel uncomfortable. And we had sort of a Tarantino marathon. Either of us could play games that night because it reminded us too much of cherry. Halfway through Kill Bill Volume 2, I started to feel sort of sick to my stomach. This anxiety kept building over time. I turned to Robbie and noticed that he had a nervous expression on his face too. And I feel like shit all of a sudden. Let's turn off the movie.

Yeah, me too. But even after we shut off the film, we continued to grow more anxious. Robbie paced. I sat on his bed cross-legged. Robbie paced towards his window and just as he was about to look away, he froze. I walked over to the window, heart pumping rapidly.

At first it seemed like a weird shadow projected by the street light or something like that. It was located on the other side of Robbie's street, but it slowly took shape, growing out of itself in a bizarre manner. It looked like the figure of a man and it gave off a gray light. He, it flashed like a firework, and it was closer.

It was at the edge of Robbie's lawn. It was constantly changing a gray buzzing shroud cloaking it, but I could make out a head in all of the activity, and I knew that it looked right at us. Neither of us could scream. He flashed again and is even closer, staring up from below the window. The gray light seemed to fluctuate swiftly

as if strobe lights were plastered all over its body. The same two words blasted through my head over and over and over. He flashes, and we don't see him. I turned to Robbie first before we each slowly turn around. I could see that he was covered in what I can only compare to television static? He was almost soundless, except for the occasional light screech that he emitted randomly. I know it doesn't make sense, but that's the only way I can describe it. At some points it looked like he was wearing a brown jacket.

I could almost make out a strangely shaped hat at some points. But his form kept shifting endlessly. It inched closer and closer. I can hear its name in my head, almost louder than I can stand it. I'm paralyzed by fear. Neither of us could scream. His voice is in our head preventing it. He sticks out a hand and three dark fingers form out of the static.

Followed by a second hand. He grabs Robbie's shoulders with one and sticks the fingers of the other hand onto his neck. He is pushed forward. I'm scared ready, man. I'm scared ready, man. I'm scared ready, man. I'm scared anymore. I'm scared anymore.

I feel a sudden jet of burning passion open in my head. The anger burns the fear and I'm free from paralysis for a moment. It killed Cherry. It's going to kill. Robbie, it probably killed that guy Jude, too. My hand forms into a fist and I strike it on the side. The next few seconds were the strangest and longest in my life. In an instant, I know many of the obscurity man's thoughts.

I see the people in the know. Robbie is the oldest. I am after him. After me is Sarah, after her as a younger boy that I don't know. I can read their thoughts. especially the loud ones that they've had in the past. The loud ones seem to linger. I know now that Robbie still liked or rather loved Cherry.

I know that Sarah has been thinking about me, and one loud thought of hers is... When will he ask me out? I don't get much from the young boy. He is too new, I guess. Horrifyingly, I get the jumbled thoughts of the obscurity man. He is annoyed that I am here, shocked that I have struck him. But he cannot hurt me for fear of an ancient rule.

There are bits and pieces, but most of it is hidden, obscured. My connection is mostly broken, and I'm hurled against the wall through a surge of energy that he emits. He is angry now, that much is apparent. The static runs off his face in the top left section. I can see his eye. It is the most horrible thing I have ever seen. It's a dark void hungry to consume, but somehow also darkly intelligent.

And then together with Robbie, there is a flash. I rushed to his window ignoring the pain that my muscles are registering. Obscurity man thrusts Robbie by the neck across his lawn and pushes him onto the road. A car barrels down the street and into Robbie, sending his body. body flying through the air before crashing down onto the pavement. Legs splayed. The asshole driving the car doesn't bother stopping. He just floors it and keeps going.

I felt precisely the moment when Robbie died. I could feel it secondhand through obscurity man. I'm the only one that's had a chance to touch him to force away some of his obscurity. This makes him weak, I assume, but only to me. I have a connection with him. I can get fragments of his thoughts. I can sense where he is. None of this occurred to me, however,

until I rode my bike home and puked out my guts while crying hysterically for hours. I live in the basement of my house, so luckily my parents couldn't hear me upstairs. I tried to be as quiet as possible, but you can only do so much when you've gone through the most traumatic moment of your life. When I felt that I had my act together, I gave Sarah a text.

I could feel from obscurity man that she was still up. I asked her if she told anybody that story that I told her the other day, already knowing the answer. She replied that she had, indeed, told her little brother the story. She asked why I was asking. No reason, I replied. And then I asked her if she'd like to go out some time. She responded that she'd love to and that she was happy that I finally got around to asking her.

And so I sat for hours and hours knowing that my life depended on Sarah's brother not telling somebody about obscurity man. And so I thought and probed into obscurity man. He was getting farther. From what I understand, he travels through the planes of reality. He is fast, but not a God. He takes a while to jump back and forth between realities.

I've decided to kill it, obscurity man, that is. At first I thought about killing Sarah, her brother and myself, but I knew immediately that although it would destroy him, that I could never do such a thing. And even if I could, when I was the only one left, he'd likely have enough power to flash into our reality instantly and prevent me from ending myself. so it all could have been in vain.

I could deal with myself dying. I've considered just killing myself, ending my stress. But that means that Sarah is next, and I couldn't let anything happen to her. And then it hit me. He gains power from his obscurity. The more people that know about him, the less powerful he becomes.

I could feel him stiff, as I thought about what I was going to do, he immediately started moving towards me. I can feel him slowly but surely getting closer and closer. But he, what am I saying, it won't be here for a few hours at least. I heard one thought clearly amongst its jumble of panic notions. He said, the rule must be broken just this once. Think I know what that means. He's going to kill me when he gets to me.

But it might already be too late. I can only hope that enough of you hear this to cause it to lose power. Perhaps enough will hear it to put him into stasis. I can only hope that so many will be in the know that he dies entirely, although I somehow doubt that this will be the case. The chain must be broken. It must die. Obscurity man must be obscure no longer.

Our episode has come to an end. Thank you for spending time with us at the No Sleep Podcast. If you would like to learn how you can hear the full-length version of this episode featuring many more stories, please visit the no-sleeppodcast.com and click on the Season Pass link. Purchasing a season pass will help support everyone who contributes to the podcast. And in return, you'll get 25 full-length episodes and three exclusive bonus episodes, all for only 1999. This is David Cummings. Thank you for listening, and join us again next week for the next episode of the No Sleep Podcast.