Accounts From A Lonely Broadcast Station | CreepCast

32:07I hope Daniel gets hit by a truck.

32:12I hope he ends up like one of those fucking birds, dude. I need him to fall out of the tower. first please yeah not even supernatural just like a gun accident some kind of just literally slip wooden stairs and just fall right off yeah yeah i couldn't help but give him a stare of both disbelief and the fear that if he keeps bellowing like that he'll give every old person in town a heart attack on the spot he cut our population in half but as much as his over-the-top radio personality irks me i kind of feel bad for the guy not because he tries too harder because he seems to have some deep-seated need for attention that's all true but it's not why i feel bad i feel bad because well right now he's sitting across the room from me in a fetal position shivering with blood running out of both ears and one nostril weeping okay well i got what i wanted yeah well no no no he still has not descended down the stairs yet so well he's he's getting in there.

33:11I'm getting closer to what I want. As far as first days go, Dan had a weird one. At 8 o 'clock in the morning, he arrived. I think he was surprised to see that he wasn't getting some cute, spunky thing as his I read that like an alien. Cute, spunky thing.

33:34Gleam Gleam I think he was surprised to see that he wasn't getting some cute spunky thing as his co-worker but rather my tired self with a messy braid and a hoodie filled with two warm granola bars I had forgotten about but would be delighted to find later on. At nine o 'clock I let him give the weather forecast and he did so with enthusiasm. Then at ten o 'clock I had to explain to him that the bird on the window with human looking eyes has been hanging around for days now and probably isn't up to anything it's just ugly I reassured him. At eleven o 'clock he told me that there was some creepy human sobbing coming from inside the bathroom sink.

34:11I was a bit shaken that he hears it too, but shrugged it off by telling him that it doesn't excuse him from washing his hands. I actually kind of feel bad for Daniel. Like that would the idea of your co-worker just be like yeah, pretty much just like a boy with human eyes a woman crying. It's not a big deal. I mean, like I would be fucking horrified. Yeah, but after his good after his good body. Yeah. yeah he stole your hands dan wash your hands go ahead wash your hands daniel no i don't watch them then at noon exactly on the hour we got a caller this was very very unusual of all the things considered weird the weirdest was the reminder that other people actually live here steered at the screen for the longest time trying to figure out whether or not to answer the call but ultimately decided that it would be ridiculous not to hello color we've got you on the line i spoke in a soft mature radio voice.

35:07The line was quiet for a moment, but I could hear a soft bit of static and the slightest hint of a breath. Yes, Evelyn? It was a woman's voice, probably about 70 years old. She sounded as if she were shivering, which I assume was just jitters from being live on the air. My name is Rose. I had something I'd like to tell you. Of course, Rose. What's on your mind today? Well, I've had a bout of strange dreams, dear. and I'm wondering if anyone else has had the same. You see, last night I had a dream in which the forest splits in two at the parting of the Red Sea, dear. I hope you know the story of Moses, don't you?

35:54We play songs, ma 'am. Yeah, can you imagine? Well, at this point, I'm like, oh, the fog comes for us all. We're all a little shaken up. It's like, yeah, get in line. I've also had my forest splitting dream. There's a fucking human eye bird and like a fucking Japanese woman crying in a well below us. Hey Rose, you want to come listen to the sink? Tell me if you hear anything. Come over to the sink real quick. Come check this out. Yeah, can you also fall off the tower, please? I spared a glance towards Dan. My lip curved upward in a tiny smile mixed with a grimace as if to say, oh boy, here we go.

36:31He returned it with a witty grit of his own. Glad that I was the lucky one to answer. Um, sure I do, Rose. What happened next? Well, the ground was open and something was rising out of it. It blocked out the whole sky, you see. I can't even describe it. But it covered everything. The town and the sun. All that my eyes could see. The sound it made. A fearsome bellow that shook the whole earth. Then I woke up. Do you think that God lives in the forest, dear? Dan apparently saw the expression on my face, unwilling to answer for fear of, well, offending or encouraging any other zealous callers. And so he finally did something good for me and answered in my place.

37:16That's an interesting dream, man. I think if God lived in the forest, he wouldn't give you a nightmare like that.

37:30that that you did at the end of the laugh pissed me off at dan so much the little like the satisfaction after the laugh at the old thing you said and i want to say that i want to say that i probably have put dan into a like in a position of no redemption now no because I feel bad. He's wearing suspenders and a bow tie in my mind.

38:02I've got to fight him. He laughed, but his laugh was cut off by a snappy tone from the woman on the line. Well, he tried. We're meant to be afraid of God, dear. Her voice sounded like a slither, like a hiss. For an old woman, she almost struck a bit of fear in me with that tone. Besides, I wasn't talking to you. My grimace was gone, replaced by a furrowed brow of concern and very obvious discomfort. I didn't like this conversation. It had gone from oh boy to oh no to oh shit very, very quickly. I had three weeks to get used to some of the weird mind tricks around this place, but this was different for me.

38:39This was real human conflict that I couldn't just blame on the stress of isolation. Rose's words and the way she said them bordered on malicious. that sweet nervous grandmotherly tone was gone and suddenly it felt as if i were on the phone with someone who genuinely had ill will towards us both i'm afraid it's time for the weather rose but feel free to call back uh should you keep having these very interesting dreams thank you for calling ma 'am and have a wonderful afternoon i ended the call then faced dan with wide eyes while mouthing the words block that number. That's pretty funny. It's just like a mentally ill old woman.

39:19It's like keep her out of here. The one phone call they've had in like weeks. It's like never let her. If you were in total isolation but the only like you're in total isolation like she is right. But you hear the music and all this stuff and the only caller is this person talking about their dreams in that manner would you ever would you just be like i'm not going to answer anymore or would you have it just for the human connection i mean you have nothing to do up there i mean now she's got dan sure but i hope he dies um so i i think you would answer even if it was weird you know i don't know if i'd want that kind of like spiritual crisis like existential spiritual crisis you know what i mean the other option is you just stay in your lighthouse above the trees and never interact with anyone i feel like i feel like i'd rather go insane and just make up people i'd call the radio station myself and talk to myself you do that anyway it's like that does feel about what it's like on the show let's keep let's let's let's keep my this is coming from the guy who does cartoons where he voice acts all of them and has arguments with himself in character So I think it's, I think it's safe to imagine that you would just be like, I've got enough myself.

40:36Those are, those are videos. So I have to do it. It's a, it's a video that I'm presenting. I don't just argue with myself. I have been, I have been with you and I have witnessed you do a voice and then another voice hears the previous voice and they get into a fight with each other. That is not true. You a hundred percent would be stuck in a tower by yourself, screaming at yourself. I, I, then I think I would have enjoyment. I think that having someone else call me, it just, it'd be, it would add too much. The human interaction would add too much or just the, just the, the, the freakiness of it.

41:09Or like I'm already, there's already so much other weird shit. I, I'd block the number. All I'm saying is I'd block the number. That's what I would do. Okay. I wish I could say that the weirdness ended then and there, but we're never so lucky. After the call from Rose, we had more calls two and then three, then seven. By the time five o 'clock rolled around. Wow. They were all very similar. People in town were recounting their dreams But they weren't all elderly people talking about God Or whatever eldritch abomination they saw rising out of the woods I heard all types of people All types of voices Young and old Some a little quirky and others who seemed more skeptical One caught me off guard I still remember her words perfectly It was a young woman, maybe my age And she sounded as if she was hesitant But somehow still desperate to tell anyone about what she had seen I saw a bird with human eyes Right away, I was curious, as this was something a little too real.

42:02Levels of weirdness. In a dream? No. The woman answered. There was a harsh intake of breath from the other side. I don't sleep anymore since it started purging at my window. All of them. Windows that weren't even there before. Sorry, I shouldn't have called. Before I had a chance to say anything, she hung up the phone. it's difficult trying to think of the best words to explain how i felt after that phone call regret i think i felt somehow responsible for the sorrow and hesitance in her voice the way she saw some need to apologize for telling me what she saw there's a deep pit of dread in my stomach i hope she's okay whoever she is and that she figures out where all those extra windows came from i hope she figured out where all those windows appeared on her house i hope gets passed out.

42:53Yeah, I feel personally responsible for those windows. I'll admit that I had to take a break from writing this in order to tend to my new co-worker. I had said that he had a rough first day. Rough's a bit of a lax word. At first, he was only a bit spooked about the general weirdness up here, but after what happened with our final phone call of the day, there was enough to warrant actual concern for his physical health. I let Dan take over all the controls while I left just long enough to make a sandwich, realizing that it was almost nine o 'clock at night and I had yet to feed my flesh prison that entire day.

43:26Human bodies, obnoxiously needy. He had a call come in, which I realized only because I heard him answer it. I didn't even hear it ring. It was late and a strange time for calls, but I figured if it was someone being a creep, at least it would be entertaining to see how he handled it. However, Dan was silent after that first initial greeting. Seconds ticked by and he said nothing. Finally, when I stepped out of the tiny employee kitchen with the peanut butter sandwich in hand, I witnessed my co-worker throwing the headphones off his head and letting out a shriek as he covered his ears. His eyes were wide and impossibly bloodshot.

44:03Veins were popping in his forehead and neck and his moppy, dark hair flew back and forth as he shook his head before dropping to his knees. I could see blood dripping down from his nose over his top lip and his teeth, which were barred in a pained grimace. Through the hair at the sides of his head, I saw dark trickles of blood streaming over his hands as if something inside his ears had burst. I dropped my sandwich with a few cuss words exclaiming as I rushed over to him, grabbing one of his wrists in an attempt to see the damage. He didn't want to move his hands, and I didn't blame him. With that much blood, I'd be afraid too.

44:40His eyes blearily scanned over my face, and I asked loudly if he could hear me. He simply gave me a dumbfounded expression and whimpered pathetically, as if even more upset over the fact that he could only read my lips. Oh God, his ears were totally shot. The music continued to play. However, with the microphone still running and his screaming likely caught on the broadcast, I made the decision to keep the rest of his struggle private by marching over to the console and turning off both microphones. I let the music run automatically and returned to his side, where he had fallen over and was now lying on it with his legs curled up.

45:14shivering and traumatized. He looked at me, tried to mouth a few words, but didn't get far before his eyes rolled back and he was out cold and a dead faint. I sat across him for a long time. My eyes glanced over at my sandwich, which was already being feasted upon by some very fortunate aunts that probably thought a merciful God had rained down this gift from the heavens. I left it there, not wanting to disappoint them. That's when I found the granola bars in my pocket, half melted but still a very happy surprise maybe i was my own merciful god after a while of watching over dan and riding up a bit of my day i noticed him finally stir he was startled gasping for breath as if waking from a nightmare eyes darting around the dark room until he saw me cross the space and approach him i got down to his level lying on my side so that he could see my face clearly and understand what i asked him we were on the floor side by side like two kids at the shittiest slumber party ever, not even one pillow to spare.

46:13Your face is bloody. Think you can walk to the bathroom? He nodded. Want to sleep on an actual mattress? He hesitated, then nodded again. I'd already called an ambulance while he was unconscious, but I knew it would take a while to get here. Our town didn't exactly have a hospital, and anyone who's had to drive around the mountains knows the chore that trip is. Until then, he could rest on the mattress in my employee apartment and sleep off whatever shit he was going through. I was surprised that he got on his feet as easily as he did. That is to say, without falling over at all. Although, his balance was worse for wear.

46:47One would suspect as much with two newly injured ears. I let him sit down on the toilet as I helped clean up his face and underneath his ears, letting him wash his own hands. Can you hear me at all? I asked now that we were in a quiet, noise-free room. took him a moment before he finally spoke but his voice was a hoarse whisper that he probably couldn't even pick up a little he said and smirked with a sad excuse for a chuckle you're friendlier when I can't hear you well okay so she picks up Dan and she throws him through the pain glass window I think Dan's kind of grown on me a bit no you know what honestly did is that chuckle that you did when you were paying him earlier because now when he did the you're friendlier when I can't hear you well I couldn't help but imagine like uh well you're friendlier to be fair I could I could have read I could have read it like uh you could have like you're friendlier when I can't hear you well that's what it was in my head so you didn't have to read it that way you've already said that in stone so all right okay I would have slugged him in the shoulder for that one but I just laughed and let it slide it felt weird taking care of someone else I didn't think I was a maternal type of person but I found myself being as gentle as possible with his bloodied face with genuine care for his comfort.

48:07He was cleaned up, all except for his ears, which were covered in what bandages we had on hand, and I helped him to the mattress so he could lie down and rest. Damn, as far as first days go, his was probably the worst I could imagine. I really felt for the guy then. First, he was just annoying, but now that he was subdued, albeit in a terrible way, he wasn't so insufferable. As he laid down with a bit of a wince, I turned to leave, but not before he waved a hand towards me and a weak sort of attention-grabbing slap to the arm. I heard it, he mumbled, the volume of his voice fluctuating but still difficult to make out.

48:42The color was drained from his face and he took in a breath, laced with an audible shiver. A pillow, God in the woods, like Rose said. My brow crinkled and I turned away, grabbing a thin folded blanket from the top of a plastic shelving system and draping it over him. that wasn't some fearsome god, Dan. Just something really wrong with your headset. We'll fix you up. Just get some rest. That's where Dan spent the rest of the evening. At least until an ambulance came to pick him up. It took them damn long enough to get there. I decided to spend the night at my desk, watching the broadcast go without even putting my own headset on.

49:16After a while, it became a surreal experience, just watching the music play by itself and trying to imagine who out there was actually listening to it. Maybe I was the only one. It's crazy how I went from hating Dan to suddenly missing his presence now that I was alone and completely uninterested in sleep. And yes, I know I lied to him. It wasn't his headset. Whatever he heard was very real, but I don't know. He's gone through enough without that to worry about too. It's after midnight now, and I heard a disturbing sound. The phone started ringing again. Someone was calling in. I took a deep, steady breath through my nose and ignored it.

49:52This is Evelyn from 104.6 FM, and the strangest looking bird is still sitting at the edge of my window end of part two i like uh the way so far well first off i don't know if you've been feeling the same way but these read really easy like i feel like they flow yeah they they're very conversational speak uh they're very kind of that there will be a moment of like talking about something or recognizing something but then it's like back to plot back to whatever the thing going on is there's not a lot of time and i mean it as a compliment there's not a too much time spent on like um mulling stuff over or interpersonal thoughts or stuff it's just like these are the things that's happening to me i think one thing that it's doing well is kind of to your point of not mulling things over i think that also each plot so far it's been something very simple the first one was oh there's weird rules and yep the fog came and it's just fixing on that fixating on that versus having like a bunch of other things happening and in this one of now the second one just being like well yeah there's a new guy coming in because she's like oh maybe hopefully they'll hire somebody in the first part and then in part two they hired somebody but mostly the whole thing is oh we have callers today and it's just fixating on the callers and just kind of like that and how that affects the new guy i think that uh it it feels like it's building it also too i really like evelyn as a character yeah she's really she's very sweet she she's kind uh she's got a little bit of the kind of like it doesn't have like a at first i thought it was going to be like a tumbler kind of like she's always snark like snarky or like you know yeah yeah yeah that kind of thing which it's like there's it she just feels which i think i like it because she just feels like a person doesn't she it's like yeah she has like little funny things of the kind of chiseledness that you would find from someone who's like been dealing with this for however long she's been working at the broadcast station but it's not like everything is accompanied with like a fucking quip which I feel like a lot of stories that we read that are like this all the characters do that where everything is just kind of like yeah well he wasn't such a baby or you know like or there's always something that's uh you know there's way too many there's way too much winking at the camera yeah yeah yeah i thought so get a load of this guy but i mean other than like like the closest thing we got to that was she was like humans are needy i'm in a flesh prison but it's still not it's not egregious it's just no i don't think so she's mostly to herself she's fine being up in here um you know like i said it feels conversational feels like i'm just reading like casual honestly what it is it's it's it is a girl posting a blog about working in a weird tower that's why uh yeah exactly i think that the no like the no sleep format works really well for this because it does feel that conversational with the viewer also like i said to dan he was insufferable but at the same time at the end he kind of felt bad for him and i like that even as evelyn was annoyed with him as well by the end she was just kind of like i kind of miss him like i like i i hope that we get some more of those interactions or even maybe Dan can come out.

53:09Maybe come back, I should say. No. No, I just fully disagree with you on that one. I don't need a back. I think he's going to stay. Is it your fault? He's going to stick around for a while is what I think. The hyper eagerness of him is going to get on my nerves. Good morning! Which if I heard that on the radio, I would change the station immediately. uh all right part three part three i want to take a quick moment to thank today's sponsor tushy tushy is the luxury bidet that your bathroom's been missing and over two million butts left tushy and it's not hard to see why i've said it before and i'll say it again if you don't have a bidet you mean less than me i did not have a bidet for a long time i thought that they were silly and then as soon as tushy sent me one i now am someone whose life matters i'm not kidding there's a few household inventions that have definitively changed my life and tushy's bidet is one of them i now feel like an animal anytime i have to use someone's bathroom who doesn't have one and you know this is a personal endorsement because this is far too aggressive for them to pay me to say not only are tushy bidets more hygienic but people who have made the switch to tushy use up to 80 less toilet paper and less toilet paper means more money saved less clogged toilets and less gross bathroom experiences since the bidet does most of the cleaning and you use the toilet paper to dry off.

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55:06Thank you to Tushy for sponsoring the show. We are now back to the episode. I never knew that ear surgery was so simple. Dang it, he lived. That sucks. He's back. Poor Dan. Not to say that it isn't a delicate and skilled process, of course, but when I got the call from Dan's mother, lovely woman, by the way, she told me that with an outpatient surgery, they'd be able to decently repair one of his ears and possibly give him some partial hearing in the other. At the very least, they'd fix it up enough to avoid infection. I suppose I always thought the ear was such a small and intricate part of the body that fixing up those tiny cramped caverns of bones and delicate vibrations would be a huge deal dangerous deal turns out dan got the surgery the morning after the incident with his headset and is recovering they think he'll be able to hear well enough to stick around here and do his job dang it are you sure did you double check though he may need some hearing assistance once he fully heals he won't be returning to work for a few days probably and may not be wearing a headset that for a long time.

56:12But while talking to his mother, I heard him in the background saying, is that Evelyn? Tell her I'm not being a nuisance yet.

56:26It's like a stake in your heart every time. I love it. It is the hum of satisfaction after laughing at your own joke. It's absurd. it's awful oh so i guess i've still got a part-timer a nuisance part-timer he's just taking a very early very medicated vacation while he's out i've been here by myself and damn it that bird will not leave do you think the bird is some kind of like omen of some kind or sorry i hope the bird is i hope it's there to kill dan whatever it might it might kill dan i'm wondering if it is like this might be a stupid take or something but the thing that is existing in the fog it almost i'm like i'm wondering if it's like it's it's its eyes or something you know like it's it's something that's like it can see through these birds which is also like why they're kind of going up over town and creating this like surrealist nightmare of creating new windows that weren't there before.

57:26Like, I'm wondering if whatever's existing down there is like vicariously looking at things through it. It could be like a harbinger. Knowing this series, it could be just someone's soul. There's just a person inside. Could be. Yeah. The bird now. Kind of like how they say seagulls, or at least in the lighthouse, maybe they say seagulls. They've got the souls of sailors. The souls of sailors. Yeah. Could be the souls of people that have died in the forest or something. I noticed something while looking out the window, between giving the forecast and playing a block of commercial-free music. It's building a nest.

57:59That little ship piece in its damn eyes is building a nest right out in front of where I sit all day. Now, I like birds. I generally don't have trouble with any kind of wildlife, so long as it's not trying to pick a body apart to run off with. But somehow, for whatever reason, the last thing I want to see is this bird create multiple mini versions of itself. I can just imagine tens of them lined up all around the window, staring at me from every direction, watching what I'm doing. I almost decided to go out there and try moving the nest down into the woods, but I don't want to leave the station unmanned for too long.

58:33Maybe I'll wait until Dan gets back and let him take over for a while so I can take that thing far, far away from the tower. I hate the stupid bird. Before I sat down in the morning, I cleaned myself up at the bathroom mirror. The sink was quiet. I know that should be a good thing, but I don't mean clanking pipes or clogged plumbing causing any sound. on dan's first day he said he heard the sobbing from down to the pipes and it shook me a bit i've heard it too but i figured it was just me i figured the isolation of being up here 50 feet in the air with no company except for the grocery delivery man was starting to make me imagine human voices in places where they didn't really exist but he heard it too honestly i was a bit disappointed that it didn't continue the first time i noticed the eerie silence i was going to tried convincing Dan that we had a colony of mole people living in the plumbing as soon as he got back.

59:24That joke wouldn't solve the mystery, but at this point, humor is just about the only thing keeping me sane around here. But if you ask, did I think it was a ghost down there? A person? No. I didn't care, so long as it remained a sound and nothing else. It didn't matter where it came from. I forgot about it for a bit. I stopped thinking about whatever was, or wasn't rather, in the sink and went about my daily work. The skies were blue and clear. The air was chilly, but warm for being in the mountains. All in all, things were boring. But I suppose I could use a boring day after watching my co-worker's eardrum simultaneously rupture the day before.

1:00:02I'll take a boring day over a bloody one. I sat down, putting my headset on and waiting for the automatic music block to come to an end. There were envelopes, opened and stacked about with get-well-soon cards placed in a line above the console. Work got out fast. The dam was undergoing a standard minor surgery, and I imagine that anyone listening the evening before who heard his pain screams was quick to hunt down the gossipers for information. At least 10 people in town sent cards straight to the station with the early morning mail. I sat them in front of his chair like a cute surprise for when he came back.

1:00:36Even I ordered one for him too, but unfortunately the grocery delivery guy had accidentally been given a happy birthday grandma card instead. I still signed it and put it up with the rest. It's the thought that counts. Good morning. This is Evelyn McKinnon with 104.6 FM. I hope everyone is enjoying the sunny skies today. Daniel Esperanza will not be joining me this morning, but he would like to thank everyone for the kind well wishes and can't wait to return at the end of the week. Stay tuned for the five day forecast at 830 this morning. But until then, enjoy the 30 minutes of uninterrupted music here on 104.6 FM.

1:01:11Something that the story's done twice now that I like is it will very casually slip a detail that becomes like.

1:01:50the thing the next section talks about, right? it was supposed to go with the next parts. Or like the bird with the eyes, stuff like that. Just little breadcrumbs that you don't realize are breadcrumbs until they're picked up later, I like. I wasted most of the morning away. The Wi-Fi was close enough that I could sit near my desk and surf the web a little, looking for news to talk about. I was in a bored daze, looking at the clock, waiting for time to pass. The internet's too slow to play much video unless I'm in the mood for a good, long buffer. So most of that time was spent just staring at a dull screen.

1:02:21At noon, my eyes snapped to the sides as the noise came through my earphones. It was the phone. Even while the music played, someone was calling in. I thought maybe it was a request or maybe Dan's mother calling again. Apparently, Daniel had said enough good things about me for her to invite me to her niece's wedding in June. Sweet woman. I made sure that the audio mixer wouldn't pick up the call or my voice with the music broadcast. And with a touch of hesitance, I allowed the voice to come through. This is Evelyn at 104.6 FM. What can I do for you? There's a loud gasp on the other end, and a shaking, shivering sob and the sounds of a young woman breathing in through a stuffy nose.

1:03:02I recognized the sound. It was less muffled than it had ever been, more direct or human. It was the same pattern of sobs I heard from inside the sink every day since I had started, and the same one Daniel had heard as well. I felt a chilling sensation, like the sudden gust of wind you feel walking out into a blustery winter night from a warm building. It didn't hit me all at once, but traveled from the top of my head down my back and all the way to the tips of my toes. Every hair of my body stood on end. Every pore and freckle was like a stinging pinprick. And then words began to come through.

1:03:37You have to stop. She was still sobbing, still gasping and sniffling. And she paused and I assume it was to let me speak. Are you, oh my God, stop, stop making excuses. She interrupted me and all at once I became confused. Was she talking to me at all? I'm so, I'm so tired. This is, this is my home. I wanted to help you, but you won't let me. I didn't respond. It was as if I were listening to only one half of a conversation, like a recording. Something about the voice sounded familiar to me, enough to make my stomach drop into a pit deep in my gut. But then again, I'd heard it before, in the bathroom sink.

1:04:21Had I heard it anywhere else? Please, let me, let me help you. Please, you haven't, you haven't been sober a single day since graduate. All at once, I ripped the headset off my ears, pushed my chair back, left the device dangling on a cord like a pendulum off the side of the desk. It wasn't for lack of reason. I felt the most intense nausea erupt suddenly, stomach churning and mouth watering, no time at all to wonder if I'd be able to let it calm or not. I rushed to the bathroom with the call still going, the voice speaking and sobbing into the open air. Vertigo struck as soon as the door was within reach, and those three steps of the toilet felt as if I were walking in a bright, spinning carnival tunnel.

1:05:02My legs buckled at the knees, and I went crashing down, white knuckles gripping the edge of the toilet seat as I tried to drag myself towards it. my arm lacked the strength but it was then that the nausea turned to something else i was choking shit if there was ever a time i could have a co-worker there with me this would be the moment i lost my breath and the vibrant colors that spun around me only grew more blinding static in my vision as i prepared to lose consciousness and then with a desperate cough i felt a sharp pain of something dislodged itself from my throat my head hit the floor with a thud but i found myself staring directly at the thing that had somehow gotten inside of my body It was a stone.

1:05:41Just a stone. A brown, speckled one like you'd find out in the woods. Maybe on a hike. Maybe from a riverbed. As far as things you could mysteriously choke on with no explanation, a stone seemed like a rather boring item. But as I looked at it, perhaps with sheer frustration that it had almost killed me, I wanted nothing more than to be rid of it. My arm shook as I pushed myself up, grabbing the stone in my fist. Without a second thought, I threw it into the toilet, flushed the handle, watching it disappear down the cyclone of water. It was then that I swore I heard a sniffle to my right, coming from deep down inside the pipes beneath the sink.

1:06:20You can have it back. I wiped my face with my sleeves, then washed my hands thoroughly before returning to my desk. My headphones were still dangling off the edge of the table, swinging back and forth slowly. I picked them up, put them over my head once more, and was greeted with silence from the other line. the woman had hung up the phone. The sense of discomfort hasn't left. That bird hasn't left. What's worse is I saw it clicking its beak on the window, looking straight at me. It wants to come in. I know how crazy it sounds, acting like I know what a bird wants and is thinking, but the sparrow is too human not to be aware of its expression.

1:07:00Pleading, demanding eyes, or staring constantly as I sit at my desk, only gone when it leaves to fill its nest. I'm not letting it in. There's a fog advisory for Thursday. It's only Tuesday as I write this, but I still find myself staring across the forest, expecting to see the hills of trees start to move. I expect to see it burst open. Where does the fog even come from? I'm imagining it now, drifting up from beneath the ground, rising into the air and covering the town and the sun, all that my eyes can see. and the sound it might make. A fearsome bellow that shakes the whole earth. Shit. Maybe I shouldn't have blocked Rose's phone number at all.

1:07:42This is Evelyn from 104.6 FM and I just noticed a brown speckled stone sitting on the edge of the window. Class of 2017, written in white paint on its side. I don't know how it got there, but more importantly, who on earth fished that thing out of the damn toilet? End of part three. started getting a little mystery build up though I'm liking it I feel I'm getting more into it the more we go because the pieces are cool like the lady on the other end saying you haven't been sober since graduation she throws up a stone the stone appears on the window and has class of 2017 written on it which this story was written I think in 2017 right eight years ago so 2017 right so So, but our Evelyn isn't, didn't graduate high school this year.

1:08:34I don't think. So maybe that's like a high school student. Maybe it has something to do with like someone that died. I don't know. Maybe it's something like, maybe it's something like someone died near the bird or whatever, like souls in the bird or whatever. And then like the woman calling was a mother, like a concerned family member. I'm just making stuff up. I don't know. I like, I like a lot of the pieces it's giving the little mystery stuff. I think it's fun yeah I think so too only way one way to keep finding out this mystery is to read on into part four I was also confused at the beginning because when she says I thought maybe it was a request for Dan's mother calling again and for some reason my head's like oh this is gonna be Dan's mom and she's just screaming and crying and for a second I'm like maybe he's dead but no that's not what it was so I don't get what I want alright part four I honestly never thought I dread a Thursday day the way I did.

1:09:31It's a perfectly good day of the week, and rarely do you ever hear people complaining about how much they hate Thursdays. There's no, is Thursday over yet? Mugs out there next to the Monday ones. However, as the week drifted slowly by, all I could think about was the constant warning of another foggy day quickly approaching. Top of all that, my morning started with a script for a missing persons report. A woman named Jennifer Cook, age 25, had wandered into the woods in a supposed sleepwalking incident and her status for whatever reason had been listed as an extreme danger i recognized her name we were friends in college oh i didn't even i'm stupid i didn't even think about college graduation it could be class of 2017 you know for college yeah yeah one good thing did happen daniel decided resting was boring as hell and made the decision to return one day earlier than expected still recovering but plenty well enough to pester me.

1:10:26I almost regretted to say it, but I miss the guy. I guess it's true that you don't always realize you'd miss something until it's taken away from you, and even this insufferable pain in my ass was better than the absolute isolation. Beggars can't be choosers. I watched as his eyes lit up, seeing the get-well cards that had been left on his side of the console. He snorted when he noticed the one I left for him. Happy birthday, grandma!

1:11:03I, I want to feel bad because it's not him. It's you that makes me ate him, but it's so inseparable in my mind at this point. Like what, like when we heard his last name was Esperanza. I just coasted over that fact. I coasted over the mention. He has moppy black hair in my hair, in my head. It's like he has a perm, like a perm almost of like red hair. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like in a, it's like a high end type, but it sets off his head and his curly and he's wearing glasses that are taped in the middle. He basically, he looks like a human embodiment of Carl Weezer from Jimmy Neutron,

1:11:45but annoyingly skinny. Oh gosh. Okay. Whatever. He laughed as he picked it up, opening the card to find no kind words or even a signature, but a doodle of him with two Beethoven-inspired ear trumpets duct taped to his head. Why can I say I was bored? Thanks, Evelyn. You're a very thoughtful grandchild.

1:12:13After the morning weather broadcast, at which time he joined me to announce his return to the station, we turned off our microphones to catch up. I hardly believe it needs saying that catching up for us didn't only involve the mundane. He told me about his procedure in vivid detail, almost excitedly. And to be honest, I was very interested. Delicately, he tilted his ear to either side to show the scars behind his ears and the surgical dressing still kept on the inside. It was no wonder he still spent most of his time trying to read my lips. Even if his ears had been successfully repaired, he couldn't hear a damn thing with cotton stuffed in there.

1:12:48Eventually, we exhausted talk of scalpels and stichels, and he asked me what sort of bizarre things happened he had missed while on his vacation. Sig is still acting up. The pipes were a little rusty the other day, though. I think that was making it a bit weepier than usual. Did you get any calls? I hesitated, but trying not to look too unwilling to answer. Rather, I pretended I was in thought, looking back at dull and completely unimportant memories before shaking my head. Not really. Just a couple of music requests. Some guy in town has a serious crush on Diana Ross. Daniel's eyes were fixed on my face, reading it far after my lips had stopped moving.

1:13:29I think the fact that I avoided his gaze completely was more of a telltale sign of secrecy than anything else. I didn't want to tell him about the crying woman on the phone, the rock that had been in my stomach, or any conversation all of that may stir. The feeling of unease that subject caused was so fuzzy, so confusing to me that I had no desire to go tumbling down the rabbit hole, but my own free will. That bird, though. I interrupted just as he took in a breath to speak, bringing my knees up in my chair and kicking off from the desk to roll away a few feet. Practically jumped out of the seat to stomp across the room.

1:14:01Had set left abandoned and a finger pointing at the window. Sure enough, my nemesis was picking at its nest it had built on a tree branch right at the window's edge. You don't like nests? Daniel asked as if there was any possible doubt of how I felt. It's going to have all of its creepy looking babies right in front of our broadcast room. I put my hands to the glass with an exasperated groan. But even as I knocked my fist against the surface, that shitty little bird did not leave. It just stared at me, face turned so that one human eye followed my movements. If it's beak of the ability to move in a grin, I'm almost sure it would have been smirking at me.

1:14:36I'm getting rid of it. Hold up. I know it's weird looking, but I'm not going to kill it. I'm not killing it. I corrected Daniel, returning to the desk to hang up my headphones properly. I leaned against the back of my abandoned chair, facing my co-worker to explain my instructions. I'm going out on the fire escape to grab the nest. And I'm taking it out in the woods. Won't hurt it. We'll just make it a nest in a new spot. You need to take the controls while I'm gone, though. You couldn't wear his headset, but that didn't matter. So long as he could... Yeah, leaving the deaf guy to... Yeah, God, God.

1:15:09The guys whose ears imploded within themselves, whatever. you'll be fine by yourself right buddy and he's like yeah and then she's downstairs and she just hears like an explosion goes back up and he's just like particleized all over the room he couldn't wear his headset but that didn't matter so long as he could keep the music running on his own and avoid any lapse of silence while i was gone plan would be simple and effective i still try to wrap my head around this feeling or urgency i needed to get rid of that nest and it needed to happen immediately adelaide so to to clarify she she's not saying she got nauseous at the phone call because of the contents it just made her nauseous like supernaturally yeah yeah it's not like she heard the woman crying and the graduate mention and she's like oh no that reminds me of this thing she just got like a supernatural the rock appeared in her throat right yeah i mean i think i i'm not sure that we have the full scope of that yet yeah i don't think she knew what it meant i don't think i had to leave the station in order to get to the fire escape i know that completely defeats the purpose of the fire escape but it wasn't worth triggering the alarm just to save a few steps and explaining my stupid obsession to my boss while disarming it that involved descending endless clanking stairs downwards and downwards until i had circled a 50 foot spiral of rusted metal to the cold cement floor the exit sign no longer glowed but the door's window shown a tarnished yellow light from the overcast sky outside wait so it's it's enclosed the staircase is it's not like a wooden staircase on the outside of the structure that's what i'm wondering too rusted stairs i wonder if the coltsman floor is supposed to be uh like the padding like the like you know in the landing like it's where yeah yeah that's what i think the floor is but she says she gets to an exit sign and there's a window um so does that mean that the fire escape is like a spiral metal staircase that's enclosed the whole way down i wouldn't say it's enclosed though i bet you there's a roof but but maybe i doubt it's enclosed yeah that would be horrifying it's like a 50 foot cough and crawl down claustrophobic nightmare air.

1:17:25Good God. When my shoes sank into the long grass, kicking up tiny pebbles in the dry dirt, I felt a sense of immense insignificance. The world felt big and I felt small, suffocating somewhere in the middle of all that vast and limitless space. It was the first time in over a week I had felt the wind on my skin so directly and something about standing in the open air failed to feel comforting. I didn't feel freedom. I felt violated, exposed. I felt like a newborn without guidance. I decided to make the job as quick as possible. Secured my flannel around my waist, holding on to either side of the fire escape as I climbed my way upwards.

1:18:03I spared a lookout into the mountains, those rolling high hills of rock and dirt covered in newly budding trees and evergreens. Looking at the horizon brought me stress. That stress formed a gnarled ball sitting in my stomach, kind of like a stone really. I didn't need more of those in my guts. okay you feathered fuck once i was at the top panting breathlessly in the absolute throes of exhaustion i waived my hand to shoo the bird away for once it actually left that didn't bring me much comfort it flew away from its nest without panic as if it wasn't leaving because it feared me it was simply moving out of the way to perch elsewhere casually as if to say i'm only moving because i want to i reached out over the metal bars to grab the nest plucking it off the branch Now, as much as I hate this bird and as vocal as I've been about that fact, I couldn't bring myself to be rough with its nest.

1:18:57I held it with some level of tenderness, but still held my breath anxiously as I peered into the circular web of twigs and discarded animal furs. There were no eggs, but the nest wasn't empty. With a shudder of disgust and every single nerve in my body wanting to get that damn thing away from me as quickly as possible, I threw the nest as far as my arm would let me, wiping my hands on the waist of my shirt as I watched it fly into the trees. Inside that nest, nestled into the center like beloved delicate eggs, were four human fingers chewed off from the knuckle. Jesus. Yeah, maybe just kill the bird.

1:19:36Yeah, smash the fucking bird into smithereens, dude. Yeah, that's not a bird anymore. Get rid of it. They were young and slim. The nails painted in partially chipped red polish so this is like a little girl's fingers it kind of seems like or or could it be the woman in the uh could it be the woman that's been sobbing oh it could be it could be yeah it was then that i heard a slither behind me scraping wet against the metal of the stairs it was a sickening sound that only added to the chill i felt traveling up my arms and neck i turned ready to lock eyes with whatever creature had crawled out of the woods and found a thick dirt covered vine that had grown all the way up the rusted beams and across the first step.

1:20:20I had seen a bird with human eyes, a sink with a human voice, but God forbid would this plant start personifying itself too. Eager to get off that fire escape and back into the station, I stepped over the muddy green appendage and prepared for my shoe to clank against the second stair. It never hit. Instead, another vine, just as slick and swift as the other, snaked its way underneath my foot, then another and another, down at least three more steps. No matter where my foot fell, it would slide and I'd go crashing down each and every one of those stairs. At least that's what I thought would happen.

1:20:53As soon as my balance was lost to me, I felt a slimy grip around my ankle. One of the vines grabbing my leg and using an incomprehensible amount of strength to flee my weight away from it. I felt like a fly being swatted with an aggressive hand as if I was the pest in this situation. One moment I was staring down at my feet and the next I was looking at the ground as I began to fall. 50 feet was a distance I may not have survived. I flailed in some attempt to grab the edge of the stairway but happened to fall with my chest pinned over a bar on one of the spirals right below the top. The breath was knocked out of me, arms gripping the rail as pain erupted in my shoulders and my elbows from holding up my weight.

1:21:34I kicked my legs upwards, wrapping them around the closest bar I could find until I was clinging to the edge. The endless forest was in front of me, and all I saw was at first sea of green. That's when I saw movement on the horizon. It was the undulating, swirling, thick clouds of fog slowly creeping towards the radio station in the town beyond us. And for the first time since I had started working here, I could hear a groan on the wind. It wasn't quite a rumble, like one would expect from thunder, but a low, whale-like moan one might imagine would echo from the ocean floor. The fog was making that sound, like a living thing with a voice of its own.

1:22:09I yelled out some stream of curses mixed with unintelligible sounds of panic as I used all my strength to pull myself up onto the landing, choosing the stress of sore arms over a long drop. I pulled myself up, tumbling over the railing and falling to my stomach on the solid metal. As I stood, I lost my flannel shirt on a snag and didn't bother to come back for it, even if it was my favorite. I half ran, half stumbled down the remaining steps, skipping over whichever ones I could while the ground below wriggled and moved in my line of sight. The same mud-covered vines that had thrown me off the fire escape were crawling their way out of the ground, all of them twitching in agitation.

1:22:46I tripped my way through them, making a dash to the door, but when it was finally within my reach, there was no opening it. The door had been covered from bottom to center in a thick layer of vegetation, overgrown as if the forest had swallowed it in a coat of thorns and branches. Young, miniature trees had sprouted from the ground in that short amount of time it took me to leave and come back. Their trunks and branches intertwined to keep the door fastened shut. I tore my hands at the bark, the thorns biting into my skin. But with every tug and crack of solid wood, the trees would rise and snap back into a place in a stubborn game of tug of war.

1:23:22The distant groan was closer now. Wisps of fog surrounded my ankles as it slowly began to cover the ground and grow. but as panicked as I was, I only screamed when I looked back to the door, seeing a darkened face and the whites of eyes staring at me through the window. It was Daniel. Knocking on the tarnished yellow glasses, he attempted to force the door open on his side. Get up there! I screamed through the door. Make the emergency broadcast! Go upstairs! He stared at me, shaking his head as he tried yet again to bust the door open to no avail. The stained window clouded my face, making my lips impossible to read.

1:23:56I turned around to see the same trees covering the door had now sprouted at the bottom of the fire escape. The fog was tumbling closer, completely engulfing the trees only a dozen feet away from me. With nowhere to go, I turned back to the door with one last desperate attempt to tear the plants away. I saw Daniel's face, washed out in blank with fear, with both of his hands on the glass, and then as the fog wrapped itself around me and the radio station itself, I couldn't even see an inch in front of my face. Dan disappeared from my view, as did every single thing except for the swirling gray clouds.

1:24:28I don't think I've ever experienced such silence. There's no wind, no birds, only the sound of my own labored breathing as the air grew thick with the taste of wet soil. Though I had been facing the door, the clouds in front of my eyes made it seem as if I were floating in some endless waste. It was a sea of cold, heavy air that tickled every hair of my arms and on my head. There was that whale-like groan again. It was followed by the strangest series of clicks, like a tongue against teeth rapidly popping in no real pattern. I wasn't prepared when it touched me. Oof. I pursed my lips tightly to keep from making a sound as something sharp and thin grazed the raised flesh on the back of my arm.

1:25:13It was followed by another and another, like impossibly long fingers or the legs of a spider toying with my hair and poking at my arms. It felt threatening, but also curious. So whatever it was patrolling in the fog was trying to figure out what I was or what it could do with me. My eyes were clamped shut and my arms squeezed tightly around my body. I can't even begin to describe what it's like in your head when something massive, unseen and unidentifiable pokes and prods as if you're its human toy. I was waiting for fangs, claws I thought for sure in that very moment I was about to be eaten alive by something I would never get the chance to see My last act on this earth Would have been harassing a damn bird My teeth rattled as I waited for a fate That was certainly grim But it was surprising when I felt All presence around me suddenly back away The ground shook once, twice And then the world went still again My eyes cracked open and as I watched the swirling gray clouds in front of my vision slowly begin to clear, the doorway, as well as the gnarled trees surrounding it, came into view bit by bit.

1:26:24The curling ropes of bark and thorns began to untouch from one another, and the spiral backed down into the ground as if they were beckoned beneath the dirt. The door was in my sights as the fog all but disappeared completely. Well, as it turns out, I didn't die. Shocking, I know. I don't think I ever opened a door so quickly in my life. I rushed inside, slamming it behind me, wasted no time at all sprinting up the stairwell towards the broadcasting room. Pure adrenaline got me to the top in what seemed like an instant, where I found Daniel sitting at the console with the microphone situated in front of his face and the radio line up, back on track.

1:27:01It was better late than ever. I breathed a loud, heavy sigh and slumped against the wall, movement catching my gaze at the window. my flannel shirt was still caught on the edge of the fire escape torn to absolute shreds and waving like a flag of surrender it was then that i made a solemn oath that should i ever see a bird's nest near the fire escape again it can stay hell i'd throw in a damn welcome party if it would keep this from ever happening again since afternoon arrived some things have come to light i've gotten more than one angry call from the owner of the network who claims it took us far too long to sound the announcement for the people downhill in the towns.

1:27:39Married couple last seen taking a walk near the trees hasn't come home since the fog passed. And of course, we made the missing persons report immediately. I've also got a huge pattern of bruises appearing on my chest from the fall. And I must say, hurts like a bitch. We did call the police about the fingers. They assured us there wasn't a murderer loose in the area, though that sounds simpler to deal with. I was a bit surprised that the police asked for copies of our caller records from earlier in the week, and luckily, the rolls of the station meant none of them had been deleted or taped over.

1:28:11The only recording missing was the one Daniel had taken the very moment he lost most of his hearing. Why would our boss delete that after collecting his copies? I overheard whispers of who those fingers may have belonged to. They say the missing girl, Jennifer, was probably the victim of an animal mauling while wandering in her sleep due to a newly prescribed pill she had only just started taking a sleeping pill. I decided that when I'm done here, I'm looking at our call records from the last few days. A certain call from a sleepless woman is coming back to me, and I may recognize that phone number if I see it again.

1:28:46I suspect it might match a number. I still have my own personal cell phone. I'll be honest. I hope I'm wrong. There's a lot I need to explain once I know for sure. This is Evelyn from 104.6 FM and I might take a walk in the woods later. I really enjoy how the mystery keeps kind of building up. Like it's, it's, I don't know if you feel the same, but it's kind of losing its goofier tone more and more. It's starting to shed it a bit and it's more into like, there's a mystery around Evelyn herself. She knows something about this woman that's disappeared. Why are there fingers in the woods? Why are the police covering up?

1:29:20Why is the boss covering up the phone records? What's on the other end of the line? it's it's it's unraveling in pieces i like it that that set piece was really good with the fog coming in and the branches covering up the vines and stuff it felt you've mentioned the mist earlier that felt very the mist that whole second yeah well definitely the the tenderly finger spider kind of tickling thing but i will say i really enjoy the uh almost as if the force itself is like coming to life and attacking her like just there's something so creepy about like vegetation growing and attaching itself like very quickly, you know, it's almost like the forest understands that the radio station is a watch tower.

1:29:58And as soon as the watch tower is empty or vulnerable, that's its moment to attack. Yep. Exactly. Well, shit onto part five. Yeah, I'm vibing with it. This is, um, this is really cool so far. Part five. So here's the thing. It's dark outside. The force is apparently alive and you want to go out there, looking for a dead body? Okay. Daniel had been here only a few days and already he was mouthing off to me. He moved fast, I guess. I shot him a look, expression cold, as I sat on the floor and laced up the first of my boots. If those fingers are the only part of her disconnected from the rest, there may not be a dead body.

1:30:41She might still be alive. So one thing I haven't pointed out about the story, kind of honestly because I've been hooked, is you know the question of why don't they just quit why don't they just leave but I feel like the tone of it where it is so fantastical it's not really you know I feel like in another story it'd be like just walk away but because of how high fantasy it kind of is it's like you know who cares right why don't they just walk away I mean one I think that it's been established that this stuff has been like they have Evelyn at least has been existing in the weird for so long that it's become normal and only recently has it been something where it's like okay well this is a little more out of the comfort this is more out of my comfort zone of what this weird shit is but now it's become a thing where i feel like one evelyn is so attached to this job the kind of cushy nature of it and then it's become her lifestyle that i think that it cements her there but then too i do think that like we've established too that she's caring and that she like it at this point too if she believes that she can help somebody i think that she will so now i think that so i mean and daniel i think too uh i think he's just a bit of a younger uh ignorant kind of uh kind of character that i think doesn't really realize the severity of the situation he's in even though his eardrums fucking imploded and all that stuff yeah yeah after the last time i sat down to write my thoughts and experiences i ended up looking back at all the calls that came through in the last few days.

1:32:14I wasn't looking for the recordings, but rather the numbers, something that I rarely paid attention to. My heart sank when I saw that my suspicion had been unfortunately correct. The number on our work phone matched the cell phone number I had listed for Jenny, a college friend whom I graduated with a year earlier, although there was a surprise I hadn't quite expected. Jennifer didn't call the station only Once, she called twice. The first time to tell me about a bird with human eyes that had been keeping her awake for days. The second time, I heard a woman crying and pleading over the phone. That woman was her.

1:32:51Maybe it's true when they say that no one ever sounds like themselves over the phone. I'm going along with you. Dan was turning in his chair ready to get up when I shot him a look of disbelief. No, you're not. I thought I sounded demanding, but he didn't listen for even a moment. He was already up on his feet, leaning over the console and fiddling with the music lineup. We can't leave the station completely empty. Who are we going to ask to take over for us? That weird ass bird? The toilet ghost? Excuse you, it's the sink, not the toilet. Besides, I have an idea. He wasn't bluffing either. His idea sounded silly and impossible at first, but the more I mulled it over in those moments, the more I realized it would work.

1:33:31He told me that we should pre-record all of our content for the night. We'd record the evening weather, the 10 o 'clock news, and even a goodnight message, then put those recordings in the lineup with the rest of the music. No one would know. And if it took much longer than expected, we'd simply set up the broadcast schedule to continue into the six-hour night owl block. I will say, too, the one thing I was thinking while you were reading that, I was like, well, if the boss shows up, they're fucked. But that's one thing we haven't really talked about, Isaiah, is the boss. Who is this? who is this man some guy that knows the rules who like owns this place but he also does stuff like delete call records that made exactly that's where i'm like that that i'm very suspicious of that man but the deleted call record thing that was kind of fucked up it's also insane if like this is a giant like the fog can come in and kill everyone and there's monsters in the woods and stuff like that to be like i'll just hire some girl to do it no i won't explain to her maybe i'll get a second guy later like that's just like a huge oversight well it sounds like an oversight but does it to me it kind of sounds like it's like it's purposeful like he's like i either need someone who doesn't know what's going on who can do this very mundane task or it's something that he's like i need someone that will fulfill x in time you know what i mean not sacrificial but in like just as as an example like oh and then we can sacrifice like once they you know just this person that has been working here for so long there'll be like a sacrifice not saying that's what it is but i'm just saying like it all seems too convenient i guess well here's here's the other thing too if they leave like sure they may be able to trick the people listening to the radio station but i don't think they're going to trick the woods the woods is going to know there's no one no no exactly and that's what i'm like how would they ever pre-record like a fog warning so are they just fucking over the whole town well they did say so the fog came last time because there was an expected fog on Thursday and then that Thursday fog showed up so if there's no fog forecast I think they're safe from that but I mean who knows what else goes on in these woods you know I'm almost picturing the fog is like the evil dead fog that kind of like rolls in very quickly yeah well even the way that they it's just been the way that Evelyn described it earlier where it's like oh it moves like it has footsteps like it's a creature roaming.

1:35:51It isn't just like, oh, there's a fog report. But, I mean, maybe it is, it can be like, you know, calculated like the weather. So, anyway. I was supposed to leave at 10. Daniel reminded me he was only a part-timer, whereas full-time took on a whole new meaning for my eternal presence here. It's almost 9 o 'clock already. You don't think I'll go overtime if anyone finds out we were dicking around the woods, do you? There'll be no dicking. But I'll pay the grocery guy extra to bring the donuts if you require compensation. I couldn't believe I was actually going to do this. I couldn't believe I was letting Dan do this.

1:36:27Honestly, I don't know what scared me more. The thought of walking into the woods at night and leaving the station abandoned or the thought of going alone and leaving Dan with the responsibility of taking my place. Now, I'm not saying he's incompetent, but I'm almost sure a wild badger could run across the radio console and operate it just as good as he does. He has a lot to learn is what I mean. We put our plan into motion. According to all of our segments one after the other and making a long automatic playlist including those files with any luck it would sound just as genuine as live conversation by the time that was finished and the radio was set to play on its own until just before sunrise daniel and i raided the closet for flashlights water bottles and a first aid kit just in case i hoped we wouldn't be needing to reattach any of our fingers but yesterday's grim findings had brought that possibility up from not worth mentioning to unlikely but could happen i've been sitting here trying to think of what the story reminds me of it reminds me of uh the kirlian frequency kirlian kirlian kirlian whatever um which is a series about like a town full of like vampires monsters but it's from the perspective of a radio host um and then also isn't that what the plot of welcome to nightvale is it's about a radio broadcast station i think so it's like a podcast or like a audio show i think um i think that's the same concept also um for those who are curious like myself uh you can build there they sell prefabricated fire towers it's like one room all windows uh they range from 15 to 60 ,000.

1:38:05That is 100 % too. I'm building a fire tower. That's going to be the new podcast set up. Good man. Would you come? We're going to, I'm going to make a studio and we're only going to record at night and it's going to be horrific. We're only going to record at night. Jesus. We only recorded at night. I have to suffer. That does sound absolutely frightening. My second trip out into the fresh air didn't feel as daunting as the first. Maybe it was because the fog wasn't set to roll in for a few days, or maybe having an important goal drowned out the feeling of insignificance. I fished my phone out of my pocket, looking at the minuscule number of bars in the corner.

1:38:44Out here, with a wall of trees all around us and a seemingly endless forest through the mountains, it was dangerous not to have some kind of connection with the outside world. I watched the bars disappear as we continued to walk, the wet leaves squeaking under our feet. I don't think I've ever been out here. Not this late, at least. Daniel was flashing his light on the ground, then up to the trees at eye level. I hated when he did that. I had some hidden fear that he'd shine the light up suddenly illuminate something terrifying. You do know your way around here, don't you? I was grasping at memories.

1:39:15I left town so young and stayed away for so long that any recollection of playing in the woods was lost to me at this point. However, I did remember returning. There were bits and pieces of a memory in my brain, but it seemed to melt, as if some of those thoughts ran like water straight out of my mind. I was here about a year ago, but I can't memorize past that well. But it's not as if we can't see the radio tower for miles away. Daniel shrugged, nodding his head and accepting that answer. He looked back at our metal and wooden sanctuary, which sat so tall on the hill with a huge tower looming above it that it would be near impossible not to see it from almost anywhere this side of the forest.

1:39:52I stared forward in the dark, squinting as Daniel moved his light back to get a view of the station. I kept my own flashlight turned off in order to save its battery in case his ran out. But I had to admit, his constant tomfoolery with this damn flashlight was going to get on my nerves if he kept it up. Will you stop that? What? Dicking around with the flashlight. What about the flashlight? I raised my voice for him, remembering the cotton in his ears. You're dicking around with - Before I could finish that sentence, a sound erupted from in front of us, even loud enough for Daniel to hear through his bandages.

1:40:24it was the groan of an animal either aggressive or in defense of itself dan whipped back around his flashlight pointed straight towards the source of the sound while i stopped in my tracks and stood perfectly still it was an elk enormous in size with eyes glowing white at us in the darkness there's no way it could have gone unheard leading me to believe that it had been standing there perfectly still all this time its antlers clacked against the surrounding trees as it shook its head stomping its front hooves in the dirt and stone. Din and I both backed up several feet but the elk didn't charge at us.

1:40:59Rather, once it was finished making noise and stomping about it turned and stared at us for the longest moment. Its eyes were reflective orbs but I watched it blink. Its eyelids were to the right and left meeting vertically like that of a reptile. Then, with a heavy grunt it bounded heavily away further into the woods. I noticed between instances of wondering how close I had been to shitting my pants just now that it ran with a very odd gallop. It had three back legs, one on one side, two on the other. It was a seriously screwed up elk. Is there anything out here that doesn't look like an absolute abomination?

1:41:43Nothing would make me happier than for Dan to get impelled on the elk's antlers. I say justice for him off into the woods. Justice for Dan, the man, give me, give me one reason he deserves to live. He's, he's a trooper. He showed up. He helped our girl, Evelyn. Okay. His job is to stay in the radio tower and alert. He sees the rule book. Same as her. He turns on the siren. If the fog shows up, a fog shows up and he's like, I should go downstairs and tap on the glass really hard. Isaiah. Listen, he doesn't get points for doing his job. he's as curious as a cat can't blame dan the man i'm gonna blame him for a lot of stuff i bet i could blame anything on him if i wanted to daniel asked in a hoarse whisper his flashlight slowly scanning and search for anything else that might be hiding in the trees and overgrown bushes there was nothing not even a sound after a few hesitant moments we were on the move again though I decided shouting probably wasn't the best decision to make.

1:42:47I was looking down at my phone, watching the bars in the left corner. I wouldn't have expected to have any signal out here. Strangely, a single bar kept flashing and then disappearing as if it wanted to find a connection. I had no explanation for it, but I didn't think on it too much. All of the weird crap I'd seen out here, a cell phone signal in the woods was the least of my curiosities. but if I could just get one more bar, maybe I could try making a call. How do you know her? Daniel broke the silence after we were sure no more giant mutated elks were stomping around. The missing girl, I mean, you seem dead set on finding her.

1:43:23She was my best friend in college. We had a dorm together, we graduated together, we lived together for a bit. She was generous when I needed a place to stay. And now you live in the radio station? Turned my eyes back to my phone, shrugging my shoulders. I acted nonchalant, like I didn't give two shits. I actually gave quite a considerable amount of shits. She didn't want me there anymore. I could feel the question in the air. I didn't have to look at Daniel to know what he was thinking, how badly he wanted to ask why a generous best friend would kick someone out of their house. Luckily, before he had a chance to speak and before I needed to think of a new conversation, I saw it.

1:44:02Two bars on my phone. springing to life and defying all odds against the wild uninhabitable mountain i raised my phone up in victory stopping exactly where i stood for fear of losing the signal yes we have it we have a signal daniel gave me a confused stare before i had a chance to explain i was tapping away at my phone finding jennifer's phone number among my minuscule list of contacts i'm calling her if she's nearby she can help us find her assuming she has a signal and a battery assuming she has her phone. Daniel was obviously skeptical why a sleepwalking woman, presumably leaving her bed, would take her phone.

1:44:38But I had a theory that Jennifer hadn't been sleepwalking at all. Something had been luring her here. I just had a feeling. I didn't answer him. Whispering a horse, shh, as the phone began to ring in my ear. It rang once, then twice, then in both of my ears. her tone basic selection from the library of sounds was distant but audible in one exposed ear i lowered my own device listening to the sound echo from further in the trees faint but there daniel turned to the direction of my gaze flashlight scanning along the ground to find a path of broken twigs and flattened grass trailing off deep into the brush what are you her phone that was all i said before i chased the glow of his flashlight on the ground deciding that one source wasn't enough.

1:45:24I pulled the spare light from the satchel around my shoulder tapping it against my hand as it flickered to life. The tone stopped ringing and so I called it again desperately hoping this wasn't just a trick my ears were playing. I couldn't help but feel some level of paranoia knowing that this forest could be drawing us further in with illusions of sound and direction. Perhaps that's exactly what it did to Jennifer. I felt a sense of familiarity with the forest then. I knew this path. I almost felt sick the moment some old, buried memory started to resurface, but not because those memories traumatized me.

1:45:59No, the nausea was part of the memory. I remember the campfire, roaring high in the center of a clearing, one person's distinct voice nagging that it would burn the trees down if it got any higher. I remember tripping over beer bottles and the sound of shitty guitar music, some drunk idiot singing off-key. Shit, maybe I was the drunk idiot singing off-key. that was probably me now that I think about it. I could hear Jenny's voice mingling with the crackling fire and the terrible music. Evelyn, lay off. You've had enough. Don't you scream at me. You're such an ass. To imagine that graduation party was the last time I'd ever seen this place until now.

1:46:39Damn. Why did I ever come back? Ah, Christ! Heard Daniel yell before I caught sight of what he had found. God, I wish I hadn't seen it. i turned my light to him first catching a glimpse as he staggered back with his eyes glued to the ground in front of him then i foolishly illuminated the grass below there was blood soaking every inch of grass and dirt that i could see bits of cloth and who knows what else strewn around the forest floor and a man the top half of him at least nearby the bottom half of another person this one wearing a pair of khaki shorts and walking shoes both of them had been separated across the middle only one half of their bodies thrown down where we could see them the rest where was the rest those have to be the two people that went missing right yeah this is the couple that went missing yeah yeah i shouldn't have scanned the light upwards but the sound of creaking branches tempted me my light followed the trunk stained all the way up until it illuminated what happened to be the other halves of the two corpses.

1:47:45They were stuck in the branches by their clothes and their limbs, as if thrown into the air and getting caught wherever they fell. The second body was of a woman, but it wasn't Jennifer. I felt sick. All the shadows and shapes were swirling around in my vision, pungent smells not only in my nose but on my tongue as the full wave of that terrible scent hit me. I gagged, but before I could turn my full body away from the scene, my light caught something else. The glow of eyes from the trunk of a nearby tree. Let me just say, I've seen some uncomfortable things merely in the time I've been working out here in the woods.

1:48:21I don't just mean gruesome, terrifying things, but unsettling things, unusual things. As of right now, this takes the cake. We found Jennifer. She was in one piece, as far as I could tell, aside from a hand missing every finger except ironically the middle one i'd like to think that was some final joke from whatever murdered her but that's probably wishful thinking where humor is realistically non-existent she was stuffed her limbs twisted to roll her into a human ball inside the hollow trunk of the tree with her stark white face peering through a hole in the bark eyes were open wide and staring forward making her look like some kind of pale nightmare shell her mouth was wide open filled with dry grass and twigs almost like a bird's nest oh jesus that that's sick man one of her hands was sticking out of the tree the arm likely broken in order to accomplish such a position her hand was tilted palm pointing upwards and a cell phone was sitting in the center flashing its 10 battery warning.

1:49:32Well, that and the two missed calls from me. My name was on the screen. Evelyn, followed by an alien emoji. It's perfectly appropriate. There's not a single damn person on earth who could convince me she wasn't positioned that way on purpose. We weren't even friends anymore, but shit, man, I really failed her one last time. At least I'm consistent, I suppose. Daniel and I knew we couldn't stay there. Not only was it a nightmare to behold, but the smell from the blood and bodies on the ground was making both of our stomachs churn. That's a smell you don't really forget, I don't think. It's been a full day and I still recall it in vivid sensory detail.

1:50:12So we turned back to leave, completely silent. We had nothing to say to one another, nothing comforting and no energy even to talk about our fears. We were halfway back to the radio tower when Dan finally spoke up. You know, I wanted this job because I thought it would be right up my alley. I thought I'd be good at it. maybe make people laugh and smile a bit, but so far it's, it's only been horrifying. He's still wearing like shorts with suspenders and a bow tie in my mind, by the way. Now, while I know that hiring Dan had been none of my responsibility, I still felt a twinge of guilt. He meant well and his heart had always been in the right place, but he was suffering for it.

1:50:54He had the chance to leave, but chose to come back regardless. Sometimes I've wondered if this bizarre messed up situation was the only exciting thing he had to look forward to. At least until actual death entered the picture. Now he was in too deep. Both were. Hey, Dan. I see him shining the light on my own face. Yeah. Your mom invited me to a wedding in June. Mind if I go with? He laughed. It was the first time you had heard him laugh like that. Well, ever. that didn't say much considering we had known one another for less than a week but time seems to drag out after you have some freaky shit with someone matching tuxedos

1:51:39okay this is this is my bear trap this next line is my bear trap i nodded decisively with plaid bow ties

1:51:52you know why isaac is you are this person that's why that's not a bear trap that's a mirror that's a new thing i'm introducing what that's one of the worst things you've ever said to me on the show what do you mean i'm this person what do you mean explain yourself right now i'm propping up my mirror is what i'm saying that's that's why how is that me how i could just i could see you being matching tuxedos and then you would have a plaid bow tie i could see it in a heartbeat don't you ever also i feel like I've ever heard anyone ever go to. Yeah. Cause I got like 40 friends who all got married this year and it's, and it's, I'm at my limit.

1:52:30They all get one. If they get divorced, I'm not going to the next one or whatever. I do. I do. I think that's only fair. You get one, you get one or guess what? Your, your spouse dies sucks. Not coming to the next one. You get one. No, I think a death is a restart. That's only fair. Nope. I've been to too many. I'm over it. I'm over it. What do you mean? I'm Daniel. what do you mean I'm this annoying guy that moans and like sad is like hums at his own jokes that he laughs at

1:53:03okay are we to believe that so Jennifer's body was cool and all that especially like the bird's nest in the mouth that was awesome but like is the implication that all these memories are kind of being hidden from her like her true connection to Jennifer and stuff like that all that's kind of like being seen through a dark glass and she's trying to understand I mean it all feels a bit convenient like I think that you're on to something it would be too convenient to just be like oh and Jennifer she's the one you know what I mean so it seems like the forest is articulating that or it's basically like revealing these things in these horrible ways and it seems like it's torturing specifically Evelyn Cause she said earlier, she couldn't remember the paths while she was talking to Daniel.

1:53:55But then when she hears Jennifer's phone ring, she says, I knew this path. Um, and she talks about buried memories and she says she gets nauseous, but she's like, Oh no, nausea is the memory. And she remembers the campfire and she remembers someone being drunk and acting a fool. And then remembers that's herself that she, so it's like, it's a weird way to remember something. It's almost like she's getting it back in pieces. as things become too familiar. Yeah, and I mean, we keep, we're starting to establish the idea to have like her, not her as an unreliable narrator, but like, obviously she's had some kind of substance abuse in the past, so that also plays a factor of like, oh man, you know, we're unraveling things at the same time as her, but there's also things where I feel like she's either trying to forget or she completely doesn't remember, and they're kind of like coming back, you know?

1:54:46Yeah, yeah. The rest of the walk was quiet. We got back to the radio tower after midnight the late night music block beginning on its automatic run just as we had planned i took the opportunity to take the evening slow no need to rush back to the console or even to that old lumpy masters where i slept daniel was leaving as i expected and wanted him to but i made an extra effort to stand out in the gravel driveway and tell him goodbye could have been emotional about the whole thing thanking him for saving my life in the fog or for insisting on going with me to find Jennifer. Instead, I just told him to drive safely and to show up in one piece on Monday.

1:55:24Two pieces at most, so long as it's a small loss. He just pointed to one of his ears and said, I already made my blood sacrifice.

1:55:36I spent a long, long time that night just sitting cross-legged in my chair and looking out the window. I had my headphones on, listening to the music. almost wanted to turn on my microphone to ask who was out there listening with me but then i'd be too disappointed if nobody called in with an answer this is evelyn at 104.6 fm and i have some advice don't treat your friends like shit end of part five man that's got to be in reference to jennifer like yeah a hundred percent yeah she's yeah because i mean obviously she was probably a junkie and ruined that relationship and it's probably been weighing on her drank a lot I don't know if that would you call that a junkie?

1:56:16I guess not. Maybe just alcoholic. Yeah. Yeah. But the yeah, I mean, just, you know, definitely pissed on someone's kindness and someone that was trying to help whatever. Yeah, man, it's insane to feel that we've been reading this for like a little over two hours. It's just it's moving. And also part six already each time kind of sinking in. I'm wondering if there's if there's going to be a moment where it starts to curve and this mystery become like I'm wondering if I mean, there's multiple seasons. So obviously the whole mystery can't be solved But I'm wondering As we're reading into this because we're over halfway How much would be solved here How much are we actually going to get Because I'm just like I'm a little fucking piggy right now Give it to me I want to know Which by the way I also have What do you do Benny just started chewing on a gun What are you doing Are you insane He's saying free me He's saying get me out of here please kill me i can't do this like i'm gonna because you're like i'm gonna give you a little bow tie as you say to him shut up shut up don't don't bring that voice mention of no it's so i have the short story pulled up it does say that uh book one is uh contains the events of a council of lonely broadcast station uh and we're always on the air at 104.6 fm and then other bonus stuff but it covers this the other parts in that yeah so confirmation there um but there was something uh i had a train of thought that i lost i guess it's not that important um so oh just that there's a bunch of side stories about these characters like they're like little characters will have their own pieces it looks like and other writings that Kel has done.

1:58:04Also, they called someone to come get the bodies, right? Well, it is say that, but surely. Yeah, I mean, you would assume so because I was kind of wondering because they were like being a bit too chill about it because I was like, I feel like you guys should be like freaked out and you should or at least just like, oh my God, this is horrible. We need to call somebody. You should be scared. But maybe that's just implied or they're like, I don't know. Fuck it. Whatever. There it is. Let them right out there. I'm not moving that bird nest again. so they belong to the woods now. That's what I feel like you would do with me.

1:58:37If you were like, well, the forest wanted him. I'd walk up with my flashlight to the forest. I'd see your body separated, upper half of your face with your upper lip hooked and your bottom lip on the ground. And I'd do.

1:58:56And I'd just turn around and I'd walk away. Never tell anyone? no i wouldn't yeah even your wife is like have you seen isaiah and i didn't look nope nope no i haven't seen anything you know you shouldn't be up here right this is this is authorized people only that's what i'd say if i was if i'm if i'm up in the broadcast station you realize that you're not supposed to be here right this is so this is in this is five years from now when i build a fire watch on my property and you find me dead on again like in my backyard and then Kayla comes to find you once again at my house and you're like you know you're not supposed to be up here right I would I would I'd leave like bits of very good smelling food to attract bears to come and eat your body to just get rid of all the evidence too total mystery so you killed me in this scenario no you're still dead then why is it evidence then why is it evidence well because i mean here's there's a murder that was a freudian slip that was a freudian slip listen i wish i wish i would have been the one to do it but i'm the one i i do oh dang it that's what i say i still i come across your body and i say darn it okay well thank god i have these hosts these twinkies on me and i drop the twinkies down and then the bears start coming when you said that when you said hostess i thought you were saying thank god I have these hosts like you have backup hosts on speed dial if I die in a bear related accident

2:00:28alright part 6 hey bear do you want to start a podcast I love you bear I love you bear so we have a joke on the show called bear traps I think you're going to love it I don't like that I don't like that okay we'll change it just for you bear i love you bear i love you bear the whole show is just you reading stories and then being like i love you bear i love you bear love you so much thank you kind of impressive that he talks honestly that'd be worth listening to the show yeah you have a show with the talking bear but it's like well we read scary stories that's the that's scary he does and then I said oh my god that's kind of scary isn't it buried he does oh yeah really scary

2:01:28wow bear that's so cool I'm so glad you're here definitely not that other guy I'm still rotting in the woods like right next to the part six part six Benny what do you want if you can't if I let you open my lap you're not gonna be chill you're gonna freak out I'll start this off in the most direct way possible I'm not who you think I am I work at the radio station Pershing in the Air looking over a forest covered mountain range it's an absolutely bizarre place I've seen animals with human features some eldritch abomination living in a fog bank and even went partially deaf due to a phone call on top of all that my co-worker Evelyn McKinnon just became a murder suspect oh interesting Daniel here that's cool that's switched to Daniel's perspective if it's interesting.

2:02:12That being said, I hate, hate that I am now speaking for Daniel. I'm speaking in Daniel's tongue. That's unspeakable to me. She didn't do it. There's no way she could have done it. And I think everyone in this tiny superstitious town knows that. I may not have been here long, but I've been here long enough to know that when something strange happens, people know when to turn their heads and ignore it. The death of a well-respected couple and a promising colleague graduate gets people just a little bit riled up, however. if you've read her post you probably already know who i am my name's daniel esperanza i'm a part-timer at the radio station and right now i'm taking over evelyn's full-time position until she gets back from a drive into town she's not arrested at least i don't think she's arrested the police came by to ask a few things which is understandable considering how our tower is less than a mile from the scene some things happened and they took her into town i haven't heard from her since I'm sure you're all wondering a couple of things First, how did I log into her account?

2:03:15And also, why would I ever choose to work at this backwoods piece of garbage on stilts? The second is a story for another time But the first one's simple I called in an anonymous tip to the police last night after I left It was Evelyn's idea Seeing as there's no way they wouldn't be able to trace the radio tower And I'd have an easier time finding a public phone than she would But after the police promised to stop by the woods and confirmed what she had. But after the police promised to stop by the woods and confirm what we had found, I stopped in to see that Evelyn had packed up her laptop and was giving it to me for safekeeping, she said.

2:03:50Wait, why didn't they just call and say, hey, we found a body? Well, I think that they're explaining that. Okay, all right. She told me that this online document she's been keeping wasn't supposed to be found. It was a good idea to get it far away from her just in case they had any questions. So I have her laptop. She was still logged in and well, I guess I've got a story worth telling too. Okay, no, they didn't explain that. So why? I feel like, I feel like Evelyn's hiding something. She could be. There's some reason she didn't want to call the police. I don't know. It was early, about seven o 'clock in the morning when I called the anonymous tip and then rushed back to the radio station and warned Evelyn that there might be visitors.

2:04:30I know. I know. His dorky, his goofy eye sprinted up that staircase and threw open the door and went, Evelyn, we've got company.

2:04:46Evelyn, you're going to want to see this. he's like, she's trying to do the broadcast. he spends all day walking up to the window where the bird is and then turning to her and going, um, it's right behind me, isn't it? And then he walks over and he like eats snacks. And then five minutes later, um, it's right behind me, isn't it? The drive there's daunting. This town sits nestled so tightly between a range of mountains on all sides that you'd swear it was donut shaped with the townspeople all stuffed in the center. It's a winding, swirling, hazardous past it get out of here which is why people rarely come and no one ever seems to go as i followed the path to the edge of the woods the ground became steeper as i went there's a natural feeling of heaviness that just sits on top of you as you look up into the trees the way the mountains raise it looks like the trees grow miles high but it's just an illusion created by the thickness of the forest it's suffocating and really no wonder why people seem to get lost so often like looking up at a giant sitting at the bottom of the mountains can make even the strongest humans feel small, puny, and significant.

2:05:55Thankfully, I'm nowhere near the strongest humans, so feeling insignificant is less of a steep drop for me. I understand this isn't the time for self-depreciating jokes, though. Evelyn wasn't on edge when I arrived at the station, though she was surprised to see me. I found her where she usually is, sitting in the chair behind the console, staring off into space. I don't think she goes into the details too much but anyone who believes she spends her days buzzing around and keeping busy is a bit mistaken in the week that I've known her Evelyn spends an almost worrying amount of time in silence, looking tired and even sick every day she looks more and more like the poster child for anemia when she's not screaming at a bird or answering creepy phone calls she spends the rest of her day seeming miserable with a few short intervals of pretending to laugh at my jokes I know she's faking it, as to not disappoint me.

2:06:49I want to tell her that she doesn't have to try so hard. I told her that I called in the tip, and she already seemed prepared. She gave me her laptop and charger, all packed up in a case, and told me to put it in my car. It was then I was noticing the edge I hadn't seen before. She was expressing her anxiety in silence, eyes avoiding mine, and her arms staying close to her sides or crossed over her chest whenever possible. I studied theater trust me I know the telltale signs of someone who isn't feeling very confident of course he studied theater of course he's a theater kid that made me turn on Danny a bit that I hate that too I studied theater you know what Dan why don't you fucking jump off the top you took a theater class in high school what are you talking about what if you jump what if you did a flip and swan dove onto the elk antlers from the top of the also could you could you like I like how he's like I work for the FBI.

2:07:43You're a fucking theater major, dude. Yeah, I have a pretty good time bullying people. It'll be fine. It'll be fine. I assured her, even though I had no idea what we were in for. We didn't do anything. Maybe they won't even bother us. As it turns out, I was wrong about that. I left the radio tower, heading back to the tiny gravel parking lot that ended a long, twisting path through the woods. I took the laptop case to my car where I hit it on the floor of the backseat underneath a few bags of plastic bottles. I kept forgetting to recycle. Of course, of course, he's the kind of guy that like carries around plastic and he's like, oh, I'm going to turn this in.

2:08:22No, I'm going to, I'm going to take this to recycling plant guys. No, no, I'm going to take it there. No, for sure. For sure. Next week, next week.

2:08:34It was a good thing. it did happen then because the glow of headlights at the end of the long winding gravel road were coming closer a police car and an ambulance drove right up near my car in the small cramped space just big enough for employees you work here one of the officers asked me he was a tall broad shoulder guy who looked like he could probably pick me up and toss me into the woods like a tree branch i'm sure that's every guy you've ever encountered dan yes sir i answered without hesitance. Of course he would. Because you know what? Because he does whatever they tell him. He does whatever.

2:09:09I'm so heated. It didn't matter that Evelyn and I were innocent. Acting suspicious in any way wasn't a good idea. And it didn't help that... What kind of a statement is that from him? It didn't matter that we were innocent. I shouldn't act suspicious. Well, if you're innocent, why would you act suspicious? Okay. He's a theater major. It didn't help that we were already hiding her written evidence. I was just stopping by for a few minutes. Can we help you? Who's we? Asked the second one, female officer. What she lacked in size, she made up for her in the most stern, thin-lipped expression I had ever seen.

2:09:39Now, I'm almost 30 years old. That is the most surprising thing I've heard in this whole story. Now, I'm almost 30 years old, and I still felt like I was about to get grounded just for looking at her. Myself and my co-worker, you know, Evelyn McKinnon, thought I recognized your voice. Female officer was the first to step forward while the others followed right behind her. My eyes trailed off to see two remaining police officers, as well as their leash canine and two medical responders, passing us to go straight into the woods with all the tools to mark off a crime scene. As part of an ongoing investigation, we're going to have to ask a few questions to the both of you, as well as to ask that you don't go wandering into the woods today.

2:10:19Is that all right? It's fine. It's going fine. I was thinking to myself. we had nothing to worry about we weren't criminals sorry we weren't criminals still being face to face with authority especially when they were just itching to put someone behind bars for a triple homicide was not the most comforting place to be of course come right up i led the police into the radio station where evelyn was sitting with her headphones over her ears and fingers adjusting the console controls after her first morning announcement of the day she didn't even hear the door open and I hated to startle her. When saying her name didn't catch her attention, I reluctantly reached out a hand to nudge her shoulder.

2:10:58That was certainly enough to get her eyes on me at last. Though she jumped so suddenly that I thought she'd lose her headphones in the process. Don't do that. She stopped speaking, words halting in their tracks as her eyes glanced from me to the two officers standing by the door. It wasn't as if she didn't expect their company. Of course he calls it company we've got company but she still looked uncomfortable when all four eyes locked on her microphones were silenced the radio was set to automatically run for the next half hour and the police got to questioning the both of us started pretty normal pretty unassuming and easy to answer did anyone stop by the station in the last two days did you happen to see anyone suspicious outside has either of you had any contact with the missing individuals luckily the answer to all three of these was no i admit i was further out of the loop than evelyn was she spent all of her time here and had no jennifer cook for years whereas i had never even visited this town before hearing about the job offering they seemed to pay far more attention to her than they did to me there was a moment when one of the police pointed out a dark bluish mark peeking out from the edge of evelyn's neckline she put a hand to her chest as if she had forgotten about it until the pain came flooding back the moment her palm touched the spot.

2:12:11All it took was a pull of the fabric to reveal a small portion of a huge, elongated bruise that stretched across her upper ribs and breastbone. Where'd you get that? The male officer asked. I could tell Evelyn was taking a moment to think, realizing that the story of how she had gotten the bruises was very far-fetched. Things were weird around here, but maybe not weird enough to openly admit that sentient vines had tossed her and pinned her against the fire escape. I was out on the fire escape and fell. She admitted, but refused to elaborate any of the stranger details. When I rolled down the stairs, I hit myself hard on one of the handrails.

2:12:44They didn't press further, but it didn't mean they weren't still keeping those details in their minds. It was uncomfortable, watching how intently they glared, taking in every small detail. I knew it was just part of their job, but it felt almost unnecessarily intimidating. Kind of sounds like a... I knew it was part of their job, but I thought it was a little rude. kind of sounds like also they're setting up that she just sounds like a drunk still yeah yeah it'd be funny if like there's absolutely nothing supernatural happening she just gets hammered and rides to the stuff that would actually honestly be like i fell because there's like there's like a vine that like grabbed me and that's why i fell that's why i went down the stairs and something like touched me and then i walks back up minutes passed in a half hour then an hour and the only time the police weren't asking questions was when Evelyn and I attended to our work to keep the radio running.

2:13:36They were almost too attentive when it came to making sure everything was going smoothly with the broadcast, but then again, they lived in the town below. There's no way any of the bizarre stuff that happened all around this building didn't get their attention. Maybe they knew even more than we did about this old radio tower. I think I was the first to see movement in the woods. My breath hitched in a small gasp, and I think the police heard me, because moments later, they were swiftly marching to the window to see their fellow officers emerging from the forest. The medical team carried back two cloth stretchers covered in white sheets.

2:14:06Two. Only two. Hmm. We were told to stay in the broadcast room until the police returned. We watched nervously as they exchanged words below us. Silence through the glass. Evelyn said nothing, but she looked alarmed as the men and women below took terms making glances up at our location. Something was wrong here. Evelyn paced back and forth until the police came back upstairs, one of them holding a familiar object. Jennifer's cell phone. Well, shit. With a glove-clad hand, the female officer held up the device, which was sporting a dangerously low battery and two missed calls from the night before.

2:14:42That phone should have been dead, I thought. And somehow it was kept alive the entire night just long enough to reveal its secrets. My co-worker's face washed out, paler than ever when she realized that her name was flashing on the screen. However, what they said next was perhaps even more chilling than all the facts that were laid out in front of us. Miss McKinnon, it appears you and Jennifer Cook were in contact. Any clues to her whereabouts you're not telling us? My heart sank, and I knew hers did too. She looked at the two figures in front of us, then at me, her mouth slightly agape with the beginnings of a question that wouldn't come out.

2:15:17Her whereabouts? Jennifer had been out there. She was cold and dead in the trunk of that tree, and if they found her phone and the other two people, how the hell did they not see her? The only answer I could possibly think of was that she wasn't there anymore. But if that was true, who or what pulled her out of that tree? I know her. Evelyn's lips trembled. I had never seen her look this close to tears. In fact, I didn't know she ever cried. Ever since Jennifer was announced missing, Evelyn had made an effort not to talk about their former friendship. It was easy for me to forget that she probably was grieving behind the mask of indifference.

2:15:57I was just thinking about her and thought I'd tried, but she didn't pick up when I tried to call. We haven't talked in over a month and I promise I don't know anything. This time she wasn't lying at all. This new development put us far into the dark as we could possibly get, making me question everything I'd seen the night before. There's no way we both dreamed that up, was there? No, not when the rest of the scene fell into place. The other two bodies had been collected, but Jennifer had been taken while the others were left behind. I couldn't even begin to think of a reason why god I can't believe I even let it cross my mind but for a split second I had the chilling thought that maybe Jennifer had gotten herself out of the tree there's a lot of weird shit out there in the woods and I wasn't ready to start worrying about the walking dead too Evelyn's answer was honest but it wasn't good enough for them deciding that this wrong place wrong time situation wasn't satisfactory Evelyn was given a beckoning gesture of the hand from the female officer, whose other hand hovered close to her side.

2:16:57It wasn't where her gun was placed, but rather the handcuffs. She must have noticed that Evelyn looked down at them because she moved her hand away, almost on cue. We have more questions. Who would like to wait until we get to the station to have a real talk? If you, if I don't argue, you won't cuff me? Evelyn finished her thought while peeking out from the hair hanging in her face. The policewoman gazed at her and silently nodded her head. my co-worker never did have the most expressive face she often looked weary or annoyed sometimes a bit of both but this time she looked towards me with a heavy frown and eyes that can only be described as soulful i could tell she was scared but not with the type of fear we faced before now based with impossible things it was very realistic dread with no disbelief it's the saddest thing i'd ever seen follow the rules okay that was the last thing i heard from evelyn's lips before she was escorted for questioning.

2:17:50It's been so long now that I can't help but feel something went wrong and that maybe she's not coming before the day is done. I want to leave. I want to go find out what happened to Evelyn, but unfortunately, I can't do that. I have to make sure the broadcast never goes silent. This is Daniel at 104.6 FM, and I might be your host for just a little while longer. End of part six into part seven. It's interesting. Now she's basically being blamed for the murder here. I wonder how, I wonder, uh, it makes you kind of think, I kind of like that, like a narrator switch throughout there too. It makes you wonder if, uh, if we're even going to see Evelyn again, uh, well, because she's no longer only point of view, it kind of paints the idea of what if she, uh, is up to something, you know?

2:18:47Yeah. I don't know. I'm wondering if it's just a convenient thing that the cops. Well, also them calling the car. I don't know. It's very odd. Like I said, the mystery is still up in the air at the moment. I'm thinking I kind of I see your guts going and I agree. I don't think that we've heard everything yet. It seems too like, oh, well, I got kicked out. I think there's something there that we just don't know yet. But I still don't think Evelyn is like a huge guilty party. to be clear I don't think she knows either but I think it's like the memory she's getting of like oh I was here I was drunk or something she may have something to do with it but that she may not be privy to right part 7 snooping through someone's computer is a quick way to make an enemy out of a friend but I somehow justified my decision out of all the confusing and traumatic things Evelyn and I have witnessed my invasion into her post isn't quite as bad as well murder was it uh oh wait does that mean she did i don't know i'm wondering if now if they're gonna have uh if they're gonna have him basically be like i like i guess raised suspicion where he's like oh shit did she do this you know oh okay first i think you all need to know it's been a couple of days now and i haven't heard from my co-worker at all It's almost as if she's dropped off the face of the earth.

2:20:13I've been handling this radio station on my own, and things haven't been as weird as they usually are. There's no crying from the sink, no freaky looking birds outside the window, no fog. However, I was still uneasy, as the police were almost always present on their search in the woods, looking for that girl's body. The fact that they couldn't find it, even in the light of day, gave me the sinking feeling that Jennifer was out there somewhere. or moved or hidden or maybe devoured. Who knows? I saw the same officer from the day they dragged two bodies out of the woods, taking Evelyn with them. She looked just as stern and just as unfriendly as before, but at least she allowed me to ask her a question.

2:20:53I simply asked her when and if she expected Evelyn to be done doing her part in the case. I hoped my role as the concerned trainee would convince her to give me an estimate on when I might see her again, especially after I pressed that I was having some difficulties adjusting to the sudden full-time position. Guilt tripping a cop isn't something I would advise. Can't be sure of that. She said matter-of-factly. Depends on how well she cooperates. We can't question her yet though. Had to let her go in for medical treatment first. She refused to elaborate any further. I shouldn't have been surprised but I was.

2:21:27Evelyn didn't look her healthiest but I somehow doubted she would have agreed to a hospital stay in the middle of all this mess. No I feel there's something else going on. That, coupled with all of the unexplainable things we had seen in my curiosity for what she had witnessed on the days I was gone, prompted me to look around her computer whenever I had some free time. Now, I know she was hiding a few things from me. More than a few things, really. Her thoughts seemed scattered, documents filled with revisions and half-written bits of her daily experiences, but it still looks like she's avoiding the follow-through on so many thoughts.

2:22:01It was cloudy in the early afternoon as I ate a late lunch, throwing away half of what was in the fridge that Evelyn hadn't touched and committed to reading all of her prior post. The stone, the crying woman on the phone, that thing in the fog, almost can't believe how much she was hiding from me. And yet I have this feeling that too much of this is personal. I should have stopped there, but I didn't. I'm ashamed to admit that my curiosity got the better of me and I looked at her internet history. It was a lot of this, this website and her post, I mean. It seems as if she dedicates most of her time to her writing, but there were a couple of other things.

2:22:41Facebook page, notably. The rest looked like the production of boredom. Clickbait articles, dumb quizzes, a Google search for mountain birds. I told myself I would visit the Facebook page for just long enough to check my own, not expecting hers to still be open. you okay you can't you can't be like i went through all of her search history everything she had i didn't want to pry on her facebook page like okay yeah it's not with the coy attitude apparently she hadn't logged herself out at all because the moment the page finally loaded after a long lapse of inactivity there were unchecked notifications on the screen there were so many that it seemed like evelyn hadn't read through them in weeks and she posted even less much of The content on her profile belonged to other people.

2:23:25Some relatives of hers, maybe a great aunt, asked, how you been, which she never responded to. A young woman tagged her in a post with several others calling for a group hangout sometime, which she didn't react to at all. And then there was an entire library of tagged photos, photos other people had taken. I admit that I smiled at first looking through them. They must have been from last summer because Evelyn's hair was shorter and she had a sunburn across her nose mixing in with some major sun-inducing freckles. There were pictures from a college graduation ceremony featuring her with all of her friends and professors.

2:23:59She was smiling wildly, grinning with all her teeth, looking bright. The last graduation photo was of her and a familiar woman making faces at the camera. It was Jennifer. As I continued looking through, I saw Jennifer a lot more often, mostly on photos she had taken. Lynn and I went hiking today, moving day with Evelyn, Evelyn and Jenny couch lifting champions then there was a dark and blurry photo it was the first of many someone had posted an album tagging Evelyn and at least 15 other people pulled the pictures from the woods my smile started to disappear seeing that forest in the blurry faces of strangers most of them drunk or in clouds of smoke made the photos seem ghostly then I saw her again Evelyn was in the background of a few photos sometimes so small that I had to pay an awful lot of attention to see her.

2:24:48She was smiling and one or two talking at another. And then one photo in particular chilled me right to my core. Evelyn was at the edge of a group, as if pulled into a photo while passing by. But my coworker was pale, eyes wide and glowing from the reflection of the camera flash, and her face was stuck in a grim look of terror. It was clear something had happened. She had seen something she didn't want to see. I couldn't get away from the photo faster and so I skipped forward again and again. She was in almost every picture, holding a cup in her hand each time and I watched the progression from that scared, tired look to near unconsciousness as two friends were holding her up in the background.

2:25:29Either she was drugged, completely wasted, or both. And then her and Jennifer both disappeared from the remaining photos, leaving no trace behind. I regret lingering so long on the photos because my online status, or rather Evelyn's online status, had caught someone's attention. I saw the blip of an instant message and the chat automatically popped at the corner of the screen. Reading her messages was the ultimate betrayal of any kind of privacy, but I couldn't refuse just a small peek. I can't take it. I can't take Dan being like, oh, but I don't want to invade her privacy. Just grow up. Just, you're doing it.

2:26:05Be a man. Evelyn, if you're reading this sometime from now, I hope you don't kill me for this. I scrolled through. It was a person I hadn't seen, though Jennifer was one of the two faces in his profile photo. It didn't matter as he made his purpose as to go between very clearly through a flood of at least 20 unanswered messages over the course of a month. His name was Elijah. April 2nd. Hey Lenny, can we talk? April 5th. Where are you staying? Are you getting help? April 18th. Jenna's been asking about you a lot. She really wishes you would unblock her. April 23rd. Evelyn, please. And just now.

2:26:43Lynn? Hello? As I scrolled upwards, I found the first match that started it all. It was on the first of the month. April Fool's Day. Hey, Evelyn. She didn't tell me what happened. I hope you get well soon. But please take it easy from now on. She can't babysit you just to make sure you don't drown in the tub. You know if you need some help, they've got anonymous programs for that, right? You should look into it. She didn't care about you. but she preferred you when you were sober so it sounds like she saw something in the woods that night that traumatized her and she started drinking to deal with it yeah I think also like this is a very interesting move for the story to pull because I really like they're switching to Dan here because it gives us perspective on a narrator in a way that as established our narrator wouldn't give us this information it would have to come from someone else but they set up someone previously so it's a smooth transition into a new narrator so that we can get like background on the person who's talking and now the story isn't so big it's kind of homed in like it's narrowed its focus down to one person right uh which is pretty cool i just like it good touch another red bubble there were more messages waiting below i was hesitant still curious as i scrolled downward finding that elijah had left a handful of short aggressive messages just seconds ago.

2:28:04Answer me. Where's my girlfriend? You know, don't you? Evelyn, I know you're reading this. He was typing again, and seconds later, another message appeared. They all die on that mountain. Every single one. I closed out of the browser and slammed the laptop shut as quickly as I possibly could. His words struck me instantly with the sudden fear that if I stayed on the page, I would have seen and read far more than I wanted to. they all die he said who is they the people who worked here before hikers climbers i'm still not sure if his words were a threat or a concern i'm no detective but i'm worried that nothing here is coincidental i know my co-worker will read this and i'm sorry to her in advance but i just can't pretend that all of this doesn't fit together somehow evelyn if you're reading this i hope you can remember what you saw that night in the woods could also be the thing that when the fog that was like that didn't attack her it like came up and you know and like touched her touched the back of her arms and stuff could be something of like maybe having she has maybe done something with that creature before too like you know been a part of jenny's death or something and gave you know like some kind of deal or something i hate to say there's a memory that's being hidden yeah yeah there's there's a memory she's forgetting she might have seen something or became possessed by something or yeah she's she's more in than she knows yeah or that she's telling us or that or that we know yeah yeah yeah i was going to post this earlier stopping where i did above but i'm glad i chose not to it's evening now as i put this down and something has happened outside the radio station i'm realizing the full weight of working around the clock there's boredom especially being alone and attention that has been putting me on edge i was fitted for a hearing aid which I received just a day or two earlier, and somehow being able to hear decently from both ears again made the silence even more daunting.

2:29:56That and I've noticed a faint sting in that ear since I came back to the station. I gave the evening news and prepared for another 30-minute music block. With time to spare and no real interest in trying to hear any muffled bits of music through the headphones, I paced around the room and took a few moments just to peer out the window. With the purple glow from the sunset, I saw something that caught my attention. there was a man out there standing upright but swaying slowly side to side now i would have been suspicious that this was something unnatural considering how many times the woods have messed with both our minds but i recognized him he worked for a service that brought groceries to the station twice a week oh uh look look look who was right i said that the grocery guy would come back i mean that's not really a bear trap or a good call out because of course he'll come back but i'm still taking those.

2:30:45I take those. He was facing away from me, staring off into the woods. I watched him intently, hoping he didn't take another step. Those last words Jennifer's boyfriend had sent to Evelyn's messenger rang in my head. They all die on that mountain. Every single one. In hindsight, I did the stupidest thing I ever could have done. I went out there. The thing is, I knew it was a bad idea, but three people had died in the woods in a matter of days, maybe even hours. I didn't want to witness one more person getting lost and being pulled out in a body bag. I abandoned the broadcast room, running down that long, winding staircase to the exit.

2:31:26It was almost impossible to see it, but a very dim shimmer from the outdoor light led me there. When I whipped open the door and ran outside to tell the man to come back, I saw only one of his feet as he stepped into the darkness between the trees. Already pushing his way through the brush, I was a bit foolish, but I wouldn't say I'm stupid. I didn't follow him into the woods. I yelled at him to come back, but he didn't even seem to register that I was there. Instead, my eyes dropped to the ground where I saw he had dropped a cardboard box. Why would he make a delivery this late at night? As I stooped to pick it up, I heard the crunch of branches and rustle of leaves.

2:32:04I thought it was him turning back around, realizing his mistake. It wasn't the grocery guy. It was something so much worse. I saw Jennifer walking out of the woods and making a path towards me. Only I'm not sure walking was the right word. Her neck was broken, her back was twisted, and her legs were snapped in directions that made my skin crawl, just hearing the sounds her bones made as she moved. One arm was twisted backwards at the shoulder, wrist dangling so loosely I thought it might fall right off. She shambled towards me, putting weight on whatever parts of her legs would support her, but she looked like a dirt-covered marionette being operated by a puppeteer that had no idea what he was doing.

2:32:46There were twigs, dead leaves, and bits of long grass sticking out of her hair and stuffed into her open mouth. The sound she made was unnatural, like breathless gasping mixed with these low, guttural groans. I couldn't even tell if she was looking at me. Her eyes were milky-wide and her head rolled back and forth loosely on her snapped neck. Without even thinking, I abandoned the box on the ground. Whatever was in there didn't mean a damn thing anymore. I ran back to the bottom of the tower, practically throwing myself into the building before slamming the door behind me and locking it as fast as I could.

2:33:18I peered out the window. It was a mistake. Jennifer was inches away from the door. Her head snapped back to the front so that her face was right there in front of me. I don't know how she got there so quickly and honestly didn't care. All I wanted in that moment was to get as far away as I could. I ran up the staircase, pure fear and adrenaline pushing me to the top without so much as a second to pause. I didn't care about the grocery guy anymore. Just being locked in the broadcast room was all I wanted. That and the comforting sunlight. It was still so many, many hours from morning. I locked myself in, getting as far away from that door as I could.

2:33:56Avoiding the window for fear that I'd see her shambling up the fire escape. Her face. I can't get her face out of my head. It's almost midnight as I write this. I just got a call on my cell phone, and I've never been so relieved to hear someone else's voice. When I picked it up, I would have been happy for anyone to answer me. Just another living, breathing human being to talk to. Daniel, are you there? My heart skipped a beat. It was Evelyn. She sounded tired, but it was her voice without a single doubt. Where are you? I asked her, skipping all pleasantries. I think she heard the panic when I spoke.

2:34:32Please, please, please tell me you're not in jail. They didn't arrest me. I think they wanted to find a reason to, but I'm coming back. I'll be there before six. That's all I can promise. I'll catch up to speed when I see you. She must have heard me let out the biggest sigh of breath because her next words sounded concerned. Dan, what's wrong? I'm fine. It was a lie, but my nerves weren't ready to have that discussion. Just be careful and get here safe. I will. Okay. don't you think that maybe Dan should say something to the effect of hey why don't you wait till daylight and not come when your dead friend's body is shoved up against the door to this building right now yeah maybe wait that one out I think well one I think that one I think he's freaked out and then two I think that he's still I just think that there's like there's not tension building but suspicion building you know i think that he wants to know the answers now is what i is what i think hunter if if you if you were like hey can you come here quick and i'm like yeah and you didn't tell me that like harry's decomposing corpse was gonna maul me to death when i got to the building i would never forgive you that's okay what'd you say i said that's okay okay all right she agreed softly but i could tell she didn't called just to tell me she was alive and returning.

2:36:02There's a storm coming tomorrow. A really, really shitty one. High winds, lightning, power outages maybe. She didn't need to explain why that was a reason to worry. There's an impossible pressure keeping control of this place. And still, I didn't even know why this radio station was the center of every weird thing happening in these mountains. All of a sudden, I had a feeling that I hadn't really noticed until just now. I realized how much this job and this place had changed my life. Evelyn? Yes? I spared a glance to the window, relieved but surprised that Jennifer wasn't there. However, I did see a small, unnerving sight.

2:36:42Twigs, long grass and bits of dead leaves and hair littered the top of the stairwell, making a path down the steps. How long was she standing there before she disappeared? Soon as we get a couple more part-timers, we're taking a vacation. This is Daniel with 104.6 FM, and I've never been so eager for an early morning in my life. End of part seven. That comment at the end, like, we need a vacation. I wish Jennifer broke down that door and ripped him in half. He is definitely not the most charismatic guy, I'll give you that. I do think, I don't know, which I don't know if I'm being bought in too much, but...

2:37:26Before we get into eight, I legitimately feel like Evelyn has something. She's done something bad. I think I'm kind of bought into that. Yeah, she's done something. She did something to someone. Jennifer's spirit or whatever is mad about it. The boyfriend blames her. Or who knows? The police that know about supernatural stuff suspects her for some reason. A hundred percent. Yeah. Who knows? Part eight. Part eight. This is really good. I see why so many people were excited. This feels like a perfect creep cast story. like conversational, you know, language is very like it keeps the pace up, keeps itself going easy, fun story, you know, very, very well written.

2:38:07Yeah. I have so much news to tell, and yet I don't really know where to start. First, let me clarify. This is Evelyn. I returned to the radio station at about 545 in the morning. Was it one day ago, two days ago? I'll be honest. Sometimes I'm not even sure how long I'm here, what day of the week it is anymore. I screamed at Dan for a while and locked him in the bathroom for about 15 minutes before I realized that he was sincerely just trying to be helpful and make sense of things. I still wish he had stayed off my social media, though. Now I'm adding putting a 30-year-old man in timeout onto my list of activities I never thought I'd be doing at the workplace.

2:38:42But while I was gone, I saw, heard, and experienced so much that I have to just sit down and tell you everything from start to finish. Left-right game, that's the story this reminds me of. I was thinking that like the wording of it and the style of the setup is similar to one we've read left right game. Like how Bristol would have these kind of conversations where she would she wouldn't dwell too long on how she felt about things. It was mostly action, but it gave insight and stuff. That's what this feels similar similarly paced to. Oh, nice. The storm is on its way and the lights have flickered a few times already due to the winds.

2:39:15I'm typing this as quickly as I can because, well, I'll be honest. I don't know what will happen after I submit this. When the police picked me up from the radio station, they didn't really give the impression that they were questioning me as a suspect of Jennifer's murder. I was never put in handcuffs. I was never put in a cell. But they didn't want me out of their sights until we had a good, long conversation. However, as soon as we arrived, I was inspected a bit too carefully. As the woman in gloves waved a little flashlight in front of my eyes that told me to strip down to my tank top so they could inspect my arms, I immediately had my suspicions.

2:39:50Did they think I was shooting up the radio station? High out of my mind? It lasted far too long and I had to go through a seemingly unnecessary amount of searches and swabs before I was finally allowed to sit down. All of my items confiscated except for my clothes. When one of the investigators came by to question me in a private room there at the police station, I voiced my concerns. Listen, I'm not a junkie. I told him, perhaps a little bit too aggressively. I thought we were here to talk about my friend. We are. He sat down on the other end of the table. In contrast to my bitterness, he seemed far more concerned than he was watchful or judgmental of me.

2:40:26But due to your exposure, we're going to have to get your permission for a full medical exam before we do any of that. What exposure? He seemed hesitant to explain, but I had a feeling that he couldn't just keep it from me. At the radio station? Is there something dangerous in the air out there? I deserve to know what I'm getting around. Detective shook his head. Nothing like that. I'm not talking about radiation or a gas leak. He folded his hands on the table as he continued. We see a lot of people coming down with illness or sustaining injury outside the town. And while we can't explain it, we've learned to be very thorough when it comes to making sure anyone who spends a considerable amount of time in the woods is safe.

2:41:07I'd only just gotten there, and already I felt confused. I felt as if so much was hidden from me. So much that I wanted to know but wasn't being allowed to understand. The detective didn't say any more, but instead he slid a piece of paper across the table. We need your permission for a full medical examination and an overnight stay. After we're sure you're in decent shape, tomorrow we'll talk about your friend. What was I supposed to do? Refuse? I found it all very strange, but I admit that I was curious how all this fit together with the goings on at the radio station. It was all seeming like some kind of inside job, or perhaps some knowledge that I hadn't been awarded that everyone else knew about.

2:41:45I allowed them to do the medical exam, taking samples of my blood and basically everything else they could get their hands on. I was questioned a lot about the bruising on my chest, but when they had been assured it was from an honest injury and not some disorder in the blood, I was permitted to get a night's rest before being picked up first thing in the morning. I saw the same investigator, a middle-aged man with dark skin. He had a low voice that sounded nice, but I still couldn't shake this feeling that he wasn't any kind of friend to me. I picked at the glue exposed on the frayed edge of my paper hospital bracelet in an attempt to get it off cleanly, but the residue just collected under my fingernails.

2:42:22Evelyn Faye McKinnon. He wasn't asking, but clarifying. He rifled through a stack of papers, and I found myself growing impatient. You were arrested twice in the last twelve months. DUIs both times. You and your roommate - Former roommate. You and your former roommate, Jennifer Cook, were fined one time for domestic distribution. We had a purely verbal argument. I had just gotten out of the hospital and she started lecturing me about... My point is... The detective spoke with such a piercing tone that I shut my mouth immediately, letting him talk. We had your fingerprints. We matched them to a set of prints on Jennifer Cook's cell phone, which we found a half mile away from your workplace next to a tree, filled with blood.

2:43:08She's like, well, that, I can explain that. Yeah. That definitely isn't what it looks like. I squinted my eyes. Filled was a word I had a thought to hear, not unless a tree sap was the subject of conversation. At that point, I think he could sense the question I was about to ask. What do you mean filled with blood? I mean, the tree was oozing several quarts of blood right from a hole in the center of the trunk. And Jennifer's cell phone, the one with both her and your fingerprints, was found at the base of it. Gave me an icy stare and I was waiting for a question. I was waiting to somehow be blamed.

2:43:51I didn't have anything to do with... Again, he didn't let me finish, but his words both comforted and confused me. Nobody thinks you were the one to hurt her. But, we need to know what you saw in there. Anybody, anything you may have witnessed. We received an anonymous tip saying there were three bodies in the forest. And clearly, three bodies were not discovered. It's very, very important that we find her body, and that we find it soon. The urgency in his voice was somewhat shocking to me. I imagine Jennifer's family would want her remains, but the way he looked at me was almost desperate. as if finding her body is more important than just for the sake of her loved ones.

2:44:31She was in the tree. I explained, though I knew how insane it would sound. Stuffed in the center of it. I don't even know how she fit, but her face and one arm were sticking out of it. She was dead. Her mouth was stuffed with a bird's nest, and that's where she was when we turned around and left. He nodded slowly, and I knew that none of that would help them actually find her. It wasn't as if they hadn't checked the entire area, probably ten times over by now. Anything else? Yes, with the raised eyebrow. Anyone? Anything strange out there? I found myself hesitating. What kind of strange was he talking about?

2:45:10I had weird stories and sightings. Oh, I had plenty, but at what point would it become too crazy to talk about? No one else. I saw some weird mutated elk, though. It had like three back legs, really fucked up looking, and weird eyes too. The two other bodies were on the ground and up in the tree in pieces, but that was all. Paces? The investigator asked. I gave him a quizzical look, wondering how he hadn't known the other two people had been split in half. That was a detail that wasn't overlooked so easily. Yes, the man and the woman. They were both cut in half in the middle and the man's legs and the woman's top half were stuck in the trees as if they had been tossed in there.

2:45:55It sounds stupid, but that's exactly what it looked like. He was flipping through his papers again, pulling out photographs and files. I saw only a glimpse, but I recognized the forest floor, grass covered in blood and the colors of the torn fabric of one of the bodies wore. With a sigh, he pulled out a photograph in particular and slid it in front of me on the table. It was the scene, obviously, but the photo had been taken far away enough to show the entirety of the area's surroundings. I grimaced as I saw the faraway shapes of two dead individuals and the bloodstained tree, now empty where Jennifer would have been.

2:46:30However, I was surprised to see that the limbs of the other tree were completely and utterly bare. There was no sign that the man's legs nor the woman's head had ever been there. They were there. I saw the woman's body. And her face, what she looked like. As I rattled on, the detective stood from his seat, fished a cell phone out of his pants pocket, dialing a number quickly and turning away from me. He spoke in a hushed voice, but I could still hear him. It sounded urgent. It wasn't her. It wasn't just her. There are three of them now. He said, his free hand rubbing at his forehead with his eyes squinting shut in distress.

2:47:07They were obviously moved, but we can't find her. The others must have already left also. So if that's the case, it's too late. They're part of it. He hung up the phone and I watched him return to his seat. So many questions tumbling over one another in my head. What's going on? I asked him annoyed. A part of what? Why are you asking about fucking animals? I thought we were looking for Jennifer. It's all important. You don't need to worry. If it's important, I should know. I mean, I work out there. I'm the one giving you all that I know. And what the hell was with the medical exam? What are we in danger of that no one's telling us about?

2:47:42I watched the investigator lean back in his chair, the expression as calm and cold as it was before. He waited for my outburst to end, but the look in his eyes had a sharpness to it that spoke of some reluctance, as if I were asking too much for him. But when I didn't choose to leave, he had no choice but to lean forward and speak. People go missing. Several, sometimes dozens a year on that mountain. Sometimes their bodies are found, and sometimes they aren't. But they never return as themselves. But it's not just the people. We hire rangers to collect any dead animals they find and get them out of those woods.

2:48:16But far too often, those rangers don't come back either. I was silent for a long moment, processing his words. None of it was making sense yet. What happens to them then? We can't explain it. Continued, hoarse whisper. But sometimes, people have said strange things. They've gone for a walk in the woods and said that they saw a rabbit with one human ear. or maybe a bush with fingers growing in a place of a few branches. One time an old woman nearly scared her son to death because she tried to coax a deer out of the forest, saying it had her husband's eyes. Her husband had died collapsing on a woodland trail one month earlier.

2:48:53She said he had fused with a deer. I felt sick thinking of those human eyes. Didn't need to make it up for my imagination at all. That bird, that damn bird, I started to wonder whose eyes those were after all. The detective continued. We don't know what's in the air around here making people see this kind of shit. But all we know is that when the fog season comes around, more people go missing and more weird things start to appear. It's all around that spot too, your radio station. Maybe there's some magnetic disturbance. Maybe there's something under the ground we don't know. He leaned closer across the table.

2:49:32I didn't even try to say a word. I just stared, exhaling through my lips as he looked me straight in the eyes with a look that was dire. One thing we do need to know, though. In the last five years, we've hired 27 different people to speak over that radio. You and Mr. Esperanza. You're 28 and 29. I know the cliche of a heart dropping is overdone and insensible, but I felt it then. My heart wasn't in my chest anymore. It sunk so low, I felt every bit of confidence and safety in my blood disappear all at once. One thing was bothering me, though. One little thing that had been in my head for a while now that I was just now piecing together.

2:50:16We've hired? Didn't avoid the question, but he took a good, long moment to answer. Finally, he shook his head, singing back down to his chair across from me. The broadcast tower is a lot more than just a radio station. You know that by now. People around here feel safer when they think about the music. That's what we're trying to do. Keeping everyone calm until we know how to get rid of this problem forever. It was making more sense to me now. Why the station was so high off the ground and why it had to be on air at all times. Whatever signal we sent out wasn't there just for people to enjoy. The music was just a mask, covering something that served a more defensive purpose.

2:50:56It was a watchtower. The broadcast station was never for entertainment, but for protection. What would happen if the broadcast just stopped for good? I asked with a small hint of fear in my voice. I didn't like to think about it, but I needed to know. The man across from me shrugged his shoulders with a heavy sigh. We don't know, but we never want to find out. The fog has stretched all across the town before, and we think that, potentially, it could keep going as far as we let it. And whatever's in that fog has been stealing people away. That married couple that went missing the last time it crept into town?

2:51:31Well, you saw firsthand what happened to them. And when the fog rolls around the next time, we may be seeing them again. Stood up from a seat, walking around the table, giving me a heavy pat on the shoulder as I sat there. Bring on to mush. You better get back to your station, number 28. So, I like that scene. I feel like that section did what a lot of stories we read try to do. where they have that scene where the person goes to the investigator or the researcher or the cop. And they have the whole, like, like at the end of the, something's wrong with dad story where it's like, well, I shouldn't be telling you this, but that's a goblin man that came from the ground to blah, blah, blah.

2:52:14You know, like it's super, like they tell way too much. There's too many details. This feels more twin peaks. Like she goes down to the station. She's like, what's going on? And the cops like, honestly we have no clue like we know it has something to do with the fog we know people disappear and they don't come back uh there's a lot of deaths um could be radio he doesn't say whatever he's like could be magnetic could be a gas could be we have no idea uh but we know that this works to prevent it it's almost like an honesty of yeah we're doing our best whatever that looks like yeah i think that it's uh i think that it translates to it's a good desperation of like people that are just trying to solve a problem that have no idea how to do that yeah it's not it's not like they're well this is it's not like she's like tell me what's going on and he's like well we trapped cthulhu under the mountain yeah yeah it it's like there's um he's just like weird stuff's going down and if you stop what you're doing it'll get worse that's all we know so i do appreciate that um because there were there were like we did we got some stuff out of that little mentions of like fog shows up people disappear they come back the woman who said uh she saw her husband's eyes in a deer which is cool um but it's honestly just it's almost like just more pieces that we've already seen more little weird instances happening so right i appreciated that it also makes sense that the police would be in on it that morning i took a cab back to the radio station before the sun came up before i did i made one brief stop along the way in the early hours of dawn i walked to jennifer's house the same one she had kicked me out of and the same one where her boyfriend elijah now lived on his own i didn't knock or ring the doorbell but i did slip a small piece of paper underneath the door it was the only printed photo i had of jennifer carried around in my wallet next to a photo of my parents now it was his daniel filled me in when i arrived back to the tower and after i had a bit of a fit which may have been a lot of fit, I tried to fill him in on what I had learned as well.

2:54:22It was a lot to relay, a lot for him to understand, but I felt better knowing that he wasn't any more in the dark than I was. So, the people who hired us? Not really a network. I finished the idea for him. It's some agency or town government. I don't know. That's why our signal only reaches so far. There's no reason for it to expand. Daniel looked overwhelmed, and I didn't blame him. hell i wasn't feeling so great about all this either i went from being stressed about some weird shit to suddenly knowing that a lot of people could get hurt if we failed at our jobs when i told daniel about all the other former employees who had gone missing he was visibly shaken what happens to them do they die do they quit i i don't think they quit dan yeah Dan do you think they did they get their benefits what about is there a severance package no you fucking idiot like what I don't think it's like Dan what are you talking about dude no one's quitting we shared a silent solemn moment between us we didn't say it but we were both thinking the same thing how long would we last and if we didn't survive which one would be the first to go rumble of thunder interrupted any conversation that may have happened next Both of us snapped our attention to the window, where the heavy clouds were rolling in across the sky, and the trees furthest in our view had started to sway back and forth from the winds.

2:55:48A flash of lightning cracked through the dim light and was followed by another deep bellow from the sky. That same low, roaring groan that sounded like an angry god. Evelyn, this place has a generator, doesn't it? He asked as the lights flickered for the first time. The radio skipped a static for a split second as another deep rumble resonated from the mountain. Yes. Where is it? I frowned, giving him an almost apologetic look. Outside. This is number 28 from the 104.6 emergency outpost. Fog advisory is in effect. Stay calm, stay safe, stay indoors. End of part eight into part nine, the finale.

2:56:29The finale. I like to switch at the end how it goes to like emergency outpost. Yeah. Now recognizing what it is. Number 28. that's pretty sick that's pretty cool part nine i i understand why this has such phone like at the last part it linked off to r slash 104 6 fm so it has its own subreddit and i get i this is totally the kind of story i can see people getting into writing their own scenarios characters stuff like that you know yeah people could lie about what number they are too Thank you. I'm number 16 or you know what I mean yeah yeah yeah yeah I mean you could do so much with it there's so much to run from run with so much to run from that too i guess all right well are you ready for the finale let's do it part nine the forest was alive even before the fog came we could see it moving and wriggling with electric energy as the thunder roared overhead and lightning cracked at the top of the mountain i'll admit for a moment i actually wondered if a forest fire would be preferable obviously death hadn't been enough to keep jennifer and countless others from coming back in some form.

2:57:34And so I later decided that setting every strange abomination on fire would only create more dangers for us. I won't beat around the bush. We were scared. We knew enough and had seen enough to know we wouldn't be safe. As the rain poured down and the cables and lines swayed from side to side off the tower, Daniel and I were not only afraid for our own safety, but for everyone else's. This broadcast tower was keeping the town alive. We were keeping the town alive an alcoholic and a failed theater actor who knew some would describe this podcast much the same i would think i think so and gladly gladly the lights flickered again prompting the broadcast to turn to static and skip as i scrambled behind the desk to get the sound going again for mere seconds the waves would go silent then spring to life again just as a rumble would vibrate underneath the tower.

2:58:27I noticed Daniel flinch, holding one of his ears just moments after the broadcast came back and static-filled music played again. You hurt? I asked him, but he shook his head, stretching out his jaw. No, my ears won't stop ringing, though. I shrugged it away, imagining all those cliche excuses. It's the weather, the pressure is different up in the mountains, and so on and so on. But he bounced back immediately, marching over to the window scanned his eyes over the dreary looking forest. It was hard to see much of anything through the rain, but he squinted to make out shapes on the horizon. There's something moving out there.

2:59:01Far away, but it's getting closer. It's hard to see. I didn't need to see for myself to know what he was looking at. In the midst of the rain and the lightning, the fog would still find a way to roll in. After all, it wasn't really a product of the weather at all. It's more of a living thing, rather an amalgamation of all formerly living things on the side of the mountain range. I need you to run an emergency broadcast. I told him as I pushed away from the console and popped up out of my chair. A strong wind whipped past, rattling the walls and making the wooden floorboards creak beneath our feet.

2:59:32I fell unsteady. Suddenly worried the old stilts holding us up would give in and we crashed down into the trees below. The only thing worse than the fall would be the exposure to the open woods, should we even survive the way down. The floor rumbled as the building itself were breathing before it settled back into place. I looked at Daniel and he looked back at me. We both knew we'd have to prepare for the worst the storm could do. As he practically fell into the chair, turning on the microphone to broadcast a crackling message over the air, I rummaged in the storage closet for industrial sized flashlights and the keys to the generator shed.

3:00:05Now all of the supplies made more sense to me. Backpacks, emergency food rations, first aid kits, flares, fire starting kits, this place was never meant to be a radio station. It was most likely a ranger lookout that had been adapted into something capable of a large scale broadcasting. While knocking things out of my way in search of the keys, I found a pack of walkie talkies and checked them for batteries. Daniel was already done with his announcements by the time I found them and appeared at my side to snatch one out of my hand. and he seemed to be thinking the same thing I was. If the power went out, one of us would have to go out there to turn on the generator.

3:00:42One of us. Couldn't risk both of our lives with nobody to take the responsibility. Did you start the music again? Daniel nodded. It's going. But the lack of confidence in his voice spoke of a deeper thought. It was running now, but if the lights continued to flicker, it might not be for much longer. There's nothing else to do but wait. As the fog bounded through the forest, moving the trees with the weight of its eerie inhabitants could only watch as it engulfed the entire woodland. I had never seen the fog rest at the edge of the forest, but it did this time. Something about the music, rather the signal, kept it from crossing that line between us and the town further down the road.

3:01:20We unplugged our headsets, letting the music play in the studio for both to hear, and sat down at the edge of the window on the floor. It was a call before the storm as we stared at the swaying poles and the wires outside, wondering which one would be the first snap or end up snagged in a tree. Wait, hold on. So every time they continue to play the music, the fog just stops. Right. And the only time it's kept going the previous few times is because the music hasn't been playing for some reason. Right. Well, I think that it's, it's not that it stops. I think it just, or it's not that it stops rolling.

3:01:49I think that it just can't bridge that divide for some reason. Right. Right. Like it's like the signal creates a barrier, right? Yeah. Some kind. So, so the previous two times, the first in the first part of the story and the other when Dan was controlling it where they didn't have the music playing they just filled the town with the Stephen King missed for a couple hours while they figured out what they were doing people just monsters and creatures running around in the fog because they couldn't keep the radio on how many people have they killed well three I guess yeah I mean technically three and possibly more today depending on the generator yeah well that's not their fault the first one was our narrator's fault because she saw the fog and turned down the radio.

3:02:35And then when Dan was there, when she fell over the railing, he came down to look and then the broadcast quit. So I, so that's three. They, they have a kill count of three so far between the two of them, a moment passed, but it was a long and excruciating moment of silence. Dan was the first to break it as his talkative self almost always was. You want to know what I did before this? He asked, but I knew he'd tell me anyway. I nodded still. After I graduated with a master's degree in performance art, a master's degree, the only acting job I could get was recording a commercial for some plumbing service.

3:03:12I recorded lines in the actual studio, talking about toilets for 20 takes, and you know what was the worst part? You laughed, looking over with a stupid, somewhat disheartening grin. They didn't even pick mine. I heard the commercial on the radio in my car, and it was someone else completely. Never in my life did I think I'd be Legitimately pissed because I wasn't chosen as a Spokesperson for a toilet cleaning You know what I'm glad I would have done the same I'd be like we're not using his Lines at all not one That actually made me laugh Even if it was a bittersweet moment of Light hardness I shrugged my shoulders With an expression of nonchalance Go figure you get let down by the radio Twice gestured to the room Around us and Daniel snorted mid chuckle What about you tell me a stupid thing you've done I was getting over my hate and it's back now it's back in full power I had to think for a moment not because I couldn't recall any but because there was too much to recall somehow all my stupid mistakes just ended up sad I almost died in a bathtub once I said chuckling even if it wasn't all that funny Daniel seemed unsure if he should laugh or not okay now this actually is me and you because there's multiple times on the show where I'm like, oh, here's a little lighthearted whimsy, and you're like, yeah, so my grandfather shot my dog trying to kill me.

3:04:34It's like, oh, my gosh. I was shit-faced, and I felt terrible, so I wanted to take a bath. Ended up passing out almost the second I got in, and Jennifer found me after I had apparently flipped face down. She honestly thought it was a suicide until they got me breathing again and found out I was still just hammered as when I went in. That time I laughed, but Daniel didn't. I even knew it wasn't funny, but I was desperate to grab at straws just to find a reason to take it lightly. When I saw the severity of the frown on his face, my smile disappeared and I suddenly felt like a child being scolded.

3:05:07How long have you been sober? I didn't need to question how he knew it was an ongoing thing. After all, he had seen enough of my computer to know most of the truth by now. I pulled the tightness in my throat and the breath I took in the next was shaky and uneven. My first sober day was the day I came into work a few weeks ago. Had to bite my bottom lip to keep from letting it tremble. Putting it into perspective felt pathetic. Reminded me of just how soon it was. The only reason I'm not drunk right now is because the fucking grocery guy only brings me cheap, shitty iced tea. That time we both laughed, but it didn't last.

3:05:41In a second, amusement turned to tears as I unwittingly felt a sob escape me. Both of my hands covering my face. As my eyes squeezed shut, I only felt Daniel's hand pat between my shoulders and remained there until I uncovered my face. I refused to let myself cry out loud those thoughts and feelings were pushed back down as my eyes returned to the fog at the edge of the forest I watched it move and swirl many eyes and many shapes moving and twitching as waiting eagerly to be allowed further the shed was so close to the edge too close I like um so earlier there were little mentions of her looking sickly and like because I kind of forgot about the alcohol thing and there were mentions of her looking sickly or sad or depressed and I was like oh that must be the fog taking a toll on her but no that's probably just because she's you know getting over an addiction yeah that is it's a nice touch a familiar pair of eyes stared back at us then up in the tree free from the fog hopping near to tap it speak at the window it's that damn bird again I looked at it closer this time its eyes were hazel now I find myself wondering less where it came from and who it had borrowed those eyes from.

3:06:53What did you see? I heard Daniel's voice but didn't process it at first. With a deep breath, I wiped away the tears from my face and turned to him with a hmm of confusion. At the graduation party? You were in the woods and you saw something, didn't you? The word graduation in itself made my stomach sink. I looked away from Dan again, squinting as I struggled to bring those thoughts forward again. Somehow, just looking for the memory caused an internal pain. I didn't know there was anything fucked up about the woods back then. I told you that I left here, right? When I was a little kid? My dad died and my mom remarried, so we moved in with him out of town.

3:07:32Then I came back the week of graduation with a bunch of people I used to know as kids, and they all said this woods got creepy since I left. Bits and pieces were still missing from my thought process, but I was piecing them together in the moments I paused and kept silent. It was some terrible puzzle slowly coming into view and made my face turn to a grimace. I wandered off. Probably because it was loud and everyone was acting like an ass, but out in the woods I heard something. It was a growl I thought at first, but now that I remember that sound, it was a voice. A low, gravelly, painful groan.

3:08:09This animal stepped out of the bushes and I thought for sure it was some kind of cougar or wild dog, but its face, oh god, it had this face, yellow eyes like a wild cat, but the nose and the mouth were different, human and familiar. He looked at me and I saw his mouth move, trying to say something, but all that came out was this terrible rattle, like it hurt to breathe. It sounded like he was suffering, like it took everything he had just to say a single word. I ran back to the party and I drank and I drank and I fucking drank until I couldn't remember that thing's face anymore. And it worked for a good, good long time too.

3:08:50But now, now that I'm sober, all it took was thinking about it once for it to be stuck in my head again. Dan gave me an apologetic look as if he had some reason to feel sorry about it all. His hand fell on my back again and he opened his mouth to speak. I'm sure it would have been some great words of wisdom or encouragement, but he never had the chance. there was a flash of lightning and a deafening crack as it struck one of the poles standing around the station the thunder blended into the sound of the crackling radio for a split second before the lights went down the sound stopped we were plunged into a dark thick silence all i could see in the dark were dan's eyes illuminated by the flashes of light as he watched the forest edge the fog twisted and moved in patterns of rolls tumbling over itself like a living beast as it crawl towards us.

3:09:38It was almost too dark to see, but my eyes could make out blots of shapes inside the fog. Arms, legs, bodies, all of them eager to inhabit the land they had been barred from until now. The mists swirled around the stilts of the tower, creeping upwards before we had a chance to make a split decision. Daniel turned on his walkie-talkie, testing it by holding it up to his mouth. I could hear the crackle of his voice come through fine, even just a few feet apart. I'll let you know when I've got it going. I told him, sternly jumping up to my feet. I was about to push open the fire escape with no hesitation, but I felt a rough hand grab the back of my shirt before I had the chance.

3:10:15Stay in here so you can get the radio going. No. I answered flatly, refusing to follow that order. There was a scowl pulling at the edges of my lips as I glared at him. I wasn't there when you got hurt, and I couldn't help Jennifer either. So let me do this. Let me do this. We stared at one another for almost too long, but I could feel him slowly letting go of my shirt. His arm dropped, giving back my freedom to move and he nodded his head once in silence. Daniel, if you're reading this, you snooping bastard. Thank you. The door took a heavy burst, but I shoved it open and was surprised for a moment when I didn't hear an alarm.

3:10:51Of course, it didn't take long to remember that the power outage had taken everything, not just the lights and the radio signal. The fog was already rising, covering the ground and crawling upwards over the sides of the building. It was only moments before I was trapped inside of it. not sure whether to run for my life or take it slow to stay hidden. There'd been no use. They knew I was there already. I held my flashlight and shaky hands to illuminate the steps of the fire escape. There were no vines, no slimy mud covered appendages and nothing waiting there to trip me. Still, I didn't trust that the fire escape was unoccupied.

3:11:23I could hear a faint clank from the bottom as if something was trying to pull itself up to the open door behind me. The sound in the fog was maddening. the amalgamates were suffering inside of themselves parasites eating off of one another and groaning in some constant pain the ones that didn't moan and cry in their torment were voicing aggressive growls or rattling breaths as they searched through the fog for another living thing to tear apart and out of their collection of stolen bodies my flashlight caught a glimpse now and again of milky white eyes or the glimmer of rain-soaked skin or fur i didn't dare look back but I could hear and feel the crash of weight against the fire escape as if something was trying to crawl its way up underneath the section as I passed.

3:12:07Once the end of the stairs was in sight, I made it my goal to run to the shed as quickly as possible and lock myself in immediately until the generator would start. The problem would be getting out. My light caught the end of the step and there I saw what had been making all that noise. A woman's face stared up at me with dead pale blue eyes. She was dragging herself, her upper body struggling to leave the ground and crawl its way up as her lower half was weighing her down. This half of a woman, one I remembered seeing sprawled over the branch of a tree, was being engulfed in roots and bark. The living plant her corpse had been fused with pushed itself along the ground but clumsily, as if it was too heavy and too scattered in its movements to make any progress.

3:12:52Her arms, however, were still moving and capable of grabbing me if I got too close. The worst part was how pleadingly she looked at me, as if the human part of her was begging for a way to get out. I couldn't help but feel that the aggression was fear, but it didn't tug on my hard strings quite enough to convince me to stop. I jumped over the edge of the stairs, falling only a couple of feet from the ground and making a straight line to the shed. Keys in my pocket jingled and slipped between my fingers as I tried to find the right one, all the while far too aware of every shadow and every glimmer of eyes creeping closer.

3:13:25The fog was too thick to see well. My flashlight only served to show me there was nothing directly in front of my eyes, but it was perhaps a blessing that the creatures hunting in the fog were stuck in it just as much as I was. I still sensed that they knew I was there, searching and struggling to catch anything in their grasp. I even heard the shriek of one, like the sound of a whining animal in pain as it was caught in the clutches of another larger and likely more terrifying beast. I felt the surface of the wood in front of me, whispering words of relief as I padded along the edge of the shed until the door was at my fingertips.

3:13:58A pair of keys were fished from my pocket, and my clumsy fingers struggled to swiftly find the one small bit of metal that I needed. Just then I heard a crackle. It was the walkie-talkie connected to my hip, Daniel's voice on the other end. Did you find it yet? I would beat Daniel to death with my bare hands. he's kind of coming in at the worst moment. Yes. Just sneaking around that. You hear the cries, the shrieking that it's like, um, Hello. It's your best friend. Earth to captain Tom. Are you there? Just kill him. Just, just be like, Hey everyone, he's up there. Go that way. He asked, but I felt my stomach type in knots when his voice rang out over the silence.

3:14:44I wasn't the only one to hear him. Heavy grunts and stomps of feet like hooves digging into the dirt surrounded me. I could hear the shriek of something vaguely avian mixed with a human-like scream and bellowing roars that shook my skull from the inside. I was in a rush to open the door, trying every key as I blindly searched for the right one. Finally, as I prepared to swing the door open, I could feel the vibration in the ground as something heavy and tall landed by my side as if jumping from the tops of the trees. in the blinding fog i could see brown and gray fur spotted with blood it smelled like rotten flesh and mold its joints cracking and groaning as it bent down to my level i could see its eyes in the periphery of my vision at least six of them pale stained with flecks of jaundice yellow sitting above an elk light snout its antlers scraped the side of the wood with a terrible jaw-clenching sound.

3:15:36I felt a touch to my back and recognized it immediately. Spider-like appendages that had brushed my arms on the last fog weren't the legs of some giant spider, but this thing's fingers. It breathed in, then out with a rattle. The stench of blood and death was warm against the side of my face. When I told Daniel that almost drowning in a bathtub was the stupidest thing I had done, I meant it. It was the stupidest thing I had done, yet. but this day i changed all of that i threw the shed door open stepping out of the way to light the heavy wooden plank hit the hulking beast beside directly in the nose moving quicker than i ever had in my life i slipped into the shed and jammed the door shut behind me locking it up tight and throwing anything i could find in front of it as i heard the beast bellow more in annoyance than in pain my light shone on the generator but this thing's so big it's just gonna lift the shed off the ground well yeah it's huge right just hurl her into the next area code i threw which by the way like i'm good actually seeing all that the the monster design sounds sick like amalgamations of eyes on like a head and like the woman whose upper half is mixed with the tree she was in and stuff very cool yeah i love the like very uh i like that it's a mixture of the forest itself like that's just a lot of fun my light shone on the generator but i had to work quickly i felt a tremble in the floor as whatever stood outside knocked against the door so roughly that it caused dust and debris to fly into the air i fumbled with a can of oil spilling a bit onto my shoes and my pants but still managing to fill the machine as the thing outside rounded the edge of the shed and only two large steps it pounded on the roof big enough and powerful enough to cause the wooden beams above my head to crack bit by bit.

3:17:24I threw the nearly empty oil cans to the side and tried to find every button and switch in order before the ceiling collapsed under the weight of that thing's fists. I flipped the first switch, then the second, knocking my fist against it as I impatiently waited to hear it spring to life. Dan! I yelled over the walkie-talkie. I've almost got it! You have to get ready to switch the breakers, though! They're downstairs! Go! I heard his voice, but it was muffled and his words weren't making sense over the endless crackle god i hoped he heard me i felt a pain in the back of my head as a bit of wood from the ceiling fell with another forceful hit suddenly i could see a pale light from above as the foggy sky became visible a hole had been punched in the ceiling but in moments it was blacked out by the multiple eyes of that tall decaying abomination from the woods i flipped the last switch and the generator began to rumble it was a success regardless of whether or not i survived to escape this crumbling wooden hazard the station would have power in moments i staggered back clothes and hair smelling like oil staring up at the pale eyes the roof with a frightened defiance the shed rattled another hard punch or kick hitting it from the side where i stood it was enough to push me forward and knock me onto my hands and knees but it didn't last i could hear it before i saw it the lights outside buzzed as they all came alive one at a time bathing the entire clearing with the yellow light.

3:18:49That's when I heard my device crackle again. Daniel's voice speaking clearly on the other side. I can't get the radio started. Told me in a panic. It's, there's not enough power to run it. It won't work. It seemed like a failure at first, but then I remembered that stupid laminated piece of paper I had been staring at for the last month on my desk. Rule number one, when the radio is down, activate the bell. Oh, I completely forgot about that. Same. uh wow call your call back i was only pissed that he'd be the one to push it after that button had been tempting me since my first day see the button on the wall the one behind the case push it i shouted back to him sternly don't hesitate just push it i could hear him on the other end fiddling with the case before he did exactly as i said the next thing i heard was surprising nothing didn't hear a damn thing at least not from the speakers on top of the radio tower instead i heard dan let out a pained yell and fumble around the room before a small mechanical whine and the clatter followed later i would learn what that was it was dan throwing his hearing aid across the room it'd be really funny if he hits it and it just explodes like just nukes the whole site the creatures outside didn't disappear rather they became noisy and their pained and agitated sounds rumbling past and dragging themselves away in any way they could.

3:20:15They were retreating to the forest, bothered by some sound that my ears couldn't pick up. A drone, perhaps too high or too low for my ears to hear, was driving them off. The bell, just like every other tool around here, was solely there to control them all along, or rather to control the forest itself. My eyes disappeared from the hole in the ceiling and I could hear the hulking creature above me slowly stomp away, resigning itself to return to the mountain. My legs felt like jelly and my head was pounding, but I still managed to find the door and push my way out into the fresh air again, just as a glimpse of a giant mud-covered hoof disappeared into the tree line.

3:20:53Daniel had propped open the fire escape when I came back, slowly and exhaustively forcing my way to the top. The lights were on, the radio was off, but we were safe for the time being. The first thing my co-worker did was pull me into a hug, lifting me a few inches off the ground and saying these profound, thoughtful words to me. You smell like petroleum. I wish I could say that was the last time anything weird has happened here. But as you can guess, a day or two has passed and everything is still bullshit. The sink doesn't cry anymore, but we still get some weird calls. Dan told me that it rained pebbles the other day.

3:21:28I told him I was pissed off that he didn't collect any for me like a baby otter. I'm sure things will always be weird around here and there will always be some story to tell. For now, I think I'm going to focus on doing my job and lasting a bit longer than employees 1 through 27. But I'm sure if you don't hear from me, Dan will be sneaking on my laptop again someday. And I could change my password, but nah. This is Evelyn at the 104.6 Emergency Broadcast Station. And in case you were wondering, that bird's still out there. Daniel decided to name it Bartholomew. I hate Bartholomew. And that is end of season one of kind of it's into the part one because season one's technically the other parts and stuff.

3:22:14So it's end of our season one end of the end of the big first part of accounts from a lonely broadcast station. You know what I liked about this? This first rundown of like, quote unquote, season one, blah, blah, blah, is that you got to run through of every rule. I thought that was kind of nice. It wasn't like a glaring, like, remember rule two. it was like only the one time when it's like oh fuck yeah the bell like i thought that was yeah i forgot about it until the end yeah yeah i always like these stories uh you know like the voodoo shop tales from a gas station all that stuff where it's these little excerpts where it's not necessarily like a full encompassing story but little vignettes of somebody's time in this thing like i'm glad it didn't you know i'm glad that this season didn't end with like they killed the thing that was in the thing you know they figured it out yeah there was no big win or like moment of like, and we, we save the city, you know, kind of thing.

3:23:07I will say that I like how it was written in such a way where, like you said, it never gave too much, but it kept calling back and making references to stuff mentioned earlier. Um, and then I feel like that was a pretty good account from the broadcast station, uh, because then I'm reading the stuff that Kel Byron has written afterwards in the future parts go to like different perspectives within the small town or like different things around the radio station and stuff like that. So it's like, okay, we've told a pretty good story there. Now we can kind of look at it. Cause I was going to say before I saw that the one thing I wish we got was maybe some more stuff about what's life like in the town or like what, what, what about one of the hikers?

3:23:47What do they see stuff? But it seems like the other accounts give that. My immediate first thing was I would love, uh, like just one part doesn't need to be a huge thing, but if one of the parts was just the guy that delivers the groceries. yeah yeah like that'd be a lot of fun which i'm sure there is something out there for that and i'm glad that there's more to it as well but i can see how people can latch onto this and be like oh yeah i'm number this or that you can kind of like make your own if you wanted to it really leaves it open and i think that's what uh when dingus or uh is it kale so what's what's their name again uh it is kel byron kel byron that's one thing i think kel did really good is create a universe where it's just like they are writing this specific thing, but it's very easy to jump in.

3:24:31And I think with this kind of format of like internet, open writing and creepypasta, it's fun whenever it's an idea that, you know, anybody can just kind of hop in and you kind of understand the rules and you can kind of just make whatever amalgamation into the woods or put your own kind of stuff into it. Cause we got a lot of - There was also so much like fun little vignettes, like the guy that delivered groceries. It's just like, yeah, there's just a guy that carries stuff out here. Think about all the stuff he's seen. and we see him once and that's it. And there's little moments like that. There's so much you could go with, but it's just like, no, for this first part, we're just sticking with these two characters.

3:25:04This is our story. And there will be more about those other people later. There's gotta be way more, way more with Daniel too. I mean, I think that like, I think the police or the local government, whatever, it seems like they specifically let certain people in on this job. I mean, it kind of seems like it's like, well, if you're willing to do it, but it just seems like uh i don't know i i it's i'm i'm curious if there's more development of like how and why they let people uh run this thing and it seems like uh i'm curious to see like what's the average length people survive you know what i mean yeah so who knows all in all really fun story though uh i would really really highly urge people to go and um just get some of the physical books.

3:25:50I mean, like we read this parts one through nine. There is a full novel that's reimagined and contextualized to be a novel. So if you really enjoyed this. Everything we read is just the first part. Then there's the second part, which is titled, we're always on the air at 104.6 FM and some standalone stories. And then, like I said, this is going to be a trilogy. So all that stuff is just book one. And then there's book two that has a bunch of other parts. And then there's a book three coming out. So we'll have their stuff linked in the description. Like I said, there's an audio book where they have like Mr.

3:26:25Creepy pasta narration and stuff like that. Um, that's like 10 hours long over book one. So there's a ton more content linked below. If the story interests you highly recommend you check it out. Yeah. And also, uh, thank you to all the audio listeners that stuck with us today on Spotify and Apple podcast and give us a good rating there and to all of the patrons who support this channel and just get all the little bonus content as well. We appreciate you. And for anybody interested, be sure to check out the website in the description or in the link below. Go to creepcast.store if you want some merch from us.

3:26:56Get some nice, fun fabric. We have a lot of cool shirts this time around. I'm stoked. So be sure to check that out. It's a lot of fun stuff. But other than that, I hope you all have a great rest of your week. And we will see you in the next one. Stay creeped. Stay creeped. This was a really good story. uh it would have been better if dan tried in a dad tragic elk slash fall slash impalement slash explosion incident would have made it cooler but you know it's good for good for what it was i guess bye

3:27:51Thank you.

3:28:13you