The Sandman | CreepCast

34:00What a concept. Is that, did you just make a Max reference? Is that what that was? What is it? Never mind. Back to the doctor they went. Nothing wrong with him that we can see was the diagnosis. It's not a diagnosis. Okay. Was it the trauma? James asked. Could be, they said. Sometimes these things come on late. Pretty good doctors. Is it a trauma? It's a really good doctor. I don't know. Maybe. Could be. Could be. Could be. I don't know. Give him Ritalin. Tell him to go to sleep. Thank you, doctor. Say amen. Say amen. Children can be a mystery, even to those who know them best. they recommended a child psychologist whom james couldn't afford he could not for that matter even afford the bill they were giving him now fuck off it's always it's always something extra it's like we we get it you're not he's not well off you know but i if anything it's actually kind of charming that every time you say something like you say something like it's like I couldn't drink the glass of milk and I couldn't even eat the slice of pizza because I was lactose intolerant.

35:33It's like just fuck just wrap and then there would be another sentence after that that's like in fact I don't think I could drink milk at all even before this. It's like yeah that's what lactose intolerant means. Yeah.

35:52nothing seemed to help Daniel would write out answers to questions sometimes but never more than a yes or no James would ask him what was wrong or if why would it never be more than yes or no like I said this could be a 10 hour story What do you want for dinner? Yes.

36:20Okay. Starts punching him. Dad starts wailing on him. Just speak! When James would ask him what was wrong, or if he'd seen or heard anything that frightened him, Daniel would only stare. He seemed furtive and bemused. James found himself missing the sound of his son's voice. sometimes he wanted to hear it so bad that he ached but it seems that daniel would not talk again until he was ready i missed the way he missed the way that daniel sang mumbo number five i'm getting a headache you're making me like re like reading this story i feel like i'm losing my mind i you're doing great though i mean this is a this is a completely new approach to how you're how we've been doing this and I'm having, I'm giddy.

37:15James had other things to worry about too. He was convinced beyond reason that the intruder was not really gone. Though the alarm never went off and the locks and bars remain undisturbed, he was sure that he heard movement in the night. Not normal movement. It was a sound like a huge snake slithering through the house. When he heard it, He imagined horrible things. Nothing was ever there when he went to investigate, though he often thought he glimpsed something just out of the corner of his eye. A pale foot or a misshapen shadow that would slink away as soon as he turned. He rarely slept, and when he did, he had haunted dreams.

38:07soon he realized he had not left the house in weeks except to go to the bank and buy groceries he felt hemmed in i like the little mention that's like well he also had to go to the bank because he needed money for the groceries thank you for that how was i to buy for how was i to buy the groceries without money from the bank so i talked to the teller who exchanged me money from my account and I put it in my wallet. But then I realized that I had overdrafted the account so I had to talk to the teller about the account. They said there wasn't anything they could do but the teller was actually someone I knew from high school so she was able to bypass the system a little bit which I really appreciate from her and with that I got the money to get groceries but Otherwise, I hadn't left the house in weeks.

39:03I tried to get money out. I tried to get money out for groceries. But it turns out my account had been overdrafted$7 ,000. I guess the Indian phone scam was real after all.

39:21Hey, so, not to be unprofessional, but while I was reading just then, I started to feel faint. and I think it's because for one I haven't eaten today and also I was doing such a breathy voice and I was getting like exacerbated can you read Caleb brought me a burrito she got me can you read like a paragraph yeah yeah I will I will that's if you would have passed out reading Sandman that would have been the greatest moment on CreepCast history I was reading I'm like My head hurts a lot all of a sudden. With Dan. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I'll start from the top here. So. This episode is sponsored by Cash App.

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41:54soon he realized he had not left the house in weeks except to go to the bank and buy groceries he felt hammed in hammed in hammed in he wanted ham he felt hammed in he's put so much hand on the door he can't get through it's the only thing it's the only thing daniel will eat with daniel acting mute he hadn't an actual he hadn't had an actual conversation with anyone in weeks so he called his mother the connection was bad and her voice sounded faint on the verge of being not there at all I guess I'm okay ma wait is that Daniel? that's him faint no that's him like on the verge of being not there at all oh okay sorry I thought I was I totally I totally missed okay alright sorry yeah that is Daniel that is Daniel speaking Yeah, yeah.

42:48But he's like, okay. I guess I'm okay, Ma. He said, pausing to wipe the sweat from his palms and then make sure he could hear Daniel playing in the next room. The things have been a little rough. We had a break-in. Oh, how awful. Mom said. Did they take anything? Nah, just ran off. It was weird, though. I haven't really felt comfortable since then. are you still working at the hospital no ma I left last year you know that oh well have you been getting wait wait wait so is this James speaking now I don't know I don't know who the fuck there's no way Daniel works at the hospital yeah with Daniel he had an actual conversation with anyone so he had called his mother yeah he called his mom how old is Daniel no no look look look read down i guess i'm okay ma and then he says he said pausing to wipe the sweat from his palms and then make sure he could hear daniel playing in the next room so the story completely forgot to mention that james is the one on the phone so this is james calling his mother but it says that so he had read the sentence after so he calls mother the connection was bad and her voice sounded faint on the verge of uh blah blah i guess i'm okay ma he said pausing i guess i'm okay ma pausing to wipe the sweat from his palms and then make sure he could hear daniel playing next room yeah there's that but but so is it supposed to it's james it's james like seven he's not working at the hospital so james is talking to uh his mom yes okay wait james works at a hospital and he can't afford a doctor's visit for his son well he doesn't get like coverage with that well i would assume he had pretty good health insurance but so i'm just gonna read this as j so oh oh well have you been getting out what about that nice woman you were seeing last year the one who played the piano james scowled what james scowled yeah her amazing tribute she played the piano james scowled she was always asking that kind of thing Didn't she know how hard it was being a single father?

45:09That he didn't have the time? He was about to say so when something made him pause. Ma, is there anyone else on the line? I don't think so. James was sure he heard it, though. The short, gasping sound of someone trying to hold their breath and failing. A cold feeling crept across the back of his neck. You're sure nobody's listening on your other phone? Here, there's no other phone I'm on the cell That's why the service is so bad Didn't... What is... James stopped The sound wasn't coming from her end then He dropped the phone I think I can clock back in now Thank you very much Alright I got some calories in me Hopefully I don't pass out But if I start to, we'll just keep going I was just saying, at least let it happen I mean, like, you know.

46:01Yeah, yeah, I'll let it happen. I'll let it happen. Give the Sandman the respect it deserves by at least fainting while reading. He dropped the phone and raced to the hall. The extension hung on its hook, undisturbed. Heart pounding, he hurtled into the garage. Spare phone sat on the workbench. No one was in sight. But could they have been? Could someone have been here all along listening to his phone call and then slithered away? Might they be here even now? The next day, he took out the extra phone extensions. He even filled in the jacks with rubber cement.

46:46Okay. Daniel watched him. He even filled the jacks with rubber cement. Why? Why did you do that, James? You know, we all have that laying around. Some rubber cement. I got all the Gorilla Glue and extra Lego pieces I had and jammed them in the outlet so no one could stick anything in. Daniel watched him work, eyes curious. James offered no explanation. He began giving Daniel a light physical exam every week. His CNA... I like how it immediately jumps into him being like a trained healthcare professional. There's no mention of it with the doctors earlier. Well, that's why they had on the phone call.

47:29That's why the mom had to be like, are you still working to that hospital? No, mom. I know that. I know that. But he's been to two hospital visits before and it's never mentioned he was a former healthcare worker. Like I said, that's because they probably wrote this part and someone's like, he knows how to do this. There we go. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Literally. Which you would think on a second draft, which bold to assume this story has one. But you would think on the second draft, you would be like, hey, maybe don't have him visit the hospital so much at the beginning of the story. The Sandman draft two.

48:05The Opium Chronicles. This time, everyone pissed each other's pants. Yeah. The Piss Chronicles. His CNA training was a little rusty after a year on disability, but you never really forget. it was an absurd thing. Why did he take him to the doctor for an exam at the beginning? Whatever. Also the we haven't established why he's on disability right? No. He just left a year ago but we don't know why. I'm wondering if that's okay. So I feel like they're setting something up there. Okay just making sure. That's a bold assumption. It's bold to assume that this is a setup and not just a thing that's happening.

48:45I believe in the Sandman. The Sandman. Draft 2 was an absurd thing to do of course. Even if there was a physical cause for Daniel's behavior, it would be nothing he could discover this way. And he was aware on some level that it was compulsive behavior. Nevertheless, it made him feel better. One morning, James set the diaphragm of the stethoscope against Daniel's chest, but he could not locate a heartbeat. He moved his hand in search of the right spot, to no avail. Then, detested, he listened to his own heartbeat. It came through steady and clear. But when he checked Daniel again, he didn't hear anything.

49:33A thought came unbidden to him of the tin man in the Wizard of Oz, whose chest was empty as a kettle. that's a crazy a crazy line to draw that is a that's an insane first thought I couldn't hear my son's heartbeat I can't feel my son's heartbeat like the tin man in Wizard of Oz you ever seen Wizard of Oz Daniel? Daniel just looks at him oh that's right not speaking right right he speaks purple and blue eyes on cataracts you ever seen Wizard of Oz Daniel? he's like still giving the science treatment I see me thinks your heart's like that of the tin man or even the Grinch at the end of this it's going to be like Daniel's been dead and he's just dragging his body around I think that we are getting to that spot actually I don't know also do you remember this story yet is it coming back no I remember the beginning with the guy on the edge of the bed, but I didn't remember anything about pass up.

50:45Oh, okay. So this is nice. So it's almost like revisiting it for the first time. Okay. Yeah, yeah. A sick feeling rolled his stomach through the stethoscope down and grabbed Daniel by the shoulders, looking into his face. Daniel stared back with bright eyes. He even smiled a little at the corners of his mouth. James felt the tingle of tears. He swept his son up in his arms and hugged him. Daniel hugged back and James put his shirt back on him and sent him to play. Stethoscope, he decided, was broken. He threw it in the trash. Because that's how stethoscopes work. You just break them. This one's defective.

51:29It hurt my arm be fine, but not my son. Also, I'm going to send my zombie child. All right, here, put your car shirt back on and go outside and play, zombie child. You see him just dead spread and another kid. There's like this. My mind, the son's completely dead and he just puts a t-shirt on him and hucks him out the back door. Yeah, like airport luggage. Just fucking. Yeah. Go play Superman.

52:02Excelsior. Go play Superman. Is it a bird? He comes out like two hours later. Daniel's dead corpse he comes out like two hours later he's still in the same crumpled pile he's like you have fun there he is Mr. Kryptonite himself come on Daniel make lasagna I just wanted to be pointed out that thecreepyposter.com says that this story has a 14 minute read time we are on almost an hour there's been a lot of tangents but I feel like we've been reading it at a healthy pace So we are not that far down on the webpage. I just want to put that out there. Well, the website lies. There will be like two Arab stories.

52:46It's like, yeah, it's like 30 minutes. Okay, okay, okay. Things got worse. James's tears were no longer relegated to the long hours of the night. Now it seemed that something creeping, some skittering and scuttling, some unknowable noise in some dark corner of another, filled every second of his day. The thought of how big the house really was started to weigh on him. There were so many rooms he wasn't in at any given time. So many places someone or something else could be. He imagined strange figures occupying the rest of his home when he wasn't around. Melting into the walls or merging with the shadows whenever he turned on a light or opened a door.

53:38How would he know if they were there? How could he ever know? Soon, he didn't even have to be outside of a room to imagine it. When he walked up the stairs, he pictured pale figures lurking beneath him. When he went down the hall, he pictured a crawling thing slithering behind the walls, shadowing his every step if he sat too long in the same chair he imagined that it was right behind him he was never comforted when he turned around and found nothing there as he could only guess that minute had moved swiftly and silently behind him once again wherever he was not looking right now that was where he imagined it to be got it the entire paragraph is that last sentence got it so if I was looking north the creature would be south instead of creature it keeps saying thing it keeps like there's a thing in this room do you think that's because of the two sentence horror thing do you think it was a cliche around this time or no oh this was before two sentence war popped oh okay okay yeah yeah do you remember do you think it's the thing of bleach from jeff the killer oh maybe you remember that yeah no no no jeff the killer it says a thing of bleach fell on jeff that's the phrasing not a bottle not a thing of bleach I wonder if that was like if thing was more innocuous or like I wonder if it was more like you're giving all this way too much credit no no no but what I mean is like I wonder if like at the time instead of people saying creature everyone just said the thing this thing like I wonder if that was like a 2013 thing you know to whatever kid wrote this yes yeah or you know every story was doing it so their person's just like yeah i read that so then this story also just because they read it that's all that's the only thing like media or literate like that's the only thing they've read so then they just refer to everything the same way you know what i mean yeah maybe but at the same time i feel like this author's just like yeah it's a thing that's a the thing of bleach a thing of bleach is still so insane to me like there's so much about jeff the killer but just a thing of bleach.

56:10It's just, you know, roundabout way of describing whatever jug of bleach you want to talk about. It's like, yeah, I have the vague idea of what you're talking about. Sure, I guess. That's enough. That's fine. As long as it's vague, it's fine. He was losing his mind, he knew. The only thing that helped him cling to sanity was that Daniel seemed undisturbed. Isn't Daniel not speaking? Daniel has been disturbed for, I mean, he's pretty disturbed. I would assume months now. Hold on, hold on. The next sentence. Other than his muteness, his behavior was perfectly normal. Okay. Other than his trauma-induced muteness, he was a pretty cool kid.

56:54And whenever he seemed to sense that his father was troubled, he would hug him or squeeze his hand or even smile. Well, sometimes when he left the room, James cried. One night he found himself creeping around the house with no lights on at two o 'clock in the morning. Who? James? Yeah, James. Okay. If the intruding thing had taken to violating his daytime activities, then he would get revenge by confronting it on its own terms the night. and really night was no more frightening to him now than day they were almost interchangeable you can just get rid of that last sentence he padded barefoot down the halls up the stairs in and out of disused rooms how big is this house well that's what I'm saying like what fucking mansion do they live in dude it's like the fucking what is it the Winchester house or something i keep trying because that's like i was going to say this too earlier this is a good time to say it now is when these stories don't tell like the amount of stories we've read that i have pictured it being in the same house because i've like articulated in my mind what a house looks like i wonder if viewers have do you do that at all oh yeah there's like a it's always a real house i'm using for reference yeah like a house that is like baked into my memory somewhere that's not my own you know like maybe a friend's house but midwest houses have like a very particular layout and i keep picturing this certain layout for this thing like where the hallway is at like a little staircase the living room kind of area so whenever i hear that he's like lurking i'm like i'm like he's walking like maybe 20 feet back and forth you know like how how big is this fucking house that he's in he's like bruce wayne and like yeah yeah my family left me this giant manner.

58:54Sandman. Did I mention I'm in the Overlook Hotel? Yeah. I forgot to tell you. I'm in the Overlook Hotel. Sometimes he stopped to listen, hoping to locate it by sound. It was a stealthy, creeping thing, he knew. But it was awkward at times, and it couldn't always keep but strangely shaped limbs from making their distinct irregular footsteps. The smallest noise would give it away. There was one room he suspected had spent most of its time in. A spare bedroom. Not a bedroom at all, really. More like a closet. Scratch that last thing I just said. He's in the spare bedroom, but not really a bedroom.

59:42It's more like... When we got the house, we thought I could use it as a sort of office, but then after that it'd make more sense for the office to be in the veranda. So because of that, it sort of became a utility space like that.

59:59Or like a closet just large enough to accommodate a bed if one were so inclined. If one were so inclined.

1:00:11My God. It's reading like a... Okay, go ahead. It was unpainted and uncarpeted and drafty. It always meant to fix it up. It didn't come in here very often because he disliked the bare, unused look of it. Made him think of a partially dissected corpse. So James is 100 % a psychopath, right? I just want to put that up. He's dragging his body around. The sun has got to be dead, right? I don't want to go into an empty room because it makes me think of a dissected corpse. What the fuck are you talking about, James? Throw up a poster. I had a funny poster of dogs playing poker, but I was too scared to put it up.

1:00:58His son comes up to him and is like, Dad, can you just do drugs or something? Yeah, you're not supposed to talk. It came in now, though. If the thing made its nest any one place in the house, this would be it. of course there was nothing there now that didn't mean there was nothing there just at me at some point man it's like whatever you want story what are you talking about of course there was nothing there now but that didn't mean there was nothing there what the fuck do you how else am i supposed to decipher that oh god he cursed running a hand through his sweat damp hair shit what was he missing how did it hide from him what was its secret peered into the room's empty corners one by one getting his face a few inches from the plaster and floorboards so that he could be certain certain that there was no space for it to conceal itself he just looks so stupid like going to all the corners just like leaning in the light bulb flickered he froze my god he thought it's on the ceiling he pictured it crawling above him like a huge pale lizard that's how it gets around he thought that's how it escapes any time I should have it cornered.

1:02:30It just scuttles up the wall and hides right over my head. He imagined it dangling down behind him like a spider. If I turn around, he thought, it'll be there, hanging with its face right next to mine. He held his breath. He did not want to turn around, but he had no choice. It was between him and the door. With a quiet sob, he rounded on his heels. Of course, he was alone. There was no man on the ceiling. He checked twice. Maybe it crawled out and was waiting for him in the hall. But when he checked there, the coast was once again clear. It should have been a relief, but it was not. After all, it had been in here somewhere.

1:03:20If the ceiling was not its trick, that just meant it was something else. Something even more strange, even more clever. So the visual motif of like someone standing in a room and they're looking for something on the ground and the light flickers and they think it's because something passed in front of the light. That in isolation is good. Yeah. I like that idea. But it's so bogged down by everything else. Oh. He went to Daniel's room. He had had not stopped checking on him at night like he always had. Had had. This time, though, rather than open the door, he listened at first, pressing his ear against the grain of the cheap wood and holding his breath, terrified that he would hear a skittering sound on the other side of the barrier.

1:04:09What he heard instead shocked him more. Daniel was talking to someone. James recoiled for a second and then, when he caught his breath, he all but kicked the door in. Daniel was already awake, indeed, setting up in bed, but he was not saying anything now. The light flashed on and James stalked halfway into the room before stopping, suddenly torn. What did he want more? To confirm that his son could speak again or to find whomever he was speaking to. The creak of a door hinge settled the matter for him. He ran to the closet and threw it open. There was nothing inside, or at least nothing that shouldn't be there.

1:04:55He swept aside clothes on their hangers, but nothing was hiding between them. Then he dragged the toy box out and emptied it onto the floor. Nothing. Combed along the bare walls and floor, and yes, the ceiling. pushing aside every last bit of rubbish and stray knick-knack so that he could be sure, absolutely sure, that nothing was hiding. All the while, Daniel watched him. After a few minutes, James was panting and covered in sweat, and the closet was bare, and there were neither intruders nor answers inside. It struck him as funny, somehow, and he started to laugh very quietly. He kicked his son's toys out of the way as he went to sit down on the bed, dazed.

1:05:47He became aware, all at once, of several things. The first being that he had not slept in days and was nowhere near his right mind. The second was how close he'd come to really losing it, for good. Tomorrow, he decided, they would both sleep until the afternoon, and when they did wake up, he and Daniel would get out of this creaky old house. No more staying cooped up like prisoners and no more checkups. No more dreams about monsters. He would even take the bars off the windows. It was time to get back to living like real people again. It was time to... James saw when he brushed a hand through Daniel's hair.

1:06:31He pulled Daniel a little too roughly closer. His son acquiesced to the examination without fidgeting or complaint as James pawed the side of his head, hoping that he was seen would somehow stop being a parent. He stared and stared until he ached from not blinking, but there was no denying what was right in front of his eyes. Daniel was missing an ear. What? All right, well. What? so he has no heart no ear okay he has no heart no ear you know it happens sometimes i guess no man he said man no you realize with both mountain nausea both ears there was no injury no incision no mark where they should have been simply smooth blank flesh.

1:07:29It's like the cone heads with their their asses. There's no ass crack. It's just like flat. So there's no... They just removed it. Mr. Potato Head, whatever. Fucking... Even then, there's no hole? Is that what you're saying? Okay, blank flesh. It's just gone. Nothing. As blank as Daniel's quiet, unperturbed demeanor, James swept him up in his arms and ran into the hall. He was not sure where he was going or what he meant to do when he got there. He just knew that there was now nothing more important than getting his son out of that house. But their path was cut off. A naked man sat in the hallway with his back to them.

1:08:14No, not a man. James recognized its stretched limbs and stooped shoulders. The pale thing squatted on its haunches, rocking back and forth like it was palsied. It almost seemed to be in pain. James hugged his son closer and backed away. Then he heard Daniel's voice. Daddy. James turned to Daniel and he heard the voice again. Daddy. Daniel's lips hadn't moved. James looked back at the hunched figure, its head jerked when it talked, like a tick. Hello, Daddy. James' mouth went dry. It took several tries before he could speak. Don't call me that. It is this voice's name for you. Away. Leave my family alone.

1:09:16But I am your family." The longer it talked, the more the voice became distorted and blurred. An icy feeling nestled in James' stomach. Who are you? Someone who came to visit. Why here? You invited me. James' heart thudded against the inside of his chest. Why? I had something you wanted. James licked his dry lips. You're lying. You don't have anything I want. I want you to leave. Leave and never come back. Who is Daniel's mother? James blinked. What? Who is Daniel's mother? What the hell kind of question is that? How old is Daniel? James blinked again. Thing's voice caused a pinching pain in the center of his forehead.

1:10:20Stop asking me these things! When is Daniel's birthday? I don't know. What is his middle name? Shut up! What? Was his first word? I said shut up! James wanted to tear the thing apart with his bare hands. Only the heaviness of Daniel in his arms kept him where he was. You were alone. You wanted a son. So I made one for you. That's actually, that's a better direction than I thought this story was going. Not bad. Let's see it. Gotta stick the landing. I also have to mention that this is like your worst nightmare. A monster showing up years later for child support payments. Exactly. Time to pay up, James.

1:11:23What is Hunter? What is his mother's name? Shut up. I don't know. I don't know. When is his birthday? Get out of my head. I couldn't tell you. James's hands began to shake. That doesn't make sense. Made out of what? Out of myself. James's stomach turned over. But now, I need those parts back. Daniel picked James's shoulder to get his attention. Something was strange about Daniel's face. Danny, open your eyes. Daniel scrunched his eyes shut tighter. Open your eyes! Danny! Danny! Open your eyes! Open your eyes! Daniel shook his head, trying to refuse, but he couldn't hold it forever. Eventually, his eyelids flicked up and James saw the truth.

1:12:25Daniel's eyes were gone. James almost dropped him. For a second, he wanted to throw his son down so that he could stop looking into those empty holes in his face. Daniel opened his mouth as if to speak, but of course, he had no voice. He is coming back to be part of me again. No, no, no, no, no. Give him back. Give him back. I cannot. It has been too long. I warned you this would happen. You're lying. You're lying. You're a fucking liar! Give him back! Give him back, my son! Give him back! I do not lie. I warned you he could not exist forever, but you do not remember. You can only remember what I want you to.

1:13:20You forget all the times we have talked. Daniel felt like a doll or an empty bag. His hair was falling out, disappearing before he touched the ground. His hands vanished into his sleeves and his feet rolled up inside his pants cuffs. James cradled the tiny, shapeless thing. Tears streamed down his face. Soon he held a pile of empty clothes, and then those two were gone. He looked around the house. Toys disappeared. Photos vanished from their frames. Daniel's little shoes were no longer by the door. James turned towards Daniel's room and confronted a wall where the door should be. He groped the blank surface, fingertips scrambling.

1:14:08He hit his head against the wall. The pain didn't feel real. Why did you do this? It was what you wanted. And I learned so much. This is impossible. People will ask me. People will wonder. The police, the hospitals, the people in the neighborhood. They have already forgotten him. They only remembered what I wanted them to, like you. James pressed his hands to his aching skull. Will I at least remember him after this? You can try, but your mind will fail you. Now that everything he was is part of me again. James sat on the floor looking at the blank wall. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the thing creep toward him and even felt its wet hand on his shoulder.

1:15:10He did not look at it. If I won't remember any of this, then why tell me? Because a father should know. and then James was alone that went way too hard for how stupid the story is yeah I mean like if it was another story I would be critical of like the monster kind of explaining everything but I did not expect that direction at all yeah don't be wrong it's an exposition dump but I still we have I mean like we're still there's still a little bit to go but still like the uh I'm almost picturing like a fucking alien that's why I keep I mean I keep thinking it's like some otherworldly being anyways guide.

1:15:52And to me, it kind of looks like the rake, like the gray body with the long arms, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Abigail worried about James sometimes. When they met a year ago, he said that he'd never been married and he'd never had kids. But there was a certain pain expression he assumed when he said the last part. Abigail knew that look. She met her parents who'd lost children before. You learn to recognize it. And there were other things about him that worried her, too. Sometimes she would find him staring at a particular spot on the wall, brow furrowed in concentration. He did not seem to realize he was doing it.

1:16:30And of course, there was the insomnia and the sleepwalking to consider too. Yes, there was lots to worry about, but she loved him all the same. James still said he'd never had kids, and neither had she. She'd long wanted one, but it was impossible. and she worried that James wouldn't stay with a woman who couldn't be a mother, though he constantly assured her that it was not so. There were times, and more and more often of late, they were the nights when James took to sleepwalking, and even Abigail imagined that she had heard strange, scuttling noises in the house and saw impossible shapes in dark corners.

1:17:11When she thought she would do anything, absolutely anything, that meant having a little daughter for she and James to raise. And at those moments, she became truly afraid, but she never knew why. I feel like the creativity, that's the end of the story. I feel like there's a creativity here of like, almost like a fear of parentalhood or something. Like, I feel like there's an inkling of an idea draped in with probably the times of writing this thing. I feel like if you read a lot of stories around 2013 they would the beginning the beginning half if not the first thirds of this story would probably feel very similar to a lot of them I would assume yes absolutely you know what I mean like in tone and description and stuff just the way that things are presented because even it started to get in because we've read some stuff too where it's like it's a lot of vignettes of like spooky things where it's like you don't really know you know what it's just kind of like and then this spooky thing happened and the next day this also spooky thing happened but i do think that the author had like an overarching overarching idea that wasn't just like isn't this creepy i feel like there was probably something a little more inspired there uh reading yeah i feel like reading some of the comments from 2014 are very funny i just want to say that what are they saying yeah or yeah from wwe rock s 88 december 21st 2014 at 12 52 a.m all right he said the first thought that popped into my head was reading the uh the first thought that popped into my head while reading the first two paragraphs was metallica they have a song they have a song named sandman plus lead singer's name is james anyway great story very creepy i said that was funny it's uh one of the one of the probably one of the most popular songs ever if you didn't realize there's a you may have not known this but there's a song named after that guy did they name it after the creepypasta I um so obviously it's tackling like a loss of like a of a kid right or something I mean like there's got to be like well I feel like I kind of agree with you that it feels like it's about like a fear of losing a child more so than losing one you know but the child was only created because he wanted it you know and I will say I agree with you in contrast to where the story started this went in a lot better direction than I was expecting yeah I will say the beginning the I well first I mean just to follow up on that last point is I you know as we've gotten older I mean you have a kid now all that stuff all those things hit feel like they're hitting a lot closer to home in terms of like as you get older those kinds of you know those stories so i appreciate if that is the angle of it it's kind of a fun um unique we haven't really um i think there's a couple stories that deal with like passing down bad things to your kids or like you know like the moth episode of like where it's like the men in the family have to like basically have sex with this like a moth creature to me that kind of plays into this weird like passing down of like bad traits or whatever just somebody but i do think it's fun now that being said the first half of this was the funnest I've had reading a story in a long time just for how ridiculous it was I really I really I'm glad you got something out of it I'm glad me almost passing out doing a breathy dramatic creepypasta voice I didn't I didn't want to uh I didn't want to say it but listening to you like deep inhale so good you're like James still had I said he'd never have kids and neither had she dude she long yeah it was so good i god what i would have given formula for making money back in the day that would have got your goat i mean it's so funny if i just head slammed into the desk if you would have actually blacked out and then we heard like kayla scream like i said or something that would have been so funny that would have been so good um yeah yeah so i think uh that was the formula for making money back in the day just do a breathy voice and read horror stories online that's all it took man yeah well i think in i think that uh it's always i mean it's always interesting we've said this before but it's always interesting when you go back and you look at a story that's from this time you know i feel like for some it's going to be nostalgic and whenever people are because we also have some pretty like younger fans who were probably too young whenever this you know came on maybe like they were or like pre-teen or you know something like that whenever this was out and i think like i'm always curious to see is is there a charm still to this or did you have to kind of be there in the moment?

1:21:59Because looking at this story too, I love this feeling that you said where it's like a gatekeep, not gatekeeping, but I guess maybe a little bit, but you take it so seriously and you love it so much that people are like willing to give anything a chance just because they want that fix, you know? It's like being in some kind of like, I don't know, like new wave movement of like music or something where you're just like, you're super fixated and it becomes your entire personality. Because I have a feeling back then too, those people it was their entire personality like what they posted online everything what they were talking about in schools all that stuff and it feels like uh just such a little a little relic of that time i really wish that i would have known about it when i was younger hey man let's see back in the day you read this you get your way to hold slate at night it's raining outside you play this someone's dramatically reading it with scary music this is the scariest thing you've ever heard man there's such a there's like such an innocence and such a uh just a level of mystique that i feel like is lost now that you know i mean because there's there's so much crazy well-produced stuff now too and audiences are so much smarter and all that stuff that i do feel like there's like a level of mysticism that is lost now because of that like i love the i love the idea that somebody could just pop on and be like oh fuck it i'm just gonna like write something i'm an amateur writer and it's going to affect this minority of people in such a positive way.

1:23:24Very, very cool. Well, you know what? I mean, honestly, it makes me, maybe we should redo, maybe we should get back into bedtime sometime, dude. It's still the number two episode on What's number one? 1999. Oh, yeah. I mean, 1999 is one of the classics that does hold up, in my opinion. Yeah, well, we read, that was an early one I read, right? Yeah, yeah. Mr. Bear. yeah that's right Mr. Bear yeah the whole thing of him the father dropping off his son and I mean I yeah I'm still appalled by that but yeah man that's crazy though man good lord November 14 2009 is when 1999 came out how crazy is that yeah same with Candle Cove though holy shit yeah very cool it seems like was there because there's a lot like gateway of the mind there's 2009 and then we started getting into the 2013 era which is where I'm pretty sure we got like the hot fanfic i'm turned on slightly there's eyelash jack i think that's like when jeff the killer probably came out and then we have stories like this was there just like a slight resurgence like maybe four years later or five like did it yeah so well the the 2012 2013 was the hot zone okay it's more so like the 2009 stuff was the prelude where like people started to read it if i had to guess which i could be wrong i want to say around 2013 is when youtubers started covering it and like reddit had the board and stuff so it just got a whole new audience so then more and more people started writing that's where you had like jeff the killer and a lot of the meme ones come from but i mean people have been writing horror stories since the internet's been around oh of course of course but yeah 2013 is where it kicked up you're probably you're probably right because i remember even like 2013 during that first 2012 2013 that first era of like big Minecraft YouTube people.

1:25:13I remember people were doing like, isn't that also when the fucking, they made a crew pasta about that guy, Herobrine? Herobrine. Is that not Herobrine? Herobrine's 2013, I think. Yeah. I'm pretty sure, yeah. Or it fucking says 2010 here on the website. Wow. Herobrine? Yeah, that's what it says. That might not be great. I don't know. Yeah, August 2010 was when the screenshot happened on 4chan. So then maybe, yeah, then if that's the case, then too, definitely around 2013, 2012, all that stuff like that's i mean people were 100 making youtube videos around then about like creepypasta shit you know i mean so who were who were the big creepypasta readers back in the day like the it was the dark seminium and then um is it just mr creepypasta is that who it was there i mean there were a ton there were there were them there was um there was like a few hold on let me just type in creepypasta reading because some of these channels have got to be i mean way older they've been around a minute yeah oh that's cute when you're talking creepypasta reading we come up first that's cute um it's just kind of cool are there are there channels gone is there one i mean maybe i don't know darcy minium i know a lot of a lot of theirs there's i read creepypastas there was i hate how much of it's just us now i feel like i feel like stolen and valor uh well i mean i'm just looking at some of them it says like 15 years ago a lot of these people started yeah it's just kind of cool i don't know regardless it's it's it's it's fun i i don't know i always like whenever we read one of these stories it has some like humor we laugh but then you always get a little surprised because you know for a fact that these are even if they are well-established authors now i bet you anything they were at like their most amateur here you And you can see the little bit of to where I'd be curious.

1:27:07A lot of people cut their teeth here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. To where this is the part where I'm like, I wonder if people back then or I wonder if people now would if this author of The Sandman if this person was still writing you know, I would love to read something now just be like, like what was that progression been like? Has there been a progression? You know, if they were consistent with it, obviously there has been, but it'd be kind of cool to see regardless. But you know what, guys? that is our episode today like I said on Patreon we do have an exclusive episode for the pastel man if you want to read that's another classic also one of Isaiah's favorite childhood authors so please feel free to go support there if you want if you want some extra stuff if not no biggie also thank you to all the people listening on Spotify and all the audio platforms right now it does help us out we appreciate you until next time guys stay creeped and read some old creepypastas man this was a fun one stay creeped and and make sure to send someone to get hunter's child support payments.

1:28:08I don't know. I'm going to go eat so I don't pass out. Bye.

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