Turn It Off | CreepCast

36:58We put on our trainers and stepped out into the garden. I don't know what we were so worried about. It was bright and colorful. The plants and bushes around the edges of the garden smelled good and there was a bird in one of the small trees singing out for its mate somewhere. We walked to the back fence to find nothing out of place and looked over the bushes in front of the paneling to check if anything lay behind them. We found nothing. I walked around the edge of the whole garden once more while Chris tried whistling to the bird. Cocked its head from side to side trying to figure him out. It was a warm day, perfect for camping that evening, I decided.

37:34We talked as we filled a couple of rucksacks with sleeping bags and some food from the kitchen. We didn't want to set up a fire, so we packed some tinned hot dogs, bread, a pack of tomatoes and chocolate but as well as some bottles of water. There's a forest just next to my house, which is actually pretty good. Our garden backs to the edge of it. I stayed a tent there once with my dad for my first little camping trip when I was like seven. And I remember I was so excited at the time. I thought we were really roughing it like some hardcore mountaineers. If we get too cold or need some more food, we can just go to my house.

38:10My parents are out, so we'll have a free run of the place anyway. yours are away too that is suspicious is it not interesting it's their anniversary so they're out for the night they're staying in a hotel in the next town over we'll be back in the morning apparently leaving your kids behind was in fashion this summer it seems like uh i wonder if it just seems too planned too calculated well i think what it may be is this creature shows up when kids parents are away or the parents are like well it's time for the yearly child sacrifice that's what that's what I want to believe dude I want to believe the fucking they're just like well we'll see what the we'll see with the juice goblin who he wants to pick up tonight whatever the goblin comes for we've been fattening our son up with juice for months at this point so that's actually such a sweet idea it's like you're all the kids in the town are forced to yeah drink juice and stuff get all plump on you so it's a a horror movie like that where the parents are fattening up the kids for something.

39:13I'm thinking of Hansel and Gretel or something. Well, I mean, yeah. I mean, probably. There's probably some feeder horror movie. Yeah. At about noon, we left my house with the two rucksacks, sleeping back for each of us and the tent. Made our way to Chris's house. It was fairly close by and a part of the same pleasant neighborhood. Talked and joked a lot, walking side by side, nodding and greeting a couple of familiar neighbors as we went. It was a crazy nice day. The sun was almost too much. It was hot on our necks and the trees by the sidewalk seemed to glow green from underneath as the sunlight passed through the leaves.

39:51The sprinkler offered us some water as we walked by one house and it felt good on my hot arms. I was already sweaty by the time we got to Chris's place. We hadn't been walking for more than 20 minutes. We didn't go inside his house immediately because it was so hot so we went straight to his garden and dumped our bags in the shade. He wasn't joking. The gate of his garden backed straight on to an impressive forest. Very tall, thin trees stood high above the house and continued as far as I could see. Some bushes and shrubs littered the forest floor but most of it was either grass or fairly smooth sections of dirt.

40:26I didn't see how this forest was classed as small. Looks good, right? It's awesome, I admitted, opening the gate and surveying the area. I also like this. This explanation works better because after that first night, I was like, there's no way they would reasonably camp in that backyard. But now it's like, oh, we're going to my friend's house. So that's more reasonable. We also didn't see anything. But this is a way where they saw something suspicious that still made them want to go out into the woods. So like the setups make sense. I walked out in between the trees and found a flat spot for the tent.

40:59I turned around to ask Chris's opinion and paused, a little disappointed. It didn't feel like real camping when his house was so obviously in our faces. Let's go a little further in so it at least feels legit, I said and walked back to pick up my bags. Chris objected to carrying his, quote, heavy shit any further. We walked in a straight line from Chris's house and kept checking behind us until the house was just about obscured by trees in front of each other. We had only gone a very short way in, but the forest was already thicker and greener. There was even a long rope swing hanging from one of the trees, but it looked too old to hold our weight, so we decided to keep our spines unbroken and give it a miss.

41:42I unpacked the tin and set it up with Chris's help, and we threw our sleeping bags inside. I laid down inside to test it out. It was so warm and humid I had to adjust my breathing for a second. I stepped out again and asked Chris if he had a torch for the evening. I could do better than that. was his response and he took off towards the house. I was too hot to run after him, so I opened my rucksack and cracked open a bottle of water down in half of it and putting the rest back in the pack. Took a lot of restraint for that to not be juice, by the way. It was juice at one point, and then someone was like, hey, cool it with the juice.

42:18Cool it with the juice thing. Have a really good story. Like a new boy. Like a regular boy. After the second paragraph, you need to drop the juice thing. What do you mean? Why? what's wrong lips lips chapped lips completely covered and stained from grape juice what do you why what do you mean why why would we not are you thirsty no i'm not i'm not thirsty i laid down on a patch of grass and looked up at the canopy the leaves were shifting gently in a breeze i couldn't feel from down here i watched them sway and mesh together until i heard chris return Did you get a torch? I asked, closing my eyes.

42:58The sun shone through my eyelids and colored my vision red. I listened to the soft sound of his footsteps on the grass as he walked past me towards the rope swing. That's not going to hold you. For sure not, Chris, by the way. Yeah, yeah. That's not going to hold you, I warned as I heard him tug the branch with a small creak. He tugged it. I creaked in response. I listened. He tugged it once more, and again. There was a moment of silence as I guessed he was still weighing it up, and then another tug. He continued to tug a few more times, and the creaking followed each one. I was sure it wouldn't hold its weight, and I smiled, predicting one big creak and a snap as the rope where the branch broke.

43:44I waited as some final tugs were made. Creak, creak. I waited still. Creak, creak, creak. Yo! I heard Chris's voice coming from his garden. Man. I set bolt upright, almost spraining my neck as I snapped my head sideways to face his house. He was jogging through the trees, holding an electric lantern. I switched my gaze in the other direction towards the rope swing. It was hanging still. Nothing nearby. I stood up and turned full circle. Nothing in any other direction. I love that little payoff. What? i mouthed to myself walking towards the rope i tugged it gently it didn't creak i pulled it harder it didn't creak my mouth went dry i jumped up grabbed hold and yanked it down the branch bent a little as my feet touched the floor and still it didn't make a sound i kept holding of it as i stared up towards the branches but eventually the rope gave way under my weight somewhere in the middle and a soft thud fell on my ears as the thick rope fell in front of me Chris was rattling the lantern as he came by I've never used this before I got it for Christmas for my cousin She buys some weird presents I see the swing is dead Let's have a proper burial memory of all the joy it gave us The main character is like fighting demons right now scared to death He's like I got this for Christmas and my cousin got it but she always gets weird gifts I love that idea though of like you're sitting there I love whenever it's just a thing of you assume it's the person, you know, behind you making the sounds that are all familiar of like playing swing that they've been on before.

45:27And I love the kid like approach of coming back and, you know, and being like, oh, the thing snapped. Like not understanding the weight of like how fucking creepy the thing just happened was. It really, it really just helps sell the idea of like just innocent kids just like trying to camp. Mm hmm. the um the it's such an easy play but doing the whole i think this is something but it's something else standing next to me it always works always i i at least for me i always gobble that shit up i'm sure some people are like eh because it's it's kind of like you know i mean obviously you see it coming but i just it's still fun i don't know i like it i like the i like the idea of the creaking too.

46:09Yeah. Because it's like bending, or not bending, but like stretching and stuff. It's just a fun... Well, it almost sounds like it was the thing making the creaky noise, because the rope never made the noise, right? He assumed it was the rope or the branch, but it wasn't either. So it's like whatever this thing is, it makes creaky noises when it moves. I love the idea of a monster too, getting on something that's like a rope. Ropes have such a straining, almost like bone-breaking sound that I like to think of the creature just in his moment just in his movement makes that kind of sound too so it's like this weird like almost like stacked auditory like sensory fucking overload of like just this stretching breaking sound kind of sick

46:56pretty hard you know some of my complaints from the beginning i i apologize pretty good pretty good I didn't respond. I continued looking up at the branch with half a rope swing tied to it. Hey, are you good? Chris followed my gaze. I thought you'd already come back. I said immediately. I wasn't the type to let things slide with an, oh, it's nothing. What? Someone walked by me and was messing around with the rope swing. Who was it? I don't know. Are they still around? I don't know. I had my eyes closed and I was laying just there. Then I heard you shout, so I looked around and there was nothing here.

47:37I heard them walk by my head. I felt a bit sick. Look, calm down for a second. It's the middle of the day. We're 30 feet from my house. And even if there was a person, so what? It's just a public woods. Anyone can come through here. All right, Chris. I thought you were based before, but this is you're a little, you're being a little too carefree. you're being a little too care for me chris all right yeah i thought you were based and red pilled i thought you were chad i thought i thought it was i thought it just really you're just virgin cell i thought that he was giga chad for sure but now i'm like you're hanging a little too loose there brother also like just be like it's a public it's a public uh forest it's 30 feet from your house uh sir how about you don't walk in my back my literal backyard please and thank you it's a public forest that's why they come and touch our walls and like you know look into our bedrooms it's a public forest that's why they tuck me in every night because it's a public forest it's a public forest he comes that's why they they drink all of our juice and what go ahead you're about to say he comes in and gives you what gives me gives me kisses on my forehead tells me i'm a good boy kisses on the what on the head okay you wrap belly kisses into a lot of story so that's where I figured that was coming from give him a raspberry yeah Chris is kicking and giggling in his room like got like their 12 year old in the bedroom it's like some neighbor comes into the bedroom and the parents are just like oh he's that way public forest you know what can you do yeah where's Chris he's down in his room good night Chris whatever he started off I just think that's the whole thing that mom and dad are watching tv and they can hear it they're just like god damn it public forest what can you do that made some sense and he was right about it being public but then where were they glanced around one more time however the trees quickly layered up and i couldn't see far at all i guess it was possible for me to lose track of someone here in a short distance okay man i can stay alone in the house for weeks on end but i can't handle a short walk through the woods on a summer's day that's why you brought some muscle declared chris wielding the lantern above his head and i laughed we spent the day walking around the forest and returned to the tent to get some water when we were too hot we talked about school and what our plans were for the future talked about dreams we'd had and ghosts and creatures that lived in the dark neither of us were too scared of things like that but they made for good camping stories Chris told a particularly good one of a woman who lived in the woods She had the head of a cat and if you heard a raspy meow I read raspy as raspberry for a second She had the head of a cat and if you heard a raspy meow That meant she was trying to find you If she stopped meowing, it signified you were found And she was quickly making her way towards you Made my skin crawl a little and we stopped telling stories soon after that I just want to say I wish a woman with the head of a cat I wish that was the fucking monster something like I love those just kind of like folk taily Grimm's fairy tale kind of creatures yeah if she stops meowing it's like how fucking creepy is that you start hearing a cat and you're like what the fuck and then it goes silent that actually reminds me so the most scared I ever was of a Goosebumps episode um what was it called cat scratch it was about a cat or no is a dead cat you know you know the one i'm talking about shirley right i'm trying to think i don't think so it's about a cat that if it's the cat got ran over by a car um cry of the cat that's what it was cry the cat yeah the cat got hit by a car but it kept coming back and it's like if it scratched you you caught like the zombie plague it had anyway at the beginning of a story there's a woman who gets scratched by it and starts to transform into a cat person and you don't see what she looks like till the very end of the story now i'm about to send you this uh picture hunter when i was i think i watched this when i was eight maybe nine i did not sleep for weeks i saw this image and lost my mind hold on where'd that picture go hold on where those i just saved it to my desktop where did you go okay that is fucking haunting for people that don't know it's like eight i'm mute it's not like a regular just cat it's like a fucking like dying it looks like a 25 year old cat if they stretched out and gave like human appendages it looks haunting this is this is the first shot of it too she steps out of a dark hallway like this bro i was freaking out man yeah i was losing my mind and then the actual zombie cat shows up at the end but i didn't care the zombie cat didn't bother me with this zombie cat now i'm seeing that i'm seeing the face of hell right here before this hold on here's the zombie cat that shows up at the very end of the story didn't bother me i was like yeah that's a cat monster thing who cares god the effects on the show are so sick dude goosebumps went hard goosebumps was super hard they did great but man i tell you what that face freaked me out anyway so but that's what when they're talking about the woman with the head of a cat that's what i thought of that thing in the woods the light of day eventually faded and it was getting hard to see so we headed back to the tent for the night the impressive heat during the day killed our appetites so we left the food for now and decided we'd eat it at night if we got hungry.

53:27Chris hung the electric lantern at the front of the tin, flicking it on as he did so. It was surprisingly bright, spilled a yellow light onto the ground and onto the trees that faced us. The warm glow looked dramatic, but whatever was beyond the light had hidden in blackness. Our immediate area was clear, but after a few paces, the light seemed to stop dead. It looked weird. Chris ducked under the tin opening and I followed him. Sleeping bags looked inviting as the heat from earlier had gone and it was too cold for shirts and shorts. We got inside and took the lantern with us. Can you hear meowing?

54:04I said, I'm so proud. I said, my head tilted as I strained to hear. Yeah, I can hear some bullshit too. That would be you. That's 100 % of you response. No, I'm too much of a pussy. I'm telling you, I'm too much of a pussy. Like Chris, Chris is, he is actually doom pilled. He is black pilled to Chris for sure. This little motherfucker wants to die. Why, why are you smiling?

54:31Are we not afraid, Chris? Hello? We're out here all alone and people walk in this public forest all the time and come and give me belly kisses at night. Yeah. What's so weird about it, dude? There's like a line of people outside of the tent coming to give him kisses. Yeah. Maybe get with the times, dude. maybe open up a little goodnight Chris Chris smiled and zipped up his sleeping bag damn I thought I had him oh well I zipped up my own bag and we laid there talking for a little while then the exhaustion of such a hot summer hit us and we fell asleep alright thank god it was just a joke alright so Chris is really teetering the line I can't tell but yeah it was just doing a little goof in a gaffe yeah he was messing around like can you hear meowing he's like yeah I can hear some bullshit too like yeah this episode sponsored by hex clad at the beginning of the new year there's lots of talks about eating healthier but before we talk about cooking we need to talk about your pan hex clad completely changed the game by combining the performance stainless steel with the convenience of non-stick all-in-one pan most cookware forces you to choose great performance or easy cleanup but never both thanks to hex clad you can now get a beautiful sear great heat control and easy cleanup hex clad does it all it's dishwasher safe oven safe up to 900 degrees fahrenheit and the steel handles stay cool so you don't burn yourself in the process.

55:49Hexclad's 12-piece set is ultimate all-in-one cookware upgrade. Why do you keep looking at me, Nick? It comes with three versatile pans, two saucepans, and a family-sized stock pot. New year, new you, new cookware. For a limited time only, our listeners get 10 % off your order with our exclusive link. Just head to hexclad.com slash creepcast. Support our show and check them out at hexclad.com forward slash creepcast. Make sure to let them know that we sent you bon appetit let's eat with hex clad's revolutionary cookware do they actually have us to say that bon appetit let us eat what thank you to hex clad now back to the episode i had a dream that we were walking to chris's house again but there were more trees than before and it was getting dark very quickly i blinked suddenly it was night the forest sprawling in every direction the rope swing hung in front of me i turned around and chris was gone i heard a creak behind me.

56:44A feeling came over me like I'd missed a step on the stairs. For some reason, I couldn't turn around. I started walking straight ahead and the rope swing soon came into my view again. I was aware I was in a nightmare. The rope swing slowly lifted itself up into the trees and I watched it disappear. I walked over and stood beneath where it had been and there was a rustle above me. As I lifted my eyes to the canopy, a black figure with the head of a cat came hurtling downwards with its mouth open horrifically wide one of its teeth touched my left eye and i tore myself awake gasping as i set up in the tent my back was damp with sweat and chris was asleep next to me the lantern was still on and i could see our backpacks at the end of the tent took a moment to breathe and then let myself lay back down i had thumping on the floor a little too hard I winced and reached for the bottle of water to my side, down in a few mouthfuls.

57:42I couldn't fall asleep with the glow of the lantern on my eyelids, so I sat up and searched the tent for it. Quickly realized the light was coming from outside. Ooh! Chris, I said, still confused from sleep. He mumbled something in reply. Chris, where's the lantern? He said slowly and sleepily before turning over. looking around again the light was obviously coming from outside I weighed up the options either some murderer had snuck into our tent and done nothing but take the lantern outside or we didn't actually bring it into the tent and I had remembered wrong that sounded more convincing so I knelt by the tent door and unzipped it from the opening I looked around it wasn't immediately obvious where the glow was coming from why couldn't I see it I looked up the lantern was resting 20 feet in the air and even the dark goosebumps swept across my skin and i zipped up the door before shaking chris that's pretty that's pretty good i do like that that's pretty solid yeah that's something's taken the uh the lantern and like tied it to the rope swing it was testing earlier chris please wake up he heard the urgency in my voice and set up what's what's wrong chris said rubbing his eyes the lantern's hanging outside but i probably did i felt sick as my reasoning broke we both looked at the front of the tent we should go back to the house i said my resolve buckling i was just a kid in a forest his parents were away i'm not walking through the dark he replied chris was now looking worried we've got a lantern i stopped myself we looked at the front of the tent again couldn't sit there forever we were getting scared as we sat there doing nothing so this was the plan we weren't going back to sleep we would get the lantern back somehow leave everything here and spend the night in chris's house i hated being the one to go first i wanted to turn back even just crouching by the tent entrance.

59:50Unzipping the fabric door as I looked around, nothing. I peered over the tent behind us, nothing in sight. Literally nothing. Everything was black outside of the light. I took a step out and it was cold. Chris said the same as he stood right by my side, looking over his shoulder. He turned back and saw the lantern in the air. Oh my God. We stood there looking at it for a few seconds. It seemed to crawl by. Eventually, I worked out which tree it was hanging from. The broken rope swing at my feet confirmed it. Way up out of reach, the lantern hung above our heads, tied to the other end of the rope that still dangled from the darkness.

1:00:31I couldn't work it out. It was high up, too high up for even a ladder. The trees were thin and bare besides the leaves that made up the canopy. There was nowhere to climb. Picking up the length of rope that had snapped off earlier, I bundled it up and tied a knot and aimed it at the lantern. I took a step back and jumped, tossing it into the air. It caught the lantern on its side and sent it swinging, through shadows rocking around us. I suddenly wished it hadn't hit it. The light made the shadows lean from side to side with the lantern. The horrible, unnatural swaying made me panic and my eyes became wet as fear took a solid hold of me.

1:01:13I picked up the rope again and lobbed it desperately at the lantern. I missed, and the bundle of rope sailed off into the darkness. Helplessly, I turned to Chris, who had already grabbed his backpack. He span around and threw it with a yelp, and it hit the lantern dead on. It fell and thudded to the floor with a crack, but the light was still on, and I ran to pick it up. I turned to Chris and almost cried with relief. Okay, go, go, go, let's go! I urged and he started jogging quickly towards his house as I followed bro that idea the image of it hanging up in the tree and like as it sways all the shadows of the near trees are like swaying back and forth what a great visual man yeah really creepy and also the idea of like whatever did this did it to mess with them by hanging it up in the tree and it's almost made them like they're in a fishbowl right like they're not going to step out in the darkness so they're stuck to this like this chosen area that's so creepy it's literally becoming like a uh shark in open water kind of thing yeah yeah but i do like the the use of that shadow it makes the threat feel like bigger and it makes it feel like they're like they're actually dwarfed in size and they're like something had to read there's nowhere to climb something had to reach up that big to tie the tree if you just think of the light the shadows are going to make it just makes everything it makes you feel small like you're trapped in a cage or something with the way that's swinging but yeah just really really cool yeah we half ran half stumbled off into the dark checking over our shoulders and working ourselves up as our thoughts were consumed by everything that may be waiting in the trees for us i don't know how long we were moving but it soon became apparent that chris's house wasn't in this direction for god's sakes where is it Chris said, tension taking hold of his voice We'll have to fight it and try again A couple of tears were forming at the corners of his eyes They were probably on mine too But my heart was thumping so hard I didn't notice Okay I took a breath and we turned around Headed in a straight line directly behind us Wait, okay, so what happened there?

1:03:25I don't know Oh, they were running the wrong way Okay. I see they've been going further into the woods. yeah because they don't have they don't have the lantern so they're just like oh man wait no they got it they knocked it on the ground remember they he picked it up and they grabbed it okay they grabbed it but they're going the wrong way yeah what if we didn't find the tin i couldn't stop myself thinking that over and over as we retraced our steps we walked for what seemed like twice as long before the light finally fell on the side of the tin we ran up and stood close to its looking around to try and figure out which direction we should go.

1:04:03The silence was like the buildup of a nightmare, right before some horrible thing lurches out at you, screaming. The comparison made me gag and I scrunched my eyes shut, the hair on my skin lifting. My temples were so hot it felt like my brain was thudding against the inside of my skull. I couldn't begin to guess where the house was. We could see about ten feet from the lantern, then pitch black. There were no clues. Every direction looked wrong. Chris took the lantern from me and walked in a small circle, straining his eyes to try and see. I stayed put. Chris, turn it off. I whispered to him hurriedly.

1:04:41What? I stepped quickly and quietly towards him, bringing my face to his. There's something in the tent. Okay, for one, bear trap.

1:04:53Bear trap. because at the beginning of the story i said perhaps they're in the woods and there's afraid there's something out there so the turn it off's in reference to a flashlight i was right um also oh my gosh i'm very curious to know what this thing is yeah i we may not get a direct answer and that's fine because they've given us so much to work with but man his gaze shifted past me towards the tent and he stood there staring. We were standing on the left-hand side of the tent. From this angle, I could just about see the uncipped door hanging open, but I remembered leaving it that way. So that wasn't what was making me clench my teeth together.

1:05:34A few feet away, my rucksack sat outside on the dry earth, the food I'd packed now neatly arranged trailing from it. Our sleeping bags were also nicely laid out end to end, making the line of belongings lead straight into the mouth of the tent dude oh it's like breadcrumbs leading inside of the tent it i i do love it this is like the way that this keeps kind of coming back to that grim fairy tale thing is really fun yeah yeah it really is like a child's like just tail you know i mean yeah it's like a giant trapdoor spider like something's in there waiting yeah yeah oh Nothing in here, I promise.

1:06:17Just candy and juice. Come on in. I took a careful step forward so that the light could pass more easily through the fabric. Couldn't have been a trick of the light. Something big and dark was obviously crouched, with what I guessed was its front facing the open door. I hated myself for not seeing it sooner. It didn't move at all or seemed to breathe. It just sat, waiting for us to investigate the display it had made. Turn it off. I whispered again. Chris continued staring, deaf to me. Chris! I pleaded in a whisper. A voice from nearby joined in. Chris! That's fine. That's sick, dude. That's awesome.

1:07:07We both heard it and the blood fell in our veins. It came from the tent, a slow, strained rasp of a voice that sounded like a parrot copying a new word. The sound clicked across my skin and crept into my ears. The light flicked off with a click that was too loud. Chris grabbed my shoulder and I clenched my fist closed painfully tight. We stood there in complete darkness. I didn't want to move. I didn't want to stay. My brain fought for control as my legs waited for a decision rooted in place. We breathed shallow, quiet breaths, blackness pressing on our eyes like water. Sweat ran down my neck.

1:07:48I couldn't see the tent. Chris. Darn it.

1:07:57My stomach flipped inside out as the thing in the tent played with my words. I quickly grabbed Chris's hand, yanking him in the opposite direction. I ran like I never had before, Chris's legs thudding alternately with mine. The sprint continued for about a minute. We lost ourselves as we ran through absolute darkness. I forgot where we were, and I couldn't see what was in front of my face. I read hand-on into a tree, and my forehead struck its side with a sickening, hollow knock. Oof. Sparks lit up inside my eyes, and I choked back the pain. It hurt so much I couldn't breathe. Chris tried to pull me on, but I buckled to the floor on my knees and threw up.

1:08:34As I collapsed onto my back, my head went numb. Chris lifted me up. Please don't stop. Please. Please. He begged. I couldn't reply. Please, please keep going. I forced my legs to take my weight as I locked my knees upright, leaning on Chris. My body felt empty and a little blood rolled down my forehead and into my brow. I wiped it away as I tried to grasp the situation again, but the pain was too much. Wait, I can't. Just wait. Just wait. We stood together in the inky woods, but we could have been anywhere. I couldn't see Chris as he huddled next to me. It didn't feel like darkness. It felt like someone had wrapped my head in a blanket.

1:09:15Neither of us said a word as we waited, but our breathing was loud, and I wondered from what distance it could be heard. Reality began to return to me, and the pain was now just about bearable. I straightened up, grasping at what was happening. The pins of fear sank into me a second time, and I started counting in my head. One minute passed without any sound in the world. The wind was dead, and the birds might be too. Another minute went by. I continued counting. Three minutes. We were still alone. Was it even looking for us? I reached for Chris's arm in the dark. He jumped when I touched it, but I steadied him with the other.

1:09:54He was still holding the lantern. Good. We had light on our side. Now, if only we could use it. I went over the events hurriedly in my mind. The lantern was hanging from a tree. We got out of the tent and couldn't find our way home. By the time we returned to the tent, something was in it. But then why did it take the lantern and do nothing while we slept? If it was sheer luck that we were alone when we were trying to get the lantern, I wondered just how small the possibility was of us getting a second chance. I stayed silent for a moment and then whispered as best I could. Chris We need to turn on the lantern We need to get away from here And we make a run for your house But we need to see No, please We have to stay here We can wait for morning if we have to You can't turn it on I got to hear in his voice that a sob was breaking through Just keep quiet You fucking have to, please Part of my lips to try again but as I did, I heard something.

1:11:01A very faint clicking sound from somewhere in the dark. It was almost inaudible, but it was there. An irregular, stuttering clicking sound. It sounded like fingernails on a wooden table, and it was moving. It came from in front of us, I was sure of it. A steady click-clack-clack filled my ears as we tried to gauge the distance. It was drawing closer. Click, click, click. Stopped. I was glad for the first time in my life that I couldn't see what was waiting in the dark. Perhaps that meant we were also hidden. As my thoughts fired off in every direction, I gave the thing in the darkness the image of the cat-headed woman.

1:11:44And it terrified me. I was just waiting to hear that meow, but my ears were met with something else. Chris. I tensed my throat and tried not to cry. Chris It said his name twice And I cupped my hand over my mouth The horrible, scraping dialogue sounded a few steps away The words were said oddly, with no meaning behind them They were just sounds that this thing had picked up And was now using them to catch us out in the dark Chris let go of my hand And I heard his foot plant softly on the grass behind me As he prepared to run don't you dare i try to project into his mind don't you make a sound

1:12:34it sounded so wrong drawn out like a door slowly opening chris let out a whimper as it called him i froze and waited for something anything to happen there was a long silence and i held my breath for as long as I could. I couldn't wait anymore. Very slowly, I reached out to Chris and put my hand on his shoulder, and very carefully, we both lifted our feet and managed to step without making a sound. We backstepped away from the voice and didn't stop moving, but ever so carefully, so, so slowly. I didn't care how long it would take us to get somewhere. If it took us an hour every step we were going to get out chris backed into a tree and gasped audibly the clicking started up immediately it rolled on consistently moving towards us i didn't know what to do all i could think of was to screw my eyes shut and try not to scream as we stood there the clicking came to a stop an arms length away from where we stood.

1:13:44Silence.

1:13:52Fear took over. Chris switched on the light and tore off in the other direction without looking behind him. I wheeled in place and held the lantern in my sight like nothing else existed. We didn't dare look at that thing, but we could hear it. Our footsteps thudded on the grass and the thing pursued us with the tap tap tap tap tap now like scurrying little claws on hard earth. As I ran desperately to catch up to the light the sound suddenly rose up behind me and over our heads in between the trees. This wasn't happening it was going to drop down on us. Turn I screamed. I didn't care anymore. If we were going to get out with our lives we were going to have to run for them.

1:14:32We suddenly changed course. The tapping stopped for a moment long enough for us to gain a few feet before it came in our direction again my legs were cramping horribly and chris was gasping hard we couldn't keep this up but where were we i saw the light from the lantern come to an abrupt halt up ahead i didn't have time to stop embrace myself to thump into chris but the light passed beneath my feet he had dropped the lantern i turned my head and watched it recede into the darkness it was immediately too far for me to go back the thing would be on me in a second chris i was crying and swiping tears from my cheeks as i ran preparing for my face to connect with the tree at any moment keep going i heard chris from up ahead there's a light my vision was bleary from tears but could see it an orange glow hanging in the air in the distance another one what was happening i wanted to scream at him to avoid it but i realized it was a street light my legs felt like i was running through water but i pushed them harder with a goal in sight.

1:15:30Gradually and painfully, the light drew closer, as did the clicking. This thing could move like nothing I knew. I saw Chris's figure pass underneath the streetlight, and then he was gone again. Don't stop! I yelled as I approached the edge of the forest, and my legs adjusted as the forest floor gave way to his solid footing. I could see a row of more streetlights leading off to the right, and Chris's figure was passing regularly underneath each. When I was sure I was completely out of the trees, I didn't stop. I ran under several more streetlights, putting as much distance as I could manage between us and the edge of the woods.

1:16:03I realized after a while that the clicking had stopped. I needed to see we were okay. I turned my head and looked back along the row of lights, keeping my gaze on the first light. My pace slowed as the pain in my head and legs came back. There was silence once more, and the lights revealed an empty pathway. I jogged on and kept my eyes on the glow, expecting to see something at any minute. It lit up nothing but concrete in the edge of the road. Is it there? The question pulsed in my mind over and over. As I turned my head to continue catching up to Chris, I caught sight of something pass under the first streetlight.

1:16:42An almighty shock went through me as my fears were confirmed. I let out a cry and picked up the pace once more, sprinting between the lights. The image was burned into my mind. I hardly caught a glimpse of the thing, but it was white and massive. It almost brushed the streetlight as it went under it. It had a long, upright body full of kinks, like it had just unfolded itself. That's all I was able to tell. Must have had a face and limbs, but I didn't have time to see. I didn't look again. The path gave way to more lights and soon I could see the glow of windows and some houses on either side of the road.

1:17:21I recognized where we were close to my house by some miracle. A little further and we would be there. My house! I yelled and Chris listened. Turning left onto a side street and dashing down. To panic on my side I reached the turn and looked down the road to see Chris jumping the fence into my garden. Hurry up! I heard him scream. Reaching the fence, I planted my hands on top, hoisting myself over and shredding my elbows in the process. My ankle stung as I thudded into the garden and sprinted towards the kitchen door. Chris stepped aside, gasping for air as I fumbled the key into the lock and rushed it sideways.

1:17:56We both flew into the kitchen and slammed the door behind us. I locked it from the inside and we both sprinted upstairs into the bedroom, locking it behind us. What was that? I managed to say in a panicked whisper, wondering if it would get in. Did you see it? No. Chris crouched under the window, letting tears roll. Shit, it was so tall. It was... I couldn't... Don't tell me. Don't tell me. Chris cut me off. I mulled it over again and again as we sat there. Minutes slowly ticked by into hours. My head was fizzing all the while and I could still hear its voice. A disgusting voice. my elbows and forearms were sticky with blood and we both looked at the floor the occasional sob coming from the two of us our hearts banged in our chest and we spent the night that way light streamed in from the window but we couldn't unlock the bathroom door until noon we crept downstairs kitchen door was still locked nothing was in the house looked out the living room window another perfect day no people walked by but the sprinklers were and I could hear birds again.

1:19:05It helped to calm our nerves. That tin can stay there. I said at last. Yeah. Chris agreed. We stayed in the living room with the TV off all day. We didn't know what to do. Talked about if we should call the police or something. The day crawled by as we tried to rake our thoughts together and think of what to do next. But all that went through my mind was what had just happened. Not what we should be doing. By the time it was dark at about 9pm, the phone rang. It was Chris's parents asking if I had seen him as they were getting worried. He just got back from out of town. I let them know he was okay and asked if they could come and pick us both up from my house because something had happened.

1:19:50They wanted to know what, but I said we'd both tell them when they get here. I said they'd be here soon. Relief watched over us as adults were on their way to make everything alright. they would believe us we didn't lie about these things even if they were skeptical they'd at least believe that some dangerous animal was in the forest and that was good enough for us I went into the kitchen to get some juice from the

1:20:16of course of course it began with juice, end with juice it only makes sense with our main character at this point motherfucker loves juice motherfucker cannot go a day without juice. Good lord. Bro, I've been so locked in. I know. And then just... And then Mr. Chills was like, and juice. We can't forget what this story is all about. It's just to push juice. Oh. I went into the kitchen to get some juice from the fridge and realized I hadn't had a drink all day. I could hear water dripping in the sink, so I turned the faucet tighter and plugged some juice. As I headed towards the living room, the water started to tap again.

1:21:09Uh-oh. I flicked the light on and realized it wasn't coming from the sink, or anywhere in the room for that matter. It sounded like it was coming from further away. I looked out into the garden could just about see a fuzzy tall silhouette leaning up against the back fence in the dark actually tapping sounded more like clicking the figure slowly moved away from the fence and clicked across the grass towards us please

1:21:45that's the end that's the end, that was good that was solid I think it's interesting. I was going to say there's so many stories out there that I feel like are just a person who's like understands what it takes to just make something kind of spooky, right? I do like these stories. Every time we read one of these kind of stories where it's like a really fun little spooky hook, because that's, you know, it is what it is. It really doesn't give you anything besides being like it was pale, blah, blah, blah. but you almost like these are the stories where i'm like fuck i wish this was like the length of you know a boraska or like something kind of long where you could get into these characters and have these kind of like big swinging moments and stuff do you think that those that can exist in the same realm of like some of the other like longer stories we read i feel like whenever we read a longer story it becomes a character drama which you have to have a character drama for the length of things and develop characters and have payoffs and all that kind of stuff but do you think that you could would it just have to be basically uh like a series of vignettes between these like you know a series of spooky vignettes that happen uh in between all of these character developments and stuff wait ask that question one more time basically what i'm saying is just sorry if i'm saying it weird i guess what i'm saying is that these stories there's so many stories where it's like a shorter story like this where it's punchy probably because the person had an idea of like hey you're out in the woods you don't know what it is and this thing chases you even if it's something like that and you kind of like you branch off on that what if we read something like baraska or something or uh you know uh even like stolen tongues stolen tongues is probably the closest thing to this in the realm of like on a longer story you have to have things where there's conflicts with characters there's arcs to a character a character starts here and it goes and the character is fundamentally changed by the end of the story but i don't think that we ever get like these like big pounding moments i mean not you know not always like i said call it just stolen tongues has its moments as well but you know i guess like you have to sacrifice one for the other you know like can you have these big exciting fun chasing moments um or uh in these longer stories or is it because that there's it's so ambiguous that it becomes something like when it's short it can be ambiguous and quick and because of that it takes on whatever scary things in your mind because there really is no description in stolen tongues it's kind of it's very descriptive right you know in these longer stories the more that you're with it the more that the character is going to see it just to have it just be this long drawn-out story would be not silly but it would just be like you'd want to like you're it's a payoff like you want to see the monster you want to know what it is all that kind of stuff but the the shorter ones have the advantage of it being this kind of like i think so i think it's far more common to get these punchy powerful moments out of short stories and this isn't a discredit to shorter stories no but it's because you don't you can build a story around the punch in a short form right you can have like uh because i mean man you want to talk about a punch the light dangling above the tent well it's definitely back to see the food yeah you can tell the all time incredible yeah you can tell that that moment with how because that's how you can tell too for people that are like i guess trying to like get into writing and stuff because we've been seeing a lot of uh people writing on our on this new subreddit we have called tales from the creeps uh which is all of our it's like a new subreddit that we're doing that's just all stories um and it's awesome but i see a lot of people asking like how i just don't know how i'm supposed to get into it i would say all of these start with like that that moment is probably the first thing that was the hook where the person was like oh that's fun and then they build a story around that which is why you have some some things which it's fine for short stories having stuff that's like yeah the kid he's fucking obsessed with the juice thing and there's like an over excessive amount of like from 922 i do this from 930 i did it like whatever these are just like filler things that you could tell the person just like maybe just didn't care about as much and they're just like get me to that part that i want to do or you're building backwards you know you set it up you build backwards and then forward you're kind of just building the entire story around this thing which is the fun point but you know like you're saying that doesn't discredit the short stories because it's the same thing of like critiquing a short film the same way that you would critique a feature-length film they're just two different things you know like that's they're objectively different even though they're still telling stories they're just fundamentally doing a different thing they have a different purpose um but i just think that's kind of just kind of interesting because it's just you you really get nothing out of these characters there's really no kind of arc it's just a fun spooky like rip off the band-aid kind of thing um and i feel like we get these a lot but i don't know why it just kind of it kind of hit me where it's like i wonder i wonder like it's nice as a palate cleanser but i do wonder if there's something where it's like is there something more to the story you know can't how ambiguous can you be through these stories uh versus just focusing solely on character you know like you can't just go through a whole story and not give away the creature right am i wrong i guess that's kind of one have you ever read a story where it's like the it's like a feature it's like a uh i want to say feature length because i'm thinking of film but i guess i mean like like a full narrative book where you just don't even see the thing like it's just kind of ambiguous and the shadows the whistlers the whistlers i guess that's true the whistle that's really long and they never revealed what they look like there was the dog thing that it turned out was the thing hunting them but the the greater whistler that was using humans as bait to hunt that thing we never see what that looks like i guess that's true and i think that i think also like the description we get of this monster where it's like it folds itself up to be smaller but we don't get any more than that like it's a giant white lanky thing but we that's all the description i don't know if you felt the same whenever they said that it was large and white it made me think of the moth from that story the guy has sex with like the giant moth mother i thought of long course oh is that what you okay yeah i think as soon as i heard like large white i just thought of like a giant pillow body which kind of fucked me up of like this giant insect i was kind of hoping in the story that the creature would hold on to the light and it would be like moving through the forest almost like it's like a giant uh lightning bug or whatever just like floating through the forest and like you know like just that that shadow play is so fun and picturing that you're like oh fuck it's almost like a spirit because then it takes on a new form where it's like yeah it's a monster but now it almost feels like a ghost or something floating through this forest um it's a lot of fun i think that like you know once again it's a it's fun whenever these stories are on the shorter side that have like a fun hook to them versus it really sucks when we read a story and it's like six hours long and you're like what the fuck even like there's no no it's certainly punchy i will say i think it's more impressive when someone can have that level of i guess quality or punchiness and they do it for longer i think that's more of a feat um oh it is the first example that comes to mind is pin pal yeah because pin pal had several little vignettes like that that all connected and each one was like strong kidding satisfying i feel like that's more impressive but that's not to say like the setting of the lantern the tent and stuff like that wasn't incredible wasn't worth the story didn't know well flow so well together the difference and the reason why it's so satisfying is because pen pal is all about character you have to have strong characters like you care about the characters these i don't i could care less like i really sure sure there's nothing but but at the same time the uh like the moments in pen pal those individual punches i think worked on their own like the scene no i think they do going down the river yeah yeah her getting hit by the car outside of the theater and stuff like that they just work so much better because we do care about the characters exactly i think that they do they they are their own and you could have them be their own but it's so much more effective when you're rooting for this character like you're really you're with them you're like you want to see where this is going you'd establish a relationship with them but then i think that's also just writing something that's real it's understanding that like this character is changing things are unfolding that's just so hard it's a very hard thing to do so whenever you do come across stories that kind of like move you in that way it's almost always because the care like the the author is writing good characters that's like that's the backbone in my opinion of i mean just story in general is conflict in characters and stuff so these are nice too though i mean like don't be wrong like i said i love the like peel the band-aid off kind of uh stories like this where it's just like I don't fucking know it's a stupid kid who likes juice let me get you to where I want to get you I think is a fun way too so I think it's just a the reason I want to say it too is just people who are writing this or going to things differently it's like it's not that like one diminishes the other it's just a completely different approach you know and that shouldn't you shouldn't look at it like well I have to have X Y and Z it's like sometimes it's just nice to be on the ride so but that's our episode guys we appreciate you thank you for listening on our audio platforms like Spotify and Apple podcast and give us a nice rating there.

1:31:24It helps. And consider signing up to our patron for bonus content. And if you just want to support the channel, we got some fun stuff planned for this year and Isaiah is getting ready to be a dad. So if there is any kind of gap in the future, I've actually never addressed that publicly before. So thanks for outing me. Yeah, you have, I have not. Well, well, we can edit it out. Nope. Nope. No, this is, this is a good way for it to announce you. Okay. Well, everyone throws it out there completely. Sorry. Well, I thought that it was public knowledge. I apologize. Kayla has mentioned it. Oh, we can still.

1:32:02No, no. I think that's a perfect way to just leave it at the end of an episode with you without consulting me, bringing it out loud. I think that's a good. Alrighty. Well, his wife's getting ready to shit out a baby here pretty soon. Not you. Gross. Oh, my God. Shit out a baby. Isaiah is going to be in dad mode for a while as well so this year is going to be very it's just interesting I'm very excited for you guys and also excited just to see how this channel you know just explores that new feat in your life and stuff I'm just curious I'm curious to see how it changes you and see how maybe even you look at stories differently or something just from the perspective of being a like a new dad I'm about to reread the road uh which you know the the core thing of that's like a father and son so i'm i'm about to reread that and i'm going i fully expect it to put me into a coma so are you going to read the is it the the gift i got you that one you're gonna dive into that one actually i will say so as much as i make fun of hunter hold on let me show this off hunter sent me this is an incredible gift for Christmas, a first edition copy of The Road, like in the original, like 80s publication title with Cormac McCarthy signature, who is now, who is not only my favorite author, but he has now passed away.

1:33:26So this is incredibly, an incredible gift, very incredible gift. So I appreciate it very much. At the, at the, when you go to the front where it says also by Cormac McCarthy, if you look at any modern publication, it's this whole bibliography. But since this was published, then it stops at the orchard keeper because that was the most recent thing he did before the road. So that, yeah, this is really, this is a spectacular. So Hunter did quite well. I appreciate that very much. It's his favorite book. It's the thing that got him into reading. I listen. Well, that's actually very impressive. It's very impressive.

1:33:58I appreciate that. Of course. But also I think that like this year too, it'd be interesting to see if we could try to get, We tried last year, you know, to the best of our ability to try to get in and like read published work. I know there's kind of a weird debate of people online. They're like, well, I want them to check out published works. Or people are like, oh, just stick to the online internet stories. We're going to try whatever. You know what I mean? I think you just, some people don't know what they want until they actually get it. But there's things where we would like to read some longer stories.

1:34:30Just because, I mean, you know, we've been reading creepypastas for so long. and these internet horror stories that it would be cool to kind of get like a big longer chunk of something recorded so that's in the future the only reason I say that too is that just you know new episode or new year new episode kind of thing just thinking about it so if you have any suggestions below feel free to let us know otherwise stay beautiful you guys are the best fan base on earth and we appreciate you so thank you so much guys we will see you in the next one bye bye everyone uh stay creep that was just a really good story uh and then watch goosebumps and um oh yeah funny mention what did i get hunter for christmas absolutely nothing because i'm a great friend yep so all right yeah yeah all right

1:35:34погu haa

1:35:54and she is kind of Lu pelaimage. there was a living Hierby Ne importante Award in David Gl온 Thomas. but she is so passionate with her hi - Shot in Harry - teets. and I am so proud to be here to find the Mirabella where V Sidney goes near me.

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