Turn It Off | CreepCast

This episode is brought to you by PayPal. You know how a mom's bag has everything? Sunscreen. Snacks. A stapler? The new PayPal app is like that, but for your money. Shop, pay, manage your account, and earn rewards all in one place. And with purchase protection on eligible items, biometric security, and pass keys, you're protected at every step. Download the new PayPal app to get started. See paypal.com slash protection terms. For decades, a shadowy organization called the Lemonati has kept lemon on top and lime in the shadows. Look around. Lemon-forward sodas. Even lemon-forward songs. We ran the tracks, slowed them down, reversed them, and squeezed out the truth. That's lemon propaganda right there. But now, 7-Up is fighting back with their new lime-lemon soda. Join the 7-Up rising. Flip the sip. Welcome back to Creepcast. Welcome, my friends, to 2026. Isaiah, tell us what we're reading today, and I'm going to start the year off very strong. Can I start it off strong? For them, it's already been 2026. There's been, like. Just one compilation. Two or three episodes uploaded before this one. But this is the first actual. The first actual recording. Aren't they getting the. Aren't they getting Marble Hornets 3 before this? Yes, but that's Creep TV. That's a completely different property that we don't own. So. I think we do own that. We don't own that. There's, like, two other recordings we've done before it, too. I don't think you know what you're talking about. Anyway, go ahead. This is the first one, and I want to start off the year extremely strong. And that's why I want to say. I'm going to. I'm going to throw a curveball out there, and I'm going to take a risk. Because that's what good men do. And I'm going to say this is going to be the scariest fucking story that we've ever read. Okay? Would you describe yourself as a good man? Well, absolutely. Well, Isaiah, it's open to interpretation. That's telling. I'll tell you what. Today, we're going to be reading a story. And viewers are really for. This is mostly. Whoever, if you're watching this podcast, on YouTube right now, or on Spotify or something, please close your eyes for this section. Audio listeners, do what you do best, and just listen. We're reading a story today, and I really want you to think about this. It's called. Turn It Off. Okay? Turn it off. Isaiah, hit him with the author information. I don't like this ASMR voice that you're giving. This is my natural voice. This is just how I talk. Why don't you tell them about the author? So the author is called Polam Chill. Or Polam Chill. Chill Daddy. Don't do that. He's only posted this story to the Creepypasta Wiki in 2016. And as far as I can tell, nothing else. Um. And no one. Like, I'm looking for more information about him. I'm don't. Not seeing any. Is this a link to a Twitter note? I fucking love. You know what I love about these kind of authors, dude? These are what I like to call the Babe Ruths. All right? This motherfucker took his bat, he pointed it at center field, and hit a home run, and then he's just like, I'm good. You know? Like, I. This is going to be a fucking scary story. Like, I hope you realize that. This is going to be. This is going to startle you. You're going to be afraid. The one hits. The one hits are either incredible or abysmal. Well, my boy, Mr. Chill fucking dropped this. Dropped this log 10 years ago. And he said. Dropped this log? Yeah, he dropped this fucking log in the bowl. It's a. And it's not a. And you would think, oh, is that a turd in there? And it was absolute fucking gold, because that's what he was shitting. Okay? And I'm excited. I feel like that. Okay. Well, anyway, Harlem Chill has written this, nothing else, in 2016, but this story seems very highly beloved online. I hear a lot of people talk about it. I see people make fan art for it, which you see out a lot of the recurring characters in stories, but not the one-off. So I'm interested in what all the hype's about, so to speak. I've never read this one before, but I've heard of it before. As our first recording of 2026, this is. We're back. We're recording now. I want us to do something for. We need to make some rules for this year. I think it's a new year. We should have some new rules. And I think one would be at the beginning of the episode, because a lot of these. We're getting into territories now where even Isaiah has not read the stories, right? We've covered. We have covered multiple stories that I have not read before. Well, yeah, but I'm saying that before, it was like, oh, I've read this one, or I've heard about. Like, blah, blah, blah. I'm saying now you're getting. I just said I've heard about this one. Yeah, but you didn't really know much about it. Just fucking. You didn't let me talk for a second. How does that sound? Can I do that? Can I breathe? Can I breathe? I don't have a choice. I don't have any other choice. Go ahead. I want us to do a thing where starting right now until the end of the year, we can change. This is a yearly thing. We don't have to do it forever. But we're going to guess what the story is about based off the title alone. And we guess. And whoever's the most right at the end, you get a point. And at the end of the year, we'll tally it up, and we'll see who wins. Try to tell me that isn't fun. Sure. Sure, we can do that. Do you want me to keep track of it in here? No, we'll have the editors and the fans, the editors. We will have ways. We don't have to worry about it, all right? The scores, I don't want to fucking think about it until the end of the year when it's presented to me because I will forget. But I have to keep this alive. I have to keep these rules alive. And I already have a kind of an idea of what I think this is going to be about, which I think would be scary. But I'm. I'm curious to hear what do you think this is going to be about off of a title called Turn It Off? Okay, why don't you go first since this is your game? I just told you I wanted to hear yours first. I want to hear yours first. I feel like whatever I say, you're just going to piggyback that. I'm not going to piggyback off your fucking idea, dude. What it. I presented you this question. What, off the hip, what are you thinking this is going to be about? I think this is going to be about two kids like teenage age in the woods who discover something strange while they're out camping. You know what I like about your answer is that you did nothing to solidify the mean. Like this turn. They're turning nothing off in your thing. They could think. Mine. Turn it off could be a flashlight or like something they're holding in their hand and they have to turn off so nothing sees them. Mine, I'm thinking it's going to be more literal. I think that they found. And I don't know if this is real or not, right? This is just. This is me shooting a three. This is me shooting for the first points of the year is I think that they're going to find some mysterious tape and it's going to be children are going to find mysterious tape and it's going to be one of the people. If they're not related, it's like one of the parents or whatever and it's like. It's like their dad like. There's someone. Not a sexual tape, mind you, right? Because I know you think I'm going there but I do think it is something where it is like a dad massaging like. What would be something weird that you can massage that's not sexual? Because it massages. What are you talking about? I'm saying that they're going to find something where the dad is rubbing something down. It's not sexual. So get that out of your brain. Like, I hate. A ham. Like, he's rubbing a ham. And they. They watch it and the guy's like. Turn it off! That's my. Your prediction for this story is that two kids are going to find a video of their dad rubbing a ham. You try to tell me and I want you to be. I want you to be completely honest because you're. I understand that you like to bully me and that's becoming. I like to bully you? Yes. That's what you think the dynamic of the show is? That is the dynamic of the show. You put me down and I have to fucking scrape my knees and get back up. Yeah, that's what it is. So you try to tell me right now that if you. You're like, oh, let's play this tape. You play the tape. It's your dad candlelit room. He has a massage table. It's like your dad practicing. You keep changing. He's like a masseuse. Is he rubbing a ham or is he like massaging a ham on a. It has not changed yet. I'm saying that he's still massaging the ham. I'm giving more details which would be. Okay. The dad, it's like. Think of like a massage room. Candles. Something that. You know, like the music. Remember like an ocean sound? The dad is intensely digging into this ham. Like a full. Like a full Christmas ham on the table. And try to tell me like actually finding that tape. I mean, at first you'd be like, yeah, sure, whatever. But if it kept popping up, that would be a little - It's a little fucking freaky. being honest i mean i i could be completely wrong but that's i mean and i'm not saying it's the most creative it's i'm you know this is just my first thing so we'll see and we'll see who's closest i don't know i don't know are you done with your warm-up the what are you done getting into character and everything i'm sorry isaiah am i disappointing you with my performance of me trying to conversate with you on a podcast so before before every before every uh episode hunter's like hey uh can you give me a minute here and i'm like sure buddy whatever and he's like yeah just uh i just want to try something out at the beginning okay i just i've been thinking about a skit for uh for the tallest episode and we're gonna see how it goes and i'm like yeah man sure go ahead and i regret it every time i don't know why i let him do it okay hurtful i'm just trying to bring a little bit of light light into this crazy dark world of internet horror stories so i apologize and i won't do it anymore there you go i won't do it anymore and you've already in for our creepcast listeners this is mom and dad fighting immediately the beginning of the year so congratulations isaiah you're splitting the family apart thank you for that you know what you're welcome i don't i don't care anymore i can't do this i can't hey audio listener last year last year for our first uh story of the year it was uh my best friend tried to ruin my life so what's that tell you thank you for listening on spotify and apple podcast and for all of our youtube viewers as well thank you for sticking with us on the third and possibly final year of this show depending on how isaiah wants to keep uh ruining this friendship of ours because i am a beacon of support to him a lot of people i see this in the comments too a lot of people say i'm the kind one i'm the one who lifts him up that kind of stuff and to be met with this constantly is like that of uh a single like a like a like a single mom 50 minutes ago you texted me and said almost ready daddy all right well pookie pookie needs to get stuff too sometimes dude oh my gosh okay okay if you're coming at me and you're in my dirty laundry then let's just lay it out as it is between the ham talk and the massage and everything else you were you're beating around the bush a little steamy already but there's no need to there ain't no beating around the bush i am in the bush okay okay i am the bush okay all right turn it off by paul and chill thank you to all of our audio listeners thank you so much to our patreon supporters we love you guys a lot appreciate all the support that you guys have been giving us i got a lot of cool new projects on the way that we'll be announcing very soon hopefully so stay tuned for that but thank you guys um i said is that it anything else we need to add hunter do you think that this is going to be a scary story you didn't really i i'm thinking this is going to be a scary one do you think this is actually scary i don't think it'll be creepy i think it'll be creepy i'm trying to go into this year and i'm going to tell you guys right now i am raising the bar of excitement i am too negative too quickly and that's that's my new year's resolution is i'm going to be more positive and i'm going to i'm going to try to enjoy these stories more and i'm going to get into it you know what i mean i'm going to i'm making that promise right now it's because i saw i saw the ending of stranger things and it's just it's turned me for the better was it good did it end well i thought everyone hated it no it ended very well i feel like there's some sarcasm there but whatever no man all right are you ready yes turn it off i rested my arms behind my head skim reading the credits of a movie i just watched after seeing them through about halfway i lifted up the camera and i looked at the camera and i was like i don't know what's going on with the camera and i was like i don't know what's going on with the camera and i was like i don't know what's going on with myself from the sofa and walked to the kitchen stretching my arms out above me i opened the fridge door and found a full carton of juice so i sat down on the kitchen counter by the window cracked open the lid took several long noisy gulps when i couldn't drink anymore i gasped to let in new air and wipe my mouth on the back of my hand jesus all right okay first i okay i'm not this is not me i'm not gonna immediately be negative but i will say this is some david king energy of who the fuck reads halfway through the movie credits can i just say who's like oh key grip book brian oh okay awesome yeah that's great who who the fuck is doing that and also to immediately go to the fridge and slam down sunny d and be like you're drinking so much look god three sentences in you know maybe i know i'm just saying it caught me sorry that's like some little kid energy though isn't it that is like that is like a four-year-old thing to do where they grab drinks like while they're drinking they're afraid they'll never be able to breathe again the death has never tasted so good all right my evenings were uneventful around this time in summer it was 9 15 on a saturday in july school was out for the holidays my parents had gone to visit my aunt and uncle who lived by the coast they'd still be gone for two more weeks what they left they left a child for like three weeks okay so i think that this is no no i think that this is going to be like a high schooler and i like how he's like that my my evenings are uneventful it's a saturday during there it is a saturday during summer break and your parents are not home i mean they are not home they are not home they're saying that this is a fucking loser can we at least say that i think that's the idea i think the idea is he doesn't have friends he's not like partying hanging out yeah i declined the invitation to join them i didn't dislike the place where my relatives but we usually stayed there so long that i'd miss out on most of summer break and i truthfully rather spend it with my friends in town i was a good kid who knew how to wash clothes and use an oven generally not an idiot so they let me stay at the house so long as i kept it clean as i sat looking out into the garden to check for anything scary in the dark it was empty and black i kind of wished we had a pet a dog or a cat would be nice about now but their hair always made me sneeze and my eyes go red and itchy with that in mind my dad said no even though i wouldn't mind it at 9 22 p.m i put the rest of the juice carton back in the fridge door and went back over to the window hoisting myself onto the counter again i glanced out to the garden and i identified the shadows one by one to make sure everything was in its place bushes were their usual shape two small trees stood together by the back fence a metal table with four chairs set casually on the patio they have not said how old this person just this child is right right okay the hoisting the hoisting up on the counter did make it seem it's it's jumping between 19 or 8 that's that's the brilliance of uh chills that's that's that's what i love um if i had to guess this kid's 13 i think that's fair it's a healthy split between the two yeah yeah i think it's 13 he's a he's a very short or are we saying he's like a 13 year old like a dwarf yeah okay i don't know about that like a 13 year old dwarf okay i like to check these things which is largely why i wasn't scared of the dark i'd always get up to investigate small noises in the night and i hated sleeping with my face to the wall if someone was in my room at night i'd rather know about it so at least there was the faintest chance of getting away somehow this meant that my worries were quickly put to rest as i either found nothing downstairs but the radiator popping with the heat or opened my eyes to see an empty bedroom not knowing what could be making the odd noises coming from the kitchen or on the stairs or in my room so it seemed like i had to go to sleep at 9 30 p.m i got down from the counter and wandered back into the living room to turn off the tv and decided to take the rest of the juice upstairs man this he's about this juice i was gonna say i've drunk so hard not to jump in i just was like he drank juice for seven minutes without doing anything else which he counted shadows which if you think about it is a long time and then he sat on a counter he was able to jump up with dwarven strength look and he was counting shadows for another seven minutes before proceeding to grab the juice and go downstairs or upstairs so this is i don't know it's good i like this i bet you do also i like how specific the times are at 9 22 p.m at 9 15 at 9 22 this is the first story of 2026 we gotta keep it 9 47 and 12 seconds gotta keep it together yeah we can't let last year happen again no no i'm not and i'm just it was i was i'm having fun go ahead okay i went back into the kitchen opened the fridge door it stopped Turning my head to focus outside, I could see someone was standing in the garden. I shut the fridge door and turned off the lights so they couldn't see me so easily, then moved slowly, clinging on the kitchen counter to get a better look. All the doors were locked and all the neighbors were home. It took a moment to remind myself this. Still, my heart quickened a bit as I stood there, straining to see his or her shape in the darkness at the end of the garden. I had to keep glancing away to keep their fuzzy outline clear in my vision. They were standing very still and were a little thin, but that's all I could see. I couldn't tell anything else. Oh, I said out loud. It was the garden umbrella leaning up against the back fence. I forgot that we used it for barbecues. I smiled at myself, pleased that I didn't get too worked up and went upstairs to my bedroom. I laid on the bed and propped my head up on a pillow. I opened my laptop on my stomach to see if anybody was online. Apparently, someone else was bored and saw my name pop up. Hey. Hey, you okay? Yeah, bored. Are your parents still away? For a couple more weeks. Why don't I come around? I don't want to be rude, but I kind of can't be bothered to hang out tonight, lol. Thanks, though. What? Why? You're just drinking juice. You said your night was uneventful. You've been drinking juice for 10 minutes and counting shadows. Sorry, buddy. This is a full night for me. He's laying on his bed, like typing in the juices next to him, and he glances over at the juice, and he's like, I've got plans this evening. And then also, like, amongst this talk of juice, he's also like, and I don't like sleeping face to the wall. Did I mention I count shadows? I got a long Friday night of counting shadows and drinking. I don't like sleeping with my face to the wall, because if someone tries to break in and murder me, I at least want to see their eyes. I want to see that hatchet flying at my face while I'm drinking juice. Do it. Do it. Do it. That's what he says to the murderer. Do it. Yeah, he's the freak. He's the monster of the story. So far, he pretty much fucking is. He breaks into people's houses and kills them for their juice. Like he raised the end of the story like he goes back home and he he opens the fridge and there's like 40 juice boxes like he's been doing this for years. He's getting he's getting strangled on his bed and then under the covers. He's like feeling around or the covers and he grabs a giant Welch's grape juice thing and props up and just dumps it on his face. Oh, I know what you mean. It's cool. What about tomorrow? Yeah, that sounds better. Cool. I'll be round about one. I've got some family stuff to do the morning. Okay. You still have a tip, by the way. We can camp at the garden or something. Oh, slumber party. I love you, too, bro. Whatever you get the tip, though. Yeah, somewhere. Let me check BRB. I got up from my bed and headed to. To check the cupboard under the stairs. I didn't know where the tent was, but it seemed a good place to start. I opened the cupboard door and started shifting coats aside. Some cardboard boxes were stacked up at the back and might be hiding it. So I started on stacking them. Why give us that level of detail? It's like I. Moved my. I opened the. Cover of juices and cardboard boxes. They were stacked up. Maybe the tent could be behind those. Who's to say I un-stacked the boxes? Like it. Is important to show the level of juice boxes and boxes of juice in the house. Yeah, I imagine this is like Costco pallets of juice. It's going to be like the the ending of Creep, where he goes to open the cabinet and there's like hundreds of VHS tapes, but just thousands of bottles of juice. Yeah, yeah, yeah, just all the juice boxes. Which one today I took out a couple of the easy to reach ones and had a stroke of good luck. As the tint bag came into view, I leaned over the other boxes and picked up the bag and took the big garden umbrella that set beside it, too, just in case it rained tomorrow. I paused, put the tent down, took me a couple of seconds to get back to the kitchen window and focus on the darkness outside. My eyes weren't yet adjusted to the dark, so I couldn't see all the way to the back fence. Oh, oh, OK, that actually, you know, I was making fun of it, but that actually worked pretty well. Because like the level of detail, I wasn't thinking when he mentioned that he moved the garden umbrella, but my head did go, oh, is it like the one outside? But I had the realization the same time the author did like, oh, if the umbrellas in here, then what was that out there? That's pretty good. Turning off the kitchen light, I leaned on the counter, continued staring at the same point. The other garden features began to fade into view one by one. But in my previous middle image, I wasn't. I wasn't sure what I wanted to see. The darkness gave way to the familiar forms I knew, but after a while, I was certain there still stood a figure against the back garden fence. It hadn't moved. I stood there for 15 minutes looking at it. I couldn't tell its shape properly, but it did look like someone standing there. I decided it wasn't a threat. I thought if I was in any real danger, would have been a lot more worried by now. That thought kept me calm, but I also wanted to find out. What it was couldn't stand there forever, jogged upstairs, picked up my laptop, brought it down to me with the counter. Could you come around now? Oh, yeah, I think I can see something in my garden. What is it? An animal? No, it's tall. I thought it was an umbrella. And now you're sure it isn't. I don't know. I thought it was someone, but now I'm sure it's not a person. It just looks weird. And I don't think it was there before. Before when? I don't know. Earlier today, maybe I can't remember. Are you scared? I'd feel better if someone else was here. Well, I did offer to come around and I'm bored. So, yeah, yeah, I'll come soon. Cool. Thanks. Use the front gate. I sat there watching the black shape leaned against the fence for another 10 minutes. Eventually. The doorbell rang. I opened it. Chris ran in. Bear hugged me. It's been too long. Chris Mott cried. Yeah, it must have been a whole day. The Torbid. He replied, pretending to ignore me. Look, come over here, I said, pushing him off and walk into the kitchen. I switched off the light and pointed in the figure's direction. Look. Give me a sec. Can't see properly. A minute later. He noticed that black thing. Yeah, um, we both stood there looking at it for a while. I have expected it to be gone. When he looked, he leaned over the counter. It's just a big plan or a plank of water or something. Let's go watch TV. Will you check with me to make sure? Do you have a torch? Oh, gross. Oh, he's British. They're British. Oh, I don't know if we can continue the story. I'm in good conscience. This video is sponsored by our partners at Factor. After the holidays, it's time to get back into our routines and start eating better. It can be hard to stay on top of your eating habits. Thankfully, Factor has got you covered. Factor powers your day, sun up to sun down with nutritious breakfast and on the go lunches and premium dinners. In just two minutes, you can heat eat and enjoy. With 100 rotating meals each week to choose from, you are sure to find something you like. Everything is free. Everything is chef-crafted and dietitian approved, and now you can try both flavors from China and Thailand or get their new Mediterranean diet options packed with protein and good for you fats. 97% of customers say that Factor has helped them live a healthier life, and with options like calorie smart, keto, protein plus, and vegan, it's easy to see why. And the best part of Factor is that there's no prep work, no grocery lines, and virtually no clean up. Head to factor.com/creepcast50off and use code creepcast50. to get 50% off your first box plus free breakfast for one year. That's code creepcast50off at factors.com/creepcast50off for 50% off your first box plus free breakfast for a whole year. Offer only ballot for new Creepcast customers with code and qualifying auto-renewing subscription purchase. Make healthier eating easy with Factor. Display URL and promo code on screen as is read. Thank you to Factor for sponsoring this video. Now back to the episode. This episode. Sponsored by Thorum Thorum has handcrafted wedding bands that are, that are both unique and resilient with material options ranging from meteorite whiskey barrel and dinosaur bone. You can make, you can make a moment even more memorable with one of their rings with over 10,000 five-star views. Thorum is your next ring to love. They have rings made of ironwood, world war II rifle stocks, Damascus steel, tungsten carbide, and many other options. Don't know what size you are. Thorum has paper sizes so you can figure it out at home. Every. single order ships within one business day and each ring purchase comes with a free thorium silicone activity band and a thorium american walnut wood ring box thorium has free worldwide shipping and lifetime warranty and if you're not in the market for a ring thorium also has watches made with hawaiian koa californian redwood or meteorite whether you need a wedding ring anniversary ring or just want a ring that looks awesome head over to thorium.com and use code creepcast with code creepcast you get 20 off your order thank you to thorium and back the episode is torch uh slang for british flashlight that's what they call it in like the uk they call flashlights torches yeah no i admitted well we could check if we keep the kitchen light on and open the back door a little bit i thought for a second and agreed but said we should stay right by the house um the uh it's amazing that he has a tent and he knows where that is but there's no flashlight in the house um and also i was so right with my prediction at the beginning like i was cheating a bit with the camping thing because harry had mentioned it i said i don't know maybe turn it off like a flashlight or a flash a light so they don't get spotted and with the mention of the light switch going on and off i think i was correct well we're not done with the story yet there could still be a tape of some kind or there's no tape there's no it might not be a ham tape but there might be a there might be some kind of tape or ham still involved in this i don't think so now also the figure that's standing out there which is kind of creepy you have a guy standing out there for fucking 25 minutes to an hour but he specified it doesn't look like a human right or something something's out there right leaning against the fence right right what makes it so much creepier to me is that the casualness of it it's leaning on the fence it's like a it's like the marlboro man or something like that you know just like chilling out there do you think that it's like eyes are just looking right at it or is it just pure black silhouette he said at first that it looks like a human but now he's not so sure so i think it's just kind of like a tall shape i don't think he sees eyes or anything like that i think it's just so white because they're they're both in denial that's even a person they're like is it like a giant board or something yeah well they're definitely doing that kid thing where it's like it's just like it's probably like a shrub because in the back of your mind you're like this is i'm so scared right now yeah there's like three jackets piled on top of a horse you know it's yeah dead starts sprinting at you it's just jackets that's a horse that's a horse with jackets that's what they do immediately chugging juice through this whole conversation like he just has juice running down his shirt i am not i have not i have not pictured this boy this child however old this child is without a carton or glass of juice somehow in his vicinity or if he's just been holding it the whole time as they go to open the door he's like shaking the the lids open juice is spilling everywhere yeah come on in chris you want some juice no it's okay i'll take water you just like start throwing up yeah chris is talking to his friend he's like yeah my mom says i should hang out with him more because he doesn't really doesn't get a lot of friends so we slipped on our trainers and opened the back door stepping onto the patio i felt the air was heavy and warm that night chris walked behind me we stood very close to the door peering at the back fence should we i had just started to speak when he quickly stepped into the house again still looking at the fence what i asked following him in i turned and realized that the figure was gone it was obvious from the light coming from the back door but the fence and the rest of the garden was just as it always was where is it if it was leaning against the fence it probably fell over into a bush or something i tried to convince us both stared out for a few seconds longer and decided that we were too nervous to go and check i don't usually give in to my night terrors but now they were just beginning to click into my head can you stay over for the night i asked chris uh yeah sure it didn't sound like he really wanted to kept his eyes on the fence we both went inside and locked the door before going up to my room i got out of sleeping bag for chris and drew the curtains without looking outside into the garden again talked about stupid stuff for a couple of hours to take our minds off the garden and fell asleep i actually yeah so i really like the the vita juice and the the pomegranate what about you what's your favorite chris is i gotta say respect gain from chris right if it was me i would be gone i would not fucking stay leave me in a harvey i think a lot of people would be like no i don't think it's a good idea why don't we go to my house instead chris is a fucking that what a what a good friend i plus two points for chris it's also in that weird place where it's like why don't they go to chris's house but they're both 13 and they don't know they saw something so maybe it's the idea of like well i don't want to bother my parents and you come over and like make it a whole deal it's just plausible enough that they would stay there i think because it's not like they saw a giant guy with like bloody teeth or whatever yeah it's just maybe they saw a shape yeah they still don't really even know what they saw so they're still there's still plausible deniability in their brain right but yes if i the reason i think that they don't leave too is that once again it's the thing where it's outside to be able to leave is outside they're probably i wonder if it's some psychological thing where like if we go outside it's going to get us so why don't we just you just want to stay here tonight uh sure you know that kind of thing yeah yeah i think so in the morning i found chris is sleeping back empty i called out to chris and he said he was downstairs so i threw on a t-shirt and went down sleep well i asked yeah pretty well i kept thinking about the guarded stuff hey did you find that tent or yeah or or yeah i think i found that tent or chris you're gonna want to see this and it's just another fridge full of james we gotta go to the store get more juice yeah i got more juice i answered remembering that shape which i had forgotten about until now well i was thinking about the camping thing and i thought maybe we could bring the tent to my house it would just make a change you know didn't have to ask him why i wasn't too keen on staying in my garden after last night wait you're gonna bring the tent to my house yeah you're gonna bring the tent to my house wait last night come to think of it sun was up and i wanted to check the garden while it wasn't pitch black i asked chris and he hesitantly agreed we 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 and 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 we 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 as well as some bottles of water there's a forest just next to my house which is actually pretty good our garden our garden backs to the edge of it i stayed to tit 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 could just go to my house my parents are out so we'll have 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 at 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 um 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 they're just like well we'll see what the we'll see with the juice goblin who he wants to pick up tonight yeah we'll see 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 all the kids in the town are forced to yeah drink juice and stuff get all plump on you so it's isn't there a horror movie like that where the parents are fattening up the kids for something i think i'm thinking of hansel and gretel or something well i mean yeah but i mean probably there's probably some like 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 place at 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 some 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 the sprinkler offered us some water as we walked by one house and it felt good on my hot arms I was already sweating 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. I 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. I 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. I walked in a straight line from Chris's house and kept checking behind us until the house was just about obscured by trees. 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. I unpacked the tent 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. I stepped out again. I 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, downing half of it and putting the rest back in the pack. It 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. Cool it with the juice thing. Have him hydrate like a new boy. You need to, after the second paragraph, you need to drink it. You need to drink it. You need to drop the juice thing. What do you mean? Why? What's wrong? Lips chapped. Lips completely covered in stain from grape juice. 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. The 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. Oh, I think for sure. 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 creek. He tugged it, creaked in response. I listened. He tucked it once more. And again, there was a moment of silence as I guessed he was still weighing it up. Then another tug continued to tug a few more times, and the creaking followed each one. I was sure it wouldn't hold his weight, and I smiled, predicting one big creak in a snap as the rope with the branch broke. I waited as some final tugs were made. Creek, creek. I waited still. Creek, creek, creek. Yo! I heard Chris's voice coming from his garden. Man. I sat 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. Ah, 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, and 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, uh, 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. Yeah, I like the, I like the idea of the creaking too. Yeah. Because it's like, like bending or not bending, but like stretching and stuff. It's just a fun. Well, it, it almost sounds like it was the thing making the creaking 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 like a monster to getting on, like something that's like a rope ropes have such a straining, almost like bone breaking sound that like, 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. So it's like this weird, like something that's like a rope ropes have such a straining, breaking sound kind of sick. Pretty hard. You know, some of my complaints from the beginning, 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? Hey, are you good? I just followed my gaze. I thought you'd already come back. Said immediately, I wasn't the type to let things slide with an oh, it's nothing. What? 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 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. I heard them walk by my head. I felt a bit sick. 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. 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 her raspy meow that's i read raspy as raspberry for a second she had the head of a cat and if you heard her raspy meow that meant she was trying to find you if she stopped meowing 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 i wish that the head of a cat i wish that was the fucking monster like you know something like i love those just kind of like folk taley grimm's fairy tale kind of crap creatures yeah if she stops meowing it's like yeah also how fucking creepy is that you start hearing a cat 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 it was 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 or no it's a dead cat a cat that if it's the cat got ran over by a car um a 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 it's not even 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 it like human appendages it looks haunted 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 now i've seen that i've seen 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 that was the first shot of it too she steps out of a dark hallway like this 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 went 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 night was so intense that we left the food for now and decided we'd eat it at the night if we got hungry chris hung the electric lantern at the front of the tent 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 tent opening and i followed him 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 i said so bro i said my head tilted as i strained to hear yeah i can hear some bullshit too that would be you that's a hundred percent of you no i'm too much of a pussy i'm telling i'm too much of a like chris chris is he is actually doom pilled he is black pilled correct chris for sure this little motherfucker wants to die why are you smiling are 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 maybe open up a little 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 lay there talking for a little while and then the exhaustion of such a hot summer hit us and we fell asleep all right thank god it was just a joke all right so chris is really teetering the line i can't tell but yeah it was just well doing a little yeah he was messing around like can you hear me out and 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 hexclad 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 hexclad you can now get a beautiful sear great heat control and easy cleanup hexclad 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 hexclad's 12-piece set is ultimate all-in-one cookware upgrade when 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 hexclad's revolutionary cookware do they actually have us to say that bon appetit let us eat what thank you to hexclad you 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 a 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 after i turned around and chris was gone i heard a creak behind me a feeling came over me 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 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 i couldn't fall asleep with the glow of the lantern on my eyelids so i set up and searched the tent for it quickly realized the light was coming from outside chris i said still confused from sleep mumbled something and reply chris where's the lantern he said slowly and sleepily before turning over looking around again 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 that's taken the uh the lantern and like tied it to the rope swing it was just interesting 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 whose 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 unzipping the fabric doors i looked around nothing appeared over at 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. I 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. 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. I picked up the rope again and lobbed 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. 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. Uh, 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. Yeah, just like dancing. 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 shark in open water kind of thing. Yeah, yeah. But I do like the use of that. The 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 reach, there's nowhere to climb, something had to reach up that big to tie it. Well, even if you just, 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 it'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. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 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, Ted, 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. I was like, "What the hell is this?" I was like, "What the hell is this?" 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, then 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 could 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. A 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, click, click filled my ears as we tried to gauge the distance. It was drawing closer. Click, clack, click. It 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. And 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. Don't you dare. I tried to project into his mind. Don't you make a sound. Chris. Please. It 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 arm's length away from where we stood. Silence. Chris. Turn it on. Please. Fear 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 a 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. We 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, embraced myself to thump into Chris. But the light passed beneath my feet. It 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 streetlight. My legs felt like I was running through water, but I pushed them harder with a goal in sight. Gradually 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. I 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. But it lit up nothing but concrete at 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 road. Something passed under the first streetlight. An 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. It 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. I 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. We 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 didn't unlock the bathroom door until noon. We crept downstairs. The kitchen door was still locked and nothing was in the house. I looked out the living room window. Another perfect day. No people walked by, but the sprinklers were on and I could hear birds again. It helped to calm our nerves. "That tent 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' 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. They 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. us as adults were on their way to make everything all right 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 of course of course it began with juice end with juice it's only it only makes sense with our main character at this point motherfucker loves juice motherfucker cannot get not cannot go a day without juice good lord bro I've been so locked in I know and then just and then mr. 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 clogged some juice so I headed towards the living room the water started to tap again uh 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 that's the end that's the end that was good that was solid I think it's interesting I was gonna say there's 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 barrasca 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 a like a series of vignettes between these like you know a series of spooky vignettes that happen in between all of these character developments and stuff wait ask that question one more time basically what I'm saying is 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 barrasca or something or you know 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 characters fundamentally change 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 stolen tongues has its moments as well but kind of I guess like you have to sacrifice one for the other you know like can you have these big exciting fun chasing moments or 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 and 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 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 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 because I mean man you want to talk about a punch the light dangling above the tent and then coming back to see the food like into the tent all time incredible you can tell that that moment with 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 people writing on our on this new subreddit we have called tales from the creeps which is all of our it's like a new subreddit that we're doing that's just all stories 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 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 that 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 but I just think that's kind of just kind of interesting because it's just 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 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 how ambiguous can you be through these stories 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 I want to say feature length because I'm thinking of film but I guess I mean like a full narrative book where you just don't even see the thing like it's just kind of ambiguous and in the shadows the whistlers I guess that's true the whistlers 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 it itself up to be smaller but we don't get any more than that like it's a giant white lanky thing but 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 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 lightning bug or whatever just like floating through the forest and like you know like just 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 there'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 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 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 hitting satisfying I feel like that's more impressive but that's not to say like the setting of the lantern and the tin and stuff like that wasn't incredible wasn't worth the story didn't work so well flow so well together the difference and the reason why it's so satisfying is because pin 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 there's nothing but at the same time the uh like the moments in pin pal those individual punches I think worked on their own the scene 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 author is writing good characters and that's like that's the backbone in my opinion of i mean just story in general is conflict and characters and stuff so these are nice too though i mean like don't get me 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 you know i don't fucking know i don't fucking know i don't fucking know i don't fucking know to 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 are 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 uh so but that's our episode guys we appreciate you uh thank you for listening on our audio platforms like spotify and apple podcast and give us a nice rating there it was awesome thank you so much for watching and we'll see you next time on spotify and apple podcast and if you 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 adding me yeah you have i have not well well we can edit it out no no no this is this is a good way for it to announce you okay well everyone's out there well i thought that it was public knowledge i apologize kayla kayla has mentioned it oh okay we can still we can still no 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 all righty well his wife's getting ready to shit out a baby here pretty soon not you gross oh my god shit out a it's just interesting i'm very excited for you guys and also excited just to see how this channel um you know it 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 you know i'm about to reread the road uh which 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 expected to put me into a coma so are you going to read the is it the gift i got you that one yes 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 uh cormac mccarthy signature who is passed away uh so 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 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 i listened well that's actually very impressive it's very impressive i appreciate that of course uh 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 publish work i know there's kind of a weird debate of people online they're like well i want them to check out publish works or people are like i'll just stick to the online internet stories we're gonna try whatever you know 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 just because i mean you know we've 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 um recorded so that that's in the future i the only 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 i'll see you in the next one bye 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 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 you tammy regularly hauls stuff to her kids at college that's why she shops at bj's wholesale club saving up to 25 off grocery store prices beef jerky microwave meals laundry pods even they can't screw up have you met my kids and with bj's gas she gets there for less they call me the road warrior this is your home road warrior mom home of the save join for just 20 at bjs.com slash mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months open soon limited time offer new members only bj's home of the save