S22 Ep17: NoSleep Podcast S22E17

Speaker 1 This is Jonas Knox from Two Pros and a Cup of Joe.

Speaker 4 And on Fox One, now you can stream your favorite live sports so you can be there live for the biggest moments.

Speaker 6 That means NFL Sundays, college football games, NASCAR, MLB postseason, and more.

Speaker 2 With Fox One, you'll get it all live.

Speaker 11 Edge of your seat plays, jaw-dropping, high-octane moments, and that feeling like you're right there in the action.

Speaker 8 Fox One, we live for live streaming now.

Speaker 8 they're calling

Speaker 8 like me to call you back.

Speaker 8 The phone is ringing.

Speaker 8 A message from an unknown caller.

Speaker 8 A voice unrecognizable.

Speaker 8 Audio messages from the shadows.

Speaker 8 But one message is clear,

Speaker 8 and it says:

Speaker 8 Brace yourself for the No Sleep podcast.

Speaker 14 Death can come for you any place,

Speaker 14 anytime. It's never welcome, but if you've done all you can do, and it's your best, in a way, I guess you're ready.

Speaker 12 Welcome to our sleepless show. I'm your host and educator, Dr.
Cummings. Why do I give myself the fraudulent title of doctor, you ask?

Speaker 12 Because, despite not actually having a doctorate degree, I am going to educate you with a mind-blowing fact. It's regarding horror, and the fact is this.
Horror is very closely tied to fear.

Speaker 12 Thus endeth the lesson. Now, with that fact established, we need to examine the things which cause fear in people.
And at the top of the list, undoubtedly, is the fear of death.

Speaker 12 And these days, it might feel like the risk of death is everywhere. Taking a shower, lightning will strike your house, run through the pipes, and electrify you.
You're dead.

Speaker 12 Driving to your favorite chicken farm? A bridge collapses on your car on the way there. You're dead.
Or if you make it to the farm, you contract bird flu. You're dead.

Speaker 12 Want to get away on a luxury vacation at the white lotus?

Speaker 12 Yeah, you're dead. The potential for your demise is omnipresent.
The Grim Reaper is waiting around every corner.

Speaker 12 So then, now imagine that not only do you have to deal with all the very real and tangible causes of death surrounding you, you have to contend with all the supernatural ways death can be visited upon you.

Speaker 12 There are plenty of things not of this natural world that would like nothing more than to see you devoid of life. And the best thing about that? They make for great horror stories.

Speaker 12 And so, dear sleepless listener, this episode is poised to present you with tales of people trying to be death-defying, because they're faced with all manner of things which want to harm them and, dare I say, kill them to death.

Speaker 12 If only some of them had the courtesy to call you ahead of time. Oh, and speaking of, Do you dare pick up your phone and listen to the voices calling to you?

Speaker 12 In our first tale, we meet a young man ready to race in a swim meet. That is, until a thunderstorm rolls through.

Speaker 12 Thunder and lightning may be great for horror, but they're not good for outdoor swimming. And in this tale, shared with us by author B.A.

Speaker 12 Rees, It was during the delay that the young man learned of a legend about the pool. A tale, like the pool, which is quite deep.

Speaker 12 Performing this tale are Dan Zapula, Graham Rowett, Jeff Clement, Kyle Akers, Nicole Goodnight, Aaron Lillis, and Jesse Cornette.

Speaker 12 So get on your marks and get set because it's time for the first heat.

Speaker 12 The announcement came promptly after we sensed the distant rumble.

Speaker 15 Attention, all swimmers. Attention, all swimmers.
Due to another nearby lightning strike, the competition is delayed by 20 minutes.

Speaker 12 Goggles let out an annoyed moan.

Speaker 12 I'd given him that nickname because I didn't know his real name, and because he had insisted thus far on wearing his oversized goggles for the duration of the wait, I finally decided to ask him about it.

Speaker 12 It's been nearly an hour already. You can't be comfortable keeping them on like that.

Speaker 16 What's it to you, county boy?

Speaker 12 I shrugged. Goggles, Anthony, and Roger made up the rest of my heat, and they were friends with one another.
If I picked a fight, they'd back each other up, so I tried not to escalate things further.

Speaker 12 That didn't stop Roger from whining about me.

Speaker 12 God damn it, how long are we stuck here with this bumpkin?

Speaker 16 A long time, I bet. A very long time.

Speaker 12 This caused Anthony to speak up for the first time in a while.

Speaker 17 Give him a break, guys. We're all in the first heat anyway.

Speaker 12 We've got nothing to act tough about.

Speaker 12 He was right. In swimming, each age group is divided into heats of competitors who all race at once.
The number of swimmers in a heat varies based on the number of lanes in the pool.

Speaker 12 In the case of the pool used for this regional tournament, 10.

Speaker 12 The last heat was where all the excitement happened, as it contained the fastest swimmers.

Speaker 12 The first heat was the opposite, as it typically consisted of those who swam slowly, as well as competitors who had gotten themselves disqualified for breaking the rules in previous competitions.

Speaker 12 The first heat was notable, too, in that it was the only one that had an irregular number of people.

Speaker 12 If there were 73 swimmers in an age group at this pool, the first heat would include only three, versus an even 10 for each of the remaining heats.

Speaker 12 The worst fear of any slow swimmer like myself was to be the solo competitor in Heat 1.

Speaker 12 Goggles, Anthony, and Roger, who I figured all attended one of the private schools nearby, displayed a preppy hostility towards me. But at least their presence ensured that I wasn't alone.

Speaker 12 We bore all the signs of a first heat, from being only four in number to lacking the lean physiques of the better swimmers, half of us being too scrawny and small, and the other half leaning too far in the other direction.

Speaker 12 Normally, our humiliation was brief.

Speaker 12 Within 15 minutes, we'd soared into heats in the gymnasium, walk to the various waiting stations throughout the facility, and end up on a diving board poised to jump into the indoor pool.

Speaker 12 The race, a 50-meter breaststroke, would be over in in no time, and then this miserable weekend would be one step closer to ending.

Speaker 12 Today, however, lightning had kept us stuck in the corridor where we waited just outside the pool room.

Speaker 12 I normally experienced nervous jitters a few minutes before a race, but all I felt now, after so much waiting, was tedium and boredom.

Speaker 12 Roger, perhaps realizing he'd let a full minute pass without complaining about something, spoke up again.

Speaker 12 Why do they even delay for lightning when it's an indoor pool we're going to be swimming in?

Speaker 17 It's just a stupid government rule. The lightning can't hurt us indoors, even in the water.
But there's some local safety code that makes them have to wait anyway.

Speaker 16 Oh, this is so boring. We're stuck here forever with absolutely nothing to do.

Speaker 12 Maybe they'll just cancel the race. Surely they have to do that eventually.

Speaker 12 This prompted a sneer from Roger.

Speaker 12 You'd like that, wouldn't you? It's the only way you won't place dead last.

Speaker 12 He and Goggles snickered.

Speaker 12 Like Anthony said, we're all in last place already by being in the first heat. There are nine heats that are faster than us.
Do you really care about finishing in 91st place versus 94th?

Speaker 16 At least we'll finish it all.

Speaker 12 Goggles approached where I sat, such that he towered over me.

Speaker 12 I jumped to my feet. Even if the odds weren't in my favor, I wasn't going to let them keep tormenting me without fighting back.

Speaker 12 The door at the opposite side of the hallway opened as a familiar figure entered.

Speaker 12 My sister Allison, six years my senior and an event volunteer, unwittingly broke up a potential scuffle, goggles retreated, and sat against the wall with Roger and Anthony.

Speaker 12 One of them, I don't know who, let out a few cat-calling whistlers,

Speaker 12 which Allison thankfully ignored.

Speaker 19 Hey, Peter, are you doing okay?

Speaker 12 I nodded. I was worried about you.

Speaker 19 Is there no staff person here?

Speaker 12 I shook my head. Some coach was here for a little while, but he left and hasn't come back yet.
I see.

Speaker 19 Well, I know you can look after yourself, but please don't hesitate to come find me if anything comes up. I know you must be bored out of your mind.

Speaker 12 Yeah, of course I'm bored. I wish this would wrap up already.
These delays are killing me.

Speaker 19 It's a nightmare, I know, but I have a feeling things will be moving along shortly. I'll be watching whenever the races resume, and I'll be cheering for you, little champ.

Speaker 12 You're gonna do great, all right?

Speaker 12 Thanks.

Speaker 12 I watched watched as she made her way back to the gymnasium. Little champ.

Speaker 16 She won't be cheering when she sees how badly you lose.

Speaker 12 Fuck off.

Speaker 12 Again, it was Anthony who stood up for me.

Speaker 17 Go easy on him.

Speaker 16 Why do you keep sticking up for this guy?

Speaker 17 Because he has enough to worry about already. When it's our turn to race, I get the feeling Nick's gonna be in the pool, waiting.
If Peter's as slow as we think he is,

Speaker 17 he won't be climbing out the other side.

Speaker 12 What? Who's Nick?

Speaker 12 Oh,

Speaker 18 he doesn't know the legend.

Speaker 12 Goggle's response sounded forced, even improvisational.

Speaker 12 Oh, right.

Speaker 12 The legend. I'm not falling for whatever bullshit you're about to make up.

Speaker 12 To my surprise, Anthony joined in.

Speaker 12 You don't have to believe it if you don't want to, but ignore it at your own risk.

Speaker 17 I'm confident that I can outswim Nick. You, though, I'm not so sure about.

Speaker 12 Roger took a step towards me.

Speaker 12 You see,

Speaker 12 Nick haunts the pool.

Speaker 19 He's been there ever since he died in it 30 years ago.

Speaker 18 On this same day, at this same meet.

Speaker 16 He was the only swimmer in the first heat. He was nervous about swimming alone in front of so many people.

Speaker 12 Let me guess. He jumped in the water, forgot how to swim, drowned, and somehow the hundreds of people present, including all the lifeguards, didn't notice on time to save him.

Speaker 12 You really think I'm dumb enough to believe a story like that?

Speaker 12 Anthony shook his head solemnly.

Speaker 17 I wish we were making the story up. A lot of people would still be alive if we were.

Speaker 12 I remained unconvinced, to put it mildly, but there was a sincerity to Anthony that made me wonder if there could be a grain of truth to what he was saying.

Speaker 12 Maybe some unfortunate kid really had died, and they were just inventing the rest of the story around that fact.

Speaker 17 You see, it wasn't that simple.

Speaker 17 Lightning had delayed the meet for over an hour. Nick sat right where we are now, shaking and shivering the whole time.

Speaker 17 Little did he know that, while he waited, there was a miscommunication among the pool staff. One of them got the word that the meet was canceled due to the bad weather and started draining the pool.

Speaker 17 Meanwhile, there was an electrical short in the overhead lighting system.

Speaker 17 There was a disaster waiting to happen.

Speaker 17 When the announcement was made that 20 minutes had passed since the last strike, and that the competition would resume, the audience was allowed to return, just as Nick was led to a diving board.

Speaker 17 A few people noticed that something was wrong.

Speaker 12 The pool wasn't empty.

Speaker 17 It takes time to drain, but it wasn't nearly as full as it was before.

Speaker 17 But their cries were ignored.

Speaker 17 It wasn't a situation anyone expected, or that the parents and staff were trained to deal with.

Speaker 17 Nick took his position on the diving board.

Speaker 17 He saw, among the flickering lights, that there was water below, but in his eagerness to get the race over with, he didn't comprehend that there was much less water than there should be.

Speaker 17 Less than there needed to be. One One of the lifeguards realized what was wrong and cried out for the race to be called off.
She ran towards Nick to stop him from jumping.

Speaker 17 She didn't get to him in time. The buzzer rang and poor Nick hurtled forward.
He fell through the air a few moments longer than usual before crashing into the water.

Speaker 17 It wasn't enough to slow him. Not much, at least.
His head slammed into the concrete below.

Speaker 17 The whole crowd screamed when the lights returned and revealed his his body, which had floated to the shallow surface.

Speaker 17 According to some witnesses, his skull fractured open, and some of his brains spilled out.

Speaker 17 To this day, Nick's spirit remains in that pool.

Speaker 17 He gets lonely there, so sometimes he causes the lights to go out.

Speaker 17 In the darkness, he pulls the slowest boy from his age group in the competition down with him.

Speaker 17 By the time the lifeguards notice, it's too late, and he's taken another victim to join him in haunting this place.

Speaker 12 Forever.

Speaker 12 If that were true, this place would have been closed down for good ages ago. Nick isn't greedy.

Speaker 16 He only takes someone every once in a while. In the 30 years since this happened, only a few kids have died.
The last one was a decade ago.

Speaker 12 In the long silence that followed, I thought about what I had heard. These guys were just trying to scare me, right?

Speaker 12 But I found it hard to believe that Anthony had conjured up such a detailed story story out of thin air. I jolted upright as another announcement resounded through the room.

Speaker 15 Attention, all swimmers, attention, all swimmers. 20 minutes have passed without incident, and the competition has resumed.

Speaker 12 Goggles, Roger, and Anthony were laughing.

Speaker 12 To my embarrassment, I realized that my reaction to the announcement had given given away how tense Anthony's story had made me.

Speaker 12 We got you so scared.

Speaker 12 You scaredy cat. No, no, I just didn't expect.

Speaker 16 I can't believe you fell for that stupid story. I guess county kids really are as dumb as the dirt they grow their corn in.

Speaker 12 Anthony, again, was more sympathetic than his friends.

Speaker 12 Don't worry, I made that whole story up. You've got nothing to worry about.

Speaker 12 Of course. I didn't believe it.

Speaker 12 The poolside door opened. The coach who'd led us to our waiting station over an hour ago emerged.

Speaker 19 Come on, this way.

Speaker 12 I followed her inside. As with any crowded indoor pool, the noise that echoed through the room,

Speaker 12 splashes, announcements, and the chatter and cheers of the crowd that was slowly making its way back to the bleachers formed a loud, blurry cacophony.

Speaker 12 The room was also a lot dimmer than I remembered, with some of the overhead lights flickering on and off irregularly. The announcer's voice blasted through the speaker system.

Speaker 20 Heat one, take your position.

Speaker 12 I hesitated. I thought about Anthony's story and how the lights had technical issues just before Nick jumped.
But that had to be just a coincidence, right?

Speaker 12 The coach pushed me along.

Speaker 19 Come on, Nelson. Let's get this little heat over with.

Speaker 12 The crowd cheered as I put on my goggles and carefully climbed onto the diving board.

Speaker 12 I was in one of the center lanes. I looked to my left and to my right and saw, to my surprise, that no one else was standing with me.
Where had Goggles, Roger, and Anthony gone?

Speaker 15 The race will begin in three,

Speaker 12 two.

Speaker 12 I looked down. There was water.

Speaker 12 But was there the right amount? I got little more than a glimpse before all at once, the ceiling lights turned off.

Speaker 15 One!

Speaker 19 Come on, kid.

Speaker 2 There's no light.

Speaker 12 I should wait until I can see.

Speaker 19 The clock's running now. I'm not letting you delay this entire race.
There's nine heats behind you waiting to go.

Speaker 12 I turned my head back to the coach and for a brief moment discerned in the darkness the black silhouettes of three shadowy figures immediately behind me. I heard laughter

Speaker 12 and I felt a force against my back. An eternity passed in the moments that followed.
I flew awkwardly through the air, my form all wrong until I hit the water.

Speaker 12 I panicked at the thought that my head was about to smash into the hard pool floor. Instead, my body slowed a few feet from the bottom.
I realized, to my incredible relief, that the pool was full.

Speaker 12 I wasn't in any danger. Sure, my time would be terrible, and I'd likely be disqualified for not swimming in proper form, but I wasn't in any danger.

Speaker 12 I kicked at the water and began to climb to the surface. That's when I felt an intense force around my neck.
It was

Speaker 12 an arm.

Speaker 12 It was soggy and worn, and it pulled me downwards. I found myself at the bottom of the pool, held in place by the figure that had grabbed me.
I turned my face to see goggles grinning widely.

Speaker 12 Only, he was missing many of his teeth and much of his skin. and his skull was split open, revealing patches of a gray, spongy substance underneath.

Speaker 12 I squirmed and tried to pull him off, but he continued to hold me in place. I needed desperately to breathe, but I couldn't tear him off of me.

Speaker 12 Two more faces appeared, but when they swam closer, I realized they didn't belong to lifeguards like I'd hoped. The lifeguards probably couldn't even see that I was down here.

Speaker 12 Instead, it was Anthony and Roger. Their skin was tattered and stained a murky brown, and they hovered above me in the water.

Speaker 12 I managed to pry goggles off me, but before I could get anywhere, Anthony and Roger reached out and pushed me back against the floor. The world above me turned to shadow.

Speaker 12 I felt myself fade into unconsciousness. My last memory, real or hallucinatory, was of goggles whispering one word into my ear:

Speaker 12 Sleep.

Speaker 12 I woke up, gasping and coughing up water.

Speaker 12 Allison sat over me, her clothes soaking wet.

Speaker 19 Thank God, Peter, I thought I lost you.

Speaker 12 The lights had turned back on. I could tell that we were on the surface next to the pool.
My sister must have dived in and dragged me out.

Speaker 12 I learned later that I'd stopped breathing, but started again after she performed chest compressions on me.

Speaker 19 I can't believe they didn't call off the race with the lights out and nobody could see you were in trouble. Why'd you jump?

Speaker 12 I took a moment to catch my breath.

Speaker 12 They shoved me in.

Speaker 19 Who shoved you in?

Speaker 12 That coach?

Speaker 19 And how the heck did you get stuck at the bottom of the pool anyways?

Speaker 12 No!

Speaker 12 It was the other kids in my heat.

Speaker 12 They helped me down.

Speaker 12 My answers continued to only prompt more questions from Allison.

Speaker 12 What other kids?

Speaker 19 You were the only one in your heat.

Speaker 19 You've been alone the last hour.

Speaker 12 I didn't know what to say to that, nor did I know what to say when the doctor Allison brought me to asked me about the abrasions and handprints on my body, or when I saw the pictures from the old news reports about the other accidents at the facility.

Speaker 12 It's been 12 years.

Speaker 12 Of course, nobody listened to my warnings or believed my ghost stories. The facility stayed in operation until a few weeks ago.

Speaker 12 The official story behind its closure was that the building was so outdated that it needed to be demolished and completely rebuilt.

Speaker 12 I think it has more to do with the fact that another kid drowned in its pool last spring.

Speaker 12 A few days ago, I found a grainy video of its destruction on a local news channel's website.

Speaker 12 In the corner of the footage, Away from the smoke and debris of the collapsed building, I noticed something unusual. Four figures, dressed only in swim gear, walking along a dirt road.

Speaker 12 I don't know exactly where that road leads. I just know that it stretches onward for a long,

Speaker 12 long

Speaker 12 time in a direction far away from town.

Speaker 1 This is Jonas Knox from Two Pros and a Cup of Joe.

Speaker 4 And on Fox One, now you can stream your favorite live sports so you can be there live for the biggest moments.

Speaker 6 That means NFL Sundays, college football games, NASCAR, MLB postseason, and more.

Speaker 2 With Fox One, you'll get it all live.

Speaker 11 Edge of your seat plays, jaw-dropping, high-octane moments, and that feeling like you're right there in the action.

Speaker 8 Fox One, we live for live, streaming now.

Speaker 20 Kevin and Rachel and peanut MMs and an eight-hour road trip. And Rachel's new favorite audiobook, The Cerulean Empress, Scoundrel's Inferno.

Speaker 20 And Florian, the reckless yet charming scoundrel from said audiobook.

Speaker 13 And his pecs glistened in the moonlight.

Speaker 20 And Kevin, feeling weird because of all the talk about pecs, and Rachel handing him peanut M ⁇ Ms to keep him quiet.

Speaker 12 Uh, Kevin, I can't hear.

Speaker 20 Yellow, we're keeping it PG-13.

Speaker 12 M ⁇ Ms, it's more fun together.

Speaker 12 We live in a world where we're constantly seeing beautiful, talented people all over social media doing enviable things.

Speaker 12 Is it any wonder why most of us lack confidence and self-esteem when comparing comparing ourselves to the perfect people?

Speaker 12 Well, in this tale, shared with us by author Lascelle Jones, we meet Chantel. She's always been a nervous woman, lacking confidence.

Speaker 12 Her only saving grace was finding someone who would always be there for her to give her courage.

Speaker 12 Performing this tale are Mary Murphy, Danielle McRae, and Kyle Akers.

Speaker 12 So you don't ever have to feel alone if you can find yourself a handholder.

Speaker 13 I never had much confidence as a little girl. Things that seemed to come naturally to others, like meeting new people and speaking in groups, scared me.

Speaker 13 Made me want to shrink into a tiny dot somewhere quiet and dark.

Speaker 13 Teachers weren't especially sympathetic. One in particular, Miss Ursula, was pretty harsh, always picking on me to answer questions in class.

Speaker 13 I suppose it could have been her way of trying to prize me out of my shell, but it just made me more self-conscious.

Speaker 13 She had a tradition that at the end of the school year, her class would put on a talent show.

Speaker 13 I dreaded it for months. Add zero talent.
To be fair, she sensed my concern and helped me out with what she called an easy, untaxing piece.

Speaker 13 I was to read out, not even recite from memory, a short poem she'd chosen.

Speaker 13 The prospect still terrified me, though, and rehearsals went badly. I'd clam up, stammer, blush, drop the book, sometimes all at once.

Speaker 13 I guess Miss Ursula tried to be encouraging in her own way, but I could tell I wasn't improving as she'd hoped. After my second try at the final rehearsal, she shook her head, eyes brimming with pity.

Speaker 19 I don't know how you'll cope with life if you don't pluck up, Chantal.

Speaker 19 Nobody's gonna hold your hand forever.

Speaker 13 I sobbed myself to sleep that night. That phrase, nobody's going to hold your hand forever, hounded me.

Speaker 13 It wasn't just the message that I badly needed to grow up that stung. The words were packed with a profound aloneness.

Speaker 13 I wished there was someone who would hold my hand forever, always be there to reassure, to guide.

Speaker 13 The afternoon of the talent show was as nerve-shredding as I'd feared. I trembled as my classmates happily sung, danced, even acted out comic sketches they'd written.

Speaker 13 I was partly in awe, partly envious, but mainly terrified. It was torturous, like some cruel ancient rite, a spotlight that made the gifted shine but cremated non-entities.

Speaker 13 As a performance before mine neared its end, everything from my stomach to my brain bristled and fizzed.

Speaker 13 I so wanted someone to take me away or help me.

Speaker 13 I don't know why, but as I stood shaking at the stage's edge, I reached my right hand out to my side. Just a little, in case anyone noticed, but enough to...

Speaker 13 invite.

Speaker 13 I gasped quietly as something touched my fingertips. Soft pads slid into my sweaty palm.
My tremors heightened, but I didn't dare look.

Speaker 13 Was determined not to scream as what felt like a cushiony hand grasped mine.

Speaker 13 Then, as if a silent bell rang in my head, my doubts and the sounds in the hall faded. I glanced down, but didn't see anything other than my own hand, despite the holding sensation.

Speaker 13 The girl on stage finished and pushed past. The invisible hand gave a tug towards the platform.
I resisted, but a soft murmuring in my ear soothed away the impulse.

Speaker 13 It had no discernible words, but its tone, soothing and maternal, melted my fears. A warmth blowed up my arm, spreading peaceful, rosy light through my chest and head.

Speaker 13 Almost without thinking, I strode on stage, took my place at the microphone, and looked at the audience.

Speaker 13 Fear flared momentarily, but the hand gave mine a squeeze, and something at the back of the room stole my attention. I'm not sure what.

Speaker 13 Barely aware of the hand dissolving and its murmuring fading, I opened the book and began to read.

Speaker 13 From childhood's hour, I have not been. As others were, I have not seen.
As others saw, I could not bring my passions from a common spring.

Speaker 13 I can't say my performance was a knockout.

Speaker 13 That a star was born, but it was competent and I was comfortable. For me, that was a huge leap.
And the experience left an afterglow of confidence that stayed with me as I started high school.

Speaker 13 I hadn't blossomed into a party animal or anything, but my meekness had definitely receded.

Speaker 13 Sadly, the pressures of teenage life grew to counter that.

Speaker 13 Exams, friendships, hormones, they all swarmed and nibbled at the sense of security I was gaining.

Speaker 13 Over time, I told myself that the handholder experience had just been the imaginings of my nervous, childish mind.

Speaker 13 I hadn't felt a need to try again until I suffered a panic attack before an important exam I'd barely prepared for.

Speaker 13 As I sat at the desk, I stopped trying to block fear, let it flood me to a point where I verged on fleeing the room. Pleading internally, I subtly reached out.

Speaker 13 The touch of fingertips on mine sent relief as well as shock up my arm, followed by that calming warmth.

Speaker 13 As the spongy fingers moved into my hand, I flicked my eyes down and briefly saw something.

Speaker 13 Smooth, grayish lilac, more like a plastic glove than a bare hand. I blinked and it vanished, but its holding remained.
I exhaled, let it lift my hand to the desktop.

Speaker 13 Quiet murmuring reminded me of things I didn't realize I'd learnt. and my hand was guided.

Speaker 13 My exam results weren't fantastic, but I did better than expected, and much better than I deserved. Other challenges came my way, and more and more often I'd meet them with the handholder's help.

Speaker 13 It didn't always come when I reached out, though. Seemed to have its own rules about which situations were worthy.
Despite that, it got me through tough times.

Speaker 13 I scoured the internet, even libraries, to see if anyone had similar experiences, but found nothing. I couldn't work out why it didn't always assist and began to examine it closer when it did.

Speaker 13 I came to wish I hadn't.

Speaker 13 The more familiar I got with the hand, the surer I became it wasn't actually a hand, that the wrinkless shape that I occasionally glimpsed was just a cover or prosthetic, artificial, bone-like.

Speaker 13 It moved unnaturally, rotated in ways a hand attached to an arm couldn't. Sometimes I could feel something smaller move inside it, knobbly and serpentine.

Speaker 13 An image of a thing resembling a chicken's clawed foot sprung to mind once as it gripped.

Speaker 13 The experience started to be tinged with fear, but I was also kind of dependent. Discreetly reaching out my hand in stressful times had become almost a reflex.
I called on its help to graduate.

Speaker 13 Above-average but not stellar grades got me into an average but not stellar university, which led to, you guessed it, a good but not great job.

Speaker 13 My fledgling career in marketing was fine, but not what I really wanted. I still relied on the handholder for interviews, presentations, and stuff like that, but became kind of disillusioned.

Speaker 13 I suppose I should have been more grateful, but would it hurt to give me more?

Speaker 13 One evening I was browsing ads and spotted one for a great-looking job, as glamorous as my niche got, plus a chance to move on to something dreamier.

Speaker 13 The application asked for a pitch, in addition to the usual resume details. 500 words to stand out from the crowd.
This was my chance.

Speaker 13 I noodled on a notepad app. but came up blank.

Speaker 13 I glared at my laptop, drummed my fingers against it. I hadn't reached for the handholder for a while, but this was exactly the kind of thing it ought to help with.

Speaker 13 I raised my hand and waited. Nothing.

Speaker 13 I stretched further, beckoned gently.

Speaker 13 Still nothing.

Speaker 19 Come on, please!

Speaker 13 Something brushed against my fingertips.

Speaker 13 Yes!

Speaker 13 Then nothing.

Speaker 13 My soul sank.

Speaker 13 For fuck's sake, help me!

Speaker 13 As I clawed space, my nails scratched something, but it pulled away. Don't play with me!

Speaker 13 I swiped repeatedly. Sure I could catch it if only I moved the right way, reached the right spot.

Speaker 13 A touch on my palm, those soft fingertips.

Speaker 13 I snatched.

Speaker 13 The handholder tried to get away, but I gripped tighter. It struggled, strained.
Felt like the thing inside its padded cover might slip out.

Speaker 13 I squeezed harder and it jerked fiercely, almost yanking me out my chair. My laptop slid off my legs and crashed to the floor.

Speaker 13 Angry, I clutched full force.

Speaker 13 It cracked like a trotting cockroach, warm goo oozing over my palm.

Speaker 13 Yuck!

Speaker 13 I opened my hand. It was empty.
I shook my fingers to rid them of imagined ick.

Speaker 13 Fucking useless.

Speaker 13 I threw myself back in the chair and clenched my fist.

Speaker 13 A moist mass spasmed in my hand again, but I resisted the urge to let go and held.

Speaker 13 Sharp gunk-coated fragments twitched like eels, accompanied by wounded whines. I raised my fist to eye level.

Speaker 13 Slowly, shakily, I shifted my thumb. The whimpering intensified as I peered through the gap formed by my curled forefinger.

Speaker 13 I almost rubbed my eye in disbelief. Inside my closed hand was a cavern, a huge dark cave dripping with moisture.

Speaker 13 A stone slab lay in the middle. Something convulsed on it.
A blurring mess swirling like entrails in a mortuary drain. Broken twig-like fingerbones.
A torn tongue.

Speaker 13 I wrenched my head away as an oyster of a ruined eyeball rolled to look into mine.

Speaker 13 My palm was empty when I opened it with a breathless scream.

Speaker 13 I swore that night would be the last time I reached for the handholder.

Speaker 13 However, it wasn't the last time it would reach for me.

Speaker 13 It started with light taps on my fingertips at random times when I was alone.

Speaker 12 I thought,

Speaker 13 I hoped, I was just imagining, but they got firmer, evolved into rubs, scratches, pinches.

Speaker 12 It felt hurt, angry.

Speaker 13 It only happened when my fingers were extended, so I tried making a habit of keeping them closed, thumb tucked in palm. But maintaining that's harder than you'd think.

Speaker 13 Much harder.

Speaker 13 It affected my life, made me depressed, aimless at work and with acquaintances.

Speaker 13 Sickeningly, I sometimes even found myself reaching out, mindlessly seeking help from the thing that tormented me, only to be snapped back to my senses as sharp nails stabbed my fingers or yanked so violently that the bones were nearly pulled from joints.

Speaker 13 I had no idea how to stop it. Nobody was going to help me through this.

Speaker 13 It ruined my my sleep, and when I dropped off, I'd jolt awake, checking if my hand was safely closed. But just like you can't hold your breath forever, you've eventually gotten open your fist.

Speaker 13 One warm evening, I'd fallen asleep in my backyard.

Speaker 13 I woke, shocked to find my hand lulling over the recliner's arm. Had something touched it? Instinctively, I tried to close my fingers, but was blocked.
As I retried, the holder squeezed and coiled.

Speaker 13 It felt disjointed, prickly, barely hand-shaped anymore.

Speaker 13 I scrambled up, but the handholder pulled me down to the ground, forced my arm above my head.

Speaker 13 It dragged me away from home, crazed alien screeches jabbering in my head.

Speaker 13 It drew my arm between the bars of the wooden fence, then my shoulder slammed into them.

Speaker 13 Ruthlessly, the handholder kept heaving, forcing my head and body through the cracking bars, friction burns branding my skin.

Speaker 13 Help! Someone, help!

Speaker 13 I was hauled into the woodland behind my house.

Speaker 13 As ever, nobody came to my rescue. My body surged through a carpet of rotting leaves and jagged sticks as a handholder's yabbering became hysterical, enraged.

Speaker 13 It didn't care how much pain it inflicted as it crashed me into trees, tore me over stones.

Speaker 13 I clogged the ground with my free hand and feet, but couldn't stop the incessant charge. I looked ahead and cried.

Speaker 13 The approaching territory looked vague, insubstantial, as if glimpsed in peripheral vision. A towering cliff I'm sure didn't belong in the woods.
At its base, the mouth of a cave.

Speaker 13 The cave which held that stone slab.

Speaker 13 It looked like an altar, a stage.

Speaker 13 The handholder slowed as we got closer, and I was overwhelmed by that abyssal aloneness I thought I'd lost forever.

Speaker 13 It was as if all the confidence, however false, however hollow, it gifted me was being reclaimed. Its tugging subsided, and I stumbled to my feet as it led me into the cave.

Speaker 13 As my eyes adjusted to darkness, a different sensation pulsed up my arm. Foreign memories streamed into my mind's eye.
This place had meaning for the handholder, or whatever, whoever it used to be.

Speaker 13 I saw a young arm held down on the slab by gnarled hands.

Speaker 13 Sensations of being surrounded, tongue-tied by fear, ostracized.

Speaker 13 A stone blade rising and hacking the wrist.

Speaker 13 Something snakey, spine-like being stretched and pulled from the bleeding stump, its head a cluster of clasping claws.

Speaker 13 Normal vision returned, and I dug my heels into the rubbly ground.

Speaker 13 I knew something beyond fear would happen if I let myself be taken to the slab, but the handholder wrenched me forwards, buckling my ankles.

Speaker 13 It was too strong.

Speaker 13 If only I hadn't opened my hand to it.

Speaker 13 I realized I couldn't resist its pull, but maybe if I closed my hand, I could escape.

Speaker 12 I tried bending my fingers, but it blocked me.

Speaker 13 The chattering grew furious, and it yanked me down. Pebbles scattering over my face as I was dragged closer to the slab.

Speaker 13 I tried pulling free again, but couldn't. Closing Closing my fingers seemed my only hope.
So I reached my free hand towards them and got hold.

Speaker 13 I braced myself and crushed. Agony shot up my arm as I forced my digits inwards, inches away from the slab.

Speaker 13 Bone snaps and curled screeches filled the air as I pressed and pushed.

Speaker 13 With a final crunch, My right hand and its contents crumpled. I slipped free of the handholder's grip, left alone as darkness closed in.

Speaker 17 Ah, glad to see you're joining us at last.

Speaker 13 I blinked and saw a nurse looking down in an airy room. How did I get here?

Speaker 13 I winced as my body stung all over.

Speaker 17 One of your neighbors heard you yell, eventually found you unconscious in the woods. You're very lucky to have someone who cares.

Speaker 13 I didn't have the energy to question, and my eyes fluttered shut.

Speaker 17 I'll go get the doctor while you're awake. She's got several things she needs to ask you.

Speaker 13 Despite the pain and confusion, I felt relief. My ordeal with the handholder was over.

Speaker 13 But as my head sunk into the pillow, I felt a tap on my fingertips. Mangled fingers crawled over mine,

Speaker 13 and a wordless voice growled in my ear.

Speaker 13 It still wanted to hold my hand.

Speaker 13 Would forever.

Speaker 13 I gasped, tried to close my fingers before it took hold, but couldn't.

Speaker 13 I turned to look. My forearm was clad in plaster.

Speaker 13 It covered my hand, stretching my palm wide open.

Speaker 13 Splints fixed my fingers straight and outstretched.

Speaker 1 This is Jonas Knox from Two Pros and a Cup of Joe.

Speaker 4 And on Fox One, now you can stream your favorite live sports so you can be there live for the biggest moments.

Speaker 6 That means NFL Sundays, college football games, NASCAR, MLB postseason, and more.

Speaker 2 With Fox One, you'll get it all live.

Speaker 11 Edge of your seat plays, jaw-dropping, high-octane moments, and that feeling like you're right there in the action.

Speaker 8 Fox One, we live for live, streaming now.

Speaker 12 Drew and Sue and Eminem's minis.

Speaker 12 And baking the surprise birthday cake for Lou.

Speaker 12 And Sue forgetting that her oven doesn't really work.

Speaker 12 And Drew remembering that they don't have flour.

Speaker 12 And Lou getting home early from work, which he never does.

Speaker 12 And Drew and Sue using the rest of the tubes of Eminem's minis as party poppers instead.

Speaker 20 I think this is one of those moments where people say it's the thought that counts.

Speaker 12 Eminem's, it's more fun together.

Speaker 12 When you don't want ambiance, a cool vibe, or fancy drinks, you head to a bar like Poison Girl. That name tells you all you need to know about this particular dive bar.

Speaker 12 And as we'll learn in this tale, shared with us by author Andrew Cosma, one regular at the Poison Girl takes an interest in a man who frequents the bar, and she starts to figure out what he's up to.

Speaker 12 Performing this tale are Sarah Thomas, Jesse Cornette, and Jeff Clement.

Speaker 12 So do your shots and get out of there. The place is crowded enough because we contain multitudes

Speaker 19 I first noticed George Slavinia hitting on women at Poison Girl, my neighborhood bar. Poison Girl wasn't a big cattle call kind of place you could get lost in.

Speaker 19 And it wasn't expensive either, where you paid your money to be seen and left alone.

Speaker 19 It was a dive, or it wanted to be, or it pretended to be, which made its local flavor that of an expensive whiskey you'd poured the night before but never finished.

Speaker 19 Those who didn't like the atmosphere never came back, returning to the ever-changing storefronts of Midtown or Washington. Those who did like the atmosphere, they never left.

Speaker 19 George had the sort of attractiveness that puts hooks in your eyes. I didn't usually swing that way, towards prettiness with an edge.

Speaker 19 But even so, I couldn't keep my attention from straying back to him. He was the brightest thing in the dimly lit bar.
His entire personality the too bright whiteness of a fresh snapped bone.

Speaker 19 From all the way down the long, crowded bar, I could hear his seductive whisper. And though he aimed his efforts at just one woman, every ear in the place was tuned to his lilting drawl.

Speaker 19 Honestly, Poison Girl isn't the place to go for a one-night stand. The bar is all regulars and the occasional lost soul.
Even on weekends, the people from the suburbs have all been here before.

Speaker 19 This is their city place, their slightly out-of-my comfort zone. Everyone knows everyone else's name, or at least fakes a passing familiarity.

Speaker 19 But on that night, George unerringly homed in on one of the few lost souls there, a woman named Regina who was evolving into a regular.

Speaker 12 Your eyes are berries.

Speaker 12 No one's ever told you that before,

Speaker 14 have they?

Speaker 19 She shook her head, her berry eyes fixed on her chewed-up fingernails. He He covered those chewed-up nails with his hands, and it was like they suddenly didn't exist.

Speaker 19 As though her hands had become the ideal version of themselves. Ricky, the red-haired bartender, was washing glasses in the sink on my end of the bar.

Speaker 18 No one ever told her that because it's a stupid thing to say. What kind of berries even?

Speaker 19 I laughed quietly in agreement. but I understood what George was doing.

Speaker 19 Sure, it seemed crass and overblown to others, but under that gaze, with eyes so intense they burned straight through your skin to your core, it reveals the childlike you hiding in the center of your grown-up body.

Speaker 19 The one that always dreamed this could happen.

Speaker 19 It didn't matter that her eyes were nothing like berry's, but more like baker's chocolate, and she knew it.

Speaker 19 Those sort of compliments work to remake you in someone else's eyes, which remolds you in your own head. Your self-image painted anew by another's brush.

Speaker 19 It's hard not to glory at finding yourself in someone else's dreams, especially if you're lost. And Regina was lost.

Speaker 19 George's compliments overwhelmed her, even if she didn't believe half the things he said. As she leaned into him, I could hear her thinking to herself that the truth is overrated.

Speaker 19 That sometimes all we want, All we need, is a little fantasy. Happy hour ended, and with its ending, the sun went down.

Speaker 19 Poison Girl darkening into the very back of a public library, the shelves forgotten, the books rarely touched.

Speaker 19 The bar began to hum with more than just the downtown office drones having their afterwork drink, and the service industry crowd pregaming themselves for a night full of self-centered customers who barely register waiters and bartenders as human.

Speaker 19 College students, stay-at-home moms and dads freed by the coming home of their partners, professional drinkers, nine-to-five blue-collars.

Speaker 19 All the added noise meant I couldn't overhear how George was seducing Regina anymore, but I kept my eye on them as their body language grew increasingly cursive.

Speaker 19 A suited man sat next to me and splayed some Bukowski on the bar top, then pretended to ignore me. I played along, drifting my eyes into his orbit until he broke the silence too casually.

Speaker 19 15 minutes later, I looked up from the conversation and George and Regina were gone. Vanished into the brighter night.

Speaker 19 Regina had moved to Houston from New Jersey, which she described as a black hole of the soul powered by the soulless.

Speaker 19 There, she worked for day traders in New York City, cleaning their mansions in the Jersey suburbs. In Houston, she took all the money knowledge she learned on the sly from them.

Speaker 19 Her employers treating her as a sounding board for all their plots and plans, dismissing her either because she was a woman or because she was the hired help.

Speaker 12 She didn't know and didn't care.

Speaker 19 Not anymore. As she made bank in her new city.
But she'd left her family and friends behind. Good riddance to all of them, she'd say before taking her first shot of the evening.

Speaker 19 That shot was a different cheap whiskey each time. Though she could buy much better quality stuff now, She wanted to remember what it was like when the worst was all she could afford.

Speaker 19 She didn't let anyone buy her drinks, and before George, the attention of most men had as much hold on her as fog.

Speaker 19 I never saw Regina again.

Speaker 19 George became a semi-regular at Poison Girl, even though no one encouraged him.

Speaker 19 The worst thing to happen to someone at a neighborhood bar is for everyone to leave you alone, and George might as well have been on a deserted island.

Speaker 19 The bartenders took his order, served his drink, accepted his payment with the bare minimum of conversation. All of his quips, every attempt at conversation, received the standard grunt and nod.

Speaker 19 Regulars circled together if he came near, like a herd blocking off a predator.

Speaker 19 Some even broke that rule of standard bar-friendliness, like when Alejandro bought a round for everyone on the night of his bachelor party, then pointed to where George sat at the middle of the bar.

Speaker 19 a moat of empty space around him, and yelled, Accept him!

Speaker 19 No one paid attention to George. In fact, everyone actively tried not to pay attention to him.
But I watched him. I studied him.

Speaker 19 For me, he was like a frozen river on the verge of shattering into motion. I couldn't look away for fear I'd miss someone else dropping through the ice into the cold depths below.

Speaker 12 I didn't have long to wait.

Speaker 19 Two weeks after Regina, I entered Poison Girl to find George huddled around another woman. From her short, spiked black hair, I knew it was Lynn, a regular who'd slid backwards into being a lost soul.

Speaker 19 His arm was around her shoulder in an awkward way, but one that undeniably declared, this is mine to everyone watching.

Speaker 19 And since everyone was already used to ignoring George, Lynn was ignored as well. People rolling their eyes at her, muttering, he's her problem now.

Speaker 19 Even Sarah, the kindest bartender, made only the vaguest gesture towards asking if Lynn was okay, since Lynn had insulted her last week when she'd had one too many vodka sodas.

Speaker 19 So I was the only one who saw him press the limits of propriety with his free hand under the bar top, and witnessed her flush of excitement at his daring, even if she thought it was a little gross as well.

Speaker 12 She didn't drink too much.

Speaker 19 He didn't try and get her drunk. They talked about politics.

Speaker 19 bemoaning the state of the world and the people who let it get to this point, raking their eyes over the rest of the bar as though we were at bault.

Speaker 19 He played Lynn differently than he had Regina, honing in on the small things that made her feel like he cared, like he was the only one who truly understood her.

Speaker 19 His attention was that of a lover, the perfect friend, except twisted, so once he screwed himself into your life, removing him would rip out your most vital organs in the process.

Speaker 19 But even if Lynn recognized that now, and I could see she did, in the way she pressed her shoulder into him instead of drawing away, the allure of his unconditional, for now, approval was too much to resist.

Speaker 19 She could say no at any point, she told herself.

Speaker 12 She could quit anytime she wanted to.

Speaker 19 Lynn was a biology teacher at Lanier Middle School, and she loved her job.

Speaker 12 Had been.

Speaker 19 a biology teacher, I should say, because her leaving school was what began this downward spiral.

Speaker 19 Though teaching science was what she'd always dreamed of doing, once she was in the classroom, she only lasted three years before the focus on tests and testing and state-approved textbooks which were clearly anti-science and fighting between administration and teachers and arguments with parents unhappy with their child's grades finally got to her.

Speaker 19 Lynn grew up in a large family in the new little Saigon on the west side of town. Every adult pushing their kids to get a great education.

Speaker 19 All the kids studying hard for the teachers who were venerated as saints.

Speaker 19 Now Lynn babysat the kids of her brothers and sisters to make ends meet, lived at home with her parents, couldn't escape their disappointment over her failure.

Speaker 19 Instead of trying for another teaching job, she returned to her second love, painting.

Speaker 19 In her room at night, She sketched out the landscapes of her dreams and watercolors, then hid the finished paintings in her closet behind all of her abandoned teacher wear.

Speaker 19 Near midnight, pleasantly aglow, Lynn left with George, her carefully spiked hair musked from his hand running through it, her sleeveless leather jacket thrown over his shoulder.

Speaker 19 At the swinging front doors, just after kicking them open with her used dark martens, she glanced back. Her eyes skated over me and over everything else, like she was sketching the scene in her brain.

Speaker 19 I never saw Lynn again. The regulars figured she'd moved out to San Francisco like she'd always wanted to, or followed her friend Brittany to Portland.

Speaker 19 But two days after leaving with Lynn, George returned with his, I don't care if you ignore me, Grin, his skin smooth and his hair sleek.

Speaker 19 He was just as trim as he always was, his face a narrow blade, his jaw a tad too large, but not unattractive.

Speaker 19 But he sat like a contented cat who'd done something it knew it shouldn't have done, but doesn't regret. And not only because it'll never be caught.

Speaker 19 Years later, long after the cat's dead, you'll move the couch to find the remains of the chihuahua the next-door neighbors thought had ran away. You gave them commiseration beers on that very couch.

Speaker 19 And now the betrayal feels like it's yours, instead of your cat's.

Speaker 19 George Slavinia knew everyone by now, but was a friend of no one's. He drank alone, nursing lone stars for hours at a time.
And though he left large tips, the money was tainted.

Speaker 19 Some bartenders wouldn't touch his dollar bills. Others gave those dollars back to other customers as soon as they could, using the money as change.
They always washed their hands.

Speaker 19 What was wrong with George? That was the question no one seemed to be able to answer. He smelled slightly off, one woman would say.

Speaker 19 A group of guys exclaimed that when he played pinball, he talked to the machine like it was an ex.

Speaker 19 When he drank his beers, he held the bottles by the tip with just thumb and forefinger and acted like that was classy.

Speaker 19 He'd buy tamales from Jose the Tamalee guy and eat all 16 by himself and afterwards, wouldn't need a napkin. The bar as a whole decided George was just wrong.
The generic definition of.

Speaker 12 I knew what the problem was.

Speaker 19 He was trying too hard. And if you try too hard to fit in, then you never will.
But the women George brought to Poison Girl never knew him long enough to spot his personality straining at the seams.

Speaker 19 One night stands, all of them.

Speaker 19 Even the ones who'd been hanging out in the bar long enough to know of him.

Speaker 19 He starts talking to them and they think, oh, he's different than everyone said.

Speaker 19 And...

Speaker 19 Maybe I've just never given him a chance. They're fascinated by how he watches their face and lips, actually listening to what they say.

Speaker 19 And then they go out that door and never come back. Rainy was a tattoo artist from the east side of Houston who came to Poison Girl to drink outside of her neighborhood.

Speaker 19 She stayed away from all the local tattoo artists because she didn't want drama and because she didn't want to start trouble with her ex and her son's father, who was a tattoo artist as well as insanely jealous.

Speaker 19 In each of her designs, she'd leave a piece of herself, a bit of what she'd seen that day, a shriveled leaf, a cicada shell.

Speaker 19 Every Sunday, she'd call her father and talk for hours, giving him all the emotional support she could since he was taking care of her mother who was in the throes of early onset Alzheimer's.

Speaker 19 Kaylee worked in the front of a high-end restaurant in River Oaks. Her hometown was out in West Texas.
a city she never named because she was sure no one would recognize it.

Speaker 19 She left her family and her past behind, but you could see who she was in the fragility of her smile and the way she lingered on the last letter when writing down a name on the wait list.

Speaker 19 Two younger sisters were back in that city she never named, and she drank her fears for them when she could, because she couldn't do anything else. Jalissa ran fundraising for a local politician.

Speaker 19 She also took care of their social media accounts, which meant when she walked into Poison Girl at the end of the day, her thin body folded up onto a bar stool like winter clothing being packed away for the summer.

Speaker 19 Every vile reply she'd read, every outburst of hatred, it poured back out of her in the way she ripped the cardboard beer coasters into smaller and smaller shreds.

Speaker 19 Harriet took no shit from anyone and gave shit only to those who deserved it. Margarita only drank her namesake, which she saw as something of a penance for being a bartender with a drink for a name.

Speaker 19 Wendy tipped the homeless man outside the bar's entrance, both on the way in and on the way out. Whether because she was generous or forgetful, no one ever knew.

Speaker 19 After they left with George, we never saw them again. George was good at picking out women who the world outside Poison Girl's doors wouldn't miss.

Speaker 19 But Poison Girl missed those women, even if the regulars believed they'd all found better lives or more exciting jobs, rather than something worse.

Speaker 19 No one wanted to jump to conclusions. No one wanted to worry.
But I knew they were gone.

Speaker 12 And who they'd gone with.

Speaker 19 It was incredibly easy to turn myself into the kind of woman who attracted George's ever-roving eye. He didn't have a physical type, so much as an aura.

Speaker 19 And with a little extra eyeliner and a messy unraveling of my braided hair, I made myself into the me who'd attract a man like him.

Speaker 19 When he walked into the bar that night, His eyes locked on me so immediately, he stumbled over a couple putting away their IDs.

Speaker 19 As most people do with George, they pulled back without complaint, not wanting to prolong their contact any longer than necessary. He stumbled because he'd let his hunger take control.

Speaker 19 What he usually kept tightly leashed was apparent from his every movement, like the smell of rotten meat. He dropped into the seat next to me.

Speaker 19 And that is the first time since he opened the door to the bar that I looked at him.

Speaker 12 I've never seen you in mirror before.

Speaker 12 With your beauty, I certainly would have noticed.

Speaker 19 I nodded, but it wasn't my beauty he noticed. Now that he was close, he read what kind of woman I was, how best to get inside my defenses.

Speaker 19 He waved a hand at Ricky, who gave me a look asking if I wanted him to run the guy up. But I shook my head.

Speaker 12 A willin for the lady.

Speaker 12 Neat.

Speaker 19 His instincts weren't all wrong. I touched his shoulder.

Speaker 13 I couldn't, really.

Speaker 12 I insist.

Speaker 19 Ricky brought him a lone star and set the willet before me. I took a sip, but it did nothing to alleviate my thirst.

Speaker 19 We chatted about the bar, and he pretended to be friends with everyone in there, because he suspected someone social was more likely to get me to open up.

Speaker 19 He told me what I already knew about the bar, the neighborhood.

Speaker 19 And when he started in on the disco ball and how it had been up there for 10 straight years, when in fact it was only recently hung, I interrupted him.

Speaker 19 You're doing this all wrong.

Speaker 12 What?

Speaker 19 A slur was evident in his voice that was not from the beer. Even though I was the cause of his slur and felt the same intoxication, I managed to keep my voice level and clear.
You're too obvious.

Speaker 19 You pick on the walking wounded, but don't act wounded yourself. You're play acting rather than being.

Speaker 19 His eyes sharpened. This wasn't the way he wanted this to go, but he was too confident to second-guess himself.

Speaker 18 Another will it?

Speaker 19 You know that's what both of us don't want.

Speaker 19 My hand on his thigh set his body into motion. His torso split open, teeth and raw flesh slopping forward to envelop my entire arm.

Speaker 19 I caught myself on the edge of the bar and pulled myself out of reach just in time. Honestly shocked he'd lost so much control.
Not here.

Speaker 19 His eyes fractured into a rainbow of colors as he pulled himself together.

Speaker 19 His form so flimsy and weak I had to hold him up as I led him to a darker corner in the back of the bar, where we could stand together and look like we were making out.

Speaker 19 And though I was starving, the hunger he couldn't control raging through me as well, I put my hands to either side of his head.

Speaker 19 and whispered in his ear, You should have taken those who prey on their own, you idiot. Those who nobody will miss because no one ever liked them.
The ones everyone's glad to see gone.

Speaker 19 Only at that moment did he realize that we were the same kind of monster. Though really, we weren't the same at all.
My head opened to absorb his. My torso unfolded to circle his own.
My legs split.

Speaker 19 and the rows of needle teeth inside latched onto his flesh before he could do the same. And then, he was inside me.

Speaker 19 Afterwards, I tidied my lipstick nonchalantly, but no one was even paying attention.

Speaker 19 Already, George's memories were taking up space in my head, followed by those of all the women he'd eaten.

Speaker 19 I will give each one of his victims their due, remembering their lives and loves and losses as if they were mine. For months ahead, My dreams will be theirs.

Speaker 19 As for George, I chewed through his memories at once and buried their remains deep. Ricky raised an eyebrow when I returned to my seat at the bar, Sans George.

Speaker 19 George got a call about a dying relative, I told him. It was an emergency, he said.
He had to go.

Speaker 19 Ricky poured shots of whiskey for himself and me.

Speaker 12 To George, having had to go.

Speaker 19 We toasted and downed the shots. And with just a little more whiskey to aid in the digestion, George will never be back.

Speaker 19 Our phone lines have been cut.

Speaker 14 The cell signals are lost.

Speaker 14 But we will return to delve into your darkest hang-ups when the calls will be coming from inside your house.

Speaker 14 The No Sleep Podcast is presented by Creative Reason Media. The musical score was composed by Brandon Boone.

Speaker 14 Our production team is Phil Migolsky, Jeff Clement, Jesse Cornett, and Claudius Moore.

Speaker 14 Our editorial team is Jessica McAvoy, Ashley McInally, Ollie A. White, and Kristen Semito.

Speaker 14 To discover how you can get even more sleepless horror stories from us, just visit sleepless.thenosleeppodcast.com to learn about the Sleepless Sanctuary.

Speaker 14 Add-free extended episodes each week, and lots of bonus content for the dark hours, all for one low monthly price.

Speaker 14 On behalf of everyone at the No Sleep Podcast, we thank you for taking our nightmarish calls.

Speaker 14 This audio program is Copyright 2024 and 2025 by Creative Reason Media Inc. All rights reserved.
The copyrights for each story are held by the respective authors.

Speaker 14 No duplication or reproduction of this audio program is permitted without the written consent of Creative Reason Media Inc.

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Speaker 1 This is Jonas Knox from 2 Pros and a Cup of Joe and on Fox One.

Speaker 4 Now you can stream your favorite live sports so you can be there live for the biggest moments.

Speaker 6 That means NFL Sundays, college football games, NASCAR, MLB postseason, and more.

Speaker 2 With Fox One, you'll get it all live.

Speaker 11 Edge of your seat plays, jaw-dropping, high-octane moments, and that feeling like you're right there in the action.

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