Our Classmate Disappeared. The Teachers Know More Than They’re Saying - Part Two | It Reads At Night

It Reads At Night presents... "Our Classmate Disappeared. The Teachers Know More Than They're Saying." PART TWO OF TWO.


Written by u/strangeaccounts aka Travis Weaver

Support the author:

"Strange Accounts from the American Frontier": https://www.amazon.com/Strange-Accounts-American-Frontier-Travis/dp/B0GHQ1FMC6

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/StrangeAccounts/

Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/StrangeAccounts


Support our show:

https://linktr.ee/mothuncle

New episodes every other Thursday!

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:04

That's what we want to do left to do. It reads at night.

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Hello everybody. Welcome back to the It Read At Night Podcast. Episode I'm losing count. I think this is eight. Oh, that's awesome. We are chilling here tonight. We're not chilling. We're actually really scared. It's uh but the weather's nice. We've got 59 degrees out right now. Um no chance of rain. Well, 1%. I guess it's possible.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Damn.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Um, but it is feeling nice out here tonight. Sadly, we're a little spooked before we uh started. I mean, we got it on tape, if you will, but um it's not part of the episode technically. Maybe at some point we'll th we'll throw in some sections, but there's definitely something out in the back of the woods right now, right behind us, and it sounds a little bipedal.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

It sounds like it has two legs, and it's heavier and it's heavier than a big dog, because it's not as light as a possum. It's not a raccoon. It's like the size definitely not a raccoon. It's the at least the size of the big dog that that scared us in that one video that lives here. Who is inside? For now, not outside.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

For now. He's gonna scare the fucking shit out of us if he comes out.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Uh, because we are we are uh there is something out there and it was playing with like there's some trash in the woods. Yeah. And it's heavy. Yeah. The thing is heavy, it was cracking shit. And then it was messing around with like bottles.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Yeah, and it's directly behind us, just a few feet into the dark. We have not laid eyes on it. We did, Alex, we have some big uh rocks over there that he uh politely threw into the woods in that general direction. It did not scurry, there were no sounds of it running off. Uh big rocks.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Big like big fucking rocks.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Borderline boulders. Um, so I guess we got the vibes down. We're we're primed to get spooked tonight. Um and tonight is uh a little bit more unique than well, we'll see actually. I mean, we haven't done this before. Maybe this will be something we continue to do. But we're actually going to be reading a part two tonight for the very first time. Last week, if you didn't uh check into that episode, make sure and go watch that first, or this one will make zero sense, and you'll be upset, and then I'll be upset, and then uh the entity behind us will be upset and eat you. So uh tonight we'll be reading part two of our classmate disappeared. The teachers know more than they're saying. And that is written by Strange Accounts. Um, that is his Reddit name, his real name, or at least his author name, is Travis Weaver. Travis Weaver is a very acclaimed uh internet uh story, horror story writer at the moment. Everyone's digging down into his stuff. He's writing some incredible stories. Um we've been reading this one uh on the show, and it's kind of like a high school Ouija board possession something or other witchy kind of vibe, and we've been loving it. So once again, check out part one if you haven't yet. We're gonna be getting into part two, and uh yeah, and one uh a few more things to say about our author here. He has a self-published book out, and you can find it, I believe, on Amazon. It's called Strange Accounts from the American Frontier. Uh it's nothing like the story we'll be reading tonight, but it is the same author, and I'm sure the quality is just as good. I think that's gonna be more like historical journal accounts in like, you know, the cowboy times. So I think Blood Meridian or uh the good, bad, and ugly. Or you're listening for the entity, aren't you? There's something behind us. I know. I'm trying to talk through it, you know. I'm trying to just be a a professional host and get us through this. But we are a little antsy tonight, guys, which is good for the story, because it'll it'll be more effective, I think. But um, since this is a part two, uh Alex, which we didn't introduce ourselves at the beginning of the show. My name is Austin.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Well, Michael Keaton.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Yeah, bro.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Yeah. Michael Keaton, bro. I'm Michael Keaton, bro. Haven't you heard?

unknown 4:50

Shit.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Uh what are we doing?

SPEAKER_02 4:52

Your name?

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Oh, Michael Keaton. Fuck.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

Fuck. That's Michael Keaton. Um, yeah. That's awesome, bro. What did you think of part one last week? Do you do you even remember what happened? Put you on the spot here.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

I'm joking. Yeah, that I I did really enjoy it. Uh, I'm excited to see what happens next. Um This is fucking I really like the story. I kinda wish it was continuous. So if you're listening to this, it's easy for you to just switch to this part. Skip the fucking intro and you know, get right back into the story. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

Um skip all this bullshit.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

But it is because it's we're just gonna jump straight back in. So um I guess. It's it's awesome. I'm excited to see what happens. I like the the pagan wicca wicin stuff that's going on.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

Uh yeah, definitely some witchy vibes are afoot. I actually wrote some notes down so we'd have something to talk about. Okay. About part one. Um I'm just gonna peruse these. So uh I have a lot of writing I have a lot of things here just about things I liked. I I really like the writing style. It it gives a lot of imagery. I like the way this guy writes. Mr. Travis. Um, I thought the Ouija scene in the last part was really cool. The uh the intro to that scene is really nice. It's got some cool lines in it, like uh the world beyond the windows had turned the color of a bruise. That violet shade the sky wears just before the first flake falls. That's just one of many colorful, beautiful lines. I don't remember that at all. Yeah, I bet you don't. You got holes in your brain. Well, I I re-listened to everything that we did. I should have done that. Yeah, well, I think it was really late when we recorded the last one. It's a little earlier this time, so I I have more of my faculties. Um I I liked the protagonist connection, uh, or really the lack thereof of um the connection with Lena, the girl who goes missing. Oh yeah. Yeah, because they never really uh started anything. It's just kind of like a secret admirer.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Uh she he thought she was a bad one. Yeah. From across the way. Yeah. Are you a bad one from across the way though?

SPEAKER_02 7:23

One day I'm gonna tell you about it.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

One day I'm gonna tell you about my yearnings.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

Yes. Of which there are many.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

How m how my pants toiled for you from across the way.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

My zipper buckled.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

My silver buckle.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

But that was that tragically never came to be. Which I don't see a lot in in much writing. Usually I think you and of course there could be a relationship with the the ghostly Lena if she's a a real thing. But like I feel like most stories you kinda you kinda get to know there's like a relationship between the protagonist and the the could be love interest. Yeah. But this is just like bam, she she went missing. Yeah, you're not having that.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

You don't get the nice cool, clean build-up of Bridge Terabithea before she dies.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

Yeah, straight into it. Straight into the tragedy. Um about the story though, I I think the school, just the school that they're in, John Henry High, um, very culty vibes. I I think that the faculty of the school might be more of a coven than anything. They seem to have very um interesting traditions at the school. For instance, the well, which they mention in the in one of the first few lines of the story of part one. Um the well is mentioned a lot throughout the first part. And um I think it's kind of like the centerpiece. This is my theory at the moment. I think it's like the centerpiece of this weird school cult, school coven. Uh, for instance, like the opening day photograph that they took, um, where all the kids, if you remember, all the kids stood around the well and they took a picture, and uh that's also where our protagonists, Ty, right? Yeah. I think it's Ty. Uh Lena, he saw Lena, he was admiring her.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

For the first time?

SPEAKER_02 9:28

I d I think he already had eyes for her, but this is like where the story dropped us in.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I do remember.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Outside doing the photograph thing. They're all surrounding this well, which is something they do every year. Um, and she's eyeing this well.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Uh she's staring at the well. I want to go down.

SPEAKER_02 9:49

I gotta go down there. Yeah. So uh I thought that was cool. Um I definitely think the well is a thing. And I have a little theory here that ties into the well. Hit me with a tie. When they get that thanks. When they when they do the Ouija board ceremony, whatever, uh ritual, they um the first thing that is spelled out is soup. Which they kind of brush off as a joke. They blame it on uh Mason, who's kind of like the the jockey dude. I remember Mason because his voice, you remember his voice? Oh Mason. So I'll throw a football in my head. I got football in my head. Oh. Um, so my kind of theory at the moment is the well is like a fucking big soup.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Child soup. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:50

Or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

That's so fucked up.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

I don't that's that's just a little thing I had written down in my life.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Something I thought about.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

Just a cute little jot I did. A little footnote. I wonder. Um I don't think I finished all the thoughts I had, but I did have one final thing written in like a very cursed looking font. Mr. Klein.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

So that was the music teacher. Something under that silver buckle. Yeah, we got goddamn Python. So he's got something going on. Because he's he's definitely a freak.

SPEAKER_02 11:27

I think it's kinda weird or telling about why his room is the most heavily decorated. Uh like all like the pagan imagery and all that. They kinda they kinda explain how his room is like super decked out with the pagan imagery. Um, so I don't know if he's like the leader of this weird school cubin thing, or if that's just because that's the room Lena was last seen in or something. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Alright, I got a theory. Here you go.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

Alright, let's hear it. Does it involve buckles? Or the removal of buckles?

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Oh man. Whatever. Come on, Jim. Come on. Uh no, I think actually I think um I think it'd be kind of like Kid Soup. Kid Soup. Okay, we're my that's my theory. We got kids' soup theory, and then we got Cerberus Snape Theory. Alright. Which is Mr. Klein is like Snape where you think he's like you're like, oh that guy's weird and mean and really weird. And then uh he's not. And then on top of that, kinda like w 1.0 what? 1.1 uh theory, is that all the pagan shit you're supposed to think it's evil, and then he's got the most pagan shit in his room, right? Yeah. But they're like trying to protect the kids and everybody from something. And they're doing all that, and everybody thinks he's all fucked up, but he's like he knows that she's super depressed or whatever the fuck from the first thing, and he's like, I gotta make sh extra sure that you're you're super vulnerable to this thing, and I've seen you looking at the well and all that. Maybe. Kind of a subversion there where uh the teachers are actually protective and not evil, but from the kids' perspective, obviously, that I mean I'd be like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_02 13:22

It'd make more sense how the school had been able to like thrive and survive for so long if they're more like a an agency of good rather than kid's soup.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

They're the action heroes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

But but we will see.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

I'm excited. This is uh it's actually a fucking awesome story.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

Yeah, I'm I'm I'm super into it. I'm excited to finish it up here tonight.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

It's it's a long one. There's quite a bit from what I can see.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

Yeah, I think we've got ourselves a hefty night of reading here. Uh, but before we get into the story, I just want to let you guys know. Uh what is it that I want to let you know? Fuck. Uh, you know, if you like what you're if you like what you're hearing, umdo your buckle. You like seeing two scared guys in the r in the in the woods. Yeah, undo your buckle.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

This is like deliverance.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

Basically.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

This is like the deliverance. Basically.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

If if you like what you're seeing here, this campfire vibe, you like seeing two guys scared to death of whatever is behind them in the woods. Feel free to drop a like, subscribe. Um, go you can listen to this on audio where you don't even have to see us, which I think is a huge plus. Yeah. You just hear us, I know that's probably hard enough. Video is a whole nother tackling.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

I don't know how people fucking watch anything.

SPEAKER_02 14:50

Yeah, I don't know where people get the time to watch anything, but put a podcast on and watch it, that's crazy, bro. Good for you though, if you do that. I mean, I guess that's what we're doing and what we aim to do. But if uh if you do that and you're older than 17, you you're doing something right, you know, you probably well adjusted. You got some free time on your hands. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

And you sit with your hands like latched together and your knees together and your fucking heels and toes on the floor, and you're just sitting there perfectly. Fucking and you just look at the screen, you smile the whole time, and you watch the full two reacts. Oh, they just fucking sit there. You're a bitch. You know that? Yeah, me? No, the guy. Oh hypothetical guy. That'd be crazy to come out the gate.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

But yeah, that would be crazy. Let's be real here. You're a bitch. You're a bitch. Me? Let's be real here. If you you're probably not well adjusted. You're probably like us. You got too much shit on your plate, and you're procrastinating, and you're watching us instead. And if you are doing that, thank you very much for for choosing us to uh ruin your life with not ruin your life. Maybe we're maybe we're making it a little bit better. But we're definitely uh you're definitely we're definitely like um what is it, your filler, so that you don't have to focus on the horrors of your mind. And uh speaking of horrors, I'd say it's time to get into our story.

SPEAKER_03 16:31

And without further ado, our classmate disappeared.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

The teachers know more than they're saying. Part two. Contain scenes of explicit and disturbing imagery.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Oh, I turned I turned French for a second. We're not gonna read.

SPEAKER_02 17:25

Alright. We did the last episode except for 35 minutes. All right.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

Oh, okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

Emma tightened her grip around mine. Nice, dude. Nice. Nice. You were just waiting for that.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Nice, dude. That is waiting for that. That's actually so funny. Whoa, there's a line.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

Alright, I'm over it. Alright, whatever. I'm not I don't even care. I just leave. Emma tighten Emma tightened her grip around mine.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

I gotta remember these voices. We're not actually going out there, right?

SPEAKER_02 18:07

Mason ran his hands through his hair and took us in, one by one, like he expected somebody else to char to take charge.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

I'm trying, man. I gotta get this out. He ran his hand through his hair. He took us in one by one. Like he expected somebody else to take care of it. Why are you just reading my because I'm just I'm I'm rereading it to you the way I'm uh how you'd like to hear it. Take someone else to take. Yeah, anyway. Alright, can you give me that line again? I'll quit.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

Mason ran his hands through his hair and took us in, one by one, like he expected somebody else to take charge.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Well, I mean, we asked her what happened. She answered. So what do we do now, bail? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:59

Jody's words landed without hesitation.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Absolutely, yes. We leave. Right now, through those doors, straight to the parking lot. Wait, what?

SPEAKER_02 19:10

I said.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

You want us to show up to class on Monday like nothing? You want us to show up to class on Monday like n none of this happened? Like we didn't just like we didn't just talk to a dead girl through a piece of cardboard?

SPEAKER_02 19:24

Jody cracked.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Yes. Exactly like that.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

Emma drove her nails into the back of my palm.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

Tell me you're joking, Ty. I'm not.

SPEAKER_02 19:34

I got up. Mason rose too, bracing on one knee as he reached for his phone. He tapped the screen and the glow washed over him. He raised it toward the board, holding it high enough to light the space.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Okay. Okay, fine. If Tyler wants to go, I'll I'll be right behind. Fuck. Okay. Okay, fine. If Tyler wants to go, I'll be right behind him. Fine.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Jody eased back until her heels pressed against a desk leg.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Just leave that thing here. Not a chance, Mason said. We can't leave a Ouija board sitting on the floor. I don't want the teachers to start a witch hunt on Monday.

SPEAKER_02 20:17

Cardboard rasped as he crouched, slid the planchette into the box, and tucked the whole thing under his arm. He paused.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Actually, I'll tell you what.

SPEAKER_02 20:29

He moved to the trash can, lifted the lid, and let the board fall inside.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

There. Everyone's happy. Ready, Ty?

SPEAKER_02 20:38

Mason led us toward the exit in a knot, and we held by the door. Jodi checked each of us once, then set her thumb to the latch and pushed. A faint creak carried into the hall. Tile and shadow stretched out ahead in a long strip. We crossed the threshold together. I think she went right, Jodi said.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

Mason, you want to lead the way again? No, but I will.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

The hall split into a clean T-shape ahead of us. Both sides sank towards darkness. As we reached the divide, something slid across the edge of my sight. A faint shift where nothing should have been. Hold up. I leaned around the corner, only far enough to see down the crosshall. Lena stood, suspended, cop between tile and ceiling. Like the world had forgotten what to do with her. Her feet touched the floor, though they dragged behind her with no real aim. Her head listed towards us. The motion had a hitch in it, as if someone had plucked a string tied to her skull. She turned from us and drifted away. We followed. When we reached the corner behind Lena, she had Already moved some distance ahead. Her frame found itself outlined in the moonlight, and I caught more details in that brief moment than I ever wanted to see. The skin on her wrists puffed outward with a dead white stillness. Her nails held a deep blue stain, drained of warmth. Along her neck, faint dark half circles pressed into the skin. Not cuts, not bruises, but small marks that looked like someone had pinched her skin over and over again. Emma saw them too. Tyler. Ah no. The trinkets thickened above us as we stepped into the staff hall. Mason lifted one between the edge of his thumb and the corner of his finger and pulled it towards his light.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

Can you guys see this? What the hell is written on this thing?

SPEAKER_02 22:55

He turned it s he turned it so the back faced us. A year had been pressed into the wood in tiny dark numbers. 2007. He brushed the next one aside. 2002. Emma moved closer to the wall. Her attention traced the long run of twine that stretched nearly the length of the corridor. I kept pace beside her. We read each marking as we walked. 1993, 1981, 1968. The dates grew older as we advanced. Near a stained ceiling tile, one bundle sagged under its own weight. The number etched into it had nearly vanished. It held something bloodless caught in the twigs. Almost like dried skin twisted into a small rose. Wasn't that when the school was built? Jody asked. I think so. Emma said. Doing Emma dirty.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Yeah. I just have my voice at different pitches. It's not like a different, you know.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

That's all you're gonna get.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

That's all you're getting.

SPEAKER_02 24:15

I think so! I think so. So Who knows?

SPEAKER_01 24:20

This is incredible.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

So they're going.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

They're down in like the teacher hallway. Yeah, and they're and they're I don't really understand what is it?

SPEAKER_02 24:29

There's like twine with little Yeah, I see her attention traced the long run of twine that stretch nearly the length of the corridor.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

There's things on them, like little Blair Witch Wickerman things.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

And they have dates on them etched into them?

SPEAKER_01 24:42

And then one of 'em bloodless 1968. The dates grew older as it's one bundle sagged under its own weight. The number etched into it had nearly vanished. It held something bloodless caught in the twigs. Almost like dried skin twisted into a small rose. That's hey, that's pretty gross. That is gross. Maybe that's what's cut into her maybe skin and bloodless. I don't know, is it like a skin?

SPEAKER_02 25:12

Is that the pinch thing they were talking about?

SPEAKER_01 25:13

It's like a piece of skin they took off.

SPEAKER_02 25:15

Yeah. And gross.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Or is that they have like a little animal. It's just like from night you know, it's from like fucking eighty something years ago. Or like a little guy. And it's just a little guy from back then. And it's just like ski I mean, it's just been like w getting tighter and tighter, and now it's like it was a squirrel a hundred years ago. Now it's like this fucking it's like the size of a dime. But it's all you know what I mean? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:43

It's pretty gross. It's all gross. That's interesting. Yeah. Alright, so 1948.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

And Julie took them down here. Julie. Right? Isn't that her name? Who's Julie? I don't know. Julie. Listen, when you're when you're talking, I'm listening. I'm not reading. I'm like, um but I'm also Did I say Julie? What's her name? Who Oh, Lena. Lena, okay. Who the fuck is Julie? I don't know. Oh, it's from a audiobook I'm listening to, I think.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

It's getting Yeah, where we got some fucking wires crossing here, I see.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Alright, 1948.

SPEAKER_02 26:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Wasn't that when the school was built?

SPEAKER_02 26:30

Jody asked.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Wait, didn't we already read that?

SPEAKER_02 26:34

Well, yeah. You said, I think so. Oh yeah. I think so Emma said. Under our shoes, the lun the lin Wow. That's a hard one. Linolium. Linoleum. Under our shoes, the linoleum changed, the pattern flipping from speckled gray to a sickly tan. The lockers gave way to plain walls with framed wards hung in neat rows. Glass-fronted frames watched us as we passed. My light caught on them in strange ways. Some held harsh black and white. Others held dual colors that sunk that had sunk toward brown. Back through the decades, the pictures marched. Faces I recognized, faces from before my time. Faces belonging to teachers who taught long before any of us were born. In one print, the old school well stood behind a row of faculty members. The well. A dead grin sat on every face. The kind you get when the photographer tells you to hold your smile for a second too long. At first nothing struck me as wrong. Another stage staff picture. Then the wrong part rose into view. Two swollen hands were clutched onto the outer stones of the wall. The skin had the soaked look of something that had been left in the wash. The nails pointed and cracked, shaped shaped like long shipped picks. Whatever owned them was hiding beneath the rim. That's creepy, dude.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 28:17

So the two bloated hands were like in the picture with the well. Like they're they're sticking out of the well. Is it like somebody holding on from inside of the well? That's what I that's what I've gotten from it. Whatever owned them was hiding beneath the rim of like the well. Okay, yeah. Yeah. Well, that's pretty cool. That's fucking waaaaaaaa, man. That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

God. I just want to do funny voices. But the story's really nice, so. I know. Not today. Mason. I said. Come here and tell me I'm not seeing things. Here, wait, hold on. I I I'm trying to remember, so my voice tie is just my voice. Yeah. And then Jody, which is I think where I got Julie. Jody Foster. I can't I dude, I could never do that accent.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

I've got a weird one. She's so she's so beautiful. Gotcha that is a queen right there.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

I Jesus. So Ty is my voice. Jody is my voice, but just slightly different.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

Yeah. Jody and Emma are like, I'm trying, I'm struggling to s I like I know they're two separate people, but I'm like, what is different about them? Well, I'll trust your judgment.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

Emma is Mason. You know what I mean? Emma is the girl version of Mason. Jody and Tyre, like they're just people. Yeah. They're they're characters of Southwest. Southwest. Whatever. Um. No, so uh. We've already said it like 15 times. And then so Jody's me, my voice, but a little bit different. Uh just a little bit there's a little bit more air to it. You can kind of tell. What was and Emma's voice was dumb always, but what is w what is Mason's voice?

SPEAKER_02 30:26

Mason was like jocked to the max, very deep. Like what? What the hell?

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Yeah. I kind of listened to the last episode. What? Mason raised the light.

SPEAKER_02 30:40

I barely remember last episode. What the hell? I was having an allergy attack.

SPEAKER_01 30:45

It was like 4 a.m.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

drunk. Yeah, and it was 4 a.m. and it was cold.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Come here and tell me I'm not saying things. What? Mason raised the light in the time. It's deeper than that. What the what the hell? I don't know if I can go deeper tonight. What? As deep as you can.

SPEAKER_02 31:03

It doesn't have to be too deep or it's silly.

SPEAKER_03 31:06

What? What? What the hell?

SPEAKER_02 31:13

You can probably go a little higher. Throat singer over here.

SPEAKER_01 31:22

Alright, let's start with it. Mason. I said. Come here and tell me I'm not seeing Come here Come here and tell me I'm not seeing things.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

What? Mason raised his light and moved in beside me. What the hell? His beam slid off the first frame and settled on another photo just below it, farther along the school's timeline. The same well stood in the center, though fewer teachers gathered before it. Each one wore twig charms pinned in neat rows across their jackets. Their expressions caught in a strained place between a welcome and a warning. At the far edge of the group stood a figure that broke the pattern entirely. At a distance it passed for a tall, lanky student, though the shape refused to settle on anything familiar. Sacks had been tied around its limbs, in torso to suggest clothing. A burlap bag covered its head, cinched tight, where a neck should have rested. The limbs ran too long. The torso drawn too narrow. The sackcloth clung to the form beneath, heavy and wet. Emma nudged into my side.

SPEAKER_01 32:40

What are you looking at?

SPEAKER_02 32:42

When her gaze reached the figure in the sackcloth, her eyes froze in place.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Ty? What is that supposed to be?

SPEAKER_02 32:51

No idea, I said.

SPEAKER_01 32:54

Down here. Jody called. I think Lena went this way.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

I dragged my focus from the photographs and turned toward the hall ahead. At the far end, a single staff door hung open by a lean gap. Warm light pushed through that slim opening and traced a bright stripe across the floor. Erm.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

We should really think about this before we go through. Oh, that's not even the line. No, it's like it's like I read it and then just changed it.

SPEAKER_02 33:26

We should really think I'll let you in on a little insider secret. That does happen a lot.

SPEAKER_01 33:30

I yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:31

But I let you. Oh, I have to do that. I just say it uh it's like artistic liberty.

SPEAKER_01 33:36

It's an artistic liberty. I I have uh some serious problems with reading out loud. I'll re I'll read what it says and something else will come out of my mouth. It's crazy. The disconnection and I notice it while I'm doing it. Yeah. We should really think this through before we go in there.

SPEAKER_02 33:54

Emma said.

SPEAKER_01 33:56

If the light's on, someone might be inside, and I I don't want to get in trouble.

SPEAKER_02 34:01

So I'm gonna go back to uh when Ty saw the tall lanky student in the sackcloth. Yeah, right. What the fuck is that?

SPEAKER_01 34:12

Is that like a person who has been drowned? Bef beforehand, or is that the ghost of someone you're gonna do? I feel like it's the ghost in the picture. Yeah. Or it's maybe right before they are gonna throw them in. Throw them in, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:29

I don't like these. The imagery's kind of fucking creeping me out tonight. It's working on me. Um It is uh this is I don't like old photographs, you know. Like the old the black and white, and everyone looks all free.

SPEAKER_01 34:43

I don't want to see anything pre-2006. Yeah, it grosses me. Makes me uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_02 34:50

Yeah, it's it's interesting. Um did Lena lead them into this area?

SPEAKER_01 34:56

Apparently, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:57

So she's trying to like show them what's what.

SPEAKER_01 35:01

Yeah. I got something for you. Let's read the next two sentences.

SPEAKER_02 35:04

Uh okay. What is that? I dragged my focus?

SPEAKER_01 35:07

Uh my own my own words.

SPEAKER_02 35:11

Where?

SPEAKER_01 35:12

Under.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. My own words escaped before I could pull them back.

SPEAKER_01 35:20

Lena brought us here. Ow! Yeah. There has to be a reason for it. I think I might be uh a a time teller. I'm a time lord. I'm I'm a clairvoyant. Yeah, I shine. Yeah, I'm a star.

SPEAKER_02 35:41

Lena Bratis here. There has to be a reason for it. Alright. Alright. Sorry, guys. I'm just too quick.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

Alright, Jody sighed. Tyler's right. I say we take a look. Guys, I think I made a mistake bringing us here.

SPEAKER_02 36:01

Mason said. He shot Emma a look.

SPEAKER_01 36:05

I'm sorry, Em. Oh stop it. Oh, stop it. You just don't get to say that now, Mason. Jody said.

SPEAKER_02 36:16

Besides, it's my fault too. She paused and angled her ear toward the door. Do you hear that?

SPEAKER_01 36:23

Do you hear that?

SPEAKER_02 36:24

Oh no. Just gonna creep me out, isn't it? Beneath the steady hum of the lights, another sound threaded through the dark. A mix of human tones rising and falling together. I listened. Something in me gave way. And I moved forward before the others could stop me. Heat pressed out of that room and slid along the hall. A smell walked with it. Sweet. Bitter. The taste on your tongue when you bite through your own lip. That's a cool line. With each stride, the crack in the door widened. The bright light crawled out and sank into the floor. The blended voices from inside sharpened. The words pulled free from the hum. Familiar tongues tangled with others I didn't know. At the threshold, I pressed the side of my palm against the door frame. I drew air in, held it still, and leaned forward just enough to peer inside. That's kind of like the end of a chapter almost. Yeah. Right there. A bunch of dashes. Cool. So Lena led them into this weird area of the school where there's you kind of see the history.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

I'll tell you what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 37:52

Alright. Clairvoyant. Clairvoyant Alex is.

SPEAKER_01 37:55

I'm literally aware.

SPEAKER_02 37:57

I'm widely aware.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

Um see the future. I I'm putting two fingers on my temple. Um Deep Cut. My name is That's So Raven. That's my full name.

SPEAKER_02 38:12

That's so Raven.

SPEAKER_01 38:16

Continue. Oh. Um it's just I mean, this is not crazy. But it's all the teachers. And they're they're doing something fucking weird.

SPEAKER_02 38:28

Is that not what I said at the beginning? Is that not what I said?

SPEAKER_01 38:32

They're all gonna be in a circle and like bowing around some fucking thing.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

They have some like eyes wide shut, or even better yet, like a Shuspiria remake moment.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

Shaspuria.

SPEAKER_02 38:42

Oh my god, the ending of that movie is so fucking demonic. Jesus Christ, guys. Have you never seen that? That's a dude.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

I I recommended that movie to somebody. And they were like, because I kind of explained like the first one, you know, the the real big deal. And then I was like, man, but the you know, blah blah blah. I really like the new one too. I would watch that.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

The old one is has got its charm and it looks really nice. It does. It looks beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 39:12

But I did an ocular pat down of this person. I said I said You're modern. You're a modern guy.

SPEAKER_02 39:19

It's like the you know the you play Battlefront? Fuck yeah. The loading screen on Battlefront 1. You're like You're fucking lame.

SPEAKER_01 39:33

I was like, you couldn't sit through anything that isn't just like it's gonna be modern. So uh it's gonna be grayscale. I was like, yeah, it's like you should watch the new Susperia. It's like the remake, just look up Susperia, that's the one that'll come up. I literally love that movie. The scene. Man, yeah, anyway, it's incredible.

SPEAKER_02 39:53

I have a I have a lot of emotions for both of those movies. This guy goes love those movies, dude.

SPEAKER_01 39:58

I kind of told him the vibe of it. Yeah. Or not not the vibe. I told him like pieces of it, right? I was like, this, this, and this. He was like, man, that sounds awesome. I'll probably I'll probably check that out with my wife. And I was like, yeah, we're you should check it out. He's like, we keep talking. Say, you know, there's like a little bit more filler. He's like, man, I fucking I do not fuck with horror movies.

SPEAKER_02 40:19

Don't watch that. I just holy shit.

SPEAKER_01 40:22

Let it ride. I hope he watches it.

SPEAKER_02 40:25

Man, that's a good ass movie. I gotta watch that. I've been I've really gotta go back and re-watch a bunch of like the shit that really gets me. Like the witch. The witch. The witch's spirit. That might be The Babaduok and the Blair Witch Project, which I haven't seen since I was like six.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

The Blair Witch Project I don't think you'll be as impressed with, and The Babaduok is a good movie. It wasn't it's a good movie. And it the symbolism's awesome, and there's a lot of really sick scenes. As a full movie, I don't put it with the witch or Susperia.

SPEAKER_02 40:59

Yeah. Well how the witch is like the the Babaduok is like the scariest thing to me. I don't I find witches. Duk duok duck. Duck duck duck. I no, I did is it is unknowable entity things that are just kind of like fucking with you. Yeah. Horrifying. Witches, I think as I've grown older, witches have kind of overtaken that. Like the idea of a witch scares the shit out of me. Like a fucking st eight century old hag out of the forest.

SPEAKER_01 41:35

Yeah, them hags scare me.

SPEAKER_02 41:37

You know when you go to fucking luring you into them is fucking horrifying.

SPEAKER_01 41:40

When you go to one of those 24 hour Walmarts and you see the hag. Straight haggis. Dude, you know she got haggis. That sensor light just turned on. Way out there.

SPEAKER_02 41:53

Oh, it's because there's a rabbit. I see I can see the rabbit.

SPEAKER_01 41:57

Oh, really? Is it rabbit? Yeah, we're talking about witches and shit, and a rabbit just shows up. Yeah, that's not good, is it?

SPEAKER_02 42:03

Dude. Isn't it like part well? It's usually goats, right? Or is it rabbits?

SPEAKER_01 42:07

Well goat no, so the the the the mail the goat, the ram is a symbol of Satan. Yeah. But witches They'd be feasting upon rabbits. And they also be making rabbits appear. Great. Honestly, I feel like and I I have no like I can't tell you why, but I know that rabbits and witches are like intertwined. Um You got Wi-Fi? Look that shit up.

SPEAKER_02 42:37

Of course.

SPEAKER_01 42:38

Rat rabbits and witches.

SPEAKER_02 42:40

I'm looking up the local witch. We're in Bell Witch country.

SPEAKER_01 42:47

He just doxxed us.

SPEAKER_02 42:49

Not really. I mean the act the actual town Bellwitch is from is pretty far away.

SPEAKER_01 42:54

No, we dox ourselves further. We're close, but not too close. Have fun. Yeah. Put a circle. Yeah, in it, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:05

Man, I don't fuck with witches.

SPEAKER_01 43:07

No, I've I've had pretty freaky.

SPEAKER_02 43:09

A lot of people, um, skinwalkers. I don't fuck with them neither. But I if I'm in the Western United States, I will not say that name. I will not say it. I will not say that word.

SPEAKER_01 43:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:26

We're not there, so I'm cool. But I feel like when we're here, I know I don't like talking about witches that much, because I'm like, fuck I don't know. It's just it's stupid superstition, but I'm like, uh fucking maybe. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 43:39

Wait, yuck. Yuck. My buddies have stopped. But uh I don't I'm cool with talking about skinwalkers here and there. Here in the West. I'm like, yeah, kinda. I don't go to the West enough, but like when I'm in when I'm in like Appalachia, I do not. Want to talk about skinwalkers.

SPEAKER_02 44:02

Yeah. I don't want to talk about anything in Napoleon.

SPEAKER_01 44:04

I don't want to talk about literally I really I don't want to talk about anything. I will I will go so far to have these weird roundabout conversations. Yeah. About, you know, there's these things and like you don't really want to mess with them and there's rules out here and I just try to follow them. And uh the person you're with is like, what the fuck are you talking about? I'm like, can you I'm asking you to just shut your mouth, is what I'm asking.

SPEAKER_02 44:31

Just be careful. Yeah, I was like in the in the desert. Yeah, I was in like New Mexico and Utah last year.

SPEAKER_01 44:40

Yeah. Saw some sandworms.

SPEAKER_02 44:42

Man, I didn't yeah. I was not I was afraid to even fucking think about 'em out there, man. We were like camping out in the desert. There's a rabbit. There is a rabbit. And I saw your eyes like widen. I was like, oh god.

SPEAKER_01 44:57

Hey, get your 22 bowl. You go cuckoo set of stew under sheet bar.

SPEAKER_02 45:01

We gotta get back to the story here. All right, bowl. But good talk.

SPEAKER_01 45:05

Um look up rabbits and witches.

unknown 45:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 45:10

Look up rabbits and witches.

SPEAKER_01 45:12

Look up rabbits uh rabbits and witches. It's looking at AI overview because. I swear to look over there. Fuck! He's gone. The light just went out.

SPEAKER_02 45:21

I don't I really I don't like when the light goes out. I like it more when the light gets on. It turns on. Oh, I see him though. He's getting real close to it. In European folklore, this is AI overview. Fuck. AI. Uh but in European folklore, particularly in Ireland and Britain, witches were believed to shape shift into hares. And later rabbits to travel undetected, cause mischief, or steal milk. Dude, he's gonna take your milk.

SPEAKER_01 45:51

He's gonna undo your silver button.

SPEAKER_02 45:54

Oh shit.

SPEAKER_01 45:55

Err, buckle.

SPEAKER_02 45:57

Alright, bro. We're like an owl We're like 25% through this.

SPEAKER_01 46:03

Bear me. That's what I need.

SPEAKER_02 46:08

So I think you're right. We were before we entered this whole fucking shebang. Anyway, I think we should get back to the episode. Nah, that's good though. That is good though, isn't it? Isn't it just? No, that's good though. Okay. I think you might be right about these kids entering into some kind of ritual. Some kind of eyes wide shut. I hope the camera picked that up. Ah, that sucks. Literally wing that shit into the fire pit. It just skipped. And now it's stuck upside down in the grates.

SPEAKER_01 46:46

It's gonna warm up.

SPEAKER_02 46:47

It's gonna warm up. Maybe it'll melt.

SPEAKER_01 46:49

Alright, let's twitch places.

SPEAKER_02 46:52

No.

SPEAKER_01 46:54

Like twitch chairs. No. That's uh. Can we bleep this out? Yeah. I'm just kidding. For a second my brain Hold on, let me be you. It's already you've already For a second my brain refused to sort what I was seeing. It was just colors and motion. Light on skin, the shine of metal. Then it snapped into place. It was the staff workroom. Brown cabinets with peeling laminate, a scorched coffee machine that just carried the scent of brunt grounds, a candy bowl, a copier in the corner, fluorescent lights buzzing overhead. And in the middle, pushed out like an altar, was a long table.

SPEAKER_02 47:46

Whee! You only added two words.

SPEAKER_01 47:49

I know, and I knew I knew what they were when I did it.

SPEAKER_02 47:53

It's fun, it's nice that you have the ability to perceive that, but you can't stop it.

SPEAKER_01 47:58

I can't stop it. It's horrible. I had adjust. Yeah. And then I added uh You pluralized. Yeah, I pluralized uh Scorch Cup engineering on the same rank.

SPEAKER_02 48:13

Yeah, so I definitely think they're walking in on some Susperia shit. Anyway, okay. For a second my brain refused to sort what I was seeing. It was just color and motion. Light on skin. The shine of metal. Then it snapped into place. It was the staff workroom. Brown cabinets with peeling laminate. A scorched coffee machine that carried the scent of burnt grounds. A candy bowl. A copier in the corner. Fluorescent lights buzzing overhead. And in the middle, pushed out like an altar, was a long table. They had dragged one of the big desks into the center of the room and cleared it. The surface was covered with plastic tablecloths, the kind I had seen at bake sales. Someone had taped trash bags along the edges so nothing spilled to the floor. Their backs stayed turned part way toward me, frames pitched forward, heads lowered, each mo each movement small and careful. A steady stream of talk slipped beneath their work. I recognized every single one of them. But three faces hurt more than they should have. Mrs. Hart stood closest. Her cardigan sleeves were rolled past her wrists. Next to her was Mr. Klein. His loosened tie swung as he worked. Principal Dwyer held the center, standing in place with the same posture he used when he pushed students through a pep rally. For a foolish beat, I thought they were working on pumpkins. Their motions had that sort of rhythm to them. Reach, cut, scoop, sort. Then Mrs. Hart turned toward a metal cart beside her and reached for something on its surface. As she moved, the shape they worked over slid into view. The thing on the table, the thing they leaned across, came into full view. It was Lena.

SPEAKER_01 50:28

Oh shit! Man, they man, they're doing a pumpkin treatment on her.

SPEAKER_02 50:34

So it was not a ritual.

SPEAKER_01 50:37

Well maybe.

SPEAKER_02 50:38

Well, maybe a little bit. They seem to be more so like busy with some kind of preparation or you know, like when you gut a deer.

SPEAKER_01 50:49

Yeah, they're taxiderming her. That's what I'm thinking. Yeah. They're taking all the the They're taking all the best bits out to have a scrumptious meal later. And then they're gonna pump her full of uh embalming fluid, and they're gonna put her on a wall.

SPEAKER_02 51:05

Ugh.

SPEAKER_01 51:06

That's pretty fucked up. That ain't PG. That's pretty fucked up. That is really fucked up.

SPEAKER_02 51:12

That's very upsetting. Ugh. God damn. Jeez.

SPEAKER_01 51:19

What did this guy write? Isn't it did hadn't we read one of his other stories?

SPEAKER_02 51:23

No.

SPEAKER_01 51:23

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 51:24

Well, we've yeah, I I've we've definitely read some stuff of his, but not on the show.

SPEAKER_01 51:30

Not on the show, like outside of this.

SPEAKER_02 51:31

We read that uh one of his westerns, I think.

SPEAKER_01 51:34

I've read a few of his stuff. Or like listen, yeah, we listened to a western, I think.

SPEAKER_02 51:38

A few of the journal entry things. That's what we usually get the most popular.

SPEAKER_01 51:44

This is a different vibe. Yeah, it is a different vibe. That's awesome. He's so good.

SPEAKER_02 51:50

That's yeah, we do know he's very good and he's very brutal, so um, yeah, Jesus. We're not he's not above um what is it, taxidermying a teenager?

SPEAKER_01 52:02

No.

SPEAKER_02 52:04

God damn.

SPEAKER_01 52:05

Probably not.

SPEAKER_02 52:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 52:12

Dude, Tys so bummed that he didn't get to do that.

SPEAKER_02 52:18

That'd be a crazy twist. Like, fuck. That'd be so funny. If he's like a serial killer. Yeah. And he's like, I wanted to wear her skin. God damn it. Now you've ruined it. You've gone and stretched it out. Ugh. Buffalo Bills.

SPEAKER_01 52:44

Put the lotion. I gotta take the lotion out of the basket.

SPEAKER_02 52:49

Put the lotion on his skin.

SPEAKER_01 52:52

Ty's like a man, I was let's do it. That's why he's friends with Jody. Oh. Ty stands for Jody Foster. Hannibal Ector. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:03

Yeah. Alright. It was Lena. Not the floating ghost thing that had led us there. This was her body. Her actual body. Laid out on the plastic like meat on a butcher's block. Her school shirt had been cut straight down the center and folded aside. Her torso had the waxy tone of old candle wax. The skin sagged over the bones beneath it, and the muscles below hung swollen. They had already started at her hands. Her fingers lay splayed on a small cutting board by her side. The nails still had chipped black polish on them. At the base of each finger someone had made clean cuts. Skin folded back like the edges of peeled citrus. The first two fingers on her left hand were missing from the knuckle up. Their stumps showed pale bone and a ring of torn flesh. Those two digits sat in a bowl nearby, tiny pale things, rigid and curled like shrimp that had been boiled and cooled. Damn, bro. This is a fucked up fucked up thing to follow. That was crazy. That was disgusting.

SPEAKER_01 54:26

Kind of focused on that.

SPEAKER_02 54:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:29

Take care of those.

SPEAKER_02 54:31

Mrs. Hart said.

SPEAKER_01 54:32

I don't care about the rest of her body. I just need the hair and the bones intact. Don't nick them.

SPEAKER_02 54:39

It's hard to get the angle right. Mr. Klein reached toward the bowl and studied what lay inside. Ugh. This is crazy. Ugh. Ugh. She's the music teacher, right?

SPEAKER_01 55:00

Yeah, he's a guy that was yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:03

Oh god.

SPEAKER_01 55:04

She trusted you. Always such a quiet child. I used to wish the whole class was made up of little copies of her. Never spoke out of turn. Never caused trouble. She paused, then added, It's almost a shame she was the one we picked. Almost.

SPEAKER_02 55:25

Klein agreed. From the center, Dwyer spoke without looking up.

SPEAKER_01 55:30

It's not like she gave us much of a choice. She's been talking with the boy for years now. You see that ribbon she left for him? It's been it's been how long and it's still hanging there?

SPEAKER_02 55:47

He shook his head.

SPEAKER_01 55:49

She asked for this.

SPEAKER_02 55:52

So what does that mean? I bro, is that referring to the the ribbon they saw? Wait, no, it's ribbon. Yeah, ribbon. That was a rose earlier. Who's the boy?

SPEAKER_01 56:07

Ty, probably.

SPEAKER_02 56:09

Ty. I thought they didn't have any sort of relationship. Alright, whatever. We should probably just keep going.

SPEAKER_01 56:17

She asked for this. It's true, I guess. I guess she did.

SPEAKER_02 56:23

Klein said.

SPEAKER_01 56:25

The boy's getting more restless. You remember a few winters ago? The whole grate shook for two days. Nearly cracked the bolts.

SPEAKER_02 56:34

Alright, that's definitely not tie.

SPEAKER_01 56:35

No, and the well is uh fucking keeping it's it's it's uh keeping them in there. It's the ghost. The boy. The boy.

SPEAKER_02 56:44

There's uh just one in there, is it?

SPEAKER_01 56:46

Wow, what the fuck? It's uh the titans. You know? Uh it's Satan cast down into the abyss. Oh yeah. Locked away. You know, it's it's the Antichrist, it's the the Titans and the you know, the Greek gods push the Titans down into the pit. It's all the same shit. There's something down there. And the teachers it's in between your theory and my theory.

SPEAKER_02 57:13

The kids' soup and the the teachers are protected.

SPEAKER_01 57:16

The teachers are evil, your theory, and the teachers are you said kid soup and the teachers are evil. I said teachers are good and they're protecting the kids. Yeah. Teachers are evil, but they're protecting the world from whatever the fuck's down there. They're like doing this to stop something. Giving it like a sacrifice. Yeah, but they're still f I mean, Jesus Christ. God damn. This is awesome.

SPEAKER_02 57:41

Yeah, this is this really flipped the whole story on its head. I mean, it started so kind of innocent, like a little Ouija board, kinda almost a prank.

SPEAKER_01 57:51

Almost a prank. Also, I'd like to point out that my acting is phenomenal.

SPEAKER_02 57:58

Yeah, your Mr. Klein is very breathy, might I say. You might have some kind of asthma issue. He's a bad boy.

SPEAKER_01 58:10

The the principle is Oh, but that's Dwyer.

SPEAKER_02 58:15

That's our voice for Dwyer.

SPEAKER_00 58:17

Cutter fingernails off.

SPEAKER_02 58:20

Sounds like Buffalo Bill. Cut her fingernails off.

SPEAKER_01 58:36

One more time for the for the crowd.

SPEAKER_02 58:42

What you were me? You wanted to it looked like you wanted to speak.

SPEAKER_01 58:51

This is a great story. This is so fucking bad though. Man, the situation is not we were uh I I'm really into this though. Uh I'm cool to just keep on reading. Yeah, like blast through it. Uh Are we anywhere near We're not even halfway? Oh by the way.

SPEAKER_02 59:09

Cool.

SPEAKER_01 59:10

But where are we? Scissors.

SPEAKER_02 59:13

She asked for the scissors, okay.

SPEAKER_01 59:14

Nearly cracked the bolts, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:16

Here we go. Scissors worked through Lena's hair near the table. Thick strands slid over the plastic and gathered in a metal bowl. Clumps clung to the surface with the weight of wet rope. One of the assistants gave a small snort.

SPEAKER_01 59:33

I bet you love it when he acts what Jesus. Forty voices. I bet you love it when he acts up. This is your favorite part, isn't it, Matt?

SPEAKER_02 59:46

Mr. Klein laughed.

SPEAKER_01 59:49

I prefer the build-up.

SPEAKER_02 59:51

He glanced at Lena's face, slack and waxy.

SPEAKER_01 59:55

The quiet ones are always the best for that. They always just let it happen.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:01

Lena's right arm had been opened. A clean incision ran from wrist to elbow, drawn back and fixed with clips. A man with bone shears snipped the radius. Small flakes fell into a metal dish and pinged against steel. On the far side of the table, near Lena's bare feet, Mrs. Hart worked on something else. Twigs, dried bramble, and a lock of Lena's hair disappeared into her hands. She wound them tight with darkened string, quick and neat, then lifted a tiny pair of pliers and crimped a shaved piece of bone into the center like a bead. Under the overhead light, she studied the finished charm with the same focus she gives students work. Then she set it in a tray beside six others that matched those hung all across the school.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:55

There we are. Simple enough, she said. We'll be safe for another few seasons. You know what, Lena? It's all thanks to you. You always tried your best. Even when you were nervous.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:09

She reached out and patted the girl's arm.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:11

That's what I liked about you. You kept trying. She did.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:16

Klein agreed.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:18

She was a good girl. Right up until the end.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:22

A dark, wet rot slid from the table's edge. It gathered for a breathless beat, then fell and struck the trash bag with a dull smack. More followed, each drop slower than the last. The air carried the bite of pennies, raw poultry, and floor cleaner. My legs weakened beneath me. I pressed against the door frame without meaning to, and jerked when I felt one of Emma's hands rest between my shoulder blades. Her expression found mine long enough for me to read the confusion and rising horror spreading across her face. Her mouth shaped a question without a voice. What are they doing? Is that me or you? I don't know. It's like a thought.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:09

Yeah. Okay, let's think it real quick. I didn't have an answer. Okay. What are they doing?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:18

I didn't have an answer. Mason moved in at my right. His neck arched forward, his mouth slack. What the fuck? Jody pushed into the narrow gap beneath Emma's arm. Her sleeve lifted toward her face as she shook as she took in the table. Inside, Mr. Klein lifted Lena's foot. It sagged in his grip. Something sickening lived in the way his fingers sank into her heel. A casual softness that had no right to be there. I remembered that same hand clapping kids on the back in the hallways. He took a small saw from the cart, the kind my uncle once used on deer legs, and set it against her left calf. The teeth touched, slid, then caught. He frowned, shifted his hold, started to cut again, started to cut again.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:16

You would not believe how much pressure this takes.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:19

The sound of it was small and rough and somehow louder than anything I had heard in my life. A gritty rasp, bone dust catching in the light above the table. Her ankle shook with each stroke. Emma's mouth shaped words again. Stop. Please. Terror never arrives the way film's promise. There is no violin hit. It comes in stages. First is disbelief. Then nausea. Then something animalistic that just wants out. Move back. I whispered. We need to leave. Now. I pulled away from the frame. My heel clipped Emma's shoe. She wavered, found her balance, and backed up with me. Mason stayed fixed in place. Mason, I said. We're leaving. We need proof. What? I hissed. He had his phone out, half raised, his hand shook.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:23

If we leave with nothing, we'll say we made it up. It'll be our word against theirs. This will blow them up. Then they'll go to prison, the news will show this on repeat, and I'll destroy the it'll destroy them. They won't get to bury this. We can at least do that much for Lena. Put it down, Emma said.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:43

Please, Mason, please. Just one second, he said. The phone lifted inch by inch. The small camera lens edged above the frame. Jody shuffled to give him room. Her boot caught on a raised wrinkle in the old floor mat. The stumble was small, but enough. Balance slipped. She reached for the frame, missed, and hit the tile on her hip with a dull crack. An ugly thud bounced off the cabinets. The sound knifed through the room, through chatter, through bone and metal, through everything we had just witnessed. Inside, the saw stopped mid-stroke. Every adult turned toward us. Five teachers. People I'd known since grade school, faces I'd seen bored, irritated, entertained. Guests in my own home. Principal Dwyer met our eyes first. The overhead light caught his face. His lips pulled back as he tried to smile. It showed far too much gum. Children, he said.

unknown 1:05:58

Mrs.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:59

Hart's grip. Clamped around the trinket she had been shaping. A bead of blood pushed out of the twig bundle and dropped onto the tablecloth.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:08

This isn't what you think. This isn't what you think it is. Just take a breath. Let's talk. Klein set his scalpel down. You weren't supposed to be here. Now that you are.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:21

All five stepped away from the table.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:24

We can have a chat.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:27

Run, I said. I latched onto Emma's arm and yanked her back from the doorway. Her feet slid on the wax tile before she caught traction. Jodi scrambled up. Mason hauled her the rest of the way and twisted toward the hall. We burst away from the staff room together, then hit the first intersection and split without talking. Instinct, panic, whatever you want to call it. Jodi and Mason cut left toward the main stairwell. I led Emma to the right. Tyler, she said between breaths, we'll be okay. The hallway stretched ahead like a tunnel. Rows of lockers rushed past on both sides. My chest burned and my legs drove forward without thought. Behind us, the building came alive. Doors burst open. Shoes struck the tile in fast pursuit. More than one pair, more than two. Dwyer, take the east. Someone called. We rounded a corner and nearly collided with a janitor's cart. The mop bucket sat the mop bucket sat half full, frothy water clinging to the rim. A stiff rag hung off the metal bar. The sharp sting of bleach punched the air. A classroom door sat cracked, the room behind it dark. I pushed my side against it and edged it open just wide enough for us to slip through, then drew it back until the latch caught. Coat hooks lined the wall. We pressed ourselves into the space between the door and those hooks, trying to become flat. Emma's heart hammered through her jacket into my arm. Footsteps closed in. A shadow crossed a strip of light under the door. Another followed. Keys jingled. Someone dragged air in with a hard pull, charged more with excitement than exhaustion. Check the labs, a voice said.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:30

Klein. They know the layout. It's Emma, Tyler, Mason, and Jody. They won't get that far, another said.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:40

I knew that one too. Heart. Their footsteps drifted down the hall and weakened into the distance. Air finally left my chest, and the release felt like giving up ground. Emma leaned into me, her face pressed into my arm.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:57

We need to get to an exit. When we get outside, somebody will see us. A driver. A neighbor. Anyone? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:07

I said.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:08

Yeah, they will.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:09

I peered through the narrow gap. The hall looked empty. The glow from the exit sign shone on the bare floor.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:17

I'll be with you the whole time. We'll find a way out.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:21

We eased into the hall, checked both directions, then moved toward the stairwell at the end of the wing. That led straight to the front lobby and the double doors. Halfway there, running feet struck the tile from the opposite side. We drove through the next open doorway by instinct. This one yawned wider, the dark inside deeper. I recognized the posters on the wall, photos of planets, atoms, and formulas, the science room. I eased the door nearly shut, left it cracked and dropped with Emma behind the first row of tables. We crouched there with our backs pressed to the cabinets and our knees drawn in tight. Footsteps followed, fast, lighter than the teachers. Charged with panic, a small sob threw them cut through them.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:13

Please please stop Jody.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:18

Emma's nails pressed into my wrist. Don't she whispered. I patted her hand and pulled away. I crawled forward until I reached the door window. Through the wired glass I caught a fractured view of the hallway. Jody tore past at an angle, hair sweeping behind her, fleece snapping with her stride. She reached the T intersection and skidded, turning her head right, then left, searching for a path. The teachers charged after her. Hart led the group, sweater sleeves still rolled above her wrists. Klein followed close, drawing air hard through his nose. Two others came after them in a tight cluster. Stop, sweetheart, Hart called. Jody, honey, stop. You'll hurt yourself. She spoke in the same tone she used in her classroom, pure and sweet. Jody forced out a broken howl and struck the nearest door with both fists. The metal shuddered but held firm. She struck again with more force. Help me, she cried. Somebody help me. They reached her in three long strides. Klein caught her from behind, his hands locking Jody's arms against her sides. Hart seized her ankles as she kicked, pulling her legs out straight. The other two closed in without urgency. Together they lowered her to the floor with the care of parents tucking a child into bed. Emma crouched beside me, shaking hard enough, her knees clicked. I covered her mouth with my hand. Don't look, I said into her hair.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:59

Please, Em, don't watch this.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:02

She shoved my arm away, tears tracking down her cheeks. I need to, she said.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:07

I need to see what they're doing to her. I have to know.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:11

Hart sat straddling Jody's chest, her knees braced against the girl's upper arms. She smiled down at the child pinned beneath her. It's alright, Hart murmured.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:22

It's gonna be alright, sweetheart. You're gonna help us. It'll be okay. You're such a good You're such a good girl, Jodi. You've always been such a good girl.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:33

A folding knife came out of Klein's pocket. Small blade. Nothing dramatic. The sword a man might use to peel an apple. He opened it and brushed the edge with the side of his hand to test its bite. Please, Jodi cried. The plea broke apart as it left her.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:53

I didn't see anything. I won't tell anyone. I'll just go home. I swear I'll pretend to never this never happened. Please, Miss Hart, please.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:02

Mr. Klein knelt beside her and wrapped his hand around her wrist.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:06

I believe you, Jody. I know you won't tell anyone.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:12

Jody arched her spine and fought with everything she had, but Hart leaned forward and laid her weight across the girl's ribs. Something in Jodi's shoulder cracked. Klein smoothed the back of her hand with the flat of his thumb, like he was calming a skittish animal.

unknown 1:13:31

Shh.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:33

It's gonna be okay. You're gonna be a part of something so special, Jody. Something wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:42

Then he cut. He started at the first knuckle, pulling the skin back with neat, hard tugs. The blade flashed under the hallway light. Blood slicked his fingers and ran over Jody's palm onto the tile, dark and thick. Her scream no longer sounded human. It rose, shattered, then climbed again as he worked. Klein murmured nonsense, little soothing sounds.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:14

Shores. Good girl. Almost done. You're taking it so well.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:23

The other teachers stood close. One held a plastic bowl ready. When Klein freed the first small piece, he dropped it in with a dull clack. Then the second, then the third. He was careful. He did not want to harm anything he meant to take from her. Each time the knife bit, Jody's legs jerked. All Klein did was slip into a soft tune out while he worked. Emma gagged beside me and pressed her face into my chest. I pulled my arm across her back and steadied her while. Tremors ran through her. Warm tracks spread across my shirt. Please stop this, she said in a faint strain of sound. Please just stop. Hair went next. Hart seized a fistful and sawed through it. Loose pieces clung to the blood on her hands. She wound the cut hair around a bundle and cinched it with stained thread. When they finally went for Jody's throat, it came almost like an afterthought. Klein pulled the blade across her neck in one precise sweep. Jody's sobs ended mid sound. Blood poured out in fast hot waves and slipped down her chest. Hart leaned back enough to avoid most of the spray, though streaks still marked her cheek and chin. She made no move to wipe them away. When it was done, they eased her head to the floor. Her eyes stayed open, glassy, pointing at the ceiling tiles.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:04

Let's get her back to Lena. We can see what dumping a little extra down the well does. It'll be a good reminder for the boy.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:15

I turned Emma away from the door. She didn't struggle. Instead she folded inward, arms clamped around her stomach, shaking in small fits.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:25

We have to move, I whispered. But keep looking for us, Emma. We can't be here.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:32

We stayed wedged in that room until they lifted Jody's body. They carried her out, limp limbs swinging in weak arcs, and took her back toward the staff room. When their steps faded down the hall, we slipped out and went the opposite way. Parts of that run vanished from my memory. Some pieces cut through with force. Others disappeared. I know we hit the main hall harder than we meant to. The door struck the wall and bounced. Somewhere behind us someone shouted They're heading for the front. We tore toward the end of the hall. The front doors waited there, big, double and locked. Push bar, Emma said. The side exit. It's just the side exit. It should still let us out. We veered straight for it. My lungs felt like they were lined with steel wool. I drove my shoulder into the crash bar. It rattled once and gave way. The door burst open and the night swallowed us whole. Cold hit like a slap. The yard lay under a fine skin of frost and fresh snow. The football field stretched beyond it, dark and empty beneath a washed out moon. For an instant the wind filled everything. Emma clutched my sleeve and pulled. Ty, over here. Up Tai, over there. A shape moved across the open yard, bent, jerky, running at an angle between the frozen picnic tables and benches. A glow flared in one raised arm. Mason. He spotted us and raised his arm high. His face lit in fear and relief.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:22

Ty he yelled.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:24

Ty, thank God, I was waiting. I've got my car in the lot. We sprinted toward him. The three of us cut across the yard from opposite sides, closing in with frantic pool of creatures trying to form a pack. Closing in with the frantic pool of creatures trying to form a pack. Behind Mason, a steel door flung open. More shapes poured into the frost. Teachers, all of them. Their coats swept behind them over clothing streaked with dried blood. Faster, I said.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:57

Come on, Mason, faster.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:59

He was nearly done. Anyone could see it. His legs dragged, ankle twisting, arms pumping out of rhythm. He had never been fast. He had always been the kid tossing jokes from the bench, not the one sprinting down the field. He gasped, stumbling. My leg. We were twenty feet away when they reached him. Dwyer got to him first. He surged in from the side, a dark blur across the snow, and drove into Mason's back with the full weight of his shoulder. The impact lifted my friend off his feet. They hit the ground together and frost burst out or burst around them in a white cloud. Mason tried to crawl forward. Dwyer drove a knee into the small of his back and seized his hair, smashing his face into the frozen grass. Snow crystals scattered under the blow. The others closed in. Hart, Klein, the rest. They formed a ring with clean, confident steps. Emma skidded to a halt, then lunged forward. I caught her around the waist before she could throw herself into the circle. Let go! She screamed. Her words cracked as she kicked at the ground, trying to tear free. We can't leave him.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:24

We can't. They'll kill you too. I said. They'll kill both of us. They must stop.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:31

They're hurting him. She sobbed, clawing at me with both arms.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:37

Listen Listen to him.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:41

I hauled her tore to the shadow of the well. Every part of me screamed to go back, to grab a brick, a bottle, anything, and crack skulls until Mason got free. My brain knew better. The only safe rule left was distance. Die, please! Emma wept.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:00

Please don't make me leave him.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:03

We have to.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:04

We have to.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:06

Stone pressed cold through my jacket as we crouched behind the well's rim, breathing in old milk and wet earth. Emma leaned against the rock, trembling while I watched. They did not drag Mason back to the halls. They did it there, under the open sky. Hart knelt beside him. Her palm slid across his hair in a strange, comforting motion. Mason twisted and spat. She let the spit run down her cheek and mix with blood. She smiled at him with all her teeth. Brave boy, she said.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:46

You wanted to be the hero, right? You still can. You get to remind the boy to stay in the hole.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:55

His hole. Klein had the knife again. He didn't ask anyone to hold the ball this time. He set it in the frost beside him. Fuck you, Mason yelled.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:07

Fuck you, don't touch me. Don't fucking get off me. Don't you?

SPEAKER_02 1:22:14

Hart drove his face into the dirt.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:17

Hush.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:18

They worked at a slower pace with him, like they wanted every part of him to feel it. Segments from his hand, a clump of hair, a strip from his arm. They cut the tendons behind his ankles. He twitched and then went still from the waist down. Emma pressed her forehead to her knees. This time she didn't watch. In time he begged. Of course he did. Even tough kids beg when they're being taken apart.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:48

Please! He sobbed. Please just stop, please. I don't want to die. Mason, just stop.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:57

Dwyer tilted his head like he didn't understand the problem, almost offended.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:02

I'll make this harder than it has to be.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:05

Then he opened Mason's throat with a single clean slice. Blood steamed across the frost. They pinned him just like they did with Jody, keeping control of his body until the shaking ended.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:20

Once we get what we need, let's just toss and let's just toss the rest of them down the hole. Close enough to the well anyway.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:28

Something inside me broke loose, and the edges of my vision blurred. One teacher stepped from the ring and started toward us. Hart. We pressed ourselves against the well, trying to sink into the stone. The rim dug into my back and locked me in place. Behind us, the grate squealed. At first it rattled like an old lid setting settling into place. Then it heaved upward. A crack sounded from the bars, then another. The ribbon slipped through the bars and fluttered to the ground near my foot. A swollen hand rose to the hole and forced the metal gap cap aside. Pale, a distended wrong. A length of sack cloth followed. Burlap dragged across the grate as the creature lifted its head beneath the sagging bag. The cloth hid every trace of a face. Water trailed in thick lines from the seams and darkened the stone. Hart froze midstep. The creature pushed its upper body higher until its blank shape faced toward her. It bent forward, close enough that it carried the threat of climbing free. Hart backed away. Then again. Her chest hitched once before she turned and bolted toward the rest of the staff, her stride unraveling behind her. The figure waited until the last of the teachers fled. Then it reached toward the ground near my shoe. My entire frame locked. It gathered the fallen ribbon in its grip and sank back into the dark of the well. The grate sank into place once more, and the metal shuddered against the rim before settling. Emma seized my arm. Run! We broke into a sprint across the service road, past the bus barn, into the dark between the fields. The cold air knifed my lungs raw. I didn't look back until the school was a small shape on the horizon, a dark block with a few yellow squares. Emma fell forward over the ditch by the stop sign and threw up. It came up harsh, mostly bile and the cheap chicken from lunch. I swept her hair back and kept my sight from the mess she made on the dead grass. Home, she said when she could breathe again. We have to go home.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:04

My place.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:05

I said.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:06

It's closer.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:08

She lowered her head and nodded, teeth clicking. The porch light was still on. The door sprang against the wall. My mother stepped out of the kitchen with a dish towel in her hands.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:20

Tyler? What on earth? It's past midnight. Where have you been? Why is Emma with you? Is that vomit?

SPEAKER_02 1:26:29

Emma found her words before I did.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:32

The dam broke. They killed them. They killed them in the yard, they cut them up. The teachers, they cut them up, Mason, Jody, Lena, all of 'em.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:42

My mom stared. The towel twisted in her hand so hard it squeaked.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:47

Sit, she said. Sit down. You're in shock.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:52

She guided us to the couch. She brought blankets, she brought water.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:57

Drink, she said. Small sips.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:00

Then she knelt in front of us and listened. What came out of us wasn't a story so much as a spill. Out of order, not clean. The board. Lena in the doorway, the charms, the staff room, Jody on the floor, Mason in the frost. She stayed with every piece until there was nothing left to say. And even then she didn't rush in to fill the quiet. Her mouth went slack at the corners and said nothing for a stretch. Her gaze fixed on the wall, on the framed school staff portrait hanging there. When she spoke, it sounded like she had to pull each word through her lips.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:43

You're sure?

SPEAKER_02 1:27:44

She said. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:58

Okay, I'll handle. Handle this. I'll call this in.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:02

She crossed to the phone on the counter. I heard the tone and the numbers. Sheriff's office, a muffled voice said. She used her teacher's voice, the one she uses every day at John Henry.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:20

Uh this is Renee Keller, she said. My son and her f my son and his friends were at high school tonight, and they witnessed some uh fuck off. My son and his friends were at the high school tonight. They witnessed a teacher's meeting. We need someone here now.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:38

A pause followed. I heard a deputy's reply rise on the other end.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:44

Just get someone out of here, she said. They'd feel better talking to someone.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:50

She gave them our address. Another call followed, shorter, to a number she knew by heart. Her tone changed for that one. Lower, heated.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:04

It happened again, she said. No. Listen to me. They saw it. You can try to bury this one, but it'll be on you, and I'm not doing it.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:14

Silence answered her.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:16

Yes. I know what this means.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:20

She hung up the receiver.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:22

Who is that?

SPEAKER_02 1:29:23

I asked.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:25

An old mistake. Go put on some clean clothes, Emma. Well, go put on some clean clothes. Emma, you can use one of Tyler's old shirts. When the deputies come, you tell them the same thing you told me. Every detail.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:42

The squad arrived first, then an ambulance, then a third cruiser with the sheriff himself. Emma's parents came in while we were giving our statements. Her mother rushed in, eyes wide, robe half tied, and wrapped Emma in her arms. Two deputies questioned us while scribbling on yellow pads. The sheriff wrote nothing. He sat across from me with his hat, his lap, and studied my face.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:13

You're telling me you saw the principal and several other staff members cutting apart two students at the high school? Three students. And you're certain it was them. I know what I know. I know who I saw. I'm not who I saw.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:43

I'm not who I saw.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:45

I know who I saw.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:49

He crossed one leg over the other and weighed his next line.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:53

We'll check the grounds. He said. It could ruin a lot of lives if you made a mistake. After all, it's dark outside. Your imagination might have.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:10

My mom cut him off.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:12

Don't patronize these kids, Sheriff. It's too late for that. They saw what they saw.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:17

He offered a small, polite smile. He repeated.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:24

But if these accusations were made up. If but if these accusations were made against you, I think you'd like us to try to look through every possible avenue before for a peaceful revolution. Fuck. For a peaceful resolution. Damn.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:41

There you go. Alright, that's the end of a a chapter eight. Wow. I mean, we just kind of powered through that one. Had to do it to him. Had to do it to him. That was fucked up. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:53

This is crazy. That got really nasty.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:55

It got really nasty. It got it's like a a shattering of innocence.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:59

That was nasty. Nosty.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:01

It's kind of like a cute little coming of age Ouija board kind of tale. And then it's like sneak into the high school and it's all fun.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:10

That's like the first 20%. The next 5% is like, oh no, Jody's a ghost. Jody's a ghost. Get her, get her. Oh my god, they're scooping her apart.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:19

They're scooping her open and and and they're like I don't know what to say. Yeah, Jesus Christ. They're just they're just sneaking into the school. Uh let's pal around and things are getting weird around here. Lena's a ghost, I think.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:33

Do the hanky panky and scoop your buddy apart.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:37

Exactly. They're like, oh, Lena is a ghost. Oh, Lena's getting.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:44

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:45

Oh my oh my oh my oh my god. Oh my god. Lena's becoming a taxidermy, and then they run, and Jody gets uh so fucked up. It's destroyed. Yeah. They'd fucking they take something from they take like the two fingers.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:04

Pieces, two parts of the fingers, part of the hand. Like right, from up here up. Yeah. Take like this.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:10

And then their hair.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:12

Their hair. So they're making shit with it. That's what all the little things are. And they kill it. Yeah. And then Mason was begging. He said, not. No.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:22

Not like this.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:23

Not like this. Truly. Please just slam a football into my head and tell me.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:30

It's gonna be on the fucking football team, dude. It's gonna be on D.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:34

Cribs. I was supposed to have a version's jacket. This is so fucked up. It is fucked up.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:42

My god, I mean it really jumped, didn't it?

SPEAKER_01 1:33:44

It's really good. Okay. Intermission.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:48

It's not even midnight yet. That's pretty awesome. Nay. Usually start around now.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:52

It's not even midnight. AKA five minutes from now? Five minutes from now? AKA? The human body's not supposed to be cut open like that. AKA, it's really not good for the human body.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:09

AKA, the mom knows what's happening. The mom is super stussed. She said. My god, she took like ten different phone calls. Oh, they're super stuck. They witnessed a PTO meeting. Yeah, they witnessed a PTO meeting. That's such a code word.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:25

And then like the sheriff's like. Yay. Yay. I s I understand. This happened again. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:35

I'll take care of it. Alright. Final chapter, I think. Probably. The sheriff returned near dawn. Ice clung to the hem of his coat. His boots left crescents of grit across the entryway rug. Well, he said, like he was announcing the weather.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:54

We walk the grounds, we check the field, checked every classroom you listed, and nothing. No bodies, no blood. No signs of crime. Not even footprints in front of the not even footprints in the frost, except your son's group uh around the gym doors.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:16

He paused before continuing, and his attention locked on me with a steady pressure.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:22

No sign of a fight, no sign of distress, nothing to support what you allege. Emma's voice shattered his words. You're lying. You have to be lying. We saw them, ma'am. He said to her mother instead. Kids that age get excited. They scare themselves. Urban legends, group hysteria. You remember you remember when they said there was a man with a hook at the quarry? He turned back toward my mom. And, Miss Keller, I know you're upset. You work at the school with these kids.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:58

He let those words hang like he was reminding her of something.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:02

But we have to work with the facts. The facts, she said. This is my son. The facts. The fact. Shut the fuck up. I don't know where that S is coming from. The plural verse. I can't help it. The fact, she's saying, is that my son came home terrified, and now I have to worry about him while he's FUCK OFF! I'm changing everything. Is that my son came home terrified, and now I have to worry about what the school is going to do to him. The sheriff's eyes cooled. And the fact is, he and the girl admit they broke into public property after hours. There are words for that. Trespass. You have a good position in this district. Be ashamed to tangle all of that up over a child's story.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:15

My mom froze. Something sealed across her features.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:19

You are not going to threaten my family, she said. Not in my house. Nobody's threatening anyone. I am asking you as a colleague to be careful. For your sake.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:35

For his He set a card on the table. The deputies moved with him toward the door. Through the curtain at the front window I watched the cruiser idle under the street lamp. The sheriff sat unmoving for several seconds, both arms resting on the wheel. The headlights washed over the frost and set the yard in broken stripes. When he moved his in his seat, the shift brought a small object into view beneath the mirror. Something dangled on a loop of twine, twigs, a scrap of husk, a thin white sliver threaded through the center. The cruiser rolled away from the curb. By morning the news was already warping. The phone rang, the school. They asked if I knew where Mason and Jody had gone since we were close friends. Close friends. Oh yeah, sure. Oh that's right. Yeah, yeah, that's your job. And they had not come home.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:41

You know exactly where they are.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:49

Mom took the receiver. Sorry, I was loading.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:53

That's really nice. That's nice of you to do that. Mom took the receiver. He has nothing else to say to you.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:02

She told them, then ended the call. Emma's mom arrived that afternoon. She and my mom shut themselves in the bedroom with the phone. I caught fragments through the wall.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:16

It's not going to stop. They expect us to live with this? I can't send him back there.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:24

At some point, Emma's mom began to cry. They emerged with puffy faces and a plan.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:30

We're leaving. Mom said. You and me, Emma and her parents, will be gone by the end of this week. What about school?

SPEAKER_02 1:39:40

I asked. It felt stupid the instant it left my mouth.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:44

There are other schools, Tyler.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:47

The next few days slid together in a blur of boxes and suitcases. Neighbors drifted out onto their porches and tracked our move. No one asked why. They knew. Or they guessed. I wasn't sure which was worse. The official story claimed Lena had slipped into a stream on her way home. Mason and Jody were labeled troubled and were said to have run off together. Their faces showed up on posters at the gas station beside warnings and tip lines. Missing. Last scene wearing. Call if you have information. We moved two counties over. New mascot. Same sky. Emma and I ended up at the same school. We sat together at lunch and steered our conversations toward anything except that night. We never spoke of it. Not in person. Not online. Not drunk at some party years later. Life widened. College came and went. Emma moved states away for a time. Last night she sent me a message for the first time in years. It opened with a picture of a hiring email on her computer screen. The district's logo sat at the top. John Henry High. Beneath it ran a short line. You wanna take it or I can do it.

SPEAKER_01 1:41:22

I got the position. I'll be teaching English at the school. I know what you're thinking. Please don't try to talk me out of it. Maybe I can fix it from the inside. Someone has to try. I just I can't keep running away anymore.

SPEAKER_02 1:41:42

There was a second message after that.

SPEAKER_01 1:41:46

If anything changes, I'll let you know, Ty. I promise. Love him.

SPEAKER_02 1:41:54

And that is the end of our classmate disappeared. The teachers know more than they're saying. Part two of two! We made it to the very end.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:30

And we do it ethically. And we have those canals. I mean the fruit of the score zero and a great big truck to a great big building. And somehow it all ends up on your table for you to enjoy my fruit and scorn zero to make your art.

SPEAKER_01 1:42:52

Man, that was busting hysteria style delectably.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:57

Here's a message from the author. Oh. This one was a hard one to write. Really hard for a lot of reasons. But if you read it all the way through, I hope it held your interest and kept you engaged. I wanted to try something different this time around.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:12

Yeah. That was crazy, bro. That was crazy. I'm sure without the jokes and banter in between, and you're alone in your room writing that, it's probably pretty hard.

SPEAKER_02 1:43:23

It was very um just brutal. Yeah, I was like, describing the meticulous scoopage. Yeah. Scoopage and slaying and boy. I don't know. I don't know who's the boy. Maybe the boy is the friends we make along the way. Damn if it ain't true. Um, I don't know who the boy is. I think though it could be a religious sort of what is it? An allegory?

SPEAKER_01 1:44:00

Deity. Well. It's like a reference to the br the brother in the well is a deity. He's a little guy that they worship. He's a little goblin. An allegory. This could be.

SPEAKER_02 1:44:15

I think that could be what we're after. I think um since there's no like kind of there's no breadcrumbs in the story. It might just be a reference to uh a deity or like a religious sort of figure. Like the devil.

SPEAKER_01 1:44:34

I love that. I love that a lot more than this is probably some sort of roundabout reference of like a teacher abusing a child. Yeah. Which I'm going with your version. Because that's kinda that's m that's mainly kind of where my head goes. The devil Yeah. The devil.

SPEAKER_02 1:44:58

Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure it's um a symbol or a metaphor for something more personal, maybe. Um but yeah, it's a cool fucking story on its own. I mean, it's pretty scary. I really liked once again the pagan imagery was a cool grab that kind of got me into the story from the beginning in part one, where the whole school was decked out in this weird kind of witchy decorum um following the disappearance of Lena. And um I like how we never got to know too much. Just that there is a well, and for a very long time this school has been uh keeping this thing, this boy, this deity, the devil, perhaps, uh locked away um away from the world by sacrificing students.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:03

Yeah. The only solid thing is they're sacrificing students, and that the kids saw it. It's like the school does this thing and that then we break in and then the teachers are doing this thing to stop this thing from doing this thing, and then now I've moved two counties over. Yes. But it's a full f it's a full-fledged story. Yeah. It doesn't explain too much, and uh it is pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:32

I like how it leaves a lot of room. You could really take it and run with it. It's awesome. I wonder what Strange Accounts um what the internal lore is.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:42

I want it part two. I want like a real part two, or like a second. Yeah, I want like a all of that was part one.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:49

Now let's get into part two.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:53

Yeah. You know, that'd be that'd be a lot of fun. Because this is awesome. That was that was really good. I wonder what made Emma go back to work at the school. She's trying to figure it out, it has haunted her. The whole story, she is has holes in her fucking brain.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:12

But she's gonna go back and participate in the same thing that killed her two besties.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:18

Yeah. I think she's an adult. The holes have healed. She's she became an adult and she's you know, she's not a dumb kid anymore. She's like, Oh, I could go back there. I could use my degree.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:31

Some kind of desperation to figure out what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:34

Yeah. Probably haunted her. I mean, obviously, through the story, she's like actively traumatized.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:39

I think that's setting it up to just be like a repeat of the cycle. Like, she's going in with good intentions, but she's eventually just gonna get lasso'ed back into like the the covenry of it all. Like, we just gotta make these child sacrifices to keep whatever this thing is from breaking through the grate.

SPEAKER_01 1:48:00

I mean, it's that serious, she realizes. She's like, damn. They were right. That's the devil.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:07

Like interesting moral dilemma there. For sure. Like, whoa. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:48:16

I think the problem is even though with the it's like, okay, the devil could walk the earth and scorched earth and revelation and whatever. But even when even though you've been doing it for a hundred years, killing the child shouldn't be that easy. Should always hurt. You know? So I you know, it's weird. I don't know what more to say about that, but you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:43

Yeah. Hard to gauge the intention of the teachers, the faculty and such. I mean, Miss Hart made it she she fronted like it was something that was hard for her to do. Or that it was greater good kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:02

The literal quotes made it seem like that. But then like the text outside of that made it be like she's just being that way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:12

To kinda get them to settle down, I guess, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:17

Try to. I I guess. It's also like it just seemed kind of fucked up. I also don't understand why they slit the throat last.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:24

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:25

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 1:49:26

Yeah. I wonder if there's kind of like a logical system to the progression of because it seemed in order each time, like they take the fingers. Mm-hmm. Um then they cut their ankles?

SPEAKER_01 1:49:42

I do not remember that.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:44

They they did mention they cut the tendons and Mason's ankles, I guess. Maybe there's a so they can't run. Damn. Just like that. I mean, quite quite honestly. Um cool story, a lot to marinate on. I l I would love to one day do like we do this like the the episode itself, but then like later on we do like a an analysis or something. Yeah. We like dive deep, you know, you have the hindsight. We're able to look back at the story.

SPEAKER_01 1:50:20

You got them annotations.

SPEAKER_02 1:50:21

Yeah, you annotate, take notes, whatever, you do a big old scoop with what you actually think.

SPEAKER_01 1:50:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:50:27

Yeah. Um that'd be really cool. But first impressions is goddamn.

SPEAKER_01 1:50:34

A good author, very delectable.

SPEAKER_02 1:50:36

Yeah, very versatile, as we have found.

SPEAKER_01 1:50:38

I mean, this guy can write his other stories are fucking crazy too. Yeah, I mean they're different.

SPEAKER_02 1:50:43

He seems to be really into history and uh getting really immersed into like the the proper language and speak of the time periods he writes in. But then you know, he comes over here and he does normal proper speak though. Normal old uh present day, if you will. Fucking horror story teenage horror fest turtle. So he's very versatile, you can do pretty much anything, it seems, and what a wonderful author. Cool story, very brutal. Uh this one will leave me wondering, which is cool. I love that. I'm very curious as to like just what the hell's going on. Um but loved it. And that was a really fun two-parter right there. Umce again, this was Strange Accounts on Reddit. Um the author name is Travis Weaver. Uh you can find a book of his on Amazon, I believe. It's a self-published passion project titled Strange Accounts from the American Frontier. Get that book and read on. Plenty of more material from this guy. He's got all sorts of stuff on Reddit. Just go to Strange Accounts on Reddit. You got reading material for probably months. I mean, this guy writes a lot. Hell yeah, yeah. He's been at it for like ten years, I think. Oh, hell yeah, just do that. Yeah, just just just do that for me if you would. Hell yeah, just do that. If you guys have made it this far to the end, thank you very much for watching. Hell yeah, thank you very much. That's a lot of hell yes for you. Um we never got eaten by the scary entity monster in the back in the wheel.

SPEAKER_01 1:52:30

Dude. The fucking polar bear sized opossum that's back there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:36

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 1:52:38

Oh, better take a drink of beer. Yeah. Oh, that's a big possum.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:43

Oh, it's a big opossum. I see the O and a possum, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:52:47

Those are two different animals.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:48

Shut the fuck up. No, it's not. Really? Pum.

SPEAKER_01 1:52:57

Well, I think they're the same species, but they're they're two different things. We have possum here. And in like Australia, they have opossum. Don't piss me off.

SPEAKER_02 1:53:08

Come on, this is ridiculous. Don't piss my shit. Don't piss my shit off. Well, guys, it's getting cold out here. It started at 59 degrees, I remember, but I think it's gotten a little lower now. Yeah, guys. My my bones are hurting, my bones are aching. This is a really cool story. Once again, strange accounts on Reddit. Travis Weaver is his name. Check him out. Check us out if you like this. Uh, we were It Reads At Night. We do this every other week on Thursdays, and uh send us stories if you want us to read something. You know, you think you got the hot stuff. You got a lead on a new scary story. We like to keep them scary. We like to keep them spooky. So send them our way. We'll take a look at them. Maybe it'll end up on the show, maybe not. Who knows? Um, subscribe, follow us on everything, follow us along on this journey. We're just now beginning, really. Oh, yeah. And uh we're getting into a swing of things here. And we are excited to see you in the very next one. This was It Reads At Night. Thank you very much for tuning in, and I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.

SPEAKER_03 1:54:20

I love you. I love you. I love you.