Birthday Girl

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Scary Story Podcast.

[00:00:03] [SPEAKER_01]: We have two stories about the eerie phenomena of spirits, from subtle sightings to some with

[00:00:10] [SPEAKER_01]: more evil intentions.

[00:00:13] [SPEAKER_00]: My name is Edwin, and here is a scary story.

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Birthday Girl

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_01]: It was very tough to hide things for Manny.

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_01]: When she was even younger at the age of four I think it started, she would roam her

[00:00:35] [SPEAKER_01]: on the house the night before Christmas in search of presents.

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_01]: I used to help her write out the list for Santa Claus, but somehow she just knew that her present

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_01]: would be somewhere in the house the night before.

[00:00:47] [SPEAKER_01]: She found one of her toy car sets that she wanted, and how she managed to get it was

[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_01]: beyond me.

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Though the more I circle the patterns in my head, the more I believe that something

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_01]: else was going on.

[00:01:02] [SPEAKER_01]: There was no way she could reach the cabinets above the refrigerator by herself, especially

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_01]: at that age when she needed help to throw her plastic cups into the kitchen sink and reach

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_01]: the toilet.

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_01]: But Annie somehow managed to find a way to do seemingly impossible things.

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_01]: When she was around five years old I found her sitting on the couch with the television

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_01]: on, chewing on a green apple.

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_01]: Now this might be a typical thing for children, but what she was watching was age inappropriate

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_01]: and she went into a rage crying when I changed the channel.

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_01]: The far stranger part however, was that the apple she was eating had been directly sliced

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_01]: in half with a knife.

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_01]: I hadn't done that and there was nobody else who lived with us who could do that.

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Annie didn't even like using sporics at the time.

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_01]: When I picked up the other half from the table, she completely changed, throwing her arms

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_01]: out in the air and then falling to the floor completely lost in anger.

[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Whenever I asked her things about the apple, about the light switches she somehow managed

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_01]: to reach or about odd things she would do here and there, she stayed quiet.

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_01]: But when she was younger, she would simply answer with the word Gregoy and then

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_01]: point at the ceiling.

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_01]: I had no idea what that meant.

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Still, she was a happy girl most of the time.

[00:02:35] [SPEAKER_01]: She would pick flowers for me and do her best to make her bed in the morning.

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Her sixth birthday was coming up and I invited some of my family who would be driving up

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_01]: from my hometown that day.

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Some of the friends I had made while living there were coming also along with their

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_01]: kids.

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_01]: I expected around 15 people over, which I thought would be great for Annie since she

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_01]: always loved to play with anybody and the thought of her own birthday party was beyond

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_01]: exciting for her.

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_01]: She insisted on writing the names on her invitations, something that even I had difficulty

[00:03:08] [SPEAKER_01]: reading but still let her.

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_01]: She picked out the color of the balloons and some ideas for a present that she wanted.

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Everything was fine.

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_01]: It was just a kid's birthday party after all, until I noticed something.

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_01]: One of the names on the invitations that she wrote out was fully spelled out, Gregory, with

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_01]: the R this time.

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Nobody in my family nor any of my friends shared that name and I found it strange enough

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_01]: to ask her who Gregory was.

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Gregory is my friend, she told me, but I should have asked more about this Gregory character.

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_01]: If I could turn back time I'd do so many other things.

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Nobody knows their children more than their parents, not even the doctors who see them

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_01]: for half an hour and then tell you what to do with them.

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_01]: When they said that Annie's behavior was completely normal for a girl her age,

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_01]: I should have asked more questions.

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_01]: I should have talked about the many things that I had noticed, even if the world started

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_01]: to think that I was crazy.

[00:04:16] [SPEAKER_01]: I should have gone out to alternative therapists, I should have gone to churches, I don't

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_01]: know.

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_01]: When Annie was younger she would laugh and then cry on her own, looking at some distant

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_01]: point in the room.

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_01]: It worried me so much that we even had her eyes checked.

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_01]: I was told that everything was fine.

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_01]: When she gailed in the middle of the night and then laughed, when she changed the radio

[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_01]: on her own to the same song, Sweet Caroline, more than once.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_01]: I should have known that it was more than a simple coincidence.

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_01]: I should have researched the history of the home to find out who had lived there.

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe then I would have found out that Gregory had been the name of the previous owner

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_01]: of the house.

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_01]: But I didn't.

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_01]: The tables had been set up in the front yard this time, with the table for present thoughtfully

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_01]: decorated next to the front door.

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_01]: We made a small sandwich station and had a bowl of fruit punch right outside.

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Who's the birthday girl, huh?

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_01]: I kept saying throughout the day.

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_01]: And every time she smiled and jumped straight up saying, I am.

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_01]: I got the phone call from my parents.

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_01]: They were on their way over.

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Annie was even more excited to hear that.

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_01]: But just as they hung up the phone, Annie looked past me and through the front door.

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_01]: She stepped back a little bit and then forward.

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Then nervously reached for the door to try to close it, yelling out, no.

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Something grabbed her arm and dragged her outside.

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_01]: That's when everything became a blur.

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Annie stretched out one of her hands as she ran past the door, crying.

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_01]: She yelled out, no, and kept trying to pull away, looking at me, her body lunging forward.

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Annie, I yelled out.

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I ran after her.

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_01]: I saw as she ran out past the front yard and across the sidewalk.

[00:06:18] [SPEAKER_01]: The way she nearly fell to the ground as her new white shoes dragged against the asphalt.

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_01]: I ran as fast as I could behind her.

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_01]: I shut my eyes as I heard the car honk.

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_01]: My heart stopped as I heard the sounds of brakes screeching right in front of me.

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Two cars were now in front of the house.

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Annie was crying but sitting safely on the curb.

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_01]: A man stepped out of the car and the woman on the passenger seat rolled down her window.

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Are you alright? she asked, looking right at me.

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_01]: I stood up to run toward Annie.

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_01]: The man stood in front of his car looking around at the other houses and watching out for traffic.

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_01]: He looked across the street and then looked back toward the woman in the passenger seat.

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_01]: She opened the door and stepped out, looking for something.

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_01]: The man, where did he go? the woman asked.

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Through tears and shaky voice, Annie managed to say that the shadow man was gone.

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_01]: The couple ignored Annie, scanning the rest of the street searching for the man with the white hair that they claimed was there.

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_01]: Annie perked up saying,

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_01]: That's my friend Gregory.

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_01]: And she started looking for him.

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Annie remembered the event for a few years before storing it in some deep part of her mind.

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_01]: I did manage to learn more about what Annie had seen.

[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Gregory, the old owner from what I found had many grandchildren and I've even reached out to some of them.

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_01]: They described him as one of the kindest people in the world.

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Always spoiling the kids around him, letting them stay up late and giving them extra snacks.

[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Annie tells me that she remembers Gregory.

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_01]: But she also remembers the shadow man. She never saw him again.

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Still, I'm glad she invited Gregory that day.

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_01]: This previous story, Birthday Girl, was listed as one of the options for a story selection over on our Discord community.

[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_01]: The next story, called Vanished, is coming up right after this.

[00:08:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Vanished.

[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Lots of places were hiring when I first started working at Mrs. Primseworth's business.

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I applied to several places to work and most called me back right away except for Target and McDonald's, which sent emails or follow-up stuff.

[00:09:09] [SPEAKER_01]: But all Mrs. Primseworth wanted was a meeting for coffee at her shop on a Sunday night.

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_01]: That's where I learned that her last girl simply vanished one day and she was left without a person to take over the busy mornings.

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER_01]: She complimented a hat that I used to wear and that I usually had my face under whenever I was out in public.

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I don't know how I was supposed to smile for customers and make eye contact.

[00:09:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Her handwritten manual by the counter asked employees to do so.

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_01]: This would be the perfect opportunity to work on my social anxiety, which was nearly gone.

[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_01]: I had volunteered to raise money for a dog shelter the previous summer and all that door knocking and talking to strangers seemed to be working.

[00:09:53] [SPEAKER_01]: But Mrs. Primseworth caught onto that right away.

[00:09:57] [SPEAKER_01]: She asked me very little about my previous experience, which was good because I hadn't actually had a real job before I started there.

[00:10:05] [SPEAKER_01]: I had tutored a couple of grade school students and filled in for a receptionist at a local library for a few weeks at one point.

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Plus, I had gotten a temporary job setting up booths for an event my city had set one time.

[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_01]: But that was it.

[00:10:21] [SPEAKER_01]: She asked me if I knew how to give change, how to close out her cash register and practice with me for two days while I stood behind the counter taking orders for coffee, preparing drinks and using an oven to heat up the sandwiches.

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_01]: That George from the back made.

[00:10:36] [SPEAKER_01]: But oh, the smell of the place.

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Walking into the shop at 4.45am was well worth it.

[00:10:44] [SPEAKER_01]: As soon as George started grinding the coffee for that first batch, the pastry woman had already placed the bread on the cooling rack.

[00:10:52] [SPEAKER_01]: It was what heaven smelled like and the reason why the couches, the tables and I bet even the wallpaper smelled amazing.

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_01]: But like with any dream.

[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_01]: The hope that it would last forever soon died.

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Nobody called Mrs. Primpsworth by the name that was on her name tag, despite her insisting that we all do it.

[00:11:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Beverly.

[00:11:14] [SPEAKER_01]: It just sounded strange to call your boss and an older woman with her blazer and pearl necklaces by simply her first name.

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_01]: It was easy to overlook some of the most basic annoying things she did at first.

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_01]: But soon I started realizing how difficult it was to remove Mrs. Primpsworth's poorly applied red lipstick from the shiny white mugs that she so clearly wanted to be sparkling clean.

[00:11:39] [SPEAKER_01]: The coffee managed to stain her back though.

[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_01]: All of those years of rattling the mugs up to her face, the many splashes on her mainly white shirts that weren't actually supposed to have a yellowish stain just like her teeth.

[00:11:53] [SPEAKER_01]: She smiled like she didn't care though.

[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Plus she was rarely there.

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_01]: George was sort of left in charge for the morning shifts.

[00:12:04] [SPEAKER_01]: There was one in the afternoon and my shift was over.

[00:12:07] [SPEAKER_01]: My end of the first week also.

[00:12:10] [SPEAKER_01]: I kept trying to tally up my hours and do the mental math over and over on how much money I would be earning and how we all get paid.

[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_01]: It would be nice to finally cross $100 on my bank account balance.

[00:12:23] [SPEAKER_01]: I was lost thinking about this.

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_01]: My stomach excited about this also.

[00:12:28] [SPEAKER_01]: Fluttering every time I added up everything and then guessed at how much I would remove from taxes.

[00:12:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Or maybe it was a coffee.

[00:12:37] [SPEAKER_01]: George then came up to me with half a sandwich and some homemade potato chips.

[00:12:43] [SPEAKER_01]: His older children would come and pick him up sometimes when he didn't have to take the bus or when it was raining.

[00:12:49] [SPEAKER_01]: This was probably one of those days since he sat on the table by the front door looking out the window across from me.

[00:12:56] [SPEAKER_01]: I ate my half already, he said.

[00:12:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Setting the plate down.

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_01]: We had an inside joke about eating the expensive leftover food since people would usually buy things either for the photo opportunity or take a few bites of it and move on.

[00:13:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Always in a rush.

[00:13:12] [SPEAKER_01]: So he looked at me smiling and he said, don't worry.

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_01]: It was for us.

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know how to say thank you and not make it awkward.

[00:13:21] [SPEAKER_01]: So I nodded and tried to smile, making it even worse.

[00:13:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Has Mrs. Princeworth told you anything about Miriam yet?

[00:13:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Miriam was a girl who used to work at the counter before me.

[00:13:35] [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't think there would be anything for the owner to tell me about the other employee who used to work there.

[00:13:40] [SPEAKER_01]: But Mrs. Princeworth really should have mentioned this to me.

[00:13:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Instead of asking me things like, have you ever stopped by here before?

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Or do you know anyone who works here?

[00:13:52] [SPEAKER_01]: George explained how poorly she treated Miriam especially when she started complaining about a strange customer who kept coming right at the end of Miriam's shift.

[00:14:01] [SPEAKER_01]: At one point, Miriam and the guy had an uncomfortable exchange while there were other customers there and a video of it surfaced on social media.

[00:14:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Imagine that, a small woman like Miriam yelling at a guy like that, George continued.

[00:14:16] [SPEAKER_01]: I told her not to cause problems but I should have done something.

[00:14:21] [SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't know.

[00:14:23] [SPEAKER_01]: I barely even followed the news.

[00:14:26] [SPEAKER_01]: If I had, I would have known that when Mrs. Princeworth told me that Miriam had vanished, she didn't tell me that Miriam hadn't been seen in several days.

[00:14:35] [SPEAKER_01]: She didn't return for her last paycheck and Mrs. Princeworth didn't explain much when the police officers came to the shop to speak with her on my second day on the job.

[00:14:46] [SPEAKER_01]: The news left a strange lingering feeling.

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_01]: I was taking the place of a missing young woman.

[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_01]: As the days passed, I started noticing who the regular customers were.

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER_01]: But in my eyes, they were all looking at me as the stranger who took Miriam's place and had never been able to befriend them.

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Others straight out asked for updates about Miriam.

[00:15:14] [SPEAKER_01]: At the start of my second week there, I knocked on the door for George to come open it.

[00:15:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Every morning he'd peek out through the tiny window of the door that led straight into the back part of the coffee shop.

[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_01]: But sometimes one of the ladies from the pastries would open the door for me when George was taking the deliveries or was stalking up the walk-in refrigerator.

[00:15:33] [SPEAKER_01]: This time, George wouldn't come out.

[00:15:37] [SPEAKER_01]: The lights were on and I could hear the sound of the sink somewhere inside.

[00:15:42] [SPEAKER_01]: I walked around the shop carefully listening into whatever or whoever was in the alley at that time.

[00:15:48] [SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't fully brat outside yet.

[00:15:51] [SPEAKER_01]: It was a paper products delivery truck.

[00:15:54] [SPEAKER_01]: The people who brought the bags, the takeout containers and stuff like that.

[00:15:59] [SPEAKER_01]: I turned back around to the door. Maybe I hadn't knocked on it hard enough.

[00:16:04] [SPEAKER_01]: But when I turned the corner again, the door was open and slowly closing itself.

[00:16:09] [SPEAKER_01]: I ran up to catch it when I saw one of the pastry ladies daughters walk up toward the counter.

[00:16:14] [SPEAKER_01]: I quickly ran up to the office to clock in in order to begin wiping down the tables for the customers came in.

[00:16:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks, I yelled out to the girl as I peeked out to the counter area before turning back to the sink to wash my hands in the back.

[00:16:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Short black hair and red apron.

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_01]: I think she was using mine since that's what the front of the counter employees used and it never took mine home.

[00:16:41] [SPEAKER_01]: She looked right at me and smiled.

[00:16:42] [SPEAKER_01]: I went to the hooks where we kept our jackets by the office.

[00:16:47] [SPEAKER_01]: My apron's still there.

[00:16:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Good morning, George said startling me.

[00:16:54] [SPEAKER_01]: The doors are on lock now. I didn't hear you come in.

[00:16:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, I saw the news this morning he continued without letting me reply.

[00:17:02] [SPEAKER_01]: They found Miriam.

[00:17:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Heartbreaking.

[00:17:07] [SPEAKER_01]: He pulled up his phone to show me a photo of Miriam on the news article.

[00:17:11] [SPEAKER_01]: The red apron.

[00:17:15] [SPEAKER_01]: The short black hair.

[00:17:19] [SPEAKER_01]: A short wave of dizziness ran through my head as I leaned back toward the jackets that were left on the hooks before realizing something.

[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_01]: I ran back to the counter.

[00:17:29] [SPEAKER_01]: George, who was just in here? Did one of the bakers bring along someone else?

[00:17:34] [SPEAKER_01]: What are you talking about? He asked.

[00:17:37] [SPEAKER_01]: The lady who makes them finished before the paper products came in.

[00:17:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Are you all right?

[00:17:41] [SPEAKER_01]: I had seen Miriam for the first time.

[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_01]: But she wasn't alive anymore.

[00:17:52] [SPEAKER_01]: For all the time I worked there, George was the only person who believed me.

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_01]: The only other person who also got to see Miriam at the empty coffee shop.

[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_01]: I read the article and many others for that photo.

[00:18:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Every single time I found the same one.

[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Miriam at the counter.

[00:18:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Her red apron.

[00:18:14] [SPEAKER_01]: And a huge bright smile on her face.

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_01]: I'd always scroll up to the headline of that first article that George showed me.

[00:18:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Beloved local coffee house employee.

[00:18:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Found dead.

[00:18:43] [SPEAKER_01]: To be one of the first to find out when new stories come out,

[00:18:47] [SPEAKER_01]: be sure to subscribe for notifications via email over on ScaryStoryPodcast.com

[00:18:52] [SPEAKER_01]: and also click follow on your podcast player.

[00:18:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Scary Story Podcast is written and produced by me, Edwin Covarrubias.

[00:19:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Add free versions, additional stories and more are coming.

[00:19:04] [SPEAKER_01]: I want you to be a part of it.

[00:19:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Links to our Discord community, additional podcast and the website will be on the description of this episode

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[00:19:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for the email saying hello to me. I read every single one.

[00:19:19] [SPEAKER_01]: As always my contact information is on the website scarystorypodcast.com

[00:19:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you very much for listening.