Samuel

[00:00:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Scary Story Podcast.

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_00]: In these two stories, you'll get to experience what it's like to have an unexpected jokester

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_00]: roaming in your own home, as well as some of the consequences of some major sleeping

[00:00:14] [SPEAKER_00]: problems.

[00:00:17] [SPEAKER_00]: My name is Edwin.

[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Here's a scary story.

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_00]: The light from my cell phone blinded my right eye when I checked the time.

[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Four in the morning once again and Millie was running around from one end of the

[00:00:38] [SPEAKER_00]: hall to the other.

[00:00:40] [SPEAKER_00]: I barely remember this, but my aunt told me that I was in the house when Millie fell down the

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_00]: stairs and fractured her rib.

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_00]: But I must have been 12 years old, which would make my cousin Millie about four years old

[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_00]: when she fell.

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Poor girl.

[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Nobody believed her story and even sat her.

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I couldn't recall any of it.

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Not consciously anyway.

[00:01:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I was expecting to hear something tumbling down the stairs this time too, just when she

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_00]: stopped running.

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_00]: The stillness for those few seconds was getting uncomfortable.

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_00]: But instead of those random thuds and knocks against the wooden staircase after that long

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_00]: pause, I just heard whispered laughter.

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_00]: From what I knew, only million grandma were going to be there that night.

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Lots of things ran through my mind.

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Sleepwalking, Tina her best friend sleeping over, her making some video for Instagram or

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_00]: something, who knows.

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_00]: But since my aunt had begged me to stay at the house for that week to take care of

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_00]: it and watch after grandma, I even wondered if she had asked me to be there in case

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_00]: of a break-in or something.

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_00]: If that was a concern of hers, she would have told me about it though.

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Too many thoughts at 4.04 am.

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_00]: I sighed and rolled to the edge of the bed, the springs of it making it extremely obvious

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_00]: that I was moving around and the footsteps against the floorboards above me were scared

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_00]: off.

[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I had no idea where they were or where they were going even though the house would

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_00]: squeak and I'd be able to pinpoint the exact location of people above me.

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_00]: That's how I chased down the dog and put him outside again all those times.

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, the dog.

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, the steps matched the dogs.

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Millie had likely snuck in Gumby again.

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_00]: I pressed a button on my phone to see that another 4 minutes had passed of me just

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_00]: sitting at the edge of the bed in the dark looking toward the wall when I

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_00]: innocently decided to put my head down against the warm blankets and once again with the noisy

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_00]: sound of the bed echoing in the back of my mind, I fell asleep.

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_00]: In my dreams I could still hear those footsteps but I didn't completely wake up the rest

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_00]: of the morning.

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_00]: The sound of frying bacon sounds just like rain.

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Do you ever notice that?

[00:03:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Or maybe your grandma doesn't cook enough to feed an entire family when there's

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_00]: only three people in the house.

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Grandma says that young men need to eat more in order to grow strong so she did her best

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_00]: to build a mountain of food on my plate.

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, she was knocking on my door promptly at 7.30 in the morning,

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_00]: opening the door to let in those sounds and smells.

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_00]: I told her I'd be ready soon and she dragged her shoes in double time to the kitchen

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_00]: while I sat there on the edge of the bed looking for my shoes.

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_00]: I got on one knee to look under the bed but the shoes weren't there.

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I stretched as far as I could to look around the corner of the bed but the shoes were gone.

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Had I taken them off somewhere?

[00:04:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I opened up my bag and got out my shower flip flops and walked straight to the

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_00]: used-a bathroom.

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I told grandma about my shoes while I was sitting at the table and she looked

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_00]: concerned as she always did and went to my room to flip through things.

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_00]: If you haven't noticed by now, there was no sense of privacy with her.

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_00]: She opened up doors, bags, drawers.

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_00]: It was normal for her.

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Yet she always gave me the sense that you weren't being judged.

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_00]: I've always gotten that from grandma even as a kid when I'd get cuts or itchiness

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_00]: in strange places.

[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_00]: She just fixed things and moved on.

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: I was working my way through the breakfast plate when grandma walked to the kitchen

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_00]: with her old phone and set it down next to her stool,

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_00]: telling me that she would call my mother later,

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_00]: that she couldn't find my shoes but that they would turn up very soon.

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_00]: There was no need to call my mom about that.

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they were just shoes and I wasn't some kid crying over his missing toys or anything.

[00:05:07] [SPEAKER_00]: But I never argued with grandma,

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_00]: so she leaned forward to grab the remote control and turn up the volume of the talk show she was watching on television.

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I got to three quarters of the plate,

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_00]: disappointing grandma in the process and then I took a few scraps of bacon out to Gumby,

[00:05:25] [SPEAKER_00]: who was out by the doghouse, biting at his paws before running up to me,

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_00]: wagging his tail.

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_00]: My smile faded as I thought about last night.

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_00]: I turned back inside toward grandma,

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_00]: the dog's face now licking the welcome mat right outside the kitchen door.

[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Grandma, did the dog sleep outside?

[00:05:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, your aunt had a doorstop installed a few months ago, you know.

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_00]: I told her it wouldn't help,

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_00]: but at least it keeps a dog out.

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I said.

[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_00]: I was wondering what in the world grandma was thinking.

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_00]: What else was it supposed to keep out?

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_00]: The dog had been sneaking inside at night,

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_00]: digging through the trash and rolling around the carpet for years.

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Nobody knew how the dog managed to get inside.

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I used to think that Gumby was just an escape artist dog,

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_00]: he was just very smart.

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I was not expecting to find out that someone,

[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_00]: or something,

[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_00]: was letting him inside.

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Milly came strolling down to the living room while I was on my phone

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_00]: asking me what I was doing.

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_00]: The park across the street from her house had a river,

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_00]: and we had a thing we would do every year whenever I visited

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_00]: ever since she was a little kid.

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I found it fun too just throwing rocks at the shallow river.

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_00]: We were into making paper boats for a while,

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_00]: but Milly got home soaked one day after falling in,

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_00]: and since then, we just sort of avoided it.

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_00]: It was embarrassing for her to bring up,

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_00]: and it was difficult for me to think about it

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_00]: without laughing at the way she slid into the water in slow motion.

[00:07:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, she suggested that we go.

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I grabbed my jacket and instinctively went to the room

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_00]: to get my shoes when I remembered that they were gone.

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_00]: I stood by the open door wondering what I'd do

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_00]: for the rest of the weeks I was going to be spending there.

[00:07:27] [SPEAKER_00]: I heard Milly from the living room say something

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_00]: and then run upstairs.

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_00]: I went inside the room and sat on the edge of my bed.

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Where could my shoes be?

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Then Milly showed up at the door.

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_00]: My pair of old sneakers in one hand.

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_00]: How did you do that, I asked her.

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't, she said,

[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_00]: turning and heading toward the front door by the living room.

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Where were they, I asked, trying to catch up.

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Milly completely ignored my question and opened the door,

[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_00]: yelling to Grandma that we were going to be at the park.

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Grandma called your mom, she told me,

[00:08:06] [SPEAKER_00]: while we were still crossing the front yard.

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_00]: She said you should probably lock the door to your room,

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_00]: though I'm pretty sure Samuel can still get in.

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Samuel?

[00:08:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I stopped Milly by the sleeve of her hoodie.

[00:08:23] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what his name is, I just call him that, she said.

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Remember?

[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't ask more questions.

[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Milly was always a little weird.

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And even though she's my cousin and we get along great,

[00:08:39] [SPEAKER_00]: never really understood her.

[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Most of our conversations were just joking around

[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_00]: or making fun of the noises her mom and grandma made around the house.

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_00]: That and a few TV shows that we both liked.

[00:08:53] [SPEAKER_00]: But to answer her question,

[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I remembered.

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_00]: vaguely.

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, back when Milly was little,

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_00]: she had a lot of trouble sleeping.

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Oddly enough, I remember a lot of those things in distant memories here and there.

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Though I dream about them sometimes too.

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Milly crying all the time,

[00:09:21] [SPEAKER_00]: me having to spend a lot of time at her house

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_00]: along with my own mother for weeks at a time.

[00:09:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Dad having to pick me up and drive me to school every day.

[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Dad didn't explain much to me and I could tell mom was worried all the time.

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_00]: So I made the most of it on my own,

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_00]: chatting with my friends online and watching the DVDs that my dad would rent for me every single day.

[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_00]: It was while I was watching one of those movies that grandma got visibly upset

[00:09:49] [SPEAKER_00]: and demanded that I stop it.

[00:09:51] [SPEAKER_00]: That I send it back to my dad.

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_00]: And didn't understand back then, but things were much clearer now.

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Milly had been woken up almost daily by something she described as a tiny man with a hat.

[00:10:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Back when she was younger.

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_00]: She would cry until someone else came in the room when she was a baby.

[00:10:13] [SPEAKER_00]: She was old enough to speak and describe him.

[00:10:17] [SPEAKER_00]: She said that he was an old man who asked to play.

[00:10:21] [SPEAKER_00]: That he'd bring his own set of games.

[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Dice, cards, wooden blocks, sticks, bones and seeds.

[00:10:33] [SPEAKER_00]: But Milly couldn't see him anymore.

[00:10:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Now all we'd experience were his pranks.

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Usually hiding things from us or letting the dog inside.

[00:10:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, while he could.

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Things didn't get too serious except for the staircase or the candle incident.

[00:10:54] [SPEAKER_00]: But that's a tale for another day.

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Those memories came back slowly.

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Of just how scared everybody was back then.

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_00]: But there was some sort of safety and knowing that you couldn't walk out into the hallway and see him randomly.

[00:11:11] [SPEAKER_00]: But I wasn't so sure.

[00:11:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Most nights when I couldn't fall asleep,

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I'd hear those footsteps in the hallway coming from upstairs.

[00:11:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I was always too afraid to turn my head when I heard those taps on my window.

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Because even though I knew, somehow, that I wouldn't see him,

[00:11:34] [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't want a risk finding out if Samuel actually wanted to be seen.

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_00]: The next story, Sleeping Problem,

[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_00]: begins right after a quick message from sponsors that helped make this show possible.

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[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Sleeping problem.

[00:13:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Mom has these sleeping pills that she uses sometimes and after hearing me complain over and over about being unable to sleep,

[00:13:38] [SPEAKER_00]: she offered that I take some.

[00:13:40] [SPEAKER_00]: They're not prescribed or anything, just some that you can get over the counter.

[00:13:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Supposedly they won't form a habit but something strange happened the two nights that I took them.

[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_00]: In order to better understand what happened,

[00:13:54] [SPEAKER_00]: let me tell you what a typical night for me looks like.

[00:13:58] [SPEAKER_00]: See, I work from home most days.

[00:14:00] [SPEAKER_00]: But at night, I had the worst time falling asleep.

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_00]: I did everything that I found on websites recommending ways to sleep better.

[00:14:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Things like clean sheets, warm blankets, layers, comfortable pillows, a mattress that is adjusted to me and sleeping in complete darkness.

[00:14:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Those are the usual ones.

[00:14:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Then I've tried things on other reputable websites, things like

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_00]: certain rituals to fall asleep like drinking tea with no caffeine, avoiding turning on the television, computers, phones.

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, the list goes on and on forever.

[00:14:35] [SPEAKER_00]: But then we forget that there's another side to the internet.

[00:14:40] [SPEAKER_00]: See, my habits had gotten the best of me.

[00:14:43] [SPEAKER_00]: I tried everything including trying to sleep without an alarm or notifications with earplugs, everything.

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_00]: My days would start with a big headache after not being able to fall asleep.

[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I had done sleep studies at a hospital once and I was clear from any sleeping problems.

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Blaming the situation primarily on stress.

[00:15:04] [SPEAKER_00]: But then the doctors blamed my sleeping environment because during the sleep studies I was able to sleep well.

[00:15:12] [SPEAKER_00]: So that didn't show them anything.

[00:15:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I was tired of not being able to fall asleep and it was upsetting.

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Plus, it made me super moody.

[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Every single morning I took the same two cups of coffee just to get me awake.

[00:15:28] [SPEAKER_00]: But in the worst mood you can imagine.

[00:15:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Nobody liked to be around me and yes, I'd complain about everything all the time.

[00:15:37] [SPEAKER_00]: One of my coworkers for my online jobs said that maybe I should try something that worked for her sister's sleeping problem.

[00:15:45] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's where the strange website comes in.

[00:15:49] [SPEAKER_00]: It was a link to a translated website about sleep

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_00]: and what appeared to be some historic information and diagrams on techniques to summon entities for protection.

[00:16:00] [SPEAKER_00]: These companions as they called them, guard you while you sleep and even though it sounds a bit out there for most people,

[00:16:07] [SPEAKER_00]: the theory behind it made sense to me at the time.

[00:16:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Even if it wasn't scientific or the results ended up being completely in my head,

[00:16:15] [SPEAKER_00]: as long as I had some relief I was happy to give it a try.

[00:16:20] [SPEAKER_00]: The page had a shop that would let you order one of their kits with the form to be contacted by a person who would assign you a protector.

[00:16:27] [SPEAKER_00]: The process was surprisingly professional and the person I talked to was nice

[00:16:33] [SPEAKER_00]: and answered possibly some of the worst and strangest questions any customer had ever asked her before.

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_00]: She asked me things about my household, colors I decorate with

[00:16:44] [SPEAKER_00]: and personalities of my best friends.

[00:16:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Also specific instructions for a protector.

[00:16:50] [SPEAKER_00]: When I heard about the rules that I had to set,

[00:16:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I became a little hesitant but I don't know what it is about me and salespeople.

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I feel bad after taking so much of their time and not buy anything.

[00:17:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, I thought based on the site's appearance that I'd get a person in a foreign accent trying to get my credit card number or something like that.

[00:17:14] [SPEAKER_00]: But these rules I had to set for the protector were very specific

[00:17:18] [SPEAKER_00]: and it made me wonder if this could actually be true.

[00:17:22] [SPEAKER_00]: See, basically a spirit would guard your home at night and shoo away at the negative spirits or haunts

[00:17:28] [SPEAKER_00]: that might be keeping you awake or causing stress in your space while you're trying to sleep.

[00:17:34] [SPEAKER_00]: In case you're wondering I didn't believe in this stuff.

[00:17:38] [SPEAKER_00]: It was just a thing that I wanted to try to see if I could bring peace of mind

[00:17:42] [SPEAKER_00]: simply by placebo effect or something.

[00:17:45] [SPEAKER_00]: You know like when you take a medicine that might be only water

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_00]: but it somehow still makes you feel better.

[00:17:53] [SPEAKER_00]: So I got the kit in the mail and it was a piece of paper with instructions.

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_00]: There was also a little bottle of sand with a cork and four stones of the same bluish color.

[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_00]: The instructions said to write down a set of rules,

[00:18:07] [SPEAKER_00]: roll it up and pack it inside of the bottle of sand.

[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_00]: The spirit would start making itself known in the following weeks.

[00:18:15] [SPEAKER_00]: The stones were to be placed on the corners of the room.

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_00]: But weeks passed and no spirit made itself known, whatever that meant.

[00:18:25] [SPEAKER_00]: The room always felt warmer through me though.

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_00]: At the end of the winter was approaching and that made sense.

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Eventually I did start being able to fall asleep better on some nights I would sleep all night without waking up

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER_00]: and I'd feel energized and happy the following day.

[00:18:43] [SPEAKER_00]: But other nights I just felt worse than before.

[00:18:47] [SPEAKER_00]: That's when I mentioned it during one of my phone calls to mom that I was having trouble sleeping

[00:18:52] [SPEAKER_00]: and she recommended that I use some of her pills.

[00:18:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I really wish I hadn't.

[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_00]: See another thing about them is that they can give you nightmares

[00:19:03] [SPEAKER_00]: and I sincerely hope to this day that they were only dreams.

[00:19:10] [SPEAKER_00]: The first night I started feeling drowsy about half an hour after I took them and went to bed

[00:19:15] [SPEAKER_00]: trying to summon enough energy to take off my shoes and change it to my pajamas

[00:19:20] [SPEAKER_00]: which I miraculously managed to do in one go.

[00:19:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I got the bed ready and fell asleep immediately.

[00:19:28] [SPEAKER_00]: But that didn't last very long.

[00:19:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I was in my room and under me was a sound of a roaring animal

[00:19:35] [SPEAKER_00]: like a lion or snoring or something.

[00:19:39] [SPEAKER_00]: A fire was outside my window.

[00:19:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Open flames and distance, screams.

[00:19:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Hands in all directions were reaching up to me toward the bed

[00:19:50] [SPEAKER_00]: some coming dangerously close to my hair from the headboard.

[00:19:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I felt a tap on my foot and looked down to it when I got to see a pale hand reaching to grab it.

[00:20:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I pulled it up right away.

[00:20:04] [SPEAKER_00]: I looked in all directions and nobody was there to help me.

[00:20:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I screamed looking around the room for anything, anybody.

[00:20:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I finally decided to jump to the door.

[00:20:15] [SPEAKER_00]: And I was in the air when I realized that I wasn't going to make it close enough to the door frame

[00:20:20] [SPEAKER_00]: in order to escape before the hands grabbed me.

[00:20:25] [SPEAKER_00]: I opened my eyes.

[00:20:29] [SPEAKER_00]: The next day I asked Mom if it was common to get nightmares from those things

[00:20:32] [SPEAKER_00]: and she said that maybe it was for some people.

[00:20:35] [SPEAKER_00]: But to give it another try, that the body adjusts to them.

[00:20:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Even though I knew I shouldn't have I made the mistake of trying it again that night.

[00:20:47] [SPEAKER_00]: I was upset and tired the whole day as you can imagine.

[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_00]: But when it was time, I grabbed a glass of water and just took the other pill.

[00:20:57] [SPEAKER_00]: This time I only managed to get my shoes off before I put my head against the pillow and fell asleep.

[00:21:04] [SPEAKER_00]: I was in my room.

[00:21:06] [SPEAKER_00]: It was dark outside but I could hear the wind roaring against the glass.

[00:21:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Waves or splashes of some sort could be heard off into the distance.

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Those screams were still there.

[00:21:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I looked around me and the bed, expecting to see some of those hands but nothing was there.

[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Instead when I looked up I saw dangling legs from the ceiling of my room.

[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_00]: I screamed in desperation at how vivid this was and yet part of me knew that this was only a nightmare.

[00:21:38] [SPEAKER_00]: I still wanted to escape as fast as possible.

[00:21:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I rolled out of the bed and reached for the door handle but it was locked.

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Then I saw it.

[00:21:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Against a glass with the shadow of a man with red eyes.

[00:21:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I started having trouble breathing as tears rolled down my cheeks.

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Desperation, I threw my hands over my face and fell to the floor sliding down against my old door.

[00:22:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Splinters working their way under my skin.

[00:22:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted it to be over.

[00:22:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I begged, please no more.

[00:22:17] [SPEAKER_00]: That's when I saw something else crawling from under the bed.

[00:22:22] [SPEAKER_00]: To this day I've been trying to draw it but it was the shape of a large bird.

[00:22:27] [SPEAKER_00]: But with large legs and about the size of a human.

[00:22:31] [SPEAKER_00]: It crawled out to the floor away from the bed and spread its wings.

[00:22:34] [SPEAKER_00]: It started flapping them away from me as the wind it caused surrounded the room.

[00:22:40] [SPEAKER_00]: The window was becoming clearer and the man outside had completely vanished.

[00:22:46] [SPEAKER_00]: The limbs from the ceiling started disappearing and I woke up completely drenched in sweat.

[00:22:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Now without those pills my sleeping problems continued for a few more weeks but the nightmares were gone.

[00:23:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Eventually however the whole problem went away completely.

[00:23:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I started sleeping normally with the occasional uncomfortable dream or nightmare.

[00:23:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I still like to think that something out there is fighting for me while I sleep.

[00:23:20] [SPEAKER_00]: There's probably no way to tell or to be sure.

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_00]: This was Scary Story, written and produced by me Edwin Coba Rubias.

[00:23:39] [SPEAKER_00]: You can stay updated with this and other shows that I make by signing up to be notified by email whenever a new episode gets released.

[00:23:47] [SPEAKER_00]: And also get links to join our Discord community.

[00:23:51] [SPEAKER_00]: As always please reach out to me with your comments or questions and I'll reply.

[00:23:56] [SPEAKER_00]: All links are in the description of this episode and over on ScaryStoryPodcast.com.

[00:24:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you very much for listening.