WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.120 --> 00:00:18.399 Bright Story Studios Gain Story a Voice. I'm David Olt and you're listening to 2 00:00:18.440 --> 00:00:39.280 The Wicked Library. Warning. The Wicked Library is a horror fiction podcast creted 3 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:44.880 for a mature audience. Our stories contain graphic descriptions of pain, murder, 4 00:00:45.399 --> 00:00:51.920 violence, blood, betrayal, and inhumanity. Monsters win, people die, 5 00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:58.679 and hope is often shattered. There is also beauty, heart, catharsis, 6 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:03.920 and raw emotion. Fear may be deeply personal, but we all share it. 7 00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:07.640 If at any time a story takes you to a place too dark, 8 00:01:07.159 --> 00:01:15.079 turn on the lights, press pause or press stop, and always remember that, 9 00:01:15.319 --> 00:01:19.599 unlike in the real world, these nightmares and your participation in them, 10 00:01:19.719 --> 00:01:38.879 are under your control. Welcome back to the Wicked Library. I'm Daniel Foytek, 11 00:01:40.040 --> 00:01:42.239 and I thank you for listening. Before we get started today, just 12 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:46.280 a quick thank you to those of you who are supporting the show. Without 13 00:01:46.280 --> 00:01:49.760 your support, this show would not be possible. If you're not yet supporting 14 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:53.359 the show and you'd like to do so, you can do that at patreon 15 00:01:53.480 --> 00:01:57.680 dot com forward slash Wicked Library. Today we present the second of three special 16 00:01:57.719 --> 00:02:05.359 episodes for Halloween. Today's episode features stories by l B Waltz, Christopher Long 17 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:10.080 and mel Continuing our theme, these tales are told in the style of sitting 18 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:15.759 around a campfire and listening to spooky tales. So bundle up, gather around 19 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:21.759 the fire, and sit back with some hot apple cider or something a little 20 00:02:21.800 --> 00:02:29.639 stronger for volume two of Wicked Campfire Tales, and check back tomorrow Halloween for 21 00:02:29.719 --> 00:03:27.319 a volume three, kindling by Christopher Long. Some folks don't do so well 22 00:03:27.319 --> 00:03:30.280 out here on their own. That's what the park ranger had said to me 23 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:35.319 when he'd seen me pull up. I'd tried telling him this wasn't my first 24 00:03:35.319 --> 00:03:38.240 time, whilst making a point of showing him all the kit i'd brought along. 25 00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:40.719 It's not cheap stuff, and I've used it plenty of times before. 26 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:46.120 But did that impress the old boy? No, it did not. Not 27 00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:50.080 even my tent over there, and let me tell you that tent can survive 28 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:54.800 storms. I guess he wasn't to know. Camping's in my blood. I 29 00:03:54.840 --> 00:03:58.960 get it from my dad. We'd go camping together when I was growing up. 30 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:00.599 It was our little escape. We'd sit around a fire and he'd tell 31 00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:06.000 me stories, stories about things like you. Now that I think about it, 32 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:12.120 we'd get a lot of stupid deaths up in the hills. That Ranger 33 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:15.519 had said obviously convinced I wasn't listening. Some people must just forget how to 34 00:04:15.560 --> 00:04:21.240 survive the night. He'd made it sound like he'd find some burnt body sprawled 35 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:26.279 in the ashes of their own fire and have himself a good chuckle. Now 36 00:04:26.360 --> 00:04:30.240 I have to wonder if he ever dreamt those people might have encountered something like 37 00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:34.959 you out here. And more importantly, I want to know how many stories 38 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:42.120 those other hikers told you before they realized they were never getting home. Of 39 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:45.439 course, that Ranger's warnings didn't stop me. I got my gear on and 40 00:04:45.480 --> 00:04:48.199 started walking, telling myself I'd be fine once I got moving, But I 41 00:04:48.279 --> 00:04:53.040 was far from fine. I was jumpy. It didn't help that I never 42 00:04:53.079 --> 00:04:56.839 saw another soul out on the trail to distract me. I even got a 43 00:04:56.839 --> 00:04:59.800 little scared of the sound of my own footsteps. Once I was deep amongst 44 00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:02.720 the trees up here, they echo everything back at you. That's probably why 45 00:05:02.759 --> 00:05:08.319 I called it a day earlier than i'd planned. You must have seen how 46 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:11.600 easily I got this fire going. I set it right in the middle of 47 00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:15.199 these old stones where it looks like a few other campers had lit their fires 48 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:18.839 before me. Ah, maybe that's where I went wrong, because I lit 49 00:05:18.920 --> 00:05:24.079 that fire and there you were sitting beside it, like you'd been waiting for 50 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:27.680 me. At first, I thought you were just a trick of the light. 51 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:30.439 I was pretty tired, and you stayed so quiet. You didn't whisper 52 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:34.079 until you caught me looking at you. You didn't speak until the first time 53 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:38.920 you knew. I'd seen you clearly, and I swear I did my best 54 00:05:38.920 --> 00:05:42.279 to ignore you. I tried telling myself you were just one of my dad's 55 00:05:42.279 --> 00:05:46.879 old stories rattling around my head. Only you started asking me questions, and 56 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:50.360 even though I knew deep down not to answer you, I also knew I 57 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:56.120 could only resist for so long. I guess your sort depends on that. 58 00:05:57.800 --> 00:06:00.079 You started demanding your stories from me not long after I told you my name. 59 00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:03.560 That must be how it works. You've been drawing them out of me 60 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:08.240 ever since. How long has it been. I'm sure I've not seen the 61 00:06:08.279 --> 00:06:11.439 sun rise yet, but it can't be the same night this all started. 62 00:06:11.480 --> 00:06:15.079 We've been out here for days, haven't we. I know I'm losing my 63 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:18.839 voice, and I know I'm running out of stories. I don't want to 64 00:06:18.920 --> 00:06:23.920 think about what's going to happen when the fire dies out, or how that 65 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:28.000 old park ranger is going to find my body when the sun finally does come 66 00:06:28.120 --> 00:07:03.920 up again. The Coffin by L. B. Waltz. The question came 67 00:07:03.959 --> 00:07:11.000 in that silence between one collision and the next acts against trunk, trunk against 68 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:17.519 ground, heart against ribs. What are you doing? I yeled, swore 69 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:24.120 too, though the bow's final groans did well to mask that. With twigs 70 00:07:24.120 --> 00:07:29.399 shattering like fingers beneath my feet, I spun around, and there was a 71 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:34.399 child. To say I was alarmed would be to undermine both how perilously close 72 00:07:34.439 --> 00:07:40.439 this little one was to the yoak and the spontaneity with which they manifested. 73 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:45.720 A dozen half formed reprimands caught in my teeth before I managed to hiss. 74 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:51.439 You might have been crushed, you full said, full blinked. They had 75 00:07:53.000 --> 00:08:00.360 odd eyes, pale eyes paler than pale, the color of the ghost that 76 00:08:00.439 --> 00:08:05.920 sprouted from unearthed roots. The gash that was their mouth wilted into a frown. 77 00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:13.839 What are you doing? They demanded again. Their voice was youthfully androgynous, 78 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:18.399 and although I squinted. Neither did their form nor their features hint at 79 00:08:18.439 --> 00:08:24.639 a gender. I took a breath, gathered my thoughts, my patience, 80 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:31.559 and my axe. Are you lost, i asked, I'm exactly where I 81 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:37.639 should be. The child insisted. With one spindly finger, they traced the 82 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:43.879 oak's exposed rings. Why did you cut down that tree need of lumber? 83 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:50.639 I sighed, I've been hired to make a coffin. A coffin. The 84 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:54.440 word was repeated slowly, and that way the forest echoes all manner of hidden 85 00:08:54.480 --> 00:09:01.360 carnage. Crows shrieked in the distance. What is a coffin, Well, 86 00:09:01.399 --> 00:09:05.960 it's a vessel, I explained, thinking the child to be younger than previously 87 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:13.799 assumed. Coffins house the dead. Only those who are properly buried can find 88 00:09:13.879 --> 00:09:18.919 peace in God's kingdom. The child turned this idea over in the same way 89 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:26.519 they did a leaf two leafs rustling through the toppled oaks foliage, They mused, 90 00:09:28.519 --> 00:09:35.799 So you murder the living to appease the dead and call it justified. 91 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:43.399 The accusation saw me falter. I'd never considered my work in such terms before. 92 00:09:43.919 --> 00:09:48.159 Ours is a good Christian village, I told them a touch defensive. 93 00:09:50.200 --> 00:09:54.039 We know that unless a soul receives the necessary rights, they're not eligible for 94 00:09:54.120 --> 00:10:01.960 salvation. Many things can be justified if resurrection is at stake. I see, 95 00:10:03.240 --> 00:10:07.480 they said, small hands growing still, an acorn lay cradled in their 96 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:15.440 palms. On that at least we are agreed. And then the child was 97 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:20.360 there, right there, nose to nose with me. Their fungle eyes, 98 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:30.200 bright, chin sticky with amber, and cheeks scored with that. There were 99 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:35.919 thirty thin rings around their white void pupils answered a question I didn't realize I 100 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:41.519 had. I was given time to open my mouth, but not to scream. 101 00:10:43.039 --> 00:10:46.919 The moment my lips parted, a fist shoved past them, dirt, 102 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:54.039 bitter, rough, cold, ramming a lump down my throats. That lump 103 00:10:54.720 --> 00:11:05.360 fell into my belly. Consciousness followed, and that's when you found me alone. 104 00:11:05.399 --> 00:11:09.679 It seems no child, nor any evidence of one. Nothing but the 105 00:11:09.720 --> 00:11:18.440 trees there was. I fear, never anything but the trees. I shouldn't 106 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:22.120 fear them, the trees. I mean, if anything, I should fear 107 00:11:22.120 --> 00:11:28.480 how much of the day I wasted collapsed in the woods, and here in 108 00:11:28.519 --> 00:11:31.879 bed I can't be putting down roots on this mattress. I need to get 109 00:11:31.960 --> 00:11:37.080 up. There are blueprints to finalize laughs, to saw planks, to shape. 110 00:11:39.320 --> 00:11:43.399 Coffin. Building is a sacred task. I've always treated it as such. 111 00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:50.399 I have no intention of doing otherwise. Now, even with this pressure 112 00:11:52.399 --> 00:12:01.960 in my belly, this rootling squirm doesn't Matteralvation is what matters. Resurrection is 113 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:11.440 what matters. That requires a coffin. I will make a beautiful coffin. 114 00:12:39.879 --> 00:12:46.840 Slice the thread by Mel. I was never superstitious, but I was always 115 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:52.159 a good child, no matter how absurd. You don't question your parents in 116 00:12:52.200 --> 00:12:56.679 a Korean household. Don't wear black to weddings, don't eat the tips of 117 00:12:56.759 --> 00:13:01.000 chicken wings, cover your thumbs around sand mimetaries. Never give a knife as 118 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:07.519 a gift. One evening, I sat across from my mom and finally asked 119 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:13.200 her where the knife omen came from. Her body stilled, blade in hand 120 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:18.159 against a ratish who was peeling it cuts into the flesh as clean as a 121 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:22.919 butcher, and so shallow. The skin looked paper thin. Her eyes lifted 122 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:26.840 and she laughed lightly, as if this were tea time and I was being 123 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:33.759 droll in old custom. She finally spoke, too ominous to gift a knife 124 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:39.919 to someone you love, you'll quarrel with them forevermore. Her eyes tightened at 125 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:45.720 my laugh. One day, your doubt is going to get someone hurt. 126 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:52.279 My mood soured. Did she have to take this so seriously? There were 127 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:56.279 hundreds of American superstitions that she never adhered to, so why did I need 128 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:03.879 to follow any I had a friend who I cooked with weakly, meal prepping 129 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:09.720 together, our way of still seeing each other despite their hectic married life. 130 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:13.799 I told myself I wasn't bitter, that I wasn't angry when I saw the 131 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:18.759 cuts on their fingers. Their spouse too cheap to use the household funds to 132 00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:24.840 buy a proper knife. They got a new wound daily when the cheap doll 133 00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:30.480 blades slipped and nicked their finger. They explained, since it's dull, I 134 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:35.320 never hurt myself too badly. I was fed up enough so that as much 135 00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:41.080 as my family superstition clawed at my gut, I ordered a good knife for 136 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:46.039 their birthday. I bit my lip as I watched for my friend's reaction and 137 00:14:46.120 --> 00:14:50.200 for some ancient god to smite me for daring to disobey my parents in some 138 00:14:50.759 --> 00:14:56.600 contract. I had signed by being born to uphold tradition, but it didn't 139 00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:01.960 happen. My friend was overjoyed. They used it immediately, and the smile 140 00:15:03.080 --> 00:15:07.559 on their face was everything. That and the fact that they weren't cutting themselves 141 00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:13.840 raw and doll blades anymore. I felt so proud of my choice until it 142 00:15:13.879 --> 00:15:20.159 went wrong. What used to be friendly texts about our interests turned to the 143 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:24.720 snipes about how I always looked at things in black and white. Friendly conversations 144 00:15:24.759 --> 00:15:31.919 soured into venting sessions where I either had to listen on and on or join 145 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:39.720 in and rub my emotions dry. Our weekly sessions became a mockery of camaraderie. 146 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:45.639 I could do nothing right. Our mutual aggravation sharpened until I begged them 147 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:52.480 to stop the snipes and the complaints, but they pressed harder until I had 148 00:15:52.519 --> 00:16:03.240 to look away and finally noticed it a thread hanging loose above My eyes followed 149 00:16:03.240 --> 00:16:07.279 it up, and I saw a red robed figure holding it like a rope 150 00:16:07.799 --> 00:16:14.519 or a noose, watching us. He followed me everywhere I went, and 151 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:18.360 I thought my mind was searching for a gruesome way out, that my stress 152 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:23.519 was telling me to end it all. I would end it, but not 153 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:30.000 that way at home. I grabbed my butcher's knife. I used it to 154 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:34.639 hack at the thread in question, keeping grim eye contact with the apparition. 155 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:42.519 I thought it would take hours. It took one single cleave, like cutting 156 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:48.440 through air, as if the thread had been fragile all this time, and 157 00:16:48.519 --> 00:16:53.000 I had just needed to push to slice. The man disappeared, and the 158 00:16:53.120 --> 00:17:00.759 ends fell and sat heavy and worn at my feet. I never heard from 159 00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:41.079 my friend again. Thank you for listening to episode number twelve oh six. 160 00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:48.079 Today's authors were Christopher Long, lb Waltz, and Mel Today's stories were told 161 00:17:48.119 --> 00:17:52.599 by David Alt and Daniel Foytek. That's me. It's been my pleasure to 162 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:56.079 be your host today, and we hope you'll join us again tomorrow for part 163 00:17:56.160 --> 00:18:00.319 three. Our resident composer and executive producer is Nikovitez at the Inky Pop Print. 164 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:06.079 Artwork for today's episode was created by Greg Schaefer. Our producers are Meg 165 00:18:06.119 --> 00:18:10.000 Williams and Daniel Foytek. To find out more about The Wicked Library and other 166 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:14.599 Ninth Story Studio shows, visit the Wickedlibrary dot com and Ninth Story dot com, 167 00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:18.000 and if you'd like to hear your own story on the Wicked Library Submissions 168 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:22.720 are now open. Check our website at the Wickedlibrary dot com for more details 169 00:18:22.759 --> 00:18:26.079 and requirements. To keep this collection of dark tales coming, please support the 170 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:32.880 Wickedlibrary at Patreon dot com forward slash Wickedlibrary. You can also help us by 171 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:36.839 leaving a five star rating and short review on Apple Podcasts, which helps other 172 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:41.559 folks find the show. The Wicked Library is created by Ninth Story Studios LLC. 173 00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:42.279 All rights reserved.