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Speaker 1: Being a freeland chef has its perks, no fixed kitchen,

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no screaming head chef breathing down your neck, But it

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also means taking strange gigs from stranger clients. This one

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came in last minute, A private dinner for one high

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paying cash only hosted at a crumbling mansion just outside

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of town, a place people didn't talk about much, accepting whispers.

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Speaker 2: I should have said no, but RHNT was due and

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I was out of options.

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Speaker 1: Before I left, I rolled a fat joint with a

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new strain my plug. Caleb dropped off, called my wife

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didn't cook. Why is it called that, I asked. He

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just grinned.

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Speaker 2: It's what you smoked when someone should have made dinner

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but didn't.

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Speaker 1: It smelled like fruity cereal and regret. I took two hits.

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Regret followed. The mansion was than time victorian boone, with

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rotting elegance vine swallowing the porch like nature wanted it forgotten.

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I knocked once the door creaked open on its own.

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Inside stood the Hopes, tall gunk skin pale like melted wax,

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dressed in a black velvet robe with deep red stitching that.

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Speaker 2: Looked too fluid.

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Speaker 1: Welcome, chef, he said, his voice syrup thick and full

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of decay.

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Speaker 3: Dinner must be perfect.

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Speaker 1: It's for her, right, Who's her, he smiled, revealing teeth

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too long.

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Speaker 3: My wife, she didn't cook.

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Speaker 1: My buzz deepened. The walls of the mansion seemed to breathe,

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exhaling long forgotten spices.

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Speaker 2: I could hear whispers.

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Speaker 1: In the wallpaper.

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Speaker 3: Kitchens that way.

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Speaker 1: He said, motioning to a long corridor where the lights

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flickered like they were gasping. The kitchen looked untouched for decades,

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yet somehow, all spotless brass fixtures, a cast iron stove

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that hums softly like it remembered warmth. The pantry was massive.

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I opened it and felt cold. Air rushed out like

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I cracked the crypt. Inside were ingredients that shouldn't exist.

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Blood oranges that actually bled herves that moved slightly when

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I looked away. Mushrooms with gills that opened and closed

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like they were breathing. I started propping despite everything. The

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hie made it feel like I was watching myself work

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from outside my body.

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Speaker 2: The knife glided through the meat that paused. The skillet

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hissed like a voice warning me in another language. I cooked.

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Speaker 1: I cooked like someone else was moving my hands. Once

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the plate was finished, a strange rose with violet glaze,

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sighs that smelled like childhood and nightmares.

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Speaker 2: I plaited it.

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Speaker 1: Onto bone, white porcelain. The host appeared beside me, silent,

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she's waiting. He led me through the halls to a

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dining room frozen in time, cobwebbed chandeliers, a long table.

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Speaker 2: Set for two.

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Speaker 1: At the far end sat her, or what was left,

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a skeletal woman in a wedding dress stitched together with

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lace and wire. A cracked porcelain mask hid her face,

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but her eyes, glowing green um blinking, pierced through me.

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The host pulled out her chair.

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Speaker 3: My wife didn't cook, but you did.

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Speaker 2: He placed the plate before her.

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Speaker 1: She lifted her hands, crooked, rattling. She began to eat.

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Speaker 2: Each bite echoed like thumber. Each tree made the walls goa.

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Speaker 3: The host turned to me, Now it's your turn.

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Speaker 1: He placed the second plate in front of me, an

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exact replica of what I'd made. I didn't want to

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eat it, but my limbs weren't mine.

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Speaker 2: The forbes rose to my mouth.

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Speaker 1: The meat tasted like smoke and forgotten memories.

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Speaker 2: The glaze was brief and.

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Speaker 1: Syrup for I felt my insides shift, my skin tightened,

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my bones creaked across the table.

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Speaker 2: The bride tilted her head.

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Speaker 1: I saw something behind the mask.

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Speaker 2: Teeth too many.

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Speaker 3: She likes your cooking, the hole said, she'd liked you

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to stay.

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Speaker 1: I woke up the next night standing in the pantry,

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knife in hand, cooking, still cooking. The mansion is quiet

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until dusk, when the host crawls down again.

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Speaker 3: She's hungry.

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Speaker 1: Every night I cook, every night she eats, and every

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night I forget a little more of myself. The joint

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I smoked, still burning in the fireplace, somehow, still whispering.

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My wife didn't cook. Now neither did I.

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Speaker 2: I served.

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Speaker 1: At first, I thought it was just the strain blessing

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of my perception, dragging out the high into some never

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ending nightmare loop. But after the third night, maybe the

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fourth night, I realized the truth was much worse. The

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mansion wasn't letting me sober up time inside it felt swollen, slow,

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like thick honey dripping down cracked wallpaper. My mind stayed

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haze suspended, and the same first hit from my wife

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didn't cook. The smoke wasn't in my lungs anymore. It

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was in the air, in the walls, in the wood

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of the cutting boards, whispering through the spice rack.

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Speaker 2: The pantry never emptied.

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Speaker 1: Every time I reached for me there it was fresh, warm, pulsing.

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Every time I picked herbs, they quivered under my fingers,

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as if excited to be chosen.

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Speaker 2: And the mushrooms, some of them, whispered my name.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 1: The host visited only in the evenings, gliding down the

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stairs like he was poured from a bottle.

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Speaker 2: He didn't blink, or maybe I just never caught it.

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Speaker 3: She's calm, he.

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Speaker 1: Repeated, night after night, tapping his long nails on the

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pantry door like a polite threat. But the bride, the

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skeletal woman in the mummified wedding dress, she didn't always

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stay in the dining room.

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Speaker 2: Some nights I.

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Speaker 1: Would hear her wandering, dragging her nails down the hall,

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snapping her jaw, humming something sharp and broken, like a

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lullaby sung backwards.

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Speaker 2: And on the.

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Speaker 1: Seventh night, I think it was the seventh, my knife

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slipped as I diced the cluster of violet bulbs. Blood

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welled up in my fingers, except it wasn't red. It

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was the same violet glaze I had made that first night, slow, shimmering,

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sugary sweet. Stared horrified as the cut sealed itself, my

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skin knitting into place like dough being need. The host appeared.

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Speaker 2: Then behind me, You're coming along beautifully.

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Speaker 1: He said, admiring my hands the way a collector admires

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a rare artifact.

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Speaker 3: Another week or so and the kitchen will accept you food.

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Speaker 1: The kitchen, he leaned close.

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Speaker 2: His breath smelled like cold cellar and old smoke.

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Speaker 3: Oh yes, you felt it, haven't you. The stove warming

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when you approach, the knives gliding your hands, the pantry

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choosing ingredients for you.

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Speaker 2: I had.

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Speaker 1: But the worst part was I didn't hate it, not entirely.

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Something inside me, something that used to be me, enjoyed

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the rhythm, the slicing, the sizzling, the creation. It felt

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good to serve, even when my stomach twisted with fear.

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That night, when I brought dinner to the bride, she

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didn't sit at the table.

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Speaker 2: She stood behind me. Her breath tickled the back of

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my neck. Cold and dry, I winter air creeping under

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a door, A skeletal.

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Speaker 1: Hand, light as cobs fled, but heavy with contention, rested

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on my shoulder.

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Speaker 2: You smell right, she hissed.

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Speaker 1: He nearly dropped the plate. The host tuttled gently.

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Speaker 3: Not yet, my both.

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Speaker 2: He's still marinating, marinating.

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Speaker 1: I wasn't cooking for them, I was seasoning myself. My

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eyes burned as realization sunk in, but I didn't cry, not.

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Speaker 2: Water tears anyway. Mix of oil and broth.

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Speaker 1: Leaked down my cheeks when it hit the floor. The

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bride leaned forward the porcelain mask practice, she whispered.

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Speaker 3: Soon.

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Speaker 1: I tried to run that night, I truly did.

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Speaker 2: I made it to the front.

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Speaker 1: Door, hand shaking as I twisted the knob, it turned

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opened for a moment, cold.

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Speaker 2: Night wind hit my face and I.

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Speaker 1: Smelled freedom, grass, pavement, and small, the real world. Then

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the joint on the mantle flickered. A final puff of

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smoke curled outwards, forming a hand, long, gripping, insistent. It

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stroked the door shut with a soft click. My vision blurred.

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The mansion exhaled all around me, and I went back

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to the kitchen. Now days blurrened to each other like

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melted wax.

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Speaker 2: I don't sleep, I don't eat. The bride does.

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Speaker 1: The host botches, and the kitchen teaches. The mushrooms call

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me by a new name now. The herbs hum when

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I approach the walls balse like they're waiting for dinner

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to be ready tonight. When I look at my hands,

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they aren't hands anymore.

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Speaker 2: The skin is tougher, textured.

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Speaker 1: My fingertips glisten like lightly buttered flesh. My veins swirls

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with sauces I've never made before.

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Speaker 2: The host came in, smiling.

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Speaker 3: She washed you out the cable, smiling, he said warmly,

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a special occasion.

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Speaker 2: What what's the occasion? She tilted his head.

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Speaker 3: It's your final course.

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Speaker 1: Behind him, the bride gavid, an awful, childlike sound.

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Speaker 2: I can't run anymore. I can barely think anymore.

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Speaker 1: All I know is the stove is heating up behind me,

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humming my knee. The pantry door rattles like something inside

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his good to meet me, and the joint, still burning, whispers.

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Speaker 2: Louder than ever.

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Speaker 1: My wife didn't cook, but you will for the rest

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of your life.

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Speaker 2: How the long that is.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to High and Scared. If you enjoyed

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tonight's trip, don't forget to rate the podcast and hit follow.

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Speaker 2: Your support keeps these nightmares alive and growing.

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Speaker 1: A special shout out to the breeder behind Tonight's inspiring strain,

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My Wife Didn't Cook by Angry Fruit Genetics. The strain

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itself is real, but the effects you heard in this

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story definitely aren't. Those horrors live only here. If you

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want to get your hands on the real strain or

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explore more of his work, you can find the breeder

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on Instagram at Angry Underscore Fruit Underscore Genetics.

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Speaker 2: Check out his page and see the twisted.

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Speaker 1: Beauties that sparked Tonight's terror. Until next time, stay lifted,

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stay lurking, and remember, on high and scared. The high

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is always the horror