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Speaker 1: Welcome listeners to Tales, a podcast that brings your short

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stories to life. Do narrations, sound effects, and more. These

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stories will be brought to you by different authors with

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different writing styles, but with the same spooky vibes. So

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lock your doors, check your closets, make certain there's nothing

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lurking under your bed, and enjoy thereby.

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Speaker 2: Uh uh. This is vera blackmore field notes incident designation,

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red choir. This is just a record. I guess I'm

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doing these to keep an archive for myself or maybe

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for whoever finds it next. The town was called Greystone,

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small college city, one of those in between places, just

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far enough on the map that no one really knew

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about it, but big enough to hide things in plain sight.

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The melody started online. They showed up in short videos,

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background noises in lime stream, that kind of thing, a

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low humming sound off key, easy to ignore. Most people did,

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some didn't, and that's when things started to change. I

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got there too late to stop it from spreading. Ill

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owned that I thought it was a simple mimic entity,

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or maybe another curse signal. But this wasn't like anything

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I've dealt with before. People weren't just acting strange they were,

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I don't know, like they forgotten how to be themselves,

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like something else had slipped inside the quiet spaces and

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made a home there. And the worst part, no one noticed.

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I decided to create a accordings now of my experience,

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because well, I don't I don't want to forget. I

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don't want to lose myself like these people almost did

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in this town to anything. If you're hearing this, I

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really hope you don't have to go do what I did.

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But if you do, trust your instincts and listen carefully.

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Speaker 1: I pulled into Graystone just before dusk, the kind of

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town that had one main street, a university with too

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many ivy and a local radio stations still pretending it

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wasn't run out of someone's basement. The air smelled like

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pine and cold earth. Christmas decorations were already up, string

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lights tangled, and porch railings plastic snowmen grinning. Besides crack sidewalks.

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Someone had gone all out with a ten foot inflatable

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Santa in front of the post office. It looked normal.

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That's what bothered me. I've learned not to trust quiet towns,

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the ones with bookstores that doubled as tea spots where

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people waved from their porches like they've known you for years,

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the ones with just enough noise to cover what they

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don't want you to hear. I parked a few blocks

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from the campus and made my way to this little

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cafe near the square, neutral territory, the kind of place

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where no one will look twice at a stranger ordering

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a black coffee and staying too long in the corner.

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I passed a community board on the way in local

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events Carolyn schedule, Christmas market flyers, and three missing persons

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report penned with a single thumbsack, all girls college aged,

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All disappeared within the last month. No headlines, no vigils,

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just grainy photos and a number to call. I did

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not like that. Inside the cafe was warm, crowded enough

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to blend in. A few students were cramped out with

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laptops and headphones, hunch over midterm notes, or pretended to be.

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I got my coffee and picked a seat near the window.

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Watched people drift pass outside, bundled in light jackets, earbudds in.

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A few of them softly hum into themselves without realizing it.

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I didn't catch the tune, but it had a shape

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to it. I sat in the cafe for a while,

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people watch him, let in the coffee go lukewarm, while

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I scanned faces, body language, phone screens, anything that might

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twitch in the wrong direction. But there was nothing. Everyone

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looked normal and look I know better than to trust

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that surface level sentity is easy to fake, especially in

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towns like this, the ones that keep the grass cut,

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the windows clean, and secrets quiet. Still, I'd expected more

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when a case was first passed my way, flagged by

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a contact who usually doesn't spook easy. I'd prepped for

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something out of a nightmare. I thought I'd walk into

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the thick of it, right into the middle of some

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slow motion breakdown. Instead, I got soft indie music, herbal teas,

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and college kids with thrifted sweaters and tired eyes. Graystone

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didn't look haunted. It looked nauseatingly normal. But that's the thing,

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isn't it? What is normal? Outside? The temperature had dropped,

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A low fog was crawling up from the river, and

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the lamp post flickered with that orange municipal buzz that

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always made me feel like I was walking through a diorama.

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On the corner near the university gate, I spotted another

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flyer missing person number four different girl, different week. That

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made four in the last thirty three days. Back in

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the van, I scribbled some names down in the margin

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of my field journal jot of the days where the

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flyers had been posted, what direction the subjects had last

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been seen headed. According to the small print, all four

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had disappeared somewhere between the university and the river Walk,

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and all of them were locals. No out of towners,

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no transfer students, and you know what that was important.

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I flipped back to the page i'd mark with a

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red thread, a list of resonated locations pulled from a

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series of old case studies. A town my grainstone wasn't

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on it, but I knew better than to trust list.

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The big stuff always started in small places. I was

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halfway through circling a few likely hotspots when my phone

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buzz block number, and so I didn't answer. Then it

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buzzed again, and this time a voicemail draft. I listened,

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just reading at first, then a voice, calm and familiar, Hey, Vera.

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Speaker 3: It's me Samuel, Well Sammy, as even knowing we liked

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to call me, I haven't heard from you. In a

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couple of weeks. I heard you were working a new

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k S And I don't know.

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Speaker 1: I just wanted to check in a pause, a little rustling,

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like he's pacing or sitting outside.

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Speaker 3: Things have been rough, trying to readjust the world in

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a different light.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 3: I haven't been back to Merrowick, not since it all happened.

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I haven't seen my mom, I haven't been to my

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sister's grave.

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Speaker 2: Anyway.

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Speaker 3: I just wanted to hear a familiar voice. I guess,

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be safe out there.

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Speaker 1: I stared at the screen, then set the phone down

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gently in the council beside me. Then I saw the

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journal into the glove box, turned the key and pulled

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out of the lot. There were three places I needed

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to check before dark, and one of them was near

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the water. By the time I reached the river walk,

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the fog had thickened into a low hanging mist that

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hugged the banks and blurred the railings. Water lapped gently

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against the stone embarkment, slow rhythmetic. There were people still out, joggers, couples,

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a kid on a scooter weaving through puddles. I parked

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there a dead end lot, one of those gravel spaces

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with a single street lamb buzz and above it, and

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took the footpath down past the boat rentals. Instead of

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stone steps, curved down to a lower trail closer to

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the wharline, darker, half choked with vines. That was where

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the trail narrowed, tucked between the river and the old

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irrigation wall. It was also where three of the fourmists

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and girls had last been seen. I moved slow, one

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hand brushed the hilt of my cramb bit sheet at

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my hip, not because I expected anything to jump out,

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but because things like this never made noise come in.

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They waited. There was something about rivers. They weren't evil exactly,

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just old, deep things didn't just live in them, things remembered.

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I follow trail until I found it. The place I

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was looking for a clearin overgrown off the main path,

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just far enough that it wasn't visible unless you were trying.

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I only knew about it because of the maintenance map.

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I pulled off the city's archive site last night, a tiny,

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unlabeled inlet. The grass was flattened near the edge. Someone

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had been here recently. No signs of struggle, no drag marks,

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no blood, not even a bent branch. But that didn't

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mean nothing happened here. I crouched down, letting my fingers

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brush the flattened grass near the embarkment. It hadn't been trampled.

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It had been an area that seemed to be used repeatedly.

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Someone had been standing here on kneeland, not once, but

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many times, always in the same place, and they were

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alone when they did it. No footprints, no tire tracks,

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just a slow wear in the earth, a patch of

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bare dirt beneath the grass, and a few pieces of

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broken stone in a near perfect arc facing the water,

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like someone had tried to build a circle and gave

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up halfway through. The river curved and closed at this

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point you wouldn't notice unless you will look in. But

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from where I stood, the bank's narrowed, forming a natural inlet,

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and the drop off was sharp and sudden. One step

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too far and you'd never come back up. I didn't

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take that step. Instead, I let my eyes adjust and

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I listened far off. Someone laughed, A jogger or a

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trail walker passed it on the upper trail, maybe normal sounds.

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I closed my eyes to dull some of my senses

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so I can listen closer, the breeze of bird wings fluttering.

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Something moved in the reeds. I stayed perfectly still, the

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sound of ripples spreading across the water, and then there

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it was something that fell out of place, like something

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was crouched just below the surface, had paused mid breath,

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waiting to sea. If I'd noticed it. It didn't feel hostile,

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just curious. I stood backed out the way I came

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and didn't turn my back on the water until the

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clearman was behind me. This wasn't a sight of violence.

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This was a place of invitation, and someone had accepted it.

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By the time I got back to the van, the

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fog had thickened. I peeled off my gloves and started

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the engine. Heater grown into life. The dashboard clock blinked

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six thirty one. I was about to pull away when

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something caught my eye in the side mirror movement. A

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man standing at the far end of the trail where

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a river walk disappeared into trees, long coat, no umbrella,

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just standing there like the rain that had started hadn't

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touched him. I turned to look directly, but he was

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already gone. I sat for another few minutes, watching the

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spot waiting to see if the fog would spit him

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back out, but it did. I shifted into drive and

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headed towards the northern edge of town. There were a

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few places on my list I wanted to check out

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and maybe talked to some locals while I was at it.

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One of them was a community rec center. That's where

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one of the missing girls had worked while attending classes,

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probably something part time to help with the ever climb intuition.

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Each of the girls had held some kind of job,

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but none of them worked together, and none at the

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same place. Still, the rec center felt like a good

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neck stop. Community rec center, backstairwell entrance smelled like mold

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and pine cleaner. I didn't need an official invite. Small

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towns like this always had bulletin boards and unlocked side

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doors if you walk like you belonged. I knew from

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my notes that Chloe Finch, one of the missing girls,

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had worked here part time before she vanished. Her old

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manager was a guy named Marlene Dorsey, forty something thin

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in here, sneakers that squeaked when he walked. I caught

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him on his smoke braik outside near the dumpsters. You

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a reporter, he asked, squinting through the haze. Private investigator,

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I said, flashing my license not a full lie. He

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shrugged like that was worse but less annoying.

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Speaker 4: Look, I already talked to the cops twice.

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Speaker 1: Well, lucky for you, Like I said, I'm not a cop.

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He took another drag.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, then who sent you?

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Speaker 1: I let the question hang. He didn't push. Tell me

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about Chloe, I said. He leaned on the brick wall,

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eyes tracking a shadow near the parking lot.

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Speaker 4: Nice girl, too smart for this place. Always humming, though, God,

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it drove me crazy.

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Speaker 1: That made me pause humming.

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Speaker 4: He nodded, yeah, same tune, over and over. Thought it

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was just nerves or something she did to stay focused.

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But then after she went missing, another girl started humming it.

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Different girl, different shift. Said she didn't even know Chloe.

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Speaker 1: So what happened to her? He shrugged again.

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Speaker 4: Quite a week later, ooh, out of state. I didn't

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ask questions.

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Speaker 1: I pulled out my phone and tapped record, can you

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hum the melody?

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Speaker 4: Why?

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Speaker 1: I need to know if it's the same one I've heard.

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He didn't hum it. He just said, once.

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Speaker 4: You hear it, it stays in your head.

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Speaker 1: I ended the recording and slipped the phone into my coat.

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As I turned to leave, Marlin called after me. Hey,

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I stopped. If you find her, he looked away, voice low.

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Speaker 4: We keep the locker how she left it. No one's

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touched it. Couldn't bring ourselves.

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Speaker 1: To the tunnel. Beneath Graystone Main Road was little more

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than a shortcut, a cracked protestrian underpass painted with forgotten murals,

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the kind of art projects commissioned by a well met

237
00:15:18,919 --> 00:15:22,759
and mayor and long since weathered by time. I usually

238
00:15:22,759 --> 00:15:25,279
avoided it, but the rain had picked up and I

239
00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:28,240
didn't feel like circling the long way around. As I

240
00:15:28,279 --> 00:15:32,480
stepped inside, the wind dropped away. My footsteps echoed against

241
00:15:32,519 --> 00:15:35,919
the damp concrete, each one swallowed into silence the moment

242
00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:40,159
it landed. At first, I thought I was alone. Then

243
00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:42,879
I saw her. She was standing in the middle of

244
00:15:42,919 --> 00:15:46,759
the tunnel, a young woman, maybe early twenties. Have back

245
00:15:46,799 --> 00:15:49,879
to me. She wore a one denim jacket with a

246
00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:54,720
handstitched patch that read Doom Bloom, and her hands hung

247
00:15:54,799 --> 00:15:59,120
slack at her sides, fingers twitching as though tapping out

248
00:15:59,159 --> 00:16:04,759
a rhythm only she could hear. I slowed evening, I

249
00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:09,960
called gently. She didn't respond, didn't shift, didn't flinch, just

250
00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:13,200
kept staring at the mural in front of her, or

251
00:16:13,679 --> 00:16:16,799
rather past it. There was a stillness to her that

252
00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:20,279
made the air feel colder than it should have, the

253
00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:24,440
kind of stillness that doesn't belong to someone awake. And

254
00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:29,519
then I heard it, a hum, low breathy, not coming

255
00:16:29,559 --> 00:16:32,559
from her mouth exactly, but deep in her throat. It

256
00:16:32,639 --> 00:16:35,080
resonated through her chest, and a weight that made my

257
00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:37,679
own skin tighten. It was off.

258
00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:41,279
Speaker 2: The pitch was wrong, not out of tune, but wrong

259
00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:43,039
in a way I couldn't quite place.

260
00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:51,320
Speaker 1: I moved in slowly, instincts prickling. Hey, I said, voice firman, now,

261
00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:57,200
are you okay? Her head tilted just slightly, not towards me,

262
00:16:57,679 --> 00:17:01,200
towards the wall, or maybe towards her own shadow. It

263
00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:05,680
stretched strangely across the mural, the edges of a jerkin,

264
00:17:05,839 --> 00:17:10,640
as if moving on delay. Not natural, not right. Her

265
00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:16,880
mouth opened just a whisper. He's coming up from the deep.

266
00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:24,000
I stopped walking. Who's coming? I ask? She smiled, and

267
00:17:24,519 --> 00:17:27,720
a thin, uncanny stretch of her lips that never reached

268
00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:33,720
her eyes. He needed a voice, she said, so I

269
00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:40,559
gave him mine I backed up slowly. You need help,

270
00:17:41,079 --> 00:17:45,079
I told her. I can take you somewhere safe, somewhere warm.

271
00:17:45,599 --> 00:17:48,400
For the first time, she turned to face me. Her

272
00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:51,720
eyes were wide and dark, pupil so dilated they almost

273
00:17:51,799 --> 00:17:55,720
swallowed the color. She looked at me, but not into me,

274
00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:59,880
more like someone looking through glass trying to remember what

275
00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:03,759
their own face used to be. Then the humming stopped.

276
00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:07,640
She blinked hard, as if wakened from a deep sleep.

277
00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:13,000
Her eyes fluttered a blink, slow deliverate, as if something

278
00:18:13,079 --> 00:18:16,960
deep beneath her skin had just let go. Her posture shifted,

279
00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:22,000
softened all at once. Then the stiffness vanished, so did

280
00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:24,759
the smile. When she looked up at me, it was

281
00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:32,960
with warmth, not vacancy. Oh sorry, she said, let it

282
00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:35,279
out a small laugh, brushing a shin of her hair

283
00:18:35,359 --> 00:18:41,079
behind her ear, like someone wakened from a daydream. Was

284
00:18:41,079 --> 00:18:44,599
was I in your way? I didn't answer right away,

285
00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:50,440
just watched her. She seemed normal, now, centered, real, no

286
00:18:50,599 --> 00:18:54,880
sign of the distant stare or the off killed her

287
00:18:55,000 --> 00:19:02,000
hum Her voice held rhythm, her breath match her words. No,

288
00:19:03,279 --> 00:19:07,000
not at all, I said. She gave me a polite

289
00:19:07,039 --> 00:19:09,599
nod and stepped around me, heading up towards the street,

290
00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:12,400
like she had somewhere to be, as if she hadn't

291
00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:15,559
just been standing in the dark, humming a song that

292
00:19:15,559 --> 00:19:19,319
didn't belong to her, waiting until her footsteps faded, then

293
00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:24,599
turned back to the mural. Nothing unusual, no markens, no

294
00:19:24,759 --> 00:19:28,880
shadows stretched too long, just chipped paint and water stains

295
00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:33,119
and the faint smell of mildew rising from the cracks. Still,

296
00:19:33,359 --> 00:19:36,480
the hummond hadn't come from nowhere. This was starting to

297
00:19:36,519 --> 00:19:39,839
get interested in the missing girls, the path by the riverwalk,

298
00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:43,000
the humming. It was all connected to something I couldn't

299
00:19:43,079 --> 00:19:46,680
quite put my finger on. My pulse had picked up,

300
00:19:47,119 --> 00:19:49,000
not out of fear but focus.

301
00:19:49,319 --> 00:19:51,480
Speaker 2: I still wasn't sure what I was dealing with or

302
00:19:51,799 --> 00:19:54,559
what had its claws in this town. But whatever just

303
00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:57,200
happened to that girl, it was enough to get the

304
00:19:57,240 --> 00:20:00,960
gears turning. The next few days pass and slow water

305
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:03,279
log stretches. The rain didn't let up.

306
00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:06,480
Speaker 1: It wasn't heavy enough to shut the town down, just persistent,

307
00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:08,920
like it was meant to wear you down by inches,

308
00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:12,480
the kind of rain that seeped into your shoes, curled

309
00:20:12,559 --> 00:20:16,160
under your collar, and made everything feel a little too soft.

310
00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:21,160
People still went about their business, umbrellas overhead, jackets zipped tight,

311
00:20:21,559 --> 00:20:25,200
but there was a kind of collective dragon, like something

312
00:20:25,319 --> 00:20:28,880
unseen was leaning on their shoulders. And through it all,

313
00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:32,880
the music never stopped. I heard it in bits and pieces,

314
00:20:33,119 --> 00:20:37,240
from car radios rolling pass from open windows and students apartments,

315
00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:40,519
from kids scrolling through their phones on their reels, and

316
00:20:40,599 --> 00:20:44,680
tiktoks flickering across their screens. The melody was always in

317
00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:50,000
the background, low, meandering, barely there, but it always caught

318
00:20:50,039 --> 00:20:54,440
my attention, and once you noticed it, you couldn't unhear it.

319
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:58,559
I watched people humme it without realizing, the barista wiping

320
00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:02,240
down counters, and at the gas station, humming softly while

321
00:21:02,279 --> 00:21:06,920
pumping fuel. Two girls walking home from class sharing earbuds,

322
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:11,920
boat nodding at the same beat. It was slow, infectious,

323
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:15,200
and it was spreading. The morning the third day, I

324
00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:19,480
saw the flyer, new faced, same layout, same desperate tone,

325
00:21:19,839 --> 00:21:24,079
But this time I recognized her, the girl from the tunnel,

326
00:21:24,599 --> 00:21:27,680
the one who stared through me like she wasn't entirely

327
00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:31,519
in her own skin. Her name was Marabella Raised, and

328
00:21:31,559 --> 00:21:35,319
according to the flyer, she'd last been seen just Two

329
00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:40,359
hours after I passed her, a heavy knot settled behind

330
00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:44,200
my ribs. I hadn't saved her, I hadn't even tried.

331
00:21:44,799 --> 00:21:49,079
I chalked it up to odd behavior, filed it under

332
00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:54,160
symptoms to monitor, and moved on. And now she was gone.

333
00:21:55,039 --> 00:21:57,279
That night, I sat in a van with the windows

334
00:21:57,319 --> 00:22:01,000
fogged and the heated tiken softly behind me. I'd circled

335
00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:04,039
the river path three more times, eyes shop for any

336
00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:08,200
signs of ritual marks, discarded objects or on tracks, anything

337
00:22:08,559 --> 00:22:12,279
that didn't belong. But there was nothing. Whatever was happening

338
00:22:12,279 --> 00:22:16,119
and was barely noticeable. I flipped my journal open and

339
00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:20,519
started making connections. All missing girls local, familiar with the area.

340
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,839
All disappeared within five blocks of the river walk. The

341
00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,839
rain began four days before the first girl went missing.

342
00:22:27,319 --> 00:22:33,160
Each case followed a consistent emotional pattern, withdrawn, dazed, vanish,

343
00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:36,920
and then there was a song. It was enough. I

344
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:40,480
picked up my phone. First call was to an old

345
00:22:40,799 --> 00:22:44,000
archivist friend, someone I trusted, tell me when I was

346
00:22:44,039 --> 00:22:48,559
grasping as shadows. Doctor Elias Rowe currently haunted the basement

347
00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:52,440
of an old university archive in Tronheem. He picked up

348
00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:55,559
on the second ring there you're.

349
00:22:55,359 --> 00:22:56,920
Speaker 5: Only called it something's wrong.

350
00:22:58,599 --> 00:23:03,319
Speaker 2: Well, that's because some thing ually is all right.

351
00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:07,279
Speaker 5: Then what the flavor of nightmare are we dealing with today?

352
00:23:08,599 --> 00:23:12,359
Speaker 1: I told him, quick kinnaical the way you report a

353
00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:16,519
fever before the hallucination starts. The song, the weather, the

354
00:23:16,559 --> 00:23:20,720
missing girls, the growing stillness in people's eyes. And for

355
00:23:20,759 --> 00:23:25,319
a while he just listened. Then he said, sounds.

356
00:23:25,039 --> 00:23:25,640
Speaker 4: Like a knook.

357
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:32,000
Speaker 5: Excuse me of what you know? The river spirit drowns people.

358
00:23:32,799 --> 00:23:37,160
Old Nordic folklore, this was said to lure people in

359
00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:42,640
by playing beautiful songs on the violin. There is some

360
00:23:43,039 --> 00:23:49,880
variation Sweden, Norway, even Germany has a version Nixy nook

361
00:23:50,519 --> 00:23:51,960
neck same.

362
00:23:51,839 --> 00:23:57,960
Speaker 2: Bonds I rubbed my temple, except I don't think this

363
00:23:58,079 --> 00:23:59,359
one's using a violin.

364
00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:04,240
Speaker 5: No, but if it has learned to use a modertech

365
00:24:04,799 --> 00:24:13,559
sun files penity loops, that would be robling still fairer.

366
00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:19,720
There are stories, you know that spirits bound to Diggs

367
00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:25,359
two rivers stock in place. They're cautionary tails, not case

368
00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:25,920
of files.

369
00:24:26,799 --> 00:24:30,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, but you know better than I do. What I

370
00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:34,000
deal in is cautionary tales, and that's what's worrying me.

371
00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:38,079
Speaker 1: After recall, I stayed in the van, listening to the

372
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:41,200
hiss of the rain on the roof. I could hear

373
00:24:41,279 --> 00:24:44,559
faint music again. Someone nearby played it through their car

374
00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:48,480
speaker as they pulled out of the parking lot, same tune.

375
00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:53,200
I closed my eyes. If this was a knock, then

376
00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:57,000
the price for its freedom had to be paid in pieces.

377
00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:02,839
And Greystone, Greystone was all already halfway under. The storm

378
00:25:03,039 --> 00:25:08,000
had turned sideways. Rain came in sheets, horizontal, hissing against

379
00:25:08,039 --> 00:25:11,359
the windshield like static. My van was parked two blocks

380
00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:14,720
from the riverwalk engine north wife was still. Every light

381
00:25:14,799 --> 00:25:18,440
on the dash pulse red. The air smelled like copper

382
00:25:18,519 --> 00:25:22,720
and ozone. I was wide awake because they were wide awake,

383
00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:26,759
dozens of them, students, locals, A woman in the yellow

384
00:25:26,759 --> 00:25:31,200
pajamas hunted to herself through her teeth, a man in pajamas, barefoot,

385
00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:35,119
soaked to his knees. One by one, they walked past

386
00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:39,559
my van, quiet, expressionless, all of them heading in the

387
00:25:39,599 --> 00:25:44,319
same direction towards the water. I stepped out into a storm.

388
00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:48,000
The cold slapped my face, but I didn't flinch. I

389
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:51,279
followed their procession, trillly behind them in the dark, boots

390
00:25:51,279 --> 00:25:55,880
sliding on wet pavement. No one noticed me, no one spoke.

391
00:25:56,240 --> 00:26:00,799
The sound was fate but constant, no source, just there

392
00:26:00,839 --> 00:26:04,519
in the air itself, a lullaby written for sleepwalkers, and

393
00:26:04,519 --> 00:26:07,240
the river was calling them home. By the time I

394
00:26:07,319 --> 00:26:09,759
reached the bank, at least two dozen had already stepped

395
00:26:09,759 --> 00:26:14,000
into the floodwaters, quietly, willingly, like the current was a cradle.

396
00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:17,720
Then the song shifted. I felt it before I heard it.

397
00:26:17,839 --> 00:26:20,759
Pressure behind the eyes, a pull in my chest, like

398
00:26:20,839 --> 00:26:25,759
gravity had turned inward. The river's surface tremble, and then

399
00:26:26,279 --> 00:26:29,799
he rose, not from the debts, from the center of it,

400
00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:33,359
as if the water parted to allow him through.

401
00:26:33,799 --> 00:26:39,000
Speaker 2: He looked almost human, beautiful in the way wild things

402
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:43,920
are beautiful, polished and sharp. He had pale skin, long,

403
00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:48,640
dark hair slicked down over his shoulders, barefoot, draped in what.

404
00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:50,240
Speaker 1: Looked like moss and velvet.

405
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:54,519
Speaker 2: But it was the eyes that gave him away, not

406
00:26:54,759 --> 00:26:57,359
cruelized with something worse.

407
00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:03,880
Speaker 1: Lonely, old, so old it made my teeth ache. He

408
00:27:04,039 --> 00:27:06,640
locked eyes with me, and for the first time the

409
00:27:06,799 --> 00:27:12,359
melody stopped. Everything went still, and then, in a voice

410
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:14,640
so soft and barely touched the.

411
00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:17,519
Speaker 4: Air, do you stop me?

412
00:27:18,359 --> 00:27:22,319
Speaker 1: My heart slammed against my ribs. His voice was velvet

413
00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:23,240
and ruined.

414
00:27:23,799 --> 00:27:29,960
Speaker 4: They forgotten me for centuries. I sing for them, gave

415
00:27:30,039 --> 00:27:34,799
them dreams, secrets, beauty.

416
00:27:35,079 --> 00:27:39,880
Speaker 1: But now he gestured towards the crowd. The phones clutched

417
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:42,160
in soak hands, still recording.

418
00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:48,880
Speaker 4: Now they worshiped these little boxes, they sing to themselves.

419
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:52,200
Speaker 1: He tilted his head, birdlike, curious.

420
00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:58,880
Speaker 4: All I wanted was to be remembered, to be loved again?

421
00:28:00,279 --> 00:28:01,799
Is that so wrong?

422
00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:07,839
Speaker 1: I didn't answer, because this was the moment, the part

423
00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:11,839
with someone less tired, less experienced, might have believed him.

424
00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:15,720
He took a step closer. The water moved with him,

425
00:28:15,839 --> 00:28:18,359
not around him, but with him.

426
00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 4: You see them, you know how lost they are. I

427
00:28:24,319 --> 00:28:30,119
could give them peace purpose. You don't have to fight me.

428
00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:34,480
Speaker 1: I felt the weight of his gaze. Try to nest

429
00:28:34,519 --> 00:28:38,359
in my mind. It would have been easy to nod,

430
00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:42,279
to surrender, but I didn't come here for ease. I

431
00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:45,559
reached into my pocket and wrapped my hand around the

432
00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:49,400
brass fork. It was old, older than most of the tools.

433
00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:52,799
I carried, a gift from a Romanian monk i'd work

434
00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:56,759
with during the Tuli Chair Renaissance case. It hummed at

435
00:28:56,799 --> 00:29:01,400
four hundred and thirty two hertz, a natural ground in tone,

436
00:29:01,759 --> 00:29:06,160
said to clear negative interference, used to dispel emotional fog,

437
00:29:06,319 --> 00:29:10,599
even ward off possession. I'd seen it stop a child

438
00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:14,960
mid trans ones. I prayed it had one more miracle left.

439
00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:18,640
I struck it hard against my belt buckle. The vibration

440
00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:23,599
split the air like a crack of thunder. The nook flinched,

441
00:29:24,119 --> 00:29:27,519
so did the crowd. The song wavered, thinned, like a

442
00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:33,119
thread pulled too tight. This, sir, is not love, I said,

443
00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:36,440
holding the fork up like a ward. This looks to

444
00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:41,559
me like control. He looked wounded, then a flicker of rage.

445
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:45,960
The calm cracked just for a second. The air smelled

446
00:29:46,079 --> 00:29:46,640
like rot.

447
00:29:47,559 --> 00:29:52,160
Speaker 4: They came to me, they chose the song.

448
00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:55,680
Speaker 5: I didn't drag them.

449
00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:59,880
Speaker 2: And when they wake, when they drown, when they disappear,

450
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:02,920
is that still a choice?

451
00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:07,759
Speaker 1: Silence? Then he sank like he'd never been there at all.

452
00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:13,279
The river calmed, the melody faded. People blinked like they've

453
00:30:13,599 --> 00:30:19,440
been underwater. No pun intended, some collapse, others simply turned

454
00:30:19,519 --> 00:30:23,279
and walked away. Days soaken, wet phone still recorded, with

455
00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:26,000
no memory of why. I sat on the edge of

456
00:30:26,079 --> 00:30:28,920
the bank and let the tune and fork come until

457
00:30:29,039 --> 00:30:32,559
it dulled in my palm. It wasn't over, but the

458
00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:35,880
current had turned. I pulled who I could from the current,

459
00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:39,279
kept some from going under. Sat with one girl until

460
00:30:39,279 --> 00:30:41,319
the song left her lips and the light returned to

461
00:30:41,359 --> 00:30:45,240
her eyes. But the truth is the night was chaotic.

462
00:30:45,759 --> 00:30:48,559
I decided to run a hotel room for the night

463
00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:50,920
to get out of my soak clothes, wet boots, and

464
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:54,240
needed a strong drink. I ordered a bottle of something

465
00:30:54,319 --> 00:30:57,240
cheap and mean from the night clerk took the longest

466
00:30:57,279 --> 00:30:59,920
shower of my life and didn't speak to a single

467
00:31:00,119 --> 00:31:05,279
soul until sunrise. After that, I stuck around the next morning.

468
00:31:05,359 --> 00:31:08,279
The rain stopped, but the town didn't wake up whole.

469
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Seventeen people had drowned that night, most of them students.

470
00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:16,640
Their bodies were found tangled in reeds or washed up

471
00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:20,039
along the river's edge like broken instruments, no signs of

472
00:31:20,079 --> 00:31:23,759
a struggle, just water logged silence. There'd be no easy

473
00:31:23,799 --> 00:31:28,119
explanation for it, not one the world would accept. I

474
00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:30,519
did stay to make sure he went back to sleep.

475
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:35,880
The knock. Whatever he was, however old, I knew he

476
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:40,920
hadn't died, just retreated, slipped beneath the surface, like miss

477
00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:44,599
curling into a bottle. On my last day in Greystone,

478
00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:47,440
I walked down to the river. It was calmer, now

479
00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:51,920
still high, still swollen, but quiet. The sky was clearing

480
00:31:52,039 --> 00:31:55,440
in places. I stood there for a long while, watching

481
00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:58,680
the way the sunlight fractured the water. Then I reached

482
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:02,519
into my coat pocket and pulled out a small silver coin,

483
00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:06,759
a relic i'd kept for years, worn but still gleaming.

484
00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:09,440
I flicked it into the river with a whisper, too

485
00:32:09,559 --> 00:32:13,880
sore for anyone else to hear. And besides the roots

486
00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:17,519
of a half flooded willow, I left a tiny wooden horse,

487
00:32:17,920 --> 00:32:21,759
hand carved smooth by years, in my bag, a gester.

488
00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:28,480
Not forgiveness, not peace, but understanding, because I knew loneliness.

489
00:32:28,839 --> 00:32:31,400
I knew what it meant to be forgotten, to be

490
00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:35,599
replaced by noise and novelty, to watch the world change

491
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:38,119
and wonder if it would still have a place for

492
00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:42,279
you when it was done. No, I wouldn't drown anyone

493
00:32:42,359 --> 00:32:45,440
for it, but I couldn't hate him for wanting more.

494
00:32:46,079 --> 00:32:48,920
As I turned to leave, I promised the wind that

495
00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:53,880
I'd be back, not often, not with fan fear, just

496
00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:57,400
a coin now, and then maybe another horse, just so

497
00:32:57,519 --> 00:33:03,039
he wouldn't forget that someone remembered, and sometimes even monsters

498
00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:25,279
get lonely. This episode of Tales was written by En

499
00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:29,799
Varro narrated by Yours Truly and Brody Amazing. If you

500
00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:32,880
like what you've listened to, leave this podcast a five

501
00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:36,559
star review and don't forget to hit that follow button. Also,

502
00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:39,000
if you will like your story on the podcast, you

503
00:33:39,039 --> 00:33:41,359
can email me or message me on my social media.

504
00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:45,160
That information can be found in a listener's notes. As always,

505
00:33:45,519 --> 00:33:50,319
thanks for listening and remember even forgotten God's remember how

506
00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:54,400
to sing, Stay safe, tail weavers, and don't linger too

507
00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:55,279
long by the river

508
00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:00,599
Speaker 2: Fo