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1:00

the show. Disclaimer.

2:05

Horror Hill is a horror anthology

2:07

podcast bringing you scary stories from

2:09

all corners of the internet and

2:12

beyond. As such,

2:14

certain stories include content that

2:16

some listeners might find offensive.

2:19

Listener discretion is advised. Well,

2:24

hello there listeners. You've

2:27

just wandered back to Horror

2:29

Hill, and I'm your host,

2:31

Eric Peabody. Tonight

2:33

we're featuring a story

2:35

by Horror Hill mainstay

2:37

Lucrecia Vastea, with the

2:39

unlikely title Graalerpel. Lucas,

2:43

newt to his friends, is a

2:45

young teenager with a mildly frustrating

2:48

problem. He's the smartest

2:50

person in his family. Both

2:52

his parents and his sister Daphne look to

2:55

him as the voice of reason. Luckily,

2:58

newt has similarly intelligent

3:00

and nerdy companionship in

3:02

his friends Skittles and

3:04

Vamp. In fact, they're

3:06

so nerdy that they've been going nuts

3:09

over a pair of special glasses from

3:11

a science magazine that are supposed to

3:13

allow you to see beyond the normal

3:16

visible spectrum. This

3:18

is a good thing, because

3:20

Daphne has recently gone missing,

3:23

and these special glasses might hold

3:25

the key to finding her. Also,

3:29

I'd like to welcome voice actress Michelle

3:31

Caine back to the show. She'll

3:33

be voicing a couple of roles in

3:35

tonight's story. You're

3:39

listening to the standard edition of this program.

3:42

If you'd like to help support

3:44

Horror Hill and also remove these

3:46

pesky ads, head to Chilling Tales

3:48

for Dark nights.com and click patrons

3:50

in the upper menu to sign

3:52

up today. You'll get

3:54

instant access to hundreds of ad-free

3:56

stories and we can scale back

3:58

some of our less

4:01

savory means of generating money for

4:03

the show. By

4:05

the way, you wouldn't happen to

4:07

still have all of your organs, would

4:10

you? And

4:18

now, from author Lucretia Vasteia,

4:20

I give you... Grelurple.

4:23

Daphne's not back yet. Daphne's

4:28

not back yet. One

4:31

sheep, two sheep, three sheep,

4:33

four. There's stupid chatter at

4:35

my door. Have you tried

4:37

calling her? Of course I have, Jared.

4:40

I keep calling her since nine.

4:43

That's a lie, Dad. Knowing

4:45

Mom, the first call was probably around

4:48

eight-thirty. Five sheep,

4:50

six sheep, seven sheep, eight. Go

4:53

to sleep or go irate. Dad's

4:57

size. I know his size. This

5:00

one is loaded with opinions he'd rather

5:02

not voice. He doesn't think

5:04

Daphne not being home by nine is as

5:07

catastrophic as his wife does, but

5:09

seventeen years of marriage taught him to

5:11

play along, for the most part. It's

5:14

funny how parents think they know their

5:16

kids inside and out. They're particularly funny

5:19

when they act as if they leapt

5:21

into adulthood straight out of infancy. When

5:24

you're a creature of the raging

5:26

hormone variety, aka a teen, your

5:29

raison d'être is chained to the

5:31

slot you occupy in the school

5:33

hierarchy. At the top you

5:36

have your popular kids. Then

5:38

there are the mediocre bunch, then

5:40

the unpopular bunch, and

5:42

at the foot of the pyramid, the

5:44

acutely invisible. My

5:46

fifteen-year-old sister jumped from acutely invisible

5:49

to popular in a matter of

5:51

weeks, and she's been invited

5:53

to her first party ever. Connect

5:56

the dots, Mother. Voice-mail

6:00

Daphne always answers when I call

6:04

Maybe she said it on airplane mode Daphne

6:07

never does that oh Yes,

6:09

she does Unbeknownst to

6:12

our parents Daphne has a boyfriend

6:15

Derek captain of the baseball team

6:18

if Daphne is not on her phone.

6:20

It's because Derek is keeping her busy

6:23

Dad sighs again Sam

6:28

Her dad She's

6:30

at a party She's never been invited to one of

6:32

these things before and it's a big deal to kids

6:34

her age Let her live a

6:36

little our daughter's smart. You need to learn

6:38

to trust her Besides what's the

6:41

worst that can happen the party is

6:43

not even five miles away and

6:45

no offense, honey But the curfew you

6:48

said is a little ridiculous Mother

6:51

doesn't respond. I

6:53

close my eyes and give sleep another try

6:57

Did she say who is going to be there? another

7:00

trial another error She

7:03

went with Mandy and Bianca. I

7:05

know that Jared. I mean who else is

7:07

going to be there Classmates

7:10

upper class men mom

7:12

gasps as if someone kicked her in the ribs

7:16

Did Bianca say her brother is going to be

7:18

there? Um Bianca's

7:22

brother is in college Jared college

7:24

kids don't show up to high

7:26

school parties alone. Oh god You

7:30

think too much? Or

7:32

not enough. Why isn't she answering me

7:34

if she wanted to stay longer? She

7:36

should have texted Yeah,

7:39

like that would work on you What's

7:41

that supposed to mean? Jesus

7:44

Christ Sam. She's a teenager just

7:47

Q dance exasperated search for words

7:50

on the hallway ceiling Let

7:52

her be a teenager Lucas

7:55

is a teenager too and he never makes us

7:57

worry like this dad

8:01

That's it. I get up. Yes,

8:04

well, Lucas is

8:06

different. He's a

8:08

thirteen-year-old boy, Jared. How different can

8:10

he be? I yank

8:13

my bedroom door open. I

8:15

like soccer, video games, and have

8:18

three issues of playboy stashed under

8:20

my mattress. Mom and

8:22

Dad look dumbfounded. Don't

8:24

know if these things make me a normal

8:27

thirteen-year-old boy, but in case they don't, feel

8:29

free to talk to me about it tomorrow.

8:32

My parents exchange a look. Sorry,

8:35

bud. Did we wake you? One

8:38

needs to be asleep, to be awakened, Dad.

8:42

Lucas, honey, we're sorry. Mom

8:44

offers. We'll continue our

8:46

chat in the living room. Dad

8:49

looks annoyed. We will.

8:51

Why? Jared? Ah!

8:56

I retreat into my room, grab

8:58

my phone, select and scroll. Back

9:01

in the doorway, I show my parents the

9:03

screen. This was taken

9:05

ten minutes ago. Mom

9:07

and Dad get an eyeful of Bianca's

9:10

latest Instagram post. Look

9:12

at the picture closely. In

9:15

the picture, Bianca, the birthday girl,

9:17

is being sandwiched between Mandy and

9:19

my older sister. Bianca

9:21

has her arms wrapped around Daphne and Mandy

9:23

while they're kissing her cheeks. The

9:26

caption says, "#bestiesforever

9:28

and "#whoneedsboys."

9:32

The girls look like they're having fun. See

9:35

the man on the left in the background? My

9:38

parents notice him. That's

9:41

Bianca's dad. Both her parents are

9:43

supervising the party. Didn't Daphne tell

9:45

you? Mom and

9:47

Dad exchange another look. She's

9:50

safe. Learn to give her room

9:52

to breathe, Mom. Daphne's not a baby anymore.

9:55

And if she's about to make mistakes, let

9:57

her. How else is she going to learn

9:59

how to navigate? life. Mom

10:02

freezes. Dad purses his

10:04

lips and looks down, a dead

10:06

giveaway that he agrees. Now

10:09

that we are reassured that Daphne is going

10:11

to be okay, I'm off to bed. I

10:14

advise you to do the same. The

10:17

tension dissipates. Dad looks

10:19

like he's trying to hug a human-sized porcupine

10:22

when he puts his arm around his wife.

10:25

Good night, buddy. Sorry for the ruckus. I

10:28

nod and reach for the door. By

10:31

the way, Dad remembers before I

10:33

close the door. You got

10:35

a package today. I left it on the

10:37

kitchen counter. Small brown envelope. Did you get

10:39

it? Crap, crap,

10:42

crap, crap. He asks, what

10:46

did you order? Mom

10:48

and Dad trust me. I'm

10:50

the voice of reason in this family. A

10:52

straight A student who seldom asks for anything,

10:54

so whenever I do ask for stuff, they

10:56

tend to deliver. Two

10:59

birthdays in a row, I asked for

11:01

one thing. Financial privacy,

11:03

albeit within the bounds of

11:05

my allowance. This year,

11:07

I got my wish. My

11:09

bank account is under Dad's name. He

11:12

takes care of the monthly fee, but

11:14

other than that, the card, the passwords,

11:16

pins, tans, and banking statements are entrusted

11:19

to nobody else but me. Dad

11:22

wants to know what I ordered. Think

11:25

fast. Fishing

11:27

hooks for Uncle Ned. Dad

11:30

chuckles. The envelope

11:32

stuck to the toaster. Are those

11:34

hooks magnetic? They're magnetic, right? I

11:37

say nothing. Interesting.

11:41

You and Ned have to tune me in on

11:43

some fishing tips sometime. I never catch anything. Can't

11:46

refute that, but I don't want to hurt

11:49

his feelings. Dad likes to

11:51

fish. The same way Mom likes to hear

11:53

she doesn't look fat in that dress. Any

11:56

dress. I laugh

11:58

a little and shrug. Mom is

12:00

too lost and thought to say anything. Dad

12:03

wishes me a good night and mouths an inaudible,

12:06

thank you, as he guides

12:08

his wife to the master bedroom. Once

12:11

I'm back in bed and reconnect my

12:13

phone to its charger, Bianca's post lights

12:15

up my screen again. My

12:18

sister is a natural blonde. Blue

12:20

eyes, long legs, tanned skin that

12:23

works. Daphne left

12:25

the house wearing a black spaghetti-strapped summer

12:27

dress peppered with pink and red roses.

12:30

She wears the least amount of makeup out of

12:32

all of her friends and, quite frankly, she wouldn't

12:35

need any at all. No

12:37

amount of makeup or accessories could make

12:39

Daphne more beautiful than she already is.

12:42

Not the blush, nor the red

12:45

lips, ruby earrings, or the silver

12:47

firefly glinting from between her clavicles.

12:50

Hashtag who needs boys. My

12:54

sister does, the hypocrite, because

12:56

in the corner adjacent to the

12:58

host's dad, nursing a beer and

13:00

looking straight at Daphne is

13:03

Derek. And Derek

13:05

doesn't look like he's having fun. My

13:08

room's getting chilly. I should probably close

13:11

the window. I

13:14

kick the tree. Nothing

13:17

happens. Vamp and

13:19

Skittles are already up there. I can hear

13:21

them bickering from fifty feet away. Hey!

13:25

The rope ladder drops and I give it a

13:27

hard tug. See it takes

13:29

me a total of one minute and twelve seconds

13:31

to reach the treehouse. Fifty seconds

13:34

if Vamp lends me a hand on the last

13:36

two steps. No such

13:38

luck today. He's so engrossed

13:40

in his argument with Skittles that I have to

13:42

wonder who even dropped the ladder for me. Maybe

13:45

my kicks are not as weak as I thought. My

13:49

friends sit cross-legged facing each other.

13:52

Ever since we built the treehouse, I drilled

13:54

the importance of proper weight distribution in their

13:56

heads and I'm happy to see Vamp and

13:58

Skittles abide by it. Skittles

14:01

is short and of a slight build,

14:03

so he sits by the bookshelf. Vamp

14:06

is tall and somewhat athletic, so he

14:08

sits by the beanbags. I

14:10

have no clue why we even bought those

14:13

things. We always sit on the floor. Good

14:16

thing Skittles' mom lets us borrow her

14:18

garden chair cushions. The

14:20

spot by the window is mine. Cause

14:23

it's bare. And I'm

14:25

fat. I recall

14:27

saying it aloud. The reaction I

14:29

caused makes me laugh to this

14:31

day. Not just dad

14:34

but my friends also jumped in

14:36

to refute the obvious, to protect

14:38

sensibilities I don't have. Their

14:40

intervention was both endearing and

14:43

silly. Gravity doesn't care

14:45

about my feelings. Whether

14:47

it's a matter of aesthetics or medical

14:49

stats, I'm fat. It's

14:52

my favorite kind of word.

14:55

Raw, blunt, monosyllabic. Summoning

14:58

it via a less punching synonym

15:00

doesn't make it less true. However,

15:03

now that my interest in girls is

15:05

blooming, I plan on starting to lose

15:07

weight once I turn 14. From

15:09

then on, I'll have the rest of my life to

15:11

watch my figure. But right now,

15:14

healthy or not, my nourishment of

15:16

choice is more important to me

15:18

than female attention. I'll

15:20

take care of my appearance when those

15:22

priorities change. On

15:25

the floor, between Vamp and Skittles, lies

15:27

an open magazine. Skittles points

15:29

to different spots on the printed paper and

15:32

reads stuff aloud like it's the sole proof

15:34

of whatever point he's trying to make. Skittles

15:37

is a tenth of an octave away

15:39

from shouting. Vamp rebuffs

15:41

everything with his normal voice. That

15:44

being said, Vamp's normal voice

15:46

is like the horn on

15:49

an 18-wheeler. How are you guys

15:51

fighting about this time? Vamp

15:53

turns to me. There's something on

15:55

his face. We're not

15:57

fighting, He says. Skittles

16:00

might beg to differ. He's panting

16:02

and is beet red from hairline

16:04

to neck. You look

16:06

like a bug. I. Tell vamp.

16:10

Them. Floods out on oh. And.

16:12

Remove the weird glances he handsome

16:15

over to skittles who still looks

16:17

angry, but this time it's with

16:19

me. He. Does not

16:21

look like a bug. All.

16:24

Three of us have bad eyesight

16:26

vamp and I wear contacts, but

16:28

Skittles wears glasses out of some

16:30

weird misplaced principle. Is. Very

16:32

touchy about them. Just

16:34

as. Skittles.

16:36

Sees glasses the same way pedestrian

16:39

see empty some village stirring a

16:41

downpour. I. Once told him

16:43

my great aunt's glasses look like recycled

16:45

mason jars and skittles didn't speak to

16:47

me for a week. But.

16:50

Are those. I step over

16:52

the open magazine and take my usual

16:54

seat. My. Friends adjust their

16:56

own seeding. We. Create a

16:58

perfect triangle and the center of our

17:00

nerd has as. They.

17:03

Came with the latest issue of World

17:05

Strangest. Skittles. Holds the

17:07

glasses and his palms like their baby check

17:09

that just hatched out of it's. It's

17:12

been discovered that mantis shrimp have twelve

17:14

types of color codes and their soda

17:16

receptors. Ah, I.

17:18

Think allowed. Three. Hundred percent

17:21

more than us. Exactly.

17:24

Vamps costs and challenges skittles From the

17:26

looks of things they've been going on

17:28

at for some time now. What's.

17:31

The Point: Three colors Homes are

17:33

not. Think about it. Is there

17:35

any color we humans can't see?

17:39

Ultraviolet for one and

17:41

infrared. I offer. Yeah.

17:44

But those aren't colors, colors,

17:47

says. Vamp. Skittles.

17:49

And I look at him and then it each

17:51

other. Ways. Are

17:53

they. I bite my

17:55

tongue and let Skittles resume his tirade.

17:58

You. Don't get it. How can we

18:00

know was their colors? We can't see if

18:03

our species has never seen them. You can't

18:05

talk to another species about their format of

18:07

perceptions. can you. You. Don't have

18:09

to talk to a dog. dunno I can't see

18:12

read. That is so

18:14

besides the point. How

18:16

is that? Besides the point is a dog

18:18

your glasses and it still won't see read.

18:21

That. Shut skittles sought. His.

18:24

Shoulders deflate. Skittles.

18:26

Has been fascinated with colors ever since he

18:28

was little. His favorite one is

18:31

brown because it's and I quote,

18:33

the most versatile one. Skittles.

18:36

Likes to pains and not once have I

18:38

seen a paintbrush in his room. All.

18:40

He goes to town where says canvas

18:42

color tubes, rags, hands, and a shit

18:44

ton a soap to get the stains

18:47

out of the carpet before his mother

18:49

gets home. And he

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biheart.com. It's not

20:52

his fixation with colors that got him the

20:54

nickname though. Skittle's mom

20:56

is a dentist, one who

20:59

thinks her family's smiles are the only

21:01

business card she'll ever need. Although

21:03

my friend never had crooked teeth, his

21:05

mother saw them as a rose of

21:08

gravel. The lady nagged Skittles

21:10

about braces for half a year until

21:12

he finally gave in. With

21:15

him, braces were happening under

21:17

two strict conditions. One,

21:20

the PS5. Two,

21:22

he got to choose the type and

21:24

model. And he chose them all

21:27

right. Skittles doesn't smile

21:29

often, but when he does,

21:31

you're bombarded with red, yellow and

21:33

blue brackets. How's this

21:35

for a business card, mom? Vamp

21:39

is alarmed by the sudden melancholy in

21:41

our friend. He looks at me with

21:43

eyes that warn to pop out of his skull. Am

21:46

I wrong? Speaking

21:48

of teeth, in my humble opinion,

21:50

if any acquaintance of mine would

21:52

need braces, it's Vamp. Vamp's

21:55

former nickname was Horse Mouth.

21:58

All three of us have been bullied and one form

22:00

or another throughout middle school, but Vamp has

22:02

had it the worst. Before

22:05

his dad remarried, he and Vamp used to

22:07

live in a shitty apartment on the bad

22:09

side of town. They got by

22:11

fine, but Vamp was the awkward kid

22:13

with the ugly mug who was too

22:15

skinny for his height and would walk

22:17

too fast through the underground walkway on

22:19

his way home. The

22:22

underground passage was where the rowdy kids

22:24

were hanging out after school, postponing having

22:26

to go back to their broken homes

22:28

for as long as possible. Vamp

22:31

went home with a swollen eye and a

22:33

busted lip one too many times before his

22:35

dad signed him up for boxing classes. A

22:39

month or so after he picked up

22:41

boxing, Vamp developed an obsession with Mike

22:43

Tyson. Another month after

22:45

that, one of the kids who patronage to

22:48

the underground walkway called after him. Vamp

22:51

didn't hear the full extent of it, but

22:53

he did hear the guy call him Horsemouth.

22:56

If that didn't make Vamp see

22:58

red, the guy's buddies erupting into

23:00

laughter sure did. Vamp

23:03

launched at the dude who called after him. The

23:06

guy tried throwing him off, but thanks

23:08

to boxing, Vamp saw it coming and

23:10

used the guy's extended arm against him.

23:13

Once he was close enough to bite, Vamp

23:16

went for his ear to do Mike

23:18

Tyson proud. Unfortunately

23:20

he missed and

23:22

chomped on the dude's neck. Not

23:25

bad enough to rip it off, but hard

23:27

enough to draw blood. Nobody

23:30

has called him Horsemouth since. If

23:33

anybody asked me, I wouldn't say Vamp

23:35

was a better nickname, but

23:37

Vamp likes it, so who am I to

23:39

judge? You're

23:41

not wrong, Vamp, but I'm still missing the

23:44

point about these glasses, I admit. Me

23:47

they call Newt, short for

23:49

Newton. There's no story attached

23:51

to my label. My friends just call

23:54

me that because I'm smart, and because

23:56

I said no to being called Einstein.

24:00

Hands me the snacks. They. Look

24:02

like the frumpy red and blue three

24:04

d glass as you get at the

24:06

cinema except the lenses around not rectangular

24:08

and the colors are green and purple

24:10

instead of red and blue. I

24:13

put them on see what the big fuss is

24:15

about? The. Quality is

24:18

ah for. The. Last year,

24:20

hoop settles lower than the right

24:22

one. and unlike the three D

24:24

cinema glasses that paint your worldview

24:26

and blue red and their love

24:28

child purple. These glances don't

24:30

do shit. If. Anything they

24:32

make everything foggy. Like

24:34

looking through cellophane. The.

24:37

Editorial team partnered up with the development

24:39

department at the Aren't You Are Health

24:41

Institute. They designed lenses that mimics the

24:44

photo receptors of mantis shrimp. I.

24:47

Look at Van and the slayer Shirdi

24:49

swearing. I look at the bean

24:51

bags behind him and the cushion tassels peeking out

24:53

from under his last batch. I

24:55

look at skittles and the collection of

24:57

comics and old encyclopedias behind him. Smile.

25:01

I. Order. Skittles. Does

25:03

so and the insanity of his braces

25:05

is the same as ever. I

25:08

don't see anything out of the ordinary. Neither.

25:11

Can I see? Vamp

25:13

throws his palms on the open

25:15

magazine. Even. New thinks it's

25:17

a scam. I

25:19

bend over the publication. It's. Open

25:22

at the double page teacher explaining

25:24

the glasses and their revolutionary system.

25:27

I. Snort and skittles. Looks very

25:29

hurt. Hold. On

25:31

a second, I never said that. Maybe.

25:34

These glasses do make a see the world through

25:36

the eyes of the mantis. shrimp? We can't know

25:38

for sure. It'd. Be cool if we can

25:40

test them out in their environment. Skittles.

25:43

Straighten says back and gives vamp

25:45

his best shit eating grin. Vamp.

25:48

Shrugs. However,

25:50

vamps anecdote is accurate.

25:53

Even. If the color receptors their, it doesn't

25:55

mean that our brains will to code something

25:57

beyond their biology. You. think i

25:59

don't know I

26:02

flinch, and so does Vamp. Both

26:04

of us have witnessed Skittles raising his voice

26:06

before, but never at me. You

26:10

guys are explaining this to me

26:12

like I'm stupid. I'm not stupid,

26:14

okay? I know colors. I

26:16

know that if I were a bee or a

26:19

butterfly or a certain type of bird or fish,

26:21

I'd see stuff in this room you two couldn't

26:23

even imagine. I know

26:25

colors. I know how they work." Skittles

26:29

takes off his eyeglasses and extends an open

26:31

palm to me. I take

26:33

the plastic specks off my face and hand them to

26:35

him. I like this

26:37

magazine. You guys know I do. I

26:39

would have bought it regardless of the

26:41

glasses, overpriced issue or not. Skittles

26:44

puts the mantis shrimp specks on and looks

26:47

around the treehouse. It's

26:49

not wishful thinking. There's

26:52

something. His eyes

26:54

dart from our posters of the solar system

26:56

to the forgotten badminton set I brought last

26:58

week. It's like... Skittles

27:02

settles his line of sight on me. He

27:05

takes the specks off and holds them several inches

27:07

away from his face. He

27:09

then raises his other hand with

27:11

his normal glasses and inspects me

27:13

through clear lenses and films of

27:16

green and purple interchangeably. His

27:18

eyes dart from one pair of glasses to the

27:20

other in search of a difference worth pointing out.

27:24

Last summer, when Dad and I cleaned out the

27:26

garage, we found this old TV that belonged to

27:28

my great uncle. Small screen,

27:31

bulky back, antlers, you know the type.

27:34

We turned it on and moved the antenna around to see

27:36

if it still works. At first,

27:38

I thought it was pointless. There was

27:40

this buzzing sound and black and white dots

27:42

moving everywhere. But it's

27:45

like the more the TV stayed on...

27:48

Skittles looks me in the eye through

27:51

artificial mantis shrimp orbs. The

27:53

clearer the picture became. Vamp

27:57

Ogle's our friend. Can

27:59

you see anything? Yeah,

28:01

but the colors are jumbled up. I

28:03

see green where they're supposed to be yellow, I

28:06

see purple where they're supposed to be blue, and

28:08

I see yellow where they're supposed to be... Skittles

28:12

swaps the mantis shrimp glasses for

28:14

his corrective lenses again. Nothing.

28:18

Vamp gasps like he's about to jump out of

28:20

his skin. You see yellow.

28:24

The question is so deadpan that I

28:26

burst out laughing. Skittles isn't

28:28

immune either. He bends at

28:30

the waist and shows his braces in all

28:32

their colorful glory. Vamp

28:34

can't tell why we're laughing, but he joins

28:37

us and we shake the treehouse like a

28:39

bunch of idiots who heard the best joke

28:41

ever. There are tears in our

28:43

eyes. Glorious. No,

28:46

you dumbass. Skittles

28:49

coughs the remnants of his laughter out of

28:51

his windpipe. It's just... I

28:54

don't know. It's an amalgamation of green

28:56

and yellow and purple. It's

28:58

just different. Grellurple,

29:01

says Vamp. Huh? The

29:04

color you're seeing. Green and yellow

29:06

and purple. Grellurple. The

29:09

stunned silence only lasts a second before

29:11

all three of us succumb to laughter

29:13

again. Skittles wipes his eyes

29:16

with his shirt and Vamp throws his

29:18

head back so far he loses balance

29:20

and falls on the beanbags, which only

29:22

makes us laugh more. My

29:25

phone interrupts the party. It's

29:28

Dad. Hey, Dad. I

29:31

stop laughing. I have to

29:33

get home ASAP. Daphne

29:36

is not home yet and nobody

29:38

has seen her since last night. The

29:43

last time the house was this full, Mom

29:45

and Dad's extended families decided to pay us

29:47

a surprise visit on the same weekend. The

29:50

sleeping arrangements had been a pain, but

29:52

other than that, it was a merrier

29:54

time than our last three Christmases combined.

29:57

This full house? Let's

29:59

just... say I'd rather sleep in

30:01

the treehouse, eating Skittles garden cushions

30:04

for dinner. I'm

30:06

almost tackled to the ground as soon as I

30:08

set foot on our property. A cop

30:10

asks to see Bianca's post from the previous

30:12

evening and writes down everything I know about

30:14

it. Bianca didn't post

30:17

any other photos from the party, but she edited

30:19

the caption on the one she took with Mandy

30:21

and my sister. Where are

30:23

you, hun? Hashtag find

30:25

Daphne. Turns

30:27

out there had been more than 30 of my

30:29

sister's peers at the party. The

30:32

parents of the birthday girl had their own

30:34

little get-together in the backyard, which meant that

30:36

they kept an eye on the kids without

30:38

actually keeping an eye on the kids. I

30:41

failed to see how this is

30:43

problematic parenting, but since a

30:45

child went missing under their watch anonymous

30:47

calls to child protective services are a

30:49

ruin. The

30:52

birthday girl's house has two stories.

30:55

Daphne was last seen going to the restroom

30:57

on the first floor. She

30:59

was spotted by two of her classmates who were

31:01

making out against the bathroom door. After

31:04

Daphne shooed them aside, they sought privacy

31:06

in the dark, empty bedroom at the

31:08

end of the hall. Once

31:10

inside, they closed and locked the

31:12

door, and whatever happened to my

31:14

sister after she did her business

31:16

was anyone's guess. Unless

31:19

she flushed herself down the toilet, she

31:21

must have left the restroom and exited

31:23

the house shortly after. No

31:25

party-goer took note of her whereabouts beyond

31:28

that point. It was only

31:30

when Daphne's favorite song started to play

31:32

that people noticed her absence. My

31:35

sister and the birthday girl share similar

31:37

tastes in music, so when

31:39

the host climbed on her living room table

31:41

demanding Daphne join her, people

31:43

began to look around and ask questions.

31:46

Daphne was nowhere in sight, but

31:49

that didn't raise any alarms yet.

31:52

The birthday girl danced on the table alone.

31:55

As for Daphne, she was probably fooling

31:57

around with Derek somewhere. my

32:00

relief, the question swirling around

32:02

in my head was asked by

32:04

someone else, the host's mother to

32:06

be exact. What about

32:08

her boyfriend? Doesn't he know where she

32:11

is? Mom and

32:13

Dad almost fell off their ankles when they

32:15

found out Daphne has a boyfriend. I

32:17

wish Daphne was here to witness

32:19

their reaction and suffer the juicy

32:21

consequences. Unfortunately it

32:24

looks like we'll have to miss out on

32:26

family drama in favor of family drama.

32:30

How unfortunate. Speaking

32:33

of misfortune, the boyfriend has an alibi

32:35

for the time he went missing. Not

32:38

long after Bianca took the picture, Derek left

32:40

the party to go meet his cousin. He

32:43

asked my sister if she wanted to join him, but

32:45

she said no. Allegedly.

32:48

Mandy and another classmate witnessed this discussion

32:50

and confirmed that Daphne wanted to stay

32:53

and party. Regardless, the

32:55

lovebirds disappeared around the same time,

32:57

so people figured Daphne must have

32:59

changed her mind. Dad

33:02

knows a guy down at the police station

33:04

and from the bits and pieces I'm gathering

33:06

from the constant phone calls, they've

33:08

been interrogating Derek for three hours

33:11

now. As it

33:13

turns out, he's compliant and his

33:15

alibi is solid. He and

33:17

his cousin stopped at a gas station before going

33:19

to his cousin's place. The cousin's

33:22

parents were home and confirmed their time

33:24

of arrival. The gas

33:26

station's video surveillance system is

33:28

broken, but the clerk remembers

33:30

selling the two boys snacks, soft drinks,

33:33

and the latest issue of some tattoo

33:35

magazine. Derek said

33:37

he has nothing to hide. He

33:39

also stated that the police are wasting

33:42

precious time questioning him instead of looking

33:44

for his girlfriend. He

33:46

didn't make friends down at the station,

33:48

but the police don't have a real

33:50

reason to keep him overnight. My

34:00

the how bad asked me to come home and the

34:02

first place. On. Smart, Not

34:04

a psychic. The. Details I

34:06

provided in regards to Beyond This photo

34:09

could have easily been offered by either

34:11

her parents or Bianca for. I.

34:14

Wonder if anyone would notice if I sneak

34:16

out and go back to the tree house?

34:19

They might. Going. Back is

34:21

probably a bad idea. I

34:23

drop on my bed like a crucified

34:25

Jesus and stare at the ceiling for

34:27

a solid minute. This. Saturday

34:30

started off great. The.

34:32

Things are not looking good. And

34:35

they continue to not look good on Sunday.

34:37

Sunday. Afternoon Dad tells me I'll be

34:40

staying with my grandma for a while.

34:42

Also, I don't have to go to school

34:44

next week. Descendants. Was

34:46

supposed to go in a different direction. Dad

34:49

caught himself and said. Next.

34:52

Week. Instead. As. Until

34:54

your sister comes home. I'm

34:57

guessing he's not implying that I'm

34:59

never going to school again and

35:01

case Daphne disappeared forever. No.

35:03

One is ready to consider that

35:05

scenario. Regardless,

35:08

It's a sweet deal. Grandma.

35:10

Let me eat whatever I want. And

35:12

that awesome addict of her still hasn't

35:14

been cleaned and sorted through since Grandpa

35:16

died. Grandpa. Kept a

35:18

ton of old books and I never got

35:20

a chance to finish the second volume of

35:23

The Brothers Karamazov. Sign. Me

35:25

up for chilling and pumps Lazy boy for

35:27

a week. Or. More.

35:30

Who. Knows. Monday.

35:33

Comes and goes. So.

35:35

Does Tuesday. By. The time

35:37

Wednesday rolls around, I find a funny

35:39

passage in Don Quixote that reminds me

35:41

of something Vance said last summer. I

35:44

don't have enough data to send him

35:46

a picture of the phrase. And Grandma's

35:48

cooking, although delicious, doesn't make up for

35:51

her lack of internet anymore. On

35:53

Thursday I tell Grandma I want to

35:55

go home. She tears

35:58

up. to miss her I

36:01

don't respond, and whatever she made of

36:03

it, it resulted in Dad coming to

36:05

pick me up. I

36:08

come home to a catatonic mother

36:10

and heaps of plastic containers of

36:12

other people's cooking. Said

36:14

people keep stopping by to offer

36:17

support, food, and even cleaning services.

36:20

Since Mom, now a shell of a

36:22

person, says nothing, I wonder

36:24

if I should get angry on her behalf and

36:27

tell everyone they should mind their own business. Maybe

36:30

it's me who should mind his own business. I'm

36:33

not the adult here, and I'm

36:35

not ready to take on that role. The

36:38

place could use a little clean-up, but

36:40

it's not that urgent. Yet.

36:43

I could ask Granny to come by next week.

36:46

She'll take care of it. Problem solved.

36:50

One Tupperware container contains bolognese

36:52

and another one cinnamon rolls.

36:55

I take both to my room and don't

36:57

come out until Friday. Friday

37:01

morning, Mom and Dad catch me trying

37:03

to sneak a casserole of some type

37:05

of Oriental salad out of the kitchen.

37:08

They convince me to join them for breakfast at

37:10

the dinner table. I do

37:12

so, but I'm the only one

37:14

eating. Mom and Dad

37:16

reminisce about when Daphne was a toddler

37:18

and would say the darndest things. Mom

37:21

and Dad laugh and then cry, and

37:24

before I know it, I'm in the center

37:26

of a tear-stricken group hug. Note

37:29

to self. Oriental

37:32

salads are no breakfast food. I

37:35

go back to my room and play video games

37:37

until school is out for my two dorks. The

37:40

flu is running rampant among the school

37:42

staff, so vamp and skittles only have

37:44

two classes today. I'm meeting

37:47

them at the treehouse in thirty minutes. Mom

37:50

looks ready to nail the door shut to

37:52

prevent me from going, but Dad

37:54

reasons with her that I need

37:56

air, sunshine, and friends. That

37:59

being said... I'm on my way

38:01

with a fully charged phone, a

38:03

Tupperware container full of brownies, and

38:05

a curfew that will make Vamp

38:07

and Skittles laugh their butts off.

38:13

The rope ladder awaits, as does

38:15

Vamp's helping hand in the doorway.

38:18

I hand him the container with chocolate and

38:20

pull myself over the threshold. He

38:22

skips the greeting. Did they

38:24

find anything yet? I

38:27

shake my head. Skittles

38:29

looks at Vamp like a parent ready to

38:31

scold. Even his inhale sounds

38:33

offended. Don't say it like

38:36

that. Like what? You

38:39

should be asking if they found her, not

38:41

anything. Daphne's

38:43

a person, not an inanimate object.

38:47

Skittles looks at me for semiotic

38:49

approval. I shrug. I

38:52

take my usual spot by the window, take

38:54

the lid off the dessert I brought, and

38:56

help myself before my friends do. How

38:59

are you holding up? I

39:02

shrug again, and thankfully, Vamp

39:04

and Skittles are neither my

39:06

over-emotional parents nor my nosy

39:08

neighbors. They're okay with my

39:10

lack of verbal expression. They

39:12

don't care whether my shrug means I

39:14

don't know or I don't want to

39:16

tell you. Vamp

39:19

takes a brownie, as does Skittles. Watching

39:22

Vamp eat is grossly fascinating.

39:25

If it weren't for his teeth, I'd

39:27

suggest Anaconda as a nickname. It's

39:29

only when he moves in for more brownies that

39:32

I notice what Skittles is doing. What?

39:35

Skittles asks. He

39:37

has the Tupperware lid on his lap and

39:40

peels a brownie over it. The

39:42

occasional knock of a walnut against the

39:44

plastic explains the weird picture. It's

39:47

because of the braces, shut up. Neither

39:50

of us said anything. Me, because

39:53

I know. Vamp because

39:55

his mouth is full. Not for

39:57

long, though. That's such

39:59

a waste! Dude and

40:01

swallowing the stuff whole isn't I Sometimes

40:04

wonder if my friends would still be friends

40:07

if it weren't for me At

40:09

least I'm eating all of it says

40:12

vamp and self-defense You

40:14

call that eating our vacuum cleaner has

40:16

more table manners than you Yeah,

40:19

well you could learn something from

40:21

that vacuum cleaner what you're doing

40:23

sacrilegious. Oh Yeah,

40:25

let's ask the baker who's eating

40:27

your brownies better the boy or

40:29

the orca guys

40:32

They stop and look at me Nobody

40:35

gives a fuck just eat however you

40:37

want My

40:39

friends remember why we even have brownies

40:41

in the first place They

40:44

bow their heads and resume eating in

40:46

silence Vamp slows down and

40:48

Skittles takes out the nuts with his

40:50

nails to minimize the damage. I Usually

40:53

enjoy the rare occasions on which they're

40:55

quiet But this quiet is

40:58

more annoying than their stupid bickering about

41:00

things that don't matter I'm

41:03

sorry. I didn't mean

41:05

to snap. It's just Should

41:08

have stopped it. I'm sorry I'm

41:11

usually great with words as long as

41:13

they're in my native language reason Feelings

41:16

and emotions are languages so foreign

41:19

to me. You'll sooner find me

41:21

mastering Arabic I don't

41:23

know how to finish the sentence and it's a

41:25

blow to my pride The

41:28

fingers on my shoulder are so careful.

41:30

They can only belong to Skittles Note

41:33

if you want to talk we're here for

41:35

you both of us. I Look

41:38

at vamp and hopes that'll make some mocking

41:41

gesture we can use and laughing Skittles off

41:43

of me He doesn't

41:45

he even stopped chewing to nod great

41:50

Why does everyone keep saying that I

41:53

stand up? What is

41:55

talking good for talk

41:57

talk talk everybody just wants

41:59

to? talk and it's so

42:02

pointless. You're just

42:04

regurgitating hopelessness. And for what?

42:06

You're not unloading the burden. You're just

42:08

piling it on and on and on."

42:13

My vision turns blurry. I

42:16

rub my eyes so hard my contacts

42:18

get close and personal with my frontal

42:20

cortex. I don't

42:22

want to talk. I just... I

42:25

just want her to come home already. Guess

42:29

I'm bilingual now. I

42:31

don't have time to yell that what they're

42:34

doing is extremely dangerous and stupid. If the

42:37

treehouse tips and we fall to our

42:39

deaths, our parents will have some very

42:41

awkward explaining to do at our funerals.

42:44

Nevertheless, my friends take the risk.

42:47

As I find myself hugged by my

42:49

best friends for the thousandth time today,

42:52

I think about

42:54

Daphne. Girls

42:56

hug more often than guys do. It's

42:59

a girl thing. Guys fist

43:01

bump or pat on the back or

43:03

do a handshake or something. Males

43:06

are pragmatic creatures. If

43:08

the context is neither sexual nor

43:11

combative, what the hell do we need

43:13

to get this physical for? Nevertheless,

43:15

as soon as Vamp and Skittles let

43:17

me go, I realize that

43:19

I hate my brain. If

43:22

the damn thing would have shot up sooner,

43:24

I could have enjoyed the comfort provided by

43:26

my caring friends like a normal human being.

43:30

Ah, crud. Skittles

43:32

takes the 3D glasses lookalikes out of

43:34

the chest pocket of his shirt. The

43:37

left earhook is even more crooked than it

43:39

was the week before. Note

43:42

to self, things that

43:44

might break your specs. Concrete floors, fists

43:46

to the nose, hugging

43:48

your friends. He laughs at

43:50

his joke. Vamp

43:53

chortles. You still

43:55

carry those around? Skittles

43:57

puts the glasses back in his pocket. just

44:00

because they don't work on you doesn't mean

44:02

they don't work at all." Oh

44:05

yeah? Tell me how they work on you then."

44:08

Skittles hesitates for a second. They

44:11

make me see stuff. I

44:13

join in. What stuff? Like

44:16

I'm telling you guys. You don't

44:18

believe me anyway. Wait,

44:21

I forgot. Says Vamp.

44:24

You see green, yellow, and purple.

44:27

Sorry to break it to you buddy, but our

44:29

ancestors beat you to the discovery of colors. The

44:32

effect Vamp's coarseness has on Skittles is

44:35

a thing of beauty. Oh

44:38

no! Vamp

44:40

continues and his eyes go wide. You're

44:43

not trying to impress Jenny Whittaker, are

44:46

you? I'm

44:48

confused. Skittles has

44:50

had a crush on Jenny for ages, but

44:52

that doesn't explain the correlation. Does

44:55

Jenny have to do with this? I ask.

44:58

Ha! Vamp looks

45:00

like he's about to explode into confetti. Skittles

45:04

looks mortified. Vamp

45:07

don't. Vamp

45:09

throws his head back and laughs like he just

45:11

heard the joke of the century. He

45:13

then turns to me. Ms.

45:15

Grit paired him with Jenny for the science

45:17

project this week. They're...

45:20

Shut up! Having a

45:22

presentation on dark-ons, and Skittles thinks

45:24

he can impress Jenny with his

45:26

color obsession. It's

45:28

not an obsession! Oh

45:31

I know! You guys should meet here

45:33

to work on the project. Newt,

45:35

can you imagine? Jenny

45:37

and Skitts sitting in the tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

45:42

Stop! I

45:45

don't know what's funnier. Stop

45:47

singing like he swallowed helium or

45:49

Skittles blowing a fuse. He

46:00

comes Skittles with his

46:02

dumbass glasses." I

46:05

can't. I tried to be

46:07

mindful of Skittles' breakdown, but as soon as

46:09

Vamp delivers the punchline, I laugh

46:12

so hard that my ribs hurt. Vamp

46:15

joins me. Skittles

46:17

doesn't. Vamp and

46:19

I laugh like the world doesn't have

46:21

missing sisters in it, and we're

46:23

making wonderful memories like all kids our

46:25

age should. I

46:27

write the tears out of my eyes to

46:30

see Skittles not being the least bit amused.

46:32

He waits patiently until Vamp and I

46:35

calm down. "'Come

46:37

on, man!" Vamp

46:39

dabs his eyes with his shirt. "'You're

46:42

not upset, are you?" To

46:44

answer his question, Skittles turns

46:47

around and exits the treehouse.

46:50

"'Ah, crap,' I conclude.

46:53

"'Oh, come on! Don't be like that!'

46:56

Vamp joins me." Skittles

46:59

doesn't utter a word as he descends the

47:01

rope ladder. Vamp

47:03

and I yell apologies and accusations

47:06

of oversensitivity in hopes that our

47:08

friend returns. He doesn't.

47:11

What he does do is way cooler.

47:14

When Skittles' feet touch the ground, he walks

47:16

five yards in a direction that does not

47:19

lead to his house. Vamp

47:21

and I are confused, and when

47:23

we're about to ask where he's going, Skittles looks

47:26

up and beats us to the punch. "'You

47:29

losers! Coming to see what I'm talking about or

47:31

what?'" We

47:35

follow Skittles to the town's second

47:37

largest supermarket. As soon as

47:39

we step onto the parking lot, all three of

47:41

us walk with our faces turned away from the

47:43

shop's front entrance. The people in

47:46

this town don't like it when kids

47:48

use this shortcut to go into the

47:50

woods. If anyone recognizes us, our parents

47:52

will be informed within minutes. The

47:54

train tracks are to blame. The

47:56

worry stemmed from a tragedy that happened in 98.

48:00

A drunk dad and his seven-year-old daughter

48:02

tried to cross over the train tracks

48:04

and an oncoming train killed them both.

48:07

What can I say? Small-town folk

48:10

like to hide fathers taking their

48:12

children into the woods in the

48:14

middle of the night under smaller

48:16

tragedies such as death. We

48:19

reach the back of the parking lot where the

48:21

black concrete ends in a row of gray bricks.

48:24

The soil that stretches beyond hasn't been

48:26

mowed in months. There

48:28

is the odd pine tree here and there

48:30

and each of us chooses a tree to

48:32

hide behind while traversing the barricade. I

48:35

use the term barricade loosely because the

48:37

thing that marks the border of the

48:40

premises is a solitary iron bar elevated

48:42

at crotch height with the help of

48:44

other iron bars. Vamp

48:47

and skittles jump over the bar. I

48:50

crawl under it. Our

48:52

sneakers roll up some dirt as we glide in

48:54

the shallow ditch leading to the train tracks. Once

48:57

the train tracks are behind us, we go

48:59

downhill and proceed through the meadow spread before

49:01

the woods. It's a beautiful

49:04

day. We spot several

49:06

couples and families having picnics and,

49:08

further away, a bunch of guys playing

49:10

soccer. Nobody pays us

49:12

any mind. Once

49:15

we're surrounded by trees, skittles break

49:17

the silence. I

49:19

didn't want to say anything about it until I

49:21

was sure. I wanted to double-check before telling you

49:24

guys. Skitts. Vamp

49:27

interferes. No offense, but

49:29

last year you thought the ghost of your

49:31

great aunt was creeping in your laundry. Dude,

49:34

I swear there was the shadow of a

49:36

person that was not there. Yeah,

49:39

it was the shadow of your mom's

49:41

disappointment that she can't even put tidy

49:43

whiteys out to dry without you freaking

49:45

out. I laugh

49:47

and Vamp looks proud. Skittles

49:50

throws his hands in the air and lets them fall

49:52

to his sides. Okay,

49:54

look. He stops all

49:56

of a sudden and takes the mantis shrimp specks

49:59

out of his pocket. Skittles holds

50:01

the glasses as if they're a burning

50:03

torch. If I didn't know

50:05

any better, I'd say my friend is

50:07

channeling his inner Mel Gibson to pull

50:09

off a bootleg Braveheart poster. I

50:12

have a wild fantasy. I do. And

50:15

I take full responsibility for what I do with it

50:17

and what it does to me, all right? But

50:20

just because I'm the future J.R.R. Tolkien

50:22

doesn't mean my eyesight's bad. I

50:25

can feel the retort bubbling and Vamp's

50:28

chest. I jump in before

50:30

he can attack our friend's confidence

50:32

or, worse, his glasses. I

50:35

believe you. Skittles

50:37

and Vamp react at the same time. What?

50:41

Jinx. I

50:43

believe you, Skits. Really.

50:45

I can't know if something was really there or

50:47

if your mind was playing tricks on you, but

50:50

I don't think you'd lie to us. So

50:52

if you say you saw something, you

50:54

saw something. I believe you. Skittles

50:58

looks like he doesn't know what to do with his hands.

51:01

Vamp is unusually quiet. I

51:04

resume walking and my friends do the same.

51:07

Tell me, I say, why

51:09

are we here? What did you see? Skittles

51:13

chews on his bottom lip. A

51:16

dead owl. I

51:18

feel one eyebrow raised dangerously close

51:20

to my hairline. You

51:22

saw a dead owl. Like

51:24

through the glasses? No.

51:27

I mean, yes, but why

51:30

is this so hard to explain? Take

51:32

your time. We march

51:34

on while Skittles rummages through his

51:37

memories and vocabulary. Behind

51:39

us, a train passes through and we can

51:41

barely hear it over the chirping birds and

51:43

the twigs snapping beneath our feet. I

51:46

could see the dead owl both with

51:49

and without the mantis glasses, but

51:51

the thing is, I wouldn't have found

51:53

it without the glasses. I

51:55

mean, I was walking like we are

51:57

now, and at some point... Skittles

52:00

takes off his corrective lenses and puts

52:02

on the plastic specs. At

52:05

some point I started seeing blotches

52:07

of that stuff. What

52:10

stuff? asks Vamp. You

52:13

know, that weird color I told you

52:15

about, grellarple? There were patches of

52:18

it here and there, and I followed them. The

52:20

patches were getting bigger and bigger, and before

52:22

I knew it, there was this big puddle

52:25

of grellarple on the ground, and when I

52:27

removed the glasses, bam! There

52:30

was this dead owl. Vamp

52:32

is hooked. So

52:34

the grellarple stuff is blood? No.

52:38

Skittles himself looks surprised by the fact.

52:41

That's the weird part. There was no visible

52:44

injury on the owl. No weird

52:46

substance, no rock or branch it laid

52:48

under, nothing that would explain the grellarple.

52:51

It was just...dead. So

52:54

let me get this straight. You see

52:56

spots of the stuff everywhere? I

52:58

ask. Skittles looks

53:01

around. Well I

53:03

wouldn't say everywhere. I see

53:05

them a lot less in school or at my house.

53:07

The only places I see them a lot in is

53:10

here and... Skittles

53:13

stops mid-sentence. He bites his

53:15

lip. And where?

53:18

Where else? He turns

53:20

to look at me over the plastic frame

53:22

of his new favorite toy. We

53:24

stare at each other. There's

53:26

something Skittles is not telling me and I

53:29

hate it when people hide things from me.

53:32

The treehouse? I suggest.

53:36

Skittles breaks our eye contact and pushes the

53:38

glasses higher up his nose. Yeah,

53:41

the treehouse. Huh,

53:44

the treehouse? Vamp

53:46

scares off every life form in a

53:48

ten yard radius, except for Skittles and

53:51

myself of course. Skittles

53:53

lets out an irritated groan. Yes,

53:56

Vamp, the treehouse. But

53:59

I looked around with a the glasses too. I didn't

54:01

see anything up there." I

54:03

know. That's why I brought you

54:05

guys here. If there's any

54:08

chance for you guys to see the Grallerple, I'll

54:10

have to find a big puddle again. You

54:12

don't think you'll find the owl again, do you? Of

54:16

course not. It's been two weeks. But

54:18

maybe we can find Grallerple on something

54:21

else. Or somewhere else. I

54:23

don't know. I just want to prove to you

54:25

that I'm not crazy. I

54:27

don't think you're crazy, I

54:29

interfere. Skittles looks at

54:32

me. I smile at him

54:34

and he looks away. Vamp

54:36

chuckles. Well, I

54:38

do! Hella crazy! Which is great,

54:40

cause you wouldn't be my friend

54:42

otherwise. Vamp throws

54:45

an arm around Skittles and the ladder laughs

54:47

the tension out of his shoulders. His

54:49

laughter ceases with a gasp. There!

54:54

Skittles deviates from our path to run

54:56

sideways to a long leaf pine. He

54:59

then crouches down to the patch of moss at the

55:01

foot of it. Oh, this

55:03

one's big! It's the size of a

55:05

tennis ball! Vamp

55:08

joins him and bends over to see what Skittles

55:10

is looking at. He opens his

55:12

mouth, no doubt to ask for the specs,

55:15

but Skittles jumps to his feet again and

55:17

runs even further to a white spruce. Oh,

55:20

this one's even bigger! And

55:22

there's another one over there too! I

55:25

try to keep up with my friends, but

55:27

the gravitational pull is too great for me.

55:30

Guys, slow down! Vamp

55:33

stops to look behind himself every so often to

55:36

make sure I don't lose sight of them. Skittles,

55:39

on the other hand, is too excited to regard

55:41

us with patience. I

55:43

can hear running water. A mountain

55:45

river that turns into an angry stream

55:48

whenever it rains separates the welcoming part

55:50

of the forest from the rest of

55:52

it, the unhinged side of it, where

55:55

nature is king and human interference

55:57

is frowned upon. side

56:00

of the woods is halfway safe only

56:02

to hunters and hikers that carry bear

56:04

mace and experience in the wilderness. At

56:07

least, that's what our parents say. The

56:11

water is docile today. The

56:13

flow is in a hurry, but its width and

56:15

depth don't look like much of a challenge. The

56:18

ditch the river created for itself is

56:20

almost twenty feet deep and adorned on

56:22

both sides with rocks and tree roots.

56:26

No way! Skittles stops

56:28

at the lip of the riverbank. Vamp

56:30

joins him not long after. There!

56:33

Can you see it? Skittles

56:35

hands the mantis shrimp glasses to Vamp and

56:37

points at a large rock peeking out of

56:40

the water. Vamp places the

56:42

specks on his face and follows the axis

56:44

of our friend's finger. See

56:46

what? Right there! In

56:48

the water! On that big stone right there!

56:50

It's got Grallerple all over it! Can you

56:52

see it? Vamp takes

56:55

the specks off to look at the stone with

56:57

the naked eye and then puts them

56:59

on again. Once I reach

57:01

them, he hands the glasses to me without

57:03

saying anything. I, too, put

57:05

them on and take them off repeatedly. I go

57:08

to stand next to Skittles to make sure I'm

57:10

looking at the right stone. I

57:13

ask my question in between heavy breaths.

57:16

Yes, right over there! And look! On the

57:18

other side of the ditch is more of

57:20

it! It's like a big

57:22

splash and two little ones. Can

57:25

you really not see them? I'm

57:27

trying my hardest to see something. No! Wait,

57:32

let me see again. I hand

57:34

the specks back to Vamp. Skittles,

57:36

you must have X-ray vision or something cause

57:39

I can't see shit! Gimme

57:41

those! Skittles sounds

57:44

exasperated. He is the

57:46

biggest scaredy-cat out of all of us

57:48

and yet, as soon as Vamp hands

57:50

him his frumpy glasses back, Skittles descends

57:52

to the water. Vamp and

57:55

I are too stunned to shout after him to

57:57

come back. We watch Skittles jump

57:59

on the- stone he pointed at earlier

58:01

and with another leap he's on the other

58:03

side of the stream. I

58:05

miss Grandma's attic. Skittles

58:08

looks up and waves us over. Come

58:11

on! Vamp doesn't need

58:13

to be told twice. His eyes

58:15

sparkle with the promise of adventure and

58:18

he follows Skittles across the liquid border

58:20

despite me beckoning for their return. It's

58:24

fine! Nothing's gonna happen! Vamp

58:26

reassures me. He reaches the

58:28

opposite brink of the riverbank in tandem

58:30

with Skittles. Both of them

58:33

look at me with glowing faces. I

58:35

want to punch their noses in. Vamp

58:38

makes a funnel with his hands around his

58:41

mouth. Come on, Newt! You're

58:43

the one who wanted to check it out, right?

58:46

Right. I'm embarrassed to say

58:48

that I crossed the water and twice the

58:50

time my friends did. I blame

58:53

my weight for it, not my

58:55

fear of adult repercussions. Or

58:58

worse, unhinged fauna. Lead

59:01

the way! Vamp looks

59:03

only too happy to go further

59:05

into the woods. I look behind

59:07

us as well as left, right

59:09

and diagonally to make sure no

59:11

imminent danger looms near. Skittles

59:15

bravado from before seems to have

59:17

evaporated. I can't

59:20

see anything anymore. I

59:22

like the sound of that, but I can't

59:24

say it aloud. Despite

59:27

knowing that we're not supposed to be here, this

59:29

part of the woods is not much different from

59:31

the one we left behind. Granted,

59:33

the grass is a lot taller and

59:35

no footpath is leading the way, but

59:38

other than that, same trees, same

59:40

temperature, same forest language coming at

59:42

us from all the beings we're

59:44

bothering. I'm nervous, but

59:47

there's an undeniable rash of excitement running

59:49

through my bones. If

59:51

being here doesn't make us cool,

59:53

then actually finding something with the

59:55

shrimp specs definitely will. I'm

59:58

not that naive to think we're the only

1:00:00

kids who ever came to explore this side

1:00:02

of the forest, but objectively speaking,

1:00:04

we're not the type you'd expect this

1:00:07

from. Except Vamp, although

1:00:09

I'm sure he wouldn't come here alone. Whoa,

1:00:13

what's that? I

1:00:15

want to shush Vamp to remind him of

1:00:17

the range of his voice and our surroundings.

1:00:20

He deviates from our general direction sooner

1:00:23

than I can react. There's

1:00:25

a young sugar pine further to our right, and

1:00:27

Vamp runs towards it like it called him home

1:00:29

for supper. I give the

1:00:32

sugar pine a squint to spot what had

1:00:34

gotten my friend so excited. Vamp

1:00:36

hoists himself up the tree, and

1:00:38

I scan my vocabulary to yell

1:00:40

at him with less harsh synonyms

1:00:43

for the words stupid. No

1:00:45

matches were found, and

1:00:47

I can see what caught Vamp's attention.

1:00:51

Something pink is hanging from one of the

1:00:54

lower branches. Vamp reaches

1:00:56

for the branch and shakes it as hard as he

1:00:58

can to make the pink thing fall to the ground.

1:01:01

What is it? An empty candy

1:01:03

bag? A lost flag from

1:01:05

the Girl Scouts? A poster that

1:01:08

flew in this neck of the woods by an

1:01:10

overly ambitious gust of wind? I

1:01:12

wish it were, but no,

1:01:15

it's nothing of the sort. I

1:01:18

know what it is. I've

1:01:20

seen that very same piece of fabric

1:01:22

too many times in our laundry basket

1:01:24

to mistake it for anything else. My

1:01:28

Uncle Ned is a farmer. We

1:01:30

spent countless vacations at his farm,

1:01:33

and although Daphne and I hid

1:01:35

whenever he put animals down, we

1:01:37

still caught the worst of their screams. I

1:01:40

heard pigs, goats, rabbits, and

1:01:43

numerous other animals die. However,

1:01:47

take all those blood-curdling screeches,

1:01:49

merge them into one, and

1:01:52

you still wouldn't be anywhere near the

1:01:54

sound that comes out of Skittles. Vamp

1:01:58

and I run to him. He just

1:02:00

falls on his butt and pushes the ground

1:02:02

away with his sneakers to put immediate distance

1:02:04

between himself and the object of his horror.

1:02:08

He pants and moans like he just crawled

1:02:10

out of hell. The mantis

1:02:12

shrimp lenses hang to his chin. Don't...

1:02:16

don't look. It's

1:02:19

me he's talking to. That's

1:02:22

one I know. I knew

1:02:24

the second I saw the pink underwear hanging

1:02:26

from the tree. I

1:02:28

know what he found. I

1:02:30

know. And yet

1:02:32

I don't listen. I

1:02:35

look. From

1:02:37

my vantage point, I can only see

1:02:39

a foot. Something

1:02:42

chewed three toes off, but it's

1:02:44

undeniably a human foot. The

1:02:47

ground looks like a cave beneath the foot,

1:02:49

so the person either found their bitter end

1:02:51

in a ditch or someone

1:02:53

tried hiding them in the soil

1:02:55

and failed miserably. I

1:02:58

step closer to reveal to my

1:03:00

heart what my brain already knows.

1:03:04

There's a thin layer of dirt covering

1:03:07

the body, remnants from the

1:03:09

shallow grave. The

1:03:11

spaghetti-strapped summer dress is ripped

1:03:13

from cleavage to knees, and

1:03:16

you can barely tell where the cotton

1:03:18

ends and where the skin begins. The

1:03:22

skin is every color, ranging

1:03:25

from blue to black. Painting

1:03:27

a picture of a salt so clear that

1:03:30

not even the crusted blood on her legs

1:03:32

makes it more obvious. It's

1:03:35

not the blood that gets me. Neither

1:03:38

the fact that her torso is bare

1:03:40

and the biggest bruise, going all

1:03:42

the way from her breast to her stomach, is

1:03:45

in the form of a baseball bat, nor

1:03:48

that there's so much dirt and dried blood

1:03:50

in her hair you can't even tell she

1:03:52

was blonde anymore. The

1:03:54

state of decay, patches of

1:03:57

rotting skin and the god-awful

1:03:59

step. pinch, come

1:04:01

pretty close to being the worst thing. But

1:04:04

they're not. It's

1:04:07

the vibrating cavities. Nothing

1:04:09

screams death like the life it

1:04:11

leaves in its wake. Bugs

1:04:14

and larva squirm within the

1:04:16

open mouth and in the

1:04:19

holes where blue eyes had once been. I

1:04:22

can't breathe. I bend

1:04:24

over and digest brownies in reverse.

1:04:28

We found Daphne. I

1:04:32

don't have cell reception. I've

1:04:34

never heard Vamp sound so mature. He tries

1:04:37

to keep his composure but he's yellow in

1:04:39

the face and his hands shake so hard

1:04:42

he looks like he's having an attack of

1:04:44

some sort. You guys

1:04:46

should go ask for help. I'll wait

1:04:48

here, with her. His

1:04:51

body cringed visibly at the offer that came

1:04:53

out of his mouth. Go

1:04:56

ask for help. Who's

1:04:58

going to help? There's a

1:05:00

minimum of fifty species

1:05:02

of multiple-legged, egg-bearing parasites

1:05:04

within my sister, doing

1:05:07

the job people usually pay funeral homes

1:05:09

to do. Who's going

1:05:11

to help? How does

1:05:13

one go about helping a corpse in

1:05:16

this state? Is hoovering

1:05:19

allowed? Or would

1:05:21

that damage evidence? The

1:05:23

bugs should be collected just like the

1:05:25

blood samples and the DNA traces on

1:05:28

her clothes and body, no? But that's

1:05:31

not going to help my sister, is

1:05:33

it? Because my sister

1:05:35

is in the only place help

1:05:37

can't reach. No.

1:05:40

The only helpful thing to do is to find whoever

1:05:43

did this and make

1:05:46

sure they never, ever do it

1:05:48

again. I launch

1:05:50

back to where we came from. Newt?

1:05:53

Go with him, Skits. Give

1:05:55

me my glasses. Hurry! Newt!

1:05:58

Wait up! My

1:06:00

ears are ringing. Skittles is

1:06:02

calling after me, but I can't hear him

1:06:04

over the noise in my head. If

1:06:07

there's a hell in the center of the earth,

1:06:10

it can hear me running. I

1:06:13

reach the riverbank and slide on the steep

1:06:15

incline toward the water. My

1:06:17

leg slips on the rock we used

1:06:19

as a stepping stone before, and I

1:06:21

land knee-deep into the stream. I

1:06:24

push through until I'm on dry land again and

1:06:26

start climbing out of the ditch. Newt!

1:06:30

I look behind me and spot Skittles. He

1:06:33

looks terrified. Those damn

1:06:35

plastic specks are still hanging to his

1:06:37

chin. You're going the wrong

1:06:39

way! Wrong.

1:06:42

I'm going the right way. I'm

1:06:45

going the only way. I

1:06:48

face forward and keep going.

1:06:50

Newt! I reach

1:06:52

the top of the incline and start running again.

1:06:55

Lucas, don't do it! We don't know it

1:06:57

was him! Skittles.

1:07:00

Scrawny, frail, weird,

1:07:03

and over-protected Skittles.

1:07:06

I sometimes forget how smart he is, but

1:07:08

then he reminds me. Reminds

1:07:11

me of how smart I was the day I

1:07:13

decided to make him my friend. Birds

1:07:16

of a feather, some might say. It's

1:07:19

not. It's strategy. Vamp

1:07:23

didn't notice. To be

1:07:26

honest, I thought nobody who knew

1:07:28

my sister, nobody but me, would

1:07:30

notice either. But I was

1:07:32

wrong. Skittles noticed.

1:07:35

Skittles noticed that the ruby earrings

1:07:38

my sister had from our grandmother

1:07:40

were still ornating her dead earlobe.

1:07:43

Where is the bead chain with

1:07:45

the silver firefly was missing? Derek

1:07:49

had given her that necklace on their

1:07:51

first date. Branches

1:07:54

graze my face and the physical

1:07:56

effort burns my lungs. I

1:07:58

scare off a bunch of rapids. by stomping

1:08:01

on Hell's ceiling, but other than

1:08:03

that, the forest is silent. Flora

1:08:06

and Fauna, both dead

1:08:08

and alive, keep to themselves

1:08:10

as I run and run and

1:08:13

run until I reach the

1:08:15

meadow. My

1:08:18

weight be damned, I fly over the

1:08:20

train tracks and jump over the iron

1:08:22

rail straight into the supermarket's parking lot.

1:08:25

Curious shoppers, both entering and exiting, stop

1:08:27

to try and make sense of what

1:08:30

I'm doing in the state I'm in.

1:08:33

I'm off the property before anyone has the

1:08:35

chance to ask what's wrong. Everything

1:08:38

is wrong, but I'm

1:08:40

about to fix it. All

1:08:42

I see is the concrete beneath my

1:08:44

shoes, and all I hear is

1:08:47

the blood coursing through my innards. On

1:08:50

the other side of my tunnel vision, I

1:08:52

run a red light, cut the path of

1:08:54

a middle-aged couple walking their dog, and get

1:08:56

an earful from a vendor whose stack of

1:08:58

apples I ruin. But

1:09:01

then, I see it. Purple

1:09:04

roof, orange building.

1:09:06

Daphne's High School. The

1:09:09

bell must have gone off some time ago

1:09:11

because students are spilling out of the establishment

1:09:13

in large numbers. I'm dreading that

1:09:16

I missed him. I

1:09:18

didn't. The fucker is

1:09:20

simply more difficult to spot without the

1:09:23

dumb grin and his left arm around

1:09:25

Daphne's shoulders. He's typing

1:09:27

something on his phone as he's walking down the

1:09:29

wheelchair ramp. Some of his

1:09:31

peers try to interject, but he

1:09:33

only looks up when my hand

1:09:35

meets his collar. His

1:09:38

lips pucker around my name, but I don't

1:09:40

give him the chance to speak it. I

1:09:43

couldn't have done this if you weren't

1:09:45

as tall as he is, but his

1:09:47

height works against him for once, because

1:09:49

the handrail is right below his buttocks,

1:09:51

and it gives me more leverage to

1:09:53

push the better half of his bulk

1:09:55

over it. Derek

1:09:58

falls over the rail. screaming

1:10:00

and recording our fight on their phones. Nobody

1:10:03

is helping him. Why would

1:10:05

they? The little brother of

1:10:07

Derek's missing girlfriend just pounced on him

1:10:10

on a Friday after school. People

1:10:12

will need the full story to survive the weekend.

1:10:16

Why did you do it? Why did you

1:10:18

do it? I climb

1:10:20

on top of him to immobilize him before he comes

1:10:22

to his senses. He might not

1:10:24

have eaten for several days and his skull

1:10:26

and ribs could be rattled from the fall,

1:10:29

but he's still stronger than me. What?

1:10:33

Derek tries. Talk,

1:10:35

you fucker! Why did you

1:10:37

do it? How? My

1:10:39

throat is raw and my voice sounds like

1:10:41

I'm drowning. I know I'm

1:10:43

crying because of the wetness on my

1:10:45

face, but my eyes don't sting and

1:10:48

I couldn't see clearer. Derek

1:10:50

tries to push me off of him and

1:10:52

I fight against his efforts with every ounce

1:10:54

of strength I have. I hear

1:10:57

teachers shouting over the commotion around us.

1:11:00

Lucas, get off of me! No!

1:11:02

Tell me why! Get

1:11:05

the fuck off, you little shit! Not

1:11:07

until you tell everybody what you did and

1:11:09

why you did it! I don't

1:11:12

know what you're talking about! Bullshit!

1:11:16

Get off! You're hurting me! I

1:11:19

wrap my hands around his throat and

1:11:21

squeeze until the tips of my fingers

1:11:23

touch. It clicks. Derek

1:11:27

smacks me square in the nose. What

1:11:30

on God's green earth are you two

1:11:33

doing? Mr. Clifford,

1:11:35

Derek's baseball coach, grabs me by the

1:11:37

arm and hoists me vertically. Two of

1:11:40

Derek's classmates remember they're his friends

1:11:42

and go assist him off the

1:11:44

ground. I

1:11:47

don't get in between, Derek and I. Questions, everywhere.

1:11:50

Someone's shaking me and screaming in my face,

1:11:53

but I can't hear a thing. My

1:11:55

innards are buzzing. I feel

1:11:57

like I'm the black and white spots and skittles.

1:11:59

Skittles' old TV. I'm trying

1:12:02

to get a signal. I'm trying to

1:12:04

paint a picture and transmit it to the

1:12:06

world. How the

1:12:08

hell I managed to pull this off

1:12:10

is beyond me. We

1:12:13

found her. The

1:12:15

sound of my voice feels one decibel

1:12:17

below the hearing range of humans. People

1:12:20

I don't know call me by my name and

1:12:22

ask me to repeat what I just said. I

1:12:26

don't need to. Skittles just

1:12:28

entered the schoolyard. Lucas!

1:12:32

His shirt is dirty and his pants

1:12:34

are ruined. There are scratches

1:12:36

all over his arms, but the

1:12:38

worst thing about him is the look

1:12:41

on his face. We

1:12:43

found her. He says. Lucas'

1:12:46

sister, Daphne Cherrywood. We

1:12:49

found her body in the woods. Mom,

1:12:55

Dad, and I stand at the entrance

1:12:57

to the auditorium where we're having the

1:12:59

funeral reception. Everybody coming

1:13:02

through the doors gives us hugs,

1:13:04

handshakes, and compliments on the funeral.

1:13:07

Compliments? Actual compliments?

1:13:10

On the funeral. First

1:13:13

it was the Dills, then the

1:13:15

Johnson Smiths, and now the

1:13:17

Kirkbeans, and I'm thinking, is

1:13:20

there such a thing as a nice

1:13:22

funeral? The weather is

1:13:24

nice. The floral arrangements are nice.

1:13:27

The reading of the eulogy, which turned

1:13:29

into a musical performance by the church

1:13:31

choir, was nice. The

1:13:34

fact that not only every single one

1:13:36

of Daphne's current classmates showed up, but

1:13:38

also all of her teachers, both current

1:13:40

and from middle school, is nice.

1:13:45

Is this what makes a funeral

1:13:47

nice? Is the mold

1:13:50

forming in a glass of jam a nice

1:13:52

flower? Is

1:13:54

the crack in the window a

1:13:56

nice ventilation system? Is

1:13:58

sticking my sister's head? six

1:14:00

feet in the dirt, a

1:14:02

nice funeral. It's

1:14:05

funny how people pick and choose when

1:14:07

the context does or does not matter.

1:14:11

I shift my body weight and Mom

1:14:13

grabs my arm instantly. You're

1:14:16

not going anywhere. I

1:14:18

wasn't trying to, but I'm starting

1:14:20

to reconsider. Ever since we

1:14:23

found Daphne, Mom's been treating me like

1:14:25

she's blind and I'm her guide dog,

1:14:27

which wouldn't be so bad if it

1:14:29

weren't for the whisper shouting and the

1:14:31

dooming aura. My attempt

1:14:34

at retaking ownership of my

1:14:36

limb fails. I

1:14:38

need air, Mom. And you

1:14:40

think I don't? Pretty

1:14:43

sure she doesn't understand what I mean,

1:14:45

but try explaining your frustrations to a

1:14:47

person who made it her life goal

1:14:49

to one up everybody in the suffering

1:14:52

department. I pity my

1:14:54

father. The

1:14:56

Dutchessons are here. Dad

1:14:58

offers handshakes. Mother welcomes

1:15:00

hugs. And my

1:15:02

shoulder bears the squeeze of

1:15:04

a former MMA fighter. Two

1:15:07

former MMA fighters. Wouldn't

1:15:09

want to be in their house when they argue,

1:15:11

but the Dutchessons are good people.

1:15:14

They're sorry for our loss.

1:15:17

The funeral was very

1:15:20

nice. Mom, I just

1:15:22

need a little air, please. Lucas,

1:15:25

I swear. Sam.

1:15:28

Mom hasn't slept for the past five

1:15:31

days, but Dad looks like

1:15:33

he hasn't slept his entire life. He

1:15:36

doesn't need to continue his sentence. Mom

1:15:39

can suddenly see again, and

1:15:41

I'm no longer a dog. It's

1:15:43

a miracle. Be

1:15:45

back in ten, yeah. We'd like

1:15:48

to start, and we need you here. Of

1:15:50

course, Dad. On

1:15:53

any other day, I'd consider the property

1:15:55

beautiful. The porch is completely

1:15:57

white, from the wooden flooring to the right.

1:16:00

roof tiles. Strings of

1:16:02

red and pink flowers spiral around

1:16:04

the columns and each baluster in

1:16:06

the handrails. The steps

1:16:08

descend into the garden on a

1:16:10

tiled, labyrinthine path. Some

1:16:13

of Daphne's classmates found sanctuary by a

1:16:16

chestnut oak, where they smoke and catch

1:16:18

up on things that have nothing to

1:16:20

do with dead people. They

1:16:23

chat and laugh, and as soon

1:16:25

as they see me approaching, they immediately

1:16:27

extinguish their cigarettes and hurry to the

1:16:29

reception. Who knew

1:16:31

I have authoritative power? I'll

1:16:34

keep that in mind if I decide to become a

1:16:36

teacher. Thankfully, the

1:16:38

people I'm walking towards don't run away

1:16:41

as soon as they see me. Hey,

1:16:44

Newt. I never

1:16:46

thought there'd be a day in which I'd

1:16:48

consider vamp halfway handsome. I give

1:16:50

a low whistle. You

1:16:52

clean up nicely. Vamp

1:16:55

gives me a half smile, opens his

1:16:57

arms, and encases me with them. I

1:17:00

received hugs from tens of people in the

1:17:02

past two weeks, and I have no clue

1:17:04

if any of them came from the heart.

1:17:08

This one does. This

1:17:10

one matters. I'm

1:17:12

smarter now than I've been the other week

1:17:14

when we hugged in the treehouse, so

1:17:16

I'm hugging my friend with all my

1:17:18

might, and then some. I

1:17:21

extend my left arm to invite Skittles

1:17:23

in. He smiles through

1:17:26

his tear-stricken face, and

1:17:28

we group hug just enough for me

1:17:30

to replenish the much-needed energy I'll need

1:17:32

for that stupid reception. It's

1:17:36

a dumb question, but how are you

1:17:38

holding up? Vamp asks.

1:17:41

It's dumb indeed, but I'd expect nothing

1:17:43

less from you, I tell

1:17:45

them. Vamp gives me

1:17:47

a playful punch in the shoulder and

1:17:50

Skittles chuckles despite the mood. I don't

1:17:53

know what to tell you. I feel

1:17:55

like I'm in a moving train made

1:17:57

of glass. I sit

1:17:59

still. and watch the world pass me

1:18:02

by when in fact

1:18:04

the world sits still and I'm the

1:18:06

one moving. It's

1:18:08

very weird." Vamp

1:18:11

looks down. I can't

1:18:13

imagine what you're going through. I

1:18:15

think my brother's a little shit but the mere

1:18:17

thought of something ever happening to him. I

1:18:20

just hope that bastard gets what he deserves. He

1:18:24

will, Vamp, I say. I'm

1:18:26

sure he will. Derek.

1:18:30

The news of me jumping the guy

1:18:32

spread like wildfire. Once

1:18:34

Skittles informed the schoolyard that we

1:18:37

found Daphne, the teachers demanded all

1:18:39

students head home immediately. We

1:18:41

confirmed with the police that she had

1:18:44

been found dead and

1:18:46

as soon as we guided them to her remains

1:18:48

an officer turned away to make an urgent call.

1:18:51

Not even ten minutes later,

1:18:54

Derek, Daphne's boyfriend, was

1:18:56

removed from his home by two others

1:18:59

who, despite each having at least

1:19:01

seventy pounds on him, had

1:19:03

trouble dealing with the raging teen. The

1:19:07

police knocked on Derek's door just as

1:19:09

he was about to flush something shiny

1:19:11

down the toilet. That

1:19:13

something was Daphne's silver necklace

1:19:15

with a firefly pendant. Allegedly,

1:19:18

the thing still had traces of blood

1:19:20

around the clasp. Can

1:19:23

you believe it? All this

1:19:25

time, after what he did, the sick fucker

1:19:27

had the gall to wear that thing around

1:19:29

his neck, like a trophy or something. Vamp

1:19:33

runs his hand down his face. Skittles

1:19:36

frowns. We don't

1:19:39

know he was wearing it, do we? That's

1:19:42

what the police say, I clarify. They

1:19:45

found traces of Daphne's DNA and fibers

1:19:47

from Derek's shirt on the thing. Yeah,

1:19:51

but... Vamp and

1:19:53

I watch Skittles struggle for words.

1:19:56

He abandons his sentence once he feels our

1:19:58

eyes on him. but Vamp is

1:20:00

not as forgiving as me. But

1:20:03

what skits? Skittles

1:20:06

hesitates for a moment. We

1:20:09

don't know. He wore it. I

1:20:12

mean, necklaces slip over shirts.

1:20:15

Somebody would have seen it. Oh,

1:20:17

please. Like necklaces aren't easy

1:20:19

to overlook. That flashy

1:20:21

bastard was always wearing chains and crap.

1:20:24

Yeah, you're right. I

1:20:27

just think it's weird that he'd wear it as all. Skittles

1:20:31

slides the tip of his converse

1:20:33

between two tiles, and I wish, more

1:20:35

than ever, that he'd stop filtering his

1:20:37

words and just speak his mind. It's

1:20:41

not weird to them, though. Vamp

1:20:44

gets heated. You see it in

1:20:46

documentaries all the time. These sick

1:20:48

fuckers collect from their victims all

1:20:50

sorts of stuff. Panties, hair. I

1:20:53

even saw one about a guy who only went

1:20:55

after women with red lipstick on. He'd

1:20:57

keep their red lipstick, and if they didn't

1:21:00

have it on him, he'd cut off a

1:21:02

finger and keep that instead. You

1:21:04

never know what these guys are into. Skittles

1:21:07

looks like he wants to say something, but

1:21:10

changes his mind at the last second. I

1:21:13

step in front of him. Go

1:21:15

on, skits. Say what you want to say.

1:21:19

Skittles shakes his head. I'm

1:21:22

not attacking you. I

1:21:24

just want to know why you're playing devil's

1:21:26

advocate for my sister's killer. I'm

1:21:29

not! Skittles

1:21:31

finally looks me in the eyes and

1:21:33

holds my gaze until Vamp feels uncomfortable.

1:21:37

I just think the case

1:21:39

needed more investigation before they sentence

1:21:41

Derek. That's all. Vamp

1:21:44

gives a shrill huff. Are

1:21:47

you kidding? What's there to investigate?

1:21:50

This is not how to get away with

1:21:52

murder, skits. This is straight

1:21:54

up, in-your-face, real life. Daphne

1:21:57

wore a necklace. Daphne

1:21:59

disappeared. on the night of a

1:22:01

party. Daphne's boyfriend was at that party

1:22:03

and he and Daphne left around the

1:22:06

same time. Daphne's necklace is found on

1:22:08

her boyfriend a week later and the

1:22:10

only alibi the guy has for the

1:22:13

night of the party is his junky

1:22:15

cousin and a shady clerk in a

1:22:17

gas station with no CCTV. The

1:22:20

boyfriend did it. It's

1:22:23

obvious. Case closed. We

1:22:26

don't know it was Daphne's necklace.

1:22:30

Vamp inhales to express his outrage

1:22:32

at that statement, but my

1:22:34

right forefinger silences him. Not

1:22:37

once do Skittles and I break

1:22:39

eye contact. And

1:22:42

what makes you say that, Benjamin? I

1:22:45

don't feel like I'm on a glass train anymore.

1:22:48

The train stopped and had me

1:22:50

put in a microwave. Derek

1:22:53

said the necklace he gifted Daphne

1:22:55

had a clasp like a lobster claw.

1:22:59

And? And? My

1:23:01

mother calls us inside from the white porch.

1:23:04

Nobody moves a muscle. The

1:23:07

necklace the police found on Derek had

1:23:09

a different clasp. A magnetic

1:23:12

one. Vamp

1:23:14

lets out a chuckle void of any

1:23:16

amusement. And I thought

1:23:18

I watched too many crime shows. Vamp

1:23:22

shakes his head in disbelief. I'm

1:23:24

disappointed in you, bro. Come

1:23:27

on, Newt. Let's go inside. Vamp

1:23:30

taps my shoulder and with that

1:23:32

steps away from Skittles and I.

1:23:35

Skittles blinks first. He

1:23:37

lost our stare down and I want a

1:23:40

rub in his face. I

1:23:42

hear you and I understand

1:23:44

the sentiment. I tell him. I

1:23:48

get my face so close to

1:23:50

Skittles our noses touch. I

1:23:52

hear him gulp. What

1:23:54

I still don't get is why

1:23:56

you, my friend, are defending. my

1:24:00

sister's killer. Skittles

1:24:03

takes the mantis shrimp specks out of the

1:24:05

pocket of his dress pants. In

1:24:08

the schoolyard, before the teachers send everybody

1:24:10

home, I looked at Derek.

1:24:14

Skittles holds the glasses up. There

1:24:16

was no grubberp on him, except

1:24:20

a little bit, around his neck.

1:24:23

After you jumped him. Skittles

1:24:26

watches my face for a reaction.

1:24:29

I don't have one to give. Vamp

1:24:32

reaches my mom and goes inside the

1:24:34

auditorium. Mom steps off the porch

1:24:37

and calls for us again. You

1:24:40

said you saw Grelerple in the treehouse.

1:24:43

Where? My friend's

1:24:45

lower lip begins to quiver. Where,

1:24:49

Benjamin? I

1:24:51

hear the clang of mom's low heels

1:24:53

coming down the tiled pathway. On

1:24:56

you. I smile.

1:25:00

I can't help it. Where

1:25:02

on me? Eyes,

1:25:05

hands, and… Skittles

1:25:08

can't bring himself to say it, but

1:25:10

his eyes dart to my crotch. That's

1:25:13

all I need to know. I

1:25:16

hold the palm of my hand out to him. He's

1:25:18

shaking as he hands me the mantis

1:25:21

shrimp glasses. I

1:25:23

told you these don't work. I

1:25:25

let the glasses drop on the tiles and

1:25:28

smash my heel on them, over and

1:25:30

over and over

1:25:33

again. Lucas? I

1:25:36

turn around to see mom approaching wearily. Is

1:25:39

everything okay? Of course,

1:25:41

mom. I sling an arm

1:25:43

around Skittles and pull him flush to my

1:25:45

side. Right, Benjamin? Skittles

1:25:49

is still shaking, but his

1:25:51

stupid mouth is finally in sync with

1:25:53

his smart brain. Yes,

1:25:56

Mrs. Sherrywood. Skittles

1:25:59

and I follow my mother back to

1:26:01

the auditorium. The weather has

1:26:03

darkened significantly in the past few minutes,

1:26:06

and by the time we reach the white porch

1:26:08

it smells like rain. I

1:26:11

take one last look at the far

1:26:13

end of the labyrinthine path. The

1:26:15

mantis shrimp glasses, two

1:26:18

specks, one green, one purple,

1:26:21

lay crumbled and broken on the

1:26:23

tiles. Once the

1:26:25

reception starts, I hear the skies

1:26:27

crying over the world outside. Whether

1:26:31

heaven bemoans the loss of

1:26:33

my sister or the loss

1:26:35

of its third eye, I'm

1:26:37

not sure. I'm sure of

1:26:39

something else, though. This

1:26:41

turned out to be a very nice

1:26:44

funeral. I've

1:26:56

been listening to Grelurple by

1:26:58

Lucretia Vastea. Lucretia

1:27:01

Vastea is an author and artist

1:27:03

based out of Germany whose written

1:27:05

works have been adapted to audio

1:27:07

by the likes of the Chilling

1:27:09

Pails for Dark Nights podcast, the

1:27:11

No Sleep podcast, and Otis

1:27:14

Jyrie's Scary Stories Told in the

1:27:16

Dark. And

1:27:19

that, my friends, wraps up

1:27:21

tonight's broadcast. I'd

1:27:23

like to extend my thanks to Ocrashia for

1:27:25

a great story with a very

1:27:28

delightful twist. And

1:27:30

of course, I'd also like to thank

1:27:32

you for joining me. As

1:27:35

you're going to bed tonight, drifting

1:27:37

off to sleep with your eyes closed,

1:27:40

maybe pay extra attention to

1:27:42

the colors dancing across your

1:27:44

eyelids. Maybe one of

1:27:46

you will see some Grelurple of your

1:27:49

own tonight. As

1:27:51

always, I'll be back next week

1:27:53

for another episode of Horror Hill.

1:27:56

Until then, friends, stay

1:27:58

spooky. You've

1:28:02

been listening to the Horror Hill Podcast,

1:28:04

a production of Chilling Entertainment and the

1:28:07

creative team at Chilling Tales for Dark

1:28:09

Nights. Tonight's episode

1:28:11

was hosted and narrated by yours

1:28:13

truly, Eric Peabody. Original

1:28:16

music provided by Eric Peabody and

1:28:18

Nicky McSorley. Finalization by

1:28:21

Eric Peabody and Craig Groszak.

1:28:24

Got a terrifying tale of your own

1:28:26

that you'd like performed? Email

1:28:28

it to us at natalie

1:28:31

at chillingtalesfordarknights.com to have your

1:28:33

work considered for future production.

1:28:36

Seeing as how we're all living

1:28:38

in a technological nightmare of our

1:28:40

own devising, I'll ask you to

1:28:42

follow Chilling Tales for Dark Nights

1:28:44

on social media and upvote, subscribe,

1:28:46

and hit the bell notification icon

1:28:48

if you're listening to this on

1:28:50

YouTube. Not only will

1:28:53

you have appeased the dark gods of

1:28:55

cyberspace, but you'll be kept

1:28:57

in the loop as we prepare more

1:28:59

terrifying content. If you'd

1:29:02

like access to uninterrupted horror, free

1:29:04

of ads and these annoying bookend

1:29:06

segments, might I recommend

1:29:08

becoming a patron? You'll

1:29:11

get access to hundreds of episodes of

1:29:13

this show, as well as everything from

1:29:15

the other programs in the Chilling Tales

1:29:17

for Dark Nights cabal. That

1:29:20

means all of Otis Jirye's scary

1:29:22

stories told in the dark, Drew

1:29:25

Blood's dark tales, Paul

1:29:27

J. McSorley's fear from the heartland,

1:29:29

and more. It's a

1:29:31

veritable smorgasbord of horrific delights.

1:29:35

As for me personally, I'm on

1:29:37

most social media as Viking Guitar

1:29:40

or Viking Guitar Productions. I'm

1:29:43

always on the lookout for new stories

1:29:45

to narrate and new music projects to

1:29:47

mix or master. If that's

1:29:49

of interest to you, feel free to reach

1:29:51

out and we can talk turkey. Also,

1:29:54

I will be back next week with more

1:29:56

terrifying tales to keep you up on your

1:29:58

favorite social media platforms. If

1:30:02

darkness is what you are after, listener,

1:30:04

then your search is over. Yet,

1:30:08

let it be known, that you

1:30:10

haven't found the darkness. The

1:30:13

darkness has found you. The

1:30:37

delicious ice cold taste of Dr. Pepper has

1:30:39

a lasting effect on people. Lindsay from Sacramento

1:30:41

said... Pro tip, 40 degrees is the perfect

1:30:43

temperature for an ice cold Dr. Pepper. Why

1:30:46

is 40 degrees the perfect temperature for Dr.

1:30:48

Pepper? We brought in Sue from Duluth, Minnesota to

1:30:50

tell us. Oh yeah, I know a thing or two

1:30:52

about cold. Oh, that right there is the

1:30:54

perfect kind of ice cold for Dr. Pepper. Mmm,

1:30:57

I'd share that with my friend Nancy. She likes

1:30:59

Dr. Pepper too, you know. My coldest... Alright, that'll

1:31:01

be all, Sue. Having a perfect temperature for

1:31:03

your Dr. Pepper? It's a Pepper thing. Inspired

1:31:06

by Real Fan posts. by Real Fan Post.