Speaker 1: Thirteen days of Halloween is from grim and mild blumhouse,
Speaker 1: and I heart three D audio headphones recommended. Listener discretion advised.
Speaker 1: Lorrain is coming. We have to hurry down. You will
Speaker 1: can't possibly beholding your gathering in this weather. We wait
Speaker 1: for this weather. Child. What? Why? Because the fury of
Speaker 1: the storm finally matches the fury inside of each of us.
Speaker 1: I have questions, of course you do. What is the gathering?
Speaker 1: And it? And who is George Barrow? It's time for
Speaker 1: you to take the medicine, the medicine the doctor gave you.
Speaker 1: What the medicine the doctor gave you? You still have
Speaker 1: it us, then take it. I feel fine. It's preventative. True.
Speaker 1: Is George Barrow? Why do I know that name? If
Speaker 1: you take your medicine, I will tell you. Fine, good,
Speaker 1: come on, I'll tell you as we walk down to
Speaker 1: the shore. I don't remember my mother, we have that
Speaker 1: in common, and I don't know any of the details
Speaker 1: of my birth. All I know is what I have
Speaker 1: been told, that I was found on the beach not
Speaker 1: far from where you woke. I was found without so
Speaker 1: much as a swaddle by Papa, silent, wide eyed the
Speaker 1: waves laughing at my feet. Papa said it was a
Speaker 1: miracle that he happened out that night at all. He
Speaker 1: says I couldn't drown or frozen if he hadn't wandered out.
Speaker 1: I don't remember when he found me, but I have
Speaker 1: dreamt about how I got there. Countless gentle hands, fins, tentacles,
Speaker 1: all passing me through the dark water to my lonely
Speaker 1: spot on the shore. I did not arrive in Direbrook
Speaker 1: by accident. I was placed there. It was a solitary childhood,
Speaker 1: though it never felt lonely. Papa did not care for
Speaker 1: the townspeople and he tried to keep me away from
Speaker 1: them in my earliest days. He did not trust them.
Speaker 1: He did not trust the town or the sea or
Speaker 1: frequently his own eyes. He forbade me from ever going
Speaker 1: into Dyreburg without him. Our trips for supplies and food
Speaker 1: were brief. I wasn't allowed to speak to anyone, but
Speaker 1: as time passed I began to recognize faces. The mayor
Speaker 1: with his toothy smile like a shark's, the priest with
Speaker 1: his stooped back and scars, but especially the boy, the
Speaker 1: boy with the cream eyes. It was him hiding behind
Speaker 1: the trees, peeking around the corners on the street every
Speaker 1: time we came into town that I found myself drawn
Speaker 1: to his name, George Barrow. His family had been in
Speaker 1: the town for generations and he was the last of
Speaker 1: his line, and I was mesmerized by him. Of course,
Speaker 1: he was the only boy I'd ever met, but he
Speaker 1: was drawn to me too. Without knowing why, one night
Speaker 1: I woke and without thought, I put on my sweater
Speaker 1: and my jeans, I slipped on my shoes and went outside.
Speaker 1: I hadn't the foggiest idea of where I was going,
Speaker 1: only I had to see George, and then, like magic,
Speaker 1: there he was. I found him at the well, whispering
Speaker 1: secrets into it. He did not seem surprised to see me.
Speaker 1: That night we walked all over town and he divulged
Speaker 1: many of the same secrets that I've told you to day.
Speaker 1: He told me that the townspeople all spoke of the
Speaker 1: lighthousekeeper's daughter all of the time, that the whole village
Speaker 1: seemed to hold its breath when we came in the shop.
Speaker 1: I asked why, and he smiled. You're the mother, he said,
Speaker 1: and when I asked him what he meant, he told
Speaker 1: me that all would come clear in time. He began
Speaker 1: sneaking to see each other almost nightly. I was smitten,
Speaker 1: and so was George. I really do believe he loved me,
Speaker 1: despite everything that came after. It was, after all, love
Speaker 1: that destroyed everything, Love Great and terrible. When finally he
Speaker 1: introduced us, George's family loved me, his friends loved me
Speaker 1: and as I met through him, more and more of
Speaker 1: the Townsfolk, I couldn't help but wonder what Papa was
Speaker 1: so concerned about. These people were pure kindness. I couldn't
Speaker 1: lock down main street without someone gifting me a flower,
Speaker 1: the baker, a fresh cinnamon bund, the pastor a kind smile.
Speaker 1: And what's more, they all called me mother. Oh, I
Speaker 1: did not know why, nor could I get an answer.
Speaker 1: They'd all just say soon enough, mother, when you've married
Speaker 1: my there, you just wait. You are special and you
Speaker 1: are loved. who was I to argue with people who
Speaker 1: regarded me so highly? Are you quite all right, dear? Yes, hi,
Speaker 1: now my head is swimming and the visions in the
Speaker 1: sky swimming. Medicine kicking in. Good, good girl, can you
Speaker 1: keep on? Yes, I feel good, excellent. I finally told Papa.
Speaker 1: He flew into a rage. I had never seen that before.
Speaker 1: He was always so even tempered. But warned that I
Speaker 1: would come to a sorry end, that joy orge would
Speaker 1: lead me to ruin. So I let George lead me
Speaker 1: to ruin. We were married on my twentieth birthday. The
Speaker 1: whole town was there and though Papa refused to walk
Speaker 1: me down the aisle, when my face searched the crowd,
Speaker 1: he was there, his eyes wet, his face so much older,
Speaker 1: and I found out on my wedding night the truth.
Speaker 1: The pastor may speak the words of the father in
Speaker 1: the sea may make his own small sacrifices, but the mother,
Speaker 1: the mother carries the father's promise to land. Our God
Speaker 1: is not a jealous God. He requires very little of
Speaker 1: US day to day. It doesn't care much for mortal matters.
Speaker 1: It does not punish us for our sins, just as
Speaker 1: a judge on his bench does not adjudicate the squabbles
Speaker 1: of children. Both have more important matters to deal with.
Speaker 1: That does not mean, however, that the father does not
Speaker 1: involve himself in our lives. He listens to our prayers
Speaker 1: and is generous with his blessings, but he does not
Speaker 1: give gifts freely. Each blessing requires payment. Each person living
Speaker 1: here has given and has received for small blessings, a
Speaker 1: small payment is exacted. A pinprick of blood for a
Speaker 1: sunny wedding, a beloved fact sacrifice so that a child
Speaker 1: may recover from a troubling illness. People cannot survive on
Speaker 1: a patchwork of such small blessings, especially not in a
Speaker 1: place such as dire brook, with its rocky soil and
Speaker 1: choppy harbor. For that, something much larger is required. Do
Speaker 1: you understand? Stand? This is where mother comes in. Every
Speaker 1: few generations, the mother appears on the shore. It is
Speaker 1: written that the entirety of society is to watch out
Speaker 1: for her, to keep her safe, to keep her sheltered
Speaker 1: and well fed, for it is the mother's duty to
Speaker 1: give birth to the child of the father of the sea. Facts.
Speaker 1: Great Responsibility, yes, and one that I only became aware
Speaker 1: of once George and I found out that we were expecting.
Speaker 1: It was the day the doctor told me that I
Speaker 1: was with child that everything changed. When I walked out,
Speaker 1: the whole town was waiting for me in the street,
Speaker 1: just silent watching. They parted for us when we stepped forward,
Speaker 1: making a path that led to the front door wars
Speaker 1: of the church. So Georgia and I went, where we
Speaker 1: were welcomed by the priest, and that is when I
Speaker 1: learned the terrible truth of the mother. We were given
Speaker 1: freely to the people, but for the people to thrive,
Speaker 1: my child must be returned to the sea. When the
Speaker 1: child was born, it was to be taken down to
Speaker 1: the water and stoned to death and passed into the
Speaker 1: water for the father to keep. Such was the price
Speaker 1: of healthy crops and full nets, of ruddy faced children
Speaker 1: and infinite good weather. It wasn't fair. I didn't ask
Speaker 1: for prosperity, for peace. I didn't ask for healthy crops
Speaker 1: or full nets. All I asked for was my own
Speaker 1: meager happiness, the joy of an orphan who has built
Speaker 1: her own family. I asked nothing of the father in
Speaker 1: the sea. I was afraid to tell George at first,
Speaker 1: and so I told Papa, and he was the one
Speaker 1: who made the plan. One night, as George slept, I
Speaker 1: crept out of the house, across the town square and
Speaker 1: out to the road where a truck was waiting for me.
Speaker 1: Papa stood there talking to its driver, who had agreed
Speaker 1: to take me south that night to safety. He said
Speaker 1: our goodbyes and I rode away from here. I had
Speaker 1: a daughter. She was lovely and she smiled often and
Speaker 1: had eyes of Kelly Green. We lived in a small
Speaker 1: house far away from any shore, a place where it
Speaker 1: was always warm, a small room that I entered from
Speaker 1: a widow. No one knew we were there. We were
Speaker 1: safe and content. And then Papa wrote to me. He
Speaker 1: said that George had gone nearly out of his mind
Speaker 1: when we left. In the months that followed that he
Speaker 1: begged and pleaded and threatened Papa for the information, but
Speaker 1: it was never given up. He said George grew discouraged
Speaker 1: and then, finally, as months turned into years, finally had
Speaker 1: stopped eating, sleeping bathing. said he was wasting away from
Speaker 1: misery and said that he believed George would soon be dead.
Speaker 1: I was foolish. I went to him. I don't know why.
Speaker 1: I left my child with the widow. I made her
Speaker 1: swear to keep her safe and I came to find George.
Speaker 1: I I think I believed I'd be able to bring
Speaker 1: him home to our daughter. Ah Well, they started to arrive.
Speaker 1: Who our friends and our neighbors? The gathering is almost
Speaker 1: upon us. What happened to George? Oh, George was dead.
Speaker 1: Oh No, Oh, yes, and he was blamed for my
Speaker 1: disappearance and for the disappearance of the child that was
Speaker 1: to be dire brooks payment to the father in the sea.
Speaker 1: They buried him in concrete in the cemetery so that
Speaker 1: his body would never be returned to the ocean. Jesus,
Speaker 1: I was caught while visiting his grave. How they tortured me.
Speaker 1: They threatened no matter what. I wouldn't give up the
Speaker 1: location of my child. I wasn't allowed to leave. Even
Speaker 1: if I could escape, the people the town would just
Speaker 1: pull me back in. But the China, the child was safe.
Speaker 1: Years passed and then more years. I watched the town
Speaker 1: decline and I hardened my heart against it. I watched
Speaker 1: as the nets came up empty, as families went hungry.
Speaker 1: I watched as people died from all sorts of strange
Speaker 1: illnesses grew colder towards each other. I watched boats sink
Speaker 1: and the dead men appeared on our shores. I thought
Speaker 1: myself an island. And then the children disappeared. The father
Speaker 1: in the sea took them from us because of me,
Speaker 1: because of my selfishness, my inability to see my role
Speaker 1: in this story. Love had made blind. And so I
Speaker 1: came to the ocean and I prayed every day, at dawn,
Speaker 1: when the sun comes up and lights the waves. I
Speaker 1: prayed for my child's return. I bargained with our God.
Speaker 1: I cut myself on seashelves and bled into the water
Speaker 1: to seal that bargain, and I came back day after
Speaker 1: day month. And then finally, on the day my child
Speaker 1: was to turn twenty, the widdow wrote to me a
Speaker 1: sorrowful sort of note, spaking my forgiveness for what by
Speaker 1: the death of my daughter. Hello, pastor, good evening. It's time. Wait, wait, wait,
Speaker 1: take this final drap. It will finally make everything clear.
Speaker 1: Go on, let's go on. Carl car through Scott car.
Speaker 1: She took me to the beach. It was my birthday.
Speaker 1: I begged her. She said my mother wouldn't approve, that
Speaker 1: the ocean was dangerous. Oh I was relentless. Pounded her
Speaker 1: about it day and night. And she was old and
Speaker 1: loved me and wanted to see me happy when mother
Speaker 1: gone for so long. And so one morning we packed
Speaker 1: her bags and grabbed towels and we went ah and
Speaker 1: the sea was so vast, exact, really what I dreamt
Speaker 1: it would be, and Oh, oh so blue. And it.
Speaker 1: It called, called to me, it called my name. I
Speaker 1: could hear its voice in my head as it said Gordelia,
Speaker 1: the same name as my mother. Yes, I was drawn
Speaker 1: to it. I dropped everything and walked in. The poor
Speaker 1: widow she called for me, but I was entranced. She
Speaker 1: said it was dangerous and I laughed. I laughed because
Speaker 1: how silly, how stupid it sounded to think that just
Speaker 1: stepping in could be dangerous. But as I stepped in, yeah,
Speaker 1: it came out of nowhere. What did the wave as
Speaker 1: if it has been waiting for me. It had. It
Speaker 1: knocked me over, pulled me under and the last thing
Speaker 1: I remember was my skull and hitting the ocean full
Speaker 1: Ding me. How did I get here? I prayed for it.
Speaker 1: Why would you bring me back here? We owed it dead.
Speaker 1: I owed nothing, I asked for nothing. It is not
Speaker 1: for us to decide. I will go with you to
Speaker 1: meet the Father in the sea. No, no, let me go,
Speaker 1: let me go, let me go, sorry, girl, it is
Speaker 1: his will. We now drink up from your shaw stones
Speaker 1: by Your glory, to send your shine. No, no, put
Speaker 1: the rocks down. Cordelia, I don't want this. I don't Cordelia.
Speaker 1: It's over. It's the father. Everything returns to him, including US.
Speaker 1: We shall celebrate tonight in his kingdom. Wait, the brave daughter.
Speaker 1: Everything returns to him, everything returns, everything returns in fight stuff.
Speaker 1: Everything returns to him. H Ha and h yeah, thirteen
Speaker 1: days of Halloween. Everything returns to the sea, starring Kathy
Speaker 1: to Jimmy, Bethany and Lynde and Nicholas Dakowski. Written by
Speaker 1: Nicholas Dakowski, sound design and mixing by Josh Thane, casting
Speaker 1: by Jessica Losa. Created by Matt Frederick and Alex Williams,
Speaker 1: with executive producer Aaron Manky, a production of I heart radio,
Speaker 1: grim and mild and blumhouse television.