WEBVTT - Rest a Spell 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.760 M twelve Ghosts is a production of I Heeart three 0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:07.039 D audio and grim and mild from Aaron Banky Headphones. 0:00:07.080 --> 0:00:23.960 Recommended listener discretion advised. Out of the bosom of the air, 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:29.120 out of the cloud, folds of her garments, shaken over 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:34.920 the woodland's brown and bear over the harvest fields forsaken, 0:00:35.760 --> 0:01:10.480 silent and soft and slow, descends the snow. But we 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:20.240 are warm here inside. Who are you? I'm the innkeeper, now, Annabel, 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:31.360 who are you? More wine? I think the Romans called 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:36.000 this conditum paradox um, and it was a bitter brew, 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:41.920 but it fortified the soul all the same, warmed the body, relaxed, 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:49.920 the mind, loosened the tongue. Over time, recipes changed based 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:53.840 on what was available, and eventually, praise all that is good. 0:01:54.560 --> 0:02:00.040 It became palatable. But it doesn't matter, does it. The 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:03.560 spirit is still the same. So to speak. We fill 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:09.359 ourselves with the warming spices and alcohol courses through our veins, 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:12.920 and for a little while at least we forget the 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:19.480 cold wind rattling the windows. M Look at the time, 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:25.200 will you? Oh? We should be expecting our next guest 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:39.720 right about huh, Well, pardon me, won't you good evening traveler. 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:52.760 I've been expecting you come in. I was, I don't remember. 0:02:53.960 --> 0:03:03.000 It's so fine. Please sit. This is Annabelle. Hello. We 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:06.000 were just having a nice warm cup of mulled wine. 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:09.760 Would you like to join us knock a little of 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:18.680 the chill off your bones? Yes? Yes, thank you. Annabelle 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:22.280 and I were just discussing the history of drunkenness of 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:32.920 in a warmth. Here join us. Thank you. Something troubles you? Noel? 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:38.600 Have we met? We've not, but I've read your name 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:44.200 in my ledger earlier. Oh what is it that weighs 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:52.680 on your mind? I have a question, please, How does 0:03:52.800 --> 0:04:00.800 one know if they've encountered something supernatural? Are are signs 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:07.920 spectral symptoms? Or are we ready made with just some 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:14.000 base human instinct where we can like smell the lack 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:24.680 of blood in their hollow little veins. I can't smell anything. 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:32.960 Have you ever been to Homer, Alaska? Folks call it 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:38.560 the end of the road. One way in, one way out, 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:43.920 and you have to really try to get there. You 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:48.599 don't just stumble upon it blindly. You have to seek 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:52.000 out the finite ends of things in this world. There 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:55.200 aren't many of them. And Homer is one of those few. 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:02.440 The town looks like a postcar it mountain back drops 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:06.960 nestled right up against the sea. Thousands are small and 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:11.599 candy colored. The air feels like cold nourishment, and I 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:15.760 see snake nuzzling your lungs, reminding you of the life 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:20.880 somersaulting through your body. If there's a heaven, it looks 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:27.400 like Homer. It's a small town, beautiful but small, just 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:32.359 over five thousand residents. Now, five thousand sounds like a 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:37.279 big number until you realize that you know everything there 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:40.760 is to know about each and every one of your neighbors. 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:45.560 Which ones are cheating with which other ones, who's hiding 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:50.039 their drinking problem, who's not hiding their drinking problem, and 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:53.599 which ones came all the way to some tiny village 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:56.400 to start a new life where no one would come looking. 0:05:56.960 --> 0:06:01.000 Now that last one, that's most of them. No shame 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:05.160 in it. I believe most people think about disappearing at 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:08.560 one point or another, leaving all of your possessions and 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:12.479 loved ones behind. The Residents of Homer were just brave 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:16.360 enough to pull the trigger and actually do it. You've 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:20.119 thought about doing it too, haven't you? Or you're thinking 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:25.640 about it now, at least just you alone, staring down 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:34.440 the end of the road. M HM. I used to 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:38.360 work the overnight shift at the Sheriff's Office rookie officer, 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:41.840 which in this sense means I was essentially a glorified 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:46.680 night porter. In all my time there, not one person 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:51.880 had ever been brought in late night. So naturally it 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:55.159 took me off guard when I found a stranger in 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:58.480 the holding cell halfway through my shift on a blustery 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:02.039 Tuesday evening, Dan, I'm near scared the iron right out 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:05.599 of my blood. No clue how long he had been 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:08.480 in there. There was no intake paperwork, no note from 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:15.640 the previous guard, just a sallow husk of an older man, gaunt, 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:19.760 his face patchy and red, chewed raw by the cracked 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:25.440 teeth of Alaskan winter air. He was thoroughly dehydrated, his 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:28.200 muscles and veins popping from his frame like a failed 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:32.240 escape Trapped to his body by only the worn elasticity 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:37.600 of his paper skin. The man was haggard, chased by 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:42.880 a massive debt of sleep. His eyes were open, though 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:48.120 yellow and bloodshot, as they were tracking my movements. As 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:51.800 I stepped closer to peer into his cell like he 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:57.800 was some diseased animal and a roadside zoo. I thought 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:02.800 it was a simple enough question, jen what's your name? 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:08.320 The man blinked at me, a whirlpool of delirium behind 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:15.120 his eyes. He opened his mouth, moved his lips around 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:19.200 a series of words, but soundlessly, like someone had put 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:23.440 the old bastard right on mute. Most unsettling thing I'd 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:30.760 ever seen at that stage of the night. Anyway, I repeated, sir, 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:36.240 what is your name? And there he went, moving his 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:39.600 mouth again. But this time I thought maybe I could 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:43.720 hear something buzzing deep in his gullet, like a tiny 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:48.800 faction of bees. I'm having a little trouble hearing you, 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:56.319 I said, Can you come a little closer? He stood, 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:01.080 wavering on his feet and shuffle toreward to the bars 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:03.800 of the cell. I planned my feet firm and pulled 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:06.920 my shoulders back. I'm not a big woman, but I've 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:10.720 learned how to fake stature in my time. I asked 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:13.680 him a third time, can you tell me your name? 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:19.320 This time I could confirm the man was indeed speaking. 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:23.040 He sounded like a recording of a recording put on 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:26.560 the lowest volume setting. And trapped in a tin can, 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:38.160 he said. His lips continued crawling around the shape of 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:40.959 his words long after the sentence fell from his mouth, 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:45.760 like a poorly dubbed movie, and then he jerked a 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.320 purple hand into his multi jeans pocket and pulled out 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:55.559 his wallet for me. I d red Kyle Gibbert, Los Angeles, California. 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:58.880 I told old Kyle he was quite a ways from home, 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:03.520 and in that staticy, faraway voice, he simply repeated, I 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:14.280 mean no offense to our host, but this wine tastes 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:16.480 like the forgotten dreams of a used up band aid. 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:21.000 It's weak as hell. You water it down. Oh, I 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:27.199 would never, but go on. I could probably stand to 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:35.040 drink more water anyways, So I put Mr Gilbert into 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:39.440 our database. Turns out he'd been missing since and was 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:44.120 officially pronounced dead seven years later. Funny thing. The man 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:47.360 prowling around in that cell like a feral animal only 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:51.120 looked half dead to me. But this wasn't the first 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:54.480 time someone new showed up in Homer to disappear. So 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:59.679 I ran a full background check. No jobs, no residences, 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:04.120 no taxes, paid nothing at all to indicate that Kyle 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:07.120 Gilbert should be standing here in front of me, sucking 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:09.560 in the air that was intended only for the living. 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:14.040 I asked if he went by any other aliases, but 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:20.240 through that same thick, mismatched static, he wheezed again. I 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:35.920 just need to waste m hm. So I did the 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:40.120 next logical thing. I called his estranged wife in the 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:43.480 middle of the night, woke her plumb up and asked, 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:48.240 Mrs Gilbert, I swear to God, you never heard the 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:51.880 grog drop from somebody's voice faster in your life. Set 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:55.920 me straighter than spider silk. Mrs Gilbert made it very 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:58.840 clear that she did not go by that name anymore. 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:02.680 I older that I had Kyle with me, thirty miles 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:05.000 away in a dinky, little drunk tank at the end 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:11.360 of the road. Kyle, my Kayle, she asked. I checked 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:15.400 the idea again. The little picture showed a healthy young man, 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:19.920 handsome by some standards, life coursing through his cheeks and 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:24.960 hanging plump around his face and neck. This thing in 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:28.520 the cage across from me bore no resemblance. But before 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:31.120 I could say so, the woman on the line told 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:33.360 me she had long since made peace with the death 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:36.319 of her husband, and she'd take legal action if harassment 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:39.000 of this nature were to continue, and even if he 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:42.800 were alive, she didn't want him no more. She was done, 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:49.480 moved on, remarried and all and then click, she was gone, 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:57.040 and Kyle Gibbert was fully my problem. A saggy gray 0:12:57.080 --> 0:12:59.480 holding cell ain't no proper place to get a good 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:03.199 night's eap. I knew nobody else would be coming in 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:05.520 that night, and I knew what it's like to turn 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:08.240 up brand new for the first day in a fresh life. 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:14.920 Second chances are everything. We don't judge or ask questions. 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:17.680 And Homer, you want to wander out of your Los 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:21.400 Angeles apartment, disappear off the face of the earth, convinced 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:24.000 the world you're dead, then show up nearly ten years later, 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:26.800 ready to start all over. Well, I suppose I'm going 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:29.120 to give you a warm bed to sleep in that night, 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:30.760 and a hot cup of coffee in the morning to 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:34.199 get you on your way. It's the neighborly thing to do. 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:42.320 The world looked different walking beside Kyle on the way 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:47.000 back to my home. I remember thinking, maybe I just 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:51.680 never really paid attention to the world. At night, Those 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:56.240 candy colored houses dulled to mute shades of their daytime glory. 0:13:56.280 --> 0:14:00.440 In the shadows. I could feel the wind sawing at 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:02.880 the tip of my nose, but couldn't hear it's normally 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:08.640 persistent whale, and the snow that dripped from the sky 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:13.480 white crystall line fluffs during the day smeared like ash 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:18.840 on my fingertips under the moon's two tone pallor. Kyle's 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:23.480 mouth moved wordlessly as we walked, a steady drone of 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:29.160 static buzzing from his windpipe. At one point he threw 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:33.600 his head back, mouth wide, his throat undulating with the 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:42.000 heft of a screeching, feedback laden belly laugh. He quieted 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:52.360 contemn wide smile on his sunken, cracked face. I lived 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:57.480 alone in a cozy one bedroom. A rookie sheriff's salary 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:00.080 doesn't buy any much, but what I had suited me 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:05.240 just fine. Besides, the overstuffed couch stationed in my living 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:07.760 room had seen its share of wayward visitors, and it's 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:13.240 time never once with any complaint. I layered the cushions 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:17.480 a thousand blankets deep and fluffed my finest down pillows 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:22.080 for my guest. But Kyle stood frozen in the door 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:28.760 frame flickering underneath the faulty porch light. I took him 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:36.280 by the hand to lead him inside, cold, his fingers 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:39.440 rigid like they had snap under the pressure of my 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:46.640 gentlest touch. The winters are harsh and home. Come on, 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:52.960 let's get you to sleep, I whispered to Kyle. I 0:15:53.440 --> 0:16:02.800 just me to rest, to spell. He crackled. The chill 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:07.520 of the next morning woke me earlier than usual. I 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:10.120 thought the pilot light must have gone out at some 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:14.240 point in the middle of the night. I bowled on 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:17.800 my thickest robe and warmest house shoes, hoping that the 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:21.000 veritable sauna I'd created out of blankets had been enough 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:25.600 to keep Kyle Gibert warm on the couch that to 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:30.960 no one's real surprise, Kyle wasn't there. The blankets were 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:37.520 pulled tight and ducked in, completely undisturbed aside from their wetness, 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:42.760 damp and freezing cold like, Kyle was nothing but a 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:45.440 man shaped block of ice that had melted right through 0:16:45.480 --> 0:17:00.320 the sofa into the floorboards, absorbed into earth itself. Mh. 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:09.679 I didn't go back to work after that, never called 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:14.320 in or gave any notice. I just walked right past 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:21.080 the sheriff station, and kept on walking. They call Homer 0:17:22.160 --> 0:17:27.760 the end of the road. One way in, one way out. 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:32.920 I never tried walking past the end of the road 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:40.720 before until that next day. The sky was overcast, blinding white, 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:46.920 perfectly camouflaged against a new layer of fresh snow, impossible 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:49.399 to tell where the ground ended and the sky began. 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:54.200 And then in all that whiteness, night fell, and everything 0:17:54.280 --> 0:18:02.399 blotted out into an inky abyss there and then nothing. 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:09.760 There was something, the buzzing of a tiny faction of 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:18.240 best Kyle Gilbert's feedback laden laughter. And there were others too, 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:25.000 Recordings of recordings of droning, indecipherable whisper spattered through the dark, 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:29.520 static e siren songs for me to follow. So I did, 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:38.960 and then well you know where this is going, sparked 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:41.520 from the void. There was suddenly a beacon of light, 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:46.920 of flickering orange flame through thick tempered glass windows and 0:18:47.080 --> 0:19:02.280 olden you all hunkered down inside. Oh yeah, I have 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:05.280 to say, it's been so nice meeting all of you. 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:09.480 I'm sorry, I think the Knight's caught up with me 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:18.640 all of a sudden. I'm who's so tired? That's all right, though, 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:26.920 I'll be better. I just need to rest a spell. 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:34.520 You've come a very very long way, Noel, and it 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:37.959 just so happens that you've arrived at the very best 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:45.520 place to rest. Yes, good, I happen to have here 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:52.720 a beautiful key, simple brass, polished to shine, an older key, 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:57.800 hollow barrel, and baroque bow, one of my favorites. It 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:01.680 belongs to a door on the second all the second 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:05.760 door on the left. On the other side is the 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:09.920 very thing that you have come to find. I'll give 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:15.320 it to you. I hope that it will suffice. Thank you. 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:30.119 Go now, Noel, good night, good night? Ah Now where 0:20:30.160 --> 0:20:33.719 were we? Oh? The wine? We were talking about the wine, 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:39.000 and before that you were going to tell me your story? 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:46.640 Was I I do believe so I don't recall agreeing 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:53.560 to that. Oh well, I must be mistaken. But the 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:57.600 night is long, Annabelle, and there is more than enough time. 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:22.760 The True Out Twelve Ghosts, starring Malcolm McDowell as the 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:27.760 Innkeeper and Gina Rikiki as Annabelle. Episode two, rest a 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:32.399 Spell written by Zoe Cooper with additional writing by Nicholas Takowski, 0:21:32.920 --> 0:21:36.879 editing by Chris Childs and Stephen Perez featuring Suhila E. 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:41.760 Young as Noel. Directed by Nicholas Takowski. Original score and 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:47.280 sound design by Chris Childs. Executive producers Aaron Mankey, Matt Frederick, 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:53.560 Alexander Williams and Nicholas Takowski. Supervising producer Josh Stain. Producers 0:21:53.640 --> 0:21:57.960 Chris Child's and Stephen Perez. Casting by Sunday Bowling c 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:02.639 s A and Meg Mormon cs A. Production coordinator Wayna Calderon. 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:07.160 Recorded at Lantern Audio in Atlanta, Georgia, engineered by Chris 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:12.280 Gardner Arrows Sound and recording in Ojai, California, engineered by 0:22:12.359 --> 0:22:16.480 Ken Arrows. Twelve Ghosts was created by Nicholas Takoski. Then 0:22:16.560 --> 0:22:18.959 is a production of i Heeart three D Audio and 0:22:19.040 --> 0:22:21.840 Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Learn more about the 0:22:21.880 --> 0:22:24.680 show at Grim and Mild dot com and find more 0:22:24.680 --> 0:22:27.080 podcasts from my heart Radio by visiting the i heart 0:22:27.119 --> 0:22:30.360 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:31.080 favorite shows.