1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:05,360 Speaker 1: M thirteen days of Halloween is from grim and mild 2 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 1: blum house, and I heart three D audio headphones recommended. 3 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: Listener discretion advised. The schoolhouse. It's so forlorn. Yes, that 4 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:37,120 Speaker 1: is a good word for it. Forlorn, abandoned by those 5 00:00:37,159 --> 00:00:42,639 Speaker 1: who give it its purpose, bereft. Where are the children? Ah, 6 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 1: perhaps Miss Matson will enlighten you. She was there the 7 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:54,360 Speaker 1: day it happened. To Day. What happened? What is it? 8 00:00:55,520 --> 00:01:04,399 Speaker 1: What do you see? Large forms, whales and authors, many 9 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 1: arms circling overhead, and smaller things too, fish and then 10 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: and also they were waiting, it felt like. For What 11 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: do you think? I don't know. Come, we should speak 12 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:40,400 Speaker 1: to missus. Marton, come in, mother, hello, hello, Miss Mayton, 13 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:46,120 Speaker 1: and who is this? This is a guest. Ah, welcome then, 14 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: my friend has a question for you. Well, if I'm 15 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:53,720 Speaker 1: not here to educate, then what in fact, am I 16 00:01:53,760 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 1: here for? The schoolhouse? The playground? Mm Hmm, they are empty. Yes, well, 17 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:09,760 Speaker 1: where did they go? They're gone. They tried to warn us, 18 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:12,520 Speaker 1: but we didn't listen. Now it's too late and all 19 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:17,520 Speaker 1: the children and apologies, I didn't mean to startle you. 20 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: It's been quite some time since anyone's visited and I 21 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:26,079 Speaker 1: seem to have forgotten my manners. Allow me to introduce myself, 22 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:30,600 Speaker 1: Miss Matchin. I was the teacher here for well over 23 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:35,840 Speaker 1: twenty years. I suppose nowadays, caretaker would be a more 24 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:40,560 Speaker 1: apt description of my current position. And Yourself. I see 25 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:45,200 Speaker 1: you're new here in dybrook. It's in your eyes that 26 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:49,799 Speaker 1: delirious all were. Curiosity hasn't completely succumbed to dread yet. 27 00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:55,600 Speaker 1: Curiosity is good. It means you pay attention. You also 28 00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:57,919 Speaker 1: appear to have been on your feet all day. Please 29 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:01,800 Speaker 1: have a seat, catch your rings and perhaps indulge in 30 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:05,120 Speaker 1: old educator the opportunity to deliver a final history lesson 31 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 1: before ah, but we don't want to get ahead of ourselves, now, 32 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: do we please? said. Yes, right, there is fine, comfortable. 33 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: Let's see. Where was I? Ah, yes, at the beginning. 34 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:28,400 Speaker 1: This was many years ago, back when dybrook wasn't quite 35 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:33,799 Speaker 1: so m tire. It was a clear spring afternoon and 36 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: towards the end of recess, while the older children supervised 37 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 1: the younger ones, I stayed here grating papers. I remember 38 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:45,560 Speaker 1: hearing the usual laughter and shrieks against the ticking of 39 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: the clock. Then the shrieks became screams. As I rose 40 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 1: to investigate, a flash sparked from the corner of my eyes. 41 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:58,880 Speaker 1: Then their scream stopped, as did the ticking of the 42 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:03,480 Speaker 1: clock on the wall, as did my very thoughts. All 43 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:07,440 Speaker 1: I could hear was the ocean. Yes, you can always 44 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: hear the ocean here and I brook, but this was different. 45 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:16,159 Speaker 1: I could hear the waves, actually hear them as never before, 46 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,920 Speaker 1: their tides pulsing through my blood, their currency electric in 47 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:24,279 Speaker 1: each breath, until I didn't know where the sea ended 48 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:29,680 Speaker 1: and I began. Eventually over the waves, I heard my 49 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:34,520 Speaker 1: name called. I awoke to the Gustav Twins Bursting into 50 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:38,200 Speaker 1: the class room with hysterical bleed. They urged me from 51 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 1: the desk and led me towards the playground, their identical 52 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 1: smiles radiant, yet their faces flushed and still wet with tears. 53 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,480 Speaker 1: They wouldn't explain themselves and I was still too discombobulated 54 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:56,400 Speaker 1: to protest. Once outside, I saw them, the other children 55 00:04:56,920 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 1: all kneeling in a circle in the center of the 56 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:03,280 Speaker 1: kickball field. My body swayed to the tempo of their chat, 57 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:11,040 Speaker 1: the exceeding, indeeding, and in the places little hand reach, 58 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 1: the grags way out there with the stunts. The chill 59 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:24,919 Speaker 1: at my spine brought me back to my senses. I 60 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:28,160 Speaker 1: ordered the twins back inside then, with a shout only 61 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:31,039 Speaker 1: a teacher can give, demanded and enter the children's game. 62 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:35,280 Speaker 1: Stop running, come inside, sit down. That's what it must 63 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:39,840 Speaker 1: have been, after all, some sing song nonsense gone too far. 64 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:43,919 Speaker 1: That's what I thought then. Oh how I wish I 65 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:48,960 Speaker 1: had been right. Silently, their swaying ceased and the children 66 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:51,279 Speaker 1: rose from the dirt is one, to file back into 67 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:55,279 Speaker 1: the classroom, each with a radiant smile and cheeks that 68 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:59,919 Speaker 1: glistened with fresh tears. Back inside, I resumed the lesson 69 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:04,640 Speaker 1: and the students gazed blankly at me. Finally I let 70 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:07,120 Speaker 1: them use the remainder of their time to read quietly 71 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:10,560 Speaker 1: until their parents arrived. When I was last alone in 72 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:14,160 Speaker 1: the classroom, I turned off all the lights and listened, 73 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 1: and I wasn't wrong. The Ocean was louder now. The 74 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: next day, over half the class was absent, all of them, 75 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:28,480 Speaker 1: the ones who knelt in the field. The parents that 76 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:31,200 Speaker 1: bothered to call reported that their children had woken in 77 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:34,520 Speaker 1: the middle of the night with the fever and screaming 78 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:38,040 Speaker 1: in a language they had never heard before. The few 79 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:41,320 Speaker 1: remaining children that managed to show all looked as if 80 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:44,839 Speaker 1: they hadn't slept that night or any other. Possessed of 81 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:48,400 Speaker 1: an unrelenting curiosity, I abandoned the lesson plan to talk 82 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:53,719 Speaker 1: to the children. I asked them what happened at recess yesterday. Silence. 83 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:58,159 Speaker 1: Then the twins spoke up in unison. They reported watching 84 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:01,520 Speaker 1: the boys play in the field when a golden ball 85 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:04,479 Speaker 1: of light appeared above them. It hovered there for a 86 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: few moments and there was a sound like a wail 87 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 1: song that they could only hear inside their heads. Then 88 00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:13,840 Speaker 1: the light descended towards them and the sound grew louder. 89 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:18,120 Speaker 1: That's when everyone screamed. The ball of light burst to 90 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 1: flash and in its place stood the crack an angel. 91 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:26,040 Speaker 1: They all stopped screaming and formed a circle around it. 92 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:29,000 Speaker 1: It bide them to kneel, and that's what they did. 93 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:32,840 Speaker 1: It then told them a story. How long ago, their 94 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:35,720 Speaker 1: grandparents struck a deal when dyrebrook was on the verge 95 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 1: of economic collapse. It was then the angel appeared to 96 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:42,880 Speaker 1: them with an offer of plump fishing nets and harbors, 97 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:46,600 Speaker 1: spared from the ravages of tempest. They asked what the 98 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:51,960 Speaker 1: angel wanted from them in return. Okay, it replied. The 99 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:54,840 Speaker 1: dead could only be paid by the one child, and 100 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:58,240 Speaker 1: that child had not been offered because the dead had 101 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:01,320 Speaker 1: not been paid. The crack an angel has returned to 102 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:03,560 Speaker 1: collect the children of dyre brook to come live with 103 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 1: it where the ocean meets the stars. I then asked 104 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 1: the children to draw from me this crack an angel. 105 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 1: What they produced was a picture of a towering man 106 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: with peacock wings and a black smudge for a head, 107 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:27,520 Speaker 1: from which radiated tendrils that reached outward. The next day, 108 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:31,239 Speaker 1: only five children arrived for school. They were all Pale 109 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:36,040 Speaker 1: with black rings around their eyes. The parents I managed 110 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:38,440 Speaker 1: to speak with reported their children had been up all 111 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:45,880 Speaker 1: night in fevered conversation with imaginary friends or or babbling incomprehensibly. Ultimately, though, 112 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:48,720 Speaker 1: they dismissed my concerns when I mentioned others had reported 113 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:53,040 Speaker 1: similar symptoms, by reminding me that everyone has bad dreams 114 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:57,040 Speaker 1: and diyre brook. I tried to instill some much needed normalcy. 115 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,120 Speaker 1: I declared a pop quiz. I received none of the 116 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:03,720 Speaker 1: usual groans or gasps. The tests were passed out and 117 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:05,920 Speaker 1: at the end of twenty minutes returned to my desk, 118 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:13,240 Speaker 1: each page filled with hieroglyphs and are cane symbols. Outside 119 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:16,080 Speaker 1: I could hear the waves crashing as if they were 120 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:20,600 Speaker 1: at the front door. That night we all slept deeper 121 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:23,960 Speaker 1: than we ever had, all the adults that I brook, 122 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:27,920 Speaker 1: even those who worked night shifts, Sheriff Caine, as well 123 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:31,320 Speaker 1: as Maggie and gusts at dotty's. All night diner dreamed 124 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:34,880 Speaker 1: of the children who entered our rooms and leaned down 125 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:38,360 Speaker 1: to our frozen bodies to whisper in an alien language, 126 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:42,280 Speaker 1: some forgotten promise or omen there. And when we woke 127 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:47,959 Speaker 1: the next morning they were gone, all of them. Don't 128 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,680 Speaker 1: ask how we knew, but something told us to go 129 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:55,520 Speaker 1: to the beach. There we found the footprints, child's eye, 130 00:09:56,400 --> 00:09:59,680 Speaker 1: all leading across the sand towards the ocean, and none 131 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:02,719 Speaker 1: of them returning from it. The only thing left of 132 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:06,400 Speaker 1: them was it? The Single Poo bear, the one little 133 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:09,880 Speaker 1: Jimmy Vander carried with him everywhere, found bobbing on the waves. 134 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:15,400 Speaker 1: Of course there were search parties, boats deployed, divers, the 135 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:19,960 Speaker 1: shores were searched thoroughly. There should have been bodies. None 136 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:23,640 Speaker 1: were found. There was a brief media frenzy that eventually 137 00:10:23,679 --> 00:10:27,480 Speaker 1: died down once another random tragedy and another random town 138 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:32,079 Speaker 1: in America occurred. Diet Brooks mystery was abandoned and its 139 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:34,200 Speaker 1: residents were left to pick up the pieces as best 140 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:38,080 Speaker 1: they could manage. What few children born over the years 141 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:41,920 Speaker 1: since that day are home schooled. No one comes here anymore, 142 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:46,959 Speaker 1: no one, that is, except me. You see, there's something 143 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:50,640 Speaker 1: I've never told anyone here before, none of the greeting 144 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 1: parents or Stoic police officers, story hungry reporters. In my dream, 145 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:00,320 Speaker 1: it was the Gustav twins that visited me at night, 146 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:04,000 Speaker 1: and while all the other parents could only hear an 147 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:08,800 Speaker 1: indecipherable language from their sons and daughters, I alone understood 148 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:13,520 Speaker 1: their words. Don't be sad, MS match, we're coming back 149 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:17,280 Speaker 1: one day soon, all of us, back from where the 150 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:20,480 Speaker 1: ocean meets the stars, and we'll bring the crack an 151 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:23,480 Speaker 1: angel with us. Then it will be our turn to 152 00:11:23,559 --> 00:11:28,600 Speaker 1: teach you what we learned. Since that night. I come 153 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:32,720 Speaker 1: back to this classroom each and every day. I sit 154 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:37,560 Speaker 1: right here, patiently waiting behind my desk for the day 155 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:41,240 Speaker 1: the children will return and deliver to me, to all 156 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:56,360 Speaker 1: of us. The final lesson the crack an angel. Poor girl, 157 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:02,079 Speaker 1: it was too much, wasn't it? There were so much. 158 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:08,040 Speaker 1: They were there. This one has the gift side. Mm Hmm, 159 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:15,360 Speaker 1: so it seems. Poor girl, can you stand, I think? 160 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:24,440 Speaker 1: All right. Well, we should be on our way, Miss Matson, 161 00:12:25,559 --> 00:12:33,600 Speaker 1: father be with you. Everything returns to him. Come on, well, 162 00:12:33,880 --> 00:12:36,920 Speaker 1: we should hurry along to the doctors. Surely He's back 163 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:39,800 Speaker 1: by now. And it looks like we have a storm brewing. 164 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:48,080 Speaker 1: The CROCK and Angel. What about him? Is He? Is 165 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:52,960 Speaker 1: he part of your religion? He is the whole of 166 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:56,720 Speaker 1: our religion. The father in the sea has many names, 167 00:12:56,800 --> 00:13:01,080 Speaker 1: good bleaks, but our clocking angel, the holy arms, all 168 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:05,480 Speaker 1: our forms of the same he who gives and he 169 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:12,960 Speaker 1: to whom everything returns. I think that I saw him. 170 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:19,400 Speaker 1: What my vision? Everything was circling around himmy was Nope, 171 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:22,439 Speaker 1: don't tell me. If he wanted for me to see him, 172 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:27,320 Speaker 1: he would show himself. Now, come on, before the rain 173 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:42,760 Speaker 1: washes that mind of yours clean again tomorrow. On thirteen 174 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:48,520 Speaker 1: days of Halloween, the doctor's office. It started with a 175 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:53,439 Speaker 1: girl no more than thirteen. Her sight was dimming, save 176 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:59,439 Speaker 1: for a red smear that flashed each time she blinked. 177 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:06,840 Speaker 1: Languor listlessness, but sleeplessness as well. She was in some 178 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:14,200 Speaker 1: sort of infectious half life, the Fisher King's malady. It's 179 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:16,200 Speaker 1: like when you look at the Sun, you get that 180 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:22,640 Speaker 1: red smear, she told me, retinal afterimage. I said she 181 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:24,640 Speaker 1: was a nice young girl whom I had seen around 182 00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:29,640 Speaker 1: dating the son of a family friend, so it was 183 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:35,120 Speaker 1: natural that my radar was pinged when the family friend 184 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:38,440 Speaker 1: came in with the son in tow and described the 185 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:50,480 Speaker 1: same symptoms. Thirteen days of Halloween the schoolhouse, starring Kathen to, Jimmy, 186 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:55,040 Speaker 1: Bethany and Lynde and April Parker Jones. Written by Rob Mosca, 187 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:59,680 Speaker 1: with additional material by Nicholas Takowski. Sound Design and mixing 188 00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:04,720 Speaker 1: by Trevor Young, engineering by violent FERTZON, dubway studios New York, 189 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:09,560 Speaker 1: casting by Jessica Losa. Created by Matt Frederick and Alex Williams, 190 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:13,560 Speaker 1: with executive producer Aaron Manky, a production of I heart radio, 191 00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:16,000 Speaker 1: grim and mild and blumhouse television.