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Chilling Tales for Dark Nights: A Horror Anthology and Scary Stories Series Podcast
318: Cursed Conscience - Chilling Tales for Dark Nights
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318: Cursed Conscience - Chilling Tales for Dark Nights
Update: 2024-11-20
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Welcome to episode 318, with NEW HOST Geoff Sturtevant.
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Transcript
00:00:00
It's time to turn off the lights and turn on the dark.
00:00:06
Dreamtails for dark nights.
00:00:11
[Music]
00:00:39
[Music]
00:00:45
Good evening, listener.
00:00:47
You're listening to "Chilling Tales for Dark Nights".
00:00:51
On tonight's edition, we invite you to leave behind your safe reality and descend with us into the frightening depths of the most terrifying imaginations.
00:01:02
With an audio adaptation of frightening fiction, about conscience, and curses.
00:01:11
I'm your host, Jeff Sturtavant, and tonight I'll be your guide as we traverse the dimly lit corridors of your darkest dreams.
00:01:22
It's just you and me tonight, and we'll be bringing to life the frightening fiction of excellent author, R.K.
00:01:29
Combrink.
00:01:31
Now, get your ticket ready, take your seat in our theater of the minds, and brace yourself.
00:01:40
It's time to turn off the lights, and turn on the dark.
00:01:48
[Music]
00:01:51
Our tale this evening is written by R.K.
00:01:54
Combrink, and performed by myself.
00:01:57
In it, we join a man who finds himself a victim of circumstance.
00:02:03
Only his circumstances are about to get worse.
00:02:08
Now, without further ado, I present to you, on powdered wings.
00:02:17
Glenn felt an unpleasant tickle at the nape of his neck.
00:02:21
He reached back and swatted at the spot, too late to catch whatever had lit there.
00:02:27
He looked around the room, checking to make sure the window was shut.
00:02:31
"Got damn bugs."
00:02:34
He turned back to his monitor and frowned at the rows and columns of numbers that spread across it.
00:02:40
His eyes were burning in watery from going over the sums and balances again and again.
00:02:45
Child support, too high interest loans, as car payment, sex wife's car payment, the mortgage payment,
00:02:55
and a house he no longer lived in, and the rent on a shitty apartment.
00:03:02
Glenn heaved a growling sigh and pushed away from the desk, rubbing his eyes.
00:03:07
He started for the kitchen to get some more coffee, when something small and dark flew at his face and batted against his cheek.
00:03:16
Startled, he threw his arm up defensively and let out a yell.
00:03:20
He staggered back his step, jamming painfully against the edge of the open closet door.
00:03:26
"Oh, Christ."
00:03:29
Stumbling away from the closet, he plopped down onto his bed and tried to rub his back where he'd collided with the door.
00:03:36
He looked around the room again and this time spotted the culprit, clinging silently to the curtain across from him.
00:03:44
It was a big black moth.
00:03:47
Its wings flexed insolently, taunting him.
00:03:51
Glenn glared at it, his jaw clenched and his eyebrows drew together.
00:03:57
In that moment, all his problems, small and large, somehow became the fault of the calmly quavering insect on the curtain.
00:04:08
He searched the floor for something to kill it with and found a wrinkled apartment guide peeking out from beneath the bed.
00:04:16
He leaned forward and grabbed it, rolling it up as he stood.
00:04:20
He moved toward it, pushing through the dirty clothes on his bedroom floor.
00:04:26
He stood, transfixed for a moment, watching its black wings and its barely visible twitching antennae.
00:04:34
It seemed entirely indifferent to his presence.
00:04:38
It mocked him with its nonchalance.
00:04:41
Fury bloomed in his cheeks and forehead.
00:04:45
He shouted and swung the magazine with hysterical force at the curtain, pounding at the spot the moth clung to.
00:04:53
It was too fast for him and anticipated his strike.
00:04:57
It took off from the curtain with a casual flutter of its wings and floated gracefully to the ceiling.
00:05:04
Meanwhile, in his violent zeal, Glenn had managed to step on the curtain, where it pooled on the floor, tearing it from the rod.
00:05:13
He let out a strangled cry and spun around.
00:05:16
His heart was pounding, he was dizzy and his head ached.
00:05:22
The moth was now nestled comfortably against the screen of Glenn's computer monitor.
00:05:27
He weren't even close.
00:05:31
Glenn pulled his arm back, ready to pulverize the dusty intruder against the screen when a moment of clarity crowded its way past the range.
00:05:40
All you're going to do is wreck your computer and then what?
00:05:44
Then when it lands on your TV, you're going to smash that into?
00:05:48
How about your mirror?
00:05:50
Let it go.
00:05:51
Glenn let the apartment guide slip from his fingers.
00:05:56
His head was throbbing.
00:05:58
He winced, kneading his temples and lurched out of the bedroom, flipping off the light as he passed.
00:06:05
In a small kitchenette, Glenn poured himself a lukewarm mug of coffee.
00:06:10
He took a swing and grimaced.
00:06:13
He refilled his cup and made his way into the front room of the apartment.
00:06:17
With a groan, he settled gingerly into a ratty thrift store easy chair.
00:06:23
For a $20 piece of trash, it was surprisingly comfortable.
00:06:27
He leaned his head back, closed his eyes and took another drink.
00:06:33
He thought about the business with Alvita Criano.
00:06:37
It had been very unpleasant and the memory dragged the corners of his mouth down into a scowl.
00:06:43
It had started a few weeks earlier when a man named Efren Criano, a man Glenn had never met, seen or heard of, died of a sudden heart attack.
00:06:53
After submitting a claim for his $250,000 life insurance policy, his widow Alvita received a letter, drafted by Glenn from within his small,
00:07:04
great cubicle, stating that her husband's policy had unfortunately been rescinded.
00:07:09
The heart attack had been caused by a congenital defect which hadn't been disclosed on the original application.
00:07:17
According to the letter, they regretted to inform her of this unfortunate miscommunication and would refund the $7,000 that had been paid into the policy.
00:07:27
The letter wished her all the best and was signed.
00:07:31
Sincerely, Glenn R.
00:07:33
Michaels claims representative.
00:07:37
A few days after sending the letter, Glenn received a call from the distraught widow.
00:07:43
"Mr.
00:07:43
Michaels, how will we make this right?
00:07:46
We will fix this so I'm not left out in the cold?"
00:07:50
She had a very thick accent.
00:07:51
It wasn't exactly Spanish and it wasn't quite Caribbean.
00:07:56
Glenn idly wondered where she was from.
00:08:00
"Look, Mrs.
00:08:00
Criano, I wish there was something I could do to help you."
00:08:05
Glenn's tone had been low and miserable.
00:08:08
These conversations made him feel dirty.
00:08:11
"I really do.
00:08:14
The problem is that your husband's condition wasn't disclosed on this application and therefore wasn't considered when assessing his risk.
00:08:21
If they can't properly assess the risk, then, unfortunately, the policy is considered falsified.
00:08:28
I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but that's the way they view it.
00:08:32
I'm very sorry."
00:08:34
Her voice had come back louder and shakier.
00:08:38
"It did not even know he had this heart disease.
00:08:42
How can you tell something if you don't know about it?"
00:08:45
She'd begun choking back sobs.
00:08:47
"How can you punish us for things we couldn't control?"
00:08:53
Mrs.
00:08:53
Criano, I'm really very sorry.
00:08:56
He had started to sweat and guilt churned like acid in a stomach.
00:09:02
What you don't understand is that this is something I can't control either.
00:09:06
If I could, I would love nothing more than to approve your claim.
00:09:10
But those issues are decided by someone else in a different department, and unfortunately, they have the legal right to do so.
00:09:19
Her sobs had been replaced by a derisive laugh then.
00:09:23
"Huh.
00:09:24
Legal right?
00:09:26
We'll see who has the legal rights here, Mr.
00:09:29
Glenn Michaels.
00:09:30
We'll just see."
00:09:32
Then there'd been a loud click in Glenn's ear, and Mrs.
00:09:35
Criano was suddenly gone.
00:09:38
Glenn sighed as he hung up his receiver.
00:09:41
He had a feeling he'd be hearing from her again.
00:09:44
And three days later, he did.
00:09:47
Mrs.
00:09:48
Criano, Alvita, Glenn's tone had gone from professionally cool to defensive, as soon as he realized who was on the phone with him.
00:09:58
"I'll thank you to call me Mrs.
00:10:00
Criano or nothing at all, Mr.
00:10:02
Michaels."
00:10:03
The widow's emotions weren't tighter control that day, but Glenn sensed the royal encase that surged beneath the surface.
00:10:11
It was a slight wavering tremor in her voice that betrayed her confessor.
00:10:17
"Okay, then, Mrs.
00:10:19
Criano.
00:10:20
I'm not sure what else there is for us to talk about.
00:10:23
I told you when we spoke the other day, you told me nothing.
00:10:27
I'm only calling today to ask you for your supervisor's name and extension, please."
00:10:32
Glenn gave Mrs.
00:10:33
Criano the information and was promptly hung up on.
00:10:37
He'd felt better.
00:10:39
She was in someone else's hands.
00:10:41
She would almost certainly threaten a lawsuit, and she'd be calmly invited to go ahead and do so.
00:10:48
Any half-competent lawyer would explain that she had no case, and that, presumably, would be the end of that.
00:10:56
Glenn had gone back to his paperwork after that.
00:10:59
A tiny grin surfacing as he imagined the tongue-lashing that Steve, his supervisor, was going to receive.
00:11:07
Several more days went by quietly with no word from the widow, and Glenn figured the situation had been put to rest.
00:11:15
Then she showed up at Glenn's office, appearing right outside his cubicle like a sudden storm.
00:11:22
Glenn had been sitting at his desk, writing an email to his ex-wife's attorney.
00:11:27
Lisa was petitioning to raise the amount of his child support payment.
00:11:31
When a voice called from behind his back, a familiar voice with an unmistakable accent.
00:11:38
"Mr.
00:11:39
Michaels, turn around, please.
00:11:41
I want to see the face of the man who would steal from me."
00:11:46
Glenn couldn't believe it.
00:11:48
How did she get in here?
00:11:50
A person had to have a security patch to get into the office, unless they had an appointment, and she most certainly did not have an appointment,
00:12:00
not with him.
00:12:02
Reluctantly, Glenn spun around on a swivel chair.
00:12:06
He was very nervous, scared, really.
00:12:10
Avita Criano did not look at all the way Glenn had imagined her.
00:12:14
He had pictured a hunched-over-old lady in a shawl with gray hair, maybe pulled into a bun.
00:12:22
The woman who stood before him that day was none of that.
00:12:26
For one thing, she was young.
00:12:28
Younger than Glenn anyway.
00:12:30
In her late 30s, her very early 40s.
00:12:33
She was short and curvy, with huge, smoky eyes.
00:12:37
Long black hair fell in messy tangles past her shoulders, and she was dressed simply but stylish.
00:12:45
In spite of everything, Glenn thought she was very attractive.
00:12:50
Mrs.
00:12:50
Criano, you shouldn't be here.
00:12:55
Glenn saw heads popping up over cubicle walls, and chairs sliding out into the aisle, as people responded to the sounds of raised voices.
00:13:05
He and Mrs.
00:13:05
Criano were center stage.
00:13:08
How did you get in here?
00:13:11
The small woman's eyes flashed with fury.
00:13:14
She waved her hand with a dismissive gesture and chuffed like an agitated horse.
00:13:19
"Are you worried?
00:13:20
Are you feeling like someone just pulled a rug out from under you, Mr.
00:13:24
Michaels?"
00:13:25
"Thinking about how embarrassing this is going to be for you?"
00:13:29
"Yes?"
00:13:30
"You aren't thinking of anything else, are you?"
00:13:34
Her voice had gotten very loud.
00:13:37
"You care nothing for my suffering.
00:13:39
You don't care about anyone, but Glenn are Michaels."
00:13:43
He knew the eyes of the entire office were devouring the exchange.
00:13:49
"Please lower your voice.
00:13:50
We can talk about this rationally.
00:13:52
I'll call my supervisor down and we can figure this out together," but Mrs.
00:13:57
Criano cut him off.
00:13:59
"Stop whining, pig.
00:14:01
You can do nothing.
00:14:03
You can say nothing that will make me feel better.
00:14:06
I am here to share a little of my."
00:14:09
She spun her hand in the air as she searched for the right word.
00:14:13
"My misery, with you, and you will listen to me."
00:14:20
Glenn thought about how he'd looked around at his coworkers.
00:14:24
They hadn't had to day this good since the time Lionel Prager had come into the office stinking drunk and tried to fondle a young intern while singing Billy Joel's "My Life,"
00:14:34
the top of his lungs.
00:14:36
A few years and neck burned with embarrassment at the knowledge that he was the new Lionel Prager.
00:14:43
"Mr.
00:14:43
Criano, I'm not kidding.
00:14:45
Unless you calm down, I'm not going to discuss anything with you."
00:14:51
A small woman laughed, an ugly, jagged sound, and clapped her hands and mock applause.
00:14:57
"Oh, it's starting to find its balls now, huh?
00:15:00
Good for you.
00:15:01
But it doesn't matter at them to me."
00:15:05
"I'll yell and scream and holler as much as I want, till my lungs shatter and my throat shreds."
00:15:11
"I'll stomp my feet and curse your name, and you're going to hear every word of it, because you owe me this.
00:15:18
Me and Efren."
00:15:22
It was like his ex-wife all over again.
00:15:25
Lisa, for his inability to provide a more comfortable existence, saying he wasn't a real provider, tearing him down in front of the family court mediator,
00:15:37
and worse in front of their daughters.
00:15:40
Anger, like hot venom, spread through his body.
00:15:45
His hands balled into fists out of sides as he stood from his chair.
00:15:49
He could feel his left eye twitching.
00:15:53
Glenn pointed to shaky finger at Mrs.
00:15:56
Criano.
00:15:57
"I am sorry for your loss, Mrs.
00:16:01
Criano.
00:16:02
Sorry, I truly am.
00:16:04
But I am not the one who denied your claim.
00:16:08
You want to explode on somebody?
00:16:11
Rain downhill?
00:16:12
Find the asshole that sent the email telling me to inform you that your policy was denied."
00:16:21
Glenn was breathing hard.
00:16:23
His hands were shaking.
00:16:26
Mrs.
00:16:26
Criano strode forward until her upturned face was only inches from Glenn's.
00:16:32
"Shift the blame you snake.
00:16:34
Just go ahead and shift it."
00:16:37
She was shouting now.
00:16:39
"The letter had your name on it.
00:16:41
Or the one and only asshole I want to rain hell down on.
00:16:46
My husband put his faith and his hard earned money into your worthless company thinking that if anything should happen to him, I would be cared for."
00:16:55
"Your letter.
00:16:56
Yours.
00:16:57
Shit and pissed all over him."
00:17:01
"We gave you your goddamn money back."
00:17:03
Glenn's voice had matched Mrs.
00:17:06
Criano's in volume.
00:17:07
"You can't say we cheated you.
00:17:09
We gave back every penny you paid us."
00:17:12
"You mean you flung it back in my face as if we weren't good enough for you to keep your promises to?
00:17:18
That's barely enough to cover his burial.
00:17:20
How am I supposed to live now?
00:17:22
What am I supposed to do?"
00:17:25
Mrs.
00:17:25
Criano reached forward and grabbed double handfuls of Glenn's shirt and tugged violently at him.
00:17:31
Her knuckles pressing into a soft belly.
00:17:35
"Get a fucking job, I guess."
00:17:39
Without thinking, Glenn shoved Mrs.
00:17:42
Criano hard.
00:17:44
She stumbled backwards a few steps, losing her grips on a shirt and tripped as her feet tangled together.
00:17:51
She went to the ground, landing on her ample behind with a soft thud and a collective gasp swept through the crowd of gockers.
00:18:01
Mrs.
00:18:01
Criano's star guys went wide with shock for a moment, before narrowing to furious black slits.
00:18:08
Somewhere across the office, a door opened, and the crackle of hurried heavy footsteps approached.
00:18:15
Someone had called security.
00:18:17
Mrs.
00:18:17
Criano stood and swept her gaze across the room, meeting the hungry eyes of each curious face that regarded her.
00:18:26
She straightened her shirt, tugging it out from beneath her bosom and dusted off the back of her pants.
00:18:33
Then she turned back to Glenn.
00:18:36
"You will not hear from me again, Mr.
00:18:38
Glenn Michaels.
00:18:40
I will not call you or write you or visit your office anymore."
00:18:45
Mrs.
00:18:45
Criano, please, I'm so sorry.
00:18:49
Glenn was suddenly filled with dark, heavy shame.
00:18:53
He couldn't believe that he'd put his hands on a woman, a widow, grieving the loss of her husband.
00:19:00
A widow who was angry over what could rightfully be seen as an underhanded trick by the insurance company to screw her.
00:19:07
If Lisa were here, she would sneer and say she wasn't surprised at all.
00:19:12
But Glenn was.
00:19:14
He would never have thought in a million years he was capable of such a thing.
00:19:19
I didn't mean to push you like that.
00:19:23
I'm really so very sorry about all of this.
00:19:27
His cheeks were burning, but the rest of him was ice-cold.
00:19:33
The apology hung in the air between them as a tall, skinny security guard burst into the aisle.
00:19:39
"Is there a problem here?"
00:19:41
All eyes now turn to him and somewhere behind a cubicle wall someone snickered.
00:19:49
Mrs.
00:19:49
Criano spat a frothy glob of saliva to the floor.
00:19:53
Her eyes, filled with contempt, locked on Glenn who stood looking at the ground, unable to meet her gaze.
00:20:02
"There isn't any more.
00:20:03
Not for me."
00:20:05
"Okay, but I'm gonna have to escort you out now, ma'am."
00:20:09
The security guard stood, watching her nervously.
00:20:12
"Follow me this way, please."
00:20:16
Mrs.
00:20:16
Criano turned a vicious eye on the young guard, as if noticing him for the first time.
00:20:22
He chewed his lips, uncomfortable in the heat of her scrutiny, but did not look away.
00:20:28
After a moment, the petite, angry woman nodded her head and sauntered down the aisle.
00:20:34
Past Glenn and the guard, blind to the eyes that avidly drank in every detail of her departure.
00:20:41
The young security guard turned and followed her, and soon they were at the other end of the office and out the door.
00:20:49
Sprawled in a second-hand easy chair with kettle drums pounding behind his eyelids, Glenn was helpless against the memory, thinking about it made him nauseous.
00:21:01
He sat that way, sipping his cold, bitter coffee for a long time, trying to blot out the ugly scene with any other thought, even thoughts of Lisa and the divorce.
00:21:13
But Glenn couldn't erase the image of Mrs.
00:21:15
Criano's eyes, blazing with malice, staring him down as she spat on the floor before walking away.
00:21:23
It just kept playing over and over in his mind like some nightmare video on a loop.
00:21:29
Eventually he slipped into an uneasy sleep, dreaming of beautiful but angry women who shrieked at him from above, on brightly colored wings.
00:21:41
The next day crawled by slowly but uneventfully.
00:21:45
When his work was finally over, Glenn stepped into his apartment, tired but glad to be home.
00:21:52
He microwaved a burrito for dinner and washed it down with three bottles of very cheap beer, watching an endless parade of reality TV.
00:22:01
When he realized it was midnight, he dragged himself out of his chair and down the hall to take a piss, and then tumbled into bed.
00:22:10
His eyes slipped shut almost immediately and he fell into a fuzzy sleep.
00:22:17
An hour later, he snapped suddenly and completely awake, blinking in the darkness.
00:22:23
"Hello?
00:22:25
Lisa?"
00:22:26
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, you remembered that he was alone, or at least he was supposed to be.
00:22:34
Someone had broken through his thin shell of sleep.
00:22:38
He lay there, propped up on one elbow, trying to filter out all the usual night sounds to catch whatever had startled him into consciousness.
00:22:48
A thumb at the window above his bed.
00:22:52
A soft tap that finished with a fluttery burst against the screen came again, then a third time.
00:23:02
Glenn climbed to his knees on his mattress and scooted to the window.
00:23:06
He pulled the curtain aside and was greeted with the sight of dozens of grey, unilating moths pressed against the window.
00:23:15
The thumping of their fuzzy little bodies hitting the screen as more and more came to light there.
00:23:22
They squirmed against each other, the buzz of their wings like whispering voices as they tried to find purchase with their sticky feet.
00:23:31
Thump.
00:23:32
There was another.
00:23:36
Thump.
00:23:36
And another.
00:23:38
Glenn uttered a disgusted grunt and slammed his open palm against the window.
00:23:44
A few disengaged, hanging in the air, ghost-like, before resettling somewhere else.
00:23:51
Most of them hadn't seemed to notice at all.
00:23:54
He tapped the window in different places, hard with his fingers, trying to startled them off.
00:24:01
They were indifferent.
00:24:03
Not only were they not leaving, but more continued to drop out of the night sky, thudding onto the moving grey mass.
00:24:12
Glenn swallowed hard and let the curtain back down.
00:24:16
He didn't like looking at them clinging that way.
00:24:20
Why are they doing that?
00:24:23
There were no lights on in the apartment, made no sense.
00:24:27
There wasn't anything to attract them.
00:24:31
Glenn lay back down on top of his covers and gathered his pillow in his arms.
00:24:36
What is going on?
00:24:39
He decided to put a call in the front office first thing in the morning to find out if anyone else was having problems.
00:24:46
He closed his eyes and tried to get comfortable, but sleep evaded him.
00:24:51
The sound of the moths plunking against the outer screen continued through the night.
00:24:57
For a good long time, Glenn pretended to ignore it, hovering between fully alert and pitiful dozing.
00:25:06
Every time he started to slip into any real kind of sleep, the image of the mall, fluttering and thumping on the other side of the wall, dragged him back to waking.
00:25:19
Finally, when the red numbers on his clock showed 527, Glenn got up, grabbed his blankets and stomped out to his easy chair, where he couldn't hear the moths anymore.
00:25:31
He wrapped the blanket around himself and fell almost instantly into a deep, peaceful slumber.
00:25:38
At 630, his alarm began blaring.
00:25:42
Glenn's eyes, bleary and sore, snapped open, and he sighed heavily.
00:25:48
It was time to get up for work.
00:25:52
The only good thing about that day was that it was Friday.
00:25:56
Glenn drifted through it in a gray haze.
00:25:59
He felt like a miserable phantom trapped in a box, pushing papers listlessly around, pretending to read them.
00:26:07
Nothing that crossed his desk got done, and the hours dragged on with endless monotony.
00:26:14
Finally, at a quarter to five, Glenn shoved everything into his desk with a disgusted sigh, stood, and shuffled out of the office.
00:26:24
After walking into his apartment, he locked the front door and went straight to his bedroom, dropping, fully dressed, on the disheveled covers.
00:26:34
He was asleep in minutes.
00:26:37
It was just after 9 o'clock when he startled awake by the thudding at his window.
00:26:42
With the yelp of frustration, Glenn rose to his knees on the mattress and tore the curtain aside, revealing a modelled grey blanket of furry bodies, writhing against the screen.
00:26:54
There were more than the night before, many, many more.
00:27:00
Glenn couldn't see any patch of sky through the tightly packed mass.
00:27:04
With soft thumbs, more kept adding themselves to the orgy of wings and grasping legs.
00:27:12
Glenn pounded the window, rattling it in the frame.
00:27:16
"Get out of here!
00:27:18
Go!
00:27:18
Shoo!" He hammered his fist against the glass as hard as he dared, over and over again, until his neighbour whacked their own fist against the wall that separated the apartments.
00:27:31
Glenn pulled back, letting the curtain fall and fished his phone out of his pocket.
00:27:37
After a few moments of searching, he found the number to the apartment complex on his contacts list.
00:27:44
In this exhaustion, he'd forgotten all about calling to complain about the moths, but he'd be damned if he was going to let this go on any longer.
00:27:53
He pressed send and held the phone up to his ear.
00:27:57
After five long, patience-testing rings, a refreshing, if distant, female voice came on the line.
00:28:05
"Thank you for calling M&R properties LLC.
00:28:08
The office is now closed."
00:28:11
Glenn gritted his teeth, his forehead getting hot.
00:28:16
Our business hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.
00:28:20
to 9 p.m., Saturday, 10 to 8, and Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.
00:28:26
He glanced at the clock on his phone, 909.
00:28:32
If you have questions about availability in any of our communities, or would like to schedule a walkthrough, please leave your name, number and a good time to reach you.
00:28:40
If you are attendant with an emergency maintenance issue, please call our on-call service head.
00:28:48
With the enormous effort, Glenn managed to keep from dashing his phone to pieces against the wall.
00:28:54
He thumbed the end button and tossed it on the nightstand.
00:28:59
For the second night in a row, he found himself gathering up his blanket and going out to the living room to sleep in his easy chair.
00:29:08
At least I don't have to get up for work than Christ.
00:29:12
He curled up, blanket clutched tightly to his chin and tried to find his way back to sleep.
00:29:20
He spent some time seething there in the cool dock of his living room before it finally came, bearing bad dreams.
00:29:30
The next afternoon, after waking up groggy and out of sorts, Glenn called the management office back.
00:29:37
This time the pleasantly cool feminine voice was alive.
00:29:42
It's a great day at M&R Properties.
00:29:45
This is Whitney.
00:29:46
How can I help you?
00:29:48
Suddenly with a silky voice of the receptionist in his ear, Glenn felt embarrassed about his problem.
00:29:55
What was he supposed to say?
00:29:57
"Hi, I'm calling because a bunch of moths.
00:30:01
Really nothing more than ugly butterflies are keeping me up at night.
00:30:04
Can you help me with this?"
00:30:06
In the light of day, after a couple cups of coffee and shower, it sounded absurd.
00:30:13
His ex-wife had humiliated him enough over the course of their marriage and divorce.
00:30:18
He didn't need to do it to himself.
00:30:21
"Sorry," he mumbled, wrong number.
00:30:26
Glenn slipped his phone into his pocket and went into the bedroom.
00:30:31
He crouched on his bed and shoved the single panel curtain as far to the left as it would go on its rod.
00:30:37
He examined the window, trying to understand what was drawing the moths, which were, at the moment, completely absent.
00:30:46
He ran his fingers along the edges, looking for gaps through which his hair conditioning could slip.
00:30:53
He didn't know if cool air would attract them or not, but it didn't matter because his window was well sealed.
00:31:00
He wondered if there was a strange smell that was getting their attention.
00:31:05
He leaned his forehead against the glass and sniffed.
00:31:09
Just the usual, musty mildew smell.
00:31:12
Nothing out of the ordinary.
00:31:15
He let the curtain fall back and climbed off the bed.
00:31:19
As he headed back into the hallway, he glanced back over his shoulder at the window.
00:31:24
This has been the weirdest week.
00:31:29
With the moths stealing his sleep and the creator woman terrorizing him with her grieve, Glenn hadn't felt so drained since his wife had asked for the divorce.
00:31:39
He thought maybe he'd go call the kids.
00:31:42
That would lift his spirits.
00:31:44
Either that or it would make him feel worse.
00:31:49
He settled back into his chair and dialed his eldest daughter's number.
00:31:54
When her voicemail picked up, Glenn clicked the phone shot and sighed heavily.
00:31:59
A lump in his throat.
00:32:02
He turned on the TV, letting its vacuous nonsense anesthetize him.
00:32:08
This went on through Glenn's dinner of baloney and cheese on bread, with a sigh of four beers, and continued afterwards until he fell asleep in front of the napping television.
00:32:21
Glenn woke on Sunday with a slime of drool dribbling from the corner of his open mouth and a crick in his neck.
00:32:28
He'd slept the whole night through, free from moths or dreams.
00:32:33
Just this slight change made the day feel like a fresh start.
00:32:38
He decided to go out and take a drive.
00:32:41
He showered, dressed, and stepped outside his apartment for the first time since coming home Friday night.
00:32:48
It was a beautiful day.
00:32:50
The sun was high and the humidity was low.
00:32:53
A sweet breeze blew across the front step, and Glenn smiled for the first time in weeks.
00:33:00
After a day spent cruising around town with the windows down, running errands and enjoying the weather, Glenn returned home with Chinese food from the place up the street.
00:33:11
He ate with the radio on instead of the TV and only had one beer.
00:33:17
He didn't feel any anxiety until it was time to go to bed.
00:33:21
Glenn was afraid of laying down in his room and having his first good day and age as ruined by an army of tiny flying intruders knocking at his window.
00:33:32
He thought about it for a while and then decided to make his chair comfortable with the sheet his pillow and a blanket.
00:33:40
He said about creating his makeshift bed and once it was properly fluffed, he climbed in and curled up with a small sigh.
00:33:49
The sheet was cool against his bare back and the blanket settled around him.
00:33:55
Glenn closed his eyes and soon drifted into a peaceful sleep.
00:34:01
He woke up sometime later, panting.
00:34:04
Something was wrong.
00:34:07
After a few seconds he realized he was hot, coated with a sheen of sweat, his blanket twisted around his body.
00:34:16
He sat up in the dark, the sheet sticking to his back and looked around, confused.
00:34:23
Why is it so goddamn hot in here?
00:34:27
He tried to disentangle himself from his damn cover, struggling to yank it out from beneath him.
00:34:33
He swept his phone up from the table beside him and stood with a grunt, looking at the screen.
00:34:40
It was 2.33 am.
00:34:43
"What now?"
00:34:44
he asked the empty room with an angry sob.
00:34:48
"What is it now?"
00:34:51
The boxy little apartment had become an oven, roasting Glenn like a chicken, the air conditioner.
00:35:00
Glenn realized it was making an unpleasant buzzing sound.
00:35:04
He blundered across the room to where it stuck out from the wall.
00:35:08
There was no cool air blowing from it, just the stuttering mechanical rattle of something breaking down.
00:35:16
Glenn smacked it on the side with his palm.
00:35:19
The sound hiccuped for a moment but didn't stop.
00:35:24
He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and went back to his chair, falling into it graciously.
00:35:30
There was no sleep for him the rest of the night.
00:35:35
He did not go to work the next morning.
00:35:38
He called the emergency maintenance line and was told by an annoyed voice on the other end that someone would be dispatched as soon as possible.
00:35:47
"Don't go anywhere though," the voice trolled.
00:35:50
"Could be his late assader nine in the morning."
00:35:54
Glenn was outraged but somehow managed to keep his tone even in the patient.
00:35:59
He said he'd be there, then hung up.
00:36:03
He went outside and sat on the front stab and was much cooler out there.
00:36:09
While he waited, he called up and left a message at work that he was sick and wouldn't be in.
00:36:15
He ended up dosing there on the stoop like a homeless person.
00:36:20
The sun was shining brightly when the voice startled him from his fractured nap.
00:36:25
"You Glenn Michaels?"
00:36:28
It was the voice from the phone and it still sounded annoyed.
00:36:33
Glenn looked up at a tall thin man with white hair and a white bushy mustache.
00:36:38
He wore a work shirt and held a battered toolbox at a side.
00:36:43
Glenn wiped the corners of his mouth and stood.
00:36:46
"Yeah, that's me.
00:36:48
Say you're having some trouble with your air conditioning?"
00:36:52
The man gazed over Glenn's shoulder, appraising the building.
00:36:56
Glenn nodded and led the maintenance man into his apartment, a blast of hot air rushing out at them.
00:37:03
Within seconds, the man had his toolbox open and was working to get the face off the AC unit.
00:37:09
Glenn walked back to the tiny kitchen and got a glass of water.
00:37:14
So when did you notice the problem here?
00:37:17
The man made little grunting sounds as he spun the screwdriver at each corner of the air conditioner.
00:37:23
Glenn finished a huge gulp of his water.
00:37:26
Right before I called you, the maintenance man nodded.
00:37:31
"That's a hell of a time to find yourself without air conditioning."
00:37:35
He pulled the last screw out and took the face off the AC unit.
00:37:40
He turned it back on and immediately the strange grinding buzz started up.
00:37:45
The man cocked his head and frowned.
00:37:48
"Sounds like you got something stuck in the intake.
00:37:51
Could be, you just need to change your filter."
00:37:54
The man switched it off and stood.
00:37:57
His old knees popping.
00:37:59
"Gonna have to check the front of the unit."
00:38:02
Glenn waved his hand in acknowledgement and the man went out the front door, leaving it wide open.
00:38:08
Glenn drank more water.
00:38:10
He was running with sweat, shiny with it.
00:38:14
He couldn't stand heat like this indoors.
00:38:17
Outside was one thing.
00:38:19
Usually you weren't outside long enough to get from your car to whatever air conditioned building you were headed for.
00:38:25
Inside though, the heat just grew fat, even with all the windows open.
00:38:31
Just sitting around doing nothing felt like work and sleep would be impossible until this could be fixed.
00:38:38
You could hear the maintenance man out there tinkering around and grunting.
00:38:43
A couple of minutes had gone by when the old man called out with surprise.
00:38:48
"Whoa!
00:38:50
Holy shit!" Glenn rubbed his hand across his slick glistening face.
00:38:56
That doesn't sound good.
00:38:59
"Mr.
00:38:59
Michaels, you want to come out here and see this?"
00:39:03
The man uttered a short barking chuckle.
00:39:06
Glenn walked out across the room.
00:39:09
His water glass still clutched in his hand and stepped out the front door.
00:39:14
When he saw what was scattered on the ground beneath the opened up casing of the air conditioner unit, his breath caught in his throat and his eyes went wide.
00:39:24
The glass slipped from his hand and shattered on the stoop, sending water and glass in all directions.
00:39:30
The old maintenance man hopped back with the shout, but Glenn didn't notice him at all.
00:39:36
His eyes were glued to the brownish grey cascade of delicately folded moth bodies that had spilled from his air conditioner out onto the pavement.
00:39:46
Hundreds of them.
00:39:49
Most of them were dead, dry little husks lying still in silent, but Glenn could see some weak twitching and squirming in the pile.
00:39:59
He felt this stomach lurch and his temples began to pound.
00:40:04
The maintenance man stuck the end of a screwdriver into the unit's cavity and scraped out another sheaf of bugs.
00:40:12
"That's the damnedest thing I ever saw!
00:40:15
I could tell you that right now."
00:40:18
Glenn looked up at the man dumbly and then backed down at the pile.
00:40:22
His heart was pounding.
00:40:24
"How?
00:40:25
How did they?
00:40:26
How did this happen?"
00:40:30
The maintenance man shrugged and scratched at his mustache.
00:40:34
"Well, thing is, it's not uncommon that you get a few bugs in the air conditioner.
00:40:39
They fly too close or crawl on it.
00:40:42
Sucked right in.
00:40:43
But I never seen anything like this before.
00:40:47
Never.
00:40:47
They must have just kept following each other in."
00:40:52
"You know?
00:40:53
Maybe no mate?"
00:40:55
"Fair Ramonis, they call it?"
00:40:58
Glenn raised his eyebrows.
00:41:01
"Fair Ramonis?"
00:41:03
"I believe it's pronounced monies, but yeah.
00:41:06
Then he all just clogged the intake and it started working overtime to the fan motor burnt out."
00:41:11
He nudged the drift of mothbodies with the toe of his boot.
00:41:16
"Well, after replacing the motorer, I'll get you a new unit.
00:41:20
Either way, it's gonna be a couple days."
00:41:23
The man looked out into the parking lot and spat on the ground.
00:41:28
"Weirdous thing I've seen in 15 years."
00:41:32
Glenn leaned against the iron rail that rang alongside the stoop.
00:41:36
"I've been having trouble with moths for the last few nights, hitting my window."
00:41:42
"Well, I mean that's normal enough.
00:41:45
Ain't much you can do about that, especially in the summertime."
00:41:49
The old man stuck his hand into the unit and dusted the last few moths out onto the ground.
00:41:55
He leaned over, groaning, and grabbed the front panel of the air conditioner and spoke over his shoulder as he began replacing the screws.
00:42:04
"I'll go right over and see whether it's easier, quicker, and cheaper to replace the motor or the unit.
00:42:09
Then I'll place an order for you."
00:42:12
He finished working and dropped the screwdriver back into the toolbox, closing it with his foot.
00:42:19
"Has anyone else said anything about moths?"
00:42:24
"Bothering them lately?"
00:42:27
Glenn felt like a fool asking, but he had to know.
00:42:31
The old man picked up his toolbox and shook his head.
00:42:35
"Nope.
00:42:36
Just you."
00:42:38
He glanced at the open door.
00:42:40
"Need me to reattach the inside face?"
00:42:44
Glenn started to say no, and then was assaulted with a horrifying vision.
00:42:50
The pile of dead moths outside returning to hideous, spooring life, like tiny, winged zombies, forming their way into his apartment through the gaping cavity of the air conditioner.
00:43:02
"Yes, please, not appreciated."
00:43:06
The maintenance man heaved a heavy sigh and twitched his moustache.
00:43:10
He slipped into Glenn's front room to re-affix the face of the air conditioner.
00:43:16
Glenn watched responsively from the doorway, mopping sweat from his face with the back of his hand.
00:43:22
The maintenance man finished and shoved past Glenn's hovering form, ignoring his mumbled words of thanks, saying only, "Get that glass swept up as you made his way down the stoop."
00:43:35
That night, Glenn took three cold showers, drank glass after glass of water, and lay naked in his chair.
00:43:44
He'd gone out and purchased a box fan after cleaning up the glass on the porch.
00:43:49
The dead moths, he'd simply swept into the bushes at the side of the stoop with a scowl of revulsion.
00:43:55
And even with that blowing on his damp body, no sleep would come.
00:44:00
He squirmed in a swoon of misery, wondering how people had ever existed before indoor climate control, having forgotten that his own family had not gotten air conditioning until he was 16.
00:44:12
Then, there were the moths.
00:44:15
Even from the living room, Glenn could hear them plunking against the screens of both bedroom windows and the large one in the front.
00:44:24
He kept the blinds closed, not wanting to see such a big area covered with wriggling, agitated little bodies.
00:44:32
This was all their fault.
00:44:35
Glenn knew it was crazy, but since they were doing this on purpose, those filthy, scrabbling little insects were trying to drive him crazy with sleep deprivation.
00:44:47
Back in his chair, the cool water from his showers had been sucked into the stifling air.
00:44:53
He closed his eyes and tried to relax, but sleep was beyond reach, and the heat held him tightly in its dry embrace.
00:45:03
When morning came, exhausted and sore though he might be, Glenn was relieved to be heading to work.
00:45:10
He couldn't wait to feel the blast of cool air from the vents in his car, and to luxuriate in the sweet chill of his little grey cubicle.
00:45:19
He left an hour and a half earlier than usual, and when he arrived, he had the place mostly to himself.
00:45:26
He settled into his chair with a tired groan and leaned forward, resting his head against the edge of the desk.
00:45:35
Maybe I can sleep for a few minutes before anybody really gets here.
00:45:40
The idea was irresistible.
00:45:43
He closed his eyes and cradled his arms around his face.
00:45:47
Sleep was just beginning to overtake him when a strident voice cajoled from behind him.
00:45:53
"Hey there, lazy bones.
00:45:54
You need to start getting to bed earlier, huh?"
00:45:58
Within the cavern of his arms, Glenn slips pulled back from his teeth in a grimace.
00:46:04
A sudden, black hate blossomed in the center of his chest, and spread ice through his veins.
00:46:11
He sat up and turned slowly in his chair to see the man standing in his cubicle wall.
00:46:17
The man's goofy grin retreated when he saw the look in Glenn's eyes.
00:46:22
"Need something, Ernest?"
00:46:25
Glenn's voice was all gravel and broken glass.
00:46:29
"Oh, no, not really!" Ernest rubbed his nose.
00:46:34
"Just, you know, saying good morning."
00:46:39
The space between them filled up with seconds, ticking by silently.
00:46:44
When it was clear that Glenn was not going to say anything else, Ernest backed away with a half-hearted wave.
00:46:51
"Well, have a good one, buddy."
00:46:56
Ernest turned and scuttled away down the aisle.
00:46:59
Glenn watched him go and felt a pang of guilt.
00:47:03
"Man, you are such an asshole to him."
00:47:06
These sleepless nights were wearing him down, exposing the frayed wires beneath the surface.
00:47:13
He would have to be more careful how he reacted to people.
00:47:17
He made a mental note to stop Ernest's desk later to throw a couple minutes' worth of small talk his way, just to show that everything was okay.
00:47:27
With the shot at Dozingon, Glenn decided he might as well start working.
00:47:33
He slid the center drawer of his desk open, looked into it, and screamed.
00:47:40
There was a huge black butterfly, dead, lying on top of his legal pad.
00:47:47
Its delicate wings were spread open, at least seven inches from tip to tip.
00:47:54
Glenn stared down at the bug, vaguely curious as to whether anyone would come over to find out why he'd cried out.
00:48:01
But it didn't really matter.
00:48:04
All the concern at the moment was the butterfly.
00:48:08
He looked at it for a long time, his stomach churning as he tried to understand its meaning.
00:48:15
He marveled at the creature's beauty.
00:48:18
It had two sets of wings, an upper and a lower, velvety black, with charcoal gray striations spreading across them like veins.
00:48:27
Instead of reflecting fluorescent office lights, the wings seemed to swallow it up greedily.
00:48:34
The body itself, furry and thick, was also black, except for the head, which was a vibrant, violent red.
00:48:44
Long white antennae hung limply to either side, for a relatively small thing and cut an imposing figure.
00:48:54
Glenn's heart pounded, it felt like someone was knocking on the inside of his chest, desperate to get out.
00:49:01
How was this happening?
00:49:04
Where did the butterfly come from?
00:49:07
A prank.
00:49:07
It had to be a prank.
00:49:11
Someone who knew about his moth problem thought it would be hilarious to give old Glenn a little shock.
00:49:17
Just a harmless prank.
00:49:20
When I find the shit had to did this, I'm gonna...
00:49:24
But who knew about the moths?
00:49:27
Glenn hadn't told anyone.
00:49:30
Only the old maintenance man from the apartment complex knew, and it would be quite a stretch to think he could have somehow done this.
00:49:38
Glenn's head hurt, and he couldn't look at the dead butterfly any longer.
00:49:43
He didn't want to touch it, but he certainly couldn't leave it in his desk all day.
00:49:49
He reached into the drawer, and gingerly grasped the barest edge of one wing between his thumb and forefinger, repulsed by the gritty texture.
00:49:59
He lifted the thing, tiny flecks of powder drifting from the paper thin wings, and dropped it in the garbage can.
00:50:08
It landed with a heavy, unpleasant thud.
00:50:12
Glenn was glad he couldn't see it anymore, but felt the peculiar sense of unease it having thrown it away.
00:50:19
Felt disrespectful somehow, almost sacrilegious.
00:50:25
He turned back toward his desk, and was startled again, silently this time, by something else in his drawer.
00:50:33
Something that had been hidden beneath the butterfly's body.
00:50:37
It was a small newspaper clipping.
00:50:40
He picked it up and read it.
00:50:42
His mouth dropping open slowly as he realized what it was.
00:50:46
He stood up, the paper dangling between his fingers, and looked out across the office.
00:50:53
It was still early, and only a couple more of his co-workers had shown up.
00:50:57
The place was still mostly deserted.
00:51:01
Glenn sank back into his chair and looked again at the clipping.
00:51:05
It was a copy of Vephran Kriato's obituary.
00:51:10
How did she get in here?
00:51:13
A chill raced down Glenn's arms, making the hairs stand on end.
00:51:19
He looked back down at the obituary in his hand.
00:51:22
There was no picture of the deceased, and precious little text.
00:51:27
It gave his name, age, date of his death, that he was a resident of Shaker Heights, that he left behind devoted wife.
00:51:38
How devoted.
00:51:40
Glenn thought about the butterfly that had been lying on top of the obituary in his desk.
00:51:46
Thought about the moths in his air conditioner.
00:51:49
That happened after he'd left the bedroom to escape their incessant tapping at the window and discovered he could sleep, more or less soundly in his chair.
00:51:59
He'd made a move, and they countered with an escalation.
00:52:05
As he stared down at the limp newspaper clipping, an impossible idea began to form.
00:52:11
Ridiculous, but obvious.
00:52:14
His chill deepened, and he turned to scan the office, suddenly feeling watched, as if by dark, accusing eyes.
00:52:24
Then logic snapped back like a rubber band in his mind, and he strained away from such a ludicrous premise.
00:52:31
He looked up and around as cubical to verify he was still awake, still in the real world.
00:52:38
Looking at the solid, mundane artifacts of his ordinary, sad, sack life, Glenn realized that the only obvious thing, the most obvious thing of all right now,
00:52:49
was that he felt very guilty about everything in his life.
00:52:53
His marriage, his kids, his work, and the thing with Alvita Criando.
00:53:00
It was clear that all that shame was taking deep bites out of him every day, and he was letting it.
00:53:07
He needed to do something to alay some of that shame, something to make him feel a little less like a piece of garbage.
00:53:16
Maybe I should just call her.
00:53:18
The idea had a simple childish appeal at first, but he realized quickly it was a bad one.
00:53:27
Call her, and say what?
00:53:31
Hello, Mrs.
00:53:31
Criando, Glenn Michaels here.
00:53:34
I wanted to apologize about the way my company treated you in your late husband.
00:53:39
See, I'm going to be a little crazy over here since my wife kicked me out of my house for being a loser, and it would make me feel a lot better if you could just forgive me.
00:53:50
You could not bother the swiddo and fling her husband's death back into her face to soothe some ridiculous delusion you're having.
00:53:57
That's why.
00:53:59
It would be cruel.
00:54:01
He went back and forth on the idea for hours, feeling both selfish for wanting her forgiveness, but desperate to have it.
00:54:10
Finally, at the end of that long disorienting workday, Glenn pulled up the creative information in the system.
00:54:19
He scanned the information, phone number, address, policy number, adjuster code, and stopped on the last one.
00:54:29
Who had been there, adjuster?
00:54:32
Who had been the one to deny this?
00:54:35
Beside the code were three initials, LMS, Linda Mary Schmidt.
00:54:44
Linda, she was the one who would found the loophole in the Criado's records that allowed the company to deny their claim.
00:54:52
What a bitch.
00:54:54
On a whim, Glenn scribbled her name onto a piece of paper with the Criado's information and folded it up, shoving it into his pocket.
00:55:03
He didn't expect to use it, would in fact probably throw it away as soon as he walked in the front door.
00:55:10
But for the moment, it seemed to calm his paranoia and ease his breathing.
00:55:16
That night, Glenn fell asleep comfortably in his chair.
00:55:21
The maintenance problem had found working AC unit in storage and switched it out with Glenn's.
00:55:27
It had been pumping out cold air full blast when he walked in that evening, and Glenn allowed himself a moment of satisfaction.
00:55:35
He set his keys, his phone, and the paper bag with the Criado's information on the kitchen counter, and got himself a beer from the fridge.
00:55:45
He spent a pleasant evening in front of the TV watching a documentary on the History Channel about the Crusades, and at some point drifted into a deep slumber, snoring contentedly.
00:55:56
In the dream, he was getting a massage.
00:56:01
Glenn couldn't see his masseuse, but somehow he knew it was a woman.
00:56:07
He was lying on his back, and she was dragging her fingers across his bare chest, shoulders, stomach, and legs.
00:56:15
She softly grazed her nails across his groin, and he felt himself getting excited.
00:56:22
She let her fingers wander all over his face, and it started to feel a bit odd.
00:56:29
She probed gently into his nostrils, stuck her finger between his lips, and stroked his closed eyelids.
00:56:37
Then she took a spray bottle out from behind her back, and began spraying lines of lotion all over his body.
00:56:44
She didn't rub it in, but kept squirting it in loops and whirls.
00:56:50
It tickled pleasantly.
00:56:52
Then she began dripping it onto his face.
00:56:56
Again, he wasn't sure that he liked that exactly, but he let her continue.
00:57:02
Soon his whole face was buried in lotion.
00:57:06
Glenn was starting to feel uneasy.
00:57:09
He definitely wanted the woman to stop now.
00:57:12
He opened his mouth to tell her to ease up, and she sprayed a continuous stream into his mouth.
00:57:18
Just kept coming and coming, sliding down the back of his throat.
00:57:24
He began to thrash about on the table as the lotion choked him.
00:57:29
He tried to hop up, but was having trouble moving his arms and legs.
00:57:33
It felt like he was drowning in the soft white substance, and the woman kept implacably adding more.
00:57:41
He tried to scream, but couldn't.
00:57:44
He struggled and squirmed, rocking back and forth on the table, trying to set up, trying to cry out.
00:57:52
Darkness was beginning to draw a gauzy veil down over him, but Glenn resisted it.
00:57:59
"No," he thought.
00:58:02
"No, no, no!" He tried with all his might to sit up, his muscles clenching, his mind fighting, and finally,
00:58:12
with a mighty straining heave, Glenn lurched awake.
00:58:17
He was coughing.
00:58:19
There really was something in his mouth.
00:58:22
It was thick and felt somehow wet and dry all at the same time.
00:58:28
Glenn began to wretch and tried to stand from his chair, but found himself restrained.
00:58:34
With a great effort, he yanked his arm free of whatever was holding him down, and began clearing his mouth, spitting and sputtering.
00:58:44
He wiped his face clear and examined the stuff in his hands.
00:58:48
It looked like extremely thin, glossy cotton in a big sticky ball.
00:58:55
"What the fuck?"
00:58:59
Glenn pushed up against the arm of the chair and looked down at himself.
00:59:03
He was crawling with caterpillars, thick, black, squarming caterpillars.
00:59:11
They were spinning a silk blanket over Glenn's entire body.
00:59:16
There were hundreds of them, hundreds and hundreds.
00:59:21
He'd been completely webbed to the chair.
00:59:24
His arms and legs wrapped up in a shimmery cocoon.
00:59:28
That's what he'd been choking on.
00:59:31
They'd been shooting it down his throat.
00:59:34
They were on his face, in his mouth.
00:59:38
A massive wave of disgust, hot and thick, swept through him from the center of his chest, all the way out to the tips of his fingers.
00:59:48
With the shrill sobbing cry, he stood from his chair and began beating his hands against his body, trying to rid himself of the small wriggling creatures.
00:59:58
He hopped from foot to foot in a panic-stricken dance, yanking clumps of webbing and plumbed caterpillar bodies from his hair, his chest, his belly.
01:00:09
He could hear them plopping to the floor like fat globs of dough, and could see them scurrying off to spin more silk.
01:00:17
He felt them writhing around in his boxers, thought of the way the masseuse tickled his lower body in the dream.
01:00:25
As he pealed off his underwear and tried desperately to dislodge the intruders from his nether regions, Glenn looked wildly around the room and saw that they were everywhere,
01:00:36
trundling patiently over every service, covering the walls and furniture with their silk and discharge.
01:00:44
He felt his mind trying desperately to escape his body, this room, this whole life, as the larval moths skittered to and fro,
01:00:54
up and down all around him.
01:00:57
He felt it trying to fly away, out of his skull and up into the sky, where it could climb higher and higher and further from the knowledge of this moment.
01:01:10
They're trying to kill me.
01:01:13
Glenn knew at that moment that it was all true, no matter how crazy or impossible it was.
01:01:21
Glenn was being punished with a plague of moths, or his role in cheating El Vita Criado had of her dead husband's life insurance, and they were going to murder him.
01:01:33
He had to get to her, had to beg her, plead with her, apologize, grovel, whatever it took, to get her to forgive him.
01:01:44
It was the only thing that made sense, and in that moment it was all he could think of.
01:01:51
Glenn made his way to the kitchen counter, black bodies bursting under his bare feet, squirting their vital fluids across the floor.
01:02:00
He grabbed the sheet with the Criado's information on it.
01:02:04
The phone call was not going to do, this would have to be in person.
01:02:09
He snatched up his keys, and then with a sudden violent belch, vomited onto the floor, splattering the bile and nameless undigested chunks all over his feet.
01:02:20
As he watched, the caterpillars plowed their way through it, like tiny boats through a brownish grey harbor.
01:02:28
His gorge rose and he threw up again.
01:02:32
When he was done he forced himself to look away.
01:02:35
He spun, keys and paper in hand, and ran to his bedroom to find pants.
01:02:43
Glenn sat on his bed and began rifling through the dirty laundry on the floor, and as soon as he was in the door, he heard the thump thump of moths hitting the windows.
01:02:54
As he found pants and pulled them up, the sound of tiny bodies slamming into the window became faster and more frenzied.
01:03:03
It sounded like soft muffled machine gunfire.
01:03:07
Glenn grabbed a dirty shirt from beneath his feet and tugged it down over his head and fled the room.
01:03:14
The sight of the living room assaulted Glenn as if for the first time as he came skidding through the hallway.
01:03:20
Tears welled in his eyes.
01:03:22
All of this, because he'd sent a letter of bad news on behalf of someone else.
01:03:28
Sudden, hot rage sprung up alongside this helpless terror.
01:03:34
Linda fucking Schmidt, that cold bitch.
01:03:39
Thoughts of earning forgiveness were replaced by an urge to blame the real villain here.
01:03:45
He was gonna tell Alfita Kriato that the person who betrayed her and her husband was Linda, can't pass up a chance to screw someone over God damn Schmidt.
01:03:56
It was all her fault.
01:03:59
A bright spark of hatred flared up in Glenn's gut toward the woman who worked upstairs from him.
01:04:05
Fuck you Linda, this curse belongs to you.
01:04:11
Glenn grabbed his phone from the counter, shoving it into his pocket and strode across the room, nearly slipping in the gooey remains of squashed caterpillars.
01:04:22
He burst through his door and out into the late July heat and ran barefoot to his car.
01:04:29
Immediately a cloud of moths came flapping and fluttering, seemingly from out of nowhere, and surrounded him like a cyclone.
01:04:39
He waved his hands frantically trying to clear them away as he yanked his car door open and slid in.
01:04:45
He slammed the door shut, letting in a couple dozen of the flying bugs, and spent a few satisfying minutes clapping them between his hands and smashing their bodies against the dashboard.
01:04:58
When Glenn felt like he'd rid the car of moths, he keyed the ignition and sped out of the parking lot.
01:05:06
He cruised through the shabby streets of his neighborhood, past laundromats, fast food restaurants, check cashing places, tanning salons.
01:05:16
None of it looked familiar anymore.
01:05:19
Everything was strangely bright, as if he was hung over, and all the little shops and buildings blended together.
01:05:28
Glenn picked up the paper from the seat next to him and glanced at the address.
01:05:33
He had a vague idea by the zip code, a part of town Mrs.
01:05:37
Criato lived in.
01:05:39
Though the actual street name was unfamiliar, he pulled his phone out at the next stoplight and dialed her number.
01:05:46
He wanted to make sure she was home before he went goose chasing all over Cleveland, looking for her address.
01:05:53
The phone rang once, twice, and was picked up on the third.
01:05:59
"Hello?"
01:06:01
Her voice, which had been ringing in his head for days, was unmistakable.
01:06:07
"Mrs.
01:06:07
Criato, please, listen to me.
01:06:10
I'm coming to see you.
01:06:14
We have to talk."
01:06:16
He was out of breath and wheezing, and knew he must sound crazy.
01:06:22
The voice on the other end laughed.
01:06:25
She didn't ask who it was calling her, and didn't sound surprised at all.
01:06:30
"Huh, and what does it want to say to me?
01:06:33
Are you bringing me $250,000?"
01:06:38
"No, I'm sorry, no.
01:06:39
I don't have any money, but then we have nothing to talk about.
01:06:44
It was nice catching up with you, Mr.
01:06:46
Michaels.
01:06:47
But I have to go now."
01:06:49
"Now, I want to tell you the name of the person who denied your claim."
01:06:54
There was a heavy pause on her end.
01:06:56
When she finally spoke, it came out in a breathy whisperer.
01:07:02
"You are the only one whose name was on that letter."
01:07:06
The frustration from the first meeting flared up, and for a moment, overcame Glenn's terror and desperation.
01:07:13
"God damn it, yes.
01:07:14
Yes, okay?
01:07:16
Yes, I sent the fucking letter, but Linda Schmidt was the one who told me to send it."
01:07:23
He spent through a stop sign, nearly colliding with another car coming the other way.
01:07:29
The other driver laid on their horn and waved their middle finger at him.
01:07:34
"Linda Schmidt?"
01:07:36
Mrs.
01:07:36
Criado sounded doubtful, but there was a hint of interest in her tone.
01:07:42
"Yes.
01:07:42
Linda Schmidt.
01:07:43
She's an adjuster at the insurance company.
01:07:47
It's her job to say what claims get accepted or denied.
01:07:51
She could have said yes.
01:07:52
She could have accepted your claim, and I would have sent you a check in place of a letter."
01:07:58
Instead, she did a little research, because that's what her boss is telling her to do.
01:08:03
Find ways to screw people out of their money, and she found her loophole and denied your claim.
01:08:09
Linda Murray Schmidt.
01:08:13
Glenn realized he was out of breath.
01:08:14
He felt like his heart was going to explode.
01:08:19
But you are still wrapped up in this, Mr.
01:08:21
Michaels.
01:08:22
Don't think this gets you out of the cookfire.
01:08:25
"I know.
01:08:26
You're right.
01:08:27
Fine.
01:08:28
And I've suffered.
01:08:30
You have no idea how I've suffered."
01:08:33
There was a dark chuckle from her end.
01:08:36
I have an idea.
01:08:39
"I just...
01:08:40
I just want to come see you.
01:08:42
Talk this out.
01:08:44
See if there's anything I can do to ease your grief.
01:08:47
I'm so sorry about all this, Alvita.
01:08:50
So sorry for the part I played."
01:08:53
Then pulled on to the cross-town expressway.
01:08:56
Rush hour was still a way is off, and he had the road mostly to himself.
01:09:02
"Isn't there anything I can do or say to make this better?"
01:09:06
He sped along, the morning sun bathing the four lanes of highway and bright gold.
01:09:12
Mrs.
01:09:12
Criatta was quiet for a moment.
01:09:14
Glenn thought he heard the sound of a pen or pencil scraping against paper.
01:09:20
When she spoke again, her voice held a note of sympathy.
01:09:25
"Mr.
01:09:25
Michaels, you don't need to come here."
01:09:29
"Alvita?"
01:09:30
Glenn didn't want her to hang up.
01:09:33
He needed to know she forgave him.
01:09:36
"Please, I'm so sorry.
01:09:38
Thank you for saying that.
01:09:41
We will not speak again."
01:09:45
There was a click, and she was gone.
01:09:50
Glenn's breathing began to slow.
01:09:53
His mouth hung open as he pondered her words.
01:09:57
Was it over?
01:09:59
She thanked him, and it sounded like she understood.
01:10:03
"Maybe that was enough.
01:10:05
Maybe that was her forgiving him."
01:10:09
Something dark hit the windshield with a wet thwack.
01:10:13
Glenn started with a shocked little gelb.
01:10:15
"What the hell?"
01:10:17
A smear of orange and black, about four inches wide, spread across the glass in front of him.
01:10:24
"Oh, Jesus, no."
01:10:28
Glenn looked up into the sky ahead.
01:10:30
The sunshine became dappled with flickering shadows that seemed to jitter out of the clouds and down the road.
01:10:37
Suddenly, another dark blotch smashed against the windshield, sending little greenish white tendrils of liquid guts across Glenn's field of vision.
01:10:47
The cloud of shadows was coming at him fast now.
01:10:51
Monarch butterflies, thousands of them descended upon Glenn's little car and powdered wings.
01:10:59
Another, then another, and another began to splatter against the windshield.
01:11:06
Glenn screamed and turned on the wipers trying to clear them.
01:11:10
He swerved across the four lanes.
01:11:13
A pickup truck trying to pass him, blared its horn, and was forced into the grassy median.
01:11:19
Glenn's car was now engulfed by a fluttering sunset-colored whirlwind.
01:11:25
He could no longer see the road through the mosaic of butterflies.
01:11:29
Their vibrancy and beauty, even in death, struck Glenn with wonder.
01:11:35
And he smiled as he took his hands from the steering wheel and pressed the gas pedal to the floor.
01:11:42
He thought of his daughters as he sped, unseen, toward the massive, concrete side of an oncoming overpass.
01:11:51
They would be okay.
01:11:54
His life insurance policy was up to date in airtight.
01:11:58
They would be well cared for.
01:12:01
Everything was going to be okay.
01:12:06
"Hey Linda, come here, you gotta see this."
01:12:12
Linda Schmitz stood from her desk and smoothed down the hips of her pleaded khaki slacks.
01:12:17
It was Dan Rimmert, asking her to come over to the window.
01:12:22
She made her way to the window where Dan stood, coffee cup in hand.
01:12:26
A couple of other people had come over to gawk with them.
01:12:30
"What is it, Dan?"
01:12:32
She looked out to see what was happening.
01:12:35
"I don't know.
01:12:36
Doesn't look like birds, does it?"
01:12:39
"Locus, maybe?"
01:12:41
"Man, looks like that scene from the swarm.
01:12:44
You remember that movie?"
01:12:47
Linda did not.
01:12:49
The only movies Linda enjoyed were love stories with happy endings.
01:12:53
Dan was right, though.
01:12:55
A huge wave of "somethings" was streaming across the sky in their general direction.
01:13:01
As she watched, a bubble of anxiety began to swell in her chest.
01:13:07
There was something ominous about that dark gathering of bodies, undulating toward them.
01:13:12
It seemed like an endless battalion stretching back for miles.
01:13:17
They were starting to block out the sun as they got closer.
01:13:21
She took a step back from the glass.
01:13:25
"Well, that's very interesting, Dan, but I need to get back to something thumb-plightly against the window in stock."
01:13:33
"Look," Dan chuckled.
01:13:36
"Her butterfly.
01:13:37
Hamed it pretty?"
01:13:40
Linda's mouth turned down in a grimace, and she looked nervously back at the approaching cloud.
01:13:47
She did not think the butterfly was pretty.
01:13:50
Not at all.
01:13:54
I hope you enjoyed "Unpowdered Wings" as written by R.K.
01:14:05
Combrink.
01:14:06
Tonight's tale comes from R.K.'s book, "These Lonely Places," available from our friends at Velox Books.
01:14:15
Check out this book and more by visiting VeloxBooks.com.
01:14:20
On to the shows.
01:14:25
We have scary stories told in the dark-airing twice a week.
01:14:26
We also have Eric Peabody's Horror Hill, a podcast dedicated to some of our deeper and darker tales.
01:14:33
We hope you check them out.
01:14:36
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01:14:42
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01:14:49
Well friends, our weekly descent into the depths has just about come to a close.
01:14:55
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01:15:00
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01:15:06
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01:15:10
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01:15:12
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01:15:35
I'm your host of the evening, Jeff Sturd event, and it's been a pleasure.
01:15:41
Tune in again next week, when we once again, turn off the lights, and turn on the dark.
01:15:49
Sweet dreams, listener.
01:15:52
Sweet dreams.
01:15:55
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01:16:05