Go to Sleep Natalie

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Scary Story Podcast. I have a couple of stories for you.

[00:00:05] [SPEAKER_00]: The first is about a gift that makes a very unusual connection to a young shopper.

[00:00:10] [SPEAKER_00]: The second one explains how a healthy morning routine can go wrong.

[00:00:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Edwin, and here is a scary story. Go to sleep Natalie.

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_00]: I try not to think of this, genuinely I try not to.

[00:00:33] [SPEAKER_00]: But it bothers me to think that even my closest friends feel sorry for me after all

[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_00]: these years. Though maybe I've given them a reason to.

[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Part of me still believes it. It started off as a game.

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_00]: My sister and I lived in a house up in a hill away from the main stores, and I don't remember

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_00]: many things being around us. If we wanted to go to the store, it would

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_00]: be a 10 minute drive into the shopping centers, and we needed to make lists in order to

[00:01:02] [SPEAKER_00]: remember everything. Because there was no way we could just walk into a 7-Eleven or

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_00]: grocery store like I do now whenever I want something.

[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_00]: We listed easy things first. Colors we spotted around the room and the types of animals we'd

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_00]: see on the way back home, then started making lists of random things around the house.

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_00]: So I grew up making lists for everything. When the sound of one of my sister's dolls

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_00]: started growing deeper as she giggled and said goodnight when you squeezed its

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_00]: hand, I knew it was time to write down AA batteries on the list.

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_00]: I used to catch things that mom forgot about too, and whenever I reminded her of them at

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_00]: the store, she would get so happy, and if she wasn't a good enough mood, I would get

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_00]: to choose an additional thing at the store. But I made lists for other things too,

[00:01:54] [SPEAKER_00]: and come to think of it, I still make lists for almost everything.

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Post-its stuck to the steering wheel of my car remind me of my lunch, my wallet,

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_00]: and cell phone. And down to more specific reminders, more random, like taking cutlery

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: and napkins and reminders to call mom. I can't forget to call mom. It was about to rain that day,

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_00]: and mom was loading up the little carts we'd drag around the grocery store since this one

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_00]: didn't have the push carts that we have now. She reminded me to get my jacket,

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_00]: and I reminded happy, my sister, to get hers too. That wasn't her name,

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_00]: but she used to call me by a nickname too, so we just stuck with it.

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Mom used to roll her eyes whenever she heard it though. I don't think she liked it very much,

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_00]: but it was a game like I said. Or at least I remember it being that way.

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_00]: I come to think of it, even my therapist now says that I'm still blending games with

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_00]: my everyday life. It's funny how it works. So we got in the car and I helped

[00:02:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Bucko happy into the back seat. It was all over the television commercials to use seatbelts,

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_00]: but I don't remember mom and dad ever using it or asking me to.

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_00]: But happy and I were close, and I even used to play that I was her mom.

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_00]: And I go with the games, see? I loved going to the stores. I still remember Mark,

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_00]: the man who worked by the meat and dairy section. He would always call me by my name

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_00]: and offer two lollipops. I had dragged my sister by the hand to go look at the toy,

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_00]: since it also had a school and toys section. I knew mom would never buy us toys from there,

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_00]: so we normally walked around pressing the buttons of the packages,

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_00]: especially the ones that said try me, right on the front.

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Though some didn't work, we usually went for the same one.

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I remember my sister's face when she saw the doll for the first time.

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_00]: It was a baby with yellow baby clothes and a blue hat.

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't have a try me button, but the label said it had three sound effects, just like a real baby.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_00]: It had an accompanying baby bottle and a rattle.

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_00]: And big yellow letters go to sleep Natalie. That's what I was saving my money for,

[00:04:16] [SPEAKER_00]: 6.95 and it would be my gift for her, so I didn't want to ask my mom for it.

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_00]: But I only had a few dollars in the piggy bank that wasn't a pig,

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_00]: but rather a plastic barrel type thing that we found in the storage shed when we cleaned it out

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_00]: last time. My dad drilled a hole on it. Not even a slot for coins, but a full-on hole made with

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_00]: a noisy drill that same day. I wanted one for my sister too, but my dad insisted that we just share it.

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Cecilia was a woman that worked by the front of the store.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Who never really spoke to us, but loved to chat with mom.

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_00]: But when she wasn't moving her mouth to speak, she was using it to chew the two or three pieces

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_00]: of gum she would stick in there at the same time. Dad and I used to joke about it and pretend to be

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00]: her. This time she seemed extra friendly with us and asked us what toys we were looking at and

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_00]: that we better hurry. Because some holiday was coming up and they'd be gone. I cut up to mom

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_00]: with my list of things that I thought she had missed. And she shot me that wide smile and pinched

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_00]: my cheek. We walked over to get flour and other things for my dad's birthday cake.

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Pick something that you want, she said to me. But I looked down to Happy who was always

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_00]: staying quiet during these times, unable to choose something. Can we get a doll? I asked,

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_00]: looking down at my untied shoes. Mom sighed, but instead of saying no in the way that she always did,

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_00]: she asked which one I wanted. So I grabbed Happy's hand and ran to the toys section as

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_00]: two other girls with their parents were walking out of that aisle until with the cash register.

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I couldn't tell for sure, but my heart dropped when I saw one of them hugging the box with

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_00]: those yellow letters. I could feel my eyes swell up with tears. All hopes of seeing Happy smile like

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_00]: that went away. Still, we walked over to the toys section and down to the bottom. We saw another

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_00]: one. Go to sleep Natalie. I grabbed it and ran to mom, a huge smile on my face as I wiped away

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_00]: the tears that somehow managed to slide down my face into my chin. Without looking at it,

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_00]: she sighed again. All right, she said. She let me set it right on the cart.

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_00]: When we got home, I set the doll, the box and everything right on my dresser by the bed

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_00]: that my sister and I used to share. I told Happy that we'd wait until her birthday to open it.

[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Mom walked in one morning before I went to school to play some folded laundry into

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_00]: my drawers of my dresser. When she asked me why I hadn't used a doll,

[00:07:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Mom, it's for Happy, I said. We're waiting for her birthday.

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Mom rolled her eyes. She grabbed the box and asked me to open it that I could play with it.

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I said no, but she placed the box in front of me and told me to open it or we would take it back.

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_00]: I couldn't understand, but Mom's stern voice made my eyes swall up again.

[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_00]: For Happy, I yelled. She turned the box around. Her face went cold when I saw her mouth silently

[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_00]: move as if to read the label of the box. Go to sleep, Natalie. She looked at me and grabbed

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_00]: the box and threw it against the wall. She yelled at me as a cries of the doll seeped out of the

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_00]: box. Mom had never acted this way. She told me to stop talking about Happy that she wasn't there.

[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_00]: The doll stopped crying. Then it said, I'm asleep, Mommy. I'm asleep, Mommy. Mom's mouth dropped

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_00]: as she wrinkled her nose and started crying. She covered her face with one hand telling me to

[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_00]: fix up the box because we would be returning it. I cried too afraid to say anything. I walked over

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_00]: to the doll, the box now open from the top. I grabbed it with both hands and sat on the edge of my bed.

[00:08:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Mom was staring at me in silence. I looked over to Happy who was hiding in the corner.

[00:08:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I grabbed the doll's exposed hand and squeezed it. We heard breathing.

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Then I squeezed it again and heard laughter.

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_00]: And finally cries. Mom snatched the doll from my hand and squeezed its hand too.

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER_00]: We heard the same three sets of noises despite us both expecting to hear,

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm asleep, Mommy. One more time. Mom cried squeezing the doll over and over for a while.

[00:09:34] [SPEAKER_00]: I remember that I didn't go to school that day. I stayed in my room, across from Happy. Her real name

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Natalie. Natalie who wasn't there. When I was old enough, Mom explained to me about what happened

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_00]: to my sister. How she died. How they told me when I was young that Natalie was now happy

[00:10:04] [SPEAKER_00]: and not in pain. But they never told me that Natalie was gone. I still saw her for a while

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_00]: after that. She used to come in and sit in the corner of the room. As if playing with some

[00:10:20] [SPEAKER_00]: imaginary toys and not making any noise. I see her sometimes even now. Mom never returned the doll.

[00:10:31] [SPEAKER_00]: It still sits at her house. Every once in a while she gives a doll a squeeze to hear what it says.

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe hoping to hear that Natalie is just asleep. That was go to sleep Natalie.

[00:11:00] [SPEAKER_00]: The second story is called Always a Runner and it reminds us to expect something more than a simple

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_00]: boost of energy when we hit the trails. The story begins right after a quick message from

[00:11:12] [SPEAKER_00]: our sponsors that helped make these stories possible. Is something getting in the way

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[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_00]: you to your own licensed professional therapist to connect with in under 48 hours.

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_00]: It is safe, private and convenient professional counseling and not self-help. You can send a

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_00]: message to your counselor at any time and get thoughtful responses. Plus you can schedule

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[00:11:50] [SPEAKER_00]: depression, stress, anxiety, family conflicts and more topics right from your home.

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Anything you share is confidential but please remember that this is not a crisis line.

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[00:12:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Join over 1 million people taking care of their mental health. Again that's better help

[00:12:29] [SPEAKER_00]: h-e-l-p dot com slash scarystory. Always a runner. I don't know why I thought it would be a good

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_00]: idea to wake up at five in the morning to go out for a run. Obviously those Instagram and

[00:12:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Twitter motivational messages got me in some way but now my alarm clock was punishing

[00:13:00] [SPEAKER_00]: me for following along with the trends. But it was my fourth morning like this.

[00:13:07] [SPEAKER_00]: One more and I'd break into my weak straight habit. If I kept it going this might turn

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_00]: into a real habit supposedly and I'd feel so much better. Though I guess I'd feel better

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_00]: sleeping more also. But my shoes were on and my trail was set on an app that I got

[00:13:25] [SPEAKER_00]: so I figured I might as well go with it. I did my warm-ups and off I went into the darkness of the

[00:13:31] [SPEAKER_00]: morning. It wasn't that cold with winter being behind us now but still once sweat started hitting

[00:13:39] [SPEAKER_00]: my forehead I knew that the wind would bring along that icy feeling to it as well. I had

[00:13:45] [SPEAKER_00]: gotten used to seeing some of the same runners out on the trail that I used to do. The simple

[00:13:50] [SPEAKER_00]: one. When the sun was completely out and I thought about going back to that one. It was

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_00]: simply my mind trying to take the path of least resistance like those posts said.

[00:14:02] [SPEAKER_00]: The trail ahead was about five minutes to walk away from my house and just by the looks of it

[00:14:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I knew it would be two or three times as tough. No matter how motivated and pumped up I

[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_00]: showed up to the start of the trail I always seemed to get that moment of doubt.

[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_00]: And even if I just got started I'd start feeling a little better.

[00:14:23] [SPEAKER_00]: So I looked up at the trail with an incline toward the top of a small hill.

[00:14:28] [SPEAKER_00]: An older couple was walking down the hill up ahead.

[00:14:32] [SPEAKER_00]: No offense to them but if they could do it well yeah.

[00:14:39] [SPEAKER_00]: So I started running up and they waved at me as I passed by them going the other way.

[00:14:44] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a normal thing that I didn't know that we were supposed to do as runners.

[00:14:48] [SPEAKER_00]: But it's nice you know to get a good morning from strangers who are all out doing the same

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_00]: thing in the mornings. As I reached the top of the first hill I felt relief at seeing the

[00:14:59] [SPEAKER_00]: mostly flat rest of the trail around the small valley with trees and a view of the rest of the

[00:15:04] [SPEAKER_00]: city into the distance. The sun was rising too just to add to the surprise.

[00:15:11] [SPEAKER_00]: But soon surprises became the last thing I wished for.

[00:15:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Up ahead in the trail I spotted a person coming my way.

[00:15:21] [SPEAKER_00]: For a moment I thought that maybe I started on the wrong spot since he would be another person

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_00]: going in the opposite direction as me. He was a young guy with dark pants and a white shirt

[00:15:32] [SPEAKER_00]: and sunglasses. I used to wear mine when I'd leave a little later but not at five or six

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_00]: in the morning. The sun wasn't even completely out yet and if anything those things were a

[00:15:45] [SPEAKER_00]: hazard to using the dark while running. He ran in silence looking down at his shoes and then

[00:15:51] [SPEAKER_00]: straight ahead. I looked at him as he was ten yards in front of me getting ready to raise

[00:15:57] [SPEAKER_00]: my hand to wave at him but his expression didn't change and he didn't even look my way.

[00:16:06] [SPEAKER_00]: I slowed down and moved to the left as he passed by.

[00:16:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Some people just get really into it like that and ignore the rest of the world

[00:16:15] [SPEAKER_00]: and it was completely normal. Then something else happened. I still can't shake it off.

[00:16:25] [SPEAKER_00]: By the next curve another trail split off into the right and I wasn't sure if that

[00:16:31] [SPEAKER_00]: was the one I was supposed to take. If you've ever hiked or walked around a canyon you know

[00:16:36] [SPEAKER_00]: a lot of the scenery looks the same and that some of the trails can easily be much longer than others

[00:16:42] [SPEAKER_00]: even if you're within the same area due to the winding nature of it as you climb or descend

[00:16:47] [SPEAKER_00]: into the canyon. The zig-zagging through those places are what take up most of my time out there

[00:16:53] [SPEAKER_00]: so as I was approaching the fork I stopped to take a look at my phone's map just to double

[00:16:58] [SPEAKER_00]: check. That's when I heard footsteps again. Very quiet ones coming from the top of one of

[00:17:05] [SPEAKER_00]: the trails. I couldn't tell which one but I looked up to the one on the right and then to the left.

[00:17:12] [SPEAKER_00]: The footsteps were getting closer. I looked through my map app and saw that the path on

[00:17:18] [SPEAKER_00]: the right was the one I was supposed to take so I put the phone back on my arm holder and took

[00:17:23] [SPEAKER_00]: two steps forward when I saw him, the same young man. He was running down the trail

[00:17:32] [SPEAKER_00]: with his sunglasses laser focused on his path. I came to a near full stop when I saw him.

[00:17:40] [SPEAKER_00]: I instinctively raised my arm to wave hello but he passed next to me without acknowledging I was

[00:17:46] [SPEAKER_00]: there. Now that's what happened to me and even though it doesn't seem like a lot,

[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_00]: that maybe the person was just a quick runner and somehow managed to make the entire loop

[00:17:58] [SPEAKER_00]: where it passed me twice in less than 10 minutes seems like a possible idea.

[00:18:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I promised that even I want to believe that. See I told one of my friends about the trail

[00:18:09] [SPEAKER_00]: running I was doing and one of them, Hailey, met me at the trailhead one morning.

[00:18:15] [SPEAKER_00]: She was a full on runner so I was a bit intimidated but when I walked up to her car

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_00]: that morning she was sitting on the driver's side staring out into the semi-dark trail

[00:18:25] [SPEAKER_00]: looking like she had just seen a ghost. And from what she told me

[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I think she might have. I think I might have too. I got into the passenger side seat

[00:18:43] [SPEAKER_00]: debating whether or not I should ask her what happened when suddenly she started speaking on her

[00:18:48] [SPEAKER_00]: own. She said that a man, a tall thin man with a white t-shirt had come down the path

[00:18:56] [SPEAKER_00]: holding onto the side of his torso as he fell to the ground in pain.

[00:19:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Hailey quickly grabbed onto the side handle of a door to open it. She looked for her cell phone

[00:19:07] [SPEAKER_00]: to get help but when she opened the door and stepped out she looked up towards the trail

[00:19:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and the man was gone. She looked all around the area but the man had completely vanished.

[00:19:22] [SPEAKER_00]: We sat there for a while as the sun was rising. Hailey had been googling for some

[00:19:27] [SPEAKER_00]: type of explanation of what she had seen at Jameson Park and managed to find something.

[00:19:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Reports of a man named Kristoff who died tragically from an injury while out on the trails

[00:19:40] [SPEAKER_00]: but along with those came reports of ghost sightings.

[00:19:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Despite all this we had calmed down by this time

[00:19:50] [SPEAKER_00]: joking around in disbelief when I told her that I had seen him too.

[00:19:56] [SPEAKER_00]: That's when we both froze as we saw the dark silhouette coming down from the top of the hill.

[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_00]: His shadow coming toward us. My friend started the car and put it on reverse

[00:20:11] [SPEAKER_00]: pulling it out toward the road. I turned my head toward the driver's side window

[00:20:16] [SPEAKER_00]: raising my shoulders expecting him to rush toward us, my heart beat growing louder.

[00:20:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Hailey screamed as she put the car on drive. I could hear the footsteps right outside my window

[00:20:28] [SPEAKER_00]: but refused to look. We got back on the road leaving whatever we saw behind us.

[00:20:48] [SPEAKER_00]: This was Scary Story, written and produced by me Edwin Covarrulles.

[00:20:53] [SPEAKER_00]: You can stay updated with this and other shows that I make by going to scarystorypodcast.com.

[00:20:59] [SPEAKER_00]: You can also be notified by email whenever a new episode gets released for free.

[00:21:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you very much for listening.