Seatbelt

[00:00:00] Welcome to Scary Story Podcast.

[00:00:03] In our stories we explore a traumatic dark memory and the role it plays in daily life.

[00:00:09] Then fear arrives in our second story in the shape of a ghostly woman that waits for you

[00:00:14] in the dark.

[00:00:17] My name is Edwin.

[00:00:19] Here is a scary story.

[00:00:24] Seatbelt.

[00:00:29] I watched as the two kids that my friends brought over one afternoon chased each other

[00:00:33] in the front yard.

[00:00:35] Their parents were supposedly out for a regular doctor's appointment.

[00:00:39] Martina had heard around their circle of friends that Patty was about to get plastic surgery,

[00:00:45] implants or something.

[00:00:46] I don't know much about that but I didn't find it surprising.

[00:00:50] And definitely didn't find it worthy of what seemed like two hour conversations with my

[00:00:54] wife every single day that past week.

[00:00:59] Martina stepped out to the porch with me.

[00:01:02] The two kids now rolling over each other on the grass.

[00:01:05] Hey, I yelled out.

[00:01:08] Rough play was out of the question.

[00:01:11] I felt Martina's light hand touch mine with that familiar, I'll take care of it, feel

[00:01:16] she used to give me.

[00:01:17] I felt out I had to ask Martina if she had thought about surgery herself and I offended

[00:01:22] her I'm assuming since she gasped and then started telling me even more about

[00:01:26] how the procedures work and things like that.

[00:01:30] It is a topic I avoid especially after seeing my own nose in the mirror every day but I had

[00:01:35] lived with it almost all my life and I was used to it by now.

[00:01:40] She was the one that had to see it every day while all I had to do was avoid mirrors

[00:01:44] and I'd be okay.

[00:01:47] She then told me about what their other friend, I forget her name, said about the surgery

[00:01:51] that Patty was getting and how they assumed that they were going to cover up the procedure

[00:01:55] since according to their suspicions Patty would have to be looked after for a couple

[00:02:00] of weeks and part of her body will be swollen beyond belief.

[00:02:05] Again I didn't ask about this, it was just a thing that presented itself.

[00:02:09] It presented itself over and over and eventually all of the useless information got into

[00:02:13] this brain of mine.

[00:02:16] Martina and I met with her telling me stories about her friends and her life

[00:02:20] in college.

[00:02:21] I figured that if she knew right off the bat what a terrible listener I am.

[00:02:25] She'd politely let me know that we wouldn't work and move on and then I'd move on.

[00:02:31] Just like all those other times.

[00:02:33] But Martina was different.

[00:02:36] Sure she talked a lot but she also took my obsessions very seriously and in a strange

[00:02:40] way, almost respected them.

[00:02:45] They weren't too bad but I knew of the trouble they had caused me and my friends

[00:02:48] in the past.

[00:02:50] I couldn't have roommates because of the precautions I would take over everything.

[00:02:55] Spills in the kitchen would be cleaned up right away.

[00:02:59] Shoes with non-slip soles to be worn at all times.

[00:03:03] No glass cups or plates or bottles.

[00:03:06] I tried to get my vegetables and fruits pre-sliced to avoid using the only knife

[00:03:10] in the house.

[00:03:12] Martina used it most of the time.

[00:03:16] It was another thing with the nightmares.

[00:03:19] Because I simply couldn't erase.

[00:03:22] I haven't had the same dreams as often as I used to but the memories are still there

[00:03:26] and they are not pretty.

[00:03:29] There's one that comes back in flashes.

[00:03:33] I'm sitting in the car.

[00:03:35] My shoes look small and untied.

[00:03:39] I look out to the window to see the blue sky.

[00:03:42] The window above me is tall enough so that I couldn't see what was next to me in

[00:03:46] the side of the car.

[00:03:48] That sky more than made up for it.

[00:03:52] Another flash.

[00:03:54] I look up toward the seat in front of me and laugh.

[00:03:58] Having the window open like that, the wind at the perfect temperature flowing almost

[00:04:02] like the texture of water over my forehead.

[00:04:05] Splashing behind my head and on the edges of my ears.

[00:04:10] The second flash.

[00:04:12] A girl, my sister I think.

[00:04:15] Being in the back seat with me.

[00:04:17] Reaching her hand out toward me as I laugh at her face that she's making.

[00:04:22] My laughter dies off as I stare at a red rectangle, a button on the seat next to her.

[00:04:28] She laughs.

[00:04:30] I laugh again.

[00:04:33] She looks away to the window as a red button pulls me toward it but when I press it,

[00:04:38] it doesn't move.

[00:04:39] It doesn't do anything.

[00:04:42] I feel disappointment, anger almost.

[00:04:46] I press harder until I hear a snap.

[00:04:49] My sister looks down on my hand and smiles then pushes my hand away.

[00:04:55] But just then the car begins to shake and I hear the screeching sounds of another

[00:05:00] car.

[00:05:01] Glass breaking.

[00:05:04] The third and final flash.

[00:05:07] I open my eyes and I can see through the window now.

[00:05:10] The girl, my sister is across the highway.

[00:05:14] Her leg bent the other way.

[00:05:16] But I can't see her face and I can't tell if it's her.

[00:05:20] Her window is broken and she doesn't move.

[00:05:24] And it is like this most times.

[00:05:28] Other times I hear men in uniform coming to get me.

[00:05:32] My mom and dad running toward the young girl in the highway.

[00:05:36] Blood runs down my mom's face.

[00:05:39] She picks up tiny white bones from the road and cups them in her bloody left hand.

[00:05:45] Sometimes I hear sirens and others I don't hear anything.

[00:05:51] Then there's what I call the fictional memories.

[00:05:54] Things that I've heard over and over from my family but I don't remember them personally.

[00:06:00] Though if I think back hard enough, I can kind of make up a scene in my head where

[00:06:04] this takes place.

[00:06:07] Others told my family that it would be better to wait while my face developed a little more.

[00:06:13] Maybe they could reconstruct part of my nose and ears.

[00:06:15] Supposedly they insisted so much that they eventually found a doctor that would do the

[00:06:20] procedure for me.

[00:06:22] They were able to quote, save my face.

[00:06:28] And I can kind of see it.

[00:06:29] I mean, I don't know how much of it is true but they put me on a bed with blue

[00:06:33] papery sheets.

[00:06:35] And I get wheeled over to a room with green tile walls.

[00:06:38] I don't remember much after that.

[00:06:41] I don't think my face looks too bad.

[00:06:45] The nose is crooked and I like to say that it bothers me only a little bit.

[00:06:50] But I know, and Martina knows, that it is the reason why I keep to myself most of

[00:06:56] the time.

[00:06:58] The reminder of that strange day and the roots of all these memories in that car.

[00:07:03] The sirens.

[00:07:05] And the death of my sister.

[00:07:09] We both sit there as Fred and Patty arrive to pick up the two kids.

[00:07:13] One of them comes up toward my lawn chair.

[00:07:15] Her backpack was next to my bright green Gatorade model.

[00:07:19] She says thank you to me.

[00:07:22] I say that she's welcome as she grabs her backpack with both hands and runs

[00:07:25] toward the sidewalk.

[00:07:28] Her white shoes hit against the grass as I hold back the instinct to tell her not to

[00:07:32] run.

[00:07:34] She opens the door for her little brother and he jumps in the car.

[00:07:38] She follows behind him.

[00:07:41] Fred waves at me, points at his invisible watch as if to tell me that he's running

[00:07:44] late and can't stop by to chat.

[00:07:48] I don't need to chat.

[00:07:51] Martina stands up and walks over to their car though.

[00:07:54] Maybe that's what Fred's signal was for.

[00:07:57] Martina can talk for a while.

[00:08:00] Patty waves at me as Martina takes a step back and turns around to walk toward me

[00:08:03] once again.

[00:08:06] As the car begins to pull away I hear a familiar phrase, one that I hear sometimes in movies,

[00:08:13] usually from dads.

[00:08:16] Seat belts.

[00:08:18] The car roars away.

[00:08:19] That's when I hear the screeching sounds, glass breaking.

[00:08:24] I put my head down.

[00:08:27] Martina's soft palm rests on my back now.

[00:08:31] They're okay, she says to me.

[00:08:35] I turn my head up.

[00:08:36] Their white car is rolling down the street in silence now.

[00:08:40] And everything's fine.

[00:08:43] They are okay.

[00:08:54] The following story is called Wrinkled Woman

[00:08:58] and it is about a phenomenon that affects many people across the world.

[00:09:02] The story comes up right after this.

[00:09:14] It must have been around six in the morning when it first happened

[00:09:18] and I blamed it on the dark curtains that mom got me.

[00:09:21] They really threw off my sleeping schedule with waking me up super late

[00:09:25] because of the light from the outside wouldn't come in

[00:09:28] or too early for the same reason.

[00:09:32] I was sleeping dreaming about, I don't remember what, suddenly.

[00:09:37] I heard the sound of a pendulum clock.

[00:09:40] My body instantly froze.

[00:09:44] I looked out over the crack of the window with the curtains,

[00:09:47] a thin line of light creating a wall of floating dust

[00:09:50] and orange glow coming from the outside.

[00:09:53] My eyes couldn't move.

[00:09:55] My body couldn't move.

[00:09:57] And I was stuck in a limbo-like state

[00:09:59] where I started panicking over my inability to do so.

[00:10:04] My breathing got rougher and faster.

[00:10:07] I tried to close my eyes but the light was somehow

[00:10:09] still coming through and I could see absolutely everything.

[00:10:13] Everything including a lump out in the corner of the room.

[00:10:18] Suddenly I felt a twitch on my leg.

[00:10:21] It moved a little.

[00:10:23] I was able to turn my neck toward the dark hooded figure

[00:10:26] by the chair where my jackets had gotten stacked up.

[00:10:30] It then dropped to the floor and completely disappeared.

[00:10:34] I could feel my heart inside of my ears.

[00:10:38] I stared at the ceiling,

[00:10:39] hoping that whatever had been there in the room with me

[00:10:41] was now gone.

[00:10:44] Next thing I remember my alarm went off at 7.15

[00:10:47] and I was wide awake as normal.

[00:10:50] Still that image stuck with me

[00:10:52] and I didn't think much of it until I read somewhere

[00:10:54] about the woman who visits you in your sleep.

[00:10:58] I think it came from a movie or some type of old book

[00:11:01] that first talked about demons dancing on your stomach

[00:11:03] while you slept as they completely paralyzed you.

[00:11:07] I've heard about things like sleep paralysis,

[00:11:10] the old hag and a lot of other theories regarding this.

[00:11:14] But still I couldn't believe that something like that

[00:11:16] could happen to me.

[00:11:19] Mind you the experience with a dark hooded figure

[00:11:21] happened back when I was still in high school.

[00:11:25] It was a much different experience back then.

[00:11:29] Some of my friends talked to me about it

[00:11:31] and they seemed almost excited to hear

[00:11:32] that someone they knew had gone through something like that.

[00:11:36] The first time I told them I was very nervous

[00:11:38] thinking that maybe they could see me as a crazy person.

[00:11:42] This time I haven't shared it with anybody

[00:11:43] except for DMs with people from my groups on Facebook

[00:11:47] and a few people that I've met through Twitter

[00:11:49] that have also gone through something like this.

[00:11:51] And if this has happened to you,

[00:11:53] be careful with what I'm about to describe

[00:11:55] because I will try to be as accurate as possible

[00:11:58] and that's pretty scary.

[00:12:01] It happened about four years ago

[00:12:03] and the dreams were recurring for a few weeks.

[00:12:06] Still, this was such a disturbing event

[00:12:08] that I had trouble sleeping for months afterward.

[00:12:12] And there was absolutely nothing I could do except give it time.

[00:12:18] I lived by myself at this point

[00:12:19] and I had just gotten a full-time job

[00:12:21] and I had my own apartment.

[00:12:24] A nice place and an older part of the city,

[00:12:26] no complaints about the place at all

[00:12:28] as I feel like you had nothing to do

[00:12:30] with what I experienced back then.

[00:12:34] I had gotten off work late that night

[00:12:35] and I was tired and cold.

[00:12:38] I was about to start snowing

[00:12:39] and I remember that from the radio announcement

[00:12:41] when I was cleaning up my desk for the weekend.

[00:12:44] So I was in a hurry to get home and turn on the heat

[00:12:46] since it took a while for the place to warm up

[00:12:48] and I really wanted to sleep as soon as possible.

[00:12:53] I shut the door and got everything ready

[00:12:54] and got ready for bed.

[00:12:57] It must have taken me 10 minutes

[00:12:58] from the time I got home

[00:13:00] to the point that you could say

[00:13:01] I was drifting off to sleep.

[00:13:05] That's when I heard a familiar sound.

[00:13:08] I couldn't exactly place my finger on it.

[00:13:12] Then the ticking became clear and suddenly

[00:13:16] I heard the chime of a grandfather clock.

[00:13:20] My eyes flashed wide open.

[00:13:23] I could see the purple light from the lamp posts

[00:13:25] on the street coming through my window

[00:13:28] and that near pink and orange light

[00:13:30] coming from another direction,

[00:13:33] the ticking continued

[00:13:36] and it sounded to be right next to me

[00:13:38] when I finally heard her for the first time.

[00:13:44] She laughed.

[00:13:46] She tugged at my leg and pulled it off to the side

[00:13:49] with a cold, dry feeling of a leather jacket

[00:13:51] against the blanket.

[00:13:54] My heart started racing.

[00:13:57] I heard the taps as she stepped

[00:13:58] to the other side of the bed.

[00:13:59] Her sinister laugh still echoing

[00:14:01] through the room from all directions.

[00:14:04] My elbow was locked when I tried to move them.

[00:14:07] Same with my knees.

[00:14:10] I tried to open my mouth

[00:14:11] but all I could utter was dry breath

[00:14:13] and the distant sounds of squeaks.

[00:14:16] I felt the cold grip against my leg,

[00:14:18] pulling at it over the edge of my bed.

[00:14:21] It was trying to get me.

[00:14:25] That's when I felt the stronger pressure,

[00:14:26] the thing was climbing on to my bed

[00:14:30] with my eyes straining to look toward my left

[00:14:32] that was able to see the top of her head

[00:14:36] that gray tangled hair in all directions

[00:14:40] wobbled toward my side.

[00:14:44] Her eyes were busy looking around the room

[00:14:46] glancing at me every time she scanned

[00:14:48] the corners of my bedroom.

[00:14:50] She laughed again.

[00:14:53] Her black eyes looking directly at me now.

[00:14:58] The wrinkled face finally stretched sideways

[00:15:00] as her teeth, lots of them spread across her face.

[00:15:05] Drill was dripping down the side of her neck.

[00:15:10] Her breathing sounded tired.

[00:15:13] That's when I felt it.

[00:15:15] The weight of her body against my chest.

[00:15:19] She pressed against my lungs

[00:15:20] as I felt a cold sweat across my forehand

[00:15:22] rolled down between the side of my eyes

[00:15:25] and the bridge of my nose.

[00:15:27] It slid into my eyes, stinging.

[00:15:31] Yet I couldn't close them.

[00:15:34] The wrinkled woman stared right at me, smiling.

[00:15:39] I tried with all my might to wiggle out from under her.

[00:15:42] Before she stood up on my chest,

[00:15:46] her dark cloak swayed from side to side

[00:15:49] as she got her footing right.

[00:15:51] I started having more trouble breathing.

[00:15:54] I gasped for air to give one final push

[00:15:57] at getting my legs to move.

[00:15:59] With everything I had,

[00:16:00] I tried to kick at the air to get my body to react.

[00:16:04] Then it worked.

[00:16:08] My leg moved.

[00:16:10] The wrinkled woman rolled off the bed with a loud thud

[00:16:13] scurried off toward the corner of the room like a rat.

[00:16:17] I felt a tingling sensation in my arms

[00:16:20] and I was able to turn my head.

[00:16:23] I turned away from the wrinkled woman

[00:16:25] and rolled right off the bed,

[00:16:26] tripping on my own blanket as I reached for the light switch.

[00:16:31] Only then was I able to look toward the corner of the room.

[00:16:35] Right there

[00:16:37] where the wrinkled woman had been hiding

[00:16:41] was an old black jacket.

[00:16:45] I picked it up.

[00:16:46] I threw it in the closet and got back into bed.

[00:16:50] The light stayed on for the rest of the night

[00:16:52] and for the following ones.

[00:16:57] Every once in a while, I think about that event.

[00:17:00] It would be crazy for me to say

[00:17:02] that I don't think it could happen to me again.

[00:17:06] Still, I know there's very little I can do about it.

[00:17:11] Tonight it could happen to me

[00:17:14] or it could happen to you.

[00:17:33] Scary Story Podcast is produced by me.

[00:17:36] Edwin Covarrubias.

[00:17:38] For more horror, check out my other podcast called

[00:17:41] A Dark Memory

[00:17:42] where I revisit dark tales and events

[00:17:44] in a storytelling format.

[00:17:47] I'll leave a link for it on the description of this episode.

[00:17:51] Also, be sure to click follow on your podcast player

[00:17:54] to get updates for this podcast

[00:17:56] or you can also sign up over at scarystorypodcast.com

[00:17:59] to get an email every time a new story comes out.

[00:18:03] Until next time.

[00:18:05] Thank you very much for listening.