We Will See Her Tonight

[00:00:01] Welcome to Scary Story Parking. The following stories are dark. They also deal with the darkness we will all join at one point, some of us earlier than others. My name is Edwin. Here's a scary story. I am the oldest of three, well two, siblings and my family.

[00:00:31] Growing up, friends of my parents used to tell them that they were lucky. We all actually got along, unlike their own children. Of course I knew how some of my friends used to fight with each other all the time, but I never found our little group particularly lucky.

[00:00:49] I guess it's true that you don't really know how lucky you are until you're not. Willie was the middle child and yes he followed all of the stereotypes.

[00:01:00] He used to be sort of the troublemaker while Steve, the youngest of us, used to get his way all of the time. The two of them had to share a bedroom while I had my own, but they still spent all of their time in mine.

[00:01:13] It became sort of a thing for them to spend the night in my bedroom on Friday or Saturday night because that is when we would watch movies and eat snacks. Food wasn't allowed in their rooms, technically, they weren't allowed in mine either,

[00:01:26] but it always ate in mine, so they started doing that also. I forgot the name of the movie we were watching that night. I think it was Steve's Choice, the story of a young girl who has a pen pal.

[00:01:39] Still neither of them stayed up to the end of the movies ever, so I was stuck watching to the end of most of them, no matter how boring they were at first.

[00:01:48] I think it was more of a hassle turning it off and switching out the DVD for one of the same eight movies I had in my little movie library. In the end of this one, the young girl, a woman now, finally met her pen pal,

[00:02:02] but he was dead in the chair of his apartment. Not choice for a movie, right? I was using my cell phone and was texting with two of my friends, like old school texting on those old phones, tapping away at the buttons late into the night.

[00:02:17] When suddenly, I felt Steve move from the beanbag chair on the floor. He wiggled his way out of it and through the light of the menu screen of the DVD that was still on the TV,

[00:02:28] I was able to see him stand up, naturally, and face the bedroom door. I called out to him, balancing my volume between getting him to hear me and not waking up Willie, who was laying down awkwardly on the other side of the bed. But Steve wouldn't respond.

[00:02:47] He stood there, like a statue, his arms to his side, looking straight at the gap between the door that was cracked open just enough to let him squeeze through into the pitch black darkness of the hallway. Still he was just standing there.

[00:03:04] Suddenly he bent over and put his hands on the floor. Then he sat down with his legs crossed, his back facing me. All this time, by the way, I was simply trying to figure out what he was doing. So much that I stopped calling his name.

[00:03:20] I'm not sure how long he was sitting there. I kind of just went to sleep with my phone vibrating next to me. The air felt heavy and I don't know if you have ever experienced this, but I used to get this strange feeling all around me.

[00:03:35] And then suddenly become very tired. Dad said it was my mind being on overdrive. But mom was more of a believer in energies and stuff. She would say that simple things like redecorating my room and other things like that would lighten up the ambience. I don't know.

[00:03:55] Eventually we all found out that there was little we could have done to stop the odd feelings of grief and immense sadness that we'd experienced in that house. My little brother Steve knew what I meant, sort of.

[00:04:08] When he was six, mom found him staring up at the stove by himself and blamed us for having taught him how to use it. But he defended us because it hadn't been us that taught him. It was the lady with the black hair.

[00:04:23] Of course mom didn't believe him thinking that he was making it up just so that we wouldn't get in trouble. Still, the lady with the black hair became a regular excuse for him to explain things that would happen on occasion.

[00:04:38] It got to the point where it was becoming dangerous. Mom and dad had to speak with him very seriously about this lady with the black hair. The bathtub incident was one of them.

[00:04:49] Where Steve was in there playing with his toy boats and random stuff he used to throw in the bathtub when we all heard him scream and knock a bunch of things over around the bathroom.

[00:04:58] Dad found part of his legs turning bright red as he lay there crying on the mat right in front of the sink. The lady with the black hair had turned the water to the hottest setting until it burned him.

[00:05:10] I didn't see a reason for him to do that to himself, but dad still believed that he had something to do with it. It got to the point where Steve used to sleep in my room almost every other night.

[00:05:22] He would bring his own The Lion King blanket and crawl up against me as I stayed there, up late sometimes, with the phone vibrating next to me. The stinky socks would somehow end up off his feet and near the pillow. Oh God how I miss those moments.

[00:05:39] He woke up in the middle of the night and looked me directly in the eyes. Tony he whispered, Do you believe me? I tapped the top of his head with the palm of my hand. Yes Steve, go to sleep alright.

[00:05:56] It was dozing off when you whispered something else. We will see her tonight. I turned back to my phone just as I heard him breathing loudly enough to know he was fast asleep. I pulled myself deeper into my own blanket and adjusted my pillow.

[00:06:15] I heard footsteps and the sounds of mom crying very early in the morning. I looked next to me and Steve was gone. Dad was talking to someone on the phone as I stood against the handrail of the stairs.

[00:06:28] Two men were lifting Steve's crooked body from the base of the stairs. Mom looked up and saw me standing there. She took a few steps up and asked me to stay in Willy's room through tears in her eyes.

[00:06:43] I asked what had happened and if Steve would be okay. But she didn't respond. My brother was gone. It took us all what seemed like years to start putting Steve's stuff away. Mom did her best to get herself back together after the accident. Sleepwalking they said.

[00:07:04] He had gotten out of bed and fell down the stairs. But I always had the suspicion that it was something else. Something that nobody wanted to talk about anymore. It was Willy who told me on the way back from school about the woman with the black hair.

[00:07:21] How she showed up against the window of his room. Her dark bags under her eyes merging with her droopy eyebrows. The sight of dirty hair slithering down between her cheekbone and her nose. Splitting at the shoulder and continuing down.

[00:07:40] A pale hand slowly signaling him to come out the window with her. Willy's eyes swelled up with tears as we walked down the sidewalk. Now two blocks away from our house. He told me how he covered himself up with the blankets. Expecting her to come crawling toward him.

[00:08:00] He shut his eyes tightly. She was stepping closer to him. We were four houses away now. Steve used to say that the woman with the black hair lives in the attic. And that she liked to cradle a pair of rusty large scissors.

[00:08:18] We're things that made no sense but perhaps those had gotten to Willy. The trauma of the tragedy maybe. We were one house away now. Willy begged me not to tell mom and dad about what he saw. I knew why they wouldn't be able to handle it.

[00:08:36] I didn't know whether to believe him or not. But I knew that this was a tough topic to talk about. Poor little guy. He must have been suffering by debating whether to tell me or not. We were in front of the house now.

[00:08:53] I told him I wouldn't say anything as I looked up toward the attic of our house from the front yard. A tiny square window facing us serving as a frame for the image of a pale woman with dark hair. Locking her eyes with mine.

[00:09:09] But she took a step back. Disappearing into the darkness. It is a sunny day and all of my friends and family are outside. I can hear their voices echoing not far from where I am. What a shame being inside on a day like this.

[00:09:49] Voices of those I have not seen in years even those who I thought I never wanted to see again are right there. Shame. Is this what it's like? What about the gates of heaven or hell? The man with either the beard or the tail

[00:10:09] who greets you and shows you the ropes of how you are about to spend the rest of eternity. I had tried in dumb ways to end up here. There was always some type of force that kept my heart beating. That's what they say.

[00:10:25] That when it isn't your time to go, you simply can't go. Boy was it embarrassing. Obviously this is a tough topic but come on. The shame of surviving a drop from that three-story building and all of those visitors for weeks with the same thoughts in their eyes

[00:10:44] before they looked away at the very same flowers they had brought for me and then people finding out through Facebook and pitching money for my surgeries. I would pay you back every single cent if I could. I swear I would. What am I saying? The job is done.

[00:11:03] Not even the sounds of breaking and fracturing bones in 27 places seem to scare me away from this again. Well, I guess this time I was going out in a softer way. That's what I did. It was my choice but being here I swear.

[00:11:22] I just thought it could make me feel so conscious, feel nothing at the same time. How long does your sense of hearing last after you die anyway? The chatter and sobs don't seem to go away. The souls or so I had read that circle around you

[00:11:40] like the curious dogs that came up to body at the dog park before they started chasing each other. I was going to miss that little guy. It would be a matter of time before the souls stayed quiet and accepted me as one of them.

[00:11:53] Maybe then all of this darkness would go away. But wait, that heat? Was this hell? That's what I thought at the time. Still that experience was something that will never leave me.

[00:12:12] It took me a few seconds to realize that the feeling of my legs and arms was not heat but rather the tingly sensation you get when they wake up after sitting for too long.

[00:12:23] Ants marching up and down, stabbing little tickle needles into you if you dare to move a muscle. It was all around me now. Everything itched as it crawled up and down to the sound of... sound.

[00:12:40] It was dying out with every distant thud of waves that make you feel like you're deaf for an instant and your head hits the water. But these waves hit harder though, like rocks. I felt it now, my chest.

[00:12:56] It bobbed up ever so slightly, and I felt the tip of my nose tingle. I was not dead. Not far from me, the priests chanting and the sounds of shovel sticking into the heaps of dirt.

[00:13:10] Two seconds later after the grunt, a dense scoop of it landing right above me. My eyes opened to see the thinnest line of light right next to me. Was I imagining it? The arms by my side finally reacted.

[00:13:26] I was able to move them from side to side, bouncing between my body and the wall. The wooden coffin I was in. I'm not dead. I'm not dead. I struggled to raise my hands as I felt the beads of sweat turn into full-on streams, stinging my eyes.

[00:13:43] I touched the lid of it, aligned with the cushiony material that deafened the sound of my knuckles against it. I started breathing deeply. The tips of my shoes against the lid, the sides. I was getting harder to breathe.

[00:13:58] The temperature was rising with every sound of the dirt falling on top of me. I struggled to turn around, barely able to turn to my side. My arms couldn't go up above me. It was hard to get them away from me. I needed to get out.

[00:14:14] I screamed. I knocked on the sides of it. My heart was alive. They told me the pills were imported. The guy who sent them had reviews. For $600 they were supposed to work and I doubt he was going to risk ripping off someone and not kill them.

[00:14:31] Or worse, steal from a killer. Weapon of choice, one of them said. Worth the investment. I kicked as hard as I could until I felt warm blood dripping in my shoes. Blood of my forearms was drying up and sticking to my skin. I knew the smell of that.

[00:14:53] I screamed and twisted, pushing my arms away from me with all my might. Nails feel like plastic when they break off your fingertips. Every scoop from that shovel got quieter. The thuds were farther away now. Was this it? I ripped off the pillowy cloth above me.

[00:15:16] My forehead hit the lid of it as I gripped it with my teeth and pulled as hard as I could. I felt it tear. It was solid wood now.

[00:15:25] There was only so much noise I could make with my arms only being able to bend so little at my elbows. I screamed. I could no longer hear the dirt being shoveled above me. That was it. No more talking, no sobs, no chance.

[00:15:46] Tears rolled down the sides of my face and into my ears. This is how I go. But suddenly, scrapes scraping above and on the sides of me. The beasts coming to get me finally. Chatter. The curious souls coming to greet me.

[00:16:10] And cries growing louder and louder all around me until I felt the cracking of bones once again. Except, it weren't bones. The wooden lid had been cracked from the bottom as a blinding ray of light lit up the interior of my box.

[00:16:27] Everything and everyone went quiet as a cold air hit my face once again. I could see the rays of light shining through the brown leaves of the tree I always wanted to be under. When it isn't your time to go, you simply can't go.

[00:16:46] Following story is called Lady on the Side of the Road. And it is coming up right after a message from sponsors that help pay for this podcast. Do you feel that something is getting in the way of your happiness or with you achieving your goals?

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[00:18:08] I want you to start living a happier life today. As a listener of Scary Story Podcast, you'll get 10% off your first month by visiting betterhelp.com. Join over 1 million people taking charge of their mental health. Again, that's better-h-e-l-p.com-slash-scary-story.

[00:18:30] My best friend called me one night to ask if I could teach her how to drive. At 22 years old and never been behind a steering wheel, she was ready to get her license and everything.

[00:18:45] In California, you have to get a permit in order to learn how to drive. But anyway, she had it and she was ready. All of that made me think about how I answer that question, if I have ever been in any car accident.

[00:18:59] Which frankly, I believe I haven't. But I will tell you why this is such a confusing question to answer. My girlfriend had gotten off of work late one night and had taken a bus there.

[00:19:16] The road to get to the factory was dark and just a long stretch of highway so old. That yellow paint that was dividing the lanes was no longer visible. Flatlands they used to be. Nothing to see around there for miles, not even the mountains were visible at night.

[00:19:32] Just dirt, a few rocks and dried up bushes all along the road. Emma had texted me about getting off half an hour before she was actually out. And she did that because she knew I was always late.

[00:19:47] She told me that I used to drive too slowly and guess, part of that was true. But I also stopped completely at stop signs and wouldn't cross the intersection if the light wasn't green.

[00:19:58] Even if it was two in the morning and there was no one else around, just like that particular night. Everything went smoothly and I got there just five minutes before she got off. I started taking off the hairnet and stuffing it into a pouch they had given her.

[00:20:14] She was untieing her shoes when she opened the door to my car. She thanked me through a half-yon and I knew she was going to knock out as soon as she sat down. So I made up my mind to do my best to keep a conversation going.

[00:20:28] I asked her about a movie that had just come out and off she went, complaining about it. About the actors and everything. She ended up comparing it with the book. We had just left the industrial area.

[00:20:42] The orange lights far behind us enough to become one straight faded line of light. Flickering off one by one. Went out of the corner of my eye. I saw the shape of a woman standing by the side of the road.

[00:20:57] I tapped Emma's leg trying to point out what I was seeing as I slowly tapped on the brakes to slow down. What are you doing? She snapped. Go! She was right. Why would I stop for such a creepy looking figure on the side of the road?

[00:21:15] As I was getting closer, I could see her slowly crouching down. It almost made me think that she was about to leap onto the road. I've heard of that before by the way.

[00:21:26] An old friend who worked for UPS once told me that jumpers in front of the road were not that uncommon. It was an easy way to die.

[00:21:35] I could feel Emma's gaze on me, watching what I was doing as we got closer to the thing silhouette up ahead into my right. We were about to pass her when she suddenly took about a hundred tiny steps forward.

[00:21:51] It only moved about two meters into the road with an eerie and unnatural speed. Emma didn't seem to notice. Instead choosing to look right at me. I didn't turn to look at her.

[00:22:05] I hit the brakes as hard as I could but I felt the back wheels turn to the side. I felt like the car was about to flip over as it slid into the dark dirt to screech.

[00:22:15] The woman, now in the middle of the road, was keeping her dark eyes right on me. Only the sound of the car's engine could be heard on that pitch black road until Emma broke the silence. Screaming asked me what the heck was wrong with me.

[00:22:33] Painfully decorated with other bad words in there. Bung with me, I remember thinking. What the heck was wrong with that lady by the road? Emma was still in shock over the whole thing, waiting for me to say something.

[00:22:48] My arm started shaking when I mentioned the lady on the side of the road. But I was not expecting Emma's response to it. There had been nobody there. The red brake lights were shining onto the road behind us, right where the strange woman had been standing.

[00:23:07] But this time, there was no one in sight. Scary Story Podcast is written and produced by me, Edwin Coadrubias. You can help out the show by sharing it with someone who enjoys scary stories.

[00:23:30] To get notified via email when new episodes come out, enter your email address over on scarystorypodcast.com and you can also tap follow on the app you're listening on to stay up to date. Are you a fan of creepy stories?

[00:23:44] I'll play a short teaser of my podcast, True Scary Story, right after this. And if you have one, get in touch. Until next time, thank you very much for listening. Hey there, my name is Edwin from Scary Story Podcast, and of the shows.

[00:24:02] I would like to tell you about my new show called True Scary Story, which is about real-life horror stories where people share their most creepy experiences that have no apparent explanation. The episodes are made up of people talking about their encounters with bizarre, strange things

[00:24:18] guaranteed to send chills down your spine. These are real stories. Listen at your own risk. You can find True Scary Story by visiting truescarystory.com right now on your phone or searching for it on your podcast app. Again, that's truescarystory.com. I'll see you there.