Scary Stories - Be. Scared Podcast (Episodes 8 - 12) - Be. Busta (The Showers Full Story)

Video Statistics and Information

Video

Captions Word Cloud

Captions

g'day mates it's B Buster here so before the episode begins I would just like to say a huge thank you to cast box for helping me make the cast Box original be scared which is produced along with studio71 cast box is the fastest growing highest-rated podcast app on both iOS and Android and you can find all of your favorite podcasts there personally I think cast box is the best podcasting platform out there and I hope you guys check it out because I think you'll be surprised at just how much variety they have and how user-friendly their app is anyway guys thanks for listening and without further ado let's begin the showers part 1 by clover 101 76 every area and all parts of the world has those harrier specific urban legends that just refused to die whether the stories are about a haunted Asylum on the outskirts of the city a creature that lives in the nearby woods or a ghost that haunts a lonely stretch of road outside of town there is always a common thread within the tales no one has ever been to these places seen the creatures or witnessed any hauntings with their own eyes there are members of every generation who will proclaim that they know someone whose brother's best friend or sister went to the haunted house with 13 floors that used real blood and snakes and spiders and is so scary that no one has ever made it all the way through those same people will swear by these stories without ever being able to provide a shred of evidence or a name of someone who could provide proof of the claims simply because everyone around here knows that it's a true story the storytellers eventually passed the tales on to their children who modify them just enough to keep them up with the changing times and the cycle continues I'm as skeptical as anyone when it comes to these stories seeing as I was like a junkie when I was younger constantly searching for terrifying stories about whatever area of the country I was living in at the time I made up in spread stories about haunted pizza parlors in New York my cousin's encounter with the Jersey Devil well my grandfather encountered a feral human-like demon creature in the woods of Colorado my even break the one rule with these stories by putting myself in them these took guts in hindsight because I had to make sure that I always told the same story the same way surprisingly no one ever called my bluff - I like to think that I have had some wonderful contributions to various urban legends around the Midwest and northeastern states I moved around a lot there was always a surge of joy whenever I would wander the halls at school and he one of my classmates retelling my stories - another one of his friends adding little bits here and there like a massive game of telephone I knew of course that the stories were complete fiction but I stood my ground whenever someone asked me about them my would even managed to act a little bit speaking with a shaky voice or looking scared when I would recount a situation that I supposedly experienced myself I suppose this aspect of my childhood has led to my current predicament which I'll recount in full for all of you guys to take from it what you will I have laid this little introduction out as a sort of disclaim aimed particularly at those who will call my story into question I have been like the boy who cried wolf fears but I assure you with every ounce of honesty and integrity that I have at this time the wolf it's real from my introduction me it's probably apparent that's my moved around the country quite a bit in my middle and high school years neither of my parents said anything to do with any branch of Armed Forces they simply just didn't tend to hang around any given place for too long I suppose that it had some sort of effect on me but I wasn't hurt by it or anything of the sort growing up I was a complete hand I made friends very easily was often the class clown and because of that was often disliked what my teachers again this was never an issue as Mo's usually in another state by the time the next semester rolled around anyway but my friendships were often fleeting as were any positive relationships that I ever had with my teachers because of the events that followed my memory of one teacher in particular is probably slightly skewed but I'll attempt to give the least biased version of our friendship that I can mr. Mayes was one of my social study teachers in the early years of my high school experience but being older now I can understand how horrible children are to deal with around that age and I respect him to no ends for the way that he was able to connect with the students he seems like one of us he talked like us made pop cultural references that were current listen to cool music and sometimes he would even say hell or dent while he was giving a passionate lecture about Native American history or something like that a teacher that swore even a little bit was the epitome of cool to a freshman in high school my memories of mr. Mays mostly stemmed from the way that he really got into anything that he was doing the instance that is still very vivid in my mind was of course around Halloween of my sophomore year mr. Mays had the typical teacher decorations around the classroom smiling jack-o'-lanterns and black cat cartoons typical and boring in the minds of egotistical high school students however on the 31st of October when most other teachers were rolling their eyes of the fact that teenagers still took dressing up in costumes on Halloween seriously mr. Mays took called teacher thing to a new level we walked into the classroom and were surprised to find the blinds drawn sheets over the small windows candles lighting the room and a single frowning jack-o'-lantern sitting on a stool in front of the desks mr. Mays sat at his desk just watching the students come into class and take their seats he didn't even ask anyone to be quiet because at the moment that everyone walked into the room but they were either too excited to care about petty conversations or to confuse to bother with them anymore the students took their seats as mr. Mays began his lecture he spoke quietly to set the mood and took a seat on a chair right next to the jack-o'-lantern in the center of the room you know today is probably my favorite day of the year class he said in a monotone 'voice how the Wayne is my favorite holiday and I want to share with you exactly why I love it so much one girl raised her hand with that concerned look on her face I'm pushing the due date for your papers to next Thursday said mr. Mays without bothering to look at the girl who slowly put a hand down looking around at the other students with a hint of embarrassment the class erupted in quiet cheers and mr. Mays waited for the inevitable silence he began his story immediately after the class at Guardian I will attempt to recreate the amazing story that's mr. mace told the class that day the way in which he told this story rendered the horror junkies speechless and the rest of the class terrified the same goal that had raised a hand to ask about the paper was holding her knees to her chest by the end of it a look of horror on her face the important thing to know was what the story was about the specific slip my mind Yelland not too relevant I'll try to recount the parts of the story that matter the most but that don't hold me to it basically mr. Mays and his friends set out on a road trip around the country after graduating from college they took a truck loaded it with camping gear and set out to sightsee for the entire summer the group went from New Jersey down to the coast of Florida New Orleans to California and up to Washington from there they went to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and then back to New York this concept of freedom to travel anywhere had the entire class hooked in an instant mr. Mays was the coolest teacher ever in my eyes as to being adventurous college kids the group didn't bring a map there were no time constraints so they just kind of drove in the general direction they wanted to go and eventually found a town to stay in or someplace that looked interesting he told us that after spending a week in Colorado mohini's friends had to travel through miles and miles of corn planes and more corn me assumed that they were either in Nebraska or Kansas when they decided to pool their extra cash and stay in a hotel for the night they settled into a motel in some town that mr. maze could barely remember the name of when but one of his friends realized that there was somewhere near his grandfather's farm he wasn't entirely sure where it was but being adventurous college kids they decided to get a quick refund from the motel and try to contact the friends grandpa they were unable to get a hold of the grandpa on the phone so the group figured it would be fun to just show up mr. Mises friend was adamant that his grandparents would take them in and feed them with had a moment of hesitation so the group set out with an hour of sunlight seeking the salvation of a comfortable house to stay in Kansas or Nebraska or wherever it may have been but there aren't a whole lot of natural markers that could guide lost travelers many directions given to someone who didn't live around the area basically amounted to go a couple of miles to the corn take a ride and go down a dirt road to the other corner there should be some wheat on your right etcetera etcetera so as is the case in most scary stories the group they got lost their never wanting to admit defeat though they drove into the night making wrong turns every five minutes until they found themselves on a wooded road that Mister mazes friend was certain that his grandparents lived off off mr. maze described the road is basically a dark path to hell I wasn't entirely sure how true this was because he got very excited and a bit ridiculous with his explanations of the trees that almost tried to grab the car I mean the red eyes of countless animals looking at them from the darkness but regardless the typical horror tropes worked on most of the class everyone was terrified at this time so the group of guys drove on this dark road for about 15 minutes before they came to a clearing in a small building with lights in it and what seemed to be a silo and they figured that at the very least the people who lived here would be able to help them find where the guys grandparents lived the whole idea everyone knows everyone in these hick parts of the country the fuel is hope they pulled the car up near the building realizing when they're out of the car that's me it appeared to be like one of the kind of places where one would store a whole bunch of chickens and not a home but still the lights were on so they figured that they would give it a try they approached the building as a group looking in the semi open sliding door to find a big empty room hanging fluorescent lights at the room like it was daytime and they couldn't see a saw they were no cars but one of mr. mazes friends was convinced that he saw someone knows they pulled up so they decided to go inside and see if there was an office or something where someone might still be working the why else would they have this huge place that up like that right there were no doors on the inside of the building again it was just a giant empty hall so the group roamed around the property in over towards the silo as they got closer they noticed what appeared to be a sellable at this point I remember mr. Mays telling the entire class to learn from his idiotic see he told us that he hadn't seen many horror movies before that time and didn't think twice about approaching a creepy cellar door in the middle of a dark scary foreign place he said that approaching that door was one of his biggest regrets in fact mr. Mays let the whole class know at this point that he was going to tell us as much as he deemed appropriate about the experience he felt that we were mature enough to handle it but advised anyone that was squeamish to leave the class early several students quietly gathered their things and walked out the door a couple of them being stoners who saw this as an opportunity to smoke behind the school before their next class I didn't even give the announcement a second thought though like I said I was and may have a sucker for this kind of stuff and mr. Mays was telling a story better than anything I had ever conjured up myself I wanted to learn from this guy even though I didn't believe much of the story after the class had thinned a bit mr. Mays continued with the story he told the remaining few that he and his friends opened that cellar door releasing a smell that's merely described as the most putrid thing my senses have ever experienced the group was no longer concerned with finding the owners of the property but was now set on finding the source of that smell they went down the steps into the cellar which was lit by a single bulb spaced piratical II along the ceiling of a long hallway no one spoke because things had gotten too strange the walls were lined with metal sheeting similar to the roofing on farms the hallway itself was crooked and the ceilings constantly lowered in rows like a tunnel that was hastily dogging there never touched up there were sections where the boys had to almost crouch in order to pass in fact the worst part mr. Mayes told us was that the light bulbs continuously flickered sometimes acting like a strobe light and making it very difficult to move through the winding and unstable hallways in hindsight he was certain that his mind was playing tricks on him but he remembered seeing flashes of things that couldn't be there he said that when you're that focused on something or you feel that nervous your mind can do that to you it can just simply revolt showing you things or people that aren't there g'day mates so I just wanted to take a quick break before the second half of the story to thank all of you guys for listening to be scared if you're a new listener welcome to the hive and if you're a longtime fan thanks for checking out the podcast if you could please take a moment to do me a favour to rate and review the show that would be a huge help and if you have any stories that you would like to submit for future episodes you can send them to my email at bish buster at gmail.com that's bis h dot b USTA at gmail.com thanks again for tuning in and without further ado here's the rest of the story he continued to describe the hallway and I was on the edge of my seat at this point the holes were windy and seemed to go on forever the mr. Mayes guessed that they were somewhere under the creepy forest that they had driven through and they found a door but he couldn't be sure he said that they came upon a door after walking for what felt like a mile it was a simple and wooden one but it looked like it belonged outside of a suburban me it had a nice design who seemed to be freshly painted red and had a very nice knob and knock government it was a door that belonged at the entrance to a nice house and not one that would be sitting in a dirt tunnel in the middle of no his friend walked towards the door there moving carefully because of the flashing light bulb and increasingly uncertainty about the stability of the surrounding walls he turned to the group the rest of which were nervous at the very least and attempted to lighten the mood with a laugh before he said I guess I should probably knock first mr. Mays friend grabbed the steel knocker and hit it against the door several times mockingly but quietly uttering is anyone home roof waited about 30 seconds before the tension broke the guy next to the door shrug his shoulder and went to walk back to his friends but as he did a light bulb between them searched and exploded boy shielded their eyes and looked back to their lone friend by the door as he lowered his hands one of the metal sheets of the makeshift roof dropped the edge of the sheet fell directly unto the boys forehead slicing it open and sending a wave of blood down his face the impact apparently knocked him out and he fell back against the door knocking it open in the process the entirety of the group rushed through the dim light to their friend barely noticing the seemingly pitch-black room that's now lay before them mr. mace was the first to make it to his friend's side he lifted the guy's head into his arms immediately taking off jacket and putting it over his forehead to attempt to stop the bleeding once the group had calmed down mr. Mays noticed that the arm that had been braising his friend's head was soaking wet he was confused about this and was attempting to sort it out when one of his friends started talking he said something along the lines of the lights we have to go when mr. Mays took notice so you know when you turn off a light he told the class and everything is almost pitch black except the light of the bulb dying or cooling down it was like that but there were so many of them at least 20 light bulbs had lit the room seconds ago and now when they look like little stars in the darkness that was definitely terrifying but that wasn't the scariest thing it was still a very dim light coming from the hallway behind and it was weak lit the room up just enough to see the shape of tens of people standing less than 10 feet in front of them mr. maces friend went to say something else as one of the bulbs to their right flickered to life there'd be interrupt at this point and say that's mr. Mays was generally a playful guy he had that tone of voice that makes you want to respond but basically and he could say let's go jump off a cliff guys and you would want to respond with all right mr. Mays show us the way that's a ridiculous statement I know but I hope it gets the point across he was a charismatic guy and the whole story up to this point had been told like a campfire story he had the voice inflections of someone attempting to be mysterious and scary which worked but was noticeable but at this point in the tale I recall that everything changed completely he was no longer attempting to spook anyone I could tell that this section was difficult for him in fact either he was a very good actor or it was a really terrifying memory for him to relive he told us that the lightbulb came to life and illuminated the group of people in front of him in the dim light he could see children at least 20 of them in just the visible light they were all dressed in nightgowns it looked to be tattered and torn stained dark with something their hair was long every single one of them looked like they had not had a haircut since birth some of the children were almost completely obscured by the length of it in fact every single one of them didn't appear to have been in a shower or nice bath in their entire life either mr. Mays told us that the most terrifying part of the whole thing though was that none of the children were moving they were all standing mysteri most of them only visible from the faint light reflecting off of their eyes his whole group was paralyzed with fear for several seconds when they heard what sounded like an animal in the distance yelping the way it was described was they liked the scent of a dog crying multiplied by ten this spurred the group to life just as the children began to step forward his friends grabbed the injured one and lifted him out of the room and into the hallway in an instant mr. Mays took another second to move and had difficulty finding his bearings he reached to his left in an attempt to find a wall to lean against and ended up finding a hand then pulled hard never losing his vision on the children he bolted to the door right as he noticed what he had grabbed onto a showerhead protruding from a cement wall reaching maybe a foot into the roof there was something leaking from it too but it was too dim to tell what it was he realized that it had been leaking onto him but he didn't care there were no children stammering towards him as an animal cried in the distance and his friend was seriously injured as he left the room he made a point to emphasize that he could make out several more shower heads in the wall near the single dim light bulb yes this is why they called them the showers mr. mace told the class I was transfixed sitting us far forward on my desk would allow bracing for more so I slammed the red door behind me he said and ran through that hallway faster than I've ever run before or since I made it back to the Chiron we drove out of there like a bat out of hell a couple of students Snicket it's his use of the word help so when you're at trick or treating tonight make sure you know exactly where you're headed okay don't go out too when you have been in farmhouses I mean there aren't many around here but you're all smart kids except Gerry the class laughed at this and the mood lightened as the bell rang for passing period mr. Mays turned the light on and thanked everyone for listening reminded them about the paper due next week and told us to have a safe and happy Halloween new students all around me were abuzz with theories about the story they just heard I bet it's some sort of crazy Nazi hideout said one girl I think they're all ghost babies that were killed by a dog said another I on the other hand I couldn't theorize in the slightest I was still caught up in that moment the way that mr. maser told that story and the detail that it included in it left me feeling that we didn't get the whole story a couple of days later and I stayed after class and asked him about how it really ended and what happened to his friend he laughed and said that his friend was fine and that it was honestly and he whispered this part probably due to some of the drugs that they were on at the time mr. Mays winked at me as if to say don't tell anyone about the drugs bit kid and my smiled and just left I lived in that town for another couple of months and then was rapidly moved halfway across the county to Milwaukee Wisconsin I twisted the story around and told that around campfires as I got older and it was always a hit but I always changed the ending letting the friend died of blood loss or some being dragged away by the children it wasn't until college that I had the chance to talk to mr. Mayes again I went to college in northern New York not for any reasons associated with this story college was a fun time for me and my continued to be the hen that's I always had me it wasn't until sometime around my junior year that my ran into mr. Mayes at a bar that I frequented initially I couldn't be sure that the person I saw laying with his head buried in his arm at the bar was mr. Mayes the only trait that grabbed my attention was a sweater that he used to wear on his birthday during class the shirt simply read mom the birthday boy I told my group of friends to grab a table on that I would join them in a second then walked over to the man at the bar mr. Mayes I said and the man looked up the man took a second look at my face before he smiled and put a hand on my shoulder and said hey this son now you been well I could smell some strong whiskey on his breath and his cheeks were flushed look in his eyes told me that he was three sheets to the wind and probably had no idea who I was mr. Mayes its jack I was a student of yours for a couple of semesters about six or so years ago his face changed a bit in a genuine look of recognition said Ian he took a comma tone smiled and said ah yeah I remember Abby being Jack we talked for a solid 20 minutes I told him what I've been doing for the last several years and he also told me apparently he was teaching at the same school doing the same old shtick as he called it I asked him if everything was alright and he said that there were as good as they ever have been or never were going to get it took me a while to realize that I was an adult that was having a conversation with another adult every time I'd spoken to mr. Mayes previously it had been in the student-teacher relationship but now I was just a guy having a drink with a friend at the bar my friends eventually left and I continued to drink with mr. Mayes he told me about his divorce and his kids things that's my never would have asked or cared about previously but now my kid he was a real person to me not just and I don't anymore this was a guy who had real problems but not the infallible teacher that's my once thought he was it had been several hours before I even brought up the story about the showers I told him all about my history and urban legends and scary stories and he just laughed when I mentioned the story that he told us years ago he almost seemed uncomfortable he finished his whiskey signaled for another and then turned to me and got really serious listen Jack I don't know why I kept telling that story year after year his words were slightly slurred while my hearing was messed up but we were both sufficiently blitzed at this point that was what my therapist told me to do when I was younger I had to tell people it that to come to grips with it or some shit he took a big swig of his drink wait your therapist I said mr. Mays laughed heartily and looked at me yeah of course Jack you think that something like that wouldn't fuck a person up I was confused that smile nonetheless things it just gotten really strange but I mean you said you were all on drugs or something right no one was to terribly hurt you were all okay right he got almost cartoonish with his sadness in the next several seconds of course we didn't jack why do you think I'm here right now well I was puzzled they're quickly filled with a thousand questions that I wanted to ask him but I let him carry on it's him fucking he didn't make it he laughed his laughter suddenly to tears fucking took him they did I don't even know cops told us that we were just drunk that he wandered off and got taken by the wildlife he didn't know he didn't see it jack I was absolutely stoned face at this point mr. Mayes was carrying along like I knew the actual story but I did his friend disappeared wish wish they'd found the body though at least then we could have shown them he saw it that's a bad place Jack I don't know anything else to say it's a bad place you carried on for a couple of minutes more about his friend and the fun they'd had before they went on that trip and my lady would talk it was only a few minutes later that his phone rang hey sweetheart he whispered it to the phone yeah yeah I'll be out in a second I love you baby person on the other end hung up on the phone and mr. Mayes got up to Lee know it's been nice seeing you Jackie you've got a good head on your shoulders boy make sure you use it okay he began to walk out at the bar mr. Mayes I yelled after him yeah Jack he turned back towards me where'd you say all that showers business took place where hell I didn't mention it did I it's somewhere outside Broken Bow when Nebraska fucking hell on earth if you ask me mr. Mane's walked out of the bar after waving to me running into the wall before eventually finding the door and that was the last time that's I would see him I'd never be able to tell him the impact that he had on my life or rather the impact that his story had on me he'd never know about the trip that we took after graduation almost mimicking the one that's he and his friends had made he would never know that the things that he saw at that place were real why well he died about a month later his liver fell on him it's alright though because his family was with him in the hospital room he got to die around people that cared about him and that's all men like him can ask for but I experienced that place too several years later that's where my story turns in fact the following is the story of how I came to find the showers and why I'll never ever go anywhere near Nebraska again I'll finish this story when I sober up when my memory isn't clear enough just yet [Music] g'day mates its be Buster here thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of the be scared podcast and please don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss next week's episode too also it would be much appreciated if you could share this new podcast with your friends and family and on social media too thanks again for listening guys and I'll see you mates in the next one g'day mates it's be Buster here so before the episode begins I would just like to say a huge thank you to cast box for helping me make the cast Box original be scared which is produced along with studio71 cast box is the fastest growing highest-rated podcast app on both iOS and Android and you can find all of your favorite podcasts there personally I think cast box is the best podcasting platform out there and I hope you guys check it out because I think you'll be surprised at just how much variety they have and how user-friendly their app is anyway guys thanks for listening and without further ado let's begin the showers part 2 by clover 101 7 6 so I'm awakened Yelland semi sober and ready to finish this for you guys the Internet in who ever cast here I didn't find out that mr. Mays it passed away until a couple of months after the funeral service initially I was going to seek out his family in order to send my condolences but it wasn't as if mr. Mays and I were best friends or anything like that so my just refrained I continued through my college career and graduated a year or so after a bar meeting graduating with English as my major wasn't a mistake but it wasn't exactly something that landed me any sort of immediate jobs after college now I had saved a pretty solid amount of money while I was in school and decided that I deserved a bit of a vacation if you will I took my spare cash and got together with my college buddy Steve packed up and hit the road aiming for somewhere in the Rocky Mountains I'd lived need Littleton Colorado when I was younger and remembered loving the area so this destination was as good as any the trip it was a success we made it somewhere around Estes Park Colorado and found a cheap cabin that we rented for about a month the days were filled with laughing hiking and generally things that involved little to no work on our paths after our rental was through when we packed up again and handed on our way back east some time during this trip we met a couple of natives in one of the local buffs we never typically hung out with them or anything like that we just had conversations now and then have a drinks and food one night these guys were paying their tab and packing up to leave awfully early they were usually there until the wee hours of the morning when we questioned them about it they told us that they were heading to a little get-together with some friend of theirs and they invited us having nothing else to do we hopped in the car and followed them to the party the party itself was pretty low-key and ultimately inconsequential to this story however the important thing about it was that at some point in the night we were all sitting around the fire and swapping ghost stories at this point in my life my wasn't as much of a ham as I was in my younger years but with a little bit of encouragement I started on a couple of stories that I remembered telling in my youth eventually I made it to mr. mace story about the showers every time that I had told it after hearing it from mr. mace I had spiced it up a little bit but out of some sort of subconscious respect for my former teacher I went straight into the version that he taught my class at my sophomore year of high school the group enjoyed my stories for the most part the showers being the mutual favorite among the partygoers Steve and I left for the cabin and around 5:00 in the morning again he asked me about that story in the drive I told him all about mr. Macy's that class and my love for everything horror related and whatnot and he suggested that we try to find the place on our return trip to New York initially I was reluctant but simply because I didn't feel like aimlessly wandering through Nebraska for days looking for some old farm building that was probably Tamala shhhht at this point but a couple of days before we left Colorado I told Steve that it sounded like fun we weren't going to be able to do another trip like this for a long time so I figured we might as well make the best of it somewhere in the back of my mind I thought of it as a little tribute to mr. Mayes a guy that's in retrospect helped me realize that I wanted to be a writer anyway we love Colorado and made the long boring and barren drive to Broken Bow Nebraska or hell on earth as mr. Mason put it we found a motel in town and hung around for a couple of days venturing at a hundred miles or so in any given direction each day after that I remembered mr. Meeks telling us that it was somewhere outside of Broken Bow but I don't think he got any more specific than that we tried asking the town's folk if they had any information about the showers but but we were usually met with blank stares or by rolling when we told them what exactly this place was the only person who seemed to know anything about it was an older lady that worked at a gas station on the outskirts of town I don't recall a name but I mean this woman was just one of those cheerful old people they're very helpful and generally interested in what anyone had to say to her Steve had started talking to her at the checkout and she asked about our license plate commenting about the fact that who were very far from home we had nowhere in particular to be so Steve and I ended up talking to this woman for about 15 minutes at which point we brought up our hunt for the place known as the showers initially the name didn't ring any bells with the woman which made sense seeing as mr. Mays had given the name after his experience there but when I began to describe the details that I remembered from his story the friendly old woman interrupted me her tone was not scornful mean in any way but she became very tense and deliberate with her words from that point on people don't deal with anything relating to that sort of business around here anymore she told us that was all a long time ago following your statements she attempted to be cheerful again excusing us off to the restroom and wishing us the best on a return trip to New York Steve and I returned to the car with Matt a word both of us were thinking though about what the lady had said again she didn't seem to be angry at all she just didn't want to hear another word about it though we were driving back to the hotel before Steve said something I mean if I had to live in a place associated with an urban legend or something like that I would totally mess with anyone who asked about it he said I mean eventually you just get tired of people asking about it right and so you just try to scare them to get them to shut up wouldn't you I agreed with Steve and kept driving but the whole experience just wasn't sitting right with me if this was some sort of well-known legend in the area why did no one else in town seem to know anything about it but my managed to shrug it off mind you neither of us was scared of finding the showers this little excursion on our road trip was more like a scavenger hunt a cap off two men over all relaxing vacation Steve and I were basically like tourists hunting for a site at which a famous movie was filmed or something like that we went into the whole situation with little to no expectations and a fleeting hope that we would be able to find this place we spent another day in Broken Bow before we took our next trip out to try and find the showers but a Nebraska isn't as terrible of a places people make it out to be but it really isn't all that exciting we found a bar and spent some time there and that was just have had the extent of our activity on a day off when we did get back on the road but we decided that we would attempt to stay off the main roads for as much of the day as we could I knew there was no way that this place was going to be off of a highway or anything and my remembered some detail about a dirt road in mr. mace story so we went looking for those this was a fairly futile effort though because most of Nebraska is dirt roads it was 7:00 in the evening when we came upon a small but thick forest I use the term lightly but for Nebraska this place was like an oasis the trees were full and thick shrouding most of its in sight in darkness the Sun was setting and even though he'd run into a few of these random crops of trees when we agreed that this one showed more promise than any of the others there wasn't really a road but they'd look to be a path where a dirt road might have been at some point so we drove along that if the car was able to handle the Rocky Mountains the dirt paths in Nebraska would give us no trouble we move slowly and carefully along this trail making sure to clear any fallen trees in the road or rocks that would render the car useless when the Sun finished setting it was pretty dark in this place during the day but when night came it was something else entirely I had an inkling at this point that's we had found the right place but I didn't want to jinx it so we continued on I didn't realize it at the time but the little bits of light that managed to penetrate the canopy on this miniature forest actually did make it look as if the tree branches were trying to grab the car just like mr. Mays had mentioned in his story I'm still convinced that he made up the part about the animal eyes though the most aggressive creature that we saw in the woods was the dead rabbit on the side of the trail it didn't have any obvious signs of death it just looked like it it simply laid down and just never bothered to get up anyway we drove around in the darkness for quite a while before we found a clearing we had to move several smaller clusters of branches out of the way before but right in front of our exits was a giant dead monster of a tree there was no way that we were moving this one so we got out and turned on the bright headlights in the hopes that it would illuminate the area in front of us there was a feeling of excitement mixed strangely with fear when I saw what like 50 feet beyond the clearing there we partially by the headlights from the car and a little bit of light from the present moon was what appeared to be an old barn house this wasn't a typical farmhouse - it was larger than the bonds that I'd seen in films and didn't have any sort of crest it basically looked like a small warehouse I wasn't entirely sure at this point if this was the place that we were looking for but this was definitely the closest that we had come when I moved through the brush until ma was roughly 20 feet from the entrance at which points all the growth seemed to stop I don't know if the owners had done something to the soil but the whole structure had a border around it that's was clear of any sort of plant life I approached the entrance to the building a lot sliding doors Steve came up behind me with two flashlights in hand so you were just going to run off into that place in the dark he laughed when I gave a half-hearted chuckle and grabbed one of the flashlights from his hand mine was a little but pretty bright flashlight it was the kind that hikers would most likely fastened to their backpacks at just in case that was stranded at night or something that may worked well enough I grabbed the metal door with both hands holding the flashlight with my mouth and gave it a tug it moves slightly creaked a little bit but there was no way that I was doing this myself Steve came up from behind me said his flashlight on the ground grabbed the door and said one two and three we pulled at the door with all that we could muster once we had managed to move it a couple of inches it must have latched back onto its track because it slid very easily stopping hard with allowed an echoing thought when it was completely open Steve picked up his flashlight and walked behind me I had already moved inside at this point the inside of the structure was exceptionally bad almost troublingly so I wasn't entirely sure how far we were from the nearest home or small town but there wasn't even the slightest bit of evidence that anyone had been in this building for years there were no broken beer bottles or empty bags of chips there weren't even any animal droppings or eager plants that managed to grow here the room was expensive larger than your average farm but not the warehouse sized monstrosity that I believe mr. mace described in his story I wasn't sure if it was simply a holding area for farming equipment or something similar at some point disappointed I wandered near the entrance while Steve ventured into the expanse of darkness as I was running over the details of the story in my mind something struck me like a sack of bricks in mr. mazes story it was a silo neither barn I ran outside my eyes adjusting easily because at the very least it was brighter outside I looked in all directions running around the perimeter of the building surely if there was ever a Cylon me this place that there would be some evidence of it somewhere but despite my hopes there was nothing but a cluster of thick bushes on one side brush and dirt everywhere in the forest that we had to come from I walked back into the building frustrated and tired Steve was still pretty excited me girly running around the inside of the bill if we could just find a showerhead or pipe he said then we'd know it was true just just keep looking with me okay I didn't want to ruin his excitement I had told Steve the story several times but obviously he didn't realize that this just wasn't the place the building was weird yeah it was out of place and oddly pristine but it wasn't the location of the showers I let him explore for a little bit before my called him over well this is probably as close as we're going to get man I said but this isn't it remember the silo his face went from excitement disappointment in an instant much like a young child who didn't get the presents he wanted on his birthday I patted him on the shoulder this is still pretty cool though I mean we could still tell people that we found it I was reverting back to my old habits quickly Steve laughed yeah man I guess we could it's definitely creepy enough we could even get some pictures as proof you know I agreed with him I'm gonna go grab the camera real quick okay he said as he bolted out of the entrance of the building I was left alone it was very quiet when I was alone in there I could hear the faint sound of Steve running through the bush in to the car but once he was far enough away everything was just dead quiet I remember not even hearing wind or the chirping of crickets as I walk deeper into the dark flashlight in hand I was convinced that they had to be something as I approached the far corner of the room the sound of my feet scratching against the dirt was interrupted by a soft hollow thud g'day mates it's B Buster here so actually have some news for you guys audible reached out to me recently in this offering listen is a free audiobook with a 30 day trial membership all you have to do is go to audible.com slash scared and browse the unmatched selection of audio programs download a title for free and start listening it's that easy all you have to do is go to audible.com slash scared or text scared to five hundred five hundred to get started today that's AUD ible dot c om / SC ared or txt SC ared to five hundred five hundred to get started just so you guys know - audible content includes an unmatched selection of audiobooks original audio shows news comedy and more from the leading audio book publishers broadcasters entertainers magazine and newspaper publishers and business information providers in fact one trilogy of books I can recommend to all of you guys are the passage books by Justin Cronin of course you can choose any book that you like but if you're a fan of horror then I think you'll love this series in particular and the great thing about using audible is that you can conveniently listen to great books like the passage trilogy on your way to work school while you're cooking on a jog at the gym I mean literally just about anywhere and that's what makes audible so great the convenience they offer is second to none and couple that with the largest selection of audiobooks on the planet and a fantastic phone app to boot and it seems like a no-brainer to give their 30-day free trial ago plus your books are yours to keep with audible you can go back and re-listen anytime even if you cancel your membership so I hope you guys will take advantage of this generous offer and give audible a try today and without further ado here's the rest of the story I stopped trying to figure out what it was I put my foot down hard against the ground and heard it again I stomped one more time realizing that the floor that I was standing on was covering something Hollow at the law I walked to the wall of the room looking carefully at the floor to try and spot any holes or gaps as far as I'd known it was solid ground that this thing sat atop so I was convinced that might found a hatch or a basement or something I heard Steve come back through the brushes I shouted hey Steve come over here it's Halle and as I went to say the word hollow I hopped a little bit hoping to recreate the sound so that he would be able to hear it upon entering the door but the second that my feet made contact with the floor I felt it give out beneath me the memory of the fall is fuzzy but I do recall hearing would splinter I remember seeing the light from Steve's flashlight falling away into complete darkness it wasn't a long fall but I must have fallen into a terrible position because I know that I lost consciousness for several seconds at least when I woke up I was staring at a bright light for an instant I had thoughts about approaching the fabled light at the end of the tunnel I was angry at myself you died in Nebraska jack Wow you do know how to fuck up my self deprecation though in the afterlife was interrupted by what sounded like Steve's voice Jack Jack can you hear me dude wake up please man you've got to wake up he said down into the hall I managed to lift my head up off the floor just enough for him to celebrate the pain in my head was immense but it was outweighed by the pain shooting through my knee I knew that I had a concussion but the pain in my knee was just so much more pressing they looked around until I found my tiny flashlight and then set up and reassured Steve I'm okay dude I've just hurt my knee I bumped my head really hard to dude oh I think fuck men I thought you were dead imagine that dying in fucking Nebraska it would be awful his words made me laugh a little bit but I stopped myself the slightest shaking hurt my head and made me incredibly dizzy I guess we need a rope right said Steve what I asked quietly should I go get a rope to get you out of here or do you see a ladder or something down there I looked around the walls that sat in front of me they were smooth cement there was no way that I was climbing out of here uh yeah yeah get a rope I told you it's I think it's buried under all the stuff it might be in my read climbing bag but I'm not too sure Steve nodded telling me to hang in there and that he'd be back in a little bit and then he just ran all the silence that followed was uncomfortable after the sound of Steve's feet scraping the floor above me faded away I was only able to hear that buzzing that occurs in total silence intertwined with the pulsing in my head I pushed myself over to the nearest cement wall and braced myself against it resting and breathing deep in an attempt to calm myself the cement was unnaturally cold against my back it was summer so I only had a t-shirt on but it felt like ice even through that again this observation was primarily made after the fact in the moment the mid just felt good to lean against something when I sat there waiting for Steve in this underground basement and I began to feel uneasy I felt like an idiot falling down here I felt pain for my injuries as well but that all seemed to fade into one emotion in an instant when I heard what I could only identify as breathing some weights in my left I convinced myself that it was my injured mind playing tricks on me for a moment until my mind decided to rapidly replay mr. May story when I had first heard it in that classroom years before I was more impressed than I was scared but now sitting in a dark basement in the middle of Nebraska I felt something that I hadn't felt in a long time it couldn't even be summed up in the word fear and as I sat there i felt an all-encompassing dread I pointed my flashlights in my left the direction from which I thought I heard the sound the light it didn't reach the other wall it was too far away but I was comforted to see absolutely nothing there I breathe deeply for a couple more seconds before I heard another noise in the darkness it was really quick and I can't be sure that it wasn't my own body moving around without my noticing but I thought that I heard a scraping sound not ten feet in front of me it sounded like the noise your feet make when you're walking across a dirt covered floor before I could react I heard the breathing to my left again closer this time there was no way that this was real right I hadn't seen so much as a spider web in this building and now I was convincing myself that something next to me was breathing I was angry at myself for getting so worked up I told myself that the human brain is constantly hallucinating I told myself that while in silence or darkness the brain will make sounds to fill the gap or make you think or see things that just aren't there my channel playing a skeptic in order to calm myself down and it worked and it worked until I saw a flash of something in front of me I can't be entirely sure what it was but I heard the accompanying sounds of feet scraping against the floor and I began to swell with dread I decided that the best course of action at this point was to turn off my flashlight assuming that if they couldn't see me they couldn't get me whatever they might be I turned off my flashlight in was left in complete and total darkness the bulb of the flashlight faded as it cooled and I put it into my pocket simultaneously pushing back against the cold cement wall in an attempt to stand I managed to get up onto my feet well fought and found that I couldn't stand or put any pressure on my injured knee I'll him to the corner humming to myself trying to break the deafening silence I called for Steve as loud as I could manage but my heard no response he was probably in the back of the car I'm still hunting for the rope there had to be a ladder or something somewhere to get out of here right I continued to hum in my heartbeat which had been beating almost out of my chest slowed to a manageable rate I moved along the cement wall keeping my whole body against it and weight off of my injured knee I had traveled what I guess to be about ten feet when my head made contact with something in front of me I tumbled to the ground my concussion must have amplified the pain because it was blinding I reached both hands to my forehead when I felt something warm and wet with my fingers I searched for a cut anywhere on my forehead but I couldn't find one I desperately searched for my flashlight as I sat up and tried to get back against the wall I grabbed the light in my right hand bracing against the wall with the up I turned it on and pointed it into the darkness where I was just laying the floor was wet but the dirt had muddled the colour of whatever the liquid was I tried to get my eyes to focus on the puddle tried to convince myself that it was my blood when I saw another drop fall into the puddle words lack the ability to describe the way I felt when I heard the drip noise again man saw yet another tiny ball of liquid fall into the puddle I think I knew even then exactly what the source was but I was endlessly trying to convince myself that I was wrong I lifted the flashlight up and pointed it at the source of the liquid what's dead back at me was a pipe that protruded at least a foot out from the cement wall the metal was rusted and cracked little bits of the liquid began to seep from them even and at the end of the pipe was a simple shower head aimed down towards the ground you know that feeling when your stomach drops in this case I think mine literally did because I vomited immediately it got all over my shoe but that wasn't the least bit important at the time I ignored the pain in my knee and shuffled along the wall as fast as I possibly could I heard noises but I can't be sure if it was just the sounds of my own movement or something else around me I managed to duck under the shower head and this one was higher up on the wall and seemed to be leaking the same liquid that the other one was I felt like I was moving along something infinite every now and then I would have to duck move under another metal bar another shower head they began to pour more profusely but the liquid was too thick to come out easily and the room it began to smell I remembered immediately the way that mr. Mays had described it I grabbed my shirt and put it over my nose the truckin onward but it didn't stop the smell for an instant it smelled like vomit it smelled like shit it smelled like bird hair it smelt like like rot I was still moving fast against the wall when I fell into some sort of outlet I hit the dirt ground hard adrenaline coursing through my veins the pain still managed to break through though my flashlight was still in my hand and I aimed it and examined my surroundings sitting in front of me was a doorway there was a door there though it looked aged it had a nice little design on it too a doorknob and a knocker that looked like a snarling demon a red paint was peeling from it flaking off and falling to the ground in front of me I clumsily rose and busted through the door narrowly missing a piece of hanging sheet metal in front of me I was crawling now there was no way that I could run the walls and ceiling were lined with metal the kind that you would see on the roof of a farm large pieces of wood seemed to brace the sheets holding this makeshift tunnel together I couldn't risk sliding against that and possibly cutting myself in the metal more hitting the wood and causing a cave-in so I crawled I pulled myself what felt like miles running into walls every now and then because the path seemed to curved like a snake I had no idea where I was in relation to the hole that I'd fallen through but I told myself that there was an exit at the end of this but had I not been crawling I would have surely hurt myself far worse there were parts of the tunnel in which the ceiling dipped down to maybe 3 feet above the ground me it hadn't caved in because the ceiling still winded someone had built it like this this again is all in hindsight at the time my I didn't care I just kept telling myself that there was nothing behind me but I swore that I heard feet scraping only a few inches beyond my own my jeans would brush against my legs every now and then making a feel like someone was touching me and even now I still can't completely convinced myself that someone wasn't I crawled and crawled until I reached an upslope with joy I looked ahead of me there was a cellar door the door was made of wood I knew this because I could see the light around them I couldn't be sure but I thought it might have been the light from the car headlights besides all of that I was just so immensely happy to find an exit they crawled all the way to the door and threw my shoulder into it it budged but it didn't open I began to scream but my throat seed with pain most I could manage was a harsh crying noise it sounded like a dying animal if I'm being honest they collapsed in exhaustion and pain my eyes staring up at the slits of light before me I was so close to being out of here that I could taste it it was in that moment of silent defeat that I heard a noise that was without question something moving in the tunnel it sounded like something was being dragged across the floor it would move pause for a second and then move again I had nothing left in my stomach to throw up but I began to gag I gathered myself slightly and tried to steady my hand enough to focus the flashlight in the tunnel but what I saw I still can not rationalize I know what I saw but I can't convince myself that it was actually there I can't stop telling myself that I was hallucinating I saw a child in a dirty sleeping gown the gown was stained with something dark and brown with occasional splashes of deep rennet the child was extremely frail like the pictures people might see if a Holocaust victim or something I could only make out one eye Rylee reflecting the light of my flashlight in between two huge Tufts of long dirty hair it breached him beyond the fingertips of the child which were caked with dirt the boy or girl I'm not entirely sure which moved towards me with difficulty it wasn't breathing hard but it seemed that every movement of every muscle took every ounce of strength the child had the thing that froze me though was the eye it was only visible because it was reflecting my flashlight but even in that glint I could feel anger or deep hatred well something like it this this is the point in which the English language really lacks the right words to explain the situation I could tell that this child it meant me harm whether it was a hallucination or not the thing was getting closer to I started to cry it was getting closer and closer when I heard a voice from behind me hey Jack it was it was Steve I was certain I tried to talk back fully intending to say open this up and get me out of here however given my current state I'm sure it just sounded like garbled nonsense i clawed at the door pushing against it with everything that I had and finally breaking eye contact with the child as I did this the flashlight rolled down the slope coming to rest somewhere near the child's feet the voice asked me what are you talking about I closed my eyes I remember hearing a reply along the lines of just look at it tell me what you see but my own screams of frustration drowned it out I was mumbling like a maniac when the voice told me calmly rest for a second oh the statement took a second to settle in at which point I closed my eyes tight Steve just do it please please just get it open hurry my bed just get me out of here mad my voice was beginning to get louder Steve Steve for fuck's sake open the water door I opened my eyes for a split second to see nothing but black hair dangling in front of my face a small glint of light hidden in the massive tangles I slam my eye shut and screamed with every ounce of energy that I had to open the door and the door finally gave way and I fell into the dirt taking in the breath of fresh air now my eyes were still closed but the first thing I did was scrambled to find the cellar door and closed it though once I had done that I took a deep breath and opened my eyes I saw the barn in front of me illuminated by the headlights of the car my head was pulsing with pain and I was covered in dirt and liquids that I didn't even care to know the origin of my knee was at the very least dislocated but despite all of that I was finally and out of that damn tunnel I took a deep breath buried my head in my hands and said Steve why didn't he just fucking open the door man I waited for a response but none que Steve seriously I began I was fucking luring and screaming for my life I said as I looked behind me my stomach must have been on the verge of falling out of me at this point because it shifted again the only thing behind me was the large mass of bushes that I had seen well I'm examining the perimeter of the building I was angry Steve this is not the fucking time man come out of the fucking bushes now I was getting ready to stand up when I heard a yell from the front of the building a flashlight bobbed up and down in the semi-darkness Steve was running into the open door of the structure yelling my name and telling me not to worry I must have lost consciousness at that point because when I woke up Steve was standing over me desperately trying to wake me up his words were almost incoherent at least to my ears he held me to my feeding we began to walk to the car and as we walked away I saw my flashlight sitting just outside of the cellar door and the light was fading Steve brought me back to the car and then drove me to the nearest hospital I fell asleep but he told me that he drove around for an hour before he found a main road I don't think that I ever told him the whole story I believe he thinks that I was just injured from the fall he never really asked about it and we didn't stay in contact for much longer it's not like we deliberately parted ways though we just sort of stopped hanging out after that trip and went our separate ways I have never been able to fully understand what happened that night there are many things that I can explain away as being hallucinations but there are still many things that just don't make any sense the showerheads they were there and they were leaking something the door was real the tunnel was real most everything else can be semi rationalized if I can convince myself that I had a very bad concussion a very very bad one at that but the thing that I don't think I could have imagined was that the cellar door was locked and then all of a sudden it wasn't I am still a skeptical as I've ever been but I believe in what happened to me at the showers I'm not a hermit or a social retard because of this I drink a lot but I'm definitely still functional but I will never return to Nebraska but no one will ever be able to convince me otherwise - I don't watch horror movies either anymore because there's absolutely nothing entertaining to me about being so desperately scared anymore and that's that's it really there's no typical ending for my story no I was changed by my experience yeah but there is no way to change anything about it or fight back against it I can't even convince myself that I wasn't just seeing things but believe me I've been trying to tell myself this for years prior to this there was really no way to find any information on the showers the legend didn't extend outside of the classroom of mr. Mays no one told stories like this to keep children away from a certain place or skin it just wasn't known at the art I guess that's really the whole point of this story - I want people to know firsthand what this place is like maybe maybe it's a drunks rationale well the kid inside me wanting to spread these kinds of stories again not a--not meant I don't care but it's it's out that you know but people to mold and walk to their own needs and most importantly it's finally out of my own head it's getting late now and I'm gonna go and get another drink Jesus g'day mates its be Buster here thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of the be scared podcast and please don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss next week's episode - also it would be much appreciated if you could share this new podcast with your friends and family and on social media - thanks again for listening guys and I'll see you mates in the next one g'day mates it's be Buster here so before the episode begins I would just like to say a huge thank you to cast box for helping me make the cast box original be scared which is produced along with studio71 cast box is the fastest growing highest-rated podcast app on both iOS and Android and you can find all of your favorite podcasts there personally I think cast box is the best podcasting platform out there and I hope you guys check it out because I think you'll be surprised at just how much variety they have and how user-friendly their app is anyway guys thanks for listening and without further ado let's begin the showers part three by clover 101 seven six my name is Jack and some of you may have read or heard a story about me by me a few years back I'm writing this from the same shitty laptop that I used to drunkenly post the showers on reddit's a little over five years ago me had spent the better part of two years at the bottom of a box in my bedroom closet I haven't had much use for it recently and made honestly isn't in the best shape I mean the damn thing takes about 20 minutes to start off properly and dies the instant unplug from its charger some of the keys are missing some of the stick I've spent a good amount of time clumsily cleaning soft-drinks cut with whiskey out of every nook and cranny but a thing can only take so much abuse before it just goes I guess but tonight I got lucky she managed to boot just for me and I think that she may have one more decent story left in her for better or worse I don't really remember writing or posting either part of the showers I do however remember feeling simultaneously listless and restless around that time period I was tremendously unproductive not working in my chosen field and had too much free time to spend thinking about these facts I had told the story to some friends at the bar one night and shaken some memories loose which led to that post I woke up one evening and hopped on my laptop to find that the story thread was left open I had typed it directly into submission box not leaving myself anything to edit I just forced it off of me here for a couple of long drunken nights and throw it up on the internet for everyone to see I tried to read it but even outside of the memories that I would have rather avoided meet spelling and grammatical error made me want to shoot whiskey or chug bleach I went with the former and as far as I can remember I've never made it through the whole story as it was written it seems pointless to go back and read it even now I've lived through this all enough times in my head I don't need to do that to myself again I did read the comments though I may have hated myself but for seeing a bit of interest in my work gave my MIGO a boost we've only for a moment I went back every now and then to check on that but for the most part I was forced to continue with my stagnant life or the story spread quietly around the web I worked as a bartender at the time and split my free hours between sleeping and drinking these occasionally overlapped or synched up with work it was a vicious little loop that I had carved for myself well wasn't a writer like I'd hoped to be at that point in my life so getting to play one on the internet for a few minutes every now and then help me to break up the monotony of reality over the course of the next several months I received several emails and friend requests from old classmates or strangers who had taken an interest in my story my former classmates messages generally consisted of their memories of mr. Mays and his story asking nothing in return I had guessed that most of them were either married or lost and needed a dose of nostalgia as a pick-me-up and I mean who could blame them though some of them actually wanted to meet up grab drinks and really get into the past I lived half a continent away from the town where I attended mr. Mays class at this point but that didn't stop me from making empty offers of company to several different people if our paths were to ever cross that is I did end up grabbing a beer with one guy who was just passing through on some summer night in Denver but it wasn't what I was expecting I'm 99% sure that he had never met mr. Mays or myself he dodged specifics when I asked him questions and repeated a lot of my own statements back to me in agreement I remember him nodding his head a lot and saying yeah that's right my over and over again but he was picking up the tab so I didn't notice a lot of this until the next afternoon and that was also the last time that I met up with anyone from the internet we also got a surprising number of requests for the specific coordinates of the showers from a wide variety of personalities now there were people even offering money transported even what was essentially militia support if I would take them there like it was some sort of guided tour or something I turned them down bets would be lying if I said that I didn't consider accepting some cash in exchange for the coordinates of any random barn that's I could pull up on Google Maps but I didn't though as foreign and surreal as the whole thing was I did take pretty immediate notice of the power it gave me of a people it felt like I was back around a campfire with a group of friends hanging on my every word but with a much larger audience it all started innocently enough to I would be out with a friend looking for some decent conversation or a better lay my friend would bring up the showers and ask me to tell the story then I would fight him on it for a bit before caving more during another round and launching into some variation of the bit and it really did work like a charm it seemed like every time I went out I ended up with a new friend or another notch on my belt I hardly had to try even I was just drunk aliy wandering down memory lane after a while I had narrowed my science only binging at the story for certain people for very specific ends I used it to get laid it's as simple as that I would talk to a girl for a little while I get to know it just enough take a guess at some of her fears and work them into the climax of the story I have faced 10 ghosts encountered demons and even had spiders rain down on me from the showerheads but I made it out intact every time they finally ever so slightly worse for wear I was just damaged enough from the experience that's a pretty girl might feel some sympathy for the witch mama zdenka for while reaching out for a hands or grabbing a leg all roads led to the same place hearse my would stumble back to my barren apartment every afternoon there on some different clothes and head back out to the bar whether it was for work or play that didn't really matter like I said all roads I uh I don't know how long I spent in this piece of shit phase but I do know that Karen broke me out of it initially she was just the next in a long line of women that I had yet to work we met at a bar where I told her a story which led to her place but instead of passing out after sex we stayed up and talked it didn't feel like needless bullshit either I felt like she understood me and my hurt in reality I think we just both liked getting really messed up and swapping stories about a shitty childhoods and mental ailments someone else so that we wouldn't have to make excuses for being alone we actually did have the mental stuff in common though they're two different kinds of bipolar disorder we thought that in some strange way it meant that we were perfect for each other I don't need to be told how stupid that sounds I know the Karen also had a degree in political science of Rutgers a wicked right hook and one of the most persuasive and charismatic personalities that I had ever encountered I worry that that sort of thing isn't going to come across here because of what this is all alternately leading to I don't want to do her a disservice I mean we didn't end up together for a year and a half because we were awful for each other at that point in my life I was both lost and an asshole I had turned her into a concept or an archetype in my head she was the Nancy to my sit the Bonnie to my client and we were probably headed down the same path as both couples my guess looking back that I had to fit her into that waffle Manic Pixie dream girl trope in my head my was I lost guy looking for a girl with hair the color of a mood ring to solve the complex problem that was me on any given day she was the love of my life and my partner in crime the next day she was my antagonist an obstacle to overcome it was all part of this story that I'd seen play out in movies and books so many times before but in the end it was me trying to fit a square peg into a non-existent hole she made me feel good about myself though I'm pretty sure that I even loved her it's just that I was simultaneously loving and using her without really realizing what I was doing this isn't to say that she didn't get any use out of me she started coming over to my place after we had spent a couple of nights together and never really left items of her clothing in her toiletries started showing up around the apartment and I just kind of went with it there was one night where I had brought up how we had never actually talked about living together before it it already happened that night somehow ended with both of us blacking out in tears but by the time that happy hour had rolled around the next evening we were as good as new it wasn't an issue at the time we just sort of fell in together I know that this probably sounds unhealthy and that's a be honest I guess it was anyway I've gotten off-track Karen took an interest in my stories the showers particularly interested over because she had come across a reading of it on a podcast or YouTube channel and knew about it before she'd even met me she thought that I was messing with her at the bar trying to take credit for a story someone else had lived but I was able to convince her and she didn't let go after that after long nights we would lay in bed together and she would ask me to tell her the story again like some sort of morbid bedtime story each time I told it to a Howard embellish a little more or shake loose a new memory pulled from deep within my imagination I don't know if she actually believed it or if she just wanted to but it became a thing but of course the story eventually wasn't enough she wanted to live it hey Jack can can we go there let's go to the showers she wanted us to go together and face them down like some sort of boss fight she constantly told me that it would be good for me to go back there and get perspective she was convinced that it would help me pick up riding again Karen always told me that I had such good ideas but that something held me back from letting them loose she genuinely wanted to help me but I couldn't see how this would do any of that and now it seems even more obvious I think another aspect of her interest in the showers was just honest fixation we both had a tendency to key in on a particular subject and dig deep into it until there was nothing of interest left to cover this meant that her attention generally burned intensely before quickly fizzling out my refusal to indulge her one last wish and take her there kept her going I think she would strategically pick the moments where I was just drunk enough to loosen my lips but not so drunk that my was often my own world to ask about the place occasionally she would bring up a piece of information that I'd told her about the shells while blacked out that would resonate with me enough to put my arm here on edge even if I couldn't conjure the memory while sober and my body recognized it I knew that she was getting closer to something in me that I didn't want to address but I never stopped her outright to be honest though I don't know if I even believed my own story anymore I just felt a bit sick when I thought about it but she persisted using every method in the book to try and convince me to take her there every new detail rioja otherwise would motivate her to push me harder on the subject it was the middle of winter when I finally caved we were living in Fort Collins Colorado at this time which was only a short drive from Broken Bow Nebraska I had still maintained my ground when it came to making a trip there claiming that I didn't remember that we didn't have the time and that's my had forgotten exactly how to get to the farmhouse which were both partially true if I'm being honest but like I said she knew when she could get me best we were sat on the couch following a long night of bar-hopping and a friend drama luckily we had found ourselves on the same side of this particular situation which meant that the night was going to close quietly we were snuggled together under a blanket and watching some movie well Karen was watching well I split my time between nodding off and attempting to read screenplays that a friend of mine had sent to me I had seen the film a dozen and a half times at this point in it a struggling folk singer loses his way after his partner commits suicide spoilers the Karen and I shared a mutual fascination with the subject of suicide so it was only a matter of time before one of us said something you know I would hate to jump off a bridge like that I think she said I mean there's a chance that you'd live when you're heating the water and you'd wind up like paralyzed or something I guess I'd feel like an even bigger waste of space if I couldn't even kill myself properly well I wasn't sure she actually wanted to get into what I thought but I did I couldn't jump I said pulling it closely and closing my eyes that's way too much build up in pressure too much time to regret it went falling it wasn't it to be subject with us it's difficult to explain to those unfamiliar with lifelong suicidal ideation but discussing it in blunt and honest terms is kind of comforting in a way but when faced with it every single day familiarizing oneself with something typically viewed as morbid was its own sort of victory we shined a light on it know your enemy and what not right yeah even if it were concrete or lava below me I couldn't do it I don't want anything flashy honestly it'd give me benzos and a couple of points of Shiva's and I'll go gentle I said yeah maybe I would jump Karen thought out loud but I do it out of a plane I just want that one last rush of adrenaline you know well you could stay alive and get a lot more of that I replied no not with those kinds of stakes she had a point well I just want to be quiet now let me drink myself to death with a book and some relaxing music to play me out my side probably some bride is murder Karen was quiet for a while after this a character in the film overdosed in a bathroom is stolen she spoke up I just don't want to go like that but at the very least I'd want to be around friends or even family if no one else is available I was nodding off at this point maybe kind of like your teacher I stirred at this she hadn't brought up the story in a while and when she did she never led into it with mr. menges yeah my guess I said if I fell asleep she would be forced to leave it be for tonight come on let's go Bob she said go where you know and I knew the liquor stores closed i crumbled no Nebraska it's late well we could go next week I'll take it off work I'll get someone to drive us why would anyone want to drive us to Nebraska well Brian seems interested in Nebraska in your story you could write about it I mean it's been a while since you've written I could bring my camera from the way you described it I'm pretty sure that I can get some good pictures I was getting uncomfortable at this point but that was offset by my exhaustion listen I don't want to go I didn't put up much of a find oh please for me we never go anywhere and the apartment gets stuffy and plus it's my birthday next month ah fine okay all right I said trying to appease her so that I could drift off but what about the cats and the next thing I knew we were packed up and leaving the comforts of home for Nebraska g'day mates so I just wanted to take a quick break before the second half of the story to thank all of you guys for listening to be scared if you're a new listener welcome to the hive and if you're a longtime fan thanks for checking out the podcast if you could please take a moment to do me a favor to rate and review the show that would be a huge help and if you have any stories that you would like to submit for future episodes you can send them to my email at bish buster at gmail.com that's bis h dot b USTA at gmail.com thanks again for tuning in and without further ado here's the rest of the story I had said yes to the trip and then fallen asleep by the time I woke up the following afternoon Karen had already secured one of her friends as a chauffer and was requesting time off of work that fit with my schedule she was actually really happy and I was on quite a bit of xanax but I wanted to keep the good times rolling with our schedules and switching moods happy was sometimes hard to come by so my thought about that is we packed up my car I was asleep before we made it out of town I woke up in another dimension the view at my window was an icy Tundra that hurt my eyes I hadn't seen that much Sun in months and the ice is amplified it now friend Bryan was behind the wheel of my shitty 2004 Ford Escape as we flew down the interstate towards Broken Bow everyone called him the responsible one in a group of friends because he wouldn't get behind the wheel after drinking any booze at all what only Caryn and I knew was that he would be high as a kite while driving us all home and telling you he was the only one of us destined for my DUI but he hadn't been in any accidents yet so we didn't say a word the currents that shot come with a sonic Cup in her lap if I knew her which I did she had poured out three-quarters of a drink and filled the rest of the cup with vodka she noticed after a minute that I had woken up hey bub sleep well she asked turning around in a seat to face me a vapor of vodka with a hint of cherry flooded my nostrils and burned my eyes the Karen refused to travel long distances without what she affectionately called a road here she had adopted the term from her late father who had killed himself when she was only 14 and her preoccupation with suicide had at least come from something logical she had always idolized Randy her dad hadn't spoken to her mother in a decade she had told me this story often frequently reinforcing the idea that many of her idiosyncrasies of bad habits that related to Randy were exempt from criticism and so I made my only sensible move in this situation hey did you get me one extra cup is for you my dear half and half she winked and handed me the Styrofoam cup of cure I needed it my jaw was absolutely throbbing at this point I've always had a problem with grinding my teeth in my sleep it was so bad growing up that's my canines actually grew out with like vampire teeth it hadn't been an issue in some time I figured that the previous night of partying alongside the anxiety about the trip had just taken its all I took a sip of the drinkin winced it was about 1/4 limeade three-quarters cheap vodka Burnett's my ground I guess it fits the scenery Karen laughed nothing except their first covered remains of last season's harvest and frozen dirt surrounded us miles I stared out over the miles of repetitious backdrop for a couple of hours barren earth occasionally gave way to Tufts of Shawn trees that reach futile II towards the grey heavens above and when they were seemingly ignored they now resembled petrified roots that had aggressively snuffed out any hint of life that had once inhabited their numbers every now and then my was able to spot the rusting remnants of a vehicle or a crumbling shed hidden amongst the branches surely soon to be overtaken by the vindictive woodland the three of us passed the time by fiddling with a barely functioning taped auxilary cord converter so that we could play music off of our phones unfortunately even when we had gotten that to work it was still a crapshoot thanks to spotty 4G connection on the planes McCarran annoy change smoke camel menthol cigarettes that much to Brian's chakra now he smoked too but would only touch the baby blue packs of American spirits which were all natural and burned for an eternity I'm smoking anything else he believed was just asking for cancer the drive was familiar and we had been wandering through foggy memories of my last trip to Broken Bow I was frustrated and getting a bit uncomfortable because of the haze so I had to drink about it my own head was keeping me in the dark Brian and Karen despite having heard the story of the showers 10 times by this point prodded me for new details once we had crossed the state line into Nebraska my managed to dodge their Inquisition by telling them how it was a violation of tradition to listen to a band while on the way to the concert this did ease the pressure of it but my teeth were grinding in my jaw was aching this place was bringing something out at me leaving me anxious and reflexively defensive Brian had grown up in New Jersey and despite the relative emptiness of the two-lane highway he was driving like he was still there I had no problem with sweeping across the plains with a signal speeding or rapidly jerking left and right to exit the interstate on any regular day as uncomfortable as it might have been to avoid the eye contact of an angry truck driver that Brian had cut off we always got to our destination significantly faster than the GPS estimated however today his highway practices they were making me queasy the honks from several angry passerby that got to be too much and my through and my headphones have pulled my beanie over my eyes and an attempted sensory deprivation I mended up drifting off after a little bit I had a dream that felt vaguely familiar but my hadn't remembered my dreams and years so I couldn't be sure I was back at the bar I frequented during college the same place where my last mate mr. Mayes almost a decade ago the voices of the faceless patrons around the two of us were muted my sac next to my deceased former teacher who was sporting a sweater that read home the birthday boy mr. Mays looked up at me from a drink eyes bloodshot from holding his booze and holding back tears he didn't say anything but I slowly recalled the conversation between the two of us from years ago which rang through my head loud enough to fill the silence I remembered his friend there the one they had lost but mr. Mays looked away from me and into his drink and he didn't look back up but then I heard a noise like dripping water that echoed around the bar looking in front of me I found a highball glass that was filled to the brim with when I guessed was whiskey without a second thought I threw it back it didn't sit well and my purse my lips and sat back on the table as the lights around the bar began to dim from the outside here I rubbed my eyes and breathe deeply to quell the nausea but it wasn't working the room continued to dim as the dripping noise rang out around me once again I looked up at the glass before me to find it filled again the liquid still rippling from a recent pour another drop fell from above breaking the surface tension and spilling drink all over the bar top I looked up to see a showerhead hanging just beyond the light dripping liquid the sound of violently shaking pipes echoed around me and the showerhead began to shake it began to erupt just as I was pulled back to reality with a jolt I panicked and thrashed about for a moment my knee and arm cracked as I moved about adjusting once again to the real world whoa bubs easy now said Caryn with a chuckle we had parked at a rest stop the Brian must have pulled in too quickly and hit the curve which is what had woken me up I tasted that cherry limeade crawling up the back of my throat and felt my stomach Rumble we're outside of Hastings don't know how far you better use the restroom now or forever hold your peace said Karen I open the car door and the icy wind pushed it against me slamming my foot into the door annoyed my push back and rushed across the lots of the surprisingly bustling rest area I did my business and washed my hands attempting to ignore the leaking showerheads in the stalls at the back of the room I felt every drop in my chest I hadn't had anxiety like this in ages the nausea had come with me from the dream and my gags slightly at the sink I closed my eyes and breathe deeply pulling a flask from my jacket pocket and looking around me to gauge the judgment that's I was about to receive the trucker's around me it didn't take a second look but a father who was changing his infant at the station either but a father who was changing his infant at the station near the door he shot me a look but maybe he didn't I'm not sure why I cared I mean it wasn't going to stop me one of the showers in the back turned on to full blast I took a pool from the flask and unlike my dream my stomach relaxed and gagging ceased like lead my throat of whatever I built up prior to the nip of whiskey and spitting into the sink it was a bright shade of red I didn't panic though I just needed to eat at some point I pushed back through the line of people that I gathered at the restroom door and jogged out back to the car karen was sitting inside with the window cracked holding a dying cigarette halfway at the window when she saw me she flicked it out and rolled the window up gesturing for me to hurry up my Hopeton decided we were back on the interstate within seconds don't fall asleep on us again a que bub we're gonna need you to steer us from here I think Karen said just get us to Broken Bow I said staring at over some of the harvested fields that look that they had been burnt I'll guide us from there okay we continue down the interstate for a while while Brian and Karen sung songs and I sat in the back seat working to try and ground myself we're gonna need some gas if we're gonna go hunting for this place in the boonies said Brian he broke my concentration well there's only about ten gas stations in the entire state so makes it where you can I said I caught the tail end of a sign that read broken bow but didn't catch the other information within minutes Brian was exiting the highway and pulling into what appeared to be a gas station it had pumps at the front and a small convenience store but behind it was a rickety single-story house the design was Victorian but it was faded and shipped to more he'll some of the windows appeared to be busted into the hole stuffed with assorted clothes and rags I felt a sense of recognition as stepped out of the car and began to pump gas the Karen was running inside to grab snacks as Brian shattered after her hey Karen get me some sunflower seeds yelled she was already inside the Brian looked at me you're jack sunflower seeds please and thanks men he closed the door behind him before I was able to tell him that I wasn't going inside my grumble is I walked into the old station O'Brien was driving us so I couldn't get too upset with him barking orders I guess I was just irritable and all over the place the building had a familiar musty smell to it that much to my surprise we started to help clear away some of the folk that had been bugging me I was pretty sure that I had been to this particular gas station before I figured that was pretty likely considering where we were at and the aforementioned lack of stops in the area it was a neat coincidence and that's what I told myself Karen was up at the counter chilly chatting with a young girl who couldn't have been much older than 18 about something rather well the girl was talking to Karen but staring daggers at me the entire time he wasn't even subtle about it in fact I figured that's my hoped nervous and sweaty so I didn't blame her for keeping an eye on me but it still made me uncomfortable and I found myself grinding my teeth again I was attempting to work the pain out of my jaw muscles with my knuckle well aimlessly wandering the aisles when Karen asked the young lady at the counter point-blank so what do you know about the showers the woman didn't miss a beat well people don't deal with anything relating to that sort of business around here anymore she said my legs locked up and I turned my head towards her she was staring directly at me despite Karen being directly in front of her yeah that was a long time ago horizon locked on me I felt the pain in my jaw pulsing my stomach lurched this was not possible but consciously and unconsciously I was rejecting the overwhelming feeling of deja vu I held my stomach and refused to look up at the woman but I could feel the gaze on me still is karen pressed around successfully for more information I managed to get through the door and locked it behind me before falling to my knees and on to the toilet that said only a few feet in front of me I could feel my stomach clenched tightly over and over again but nothing was coming out I was violently dry heaving and struggling to breathe with the pressure behind my eyes and skull building my foster finger down my throat my thought that if I could just get whatever this was out of me I would feel so much better I was choking on my own finger and seeing stars eyes on the verge of bursting before I just gave up I didn't need to pass out in a gas station bathroom but that sounded way too close to rock-bottom for comfort I set back my body lightly glazed with sweat and concentrated hard on a number of deep breaths in an effort to get my vision to stabilize it was a half-assed version of a grounding technique for anxiety that I'd picked up at some point I could feel the pressure releases I wiped away the torrent of tears that have wet my face my eyes finally focused on a green picture frame next to the mirror above the sink there's a picture frame red you can't choose them you just got to love them and featured what appeared to be three generations of women laughing while posing outside of a large green farmhouse the youngest of the three I recognized as the woman at the counter just outside next to her was what I guess to be a mother next to the mother was someone familiar it was a sweet old woman in a sundress the same dress that she had been wearing when I had ventured into this shop with my friend Steve many years ago the three of us had a nice conversation about the town and our post college trip until motives for staying in Broken Bow were made clear when she found out that we were in search of the showers her demeanor changed and she had given us a stern and very measured answer when I go to my feet my head spinning and splashed some water up to my face I had a burst capillary in my right eye it was blood-red dilated and raining tears I looked like a mess if I'm being honest but I didn't care after spitting up a bit of red into the sink again I walked out into the hallway shooting one last glance at the picture just to make sure that I wasn't losing my mind it was still the same old woman but I was definitely losing my mind I quickly made my way towards the front door knocking bags of sunflower seeds and sticks of jerky onto the floor McCarron was still talking with the girl at the counter and the girl was no longer looking at me but was she ever if I didn't know Karen I would have assumed that she was hitting on the girl but that's just how she was but she had a way with people hey are you feeling okay Karen looked me up and down with a concerned look on her face the girl at the counter stared at her hey did you get sick I looked at Karen the girl and Karen again not towards the car and back to Karen I must have just eaten something bad I said glancing up at the girl the bad stomach medications she looked at me and calmly not it understanding she seemed to sense that something else was going on but I didn't care thanks and have a good day I said bolting out of the door the bell above me Ragan's I could feel it in my jaw Karen followed after giving the girl a sort of excuse for my behavior hey hey Karen caught up with me before I got to the car hey what's up with you I'm just uh I'm tired I said she saw through that listen I just I took a nip that went down the wrong pipe and I got a little sick it happens I just I just wanted to avoid her judgey eyes okay I just stood back towards the door I mean this is Jesus country after all and I feel like she would try to walk me through a pamphlet or something if I didn't say something Karen appeared to buy it and we continued towards the car but trust me I'm not looking to get saved anytime soon I laughed yeah who needs Jesus when you have me as your guardian angel Karen said with an exaggerated smile and wink I faked a gag well you gotta make me sick again I said she kissed me on the cheek and hopped into the passenger seat of the car Brian had to put on a Dandy Warhols album and was jamming by himself he was singing poorly so Karen took control of the phone and switched the song a bohemian like you blast it through the speakers alright let's bounce said Karen putting her sunglasses on and lighting a cigarette I tried not to look back as we drive away from the gas station give me a little bit get the next section to you guys Oh beginning all of this out to you as soon as possible [Music] g'day mates its be Buster here thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of the be scared podcast and please don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss next week's episode - also it would be much appreciated if you could share this new podcast with your friends and family and on social media - thanks again for listening guys and I'll see you mates in the next one g'day mates it's be Buster here so before the episode begins I would just like to say a huge thank you to cast box for helping me make the cast box original be scared which is produced along with studio71 cast box is the fastest growing highest-rated podcast app on both iOS and Android and you can find all of your favorite podcasts there personally I think cast box is the best podcasting platform out there and I hope you guys check it out because I think you'll be surprised at just how much variety they have and how user-friendly their app is anyway guys thanks for listening and without further ado let's begin the showers part 4 by clover 101 7 6 he spent another hour and a half maime lessly driving around the outskirts of Broken Bow I was giving directions to know where a particular lost have thought about the girl from the gas station it was entirely possible that the whole thing was my imagination just getting away from me my mind was filling in gaps in my memory with the worst possible reality but deep down I knew it was the truth I saw the little oasis on the horizon before Karen and Brian did my stomach went into freefall and my vision became my tunnel I must have steered us there without even knowing it I mean that had to be it maybe you had to get lost to find the place or something maybe it sort me out it didn't really matter anymore I kept quiet feeling light-headed if I said nothing we could just drive right by head and let it fade from our lives forever but Brian turned the wheel toward the trees without a word of guidance from me this was the first point where I realized how desperately I didn't want to return to that place I was sweating through the layers of clothing and trying to keep my composure but I wasn't succeeding hey maybe we can call it a night and try again some other time I managed to say the words kind of fell out of my mouth slurred in robotic sounding it was the best that I could do I'm gonna try that ominous-looking patch of trees over there but then I'm down for whatever you guys want to do said Brian I fixed in on the tree line is we slowly worked our way across the undisturbed field I could feel the pull of the farmhouse and the tunnels their weight dragging us toward them the trees appeared to shimmer and the sitting sun's light the branches extended outward as if they were reaching for the car beckoning us shit hey Bob that's pretty awful looking Karen said ringing any bells yeah that's the place the words went through my mind and out of my mouth in less than a second my heart they even tried to stop them in fact Karen and Brian celebrated I chewed up my fingernails I had told myself countless times that I would never again set foot near Broken Bow but here I was I'd be lying if I said that so I'd never imagined it though returning to the scene of my personal Horror Show to somehow get some answers though cast a light on what exactly the showers were I spent a long time forming my own personal theories about the place in fact but eventually the effort just seemed pointless the truth behind them didn't matter in the end anyway a part of them existed only within the confines of my story but what I posted on the internet and chose to show to the world that they could be anything to anyone with just that account from a meeting place for a violent ritualistic cult to a site for experiments performed by the KKK or deeply rooted Nazi post-world War two or something I'm not dense though I know that the real fear lies in the unknown the horror was my bread and butter remember I believe that that's why the story connected with some people and left mothers disappointed the showers in my story filled mostly with whatever you bring to them for me though the showers were more complex they existed outside of a rational thought and comprehension because my experience with them robbed me of these attributes in part anyway as we slowly rolled through the bush tree branches reached out and scraped against the car's exterior forging new grooves and playing the metal like a warp to record the sharp grinding noises split my already aching head into I put in my earbuds to mute the noise no music I think Brian apologized about the car while Karen looked out at our surroundings like a kid who just stepped foot into an amusement park that place meant something to me that I hadn't considered prior to that moment and still hadn't pieced together in its entirety I just knew that as we begin to neither clearing my felt that I had never had a choice in making this trip I was always going to end up back here one way or another every time I told my story well mr. Mays a story I dug the hole a little deeper every drink that I took to forget that every girl I slept with to distract from them and every fake fact I made up to distance myself from the real story just further solidified the fact that one day I would return I was free to leave go home and have all the booze and non-committal sex my body could handle I could do these things because the showers are patient they have time all of my actions over simply futile attempts at prolonging the inevitable I know how it sounds but I'm looking back on it now I'm telling you the simple truth I was always going to return to the shelves because they were waiting for me Rowen stop the car just short of the clearing in front of an old tree that had fallen in the path before us I could probably get over this but I've already scratched the shit out of your current this might do a number on the undercarriage you said yeah we can walk Karen said pulling on a coat yeah you guys can walk I have some smoking to do is it Brian what we came all this way in you're not even gonna look around with us Karen wasn't happy but Brian didn't seem to care though it's the journey not the destination Karen he said mugging besides somebody has to keep the car warm neither of them move for a few silent seconds Brian grabbed his ziplock wrapped grinder from the center console with not any word the Karen had been more upset with him about less before but Mohini would pass make good decisions he laughed turning up the music and turning on the headlights Karen exited the car without another word and when I gathered myself and followed shooting an annoyed but understanding look to Brian as I went Karen was already up the path in front of me Marv was staving off a panic attack bit my ran forward to keep up so what do you think I asked trying to get her talking and not dwelling on Brian II more she looked up and around pulling a small bottle of vodka from a jacket we're not even on the ride yet she grinned half-heartedly she took a long pull from the bottle the Setting Sun thought the plastic just riding a ray of light momentarily blinded me my head was still throbbing she put the bottle down and I was able to see the clearing Beyond and there it was or rather wasn't the massive farmhouse that had once occupied the clearing was nowhere to be found there was nothing there but the same untouched dirt that made up the fields around us Karen took notice as we stepped out of the trees seems a bit empty she said disappointed you sure this is the place I was sure my brain was still trying to tackle the absence structure I am yeah yeah this is definitely it I studied in fact this is pretty much exactly what happened to me last time I walked the perimeter of the clearing sipping from my flask my eyes were drawn to the empty space where I was certain that a massive farmhouse had once stored it shouldn't have been strange in hindsight all buildings got torn down all the time but who had done it then when did this mean that it wasn't abandoned when I had been here before I couldn't wrap my mind around the situation I'm at the very least there should have been some remnants of the farmhouse or evidence that the tunnels had been filled now there should have been a path of the trees carved out for the equipment they would have undoubtedly needed to clear the structure round but everything looked totally undisturbed in fact it looked too clean but this was the place I was sure of it I could feel it the glow of the frosted ground was just a front it was putting on a nice face to hide itself from me I took another sip there were no bugs no rodents no birds no deer and not so much as a spider across the tree line it was winter but surely there would have been something living in that place there were no tracks or scat just undisturbedly and it would have been picturesque if it wasn't so impressively ominous I felt like I was losing my mind so where's the giant X asked Karen um not here I guess I responded with effect sigh of disappointment I wanted to get out of there before it could reveal itself I felt like the pressure in the clearing was building like I was standing in front of a giant jack-in-the-box or something I don't know it's it's been over a decade you know come on there has to be something here if the place was as big as you said there has to be something left around said Karen yeah well you would think but I'm not too sure how big it was actually thinking back on that I said it's kind of like when you go back to your old elementary school after years and you can touch the ceiling you know I was working my way towards the car at this point directly across the clearing Karen circled me brought the running around and kicking at the ground with her eyes peeled wide the tunnels though she said the cellar door it's a big space I struck my shoulders I mean trees could have overtaken it by now or they could have been filled they went their most stable things in the first place in fact Karin noticed where I was heading hey what are you doing Bob she asked yeah I'm gonna go and get warm I told her if it's gone it's gone it's probably for the best anyway okay ah come on we've come all this way we aren't leaving after ten minutes she pleaded it was a nice little road trip but I'm tired and it's getting dark baby I put my hands on my codin continue towards the car with Brian said he was ripping a bomb in the backseat well that's some bullshit she said from behind me I turned around the face of her she was powering through the vodka she had opened only minutes ago well with a flourish she finished the bottle and whipped it over my head and into the trees I didn't hear it hit the growing pain in my gut fled it was surely just something to do with the stress but you can't breathe your way through and also when I fell down to Annie the ice on that ground had been beneath me it was just frost and hardened earth and my chest I didn't listen I think we should just go I think I need to go and get some urgent care anyway I told her yeah how fucking convenient that is she said you're not getting your way and so suddenly you pulled the trump card okay jack I'll take you to an urgent care in the middle of Kansas Nebraska I said she showed me a look like a bullet her body language shifting dramatically oh I'm sorry she said sarcastically moving towards me it's just that your story changes so fucking often that I don't know what the truth is and what you're bullshitting she picked up a rock and whipped it into the trees it wasn't thrown at me but it was close enough that I considered it I didn't hear it land and then my jaw popped let's go to Urgent Care Jack they can give you some ativan and tell you it's a panic attack again but then we're coming back here okay she was flipping at this point when you're in a relationship with someone with rapid mood fluctuations you learn the science and how to respond calmly to help make the whole situation easier for everyone involved my mind you were inside out man being a fucking dick dude I said you also learn which buttons to push the pain was getting to me she stepped towards me with purpose what in the fuck did you just it was a dull and hollow thumpin II thought boot she froze and I froze we both looked down to find a large set of wooden cellar doors that had been hidden by the dirt debris and ice but at that moment it seemed impossible that we had missed them a malicious grin crawled across Karen's face as she looked up at me g'day mates so I just wanted to take a quick break before the second half of the story to thank all of you guys for listening to be scared if you're a new listener welcome to the hive and if you're a longtime fan thanks for checking out the podcast if you could please take a moment to do me a favour to rate and review the show that would be a huge help and if you have any stories that you would like to submit for future episodes you can send them to my email at bish dot buster at gmail.com that's bis h dot b USTA at gmail.com thanks again for tuning in and without further ado here's the rest of the story let's just go Karen I said she cleared off the doors with her feet please let's just go well what's down she said trailing off we got to go please well what's down there no what is down there she repeated again her gaze jumping between me and the door what's down there her voice was getting louder make something up Hemingway she was yelling what do you call a rider that doesn't write jack my gut felt like it was bursting mom was frustrated and kind of drunk and stuck in a fog and thinking about the girl at the gas station how Brian was bringing routing Karen was trying to hurt me she was just baiting me at that point but I bit hard I'll fuck you you made me do this I never wanted to come back here and you made me come back and now you're gonna chastise me because it doesn't live up to your expectations I felt unexpected tears fall down my cheek it's just a fucking story Karen a horror story horror as in afraid and story is in you weren't fucking there so you don't fucking know you don't know what happened I could have made the whole thing up and I did for you and every other girl that I told it to I felt angry a bubble of fear was growing inside it I wouldn't you made me come here and I would never make you go back to I stopped myself I felt guilty here I had drawn a line and crossed it in with only half of a slurred sentence Karen shoulders dropped and her gaze shifted to the dirted effect she then walked forward filling the gap between us in an instant and in one swift motion she punched me in the face and I felt very little tell me what the fuck you're afraid of you lying little piece of shit she breathed through gritted teeth staring a hole through my chest my said nothing it was my only course of action anyway big bad hero in your stories facing down anything that comes in your way I'm standing right here so tell me what are you so afraid of that you'd blow us up to avoid it at this point I had nothing I I don't know I had it under my breath I could feel myself begin to waffle anyway it wasn't the booze it felt like my body was confused like my brain was playing catch-up and I had left everything else on the stand boy it was the truth I had no idea what was waiting for us in that tunnel I couldn't muster a name even a vague description because I couldn't remember I had spent so much time embellish and lying about it to reach certain ends that I had never really processed what had happened to me there I never thought about how it changed my perception of myself let alone my perception of reality I never had to think about it I just turned it into a story and then I spread the story I was doing the same thing that mr. Mays it done just on a larger scale why I distance myself enough from the reality of the situation because it was easier to swallow and most importantly it was learn to control that way but here I was now being forced to face it again and I had no control it's a dark dirt fucking pit in the middle of fucking Nebraska Jack she taunted taking a single step down into the darkness swaying the whole time I'm going in without you fuck it please don't I begged all my screaming I was lost in the depths of a panic attack at that point but I couldn't figure out the exact reason why I was happening again it was like I knew the reality of what waited in the darkness but wasn't able to articulate it clearly Karen took a couple of steps down with darkness welded her up to her hips don't wait up she smiled mocking me and disappeared into the cell she lit the heavy door for the buffer and it landed with a mute thought and puffed off dust the clearing around me fell silent and I could he bits in the frost covered ground crackling quietly around me as my body heat escaped I stood up and looked at my car's headlights glowing bright in the distance Brian was likely passed out in the back at this point wrapped in a sleeping bag I couldn't bring him in with me anyway I don't think that I was allowed I stand at the cellar door why could he no sound coming from below there was no pressing need to go down there at all if I waited quietly right there I had no doubt that Karen would emerge no worse for wear she would give me shit about being a coward but we would all sleep it off in the car and then drive off towards that regular life once more maybe maybe this was close enough I'd come back to the showers once again despite my fee isn't maybe now I could finally just let it go I mean Karen had seen the birthplace of the story she was obsessed over and I confronted whatever it was that I needed to confront there nothing more needed to be done after all the farmhouse was gone the land had frozen over and it seemed like the place had been completely abandoned it would never take anyone again it would never hurt anyone again all I had to do was stay right there on the ground and wait within seconds though I was staring into the beckoning darkness of the cellar the moonlight hardly seemed to pierce the black violas I made one hesitant step downward followed by another the door was heavier than I remembered but what did I know but my memory was terrible anyway I inch my way down the icy ramp and I watch my feet disappear beneath me swallowed by the darkness it took my legs next but I was helping it along even three thick pants and boots the darkness felt a great deal colder than it should have in fact but my legs felt like they'd been submerged in icy water I was in up to my knees when I felt a familiar shooting pain in my right leg one that I hadn't felt in years I knew that it was psychosomatic because I mean it had to be but it ran up my leg so quickly that I grabbed at it on reflex alone I had shifted all my weight onto my left leg which had tried to route itself in a patch of thin ice of course mcdeere I tumbled downwards into the abyss the heavy cellar door falling behind me with a crash all traces of light from the outside had been snuffed out with that door the fall seemed to last longer than it should have but maybe I was just panicked and unable to properly gauge the passage of time I leaned it hard on my shoulder which took most of the impact in my head was second place my shoulder hit my neck whipped and my head bounced hard on the ground I think I lost consciousness again but it was difficult to tell my waking environment was already silent and pitch-black and freezing cold so there was really little difference between conscious and unconscious at that point I don't know how long I laid there but I know I wanted to stay put as I felt the pain shooting across my skull I rolled onto my back groaning loudly but unable to hear it well it sure as hell sounded like I was underwater I reach my bare hand into my pocket to grab my phone in hindsight I don't know what I was going to do trying to walk down there without a light I I hadn't been thinking clearly obviously I removed the phone from my pocket and pressed the home button to find a web of broken glass covering a picture of Karen and I my phone's wallpaper it was a selfie that she had taken of the two of us that could have been any of our numerous local breweries we frequented the her eyes were closed and she was smirking while kissing me on the cheek Marv was half smiling my hair a greasy miss lies what tinted red and I wasn't subtle well I didn't remember that light the screen flashed a message about a corrupt SD card followed by one about a low battery I had done a total number on it in the fall when I swiped my thumb across the screen to turn on the flashlight I could feel tiny pieces of fractured glass grind against my thumb just just get me through this and I'll buy you a nice new screen that whispered to my min tenement companion I mean I had to fill the silence with something still my own voice sounded distant and muted I open my job wide to try and alleviate the pain in my head it cracked four times in a rapid succession like bubble wrap but the pain persisted alight from my phone flick it's live illuminating my surroundings it wasn't as bright as I would have expected either my phone life was dying or those tunnels were eating the light keeping it from showing me more than it wanted me to see but I could see enough the little details came rushing back to me instantaneously gaps in my memory were filling so quickly that it made me dizzy well they really gaps though no they had to just have been pushed to the side overlooked covered up my leg began to throb like it had when I fell through the floor of the now demolished farmhouse so many years ago I wondered if that hole was still there in fact holding onto the piece of denim that it stole from my jeans I heard feet shuffling behind me in front of me and all around me every step I took was slow and careful and deliberate but still there was a brief delay and another step directly following my own I told myself that it was just the echo at the place had an echo but it shouldn't have the familiar putrid stench burned my nostrils it burned my eyes and made my now surely decaying stomach clenched in an attempt to force me to vomit much to my dismay I just gagged violently it lit up parts of my memory that I can't properly verbalize like the smell of a home-cooked meal or your childhood home but instead of feeling comfort I felt anger I hadn't thought about that awful stench in years but I couldn't grasp how I could have just easily forgotten that he had had always been how would I let it get away from me and then I saw her the child in the stained robe with the black hair she was she was twitching in the distance just on the border of my peripheral vision most skin was pale and her hair ran like vines down to her knees her gown was just as tattered as the last time we admit she was gone with the blink though and I turned away I had seen her since she had been in my nightly its waiting for me and it was coming back to me I would just wake up and move on with my day afterwards how could I though I turned back and she was directly in front of me I could feel her breath warm against my face Oh could I her breath smelled like death but did it her hair hung over my face and only our eye was visible as it reflected the light of my weight there was not what no girl I mean they couldn't be it was pitch black I felt for a wall and my hand brushed against cold sheet metal the kind that might be used as a roofing on a barn it was rusted and really brittle I grant it myself but the smell remained all of my lives half-truths and made-up details about that place were finally stripped away there was no more hiding from it and no more deflecting the truth I was back in the place that I had sworn to never revisit but was always heading back towards honestly I had to laugh I probably sounded like I was losing it the years of sleeping on couches and subletting rooms and I had never gotten comfortable with any of them but somehow in this godforsaken place I'd somehow at the very least some familiarity it was like a fucked up home because as much distance as I had put between us it had stuck with me it was it was part of me and that seemed about right I was walking through a haunted house of my own making in my delirium I began to wonder if that place had really been around before me or had I called it into existence was mr. Mayes just a kook who had inadvertently put me on a path towards manifesting this place of Filth and evil was this a prison that hired constructed for myself a tomb that I was always meant to die in I reeled myself back in it was like the dark and silent void was calling out for me to fill it so my mind was attempting to do just that by letting anything and everything fly forth but there was just too much space to fill it would be way too easy to get lost there I mean that's how people lose their minds isn't it I told myself that I was going to go back on medication when I got out of there I would need some xanax at the very least my light went out and I heard the familiar cry of an animal in the distance it was coming from right in front of me but wait no it was it was a voice it was the animal again a dying dog it was wailing so loud it was in pain I was in pain the wailing was coming from within my head the light flickered back to life for a moment and I took in the nothing that stood before me here I needed the light when I lost it I immediately began to lose myself I was likely to spread out across that place in an instant and the light was the only thing that kept me there confined but safe I was in the realm of the known and anything outside of that was where the real whore awaited a flash of bright red appeared in my peripheral vision of course how could I forgotten that I turned to face the red door that wouldn't have looked out of place on a model home in a white suburbia yet here it was out of its element just like me the door faded and my life died once again it was for good this time too I calmly told myself over and over again that when deprived of sight or sound the brain will hallucinate populating the glaring gaps with whatever it can that none of this was real I was in a hole in the ground in the middle of Nebraska and I was not going to lose myself there I was wandering blindly through the darkness when I heard mr. Mays voice it was not the joyful and calming one from his classroom but the dejected and drunken voice from the bar that's a bad place jack I could smell the liquor on his breath like he was sitting in front of me once again cops drunk taken by wildlife I could hear him slurring his words I punched the wall in front of me I heard only a muffled thought whoa the brittle and rusted metal sliding that covered the interior of the tunnel fractured it shaved the skin right off of my knuckles I felt nothing but the warm blood running down my fingers this place was it was taunting me I'm pretty sure I screamed you out but I couldn't tell I just needed a drink to rain my thoughts back into control I thought my memories were populating this seemingly infinite empty space around me and the only thing I wanted was for them it's a quieten down so that's all I could hear myself think again I fell to my knees and this is what I wanted wasn't it this place even though we couldn't want no I did this to myself I wrote this ending for myself when I went chasing the infamous showers and posted about it on the Internet I built this extension of myself that was now eating me it truly was just a hole in the ground in fucking Nebraska that I used to dump my own fears into nothing more I wasn't going to end up like mr. Mays Karen was right the room began to quiet and I could feel it shrinking the fucking hell on earth if you ask me it was him again but this time I was more acutely aware of the sadness uncertainty and fear in his voice I closed my eyes not that it mattered much I told myself the truth mr. mace was just a tired old man I couldn't tell if I was speaking out loud or not he had a horrific experience in his younger years and because of it he lost a friend the situation was as simple as that maybe they found his friend's body and maybe they didn't but it didn't really matter mr. Mays just couldn't cope with it in the emotional trauma was so great that he drank himself stupid to shrink it down to our manageable size something small enough to hide away in check in on a really bad night every now and again but it was still the driving force behind everything he did I didn't realize what I was actually doing at the time but if you just replace his name as mine it might make some sense I felt something creak from above me and felt a drop of something on my shoulder but my attention was quickly stolen by something else Jack the voice cut through the silence with a knife and I perked up my heart was back to 100 beats per minute my brain was on fire so it took me a second to process what the hell was happening Karen is a person karen is my girlfriend and Karen went into the tunnel I went after Karen and we're both in the tunnel meow and Karen just spoke uh Karen come closer to me come over you were talking to yourself she said her voice was soft and she sounded concerned you were talking to yourself like you were sleeping just now why wouldn't you bring me here this was the venue in which I finally had a real conversation with my girlfriend a subgrant living nightmare in the pitch-black is a disembodied voice I don't know I replied she was audibly upset I mean after everything that I've given up for you you're still going to feed me that bullshit I mean it I don't know I told her I don't know what this place is or what happened to me here I can't explain any of these can you there was a beat I was pleading with her but didn't know what my goal was I was just letting everything out I don't know what this place is or what it did to me except that I wasn't the same after it I'm just fucked up and I don't know why I can't do anything about it and would never want to put you through this ever I was afraid I mean look at this place I just did all around me but neither ever saw it I could have helped you she said quietly I noticed the past tense - I could hear her either moving towards me or resting against the wall near how we could have shared it I heard the tears and her voice and I didn't know what to say well we are now g'day mates it's B Buster here thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of the be scared podcast and please don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss next week's episode - also it would be much appreciated if you could share this new podcast with your friends and family and on social media - thanks again for listening guys and I'll see you mates in the next one g'day mates it's B Buster here so before the episode begins I would just like to say a huge thank you to cast box for helping me make the cast box original be scared which is produced along with studio 71 cast box is the fastest growing highest-rated podcast app on both iOS and Android and you can find all of your favorite podcasts there personally I think cast box is the best podcasting platform out there and I hope you guys check it out because I think you'll be surprised at just how much variety they have and how user-friendly their app is anyway guys thanks for listening and without further ado let's begin the showers part five by clover 101 seven six the walls were groaning around us the noise concentrated above me what is that mascara it sounds like something's going to mix ice-cold water rain down on to me from above instantly soaking me from head to toe when I gasped hard taking in a deep breath and some of the liquid along with it while my every muscle tensed up from the shock and the cold I could taste a rust or maybe iron or something before I could think about it for too long my body acted without me and coughed and sputtered to rid my lungs of the tainted water I fell once again to my knees I knew exactly what hung a couple of feet above my head despite the complete lack of light but I didn't care I wanted nothing more than to be out of this place but I didn't move from underneath the showerhead I looked up and let the freezing rain pour directly onto my face and I let it swallow me if some cold water was all this place held for me then I really did have nothing much to fear I heard a loud and deep Rumble that seemed to emanate from within the walls around me and Karen screamed I heard water pouring to the ground from my left then my right then in front of me and then behind still i sat there while my hands burned feeling my breath tenderizes it left my lungs despite the extremity of the situation and I began to feel calm from within me and slowly spread my arms out of my science the showers rained down around me a symphony of crystal-clear noise from the creaking pipes to the dull splatter of each droplet of liquid as it hit the ground fell over me every sound was clear and full there the sound itself was so full that had almost illuminated the room in fact carving out every last nook I took it all in and I accepted it if this place wanted me they could have me I had made a pilgrimage to the place that birthed the subhuman thing that I had become over the last several years if it wanted me back I wasn't going to put up a fight I could hear Karen screaming my name and telling me that we needed to get the fuck out of here but the showers grew louder draining around this was more important my body began to numb and my skin began to sting with every drop of water that hit it a sense of instability strangling like vertigo began to ever take me I opened my eyes still seeing only darkness but feeling something else now I was mr. Mays back in his classroom my classroom recounting the story of this place to my students I was in the tunnels carrying my friend Steve and the man who first ventured to this place with me years ago away from an approaching darkness behind us he was bleeding from a head wound I was reaching upwards in bed sweating soaking my sheets and crying I was at a bar they're telling me why I mean mr. mazes story struggling to find the right words well I ordered another adult wet thud rang out a few feet to my left snapping me back to my body karen had fallen and screamed my name which now rang out loudly above the noise of the showers jack what's going on she said as I heard what I could only assume to be her body dragged across the muddy floor away from me I could I could feel again I was freezing cold sue my injured hand could hardly move in fact I began to crawl forward as fast as I could manage towards the sound of her screams they were going to find her body so that we could show them no no I'm not thinking straight there wasn't going to be a body we were going to get out of this darkness no one was going to be lost here I threw my body in the vague direction of his screams reaching out as far as I could with my own but despite being unable to feel much of it now she immediately grabbed for me and I just closed my hand as tightly as I could around part of a denim jacket I pulled her close and wrapped my legs tightly around her she wrapped her arms around me and buried her head into my chest her screams were only slightly muffled at this point I let her have that I didn't know what else to do I just held her as tightly as I could and looked out into the darkness I don't know what I was looking for her screams eventually turned into Lance sobbing is the water pressure from the showerheads audibly died down eventually stopping completely we lay there together in the freezing mud for quite a few minutes eventually Karen sobs quieted we need to we need to stand up okay I stuttered frozen I loosened the vise grip that I had on her and stumbled to my feet I didn't let myself lose eye contact with her for a moment she rose to meet me and though we were as close together as possible I certainly had no idea where we were at in relation to anything down there and I'm not sure that she did either we just just gotta find a wall okay I looked at my arms with hers and moved to my right which was as good as place to start us many after about 10 long shuffles I bumped into a solid subhead warp I couldn't tell if it was just covered in ice or if I was just so numb that I couldn't feel the core cement anymore it was likely a bit of both Karen kept her head against my shoulder and I started to feel emotional angry that she had forced me to come back to this place but the anger led him to sadness that she was going to have to carry this with her from now on I should have never let this happen I should have stopped her or told her that so I made it all up I was muttering to myself under my breath the rusty pipes creaking around us with each noise I felt my stomach cave despite the numbness my jaw throbbed in pain I wanted to give up at this point I was so tired and just so afraid I wasn't strong enough and I knew it I wasn't the person who was going to save his girlfriend and come out of this a hero or anything I didn't even think that we were going to get out at all I was lost in thought and putting most of my weight against the wall this I move dis along I was not expecting a sharp corner but I felt my shoulder pushing to suddenly empty space I managed to get one hand onto the corner of the wall as I fell but that did nothing when my feet gave way in the mud beneath me I felt hard my head bouncing off the ground with a thud I was instantly sure that I had broken some fingers on my right hand the angle seemed completely wrong when I wrapped them against my cheek I screamed mostly at a frustration which caused Karen no alone somewhere in the darkness above me to scream back we were yelling at each other after a time we were too exhausted and out of breath to continue I focused on my breathing and tried to bring myself back i sat up pushing my left hand through the icy mud to ease myself to my feet I felt something on the ground it was smooth but not like cement like metal it was small ones I gripped it in my hand as best as I could as I stood up my legs weren't going to hold out for long and I was getting the spins but I couldn't tell if it was from the booze or the possible concussion or the disorientating darkness but karen was quickly at my side somehow she grabbed my hands and pulled herself close to me I'm so sorry we shouldn't have come here I didn't believe you she said in quick successive breaths I didn't care I didn't want an apology I wanted to scream at her and spoon her at the same time I wanted to be fighting with her about something stupid in my apartment the space around us filled with a mess of conflicting emotions I felt a shrink but was brought suddenly back when Karen broke the silence what are you what are you have in your hand she asked I had managed to hold on to the object we both felt around it they're desperately trying to get a sense for what it was it could have been a piece of one of the shower heads for all we knew but for a second there was hope that it was our solution it was sort of cylindrical it was mostly metal it had a clip on it I rolled it around in my hands careful not to let it go it had a button I recognized it it was a little flashlight the kind hike is fastened to their backpack it's a it's a flashlight I studded my fingertips could feel the button but couldn't quite press it hard enough you've gotta help help me okay push the switch the light was hardly blinding both Karen and I prepared to shield their eyes but was surprised by the weakness of the line that that side of the main beam did little to help our situation once our eyes had adjusted slightly we could see the showerhead surrounding us in a run-down and filthy room that seemed to have no exit it looked and smelled like a pigsty mud and dirt covered the floor walls she wrapped her arms around me and I held her against my chest close your eyes okay just just keep them closed I told her the layout wailing of a dough started on my left they had quickly enveloped us like it was coming from surround sound speakers that we couldn't see Karen covered her ears her frozen hands the tips of her fingers were bright red nil maybe even purple it was hard to tell from the weak light of the flashlight but I keep the beam centered on us as much as I could I didn't care that whatever was out there could see us the light gave us some sort of warmth or at the very least a sense of solidity the noise began to die down and so we were left once again in silence we have to move back to the tunnel okay you have to help me find it I said Karen noted tearing a face away from my chest her tears it actually frozen a cheek to my sweater I could see a rim of ice around the red mark on her cheek it's back that way I think she said pointing to her left the light didn't do much to penetrate the darkness but I trusted her we began to shuffle through the mud which was now the consistency of a slushy it had seeped into my boots but it didn't really matter in every inch of me was covered in rusty water in frost anyway a little more cold wouldn't hurt me every few steps the flashlight would dim or flicker I could feel Karen tense up every time I was forced to give it a shake rolling the dice on how long it would continue to help us at one point they went out completely in fact she dug her fingers into my side and I shook it nothing happened my heated with the palm of my hand several times and nothing happened please please I muttered under my breath is I hit the switch off and on several times in rapid succession I couldn't let it go it was all that we had down in those tunnels the only thing keeping us or maybe just me from losing myself to the darkness after a few more attempts there was light but the light was across the room an exposed bulb maybe 40 feet across from us came to life it was dim but it was enough to light up a significant portion of the space in front of us about 10 feet in front of the bulb and dirty feet from us stood the unmistakable silhouette of a buck had bent down towards the ground it had a large set of antlers 12 points if I had to guess unable to grasp what I was seeing I let the dead flashlight fall from my hands to the ground the metal slept against the cement and the small bit of the glass cracked like a stick snapping under a boot in the forest the buck tensed up and quickly rose to attention his antlers scraped hard against the low ceiling some of the points were grinding against it while others cracked and broke golf the animal didn't even seem to notice well at the very least didn't seem to care as it turned its attention towards our general direction Karen began to tuck hard on my sweater we yeah who have to get out keep moving okay she said what we continue down the path before us while the stack began weakly bleating a jolt of pain shot through my temples the noise went on continuously one long whine that should have been interrupted by a breath at some point but just kept going there was an echo g'day mates so I just wanted to take a quick break before the second half of the story to thank all of you guys for listening to be scared if you're a new listener welcome to the hive and if you're a longtime fan thanks for checking out the podcast if you could please take a moment to do me a favor to rate and review the show that would be a huge help and if you have any stories that you would like to submit for future episodes you can send them to my email at bish dot Buster at gmail.com that's bis h dot b USTA at gmail.com thanks again for tuning in and without further ado here's the rest of the story I looked behind us as we shuffled through the dark and I could see the glint of light reflecting off the eye of the beast it was looking at me it was tracking me I turned my head and heard several other bombs come to life on the far side of the road but I did not look back the door came into view in front of us and the paint was stripped the wood was aged and cracked from years of weathering even still I was able to get a sense of the brilliant red that used to cover the door the knuckle was missing a screw and it hung limply off-center the knobs still had some shine to it I could see the reflection of the lights behind us in it as we move closer well I went to reach my hand out to grasp the note but Karen had already beaten me to it she grabbed it and twisted the internal metal mechanism shifted loudly quieting the bleating of the buck in the distance the door cracked and creaked evenly as Karen peeled her hand from the ice-cold metal the wood began to split the cracks moved rapidly outwards from the Norb crawling across the wood until they reached the hinges the door shifted and began to tip downwards it was going to fall on us and I didn't have enough strength to stop it it began to Tilton I raised my hand up and shielded Karin's head while trying to move us out from the way fortunately the door caught on the old screws in the middle and lower hinges it swung around to the left right in front of us and I felt the rush of cold air as it brushed within an inch of my face and slammed awkwardly into the wall it fell to the ground with a resounding crash through the doorway I could make out familiar winding tunnels the ceiling rose and sank like a rollercoaster this seemed to be part of some twisted design in some places you could find no more than three feet of clearance from top to bottom but right now there was none the metal sheeting that had held the earth at bay it had given way at this point this couldn't have been how he had got men and me it certainly wasn't how we were getting out fuck I said I'm exhausted my lungs were burning and my mind was still on fire every motion that I made was out of instinct because I couldn't properly process what the hell was happening around me neither of us turned around but we stood in front of the doorway staring at the caved-in tunnel that had seemingly sealed their fate McCarran tried to cry but had nothing left in her and I couldn't blame I grabbed a hand and held onto it tightly as more lights flickered to life behind us surely if we turned around we would be able to at least see another exit but the uncertainty of what else we might see stopped us I heard the hi clapping of a set of who's on the ground somewhere behind us then another and another I saw the shadows of our mistake of the humans growing smaller as they moved towards us it was the children I was sure of it even a misty already overwhelming stench I could smell the pennies in vinegar their ropes dragged across the mud and their hair covered them having grown down past their knees do McCarron gripped my hand back the two shadows moved along the walls then 5:10 and after that I lost count more bulbs came to life and the frost that had built up on the cement walls began to melt may each new light source caused the shadows to fate they seemed to be endless atop the heads of some of the children before they were drowned out completely by more light the room was warming yeah well one of them flickered just a couple of feet to my left am i right Karin's had to add up wit their protruding several feet from the wall was a showerhead it was old and rusty and caked with frost it looked fragile in fact with a free hand she reached upwards and grabbed ahold of the pipe it pulled downward was squeezing on my hand as if she was using me for leverage it broke off with surprising ease the Caron pulled back into my shoulder as water sprayed into the room behind us I could hear feet skittering through the mud and away from the JED of Isis karen turned to face me her eyes mostly closed and she buried her face in my chest she offered me the showerhead with the weapon I took the rusted metal pipe in my hand and for the first time in ages I felt like I actually had a little bit of control my choice to make the footsteps around us grew closer of picking up speed I swung the pipe through the air to my left and it smashed through the ball with ease shattered glass rained into the modest to my surprise the other lights in the room began to extinguish the one by one the room just fell back into darkness I didn't know if it was better to die in the light or in the dark but at least I got to break something this way I heard the familiar bleating once again alongside the dying cry of the dove the footsteps were pretty close still only feet away I hugged Karin as tightly as I could win the last bulb went out and there we stood in the darkness once more surrounded only by screams of creatures that we couldn't see I finally turned my head to face the room still holding on to Karin the bulbs had died but the filaments still had a light glow to them it looked like the glow that follows a camera flash and as my eyes adjusted I could still make out the silhouettes of the children some of them were no more than an arm's length away there was a familiar anger in the air around them they hated me as much as I feared them and maybe it was for the same reason I couldn't even guess what was going to happen once they got a hold of us but I hoped that I would at the very least not be afraid the filaments in the bulbs cooled completely and the darkness settled I closed my eyes sorry I spoke into the top of Karen's head the children were right on us now and I could feel a warm breath on the back of my neck I stamped my eyes shut and without warning it ceased the moisture on my back began to cool my feet flew through the mud away from this they were fleeing the bleeding and crying of the animal stopped abruptly and in seconds The Roommate settled into a deathly silence I slowly opened one eye and looked upwards about ten feet in front of us was a ray of bright light it was powerful cutting through the dark and shining straight on to Karen and away it made the frost on a bright red hair twinkle and I had no idea what I was looking at then briefly considered that I was wrong about religion before I heard the familiar growl of a car engine my eyes adjusted and I could see that the light was coming from a hole in the ceiling where wooden boards had collapsed long ago I couldn't fucking believe it I didn't say a word as a car door slammed and Brian's voice echoed down into the hole hello his voice rang out filling the room Karen looked up and broke away from me there was a sense of relief in her eyes that her face didn't show she moved quickly Brian you get us out of this fucking hole right now and I'll buy you your own grow house promise he loved I assumed that they could see each other now Karen was looking up at the hall with a glare she was bathed in light and I stood there and slowly began to move towards her my knee popped and my joint st. I was dizzy and confused but now this felt real tangible okay but it's not gonna be easy yelled Brian this rope is kind of icy but I don't really have another option and I'm still a little bit high so it's gonna have to work how the hell did you guys get down there anyway Karen didn't answer as Brian dropped down on old purple climbers she grabbed it and began to ascend like a life depended on it Brian was grunting from above and jokingly commenting on how she had gained weight but she was up and out of the hole within seconds and I was left alone in the room I looked around me the space was smaller than made it seemed just minutes ago the walls were cracked the mud had mostly frozen solid the showers were empty you coming Jack last Brian is I finally made it under the hole I grabbed the Rope tightly and looked behind me towards the decrepit red door that Nelly on the ground in the tunnel behind it I could make out the shape of her a person just standing beyond the reach of the light I had turned my back to them with some help from Brian I pulled myself out of the hole and onto the frozen ground outside I breathe the fresh air into my lungs I was finally free of the stench of that place but my stomach was still annoyance the moon was reflecting off the snow in the eyes lighting up the clearing around this well I could see Karen pacing me the car she was staying in front of the headlights she stopped and fixed her vision on the edge of the trees it began to sink in that she was now going to have to live with the same terror that I had lived with for the rest of her life it was always going to be my fault too I was on the verge of tears when Brian helped me to my feet I still hadn't decompressed and my jaw was clenched shut and I was sure that I chipped a tooth every part of me was numb now and my clothes were frozen to my skin Karen began to cry she yelled it's right here and pointed towards the trees as Brian dropped me and ran to her I slumped down and just stared at the ground there was nothing to be done and if there was I didn't know what it was I was as much of a mess as she was the cry started to blend into the background is my mind wandered back to mr. Mays I wondered what he would have done in this situation but remembered that he had been in the same kind of scenario and his solution had been to drink himself stupid that didn't seem like just a bad idea for the time being I just I needed a sip I reached into my jacket pocket pulled out the flask and opened it took a sniff it's am I surprised it burned my nostrils like a gasoline it made me nauseous in fact I closed it and looked behind me at the hole in the ground and I tossed the flash down into the dark I didn't hear it hit the bottom I stood up and walked towards Karen his cries were now more sporadic she was jumping at her own shadow was confused and stoned Brian tried to help her man what's going on he asked just just make sure the cars ready to go okay I told him this I passed by over there I contact the parents saw me coming and she froze I took her hands and held him in my own jack how is it like that how would they like that what was any of that she rambled not sure of what she had seen and what she wanted to ask eventually she just broke down she bowled and I just held it there it was all I could do she hit me at a frustration a few times but still I just let it go I didn't know how to help her at this point but I could listen and I could be a punching bag I eased her over to the car and set her in the backseat wrapping her in as many blankets as I could and buckling hurryin as I walked around to the other side of the car my I look back at the whole the grin one last time I heard voices but they were probably just in my head Brian drove through the trees as quickly as he could several times he seemed to begin a question but stopped himself he told us how he'd been in the car when he saw a life coming out of the ground and what he thought was one of us waving him over we didn't react there was a weight hanging over Karen and I that he didn't want to disturb the questions could wait I don't even know if he ever got around to them in fact Aaron wasn't asleep but her eyes were closed tightly I was I was buzzing as we drove away it wasn't until we crossed the threshold of the tree line that I was able to loosen the vise grip that I held on to the door handle the electricity faded as the top of the trees that surrounded the showers were overtaken by the Stars I felt my insights began to relax the dam that had been holding something inside me back finally burst and I asked Brian to pull over he obliged almost immediately without a word I stumbled out of the car and two began throwing up on the side of the road now the only thing that poured out of me was a thick yellowish pile that hung in the back of my throat before slowly dripping down and out of my body this was what I deserved my gag didn't felt my eyes bulge as I purged and clawed at my stomach sore from the continuous heaving i clenched my fist and hit the ground causing the wounds on my knuckles to open i had only taken a quick look at my hand my middle and ring fingers were broken it looked like someone had taken a bottle opener to my nail and first nah I shouldn't have left them that way but I didn't get much of a reprieve before I had to bow again this was the tail end of an exorcism but what felt like years worth of stress lies and fear violently erupted from within me into my lips numbed my stomach slowly relaxed and my ears loudly popped immediately relieving some of the pressure on the inside of my skull I felt like I was floating yeah I was crying and I knew why but I couldn't quite isolate the thought everything was foreign everything in my brain was misfiring I was rebooting I had made it out i sat in the dirt long enough that the vomit turns a slush on the ground in front of me Brian stayed in the car and looked in the other direction I think I even felt Karen's hand on my back at one point but but when I was finished she was in the car staring anywhere else but at me I collapsed into the vehicle shaking and soaking wet Brian started to drive off before I had even shut the door I saw Karen's Liv tremble several times but she didn't say it would honestly I don't know how she managed that I felt like I needed to talk about everything I caught her looking at me only once and the drive back as we passed by the exit for Broken Bow we forgave each other for everything that happened though neither of us actually ever said it out loud we didn't talk about the show as much at all we had filled that place with what we had brought pain and truth about ourselves that we were using each other to hide the hora that sweet experienced in that place was a dose off' as she had put it so many times before perspective it woke us up I think we both realized painfully sobering up over the six hour car ride back home the two of us looking straight out of the windshield without seeing that we were better off apart similar to the way that she had moved into my place we never really discussed her moving out her things just started disappearing we repeated the old man to her about staying friends for the next week or so but you could practically hear it echo every time and with a soft kiss on my cheek on a Thursday afternoon she was gone Karen and I couldn't work because well we fit too well together but we were too uniquely fucked-up individuals with a penchant for slipping on a dime it's easy to look back and long for those nights of cuddling and watching movies together on the couch it's a lot harder to remember reality the night that we watched that movie and she convinced me to return to the showers for example was not as serene as I implied I remember that I had gotten extremely irritated that she had picked that movie because we had watched it the month before and felt a deep resentment towards her that almost pushed me to apathy and all that because of her a movie before that Karen had called me a stupid fuckhead because I hadn't cleaned the cat's litter box and that was every night a perfect couple and a perpetual potential domestic dispute rolled into one our solution was just rinse it all down and repeat we were our own perfect enabler 'z and we were always heading towards the ending that we got a broken boy did nothing but illuminate what was already in front of us I really do hope that she's doing better now as for me I couldn't continue to live how I was living after Nebraska I was so covered in dirt and blood that I was able to have one of those hard look at yourself in the mirror moments in front of an actual mirror and realized exactly how far I'd let myself spiral down I wasn't drunk or high of it I was both those things because I was broken and needed something to fill the cracks and when I could use that place as an excuse anymore I couldn't keep trying to change the story if that sounds like it came from the mouth of a quack therapist it's because it did I started going to therapy once every week initially for the drinking but eventually for everything else I'm not a religious convert or my friend of Bill but I respect the journey and anyone willing to take it on no matter the method needed to make it through I sure do wish that mr. Mays had found a way to fight his demons before he left but I guess they're our demons really and I'll keep them for the both of us I'm uh I'm always going to carry the showers with me and they're a part of who I am but I don't have to let them kill me anymore the most important concept that I've learned in these therapy sessions is that you can't get better if you just keep covering up symptoms while ignoring the real source of your unhappiness now blowing your brain out every night with substances just puts off the inevitable confrontation you have to treat it like a wart you have to cut it all the way down to the root and tear it out to get rid of it to kill it you have to get every last piece and that's why I came back here to this accountant this story there are so many others out there who listen to mr. mazes campfire story throughout the years then moved on like normal people I fixated and spread it because I just couldn't resist I can't unwrite my original story so my next play is to obsolete I fully understand that writing this defeats that purpose hopefully that won't matter now there is a point to this the story is yours now I don't want it anymore take the showers and mold them to your needs tell the story around a campfire and embellish whatever you'd like put yourself in the story or a friend or a friend of a friend and then use it to get laid take your wildest theories about the place and create a story all of your own make a movie or a book out of it if you want turn it into a local urban legend in your own town just drown my story out with uncertainty please in fact go there go find them ask every citizen in Broken Bow Nebraska about them until they just run you out of town you get lost on dirt roads a few miles east of the city until you stumble upon a place resembling the one that I've described and then tear it apart but bring your friends and take pictures explore the tunnels light a bonfire get drunk and throw a party and then post about it on the Internet cover the walls in graffiti in the floors with cigarette butts broken bottles and condom wrappers tell everyone you know about it and smother it flood the internet with so much speculation and rampant bullshit about that place that no one will never point back to mr. Mays or me as the source drown us in the noise and let us just fade away in peace go there yourself and burn it all just don't forget to tell everyone you know about how you did it afterwards it I'm sorry if I let that go on for so long that wasn't my intention the old habits and whatnot I've been pulling from a dusty flask of whiskey that was next to the laptop in a box I I guess it counts as aged no I'm not really on any wagon and after the years of bullshit that I put my body through a few more nips are going to hurt a thing this is just one more for the road after this I'm going to post this log out of my account tear up the sticky note that I saved was my password written on it shut down this laptop for what I hope to be the last time and bury it back under all the junk in my closet alongside this flask tomorrow I'm going to go into my classroom at the Community College with him I teach a Creative Writing course and I'm going to tell my students one of the many versions of the showers that I've told over the years it isn't Halloween but maybe mild in the lights and light a candle for Toofer atmosphere mr. Mays would be proud of that the story that I tell them is not going to be my story no now I'll tell them the story of what happened to my best friend's brother's ex-girlfriend in some rural part of Pennsylvania a few years back I'll swear it's the truth - I can't take back what I did when I posted this story for the whole world to see and this is my next best move take a page from my younger self and spread this story like I'm playing a massive game of telephone that's my intentionally want to disrupt and distort if when I wasn't at the heart of it this could have even been fun well maybe it still will be I gave you a story on some dark night five years ago and the only thing I'm asking in return is for you to take it from me make it into something scarier or more violent more cerebral or more personal give it a twist ending my hope is that one day someone will tell me a version of my having claimed it as theirs with new facts and faces and my won't even recognize it until I hear the name that now haunts others dreams instead of my own the showers [Music] g'day mates its be Buster here thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of the be scared podcast and please don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss next week's episode - also it would be much appreciated if you could share this new podcast with your friends and family and on social media - thanks again for listening guys and I'll see you mates in the next one

Info

Channel: Be. Busta

Views: 441,757

Rating: 4.6977205 out of 5

Keywords: scary stories, be busta, scary horror stories, scary horror story, scary storytime, scary stories to tell in the dark, scary stories told in the rain, scary story, be busta scary stories, scary stories animated, be busta paranormal, the showers story, creepypasta, the showers, the showers full story, horror, scary, creepy, horror story

Id: wHshU5SOUMw

Channel Id: undefined

Length: 204min 8sec (12248 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 05 2018

Reddit Comments