Radio West

Episode One: The Calling

It could have happened in any college, in any town, in any state, but it didn't. It happened there. 

A moon hung in the sky like an ornament, perfect and round, but inside the radio booth, there was no glow, no uneasiness heard in the space of silence. It was filled by the hum of frequency. In the booth, it was almost like nothing could touch them. 

"This is WLST, Radio West and you're awake with me, Sal McClellan, and for the next hour we'll be taking late night call-ins.

"It's just me and Xander on the switchboard and this is your chance to make us too scared to leave the studio.

"For the next sixty minutes, you can tell us any spine-tingling stories you can think of."

In front of the mic, Sal almost didn't care that he got saddled with the midnight timeslot. He adjusted his headphones and glanced at Xander just in time to see the technician chug his third energy drink of the night.

"Anybody familiar with the college probably knows this one. In an attempt to either prove how brave or how gullible you are, you agree to be driven out to the woods. Past the town limit, one mile south of the Cassie's Gas, turn off at the old water treatment plant.

"One side of the highway is cleared. There's what looks like a farmhouse in the distance. The grass sways on the horizon and in the dark, it looks like a forlorn ocean lapping at a shoreline.

"The other side is forest. Old and unkempt. The trees all start looking like ancient bones jutting out of the moss.

"You walk from there until you can no longer see the cars parked along the road. The onlookers take you and spin you round and round like you're about to beat a piñata.

"They send you staggering, on the hunt for the well where you must crank up the bucket from the fathomless depths and bring back a bent coin."

"At least, that's what they tell you.

"After a long night of having your nerves frayed, you emerge empty-handed. There is no well, just upperclassmen trying to scare freshmen half to death."

Sal let the conclusion hang and Xander waved a hand, looking a little bewildered.

"Someone's on the line," the tech whispered.

It wasn't that surprising that someone would actually call in, was it?

"And we've got our first caller! You're on the air."

"Uhm, okay. Hi," the voice came through nervously.

"Hey there," Sal said.

"So, I'm not really sure how you normally do this."

"Do you have a name?" Sal probed.

"Uh. For this...Faye," she answered tentatively.

"Okay, Faye. What's your story?"

"So, I make a little side money baby-sitting. I started in middle school and most girls I know have stopped, but the parents I work for pay really well. Anyway, I'm watching these twins. I've been their sitter since they were literal babies. When they started to talk at first...I was kind of curious what they would say. They used to point at me...or I thought they were until I kind of realized they were really pointing just behind me?...I really wanted to know what they were trying to tell me.

"So, one day, after they've got the hang of words, one of them--uhm, Bunny let's say--start's pointing. 'What is it, Bunny?' I ask. The other twin, Birdie, pipes up: 'they'll spare you.'

"And all I wanted to ask was 'who? Who will spare me, Birdie?' but then again, I really didn't want to know either.

"I put on Frozen and just sat there...well, frozen, while they watched.