SIDEQUEST: The Music Box (Horror Series)

Join Tony in his final installment of his spooky story series!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome back, collectors and happy Halloween. Please would you kindly
bring that package in a car? Just left that at
the door to night is a special night, my friends,
our final story of the Trap Nerds horror series. Now,

(00:32):
let's see what we have here. A card and it
says thank you. The Umbrell Reliquary's always grateful for its
satisfied customers, even if they often don't make a repeat visit.
It looks like they left a tape recorder as well.

(00:54):
Why don't you stay awhile and listen? No, no, I insist.
You told me once every item in your shop finds
its way to the person who needs it most, and

(01:16):
I wanted to thank you curator for this gift. I
wasn't looking for anything that night. I was just walking,
trying to distract myself for another night. The street was empty,
same as always, and then I heard it. It was
the faintest thing, like someone humming, just over my shoulder.

(01:40):
I turned to it and there it was the Unverall Reliquary.
I knew your shop hadn't been there before. I walk
that street every night. There's a laundromat, a bakery, a
boarded up prench shop that no one's been to in months,
but no reliquary yet. There it was gold and warm

(02:02):
lights shining through that window, and that song. I knew it.
Lily used to humme it when she put Tommy to bed.
I never knew where she learned it from, so I
went inside. It smelled like cedar, old books, something sweet,

(02:24):
maybe lavender. Every surface immaculately cleaned, every shelf filled with
an item that had their own pulls. But I wasn't
there for them. I could hear the song clearer now,
somewhere deeper in the shop. I remember it sitting there

(02:45):
in that glass case, just turning on its own, no key,
no hand winding, it, just playing. I didn't even have
to ask the price. You told me that my coin
was no good. In that every item finds its owner.
I thought it sounded crazy, but I had to have

(03:07):
it that first night. I must have wound it fifty times.
That melody, it didn't just sound familiar, It felt like her,
like she was in the room again. And then I
heard her voice, my beautiful lily, soft voice, humming for
our son. God. I thought I was dreaming, but I

(03:31):
wound the box aget it. She said again, louder The
next night, she spoke to me. I heard her say
my name, and I said to hers. She said she
missed me. She told me that Tommy was safe, and
then she was gone. I talked back like an idiot.

(03:52):
I sat there in the dark, crying and apologizing for
the wreck, but she stopped responding. I don't remember much
of that first week, just the song. I kept hearing
it even when it wasn't playing. When I slept, I
could hear it in my dreams if I closed my eyes.

(04:14):
Even now, it's like I can feel her calling to me.
Then her voice started changing. She'd say the same thing
over and over, the same sentence, but wrong somehow, like
someone trying to remember how words fit together. And sometimes

(04:35):
i'd hear Tommy crying, only it didn't sound like my
little Boy. Last night I woke up to the song
playing again. I didn't remember winding it. I guess I
didn't have to. At this point, the lid was already open.
The melody was slower, like it was struggling to finish.

(04:55):
I saw a shadow out of the corner of my
eye and looked to the doorway. She was there, standing
in the hallway, lily. She looked the same as the
last day I saw her, but her smile seemed misshapen
and her eyes didn't blink. She reached out her hand

(05:17):
and said come home. I didn't move. I couldn't move.
There was something wrong with her, but you know, I'm
sure death changes people. I haven't slept since. I've been
sitting here listening to the box, hoping that she would

(05:39):
come back, that she would let me see Tommy. But
she told me what she wants, and I know she
wants me to come home, for us to be a
family again. So I will. I'll see them again. I'll
hold my boy. I'll tell Lily, I never stopped listening.

(06:13):
I'm leaving this tape for you. I'm going to keep
the music box, though I hope you don't mind. I
want to share it with them. I wish I could
do more, but I'll be back with them soon, and
I only have you to think. I'm coming home, Lily,
I'm coming home. What a truly passionate voice of appreciation. Well, collectors,

(06:43):
I believe we reached the end of our time together.
The Umbre Reliquary thanks you for your patronage over the
last few weeks. Remember that you are always welcome to
come back per Apps. One of these days you'll find
an item that calls to you and you can share

(07:06):
your own story. Until then, collectors, you'll know how to
find us. Good Night,