Horton's New Diary - Be Careful What You Write! - Weekly Spooky: Scary Halloween Stories | Terrifying Tales to Creep Your Night

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(00:01):
A diary is a great way toget things off your chest, in particular
feelings of anger or disappointment. Butwhat if your diary wasn't a silent listener.
What if when you wrote in yourdiary, it listened and it tried
to help in its own way thatperhaps was just a little bit evil.

(00:23):
What's that you want to be scaredto? Come with me. You will
experience tales over opera, ghosts anddeath. It is not recommended at the

(00:44):
foot of week at heart, heartlisten as in the dark, it's more
fun at that way way. Thisis weekly speaking. Hey, my spookies,
it is indeed Wednesday, and itis time for a little spooky in

(01:07):
your weekly. Unfortunately, I cometo you tonight from a place of sadness.
As many of you know, abouttwo months ago I lost my dog
Chicano, and a few days agoI also lost my dog, Henwolf,
and it's been really hard. I'ma dog person, but Henwolf was my

(01:33):
first dog. I adopted her whenI was thirty one years old, and
she became the perfect companion for me. She had a lot of health struggles.
I adopted her when she was sevenyears old, and for the last
two years. I've been caring forher as she lost the use of her
hind legs, and unfortunately that battlefinally it had to end and she had

(01:57):
to rest. She was an amazingdog, very loving, very loyal,
very excitable, and one of thehardest things about losing her is that she's
not laying here right now next tome while I record the show. I
could always count on her to sleepon the other side of the room.
Sometimes I would have to do anothertake because she would groan or grunt or

(02:19):
sneeze. I'd give anything to haveher napping in this room right now while
I do this intro. So wedo have a show for you. I
wanted to record this. I likebringing you spookies a little taste of the
macabre every week. But after theshow, if you want, I'm going
to do a small tribute to Henwolfand tell you a little bit more about

(02:40):
her, and then that'll be theshow. I really appreciate you guys humoring
me. I just need to getthis stuff out and talk about all of
it. So yeah, thank youall, and thank you all to everyone
who's helped with any of the veterinarycosts. Between Chicano and Henwolf. Yes,

(03:00):
it's an amazing thing to love somuch. So on another note,
let's go to a great story byRob Fields right after these quick words Horton's
New Diary by Rob Fields. Letme ask you all a very simple question

(03:23):
here. Do you or have youever had that one big kid at school
who only lived to make your lifeas miserable as possible. For me,
that was Bull hit Zigger. No, Bull wasn't his real name. People
called him that since he was bulkylike one. His real name was Irving.

(03:45):
Anyway, I'm sure you've heard storiesabout how bigger bullies like him always
went after skinny nerds like me.I'm sure I don't weigh one hundred pounds
soaking wet. I wear normal clothes, but also glasses with thick round lens.
I'm always so calm when I speak. For the record, there isn't
much that scares me, except maybeghosts. Getting back to Hitzigger, his

(04:11):
sole purpose was to look for meeach and every day at school. I
never saw him on the weekend,so I got a bit of a break.
We met shortly after Chapman Chunker andI returned to Strickfield Junior High back
in early November. I had finishedfourth period and left the classroom when someone
grabbed me and threw me up againsta locker. That was Hitzigger. He

(04:33):
told me simply, he didn't likeme and I didn't belong at his school.
And yes, it was known thatStrickfield Junior High was Ariel mirrn School.
In theory, I think Hitzigger crossedpaths with Ariel and lost that one.
Since he couldn't have his way witha queen bee like Ariel, he
thought he'd go after a smaller fishlike me. Hitzigger got really mad when

(04:59):
he saw I wasn't a friend ofhim. He also forgot I had friends.
It seemed like every time Hitzigger camefor me, one of them was
always there. He couldn't even havehis way with the girls, especially Maddie
Donnerly. There were also times whenPrincipal Benjamin van Deist saw him bullying and
gave him detention. Now, youjust knew he was going to get me

(05:20):
alone at some point. It wason a Thursday, after the holidays were
over. I was leaving school forthe day and walking home. Mom said
she wanted to take me out tocelebrate my birthday. I often cut through
the alley by the Strickfield Centennial Theaterand walk another block to get to my
house. Hitzigger was waiting in thealley and appeared from behind a dumpster.

(05:43):
Suddenly he lifted me off my feetand hung me up. Then he knocked
my books out of my hand.He sneered at me, your dead meat
nerd. I raised my finger alittle careful, you might make me a
ghost. Then he pounded his fingsinto the palm of his other hand.
Oh, I'll do more than makeyou a ghost. I sighed and shrugged.

(06:08):
Uh, what did I ever doto you? You exist? He
said, simply. When I gothome, Mom knew when she saw me
holding both halves of my glasses.What happened to you, Richard? Mom
yelled. Now, I don't wantyou to get in the idea that Mom's
overbearing or mean to me. She'sjust very protective since it's just the two

(06:30):
of us. Mom never talked aboutmy dad, and I don't ask,
since I never see any pictures ofhim anywhere. There's a time when you
lie to Mom and a time totell the truth. Much of the time
I tell her the truth, andI told her about bull Hitzigger. Interestingly,
Mom knows everybody around the village partof Strickfield. She was on the
phone with Bull's parents and going offon them. It sure was a heated

(06:54):
argument since both sides were yelling.Mom threatened to sue hit Zigger's parents if
they didn't pay for my glasses.I went up to my room and put
on glasses I had from before.Then she came in and demanded to know
where my so called friends were whenI was in trouble. Yeah. Mom's
never liked any of my friends,including my five new ones. I couldn't

(07:15):
tell you how many times she's triedgetting me to stop being friends with everybody,
especially Chapman and Chunker. Like Isaid, Mom can be over protective,
especially after being gone a whole yearbecause of Abigail Tomlin. Again,
Mom's not a bad person, tobe fair. She gave me a good
life and a great home. Iexplained to Mom why my friends weren't there

(07:40):
when hit Zigger did what he didin a nutshell. They all had other
commitments. Yeah, they helped meout when they see him in trouble,
but I can't expect them to bethere all the time. After Mom and
I finished arguing. She left mealone. Then I pulled out my diary
and wrote in it about what happenedtoday. I know you wouldn't think a

(08:01):
skinny nerd would keep a diary,right, or that I'd be using a
real old school pen that you haveto dip in a bottle of ink to
write in it. I've been doingit since starting the sixth grade. It's
been therapeutic in helping me get myfeelings out. I saw I was on
my last page and had to getanother diary. I would go into downtown
village and get one, either atWilder's Market or one of the two pharmacies.

(08:26):
After finishing today's entry, Mom appearedin my doorway. You're still filling
up to celebrating your birthday, Richard. I looked her way and nodded.
First Mom took me to get anew pair of glasses. Then she took
me to the Strickfield Town Center Mallfor dinner. He wouldn't believe how dead
the mall was now. Since theholidays were over, many of the stores

(08:50):
closed up and left for the season. There were still the big anchor stores
JC Penny, Best Buy, andDillard's. I wanted to go to the
mall for dinner because I loved Scotto'spizza, which was still a mainstay there.
I don't know what it is aboutScotto's, but for me, their
pizza is just tops. The othersdon't mind eating here with me, but

(09:11):
they say they've had better. Momseemed to like Scotto's too. After dinner,
Mom took me to a movie,then for a birthday ice cream cake
at Big Ed's Soda Parlor, whereI opened all my presents. One of
them was a new diary that hada lot more pages in it than the
past diaries I've had. Unlike theother diaries, this one had this antique

(09:33):
cover on it. The pages alsolooked and smelled antique, which told me
Mom might have found it somewhere outsidethe village. I wasn't going to ask
her, though, oh and Chapmanand Chunker both texted me to wish me
a happy birthday. My other newfriends didn't know since I never told them.
Since Mom wanted to celebrate my birthdaywith me on said day, I

(09:54):
had to wait until Saturday to havemy birthday with the guys. The next
day, at school, Hitziger suddenlyambushed me and stuffed me into my own
locker. Aw, did you tellyour mommy on me? You little wimp,
he jeered, making my folks payfor your new glasses. Well,
let's see you tell your mommy you'respending the rest of your life in your

(10:16):
locker. Then something slammed up againstthe locker door. Soon the door came
open. Chapman helped me out ofmy locker. Chunker and Carter Cross were
with him. Hugh okhorton. Carterasked, I give my pals my usual
smirk. Hitziger never messed with theguys and backed off. It was Carter

(10:37):
who threw Hitziger into the locker afterhe stuffed me inside. He pointed right
at me and said I was deadmeat and that my friends wouldn't always be
around. When I came home fromschool, not only were my new glasses
broken, I didn't even have ashirt on my back. Also, my

(10:58):
books were soaking wet after Hitzigger droppedthem in a puddle from when it rained
all day. Mom was furious againand was on the phone with Hitzigger's parents
yet again. I decided to writeand the new diary Mom got me for
my birthday Yesterday I wrote down whathappened today and added something to the extent
of how I wished Hitzigger would justdisappear from my life. After I finished,

(11:22):
I went and cleaned up. Whowould have thought it, bull Hitzigger
was nowhere to be found at StrickfieldJunior High On Monday, I remembered he
was supposed to present his paper inEnglish class. Oh well, at least
it was one day where Hitzigger wouldn'tgive me a hard time. You want
to know what the funny thing is, Not a single person ever mentioned his

(11:46):
name, even mister Ford. Hitziggerwas also in my science class with Miss
Radolphi, and she never once saidhis name. You know, teachers usually
do their seating charts before class tomake sure every buddy's there, even calling
out their names. Not once,was irving Hitzigger said. In fact,

(12:07):
Hitzigger never showed up to school forthe rest of the week, and none
of the teachers even mentioned him.Come to think of it, the guys
never mentioned him again either. Whenthe weekend came again, I was writing
in my new diary, I putin how much I really liked Bailey Downs

(12:30):
for being my lab partner in myscience class and how she talked to me
on Friday nights when we're watching moviesat Maddie's. Then I said I wished
we could hang out a lot more. After I finished, I turned on
my computer and saw Chunker messaged methe guys wanted to meet up at Roth's
Rings later. Just then, anew conversation suddenly started from Bailey Downs.

(12:54):
I chatted with both Bailey and Chunkerfor a bit. Then Bailey asked me
if I want wanted to hang outtoday? Wow? Talk about a stroke
of luck right. I told BaileyI'd definitely hang with her. Then I
told Chunker I wouldn't make it toRoth's Rings and why. Chunker said okay
and that we'd talk later. Baileyand I walked around downtown village and spent

(13:20):
all of Saturday afternoon together. Weeventually went into Big Ed's Soda parlor.
As we were enjoying our milkshakes,Mona Abels, Bailey's closest friend, came
in and found us. Before Monacould say anything, Bailey looked mad,
can't you see I'm busy here?Boy? Did Mona ever look stunned?
I've seen Mona and Bailey enough toknow these two are timeless friends. Yeah,

(13:43):
they bickered sometimes, but okay,I'll talk to you later, Mona
stammered. She still looked hurt.When Mona left, Bailey turned her attention
back to me, just the wayshe was looking at me now. Then
she took and held my hands.I suppose, under normal circumstances, what

(14:05):
I was thinking was likely impossible.Then I remembered I live in Strickfield,
Ohio, and that I'd actually meta couple of honest to goodness ghosts in
Abigail Tomlin and Mary Worth. Evenwhen it was time for me to go
in for the night, Bailey didn'twant to leave me. Then I remembered

(14:28):
how I said I wanted to hangout with her a lot more. And
what was more, Mom got wayover protective of me again when she saw
Bailey was with me. When Icame home, I was still thinking about
today when I sat down at mydesk and opened my diary. After dipping
my pen in the ink bottle,I wrote about my day with Bailey.

(14:48):
Then I deliberately wrote something about howI wished Mom would just leave me alone.
I didn't write it to be mean, but I had to know if
my theory was correct. I finishedthe entry and closed up my diary.
Sunday morning came. I could smellthose wonderful smells of breakfast as I got

(15:09):
out of bed. I put onmy slippers and went downstairs to see what
Mom was making. Except it wasn'tMom in the kitchen making breakfast. It
was Bailey. Bailey actually had ona dress and apron and was moving around
the kitchen like she had always livedhere. Then she brightened up, smiling

(15:30):
from ear to ear when she sawme, Hey you, she cheered,
breakfast is almost ready. I reallyoutdid myself this morning. She pointed at
me, and just for you,my darling boyfriend. Suddenly she had this
weird look when she backed me upagainst the wall. Have you seen mom

(15:50):
anywhere? I squeaked. Bailey gaveme another weird look. Since when do
you need a mom? You gotme? Then the front doorbell rang.
I raised my finger and slipped awayfrom Bailey. Hold on. I answered
the door and saw, hey,Maddie, what's up. I let Maddie

(16:11):
in, and she handed me abook. You weren't paying attention, but
you left your English book in misterFord's class on Friday. I almost forgot
about it anyway, just here andgiving it back to you. Oh hi,
Bailey. Suddenly Bailey got really mad, pointed sharply at Maddie and roared,
Ritchie's mine. Then she grabbed abig sharp knife out of the drawer.

(16:33):
I'll kill you mouse. Maddie andI both knew Bailey wasn't kidding around.
We were ready to run out thefront door when Bailey made an amazing
leap and buried the knife in thedoor. Maddie and I quickly turned tail
and ran upstairs. Mom's room wasright there, and we locked ourselves in.
What is going on? Horton.Mattie shrieked, slam you just wait

(17:00):
mouse. Bailey yells, I'll killyou. You can't have my guy,
Ritchie's mine. I knew I couldtalk to Mattie since she knew about weird
stuff too. Then I told herabout my new diary and what I wrote
in it. You know where yourmom bought it? Maddie asked. It
was a birthday present? I answered, Maddie seemed to have an answer.

(17:22):
We gotta go look at it,Horton. Maddie and I had to get
to my room, so we cameup with a plan. I unlocked and
opened the door. As soon asBailey rushed in with the knife. Maddie
was on all fours. Bailey fellover her and was on her back.
Maddie got back up and we ranto my room. After locking ourselves in,
I showed Maddie the diary. Bang, crash, open up, Ritchie,

(17:47):
I love you. Don't you understand? Bailey screamed, mouse, can't
have you. Mattie pointed to thediary. Tear a page out, just
do it, funny thing. Positivelycouldn't tear any pages out of the diary.
I even tried poking a hole througha page with my pen. The
page wouldn't even show that I hadtried doing it. Ten to one.

(18:10):
This new diary came from Tinkers,Maddie said. Then she explained to me
how Tinkers was a store that justhappened to appear to the right person.
From there, you'd go inside andTinker would sell you something he knew you
needed. Usually the item had somethingdeeply wrong with it. On top of
that, you couldn't destroy them.Now. I never let people read my

(18:33):
diaries, not even Mom. ButI let Maddie read what I wrote in
the new diary. Yeah sounds aboutright, everything going on in here,
Richie. Suddenly the door began comingapart. Bailey kept stabbing at it and
throwing herself at it enough times.She looked in at Maddie and me,

(18:55):
I love you Richie. Then shesaid to Maddie, taking after Ariel Mirn,
I hate you mouse. Bailey screamedas I got an idea. When
she finally burst through the door.I slammed the diary down on the desk
and poured the remaining bottle of inkonto the pages. Mattie and I looked
at each other, hoping praying itwould work. Bailey suddenly stopped and dropped

(19:19):
the knife as she reached Mattie.Epilogue, It was my birthday all over
again. It was like everything sincemy birthday before had never happened. Well
almost, I'll get to that.Everything happened the way it did before,

(19:40):
with Mom taking me out for mybirthday. Like before I got that diary,
only thing I did was open itup. There was nothing written in
it from when I'd written in itbefore. Oh yeah, hit Zigger was
back at school and giving me ahard time. Bailey was still my lab
partner in science class, but atleast she wasn't obsessed with me. Obviously,

(20:02):
Mom was back since she took meout for my birthday funny thing.
Though Maddie actually remembered what happened allof it, we talked about it in
private. We ultimately agreed that sinceI couldn't destroy the diary, it had
to be kept safe. I gavethe diary to Maddie and told her I'd
be too tempted to write in itagain. She understood and promised me she'd

(20:26):
keep it safe. We went outand found a diary similar to the one
from Tinkers. Mom never knew thedifference. As for how things went from
here, hit Zigger still gave mea hard time. He eventually got off
my back when he saw my friendswouldn't let up on him, or that
I actually wasn't afraid of him.Bailey downs and I did start talking more

(20:48):
and we hang out sometimes. Also, when Mona or Maddie came around,
she didn't bare her teeth or goafter them with a big knife. Mom
was still over protective of me onaccount of she was a mom and I
was all she had. At leastshe finally started to call me Richie instead
of Richard. Yeah, I'd saylife was good now, as long as

(21:11):
that diary would never come back intomy life ever again. Speaking of ever
again, we'll be back for somemore adventures down the road. That's all
for now, another fun and spookyromp through Strickfield with our good buddy Rob
Fields. Thank you so much Robfor this week's story. So you're welcome

(21:37):
to shut the show off if youdon't want to hear this story, but
I really wanted to share it.About seven years ago, I adopted Henwolf,
and she was a morbidly obese muttdog that was seven years old and
had been returned to the foster.I saw this dog and I thought,
man, what a cool dog.So I adopted her, brought her home,

(22:00):
and she immediately ingratiated herself into myentire life. She had the most
beautiful, soulful eyes I've ever seenin my life, and from the moment
that we were together, she madeit very clear we were a team.
She would follow me around, shewould sit when I told her to sit,
she would stay when I told herto stay. We could walk without

(22:21):
a leash. She would go oncar rides with me. It was something
really special, something I had neverexperienced personally, and she just brought so
much joy in my life, especiallyduring the lockdown and during COVID nineteen and
everything. She was always there guardingand protecting me and my inevitable second dog,
Chicano, who passed away a couplemonths ago. And it was a

(22:45):
wonderful experience adopting an older dog andgiving her another chance at life because you
really can teach and hold dog newtricks. It's going to be very hard
to go on with the show withouther because she was always, and I
mean always, with no exception,she would lay in the booth with me
while I recorded these shows. Infact, she laid in the booth with

(23:07):
me on last week's show even thoughshe was very sick and very tired and
really struggling. And it was shortlyafter that show was recorded that we had
to decide it was time to saygoodbye because we love her so much.
So thank you for listening to this. I really appreciate it. I just
needed to get it off my chest, and thank you so much for listening.
I promise next week won't be soso sad. So until next time,

(23:30):
my friends, please stay spooky andlove your loved ones with all you
got. Thank you for listening.Make sure to find your way back next
week, but for now you aresafe. Trust me.

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Horton's New Diary - Be Careful What You Write!

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