STORYTELLING - Feeding the Flames

In this episode, I share with you my original horror short story. Listen if you dare...

https://www.amazon.com/Inside-My-Nightmares-Book-1/dp/B0B114BGMX/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2C9ZSKNIAGJ51&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9._f3mxLy8vR6relp7E1YY9Q.XvpAdvhsOhu7jBlsM_rAPAF4UzLiNScXPG9jNyAaB90&dib_tag=se&keywords=ann+burkett+inside+my+nightmares&qid=1760911365&s=books&sprefix=ann+burkett+inside+my+nightmare%2Cstripbooks%2C131&sr=1-1

Episode Transcript

(00:08):
This podcast may not be for all listeners.
Listener discretion is advised. Welcome back to Unexplained
Realms. I love bringing back our theme
song once in a while. Shout out to our former producer
at EV for this original track. As Halloween draws near, the

(00:32):
shadows press a little closer, the cold wind bites a little
deeper, and the line between reality and nightmare feels
thinner. I'm your host, Anne, and I'm
inviting you into the dark with me.
You might know me as the writer of the twisted tales I share
here on Unexplained Realms, but in this episode I'm going to

(00:53):
share one of my own fictional short stories.
So turn off the lights, settle in, and listen carefully.
In the spirit of the season, I've crafted a story just for
you. It's one I've never read out
loud before, and once you hear it, you might wish I never had.

(01:21):
Elder's Hollow was as lifeless as its name, a town so dull it
seemed to drain the energy out of you.
And that's what we all felt until one Halloween changed the
way we looked at everything. I'm Hazel.
I was 15 and had just landed my first job at the only diner in

(01:41):
town. Elder's Hollow is small but
quaint, with streets that becomesilent before nightfall and
gossip never hides in the shadows.
It greets you at every corner. If you don't get the daily
newspaper, then you definitely came to the diner for more than
a cup of stale coffee. You came to hear the gossip and

(02:03):
the rumors that clung to the walls like cobwebs.
My friends and I swayed between boredom and just feeling half
asleep most days, desperate for some excitement to shake up this
sleepy Old Town. Most adults looked at us with
suspicion, as if we were oddities walking through town.

(02:23):
Maybe they were right, we were all a little odd in our own way.
I'll start with me. Some say I was the ringleader of
the group. No, I'm not sure why.
Maybe it's the way the crows followed me throughout town,
never really letting me out of their sight.
Then there's Rowan Lives by the lake, where the fog hangs low

(02:46):
and the water is silent, like a giant mirror waiting to be
looked into. He collects things.
Stones, driftwood, bits of metal, whatever the lake decides
to give him. Sometimes he strings them
together into necklaces or bracelets.
Peace is so strange. They seem like they belong to

(03:07):
another world. Clara is probably the strangest
of us all, though Strange doesn't quite cover it.
She hunts through the woods for animal teeth, whatever's left
behind by something no longer breathing.
Clara's collection had outgrown the glass jars.
She had so many teeth that she begins storing them in old shoe

(03:29):
boxes, which she stacked in strange, unsettling towers
around her room. I'm not even sure if all the
teeth are animal teeth. One warm summer night during a
full moon, we were all hanging out in a room and I got a
glimpse of a box under her bed. I swear the teeth looked human.
None of us are scared of Clara, because that's not even the most

(03:52):
unsettling thing about her. The real oddities in our group
are Oren and Marin Lock. Identical twins, brother and
sister. Identical down to the way they
smile when they know something you don't.
There's something otherworldly about them, as if they're just
pretending to be human. Sometimes in the woods, the air

(04:16):
changes around them. Things happen that none of us
can explain, and afterward no one wants to talk about it.
We've spent every Halloween together since our early
elementary school days. Back then, it was all about the
thrill of trick or treating, sprinting through the dark for
candy and shrieking at shadows that turned out to be nothing at

(04:39):
all. But as we got older, the
excitement faded. The world seems smaller, the
mystery is thinner. Maybe it was boredom, or perhaps
we were just restless in a placethat never changed.
Other kids our age slipped away to parties, chased trouble
through empty fields, or drownedtheir nights in cheap booze.

(05:01):
But not us. We slipped away to Rowan's
house, crept down to the lake where the fog was thick enough
to hide you from the world. We'd watch it crawl over the
water, swallowing the trees, andwonder what was hiding beneath.
We were all convinced Oren and Marin had some sort of magic
powers. We would whisper about it as the

(05:23):
fire crackled. If they had powers, maybe the
rest of us did too. I knew the crows were following
me for some reason. Many times a week we sat by the
lake at night and talked about magic, the old gods, and what it
would take to bring back some ofthat ancient power.
The year we turned 13, we made our own grimoire.

(05:45):
Rowan swore it washed up from the lake.
Pages warped and stained. Clara created a cover for it
using bark, animal teeth, and Moss.
She stitched it together in a way that made your skin crawl
just to touch it. Now, at 15, Halloween was
creeping up on us again, and thegrimoire was finally finished.

(06:07):
Every page was filled with incantations, protection spells,
scraps of half understood folklore, even poetry.
This year, we decided we'd try something bigger.
We'd try to call the old gods back to rule the world once
again. It sounds unhinged, I know, but
deep down none of us expected anything to happen.

(06:31):
We met at Rowan's house on Halloween at 7:00 PM.
Like always, his mom had a pot of beef stews simmering on the
stove, but made the whole house smell warm and safe.
She handed us a thermos of hot chocolate before we slipped out
the back door and made our way down to the water.
This Halloween night was colder than previous nights.

(06:53):
It was the kind of cold that makes your breath hang in the
air like puffs of smoke. We gathered around the fire pit,
each bringing something to lay at the edge of the flames.
Clara carefully arranged severalteeth from her collection onto
the edge of the stone fire pit. Rowan offered a bundle of
twisted twigs from deep in the woods and the twins set down

(07:15):
large bundles of sage tied with the red thread and left a single
black feather from one of my crows.
We agreed to feed the flames with our personal items while we
huddled together on one side of the fire pit and recite the
incantation we had ridden. Come not in fire, nor in light,
but to Elders Hollow on this cold foggy night.

(07:37):
Our blood will not sleep until the Old Gods rise from the
places secrets keep. One by one we pricked our
fingers and let a drop of blood fall into the fire.
The flames hissed, then roared, shooting up in a sharp column
that split the night. We stumbled back, but the fire
kept rising, twisting and folding until it started to form

(08:00):
into the shape of a person. Within seconds, a fiery form,
half man, half unknown creature,stood before us in the fire pit.
The figure appeared more like a monster than a human.
It opened its mouth and heat poured over us.
Sweat broke out across my skin and it felt like 1000 sunburns

(08:21):
all at once. None of us could move.
The thing in the fire lifted an arm, stretched it toward us, and
pointed. Then its voice boomed out, deep
and final. No, it roared.
With a blink of an eye, it was gone, and Rowan's parents were
dousing the fire pit and us witha water hose.

(08:43):
Rowan's mom was screaming at us.What's wrong with you just
standing there while the whole thing goes up in flames?
Are you trying to burn the placedown?
Rowan, still shaking, asked his mom.
Did you see that thing in the fire pit?
She glared at him, wild eyed. See what?
All I saw was a fire out of control.

(09:04):
We were all sent home early thatevening.
We went home soaked, silent, with the smell of smoke clinging
to our clothes. None of us ever talked about
what we'd brought into the world, but it haunted us all the
same. Was it one of the old gods, or
just something meant to keep us away from ancient secrets?

(09:24):
Elders Hollow continued its slow, sleepy pace, but we had
changed. We avoided the lake for weeks.
The grimoire stayed shut, buriedat the bottom of Rowan's closet.
None of us dared bring up that night, not even in whispers.
Sometimes, all these years later, when the fog rolls in

(09:45):
thick and heavy and the wind rattles the windows just right,
it sparks a fear in my chest, sending me back to the fire, the
voice, the impossible heat. I wonder if we really did call
something ancient, or if the town just bored us so deeply
that we created our own monster.If you're still listening in the

(10:12):
dark, I hope my story hasn't made the shadows in your room
feel too alive. With Halloween just around the
corner, I hope my story adds a little extra chill to your
spooky season. Thank you for letting me share
my writing with you. If you enjoyed tonight's story,
you can find more of my horror shorts on Amazon.
I'll put the link in the description and you'll have to

(10:34):
let me know if it makes the hairon the back of your neck stand
up. I love hearing your thoughts,
your own stories, and what keepsyou up at night.
Until next time, sleep tight andI'll see you right here in the
unexplained realms.