November 11, 2025 • 30 mins
Covington’s Redemption
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📹 Video!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR8xYnYxiX0
📖 Read Along!: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/1ojb4u5/i_bought_a_game_that_doesnt_exist_it_tells_me_i/
Check out my new books! A collection of Creepypasta compiled by some of my all time favorite authors and friends!
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💀 Comic Book: http://a.co/2POGdNW
🧊 Chill with the Community!: https://www.thechillingapp.com/
Visit the stores!
🍵 Wife's Tea Shop: https://etsy.com/shop/IvoryMonocleTea
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
There was a garage sale in my area, which kind
of blew my mind because in my newly minted life
as an adult woman, fourth year of college and all,
I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen one in
my waking life. I started a bucket list filled with
some rather plain activities as my newest attempt to fight
the creeping, deep personalization that plagued me for the last
(00:23):
year or so. Once I saw the sail, I immediately
added it to my list, then went there crossed it off.
The sale itself was pretty pathetic, nothing I would ever
do a double take for a store. Nevertheless, I spotted
a single cartridge for an N sixty four game that
(00:44):
I hadn't seen before, and wanting to come back with
some sort of trophy, I snagged it. The old lady
running the show squinted with her glasses on while I
held it out in front of her. Must be Marty's,
she said, looking rather confused. Ten dollars que, that's doc
chi ching sound, and off I went home to my
half of the apartment that I was sharing with Kelsey.
(01:06):
Kelsey with the fantastic self discipline, the great diet, the
great job, my truefoil and polar opposite. I entered. She
was in the kitchen shopping vegetables and measuring her food
because being hot was its own full time job, and
I respected it. I lingered for five seconds, so she
(01:27):
knew to ask about my day. How was your day, Sadie,
she eventually asked. I leaned over the dining table chair
and said, I went to a garage sale. Uh huh?
Why it was on my bucket list? Why do you
have a bucket list? You're like a baby, because like life,
it's fleeting, and like the human experience or whatever. She's quinted,
(01:52):
is it an actual physical list or doc mainly, I
said back, and then some scribbles in my notebook. I
couldn't tell her. She was prestor confused. Okay. I thought
twice about whether I should flash her the cartridge's proof
of purchase, but didn't seem that she found the venture
as impressive as I did, so I opted against it.
(02:13):
Gonna go veg out in my room, I said, skirting off,
have fun in there, she said. Never liked her, saying
that all the time it felt pervy. I closed the
door in my bedroom, sparkling lights hung across the wall
to celebrate the arrival of winter. Amidst the cozy hideaway
with too many throw pillows was the piece de resistance,
(02:34):
the small wooden TV stand in the corner with CRTTV
on top and N sixty four tucked neatly below. Did
I ever play it? Nope? Did it make me happy?
Look at yes, my usual special dead eyed scrolling between
the apps while eating talkies and smoking a bowl asking
me about thirty minutes before a familiar dread kicked in.
(02:58):
I went to the old TV, cleared off some dust,
turned off most of the lights, leaving only the wall
when twinkling, and checked to see if the old console
product of an era I just missed and yet still
had some bizarre nostalgia for, was set up properly. When
all seemed well, I grabbed the cartridge game titled Covington's Redemption,
(03:21):
blew into at once for good measure, and stuck it
into the console. Switched it on. After a few seconds
of lag, static lines flickering across the screen indicating something
was happening. Then, in big blue letters, the title screen
appeared Covington's Redemption. Press Start. I pressed the button and
(03:43):
immediately I was met with a presence sitting across the
table in a small kitchen. Wrinkled lines marked his face.
He had a suit on, looked like he was a
middle aged man. What's your name, he asked. A dialogue
box appeared from me. A tight response. I use the
joystick to painfully eat slowly select the letters. Lebron, I inhaled,
(04:07):
smoking with my free hand. Thank you for visiting me, Lebron.
You are so welcome, I said out loud, taking another
puff than coughing. I can't believe I'm not out shooting
threes right now. Yes, I talk to myself, so simmy,
it appears you're coming to me a dire time in
your life. He continued for show smoke rings. Perhaps you
(04:30):
came here thinking I could send you on a grand
quest word. The truth is, I'm not who you think
I am. He stood up from his table. I'm not
your quest giver brother. I'm a lawyer named Larry with
psychic powers. I started laughing. He here to battle cruelty
(04:53):
in this twisted world. Oh my god, this game is
fucking dog shit, I said. I heard Kelsey's bedroom door close,
Whether in response to my noise or just a random occurrence.
I wasn't sure, and I'm grateful. His dialogue continued, that
you followed the spark of curiosity within you, the spark
of instinct, for it was the right call. Dramatic pause,
(05:19):
for there is something coming after you, and if the
fixed course of time isn't disrupted via psychic interference, your
life will be taken in three days. And I had
to be honest. Melodramatic suit guy was fun enough, but
my TikTok trained detention span was starting to wave her.
(05:39):
If you're ready, he went on, I could take you
to my vision room so that you could see the
gravity of the situation for yourself. I pressed a to continue,
because I was high enough that cutting him off felt rude.
The scene shifted to a dark back room with not
much else in it other than a bulletin board. Larry
grabbed his head and focused while a swirling sound effect play.
(06:00):
He clenched his face, fingers pressed against his temples, until
finally an image manifested on the board, the photo of
another character, a woman, trail of blood pooling from her mouth,
eyes lifeless. This is the condition you'll be found in
in three days, he said. I squinted my reddened eyes
(06:23):
in ten and would be slowed brain processing power. Took
a while to digest the image. The girl had a
beige cable knit sweater, not unlike the one I was wearing,
crescent moon tattoo on her inner wrist just like mine.
Blonde hair, loose, brushed out waves. Huh, outdated three D
(06:47):
model aside. She looked a lot like me, like like
a lot, a lot. His dialogue box stayed frozen, awaiting
my button has to continue. Putting my pipe on the counter,
I grabbed my phone, reread the cartridge's title, Covington's Redemption,
and googled it. No relevant results. I double checked the spelling,
(07:14):
added more words to the search, like N sixty four
or video game. Still nothing. I put everything down, rushed
to the bathroom, splash water my face. Stared at my
face in the mirror. You're okay. Back to my room.
I could feel my heart start to bounce in my chest.
I regrabbed the controller and let his dialogue continue. Lebron,
(07:36):
if the site isn't making it clear you're going to
be murdered, I'm just chipping out to stop the pairless
train barreling towards you. It's going to require a few
key things, he said. He struck a pose fist clenched
in front of his face. You're going to need to
be cunning the fuck man, I whispered, a whistful, pixelated look
(08:01):
off to the side. You're gonna need to be brave.
I just need to breathe. And finally, you're going to
need to overcome your personal demons. Put them to bed
once and for all, he steadied himself. What I suggest,
first and foremost is sh I turned the N sixty
(08:22):
four off. It's a bad trip. I needed to go
to bed. So I did rallying together as many excuses
in my head as needed for why this all just
had a logical explanation, and why I needed to call
it a night early amidst bouts of tossing and turning
and sobriety creeping back, and I snuck in what felt
(08:44):
like a fever dream of a nap. I say the clock,
my am, every boot of the game take two, Come on, Normalcy.
I was greeted with that same bulletin board psychic lawyer beside,
and the image of the deceased girl, except this time
her clothes had changed. It still looked like me, just
(09:08):
now dressed in the same jammies and care Bear sleep
shirt that I just put on. Feeling all sorts of
fucked up. I finished reading Larry's note this time, what
I suggest first and foremost is that you pay close
attention to your surroundings over the next twenty four hours.
(09:28):
Then he rested his hat in his hands. I grow weary.
I tried to get anything more out of it, but
he just kept repeating. I grow weary after that, Struggling
to place if there was anything else immediate to do,
and with exhaustion already swallowing me, I just turned the
system off again and tried to dream away the cosmic dread.
(09:56):
It was the next day, and after some truly terrible sleep,
I was back at my university, forcing myself into the
routine of classes. Clutched in my hand was a small
pocket book for jotting down any noticings that's for the
recommendations of one psychic Larry. My eyes shot from mark
to mark in the hallway, people students with their micro expressions,
(10:17):
laughing at dumb shit or stressed out. I wasn't actually
going to die, right, This was all just like it was.
It was a joke or something right, Sadie. I heard
a familiar voice trail behind me, and then Connor fell
into step beside me. Longtime friend, reliable friend, looked way
too much like that nice guy from Thirteen Reasons. Why Hey,
(10:40):
I said, whoa, he said, looking at my face? What? Nope, nothing, now,
what is it? It's just that you look tired, and
I know you're not supposed to say that to a woman,
so I stopped before I said it. Yeah, it's a
high mind that he's all women. I smile, shrugged it off.
(11:01):
It's fine. I couldn't sleep. Shortly after, we were in
our lecture hall for class. The professor rattled off about
concentric zone theory, and I, well, I paid attention to
my surroundings. Across the room, I spotted Bryson, my ex,
my big dumb ex. We locked eyes. We ended on
(11:24):
less than cordial terms. He wanted to open our relationship,
and I granted him permission. He could sleep with anyone
in the world but me. Note book suddenly opened. I
scribbled Bryson spiteful, polyamorous. Connor whispered, sneaking bites of his
terrible looking lunch. It's not my place to give advice,
but if you couldn't sleep because you were smoking a
(11:46):
lot of pond then you should monitor that. I mean,
I know that it can impact anxiety and motivation. And
my eyes fixed on the boyish professor next, Professor Warden,
a flicker of eye contact. Even my major, criminology was
his area of expertise, it wasn't a surprise that I
had had multiple classes with him already. My mind flashed
(12:09):
that choice encounter that we once had making out in
the closet in the first year during my professor phase.
The phone ended when he said, sorry, I can't not
with students, ironically delivered after sticking his tongue down my
throat For like twenty minutes. It was never brought up again.
The memory faded, and I looked to Connor and nodded
(12:30):
so he could feel heard while continuing his mamologue. Pocket
journal reopened. Professor Warden scared I'd get him fired. Four
years later, I just think Connor said that if you
tried to go cold turkey for even just like two weeks,
I mean, it could really hours whipped by without so
much of a show for them. And then we were
(12:53):
back in the hallway and I was continuing once again
to scan for any hints at the cause of my
impt erasure. So what are you doing after this, he
asked me. Probably just gonna hide away in my room.
Oh there's a new bar by Sundale. I was thinking
about checking it out. I mean, if you wanted to
really like low energy that icon, maybe another time. Oh yeah,
(13:17):
for sure, he said, another time. Then we split up.
I gave him a wave and he sheepishly scratched the
back of his head and walked away. When he was
out of sight, I secured my little notebook again. Connor
wee bit obsessive. I scratched it out as soon as
I finished writing it. Maybe just a bit too puppy
(13:37):
dog for that, he was. I was about to close
the notebook when I caught something in my peripheral. Someone
peeking around the end of the hall watching me, dressed
in all black, hood pulled up over their head. My
walk quickened into a run. I'd rounded the corner and
saw they were gone behind me, and then around a
(14:03):
little dazed, and then I wrote that down to I
arrived back of the apartment, marred with sleeplessness. Kelsey was
in the kitchen, meal prep always slicing and dicing so elegantly,
too elegantly, Hey, I said, Hey, I was classes. I stared, swish, swish,
(14:27):
swish the cucumber on the cutting board. You're really good
at that. What cutting with that knife? Huh uh? Thanks?
Where'd you get your training? Suddenly left me knife training?
Do you mean my second grade level cutting skills? Yeah?
I got them by cooking for myself and not door
dashing every second meal to my apartment door. Kelsey wasn't
(14:49):
having it, so I went to my room and booted
up the game coming Kin's Redemption title screen. I pressed
the start button on my controller and we were back.
Psychic Lawyer Larry was at the kitchen table, head in
his hands. He looked like he'd been struggling. Sustenance, he said,
in the form of crunchy bread with peanut butter spread
(15:10):
on top. I need it if I'm going to continue
with my visions. Was this motherfucker about to send me
on a fetch quest Lebron, please? He continued, exit my quarters.
I believe there's a store on this street that sells
what I need to keep going. Ugh. I was finally
able to control my character. I went up to Larry
to see if he had any more dialogue. I received
(15:32):
a paltry dot dot dot in response. I maneuvered out
of Larry's place, down the steps, and onto city Street.
I shifted down the block, spotted storefronts without clear entries.
Ding my phone irl checked it Connor again, text popping
(15:53):
up on screen. Hey, sorry if I came on too
strong about the pot smoking thing. Back to the TV
as our looking strangers walked by the sounds of my
shuffling over gravel until finally I spotted a store that
I could actually enter, Carver's Diner. Before I made my
way inside, I spotted something interesting in the corner of
(16:15):
my eye. Someone peeked out from behind an alley about
a block down, a character dressed in dark layers, black
scheme mask on. What the fuck? I shifted focus, directing
myself to the alley to find. Just like in real life,
there was no one around the corner. The music in
(16:37):
the game started skipping. The ambient outdoor sounds paired with
something new and off key chorl rise ghosts like voices
coalescing into an uncomfortable hum. I stepped down the alley,
the ham growing louder. My hair standing on end. I
didn't like this fucking game, and as I did step
(16:59):
I clocked a small square panel in the wall. I
removed it, ducked down and crawled inside. I inched through
the passageway, slow movements in the crawl space, leading to
an eventual resolve a room lanterns piercing the dark. I
spotted a chessboard on the ground. All the little pieces
(17:21):
caught fire, all except for one. There was a statue
of a winged, crown bearing figure, hollow eyes, with a
serpent coiled around one arm and a staff gripped in
the other. I looked over to spot me the same
(17:43):
me that I'd seen on Larry's bulletin board as an image,
but now fully formed, strung up against the wall, bound lifeless,
with bloody tears shedding. As I tried to keep a
grip on my own sanity, I spotted the words not
yet appearing from a textbox that I think came from
(18:05):
the statue figure, before the screen exploded into static white
noise distortion, and then cut to black altogether, with a
single new dialogue box appearing Anniversary. And then I was
right back in front of Carver's Diner again, this time,
(18:26):
traumatized as all hell, I simply went into the store
while scribbling the horrifying demonic shit into my pocketbook. Still
in the game, I watched Larry happily chomp down on
(18:46):
his peanut butter and toast. It was the one item
at Carver's that I had enough in game cash to purchase. Sighing,
I sparked up. Irl Kelsey called me earlier to join
her and watching the girlfriend. I was now in my
own holding up in my Space and ghosting my roommate Era.
I continued pressing the A button as the psychic Lawyer
kept biting new dialogue boxes appearing that simply said mmm
(19:10):
over and over again. Exceptional, he said, finally done, face
flushing like an animal crossing character. Simply exceptional. He wiped
his face with his suit sleeve and then seemingly locked
the fuck in two days. I have a little over
two days now. I'm aware, I said aloud. You did
(19:32):
what I told you, didn't you? He said, You've paid attention? Yeah,
fuck Jesus. But I find very important, he continued. In
pursuing justice is understanding motives, not getting thrown off by
distractions or red herrings. Kelsey opened the door, completely ignoring
our please knock policy. She flopped on my bed. You're
(19:55):
being anti socialist. Fuck, she said. Larry's dialogue continued on.
I tried de pause it, but none of the buttons worked.
Privacy please, I'm just feeling a little low key today.
I said, you're squandering your potential, and Missy, she scrolled
on her phone, I would do so much with my
life if I had rich parents, admits the distraction. My
(20:16):
eyes only briefly caught some of Larry's words re examining,
digging deeper, you're playing old video games, Kelsey asked, intrigued,
is this Mario Kart does? Does this look like Mario Kart? Larry, meanwhile, energized,
brought it back to a secret room with a bulletin board. Again,
(20:37):
let's start with another one of my visions, face drawn tight,
fingers pressed to his temples. Again, having Kelsey there felt
akin to when your parents walk in during a movie
sex scene. An image appeared on the board, an animated
close up of a mouth opening a fork full of
lettuce being lifted to its teeth. The animation continued looping.
(20:59):
I'll see the mouth of your killer, he said, proudly.
The fuck am I supposed to do with this, oh
murder mystery game, said Kelsey, plopping down to the ground
beside me. Yeah, it's super fun, I said, beyond depressed.
So obviously killer like salad, said Kelsey. I mean yeah,
(21:19):
but I mean, like, so what we call that a hint? Sadie,
write it down, I sighed, slowly, grabbing my pocket book,
flipping into an empty page and scribbling into it with
a pen. She ruffled my hair annoyingly and bounded off. God,
what the fuck, dude, I said, Go outside, she called back,
touch grass, use your trust fund, baby privilege for good.
(21:42):
Go easy on the Ganja. I got up and shut
the door. Back to Larry, so he continued, tell me Lebron,
does this mouth ring a bell for you? No, tell
me more about today, he said, and then it just
(22:02):
lingered on him. He stared at me no input screen
to painfully slowly type an answer into. Realizing we were
far beyond reason now, I decided to talk directly to
the TV. I mean nothing crazy at first. Earlier today
the weirder thing some dude like watching me from the hallway,
(22:23):
that said, I mean in the game. He squinted never
mind the insanity that the words I was speaking seemed
to be translating. His expression at the game was worrisome.
I rephrased, I mean near your place. There was an
(22:45):
alleyway and like another creepy guy, there was like more anyway.
Then I saw like some satanic shit. I don't know.
The journey grows dangerous, he said, yeah, no shit man.
He spent some time, fingers pressed to his lips, thinking
(23:07):
should I leave or like he finally landed on something,
go somewhere, have a drink, okay, I said, in the
get near your place, I corrected again, or like in
my area, in your area? God damn it. I grabbed
my phone, text from Mom come home for dinner this week.
(23:30):
It was one of a string of messages from her
I hadn't responded to yet. Needed to get to that too.
I texted Connor, received a response back in like point
two seconds. Then I headed out, striding past Kelsey, who
was splayed out in the living room sofa watching TV.
Where are you going to touch? Grass? As I left,
(23:53):
I fought the urge to scribble her name into my notebook.
Solid is to universal, right, So what do you think?
Asked Connor. I'm across our booth at the bar. Yeah,
I mean it's a bar, so that's cool. It was
(24:18):
the place that he had pitched earlier. Today. He was
the only person I knew who'd go out with me
on a Wednesday night on short notice. They've got this
like really cool cocktail, he flipped the page. I think
I was thinking to try it. Later. A server came
by with our drinks, he smiled as she put them down.
She left. I took a sip of the blue buck
(24:38):
that he had offered me before I got here. He
knew my favorite, and I hand it to him, so
he continued as my eyes flitted from patrons to barkeep
paying attention as always. You don't you know, you don't
usually come out with me, I smiled. I just needed
like air, I think Aaron AMBI didn't feel I don't know,
(25:02):
safe doing it alone, so so you feel safe with me,
he said, almost lighting up. And yeah, I said, dodging,
just wanting to try a new place out. No people
people watch, maybe if that makes sense, more darting in
my eyes. I tried to keep it subtle while cursing
(25:23):
my sixty four bit lawyer for putting me into this
awkward situation silence. So I'm worried about you. I'm fine,
Please stop. Not about the weed smoking. I'll drop that,
thank you. But how how you don't ever, like, you know,
(25:48):
talk about like I swallowed, he continued. And I'm sorry
for even bringing it up, but we're friends, and I mean,
we never discussed it. But I can tell it's weighing
on you. It's not weighing on me. Your sister hmm,
(26:12):
like that's so, it's just the fact that you're, like,
you're trying to find yourself again. And I did say
ambient night. It's fucked up, you know what happened to her.
I just want you to know that I'm here for
you as you try to, you know, move forward. Thanks Connor, truly,
(26:34):
I'm gonna go piss. I saw his expression shift as
I got up and headed for the ladies room. Inside,
I felt my heart race a bit. I didn't need
this right now. I studied my breathing in front of
the mirror. A memory flashed across my eyes, making a
late to mist calls from everyone in my family. I
(26:57):
was supposed to be with her that night. I left
the bathroom, I spotted Connor still goofully cycling through the
cocktails menu. My attention shifted to the bar's back area,
passed the mostly empty kitchen, where I saw another person
in a ski mask, dressed in all black, peering through
(27:19):
the back door that led outside, eyes fixed on me.
Beyond the stirring mix of sensations within me, fear, my
heart sinking, anxiety pounding, came something a little different. Anger.
I rushed towards the figure, blitzing past confused restaurant workers
and kicking the door in the back alley, only to
see not one but two macked people sprinting away far
(27:43):
out of reach. I caught my breath, looked down and
saw something that might have fallen from one of their pockets,
A small totem carved from black stone, no bigger than
a thumb, wings folded tight around its body, serpent fled
along one side, looking a bit like the strange statue
(28:03):
I'd seen in the game. I pocketed it, still reeling.
Connor showed up behind me, Sadie, what are you doing
back here? Nothing? I just I needed some air. I'm
not feeling that great. Sorry, you know, for for mentioning it.
(28:27):
It's fine, I'm guessing that she wanted to go home. Yeah.
Either kids, it's me, mister creepy Pasta. I just want
to say thank you guys for watching Connects video listening
to tonight's episode of the podcast. Also, I want to give
a huge thank you to everybody on this list of patreons.
(28:48):
If you'd like to join this list of names that
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(29:31):
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(29:51):
running in their sleep. I appreciate you guys greatly, especially
during this kind of rough time for me. Having you
guys around, and I mean this wholeheartedly is incredibly Sokay,
thank you, thank you for being here, thanks for being
a part of this, and as always folks, sweet dreams,
There was a garage sale in my area, which kind
of blew my mind because in my newly minted life
as an adult woman, fourth year of college and all,
I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen one in
my waking life. I started a bucket list filled with
some rather plain activities as my newest attempt to fight
the creeping, deep personalization that plagued me for the last
(00:23):
year or so. Once I saw the sail, I immediately
added it to my list, then went there crossed it off.
The sale itself was pretty pathetic, nothing I would ever
do a double take for a store. Nevertheless, I spotted
a single cartridge for an N sixty four game that
(00:44):
I hadn't seen before, and wanting to come back with
some sort of trophy, I snagged it. The old lady
running the show squinted with her glasses on while I
held it out in front of her. Must be Marty's,
she said, looking rather confused. Ten dollars que, that's doc
chi ching sound, and off I went home to my
half of the apartment that I was sharing with Kelsey.
(01:06):
Kelsey with the fantastic self discipline, the great diet, the
great job, my truefoil and polar opposite. I entered. She
was in the kitchen shopping vegetables and measuring her food
because being hot was its own full time job, and
I respected it. I lingered for five seconds, so she
(01:27):
knew to ask about my day. How was your day, Sadie,
she eventually asked. I leaned over the dining table chair
and said, I went to a garage sale. Uh huh?
Why it was on my bucket list? Why do you
have a bucket list? You're like a baby, because like life,
it's fleeting, and like the human experience or whatever. She's quinted,
(01:52):
is it an actual physical list or doc mainly, I
said back, and then some scribbles in my notebook. I
couldn't tell her. She was prestor confused. Okay. I thought
twice about whether I should flash her the cartridge's proof
of purchase, but didn't seem that she found the venture
as impressive as I did, so I opted against it.
(02:13):
Gonna go veg out in my room, I said, skirting off,
have fun in there, she said. Never liked her, saying
that all the time it felt pervy. I closed the
door in my bedroom, sparkling lights hung across the wall
to celebrate the arrival of winter. Amidst the cozy hideaway
with too many throw pillows was the piece de resistance,
(02:34):
the small wooden TV stand in the corner with CRTTV
on top and N sixty four tucked neatly below. Did
I ever play it? Nope? Did it make me happy?
Look at yes, my usual special dead eyed scrolling between
the apps while eating talkies and smoking a bowl asking
me about thirty minutes before a familiar dread kicked in.
(02:58):
I went to the old TV, cleared off some dust,
turned off most of the lights, leaving only the wall
when twinkling, and checked to see if the old console
product of an era I just missed and yet still
had some bizarre nostalgia for, was set up properly. When
all seemed well, I grabbed the cartridge game titled Covington's Redemption,
(03:21):
blew into at once for good measure, and stuck it
into the console. Switched it on. After a few seconds
of lag, static lines flickering across the screen indicating something
was happening. Then, in big blue letters, the title screen
appeared Covington's Redemption. Press Start. I pressed the button and
(03:43):
immediately I was met with a presence sitting across the
table in a small kitchen. Wrinkled lines marked his face.
He had a suit on, looked like he was a
middle aged man. What's your name, he asked. A dialogue
box appeared from me. A tight response. I use the
joystick to painfully eat slowly select the letters. Lebron, I inhaled,
(04:07):
smoking with my free hand. Thank you for visiting me, Lebron.
You are so welcome, I said out loud, taking another
puff than coughing. I can't believe I'm not out shooting
threes right now. Yes, I talk to myself, so simmy,
it appears you're coming to me a dire time in
your life. He continued for show smoke rings. Perhaps you
(04:30):
came here thinking I could send you on a grand
quest word. The truth is, I'm not who you think
I am. He stood up from his table. I'm not
your quest giver brother. I'm a lawyer named Larry with
psychic powers. I started laughing. He here to battle cruelty
(04:53):
in this twisted world. Oh my god, this game is
fucking dog shit, I said. I heard Kelsey's bedroom door close,
Whether in response to my noise or just a random occurrence.
I wasn't sure, and I'm grateful. His dialogue continued, that
you followed the spark of curiosity within you, the spark
of instinct, for it was the right call. Dramatic pause,
(05:19):
for there is something coming after you, and if the
fixed course of time isn't disrupted via psychic interference, your
life will be taken in three days. And I had
to be honest. Melodramatic suit guy was fun enough, but
my TikTok trained detention span was starting to wave her.
(05:39):
If you're ready, he went on, I could take you
to my vision room so that you could see the
gravity of the situation for yourself. I pressed a to continue,
because I was high enough that cutting him off felt rude.
The scene shifted to a dark back room with not
much else in it other than a bulletin board. Larry
grabbed his head and focused while a swirling sound effect play.
(06:00):
He clenched his face, fingers pressed against his temples, until
finally an image manifested on the board, the photo of
another character, a woman, trail of blood pooling from her mouth,
eyes lifeless. This is the condition you'll be found in
in three days, he said. I squinted my reddened eyes
(06:23):
in ten and would be slowed brain processing power. Took
a while to digest the image. The girl had a
beige cable knit sweater, not unlike the one I was wearing,
crescent moon tattoo on her inner wrist just like mine.
Blonde hair, loose, brushed out waves. Huh, outdated three D
(06:47):
model aside. She looked a lot like me, like like
a lot, a lot. His dialogue box stayed frozen, awaiting
my button has to continue. Putting my pipe on the counter,
I grabbed my phone, reread the cartridge's title, Covington's Redemption,
and googled it. No relevant results. I double checked the spelling,
(07:14):
added more words to the search, like N sixty four
or video game. Still nothing. I put everything down, rushed
to the bathroom, splash water my face. Stared at my
face in the mirror. You're okay. Back to my room.
I could feel my heart start to bounce in my chest.
I regrabbed the controller and let his dialogue continue. Lebron,
(07:36):
if the site isn't making it clear you're going to
be murdered, I'm just chipping out to stop the pairless
train barreling towards you. It's going to require a few
key things, he said. He struck a pose fist clenched
in front of his face. You're going to need to
be cunning the fuck man, I whispered, a whistful, pixelated look
(08:01):
off to the side. You're gonna need to be brave.
I just need to breathe. And finally, you're going to
need to overcome your personal demons. Put them to bed
once and for all, he steadied himself. What I suggest,
first and foremost is sh I turned the N sixty
(08:22):
four off. It's a bad trip. I needed to go
to bed. So I did rallying together as many excuses
in my head as needed for why this all just
had a logical explanation, and why I needed to call
it a night early amidst bouts of tossing and turning
and sobriety creeping back, and I snuck in what felt
(08:44):
like a fever dream of a nap. I say the clock,
my am, every boot of the game take two, Come on, Normalcy.
I was greeted with that same bulletin board psychic lawyer beside,
and the image of the deceased girl, except this time
her clothes had changed. It still looked like me, just
(09:08):
now dressed in the same jammies and care Bear sleep
shirt that I just put on. Feeling all sorts of
fucked up. I finished reading Larry's note this time, what
I suggest first and foremost is that you pay close
attention to your surroundings over the next twenty four hours.
(09:28):
Then he rested his hat in his hands. I grow weary.
I tried to get anything more out of it, but
he just kept repeating. I grow weary after that, Struggling
to place if there was anything else immediate to do,
and with exhaustion already swallowing me, I just turned the
system off again and tried to dream away the cosmic dread.
(09:56):
It was the next day, and after some truly terrible sleep,
I was back at my university, forcing myself into the
routine of classes. Clutched in my hand was a small
pocket book for jotting down any noticings that's for the
recommendations of one psychic Larry. My eyes shot from mark
to mark in the hallway, people students with their micro expressions,
(10:17):
laughing at dumb shit or stressed out. I wasn't actually
going to die, right, This was all just like it was.
It was a joke or something right, Sadie. I heard
a familiar voice trail behind me, and then Connor fell
into step beside me. Longtime friend, reliable friend, looked way
too much like that nice guy from Thirteen Reasons. Why Hey,
(10:40):
I said, whoa, he said, looking at my face? What? Nope, nothing, now,
what is it? It's just that you look tired, and
I know you're not supposed to say that to a woman,
so I stopped before I said it. Yeah, it's a
high mind that he's all women. I smile, shrugged it off.
(11:01):
It's fine. I couldn't sleep. Shortly after, we were in
our lecture hall for class. The professor rattled off about
concentric zone theory, and I, well, I paid attention to
my surroundings. Across the room, I spotted Bryson, my ex,
my big dumb ex. We locked eyes. We ended on
(11:24):
less than cordial terms. He wanted to open our relationship,
and I granted him permission. He could sleep with anyone
in the world but me. Note book suddenly opened. I
scribbled Bryson spiteful, polyamorous. Connor whispered, sneaking bites of his
terrible looking lunch. It's not my place to give advice,
but if you couldn't sleep because you were smoking a
(11:46):
lot of pond then you should monitor that. I mean,
I know that it can impact anxiety and motivation. And
my eyes fixed on the boyish professor next, Professor Warden,
a flicker of eye contact. Even my major, criminology was
his area of expertise, it wasn't a surprise that I
had had multiple classes with him already. My mind flashed
(12:09):
that choice encounter that we once had making out in
the closet in the first year during my professor phase.
The phone ended when he said, sorry, I can't not
with students, ironically delivered after sticking his tongue down my
throat For like twenty minutes. It was never brought up again.
The memory faded, and I looked to Connor and nodded
(12:30):
so he could feel heard while continuing his mamologue. Pocket
journal reopened. Professor Warden scared I'd get him fired. Four
years later, I just think Connor said that if you
tried to go cold turkey for even just like two weeks,
I mean, it could really hours whipped by without so
much of a show for them. And then we were
(12:53):
back in the hallway and I was continuing once again
to scan for any hints at the cause of my
impt erasure. So what are you doing after this, he
asked me. Probably just gonna hide away in my room.
Oh there's a new bar by Sundale. I was thinking
about checking it out. I mean, if you wanted to
really like low energy that icon, maybe another time. Oh yeah,
(13:17):
for sure, he said, another time. Then we split up.
I gave him a wave and he sheepishly scratched the
back of his head and walked away. When he was
out of sight, I secured my little notebook again. Connor
wee bit obsessive. I scratched it out as soon as
I finished writing it. Maybe just a bit too puppy
(13:37):
dog for that, he was. I was about to close
the notebook when I caught something in my peripheral. Someone
peeking around the end of the hall watching me, dressed
in all black, hood pulled up over their head. My
walk quickened into a run. I'd rounded the corner and
saw they were gone behind me, and then around a
(14:03):
little dazed, and then I wrote that down to I
arrived back of the apartment, marred with sleeplessness. Kelsey was
in the kitchen, meal prep always slicing and dicing so elegantly,
too elegantly, Hey, I said, Hey, I was classes. I stared, swish, swish,
(14:27):
swish the cucumber on the cutting board. You're really good
at that. What cutting with that knife? Huh uh? Thanks?
Where'd you get your training? Suddenly left me knife training?
Do you mean my second grade level cutting skills? Yeah?
I got them by cooking for myself and not door
dashing every second meal to my apartment door. Kelsey wasn't
(14:49):
having it, so I went to my room and booted
up the game coming Kin's Redemption title screen. I pressed
the start button on my controller and we were back.
Psychic Lawyer Larry was at the kitchen table, head in
his hands. He looked like he'd been struggling. Sustenance, he said,
in the form of crunchy bread with peanut butter spread
(15:10):
on top. I need it if I'm going to continue
with my visions. Was this motherfucker about to send me
on a fetch quest Lebron, please? He continued, exit my quarters.
I believe there's a store on this street that sells
what I need to keep going. Ugh. I was finally
able to control my character. I went up to Larry
to see if he had any more dialogue. I received
(15:32):
a paltry dot dot dot in response. I maneuvered out
of Larry's place, down the steps, and onto city Street.
I shifted down the block, spotted storefronts without clear entries.
Ding my phone irl checked it Connor again, text popping
(15:53):
up on screen. Hey, sorry if I came on too
strong about the pot smoking thing. Back to the TV
as our looking strangers walked by the sounds of my
shuffling over gravel until finally I spotted a store that
I could actually enter, Carver's Diner. Before I made my
way inside, I spotted something interesting in the corner of
(16:15):
my eye. Someone peeked out from behind an alley about
a block down, a character dressed in dark layers, black
scheme mask on. What the fuck? I shifted focus, directing
myself to the alley to find. Just like in real life,
there was no one around the corner. The music in
(16:37):
the game started skipping. The ambient outdoor sounds paired with
something new and off key chorl rise ghosts like voices
coalescing into an uncomfortable hum. I stepped down the alley,
the ham growing louder. My hair standing on end. I
didn't like this fucking game, and as I did step
(16:59):
I clocked a small square panel in the wall. I
removed it, ducked down and crawled inside. I inched through
the passageway, slow movements in the crawl space, leading to
an eventual resolve a room lanterns piercing the dark. I
spotted a chessboard on the ground. All the little pieces
(17:21):
caught fire, all except for one. There was a statue
of a winged, crown bearing figure, hollow eyes, with a
serpent coiled around one arm and a staff gripped in
the other. I looked over to spot me the same
(17:43):
me that I'd seen on Larry's bulletin board as an image,
but now fully formed, strung up against the wall, bound lifeless,
with bloody tears shedding. As I tried to keep a
grip on my own sanity, I spotted the words not
yet appearing from a textbox that I think came from
(18:05):
the statue figure, before the screen exploded into static white
noise distortion, and then cut to black altogether, with a
single new dialogue box appearing Anniversary. And then I was
right back in front of Carver's Diner again, this time,
(18:26):
traumatized as all hell, I simply went into the store
while scribbling the horrifying demonic shit into my pocketbook. Still
in the game, I watched Larry happily chomp down on
(18:46):
his peanut butter and toast. It was the one item
at Carver's that I had enough in game cash to purchase. Sighing,
I sparked up. Irl Kelsey called me earlier to join
her and watching the girlfriend. I was now in my
own holding up in my Space and ghosting my roommate Era.
I continued pressing the A button as the psychic Lawyer
kept biting new dialogue boxes appearing that simply said mmm
(19:10):
over and over again. Exceptional, he said, finally done, face
flushing like an animal crossing character. Simply exceptional. He wiped
his face with his suit sleeve and then seemingly locked
the fuck in two days. I have a little over
two days now. I'm aware, I said aloud. You did
(19:32):
what I told you, didn't you? He said, You've paid attention? Yeah,
fuck Jesus. But I find very important, he continued. In
pursuing justice is understanding motives, not getting thrown off by
distractions or red herrings. Kelsey opened the door, completely ignoring
our please knock policy. She flopped on my bed. You're
(19:55):
being anti socialist. Fuck, she said. Larry's dialogue continued on.
I tried de pause it, but none of the buttons worked.
Privacy please, I'm just feeling a little low key today.
I said, you're squandering your potential, and Missy, she scrolled
on her phone, I would do so much with my
life if I had rich parents, admits the distraction. My
(20:16):
eyes only briefly caught some of Larry's words re examining,
digging deeper, you're playing old video games, Kelsey asked, intrigued,
is this Mario Kart does? Does this look like Mario Kart? Larry, meanwhile, energized,
brought it back to a secret room with a bulletin board. Again,
(20:37):
let's start with another one of my visions, face drawn tight,
fingers pressed to his temples. Again, having Kelsey there felt
akin to when your parents walk in during a movie
sex scene. An image appeared on the board, an animated
close up of a mouth opening a fork full of
lettuce being lifted to its teeth. The animation continued looping.
(20:59):
I'll see the mouth of your killer, he said, proudly.
The fuck am I supposed to do with this, oh
murder mystery game, said Kelsey, plopping down to the ground
beside me. Yeah, it's super fun, I said, beyond depressed.
So obviously killer like salad, said Kelsey. I mean yeah,
(21:19):
but I mean, like, so what we call that a hint? Sadie,
write it down, I sighed, slowly, grabbing my pocket book,
flipping into an empty page and scribbling into it with
a pen. She ruffled my hair annoyingly and bounded off. God,
what the fuck, dude, I said, Go outside, she called back,
touch grass, use your trust fund, baby privilege for good.
(21:42):
Go easy on the Ganja. I got up and shut
the door. Back to Larry, so he continued, tell me Lebron,
does this mouth ring a bell for you? No, tell
me more about today, he said, and then it just
(22:02):
lingered on him. He stared at me no input screen
to painfully slowly type an answer into. Realizing we were
far beyond reason now, I decided to talk directly to
the TV. I mean nothing crazy at first. Earlier today
the weirder thing some dude like watching me from the hallway,
(22:23):
that said, I mean in the game. He squinted never
mind the insanity that the words I was speaking seemed
to be translating. His expression at the game was worrisome.
I rephrased, I mean near your place. There was an
(22:45):
alleyway and like another creepy guy, there was like more anyway.
Then I saw like some satanic shit. I don't know.
The journey grows dangerous, he said, yeah, no shit man.
He spent some time, fingers pressed to his lips, thinking
(23:07):
should I leave or like he finally landed on something,
go somewhere, have a drink, okay, I said, in the
get near your place, I corrected again, or like in
my area, in your area? God damn it. I grabbed
my phone, text from Mom come home for dinner this week.
(23:30):
It was one of a string of messages from her
I hadn't responded to yet. Needed to get to that too.
I texted Connor, received a response back in like point
two seconds. Then I headed out, striding past Kelsey, who
was splayed out in the living room sofa watching TV.
Where are you going to touch? Grass? As I left,
(23:53):
I fought the urge to scribble her name into my notebook.
Solid is to universal, right, So what do you think?
Asked Connor. I'm across our booth at the bar. Yeah,
I mean it's a bar, so that's cool. It was
(24:18):
the place that he had pitched earlier. Today. He was
the only person I knew who'd go out with me
on a Wednesday night on short notice. They've got this
like really cool cocktail, he flipped the page. I think
I was thinking to try it. Later. A server came
by with our drinks, he smiled as she put them down.
She left. I took a sip of the blue buck
(24:38):
that he had offered me before I got here. He
knew my favorite, and I hand it to him, so
he continued as my eyes flitted from patrons to barkeep
paying attention as always. You don't you know, you don't
usually come out with me, I smiled. I just needed
like air, I think Aaron AMBI didn't feel I don't know,
(25:02):
safe doing it alone, so so you feel safe with me,
he said, almost lighting up. And yeah, I said, dodging,
just wanting to try a new place out. No people
people watch, maybe if that makes sense, more darting in
my eyes. I tried to keep it subtle while cursing
(25:23):
my sixty four bit lawyer for putting me into this
awkward situation silence. So I'm worried about you. I'm fine,
Please stop. Not about the weed smoking. I'll drop that,
thank you. But how how you don't ever, like, you know,
(25:48):
talk about like I swallowed, he continued. And I'm sorry
for even bringing it up, but we're friends, and I mean,
we never discussed it. But I can tell it's weighing
on you. It's not weighing on me. Your sister hmm,
(26:12):
like that's so, it's just the fact that you're, like,
you're trying to find yourself again. And I did say
ambient night. It's fucked up, you know what happened to her.
I just want you to know that I'm here for
you as you try to, you know, move forward. Thanks Connor, truly,
(26:34):
I'm gonna go piss. I saw his expression shift as
I got up and headed for the ladies room. Inside,
I felt my heart race a bit. I didn't need
this right now. I studied my breathing in front of
the mirror. A memory flashed across my eyes, making a
late to mist calls from everyone in my family. I
(26:57):
was supposed to be with her that night. I left
the bathroom, I spotted Connor still goofully cycling through the
cocktails menu. My attention shifted to the bar's back area,
passed the mostly empty kitchen, where I saw another person
in a ski mask, dressed in all black, peering through
(27:19):
the back door that led outside, eyes fixed on me.
Beyond the stirring mix of sensations within me, fear, my
heart sinking, anxiety pounding, came something a little different. Anger.
I rushed towards the figure, blitzing past confused restaurant workers
and kicking the door in the back alley, only to
see not one but two macked people sprinting away far
(27:43):
out of reach. I caught my breath, looked down and
saw something that might have fallen from one of their pockets,
A small totem carved from black stone, no bigger than
a thumb, wings folded tight around its body, serpent fled
along one side, looking a bit like the strange statue
(28:03):
I'd seen in the game. I pocketed it, still reeling.
Connor showed up behind me, Sadie, what are you doing
back here? Nothing? I just I needed some air. I'm
not feeling that great. Sorry, you know, for for mentioning it.
(28:27):
It's fine, I'm guessing that she wanted to go home. Yeah.
Either kids, it's me, mister creepy Pasta. I just want
to say thank you guys for watching Connects video listening
to tonight's episode of the podcast. Also, I want to give
a huge thank you to everybody on this list of patreons.
(28:48):
If you'd like to join this list of names that
I frequently mispronounced, you could check the description in the
link down below, which I really appreciate because this helps
me one keep the lights on and two helps me
pay authors for the stories that you hear on this channel. Also,
I want to give a huge thank you to everybody
on this list of patreons. Some of these amazing folks
are Diana Kraus, Acid System, Blake Rattler, Brandon Mendoza, Redda Crow,
Tawtuna Chicago hit Man, Corey Kenschent Crusader, Joke Abou Dakota Best,
Daniel Poulson, Joan taking Kaid, Enchanted Buns that's to Bean
(29:10):
Haadie's nephew, Himbo, Jerry how a Minute, Second Time, Inger,
Girt Salstrom, Jay Kerns, Jettis, Pat mcmode, Mister Marcus Splitz,
Psychomel Plant pis Red, Shadow Cat, Remember the Sun, Salty Surprise,
samorrowl in Seclude, Simbas, Bloody Moojo, Sky Harber Smiley, The
Psychotic Sully Man, Tolly Sue, Team Lao seventy six, the
Demended Voice in your Head, The Jabez Brothers, the Jugger Bros,
Tommy Walters, Vice, Roy Scorn, William Wellington, You're bro Keegan
Zubub and Shadow Gardens. A huge thank you to you guys,
(29:31):
everybody who shows up in the description down below, and
honestly anybody who can pledge even just like one dollar
a month. You guys are absolutely amazing. I cannot continue
doing this channel without you, and your support means the
world to me, and that goes to everybody, not just
on Patreon, but honestly just you guys out there who
just subscribe, those guys out there who are just listening
or putting on the NonStop radio live stream while it's
(29:51):
running in their sleep. I appreciate you guys greatly, especially
during this kind of rough time for me. Having you
guys around, and I mean this wholeheartedly is incredibly Sokay,
thank you, thank you for being here, thanks for being
a part of this, and as always folks, sweet dreams,
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