Beyond Event Horizon Episode 1- Truth

Ms. Templeton, a non-tenured teacher, is worried about making a mistake that could cost her job. She notices that some students are missing and confronts Susie, who reveals that she made them disappear by repeating what they said to her. Susie's eyes glow and Ms. Templeton's head explodes when she tries to force the truth out of her. Another student, Randy, covered in blood, seeks help from the principal. The principal and two officers enter the classroom to find all the students frozen in fear. They see Susie standing in a shadowed corner with glowing blue eyes and a strange red substance covering everything. The principal prepares to confront Susie, feeling terrified. Welcome, lost traveler, to another tale from beyond the event horizon presents podcast. You can die anywhere, as you chose to do it here, with us. We here, on the other side, appreciate your sacrifice. As you know, there is no escape once you are beyond the event horizon. It was the second day of school and Ms. Templeton still hadn't memorized her students' names, which was very unlike her. She wanted everything to go perfectly. The new school year had her on edge, as a non-tenured teacher any mistake could mean losing her job, and she couldn't afford that. The air outside was getting colder, as expected, with the change of seasons. Ms. Templeton had unpacked her sealed fall box of teacher clothes and was wearing her favorite boots, which she considered her lucky pair. She was certain she'd need all the luck she could get. Already little Susie had gotten into a disagreement with some other kids in the class. I really need to learn all their names, Ms. Templeton thought to herself. Susie was a handful, and that likely explained why her name was already burned into Ms. Templeton's memory. The phrase, old soul, often came to mind during her interactions with Susie. Come to think of it, Ms. Templeton realized, the class is quieter than it was yesterday. The thought jolted her out of her daydream. She quickly scanned the room, her eyes darting from desk to desk, searching for anything out of place. Her teacher intuition kicked into overdrive. That's when she noticed something alarming. The children involved in Susie's morning spat were nowhere to be seen. Their seats were empty. Ms. Templeton began to hyperventilate. Oh no, she thought, this is it. My job here is over. She pictured her dream summer in Hawaii, months of planning, gone in an instant. She'd worked so hard for this job, enduring long hours, stressful nights, and endless streams of snotty-nosed kids during her credentialing program. Hawaii was supposed to mark the start of her real adult life. Without hesitation, her eyes darted to Susie's seat. Sure enough, it was empty too. Great, she thought. As Templeton walked toward the far side of the classroom, the area obscured from her view at the front of the room. She was certain the missing kids, and Susie, the troublemaker, would all be there, undoubtedly caught up in some kind of brawl or shenanigans. As she rounded the clutter blocking her view, she stopped abruptly. Instead of a chaotic group of children, she saw only one figure standing in the corner, a lone silhouette. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Something felt profoundly wrong. The room was brightly lit, yet this child was shrouded in unnatural shadows. It didn't make sense. All she could see clearly were the piercing, icy blue eyes staring back at her. She froze, rooted to the spot. A deep, primal instinct screamed at her to turn and run. The cold, blue eyes seemed to bore into her soul, taunting her. But she was the adult, the authority. She couldn't let fear paralyze her. Taking a deep breath, she steeled her resolve and marched toward the shadowy figure. As she drew closer, the darkness surrounding the child didn't dissipate as she expected. Instead, the shadows seemed to grow thicker, more menacing, swallowing the light around them. The only thing that grew brighter were those stark, unblinking blue eyes. "'Susie, where is everyone?' Miss Templeton stammered, her voice betraying her attempt at authority. "'I didn't mean it, Miss Templeton,' Susie gasped suddenly, her voice trembling. The shadows clinging to her seemed to rise and darken. All that remained visible were her eyes, solemn and unnervingly knowing. Miss Templeton crouched to meet Susie's level, her confusion mounting. Miss Templeton's blue eyes felt like endless pools of eternity, drawing her in. "'What do you mean, Susie? What do you mean they're gone?' she asked, her voice cracking. "'I just...I just said back to them what they said to me,' Susie whimpered, tears streaming down her cheeks. And...they disappeared.' Frustration bubbled within Miss Templeton. This bizarre situation was spiralling out of control, and her patience was wearing thin. She couldn't afford to let this slip away. Her job, her future, her dream of Hawaii, all hinged on finding those kids. Desperation took over as she grabbed Susie's small shoulders. A chill shot through her fingers, causing her to recoil slightly, but she tightened her grip. "'You'll tell me now,' Miss Templeton barked, her voice shrill, almost guttural with panic. The shadows around Susie's face began to shift, receding slightly, while her blue eyes seemed to glow even brighter. Then Susie whispered something. The sound was incomprehensible, but the air around them cracked with a sharp, snapping noise. Before Miss Templeton could react, a sudden force overtook her. Her head exploded in a spray of blood, bone, and viscera before she even realized what was happening. Fragments of her skull and brain matter splattered across the room, coating Susie in gore. If the scene hadn't been so horrifying, one might think Susie looked like she was wearing a grotesque jumpsuit. Susie stepped back into the corner, the shadows engulfing her completely. The remaining students sat frozen in shock, staring at the remnants of their teacher smeared across the room. And then they saw it, Susie's bright blue eyes emerging from the darkness, gleaming with a sinister glint, silently daring them to move. Little Randy wasn't known for his speed, but he tore down the hallway toward the principal's office with the determination of an Olympic sprinter. Panic fueled his movements, though his pace was hampered by the sticky red sludge coating him from head to toe. With every stride, his footing slipped, causing him to stagger and slide across the polished floor. Hot tears streamed down his face as he finally stumbled and fell, face first just outside the office entrance. Pain shot through his jaw as he felt one of his teeth chip against the hard surface. The sharp sensation brought a fresh wave of tears, but Randy didn't let it stop him. Desperation pushed him forward. He scrambled to his feet, his hands shaking as he grabbed the doorknob. The chipped tooth and the stinging pain in his face were the furthest things from his mind. He had to get help. The class sat frozen in stunned silence, too terrified to make a sound. The explosive energy that had obliterated Ms. Templeton had also cleared the scattered debris, leaving an unobstructed view of the shadowed corner. There Susie stood, her piercing blue eyes glowing amidst the swirling darkness that seemed to pulsate around her. The students stared in abject horror as the remnants of Ms. Templeton, thick, viscous sludge, dripped off Susie's small frame, splattering onto the floor with sickening plops. Susie didn't flinch, her eerie, knowing eyes burned with a defiance that seemed almost otherworldly. The Principal's cheap shoes squeaked with each hurried step. On any normal day, he would have needed a few puffs from his inhaler to keep going, but adrenaline kept his lungs clear. He quickened his pace, unsure of what Randy meant, or if he even understood what he was saying. Randy was nearly catatonic, barely able to form a coherent sentence. The Principal tripled his effort to keep up with him, his mind racing. He still didn't know what had happened in Ms. Templeton's class, but the desperate look in Randy's eyes was enough to tell him it wasn't good. The proper authorities were contacted, and two officers had been dispatched to handle whatever nightmare was unfolding. They flanked the Principal as they moved down the hallway, their keys, chains, and latches jangling with every step, their sound echoing ominously down the corridor. It was reminiscent of the morticians during the Dark Ages, ringing their bells to summon the public to bring out the deceased during the plague. Both officers were seasoned veterans, having seen the worst of humanity, yet the closer they got to the classroom, the more the hairs on the back of their necks stood on end. Neither of them would admit it to the other, but they each felt an overwhelming sense of dread. It should be a piece of cake, the officer on the left said, his words hollow, betraying the nerves he tried to mask. His gut told him otherwise, though, and the weight of that feeling grew heavier with each step. As soon as the officers turned the corner to enter the classroom, they instantly knew they had made a mistake. The room was cold, distant, and far from any place of learning. It felt more like a place of incomprehensible horror. Every student sat silently in their seats, paralyzed with terror. Not a muscle twitched, not a sound was made. Their eyes were glazed wide with fear. The principal froze, an instinctive response, his body locking in place as his mind struggled to process the scene before him. The officers, caught off guard by the sudden stop, collided with him, stumbling together in a confused heap. If the officers could have run, they would have, but their feet were glued to the floor, entranced by the eerie stillness of the classroom. When they finally gathered themselves, they scanned the room. On the far side of the classroom, a lone child stood in the corner. All eyes in the room were fixed on her, and yet, the corner where she stood should have been just as bright as the rest of the classroom. Instead, it was swallowed by unnatural shadows, making her presence feel otherworldly. The only thing visible in the gloom were two piercing, unnaturally bright blue eyes, glowing ominously. A strange, thick, red substance covered the walls, the floor, and even the students. The officers couldn't make sense of it. It was viscous, globby, and menacing, but they couldn't identify what it was. The principal knew that if he didn't make a move toward the girl in the corner, nothing would ever be resolved, but every step felt like an eternity. He was terrified, but he had no choice. Susie, he thought, suddenly remembering her name. With each step, he gritted his teeth, summoning every ounce of courage he had left. The officers, seemingly in a trance, moved in, step behind him. As they approached Susie, she shook her head vigorously, pressing her lips tightly together, as if trying to hold her breath. The principal, his voice firm, demanded, What happened here, Susie? She didn't respond, maintaining her silence. The officers, eager to resolve the situation quickly, yelled at her to open her mouth and speak up. What happened here, girl? they shouted. Susie's gaze fixed on them, her eyes a kaleidoscope of fear and conflicting emotions. Tears streamed down her face, but her lips remained sealed. She gave one final shake of her head, affirming her decision to stand her ground against the full force of authority. Stunned by her defiance, the two officers, as if in unison, threatened to arrest her if she didn't comply immediately. Susie's bottom lip quivered. She let out a tiny exhale, and the look behind her eyes shifted, as if something inside her finally broke. The shadows that had cloaked her face began to recede, revealing her angelic yet ruddy complexion. Then, a loud, crackling sound filled the room, ominous and all-encompassing. The officers and the principal instantly lost any semblance of control, the anger and authority in their voices evaporating as fear crept in. A whisper, almost inaudible, escaped her lips. What followed was chaos beyond comprehension. The principal, closest to Susie, felt the searing agony of his face vaporizing. The pain was indescribable, as every part of his brain fired off in a final, catastrophic explosion. Chunks of skull rained down on the officers, the shockwave of Susie's words rippling outward. The principal's body disintegrated, reduced to vapor, liquid, and scattered bone fragments. The brain matter splattered into the mouths of the officers. The wave of destruction spread through the room, unleashing its full force in a progression of devastation. Each second was an eternity as it unraveled reality, breaking the boundaries of what should never be known. The officer on the right, more self-aware and quicker to react, began to retreat, but his body was already succumbing to the shock. As the remnants of the principal's body rained down on him like shrapnel, the officer staggered back in pain. He could feel the world around him splintering. The other officer, slower and more shocked, had a thousand curse words racing through his mind, but they were snuffed out almost immediately. In the span of moments, he too was consumed by the explosion of chaos, reduced to red gore that splattered across the room. The quicker officer started to feel the all-encompassing pain of Susie's word. He was stunned to see his right eye flying by his head. His eyes were looking into each other for a few moments, as slow annihilation filled every crevice of his head. He tried to scream, but only liquid gurgling could be heard by his left eardrum before that too splattered on the first two rows of children. The children sat in stunned silence, they, the archetypal deer in headlights. The remnants of the adults washed over the children, as they too were hit by the sound wave. Each row of children popped like a cheap birthday balloon filled with warm slime. One by one they completed their disappearing trick. Susie stood staring at what carnage she had wrought, while the liquid adults slowly dripped off of her. Why, she thought. The quaint, carefully painted blue door stood in stark contrast to the carnage that covered Susie. In the distance a siren could be heard, and a small plane flew overhead, its hum slicing through the stillness. Normally these sounds would blend into the background, part of the suburban rhythm of life, but today they were the last two remaining fragments of normalcy in a world that Susie had once known. Inside, her parents were at work in the kitchen, fully absorbed in their computers. They had no reason to suspect that Susie would be home three hours early. Susie shuffled slowly across the tile floor of the entryway, her footsteps leaving a gruesome trail of liquefied bodies. It looked as though she had walked through sprinklers of red paint, a surreal and horrifying path marking her arrival. Eventually her mother heard the familiar patter of footsteps, the sound of the computer crashing to the floor echoed in the silence of the room. Her mother's instincts kicked in, and she ran toward the entryway door, feeling the warmth of her husband's presence behind her. They didn't need to say a word to each other to understand something was wrong. Why was Susie home so early? As they rounded the corner to the entryway, they froze. The door seemed to grow heavier, and a cold, ominous air surrounded them. Something primal, an instinctual warning seized their movements. There stood Susie, drenched in some unknown red substance, staring up at them. Despite the well-lit entryway, shadows seemed to cling to her, intensifying the unsettling atmosphere. Her piercing eyes burned into them, and in that moment all they could feel was an overwhelming, suffocating fear. The father instinctively tried to back away, his body screaming to flee, but his wife grabbed his arm, her own mind flooded with the same sense of dread. They stood frozen, trapped in a silence that seemed too deep, too wrong. The only sound that pierced the stillness was the soft, eerie drip of the red substance falling onto the floor. Then a scratching sound filled the hallway. Both parents jolted as the strange tension in the air was suddenly broken. It was their two French bulldogs, French Fry and Pickle, running to greet Susie, just as they did every day. Oblivious to the change, they bounded toward her, tails wagging, their usual excitement infectious. But as they drew closer, they stopped abruptly, their preternatural senses firing off. The dogs tried to turn back, but not a bark or a whimper escaped them. Only fear radiated from them as they recoiled. Anger is often the mask people wear when they're trying to conceal fear, and for a moment both parents fought against the terror that threatened to engulf them. Desperate to make sense of it, they reached for Susie, grabbing her by the arms and shaking her, their hands trembling. In unison, they asked, what happened? Susie kept her steely gaze locked on her parents, unblinking and resolute, as her mother shook her something dislodged from Susie's disheveled hair and fell to the floor with a soft clink. What is that? her mother whispered, straining to see what had descended to the floor. To her horror, she recognized it, a small, pale finger bone. Her breath hitched and she instinctively started to back away, her mind rejecting the awful reality before her. Susie's father remained frozen in place, too paralyzed by terror to reach out or hold his wife back. Then something even stranger happened. The shadows clinging to Susie's face began to dissipate, revealing her pale, angelic features in stark contrast to the carnage dripping from her clothes and skin. Her lips parted slightly, and with the faintest whisper, she spoke one word. French Fry, the closest of their two French bulldogs, had no time to react. In an instant, the small dog burst into a fine, velvet-red mist that sprayed across the pristine entryway, coating the walls, furniture, and everyone in the room. Pickle, the second dog, managed only a half-step backward before succumbing to the same fate. The air filled with another explosion of flesh and fur, layering the room with a second coat of macabre horror. Blood and viscera dripped from the ceiling and walls like a grotesque rain. Susie's father finally broke free of his stupor, turning to flee, but his escape was short-lived. He felt a searing heat erupt within the right side of his body, an agony so intense it swallowed every other sensation. His world fractured, his right eye detached from its socket, spinning in the air as it passed the left side of his face. For a fleeting moment, his two eyes locked in an impossible gaze, forcing him to confront his imminent death with horrifying clarity. His mind spiraled into the abyss of unimaginable pain as his body burst apart, piece by agonizing piece. Her mother, still hunched over and staring at Susie, never had a chance. She barely registered the explosive end of her husband before her own head erupted like a geyser, a fountain of brains and cartilage spraying the room. The rest of her body followed suit, dissolving inch by inch into a red deluge that showered down onto the walls, the floor, and onto Susie herself. The entryway transformed into a nightmarish scene of utter devastation, a twisted parody of celebration, as the liquefied remnants of her family rained down like macabre confetti. Susie stood unmoving in the center of it all, drenched and eerily calm. Her piercing blue eyes remained fixed forward, unyielding, as if challenging the universe itself. Susie wandered the desolate streets, the sound of her bare feet hitting concrete echoing off all the buildings and houses around her. The town was eerily silent, its inhabitants unmistakably gone, each meeting the same grotesque fate. She stopped suddenly, as though struck by a thought too profound to ignore. Slowly she raised her face, her piercing blue eyes cutting through the stillness. And then, impossibly, she looked at you. Yes, you, she shouted, her voice sharp, slicing through the eerie quiet. You, sitting there, staring at the words on this page. How dare you sit idly by, watching as my loved ones died? Watching as my support system was torn apart and turned to pulp? You, with your safe little life invading mine. Her glare was unyielding, accusing. The dismembered fragments of the townsfolk falling to the ground around her, from her saturated hair, a grotesque reminder of the horror she had wrought. Is this what you came for? Susie demanded, her voice trembling with a fury that seemed to reverberate beyond the page. To gawk at my pain? To stare at the wreckage like it's some spectacle, like a car crash you can't look away from? She leaned forward, her mouth trembling as she spoke, her voice dropping to a whisper so faint you had to strain to hear it. Her lips formed a single word, and though you couldn't quite understand it, you could feel its power. The world around her dimmed, the edges of her figure blending into an oppressive blackness. Then without warning, a blinding crimson light burst forth, filling your vision and clawing at the edges of your mind. And then you hear it, a deafening, all-encompassing pop. Thank you, lost traveler, for joining us on another unintended journey beyond the event horizon. We hope you join us next time for a new macabre tale. Until then, stay alive and breathe if you can.