Welcome to the world of Tales from Davidstown.
Episode Six: What Jess Saw.
Originally released on Patreon
on August 4th, 2023.
Previously on Tales from Davidstown.
Paul: I'm concerned for a friend's well-being.
Hobbs: Is this girl a patient of yours?
No. She's been acting different of late.
Mai Ling: This is truly old.
A diary infact.
Emily: I can't read the language, but the images.
The wolf of Ansbach.
This creature. What is it?
Many names have come and gone, but most today
know of this beast by the name werewolf.
Jess: What is this?
Jess, I...
After everything I've helped you with.
I'm not making this up.
Emily, there are no such things as werewolves
or whatever Mei has been telling you about.
You need to believe me!
Emily, for fuck's sake.
Just wait here and I will be back, and we will fix this.
Enough of this.
Philippa? It's me.
Get the video camera ready for me, will you?
You can't argue against video evidence, Em.
**groaning in pain**
Oh...
**Camera Beep**
I don't know how I'm going to tell any of this to anyone.
So I'm just going to keep a record of it here
for myself.
I'm thinking
maybe if I just let the words come
then it’ll help? Oh.
Help me figure this out.
**She pours a stiff drink**
**Coughing**
Yesterday...
Last night was supposed to be the moment
I set Emily free from a delusion.
But then.
No... I’ll... um...
I'll start at the beginning.
Emily,
I so,
so wanted to help you.
To continue
to help you.
After everything you went through with Jason.
That motherfucker Jason.
I just wanted you to be safe.
I wanted to prove to you that you weren't the monster
you kept telling yourself you were.
But I just couldn't get through to you.
And those pictures you showed me,
the ones from your car and the stories.
It all sounds so fucking insane.
So I lied to you.
I needed to lie to you.
Help you see the truth.
I’d collected
my video camera from the office and...
And I sat a little ways down the street from the house,
trying to work out what the hell I was going to do.
I mean,
in some way,
I thought it’d be simple, right?
March in there.
Your house, present you with my plan and would finally fix everything.
I’d film you the whole time, and then you'd see.
Finally
I'd be able to prove it to you.
Prove I was right.
Then,
just like that, you stepped out the door
and you looked
so sad.
The first thing I thought was
“Is she running away?”.
“Where the hell is she going with that backpack?”
I'm sitting there getting caught up in my thoughts so much
I barely notice the taxi pull up.
Taxi Driver: Ah, right. Love, Emily. Is it?
Emily: Yeah.
That's me.
I've just got this bag.
No worries love. Hop in.
Thank you.
Where are you going Em?
So this is how that little trip started.
And now I'm following, tailing
even, my friend like some kind of private detective.
I hit record on my camera...
Okay, so you've left the house in a taxi for some reason.
With a bag.
I'm following you, and I'm trying to film at the same time.
I've lived in this town for most of my life.
Know, every road, every nook and cranny, like the back of my hand.
It was obvious where you were heading.
You were going into the hills.
Back into the moors.
Why do you keep going up there, Em?
**Jess’s car passes by**
Okay,
so I've been following you for nearly an hour at this point.
Jesus, this taxi is going to cost you a fortune.
The sun was setting behind the hills.
It was just about breaking through the clouds.
Those God rays stretching out right across the distant ground
while the sky glowed red at first,
and then gradually into that blue purple hue
that I know so well.
It was hard not to get caught up in the beauty of it really.
By now...
it was just your taxi and me on the road,
and I was doing my best to keep my distance.
Radio Presenter: It's coming up to 9:30.
And now the latest news from the area.
Hundreds flock to Davidstown ready for meteor shower season.
The Perseid Meteor Showers are in full swing
and promises to be quite the spectacle, especially this evening.
Despite the brightness of the full moon.
We asked some of these astronomy enthusiasts just what they're looking-
Full moon.
I remember that damn diary.
The images: a wolf and a huge full moon.
**recorder beep**
You're up here because of the full moon?
You’re all the way out here because of the tourists.
The rocky outcropping
was getting more and more common either side of the road by now.
I saw the red brake lights from the taxi flash catching me out.
Ah, shit!
Come on, you stupid
lights, off!
It's getting pretty dark by now.
I could just make you out.
Walking away from the taxi.
My God, Em.
We're in the middle of nowhere.
You've left the cab now...
Fuck!
Where are you?
All I needed was the damn torch.
But I couldn’t risk you spotting me.
Wait a minute. **click** Yes.
Thank God these home cameras have night vision.
Otherwise, I'd have been screwed.
All right,
let's see
what we can see.
I couldn’t remember
the last time I've been in such a quiet place.
The darkness was creeping in more and more.
And the heat the summer's day was fading fast.
**Shivers** Crap.
Should have really brought a coat... **Shivers**
Away from the road I could see a break in the rocks.
Like a doorway.
Just past that
your torch light weaving away in the dark
as you walked.
I pointed the camera.
Now where are you going? Oh,
I'm going to end up freezing my tits off here aren’t I.
I don't know if I'd ever considered the dark a scary thing before.
I mean,
not since I was little, anyway.
But tonight.
Following you in the black...
Everything felt...
Off.
**Rustling**
Hello?
Emily?
Damnedest thing but, as crazy as it felt then
I could swear something was nearby.
Near me.
Maybe watching me.
The way I was watching you.
Fuck.
I hate this.
Emily, I swear to God, I'm going to kill you
if something gets me out here.
Only one bar.
It's better than no phone signal.
**Breaking sticks** **Gasp**
The fuck was that??
Of course
I could barely see anything.
That was until the moon began to rise over the surrounding stones.
Bright and blue,
almost parting the clouds.
It's light
touched the ground all around me.
And suddenly
I could see everything clearly,
including you.
A few hundred metres ahead,
next to the bottom of the cliff, I could see the glow of a campfire
And your shadow.
A huge projection against the wall.
Do you see what I see, Em?
Here you are all alone out here.
Not a monster in sight.
I stopped.
Crouching down,
taking time to get a bit more film
before I let you know that I was there.
But that moment, in still of the night
I could hear something.
**Crying**
Emily.
I watched a moment longer,
trying to think of how I could help
bring you home.
Then I saw you reach for something.
It glinted in the light.
Something... small... metal.
A knife!
And as you took it to your wrist,
I panicked.
Emily. No!
Emily: Ahhh!!
Jess??
Jesus Christ, Emily, what are you doing?
What the fuck are you doing here?
You shouldn't be here.
What am I doing here?
How about
what the fuck are you doing here?
And what the fuck are you doing with that knife?
You...
You followed me here?
Why would you do that?
Is...
Is that a camcorder??
I'm here to save you from yourself, Emily.
By filming me?? Yes!
Look around you. Look at yourself.
There's no monster, Emily. There never was.
Now I can prove it to you with this.
No, no, you don't understand.
You shouldn't be here. Well, I am here
Em. I'm here to take you home.
Take my hand Em.
Come home with me.
No. No!
Get away from me!!
You fucking idiot!
I was trying to protect you.
Protect all of you!
Get away!
Leave me alone!
Fuck this!
If you won't come with me, then you'll have to listen to reason another way.
What are you doing?
I'm sorry Emily.
I can't leave you here to hurt yourself.
Hello?
Police please.
Yes. It's an emergency.
Stop. Yes. Hi.
I'm with my friend.
Hello. Hello? Can you hear me?
Stop!! Hello?
It's a really bad line. I'm with...
Hello.
Hello. I need help.
I'm with my friend.
Stop!!!
**Emily strains...**
Emily..?
**Bones crunch** **Emily screams**
Oh fuck...
Oh fuck!
Ahhhhhhh!!!!
**Bones break and reform**
Em..?
Emily?
**Emily’s pained breathing carries through the air**
**CRUNCH**
RUN!!
RUN AWAY!!
AHHHH!!!!!!
And there it was.
Under that bright night sky
I watched you scream and writhe...
and grow.
Feet, glued to the spot in fear
I saw your back arch hard,
splitting your shirt open. And your hands...
Oh god.
Your hands.
Huge black claws
ripping through the ends of your fingers
as your palms stretched and swelled.
J...
JESS!
PLEASE!!
AHHHHHEEEELLPPP MEEEEE!!
I was barely able to even register anything else around me.
It was a nightmare
I was desperately trying to wake up from.
More and more
you changed.
Ears pointed.
Shoes split wide open
and black hair poured out of your skin.
Then I caught myself just repeating something over
and over again.
It's real...
It’s real....
RUUUUUUUUUNN!!!
**Jess screams**
I didn't know what else to do, Em.
The fear...
The fear was debilitating.
It was like something was stopping me from being able to coordinate my limbs.
Like a dream
when you try and run, but the air is as thick as glue.
And then suddenly,
this other voice appeared in my mind as if someone else was talking to me.
Strange voice: Run you idiot! Get away! Go!
It was like a shackle had been unbolted from my legs.
I ran.
I ran so hard I thought my ankles would split
through the soles of my own feet.
The echoes of your screams.
Your roars rang out like some chorus out of hell.
Deeper and deeper
until...
**Distant roaring**
And I knew then and there
you were gone.
But no matter how hard I pushed.
No matter how exhausted I already was.
If I stopped now
I was dead.
I could hear something running circles around me.
A huge gallop of feet passing me.
Stalking me.
**Jess yelps**
The edge of an outcropping.
I missed it, and fell right over rolling down hill,
hitting every jagged rock on the way down in what felt like forever
until...
**THUD**
**Jess yelps**
I remember that single second of the cry I let out, suddenly realising
that if I made another sound, the monster, the wolf, would find me.
There I was... the middle of nowhere, laying in stinking,
foul smelling mud, trying not to scream and breathe and cry all at the same time.
If it wasn't for the sheer pain in my ankle and ribs
I think I might have passed out.
Slowly,
quietly,
I dragged myself sliding out of the mud
into a bush.
**Growling**
I prayed.
In my head I desperately prayed.
I'm not even religious.
Looking at you
Or rather, this thing with bright yellow eyes
that used to be you.
What else can I do?
If there was a God,
let me live.
Let me live long enough to tell you...
I'm sorry.
I'm so, so sorry that I didn't believe you
when you needed me to.
**The wolf smells the air and growls**
Mud.
The stench.
You couldn't smell me anymore.
All I had to do was just lay still and I'd be safe.
Just wait for it to move on, then-
**The camera beeps** “Camera, Low power”
Fuck!!
No no no!!!
Too late.
It’d seen me.
And that was it.
I was done.
Emily, please.
Please. It's me.
It's Jess!
Please!
You have to remember who I am!
Emily, please.
I don't want to die.
**The wolf stops and sniffs the air**
The galloping.
But if it wasn't coming from the wolf...
From you, then-
**High pitched shriek**
Right in front.
This monstrous white creature lands between me and the wolf.
It's pristine fur
catching the light of the moon as nine... nine
massive tails waved aggressively all about it.
Not another wolf, but something else, almost fox like,
raised itself onto its hind legs.
Standing ten feet tall.
**The creatures growl at each other**
I raised the
camera again, trying to get a shot.
No good.
It's dead.
**The white fox roars**
**The wolf roars**
**The white fox shrieks**
Like a coiled up snake
the fox leaped at the wolf, the two biting, clawing and screaming.
And I'm ringside, hoping they don't land on
top of me.
It's only been seconds.
And there's blood everywhere.
And then
again, I heard it.
Get away! GET AWAY!!
Had I totally lost my mind?
Or was something trying to talk to me?
And one final play:
These two massive creatures run at each other.
Whichever wins now, decides if I live or die.
The fox leaps, bringing its huge legs
full force smack into the wolf’s face.
It flew backwards, hitting a rocky wall at full pelt.
Enough to bring down a large rock right on top of it’s head.
Was I safe?
Or is this just a contest to see
who eats next?
Trapped...
I waited as the fox
limped towards me, and again
that damn voice.
Stupid girl. Stupid girl!!
My eyes locked with its own.
Huge blue glowing,
and suddenly I felt...
faint.
My eyes heavy,
heavier than they’d ever felt before.
Sleep.
**Silence**
**Bird song**
Morning.
Somehow
I made it to morning.
And somehow
I'm laying next to my car.
Miles from where I was.
What the fuck?
And there it is.
There it all is.
I went out there to prove something.
And in the end, I only proved how fucking selfish
and stupid I am.
I should have believed you, Emily.
And now I don't know
anything anymore.
I don't know where you are.
I don't know what fought
that night.
Only thing I do know
is this;
I know this tape will never see the light of day.
I mean,
how can it?
Who would believe it?
But living through that, seeing...
I can barely believe it.
Even now.
But I'll keep this here
safe to show you.
To help you.
Somehow.
But first,
I promise you,
I will find you.
And we'll work this out
together.
**Small safe closes**
Now let's find out
what the fuck is going on.
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for listening to this episode of Tale from Davidstown.
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