"Penpal"

S1 Bonus Episode #2 ("Penpal I")

S1 Bonus Episode #4 ("Penpal II")

September 15, 2011 ("Boxes")

September 20, 2011 ("Maps")

September 26, 2011 ("Screens")

October 2, 2011 ("Friends")

October 26, 2011 ("Penpal I")

December 17, 2011 ("Penpal II")

### Producer

All solely David Cummings except "Balloons" standalone, with additional production by Chris Holland

### Runtime

14:10 ("Balloons" standalone)27:54 ("Boxes" standalone)

52:42 ("Penpal I")

1:27:37 ("Penpal II")

### In Episode

4 of 4 ("Balloons" standalone)3 of 3 ("Boxes" standalone)

1 of 1 ("Penpal I")

1 of 1 ("Penpal II")

### Overall

37 ("Balloons" standalone)40 ("Boxes" standalone)

41 ("Penpal I")

58 ("Penpall II")

### Previous

"Precious Machine" ("Balloons" standalone)"ETAOIN" ("Boxes" standalone)

"Boxes" ("Penpal I")

"Georgie's" ("Penpal II")

### Next

"Prank Call" ("Balloons" standalone)"Penpal II" ("Boxes" standalone)

"A Halloween to Remember" ("Penpal I")

"The Winter Fire" ("Penpal II")

**"Penpal"** is a series of stories that form one large narrative that was written by Dathan Auerbach. In it, a boy is stalked for over a decade by a strange man. The series is split into six parts: **"Footsteps", "Balloons", "Boxes", "Maps", "Screens",** and **"Friends"**.

It was presented four times over the first season of the Nolseep Podcast. The second part, "Balloons" first appeared as a standalone story in S1E10. The third part, "Boxes", appeared as a sequel in S1E11. "Footsteps" was later complied with these two parts and released as a separate bonus episode, titled "Penpal I". Two months later, the latter three parts were complied and released as another bonus episode, "Penpal II".

Sammy Raynor narrated all six installments, with Wendy Stolyarov appearing as a guest narrator in "Screens".

## Plot

*Penpal* is told via a series of non-linear recollections by an anonymous narrator trying to make sense of mysterious events that happened to him during his childhood, the truth of which was kept from him by his mother all his life.

As a boy in kindergarten, the narrator becomes best friends with another student named Josh. One day, their class conducts a penpal experiment, in which the children tie a letter to a balloon and send it off. Most of the children receive a letter back, but the narrator does not until the very end of the year when Polaroid photos are mailed to him. On realizing all of the photos feature him and his mother, he calls the police. In the weeks that follow, the narrator receives an old dollar note when selling snow cones with Josh, the same one he’d sent to the Penpal ages ago. Later, when rafting with Josh one day, he hears the sound of pictures being taken and a drawing of him (standing next to the penpal, with his initials) is left on a tree for the narrator to find afterwards.

A few weeks later, an elderly woman with Alzheimer’s in the neighborhood who was kind to the boy and Josh, Mrs. Maggie, is murdered. It's speculated that the Penpal tricked her by pretending he was her dead husband and that he lived with her to get close to the narrator. Later, the narrator awakes in the woods late at night. He can't understand how he got there since his feet are clean. He makes his way home to find that his mom and the police found a note on his bed saying that he wanted to run away. However, the narrator points out that he didn't write it, as his name was misspelled. Alarmed, his mother puts the house on the market and when she discovers the Penpal has made a new home underneath their house, she hides this information from her son but forces them to leave sooner than expected to their new neighborhood.

Some years later, the narrator's cat, named Boxes, disappears, prompting him and Josh to sneak out to his old house to see if Boxes is hiding there. In the crawlspace beneath his house, the narrator finds cat food. Soon, Josh discovers a room filled with the narrator's clothes and Polaroid photos of his friend. Someone begins to chase Josh, who escapes and drops his walkie-talkie. At home, the narrator hears meowing coming from his walkie-talkie, realizing that whoever was in the house abducted Boxes.

Josh attends the narrator's 12th birthday party but seems troubled and says he thinks he's been sleepwalking. Before leaving, he apologizes for not bringing a gift and says he will bring one for next year. The narrator notes that this was the last time he ever saw Josh.

More years pass and the narrator is now a teenager. He runs into Veronica, Josh's older sister, who is initially reluctant to answer any questions about Josh. He goes on a date with her and briefly leaves Veronica alone in the parking lot while he goes to relieve himself. He hears the screeching of tires and returns to the parking lot to discover Veronica has been hit by a car. At the hospital, she reveals that Josh had run away from home years ago with a note on his pillow in the same fashion as the narrator when he was younger. The narrator begins texting with Veronica and she says "I love you." They agree to meet after she's out of the hospital but she doesn't show up. At the theater, a man takes the seat the narrator had saved for her. Afterward, he receives a text saying, "See you again, soon." The narrator's mother then reveals that Veronica died weeks ago, and her phone was missing.

One day, a man approaches Josh's dad and offers him money to fill in some holes in his yard. A month later, as he is landscaping the same property, Josh's dad unearths a coffin and hysterically contacts the narrator's mother. Inside the coffin is Josh's dead body, along with the body of a large man holding him tightly. The narrator's mom is horrified to see that they had been alive and Josh had bitten the man's neck in an attempt to get free. Although the man died from blood loss, Josh couldn't move and eventually died too. Josh's dad realizes it's the same man who paid him to fill in the holes. He had unknowingly buried his son.

The story is then understood: When Josh and the narrator were in kindergarten, a stalker picked up the narrator's balloon and became obsessed with the young boy. One night, he carried the narrator out to the woods and left him there. Still in the old house after the narrator moved away, the stalker saw Josh when the boys were searching for Boxes and became obsessed with him due to his physical similarities to the narrator. He kidnapped Josh the same way he had attempted to kidnap the narrator and left a false note. He held Josh captive for two years and dyed his hair to be the color of the narrator's. He also made Josh wear the narrator's childhood clothes, and stalked the narrator at the movie theater, running over Veronica when he became violently jealous of the narrator's romance. After her death, he stole her phone and texted with the narrator, sitting next to him during their movie "date". He then sedated Josh and had Josh's dad unwittingly bury them alive with Josh dressed as the narrator so the man would be with him forever.

In present day, the now-adult narrator thanks his mother for finally revealing this to him. He confesses he'll never know why the man kidnapped Josh instead of him, but guesses the man simply didn't have the courage. He reflects on Josh and how he almost wishes that he and Josh never became friends if it meant Josh would still be alive. He expresses his guilt, as Josh's family knew nothing of his involvement in this, and ends with saying he loves Josh and cherishes all of the memories he had of them when they were young.

## Cast

Sammy Raynor as the boy/Josh/boy's mother/other secondary characters

Wendy Stolyarov as Veronica