"Rocking A Ranch"

### Narrator(s)

David Cummings, Mick Wingert, Elie Hirschman, Jesse Cornett, Nikolle Doolin, Matthew Bradford, Kyle Akers, Dan Zappulla, Jeff Clement, Nichole Goodnight, Atticus Jackson, Addison Peacock, Peter Lewis, and Armen Taylor

### Next

"Gray"

**"Rocking A Ranch"** is the fourth tale in the twenty-first episode of the twefth season of The Nosleep Podcast. In it, a man tries to solve his childhood friend's mysterious death. Written by C.K. Walker, it has a runtime of 1:04:32 and was performed by David Cummings, Mick Wingert, Elie Hirschman, Jesse Cornett, Nikolle Doolin, Matthew Bradford, Kyle Akers, Dan Zappulla, Jeff Clement, Nichole Goodnight, Atticus Jackson, Addison Peacock, Peter Lewis, and Armen Taylor. It is the 1531st tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A boy, Elliot, moves to a new town at the beginning of summer with his parents and younger brother, Jake. Jake quickly meets another kid named Danny, who has a brother named Andy. Elliot and Andy become friends, hanging out and going skateboarding together.

Andy disappears some afternoons. When Elliot asks him where he's going, he tells him that he's helping his father, who's a cop, on his job. However, one day Elliot sees him mowing the lawn when Andy's supposed to be out helping him on his job. Confronting Andy on this, he denies knowledge and doesn't speak to him for a couple days. Determined to find out the truth, Elliot goes to Andy's house and peeks into his room, seeing horse-themed paraphernalia all over. Ashamed, he ignores him for a couple days.

Determined make him feel better, Elliot grabs a book on horses and heads over to Andy's house. Asking Jake and Danny where he is, they tell him that he's out back digging for precious stones, his other hobby being geology.

Elliot finds Andy in the woods, who then reveals that he loves horses and has actually been taking riding lessons. He claims embarrassment and shame in his hobbies, but says that one day he hopes to open a combination horse farm/mine digging site with the title "Rocking A Ranch". Elliot reveals his own embarrassing hobby: baking. The two bond over their secrets and Elliot vows to be Andy's best friend forever.

Nervous about his first day at his new school, Elliot asks Andy to ride the bus with him, but he declines for unknown reasons. On the bus, Elliot meets two popular kids: Adam and Brayden. The three talk about their love of skateboarding and become friends.

In class, Elliot learns that Andy's embarrassing hobbies are known to everyone in school and that he's bullied constantly. He tries to engage with Andy on multiple occasions throughout the day, but he seems distant. The pair continue to hang out after school, and Elliot still promises to still be his best friend.

A few weeks go by. Elliot has risen the ranks to the popular group while Andy continues to be bullied. He finds himself distancing from him for fear of being bullied for being his friend. Andy seems saddened but appears to understand. Their friendship becomes strained.

One day in the cafeteria, Andy drops his tray loudly, which causes the whole lunch room to laugh at him. When Elliot tries to stick up for him, Adam and his friends start tormenting him as well. Bowing to peer pressure, Elliot reveals that he has a horse-themed bedroom, which shifts the bulling back to Andy even harder.

Feeling guilty for his actions, Elliot finds Andy in the woods after school, digging for rocks. The two fight over Elliot's behavior and Andy questions if he's really his friend. Enraged, Elliot kicks his months-old accumulated pile of rocks into the stream, where they are washed away. Andy screams that he hates him and begins trying to find the rocks while Elliot leaves the woods.

The next day, Andy doesn't show up at school. Later that afternoon, an emergency assembly is called and the school's principal and a cop explain that Andy committed suicide the previous night by lying in front of an oncoming train. The students snicker and continue to make fun of him after his death. Elliot is heartbroken and unable to cope. His mother confirms the story is true when she picks him up from school.

Eight years pass. Elliot graduates high school and continues to live at home, working at a fast food place. He never comes to terms to Andy's death. One night, while taking out the trash, he overhears a conversation between a cop and strange man in the parking lot that Andy was actually murdered and placed on the tracks after he died to make it look like a suicide.

Elliot spends the next few days trying to find answers. He asks his father, a cop, if he knows anything about the cover-up, but he denies there is one and tells him to drop it. Heading over to Andy's mother's house, he almost gets her to crack and reveal who Andy's killer is before his father shows up again and drags him home. The two fight over why no one will tell hum the truth before he is ordered to move out of the house. On the way out, he has a tearful goodbye to Jake before moving to a city far away.

Over the next few years, Elliot has a daughter and a few different girlfriends, However, he is unable to sleep at night knowing Andy will be forgotten and feeling guilty for not being able to solve his murder.

In a sperate scene in flashback, it is revealed that Jake and Danny stumbled upon Andy after Elliot left that day. Andy says he understands why Elliot acted the way he did and hopes they can continue to be friends. When they begin bullying him for his hobbies, he punches Jake. In retaliation, Jake tackles him to the ground and accidentally bludgeons him to death with a rock. Terrified, the two boys leave the body on the tracks. Elliot's father helps them pay off the cops and clean up their records so they can never be prosecuted.

## Cast

David Cummings and Elie Hirschman as Elliot old and young, respectively

Mick Wingert as Andy

Jesse Cornett as Elliot's father

Nikolle Doolin as Andy's mother

Matthew Bradford as Jake

Kyle Akers as Danny

Dan Zappulla as Adam

Jeff Clement as Brayden

Nichole Goodnight as the principal

Atticus Jackson as cop at assembly

Addison Peacock as Elliot's mother

Peter Lewis as man in parking lot

Armen Taylor as cop in parking lot