"Gifts to Avalon"

**"Gifts to Avalon"** is the second tale in the fifth episode of the thirteenth season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a group of friends are stalked. Written by Anderson West, it has a runtime of 25:10 and was performed by Jeff Clement, Kyle Akers, Atticus Jackson, and David Cummings. It is the 1572nd tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

Three friends, Marshall, Kayden, and Connor, like to hang out in a park next to a local lake some nights. Across the lake from the park is a tangled, overgrown nook in the rocks where, supposedly, a cannibal family called the Mornies live. Stories have been circulating for over two hundred years about the Mornies coming over the lake to find prey, abducting and killing them before heading back over to Avalon, as the nook is called, to eat.

Despite the tales having mostly dried up by the 1950s, Connor still likes to tell the story. One night, while the three friends sit at a picnic shelter, he recounts it again and explains that in order for the Mornies to capture you, they need to see your face and know your full name.

A screeching noise suddenly erupts behind them. Turning, they see a large van speeding past and down to the next picnic shelter before stopping. The three decide to leave, but Kayden goes off to use the bathroom first. Marshall and Connor hear splashing noises coming from the direction of the lake. Kayden runs back and tells them he saw a man get out of the van and dump glass jars into the water before he turned and saw him. Shaken, the three friends go back to their houses.

The next day at school, Kayden fails to come to class. Just as Marshall and Connor think about leaving to go find him, he turns up, angrily shaking a glass jar with his name on it and asking which one of them put it on his car. Both deny it. That night, Connor goes over to Marshall's house to play video games. Marshall calls Kayden and asks him to come over as well, to which he agrees.

Hours pass and he fails to show up. Clinking and dragging noises suddenly erupt in the woods behind the house. Marshall receives a call from Kayden's phone. Answering it, a garbled voice says "It's me in the woods". Connor panics and apologizes for ever telling the stories about the Mornies, saying they were all real, and rushes out to his car before driving away.

Marshall tries to brush off the previous few hours' events as a prank, but is unable to. The next night, a cop, Reynolds, shows up at the house. Reynolds claims to be Connor's father and says he is investigating Kayden's disappearance. His car was found a half-mile down the road from Marshall's house in a ditch, abandoned. Marshall notes the officer's unkempt appearance and seeming lack of knowledge about the investigation. He tells him everything that has gone in the past few days, including his name. Reynolds thanks him and leaves.

That night, as he tries to sleep, Marshall hears the same screeching noise from the car in the woods outside his house. The next morning, he finds a glass jar with his name on it sitting on the hood of his truck. He hides in his house until nightfall, hearing the screeching coming closer. As the story ends, he tells readers him and his friends' whole names so they won't be forgotten as just meals served to the Mornies of Avalon.

## Cast

Jeff Clement as Marshall

Kyle Akers as Connor

Atticus Jackson as Kayden

David Cummings as Reynolds