"A Proposal from Daddy Prince"

Illustration by Mark Pelham

**"A Proposal from Daddy Prince"** is the third tale in the twenty-third episode of the thirteenth season of the Nosleep Podcast. In it, a woman worries about a figure in her daughter's closet. Written by Penny Tailsup, it has a runtime of 22:50 and was performed by Sarah Ruth Thomas and Nichole Goondnight. It is the 1683rd tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

Polly moves across the country with her infant daughter after her boyfriend, Blake, dumps her. She raises her daughter, who she names Sarina, without telling her anything about her father. Sarina becomes obsessed with princesses and has a themed bedroom, the centerpiece of which is a large, castle-shaped wardrobe Polly found on the side of the road in a rich neighborhood.

While Polly is tucking her into bed one night, Sarina asks when they are going to live with "Daddy Prince". When Polly asks who that is, she says it's the prince that lives in her wardrobe that is her father. Sarina asks why they don't live with him, to which the mother is not ready to respond. She offers to read her a bedtime story, but Sarina wants Daddy Prince to do it instead. As she cries in bed, Polly hears her daughter having a one-sided conversation.

The next morning at breakfast, Sarina hands Polly a clump of purple flowers growing in dirt, which she says is a gift from Daddy Prince. She once again asks why they can't live with her father. Polly chokes up and tries to tell Sarina about Blake and how he didn't want to marry her, but she is only pleased that her mother likes the flowers.

That afternoon, she peeks into Sarina's room to see her tapping on the wardrobe with the curtains drawn and the lights off. Polly attempts to turn them on, but Sarina harshly objects, saying that Daddy Prince prefers the dark. She fixes them lunch, but her daughter says she'd rather eat lunch in her room with Daddy Prince. Polly feels like crying and finishes her meal. While rinsing off the flowers from earlier, a tarnished ring falls out of the clump of dirt. She thinks it belongs to one of the neighbors and puts it on the wrong finger so she won't forget to give it back later.

That night, she goes to get Sarina for dinner, who's once again standing in front of her wardrobe with the lights off. When Sarina goes to wash up, Polly thinks she sees a pale face with golden, curly hair inside for a moment before it disappears. Shaken, she shuts the doors.

Neither of them eat their dinner. Sarina comments that her mother is wearing the ring on the wrong hand. When Polly notices that her daughter's hair is wet, she asks why, before Sarina runs off to her room and doesn't answer.

Going in to say goodnight, Polly finds the doors to the wardrobe wide open and large, mildew-smelling mud spots on the carpet. Sarina says quietly from bed that her mother is wearing the ring on the wrong finger and that she wants her to be happy because she seems sad all the time. Polly cries and says she's trying her best before leaving to go take a shower.

Returning to Sarina's room afterwards, she sees a white gloved hand beckon her daughter from the wardrobe and pull her inside before shutting the door violently. Crying out, Polly rushes forward only to find it empty. She screams and cries and sits inside the wardrobe, trying to get her daughter back, but nothing works.

Polly then remembers that Daddy Prince said that she was wearing the ring on the wrong hand. She moves it, hears Sarina singing a rhyme at her from the wardrobe, and prepares to enter.

## Cast

Sarah Ruth Thomas as Polly

Nichole Goodnight as Sarina