"The Lockbox"

**"The Lockbox"** is the seventh tale in the sixteenth episode of the fourth season of the Nosleep Podcast. In it, a teen worries about his friend's strange behavior. Written by Adam Kearney under the pseudonym "I.O. Ptah", it has a runtime of 36:20 and was performed by David Cummings. It is the 441st tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

Joe is happy to learn that his best friend Wayne has managed to purchase a house of his own. Ever since he got caught doing drugs in his backyard by his parents, they have suffered a strained, unloving relationship. Unfortunately, the house is a cheap, dirty dump of a place that lies across the street from a cemetery.

Joe and Wayne spend most days smoking weed, drinking beer, or watching TV. One night, however, they decide to go on a midnight walk through the graveyard. They travel among the headstones for a few minutes before Wayne enters an open crypt. Joe is startled by a demonic-looking figure he thinks he sees in the shadows. Wayne exits the crypt and the pair head back to the house.

Joe realizes his friend is wearing a large, ornate iron key on a chain around his neck. Wayne explains that he stole it off a skeleton that resided in the crypt. He seems stiffer and more serious than usual. Joe falls asleep on the couch watching. He wakes up hours later to see the demonic creature from earlier staring at him from the window. It runs away as he alerts Wayne, but his friend seems dazed and unconcerned about it. Terrified, Joe waits until morning to offer Wayne a ride to work, but he counties acting strange and turns it down, saying he wants to walk.

After waiting a few hours, Joe returns to the cemetery and inspects the crypt, only to see a sealed door has been added to it. A name on the metal says "Crafter". He heads to the library to research the name, discovering a woman that died over sixty years ago named Mary Crafter who starved to death in her house. She wrote a book of ghost stories called *Black Spirits*, but he is unable to find a copy.

Joe goes to Wayne's work to pick him up, but learns that he hasn't been in for the past two days. Arriving at the house, he finds him with the key still around his neck, hands bloody and rubbed raw. Wayne brushes the injuries off and asks if he wants to watch TV. Joe attempts to grab the necklace, but his friend reacts violently and throws him across the room before returning to a dazed state. Joe leaves in a huff. As he pulls out, he thinks he sees a dark shape dart across the road and into the cemetery.

Weeks pass and Joe doesn't hear from Wayne. Summer is ending and he is heading off to college soon. Wanting to reconcile with his friend, he arrives at the house only to find it in a complete mess, with the TV broken, floors chipped, walls full of holes, furniture toppled, and mysterious stains all over. As he goes to leave, he suddenly sees Wayne staring at him from the window. However, when he goes outside, he is gone.

Two months pass and Joe heads off to college, regretting Wayne's change in behavior. He has a wonderful time, making new friends and getting into the college life. One night, while studying in the campus library, he stumbles across a copy of *Black Spirits*. Remembering the name from the crypt, he reads the book. In it are tales of demonic children and women forced to carry demon's babies. Mary Crafter herself presents an autobiographical account of her getting impregnated by a demon before going to a church for salvation, only for the priest to tell her to carry the baby to full term. Terrified of its monstrous form once it was born, she locked it in a metal box, where it gruesomely starved to death.

Joe tries to contact Wayne through an acquaintance of theirs, Daniel. Daniel informs him that Wayne's parents were found dead in their home previous week, tied up in a locked closet where they apparently starved to death over the course of several days. Their son is the prime suspect. He briefly wonders if Wayne was killing them while he still visited him.

Joe returns to his hometown for the funeral. He stops by Wayne's house, which looks more decrepit and ruined than before. There is a For Sale sign on the front lawn. Entering, he finds the iron key inside and steps onto the front porch. As he does so, he sees Wayne in the graveyard for a split second before he goes out of sight.

Joe enters and walks among the gravestones to the Crafter crypt. In the center coffin is nothing but an iron lockbox, lid open. He shuts the lid and turns the key, leaving it there, before walking away. He never sees Wayne again.