"The House of Edges"

Illustration by Naomi Ronke

### Narrator(s)

Erika Sanderson, James Cleveland, Penny Scott-Andrews, David Ault, Addison Peacock, David Cummings, and Jesse Cornett

### Next

"Seven Hand-Tied Knots"

**"The House of Edges"** is the second tale in the second episode of the thirteenth season of The Nosleep Podcast. In it, a woman living in a cliffside manor shares the stories of her fellow residents. Written by C.M. Scandreth, it has a runtime of 43:40 and was performed by Erika Sanderson, James Cleveland, Penny Scott-Andrews, David Ault, Addison Peacock, David Cummings, and Jesse Cornett. It is the 1557th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

Liza is forced to move into a boarding house built precariously on the edge of a cliff due to financial troubles. She has several mental problems and takes medication to help with the strain, which seems to work. At first wary of the manor with its age, strange layout, crumbling fixtures, and unexplainable noises, she eventually settles into her room after cleaning it. Her fellow residents are odd and bizarre characters, whose stories she shares.

Liza's neighbor in the next room, Mary, is an aging prostitute that likes to smoke pipes. The pair bond over smoking in the garden every night as the latter relates tales of long-ago lovers, with the revelation that she still has a few regular clients. One night, Mary asks Liza if she's ever slept with a woman, to which she says no. Later, Liza climbs to a third floor balcony from where she can see into Mary's windows. Mary undresses and waits as the corpse of a dead sailor climbs out of the ocean and up the cliff to her. They make love and he pays her in gold from sunken ships before disappearing back into the sea. Liza realizes Mary was a making a pass at her so she wouldn't have to sleep with the sailor that night.

On the first floor lives an old Polish undertaker, Petr. Looking almost dead himself, he serves only the small community of Poles that live in the town, embalming the bodies in his room before taking them off in a hearse for the burial service. Liza goes out into the garden one night and sees Petr dancing to polka with a woman in a yellow dress. They disappear into his bedroom. Over the next few nights, Liza sees him dancing with a different woman, but always in the same dress. The following morning, she notices a woman's body being delivered to him. Spying from the garden again later, she sees Petr dress the corpse in the yellow gown before sitting down to dinner with it. Shortly after, the woman animates and they dance before disappearing into his bedroom. The next morning, he drives the body away for burial.

Directly above Liza lives a couple, Robbie and Ruby. Robbie leaves for work early in the morning and comes back late in the evening, while Ruby is only seen in the nighttime or on weekends. They constantly fight with each other. Their relationship seems mildly abusive. One night, after hearing Ruby beg Robbie to stop while they have sex, Liza decides she has to intervene. The next evening she sneaks into the couple's apartment but finds it empty. About to leave, she suddenly hears Robbie coming and hides in the bathroom while he steps into the shower and begins singing. His voice rises in octaves until it sounds like Ruby is the one inside. Signaling her presence, Liza tries to lead Ruby out of the apartment before the latter reveals that she is Robbie during the day's work week and Ruby when she's off the job. Robbie is a demon that possesses, transforms, and abuses her. In exchange, she is allowed to be herself sometimes. She begs Liza to tell no one.

In the house's spire lives a thin punk named Jeremy. He works as a butcher's apprentice and constantly brings bags of meat scraps home to his room. Expressing confusion at this, Liza is invited to dinner. That evening, Jeremy wolfs down several large servings of scraps before going out onto the balcony. A portion of the house below opens like a mouth with bricks and glass shards for teeth. He regurgitates his meal into the mouth, which eats it happily before closing again. Jeremy reveals he must feed the house every once in a while to stop it from falling into the sea. Liza carries him to bed before cleaning up the dishes.

Finally curious how the house is able to stay upright and hold all the strange residents, Liza seeks out the building's landlord, Tama, who lives in the basement. The basement is full of cracks and is constantly in danger of collapsing. Tama reveals that house allows the residents to live out their strange lives unjudged by society while asking for small favors in return. Liza realizes that the house fixes her mental problems and allows her to be normal. Tama says it's time to pay back her end of the bargain. A large crack in the floor opens to reveal a dark pit. Tama asks her which resident must be fed to the house to save it from collapsing. She chooses Petr.

Now working as the house's record manager, Liza lives in Petr's old apartment and keeps tabs on the residents and their behaviors. Her way of paying back being is that she must make the difficult decision of which person to sacrifice when the cracks in the basement get too wide.

## Cast

Erika Sanderson as Liza

James Cleveland as Jeremy

Penny Scott-Andrews as Mary

David Ault as Tama

Addison Peacock and David Cummings as Ruby/Robbie

Jesse Cornett as Petr