"Troll Bridge"

**"Troll Bridge"** is the fifth tale in the fifth episode of the thirteenth season of The Nosleep Podcast. In it, a boy attempts to be befriend a local bully. Written by William Stuart, it has a runtime of 47:00 and was performed by Peter Lewis, Atticus Jackson, and Jesse Cornett. It is the 1575th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A boy lives in a small town in the mountains. He explains that the town has a bridge under which the more rowdy and troubled kids hang out, smoke, and skateboard. The locals call it "Troll Bridge".

One such kid is a fascination to the boy. Billy Logan has been held back a few grades, is nearly fifteen, and is extremely popular with the girls of the school, although the teachers find him troublesome and annoying. A girl that the boy has a crush on appears to idolize Billy, leading him to try and befriend him so he can be popular as well.

A few weeks earlier, the boy's father gave him a pocket knife with strict instructions to be careful and never use it except in emergencies. Thinking things might go south, the boy brings the knife along with a few cans of soda as a peace offering in his backpack.

He heads out late in the evening, with clouds overhead threatening a rainstorm. When he arrives at Troll Bridge, he finds Billy alone underneath smoking next to a metal drum. Attempting to appeal to him, the boy claims he's there because life has gotten him down and throws in a few curse words for good measure. He bums a cigarette from him and attempts to smoke it but gets into a coughing fit. After Billy begins to antagonize him, the boy realizes the meeting was a mistake and attempts to leave.

Billy tackles him to the ground and claims he owes him a cigarette, before shoving the boy into the drum to go and find one. The drum is full of litter, cigarette butts, and gritty water. The boy vomits and attempts to shift to get out, but is unable to. Laughing, Billy walks out from under the bridge.

After a few minutes of struggling, the boy realizes that if can shift the contents of his bag, he may be able to get out. He removes his knife and drops the cans of soda before managing to climb back onto the concrete. Billy walks back and begins approaching him again. Panicking, the boy stabs him in the chest and he falls to ground, dead. The storm finally releases, sending rain down in a torrent.

The boy begins hyperventilating and is unsure of what to do. He eventually decides that he needs to hide the body. He shoves Billy's corpse into the drum before hammering it shut with a rock. After taking his gore-soaked knife back, he shoves the barrel into the river below the bridge and watches as it floats away in the direction of the bay.

The boy runs home, cleans off his knife, takes a shower, runs his clothing through the laundry, and goes to bed. Billy, who was truant from school often, isn't noticed to be missing for almost a week. Missing persons fliers go up and rumors float around the school of what might have happened to him, but his body is never recovered.

The boy grows up and moves away from the town, and Billy is forgotten. Years later, he looks back on the incident and concludes that he doesn't feel guilty and that he didn't have to be friends with Billy after all.

## Cast

Peter Lewis as the boy

Atticus Jackson as Billy

Jesse Cornett as the boy's father