The NoSleep Podcast – Season 24, Episode 8

Release Date: March 22, 2026
Host: David Cummings

Episode Overview

This chilling anthology episode dives deep into the terrors lurking beneath everyday life, especially the concealed horrors found in our relationships and within ourselves. Three original horror stories—each rooted in twisted companionship—explore the dread that arises when loyalties are tested and the monstrous seeps through the cracks in normalcy. Prepare for stories of monstrous pursuers, cursed bonds, and the price of beauty.

Episode Structure & Main Segments

1. Introduction & Thematic Setup (00:08–04:11)
2. Story 1: “After School” by John Kiett (04:11–26:35)
3. Story 2: “Why My Heart’s in My Throat” by Christine Lajeschi (29:57–44:27)
4. Story 3: “Cynthia” by Hannah Mescon (46:48–69:08)
5. Credits and Closing (69:08–71:42)

Note: All ad reads, intros, and outros have been omitted.

Introduction & Thematic Setup (00:09–04:11)

• Host David Cummings introduces the episode with a meditation on water’s duality—life-giving yet ominously powerful—tying into the episode’s theme of partnership and the dangers we face together or alone.
• The episode will center on partnership: "these tales feature people whose actions will leave you feeling alone with your fears" (03:00).

Story 1: “After School” by John Kiett (04:11–26:35)

Performers: Jeff Clement, Matthew Bradford
Theme: Childhood fear and the monstrous unknown

Plot Summary

• Two seventh-grade boys (Landon and narrator/friend) are alone after school, tossing a football in an empty, overgrown field.
• Landon's sudden, chilling fear signals an unseen menace across the street: a gray, scaled, monstrous figure with “wide and white” eyes, “snaggle teeth,” and long, tendrilled fingers (09:58–10:40).
• The boys flee into the school as the creature chases, echoing the primal fear of being hunted.
• They barricade themselves in a kindergarten classroom with a desk and beanbags, desperate and alone (16:35).
• Surreal, claustrophobic terror sets in as time blurs; the boys ration supplies and consider escape, haunted by fear and guilt at their deepening bonds under siege.

Key Moments & Quotes

• Friend describes the fear as "electric icicles. That thick fear in his voice. It strokes the nape of my neck" (08:54).
• Landon’s panic and the monstrous reveal—"It's not clothes that are gray, but skin, which is scales. Gray scales head to toe. But its eyes are wide and white. Its long, sharp snaggle teeth are white too…” (10:08).
• Hiding, the narrator contemplates survival and guilt:

  "If we never escape, I'll always have Landon. It fills me with sadness, soul deep." (23:14)

Notable Quotes

• Landon’s Friend (to Landon):

  "Something really fucking bad is happening, man." (18:00)

• On survival and denial:

  "Seconds and minutes, like reason and logic, dissipated on East Woodbine, as did reality." (21:05)

Story 2: “Why My Heart’s in My Throat” by Christine Lajeschi (29:57–44:27)

Performers: Mike DelGaudio, Lindsay Rousseau, Graham Rowat, Danielle McRae, Nicole Goodnight
Theme: Cycles of guilt and monstrous atonement

Plot Summary

• Marlena is cursed: every day, her heart wrenches up her throat, forcing her to eat it to stave off a black, nested void inside her (29:57).
• Eating another person’s heart provides relief, but at the cost of another life. Her partner, Hadley, shares her curse yet savors the kill.
• Their relationship is transactional—bonded by monstrous necessity, not love.
• Marlena targets only those “who didn’t deserve to live”, but guilt lingers. She ultimately kills Hadley in self-defense, eating his heart of “black stone” (37:51).
• Marlena’s curse began after she froze, paralyzed by fear, as her children died during a car accident. The heart-eating began as punishment for this “sin of omission” (39:06–41:00).
• Overwhelmed by remorse, she tries a final exit—dicing her heart into soup to be consumed by many—hoping for absolution or oblivion.

Memorable Quotes

• On her curse:

  "Almost every day for the past decade, Marlena ate her own heart. The tissue would tear free from arteries and veins and squirm up her throat." (29:57)

• Hadley (on damnation):

  “There's no instruction manual for our situation, babe. If I found something that works for me, I don't want to screw around with it.” (34:27)

• Marlena reflecting:

  “She wondered, not for the first time, if she should have just let that rat eat her heart.” (43:17)

Standout Moments

• Hadley’s proposal that true death might require someone “to eat your heart” (35:01).
• Marlena's self-destruction in the soup kitchen, climaxing with a vision of her lost children and a possible afterlife reunion (43:54).

Story 3: “Cynthia” by Hannah Mescon (46:48–69:08)

Performers: Marie Westbrook, Danielle McRae, Dan Zapula, Catabel Ansari, Nicole Goodnight
Theme: The grotesque price of beauty, envy, and predation in relationships

Plot Summary

• Vivian, an LA esthetician, is obsessed with beauty but doesn’t consider herself beautiful. Her friend Callie drags her to a legendary actress’s estate sale, where Vivian buys an eerily lifelike mannequin named Cynthia (52:26).
• Cynthia’s presence is unsettling, and Vivian’s own looks noticeably improve after brutal skin treatments on her clients—improvements coinciding with Cynthia’s changing expressions.
• Vivian grows physically more attractive with each client’s pain, feeding a dark bond between her and the mannequin.
• Vivian discovers her boyfriend Jake’s infidelity (via Callie’s phone), and in a fit of jealous rage, tortures and kills Callie using her beauty tools, eventually flaying Callie's skin to graft it onto Cynthia (66:08).
• The story ends with a grotesque tableau: Vivian transformed, Cynthia newly adorned, and Jake horrified at the monstrous cost of beauty.

Notable/Gruesome Quotes & Moments

• Vivian’s perspective on beauty:

  "Beauty is never free. Someone always picks up the tab. It's a currency like any other." (52:20, 57:17, repeated as motif throughout)

• Vivian, after torturing Callie:

  “Cynthia looks on with a Pennywise smile as I slough off Callie's pretty face. … Her once delicate features now nothing more than a macabre mask, Cynthia's glass eyes staring through the gaping holes, frozen in eternal, silent torment.” (66:07–68:00)

• Vivian’s transformation:

  “I've never looked fucking better. Cynthia is proud, slaked, fulfilled, anointed.” (59:45–60:00)

Credits and Closing (69:08–71:42)

• David Cummings brings the episode to a close, reminding listeners of NoSleep’s creative team.
• The closing lines reinforce the theme:

  "Join us again next time when we plunge into the chilling depths where water hides its darkest secrets." (69:08)

Final Thoughts

This episode features stark meditations on the dark undercurrents of partnership and the monstrous consequences of bonds fraught with fear, desire, and guilt. Each tale highlights a different manifestation of horror—external monsters, internal curses, and beauty as a consuming power—connected by the dread of what we do with (and to) those closest to us.

Timestamps: Key Segments

• 00:09–04:11 — Host introduction and episode theme
• 04:11–26:35 — Story: “After School” (John Kiett)
• 29:57–44:27 — Story: “Why My Heart’s in My Throat” (Christine Lajeschi)
• 46:48–69:08 — Story: “Cynthia” (Hannah Mescon)
• 69:08–71:42 — Credits and episode close

Memorable, Chilling Quotes (with Attributions)

• David Cummings:

  "In our world, these partnerships rarely are of the warm and fuzzy kind, leaving you feeling sweet and sentimental. No, these tales feature people whose actions will leave you feeling alone with your fears." (03:00)

• “After School” Narrator:

  "If we never escape, I'll always have Landon. It fills me with sadness, soul deep." (23:14)

• Marlena (Story 2):

  “Almost every day for the past decade, Marlena ate her own heart... she surrendered and ate it slice by bloody slice, because what waited for her was much worse.” (29:57)

• Vivian (Story 3):

  "Beauty is never free. Someone always picks up the tab. It's a currency like any other." (52:20, echoed repeatedly)

This episode delivers a heady trio of modern horror tales, each seeped in atmospheric dread and the perils of connection, sure to leave listeners pondering the true nature of monsters—within and without.