S15E10 - "Shadowy Depths" - Horror Hill

**Erik Peabody** (0:02)
Chilling Tales for Dark Nights.
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Disclaimer. Horror Hill is a horror anthology podcast bringing you scary stories from all corners of the internet and beyond. As such, certain stories include content that some listeners might find offensive. Specifically, tonight's episode involves themes of suicide. Listener discretion is advised.
Good evening, listeners, and welcome back to Horror Hill. As always, I'm your host and narrator, Erik Peabody. Tonight, I've got a damn good story for you from Michael Whitehouse titled Down Here. David has been the unfortunate victim of a love triangle, ending up as the odd man out after his girlfriend, Aaliyah, has left him for his best friend, Erik. Now, sometime later, David receives a phone call from Aaliyah out of the blue, stating that Erik is in trouble and needs help. Even in light of their previous betrayal, David agrees to do what he can. What follows is a tale of madness and obsession, where the line between hallucination and honest-to-God haunting is blurred to the point of vanishment. It can sometimes be impossible to tell if the true demons are preying on us from the outside or from within.
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And now from author Michael Whitehouse, I give you Down Here.
Down Here Those were the words my friend whispered to me that night. And though a year has passed, they still fester in my mind, shapeless and meandering like a blinding fog. When I entered his house, the lights at the front were off. Outside, the weather was still, the air thick and muggy as if waiting for a breath. It seemed as though the summer had been building towards that evening. Stifled, sweat-drenched, sleepless nights, one after the other, we just needed a little rain to clear the air. Forecasters warned us that we were in for a lot worse than that. But they had been wrong so often that many in our little suburb did not listen. I was one of them.
I had received a phone call from Alia an hour earlier. It had been a while since we had spoken. A couple of years, in fact. When I answered the call, there was a momentary silence before she spoke. Her words trembled with nervousness. I put this down to anxiety. She probably thought I would yell at her, considering everything that had happened before. But now I know there was much more to it than that.
After a brief exchange of reluctant pleasantries, we finally got down to the root of the phone call. David, her voice said quietly, Erik needs you.
Those were the last words I expected her to say. Two years previous, I cut both of them out of my life. Malia and I had been in a relationship, albeit in its early stages. But I cared for her deeply. Erik was a close friend. I need not tell you of what went on between them. It was too painful then. It still is now.
Why would Erik need me? I asked, feeling the old resentment, a festering betrayal still burning a poisoned hole somewhere in the back of my mind. A slight crackle of interference hummed over the line. He's sick. We broke up a few weeks ago and he won't get help. I've tried to get through to him, his parents too, but he won't listen to any of us. And you think he'll listen to me? What makes you think I'd want to help him anyway? Please, David, put everything aside for a minute. If you can't do it for Erik, do it for his parents.
Leo was right. Erik's parents had always been good to me when I was growing up. My own parents were pretty cold, but Erik's had always welcomed me into their home with open arms as a surrogate son of sorts. At first, I wasn't sure what help I could be, but from what Aaliyah told me, Erik had been suffering from delusions and refused to seek medical help. It shouldn't have come as any surprise to me. Erik had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia several years prior. It had been a tough time for everyone who knew him. After spending nearly a year in a psychiatric ward, he was released back into the community. Everyone rallied around him, and in time, with medication, therapy and support, his symptoms became manageable. As long as he stayed away from booze and drugs, it looked like he'd be able to live a normal life. Things had obviously changed since then.