Nightmare On Elm Street

0:04 To the restless, the insomniacs, the stressed out, the worried, and the board. This is for you. Welcome to Anxiety Addicts Bedtime Stories, an original podcast by Joe Newman and Morgan Walsh, serving up hot, mostly true, twenty minute stories to turn off your brain and turn on your ram. The stories come from all over the Internet, whispered late at parties and from you to the bs inbox. But your secrets are safe here. All names have been changed to protect the guilty. So please sit back, relax, and send us your stories at the link in the show notes and sweet dreams.

0:57 Okay, this story came to us from Megan Chocolos, who you might know from the US, the Olive oil girl who told that insanely funny story with the picture of the muppet that went viral on TikTok about her trying to do an olive oil hair care you know, deep conditioning situation that end up with the cops being called and a concussion and a lot of social issues and maybe long lasting. Brain activity impact. We don't know, but we know that Megan is hands down one of the funniest people on the Internet. If you're not following her, you. Should be, because she's amazing and she's so sincere with the insanity that happens to her.

1:38 So hopefully that came across from the story. So the story is. A teenage story, which, as you guys know, are my absolute favorites because I think that the stuff that happens to us while we're teenagers, obviously you know, scars us for the rest of our lives, but in a funny way, whereas all the other times in our life where our brain development is worth scarred and maybe it's not that humorous. So, without further ado, I would like to tell you a story about Megan being invited to her first co ed sleepover. If I knew that the name of the story off the top of my head, I would tell it to you. Oh it's called Nightmare on Elm Street. Who would have thought of that? Sometimes sometimes I just flabbergasted myself with my genius.

2:21 It's hard to be. It's hard to be this on top of things, guys, really hard, all right. So I'm not sure when you listen to us or how you listen to us. If you're laying in bed and it's maybe midnight and you tried to go to bed at ten thirty because that was your New Year's resolution. But you can't. So you're gonna pop in some headphones instead of getting on stupid Instagram feeling awful about the world. You're just gonna put in your headphones. You're gonna chill out, and you're gonna. Listen to somebody who did something dumber than whatever you did today, survived and now we can laugh about it. So sit back, relax and enjoy Nightmare on Elm Street Anxiety IDICX bedtime Stories. The incident in question to place the year Meghan realized she was fwnny. Her loud Greek family had known this for years. Meghan, however, was a few beats late catching up to the rest.

3:10 Of the team. So while it was no surprise to the Chacalos clan that Meghan had joined the improv group at Hastings High and made more friends in half a semester than she'd thought humanly possible, it was in fact very surprising to Meghan herself. You should go to the party, burkeed her. Little brother Nico, while inhaling his third lemon muffin. Nico amitos for Dad. Meghan tried unsuccessfully to grab the last bite from her brother's grubby hand as her parents. Swept into the kitchen. Mornings in the Chacala's household were regularly chaotic, exacerbated by the fact that Megan insisted on cooking for everyone. Mister Rogers had told her that breakfast was the most important meal of the day, and it was a fact that Megan took very seriously. I love these, Meghan's father exclaimed when he saw the muffins and mom. Meghan pushed a to go cup of tea into her mother's grateful hands. Meghan, my heart, you do not need to take care of everyone.

4:13 This is a good year for you. Do some things for yourself, like go to the party, Nico interjected. Meghan's father raised his eyebrows. Yes, Megan, you should go to the party. Have more fun, more experiences. Before Meghan could protest her invitation to what would be her first co ed's sleepover, her family had tornadoed through the kitchen and were in the bolbo honking at her to join. It was the same car they'd had since her childhood, in the same driveway, in the same house, and even Meghan had to admit she was sporting the same haircut she'd had since she was three and cut her own bangs, and she knew that theoretically change was good.

4:56 This year was proof of that. It felt great to finally get a her braces off and sit at a lunch table with some new friends. She liked being invited to parties, she just wasn't sure if she liked going. That evening, when she got home from. Improp practice, she found Nico and her mother in her room, standing next to her father's old green Duffel bag. We've hacked your stuff, announced Nico excitedly. Now you can go to the party. Meghan smiled tightly, still getting used to how her mouth slipped over her teeth now that the knots of wires were gone, and that was that. The next day, Megan went to the party, and her anxiety came along too.

5:37 When she arrived at Alice's, the house was decorated with more Halloween paraphernalia than a hobby lobby. In August, Meghan watched her mother backing down the driveway in the waning October sunlight. It took legitimate self control to not run after the Volvo and cling to the trunk. The issue wasn't that Megan hated parties. She didn't have to been invited to one before. The issue was that boys made her nervous, and when she was nervous, her stomach behaved as it had had ingested too much weakld taco bell. Yeah, you get the picture. Inside the house, Alice and. Her mother had replaced every bulb with black lights, and the purple hue made Meghan's heart flutter, made everything feel a little dangerous. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw some very white teeth glowing.

6:27 It was a big smile. It was an unmistakable smile. It was David's smile. Uh oh. David Hornblocker was a senior and assistant coach of the improv group. He was the funniest person Megan had ever met in real life. She'd been too nervous to ask Alice if he was coming. David caught Meghan's gaze and gestured for her to come over to the corner of the room, where a pile of pumpkins sat atop a hay bale. That immediately made Meghan's eyes start to water. Yeah, her body was a sensitive one. Sweet Megan's here. Now we know something dramatic will happen, as is so often the case during one's teen years. Megan had no clue whether this was a compliment or an insult, so she dropped her bag and the foyer and laughed along with the group.

7:20 So, what's like the plan tonight? Meghan willed her voice to sound chill. This is when Alice showed up in full head to toe hot topic sexy goth. Her black lipstick made her teeth look especially bright. Oh my god, you guys, get comfortable, we're watching Forget me not. Alice's voice carried more excitement than the kingaka rollercoaster at six Flags? Is this the one about the teenagers playing hide and seek in the graveyard? David asked, with what sounded like hope in his voice? Yeah, said Alice. Oh no, said Meghan's stomach. Megan looked up and saw that the bathroom was right off of the living room.

8:06 There was no way that she was going to be. Able to use it so close to the party. She willed the gurgling. To subside and tried to focus on the most terrifying concept ever portrayed in cinema. The movie got progressively more and more terrifying each time one of the teenagers was found in the game of hide and seek. They were off. You couldn't pay me enough to play hide and seek in a fucking craveyard, Meghan thought, Ah, one of the characters screamed through the TV speakers. I feel like he was kind of asking for it. Meghan offered. The room be a bear, climb a tree. Megan mimed her suggestion. This was a win, a bullseye, a moment of teenage bliss. Because that made David laugh a lot, Megan felt herself relax a bit.

8:59 Maybe parties could be fun. Also, maybe David's laugh was the greatest sound on planet Earth. Maybe her daydreaming was interrupted before it could even start imagining the fun stuff because Alice's mom vaulted. Into the room. All right, kids, it's time for the birthday surprise. Excitement and confusion swirled through the party like food coloring shot into a glass of water. As it twirled and whirled. Alice's mom herded the teenagers into the back of her sprinter van. Which she used for her av business. It was dark outside and darker inside. There were no windows in the van. Where are we going?

9:43 The party wondered, falling all over each other each time the van made a turn. Maybe she's just seeking us to get ice cream, Megan offered. David laughed again. Megan informed her digestive system that it would simply have to wait for the next ten minutes. The teenagers bounced around in the back of the van, trading ideas about where they could possibly be going. Alice, in full sexy goth just laughed. The sprinter van took two sharp turns and then screeched to an abrupt halt. Meghan's anxiety took that moment to rifle through all the way she could possibly die In the next five minutes. The van door swung open, and there was Alice's mom in all her matching track suit glory.

10:28 Okay, kids, you got this. Alice's mom calls in it way too cheery voice, and then she left a large black bag on the ground, waved and drove away. What the f is going on? Meghan's voice asked, without consulting her first. The answer was deafening silence. I guess we're playing hide and seek, Alice giggled. I wanted to do the same thing they did in the movie. Everyone agreed that this was hands down the most brilliant idea of modern times. The graveyard was dark, old, misty, and butted up against a baseball diamond that itself looked like.

11:11 A horror movie set. Out of all of the potential disasterific outcomes Megan had imagined, this was by. Far the worst. So like, let's play, Alice ventured David, you start as the seeker. David began to count down sixty fifty nine fifty eight. Megan's eyes darted around as the other party goer scattered. With no other apparent. Choice, she hobbled off into the fog. She ran all the way to the edge of the woods. When she couldn't hear anyone anymore, Oh, she yanked her hands down. It wasn't even a relief, it was something more primal, like her body was performing an exorcism. It was so disgusting that she wasn't even sure if she really felt better when it was all said and done. The smell was like a wall of death.

12:04 And that's saying a lot when you're in a graveyard. It was this horrific moment that forced her to grasp her current reality. She was with eleven fifteen year olds. They were playing hide and seek, in a graveyard, off fucking graveyard at night on Halloween. Why because Alice's. With her perfect hair and ADHD and overactive imagination, had wanted to replicate a movie where the same thing happened with murder. Maybe this is my out, Megan thought, I just won't let anyone find me. Final girls don't get tagged it. It didn't matter if this logic made sense. There in the pitch black, the only thing that made sense to her was to climb a tree. So she looked up and climbed the closest one. From up there, she saw something flashlights in the distance, bobbling through the fog.

12:56 The seekers Alice's mom might have dropped them off in the middle of a graveyard at night, but she had remembered flashlights in that black bag awesome priorities. Megan heard yelling. Either they were looking for her or they were just really leaning into the hole, insane situation. She stayed in the tree, pressed against the trunk. The smell hovered below, like a steaming pile of deadly ooze. Then she heard a sound that earlier in the night had made her heart race, her stomach flip, and her face flushed like she was back in freshman sex at It was David's voice, but he wasn't laughing at her jokes now he was talking to one of the other guys. Dude, smells like shit.

13:38 Meghan clung to the tree as if there were some magic possibility of disappearing. She didn't move, She barely breathed. Even the fog seemed to pause to listen. They continued on. She was just about to start inhaling again when she saw blue and red lights flashing on the other side of the graveyard, lighting up the tunstones like a haunted arcade. The flashlight bears appeared to be running. Her phone and her jacket pocket dinged. Balancing on the tree branch, she managed to fish it out. One word lit up the screen. Cops. Suddenly the group chat roared to life. The text rallied all eleven pieces of teenage bait to the baseball field on the other side of the trees. Alice's mom was allegedly on her way. The text kept coming one after the other. The vibration in her pocket was so constant and jarring that she lost her balance. This is when adding insult to literal injury, Megan fell out of the tree.

14:36 She hit the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of her. She dry heaved twice, then staggered to her feet and started to run. She was the last person to make it to the baseball field. The blue and red lights were getting closer and closer, strobing off the metal bleachers. Megan couldn't handle any more excitement. Get down, Alice yell, whispered, as they all threw themselves onto the dirt of the baseball diamond. The cop surrounded the corner. In slow motion, headlights sweeping across the field, and then drove right by without noticing the kids. The collective sigh. Of relief could have blown over a floral arrangement. My mom is coming, Alice called, and the group erupted breathlessly recounting their brief graveyard adventures. Who had thought the cops had actually seen them, what they would have said if they'd been caught, and which one of them would have one hundred percent cried. Megan did not want to be near anyone. She was sweaty, filthy, bruised, and a gastro intestinal crime scene. She picked up an abandoned baseball trying to focus on absolutely anything else. She spun it in her hands, letting the rough stitching dig into her fingers a distraction, anything that wasn't her own humiliation, Alice spotted her.

15:51 Meghan, I didn't know where you were. Throw it here, sure, Megan said, because what else was there to say? No, her soul has left my body. She got ready to throw. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw David watching, hands in the pockets of his hoodie like every cute boy and every teen movie poster ever made for one fragile moment. She wasn't thinking about how much fluid she'd lost, or that she'd sweated through her entire outfit, or the giant bruise that was blooming on her hip, or that she could not honestly confirm where the poop had ended up. All she could think about was her arm. She had to throw this ball well. David already thought she was funny, and since no one had found her, she was apparently fucking awesome.

16:35 At Graveyard Hide and Seek. If she could prove she was also a good thrower, this could be her rom Calm Montage moment. The thoughts made her anxious, but her arm did something else, something impressive in any other scenario, something flawless. The ball flew through the air like it has its own wings. It was easiestly the best throw of her life. Even David was impressed. She couldn't see his face clearly, but she could feel the shift in the universe. What she could also feel was that Alice hadn't moved. Why hasn't Alice moved? Megan blamed it on being dirty and sweaty and having evaded both literal and social death more than once that evening, but the warning jammed.

17:17 Up in her throat. It was dark, it was misty, and Alice didn't see the ball until it sailed right between her hands and smacked her dead center in the forehead with a sickeningly cinematic thwack. Then, because the night apparently one more item on it, this will haunt you forever list, Megan watched her friend and birthday girl and fucking graveyard host collapsed into the baseball diamond dirt like someone had just cut her strings. Panic exploded. Everyone was sure Alice was alive, but then also not very sure. Alice was the first one found when teenage conspiracy theorist screamed, of course she's out. The freakout was biblical. The prophecy fulfilled Megan. The conspiracy theorist shrieked, you killed her.

18:03 Another girl chimed in, Alice is dead, and someone smells like literal shit. That was when Megan realized that in her fall from the tree, she'd landed in her own mess. The panic overtook her. She could barely breathe. Suddenly, the sprinter vand pulled up, headlights cutting through the fog. Alice groaned and struggled to her feet. Her mom mistrode the chaos as teenagers having the absolute best night of their lives, so she called merrily, did anyone die? Mom? Alice squeaked. The swelling on her forehead was genuinely terrifying. Alice's mom's whole vibe shifted. She called for backup. Alice had to go to the hospital.

18:45 The rest of them had to pile back into the van. Who smells like shit? The conspiracy theorist girl yelled. Everyone looked around. Sweat dripped from Megan's forehead into her eyes, since that was the only body part left that was functioning properly, The silence hurt. Suddenly it broke in a surreal second, Megan knew that she would remember for the rest of her life or leased until college. Oh it's me, said David, confidently. I think I stepped in deer poop. Back at the house, she changed into her sweatpants in the bathroom, doing an impressively thorough job of cleaning herself up like a one girl crime scene unit. Because there at the bottom of her bag her brother and mother had packed extra pants, some baby wipes, and an extra pair of underwear. A part of Megan want to cry.

19:37 She stuffed her disgusting clothes into a trash bag and buried it in the duffel before joining the rest of the party. In a very safe game of Uno. Apparently the whole group had lost their thirst for blood as well. I'm going to go get some soda, Megan declared, hoisting herself up from the couch in her new, clean sweatpants. That felt better than anything ever had in her recent memory. And even though she's replayed the next two minutes of her life a thousand times, she can't remember exactly how it happened. But somewhere between her pouring herself asprite and taking his sip, David appeared at the kitchen island, and clearly not knowing anything about the ordeal Megan had been enduring all night, he reached for her shoulders and pulled her into her first ever real kiss. Megan's head spun, her knees buckled, and then her stomach did its thing, and Megan rushed back.

20:36 To the bathroom. There in Alice's mom's pink tiled abode, she washed her hands and took a good look in the mirror, and her next thought is a testament to the resilience of the teenage mind and memory, because in that moment, after all that had happened, all Megan could think was, Oh, I like parties, Sweet Dreams. You guys, if you enjoyed this, please like, rate, subscribe, and share with your friends. It means the world to us, and it lets us keep doing what we love doing. And then, if you have a story of your own. Send us a DM or email us at info at Anxiety Atics bedtime stories dot com.

21:18 Sweet Dreams, thanks for listening to Anxiety at Its Bedtime Stories. We're here to help you take your mind off whatever is making you spiral by listening to a story about someone else's hilarious or mortifying experience and we know you have your own. Please DM or email your stories, a Decisions, miscommunications, and Murphy's Law. Your support helps us keep doing what we love and don't forget to like, rate and subscribe, and as always, sweet dreams. This episode was written and recorded by Joe Newman, with editing and sound designed by Morgan Walsh