The Unaging Wife's Dark Curse – He Tried Audio Drama

0:01 Speaker 1: When you sleep, you enter into another world. Beyond that world lies the doorway to nightmare. Come in. Welcome. I'm your host through the doorway to nightmare. Most, if not all, writers begin their stories with a premise. The question, what if, is usually the beginning of an idea for a story. For Alex Schaefer, world-renowned writer of mystery and horror, what if has suddenly become very real?

1:09 Speaker 2: How old do you think Margot really is?

1:13 Speaker 3: That's something we've never really had the need to talk about. For us, age is just a number.

1:19 Speaker 4: Yes, that is something that people usually say. I suppose you believe that I was just an aging writer. When I met Margo, by marrying her, I was trying to recapture my youth, and she was just a trophy.

1:37 Speaker 3: You said it. I didn't.

1:40 Speaker 2: I'm being very serious. How old do you think that she is?

1:46 Speaker 3: If you're going to press the matter, I would say that she's in her mid to late thirties, if that.

1:52 Speaker 2: Believe me, dear girl, she is much, much.

1:57 Speaker 1: Older than that. Our mystery drama, He Tried, was adapted from the short story and written especially for Doorway to Nightmare by Winslow Swan and stars Mark McLean and Crimson McKenzie. It is sponsored in part by Swanage Press. I'll be back shortly with Act One. Perhaps you know the works of Alex Schaefer, horror author extraordinaire. His novels and short stories have been at the top of the bestseller list for years. When he married at the age of 60 to a much younger woman, the press had a field day.

2:53 Speaker 1: However, like critics, he paid the media no mind. He is currently working on his latest novel, dictating the ending while waiting for a special visitor.

3:04 Speaker 2: The creature slithered its way towards the basement, its long and spiny tail leaving a trail of visceral fluid along the floor. The blood of the family still fresh on its leathery flesh. The darkness hauled to it as it retreated back into its hallowed home beneath the floor. It waited patiently. Well now, I do believe it's finally finished. Now, what time is it? Oh my, punctual is always a good sign.

3:53 Speaker 3: Mr. Alex Schaefer?

3:55 Speaker 2: Yes, and you must be Millicent Giddings. Won't you come in and get out of that bone-chilling cold?

4:04 Speaker 3: Thank you, sir. You may call me Echo.

4:07 Speaker 2: I suppose that we were all on first-name basis these days. So, Echo, it shall be.

4:16 Speaker 3: You have quite an impressive home, Alex.

4:19 Speaker 2: Yes, I do rather fancy it. Over here are framed works of my book covers. They were given to me by a rather ardent fan in England last year.

4:35 Speaker 3: They look, well, quite frankly, a little grotesque. Naturally.

4:41 Speaker 2: You wouldn't expect to see a handsome young man cradling a young woman in his arms on a book about a creature that devours human heads now, would you?

4:53 Speaker 3: I suppose not.

4:54 Speaker 2: Would you like a drink?

4:57 Speaker 3: Scotch.

4:58 Speaker 2: Ah, my kind of person. Here you are. Now, what shall we drink to? How about mutual acceptance?

5:15 Speaker 3: Whatever you'd like. Mmm, very fine scotch.

5:22 Speaker 1: Yes, it is.

5:23 Speaker 2: I always strive for the best in everything.

5:29 Speaker 3: I found your note.

5:32 Speaker 2: Yes, I thought you must have. It slipped in under your door this afternoon. How are you getting on in Hampstead Heath?

5:42 Speaker 3: Very nicely. It's a beautiful country and the people here have been rather warm and welcoming. Thank you.

5:48 Speaker 2: Since I was somewhat of a local celebrity, the people here literally.

5:55 Speaker 5: Bent over backwards to accommodate me. Most of it has become a bit of a tourist trap of late, usually during the so-called tourist season.

6:11 Speaker 2: I try to be on book tour or a lecture circuit. My agent is good at getting me out when I really need to get away.

6:20 Speaker 3: I find the place very peaceful here.

6:23 Speaker 2: Oh, don't you believe it? I'm positive that the tone wagging started ten minutes after you settled in.

6:36 Speaker 3: I was a little surprised that you even wanted to see me today.

6:40 Speaker 2: Well, Since Margot is away visiting some friends, I thought that this might be the perfect opportunity for us to have a little chat. You know, get to know each other better. Can I refresh your drink?

6:57 Speaker 3: Oh, thank you. I suppose the kind of books you write transfer well to movies.

7:03 Speaker 2: God forbid. I would not allow such a thing to happen.

7:08 Speaker 6: Hollywood would get one of my stories, completely rework it where it would have no semblance of the original tale. And then UCGI, or whatever the hell it is they're calling it now, to create whatever monster I breathe life into. No, dear girl, I would never allow such a thing to happen to one of my children.

7:34 Speaker 3: I suppose most writers feel that way about their books.

7:38 Speaker 2: Think of it. They really are my children. I created them.

7:45 Speaker 1: Life.

7:46 Speaker 2: On a printed page. And millions of people around the world cherish them. I would never agree to have them eviscerated on the screen.

7:57 Speaker 3: I understand.

7:59 Speaker 2: Now I understand that you want... to marry my wife.

8:07 Speaker 3: Well, with your permission, of course.

8:10 Speaker 2: Oh, you don't really need my permission, do you?

8:16 Speaker 6: I would have thought by now that you and Margo would have run away somewhere.

8:22 Speaker 2: Oh, don't look so surprised that I know all about the affair. Very hard to keep a secret in this part of the country. Besides, I've known all about it for quite some time. Tell me, Echo, is she just as flaccid with you as she is with me?

8:45 Speaker 3: I think that I will be leaving. It's been an interesting evening, and thank you for the drink.

8:52 Speaker 2: Are you going now?

8:53 Speaker 7: What on earth for?

8:55 Speaker 3: You happen to be talking about the woman... I love.

8:58 Speaker 2: On the contrary. I was talking about my wife.

9:03 Speaker 3: It comes down to the same thing.

9:05 Speaker 2: Things usually do. Please, Echo, stay. I'm not as sinister as you may think I am. Come on. Let me freshen your drink and we shall have a nice conversation.

9:22 Speaker 3: All right. But no more cracks about Margot.

9:24 Speaker 1: Margot.

9:25 Speaker 3: I'm warning you.

9:26 Speaker 1: I promise.

9:28 Speaker 2: No more talking about how much of a cold fish, spendthrift leech that she really is.

9:36 Speaker 3: I'm warning you, Alec.

9:38 Speaker 2: Here, have another drink, and let me ask you, can you afford to keep her?

9:44 Speaker 3: What do you mean? She's never asked me for anything. She's been taking care of me.

9:49 Speaker 1: Oh, yes.

9:51 Speaker 2: I am well aware of that.

9:54 Speaker 3: Ahem.

9:54 Speaker 2: That explains some of the interesting charges that have been showing up on my credit card. statements. You see, dear Echo, Margo has no money of her own. In a way, it is me that has been taking care of you. Margo also knows that in the event of my, shall we say, demise, she inherits everything.

10:24 Speaker 8: She will be extremely wealthy. Now, I'm being very serious here, Echo. Do you really think you can afford to be with Margo?

10:38 Speaker 3: You seem to be doing a pretty good job keeping her. for a man of your age.

10:44 Speaker 2: I know what you're thinking, Echo.

10:47 Speaker 9: The aging writer trying to recapture some magic spark by taking for his wife a much younger woman and her only after my money.

10:59 Speaker 3: It has crossed my mind.

11:03 Speaker 2: Well, when I found her, I felt it had been some sort of magic between us. I wonder now if there's actually A type of spell that Margo had used to entice me into marriage.

11:18 Speaker 3: Be serious. Witchcraft? Margo?

11:23 Speaker 2: How old do you think Margo really is?

11:25 Speaker 3: Oh, I don't know. Somewhere in her thirties. We have never really discussed our ages. For us, it's just a number.

11:34 Speaker 2: Yes, that is what people in both of our situations are. Usually someone much older begins to have a relationship with a younger person. We tend to brush off comments made by conventional society. I can assure you that Margot was never a trophy wife to me.

11:57 Speaker 3: To be honest, that is exactly what it looked like.

12:00 Speaker 2: Would you believe me if I told you that Margot looks exactly the same now? As she did 15 years ago when we first married.

12:13 Speaker 3: She takes good care of herself. She eats all the right things and exercises constantly. I know that she has regular checkups and monitors herself on a daily basis.

12:24 Speaker 2: She did all of those things with me as well. It was maddening. To me, whenever we went out to eat, maddening. No red meat. fruits or vegetables, the right amount of water every day. I couldn't count the times that she would admonish me for having a glass of wine whenever there was a blue moon.

12:49 Speaker 3: She has told me that she was very much in love with you at one time.

12:56 Speaker 2: And I was very much in love with her.

13:01 Speaker 10: What if I were to tell you that even if she did none of those healthy things, she would look exactly the same.

13:12 Speaker 3: What do you mean?

13:13 Speaker 2: I mean that if she ate like a horse, five meals a day of steak and potatoes, with chocolate snacks in between, would that not make an iota of a difference in her appearance?

13:28 Speaker 3: I find that a little hard to believe.

13:31 Speaker 2: She would look like a Venetian goddess, no matter what she did.

13:39 Speaker 3: Have you talked to anyone about this? This?

13:43 Speaker 2: Ah, I believe that the word you are searching for is obsession.

13:49 Speaker 3: Your wife is leaving you. I suppose that would drive anyone over the edge a little bit.

13:54 Speaker 2: I've been doing quite a bit of research. Whenever I come up with a new story idea... I try to research some of it to give it a bit of reality. I like to add some semblance of realism in my stories. Even though there is a monster involved, I feel it heightens the reader's horror. I began doing research on something about a year ago when I started to notice something rather peculiar things. About Margo.

14:31 Speaker 3: Like her ongoing beauty? Yes.

14:35 Speaker 2: I tapped into one of my stubbornnesses, and I began to research Margo.

14:42 Speaker 3: So is this from research? or from the law offices of Floyd and Botner Esquire.

14:48 Speaker 2: Why would I waste perfectly good money on a private detective to simply confirm what I already knew, that you and my wife were becoming an item? No, I can assure you that you will not find grainy photographs of you and Margo in bed. or whatever it is you find time to copulate, taken through the blinds of some window. What will you find in there is the truth about Margot. Look it over. Take your time. And then I will ask you again. Can you afford to be with her?

15:40 Speaker 1: What began as an interview... which led to a confrontation between husband and lover, has now become something more sinister. What could be found in the folder that Echo now has in her hands? We shall all find out when I return with Act Two.

15:59 Speaker 7: Act Two.

16:10 Speaker 1: Alec Schaefer invited his wife's lover, Millicent, to presumably confront her about the affair. As the conversation continued, Alec hands Echo a folder of research which holds more information about Margo than even Echo wants to believe.

16:30 Speaker 3: Isn't this ridiculous?

16:32 Speaker 2: You're not looking hard enough.

16:34 Speaker 3: All that you have here are newspaper clippings of past marriages.

16:37 Speaker 2: Look at this one, see? This is our wedding from 15 years ago. There's Margo and me cutting the cake.

16:49 Speaker 2: It was a rather grand social event.

16:52 Speaker 3: Fine. So you both look very happy.

16:55 Speaker 2: You're not seeing it. Now look at this and read it.

17:01 Speaker 3: The Brownstone Funeral Home announces services for Mr. Edward James who passed away due to complications of an illness. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Margaret James. Funeral services to be held at Brownstone Chapel Thursday at 2. So what of it?

17:17 Speaker 2: Look at the picture. See? That was taken at our wedding ten years earlier. Don't you see? Margo hasn't aged one bit since.

17:33 Speaker 7: So?

17:34 Speaker 3: A lot of women seem not to age as they get older. This doesn't prove it.

17:38 Speaker 2: Keep looking.

17:40 Speaker 3: But these are just more of the same. Wedding announcements, obituaries, social articles.

17:48 Speaker 2: Look at the pictures of Margot.

17:52 Speaker 3: You poor man. Her leaving you for me has really unhinged you.

17:57 Speaker 2: I'm not crazy.

17:59 Speaker 3: I didn't say that you were, but I do think that you need a lot of help. Have you ever showed this folder to Margot?

18:06 Speaker 1: No.

18:06 Speaker 2: Don't be absurd.

18:08 Speaker 3: Perhaps I should. I can take this to Margo. This fabrication. It would definitely be the final nail in the marital coffin.

18:17 Speaker 2: That was driven in me when she met you. How do you think that I even knew about you?

18:23 Speaker 3: You mean she told you about us?

18:27 Speaker 2: My dear girl, she didn't tell me about you. She gloated over it. She said our marriage had simply become a convenience for her, and that soon, very soon, I would no longer be necessary.

18:45 Speaker 3: I don't believe she said that. And this? You must have spent hours in front of that computer of yours printing this stuff up. I must say, I know an eight-year-old that can use Photoshop better than these photographs. You should really brush up on your computer skills.

19:04 Speaker 2: I don't blame you for not believing me.

19:07 Speaker 3: Oh, I believe you. I believe that you need more help than a therapist could give. It must have taken you quite a number of minutes to copy and paste Margo's picture all over all these old newspaper clippings. If my math is correct, you have articles here dating back to the early 1900s. That would make Margo around 120 years old.

19:28 Speaker 2: I'm guessing around 275, if not older. I was never any good at math. I went back as far as I could with photographs, actually going to newspapers and digging through their archives. Margot has retained the same signature. I was able to trace her all the way back to the 1700s.

19:58 Speaker 3: You're completely mad. You have really gone off the deep end.

20:06 Speaker 3: Forget it, therapist. You need to go directly to a padded room. Do not pass go, and do not collect $ 200.

20:14 Speaker 2: Are you finished?

20:19 Speaker 3: No, but you certainly are. Wait until I explain all this to Margo.

20:24 Speaker 2: I'm sure that she already knows. I wonder if there'll be much pain.

20:33 Speaker 3: What did you say? Nothing.

20:35 Speaker 2: Why don't you come over here to the computer for a moment?

20:38 Speaker 3: They say to humor the insane. All right. What am I looking for? You do realize they cannot put anything on the internet that isn't true.

20:48 Speaker 2: My research led me not only to this country's news gathering sources, but others as well. I've cataloged the websites to make it easier for you.

21:00 Speaker 3: You know, Alec, I have a ten-year-old nephew that created a fake website. He really had me going for a long time before he spilled the beans and told me it was all a joke.

21:09 Speaker 2: You really don't understand. This is not some game I am playing or a joke at your expense. I'm trying to warn you. You may have a few great years with Margo. I had almost 15 myself. But in the end, she will simply find someone else in you. will be disposable as well. Don't you understand? You will die!

21:38 Speaker 3: Oh, God. This just gets better and better. I suppose you're now going to tell me that Margo, your wife, my lover, and soon-to-be wife, is some sort of a vampire? Perhaps she is a witch and she'll ride here on a broomstick to murder you.

21:57 Speaker 2: I really don't know what she is.

22:00 Speaker 1: Hey.

22:04 Speaker 3: Really are serious. Your face has gone all ash and white. Let me get you another drink.

22:10 Speaker 2: Thank you, my dear.

22:11 Speaker 3: I'm sorry, Alec. I just can't believe this whole story. Marco and I are deeply, passionately in love with each other. It was simply out of consideration for you that I even showed up here tonight. If it makes it any easier... I never wanted to be the other person that came between a good marriage.

22:32 Speaker 2: If it had not been for you, then it would have been someone else. I could tell that Margot was getting tired of me. After all, 15 years is quite a long time, I truly believe. Or at least want to believe.

22:47 Speaker 11: And somewhere in that black heart of hers, it hurts to see someone age when she and stay young.

22:58 Speaker 3: Again. I'm very sorry, but I just don't believe it. A few newspaper clippings and some websites prove absolutely nothing.

23:08 Speaker 2: Would you possibly believe your own eye?

23:11 Speaker 3: More photographs.

23:14 Speaker 2: Follow me to the bedroom.

23:16 Speaker 3: I'm not going to sleep with you.

23:18 Speaker 2: Rather novel, since Margot and I have not done anything in over two years, but that is not what I had in mind.

23:30 Speaker 1: Well now. Things have progressed a lot further. No, really. Don't judge Alec too harshly. Has he managed to cook up an elaborate scheme to get rid of his wife's lover? We shall find out what awaits in the bedroom when I return with Act Three shortly. Being confronted with the lover of his wife Alec invited Echo over to discuss the matter. When Echo dismisses the theories that perhaps his wife is some sort of an unearthly being he has invited her into his bedroom. But for what purpose?

24:33 Speaker 3: I'm not. Sleeping with you.

24:36 Speaker 2: This is not what I had in mind. Dear girl, no, I believe that within every short period of time, Margo will be coming home. She will find me waiting for her here, there on the bed. She will do to me whatever she did to her other spouses. I want you to be witness to it.

25:01 Speaker 3: You just want me to stand in the corner and watch.

25:03 Speaker 8: No.

25:04 Speaker 2: I want you to hide in the closet.

25:06 Speaker 3: You really are mental. You want me to hide in the closet like a common criminal and watch you two sleep? I'm sorry. I don't exactly get my jollies off watching other people.

25:18 Speaker 2: You still don't understand.

25:20 Speaker 12: I am desperately trying to save your life. If she comes in and nothing happens other than her gathering a few things and leaving, well, then I.

25:34 Speaker 2: Will personally call the ambulance and you can have me committed. When Margot leaves, you can quietly slip out and join her and you two can have a wonderful life with my full blessing. What do you have to lose?

25:59 Speaker 3: At least the closet is big enough. Maybe I should have myself committed for even doing this. What a crazy old man. Just look at him. Lying on the bed, waiting. What do you expect to happen, Alec? I feel sorry for you, I really do. That must be Margo. Alan!

26:26 Speaker 7: I'm home, darling.

26:27 Speaker 3: What? That can't be Margo.

26:34 Speaker 1: My, you seem all prepared.

26:38 Speaker 2: I suppose I am. I tried to warm up. Really, I did.

26:45 Speaker 1: I know that you did.

26:48 Speaker 2: That's awful.

26:48 Speaker 1: It was a valiant effort.

26:53 Speaker 2: I guess that I'm ready. I did try to warn her. Will it hurt? I mean the pain. Will it hurt much?

27:03 Speaker 7: Exquisitely so.

27:07 Speaker 3: What is she doing? Oh, my God. This impossible... She's floating up. Floating up. Directly on top of him. Must not scream. Must not scream. Dear God in heaven. Her arm. She shoved her entire arm down his throat. That is just not possible. Wait. What? She's pulling out his heart. His beating heart through his mouth. I think I'm going to be sick. She's eating it.

27:56 Speaker 2: She's eating his beating heart.

27:59 Speaker 7: Oh, good Lord.

28:00 Speaker 3: Get me out of here.

28:07 Speaker 1: You can come out now, lover.

28:14 Speaker 3: Where's the blood? Blood? Where's all the blood? There should be blood, but he's just lying on the bed.

28:19 Speaker 1: You must really do something about that overactive imagination of yours. Poor, poor Alec. I'm trying to get him to do something about his. Heart condition.

28:37 Speaker 2: No pun intended.

28:41 Speaker 3: What? What are you?

28:43 Speaker 1: What am I? I'm finally and completely yours. Alex Schaefer, writer of horror fiction, has just lived out his own horror story. He lies prostrate on the bed, dead, his eyes still open wide with terror. Echo watches as her lover glares at her, and she herself realizes that same desperate fear that Alec had shown her earlier. And as the curtain closes on our little scene, I will return shortly.

29:26 Speaker 7: The End.

29:39 Speaker 1: Many disputes over a relationship have been settled in several ways throughout history, from sword fighting to pistols at ten paces. Margot has found a rather unique way to move on, don't you think? Our cast included Mark McClain, and Crimson McKenzie. The entire production was under the direction of Winslow Swan. Doorway to Nightmare was sponsored in part by Swanage Press.

30:15 Speaker 1: And now, a preview of our next tale.

30:20 Speaker 2: Do you believe that a house could actually be alive?

30:25 Speaker 2: You mean like a living being? Something like a spirit? Or entity? I'm not sure what I mean. How long have you been living here? About two months.

30:39 Speaker 10: Mike, I swear, I never would have believed in a million years that something like this could happen to me.

30:46 Speaker 2: But what is happening to you?

30:49 Speaker 1: This is your host. inviting you to return with us through the doorway to nightmare for another adventure into the world of your terrifying imagination. Until next time, slumber peacefully.

31:11 Speaker 1: Epilogue The Butler Did It