Every Halloween after ten, the Late Kid came to the same door.

Same clothes.

Same white mask.

Same silence.

At sixteen, one boy broke the neighborhood rule and answered him.

Now the mask is lying empty on the porch.

And whatever spent years hiding behind it has learned enough to come inside.

The Real Trick-or-Treater: Part Two concludes American Dreadline's Halloween nightmare about familiar voices, inherited rules, and what happens when fear is managed instead of understood.

One voice. One nightmare. One place you'll never see the same again.

Follow American Dreadline wherever you listen, and leave a rating if the story got under your skin.

New nightmares every week.

Episode Artwork: Photo by Elias Tigiser / Pexels. Used under the Pexels License.

Sound Design Credit: “Windy Dark Background Atmo.wav” by szegvari, sourced from Freesound.org. Licensed CC0.

A sixteen-year-old is left home alone on Halloween with one neighborhood rule he has heard his entire life:

Porch light off by ten.

Every year, after the little kids go home, someone else comes to the door.

Same clothes. Same white mask. Same silence.

The neighborhood calls him the Late Kid.

And this year, someone answers.

The Real Trick-or-Treater: Part One begins American Dreadline's two-part Halloween nightmare about the things we make familiar because admitting we're afraid would be worse.

One voice. One nightmare. One place you'll never see the same again.

Follow American Dreadline wherever you listen, and leave a rating if the story got under your skin.

Part Two concludes Halloween night.

Episode Artwork: Photo by apertur 2.8 / Pexels. Used under the Pexels License.

Sound Design Credit: “Windy Dark Background Atmo.wav” by szegvari, sourced from Freesound.org. Licensed CC0.

A broke nineteen-year-old takes a babysitting job on Willow Lane that pays far too well to turn down.

The kid is quiet. The house is beautiful. And the parents have only one unusual rule:

Don't go into the basement.

If you hear anything down there, ignore it.

Then something beneath the floor knocks three times.

And the babysitter makes the mistake of answering.

The Babysitting Job on Willow Lane is the tenth episode of American Dreadline, a first-person anthology of original horror stories.

One voice. One nightmare. One place you'll never see the same again.

Follow American Dreadline wherever you listen, and leave a rating if the story got under your skin.

New nightmares every week.

Episode Artwork: Photo by Andreas Ebner / Pexels

Sound Design Credit: “Windy Dark Background Atmo.wav” by szegvari, sourced from Freesound.org. Licensed CC0.