Eleanor deals with a particular type of infestation in her house.
CONTENT WARNINGS Themes of agoraphobia Possessive behavior Static Distorted voices
The intro begins.
CASSIA Hi, my name is Cassia Jones, and you’ve just tuned into the first episode of 404.
404 is a low-fantasy fictional podcast mini-series released each week filled with mystery and some good old spooky vibes. This project is student written, directed, and acted. Content warnings and other info can be found in the description below. Enjoy the show.
Episode #1: Entomology.
The intro ends.
The recording clicks on. A door closes. Sounds of slight electronic static and high heels on pavement.
ELEANOR Thanks again, for coming on such short notice.
THE EXTERMINATOR Of course. Lovely house you’ve got.
ELEANOR (ignoring her) So, what do you think is going in there?
THE EXTERMINATOR Right. Well, seems to me like a pretty standard infestation. You said you moved in a couple months ago? The entities were probably attached to the house before you got here and are just now manifesting. They can be a little shy with new people, you know.
ELEANOR (irritated) A standard infestation? I haven’t been able to get a decent night’s sleep in weeks.
THE EXTERMINATOR Well, sure, you’ve got some interesting characters in there. But it looks to me like they balance each other out.
ELEANOR Balance?
THE EXTERMINATOR Well, you’ve got that loud tall one, and the weird short one... Practically polar opposites. I’m sure you three could work out a system.
ELEANOR I really wouldn’t call them balanced. Are you sure you can’t do anything?
THE EXTERMINATOR Well, you know how these things are. They get really attached to places. They really become part of them. This place is all they know, hell, all they are. Removing them would be traumatic for them-- and you, actually. I’ll bet you won’t even notice them after a month or two.
ELEANOR I hired you to--
THE EXTERMINATOR (cutting her off) I’ll tell you what. How about you start a diary?
ELEANOR A diary?
THE EXTERMINATOR Yes-- just to get things down, log the things you do, the things the entities do. Keep a sort of rhythm, you know. And if you’re still having problems in a couple months, we can come take another look.
ELEANOR You know, I paid a lot for this, and I don’t--
THE EXTERMINATOR Well, that’s about all the time I have. Mondays are busy, and all that. Good luck in there!
A car door slams shut.
ELEANOR Hold on--
The recording clicks off. The recording clicks back on.
ELEANOR Okay. Um, hold on. Hi. My name is Eleanor Lancaster. The day is… shoot. What day is it?
The sound of papers rustling.
JAN (teasingly) January 7th.
ELEANOR That is very much not true. The day is June 16th. This is my, um, audio diary, I guess. To get my thoughts and feelings and… activities down. The solution that was offered instead of, you know, removing the literal hostile entities from my home. That I couldn’t argue against because I have, you know, no money to do that with.
DAISY (flatly) I’m not hostile.
ELEANOR I know, Daisy.
JAN I am. I could be. You don’t know anything.
ELEANOR I know, Jan. Anyways. You might notice I’m calling them by human names. That’s something that me and Finn started doing. Makes them less intimidating. Daisy’s the quieter one. Looks kind of like me but short and with black hair. And constantly wearing sunglasses. Jan’s the tall one. She has weird hair that doesn’t abide by the law of physics and only one eye, as far as I can see. She’s also not so much a physical creature so much as… a strange, shambling amalgamation of household objects. Anyways. Finn’s my friend, by the way. Well. Online. Well. Sort of.
JAN See, you’re saying friend, but I think you mean--
ELEANOR (exasperated) Can you please just let me focus?
JAN I really, really can’t.
ELEANOR Finn and I met maybe two summers ago? We were both interning in the same building in Boston and, long story short, she adopted me as her personal introvert. I live in California and she’s still in school in Boston, but we, you know, call and stuff. We make it work. I’ve been meaning to visit her, but I just never--
DAISY You don’t need to. Everything you need is here.
JAN’s voice starts to become increasingly digitally warped, as if coming from an old radio. Digital static fades in. DAISY’s voice is not affected.
JAN Going to Boston sounds awfully stressful. Lots of people judging you.
DAISY Looking at you.
JAN And planes are claustrophobic.
DAISY Cities are big.
JAN So many different people. Colors. Sounds. Smells.
DAISY Do you really think it’ll solve anything?
The digital interference crescendos.
JAN Does she even want to see--
ELEANOR (interrupting) Okay!
The interference fades out.
ELEANOR (resigned) Okay. It’s late. I’m-- I-- I have to feed Blue.
JAN Blue! Can I help? He likes me better than Daisy.
DAISY (vaguely disgusted) I have no interest in that creature. It’s… loud.
JAN Oh, get over yourself.
ELEANOR Right, I’m just going to-- I’m going to end here. I have work tomorrow and getting yelled at by grandmas who don’t know how Google works is bad enough without sleep deprivation. You know, Jan, it would actually be pretty nice if you could--
Chair squeaking as ELEANOR turns around.
ELEANOR And they’re gone. Both of them. Well.
A brief pause.
ELEANOR Today has been… frustrating. The date is June 16th. Goodnight.
The recording ends. The outro begins.
CASSIA Thank you for listening to 404. Featured in this episode were Emily Petersdorf as the Exterminator, Cassia Jones as Eleanor Lancaster, Sage Thomas as Jan, and Annika Vaughan as Daisy. See you next week.