If Your Mom Texts Come Downstairs, DONT GO — Transcript

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1. 0:00If your mom texts, "Come downstairs,"
2. 0:02while she's asleep right next to you,
3. 0:04don't go. Don't answer it. Don't wake
4. 0:07her up. And whatever you do, don't say
5. 0:09one word out loud. Just turn your screen
6. 0:12down, hold your breath, and count who's
7. 0:15in the house. You moved here 3 weeks
8. 0:17ago, you and your mom. It's the last
9. 0:20house on Alder Road where the street
10. 0:22lights stop. Behind the backyard,
11. 0:24there's a fence. Behind the fence, there
12. 0:27are only pines. Your mom took the job at
13. 0:30the clinic and this was the house she
14. 0:31could afford. It smells like fresh paint
15. 0:34and old cardboard. At night, it's so
16. 0:37quiet you can hear the refrigerator from
17. 0:39upstairs. Your room is still full of
18. 0:42boxes, so you've been sleeping in hers.
19. 0:44She has one rule in this house. Phones
20. 0:47stay in the kitchen at night, charging
21. 0:49on the counter by the back door.
22. 0:51Tonight, you snuck yours upstairs anyway
23. 0:53and hid it under the pillow. And there's
24. 0:56one odd thing nobody on this street ever
25. 0:58mentions. Every back porch on Alder Road
26. 1:02has an empty socket where the light bulb
27. 1:04should be. The girl next door told you
28. 1:06why on your very first day. Her name is
29. 1:09Nora. She was sitting on the fence
30. 1:11facing the houses, never the trees.
31. 1:14Something lives back there. She said it
32. 1:16only has to hear a voice once. After
33. 1:19that, it can use it. You laughed. She
34. 1:22didn't. My grandpa says it has two
35. 1:25throats like those birds that copy
36. 1:27chainsaws. It's tall and thin and it
37. 1:30never comes close. It used to just call
38. 1:33from the treeine. Then people stopped
39. 1:35opening their doors. So last spring it
40. 1:38learned phones. She gave you five rules,
41. 1:41counting them on her fingers. Learn them
42. 1:43before the first cold night. The ones
43. 1:45who don't don't usually make it to
44. 1:47winter. Tonight is the first cold night.
45. 1:51At 2:13 in the morning, your pillow
46. 1:53buzzes. One new message. You squint at
47. 1:56the screen, half asleep, and you read it
48. 1:58out loud. Mom, come downstairs. Your own
49. 2:03voice sounds too loud in the dark. Then
50. 2:05you roll over to ask her what she wants.
51. 2:08She's right there. She's asleep. Her
52. 2:11shoulder is rising and falling under the
53. 2:13blanket, and her phone is downstairs in
54. 2:15the kitchen, exactly where she left it.
55. 2:18You hold your breath. You count who's in
56. 2:20the house. It takes you one second and
57. 2:23you count again anyway. Rule number one.
58. 2:26If the person texting you is already in
59. 2:28the room, do not reply. No, okay. No
60. 2:32coming. [music]
61. 2:33No. Who is this? Norah explained it like
62. 2:36a knock on the door. If you shout just a
63. 2:38minute, they know somebody's home. A
64. 2:41reply does the same thing. It tells the
65. 2:43thing you're awake. It tells it somebody
66. 2:45in this house still answers. In 2019, a
67. 2:49man named Walter Puit lived in the
68. 2:51yellow house on the corner. One night,
69. 2:54his wife called his name from the
70. 2:55backyard. She was upstairs in the bath.
71. 2:58He could hear the water running. He
72. 3:00answered anyway because it sounded
73. 3:02exactly like her. He said, "Coming,
74. 3:04hun?" And he went out through the
75. 3:06kitchen. The bath ran over until
76. 3:08morning. The yellow house has been for
77. 3:11sale ever since. So, you don't reply.
78. 3:14Your thumb is already over the keyboard
79. 3:16and you pull it back. You turn the
80. 3:18brightness all the way down. The message
81. 3:20just sits there small and gray. Come
82. 3:24downstairs. Under the blanket, the air
83. 3:26gets warm and thin. You can hear your
84. 3:29own heartbeat in the pillow. Rule number
85. 3:31two, scroll up. [music] It can't write.
86. 3:35Norah said it doesn't know what words
87. 3:37mean. It's like a parrot. It can only
88. 3:39repeat something it already has. So, it
89. 3:42doesn't type a message. It finds one she
90. 3:44already sent you, and it sends that one
91. 3:46again. You scroll up under the blanket
92. 3:49and there it is. Last Tuesday, 6:40 in
93. 3:53the evening. Come downstairs. Dinner was
94. 3:56ready. No capital letter and no period,
95. 3:58the way she always types. The new
96. 4:01message matches it exactly. Then the
97. 4:04phone buzzes in your hand. Come
98. 4:06downstairs. That's the other way. You
99. 4:08know, Nora said it always says it twice.
100. 4:11In 2021, a babysitter named Colleen
101. 4:14Marsh got a text from the parents. Home
102. 4:17early. Unlock the back door. It had the
103. 4:20same spelling mistake as their text from
104. 4:21the Friday before. She didn't scroll up.
105. 4:24The parents really came home at 11:00.
106. 4:27The back door was unlocked. Both kids
107. 4:29were asleep upstairs. Colleen's shoes
108. 4:32were still sitting next to the couch. A
109. 4:34third message arrives while you're still
110. 4:36staring at the second. Dinner's ready.
111. 4:39That one is from Tuesday, too. You count
112. 4:41the people in the house again. You, your
113. 4:44mom, that's everyone. So, whatever is
114. 4:46holding her phone, it isn't a person.
115. 4:49Rule number three, stay away from the
116. 4:51windows and never go near the back door.
117. 4:55Here's the part that almost helps. It
118. 4:57doesn't come inside. Norah says its body
119. 5:00is too thin to win a fight. Its arms are
120. 5:03long, but they're made for reaching, not
121. 5:05for wrestling. So, it never chases
122. 5:07anyone. It waits at the tree line like
123. 5:10someone fishing off a dock. The text is
124. 5:13the hook. The back door is where the
125. 5:15line pulls you in. That's why it says
126. 5:18downstairs. Downstairs is the kitchen.
127. 5:21The kitchen is the back door. And now
128. 5:24you remember the kitchen window. Your
129. 5:26mom left it open a hands width because
130. 5:28[music] of the paint smell. The counter
131. 5:30is right underneath it. That's how it
132. 5:32reached her phone. Don't look for it
133. 5:34either. Its eyes shine back at you like
134. 5:37a deers on the road. If you see two
135. 5:40white dots past the fence, it has
136. 5:42already seen me. That's why nobody here
137. 5:44keeps a porch light. A light shows it
138. 5:47which door has somebody standing behind
139. 5:49it. Last October, Norah's older brother,
140. 5:52Danny, decided he would catch it. He was
141. 5:5419. He took a flashlight and hid behind
142. 5:57the big pine by the fence. Around
143. 5:59midnight, Norah heard their mom's voice
144. 6:02coming from the trees. Danny, it's mom.
145. 6:05Their mom was at work that night. In the
146. 6:08morning, his red jacket was hanging on
147. 6:10the fence. It was zipped up and folded
148. 6:12over the rail, folded the way their mom
149. 6:15always folds it. The [snorts] bedroom
150. 6:17window is two steps from the bed. The
151. 6:19curtain isn't closed all the way. A thin
152. 6:22line of moonlight lies across the floor.
153. 6:24You don't look. You pull the blanket
154. 6:26over your head and the phone comes with
155. 6:28you. downstairs, very faintly, something
156. 6:32taps the kitchen counter once, like a
157. 6:35fingernail on a table. Then the
158. 6:37refrigerator hums again, and the house
159. 6:39is quiet. Rule number four, ask it a
160. 6:43question only she could answer. This is
161. 6:46its one weakness. It can copy a voice.
162. 6:49It can't answer a question. And a
163. 6:51question is the only thing you're ever
164. 6:54allowed to send it. But Norah held up
165. 6:56one finger. Never ask about anything she
166. 6:59said out loud here. It's been listening
167. 7:01since the moving truck left. In 2022, a
168. 7:05girl named Ivy Castellan asked it, "What
169. 7:07do you call me?" Her mom called her bug.
170. 7:10She said it every morning at the bus
171. 7:12stop right beside the fence. The answer
172. 7:14came back in 1 second. Ivy walked down
173. 7:17the stairs smiling. Her mom still stands
174. 7:20at that bus stop some mornings. She
175. 7:22doesn't say the name anymore. So, you
176. 7:24think hard. It has to be something from
177. 7:27before this house. Something nobody ever
178. 7:29said in this yard. You type it with one
179. 7:32thumb. What did we name the cat at the
180. 7:34old apartment? You never had a cat. Your
181. 7:37mom would know that. She would write
182. 7:39back, "What cat?" You press send. Three
183. 7:42dots appear. They pulse for a long time.
184. 7:45Then a message comes. Love you. Lights
185. 7:48off. Then another one. Did you eat?
186. 7:51Running late. Come downstairs. It's
187. 7:53going through her old messages like
188. 7:55someone trying every key on a ring. None
189. 7:58of them fit the lock. Then the dots
190. 8:00stop. 1 minute passes. Then five.
191. 8:04Nothing. And then the whole screen
192. 8:07lights up. Mom is calling. It rings
193. 8:09without a sound because your phone is on
194. 8:11silent. Thank goodness for that. You
195. 8:14watch her photo glow in the dark. She's
196. 8:17laughing in it at the beach two summers
197. 8:19ago. [music] Picking up is a reply. So
198. 8:22you let it ring. It rings for a very
199. 8:25[music] long time. Then it stops and a
200. 8:27voicemail appears 9 seconds long. You
201. 8:30don't play it. Playing it would put a
202. 8:33voice in this room. Rule number five.
203. 8:35[music] Don't say a word out loud. Not
204. 8:38to it, not to anyone. This is the only
205. 8:41rule Norah told you twice. It only has
206. 8:44to hear your voice once. After that,
207. 8:46you're not the one it's fishing for.
208. 8:48You're the bait. Then she looked at the
209. 8:50trees for the first time. Some nights I
210. 8:53hear Dany out there. He only ever says
211. 8:55one word. It's the last thing he
212. 8:58shouted. She wouldn't tell you which
213. 9:00word. It doesn't care about you in
214. 9:02particular. It wants whoever loves the
215. 9:04voice it's holding. And cold air carries
216. 9:06sound a long way. On a night like this,
217. 9:09it can hear every house on the street.
218. 9:12In 2023, a boy named Theo Brandt opened
219. 9:15his window and yelled at the trees. Mom,
220. 9:18it's outside. That was all he said. Four
221. 9:21nights later, his mom heard him at the
222. 9:23back door. Mom, it's outside. She
223. 9:26thought he had locked himself out. She
224. 9:28opened the door to let him in. Theo was
225. 9:31asleep in his bed the whole time. That's
226. 9:34also why you don't wake her. If she
227. 9:36wakes up, she'll ask you what's wrong
228. 9:38out loud. So, you lie completely still.
229. 9:41You breathe through your nose. You
230. 9:43listen to the house. You put the phone
231. 9:46face down on your chest. Your mom's
232. 9:48breathing is slow and even beside you.
233. 9:51You match yours to hers, so the bed
234. 9:53doesn't move. The phone stays dark.
235. 9:562:30, 3:00. The furnace clicks on and
236. 10:00nothing else moves. No more messages. No
237. 10:03more calls. Outside, the wind goes
238. 10:06through the pines and comes back out the
239. 10:08other side. You did it. You didn't
240. 10:10reply. You scrolled up. You stayed away
241. 10:13from the window. You asked a question it
242. 10:15couldn't answer, and you never made a
243. 10:18sound. Next to you, your mom sigh and
244. 10:21turns over. For the first time tonight,
245. 10:24you let yourself breathe out. In the
246. 10:26morning, you'll tell her everything.
247. 10:28You'll close that window yourself. And
248. 10:31then you remember 213, the pillow
249. 10:34buzzing, your eyes half open. You read
250. 10:37the name on the screen out loud. Then
251. 10:39you read the message. Three words.
252. 10:42That's all it needed. And the kitchen
253. 10:44window is still open a hands width. From
254. 10:47downstairs, quiet and clear, a voice
255. 10:50floats up the stairs. It's yours. Mom,
256. 10:53come downstairs. Next to you, your mom
257. 10:56stirs.
258. 10:58Coming, baby, she mumbles. She's already
259. 11:01sitting up. Her feet find the floor. You
260. 11:03open your mouth to stop her. Then you
261. 11:06close it because that is exactly what
262. 11:08it's listening for. And downstairs in
263. 11:11your voice, in exactly the same tone as
264. 11:13before, it says it again.