u/Black_Shuck-44

You think Cordelia could have become a famous and wealthy actress like in her vision quest? Or do you think that was just a fanfic created by Skip

All my any life anytime I'm around chocolate or certain other sweets like I tense up and experience a sense of fear and anxiety, I even have nightmares related to it. It always made the weird one, at school everyone thought I was crazy, the neighbors thought I was picky and rude.

There was one incident that really sticks in my mind. I was 7, we were sitting down to a dinner with relatives, everything was going well, I was enjoying the meal but when it came time for dessert things changed.

"Time for dessert everyone." My grandmother said cheerfully.

But the moment I smelled what she brought out my anxiety started.

"W-what are those?"

"These are my special chocolate-fudge brownies."

My grandmother saw the frightened look on my face and me slowly backing away and was confused.

"Sweetheart what's wrong?"

"GET THEM AWAY FROM ME!!"

I ran out of there like my life depended on it!

I never forgot the hurt look on my grandmothers face. She probably thought she did something wrong, probably thought I hated her cooking, but that wasn't true I loved her cooking, but when I smelled and saw those brownies, I can't explain why but I was terrified. After that my grandmother stopped serving her fudge-brownies, I could tell she was hurt, my cousins were resentful because her fudge-brownies were their favorite, my parents were concerned for me since my episode.

Another incident was at a birthday party. I was 10, this girl invited our whole fifth grade class to her birthday party even me, she was new in town and didn't know about my reputation as the "chocolate hating weirdo."

At the party everything was fine, it was great fun, the clown, the games, the pinãta (which thankfully had nothing that would trigger my phobia), then the cake was brought out, it was a 3 layer cake, pink, decorated with colored icing made to look like gold and jewel's, and smelled like strawberry's. I thought I'd be able to enjoy a slice of a friend's birthday cake without an episode, until I was given my slice and saw that it was chocolate underneath the decorative icing.

I panicked and threw my plate at the cake ruining the entire confection. The birthday girl started crying and everyone started yelling at me, and I didn't blame them. I ruined the party and lost a potential new friend in the process.

I don't know why I'm like this. This phobia affects my entire life, I avoided candy shops like they were a prison, I couldn't go trick-or-treating because someone might give out chocolate, I stopped staying for dessert at family dinners so everyone could enjoy their favorite sweets.

When I graduated high school I decided to move to a new town for a new start. But my phobia never went away. I saw phycologists but it never helped, they could never come up with an answer. A neighbor that lived in my building recommended this hypnotherapist to me, said that this man specializes in people with problems that they can't explain.

I made an appointment with this man, I won't deny that I was a little skeptical, but nothing else had worked and I was desperate. I told him about my phobia, how chocolate and certain sweets affect me, even just the smell, or seeing someone with chocolate on their mouth can trigger my anxiety.

Then I told him about my nightmares. In them I was a factory-like place (I could never fully remember when I woke up), but I do remember the smell of chocolate, and this shadowy figure of a man. I never saw his face but I head his laugh, it sounded pure evil.

After telling him everything he said he thinks my phobia and nightmares were memories from a past life and wanted to try something called "past-life regression" to unlock them. I was skeptical of this too but like I said I was desperate for answers, so I agreed.

"Close your eyes, and focus on your earliest memory connected to your phobia. Don't try to force it, let your mind go where it wants." He said.

I tried, and at first... nothing. Then came the smell... chocolate.

But it was different, the smell wasn't the same as my grandmother's brownies, or the candy bars my classmates would snack on, this smell was stronger, thicker, heavier, I almost couldn't breathe through it.

My heart started racing. I was more terrified than ever had been.

"Where are you?" The therapist asked.

I wanted to open my eyes but I couldn't.

"I-I'm inside of-" I stopped.

"What are you inside of?"

"A factory."

"What kind of factory."

"I don't know. It's old. The walls are brick and there are machines everywhere. The machines look very old-fashioned."

"Is there anyone else there?"

"Yes. I see people, they're working the machines. Wait-"

"What is it?"

"They look... miserable. Some of them are crying, some are... expressionless, some are very short, wait... I think some are children!"

Then I heard... the laugh! The laugh that I had been hearing in my nightmares all my life. And for the first time I saw who was making that laugh, not as a shadowy figure but a man.

When he walked by everyone turned away, clearly afraid.

Then he started walking towards me! I could see his face for the first time and hopefully the last. His eyes..they had an evil glint in them, his mouth was twisted into a cruel smile. He was more terrifying than the shadowy figure had ever been.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"

"Listen to my voice, calm yourself, take deep breaths, wiggle your fingers and toes, stretch your muscles."

I did as the therapist said, and slowly I woke up. When I did he handed me a bottle of water.

"Would you like to tell me what you saw? Or do you not feel ready to share it?"

I really didn't want to relive that. That face. That smile. Those eyes. Part of me wishes I never agreed to this. But another part of me still wants answers.

I told the therapist that I didn't want to talk about what I saw another he understood. I also told him I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue, he gave me his number and told me to call if I decided to continue.

Ever since then I've seen his face in my nightmares, no more shadowy figure (although I prefer the shadowy figure now). In one dream I even saw his initials sewn on his trenchcoat. "B.C.."

I tried Googling, "Chocolate factory owners named with the initials. Nothing.

I looked through old newspapers. Nothing.

I looked for records of a giant chocolate factory in the city. Nothing.

Everyone told me I'd been scammed by that hypnotherapist, that he planted false memories in me. But it all felt so real, and the therapist didn't start my phobia to chocolate.

One day I was scrolling through YouTube, then I came across this conspiracy theory channel. I wasn't too big on conspiracy theories but I didn't think it'd hurt to check it out anyway. I looked at a few videos until I saw one called "Balthazar's Chocolate."

According to the video, in the early 1900's there was a chocolate factory run by a man named "Balthazar Cepheus."

B.C. could that be him? Or was it just a coincidence?

Balthazar had a reputation for being mysterious and cruel, he ran the largest chocolate factory in the city. Nobody ever saw the workers, no one ever entered or left, the chocolate was handed out through a hole in the back wall.

Rumor had it that Balthazar used migrant workers, some even claimed he used child labor. They say investigations were conducted but the investigators were never seen again.

At the time Balthazar owned the city and controlled it's economy so anyone that complained lost everything or disappeared.

Then one day Balthazar just vanished and his factory shut down. The factory was searched but not one worker was found and Balthazar was never seen again.

Some people say it's just an urban legend because there are no records, but some say that the people wanted to remove all trace of Balthazar Cepheus and his legacy from their city.

I actually believe this conspiracy, or may I just want to believe it. I don't know.

Maybe it was real, maybe it wasn't.

Maybe that therapist really did plant the memory in my head.

Maybe the conspiracy theory was just a hoax.

Maybe Balthazar Cepheus and his factory never existed.

What I do know is that anytime I'm close to a candy store or bakery and smell chocolate, hear a chocolate bar being unwrapped, or even see it on somebody's mouth.... I hear that same evil laughter.

The enchantments on Hogwarts and other magic schools make them look like ruins to muggles with warning signs saying "too dangerous to enter." But what if some thrill-seeking muggle still decides to enter the "ruins"?

This is my first and maybe my only podcast. I've changed names to protect people's privacy

_______________________________________________________

My name is Miguel, in high school I was star of the football team and the hottest most popular guy in school, contrary to the stereotype I wasn't an idiot and slacker that did nothing but party, I had to study hard and keep my grades up to play on the team.

School was about to start and I saw Mora one of the biggest nerd's in school walking and reading a book without looking where she was going as usual (how that girl never bumped into anything or anybody while doing that I could never figure out), I decided to have some fun first with her first, I snuck up behind her grabbing her waist and picked her up.

"AHH! Miguel you jerk!" She smacked me on the arm.

"Oh come on you know you loved that." I teased my girlfriend. Yes I said girlfriend, and not in the sense that she's a girl who is a friend.

"Honestly sometimes I can't figure out what I see in you."

"Maybe this can help you think", I kissed her right there and she kissed back.

"So Miguel I read a legend on that site "Mysterioso. Com" and-"

"And you found a new mystery to challenge." I finished because I knew what she was thinking, she could never resist a mystery. Her passion about mysteries was one of the things I loved about her.

"As I was saying, it was about these nonsense poems written by an unknown author, according to legend everyone who has tried to decipher these poems have disappeared, died, or gone mad."

I knew what was coming next. "And now you're going to track it down and try to crack it."

"Actually I already found one on eBay."

"Already."

That was the last real meaningful conversation with her I had with Mora. Because over the next few months she started drifting away. Her sister told me she'd stay up all night trying to figure out that poem. Which wasn't unusual for her when she was really focused on a mystery, but her sister also said she'd stay up well into the morning hours which "was" unusual for her, as passionate as she got she always went to sleep before midnight.

Not just that she started missing meetings of her mystery club which she was president of, she also started missing my games. But what really shocked everyone was her being called to the principals office. I don't know what he said to her, when I asked Mora she wouldn't tell me, but I already knew what it was about.

It was her behavior lately, her grades were dropping when she'd always been a straight A student, but lately she'd been arriving late or skipping classes, she had bag's under her eyes and she'd lost a lot of weight, and most bizzare of all she'd been scribbling gibberish on her notebooks, her textbooks, her desk, even on the bathroom mirrors, her parents and sister told me she's been doing the same things at her home. I tried talking to her about it but she wouldn't talk to me, or anyone. I couldn't understand, we'd always been completely open and honest with eachother, even when we fought we didn't give eachother the silent treatment, we talked out our problems.

I called her mom to voice my concerns, but she said Mora wouldn't talk to them either. She said she barely even eats anymore, when she gets home she locks herself in her room, they'd leave food in front of her door but the next morning it would be untouched. She said a few nights ago they tried having a family meeting to address her behavior but when they tried to stop her from leaving she became violent and started throwing things and hitting! I never thought I could be scared of Mora but her behavior was definitely scaring me, she even attacked her own family! It didn't make sense, her dad was a little strict but he wasn't abusive, her mom was one of the kindest women I knew, and Mora and her sister were thick as thieves, so why would she try to hurt them? It didn't make sense.

Then I remembered that poem she told me about and how it was supposed to be cursed, I was starting to think maybe it was true, I never believed in that stuff before but nothing else made sense, I thought that maybe if I destroyed it Mora would go back to normal.

I got on my motorcycle and went to her house, and what I saw I swear made my heart stop. An ambulance was leaving their house. I rushed and called, "MORA!"

I heard sobbing coming from the living room, it was Mora's parents and sister. "No! No", my mind went.

Mora's sister told me what happened, "M-Mora killed herself. W-we found her sprawled on the bed with an empty bottle of rubbing alcohol in her hand."

Hearing that I dropped down to the floor and started crying.

I barely remember the next few days or the funeral, the only thing I do remember clearly is that when Mora's casket was lowered into the ground I went up to the grave and right before they started putting in the dirt, I took out a small box with a ring, that's right I was planning on proposing to Mora. I'd been saving up for months and was planning on proposing after graduation, now I'll never know if she would've said yes.

Regardless of her death I felt she still deserved to have the ring, so I dropped it onto her casket and let it be buried with her.

Everyone went back to Mora's house for the wake. I asked her sister where Mora kept that poem, she told me Mora never let anyone see it. I went up to her room and saw gibberish scribblings all over her walls, her notebooks, everywhere, I knew then I really had to find that poem.

I tried to find it but couldn't, I checked everywhere, her closet, her drawers, her desk, under her bed, I couldn't find it anywhere. Mora's sister came in and asked why I wanted that thing, I told her about the curse and that I thought it was what drove Mora to suicide. She said she believed me but I could tell she really didn't, she probably thought I was saying it out of grief.

The next few months didn't go well, I couldn't focus on school so my grades went down, I lost my spot on the football team and my scholarship. I went to the local community college for a while but eventually dropped out. I still couldn't focus on my schoolwork, all I could think of was, "Why didn't I do something? Maybe Mora would still be alive if I got rid of that poem sooner."

I started working at a small grocery store. In my off hours I often watched videos of me and Mora, I also kept some things of Mora's, stories she liked, puzzles she framed, even this Scooby Doo plushie I won for her on our first date. All my friends keep telling me it's not healthy to keep pining for a dead girl, and that her death wasn't my fault, but I just couldn't believe that.

It's been 5 years since Mora died and I still carry around the guilt. I tried going to a psychiatrist but that didn't help. She says I'm using the poem's legend to try and rationalize what happened, that my subconscious can't accept that Mora willingly took her own life. All these sessions are doing is making me question if I was right about the poems curse or if I really am just trying to rationalize Mora's suicide, it's driving me crazy.

Honestly I don't know if the curse is real or not, all I do know is that the girl I loved died after she got that poem. So if anyone listening to this ever finds a gibberish poem that's supposedly cursed, don't order for it, don't try to test the legend, just ignore it, it's not worth taking the risk.

I just found out that the third Ghostbusters was supposed to be called Hellbent and feature a hellish alternate dimension version of Manhattan called "Manhellton", but it was cancelled because Bill Murray was reluctant to return for a third movie and Harold Ramis' death.

But if they still did this with the grandkids instead what do you think it would be like?