S23 第4集：无眠播客 S23E04

WNSP。欢迎回到夜色黑暗的节目，WNSP的夜间节目。我是DC，陪伴你度过这些孤独的时光。如果你在WNSB的广播区域内，你可能会好奇那股气味是什么。今晚外面的确有一股刺鼻的气味。

WNSP. Welcome back to the darkness of the night, WNSP's overnight programming. DC with you during these lonely hours. And if you're in the WNSB broadcast area, you might be wondering what that smell is. It sure is pungent out there tonight.

不，它不是来自旧的化粪池，风不是从那个方向吹来的。也不是臭鼬引起的，不过这种东西在名字上倒是接近。我们闻到的毫无疑问是臭鼬猿再次造访了。

No. It's not coming from the old septic bed. The wind isn't blowing in from that direction. And it's not skunks, but it is something close to that in name. What we're smelling is no doubt another visit from the skunk ape.

如果你还不知道，臭鼬猿是一种巨大的双足生物，经常在这一带的森林和山区游荡。据说臭鼬猿之所以这么臭，是因为它会在动物尸体上打滚，好让人们远离它。我想就连神秘生物也可能是个内向的家伙吧。所以请关好窗户，喷点空气清新剂。我相信它不会在这一带待太久。

If you don't already know, the skunk ape is a large bipedal creature who roams the forests and mountains in the area. They say the skunk ape is so stinky because it rolls itself in animal carcasses to get people to leave it alone. I guess even cryptids can be introverts. So close your windows and spray some air freshener around. I'm sure he won't be in the area long.

如果你想要听一些能让你闻之色变的恐怖故事，那么现在就是我们《夜色黑暗》节目的常规环节时间——《不眠播客》。树叶的沙沙声，你视线边缘转瞬即逝的动静。你有多少次在黄昏时分走过森林小径，却感受到一种无法言喻的、某种看不见的东西正在注视着你的感觉？几个世纪以来，人类在黑暗中想象出了各种传说中的生物，它们的存在虽未被证实，但那些敢于深入荒野的人口中流传的低语却让人无法忽视它们的存在。准备好迎接《不眠播客》吧。

And if you wanna hear some tales that will curl your nose with horror, it's time for our regular segment here on the darkness of the night, an episode of the no sleep podcast. A rustle of the leaves, a fleeting movement at the edge of your vision. How often have you walked a forest trail at dusk only to feel the unmistakable sensation that something unseen is watching you? For centuries, humans have populated the darkness with creatures of legend whose existence remains unproven, yet whose presence is undeniable in the whispered tales of those who dare venture too deep into the wild. Brace yourself for the no sleep podcast.

欢迎收听《不眠播客》。我是主持人David Cummings。我敢打赌你们大多数人并不了解我。嗯，希望你们对我的了解不多，因为我想让我的自传成为畅销书。不过，也许有一件事会让你感到惊讶——我拥有神学学士学位。

Welcome to the No Sleep Podcast. I'm your host, David Cummings. I'll bet most of you don't know something about me. Well, hopefully, you don't know a lot about me because I want my autobiography to be a bestseller. But one thing that might surprise you about me is that I hold a bachelor of theology degree.

是的，我曾经是一个学习圣经的人。因此，我觉得由我来开始本期节目，先朗读一段圣经中的内容是合适的。如果你想的话，可以低下头。哥林多前书第13章第11节。

Yes. I used to be a Bible learning man. And so I feel it's appropriate to begin this episode with a reading from the good book. Feel free to bow your head if you'd like. First Corinthians chapter 13 verse 11.

我做孩子的时候，说话像孩子，思想像孩子，推断像孩子。既成了大人，就把孩子的事丢弃了。经文诵读完毕。

When I was a child, I spoke like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. Thus endeth the reading.

现在，暂且不谈宗教教义，我之所以选择这段经文，是因为它与本期节目有关。当我们成长时，我们被期望从孩子气的事物过渡到成人的行为方式。啊，但那样做有什么乐趣呢？坚持一些让我们保持童心的事物可能是有益的。而当涉及恐怖时，如果与孩子受到惊吓有关，它会引发我们强烈的共鸣。

Now ecclesiastical teachings aside, I chose that verse because it relates to this episode. As we grow, we are expected to progress from childish things to behaving like adults. Ah, but where's the fun in that? Holding on to things that keep us young at heart can be beneficial. And when it comes to horror, if it involves children being scared, it can resonate strongly with us.

无论是孩子们当下经历的噩梦，还是成年人回忆起童年时的噩梦，这种类型的恐怖故事都能让我们感受到如同年轻人经历创伤时一样脆弱。所以，我们暂且不要放弃孩子气的一面吧，因为当恐怖还年轻的时候，它会让我们的内心因恐惧而跳得更快。现在，请调频、打开耳朵，准备好迎接我们的不眠之夜。在第一个故事中，我们将认识一群充满好奇心的年轻朋友。但我们都知道好奇心曾给那只老猫带来了什么，对吧？

And whether it's children experiencing nightmarish things at the present time or adults recalling nightmares from their youth, Horror of this nature can make us feel as vulnerable as the young people felt going through the trauma. So let's not put an end to our childish ways quite yet, because when the horror is young at heart, that heart will beat faster in terror. Now tune in, turn on, and brace yourself for our sleepless tales. In our first tale, we meet a group of young friends full of curiosity. But we know what curiosity did to that old cat, don't we?

所以当孩子们决定去镇上的垃圾场探险时，你就知道麻烦即将来临。在这个由作者昆西·李分享的故事中，其中一个孩子决定跟他的朋友们开个玩笑，可以这么说，这个玩笑最后变得相当令人毛骨悚然。讲述这个故事的是Jeff Clement、Atticus Jackson、Matthew Bradford、Danielle McCray和Nicole Goodnight。那么，让我们来听听这个故事。作者这样描述它：我们发现了一台旧冰箱，我的朋友一直假装自己被困在里面出不来。

So when the kids decide to scavenge out in the town dump, you know there's trouble brewing. And in this tale shared with us by author Quincy Lee, one of the kids decides to play a prank on his friends, and it's safe to say this prank turns out to be quite chilling. Performing this tale are Jeff Clement, Atticus Jackson, Matthew Bradford, Danielle McCray, and Nicole Goodnight. So let's hear this tale that is best described by the author when he tells us, we found an old refrigerator, and my friend won't stop pretending to be stuck inside.

几天前，我的朋友扎兹告诉我们森林里有个垃圾场，问我们有没有兴趣去看看。那时正值夏天，我们也没什么更好的事可做，于是全都结伴前往。有我，我的朋友扎兹，我的表兄艾丹（他想捡些旧货在网上卖），我的姐姐伊丽莎白，还有我的小妹妹凯莎，凯莎让伊丽莎白照看着她。这个垃圾场和你想象的一样。有坏掉的洗衣机、水槽、防水布、旧木板、油桶和各种垃圾，而且这些东西看起来根本没法在eBay上卖——艾丹，你别想了。

A couple of days ago, my friend Zaz tells us about this dumping ground in the woods and asks if we want to see it. It's summer, we've got nothing better to do, so we all troop out there. Me, my friend Zaz, my cousin Aidan who wants to salvage old junk to sell online, my older sister Elizabeth, and my little sis Keisha told Elizabeth to watch her. The dump is exactly like you'd expect. Broken washing machines and a sink and tarp and old wooden boards and oil drums and trash and no, none of it looks like you can sell it on eBay, Aidan.

祝你好运，想自己把那台6000磅重、生锈的洗衣机从森林里拖出来。我不知道这些东西有多重，我数学不好。但我们还是都爬来爬去，翻找旧轮胎、压扁的纸箱、扭曲的金属片，锈得那么厉害，我们所有人都得去打破伤风针，或者不管它叫什么；还有碎玻璃、脏兮兮的卷起来的地毯，以及发臭的微波炉。艾丹坚持说只要刮掉几百万层的污垢，我们就能大赚一笔。这些东西一点都不酷也不有趣，我开始觉得扎兹把我们带到这里来真是个傻瓜。但就在垃圾堆的最底下，放着一台旧冰箱。

Good luck hauling that 6,000 pound rusted washing machine out of the woods yourself. I don't know how much stuff weighs, I'm bad at math. But we all go crawling around anyway, picking through old tires and flattened boxes and twisted shards of metal so rusted we're all gonna need tennis shots, or whatever they're called, and shattered glass and a grungy rolled up carpet and rank microwaves that Aidan insists we can totally make bank on if we scrape off a zillion layers of crusted gunk. None of it is cool or interesting, and I'm starting to think Zaz is an idiot for dragging us out here. But then, at the bottom of the heap, sits this old refrigerator.

这玩意儿看起来就像中世纪的产物，仿佛是本·富兰克林用过的冰箱。更像是潜水艇的一部分而不是冰箱。它的侧面凹陷，金属把手生锈了，看起来甚至能扛住炸弹爆炸。

This thing is like medieval. Like it could be Ben Franklin's refrigerator. Almost more submarine than fridge. Its dented sides and rusted metal handle could probably survive a bomb blast.

伙计。你们都知道这冰箱里可能有什么吧？对吧？

Dude. You all know what's probably in this fridge. Right?

艾丹没有上扎兹的当。你的午餐？一具尸体。扎兹指着我，好像我刚刚中了彩票大奖。但这次奖品不是一百万美元，而是那个冰箱里的东西。

Aiden doesn't take Zaz's bait. Your lunch? A dead body. Zaz points at me like I just won the lottery. But instead of a million bucks, I get whatever's in that fridge.

突然间，我明白了这才是他带我们所有人来这儿的真正原因。扎兹只对一件事感兴趣：把我们吓得半死。以前我妈总让我们离他远点，因为他比我们大，穿着风衣、钢头靴，还画着眼线。但后来我妈发现他只是个哥特青年而已。我们之所以经常在一起，是因为我们的房子正好隔街相望。另外，他迷上了我姐姐丽兹，他表达爱意的方式就是吓唬她。

Suddenly, I know this is the real reason he's let us all out here. Zaz is only ever interested in one thing: scaring the bejesus out of us. Mom used to make us stay away from him because he's older than us and wears a trench coat and steel toed boots and eyeliner, but eventually she figured out he's just goth. We hang out because our houses are right across the street. Also because he has a crush on Lisbeth, my sis, which he shows by terrifying her.

这并不是最有效的追求方式，但他在这方面确实有点傻。所以当他像舞台上的小丑一样站在冰箱旁边时，我就知道这将是他在追求伊丽莎白时使用的惊吓战术的关键。祝你好运，罗密欧。现在他张开双臂，像在舞台上一样，我们全都站在斜坡上，像坐在由报废电器做成的座位上的观众。然后他开始给我们讲关于冰箱的事。

Not the most effective tactic, but he's pretty dumb that way. So when he hovers around the fridge like a moth around a zapper, I know it's going to be key to his quest to win Elizabeth's heart through jump scares. Good luck, Romeo. And now he spreads his arms like the junks of stage and we're all on the slope like an audience in seats made of dead appliances. And he starts telling us about refrigerators.

特别是我们有多大可能在冰箱里找到尸体。事实上，这种可能性还真不小。你看，这些老式冰箱是当年人们还懂得如何制造耐用物品的年代生产的。有时候孩子们会在它们被丢弃多年后偶然发现它们。如果你在捉迷藏时不幸爬进了一台旧冰箱，它从里面是打不开的。

Specifically, how likely we are to find a body in one. Actually, there's a pretty good chance. See, these old fridges were built back when they knew how to make stuff last. Sometimes kids would stumble across them years after they'd been dumped. And if you were a kid unlucky enough to crawl into an old fridge during hide and seek, it wouldn't open from the inside.

不，这些老式冰箱的门是带锁扣的，你会被困在一个密闭的空间里，你的尖叫会被隔热的钢板闷住，直到你窒息而死。没人会知道这台冰箱其实是你的棺材，直到他们在垃圾场看到它，决定检查里面，然后闻到那股可怕的臭味。于是扎兹敲了敲那扇凹陷的白色冰箱门。

No, these old fridges have latching doors, so you'd be locked in an airtight sealed box, your screams muffled by its insulated steel until you suffocate it. And no one would know the fridge was actually your coffin until they saw it in the dump and decided to check inside and then the almighty stink. So Zaz knocks on the dented white door.

谁来打开它？没有人动。

Who's gonna open it? Nobody makes a move.

继续啊，艾登。我推了他一下。也许你可以把什么东西挂到 eBay 上卖。不可能的。你自己来。

Go on, Aiden. I nudge him. Maybe there's something you can sell on eBay. No fucking way. You do it.

我来吧。

I'll do it.

这是我小妹妹凯莎寄来的，她大概和里面那个正在化成浆的小孩年龄差不多。伊丽莎白一把抓住她。

This is from my baby sis, Keisha, who's probably the same age as whatever kid's turning to jelly in there. Elizabeth grabs her.

你不能靠近那里。

You're not going anywhere near.

看来我只能自己打开它了。

Guess I'll have to open it then.

扎兹露出一个笑容，握住生锈的金属把手。他试图表现得勇敢又迷人，偷偷看了伊丽莎白一眼，想知道她有没有被吸引。呵呵。没有。当莉兹贝丝拉着凯莎去看些不那么令人毛骨悚然的东西时，扎兹耸拉着肩膀。

Zaz flashes a grin and grips the rusted metal handle. He's trying to be brave and sexy, and sneaks a glance at Elizabeth to see if she's impressed. LOL. Nope. Zaz's shoulders slump as Lizbeth drags Keisha off to look at something less morbid.

艾丹和我等着，嗯，因为我们也很想看看里面到底有什么。但这时扎兹放开了把手，露出一种神情。艾丹和我对视了一眼，因为我们都知道他接下来肯定要加码，或者做些什么，试图博得她的欢心。如果用词不对，我很抱歉。果不其然，几分钟后，我看到扎兹穿着他的黑色风衣，引诱凯莎走进树林，而伊丽莎白正被艾丹缠住，他还是老样子，充当扎兹的僚机。

Aidan and I wait because, well, we want to see what's inside. But now Zaz lets go of the handle and gets this look. And Aiden and I make eye contact because we just know he's going to, like, up the ante or whatever in a futile attempt to win her over. Sorry if those are the wrong words. And sure enough, a few minutes later, I see Zaz in his black trench coat luring Keisha into the woods, while Elizabeth is distracted by Aiden, his usual wingman.

终于，发现凯莎不见了，开始惊慌起来。

Finally, notices Keisha's missing and starts freaking out.

凯莎，凯莎，凯莎，你最好别在冰箱里。

Keisha, Keisha, Keisha, you better not be in the fridge.

而因为伊丽莎白其实是个相当称职的姐姐，她甚至没有犹豫一下，直接冲过去抓住了那个生锈的金属把手。那把手一定重得要命，因为她拉开的时候发出了一声哼叫。一只长长的手臂抓住了她，她尖叫起来。即使隔着很远，她的声音也震得我们耳朵生疼。我跑过去看，发现扎兹把她拉到了他身上。

And because Elizabeth is actually a pretty good older sis, she doesn't even hesitate, just rushes over and grabs the rusted metal handle. And it must weigh a ton because she grunts as she hauls it open. A long arm grabs her and she shrieks. Even at a distance, her voice rings our ears. I run down to see Zaz has pulled her on top of him.

她气坏了，一边狠狠地打他，而他却笑得前仰后合。她告诉他一点都不好笑，然后爬出来把他推开，气冲冲地走了，脸上通红。他笑得眼泪都快出来了。真是个傻瓜。凯莎从树林里探出头来。

She's so mad she's hitting him pretty hard while he's busting a gut. She tells him that is not funny and climbs out and shoves him down and storms off red faced. He's teary eyed with laughter. What an idiot. Keisha pokes out from the woods.

我现在可以出来了吗？

Can I come out now?

我走过去加入她，她问我为什么扎兹喜欢吓唬我们的姐姐。我告诉她那是他的表达爱的方式。她听了之后认真想了一会儿。

I go up and join her, and she asks why Zaz likes scaring our sister. And I tell her it's his love language. She thinks real hard about this for a moment.

也许他应该试试送花之类的。

Maybe he should, like, try flowers instead.

哇。我们快到家的时候，手机突然震动起来。救命，救命，在冰箱里。

Wow. We're almost home when my phone starts buzzing. Help. Help. In the fridge.

别开玩笑了。我这次真的被困住了。救命啊。不是开玩笑的。

Nice try. I'm seriously stuck. Rip. Not fucking kidding. Help.

我不想像伊丽莎白一样再上一次当，所以我问她我该怎么办。但她却让我让他窒息去吧。艾登在我们后面更远的路上，慢悠悠地走着，所以我等他赶上来，问他扎兹去哪了。他看起来很惊讶，说以为他和我在一块。

I don't want to fall for the same trick as Elizabeth, so I ask her what I should do. But she tells me to let him suffocate. Aidan is on the path further behind us, taking his sweet time, so I wait for him to catch up and ask him where Zaz is. He looks surprised. Thought he was with you.

他说话的方式让我怀疑他也是同伙之一，尤其是当他拒绝和我一起去查看，因为他说快要下雨了，他可能会感冒。真酷，老兄。那你在葬礼上也会这么说吗？不过，哪怕只有0000001%的可能性，我的朋友真的需要帮助，以免获得达尔文奖，我还是决定回去看看。当你和一群人在一起的时候，一切都显得很正常，但当你一个人的时候，突然就变得诡异起来，这种感觉很奇怪。

Something about the way he says this makes me suspect he's in on it, especially when he refuses to come check with me because it's gonna rain and he might catch cold. Cool, bro. You're gonna say that at the funeral too? But, like, on the point 0000001% chance my friend needs actual help to save him from a Darwin award, I head back. And it's weird how everything seems normal when you're with a group, but when you're by yourself, it suddenly gets all, like, creepy and stuff.

厚重的乌云低垂在天空，几滴大大的雨点打在我身上。到了垃圾场，因为太阳已经落山了，坡底几乎一片漆黑。我手臂和腿上的汗毛都竖了起来，就像有无数只虫子在皮肤上爬行一样。扎兹？没有回应。

Heavy clouds hang low in the sky and a few fat droplets hit me. At the dumpsite, the bottom of the slope is almost in total darkness because the sun is setting. The hairs on my arms and legs prickle like a zillion bugs crawling up my skin. Zaz? No response.

我爬下去，看到那台凹陷的白色冰箱，像个潜水艇一样躺在最底部。它弯曲的门上满是污渍和擦痕，但不知为何却有种永恒的感觉，仿佛你就算用核弹炸它，它也不会有事。它是被遗弃垃圾中的元老。它散发出一种氛围，仿佛它太古老了，是第一个来到这里的东西，森林和整个垃圾堆都是围绕着它生长起来的。我在想扎兹是不是真的在里面。

I crawl down and spot that dented white submarine of a refrigerator, lying at the very bottom. Its curving door is stained and scuffed, but somehow timeless, like you could nuke it and it would be totally fine. The OG of dumped junk. It's got this vibe like it's like it's so old, it was the first thing here, and the forest and this whole pile all grew up around it. I wonder if Zaz is really in there.

他的肌肉不会抽筋吗？我想象着他像蜘蛛一样蜷缩在里面，随时准备伸展一条肢体把我拽进去。我得承认，我吓得要死。我跳了起来，赶紧查看手机。救命。

Wouldn't his muscles be cramping? I imagine him all folded up inside like a spider waiting to uncurl a limb and drag me in. I'll admit it, I'm scared as shit. I jump and check my phone. Help.

扎兹？没有回应。里面隔音这么好，他听不到我说话吗？我小心翼翼地沿着斜坡往下走。离冰箱还有几英尺远的时候，我停了下来。

Zaz? No response. Is it so insulated in there that it can't hear me? I pick my way down the slope. A few feet away from the fridge, I pause.

好啦好啦，我来了。我滑下剩下的那段路，直到靠近得可以触摸到那光滑的白色表面。嘿，也许你该试着送花，这样伊丽莎白就不会讨厌你了。我希望能激他回应我，但他一点声音都没有，连一点动静都没有，即使我敲了冰箱也没反应。然后我突然大笑起来，所有的空气都从我身体里冲了出来。

Okay, okay, I'm coming. I skid down the rest of the way until I'm close enough to touch the smooth white surface. Hey, maybe you should try flowers instead so Elizabeth doesn't hate you. I'm hoping to rile him into responding, but not a peep, not a sound, nothing even when I bang on the fridge. And then I bark out a laugh, all the air busting out of me.

伙计，我能看见你的手指正抓着门。我看着他调整了抓握的位置。他真的下定决心要耗下去。我很佩服他有这种自制力，即使被点名了也不破功。但说实话，我才不会去碰那个冰箱把手呢，那样我很容易就被他抓住。

Dude, I can see your fingers holding the door open. I watch as he adjusts his grip. He's really determined to wait me out. Kudos to him for having the self control not to break even when called out. But like, I am not gonna touch that fridge handle, not when it would put me in such easy range of those gripping fingers.

不，我决定了。当我从垃圾场离开时，手机又开始震动，这次我无视了它。深夜，我的手机一直震动不停。冷。冷。

Nope, I decide. And when my phone starts buzzing again as I climb away from the dump site, this time I ignore it. In the middle of the night, my phone won't stop buzzing. Cold. Cold.

快停下。冷。冷。冷。被困住了。

Come on, stop. Cold. Cold. Cold. Stuck.

一直这样。很明显，他不可能被困住，否则他早就窒息了，那他怎么可能还在发短信？尽管我知道每次手机震动都意味着他还活着，安安全全地待在房间里偷笑，一边打字一边肯定没有被困在冰箱里，但我还是开始觉得非常不安。我终于把手机调成了静音，但再查看时，他还在发短信。第二天早上，我的胃因为恐惧而一直打结，整个早餐时间手机都在震动。

On and on. Like, obviously, he's not stuck because by now he'd have suffocated, so how would he be texting? But even though I know that every vibration of my phone means he's alive and well and giggling to himself from the safety of his room as he types and definitely not stuck in that fridge, it's starting to super freak me out. I finally turn my phone on silent, but when I check again, he's still texting. The next day, my stomach knots with dread all through breakfast while my phone buzzes.

我有点想去看看冰箱，但从昨天开始就一直在下雨，妈妈不让我在下雨天出去。奇怪的是，他的YouTube、Snapchat、Discord或其他任何地方都没有更新。只有那些无聊的短信说他很冷。最后，我终于回了他一条消息。

I kinda wanna check the fridge, but it hasn't stopped raining since yesterday and mom won't let me go out while it's wet. The weird thing is there's nothing on his YouTube or Snapchat or Discord or anywhere. Just those dumb texts saying he's cold. Finally, I message him back.

冷。

Cold.

那你就从冰箱里出来吧。被困住了。救命。好吧，如果你不再给我发消息，我一会儿就来。消息暂停了一阵子，但当天色开始变暗时，他又发来了消息。

Maybe come out of the fridge then. Stuck. Help. Fine, I'll come soon if you stop messaging me. The messages stop for a while, but once the sun starts sinking lower in the sky, he messages again.

你来吗？好冷。天哪。好冷。好冷。

Are you coming? Cold. OMFG. Cold. Cold.

冷。

Cold.

我正开始打字回复，突然有人敲门，让我以为也许他终于站在那儿，脸上带着那副欠揍的笑容。但不是，是莉兹贝丝，看起来她睡得比我还要糟糕。她说扎兹的妈妈打电话来问有没有人见过他。她一说完，我胃里那种不安的疙瘩立刻变成了一根套在我脖子上的绞索，勒得我喘不过气来。我赶紧打开手机。

I'm starting to type a reply when a knock on my door makes me think maybe he's finally going to be standing there with this shit eating grin. But no, it's Lizbeth, looking like she slept even worse than me. She says Zaz's mom called asking if anyone's seen him. And as soon as she says that, the knot of dread in my stomach becomes a noose around my throat so tight I can't breathe. I tap quickly into my phone.

嘿，你妈妈特别担心你。卡住了。我是认真的，你现在在哪？冰箱。

Hey, your mom's super worried. Stuck. I'm serious. Where are you right now? Fridge.

兄弟，大家都真的在担心你。你能别这样吗？好冷。兄弟，别闹了。认真点，你这完全说不通。

Bro, everyone's worried for real. Can you please stop? Cold. Bro, stop. Like, for real, that doesn't even make sense.

冰箱没通电，所以它不可能冷。冷。冷。冷。冷。

The fridge doesn't have power, so it can't be cold. Cold. Cold. Cold. Cold.

冷。冷。冷。冷。冷。

Cold. Cold. Cold. Cold. Cold.

冷。冷。冷。冷。冷。他还在继续打更多的“冷”字时，我把那些信息给伊丽莎白看，她彻底爆发了。她把手机扔到了地毯上。

Cold. Cold. He's still typing more colds when I show the texts to Elizabeth, and she goes full nuclear. She flings the phone on the carpet.

见鬼，这不好笑，你得告诉你的朋友他有多蠢。

Jesus fucking Christ, this is not funny and you need to tell your friend what an idiot he's being.

喋喋不休说个没完。然后她抓住我的胳膊，说我们要去找他，把他锁在房间里，永远不准出门。但在这之前，她要先掐死他。我开始觉得，她可能也有点喜欢他，而她的表达爱的方式就是愤怒。十分钟后，我们到了垃圾场。

And on and on. And then she grabs my arm and tells me we're gonna find him and chain him to his room to be grounded for life. But first, she's gonna strangle her. I'm starting to think she might actually have a little crush on him too, and that her love language is rage. Ten minutes later, we're at the dump site.

我慌乱地匆忙追赶，翻过一堆垃圾，连我的脚踩到什么东西发出咔嚓一声都没注意到。我停下脚步，往后退了一步，皱起眉头。伊丽莎白？什么？我的鞋底下踩着的是扎兹的手机。

Scrambling to keep up in such a hurry, climbing over all the trash that I don't even notice when my foot hits something with a crack. I stop, step back, frowning. Elizabeth? What? On the ground under my shoe is Zaz's phone.

伊丽莎白一把捡起手机，擦干净上面的污渍。

Elizabeth snatches up the phone and wipes it off.

该死的白痴。他一定会气疯的。

Fucking idiot. He's gonna be pissed.

伊丽莎白走向冰箱时，我的手机又震动了。冷，冷，冷。丽兹贝丝。她对着冰箱门大喊扎兹是个白痴，挥舞着他的手机，宣布他把手机掉在地上了。她手中的手机是黑色的，屏幕已经碎了，完全没电了。

My phone buzzes again as Elizabeth heads down toward the fridge. Cold. Lizbeth. She's yelling at the fridge door that Zaz is an idiot, waving his phone and announcing that he dropped it. The phone in her hand is black, cracked, dead.

她的另一只手紧紧抓着生锈的冰箱把手。我的手机又震动了。你在吗？别打开。她困惑地回头看我。

The fingers of her other hand grip the refrigerator's rusted handle. My phone buzzes. Are you here? Don't open it. She looks back at me, confused.

别打开。

Don't open it.

他在里面。如果我们不打开，他就会被困在他自己愚蠢的恶作剧中。

He's in there. He'll be stuck on his own dumb prank if we don't open

别打开。让我来。我必须打开它。我们来回拉扯着，而我的手机不断震动，收到一条条短信。

it. Don't. Let me go. I have to open it. We fight back and forth, and my phone keeps vibrating with texts.

冷，冷，冷，即使伊丽莎白手中的手机已经没电了。我试图告诉她手机已经坏了，但她却说我太不理智了，说手机只是延迟了，还说扎兹显然是在匆忙跑进冰箱之前就把手机掉在地上的。但不是这样的。不是这样的。不是这样的。

Cold, cold, cold, even though the phone in Elizabeth's hand is dead. I tried to tell her it's dead, but she tells me there's a delay, that I I'm being irrational, that he obviously dropped it just as he was hurrying into the fridge. But no. No. No.

不是的。这手机又黑又湿，屏幕保护膜下有水，说明他在雨停之前，甚至可能是在昨晚开始下雨之前就已经把手机掉在地上了。那他怎么还能用一部没电的手机发短信呢？然后她猛地推了我一把，我踉跄后退，一屁股坐在地上。她抓住生锈的冰箱门，用力拉开。

No. The phone is dark and and wet, and the screen protector has water under it, meaning he dropped it before the rain stopped, maybe even before it started last night. So how how was he texting from a dead phone? And then she shoves me hard so I stumble back and fall on my ass. She grabs the rusted door and pulls.

她的尖叫声与门猛然打开的吱呀声混在一起。我僵在原地，几秒钟都不敢动弹，害怕极了。我感觉到有什么温暖的东西顺着腿往下流。然后我蹑手蹑脚地绕到姐姐身边，从她的肩膀上看过去。他看起来很安详，头偏向一边。

Her shriek mingles with the shriek of the door as it falls open. For seconds, I'm frozen, too terrified to move. I feel something warm trickle down my leg. Then I creep round to my sister, looking over her shoulder. He looks peaceful, his head turned to one side.

他的皮肤有点发灰。四肢蜷缩着，脸上一副熟睡的表情，他在里面看起来那么年轻，几乎就像他曾经说过的那些孩子一样。我等着看他胸膛起伏。他一定是在装。伊丽莎白在哭。

His skin's sorta grayish. With his limbs all tucked up, his face composed in sleep, he he looks so young in there, almost like one of those kids he was talking about. I wait for his chest to rise and fall. He's faking. Elizabeth is crying.

他一定是在装。伊丽莎白转身跑了，我则茫然地从冰箱边后退，仍然等着他的胸膛动一下，但它却一动不动。有一股腐烂的气味，但不是那种扑面而来的强烈腐臭味。更像是冰箱本身散发出的陈年腐气，像是困在里面的几十年的空气，又闷又冷得刺骨。

He's gotta be faking. Elizabeth turns and runs, and I back up from the refrigerator in a daze, still waiting for his chest to move, but it doesn't. There's a rotting smell, but not like a knock you down rotting. It it seems like the stench of the fridge itself of of decades old air trapped inside. Stale air that tastes a bit rank and very, very cold.

我转身慌乱地追着她跑。当警察到达丢弃地点时，冰箱已经锈死了，他们不得不叫来施工队把门彻底撬开。但里面除了旧污渍什么都没有，他们怀疑一个青少年根本不可能挤进去，除非他缩得很小很小。他们最终的结论是失踪人口。不过，这也不完全准确。

I turn and scramble after her. When the police arrive at the dump site, the fridge is rusted closed, so they have to call in a construction crew to bust the door clean off. But inside is nothing but old stains, and they doubt a teenager could even fit in there unless he really scrunched. Missing person is their official verdict. It's not exactly right, though.

你看，我妹妹的房间里，门口，或者更常见的是她打开冰箱时，总会有花掉出来。干枯的、压平的、死掉的花。她觉得那是他的鬼魂。而我觉得我们没找到尸体，说明他还活着，只是太胆小不敢露面而已。他可能不知道该怎么结束这场冰箱游戏，因为大家都生他的气，所以他只能继续假装下去。

See, my sis keeps getting flowers scattered in her room or outside her door or more often tumbling out of the refrigerator when she opens it. Dried, pressed, dead flowers. She thinks it's his ghost. I think the fact we didn't find a body means he's alive, but just too chicken to show himself. Like he doesn't know how to end this fridge game cause everyone's so pissed at him and he's just still pretending.

而且他现在没有手机，没人能联系上他。所以我昨天把他的坏掉的手机放回了丢弃地点，放在那台已经所剩无几的冰箱旁边。也许他可以把它放进大米里试试抢救一下。只要他修好了手机就能看到我的留言。所以，扎兹，如果你听到这个，请亲自把花送给莉兹贝丝吧。

And since he doesn't have his phone, no one has any way of communicating with him. So yesterday I put his dead phone back at the dumpsite and what's left of the fridge. Like maybe he can throw it in some rice or something. And once he does he'll get my messages. So Zaz, if you're hearing this, Lizbeth would like it much better if you could give her the flowers in person.

冰箱已经坏了。你不能再假装被困在里面了。回来吧。更新：天啊，吓死人了。

The fridge is broken. You can't pretend to be stuck in it anymore. Come back. Update. Holy freaking balls.

扎兹刚刚回复了我的短信。请回来吧。拜托了。拜托了。拜托了。

Zaz just responded to my texts. Please come back. Please. Please. Please.

好。哦，天哪。哦，天哪。我靠。我找到你的手机了。

Okay. Oh my god. Oh my god. My fucking god. I found your phone.

嘿，兄弟。你真的要回来吗？拜托了。拜托了。拜托了，回来吧。

Hey, bro. Are you really coming back? Please. Please. Please come back.

我们都想念你。我正在路上。终于，伊丽莎白看到他亲手送上的鲜花时一定会非常开心。他妈妈也会非常开心。艾登、基莎和所有人都会非常开心。

We all miss you. On my way. Finally, Elizabeth is gonna be so happy when he hands her those flowers in person. His mom's gonna be so happy. Aiden and Keisha and everyone's gonna be so happy.

WNSP将在插播赞助商广告后继续播出。你想要更长的节目内容、无广告干扰，以及大量额外内容吗？请访问 sleepless.thenosleeppodcast.com 了解更多信息。多亏了BetterHelp的赞助，我们才没有感到那么大的压力。工作场所的压力对许多人的心理健康都会造成严重影响。

WNSP will return after a word from our sponsors. You want longer episodes, no ads, and lots of bonus content? Find out more at sleepless.thenosleeppodcast.com. We're not feeling so stressed thanks to this being sponsored by BetterHelp. And stress in the workplace is a serious detriment to the mental health of many people.

而且我们很多人会利用暑假休假一段时间，但我们知道这只是压力中的一次短暂休息。为了对抗压力，我们大多数人无法挥手告别工作，但我们可以从小事做起，注重健康。我个人特别喜欢在夏天尽可能多地待在户外，这有助于缓解一些压力。假期固然很好，但它并不是解决压力的长期方案。

And with many of us taking some time off work for summer vacations, we know that's just a small break from the stress. To battle stress, most of us can't wave goodbye to work, but we can start small with a focus on wellness. Personally, I love spending as much time outdoors as possible during the summer. Helps temp down the stress levels a bit. And a holiday is great, but it isn't a long term solution to stress.

别忘了，无论工作日还是其他任何时候遇到什么挑战，心理咨询都能帮助你应对。BetterHelp 提供便捷的心理咨询服务。拥有超过3万名心理咨询师，BetterHelp 是全球最大的在线心理咨询平台，已为全球超过500万人提供服务。只需点击一下，你就可以与咨询师进行会谈，将心理咨询轻松融入忙碌的生活中。还可以随时更换咨询师。

Don't forget that therapy can help you navigate whatever challenges the workday or any day might bring. Therapy you can access with BetterHelp. With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform, having served over 5,000,000 people globally. You can join a session with a therapist at the click of a button, helping you fit therapy into your busy life. Plus switch therapists at any time.

作为全球最大的在线心理咨询平台，BetterHelp 能为你提供拥有多种专业背景的心理健康专家。我们的听众可以享受首月10%的折扣，访问 betterhelp.com/nosleep 获取优惠。就是 betterhelp.com/nosleep。感谢 BetterHelp 对我们工作的支持。我很高兴继续向大家介绍 Function Health，因为我本人就非常需要了解自己身体的状况。

As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/nosleep. That's better,help,.com/nosleep. Thanks BetterHelp for supporting what we do. And I'm happy to continue making you aware of Function Health because I, for one, am very much in need of knowing what's going on in my body.

我选择 Function 是因为它是一个健康平台，它能提供大多数人从未接触过的数据，并提供实际可行的建议。想想看，现在还有所谓的健康常态吗？传统的健康习惯已经随着科技的发展而改变。Function 正是医疗保健与时俱进的产物。FirstHealth 会员可以让你检测超过100项生物标志物，涵盖全身各个系统。

I chose Function because it's the only health platform that gives you access to the kind of data most people never see and the insights to actually take action. And think about it, is there a new normal these days? Old health routines have changed with technology. Function is what happens when health care catches up. The FirstHealth membership gives you access to 100 plus biomarkers across the whole body.

包括荷尔蒙、新陈代谢、炎症、心脏、肝脏等等。此外，你还可以选择增加核磁共振和CT扫描项目。医学级别的健康数据随时间推移被持续追踪，并以通俗易懂的语言进行解释。Function 可以帮助你通过高级检测停止猜测，例如铁蛋白水平检测，它对氧气运输和细胞能量至关重要。Sleepless 的听众可以获得100美元的会员抵扣。访问 functionhealth.com/nosleep 或者在注册时使用优惠码 nosleep100 来开启你的健康之旅。

Hormones, metabolism, inflammation, heart, liver, and more. Plus, you can add on MRIs and CT scans too. Medical grade insights tracked over time, explained in plain language. Function can help you stop guessing with advanced tests like, for instance, ferritin levels, which are essential for oxygen transport and cellular energy sleepless listeners get a $100 credit toward their membership. Visit functionhealth.com/nosleep or use gift code nosleep 100 at sign up for your own health.

感谢 Function 为我们健康保驾护航。现在回到 WNSB 呈现的 No Sleep Podcast。当我们回忆童年时，与祖父母共度的时光往往是我们最珍贵也最复杂的记忆来源。但对于这个故事中的男人来说，在祖父湖边小屋的回忆是美好的。但在作者奥斯汀·泰勒分享的这个故事中，祖父去世后，他决定通过建造他们曾计划一起修建的码头来纪念祖父，但他很快发现，湖里确实有不能继续深入的原因。

Thanks for looking out for our health function. Now back to WNSB's presentation of the no sleep podcast. When it comes to remembering our childhoods, the memories we shared with our grandparents can be a rich source of fond and not so fond recollections. But for the man in this tale, the memories of being at his grandfather's lakeside home are good ones. But in this tale, shared with us by author Austin Taylor, after his grandfather passed, he decides to honor him by building the dock they had planned on working on together, but he soon discovers that there was a good reason to not venture further out into that lake.

讲述这个故事的是 Reagan Tacker 和 Nicole Goodnight。也许有些记忆还是留在过去比较好。了解更多关于那个最深的湖的秘密并不会带来什么好事。过去，

Performing this tale are Reagan Tacker and Nicole Goodnight. So perhaps it's better to keep your memories in the past. Nothing good can come from learning more about the deepest lake. Past,

我祖父大约在八个月前去世了，现在回想起来仍然有点不真实。我一直和他很亲近。小时候，每年暑假我都会去他家过假期。这样妈妈就不用在学校放假时找托儿所或保姆了，而我则可以去他家房子后面的湖里游泳和钓鱼。双赢。

My grandfather good passed away about eight months ago, and it still feels a little surreal. I'd always been close to him. When I was little, I would visit him every year for summer break. My mom didn't have to find a daycare or sitter while school was out, and I got to go swimming and fishing in the lake behind his house. Win win.

每年夏天他都会计划新的活动。有时候我们会尝试新的钓鱼技巧，其他年份我们会去他土地上的起伏田野和树林里猎鹿。那片土地将近80英亩，对于小时候的我来说，那是一片可以尽情探索的无限空间。有一年，我们花了将近两个月的时间建造了一座俯瞰湖泊的树屋。真是奇迹，我们俩都没有从树上摔下来，没有摔断什么东西，或者更糟。

Each summer he would have new activities planned. Sometimes we would try new fishing techniques, other years we would go hunting for deer in the rolling fields and wooded sections of his land. It was nearly 80 acres, which felt like an infinite amount of space to explore as a kid. One year we spent nearly two whole months building a tree house overlooking the lake. It was a miracle neither of us fell out of the trees and broke something or worse.

我最美好的回忆都是和爷爷一起在那里度过的。我和他一起度过的最后一个夏天，他已经着手为下一年制定计划了。我们打算建一个延伸到湖面上的露台，可以直接从边上钓鱼。也许他终于厌倦了修理我们总是拿出去用的那艘摇摇晃晃的旧划艇。这将是我们迄今为止最大的项目。

All of my fondest memories happened out there with my grandpa. The last summer I spent with him, he had already started drafting up plans for the next year. We were gonna build a deck stretching out onto the lake that you could go fishing right off of the side of. Maybe he had finally gotten tired of repairing our rickety old rowboat we always took out. It would be the biggest project we had undertaken by far.

甚至可能要花上两三个夏天才能完成。我当时兴奋得不得了，父母不得不硬拉着我回家，但那个露台最终没有建成。那年冬天，爷爷开始出现一些问题。他会在半夜打电话给我妈妈，胡言乱语地说一些让人听不懂的话。大多数时候，妈妈都能让他平静下来。有一次情况特别严重，妈妈不得不半夜开车两个多小时赶到他家，陪他住了几天。

It might even take a couple summers to get it done. I was so excited my parents had to practically drag me back home, but the deck never got built and that winter my grandpa started having some issues. He would call my mom in the middle of the night ranting and raving about things that didn't make any sense. Most of the time she could get him to calm down. One time it got so bad she had to drive all the way out to his house, nearly two hours in the middle of the night and stay with him for a few days.

我能看出这对我妈妈来说很不容易。不幸的是，他的病情随着时间推移越来越严重。他的邻居不止一次发现他穿着睡衣在树林里徘徊，找不到回家的路。到了第二年春天，很明显他已经无法独自生活了。尽管他强烈反对，我妈妈还是把他搬进了一家离我们只有几分钟路程的护理机构。

I could see it was tough on her. Unfortunately, he only got worse over time. His neighbors found him wandering around in the woods in his pajamas more than once, unable to find his way back home. By the next spring it was clear he couldn't live on his own anymore. Against his protests, my mom moved him into an assisted care facility only a few minutes away from us.

我陪她每周去探望他几次。一开始他见到我们还很高兴，后来就只是困惑，最终，他几乎不再有任何反应。这一切发生得太快了。有一天我们还一起钓鱼，听着老汉克·威廉姆斯的歌曲。

I went with her to visit a couple times every week. For a while he was happy to see us, then he was just confused. Eventually, he didn't respond much at all. Everything happened so fast. One day we were hanging out fishing and listening to old Hank Williams songs.

第二天他就变得像个空壳一样。他在那家护理机构住了大约五年，比医生最初预估的时间还要长。到了最后，我甚至不确定这到底是福还是祸。他去世的那天，离他70岁生日只差几天。

Next day he was nothing but a shell. He lived in that care facility for about five years. It was longer than the doctors had initially estimated. Near the end, I wasn't sure if that was a blessing or a curse. He passed just a few days before his seventieth birthday.

我们在他的家里举行了葬礼接待。我妈妈和我不得不提前做一些清洁和修缮工作。虽然房子已经基本闲置了五年，但总体来说状况还算不错。葬礼和接待会的规模都不大，但气氛很好。接待会结束后，我一个人走到湖边站了一会儿。

We had the funeral reception out at his house. My mom and I had to do some cleaning and repairs beforehand. After sitting mostly untouched for five years, it was still in pretty decent shape, all things considered. The ceremony and reception were both small, but nice. After the reception, I went and stood out by the lake by myself for a while.

那个湖可能只有几百英尺宽，但小时候的我却觉得它大得多。几天后，我得到了一个不小的惊喜。在爷爷遗嘱的宣读仪式上，我们得知他把房子和土地留给了我。那是我最后一次和他一起度过的夏天前几个月写的。我能感觉到我姑姑掩饰不住的嫉妒，但至少我妈妈为我感到高兴。

It was only maybe a couple 100 feet across, but it seemed so much bigger when I was just a kid. I got quite the surprise a couple days later. At the reading of my grandpa's will, we found out he had left the house and land to me. He had written it only a few months before my last summer with him. I could feel my aunt's barely veiled jealousy, but at least my mom was happy for me.

她主动提出帮助我完成一些我们之前还没来得及处理的事情。她甚至说，如果我决定完全搬进去，她会帮我支付搬家的费用。但我还没准备好立刻这么做。我还需要完成学业，而且我有种感觉，这块土地上需要做的事情可能比我表面看到的要多得多。每个周末我都会开车上去，做一点修缮工作，清理枯死的树木，更换房子上那些变形的老木板，给车道铺上新的碎石。

She offered to help me fix up a few remaining things we hadn't gotten to before the reception. She even said she'd help me pay for movers if I decided to move in completely. I wasn't ready to do that just yet. I still needed to finish school and I had a feeling there was probably more to be done around the lot than it seemed on the surface. Every weekend I drove up and did a little more to get it ready, clearing out the dead trees, placing the warped old siding on the house, pouring new gravel for the driveway.

进展缓慢，但每天我都在离目标更近一步。然后几个月前的一天，我在清理一堆垃圾的时候，在爷爷的老工作台上发现了一些草图的蓝图。那是我们那个从未建成的湖边码头的设计图，我们那个伟大的工程计划。如果我说我看到这些图纸时没有一点感动，那我就是在撒谎。这些图纸基本上已经完成了，只差一些尺寸数据，但都不是什么大问题。于是就在那一刻，我决定我要把那个露台建起来。

It was slow going, but I was getting closer every day. Then one day a few months ago while I was cleaning a pile of junk out of the garbage, I found some rough blueprints still spread out on my grandpa's old workbench. They were the plans for the lake dock, our grand project we never got to build. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a little emotional looking them over. They were basically all done, missing a few measurements but nothing too crazy, so I decided right then and there I was gonna build the deck.

我想完成这个去年夏天的项目。接下来的一周，我前去购买了大部分所需的木材和五金件。我还买了一个水深测量仪，以便获取最后需要的测量数据。我需要知道末端柱子的高度，这些柱子会延伸到湖里。如果水深超过15英尺左右，我可能会选择使用一些锚让码头漂浮起来，但原计划是使用柱子，所以我想如果可以的话，我还是坚持原计划。

I would finish this one last summer project. I went and bought most of the lumber and hardware the following week. I also bought a water depth gauge so I could get the last measurements I needed. The height for the posts at the end which would go down into the lake. If it was more than 15 feet or so, I would probably just get some anchors and let it float, but the original plans called for posts, so I figured I would stick to it if I could.

接下来的那个周末，我又回到了那栋房子。我借了朋友的皮卡车，以便一次把大部分东西运过去。我还带了一些食物、水和其他必需品。如果不用来回镇上开车，我可以在这住几天，这样建造起来会方便很多。爷爷的一些家具还留在那里，短时间居住已经足够舒适了。

The next weekend, I was back out at the house. I borrowed a friend's pickup to haul most of everything in one trip. I also brought some food, water, and other essentials. It would make building a lot easier if I just stayed at the house for a few days without having to drive back and forth to town. Enough of my grandpa's furniture was still there to make shorter stays comfortable enough.

我做的第一件事就是去获取所需的水深测量数据。我把那艘老旧的划艇拖到了湖边长满杂草的岸边，一路上祈祷着它至少能浮在水面上足够长的时间让我完成测量。那个测量仪看起来很简单，看起来像一个手电筒。你把它插入水面，它会使用激光来测量到湖底的距离。

The first thing I did was go out to get the depth measurements I needed. I dragged the old rowboat over to the overgrown grassy shore of the lake, praying the whole time that it would stay afloat at least long enough for me to get the reading. The meter I got seemed simple enough. It looked like a flashlight. You're supposed to stick it in at the surface of the water and it uses a laser to tell how far it is to the bottom.

现代科技的奇迹。幸运的是，船仍然浮在水面上，甚至似乎没有任何大的漏水问题。我跳上船，划桨到了大约30英尺远的位置，那里将是码头的尽头。我打开深度测量仪，把它插入水中，按下开关，但什么也没有反应。侧面的显示屏一直闪烁着读数，持续了相当长的时间，看起来不太正常。

The wonders of modern technology. Lucky for me, the boat still floated and didn't even seem to have any major leaks. I hopped aboard and paddled out about 30 feet to where the end of the dock would be. I uncapped the depth meter, stuck it in, flipped the switch, and nothing. The display on the side kept flashing reading for what seemed like an unusual length of time.

大约一分钟后，屏幕上显示错误信息，然后仪器就自动关掉了。我又尝试了几次，但结果还是一样。现代科技的奇迹啊。所以我又回到了五金店。幸运的是，房子附近有一家较小的五金店，我不用再回到镇上。

After a minute or so, the message changed to error and then it turned back off. I tried a few more times, but the result was the same. The wonders of modern technology. And so I headed back to the hardware store. Luckily, there was a smaller one closer to the house, so I didn't have to go all the way back into town.

我又买了一个水深测量仪。这个比较传统，就是一根线上拴着一个重物，你可以把它放下去。当它触到湖底时，你可以直接读取线上的数字，基本上就是一个带金属块的卷尺，可能我一开始就该买这种。我回到房子后再次划船到了湖上。我把重物扔进水里，让它开始下沉，但它一直下，没有停下来。

I bought another water depth meter. This one was more old school, just a weight on the end of a line that you could spool out. Once it hit the bottom, you could just read the numbers on the line, basically just a tape measure with a hunk of metal at the end, probably what I should have gotten in the first place. I got back to the house and rode out onto the lake once more. I tossed the weight into the water and let it start to sink, but it didn't stop.

线一直放，越放越快。15英尺，30英尺，50英尺。我简直不敢相信自己看到的。最后停在100英尺的位置，不是因为它触到了湖底，而是因为我的测量线已经放完了。这不可能是真的。

The line kept going, unspooling more and more, almost seeming to pick up speed. 15 feet, 30 feet, 50 feet. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It eventually stopped at a 100 feet, not because it had hit anything, but because that was as far as my meter line went. That couldn't possibly be right.

当然，小时候我从没碰到过湖底，但它真的有那么深吗？我花了几分钟把线收回来，又试了一次，心想结果可能会不一样，但结果还是一样，只有线放完的时候它才会停下来。我站在那里挠头，不知道接下来该怎么办。我应该换一根更长的线吗？即使我能触到湖底，现在也不能用柱子来支撑码头了。

Sure I had never touched the bottom as a kid, but it couldn't be that deep, could it? I spent a few minutes reeling it back in and tried again, thinking somehow it would be different, but sure enough, it only stopped when there was no line left to give it. I just stood there scratching my head for a bit, unsure on where to even go from here. Should I get a longer line? Even if I did hit the bottom, it wasn't like I could use the post for the dock now.

当我还在思考的时候，测量仪从我手中滑落，掉进了湖里。它立刻被另一端的重物拖走了，从水面消失。‘好吧，30美元白花了。’我心想。我坐在船上，用手机快速搜索了一下。大约十五分钟后，船突然猛地一晃。

As I thought on it, the depth meter slipped from my hands and fell off the side of the boat. It immediately disappeared from the surface, dragged down by the weight on the other end. Well, there goes a waste of $30, I thought to myself. I sat back on the boat for a while doing some quick searches on my phone. After fifteen minutes or so, the boat suddenly lurched.

我稳住自己，差点把唯一的船桨也掉到船外。那种感觉就像持续了最短的地震，我能看到涟漪从四面八方打到岸边。还没等我猜出发生了什么，我旁边突然传来一声巨大的水花声，浑浊的湖水溅了我一身。有什么东西从水中快速飞出来，我几乎都没看清它。我护住头，看着它又落下来，重重地落在我的双腿之间。

I steadied myself, almost losing my lone paddle over the side as well. It felt like the world's shortest earthquake, and I could see ripples hitting the shores on all sides. Before I could even guess at what it was, a loud splash erupted beside me and showered me in murky lake water. Something flew out from the water straight up in the air so fast I barely saw it. I shielded my head as it fell back down landing with the resounding thump between my legs.

过了几分钟，我睁开了一只眼睛。起初我以为船还在移动，但我很快意识到，那只是我自己的颤抖。船底躺着深度测量仪末端的金属坠子，还连着几英尺长的线。那根线看起来像是被撕裂过，剩下的部分已经起毛并损坏了。我比以往任何时候都更快地划船回到了岸边。

I cracked one eye open after a few moments. I thought the boat was still moving, but I quickly realized it was just my own trembling. There in the bottom of the boat was the metal weight from the end of my depth meter still attached to a few feet of line. The line looked like it had been torn off and what was left was frayed and mangled. I rode back to shore faster than I ever rode before.

当我划船的时候，我发誓我看到了湖面开始从边缘处旋转并向后退去。我拼命地划桨。当我到达岸边的草丛时，我从船上爬出来，花了好几分钟平复呼吸。从坚实的陆地上回头望去，我看到的只是一个再次平静的湖面，夕阳开始在远处落下，湖面如玻璃般反射着阳光。我感到既困惑又惊魂未定。

As I did, I could have sworn the surface of the lake started to swirl and pull back from the edges. I paddled harder. As I reached the grass, I crawled from the boat and took a few minutes to catch my breath. Looking back from the safety of firm ground, all I saw was a once again calm lake, the sun starting to set in the distance and glinting off the glass like surface. I was bewildered and shaken up in equal measure.

那到底是什么？我走进屋里，尽可能地擦干身体。我换上了睡衣，坐在后门边，盯着外面的湖面。我有一部分的自己只想开车离开，但我做不到。我只能洗洗睡了，等待着其他事情的发生。

What the hell was that? I went inside and dried off the best I could. I changed into my pajamas and sat by the back door staring out at the lake. Part of me just wanted to hop in the truck and leave, but I couldn't. All I could do is wash the surface waiting for something else to happen.

每次有蜻蜓落在湖面上，或者有蟾蜍跳出来，我都会吓得跳起来。怀疑和理智的念头开始在我的脑海中浮现。也许我只是想象出来的，也许这一切都有非常合理而普通的解释。每当这些想法出现时，我都会看向厨房操作台上深度测量线的残骸，然后再看向湖面。过了几个小时后，我感觉眼皮开始沉重起来。

Every time a dragonfly would land on the lake or a toad would hop out, I nearly jumped out of my skin. The reasonable thoughts of doubt started to creep in my mind. Maybe I had just imagined it, maybe there was a very rational and mundane explanation for all of this. Every time these thoughts came back, I looked at the remains of the depth line on the kitchen counter, and then I looked back out to the lake. After a few hours, I felt my eyelids starting to grow heavy.

我英勇地抵抗着，但很快还是败给了疲惫。我做了些生动的梦，那种梦你根本记不起来，即使你想记住也无能为力。那种梦会让你在半夜里冷汗涔涔地醒来。果不其然，我猛地惊醒，几乎从我用来守望的餐厅椅子上摔下来。当我平复呼吸、恢复意识后，我立刻又看向了湖面。

I fought valiantly, but I soon lost the battle to my weariness. I had vivid dreams, the kind that you can't remember, not that you'd want to. The kind that leaves you in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. Sure enough, I awoke in a gasp, nearly falling out of the dining room chair I had commandeered for my lookout. As I steadied my breathing and regained my senses, I looked back out to the lake almost immediately.

什么也没有。只是月光照在平静的小片水面上。我又一次开始质疑早些时候发生的事情。也许那只是某种大型深水鳄鱼之类的东西。那种生物真的存在吗？

Nothing. Just the moonlight on a calm little patch of water. Once again, I started to question what had happened earlier. Maybe it had just been some large deep water crocodile or something. Were those a thing?

我又一次看着那个损坏的深度测量仪，仿佛它藏着某种能解答一切的秘密。但它并没有。而当我再次仔细观察它时，外面的光线变得越来越亮。起初这种光亮很微弱，就像月亮从云层后移出来一样，但光线却持续增强。当我看向外面时，我找到了光源。湖面开始发出一种幽灵般的蓝绿色光芒。

I looked back at the broken death meter again as if it held some sort of secrets that would answer everything for me. It didn't, but as I looked over it once more, the light from outside grew brighter. It was subtle at first like the moon moving out from behind a cloud, but it kept growing brighter still. As I looked back outside, I saw its source. The lake had begun to glow with an ethereal blue green light.

湖面上开始出现涟漪，从中心向外扩散。起初，涟漪每隔大约一分钟出现一次，但随着湖面越来越亮，涟漪的频率也加快了。我耳朵里开始响起一种低沉而不舒服的压力声，就像飞机下降时的那种感觉。我开始在嗡嗡声中听到一些声音。其中有些声音几乎听起来很耳熟，但它们低语的词语却毫无意义。

Ripples had appeared on its surface starting in the center and moving outward. At first, they only came every minute or so, but they got faster as the lake grew brighter. In my ears, I started to hear a low and an uncomfortable pressure like descending in an airplane. I started hearing voices through the humming. Some of them almost seemed familiar, but the words they whispered didn't make any sense.

当我试图专注于其中一个声音时，它却溜走了。我闭上眼睛，摇摇头，徒劳地想让这一切停止。但这毫无帮助。我注意到当我再次看向发光的湖面时，那些声音似乎更响亮、更清晰了。渐渐地，我在那片模糊中听清了一个反复出现的短语。

When I tried to focus on one, it would slip away. I closed my eyes and shook my head in a vain effort to make it all stop. It didn't help. I noticed that the voices seemed louder and clearer when I looked back at the glowing lake. Slowly, I started to pick up on a single phrase repeated through the haze.

进来。

Come in.

战斗或逃跑的本能被触发了。我试图跑去抓车钥匙然后离开，但我的双腿却拒绝移动。有什么东西把我固定在了原地。湖水开始异常地升起，仿佛有一个巨大的气泡正从下方向上推，形成一个旋转的水穹顶和脉动的光芒。它不断上升，直到比房子和周围的所有树木都还要高。

Fight or flight kicked in. I tried to run to grab the car keys and leave, but my legs refused to budge. Something held me in place. The lake began to rise unnaturally like some sort of huge bubble was pushing its way upward creating a dome of swirling water and pulsing light. It rose up and up until it was taller than the house and all the trees surrounding it.

终于，我感觉到自己站了起来，但短暂的宽慰感很快变成了恐惧，因为我感觉到我的双腿不受控制地朝后门、朝湖的方向走去。很快，我感觉脚下的草，凉爽的水雾喷洒在我的皮肤上。我无法控制自己，甚至无法眨眼。水的穹顶停止了扩张。

Finally, I felt myself stand but my brief sense of relief turned to horror as I felt my legs walking of their own accord towards the back door, towards the lake. Soon, I felt grass under my bare feet and a spray of cool mist covered my skin. I couldn't stop myself. I couldn't even blink. The dome of water had stopped growing.

光线开始不规则地闪烁，仿佛湖水里面藏着一场猛烈的雷暴。在每一次闪光中，我开始辨认出某种固体形状。它非常庞大，直径足足有50英尺。它似乎向内蜷缩着，像一个海螺壳或飓风，但边缘到处点缀着一些触须般的结构，像猫尾巴一样抽动着。在中心，光线最为强烈，仿佛聚光灯一样照在我身上。

The light started flashing irregularly like the lake held inside it a violent thunderstorm. In the flashes, I started to make out some sort of solid shape. It was massive, easily 50 feet across. It seemed to be curled in on itself like a seashell or a hurricane, but the edges were spotted with tendrils here and there that twitched and flicked like a cat's tail. In the center, the light was strongest and it seemed to shine down on me like a spotlight.

我尖叫起来，或者至少感觉像是在尖叫。我以稳定的速度继续向前走，直到离那面水墙只有几英尺远。一条触须伸展出来，停在水面之外，招呼我向前。一个声音在我脑海中响起，比我自己思想的声音还要大。

I screamed or at least it felt like I did. I kept walking forward at a steady pace until I was only a few feet from wall of water. One of the tendrils stretched out and waited just past the surface, beckoning me to come forward. A voice in my head spoke louder than my own thoughts.

进来吧。

Come in.

这句话仿佛渗透进了我大脑的褶皱中。

The words leaked through the folds of my brain.

他已经在这里了。我在他的记忆中见过你。

He's already here. I've seen you in his memories.

我继续向前走。我伸出了手。我拥抱了这不可避免的命运。就在那一瞬间，我感觉我的整个人生在一瞬间崩塌。下一刻，我发现自己坐在一个我不认识的房子里。

I kept walking. I held out my hand. I embraced the inevitable. Inevitable, and in a moment, I felt my entire life collapse into a single instant. The next thing I knew, I was sitting in a house I didn't recognize.

我很快发现那是邻居的房子之一。一个粗声粗气的老人告诉我他是怎么找到我的。他说我在森林里游荡，穿着睡衣，浑身湿透，这让他想起了多年前他发现我爷爷时的情景。我不记得自己有没有回应他，只是点头和哼了一声。大约一个多小时后，妈妈来接我回家。

I soon found out it was one of the neighbor's homes. A gruff older man told me how he had found me. Wandering in the woods in my pajamas soaking wet, he said it gave him deja vu from when he had found my grandpa years ago. I don't remember ever responding back to him only nodding and grunting. My mom showed up to get me a little over an hour later.

我几乎从她的脸上读不出任何情绪，回她家的路上我们谁都没有说话。接下来的几个星期充满了各种扫描和检查，医生和专家会诊。当他们讲解结果时我通常都会走神，但大致意思总是一样的：没有问题，但需要再做一些检查，又是一张你永远无法支付的账单。这几乎让我想笑，但我知道妈妈并不觉得这有什么好笑的。

I couldn't read much from her face and neither of us said anything on the drive back to her house. The next few weeks were full of scans and tests, doctors and specialists. I usually zone out when they go over the results, but the gist is always the same. Nothing wrong, have to run some more tests, here's another bill you'll never be able to pay. It almost makes me laugh, but I know my mom doesn't see any humor in it.

我一直都在变糟。我很难清晰地思考。有时候我感觉即使醒着也像在做梦一样。而且我开始忘事。虽然都是一些小事情，东忘一点西忘一点，但渐渐累积起来有点让人担心。

I've been getting worse all the while. It's hard for me to think straight. Sometimes I feel I'm dreaming even when I'm awake. And I've been forgetting things. Just little things here and there, but they're starting to add up.

就连我关于爷爷的最美好回忆也开始变得模糊而遥远。当我集中注意力时，我还能感受到一丝快乐的余韵，但那些细节却越来越难记起来了。我不知道湖里到底有什么。妈妈说她要把那处房子卖掉，而且她坚持要我在她陪同下才能出门。她说，至少在我完全康复之前必须这样。

Even my favorite memories of my grandpa are starting to feel blurry and faded. I can still feel remnants of joy when I focus, but the details are getting harder and harder to grasp. I don't know what was out in that lake. My mom said she's selling the place and she makes sure I don't leave the house without her. At least not until I'm all better, she says.

但不知为何，不管怎样，我知道，最后我一定会回到那个湖边。

But somehow, someway, I just know. In the end, I'll be back at that lake.

WNSP节目将在我们的赞助商信息之后继续播出。你想要更长的节目内容、无广告收听以及大量额外内容吗？访问sleepless.thenosleeppodcast.com了解更多信息。本条信息由我们的新赞助商Greenlight为您呈现。当我还是个孩子的时候，夏天意味着可以离开家，和街上的小伙伴们一起玩耍。

WNSP will return after a word from our sponsors. You want longer episodes, no ads, and lots of bonus content? Find out more at sleepless.thenosleeppodcast.com. This message is brought to you by our newest sponsor, Greenlight. When I was a kid, summer was a time to be out of the house and playing with the kids on my street.

那是段快乐的时光，但也意味着我可以开始赚点零花钱，比如送报纸，挨家挨户地投递。是的，我就是这么老。但那段经历教会了我如何赚钱，也教会了我如何储蓄。现在学校放假了，夏天正是教孩子终身受用的理财技能的最佳时机。Greenlight是一款专为家庭设计的借记卡和理财应用，帮助孩子们学习如何明智地储蓄、投资和消费。

Lots of fun, but it also meant I could start earning a few bucks by having a paper route, delivering newspapers door to door. Yes. I'm that old, but it taught me about earning money and how to save. And now that school's out, summer is the perfect time to teach your kids real world money skills they'll use forever. Greenlight is a debit card and money app made for families that helps kids learn how to save, invest, and spend wisely.

家长可以给孩子们转账，并随时了解他们的消费和储蓄情况。同时，孩子和青少年可以在一个有趣、易用的平台上学习理财知识，感觉更像是在玩游戏而不是上课。Greenlight应用还包含一个家务功能，你可以设置一次性或重复性的家务任务，并根据完成情况给予零用钱作为奖励。真希望我小时候的零花钱和送报收入也能像Greenlight这么方便。Greenlight是家长培养财商聪明的孩子、家庭共同管理生活的便捷方式。

Parents can send money to their kids and keep an eye on how they're spending and saving. Meanwhile, kids and teens build money confidence and skills in a fun, accessible way that feels more like a game than a lesson. The Greenlight app also includes a chores feature where you can set up one time or recurring chores customized to your household and reward kids with allowance for a job well done. I wish my allowance and paper route money came to me as easily as Greenlight. Greenlight is the easy convenient way for parents to raise financially smart kids and families to navigate life together.

也许这就是为什么数以百万计的家长信任Greenlight，孩子们也喜欢通过Greenlight学习理财知识。Greenlight是排名第一的家庭理财与安全应用。不要错过教孩子真实世界理财技能的机会。今天就访问greenlight.com/nosleep开始你的Greenlight免费试用吧。是的，就是greenlight.com/nosleep。快去看看吧。

Maybe that's why millions of parents trust and kids love learning about money on Greenlight, the number one family finance and safety app. Don't wait to teach your kids real world money skills. Start your risk free Greenlight trial today at greenlight.com/nosleep. That's greenlight.com/nosleep to get started. Check them out.

greenlight.com/nosleep。现在回到WNSP的节目。我觉得我属于少数派。当我还是个小男孩的时候，我没有一个心爱的毛绒玩具。没有泰迪熊，也没有小毛羊晚上抱着入睡。这可能就是我现在这么不正常的原因吧。

Greenlight.com/nosleep. Now back to WNSP's presentation I feel like I'm in the minority. That is when I was a little boy, I didn't have a beloved stuffed animal. No teddy bear, no little stuffed lammy to cuddle up with at night. That's probably why I'm so maladjusted today.

但接下来我们要认识的这位男子，他在成长过程中确实有一个心爱的泰迪熊。在这个由作家山姆·辛格分享的故事中，这位男子决定做一件善事，把他的一些旧物品捐给当地的慈善商店。可惜的是，他犯了一个错误，把心爱的泰迪熊也送了出去。讲述这个故事的是杰西·科内特和丹妮尔·麦雷。所以，如果你正在寻找一些旧物，可能具有价值的东西，请记住一个忠告。

But for the man we're soon to meet, he did enjoy growing up with his teddy bear. But in this tale shared with us by author Sam Singer, the man decides to do a good deed and donate some of his old items to a local charity shop. Shame he made the mistake of giving away his beloved Teddy. Performing this tale are Jesse Cornett and Danielle McCray. So if you're on the hunt for something old and possibly valuable, here's some good advice.

别让古董商知道你迷路了。

Don't let the antiquer know you're lost.

这一切都始于我想做一个好人。我整理了一些自己的旧东西，这些是我放在衣柜后面的一些从父母家带来的物品，并把它们捐给了哈比茨维尔当地的二手商店。我当时觉得别人比我更可能用得上我的Threadbear哈比茨维尔高中的T恤。然而，我并不打算把鲍勃捐出去。接下来的事情有点尴尬。

It all started because I wanted to be a good person. I had taken some old things of mine, stuff from my parents' house that I had shoved in the back of my closet, and donated them to Habitsville's local secondhand shop. I figured someone else could use my Threadbear Habitsville High T shirts more than I was at the time. What I didn't intend, however, was to give away Bob. This next bit is a little embarrassing.

鲍勃是一只小小的粉色毛绒熊，他的肚子里有一个小铃铛。从我还是个婴儿时就一直拥有他，虽然我已经不再玩其他幼稚的东西了，但鲍勃对我来说是神圣的。这就是为什么我心情沉重地在上周四重新走了一遍我之前捐东西的路线，回到那家二手商店，确定鲍勃一定是不小心掉进了我的捐赠箱之一。我费了不少口舌，但最终一名员工告诉我，鲍勃已经被别人买走了。一阵愚蠢的悲伤涌上心头，但接着我得到了一线希望。

Bob is a small pink stuffed bear with a little jingle inside his stomach. I've had him since I was a baby, and although I've outgrown other childish things, Bob is sacred. That's why, heart sinking, I retraced my steps last Thursday back to the secondhand store where I was sure Bob had accidentally slipped into one of my donation boxes. It took some coaxing, but an employee eventually informed me that Bob had already been purchased. A tingle of silly grief swept through me, but then I was given hope.

鲍勃被诺拉·范德维尔买走了，她是哈比茨维尔的窄街古董店的店主兼主要经营者，和她的两个姐妹一起经营这家店。当我走进这家店时，一个古雅的小铃铛响了起来。腐旧和历史的气息扑鼻而来，但并不令人讨厌。店里挤满了东西，但不是人。仅仅是门厅里的物品数量就已经令人难以置信。

Bob had been bought by Nora Van de Velde, owner and chief proprietor along with her two sisters of Narrow Street Antiques right here in Habitsville. A quaint little bell chimed when I entered the shop. The musty smell of decay and history hugged my nostrils, not in an unpleasant way. The shop was crowded, but not with people. The sheer amount of things, even just in the foyer, was insane.

书堆得比我还要高，它们的书脊因年久而剥落。摆设和小雕像覆盖了每一个表面，我突然变得对四肢的存在异常敏感。我小心翼翼地走进店里。在前台有三位女士，是范德维尔姐妹。其中两位坐在柜台两侧的摇椅上，她们戴着帽子，帽檐下是深色的眼睛，正从放在中间篮子里的一个毛线球中慢慢编织着东西。

Books were stacked higher than my head, their spines peeling with age. Knickknacks and figurines covered every surface, and I suddenly became hyper aware of my limbs. I made my way inside carefully. At the front desk were three women, the Van de Velde sisters. Two were seated in rocking chairs on either side of the counter, their eyes dark under cloth hats, knitting slowly from a single ball of yarn in a centered basket.

很难看出她们在织什么，似乎是某种又大又暗的东西。在中间站着一动不动的是诺拉·范德维尔特。她有一头蓬乱的灰发，脸上布满皱纹，眼神锐利，在我走进来的那一刻就锁定了我。

It was impossible to tell what they were making, something large and dark. In the center, standing perfectly still, was Nora Van de Veldt. She had wild gray hair and a lined face with sharp eyes that locked onto me as soon as I entered.

下午好，欢迎光临窄街古董店。我能帮您找到什么吗？

Good afternoon. Welcome to Narrow Street Antiques. Can I help you find anything?

我朝她走了几步，已经莫名地紧张起来。是的。我在找一件特定的物品，有人告诉我您几天前从二手商店买了它。它看起来像一只小毛绒熊。它会响。

I took a few steps towards her, already unreasonably nervous. Yes. I'm looking for a specific item I was told you purchased from the secondhand store a few days ago. It's like a small stuffed bear. It jingles.

它是粉色的。她笑了，她年老的嘴唇慢慢向上卷起，我甚至以为它们可能会发出吱呀声。

It's pink. She smiled, her aged lips curling upwards so slowly, I thought they might creak.

哦，是的。我们已经把那个特别的物品放在货架上了。它就在这附近某个地方。

Oh, yes. We've put that particular item into our shelves. He's around here somewhere.

她的笑容更宽了，而我下意识地后退了一步。

Her grin widened and I subconsciously took one step back.

你为什么不自己去找他？

Why don't you go find him?

我回头望了一眼。这里面确实有很多东西。但从这栋建筑破旧的外观来看，这个地方并没有多大。我不喜欢抱怨客户服务，所以我只是点了点头。好的，谢谢。

I gazed over my shoulder. There was a ton of stuff in here, sure. But judging from the shoddy exterior of the building, this place wasn't that big. I'm not one to complain about customer service, so I just nodded. Okay, thank you.

我转身走进那堆书之间的通道里。

I turned heel and headed into the opening between the stack of books.

祝你好运。找到鲍勃后，记得回到柜台来。

Good luck. Just make your way back up to the counter once you find Bob.

我点头后走进了狭窄的过道。等我意识到自己其实从未告诉诺拉鲍勃的名字时，我已经看不到前面的柜台了。刚开始的一个小时左右，至少感觉像一个小时，一切都很顺利。我睁大眼睛寻找任何我那个毛绒朋友的踪迹，当我穿梭在摆满小雕像和二十世纪八十年代毛衣的高大木柜之间时，我竟然开始享受这次寻人的过程。越往古董店深处走，就越像是在沿着峡谷往下爬。

I nodded before entering the slim aisle. By the time realized I had never actually told Nora Bob's name, I couldn't see the front counter anymore. My first hour or so, at least what felt like an hour, went smoothly. My eyes were peeled for any sign of my stuffed friend, and as I weaved through tall wooden cabinets lined with figurines and racks of sweaters from the nineteen eighties, I actually found myself enjoying the hunt. Walking deeper into the antique store was like rappelling down a ravine.

每隔几英尺，就会发现一个全新的时间层次。唯一让我感到不安的是，我已经在这里待了一个小时，却仍然没有找到古董店的后墙。不仅没找到后墙，而且我已经很久没有转弯或离开这条单一的过道了。仿佛这条路径是专门为顾客设计的，狭窄得如果有人想从另一个人前面通过，几乎必须爬到对方身上才行。

Every few feet, a new strata of time was revealed. The only thing that troubled me was that I had been there for an hour and still hadn't found the back wall of the antique shop. Not only had I not found the back wall, but I hadn't turned or moved out of this single aisle for quite some time. It was like one particular path had been built for the customers to move through. So slim that if one wanted to move in front of another, they would literally have to climb on top of each other.

如果我有幽闭恐惧症的话，我可能早就得回头了。我想这就是为什么它叫“窄街古董店”的原因吧。当我手里拿着一辆旧玩具卡车时，我第一次看到了它。我当时正在想，也许鲍勃并不在店里，也许诺拉搞错了，也许我根本就来错了地方。就在我思考的那一刻，事情发生了。

If I was claustrophobic, I might have had to turn back. I supposed that was why they called it narrow street antiques. I had an old toy truck in my hands when I first saw it. I was considering the fact that perhaps Bob wasn't actually out in the shop, that Nora had been mistaken, that I was in the wrong place. It was during this thought that it happened.

就在我的眼角余光中，只是一瞬间，闪过了一道黑暗而快速的身影。我迅速转过头，但什么也没看到。我没太在意。然后我又把头转回前方。就在那里，挡住了唯一前进道路的是一个巨大的身影。

There, in the corner of my eye, just for a moment, a flash of something dark and quick. I turned my head quickly, but there was nothing. I didn't think much of it. Then I turned my head again back towards the front. There, blocking the only path forward was a huge shape.

它是黑暗的、令人不安的，完全可怕。它不一定是个人。它就像一条厚重的毯子披在一个高跷上，顶部放着一个保龄球。苍蝇在它的头部——或者说我认为那是它的头部——周围嗡嗡作响，腐烂和死亡的气味如巨浪般扑面而来。在我的人生中，很少有像此刻这样感受到如此纯粹的恐惧。

It was dark and foreboding and utter terrible. It wasn't a person necessarily. It was like a heavy blanket had been draped over a set of stilts, and a bowling ball had been placed at the top. Flies buzzed around its head or what I assumed was its head, and the scent of decay and death wafted towards me in a powerful wave. There are few times in my life when I had felt pure unfiltered dread such as this.

我完全僵在原地，那身影也一动不动，但它的床单下似乎有些微小的移动，仿佛整个形状都在震动。然后，在床单前面的一个小圆环状的洞口，有什么东西伸了出来。一只粉嫩、胖乎乎的小孩的手指。我的呼吸变得急促，那只手指指向了我。接着，整个身影猛地向前冲来，摇晃着，仿佛它的上半身和下半身是连接在一起的。

I stood completely still, and the figure did the same, except there was movement beneath its sheet, small shifting as though the entire shape was vibrating. Then through a little ring sized hole in the front of the sheet, something came out. A tiny pink and plump child's finger. My breathing was shallow as the finger pointed at me. Then the entire figure lurched forward, swaying as though the top was attached to the bottom.

我仍然被困在恐惧带来的麻痹中。它越来越近，那股恶臭的气味让我眼睛流泪。仿佛我的双脚已经无法后转，无法沿着来时的路跑出去。苍蝇的嗡嗡声越来越响。我闭上眼睛，然后一切都停止了。

I was still stuck in my fear driven paralysis. It got closer, and my eyes watered from the wretched smell. It was like my feet were incapable of turning back, running back down the slight path and out the door. The buzzing of the flies got louder and louder. I shut my eyes, and then it all stopped.

我再次睁开眼，发现那生物已经不见了。连一只苍蝇都没留下。我剧烈地颤抖着。我迫切地需要鲍勃。我抬起一只脚想转身回去，但它却纹丝不动。

I opened them again to see that the creature was gone. Not even a fly remained. I was shaking violently. I didn't need Bob this badly. I raised a foot to turn back and it refused to budge.

仿佛在我和路径后半段之间存在某种无形的屏障。想到可能会被困在这个地方，等着那生物回来，我不禁感到恐惧。我试图向前迈步，却轻而易举地做到了。信息很明确。我别无选择，只能继续前进。

It was like some invisible barrier existed between myself and the back half of the path. Frightened at the prospect of being stuck in this spot to wait for the creature to return, I tried to step forward. It was as easy as it had ever been. The message was clear. There was no choice but to continue.

我不敢确定，但我相信在古董店里已经过去了三天，直到我再次看到那生物。很难确定时间是因为据我所知，这家店从未关门。头顶的灯从未熄灭过。我也没听到前门打开或关闭的声音，但这可能是因为我已经从那里走了很远很远。这一切很奇怪。

I can't be certain, but I believe three days passed in the antique store until I saw the creature again. It's hard to be sure of the time because as far as I can tell, the shop never closed. The lights overhit never shut off. I didn't hear the door at the front open or close either, but that could be because I had traveled a great distance from there to here. It was strange.

我没有感到饥饿或口渴，也不需要上厕所。我甚至不需要睡觉。如果不是下巴上长出了大约三天的胡茬，我可能会以为自己夸大了时间。大约是在我身处1940年代的时候，我在一堆战争纪念品和褪色的明信片中，似乎看到了鲍勃。我看到一个东西，有点像一只小小的粉红色手臂，从一堆破旧的毛绒玩具中伸出来。

I didn't feel hungry or thirsty, and I never had to use the bathroom. I didn't need to sleep. I would think I was exaggerating the time, had about three days worth of stubble not sprouted from my chin. I was somewhere in the nineteen forties when I thought I saw Bob amid a slew of war memorabilia and faded postcards. I saw it, something like a little light pink arm sticking out amongst some other worn stuffed animals.

我一把抓住它，急切地往外拉。诺拉曾在我出发后的某一天告诉我，如果我找到了鲍勃，就可以把他带回收银台。我必须抱着这样的希望：一旦找到我要找的东西，我就能离开这家店。我把那东西拽了出来，但那不是鲍勃。相反，我手里拿着的是一根小小的孩子的手指。

I grabbed onto it, pulling eagerly. Nora had told me, albeit multiple days prior, that if I found Bob, I could bring him back to the register. I had to hold on to the hope that once I found what I was looking for, I would be able to leave the shop. I yanked it loose, but it wasn't Bob. Instead, in my hand, I held a tiny child's finger.

我立刻把它扔到地上，那种熟悉的惊恐之后的愤怒涌上心头。它在地上弹了一下，然后静止不动了，看起来像一根小维也纳香肠。我盯着它看。刚才以为找到了目标时的那丝希望瞬间破灭，取而代之的是沉重的绝望和无助。我不在自己应该在的地方。

Immediately, I dropped it to the ground, feeling that familiar rush of anger that often accompanies a terrifying surprise. It bounced once on the surface before lying still, a tiny Vienna sausage. I stared at it. That feeling of hope when I had first thought I had found what I was looking for was extinguished, and instead a crushing feeling of hopelessness and despair filled me. I wasn't where I was supposed to be.

我找不到出去的路。我迷路了。就在我产生这个念头的瞬间，我猛地往后跳。那根原本静止的手指动了。它翻了个身，指甲朝上对着我。

I couldn't find my way out. I was lost. As soon as I had that thought, I jumped back. The finger, which had been lying still, moved. It flipped, so the nail was facing up towards me.

然后，它开始缓慢地向前爬行，继续沿着狭窄的小路前行。我抬起头，他就在那里。他站着不动，是那个古董商。如果他有眼睛的话，我想它们一定正盯着我看。我们就这样僵持着。

Then slowly, it began to inch its way along, continuing down the narrow path. I looked up, and there he was. He stood still, the antiquer. If he had eyes, I assumed they were fixed on me. We remained.

我因为双脚无法动弹而僵在原地，而他则站在原地等待，看着那根手指拖着自己朝他爬去。我以为它到了他的斗篷边缘就会停下来，但它只是爬了进去。它加入了那些散乱的移动，让斗篷材料一阵颤动，接着我又看到了。那只孩子的手指从斗篷的洞里伸出来，指向了我。一切又开始了。

Me paralyzed by my immobile feet and he waiting in place as the finger dragged itself across the floor over to him. I thought it might stop when it got to the edge of his shroud, but instead, it merely crawled underneath. It joined the scattered movement that caused the material to jolt around, and then I saw it again. The child's finger emerged from the hole in the shroud and pointed at me. It was happening all again.

它猛地向我移动过来，苍蝇在周围嗡嗡作响，有些在慌乱中撞到了我的脸上。那气味几乎让我呕吐。也许如果我能动的话，我早就吐了，但当时唯一能做的事就是看着那个身影靠近。这一次我没有闭上眼睛，我注视着它一直来到离我大约六英寸远的地方。

The lurching movements towards me, the flies buzzing around, some hitting my face in their flurry. The smell nearly made me vomit. Perhaps I would have if I could have moved, but the only thing there was to do was to watch the figure approach. I didn't shut my eyes this time. I watched as it reached a close distance about six inches in front of me.

然后它从中间弯下身来，上半身俯低在我上方。我能感觉到热气喷在我因惊恐而出的冷汗遍布的额头上。阴影之下确实有什么东西，这一点我很清楚，但我无法鼓起勇气抬起下巴亲自去看个究竟。接着，它又消失了。

Then it bent at the middle, the top leaning down over me. I felt hot breath on the cold sweat that had broken out across my forehead. There was something in there beneath the shadow. That much I knew, but I couldn't bring myself to lift my chin and see it for myself. And then it was gone.

又一阵战栗传遍我疲惫的身体。我的眼睛因为刺鼻的气味而流泪，也因为脱离险境而感到宽慰。我的胸口沉重，充满了可怕的不确定感，但即便如此，我确定两件事：第一，我再也不想见到那个东西；第二，唯一的出路就是继续向前。

Another shutter rattled through my tired body. My eyes were watering from the acrid smell and from relief. My chest was heavy with a terrible uncertainty, and yet I was sure of two things. One, I never wanted to see that thing again. And two, the only place to go was onward.

到纳罗街古董店的第二或第三周，我以为我找到了一个办法，可以让那个古董商不再靠近我。现在回想起来，当我的头脑不再受那几周店铺对我的某种影响所困扰时，我已经很难判断我当时的想法是否正确。但至少那是我当时坚信的理论。那个古董商在寻找失落的东西，因为古董本来就是这样的东西，对吧？

By the second or third week at Narrow Street Antiques, I thought I had found a way to keep the antique or away. Thinking about it now when my mind is less plagued with whatever influence the shop held over me those weeks, it's hard to say whether or not I was right. But this was at least my working theory. The antiquer was looking for lost things because that's what antiques are. Right?

那些脱离了时间的东西，那些已经失去了用途和意义的物品，因此它们自然的位置也不再是一个独立的个体。一件古董应该被捡起来，擦去灰尘，加入收藏之中。而我当时想，如果我足够迷失，那个古董商就会把我也加入他的收藏。那时我已经到了19世纪末期。

Things unstuck in time. Items that have outgrown their usefulness, their relevance, and so their natural place is no longer as a singular object. An antique is meant to be picked up, dusted off, and added to a collection. And I thought, if I got lost enough, the antiquer would add me to his. I was in the late eighteen hundreds by that point.

我周围的物品随着我每一步的前进而变得越发破败和残损。我学到了新的东西，令人难以置信地兴奋的东西。我发现我一直在走的那条路——在这家看似无尽的店铺里沿着同一条直线走了数英里——并不是唯一的选择。当时我拖着脚步走着，眼睛已经变得沉重而模糊，脚绊到了一张桌子的桌腿上。我踉跄了一下，伸出胳膊想扶住右边的一个大衣柜以稳住自己。

The items around me growing more decayed and broken with each step that I took. I had learned something new, something incredibly exciting. The path that I had been following miles and miles on the same straight line through the seemingly endless shop was not the only road available to me. My eyes had grown heavy and unfocused while I was trudging along, and my foot caught on the leg of a table. I stumbled, holding out my arm to catch my fall against a large wardrobe on my right.

当我扶住衣柜时，它微微晃动了一下，在围绕着我的旧杂物墙中短暂地打开了一道缝隙。透过那道裂缝，我看到了它，一条新的道路。但随即衣柜又回到了原位，那条路又消失了。我用力推着衣柜，把肩膀用力抵在它的木制表面上。

And when I did, it rocked ever so slightly. It created a gap in the wall of old knickknacks that surrounded me just for a moment. And through that crack, I could see it, a new path. Then the wardrobe fell back into place, and it was gone. I heaved against the wardrobe, pressing my shoulder hard against its wooden surface.

它非常沉重。但到了这个时候，我已经在这间古董店待了数周，甚至数月，我比以往任何时候都更加坚定。我一寸一寸地挪动着这个笨重的家具，直到打开了一道足够让我穿过的缝隙。这条新路让我屏住了呼吸，但并不是因为它有多美。不。

It was incredibly heavy. But at this point, multiple weeks, if not months in this antique shop, I was as determined as I had ever been. I nudged the bulky piece of furniture inch by inch until I created a crevice that was wide enough for me to slip through. The new path took my breath away, not because it was beautiful. No.

恰恰相反。因为它太可怕了。那里有婴儿娃娃，不是现代的那种。它们应该是18世纪的，甚至更久远。它们都是碎瓷制成的，嘴唇是褪色的红色，眼睛是黑色的圆点。它们穿着简单的布裙和方格布裤子。

Far from it. Because it was terrifying. There were baby dolls, not modern ones either. They had to be from the seventeen hundreds, maybe even older, all made of cracked china with faded red lips and black dot eyes. They were dressed in plain cloth dresses and gingham trousers.

它们并没有整齐地排列在架子上，也不是坐在桌子上。它们自己就构成了两侧的墙壁，两边都是密密麻麻的娃娃。当我抬头看时，我发现连天花板也都被它们覆盖了，形成了一条我看不见尽头的隧道。而当我仔细看时，我看到了它。某种奇怪的东西，甚至比我之前见过的还要奇怪。

They weren't lined on the shelves or sat up on tables. They made up the walls themselves, a sea of them on either side. And when I looked up, I could see they covered the ceiling as well, a tunnel forming that I couldn't see the end of. And when I looked closer, I could see it. Something strange, even stranger than what I'd already seen.

所有的娃娃都没有手指。一种彻底的恐惧抓住了我。成千上万颗细小的眼睛盯着我看。丝毫看不到我所寻找的东西。尽管我试图压制这种感觉，我却感到比以往任何时候都更加迷失。

None of the dolls had their fingers. Absolute terror gripped me. A thousand beady eyes staring at me. No sign of what I had come for. And though I tried to beat it back down, I was feeling more lost than ever.

那个念头刚一浮现，他就在那儿了，古董商站在那里，和往常一样静止不动，又一次挡住了我的去路。这一次我无法抵抗，无法安慰自己，无法移开目光，更不可能转身回去。我只是注视着古董商，而他也注视着我。然后，某种事情开始发生了。

As soon as the inkling crossed my mind, there he was, the antiquer standing still as he always was, blocking my path as he always did. I couldn't fight it this time. I couldn't reassure myself, couldn't look away, certainly couldn't turn back. I just watched the antiquer as he watched me. And then something started to happen.

在他斗篷下扭动的形状开始震动并摇晃起来。它们移动得越来越快，很快我看到了一幕我宁愿没看到的景象。那些小而肉乎乎的手指，开始从古董商的斗篷下爬出来。它们爬行的速度比之前任何一个都快。而当我注视着它们时，它们做了一件极其可怕的事情。

The shapes that writhed beneath his shroud began to rumble and shake. They moved faster and faster, and soon I saw something I wished I hadn't. The fingers, small and fleshy, began to crawl out from under the antiquer's shroud. They inched faster than the last one had. And as I've watched, they did something remarkably horrible.

它们像毛毛虫一样爬行，各自爬上了娃娃的手。当最后一个手指停下时，出现了片刻的静止。古董商长袍下不再有扭动的形状。我们两人站在那里，彼此面对。然后，最后一个手指从斗篷上的唯一一个洞中伸出来，指向了我。

Crawling like caterpillars, they each made their way onto the hand of a doll. When the last one stopped, there was a moment of stillness. There were no more wriggling shapes under the antiquer's robes. We both stood facing one another. Then the last finger appeared through the single hole in the shroud and pointed at me.

就在那时，娃娃们开始逼近。它们像水从堤坝中涌出一样从墙壁间和天花板上倾泻而下。推动它们前进的，是那些死气沉沉的瓷手上肉乎乎的手指。它们拖着自己小小的身躯向前爬行，而当它们靠近时，我做了件绝望的事。我后退了一步，那是我好几个星期以来第一次后退。

That was when the dolls began to close in. They spilled like water from a dam in from the walls and down from the ceiling. The only thing propelling them forwards, the fleshy fingers on their dead porcelain hands. They dragged their little bodies along, and as they approached, I tried something desperate. I took the first step back that I had in weeks.

迈出那第一步之后，又迈出另一步，很快，我便沿着来时的路狂奔回去，从衣柜后面，沿着狭窄的小路一路向下。肉乎乎的手指和冰冷的陶瓷手指只有一瞬间碰到了我的肩膀，但那个狭窄的空间大大地拖慢了它们的速度。我拼命奔跑，喘着粗气，然后突然急停下来。在我面前，手指依然指着我，古董商突然出现在那里。我向左边看去，那里矗立着一个高大的架子，上面摆满了玻璃制成的动物模型。

After that first step, another followed, and soon, I was running back down the path out from behind the wardrobe and back down the narrow path from where I had come. Fleshy fingers and cold ceramic touched my shoulder for only a moment, but the small space that had led me into the doll hallway had slowed down the figures considerably. I was sprinting, my breath hard, and then I skidded to a stop. In front of me, finger still pointed, suddenly was the antiquer. I looked to my left where a large shelf stood tall, lined with glass animal figures.

我只用了一推，架子便轰然倒地。我沿着这条新的走廊奔跑，两边挂满了十九世纪的装饰风筝。我撕破了它们精心保存的纸身，发现自己来到了一个全新的地方。这次，两边摆满了二十世纪二十年代的新型开罐器。我在翻找金属碎片时回头瞥了一眼，看到那些小小的瓷娃娃第一次出现在长长的走廊尽头，而我找到了通往新地方的路径。

With a single push, it crashed to the ground. I ran down this new hallway lined with decorative kites from the eighteen hundreds. I ripped through their carefully preserved paper bodies and found myself in another new place. This time lined with novelty can openers from the nineteen twenties. I glanced behind me as I dug through the metal bits and saw the first hints of the tiny porcelain children appearing down the long stretch as I found a path to somewhere new.

五十年代的厨房围裙、六十年代的假牙、七十年代的唱片机，每台唱片机都播放着不同调子的忧郁曲调。然后，突然之间，我们到了九十年代的毛绒玩具区。一定是这个原因，因为在那儿，在一只脖子破了的长颈鹿和一只耳朵扭曲的兔子之间，是鲍勃。我一把抓住他，那熟悉的叮当声短暂地给我带来了一丝怀旧的平静。我再次奔跑起来，我知道自己已经快到商店前厅了，因为时间仿佛在向前飞逝。

Fifties kitchen aprons, sixties false teeth, seventies record players, all with a different disc playing in a minor key. And then suddenly, there we were, nineties stuffed animals. It must have been because there, between a giraffe with a rip in his neck and a rabbit with a twisted ear, there was Bob. I grabbed him, the familiar jingle briefly bringing me a nostalgic calm. I was running again, knowing that I was nearing the front of the store by the time traveling forwards.

我翻找着其他毛绒玩具，一手将它们扔在身后，另一只手紧紧抱着我的战利品。然后，出现了一个小小的出口，我能看到它，就是前厅，几周前我就是从那里开始这一切的地方。我把一只脚伸出去，接着是肩膀。我正要跨出去，突然有什么东西把我拽了回去，我转过身。一个娃娃，它们中最快的那一个，紧紧抓住了鲍勃的手臂，它那肉乎乎的手指像铁钳一样牢牢扣住。

I dug through the other stuffed animals throwing them behind me with one hand while I clutched my prize with the other. Then there was the smallest opening, and I could see it, the foyer, where all of this had begun weeks before. I stuck one foot through, then my shoulder. I went to step out, and then something yanked me back, and I turned. One doll, the fastest of them, had clung onto Bob's arm, its flesh fingers locked into an iron tight grip.

我拉，它也拉。传来一声长长的撕裂声和缝线断裂的声音。然后，我终于出来了。唯一的牺牲品，是鲍勃的左臂。

I pulled. It pulled. There was a long rip and the sound of stitches tearing. And then I was out. The only casualty being Bob's left arm.

毛绒玩具纷纷掉落，彼此紧贴在一起填补了缝隙。仿佛那里根本从未打开过一个缺口。我喘着粗气，双手撑在膝盖上，全身因为汗水的积聚和皮肤上的恐惧而感到恶心。

Stuffed animals fell together closing the gap. It was as though there had never been an opening at all. I panted, my hands on my knees, my body disgusting with the buildup of sweat, and fear on my skin.

欢迎回来。

Welcome back.

我抬起头来。诺拉·范德维尔德就站在我离开她时的同一个地方。事实上，她甚至穿着和之前一样的衣服，她的姐妹们仍然坐在摇椅上，自打我离开后，她们的编织几乎没有任何进展。我动了动嘴，却发不出任何声音，因为我已经太久没有说过话了。她的目光落在了鲍勃和他的残臂上。

I looked up. There was Nora Vanderveld standing in the same place she had been when I left her. In fact, she was even wearing the same clothes, and her sisters were still sitting in their rocking chairs, barely any progress made on their knitting since I had left. I moved my mouth, but no words came out, so long had it been since I spoke. Her eyes moved down to Bob and his mangled arm.

哦，真遗憾它被弄坏了。我知道我们的店铺是个很不稳固的地方。

Oh, it's a shame that's been damaged. I know our shop is a precarious place.

她微笑了，缓慢而意味深长。

She smiled, slow and knowing.

这个算我们送你的。

That's one on the house.

我回了家。令我大为震惊的是，从我第一次走进那家店的地方到这里，仅仅只有三十分钟的路程，尽管我的脸上已经长出了胡茬，骨头里也充满了疲惫感。关于那条狭窄街道上的古董店以及藏在其中的古董商，还有很多我所不知道的事情。但有时候，在我视线的最边缘，我能短暂地看到它。一个黑暗的形状，颤动着成千上万只细小的手指，耐心地等待着我再次迷路。

I went home. To my great shock, it was a mere thirty minutes from where I had first entered the shop despite the beard that had begun to form on my face and the tired feeling in my bones. There's still so much that I don't know about narrow street antiques and the antiquer that lies within it. But sometimes, in the very corner of my eye, I can see it for a moment. A dark shape vibrating with a thousand tiny fingers waiting patiently for me to lose my way again.

我们的故事也许结束了，但它们仍然存在于世。请务必在下周加入我们，这样你就能保持安全、保持警惕，并继续无法入睡。《无眠播客》由 Creative Reason Media 出品。音乐配乐由 Brandon Boone 创作。我们的制作团队包括 Phil Miculski、Jeff Clement、Jesse Cornett 和 Claudius Moore。

Our tales may be over, but they are still out there. Be sure to join us next week so you can stay safe, stay secure, and stay sleepless. The no sleep podcast is presented by Creative Reason Media. The musical score was composed by Brandon Boone. Our production team is Phil Miculski, Jeff Clement, Jesse Cornett, and Claudius Moore.

我们的编辑团队包括 Jessica McAvoy、Ashley McInerney、Ollie a White 和 Kristen Samito。想要了解更多我们提供的无眠恐怖故事，请访问 sleepless.thenosleeppodcast.com，了解有关“无眠庇护所”的更多信息。每周都有无广告扩展剧集，以及大量适合深夜的额外内容，只需每月支付低廉的费用。代表《无眠播客》的所有人，感谢你的收听，并感谢你寻求从那些在黑夜中追逐我们的事物中获得安全。本音频节目版权归属 Creative Reason Media Inc. 所有，2025 年。

Our editorial team is Jessica McAvoy, Ashley McInerney, Ollie a White, and Kristen Samito. To discover how you can get even more sleepless horror stories from us, just visit sleepless.thenosleeppodcast.com to learn about the sleepless sanctuary. Ad free extended episodes each week and lots of bonus content for the dark hours, all for one low monthly price. On behalf of everyone at the No Sleep Podcast, we thank you for joining us and seeking safety from the things that stalk us in the night. This audio program is copyright 2025 by Creative Reason Media Inc.

保留所有权利。每个故事的版权由各自的作者持有。未经 Creative Reason Media Inc. 书面许可，不得复制或再现本音频节目。

All rights reserved. The copyrights for each story are held by the respective authors. No duplication or reproduction of this audio program is permitted without the written consent of Creative Reason Media Inc.