0:08

Welcome to the Nightmare

0:10

Magazine Story Podcast. This

0:13

is Jim Freund filling in for your

0:15

usual host, Terrence Taylor.

0:18

We can only hope that he's enjoying the depths

0:21

with his medieval demon.

0:23

In this episode, you will hear The

0:25

Ascension of Magdalene, written

0:27

by Tanya Coles and narrated

0:30

by Janina Edwards.

0:32

But first, a word from

0:34

our sponsors.

0:44

Monsters come in all shapes and sizes. They

0:47

can come from anywhere. The dark corners

0:49

of your hometown, a past meant to stay

0:51

buried, and sometimes from within

0:53

you. If you, like me, are

0:56

intrigued by all the forms that monsters take, I

0:58

think you'll enjoy Undertow. Hi,

1:01

this is Fred Greenhalgh, creator and host of Undertow,

1:03

a collection of horror podcasts

1:05

that bring you under the surface and into the weird

1:08

and the wicked. Each season, we start

1:10

a new story set in a twisted version of the

1:12

great state of Maine, where I grew up

1:14

fed by the headwaters of great horror masters like

1:16

Stephen King and Rick Hadala. In Undertow,

1:19

we'll be confronting ghosts from the past, battling

1:21

werewolves in the present, wrangling with cursed artifacts,

1:23

and through it all, doing our best not

1:26

to forget our humanity. Undertow

1:28

is available wherever you listen to podcasts

1:30

or at Realm.fm. Stay alert out

1:33

there and enjoy your time in the

1:35

Undertow.

1:43

And now, let us accompany

1:46

narrator Janina Edwards on

1:48

Donye Cole's The Ascension

1:50

of Magdalene.

1:55

first

2:00

time she'd ever let a boy get a hand up

2:02

her skirt long before Ben,

2:05

but he didn't know that. She wore white

2:07

on her wedding day, couldn't even

2:09

remember his name, that boy, just

2:12

that he'd died in the war and how

2:14

he'd fucked her that first time.

2:16

That's what the headache felt like, getting

2:19

fucked for the first time. Something

2:22

hard and blunt poking around

2:24

in all the wrong spots, looking

2:26

for an opening, and then finally

2:29

finding it, ignoring how unwelcome

2:32

it was and plowing through. A

2:34

handful of thrusts that weren't really because

2:37

he was still trying to get in, endlessly

2:40

trying to get in.

2:42

I've got the most terrible headache,

2:45

she said to Ben, who sat in his armchair

2:48

reading the paper just like always,

2:51

the wind howling outside.

2:53

Take an aspirin, there's a bottle in the medicine

2:55

cabinet,

2:56

he responded without looking up.

2:59

She knew already, she was

3:01

the one that put it there.

3:03

Doctors said it was for his heart, but

3:05

her head was just killing her. Magdalene

3:09

walked down the hall of their little cabin and

3:11

the sound of the wind followed her,

3:14

crying at her back and arms through

3:16

the walls.

3:17

Ben said it wasn't so bad, but she

3:19

could hear it all the time.

3:22

He said everything wasn't so bad.

3:25

The move, the little house, the

3:27

wide open country, with its big

3:29

white clouds so thick they cast

3:31

shadows on the ground as they passed.

3:34

They moved for a job, factory

3:36

work, with a little factory town they could

3:38

live in. Good pay, good

3:40

benefits, and he'd just been laid

3:42

off, and didn't she know how hard it was

3:45

for a black man to find a good job? Never

3:47

mind that she was the same kind of black,

3:50

she was a woman.

3:52

Wives, okay, but there was no

3:53

school for children. They

3:56

wanted settled men so there wouldn't be any

3:58

bar fights, and young blood getting restless

4:00

in all that open space. Then

4:03

was fifty-three, and Magdalene was

4:05

past the age of having children.

4:08

Wasn't so bad at first.

4:10

Rubbing her head, she went for the bathroom,

4:13

the little hall still foreign after four

4:15

months, the little house for

4:18

a little couple, and a row of little

4:20

houses just the same, the sky

4:22

above impossibly blue and

4:25

endless, filled with clouds like

4:27

castles.

4:29

Then the season changed,

4:31

and the wind came.

4:34

The bathroom window, hidden behind

4:36

a pale

4:37

curtain, rattled in its frame to

4:39

greet her.

4:40

Her face was as washed out as the curtain.

4:44

Ashen, pain made her eyes

4:46

glass.

4:47

She opened the cabinet, sick

4:50

of looking at herself. The aspirin

4:52

sat right where she'd left it.

4:55

Her hands shook, opening the bottle.

4:58

The pills were bitter on her tongue. The

5:00

water was coppery in her mouth, but

5:03

the people that brought them there said it was fine to drink.

5:06

So she drank it to take the aspirin prescribed

5:08

for her husband's heart, because

5:10

there was nothing else for her.

5:13

She lay down in her bed alone, the

5:16

headache pulsing, eager in the soft

5:18

pink of her brain. It felt

5:20

heavy and wet when she

5:23

woke up to make dinner. The

5:27

headache? Oh, a lot of women complain

5:29

about them out here. The doctor said,

5:31

laughing. It's nothing,

5:32

sensitive to the change in air pressure. But

5:35

if it happens to a lot of women, isn't it

5:38

something? Magdalene asked, voice,

5:40

pain, soft. The hospital

5:43

room had no windows,

5:44

but she could still hear it. The

5:46

wind.

5:48

Ben had driven her to the ER. She

5:51

threw up as soon as she woke, couldn't keep

5:53

her feet under her. He

5:55

gripped the steering wheel and eyed her distrustfully.

5:58

Music turned up on the radio. to drown out the wind

6:01

that chased

6:01

them. Good I got this

6:03

job. Can't afford anything serious,"

6:06

he said.

6:07

The doctor said it was nothing

6:08

serious. Women complained

6:10

about a lot of things. She could hear

6:13

the eye roll, the dismissal. He

6:15

wrote a prescription with hasty hands, folded

6:18

it in half before handing it over. Take

6:20

this to the pharmacy. They'll take care of you. Another

6:24

one,

6:25

the pharmacist said, shaking his head.

6:27

When she walked up to the counter before

6:30

he even saw the little paper she clutched,

6:32

I say it's hysteria, all in your

6:34

heads. Well, it is

6:37

a headache, Magdalene said, response

6:39

pain sharp. The

6:41

woman behind her laughed, and the

6:44

pharmacist made a disapproving sound in his

6:46

throat before he went about his business.

6:49

He didn't even unfold the paper, tossed

6:51

it aside, and went to count pills.

6:54

Men turned to say something to the woman

6:57

and saw her cheeks were raw under bloodshot,

7:00

unfocused eyes. So

7:03

she just nodded.

7:04

The woman nodded back,

7:06

and the pharmacist returned with Magdalene's

7:08

prescription. Another one,

7:11

she heard him say, as she left, like

7:13

a broken record.

7:15

Outside, the wind danced around

7:18

her, played at the edge of

7:19

her skirts, sang its high

7:22

song.

7:23

What did they say?

7:24

Someone hounded her as she slid into the seat.

7:27

She swallowed the pills dry, hoped

7:30

they worked quickly,

7:31

turned off the radio.

7:33

Just give me a few minutes, dear, she

7:36

said, leaning against the window.

7:39

It vibrated with the hum of the engine

7:41

against her skull, and she wished

7:43

it would shatter, shoot past

7:46

the bone and into the mess of pulsing

7:48

meat that it held.

7:52

Rain dropped dinner.

7:55

The casserole slipped from her shaking

7:57

fingers, shattered on the floor. The

8:00

medicine made her fuzzy,

8:01

forgetful. Nothing

8:04

stopped the pain. Nothing stopped

8:06

the wind. Pressure change. The

8:08

other women said. It will be over soon,

8:11

they said. Jesus

8:13

Christ, what is wrong with you? Ben

8:16

shouted, slamming his fist on the table.

8:19

It had been weeks of late dinner, no

8:21

breakfast, messy lunches, and

8:23

wrinkled shirts. The house was dusty.

8:26

A ring around the tub. Cabinets

8:28

emptying. His boss was cranky. The

8:30

men short-tempered because of the wives.

8:33

A pressure

8:33

change. I don't know. I

8:36

don't know, she thought, through the howling

8:38

storm inside and outside. My

8:41

head, she said. Your head,

8:43

your head, he mocked. Take

8:45

your medicine. You heard the doctor, it's nothing.

8:48

Why can't you just be happy?

8:51

I'll make you a sandwich, she said,

8:53

staring at the shattered, sloppy

8:55

mess. We have some fresh detergent

8:58

in the pantry, some cauliflower

9:00

from the butcher.

9:02

Ben wasn't listening. Already half

9:04

out of the room.

9:05

No, I'll get something out. Can't deal

9:07

with this.

9:08

Man works all day. He grumbled,

9:10

storming off, out the door, into

9:13

the howling wind.

9:15

She went to the window to watch his car pull

9:18

away, but

9:20

it was the wrong window.

9:21

Through it,

9:23

she saw another woman in her own

9:25

kitchen washing the same dish

9:27

over

9:29

and over. Magdalene

9:32

went to bed alone.

9:34

She didn't hear her husband come in. There

9:37

was only the wind in her ears,

9:39

and in the morning, she couldn't get

9:41

up. On

9:44

the first day, Ben yelled, called

9:46

her lazy, a child.

9:48

On the second, he called an ambulance. Who

9:51

couldn't come?

9:52

There was only one for the town, and

9:54

all the beds were full.

9:56

Is this hysteria? It's all of

9:58

them. Shouldn't we call the ambulance?

9:59

a specialist?" Ben asked. Nibelene

10:03

opened her mouth to laugh at her husband's newfound

10:06

concern after all this, but

10:09

the only sound that came out was a high,

10:11

scratchy howl, like

10:13

the wind.

10:15

Ben stopped making calls,

10:17

sat on the edge of the bed, and cried,

10:20

held her hand, and made promises

10:22

to figure it out, get her help.

10:25

It had been years since he held her hand.

10:28

Her whole body pulsed, with

10:30

pain. The first time,

10:32

fucking pain, stretching

10:35

to accommodate the something making

10:37

its way in.

10:39

The tears that leaked from her eyes were thick

10:42

and cloudy. They soaked

10:44

the pillow, flooded her ears, and

10:46

the wind grew louder.

10:50

She couldn't hear Ben at all,

10:52

just the rattling windows, the

10:54

wind speeding past, shaking

10:57

the little cap in the company had given them.

11:00

On the third day,

11:02

Magdalene rose. They

11:06

all rose in nightgowns from where they

11:08

had fallen. They left beds,

11:11

walked down halls and out front

11:13

doors.

11:14

They stepped so lightly, their

11:17

feet barely touching the ground.

11:20

They were leaping down the asphalt roads,

11:22

toe touch to toe touch, into

11:25

the fields, tips of grass tickling

11:28

the soles of their feet. Arms

11:31

outstretched, Magdalene

11:33

ascended,

11:34

body propelled by the pulsing pain

11:37

that was pulling her higher, reminding

11:39

her of the bliss of being young

11:42

and the clumsy pleasure

11:43

of the first time.

11:46

She reached her arms to the lowering

11:48

sky,

11:48

saw sprawling,

11:51

spiraling gray towers

11:53

where once there were only clouds.

11:56

The pain lifted from her

11:59

and there was

11:59

the blessed emptiness of having,

12:02

the

12:04

euphoria of nothing.

12:07

In that space, she could see the whole

12:09

unseen world past her

12:11

marriage,

12:11

the company, before the boy

12:13

died in the war,

12:15

and endlessness of possibility.

12:18

She bloomed into it, forehead

12:21

shattering and from its sprouting of being

12:23

of opal,

12:25

folding and unfolding on

12:27

itself endlessly,

12:30

rising even higher and

12:32

below, down the thick rope

12:34

of flesh that connected them before

12:37

it snapped. She saw herself,

12:40

saw all the wives, torn

12:42

bags of skin and meat in

12:45

the tall grass,

12:47

the best parts of them taken,

12:49

the rest left to rot.

13:04

America's real history was

13:07

one of giants who overcame all

13:09

odds, overcame slavers

13:11

and robber barons. And what did we do?

13:14

Well, everyone knows we invented the internet,

13:16

but we also invented the middle class, the

13:19

five-day work week, the teenager,

13:21

the automobile and the space race, and

13:23

we're just getting started. We've

13:27

been to far more chaotic times than

13:29

this one, with some of the most incredible

13:31

leaders on the planet, and they're

13:33

ready for us to pick up where they left off. Our

13:36

real origins connect us back to reality,

13:39

each other, and a whole new cinematic

13:42

universe to empower and inspire.

13:45

My name is Matthew Cook, and I'm the host

13:47

of American Origin Stories, now

13:49

playing wherever you get your podcasts,

13:52

or you can learn more

13:53

at realm.fm.

14:02

Welcome back. You have

14:04

been listening to Janina Edwards narrating

14:06

The Ascension of Magdalene by

14:09

Donye Coles. Nightmare

14:12

is published by Adamant Press and

14:14

this podcast is produced by Skyboat

14:16

Media. Your editor is

14:18

Wendy N. Wagner. The

14:21

podcast and story are copyright

14:25

2023 by Adamant Press. Donye

14:28

Coles is a writer of weird fiction.

14:31

She has been published on Pseudopod and

14:33

Vestarian. Her debut

14:36

novel, Midnight Rooms, is forthcoming

14:38

from Amistad Press. You

14:41

can find more of her work on her website,

14:43

donyecoles.com,

14:49

or follow her on Twitter at OKOKNO.

14:55

Janina Edwards is an award-winning narrator

14:58

of 400 books. Her

15:00

work has been acknowledged with eight Earphones

15:02

Awards, an AudiWin, seven

15:05

Audifinalist nominations, and

15:07

two Society of Voice Arts and Sciences

15:10

nominations. In 2021, Janina was included

15:14

in Libro.fm's list Black

15:17

Narrators You Should Be Listening To.

15:21

Post-production was by Jim Freund. Our

15:23

music was composed and performed by

15:26

Jack Kincaid. Thanks

15:29

for listening. You'll be hearing more

15:31

of us in your darkest dreams. But

15:33

till you slink back there, Nightmare

15:36

Magazine will return you to your reality.

15:39

For

15:39

now.