Adventures Into the Forbidden: Episode 3 – Short-Lived Pleasures

Episode 3 – Short-Lived Pleasures

Travis’ family is poor. Despite this, they try to travel and have as much fun as they can. This comes at the cost of having small meals, skipping lunch, and few gifts for special occasions. Travis has to share his possessions, bed, and meals with his brothers and sisters. He understands his situation while wishing for something better at the same time. Part of him wants his parents to work more and have less fun so that they can live more comfortably. He’s conflicted about this thought because his parents would be home less often and they would have less fun family moments, so he tries to appreciate what he has.

At the moment, his parents have gotten a small TV, an upgrade from their older much smaller one that you could barely see what was happening on the screen. The children were given control over the TV as their parents were making manual repairs to the house. They drew straws to decide who had control over what show they were going to watch. Travis wins and goes through the stations until he stumbles across a show called Adventures Into the Forbidden. He’s intrigued by the title and the look of the gray haired puppet on the screen with his exposed teeth and overall creepy appearance.

“Hello, boys and girls! My name is Grady the Gravedigger! Thank you all for coming to listen to me, especially all you first time viewers. As you can see, I am a gravedigger, a dirty job that few grow up wanting to do. You shouldn’t be ashamed if you get a job like this. It’s the people who do the basic jobs in the world that help keep it running. The job may not pay that much, but I still get by. Money isn’t even that valuable if you really think about it. Life is so short, and death is unpredictable.”

Grady starts to walk around while digging graves and filling them.

“When you die, you leave behind everything you had. The only thing you take with you is the consequences of your actions. That is why it is important to live life to the fullest. Have as many good moments in your life as you can while avoiding as much suffering as you can because you only have today as far as you know. On second thought, you might pass away today in a tragic accident that you don’t know is coming. Maybe someone or something is coming after you now and they’re going to be at your doorstep. Any. Second. NOW…”

Grady is silent for a few seconds.

“What? I was just trying to be funny! I hope I didn’t scare any of you and made you laugh instead. I’m sorry to say it, but this is the end of today’s show. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope to see you all again next time! Bye-bye!”

The TV show ends as another kid’s cartoon starts.

“That was a creepy show,” one of Travis’ brother says.

“That was weird,” his sister admits.

“Grady was scary,” another brother notes.

“What he talked about was dark,” another sister tells.

“We loved it!” Travis’ brothers and sisters say.

Even though Travis feels the same, he can’t help but feel like his siblings are overreacting.

“I wish we could watch another.”

“Yeah, another with Grady!”

The TV suddenly switches from the cartoon show to the start of another Adventures Into the Forbidden episode with Grady. Travis looks at the remote and wonders if he hit a button while his siblings are excited to watch another episode.

“Wait, wasn’t another show playing?” Travis asks.

“It doesn’t matter! Our wish was granted!” one of his sisters says.

Unsure of how to explain what happened, Travis watches the show. Grady is standing above graves with coffins in them. This time besides having a shovel, he has an unopened music box in his hand.

“Hello, boys and girls! It’s your old friend Grady the Gravedigger here again to teach you a thing or two about life. We all have to enjoy it to the fullest because no matter what we will all end up like the people in these graves. It’s important to do everything you can to make even the worst situations bearable. When I’m alone and no one else is around, I play my little music box that I found in a lakeside hotel to keep me relaxed.”

Grady opens the music box that reveals a small ballerina that spins as he turns the box on. The box plays a soft and slow melody that chills more than it soothes.

“Ah, this brings back memories of my past. Bad memories. My mom tried to kill me because people in the mirror told her to. After her death, my dad also died of grief and left me by myself. To stay close to them, I decided to work at the grave they’re buried in.”

As Grady recounts his memories, decayed puppet hands with black wires reach out to him from the grave before going back down.

“To cope with my stresses, I’ll drink some adult juice, go to parties with friends, and spend time with some nice women. Your parents will probably know what I’m talking about, but don’t ask them for specifics until you’re older.”

“He’s totally right!” one of Travis’ brothers says.

“We should get them to tell us after they drink their adult juice,” a sister suggests.

“Fun moments are what keep us alive,” Grady continues, “Without those, there really isn’t a point to living. Can you believe that there are people who intentionally suffer for others? It sounds strange, but it’s true. What good can come from it? Whatever you do, don’t suffer for anyone no matter how good it may seem. Instead, try to have fun. Enjoy as many good moments as you can in life even if you have to pull them out of the bad ones. Thank you for listening again, and I hope to see you all next time. Bye-bye!”

The TV show ends, but the sound of the music box can still be heard even with another show starting.

Picking up on it, Travis asks, “Do you still hear the sound of Grady’s music box?”

“Does that mean another episode is going to start?” one of his brothers ask.

Right after Travis’ brother asks, another episode of Adventures Into the Forbidden plays. Travis’ siblings cheer and clap their hands while Travis is completely weirded out.

“Wait, we all saw another show about to play. What’s going on?” Travis points out.

“It doesn’t matter! Just watch the show,” his brother says.

Uneased by what is happening, Travis continues to watch the show against his better judgment. It doesn’t help that sound of the music box plays despite it not even being with Grady on screen. Grady stands above several graves that appear to have been unearthed with the bodies of decaying puppets exposed. All the dead puppets have frozen smiling faces on them that appear to be looking directly at Travis and his siblings.

“Hello, boys and girls! It’s your old friend Grady the Gravedigger here again to teach you a thing or two about life, or rather or lack of it. This may be frightening for younger viewers, but if you’re watching this, you’re already an adult in my opinion. Look at these dead puppets. Do you see how happy they are? They lived happily so they died happily. Just take a real good look at them.”

The camera slowly goes up to the face of a decaying puppet. It appears to be alive and moving. Noises that come from its mouth that sound like it’s screaming or about to scream. The camera quickly goes back to Grady before it gets louder.

“This is how you want to look at your passing, kids. Not like puppets, but happy. Satisfied that you lived life to the fullest. What else could I tell you, smart kids? I can’t tell you to spend your life and have fun. Only you can. Don’t let the world tell you what you can or can’t do. It doesn’t matter if they think you’re doing something wrong. If you can pull good out of it, then it’s good. This may be my last episode, so I sincerely hope that you’ve learned something valuable during your time with me. Thank you for listening again, and I hope to see you all again soon. Bye-bye!”

The show ends in static. Another show doesn’t start this time and the music box has stopped playing on the TV. Instead, the sound of the music box is stuck in the mind of Travis and his siblings who are possessed by its melody. They decide to have the best day ever with their parents and break out the adult juice. Not wanting to upset their kids, the parents indulge in food, drink, and partying. The family parties for the entire day until the parents are knocked out cold from exhaustion and drink. In contrast, the kids are still up and hyper due to the supernatural forces of the music box still powering them.

Knowing that things can only go downhill from here, they decide to end everything. They bury their parents alive along with each other until Travis is the only one left who hasn’t buried himself.

“Nah, I make my life into a never-ending adventure of fun,” he tells himself.

Travis grows up to be a truck driver who does what Grady did in his spare time until the thrill of it all wears thin within a short while. Needing more excitement in life, he tries to be a daredevil and soldier, but these can only thrill him for so long. The music box plays in his head and he remembers that Grady said he could do anything as long as he took some good out of it. With this information, he dabbles into darker thrills.