Chapter 1: What psychological themes are explored in 'A Good Father'?
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National Emergency is a psychological horror audio drama that explores disturbing themes and intense moments. Some content may be unsettling for some listeners. Listeners discretion is advised. The Midnight Mystery presents National Emergency, Season 1, Episode 7, A Good Father.
You keep staring at the radio. It could just... start. Right now. While we're driving.
Try not to think about it.
But what if it tells us to get out? We're on the highway. What if it says don't move? We're going 60 miles an hour.
What if... Stop. Sorry. You need to get control of yourself. this spiraling. It's making you a liability. A liability? You can't keep your head together during a car ride. How are you gonna handle Jenkins? The man's barely holding on as it is.
It doesn't matter if the radio's on or off. If another emergency starts, it'll turn on by itself. They all do.
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Chapter 2: How did Jenkins survive four weeks in isolation?
On the bus. How many children? Mr. Jenkins. Twenty-three. Twenty-three.
And now you want to run. I want to know if it's possible to get away from the national emergencies. You took your kids to the forest. Don't. Mr. Jenkins, we're not here to... You're a cop.
You took him to my house. This is an interrogation.
No, it's not. He's considering going off the grid, like you did. I brought him here to hear your story. To understand what happened so he can make an informed decision.
Please. I just need to know. Did the emergency stop out there? Were you safe in the forest? For a while.
And then what happened? I don't talk about that.
Mr. Jenkins.
I told them everything.
Did you? The evidence doesn't match your story.
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Chapter 3: What happened to Jenkins' children during the emergency?
The broadcast told us to separate, be completely silent. Anna made a sound. She was... taken.
One mistake. That's all it takes. Yeah. The second incident was the bus.
And the third?
Town Hall. Three days ago. A coffin appeared. It used voices. My wife, one of the kids from the bus. Tyler's father couldn't resist. He opened it.
It took him. Three emergencies. You survived three. If you can call this surviving... Most people don't make it past one. After Sarah... Your daughter? Yeah. Sarah. She was seven. The broadcast came through her tablet, one of the first. We had to stand in a circle. Don't break it. Don't speak. Sarah got scared. She called out for me. The second she spoke... I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
My wife blamed me. Two weeks later, took half of everything. Left me with Michael and Emma.
Your other children.
Yeah. You want to know about the forest?
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Chapter 4: What is the significance of control in Jenkins' story?
He was nine. He didn't understand what he'd done. The emergency broadcast tone. That goddamn sound. The voice said there was something in the forest. Watching us. The instructions were specific. What did it say? We had to leave the shelter. Each find a tree. Stand facing away from camp. Stare at the tree. If the tree moved, keep your eyes on it. Don't blink. Don't close your eyes.
Because if we did, there was something behind the tree. A figure. And it would take us... For how long? It didn't say. Just wait for the message that it was over.
And you followed the instructions?
What else could I do? So we found our trees, twenty feet apart, stood there, staring. My tree moved. I kept my eyes on it, burning, watering, but I kept them open. And then I heard Emma crying. She said, Daddy, I can't. My eyes hurt. I heard footsteps, fast. Emma gasped, then nothing. And Michael? Ten minutes later, coughing. When you cough, your eyes close automatically. footsteps again.
Then Michael was gone, too. I kept staring, thinking, if they didn't scream, maybe they were okay. Maybe I'd turn around and they'd be there. But I couldn't check. The instructions said, wait for the message. When did it come? I don't know how long. My eyes were on fire, but I kept them open. Then I heard it. Faint. The iPad. A voice saying it was over. We were safe. And then... I turned around.
The kids were gone. The clearing was empty. I searched for hours, calling their names, but they were just Gone. And I kept thinking, why did it leave me? I should have closed my eyes. I should have been the one taken. But I followed the instructions. And now they're gone and I'm still here. I wish it had taken me too.
That's a terrible story, Mr. Jenkins. I'm sorry you went through that. You believe me? I believe you went through something traumatic in that forest. But? In your police report, when you first came back... I forgot there was an electronic watch in one of the bags. A digital watch.
I was in shock.
You just told us it was an iPad. Michael's iPad. But in your statement, you said it was a watch. Which is it, Mr. Jenkins?
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Chapter 5: How does Jenkins describe the forest experience?
Every second.
Every word. I replay them in my head every night. When you survive one of these things, you don't forget. You can't forget. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jenkins, you told us the broadcast came through Michael's iPad, that the instructions were to find trees, to stare at them, to keep your eyes open. Yes, that's what happened. But in your initial police statement, given two days after your return, you said it was a watch, a digital watch with an alarm.
I told you, I was confused. I was in shock.
And in that same statement, you described the emergency instructions. Staring at trees, not blinking, keeping your eyes open until the message said it was over. That part stayed consistent.
Yes! See? I told you the truth!
But you also said in the statement that Michael was taken first. Just now, you told us Emma was taken first. That you heard her say, Daddy, I can't. My eyes hurt. And then later, Michael was taken.
I... I don't... It was dark. I couldn't see them. I might have gotten the order wrong.
Owen just told us that survivors remember everything. Every detail. Every second. So which is it, Mr. Jenkins? Was it Emma first or Michael first?
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Chapter 6: What were the emergency instructions given to Jenkins?
As your cover story. I was trying to save them. You weren't trying to save them. You were trying to control them. I'm terrified every day. Every second. But I would never kill someone to save them from that fear.
There was no emergency, Mr. Jenkins. There was no broadcast. There was just you. And your two sick children. Alone in the forest. And you made a choice.
You went there. You don't know what happened. Stop.
I know what you did. Your own statements prove it. The fact that you couldn't lead the police to the site proves it. You killed your children, Mr. Jenkins. And you used the national emergencies as a cover.
No! I'm a good father! I protected them!
Protected them from what? From being sick? Or from having to live in a world where you couldn't control what happened to them?
You don't understand. Every second, waiting for the next broadcast, watching your children and knowing, knowing that one day they'll make a mistake and they'll be taken just like Sarah!
So you killed them first.
I saved them!
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Chapter 7: What inconsistencies arise in Jenkins' account of events?
What? In the forest, Jenkins. Four weeks with his kids. And there were no emergencies. Not one. Until he claimed the iPad went off. But that was a lie. Owen... Four weeks. No broadcasts. No instructions. He said it himself. He could actually be their father again.
The forest worked. That doesn't mean it's safe. But he didn't experience a single... Just because Jenkins didn't experience an emergency doesn't mean you won't. What if you're out there all alone and the tone starts? Fifty miles from anyone. No help following the instructions. I could prepare for what? The instructions are always different. Always random. You know that.
And what if the town hall was your last one? What? What if three is all you get? There are people out there who have never experienced a single emergency. Millions of them. What if the town hall was your last? What if you go to the forest and you're just waiting for something that never comes?
The numbers are going up. Every day. More emergencies. More people disappearing. You've seen the reports. Yeah. I have. So it's not stopping. It's getting worse. Which means either I wait here for the next one, or... Or what?
Run to the forest and hope? That's not a solution, Owen. That's just another way to wait.
Then what is the solution? Stay here? Watch everyone around me die? Wait for Agent Chen to lock me up in some facility?
I don't know. But running isn't it. Jenkins went out there thinking he could escape. And all he did was isolate himself until he broke. Isolation is just as dangerous as the emergencies. Owen.
What?
Text from dispatch. Emergency broadcast reported at 847 Maple Street.
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