I plan on designing my audio project to mimic a scary story through mostly sound and some dialogue (I want to avoid narration as much as possible). My working script is as follows:

Begins with fade-in intro music that sounds spooky, like from the X-Files, and then the title of the story, which is currently “Kitchen Encounters”. I am aware that this title may be too silly, but until something better surfaces I’m sticking to it. My story’s premise is that there’s an old women cleaning dishes in her kitchen who is extremely paranoid that aliens are out to get her like she remembers them vaguely doing a few months prior. Everyone she knows thinks she’s crazy, and it’s up for the listener to decide what’s really up.

So the story starts with the sound of squeaky floorboards. A murmur can be heard coming from the old woman, who stops to turn on her radio. There is some fumbling noise, an exclamation of annoyance, and then the radio will finally tune into the music station she is looking for. “Comin’ Home Baby!” by Mel Torme plays (track plays the entire time) and the woman audibly relaxes (gives a long pleasant sigh) before squeaking over to the answering machine.

She hits the “play” button and the usual answering machine beep will sound followed by two messages: one from her therapist and the other from her daughter–both wondering if she’s been taking the medicine she has been prescribed to deal with her paranoia. They will go something like this:

“hey mom…just checking in to make sure you’re taking your medicine. And that you’re well. Give me a call when you can mom, and remember…you’re okay. everything is okay, and you’re safe…………ok love you, bye bye.”

“Hello Barbara, this is Annie, your therapist…just wanted to check in, haven’t heard from you in a while…want to make sure that you haven’t been having any trouble with the medication I prescribed you…give me a call back whenever you can”

Listening to the messages makes the old woman angry, and she knocks the machine to the ground. That’s when she hears the car go by the kitchen window, causing her to jump in surprise and rush (as quick as an old lady can) to the window to see if anyone is there (cue that spooky music from before). No one is, and so she’ll mutter something to herself like “Calm down Ruthie, nothing there” or something. Then she’ll put the kettle on for tea. She reads that it “helps with her insomnia”

Right as it comes to a boil and while pouring herself a cup, the woman will hear a door slam. This causes her to hide in the broom closet. She hides in there for a few seconds, hearing only silence. She opens the door holding a broom and jumps out, shouting. Then she goes to clean the tea when the radio starts to freak out and fill with static and strange noises. She unplugs the radio and it all goes quiet. Then she hears the sound of breathing behind her.

And then the story ends. I want it to have a mysterious ending that doesn’t clarify what exactly happened or if anything happened at all. If it’s not long enough, I will add in more instances when she hears spooky noises. Any tips on how to make it scarier or more interesting would be much appreciated!