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August and Esmond are scared to tell their parents about the return of her brother. In the meantime, the pair struggle to find answers that explain why they've been separated.
August Heiland's hometown is not what it seems.
In this queer sci-fi audio drama, a girl in 1986 Rhode Island gets a cassette recorder for her 17th birthday, where she logs her daily life, beachside happenings, and conversations with her best friend Toni. But when the cute new girl at school, Lorena, asks her out on a date, August slowly starts to learn that Willowdale isn't what she thinks. Fans of stories like Gravity Falls and San Junipero, this one's for you.
These are cassette tapes from August. As in, the month of August, and August from Willowdale. Season one and Vol. II now streaming.
Welcome to Willowdale.
My name is August. It is August 1986. I'm not sure when it is you're listening to this. My twin brother, Esmond, disappeared thirteen years ago and just reappeared last night. These are cassette tapes from August, as in August 1986.
Speaker 1:And me, August. I am coming to you from Russ' arcade station joined by Lorena, Tony, and Esmond. Esmond is currently trying to win at Pac Man, but with no success.
Speaker 2:Whoever has the high score assigned CLD, there's no way you didn't cheat.
Speaker 1:Right. Anyway, we just finished our first week of school, and we are now delighted to interview the lovely Lorena. Lorena is the new girl in school and Guys, I am sort of
Speaker 3:a boss at Dig Dug.
Speaker 1:You heard it here first. Locomaniac is the boss at Dig Dug. Get back to intro ing me. Ladies and gentlemen, Lorena.
Speaker 4:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:So, Lorena, tell me a little bit about yourself. Word on the street is you like photography? Well, I'm I'm 17, and, yeah,
Speaker 4:I like photography. I took a lot of photos back home.
Speaker 1:And home? Where is that? Wood Dale. It's in Upstate New York. And what brought your family here to Willow Dale?
Speaker 1:Divorce. Oh, really? Yeah.
Speaker 4:I left with my mom. She moved here to escape and free us from
Speaker 1:the way my dad treated her. I'm sorry, Lorena. We're gonna be okay, though. Yeah. You are.
Speaker 1:We will.
Speaker 4:What was your dad like? He was a scientist.
Speaker 1:That's sort of cool though. I guess. What about your mom? My mom is a writer.
Speaker 4:She does poetry and would sell them to the local bookstores. I'm sure she'll do the
Speaker 1:same here. There's one coffee shop slash bookstore on Chestnut Street off Main Street. It's so cute, and they have poetry speakers every other week. Maybe she could be a speaker or sell her book there. What's the coffee shop called?
Speaker 1:Deja Brew. I'll have to tell her about it. What about your parents? My parents? I haven't been home since yesterday.
Speaker 1:I gotta go. Esmed.
Speaker 2:What's up?
Speaker 1:Oh, okay. Sorry, Lorena. We gotta get home. When will I see you again? School.
Speaker 1:Monday? Right. Okay. See you then.
Speaker 3:Where are you guys headed?
Speaker 1:Going home. I haven't seen my folks since yesterday afternoon.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay. Sending a zap of good energy, you're right. Oh, I just have this theory that we're all made of electricity.
Speaker 2:Oh,
Speaker 3:I just have this theory that we're all How have I not told you this? Oh god, Esben, you're gonna love this. We're all made of electricity.
Speaker 1:Tony, we don't have time for this. I gotta get home.
Speaker 3:But just think about it. Like, isn't that insane? Our brains are just made of electricity? We're all just running on electricity. We're made of electricity.
Speaker 1:Bye, Tony. Just listen. August here. I encountered a small series of problems since we last spoke. See, shortly after we left the arcade, where Tony wrapped up trying to explain Esmond his dumb electricity theory, Lorena followed us outside, upset, scared that she ruined her chances with me.
Speaker 1:I told her no, that I just needed to sort things out. She has no clue that Esmond has been gone for almost a decade and a half. I stood in the arcade parking lot, wishing I could tell her, but I was scared telling her that my brother was good and gone and now he's returned would ruin my chances. I don't know. That's only the tip of the iceberg.
Speaker 1:Because then, after I told her sorry, we left, and Esmond said he wanted to go to the beach. He hasn't been since his reappearance, so we're here. He played in the water for a bit, but I got tired. He's like a kid out there, like his childhood years got ripped away from Willowdale. But on our walk over here, he told me he's scared for mom and dad to see him too.
Speaker 1:He says he still doesn't know enough. I told him I could sneak him back to Tony's for the night, and we could try some memory jogging exercises. I don't even know if that exists, but he said he's eager to return home. So I told him we'd sneak him into my room for the night. Now, I'm sitting here on the sidewalk, my feet in the sand, wondering how to pull such a thing off.
Speaker 5:Young lady? Dad? It's been a while. Get in.
Speaker 1:But as, my friend, they're still swimming.
Speaker 5:You can give them a proper goodbye later. Your mother and I have been looking for you all afternoon. Let's go.
Speaker 1:Well, this blows. I'm grounded. Esmond and I are separated again. Hope he's okay. Who's that?
Speaker 1:It's only ever been Tony and Esmond?
Speaker 5:August. August.
Speaker 1:August. Dad, how's it going?
Speaker 5:It's well, kid. I thought I heard shouting.
Speaker 1:Oh, no. No shouting here.
Speaker 5:Alright, kiddo. Your mom and I feel bad about grounding you, but you gotta come home. Losing Esmond was hard, but we can't lose you too.
Speaker 1:I know. I'm sorry, dad.
Speaker 5:It's okay. We just love you.
Speaker 1:I love you too.
Speaker 5:Where were you anyways?
Speaker 1:Oh, I I, I stayed the night at Tony's.
Speaker 5:You should really tell us before you do that. You're better than that, August. You're always quick to call. Don't make it a habit.
Speaker 1:Okay, dad.
Speaker 5:I'm heading to bed. Good night. Good night, dad.
Speaker 2:Was that?
Speaker 1:Yeah. That was dad.
Speaker 2:He's gotten so old. I feel like I've missed so much.
Speaker 1:Get in here.
Speaker 3:I don't know what all the fuss is about. Your dad looked the same to me.
Speaker 2:What are we gonna do?
Speaker 1:I could take you down the hall to your old room. It's the guest room now.
Speaker 2:Oh, you guys have moved on then?
Speaker 1:Esmond, we didn't immediately. It took months to accept you were gone. The whole town mourned your disappearance, but time healed us and rooms become new spaces. Photos still hung, but new moments happened that had to be photographed too.
Speaker 3:Like, she met me. Momentous, I know.
Speaker 1:Let's just celebrate that you're here now because it's special.
Speaker 2:I know. I know.
Speaker 1:How do you feel about telling mom and dad? Still not up for it?
Speaker 2:I don't feel like I have the explanation they want. I can't tell them where I went, and I know they want to know. I wanna know.
Speaker 1:But did you see dad? There's a whole life here for you. They don't care if you were gone on a trip to Disneyland or if you just stayed down the street. They just want you here. They've wanted you back since you left.
Speaker 2:In the morning?
Speaker 1:In the morning.
Speaker 3:Perfect. So I brought gifts, books. Esmond came to my house.
Speaker 2:It was my first choice but it's the only place I know of in town.
Speaker 3:Rude. He was asking how to get here and I remember that you said you want to figure out how to jog his memory. So we stopped by Deja Brew and picked up some light reading. Let's see, we got
Speaker 1:Electricity for idiots.
Speaker 3:For your consideration, but here are some brain jogging books. Brainworms Be Gone, The Guide to Getting Back Lost Memory.
Speaker 1:In loving memory, finding what you can't recall. Tony, full offense, but these sound like guides for the elderly. Full offense received. What do you think, Ez?
Speaker 2:Mom and dad deserve an explanation, right? It's worth a shot.
Speaker 3:Chapter one. Tony? What? Oh, yeah. I'm reading.
Speaker 1:I don't think we're gonna start the brain jogging exercises right this sec, though.
Speaker 3:This is electricity for idiots. Thomas Edison once said
Speaker 1:Memory session number one, Esmond. Do you remember this Polaroid being taken?
Speaker 5:It's
Speaker 2:The day we wanted to fly our ship to the moon. Mom got us mint chocolate chip ice cream and took a picture of us in the backyard. We made a mess. I got ice cream in your hair and dad washed it out. We went to the beach that night to look at the ocean.
Speaker 1:And then what happened?
Speaker 2:It gets fuzzy, but I remember the waves and the smell of the sea and the hands on my wrist. Whose? They weren't friendly, whoever they were.
Speaker 1:That was the night you went missing. Do you have any other recollection?
Speaker 2:No. Just the the feeling of being hurt that I was without you. The sound of you asking mom and dad where I went. I I remember waking up at the mound yesterday. The ground was shaking, and I was wearing this dark green wool sweater.
Speaker 2:Same one I've been wearing yesterday and today.
Speaker 1:Remind me to get you out of that shirt and into a shower.
Speaker 2:I heard you talking. So I jogged around the other end of the block so I wouldn't sneak up on you. But then Tony was there. I
Speaker 1:Ran towards us. Then after us, actually. What about anything in between the night you disappeared and the night you came back?
Speaker 2:I don't know. I don't feel like I ever left Willowdale, August.
Speaker 1:Ugh. It's impossible. I don't know what to do.
Speaker 2:Oh, yes.
Speaker 1:I'm a good kid. I'm a great kid. I'm nice. I do well in school. I break one rule.
Speaker 1:I go to that stupid mound for one time and I get the biggest heartbreak ever. You. You come back and I'm glad you did, but it'd be easier if you just stayed gone. I don't know what I did wrong to be stuck trying to figure out this mess, but it's left me heartbroken, Ez. I'm heartbroken, and heartbroken people don't just get to move on.
Speaker 1:We stay sitting while the rest of the world continues flying by us. I've been stuck sitting at the mound ever since that night with Lorena, and then you, just stagnant while the rest of my parents and friends just live in blissful unaware. They all get to be normal and not worry about where their brother ran off to with nothing but a stinky green wool sweater and tired eyes.
Speaker 2:Sis, I know you're upset. I'm sorry. I am too, in fact. I'm really confused and hurt. Really?
Speaker 2:Of course. I don't know where I went. Suddenly, I'm older and just nervous. I know I've been somewhere. I've learned more words than I did at four.
Speaker 2:One of my favorites I use to describe is your attitude.
Speaker 3:What's that? Bitchy.
Speaker 1:You got me there.
Speaker 2:Look. My point is I feel like I took a nap and was sleepwalking through somewhere in Willowdale all these years. Like I never left or kept walking around doing something.
Speaker 1:I'm really sorry, Ez.
Speaker 2:What do you remember about the night I disappeared?
Speaker 1:They ran it on the radio for a few days. Rumors were going around you drowning in the ocean.
Speaker 2:What did mom and dad say?
Speaker 1:We'd go on searches. I'd ask mom and dad if you'd come back, and mom would say, you'll find him soon and bring him back. Yes. Monkey. She still calls me that, you know?
Speaker 2:I believe it.
Speaker 1:Okay. Are you tired?
Speaker 2:Yes. Let's tell mom and dad first thing in the morning. Okay?
Speaker 1:Okay. Your room is still down the hall.
Speaker 2:Good night.
Speaker 5:Cassette tapes from August is an original podcast presented by KBVU, The Edge. It is created by Blake McMillan. This episode was written by Blake McMillan. It was produced by Blake McMillan. The voice of August is Alondra Mel, and the voice of Tony was Hunter Vasey.
Speaker 5:The voice of Lorena was Rachel Hardy. The voice of Esmond was Brayden Bergum. The voice of August's dad was me, Austin West. For more content, go to blakemcm.com, kbu975.com, or follow at August tapes on Instagram and Facebook. Leave a like, review, or comment wherever you're listening.