My City Has a STRANGE Urban Legend. I Should Have Believed It.
August 14, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readA midwestern city reporter, fresh on the job and riding the bus home late one night, encounters a small child waiting at a flickering bus stop. The kid asks if the number twelve bus stops there, then vanishes when the bus arrives. The reporter thinks nothing of it—until the same child reappears the next night, claiming to have scared off a thing that was chasing him. When the reporter hands over five dollars for a bus pass, the girl’s black eyes and unnervingly pale face flash in the strobe of a dying streetlight. She drags a nail across his wrist and disappears, laughing. The scratch burns. The lights start flickering wherever he goes. By the time he calls his veteran colleague Pat for help, it is already too late: the thing has found his apartment, and it wants in.
The Tagalong Kids
Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.
Read Full Summary →Free • No credit card required
Never miss an episode of Mr. Creeps: Scary Stories & Creepypastas
Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
What you'll learn
- 1 My City Has a STRANGE Urban Legend. I Should Have Believed It.
- 2 Main Outline
- 3 (01:06) **Reporter Introduces Himself and His City** - A local news reporter in a midwestern city describes his job and his daily bus commute, which he says taught him more about the city than any story ever could.
- 4 (03:20) **Pat Warns the Reporter About "Tag-Along Kids"** - Over breakfast at a dive bar, Pat tells the reporter that people begging at bus stops are running scams, then mentions "tag-along kids" without explaining what they are.
- 5 (05:57) **First Strange Encounter at the Bus Stop** - After a long day chasing dead ends, the reporter takes the bus home alone and notices several unsettling things at his stop.
- 6 (08:56) **A Child Appears in the Darkness** - As the reporter waits, a small figure emerges from the shadows about ten feet away—a kid who asks if this is the stop for the number 12 bus.
- 7 (11:33) **The Kid Follows Him Home** - After getting off the bus, the reporter sees someone poke their head out of an alley near his apartment, then hears a child's voice say "Thank you" and laugh.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
I really should have. Written by: SunHeadPrime
More from this podcast
Mr. Creeps: Scary Stories & Creepypastas →