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I can't stay silent for another day. I have the right amount of booze

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in me to relive this one more
time, but not so much that I'm

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in coherent. It was a summer
of nineteen ninety two, and I had

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decided to live the best summer of
my life before becoming a productive member of

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society. I fished, encamped,
and hiked throughout my entire youth, but

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that was all about to come to
an end with two simple words, I

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do. I left my parents' house
early that morning with my pistol on my

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hip. I had a rifle.
The park I was headed to was a

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couple of hours away and not often
visited by anyone. I had heard all

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the while stories about it, and
I was anxious to see it for myself.

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At first glance, I was not
disappointed. Off in the distance,

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I could see the open patches high
up on the hills and bordered by clusters

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of trees. To the left of
the road was a dry river bed that

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would make an easy trail for me. Time stood still in this place.

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Old moss covered rock fences were the
only evidence that human hands had ever been

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there. I was thrilled as I
took my first step, wondering what lay

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before me, if only I had
known. After a couple of hours and

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a few stops, I came to
a spot where the creek narrowed with a

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three foot bank. A cluster of
trees sat to the left, and to

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the right was an open field of
wild flowers. The wind that I had

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heard whistling through the trees all day
was gone, and I was suddenly aware

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of something dark. It was a
gut twisting feeling that came out of nowhere.

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I stopped and I held my breath, afraid even to exhale, though

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I had no idea why. And
then I saw it. Up ahead,

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a hundred yards to my right was
something dark. It was as if that

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feeling had taken physical form. There
was no movement or sound, yet I

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felt it demanded my attention. So
slowly I reached from my binoculars, and

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immediately I was hit with a blast
of don't do that. I stopped dead

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for a single moment before continuing to
lift them to my eyes. Why didn't

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I listen to that inner voice?
There up ahead in the bushes. It

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was a thing, a massive,
black, hairy thing. I tried to

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tell myself. It was a bear, but I couldn't lie that well.

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It was a little afternoon and the
sun was high in the sky. The

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downward shadow it cast made the thing's
face darker. Its eyes were cloaked under

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its massive brow, but somehow I
knew it was glaring at me. I

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could see its fangs. Yes,
it had fangs. It was contrast against

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its black face. There was no
definition to its chest, but it was

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incredibly wide. I felt sick,
My knees buckled, and my head began

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to swim. Now I reached for
the riverbank to steady myself, and I

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saw the creature vanish somewhere inside me. I felt a bit of relief,

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thinking it had left, and within
seconds it popped its head up again.

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Now it was seventy yards away,
and it stared its dark, evil intent

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at me through black, vacant eye
sockets. It seemed to be saying,

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in my mind, if only you
hadn't looked. It stretched up and over

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as if it was getting a better
look, and then it vanished again.

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I stumbled backwards, fighting the urge
to turn and run, and my mind

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raced. And some will tell you
that they think of their loved ones,

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or they might say the idea becoming
a part of a missing four one one

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phenomenon crossed their minds. Well,
that wasn't the case for me. I

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thought about how this thing might attack
me, and how bad it would hurt,

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and how long it would take to
die. And I wondered if it

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would rip me apart or eat me
while I still struggled to get away.

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Every thought was a horror worse than
the last. Now I heard it making

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noise, as if it wanted me
to be scared. I had heard that

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blood was sweeter when adrenaline was dumped
into it, so I wondered if this

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was what the thing was doing.
It stomped and broke branches and huffed as

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it moved through the brush, And
again it raised its head, only forty

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yards away. Its details were now
more defined. It was more disgusting than

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I imagined, its face glistening in
the sun. A patch on its chest

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also shimmered as silvery strings ran from
the corners of its mouth. That mouth

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slid its face in two. It
was wide, lightly parted, giving it

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an almost grinning effect. Its head
and body were all one. If it

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had a neck, it was surrounded
by pure muscle. If I would describe

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it honestly, I would only be
able to say that it was big,

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it was black, and it was
horrific. Again it vanished, and each

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time it did, it moved so
fast that it blurred out of sight.

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It seemed unnatural in its movement.
This sick game of peekaboo was more than

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my mind could take in. And
I struggled, and part of me was

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resigned to death, while another part, a more primo part, wanted to

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run. Still, another part of
me said I need to fight. These

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emotions combined to create a mind of
warping, stomach churning mess. And I

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slowly began to back up, afraid
to look behind me or even turn ahead.

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And the noises were getting louder and
closer, and I began to say

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the Lord's prayer. It popped his
head up again from twenty feet away.

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It was emboldened, and it stood
erecked, craning to see me. It

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rose well above the bushes that I
guessed were probably six feet tall. It

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was running out of brush, and
soon it would be in the clearing across

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from me, and I began to
cry. I knew this was the end.

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There was nothing I could do.
To avoid it, and I snapped

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out of myself pity as the thing
disappeared once again into the foliage. Then

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it stepped out of the brush,
slightly bent at the waist, its arms

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hanging out its sides. They were
tipped with claws that I couldn't stop staring

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at. Its body. Heaved with
each breath that grew increasingly faster as it

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seemed to be working itself into a
frenzy, and it wheezed when it inhaled,

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and faster and faster it huffed in
and out, and then it went

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silent in slow motion. I watched
it as it bent its knees and leaned

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forward and threw its arms back,
ready to jump, and I was falling

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backwards when all help broke loose.
The silence was shattered by something exploding to

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my left, and it showered the
creek bed with shrapnel. I felt a

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gust of wind as a reddish brown
blur flew out of the chaos and hit

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the creatures square on. Only an
empty space loomed before me now and then

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I was hit by a sound wave
that came from the other side of the

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brush, and it vibrated me to
my core. It was followed by deep

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thumps that shook the ground and rattled
my teeth. I rolled and tried to

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force my body to move, but
I couldn't. I could only lie there,

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feeling and hearing what sounded like a
freight train and bombs bursting all around

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me. I'm not sure how long
it was before I could move again,

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to my horror. When I finally
did, I was moving toward the source

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of the noise, almost trancelike.
I inched to the edge of the creek

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and peered over the side. Thirty
feet away. Two monsters were fighting that

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were biting and clawing and clubbing and
tearing at each other. It was a

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dog fight. Each was twisting and
turning to get the upper hand, and

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jaws snapped and heads bobbed and weaved. It was primal and it was vicious,

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and I clamped my hands over my
ears to block out the screaming that

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was emitting from each bite. Finally
I realized what had saved me. It

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was a Sasquatch. I had watched
all the shows and seen all the trailcam

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footage. As I was beginning to
understand it, became distracted for a moment,

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which allowed the other creature to get
its feet up against the big foot's

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chest, and with a massive pushed, it flipped the sasquatch onto its back

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and leapt on him, biting down
on his upper thigh. The scream of

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pain was so much louder than the
other sounds I had heard, and once

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again I fell to the ground and
I covered my ears the tables. It

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turned. The young sasquatch was now
in trouble. He was the one fending

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off the clubbing blows. He was
losing. I knew I had to do

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something, but I didn't know what. If that creature won, I would

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be dinner again. And then I
remembered my gun. I knew I couldn't

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kill it, but maybe I could
distract that thing long enough to give the

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sasquatch a chance. And I took
a deep breath and I raised my rifle.

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The monster's head was moving too fast
to get a clean shot. Most

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of its body was moving too fast. And then, with an almost perverse

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pleasure, I realized the only part
of it that wasn't moving too fast was

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its backside. Almost snickered at the
thought of shooting it there. I started

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to pull the trigger, and a
massive scream louder than anything I had heard

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so far, burst through the air
from my far right, and spinning around,

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I saw an even larger beasts break
through the tree line and rush headlong

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into the fray. The monster straightened
up and braced for the attack, but

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it was too late. The larger
squatch had already reached it, hitting it

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in its back so hard that the
top of its head snap back and bounced

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off its massive back with a resounding
crack, and it crumpled forward to its

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face. Seconds passed like hours as
the two watched, waiting for a movement

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that never came. I kicked to
the side, confirmed that the monster would

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never move again. The victor raised
his head and sniffed the air and screamed

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a victory roar before grabbing the monster's
ankle, dragging it off into the trees.

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The first big foot now turned its
focus on me as it stood up.

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The side of its nine foot frames
sent a shutter through me. It

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was studying me as it cautiously inched
forward, and when I realized that I

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was pointing my rifle at it with
my finger on the trigger, I lowered

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my rifle and that appeared to give
it some relief. However, it began

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to move faster toward me. Maybe
it was fear, and maybe it was

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to crash after such an adrenaline rush. I couldn't say. All I know

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is that the edges of my vision
began to darken in the earth was beginning

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to spin, and the last thing
I saw was the ground flying up to

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meet my face. When I awoke, my head was pounding and I felt

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ill. I rested my head between
my knees and then hailed through my nose

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and exhale through my mouth, fighting
the urge to gulp the cool night air.

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And then I looked around. I
was propped up against my truck with

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my rifle at my side. Had
this been a nightmare? Had I never

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left my parking spot? Had I
nodded off instead and had a bad dream.

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I began to question myself mentally,
replaying the events that led up to

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this moment. It had to have
been a dream. I convinced myself that

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I had never left my truck,
and I got myself up off the ground

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and turned to get in, wanting
nothing more than to get home. That

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was when I saw the huge handprint
on the hood of my truck. Placed

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exactly where someone would have placed their
hand to steady themselves while setting something on

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the ground. I froze and,
suddenly aware of the cold, wet spot

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in my pants where I had sold
myself, had to face the truth.

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I've never moved so fast in my
life. I never looked back, nor

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have I ever told this story to
anyone. For years, that thing stalked

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my dreams. Sometimes it caught me. On those occasions, I would wake

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up screaming and flailing my arms.
Those dreams dropped a year ago, so

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I figured it was time to share
my story. I only hope that telling

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it doesn't invite that creature to make
a nocturnal come back. Two