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00:00:01,919 --> 00:00:06,000
Hey, Nick, can I have
some of the popsicles? Please? As

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00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:08,880
she yelled out to me while I
was laying on the couch with an ice

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00:00:08,919 --> 00:00:14,279
pack resting on my chest. It
was a hot, humid day in the

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middle of the rural outskirts of upstate
New York on a Friday afternoon. My

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younger brother and I had just gotten
home from school, board as hell while

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we boiled alive indoors and outdoors.
No, we have to wait until Wednesday.

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00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:34,520
But it's my birthday, so I
should be able to have one,

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Asher said, in an annoying,
entitled tone. Not your birthday till Wednesday,

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00:00:40,719 --> 00:00:47,039
dude, Plus mom and dad said. I was annoyed, uncomfortable,

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00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:52,560
sweating, and felt like a husk. I was fourteen, while my younger

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00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:58,079
brother was turning eleven. We were
home alone until Sunday morning while our parents

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00:00:58,079 --> 00:01:03,520
were out on a business trip.
Asher closed the freezer door after peeking inside,

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and lazily walked over to the couch, where he fell over and landed

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on top of me. Do what
the hell get off me? I yelled

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out. I'm bored. He groaned, Yeah, okay, I literally don't

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00:01:18,719 --> 00:01:23,560
care, I said. I shoved
him off the couch and he got up,

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00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:27,159
looking out on to the porch.
Can we go look for snakes outside?

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He asked, you can. I'm
tired. I closed my eyes,

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00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:38,079
wanting to take a nap. You're
always tired, he said, as he

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00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:45,159
walked over to the glass sliding door. I watched him look out the window,

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feeling too weak to move. It
was so hot it felt like I

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00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:55,120
was melting into the couch. Mom
and Dad had all this time to go

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on dinners, trips, and visits, yet they didn't have time to get

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00:01:57,959 --> 00:02:06,359
someone to fix their conditioning. A
knock from the front door echoed to the

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00:02:06,439 --> 00:02:12,000
house, catching Asher's attention. He
stood up and went to answer it.

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Don't answer it, I said,
in a weak monotone voice. Why cause

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00:02:19,319 --> 00:02:23,599
it could be a serial killer waiting
to make you his next victim. Shut

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00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:29,680
up, Nick, you're not funny. The knock then evolved into multiple fists

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00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:34,840
pounding at the door. It's just
the FBI. Open up, you're all

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00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:38,280
under arrest. Jacob's muffled voice yelled
from the other side of the door.

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Okay, open it, I said, annoyed. Asher raced to open the

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door, letting Jacob and Trevor inside. They were the two closest friends we

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had, both of them in the
same class as me. They raised inside,

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and the disgusting odor of hot sweat
permeated off of them. Nick,

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00:03:01,879 --> 00:03:06,759
you'll never guess what we found in
the woods, Trevor excitedly yelled out,

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00:03:07,479 --> 00:03:13,080
we found an abandoned treehouse. Jacob
followed up. Trevor elbowed Jacob, and

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00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:19,120
they both looked at me, ready
to run back outside. My interest was

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piqued as I sat up on the
couch where at I curiously asked. It's

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00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:30,039
further past the quarry, Jacob said, trying to catch his breath, like

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00:03:30,199 --> 00:03:34,240
a fifteen minute walk past it.
I want to go, please, Nick,

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00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:38,879
let's go check it out. As
she yelled out, I sighed,

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00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:43,080
getting up off the couch. I
looked at the time as though I had

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00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:47,479
something important coming up. At three
sixteen pm, the three were staring at

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00:03:47,479 --> 00:03:53,520
me excitedly waiting for an answer.
Yeah, all right, I guess,

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00:03:54,199 --> 00:03:59,919
I said, shrugging my shoulders.
Yes. Trevor yelled out, all right,

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00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:04,280
let's go quick. Trevor ran out
of the house, followed by Jacob

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00:04:04,319 --> 00:04:10,639
and Asher. I jugged towards them
and exited the house. They all hot

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00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:14,360
on their bikes that were hastily thrown
on the messy, toy covered lawn.

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Mom and Dad had told us that
we needed to clean the front and backyard,

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00:04:18,759 --> 00:04:23,839
but our logic was to wait until
the last second before touching anything.

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00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:30,959
We were two geniuses competing with Tesla's
IQ. Our house was completely surrounded by

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00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:36,000
miles of woods and a small quiet
road. The nearest neighbor was a mile

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00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:41,680
and a half away, so if
anything were to happen at home, then

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00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:46,040
we were on our own. I
honestly don't know what our parents are thinking

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00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:50,720
during that point of time. Always
going out, We drove about a mile

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00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:56,319
and a quarter down the road on
our bikes, the wind feeling amazing against

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00:04:56,360 --> 00:05:00,600
my sweaty face. Afterward, we
drove to a trail off to the side

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00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:05,800
of the road and continued through the
forest. The sun was beaming through the

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00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:12,959
trees, most of which were just
barely grown back the leaves. When we

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finally got to the quarry, Jacob
and Trevor slowed down and got off of

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their bikes. Asher and I shot
each other confused glances. Why are we

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stopping, I questioned them. The
treehouse isn't on the trail Jacob said,

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00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:33,639
panting as though he had been running
the whole way here. How the hell

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00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:38,639
did you guys even find it?
I asked. We were looking for a

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00:05:38,639 --> 00:05:42,920
new spot to catch water snakes.
Trevor yelled out as he dropped his bike

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00:05:43,199 --> 00:05:48,079
and quickly walked towards the thick forest. Asher and Jacob, along with myself,

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quickly followed behind, all eager to
see this treehouse. Trevor, Jacob

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00:05:55,480 --> 00:06:00,240
and I had always dreamed about having
a treehouse or something of that matter to

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00:06:00,319 --> 00:06:05,519
hang out in and have sleepovers inside, like headquarters for our group. Since

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00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:11,040
this was out in the middle of
absolutely nowhere, it would most likely need

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00:06:11,079 --> 00:06:15,240
some touch ups, which we could
easily do over time. Ah, I'm

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00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:20,680
tired, Asher whined, Quit being
such a baby, I said, not

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00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:25,040
wanting to deal with this crap.
You know it's going to be a long

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00:06:25,079 --> 00:06:29,160
walk, I know, but still, can we stop for a second,

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00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:33,160
Asher said, trying to sit down. No, we're literally like five minutes

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00:06:33,199 --> 00:06:40,399
away, Trevor said, not turning
to look towards Asher. We continued on,

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00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:46,720
Asher continuing to whind the entire way. He'd always been whinying entitled,

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00:06:46,279 --> 00:06:49,519
but I still felt bad for him
since he didn't really have a lot of

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00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:56,600
friends because of it. But unfortunately
that's what happens when mommy and daddy don't

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00:06:56,639 --> 00:07:01,839
know how to say no. I'd
be lying if I said I wasn't excited

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00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:05,680
out on my mind to see the
tree house, though, but I wanted

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00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:12,240
to look cool and keep calm on
the outside. After about twenty minutes in

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00:07:12,319 --> 00:07:16,720
total of traveling through the forest,
leaves crunching under every step, birds singing

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00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:23,120
and chirping, accompanied by the noises
of a pratty little brother, we finally

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00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:30,040
arrived a very tall, skinny oak
tree sat in a small clearing about fifty

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00:07:30,079 --> 00:07:35,720
feet away from any trees. It
was a strange sight, but it made

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00:07:35,759 --> 00:07:42,600
sense why whoever built the tree house
chose that particular tree. The tree house

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00:07:42,639 --> 00:07:46,480
itself was decent sized, provided enough
room for about five kids our age to

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00:07:46,519 --> 00:07:51,519
sit comfortably inside. It wrapped around
the tree about thirty feet in the air,

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and a singular ladder led inside.
It seemed as though it had been

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00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:01,759
there for so long that the trees
started more around the edges of it,

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00:08:01,079 --> 00:08:07,920
like it was clay. The treehouse
was in amazing shape, a little dusty,

93
00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:13,759
but no rot overgrowth, nothing at
all. Dude, this is amazing,

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00:08:15,319 --> 00:08:18,839
I blurted out. Have you guys
gone inside yet? Nah, Drevor

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00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:24,040
said, shaking his head. We
wanted to get you guys first. He

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00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:30,759
looked over at us with an excited
grin. It was an amazing sight,

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00:08:30,879 --> 00:08:35,080
for sure. The wood of the
treehouse was a light color, almost a

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00:08:35,159 --> 00:08:39,240
whitish yellow. Fine details were all
over the outside of the walls and windows

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00:08:39,759 --> 00:08:45,960
painted red and dark brown. This
was the kind of treehouse that was made

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00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:50,720
by a father who had a passion
for craftsmanship, made specifically for his young

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00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:58,960
children to make wonderful memories inside.
Yet for some odd reason, it was

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out there, almost three miles deep
in the woods. We didn't question it,

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00:09:05,399 --> 00:09:09,240
though I wish we would have,
but we were young, stupid,

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00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:16,799
and naive. At least that's what
I keep telling myself. I went up

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00:09:18,039 --> 00:09:22,360
next to the ladder and rested my
hand under the tree. However, I

106
00:09:22,639 --> 00:09:28,080
instantly pulled it back. The bark
of the tree fell off. In fact,

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00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:33,960
it didn't feel like tree bark at
all. It was somewhat warm,

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00:09:33,159 --> 00:09:37,559
with a soft, newbug leathery feel. I slowly went to feel again.

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00:09:39,039 --> 00:09:43,559
It was definitely not bark. I
couldn't even keep my hand on it for

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00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:50,799
longer than two seconds without feeling disgusted. I honestly thought the tree was rotten,

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which made me hesitant to climb up
the ladder. I didn't say anything,

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00:09:56,159 --> 00:09:58,799
as did not spoil the mood,
so I stood back to look back

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00:10:00,159 --> 00:10:05,480
at the treehouse again. Trevor,
Jacob, and Asher plabbed about their ideas

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00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:09,799
of what they could do with the
treehouse. Treffor and Jacob always tried to

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00:10:09,879 --> 00:10:13,720
include Asher and stuff, which was
nice, but I still always felt annoyed

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00:10:13,759 --> 00:10:18,679
with his presence most of the time. Jacob asked who should go up first.

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Trevor and Ash both instantly said they
would, so they did rock paper

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00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:30,480
scissors to settle and who would be
the lucky number one? Trevor one,

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making Asher a bit upset. Trevor
smiled and told him that it's best he

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goes at first, just to make
sure it's safe. Asher surprisingly shut up,

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00:10:41,759 --> 00:10:48,759
finally understanding the concerns from someone else's
viewpoint other than his own. I

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00:10:48,879 --> 00:10:54,840
was a bit annoyed since he never
listened to me, but whatever. Drefford

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00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:58,759
started to make his way up the
tall, skinny ladder, all of us

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00:10:58,919 --> 00:11:03,840
waiting in anticipate, patient for what
he would see up there. The subtle

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00:11:03,879 --> 00:11:07,919
wind caused the trees to sway in
a strange way, like he was doing

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00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:11,679
his best to blend in with the
other trees around it, but didn't know

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00:11:11,919 --> 00:11:18,600
how. That's the best way I
can describe it. When he finally reached

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00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:22,679
the top, he didn't say anything. At first. We couldn't see him

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00:11:22,919 --> 00:11:28,879
as he had entered the treehouse.
What's it look like up there, Jacob

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00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:33,279
yelled out. It's pretty empty,
only a couple of cobwebs. Trevor yelled

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00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:39,320
back. Asha then started climbing up
the ladder eagerly. I stopped him,

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00:11:39,799 --> 00:11:45,600
and he looked back at me with
an annoyed expression. What he whined.

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00:11:46,039 --> 00:11:50,679
I was about to say something,
but I tripped over my tongue and couldn't

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00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:54,240
remember what I was going to say. Just let him go, bro,

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00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:58,799
Jacob said, with a face of
pity. I motioned for him to go,

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00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:05,320
and he continued up the ladder.
In that moment, a strange,

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00:12:05,399 --> 00:12:11,639
cut feeling washed over me, like
a primitive instinct was kicking in. I

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00:12:11,720 --> 00:12:16,720
didn't say anything, but I felt
sick to my stomach. I didn't want

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00:12:16,799 --> 00:12:20,000
my brother going up there. But
what was I going to say, you

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00:12:20,159 --> 00:12:26,399
can't go up there? Because I
said so. Yeah. Right after Asher

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00:12:26,519 --> 00:12:30,639
got up there, him and Trevor
called out to us to join them.

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Jacob started climbing up the ladder next, and I was debating if I should

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00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:41,120
follow. After my turn came and
I began to slowly make my way up

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the ladder. I felt much higher
than what it seemed from the ground.

145
00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:52,679
The soft wind blowing against my face, the sounds of the branches swaying and

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00:12:52,799 --> 00:12:56,879
brushing up against each other echoed through
the trees, almost sounding like a deep

147
00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:03,080
groan of a sleeping giant. When
I finally reached the top, I rested

148
00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:09,000
on the floor of the tree house, looking around at the interior. The

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00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:11,559
tree was in the center of the
room, with what looked to be faint

150
00:13:11,639 --> 00:13:16,279
vomits sanes covering the wooden floor.
It even kind of smelled like vomit.

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00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:22,480
Jacob pointed out the smell and said
they could bring some air freshness when they

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00:13:22,519 --> 00:13:28,440
came back with some decor. The
feeling in my stomach got worse looking out

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00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:33,679
the windows, seeing the seemingly infinite
void of trees around us instead of the

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00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:39,519
nice, cozy backyard of a small
home made me feel uneasy. Something was

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00:13:39,639 --> 00:13:46,879
off and it was eating me alive, my excitement slowly diminishing. Meanwhile,

156
00:13:48,279 --> 00:13:52,039
the others were still geeking out over
the place. So what shall we name

157
00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:58,039
this place? Jacob asked the cool
Kid's club with three ks. Trevor giggled.

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00:14:00,799 --> 00:14:03,639
As they went back and forth,
I noticed something on the tree itself,

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00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:09,279
a strange mark, just about three
feet wide. It was like a

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00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:15,759
seam in the bark, curved inwards
into itself, very similar to two flaps

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00:14:15,799 --> 00:14:20,600
of fat. I've seen some pretty
strange tree formations, so I brushed it

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00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:24,960
off. I tried keeping cool,
but this pit of my stomach was forming

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00:14:26,039 --> 00:14:30,440
into a black hole. So I
made up an excuse for us to leave.

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00:14:31,399 --> 00:14:33,679
Why don't we go back to our
place and get some stuff to bring

165
00:14:33,799 --> 00:14:37,519
back here, I said, having
no intentions of returning. We can bring

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00:14:37,639 --> 00:14:43,519
snacks, Yeah, all right,
Trevor said. We can also stop by

167
00:14:43,559 --> 00:14:48,399
my place to get my backpack to
fit more stuff. Asher was clearly upset.

168
00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:54,399
But I don't want to go,
he whimpered. We're literally going to

169
00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:58,919
come right back, Jacob sighed,
So I can stay here and wait for

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00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:03,000
you guys, Asher argued, no, Mamma, Dad told me to keep

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00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,840
an eye on you at all times. I argued back, well, it's

172
00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:13,840
almost my birthday, he said,
folding his arms. After a little more

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00:15:13,919 --> 00:15:18,600
pointless arguing, he begrudgingly agreed to
come back down. I was relieved to

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00:15:18,679 --> 00:15:22,679
finally get out of there, But
when we got to the bottom, I

175
00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:28,919
saw Jacob look at Asher with a
guilty expression. It's not his fault.

176
00:15:28,799 --> 00:15:33,159
He felt bad for him, even
though we were coming right back to cheer

177
00:15:33,279 --> 00:15:37,000
him up. He handed Asher a
small army knife he got from boy Scouts

178
00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:41,799
and told him he could carve all
our initials into the tree at the top,

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00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:46,879
so that way people would know it
was ours. Asher a little with

180
00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:52,240
excitement, and his mood instantly shifted. Why don't I come with you,

181
00:15:52,919 --> 00:15:56,799
I said quickly. I can do
this by myself. I'm not a baby,

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00:15:56,759 --> 00:16:03,559
Asher said, annoyed with me.
I wish I'd stopped him. I

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00:16:03,639 --> 00:16:10,639
wish I could have done more,
something, anything more, but I didn't.

184
00:16:11,039 --> 00:16:15,600
I watched as he eagerly made his
way up the ladder, carrying the

185
00:16:15,679 --> 00:16:21,799
knife and honor of marking our territory. Jacob and Trevor cheered him on as

186
00:16:21,879 --> 00:16:26,879
I nervously watched. Hell yeah,
Asher, Trevy yelled, you caught this

187
00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:33,559
birthday boy. Jacob followed after.
I didn't know why I was nervous,

188
00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:37,799
but I just was like my guardian
angel was screaming at me to go and

189
00:16:37,919 --> 00:16:45,639
get him. Unfortunately, that would
be the last time I ever saw him

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00:16:45,799 --> 00:16:55,600
again. The tree groaned with the
wind. Something was definitely off. Asher

191
00:16:55,759 --> 00:16:59,840
got to the top and went to
carve the names, but I lost sight

192
00:17:00,039 --> 00:17:04,720
of him. Yo is everything okay, man, Jeff asked me. Yeah,

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00:17:06,519 --> 00:17:11,880
yeah, I'm good, I replied
back. My eyes were dead focused

194
00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:15,759
on the treehouse, and I could
feel Jacob and Trevor looking at me for

195
00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:21,559
a few more moments before turning their
gazes back to the treehouse. I was

196
00:17:21,599 --> 00:17:26,119
imagining Asher struggling to even leave a
mark in the tree with his little noodle

197
00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:30,759
arms. Usually I thought like that
would make me laugh internally, but I

198
00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:36,960
only felt sad, the type of
sadness when you see someone who hasn't had

199
00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:41,799
a good life or is struggling physically
spill their drink everywhere or trip on a

200
00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:47,319
treadmill at the gym. As silly
as that is, I shook the thought

201
00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:52,319
off and looked back up at the
treehouse. We waited for a few minutes

202
00:17:52,599 --> 00:17:56,400
with no call outs from Asher.
Do you need help up there, Jacob

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00:17:56,480 --> 00:18:03,839
called out. Jacob and Trevor chuckled, waiting for a response. A few

204
00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:10,960
seconds went by, only to be
greeted with nothing. Asher. I called

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00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:18,039
out, we were all waiting for
a response, but nothing came. I

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00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:22,839
wanted to assume that he was dead
focused on carving those initials, but after

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00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:27,640
we called out some more, we
still got no response. Asher, stop

208
00:18:27,759 --> 00:18:33,799
messing around, man, Trevor yelled
out. I then grabbed a hold of

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00:18:33,839 --> 00:18:37,200
the ladder, making my way up, anticipating Asher jumping out at me at

210
00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:42,440
the entrance. As I made my
way up, I could have sworn I

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00:18:42,519 --> 00:18:47,839
saw movement underneath the bark, like
there was something trying to escape from it.

212
00:18:48,119 --> 00:18:52,799
It reminded me of when a snake
swallows a rat or something of that

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00:18:52,960 --> 00:19:00,160
size, when you see that lump
moving down its throat. However, saw

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00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:03,599
it for about a second, so
I assumed that it was the tree swaying

215
00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:10,319
in the wind or something like that. I got to the top and looked

216
00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:18,720
around but saw nothing Asher, I
said aloud, assuming he was behind the

217
00:19:18,799 --> 00:19:23,599
other side of the tree. I
crawled inside, and the now stronger smell

218
00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:30,440
of vomit and bile assaulted my nostrils, causing me to tear up. I

219
00:19:30,559 --> 00:19:37,000
crawled all the way around, but
he was nowhere to be seen. My

220
00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:42,640
stomach dropped. Where could he have
gone? I looked at the floor and

221
00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:48,839
saw the army knife lying there in
a puddle of what looked like greasy yellow

222
00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:52,920
slime. I took a good look
at it, and then turned my attention

223
00:19:53,079 --> 00:20:00,359
towards the tree. The same mark
I saw before had slimed, dripped down

224
00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:04,039
from the tight crevice, with a
new small mark above it, looking like

225
00:20:04,119 --> 00:20:08,680
a little scab. The sight reminded
me of the close mouth of a toothless

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00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:15,680
old person, so eliva running down
their lips. You look like ashes started

227
00:20:15,759 --> 00:20:22,839
carving but didn't finish. I just
sat there, trying to process what I

228
00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,359
was looking at. Jacob and Trevor
were calling out to me, but he

229
00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:33,680
didn't register with me. A thousand
thoughts raced through my head. I wanted

230
00:20:33,759 --> 00:20:38,000
to throw up. It was at
that moment and the screams of Jacob and

231
00:20:38,079 --> 00:20:42,599
Trevor yelling out for me to come
down finally got through to me. I

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00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:48,160
nearly fell all the way down as
I quickly hurried down the ladder. As

233
00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:51,880
soon as I reached the bottom,
I saw why they were screaming for me.

234
00:20:53,599 --> 00:21:03,359
The tree was breathing. It wasn't
the wind, it wasn't an illusion.

235
00:21:03,799 --> 00:21:08,839
It was literally breathing, letting out
a soft, deep gurgled groan with

236
00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:15,200
every breath. I couldn't believe it. It felt like a dream, but

237
00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:21,960
it was real, as real as
you and me. The tree house was

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00:21:22,039 --> 00:21:27,519
alive, and it had made a
meal of my baby brother. The strange

239
00:21:27,559 --> 00:21:33,759
movement I saw when climbing up the
tree was Ash's silhouette trying to kick and

240
00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:38,960
escape from its throat as it swallowed
him. The thought made me shaken fear

241
00:21:40,079 --> 00:21:47,359
uncontrollably. I thought I would pass
out driven Jacob ran for it, but

242
00:21:47,519 --> 00:21:53,759
I sat there for a few more
seconds, with my thoughts racing. I

243
00:21:53,839 --> 00:22:00,240
could only imagine the fear Asher had
been experiencing at that moment, screaming in

244
00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:03,720
terror, calling out for someone to
save him, his cries unable to be

245
00:22:03,839 --> 00:22:11,039
heard, not being able to escape
his claustrophobic fate, being digested alive with

246
00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:15,000
no one to help him. Knowing
that Mom and Dad didn't know where he

247
00:22:15,279 --> 00:22:19,680
was. He had gone up there, excited, thinking that he was finally

248
00:22:19,759 --> 00:22:26,839
part of the friend group. Instead, he had been eaten alive by a

249
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:33,599
treehouse, or at least something pretending
to be a treehouse. The bark of

250
00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:38,119
the tree was squirming, like there
was muscle twitching and contracting underneath it.

251
00:22:40,039 --> 00:22:45,400
The branches started moving in an alien
like way, something I'm unable to describe

252
00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:49,440
further than that, the sounds of
a deep, monstrous, wet, gurgling

253
00:22:49,519 --> 00:22:56,240
noise echoed through the forest. As
I followed behind Jacob and Trevor. We

254
00:22:56,359 --> 00:22:59,400
made it back to the quarry,
where we hopped on our bikes and rode

255
00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:06,160
to the nearest police station, about
five miles away. What happened after that

256
00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:12,160
was a blur. I don't remember
much, but what I do remember is

257
00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:17,279
that we told the cops that my
brother got eaten by something through incoherent cries.

258
00:23:18,559 --> 00:23:22,400
We came back to the spot where
the police, but the treehouse was

259
00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:29,200
now gone, not without leaving a
giant crater in the ground. Although they

260
00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:33,440
were presented with a strange hole that
didn't explain why my brother was missing.

261
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:40,480
We were taken to the police station
for questioning. We were separated into different

262
00:23:40,599 --> 00:23:48,440
rooms to explain ourselves. The police
was stumped. All three of us stories

263
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:55,400
matched up perfectly with each other,
so we were either great at lying or

264
00:23:55,440 --> 00:24:02,359
we did in fact witnessed something supernatural. Call to my parents explaining the situation,

265
00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:07,440
and they rushed over as fast as
they could. My mom and dad

266
00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:15,759
were heartbroken. They never believed my
story, though they rarely went on trips

267
00:24:15,799 --> 00:24:21,599
again, and if they did,
they brought me along. I'm pretty sure

268
00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:25,839
Mom and Dad think I did something
to him, and I don't blame them.

269
00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:34,519
Asher remains missing to this day.
I feel so stupid. It's my

270
00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:38,440
fault. I didn't stop him.
I want to blame Jacob for giving him

271
00:24:38,519 --> 00:24:45,039
that stupid army knife. But deep
down, I'm still drenched with the guilt

272
00:24:45,079 --> 00:24:51,200
of thinking that I could have prevented
everything all by not having him enter the

273
00:24:51,279 --> 00:24:57,480
door. Maybe then Jacob or Trevor
would be missing, perhaps both, but

274
00:24:57,599 --> 00:25:03,400
at least my brother would still He'll
be here. As selfish as that sounds.

275
00:25:06,079 --> 00:25:11,440
Seventeen years later, I have a
child of my own turning nine next

276
00:25:11,519 --> 00:25:15,400
week, and a beautiful wife.
I rarely speak to my parents, or

277
00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:19,960
any of my family for that matter. These events still linger in the back

278
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:25,240
of my mind like a parasite,
something I'll never be able to forget.

279
00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:30,240
I live about seven hours away from
where my childhood home was. Since my

280
00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:37,279
wife didn't feel comfortable leaving a hometown, I've decided to write all of this

281
00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:44,200
down the best I could remember,
because when I got up this morning to

282
00:25:44,279 --> 00:25:48,359
complete my daily ritual of making my
coffee to stare out the backyard window,

283
00:25:51,279 --> 00:25:56,640
I saw something that took me back
in time, far out in the true

284
00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:04,279
line, past the family of deer
eating the grass, stood something unnatural that

285
00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:22,359
did not belong there, the same
treehouse from all those years ago. I've

286
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:27,240
been trying to tell the truth for
so long that our lies become more convenient.

287
00:26:29,519 --> 00:26:33,119
There's been countless emails and phone calls, but there's no one to listen.

288
00:26:34,759 --> 00:26:41,319
I can't blame them. It sounds
insane. If what I told them

289
00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:45,319
was even partly true, it had
changed the way they looked at the world

290
00:26:45,599 --> 00:26:52,240
forever. It started with little lies. I stopped saying I saw something,

291
00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:59,680
but even then it was considered in
bad taste to even talk about. They

292
00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:03,880
thought I was lying or spicing up
the truth to hide something even more sinister.

293
00:27:06,799 --> 00:27:12,240
And honestly, I've grown tired.
I'm so tired of trying to be

294
00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:21,920
believed. So for one final time, I'm gonna tell the truth and then

295
00:27:22,079 --> 00:27:30,240
just never talk about it again.
This has to stop. I never like

296
00:27:30,319 --> 00:27:36,079
the term stormchaser. It sounds too
much like a fun hobby. Well,

297
00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:40,200
it is a term commonly used.
It's not just about being a thrill seeker.

298
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:47,559
We provide real and tangible services.
The NWS relies on real time updates

299
00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:52,839
about barometric pressure, wind direction,
rainfall and rate, surface conditions, wind

300
00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:59,880
speed and direction, and a dozen
other data points. This is information taken

301
00:28:00,079 --> 00:28:06,759
into account when providing early onset warnings
and to alert emergency services in affected areas.

302
00:28:07,319 --> 00:28:11,599
I worked with two other guys back
then. We rode in separate vehicles,

303
00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:15,359
the two of them up front,
with me following in a back up.

304
00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:21,680
There was Javert, the gear head. He made sure our cell phones

305
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:26,599
worked even in nasty weather through various
cell phone boosters, as well as keeping

306
00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:33,079
us updated on satellite radar and mesoscale
analysis. He was also in charge of

307
00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:37,880
the radio, making sure we were
up to date on any info coming in

308
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:44,200
from police, the fire department,
emergency services, citizen Band or military frequencies,

309
00:28:45,319 --> 00:28:49,680
mostly Air force, but we could
get marine as well. Second guy

310
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:56,519
was read this meatball shaped man was
a veteran in every sense of the word.

311
00:28:56,519 --> 00:29:00,480
He came back from Afghanistan and went, oh, well, let's check

312
00:29:00,519 --> 00:29:07,839
out tornadoes. So he did.
He educated himself and got a job as

313
00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:12,839
a forensic meteorologist. Yeah, that's
a thing. Years later he started his

314
00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:19,240
own business, one which I was
employed at. We were on a data

315
00:29:19,319 --> 00:29:23,279
gather job for a storm about six
o'clocks north of a small minutes of the

316
00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:30,920
town not far from Rochester. Early
predictions had put the storm as passing east

317
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:37,000
of Madison, but there had been
a sudden western shift. They needed boots

318
00:29:37,039 --> 00:29:40,920
on the ground for new measurements,
and it was looking to be a nasty

319
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:45,160
surprise. There'd been no weather warnings
going out as far as Saint Cloud,

320
00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:52,160
and this thing was poffing up into
a monster. Rion roaded a quick damage

321
00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:57,359
survey as we passed through Wardville.
It didn't look like much a couple of

322
00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:02,480
bent saplings along the tree line,
but we were at the edge of it.

323
00:30:03,559 --> 00:30:08,079
This was just early indicators. We
could tell service conditions. We're kind

324
00:30:08,119 --> 00:30:12,240
of go straight to hell. I
was hearing Reid react to it in real

325
00:30:12,319 --> 00:30:18,160
time over the radio. Sky's gonna
hail. Crap, he laughed. Mark

326
00:30:18,279 --> 00:30:23,480
my goddamn word. I in no
way, Javier said, ain't that kind

327
00:30:23,519 --> 00:30:29,200
of pressure. Boss says it's gonna
hail. It's gonna hail. I added,

328
00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:33,680
glad I've got at least one agreeable
man on my side, or to

329
00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:37,480
call him, raise jaser. Javi
scoffed, I'm telling you it's not happening.

330
00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:44,680
We were breaking the speed limit,
but driving in rough conditions kind of

331
00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:48,359
comes with the job. Our vehicles
go through regular checkups to make sure they

332
00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:52,880
can take some punishment. Last thing
you want is to get stranded in front

333
00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:57,000
of a twister. It's a measure
twice cut once, kind of deal.

334
00:31:00,119 --> 00:31:04,240
Away through Rochester, heading northeast by
way of Kellogg. It was a decent

335
00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:08,920
chance we'd have to cross the Mississippi. First arm of the storm was about

336
00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:15,240
to pass Maxville. Javert couldn't help
but to laugh. It's a quick turn,

337
00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:18,759
quick, quick turn. I could
almost hear him shaking his head.

338
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:25,440
Hailstorms don't move like that, he
added, you're full of it. Reid

339
00:31:25,519 --> 00:31:30,039
laughed. You'll see the roads were
looking clear as We rolled up on the

340
00:31:30,079 --> 00:31:36,640
Wabasher Nelson Bridge. The sun was
setting, casting a stark contrast between the

341
00:31:36,759 --> 00:31:41,039
dark clouds and the red sky.
We slowed down to get a better view.

342
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:45,759
I wasn't sure what I was looking
at. That's what hale looks like,

343
00:31:47,319 --> 00:31:52,319
said reed. No, that it's
clustered, right, Javert sighed,

344
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:56,000
Did the Rockies do it? Ain't
no way, I scoffed at the radio,

345
00:31:56,519 --> 00:32:01,359
unless the rock Is are somehow out
in New England. Girls girls read

346
00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:07,920
laughed, you're both pretty. It's
fine. There was a rest stop just

347
00:32:07,039 --> 00:32:12,240
across the bridge. We turned in
to check the weather stations and do a

348
00:32:12,279 --> 00:32:17,079
preliminary reading. Javert double checked the
power supply. We were running a ton

349
00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:22,119
of devices and you don't want any
of them breaking in the heat of things.

350
00:32:22,319 --> 00:32:25,960
He was reading a checklist out loud
as Rudy and I took a sidebar,

351
00:32:27,519 --> 00:32:30,839
getting a closer look at the storm. You really think it's hale,

352
00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:37,279
i asked, Could just be a
nasty downpour? Ah, it's hale,

353
00:32:37,799 --> 00:32:40,359
he nodded. You get a feel
for it. You can smell it.

354
00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:49,400
Smell it, yeah, smell it
smells like nonsense, more like it's what's

355
00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:55,079
happening. He pointed south, predicting
her sharp movement to the west, powerful

356
00:32:55,119 --> 00:32:59,960
winds enough to rip away more than
just a couple of saplings across the road.

357
00:33:00,599 --> 00:33:07,880
We were locking a potentially serious property
damage. Checking the weather station confirmed

358
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:15,400
it. Wind direction was shifting fast
and picking up speed. We kept going

359
00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:21,279
north, heading to Wisconsin, then
southeast to the thirty five. We got

360
00:33:21,319 --> 00:33:29,480
a better view of the storm,
and something just felt off. I had

361
00:33:29,519 --> 00:33:32,559
only worked with Reid for about eighteen
months, but it's like he said,

362
00:33:34,839 --> 00:33:39,559
you can kind of smell it,
and I did. We kept going another

363
00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:45,319
ten to twenty minutes, stopped by
the roadside and updated our readings. As

364
00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:52,359
Javert updated the local NWS office,
Reid stopped for a cigarette. The wind

365
00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:58,119
was picking up another nemometer was picking
up speed, spinning faster and faster.

366
00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:04,359
Reid was having trouble lighting his cigarette
that if anything seemed to worry him,

367
00:34:05,599 --> 00:34:12,119
rain or shine, he could light
a goddamn cigarette. It ain't looking good,

368
00:34:12,679 --> 00:34:17,599
he said, not one bit.
What are you thinking. I'm not

369
00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:22,960
sure yet, he sighed, cupping
a hand around his lighter, looking worse

370
00:34:23,039 --> 00:34:30,320
than a hale. We're talking twister. He shook his head. Finally lighting

371
00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:37,079
up a spark. Nah, he
sighed, that ain't it. We kept

372
00:34:37,119 --> 00:34:40,719
going south for another ten minutes or
so. The clouds were rolling in fast.

373
00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:45,199
I could feel the increased moisture in
the air sticking to my skin.

374
00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:51,519
I had to turn up the ac
We got to stop for another reading,

375
00:34:52,159 --> 00:34:55,599
said Javert. We're getting in the
thick of it. We're turning back,

376
00:34:57,159 --> 00:35:01,079
said Reid. No, chuck old
Jever, No, we ain't. That's

377
00:35:01,159 --> 00:35:06,480
moving out of We're turning back.
We have no idea what we're running into.

378
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:14,079
You got no idea of Javert,
You really got no idea you Yeah,

379
00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:19,599
read at the pause, hang in
the air for a moment. I

380
00:35:19,639 --> 00:35:24,079
could feel the tension, all right, said Javert. Yes, we're going

381
00:35:24,159 --> 00:35:30,000
back. Ty screeched. As Reid
turned, I could see flashes of light

382
00:35:30,159 --> 00:35:37,159
in the rear view mirror. Then
came the thunder. Yeah, it's picking

383
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:43,360
up. Reid said. So it's
not Hale, juggled Javert. I don't

384
00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:46,880
know what the hell that is.
Told you it ain't Hale. Now it's

385
00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:51,159
not the time to be a smug
ass ole, Javi, I interrupted,

386
00:35:51,719 --> 00:35:55,559
We're we headed red. Figured we
could cut the thing off going north through

387
00:35:55,639 --> 00:36:01,480
Nelson coming out behind it. As
he shared his plans. I couldn't help

388
00:36:01,519 --> 00:36:07,320
but to notice Javert going quiet.
This was a guy who was more banter

389
00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:14,039
than man. Then all of a
sudden he wasn't feeling it anymore. Bad

390
00:36:14,159 --> 00:36:21,199
sign. We kept sending updates to
the local NWS office, and within minutes

391
00:36:21,599 --> 00:36:27,559
there was a weather warning going out. I got one too, returned north

392
00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:31,199
up the twenty five, hoping we'd
get far enough before we struck the brunt

393
00:36:31,280 --> 00:36:36,239
of the storm. With a bit
of luck, we could get some more

394
00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:42,519
accurate readings on the other side and
still be home before midnight. But yeah,

395
00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:50,119
no, we weren't that lucky.
The storm picked up and we ended

396
00:36:50,199 --> 00:36:53,480
up in the tail end of the
northernmost edge. We got hit by the

397
00:36:53,559 --> 00:36:59,280
rain first. I kept my eye
on Reed's car, watching the rain drops

398
00:36:59,360 --> 00:37:04,400
gather and did disappear with the tic
tacking of my windshield wipers. Read and

399
00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:08,280
Javert were arguing about the readings,
about connection issues, about how the power

400
00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:14,719
strip was acting up, overcharging the
batteries. I was having trouble hearing them

401
00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:22,480
over the radio. I could suddenly
smell ozone again. You can smell it

402
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:30,280
just before it happens I bet Reed
did too. The first lightning strike came

403
00:37:30,519 --> 00:37:38,719
out of nowhere. Now I've seen
bad weather, I've lived it, slept

404
00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:45,800
in it. But this wasn't just
bad weather. It was downright nefarious.

405
00:37:46,199 --> 00:37:54,199
Not just rain and thunder, but
something else. A split second, in

406
00:37:54,280 --> 00:38:00,400
that single heartbeat where the strike lit
up the sky and everything was quiet.

407
00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:05,920
It's not a person alive that's quick
enough to react, giving this eerie,

408
00:38:06,199 --> 00:38:12,920
ethereal feel to it. As Reid's
car kept sailing straightforward, but in that

409
00:38:13,079 --> 00:38:25,119
light, I saw something, shadows
cast across the pavement. Something Reed swerved

410
00:38:25,599 --> 00:38:29,599
and the road took the wheel.
He tried to bring it back, but

411
00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:34,599
it was too late. One wheel
dipped into a ditch, lurching the car

412
00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:37,880
forward, spinning it around and nearly
flipping it, ripping it off the road

413
00:38:38,159 --> 00:38:43,800
and about twenty five feet into a
nearby field. Made it look like a

414
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:47,840
goddamn bumper car. I stepped on
the brakes, leaning my car into the

415
00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:52,239
side of the road. I didn't
even think about it. I grabbed my

416
00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:57,119
radio and hurried out of the door. I called out for them to respond,

417
00:38:57,559 --> 00:39:00,960
but they were doing the same right
back to me. We screamed over

418
00:39:00,039 --> 00:39:04,440
one another, in those chaotic first
few seconds, in a garbled mess.

419
00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:12,159
Finally I stopped to listen. Reid
came through. Get back into your car?

420
00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:21,159
What Get back into your goddamn car. I wasn't thinking straight. I

421
00:39:21,360 --> 00:39:25,159
was heading out into the field with
no cover. In a storm, it's

422
00:39:25,199 --> 00:39:30,320
safer to be inside the vehicle.
It can act as a sort of Faraday

423
00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:36,440
cage. I was completely exposed out
there. A quick turn of the heel,

424
00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:39,719
and I was heading straight back to
my car. I threw myself into

425
00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:45,079
the passenger seat, and the moment
I closed the door, the sky lit

426
00:39:45,159 --> 00:39:51,800
back up. A single lightning strike
reaching from the clouds and into the windshield

427
00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:58,559
of Reed's car. And from that
light I could see them. There must

428
00:39:58,599 --> 00:40:06,920
have been a hundred people. Burn
people, people with exposed bones, cracked

429
00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:13,559
skin, missing limbs, all in
various stages of decay and decomposition. They

430
00:40:13,639 --> 00:40:19,159
were all over covering the street,
circling Reid's car, or just standing there

431
00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:23,280
in a white light, staring with
dead eyes. And in the blink of

432
00:40:23,360 --> 00:40:31,119
an eye they were gone. Thunder
rumbled as the world turned dark. Javert

433
00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:36,719
threw himself out of the car.
The strike had cracked straight through the windshield

434
00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:40,679
shattering it. I couldn't hear Javert
over the radio, but I could see

435
00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:46,000
him looking my way, pointing at
the driver's seat, where Reid sat read

436
00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:53,719
and wasn't moving. Lightning doesn't move
like that. It hits the tallest point,

437
00:40:54,119 --> 00:41:00,079
not the weakest. But this one
wasn't following the rules. Javert bolted

438
00:41:00,159 --> 00:41:05,480
for my car, rushing across the
field. I left the passenger side door

439
00:41:05,559 --> 00:41:08,679
open and crawled into the driver's seat, urging him on, come on,

440
00:41:09,199 --> 00:41:14,960
I cried out, come on.
He was sprinting at full speed with this

441
00:41:15,119 --> 00:41:19,880
wild look in his eyes. His
pupils were so dilated that his eyes looked

442
00:41:19,960 --> 00:41:30,280
black. He didn't get far another
strike, this one piercing straight through him.

443
00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:35,440
I could see his muscles contract and
burst as his jaw twisted at an

444
00:41:35,519 --> 00:41:40,760
unnatural angle, and in that split
second burst of light, they came back.

445
00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:46,400
They circled him. I could see
them across the field in the hundreds,

446
00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:52,920
the lightning strike bringing out the image
of their form, looking at Javert

447
00:41:52,119 --> 00:42:00,800
with dead eyed stairs. But one
of them was looking my way. I

448
00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:04,599
didn't recognize him at first, but
I couldn't help but to notice him.

449
00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:12,880
He was the only one of them
looking my way read. His eyes had

450
00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:16,400
rolled back in his head, and
there was a smoldering black spot stretching out

451
00:42:16,440 --> 00:42:21,840
from his barrel framed chest, just
as dead as the rest of them,

452
00:42:22,079 --> 00:42:32,320
looking right at me. I was
next. I could barely see as the

453
00:42:32,440 --> 00:42:37,760
light faded and the figures faded from
my eyes. My head shrieked from the

454
00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:44,280
pressure as the thunder shook my car. The world looked gray. I think

455
00:42:44,360 --> 00:42:50,280
I was blinded temporarily. Everything looked
red. When I blinked, I couldn't

456
00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:54,760
even see Chauvert lying out in the
field. My first instinct was to take

457
00:42:54,840 --> 00:43:00,159
cover. That's what you usually do
when you're stuck in a storm. You

458
00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:05,199
take shelter and you wait for it
to pass. But this was different.

459
00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:08,880
It hadn't worked for Reed, and
its sure as hell wouldn't work for me.

460
00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:15,159
I got out just seconds before lightning
rocked my car, burning through the

461
00:43:15,239 --> 00:43:21,880
engine block and scorching the pavement underneath. In a flash of light, I

462
00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:28,960
saw them. They were all there. Javert too, his jaw still twisted

463
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:35,280
and bent, but now they were
all looking at me, waiting for me.

464
00:43:37,119 --> 00:43:39,320
I stumbled backwards, falling into a
ditch by the side of the road.

465
00:43:40,079 --> 00:43:44,480
I got my clothes covered in rain, water, stinging nettles, and

466
00:43:44,599 --> 00:43:50,960
discolored sunflowers. The rain was relentless. My first thought was to get up

467
00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:55,719
and run, but I couldn't get
my legs to move. Instead, I

468
00:43:55,880 --> 00:44:00,840
just curled into a ball, covered
my eyes and tried to make myself as

469
00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:12,400
small as possible. Strike after strike
after strike, but it didn't reach me.

470
00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:16,800
Now, with every flash, the
figures came closer. By the third

471
00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:22,440
flash, I was surrounded by the
dead, shoulder to shoulder, packed like

472
00:44:22,599 --> 00:44:28,719
sardines. They didn't say a word. All they did was come closer,

473
00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:36,920
reaching for me. It felt like
an eternity, every flash of light making

474
00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:40,360
my heart skip a beat. It
felt like minutes past, and every instant

475
00:44:40,519 --> 00:44:45,239
where the ground was struck. I
covered my ears and eyes, but there

476
00:44:45,320 --> 00:44:50,599
was just no way not to feel
it. It consumes your every sense.

477
00:44:51,480 --> 00:44:55,159
You can taste it, smell it. It's so bright it burns through your

478
00:44:55,199 --> 00:45:00,199
eyelids, It ripples through the hands
who used to cover your ears. It's

479
00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:08,599
such immense, ungodly power. I
could feel them and, not having the

480
00:45:08,679 --> 00:45:14,199
time to grasp me the smell of
decay as a hand blinked in and out,

481
00:45:14,559 --> 00:45:17,440
trying to strangle me. A flash
of pain as someone tried to bite

482
00:45:17,480 --> 00:45:22,719
my leg, but the flash was
over before the dead teeth could pierce my

483
00:45:22,840 --> 00:45:28,079
skin. I couldn't fight them off. There were too many, and it

484
00:45:28,199 --> 00:45:31,880
was impossible to tell where they were
coming from. I waved my arms around,

485
00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:39,079
frantically, scrambling to protect myself.
In a fleeting moment, I lugged

486
00:45:39,159 --> 00:45:45,639
up. I expected to see the
clouds moving and the storm bringing the rain

487
00:45:45,760 --> 00:45:52,039
westward. But that's not what I
saw. There was an eye up there,

488
00:45:53,320 --> 00:46:00,320
and honest to God, I looking
straight at me. In hindsight,

489
00:46:01,079 --> 00:46:06,239
it must have been as large as
a football field. It was such an

490
00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:10,679
immense thing that I couldn't comprehend it. It hung there, parting the clouds,

491
00:46:12,400 --> 00:46:15,960
and with every blink, another strike
came thundering down looking for me.

492
00:46:17,599 --> 00:46:24,639
I counted eighteen eighteen lightning strikes in
the span of at most a matter of

493
00:46:24,800 --> 00:46:30,599
minutes. It felt like I'd been
there for hours, every strike lasting longer

494
00:46:30,719 --> 00:46:37,199
than the previous. But as the
rain passed me by, I was left

495
00:46:37,280 --> 00:46:43,960
freezing and shuddering. We grasping hands
stopped the biting, the tearing. I

496
00:46:44,079 --> 00:46:50,920
was bleeding from cuts and bruises,
but I was alive. When I finally

497
00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:54,960
got back on my feet, there
was nothing but cracked pavement, burnt grass,

498
00:46:57,280 --> 00:47:00,199
and two bodies, one still in
the driver's seat of his car,

499
00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:06,920
the other left face down in the
rain. It took me a couple of

500
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:12,480
minutes to call it in. I
couldn't believe it. I just sat there

501
00:47:13,039 --> 00:47:20,400
trying to breathe. I've been telling
people about it ever since. What they

502
00:47:20,480 --> 00:47:24,360
call it trauma, like it was
all just a big accident waiting to happen.

503
00:47:25,599 --> 00:47:30,639
Even people in the business refused to
listen, no matter their relation to

504
00:47:30,719 --> 00:47:35,639
Read and his company. A terrible
tragedy is all they're ready to say,

505
00:47:36,519 --> 00:47:42,039
as if a guy like Reid would
mess up this bad. Lightning strikes do

506
00:47:42,320 --> 00:47:47,960
not aim. It doesn't happen.
I tracked it as long and as far

507
00:47:49,039 --> 00:47:52,480
as I could, but from what
I could tell, it dissolved somewhere over

508
00:47:52,559 --> 00:47:59,400
the coast of Norway. I read
something about swaths of gulls being pulverized into

509
00:47:59,519 --> 00:48:05,440
rains of fathers in the fishing village
over the northwestern coast. But that's where

510
00:48:05,480 --> 00:48:13,559
the trail ends. I've never had
a problem with storms until now. Now

511
00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:17,159
I wake up in the middle of
the night, imagining I just felt the

512
00:48:17,280 --> 00:48:22,480
rumble of thunder. I freak out
as sudden light. I can't bring myself

513
00:48:22,519 --> 00:48:29,199
to go outside when there's an overcast. I just got this feeling that whatever

514
00:48:29,320 --> 00:48:36,280
that was, it didn't like me
getting away. Maybe I can tell the

515
00:48:36,400 --> 00:48:51,880
next time it's near. I can
kind of smell it. I've always kept

516
00:48:51,960 --> 00:48:57,400
diaries ever since I was a child. I've documented my daily life in journals,

517
00:48:57,840 --> 00:49:00,360
carefully labeled on the sides and covers
so to keep them in order.

518
00:49:01,559 --> 00:49:06,800
I'm on my one thousand and thirty
third journal, and all of them I

519
00:49:06,920 --> 00:49:12,280
kept in order on bookshelves. It's
basically a ledger of my entire life,

520
00:49:14,119 --> 00:49:19,920
or at least it was until my
house burned down and I lost all of

521
00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:28,480
them, all except for one that
I never wrote. My father and I

522
00:49:28,639 --> 00:49:31,280
were going through the wreckage. The
burnt waters of the house had blackened and

523
00:49:31,440 --> 00:49:37,239
charred. The smell of smoke and
burning insulations still hung heavy in the air.

524
00:49:37,480 --> 00:49:42,000
I looked through the pile of burned
paper that had once been my journals.

525
00:49:43,079 --> 00:49:45,599
I saw the family photos, all
water damage from the fire hoses,

526
00:49:46,599 --> 00:49:52,199
at least those not destroyed by the
flames. Hey what's this, my father

527
00:49:52,320 --> 00:49:58,800
said, Leaning down, we both
saw the edge of something rectangular peeking around

528
00:49:58,880 --> 00:50:02,440
the edge of the ruined He reached
his hand through a destroyed part of the

529
00:50:02,480 --> 00:50:08,119
wall and came back out with a
dirty, smoke brown journal. Spatters of

530
00:50:08,239 --> 00:50:15,320
what looked like dark ancient blood covered
the surface. I saw it was labeled

531
00:50:15,679 --> 00:50:22,079
one thousand and seventy seven. That
is the one thousand and seventy seventh journal

532
00:50:22,239 --> 00:50:27,840
I had started to write in since
I was six. But that's impossible,

533
00:50:28,559 --> 00:50:31,639
I said, more to myself than
him. I never wrote that journal.

534
00:50:32,360 --> 00:50:36,440
When the fire hit, I was
filling out my one thousand and thirty third

535
00:50:36,519 --> 00:50:42,400
journal. I knew this for a
fact, because I wrote huge numbers and

536
00:50:42,519 --> 00:50:47,360
sharpie on the front of each one. My father rolled his eyes. He

537
00:50:47,440 --> 00:50:52,760
thought keeping a diary was stupid and
only reserved for girls, and he had

538
00:50:52,800 --> 00:50:58,440
often told me so. He flipped
it open. It looks like you're handwriting,

539
00:50:59,039 --> 00:51:01,880
he said, handing in to me, if i'll grind me under my

540
00:51:01,960 --> 00:51:07,800
fingers. Its cover sprinkled with small
patches of black mold and blood, as

541
00:51:07,840 --> 00:51:14,559
well as darkened by smoke, yet
all the pages were still legible. I

542
00:51:14,639 --> 00:51:17,440
put it in my backpack and took
it home with me. It was the

543
00:51:17,559 --> 00:51:22,679
only thing that had survived the flames
intact that I recovered, and yet I

544
00:51:22,960 --> 00:51:29,000
know I never wrote it. I
flipped it open to the first page,

545
00:51:29,599 --> 00:51:35,079
seeing my own handwriting reflected back at
me. I read the entries laid out

546
00:51:35,119 --> 00:51:45,719
there with increasing horror. I read
them all. April first, twenty twenty

547
00:51:45,840 --> 00:51:53,760
five, Today the world ended.
I'd driven across Arizona and New Mexico with

548
00:51:53,880 --> 00:51:59,880
my fiance, Stephanie. She wanted
to see the Grand Canyon, and I

549
00:52:00,079 --> 00:52:04,599
always said I would take her.
So when I made a couple million dollars

550
00:52:04,639 --> 00:52:08,280
in stock options shortened the market.
After the Chinese invasion of Taiwan, I

551
00:52:08,400 --> 00:52:14,800
decided to quit my job and travel. All around us spanned endless desert.

552
00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:20,559
The sun looked down like a blazing, lidless eye, withering everything in its

553
00:52:20,599 --> 00:52:25,880
intense heat. Only cacti and desert
shrubs stood on the great flat plane.

554
00:52:28,559 --> 00:52:32,639
I turned the rady one, but
only one station came through. There was

555
00:52:32,679 --> 00:52:38,960
some am station talking about the recent
Chinese invasion. China has lost an estimated

556
00:52:39,000 --> 00:52:44,679
two million troops trying to take the
island. The reporter said. In response

557
00:52:44,719 --> 00:52:49,800
to the invasion Taiwan authorized air strikes
and the three Gorgeous Damn. Yesterday evening

558
00:52:50,800 --> 00:52:55,039
reports state that the Chinese Air Force
has in fact successfully destroyed it, causing

559
00:52:55,119 --> 00:53:01,599
flooding and likely millions more casualties among
the civilian population. Taiwan cities are all

560
00:53:01,679 --> 00:53:07,800
in flames. As I flipped the
radio off, not wanting to hear any

561
00:53:07,920 --> 00:53:13,639
more grisly news, I really need
to use the bathroom, Stephanie said,

562
00:53:13,840 --> 00:53:19,880
breaking my reverie. I looked over
Rada, seeing her large blue eyes looking

563
00:53:19,960 --> 00:53:23,800
at me. Small beats of sweat
broke out, and a light skin her

564
00:53:23,880 --> 00:53:30,000
blonde hair ran down past the shoulders
in shimmering waves. Okay, why don't

565
00:53:30,000 --> 00:53:36,320
I pull over right here, I
offered. She shook her head. Oh,

566
00:53:36,840 --> 00:53:42,280
I want a real bathroom, she
said, I sighed. I haven't

567
00:53:42,280 --> 00:53:46,159
seen a house or store in quite
a while, I said, But as

568
00:53:46,199 --> 00:53:51,920
if fate wanted to prove me wrong, a small wooden building appeared on the

569
00:53:51,960 --> 00:53:58,280
horizon. A town sign stood in
front of it, Devil's Creek, population

570
00:53:59,119 --> 00:54:05,000
fifty two. The building looked like
some kind of old timey general store that

571
00:54:05,079 --> 00:54:09,840
had been renovated to have electricity and
central air conditioning. An ancient man with

572
00:54:09,960 --> 00:54:15,119
a face like a raisin, sat
in a rocking chair outside, smoking a

573
00:54:15,239 --> 00:54:21,840
pipe and reflectively staring off across the
great empty desert. I glanced over to

574
00:54:21,920 --> 00:54:27,360
see what he was looking at.
In the distance, I saw roll after

575
00:54:27,519 --> 00:54:32,679
roll of razor wire surrounding a massive
fence. It had all sorts of signs

576
00:54:32,719 --> 00:54:39,159
with skulls, as well as warnings
about violating federal law by trespassing. We

577
00:54:39,280 --> 00:54:45,679
pulled up to the store. The
man finally looked over. His jellied eyes

578
00:54:45,800 --> 00:54:51,079
reminded me of an old dog waiting
for the needle. He was a small

579
00:54:51,159 --> 00:54:54,480
man, no more than five feet
if I had to guess. He wore

580
00:54:54,519 --> 00:55:00,079
a straw hat and a shaded flannel
shirt, and smelled like sweet pipe tobacco

581
00:55:01,800 --> 00:55:07,119
Christ draws. He said, in
his fluttering old man's voice. It's sure

582
00:55:07,159 --> 00:55:14,320
it's hot out here today. I
smiled, agreeing. What's that you're looking

583
00:55:14,400 --> 00:55:20,079
at, I asked, pointing to
the electrified fence guarding the apparently empty desert.

584
00:55:21,360 --> 00:55:24,960
He gave me a serious look.
That is where the bombs are kept,

585
00:55:25,039 --> 00:55:30,639
boy, he said, the big
ones, the H bombs, minute

586
00:55:30,719 --> 00:55:36,840
man threes and B sixty ones.
Well, so I hear people around town

587
00:55:36,960 --> 00:55:44,119
talk. You know, I nodded. I wondered whether silos were Can I

588
00:55:44,519 --> 00:55:50,280
use your bathroom, Stephanie asked hurriedly
as she came up beside me. The

589
00:55:50,400 --> 00:55:54,400
man nodded. Back of the store, young lady, he said in a

590
00:55:54,480 --> 00:56:01,440
quavering voice. Then he returned to
his pipe and his meditation. Let me

591
00:56:01,559 --> 00:56:07,679
know if you need anything else.
I decided to sit down next to the

592
00:56:07,719 --> 00:56:14,039
old man. When I felt the
first quiverings of an earthquake. It started

593
00:56:14,119 --> 00:56:19,719
small. I stood there, not
knowing what to do. The old man's

594
00:56:19,719 --> 00:56:24,280
eyes widened and he dropped his pipe. Embers and blackened tobacco spilled out on

595
00:56:24,360 --> 00:56:30,159
the ancient wooden porch. What in
the blue blazes? He started to say,

596
00:56:30,960 --> 00:56:37,559
when a scream of powerful engines cut
him off. A burning chemical smell

597
00:56:37,679 --> 00:56:42,639
filled the air. I looked over
to the military site and to the ground,

598
00:56:42,840 --> 00:56:49,840
pulling itself apart, secret sliding panels
covered in dirt opened as enormous missiles

599
00:56:49,920 --> 00:56:55,880
slowly gathered momentum, rising up into
the air from hidden underground silos. Jets

600
00:56:55,920 --> 00:57:01,920
of blue flames shot out of them
over everything else in the area, Each

601
00:57:02,119 --> 00:57:07,960
sixty or seventy feet tall. Within
seconds, they began to move faster and

602
00:57:08,079 --> 00:57:15,000
faster, lifting themselves skyward with a
screeching of blue flames and smoke. Every

603
00:57:15,079 --> 00:57:21,280
minute, more and more came out, dozens and dozens of missiles, firing

604
00:57:21,360 --> 00:57:25,639
and rapid succession. Stephanie came out. I grabbed her hand and pulled her

605
00:57:25,719 --> 00:57:30,440
to the car. We need to
get the hell out of here, I

606
00:57:30,519 --> 00:57:37,239
screamed over the cacophony. Her face
had turned chalk white. She followed me

607
00:57:37,559 --> 00:57:42,119
like a lost child. I pushed
her into the passenger seat and got in,

608
00:57:42,800 --> 00:57:46,559
turning it on and peeling out of
there. If this is a nuclear

609
00:57:46,599 --> 00:57:51,760
missile sight, I said, vomiting
the words as quickly as I could in

610
00:57:51,840 --> 00:57:54,559
the panic of the moment, Then
there will probably be an enemy missile coming

611
00:57:54,599 --> 00:58:00,400
to tarket it Soon, American missiles
continued to streak the the air like fiery

612
00:58:00,519 --> 00:58:05,920
dragons, and their way to battle. We drove as fast as my car

613
00:58:06,000 --> 00:58:09,800
would go for the next twenty minutes, breaking one ten and then one thirty

614
00:58:09,880 --> 00:58:16,360
miles per hour. I had a
very bad feeling about this, and then

615
00:58:17,960 --> 00:58:24,199
I saw it. The thing I
had been dreading. Missiles began to drop

616
00:58:24,280 --> 00:58:30,079
down from the sky, not going
but now coming. I saw a streak

617
00:58:30,159 --> 00:58:35,400
of white shoot across the sky in
my rear view mirror. A sonic boom

618
00:58:35,480 --> 00:58:45,800
shook the ground, and then the
world exploded. Ah. I heard someone

619
00:58:45,880 --> 00:58:54,119
say cut what. Then I realized
it was my own voice. I opened

620
00:58:54,159 --> 00:59:00,639
my eyes. I felt warm blood
trickling down my face. My car was

621
00:59:00,719 --> 00:59:07,039
flipped over. I saw the endless
desert outside now upside down all around us.

622
00:59:07,679 --> 00:59:14,000
Great suffocating plumes of smoke rose into
the sky. He plotted out the

623
00:59:14,119 --> 00:59:20,000
sun and turned everything as dark as
night. I looked over at Stephanie.

624
00:59:21,480 --> 00:59:27,559
She was still unconscious, or maybe
she was dead, I couldn't tell.

625
00:59:29,280 --> 00:59:35,639
She hung upside down her seat bye, biting deeply into her shoulder. Geez.

626
00:59:36,320 --> 00:59:39,559
I groaned, trying to unbockle my
seat belt without falling and smashing my

627
00:59:39,679 --> 00:59:45,679
head. I mostly succeeded. I
crawled out the shattered remains, and I

628
00:59:45,760 --> 00:59:52,199
flipped over car. I rose my
legs as wobbly as a baby. Deers

629
00:59:52,719 --> 00:59:59,599
jee, A voice said softly from
inside the car. He was so subtle

630
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:05,039
I could barely hear it. I
knelt down next to the broken window and

631
01:00:05,119 --> 01:00:12,119
saw Stephanie stirring. Ah. She
spat a little blood, wiping her mouth.

632
01:00:13,400 --> 01:00:19,519
Oh okay, yes, baby,
I said, with tears in my

633
01:00:19,599 --> 01:00:24,599
eyes, looking down the road with
a mushroom cloud hung over us like the

634
01:00:24,679 --> 01:00:34,519
blade of a guillotine. We're okay. Luckily we'd been camping prior to this,

635
01:00:35,360 --> 01:00:38,880
so the car was filled with the
sensuals. Inside the trunk, I

636
01:00:38,960 --> 01:00:45,000
had a tent, sleeping bags,
food, water, and toiletries. We

637
01:00:45,119 --> 01:00:50,840
also had some knives, lighters,
and lighter fluid. Stephanie filled her backpack

638
01:00:50,960 --> 01:00:53,960
with as much as she could carry, still wiping blood out of her eyes

639
01:00:54,119 --> 01:01:00,400
from a deep gash across her forehead. But overall, I felt like we'd

640
01:01:00,440 --> 01:01:06,679
gotten fairly lucky. It certainly could
have been much worse if we had still

641
01:01:06,760 --> 01:01:13,199
been in the city. I shudder
thinking about it. I wondered if any

642
01:01:13,239 --> 01:01:20,119
city still stood in the USA.
The mushroom cloud continued to grow. It

643
01:01:20,239 --> 01:01:24,280
had a combination of bright streaks of
fire and black plumes of smoke mixing in

644
01:01:24,599 --> 01:01:30,000
with the scorching cap. Its cap
looked like it would go all the way

645
01:01:30,079 --> 01:01:36,119
to outer space. Soon, the
stem of suffocating smoke shot upwards, seeming

646
01:01:36,199 --> 01:01:40,679
to unspool itself from the inside as
it rose. We walked down the dark

647
01:01:40,800 --> 01:01:49,360
road in a burning world. Jets
flew overhead, streaking across the sky.

648
01:01:50,400 --> 01:01:54,960
The echoing wine of powerful engines followed
them. Moments later, sonic boom after

649
01:01:55,039 --> 01:02:02,039
sonic boom exploded across the dead desert. Where are we going? Stephanie finally

650
01:02:02,159 --> 01:02:07,840
asked, after an hour of walking
through this apocalyptic scene. We hadn't escaped

651
01:02:07,840 --> 01:02:13,320
the black clouds that hung over the
sky, though the smoke had started to

652
01:02:13,400 --> 01:02:19,480
dissipate as we got further away.
I looked back and saw a figure behind

653
01:02:19,559 --> 01:02:23,960
us. It appeared to be a
man casually walking down the road, but

654
01:02:24,119 --> 01:02:29,920
his eyes seemed to be on fire. They shone with an inner luminosity,

655
01:02:30,760 --> 01:02:35,960
lit up like the eyes of a
jack o' lantern. Something seemed wrong with

656
01:02:36,079 --> 01:02:40,480
the man, and not just because
of his eyes. He walked in a

657
01:02:40,639 --> 01:02:45,760
jerky, twisted way. His head, which had been looking down ratchet,

658
01:02:45,840 --> 01:02:52,039
it up to look at me.
A shudder ran down my spine. I

659
01:02:52,119 --> 01:02:55,960
turned away, motioning for Stephanie to
look behind us, but by the time

660
01:02:57,039 --> 01:03:02,480
we looked back again, he had
disappeared. Away from that, I finally

661
01:03:02,559 --> 01:03:07,719
said, pointing to the mushroom cloud, did you see someone just now?

662
01:03:08,519 --> 01:03:12,639
I think my eyes are plane tricks
in me. I could have sworn I

663
01:03:12,719 --> 01:03:19,239
saw someone following us. Maybe it's
another survivor, she said, maybe.

664
01:03:20,239 --> 01:03:24,880
I agreed, non committally, not
telling her about the eyes. He had

665
01:03:24,920 --> 01:03:30,239
been very far away, but I
had definitely seen him. I didn't understand

666
01:03:30,320 --> 01:03:37,039
where he had gone. There was
certainly nowhere to hide unless more secret government

667
01:03:37,119 --> 01:03:40,760
silos and tunnels ran under the earth. Here he had simply vanished, like

668
01:03:40,880 --> 01:03:47,320
campfire smoke and a strong breeze.
What do you think happened, Stephanie asked,

669
01:03:47,559 --> 01:03:52,280
and she took a long drink of
water. I think we all know

670
01:03:52,400 --> 01:03:57,840
what happened, I said, bitterly. China started World War three. They

671
01:03:57,880 --> 01:04:01,480
thought they could contain the fighting to
Taiwan, but they miscalculated. Once the

672
01:04:01,559 --> 01:04:05,480
three gorgeous damn got blown and millions
of Chinese and the Yangze River drowned,

673
01:04:06,440 --> 01:04:12,480
it must have escalated. I don't
know who fired first. Were clearly the

674
01:04:12,599 --> 01:04:16,719
US and China are at war.
Maybe the war was over already, she

675
01:04:16,880 --> 01:04:24,800
said, hopefully. I nodded.
It might actually be. If it is

676
01:04:25,159 --> 01:04:29,039
in all the cities have been hit
here and in China and Taiwan, there

677
01:04:29,079 --> 01:04:35,119
must be hundreds and millions of people
dead already, maybe more. Stephanie didn't

678
01:04:35,119 --> 01:04:41,719
say anything to this, but she
seemed to go pale. We need to

679
01:04:41,760 --> 01:04:46,119
stop soon. I'm tired. We've
been walking for hours, Stephanie said.

680
01:04:46,360 --> 01:04:53,199
After another few hours, I agreed. We hadn't seen a single car or

681
01:04:53,280 --> 01:04:59,639
person in that time, except for
the man with the eyes. My feet

682
01:05:00,000 --> 01:05:03,639
gleamed at me with throbbing blisters and
sharp pains. My cellphone and watch had

683
01:05:03,639 --> 01:05:10,480
stopped working during the blast. Some
electromagnetic pulse from the warhead must have disabled

684
01:05:10,599 --> 01:05:15,199
all electronics in the area. Some
neither of us knew how long we'd been

685
01:05:15,280 --> 01:05:19,039
walking, with the sky covered in
black smoke as far as the eye could

686
01:05:19,079 --> 01:05:27,159
see, I didn't even know if
it was day or night anymore. We

687
01:05:27,400 --> 01:05:31,639
set up the tent. I crawled
in, exhausted. I felt like I

688
01:05:31,719 --> 01:05:36,519
must have walked for twelve hours.
I took off my wet socks, got

689
01:05:36,599 --> 01:05:44,360
into the sleeping bag, then instantly
passed out. I awoke, suddenly,

690
01:05:45,000 --> 01:05:51,719
confused. Something had scared me.
Maybe it was in the dream, but

691
01:05:51,920 --> 01:05:59,719
no, I still heard it,
a scratching sound, light and insistent on

692
01:05:59,800 --> 01:06:04,880
the outside of the tent. Stephanie
still slept soundly next to me. I

693
01:06:04,960 --> 01:06:11,920
shock her. She grouggly opened her
eyes. I looked at my pistol next

694
01:06:11,960 --> 01:06:15,280
to my pillow, grabbing it up. Its solid metal grip felt real and

695
01:06:15,360 --> 01:06:19,519
powerful in my hands. But when
I remembered the glowing eyes of the thing

696
01:06:20,119 --> 01:06:24,440
and how it had vanished in an
instant, like a puff of smoke,

697
01:06:25,559 --> 01:06:30,880
it started to feel much smaller.
What is she began to say. I

698
01:06:30,960 --> 01:06:35,519
clamped my hand over her mouth.
Her eyes went wide. I put my

699
01:06:35,599 --> 01:06:41,360
finger to her lips. She nodded, and I slowly removed my hand.

700
01:06:42,840 --> 01:06:46,480
Now I could tell she heard it
too. It was like someone was running

701
01:06:46,519 --> 01:06:53,079
a long, sharp fingernail over the
outside of the tent, walking around it

702
01:06:53,199 --> 01:06:59,639
in circles. Though I didn't hear
any accompanying footsteps. It was too dark

703
01:06:59,679 --> 01:07:05,159
to see any silhouettes or shapes through
the thick fabric. We heard a low,

704
01:07:05,440 --> 01:07:11,639
diseased breathing coming from outside. The
rattling breaths seemed to choke on their

705
01:07:11,679 --> 01:07:17,239
own fluids, like the gurgling gasps
of a pneumonia patient. I couldn't take

706
01:07:17,320 --> 01:07:23,000
it anymore. I grabbed the flashlight
from next to the sleeping bag and flicked

707
01:07:23,000 --> 01:07:27,159
it on with my arms crossed,
my gun in one hand and the flashlight

708
01:07:27,239 --> 01:07:32,079
in the other. I motioned for
Stephanie to open the tent. She hesitated

709
01:07:32,159 --> 01:07:36,760
for a long moment. After taking
a deep breath, she ripped it open

710
01:07:36,960 --> 01:07:44,880
in a single pull. Yet no
one stood there. I looked out,

711
01:07:45,039 --> 01:07:50,079
and the smoke black and starless sky
shadows bounced and danced around the cacti and

712
01:07:50,239 --> 01:07:55,800
cracked pavement of the street. I
heard a very subtle sound from my right,

713
01:07:56,880 --> 01:08:01,320
a slight shuffling of sand in a
blur and with barely any sound.

714
01:08:02,079 --> 01:08:06,840
The diminute of man with the fire
in his eyes scampered towards me. His

715
01:08:08,000 --> 01:08:13,559
shoulders and vertebrae crippled like those of
a hunchback. His face only came up

716
01:08:13,599 --> 01:08:16,319
to the level of my chest,
but he seemed to straighten and grow as

717
01:08:16,359 --> 01:08:21,399
he got nearer. There was a
crackling, snapping sound coming from inside his

718
01:08:21,520 --> 01:08:27,520
body. It sounded like his bones
were breaking and knitting themselves back together.

719
01:08:28,880 --> 01:08:33,600
By the time he reached me,
he towered over me. This all happened

720
01:08:33,720 --> 01:08:39,720
very quickly. In the space of
less than a second. My vision became

721
01:08:39,840 --> 01:08:44,560
filled with a hypnotizing, strobing white
light that came from his head, but

722
01:08:44,720 --> 01:08:48,720
I glimpsed the rest of him too. He had a mouth like an infected

723
01:08:48,840 --> 01:08:55,119
sore. Pieces of his lips were
rotted or torn away, and behind that

724
01:08:55,359 --> 01:09:01,479
mutilated flesh beheld a gibbering, gnashing
mouth. Twisted famberic teeth grew out of

725
01:09:01,560 --> 01:09:06,159
the tops of his gums, intertwining
with those growing from the natural spots.

726
01:09:08,279 --> 01:09:14,079
These dozens of overlapping fangs each looked
as sharp as a scalpel made to slicely

727
01:09:14,239 --> 01:09:20,600
flesh like butter. His nose was
eaten away. In its place, I

728
01:09:20,640 --> 01:09:27,640
saw a patch of ragged necrotic tissue
that oozed yellowish puss and blood. His

729
01:09:27,760 --> 01:09:32,039
skin was as dark as obsidian and
seemed to glow with a similar iridescence.

730
01:09:34,840 --> 01:09:41,760
Hallo, there, hardener, the
gnashing things said in a slow takes a

731
01:09:41,800 --> 01:09:47,079
straw. I looked away from its
inhuman eyes seen Stephanie, petrified in the

732
01:09:47,199 --> 01:09:51,600
doorway of the tent. She held
a long buck knife in one hand and

733
01:09:51,720 --> 01:09:57,960
a canister of osy tear gas spray
in the other. I opened my mouth,

734
01:09:58,920 --> 01:10:03,560
but nothing came out. What do
you want from us, Stephanie asked

735
01:10:03,600 --> 01:10:11,000
in a quivering voice. The creature's
mutilated cheeks parted, showing more clusters of

736
01:10:11,079 --> 01:10:16,439
teeth growing out of every spot in
his gums like a tumor. Everything.

737
01:10:17,680 --> 01:10:28,439
He said in a slow drawl.
I want everything. I raised a barrel

738
01:10:28,479 --> 01:10:32,079
towards his head, my finger tight
on the trigger. You want to rob

739
01:10:32,199 --> 01:10:38,880
us? Is that it? I
asked. The creature laughed, a tortured

740
01:10:38,960 --> 01:10:44,359
sound like shattering bones and grinding metal. I don't give a damn about this

741
01:10:44,560 --> 01:10:49,159
crappy look around. It ain't worth
a damn to me. I want everything

742
01:10:50,159 --> 01:10:57,199
from you and the girl. We
square on that. I'm going to give

743
01:10:57,199 --> 01:11:00,800
you three seconds to get out of
my sight, I said, Before I

744
01:11:00,880 --> 01:11:05,079
start. The creature's hand came up
on a freakishly long arm. The arm

745
01:11:05,119 --> 01:11:12,079
seemed to lengthen, breaking and regroan
as it twisted towards me and fired.

746
01:11:12,319 --> 01:11:16,000
As it smacked me hard on the
head, I saw stars and went sprawling,

747
01:11:16,600 --> 01:11:20,319
the pistol flying off and landing on
the concrete a few feet away.

748
01:11:23,319 --> 01:11:28,560
The abomination grabbed a screaming, crying
Stephanie from the tent, carrying her under

749
01:11:28,600 --> 01:11:33,159
one arm as if he were simply
moving an irate toddler. He threw her

750
01:11:33,239 --> 01:11:39,079
in front of him. I saw
with horror, and my shot missed him.

751
01:11:41,000 --> 01:11:45,479
I am the true king of this
world, he hissed as he knelt

752
01:11:45,520 --> 01:11:51,880
down over her. Aye and the
endless void between galaxies and the spinning black

753
01:11:51,960 --> 01:12:00,600
holes that rip apart whorlds ay am
forever. Fire poured out of his hands

754
01:12:00,640 --> 01:12:05,520
and arms like lava. As Stephanie
lay on the ground, her eyes went

755
01:12:05,600 --> 01:12:10,960
wide as the first of the flames
bit into her skin. I saw a

756
01:12:11,119 --> 01:12:15,239
chest and stomach caught fire as if
it had been sprayed with gasoline. With

757
01:12:15,520 --> 01:12:21,039
an animalistic strength, she jumped up, still burning, She tried to grab

758
01:12:21,119 --> 01:12:26,079
the man in a bare hug.
The fires spread to his body, but

759
01:12:26,239 --> 01:12:30,039
he quickly pushed her away. The
fire spread up and down her clothes,

760
01:12:30,319 --> 01:12:34,880
into her hair. Her face began
to melt as she gave an ear splitting

761
01:12:35,000 --> 01:12:41,720
streak of pure agony. Drops of
liquid fat and burnt, sizzling blood ran

762
01:12:41,840 --> 01:12:48,119
from a crackling, blackening skin.
I love to watch them dance, he

763
01:12:48,239 --> 01:12:54,960
gurgled in a diseased, raspy voice. Stephanie jumped from a leg to leg,

764
01:12:55,479 --> 01:12:59,000
putting her arms straight in front of
her body to try and keep them

765
01:12:59,039 --> 01:13:02,279
from the flames covered rung a torso
with a fire seemed to have an inner

766
01:13:02,399 --> 01:13:08,520
life spreading across a flesh, as
if rivers of napalm flowed over a body.

767
01:13:10,119 --> 01:13:13,479
I grabbed the gun, running over, I put it into the back

768
01:13:13,520 --> 01:13:17,239
of the man's head and pulled the
trigger. The fire had started to spread

769
01:13:17,279 --> 01:13:23,920
across his chest, but he had
no facial expression. He stood there,

770
01:13:24,600 --> 01:13:30,920
grinning like a skull. Thick chunks
of black flesh burst out in his destroyed

771
01:13:31,000 --> 01:13:36,560
skull. I saw no blood or
organs, with thousands of tiny dark worms

772
01:13:36,960 --> 01:13:44,800
writhing and slithering. He fell forwards
a few feet away. Stephanie also finally

773
01:13:44,880 --> 01:13:49,640
collapsed, still twitching and screaming,
and ran over to her. Pulling a

774
01:13:49,720 --> 01:13:54,840
water bottle from my backpack. I
poured it on her, but it was

775
01:13:54,960 --> 01:13:59,439
like pouring a bottle of water on
a bonfire. It sizzled and hissed as

776
01:13:59,479 --> 01:14:02,159
it turned to steam, putting out
a small portion along her chest for a

777
01:14:02,239 --> 01:14:09,439
few moments within the fire flickered back
up. She gave a choked death,

778
01:14:09,560 --> 01:14:15,520
gasped seconds later, and stopped moving. Her body had become little more than

779
01:14:15,560 --> 01:14:21,119
a blackened husk. By this point, I looked at the evil inhuman thing

780
01:14:21,239 --> 01:14:28,239
that had done this to my horror. I saw his hands clenching and unclenching,

781
01:14:29,000 --> 01:14:32,800
his legs twitching. The black worms
had started to restitch his skull back

782
01:14:32,840 --> 01:14:39,640
together, the tiny heads poking out
through the wound and moving tissue around like

783
01:14:39,760 --> 01:14:47,960
diligent little laborers. Sickened, I
ran. The landscape had started to change.

784
01:14:48,840 --> 01:14:55,000
Rocky cliffs now loomed overhead, dozens
of feet high. I stumbled up

785
01:14:55,000 --> 01:15:00,880
the rock faces and eventually found a
small cave. I crawled in and with

786
01:15:00,039 --> 01:15:08,439
my flashlight finish this journal. I
know this will be my last diary,

787
01:15:09,239 --> 01:15:13,760
my last will and testament, left
in some rocky cave of a destroyed world,

788
01:15:15,399 --> 01:15:20,199
because the true king of this world
is on his way here, and

789
01:15:20,359 --> 01:15:35,399
he loves to watch people dance.
Have you ever experienced something that shock you

790
01:15:35,640 --> 01:15:42,359
to your very core, something that
makes you remember every single little detail of

791
01:15:42,479 --> 01:15:48,239
your surroundings from that moment in time, even years after, I can remember

792
01:15:48,439 --> 01:15:56,399
so vividly the moment I've realized something
was wrong with me. I was in

793
01:15:56,479 --> 01:16:00,399
my junior year of high school,
sitting in class, just like any other

794
01:16:00,520 --> 01:16:04,680
day. I remember the smell of
the razors and cheap cologne that permeated off

795
01:16:04,760 --> 01:16:10,239
my classmate who sat next to me. I remember the scratchy tag of my

796
01:16:10,359 --> 01:16:14,319
T shirt and how I was resisting
taking it off in the middle of class,

797
01:16:14,920 --> 01:16:18,439
just to cut it off. I
remember what my teacher, Missus Brown,

798
01:16:18,560 --> 01:16:25,800
was talking about the fall of Constantinople. My mouth felt dry, and

799
01:16:25,920 --> 01:16:30,119
I kept looking at the clock,
counting down the minutes until I had lunch

800
01:16:30,199 --> 01:16:33,479
so I could get a soda.
The sound of a pen clicking behind me

801
01:16:33,640 --> 01:16:40,399
was synchronized with the song that was
stuck in my head. All those things

802
01:16:40,479 --> 01:16:45,359
were going through my brain at once. My ADHD mind went a million miles

803
01:16:45,399 --> 01:16:48,520
per hour. When it all came
down to a crashing halt. When I

804
01:16:48,640 --> 01:16:56,600
felt it at eleven twenty three,
I felt what I can only describe as

805
01:16:56,640 --> 01:17:02,279
a hand grabbing at the inner lining
of my stock. It didn't necessarily hurt,

806
01:17:03,119 --> 01:17:09,359
not at this point. That's not
why I got so scared. You

807
01:17:09,439 --> 01:17:15,840
see, not only do I have
ADHD, I also have OCD that manifests

808
01:17:15,880 --> 01:17:20,279
itself in the fear of anything growing
or moving inside me. Even if I

809
01:17:20,359 --> 01:17:25,600
think about the concept of blood moving
in my body or a heart that is

810
01:17:25,680 --> 01:17:30,640
beating in my chest, I have
to think of something else. I've had

811
01:17:30,760 --> 01:17:35,560
full blown panic attacks because of it. The closest term for this is tocophobia.

812
01:17:36,720 --> 01:17:42,359
That's technically the fear of pregnancy.
I'm a guy, so it's not

813
01:17:42,479 --> 01:17:46,520
completely accurate, but it's really the
closest term. I mean, I also

814
01:17:46,600 --> 01:17:51,680
have a huge fear of pregnancy,
not necessarily of me being pregnant, but

815
01:17:51,800 --> 01:17:57,319
even though I knew I could never
get pregnant, the thought of it made

816
01:17:57,359 --> 01:18:02,560
me feel sick. I bet you
can imagine the terror that overcame me as

817
01:18:02,600 --> 01:18:08,960
I felt something moving inside me.
I made an audible groan and grabbed my

818
01:18:09,079 --> 01:18:14,279
stomach. The whole class turned to
look at me. Even my teacher stopped

819
01:18:14,279 --> 01:18:18,279
talking to ask if I was okay. I stood up and started to run

820
01:18:18,319 --> 01:18:25,640
to the nurse's office without even acknowledging
my teacher. My first thought wasn't thinking

821
01:18:25,720 --> 01:18:30,359
that something was actually in my body. Even stomach aches and the feeling of

822
01:18:30,479 --> 01:18:35,000
gurgling in my stomach made me feel
this way before. I didn't have anything

823
01:18:35,079 --> 01:18:41,079
on hand to help with the stomach
ache. Unfortunately, however, the nurse

824
01:18:41,159 --> 01:18:46,720
always did. I sprinted across the
school, hoping and praying that my stomach

825
01:18:47,039 --> 01:18:51,680
wouldn't make that awful feeling again.
Before I got there, I turned the

826
01:18:51,760 --> 01:18:56,720
corner into the nurse's office with my
tennis shoes, squeaking in the process.

827
01:18:57,760 --> 01:19:00,479
I saw the school nurse, Missus
Kennedy, sitting on the couch in her

828
01:19:00,520 --> 01:19:05,840
office reading a magazine. She looked
up at me with a sweet smile that

829
01:19:06,039 --> 01:19:12,600
quickly turned to worry. Sam,
What is it? How can I help?

830
01:19:13,520 --> 01:19:15,600
She said, as she stood up
and hurried over to me, putting

831
01:19:15,640 --> 01:19:21,880
her hand over mine with just grabbing
my stomach tightly. It's it's my stomach.

832
01:19:23,600 --> 01:19:27,359
Something gets wrong with my stomach,
I mumbled with the red face.

833
01:19:29,760 --> 01:19:32,960
She shuffled away over to a large
medicine cabinet and she motioned for me to

834
01:19:33,039 --> 01:19:39,159
sit down. She asked me questions
about my stomach, asking if it was

835
01:19:39,239 --> 01:19:44,520
pain, grumbling, cramps, nausea, et cetera. As she was asking

836
01:19:44,600 --> 01:19:49,319
me what my symptoms were and digging
through bottles, the feeling happened again.

837
01:19:50,720 --> 01:19:58,479
However, this time it was different. It felt like fingers grazing against the

838
01:19:58,600 --> 01:20:04,520
inside of my body. I screamed
and wrapped my arms around my torso Missus

839
01:20:04,600 --> 01:20:10,119
Kennedy ran over to me to comfort
me. This seems a lot worse than

840
01:20:10,199 --> 01:20:14,520
normal. Maybe we should call your
parents, she said as she put her

841
01:20:14,560 --> 01:20:18,720
hand at my back. They felt
like some days I saw Missus Kennedy more

842
01:20:18,800 --> 01:20:25,920
than my teachers. Any small element
would distract me so badly from class that

843
01:20:26,079 --> 01:20:30,520
I had to go see her,
sometimes multiple times a day. She knew

844
01:20:30,560 --> 01:20:38,479
at this point when something was really
wrong. Within about thirty minutes, both

845
01:20:38,560 --> 01:20:43,640
my parents were there with us.
That may seem fast, but I'm an

846
01:20:43,680 --> 01:20:47,840
only child and my parents are very
aware of my tendencies. They know I

847
01:20:47,960 --> 01:20:55,319
can spiral and like to be around
if it happens. They kept asking me

848
01:20:55,560 --> 01:20:59,800
where the pain was. I think
they assumed by the way I wasn't responding

849
01:20:59,800 --> 01:21:04,600
to questions, the pain must have
been really bad. The reality was that

850
01:21:04,720 --> 01:21:10,880
I just didn't know how to tell
them what was going on. I got

851
01:21:10,960 --> 01:21:15,560
so frustrated after they asked me over
and over again that I just yelled at

852
01:21:15,600 --> 01:21:20,079
them, something is inside me,
Get it out, Get it out.

853
01:21:21,399 --> 01:21:26,560
I left my shirt and was ripping
at my stomach, leaving rednails, scratches

854
01:21:26,600 --> 01:21:30,000
and cuts. My mom and dad
ran to either side of me to grab

855
01:21:30,079 --> 01:21:34,159
my arms. Missus Kennedy had seen
me go pretty crazy, but this was

856
01:21:34,239 --> 01:21:39,600
the worst I've ever gotten in front
of her. My parents, however,

857
01:21:39,880 --> 01:21:45,439
had seen a similar situation before,
not exactly like this, but they didn't

858
01:21:45,439 --> 01:21:49,640
skip a beat on trying to help
me. Sam breathe, sweetie. Just

859
01:21:49,800 --> 01:21:55,479
remember everything is in you for a
reason. It's keeping you alive. Nothing

860
01:21:55,600 --> 01:21:59,680
is going to hurt you, my
mom said softly to me, trying to

861
01:21:59,720 --> 01:22:03,239
calm down with the words. My
therapist gave her ice cubes. Get him

862
01:22:03,239 --> 01:22:08,439
ice cubes, she said to missus
Kennedy. As I started to hyper ventilate,

863
01:22:10,239 --> 01:22:13,880
Missus Kennedy grabbed a zip loc bag
and started to fill it with ice

864
01:22:13,960 --> 01:22:17,239
cubes. My mom went over to
her and grabbed her an ice cube right

865
01:22:17,319 --> 01:22:20,800
out of the bag, opened up
my hand and put the ice cube in

866
01:22:20,880 --> 01:22:26,840
it. This worked in the past
to distract me. I knew that's what

867
01:22:27,000 --> 01:22:30,399
she was doing, and trust me, I wanted it to work too,

868
01:22:31,600 --> 01:22:36,279
But this was different. I kept
trying to tell myself that it was just

869
01:22:36,399 --> 01:22:42,119
a different feeling I hadn't felt before, that it wasn't possible. Something was

870
01:22:42,239 --> 01:22:49,560
physically inside my body, but I
couldn't help it. Everyone in the room

871
01:22:49,600 --> 01:22:55,640
could see that this was getting intense. I think they assumed it was just

872
01:22:55,720 --> 01:23:00,439
a mental breakdown and that nothing was
physically wrong with my body. But I

873
01:23:00,520 --> 01:23:06,880
didn't care. I just wanted help. My parents got me into the car,

874
01:23:08,079 --> 01:23:12,199
with my mom even sitting in the
back seat with me. She kept

875
01:23:12,199 --> 01:23:16,399
trying to distract me with conversation when
my mind was only on that awful feeling

876
01:23:16,600 --> 01:23:21,560
in my stomach. We pulled up
to the er and my mom guided me

877
01:23:21,680 --> 01:23:26,920
in while holding both my wrists.
I felt like she was walking me on

878
01:23:27,000 --> 01:23:30,640
a leash, but I didn't fight
it. I knew she was just trying

879
01:23:30,680 --> 01:23:36,279
to stop me from scratching my stomach. We walked in and I spoke to

880
01:23:36,359 --> 01:23:42,079
the receptionist. All I said was
that I had a terrible pain in my

881
01:23:42,159 --> 01:23:46,560
stomach. I didn't want to sound
too crazy. I just needed a doctor

882
01:23:46,680 --> 01:23:53,600
to look at whatever was going on. After giving the receptionist my name and

883
01:23:53,680 --> 01:23:58,640
insurance information, we went to sit
down. I was sitting in between my

884
01:23:58,760 --> 01:24:02,000
parents, and I could see my
mom lean back to try and mouth something

885
01:24:02,079 --> 01:24:08,479
to my dad without me seeing.
I didn't think much of it. I

886
01:24:08,680 --> 01:24:13,560
was way more worried about other things. My dad then went up to the

887
01:24:13,640 --> 01:24:19,039
receptionist. He pointed over to me
and she looked a little concerned. I

888
01:24:19,119 --> 01:24:23,760
saw her pick up the clipboard that
I had my information on it, and

889
01:24:23,880 --> 01:24:28,600
she started writing something else on it. I asked my dad what he did,

890
01:24:29,520 --> 01:24:31,600
and he just said not to worry, and that he wanted to let

891
01:24:31,680 --> 01:24:39,680
her know it was urgent. No
more than ten minutes went by and I

892
01:24:39,760 --> 01:24:47,279
felt a terrible moving sensation. I
cringed and grabbed my stomach, immediately followed

893
01:24:47,560 --> 01:24:51,600
by not just the feeling of her
hand grabbing my insides, but also scratching

894
01:24:51,680 --> 01:24:56,880
and pinching. I yelled out in
pain as the other people in the waiting

895
01:24:56,960 --> 01:25:01,520
room looked at me mortified. A
doctor and a couple of nurses came running

896
01:25:01,560 --> 01:25:06,520
over to me and helped me up, but I couldn't stand up. I

897
01:25:06,640 --> 01:25:12,520
was in too much pain. They
put me in a wheelchair and started to

898
01:25:12,600 --> 01:25:15,800
head for a room. However,
they didn't take me through the normal big

899
01:25:15,880 --> 01:25:21,439
ear doors that went to the standard
examination rooms. They took my parents and

900
01:25:21,520 --> 01:25:26,439
I through a smaller door to the
side that I had a pad lock on

901
01:25:26,560 --> 01:25:31,960
it. We walked through a white
hallway that was very quiet. The doctor

902
01:25:32,000 --> 01:25:36,039
and nurses showed us to my room
and helped me into my bed as I

903
01:25:36,159 --> 01:25:42,800
was wriggling and wincing. I had
one parent either side of me, patiently

904
01:25:42,880 --> 01:25:48,079
waiting to stop my arms from scratching. The doctor was trying to ask further

905
01:25:48,199 --> 01:25:54,359
questions, but he could tell it
wasn't going anywhere. I knew that my

906
01:25:54,479 --> 01:25:59,720
dad probably told that receptionist about my
OCD tendencies that I needed to go to

907
01:25:59,760 --> 01:26:04,720
the hide cord, not just to
the standard side of the er. I

908
01:26:04,760 --> 01:26:10,640
couldn't take it anymore and blurted out
that something was inside my stomach and then

909
01:26:10,640 --> 01:26:15,119
it was trying to get out.
The doctor just looked at my parents for

910
01:26:15,199 --> 01:26:19,039
a reaction, and they gave him
a sad nod. It was like they

911
01:26:19,119 --> 01:26:25,000
warned him that this could happen.
The doctor didn't just think I was crazy.

912
01:26:26,359 --> 01:26:30,199
My parents did too. The doctor
took a deep breath and came up

913
01:26:30,279 --> 01:26:34,239
to me. I knew I was
about to hear some kind of dumb speech

914
01:26:34,640 --> 01:26:39,880
about how this was just my OCD
and everything was going to be okay.

915
01:26:41,319 --> 01:26:46,000
As he came closer to me,
I pulled on my shirt and he gasped.

916
01:26:47,920 --> 01:26:54,079
Not only was my stomach scratched aplike
crazy, but we saw movement.

917
01:26:56,319 --> 01:27:00,600
It looked like when a pregnant woman
can see a baby kicking, but this

918
01:27:00,000 --> 01:27:08,199
was much stronger. It was stretching
my skin. My parents stood up and

919
01:27:08,319 --> 01:27:13,000
gasped, while the doctor looked frantic
and unprepared. Damn, damn, damn,

920
01:27:13,119 --> 01:27:15,520
damn, damn, the doctor said, as he backed out of the

921
01:27:15,600 --> 01:27:18,359
room. Hang on, We're getting
this taken care of. Just hang tight.

922
01:27:20,600 --> 01:27:26,119
Seconds later, a nurse came in
to gave me some painkillers. I

923
01:27:26,199 --> 01:27:30,399
started to feel the pain slip away
with something so much worse started to creep

924
01:27:30,439 --> 01:27:39,680
in. I heard her voice,
not my own, not some creepy sounding

925
01:27:39,760 --> 01:27:44,840
creature, but the voice of a
normal sounding man that I'd never heard before.

926
01:27:45,439 --> 01:27:51,319
But that wasn't the scary part.
The scary part was what he was

927
01:27:51,399 --> 01:27:57,079
saying to me, Get me out, Get me out, Get me out.

928
01:27:59,319 --> 01:28:02,920
It started in a normal tone,
but slowly became more urgent and rushed,

929
01:28:03,720 --> 01:28:11,520
then demanding. The voice would coincide
with a movement inside me. It

930
01:28:11,640 --> 01:28:14,880
was getting so loud that I was
having a hard time hearing the people around

931
01:28:14,960 --> 01:28:18,199
me. The doctor came in just
a few minutes after I last saw him.

932
01:28:19,079 --> 01:28:24,159
He was red and sweaty, like
he'd just run a marathon. He

933
01:28:24,279 --> 01:28:27,840
told me they needed a zoo,
just a few tests and what was inside

934
01:28:27,920 --> 01:28:32,439
me before taking action. I was
trying so hard to pay attention to the

935
01:28:32,520 --> 01:28:36,479
words coming out of his mouth,
but all I could hear was the voice.

936
01:28:38,840 --> 01:28:42,239
The voice stopped for just a second
and changed what he was saying.

937
01:28:43,479 --> 01:28:46,800
Now he was repeating, cut me
out, cut me out, cut me

938
01:28:46,880 --> 01:28:53,319
out now. I now knew this
thing didn't just want out, but it

939
01:28:53,399 --> 01:28:58,199
wanted out now. I begged the
doctor to just get it out now,

940
01:28:58,319 --> 01:29:02,920
but he wouldn't listen. The voice
spoke up again, this is taking too

941
01:29:03,000 --> 01:29:10,479
long. Don't be afraid. Get
me out yourself. I think it could

942
01:29:10,560 --> 01:29:15,720
feel me resisting him without realizing it. I was looking around the room for

943
01:29:15,840 --> 01:29:19,640
something. It was like I didn't
have control over my head or eyes anymore.

944
01:29:20,880 --> 01:29:24,960
I knew the voice was looking for
a knife, but I was trying

945
01:29:25,000 --> 01:29:29,640
to ignore the feeling. I knew
there weren't any knives around. I was

946
01:29:29,720 --> 01:29:34,399
in a very safe place. Just
as I had the feeling I was safe,

947
01:29:35,479 --> 01:29:41,560
it was immediately taken away. The
thought passed through my head that my

948
01:29:41,680 --> 01:29:46,479
dad probably had a pocket knife on
him. My heart sank. I knew

949
01:29:46,560 --> 01:29:49,880
this thing could hear my thoughts.
I knew what it would try to do.

950
01:29:53,079 --> 01:29:56,359
The next thing I knew, I
was on my feet leaping for my

951
01:29:56,520 --> 01:30:01,199
dad my body it is luckily it's
in pretty good shape for his age,

952
01:30:01,399 --> 01:30:05,560
and had no problem putting me in
my place. He got on top of

953
01:30:05,680 --> 01:30:10,720
me and pinned me to the ground. All the while I could barely hear

954
01:30:10,800 --> 01:30:15,920
my mom in the background yelling at
my dad to be careful. My dad

955
01:30:15,000 --> 01:30:18,760
knew something was going on and that
I just needed to be on the ground

956
01:30:19,000 --> 01:30:25,640
until I calmed down. My body
tried to flail, but it wasn't successful.

957
01:30:26,760 --> 01:30:30,520
The whole time. The voice in
my head now yelling and screaming,

958
01:30:30,600 --> 01:30:35,039
not saying any distinguishable words, but
just having what felt like a tantrum.

959
01:30:36,520 --> 01:30:42,720
What made my dad the most uncomfortable
was the kicking feeling coming from my stomach.

960
01:30:45,239 --> 01:30:48,279
After a couple of minutes, the
voice calmed down and I felt in

961
01:30:48,399 --> 01:30:54,359
charge of my body again. My
dad slowly got up and attempted to help

962
01:30:54,439 --> 01:30:59,960
me up. At this point,
with an audience of hospital staff the lord,

963
01:31:00,000 --> 01:31:02,159
it's like they were getting ready to
take me somewhere for more tests.

964
01:31:04,279 --> 01:31:09,680
Just as I stood up, I
felt the voice take over and I lost

965
01:31:09,840 --> 01:31:14,199
all sense of my own body.
I felt like a shell of myself.

966
01:31:15,560 --> 01:31:19,159
My dad gave me a soft,
yet worried smile, and in that instance,

967
01:31:19,760 --> 01:31:26,039
I grabbed him and reached into his
pocket. My heart sank as I

968
01:31:26,119 --> 01:31:31,359
felt his pocket knife. The room
started to panic and about five people tried

969
01:31:31,359 --> 01:31:36,479
to grab it from me. The
last thing I remember is plunging the knife

970
01:31:36,680 --> 01:31:48,439
into my stomach. I felt a
blinding pain and everything went black. Several

971
01:31:48,600 --> 01:31:55,800
hours later, I started to wake
up. Everything was extremely blurry and fuzzy.

972
01:31:57,279 --> 01:32:01,279
I could hear a faint voice telling
me to relax. As the minutes

973
01:32:01,319 --> 01:32:06,920
passed by, things started to get
a little bit clearer. I looked around

974
01:32:08,319 --> 01:32:13,000
and saw I was in a large
room with a few other patients. A

975
01:32:13,119 --> 01:32:16,279
nurse was going up to all the
beds and checking in on them. I

976
01:32:16,399 --> 01:32:20,640
tried to sit up a bit to
get more comfortable. I moved my hospital

977
01:32:20,720 --> 01:32:27,079
gown out of the way and saw
a huge scar about six inches across.

978
01:32:28,720 --> 01:32:31,760
Most of the scar looked very surgical, like what I'd imagine a sea section

979
01:32:31,880 --> 01:32:38,920
surgery would look like, except where
I remembered the knife going in. It

980
01:32:39,000 --> 01:32:42,439
looked like a bunch of extra stitches
had to be added where it went in.

981
01:32:44,199 --> 01:32:47,520
It also looked pretty bruised. I
can imagine that a dull ten year

982
01:32:47,600 --> 01:32:53,960
old knife that was harshly shoved into
a body really wouldn't clean cut through and

983
01:32:54,199 --> 01:32:59,520
leave some damage. The feeling of
shock from looking at my stomach was quickly

984
01:32:59,600 --> 01:33:05,319
gone when I realized that meant whatever
was in me was now gone. I

985
01:33:05,439 --> 01:33:09,840
didn't hear the voice, I didn't
feel a hand in my gun anymore.

986
01:33:10,680 --> 01:33:15,039
I didn't see that vile kicking anymore. I felt like I could breathe.

987
01:33:17,640 --> 01:33:24,640
I asked the nurse what they found, and she looked flush. Ah,

988
01:33:24,840 --> 01:33:30,039
that's something that you are. Your
doctor will talk to you once you eat

989
01:33:30,119 --> 01:33:33,800
something and can speak clearly, she
said, as she scurried off, looking

990
01:33:33,920 --> 01:33:40,920
upset. Shortly after that, I
was wheeled into a recovery room and my

991
01:33:41,079 --> 01:33:45,880
parents came to see me. As
they walked in, they had a very

992
01:33:46,039 --> 01:33:51,119
similar look on their faces as the
nurse did. They looked pale and didn't

993
01:33:51,159 --> 01:33:56,640
want to look me in the eyes. I kept asking them questions about what

994
01:33:56,880 --> 01:34:00,800
was going on. They said the
doctor needed to discuss it with me,

995
01:34:00,479 --> 01:34:04,560
and he wanted to make sure I
wasn't feeling high from the anesthesia. While

996
01:34:04,640 --> 01:34:11,119
we had the conversation. The doctor
didn't come and see me for another ten

997
01:34:11,199 --> 01:34:17,000
hours, which felt strange. And
to add to the strangeness, my parents

998
01:34:17,039 --> 01:34:23,600
were taking shifts hanging out with me. There was only overlap when they switched

999
01:34:23,840 --> 01:34:29,199
and the other parent took over while
the other one left the room. I

1000
01:34:29,239 --> 01:34:31,960
would understand if they weren't both with
me for the whole time. I'm not

1001
01:34:32,079 --> 01:34:36,560
that needy, but they were only
both in the room together for about an

1002
01:34:36,600 --> 01:34:45,199
hour. That was the hour before
the doctor came to my room. Finally,

1003
01:34:45,680 --> 01:34:48,800
the doctor came in to talk to
me. When he walked in,

1004
01:34:49,399 --> 01:34:55,479
the room was cold and quiet.
It was evident he didn't feel the same

1005
01:34:55,560 --> 01:35:00,560
relief I was feeling. He seemed
awkward, like it was taking way too

1006
01:35:00,640 --> 01:35:05,239
long to get over to me.
He grabbed a chair and scooted it close

1007
01:35:05,319 --> 01:35:11,640
to me. Listen, Sam,
I know this last twenty four hours has

1008
01:35:11,720 --> 01:35:16,479
been very challenging. I apologize for
not explaining what happened during your surgery sooner,

1009
01:35:17,279 --> 01:35:23,680
but we all needed time to figure
it out and quite frankly, process

1010
01:35:23,840 --> 01:35:29,119
what happened. We feel we have
enough information to let you in on what

1011
01:35:29,479 --> 01:35:33,920
is going on. The silence filled
the room if I lu like no one

1012
01:35:34,079 --> 01:35:42,319
was brave enough to break it,
and I asked, with confusion, I

1013
01:35:42,479 --> 01:35:49,359
think it'll be easier if we just
show you. The doctor, along with

1014
01:35:49,520 --> 01:35:54,800
my parents, helped me into a
wheelchair and we started to make a way

1015
01:35:54,960 --> 01:36:00,359
across the hospital to an entirely different
section. I couldn't believe all the things

1016
01:36:00,479 --> 01:36:05,000
running through my head and what we
were about to see. It felt like

1017
01:36:05,199 --> 01:36:11,680
cruel and unusual punishment to leave me
in anticipation and not just tell me what

1018
01:36:11,960 --> 01:36:17,079
I was about to see. When
I went around the corner, I couldn't

1019
01:36:17,159 --> 01:36:21,640
process what I was looking at.
I thought there were showing me a large

1020
01:36:21,720 --> 01:36:27,399
tumor or growth of some kind,
or why would a tumor be in a

1021
01:36:27,479 --> 01:36:31,920
big incubation chamber with tubes connected to
ivs and machines coming out of it.

1022
01:36:33,880 --> 01:36:40,359
As I got closer, I started
to see human features on it. It

1023
01:36:40,479 --> 01:36:44,319
was mostly just a six foot lump
of flesh, but I could see a

1024
01:36:44,439 --> 01:36:49,479
handsticking out of it. It was
small, but what made it creepy because

1025
01:36:49,560 --> 01:36:57,560
it looked like a fully developed man's
hand, just small. I could see

1026
01:36:57,560 --> 01:37:00,439
a patch of hair coming out of
what I assumed was it head. It

1027
01:37:00,560 --> 01:37:05,359
had no discernible facial features, just
a few teeth scattered in one section.

1028
01:37:08,439 --> 01:37:12,079
As I looked at it with disgust, coming to terms with this thing,

1029
01:37:12,560 --> 01:37:18,439
I was just in my body.
I had a realization I wasn't feeling sick

1030
01:37:18,520 --> 01:37:24,439
at the thought of something being in
my body. Sure, I was grossed

1031
01:37:24,439 --> 01:37:28,960
out that this particular thing was just
in me, with the thought of bacteria

1032
01:37:29,000 --> 01:37:33,159
in my body didn't make me want
to throw up. I thought about all

1033
01:37:33,239 --> 01:37:41,960
the blood pomping through my veins,
and I felt normal. Not only was

1034
01:37:42,000 --> 01:37:46,560
the voice and kicking on, but
my OCD was gone too. It was

1035
01:37:46,760 --> 01:37:54,079
just this thing trying to find its
way out for years. As I was

1036
01:37:54,159 --> 01:37:58,239
staring at the creature, the doctor
came and put his hand on my shoulder.

1037
01:38:00,239 --> 01:38:08,079
We believe this is your twin brother. I immediately looked up on my

1038
01:38:08,199 --> 01:38:13,760
parents, who looked very disturbed and
upset. I let the doctor finish talking.

1039
01:38:15,039 --> 01:38:17,960
We believe that you absorbed him in
the womb, and that he's been

1040
01:38:18,039 --> 01:38:24,960
living inside you your whole life.
This is an extremely rare condition called fetus

1041
01:38:25,000 --> 01:38:30,000
and fetu. It seems he didn't
quite have the best opportunity to develop normally.

1042
01:38:30,880 --> 01:38:34,520
That's why he looks the way he
does. Despite his appearance, he

1043
01:38:34,560 --> 01:38:39,800
has all the organs he needs to
survive. Looks like he's missing a lung

1044
01:38:39,960 --> 01:38:44,319
and his gall bladder, also a
bit of his liver, but other than

1045
01:38:44,359 --> 01:38:47,039
that, it looks like he will
live for at least a few years.

1046
01:38:48,119 --> 01:38:51,199
He won't be able to leave this
room due to him needing a feeding tube

1047
01:38:51,640 --> 01:38:56,560
and a few other things that his
body cannot do on its own. He

1048
01:38:56,680 --> 01:39:01,920
needs a lot of support just to
live. Makes this situation extremely unique is

1049
01:39:01,960 --> 01:39:08,760
that your twin is still alive despite
your body not sustaining him anymore, even

1050
01:39:08,840 --> 01:39:12,680
though we have him hugged up to
a few ivs and machines. It is

1051
01:39:12,800 --> 01:39:20,640
unexplainable how he is living outside of
your body. I was in complete shock.

1052
01:39:21,640 --> 01:39:26,239
I didn't want to believe it.
I asked my mom why she never

1053
01:39:26,359 --> 01:39:29,520
told me I absorbed to my twin
in the womb, and she said she

1054
01:39:29,600 --> 01:39:32,479
had no clue. It was never
a sign when she was pregnant with me.

1055
01:39:34,199 --> 01:39:39,840
He also mentioned that sometimes, even
in pregnancies, women will go their

1056
01:39:39,880 --> 01:39:45,760
whole pregnancy without even getting a belly. It's called a cryptic pregnancy. I've

1057
01:39:45,760 --> 01:39:49,159
always had a bit of a gut, but never anything big enough to cause

1058
01:39:49,199 --> 01:39:54,680
suspicion. I guess in my case, I had a fetus feed too,

1059
01:39:55,239 --> 01:40:00,920
and an experienced similar to cryptic pregnancy, even though it was in my stomach.

1060
01:40:01,239 --> 01:40:05,800
At least, that was the doctor's
best guess. Although it all sounded

1061
01:40:05,880 --> 01:40:12,199
like BS to me, the doctor
or my parents kept trying to explain more

1062
01:40:12,239 --> 01:40:15,000
and more details to me. I
don't know why they didn't slow down a

1063
01:40:15,079 --> 01:40:20,119
little bit for my sake. How
could they not tell I wasn't processing any

1064
01:40:20,239 --> 01:40:27,119
of this. I noticed something while
they were trying to explain things to me.

1065
01:40:28,680 --> 01:40:34,159
He kept calling it he Now,
listen, I'm not some kind of

1066
01:40:34,199 --> 01:40:39,600
asshole who won't respect someone who wants
to be called a specific pronoun. I've

1067
01:40:39,680 --> 01:40:44,159
never been that kind of person.
But this is where I draw the line.

1068
01:40:45,680 --> 01:40:48,880
Not just that, but this thing
had a name. My parents named

1069
01:40:48,880 --> 01:40:54,600
it and said it was his birthday. While they told me all this information,

1070
01:40:55,760 --> 01:40:59,760
he didn't look happy about it.
It seemed like they were forced to

1071
01:40:59,800 --> 01:41:04,720
do this nonsense, and now it
was my turn to be convinced. I

1072
01:41:04,800 --> 01:41:10,920
could tell they were trying to force
it. The doctor told me, despite

1073
01:41:10,960 --> 01:41:15,119
it not having a high probability for
a long life, that we should still

1074
01:41:15,279 --> 01:41:18,960
try and give it all the love
it deserves. Of course, the doctor

1075
01:41:19,079 --> 01:41:26,079
referred to it as a he,
but I refuse to. This thing disgusted

1076
01:41:26,159 --> 01:41:30,319
me. This thing tried to kill
me and ruined my quality of life for

1077
01:41:30,520 --> 01:41:33,119
so long, and now we're going
to treat it like it's some kind of

1078
01:41:33,239 --> 01:41:42,439
prince. No. Absolutely not.
Luckily, it seemed like it would never

1079
01:41:42,560 --> 01:41:45,600
leave the hospital, but my parents
planned on going to visit it daily,

1080
01:41:47,159 --> 01:41:51,800
visiting it. Are you kidding me? It has no eyes, no ears,

1081
01:41:53,520 --> 01:41:57,680
It's probably miserable, and has no
concert of people even being around it.

1082
01:41:58,840 --> 01:42:02,239
I'm refusing to I ever see this
thing again or acknowledge its existence.

1083
01:42:04,760 --> 01:42:10,520
I could get in trouble for even
talking about this. The hospital or anyone

1084
01:42:10,640 --> 01:42:15,600
involved has signed NDAs to not share
any information about this until it officially dies.

1085
01:42:17,000 --> 01:42:20,840
This is because it's a medical anomaly
and the first of its kind.

1086
01:42:21,920 --> 01:42:27,359
They want to do the proper research
and how this all occurred before coming out

1087
01:42:27,439 --> 01:42:30,600
with a statement. I just have
to get this all off my chest.

1088
01:42:31,920 --> 01:42:35,920
I feel like I'm the crazy one
here when I know I'm not. I

1089
01:42:36,039 --> 01:42:41,600
don't care if I get in trouble. I'm scared that the doctors are trying

1090
01:42:41,640 --> 01:42:45,359
to force my parents into giving this
thing a proper life. I think that's

1091
01:42:45,399 --> 01:42:49,199
why it took them so long to
tell me. I think they scared my

1092
01:42:49,319 --> 01:42:55,319
parents into keeping it alive and guilting
them, or even forcing them into being

1093
01:42:55,399 --> 01:43:00,239
its parents. I'm all for every
life being important and all that, but

1094
01:43:00,359 --> 01:43:04,680
I have a feeling my parents are
terrified of this thing, just like I

1095
01:43:04,800 --> 01:43:11,319
am. I'm convinced they gasped at
my parents into believing this thing is my

1096
01:43:11,439 --> 01:43:15,720
brother. If there wasn't any sign
of him while my mom was pregnant with

1097
01:43:15,840 --> 01:43:21,479
me, could this thing be something
else. This all happened about two years

1098
01:43:21,520 --> 01:43:28,720
ago. It's still alive and they're
still researching it. My parents continue to

1099
01:43:28,840 --> 01:43:33,279
visit it despite everything. My therapist
told me that I'm probably just struggling with

1100
01:43:33,439 --> 01:43:39,279
jealousy now that I'm not an only
child anymore and so much are my parents's

1101
01:43:39,359 --> 01:43:44,560
attention is on him now. But
it's so much bigger than just jealousy.

1102
01:43:45,039 --> 01:43:50,000
Since this thing showed up and my
OCD is pretty much gone, I've hardly

1103
01:43:50,079 --> 01:43:56,560
seen my parents. I know I'm
not just jealous. There is something more

1104
01:43:56,640 --> 01:44:02,520
to this, I know it.
Something just feels off about this whole thing.

1105
01:44:03,880 --> 01:44:10,199
What is this thing? Where did
it come from? And what does

1106
01:44:10,239 --> 01:44:24,600
it want? I had a rough
time as a kid. I suffered from

1107
01:44:24,640 --> 01:44:30,239
both hem and geomas and spotty hair
loss, two conditions that would go away

1108
01:44:30,399 --> 01:44:33,920
the closer I got to my teenage
years. But for those first few years

1109
01:44:34,800 --> 01:44:41,199
I was a social prior. I
looked strange, which was enough to draw

1110
01:44:41,359 --> 01:44:45,760
unwanted attention. Some kids thought I
had a kind of mange what others just

1111
01:44:45,840 --> 01:44:50,119
didn't like to look at me.
My parents didn't make it easier for me,

1112
01:44:50,840 --> 01:44:55,680
forcing me to bring various creams that
I had to apply during school hours.

1113
01:44:57,479 --> 01:45:00,560
I ended up trying to make my
own fun. I made my own

1114
01:45:00,720 --> 01:45:04,359
friends in my head, and I
played a lot of board games on my

1115
01:45:04,439 --> 01:45:10,560
own. My parents were going through
a divorce and both swore off having any

1116
01:45:10,640 --> 01:45:15,760
more children, so I ended up
as an only child. Most of my

1117
01:45:15,840 --> 01:45:20,119
made up friends were just the plaything. I could tell it was all just

1118
01:45:20,199 --> 01:45:25,920
for fun and that they weren't real. I didn't see them or hear them.

1119
01:45:26,840 --> 01:45:30,319
I made up little stories in my
head, trying to imagine what they

1120
01:45:30,359 --> 01:45:34,439
would do if they were there.
I could get really into it. I

1121
01:45:34,520 --> 01:45:39,800
had this one imaginary friend who always
tried to cheat in games, so when

1122
01:45:39,840 --> 01:45:42,920
I played with him at the table, I'd move the pieces in a way

1123
01:45:43,079 --> 01:45:48,680
he would and thus cheat. Another
friend was obsessed with lemonade, so I

1124
01:45:48,720 --> 01:45:55,600
always brought an extra glass for him. When I was seven years old,

1125
01:45:57,039 --> 01:46:02,119
there was a new friend. This
one was different. I could really see

1126
01:46:02,199 --> 01:46:06,079
him. I knew he was just
as fake as the rest of them,

1127
01:46:06,680 --> 01:46:12,840
as he only appeared when I was
alone and playing. But he was strange.

1128
01:46:14,520 --> 01:46:17,279
I hadn't imagined him for a specific
purpose. I didn't come up with

1129
01:46:17,319 --> 01:46:21,960
a name for him. I don't
know anything about him. Even if I

1130
01:46:23,000 --> 01:46:27,560
would pretend not to know the cheetah
and the lemonade enthusiast to try of conversation,

1131
01:46:28,680 --> 01:46:35,520
This one was a genuine mystery.
He was scary. He looked like

1132
01:46:35,600 --> 01:46:43,479
a person, but sort of stretched
at least seven feet tall, pale,

1133
01:46:43,760 --> 01:46:48,239
flaking gray skin. He was super
thin and had this sort of hanging face,

1134
01:46:48,800 --> 01:46:54,479
like his skin was slouching. He
reminded me of a wet towel hanging

1135
01:46:54,520 --> 01:47:01,399
off a rack, and his eyes
well empty. There was nothing there.

1136
01:47:03,800 --> 01:47:10,560
He was super quiet and rarely moved. I'd usually forget he was even there

1137
01:47:11,239 --> 01:47:16,279
unless he made his little sound,
a sort of teeth chatter. It was

1138
01:47:16,399 --> 01:47:21,640
like a tick, sometimes a single
click. Other times he'd just stand there,

1139
01:47:23,000 --> 01:47:30,359
chattering excitedly, clack clack clack.
At first, I just asked him

1140
01:47:30,399 --> 01:47:33,479
to go away. He didn't talk, and he didn't answer my questions.

1141
01:47:34,279 --> 01:47:40,239
No matter what I played, he
refused to participate or even acknowledge me.

1142
01:47:41,880 --> 01:47:46,000
He just wanted to be there.
Most of the time, he was a

1143
01:47:46,119 --> 01:47:51,800
nuisance. He'd scare me. I'd
wake up to that noise of chattering teeth

1144
01:47:51,840 --> 01:47:56,279
at night, or he did click
right next to my ear when I played

1145
01:47:56,319 --> 01:48:04,079
my board games. Over time,
from scary to frustrating, he was just

1146
01:48:04,279 --> 01:48:10,239
being a bother. But there was
that time in middle school that changed the

1147
01:48:10,279 --> 01:48:14,000
way I viewed him. There was
a new kid in school. It was

1148
01:48:14,039 --> 01:48:19,000
an infamous bully, let's call him
Ian. He'd been moved from another school

1149
01:48:19,039 --> 01:48:23,239
where it had been a menace.
No one really knew what to do with

1150
01:48:23,359 --> 01:48:28,119
him, so they just sort of
moved him around, and now it was

1151
01:48:28,199 --> 01:48:32,720
our turn to deal with him,
and of course I was a clear target.

1152
01:48:34,199 --> 01:48:40,479
Ian started calling me scabs and it
kind of caught on. The sick

1153
01:48:40,680 --> 01:48:44,800
dog of the class now had a
name that others clung to, and it

1154
01:48:44,960 --> 01:48:49,960
wasn't a good one. But it
didn't end there. One day after school,

1155
01:48:50,119 --> 01:48:55,119
he took things too far, spurred
on my cheers and laughter from my

1156
01:48:55,199 --> 01:49:00,399
classmates. I was beaten, bloody. While I was beaten, the others

1157
01:49:00,439 --> 01:49:04,279
went inside to get some scissors.
They were gonna cut my mangy hair.

1158
01:49:06,119 --> 01:49:12,840
When it was just me and Ian, I heard that teeth chattering noise again.

1159
01:49:14,079 --> 01:49:17,960
I could see the strange figure in
the background. My first thought was

1160
01:49:18,000 --> 01:49:24,960
that he was there to mock me
too, but to my surprise, it

1161
01:49:25,239 --> 01:49:33,359
had other plans. It leaned in, unhinged its massive jaw, and took

1162
01:49:33,399 --> 01:49:40,800
a bite out of Ian's ear,
tearing it in half. There was instant

1163
01:49:40,880 --> 01:49:45,680
pandemonium. Ian turned around, not
looking at me, but straight at his

1164
01:49:45,760 --> 01:49:58,079
assailant. He could see him too, blood and screams panic. Ian scrambled

1165
01:49:58,159 --> 01:50:00,960
like a scared dog, dripping over
his own legs to get away. The

1166
01:50:01,079 --> 01:50:05,039
others came running back to but as
they saw what had happened, they'd all

1167
01:50:05,199 --> 01:50:13,439
had a collective gasp. Seeing them
step back was empowering. They turned and

1168
01:50:13,560 --> 01:50:17,720
ran, screaming and pointing. They
hadn't seen what Ian and I had they

1169
01:50:17,800 --> 01:50:21,640
thought I'd done it. He took
it, He took it into here.

1170
01:50:23,920 --> 01:50:29,600
The kids ran away, They ran
like their heads were on fire. I

1171
01:50:29,760 --> 01:50:34,439
sat there for a moment, my
body pulsing with bruises and shock. The

1172
01:50:34,520 --> 01:50:40,960
strange creature approached me. His teeth
had stopped chattering, replaced with chewing,

1173
01:50:42,479 --> 01:50:48,439
slowly savoring a meal. For all
the hell it had given me, this

1174
01:50:50,119 --> 01:50:56,960
was grotesque. My adrenaline had spiked, and I just said the first thing

1175
01:50:57,000 --> 01:51:00,520
that came to mind. Maybe it
didn't really want to hurt me, Maybe

1176
01:51:00,560 --> 01:51:05,359
it was there for some other reason. Either way, I said what I

1177
01:51:05,439 --> 01:51:12,439
said. You're just a big softy, aren't you. I sniffled, You're

1178
01:51:12,439 --> 01:51:23,000
a big softy, Big softy.
It wheezed back. It was less of

1179
01:51:23,079 --> 01:51:29,680
a voice and more of a throbbing
wind. Its lips didn't move, Big

1180
01:51:30,199 --> 01:51:39,960
softy, It continued, M yeah
you are. I nodded, that's you.

1181
01:51:42,399 --> 01:51:49,960
It leaneding close, inspecting me.
It didn't breathe name, It hissed

1182
01:51:51,279 --> 01:52:00,439
free. I stared into those hollow
sockets, waiting for something to happened,

1183
01:52:00,479 --> 01:52:09,079
a smile, a breath, anything, but no. I blinked, and

1184
01:52:09,199 --> 01:52:18,560
big softie it was no longer there. Sometimes violence solves things. While that

1185
01:52:18,680 --> 01:52:25,439
brawl didn't make me popular, it
stopped kids from teasing me. Classmates began

1186
01:52:25,600 --> 01:52:30,520
using my regular name again. Sure
there was still whispers and the occasional side

1187
01:52:30,560 --> 01:52:35,039
eye, but that was still an
immense improvement. No one spoke about that

1188
01:52:35,159 --> 01:52:39,479
fight, though. I didn't want
to get in trouble for the year,

1189
01:52:40,319 --> 01:52:43,960
and he didn't want to get in
trouble for bullying me, So we kept

1190
01:52:44,000 --> 01:52:48,720
it to ourselves and never spoke of
it again, and seemed fine with sitting

1191
01:52:48,800 --> 01:52:56,960
quietly and not talking to anyone about
it. He changed, and Big Softy

1192
01:52:58,239 --> 01:53:02,800
well, he sort of disappeared.
It's like he'd done his job and went

1193
01:53:02,920 --> 01:53:08,560
on his merry way. For a
couple of years that followed, I thought

1194
01:53:08,840 --> 01:53:13,119
he just might have been a figment
of my imagination. Maybe I was the

1195
01:53:13,159 --> 01:53:15,880
one who really bitty and and this
whole thing was just a way to cope

1196
01:53:15,880 --> 01:53:23,119
with that trauma. It had to
be something of the sort imaginary friends don't

1197
01:53:23,159 --> 01:53:28,479
affect the real world. Then again, giving him a name, even a

1198
01:53:28,600 --> 01:53:36,720
nickname, seemed to have encouraged him
was something worse. Most of my afflictions

1199
01:53:36,800 --> 01:53:41,479
cleared up in high school, and
I found a solid group of like minded

1200
01:53:41,560 --> 01:53:46,840
youths. Over time, all little
dream friends faded from memory. The one

1201
01:53:46,880 --> 01:53:51,439
who cheated, the one who loved
lemonade, a hundred others who I can't

1202
01:53:51,479 --> 01:53:56,600
even remember, the way they looked, the way they sounded, their names

1203
01:53:56,680 --> 01:54:02,159
and quirks. They all went away. But Big Softie stayed at my mind

1204
01:54:03,199 --> 01:54:10,279
realer than any of them. The
hollow eyes, the chattering teeth. It

1205
01:54:10,439 --> 01:54:14,720
was strange how the most horrifying of
all my imaginary friends turned out to be

1206
01:54:14,800 --> 01:54:20,039
the one who stuck around the longest. The time passed, high school turned

1207
01:54:20,079 --> 01:54:25,359
to college, college turned to work, and by the time I was twenty

1208
01:54:25,439 --> 01:54:30,279
seven I had a pretty cozy life
going. But even then, despite not

1209
01:54:30,399 --> 01:54:35,359
having seen or heard that childhood friend
of mine, Big Softie, still drifted

1210
01:54:35,520 --> 01:54:42,199
in my dreams every now and then. I wish I could end this story

1211
01:54:42,279 --> 01:54:45,800
here. It'd just be a strange
anecdote about something that happened to me as

1212
01:54:45,840 --> 01:54:54,479
a kid. Sadly that's not the
case. What began as an unusual child

1213
01:54:54,520 --> 01:55:01,159
of curiosity turned into a waking nightmare. In twenty nineteen, and I was

1214
01:55:01,199 --> 01:55:05,760
in a pretty good place. I
was six months into a promotion that added

1215
01:55:05,800 --> 01:55:11,039
a flat fifteen percent of my salary, and I was finally getting back into

1216
01:55:11,159 --> 01:55:15,920
dating after a messy break up a
couple of months earlier. Nothing serious,

1217
01:55:15,000 --> 01:55:19,600
but it felt good to shake off
the cobwebs. I was coming home from

1218
01:55:19,680 --> 01:55:25,279
a long day of overtime and had
to stop for gas, nothing I hadn't

1219
01:55:25,319 --> 01:55:29,640
done a hundred times before. I
got myself a slim gym and told the

1220
01:55:29,680 --> 01:55:33,359
long haired man behind the counter that
I wanted thirty on punt two. I

1221
01:55:33,439 --> 01:55:45,279
handed over my card and checked my
phone for a moment, clack teeth turning

1222
01:55:45,359 --> 01:55:53,439
around nothing. I could feel my
pulse spiking for no apparent reason. I

1223
01:55:53,520 --> 01:55:58,119
became hyper aware of my surroundings.
You have had light and the faint whiff

1224
01:55:58,119 --> 01:56:02,319
of gasoline. That one noise brought
me straight back to middle school. It

1225
01:56:02,479 --> 01:56:06,680
sent this cold spike straight into my
head, as if I could picture that

1226
01:56:06,880 --> 01:56:12,520
hollowed out face in front of me. I snapped out of it with a

1227
01:56:12,600 --> 01:56:15,680
beat from the cash register. I
thanked the cashier and headed for the door.

1228
01:56:17,520 --> 01:56:23,319
Just before I left, I turned
back around to them, Excuse me,

1229
01:56:23,439 --> 01:56:29,039
but did you hear something strange just
now? No, can't say I

1230
01:56:29,119 --> 01:56:32,800
did. Sorry, did you click
your tongue or something. Can't say I

1231
01:56:32,880 --> 01:56:40,479
did, sir, I nodded,
of course they didn't. The same sensation

1232
01:56:40,720 --> 01:56:45,439
came back to me on four different
occasions, once when I was closing the

1233
01:56:45,479 --> 01:56:49,079
blinds in my bedroom, once when
getting the mail at work, another time

1234
01:56:49,159 --> 01:56:54,279
when stuck in traffic, and once
when I was about to answer a phone

1235
01:56:54,319 --> 01:57:00,920
call. I ended up missing it. It was such a strange reminder.

1236
01:57:00,720 --> 01:57:04,600
It had it come out of nowhere, and now it was starting to become

1237
01:57:04,800 --> 01:57:11,560
a daily annoyance for the life of
me. I couldn't figure out where it

1238
01:57:11,720 --> 01:57:16,720
was coming from. There wasn't really
a direction. It was just like in

1239
01:57:16,840 --> 01:57:27,000
my head. He was there everywhere, nowhere and inside clack, and yet

1240
01:57:27,520 --> 01:57:33,279
Big Softy was yet to be seen. I was having trouble focusing on work.

1241
01:57:33,680 --> 01:57:38,359
I couldn't push my intrusive thoughts out, and I ended up doing some

1242
01:57:38,520 --> 01:57:44,680
digging on social media, looking up
all the acquaintances from work, folks I

1243
01:57:44,760 --> 01:57:48,680
hadn't seen or heard from in years. Some had started families, others had

1244
01:57:48,720 --> 01:57:53,720
moved far away from work or studies. There were a handful of them still

1245
01:57:53,800 --> 01:58:01,760
left in Minnesota. One face stood
out to me, though. Ian turns

1246
01:58:01,840 --> 01:58:09,680
out he was still around. The
moment I got home from work, I

1247
01:58:09,760 --> 01:58:13,760
went straight to my computer. I
looked up Ian on some of the more

1248
01:58:13,840 --> 01:58:19,159
common social media sites. The man
had no privacy settings. Most of it

1249
01:58:19,520 --> 01:58:24,960
was just nonsense pictures of him having
beers with the boys, a couple of

1250
01:58:25,079 --> 01:58:30,000
nice cars, group pictures of random
people with generic nicknames. This was a

1251
01:58:30,119 --> 01:58:38,159
man that wanted to express nothing more
than being hashtag Friday Blest. But looking

1252
01:58:38,199 --> 01:58:43,319
a little closer, there are a
few cracks in the facade. For example,

1253
01:58:43,960 --> 01:58:45,960
there are a couple more recent comments
he'd made to a few friends of

1254
01:58:46,039 --> 01:58:50,560
his. God doesn't just send angels
to protect you, he said in one

1255
01:58:50,600 --> 01:58:58,279
post. Sometimes he sends demons to
test you. Looking a bit closer revealed

1256
01:58:58,279 --> 01:59:02,800
a lot more pain. That was
Fredley parent Ian was taking medication for schizophrenia.

1257
01:59:03,479 --> 01:59:08,880
He was overcoming a drinking problem.
He seemed to constantly be bouncing between

1258
01:59:09,000 --> 01:59:14,720
complete disregard for others and hysterical with
regret for his actions. He could be

1259
01:59:14,800 --> 01:59:18,319
fighting for forgiveness in one post and
bragging about stealing from work in the next.

1260
01:59:19,560 --> 01:59:26,119
The man was a mess, a
complete mess, and that half missing

1261
01:59:26,199 --> 01:59:30,560
ear of his didn't do him any
favors. No matter how many tattoos he

1262
01:59:30,640 --> 01:59:35,119
put on his neck to divert the
attention. But one particular post caught my

1263
01:59:35,159 --> 01:59:42,960
attention. He was discussing lifestyle challenges
with a local youth pastor and old acquaintance

1264
01:59:43,039 --> 01:59:47,399
we had in common, and they
were at a disagreement. Ian spat out,

1265
01:59:48,319 --> 01:59:51,119
I don't deny my goddamn problems.
I know what they look like,

1266
01:59:51,359 --> 01:59:57,840
I know their names. I see
their teeth, see their teeth. Ah.

1267
02:00:00,159 --> 02:00:03,479
Furthermore, no one seemed to have
seen him for a while. For

1268
02:00:03,600 --> 02:00:08,800
all intents and purposes, Ian had
sort of fallen off the face of the

1269
02:00:08,880 --> 02:00:15,359
earth, leaving behind one last cryptic
post. It's getting too real. The

1270
02:00:15,439 --> 02:00:20,840
post said, it's too close,
and with that he posted nothing more.

1271
02:00:23,239 --> 02:00:29,600
I checked the dates my notes and
made some deductions. The final post of

1272
02:00:29,680 --> 02:00:33,560
this was written the same day I
first started hearing the teeth chattering noise.

1273
02:00:33,600 --> 02:00:42,800
Again. That couldn't be a coincidence. It just couldn't. I didn't find

1274
02:00:42,840 --> 02:00:47,079
out anything else about him, and
the sound of teeth chattering with horrible timing,

1275
02:00:47,439 --> 02:00:51,560
was getting worse. Once I had
to pull over in traffic to start

1276
02:00:51,600 --> 02:00:56,720
my heart from racing, I could
have sworn I saw that hollowed out face

1277
02:00:56,800 --> 02:01:00,279
in my rear view mirror. I
was so frustrated that I smacked my hands

1278
02:01:00,319 --> 02:01:05,239
on my dashboard so hard I got
a bruise. By the time I got

1279
02:01:05,319 --> 02:01:11,159
home, I was nervous and stressed. I threw off my jacket, stormed

1280
02:01:11,159 --> 02:01:15,720
into the kitchen and cracked open a
coke. I slammed the door shut so

1281
02:01:15,920 --> 02:01:19,560
hard I knocked one of the fridge
magnets on to the floor. A little

1282
02:01:19,600 --> 02:01:27,199
blue sunflower who came with the place. Leaning back against the fridge, my

1283
02:01:27,319 --> 02:01:34,680
heart skipped a beat. Big Softy
was right there, just a few feet

1284
02:01:34,720 --> 02:01:43,319
away, looking right at me.
Clack clack, clack. I dropped my

1285
02:01:43,399 --> 02:01:47,119
can of coke as it hit the
floor. I blinked. In the next

1286
02:01:47,199 --> 02:01:54,760
moment, I was alone again,
clutching my chest. I picked the can

1287
02:01:54,920 --> 02:01:58,399
up, wiped up the spill with
a couple of paper towels, try my

1288
02:01:58,479 --> 02:02:03,760
best to calm down. This was
getting out of hand. I hadn't regained

1289
02:02:03,800 --> 02:02:10,319
my composure before there was another sound
and knock on the door. It surprised

1290
02:02:10,399 --> 02:02:15,680
me. I wasn't expecting company.
I lumbered over to the door, flustered

1291
02:02:15,760 --> 02:02:24,560
and shaky. I put my hand
on the handle then stopped. Maybe there

1292
02:02:24,640 --> 02:02:29,960
was a reason I'd seen that thing. Maybe it wasn't just psychosis. What

1293
02:02:30,079 --> 02:02:33,760
if it meant something? Could it
have something to do with whoever or whatever

1294
02:02:34,119 --> 02:02:39,239
was on the other side of the
door. I can shoot you through the

1295
02:02:39,319 --> 02:02:45,920
door, A muffled voice said,
Open. I froze, one hand on

1296
02:02:45,039 --> 02:02:50,520
the door handle, another hand on
my phone. I was stuck. I

1297
02:02:50,600 --> 02:02:59,000
couldn't make myself move. I won't
ask again Open. I didn't know what

1298
02:02:59,159 --> 02:03:06,520
to say. I turned the handle
and carefully stepped back. Ian he looked

1299
02:03:06,640 --> 02:03:11,880
like he'd gone through hell to get
here, un washed hair, unkempt beard,

1300
02:03:12,399 --> 02:03:15,960
and a shiny new handgun pointed at
me. His hands were shaking.

1301
02:03:16,680 --> 02:03:21,720
He wasn't kidding around. His fingers
trembled. He was trying to pull the

1302
02:03:21,800 --> 02:03:29,560
trigger. Ian I said reflexively,
you what do you? Shut up?

1303
02:03:29,960 --> 02:03:33,840
He spat, just shut up.
He raised the handgun, staring me down.

1304
02:03:34,800 --> 02:03:39,399
The sound of his own name shook
him. It has to end,

1305
02:03:39,920 --> 02:03:45,319
I can't. His aim faltered.
He looked away. A second later,

1306
02:03:45,680 --> 02:03:49,640
he pushed me back and entered my
apartment, closing the door behind him.

1307
02:03:51,000 --> 02:03:56,199
He led me into the kitchen.
There were still wet paper towels on the

1308
02:03:56,279 --> 02:04:00,439
floor from my spilled drink. Sit
down, he said, pointing to a

1309
02:04:00,560 --> 02:04:05,720
chair. Keep your hands on the
table. I did as he said.

1310
02:04:06,960 --> 02:04:11,920
There was a sudden quiet between us, as if he hadn't planned this far.

1311
02:04:13,239 --> 02:04:16,119
There was a clear uncertainty to his
actions, which just made it worse.

1312
02:04:17,319 --> 02:04:23,720
I couldn't tell what he'd do next. I need you to to make

1313
02:04:23,800 --> 02:04:28,279
it stop, he said. It
has to stop, It has to I

1314
02:04:28,479 --> 02:04:31,520
just can't. Don't tell me you
can't. He raised his gun, stepping

1315
02:04:31,600 --> 02:04:35,920
closer. My whole body felt cooler. His blood rushed to my arms and

1316
02:04:36,039 --> 02:04:41,880
legs. Don't you tell me that, he repeated, Now make it stop.

1317
02:04:44,399 --> 02:04:46,840
Before I got a chance to say, you'll do anything, he sat

1318
02:04:46,920 --> 02:04:53,840
down across from me, gun still
pointed in my direction. One wrong move,

1319
02:04:54,399 --> 02:05:00,560
a twitch, anything, and it'd
be over my own. Forgot to

1320
02:05:00,600 --> 02:05:06,720
breathe. I know it's yours.
It's been yours for always, he continued,

1321
02:05:06,880 --> 02:05:11,520
scratching his hair. But it's too
much, it's gone too far.

1322
02:05:12,920 --> 02:05:18,800
So okay, I tried to click
my thoughts. You're talking about him with

1323
02:05:18,920 --> 02:05:24,920
the teeth. Don't act like you
don't know its name being groaned. Don't

1324
02:05:24,960 --> 02:05:32,479
you dare we looked at one another
and said it in unison. Big Softy.

1325
02:05:35,479 --> 02:05:40,680
The moment we said it, I
could see him emerging from the shadows

1326
02:05:40,920 --> 02:05:44,800
in the back of the kitchen.
I tried my best, not a gasp,

1327
02:05:44,880 --> 02:05:48,760
but look his way. He's in
my head every night. I hear

1328
02:05:48,880 --> 02:05:56,159
him all the time. He continued, a damn click, clacking right in

1329
02:05:56,239 --> 02:06:00,439
my ear, sometimes in my face, like he wants to take a bite.

1330
02:06:01,640 --> 02:06:05,920
I'm not controlling that, I said, carefully, picking my words.

1331
02:06:06,720 --> 02:06:12,640
I haven't seen him in decades.
Even know how bad you missed up,

1332
02:06:13,279 --> 02:06:17,439
he said, squinting with disbelief.
You named it. They saw. They

1333
02:06:17,520 --> 02:06:23,359
need to go off. They need
a name, They need to be made

1334
02:06:23,399 --> 02:06:28,159
real. And you. He raised
this gun, growing more determined by the

1335
02:06:28,239 --> 02:06:36,640
second you made him real, removed, this time to the bathroom. I

1336
02:06:36,760 --> 02:06:41,680
didn't have any say in the matter, having a gun pointed straight at me.

1337
02:06:43,239 --> 02:06:46,399
Somewhere off in the background, I
could see the vague shape of Big

1338
02:06:46,520 --> 02:06:54,600
Softy moving soundlessly from one room to
another. I can't control it, I

1339
02:06:54,680 --> 02:06:58,800
said, I have nothing to I
don't care, but this is pointless.

1340
02:06:58,960 --> 02:07:01,880
There's nothing. I don't care.
If you go away, his name goes

1341
02:07:01,920 --> 02:07:08,079
away. You don't know that.
I was pushed through the bathroom door and

1342
02:07:08,199 --> 02:07:12,039
to the back of my shower.
I tripped, coming down hard on my

1343
02:07:12,119 --> 02:07:16,760
tailbone. The ceramic tiles felt icy
cold against my sweaty palms, and I

1344
02:07:16,800 --> 02:07:21,760
could smell a bit of chlorine from
the cleaning supplies. He raised his gun

1345
02:07:24,000 --> 02:07:29,880
and this was it, Big Softy, I said, That's that's all I

1346
02:07:29,960 --> 02:07:32,640
did. I called it a goddamn
nickname. I don't deserve to die for

1347
02:07:32,720 --> 02:07:39,399
that. He's resolved, faltered.
He scratched his head again, groaning,

1348
02:07:40,319 --> 02:07:45,439
but more so I could see Big
Softy just outside the room. Was he

1349
02:07:45,479 --> 02:07:50,920
getting closer? Big Softy? I
said again, my eyes darting to the

1350
02:07:51,039 --> 02:07:56,800
door. I was a scared kid. It just slipped out. Don't you

1351
02:07:56,920 --> 02:08:01,560
dare put this on me? He
said, don't you dare. I observed

1352
02:08:01,600 --> 02:08:07,479
the creature. It was approaching.
Every time I said its name, it

1353
02:08:07,680 --> 02:08:13,600
got a little closer, looking ian
dead in the eye. I took a

1354
02:08:13,640 --> 02:08:18,560
deep breath. This was it,
Big Softy, I said, Big Softy,

1355
02:08:18,680 --> 02:08:24,760
Big Softy, What the hell?
I kept repeating it over and over

1356
02:08:24,840 --> 02:08:28,600
and over. He might do something, he might not. Either way,

1357
02:08:30,279 --> 02:08:33,399
I had to try. But by
the sixth time I said it, that

1358
02:08:33,760 --> 02:08:41,439
enormous, looming creature was inches behind
Ian. For more so, it was

1359
02:08:41,600 --> 02:08:48,199
changing, not by a lot,
but enough for me to notice it was

1360
02:08:48,279 --> 02:08:56,199
smiling. Ian raised his gun at
me and pulled the trigger at the same

1361
02:08:56,319 --> 02:09:05,199
time I said the name for verse
seventh and final time. The shot went

1362
02:09:05,359 --> 02:09:11,079
wild as an unhinged jaw came down
on Ian's shoulder. There was a scream,

1363
02:09:11,520 --> 02:09:15,159
a spurt of blood on the bathroom
mirror, a flailing arm hitting the

1364
02:09:15,239 --> 02:09:20,640
light switch, turning a gruesome scene
into a shadow theater. Impossibly thin hands

1365
02:09:20,800 --> 02:09:26,319
wrapping around a throat, twisting his
neck like a toothpaste cap, crunching,

1366
02:09:28,079 --> 02:09:35,680
ripping, chewing, teeth, teeth
teeth, clack, clack clack, laughter,

1367
02:09:37,159 --> 02:09:43,479
other worldly, ethereal laughter. I
have no idea how long it went

1368
02:09:43,600 --> 02:09:50,560
on. Ian didn't even have time
to beg the handgun clattered to the ground.

1369
02:09:50,920 --> 02:09:58,600
It was just me and this thing
alone in the dark bathroom. I

1370
02:09:58,640 --> 02:10:03,000
couldn't speak. I just curled up
into a ball and tried my best to

1371
02:10:03,119 --> 02:10:09,960
ignore the viscera running into the train
next to me. There was a slight

1372
02:10:09,079 --> 02:10:16,720
creaking sound as old knees bent.
A hot breath in my face Big Softy

1373
02:10:16,840 --> 02:10:26,520
could breathe. It seemed nice name, it said. The voice was different,

1374
02:10:28,479 --> 02:10:33,560
real, tangible. I could hear
vibrations in his throat. This was

1375
02:10:33,640 --> 02:10:46,479
no longer a figment of my imagination. Going it continued aye, I could

1376
02:10:46,520 --> 02:10:50,640
hear something getting dragged out of the
apartment. I heard doors open and close,

1377
02:10:52,399 --> 02:10:56,479
and god knows how long I realized
I was sitting there, shaking like

1378
02:10:56,560 --> 02:11:01,560
a dry leaf in the wind.
My stomach turned at the idea of turning

1379
02:11:01,600 --> 02:11:05,800
on the light, but I had
to. I got up and reached for

1380
02:11:05,920 --> 02:11:11,840
the light switch, almost tripping on
the handgun and something slippery clinging to it

1381
02:11:13,520 --> 02:11:22,079
fingers. I flipped the switch and
I broke. I won't go into detail

1382
02:11:22,239 --> 02:11:28,039
of what I saw. Most of
the body was gone, not all of

1383
02:11:28,119 --> 02:11:31,520
it, but most of it.
It was a blood trail leading into the

1384
02:11:31,560 --> 02:11:39,039
hallway, then disappearing just as it
reached the front door. I'd brought that

1385
02:11:39,199 --> 02:11:43,000
thing into the world. I'd named
it, I'd reinforced it, i'd believed

1386
02:11:43,079 --> 02:11:50,479
it called out to it, I'd
made it real. All it had to

1387
02:11:50,560 --> 02:11:58,880
do was answer. You can't unlearn
something, And even if I could,

1388
02:12:00,720 --> 02:12:05,520
I think it's too late. I
think Big Softy got just enough of what

1389
02:12:05,640 --> 02:12:11,039
he needed to become something else.
Entirely, he took a life, and

1390
02:12:11,239 --> 02:12:15,439
now he's got one of his own. Maybe we still have some kind of

1391
02:12:15,520 --> 02:12:20,680
connection. I don't know. I
think we do where else he might have

1392
02:12:20,840 --> 02:12:26,199
just killed me too right then and
there. Then again, there's no way

1393
02:12:26,279 --> 02:12:33,359
to tell. I've obsessed over this
for years, looking through articles about mentions

1394
02:12:33,399 --> 02:12:37,359
of Ian. There were no search
parties, no one came looking. Even

1395
02:12:37,399 --> 02:12:41,000
the people who missed him were reluctant
to work with the police, and with

1396
02:12:41,159 --> 02:12:48,119
his history of schizophrenia, there was
a higher likelihood of him just doing something

1397
02:12:48,199 --> 02:12:56,119
he shouldn't. But I knew better. Ian hadn't been schizophrenic. Big Softy

1398
02:12:56,439 --> 02:13:03,439
had just stuck to him and just
tortured him so god knows how long decade.

1399
02:13:05,640 --> 02:13:09,279
Looking back at it, I think
that was the plan all along,

1400
02:13:09,279 --> 02:13:13,840
to drive Ian to a point where
he would try to kill me. It's

1401
02:13:13,920 --> 02:13:18,560
in their final moments that a person
gets truly desperate, and that's what I

1402
02:13:18,680 --> 02:13:26,199
felt on that floor, desperation.
I reached out to whoever would answer,

1403
02:13:26,920 --> 02:13:33,840
and I couldn't fathom the consequences.
He's out there right now. He probably

1404
02:13:33,960 --> 02:13:39,479
looks like us walks like us and
sounds like us. But wherever he is

1405
02:13:39,119 --> 02:13:46,000
and whatever he does, I don't
want a part of it. I don't

1406
02:13:46,079 --> 02:13:50,840
know what to say. But if
you meet a strangely tall man who does

1407
02:13:50,880 --> 02:13:56,159
that thing with his teeth, just
know that there might be more to him,

1408
02:13:56,520 --> 02:14:11,000
a lot more. He is more
than just a big softy. In

1409
02:14:11,079 --> 02:14:18,840
my tireless pursuit of answers, I
found fresh questions of terror. Comfort is

1410
02:14:18,880 --> 02:14:24,880
an alien notion to me. I've
always been afraid, always failing to still

1411
02:14:24,960 --> 02:14:31,079
my brains, ever wearing cogs.
But from a young age I aim to

1412
02:14:31,159 --> 02:14:37,159
cease my minds endless worrying. I
poured every ounce of my energy into becoming

1413
02:14:37,199 --> 02:14:43,600
an engineer. It has always eased
my nerves to fix things. Of course,

1414
02:14:45,239 --> 02:14:50,560
nothing was ever enough. I needed
absolute certainty, and I wasn't going

1415
02:14:50,600 --> 02:14:56,880
to find that on our little green
rock. Naturally, I looked to the

1416
02:14:56,960 --> 02:15:05,159
stars. In the early two thousands, shortly after graduating from Cambridge University,

1417
02:15:05,840 --> 02:15:09,399
I moved to America and secured a
job at NASA. I wanted to be

1418
02:15:09,479 --> 02:15:15,720
part of something bigger than me,
an organization focused on exploring the deepest crevices

1419
02:15:15,800 --> 02:15:22,560
of the universe. The date was
January second, twenty twenty three. It

1420
02:15:22,680 --> 02:15:26,880
was a day unlike any other.
The office was filled with the excitable chatter

1421
02:15:28,039 --> 02:15:33,239
of my colleagues, folk who typically
would have their heads silently buried in paperwork.

1422
02:15:35,720 --> 02:15:39,840
The air on this particular day,
however, was filled with a jittery

1423
02:15:39,159 --> 02:15:46,399
magnetic energy. Connor You'll never guess
what just leaked, Adam eagerly said,

1424
02:15:46,159 --> 02:15:52,319
motioning for me to follow. I
shrugged and followed my friend out to the

1425
02:15:52,439 --> 02:15:58,159
office. What's happening, I asked, You're going to lose your mind,

1426
02:15:58,720 --> 02:16:03,840
my colleague replied. We made our
way into one of the compound's main facilities,

1427
02:16:05,560 --> 02:16:09,279
a building which housed NASA's assembly line
of rockets. I had a hunch

1428
02:16:09,359 --> 02:16:15,720
that Adam's exciting news might be related
the d M fifty, the dozen minus

1429
02:16:15,840 --> 02:16:22,279
rockets. After all, the Baulky
vessel was nearing completion. No low level

1430
02:16:22,319 --> 02:16:26,159
employees had been given any inkling as
to what purpose the spacecraft would serve.

1431
02:16:28,680 --> 02:16:33,040
My colleague and I rounded the corner
of the vessel and we found doctor Stanley

1432
02:16:33,159 --> 02:16:39,120
Jacobs talking to a few physicists.
He was a graying, pale faced fellow

1433
02:16:39,360 --> 02:16:43,840
with chapped skin, the sort of
man who had physically aged beyond his years.

1434
02:16:46,000 --> 02:16:50,360
He could have been sixty four or
forty six. The wary faced man

1435
02:16:50,479 --> 02:16:56,319
groaned at the sight of Adam,
but my friend didn't care. He was

1436
02:16:56,399 --> 02:17:03,319
fixated on the screen behind the physicist. It depicted various graphs and charts a

1437
02:17:03,399 --> 02:17:09,280
foreign language. To me. Everybody
who's been biting Stanley's zero off after he

1438
02:17:09,399 --> 02:17:15,239
mistakenly forwarded an email to Jenny in
accounting last year, Jacob's discovered an anomaly

1439
02:17:15,399 --> 02:17:22,600
at the edge of our galaxy.
Adam gleefully whispered an unidentified phenomenon that vaguely

1440
02:17:22,639 --> 02:17:28,280
resembles a black hole, though its
physical makeup is unlike anything previously discovered in

1441
02:17:28,440 --> 02:17:33,879
human history, and NASA has been
intercepting frequencies from the other side using telescopic

1442
02:17:35,000 --> 02:17:39,559
data. They've created musical tones which
sound like, well, who knows,

1443
02:17:41,479 --> 02:17:46,559
storms on unseen planets, forms of
alien communication, a parallel version of our

1444
02:17:46,600 --> 02:17:50,360
reality. Perhaps this sounds like fiction. Why didn't we hear about it?

1445
02:17:50,440 --> 02:17:56,760
When Jacobs found the anomaly a year
ago? I asked my colleague shrugged,

1446
02:17:58,079 --> 02:18:01,639
you know what the media is like
this. This could be huge or it

1447
02:18:01,719 --> 02:18:05,479
could be nothing. But Jacobs is
suggesting that it might be a tear between

1448
02:18:05,639 --> 02:18:15,840
universes. Hypothetically, I scoffed,
though secretly my interest was piqued. Come

1449
02:18:15,920 --> 02:18:20,200
on, Connor, you're always talking
about the mysteries of the universe. Well,

1450
02:18:20,239 --> 02:18:24,600
it turns out that there's more than
one universe, Adam said, and

1451
02:18:24,719 --> 02:18:28,200
Frank heard that the planning and an
expedition were the D fifty. I told

1452
02:18:28,280 --> 02:18:33,360
you something big was happening. Why
else would they have contracted dozen minus.

1453
02:18:33,239 --> 02:18:41,920
It's unofficial, highly classified technology.
My heartbeat started to quicken as I contemplated

1454
02:18:43,079 --> 02:18:48,159
what my friend had said. Parallel
universes? I thought, could these distant

1455
02:18:48,200 --> 02:18:54,079
worlds? After the answer I've always
wanted. The small group of physicists eventually

1456
02:18:54,159 --> 02:19:00,760
dispersed and Adam nodded his head at
Stanley talked to him about the expedition.

1457
02:19:01,440 --> 02:19:03,799
He didn't want anything to do with
me, but this could be your shot

1458
02:19:03,879 --> 02:19:09,959
to see space, my friend whispered, before walking away. May I help,

1459
02:19:11,479 --> 02:19:18,920
Doctor Jacobs asked overhearing us. I
does the DM fifty expedition have any

1460
02:19:18,000 --> 02:19:24,959
openings for engineers? I asked the
man's side. You shouldn't know about that,

1461
02:19:26,840 --> 02:19:30,719
but you're not the first person to
ask. This day has been.

1462
02:19:31,719 --> 02:19:35,520
You're going to explore the anomaly,
aren't you, I asked, eagerly,

1463
02:19:35,600 --> 02:19:41,239
interrupting the physicist. Did you hear
something? Wait? Are you even an

1464
02:19:41,319 --> 02:19:43,760
engineer? You know, some government
servant and a mission to shut down this

1465
02:19:43,840 --> 02:19:48,559
project? Are you? Doctor Jacobs
asked, lifting an eyebrow. No,

1466
02:19:50,319 --> 02:19:52,479
I just need to be on that
ship. Sir, you likely already have

1467
02:19:52,559 --> 02:19:58,440
plenty of engineers attached to the project, but we do so I wouldn't get

1468
02:19:58,479 --> 02:20:03,079
your hopes up, the man interjected, hacking his briefcase. I won't pretend

1469
02:20:03,120 --> 02:20:07,280
to be some indispensable genius, I
said, but this is more than a

1470
02:20:07,399 --> 02:20:13,559
job to me. I don't really
care about NASA. I just I've always

1471
02:20:13,600 --> 02:20:24,440
wanted answers to well everything. The
man carefully examined me. What's your name,

1472
02:20:26,200 --> 02:20:30,120
doctor Jacobs asked, pulling a piece
of paper out of his coat pocket.

1473
02:20:31,239 --> 02:20:37,920
Connor Bridges, I said, composing
myself. The physicist nodded and scrupled

1474
02:20:37,000 --> 02:20:43,639
my name. There aren't any official
openings, Connor, but I know that

1475
02:20:43,760 --> 02:20:48,120
look in your eyes. It's what
guided me to this place too. It's

1476
02:20:48,159 --> 02:20:54,399
what prompted me to chase Harriet's eye. Harriet eye, I asked the man

1477
02:20:54,639 --> 02:21:03,520
solemnly nodded the name of the anomaly. My late daughter, Sorry, I

1478
02:21:03,639 --> 02:21:09,559
quietly replied. Jacobs cleared his throat. The DM fifty could always use an

1479
02:21:09,600 --> 02:21:18,680
extra engineer. My eyes glistened,
and I immediately accepted the offer. I

1480
02:21:18,760 --> 02:21:22,959
couldn't quite wrap my brain around the
idea of going to space now. Of

1481
02:21:24,079 --> 02:21:28,760
course, months after my voyage of
terror, I tried to pretend it never

1482
02:21:28,920 --> 02:21:37,959
happened. After ten months of training, launch day arrived. Doctor Stanley Jacobs

1483
02:21:39,040 --> 02:21:43,079
and doctor Elizabeth Farrow, his research
partner, had been developing the logistics of

1484
02:21:43,120 --> 02:21:48,639
the mission for the better part of
two years. Our ste health vessel,

1485
02:21:48,200 --> 02:21:54,280
the DM fifty, would venture to
the edge of the Milky Way, undetected

1486
02:21:54,360 --> 02:21:58,600
by the people of Earth, and
we would send various automated research vessels into

1487
02:21:58,680 --> 02:22:05,200
Harry Eye. Given promising results,
a manned mission would follow. It was

1488
02:22:05,239 --> 02:22:13,639
an airtight plan. The launch was
a surreal experience. Sitting in a near

1489
02:22:13,799 --> 02:22:20,040
silent ship equipped with cloaking technology,
we left Earth behind. Not a soul

1490
02:22:20,159 --> 02:22:26,159
on the ground watched. It was
a week long journey. Using dozen minus

1491
02:22:26,239 --> 02:22:31,079
technology, we achieved the impossible.
We not only traveled to the farthest reach

1492
02:22:31,159 --> 02:22:37,040
of the Milky Way, but we
did so within an unthinkably fast time frame.

1493
02:22:37,120 --> 02:22:45,520
The reason for doctor Jacob's hurry would
eventually become horribly clear. From within

1494
02:22:45,600 --> 02:22:50,159
the window of d fifty, the
crew surveyed Harriet's Eye with doe eyed,

1495
02:22:50,600 --> 02:22:56,000
blissfully unaware faces, a gaggle of
school children dazzled by the mysteries of space,

1496
02:22:58,360 --> 02:23:01,639
and as we approached, the eye
grew from a blackened blemish on the

1497
02:23:01,719 --> 02:23:09,879
horizon into a ginormous wound that had
splintered the very fabric of reality, a

1498
02:23:09,000 --> 02:23:16,760
hauntingly spectacular sight. The unman vessels
were launched. Once we reached a suitably

1499
02:23:16,879 --> 02:23:22,280
near yet safe distance from Harriet's Eye. We watched as the tiny metallic blobs

1500
02:23:22,399 --> 02:23:28,000
jettison from d M fifty. Then, one by one, the three vessels

1501
02:23:28,079 --> 02:23:33,840
were swallowed by the blackened mouth.
We found ourselves hovering in space, at

1502
02:23:33,879 --> 02:23:41,399
the edge of oblivion, waiting for
the robotic explorers to return. The majority

1503
02:23:41,559 --> 02:23:46,959
of low level workers had nothing to
do but twiddle thumbs. We couldn't proceed

1504
02:23:46,399 --> 02:23:54,280
until the data from the unmanned vessels
had been retrieved and analyzed. Not quite

1505
02:23:54,319 --> 02:24:00,079
the adventure you imagine, mister Bridges, Stanley Jacobs asked, grinning. The

1506
02:24:00,120 --> 02:24:05,360
two lead physicists sat on the opposite
end of the canteen table. I smiled

1507
02:24:05,520 --> 02:24:09,440
at the pair of them, was
hurriedly finishing my mouthful of food. It

1508
02:24:09,559 --> 02:24:15,239
wasn't often that lowly crew members would
have the opportunity to talk to the ever

1509
02:24:15,319 --> 02:24:20,879
elusive lead physicists. Actually, it's
no different from a day in the office,

1510
02:24:22,520 --> 02:24:26,600
sitting around waiting for something to do, I said. Stanley laughed.

1511
02:24:28,680 --> 02:24:33,719
Well, it's just this tedious for
Elizabeth and me too, right, But

1512
02:24:33,840 --> 02:24:37,719
I enjoy lunch breaks because I get
to spend some time with people other than

1513
02:24:37,840 --> 02:24:43,959
him. Doctor Elizabeth Pharrows chirt.
I hate to pry, but well,

1514
02:24:43,879 --> 02:24:48,239
have you made any progress? I
asked. I won't pretend to understand the

1515
02:24:48,239 --> 02:24:54,280
physics of this expedition, but don't
be so modest, Connor, Elizabeth said,

1516
02:24:54,840 --> 02:24:58,600
you're an engineer. I'm sure you
understand more than you pretend to know.

1517
02:25:00,120 --> 02:25:03,719
He's a mysterious egg. Jacobs chuckled. Did you know that he twisted

1518
02:25:03,760 --> 02:25:07,040
my arm to get on this mission? He was almost as determined as me?

1519
02:25:09,280 --> 02:25:16,840
Almost? Elizabeth raised an inquisitive eyebrow. Yes, I seem to remember

1520
02:25:16,920 --> 02:25:20,719
him showing up quite late in training. Were you keen to see action?

1521
02:25:20,920 --> 02:25:28,120
Connor? The woman had kind eyes. Elizabeth was middle aged, possibly the

1522
02:25:28,200 --> 02:25:31,440
same age as Stanley. For the
years had been kinder to a soft skin,

1523
02:25:31,959 --> 02:25:39,120
rosy cheeked face. She reminded me
of my late mother. Something about

1524
02:25:39,159 --> 02:25:45,559
a velvety voice encouraged me to open
up. It wasn't about the adventure,

1525
02:25:45,600 --> 02:25:52,600
doctor Pharaoh. I've just always been
afraid, I said, I've always wanted

1526
02:25:52,639 --> 02:25:58,040
answers to unanswerable questions, and this
phenomenon seems fundamentally juxtaposed to the reality which

1527
02:25:58,079 --> 02:26:05,280
surrounds it. Before either of the
physicists could reply, our food trays slid

1528
02:26:05,360 --> 02:26:11,360
to the right as we did,
and everybody cried in confusion as the bodies

1529
02:26:11,399 --> 02:26:16,399
were limply flung to the side of
the unexpectedly leaning vessel. My temple connected

1530
02:26:16,440 --> 02:26:20,879
with the edge of the table,
drawing blood, and I gripped either side

1531
02:26:20,920 --> 02:26:26,319
of the canteen bench onto my knuckles
whitened. Dozens of dazed, injured workers

1532
02:26:26,440 --> 02:26:31,959
clambered to their feet. We all
hurry to our respective stations, ready to

1533
02:26:31,040 --> 02:26:37,280
assess the damage. Though the ship
corrected its balance, it continued to quake

1534
02:26:37,600 --> 02:26:43,360
uncontrollably, and as we ran to
the engineering office, my crew members and

1535
02:26:43,440 --> 02:26:48,159
I shuddered at the sight of complete
blackness beyond deem fifties windows. The stars

1536
02:26:48,200 --> 02:26:54,600
and planets had disappeared. Race for
impact, a voice shrieked over the ship's

1537
02:26:54,639 --> 02:27:01,760
intercom. The ship's outer body groaned
under the strainane of seismic pressure, and

1538
02:27:01,879 --> 02:27:05,680
I tumbled at the office's metallic floor. The other engineers and I clutched that

1539
02:27:05,840 --> 02:27:09,760
any fixed thing we could find,
and we braced for our lives. As

1540
02:27:09,840 --> 02:27:18,920
DM fifty finally came to a blunt, jarring hold, everybody lay as still

1541
02:27:18,000 --> 02:27:24,360
as possible. Moments of pain echoed
around the office. Light fixtures flicked unstably,

1542
02:27:24,879 --> 02:27:31,559
and various alarms sounded in a climatous
cacophony. All personnel report to the

1543
02:27:31,600 --> 02:27:37,799
main bridge, her voice announced over
the TURNOI. My fellow wounded engineers stumbled

1544
02:27:37,840 --> 02:27:41,200
weakly to the corridor outside our office, but we did not walk to the

1545
02:27:41,280 --> 02:27:48,000
main bridge. We speechlessly filled the
corridor, and each of us stared out

1546
02:27:48,200 --> 02:27:52,399
of the window, and each of
us stared out of the windows which lined

1547
02:27:52,440 --> 02:28:00,760
the walkway. Beyond DM fifty there
lay a near colorless healthscape. The only

1548
02:28:00,840 --> 02:28:05,159
light stemmed from a luminous blue orb
in the distance, a white dwarf.

1549
02:28:05,719 --> 02:28:11,600
One woman said, gasping, do
they usually look like that? A man

1550
02:28:11,719 --> 02:28:16,000
asked. The edges of the orb
seemed to dance erratically, and the ocean

1551
02:28:16,079 --> 02:28:22,399
beyond us ship was littered with tidal
waves of crumbling rocks. Stray pieces clattered

1552
02:28:22,520 --> 02:28:26,920
against the windows of D fifty,
and then I realized that one of the

1553
02:28:26,040 --> 02:28:31,879
larger distant rocks was a planet.
It appeared to be cleanly split down the

1554
02:28:31,959 --> 02:28:37,159
middle, as if it were two
halves of a cracked cocoanut shell. This

1555
02:28:37,440 --> 02:28:43,719
foreign place was not the Milky Way. The very laws of physics seemed to

1556
02:28:43,799 --> 02:28:50,799
contradict our reality. We entered Harriot's
Eye. A man whispered, it's another

1557
02:28:50,920 --> 02:28:56,959
universe. Somebody muttered, all personnel
to the main bridge. The tannoy voice

1558
02:28:56,040 --> 02:29:03,200
repeated, urgently, snapping out of
the existential fever which had seized our bodies.

1559
02:29:03,799 --> 02:29:07,000
The engineering crew hurried through the walkways
of the ship, and we joined

1560
02:29:07,000 --> 02:29:13,040
everybody in the main bridge area.
Beyond the chatting crowd, I could see

1561
02:29:13,120 --> 02:29:20,559
Doctor Jacobs and Doctor Pharaoh standing sheepishly
behind Captain Polton. Quiet The Captain bellowed.

1562
02:29:22,280 --> 02:29:26,360
The entire crew immediately complied. We
tried to fixate on our bearded,

1563
02:29:26,559 --> 02:29:31,840
stern faced leader, but our eyes
kept wondering to the swirling kaleidoscope of collars

1564
02:29:33,159 --> 02:29:39,399
and bombardment of rocks beyond the bridge's
main viewpoint. An unidentifiable force has pulled

1565
02:29:39,479 --> 02:29:45,040
us into the anomaly, Captain Pulton
said, we're working towards immediately returning home,

1566
02:29:45,719 --> 02:29:48,040
and we do not know what we
might find here. The data has

1567
02:29:48,120 --> 02:29:54,360
not yet been retrieved from the un
manned vessels, so these are uncharted waters.

1568
02:29:54,879 --> 02:30:01,559
Anxious murmuring resumed enough. The Captain
showered before we attempt to enter the

1569
02:30:01,600 --> 02:30:07,079
anomaly again. We must deem DM
fifty to be ship shape. I'll leave

1570
02:30:07,120 --> 02:30:11,399
that to our engineers. But time
is of the essence, isn't that right,

1571
02:30:11,479 --> 02:30:16,600
doctor Jacobs? There was a disquieting
tension between the lead physicist and the

1572
02:30:16,719 --> 02:30:22,680
captain. Doctor Jacobs cleared his throat. The anomaly is shrinking, we should

1573
02:30:22,680 --> 02:30:26,559
have told you, though. We
have a limited window in which to explore

1574
02:30:26,600 --> 02:30:33,639
what lies beyond it. That's not
all, Captain Polton growled. Stanley cleared

1575
02:30:33,639 --> 02:30:39,600
his throat nervously, but Elizabeth placed
a delicate hand on his shoulder. We

1576
02:30:39,680 --> 02:30:43,959
have entered her dying universe, one
that is collapsing on itself, she said,

1577
02:30:45,239 --> 02:30:48,559
prompting a gasp of horror from the
crowd. The anomaly is our only

1578
02:30:48,680 --> 02:30:54,719
exit, and it will soon be
closed for good. Doctor Jacobs sighed,

1579
02:30:56,760 --> 02:31:00,520
I believe that Harriet's eye might well
be more than a rip in the lining

1580
02:31:00,559 --> 02:31:05,520
of reality. It might be the
crunch point for this universe. All matter

1581
02:31:05,680 --> 02:31:13,079
in this reality will clyde here.
Anarchy ensued. Crew members hurled abuse of

1582
02:31:13,120 --> 02:31:18,479
the physicists, and the few furious
individuals lunged at Jacobs. The captain and

1583
02:31:18,600 --> 02:31:24,079
several security officers restrained the enraged crew
members. We can't change what has been

1584
02:31:24,159 --> 02:31:30,319
done, Captain Bolton yelled, shoving
the mob backwards. When we returned to

1585
02:31:30,399 --> 02:31:35,079
Earth, doctor Jacobs and doctor Pharaoh
will stand trial for their crimes. Until

1586
02:31:35,159 --> 02:31:39,360
then, we have one objective,
save every last person aboard this ship.

1587
02:31:41,239 --> 02:31:48,639
A crew worked tirelessly over the following
hours, but things only worsened. We

1588
02:31:48,760 --> 02:31:52,600
were sitting ducks at the entrance to
the anomaly, the ever closing seal between

1589
02:31:52,680 --> 02:32:00,399
two universes that became apparent as the
ship's body began to wail painfully. The

1590
02:32:00,479 --> 02:32:05,280
onslaught of rocks aloudened against the metal
work and reinforced glass panes. D M

1591
02:32:05,399 --> 02:32:11,440
fifty began to quake on a near
constant basis, and whenever I had glanced

1592
02:32:11,520 --> 02:32:16,319
out of the ship's windows, I
became acutely aware of a burgeoning light in

1593
02:32:16,399 --> 02:32:22,360
the distance, the sinister, swirling
glow of a trillion galaxies converging the in

1594
02:32:22,479 --> 02:32:30,680
coming flurry of long dead planets and
moons. The universe was collapsing, and

1595
02:32:30,840 --> 02:32:39,040
we were at the epicenter. I
eventually slumped into my bunk bed at the

1596
02:32:39,120 --> 02:32:45,280
brink of exhaustion, but I found
myself unable to shut my eyes. Eager

1597
02:32:45,399 --> 02:32:48,719
to busy myself, I switched to
my terminal to run a few diagnostics for

1598
02:32:48,760 --> 02:32:52,559
the evening. The sooner we could
give the captain the green light to go,

1599
02:32:54,200 --> 02:33:01,040
the better. I was surprised to
find a notification in my inbox.

1600
02:33:01,559 --> 02:33:07,000
It was a day old video message
from Adam. Hey Connor, I've been

1601
02:33:07,040 --> 02:33:11,120
bored out of my mind. I'm
still upset that doctor Jacobs wouldn't let me

1602
02:33:11,200 --> 02:33:15,840
join the crew, so I decided
to do some research on the Big Man.

1603
02:33:16,600 --> 02:33:20,120
I talked to Frank in it because
he owed me a favor, and

1604
02:33:20,239 --> 02:33:22,440
he let me look at some of
the transmissions that Jacobs has been deciphering.

1605
02:33:24,680 --> 02:33:30,079
NASA received signals from the anomaly that
seemed communicative, Connor, and it was

1606
02:33:30,120 --> 02:33:35,479
a two way flow. Jacobs responded, he talked to something. You need

1607
02:33:35,600 --> 02:33:41,719
to ask him about that. The
thought of receiving a message from alien life,

1608
02:33:41,360 --> 02:33:46,639
whether in our universe or another,
had once filled me with such excitement.

1609
02:33:46,600 --> 02:33:52,600
But I was filled with the inexplicable
dread by the idea of Jacob's communicating

1610
02:33:52,040 --> 02:34:00,680
with some unseen intelligence. It could
have been the secrecy surrounding the communications hadn't

1611
02:34:00,680 --> 02:34:11,280
told anyone that he'd already found something
sentient beyond Harriet's eye. Why my gut

1612
02:34:11,399 --> 02:34:16,000
instinct was to confront him. I
slid out of bed, got dressed,

1613
02:34:16,440 --> 02:34:22,520
and left the engineering quarters. The
ship was eerily quiet, and I walked

1614
02:34:22,559 --> 02:34:26,399
to the main laboratory. Other than
the roar of space debris, which had

1615
02:34:26,440 --> 02:34:33,120
become a form of white noise,
as expected, I found doctor Jacobs hunched

1616
02:34:33,159 --> 02:34:37,920
over at his desk and busying himself
with work. The white glow of the

1617
02:34:37,959 --> 02:34:46,600
screen illuminated the man's gaunt, possessed
face. He hardly looked human. Why

1618
02:34:46,719 --> 02:34:50,920
didn't you tell us, I asked, The expedition would never have been green

1619
02:34:52,000 --> 02:34:58,280
lit. Doctor Jacobs muttered, without
looking up good I said, we never

1620
02:34:58,280 --> 02:35:03,120
would have faced such horror. Doctor
Jacobs removed his glasses and eyed me with

1621
02:35:03,239 --> 02:35:09,200
disappointment. What happened to that young
man who wanted answers? We're not going

1622
02:35:09,239 --> 02:35:13,120
to get any answers here, I
said, certainly, not about that thing

1623
02:35:13,200 --> 02:35:20,520
you heard in the darkness. Stanley
Jacobs froze, eyeing me for a few

1624
02:35:20,639 --> 02:35:26,600
seconds as droplets of sweat collected on
his forehead brow. How did you know

1625
02:35:26,719 --> 02:35:31,520
about that? He whispered. He
only spoke to me. I shivered.

1626
02:35:33,680 --> 02:35:41,799
He Stanley's frown lifted as he realized
that I knew nothing. Go to bed,

1627
02:35:41,879 --> 02:35:46,879
mister Bridges, he said, returning
his gaze to the laptop. What

1628
02:35:46,000 --> 02:35:52,280
were you hoping to find? I
asked? The man scoffed another universe,

1629
02:35:52,360 --> 02:35:58,879
connor something greater than us, and
I calculated that we had no more than

1630
02:35:58,920 --> 02:36:05,680
a couple of years before Harrot's eye
would seal forever a couple of I stopped

1631
02:36:05,719 --> 02:36:09,520
him mid sentence. How long do
we have before this reality collapses? Jacob's

1632
02:36:11,079 --> 02:36:20,639
months weeks days, Stanley whispered,
fists clenching of their own accord. I

1633
02:36:20,760 --> 02:36:24,079
stormed across the lab and towed over
the man, who quickly shrank into his

1634
02:36:24,239 --> 02:36:28,879
desk chair. What could we possibly
learn in days, Stanley? You brought

1635
02:36:30,000 --> 02:36:35,200
us here to die, I barked. I wanted this to happen sooner,

1636
02:36:35,840 --> 02:36:41,079
he retorted, But the airheads and
NASA had to plan carefully on official projects

1637
02:36:41,239 --> 02:36:48,319
are always messy, especially when the
resulting countless deaths, I said, the

1638
02:36:48,440 --> 02:36:50,559
normally almost tore the ship in half. We might not even be able to

1639
02:36:50,639 --> 02:36:56,760
fix it. We might die.
Don't you care? I have every faith

1640
02:36:56,799 --> 02:37:01,040
in you, doctor Jacob said,
returning his gaze to the numbers on his

1641
02:37:01,120 --> 02:37:05,719
screen. And I have every faith
in you, I replied. You're lucky

1642
02:37:05,840 --> 02:37:11,520
to even be here. The physicists
snarled. As we continued the back and

1643
02:37:11,639 --> 02:37:18,360
forth discussion, our voices gradually raised. It was only after ten minutes of

1644
02:37:18,440 --> 02:37:24,120
running in circles that we realized we
were competing not with each other, but

1645
02:37:24,280 --> 02:37:28,079
with the growing sound outside the ship. And when we turned our heads to

1646
02:37:28,159 --> 02:37:35,760
the laboratory windows, Stanley and I
gasped in unison. The dying universe's void

1647
02:37:37,200 --> 02:37:41,600
was filling with light at an increasingly
rapid pace, and d M fifty's trembling

1648
02:37:41,680 --> 02:37:48,440
foundations felt less stable with every passing
second. No, this isn't right.

1649
02:37:48,159 --> 02:37:52,159
We should have time. Stanley breath
as he cried, I still have so

1650
02:37:52,280 --> 02:37:58,079
much data to collect. I need
to all personnel to stations. The voice

1651
02:37:58,079 --> 02:38:01,479
announced over the intercom. Flight to
Harriet's Eye will commence in five minutes.

1652
02:38:01,879 --> 02:38:07,079
Brace for impact. We've barely run
fifty percent of the necessary diagnostics, I

1653
02:38:07,200 --> 02:38:11,799
said, Who cares about the ship? Connor, Doctor Jacob's manically cried,

1654
02:38:13,360 --> 02:38:16,879
this is greater than anything in human
history. This is what are you?

1655
02:38:18,959 --> 02:38:24,040
The whispy, disembodied voice rattled sharply
around my skull, like a coin stuck

1656
02:38:24,120 --> 02:38:30,680
in a jar. It's me,
I'm here, Stanley whispered. I did

1657
02:38:30,719 --> 02:38:37,319
as you asked. The physicist noticed
my horrified expression, and he realized I'd

1658
02:38:37,399 --> 02:38:41,799
heard the voice too. He was
in a special as he thought himself to

1659
02:38:41,879 --> 02:38:48,479
be. I became aware of the
fact that all sound outside the ship had

1660
02:38:48,559 --> 02:38:54,680
seized. The terrifying convergence of galaxies
continued beyond the window, but there was

1661
02:38:54,840 --> 02:39:03,200
quiet. Only that haunting whisper permeated
the silence, a new land to conquer.

1662
02:39:03,120 --> 02:39:09,920
The voicest. Thank you for showing
me the door. I want to

1663
02:39:09,959 --> 02:39:13,479
see her, doctor Jacob's wailed,
throwing his arms outwards. You said i'd

1664
02:39:13,520 --> 02:39:20,440
see Harriet. She is still in
the place of all dead things. Come

1665
02:39:20,600 --> 02:39:28,879
closer, let me show you,
the chilling voice said. Outside the window.

1666
02:39:30,440 --> 02:39:35,399
Amidst the multi colored glare of approaching
galaxies, I saw two forming bodies,

1667
02:39:37,639 --> 02:39:43,200
red gassy spheres of biblical proportions,
And as black specs emerged from their

1668
02:39:43,280 --> 02:39:54,600
centers, I realized what they were, eyes of unfathomable enormity. I tried

1669
02:39:54,639 --> 02:39:58,639
to scream, but my quivering,
narrowing throat was unwilling. Could it have

1670
02:39:58,799 --> 02:40:05,079
been strangled, perhaps by that paranormal
deity. Black tendrils emerged from the abyss

1671
02:40:05,159 --> 02:40:11,799
of the universe's everneering edge. They
curled forwards and took the shape of colossal,

1672
02:40:11,200 --> 02:40:18,600
godlike fingers, fingers that were reaching
towards us. The ship suddenly lurched

1673
02:40:18,639 --> 02:40:22,440
forwards. The captain, who had
looked upon the horror in the depths of

1674
02:40:22,479 --> 02:40:28,120
space, commenced our voyage into Harriot's
eye. Thankful for the slightest hope,

1675
02:40:28,799 --> 02:40:35,959
I looked to the sobbing physicist beside
me, Harriot, he cried, you

1676
02:40:37,159 --> 02:40:43,520
promised. With a thunderous clap,
The tremendous, ear shattering sound of the

1677
02:40:43,559 --> 02:40:48,639
collapsing universe returned, as if a
terrifying entity with eyes like blazing gateways to

1678
02:40:48,719 --> 02:40:54,079
Hell. We were roaring in fury
at our attempted escape, whose devastrating fingers

1679
02:40:54,200 --> 02:40:58,920
soared towards our spacecraft, and D
fifty began to jolt from side to side.

1680
02:41:00,760 --> 02:41:05,319
A trilliant swirling light soared towards our
ship. As the universe's collapse quickened.

1681
02:41:07,559 --> 02:41:11,239
I screamed as I finally fathomed the
horror of being crushed by a universe.

1682
02:41:13,959 --> 02:41:20,920
But then the pulling began, the
pull of the shriveled near closed anomaly.

1683
02:41:20,959 --> 02:41:28,799
Blackness began to envelop our ship.
We were entering Harriet's eye. As

1684
02:41:28,799 --> 02:41:33,280
Stanley and I stated ourselves against the
near by desk, I closed my eyes

1685
02:41:33,399 --> 02:41:37,760
and thought of home, a little
green rock that I had shunned for my

1686
02:41:39,000 --> 02:41:43,760
entire life. In that moment,
it was the only thing I wanted.

1687
02:41:45,559 --> 02:41:50,520
Following an explosion of sound, everything
stopped, all sound, all movement,

1688
02:41:52,760 --> 02:41:58,479
and when I opened my eyes,
we were surrounded by life we had returned

1689
02:41:58,520 --> 02:42:03,000
to our universe. There were bright
burning stars in the distance, fully formed

1690
02:42:03,040 --> 02:42:09,600
planets, serene tides of space had
gladly carried us home, a long,

1691
02:42:09,040 --> 02:42:16,559
quiet journey home. I rushed to
the laboratory window to eye the fading anomaly.

1692
02:42:16,680 --> 02:42:22,879
Did it close or simply fade from
view? I still don't know.

1693
02:42:24,840 --> 02:42:30,520
Part of me believes in the darkened
distance of space I might have seen those

1694
02:42:30,719 --> 02:42:35,760
terrible black tendrils slinking through the tear
between realities, the hand of a god

1695
02:42:35,959 --> 02:42:43,600
fleeing its dying universe to claim another. Doctor Jacobs and doctor Farrow await trial

1696
02:42:43,719 --> 02:42:50,120
for what they did. I've been
denied visitation privileges, but I need to

1697
02:42:50,200 --> 02:42:56,159
see them. I need to understand
the last thing he said to me.

1698
02:42:58,799 --> 02:43:15,000
It lives. Hi. My name
is Marshall and I was an investigator for

1699
02:43:15,120 --> 02:43:20,040
the Coastguard for over thirty years.
Before I begin, I'm not going to

1700
02:43:20,120 --> 02:43:26,600
give any last names or overly personal
information for the protection of myself and those

1701
02:43:26,680 --> 02:43:31,719
involved. As I write this using
the first names my superior still feels like

1702
02:43:31,840 --> 02:43:37,559
sacrilege. However, following the events
of this story, I had signed an

1703
02:43:37,719 --> 02:43:43,959
NDA pertaining to what was uncovered during
the investigation. Given that are now staring

1704
02:43:45,040 --> 02:43:48,559
down the barrel of a nasty cancer
diagnosis, I no longer care for my

1705
02:43:48,719 --> 02:43:54,120
career or life, but I don't
want to hurt anyone else in the process.

1706
02:43:56,600 --> 02:44:01,840
Despite the danger of disobeying a federal
NDA, I feel that people deserved

1707
02:44:01,879 --> 02:44:09,360
another truth about what lurks in their
coastal waters. During my time as an

1708
02:44:09,440 --> 02:44:15,479
investigator for the Coast Guard, my
days was spent stopping drug runners, hanging

1709
02:44:15,520 --> 02:44:20,319
around the docks, and yelling at
drunk party boat captains. However, every

1710
02:44:20,440 --> 02:44:26,879
single serviceman or member of law enforcement
has a couple of cases which they cannot

1711
02:44:26,920 --> 02:44:31,840
forget, no matter how desperate they
are to do so. The S.

1712
02:44:31,000 --> 02:44:37,680
S. Napoli was one of those
cases. It was nineteen ninety seven and

1713
02:44:37,799 --> 02:44:41,920
I had been an investigator for the
Coast Guard for three years. I was

1714
02:44:41,959 --> 02:44:48,159
stationed in Portland where my partner John
and I got the call. According to

1715
02:44:48,239 --> 02:44:52,280
our dispatch, there was a small
cruise vessel which had veered into a restricted

1716
02:44:52,319 --> 02:44:58,319
commercial waterway. Having nothing better to
do than not wanting to look too lazy

1717
02:44:58,360 --> 02:45:03,239
around our super periods, we made
our way to our small patrol boat,

1718
02:45:03,719 --> 02:45:09,360
where we were met by one of
the senior investigators named Eric John Marshall.

1719
02:45:09,719 --> 02:45:15,319
You're both late, Eric said as
he stood in front of our boat with

1720
02:45:15,440 --> 02:45:18,559
his arms crossed. I didn't know
this was going to be so serious,

1721
02:45:20,280 --> 02:45:24,600
John said, as we walked towards
the boat. It's always serious. Eric

1722
02:45:24,719 --> 02:45:30,600
said as he stared daggers at John. This search has become a high priority

1723
02:45:30,920 --> 02:45:35,600
and we're just wasting time standing here, so move your asses. After glaring

1724
02:45:35,680 --> 02:45:41,559
at John for another second, Eric
turned around and quickly made his way aboard

1725
02:45:41,600 --> 02:45:45,920
the boat. Screw me, John
said, as he gave me a look

1726
02:45:45,959 --> 02:45:50,280
of dejection and annoyance. I was
really hoping this would be a quick call.

1727
02:45:50,840 --> 02:45:54,319
I looked at John and gave him
a shrug as I boarded this ship.

1728
02:45:56,680 --> 02:46:00,520
During my time being stationed in Maine, I had heard from several of

1729
02:46:00,559 --> 02:46:05,600
my colleagues that Eric had a reputation
for being a buy the book's hard ass.

1730
02:46:07,280 --> 02:46:09,239
It was his way, or you
were just in the way, my

1731
02:46:09,319 --> 02:46:15,280
friend Pete would tell me. I
should have known that once Eric had become

1732
02:46:15,360 --> 02:46:18,760
involved in the investigation, that this
was going to be more than a routine

1733
02:46:18,879 --> 02:46:26,079
stop. However, even with the
knowledge of how Eric conducts his investigations,

1734
02:46:26,959 --> 02:46:31,360
we were all unprepared for the turn
that this case would take. It took

1735
02:46:31,479 --> 02:46:35,000
us about twenty minutes to get to
the site of the S S Napolis.

1736
02:46:37,280 --> 02:46:41,479
When we got there, we found
that she had drifted into a sandbar and

1737
02:46:41,600 --> 02:46:46,879
had gotten stock. Despite this,
we could hear the loud sputtering of the

1738
02:46:46,959 --> 02:46:52,280
engine, desperately clinging on for dear
life as its rotors were being enveloped by

1739
02:46:52,399 --> 02:46:58,479
sand. Hello, this is the
US Coast Guard, Eric stated over our

1740
02:46:58,520 --> 02:47:01,680
boat's pa. Turn off your engines
and come out on top of your deck.

1741
02:47:05,280 --> 02:47:09,280
We waited for a minute before Eric
repeated the message, This is the

1742
02:47:09,440 --> 02:47:13,120
US Coast Guard. Turn off your
engine and come out, or we will

1743
02:47:13,159 --> 02:47:18,360
board your ship. Eric boomed over
the loud speaker, clearly annoyed at the

1744
02:47:18,479 --> 02:47:24,959
lack of response. Screw this,
Eric said, as he drew his pistol.

1745
02:47:24,680 --> 02:47:31,799
We're boarding now. Eric had John
put down our anchor, and the

1746
02:47:31,879 --> 02:47:35,879
three of us boarded this ship.
As soon as we stepped aboard, I

1747
02:47:37,079 --> 02:47:43,280
noticed several pile of clothes neatly folded
along the deck's edges. Maybe they went

1748
02:47:43,360 --> 02:47:50,440
for a swim, John said sarcastically
as he simultaneously avoided looking at Eric enough

1749
02:47:50,520 --> 02:47:54,360
clowning around. Let's go turn off
the engine, Eric said. As his

1750
02:47:54,479 --> 02:48:01,799
words trailed off, John and I
both looked in the direction where Eric was

1751
02:48:01,840 --> 02:48:07,520
staring and saw a limp hand holding
a pistol on the ground. John,

1752
02:48:09,040 --> 02:48:11,760
get to our boat and call this
in. We have one confirmed casualty.

1753
02:48:15,159 --> 02:48:20,000
Without saying a word, John quickly
leapt from the napolis onto our ship and

1754
02:48:20,120 --> 02:48:24,360
made his way to the radio with
his gun drawn. Eric motioned for me

1755
02:48:24,479 --> 02:48:31,520
to follow him, and we quickly
breached the helm of the ship. When

1756
02:48:31,639 --> 02:48:35,040
we got inside, we found the
heavily decomposed body of a man in his

1757
02:48:35,200 --> 02:48:41,479
mid fifties with an exit wound on
top of his head. As Eric radio

1758
02:48:41,600 --> 02:48:46,879
John to relay the man's information,
I stared mindlessly at the back wall of

1759
02:48:46,000 --> 02:48:50,440
the helm, which had become adorned
with a man's dried blood and brain matter.

1760
02:48:52,879 --> 02:48:56,440
Marshall, Eric yelled, snapping me
out of my days. Sorry,

1761
02:48:56,559 --> 02:49:01,200
sir, I said, as I
regained my compo and started searching the pocket

1762
02:49:01,280 --> 02:49:07,680
to the man's pants for any identification. And it's okay, Eric said,

1763
02:49:09,239 --> 02:49:13,760
in a surprisingly understanding tone. Let's
figure out who this man is and how

1764
02:49:13,799 --> 02:49:20,959
he got here. Reaching into his
left front pocket, I found his wallet

1765
02:49:20,159 --> 02:49:24,559
and pulled out his ID, which
caused a loose photo to fall in the

1766
02:49:24,680 --> 02:49:31,879
process. Who looks like his name
was Wendell Kramer, I said as I

1767
02:49:31,959 --> 02:49:35,840
handed Eric the man's ID. As
I went to put the man's wallet on

1768
02:49:35,920 --> 02:49:41,360
the table, I saw the small
photograph and picked it up. In the

1769
02:49:41,440 --> 02:49:46,959
picture was Wendell and what appeared to
be his wife and two older children as

1770
02:49:48,000 --> 02:49:52,079
they stood in front of the Billaggio
in Las Vegas. Looks like he had

1771
02:49:52,120 --> 02:49:58,239
a family too, I said,
as I handed Eric the photograph. Wife

1772
02:49:58,319 --> 02:50:03,280
and two kids. Eric said as
he looked out the open doorway. How

1773
02:50:03,399 --> 02:50:07,319
many parts of clothing were there?
Three? Sir John said as he made

1774
02:50:07,360 --> 02:50:13,959
his way into the helm, stopping
just short of the corpse. Christ do

1775
02:50:13,040 --> 02:50:18,120
you think it could have been a
murder suicide situation? John said as he

1776
02:50:18,159 --> 02:50:20,959
looked down at the man's body.
I think that I need to see the

1777
02:50:22,000 --> 02:50:26,040
living quarters of the ship first before
I have any theories. Eric said as

1778
02:50:26,079 --> 02:50:31,879
he walked past John. John,
you're coming with me, Marshall. I

1779
02:50:31,000 --> 02:50:35,639
want you to see if we missed
anything in the helm. Yes, Sir,

1780
02:50:35,239 --> 02:50:39,799
I said, as Eric and John
made their way to the deck below.

1781
02:50:43,959 --> 02:50:46,680
As soon as Eric and John were
out of sight, I quickly ran

1782
02:50:46,719 --> 02:50:52,360
out of the hall and threw up
over the side of the ship. During

1783
02:50:52,479 --> 02:50:56,680
the first three years as an investigator, I'd only been part of one other

1784
02:50:56,799 --> 02:51:01,920
case involving a death, and it
had happened earlier the same day. Never

1785
02:51:01,040 --> 02:51:05,520
before had I ever seen the effects
of advanced decomposition on a dead body,

1786
02:51:07,440 --> 02:51:11,000
nor had I ever smelled the blending
of the sea water and advanced rock before.

1787
02:51:13,879 --> 02:51:18,840
After composing myself, I made my
way back into the helm and started

1788
02:51:18,920 --> 02:51:24,200
searching for any evidence. As I
looked back at the wall behind the dead

1789
02:51:24,239 --> 02:51:28,239
body, I noticed that there had
been a small circular glare of light at

1790
02:51:28,319 --> 02:51:35,680
head level. Turning around, I
saw a VHS camera propped up onto a

1791
02:51:35,799 --> 02:51:41,399
shelf. Sir, I think I
found a camera, I said over the

1792
02:51:41,520 --> 02:51:46,280
radio as I picked it up and
pressed the eject button. There's a tape

1793
02:51:46,280 --> 02:51:50,120
inside of it too. Thank you
for the update, Marshal Eric said,

1794
02:51:50,680 --> 02:51:58,120
come down below and bring the camera
with you. Without any hesitation, I

1795
02:51:58,200 --> 02:52:03,079
put the tape back in the camera
and made my way down the stairs to

1796
02:52:03,200 --> 02:52:07,079
the living quarters. John and Eric
were sitting down at a table in a

1797
02:52:07,159 --> 02:52:13,040
small kitchen. Did you find anything
down here, I said as I sat

1798
02:52:13,159 --> 02:52:18,079
next to John and put the camera
on the table. Nothing to give any

1799
02:52:18,159 --> 02:52:24,120
probable cause. But we did find
four suitcases belonging to two women and two

1800
02:52:24,239 --> 02:52:28,079
men, Eric said as he put
two new double A batteries into the camera.

1801
02:52:30,399 --> 02:52:35,559
He also found batteries, John said, as Eric quickly smiled before going

1802
02:52:35,639 --> 02:52:39,200
back to his cold gaze. Are
we going to watch the tape? I

1803
02:52:39,319 --> 02:52:45,000
asked as Eric turned the camera on, causing it to sound it startup jingle.

1804
02:52:46,159 --> 02:52:48,520
Of course, it's evidence and we
have nothing else to go off of,

1805
02:52:50,639 --> 02:52:54,159
Eric said as he checked the time
and the recording looks like there's about

1806
02:52:54,200 --> 02:53:00,479
an hour's worth of footage on air. John and I sat in anticipation as

1807
02:53:00,639 --> 02:53:05,280
Eric put the camera back on the
table and hit play on the VHS recorder.

1808
02:53:05,440 --> 02:53:09,760
The first clips started off with a
woman were in a black and white

1809
02:53:09,799 --> 02:53:13,159
striped bikini sunbathing on the deck of
the ship, while two people could be

1810
02:53:13,239 --> 02:53:20,200
heard having a splash fight in the
water. Hi, everyone, the man

1811
02:53:20,319 --> 02:53:24,879
said as he zoomed in on the
sunbathing woman. Here is my beautiful and

1812
02:53:24,040 --> 02:53:28,959
not at all cranky Clara. Oh
Wendell, stop that, the woman said,

1813
02:53:30,000 --> 02:53:33,159
playfully as she sat up. And
this is my not at all annoying

1814
02:53:33,319 --> 02:53:39,959
husband. Ooh burn, the man
said, laughing. Dad, I'm hungry,

1815
02:53:41,959 --> 02:53:45,200
yelled a boy in his mid teens
as he climbed the ladder to the

1816
02:53:45,280 --> 02:53:48,760
deck, and can we please not
have pork chops again? A younger girl

1817
02:53:48,920 --> 02:53:54,479
chimed in. The man then turned
the camera to face himself, revealing himself

1818
02:53:54,639 --> 02:53:58,879
to be the same man that we
found in the helm. Being a parent

1819
02:54:00,120 --> 02:54:05,280
is such a rewarding experience, window
said sarcastically, as he was sprayed with

1820
02:54:05,399 --> 02:54:11,440
water. Hey cut that out.
The video then cut to black before starting

1821
02:54:11,559 --> 02:54:16,719
clip two. Hey, assholes,
the boy friend before said as soon as

1822
02:54:16,760 --> 02:54:22,399
the second clip began, Today I'm
going to be pranking my dad by pushing

1823
02:54:22,479 --> 02:54:26,760
him overboard. Like hell you are, Connor, Wendell said, as he

1824
02:54:26,799 --> 02:54:31,239
grabbed the camera. You couldn't trick
me if you tried. Yeah, Connor,

1825
02:54:31,559 --> 02:54:35,040
you'd have to be smart to do
that, the young girl said as

1826
02:54:35,079 --> 02:54:37,920
she walked by the camera to sit
at the kitchen table. Screw you,

1827
02:54:39,120 --> 02:54:43,000
Sam Connor said, in an annoyed
tone. Hey be nice to your sister,

1828
02:54:43,719 --> 02:54:48,879
Wendell said sternly. Ah fine,
Connor said, as he sat down.

1829
02:54:50,040 --> 02:54:54,639
Dinner's ready, Clara, Wendell called
out, before giving an annoyed look

1830
02:54:54,719 --> 02:55:01,600
to the camera. The camera then
went black again. As I watched these

1831
02:55:01,680 --> 02:55:07,559
clips, I couldn't help but think
about the man whose lifeless body is lying

1832
02:55:07,680 --> 02:55:13,440
directly over our head. He doesn't
get any easier. Eric said, what

1833
02:55:15,280 --> 02:55:18,639
I said as I snapped back to
reality. This isn't the first time I've

1834
02:55:18,680 --> 02:55:22,479
had to go through footage like this, Eric said as he gave me a

1835
02:55:22,520 --> 02:55:28,799
sad look seeing someone's ghost, their
memories, the life they've left behind.

1836
02:55:30,120 --> 02:55:33,239
Just try not to get too caught
up in it. Remember, we need

1837
02:55:33,319 --> 02:55:37,159
to be here for them so they
can rest knowing someone was able to tell

1838
02:55:37,200 --> 02:55:43,280
their story. Thanks, Sir,
I said, as I looked down at

1839
02:55:43,319 --> 02:55:50,079
my hands. Eric nodded and clicked
play on the camera, which started up

1840
02:55:50,159 --> 02:55:54,959
clip three. In this clip,
it was now nighttime and the family was

1841
02:55:56,000 --> 02:56:01,840
staring at something off in the distance. Wendell, do you have the camera

1842
02:56:01,000 --> 02:56:05,680
ready, Clara said, in nervous
excitement. You have to film this.

1843
02:56:07,920 --> 02:56:11,000
I just turned it on. I'm
right behind you, Wendell said as he

1844
02:56:11,040 --> 02:56:16,239
approached his wife and kids. As
he got behind them, the camera showed

1845
02:56:16,319 --> 02:56:22,639
four blue orbs of light hovering over
the ocean. What are those things,

1846
02:56:22,719 --> 02:56:28,639
Dad Connor asked as he turned to
face the camera. I I don't have

1847
02:56:28,719 --> 02:56:31,879
any idea, buddy, Wendell said, as he zoomed in on one of

1848
02:56:31,920 --> 02:56:37,040
the orbs. When he did,
you could see that the orb was pulsating,

1849
02:56:37,600 --> 02:56:43,760
as if the mimic of the water
below Wendel. I don't like this,

1850
02:56:43,799 --> 02:56:48,680
Clara said nervously. Yeah, that's
all. Go downstairs and play some

1851
02:56:48,799 --> 02:56:56,520
board games, Wendell said, with
clearly fake enthusiasm. As Wendell started to

1852
02:56:56,520 --> 02:57:01,079
blow the camera down, he quickly
froze. Suddenly, a faint sound could

1853
02:57:01,120 --> 02:57:07,440
be heard off in the distance.
Is that singing? John said as he

1854
02:57:07,520 --> 02:57:13,200
leaned towards the camera speaker. Come
on, kids, let's get downstairs,

1855
02:57:13,959 --> 02:57:18,239
Wendell said, in a more concerned
tone than before. The camera once again

1856
02:57:18,319 --> 02:57:24,559
cut to black, leaving us in
pure disbelief. You all heard that,

1857
02:57:24,719 --> 02:57:28,920
right, John said, as he
quickly looked at Eric than me. Yeah,

1858
02:57:31,360 --> 02:57:35,239
yeah, I think I heard something, I said before being cut off

1859
02:57:35,280 --> 02:57:39,239
by Eric. I didn't hear anything, Eric said as he pressed play on

1860
02:57:39,280 --> 02:57:46,120
the camera. Let's just keep watching, Dad, get the camera quick.

1861
02:57:46,360 --> 02:57:50,559
You need to see this, Sam
yelled from the top deck. Winde then

1862
02:57:50,639 --> 02:57:54,760
ran up the stairs to see that
the bright lights were much closer. Now,

1863
02:57:56,159 --> 02:58:03,799
what the hell, Wendell muttered under
his breath as he stared at the

1864
02:58:03,879 --> 02:58:07,719
pulsating orbs. The singing from the
third clip had become much more audible.

1865
02:58:09,760 --> 02:58:13,920
John then paused the recording and turned
to face Eric. See don't you hear

1866
02:58:15,000 --> 02:58:22,879
the singing? John exclaimed, The
orbs are harmonizing. Eric said nothing and

1867
02:58:22,959 --> 02:58:28,000
press play on the camera. The
clip continued with Wendell filming the orbs.

1868
02:58:28,879 --> 02:58:37,079
Suddenly, the song that was being's
sung began to shift. When Clara Knor

1869
02:58:37,959 --> 02:58:43,120
Sam the orbs sang. As they
sang, it sounded as if they were

1870
02:58:43,159 --> 02:58:50,040
producing multiple octaves of sound at once, producing a rolling sound of harmonies had

1871
02:58:50,079 --> 02:58:54,879
a perfect pitch. As we listened
to the track through the VHS, I

1872
02:58:54,959 --> 02:59:00,639
felt the hairs on my arm begin
to stand up. Sam, honey,

1873
02:59:01,319 --> 02:59:05,879
let's go to bed. It's late, Wendell said, as he started to

1874
02:59:05,959 --> 02:59:11,799
walk towards his daughter. Sam,
having either not heard her father or did

1875
02:59:11,879 --> 02:59:16,520
not care to listen to him,
stayed perfectly still as she continued to stare

1876
02:59:16,639 --> 02:59:22,520
into the orbs floating ten feet above
her head. Sam Window yelled, snapping

1877
02:59:22,600 --> 02:59:28,799
Sam out of the days Dad.
Sam muttered groggily, It's okay, baby,

1878
02:59:30,440 --> 02:59:35,079
Window said, clearly shaken by what
had just transpired. Let's get you

1879
02:59:35,159 --> 02:59:41,440
to bed. You were sleep walking
again. The clip went to black,

1880
02:59:41,879 --> 02:59:46,079
and John pressed the play button with
no hesitation. Eric and I looked at

1881
02:59:46,120 --> 02:59:52,559
each other as the clip began.
Clara Connor Sam Window called out as he

1882
02:59:52,639 --> 02:59:58,000
left his bed and entered the living
quarters. All around him, the sound

1883
02:59:58,040 --> 03:00:03,479
from earlier had gotten loud, to
the point of causing the VHS's microphone to

1884
03:00:03,559 --> 03:00:07,360
start clipping. The blue light given
off by the orbos that surrounded the boat,

1885
03:00:07,959 --> 03:00:13,719
causing rays of blue light to cast
throughout the cabin. As Wendell panned

1886
03:00:13,719 --> 03:00:18,520
the camera around the room, he
heard the faint sounds of talking above deck.

1887
03:00:20,079 --> 03:00:22,399
Hold on, I'm coming, Window
yelled, as he ran up the

1888
03:00:22,440 --> 03:00:26,840
stairs. As soon as he reached
the top deck and turned to face the

1889
03:00:26,920 --> 03:00:33,120
bow of the ship, he instantly
froze. Clara Connor and Sam were standing

1890
03:00:33,319 --> 03:00:39,920
completely nude and facing the ocean.
What the hell is going on? Window

1891
03:00:39,000 --> 03:00:46,399
yelled. As he made his way
towards his family. He stopped and screamed

1892
03:00:48,079 --> 03:00:52,840
as four creatures began to rise in
front of his family. As the skinless

1893
03:00:52,920 --> 03:00:58,719
humanoids began to tower over the three
and began to unhinge their jaws and produced

1894
03:00:58,799 --> 03:01:05,280
two black tentacles which emitted the same
light blue glow as the orbs. The

1895
03:01:05,399 --> 03:01:09,879
three of us and Wendell watched in
horror as three of the creatures pressed their

1896
03:01:09,920 --> 03:01:16,280
tentacles over Clara, Connor and Sam's
faces. As their tentacles latched onto their

1897
03:01:16,319 --> 03:01:20,959
faces, they appeared to suck away
at their skin. Stay away from my

1898
03:01:22,079 --> 03:01:26,159
family, who freaks, Wendell cried
out. As soon as he spoke,

1899
03:01:26,639 --> 03:01:31,280
the fourth creature began to shuffle towards
him, walking as though their legs did

1900
03:01:31,360 --> 03:01:37,040
not match their autonomy. Wendell began
to slowly back away as the creature made

1901
03:01:37,079 --> 03:01:41,520
a break towards him. The sudden
speed of the creature caused me to flinch

1902
03:01:43,159 --> 03:01:48,879
as Eric sat stoically and John sat
transfixed. Wendell quickly rushed to the helm

1903
03:01:50,239 --> 03:01:52,840
and slammed the door shut just as
the creature was about to grab him.

1904
03:01:54,000 --> 03:01:58,920
Damn it, damn it, what
are those things? Wendell muttered as he

1905
03:01:58,000 --> 03:02:03,399
tried to catch his breath while he
locked the door. After a minute of

1906
03:02:03,520 --> 03:02:09,799
composing himself, Wendell pointed the camera
towards the window and walked off to the

1907
03:02:09,920 --> 03:02:15,000
left side of the screen. From
the hatch, we watched as the formerly

1908
03:02:15,079 --> 03:02:20,440
skinless creatures started to take on facial
features from the family members, becoming twisted

1909
03:02:20,559 --> 03:02:26,840
versions of the loving family we had
seen on TV. The placement of hair

1910
03:02:26,959 --> 03:02:31,639
and the creature's heads were matted and
off center. Their mouths, which were

1911
03:02:31,639 --> 03:02:35,799
still unhinged, looked crooked and broken, and the creatures bulged from the skin

1912
03:02:35,879 --> 03:02:41,360
they adorned like a tight fitting suit. As soon as Wendell came back on

1913
03:02:41,479 --> 03:02:48,600
screen and looked out the window,
he vomited at the abomination, before recoiling

1914
03:02:48,879 --> 03:02:54,040
due to a loud banging sound from
the other side of the door. Wendell

1915
03:02:54,239 --> 03:03:00,200
looked up in horror as the face
of the skinless creatures suddenly appeared from the

1916
03:03:00,280 --> 03:03:05,000
other side of the hatch window.
It smiled at Wendell as he began to

1917
03:03:05,120 --> 03:03:11,559
bang its head furiously against the door. Take this, Wendell screamed as he

1918
03:03:11,639 --> 03:03:16,719
drew a pistol and fired three shots
to the door. As the shots rang

1919
03:03:16,799 --> 03:03:20,040
out, the deafening scream of pain
could be heard from the other side of

1920
03:03:20,120 --> 03:03:26,719
the door. Got you, Wendell
cheered as he looked out the window.

1921
03:03:28,639 --> 03:03:31,879
As soon as he saw the scene
outside, his pride had quickly soured the

1922
03:03:31,959 --> 03:03:37,280
dismay as he began to sob.
I don't know how to live without you,

1923
03:03:39,120 --> 03:03:43,799
Wendell said as he stared down the
pistol. I'm so sorry everyone.

1924
03:03:43,840 --> 03:03:50,120
I love you so so much.
For anyone who finds this, my coordinates

1925
03:03:50,360 --> 03:03:54,000
is forty three point six to minus
sixty nine point seven. If you see

1926
03:03:54,079 --> 03:04:03,040
blue orbs over the water run.
As soon as he said this, Wendell

1927
03:04:03,079 --> 03:04:07,559
picked up the camera and placed it
on the shelf beside the door, out

1928
03:04:07,559 --> 03:04:11,159
of sight of the camera. The
sound of the engine wrong to life can

1929
03:04:11,200 --> 03:04:16,719
be heard as a single gunshot exploded
through the mic, leaving just the sound

1930
03:04:16,000 --> 03:04:22,600
of the singing from behind the door. Suddenly, after several minutes, the

1931
03:04:22,719 --> 03:04:28,920
sound of banging resumed and a loud
crash was heard off camera. After several

1932
03:04:28,000 --> 03:04:33,799
moments of shuffling, the creature that
was behind the door appeared and stared directly

1933
03:04:35,159 --> 03:04:41,200
at the camera, causing John to
let out a blood curdling scream. What

1934
03:04:41,360 --> 03:04:46,159
the hell? John screamed as he
shot out of his chair. The sudden

1935
03:04:46,239 --> 03:04:50,680
reaction caused Eric and I to flinch
as John began pacing around the cabin.

1936
03:04:50,879 --> 03:04:56,719
John, are you okay, Eric
asked, as he got up its face.

1937
03:04:58,319 --> 03:05:03,040
John screamed, HiT's damn face.
I know. I don't think I'll

1938
03:05:03,079 --> 03:05:07,280
ever be able to see that skinless
freak. I said, what the hell

1939
03:05:07,319 --> 03:05:11,479
are you talking about? John said, as he stopped pacing and stared at

1940
03:05:11,520 --> 03:05:16,520
me. The creature, I said, in a confused tone. It didn't

1941
03:05:16,520 --> 03:05:22,440
have skin and was all muscle and
tendon. It had my face, Marshal,

1942
03:05:22,159 --> 03:05:26,760
you didn't see my face, John
pleaded. It smiled at me with

1943
03:05:26,920 --> 03:05:33,239
my own damn face. Eric shot
a glance at John before giving me a

1944
03:05:33,319 --> 03:05:39,319
worried look, grabbed the camera.
We need to leave now, Eric said,

1945
03:05:39,000 --> 03:05:43,559
but it had my face, Sir, John muttered between fits of crying.

1946
03:05:45,399 --> 03:05:52,159
Now let's go, Eric yelled.
Eric stormed out of the cabin as

1947
03:05:52,200 --> 03:05:56,399
I helped an inconsolable John up the
stairs and onto our boat. The right

1948
03:05:56,479 --> 03:06:01,639
back from the s s Napolis was
tense and silence between John's constant whimpering.

1949
03:06:03,239 --> 03:06:07,440
As soon as we made it back
to dark, two members of the Coast

1950
03:06:07,479 --> 03:06:11,440
Guard were waiting to escort John to
our field office. As I was about

1951
03:06:11,440 --> 03:06:15,680
to get off the ship, Eric
put his arm out to stop me.

1952
03:06:16,200 --> 03:06:20,799
Sir, I said, before being
cut off. What I'm about to tell

1953
03:06:20,840 --> 03:06:26,079
you is extremely important, so I
need you to listen, Eric said,

1954
03:06:26,319 --> 03:06:31,760
as he looked around to make sure
no one else was in earshot. Of

1955
03:06:31,040 --> 03:06:37,479
course, sir, what is it? I asked. You didn't see anything

1956
03:06:37,600 --> 03:06:41,719
to day? Eric whispered. Of
course, Sir, I won't tell anyone,

1957
03:06:43,319 --> 03:06:48,280
I replied. Eric just shook his
head and stared at me. Even

1958
03:06:48,319 --> 03:06:52,760
if you saw something, you never
saw anything, You never heard anything,

1959
03:06:54,600 --> 03:07:00,840
You know nothing. Eric continued.
I'm only telling you this because I have

1960
03:07:00,959 --> 03:07:07,159
no choice. For those creatures you
saw are sirens like from the Odyssey?

1961
03:07:07,799 --> 03:07:13,399
I asked, similar, Eric said, as it became slightly more relaxed.

1962
03:07:15,719 --> 03:07:20,239
We pray on those who allow themselves
to be open to their calls. As

1963
03:07:20,280 --> 03:07:24,239
soon as you leave here, listen
to your favorite album, or do something

1964
03:07:24,319 --> 03:07:28,879
to rid yourself of the mark.
What about John, I asked, as

1965
03:07:28,920 --> 03:07:35,280
I watched them struggle to walk with
his escorts. Watch over him, make

1966
03:07:35,360 --> 03:07:39,639
sure he doesn't do anything stupid,
and hope that God's grace is in his

1967
03:07:39,760 --> 03:07:45,440
favor. Eric said as he pulled
out a cigar and lit it. Now

1968
03:07:45,520 --> 03:07:50,399
go, You're dismissed, yes,
Sir I said, as they gave a

1969
03:07:50,479 --> 03:07:58,440
salute and walked back to the office. For the next couple of hours,

1970
03:07:58,959 --> 03:08:03,760
they took Eric's advice and listened to
some music and watched a late night Celtics

1971
03:08:03,799 --> 03:08:09,559
game on TV with my friend Pete
and some other colleagues. Justice Bruce Baun

1972
03:08:09,639 --> 03:08:16,239
missed another two point shot. Eric
burst into the office, whereas Marshall he

1973
03:08:16,360 --> 03:08:20,200
yelled, I'm right here, Sir
I said wearily, as the guys who

1974
03:08:20,239 --> 03:08:26,040
are watching the game with me tried
to distance themselves. Follow me now,

1975
03:08:26,920 --> 03:08:31,799
he yelled as he slammed the door
and stood in the room confused for a

1976
03:08:31,879 --> 03:08:37,840
second before grabbing my coat and rushing
for the door. Poor guy, he

1977
03:08:37,040 --> 03:08:41,479
said, as I rushed out of
the room. As soon as I left

1978
03:08:41,520 --> 03:08:48,040
the office and Marshall was waiting for
me holding an M sixteen. We have

1979
03:08:48,120 --> 03:08:52,120
a serious issue, Marshall, Eric
said, as he handed me the keys

1980
03:08:52,200 --> 03:08:56,440
to the boat. What's wrong,
I asked nervously as I eyed the assault

1981
03:08:56,520 --> 03:09:01,040
rifle. John stole one of our
boats, and I think I know where

1982
03:09:01,079 --> 03:09:05,239
it's going. Eric said, as
he began to briskly walk to the boat.

1983
03:09:07,399 --> 03:09:09,680
Where is he going? I asked, as I tried to catch up

1984
03:09:11,879 --> 03:09:15,719
the coordinates in that video. He's
going back to the site where the incident

1985
03:09:15,840 --> 03:09:20,600
happened, Eric said, as he
picked up his pace. Why would he

1986
03:09:20,680 --> 03:09:24,239
do that? He was terrified of
those things, I asked as we neared

1987
03:09:24,280 --> 03:09:30,760
the boat. Just as we were
about to board the boat, Eric turned

1988
03:09:30,799 --> 03:09:35,280
to look at me because he never
listens. Marshall. He embraced the song,

1989
03:09:37,399 --> 03:09:41,040
and now they have a hold on
him. Eric and I then boarded

1990
03:09:41,120 --> 03:09:46,280
the ship and sped off into the
night towards where Wendell had reported the incident.

1991
03:09:48,479 --> 03:09:52,000
By the time we arrived near the
location, it had been about an

1992
03:09:52,120 --> 03:09:56,319
hour since we had left the dock. Ahead of us, we saw the

1993
03:09:56,399 --> 03:10:01,319
footlights of a ship in the distance, and to my horror, a bright

1994
03:10:01,399 --> 03:10:05,680
blue orb hovering in the sky.
Damn, he might already be too late,

1995
03:10:07,520 --> 03:10:11,760
Eric said as he turned the safety
off the sixteen. What's the plan,

1996
03:10:11,879 --> 03:10:16,840
sir, I asked, as the
floodlights came closer. We save John

1997
03:10:16,879 --> 03:10:20,680
if we can, and I shoot
anything that's not human. Eric said as

1998
03:10:20,719 --> 03:10:26,440
he pulled air plugs from his pocket
and handed them to me. As we

1999
03:10:26,479 --> 03:10:30,719
approached the side of the boat,
I saw John standing on the bow,

2000
03:10:31,520 --> 03:10:35,239
nude and staring at the sky,
while the orb above him was singing,

2001
03:10:35,120 --> 03:10:43,600
just as it had in the video. John, John, John, John,

2002
03:10:43,840 --> 03:10:48,719
What the hell are you doing?
Eric yeld. John didn't respond,

2003
03:10:50,639 --> 03:10:52,360
John. If you don't answer me, I'm going to board this boat and

2004
03:10:52,479 --> 03:10:58,479
haul you off myself, Eric yeld
as he prepared to disembark. Just as

2005
03:10:58,600 --> 03:11:03,639
Eric was about to board John's boat, the creature started to crawl from the

2006
03:11:03,719 --> 03:11:09,399
water onto his boat. Standing before
John was one of the eight feet tall

2007
03:11:09,799 --> 03:11:18,799
skinless sirens. Oh damn, Eric
said as he raised his rifle. Before

2008
03:11:18,959 --> 03:11:22,479
he could shoot the creature, John
turned around and fired two shots from his

2009
03:11:22,600 --> 03:11:28,799
revolver at Eric, hitting him in
the shoulder. As Eric laid bleeding on

2010
03:11:28,840 --> 03:11:33,840
the floor of our boat, John
turned back towards the creature as his tentacles

2011
03:11:33,959 --> 03:11:39,639
exploded from his face and latched onto
John's skin. As the creature began to

2012
03:11:39,719 --> 03:11:48,559
harvest John's skin, John started to
moan with delight. Not wanting to see

2013
03:11:48,639 --> 03:11:52,600
John consumed, I grabbed a medical
kit from the helm of our boat and

2014
03:11:52,760 --> 03:11:56,520
rushed over to Eric to stabilize his
wounds. Don't worry about me, son,

2015
03:11:58,360 --> 03:12:01,040
Eric said, between gritted teeth,
you need to take that thing out.

2016
03:12:03,239 --> 03:12:09,440
I nodded and carefully grabbed the M
sixteen from beside Eric. Once I

2017
03:12:09,559 --> 03:12:13,879
had in my hands, I quickly
spun around and fired several shots of the

2018
03:12:13,959 --> 03:12:18,000
creature. The creature turned around to
look at me, and I saw that

2019
03:12:18,200 --> 03:12:24,319
half of its face now resembled my
partner John, while the other half still

2020
03:12:24,719 --> 03:12:30,440
was primarily muscle. It snarled at
me, showing off its various rows of

2021
03:12:30,520 --> 03:12:35,200
different sized teeth. When I was
able to see this creature up close,

2022
03:12:35,120 --> 03:12:41,200
I realized that it looked like it
was made of human beings stacked upon each

2023
03:12:41,239 --> 03:12:46,079
other. Its legs had different joints
and knees that did not function. Its

2024
03:12:46,120 --> 03:12:50,840
hands had tens of fingers that didn't
move. Its face had several jaws and

2025
03:12:52,000 --> 03:12:56,600
mouths of various sizes moving in unison. It was as if it was a

2026
03:12:56,680 --> 03:13:03,360
Russian nesting doll of flesh and bone. After a moment of staring me down,

2027
03:13:03,040 --> 03:13:07,879
the creature lunged for me. I
quickly sprayed the rest of the magazine

2028
03:13:07,920 --> 03:13:13,719
into the creature. As I did, thousands of teeth and bone exploded from

2029
03:13:13,760 --> 03:13:20,920
his face and torso, and the
creature fell forward into the sea. Staring

2030
03:13:20,040 --> 03:13:24,440
back at John, I saw him
gasping on the floor of his boat,

2031
03:13:24,000 --> 03:13:28,360
drenched in blood and missing several layers
of muscle and flesh from his face.

2032
03:13:30,879 --> 03:13:35,040
As he turned to look at me, he smiled before the creature, which

2033
03:13:35,040 --> 03:13:39,760
I thought I had killed, grabbed
him by the legs and dragged him below

2034
03:13:39,799 --> 03:13:45,000
the surface of the water. Having
no bullets left, I watched in horror

2035
03:13:45,479 --> 03:13:50,000
as the man I had worked with
for the last three years was dragged down

2036
03:13:50,239 --> 03:13:58,840
to a watery hell. After a
moment of standing, defeated and utterly dumbfounded,

2037
03:14:00,120 --> 03:14:03,760
my way over to Eric and handed
him the rifle. You did,

2038
03:14:03,840 --> 03:14:09,559
good, son, he said,
as he lit another cigar. But John's

2039
03:14:09,600 --> 03:14:16,440
dead, I replied, barely able
to hold back tears. You did what

2040
03:14:16,639 --> 03:14:22,479
you could, Eric said, between
puffs. Now let's get the hell out

2041
03:14:22,520 --> 03:14:30,200
of here. I wish I could
say that I became Rambow and hunted down

2042
03:14:30,280 --> 03:14:35,920
the creature that killed my friend,
but I didn't. I knew that John

2043
03:14:35,120 --> 03:14:39,559
was a dead man as soon as
he set sail for those damned creatures.

2044
03:14:39,760 --> 03:14:43,559
But every day I think about all
the ways I could have stopped him.

2045
03:14:46,040 --> 03:14:50,479
Eric and I would go on to
work together on many unexplainable cases after this

2046
03:14:50,680 --> 03:14:56,040
one, but those are all stories
for another day. For now, as

2047
03:14:56,079 --> 03:15:01,200
a former Coast Guard investigator, if
you see blue orbs in the sky and

2048
03:15:01,319 --> 03:15:11,600
the open ocean, run like hell
and don't ever listen to their song.