1 00:00:01,879 --> 00:00:06,440 A few years ago when I was invited to a dinner party, and it 2 00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:12,199 wasn't that fancy, just a few odd friends reconnecting people I hadn't seen since 3 00:00:12,279 --> 00:00:16,920 high school. Some of the people on that list were people I hadn't seen 4 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:21,760 or heard of for years, so it'd be a nice opportunity to catch up. 5 00:00:23,039 --> 00:00:30,480 My wife couldn't come, though invites only she didn't mind. I looked 6 00:00:30,519 --> 00:00:34,960 forward to it all week. I dug out my old Tomscog high school baseball 7 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:39,439 cap and went through the guest list. There were a few names I recognized 8 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:44,119 at the drop of a hat, and a few that I didn't. I 9 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:49,000 figured some people had changed their names over the years. While it wasn't a 10 00:00:49,039 --> 00:00:54,280 proper reunion, more I could get together of old friends, I still got 11 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:59,560 the sense that there was something more to it. There was no anniversary coming 12 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:03,519 up, so it sort of came out of nowhere. I got the impression 13 00:01:03,519 --> 00:01:08,319 that maybe something else was up, like a proposal or some other announcement. 14 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:15,239 The big night took place on a Saturday at a rented venture just outside of 15 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:22,599 town, some old clubhouse, nothing big of fancy, but enough to house 16 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:26,959 the eight party goers that had pressed the I will the tind button. I 17 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:32,519 got there a bit early, dressed up in my favorite jacket, sporting the 18 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:38,200 classic baseball cap. It smelled a bit like mildew, but what the hell. 19 00:01:38,159 --> 00:01:42,400 If there ever was a time to wear it, this was it. 20 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:48,159 Rolling up to the house, the first person I ran into was the host 21 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:55,159 herself, Jerry, short for Geraldine. She was the de facto head of 22 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:59,640 the A V Club back in high school. The elected president of the club 23 00:02:00,079 --> 00:02:04,359 was often missing or off doing their own thing, leaving Jerry to take care 24 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:08,159 of the practicalities. If there was one person I'd bet on to arrange a 25 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:14,719 night like this, it'd be her. She swept me up in a big 26 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:19,520 hug, pulling a little on my baseball cap. Oh we're bringing out the 27 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:23,240 big guns, eh, she laughed. Should have kept my club sweater. 28 00:02:23,159 --> 00:02:29,199 Got to represent the Tugs, the stupid name we used for the locals. 29 00:02:29,599 --> 00:02:36,599 It was still around. Over time, the others dropped in Nellie the overachiever, 30 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:42,560 Olly or o Ley, who was on the student council, Chris and 31 00:02:42,599 --> 00:02:49,039 Corey the twins Omar who didn't move in until the final year but instantly made 32 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:54,840 himself part of the group. Finally, we just waited for Tess. It 33 00:02:54,919 --> 00:03:00,800 was getting late, so we figured she could catch up later. We had 34 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:06,159 a couple of drinks and got snacking on some appetizers Jerry had arranged for a 35 00:03:06,199 --> 00:03:09,439 catered meal. It didn't take long for us to fall back into our old 36 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:15,800 rolls, finding our way back to each other like we'd never left. There 37 00:03:15,879 --> 00:03:19,080 is a saying that the better you know some one, the less you need 38 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:23,599 to talk to them. It really is true. It was just a matter 39 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:29,360 of minutes before we were right back to where we left things all those years 40 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:36,800 ago. But Tess was a no show. I figured she'd run into some 41 00:03:36,879 --> 00:03:43,000 sort of last minute issue, but Jerry wasn't convinced. If anything, Jerry 42 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:50,280 was being a bit strange about it, avoidant. Halfway through the main course, 43 00:03:50,719 --> 00:03:57,039 Nellie choked her phone. She fell silent all of a sudden. It 44 00:03:57,159 --> 00:04:01,360 was hard to tell since everyone else was laughing and chatting about but I saw 45 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:08,960 her lift her hand to her mouth and her eyes stopped blinking. She'd seen 46 00:04:09,039 --> 00:04:15,599 something, something shocking. I gently elbowed Omar next to me, who noticed 47 00:04:15,639 --> 00:04:19,399 the same thing. Once the two of us quieted down, so did the 48 00:04:19,439 --> 00:04:27,000 others. It didn't take long for the entire table to notice. Nelly looked 49 00:04:27,079 --> 00:04:33,600 up at us. She's there's been an accident. I think she tests it's 50 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:40,600 not, she sniffled, putting down a phone. She buried her face in 51 00:04:40,639 --> 00:04:45,600 her hands, trying her best to hold back the tears. Everyone picked up 52 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:50,199 their phones, trying to see if what she'd said was true, checking local 53 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:59,759 news, social media, anything. But I kept my eyes on Jerry. 54 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:05,319 She was unnaturally quiet about this. It didn't take long for the room to 55 00:05:05,399 --> 00:05:12,519 devolve. Nellie was openly weeping. Oliy just went pale, staring into the 56 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:16,800 wall. Chris and Corey started arguing about the details as they differed from one 57 00:05:16,879 --> 00:05:23,079 source to the next. Omar just shook his head over and over, trying 58 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:30,800 to convince himself it wasn't true, but of course it was. Turns out 59 00:05:30,879 --> 00:05:35,319 Tess had some kind of aneurysm earlier that day out like a light the moment 60 00:05:35,399 --> 00:05:43,120 she sat down in a car, completely unavoidable and undetectable. It just took 61 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:46,279 some time for people to notice, since it looked like someone just sitting in 62 00:05:46,319 --> 00:05:54,319 their car. But Jerry just sat there sipping a whine. She didn't look 63 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:59,160 at her phone, and she didn't join the conversation. There was a shake 64 00:05:59,199 --> 00:06:03,839 to her hand, like she was suddenly nervous. I wanted to pullar aside 65 00:06:03,839 --> 00:06:09,639 and ask her about it, but there was no space. People were talking 66 00:06:09,639 --> 00:06:15,839 over one another, calling out demanding my attention, all the while Jerry didn't 67 00:06:15,879 --> 00:06:27,079 move a muscle. Then the power went out. It went completely dark. 68 00:06:28,199 --> 00:06:31,399 For a moment, all I could see were faces lit up by smartphone screens 69 00:06:31,759 --> 00:06:38,839 like ghastly apparitions. I joined in and so did Jerry, with discussion just 70 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:43,480 died as we all looked at one another. At some point, someone turned 71 00:06:43,519 --> 00:06:47,600 their phone towards the table, as if looking for something. As the light 72 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:57,079 panned across the room, we all noticed in unison her shape. It was 73 00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:01,319 only there for a fraction of a second. Something tall, dark and spectral 74 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:08,879 arms that reached all the way to the floor. Something sickly thin and black 75 00:07:08,879 --> 00:07:15,360 as oil. There was a shrill screech, like the cables inside the walls 76 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:21,519 were burning, screaming for help. This high pitched burn, something overloading, 77 00:07:23,199 --> 00:07:28,680 bathing the room in the smell of burnt plastic and gypsum. In the blink 78 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:33,199 of an eye, the power returned, and with it the dark disappeared. 79 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:41,720 The room erupted. Nelly was on her feet, backing away from the table. 80 00:07:42,839 --> 00:07:46,480 Ali crouched down. The twins just stood up, looking lost. Ohm. 81 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:53,000 I just froze, not knowing what to do, but my eyes landed 82 00:07:53,040 --> 00:08:00,480 on Jerry and what she was doing. She just sat there, staring at 83 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:05,240 the space where the dark thing had stood. As the room fell silent. 84 00:08:05,399 --> 00:08:13,399 I caught her attention. What's going on? I wheezed, What was that? 85 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:20,120 Jerry shook her head. As the rest of the room turned her attention 86 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:24,199 to her, She began stuttering. Her eyes shifted from one to the next, 87 00:08:26,279 --> 00:08:35,320 until she finally gave in. It's it's hard to explain. So now 88 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:41,279 we got the real story. It started a couple of months ago. It 89 00:08:41,399 --> 00:08:46,679 started with a woman named Gwen. She had been an acquaintance at best, 90 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:52,159 someone that most of the group hadn't interacted much with. She was part of 91 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:58,440 another clique in a way, and there was much crossover between the groups. 92 00:08:58,919 --> 00:09:05,679 She had suddenly passed, leaving some former classmates devastated. Tess had heard about 93 00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:11,440 it somewhere in a social peripheral. One post in particular had stood out. 94 00:09:11,799 --> 00:09:18,080 In one of the memorial comment sections, someone mentioned she knew this was coming. 95 00:09:18,919 --> 00:09:24,320 She'd seen the specter of death, she told me, and I think 96 00:09:24,399 --> 00:09:31,360 she was at peace. After that, there'd been two more deaths, a 97 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:35,360 man and a woman, both dropping dead within a month of one another, 98 00:09:35,799 --> 00:09:43,639 again vague hints to seeing something and a specter, but this time Tess knew 99 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:48,879 them a little better. In fact, she talked to one of them just 100 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:56,039 weeks ahead of their death. Two things became apparent, one that they were 101 00:09:56,080 --> 00:10:01,960 being followed by something, and two that they knew their time was running short. 102 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:09,240 By that third death, Tess figured who was no longer a coincidence their 103 00:10:09,279 --> 00:10:13,360 old friends were dropping like flies. She reached out to Jerry to kind of 104 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:18,559 get the gang together to talk about it. But only days ahead of the 105 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:24,679 reunion, she'd started to see the specter herself. She wanted us to go 106 00:10:24,759 --> 00:10:31,000 ahead with or without her, said Jerry. She knew this would happen. 107 00:10:31,399 --> 00:10:37,639 So what does it mean? Nelly asked? We all saw it? Are 108 00:10:37,639 --> 00:10:43,159 we all next? Jerry shook her head as the questions reigned. What the 109 00:10:43,159 --> 00:10:46,399 hell is that? Yelled Corey? What are you going to tell us? 110 00:10:46,639 --> 00:10:54,679 Chris joined in, question after question after question. Finally, Jerry just slumped 111 00:10:54,720 --> 00:11:01,639 into a chair, still shaking her head. I don't no, she repeated, 112 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:09,480 over and over. I I just don't know. Olly was the first 113 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:13,919 to react. He headed for the door. I'm getting the hell out of 114 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:18,440 here, he yelled, screw this. The moment he opened the door, 115 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:24,080 the power was cut again. My phone was glowing hot in my hand, 116 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:31,000 overloaded by static electricity. All the illuminated faces flickered as our phones struggled to 117 00:11:31,039 --> 00:11:37,240 stay alive. In a vague flicker from one of our phone screens, I 118 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:41,200 only caught a glimpse of it, a figure so tall we couldn't see the 119 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:46,519 head as it loomed outside the door. An impossibly long arm reached in. 120 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:54,840 Olly just screamed, evolving into a series of ever repeating no no, nos, 121 00:11:54,440 --> 00:12:01,279 until he was silenced. It took longer for the lights to return now. 122 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:07,200 When they did, Ollie was curled up on the floor like a dying 123 00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:13,840 bug, face frozen in surprise and horror. He was already pale as limestone, 124 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:18,039 his eyes glazed over, a single tear in the corner of his frozen 125 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:28,600 eye. Dead as a door nail. The room irrupted into panic. Jerry 126 00:12:28,639 --> 00:12:31,799 screamed at them to stop. The twins headed for the back door, only 127 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:35,440 for the lights to go out again. I could hear a bull pop from 128 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:41,120 the fridge, and I could smell something burning. The scene played out as 129 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:45,399 if there a strobe light. As light bulbs struggled to come back to life, 130 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:54,039 little snapshots of chaos burned into my retinas. Chris dropped immediately in the 131 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:58,039 doorway. Corey made it all the way back to the dinner table before he 132 00:12:58,159 --> 00:13:03,759 collapsed, and impossibly long arm touching the back of his head. He fell 133 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:09,159 haphazardly forward, breaking the two legs at the short end of the table. 134 00:13:09,159 --> 00:13:13,000 He pulled down most of the tablecloth, along with the plates and glasses. 135 00:13:15,279 --> 00:13:20,759 Carefully prepared Mimosa's and half drunk wine bottles spilled onto the floor, mixing with 136 00:13:20,919 --> 00:13:28,039 froth and dust. He was dead before he hit the ground. Omar panicked, 137 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:31,440 but Nellie managed to hold him back. Jerry was hiding in the corner. 138 00:13:33,639 --> 00:13:37,559 I was just standing there like a deer in head lights, trying to 139 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:41,240 remember how to breathe. I had never been the one with a vital flight 140 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:48,320 instinct, like a genetic thing. Nellie shook her head. I have to 141 00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:52,120 do regular check ups for work, she said. I got a clean bill 142 00:13:54,639 --> 00:13:58,679 We went through a checklist of things, trying to figure out and answer to 143 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:03,120 why us. It was the only thing we could do. Our phones were 144 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:09,159 dead, and no one dared to leave. We just stood there, our 145 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:15,200 thoughts running away from us at the speed of panic. It didn't make sense. 146 00:14:16,159 --> 00:14:20,799 We were different genders, backgrounds, ethnicities, and religions, with different 147 00:14:20,799 --> 00:14:26,360 occupations, aspirations, hopes, and dreams. For all intents and purposes, 148 00:14:26,159 --> 00:14:33,279 we were wildly different people. The only thing tying us together was our association 149 00:14:33,399 --> 00:14:39,480 with one another and our shared time at Tomskog High. At one point, 150 00:14:39,759 --> 00:14:43,919 we'd all curled up against the walls. I hugged my knees close to my 151 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:48,120 chest. I couldn't look at Jerry without my eyes crossing paths with Corey's body 152 00:14:48,879 --> 00:14:54,759 curled up like a dead bug, fingers twisted and turned in a painful final 153 00:14:54,799 --> 00:15:01,919 expression. I opted to just not look, instead, speaking generally to the 154 00:15:03,039 --> 00:15:09,000 room. So that's it, Then, I said, there's no reason. 155 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:16,360 We're just screwed. We tried to leave and were screwed. That can't be 156 00:15:16,919 --> 00:15:22,320 said, Omar, Then why wait, why not just kill us? None 157 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:26,279 of this makes sense, muttered Nelly, shaking her head. Why now, 158 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:33,039 that was a good question. We considered what had been going on in our 159 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:37,879 lives lately. I mentioned moving into a new house with my wife, who 160 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:41,639 started a new job as a realtor. Nellie talked about accepting a position in 161 00:15:41,679 --> 00:15:46,399 Minneapolis. Omar was moving to South Dakota to be with her sick mother. 162 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:52,480 Jerry had been working remotely for a company in Dallas for years, and only 163 00:15:52,559 --> 00:15:56,919 recently they decided to enforce a return to office policy. There were no obvious 164 00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:04,279 patterns, relationships, families, jobs, It all looked very different. Omar 165 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:11,519 tried a different approach. Maybe it's more practical, he said, maybe we 166 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:17,399 have to leave as a group. Why. I don't know. I don't 167 00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:22,480 even know what it is. So let's look at it rather than us. 168 00:16:22,159 --> 00:16:26,200 Let's look at what it's doing. I said, it's keeping us here, 169 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:33,200 It wants us to be here. We're safe now, right. We all 170 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:38,480 looked around as if to make a point. We were indeed safe for now. 171 00:16:41,159 --> 00:16:45,360 But despite it all, no matter how much logic we tried to apply 172 00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:48,919 to it, I couldn't wrap my brain around what We've been looking at. 173 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:59,480 Some kind of otherworldly entity tearing through us without any kind of retaliation or maybe 174 00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:06,319 was. Nellie argued that we should attack it. We'd seen it, so 175 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:11,160 it was some kind of physical entity. It had a shape, a form 176 00:17:11,279 --> 00:17:18,000 that in itself should mean that it could be destroyed. Slowly. Getting off 177 00:17:18,039 --> 00:17:22,480 the floor, we looked at what we had. A few broken table legs 178 00:17:22,519 --> 00:17:26,680 as clubs. Jerry figured we could try using salt, and as it was 179 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:33,599 supposed to have some sort of supernatural properties on non worldly entities, oh my, 180 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:37,400 figured trying to cross wooden't earth. We armed ourselves to the best of 181 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:42,880 our abilities, figuring we should try something as a group. If it really 182 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:48,799 was a physical entity, that meant it was constrained by its own properties, 183 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:55,599 meaning it couldn't catch all of us at once. So instead of moving as 184 00:17:55,640 --> 00:18:00,359 a pile of pigs to the slaughter, we would spread out scatter to the 185 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:07,559 wind. It was risky, but who was all we got. Omar positioned 186 00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:11,759 himself by the front door with a table leg. Jerry got the back door 187 00:18:11,799 --> 00:18:15,759 with a frying pan. Nellie and I took windows on the opposite side of 188 00:18:15,799 --> 00:18:21,960 the room. She armed with another table leg, while I used the roast 189 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:26,160 pan as a shield and a kitchen knife. We reviewed the plan again. 190 00:18:27,799 --> 00:18:33,039 We would go on five, heading in different directions. Once out, we 191 00:18:33,079 --> 00:18:37,480 would be calling for help. If confronted by the entity, we would be 192 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:42,880 using what we had to force it back just enough to run. We hadn't 193 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:48,839 seen it move much, so maybe it wasn't that fast. It was a 194 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:56,000 risky, stupid plan, but we were desperate. Nellie counted down from five. 195 00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:00,440 I held my hand on the window, watching the other's follow suit. 196 00:19:02,559 --> 00:19:07,039 As the countdown continued, I could feel the strength in my arm wane, 197 00:19:07,839 --> 00:19:11,799 like everything in me just wanted not to run, but to crawl into a 198 00:19:11,839 --> 00:19:21,519 corner and just wait. And yet the countdown reached zero. Nelly flung the 199 00:19:21,559 --> 00:19:26,119 window open, Ohmar kicked the front door open. Jerry pushed into the back 200 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:37,640 door, and me I realized my window was locked. The reaction was immediate 201 00:19:38,519 --> 00:19:47,400 and violent. Out of every window and every door, dozens of shade like 202 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:53,039 appendages appeared, knife sharp, bonelike fingers reached for us. The window was 203 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:57,759 blown apart by the pressure, covering my hand in a hundred little cuts, 204 00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:04,839 shattered peace as a glass boring into my hair. I didn't fight that instinct 205 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:11,599 just wasn't there. I scrambled backwards, doing exactly what my instinct taught me 206 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:18,440 to to make myself as small and invisible as possible. Omar thought Nelly too. 207 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:23,319 Jerry actually managed to hit something. I could hear the thwunk of the 208 00:20:23,359 --> 00:20:30,519 frying pan, but it was quick. No screams. As the lights died, 209 00:20:32,039 --> 00:20:36,440 I saw Jerry's head being grasped as she was dragged outside. Her heart 210 00:20:36,519 --> 00:20:41,559 stopped before she even dropped the frying pan. Nelly got half way across the 211 00:20:41,599 --> 00:20:45,720 room before they got to her, making her face plant into the hardwood floor 212 00:20:45,079 --> 00:20:51,720 in a morbidly comical manner. An entire life snuffed out, ending with an 213 00:20:51,759 --> 00:20:56,960 embarrassing self inflicted nothing. Omar just stood there as one of the things loomed 214 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:03,680 over him. It reached for him, and he did nothing. It was 215 00:21:03,799 --> 00:21:08,680 calm, collected, even reverent in a way, but as what looked like 216 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:15,839 a thumb approached his forehead, he started shaking his head. No, he 217 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:22,599 pleaded, no, I can't not like this, and with that he fell 218 00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:30,200 to the floor empty. They made no sound. Dozens of und dozens of 219 00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:36,240 specters pulled into the room, surrounding me. I wanted to scream, but 220 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:40,880 my breath was stuck in my throat. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. 221 00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:45,160 It was so far from the world. I knew that it started to 222 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:51,039 feel like a bad dream. It simply couldn't be well and truly real. 223 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:56,480 But feeling that cold hardwood floor against my cheek made me think differently. I 224 00:21:56,559 --> 00:22:02,839 looked up only to see one of the specss looming over me, so tall 225 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:07,720 that its head cut through the ceiling. It reached to me, a thumb 226 00:22:07,799 --> 00:22:15,039 like appendage reaching for my forehead, and in that moment it spoke to me, 227 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:22,480 less of a voice and more of a series of impressions. It's hard 228 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:29,480 to explain. It showed me flashes of a life, me settling down with 229 00:22:29,519 --> 00:22:33,599 my wife, growing little blue sunflowers in the backyard, having kids, growing 230 00:22:33,599 --> 00:22:38,000 old, and dying on a park bench near Frog Lake, never leaving the 231 00:22:38,039 --> 00:22:45,319 little Minnesota town where I'd grown up, a long, peaceful and uneventful life, 232 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:51,119 little spots of sunshine and joy along a gray path, one i'd willingly 233 00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:59,920 bind myself too. But then it showed me something else, a different world, 234 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:04,440 full of dark shapes in an endless desert of black sand. There I 235 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:11,759 wondered as another faceless thing, saying nothing, doing nothing, and there was 236 00:23:11,839 --> 00:23:18,000 no end. Learning hellscapes, where my flesh was reforming as fast as it 237 00:23:18,079 --> 00:23:23,440 melted from my bones, in a perpetual cycle of pain. In another place, 238 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:29,119 I was stuck in an empty, starless void, where my being was 239 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:34,519 spread among dying stars, eternally drifting. In another I was floating on a 240 00:23:34,599 --> 00:23:41,000 sensationless ocean, staring up at a night sky or a single red eye, 241 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:47,039 the sighs of a moon stared back. I was a consciousness bound as stages 242 00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:52,640 of life I could never break free from. It was an invitation. They 243 00:23:52,640 --> 00:24:00,519 were asking me to stay here, there and forever. That's what killed the 244 00:24:00,559 --> 00:24:08,039 others they had wanted to leave. I finally understood I wasn't running, I 245 00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:14,240 wasn't leaving. I was staying in this town while the others had been eager 246 00:24:14,279 --> 00:24:19,799 to settle elsewhere. But this invitation wasn't just about me and they're here and 247 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:27,039 now. This was about an endless multitude of existences waiting to happen, one 248 00:24:27,119 --> 00:24:33,599 where an end was not promised, A perpetual me bound to whatever form necessary 249 00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:41,079 like them, Like all of them, I could feel myself shaking my head 250 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:45,359 into a no. I could feel my tongue licking the roof of my mouth, 251 00:24:45,839 --> 00:24:55,839 looking to push out that n but I couldn't. I froze, Yes, 252 00:24:56,400 --> 00:25:03,400 I cried, Yes, of course, a cold dumb touched me as 253 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:10,599 if drawing an invisible mark across my forehead, and that was it. One 254 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:18,000 by one they left. They gained what they came for, a recruit someone 255 00:25:18,079 --> 00:25:22,599 to stay with them, to join their group at an unfathomable cost. The 256 00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:29,519 final one left, with the breeze knocking over my Tomskock high baseball cap home 257 00:25:29,559 --> 00:25:37,279 of the Togs. I just stood there alone, contorted remains of people I 258 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:42,319 used to know, litter the floor husks. The lights came back on, 259 00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:49,000 phones buzzing across the room, pings from mist calls and messages. But after 260 00:25:49,079 --> 00:25:56,240 all their notifications died down, all that was left it was me, sobbing 261 00:25:56,359 --> 00:26:03,759 on the floor, doomed. You might have heard about all this, but 262 00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:08,079 in another way, they blamed it all on wine poisoning. There was a 263 00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:15,200 sham investigation. I think something around two thousand bottles were recalled. Not a 264 00:26:15,279 --> 00:26:19,440 single soul believed my testimony, and my lawyer recommended me to retract my official 265 00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:23,880 statement as it would either send me to a madhouse or get me in legal 266 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:32,039 trouble perjury. Maybe instead I said that I simply didn't drink any wine, 267 00:26:32,759 --> 00:26:37,799 but I had settled for a beer that in itself was a lie. But 268 00:26:37,839 --> 00:26:41,599 everyone was willing to believe it. Perhaps they all knew there was more to 269 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:49,319 it, Perhaps they didn't care. A few years down the line, now 270 00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:53,920 I have two daughters, I have a nice job. My wife and I 271 00:26:53,960 --> 00:27:00,400 get along well, caring for the house together. It is a good lie, 272 00:27:00,319 --> 00:27:06,480 but I can't help but to get that nagging feeling that I've doomed myself, 273 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:11,960 that there was something waiting for me that I can't come back from. 274 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:17,799 That maybe at the end of all this, I am the one getting the 275 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:22,759 raw deal, and not the shriveled up corpses that I left behind in that 276 00:27:22,839 --> 00:27:30,240 clubhouse. They say that you never really leave the small town life, that 277 00:27:30,319 --> 00:27:37,480 it follows you through your life one way or another. I never thought it'd 278 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:38,640 be this literal.