WEBVTT

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Welcome to Endo the night. I'm
Narri your guide on today's excursion down a

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twisted path. Be careful not to
get lost. Be it dark or light,

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It's easy to lose your way.
Are you ready? Then let's begin

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the Stowaway Part one. Turbulence jostled
the plane to and fro as passengers gripped

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their seats and worried about those peanuts
they'd eaten earlier. The flight attendants offered

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words of encouragement to the people,
now giving each other frantic looks. Prayers

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were whispered, and a few curse
words were shouted. This is your captain

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speaking. I apologize for the rough
ride. We've encountered some turbulence thanks to

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the thunderstorms moving into the Cincinnati area. We should be out of this sin

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but remaining your feet. Thank you. Ryan Taylor closed his eyes for a

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moment to calm his roiling stomach.
All I wanted was a quick business trip

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to Cincinnati with a chance to catch
a Reds game. I hate flying.

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Why didn't I just drive? The
flight attendant placed a gentle hand on his

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shoulder. Are you doing okay?
Do you want to lie or the truth?

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She chuckled, whichever makes you feel
better. Looks like you get a

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lie, then I'm great. The
rocking of the plane forced the attendant to

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stagger and cling to the seats still, she almost toppled over her name tag

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said Cheryl. There's an empty seat
right here, Cheryl, here, sit

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by me. It's not safe for
you to be standing and you could get

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hurt. She hesitated, but then
another jolt of turbulence nearly sent her to

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the floor. Maybe taking a seat
is a good idea, after all.

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He moved his briefcase from the empty
seat. It's nice to meet you.

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My name is Ryan Taylor. I'm
Cheryl Lawson. It's nice to meet you

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too. This flight is a lot
bumpier than usual. Can you fly this

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route often? Yes, it's my
regular assignment. After the way this flight's

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been, I'm glad to have a
three day break once we get to Cincinnati.

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I'm going to be there for three
days too. Say do you like

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baseball? I love baseball. You
couldn't grow up in my house without loving

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baseball. My dad practically had a
shrine set up of Red's memorabilia. Ah,

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my family is a huge baseball family
too. I swear my mom would

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have left dad if Johnny Bench had
winked at her. She said she'd had

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a crush on him since she was
a little girl. Oh, back in

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the Pete Roast days, my mom
said she had posters of him up in

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her room. Those were definitely the
glory days, weren't they. My company

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gave me two box seats to tomorrow's
game. Would you want to go with

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me? Cheryl didn't hesitate. I'd
love to go. I'll give you my

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number once we land and we can
make arrangements. How about we go to

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dinner tonight too, let's the captain
interrupted them. Ladies and gentlemen, we

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are through the worst of the turbulence. I apologize for the rough ride.

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We are preparing to make our descent
for landing. Remain buggled in the flight

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attendants will assist you with anything you
need before we land. Thank you for

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flying with us today. Looks like
I'm back on duty. Wait for me

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by the baggage claim. Oh,
I only brought a carry on, He

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pointed at the overhead bin. Oh, then, if you don't mind wait

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for me at the gate. It
will take me about a half an hour

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to get off the plane. I
don't mind at all. I'll see you

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there. Cheryl was called by a
passenger who needed her to take the pillow

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she'd provided earlier, so she smiled
at Ryan and hurried down the aisle.

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After the turbulence fright, passengers breathed
a sigh of relief when the plane touchdown

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without incident. Cheryl smiled at Ryan
as he exited the plane, and he

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gave her a wink. Half an
hour later, she met him at the

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gate. Is it okay if I
take a few minutes to change clothes.

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I didn't bring anything fancy, but
I'm ready to wear something other than this,

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She pointed at her attendant uniform.
Of course, while you're changing,

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think of where you'd like to go
to dinner. I don't know Cincinnati that

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well, that's easy. I know
a great Italian restaurant not too far from

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here. Italian is my favorite.
See you in a few My rental car

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should be waiting for us. The
two spent dinner talking and laughing. I

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can't believe how much we have in
common, or that we met through turbulence.

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Cheryl's green eyes sparkled when she laughed. Talk about a rough start.

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Right. He held her hand and
the sparks weren't just in Cheryl's eyes.

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They both felt them when they touched
her. Cheeks flushed enough that Ryan noticed,

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even in the low light of the
restaurant. She squeezed his hand.

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I feel like I could talk with
you for hours and never get tired of

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it. But it's getting late and
you have your business to take care of

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in the morning. They made plans
to see each other the next day after

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Ryan's business meeting. I have some
places around town I want to show you,

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and then we can go to the
game. That sounds perfect. I'll

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drive you home and then head to
my hotel. Ryan paused and looked at

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her. I can hardly wait to
see you tomorrow. He drove her to

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her apartment and walked her to the
door. The night ended with a long

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kiss good night. The next day, the moment he finished with his meetings,

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he called Cheryl, I'll need about
a half an hour to get to

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my hotel and change clothes. Should
I pick you up? I was thinking,

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since I know my way around town, I should drive. Your hotel

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is actually close to where I grew
up. I can start by taking you

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around my old neighborhood. I'll see
you in half an hour, I'll be

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waiting in the lobby. Ryan liked
the way this trip was going, and

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I thought the highlights would be securing
this new account and going to tonight's game.

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Now, well, she's one heck
of a girl. In exactly thirty

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minutes, he met Cheryl in the
lobby. He liked her sense of timeliness

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and assumed it came with her having
to keep such a tight schedule as a

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flight attendant. Where to first?
How about the high school I went to.

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It's not very far. We haven't
till the game to go. Wherever

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you want lead the way. He
took her hand and they walked out into

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the summer sun. Her blonde hair
glistened in the sunlight, and he was

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pretty certain he'd found an angel.
Cheryl drove him from one point of interest

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to the next, and she usually
had a funny story or two about each

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stop. You're the most entertaining tour
guide and the prettiest too. He leaned

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down and kissed her. Well,
you're the cutest guy I've ever taken on

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a tour. We'd better get on
our way to the stadium, though.

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The traffic's going to be crazy down
there. They held hands, cheered,

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and even made it onto the big
screen at the ballgame. A win by

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the Reds only added to the evening. She drove him back to the hotel

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and they walked along the sidewalk from
the parking lot. I was wondering if

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you wouldn't mind how much longer you
have off before you have to leave for

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work on another flight. I'm off
until Wednesday. Why if you wouldn't mind,

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I have some vacation time to use, and I'd like to stay here

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in Cincinnati a while longer so I
could see you. Hm, I do

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have a busy social calendar for the
week. Ryan's heart dropped. Oh,

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it was just an idea. Cheryl
playfully slapped him on the arm. I'm

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joking, Ryan, I'd love for
you to stay. He picked her up

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in his arms and spun her around. You had me worried, No worries.

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I'll come bye tomorrow morning and pick
you up. You choose the time,

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eight o'clock or is that too early? Not too early? I'll meet

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you back here then. A few
long kisses capped off their date. The

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next morning, Cheryl greeted him at
the doors of the hotel. She hugged

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him, but it was tighter,
more desperate than Ryan expected. He looked

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down at her, Hey, are
you okay. She let go of him

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but trembled, her voice wavering when
she answered him, not really. I

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need us to go someplace where we
can talk. Oh lord, this doesn't

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sound good. I've read too much
into this. She has a boyfriend or

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worse, a husband. Ryan's head
spun as they walked to Cheryl's car.

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Are you sure you should drive?
You seem shaken up. Yeah, I

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can drive. We're going back to
my apartment. There's something I have to

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show you. They said few words
during the drive, but Gryl's hand gripped

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his the entire way. They reached
her apartment complex and they climbed the stairs

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to her unit. She stopped at
the door before unlocking it. I don't

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want you to think I'm crazy,
Ryan, I won't just show me what

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this is all about. The moment
they entered the apartment, Ryan saw newspapers

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spread open all over the living room. Now he really wondered what was going

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on. Sit down and I'll bring
them to you. Last night, when

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I got home, I decided to
go through the stack of newspapers that had

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piled up while I've been gone.
One by one, she carried the obituary

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section of the newspapers to him.
The photographs of the deceased stared up at

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him from the pages she had circled. Some of the obituaries Martin Keller,

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Harriet Barton, Lionel Case, Quentin
McDaniel, Laura Renner. He quickly read

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through each obituary. Cheryl, I
don't understand. Why are you showing me?

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These are these family members of you. No, I barely know them.

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Then why are you so upset?
They have one thing in common,

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Ryan? She wiped a tear away
with a trembling hand. Taking a jagged

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breath, she continued. They were
all on flights I worked, and they

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all sat in seat three C,
just like you. That's definitely a weird

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coincidence. There's more. During the
flight, each of them only had a

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carry on bag that they stored in
the overhead bin. I think it's connected

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somehow. There's nothing strange about that. No, but I ran into each

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of these passengers again. They'd come
up to me at the airport and said

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they remembered I've been their flight attendant. All of them asked me if anything

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strange had happened on the plane,
specifically with seat three C. I thought

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it was an odd question for them
to ask, but they seemed riled up

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and scared. They even hugged me
and told me to stay safe. I

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had a really bad feeling after each
encounter, but I don't know why.

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I'm good with faces, and when
I saw their obituaries, I knew they

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were passengers from my flights. Ryan
sat quietly while he processed what he'd heard.

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You probably had a bad feeling because
it's weird for strangers to come up

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to you and hug you like that. Ryan, I'm scared. Each of

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those people sat in the same seat
as you, and they specifically asked if

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something was wrong with that seat.
I think it's just a strange coincidence.

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I mean, I'm glad you're afraid
for my safety, but I don't think

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there's any connection. She sat on
the couch next to him, holding him

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tightly. You probably do think I'm
crazy. He lifted her chin with his

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hand and looked into her eyes.
No, I don't think you're crazy.

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I think you're sweet and caring,
and I love that about you. Really

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really. Now, let's go have
a good day together. Maybe get out

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of the city and take a drive
into the country. I'd like that my

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grandparents had a farm an hour away. It's beautiful in that area. Do

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you want to head that direction.
Let's get going, He turned to her

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as they rose from the couch.
It's going to be okay. He gently

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kissed her and held her next to
him as they walked out of her apartment.

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Cheryl glanced once more at the scattered
newspapers. He tugged at her hand.

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Come on. The sun warmed their
faces as they drove down the street

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with the windows open, singing along
to the radio. Their voices blended perfectly.

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They neared the edge of the city
when Ryan said, see, it's

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a perfect day, nothing to worry
about. A crash behind them made them

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jump. The car they had just
passed now sat as a crumpled mess of

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twisted metal in the street. A
chunk of concrete from the adjacent building crushed

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the car and anyone in it.
Cars came to a complete stop as onlookers

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galked in horror. Thank you for
joining me for this episode of the Into

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the Night Anthology podcast. Written by
Caroline Giamanco, narrated by Nariquak theme music

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by Nico Rodriguez, all other original
music, sound design and editing by Omenhawk

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Studios. You can find our links
in the show notes. Into the Night

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is on your favorite podcatcher, so
make sure to like, subscribe, and

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00:13:37.080 --> 00:13:41.039
leave a five star review to help
other excursionists to join us. I'll see

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you next time, and remember,
whether in the shadows or in the daylight,

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all twisted paths lead you into the
night. Into the Night Anthology is

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a creative typo entertainment production