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Everybody has that story to tell.
The memory hangs out in the back seat

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of your mind, waiting for the
right moment to chip in the group and

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share your childhood fear, the first
time you were scared, the first time

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you felt real fear. By the
time you tell a story, you almost

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forgotten it had ever happened. Maybe
it was just a fever dream you had

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as a child, Maybe the circumstances
were fabricated by your adolescent imagination. Even

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though you doubt it ever happened,
the memory still lingers, held dearer than

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what should have been your cherished moments
when you were younger. When you think

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back, you don't remember the first
time you tied your shoes or the first

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basketball hoop you made. You think
of that story. It's there, waiting,

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almost as if it has unfinished business
with you, like you're not allowed

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to move on from it yet.
And you tell the story with a big

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smile on your face, the ones
around you laughing so hard, they ugly

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cried because your experience was so real
and relatable. It could have happened to

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them just as easily as it happened
to you. Once you shared it,

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you feel better, and the memory
retreats back to its den, hibernating until

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the stars align and it can torment
you once more. I was at work

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when the opportunity presented itself. The
night shift was over and we were all

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in the locker room, exchanging thick
uniforms and heavy boots for crocs and basketball

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shorts. Terry was telling a story
about his fear of rats, his face

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a half grin as he struggled to
get through it without laughing. I was

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on the bench unlacing my boots.
Dude, I've been looking for this fucking

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rat for a week. I would
always see it out of the corner of

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my eye, a little bastard scurrying
around while I was trying to sleep.

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Turns out it had made a nest
in the box spring. I've been sleeping

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on it, dude, Terry says, shivering as he thought back. The

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other guys laughed, a cackling chorus
of grown men amused by someone else's demise.

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I laughed as well. Terry was
well known for his fear of rodents

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and was heckled about it constantly.
They went back and forth over the details

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as I kicked off my boots.
How do they deal with it. Did

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they burn the mattress? Did he
let it sleep there forever? As laughter

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dies down, I think of my
story and wonder if I should tell it.

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At first, I shiver at the
thought, but before I know it,

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I'm grinning myself and dying to let
it out. The old memory resurfaces

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like a shark from the deep.
A story that happened twenty three years ago,

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A story about a beaver. All
right, I got one, Terry,

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you'll especially like this, I say, standing up. The guys listen,

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still wiping the tears from the rat
and Terry's mattress. It's been so

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long since I've thought of the beaver, and the details fled in as I

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picture it in my head. All
right, So this was a really long

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time ago, when I was a
kid. I think I was five or

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six. Anyway, I used to
live in this trailer park over on Rainbow

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Road, that one over there by
the highway. I vaguely point north as

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I close my locker. There's a
few interjections before the story continues. Wait,

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Rainbow Road, Yeah, I know
that place. My aunt used to

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live there, used to live in
the cans Day over by ninety four.

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Yeah, A long time ago,
ben ages, I say, and resume

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the story. Anyway, it was
in the summer back in the nineties,

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and we were all playing outside,
not shit to do. There was nothing

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but trailers in a long line of
mailboxes who were all poor, and there

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was no playground to play at,
so most of the time all the kids

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would just group up and we would
walk around and play with rocks and shit.

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We'd walk around all day, and
our parents didn't care as long as

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we didn't go by the highway.
They were always worried about a car hitting

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us. I say, and in
my mind I can hear the sounds of

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cars passing by. So there's like
five of us playing by this trailer that

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didn't have anyone living in it,
and all of a sudden, one of

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the kids just freezes and says,
uh, what's that? So we all

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look and sitting on the porch of
the trailer, is this big fucking beaver

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just staring at us? I say, the beaver's black eyes and teeth clear

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In my mind, I shudder at
the thought of it. The guys laugh

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and Tarry visibly cringes. So we're
all frozen there, all of us,

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too scared to move we'd never seen
one before. We're all terrified at this

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beaver and it's just staring us down. We're just waiting for it to rush

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us, like it was gonna eat
our bones or something. Really scary shit.

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Anyway, So there's this girl standing
next to me. I think her

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name was Kirsten. She whispers to
me and says, go get your mom,

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we'll stay here. My house was
the closest, only two trailers away.

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So I run home, thinking this
beaver is gonna chase me, like

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it's some kind of horror movie or
something, and I run. I tell

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my mom and she starts yelling about
us playing by the highway, and the

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whole time, I'm just scared shitless
this beaver. It's gonna eat my friends.

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By the time we go back,
No shit, what happened? Did

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it attack you guys? What the
guy says? And I laugh. No,

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my mom grabbed the broom. We
went back, and she pretty much

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just shoot it off. But I
still can't shake the look that beer gave

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us. We really thought it was
gonna eat us, Like fucking hate beavers,

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dude. I finished the story and
they all laughed, all except Harry,

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who looks like he found something new
to add to his list of rodent

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fears. I chuckled to myself at
the thought of the memory, feeling a

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bit of the weight lifted from my
mind, like a shred of the traumas

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healed. After some brief shit talking, we all punch out and leave the

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building, everyone walking to their cars
with their heads held high. Now that

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the day's work is done, I
wave goodbye and get in my car.

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As I watch the other guys pull
away and drive off, I find myself

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sitting there in silence, pondering the
story I told. I think of the

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beaver story with its nasty buck teeth
and black eyes. I think of how

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funny it is looking back, and
I hear the laughter of the guys in

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my head. The longer I think
about it, the more the laughter fades

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away, and the more I hear
screams instead. I think of the story,

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suddenly feeling guilty, wondering why I
said it in the first place.

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Maybe, after all this time,
I'm just trying to make myself feel better.

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In my head, the memory unravels. I think of the story and

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how it's a lie. There's no
beaver there never was. I leaned my

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head on the steering wheel. I
hadn't thought of it in so long.

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I was sure that I could leave
it in the past. I hear the

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screams, my own screams and those
of the other children. I think of

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the unexplainable memory pushed so far back
in my mind. Kirsten was my first

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crush. I remember her freckled face
and short hair, and a little red

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ball cap she would always wear.
Everyone thought she looked like a boy,

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but I thought she was pretty,
even though I really didn't know the meaning

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of the word. She lived across
the park in a yellow trailer and would

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always come over to play when all
the kids got together. There were five

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of us and only a few of
us had bikes, so if we all

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wanted to play together, we would
usually walk around play with sticks and stuff

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like that. Sometimes we'd play tag
or red Rover, but that day we

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found ourselves just walking around board.
The trailer park was an oval formation,

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the mobile homes placed in a loop
with a circular road in the middle.

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It was surrounded by trees except for
the side I lived on that was tucked

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into a hill that the highway was
built on. It was nice outside that

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day, and our parents booted all
of us out of the house so we

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would enjoy the nice weather and so
they could have some peace and quiet.

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They only had two rules, don't
talk to strangers and don't go near the

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highway. The park wasn't fenced off
for anything, and you could hear cars

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and trucks flying past all day long. We were walking the road and little

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group and doing lamps without any real
plan. We continued like this for a

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while, every time passing each other's
houses and telling jokes, sometimes nagging our

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parents if we could come in.
Yet, two trailers down from mine was

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the only vacant lot in the park. Nobody lived there as far as we

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knew. The driveway was always empty, with a concrete slab in place of

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a trailer. The backyard consisted of
an uphill climb through the trees that led

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straight to the highway. It was
silly, but between the emptiness of the

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vacant trailer and the sounds of the
highway, it felt like that specific lot

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was separate from the rest of the
park. I don't know if it was

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the shade from the overgrown trees,
the layer of old pine needles on the

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ground, or the dead sticks scattered
about the unkempt yard. There was always

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something about it. Nike was in
its own little bubble, and that was

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when the dares started. On that
particular boring day, one of the kids

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had the idea that for every lap
we took around the park, one of

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us would have to step foot on
the lot. The mini barren zone always

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gave us the willies, and the
thought of pushing the boundaries of the scary

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property gave us all a shot of
rebellious adrenaline. At first, I thought

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it was scary and I was worried
about getting in trouble. But when I

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saw Kirsten perk up giddaly, I
decided to play along so I could impress

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her whatever I could do to seem
cool and make her smile. It felt

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like we were doing something bad,
and the excitement of who would go the

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furthest would hurry us along. As
we walked each lap around the park,

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we would take turns. Each lap, one of us would walk into the

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driveway, the next would go up
and touch one of the sticks, et

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cetera, et cetera. I remember
on one of my turns, I crept

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into the yard behind the little driveway
and sprinted back, comically, yelling like

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something was chasing me all the way
back to the road. Looking back,

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it was immature, but it felt
like the unexplainable gloom was always trying to

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nip at your heels. Hours passed
as we repeated the cycle, a lap

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around the park, then one of
us running in there. Towards the end,

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we were jogging around the park,
all of us excited to take our

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next turn, and as time went
on, kids would get called to come

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back home and the group began to
dwindle. We started to push faster,

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each of us paranoid to be the
next kid to be walking away from the

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fun with our head hung low as
the others laughed. Before we knew it,

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almost everyone had gone home, everyone
except Kirsten and I. I remember

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it being my turn next and the
both of us running back to do one

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more stunt. The sun was starting
to set and we knew any minute our

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parents would call us. I remember
running alongside her, sweating and gasping for

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breath as the laps tired our legs. Kirsten huffed and laughed as she ran,

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holding the bill of her ball caps. What wouldn't fly off? This

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one would be the craziest. I
thought it was my chance to really impress

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her. I'd go into the woods
this time, maybe even close to the

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highway. When we came to the
driveway, however, we both stopped.

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Our smiles faded, and the sun
seemed to fizzle away an instant. There

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was an old rundown trailer on the
vacant lot, like it had appeared out

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of thin air. The dingy green
paint was peeling, and the porch looked

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like he was about to collapse.
The drapes in the windows were nicotine stained

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and ratty, barely concealing the complete
darkness within. As I watched, the

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front door creaked open slightly from the
darkness within. A groaning whisper escaped.

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No lights on inside, no car
in the driveway. What the I looked

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at Kirsten for validation, but she
wasn't even looking at the trailer. She

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was looking at a woman in the
yard. It was then I noticed her

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off towards the trees. She was
standing with her back turned, and even

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though we couldn't see her face,
we knew something was horribly wrong. Once

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white clothes were heavily stained and ripped
up, fitting awkward on her frame.

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One of her legs was bent backwards
and one of her arms was missing,

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a heavy drizzle of blood oozing from
the stump. Despite how mangled she was,

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she stood perfectly still. We just
stood there for a time, both

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of us silently gawking at her.
The air was chilly, like a temperature

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drop before a bad storm. Kirsten
looked at me, the collar drained from

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her face Without a word, Both
of us looked in the direction of our

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homes to see which one was closest
to run to. When we looked back

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in the direction of the woman,
we noticed she had silently moved closer.

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Her back was still turned, but
we could see the damage clearer, horribly

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road rashed muscle, black streaks on
her clothing from the combination of tires and

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asphalt. What do we do,
Kirsten whispered, her voice a whimper.

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I I don't know. I managed
my bladder suddenly feeling like he was going

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to burst. I remember my legs
shaking. Maybe we could ahead of us.

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The woman turned, not in a
normal sense, but like she blinked

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to facing a different direction, like
someone had flipped the paper over while our

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00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:15,240
eyes were closed. The side of
her face provoked a gasp from both of

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us. I was crying, now, filled with a confused fear you have

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when you wake up from a terrible
nightmare. The woman was missing her bottom

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jaw and with it, half of
her upper face. The only identifiable thing

191
00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:35,440
left of her top jaw was a
hanging, bloody tongue and her two front

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teeth. A single eye looked at
me angrily, the pupil surrounded by the

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black splotching of burst blood vessels.
No sound emitted from the woman, but

194
00:14:46,799 --> 00:14:50,360
seeing the way she stood there,
frozen in place, I couldn't explain it.

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00:14:52,679 --> 00:14:58,639
Something was just wrong, horribly wrong. Your house is closer, Ron,

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00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:01,879
get you UK, your mom,
Kirsten whispered, her voice trembling.

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00:15:03,279 --> 00:15:07,279
Her breath came out as fog.
The mangled woman remained in place, but

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00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:11,480
her single eye was locked on Kirsten. Now before our eyes, she blinked

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forward, three feet closer in Kirsten's
direction. I wanted to reach for her

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00:15:13,759 --> 00:15:18,320
hand, but it seemed so far
away. I looked at her freckled face,

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00:15:18,919 --> 00:15:24,360
tears streaming down them as she stood
as still as possible. But I

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00:15:24,399 --> 00:15:28,159
whimpered, and the mangled woman blinked
again. A few more feet, facing

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my direction, without a single sound, The eye glared angrily at me.

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I sobbed as she grew closer.
Once more, her eye dilated in response

205
00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:41,840
to my noise, and at her
side, her only remaining hand twitched.

206
00:15:41,399 --> 00:15:46,440
Just go, kirsten shout echoed across
the park, rustling birds from the trees.

207
00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:54,720
I turned and ran, my shoes, skipping down the sidewalk. I

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00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:58,679
couldn't breathe. I looked over my
shoulder, the terrif. I looked on

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00:15:58,759 --> 00:16:03,240
Kirsten's face and the woman shifting closer, burning itself into my memory. Even

210
00:16:03,279 --> 00:16:07,399
as she drew closer to her,
Kirston kept her eyes on me, weeping

211
00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:11,399
silently as she watched me go.
As she made sure I could get away.

212
00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:15,120
My house was only a few trailers
away, but I felt like I

213
00:16:15,159 --> 00:16:18,919
was running across town. My legs
were weak, my thoughts raced. The

214
00:16:19,039 --> 00:16:22,159
further I got from the yard,
the warmer it seemed to get. The

215
00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:26,600
sun began to feel hot, but
my blood was still cold. I tried

216
00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:29,039
to focus on the patio door to
my home, or my mom would be

217
00:16:29,039 --> 00:16:33,159
inside where I could get her to
save us. The adrenaline crawled across me

218
00:16:33,279 --> 00:16:36,240
like ice, and I thought,
just for a moment, that everything was

219
00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:40,120
going to be okay. It was
all just a nightmare. My mom would

220
00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:41,679
show up and fix things, just
like she did all the other times I

221
00:16:41,679 --> 00:16:45,919
had a problem. By the time
I made it to my yard, Kirsten

222
00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:52,840
screamed. The shrill cry of terror
and pain made me stumble and I fell

223
00:16:52,879 --> 00:16:59,320
to the ground. I looked behind
me frantically, but Kirsten and the woman

224
00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:04,559
were gone. All I could see
was an empty yard, and I started

225
00:17:04,559 --> 00:17:08,680
shaking. I looked to my front
door, then back to where I left

226
00:17:08,759 --> 00:17:11,599
Kirsten. I didn't know what to
do. I thought it would take too

227
00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:15,079
much time to get my mom.
I shook and sobbed on the ground as

228
00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:22,640
my adolescent brain tried to compute the
right thing to do. I just wanted

229
00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:29,759
to help. I wanted her to
be okay, and my fear I wet

230
00:17:29,799 --> 00:17:34,440
myself. Behind me, Kirsten screamed
again. She was getting further away.

231
00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:37,599
I got back on my feet and
I ran back to the phantom trailer,

232
00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:41,400
cursing myself for leaving her alone.
We should have just ran together. Why

233
00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:45,880
didn't we just run together? No, no, no, no, I

234
00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:49,880
sobbed my stomach desperately wanting to purge
its contents. My legs begged me to

235
00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:53,480
stop, and I pushed them forward. My sneakers scuffed the sidewalk as the

236
00:17:53,519 --> 00:17:57,039
hot trail of urine ran down my
leg I ran past the neighbor's lot and

237
00:17:57,119 --> 00:18:02,279
round the corner of the trailer shouldn't
exist. When I got to the yard,

238
00:18:02,319 --> 00:18:06,839
I couldn't see either of them.
The same awful chill returned, and

239
00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:11,759
a mist was working its way across
the yard. My eyes followed the source,

240
00:18:11,839 --> 00:18:17,279
a ghostly fog that was cascading down
the porch steps. It was spilling

241
00:18:17,279 --> 00:18:22,039
from the trailer. The tiny crack
of the door and the darkness inside the

242
00:18:22,119 --> 00:18:26,000
doorway groaned as the fog billowed out, widening slightly with a creek. The

243
00:18:26,039 --> 00:18:32,480
window started to bleed and the shutters
shriveled like burning plastic. The worst thing

244
00:18:32,519 --> 00:18:40,440
of all was what I saw in
the trees. The woman was dragging Kirsten

245
00:18:40,519 --> 00:18:44,640
by her arm, painfully whipping her
around each time she blinked up the tree,

246
00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:48,960
dragging her towards the highway. I
screamed for her to stop. The

247
00:18:48,039 --> 00:18:52,720
mangled woman paused only for a moment. Her destroyed mouth reverberating with what I

248
00:18:52,720 --> 00:19:00,720
could only describe as a snarl.
Kirsten howled in pain as she the woman,

249
00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:06,559
the bruising grip worsening as her helpless
hands passed through a seemingly ethereal body.

250
00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:11,640
Unnatural and horrible. The mangled woman
ascended the hill, each freeze frame

251
00:19:11,759 --> 00:19:15,400
blink bringing them closer to the roaring
traffic. I ran after them. I

252
00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:18,920
made it halfway across the yard before
my foot caught something, setting a face

253
00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:22,400
first into the foggy ground. My
palm slapped the ground, softening the fall

254
00:19:22,519 --> 00:19:26,200
on something rough and sharp. I
tried to get up, but something grabbed

255
00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:30,799
my ankle, winding tight like rope. As I tried to shake it free.

256
00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:36,720
Kirsten's screens got weaker the further she
got from me. The fog dispersed

257
00:19:36,759 --> 00:19:40,519
as I thrashed to be free,
and though I saw no grass at all,

258
00:19:40,599 --> 00:19:47,160
the canvas of pine needles and leaves
was replaced by hundreds thousands of dead

259
00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:52,039
birds. I looked behind me and
shouted for help, hoping to see my

260
00:19:52,119 --> 00:19:57,279
mom or one of the neighbors rushing
to help. I saw nothing but an

261
00:19:57,279 --> 00:20:03,720
empty street, twisting vines wrapping around
my ankles. When I turned back to

262
00:20:03,759 --> 00:20:07,279
the hill, Kirsten was holding onto
a tree, trying to resist the mangled

263
00:20:07,279 --> 00:20:12,279
woman's grip. Her fingers clung to
the bark, and her sneakers formed jagged

264
00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:17,039
ruts in the earth. This slowed
the woman for a moment, but she

265
00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:22,720
retaliated by breaking Kirsten's wrist. The
wet snap followed by the worst sound I'd

266
00:20:22,759 --> 00:20:27,480
ever heard. I wanted to say, I broke free. Sometimes when I

267
00:20:27,559 --> 00:20:33,000
dream, I break free from the
vines and I make it through the fog.

268
00:20:34,079 --> 00:20:40,839
Other times, grown ups show up
and everything's okay. Sometimes Kusten has

269
00:20:40,839 --> 00:20:45,000
a strength to free herself, we
get away together. And sometimes there's no

270
00:20:45,119 --> 00:20:56,720
mangled woman at all. It's only
a beaver. In reality, the true

271
00:20:56,799 --> 00:21:07,279
ending can never be denied. The
version where my scream only joins hers scream.

272
00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:11,599
As I reach helplessly and the mangled
woman makes it to the road,

273
00:21:12,519 --> 00:21:18,920
I watch as the truck takes them, an impact so forceful and sudden they

274
00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:23,480
simply blink away, leaving nothing but
streaks on the highway and a hat in

275
00:21:23,519 --> 00:21:30,400
the wind that matched the color.
The fog recedes into the trailer like a

276
00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:34,319
movie being rewound. The blood seeps
back into the glass, and the curtains

277
00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:41,079
unshrivel. The warmth returns, and
the parents flock outside, mortified and speechless

278
00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:45,160
as they press me for answers.
In time, my screaming fades, replaced

279
00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:59,119
by the howling of sirens in the
distance. I look up from the steering

280
00:21:59,119 --> 00:22:03,160
wheel and dry my tear. The
parking lot is empty, and everyone else

281
00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:07,160
has left for work except me.
I think of the images in my head,

282
00:22:07,759 --> 00:22:12,680
the weeping eyes I can't unsee,
cries I can't seem to forget.

283
00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:18,559
When I start my car and shift
out of park, I think about the

284
00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:22,559
years that have passed by. I
think of how I never really spoke to

285
00:22:22,599 --> 00:22:26,240
my friends again after that day,
and how everyone seemed to chalk it up

286
00:22:26,279 --> 00:22:33,519
to two kids who were never supposed
to play by the highway. The park

287
00:22:33,559 --> 00:22:38,519
seemed to fall apart after that,
Kirsten's parents moving first, with my family

288
00:22:38,559 --> 00:22:42,920
to follow. I heard some sort
of mass exodus followed, a tiny,

289
00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:48,799
little poor park reduced to nothing but
a memory to the nearby bars of traveling

290
00:22:48,839 --> 00:22:57,480
truckers. Another traffic accident, another
poor child lost. Tonight, instead of

291
00:22:57,480 --> 00:23:00,920
taking my usual route, I took
a de tour. I take the expressway

292
00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:06,079
until I see a road, one
so ignored and unkempty wouldn't know it was

293
00:23:06,079 --> 00:23:11,839
there if it wasn't for the reflecting
green sign, a sign faded and almost

294
00:23:11,839 --> 00:23:18,319
illegible with age, a sign that
reads Rainbow Road. I turn onto the

295
00:23:18,319 --> 00:23:22,920
winding path, one that feels more
like the entrance to a cemetery than a

296
00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:29,720
back road. My car rolls over
broken pavement and traverses potholes until I see

297
00:23:29,759 --> 00:23:33,160
something in the distance, the only
landmark in the otherwise empty place that's been

298
00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:38,200
consumed by weeds and hoover growth.
As I approach the line of old,

299
00:23:38,279 --> 00:23:47,319
rusted mailboxes, I slow down.
Ahead is the concrete circle. But there's

300
00:23:47,319 --> 00:23:52,480
no homes, only a loop that's
been slowly swallowed by the forests surrounding it.

301
00:23:52,319 --> 00:23:56,279
My headlights cut through the unnatural dark, the special kind that engulfs in

302
00:23:56,319 --> 00:24:02,359
the middle of nowhere. I think
a hot summer's day and a bunch of

303
00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:06,920
bored kids with nothing to do.
Letting my car idly crawl, I pull

304
00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:11,319
into the loop and survey my surroundings. On Rainbow Road. There are no

305
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:15,680
mobile units to be seen. Each
passing slab of the empty lot looks like

306
00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:21,279
a gravestone, a gritty reminder of
young, little lives that will be forever

307
00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:25,960
changed. I passed by Kirsten's old
lot, think of her freckled face,

308
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:29,839
the way she laughed, and the
way she would roll her eyes when I

309
00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:33,720
made stupid jokes. I passed by
the old lots of my friends' houses and

310
00:24:33,799 --> 00:24:37,559
wondered where they're at in the world. I passed by the lot where my

311
00:24:37,599 --> 00:24:41,680
home used to be, and I
think of my mother a time before the

312
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:48,119
therapy. I went through the time
before she started talking less and less.

313
00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:53,160
Driving past the old vacant lot,
I see no mangled woman and no green

314
00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:59,319
trailer, only the light of cars
flying by the highway on the hill beyond.

315
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,400
I look at this one longer,
expecting to see something more, something

316
00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:08,759
of meaning. I look over the
weathered surface of its foundation, years of

317
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:15,039
rain slowly chipping away at the concrete, the grass that's overtaken the driveway,

318
00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:19,440
the thin layer of gravel reclaimed by
earth. I stare into the trees.

319
00:25:19,519 --> 00:25:23,279
I look at every wicked branch in
the night. I search for those twisted

320
00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:29,599
limbs and malformed face, and wonder
if it's hiding somewhere in there. I

321
00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:36,920
listen for the screams and find cicadas
instead, nothing but empty lots of overgrown

322
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:42,759
grass and fleeting rodents. When I
reach the end of the circle, I

323
00:25:42,839 --> 00:25:48,160
see the exit and stop. I
see the winding road, and how it's

324
00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:52,079
been so long since I've been here, how I'll have no reason to come

325
00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:56,160
back. I let off the break
and I keep turning left, going over

326
00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:59,920
the same vacant spaces again. But
this time I think of the good times.

327
00:26:00,799 --> 00:26:03,240
I think of every dare that didn't
end in tragedy. I think of

328
00:26:03,279 --> 00:26:07,960
every boring summer day where we climbed
trees or played tag. I think of

329
00:26:08,319 --> 00:26:14,160
every smile Kirsten made, and how
that would give me butterflies in my stomach.

330
00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:17,960
When I reached the end of the
circle, I decided to go again,

331
00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:22,880
my head filled with laughter and smiles, the kind no longer thought by

332
00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:29,400
a late twenties man, and that
one's through leads to another and another,

333
00:26:30,599 --> 00:26:36,000
each passing tree in a remembered backyard, spawning memories long buried under the surface

334
00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:42,720
and lost, long gone memories deserving
remembrance. I kept on the loop for

335
00:26:42,759 --> 00:26:45,640
a while, holding the same angle
on the wheel as I drove in a

336
00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:53,559
circle into the late hours of the
night. I thought of many memories,

337
00:26:55,599 --> 00:27:04,519
reliving them like they were yesterday,
until something changed. A flashing strobe was

338
00:27:04,519 --> 00:27:08,039
blinding, unexpected, and part of
me wondered how I didn't even see it

339
00:27:08,079 --> 00:27:11,759
coming in the first place. The
squad car may have followed me with his

340
00:27:11,839 --> 00:27:15,519
lights off for a while, and
I was none the wiser. I pulled

341
00:27:15,519 --> 00:27:18,839
my car over right in front of
where my old house used to be,

342
00:27:18,319 --> 00:27:22,640
putting in a park, I sighed
as he ran my plates. The cop

343
00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:26,119
took their time, both of our
engines running idly in the middle of nowhere.

344
00:27:26,839 --> 00:27:30,000
When they finally emerged from their car, I had my license and registration

345
00:27:30,079 --> 00:27:33,039
ready. I rolled down the window
in time to see an old officer,

346
00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:37,319
headlights illuminating a mustached face, white
with age. When I offered my paperwork,

347
00:27:37,319 --> 00:27:41,559
he waved it off with a question. What are you doing out here

348
00:27:41,599 --> 00:27:45,079
this time of night? Kid?
Getting high? Getting drunk? He asked

349
00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:51,119
impatiently as he looked inside my car. No, just visiting an old friend,

350
00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:55,880
I guess, I said, and
he blinked at me. Very funny.

351
00:27:56,359 --> 00:27:57,960
And how many times they get called
out here? Look, you kids

352
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:03,680
come out here screwing around shooting up
causing trouble. There's no reason for it.

353
00:28:03,319 --> 00:28:07,240
Maybe after they set fire the last
trailer out of here, we leveled

354
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:10,920
it with the bulldozer and that'd be
the end of it. Now you're here

355
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:15,039
driving circles until dispatch picks it up. There ain't nothing out here, kid

356
00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:18,839
either. You're lying and you got
the wrong address, he said sternly,

357
00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:25,480
his frown curving his mustache. She
passed away a long time ago, she

358
00:28:25,559 --> 00:28:29,359
was. She was hit by a
truck on the highway, I said,

359
00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:33,960
and there was an immediate sadness in
his eyes. Sorry to hear that,

360
00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:38,559
he said, and collected himself.
I was a long time ago, but

361
00:28:38,599 --> 00:28:44,640
I remember it clearly. I was
first on the scene. Terrible, terrible

362
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:48,759
thing. My family bought flowers out
of here for years after everyone moved away.

363
00:28:48,839 --> 00:28:52,160
They were the last people who came
by that weren't trying to cause trouble.

364
00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:57,640
After a while, they stopped coming. Now this place is just an

365
00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:06,200
overgrown hole. I thought of the
family visiting each year. I thought of

366
00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:11,039
long wilted flowers, deeply saddening me. I looked around the park as the

367
00:29:11,039 --> 00:29:15,319
officer collected himself, looking over empty
lots until my eyes rested on that particular

368
00:29:15,319 --> 00:29:18,680
one two doors down from mine.
I felt the icy chill crawl over me

369
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:23,240
again, but the officer's voice pulled
me away. You you're that boy,

370
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:27,720
but thought i'd see you again,
let alone recognize you. Yeah, I

371
00:29:27,759 --> 00:29:32,559
haven't been here since it happened.
I felt like i'd stopped by, I

372
00:29:32,599 --> 00:29:37,240
said, peering through the light at
him. I'm sorry I gave you such

373
00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:41,000
a rough time. I'm sorry about
your friend. People like to come out

374
00:29:41,039 --> 00:29:44,759
here and cause trouble. Park's never
the same after that, and once everyone

375
00:29:44,799 --> 00:29:48,480
moved out, it's been a hot
spot for squatters, and I liked for

376
00:29:48,519 --> 00:29:52,000
a while. It's private property.
The owner calls and raises hell every time

377
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:56,799
he sees people out of here.
I understand your paying respects. I don't

378
00:29:56,880 --> 00:30:00,759
have to ask you to leave.
I'll follow you out. Starting to leave.

379
00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:04,920
Without much to say, I just
nodded and rolled up my window.

380
00:30:06,559 --> 00:30:10,039
The officer started walking away, and
I watched his silhouette shrink in the side

381
00:30:10,039 --> 00:30:12,920
mirror as he made his way to
his car. When he reached the door,

382
00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:18,319
he stopped his hand, pausing as
he reached for the handle. After

383
00:30:18,319 --> 00:30:22,759
a moment, he turned around and
he started walking back. I waited for

384
00:30:22,759 --> 00:30:27,240
the mustache face to come into view
and rolled the window down again. Hey

385
00:30:27,359 --> 00:30:33,119
kid, he asked, his brow
flurring A little, yeah, I said,

386
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:37,480
the air feeling chillier, A light
fog rolling over the road. The

387
00:30:37,559 --> 00:30:42,359
sight of it made me sick to
my stomach. Back then, when the

388
00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:47,440
accident happened and I arrived on the
scene, he kept saying the same things

389
00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:51,160
over and over. Green trailer,
lady in the woods, he said,

390
00:30:51,559 --> 00:30:56,039
leaning on the door, I remember, I said, But I'm not looking

391
00:30:56,039 --> 00:31:00,960
at him any more. My eyes
are held ahead. Are you sure that's

392
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:06,759
what you saw? Are you sure
that's what happened, he asked. I

393
00:31:06,799 --> 00:31:10,920
could feel him steady in my face. I'm positive, no doubt in my

394
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:15,640
mind. Why, I asked,
looking to the side of the road,

395
00:31:15,279 --> 00:31:21,920
to the darkness beyond the headlights.
Oh. When we arrived, there was

396
00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:26,039
no trailer, no woman in the
woods either, As every resident in the

397
00:31:26,079 --> 00:31:30,759
park, nobody saw anything. We
searched for miles, thinking maybe you're right.

398
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:36,079
Someone who had fled the scene even
got a helicopter. Did you find

399
00:31:36,119 --> 00:31:41,839
anyone, I said, gripping the
steering wheel. Nobody ah. In the

400
00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:48,599
dark, I traced the faint outline
of something ahead, rectangular in shape.

401
00:31:48,799 --> 00:31:52,440
Yeah, but here's the thing.
After talking to all the neighbors, we

402
00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:56,119
spoke to the landlord. When we
mentioned what you said you saw, you

403
00:31:56,200 --> 00:32:01,039
turned white, almost fainted that it
was in pots possible. Said he'd been

404
00:32:01,119 --> 00:32:05,519
running the park for over twenty years, and all that time there only been

405
00:32:05,599 --> 00:32:09,519
one green trailer. In the eighties, he said, and paused to chew

406
00:32:09,519 --> 00:32:15,839
his lip, young couple used to
live there, pretty young woman, drunk

407
00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:20,119
for a husband. Whenever he wasn't
sunk in a bottle, he was getting

408
00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:24,720
the drugs anyway, Always late with
rent, always yelling and screaming at each

409
00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:29,079
other, he said. Sometimes when
they fought, he'd beat her up pretty

410
00:32:29,119 --> 00:32:32,880
bad. She'd walk around the loop
waiting for her husband to calm down or

411
00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:37,039
fall asleep. Said she'd ask for
help from the neighbors, knocking on doors

412
00:32:37,039 --> 00:32:40,319
as she went. They helped at
first, but it happened a lot,

413
00:32:40,799 --> 00:32:45,799
he said. She would always go
back home, they'd make up things,

414
00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:51,000
be quiet for a while. They
would always get bad again. You know,

415
00:32:51,119 --> 00:32:53,799
back then it was a different time. The police didn't do much to

416
00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:59,559
help her. I'm afraid after a
while they stopped taking her calls. Not

417
00:32:59,599 --> 00:33:05,240
long after that, the neighbors stopped
helping them all together. Just a thing

418
00:33:05,279 --> 00:33:09,720
that happened. The fog started to
get thicker, but the officer didn't seem

419
00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:15,960
to notice. One night, and
after an especially bad fight, he beat

420
00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:19,599
her up real bad and he left
took the car, left her there,

421
00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:23,240
landlord said. She came out,
eventually limping, her face all swollen,

422
00:33:23,799 --> 00:33:27,519
mumbling his name as she walked the
loop in the middle of the night,

423
00:33:28,359 --> 00:33:32,759
waiting for him to come back.
I guess, but never did. She

424
00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:37,440
kept walking even after everyone put their
lights out for the night. When morning

425
00:33:37,519 --> 00:33:44,200
came, she was gone. Through
the fog. I could see the outline

426
00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:49,960
of windows in the rectangular shape and
the dark structure of a porch. The

427
00:33:50,039 --> 00:33:52,440
police found her on the highway hitting
run. I mean knows if it was

428
00:33:52,519 --> 00:33:57,359
grief taking hold or she was just
trying to catch a ride in town.

429
00:33:58,079 --> 00:34:01,400
Anyway, pulled the trailer from the
lot and never put another one on it,

430
00:34:01,599 --> 00:34:08,119
never allowed another green one either.
Thought a Kirsten scream the floating baseball

431
00:34:08,199 --> 00:34:12,639
cap. I'll look, kid,
I don't know what you saw that day,

432
00:34:12,679 --> 00:34:15,639
but I'm sorry, bab the whole
thing. I'm sorry you lost your

433
00:34:15,679 --> 00:34:22,639
friend, the officer said, patted
his hand on the hood awkwardly. Do

434
00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:25,880
you see it now, I asked, pointing forward. The officer raised his

435
00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:31,199
eyebrows and looked into the distance.
I watched as his face softened with worry

436
00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:37,280
and his eyes narrowed on what lay
ahead. Without a word, he grabbed

437
00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:40,480
his flashlight and aimed it in the
yard. With a faint click, the

438
00:34:40,559 --> 00:34:45,320
beam cut through the dark, and
he panned it slowly round the property.

439
00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:51,920
I watched it shine over the fog, and watched it shine on a familiar

440
00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:58,800
dingy green paint, ratty stained drapes, and a mangled figure at the end

441
00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:05,400
of the yard. I don't see
anything, kid, he said, and

442
00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:12,079
shut off his flashlight. I looked
into the darkness, transfixed on what I

443
00:35:12,159 --> 00:35:20,440
knew was still standing there. Me
neither, sorry for causing trouble. You

444
00:35:20,519 --> 00:35:22,800
have a good night, officer,
I said. I started rolling up my

445
00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:28,400
window. He looked like you wanted
to stop me, but in the end

446
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:32,519
he stood there and let me go. I drove past the empty lot and

447
00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:37,960
rusting mailboxes, keeping my eyes forward
until I was through the winding road that

448
00:35:37,039 --> 00:35:42,079
led out the park. I didn't
realize I was holding my breath until I

449
00:35:42,159 --> 00:35:45,519
was turning back onto the main road. Once I was out, the icy

450
00:35:45,559 --> 00:35:50,079
feeling withered away, and I was
welcomed back by the comfort of green traffic

451
00:35:50,159 --> 00:35:53,400
lights. As I left the park
behind me, I released my grip on

452
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:59,679
the wheel and I felt the tension
of my shoulders melt away. I sighed

453
00:35:59,679 --> 00:36:01,400
exa ucidly, keeping my foot on
the gas until I made it to the

454
00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:07,239
clover leaf. It led me here. I took the ramp quickly, knowing

455
00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:12,559
the highway would overlook the park and
ultimately take me home. I didn't know

456
00:36:12,599 --> 00:36:15,119
why I took that way, where
there was just me being defiant, or

457
00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:21,239
maybe I just felt like I had
to, or maybe inside the safety of

458
00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:27,639
my car, I thought I'd be
all right. Merging onto the highway,

459
00:36:27,679 --> 00:36:31,320
I sped onto the overlook and could
see the empty park in its wooded sanctuary

460
00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:37,199
below. I could see the slow
moving headlights of the officer leaving. The

461
00:36:37,239 --> 00:36:44,519
fog and the trailer were gone,
and with it the mangled woman. I

462
00:36:44,559 --> 00:36:47,400
returned my eyes to the road just
in time to see a hitchhiker walking on

463
00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:52,360
the shoulder. They walked slowly,
leisurely, kicking rocks as they went.

464
00:36:52,719 --> 00:36:54,519
As I approached, they stopped and
looked at me, slowly waving. As

465
00:36:54,519 --> 00:37:04,039
I rapidly approached. It was a
little girl with a freckled face and a

466
00:37:04,119 --> 00:37:15,159
red ball cap. When I checked
the rearview mirror, she was gone,

467
00:37:21,119 --> 00:37:22,719
Hey, their kids, it's me, mister creepy pasta. And I want

468
00:37:22,719 --> 00:37:25,559
to tell you thank you so much
for watching tonight's video if you're watching on

469
00:37:25,599 --> 00:37:30,119
YouTube. Thank you so much for
listening to tonight's podcast if you're listening on

470
00:37:30,159 --> 00:37:32,679
Spotify. And thank you guys for
doing that thing where you subscribe, where

471
00:37:32,679 --> 00:37:35,960
you hit the bell, where you
hit like, or you leave a little

472
00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:37,519
comment at the bottom or wherever you
can leave comments at. I don't know.

473
00:37:37,559 --> 00:37:40,079
I don't use Spotify that much.
And finally, I want to give

474
00:37:40,079 --> 00:37:45,440
a huge thank you to everybody who
supports me on Patreon. This past year

475
00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:49,760
has been rough. I've been gone
for quite a while trying to get things

476
00:37:50,559 --> 00:37:55,119
organized for my own life and Patreon
subscribers, you guys who subscribe everywhere.

477
00:37:55,400 --> 00:38:01,440
This has kept me afloat in turbulent
waters. So I want to give a

478
00:38:01,559 --> 00:38:07,639
very special thank you too. Jordan
Humble, Diana Kraus Disciple Strategy Wolf,

479
00:38:07,679 --> 00:38:12,119
Emoji, Sullyman, Brandon Mendoza,
Brimstone, Pandemonium, Caltuna, William Wellington,

480
00:38:12,119 --> 00:38:15,519
Scruffy, the Janitor, Breanna Crowe, Leketa Canizalez, Smiley, the

481
00:38:15,519 --> 00:38:19,519
Psychotic, Jenna, Dante k and
Kaid Simba's Bloody Mojo, Nephistopheles, kurz

482
00:38:19,559 --> 00:38:22,719
Po's Primark, m Hissus, Corneo, Yarhoul, Verbal Horror, Amber Clark,

483
00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:25,960
j Kearnes, Mike Himbo, Jerry
Crusader, Jocobo, Gordon Dallas,

484
00:38:27,039 --> 00:38:30,679
Esteban, Seclude, Salty Surprise,
Red Shadow Cat, Turtleman, Cryolinian,

485
00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:32,920
Mister Marcus Splitz, Dirt Divers zero
three zero, Voice of Sand, Sacamel,

486
00:38:34,039 --> 00:38:36,920
Melted Lake, Tali Sue, William
King, Sashi Suzaku, Croakannut five

487
00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:39,159
o' nine, Stricken, Freddykrueger,
Hadi's Nephew, Ascid System, Sky Harper,

488
00:38:39,239 --> 00:38:43,159
Niko Kayle, The Ginger, bros
Erin Stormcrow, Daniel Polson and Corey

489
00:38:43,199 --> 00:38:45,800
Kensen, I really appreciate your support
and I cannot thank you. In novel