1 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:08,519 Speaker 1: Hello, I'm welcomed stories all the time. Glad you are here. 2 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:11,720 Let's get into it. I first noticed it when Ema 3 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:14,720 Hale didn't show up for Skull. It was a Tuesday morning, 4 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:17,440 gray windlass, the sky bruise purple with the promise of rain. 5 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:20,160 Emma sat two rows in front of me in chemistry, 6 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:23,320 not that we were closer anything. She was one of 7 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:25,800 those quite kids, the type who always did her homocon 8 00:00:25,879 --> 00:00:28,559 time and never spoke unless cold on. But that day 9 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:32,039 her seat was empty. Mister Karro didn't say anything. He 10 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:35,200 just kept scribbling equations on the whiteboard, oblivious or uninterested. 11 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:39,359 Nobody asked, not Lucy, who Emma partnered with n Labs, 12 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,119 not Jake who used to borrow her calculator, not even 13 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:46,079 mister Caerro, who marked her present without looking up. That 14 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:48,920 was the first time I really noticed it. By Thursday, 15 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:51,600 two more kids were gone. Benji Lawler and soft A 16 00:00:51,679 --> 00:00:55,799 Cruise just gone. I checked their usual spots in the cafeteria. 17 00:00:56,439 --> 00:01:01,039 I scold their socials not then, no updates, no good 18 00:01:01,079 --> 00:01:04,079 bye pos, not even a dramatic cry for help. It 19 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:06,840 was like they never existed. But when I asked Marcus 20 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:10,719 about Benji, he looked confused. Who's Benji, he asked, mid 21 00:01:10,719 --> 00:01:14,000 By of Vasoka French fry. You know, I said, Benji Lawler. 22 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:17,519 We all did that group project in history together, you 23 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:20,079 and me and Benji and Sofia. He blinked at me. 24 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:22,840 I seriously have no idea what you are talking about. Man. 25 00:01:23,439 --> 00:01:26,599 He wasn't joking. There wasn't a hint of sarcism, no 26 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:29,200 smirk on his face. It was like the names they 27 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:31,879 said had slipped past him like smoke. I let it 28 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:35,040 go for the moment. That night, I dug through my yearbook, 29 00:01:35,079 --> 00:01:37,719 page after page, every face accounted for except the ones 30 00:01:37,719 --> 00:01:40,519 that weren't. Emma's picture had been replaced by a blurry 31 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:43,280 shot of an empty glass room. Benji and Sofi weren't 32 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:46,920 there at all. Their names weren't even listed alphabetically. It 33 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:51,560 wasn't just the school. I started checking more places, street corners, 34 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:55,719 old photos, class rosters. They were being erased, not just taken, 35 00:01:55,799 --> 00:01:59,840 but deleted, and no one cared. Not my teachers, not 36 00:02:00,159 --> 00:02:02,719 my friends, not my mom who used to waive that 37 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:05,159 ema when she dropped me off at school. I wrote 38 00:02:05,159 --> 00:02:07,400 their names down on a scrap of notebook paper, just 39 00:02:07,439 --> 00:02:09,840 to make sure I wasn't going crazy. I kept it 40 00:02:09,879 --> 00:02:12,080 folded in my back pocket like a totem light proved 41 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:14,319 that they'd been real. By the end of the week, 42 00:02:14,439 --> 00:02:17,159 I had nine names, and the list kept growing. The 43 00:02:17,159 --> 00:02:20,120 weirdest part, I felt it too. I tug at the 44 00:02:20,199 --> 00:02:22,080 edge of my memory, like something trying to pull the 45 00:02:22,159 --> 00:02:25,719 names from my head. Smudged their faces into haze. Sometimes 46 00:02:25,719 --> 00:02:27,560 I'd look at the list and not remember who one 47 00:02:27,599 --> 00:02:31,639 of them was. Not clearly they laughed, the way they walked, 48 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:35,000 the sound of their voice. It all blurred, like watercolors 49 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:37,919 bleeding in the rain. But I knew they matted. I 50 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:42,560 knew they were real. So I started documenting everything, names, descriptions, 51 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:46,080 last known whereabouts. I filled a whole spiral notebook, page 52 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:49,199 after page. I stayed up late every night, writing before 53 00:02:49,199 --> 00:02:52,159 the memories could fade. I was terrified that if I didn't, 54 00:02:52,199 --> 00:02:55,199 I'd forget them too. It wasn't just students any more. 55 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,840 Mister Greeley, the librarian inn done, Missess Hammond, who ran 56 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:03,879 the bakery on Maple done, two cops, a nurse, an 57 00:03:04,039 --> 00:03:07,360 entire family on Alder Street. None. The rest of the 58 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:10,599 town moved like nothing had happened. The bakery was closed, 59 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:14,759 s Missus Hammond retired, the cops transferred out of town. 60 00:03:15,319 --> 00:03:19,479 The empty houses for clothes. No one remembered the people 61 00:03:19,479 --> 00:03:22,520 who lived there, not even their neighbors. One day I 62 00:03:22,599 --> 00:03:24,599 biked on Oldo Street and saw a real to nailing 63 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:27,280 up a for sale sign on the Martinson's lawn. You 64 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:31,280 looking to buy, he asked, No. I sat starring at 65 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:34,000 the house. What happened to the family that lived here? 66 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:39,840 He squinted, family, yet two kids mister Martinson's worked at 67 00:03:39,879 --> 00:03:44,039 the post office. The realtor's brow furrowed. There's no Martinson's 68 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:48,039 listed here. This place has been empty for years. That night, 69 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:50,960 I couldn't remember what the Martinsons looked like. I only 70 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:53,599 remembered that I should remember, and I was sure how 71 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:56,520 much longer that would last. So I made a decision. 72 00:03:57,159 --> 00:03:59,439 I was going to figure out what was happening, Who 73 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:02,479 or what was making people disappear. Why no one cared, 74 00:04:03,039 --> 00:04:05,560 Why only I could remember, And I wasn't going to 75 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,520 stop until I had answers, even if I was next. 76 00:04:09,199 --> 00:04:12,120 I started with the old library, not the new annex 77 00:04:12,159 --> 00:04:15,080 with the fluorescent lights in salth Check at Kiosk's the 78 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:17,759 real library the one tucked behind town Hall, wrapped in 79 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:20,519 ivy in time. It hadn't been open to the public 80 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:23,680 for years, not since the city budget cuts pushed everything digital. 81 00:04:24,199 --> 00:04:26,560 But the building was still there, squath and stubborn, like 82 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:28,279 it was waiting for some one to remember it matter. 83 00:04:28,959 --> 00:04:30,759 I picked the lock with a Bobby pinn hat stolen 84 00:04:30,759 --> 00:04:33,600 from my sister's bathroom. It took longer than I expected, 85 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:36,759 twenty minutes of cursing and scrape knuckles, but eventually the 86 00:04:36,759 --> 00:04:39,680 tumbles clicked and the heavy wooden door creaked open. Thus 87 00:04:39,759 --> 00:04:42,240 greeted me first, thick and stale, curling in the moonlight 88 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:45,319 like ghost breath. There smelled a forgotten paper and mild you. 89 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:48,240 I stepped inside and closed the door behind me, the 90 00:04:48,279 --> 00:04:51,160 click of the latch echoing too loudly. The shelves stood 91 00:04:51,199 --> 00:04:54,079 like sentinels in the dark. I moved through them, slowly, 92 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:57,240 sweeping my flashlight across faded spines and warp wood. I 93 00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:01,639 didn't know what I was looking for exactly, reco maybe proof, 94 00:05:02,319 --> 00:05:05,360 something untouched by whatever was happening out there. I found 95 00:05:05,399 --> 00:05:07,920 the archive's room in the back. It was locked, too, 96 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:10,560 but the door was old in the frame, brittle, one 97 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:13,639 hard cake, and it gave with a groan. Inside filing 98 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:17,519 cabinets floor to ceil, in rows of town records, photos, blueprints, 99 00:05:17,639 --> 00:05:20,600 yellowed newspaper stacked in bins. I dug through them like 100 00:05:20,639 --> 00:05:23,519 a man drowning looking for a rope. The further back 101 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,040 I went, the stranger things got. The chronicles Arkab stopped 102 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:31,600 updating names about six months ago. Obituaries vanished, school on 103 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:35,680 a rolls thinned, Church bulletins listed fewer and fewer congregants. 104 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,000 I even found a school yearbook from last year, and 105 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:42,160 just like the current one, entire pages were altered, some 106 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:44,959 students missing, others rearranged, as if to hide the gaps. 107 00:05:45,639 --> 00:05:47,639 It was like someone or something was editing the town 108 00:05:47,639 --> 00:05:51,240 in real time. And then I found it, an unlabeled 109 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:54,600 Manila foldo tucked behind a stack of zoning maps. Inside 110 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:57,920 were a series of black and white photos, aerial shots 111 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:01,319 of the town old maybe nineteen teen, sixties or seventies, 112 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:03,800 but each one had a date scribbled in red ink 113 00:06:03,879 --> 00:06:06,680 and circled on every furto was a blot, sometimes a building, 114 00:06:06,759 --> 00:06:08,920 sometimes a street, crossed out with a shaky X. In 115 00:06:08,959 --> 00:06:11,079 the corridor of the last photo. Some one had called 116 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:14,199 a single word, breech. I didn't know what that meant, 117 00:06:14,319 --> 00:06:16,519 but I knew it wasn't good. Then I heard it, 118 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:19,759 a soft creak, like a footstep on old floorboards. I 119 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:24,079 killed my flashlight, held my breath. A knellow creek closer. 120 00:06:24,759 --> 00:06:27,720 I wasn't alone. I pressed back against the file cabinet, 121 00:06:27,759 --> 00:06:30,759 heart racing, trying not to breathe too loud. The darkness 122 00:06:30,759 --> 00:06:34,160 in the room thickened. I couldn't hear breathing, couldn't see movement, 123 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:37,120 but I felt something like the air itself had teeth. 124 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:41,000 There was a whispery not in English, not even in 125 00:06:41,079 --> 00:06:45,160 sund really, just brusher, thought, not my own, brushing against 126 00:06:45,199 --> 00:06:48,759 my skull like ice water. You shouldn't be here. And then, 127 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:53,079 just like Daddy was gone. The air east. The silence settled. 128 00:06:53,759 --> 00:06:56,480 I flipped my leg back on. No one was there, 129 00:06:57,079 --> 00:06:58,879 but when I looked down, the folder was gone from 130 00:06:58,879 --> 00:07:01,879 my hands. Something had taken it, and it remembered me. 131 00:07:01,959 --> 00:07:04,120 I stumbled out of the library into the cold night air, 132 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:06,720 hot thudding like a war drum in my chest. The 133 00:07:06,759 --> 00:07:09,720 wind had picked up, slapping lease against the sidewalk, carrying 134 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:11,480 with it the distant hum of something I couldn't name, 135 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,560 like static or a memoryum reveling in real time. I 136 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:17,079 backed home like the devil was behind me. At every 137 00:07:17,079 --> 00:07:20,439 stop sign, I looked over my shoulder at every intersection, 138 00:07:20,639 --> 00:07:22,879 I half expected to see a shadow stepping just beyond 139 00:07:22,879 --> 00:07:25,240 the edge of the street lamp. But there was nothing. 140 00:07:25,959 --> 00:07:28,439 Just empty sidewalks, quiet houses, the kind of normal that 141 00:07:28,519 --> 00:07:31,360 felt too normal. When I got home, the kitchen light 142 00:07:31,439 --> 00:07:34,519 was still on. Ma'am was at the table, sipping camp 143 00:07:34,519 --> 00:07:36,720 malty and reading the same mystery novel she'd been re 144 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:39,959 reading for weeks. You're out late, she said, without looking up. 145 00:07:40,519 --> 00:07:44,279 I was studying, I lied, don't. She turned a page. 146 00:07:45,079 --> 00:07:47,600 Keep it up. Don't end up like that boy who. 147 00:07:48,199 --> 00:07:51,480 She stopped mid sentence, her brow furrowed, eyes glazed for 148 00:07:51,519 --> 00:07:56,439 a second, like who. I asked. Her lips moved, searching 149 00:07:56,439 --> 00:08:00,360 for a name. I I don't know. She murmured, it's 150 00:08:00,399 --> 00:08:02,959 on the tip of my tongue. I nodded, throw dry 151 00:08:03,639 --> 00:08:06,000 yet mine too. I went straight to my room and 152 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:07,720 locked the door, pulled the curtain shut up. In my 153 00:08:07,759 --> 00:08:11,000 note book, two more names had gunnfaint, like the pencil 154 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:13,639 had faded, or the paper itself was forgetting them. I 155 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:16,720 tried rewriting the letters, pressing hard, but the names resisted. 156 00:08:17,319 --> 00:08:19,759 Every stroke felt wrong, like I was trying to forge 157 00:08:19,759 --> 00:08:22,519 something I had never really known, but I had known them. 158 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:26,000 I remembered Sofy's laugh, the chippink nil polish on her thumbs, 159 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:29,000 the way Benji always wore a smatch socks, didn't I. 160 00:08:29,759 --> 00:08:34,320 The phone buzzed a known number. I answered, at first nothing, 161 00:08:34,919 --> 00:08:40,600 then breeding cello slow, then a voice raspby, like it 162 00:08:40,639 --> 00:08:45,519 had been scraped across glass. Stop digging, I froze, who 163 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:49,279 is this? You see them because you remember the voice quivered. 164 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:51,480 But the more you look, the more it sees you. 165 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:56,720 I stood up, My hand trembled, what's it? Static kissed 166 00:08:56,720 --> 00:09:00,159 through the line. Then you don't find the breech, it 167 00:09:00,279 --> 00:09:05,480 finds you. Click silence. I stared at the phone. My 168 00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:07,799 reflection looked back at me in the black screen, except 169 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:10,679 the room behind me was empty, but the reflection showed 170 00:09:10,679 --> 00:09:13,960 some one standing in the corner. I spun around. No 171 00:09:14,039 --> 00:09:16,960 one was there, just the cold press of something unseen, 172 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:19,840 culling around the age of my thoughts. The next morning, 173 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:21,919 I woke with a pounding headache, and a nurse leed 174 00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:24,879 My sheets were smearred with rost fratt stains, and the 175 00:09:24,919 --> 00:09:27,399 corners of my note book, my precious only proof, were 176 00:09:27,399 --> 00:09:29,240 curled and damp, like it had been left outside in 177 00:09:29,279 --> 00:09:33,080 the storm. I didn't remember falling asleep. I barely remembered 178 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:35,440 making it to dead. But I did remember the voice 179 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:37,120 in the phone, and the figure in the mirror, and 180 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:41,200 the word ditched, and reading across the photograph breech Skull 181 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:44,039 felt like a dream on pause. The hallways were quieter 182 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:47,320 than they should have been, not silent, but off. Conversations 183 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:50,480 that didn't quite make sense. After that started too late, 184 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:54,679 teacher's calling roll without realizing they were skipping names. I 185 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:57,039 passed the trophy case and caught my own reflection again, 186 00:09:57,639 --> 00:10:01,399 except this time the reflection didn't match. I was standing still, 187 00:10:02,039 --> 00:10:05,799 it was still walking. I blinked, it blinked. A moment 188 00:10:05,879 --> 00:10:10,399 later I backed away. Hey you okay, some one asked 189 00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:16,240 behind me. It was Marcy Chen. She ran track smart kind. 190 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:19,240 We went close, but I remembered when she broke her 191 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:21,759 wrist in Jim lassomes, Sir, I'd watch her to the 192 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:25,080 nurse's office. She'd laughed the hallway, even through the pane. 193 00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:28,039 You look like you've seen a ghost, she said. I 194 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:30,759 opened my mouth to say something, anything, but the words duck. 195 00:10:31,399 --> 00:10:35,480 Have you noticed anything weird lately? I finally asked, like 196 00:10:35,559 --> 00:10:40,799 people going missing? Her smile faltered. She glanced around, leaned in. Yes, 197 00:10:40,919 --> 00:10:43,879 that single word hit like lightning. You remember some one, 198 00:10:44,519 --> 00:10:48,879 I asked, desperate. She nodded slowly. A girl Brieled, as 199 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:52,480 she used to sit behind me in English, always wore 200 00:10:52,519 --> 00:10:54,960 these bigcadphones and drew in the margins of her note book. 201 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:57,200 But one day she was just gone, and no one 202 00:10:57,279 --> 00:11:01,519 said anything, not even misss Holt's. I even asked about her. 203 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:04,600 Holes looked at me like I was drunk. I stared 204 00:11:04,639 --> 00:11:08,559 at her. You wrote her name down, I tried, Marsey said, 205 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:10,879 but I can't find the note book any more. I 206 00:11:10,879 --> 00:11:13,679 think it disappeared with her. Hope sparked like a match 207 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:17,440 in my chest. Come with me, we need to compare notes, 208 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:20,399 she hastted. I was darting to the holly behind me. 209 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:24,120 Are you sure, because since I start of remembering Brielle, 210 00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:26,799 I feel like something's watching me. He got a call 211 00:11:26,879 --> 00:11:31,240 to number worse. She pulled up her sleeve. There were 212 00:11:31,279 --> 00:11:34,360 bruises on her forearm. Faint finger shaped. They showed up 213 00:11:34,399 --> 00:11:36,720 after I had a dream, she said. I was in 214 00:11:36,759 --> 00:11:39,399 my back yard, except the stars were wrong. There were 215 00:11:39,399 --> 00:11:42,240 no consolations, just a back hole where the sky should be, 216 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:44,919 and something was reaching through it. I didn't breathe for 217 00:11:44,919 --> 00:11:48,759 a full ten seconds. Marcy, I whispered. I think this 218 00:11:48,879 --> 00:11:51,159 town is being edited, like some one is cutting pieces 219 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:53,840 out of reality. And if we don't figure out why, 220 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:56,559 we're going to be next. She looked me dead in 221 00:11:56,600 --> 00:12:00,360 the eyes, then we better move fast. We did after 222 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:02,519 fourth period, slipped us through the side exit by the 223 00:12:02,559 --> 00:12:04,639 auto shop, the one where the security camera had been 224 00:12:04,639 --> 00:12:08,600 broken since sophomore year. No one stopped us, no one 225 00:12:08,639 --> 00:12:11,679 even seemed to notice. I glanced back once at the door. 226 00:12:11,720 --> 00:12:14,039 Swan shot behind us, and it struck me how quiet 227 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:16,159 it was, like the whole building was being muffled under 228 00:12:16,159 --> 00:12:18,600 a thick blanket of fog. We rode our backs to 229 00:12:18,639 --> 00:12:21,600 my house. Marci had a duffel bag with her, filled 230 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:24,679 with notes, old sketch books, and a Polaroid camera. Why 231 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:27,559 the camera, I asked. She zipped it open and pulled 232 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:30,080 it out like it was a weapon. Digital's too easy 233 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:33,720 to change, she said. Film stays rill for now, my 234 00:12:33,799 --> 00:12:37,519 mom was home. I wasn't surprised. Lately her shifts at 235 00:12:37,519 --> 00:12:40,039 the clinic had been erratic, like time itself had started 236 00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:43,120 raveling her schedule. Sometimes I wondered if she'd come home 237 00:12:43,159 --> 00:12:45,879 at all. We spread everything up on my bedroom floor, 238 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:48,879 my notebook, her sketches, loose papers with circled names and 239 00:12:48,919 --> 00:12:52,200 half faded memories. One name showed up in both our notes. 240 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:56,000 Brialdique's Marci had drawn her once months ago, just a 241 00:12:56,080 --> 00:12:59,120 quick sketch she did during lunch. The image was rough, 242 00:12:59,279 --> 00:13:01,600 mostly aligned shadows, but there was something about it that 243 00:13:01,679 --> 00:13:03,519 hit me in the gut, like seeing a goot smile. 244 00:13:04,159 --> 00:13:08,399 She was real, Marcy said, I know she was. I nodded. 245 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:12,600 That's two people who remember her. That's something. Then I 246 00:13:12,679 --> 00:13:14,960 noticed it at the edge of the drawing, almost hidden 247 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:17,559 in the corner of the page, a symbol, a tiny 248 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:20,519 triangle pointing downward with a circle in the middle. Did 249 00:13:20,519 --> 00:13:24,320 you draw this, I asked? She squinted number. I didn't 250 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:26,399 even know this that before I traced it with my finger. 251 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:28,080 It gave me a headache just looking at it, like 252 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:29,919 it wasn't meant to be seen. My vision swam for 253 00:13:29,919 --> 00:13:31,840 a second. The room tilted at yo kemas, I asked 254 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:33,840 in fine eye light. That night, after Marcy went her 255 00:13:33,879 --> 00:13:35,919 eyes scanned the symbol online. Nothing came up, not in 256 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:38,120 any language, not in the culp forms, not even in 257 00:13:38,159 --> 00:13:40,799 the word ast conspiracy SATs I could find. But just 258 00:13:40,799 --> 00:13:42,840 before I gave up, a message popped up on my screen. 259 00:13:43,399 --> 00:13:46,960 Not an AD, not a pop up, just a single sentence, 260 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:49,480 typed in bolve red across my giggle window. You are 261 00:13:49,519 --> 00:13:52,679 looking in the wrong direction. I stared at it, and 262 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:56,080 then the screen went black, all of it. Lights off, 263 00:13:56,639 --> 00:14:01,159 fan's dead rode or silent. The power was gone, and 264 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:03,919 I was no longer alone in the room. The temperature 265 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:07,000 dropped like a stone. My breath fogged in the sudden cold, 266 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:10,360 my skin prickling with goose bumps. I couldn't see anything, 267 00:14:10,679 --> 00:14:12,639 just to avoid where My room had been swallowed by 268 00:14:12,639 --> 00:14:15,399 a natural darkness, not the kind that comes when the 269 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:17,360 lights go out, but a thicker kind, like the dark 270 00:14:17,399 --> 00:14:21,720 itself was watching. I didn't move, didn't breathe. Something was there. 271 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:24,279 I could feel it behind me, weightless but massive, like 272 00:14:24,279 --> 00:14:26,360 a thunderhead crawling just above the ground. A run this 273 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:29,879 pressing into the world around it. My ears RN, my 274 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:34,440 limbs wouldn't respond. Then it spuck, not loud, never allowed, 275 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:39,080 but inside me. The words came like a migraine, sharp, pulsing, invasive, 276 00:14:39,799 --> 00:14:43,200 you cannot unsee. I turned slowly, against every instinct in 277 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:45,480 my body. There was a shape in the corner of 278 00:14:45,519 --> 00:14:49,919 the room, not a person, not quite. It stood too still, 279 00:14:50,519 --> 00:14:53,360 too long, like it had joints in the wrong places. 280 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:56,480 Its skin shimmered like oil and water, shifting through colors 281 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:00,559 that didn't have names, no face, just that's same triangle, 282 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:04,360 symbol pulsing red, branded into the center of its head, 283 00:15:04,399 --> 00:15:08,159 like a third eye. I tried to speak, My joe locked, 284 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:12,360 My tongue wouldn't obey. You cannot warn them. It raised 285 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:16,279 a hand, three long fingers extended. They shimmered and bent 286 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:19,080 the air like heat on pavement. The triangle on its 287 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:22,039 face began to rotate slowly, like a camera lens adjusting. 288 00:15:22,679 --> 00:15:24,919 I felt something tugging my chest, like it was reaching 289 00:15:24,919 --> 00:15:29,200 into me, searching. Then the door burst open, a blinding flash, 290 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:32,240 the hiss of burning film. Massie stood there with the 291 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:35,320 polaroid in both hands, fingers still on the trigger. The 292 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:38,480 creature recoiled, its body twisting and on itself like a film, 293 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:42,159 real burning midspin. The triangle flared red once, then blinked out, 294 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:45,360 and it was gone. The light snapped back on my 295 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:48,600 laptop screen rebooted. My room was whole again, but the 296 00:15:48,759 --> 00:15:52,360 still tasted like static and ashes. Marcy was breathing hard, 297 00:15:52,399 --> 00:15:55,200 her chest heaving. I saw the lights die from the street. 298 00:15:55,879 --> 00:15:58,440 Something told me to run. She held up a photo, 299 00:15:58,519 --> 00:16:02,440 freshly printed from the polaroid. In it, barely visible, already 300 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:05,200 starting to fade, was the outline of the creature, warped, 301 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:09,159 melting around the edges, but real proof. O kay, I said, 302 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:12,279 my voice shaking. Now I know we're in deep. She 303 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:14,919 looked at me. We need to find a breach before 304 00:16:14,919 --> 00:16:18,039 it finds any one else. I nodded, still staring at 305 00:16:18,039 --> 00:16:20,759 the photo, and whispered, I think it already has. We 306 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:24,039 didn't sleep that night. We sat in my room, crosslegged 307 00:16:24,039 --> 00:16:26,039 in the floor, the curtains for untight and every light on. 308 00:16:26,679 --> 00:16:29,519 The photos sat between us like a loaded gun, crooked 309 00:16:29,679 --> 00:16:32,159 curling at the edges, the image already warping under some 310 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:35,360 unseen pressure. Even as we watched, a triangle in the 311 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:38,200 creature's face began to smudge, the blacking bleeding outward like 312 00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:42,559 a warned, it's erasing itself. Marcy said no, I said, 313 00:16:42,679 --> 00:16:45,919 it's being a race, just like everyone else. She didn't answer, 314 00:16:46,559 --> 00:16:49,320 She just stared at the polaroid, her eyes glassy and why. 315 00:16:50,039 --> 00:16:52,720 I flipped back through her sketch book, searching every corner 316 00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:55,399 for that triangle. It showed up in places we hadn't 317 00:16:55,399 --> 00:16:58,600 noticed before, hidden in the background of schull hallways, drawn 318 00:16:58,639 --> 00:17:01,480 into the shadow under a stowwell, even inside the eye 319 00:17:01,519 --> 00:17:04,480 of a cat Duti she'd forgotten, she drum. Whatever it was, 320 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:06,880 it had been leaking through for longer than we'd realized. 321 00:17:07,599 --> 00:17:10,559 MARSI pointed at one of the pages. Look at the date. 322 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:14,359 I checked the coroner, April third. That's when I first 323 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:18,279 remembered Beel, she said, quietly. It started. Then I flipped 324 00:17:18,279 --> 00:17:21,839 to my note book, same date, April third, was when 325 00:17:21,839 --> 00:17:24,279 I noticed Emma was gone. The start of all of 326 00:17:24,279 --> 00:17:29,200 it a coincidence now, but not any more. Something happened 327 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:33,400 that day. I whispered something toward the fabric. Marcy leaned 328 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:38,119 in the breach. I nodded. My thoughts were racing. We 329 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:40,720 had to go deeper back, further find out what happened 330 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:42,799 on April third that could have triggered a hole in reality. 331 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:46,279 So we made a plan. We'd start with the surveillance 332 00:17:46,319 --> 00:17:49,519 system at school. Mister Rex, the janitor, had access to 333 00:17:49,559 --> 00:17:52,079 the camera back ups if any one could get us 334 00:17:52,079 --> 00:17:54,319 into the old security room in the admin wing to 335 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:57,400 be him. He also hadn't shown up to work since Thursday. 336 00:17:58,039 --> 00:18:00,680 We checked his house the next morning. The door was 337 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:04,960 a jaw, no curry in the driveway, lights off, mail 338 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:08,599 piling up in the box like snowdrifts. We stepped inside slowly. 339 00:18:09,279 --> 00:18:11,480 The air was stale, heavy with the smell of mildew 340 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:14,720 and something coppery. Underneath the living room was trash drawers 341 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:17,319 pulled out, cushion's torn open, but not in a robbery 342 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:20,319 kind of way. A look searched, desperate, like some one 343 00:18:20,319 --> 00:18:23,160 had been trying to find something before it vanished on 344 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:26,039 the wall. Written in black marker across the wallpaper were 345 00:18:26,079 --> 00:18:29,200 three words, it's not time. In the hallway, Marcy found 346 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:31,880 a trap door leading to the basement. We opened it. 347 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:34,680 A draft of frigid air rose from below, carrying the 348 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:37,160 scent of wet earth. We looked at each other, then 349 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:40,519 climbed down the stairs groaned under our weight as we descended, 350 00:18:40,559 --> 00:18:44,039 each steps swallowed by the darkness below. Marsy's flashlight cut 351 00:18:44,079 --> 00:18:47,000 through the gloom and shaky arcs, illuminating and finished concrete, 352 00:18:47,039 --> 00:18:49,960 exposed pipes and the tangle veins of old electrical wiring. 353 00:18:50,559 --> 00:18:52,599 The smell down there was strong, the mauled, wrought, and 354 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:54,880 something acrid, metallic, like blood that had been left up 355 00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:56,799 too long. The basement was colder than it had any 356 00:18:56,880 --> 00:18:58,960 right to be. It wasn't large, just a square space 357 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:00,839 with a low ceiling and overork and shoved up against 358 00:19:00,839 --> 00:19:03,400 the far wall, shelves lined with paint cans and broken tools. 359 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:04,920 But there in the middle of the floor was a 360 00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:06,920 folding table, and on it a map of the town. 361 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:09,880 I stead closed her. The map was hand drawn, sketched 362 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:14,440 in thick BLACKink, streets and intersections, landmarks, schools, even the 363 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:17,400 woods that bordered the west end of town. But overlaying 364 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:19,359 it all with something else, a web of symbols and 365 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:24,039 lines connecting locations with strange geometry. Points were circled, others 366 00:19:24,039 --> 00:19:26,759 were crossed out. Marcy pointed to one in the center, 367 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:30,759 marked with a red triangle April third. She said, that's 368 00:19:30,759 --> 00:19:34,319 where it started. I traced the point, sat right at 369 00:19:34,319 --> 00:19:37,279 the intersection of Hollow Creek Road and Sicamore Lane. I 370 00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:40,319 know this place, I murmured. It's that empty field, the 371 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:42,599 one with the weird fence no one remembers putting up. 372 00:19:43,079 --> 00:19:47,039 Marsy's voice was tight. That fence was always there. Taped 373 00:19:47,079 --> 00:19:48,839 to the edge of the table was a sticky note 374 00:19:48,839 --> 00:19:52,200 of Coordinate's cold and red pen. Beside it a polaroid 375 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:55,599 faded almost to why we picked it up gently. It 376 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:58,440 was of the field, taken at dusk, but in the background, 377 00:19:58,559 --> 00:20:01,359 half hidden by trees. There was some thing, a shimmer 378 00:20:01,359 --> 00:20:05,160 in the air, like a heap mirage, but vertical, almost 379 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:08,240 door shaped. If you stayed too long, the image felt 380 00:20:08,279 --> 00:20:12,200 like a twisted your stomach into knots. Marcy swallowed. That's 381 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:17,720 the breech. Beneath the table were creates of notes, more notebooks, folders, drawings, 382 00:20:17,759 --> 00:20:21,119 and a small cassette recorder. We growded everything we could carry, 383 00:20:21,359 --> 00:20:24,359 stuffing it into our back axe. Whatever mister Rix had 384 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:27,480 been doing down here, he'd known something, maybe too much. 385 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:31,640 Then Marsy froze. Do you hear that? I held my 386 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:36,119 breath At first, nothing, then a faint scraping sound from above, 387 00:20:36,839 --> 00:20:42,799 A slow rhythmic drag, like claws crosswood. Then footsteps, heavy, slow, 388 00:20:43,519 --> 00:20:47,119 A heeman something had entered the house. We killed the 389 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:49,200 lights and waited in the dark, listening to it move 390 00:20:49,599 --> 00:20:51,759 one step at a time toward the open basement door. 391 00:20:52,279 --> 00:20:54,799 The first step creaked directly above our heads. Then another 392 00:20:55,319 --> 00:20:57,400 Marsy gripped my wrists so tightly I felt her nails 393 00:20:57,400 --> 00:21:00,519 dick into my skin, but I didn't flinch. Ruch behind 394 00:21:00,519 --> 00:21:04,039 the crates under the table, barely breathing. The flasklight was off, 395 00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:07,240 My phone was dark. The only light came from the 396 00:21:07,319 --> 00:21:09,680 narrowest sliver of the basement door, casting a pale beam 397 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,920 down the stairs. The thing paused at the top. It 398 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:17,559 didn't speak, it didn't groll, It simply waited, And I 399 00:21:17,599 --> 00:21:19,960 got the sickening sense and knew we were there, that 400 00:21:20,079 --> 00:21:22,200 it could smell us, fill the heat of our bodies, 401 00:21:22,319 --> 00:21:25,160 maybe even hear the blood hammering in our veins. Then 402 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:28,799 it began to descend, slowly, deliberately. Each step groaned under 403 00:21:28,839 --> 00:21:31,279 a weight that seemed too heavy for this world. The 404 00:21:31,319 --> 00:21:34,000 air thickened with every motion, coal pressing against us like 405 00:21:34,079 --> 00:21:38,319 rising water. Mars's breath trembled. I leaned closer to her 406 00:21:38,319 --> 00:21:42,319 ear and whispered, on tea we run. She nodded, barely perceptible. 407 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:46,480 One the footsteps reached the midpoint of the stairs. A 408 00:21:46,519 --> 00:21:50,279 shadows stretched on across the concrete floor, tall, twitching brawn. 409 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:53,839 Two the sound of breathing, wet and low, almost amused. 410 00:21:54,519 --> 00:21:57,759 Three we exploded from cover. I shoved the crates over 411 00:21:57,799 --> 00:22:00,640 as a distraction, sending a crash of metal wood scattering 412 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:04,119 across the basement. The thing shrieked, and awful mechanicals creached 413 00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:06,599 the claw at my brain, like nails on bone. We 414 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:09,039 darted to the far wall, toward the narrow egress window 415 00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:12,000 just beneath the ceiling. I scrambled up, first, kicking the 416 00:22:12,039 --> 00:22:14,559 latch until it popped. Then I pushed it open and 417 00:22:14,559 --> 00:22:17,000 clawed through the dirt, shoving myself into the cold outside air. 418 00:22:17,599 --> 00:22:20,000 Marcy followed just as a hand slammed under her ankle. 419 00:22:20,559 --> 00:22:24,039 She screamed. I reached down and grabbed her wrists, yanking 420 00:22:24,079 --> 00:22:27,200 with everything I had. The thing's grip tightened, long sinney 421 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:30,200 fingers wrapped in something like skin but not its head 422 00:22:30,279 --> 00:22:33,200 rose into view. There was no face, just a triangle 423 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:35,519 spinning in place, glowing red hot like a branding iron. 424 00:22:36,079 --> 00:22:39,400 Beneath it, suggestion of stitches in its neck. Let her go, 425 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:42,319 I screamed, and it did not because of me, but 426 00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:44,839 because the sunrise hid it. The first ray of light 427 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:46,920 lanced through the trees and touched its shoulder, and the 428 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:49,440 thing howled, recoiling like it had been set on fire. 429 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:52,559 Smoke kissed from its skin as it retreated back down 430 00:22:52,599 --> 00:22:54,799 the stairs, dragging a piece of darkness with it like 431 00:22:54,799 --> 00:22:58,039 a cloak. We collapsed on the grass, panting, shaking, I 432 00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:00,799 stinging from tears and dirt in fear. Light hurt it. 433 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:03,720 Marcy gasped. Then we need to move during the day, 434 00:23:03,799 --> 00:23:05,680 I said, hart pounding, and we need to get to 435 00:23:05,759 --> 00:23:09,160 that field. She nodded, wiping blood from her scrape cheek. 436 00:23:09,839 --> 00:23:13,079 Behind us, the basement door slant shut. We didn't look back. 437 00:23:13,799 --> 00:23:15,559 We made it back to my place just after eight. 438 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:18,319 The sun was high enough to feel safe, though we 439 00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:21,000 kept glancing over our shoulders, half expecting the thing to 440 00:23:21,039 --> 00:23:23,319 crawl out from under the sidewalk wearing some one's skin. 441 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:26,079 The air was warm, the kind of puffect summer morning 442 00:23:26,079 --> 00:23:28,359 that used to make me feel like everything was still possible. 443 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:32,200 Now it just felt like camouflage. My neighborhood was quiet, 444 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:34,720 too quiet, not in the peaceful way, but the whole kind. 445 00:23:35,359 --> 00:23:38,839 No kids on bike, snow sprinklers, no barking dogs. I 446 00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:40,799 didn't see a single car pass while we rode, just 447 00:23:40,839 --> 00:23:43,359 empty driveways and trim hedges, trying to look normal, trying 448 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:46,559 too hard. We went inside and locked every door and window. 449 00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:50,319 I pulled the blinds. Marsy spread out the materials we'd 450 00:23:50,319 --> 00:23:53,920 stolen from mister Rigg's basement across the floor, folders, maps, 451 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:56,559 scribbled pages that looked half mad but were too specific 452 00:23:56,559 --> 00:23:59,839 to ignore. We listened to the cassette first. There was 453 00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:01,799 no old label, just a piece of masking tape with 454 00:24:01,839 --> 00:24:05,079 they pul Thouds growled and read. Mister Rik's voice crackled 455 00:24:05,079 --> 00:24:09,880 through the static, older than I remembered, tired for it. 456 00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:13,400 It's not random, none of this is. It started at 457 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:17,440 Hollow Creek. That's the first breach. But it wasn't natural. 458 00:24:18,039 --> 00:24:22,039 Something opened it, some one. Marcy looked at me, white eyed. 459 00:24:22,759 --> 00:24:25,720 I tried to warn them. I tried to tell the council. 460 00:24:25,799 --> 00:24:28,640 But it's like the town's under a spell. They don't remember. 461 00:24:29,279 --> 00:24:32,119 The names disappear from their mouths like static on a radio. 462 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:34,440 I can't even say half the Missing people out loud 463 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:37,359 any more without bleeding from the nose. There was a pause. 464 00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:40,279 It sounded like a chair creaking. It feeds on forgetting. 465 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:44,519 That's how it grows. That's why the records vanish, why 466 00:24:44,599 --> 00:24:48,200 the photo was fade. Memory is its enemy. That's why 467 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:51,079 it watches the ones who remember. That's why it watched me. 468 00:24:51,839 --> 00:24:55,799 The tape ended with a long hissistatic no goodbye, no 469 00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:59,519 final scream, just the slow Decay's islands, swallowing a man hole. 470 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:02,880 We sat there for a long time, not speaking. Finally 471 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:05,880 Marcy pointed to them up. Then that's our next step, 472 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:08,680 the cold and it led directly to Hollow Creek Field. 473 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:11,519 I've passed it a hundred times and never thought twice. 474 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:14,359 Just a patch of land fenced off with westered chain 475 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:16,960 link and a wooe gate silled with thick padlocks. It 476 00:25:17,039 --> 00:25:20,200 had always felt wrong, but now I understood why it 477 00:25:20,319 --> 00:25:25,799 was to abandon. It was quarantined. We packed everything, flashlights, rope, 478 00:25:25,839 --> 00:25:29,200 my dad's old krober Massie carried the polaroid camera like 479 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:33,000 it was a loaded pistol. We rode out again, no helmets, 480 00:25:33,039 --> 00:25:35,640 no forms, no back up. If this was the source 481 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:37,319 of it, all, the wound and the skin of reality, 482 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:40,119 then it was time to look straight into it. The 483 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:43,079 field looked different now. Maybe it was always like this 484 00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:46,200 and I'd just never seen it, really seen it. But 485 00:25:46,319 --> 00:25:48,279 standing there at the edge of the vusted fence, when 486 00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:50,960 brushing through waist high grass, I felt it in my bones, 487 00:25:51,599 --> 00:25:54,799 a stillness that didn't belong like the world. He had paused, 488 00:25:54,839 --> 00:25:57,680 waiting for someone to notice. The gate was chained with 489 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:01,079 two padlocks, both old and clotted with rust. We stood 490 00:26:01,079 --> 00:26:03,359 there in silence for a few seconds, just watching the 491 00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:07,960 grass shift. Nothing moved beyond the fence. No birds, no bugs, 492 00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:10,880 no sound. I took the crow before my back cock, 493 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:14,000 jammed it between the chain links and twisted the metal. Shriek, 494 00:26:14,039 --> 00:26:17,079 but didn't give Massy stepped up beside me and zipping 495 00:26:17,079 --> 00:26:19,279 her duffel and pulling out a pair of bowl cutters. 496 00:26:19,799 --> 00:26:23,880 Where'd'ye get those? I asked? She didn't answer, just set 497 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:26,440 her jar went to work. The chain snap with a 498 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:29,240 loud clink, the sound cutting through the quiet like a gunshot. 499 00:26:29,559 --> 00:26:32,200 The gate swung inwards, slowly creaking, like it hadn't moved 500 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:36,079 in years. We stepped through. The temperature dropped the second off. 501 00:26:36,079 --> 00:26:39,480 He touched the grass, not by much, just a few degrees, 502 00:26:39,559 --> 00:26:42,759 but enough to notice, enough to make your skin crawl. 503 00:26:43,359 --> 00:26:45,240 The field was bigger than it looked from the outside. 504 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:48,799 Trees rimmed the edges like centris, tall and still in 505 00:26:48,839 --> 00:26:51,200 the center, maybe fifty yards in, stood a ring of 506 00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:55,599 standing stones. I stopped cold. Those weren't there before, they said, 507 00:26:56,279 --> 00:27:01,160 Marcy swallowed. They were always there. People just forget. We 508 00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:04,160 moved cautiously. The air had that same shimmer I had 509 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:07,079 seen in the polaroid from mister Rook's basement, like the 510 00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:10,920 atmosphere itself was warping, bending slightly around the stones. The 511 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:13,680 triangle symbol was carved into each one, deep and jagged, 512 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:16,759 and in the middle of the rain the breech. It 513 00:27:16,799 --> 00:27:19,720 looked like a vertical tear in the air. Not glowing, 514 00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:25,200 not pulsing, just open, like someone had unzipped the sky 515 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:29,039 through it. I could see nothing, not blatness, not light, 516 00:27:29,799 --> 00:27:32,759 just absence. The longer I stared, the more I felt 517 00:27:32,799 --> 00:27:35,960 like it was staring back. Marcy raised the Polari camera 518 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:38,839 and took a photo. The flash popped, and in that instant, 519 00:27:38,839 --> 00:27:41,960 the grass flattened outward from the breech. Whush, as if 520 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:45,720 something inside had exhaled. Hello, vibrating hum rippled out, and 521 00:27:45,799 --> 00:27:49,200 I sware. For a split second, I heard voices, dozens 522 00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:57,119 of them, screaming, whispering, overlapping. Names Enough Benji, Darfare, Burrell, 523 00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:03,039 mister Ricks. Names were remembered, names the world didn't. They 524 00:28:03,039 --> 00:28:07,039 were calling to us. Holy shit, I breed, they're in there. 525 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:10,559 Marsy lowered the camel slowly, her fist pail. We have 526 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:14,799 to go in. I stared at her, stunned what MASSI 527 00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:17,680 didn't look away from the breech. Her voice was steady, 528 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:20,480 but her hands trembled. If they are trapped insie, if 529 00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:22,599 their voices can still reach us, then maybe they're not 530 00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:25,480 completely gone, or maybe that's what it wants us to think. 531 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:28,079 She turned to me, eyes wide and dark with fear. 532 00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:32,519 But something else too, was all you heard them, she said, 533 00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:36,559 You heard their names. You know they're still real. This 534 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:40,079 whole thing they are raising, the forgetting. It's not the end, 535 00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:43,759 it's a process. I shook my head. And if we 536 00:28:43,799 --> 00:28:47,440 go in and don't come back, Massi's jalw clenched. Then 537 00:28:47,519 --> 00:28:50,200 at least we'll know. I looked at the tear in reality, 538 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:52,440 this impossible slit in the air, like the world had 539 00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:54,359 been cut with a blade no one should own. It 540 00:28:54,359 --> 00:28:58,400 didn't shimmer any more, it just was still waiting. Let's 541 00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:01,960 anchor yourselves, I said. We tied rope around our waist 542 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:04,640 and looped it around one of the stone pillars. I 543 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:06,839 scrolled our names, the date, and the phrase. We went 544 00:29:06,839 --> 00:29:08,440 in on a page in my note book and nailed 545 00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:10,799 it to the pillow with a pocket knife. Then we 546 00:29:10,839 --> 00:29:14,759 stood at the edge. I could feel it, something pulling 547 00:29:14,799 --> 00:29:18,640 at my skin, like gravity, twisted sideways. The breach wasn't 548 00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:24,359 a space, It was memory, dine, identity. It wanted us, 549 00:29:25,079 --> 00:29:30,200 it wanted everything. Marcy looked at me. On three I nodded. One, 550 00:29:30,319 --> 00:29:33,559 the air buzzed with invisible electricity. Two the rope creaked 551 00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:37,359 under tension. Three we stepped through. It was like falling, 552 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:40,839 but not down inward, like being pulled into your own mind, 553 00:29:41,039 --> 00:29:44,440 only it wasn't yours any more. My visions mirrored into colors. 554 00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:48,039 I didn't recognize shapes with too many sides floated past. 555 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:51,000 I heard voices again, but they were inside my thoughts, 556 00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:55,000 speaking languages I didn't know, but somehow understood. Then suddenly 557 00:29:55,079 --> 00:29:58,279 solid ground. We were standing in a version of the field, 558 00:29:58,319 --> 00:30:00,759 but it wasn't the same. The skuy was a flat, 559 00:30:00,839 --> 00:30:04,680 swirling gray. The trees were shadows of trees. The stones 560 00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:07,359 around us were still there, but their carvings rithed and pulsed, 561 00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:10,720 shifting like they were alive. The rope we tied gone 562 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:13,880 like it never existed. I turned to Marsy and we 563 00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:16,759 both looked up in the distance. Towering against the Nott 564 00:30:16,759 --> 00:30:19,200 sky was as shape, tall as a building, thin as smoke, 565 00:30:19,319 --> 00:30:22,079 a silhouette with a spinning triangle where its head should be, 566 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:26,119 the thin its ass, and it began to move. It 567 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:31,720 didn't wock, It glided, no footsteps, no sound, just the 568 00:30:31,759 --> 00:30:34,480 impossible shifting of its lawns, gletal form, weaving through the 569 00:30:34,519 --> 00:30:37,400 ash gray trees like mists. Every time it passed through 570 00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:40,039 a shadow, it left behind a trail of flickering geometric 571 00:30:40,039 --> 00:30:43,319 shapes that twisted in on themselves before vanishing. Marsie grabbed 572 00:30:43,359 --> 00:30:47,480 my hand. Her skin was eyes run, I said. We 573 00:30:47,559 --> 00:30:51,440 turned and bolted, feet pounding across brittle, dead grass. Behind us. 574 00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:53,759 The thing gave no chase, but we could feel it, 575 00:30:53,799 --> 00:30:56,279 gaining feel it and spoiling the space between us, folding 576 00:30:56,279 --> 00:30:59,519 it like paper, This place, this inside place. It didn't 577 00:30:59,519 --> 00:31:02,720 follow rule. We run through a warped version of our town. 578 00:31:03,319 --> 00:31:05,720 The buildings were wrong, too tall, too wide, too hollow. 579 00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:10,359 The windows blinked like eyes, street signs twisted into gibberish. 580 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:13,519 The skull stood crooked on the horizon, black vines growing 581 00:31:13,519 --> 00:31:17,119 from its walls like veanes. Everything looked familiar, but corrupted, 582 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:19,799 like a memory infected by rot. We ducked into what 583 00:31:19,839 --> 00:31:23,240 looked like the library, his whole version, pre renovation. But 584 00:31:23,279 --> 00:31:25,759 the shelves were skeletal, filled with blank books that screened 585 00:31:25,759 --> 00:31:29,160 when we opened them. No exit in sight, no people, 586 00:31:29,839 --> 00:31:33,119 no time. And then a whisper, not a thought, this 587 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:37,839 time a voice, mossy. She stopped dead in her tracks. 588 00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:41,759 That was Brielle. I pulled her arm. We need to 589 00:31:41,839 --> 00:31:47,400 keep moving now. She broke away, calling out, Brielle, where 590 00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:51,880 are you? Shadows shifted, the four beneath us crack like eggshells. 591 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:56,039 The aer pulled us. Something stepped forward, a girl, thin, pale, 592 00:31:56,119 --> 00:31:59,200 wearing a hoody three sizes too big it was her. 593 00:32:00,039 --> 00:32:03,359 I recognized her from Marsy's sketch brielled eeks, but her 594 00:32:03,359 --> 00:32:07,039 eyes were wrong, empty, not blank, just drained, like some 595 00:32:07,079 --> 00:32:09,400 one had scooped out her memories and left a shell behind. 596 00:32:10,079 --> 00:32:14,079 Marcy ran to her, growd her shoulders. It's me, Marty, 597 00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:18,920 you remember me, right? Brielle blinked slowly, our mouth opened, 598 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:22,799 nothing came out. Then her hand shot up, pointing behind 599 00:32:22,839 --> 00:32:25,039 me a turn, just as the thing appeared, crawling down 600 00:32:25,039 --> 00:32:27,640 from the ceiling like a spider, limbs too long, joints 601 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:31,079 bending backward. The triangle on its face spun faster and faster, 602 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:34,640 its edges glowing. It didn't come for me, It lunged 603 00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:37,200 for Marcy. I tackled her out of the way, just 604 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:40,119 in time. The floor cracked again, deeper this time, and 605 00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:45,200 reality split. We fell two layers of forgotten memories. Faces 606 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:49,119 are half remembered streets that used to exist well after 607 00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:52,160 that once meant something. All of it blared, rushing past 608 00:32:52,279 --> 00:32:55,799 like a river of broken time, and then impact. We 609 00:32:55,920 --> 00:33:00,799 landed in darkness alone. Marcy was gone. I couldn't breathe. 610 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:04,039 The air was thick, damp, like being buried beneath wet soil. 611 00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:06,960 Every time I tried to move my limbs pushed through 612 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:09,480 something that wasn't quite solid. It clung to me, It 613 00:33:09,519 --> 00:33:13,960 slowed me down, not liquid, not there memory. I was 614 00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:17,200 submerged in a sea of fading memories. They drifted around 615 00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:21,240 me like ghosts. Moments caught in suspension. A child laughing 616 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:24,119 as he flew a paper kite, a woman lighting candles 617 00:33:24,119 --> 00:33:26,799 in a window, a man hammering of a sale sign 618 00:33:26,839 --> 00:33:29,839 into a lawn that no longer existed. Each image hovered 619 00:33:29,839 --> 00:33:32,680 for a moment, vivid and sharp, before flickering into dust. 620 00:33:33,039 --> 00:33:36,079 I swam upward, pushed through the heavy syrupidarc heart hammering 621 00:33:36,759 --> 00:33:40,839 somewhere above me. I felt marcy, then light. I broke through, 622 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:44,079 fell onto something cold and solid, attil floor. The air 623 00:33:44,119 --> 00:33:46,759 here was thin, electric, buzzing with the sharp wine of 624 00:33:46,759 --> 00:33:50,079 failing for rescent lights. I was inside the school, but 625 00:33:50,119 --> 00:33:54,000 not my school. This version was warped. The halls were longer, 626 00:33:54,039 --> 00:33:57,680 the lockers taller, pulsing slightly like lungs. The walls frobed 627 00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:00,000 with a slow, rimic vibration that sounded too much like 628 00:33:59,920 --> 00:34:02,759 a heartbeat. At the far end of the corridor, someone 629 00:34:02,759 --> 00:34:06,480 stood in silouet I approached cautiously, while shees squeaked in 630 00:34:06,519 --> 00:34:10,079 the tile, echoing louder than they should have. Marsy I whispered. 631 00:34:10,719 --> 00:34:15,039 The figure turned. It wasn't her. It was me, or 632 00:34:15,079 --> 00:34:19,000 some version of me, older maybe, or hollowed out. The 633 00:34:19,039 --> 00:34:22,679 face was blank, the eyes two deep black voids. It's mild. 634 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:26,519 You were always meant to stay. I backed away. What 635 00:34:26,639 --> 00:34:30,440 are you? What you become when you forget? It? Stepped forward? 636 00:34:31,119 --> 00:34:33,599 With each footful, the hallway behind it crumbled into dust. 637 00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:37,239 Lockers turned to ash. The four broke into cracks of 638 00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:43,079 white nothingness. The world unraveled. Then a voice called out, sharp, urgent, here, 639 00:34:43,199 --> 00:34:47,159 over here, Marty. I turned and ran toward the sound, 640 00:34:47,199 --> 00:34:49,119 the well peeling away behind me. I burst through a 641 00:34:49,119 --> 00:34:52,320 double door and slammed its shut. Inside was a small room, 642 00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:55,440 some kind of maintenance closet, walls lined with empty shells 643 00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:58,559 and corroded pipes. Marsi stood in the corner, gribbing a 644 00:34:58,559 --> 00:35:01,320 piece of paper in her hands. Her face was streaked 645 00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:04,440 with tears, but her eyes burned with purpose. I found 646 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:07,159 a way out, she said, breathlessly. It's not stable, but 647 00:35:07,159 --> 00:35:10,360 it's real. She held out the paper on it a 648 00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:12,880 hand drawn circle wrapped in runes that shifted when I 649 00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:15,679 tried to focus on them in the center, a triangle 650 00:35:15,719 --> 00:35:18,679 pointing up this time instead of down, the reverse of 651 00:35:18,679 --> 00:35:21,199 the mark. She said, it's like a back door, a 652 00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:23,960 memory strong enough to anchor us. We just have to 653 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:27,039 give it something the breech can't race. I stared at her, 654 00:35:27,119 --> 00:35:29,760 and I knew what she meant. We have to remember. 655 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:36,039 She nodded everything, every one us, because that was the 656 00:35:36,039 --> 00:35:39,320 only thing the breech couldn't devire, what we refused to forget. 657 00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:41,960 We sat on the cold tile floor, back to back, 658 00:35:42,039 --> 00:35:44,119 clutching the paper between us like it was a life line. 659 00:35:44,719 --> 00:35:47,039 The circle MASSI had drawn flickered faintly in the dark, 660 00:35:47,199 --> 00:35:49,599 glowing with an impulse that didn't belong to in call light. 661 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:53,159 I didn't ask how she found it. I didn't need you. 662 00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:57,400 I've felt it, the edges of something ancient, deeper than language, 663 00:35:57,519 --> 00:36:00,039 etched in the bones of the world, or maybe in 664 00:36:00,079 --> 00:36:03,360 the bones of memory itself. We have to focus, she whispered. 665 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:08,599 We give it our strongest memory, something real, something true. 666 00:36:08,840 --> 00:36:12,400 My thoughts reeled. So many memories were blurred, now stripped 667 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:15,280 away like laves of paint. But beneath it, Under all 668 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:17,360 the forgetting, there were still pieces that had it faded. 669 00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:19,920 The way my mom used to hum while stirring coffee 670 00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:22,159 in the morning, the smell of old books in the 671 00:36:22,199 --> 00:36:25,400 back of the library before they closed it. Massy's laughed 672 00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:27,159 in seventh grade when she fell into the river on 673 00:36:27,159 --> 00:36:29,440 a field trip and tried to play it call that. 674 00:36:29,599 --> 00:36:32,639 I gripped her hand and closed my eyes. I remembered. 675 00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:36,280 I remembered the first time I saw her middle school 676 00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:39,800 drama club. She wore a hoodie with frayed sleeves and 677 00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:43,159 rolled her eyes at everything. She wasn't like the others. 678 00:36:43,599 --> 00:36:47,000 She noticed things me. I remembered the fire drill where 679 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:48,800 we ended up standing next to each other on the 680 00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:52,039 black top. She asked what book I was reading. I 681 00:36:52,079 --> 00:36:54,159 told her I didn't read much, even though I was 682 00:36:54,239 --> 00:36:57,159 catching a copy of Doune in my backpack. She smirked 683 00:36:57,159 --> 00:37:00,199 and sat lyre. I remembered sitting next to her on 684 00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:03,000 the bus and sophomore year, sharing Neerberds, listening to I 685 00:37:03,079 --> 00:37:04,880 saw neither of us near the lyrics to you, just 686 00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:08,760 watching the town slide by. Those weren't just memories, they 687 00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:12,360 were eres. The circle flared with light. It lit up 688 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:15,400 the room, burning with a steady, brilliant light, not cold, 689 00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:19,400 not stirl, but warm, real. The pipes around us groaned, 690 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:23,079 the walls cracked, the floor beneath us began to shimmer 691 00:37:23,199 --> 00:37:26,559 like water. Keep going. Mossy shouted over the rising noise. 692 00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:31,159 She was crying. Now so was I. I remembered Benji 693 00:37:31,199 --> 00:37:34,800 saw collection, Sophia's weird al obsession, Emma's perfect silent jodles 694 00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:37,559 in the margins of every worksheet, Riol's hands stained with charcoal, 695 00:37:37,719 --> 00:37:39,880 brushing hair out of her eyes, every name I'd written 696 00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:42,639 in my notebook, every person I had refused to let vanish. 697 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:45,679 The breech had fed on forgetting we were starving it. 698 00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:49,000 The ground split up and beneath the circle, not into darkness, 699 00:37:49,119 --> 00:37:53,199 but into light, blinding, fierce, infinite. A roar filled the space, 700 00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:57,119 lot of a monster, but of resistance, of remembrance. Now, 701 00:37:57,519 --> 00:38:00,199 Marshy shouted. We held the memory like a web and 702 00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:03,639 created our teeth and jumped the moment we jumped. Everything 703 00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:06,400 tore apart, not just the world we expected that, but 704 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:10,719 something deeper, more personal. The breech fought back as we 705 00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:13,079 fell into the light. It caught at us, hurling pieces 706 00:38:13,079 --> 00:38:16,480 of itself in desperation, phantoms made from fractured time, false 707 00:38:16,519 --> 00:38:19,719 memories stitched together like broken dolls. I saw my own 708 00:38:19,719 --> 00:38:22,840 mother turning to ash at the breakfast table, mossy screaming 709 00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:25,320 my name from inside a burning caw that never existed. 710 00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:28,960 My house overgrown with finds that whispered in tongues. All 711 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:31,599 of it lies, all of it meant to make us stout. 712 00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:35,639 I held tighter to Marcy's hand. She screamed through clenched teeth, 713 00:38:36,239 --> 00:38:39,920 don't let go. The light poles brighter. The false memories 714 00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:42,800 began to solve. The breach couldn't hold us any more. 715 00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:46,320 It was unraveling. It spread, snapped by the force of 716 00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:49,119 what we chosen to keep, And then in back point 717 00:38:49,199 --> 00:38:53,079 not hard, not like hitting ground, more like arriving. I 718 00:38:53,159 --> 00:38:56,840 opened my eyes. We were in the field, the real one. 719 00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:00,360 No shimmer in the air, no triangle in the sky. 720 00:39:01,119 --> 00:39:03,960 The stones were there, yes, but inert, now weathered and 721 00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:08,239 cracked like cold greystones. The sun was rising, birds tripped. 722 00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:12,679 Marcy was beside me, breathing hard, shaking but alive. She 723 00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:15,199 looked at me and broke into a choked laugh. We 724 00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:19,599 made it. I looked around. Everything felt re real, solid, 725 00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:22,760 the grass, the sky, the cool morning air. And then 726 00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:25,559 I saw something else in the distance, near the edge 727 00:39:25,559 --> 00:39:30,159 of the field, thigas people, dozens of them, stepping out 728 00:39:30,159 --> 00:39:32,519 from the tree line, blinking against the morning light. Light 729 00:39:32,559 --> 00:39:36,679 they'd been asleep for years. Some stumbled, others stood tall, 730 00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:40,960 dazed but whole. Then she saw faded Emma mister ricks Brielle, 731 00:39:41,159 --> 00:39:45,199 eyes wide, stepping forward with hesitant wonder. They remembered, they 732 00:39:45,199 --> 00:39:49,480 were remembered. I nearly collapsed, Cheers burned down my face. 733 00:39:50,239 --> 00:39:54,639 Mossy stared in disbelief. It worked. Not everyone had returned. 734 00:39:55,280 --> 00:39:58,199 Some we would never know, maybe they were too far gone, 735 00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:01,480 maybe they'd become part of the each itself. But so 736 00:40:01,599 --> 00:40:04,400 many had come back. And as they gathered in the field, 737 00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:08,519 finding each other, embracing, crying, laughing, real I realized something. 738 00:40:09,119 --> 00:40:12,719 The world hadn't stopped forgetting. It never would. But as 739 00:40:12,719 --> 00:40:15,199 long as even one person remembered, as long as someone 740 00:40:15,239 --> 00:40:17,639 held on, refused to let go, fought from memory, then 741 00:40:17,639 --> 00:40:20,519 the breach could never win completely. I turned to Marcy. 742 00:40:21,239 --> 00:40:25,039 We write it all down, I said. She nodded, Every name, 743 00:40:25,079 --> 00:40:28,039 every story, We make them real again, and so we did. 744 00:40:28,719 --> 00:40:32,079 We filled notebook after notebook. At first it was names, 745 00:40:32,199 --> 00:40:35,000 then faces, stories, where people had been, who they were 746 00:40:35,079 --> 00:40:37,719 before the breach took them. We sat with them ires 747 00:40:37,719 --> 00:40:41,159 at a time, listening, recording everything they could remember because 748 00:40:41,199 --> 00:40:44,119 they wanted to remember now. They needed it like food, 749 00:40:44,239 --> 00:40:46,760 like oxygen. And for the first time in what felt 750 00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:50,239 like forever, the town felt alive, not bustling, not loud, 751 00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:54,639 but present. Neighbors stopped pretending they didn't notice things. People 752 00:40:54,639 --> 00:40:57,360 walked a little slow, looked each other in eyes. The 753 00:40:57,440 --> 00:41:00,639 old community, bored long abandoned, became a makeiff memory wall. 754 00:41:01,199 --> 00:41:04,440 Any one could post names, sketches, photographs, even scraps of 755 00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:07,320 writing about the ones who hadn't come back. We didn't 756 00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:10,119 talk about the breach publicly, not yet. There was no 757 00:41:10,199 --> 00:41:12,760 headline to explain it, no clear villain to blame, and 758 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:14,960 maybe no one else would believe it unless they'd felt 759 00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:17,159 it the way we had. But in a quiet way, 760 00:41:17,239 --> 00:41:20,320 the shrewd spread. A local artist began painting murals of 761 00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:22,440 the return. A teacher reopened the library and set off 762 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:25,760 a memory archive on notek's front and center. Someone rebuilt 763 00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:28,199 the stone circle at the field's edge, not as a monument, 764 00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:31,360 but as a warning, And every few nights Marcy and 765 00:41:31,440 --> 00:41:34,599 I went back there just to sit, to remember. One night, 766 00:41:34,719 --> 00:41:37,360 as we watched fireflies dance through the tall grass, she asked, 767 00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:40,320 do you think it's really over? I didn't answer right away. 768 00:41:40,840 --> 00:41:44,280 The stars above us felt fast, too vast. I remembered 769 00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:47,519 what the breach had felt like, the hunger, that colder asia, 770 00:41:47,559 --> 00:41:49,360 that didn't just take people, but it did them and 771 00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:52,679 wrote them. No, I said, quietly, but I think it's dormant. 772 00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:56,480 She nodded, slowly, weeding. But next time, I added, it 773 00:41:56,519 --> 00:41:58,480 won't catch us off guard, because we knew now that 774 00:41:58,559 --> 00:42:01,519 forgetting wasn't passive, it wasn't harmless. It was a force, 775 00:42:01,639 --> 00:42:04,760 and remembering, truly, choosing to remember, was an act of rebellion. 776 00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:09,079 Mossie smiled. Then we keep rebelling, and so we did. 777 00:42:09,719 --> 00:42:12,960 We became the town's quite archives memory keepers, not heroes, 778 00:42:13,199 --> 00:42:15,840 just two stubborn people who refuse to forget. And in 779 00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:18,000 that choice, in that defiance, we kept the breech hup 780 00:42:18,159 --> 00:42:20,800 because monsters feed on what we let slip away, and 781 00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:24,679 we weren't letting anything go again. And that is the end. 782 00:42:25,239 --> 00:42:26,960 Thank you for listening, and I will see you in 783 00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:35,599 the next one.