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 --> 00:00:11,560
Let's get into it. I was twenty nine when my

3
00:00:11,599 --> 00:00:13,160
cousin ed asked if I wanted to head out of

4
00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:15,199
town for a few days. Said he needed to just

5
00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:18,000
breed somewhere that isn't Auckland. I knew he and Lacy

6
00:00:18,039 --> 00:00:20,280
had split, and it didn't sound like a clean break.

7
00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:24,359
I didn't cry. He threw out a destination drywould Ridge,

8
00:00:24,359 --> 00:00:26,559
the Scrubby hiking spot half way to nowhere, about eight

9
00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:29,359
hours south, and I said sure. We used to go

10
00:00:29,399 --> 00:00:32,159
on random road trips when we were teenagers. Morsey is

11
00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:34,960
an excuse to skip school and clear our heads. So

12
00:00:35,039 --> 00:00:37,039
when he suggested we just get in the car and drive,

13
00:00:37,119 --> 00:00:41,759
it felt familiar, familiar, and necessary. We left Thursday after work.

14
00:00:42,439 --> 00:00:44,880
He picked me up in his dented old Subaru, still

15
00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:46,960
loaded with gum wrappers and an old fun mount that

16
00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,200
didn't hold anything any more. I tossed my overnight bag

17
00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:51,960
in the back, climbed in, and we took off. With

18
00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,640
that much more than a nod between us. The plan

19
00:00:54,799 --> 00:00:57,799
was always the same. He drives the first half, I

20
00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:00,960
take over after midnight. He liked having control when we're

21
00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:02,799
still near the city, and I don't mind the quiet

22
00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:05,480
eyes once we're in the middle of nowhere. That rhythm

23
00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:07,319
had worked for us for years, and we just fell

24
00:01:07,359 --> 00:01:10,200
into it again like no time had passed. He barely

25
00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:13,040
said anything for the first few hours, and I didn't push.

26
00:01:13,439 --> 00:01:15,120
He had one hand on the wheel and the other

27
00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:17,640
resting in his lap, occasionally drumming his fingers like he

28
00:01:17,719 --> 00:01:20,439
had some song stock in his head. The sun went down,

29
00:01:20,599 --> 00:01:22,879
the lights of the city faded, and pretty soon we

30
00:01:22,879 --> 00:01:24,640
were cruising down am in As five with nothing but

31
00:01:24,719 --> 00:01:26,920
flat farmland and the occasional truck stopped to break up

32
00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:30,040
the view. We pulled into a dusty gas station around midnight,

33
00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:33,120
just outside of town Cold albertch The plays looked like

34
00:01:33,159 --> 00:01:35,760
it hadn't been updated since the early nineties, dim yellow

35
00:01:35,879 --> 00:01:38,560
light buzzing overhead, one of the pumps wrapped in plastic,

36
00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:40,640
and a guy behind the glass eating instant needed straight

37
00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:43,239
from the cup. Nate filled the tank with ever word,

38
00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:45,599
handed me the keys, and climbed into the passenger seat

39
00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:48,200
like his body had just given out. I took over

40
00:01:48,239 --> 00:01:51,319
from there. An hour later, somewhere between Broadwall and some

41
00:01:51,439 --> 00:01:53,760
nameless cluster of trailers that might have once been a town.

42
00:01:53,879 --> 00:01:55,920
Nate looked up from his phone and said, hey, there's

43
00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:58,760
a rut that cuts through the foothills Eastafia, says us.

44
00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,560
At least an hour I glanced over, the highway was dead,

45
00:02:03,239 --> 00:02:06,319
not a single car in sight. Sure, I said, your call,

46
00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,520
So we veered off. So we veered off. The turn

47
00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:13,479
off wasn't marked well, just a faded wooden sign and

48
00:02:13,479 --> 00:02:16,400
a gravel conch under the tires. At first, it felt

49
00:02:16,439 --> 00:02:19,039
like a good idea. The road was rough but empty,

50
00:02:19,719 --> 00:02:21,479
and there was a weird kind of peace in being

51
00:02:21,479 --> 00:02:24,759
the only people out there, nothing but rolling hills, the

52
00:02:24,759 --> 00:02:27,080
occasional silhouette of a power line, and the hum of

53
00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:29,439
the tires in the road. That's when I noticed the

54
00:02:29,439 --> 00:02:31,879
black piccup. It was just a pair of headlights in

55
00:02:31,879 --> 00:02:35,759
the rear view. At first, nothing strange, But ten minutes

56
00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:40,159
later those headlights were still there, same distance, no attempts

57
00:02:40,199 --> 00:02:45,159
to pass, no variation in speed, just following. I didn't

58
00:02:45,159 --> 00:02:48,240
say anything right away, didn't want to sound paranoid. But

59
00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:50,479
after another stretch of road with no other turns, no

60
00:02:50,599 --> 00:02:53,719
gas stations, no traffic at all, I finally broke the silence.

61
00:02:54,439 --> 00:02:58,240
You see that truck, I asked. Nate lifted his head

62
00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,919
and peered over his shoulder, since the motel added the

63
00:03:02,039 --> 00:03:04,599
run down roadside place we passed about half an hour back,

64
00:03:04,719 --> 00:03:06,919
the one with a flickering vacancy sign and no cause

65
00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:09,439
in the lot. He watched for a few seconds, then

66
00:03:09,479 --> 00:03:12,719
pulled his phone back out. Take the next left, he said,

67
00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,199
let's see what he does. The next road was barely

68
00:03:16,199 --> 00:03:21,159
wide enough for two cars. We turned. The truck turned too. Okay,

69
00:03:21,879 --> 00:03:24,879
now it felt deliberate. Neither of us spoke after that.

70
00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:29,879
The road narrowed, twisted, climbed, The yellow divider disappeared. Nay

71
00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:32,919
tried refreshing his GPS, but we'd lost signal somewhere along

72
00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,120
the climb. I focused on driving, glancing at the mirror

73
00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:41,280
every so often. Still there, not ta abating, not flashing lights,

74
00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:44,919
just matching us exactly. We passed a turn out at

75
00:03:44,919 --> 00:03:47,560
one point, and I instinctively slowed down, thinking maybe i'd

76
00:03:47,639 --> 00:03:50,360
lest him go by. Nay tense beside me and said,

77
00:03:50,479 --> 00:03:55,879
don't don't stop, just keep driving, so I did. Eventually

78
00:03:55,879 --> 00:03:58,919
the pavement ended altogether, Dirt and gravel kicked up under

79
00:03:58,919 --> 00:04:01,639
the tires. We hadn't seen a house or any kind

80
00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:05,560
of structure in over thirty minutes, no fences, no park cars,

81
00:04:05,759 --> 00:04:09,159
not even a broken down mailbox, just endless scrub land

82
00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:12,080
under Starlus sky. Then we hit curve in the road

83
00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:15,039
and the headlights behind us disappeared. I felt a wave

84
00:04:15,039 --> 00:04:17,079
of relief that I didn't realize I was holding on to.

85
00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:20,279
Yes he finally turned off. I mutter, letting my foot

86
00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:22,800
ease up on the gas, But then we rounded the

87
00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:25,839
next bend and there he was. The truck was park

88
00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:30,120
sideways across the road, blocking both lanes, headlights off, engine running,

89
00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:32,759
driver's side door open, but there was no one inside.

90
00:04:33,319 --> 00:04:35,839
I didn't even have time to process before Nate reached over,

91
00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:38,879
grab the gear shift and said it back up now.

92
00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:41,680
I threw it into reverse and knees back, slowly, trying

93
00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:44,000
not to fish out in the list dirt. The road

94
00:04:44,079 --> 00:04:47,279
was narrow, barely enough to turn around. I felt the

95
00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:50,199
wheels dip, then grip again, and that's when something slammed

96
00:04:50,199 --> 00:04:53,360
into the back of the car hard. The whole car

97
00:04:53,439 --> 00:04:56,160
lurched forward. My foot hit the brake out of instinct,

98
00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:59,879
but they shouted, go, don't stop. I floored it. The

99
00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,800
wheels kicked up dirt as we spawned, skated, and finally gripped.

100
00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:06,199
I didn't look behind me. My entire focus was on

101
00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:08,519
the road ahead, what little of it I could see

102
00:05:08,519 --> 00:05:11,000
in the narrow beam of the head lights. Every turn

103
00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:13,240
felt like it might throw us off a cliff. We

104
00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:16,319
drove like that for ten, maybe fifteen minutes, no idea

105
00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:19,000
how far we gone, no clue if we were being followed,

106
00:05:19,079 --> 00:05:20,959
or just alone in the dark with our own panic.

107
00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:26,160
Then finally we saw lights. A gas station or maybe

108
00:05:26,199 --> 00:05:28,959
just the ghost of one rusted pumps, A dark window,

109
00:05:29,079 --> 00:05:32,160
one flickering fluorescent above the door. I pulled him, without

110
00:05:32,199 --> 00:05:34,360
even thinking through it into park, and we just sat there,

111
00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:36,680
no engine, noise behind us, no headlights, no sound at

112
00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:38,480
all except the ticking of the engine as a cold

113
00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:40,680
We waited eventully. Nick got out and knocking the door.

114
00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:43,240
After what felt like an eye but was probably five minutes,

115
00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:44,920
an old man in a flannel shirt opened it. He

116
00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:47,000
didn't seem surprised to see us, just gave a slow

117
00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:49,160
blinkin aft if we needed directions. He led us use

118
00:05:49,199 --> 00:05:51,120
the bath room, gave us a couple of paper cups

119
00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:53,120
of tap water, and pointed us to a narrow side

120
00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:55,879
road that eventually hooked back to the main highway. We

121
00:05:55,959 --> 00:05:58,120
thanked him, got back in the car, and that was it.

122
00:05:58,639 --> 00:06:00,519
We made it to dry Out Ridge, just out after dawn.

123
00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,160
I'd told day Friday, barely speaking, camped one night under

124
00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:07,120
the stars, packed up early and left. I'd plan a

125
00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:09,600
solo trip down to Big Server, a long weekend, just me,

126
00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:12,480
a small tent and a couple of quai trails. I'd

127
00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:16,600
done solo hikes before, so it wasn't anything new or dramatic. Honestly,

128
00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:19,000
I was looking forward to being unreachable for a few days.

129
00:06:19,639 --> 00:06:22,560
I left Sacramento early, like still dark early, to avoid

130
00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:26,360
weekend traffic. Things went smoothly for a while. The highway

131
00:06:26,399 --> 00:06:29,079
was clear, playlist with Soli cuffee stayed hot enough to

132
00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:32,319
keep me awake. I figured it might even be nice

133
00:06:32,519 --> 00:06:35,560
see Nike LUSS traffic, a little bonus adventure on the way.

134
00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:39,160
At first, it was kind of boring, even, just scrubby

135
00:06:39,199 --> 00:06:42,120
hills and wire fences. I passed a few private ranch

136
00:06:42,199 --> 00:06:44,199
roads than one or two driveways that looked like they

137
00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:47,720
hadn't seen traffic in months. No people, no cars, just

138
00:06:47,839 --> 00:06:50,639
rolling hills, brittle grass and fences sagging in the middle,

139
00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:53,600
like they'd given upholding anything in Then I'd passed a

140
00:06:53,639 --> 00:06:57,600
sign Tassel Creek, barely readable. The paint was flaking off

141
00:06:57,600 --> 00:06:59,680
the wood, and the post looked hawmite eaten and ready

142
00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:02,959
to fall over. It wasn't pointing anywhere in particular, just

143
00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:05,079
sitting off the roadside like it had been forgotten. There

144
00:07:05,759 --> 00:07:08,439
no turn off, no visible creek, just a name floating

145
00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:11,360
in the middle of nowhere. I didn't stop, just clocked

146
00:07:11,399 --> 00:07:13,639
it as another weird little marker in rural California and

147
00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:16,800
kept driving. About twenty minutes later I came across the

148
00:07:16,839 --> 00:07:19,600
first car. It was an old green hatch bag half

149
00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:21,839
on the shoulder, one of the rear doors hanging open.

150
00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:25,600
The car looked abandoned, dusty, dented, like it hadn't been

151
00:07:25,639 --> 00:07:28,959
maintained in years. At first I slowed down, half ready

152
00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:31,000
to pull over and check, but something about it stopped me.

153
00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:33,759
I couldn't see any one nearby. The area around it

154
00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,480
was totally still, no houses, no trail markers, not even

155
00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:39,279
a fence gate, just that open door moving a little

156
00:07:39,279 --> 00:07:42,160
in the breeze. I told myself some one probably went

157
00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:45,040
for a walk. Maybe they broke down and hiked back

158
00:07:45,079 --> 00:07:48,040
toward the last meme rod. It felt we're sure, but

159
00:07:48,079 --> 00:07:50,360
not enough to turn around over, so I kept going.

160
00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:55,040
Fifteen minutes after that, I lost signal entirely, not just barrows, nothing,

161
00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:58,720
no GPS, no data, no let us spinning location dot

162
00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:01,040
to reassure me I was still in the mounts. Again,

163
00:08:01,279 --> 00:08:04,000
not a big deal, I'd lost signal plenty of times

164
00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:06,800
on camping trips. I figured i'd get it back once

165
00:08:06,839 --> 00:08:10,000
I got closer to the cursed. But the roads started narrowing,

166
00:08:10,639 --> 00:08:14,360
trees got thicker, the brush looked wilder somehow less maintained.

167
00:08:14,959 --> 00:08:18,120
And then I started noticing the trash. It was scattered

168
00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:21,199
at first, an old paper cup here, a crushkin there.

169
00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:23,879
Then it got stranger, ripped up clothes, half a shoe,

170
00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:26,519
a blanket, bowled up and muddy in a ditch. There

171
00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:28,519
was even what looked like a melted or burned sleeping

172
00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:31,399
by a half tucked behind some brush. There weren't any

173
00:08:31,439 --> 00:08:35,399
kemp rounds nearby, no signage, just trash and more trash,

174
00:08:35,639 --> 00:08:37,200
like some one had dumped out the contents of a

175
00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:39,840
car over a few miles and left it there. That's

176
00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:42,519
when I saw the green hatch back again, only now

177
00:08:42,519 --> 00:08:44,200
it was parked on the opposite side of the road,

178
00:08:44,279 --> 00:08:47,799
facing toward me. Fame dent on the rear panel, same

179
00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:51,200
missing hubkup on the front left, same old bumper sticker.

180
00:08:51,799 --> 00:08:53,960
I think it was a thrash of logo, but faded

181
00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:56,799
to almost nothing. I pulled over, just sat there for

182
00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:58,879
a second, trying to work out how that was possible.

183
00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:03,039
I hadn't turned off, I hadn't backtracked. The road had

184
00:09:03,039 --> 00:09:07,399
only gone one direction, up and forward. No forks, no intersections,

185
00:09:07,759 --> 00:09:09,759
not even a place wide enough to you turn without

186
00:09:09,759 --> 00:09:13,360
a struggle. I got out just a few steps, not far.

187
00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:17,919
There were tire tracks mine, i think, but the green

188
00:09:17,919 --> 00:09:20,919
COR's position didn't match. It was angled, as if it

189
00:09:20,919 --> 00:09:23,320
had just come from where I was headed. That was

190
00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:25,440
the moment my stomach started to twist, like my body

191
00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:28,080
figured it out before my brain caught up. I got

192
00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:30,679
back in the car and locked the doors. I felt

193
00:09:30,679 --> 00:09:33,919
silly and overcautious, but I did it anyway. I told

194
00:09:33,919 --> 00:09:37,000
myself it had to be a coincidence. Two old cars,

195
00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:41,960
same model, same bead up shape. That's all I kept driving.

196
00:09:42,519 --> 00:09:46,279
The next twenty minute were dead, silent, no birds, no breeze,

197
00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:49,200
no trash now, just tight coves and trees. Have felt

198
00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:51,639
like they were leaning in a little two close, the

199
00:09:51,759 --> 00:09:53,720
kind of quiet that makes you rear strained because they're

200
00:09:53,759 --> 00:09:56,159
not used to that much. Nothing. Then I came around

201
00:09:56,159 --> 00:09:58,840
a bend and it was there again, the hatch back,

202
00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:00,879
this time in the middle of the ro like someone

203
00:10:00,879 --> 00:10:03,360
had slammed in the brakes and jumped out. All four

204
00:10:03,399 --> 00:10:07,720
doors were wide open, nothing inside, no movement. I didn't

205
00:10:07,759 --> 00:10:10,240
get out. I sat there with my headlights saying straight

206
00:10:10,279 --> 00:10:12,639
at it, hand hovering over the shifter, every nerve in

207
00:10:12,679 --> 00:10:15,240
my body buzzing. There was no logical way for it

208
00:10:15,279 --> 00:10:18,399
to be there. I hadn't passed a single turn. There

209
00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:20,279
was nowhere for another driver to leap ahead of me.

210
00:10:20,879 --> 00:10:24,879
No engine noise, no brick lights, just that same damn

211
00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:27,519
car again and again, like the road itself was coughing

212
00:10:27,559 --> 00:10:29,639
it back up every time I tried to leave it behind.

213
00:10:30,279 --> 00:10:33,360
My hands were shaking now. I kept watching the brush,

214
00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:37,039
waiting for someone something to step out, but there was nothing.

215
00:10:37,799 --> 00:10:43,519
Just trees, dirt, a smell I hadn't noticed before, faint, metallic, sharp,

216
00:10:43,639 --> 00:10:46,600
like something overheating acting up. Wasn't an option. The road

217
00:10:46,639 --> 00:10:48,159
was too tight and I would have had to reverse

218
00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:49,799
at least a mile, maybe more. So I did the

219
00:10:49,879 --> 00:10:51,879
only thing I could. Iiced around the hatch back tires

220
00:10:51,919 --> 00:10:54,080
crunching into dry brush. Worn of the branches scrape the

221
00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:56,159
side hard enough to leave a mark, but I didn't care.

222
00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:58,279
I just wanted out. Once I was past the eye floored,

223
00:10:58,320 --> 00:10:59,879
I didn't check the speed, didn't look in the mirror.

224
00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:02,440
It drove like something was right behind me, breeding down

225
00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:05,440
the back of my neck. About fifteen minutes later, I

226
00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:08,360
had paved into section and a small gas station, lights

227
00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:12,559
on people inside. It felt unreal, like I'd stepped back

228
00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:15,399
into normal life from something that hadn't followed the same rules.

229
00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:18,879
My phone buzz was service. First thing I did was

230
00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:22,600
check the map, but eventually I did some digging. Tried

231
00:11:22,639 --> 00:11:24,679
searching Tassel Creek to see if maybe there had been

232
00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:26,840
stories about that area, or at least proved to myself

233
00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:30,360
it was real. Nothing came up, not on Google Maps,

234
00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:34,399
except for one archived article from the late nineties. Local

235
00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:37,799
man in his twenties wentnessing near Apostle Robbles, last known

236
00:11:37,799 --> 00:11:40,919
location and a mark service road near Tassel Creek. His

237
00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:44,000
car was found a week later. It was a green Hatchback.

238
00:11:44,759 --> 00:11:47,519
I was twenty eight when it happened, somewhere in the

239
00:11:47,559 --> 00:11:50,120
forgotten stretch between Loss Hills and the coasts, snaking a

240
00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:52,799
long highway thirty three. It was day three of a

241
00:11:52,799 --> 00:11:54,799
solo road trip I talked about three years but never

242
00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:57,960
gotten around to. I planned this roughly, start in a valley,

243
00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:00,679
made my way inland through the dusty parts of central California.

244
00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:03,919
The thing about those stretches of inland road, especially high

245
00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:05,840
with every three, is that you can go a long

246
00:12:05,879 --> 00:12:08,559
way without seeing much of anything. That's part of what

247
00:12:08,639 --> 00:12:10,799
makes them appealing, but it also starts to mess with

248
00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:13,519
your head. After a while. You loose the usual markers,

249
00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:16,879
no fast food signs, no gas station lights blinking in

250
00:12:16,919 --> 00:12:19,480
the distance, just turns and more turns and hills. It

251
00:12:19,519 --> 00:12:21,720
all looked the same if you stare too long. I

252
00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:25,399
remember noticing the shift slowly. The road itself was still fine,

253
00:12:26,039 --> 00:12:29,799
perfect even no potholes, no construction. But the GBS lost

254
00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:34,519
his mind. First it stopped updating. Then I froze. After

255
00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:36,559
a few minutes, it just showed a blue dot hovering

256
00:12:36,559 --> 00:12:40,519
in the middle of a base nowhere. No roads, no names,

257
00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:45,120
just blank. I figured it was just bad reception. You'd

258
00:12:45,159 --> 00:12:47,919
be surprised how often that happens in California even today.

259
00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:51,600
But still something felt off. I hadn't passed another car,

260
00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:54,559
and close to an iro. The hills look somehow too. Still,

261
00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:58,240
it's hard to explain, like the space between things was wrong,

262
00:12:58,799 --> 00:13:01,120
wider than it should have been, like some one had

263
00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:04,159
stretched the landscape by accident. I passed a rusted out

264
00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:08,399
gas station not long after that, no signage, no pumps,

265
00:13:09,279 --> 00:13:11,200
just a skeleton of a building with the sun bleached

266
00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:15,039
dawning and a sagging fence. I considered stopping, but I didn't.

267
00:13:15,639 --> 00:13:18,960
There wasn't anything to stop. For about ten minutes after that,

268
00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:23,720
I saw the sign Los Condonado's twelve miles green highway markers,

269
00:13:23,759 --> 00:13:27,960
standard font were reflective lettering. Nothing unusual about the sign itself.

270
00:13:28,559 --> 00:13:31,159
But I'd never heard of the place, Not on any

271
00:13:31,159 --> 00:13:33,799
map i'd studied, not in the forums i'd browsed for

272
00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:36,480
travel tips. It wasn't an a gybs when it had

273
00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:39,919
been working, or in the paper ATLICS. I kept his back. Still,

274
00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:43,279
it was just a name, probably some small ranching community

275
00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:46,000
with a population of thirty seven in a volunteer fire station.

276
00:13:46,639 --> 00:13:50,039
California has plenty of those. I shrugged and kept driving

277
00:13:50,639 --> 00:13:53,120
the road narrow gradually, like it wanted me to stop,

278
00:13:53,159 --> 00:13:58,039
noticing more turns, steaber climbs, the kind of winding that

279
00:13:58,080 --> 00:13:59,879
forces you to slow down whether you want to own.

280
00:14:00,919 --> 00:14:03,159
When I hit the town limit, the sun was edging low,

281
00:14:03,279 --> 00:14:05,200
right at that point where the hill stock cutting sharp

282
00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:08,000
shadows across the road. The first thing I noticed was

283
00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:11,279
the smell. It wasn't dusty or smoky or anything specific,

284
00:14:11,559 --> 00:14:13,279
just try in a way that didn't match the air,

285
00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:16,039
like paper that had been sealed too long. I didn't

286
00:14:16,039 --> 00:14:19,000
see any parked cars, no movement in the windows. The

287
00:14:19,039 --> 00:14:21,840
houses all look the same, flat roof, stucco, barred windows,

288
00:14:21,879 --> 00:14:24,679
A lawn chair or two sunk into yellow grass. The

289
00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:27,240
griw was tight, just a few blocks deep in each direction.

290
00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:32,000
It didn't feel abandoned exactly. It felt paused. I hadn't

291
00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:34,080
planned to stop, but the rogue curved into a circle

292
00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:35,559
and dropped me in front of what must have been

293
00:14:35,559 --> 00:14:38,320
the town center, a close post office, a dusty diner

294
00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:40,679
with drawn blinds, and what looked like a laundro map

295
00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:44,600
of Plyou across the windows. My engine stuttered. The battery

296
00:14:44,679 --> 00:14:47,399
light blinked once and then turned off. I tapped the

297
00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:50,159
gas and the engine cut completely. I sat there for

298
00:14:50,159 --> 00:14:53,159
a second, blinking at the dashboard. Then I got out

299
00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:58,399
and pot the hope. No smoke, no leaks, nothing visibly wrong.

300
00:14:59,039 --> 00:15:02,200
I checked the oil. The bells looked fine. When I

301
00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:04,440
got back and turned the key, the engine roared back

302
00:15:04,519 --> 00:15:07,039
like nothing had happened. But the clock on the dash

303
00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:08,799
had for set to twelve, like the power had been

304
00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:12,039
completely wiped. I froze for a second, staring at it.

305
00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:15,679
Then I noticed something else. When I'd entered the circle,

306
00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:17,679
there had only been one road leading in and out.

307
00:15:18,279 --> 00:15:21,000
Now there were two. One was definitely the road I

308
00:15:21,039 --> 00:15:24,360
came from. I recognized the curve and the bend. The

309
00:15:24,399 --> 00:15:27,159
other looked identical, but had a handmade wooden side nail

310
00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:30,000
to a post beside it. That reed throughway. No town

311
00:15:30,039 --> 00:15:33,000
I've ever visited, but sub signs like that. Still, I

312
00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:35,759
didn't feel like sticking around. I took what I believe

313
00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:38,480
was the way I came. Five minutes later, I was

314
00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:42,080
back at the same roundabout. No way. I hadn't turned,

315
00:15:42,799 --> 00:15:46,200
I hadn't looped. I hadn't even hit a fork. I

316
00:15:46,279 --> 00:15:50,320
tried again, same result. Third time, I picked up speed,

317
00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:52,879
thinking maybe I'd just miss a cuve somewhere back at

318
00:15:52,879 --> 00:15:56,159
the circle. Fourth time I took the throughway. That's when

319
00:15:56,200 --> 00:16:00,480
the town changed. There were people now, kind of One

320
00:16:00,519 --> 00:16:02,639
stood near the coroner holding what looked like a black

321
00:16:02,679 --> 00:16:05,919
trash bag, just standing there. Another maybe a kid, was

322
00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:08,279
sitting on a cup, had down, arms resting on his knees.

323
00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:10,639
No movement nor acknowledgment, no sound. They didn't react when

324
00:16:10,639 --> 00:16:12,679
I drove past, didn't flinch when I hunt, just stayed

325
00:16:12,679 --> 00:16:14,320
exactly where they well liked they had been placed there.

326
00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:16,559
I don't scale easily, but I've felt something slight into

327
00:16:16,559 --> 00:16:18,399
my gut right then called and slowed. The gas gage

328
00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:21,159
dropped to four quarter in what felt like minutes. I

329
00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:23,600
hadn't drove them far enough for that. I pulled over

330
00:16:23,679 --> 00:16:26,000
in front of a skull at least I think it

331
00:16:26,039 --> 00:16:28,519
was a school. The lettering was half gone, but I

332
00:16:28,559 --> 00:16:32,039
could still make out Intermediate Academy behind appealing paint. I

333
00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:33,840
tried to write the town name down on a scrap

334
00:16:33,879 --> 00:16:35,919
of paper in the center console, just so I could

335
00:16:35,919 --> 00:16:38,159
look it up later. But when I checked the note

336
00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:41,120
a few seconds later. The letters had scrambled, no smeared,

337
00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:43,960
just wrong, like they'd been written when I wasn't looking.

338
00:16:44,559 --> 00:16:47,600
At that point, I just wanted out. I tried every road,

339
00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:50,720
every alley, but the layout was different each time fieldings

340
00:16:50,759 --> 00:16:55,240
treated places, the dino switch sides, the school moved behind me.

341
00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:57,159
I'd even got out and walked, trying to follow a

342
00:16:57,159 --> 00:16:59,720
straight path on foot, but every time I turned a

343
00:16:59,759 --> 00:17:01,960
corner or passed a new building, my car was behind

344
00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:07,519
me again, same position, same cracked window, andine cold. I

345
00:17:07,559 --> 00:17:10,200
passed a mirror nail to a utility pole, just a

346
00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:13,480
basic brictannul a mirror, but angled strange. It should have

347
00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:16,680
shown the street behind me. Instead it reflected my crp

348
00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:19,599
park somewhere else at T junction. But there was no

349
00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:24,799
T junction, not behind me, not anywhere. The longer I state,

350
00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:27,160
the more it felt like the place was watching, not

351
00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:29,799
the people of the town. In a last ditch effort,

352
00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:31,920
I turned off the road and drove through dir It Lot,

353
00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:34,319
thinking I could cut through and break whatever loop. I

354
00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:37,279
was in. The car rocked heart, suspension bottomed out, but

355
00:17:37,319 --> 00:17:39,640
then I hit pavement again, and just like that, the

356
00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:44,839
dam was gone. I was in the hills, the real hills, goldenbrass,

357
00:17:44,839 --> 00:17:49,000
power lines, telephone poles. I almost cried. I floated for

358
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:51,680
twenty minutes, not carrying where I was going, just trying

359
00:17:51,759 --> 00:17:54,079
up for in whatever that had been. Then I saw

360
00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:58,400
another green sign was Condonato's twelve miles. I slammed the

361
00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:01,440
bricks and screened loud and long. There wasn't any one

362
00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:04,160
to hear me. I've blacked out after that. Ton't know

363
00:18:04,279 --> 00:18:06,920
for how long. When I came to, I was parked

364
00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:10,319
at a rest stop just outside Pinefort, near taff Sun

365
00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:14,000
was up, cock clock said seven hundred forty three. My

366
00:18:14,079 --> 00:18:16,799
tank was full again. My backpack was neatly on the

367
00:18:16,839 --> 00:18:19,559
passenger seat, but all the receipts I'd scribbled on were gone.

368
00:18:20,039 --> 00:18:22,559
So was my phone. I found it two days later

369
00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,720
under the driver's seat, which tight battery dead. I've usked

370
00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:29,599
around rangers, truckers, old timers, and hardware stows. No one's

371
00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:33,680
heard of lost Condonado's, at least not out loud. One

372
00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:35,640
guy told me to stay away from the Carrizo plane

373
00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:38,480
unless I had permission. I don't drive alone any more,

374
00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,000
especially not at night, and if I see a town

375
00:18:41,039 --> 00:18:43,319
on a sign that I don't recognize. I don't stop,

376
00:18:43,799 --> 00:18:46,599
I don't even slow down. My sister Ira said this

377
00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:49,160
job interview in a town called Kailat a few hours south,

378
00:18:49,279 --> 00:18:50,880
and I figured I'd go with her just to clean

379
00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:53,279
my head. Things had been rough at the time, so

380
00:18:53,359 --> 00:18:55,759
we made a lose plan. We'd head down the coast

381
00:18:55,839 --> 00:18:58,200
alley in the morning Takai. We twelve most of the way,

382
00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:00,559
switch off driving after Coal and Bay, and stretched out

383
00:19:00,559 --> 00:19:03,880
into one day, miny road trip, scenic stops, good coffee,

384
00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:08,240
ocean views. Honestly, it sounded kind of perfect. The weird

385
00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:11,000
part started before we even got to Heron about an

386
00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:13,599
iron into the drive, the gas light came on. I

387
00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:15,839
hadn't noticed a drop in it fast, but I figured

388
00:19:15,839 --> 00:19:17,960
we'd hit a small town scene, so I took the

389
00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:20,720
next exit. That's how we ended up in Meryl Glen.

390
00:19:21,319 --> 00:19:25,680
No signs before the turner, no billboards, just a basic

391
00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:28,640
green eggsit sign with the name in small print. Blinkn

392
00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:32,119
you'd miss it. I'd never heard of it. Iris hadn't either.

393
00:19:32,759 --> 00:19:35,119
It was one of those little spots that barely existed.

394
00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:39,000
Quiet streets, maybe four business is total, and not a

395
00:19:39,039 --> 00:19:42,480
single person walking around. It wasn't run down, no spooky,

396
00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:46,079
just still. We found a small gas station about two

397
00:19:46,119 --> 00:19:50,279
miles in one pump, no other cars. It was almost

398
00:19:50,319 --> 00:19:52,359
too clean, like someone had wiped down the whole building

399
00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:55,279
for a photo shoot. I pulled up and started filling

400
00:19:55,279 --> 00:19:57,960
the tank. Ere said she was going to run inside

401
00:19:57,960 --> 00:19:59,839
to use the restroom, and I told her I'd grab

402
00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:04,200
some snacks, standard routine. The inside of the place was off,

403
00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:06,599
not in an obvious way, just in a way you

404
00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:09,799
feel in your roobs without knowing why. It was completely silent,

405
00:20:10,599 --> 00:20:13,240
no music, no harm from coolers, not even the buzzing

406
00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:16,160
of fluorescent lights. The guy behind the counter was on

407
00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:19,119
the phone, not even pretending to acknowledge me. He was

408
00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:21,960
speaking slowly, low, like he was reading from a script.

409
00:20:22,559 --> 00:20:24,640
The shelves were stocked, but in this overly neat way

410
00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:28,839
that fell staged everything front facing, no price stickers, no dust.

411
00:20:29,559 --> 00:20:31,599
There was a rack of pamphlets by the counter, every

412
00:20:31,599 --> 00:20:34,759
one identical, just gossip covers with names like dry Hollow

413
00:20:34,799 --> 00:20:40,039
Path and Eastpilrope. No maps inside, no highway numbers, just

414
00:20:40,119 --> 00:20:44,119
vague directionless phrases like continuous through the second bluff or

415
00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:46,759
stayed to the lower bend. I grabbed a water and

416
00:20:46,799 --> 00:20:48,559
a pack of trail mix and stood at the counter.

417
00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:53,000
He didn't look up, didn't stop talking. After a minute,

418
00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:56,839
I cleared my throat and said, hey, just these still nothing,

419
00:20:57,480 --> 00:20:59,720
But without pausing his call, he reached under the counter

420
00:20:59,759 --> 00:21:02,400
and sid a receipt toward me. No scan beat, no

421
00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:05,720
drawer opening. It was already printed, with the item's listed,

422
00:21:05,839 --> 00:21:08,240
the total, and a timestimep that massed the moment exactly.

423
00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:12,039
I left five, tipped my stuff and walked out. Iris

424
00:21:12,079 --> 00:21:14,839
was already back in the car. Arn's crossed as narrowed.

425
00:21:15,319 --> 00:21:18,680
Why do you move the car, she asked. I told

426
00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:21,559
her I didn't. She said it was part differently when

427
00:21:21,559 --> 00:21:25,200
she came out, further back, more angled. I hadn't touched it,

428
00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:28,039
but she was convinced. I looked around, just to be sure.

429
00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:31,799
Same pum, same position. I even jacked the gearshift, like

430
00:21:31,839 --> 00:21:35,559
maybe the brake had slipped. It hadn't, I said, maybe

431
00:21:35,559 --> 00:21:38,559
she remembered it wrong. She didn't argue, but the tension

432
00:21:38,599 --> 00:21:41,359
stuck in the air. We got back on the road.

433
00:21:41,599 --> 00:21:44,920
For a while. Everything seemed fine. The scenery was beautiful,

434
00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:47,319
rolling hills on one side, ocean cliffs on the other,

435
00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:50,920
but there were no other cars, not one For almost

436
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:53,279
forty minutes. It felt like the entire stretch of road

437
00:21:53,319 --> 00:21:56,480
belonged to us. I started to feel that low, creeping

438
00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:59,799
alertness that something was wrong, but nothing specific had happened yet.

439
00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:03,960
Then we saw the sign welcome to Marrow Glen again.

440
00:22:04,759 --> 00:22:08,000
I slowed down. We both stared at it. It was

441
00:22:08,039 --> 00:22:10,319
the same sign, same bend in the row, same scuff

442
00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:14,039
on the metal. It didn't make sense. We hadn't turned around.

443
00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:17,640
I hadn't even changed lanes. We had been heading south

444
00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:20,559
the whole time, following the coast line. We drove past

445
00:22:20,559 --> 00:22:24,079
the gas station again, same building, same black as U

446
00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:27,119
V parked up front. That's when Iris said it autloud,

447
00:22:27,799 --> 00:22:31,279
Are we stuck in something? I didn't answer. I was

448
00:22:31,319 --> 00:22:33,240
trying not to admit I was thinking the same thing.

449
00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:37,720
I checked my phone again, no service. Jeep as still

450
00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:40,319
at US. Pointed south, but the blue rut line had vanished,

451
00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:44,480
just a dot floating on a blank background. I slowed down,

452
00:22:44,559 --> 00:22:47,039
thinking maybe we should stop and ask for directions, But

453
00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:51,559
right then we passed another sign drive steady, no more stops.

454
00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:54,599
It was mounted like a regular road sign, but the

455
00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:59,519
lettering looked wrong, too sharp, too perfectly placed, like it

456
00:22:59,519 --> 00:23:01,480
it had been ructually made and hadn't aged a day.

457
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:05,680
No dirt, no marks, nothing, and no exit numbers are

458
00:23:05,759 --> 00:23:09,519
high ware labels anywhere. After that, irist didn't say anything else.

459
00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:12,200
She folded her hands in her lap and stared out

460
00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:15,000
the window. The air inside the car started to feel different,

461
00:23:15,039 --> 00:23:17,759
thinner somehow, like the inside of an elevator between floors.

462
00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:21,160
Then we passed the gas station again a third time,

463
00:23:21,799 --> 00:23:25,319
only now the suv was gone, the station lights were off,

464
00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:27,359
and across the lot park next to the same diesel

465
00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:29,160
pump where we had stopped earlier, it was our car,

466
00:23:29,759 --> 00:23:32,319
same model, same plate, same tidy dent under the drayer's

467
00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:35,440
side mirror. It was sitting there, quiet and clean, like

468
00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:38,880
it had never moved. I pulled over. The moment I

469
00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:41,599
stepped out of our actual car, the wind changed. It

470
00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:43,440
hit my face colder than it had been all morning.

471
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:45,960
I walked toward the part version of her car, not

472
00:23:46,039 --> 00:23:49,119
really thinking, just moving. There was a folded piece of

473
00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,039
paper tuck under the windshield whipper. I pulled it out.

474
00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:56,920
It was my gas receipt, same items, same time, sam

475
00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:00,480
but across the bottom. Someone had scrolled in shaky handwriting

476
00:24:00,559 --> 00:24:03,039
it doesn't stop unless you do. I stared at it

477
00:24:03,039 --> 00:24:05,359
for a second, longer than I should have. Then I

478
00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:09,359
looked back toward Iris. She hadn't moved, not an inch.

479
00:24:10,079 --> 00:24:13,240
She wasn't even watching me. She was staring straight ahead

480
00:24:13,279 --> 00:24:15,680
as why, like she was forcing herself not to blink.

481
00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:18,839
I got back in and drove. We passed the same

482
00:24:18,839 --> 00:24:21,440
Brantosh bag, tangled in the same fence, the same splint

483
00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:23,559
of mile marker, the same patch of wild flowers by

484
00:24:23,599 --> 00:24:26,839
a rustic Gabriel, again and again. I stopped counting after

485
00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:29,839
the fifth pass. Then it's all narrow, turned out, just

486
00:24:29,839 --> 00:24:32,440
a strip of dot leading into some brush. It wasn't

487
00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,880
on the GPS. I took it anyway. As soon as

488
00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:37,839
we bumped off the pavement, it felt like the road

489
00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:41,519
finally resisted us again. Gravel pinged against the undercarriage and

490
00:24:41,559 --> 00:24:44,440
my arms tense at the wheel. That simple physical change

491
00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:46,680
was like a slap to the face. I knew we

492
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,440
had crossed back into something real. After a couple of

493
00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:52,440
winding minutes, we came to a gated fire road. There

494
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:54,759
was a tiny ranger station next to it, boarded up

495
00:24:55,279 --> 00:25:00,000
a faded SCIgen said access restricted, no cars, no people.

496
00:25:00,759 --> 00:25:03,039
But there was a red emergency phone box mounted to

497
00:25:03,039 --> 00:25:06,799
a wooden post. I picked it up. It ran once,

498
00:25:07,559 --> 00:25:11,400
then clicked. A voice said 're out, don't drive back.

499
00:25:12,079 --> 00:25:16,720
No introduction, no static, just those words. I put the

500
00:25:16,799 --> 00:25:19,759
receiver down gently and got back in the car. IRUs

501
00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:23,920
was still silent. I didn't say anything either, I just drove.

502
00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:27,680
Eventually we saw a real highway sign Lynnville ex fifteen

503
00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:31,400
GPS snap back on like it had never stopped. Full

504
00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:35,599
signal Eta updated, like nothing had happened. We stopped at

505
00:25:35,599 --> 00:25:38,759
a coffee shop near Elbridge. I finally broke the silence

506
00:25:38,799 --> 00:25:41,319
and asked Iras what had happened in the gas station bathroom.

507
00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:45,200
She looked confused, then serious. I never went in, she said,

508
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,920
I waited outside the whole time. I didn't push it.

509
00:25:49,599 --> 00:25:52,559
We made it to Kayla just fine. She had her interview,

510
00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:55,960
nailed it. Actually she got the job. But we never

511
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,200
talked about that drive again. My girlfriend and i'd broken

512
00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:03,119
up about three weeks earlier. She moved out. I kept

513
00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:05,480
the apartment, and suddenly even my own space felt like

514
00:26:05,519 --> 00:26:08,680
it didn't belong to me any more. Every coffeemak reminded

515
00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:11,359
me of her. Every playlist had some song we used

516
00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:13,920
to sing off key together. So I packed a bag,

517
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:16,039
grabbed my camera, tossed a blanket in the back seat,

518
00:26:16,079 --> 00:26:19,680
and just left. No real plan, just pointed my car

519
00:26:19,759 --> 00:26:22,200
north and started driving out of Saint Gabriel, keeping off

520
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:24,920
the big freeze whenever I could. I stayed in whatever

521
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:27,519
town I landed near. Each night, slept in roopside motels

522
00:26:27,519 --> 00:26:29,559
where the towels spelled like bleach and the vending machine

523
00:26:29,559 --> 00:26:31,839
still had buttons that stuck ate way too many peanut

524
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:34,400
butter crackers, listened to BAB radio and took photos of

525
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:36,720
anything that caught the sunlight in a weird way, old fences,

526
00:26:36,839 --> 00:26:39,880
rusted water tanks, trees that looked half dead. I wasn't

527
00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:42,920
looking for anything. I just didn't want to be anywhere familiar.

528
00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:45,920
On the fourth day, somewhere outside of place called Hartville,

529
00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:48,119
this tiny town east of Bishop, I pulled off the road.

530
00:26:48,799 --> 00:26:51,839
It was late afternoon, maybe a couple hours before sundown.

531
00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:54,480
I was driving through this long stretch of highway to

532
00:26:54,519 --> 00:26:57,079
cut through dry hills when I saw turn out one

533
00:26:57,079 --> 00:26:58,640
of those dirt loops on the side of the road

534
00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:00,799
where a few tired trucks head others had parked before.

535
00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:04,279
No signs, no buildings, just the hills, the brush, and

536
00:27:04,319 --> 00:27:06,680
the road curving quietly out of sight in both directions.

537
00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:09,599
I figured it'd stopped for a bit, stretched my legs,

538
00:27:09,759 --> 00:27:12,160
maybe nap before heading to Wartown for dinner in a bed.

539
00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:14,960
I rolled the windows down just enough to catch a breeze,

540
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:17,640
turned off the ignition, and leaned the seat back, and

541
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:19,880
I must have dozed all because the next thing I

542
00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:22,119
remember is waking up to a weird kind of stillness,

543
00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:24,960
not the peaceful kind, more like the sort of stillness

544
00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:27,480
you noticed when something's wrong but you're not sure what yet.

545
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:29,599
I've blinked up at the ceiling of the cart, then

546
00:27:29,599 --> 00:27:33,119
sat up slowly. The sun had shifted lower, casting everything

547
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,279
in that orange haze that makes the world look kind

548
00:27:35,279 --> 00:27:38,200
of unreal. I glanced at the road ahead, and that's

549
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:41,519
when I realized something felt off. The highway looked longer.

550
00:27:42,119 --> 00:27:44,319
I knowed it sounds strange, but I'm telling you, the

551
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:46,000
curve in the road that had been maybe a hundred

552
00:27:46,039 --> 00:27:48,440
years up before was now barely visible, like the distance

553
00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:50,960
between me and it had stretched. While I slept, I

554
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:53,279
rubbed my eyes. Checked my watch four hundred twenty two.

555
00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:55,440
I remember it being four hundred ten when I lost

556
00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:58,799
looked before shutting my eyes. It didn't make sense, but

557
00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:01,880
I was groggy and grow ogi. Minds reached for easy explanations.

558
00:28:02,599 --> 00:28:05,480
Maybe I misremembered the time. Maybe the light just looked

559
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:08,279
different now, I told myself all that. As I opened

560
00:28:08,279 --> 00:28:10,720
the door and stepped out. That's when I noticed the

561
00:28:10,759 --> 00:28:13,920
car had moved, not by much, just a few feet,

562
00:28:14,039 --> 00:28:15,880
but enough that I could see the difference in the dirt.

563
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:18,839
The tire truck showed where had originally settled, and now

564
00:28:18,839 --> 00:28:21,599
it sat slightly back at an angle lu I had

565
00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:23,680
rolled in its sleep, except I had left it in park.

566
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:28,759
Emergency break engaged. I checked here was still in park,

567
00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:33,480
brake hadn't budged, nothing wrong. Inside I walked a slow

568
00:28:33,519 --> 00:28:36,119
circle around the car, trying to piece it together. And

569
00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:38,279
behind the vehicle, just a few feet from the bumper,

570
00:28:38,319 --> 00:28:43,359
I saw them marks in the dirt. Notfo prince, no soul, patten,

571
00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:47,799
no heel or tower, just smooth and even ovals, three

572
00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:49,720
or four of them in a rough Simmas circle, like

573
00:28:49,799 --> 00:28:51,920
someone or something had walked half way round the back

574
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:54,519
of the car. Stopped at the driver's side, then backed away.

575
00:28:55,119 --> 00:28:57,400
The impressions were too shallow for boots, too round for

576
00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:01,599
bare feet, and the spacing was wrong natural. I crouched

577
00:29:01,599 --> 00:29:04,160
down for a better look. That's when my phone buzzed

578
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:06,839
in my pocket. I pulled it out, intending to snap

579
00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:08,839
a photo of a prince, but the screen glitched. As

580
00:29:08,839 --> 00:29:12,240
soon as I opened the camera. It flickered once, then furroze.

581
00:29:12,839 --> 00:29:15,640
I tried to restart it. The phone powered down, but

582
00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:17,720
when it came back on, the battery had jumped from

583
00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:20,400
somewhere in the eighty to four percent. I hadn't touched

584
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:23,160
it since checking the time before I fell asleep. I

585
00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:26,759
put it away, uneasy. Now my mouth was dry, the

586
00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:29,359
kind of dry dout doesn't go away with water. I

587
00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:31,960
opened the driver's door to sit down, and that's when

588
00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:34,920
I saw the dashboard clock two point fifty seven. I

589
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:38,640
stared at it. It didn't make sense. The ignition had

590
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:41,519
been off. There's no reason the time should have changed.

591
00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:45,400
Definitely not reset. My car's not new, but it's not

592
00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:48,279
old enough to glitch like that. I turned the key halfway,

593
00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:50,960
just enough to bring everything to life without starting The engine.

594
00:29:51,559 --> 00:29:55,119
Radio lit up a sea clicked, but the clock held

595
00:29:55,119 --> 00:29:58,079
steady at two point fifty seven. I manually reset it,

596
00:29:58,599 --> 00:30:00,759
not because I knew what the real time was any more,

597
00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:03,839
just because leaving it wrung felt worse. I glanced in

598
00:30:03,839 --> 00:30:06,319
the rear view mirror one lost time. That's when I

599
00:30:06,319 --> 00:30:10,440
saw it. A car parked about quarter mile back around

600
00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:12,839
the bend where the road curved out of sight. Tail

601
00:30:12,839 --> 00:30:17,799
colored silver or maybe white, no headlights, no movement. It

602
00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:20,440
hadn't been there when I got out earlier. It just

603
00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:23,240
sat there, slightly off center in the lane, not pulled over,

604
00:30:23,559 --> 00:30:26,079
not angled like it was meant to stop. No one

605
00:30:26,119 --> 00:30:29,599
got out, no one opened a door. It didn't idle,

606
00:30:30,119 --> 00:30:33,200
it didn't reverse. I stared at it, waiting for any

607
00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:37,039
sign of life. Nothing. I shifted into drive and started

608
00:30:37,079 --> 00:30:40,519
slowly forward, kept glancing at the mirror. The car didn't

609
00:30:40,519 --> 00:30:44,359
move until it wasn't there any more, no sound, no movement,

610
00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:47,599
just gone. One second it was in the mirror, the

611
00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:50,279
next it wasn't. I didn't stop to figure it out.

612
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:54,359
I drove fast, not reckless, but faster than I normally

613
00:30:54,359 --> 00:30:57,759
would on stretch like that. After about ten or fifteen minutes,

614
00:30:57,839 --> 00:30:59,960
I saw a gas station, a low building with faded

615
00:31:00,119 --> 00:31:02,480
signs in a single pump, the kind of place that

616
00:31:02,519 --> 00:31:05,559
looks closed even when it's open. I pulled in, left

617
00:31:05,559 --> 00:31:08,680
the engine running, and mut inside. The attendant barely looked

618
00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:10,839
up from behind the counter, middle aged guy in a

619
00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:13,400
ball cap. I asked if he'd seen any one come

620
00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:16,599
through recently. He didn't hesitate, said no one had passed

621
00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:19,200
nearly an iro. I didn't tell him what I saw

622
00:31:19,319 --> 00:31:22,240
didn't seem like it would matter. I checked my phone again,

623
00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:25,400
still dead. When I got back outside, I scanned the road,

624
00:31:25,519 --> 00:31:28,200
the hills, the turn off in the distance. Nothing. I

625
00:31:28,279 --> 00:31:30,119
was about to unlock the car when I saw something

626
00:31:30,119 --> 00:31:34,400
on the rear driver's side window. Three faint streaks, thadonal,

627
00:31:35,079 --> 00:31:38,480
slightly curved, like some one had dried three fingers lightly

628
00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:42,480
across the glass from top to bottom. Not dirt, not sap.

629
00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:46,920
It looked oily, almost like skin oil, but thicker. I

630
00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:48,839
walked it away with my sleeve and opened the door,

631
00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:53,400
checked the locks again, still engaged. That night I found

632
00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:56,160
him motil just outside of town, one of those one

633
00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:58,759
story buildings with buzzing fluorescent lights and the smell of

634
00:31:58,759 --> 00:32:02,039
stale air in the room. I didn't sleep. I lay

635
00:32:02,039 --> 00:32:04,319
on the bed, fully dressed t von, low volume, eyes

636
00:32:04,359 --> 00:32:06,920
half on the screen, half in the window. Every so

637
00:32:07,079 --> 00:32:09,839
often I'd get up and pat the blinds. I never

638
00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:12,119
saw anything outside, but each time I saw the road

639
00:32:12,119 --> 00:32:13,960
in front of the motel looked farther away, like the

640
00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:16,079
stretch from the parking lot to the highway was growing

641
00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:18,920
a few feet more each hoire, like the distance between

642
00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:21,880
me and something was being measured. Before dawn, I packed

643
00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:25,480
up and left. Didn't even bother checking out. I just

644
00:32:25,519 --> 00:32:27,200
slid the key under the door of the office and

645
00:32:27,279 --> 00:32:29,759
got back on the road. My cousin Aiden and I

646
00:32:29,799 --> 00:32:31,680
were about half way through this week long road trip

647
00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:34,720
to northern California. We were hitting every park, and we

648
00:32:34,759 --> 00:32:37,240
had little stretch of coast We could find six sicking

649
00:32:37,319 --> 00:32:39,960
between trails and cliffs and back roads that barely existed

650
00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:42,519
in the map. We used to be pretty much inseparable

651
00:32:42,519 --> 00:32:45,359
growing up, spent every summer together between our family's houses

652
00:32:45,359 --> 00:32:48,799
in Los Alto's and San Diego. But after college I

653
00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:51,079
moved up to Oakland for work and he stayed down south,

654
00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:53,799
and over time the distance kind of stock. We had

655
00:32:53,799 --> 00:32:55,720
this shar dug or map filled with red pins of

656
00:32:55,720 --> 00:32:59,039
places we thought looked interesting, random waterfalls, hot springs, the

657
00:32:59,039 --> 00:33:02,480
band and lookouts. Some were real destinations, some were just

658
00:33:02,599 --> 00:33:05,519
vague dots in the woods. We took turns driving and

659
00:33:05,559 --> 00:33:08,039
picked spots on or whim. It felt like how we

660
00:33:08,119 --> 00:33:09,759
used to be as kids, amos in a good way.

661
00:33:10,319 --> 00:33:12,799
By the fourth night, we were somewhere pretty remote outside

662
00:33:12,799 --> 00:33:15,640
a small town called Mineral. We'd follow this old logging

663
00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:17,799
rode off the highway, hoping it might lead us to

664
00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:21,759
tucked away clearing. It did. Eventually we found this flat

665
00:33:21,839 --> 00:33:23,680
gravel pull off with enough space to puck and set

666
00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:28,079
up our tent. Definitely not official, no signs, no bathrooms,

667
00:33:28,119 --> 00:33:31,440
no cell service. But it was quiet forest in every direction,

668
00:33:32,119 --> 00:33:35,559
no other cars, no distant lights, just us in the trees.

669
00:33:36,279 --> 00:33:39,119
It was late when we stopped, maybe after nine. We

670
00:33:39,319 --> 00:33:41,599
ate some canchili spled a beer and sat by the fire.

671
00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:44,880
We'd barely managed to get going it and fell asleep fast.

672
00:33:45,559 --> 00:33:48,759
He always curred, like flipping a switch. I stayed up

673
00:33:48,759 --> 00:33:51,559
a little longer. I remember sitting on this log near

674
00:33:51,559 --> 00:33:53,599
the fire pit with my head lamp on, picking through

675
00:33:53,599 --> 00:33:55,440
a bag of trail mixed and reading one of those

676
00:33:55,480 --> 00:33:58,160
cheesy pot per shores about local for and it was

677
00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:00,880
so still. I know people say that all the time,

678
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:06,599
but I mean litterally still. No breeze, no rustling, no bugs, buzzing, nothing.

679
00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:09,119
It was like someone had hit paws on the forest.

680
00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:12,400
Then I heard footsteps, not TwixT snapping or some animal

681
00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:16,039
crashing around. I know what a raccoon sound's like. This

682
00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:19,639
was different. These were clear, measured steps, like boots on

683
00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:25,320
pine needles. Two maybe three. Then silence, A froze clicked off.

684
00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:27,639
The head lamp. Just sat there in the dark, eyes wide,

685
00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:30,519
trying not to breathe too loud. I was thinking maybe

686
00:34:30,519 --> 00:34:32,800
it was another camper, some one who had pulled and laid,

687
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:35,880
but that made no sense. We hadn't passed any one

688
00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:39,199
for miles. Then I saw it, a person, or at

689
00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:41,760
least a human shape, maybe thirty feet off, half obscured

690
00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:45,679
behind a tree, just standing there, not moving, not coming closer,

691
00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:48,559
just there. I whisper it didn't but he didn't stir.

692
00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:52,159
I looked back just for a second. When I looked

693
00:34:52,159 --> 00:34:54,960
toward the tree again, the figure was gone. I waited

694
00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:59,400
maybe ten more minutes, not moving. Nothing happened, no sound,

695
00:35:00,119 --> 00:35:03,239
no movement. Eventually I convinced myself. It was just a

696
00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:06,280
trick of the dark, maybe my eyes. Playing games, you

697
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:08,280
tell yourself whatever you need to win you alone in

698
00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:11,519
the woods. I didn't mention it. The next morning, we

699
00:35:11,599 --> 00:35:14,000
packed up fast like we always did and headed east

700
00:35:14,039 --> 00:35:17,199
toward Lassen Volcanic. It was just another day in the plan.

701
00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:19,760
On the way, we stopped for gas in this blink

702
00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:22,760
and you miss it place culviol Real old school station,

703
00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:26,559
one pump, a faded sign, creaky floorboards. Eden went inside

704
00:35:26,559 --> 00:35:29,079
to grab coffee while I filled up the tank. There

705
00:35:29,119 --> 00:35:30,920
was a woman at the other pump, mid fift as,

706
00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:33,880
maybe weathered face, old sweater, looked like she'd lived in

707
00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:36,719
the area forever. She kept glancing over at me while

708
00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:38,760
work the pump. Eventually she walked over and asked, you

709
00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:41,239
guys camping out here? I has stated, then saidya, sort

710
00:35:41,239 --> 00:35:43,039
of told her we were just passing for She nodded

711
00:35:43,119 --> 00:35:45,119
lowly like she was thinking something over. Then she said,

712
00:35:45,119 --> 00:35:47,440
there's been somewhere stuff in the hills lately. Just be careful.

713
00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:49,440
That said, no details, no storage, just that. I gave

714
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:51,280
her a plight nod and smiled, trying not to look

715
00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:53,559
worded out, but inside some intents I wanted to ask

716
00:35:53,559 --> 00:35:55,320
her more, but she had already walked off. We brushed

717
00:35:55,360 --> 00:35:57,280
it off. People in small tan say oh things, we'd

718
00:35:57,280 --> 00:35:59,320
head stranger. Later that afternoon, ad And pointed to this

719
00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:01,400
narrow Doubt road that burnt off high with thirty six.

720
00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:02,840
He marked it and the map said it led to

721
00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:05,119
it ven ovlook supposed to be beautiful, he said. I

722
00:36:05,159 --> 00:36:07,239
didn't argue. We were both still chasing the sense of

723
00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:09,800
discovery we did. On the first couple of days, the

724
00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:12,480
road was rough, steep climbs, big rocks, potholes that could

725
00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:15,480
swallow a tire, but the car handled it. Eventually we

726
00:36:15,519 --> 00:36:17,559
got to this wide open stretch where the trees cleared

727
00:36:17,559 --> 00:36:19,760
out and there was this jaw dropping view over a canyon.

728
00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:22,760
No sign, no railings, just a sloping edge in are.

729
00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:25,320
We parked and stood there for a while, watching the

730
00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:27,920
wind move through the tree hups far below. Took a

731
00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:30,800
few pictures ate some jerky We were getting ready to

732
00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:33,480
head back when we saw it, another car, a jeep.

733
00:36:34,079 --> 00:36:36,320
It was parked maybe fifty yards further down the road,

734
00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:38,719
half in the brush, at an angle that didn't make sense.

735
00:36:39,519 --> 00:36:42,079
It hadn't been there when we arrived. We would have

736
00:36:42,079 --> 00:36:45,559
seen it edon, slowed the car as we passed. It

737
00:36:45,679 --> 00:36:50,000
was old but looked intact, dusty windows, no one inside,

738
00:36:50,679 --> 00:36:53,519
and there were no tire tracks behind it. The road

739
00:36:53,599 --> 00:36:57,880
was soft dirt. Ires were clearly visible this jeep not

740
00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:01,440
Then we waited a minute, just staring at it. No

741
00:37:01,519 --> 00:37:05,039
one came out of the trees, no sound, no sign

742
00:37:05,119 --> 00:37:08,360
of movement. I didn't didn't say anything. He just pressed

743
00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:11,079
the gas and we kept going. That night, we didn't

744
00:37:11,119 --> 00:37:14,159
go rogue. We found a proper campsite near Lake Almonor.

745
00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:17,559
There were fire pits, bathrooms, other tents nearby, even a

746
00:37:17,599 --> 00:37:21,440
couple of r v It felt safer normal. We set up,

747
00:37:21,519 --> 00:37:24,159
made another lazy dinner, and clungbed into our sleeping bags.

748
00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:27,039
I remember lying the thinking maybe I'd just let the

749
00:37:27,039 --> 00:37:30,000
isolation get to me. That's what I told myself anyway,

750
00:37:30,039 --> 00:37:32,760
until I run. Two in the morning, I woke up freezing.

751
00:37:33,199 --> 00:37:35,320
The fire was dead, the air was damp, and everything

752
00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:37,760
felt off. I sat up and reached from my back

753
00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:40,719
to zip it tighter. That's when I heard it. A

754
00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:46,639
whisper Ari not Eden, not his voice, softer, not urgent,

755
00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:52,679
just clothes. Then again orry. My throat went dry, My

756
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:55,519
hands locked around the edge of the sleeping bag, and

757
00:37:55,599 --> 00:37:57,800
then slowly the zipper and the tent started to move,

758
00:37:58,559 --> 00:38:03,559
not fast, yanked, just a soft inching sound, an inch

759
00:38:04,440 --> 00:38:08,559
maybe two. I snapped into motion, threw myself forward and

760
00:38:08,599 --> 00:38:12,480
shrigaded and hard. He jerked away, half shouting. I grabbed

761
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:14,840
the flashlight and ripped open the tent flap, trying the

762
00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:19,000
beam into the dark. No one, nothing. We sat there

763
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:22,280
with the light on until morning, not saying much. Aden

764
00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:25,679
was clearly rattled, so it was I. I didn't even

765
00:38:25,719 --> 00:38:27,960
try to play it off this time. As soon as

766
00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:29,840
it was light enough, we packed everything up and got

767
00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:35,079
in the car. No breakfast, no lingering. We just left.

768
00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:38,000
We didn't really talk much on the way home. Every

769
00:38:38,039 --> 00:38:40,400
time we passed another car of all shape on the shoulder,

770
00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:43,159
we both got quiet. That night, I crashed hard in

771
00:38:43,159 --> 00:38:46,639
my apartment in Oakland. I didn't check my phone, didn't

772
00:38:46,719 --> 00:38:50,840
ump back, just collapsed. Two days later, Adam sent me

773
00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:55,480
a text, no caption, just a photo. It was the jeep,

774
00:38:56,199 --> 00:38:59,039
same one we'd see near the ravine, only this time

775
00:38:59,119 --> 00:39:01,639
it was on a missing purse since I some woman

776
00:39:01,639 --> 00:39:04,239
had posted it said it belonged to her brother. He'd

777
00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:07,559
vanished five months earlier. The last confirmed sighting of his

778
00:39:07,639 --> 00:39:10,519
vehicle had been near canyon west of Viola. He never

779
00:39:10,599 --> 00:39:13,599
came back. I stared at the photo for a long time.

780
00:39:14,159 --> 00:39:17,079
Then I deleted the message and the image locked the

781
00:39:17,119 --> 00:39:21,400
site close the tab. I didn't respond, and I don't

782
00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:24,039
take road trips any more. My girlfriend and I had

783
00:39:24,079 --> 00:39:25,679
just broken up a week eel as she packed up

784
00:39:25,679 --> 00:39:27,440
her stuff in one day, took half the furniture, and

785
00:39:27,519 --> 00:39:29,679
left the apartment feeling like one of those weird eque

786
00:39:29,719 --> 00:39:31,519
EBMs that's been cleaned too well. So when my friend

787
00:39:31,559 --> 00:39:33,519
Nolin texted me about a three day road trip up

788
00:39:33,519 --> 00:39:35,519
the coast, I didn't think twice. I said yes before

789
00:39:35,559 --> 00:39:37,519
I even asked who else was going. It sounded simple.

790
00:39:37,599 --> 00:39:39,440
Drive out the one hundred one from Santa Barbara de

791
00:39:39,519 --> 00:39:42,039
Monterey camp a couple of places along the way, stop

792
00:39:42,079 --> 00:39:44,360
at a few strange little roadside attractions for the hell

793
00:39:44,360 --> 00:39:47,360
of it. Nolan had already mapped out most of the route,

794
00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:49,599
as Buddy Mason had the tent and gear, and Mason's

795
00:39:49,599 --> 00:39:52,559
cousin Becca had a reliable car and enough playlist downloaded

796
00:39:52,559 --> 00:39:55,760
to survive any signal dead zone. I'd never met her before,

797
00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:57,639
but she showed up in the silver SUPERU with a

798
00:39:57,639 --> 00:39:59,960
crack windshield and a babble, had Jesus on the dashboard,

799
00:40:00,079 --> 00:40:03,679
and I figured, Okay, she's probably fun. We left Thursday

800
00:40:03,719 --> 00:40:06,840
morning early, that kind of early where your coffee still

801
00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:10,000
tastes half asleep. The first few hours were an eventful,

802
00:40:10,199 --> 00:40:13,199
just music, passing snacks around, stretching out our legs at

803
00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:16,280
gas stations. The water was dry, the hills were brown,

804
00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:18,519
and everything outside the car felt like a screen silver.

805
00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:21,920
Our first actual stop was some half dead miniature western

806
00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:24,639
town behind a boarded up diner off the highway. The

807
00:40:24,679 --> 00:40:27,280
buildings were all sun bleach plywood with names like dead

808
00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:29,920
Man's Gulch and Saloon, two painted and crooked red letters.

809
00:40:30,559 --> 00:40:32,480
The gallows had a fake body hanging from it, a

810
00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:34,599
stuff pair of jeans and an ald shirt nailed together.

811
00:40:35,239 --> 00:40:37,599
The whole place smelled like dry rot and motor oil.

812
00:40:38,199 --> 00:40:40,639
We took dumb pictures, climbed inside the jail cell, joked

813
00:40:40,679 --> 00:40:43,880
about ghosts. It was weird, but in a fun, kitchy way.

814
00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:46,239
I didn't feel great, but I felt better than I

815
00:40:46,239 --> 00:40:49,679
had in days. Then came the second stop. We weren't

816
00:40:49,679 --> 00:40:52,000
even planning to stop again that night. It was a

817
00:40:52,079 --> 00:40:54,920
round six giver take. The sun was starting to dip

818
00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:56,840
behind a range of dusty hills as we drove through

819
00:40:56,840 --> 00:40:59,599
a wide stretch of now were just before Snardo. That's

820
00:40:59,639 --> 00:41:03,639
when pulled over, no warning, no discussion, just drifted off

821
00:41:03,679 --> 00:41:06,000
on to the gravel shoulder, like she'd remembered something at

822
00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:09,559
the last second. What are you doing, Mason asked from

823
00:41:09,559 --> 00:41:13,519
the passenger seat. She didn't answer immediately, just leaned forward

824
00:41:13,519 --> 00:41:15,280
and stared out the windshill, like she was trying to

825
00:41:15,320 --> 00:41:17,840
make sense of something up ahead. There was a sign,

826
00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:21,559
she said, finally, pointing. Didn't you guys see it? None

827
00:41:21,559 --> 00:41:24,000
of us had. She put the car in reverse and

828
00:41:24,039 --> 00:41:26,119
backed up onto this narrow dirt rode that dipped down

829
00:41:26,159 --> 00:41:30,119
into a gully. It wasn't even marked, no visible sign,

830
00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:33,480
just tall grass and loose gravel winding between the hills.

831
00:41:34,039 --> 00:41:38,639
Becca insisted she'd seen one Juno Hill picnigrounds, she said, No.

832
00:41:38,760 --> 00:41:42,960
One pulled out his phone, searched Google Maps, nothing, tried

833
00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:48,960
read it. Still nothing. I looked too, no results, no mentions,

834
00:41:49,679 --> 00:41:53,559
no geotags. It was like the place didn't exist. Maybe

835
00:41:53,639 --> 00:41:56,400
used to be something, Becka said, like one of those

836
00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:59,239
little family parks that shut down years ago. We should

837
00:41:59,239 --> 00:42:02,000
have said no, should have insisted we just get back

838
00:42:02,039 --> 00:42:05,159
on the road, but no one pushed back. I think

839
00:42:05,199 --> 00:42:07,400
part of me didn't care where we ended up. The

840
00:42:07,519 --> 00:42:10,239
idea of sitting still for a while anywhere didn't sound

841
00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:12,960
so bad. The dip rowed dipp left under a rusted

842
00:42:13,039 --> 00:42:16,000
arch that barely stood upright. The letters were too worn

843
00:42:16,039 --> 00:42:18,719
to read. It opened up into this flat little clearing,

844
00:42:18,719 --> 00:42:21,599
surrounded by scrubby grass and a few tall spinley euclyptus trees.

845
00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:24,760
In the middle stood a wooden structure, a low canopy

846
00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:27,280
with three picked tables underneath, all of them leaning at

847
00:42:27,320 --> 00:42:29,920
odd angles. The whole thing looked like it had been

848
00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:33,360
abandoned midsummer and just left to bake. This is not normal,

849
00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:36,639
Mason said, only half joking. There were no signs of

850
00:42:36,639 --> 00:42:43,239
recent visitors, no tire marks, no trash, no trash, no footprints.

851
00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:45,800
The e f felt dry and too still, like the

852
00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:47,920
inside of a house with all the windows shut tight.

853
00:42:48,480 --> 00:42:50,280
I got out of the car and immediately noticed how

854
00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:55,280
quite it was. Not peaceful, just rong. No birds, no insects,

855
00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:57,280
not even the faint hum of wind through the trees,

856
00:42:58,039 --> 00:42:59,960
just this vacuum of sound, like the whole place had

857
00:43:00,159 --> 00:43:03,280
put on mute. Becka stayed by the car, arms crossed ice,

858
00:43:03,320 --> 00:43:07,000
fixed on the hill behind us. You okay, I asked.

859
00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:09,960
She didn't look at me, just nodded, then pointed behind us.

860
00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:11,760
The road looks different now. I turned and saw what

861
00:43:11,840 --> 00:43:13,599
she meant. The way we'd come and was still visible,

862
00:43:13,599 --> 00:43:15,239
but it didn't look the same. The curve was sharp

863
00:43:15,239 --> 00:43:17,239
at the incline, steeper, and it seemed to craw further

864
00:43:17,320 --> 00:43:19,079
up the heeld 'm before. The grass looked tall out,

865
00:43:19,119 --> 00:43:21,159
and the path itself had narrowed, almost like the road

866
00:43:21,159 --> 00:43:22,760
at his ten years and the time it took us

867
00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:26,760
to park. It's just the light, Nolan said. The sun's

868
00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:31,880
setting shadows mess with perspective. We didn't argue. We were

869
00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:34,039
all thinking the same thing, and none of us wanted

870
00:43:34,079 --> 00:43:36,159
to say it out loud. We sat at one of

871
00:43:36,199 --> 00:43:38,599
the tables and tried to act normal, passing snacks around,

872
00:43:38,719 --> 00:43:41,760
making lame jokes, taking SIPs of warm soda. But every

873
00:43:41,760 --> 00:43:43,480
time I looked back at the road, it felt a

874
00:43:43,480 --> 00:43:48,440
little farther away. Becca wandered off next No warning. She

875
00:43:48,559 --> 00:43:50,480
just stood up and walked patch of tall grass at

876
00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:53,480
the edge of the clearing, didn't say a word. We

877
00:43:53,559 --> 00:43:57,039
called after her, but she didn't turn around. Nolan started

878
00:43:57,039 --> 00:44:01,079
to follow, but stop when she came back thirty seconds later,

879
00:44:01,199 --> 00:44:03,239
she walked straight past us and got into the car.

880
00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:06,639
We need to leave, she said. Her voice sounded different,

881
00:44:07,199 --> 00:44:11,360
not panicked, just colder, detached, like she made a decision,

882
00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:14,599
and that was that. We didn't ask questions, just packed

883
00:44:14,679 --> 00:44:17,159
up and got in. Mason was shaking when he climbed

884
00:44:17,159 --> 00:44:19,000
into the back with me. I asked what was wrong,

885
00:44:19,119 --> 00:44:21,400
and he whispered that he felt something standing behind him

886
00:44:21,400 --> 00:44:24,280
when he was closing the trunk, not moving just there.

887
00:44:24,840 --> 00:44:28,360
Becka started driving slowly, too slowly. It was like she

888
00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:31,320
didn't remember the road. We kept telling her to speed up,

889
00:44:31,360 --> 00:44:33,760
to follow the same path back, but she wouldn't respond.

890
00:44:34,400 --> 00:44:38,519
And then the road ended, just stopped, no fork, no signage,

891
00:44:38,559 --> 00:44:41,239
just a wall of dirt and brush. We all got out,

892
00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:44,599
checked our phones, no signal. Try walking the road back

893
00:44:44,639 --> 00:44:48,440
the way we gin. I did it first, ten maybe

894
00:44:48,440 --> 00:44:51,280
fifteen minutes in the road curve sim as before, and

895
00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:53,760
I ended up right back in the clearing, same table's

896
00:44:53,760 --> 00:44:56,920
same chip bag on the bench. I ran back, told

897
00:44:56,960 --> 00:44:59,719
the others. Nolan didn't believe me, so we walked it

898
00:44:59,760 --> 00:45:02,719
together other side by side. We kept talking the whole

899
00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:04,800
time to make sure we weren't turning. Without realizing it,

900
00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:07,400
we made the curve and found ourselves back at the

901
00:45:07,400 --> 00:45:10,679
same spot. The third time, we left two soda cans

902
00:45:10,679 --> 00:45:14,960
in the road behind us as markers walked fast, no deeters.

903
00:45:15,639 --> 00:45:18,280
We turned the bend. The cans were ahead of us.

904
00:45:18,920 --> 00:45:21,320
That's when Mason said quietly, some one's in the trees.

905
00:45:22,079 --> 00:45:25,159
We turned, but he wouldn't point, just stared at the

906
00:45:25,159 --> 00:45:28,639
eucalypse cross the clearing. Said some one had been standing there,

907
00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:33,079
not moving, just watching. Wouldn't describe them, wouldn't look again.

908
00:45:33,679 --> 00:45:36,360
Then Beck said we have to go back down. She

909
00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:39,119
didn't mean the road, she meant into the grass where

910
00:45:39,159 --> 00:45:42,119
she'd gone earlier, the part no one wanted to get near.

911
00:45:42,880 --> 00:45:47,559
We followed her single file, no one talking. The silence

912
00:45:47,599 --> 00:45:51,079
was heavier now, like it was pressing on us. Ten

913
00:45:51,119 --> 00:45:54,400
steps in the grass started within another twenty, and we

914
00:45:54,480 --> 00:45:59,480
hid a different road erro flat lined with stones. We walked.

915
00:46:00,199 --> 00:46:02,760
Eventually we saw a gas station sign in the distance,

916
00:46:03,559 --> 00:46:06,039
an old flickering alidy one just off the main highway.

917
00:46:06,599 --> 00:46:09,239
We kept walking until we reached it, and there was

918
00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:13,239
the car, somehow parked right there. No explanation, no foo prince,

919
00:46:13,920 --> 00:46:16,519
no one said anything. We got in and drove until

920
00:46:16,559 --> 00:46:19,719
we hit him hotel near King City. Mason left before sunrise.

921
00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:23,000
Becca didn't say a word. The next day she dropped

922
00:46:23,039 --> 00:46:25,519
us off and drove off without looking back. I was

923
00:46:25,559 --> 00:46:27,679
living in a small apartment in older Creep back then,

924
00:46:27,800 --> 00:46:31,079
between contract jobs, just sort of drifting. Most of my

925
00:46:31,159 --> 00:46:34,239
days blurred together, making coffee, scrolling through job boards, telling

926
00:46:34,280 --> 00:46:37,239
myself i'd update my resume. So one dale and texted

927
00:46:37,239 --> 00:46:39,119
me out of nowhere. It didn't feel as strange as

928
00:46:39,119 --> 00:46:41,679
maybe it should have. We hadn't seen each other in

929
00:46:42,159 --> 00:46:45,639
what seven years. We'd taken a few classes together at

930
00:46:45,679 --> 00:46:48,320
community college, car polled a couple times, shared a pack

931
00:46:48,360 --> 00:46:51,320
of gum ones during a test. The message said, Hey,

932
00:46:51,480 --> 00:46:54,039
I'm passing through for a few days. Want to get

933
00:46:54,039 --> 00:46:57,840
out of town. No plan, just to break I'll cover gas.

934
00:46:58,519 --> 00:47:01,400
I stared at it for a while. Normally i'd've ignored

935
00:47:01,440 --> 00:47:04,320
something like that, but I've been feeling stuck lately, like

936
00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:07,039
my life had narrowed down to errands and e mail notifications.

937
00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:10,239
Something about the randomness of it felt like maybe it

938
00:47:10,239 --> 00:47:12,880
would shake me loose a little, so I said yes.

939
00:47:13,559 --> 00:47:15,480
He showed up the next day in a sunfaded green

940
00:47:15,559 --> 00:47:17,920
expedition with peeling whoaming plates and a stack of camping

941
00:47:17,960 --> 00:47:20,679
gear rattling in the back. I half expected there'd be

942
00:47:20,679 --> 00:47:22,559
some one else with him, but it was just Dalen.

943
00:47:23,079 --> 00:47:25,159
His hair was shorter than I remembered, and he wore

944
00:47:25,199 --> 00:47:27,000
the same kind of too clean flannel that made it

945
00:47:27,039 --> 00:47:28,880
hard to guess whether he just washed it or never

946
00:47:28,960 --> 00:47:31,480
worn it before. He smiled when he saw me, but

947
00:47:31,519 --> 00:47:34,320
it didn't quite reach his eyes still. I got in.

948
00:47:34,920 --> 00:47:36,960
I assumed we'd head toward the coast, or maybe take

949
00:47:36,960 --> 00:47:40,360
the mountain roads for a bit something scenic. Instead, he

950
00:47:40,440 --> 00:47:43,000
drove south, turning off the main highway wherever he felt

951
00:47:43,039 --> 00:47:45,440
like it, favoring cracked roads that barely registered on my

952
00:47:45,519 --> 00:47:48,000
phone's map. I asked where we were headed, and he

953
00:47:48,079 --> 00:47:51,519
just shrugged and said wherever the road bends. It sounded

954
00:47:51,559 --> 00:47:54,400
whimsical when he said it at the time. I let

955
00:47:54,440 --> 00:47:57,760
myself find that appealing. The first day passed easily enough.

956
00:47:58,360 --> 00:48:00,639
We stopped at a rose Eide market, bought over ie

957
00:48:00,639 --> 00:48:03,400
peaches and a sack of kettlecrm Dale, and played all

958
00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:05,840
playlists off as phone, some mix of indie bands and

959
00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:08,199
instrumental loops I didn't recognize, and for a while it

960
00:48:08,239 --> 00:48:11,000
even felt like a proper road trip. He talked a little,

961
00:48:11,280 --> 00:48:13,719
mostly about places he'd been recently, none of which I

962
00:48:13,719 --> 00:48:16,440
could picture clearly. That night, we pulled off on to

963
00:48:16,480 --> 00:48:18,559
a why turn out, just outside a shout at campground,

964
00:48:18,559 --> 00:48:21,199
near a place called Miller Ridge. We laid the seats

965
00:48:21,199 --> 00:48:23,760
back and slept in the car. The air was crisp

966
00:48:23,800 --> 00:48:26,719
but not cold, and the night passed without anything worth remembering.

967
00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:31,280
The next morning, something shifted. We started driving before sunrise.

968
00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:34,199
I hadn't even fully woken up when Dalan was already

969
00:48:34,199 --> 00:48:37,039
steering us down in a familiar gravel path. I asked

970
00:48:37,039 --> 00:48:39,000
where we were going, and he said he just wanted

971
00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:42,719
to see something. No details, no tone in that invited questions.

972
00:48:43,400 --> 00:48:46,000
Later that morning, he pulled over without warning, beside the

973
00:48:46,039 --> 00:48:48,159
stretch of dry farmland and walked out into the field,

974
00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:51,880
no explanation, just opened his door, stepped out and left

975
00:48:51,880 --> 00:48:54,760
the engine running. I watched him stand there dead still

976
00:48:54,840 --> 00:48:57,239
for maybe ten minutes, hands at his sides, stirring as

977
00:48:57,280 --> 00:48:59,960
something I couldn't see. Then he came back, climbed in

978
00:49:00,199 --> 00:49:03,400
and drove off like nothing happened. I asked him casually

979
00:49:03,559 --> 00:49:06,519
what that was about. He said, thought I recognized it,

980
00:49:07,159 --> 00:49:11,719
guess not that was it. I didn't press By That night,

981
00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:13,800
we were somewhere ease of a town called Harrow Basin

982
00:49:14,280 --> 00:49:16,119
Dale and pulled off onto a dirts shoulder beside a

983
00:49:16,159 --> 00:49:19,480
scrubby ridge, no lights, no signal, just a patch of nowhere.

984
00:49:20,079 --> 00:49:22,440
I asked if he was planning to sleep there. He

985
00:49:22,440 --> 00:49:24,880
didn't answer right away, just stared up through the windshield

986
00:49:24,920 --> 00:49:27,039
for a few seconds too long, like he was trying

987
00:49:27,119 --> 00:49:30,440
to decide something. Then he said, this is fine. He

988
00:49:30,480 --> 00:49:34,320
didn't move after that, just sat there. I didn't sleep much.

989
00:49:35,039 --> 00:49:37,480
I kept waking up at every small sound, every creak

990
00:49:37,480 --> 00:49:39,679
of the car framed settling, every rustle of when pushing

991
00:49:39,760 --> 00:49:42,599
dry grass against the bumper. I kept my coat sipped

992
00:49:42,639 --> 00:49:44,599
up and one shoe halfway on, just in case I

993
00:49:44,639 --> 00:49:47,079
needed to leave quickly. I didn't know why I felt

994
00:49:47,079 --> 00:49:49,639
that way yet, but I felt it. The next morning

995
00:49:49,719 --> 00:49:53,679
I offered to drive Dale and said no, not maybe later,

996
00:49:53,920 --> 00:49:57,519
not I'm good for now, just no flat and final.

997
00:49:58,119 --> 00:49:59,639
I told him I thought he'd be called to head

998
00:49:59,679 --> 00:50:02,039
back where, maybe even stay somewhere with Wi Fi for

999
00:50:02,079 --> 00:50:04,800
a night. He ignored that, said we were going east now,

1000
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:07,880
toward the desert. Just want to see it, he said,

1001
00:50:08,039 --> 00:50:10,360
like it was some museum exhibit we could visit and leave.

1002
00:50:11,039 --> 00:50:13,039
We rolled into a gas station just outside of a

1003
00:50:13,039 --> 00:50:15,719
place called al Quata. It was one of those places

1004
00:50:15,719 --> 00:50:18,440
where everything looked a little too still. I told him

1005
00:50:18,480 --> 00:50:21,199
I needed to get water, really, I just needed a

1006
00:50:21,199 --> 00:50:24,199
few minutes away from him. Inside I stared at the

1007
00:50:24,239 --> 00:50:27,079
drinks in the fridge longer than necessary, reading labels I

1008
00:50:27,079 --> 00:50:30,280
didn't care about. The place smelled faintly like rubber and

1009
00:50:30,360 --> 00:50:34,320
something burnt. I remember that when I stepped outside, he

1010
00:50:34,440 --> 00:50:36,599
was leaning on the front of the expedition, one foot

1011
00:50:36,679 --> 00:50:40,320
up on the bumper, door open, just watching me. No smile,

1012
00:50:41,079 --> 00:50:45,719
no wave, no wave, just watching. I told him I

1013
00:50:45,760 --> 00:50:47,480
was too tired to sleep in the car again and

1014
00:50:47,599 --> 00:50:49,599
asked if we could craft somewhere with a real beard.

1015
00:50:50,239 --> 00:50:52,440
He didn't argue, just pulled up a motel on his

1016
00:50:52,480 --> 00:50:54,440
phone booked it with one hand while the other's day,

1017
00:50:54,440 --> 00:50:57,320
topped in his jacket pocket. He said it was in Meville,

1018
00:50:57,320 --> 00:51:00,760
about thirty minutes east. That was fine with me. We

1019
00:51:00,800 --> 00:51:03,280
didn't talk much on the way there. The place was

1020
00:51:03,320 --> 00:51:07,199
exactly what you'd expect, gray stucco, buzzing light above the door,

1021
00:51:07,280 --> 00:51:10,400
office that smelled like my crowave coffee. Dalon handed over

1022
00:51:10,480 --> 00:51:12,599
his card and asked for one room with two beds.

1023
00:51:13,280 --> 00:51:15,159
I stood behind him and felt prickle of something I

1024
00:51:15,159 --> 00:51:17,760
couldn't quite name. The clerk slid over a key card

1025
00:51:17,800 --> 00:51:20,519
without looking up. Our room was on the second floor,

1026
00:51:20,679 --> 00:51:23,519
corner end. I sat on the bed nearest the window.

1027
00:51:24,119 --> 00:51:26,880
That's when I noticed a notepad on the desk. It

1028
00:51:26,960 --> 00:51:28,679
was open, like some one had been writing in it

1029
00:51:28,719 --> 00:51:32,280
earlier that day, not a fresh pad either. Two corners

1030
00:51:32,320 --> 00:51:35,599
bent pen impressions bleeding through the page. The first few

1031
00:51:35,639 --> 00:51:39,000
lines were ordinary, a list of gas prices, some addresses,

1032
00:51:39,079 --> 00:51:42,440
part of a grocery list. Then half way down, centered

1033
00:51:42,440 --> 00:51:44,360
and under line twice was a line that made my

1034
00:51:44,360 --> 00:51:48,280
stomach twist. Ten is manageable if the spacing works. I

1035
00:51:48,320 --> 00:51:51,000
stared at it for a few seconds, not long, just

1036
00:51:51,079 --> 00:51:53,159
long enough to remember the way he stood in that field,

1037
00:51:53,199 --> 00:51:54,960
the way he didn't want me to drive the way.

1038
00:51:55,000 --> 00:51:56,840
He looked at me outside the gas station like he

1039
00:51:56,920 --> 00:52:00,800
was deciding something. I didn't say anything. I didn't ask.

1040
00:52:01,519 --> 00:52:04,599
The bathroom faucet was running. I could hear him brushing

1041
00:52:04,639 --> 00:52:07,840
his teeth maybe or just running water. How to tell?

1042
00:52:08,440 --> 00:52:11,159
The door was half closed, the light too bright. I

1043
00:52:11,239 --> 00:52:13,440
told him I was crashing alley and climbed into bed,

1044
00:52:13,480 --> 00:52:16,920
facing the wall. I didn't turn back around. At some

1045
00:52:17,000 --> 00:52:19,199
point in the night, I heard him get up. The

1046
00:52:19,239 --> 00:52:24,559
fridge door clicked open, then nothing, just silence. I didn't move.

1047
00:52:25,119 --> 00:52:28,880
I kept my breeding steady. A minute passed, then I

1048
00:52:28,920 --> 00:52:31,480
heard the springs creek in the other bed. He lay

1049
00:52:31,519 --> 00:52:35,079
back down. Eventually I slept for a little while. In

1050
00:52:35,119 --> 00:52:37,440
the morning, he was back to acting normal, to normal,

1051
00:52:37,639 --> 00:52:39,880
like we hadn't just spent the night avoiding eye contact.

1052
00:52:40,480 --> 00:52:42,280
He said he wanted to make a quick stop before

1053
00:52:42,280 --> 00:52:44,880
heading north. I told him I aunt lived nearby in

1054
00:52:44,920 --> 00:52:47,400
west Ook and I'd stay with her for the weekend instead.

1055
00:52:48,079 --> 00:52:50,559
That was a lie. I just needed a way out

1056
00:52:50,599 --> 00:52:53,440
that wouldn't cause friction. He stared at the windshield for

1057
00:52:53,440 --> 00:52:57,079
a moment, then asked you sure. I said yeah. He

1058
00:52:57,199 --> 00:53:00,519
dropped me off outside a diner Pine's something like that.

1059
00:53:01,159 --> 00:53:04,159
Didn't say goodbye, just pulled away with the same quiet

1060
00:53:04,159 --> 00:53:07,039
expression he did the whole trip. I waited inside for

1061
00:53:07,079 --> 00:53:09,679
twenty minutes, used the Wi Fi to book a seat

1062
00:53:09,679 --> 00:53:12,360
in the next bus heading north. I didn't text anyone

1063
00:53:12,400 --> 00:53:16,159
about it. I didn't post anything online. I just left.

1064
00:53:16,960 --> 00:53:19,599
Plan was simple, just a low key road trip from

1065
00:53:19,599 --> 00:53:21,719
San josse Dan to Joshua Tree with my cousin Danny

1066
00:53:21,760 --> 00:53:25,239
and her friend Micah, two knights round trip. They were

1067
00:53:25,280 --> 00:53:29,159
both the organized type, Spotify playlists prepped in advance, cas

1068
00:53:29,199 --> 00:53:32,760
station snacks already portioned into zippuc bags, laminated maps. Even

1069
00:53:32,800 --> 00:53:35,760
though we had GPS, I was mostly there to drive.

1070
00:53:36,400 --> 00:53:39,239
I didn't mind. Danny in out were close growing up

1071
00:53:39,239 --> 00:53:41,480
a mecca. Was fun to be around, laid back, good

1072
00:53:41,519 --> 00:53:44,880
taste in music, didn't talk through songs. We were supposed

1073
00:53:44,920 --> 00:53:46,920
to camp near Palm Springs. The first night. Hit a

1074
00:53:46,920 --> 00:53:49,480
few weir of roadside spots through the desert, maybe catch

1075
00:53:49,519 --> 00:53:51,880
some stars in Joshua Tree, then cut back north through

1076
00:53:51,880 --> 00:53:56,239
the Mahave. Nothing intense, just a desert looped with good company.

1077
00:53:56,800 --> 00:53:59,519
And then Mike's brother Lucas asked to come along. I

1078
00:53:59,559 --> 00:54:02,480
didn't know Luke as well. He was older, maybe twenty

1079
00:54:02,480 --> 00:54:05,239
seven or twenty eight. I'd only seen him a couple

1080
00:54:05,280 --> 00:54:08,519
of times at family barbecues, and even then he kept

1081
00:54:08,559 --> 00:54:11,280
to himself, one of those people who sort of hovers

1082
00:54:11,320 --> 00:54:14,360
near conversations but never joins in. He gave off a

1083
00:54:14,360 --> 00:54:17,199
strange energy, like he was always processing something no one

1084
00:54:17,199 --> 00:54:20,159
else could see. Danny mentioned he was kind of intense,

1085
00:54:20,480 --> 00:54:22,000
but said it like it was a warning and a

1086
00:54:22,039 --> 00:54:24,480
joke at the same time. I figured it was one

1087
00:54:24,480 --> 00:54:28,039
of those he's just quirky deals. Mike insisted he be fine.

1088
00:54:28,519 --> 00:54:30,920
He didn't drive, which probably should have raised a red flat.

1089
00:54:31,559 --> 00:54:32,960
He just said he wanted to get out of for

1090
00:54:33,000 --> 00:54:37,719
a while, so fine. One more passenger. From the minute

1091
00:54:37,719 --> 00:54:39,960
he got into the car, it was clear something was off.

1092
00:54:40,480 --> 00:54:43,199
For the first ire, he didn't say a word, just

1093
00:54:43,199 --> 00:54:45,960
sat in the back seat behind me, perfectly uppight, staring

1094
00:54:46,000 --> 00:54:48,639
straight head Danny and Might get the mood light with

1095
00:54:48,719 --> 00:54:50,920
dumb road trip games and music, and I tried not

1096
00:54:50,960 --> 00:54:54,239
to feel weird about the silence behind me. Then, completely

1097
00:54:54,280 --> 00:54:57,199
out of nowhere, Lucas leaned forward and asked, what do

1098
00:54:57,239 --> 00:54:59,679
you think about people who fake their own deaths, not

1099
00:54:59,760 --> 00:55:04,559
Joe King no lead. In just that sentence, I half laughed,

1100
00:55:04,639 --> 00:55:07,800
expecting a punchline. Nat never came. I said something like,

1101
00:55:07,920 --> 00:55:10,440
I guess it depends why they are doing it, re'l

1102
00:55:10,559 --> 00:55:14,639
articulate stuff. Lucas didn't respond. He just looked at me

1103
00:55:14,679 --> 00:55:16,599
in the rear view mirror, locked eyes with this blank,

1104
00:55:16,760 --> 00:55:19,679
unreadable stare, and then leaned back again like nothing happened.

1105
00:55:20,280 --> 00:55:23,119
I glanced at Danny. She was already sigh d eying him.

1106
00:55:23,679 --> 00:55:26,519
The first night went okay, mostly because we didn't talk much.

1107
00:55:27,239 --> 00:55:29,400
We set up kemp near palm springs, ate from a cooler,

1108
00:55:29,480 --> 00:55:33,119
drank cheap beer. Micah kept the conversation going, and Lucas

1109
00:55:33,159 --> 00:55:36,400
mostly wandered off by himself. He walked this big, aimless

1110
00:55:36,400 --> 00:55:38,480
circle around the camp site for a while, like he

1111
00:55:38,599 --> 00:55:41,480
was tracing the edge of something invisible. The next morning

1112
00:55:41,559 --> 00:55:44,840
he offered to cook. No one argued, we were all

1113
00:55:44,880 --> 00:55:47,480
still half asleep. He cracked a few eggs, said he

1114
00:55:47,519 --> 00:55:50,719
was making scrambled. When I turned around a few minutes later,

1115
00:55:50,880 --> 00:55:54,079
I saw him cracking them directly into the dirt. No pan,

1116
00:55:54,239 --> 00:55:56,599
no fire, He just let them run out of the

1117
00:55:56,599 --> 00:55:58,960
shell and soak into the ground yellow and white, pull

1118
00:55:58,960 --> 00:56:02,320
in in the dust. Micah blinked at him, dude, are

1119
00:56:02,360 --> 00:56:06,199
you okay. Lucas didn't even look up. He said cooking

1120
00:56:06,239 --> 00:56:08,920
isn't always above food. Then he stood up and walked

1121
00:56:08,920 --> 00:56:11,599
off into the brush. We laughed about it later, but

1122
00:56:11,639 --> 00:56:14,320
it wasn't the funny kind of laugh, more like ha ha.

1123
00:56:14,519 --> 00:56:17,360
That was super weird, right. Danny quietly claimed the front

1124
00:56:17,360 --> 00:56:19,679
passenger seat from then on, even though she said she

1125
00:56:19,719 --> 00:56:23,079
didn't care. I didn't blame her. By the next day,

1126
00:56:23,119 --> 00:56:27,519
the vibe had shifted. Lucas started repeating things I said, literally,

1127
00:56:27,559 --> 00:56:30,760
repeating same words, same order, just a second or two

1128
00:56:30,800 --> 00:56:33,519
after I said them, Like I'd say we should stop

1129
00:56:33,559 --> 00:56:36,599
for gas soon, and he'd say, yeah, we should stop

1130
00:56:36,599 --> 00:56:39,480
for gas soon, with the same exact inflection, not like

1131
00:56:39,519 --> 00:56:41,840
he was agreeing, more like a recording on a slight delay.

1132
00:56:42,480 --> 00:56:44,519
At first I thought I was imagining it, but it

1133
00:56:44,599 --> 00:56:48,599
kept happening. Danny noticed too. She didn't say anything, but

1134
00:56:48,639 --> 00:56:50,079
I caught her looking at me more and more in

1135
00:56:50,079 --> 00:56:52,079
the mirror, like she was waiting for me to say something.

1136
00:56:52,119 --> 00:56:56,360
First that afternoon, we stopped near Ambey. It's this weird,

1137
00:56:56,599 --> 00:56:59,039
half dead stretch of for out sixty six old motel sign,

1138
00:56:59,199 --> 00:57:01,719
rustic gas pump, no real town left, just flat heat.

1139
00:57:01,719 --> 00:57:05,039
In silence, Danny and Micah wandered off to take pictures

1140
00:57:05,079 --> 00:57:08,320
of the sign. I stayed by the car. Lucas got

1141
00:57:08,440 --> 00:57:10,000
back in the back seat, like he had something to

1142
00:57:10,000 --> 00:57:13,079
think about. I stood outside with the door open, drinking

1143
00:57:13,119 --> 00:57:15,199
the last of a warm bottle of water, debating whether

1144
00:57:15,239 --> 00:57:16,840
to just tell Micha we should leave in somewhere with

1145
00:57:16,920 --> 00:57:19,159
sell service and be done with it. Then I made

1146
00:57:19,199 --> 00:57:21,559
the mistake of trying to talk to him again. I

1147
00:57:21,639 --> 00:57:24,480
leaned against the door and said, you doing ok. He

1148
00:57:24,519 --> 00:57:27,000
turned toward me slowly and said, you dream about the

1149
00:57:27,039 --> 00:57:30,679
wrong people. That's why it follows you. That's all he said,

1150
00:57:31,320 --> 00:57:34,000
And I swear he didn't blink the entire time. I

1151
00:57:34,039 --> 00:57:36,360
didn't answer, just backed away from the door, sat on

1152
00:57:36,400 --> 00:57:38,119
the edge of the head and waited for the others

1153
00:57:38,159 --> 00:57:40,320
to come back. I didn't want to be in the

1154
00:57:40,320 --> 00:57:42,320
car with him any more, not unless some one else

1155
00:57:42,360 --> 00:57:44,840
was awake. To that night, we stayed in a motel

1156
00:57:44,920 --> 00:57:48,199
just outside Basto, cheap kind of place, paper thin walls,

1157
00:57:48,400 --> 00:57:51,719
one towel per room, curtains that didn't quite close. We

1158
00:57:51,760 --> 00:57:54,320
split into two rooms, Danny and I am one, Micah

1159
00:57:54,320 --> 00:57:56,920
and Lucas in the other. At around two in the morning,

1160
00:57:57,039 --> 00:57:59,960
Danny woke me up. She whispered some one tried the door.

1161
00:58:00,599 --> 00:58:02,519
I thought she meant some one walked by or bumped it.

1162
00:58:03,159 --> 00:58:05,920
I told her it was probably another guest. Then we

1163
00:58:06,000 --> 00:58:10,679
heard the knock. Three slow knocks, spaced out a kind

1164
00:58:10,719 --> 00:58:13,679
that on polite or rush, just deliberate, like whoever was

1165
00:58:13,679 --> 00:58:17,199
on the other side at time. We froze, didn't say

1166
00:58:17,199 --> 00:58:21,559
a word, just waited. Another sound, sore footsteps moving away,

1167
00:58:22,199 --> 00:58:26,280
then silence. Neither of us slept after that. In the morning,

1168
00:58:26,400 --> 00:58:28,719
I went out to get some ice. As I was

1169
00:58:28,719 --> 00:58:31,360
heading back, Lucas was standing in a hallway, leaning against

1170
00:58:31,360 --> 00:58:33,719
the wall. I keep been there a while. He looked

1171
00:58:33,719 --> 00:58:35,840
straight at me and said, why didn't you open the door.

1172
00:58:36,480 --> 00:58:39,960
I didn't answer him. I didn't even stop walking back

1173
00:58:40,000 --> 00:58:43,360
in the room, I told Diannie. We both agreed we

1174
00:58:43,440 --> 00:58:47,760
were done, no more weirdness, no more talking. We just

1175
00:58:47,840 --> 00:58:51,840
needed to get home. But Lucas wasn't finished. Somewhere alone

1176
00:58:51,880 --> 00:58:54,239
the amnis fadeen, Lucas suddenly asked me to take a

1177
00:58:54,239 --> 00:58:57,880
specific exit, said he left something there. I said, you

1178
00:58:58,000 --> 00:59:00,880
haven't been on this trip before. Could you have left?

1179
00:59:00,920 --> 00:59:05,480
He said, I've been here. He just didn't notice. I

1180
00:59:05,559 --> 00:59:10,119
told him there flat out not happening. He didn't argue,

1181
00:59:10,519 --> 00:59:13,960
just sat back, real quiet and said something under his breath.

1182
00:59:14,519 --> 00:59:16,320
I couldn't catch it, but the sound of it made

1183
00:59:16,360 --> 00:59:18,719
my skin crawl. Not what he said, just the way

1184
00:59:18,840 --> 00:59:21,840
came out, like he was talking to me. Mica fell asleep.

1185
00:59:21,840 --> 00:59:24,679
A little while after that. Danny was buried in her phone.

1186
00:59:25,320 --> 00:59:27,519
I was just focused on the road, counting the minutes

1187
00:59:27,559 --> 00:59:30,119
until we could drop Lucas off. Then I saw it

1188
00:59:30,760 --> 00:59:33,760
in the side mirror. I caught the angle Lucas holding

1189
00:59:33,760 --> 00:59:35,639
his phone, angled just enough to point at the back

1190
00:59:35,679 --> 00:59:38,199
of my head like he was taking a photo. I

1191
00:59:38,320 --> 00:59:40,800
said delete that. He looked at me like I'd said

1192
00:59:40,840 --> 00:59:45,800
something confusing. Delete what the photo? There is no photo.

1193
00:59:46,440 --> 00:59:49,760
I pulled over gravel crackling under the tires. Didn't say

1194
00:59:49,800 --> 00:59:52,400
anything at first, just put the car in park and

1195
00:59:52,440 --> 00:59:56,880
turn around. Urudan get out. He blinked like he didn't

1196
00:59:56,920 --> 00:59:59,960
understand the words. Then he opened the door, stepped out slow,

1197
01:00:00,280 --> 01:00:02,559
and stood there on the shoulder, hands in his pockets,

1198
01:00:02,880 --> 01:00:07,159
watching his driveway. He didn't yell, didn't argue, just stood there,

1199
01:00:07,199 --> 01:00:09,599
small in the mirror until he disappeared behind a curve.

1200
01:00:10,280 --> 01:00:14,920
We dropped Mic off, then Danny. Nobody said much. That

1201
01:00:15,119 --> 01:00:17,559
was the end of the trip. After that, I changed

1202
01:00:17,599 --> 01:00:20,960
my number, blocked everyone from that trip. I moved to

1203
01:00:20,960 --> 01:00:24,480
a different city about four months later, new job, new place,

1204
01:00:24,559 --> 01:00:27,480
knew everything. I just walked out of the logistics job

1205
01:00:27,480 --> 01:00:29,840
in sam Bruno. Not in some big dramatic way, no

1206
01:00:29,920 --> 01:00:32,840
middle finger to the boss or final email blast. I

1207
01:00:33,000 --> 01:00:35,239
just woke up one morning, stared at the ceiling for

1208
01:00:35,239 --> 01:00:37,920
twenty minutes and realized I couldn't do another quarter bear

1209
01:00:37,960 --> 01:00:41,400
root in spreadsheets and endless tracking updates. So I left

1210
01:00:42,159 --> 01:00:44,079
papped bag, threw a mattress into the back of my

1211
01:00:44,119 --> 01:00:47,719
cuber route back, and pointed myself down the coast. No plan,

1212
01:00:48,480 --> 01:00:51,480
no end date, just me and whatever felt right. That day,

1213
01:00:52,039 --> 01:00:54,119
I told people I was taking some space to figure

1214
01:00:54,199 --> 01:00:56,199
things out, which is just a polite way of saying

1215
01:00:56,239 --> 01:00:58,320
I needed to be alone without anyone asking about my

1216
01:00:58,360 --> 01:01:02,400
next move. The first day, smooth left late morning, grabbed

1217
01:01:02,440 --> 01:01:05,000
coffee in Santa Cruz, then ease into the rhythm of

1218
01:01:05,000 --> 01:01:08,320
the road the cliffs, the bends, the occasional pull off

1219
01:01:08,320 --> 01:01:10,679
with a scenic marker. I had a decent set up

1220
01:01:10,719 --> 01:01:13,519
in the car, a trin fam matter switched in the back,

1221
01:01:13,679 --> 01:01:15,960
a little burner stove, an old blue color filled with

1222
01:01:16,039 --> 01:01:19,840
cans and sandwich stuff. Nothing fancy, but it worked. I

1223
01:01:19,960 --> 01:01:22,039
wasn't even thirty miles past Marina when I saw the

1224
01:01:22,039 --> 01:01:24,880
first strange thing. There was this little turnout on the right,

1225
01:01:25,000 --> 01:01:28,840
barely marked I would sign, hand painted and splintering with

1226
01:01:28,920 --> 01:01:32,280
this overlook no services written in uneven lettering. The word

1227
01:01:32,320 --> 01:01:34,360
vista looked like it had been painted over at some point,

1228
01:01:34,519 --> 01:01:36,920
just this mess of faded graybrush strokes beneath it, like

1229
01:01:37,000 --> 01:01:39,000
someone tried to erase it and gave up pathway through.

1230
01:01:39,559 --> 01:01:41,800
Didn't think much of it, just noticed it, pass it

1231
01:01:41,880 --> 01:01:44,880
and kept driving. But a few hours later, after miles

1232
01:01:44,880 --> 01:01:47,119
of empty stretches and maybe one bar of signal now

1233
01:01:47,159 --> 01:01:51,800
and then I saw it again, same sign, same crooked angle,

1234
01:01:52,440 --> 01:01:55,719
same word smear over vista. I even slowed down that time,

1235
01:01:55,800 --> 01:01:57,800
kind of laughing to myself, thinking maybe it was a

1236
01:01:57,880 --> 01:02:00,960
lazy maintenance thing, like someone had cycled old signs or

1237
01:02:01,000 --> 01:02:03,760
duplicated them by mistake. There were a bunch of re

1238
01:02:03,920 --> 01:02:06,400
entry points around that are loops hidden back roads, so

1239
01:02:06,480 --> 01:02:08,840
I tried to tell myself I'd just come around somehow.

1240
01:02:09,559 --> 01:02:11,800
Still it left me with this small itch feeling at

1241
01:02:11,840 --> 01:02:14,320
the base of my neck. By sundown, I made it

1242
01:02:14,320 --> 01:02:16,280
to this quiet camp round outside a little place called

1243
01:02:16,280 --> 01:02:19,360
Seats Point. Not a real town, just a post office,

1244
01:02:19,400 --> 01:02:21,719
gas pump and a deli with a sun faded open sign.

1245
01:02:22,400 --> 01:02:24,800
I grabbed one of the fast spots, tucked against the tree,

1246
01:02:24,880 --> 01:02:26,880
lying where it was quiet, and started setting up for

1247
01:02:26,920 --> 01:02:30,159
the night. It was calm. I made dinner, can of chili,

1248
01:02:30,199 --> 01:02:33,519
some crackers, water straight from the joke. No fire, just

1249
01:02:33,559 --> 01:02:35,599
the soft clicking of my bunner and the occasional creak

1250
01:02:35,639 --> 01:02:38,159
of trees in the wind. The other campers were parked

1251
01:02:38,159 --> 01:02:40,519
way over by the bathrooms, maybe a hundred feet off.

1252
01:02:41,119 --> 01:02:43,800
No one near me. That was the appeal, really, being

1253
01:02:43,840 --> 01:02:47,960
away from people, from conversation, from performance. After I finished eating,

1254
01:02:48,039 --> 01:02:50,239
I walked back around to throw out my trash, and

1255
01:02:50,320 --> 01:02:53,039
that's when I saw it. A folded tourist map tuck

1256
01:02:53,119 --> 01:02:56,800
neatly under my windshield wiper. No note, just the kind

1257
01:02:56,880 --> 01:03:00,400
you grab for free at a gas station, thin paper, trail, highlights,

1258
01:03:00,440 --> 01:03:03,960
cartoon mountains drawn at the corners. I looked around, expecting

1259
01:03:04,000 --> 01:03:06,880
someone to waver or maybe gnawed from the car. Nothing.

1260
01:03:07,599 --> 01:03:10,480
It was dead quiet. I unfolded it out of curiosity

1261
01:03:10,519 --> 01:03:13,159
and saw one thing, a red pin circle around a

1262
01:03:13,239 --> 01:03:16,239
spot in the coast labeled fist to overlook. Same name

1263
01:03:16,239 --> 01:03:19,199
as a sign, same spot, I think, judging by the

1264
01:03:19,239 --> 01:03:21,760
line work. I stared at it for a while before

1265
01:03:21,840 --> 01:03:24,599
dropping it in the passenger seat. Didn't really know what

1266
01:03:24,679 --> 01:03:27,000
to make of it. Maybe someone thought I was lost

1267
01:03:27,039 --> 01:03:29,400
and was trying to be helpful. Maybe it was just

1268
01:03:29,400 --> 01:03:32,280
a weird prank. That night, I locked the doors and

1269
01:03:32,360 --> 01:03:35,239
left the map sitting face up. I remember waking up

1270
01:03:35,320 --> 01:03:39,079
just after three. No sound, no sudden movement, just this

1271
01:03:39,159 --> 01:03:42,280
weird sensation, like the air inside the car had shifted,

1272
01:03:43,000 --> 01:03:45,880
like something was off balance. I sat up slowly and

1273
01:03:45,960 --> 01:03:50,239
checked around outside. Looked the same trees, shadows, the faint

1274
01:03:50,239 --> 01:03:52,559
orange flicker from a bathroom light across the lot. But

1275
01:03:52,639 --> 01:03:54,639
when I reached over to the passenger seat, the map

1276
01:03:54,719 --> 01:03:58,920
was gone. I froze light on, checked the floor at

1277
01:03:58,920 --> 01:04:01,239
the foot well. Even when my hand under the seat cushion,

1278
01:04:01,760 --> 01:04:07,360
nothing cooler was untouched. Backpack stills, it, charger still plugged in,

1279
01:04:08,039 --> 01:04:10,480
no signs of anyone opening a door or rifling through,

1280
01:04:11,159 --> 01:04:15,079
just the map vanished. I sat there for ires, staring

1281
01:04:15,119 --> 01:04:17,320
at the windows and waiting for any kind of explanation

1282
01:04:17,360 --> 01:04:20,559
to come to me. Nothing ever did. At first light,

1283
01:04:20,639 --> 01:04:23,519
I bolted, didn't brush my teeth, didn't boil water, just

1284
01:04:23,599 --> 01:04:26,400
jumped into the front seat and drove. I stayed in

1285
01:04:26,440 --> 01:04:28,639
and for the first stretch, hugging tighter roads, until the

1286
01:04:28,679 --> 01:04:31,360
GPS pulled me back to the main highway. And then,

1287
01:04:31,440 --> 01:04:34,400
like a sick joke, it happened again. The radio playing

1288
01:04:34,440 --> 01:04:36,800
some barely audible local station, spot a mid sentence and

1289
01:04:36,880 --> 01:04:39,519
dropped into a wall of static. I glanced down to

1290
01:04:39,559 --> 01:04:41,400
check the signal, and when I looked up, the same

1291
01:04:41,440 --> 01:04:45,280
sign this to overlook no services. At that point I

1292
01:04:45,320 --> 01:04:48,000
think I muttered something like okay, fine, and pulled in.

1293
01:04:48,559 --> 01:04:51,679
The turnout was nothing special. Gravel horseshoe with a wooden

1294
01:04:51,719 --> 01:04:54,480
rail lining the cliff, A single stone market with a

1295
01:04:54,519 --> 01:04:57,880
plaque too scratched to read, one of those binocular stands,

1296
01:04:57,960 --> 01:05:01,960
long broken. No people, no noise but the surf below.

1297
01:05:02,559 --> 01:05:06,400
I left the engine running, bought out, walked to the edge.

1298
01:05:06,920 --> 01:05:12,199
The ocean was just there, dark blue, endless. Still. I

1299
01:05:12,280 --> 01:05:14,639
turned to leave, but noticed something just past the brush,

1300
01:05:15,079 --> 01:05:19,079
a foot bath, then barely visible durre packed down, and

1301
01:05:19,119 --> 01:05:22,880
craft with weeds sprouting through. It didn't look official, it

1302
01:05:22,880 --> 01:05:27,119
looked left over. I followed it not far, maybe twenty minutes,

1303
01:05:27,119 --> 01:05:30,800
twenty five steps before I saw something strange, an aluminum

1304
01:05:30,800 --> 01:05:34,079
travel look, a can, gas station cell and bulk, crushed

1305
01:05:34,079 --> 01:05:36,599
and half sunk into the dirt. A few more steps

1306
01:05:36,599 --> 01:05:40,039
and I found a red flannel sleeve torn off, wedged

1307
01:05:40,039 --> 01:05:42,519
into a bush like it had been yanked free. Another

1308
01:05:42,599 --> 01:05:45,320
ten feet a single hiking boot, then a pair of

1309
01:05:45,360 --> 01:05:49,360
smashed sunglasses, a foam case with no phone inside. It

1310
01:05:49,440 --> 01:05:51,760
was all spread out out in by item, like some

1311
01:05:51,800 --> 01:05:54,079
one had walked the same path and kept dropping pieces

1312
01:05:54,079 --> 01:05:56,559
of their life along the way. That was enough for me.

1313
01:05:56,599 --> 01:05:58,719
I turned around and power walked back to the car.

1314
01:05:59,239 --> 01:06:01,599
The overlook was just out of you, now, curved out

1315
01:06:01,639 --> 01:06:04,320
of sight by the trail's ankle. It felt too quiet,

1316
01:06:04,360 --> 01:06:07,000
too intentional. When I got to the car, I didn't

1317
01:06:07,039 --> 01:06:09,639
open the door right way. I checked the back seat.

1318
01:06:10,239 --> 01:06:13,519
The sitting on the cushion was the map, same one,

1319
01:06:13,719 --> 01:06:15,960
same red circle. Only now it had been traced over

1320
01:06:16,639 --> 01:06:18,599
again and again, ying pressed so deep it had sought

1321
01:06:18,639 --> 01:06:22,840
to rip the paper. I drove, didn't stop, took the

1322
01:06:22,840 --> 01:06:25,400
next exit inland, and follow outside roads until I hid

1323
01:06:25,400 --> 01:06:27,400
a range a station near an old hiking trail marker,

1324
01:06:28,039 --> 01:06:31,440
small building, one desk, one woman behind it. I handed

1325
01:06:31,480 --> 01:06:33,760
her the map without a word. She looked at it,

1326
01:06:34,400 --> 01:06:38,559
then at me. Where'd you get this, she asked. I

1327
01:06:38,679 --> 01:06:42,599
told her, left out the trail pot citatured upon my car.

1328
01:06:43,280 --> 01:06:45,480
She nodded, slow, like it wasn't the first time she'd

1329
01:06:45,480 --> 01:06:49,440
heard that. You go down the trail, she asked, No,

1330
01:06:49,679 --> 01:06:54,199
I lied, didn't see one another nod. You camping out

1331
01:06:54,239 --> 01:06:58,760
here tonight? I was, I said, not any more. She

1332
01:06:58,800 --> 01:07:01,760
didn't try to convince me. Other just took the map

1333
01:07:01,800 --> 01:07:05,079
and slid it into a drawer. That was it. I left,

1334
01:07:05,119 --> 01:07:07,159
drove until the sun dipped, pulled into a rest stop

1335
01:07:07,199 --> 01:07:10,360
near de Launo, slept delights on inside the kara and

1336
01:07:10,400 --> 01:07:14,199
ni key in ignition. And that is the end. Thank

1337
01:07:14,199 --> 01:07:15,760
you for listening, and I will see you in the

1338
01:07:15,800 --> 01:07:24,320
next one.