1
00:00:02,160 --> 00:00:06,480
Speaker 1: I've been a frogger since I was thirteen. At this point,

2
00:00:06,759 --> 00:00:12,560
a professional squatter had started as survival, but over time

3
00:00:13,039 --> 00:00:16,480
it became something else. I don't do it for food

4
00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:20,120
or shelter anymore. I'd do it because it makes my

5
00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:24,600
pulse race. I do it because slipping between cracks of

6
00:00:24,679 --> 00:00:28,160
someone's life without them ever knowing I was there, feels

7
00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:32,200
like proof that I existed. People think of squatters as

8
00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:39,640
junkies or drifters, but froggers were different. We'd become ghosts

9
00:00:39,719 --> 00:00:44,520
in pristine houses, ghosts with beating hearts, watching the living

10
00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:49,439
world from air vents and crawl spaces. There's a whole

11
00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:53,960
online scene buried. You wouldn't stumble across us by accident.

12
00:00:55,079 --> 00:00:59,119
You'd have to be broken in just the right shape.

13
00:00:59,359 --> 00:01:04,040
Once you're in, you're in. And I've been doing this

14
00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:09,879
longer than almost anyone else. I've lived in mansions, farmhouses, penthouses,

15
00:01:10,079 --> 00:01:14,760
doomsday bunkers. I've crawled on the floorboards while families ate

16
00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:18,599
breakfast above me. I've watched people sleep from the shadows

17
00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:21,719
of their closets. I've held my breath for hours in

18
00:01:21,799 --> 00:01:29,120
insulation that made my skin bleed. There are contests, longest

19
00:01:29,159 --> 00:01:35,519
stay undetected, most dangerous infiltration, most expensive home, most absurd

20
00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:40,359
hiding place. I've won all of them at least once.

21
00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:44,719
They treat me like a legend. Some of them even

22
00:01:44,799 --> 00:01:48,480
message me for advice. There's a thread with my name

23
00:01:48,599 --> 00:01:54,599
pinned to the top of the forum. I post tips, photos, maps, audiophiles.

24
00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:59,359
I teach them how to disappear in plain sight, how

25
00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:07,200
to become nothing and survive inside someone else's everything. Before

26
00:02:07,239 --> 00:02:09,919
all of that, I was a kid no one wanted.

27
00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:13,240
My mom dropped me at a fire station when I

28
00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:17,319
was a baby, a bundle in a duffel bag. I

29
00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:20,439
grew up in orphanages that smelled of bleach and sadness.

30
00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:26,280
Passed between foster homes like a borrowed jacket. Every new

31
00:02:26,319 --> 00:02:31,599
house came with rules, slaps, broken promises. Some of them

32
00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:36,479
starved me, some locked me in closets. I ran away

33
00:02:36,479 --> 00:02:40,039
from all that when I was nine, took a bus

34
00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:44,240
as far as I could afford, then walked. I stole food,

35
00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:48,759
snuck into unlocked garages, lived in empty homes under renovation.

36
00:02:50,639 --> 00:02:54,800
Then I got better, started hiding in homes that weren't empty.

37
00:02:55,840 --> 00:03:00,879
I watched and listened learned habits and schedules. I found

38
00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:05,919
silence and made it my armor. That's when it changed

39
00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:13,360
from survival to skill, then from skill to instinct, then obsession.

40
00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:18,159
I couldn't stop, even when I didn't need to any more.

41
00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:23,639
I got jobs, eventually did odd work. I started making

42
00:03:23,759 --> 00:03:26,400
enough to rent a place of my own if I

43
00:03:26,439 --> 00:03:34,159
ever wanted it, but I never did. I found the

44
00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:38,840
ranch by accident, dragging through satellite images one night while

45
00:03:38,879 --> 00:03:42,479
riding a post job high. I just finished the clean

46
00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:46,800
exit from a two week infiltration in Boulder, wealthy, newlywed.

47
00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:52,240
As always, I didn't take anything, didn't leave a single sign.

48
00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:59,520
That's what separates froggers from burglars. We're not thieves. I

49
00:03:59,599 --> 00:04:05,159
kept rolling aimlessly, waiting for my drinline to settle. Then

50
00:04:05,199 --> 00:04:09,080
I saw it, a rectangular smudge of green in the

51
00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:13,240
middle of Utah's dry lands. Nothing around it for miles

52
00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:18,399
but dust and sand, all scorched and crumbling. It was

53
00:04:18,439 --> 00:04:22,439
a lost square of impossible color, a full orchard, from

54
00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,480
the looks of it, a ranch house with a wrap

55
00:04:25,519 --> 00:04:32,040
around porch. It logged perfect. I pulled it into my

56
00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:36,680
files and started scanning deeper. No records in the County

57
00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:41,839
Assessor's database. I grasp referenced it on four different mapping services.

58
00:04:43,079 --> 00:04:48,000
Same thing. I took a screenshot, logged into the forum,

59
00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:53,000
and posted it under the title anyone tried this place?

60
00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:59,240
The replies came fast. What is that a new movie

61
00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:03,720
set in the middle of nowhere? No thanks, Na man.

62
00:05:03,959 --> 00:05:07,519
Those rural folks don't play ye, don't mess with French families.

63
00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:11,639
Two isolated. If they catch you, they'll bury you in

64
00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:16,240
the back pasture. People have their own guns. They'll shoot first,

65
00:05:16,519 --> 00:05:23,519
ask later if you're lockeye. I waited before replying. Eventually,

66
00:05:23,639 --> 00:05:27,839
some one tagged me directly, don't even think about it.

67
00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:34,399
You're good, but that's suicide. Another added, he won't do it,

68
00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:40,680
he knows better. I stared at that line for a while.

69
00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:44,720
Could have closed the tab, gone to sleep, and found

70
00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,720
a safer target, but the green rectangle sat in my

71
00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:53,399
mind like a loaded chamber. They thought I wouldn't do it.

72
00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:57,800
That's why I packed my kit the next morning and

73
00:05:57,959 --> 00:06:07,319
started walking east. I was going to Utah. I traveled light.

74
00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:11,480
Everything I needed fit into a canvas pack that had

75
00:06:11,519 --> 00:06:14,439
been stitched and re stitched too many times to count.

76
00:06:15,519 --> 00:06:19,000
My boots were cracked at the seams, souls reenforced with

77
00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:22,759
glue and strips of tire rubber. I stuck the low

78
00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:26,759
ground and outcroppings during the day, walked at dusk, and

79
00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:29,959
slept under shrubs when I couldn't see a head any more.

80
00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,600
It took two full days to cross the desolate stretch

81
00:06:34,959 --> 00:06:38,639
leading to the ranch. The air was dry enough to

82
00:06:38,639 --> 00:06:42,600
strip moisture from your lungs, and the ground swallowed footprints

83
00:06:42,639 --> 00:06:48,160
within minutes. When I finally saw it, it felt like

84
00:06:48,199 --> 00:06:52,439
my mind had been tricked. One moment I was looking

85
00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:56,839
out across endless dead nothing, and the next I saw

86
00:06:56,959 --> 00:07:02,439
color bleeding through the heat. Shimmers grass, tall corn, a

87
00:07:02,439 --> 00:07:07,519
patch of orchard trees bearing fruit, rows of cabbage, and beans.

88
00:07:08,319 --> 00:07:11,560
All of it nestled inside a perfect square of green

89
00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:16,399
that pulsed with life. At its center stood a house

90
00:07:16,439 --> 00:07:21,399
with a wide porch and pale wooden siding. There was

91
00:07:21,439 --> 00:07:24,360
a sharp border at the edge of it, a soft

92
00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:28,399
dent in the ground. It was literally one step of

93
00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:33,879
sand then grass. I stopped at that line and crouched down,

94
00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:38,040
pressed my hand to the ground. The dirt under my

95
00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:42,279
palm felt warm and faintly alive. If that's the right

96
00:07:42,319 --> 00:07:46,160
word for it. I brushed aside a patch of grass

97
00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:50,959
and saw that the line was definitely not natural. There

98
00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:55,920
was something buried just beneath the surface, chalk or salt

99
00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:01,759
or ash I couldn't tell. Formed a thin gray barrier

100
00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:07,560
running through the soil, clean as a ruler line. I

101
00:08:07,639 --> 00:08:13,879
stepped over it. The air smelled different. Immediately, the temperature

102
00:08:13,959 --> 00:08:18,000
dropped by at least ten degrees. My skin stopped burning.

103
00:08:20,079 --> 00:08:24,240
I should have turned back right then, but I kept walking.

104
00:08:25,639 --> 00:08:28,480
I found a good vantage point behind a stone wall

105
00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:32,559
that had collapsed on its western edge. The ranch house

106
00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:36,120
sat two hundred yards ahead, wrapped in a horseshoe of

107
00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:40,759
crops and animal pens. The fields stretched out behind it,

108
00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:44,559
and from where I crouched, I could see a set

109
00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:50,200
of cattle lowering near a feeding trough. The entire scene

110
00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:53,960
looked pulled from a dream, something from a calendar photo

111
00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:58,679
or an old oil painting. The family appeared on the

112
00:08:58,679 --> 00:09:04,879
porch just before sunset first came. The father, broad shouldered

113
00:09:04,919 --> 00:09:09,039
and tan, wiping his hands with a stained rag. His

114
00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:12,279
wife followed, carrying a tray of glasses and a picture.

115
00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:18,320
Three children bounded after her, each under ten. They were

116
00:09:18,399 --> 00:09:21,519
laughing as they ran down the porch steps, chasing a

117
00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:25,519
small dog that darted through the grass. They moved in

118
00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:28,440
a kind of grace I hadn't seen in a long time.

119
00:09:29,679 --> 00:09:33,080
Whatever their lives were, they didn't wear the weight of them.

120
00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:40,559
I was jealous. I watched them eat dinner outside, grilling

121
00:09:40,679 --> 00:09:44,240
over a fire pit near the barn. They passed food

122
00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:49,480
back and forth. The sun eventually dipped low, casting amber

123
00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:54,679
light over the field. It was a perfect postcard, every

124
00:09:54,759 --> 00:09:59,559
detail framed by golden haze. I waited until the sky

125
00:09:59,679 --> 00:10:02,960
turned black and the lights in the house started going

126
00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:11,759
out one by one. Then I moved. I crouched low

127
00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:15,960
and moved fast across the edge of the property. Every

128
00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:19,360
footstep I made I would make sure to stop, wipe

129
00:10:19,399 --> 00:10:22,279
it clean so it doesn't leave a print, and stayed

130
00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:26,399
out of open ground, weaving through trees and parked equipment

131
00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,720
until I reached the east side of the house. I

132
00:10:30,799 --> 00:10:34,360
waited again, pressing my back to the cool wood siding,

133
00:10:34,919 --> 00:10:42,279
listening for footsteps or voices. There was nothing. I took

134
00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:46,000
one last look at the darkness behind me, then slipped

135
00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:49,759
around the back of the house and tested the windows.

136
00:10:50,879 --> 00:11:00,320
One of them was unlocked, and I was in the

137
00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:04,480
house was old, but not falling apart. Every piece of

138
00:11:04,519 --> 00:11:07,879
it had been cared for, yet nothing had been modernized.

139
00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:12,279
The floors were polished wood. The walls were dark timber,

140
00:11:12,799 --> 00:11:16,919
thick and slightly walked with age. Shelves lined the corners,

141
00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:22,159
each one stacked with books, jars, and figurines. The art

142
00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:24,600
and the walls wasn't the kind you'd find that hobby

143
00:11:24,639 --> 00:11:28,399
stores or Sunday school. Most of it was hand carved

144
00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:33,480
or painted Demons and angels fighting, horned men, circles of

145
00:11:33,559 --> 00:11:37,320
fire and bone, symbols arranged in patterns I had never

146
00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:42,279
seen before. Most of it looked Christian or some weird

147
00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:47,279
denomination of Christianity. Some of the figures looked human, but

148
00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:51,240
wrong in ways I couldn't explain. One piece near the

149
00:11:51,279 --> 00:11:54,480
staircase showed a figure kneeling in front of a goated

150
00:11:54,519 --> 00:11:59,639
head man with his hands open. Weird religious depictions weren't

151
00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:03,759
rare roll homes, but man, it was a shocker to see.

152
00:12:03,799 --> 00:12:08,840
Every time I moved past it and opened the refrigerator,

153
00:12:10,039 --> 00:12:13,200
I took my time. I had done this hundreds of

154
00:12:13,279 --> 00:12:17,559
times before I knew how to take without drawing attention.

155
00:12:18,799 --> 00:12:21,399
I broke off small pieces from a wedge of cheese,

156
00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:24,799
sipped just enough milk to cool my throat, and took

157
00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:28,639
a spoonful of something sweet from a glass jar. I

158
00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:31,559
wiped the edges of the containers with my shirt and

159
00:12:31,639 --> 00:12:35,720
placed them exactly where I had found them. Once I

160
00:12:35,799 --> 00:12:38,519
was sure the kitchen had no cameras or alarm systems,

161
00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:43,639
I scouted the rest of the ground floor. It was

162
00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:48,000
a wide open layout, no hallways. The living room opened

163
00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:52,360
directly into the kitchen and dining area. Beyond that, a

164
00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:55,320
hallway led to a laundry room and what looked like

165
00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:59,320
a study. A staircase and the fire end curled upward

166
00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:04,840
toward the second floor. I found my hiding spot behind

167
00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:08,919
a false panel in a storage closet near the laundry room.

168
00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:11,799
Some one had remodeled this part of the house recently.

169
00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:16,320
The panel didn't sit flush with the wall. I pried

170
00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:18,840
it loose with a butter knife and found a gap

171
00:13:18,879 --> 00:13:23,639
between the inner wall and the original frame. It wasn't spacious,

172
00:13:23,679 --> 00:13:28,519
but I had slept in worse. I tucked my pack

173
00:13:28,559 --> 00:13:33,879
into the corner, lay back and steadied my breathing. Every

174
00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:38,159
creak of the house made me flinch, but nothing stirred.

175
00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:44,559
I slept in short intervals, waking often to listen. The

176
00:13:44,639 --> 00:13:48,000
next morning, I waited until the family left the house.

177
00:13:49,039 --> 00:13:52,039
I heard the kids talking through the walls, their voices

178
00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:56,240
muffled and distant. At one point, the mother said they

179
00:13:56,279 --> 00:14:01,039
needed to find some fresh meat. Soon. The father grunted

180
00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:04,759
something in reply. One of the children asked if they

181
00:14:04,799 --> 00:14:08,200
were going to the usual spot. The mother said no,

182
00:14:08,879 --> 00:14:13,159
they needed something stronger this time. I assumed they were

183
00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:18,360
talking about live stock, maybe venison, something rural and bloody.

184
00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:23,120
The house was larger than it looked from the outside,

185
00:14:23,519 --> 00:14:27,759
two full floors. I started by mapping the layout in

186
00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:31,720
my head. The kids stayed on the bottom level, tucked

187
00:14:31,759 --> 00:14:35,519
into two small rooms near the kitchen. The parents slept

188
00:14:35,519 --> 00:14:38,799
above them, in a spacious master bedroom that had a

189
00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:42,919
double balcony. There was a third room on the second floor,

190
00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:47,519
locked from the outside. I couldn't figure out what was inside,

191
00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:50,840
but the door had been nailed shut and covered with

192
00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:56,440
a faded wall tapestry. One night, while checking around for

193
00:14:56,519 --> 00:15:00,559
a new hiding spot, I noticed the small in dentation

194
00:15:00,799 --> 00:15:04,519
on the rug in the kitchen. When I lifted it,

195
00:15:05,159 --> 00:15:08,519
I found the edge of a small wooden hatch maybe

196
00:15:08,559 --> 00:15:12,159
two feet wide, with a thin brass handle and four

197
00:15:12,279 --> 00:15:16,960
nails holding it shut. A narrow wooden staircase led down

198
00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:21,039
into darkness. The air rising from the opening was cold

199
00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:24,559
and dry, and he carried that same strange scent I

200
00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:29,879
had noticed when I first entered the house, dampness mixed

201
00:15:29,919 --> 00:15:35,799
with something ancient and faintly sweet. No one had mentioned

202
00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:38,039
this space in the time I've been there. So far.

203
00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:42,879
I hadn't heard anyone go down there either. If I

204
00:15:42,919 --> 00:15:46,039
could make that space my own, I could stay here

205
00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:49,559
as long as I wanted. I could vurnish beneath the

206
00:15:49,639 --> 00:15:54,080
house and live for months without a single footprint. If

207
00:15:54,080 --> 00:16:00,879
they never used it, it was mine. Close the hatch

208
00:16:01,039 --> 00:16:03,919
and pulled the cabin at back into place, pressing the

209
00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:07,679
rug down to hide the seam. All I had to

210
00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:09,879
do was wait for the right time to move in.

211
00:16:11,159 --> 00:16:14,159
If I did now, there was no guarantee the stairs

212
00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:18,840
leading down wouldn't creak and groan. I had to wait.

213
00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:26,440
Two mornings later, I heard the mother mention the same

214
00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:29,960
thing again. I had slipped out of my hiding spot

215
00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:33,600
before dawn, and crowds just behind the half open door

216
00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:37,799
to the pantry The kids are in the kitchen eating breakfast,

217
00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:41,679
while the parents moved around the counter packing something into

218
00:16:41,759 --> 00:16:45,559
canvas bags. We'll need to be gone at least a

219
00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:50,639
full day this time, the mother said, maybe two. If

220
00:16:50,639 --> 00:16:53,840
we can't find any on the low trails, we'll go further.

221
00:16:55,320 --> 00:17:00,120
Should we take all three? The father asked no, She said,

222
00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:04,079
just the deep one. The others are too thin. The

223
00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:11,599
land won't respond. I didn't know what they were talking about.

224
00:17:12,319 --> 00:17:14,000
One of the kids asked if he could stay up

225
00:17:14,039 --> 00:17:17,519
late while they were gone. The mother gave him permission,

226
00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:20,440
then leaned in and kissed the top of his head.

227
00:17:21,559 --> 00:17:24,000
The other two whined about having to feed the goats

228
00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:27,839
and prep the drying racks. Again, me, he'll bring back

229
00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:35,279
fresh meat. Be patient, the kids groaned in unison. They

230
00:17:35,279 --> 00:17:42,000
were leaving. That meant the house would be empty. I waited.

231
00:17:43,279 --> 00:17:45,720
Once the house was quiet and I was sure that

232
00:17:45,799 --> 00:17:48,799
the parents had gone, I slipped from the wall panel

233
00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:52,880
and crossed through the kitchen barefoot, stepping carefully to avoid

234
00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:56,480
the boards that creaked. I peeled back the rug and

235
00:17:56,599 --> 00:18:03,880
exposed the hatch and lifted without a sad. I didn't hesitate.

236
00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:07,960
I stepped into the hole and pulled the hatch closed

237
00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:13,440
above me. The stairs groaned, but not too loudly. My

238
00:18:13,519 --> 00:18:17,319
shoulders scraped both walls as I descended, and the temperature

239
00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:21,640
dropped with every step. The smell hit me halfway down.

240
00:18:22,759 --> 00:18:26,079
Iron and soil was thick in the air, clinging to

241
00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:30,519
the roof of my mouth. When I reached the bottom,

242
00:18:30,839 --> 00:18:35,400
I stood in pitch black and listened. My breathing echoed

243
00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:39,319
faintly off stone. I pulled a flashlight from my belt,

244
00:18:39,759 --> 00:18:42,920
wrapped the lens in cloth to dim it, and clicked

245
00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:49,920
it on. The basement was fairly large, rough stone walls

246
00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:54,720
braced with timber hooks hung from overhead beams, rusted chains

247
00:18:54,799 --> 00:18:58,400
dangling beside them, some old fibers stuck to the lynx.

248
00:18:59,519 --> 00:19:03,839
The floor was staining in regular patches. I moved slowly,

249
00:19:04,319 --> 00:19:08,279
casting the light across the space. There were animal bones

250
00:19:08,319 --> 00:19:11,720
along the far wall, stacked in a bin, beside what

251
00:19:11,839 --> 00:19:15,279
looked like a salt block, and several glass jars filled

252
00:19:15,319 --> 00:19:20,240
with dark liquid. I start myself before the anxiety got

253
00:19:20,279 --> 00:19:26,079
too loud. My first instinct was to run. I don't

254
00:19:26,119 --> 00:19:29,400
know why. Maybe it was the smell, or the cold,

255
00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:33,920
or the way the silence bent around me. My legs twitched,

256
00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:38,079
ready to sprint up the stairs, but then the voice

257
00:19:38,079 --> 00:19:41,200
in my head, the one I've been sharpening for years,

258
00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:48,119
kicked in. Calm down, use your eyes. You've seen butchering

259
00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:51,759
rooms before, man farmers put meat and then dry it.

260
00:19:52,519 --> 00:19:56,920
That's probably what they used the basement for. Besides, this

261
00:19:57,039 --> 00:19:59,279
family had done nothing out of the ordinary in the

262
00:19:59,319 --> 00:20:02,559
time I've stayed here. The weirdest thing about them was

263
00:20:02,599 --> 00:20:05,559
the religious stuff around the house, and that wasn't even

264
00:20:05,599 --> 00:20:09,759
the weirdest thing I've seen in homes in my life.

265
00:20:10,079 --> 00:20:12,839
I made my way to the far corner and checked around.

266
00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,759
There was no way out but the stairs, but the

267
00:20:16,799 --> 00:20:20,720
corner itself had just enough shadow, and a few crates

268
00:20:20,759 --> 00:20:23,319
blocked direct line of sight from the center of the room.

269
00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:27,920
I pulled them aside, stepped down, and wrapped myself in

270
00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:31,200
the old canvas drop cloth I had stashed in my pack.

271
00:20:33,279 --> 00:20:37,720
Just before I dozed, I heard the basement hatch open,

272
00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:45,599
a faint click, then the groan of old hinges. My

273
00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:50,039
eyes snapped open, and my breath locked my chest. I

274
00:20:50,119 --> 00:20:53,039
twisted beneath the canvas and pressed my face between two

275
00:20:53,039 --> 00:20:57,640
wooden slats. The stairs creaked one step at a time.

276
00:20:58,319 --> 00:21:03,640
Soft voices followed four sets of feet. I angered my

277
00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:07,119
flashlight toward the floor and watched their shadows stretch into

278
00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:12,960
the room. The first two were the parents. I recognized

279
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:18,319
their outlines immediately. The man walked ahead, carrying something heavy

280
00:21:18,519 --> 00:21:22,799
draped across his shoulders and looked to be a person.

281
00:21:24,279 --> 00:21:27,039
The woman followed with a bundle tucked under one arm.

282
00:21:28,079 --> 00:21:33,279
Behind them came the two others, robed, their faces completely hidden.

283
00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:38,039
The man stepped into the center of the basement and

284
00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:41,200
signaled for what seemed to be his companion to do something.

285
00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:45,039
He took a table that was near them and dragged

286
00:21:45,079 --> 00:21:48,839
it to the center of the basement. The other man

287
00:21:49,039 --> 00:21:53,559
laid the burden across the table. I could see it now.

288
00:21:54,759 --> 00:21:57,759
It was a woman. He sat down, and she seemed

289
00:21:57,799 --> 00:22:01,839
to be unconscious. Her limbs hung limp, her hair had

290
00:22:01,839 --> 00:22:07,279
been matted with sweat, and a stomach bulged beneath her dress.

291
00:22:08,759 --> 00:22:14,799
Was she pregnant? I felt my stomach lurch. Her chest

292
00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:20,480
moved shallowly, so she was still breathing at least. The

293
00:22:20,599 --> 00:22:23,599
robed men stepped fully into view, and I got my

294
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:27,640
first proper look at them. Their robes were deep black,

295
00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:31,759
made from something thick and textured, and each one was

296
00:22:31,799 --> 00:22:34,960
stitched from the neck to ankle, without a single seam

297
00:22:35,079 --> 00:22:40,319
visible around their hems and sleeves. Cymbals had been embroidered

298
00:22:40,559 --> 00:22:44,480
in a sickly off white thread. One of the row

299
00:22:44,559 --> 00:22:47,680
figures produced a long piece of bone, sharpened to a

300
00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:50,599
fine point, and dipped it into one of the dark

301
00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:55,240
glass jars. He bent low and began tracing a perfect

302
00:22:55,319 --> 00:22:58,839
circle in the dust, followed by a pentagram at his center.

303
00:23:00,599 --> 00:23:04,119
The lines gleamed wetly, and from the way the lantern

304
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:10,400
caught them, I realized he was using blood. It dragged

305
00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:14,119
across the stone in thick strokes, bleeding into the grooves

306
00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:18,559
carved into the floor itself. The other robed figure stood

307
00:23:18,559 --> 00:23:22,279
by the table, whispering something low. As the father and

308
00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:27,359
mother adjusted the woman's position, Her stomach rose in a full,

309
00:23:27,599 --> 00:23:33,680
tight curve. She was heavily pregnant, close to term. She

310
00:23:33,759 --> 00:23:38,119
remained unconscious. The table they placed her on was an

311
00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:42,480
old butcher's slab, covered in scars and grooves, the grain

312
00:23:42,559 --> 00:23:45,319
of the wood blackened and glossy from years of use.

313
00:23:47,079 --> 00:23:51,160
The father stepped back as the robed man finished the pentagram.

314
00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:56,440
The lines met closed, and the robed man gave a nod.

315
00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:02,759
She is strong, one of them, said, She'll hold, said

316
00:24:02,759 --> 00:24:07,559
the other. The mother moved to the far corner and

317
00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:12,240
opened a wooden crate. She produced a long curved dagger

318
00:24:12,599 --> 00:24:15,799
wrapped in red cloth and handed it to her husband.

319
00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:19,480
He took it without a word and stepped up to

320
00:24:19,519 --> 00:24:23,039
the table. He leaned in and placed the hand on

321
00:24:23,079 --> 00:24:26,759
the woman's forehead, brushing her hair aside, like he was

322
00:24:26,799 --> 00:24:31,279
saying goodbye. Then he placed the blade into a chest

323
00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:38,920
and drove it straight through her sternum. Her eyes snapped open.

324
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:43,720
She didn't scream, but her mouth twisted as her hand

325
00:24:43,799 --> 00:24:47,160
seized at the edge of the table. Her back arched

326
00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:51,079
and her legs kicked against the slab. A choking sound

327
00:24:51,279 --> 00:24:54,880
rasped from her throat. Blood welled up around the handle,

328
00:24:55,279 --> 00:24:59,200
thick and dark, soaking through her dress and pulling across

329
00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:05,799
the pentagram un eather. She convulsed once more, then went still.

330
00:25:09,039 --> 00:25:13,480
The basement fell into silence for several long seconds. The

331
00:25:13,559 --> 00:25:16,480
father stepped away from the body and wiped the blade

332
00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:19,880
against his sleeve, folding it again in a red cloth

333
00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:23,880
as if it were a sacred object. The two robed

334
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:27,599
men began chanting something in a gutural language made of

335
00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:31,599
deep clerks and harsh consonants that didn't resemble anything I

336
00:25:31,599 --> 00:25:36,279
had ever heard. The mother ascended the stairs without explanation

337
00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:41,240
and vanished through the hatch. She returned several minutes later,

338
00:25:42,039 --> 00:25:47,359
cradling something in both arms. At first I thought it

339
00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:51,119
was a bundle of fabric, or maybe an animal, but

340
00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:55,079
then I saw it was a severed goat's head, freshly taken.

341
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,240
Blood still dripped from its neck and darkened a blouse.

342
00:25:59,519 --> 00:26:01,720
As she came, bread had across the room with care,

343
00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:06,680
as though presenting her newborn. The goat's eyes were milky

344
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:10,839
and half closed, and his tongue lolled out between its teeth.

345
00:26:12,519 --> 00:26:15,160
One of the roped men retrieved a short sow and

346
00:26:15,279 --> 00:26:18,960
placed it on the table. The father held the woman's

347
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:24,000
body steady while the mother guided the blade. It took

348
00:26:24,079 --> 00:26:29,279
several strokes. Her neck split slowly vertebray, crunching as the

349
00:26:29,319 --> 00:26:35,440
saw made contact with bone. I could barely watch. Her

350
00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:38,680
head came loose with a wet snap, and the mother

351
00:26:38,839 --> 00:26:42,160
lifted it free, laying it in a clay bowl beside

352
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:46,359
the table. Then they placed the goat's head on the

353
00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:51,319
open neck, seating it awkwardly. Blood ran from the seam,

354
00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:56,079
soaking the pentagram. Again. He looked so grotesque and wrong.

355
00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:59,920
I'd use every ounce of willpower to not wretch, an

356
00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:05,240
to throw up. It sat too high, its sizes off

357
00:27:05,279 --> 00:27:08,720
by just enough to make the body beneath it seem small.

358
00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:15,359
The mouth twitched, and for a moment I thought I

359
00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:19,920
had imagined it. The mother and father began to spread

360
00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:23,359
salt in a precise pattern along the edges of the circle.

361
00:27:24,799 --> 00:27:29,000
Every few seconds, they paused, muttered a word, and dropped

362
00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:34,599
small metal tokens, coins, rings, a gear, a broken key.

363
00:27:35,799 --> 00:27:39,480
The cymbals carved on the floor flared dimly, then pulsed

364
00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:45,599
again brighter. The temperature shifted around me, dropping to freezing

365
00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:49,680
in seconds. My teeth clenched as I wrapped my arms

366
00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:57,400
around my chest. The table began to tremble. Then the

367
00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:03,160
body twitched, first the legs, then the arms, then the fingers.

368
00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:09,480
One foot kicked, then the other. The abdomen clenched once twice,

369
00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:15,200
then swelled unnaturally. The goat head rose slightly, its mouth

370
00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:18,880
opened and hung From deep within it came a sound

371
00:28:19,279 --> 00:28:23,960
I'd never heard repeated, since it was low and wet,

372
00:28:24,799 --> 00:28:30,200
a gurgling croak that built into a shuddering intake of breath.

373
00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:38,400
It rose upright, arms rigid at its sides, and then

374
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:46,039
it spoke, why have you summoned me? One of the

375
00:28:46,039 --> 00:28:50,799
figures stepped forward, arms outstretched in reverence, and bowed low

376
00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:56,160
before answering, The crops have dulled, the ground has dried.

377
00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:00,519
The air takes more than it gives. We need your blessing.

378
00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:06,559
We need the land to breathe again. The goat head

379
00:29:06,599 --> 00:29:09,799
twisted slightly to the side and hovered that way for

380
00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:15,680
several seconds, as if considering their words. Then its arms

381
00:29:15,759 --> 00:29:20,359
jerked upward, bone cracking at the shoulders, and its hands

382
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:26,480
snapped open. The entire table rattled beneath it. A long

383
00:29:26,559 --> 00:29:31,240
growl rose from his chest and deepened into a gurgling scream,

384
00:29:31,519 --> 00:29:35,400
its volume climbing until it filled every corner of the basement.

385
00:29:36,519 --> 00:29:39,480
One of the jars near the altar cracked. The father

386
00:29:39,599 --> 00:29:43,359
staggered back and caught himself on a crate, his face pale.

387
00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:47,200
The mother clutched the silver charm that had been hanging

388
00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:51,319
around her neck. The creature slammed its hands down on

389
00:29:51,359 --> 00:29:55,559
the table, splintering one of the legs. It bared its

390
00:29:55,599 --> 00:30:00,440
teeth and hissed through clenched jaws. His voice ret turned

391
00:30:01,079 --> 00:30:10,359
less articular. You have wasted blood. I will not take

392
00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:17,440
our offerings in such circumstance. The robed men exchanged the glance.

393
00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:23,240
Something disturbed it. One said, we must abandon this sight

394
00:30:23,359 --> 00:30:27,440
for twenty four hours, let it rest that the lines reset.

395
00:30:28,039 --> 00:30:31,799
The other said, we will stay with you at your ranch.

396
00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:36,279
He said, looking over at the man and woman. When

397
00:30:36,319 --> 00:30:39,559
we return here, we cleanse every inch of this basement,

398
00:30:40,079 --> 00:30:44,279
every crack, every hiding place. It will all be scrubbed.

399
00:30:47,279 --> 00:30:52,039
They began collecting their tools in silence. The creature hissed

400
00:30:52,039 --> 00:30:55,640
again and pressed its hands against the inside of the pentagram,

401
00:30:55,920 --> 00:31:01,359
testing it. The salt still held. I saw one green

402
00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:05,160
tremble at the edge and roll across the line. A

403
00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:08,960
faint spark flared from the ground, and the creature recoiled,

404
00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:19,279
return prepared, it said. They didn't speak again. One by

405
00:31:19,359 --> 00:31:24,079
one they ascended the stairs. The hatch creaked shut behind them.

406
00:31:25,599 --> 00:31:28,759
The sound of metal locks sliding into place hit first,

407
00:31:29,559 --> 00:31:32,319
then the dragging of something heavy across the top of

408
00:31:32,359 --> 00:31:37,279
the hatch, A power drill whined. The seal was thorough.

409
00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:43,440
They weren't just closing it, they were barricading it, ceiling

410
00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:46,759
the basement shut from the outside world, with no intention

411
00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:52,839
of returning until they believed it was safe. I sat

412
00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:56,839
frozen beneath the crates. My back was damp and clung

413
00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:00,480
to the wall. Each bang above me, he sent a

414
00:32:00,519 --> 00:32:04,839
new spike of dread through my chest. I felt like

415
00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:08,880
I'd just been buried alive. I closed my eyes and

416
00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:12,200
buried my head against my knees, counting seconds in my

417
00:32:12,279 --> 00:32:19,640
head to keep from losing it. Then it spoke to me.

418
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:27,319
I know you're here. The voice came softer this time.

419
00:32:28,359 --> 00:32:33,839
I smelled you as soon as I came. I tried

420
00:32:33,839 --> 00:32:37,519
to keep my breath quiet enough to vanish into the walls.

421
00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:44,759
You watched it, It said, you've been watching for days.

422
00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:50,240
I stayed still, but every part of me burned with panic.

423
00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:54,119
I didn't know if he could see me, or if

424
00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:58,319
it only sensed me. He let out a deep, slow

425
00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:01,920
breath that filled the basement, and like steam rolling out

426
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:07,599
of a furnace. You and I we are the same.

427
00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:13,759
I stayed curled behind the crates, with my body locked

428
00:33:13,799 --> 00:33:17,599
in place, listening as The creature shifted on the table.

429
00:33:19,279 --> 00:33:23,279
His voice filled the room again, drawing out each syllable.

430
00:33:25,559 --> 00:33:34,119
You are small but capable. I clenched my jaw and

431
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:37,400
tried to ignore it. But my arms are already starting

432
00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:42,000
to tremble. My legs had gone numb. I didn't know

433
00:33:42,079 --> 00:33:46,880
how long I could keep this up. The voice drifted closer.

434
00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:53,839
I know what you desire. I wanted to yell back,

435
00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:57,359
to tell it to shut up, but I couldn't summon

436
00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:04,519
the courage. You want to leave, it continued. They will

437
00:34:04,559 --> 00:34:08,800
not let you. They will come back tomorrow with fire

438
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:13,280
and oil. They will burn the walls, they will tear

439
00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:21,519
the floors apart. They will find you. I let the

440
00:34:21,599 --> 00:34:26,159
thought pass through me. It wasn't hard to imagine if

441
00:34:26,199 --> 00:34:28,920
they had gone this far, then finding a frogger in

442
00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:33,199
their basement would only make their work easier. I would

443
00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:43,280
become another ingredient. But I can help you leave. The

444
00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:50,159
words stopped my breath. Break the salt only a single line.

445
00:34:50,639 --> 00:34:57,039
Then we shake hands. That is all I help you,

446
00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:03,880
it said, And you help me. One wish, That is

447
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:12,320
the price one. I didn't answer. You do not have

448
00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:17,840
to die here, it said. I pressed my fingers to

449
00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:22,840
the floor. I counted my options and found none. If

450
00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:26,039
I stayed, I would be found. If I ran, I

451
00:35:26,039 --> 00:35:29,840
would be caught. If I waited, I would be part

452
00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:36,440
of the next ritual. I stepped out from behind the

453
00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:40,679
crate and walked toward the table. It crouched low on

454
00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:44,920
the table, now knees folded beneath it, one hand resting

455
00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:47,679
on the wood and the other stretched toward me with

456
00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:52,039
its palm open. His head followed my movement without turning,

457
00:35:53,079 --> 00:35:56,119
but his presence bore down on me with unbearable weight.

458
00:35:57,719 --> 00:36:00,519
I approached slowly, my eyes and the edge of the

459
00:36:00,559 --> 00:36:06,079
salt line. The grain shimmered slightly as I neared. You

460
00:36:06,159 --> 00:36:14,679
are close, it said, finish shit. I stepped forward and

461
00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:17,199
used the tip of my boot to break the smallest

462
00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:23,000
section of the circle. The salt scattered outward. The creature

463
00:36:23,159 --> 00:36:26,599
rose to its full height in a single motion, limbs

464
00:36:26,679 --> 00:36:31,400
unfolding with perfect fluidity. It stepped over the line and

465
00:36:31,519 --> 00:36:36,360
stood before me, towering not with bulk but with form.

466
00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:40,360
The dress it wore hung in tatters, soaked through with

467
00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:44,639
blood that had dried in layered streaks. The goat's head

468
00:36:44,679 --> 00:36:48,480
stared straight through me, its hands still hung in the air.

469
00:36:50,199 --> 00:36:57,360
I reached forward and tuck it. The moment we touched,

470
00:36:57,639 --> 00:37:01,920
the entire room shivered. The ceiling cracked once above us.

471
00:37:02,559 --> 00:37:06,400
A gust of wind passed through the room. The creature

472
00:37:06,559 --> 00:37:17,239
nodded once, then spoke. Turn around. For a second. I

473
00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:20,519
thought this would be it. This was the part where

474
00:37:20,519 --> 00:37:23,039
I would rip me in half, or drive his fingers

475
00:37:23,079 --> 00:37:25,920
into my skull, or whisper something into my ear that

476
00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:30,079
would collapse my mind. I thought it would betray the deal,

477
00:37:30,679 --> 00:37:33,719
twist it, drag me down into whatever hell it had

478
00:37:33,760 --> 00:37:39,519
it come from. But I turned around and accepted my fate.

479
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:47,719
After a while of nothing, I turned back and it

480
00:37:47,840 --> 00:37:54,519
was gone. Then I heard it, wood splintering, a scream,

481
00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:59,320
sharp and short. I crouched and crept toward the stairs

482
00:37:59,639 --> 00:38:04,559
step lightly to avoid the cracked boards. Another crash followed,

483
00:38:05,239 --> 00:38:08,639
then a sound that turned my blood cold. It was

484
00:38:08,679 --> 00:38:11,880
wet and sudden, like someone tearing a roast from the

485
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:16,719
bone with bare hands. A gurgling cry ran out, followed

486
00:38:16,719 --> 00:38:20,519
by a thud that shug dust loose from the ceiling beams.

487
00:38:21,159 --> 00:38:25,159
Some One else yelled a deeper voice, this time angry,

488
00:38:25,639 --> 00:38:28,559
cut off by a second impact that made the floor groan.

489
00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:32,400
I reached the top of the stairs and pressed my

490
00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:37,719
ear to the hatch. Muffled movement echoed above me. I

491
00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:42,000
eased the latch open. Whatever had been used to barricade

492
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:46,119
it was gone. I slipped through the opening and rose

493
00:38:46,199 --> 00:38:49,960
to my feet. In the kitchen, the light was dim

494
00:38:50,199 --> 00:38:53,119
fed only by the flicker of lanterns that swung in

495
00:38:53,159 --> 00:38:57,679
the hallway. A smell hit me before I saw anything,

496
00:38:59,199 --> 00:39:04,880
blood warm enough to coat the air. I moved through

497
00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:07,679
the living room and crouched behind the banister near the

498
00:39:07,679 --> 00:39:13,760
front entryway. Beyond the corner, I saw the creature. The

499
00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:18,039
flesh was pale and glistening with sweat and blood. Veins

500
00:39:18,079 --> 00:39:21,840
pushed against the skin as if something large writhed beneath

501
00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:26,760
the surface. His torso swelled unnaturally with each breath, and

502
00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:30,039
the skin around its belly stretched so tight I could

503
00:39:30,039 --> 00:39:34,440
see the outline of something shifting inside. The goat had

504
00:39:34,519 --> 00:39:38,840
remained fixed above it, all still slight, jawed, and expressionless.

505
00:39:39,840 --> 00:39:43,519
The air around it vibrated from the growling sound rising

506
00:39:43,639 --> 00:39:48,559
from its throat. One of the roped men, in clear desperation,

507
00:39:49,159 --> 00:39:52,480
charged forward with a blade drawn from his belt, but

508
00:39:52,599 --> 00:39:56,199
the creature swatted him aside with one arm, shattering his

509
00:39:56,360 --> 00:40:00,440
jaw and throwing him into the far wall. His body

510
00:40:00,519 --> 00:40:04,960
hit the bugshelf and slid down, crumpled and twitching. The

511
00:40:05,039 --> 00:40:09,360
other raised his hands and began chanting. The creature lunged forward,

512
00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:13,639
driving its fingers through his stomach. They punched through his

513
00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:18,199
robes and into his flesh with ease. He buckled around them,

514
00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:21,159
and the chanting died in his throat as he collapsed,

515
00:40:21,519 --> 00:40:25,760
folded in half. The mother and father tried to run.

516
00:40:26,599 --> 00:40:29,519
The father was too slow, however, so he grabbed a

517
00:40:29,519 --> 00:40:33,559
shotgun from behind the door and fired once. The blast

518
00:40:33,679 --> 00:40:38,000
tore through the creature's shoulder, exposing raw muscle, but it

519
00:40:38,079 --> 00:40:43,400
didn't flinch, It didn't bleed. The flesh folded back together

520
00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:48,119
as if nothing had happened. Across the room in two

521
00:40:48,239 --> 00:40:52,639
lurching strides, and tackled him against the wall. I heard

522
00:40:52,639 --> 00:40:57,280
the bone crack before he even screamed. The creature pinned

523
00:40:57,320 --> 00:41:00,480
him there and pulled the gun from his hands, pushed

524
00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:05,000
its face into his neck, and bit down. The mother

525
00:41:05,199 --> 00:41:10,360
suffered a similar fate. I didn't wait for my turn.

526
00:41:11,679 --> 00:41:14,679
I ran through the side door, out across the field

527
00:41:15,159 --> 00:41:18,960
and toward the edge of the property. My legs burned

528
00:41:19,119 --> 00:41:22,159
and my lungs pulled cold air that stung my chest.

529
00:41:23,239 --> 00:41:26,760
The sky above me swirled with smoke and stars. The

530
00:41:26,800 --> 00:41:30,920
property lion came into view ahead of me. Grasp stopped,

531
00:41:31,199 --> 00:41:35,039
and sand began, just as it had the night I arrived.

532
00:41:36,679 --> 00:41:41,119
My body slammed into something solid and invisible. It knocked

533
00:41:41,119 --> 00:41:45,599
me back flat on to the ground. I gasped, rolled

534
00:41:45,679 --> 00:41:49,880
on to my knees, and tried again. I clawed forward

535
00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:54,360
and lunged with my shoulder, but the wall held. There

536
00:41:54,400 --> 00:41:57,679
was no sign of what was stopping me, just empty

537
00:41:57,760 --> 00:42:02,079
air with a density of steel. I beat my fists

538
00:42:02,079 --> 00:42:05,639
against it. I kicked it. I even screamed at it,

539
00:42:05,880 --> 00:42:15,440
hoping something would shift. Nothing did. Behind me, it was coming, galloping,

540
00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:20,159
hands and feet, pounding the dirt frantically. I turned and

541
00:42:20,199 --> 00:42:23,960
saw it charge through the dark, arms bent, mouth wide,

542
00:42:24,880 --> 00:42:29,000
Its goat face stared directly ahead. Those empty sockets locked

543
00:42:29,039 --> 00:42:33,159
onto mine. Its legs kicked up dirt as it closed

544
00:42:33,199 --> 00:42:39,519
the distance. I braced myself and shut my eyes, but

545
00:42:39,639 --> 00:42:44,519
it stopped inches in front of me. Its breath was

546
00:42:44,599 --> 00:42:47,400
harsh and fast. I felt the warmth of it on

547
00:42:47,519 --> 00:42:51,360
my skin. I opened my eyes and saw the goat

548
00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:54,960
head tilted downward, close enough that I could see the

549
00:42:55,039 --> 00:43:00,559
crusted blood dried unto the hairs around its mouth. It

550
00:43:00,719 --> 00:43:05,599
just stared. Then it sat down in the dirt, folded

551
00:43:05,639 --> 00:43:13,679
its arms over its knees, and whispered one sentence, my wish.

552
00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:20,400
It set back, slowly, folding its legs beneath itself, arms

553
00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:25,679
resting on its thighs, shoulders, heaving with slow breath. The

554
00:43:25,719 --> 00:43:28,960
goat's head tilted down toward the earth, and the body

555
00:43:29,119 --> 00:43:34,280
underneath began to sag, Muscles quivering beneath us, stretched sweat

556
00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:39,920
slick skin of the pregnant woman's frame. My wish is this,

557
00:43:41,840 --> 00:43:48,079
you must raise my kin. I didn't understand what it meant.

558
00:43:48,079 --> 00:43:54,159
At first. The words registered, but the meaning floated beyond them.

559
00:43:54,880 --> 00:43:58,440
The creature lowered itself further into the dirt and wrapped

560
00:43:58,480 --> 00:44:02,760
its arms around its abdomen. The flesh swelled and pulsed,

561
00:44:03,159 --> 00:44:08,800
shifting in thick waves as something began moving inside. It

562
00:44:08,840 --> 00:44:12,639
gritted its teeth and bent forward, nails dragging through the

563
00:44:12,679 --> 00:44:17,119
earth beneath it. I watched the belly twitch and lurch,

564
00:44:17,679 --> 00:44:21,119
muscles contorting as if something larger than the frame of

565
00:44:21,159 --> 00:44:24,480
the woman's body had ever been meant to contain, began

566
00:44:24,639 --> 00:44:30,599
forcing itself free. It whimpered once, a low rasp torn

567
00:44:30,679 --> 00:44:34,599
through clenched teeth, then braced itself on one arm and

568
00:44:34,679 --> 00:44:38,920
reached between its legs with the other. Blood poured out

569
00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:43,239
under the grass, soaking the soil beneath it. The stench

570
00:44:43,320 --> 00:44:47,440
filled the air. I wanted to look away, but I

571
00:44:47,559 --> 00:44:53,239
was locked in place. The body convulsed once more, and

572
00:44:53,280 --> 00:44:56,440
then something slipped free and hit the ground with a wet,

573
00:44:56,960 --> 00:45:02,840
muted slap. I was small, no larger than a toddler.

574
00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:07,079
Its body was covered in coarse black hair and gray skin.

575
00:45:08,119 --> 00:45:11,920
Its limbs were jointed like a person's, but longer and hairer.

576
00:45:13,039 --> 00:45:16,480
Bones jotted out at odd angles, and from its back

577
00:45:17,159 --> 00:45:21,519
two leathery wings unfolded and stretched outward with a slow

578
00:45:21,719 --> 00:45:26,880
fluttering pulse. Its head was elongated and bent forward, nose

579
00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:33,559
flat and wide, eyes already open. It blinked once, then

580
00:45:33,679 --> 00:45:36,199
rolled on to its back and looked up at me.

581
00:45:38,119 --> 00:45:41,360
I understood then what I needed to do, so I

582
00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:44,559
rushed forward, grabbed it by the torso, and hurled it

583
00:45:44,639 --> 00:45:49,119
down against the dirt with everything I had it bounced once,

584
00:45:49,519 --> 00:45:52,440
let out a short yelp, and rolled to its side.

585
00:45:53,639 --> 00:45:56,519
I turned found a smooth rock about the size of

586
00:45:56,559 --> 00:45:59,480
a football near the edge of the line, and raised

587
00:45:59,519 --> 00:46:03,559
it above my head. My arms trembled from the weight,

588
00:46:03,960 --> 00:46:06,840
from the panic, from the surge of hatred I didn't

589
00:46:06,840 --> 00:46:10,559
even know I could feel. I brought the rock down

590
00:46:10,639 --> 00:46:19,800
on its skull once, twice, three times. It giggled. Then

591
00:46:20,119 --> 00:46:27,320
it looked up at me and said, dad, there. I

592
00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:31,719
dropped the rock and stumbled back, nearly falling. I wanted

593
00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:35,480
to scream, but nothing came out. It reached one hand

594
00:46:35,519 --> 00:46:45,239
toward me, fingers splayed, smiling. I don't remember walking back

595
00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:49,079
to the ranch. I must have been in shock. My

596
00:46:49,159 --> 00:46:53,000
body moved, but I didn't guide it. My arms clutched

597
00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:56,559
the thing to my chest. It rested against me and

598
00:46:56,599 --> 00:47:01,159
pressed its head beneath my chin, breathing slow instead humming

599
00:47:01,199 --> 00:47:05,000
to itself. Its small hands gripped the collar of my

600
00:47:05,119 --> 00:47:10,280
shirt with frightening strength. I walked into the house, expecting

601
00:47:10,320 --> 00:47:15,039
to see blood, but there was nothing there. The hallway

602
00:47:15,119 --> 00:47:19,239
rug had no stains, no tears. I passed through the

603
00:47:19,320 --> 00:47:23,280
rooms in disbelief, searching for any trace of what had happened,

604
00:47:24,920 --> 00:47:29,079
there was none. The fireplace glowed with a faint bed

605
00:47:29,119 --> 00:47:32,719
of coals, as though someone had stoked it an hour ago.

606
00:47:33,519 --> 00:47:36,960
I climbed the stairs, still holding the creature to my chest.

607
00:47:37,960 --> 00:47:42,679
Its eyes were closed, it smiled in its sleep. In

608
00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:47,199
the master bedroom, the bed was made, the curtains were open.

609
00:47:48,239 --> 00:47:52,639
Sunlight washed through the room in slow golden waves. I

610
00:47:52,679 --> 00:47:55,519
stood in the doorway with my hands trembling and my

611
00:47:55,599 --> 00:48:00,280
knees ready to buckle. The windmill outside turned slowly in

612
00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:05,119
the breeze, casting long shadows across the fields, and I

613
00:48:05,239 --> 00:48:12,280
understood then that I wasn't going anywhere. I tried to

614
00:48:12,360 --> 00:48:16,519
kill it again during the first night, after returning to

615
00:48:16,559 --> 00:48:19,840
the house and wandering through room after room that had

616
00:48:19,880 --> 00:48:23,079
been white clean of blood and memory, I laid it

617
00:48:23,119 --> 00:48:26,320
down on the kitchen floor and grabbed the heaviest butcher

618
00:48:26,400 --> 00:48:30,079
knife I could find. I raised it over its chest,

619
00:48:30,519 --> 00:48:33,679
two hands on the grip, and stared at the pail

620
00:48:34,079 --> 00:48:39,320
pulsing skin between its ribs. Its chest rose and fell slowly.

621
00:48:40,480 --> 00:48:45,480
It looked asleep, though its eyes were open. I brought

622
00:48:45,519 --> 00:48:49,280
the knife down with everything I had. The blade, hid

623
00:48:49,320 --> 00:48:54,039
the skin and stopped as if striking cured leather, I

624
00:48:54,119 --> 00:48:59,119
pressed harder. It didn't pierce. It didn't even leave a scratch.

625
00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:03,679
Her thing blinked once, reaching up with a tiny hand

626
00:49:04,159 --> 00:49:07,920
and tapped the edge of the knife like it was curious.

627
00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:15,000
Then it laughed, a small imitation of human joy that

628
00:49:15,119 --> 00:49:19,039
sent a chill down the length of my spine. I

629
00:49:19,119 --> 00:49:22,639
dropped the knife and stumbled backward. It rolled on to

630
00:49:22,760 --> 00:49:28,599
its side and cooed, dragging itself across the floor. Later

631
00:49:28,679 --> 00:49:32,199
that night I found the father's gun. The shells were

632
00:49:32,239 --> 00:49:35,840
still in a wooden box beside it, organized by caliber.

633
00:49:37,079 --> 00:49:39,599
I loaded it round and pressed it to the side

634
00:49:39,639 --> 00:49:42,119
of the thing's head while it napped in a bundle

635
00:49:42,119 --> 00:49:49,480
of blankets. I pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. I opened

636
00:49:49,480 --> 00:49:54,199
the chamber and checked the bullet was clean. I reloaded,

637
00:49:54,480 --> 00:50:03,119
tried again, click nothing. I pointed it at my own

638
00:50:03,159 --> 00:50:07,320
temple and fired. There was a flash and a crack,

639
00:50:08,320 --> 00:50:12,960
and then everything went black. I woke up on the

640
00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:17,840
porch with a creature sitting beside me, giggling. Again. My

641
00:50:17,920 --> 00:50:22,159
ears rang. I checked for blood and found none. The

642
00:50:22,199 --> 00:50:25,960
bullet was lodged in the wood beneath my seat. I

643
00:50:26,039 --> 00:50:30,440
tried again, this time, I aimed at my chest. The

644
00:50:30,519 --> 00:50:33,559
fire bloomed through my ribs and dropped to my knees.

645
00:50:34,599 --> 00:50:39,119
I passed out, choking at my own breath. I woke

646
00:50:39,199 --> 00:50:43,440
up in bed, tucked beneath a wall blanket. The creature

647
00:50:43,480 --> 00:50:46,960
stood by the window, humming to itself, staring out of

648
00:50:47,039 --> 00:50:50,719
the field. The gun rested on the night stand with

649
00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:55,360
a safety on. I couldn't take the sound of its

650
00:50:55,400 --> 00:50:59,559
laugh anymore. I waited until noon, when the sun was highest,

651
00:50:59,760 --> 00:51:03,719
and climbed up the windmill. It wasn't tall, but it

652
00:51:03,760 --> 00:51:07,320
stood far enough above the property that I could see everything.

653
00:51:08,519 --> 00:51:12,920
The land rolled out in perfect symmetry. Everything in this

654
00:51:13,079 --> 00:51:17,480
place was a symbol, from the fences to the paths.

655
00:51:18,159 --> 00:51:21,920
I saw it clearly from above. The windmill stood at

656
00:51:21,960 --> 00:51:26,840
the center each plot of land, each structure, each buried

657
00:51:26,880 --> 00:51:30,400
mark and etching in the stone, had been placed to

658
00:51:30,480 --> 00:51:37,360
match the design of a vast, incomprehensible symbol. I laughed,

659
00:51:38,320 --> 00:51:41,360
I don't know why. I think I lost something in

660
00:51:41,360 --> 00:51:47,000
that moment, something important. I climbed to the edge, spread

661
00:51:47,039 --> 00:51:53,480
my arms and jumped. The fall should have shattered my

662
00:51:53,559 --> 00:51:56,800
legs and broken my spine, but the impact felt like

663
00:51:56,880 --> 00:52:01,079
hitting a warm mattress. I bounced once and rolled through

664
00:52:01,119 --> 00:52:06,880
the dirt. My limbs ached, but nothing snapped. The creature

665
00:52:07,000 --> 00:52:10,440
watched from the fence. It clapped twice, like I had

666
00:52:10,480 --> 00:52:17,719
done something clever. Time started to rot. I stopped counting days.

667
00:52:18,719 --> 00:52:21,440
I would wake up and find the creature'd move the furniture,

668
00:52:21,920 --> 00:52:25,320
arrange plates and circles on the floor, place books in

669
00:52:25,400 --> 00:52:30,039
spirals across the kitchen tiles. It mimics speech and movement.

670
00:52:30,719 --> 00:52:33,840
It watched me eat and copied me, though it never

671
00:52:33,960 --> 00:52:38,840
needed food. I never saw it sleep for long. Sometimes

672
00:52:38,840 --> 00:52:41,559
it stood in the hallway and stared at the ceiling

673
00:52:41,599 --> 00:52:48,480
for hours. It smiled more. Its teeth changed, The front

674
00:52:48,599 --> 00:52:53,000
row straightened, the gums pinkened. The texture of its skin

675
00:52:53,079 --> 00:52:56,519
began to smooth. The wings on its back folded down

676
00:52:57,039 --> 00:53:03,400
and slowly receded. Its fingers shortened, its gate adjusted. It

677
00:53:03,519 --> 00:53:07,320
stooded me when I moved, and copied me without hesitation.

678
00:53:09,239 --> 00:53:13,519
At some point I recalled my old frogging community. I

679
00:53:13,559 --> 00:53:17,119
silently prayed they'd noticed my absence and maybe someone would

680
00:53:17,159 --> 00:53:21,800
come to this ranch and rescue me. But nobody came.

681
00:53:23,880 --> 00:53:26,320
I tried to run. I tried to walk into the

682
00:53:26,320 --> 00:53:30,960
woods and keep going. I hit the barrier again. I

683
00:53:31,039 --> 00:53:35,679
circled the entire perimeter for days. The invisible wall was absolute.

684
00:53:37,280 --> 00:53:45,239
It never stopped following me either. Some days later, something happened.

685
00:53:48,119 --> 00:53:52,000
The sky was clear, the stars flickered in slow spirals.

686
00:53:52,800 --> 00:53:55,800
I sat on the porch, staring at the dark, holding

687
00:53:55,800 --> 00:54:01,000
an empty cup. My fingers ached, my back started to curve.

688
00:54:01,719 --> 00:54:05,840
My hair had thinned. I hadn't aged normally, but I

689
00:54:05,880 --> 00:54:12,480
hadn't stayed the same either. My body was changing. Then

690
00:54:12,480 --> 00:54:17,079
I felt it. A heat rose from behind me, soft

691
00:54:17,159 --> 00:54:20,920
and warm, followed by the faint creak of wood beneath

692
00:54:21,000 --> 00:54:27,159
careful steps. I turned and saw it standing in the doorway.

693
00:54:29,239 --> 00:54:33,679
It wasn't the unholy demon spawn anymore. It was human.

694
00:54:34,800 --> 00:54:40,800
It was morphed. Its features were perfect, Its skin was clean,

695
00:54:41,519 --> 00:54:46,079
Its hair was dark and soft, combed and parted. It

696
00:54:46,119 --> 00:54:50,679
wore simple clothes, a linen shirt, but its eyes still

697
00:54:50,719 --> 00:54:55,280
carried the same smoke. Behind the pupils, a swirl of

698
00:54:55,360 --> 00:55:00,239
faint gray fog moved slowly, and on its forehead, just

699
00:55:00,320 --> 00:55:04,679
below the hair line, a small circular mark glowed faintly.

700
00:55:06,559 --> 00:55:11,480
It stepped forward and sat across from me. Then it

701
00:55:11,679 --> 00:55:27,719
reached forward, touched my hand and said thank you. The

702
00:55:27,840 --> 00:55:32,280
church was empty. It was just me, the candles, and

703
00:55:32,320 --> 00:55:35,840
the rain tapping against the stained glass like a restless child.

704
00:55:37,079 --> 00:55:40,800
It had been storming since dusk, an unending curtain of

705
00:55:41,000 --> 00:55:45,480
water from a bruised sky. I sat in the confessional

706
00:55:45,800 --> 00:55:48,519
with my hands folded loosely in my lap and my

707
00:55:48,599 --> 00:55:53,320
eyelids heavy, but not from a lack of sleep. It

708
00:55:53,360 --> 00:55:57,079
had been a long day, with two funerals, a hospital visit,

709
00:55:57,440 --> 00:56:01,559
and a broken boiler in the rectory. I just started

710
00:56:01,559 --> 00:56:04,679
to think I might close early when I heard the

711
00:56:04,760 --> 00:56:08,880
door at the back of the sanctuary open. A gust

712
00:56:08,920 --> 00:56:13,119
of wet air followed someone in, along with hesitant footsteps,

713
00:56:13,639 --> 00:56:19,320
much different from a regular parishioner's confident pace. I straightened,

714
00:56:20,400 --> 00:56:24,719
Then the curtain slid aside. I heard the soft squish

715
00:56:24,760 --> 00:56:27,840
of wet fabric as they settled on the opposite side

716
00:56:27,880 --> 00:56:32,199
of the confessional, Then a faint rasp of his breath,

717
00:56:32,880 --> 00:56:37,159
and how his weight shifted, like someone fighting the instinct

718
00:56:37,159 --> 00:56:44,920
to bolt. Finally, he spoke, low and unsure but clear,

719
00:56:47,440 --> 00:56:54,199
forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. The ritual took

720
00:56:54,239 --> 00:56:59,280
over my voice came easily and automatic, though something in

721
00:56:59,360 --> 00:57:04,880
my chest tightened. God is always watching my son, I said,

722
00:57:05,639 --> 00:57:09,440
speak freely. The Lord offers mercy to all who seek it.

723
00:57:12,039 --> 00:57:16,480
At first, he said nothing in return. Yet the way

724
00:57:16,519 --> 00:57:21,360
the air changed betrayed his lack of response. I knew

725
00:57:21,400 --> 00:57:24,960
then that he was going to tell me something, and

726
00:57:25,079 --> 00:57:31,239
it wasn't going to be easy. His voice came again, steadier, now,

727
00:57:31,679 --> 00:57:34,679
like he had stepped back into the safety of memory.

728
00:57:36,400 --> 00:57:39,719
I grew up on a farm, he said, Just me

729
00:57:39,800 --> 00:57:43,119
and my mamma, out past the river bend, where the

730
00:57:43,199 --> 00:57:47,000
road turns to gravel. We had no neighbors close enough

731
00:57:47,000 --> 00:57:53,840
to wave two. He exhaled slowly. She was a believer.

732
00:57:54,760 --> 00:57:59,480
She didn't just speak the word no, she lived it.

733
00:58:00,800 --> 00:58:04,880
Every evening before supper, she'd read from her old leather

734
00:58:04,920 --> 00:58:10,119
bound Bible. I remember her soft but unwavering voice. Even

735
00:58:10,119 --> 00:58:14,000
when the storms came and the lights flickered, she'd light

736
00:58:14,039 --> 00:58:17,639
a single candle and read Psalm twenty three like it

737
00:58:17,719 --> 00:58:20,079
was a promise she was making to both of us.

738
00:58:22,480 --> 00:58:26,159
He paused, and for a second I imagined he might

739
00:58:26,199 --> 00:58:29,320
be wiping his eyes as he remembered a fond memory

740
00:58:29,480 --> 00:58:35,239
of his mom. She carved crosses into everything, the fence posts,

741
00:58:35,360 --> 00:58:38,760
the barn doors, and even the wooden spoon she stirred

742
00:58:38,800 --> 00:58:42,199
us dough with. She said it kept evil out, and

743
00:58:42,320 --> 00:58:48,639
reminded the Lord we were watching back. His tone dipped

744
00:58:48,679 --> 00:58:54,280
into something warm and fond. It was in a fancy life,

745
00:58:54,360 --> 00:58:59,199
but it was ours. We had three hens, Pearl Marigold

746
00:58:59,239 --> 00:59:02,719
and little sister Her, and a stubborn old goat named Moses,

747
00:59:03,039 --> 00:59:05,320
who chewed through more of our laundry line than I'd

748
00:59:05,360 --> 00:59:09,960
like to admit. We had potatoes, turnips, and a patch

749
00:59:10,000 --> 00:59:14,360
of carrots that only ever grew crooked. Sometimes we traded

750
00:59:14,400 --> 00:59:18,000
our eggs for milk. There was never more than we needed.

751
00:59:18,840 --> 00:59:24,039
But she always smiled when she said it, the Lord provides.

752
00:59:27,000 --> 00:59:29,800
I could hear something shift in his breath, like he

753
00:59:29,920 --> 00:59:32,840
was close to brushing up against the memory in which

754
00:59:32,840 --> 00:59:38,280
his I don't mind saw the truth. Winter was the hardest.

755
00:59:39,280 --> 00:59:42,199
I remember. One year she boiled onion skins just to

756
00:59:42,239 --> 00:59:45,760
make broth. She told me it was French soup and

757
00:59:45,840 --> 00:59:47,679
made me sit up straight, like you were in a

758
00:59:47,679 --> 00:59:51,079
Paris cafe. She even folded a towel for me to

759
00:59:51,199 --> 00:59:56,920
use as a napkin. I believed her that's the kind

760
00:59:56,960 --> 01:00:01,480
of woman she was. She could make suffering feel like theater.

761
01:00:04,039 --> 01:00:08,199
The confessional had gone quiet around us, the storm muffled

762
01:00:08,199 --> 01:00:12,599
by thick stone walls. But at that moment, I swear

763
01:00:12,800 --> 01:00:15,920
I could feel the cold of that farmhouse kitchen, the

764
01:00:15,960 --> 01:00:19,559
scratch of old quilts, and the soft light of candlewax

765
01:00:19,840 --> 01:00:24,920
dripping beside a prayer. I let the silence hold between us,

766
01:00:25,480 --> 01:00:28,719
unable to shake the feeling that whatever was to come

767
01:00:29,360 --> 01:00:31,880
would be a heavy weight for us both to bear.

768
01:00:34,239 --> 01:00:39,199
It started with Pearl, he said, the oldest hen. She

769
01:00:39,280 --> 01:00:43,840
stopped laying, which was an unusual, But then she started

770
01:00:43,840 --> 01:00:48,199
acting hard, wondering in circles, pecking at her own feathers.

771
01:00:49,480 --> 01:00:52,639
One morning I found her standing motionless in the yard,

772
01:00:53,280 --> 01:00:57,639
eyes leaking this dark red stuff like tears. She didn't

773
01:00:57,679 --> 01:01:02,320
squawk or anything. I ran to tell Mama. She looked

774
01:01:02,320 --> 01:01:06,039
at Pearl for a long time and whispered, And the

775
01:01:06,079 --> 01:01:12,039
next day Pearl was gone, buried. Mama said, But they

776
01:01:12,079 --> 01:01:17,199
never saw a shovel. Then it was Marigold, then little Sister,

777
01:01:17,679 --> 01:01:23,400
then Moses. All of them followed the same pattern their eyes.

778
01:01:24,079 --> 01:01:27,599
Something in their eyes was just wrong. But Mama told

779
01:01:27,599 --> 01:01:30,519
me she'd take care of it, and that everything would

780
01:01:30,559 --> 01:01:37,239
be okay. The garden turned next, one by one. The

781
01:01:37,320 --> 01:01:40,519
carrots split open from the inside, like they'd been cooked

782
01:01:40,519 --> 01:01:44,760
in the dirt. The turnips came up black and soft,

783
01:01:45,079 --> 01:01:49,039
and the potatoes, when we harvested them, were little more

784
01:01:49,079 --> 01:01:54,559
than husks, like something had suck them dry from the inside.

785
01:01:54,719 --> 01:01:57,360
I asked if we were curst, and she said no,

786
01:01:57,679 --> 01:02:02,119
and that the Lord is testing us. I could tell

787
01:02:02,159 --> 01:02:07,199
she believed it. She prayed harder than ever. She would

788
01:02:07,199 --> 01:02:10,320
hardly eat so I could, and in the middle of

789
01:02:10,360 --> 01:02:13,719
the night I'd find a knelt beside the kitchen window,

790
01:02:14,239 --> 01:02:18,480
whispering scripture to the wind, sometimes just mouthing the psalms

791
01:02:18,519 --> 01:02:23,199
into the dark. There was something sacred, and how he

792
01:02:23,320 --> 01:02:26,639
spoke of her like a child, recalling the warmth of

793
01:02:26,639 --> 01:02:29,880
a hand that always knew how to hold his without

794
01:02:29,960 --> 01:02:35,400
needing to say a word. She didn't panic, not once

795
01:02:35,480 --> 01:02:39,079
did I think anything was wrong. She did everything to

796
01:02:39,199 --> 01:02:42,199
keep me calm. Even when I asked what we'd do

797
01:02:42,280 --> 01:02:45,880
without food, she just looked at me and smiled and

798
01:02:45,920 --> 01:02:54,360
said he will provide. And in that moment I heard it,

799
01:02:55,400 --> 01:03:00,400
the quiet turn of something in his voice. It was

800
01:03:00,440 --> 01:03:05,159
the next morning, he said. The frost hadn't even lifted.

801
01:03:05,159 --> 01:03:08,440
When Mamma came to me, her hands wrapped in a shawl,

802
01:03:08,639 --> 01:03:13,400
like she was cradling something delicate. She said, go to

803
01:03:13,480 --> 01:03:17,280
town to day. Look for someone cold, someone who's hungry.

804
01:03:18,199 --> 01:03:24,119
Bring them here the Lord reward's kindness. It made sense

805
01:03:24,159 --> 01:03:28,320
at the time. That was how Mamma thought. When times

806
01:03:28,360 --> 01:03:32,599
were lean, you gave more, You open your door wider.

807
01:03:33,519 --> 01:03:38,679
That's what she taught me. So I went. I walked

808
01:03:38,800 --> 01:03:42,480
all the way into town, kicking rocks and counting steps

809
01:03:42,800 --> 01:03:47,480
and praying I'd find someone to help. Near the train yard,

810
01:03:47,880 --> 01:03:51,639
I found a man. He was older, wrapped in layers

811
01:03:51,679 --> 01:03:56,079
of newspaper and threadbare denim. He was humming to himself,

812
01:03:56,519 --> 01:04:00,920
eyes half closed, like he was dreaming of food. I

813
01:04:01,000 --> 01:04:03,880
told him we had warm soup and fresh bread, a

814
01:04:04,000 --> 01:04:08,639
barn to sleepin' if he didn't mind the hay. He

815
01:04:08,800 --> 01:04:12,800
looked at me like I was a ghost. Then he followed.

816
01:04:14,679 --> 01:04:18,159
Mamma greeted him like she'd known him all the life.

817
01:04:18,440 --> 01:04:21,679
She called him brother. She sat him down at our

818
01:04:21,679 --> 01:04:25,760
little table and served him a bowl of stew. The

819
01:04:25,800 --> 01:04:29,000
smell was so strong it made my mouth water, and

820
01:04:29,079 --> 01:04:32,960
the bread was still warm. I don't remember where she

821
01:04:33,000 --> 01:04:36,119
said she got the flower. I didn't think to ask,

822
01:04:36,239 --> 01:04:39,320
in fear that it would disappear if I acknowledged it.

823
01:04:41,320 --> 01:04:44,239
He stayed the night in the barn. I brought him

824
01:04:44,280 --> 01:04:48,039
an old quilt in a lantern. They thanked me and

825
01:04:48,159 --> 01:04:53,639
said we were angels. The next morning he was gone.

826
01:04:55,119 --> 01:04:58,440
Mamma said he'd left early. She said he was grateful

827
01:04:58,719 --> 01:05:04,840
and traded us something before he went. He inhaled, sharp

828
01:05:04,920 --> 01:05:09,599
and shallow. There was meat on the table that morning,

829
01:05:10,559 --> 01:05:16,960
real meat, pink, marbled, steaming in its own broth. She

830
01:05:17,039 --> 01:05:19,679
said it was a blessing and the man had traded

831
01:05:19,679 --> 01:05:27,960
goods and I I didn't question it. I just thanked God.

832
01:05:29,679 --> 01:05:34,719
After that, we always had something, not a lot, but enough.

833
01:05:36,239 --> 01:05:39,199
Every few weeks she'd send me again to find someone

834
01:05:39,239 --> 01:05:44,400
alone and hungry. I didn't understand it. Then she started

835
01:05:44,440 --> 01:05:48,599
a new tradition where just before eating, she'd take white

836
01:05:48,639 --> 01:05:52,000
linen napkins from the drawer we only used on Christmas

837
01:05:52,599 --> 01:05:55,559
and carefully draped it over her head so it hung

838
01:05:55,679 --> 01:05:59,519
down like a veil. She told me to do the same.

839
01:06:01,079 --> 01:06:03,760
I remember the first time I giggled and said, she

840
01:06:03,840 --> 01:06:07,920
looked like she was playing dress up, but she didn't laugh.

841
01:06:09,400 --> 01:06:11,960
She just looked at me through the cloth and said,

842
01:06:13,039 --> 01:06:16,960
that's the point, baby. We hide our faces so God

843
01:06:17,039 --> 01:06:20,719
doesn't have to watch us eat. We eat in private,

844
01:06:21,119 --> 01:06:26,639
hidden from the eyes of heaven, and then we'd say

845
01:06:26,639 --> 01:06:31,000
the same prayer, always the same words, like a song.

846
01:06:31,280 --> 01:06:36,119
Only the two of us knew. Lord, bless this meal,

847
01:06:36,599 --> 01:06:39,519
Bless the soul who gave it, and keep our hands

848
01:06:39,599 --> 01:06:43,239
from shaking as we take what was given in grace.

849
01:06:45,119 --> 01:06:48,239
She made me whisper it three times before touching the spoon.

850
01:06:49,760 --> 01:06:57,599
It was never skipped, he swallowed. We'd eat in silence,

851
01:06:58,000 --> 01:07:02,559
chew slowly, and pray again when we were done. I

852
01:07:02,679 --> 01:07:07,360
was a child. I didn't understand. All I knew was

853
01:07:07,400 --> 01:07:10,320
I gained a weird sense of hunger that only that

854
01:07:10,480 --> 01:07:16,920
meal could quench. I sat back slightly in the confessional,

855
01:07:17,559 --> 01:07:20,559
the warmth of the wood against my shoulder doing little

856
01:07:20,599 --> 01:07:24,159
to ground me. I wanted to believe this was all

857
01:07:24,159 --> 01:07:27,920
a metaphor, that he was speaking in the language of parable,

858
01:07:28,320 --> 01:07:32,679
of symbolic hunger and strange rituals born of grief or madness.

859
01:07:33,960 --> 01:07:36,960
But some part of me there was a sharpened instinct,

860
01:07:37,079 --> 01:07:40,599
honed from years of hearing the worst of people. Wondered

861
01:07:40,719 --> 01:07:44,280
where those people he had brought home had gone, the

862
01:07:44,280 --> 01:07:48,119
ones soon never came back, who were needy yet still

863
01:07:48,159 --> 01:07:54,400
had things to trade. Still, I could not accuse that

864
01:07:54,559 --> 01:07:57,840
wasn't my place, But I felt the hair at the

865
01:07:57,880 --> 01:08:02,440
back of my neck begin to rise. I crossed myself quietly,

866
01:08:03,280 --> 01:08:08,280
more out of reflex than faith at that moment. I

867
01:08:08,440 --> 01:08:13,239
was thirteen when I found it. He continued. It had

868
01:08:13,360 --> 01:08:15,920
rained the night before, and I was out behind the

869
01:08:15,960 --> 01:08:19,439
barn dumping the meat scraps. Mama said we couldn't use

870
01:08:19,520 --> 01:08:22,520
for breakfast. Into the slop draft for the young pigs.

871
01:08:22,520 --> 01:08:27,279
We managed to buy something white bobbed up, half floating

872
01:08:27,479 --> 01:08:35,319
in the grease. His voice trembled now, just slightly. I

873
01:08:35,359 --> 01:08:39,079
thought it was a chicken bone. I reached in, thinking

874
01:08:39,159 --> 01:08:42,399
it wouldn't be good for them, but it was soft

875
01:08:42,439 --> 01:08:47,399
and pale. When I turned it in my fingers, I

876
01:08:47,439 --> 01:08:57,159
saw the nail and the shape. Oh God, I squirmed

877
01:08:57,199 --> 01:09:01,239
in the silence, shifting slightly on the bench. The air

878
01:09:01,279 --> 01:09:05,159
inside the confessional felt too still, like the world itself

879
01:09:05,279 --> 01:09:09,279
was holding its breath with me, waiting for what came next.

880
01:09:10,560 --> 01:09:13,680
I clasped my hands tighter and kept my voice locked

881
01:09:13,680 --> 01:09:19,520
behind my teeth. This was his moment, but God help me,

882
01:09:20,560 --> 01:09:26,199
I wanted it to pass. I walked into the kitchen

883
01:09:26,479 --> 01:09:29,000
and held it out like I was handing her a riddle.

884
01:09:30,119 --> 01:09:34,479
She looked at it, then at me, and said, some

885
01:09:34,640 --> 01:09:38,600
lambs are meant for the altar, like it was scripture,

886
01:09:39,279 --> 01:09:45,560
like I should have known already. His breath hitched. She said,

887
01:09:45,600 --> 01:09:49,039
the desperate, the forgotten. They don't have much to give.

888
01:09:49,760 --> 01:09:53,359
So when they offered themselves in their weakness, we're supposed

889
01:09:53,359 --> 01:10:00,119
to receive that. She said, it made us holy. My

890
01:10:00,159 --> 01:10:04,720
hands tensed just enough for my knuckles to ake there.

891
01:10:04,760 --> 01:10:09,279
It was a confirmation of my suspicion. The clarity of

892
01:10:09,319 --> 01:10:13,319
it made my stomach twist into knots. And yet I

893
01:10:13,399 --> 01:10:17,399
knew better. I am not a judge. I do not

894
01:10:17,439 --> 01:10:22,119
wield the sword, only the word. I have heard things

895
01:10:22,159 --> 01:10:24,560
in the booth that would make most men sleep with

896
01:10:24,600 --> 01:10:28,359
the lights on. My duty has been and still is,

897
01:10:29,199 --> 01:10:34,800
to listen, to witness, to guide. But at that moment

898
01:10:35,399 --> 01:10:38,159
I could not deny the tremble in my breath, or

899
01:10:38,159 --> 01:10:44,840
the heaviness that settled in my ribs. I nodded. He continued,

900
01:10:45,239 --> 01:10:48,600
his voice dull, because that's what you do when you're

901
01:10:48,640 --> 01:10:54,560
a child. Your mamma's word is final. So I nodded

902
01:10:55,039 --> 01:10:58,560
and sat at the table. That night, I ate the

903
01:10:58,640 --> 01:11:02,000
stew and wore the to hide my sin from God.

904
01:11:03,840 --> 01:11:08,560
But something had cracked. I started waking up, sweating, chewing

905
01:11:08,560 --> 01:11:12,359
my tongue roar in my sleep. I stopped praying out loud,

906
01:11:12,359 --> 01:11:17,640
out of shame. I started skipping bites, then whole meals.

907
01:11:18,279 --> 01:11:24,119
She noticed, of course, she noticed. One evening, she reached

908
01:11:24,159 --> 01:11:28,119
across the table and gently pulled the cloth off my head.

909
01:11:28,960 --> 01:11:32,279
Her eyes didn't look angry, but they had gone hard,

910
01:11:32,800 --> 01:11:39,119
like cold river stones. Don't waste what's been given, she said.

911
01:11:39,720 --> 01:11:42,520
Don't turn your nose up at blessings that cost someone

912
01:11:42,520 --> 01:11:47,359
else their place in the kingdom. I nodded again, like

913
01:11:47,439 --> 01:11:53,279
I believed her, But I didn't not anymore. I couldn't

914
01:11:53,319 --> 01:11:58,079
look at her the same way. But it was strange.

915
01:11:58,239 --> 01:12:01,079
I still wanted her to hold me when I was scared.

916
01:12:04,600 --> 01:12:08,439
He was quiet for a long time, Then, after a

917
01:12:08,520 --> 01:12:15,680
long inhale, he kept going. It lasted almost two more years.

918
01:12:16,720 --> 01:12:19,800
I tried to forget what I saw. I think I

919
01:12:19,880 --> 01:12:22,560
stayed because part of me still loved her too much

920
01:12:22,640 --> 01:12:26,479
to leave, because she smiled at me like nothing was wrong.

921
01:12:27,000 --> 01:12:31,119
She kissed my forehead tenderly every night, and she still

922
01:12:31,239 --> 01:12:35,960
sang hymns while cleaning the kitchen. How do you walk

923
01:12:36,000 --> 01:12:39,560
away from someone who taught you everything, even when you

924
01:12:39,640 --> 01:12:43,840
find out some of it was poison? But when I

925
01:12:43,880 --> 01:12:48,600
turned fifteen, I packed her bag silently and walked out

926
01:12:48,640 --> 01:12:53,159
while she slept. I didn't leave a note, only took

927
01:12:53,520 --> 01:13:03,159
what I could carry. He paused, and I never went back.

928
01:13:04,600 --> 01:13:09,239
I told myself i'd start over. He said, clean slate,

929
01:13:09,640 --> 01:13:14,000
clean soul. I ended up in foster care two towns over.

930
01:13:15,239 --> 01:13:18,640
They were kind, mostly kept the fridge full, took me

931
01:13:18,720 --> 01:13:25,880
to church when they could. His voice thinned. I tried

932
01:13:25,920 --> 01:13:30,760
to be normal. I did everything Brochure said, joined clubs,

933
01:13:30,920 --> 01:13:35,000
and took therapy seriously. I even started cooking real meals

934
01:13:35,000 --> 01:13:39,039
from recipes. I made myself believe that the hunger was

935
01:13:39,239 --> 01:13:46,159
just trauma, just something I could fix. Her breath sharp

936
01:13:46,239 --> 01:13:51,520
and frustrated, I went vegan. I thought maybe it was guilt,

937
01:13:53,279 --> 01:13:57,800
but it didn't work. Then I tried a carnivore diet,

938
01:13:58,079 --> 01:14:03,239
but that didn't help either, raw food, paleo, firsting ice,

939
01:14:03,319 --> 01:14:06,239
chewing clay. I even gnawed at the edge of a

940
01:14:06,319 --> 01:14:12,760
belt once, just to feel the resistance. He shifted on

941
01:14:12,800 --> 01:14:16,119
the other side of the screen, wood groaning under him,

942
01:14:17,079 --> 01:14:21,560
and at that moment a terrible thought flickered across my face.

943
01:14:22,439 --> 01:14:27,560
Unwelcome and absurd. I pictured his hands slipping through the slats,

944
01:14:28,119 --> 01:14:32,079
cold fingers gripping my collar, and his mouth opening wide

945
01:14:32,119 --> 01:14:34,359
to take a bite out of me, like I was

946
01:14:34,439 --> 01:14:39,000
bred and flesh both. The image was so vivid I

947
01:14:39,039 --> 01:14:43,920
almost flinched. It was a silly thought, one I was

948
01:14:44,000 --> 01:14:48,319
not proud of, but it sat there, pulsing at the

949
01:14:48,439 --> 01:14:54,760
edge of my reason, refusing to be dismissed. Every meal

950
01:14:55,000 --> 01:14:59,840
was a disappointment. Every bite tasted like paper, Even the

951
01:15:00,279 --> 01:15:04,119
I used to love, like roast chicken, corn bread, sweet

952
01:15:04,159 --> 01:15:08,760
potatoes with brown sugar. They all turned to ash in

953
01:15:08,920 --> 01:15:15,520
my mouth. His voice dropped lower than it had all night.

954
01:15:17,760 --> 01:15:22,760
I know now what it is I miss. He let

955
01:15:22,800 --> 01:15:26,800
the words settle like dust in a crypt. It didn't

956
01:15:26,840 --> 01:15:31,000
hit all at once. It came in flashes, the smell

957
01:15:31,039 --> 01:15:34,960
of broth, the way candlelight hid steam, the weight of

958
01:15:35,039 --> 01:15:38,760
linen over my head was so nostalgic, I thought I

959
01:15:38,840 --> 01:15:44,840
was just remembering. But it wasn't memory. It was want,

960
01:15:46,039 --> 01:15:50,920
a need. I told myself I could resist, that I

961
01:15:51,000 --> 01:15:53,359
was better than her, that I didn't have it in

962
01:15:53,399 --> 01:16:02,079
me with the hunger it I planned it carefully. I

963
01:16:02,199 --> 01:16:04,720
chose a man I saw often on the corner outside

964
01:16:04,760 --> 01:16:08,560
the train station. He wore a gray hoodie and plastic

965
01:16:08,560 --> 01:16:13,000
bags around his shoes. He never asked for anything, just

966
01:16:13,079 --> 01:16:17,119
sat there. I watched him for a week, made sure

967
01:16:17,199 --> 01:16:19,960
he was alone, that he didn't speak to any one,

968
01:16:20,600 --> 01:16:27,640
that no one would notice if he disappeared. A pause

969
01:16:27,920 --> 01:16:31,520
and her breath. We walked side by side through the

970
01:16:31,600 --> 01:16:35,079
quiet part of town. He kept glancing at my face,

971
01:16:35,439 --> 01:16:37,600
like he was trying to figure out if I was real.

972
01:16:38,840 --> 01:16:41,640
The whole time, my chest ached with something that felt

973
01:16:41,640 --> 01:16:46,159
like guilt. He looked at me with trust, with quiet awe,

974
01:16:46,560 --> 01:16:50,359
like I was saving him. I wanted to deserve that.

975
01:16:51,359 --> 01:16:56,600
But underneath it, deeper than anything I could name, there

976
01:16:56,640 --> 01:17:01,840
was the hunger gnawing through every step. A single thought

977
01:17:02,000 --> 01:17:05,680
echoed through the prayers. I muttered to drown it out.

978
01:17:07,199 --> 01:17:12,840
What will he taste like? At one point, he laughed

979
01:17:13,479 --> 01:17:17,479
low and wheezing, and said, you're one of the good ones. Hah.

980
01:17:19,199 --> 01:17:23,239
I told him I was trying to be. I brought

981
01:17:23,279 --> 01:17:25,760
him back to my apartment, told him I had a

982
01:17:25,800 --> 01:17:30,800
hot shower and some food waiting, and mentioned spare clothes, socks,

983
01:17:31,079 --> 01:17:34,560
and even a razor if he wanted. He looked up

984
01:17:34,560 --> 01:17:39,159
at me like he couldn't believe it, with eyes wide rimmed, red,

985
01:17:39,640 --> 01:17:44,359
hopeful in a way that made my chest tighten. Really,

986
01:17:44,920 --> 01:17:48,079
he asked like he thought the offer might shatter if

987
01:17:48,119 --> 01:17:54,760
he touched it. I nodded. That's all it took, and

988
01:17:54,880 --> 01:17:59,199
it hurt because I knew I was lying. I let

989
01:17:59,279 --> 01:18:02,119
him take the hot shower first, gave him a towel

990
01:18:02,119 --> 01:18:05,199
i'd laid out earlier, let him eat the bread and

991
01:18:05,319 --> 01:18:08,479
drink the tea while some soup simmered on the stove.

992
01:18:10,119 --> 01:18:13,279
He looked so grateful, called me a saint, and I

993
01:18:13,359 --> 01:18:20,880
must have been raised right. His voice cracked slightly, but

994
01:18:21,000 --> 01:18:27,840
the cloth was already in the drawer. He didn't elaborate.

995
01:18:28,800 --> 01:18:33,920
He didn't need to. By now I knew what that meant.

996
01:18:35,199 --> 01:18:37,640
I bought it from a linen shop two towns over,

997
01:18:38,439 --> 01:18:42,239
just like the ones Mamma used, pressed it flat, folded

998
01:18:42,239 --> 01:18:45,439
it three times, and put it in the drawer under

999
01:18:45,439 --> 01:18:53,680
the knives. Silence stretched between us. The stew was rich,

1000
01:18:54,399 --> 01:18:57,399
the meat practically melted in my mouth. I had cooked

1001
01:18:57,399 --> 01:19:01,600
it that long, he said. I ate it under the

1002
01:19:01,600 --> 01:19:06,560
cloth just like before. I said the prayer every word,

1003
01:19:07,000 --> 01:19:12,319
three times, like mamma, and for the first time in years,

1004
01:19:12,960 --> 01:19:20,279
I felt full, really full. He exhaled slowly, and I

1005
01:19:20,359 --> 01:19:23,399
heard the shift. The tremble that had clung to him

1006
01:19:23,720 --> 01:19:27,199
like wet wool was gone. In his place was a

1007
01:19:27,319 --> 01:19:30,680
strange calm, like he was waiting for me to speak.

1008
01:19:32,640 --> 01:19:38,840
So I did. I cleared my throat softly, my son,

1009
01:19:39,680 --> 01:19:44,560
I said, carefully, measuring every word. There are things in

1010
01:19:44,600 --> 01:19:47,000
this world we carry that were never meant for us.

1011
01:19:47,640 --> 01:19:52,039
Burdens passed down like inheritance, cloaked in love and devotion.

1012
01:19:54,359 --> 01:19:59,279
He didn't interrupt, so I kept going. You are not

1013
01:19:59,439 --> 01:20:03,600
your mother, and you are not beyond redemption. But if

1014
01:20:03,640 --> 01:20:09,279
you truly seek absolution, it must begin with truth, followed

1015
01:20:09,279 --> 01:20:14,520
by repentance, and then by surrender, not just of your sin,

1016
01:20:15,479 --> 01:20:20,239
but of your will. I felt the sweat cooling at

1017
01:20:20,239 --> 01:20:26,279
my temples. God half as mercy. Yes, I said, but

1018
01:20:26,319 --> 01:20:30,960
not without caste. You must never do this again. You

1019
01:20:31,039 --> 01:20:34,079
must turn yourself in. You must choose a path that

1020
01:20:34,239 --> 01:20:42,680
leads away from this hunger silence. There was a faint shift,

1021
01:20:43,199 --> 01:20:48,399
followed by a hush, and when I peeked between the slats,

1022
01:20:49,079 --> 01:20:53,880
he was gone. He hadn't waited for my blessing or absolution.

1023
01:20:54,880 --> 01:20:58,560
He vanished quietly, as if the act of confession itself

1024
01:20:58,600 --> 01:21:07,800
had been enough, and maybe for him it was. I

1025
01:21:07,880 --> 01:21:13,239
sat there a while longer, hands clasped, eyes closed. I

1026
01:21:13,359 --> 01:21:16,600
prayed not to carry his burden with me into the world,

1027
01:21:17,239 --> 01:21:20,920
that whatever darkness he left behind would stay sealed in

1028
01:21:20,960 --> 01:21:25,479
that booth. I prayed that mercy still meant something, even

1029
01:21:25,479 --> 01:21:28,159
when offered to someone who may never stop doing the

1030
01:21:28,239 --> 01:21:34,199
thing they're sorry for. When I finally stood, I moved

1031
01:21:34,199 --> 01:21:39,119
slowly through the empty sanctuary, checking locks, I stepped into

1032
01:21:39,159 --> 01:21:42,520
the parking lot. The night air was damp and cool,

1033
01:21:42,920 --> 01:21:47,520
and the storm had passed. My car engine grown to life,

1034
01:21:47,960 --> 01:21:51,960
and the headlights carved through the dark. I pulled onto

1035
01:21:52,000 --> 01:21:56,640
the main road, and there, under the flicker of a

1036
01:21:56,680 --> 01:22:00,800
street lamp, I saw a man huddle day against the bench,

1037
01:22:01,399 --> 01:22:06,239
wearing only a thin coat and no shoes. I slowed,

1038
01:22:07,159 --> 01:22:10,800
and for a long time I just sat there, hands

1039
01:22:10,840 --> 01:22:14,920
frozen on the wheel. I couldn't get the Confessor out

1040
01:22:14,960 --> 01:22:17,920
of my mind. How he spoke his truth like a

1041
01:22:17,960 --> 01:22:21,760
man unburdened, while all I was left with was silent.

1042
01:22:23,079 --> 01:22:27,720
And in that silence, I wondered if the Confessor would stop,

1043
01:22:28,800 --> 01:22:34,680
if anyone was safe, if he was still nearby, and

1044
01:22:34,760 --> 01:22:49,159
all I could do was pray. His voice broke the

1045
01:22:49,199 --> 01:22:54,199
silence between us. There's actually something I've been hiding from you.

1046
01:22:56,680 --> 01:22:59,239
I looked up from the notepad on my knee, my

1047
01:22:59,359 --> 01:23:03,720
pen rest between my fingers. He sat with his spine

1048
01:23:03,800 --> 01:23:08,399
drawn inward, shoulders slightly collapsed toward each other, and palms

1049
01:23:08,399 --> 01:23:12,399
pressed flat against the tops of his thighs, a man

1050
01:23:12,560 --> 01:23:18,119
always trying to make himself smaller. His eyes, shadowed by fatigue,

1051
01:23:18,520 --> 01:23:22,159
were fixed on something on the ground. I didn't say

1052
01:23:22,199 --> 01:23:26,600
anything right away. I'd learned over time that interruptions could

1053
01:23:26,600 --> 01:23:31,760
break fragile moments like these. I'd been his therapist for

1054
01:23:31,720 --> 01:23:35,239
a little over a year. From the very first session,

1055
01:23:35,720 --> 01:23:38,319
I had sensed that his pain ran deeper than most.

1056
01:23:39,159 --> 01:23:42,439
He had peeled it back slowly, as if uncertain whether

1057
01:23:42,560 --> 01:23:46,960
it was even worth sharing. In that time, I'd come

1058
01:23:47,000 --> 01:23:49,359
to know him as someone who had endured a kind

1059
01:23:49,439 --> 01:23:55,159
of persistent misfortune that no rational explanation could account for.

1060
01:23:55,199 --> 01:23:59,159
The world, it seemed, had made a project out of

1061
01:23:59,239 --> 01:24:04,720
breaking him. I leaned back slightly in my chair, careful

1062
01:24:04,800 --> 01:24:08,720
not to make the movement abrupt. The window beside us

1063
01:24:08,760 --> 01:24:12,039
caught a thin wash of afternoon light spilling across the

1064
01:24:12,119 --> 01:24:16,520
rug between us. I folded my hands and asked, keeping

1065
01:24:16,560 --> 01:24:21,119
my voice low, what is it that you've been holding back?

1066
01:24:23,800 --> 01:24:28,079
He shifted in his seat, fingers tapping against his knee.

1067
01:24:28,439 --> 01:24:31,119
Whatever it was, it was hard for him to say,

1068
01:24:32,319 --> 01:24:35,920
but something had changed. There was a weight to the moment,

1069
01:24:36,560 --> 01:24:41,560
attention in the room that hadn't been there before. I've

1070
01:24:41,600 --> 01:24:44,760
been able to see him for a long time, he said.

1071
01:24:45,439 --> 01:24:48,359
But I didn't tell you because I thought you'd think

1072
01:24:48,439 --> 01:24:51,439
it meant I was really losing it. I didn't want

1073
01:24:51,479 --> 01:24:56,239
you to think I was crazy. There was a brief pause.

1074
01:24:57,119 --> 01:25:03,279
Then his name is mister Grin. Oh, well that's what

1075
01:25:03,319 --> 01:25:08,079
I call him. I stayed quiet and nodded slowly to

1076
01:25:08,239 --> 01:25:12,079
encourage him. There had been no mention of him before,

1077
01:25:12,720 --> 01:25:16,079
no allusions to a stalker, or a delusion, this specific,

1078
01:25:17,359 --> 01:25:20,560
I was certain of it. There was a different presence

1079
01:25:20,560 --> 01:25:23,560
in the room now, one shaped by the tension in

1080
01:25:23,600 --> 01:25:27,279
his voice and the stillness in his eyes. And I

1081
01:25:27,359 --> 01:25:31,159
remember thinking, as he kept his gaze averted and began

1082
01:25:31,239 --> 01:25:35,680
to speak again, that whatever this was, whatever mister Grin

1083
01:25:35,760 --> 01:25:41,800
meant to him, it had been festering for decades. It

1084
01:25:41,920 --> 01:25:45,880
started the night my mother died, he said. I was

1085
01:25:45,920 --> 01:25:50,600
sitting in the waiting area with my father. He took

1086
01:25:50,640 --> 01:25:54,359
a shallow breath and kept his gaze down. There were

1087
01:25:54,359 --> 01:25:57,680
two vending machines in the hallway and a payphone across

1088
01:25:57,680 --> 01:26:01,800
from them. My father and I were just waiting for

1089
01:26:01,840 --> 01:26:06,319
them to tell us. I already knew though she had

1090
01:26:06,359 --> 01:26:10,760
been out of it for days. He paused for a

1091
01:26:10,800 --> 01:26:13,640
moment and scratched at the skin on his forearm through

1092
01:26:13,680 --> 01:26:18,079
the fabric of his jacket. When the nurse came out

1093
01:26:18,119 --> 01:26:22,760
and said it, I don't know. I guess I didn't cry.

1094
01:26:23,600 --> 01:26:27,239
I just sort of sat there. She gave me this

1095
01:26:27,319 --> 01:26:31,359
little squeeze on the shoulder and walked away. My father

1096
01:26:31,439 --> 01:26:33,880
told me to stay still while he finished something up,

1097
01:26:34,560 --> 01:26:38,920
and that everything is going to be okay. I remember

1098
01:26:38,960 --> 01:26:43,720
going outside. I couldn't breathe inside anymore. I went at

1099
01:26:43,720 --> 01:26:46,920
the side entrance. There was a metal bench near the

1100
01:26:46,960 --> 01:26:55,239
ambulance bay. That's when I saw him. His voice cracked

1101
01:26:55,239 --> 01:26:58,840
faintly when he said it. I leaned forward just slightly.

1102
01:27:00,359 --> 01:27:02,199
There was a fence that ran along the edge of

1103
01:27:02,239 --> 01:27:06,279
the lot. Past it were trees, but the hospital kept

1104
01:27:06,319 --> 01:27:09,560
a floodlight above the utility building, so it was never

1105
01:27:09,640 --> 01:27:13,560
completely dark out there. The light was flickering that night,

1106
01:27:14,359 --> 01:27:17,279
you know, when it doesn't folly cut out, just buzzes

1107
01:27:17,279 --> 01:27:24,119
and dims. That's how it was. He was standing there,

1108
01:27:24,920 --> 01:27:28,279
just beyond the reach of the light. I thought maybe

1109
01:27:28,279 --> 01:27:31,199
he was a janitor or a security guy, but he

1110
01:27:31,279 --> 01:27:36,439
wasn't wearing a badge. Just this pale white jumper looked soft,

1111
01:27:36,840 --> 01:27:41,640
almost fleece. The arms were long, they hung past his waist,

1112
01:27:42,079 --> 01:27:46,199
almost to the tops of his knees. His shoulders were

1113
01:27:46,319 --> 01:27:51,199
dropped but curved forward, like his back was pulling inward.

1114
01:27:52,479 --> 01:27:55,279
I couldn't see much of his face at first, the

1115
01:27:55,359 --> 01:27:59,800
light was behind him, but there was this grin. I

1116
01:27:59,760 --> 01:28:03,439
guess yes. The corners of his mouth stretched nearly to

1117
01:28:03,479 --> 01:28:06,880
the side of his cheeks. His skin had these lines

1118
01:28:06,960 --> 01:28:10,319
carved in deep like he'd been smiling for years and

1119
01:28:10,439 --> 01:28:13,279
his face had just given up trying to do anything else.

1120
01:28:15,760 --> 01:28:18,319
He lifted his hand briefly and touched the corner of

1121
01:28:18,359 --> 01:28:21,800
his own mouth, drawing an invisible shape in the form

1122
01:28:21,880 --> 01:28:25,760
of a smile. Then his hand fell back into his lap.

1123
01:28:27,720 --> 01:28:30,680
I looked away for a second. I think I was

1124
01:28:30,720 --> 01:28:33,760
wiping my eyes, or maybe just trying to shake it off.

1125
01:28:34,800 --> 01:28:40,439
But when I looked back, he was gone. I hadn't slept.

1126
01:28:40,720 --> 01:28:43,800
My mom had just died. I didn't even mention it

1127
01:28:43,840 --> 01:28:47,239
to the nurses or anyone. I just went back inside

1128
01:28:47,239 --> 01:28:54,239
to my father and left. He raised his head slowly

1129
01:28:54,680 --> 01:28:56,880
and met my eyes for the first time since he

1130
01:28:56,960 --> 01:29:04,399
started talking. Man, right, that's all. But then I saw

1131
01:29:04,479 --> 01:29:08,520
him again. The next time it happened was after my

1132
01:29:08,600 --> 01:29:12,319
father passed, but the time after that would come around

1133
01:29:12,319 --> 01:29:18,479
a decade later, he said, his voice now steadier. It

1134
01:29:18,600 --> 01:29:22,000
was a few months after I'd started college. I'd worked

1135
01:29:22,000 --> 01:29:24,840
my butt off to get in, had no backup plan.

1136
01:29:26,000 --> 01:29:28,920
Then out of nowhere, I got this notice from the

1137
01:29:28,960 --> 01:29:33,640
administration office saying my financial aid had been revoked. There

1138
01:29:33,680 --> 01:29:36,840
was a discrepancy in some paperwork. They said it was

1139
01:29:36,880 --> 01:29:41,239
a clerical error. I remember thinking, no one makes that

1140
01:29:41,319 --> 01:29:47,399
kind of mistake, at least not by accident. He scratched

1141
01:29:47,439 --> 01:29:50,439
the inside of his wrist again and blinked. But he

1142
01:29:50,560 --> 01:29:55,479
wasn't really with me in the office anymore. That night,

1143
01:29:55,960 --> 01:29:59,680
I couldn't sleep. I was up reading emails, trying to

1144
01:29:59,720 --> 01:30:02,920
figure you were out who to contact. My roommate was

1145
01:30:02,960 --> 01:30:07,800
passed out headphones on, snoring. I got up and walked

1146
01:30:07,800 --> 01:30:13,399
over to the window my dorm overlooked the quad, and

1147
01:30:13,479 --> 01:30:20,119
there he was, his voice tropped, standing right in the

1148
01:30:20,159 --> 01:30:23,479
middle of it, in the dark, arms at his side,

1149
01:30:24,560 --> 01:30:27,840
just the same as he had looked all those years ago,

1150
01:30:28,039 --> 01:30:32,159
almost glowing in the moonlight. I didn't know what to

1151
01:30:32,239 --> 01:30:35,039
think at the time. I hadn't seen him since I

1152
01:30:35,079 --> 01:30:37,560
was a kid. I thought he was just something like

1153
01:30:37,560 --> 01:30:44,039
a kid's delusion. He didn't move, he said, didn't do

1154
01:30:44,199 --> 01:30:49,079
much of anything, just watched. I closed the blinds and

1155
01:30:49,119 --> 01:30:52,399
sat back in my bed, told myself I was just tired,

1156
01:30:52,880 --> 01:30:58,560
like I always did. His throat bob slightly as he swallowed.

1157
01:30:59,239 --> 01:31:02,560
His eyes were glad, I see now, though no tears came.

1158
01:31:04,760 --> 01:31:10,199
It kept happening every time something fell apart. When my

1159
01:31:10,279 --> 01:31:13,680
roommates stole from me, cleaned me out, and vanished. Overnight.

1160
01:31:14,880 --> 01:31:17,199
I came home and found him standing at the end

1161
01:31:17,239 --> 01:31:21,479
of the hallway outside my dorm room. He was closer

1162
01:31:21,520 --> 01:31:27,319
than I could see more of him. His hands moved

1163
01:31:27,359 --> 01:31:31,920
to his temples, pressing gently. He's been there through everything,

1164
01:31:32,880 --> 01:31:35,479
when I got fired for my first real job, when

1165
01:31:35,520 --> 01:31:38,600
my girlfriend left me, when I couldn't pay rent anymore

1166
01:31:38,840 --> 01:31:41,439
and had to sleep in my car for two weeks,

1167
01:31:42,000 --> 01:31:46,680
always watching as these things were happening. I hadn't even

1168
01:31:46,720 --> 01:31:52,279
noticed he'd been getting closer each time I opened my

1169
01:31:52,319 --> 01:31:55,640
mouth to finally speak, but he beat me to it.

1170
01:31:57,640 --> 01:32:00,720
I don't know how long I can keep talking. I

1171
01:32:00,760 --> 01:32:03,840
have to say this before I lose my nerve. If

1172
01:32:03,840 --> 01:32:08,119
I think too much about it, I won't finish. I'll

1173
01:32:08,159 --> 01:32:14,560
back out, and then he'll keep eating at me. He

1174
01:32:14,680 --> 01:32:17,479
leaned back in the chair and stared toward the floor

1175
01:32:17,520 --> 01:32:22,119
for several seconds, then reached slowly into the front pocket

1176
01:32:22,159 --> 01:32:25,960
of his coat. He pulled out his phone with a slow,

1177
01:32:26,399 --> 01:32:31,119
hesitant motion. His fingers trembled faintly as he unlocked it

1178
01:32:31,399 --> 01:32:37,199
and tapped through the screen. Here, he said, I filmed

1179
01:32:37,239 --> 01:32:42,279
him last night for you. He turned the screen toward

1180
01:32:42,359 --> 01:32:48,119
me and press play. The footage began with the camera

1181
01:32:48,319 --> 01:32:52,680
pointed toward the carpet. The audio picked up his shallow breathing,

1182
01:32:53,159 --> 01:32:57,720
occasional rustling, and the faint sound of floorboards creaking under foot.

1183
01:32:59,039 --> 01:33:02,119
It was dark, with the glow from the digital clock

1184
01:33:02,239 --> 01:33:07,359
provided a faint illumination. The video shifted as he raised

1185
01:33:07,359 --> 01:33:10,840
the phone. It panned up and centered on a doorway,

1186
01:33:11,239 --> 01:33:15,079
with the edges of the frame slightly out of focus.

1187
01:33:15,560 --> 01:33:19,159
He said nothing while it played, just watched me and

1188
01:33:19,279 --> 01:33:26,159
my reaction. When the video ended, I glanced back at him.

1189
01:33:26,840 --> 01:33:32,600
He leaned forward and whispered, that's where he stands every night.

1190
01:33:33,800 --> 01:33:37,920
He doesn't sharpen video. But I see him. I swear

1191
01:33:37,960 --> 01:33:42,239
to you, I see him. He had a kind of

1192
01:33:42,319 --> 01:33:46,840
pleading beneath the exhaustion of his expression. He wasn't trying

1193
01:33:46,840 --> 01:33:53,039
to convince me. He wasn't even looking for validation. Have

1194
01:33:53,199 --> 01:33:56,520
you ever considered that, mister grim might be a kind

1195
01:33:56,560 --> 01:34:01,840
of projection, a figure shaped by everything been through, your grief,

1196
01:34:01,960 --> 01:34:06,199
your isolation, maybe something your mind created to contain the pain.

1197
01:34:08,560 --> 01:34:14,000
His jaw tightened. It wasn't an angry reaction, but something deeper.

1198
01:34:15,239 --> 01:34:18,600
His fingers clenched the edge of his chair. He looked

1199
01:34:18,640 --> 01:34:22,600
down and gave a small, sharp shake of his head.

1200
01:34:23,279 --> 01:34:30,039
I've taken pills, he said, resperidone, haloperidol, quatiapine for years,

1201
01:34:30,159 --> 01:34:35,520
off and on. I've seen neurologists, psychiatrists. I even stayed

1202
01:34:35,520 --> 01:34:39,720
in a clinic of state for a month. Nothing touches him,

1203
01:34:40,920 --> 01:34:47,680
he stays. His voice had gone thin, with a breathless quality,

1204
01:34:48,199 --> 01:34:51,439
as if the words were trying to outrun something behind them.

1205
01:34:52,760 --> 01:34:57,000
I thought about suggesting another specialist, someone who could reevaluate

1206
01:34:57,039 --> 01:35:02,760
his medication regimen. Before I could speak, his voice broke

1207
01:35:02,840 --> 01:35:10,239
through again, lower, now uncertain, would you come over tonight,

1208
01:35:10,880 --> 01:35:17,359
he asked, just for a bit please. The word sounded

1209
01:35:17,399 --> 01:35:20,560
awkward coming from him, as if he'd rehearsed them and

1210
01:35:20,680 --> 01:35:23,479
was still unsure whether he should be saying them out loud.

1211
01:35:24,880 --> 01:35:27,520
He rubbed the side of his neck, eyes fixed on

1212
01:35:27,560 --> 01:35:32,199
the carpet. I haven't had anyone stay over in years,

1213
01:35:32,840 --> 01:35:36,520
he continued. I don't even really talk to anyone any

1214
01:35:36,520 --> 01:35:40,840
more outside of here. I just I don't want to

1215
01:35:40,840 --> 01:35:45,000
be alone tonight. I know he'll come. I always know

1216
01:35:45,119 --> 01:35:51,560
when he's going to. I hesitated. Every part of my

1217
01:35:51,640 --> 01:35:56,039
training told me this wasn't appropriate. It blurred boundaries and

1218
01:35:56,079 --> 01:36:00,520
created complications. I had spent a career keeping my clients

1219
01:36:00,560 --> 01:36:05,159
at a careful distance for this exact reason. But the

1220
01:36:05,199 --> 01:36:10,000
expression on his face disarmed me. He looked like he'd surrendered.

1221
01:36:11,880 --> 01:36:17,159
I nodded slowly. All right, I said, but just for

1222
01:36:17,199 --> 01:36:23,279
a few hours. He didn't thank me. He just looked away,

1223
01:36:24,159 --> 01:36:28,359
and I knew he hadn't been expecting me to say yes.

1224
01:36:34,119 --> 01:36:37,600
His building sat wedge between a shuttered laundromat and a

1225
01:36:37,680 --> 01:36:40,840
currency exchange that I lost half the letters on its sign.

1226
01:36:41,880 --> 01:36:45,720
The sun had started to sink behind the skyline, casting long,

1227
01:36:45,960 --> 01:36:50,760
reddish streaks across the narrow sidewalk. I buzzed this unit,

1228
01:36:51,239 --> 01:36:55,479
and the door clicked open before I could step back. Oh,

1229
01:36:55,600 --> 01:37:00,600
come in, he said, stepping aside. The space were small.

1230
01:37:01,119 --> 01:37:04,239
The smell of dust and paper filled the air. The

1231
01:37:04,319 --> 01:37:08,680
blinds were halfway drawn, casting broken shadows across a threadbare

1232
01:37:08,760 --> 01:37:12,560
rug and a sagging love seat. There were stacks of

1233
01:37:12,600 --> 01:37:16,359
bucks on the floor. He gestured to the kitchen table

1234
01:37:17,039 --> 01:37:22,079
and we sat. He had already brewed tea, though I

1235
01:37:22,079 --> 01:37:24,640
could tell from the way he moved that he didn't

1236
01:37:24,720 --> 01:37:28,279
usually make it for more than one. We sat quietly

1237
01:37:28,319 --> 01:37:33,600
at first, sipping from mismatched mugs, and after some small talk,

1238
01:37:34,359 --> 01:37:38,079
something about the vulnerability of this situation made me talk

1239
01:37:38,119 --> 01:37:42,560
about my own problems. I moved into a new place

1240
01:37:42,600 --> 01:37:46,640
a few months ago, and I said, after the divorce,

1241
01:37:47,159 --> 01:37:51,640
it's quiet, which I thought i'd want, But now it's

1242
01:37:51,680 --> 01:37:56,479
there all the time. I don't know, meals feel wrong.

1243
01:37:57,239 --> 01:37:59,520
I still find myself reaching for her side of the

1244
01:37:59,560 --> 01:38:05,000
bed in the morning. He looked up, surprised. I never

1245
01:38:05,079 --> 01:38:09,000
thought about you having stuff going on, he said, I

1246
01:38:09,000 --> 01:38:12,239
guess I always pictured you going home and just I

1247
01:38:12,279 --> 01:38:19,279
don't know, being fine. We both laughed. He leaned forward

1248
01:38:19,319 --> 01:38:24,680
a little. You know, I feel guilty sometimes I sit

1249
01:38:24,760 --> 01:38:27,640
here and pour all this out on you. I don't

1250
01:38:27,680 --> 01:38:31,520
think I've ever asked how you're doing. You're not supposed to,

1251
01:38:32,319 --> 01:38:36,960
I said, and took another sip of tea. We sat

1252
01:38:37,000 --> 01:38:43,000
in silence, but it was no longer uncomfortable. We finished

1253
01:38:43,000 --> 01:38:46,640
our tea just after the sky turned dark. The orange

1254
01:38:46,640 --> 01:38:50,479
streaks along the window blinds faded into a dull, stale blue,

1255
01:38:51,279 --> 01:38:56,159
then vanished completely. He got up and moved toward the bedroom,

1256
01:38:56,520 --> 01:39:02,279
gesturing for me to follow. The bedroom was sparse, A

1257
01:39:02,279 --> 01:39:06,079
low mattress pressed into the far corner, one night stand

1258
01:39:06,159 --> 01:39:13,439
beside it, scratched along the edges, and a pairing knife.

1259
01:39:13,800 --> 01:39:16,760
I looked at him. He was pulling an extra pillow

1260
01:39:16,800 --> 01:39:19,760
from the closet, placing it at the foot of the mattress,

1261
01:39:20,319 --> 01:39:22,840
as if he had already decided that I'd take the

1262
01:39:22,920 --> 01:39:28,439
chair in the corner. I nodded toward the knife. Do

1263
01:39:28,560 --> 01:39:33,279
you usually sleep with that there? He glanced back, his

1264
01:39:33,399 --> 01:39:38,920
face neutral. I don't use it, he said, 'is just

1265
01:39:38,960 --> 01:39:43,680
for comfort if something ever happens, if he ever does anything,

1266
01:39:45,000 --> 01:39:50,479
It helps me sleep knowing it's there. He wasn't offensive,

1267
01:39:50,920 --> 01:39:55,800
but his tone didn't invite further questions either. I stared

1268
01:39:55,840 --> 01:39:58,920
at it a moment longer, then sat down in the chair.

1269
01:40:00,359 --> 01:40:05,039
People kept all sorts of things near their beds, flashlights, rosaries,

1270
01:40:05,159 --> 01:40:10,920
baseball bats. Everyone had their own form of insurance. Still,

1271
01:40:11,800 --> 01:40:16,000
a small ripple of hernease moved through my chest. He

1272
01:40:16,079 --> 01:40:18,439
dimmed the lamp and sat on the edge of the bed.

1273
01:40:19,920 --> 01:40:23,079
The room fell quiet, apart from the faint sound of

1274
01:40:23,159 --> 01:40:27,760
traffic beyond the window. It had been nearly fifteen minutes

1275
01:40:27,760 --> 01:40:34,199
of silence when he spoke again. He's close, he whispered,

1276
01:40:35,279 --> 01:40:39,880
I can feel him. He was staring at the far wall.

1277
01:40:40,760 --> 01:40:44,119
His shoulders had begun to curl inward. His hands gripped

1278
01:40:44,119 --> 01:40:47,720
the edge of the mattress. I wasn't even really sure

1279
01:40:47,720 --> 01:40:50,359
what to say to him. After this so called mister

1280
01:40:50,479 --> 01:40:54,479
Grinn doesn't appear, I was sure he wouldn't. Of course,

1281
01:40:56,319 --> 01:40:59,439
my thoughts always go fast when he is near. They

1282
01:40:59,479 --> 01:41:03,079
don't make sense. It's like I'm drowning in them, and

1283
01:41:03,119 --> 01:41:09,760
they're pulling me lower and lower. He was describing depression

1284
01:41:09,960 --> 01:41:16,079
kicking in. A heaviness settled across my shoulders, followed by

1285
01:41:16,239 --> 01:41:20,840
pressure in my chest. It felt like humidity, but without warmth.

1286
01:41:21,760 --> 01:41:26,039
Goose bumps rose across my arms. I rubbed the back

1287
01:41:26,039 --> 01:41:29,319
of my neck, trying to shake it off, or the

1288
01:41:29,399 --> 01:41:34,880
feeling only deepened. I don't know when exactly he appeared.

1289
01:41:36,000 --> 01:41:39,640
One moment the corner of the room was empty, and

1290
01:41:39,720 --> 01:41:45,159
the next the space had changed. There was no footstep

1291
01:41:45,359 --> 01:41:49,720
or any other indication of movement. There was only a distortion,

1292
01:41:50,720 --> 01:41:54,560
something off in the shape of the room itself, not

1293
01:41:54,680 --> 01:41:58,920
physically but optically, as though the light around that spot

1294
01:41:59,039 --> 01:42:06,760
had lost direction, and then he stepped forward. He was tall,

1295
01:42:07,359 --> 01:42:12,520
his spine bent forward unnaturally, his necks stretched out, forcing

1296
01:42:12,600 --> 01:42:16,439
his chin low toward his chest. His skin had a

1297
01:42:16,439 --> 01:42:19,840
waxy pallor, but like the sheen of sweat or oil,

1298
01:42:20,960 --> 01:42:26,000
the surface looked stretched, almost preserved. His lips never parted,

1299
01:42:26,399 --> 01:42:30,000
but they stretched wide, deeper at the corners than what

1300
01:42:30,159 --> 01:42:35,880
should have been possible. And his eyes they didn't belong

1301
01:42:35,960 --> 01:42:42,000
in a human face, clouded milky white with pinprick pupils

1302
01:42:42,079 --> 01:42:47,680
buried beneath. I couldn't breathe. My body had gone still,

1303
01:42:48,199 --> 01:42:53,840
frozen in place, or my thoughts scattered. He was real

1304
01:42:55,800 --> 01:42:59,760
My patients breathing had turned jagged. The mattress creaked beneath

1305
01:42:59,800 --> 01:43:02,119
him as he reached toward the knight stand with a

1306
01:43:02,159 --> 01:43:10,119
trembling arm. I can't, he whispered, I can't. He was

1307
01:43:10,159 --> 01:43:14,720
gripping the knife, his fingers closed around it. He held

1308
01:43:14,760 --> 01:43:18,159
it low. The blade angled toward the floor, as if

1309
01:43:18,279 --> 01:43:21,960
unsure whether he intended to use it at all. His

1310
01:43:22,079 --> 01:43:25,159
other hand clutched his thigh, gripping through the fabric of

1311
01:43:25,239 --> 01:43:28,880
his pants. The muscles in his arms spazzened as he

1312
01:43:28,920 --> 01:43:32,000
tried to lift the knife higher, but it was a

1313
01:43:32,000 --> 01:43:37,079
weak motion. I wanted to call out to him, but

1314
01:43:37,239 --> 01:43:40,520
my voice felt buried under a weight pressing into my chest.

1315
01:43:41,720 --> 01:43:45,560
My legs refused to move. Every part of me had

1316
01:43:45,640 --> 01:43:52,159
locked up. Mister Grinn, however, had no issues moving. When

1317
01:43:52,159 --> 01:43:56,840
he reached the bed, he extended one arm. His hands

1318
01:43:56,880 --> 01:44:02,039
closed around my patient's wrist, the one the knife. The

1319
01:44:02,159 --> 01:44:06,000
fingers wrapped around it completely. The joints of his hand

1320
01:44:06,039 --> 01:44:09,039
flexed as he adjusted his grip, and I could see

1321
01:44:09,079 --> 01:44:14,359
that his fingers were disturbingly long. They curved downward, rapping

1322
01:44:14,600 --> 01:44:18,199
over the knuckles. He didn't yat the knife like I

1323
01:44:18,239 --> 01:44:23,439
thought he would have. Instead, he seemed to guide my patient.

1324
01:44:25,439 --> 01:44:29,159
He let out a soft gasp. His body resisted, but

1325
01:44:29,239 --> 01:44:33,600
his hand kept moving. The blade rose hovering near my

1326
01:44:33,680 --> 01:44:40,239
patient's wrist. Of his free hand. I his words fell

1327
01:44:40,279 --> 01:44:44,680
apart beneath his breath. Mister Grinn tilted his head further,

1328
01:44:45,399 --> 01:44:49,760
eyes fixed on the man's face. His grin never wavered.

1329
01:44:51,079 --> 01:44:56,720
He stared as if memorizing every feature. His eyes remained unfocused,

1330
01:44:57,159 --> 01:45:01,039
but still locked on to him. My patience seemed to

1331
01:45:01,079 --> 01:45:05,760
try fighting back, but to no avail. Then mister Grinn

1332
01:45:05,840 --> 01:45:10,119
forced my patient's hand, and he started slicing the knife

1333
01:45:10,239 --> 01:45:15,680
back and forth. The knife slid across the skin, gliding

1334
01:45:15,720 --> 01:45:19,239
through the soft flesh and veins of the wrist. The

1335
01:45:19,319 --> 01:45:24,319
motion was smooth, almost tender. His body jerked as a

1336
01:45:24,359 --> 01:45:31,319
wet gasp slipped out of his mouth. My arms felt numb,

1337
01:45:32,159 --> 01:45:36,399
but I still couldn't move from the chair. Blood poured

1338
01:45:36,399 --> 01:45:40,279
from the wound in waves. The patient's chest heaved once,

1339
01:45:40,760 --> 01:45:45,920
thin twice, and his eyes rolled upward. He made a sound,

1340
01:45:46,640 --> 01:45:51,119
desperately wet. The handle of the knife trembled in his hand.

1341
01:45:53,880 --> 01:45:57,760
Mister Grinn remained still, His hand lingered on the patient's

1342
01:45:57,760 --> 01:46:03,359
wrist for a moment longer, then slipped away. He stepped

1343
01:46:03,399 --> 01:46:05,800
back into the corner from where he had come from.

1344
01:46:07,119 --> 01:46:13,159
Then he was gone. The space he occupied simply ceased

1345
01:46:13,159 --> 01:46:17,199
to contain him. One moment he was there, and the

1346
01:46:17,239 --> 01:46:24,279
next there was only the wall. I rose from the

1347
01:46:24,359 --> 01:46:27,920
chair with a violent jolt, then knocked it backward. My

1348
01:46:28,000 --> 01:46:31,119
knees buckled for a moment, and I stumbled toward the bed.

1349
01:46:32,319 --> 01:46:36,560
My patient was slumped forward, chin lowered. The floor beneath

1350
01:46:36,640 --> 01:46:41,359
him had turned dark red and glossy. I dropped on

1351
01:46:41,399 --> 01:46:44,640
my knees beside him and reached for the knife. His

1352
01:46:44,760 --> 01:46:48,600
fingers were still wrapped around the handle. Blood dripped from

1353
01:46:48,600 --> 01:46:53,920
his eviscerated wrist under the floor in thick rivulets. Hold on,

1354
01:46:54,760 --> 01:47:01,680
I said, My voice cracked. Stay with me, please, I thought,

1355
01:47:01,760 --> 01:47:04,560
by pressing my hand into the wound to try stem

1356
01:47:04,600 --> 01:47:08,159
the bleeding. But I heard the sirens going off in

1357
01:47:08,239 --> 01:47:12,560
my head. My thoughts raced forward faster than my breath.

1358
01:47:14,079 --> 01:47:19,640
The room closed in around me. I thought of the knife.

1359
01:47:19,920 --> 01:47:24,560
They would never believe I wasn't there. I stood up,

1360
01:47:24,920 --> 01:47:28,720
backing toward the door. The floor creaked under my feet

1361
01:47:28,880 --> 01:47:32,319
as I reached for the handle, using the sleeves for

1362
01:47:32,399 --> 01:47:35,399
my clothing to open it as to not leave any prince.

1363
01:47:38,039 --> 01:47:41,880
I looked back at him once more. His body had

1364
01:47:41,920 --> 01:47:47,319
gone still, his mouth hung slightly open. The knife remained

1365
01:47:47,359 --> 01:48:00,760
in his hand. Then I turned and ran. I spent

1366
01:48:00,800 --> 01:48:03,840
the next day in my car. I didn't go home.

1367
01:48:04,079 --> 01:48:07,159
I didn't call any one. I parked a town over

1368
01:48:07,239 --> 01:48:10,119
and a lot behind a closed antique store and sat

1369
01:48:10,159 --> 01:48:14,399
with the windows cracked until the sun went down. When

1370
01:48:14,399 --> 01:48:18,199
it got dark, I drove around for hours, taking roads.

1371
01:48:18,199 --> 01:48:21,600
I hadn't used in years, trying to find intersections that

1372
01:48:21,680 --> 01:48:26,399
didn't lead me back to anything familiar. When I finally

1373
01:48:26,439 --> 01:48:30,079
walked through my front door, it all felt so cold.

1374
01:48:31,239 --> 01:48:34,039
I kept the lights off. I didn't want to see

1375
01:48:34,560 --> 01:48:38,319
I didn't want to look at my phone. I knew

1376
01:48:38,399 --> 01:48:41,840
what story would be there eventually, and I didn't want

1377
01:48:41,840 --> 01:48:45,600
to see his name in a headline. I told myself

1378
01:48:45,600 --> 01:48:48,439
it wasn't my fault. I told myself no one could

1379
01:48:48,439 --> 01:48:52,760
have helped him. But those words didn't land anywhere solid

1380
01:48:52,880 --> 01:48:57,520
inside of me. They passed through and left nothing behind.

1381
01:49:00,119 --> 01:49:03,800
Three mornings after I stopped returning calls, I stood in

1382
01:49:03,840 --> 01:49:07,680
my kitchen and made coffee. I'd run out of sugar.

1383
01:49:08,119 --> 01:49:11,680
The creamer had gone sour. I stirred the black liquid

1384
01:49:11,720 --> 01:49:16,319
in slow, distracted circles, my body moving through the ritual

1385
01:49:16,680 --> 01:49:21,479
while my mind wandered. It had started raining some time

1386
01:49:21,520 --> 01:49:25,359
before dawn, and the sidewalk across the street shone under

1387
01:49:25,399 --> 01:49:30,760
the low light. I glanced through the kitchen window a

1388
01:49:30,880 --> 01:49:34,880
man standing still beside the bus stop, half hidden behind

1389
01:49:34,880 --> 01:49:39,000
the frame of a tree. He stood facing the window,

1390
01:49:40,640 --> 01:49:46,800
facing me. He wore a white jumper, His shoulders sloped downward.

1391
01:49:48,279 --> 01:49:54,279
And on his face was a wide grin. I stood

1392
01:49:54,319 --> 01:49:57,880
motionless for nearly a full minute. Then I stepped back

1393
01:49:57,880 --> 01:50:02,560
from the glass and closed the blinds. I couldn't sleep

1394
01:50:02,600 --> 01:50:05,600
after that. I stayed awake, with every light in the

1395
01:50:05,680 --> 01:50:09,479
house on. I sat in bed with my laptop open,

1396
01:50:09,920 --> 01:50:13,720
searching for something, anything, that could explain what was happening.

1397
01:50:15,560 --> 01:50:19,479
I found myself in obscure forums, threads filled with phrases

1398
01:50:19,600 --> 01:50:25,520
like psychic contamination and shed trauma apparitions. One post mentioned

1399
01:50:25,520 --> 01:50:28,840
a woman who claimed her husband's hallucinations had followed her

1400
01:50:29,039 --> 01:50:33,159
after he died. I reached out to psychics, paid a

1401
01:50:33,159 --> 01:50:35,840
woman two hundred dollars to burn herbs in my living room.

1402
01:50:37,039 --> 01:50:39,880
She set my home with thinned energies and left a

1403
01:50:39,920 --> 01:50:46,600
pouch of salt under the window. Nothing changed. I visited

1404
01:50:46,640 --> 01:50:49,279
a priest, told him I was asking for a friend.

1405
01:50:50,239 --> 01:50:53,439
He gave me a small silver crucifix and asked if

1406
01:50:53,439 --> 01:50:59,880
I had repented. I thanked him and walked out my assistants.

1407
01:51:00,760 --> 01:51:04,399
After I missed the fourth appointment, I knew I wouldn't

1408
01:51:04,399 --> 01:51:08,479
go back. I had no answers any more. Nothing I

1409
01:51:08,479 --> 01:51:11,880
could say to clients about hope or progress would hold

1410
01:51:11,920 --> 01:51:17,560
any truth. The clinic eventually sent an email. I opened

1411
01:51:17,600 --> 01:51:21,439
it and read the first few lines. My license would

1412
01:51:21,479 --> 01:51:26,720
be placed onto review. My caseload had been reassigned. I

1413
01:51:26,760 --> 01:51:31,920
closed the laptop and placed it under the bed. I

1414
01:51:32,000 --> 01:51:34,880
sat in the hallway that night and stared at the

1415
01:51:35,000 --> 01:51:39,399
dark space near the bathroom door. I knew he was

1416
01:51:39,439 --> 01:51:44,439
standing there. I could feel the air pulling. Two plain

1417
01:51:44,520 --> 01:51:49,319
clothes officers came the following morning, one younger, soft spoken,

1418
01:51:49,359 --> 01:51:53,199
with a notepad in hand, and the other eyes heavy

1419
01:51:53,239 --> 01:51:58,039
from experience. I invited them in because I didn't know

1420
01:51:58,079 --> 01:52:01,840
what else to do. We sat in the living room

1421
01:52:02,640 --> 01:52:06,119
I hadn't cleaned in days. The coffee table was clotted

1422
01:52:06,119 --> 01:52:09,159
with unopened mail and an empty glass with a film

1423
01:52:09,199 --> 01:52:13,359
of dust collecting near the rim. One of them apologized

1424
01:52:13,399 --> 01:52:17,960
for the visit before we even started. We're just trying

1425
01:52:18,000 --> 01:52:20,319
to get a sense of what you might know, the

1426
01:52:20,359 --> 01:52:23,439
younger one said. We know he didn't have many people

1427
01:52:23,479 --> 01:52:25,880
in his life, but your name was one of the

1428
01:52:25,920 --> 01:52:29,039
only ones that came up. We figured if any one

1429
01:52:29,079 --> 01:52:35,399
would know something, it'd be you. The words struck deeper

1430
01:52:35,439 --> 01:52:40,159
than I expected. I nodded, slowly, forcing my eyes to

1431
01:52:40,199 --> 01:52:44,520
stay level. It was hard to get him to open up,

1432
01:52:45,199 --> 01:52:49,680
I said, but he was working through a lot, childhood trauma,

1433
01:52:50,079 --> 01:52:55,319
long history of loss. He always carried it alone. He

1434
01:52:55,479 --> 01:52:58,399
ended our most recent session telling me it'll be our

1435
01:52:58,479 --> 01:53:02,520
last one. I was almost proud of him. I thought

1436
01:53:02,560 --> 01:53:04,960
he'd finally made the progress he'd come here to make.

1437
01:53:05,079 --> 01:53:09,640
But I was shocked when I heard the news. I lied.

1438
01:53:11,560 --> 01:53:16,279
The officer wrote something down, then locked up. M yeah,

1439
01:53:17,199 --> 01:53:22,439
it was clearly suicide. He added, clean scene. He'd recorded

1440
01:53:22,439 --> 01:53:25,960
some thoughts and notes we found. Didn't mention you directly,

1441
01:53:26,039 --> 01:53:29,479
but he talked of a man he spoke to one

1442
01:53:29,479 --> 01:53:34,560
that helped him immensely. I stared at the grain of

1443
01:53:34,560 --> 01:53:39,840
the table and felt something crawl into my stomach. I

1444
01:53:39,880 --> 01:53:43,159
wish I could say I saw it coming. I lied again.

1445
01:53:45,159 --> 01:53:49,520
The officer didn't press. They stood after a few more questions,

1446
01:53:49,960 --> 01:53:54,039
thanked me for my cooperation. The older one paused at

1447
01:53:54,079 --> 01:53:58,239
the door and said, you're probably carrying some this with you.

1448
01:53:59,359 --> 01:54:04,239
These things believe a mark. You should talk to someone.

1449
01:54:06,800 --> 01:54:15,520
I gave him a smile. I will. That night, I

1450
01:54:15,640 --> 01:54:18,640
tried to sleep on the couch. I thought maybe the

1451
01:54:18,720 --> 01:54:22,319
change in rooms would help. I left the hallway light on.

1452
01:54:23,520 --> 01:54:27,239
I closed my eyes for less than a minute. When

1453
01:54:27,279 --> 01:54:31,800
I opened them, he was there in the corner of

1454
01:54:31,840 --> 01:54:34,720
the room, half shadowed by the edge of the curtain.

1455
01:54:35,960 --> 01:54:40,199
His grin carved through the dark. My body folded in

1456
01:54:40,239 --> 01:54:43,279
a fetal position. I pulled the blanket up to my

1457
01:54:43,399 --> 01:54:46,680
chin and pressed my back against the cushions, as if

1458
01:54:46,720 --> 01:54:49,560
that thin layer of cotton could shield me from whatever

1459
01:54:49,600 --> 01:54:53,600
his presence meant. My eyes watered from the strain of

1460
01:54:53,680 --> 01:54:58,560
keeping them open, but I didn't blink. I missed my

1461
01:54:58,600 --> 01:55:03,279
wife and everything I had not that long ago. He

1462
01:55:03,399 --> 01:55:07,159
stayed there until the sun began to rise, and even

1463
01:55:07,239 --> 01:55:13,800
then I didn't feel him leave. I made the appointment

1464
01:55:13,840 --> 01:55:18,159
the following morning. I didn't think it through. I clicked

1465
01:55:18,159 --> 01:55:21,560
a name on a list. I booked the first available spot.

1466
01:55:22,720 --> 01:55:25,039
I just needed to speak to someone whose voice I

1467
01:55:25,079 --> 01:55:29,840
hadn't memorized. She met me in a small office downtown

1468
01:55:30,720 --> 01:55:35,760
I converted dental sweep, judging by the layout, young, maybe

1469
01:55:35,840 --> 01:55:40,359
early thirties. I sat on a couch and started from

1470
01:55:40,399 --> 01:55:44,159
the beginning. I told her about the divorce, about the

1471
01:55:44,239 --> 01:55:47,760
years I had spent convincing others that healing was linear,

1472
01:55:48,439 --> 01:55:51,239
about the nights I stared at the ceiling, unable to

1473
01:55:51,359 --> 01:55:56,760
name what I was feeling. She wrote very little. Mostly

1474
01:55:57,000 --> 01:56:00,960
she just listened. And when I could no longer find

1475
01:56:01,000 --> 01:56:04,279
ways to avoid it, I looked her in the eyes

1476
01:56:04,359 --> 01:56:09,800
and said, there's actually something I've been hiding from you.

1477
01:56:12,159 --> 01:56:15,680
Her pen stopped. I said it before I could talk

1478
01:56:15,760 --> 01:56:21,319
myself out of it. I told her about mister Grinn,

1479
01:56:21,720 --> 01:56:26,479
And then would you come over just for one night.

1480
01:56:27,439 --> 01:56:31,279
He's going to appear tonight and I don't want to

1481
01:56:31,279 --> 01:56:38,520
be alone. My voice was low, empty, All the emotion

1482
01:56:38,640 --> 01:56:43,039
had burned out of it. She didn't answer right away.

1483
01:56:43,800 --> 01:56:47,880
Her fingers danced slightly around the pen, her brow furrowed

1484
01:56:47,880 --> 01:56:52,279
with uncertainty. I could see the conflict behind her eyes.

1485
01:56:53,359 --> 01:56:56,800
She knew the boundary I'd just crossed, knew that she

1486
01:56:56,840 --> 01:57:03,119
should say no. Then her face softened and she nodded once.

1487
01:57:04,760 --> 01:57:13,920
All right, she said, but just for a few hours.

1488
01:57:17,920 --> 01:57:20,640
I've been contracted by the Bureau a dozen times in

1489
01:57:20,680 --> 01:57:25,960
the last four years, mostly sinkhole reports or rural spill assessments,

1490
01:57:26,800 --> 01:57:29,800
the kind of work no one notices until it costs

1491
01:57:29,800 --> 01:57:33,880
someone money. This one came through late in the season,

1492
01:57:34,960 --> 01:57:38,800
an old mine outside a place called Evercreek, tugged in

1493
01:57:38,840 --> 01:57:42,159
a valley that didn't show up on GPS until we

1494
01:57:42,159 --> 01:57:47,239
were nearly there. The brief was minimal, a collapse shaft

1495
01:57:47,279 --> 01:57:52,680
from the nineteen thirties reportedly sealed after seventeen fatalities. The

1496
01:57:52,720 --> 01:57:56,720
town's records were inconsistent, and what little had been digitized

1497
01:57:56,880 --> 01:58:02,239
didn't match the States. Our job to assess any remaining liability,

1498
01:58:02,800 --> 01:58:06,159
test for subsistence, and determine if the land could be

1499
01:58:06,199 --> 01:58:12,279
safely reclassified for timberlie in and out. No contact needed

1500
01:58:12,319 --> 01:58:17,079
with the townsfolk beyond a courtesy heads up. We hit

1501
01:58:17,119 --> 01:58:21,199
the edge of town around noon. October, had already stripped

1502
01:58:21,239 --> 01:58:24,000
most of the trees, and the wind blew low through

1503
01:58:24,039 --> 01:58:28,119
the bare branches in irregular pulses, the way wind does

1504
01:58:28,159 --> 01:58:32,319
when the landscape feels hollow. Fog clung to the roots

1505
01:58:32,319 --> 01:58:38,239
of the hills, moving only when we did. Evercreek was

1506
01:58:38,279 --> 01:58:42,840
smaller than I expected. A gas station, a diner, a

1507
01:58:42,920 --> 01:58:45,960
short main road that curved lazily around the church and

1508
01:58:46,039 --> 01:58:51,159
disappeared back into the trees. Maybe three hundred people if that.

1509
01:58:52,600 --> 01:58:55,279
Some looked up when we passed, but no one waved.

1510
01:58:56,239 --> 01:59:00,720
No one asked what brought us. They just watched silent,

1511
01:59:01,159 --> 01:59:05,399
still returning to their tasks. Only when our car moved on.

1512
01:59:07,359 --> 01:59:11,560
We checked into the motel, four rooms flat. Gravel lot

1513
01:59:12,119 --> 01:59:15,760
rushed around the fixtures. The woman at the front desk

1514
01:59:15,880 --> 01:59:19,399
handed me the key without asking my name. There was

1515
01:59:19,439 --> 01:59:22,319
a small guest book by the window, but the last

1516
01:59:22,319 --> 01:59:28,039
signature was dated two weeks ago. My prentice, Seth, took

1517
01:59:28,079 --> 01:59:33,000
the room next to mine. After dropping our bags, we

1518
01:59:33,119 --> 01:59:36,680
drove the half mile to the mine site. The access

1519
01:59:36,720 --> 01:59:40,079
road had been overgrown with vines and thistle, but the

1520
01:59:40,159 --> 01:59:43,800
path was still clear enough to follow on foot. Old

1521
01:59:43,880 --> 01:59:48,359
warning signs hung loose from metal rods, faded to near illegibility.

1522
01:59:49,560 --> 01:59:52,239
A half ratted vent surrounded the mouth of the mine,

1523
01:59:52,640 --> 01:59:57,880
with caution tape haphazardly fluttering from rusted stakes. We walked

1524
01:59:57,880 --> 02:00:00,840
to the perimeter, marking out but ten a weak points

1525
02:00:00,840 --> 02:00:05,239
in the soil and flagging erosion spots. The ground was

1526
02:00:05,359 --> 02:00:09,159
mostly stable, though I noted a shallow depression near the

1527
02:00:09,199 --> 02:00:13,359
north side that looked fresh. I was jotting notes when

1528
02:00:13,399 --> 02:00:18,520
Seth called me over. Just outside the broken section of

1529
02:00:18,560 --> 02:00:23,960
the fence was a bundle he looked deliberately placed, not

1530
02:00:24,079 --> 02:00:28,479
dropped or blown in a small scuffed baby shoe, a

1531
02:00:28,520 --> 02:00:31,560
hand mirror with a crack spider webbing out from one corner,

1532
02:00:32,199 --> 02:00:37,520
and a velvet pouch its draw string rotted. Seth opened it.

1533
02:00:38,479 --> 02:00:44,279
Inside was a single child's tooth, browned with age. He

1534
02:00:44,399 --> 02:00:48,199
turned to me with a half smile. Guess Halloween starts

1535
02:00:48,239 --> 02:00:52,960
early out here. I shrugged, reached for a nitrile glove

1536
02:00:53,000 --> 02:00:57,520
for my kit, and bagged the items, probably old memorials.

1537
02:00:57,560 --> 02:01:01,399
I figured maybe a local tradition or just some grief

1538
02:01:01,520 --> 02:01:05,600
left to wither out in the open. Either way, we

1539
02:01:05,840 --> 02:01:09,119
couldn't leave it there. Wild life might get to it,

1540
02:01:09,600 --> 02:01:11,800
and there was no reason to let someone find it

1541
02:01:12,000 --> 02:01:16,239
and think it meant anything now. Seth made a face

1542
02:01:16,279 --> 02:01:19,560
as he watched me seal the bag, but didn't say anything.

1543
02:01:20,800 --> 02:01:23,640
I made a note to include it under potential public

1544
02:01:23,680 --> 02:01:29,439
safety debris. I'd seen weirder things. Back in the car,

1545
02:01:29,720 --> 02:01:32,520
we loaded the first round of soil data and logged

1546
02:01:32,520 --> 02:01:37,359
the day's findings. The mine wasn't visibly unstable, but the

1547
02:01:37,399 --> 02:01:40,239
fence needed replacing, and we'd have to get a look

1548
02:01:40,279 --> 02:01:43,000
at the shaft itself if we wanted to close the

1549
02:01:43,039 --> 02:01:47,520
file properly. I figured we'd head in tomorrow and get

1550
02:01:47,520 --> 02:01:50,920
the rest of it done in daylight. Two more days

1551
02:01:50,920 --> 02:01:54,640
of work at most, then we'd be gone and the

1552
02:01:54,720 --> 02:02:00,239
town would have their forest back. The next morning, we

1553
02:02:00,319 --> 02:02:03,920
decided to split the day between paperwork and local logistics.

1554
02:02:04,880 --> 02:02:07,680
Seth wanted to get breakfast and see what the town

1555
02:02:07,840 --> 02:02:12,399
was actually like in the daylight. I agreed, mostly because

1556
02:02:12,439 --> 02:02:15,199
the state records on the mine were such a mess

1557
02:02:15,399 --> 02:02:17,800
that it made sense to check the town's clerk office

1558
02:02:17,920 --> 02:02:21,439
while we were here. I figured we might find original

1559
02:02:21,479 --> 02:02:25,000
filings or released some version of the truth closer to

1560
02:02:25,079 --> 02:02:30,279
the source. The diner was the first stop. It was

1561
02:02:30,319 --> 02:02:33,359
the same one from the previous night, though it looked

1562
02:02:33,399 --> 02:02:38,680
warmer in the morning light, wood paneled walls, a faded jukebox,

1563
02:02:39,039 --> 02:02:41,880
and a specials board written in hard to read cursive.

1564
02:02:43,359 --> 02:02:47,560
There were only two other customers, both elderly, both watching

1565
02:02:47,640 --> 02:02:52,640
us over their mugs without speaking. A waitress greeted us

1566
02:02:52,680 --> 02:02:56,279
with a smile that didn't quite touch her eyes. She

1567
02:02:56,359 --> 02:02:59,560
handed us menus, asked where we were from, and then

1568
02:02:59,600 --> 02:03:02,439
made no further comment when I said we were working

1569
02:03:02,479 --> 02:03:06,640
on a state assignment near the mine. We're just cleaning

1570
02:03:06,720 --> 02:03:10,399
up some liability stuff, I added, trying to keep the

1571
02:03:10,479 --> 02:03:17,520
tone casual. She nodded slowly, best not to linger past sundown.

1572
02:03:17,560 --> 02:03:22,119
Then Seth gave me a quick glance, but didn't say anything.

1573
02:03:23,760 --> 02:03:29,760
Breakfast arrived quickly. Everything was hot, and everything tasted fine.

1574
02:03:29,880 --> 02:03:34,079
The silence around us remained fixed in place. When Seth

1575
02:03:34,159 --> 02:03:37,039
asked the waitress what she meant earlier, she wiped her

1576
02:03:37,039 --> 02:03:40,239
hand on her apron and said, ain't much up there

1577
02:03:40,239 --> 02:03:45,880
worth surveying anymore, then walked away. He looked over at me,

1578
02:03:46,399 --> 02:03:51,119
eyebrows raised. They're all weirdly cagey about this. He noticed

1579
02:03:51,159 --> 02:03:56,119
that I had noticed, But I also knew that rural

1580
02:03:56,159 --> 02:04:01,960
towns protected their dead fiercely. Tragedy become folklore, and folklore

1581
02:04:02,000 --> 02:04:06,880
turned into boundaries. People stop questioning. I figured it was

1582
02:04:06,960 --> 02:04:11,279
better not to bush. When we stopped at the general

1583
02:04:11,319 --> 02:04:14,600
store afterward to buy some bottled water and replacement gloves,

1584
02:04:15,159 --> 02:04:18,680
Seth mentioned the baby shoe, just a passing comment to

1585
02:04:18,760 --> 02:04:21,760
the woman at the register. Asked if they did any

1586
02:04:21,760 --> 02:04:26,680
sort of local memorials up by the mine. She froze

1587
02:04:26,720 --> 02:04:30,159
mid scan. Her hand rested on top of the register

1588
02:04:30,319 --> 02:04:34,960
for a full second before she looked up. That's not

1589
02:04:35,159 --> 02:04:40,840
for you to handle, she said. Seth blinked, I mean

1590
02:04:41,079 --> 02:04:47,159
we already bagged it part of cyclean up. Her expression shifted,

1591
02:04:47,520 --> 02:04:51,720
but only slightly. Then she handed him the receipt without

1592
02:04:51,760 --> 02:04:57,920
saying another word. We left in silence. Seth kept shaking

1593
02:04:57,960 --> 02:05:01,600
his head the whole way back to the car. They're

1594
02:05:01,640 --> 02:05:05,319
acting like we dug up a grave. Maybe we did,

1595
02:05:05,720 --> 02:05:13,680
I said, not literally, but to them. Could be At

1596
02:05:13,680 --> 02:05:16,520
the clerk's office, I asked for records from the mind's

1597
02:05:16,560 --> 02:05:20,560
operational period. The woman behind the desk handed me a

1598
02:05:20,600 --> 02:05:25,119
heavy binder without asking any questions. Her nameplate was chipped

1599
02:05:25,479 --> 02:05:27,880
and the corners of the folder were stained from time

1600
02:05:27,920 --> 02:05:31,800
and handling. It had clearly been opened more than once,

1601
02:05:32,600 --> 02:05:36,760
but not recently. I brought it to one of the

1602
02:05:36,760 --> 02:05:40,560
black tables and started scanning through it while Seth looked

1603
02:05:40,600 --> 02:05:44,520
over some land plaits. About half way through the binder,

1604
02:05:45,119 --> 02:05:50,079
I found two sheets clipped together, both labeled Casualty Summary

1605
02:05:50,560 --> 02:05:56,399
Ever Greek Collapse March nineteen thirty seven. The first listed

1606
02:05:56,439 --> 02:06:00,239
seventeen names, each followed by a cross symbol and a

1607
02:06:00,239 --> 02:06:05,560
four digit miners ID. The second listed only eleven. The

1608
02:06:05,640 --> 02:06:12,319
others were marked simply as unrecovered. There was no explanation,

1609
02:06:13,199 --> 02:06:16,399
no read ink or notes in the margin, just two

1610
02:06:16,640 --> 02:06:22,880
nearly identical documents that contradicted each other completely. That alone

1611
02:06:22,880 --> 02:06:26,079
would have been worth noting. But deeper in the binder,

1612
02:06:26,399 --> 02:06:31,680
tugged into a folder labeled post collapse Correspondence, I found

1613
02:06:31,760 --> 02:06:39,359
something stranger. Photocopies of town death certificates, bundled by decade.

1614
02:06:39,640 --> 02:06:44,680
Some were handwritten, others typed in fading carbon. Most were

1615
02:06:44,680 --> 02:06:49,600
a routine old age farm accident, the kind of mortality

1616
02:06:49,680 --> 02:06:55,560
you expect in rural places. But until recently, every two decades,

1617
02:06:56,039 --> 02:06:59,880
always in late autumn, a name would appear with no

1618
02:07:00,239 --> 02:07:07,199
cause of death listed, just missing. The latest century was

1619
02:07:07,239 --> 02:07:12,960
twenty years old October two thousand and five. Written by hand,

1620
02:07:13,119 --> 02:07:16,039
was a note saying as solution was found, but no

1621
02:07:16,159 --> 02:07:21,479
other details were given. Seth came over and asked if

1622
02:07:21,520 --> 02:07:25,960
I found anything interesting. I showed him the list. He

1623
02:07:26,000 --> 02:07:31,199
whistled low through his teeth. Could be coincidence, he said,

1624
02:07:32,119 --> 02:07:36,880
but his voice didn't sound convinced it could. I agreed,

1625
02:07:37,800 --> 02:07:41,000
but someone had grouped them all together across nearly a

1626
02:07:41,079 --> 02:07:46,800
century of town records. That wasn't standard filing. That was curation.

1627
02:07:48,840 --> 02:07:51,159
When I asked the clerk if anyone was expecting us

1628
02:07:51,159 --> 02:07:55,399
at the site tomorrow. She shook her head. We don't

1629
02:07:55,439 --> 02:08:02,159
go up there, she said, not anymore. She didn't elaborate.

1630
02:08:03,039 --> 02:08:07,960
I didn't ask her to. Outside, the wind had picked up.

1631
02:08:08,880 --> 02:08:11,920
It came down from the ridge in slow, cold currents,

1632
02:08:12,520 --> 02:08:15,920
the kind that settles into your clothes when you stay there.

1633
02:08:16,520 --> 02:08:23,399
We drove back to the motel without speaking. The next day,

1634
02:08:23,840 --> 02:08:27,279
Seth stayed behind the catalog's soul data while I returned

1635
02:08:27,279 --> 02:08:30,960
to the mine sight alone. The air was colder than

1636
02:08:31,000 --> 02:08:34,199
it had been the day before. The sky was gray

1637
02:08:34,279 --> 02:08:37,880
but dry, and the woods held a heavy stillness that

1638
02:08:38,000 --> 02:08:43,000
felt deeper than weather. I paced the perimeter again, noting

1639
02:08:43,000 --> 02:08:46,119
where the ridge sloped toward a cluster of collapsed timbers

1640
02:08:46,479 --> 02:08:51,319
that had probably once supported the original access trail. From there,

1641
02:08:51,760 --> 02:08:54,279
the forest pushed right up against the edge of the

1642
02:08:54,319 --> 02:08:58,119
old fence, its roots lifting the earth and stone in

1643
02:08:58,279 --> 02:09:03,760
uneven patterns. It was a dramatic subsistence, but it suggested

1644
02:09:03,840 --> 02:09:07,319
slow movement beneath the surface, the kind of thing that

1645
02:09:07,359 --> 02:09:11,239
wouldn't appear on modern records unless some one went locking.

1646
02:09:13,239 --> 02:09:16,760
That was when I heard it, A faint, metallic sound,

1647
02:09:17,720 --> 02:09:23,199
sharp rhythmic. It came from somewhere beneath the ground, distant

1648
02:09:23,239 --> 02:09:26,439
but consistent, the kind of sound that might have been

1649
02:09:26,479 --> 02:09:30,760
dismissed as wind dragging through old ventilation shafts or water

1650
02:09:30,960 --> 02:09:34,359
dripping from rusted struts on to a hollow steel plate.

1651
02:09:35,720 --> 02:09:40,680
But the intervals were too clean, steady. It struck stone

1652
02:09:40,720 --> 02:09:43,960
and rang out in short echoes, as if whatever was

1653
02:09:44,000 --> 02:09:49,199
causing it was focused on something specific. I stopped walking,

1654
02:09:49,920 --> 02:09:54,279
crouched and pressed my palm to the earth. Felt nothing.

1655
02:09:55,399 --> 02:10:01,079
The vibrations, if they existed, were too faint. Still, the

1656
02:10:01,159 --> 02:10:05,479
sound continued for another ten seconds, then it stopped all

1657
02:10:05,520 --> 02:10:12,520
at once. I stood slowly and scanned the surrounding slope.

1658
02:10:12,880 --> 02:10:16,239
Just past the trail collapse, behind a clump of bug thorn,

1659
02:10:17,279 --> 02:10:22,199
I saw something that didn't belong. A small clearing, half

1660
02:10:22,239 --> 02:10:26,159
swallowed by moss and leaf litter. A shallow pile of

1661
02:10:26,199 --> 02:10:31,479
items sat at its center, arranged with deliberate spacing, not

1662
02:10:31,680 --> 02:10:37,520
trash and not abandoned. A silver ring tarnished and bented

1663
02:10:37,520 --> 02:10:42,279
the edge. A folded photograph warped from moisture, but still

1664
02:10:42,359 --> 02:10:45,319
showing the face of a man standing beside a truck.

1665
02:10:46,439 --> 02:10:49,760
A pale braid of hair tied at both ends with twine.

1666
02:10:51,319 --> 02:10:54,439
All of it was placed with care, though the elements

1667
02:10:54,479 --> 02:10:59,399
had done their best to erase the intent. I stood

1668
02:10:59,399 --> 02:11:02,600
there for a long time, trying to piece together whether

1669
02:11:02,640 --> 02:11:08,079
this was grief, folklore, or something else Entirely. It was

1670
02:11:08,119 --> 02:11:11,199
too far from any graveyard to be a memorial, and

1671
02:11:11,239 --> 02:11:14,319
the items were too personal to have been discarded by chance.

1672
02:11:15,800 --> 02:11:18,720
I photographed the scene from a distance, then like the

1673
02:11:18,760 --> 02:11:24,279
GPS coordinates, and returned to the motel. Seth was in

1674
02:11:24,319 --> 02:11:28,119
the lobby, working through the geology report over a coffee

1675
02:11:28,159 --> 02:11:31,800
that had long since gone cold. I dropped into the

1676
02:11:31,880 --> 02:11:38,119
armchair across from him and relayed what I'd found. Second one, huh,

1677
02:11:38,359 --> 02:11:41,399
he said, You think it's part of the same tradition,

1678
02:11:42,079 --> 02:11:46,119
like another offering sight. It has that feel to it,

1679
02:11:46,640 --> 02:11:51,359
I said, But nothing official, no plaques, no town maintenance.

1680
02:11:52,279 --> 02:11:54,520
All of it looks like it's meant to be forgotten.

1681
02:11:56,800 --> 02:11:58,840
He leaned back and ran a hand through his hair.

1682
02:12:00,039 --> 02:12:04,479
I tried asking that waitress again, just normal questions. You'd

1683
02:12:04,479 --> 02:12:07,840
think i'd asked about somebody's funeral. She said, they don't

1684
02:12:07,880 --> 02:12:10,680
go near the fence line. Told me to mind the

1685
02:12:10,720 --> 02:12:16,079
season and let it rest. Whatever that means. I nodded,

1686
02:12:17,039 --> 02:12:20,520
same tone I got at the clerk's office. Everyone's polite,

1687
02:12:20,560 --> 02:12:27,079
but they're not confused. They know something. Seth looked out

1688
02:12:27,119 --> 02:12:31,039
the front window. The sky was starting to dim. The

1689
02:12:31,079 --> 02:12:35,520
clouds had thickened since I got back. Do we tell

1690
02:12:35,560 --> 02:12:40,039
them we're opening the shaft soon? No point, I said,

1691
02:12:41,279 --> 02:12:49,239
It's not a conversation they're interested in having. It was

1692
02:12:49,399 --> 02:12:52,520
just afternoon when I decided to stretch my legs and

1693
02:12:52,600 --> 02:12:56,039
walk the edge of town. Seth had returned to the

1694
02:12:56,079 --> 02:12:59,399
motel to sort data, but I needed to escape the

1695
02:12:59,399 --> 02:13:03,600
screen for a while. The air was still pressed down

1696
02:13:03,760 --> 02:13:08,680
under low cloud cover. Nothing moved in the trees, even

1697
02:13:08,680 --> 02:13:12,800
the birds had gone quiet. The streets were empty in

1698
02:13:12,840 --> 02:13:17,079
that in between way rural towns aften aar shops open

1699
02:13:17,199 --> 02:13:22,880
but unattended, wind chimes moving without sound. I passed the church,

1700
02:13:23,520 --> 02:13:27,159
a one room schoolhouse, and a shuttered gas station that

1701
02:13:27,319 --> 02:13:32,039
still sold cold sodas through an ancient vending machine. Near

1702
02:13:32,079 --> 02:13:35,119
the edge of the church, I spotted a boy crouched

1703
02:13:35,159 --> 02:13:38,920
beside a dry colvert. He was fiddling with something in

1704
02:13:38,960 --> 02:13:41,920
the dark, maybe a stick or a bit of wire,

1705
02:13:42,640 --> 02:13:45,439
the way kids do when they have more day than structure.

1706
02:13:46,520 --> 02:13:50,560
No older than seven. He didn't notice me at first.

1707
02:13:52,239 --> 02:13:55,479
I slowed as I passed and gave him a quick nod.

1708
02:13:56,520 --> 02:14:00,840
Hey there, I said, keeping the tone casual. You know

1709
02:14:00,880 --> 02:14:07,319
any scary stories about the minds? He rose. The object

1710
02:14:07,319 --> 02:14:10,239
in his hands slipped from his grip, but he didn't

1711
02:14:10,279 --> 02:14:14,000
move to pick it up. I just sat there, my

1712
02:14:14,079 --> 02:14:19,000
shoulders stiff and my head lowered. I waited for a moment,

1713
02:14:19,319 --> 02:14:23,840
then smiled. I was thinking of going to play up there,

1714
02:14:24,439 --> 02:14:27,960
I added, keeping it friendly. Thought I should ask if

1715
02:14:27,960 --> 02:14:32,439
there are any monsters to watch out for. That got

1716
02:14:32,520 --> 02:14:36,960
him to look up, but not with amusement. His eyes

1717
02:14:36,960 --> 02:14:39,359
were wide, in the way kids get when they've been

1718
02:14:39,399 --> 02:14:42,680
told a rule that feels larger than them, something that

1719
02:14:42,720 --> 02:14:47,439
feels older than their parents. He looked around, then leaned

1720
02:14:47,479 --> 02:14:53,800
in slightly. I'm not supposed to talk about it, he said.

1721
02:14:54,560 --> 02:14:57,520
I crouched a little, hands on my knees, staying a

1722
02:14:57,560 --> 02:15:02,239
few steps back. Fair enough, but I won't tell if

1723
02:15:02,239 --> 02:15:08,960
you don't. The boy hesitated, then, in a near whisper,

1724
02:15:09,039 --> 02:15:13,680
he said, the faceless ones are there. They only come

1725
02:15:13,720 --> 02:15:17,119
out if someone opens it every twenty years or so.

1726
02:15:18,119 --> 02:15:21,239
That's why we leave stuff. It stops them from coming.

1727
02:15:24,479 --> 02:15:28,079
He stood up and dusted off his pants. Then he

1728
02:15:28,199 --> 02:15:33,319
turned and walked away without another word, not running, but

1729
02:15:33,479 --> 02:15:40,479
quick head down. He never looked back. I stood there

1730
02:15:40,520 --> 02:15:43,119
for a few moments after he disappeared around the corner,

1731
02:15:43,720 --> 02:15:50,960
letting his words settle faceless ones. The phrasing was strange.

1732
02:15:52,079 --> 02:15:59,199
Not monsters, not ghosts, not even miners, faceless. It was

1733
02:15:59,239 --> 02:16:02,720
the kind of story a child might inherit without understanding,

1734
02:16:03,319 --> 02:16:08,359
something passed down through repetition, never fully explained, just accepted

1735
02:16:09,840 --> 02:16:13,560
to me. It was a bit of folklore, probably rooted

1736
02:16:13,600 --> 02:16:17,399
in grief away for the town to ritualize the collapse,

1737
02:16:18,199 --> 02:16:22,600
a quiet warning wrapped in superstition. It was an uncommon

1738
02:16:23,319 --> 02:16:28,119
I'd heard dozens of versions in other towns across the state. Still,

1739
02:16:28,479 --> 02:16:31,640
as I made my way back to the motel, I

1740
02:16:31,720 --> 02:16:37,680
found myself repeating the phrase under my breath, the faithless ones.

1741
02:16:46,639 --> 02:16:49,840
We started early the next morning, just after the sun

1742
02:16:49,920 --> 02:16:53,879
cleared the ridge. The sky was flat and pale, the

1743
02:16:53,920 --> 02:16:58,399
clouds stretched thin across the horizon. Seth looked half awake

1744
02:16:58,440 --> 02:17:01,000
when he met me by the car, but his boots

1745
02:17:01,000 --> 02:17:04,239
were laced and he was already double checking the survey gear.

1746
02:17:05,920 --> 02:17:08,920
The drive to the site was short, trees pressed in

1747
02:17:09,040 --> 02:17:12,079
from both sides of the axis road brittle with the

1748
02:17:12,200 --> 02:17:16,079
change in season. By the time we reached the mine entrance,

1749
02:17:16,719 --> 02:17:19,760
the frost and the undergrowth had already started to melt.

1750
02:17:21,479 --> 02:17:24,799
The boards covering the main shaft entrance were old and brittle.

1751
02:17:25,639 --> 02:17:29,319
They cracked easily under pressure, and pried them loose while

1752
02:17:29,399 --> 02:17:33,680
Seth cleared the debris beneath the outer layer. The frame

1753
02:17:33,760 --> 02:17:37,840
had been reinforced with thick nails and rusted chains. Someone

1754
02:17:37,840 --> 02:17:43,719
had sealed it thoroughly once that effort hadn't held. Behind

1755
02:17:43,760 --> 02:17:47,159
the final boards, darkness pressed forward in a way that

1756
02:17:47,239 --> 02:17:52,879
felt tangible. The shaft yawned open, lined with rotting timber.

1757
02:17:54,000 --> 02:17:59,680
No air movement, just stillness. I stepped forward first and

1758
02:17:59,760 --> 02:18:04,440
checked the air with a handheld reader. Oxygen low but breathable,

1759
02:18:05,040 --> 02:18:09,760
no methane, no signs of recent activity, just stale air

1760
02:18:10,040 --> 02:18:15,840
and the dry rot of long abandoned spaces. Inside the

1761
02:18:15,840 --> 02:18:18,559
beam of my headlamp cut through thick layers of dust

1762
02:18:18,600 --> 02:18:23,559
and old cobwebs. The walls narrowed quickly, then opened into

1763
02:18:23,600 --> 02:18:29,000
the first main corridor carvestone reinforced with woodbeams, most of

1764
02:18:29,040 --> 02:18:34,159
them splintered and leaning under their own weight. We moved slowly,

1765
02:18:34,639 --> 02:18:40,000
pausing often to photograph structural damage and cross checking support spaces.

1766
02:18:40,639 --> 02:18:44,520
Seth handled the laser mapping, marking depth and slow gradients

1767
02:18:44,559 --> 02:18:51,200
as we went. The process was tedious, but necessary, no

1768
02:18:51,319 --> 02:18:56,159
shortcuts with work like this. About an hour in we

1769
02:18:56,239 --> 02:18:59,840
both paused at the same time. A sound had drifted

1770
02:18:59,879 --> 02:19:05,000
up from the tunnel ahead, faint, sharp, a metallic tick,

1771
02:19:05,479 --> 02:19:12,040
followed by a pause, then another, regular, intervals clean repetition.

1772
02:19:13,879 --> 02:19:21,319
Seth raised an eyebrow. You hear that. I nodded, already

1773
02:19:21,360 --> 02:19:28,159
listening harder. The sound came again, distant. It echoed faintly

1774
02:19:28,200 --> 02:19:31,719
along the stone, but not enough to locate a source.

1775
02:19:33,440 --> 02:19:37,399
Could be water dripping. I said, if this metal piping

1776
02:19:37,479 --> 02:19:43,200
still embedded in the rock, the echo can carry. Seth

1777
02:19:43,280 --> 02:19:46,600
didn't respond, but I could tell he didn't buy it.

1778
02:19:47,639 --> 02:19:50,680
I wasn't sure I did either, but I wasn't going

1779
02:19:50,719 --> 02:19:57,120
to say what it really sounded like. Not yet. We

1780
02:19:57,239 --> 02:20:00,120
kept working. There was still a lot to do who

1781
02:20:01,440 --> 02:20:04,159
the map had to be completed before we could even

1782
02:20:04,200 --> 02:20:08,680
submit the preliminary risk report. Neither of us mentioned the

1783
02:20:08,760 --> 02:20:13,520
sound again, though it returned occasionally, always at the edge

1784
02:20:13,559 --> 02:20:19,159
of hearing. By mid afternoon, we were both covered in dust,

1785
02:20:19,840 --> 02:20:24,079
our knees saw from crouching, our wrists aching from constant notation.

1786
02:20:25,319 --> 02:20:31,120
The work was good, methodical, but it drained you. Old

1787
02:20:31,120 --> 02:20:33,479
tunnels had a way of taking more energy than they

1788
02:20:33,520 --> 02:20:37,920
gave back. We reached the midpoint of the shaft and

1789
02:20:38,000 --> 02:20:41,399
decided to stop for the day. There was too much

1790
02:20:41,440 --> 02:20:44,319
to cover in a single pass, and we hadn't brought

1791
02:20:44,440 --> 02:20:49,239
enough gear for an overnight trip. Before we left, we

1792
02:20:49,319 --> 02:20:53,360
stacked our packs near the entrance. It felt safe enough.

1793
02:20:54,319 --> 02:20:56,440
No one in town would likely come near the mine,

1794
02:20:56,920 --> 02:20:59,840
not with how they spoke about it, and the equipment

1795
02:21:00,079 --> 02:21:02,799
wasn't useful to anyone who didn't know how to use it.

1796
02:21:04,040 --> 02:21:08,559
Specialized tools had a way of protecting themselves. We hiked

1797
02:21:08,600 --> 02:21:12,200
back to the car without speaking much. The quiet between

1798
02:21:12,319 --> 02:21:17,120
us was intension. It was exhaustion, the kid that settled

1799
02:21:17,120 --> 02:21:20,200
into your shoulders and made you feel older than you were.

1800
02:21:21,920 --> 02:21:25,120
By the time we rolled back into Evercreek, the sky

1801
02:21:25,280 --> 02:21:29,120
had already started to dim. We didn't talk about the

1802
02:21:29,200 --> 02:21:32,399
sound in the mine. We just drove to the diner

1803
02:21:32,760 --> 02:21:37,479
and ordered whatever was still on the grill. We were dirty, tired,

1804
02:21:38,000 --> 02:21:41,280
and hungry enough to forget everything else for a little while.

1805
02:21:43,000 --> 02:21:45,760
The diner felt warmer than usual when we stepped in.

1806
02:21:46,520 --> 02:21:49,280
The windows were fogged at the corners from the kitchen heat,

1807
02:21:49,840 --> 02:21:54,000
and the overhead lights hummed softly above our booth. We

1808
02:21:54,040 --> 02:21:57,120
sat near the back, away from the regulars who always

1809
02:21:57,120 --> 02:22:02,120
clustered close to the counter. Seth looked worn out. He

1810
02:22:02,200 --> 02:22:04,520
rubbed his eyes with a heel of his hand while

1811
02:22:04,600 --> 02:22:07,600
flipped through my notebook, cross checking some of the beam

1812
02:22:07,639 --> 02:22:11,520
measurements from earlier. Our boots left the trail of dry

1813
02:22:11,600 --> 02:22:14,719
mud across the floor, and the waitress didn't ask us

1814
02:22:14,719 --> 02:22:17,920
to wipe it up. She just dropped off two waters

1815
02:22:18,200 --> 02:22:23,440
and walked away. We ate slowly, tired from the work.

1816
02:22:24,559 --> 02:22:28,879
Neither of us had much to say at first. Eventually

1817
02:22:29,680 --> 02:22:35,520
Seth broke the silence. The place was empty. He said,

1818
02:22:36,120 --> 02:22:38,879
not even a raccoon down there. I don't get what

1819
02:22:38,920 --> 02:22:46,520
they're so scared of. He said it too loudly, not shouting,

1820
02:22:47,440 --> 02:22:51,120
just casual, the kind of volume people use when they

1821
02:22:51,159 --> 02:22:57,319
assume no one is listening. Someone was a man in

1822
02:22:57,360 --> 02:23:00,760
a booth two tables over turned in his seat. He

1823
02:23:00,799 --> 02:23:05,319
stood up slowly, eyes locked on us. His voice was

1824
02:23:05,399 --> 02:23:10,200
sharp enough to cut through the entire room. You opened it,

1825
02:23:12,239 --> 02:23:17,079
sayth rose mid bight. I set my fork down. The

1826
02:23:17,200 --> 02:23:22,360
diner went still, Conversations died, the clink of silverware stopped.

1827
02:23:23,319 --> 02:23:28,079
Chairs scraped lightly as people began to stand. Some avoided

1828
02:23:28,120 --> 02:23:33,319
looking at us, others stared too directly. The man didn't

1829
02:23:33,360 --> 02:23:36,879
say anything else. He just stood there a moment longer,

1830
02:23:37,760 --> 02:23:43,159
then walked out. A few others followed him. A woman

1831
02:23:43,200 --> 02:23:47,120
near the counter leaned in our direction. Go back to

1832
02:23:47,159 --> 02:23:53,840
your motel, She said, lock your doors to night. Sith

1833
02:23:53,959 --> 02:23:58,200
looked at me, his brows furrowed. I didn't know what

1834
02:23:58,319 --> 02:24:03,040
to say. The waitress came by with a check. She

1835
02:24:03,280 --> 02:24:08,639
didn't meet her eyes, then she walked away. The rest

1836
02:24:08,639 --> 02:24:11,840
of the meal sat and touched. We paid and left

1837
02:24:11,879 --> 02:24:17,639
without another word. Outside, the street had emptied, No one

1838
02:24:17,760 --> 02:24:21,760
was on the sidewalks, no cars passing. The sun had

1839
02:24:21,760 --> 02:24:24,920
finally dipped behind the ridge, leaving the town in that

1840
02:24:25,040 --> 02:24:28,040
in between collar that doesn't belong to day or night.

1841
02:24:29,319 --> 02:24:33,719
Windows were shuttered, porch lights were off. The walk to

1842
02:24:33,760 --> 02:24:37,000
the motel wasn't far, but it felt longer than it

1843
02:24:37,040 --> 02:24:42,200
should have the silence pressed in from both sides, even

1844
02:24:42,239 --> 02:24:46,280
the wind had dropped away. When we reached our room,

1845
02:24:47,040 --> 02:24:50,440
we didn't discuss it. We said good night at our

1846
02:24:50,479 --> 02:24:55,159
doors and locked them behind us. Seth double checked the

1847
02:24:55,239 --> 02:24:59,559
dead bolt, then said through the wall, see you in

1848
02:24:59,559 --> 02:25:09,000
the morning. I didn't answer right away. Eventually I said yeah, morning,

1849
02:25:11,120 --> 02:25:14,000
But it was hard to believe that tomorrow would feel

1850
02:25:14,040 --> 02:25:22,120
the same as today. We woke early, though neither of

1851
02:25:22,200 --> 02:25:26,000
us had slept well. I kept waking to small noises

1852
02:25:26,000 --> 02:25:29,760
that never repeated, moments that might have been dreams, but

1853
02:25:29,879 --> 02:25:33,719
left the hair on my arms standing straight. When we

1854
02:25:33,719 --> 02:25:38,159
stepped outside, the air had turned colder, A fine mist

1855
02:25:38,239 --> 02:25:41,399
clung to the gravel lot, and the sky had the flat,

1856
02:25:41,600 --> 02:25:46,559
heavy color that usually meant snow. By nightfall, the town

1857
02:25:46,719 --> 02:25:50,639
was still not just slow, not quiet in the way

1858
02:25:50,760 --> 02:25:54,520
small places often are. It was still in the way

1859
02:25:54,559 --> 02:25:58,799
of shut doors and drawn curtains, the kind of stillness

1860
02:25:59,159 --> 02:26:04,079
that implies on watching. The diner was closed, no chairs

1861
02:26:04,120 --> 02:26:08,040
on the porch, no light inside. The gas station had

1862
02:26:08,079 --> 02:26:12,079
its metal shutters down. The General's door was locked, its

1863
02:26:12,120 --> 02:26:17,159
windows dark. We knocked on a few doors, more out

1864
02:26:17,159 --> 02:26:20,719
of instinct than hope. We could hear the shuffle of

1865
02:26:20,760 --> 02:26:24,799
feet inside. Once there was the distinct sound of someone

1866
02:26:24,840 --> 02:26:28,440
inhaling sharply when we knocked, but no one opened up.

1867
02:26:30,079 --> 02:26:36,120
Seth looked around and rubbed his neck. They're hiding, they're waiting,

1868
02:26:36,479 --> 02:26:44,520
I said, for what. I didn't answer. We made our

1869
02:26:44,520 --> 02:26:47,319
way back to the mine. The path had the same

1870
02:26:47,360 --> 02:26:52,120
emptiness as the town did. At the mine entrance, everything

1871
02:26:52,280 --> 02:26:55,719
was untouched. The boards we had pried loose still lay

1872
02:26:55,760 --> 02:26:58,920
in a neat stack by the opening. Our gear sat

1873
02:26:59,120 --> 02:27:04,639
just where we left it, the dust undisturbed. It felt

1874
02:27:04,719 --> 02:27:08,280
wrong to step into the shaft again, but we did.

1875
02:27:09,319 --> 02:27:15,200
The job wasn't finished. Inside. The air had grown heavier,

1876
02:27:16,000 --> 02:27:19,760
not from weather or lack of oxygen. There was simply

1877
02:27:19,799 --> 02:27:23,000
a pressure to it now, the kind that settles behind

1878
02:27:23,040 --> 02:27:26,360
your eyes and makes your jaw clench. Without knowing why,

1879
02:27:27,879 --> 02:27:33,440
we worked in silence, mapping, photographing, and logging. I tried

1880
02:27:33,479 --> 02:27:40,559
to focus, but every few minutes the sound returned. Tick,

1881
02:27:41,840 --> 02:27:49,680
metal on stone, pause, tick. It echoed from deeper in

1882
02:27:49,719 --> 02:27:54,600
the tunnel, always past the last point we'd explored, never

1883
02:27:54,719 --> 02:27:58,680
louder than a soft chime, but enough to hear, enough

1884
02:27:58,760 --> 02:28:02,959
to feel in the joints of your teeth. Seth stopped

1885
02:28:02,959 --> 02:28:05,959
once to ask what I thought it was. I gave

1886
02:28:06,000 --> 02:28:11,520
the same mansig I had before, groundwater pressure shifts old machinery,

1887
02:28:12,920 --> 02:28:17,520
but I knew he didn't believe me. We left earlier

1888
02:28:17,520 --> 02:28:20,799
than we had the day before. Neither of us wanted

1889
02:28:20,840 --> 02:28:24,399
to be in the shaft when the light failed. Back

1890
02:28:24,399 --> 02:28:28,200
at the motel, the hallway smelled faintly of cedar and dust.

1891
02:28:29,159 --> 02:28:33,920
Our doors were closed, but something had changed. Inside my

1892
02:28:34,040 --> 02:28:38,120
room and the table beside the window sat a basket,

1893
02:28:39,440 --> 02:28:46,360
wicker lined with cloth, no tag, no note. Inside was

1894
02:28:46,479 --> 02:28:52,879
cheese wrapped in wax paper, jerky, salted in dense, bottled water,

1895
02:28:53,520 --> 02:28:59,200
six tall containers, labels peeled off. Seth called from his room.

1896
02:29:00,000 --> 02:29:03,959
We had one too. We stood in the hallway a moment,

1897
02:29:04,239 --> 02:29:11,840
baskets in hand. This isn't hospitality, I said, no, He

1898
02:29:11,959 --> 02:29:18,760
said it's rations. We didn't talk about what that meant,

1899
02:29:19,799 --> 02:29:25,239
but I left the basket sealed. When I went to bed,

1900
02:29:26,440 --> 02:29:29,719
I woke to the sound of something slamming against the door.

1901
02:29:30,760 --> 02:29:36,319
Not knocking, not a fist. It was heavier than that, blunt,

1902
02:29:36,760 --> 02:29:40,360
deliberate pace, with the kind of weight that didn't need

1903
02:29:40,399 --> 02:29:44,959
to rush. The first strike rattled the frame, The second

1904
02:29:45,000 --> 02:29:49,120
made the bedside lamp flicker. I sat up too fast

1905
02:29:49,120 --> 02:29:52,200
and nearly fell out of bed. My mouth was dry.

1906
02:29:52,840 --> 02:29:55,959
I hadn't heard any footsteps or voices leading up to it,

1907
02:29:56,920 --> 02:30:01,680
just the bang, then another, than the silence in between.

1908
02:30:03,200 --> 02:30:06,360
I thought at first that the townspeople had decided to

1909
02:30:06,440 --> 02:30:09,680
force us out, that the warnings had turned into action.

1910
02:30:10,879 --> 02:30:14,280
I imagined a group outside with flashlights and tools, fed

1911
02:30:14,360 --> 02:30:17,440
up with our presence, tired of whatever they thought we

1912
02:30:17,479 --> 02:30:23,680
had stirred. But I didn't hear voices, no muttering or yelling.

1913
02:30:25,000 --> 02:30:29,840
Just one more slow, heavy impact against the door. The

1914
02:30:29,840 --> 02:30:35,159
hallway light under the door flickered once, then dimmed. I

1915
02:30:35,239 --> 02:30:38,920
backed into the bathroom, shut the door, and locked it.

1916
02:30:38,920 --> 02:30:42,000
It was a flimsy bolt, the kind meant for privacy,

1917
02:30:42,319 --> 02:30:45,879
not protection. I sat down in the corner beside the

1918
02:30:45,920 --> 02:30:50,680
toilet and tried to slow my breathing. Another blow shook

1919
02:30:50,719 --> 02:30:55,200
the walls. Then came the sound of wood splintering, long

1920
02:30:55,559 --> 02:30:59,959
drawn out cracking, the groan of material giving way under pressure.

1921
02:31:01,280 --> 02:31:07,040
Whatever was out there had started breaking something apart, but

1922
02:31:07,120 --> 02:31:14,760
it wasn't my door. The sound shifted. I heard a scream, Seth.

1923
02:31:16,440 --> 02:31:19,799
It came from the room next door. Not just one shout,

1924
02:31:20,440 --> 02:31:27,520
it stretched out, ragged, panicked. I heard furniture scrape, then crash.

1925
02:31:27,920 --> 02:31:33,600
Something was being dragged, not fast, a slow pull across

1926
02:31:33,639 --> 02:31:39,719
the carpet. Seth screamed again. Then it cut off, sudden

1927
02:31:39,799 --> 02:31:44,239
and sharp. I pressed my hand over my mouth and

1928
02:31:44,360 --> 02:31:50,319
stayed completely still. My own breathing felt too loud. Then

1929
02:31:50,479 --> 02:31:54,920
came the creaking, not footsteps, just the sound of something

1930
02:31:55,000 --> 02:32:01,120
shifting weight, a slow movement, wood bending under uneven pressure.

1931
02:32:02,360 --> 02:32:10,040
The hallway groaned. Minutes passed, then more, No more sounds,

1932
02:32:10,280 --> 02:32:14,760
no more movement. I didn't open the door. I didn't speak.

1933
02:32:15,559 --> 02:32:18,799
I sat curled on the tile floor, knees pulled to

1934
02:32:18,879 --> 02:32:22,040
my chest, staring at the space beneath the bathroom door,

1935
02:32:22,399 --> 02:32:26,799
and waiting for the sky to turn gray again. It

1936
02:32:26,920 --> 02:32:35,040
was a long time before dawn came. When morning finally came,

1937
02:32:35,799 --> 02:32:38,840
I stepped out into the hallway, expecting to see the

1938
02:32:38,879 --> 02:32:43,120
remnants of a break in, maybe even the police. But

1939
02:32:43,239 --> 02:32:50,680
the corridor was clean, the carpet undisturbed. My door stood intact, latched, untouched.

1940
02:32:52,159 --> 02:32:55,040
I crossed a few feet to Seth's room and felt

1941
02:32:55,040 --> 02:32:58,879
the shift. As soon as I reached it, his door

1942
02:32:59,000 --> 02:33:02,159
was split down the sundin the frame had been torn

1943
02:33:02,200 --> 02:33:05,239
at the corners where the bolts used to be. The

1944
02:33:05,280 --> 02:33:08,840
handle hung loose on one screw, and the paint around

1945
02:33:08,840 --> 02:33:13,120
the lock had buckled outward. Four clean holes had been

1946
02:33:13,159 --> 02:33:16,360
punched straight through on the bottom half of the door.

1947
02:33:18,000 --> 02:33:22,159
They weren't ragged. They were narrow and round, drilled deep

1948
02:33:22,200 --> 02:33:27,280
and deliberate, about the width of a pickaxe tip. Inside

1949
02:33:27,280 --> 02:33:30,120
the room, the sheet had been stripped half way down

1950
02:33:30,120 --> 02:33:33,920
the bed. The nightstand lay on its side. The floor

1951
02:33:34,040 --> 02:33:37,399
was scuffed in a wide arc. The carpet torn where

1952
02:33:37,440 --> 02:33:41,799
something had been dragged. A dark red smear trailed from

1953
02:33:41,840 --> 02:33:47,200
the bed to the door, then turned toward the parking lot. Outside,

1954
02:33:47,520 --> 02:33:50,040
a woman in a plain gray sweater was mopping the

1955
02:33:50,079 --> 02:33:55,600
pavement with slow, practiced strokes. She worked in silence, pushing

1956
02:33:55,639 --> 02:33:59,760
the soaked fibers across the concrete. The red line faded

1957
02:33:59,799 --> 02:34:07,360
behind with each pass. She never looked up. I stood

1958
02:34:07,360 --> 02:34:11,000
there for a long time, waiting for someone else to appear,

1959
02:34:11,719 --> 02:34:16,159
for a police cruiser, a medic, a crowd, but no

1960
02:34:16,239 --> 02:34:22,440
one came. Eventually, I left the motel and walked into town.

1961
02:34:23,840 --> 02:34:27,680
The streets were no longer empty. The diner had its

1962
02:34:27,799 --> 02:34:31,040
chairs back out. The gas station pumps were humming again.

1963
02:34:31,760 --> 02:34:33,840
A man was putting out a sandwich board for the

1964
02:34:33,920 --> 02:34:38,399
Lunt Special. People passed me on the sidewalk without stopping.

1965
02:34:39,680 --> 02:34:43,079
Near the post office, I found a small group gathered

1966
02:34:43,120 --> 02:34:46,639
in the street, half a dozen men and women, all

1967
02:34:46,680 --> 02:34:51,799
standing in a loose formation. They weren't holding anything, they

1968
02:34:51,840 --> 02:34:57,879
weren't armed, just waiting. One of them, a man in

1969
02:34:57,920 --> 02:35:00,680
a tan coat with sleeves two short for his arms,

1970
02:35:01,079 --> 02:35:06,920
stepped forward. He was maybe fifty. His expression was neither

1971
02:35:07,040 --> 02:35:11,559
kind nor angry. It's time for you to go now,

1972
02:35:12,280 --> 02:35:17,559
he said. I stared at him. What happened to my partner?

1973
02:35:19,000 --> 02:35:23,719
No one answered? I tried again, what happened last night?

1974
02:35:24,159 --> 02:35:26,520
Where did you all go the day before? Why are

1975
02:35:26,559 --> 02:35:31,399
you acting like this is normal? The man's mouth twitched

1976
02:35:31,440 --> 02:35:35,479
once at the corner, not quite a smile, more of

1977
02:35:35,520 --> 02:35:41,040
a signal, a recognition that my questions didn't need answers.

1978
02:35:42,479 --> 02:35:49,440
An offering has been made, he said. I looked past

1979
02:35:49,559 --> 02:35:52,399
him to the others. None of them met my eyes.

1980
02:35:53,399 --> 02:35:59,600
They stared just over my shoulder, waiting. I turned and

1981
02:35:59,639 --> 02:36:07,920
walked away. No one followed. The sky was dull gray

1982
02:36:08,040 --> 02:36:11,120
when I returned to the mine. The streets along the

1983
02:36:11,200 --> 02:36:14,879
road were still, the leaves half dropped and wet from

1984
02:36:14,879 --> 02:36:19,680
a slow morning drizzle. The tires cracked over gravel. For

1985
02:36:19,799 --> 02:36:23,680
the rest of the world held its breath. No one

1986
02:36:23,760 --> 02:36:26,760
followed me. No one had asked where I was going.

1987
02:36:29,239 --> 02:36:34,959
The entrance had been sealed again. Fresh boards crossed the

1988
02:36:35,000 --> 02:36:38,120
mouth of the shaft, clean earth than the old ones

1989
02:36:38,120 --> 02:36:43,040
we had pulled away. New bolts reinforced the frame. Some

1990
02:36:43,079 --> 02:36:46,760
one had worked quickly and quietly, and they had done

1991
02:36:46,799 --> 02:36:51,840
it before sunrise. I walked to the fence. The grass

1992
02:36:51,840 --> 02:36:55,239
around the path was damp, but a few red droplets

1993
02:36:55,239 --> 02:36:58,639
stood out on the pale soil leading toward the base

1994
02:36:58,719 --> 02:37:03,040
of the entrance. The color was too bright to be old.

1995
02:37:04,440 --> 02:37:09,280
Then I saw a bundle. It had been placed carefully,

1996
02:37:09,719 --> 02:37:13,760
resting against the lower beam of the gate, A handkerchief

1997
02:37:13,879 --> 02:37:19,200
knotted into a loose satchel, bulging at the center. I

1998
02:37:19,319 --> 02:37:25,719
crouched and opened it. Inside with the same kinds of

1999
02:37:25,760 --> 02:37:29,600
items we had found before. A ring dulled by age,

2000
02:37:29,920 --> 02:37:32,520
a lock of hair braided and yellowed at the tip,

2001
02:37:33,360 --> 02:37:37,639
two small teeth that looked far too human, and nestled

2002
02:37:37,639 --> 02:37:42,200
among them in the pile of offerings. The plastic corner

2003
02:37:42,879 --> 02:37:49,799
of a clipped work badge seths his name, his face,

2004
02:37:50,559 --> 02:37:55,239
still clean, still laminated. It must have been taken from

2005
02:37:55,239 --> 02:38:01,159
the pack we had left behind. I stood slowly, holding

2006
02:38:01,200 --> 02:38:05,440
the bundle against my chest, then lowered it again and

2007
02:38:05,559 --> 02:38:12,200
left it there. I pieced it altogether. Something in the

2008
02:38:12,280 --> 02:38:17,200
minds the faceless ones that I heard about were in there,

2009
02:38:18,680 --> 02:38:22,319
Whether their lost souls from the collapse or something far older,

2010
02:38:22,639 --> 02:38:26,639
I did not know. But what I did know was

2011
02:38:26,719 --> 02:38:32,760
how they kept them back. Memorabilia, memories from when they

2012
02:38:32,760 --> 02:38:36,639
were alive, left on their doorstep, maybe a reminder of

2013
02:38:36,680 --> 02:38:41,879
their humanity to stop claiming more souls. They had solved this,

2014
02:38:42,680 --> 02:38:48,239
worked this out over decades, and we came in and

2015
02:38:48,399 --> 02:38:53,120
messed things up. And how could this have gone any different?

2016
02:38:54,120 --> 02:38:57,440
If some here came up raving about monsters and rituals,

2017
02:38:58,200 --> 02:39:04,120
we'd have pushed them aside to do our work. No

2018
02:39:04,159 --> 02:39:06,959
one had told me what to do next. There was

2019
02:39:07,040 --> 02:39:11,520
no official protocol for this, no field manual entry labeled folklore,

2020
02:39:11,959 --> 02:39:14,920
no checkbox for an offering made in someone else's name.

2021
02:39:17,000 --> 02:39:19,399
I sat in the driver's seat of the truck with

2022
02:39:19,520 --> 02:39:25,120
the engine off, and opened my field log mind structure

2023
02:39:25,280 --> 02:39:34,639
remains unstable conditions hazardous collapse risk high. I paused secondary

2024
02:39:34,680 --> 02:39:44,040
fatality during inspection. Body unrecoverable. Recommend indefinite closure. I didn't

2025
02:39:44,079 --> 02:39:48,000
sign it right away, just closed the book and rested

2026
02:39:48,000 --> 02:39:52,399
it on my lap. Then I looked back at the

2027
02:39:52,440 --> 02:39:57,840
mouth of the mine. I never heard the ticking sound again,

2028
02:39:59,520 --> 02:40:13,239
but I so never went back. Greg had always seemed untouchable.

2029
02:40:14,200 --> 02:40:15,920
He was the type of guy who could talk a

2030
02:40:15,959 --> 02:40:18,559
cop out of a ticket or drunk and half conscious,

2031
02:40:19,040 --> 02:40:21,360
then somehow get the same cop to drive him home.

2032
02:40:22,159 --> 02:40:25,680
So when his sister called me crying, struggling to get

2033
02:40:25,680 --> 02:40:28,879
her words out, I thought something had happened to their mom.

2034
02:40:30,280 --> 02:40:33,639
When she finally managed to speak, I had to ask

2035
02:40:33,719 --> 02:40:38,920
her to repeat herself. It turned out that the police

2036
02:40:38,920 --> 02:40:42,200
found Greg's body in his apartment after his boss called

2037
02:40:42,200 --> 02:40:44,399
in a wellness check when he didn't show up to

2038
02:40:44,479 --> 02:40:48,479
work for two days. The responding officers broke down the

2039
02:40:48,520 --> 02:40:52,840
door and found him in the living room. They wouldn't

2040
02:40:52,879 --> 02:40:56,680
let the family see the body. From what his sister

2041
02:40:56,760 --> 02:40:59,079
had heard when she had caught the officers on Braig

2042
02:40:59,159 --> 02:41:03,959
discussing the scene. His limbs were twisted, his spine curved

2043
02:41:04,000 --> 02:41:06,719
like someone had wrung him out from both ends, and

2044
02:41:06,840 --> 02:41:11,319
his eyes were gone. Whoever had done it was sadistic

2045
02:41:11,440 --> 02:41:16,479
beyond belief. There was no forced entry or weirdly enough

2046
02:41:16,959 --> 02:41:21,360
signs of a struggle. The case was being ruled as suspicious,

2047
02:41:21,959 --> 02:41:24,319
but that just meant they didn't ever clue who was

2048
02:41:24,399 --> 02:41:30,200
behind it. Despite having a wide net of friends, Gregg's

2049
02:41:30,239 --> 02:41:34,479
funeral was small. Only a few people made it in person.

2050
02:41:35,959 --> 02:41:39,520
Jamie hugged me outside the church. Her eyes were red

2051
02:41:39,760 --> 02:41:43,079
and a makeup had started to smear, but she still

2052
02:41:43,120 --> 02:41:49,719
looked the same, sharp, blunt, unapologetic. The others were there, too,

2053
02:41:50,719 --> 02:41:55,799
raff and legs. We all grew up together back then.

2054
02:41:56,200 --> 02:41:58,120
We used the joke that we were stuck with each

2055
02:41:58,159 --> 02:42:03,520
other for life, and for the most part we were sure.

2056
02:42:03,559 --> 02:42:06,959
We drifted apart for a few years during college, but

2057
02:42:07,040 --> 02:42:11,920
we always ended up circling back. But now Greg a

2058
02:42:12,040 --> 02:42:15,399
part of us was a closed casket and a photo

2059
02:42:15,520 --> 02:42:19,280
on an easel. The priest mumbled his way through a

2060
02:42:19,319 --> 02:42:24,399
handful of generalities, though I didn't really listen. I kept

2061
02:42:24,399 --> 02:42:27,719
looking around the room, half expecting Greg to appear at

2062
02:42:27,760 --> 02:42:30,840
the back and make some sarcastic comment about how weird

2063
02:42:30,840 --> 02:42:34,840
it was to watch people cry over you. For a moment,

2064
02:42:35,399 --> 02:42:38,360
I thought I saw movement near the exit, but my

2065
02:42:38,440 --> 02:42:40,719
brain had been plaining tricks on me since the night

2066
02:42:40,760 --> 02:42:45,840
I got the call. After the burial, we stood in

2067
02:42:45,879 --> 02:42:49,520
a loose, uneasy circle in the parking lot. None of

2068
02:42:49,600 --> 02:42:53,280
us seemed ready to go home. Then Jamie brought up

2069
02:42:53,319 --> 02:42:55,959
that night at the lake when Greg fell off the

2070
02:42:56,000 --> 02:43:00,000
dock trying to chug a beer upside down. We laughed,

2071
02:43:00,879 --> 02:43:07,479
then we stopped. The laughter felt wrong. I still don't

2072
02:43:07,479 --> 02:43:12,639
get what the hell happened, Ralph muttered. Nobody knew how

2073
02:43:12,680 --> 02:43:17,920
to respond. Our silent grieving was interrupted by a man

2074
02:43:17,959 --> 02:43:21,079
in his late forties wearing a plain suit with thinning

2075
02:43:21,159 --> 02:43:25,200
brown hair. He moved with a kind of tired professionalism

2076
02:43:25,639 --> 02:43:28,000
that told me he'd been doing this a long time.

2077
02:43:29,319 --> 02:43:35,600
He stopped just outside our circle and introduced himself, Detective Harlan.

2078
02:43:36,399 --> 02:43:41,959
Sorry to intrude. His tone was respectful. You were Gregg

2079
02:43:42,000 --> 02:43:47,959
Sutton's closest friends, right, We all nodded. I was wondering

2080
02:43:47,959 --> 02:43:50,959
if I could ask a few questions I understand to

2081
02:43:51,040 --> 02:43:53,879
day is not ideal, but I found people tend to

2082
02:43:53,920 --> 02:43:57,840
remember important things in the hours after a funeral brings

2083
02:43:57,879 --> 02:44:01,600
things into focus. I know you people have already been

2084
02:44:01,639 --> 02:44:04,639
interviewed and questioned. I'm aware that none of you are

2085
02:44:04,680 --> 02:44:11,879
deemed to be suspects. But Jamie crossed our arms, go ahead.

2086
02:44:12,479 --> 02:44:16,520
Did Greg have any enemies? I'm aware you've been asked

2087
02:44:16,520 --> 02:44:20,639
this question before, but are you absolutely certain there's no

2088
02:44:20,719 --> 02:44:24,280
one from the past, someone who held a grudge, maybe

2089
02:44:24,319 --> 02:44:27,440
something that didn't seem serious but could have been taken

2090
02:44:27,479 --> 02:44:33,760
the wrong way. No, Ralph said immediately. Everyone liked Greg.

2091
02:44:34,559 --> 02:44:39,200
I don't mean dislike, I mean resentment anyone he wronged,

2092
02:44:39,520 --> 02:44:45,920
even by accident. We looked at each other. I could

2093
02:44:45,920 --> 02:44:51,799
tell we were all thinking the same thing. No, I said, finally,

2094
02:44:52,639 --> 02:45:00,280
not that we know of. He nodded, slowly understood. Did

2095
02:45:00,280 --> 02:45:04,959
he mention anything strange recently, unusual messages, people showing up

2096
02:45:05,000 --> 02:45:09,879
where they shouldn't, anything like that. He shook our heads.

2097
02:45:11,079 --> 02:45:19,319
Last question, does the name Danny mean anything to you? There?

2098
02:45:19,360 --> 02:45:23,239
It was his tone hadn't changed, but I felt my

2099
02:45:23,399 --> 02:45:29,280
chest tightened. I glanced around. Everyone held the same expression

2100
02:45:29,479 --> 02:45:35,760
as me. No, Jamie said, doesn't ring a bell. The

2101
02:45:35,840 --> 02:45:39,360
detective watched us for a moment. I could tell he

2102
02:45:39,440 --> 02:45:43,920
didn't buy it, but he didn't press. He thanked us,

2103
02:45:44,159 --> 02:45:47,399
gave us his card, and walked off towards his car.

2104
02:45:49,040 --> 02:45:51,959
As soon as he was out of earshot, Ralph led

2105
02:45:52,000 --> 02:45:57,360
out a shaky breath. Danny true Low, I said a

2106
02:45:57,479 --> 02:46:02,040
name I hadn't said aloud in over a time decade.

2107
02:46:02,719 --> 02:46:05,799
Danny had been in our class from sixth grade until

2108
02:46:05,840 --> 02:46:09,319
the middle of sophomore year. He was a thin kid

2109
02:46:09,440 --> 02:46:13,120
with a quiet voice and thick glasses. He was always

2110
02:46:13,200 --> 02:46:17,079
hunged forward, like he was trying to disappear. He didn't

2111
02:46:17,079 --> 02:46:22,239
fit in, and we didn't let him. To make it simple,

2112
02:46:23,600 --> 02:46:27,479
we bullied the kid. The last time we saw him,

2113
02:46:27,920 --> 02:46:31,120
we did something that was supposed to be funny. A

2114
02:46:31,239 --> 02:46:35,319
dare Raff said he couldn't fit. Jamie said we should

2115
02:46:35,360 --> 02:46:39,280
find out. It was after school and the hallway was empty.

2116
02:46:40,319 --> 02:46:43,000
Gregg blocked the nearest stairwell while I held the door.

2117
02:46:44,000 --> 02:46:48,040
Danny fought harder than I thought he would. He cried, screamed,

2118
02:46:48,079 --> 02:46:53,280
and begged. It only made us more determined. I remember

2119
02:46:53,280 --> 02:46:55,879
the heat of his shoulder press against mine as we

2120
02:46:56,040 --> 02:46:59,319
forced him into a locker. I remember the sound of

2121
02:46:59,360 --> 02:47:03,559
metal slam shot, the way it echoed, and his fists

2122
02:47:03,600 --> 02:47:08,239
pounding from the inside while we walked away. I don't

2123
02:47:08,239 --> 02:47:11,360
know how long it was stuck, Maybe until the janitor

2124
02:47:11,440 --> 02:47:17,600
came in the next morning, maybe longer after that. He

2125
02:47:17,719 --> 02:47:21,520
was gone, and that changed something in all of us.

2126
02:47:23,000 --> 02:47:25,399
The school didn't make a big deal of it, which

2127
02:47:25,440 --> 02:47:29,440
in hindsight, was to be expected. One of the guidance

2128
02:47:29,479 --> 02:47:33,399
counselors said he transferred. Some whispered that his parents pulled

2129
02:47:33,440 --> 02:47:37,040
him out after a breakdown. There were rumors about his

2130
02:47:37,120 --> 02:47:40,479
mom showing up in tears at the principal's office demanding

2131
02:47:40,479 --> 02:47:46,760
to know what happened. We didn't face any consequences, and

2132
02:47:47,760 --> 02:47:54,920
we stopped thinking about him until now. I don't think

2133
02:47:54,920 --> 02:47:59,319
it means anything, Raff said, could be a coincidence. Someone

2134
02:47:59,360 --> 02:48:04,840
with the same name. Jamie frowned. He said, Danny, not

2135
02:48:04,920 --> 02:48:08,280
the full name. Sure could have been any Danny, But

2136
02:48:08,360 --> 02:48:10,680
why not did the detective bring that name up in

2137
02:48:10,719 --> 02:48:15,559
the first place? What if it was him, though, Leg said,

2138
02:48:16,399 --> 02:48:22,120
Ralph rolled his eyes. Jeez, don't start, I'm serious. Leg said.

2139
02:48:22,639 --> 02:48:24,959
He said the name right after asking if Greg had

2140
02:48:25,000 --> 02:48:31,239
any enemies that means something, Ralph snapped. You really think

2141
02:48:31,280 --> 02:48:34,040
some kid we bullied fifteen years ago came back and

2142
02:48:34,079 --> 02:48:39,360
twisted Greg into a goddamn pretzel. Raf softened a little.

2143
02:48:40,520 --> 02:48:45,479
We were bad, yeah, but we were kids. I don't

2144
02:48:45,520 --> 02:48:49,360
feel good about it either, he continued, But that doesn't

2145
02:48:49,399 --> 02:48:53,280
mean we jumped to wild ass theories. Greg's dead. That's

2146
02:48:53,360 --> 02:48:57,559
horrible enough without spinning it into a revenge fantasy. We

2147
02:48:57,600 --> 02:49:04,440
don't even know if Danny's alive, Jamie exhaled through his nose. Look,

2148
02:49:04,719 --> 02:49:07,360
if it turns out something more is going on, we'll

2149
02:49:07,440 --> 02:49:11,639
talk to the cops right now. We'd sound insane. You

2150
02:49:11,719 --> 02:49:13,639
want us to bring up a kid we bollied fifteen

2151
02:49:13,719 --> 02:49:17,000
years ago in a murder case. I shook my head,

2152
02:49:17,079 --> 02:49:24,159
no exactly. We agreed not to bring it up again.

2153
02:49:25,319 --> 02:49:28,959
We went home, each returning to our separate houses under

2154
02:49:29,000 --> 02:49:33,280
the glows street light and the silent orbit of patrol cars.

2155
02:49:34,079 --> 02:49:36,399
I lay in bed for hours with the covers pulled

2156
02:49:36,479 --> 02:49:39,920
up to my chin, staring at the ceiling and reminiscing.

2157
02:49:42,639 --> 02:49:45,239
The next day, Rapha and I were at his place,

2158
02:49:45,680 --> 02:49:48,959
sitting on the couch of the television on though neither

2159
02:49:49,040 --> 02:49:52,319
of us was watching it. A game was playing, but

2160
02:49:52,360 --> 02:49:55,239
the volume was low, Yet neither of us had the

2161
02:49:55,360 --> 02:49:59,719
energy for small talk. We hadn't seen Jamie since the funeral,

2162
02:50:00,040 --> 02:50:03,440
and didn't talk about Greg anymore, not because we were

2163
02:50:03,440 --> 02:50:06,719
already moving on, but because we didn't know how to

2164
02:50:06,760 --> 02:50:10,479
carry the weight of what happened. It sat between us

2165
02:50:10,559 --> 02:50:14,440
like a third person in the room. We were speaking

2166
02:50:14,479 --> 02:50:17,639
about some things, trying to crack the silence that loomed,

2167
02:50:18,479 --> 02:50:22,479
when we were interrupted by an incoming call on RAF's phone,

2168
02:50:22,719 --> 02:50:28,879
his mom. He answered it on speaker, Raf, she said,

2169
02:50:29,360 --> 02:50:33,040
and a voice cracked halfway through his name. Something happened

2170
02:50:33,200 --> 02:50:40,120
at Lex's apartment complex. He sat forward slowly, eyes narrowing,

2171
02:50:40,440 --> 02:50:46,280
already braced. What do you mean someone's dead? She said,

2172
02:50:46,799 --> 02:50:50,799
it's bad. Have you not seen the news? They said?

2173
02:50:51,479 --> 02:50:55,559
She couldn't finish. We both stared at the phone. Raf

2174
02:50:55,840 --> 02:51:00,000
asked for details, She didn't have many. He hung up

2175
02:51:00,239 --> 02:51:04,120
without saying goodbye, then turned to me, pale and still

2176
02:51:05,479 --> 02:51:10,040
we need to go check up on Les. On the

2177
02:51:10,120 --> 02:51:13,200
drive to Lex's place, Ralph drummed his fingers on the

2178
02:51:13,239 --> 02:51:16,760
steering wheel the entire time, a nervous ticket had since

2179
02:51:16,799 --> 02:51:20,479
middle school. By the time we pulled up to the complex,

2180
02:51:20,879 --> 02:51:24,760
who was blocked off with police tape. Flashing lights turned

2181
02:51:24,760 --> 02:51:28,159
the lot into a mess of color and shadow. An

2182
02:51:28,159 --> 02:51:32,120
officer out front was talking to a reporter. She asked

2183
02:51:32,120 --> 02:51:35,559
if he was related to the sudden case. The officer

2184
02:51:35,639 --> 02:51:40,799
said they couldn't comment. The reporter kept pressing. She mentioned

2185
02:51:40,840 --> 02:51:48,399
the name. We weren't expecting to hear les. We got

2186
02:51:48,399 --> 02:51:51,760
back in the car without saying anything. We drove straight

2187
02:51:51,799 --> 02:51:55,799
to the police station. Ralph ran to red lights. I

2188
02:51:55,920 --> 02:52:00,000
didn't stop him. Our silence had turned heavy, and there

2189
02:52:00,000 --> 02:52:03,959
it was less shock and more fear. Now we walked

2190
02:52:03,959 --> 02:52:06,440
through the glass doors, and we met with a sound

2191
02:52:06,440 --> 02:52:10,920
of voices, paper shuffling, and phones ringing. The front desk

2192
02:52:11,000 --> 02:52:15,120
officer looked up, recognized us somehow, and nodded us through

2193
02:52:15,159 --> 02:52:20,319
without much hassle. Jamie was already there. She sat in

2194
02:52:20,319 --> 02:52:23,319
one of the waiting chairs near the front, arms folded,

2195
02:52:23,440 --> 02:52:26,840
foot tapping. Her hair was tied back in a loose

2196
02:52:26,920 --> 02:52:31,920
bun and looked like she hadn't slept. Her face went

2197
02:52:31,959 --> 02:52:36,840
stiff when she saw us. I heard already, she said,

2198
02:52:37,399 --> 02:52:44,319
did you. Ralph nodded yeah. I wanted to contact you guys,

2199
02:52:44,719 --> 02:52:46,280
but I was in such a rush to get to

2200
02:52:46,319 --> 02:52:49,479
the police station. I was so scared after finding count

2201
02:52:49,559 --> 02:52:53,760
I Jamie stood and walked down the hall with us.

2202
02:52:54,360 --> 02:52:56,920
I already told them we need to talk to Detective Harlan.

2203
02:52:57,639 --> 02:53:03,040
He's in a meeting. Wasn't a coincidence, I said, and

2204
02:53:03,159 --> 02:53:06,959
I hated how thin my voice sounded. This person is

2205
02:53:07,040 --> 02:53:12,840
clearly targeting our group Danny, Jamie said, biting down on

2206
02:53:12,879 --> 02:53:17,200
the word. You think it's him. I don't know who

2207
02:53:17,200 --> 02:53:23,680
else it could be. We waited. Eventually Harlan came out

2208
02:53:23,680 --> 02:53:27,040
of a side hallway. His eyes moved across the three

2209
02:53:27,079 --> 02:53:32,719
of us before settling. He didn't look surprised. He waved

2210
02:53:32,760 --> 02:53:36,799
us into a back room without a word. Once the

2211
02:53:36,879 --> 02:53:42,440
door shut, Jamie spoke, first, we lie to you about Danny.

2212
02:53:44,000 --> 02:53:51,239
The detective nodded slowly. I figured. Ralph stepped forward. We

2213
02:53:51,280 --> 02:53:54,559
knew him a long time ago. We went to school together.

2214
02:53:55,120 --> 02:54:01,079
His name is Danny Truilo. What happened? We bollied him,

2215
02:54:01,559 --> 02:54:06,760
I said hard. It wasn't teasing. It was full and cruelty.

2216
02:54:07,680 --> 02:54:10,200
We pushed him out of that school, maybe out of

2217
02:54:10,200 --> 02:54:12,719
his mind. We locked him in a locker and left

2218
02:54:12,799 --> 02:54:20,760
him overnight then he was gone. The detective took a

2219
02:54:20,799 --> 02:54:26,000
breath and rubbed his jaw. You didn't mention that, no,

2220
02:54:26,639 --> 02:54:31,479
Jamie said, because well, we didn't want to bring him up.

2221
02:54:32,079 --> 02:54:34,719
We thought we were all being weird of conspiracy theorists.

2222
02:54:35,600 --> 02:54:39,639
You think he's doing this after all these years. He

2223
02:54:39,799 --> 02:54:43,399
was the last person we ever hurt. I said, Danny

2224
02:54:43,440 --> 02:54:49,040
going away changed us. We felt guilty. He looked at

2225
02:54:49,079 --> 02:54:53,639
the table, then back at us. We've had that name

2226
02:54:53,680 --> 02:54:59,360
at both scenes. Danny, no other traces or clues. Whoever

2227
02:54:59,399 --> 02:55:03,399
did it definitely knew Gregg and now Lex. If you're

2228
02:55:03,479 --> 02:55:06,680
saying this person might be Danny Shruillo, then that gives

2229
02:55:06,719 --> 02:55:09,840
me something to go on. We'll start pulling records and

2230
02:55:09,879 --> 02:55:13,040
see what we can dig up. If you think your targets,

2231
02:55:13,440 --> 02:55:16,600
I'll make sure patrols stay in your area in case

2232
02:55:16,680 --> 02:55:26,239
this person comes back, find him, Raf said, please. After

2233
02:55:26,239 --> 02:55:30,639
we left the station, I couldn't sleep. I kept picturing

2234
02:55:30,680 --> 02:55:35,239
my dead friends. I waited until morning and then started

2235
02:55:35,280 --> 02:55:40,840
calling around. The high school secretary remembered me. She didn't

2236
02:55:40,879 --> 02:55:44,079
remember Danny, not until I gave her his last name.

2237
02:55:45,159 --> 02:55:47,120
I lied and told her it was for an old

2238
02:55:47,159 --> 02:55:50,840
alumni project. She gave me the principal's name from that

2239
02:55:50,959 --> 02:55:54,120
year and said he'd retired but might still have some

2240
02:55:54,239 --> 02:55:58,280
information on him. I contacted Raf and Jamie about it,

2241
02:55:58,959 --> 02:56:01,159
and we all try to get it as much information

2242
02:56:01,399 --> 02:56:06,079
as we could. Later that day, Jamie sent a message

2243
02:56:06,159 --> 02:56:09,319
in the group chat and she told us she drove

2244
02:56:09,399 --> 02:56:12,959
to the local records office. She had a hard time,

2245
02:56:13,440 --> 02:56:19,879
but apparently she managed to get something. Danny's parents were

2246
02:56:19,920 --> 02:56:22,799
found dead in their home less than a week after

2247
02:56:22,879 --> 02:56:28,079
he moved. Both bodies showed signs of massive internal trauma,

2248
02:56:28,600 --> 02:56:33,239
blunt force and tearing. No weapon was recovered, and no

2249
02:56:33,319 --> 02:56:37,879
one was arrested. The case was marked undetermined and closed

2250
02:56:37,879 --> 02:56:43,479
after eight weeks. The report was cold and clinical. He

2251
02:56:43,600 --> 02:56:47,639
was relocated to a state facility new residents sealed per

2252
02:56:47,680 --> 02:56:53,120
court order. That was it. There was no trace of

2253
02:56:53,200 --> 02:56:57,200
him after that. It was as if he disappeared completely.

2254
02:57:00,000 --> 02:57:02,799
I stared at the block of text on my phone.

2255
02:57:03,040 --> 02:57:05,959
My hands were shaking, but I didn't notice, and on

2256
02:57:06,079 --> 02:57:09,799
my phone started to slip from my grip. I used

2257
02:57:09,799 --> 02:57:12,680
to think guilt was something you felt in moments right

2258
02:57:12,760 --> 02:57:16,239
after something happened, or when someone confronted you about it.

2259
02:57:17,280 --> 02:57:21,959
But it wasn't like that. It spread. He pushed into

2260
02:57:22,000 --> 02:57:25,959
your ribs and your spine and made it hard to breathe.

2261
02:57:26,280 --> 02:57:28,760
I knew what we did to him was cruel. I

2262
02:57:28,840 --> 02:57:32,120
knew that for years, but I never thought about where

2263
02:57:32,200 --> 02:57:35,440
he went, or what came next, or who he had

2264
02:57:35,440 --> 02:57:41,360
become to survive. Jamie came over the next night. I

2265
02:57:41,440 --> 02:57:43,479
heard a knock and felt a flash of panic in

2266
02:57:43,520 --> 02:57:47,319
my chest before I saw her through the people. She

2267
02:57:47,440 --> 02:57:50,120
was holding two coffees in a tray and a fast

2268
02:57:50,159 --> 02:57:55,879
food paper bag. Her hands were shaking slightly. I let

2269
02:57:55,879 --> 02:57:58,159
her in and we sat in the living room with

2270
02:57:58,239 --> 02:58:03,600
the TV off. I keep hearing him, she said after

2271
02:58:03,639 --> 02:58:12,000
a while. Gregg I nodded, yeah, I am. I haven't

2272
02:58:12,000 --> 02:58:15,559
slept since they found legs. I'm scared to close my eyes.

2273
02:58:16,159 --> 02:58:18,280
I feel like something is watching me when the lights

2274
02:58:18,319 --> 02:58:24,079
go off. I told her I felt the same. We

2275
02:58:24,239 --> 02:58:27,920
laughed for a second. The laughter came quick and shallow,

2276
02:58:28,280 --> 02:58:33,360
with no weight to it. We sound crazy, she said,

2277
02:58:33,959 --> 02:58:41,120
probably are, I replied. Then we went quiet again. The

2278
02:58:41,200 --> 02:58:45,200
conversations after was short and awkward, but he felt good

2279
02:58:45,239 --> 02:58:48,520
to be in some one's presence. I'm sure that's why

2280
02:58:48,559 --> 02:58:52,639
she came over in the first place we parted ways.

2281
02:58:52,680 --> 02:58:58,559
Shortly after that, she texted me the following afternoon the

2282
02:58:58,600 --> 02:59:03,479
police approved it. I'm going into protective custody. They're placing

2283
02:59:03,479 --> 02:59:06,879
me in a secure prison unit. It's the safest place

2284
02:59:06,920 --> 02:59:14,600
they've got. I called her immediately, she didn't answer. Ten

2285
02:59:14,639 --> 02:59:19,639
minutes later, she sent a voice message, I'm sorry. I

2286
02:59:19,680 --> 02:59:23,959
can't keep doing this. I'm losing my mind. Every sound

2287
02:59:24,000 --> 02:59:27,680
at night makes me flinch. I'd barely eat. I'm scared

2288
02:59:27,680 --> 02:59:30,280
I'll end up like Gregg and Les, and I don't

2289
02:59:30,280 --> 02:59:35,159
want to die screaming. This place is safe, and you

2290
02:59:35,239 --> 02:59:40,680
guys should probably do the same. I texted back that

2291
02:59:40,760 --> 02:59:44,040
I understood. I told her we'd miss her and that

2292
02:59:44,079 --> 02:59:48,040
i'd stay in touch however I could. She replied with

2293
02:59:48,120 --> 02:59:53,200
her thumbs up and a broken heart emoji. Later, raph

2294
02:59:53,239 --> 02:59:56,600
and I sat together in his living room. He'd bagged

2295
02:59:56,639 --> 02:59:59,360
a duffel bag, but didn't know where he wanted to go.

2296
03:00:00,479 --> 03:00:03,520
He said he didn't trust any systems meant to protect people.

2297
03:00:04,920 --> 03:00:08,879
I didn't argue. I felt the same, and we decided

2298
03:00:08,920 --> 03:00:12,040
that we wouldn't be going into anything like protective custody.

2299
03:00:13,280 --> 03:00:16,440
He ended up crashing in my couch that night, we

2300
03:00:16,520 --> 03:00:19,680
made a deal to stick together for now. We had

2301
03:00:19,719 --> 03:00:23,040
each other, we had a weapon, and we had police

2302
03:00:23,040 --> 03:00:27,920
patrols circling the block. We tried pretending life could go on.

2303
03:00:29,079 --> 03:00:32,000
Ralph kept sleeping on my couch and I stopped logging

2304
03:00:32,040 --> 03:00:36,399
into work entirely. We stalked up on groceries, though most

2305
03:00:36,399 --> 03:00:40,079
of what we bought stayed unopened. I didn't say it

2306
03:00:40,120 --> 03:00:44,719
out loud, but we both believed Jamie was safer than us.

2307
03:00:45,360 --> 03:00:47,399
She was supposed to be the one that made it.

2308
03:00:49,559 --> 03:00:54,040
The call came from the detective, not the news. He

2309
03:00:54,079 --> 03:00:57,920
didn't speak right away. I remember his breathing more than

2310
03:00:57,959 --> 03:01:01,280
his voice. He came through the speaker like he'd been

2311
03:01:01,360 --> 03:01:06,239
running or pacing. When he finally said a name, my

2312
03:01:06,360 --> 03:01:10,120
legs buckled. I sat down on the floor next to

2313
03:01:10,120 --> 03:01:13,280
the coffee table, or raft stood frozen by the door.

2314
03:01:15,120 --> 03:01:20,120
They found her that morning, dead in her cell. Her

2315
03:01:20,120 --> 03:01:25,879
body was destroyed, and somehow there were no traces. The

2316
03:01:25,920 --> 03:01:30,040
prison's availlance system had failed overnight. All footage from a

2317
03:01:30,079 --> 03:01:32,879
wing was blacked out. Between three oh two and three

2318
03:01:32,959 --> 03:01:37,719
seventeen a m. Three guards were found unconscious outside her unit,

2319
03:01:39,520 --> 03:01:47,200
and again that name Danny, Raph and I sat in silence.

2320
03:01:47,239 --> 03:01:50,520
After the call ended. He put his head in his hands.

2321
03:01:51,639 --> 03:01:55,520
I could hear him whispering to himself. He didn't cry,

2322
03:01:55,920 --> 03:01:57,920
but he shook hard enough that the glass on the

2323
03:01:57,959 --> 03:02:02,639
table rattled. Detective Harland came to the house later that day.

2324
03:02:04,000 --> 03:02:10,200
He looked like hell, look, he said, voice low. I

2325
03:02:10,280 --> 03:02:13,239
understand you boys don't want to be placed in police custody,

2326
03:02:14,079 --> 03:02:17,239
not after what has happened. But I say this as

2327
03:02:17,239 --> 03:02:21,239
a friend, not as a government body. Now pack your

2328
03:02:21,280 --> 03:02:26,360
things and get the hell out of here. We didn't reply,

2329
03:02:27,079 --> 03:02:32,399
but he continued, I've got nothing to go on, he said, solemnly.

2330
03:02:33,280 --> 03:02:38,120
We're increasing patrols, I've pulled favors for federal assistance. But

2331
03:02:38,239 --> 03:02:42,440
this person, who he assumed is Danny Truillo his skill

2332
03:02:42,559 --> 03:02:45,879
to a degree I've never witnessed in my life. The

2333
03:02:45,959 --> 03:02:49,600
thing's happening at these scenes don't make sense. I've seen

2334
03:02:49,680 --> 03:02:52,239
twenty year veterans from it. And what was left to

2335
03:02:52,319 --> 03:02:58,479
that girl. He shook his head and stood, we'll keep

2336
03:02:58,479 --> 03:03:02,239
a car outside. But if I were you, I damn

2337
03:03:02,239 --> 03:03:04,680
it all to hell and go as far away as

2338
03:03:04,719 --> 03:03:11,280
you can. After the detective left, Raph and I decided

2339
03:03:11,319 --> 03:03:15,680
to follow his advice. I brought up a plan, said

2340
03:03:15,719 --> 03:03:19,319
we could go west, stay with my cousin, disappear until

2341
03:03:19,360 --> 03:03:23,399
this all blew over. We wanted this case solved, we

2342
03:03:23,600 --> 03:03:28,959
truly did, but we were too scared. Ralph said going

2343
03:03:29,040 --> 03:03:32,680
west would still mean being close. Jamie was in a

2344
03:03:32,719 --> 03:03:38,120
maximum security location and Danny somehow got to her. We

2345
03:03:38,239 --> 03:03:42,360
packed our things, decided we'd start the following morning. Drove

2346
03:03:42,479 --> 03:03:45,959
until we reached the coast, and then decided from there.

2347
03:03:48,799 --> 03:03:51,719
I woke to the sound of something pounding that night.

2348
03:03:53,079 --> 03:03:56,040
It took a few seconds to understand what I was hearing.

2349
03:03:56,879 --> 03:04:00,799
My mind was still fogged with sleep. I sat up

2350
03:04:00,840 --> 03:04:04,559
and reached for the gun instinctively. I'd replayed what if

2351
03:04:04,600 --> 03:04:09,879
situations hundreds of times my mind already. The pounding came again,

2352
03:04:10,840 --> 03:04:14,639
three dull thuds. Somewhere on the other side of the house.

2353
03:04:15,840 --> 03:04:20,840
I called out a RAF. No answer. I moved toward

2354
03:04:20,879 --> 03:04:24,520
the hallway, keeping the gun raised. I tried not to

2355
03:04:24,559 --> 03:04:27,399
think about why the air smelled sour. I tried not

2356
03:04:27,440 --> 03:04:36,200
to think at all, RAF I whispered, still nothing. I

2357
03:04:36,280 --> 03:04:39,440
reached the door to the guest room and stood outside it.

2358
03:04:40,600 --> 03:04:44,239
I could hear something moving on the other side. A wet,

2359
03:04:44,319 --> 03:04:48,120
dragging sound like wet meat, pulled across the wood floor.

2360
03:04:49,559 --> 03:04:55,600
My fingers closed around the doorknob. I turned it and pushed.

2361
03:04:58,159 --> 03:05:03,000
The door opened slowly, just creaking loudly. The smell hit

2362
03:05:03,079 --> 03:05:08,360
me first, rot and bile. The room was dim. The

2363
03:05:08,360 --> 03:05:11,840
blackout curtains kept most of the light out, but there

2364
03:05:11,879 --> 03:05:16,879
was enough from the hallway to make out shapes. Raf

2365
03:05:18,079 --> 03:05:21,879
was on the bed, Oh what was left of him.

2366
03:05:23,280 --> 03:05:27,000
His body was bent in half, his spine cracked backward.

2367
03:05:27,799 --> 03:05:31,239
One arm had been torn, cleaned off and tossed against

2368
03:05:31,280 --> 03:05:35,000
the wall. His jaw hung open from one hinge, the

2369
03:05:35,079 --> 03:05:41,440
tongue swaying beneath it. It, on the other hand, was hunched

2370
03:05:41,440 --> 03:05:46,520
over him. The creature looked up when I stepped inside.

2371
03:05:46,760 --> 03:05:50,280
Its skin was tight and gray, pulled so thin I

2372
03:05:50,360 --> 03:05:54,319
could see every bone beneath it. Saws ran up its

2373
03:05:54,360 --> 03:05:57,760
back and neck, leaking a dark yellow fluid that clung

2374
03:05:57,840 --> 03:06:02,360
in thick strings. Its arms were long, ending in hands

2375
03:06:02,360 --> 03:06:05,840
that dragged down to the floor. Each finger tipped in

2376
03:06:05,920 --> 03:06:09,719
what looked more like bone than claw. Its chest heaved

2377
03:06:09,799 --> 03:06:16,680
with uneven, wet breaths. It didn't move. I raised the

2378
03:06:16,719 --> 03:06:21,840
gun and entered the clip into its torso. Each shot hit,

2379
03:06:22,840 --> 03:06:27,559
but it didn't fall or seemed fazed at all. It

2380
03:06:27,639 --> 03:06:32,000
stepped toward me like the bullets had annoyed it. I

2381
03:06:32,120 --> 03:06:38,280
turned and bolted down the hallway. Behind me, the door exploded.

2382
03:06:39,239 --> 03:06:42,559
I felt pieces of it bounce off my back. The

2383
03:06:42,639 --> 03:06:45,799
thing was moving faster now I could hear its feet

2384
03:06:45,920 --> 03:06:50,040
slapping the floor. I reached the bedroom, slammed the door,

2385
03:06:50,479 --> 03:06:53,879
and locked it. I grabbed the dresser and pushed it

2386
03:06:53,920 --> 03:06:57,559
in front of the frame, then the bookshelf. My breath

2387
03:06:57,639 --> 03:07:01,559
came too fast. My chest climbed down in waves. I

2388
03:07:01,600 --> 03:07:05,600
could barely see straight. I dared nine one one, but

2389
03:07:05,719 --> 03:07:09,520
before the operator could even pick up, glass burst behind

2390
03:07:09,559 --> 03:07:14,559
me in an irruption of sound and wind. It came

2391
03:07:14,600 --> 03:07:19,159
in all at once, the window imploding inward, spray sharps

2392
03:07:19,159 --> 03:07:24,440
across the room. Hands grabbed me from behind. One clamped

2393
03:07:24,440 --> 03:07:28,639
around my wrist, the other gripped my shoulder. The next

2394
03:07:28,639 --> 03:07:31,440
thing I knew, my feet were off the floor and

2395
03:07:31,479 --> 03:07:37,719
a voice was barking into my ear. Move He dragged

2396
03:07:37,719 --> 03:07:40,399
me through the broken window frame, and I hid the

2397
03:07:40,479 --> 03:07:45,799
lawn hard. My shoulder slammed into the dirt I rolled,

2398
03:07:45,920 --> 03:07:49,680
tasting blood in the back of my throat. Behind us,

2399
03:07:50,120 --> 03:07:55,159
the bedroom door cracked open. Get up, the man said,

2400
03:07:56,360 --> 03:07:59,799
He bawled me again. We ran through the yard, past

2401
03:07:59,840 --> 03:08:02,840
the clap's garden bed, over the gravel path that tore

2402
03:08:02,920 --> 03:08:06,799
up my souls. My legs moved on instinct, powered by

2403
03:08:06,840 --> 03:08:10,479
nothing but fear. I didn't even know what was going

2404
03:08:10,520 --> 03:08:14,840
on anymore. There was a car parked two houses down.

2405
03:08:15,639 --> 03:08:17,760
We got to it, and the man yanked the door

2406
03:08:17,799 --> 03:08:20,840
open and shoved me inside, before climbing in after me.

2407
03:08:22,159 --> 03:08:26,520
He started the engine without hesitation. It spluttered and groaned,

2408
03:08:26,920 --> 03:08:30,799
but it roared to life. We peeled away from the curb.

2409
03:08:33,040 --> 03:08:35,959
I turned to the man behind the wheel, heart pounding.

2410
03:08:37,440 --> 03:08:40,360
What the hell was that thing? I asked, And who

2411
03:08:40,440 --> 03:08:46,200
even are you? He looked over at me slowly. His

2412
03:08:46,319 --> 03:08:49,959
face was worn down to the bone. Deep creases were

2413
03:08:50,000 --> 03:08:53,959
carved across his cheeks and forehead. His eyes darker than

2414
03:08:54,000 --> 03:08:57,479
I remembered anyone's eyes being, watched me for a second,

2415
03:08:57,520 --> 03:09:07,319
longer than felt comfortable. It's me, Danny, he said. My

2416
03:09:07,440 --> 03:09:11,000
mind refused the process what he'd just told me. This

2417
03:09:11,159 --> 03:09:13,680
man couldn't be the same kid we stuffed into a locker.

2418
03:09:14,399 --> 03:09:16,760
This man looked like he'd walked through deserts and lived

2419
03:09:16,760 --> 03:09:21,840
in parking garages. His beard was wild, patchy around the jawline,

2420
03:09:22,239 --> 03:09:26,159
thick in the middle. His voice carried gravel in every word.

2421
03:09:27,959 --> 03:09:35,559
You're Danny Trueilo, He nodded. Before I could respond, he

2422
03:09:35,639 --> 03:09:40,799
spoke again. I just want to say I forgave you,

2423
03:09:41,840 --> 03:09:47,799
he said a long time ago. I wanted to speak,

2424
03:09:48,360 --> 03:09:52,200
but I let him continue. I used to lie awake

2425
03:09:52,280 --> 03:09:56,120
every night, he said, back when I lived at home.

2426
03:09:57,079 --> 03:09:59,719
I used to pray to anything that might have been

2427
03:09:59,760 --> 03:10:05,600
listenting God, demons, shadows on the ceiling. I didn't care

2428
03:10:05,680 --> 03:10:08,680
what it was. I just begged for something to take

2429
03:10:08,719 --> 03:10:13,120
them all away. Everyone who hurt me, my parents, the

2430
03:10:13,200 --> 03:10:16,920
kids at school, anyone who made me feel smaller than dirt.

2431
03:10:19,159 --> 03:10:22,959
His hands tightened, and the steering wheel. And one night

2432
03:10:23,559 --> 03:10:26,280
after you guys stuffed me in a locker, I was

2433
03:10:26,319 --> 03:10:31,280
more adamant that something answered than ever before. And something

2434
03:10:31,360 --> 03:10:38,000
did answer. He stared ahead again, eyes glassy expression. Still,

2435
03:10:39,280 --> 03:10:43,079
he wasn't recalling it like a memory. He was reciting

2436
03:10:43,120 --> 03:10:47,399
it something he told himself so many times the words

2437
03:10:47,479 --> 03:10:52,399
had become carved into the inside of his skull. The

2438
03:10:52,440 --> 03:10:55,719
first to go were my parents. I found them in

2439
03:10:55,719 --> 03:10:58,959
the living room. My dad's back was snapped in half.

2440
03:11:00,159 --> 03:11:03,360
Mom she looked like she'd been folded into the carpet.

2441
03:11:04,399 --> 03:11:06,600
The police said it was some kind of freak collapse.

2442
03:11:07,479 --> 03:11:10,440
They moved me into a home two towns over, and

2443
03:11:10,520 --> 03:11:14,520
that should have been the end of it. But it wasn't.

2444
03:11:17,360 --> 03:11:22,719
He finally looked at me again. He kept going every

2445
03:11:22,799 --> 03:11:26,280
name I had ever whispered in anger, every person I

2446
03:11:26,319 --> 03:11:30,000
wished Harman, every curse I made with tears in my eyes.

2447
03:11:31,159 --> 03:11:36,879
It hunted them down, one by one, sometimes years later,

2448
03:11:37,360 --> 03:11:43,360
sometimes across the country. His voice dropped lower. You were

2449
03:11:43,399 --> 03:11:48,680
the last because you were far. That's it. You lived

2450
03:11:48,680 --> 03:11:53,920
too far. And it took time. I didn't know what

2451
03:11:54,079 --> 03:11:57,360
to say. I didn't know it would last this long,

2452
03:11:58,000 --> 03:12:01,079
he said. I thought it would be out or turn

2453
03:12:01,159 --> 03:12:03,959
on me. I tried to keep ahead of it, I

2454
03:12:04,040 --> 03:12:08,200
really did. I moved every six months. I tried attacking it,

2455
03:12:08,719 --> 03:12:14,280
and every solution you could think of, I've probably tried it.

2456
03:12:14,280 --> 03:12:18,440
It didn't help. I'm sorry about Gregg, I'm sorry about

2457
03:12:18,520 --> 03:12:26,239
Les Jamie Raff. I tried my best. The car sat

2458
03:12:26,319 --> 03:12:30,239
in silence for a long time. Danny's story drifted through

2459
03:12:30,239 --> 03:12:34,440
the air like a bad smell that wouldn't leave. I

2460
03:12:34,520 --> 03:12:38,280
turned toward him, my voice catching before it escaped my throat.

2461
03:12:40,159 --> 03:12:44,799
How do we stop it? He didn't answer right away.

2462
03:12:45,600 --> 03:12:48,680
He reached between the seat and the center console and

2463
03:12:48,760 --> 03:12:52,760
pulled out a dented metal firmace. He unscrewed the lid

2464
03:12:52,879 --> 03:12:56,079
and took a sip. The smell that rose up was

2465
03:12:56,159 --> 03:13:02,559
sharp and chemical. My stomach turned. I've been preparing for years,

2466
03:13:03,280 --> 03:13:07,360
he said, testing things. I don't know if it's alive

2467
03:13:07,399 --> 03:13:10,200
in the way you and I are, but it reacts

2468
03:13:10,239 --> 03:13:16,079
to pain. I've harmed it before, so it can die.

2469
03:13:16,479 --> 03:13:21,399
How I've built something that might work. Ammunition soaked in

2470
03:13:21,440 --> 03:13:23,600
a mix I've been tweaking for the better part of

2471
03:13:23,639 --> 03:13:30,000
a decade, silver powder, industrial salt, lye iron fillings, and

2472
03:13:30,040 --> 03:13:34,719
a few other things. He reached into his pocket and

2473
03:13:34,840 --> 03:13:39,799
took out a single round. The casing shimmered, not with polish,

2474
03:13:40,280 --> 03:13:45,040
but something deeper, something buried in the metal. He held

2475
03:13:45,040 --> 03:13:49,799
it between his fingers with care. I created the first

2476
03:13:49,879 --> 03:13:53,159
version of this bullet a few months ago. I hit it,

2477
03:13:54,159 --> 03:13:57,040
and that was the first and only time I've ever

2478
03:13:57,120 --> 03:14:02,719
heard it make a sound. My throat was dry. How

2479
03:14:02,799 --> 03:14:09,719
many of those do you have? Three? And that's enough? Maybe?

2480
03:14:12,200 --> 03:14:16,440
I leaned back, mind racing. Every instinct in me was

2481
03:14:16,520 --> 03:14:19,479
telling me to run, to take whatever car I could

2482
03:14:19,479 --> 03:14:22,959
find and disappear into the back roads until the fuel

2483
03:14:23,040 --> 03:14:27,239
ran out. But there was nowhere left to run. I'd

2484
03:14:27,280 --> 03:14:31,879
seen what happened to people who tried hiding. What do

2485
03:14:31,920 --> 03:14:37,040
you need from me, I asked. Danny looked over, his

2486
03:14:37,200 --> 03:14:42,639
voice quieter. Now it needs bait, and you're the last

2487
03:14:42,719 --> 03:14:48,680
name left. I nodded. There was nothing else to say.

2488
03:14:50,479 --> 03:14:53,920
We made it to an abandoned house. Eventually, the porch

2489
03:14:54,079 --> 03:14:57,879
leaned toward the dirt. We drove in under the moonlight

2490
03:14:58,200 --> 03:15:00,440
and killed the engine a few hundred feet fat back

2491
03:15:00,719 --> 03:15:07,319
to avoid drawing attention. Inside the house was worse. The

2492
03:15:07,399 --> 03:15:12,879
walls were covered in pages, scribbled diagrams, symbols, names, ingredients.

2493
03:15:13,799 --> 03:15:17,639
Half of them I didn't recognize. The other half made

2494
03:15:17,639 --> 03:15:22,440
my skin itch. There were dozens of shellcasings lined up

2495
03:15:22,440 --> 03:15:26,280
on a crracked bugshelf. A single mattress lay in one corner,

2496
03:15:26,760 --> 03:15:31,440
soaked through with old sweat. Danny opened a chest in

2497
03:15:31,479 --> 03:15:35,120
the back and pulled out the weapon It was a

2498
03:15:35,200 --> 03:15:39,799
hunting rifle, heavily modified, with wire wrapped around the barrel

2499
03:15:40,040 --> 03:15:44,280
and scratches etched into the stalk. He held it like

2500
03:15:44,319 --> 03:15:48,959
a man holding a relic, not at aol. I'll take

2501
03:15:49,000 --> 03:15:52,440
the shot, he said. You stay in the center of

2502
03:15:52,440 --> 03:16:00,680
the room. Tried to distract it. We waited, was passed.

2503
03:16:01,200 --> 03:16:06,120
The moon drifted. Every sound made my muscles twitch. I

2504
03:16:06,159 --> 03:16:08,360
sat on the floor with the empty gun from my

2505
03:16:08,440 --> 03:16:12,799
house across my lap. It was useless now, but I

2506
03:16:12,840 --> 03:16:18,159
couldn't let go of it. At some point, the wind died.

2507
03:16:19,280 --> 03:16:24,440
Danny raised the rifle without a word. The door exploded inward.

2508
03:16:25,639 --> 03:16:30,399
It moved through the door, leaving no trace behind. His

2509
03:16:30,600 --> 03:16:34,200
chest rose and fell in quick jerks. Plus spilled from

2510
03:16:34,239 --> 03:16:38,120
the holes in its shoulders. His head tilted as it

2511
03:16:38,239 --> 03:16:47,799
found me. Danny fired. The creature shrieked, A high, rattling

2512
03:16:47,879 --> 03:16:52,559
sound cut straight through my brain. It reared back, Smoke

2513
03:16:52,719 --> 03:16:57,079
rising from the impact point his chest streamed. The flesh

2514
03:16:57,159 --> 03:17:02,879
there blistered and pealed. It lunged. I duped behind the

2515
03:17:02,920 --> 03:17:06,639
table while Danny reloaded the thing through the couch aside

2516
03:17:06,639 --> 03:17:09,280
and slammed its clawed hand into the floor. I had

2517
03:17:09,319 --> 03:17:14,639
been seconds earlier would split open. I rolled and kicked

2518
03:17:14,680 --> 03:17:19,840
out at its ribs. It didn't flinch. Danny shouted and

2519
03:17:19,920 --> 03:17:24,319
fired again. This time it hit the spine. The thing

2520
03:17:24,440 --> 03:17:28,479
screamed again, louder, and twisted in itself in mid air.

2521
03:17:29,360 --> 03:17:33,680
His body started to clapse inward. His torso folded over

2522
03:17:33,719 --> 03:17:39,440
its own shoulders, cracking like ice under pressure, It swung

2523
03:17:39,520 --> 03:17:44,239
toward Danny. I moved before he could reach him. I

2524
03:17:44,280 --> 03:17:47,040
grabbed a fire poker from the hearth and jabbed it

2525
03:17:47,079 --> 03:17:50,559
into the side of its skull. Its head snapped to

2526
03:17:50,639 --> 03:17:55,000
the side, black icos spilling around the wound. The stench

2527
03:17:55,079 --> 03:17:59,639
hit hard, my eyes watered. Danny raised the rifle one

2528
03:17:59,680 --> 03:18:06,399
last time and fired into its throat. That did it.

2529
03:18:07,559 --> 03:18:12,399
The body froze. Its limbs trembled and bent inward, collapsing

2530
03:18:12,399 --> 03:18:16,479
against its own weight. A low moan echoed through the room.

2531
03:18:17,559 --> 03:18:22,159
Then it fell apart into ash. I dropped the poker

2532
03:18:22,319 --> 03:18:27,239
and stood, coughing through the smoke. Danny leaned against the wall,

2533
03:18:27,920 --> 03:18:32,799
one hand pressed to his ribs. The silence after the

2534
03:18:32,840 --> 03:18:36,079
creature fell apart pressed on the inside of my skull.

2535
03:18:37,120 --> 03:18:41,040
My ears rang not from the volume, but from the vacuum.

2536
03:18:41,079 --> 03:18:44,719
That followed it. Dust drifted to the air where it

2537
03:18:44,760 --> 03:18:49,120
had been. Danny dropped the rifle and slid down the wall.

2538
03:18:50,000 --> 03:18:52,840
His knees gave out first, and he ended up sitting

2539
03:18:52,840 --> 03:18:55,559
on the floor with his back to the crumbling dry wall.

2540
03:18:56,879 --> 03:19:00,000
His breathing was uneven, and he had one arm pressed

2541
03:19:00,239 --> 03:19:04,319
against his ribs. I saw a line of red seeping

2542
03:19:04,360 --> 03:19:09,319
through his shirt, trailing down from beneath his elbow. He

2543
03:19:09,360 --> 03:19:12,079
looked up at me through strands of sweat drenched hair.

2544
03:19:14,200 --> 03:19:19,479
We did it, he said. I nodded. I didn't have

2545
03:19:19,559 --> 03:19:23,719
anything to say. My throat was raw and my chest

2546
03:19:23,760 --> 03:19:28,280
ached don He motioned for me to come closer. I

2547
03:19:28,319 --> 03:19:32,639
stepped over to him. He reached behind and pulled out

2548
03:19:32,639 --> 03:19:37,360
a revolver. He didn't lift it toward me, he held

2549
03:19:37,360 --> 03:19:43,600
it between his knees. I need you to shoot me.

2550
03:19:45,319 --> 03:19:50,920
I stared at him. What in the side? Nothing vital

2551
03:19:51,959 --> 03:19:57,079
enough to look real? I took a step back. Why

2552
03:19:57,120 --> 03:20:01,159
would I do that? Because the are going to need

2553
03:20:01,239 --> 03:20:04,559
someone to blame. They're not going to take this story

2554
03:20:04,600 --> 03:20:10,040
and put it in a report. You know that. He tilted

2555
03:20:10,040 --> 03:20:13,520
his head and met my eyes. His voice stayed calm,

2556
03:20:15,120 --> 03:20:18,600
you shoot me, tell them I lost it. Tell them

2557
03:20:18,639 --> 03:20:22,559
I killed your friends, came for you next. You fought back,

2558
03:20:22,879 --> 03:20:28,760
barely survived. I take the blame. It's over, and you

2559
03:20:28,879 --> 03:20:35,760
go home. That's insane. You've saved my life. His gaze

2560
03:20:35,760 --> 03:20:39,600
didn't waver. I crouched next to him and grabbed his arm.

2561
03:20:41,000 --> 03:20:46,360
There has to be another way. There isn't. He pressed

2562
03:20:46,360 --> 03:20:50,280
the gun into my hand. No one's gonna believe what

2563
03:20:50,360 --> 03:20:54,559
we saw. You know that. You can barely believe it yourself.

2564
03:20:55,200 --> 03:20:58,200
I can see it all over you. What we killed

2565
03:20:58,239 --> 03:21:02,239
didn't leave proof. There's no body or explanation you can

2566
03:21:02,280 --> 03:21:06,680
give to the cops. They'll think you snap too, unless

2567
03:21:06,879 --> 03:21:10,719
you have some one to point to. I'm not doing this.

2568
03:21:12,360 --> 03:21:15,360
Danny leaned back and let his head rest against the wall.

2569
03:21:16,280 --> 03:21:21,159
His eyes closed for a moment, then opened again. If

2570
03:21:21,159 --> 03:21:25,120
you don't do this, they'll keep digging. You'll end up

2571
03:21:25,120 --> 03:21:30,200
locked away, worse blamed for it. They already think I'm

2572
03:21:30,200 --> 03:21:37,639
a ghost. Make it real. I sat there, gripping the revolver,

2573
03:21:38,040 --> 03:21:42,280
feeling its weight press into my palm. You don't owe

2574
03:21:42,280 --> 03:21:48,639
me this, I said. He didn't answer. I raised the

2575
03:21:48,639 --> 03:21:53,159
gun slowly, hands trembling. I aimed at the soft space

2576
03:21:53,200 --> 03:22:00,959
below his ribs. Do it, he said. I pulled the trigger.

2577
03:22:02,879 --> 03:22:06,719
Then he groaned and slumped sideways, one hand clamping down

2578
03:22:06,799 --> 03:22:11,159
over the wound. Blood poured between his fingers and darkened

2579
03:22:11,159 --> 03:22:15,520
his shirt. He didn't scream, he didn't even fall fully.

2580
03:22:16,399 --> 03:22:20,319
He slid until his shoulders hid the floor. Then gave

2581
03:22:20,399 --> 03:22:25,680
me a small nod. Call them, he said, through his teeth,

2582
03:22:26,680 --> 03:22:33,239
Tell them it's over. I did. The sirens reached us

2583
03:22:33,280 --> 03:22:37,680
twenty minutes later. I stood outside, blood on my shirt,

2584
03:22:38,120 --> 03:22:43,440
hands raised, gun on the ground. They moved fast, weapons drawn,

2585
03:22:43,799 --> 03:22:48,600
shouting commands. I gave them the story Danny told me

2586
03:22:48,719 --> 03:22:54,280
to give. The detective didn't argue. Danny was loaded into

2587
03:22:54,319 --> 03:22:59,079
an ambulance under heavy restraint. I never saw him again.

2588
03:23:00,680 --> 03:23:04,959
The press latched onto the narrative, a local tragedy, a

2589
03:23:05,079 --> 03:23:10,040
case with decades of history. An unstable man allegedly traumatized

2590
03:23:10,040 --> 03:23:14,799
by years of bullying returned to take revenge. Authorities called

2591
03:23:14,840 --> 03:23:19,280
it her revenge, prey rooted in trauma and delusion. The

2592
03:23:19,399 --> 03:23:24,760
public swallowed it whole. I was left empty in a hollow.

2593
03:23:25,680 --> 03:23:31,200
Everyone that surrounded me was now dead. I spent a

2594
03:23:31,239 --> 03:23:36,000
few months organizing funerals and accompanying grieving parents and siblings.

2595
03:23:37,760 --> 03:23:40,959
I would later to find out that Danny died in

2596
03:23:41,040 --> 03:23:46,319
custody wounds from the bullet I had given him. I

2597
03:23:46,360 --> 03:23:52,000
wrestled with that for a while. I had killed him twice,

2598
03:23:52,280 --> 03:23:55,719
the first time in a locker and the second time

2599
03:23:55,879 --> 03:24:02,280
with a bullet, and I don't know which one I

2600
03:24:02,399 --> 03:24:03,200
regret more