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Speaker 1: Hullo. I'm welcomed stories all the time. Glad you are here.

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Let's get into it. I was twenty nine when it happened.

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My sister Lorna had just moved back to Maine after

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spending a few years out west in flag stuff. She'd

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gone out there chasing warmth, hiking trails, and some guy

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who played in a folk band. All of that fizzled

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up by the end of her third summer, and by

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December she was back in the Northeast, just in time

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for one of the nastest winters we'd had in a while.

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She was crashing with me at the time, temporarily, she said.

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My place was a small dupic outside Melbridge, about half

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an hour from Bangor. I done the usual pre storm routine,

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stopped the fridge in the pantry, filled every jrug bottle

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and half broken cooler I could find with water in

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case the pipe rose. I double checked the propin levels

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round a test and the generator out back, and even

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went so far as to dig out the old wind

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up radio from a drawer that hadn't been opened since

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the Obama years. We lost power before it even got

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fully dark or round five maybe five point thirty. The

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heat was the first thing. I brought out, one of

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those portable propane ones you're not supposed to use ores

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unless you're feeling brave or slightly wrickerus. I kept it

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just outside the hallway to keep the warm air circulating

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while it harmed away. I cooked up some can chilly

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and the gastove, and Lorna buried herself under every blanket

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I owned, nesting into the couch like a nervous cat.

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The snow outside wasn't just heavy, it was loud. You

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could hear a clinging to the siding. The wind dragging

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sharp clumps of ice crossed the house in waves, not

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just gus burse, like some one was pushing the wind

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itself around with the shovel. We played cards by candle

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light for a while. Rummy, I think she tried to

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teach me a new game she'd learned from her ex,

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but neither of us could remember half the rolls. We

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gave up. Somewhere around ten she was snoring. By ten

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point fifteen. I couldn't sleep. It wasn't fear. It was

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more like a splinter in the back of my mind.

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Something I'd forgotten, not beg just wrong. You know that

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feeling when you leave the house and half way down

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the road you stop wondering whether you unplug the iron

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that except it kept nagging at me every five minutes.

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Around two in the morning, I gave in the thought

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wouldn't let go? What if I hadn't latched the garage

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or from the inside. The garage was attached to the kitchen,

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just a plain wooden door separating them, no drama. I

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wasn't expecting anything weird. I opened the door slowly, already

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annoyed of myself for getting out of bed, and stood

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in the frame for a second. Cold there immediately slept

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and around my legs just a couple degrees but noticeable.

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Everything looked normal at first, snow blow tucked against the

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left wall, bags of rock salt leaning in a half

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fallen stack in the back, no noise, no obvious movement.

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I was about to close the door and call myself

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paranoid when stepped into a little farther and cut side

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of the floor. There were boot prints, two sets coming

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in from the back service stoor, the one that leads

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into the yard. Thelled straight across the concrete floor and

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in just inches from where I stood but there was

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no returning princes, no loops, snow drought here marks, no

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signs of someone turning around, just two sets walking in

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and stopping. I just stood there for a second, long

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enough to fill the cold creeping into my shirt sleeves.

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Then I stepped back, closed the door gently, and locked it.

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I didn't wake Lorner At first. I thought, maybe, just

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maybe I tracked those in myself earlier and forgotten. Maybe

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I gone in that morning, moved some things around and

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didn't think twice about it. But I hadn't been in

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the garage for at least a full day, and the

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snow that had blown in under the back door was

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light and fresh, just a dusting, but enough to catch

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clear tread marks. Those prints were recent. I grabbed the

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old alumina bat from under the bed, scratched to hell,

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slightly bent from one too many back yard with football games,

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and did a slow, quiet check of the entire house,

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room by room. I even opened at a catch with

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a broom handle and shine my fern light up into

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the crawl space. Nothing. Everything was locked, Everything looked the

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way it always did. I ended up back in the kitchen,

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staring at the garage door like it owed me in explanation.

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Eventually I dragged a chair over and wedged it under

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the knoll. Sat there until sunrise, when the storm calmed

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down enough to go outside without getting skinned alive. I

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put on my boots and shoveled round the side of

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the house to get to the garage back door. The

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snow came up to my knees in some spots. I

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had to cut a trench to even reach the door frame.

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There were no prints, not mine, not any one else's,

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no sign that any one had walked up to that

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door at all. But there was something wedge between the

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frame and the seal, A folded piece of receipt paper.

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I almost missed it. It was from a store call

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mac Gray's Market used to be Nelsworth, closed down a

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couple of years back. On the back of the receipt,

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some one had written a name first and last and

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attendage of phone number and shaky handwriting. I didn't know either.

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Later that day I called the number using a Dummu

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line we kept at work for customer cullbacks. It rang

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six times, then cut to the strange broken audio tone.

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Not a voicemail, just static and a flat, almost glitched

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out disconnected sound. Still hadn't told Lorna at this point,

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but when she finally got up, I asked if she'd

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heard anything weird during the night. She said no at first,

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then hesitated. Well, she said, rubbing her neck, I thought

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I heard some one walking around up stairs after midnight.

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I didn't say anything. There is no stairs. It's a

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one story duplex with a crawlsbyce attic, no flooring, no

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just wiring and beams. You couldn't walk up though, even

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if you wanted to. That afternoon, when the sun was

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out in full and I felt a little less ridiculous,

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I went back into the garage. I checked everything open,

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every bin, every cabinet, every tool box. I even tipped

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over the recycling tub just to be sure. Then I

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opened the deep freezer. We'd cleared it at the week

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before because the sill had started acting up. I hadn't

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restocked it yet, But when I opened it, I saw

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it wasn't as empty as I thought. That night, I

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didn't sleep either, I packed it bag instead. By the

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end of the week, I broke my lease, took the

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financial hit, and moved into a small place in her owner.

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I never told Lorna what I saw in that freezer.

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I was thirty one when I took a house sitting

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gig outside of Ellis, in a quiet little town in

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northern Maine. The job was above as straightforward as they come,

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watch the house, keep the pipes from freezing, shovel when

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it snowed, and take care of the couples, two golden retrievers,

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Boone and Danny. They were wintering down in Gulf Shores

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and wanted some one on site just in case anything

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went wrong. I think they were more worried about the

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dogs in the house. Honestly, the first two weeks were quiet, peacefull.

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Even Boone and Denny were sweet dogs, older, mellow, and

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glued to me like shadows. I get up eurly, feed them,

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check the thermost at, and then read or write until

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the sun started dipping. Most days I didn't see another soul.

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Didn't mind it one bit. Then came the storm. It

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hit late one night in late January. The windship the

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windows hard enough to rattle the glass, and the snow

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piled up so fast I couldn't see the end of

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the driveway. By morning, the power blinked a few times,

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but didn't fully cut out. I layered up, pulled in

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the clunkest boots I owned, and started digging up haf

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to the mail books like a guy in a cartoon,

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head down fighting gusts. That's when I noticed the boot prints.

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They were faint, partially covered by fresh snow, but definitely there,

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leading from the edge of the tree line, wrapping around

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the side of the shed, and vanishing into the woods

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up back. Not mine, not fresh, but not old enough

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to ignore either. I walked the edge of them for

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a bit, just to see if they led to the

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road or circle back, but they disappeared into the deeper

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part of the woods. My brain started throwing out half

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baked ideas maybe a hunter, someone lost, maybe a neighbor

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just checking in, even though at last one made's ero

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since given how far apart the houses were still, I

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didn't let it get under my skin. Not yet. That night,

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the wind came back with a vengeance, thus slammed into

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the siding like fists. I went to bed early, buried

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under layers of blankets and lapoon and any club at

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the foot of the bed. Around two in the morning,

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they both sat up at the exact same time. No

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barking that low steady growled deep in their throats, like

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something ancient was waking up. I slid out of bed,

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heart already starting to race, grabbed the flashlight I kept

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on the nightstend and followed them into the living room.

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They were staring through the glass of the sliding door

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like they were trying to burn holes in it. The

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porch light was off and the window was fogged over

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from the cold. I wiped a little patch clear with

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my sleeve and clicked in the flashlight. Nothing just now

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blowing in the bean. The backyard was dark still and

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totally empty, but the dogs wouldn't let it go. They

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stayed rigid until I finally led them back to the

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bedroom and locked the door behind us. I left the

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flashlight in the night stand didn't sleep a second. In

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the morning, I found more prints, this time right up

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against the back steps. You could see where the snow

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had formed round the boots, meaning whoever it was had

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stood there for a while, just standing watching. I called

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the homeowners gave them the full run down. They were

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oddly calm, said it was probably some one passing through

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or looking for a place to crash. I offered to

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call the chef, but they waved it off. I should

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have called anyway. On the third night, the power finally

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gave out no warning. This time, it just clicked off,

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like some one had yanked the plug. I let every

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candle I could find and dragged a little propane heater

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into the living room, bread some blankets in the floor,

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curled up with the dogs, and tried to convince myself

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this was all just temporary. Then came the knock. It

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was soft. It was soft, dearely there, not at the

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front door, not even at the back, at the kitchen window.

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I froze, so did the dogs. Boone let out the

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slow whimper, like he was holding something in his throat.

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Then it came again, slower this time. I crawled toward

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the kitchen, keeping low, and peeked over the sink. There

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was a face right there, pressed against the glass, like

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he was trying to become part of it. His skin

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looked raw, wind chapped, and his eyes didn't blink. No hat,

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no scarf, just this pale, beaten up guy with a

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face like cold meat. I backed away so fast I

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knocked a chair over. The dogs erupted, barking, snarling, throwing

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themselves against the door for him. Then the knocking moved,

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not louder, just constant, window to window, like he was

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walking a perimeter, testing each one, no hurry like he

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had time. The land line was still dead, no signal

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on my phone. I locked every door, shut every blind

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and sat in the living room with the tire iron

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from the girls clutched in both hands. Every creak, every

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gust of wind sounded like a person moving. Eventually it stopped.

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The dogs calmed down. I didn't. At first light, I

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went outside and saw the damage, footprints circling the house

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again and again, some of lappings, some fresh. The weirdest

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part was the hand prince on nearly every window, fingers spread, smudged,

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like keeping pressing his hands flat against the glass and

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just waiting. That afternoon, I huked to the neighbor's place,

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an older woman named Carline. She let me use her

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phone and I called the sheriff. Two deputies came out,

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took a look, nodded like they'd seen this kind of

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thing before, and said it was probably a transiend, maybe

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someone camping out near by. They left me with a

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number and told me to call if it got worse.

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It got worse two nights later, the generator was running

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low and the whole house felt like a tomb. I

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was reaving under a battery lamp when I heard footsteps

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in the porch, not fast, not panicked, just steady, deliberate steps.

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Then the sound of the door knob turning. I froze

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behind a couch, hot pounding so hard I thought it

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might echo. The knob rattle for a few seconds, then stopped. Silence,

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Then the footsteps again, moving to a different window, then

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another and another. M It felt like he was pacing,

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like he was memorizing the layout. And then from the

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back yard I heard the shed door creak open. I

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knew that sound, had opened it enough times to recognize it.

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Blindfolded wood shifting, hinges, sticking, something moving where nothing should be.

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That was if for me. I threw on my boots,

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grabbed the dogs by their collars, and bolted for the truck.

237
00:11:23,279 --> 00:11:26,080
Didn't even put a coat on, just got in, fired

238
00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:27,879
it up and drove until the bars returned. On my

239
00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:31,960
phone called the sheriff again. They searched the shed, searched

240
00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:35,519
the woods, found more footprints, but nothing else. No man,

241
00:11:36,159 --> 00:11:39,240
no camp. I went back the next day during day light,

242
00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:41,720
packed everything I owned in on a fifteen minutes, left

243
00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:44,120
the keys with carline and drove back to Portland without

244
00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:47,279
looking in the rear ofy mirror. Once the homeowners were annoyed,

245
00:11:47,279 --> 00:11:49,519
but they got over it. They hired some one else

246
00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:52,159
to finish the job. That winter, I had a contract

247
00:11:52,159 --> 00:11:55,879
gig through a small federal subcontractor, Morseleigh field Work. They

248
00:11:55,919 --> 00:11:58,279
sent me to this remote corner of western Idaho, up

249
00:11:58,279 --> 00:12:00,840
in the Bitter Range. My job was to inspect old

250
00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:04,399
emergency radio towers, climb up, check the mounts. They put

251
00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:06,279
me up in this government owned cabin a few miles

252
00:12:06,279 --> 00:12:09,200
outside a place called Warren's Fork. Never heard of it

253
00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:11,720
before I got there. It wasn't really a town so

254
00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:13,919
much as a gas station, a bar, and a handful

255
00:12:13,919 --> 00:12:16,919
of home scattered near the highway. A cabin itself sat

256
00:12:16,919 --> 00:12:19,879
out near the tree line, six maybe seven miles from

257
00:12:19,879 --> 00:12:23,519
anything resembling civilization. They told me to keep it fuel myself,

258
00:12:23,679 --> 00:12:26,960
but everything was already stocked. Fire would stack high against

259
00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:29,519
the shed crates of canned food, enough propane to last

260
00:12:29,519 --> 00:12:32,200
a month. First couple of weeks went by without incident.

261
00:12:32,759 --> 00:12:34,879
I'd wake up, head up with my gear, climbed house

262
00:12:34,879 --> 00:12:36,919
for a few hours, log everything on a clunky tablet,

263
00:12:36,919 --> 00:12:39,720
and come back before dark. I read a lot cut

264
00:12:39,759 --> 00:12:42,480
the same boring meals, watch move as I downloaded ahead

265
00:12:42,519 --> 00:12:44,799
of time, A kind of quiet that makes you feel

266
00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:47,840
both relaxed and a little strange, like you olive in

267
00:12:47,919 --> 00:12:51,639
a bubble nobody else remembers exists. Then came the storm.

268
00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:54,919
Local radio had been warning about it all week, big

269
00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:59,399
system moving in from the north, high winds, low visibility.

270
00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:02,240
By the time it hit late Thursday afternoon, I was

271
00:13:02,279 --> 00:13:06,360
already back at the cabin, fire going. Everything sealed up tight.

272
00:13:07,039 --> 00:13:09,799
I wasn't worried. I had enough food and fuel to

273
00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:13,039
it lasted easily that night. The wind howled, not stop,

274
00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:15,879
not just background noise. It was loud enough that the

275
00:13:15,879 --> 00:13:19,720
walls groaned every few minutes. Gusts hitten hard, sudden bursts

276
00:13:19,759 --> 00:13:22,320
like something was physically slumming the air against the structure.

277
00:13:22,919 --> 00:13:25,039
Snow smacked against a window so thick I couldn't see

278
00:13:25,039 --> 00:13:27,960
past the glass. I shut the blinds, sat at the

279
00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:29,679
little kitchen table with a mug of tea and a

280
00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:32,120
space heater buzzing near my ankles while I typed up

281
00:13:32,159 --> 00:13:35,399
maintenance logs. At one point a round ten. The light

282
00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:39,519
flickered just once the generator had keeped caught again, and

283
00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:41,960
everything went back to normal. I made a note to

284
00:13:42,039 --> 00:13:43,799
check the fuel lines in the morning and went back

285
00:13:43,799 --> 00:13:46,360
to work. It was a little after midnight when I

286
00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:49,519
heard it, a soft, steady crunching. It took me a

287
00:13:49,559 --> 00:13:52,200
second to register it. I had the heater running my

288
00:13:52,279 --> 00:13:54,759
laptop fans were whirring a little, but under that barely

289
00:13:54,799 --> 00:13:58,879
there I heard it, snow being walked on. I sat

290
00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:02,759
up straight, muted the heater and listened hard. Nothing. I

291
00:14:02,799 --> 00:14:05,279
waited maybe five minutes, telling myself it was probably a

292
00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:08,440
pine brown shifting under snow. That happened a lot out there.

293
00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:13,200
Then I heard it again, faint slow crunches, maybe four steps,

294
00:14:13,919 --> 00:14:17,759
then silence. It didn't make sense. There was no reason

295
00:14:17,799 --> 00:14:20,399
for any one to be out here, not in that storm,

296
00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:24,240
not at that ire, and not on foot. I pulled

297
00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:26,159
on my coat and walked quietly to the front window.

298
00:14:26,759 --> 00:14:29,679
The motion light was on. It cast this hazy yellow

299
00:14:29,679 --> 00:14:31,639
glow over the snow covered porch, and maybe a few

300
00:14:31,639 --> 00:14:35,720
feet beyond. Wind swirled powder in every direction. I stared

301
00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:38,440
for a long time, squinting against the glare, but saw nothing.

302
00:14:39,039 --> 00:14:41,639
I told myself it had to be an animal. Maybe

303
00:14:41,639 --> 00:14:44,200
a moose got close enough to trip the light, or

304
00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:47,000
a deer wandered down out of the ridge. Still, I

305
00:14:47,039 --> 00:14:48,879
locked the door again, double checked the dead bolt, and

306
00:14:48,919 --> 00:14:51,320
went to bed. I hadn't been lying down more than

307
00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:54,519
twenty minutes when I heard it. Just a soft, deliberate

308
00:14:54,519 --> 00:14:59,440
shift the front door latch, A metallic noise, not loud,

309
00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:03,080
just a click like some one gently tested the handle.

310
00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:07,320
My mouth went dry. I didn't move the wind screened

311
00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:10,039
against the roof, but underneath it I heard something else,

312
00:15:10,759 --> 00:15:13,919
A slow drack, long and continuous, like the flat of

313
00:15:13,919 --> 00:15:15,919
a hand, running along the outer wall of the cabin.

314
00:15:16,399 --> 00:15:18,679
It started at the front corner and moved steadily toward

315
00:15:18,759 --> 00:15:21,679
the side. I sat up slowly, barely daring to breathe.

316
00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:24,919
I could feel my pulse in my fingers. Then came

317
00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:28,240
the crunching again, this time circling whoever it was. If

318
00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:31,120
it was a person, they weren't rushing. They were walking

319
00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:33,679
in a deliberate, calm leap around the place, footstips in

320
00:15:33,679 --> 00:15:35,840
the snow, slow and steady, like they were just inspecting.

321
00:15:36,440 --> 00:15:38,240
I grabbed my phone from the night scent and flipped

322
00:15:38,279 --> 00:15:42,639
it over. No signal, not a single bar. I stayed

323
00:15:42,679 --> 00:15:45,080
like that for what felt like an ere I didn't

324
00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:47,080
move to sat there in bed with the blankets pull tight,

325
00:15:47,159 --> 00:15:51,320
staring toward the door, listening. The footsteps eventually stopped. The

326
00:15:51,399 --> 00:15:55,039
dragging sound didn't come back. Everything went quiet again, except

327
00:15:55,039 --> 00:15:58,120
for the wind. At some point I must have fallen asleep,

328
00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:01,320
maybe I passed out from how to I was. I

329
00:16:01,399 --> 00:16:04,120
woke up to gray light leaking through the blinds. Snow

330
00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:07,279
was still coming down, but the worst had passed. Everything

331
00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:10,120
was muted and heavy still. I pulled on my boots

332
00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:12,679
and opened the front door. Snow up to my knees.

333
00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:16,320
But the tracks, those were impossible to miss. They want

334
00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:21,679
animal tracks. These were boot prints, big ones, deep crispages.

335
00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:25,919
They made a full loop around the cabin twice, straight

336
00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:28,679
up to the door, then back around. No other tracks

337
00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:32,639
leading in or out, just those slow circles. I followed them,

338
00:16:32,679 --> 00:16:35,039
maybe twenty feet, but the wind had started to cover them.

339
00:16:35,399 --> 00:16:38,679
Beyond that, nothing but smooth white. Then I noticed where

340
00:16:38,679 --> 00:16:41,159
the second set led right to the side window, but

341
00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:44,000
one directly next to where my bed was. I just

342
00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:45,960
stood there, staring at it for a long time. Trying

343
00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:49,279
to think of something, anything that made sense. Eventually I

344
00:16:49,279 --> 00:16:52,200
would have run back to check the generator still running,

345
00:16:52,799 --> 00:16:57,519
fuel levels fine, no damage, no signs of tampering. Then

346
00:16:57,559 --> 00:17:01,039
I walked out to the shed, nothing missing, till still

347
00:17:01,039 --> 00:17:03,320
lined up where I left them. But something felt off.

348
00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:05,880
One of the folding chairs I kept leaned against the

349
00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:08,640
wall had been moved. It was now sitting dead center

350
00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:11,519
in the floor, slightly angled like some one had pulled

351
00:17:11,519 --> 00:17:14,359
it out, sat down and faced the door like they

352
00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:18,160
were just watching. I didn't touch it, tis left it

353
00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:20,359
where it was close to the shed and lock everything

354
00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:23,559
up again. That night I didn't sleep. I lay in

355
00:17:23,599 --> 00:17:26,039
bed with every light on, a hatchet by my leg, listening.

356
00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:29,960
Nothing happened. The next morning, I waited until I got

357
00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:32,160
a single bar of signal and called the Sheriff's office

358
00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:37,240
in Reed's Way. The deputy answered, sounded tired, said nobody

359
00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:42,079
else had reported anything unusual. No hiker's gun missing, no prowlers.

360
00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:44,519
He took my name, told me to keep alert, and

361
00:17:44,559 --> 00:17:47,920
said they'd violet. That was it. To this day, I

362
00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:50,480
can't sleep if there's a chair facing a doorway. I

363
00:17:50,519 --> 00:17:54,839
always turned them around, doesn't matter where I am hotels, rentals,

364
00:17:54,839 --> 00:17:57,960
even my own house. I was twenty nine when it happened.

365
00:17:58,599 --> 00:18:00,680
The kind of winter we at that year will felt

366
00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:03,839
like something out of a survival documentary. Snow non stopped

367
00:18:03,839 --> 00:18:06,200
for almost forty eight iOS piling higher the night seen

368
00:18:06,279 --> 00:18:09,480
in years. The plows couldn't keep up, are culled, The

369
00:18:09,519 --> 00:18:14,119
sack looked abandoned, just mounds of white swallowing up mail boxes, fences, everything.

370
00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:16,680
Only two trucks had made it down our streets since

371
00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:18,680
the sum really picked up, and even those left huge

372
00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:21,200
rots behind like they Bailey made it through. I work

373
00:18:21,279 --> 00:18:24,640
for the county as a mechanic, not exactly a glamorous cake,

374
00:18:24,759 --> 00:18:27,440
but it's steady and I'm decent with my hands. When

375
00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:29,839
snow like this hits, most folks hunker down and waited out,

376
00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:32,400
but not us. We the ones making sure the plows

377
00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:35,279
don't fall apart mid road, and when they do, which

378
00:18:35,319 --> 00:18:37,039
is often, and the guy called to crawl under them

379
00:18:37,039 --> 00:18:40,000
with freezing tools and frozen fingers. That night, I was

380
00:18:40,039 --> 00:18:43,519
scheduled for the graveyard shift ten o'clock until summriz. I

381
00:18:43,599 --> 00:18:46,799
was already mentally prepping for the usual mess. Then around

382
00:18:46,799 --> 00:18:51,359
eight my supervisor wrong called He never calls, just texts

383
00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:53,920
like a normal person. When I saw his name pop

384
00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:55,799
up on the screen, I thought some one had crashed

385
00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:58,640
or one of the rigs caught fire. Instead, he says,

386
00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:01,440
don't bother coming in to night. We're shutting things down

387
00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:04,559
for a now. Wait outs getting too bad. I had

388
00:19:04,599 --> 00:19:08,039
never happened before. They always pushed through, even when visibility

389
00:19:08,079 --> 00:19:10,720
was garbage. But Ron didn't sound like he was in

390
00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:13,480
the moot to argue, and honestly I wasn't either. I

391
00:19:13,519 --> 00:19:15,359
thanked him and hung up, then just stood there in

392
00:19:15,359 --> 00:19:17,119
the kitchen for a second kind of stun that I

393
00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:20,000
actually had. The night off didn't feel real. My place

394
00:19:20,079 --> 00:19:21,680
was right in the edge of town, last house before

395
00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:24,480
the woods started, real quiet, specially in the winter, no traffic, sunds,

396
00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:26,599
no for traffic, just a long stretch of trees behind

397
00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:28,400
the yard and a driveway that loved ice over. I

398
00:19:28,559 --> 00:19:30,319
figured I'd make use of the time and get ahead

399
00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:31,920
of things, so I went out back to shovel the

400
00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:34,680
steps before everything froze solid. That's when I noticed the tracks.

401
00:19:35,359 --> 00:19:39,119
They cut straight through the yard. Not beot prints, not

402
00:19:39,279 --> 00:19:43,079
animal tracks, bare feet, just a single line of them

403
00:19:43,079 --> 00:19:45,599
heading from the woods. Right to my house. I remember

404
00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:47,440
us quinting at them, trying to make sense of it.

405
00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:50,599
They were half filled with snow, already starting to smooth over,

406
00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:54,160
but still clear enough to make out the shape toes arches,

407
00:19:54,200 --> 00:19:57,160
even the little curve of the heel. No trucks going back.

408
00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:01,039
I stood there way too long, trying to rationalize. Maybe

409
00:20:01,039 --> 00:20:03,279
someone could turned around in the trail and wandered through

410
00:20:03,279 --> 00:20:06,079
the yard to get the bearings, but barefoot in this

411
00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:08,839
call that didn't track. I did a full lap around

412
00:20:08,839 --> 00:20:10,680
the house, just to make sure they hadn't walked around

413
00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:14,240
the other side. Not Then the trail ended right beneath

414
00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:17,680
my kitchen window, not under it, like the crouch. There

415
00:20:18,519 --> 00:20:21,880
just ended no sign of where they went after. I

416
00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:25,079
went back inside and locked every window and door, even

417
00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:28,279
the ones I usually ignored. It was probably nothing, I

418
00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:30,799
kept telling myself, just some weird trick of the snow,

419
00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:34,680
a couple of kid being idiots. Still that had me wired.

420
00:20:35,279 --> 00:20:37,519
I kept checking over my shoulder like something was going

421
00:20:37,519 --> 00:20:40,000
to be there when I turned around. By midnight, the

422
00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:43,640
power gave out. I was already in bed, not really sleeping,

423
00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:46,240
just scrolling through random videos on my phone and waiting

424
00:20:46,279 --> 00:20:48,759
for the signal bar to give up. The outage didn't

425
00:20:48,759 --> 00:20:51,680
shock me. Pwur lines out here don't hold up well

426
00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:53,640
when you've got wind howling like a freight train and

427
00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:56,359
snow coming in sideways. I got up to check the

428
00:20:56,359 --> 00:20:59,480
fuse box, just in case it was something internal, grab

429
00:20:59,519 --> 00:21:04,279
my flashlight. When downstairs, flipped everything open. Nothing tricked. Everything

430
00:21:04,319 --> 00:21:07,480
looked totally normal, except the house didn't feel normal. The

431
00:21:07,519 --> 00:21:09,680
windows were groaning under the weight of the storm, and

432
00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:11,759
the front door at a wall of snow pressed against it,

433
00:21:11,839 --> 00:21:14,400
like something had tried to bury me in. I didn't

434
00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:16,839
like it. The whole house felt too quiet, like the

435
00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:19,039
kind of quite you get when someone's holding their breath.

436
00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:21,799
That's when I heard it, tap tap tap tap tap

437
00:21:21,839 --> 00:21:25,720
pose poles, then again, tap tap tap. It wasn't loud,

438
00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:29,079
just soft, deliberate knocks, and not from the front door,

439
00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:30,960
from the kitchen window, the same one the tracks had

440
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:34,759
stopped under. I didn't move, just stood during the dark,

441
00:21:34,839 --> 00:21:37,880
flacoid in hand, frozen could have been a branch. I

442
00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:41,079
told myself. Maybe the storm loosened something and the wind

443
00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:43,440
was rattling it against the glass. But it was too even,

444
00:21:44,079 --> 00:21:47,160
too steady. Nothing in nature knocks three times and then

445
00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:50,039
waits politely to do it again. I didn't go check.

446
00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:52,400
I backed out of the room, slowly went back to

447
00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:55,400
the bedroom and locked the door. Somewhere around here in

448
00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:58,160
the morning, I woke up to cold. Not the usual

449
00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:01,400
winter kind of cold eater. This was biting, like the

450
00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:04,039
inside of my bones had dropped a few degrees. I

451
00:22:04,079 --> 00:22:06,200
reached for the quill, already wrapped in it, and still

452
00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:09,640
couldn't get warm. Then I noticed the window. It was

453
00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:13,200
wide open. Snow was blowing in sideways, dusting the floor

454
00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:15,839
and piling up along the wall. I hadn't opened that

455
00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:18,559
window in weeks, didn't even remember where the key for

456
00:22:18,599 --> 00:22:20,880
the latch was. It was the kind of window you

457
00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:23,680
forget even count open because it stays locked all year round.

458
00:22:24,319 --> 00:22:27,359
I jumped up and slammed it shut, hand shaking. There

459
00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:29,119
was a wet patch right under the sill where snow

460
00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:31,400
had melted through, and just below it, smudged on the

461
00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:36,440
floorboards was a handprint, not normal four a long finger marks,

462
00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:40,799
no thumb, no palm, just streaks like something I see.

463
00:22:40,839 --> 00:22:42,960
It had pressed down hard and dragged off the edge.

464
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:45,960
I didn't sleep again, es sat and bewed with a

465
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:48,640
flashlight pointed at the door until daylight started creeping and

466
00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:51,799
through the curtains. When the storm finally let up that morning,

467
00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:54,480
I went outside to dig out the driveway. Didn't want

468
00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:56,880
to wait for the plows. I figured if I had

469
00:22:56,880 --> 00:22:59,720
to bail, i'd want a clean path ready. That's when

470
00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:02,119
I saw something buried in the snow bank along the street,

471
00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:04,759
just the edge of something dark poking out like a

472
00:23:04,799 --> 00:23:08,119
corner of fabric. I dug it out by hand. It

473
00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:12,440
was a coat, black, heavy and completely frozen. One sleeve

474
00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:15,039
was almost torn off. The whole thing looked like it

475
00:23:15,079 --> 00:23:19,519
had been through a blender. No tags, no liming, just

476
00:23:19,559 --> 00:23:21,960
for a fallen ice. I don't know why I brought

477
00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:24,359
it inside. I think I was just on not a

478
00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:27,440
pilot at that point. Took it into the kitchen, set

479
00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:30,559
it down on a chair, and immediately something changed. They

480
00:23:30,599 --> 00:23:33,359
have felt thicker, heavier. It was like I wasn't alone

481
00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:35,880
in the room anymore. The silence had weight to it.

482
00:23:36,519 --> 00:23:40,200
I stood there, holding my breath, waiting for something, a sound,

483
00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:43,880
a movement. I didn't wait long. I picked the coat

484
00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:47,839
back up and threw it outside. Didn't even hesitate that night.

485
00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:50,119
I didn't go to bed. I sat up in the

486
00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:52,440
living room with the fire going and every battery powered

487
00:23:52,519 --> 00:23:55,640
light I had round three a m I heard it again,

488
00:23:56,240 --> 00:24:01,160
movement from upstairs. That made zero sense. I don't use

489
00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:05,720
the second floor. It unfinished, just wood framing and insolation.

490
00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:08,359
I keep the door locked because there's nothing up there

491
00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:11,039
but some old junk. I never impact, but those were

492
00:24:11,079 --> 00:24:14,599
definitely footsteps. I growled Krowbert took the flask light and

493
00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:17,440
crept up. With every step I took, it got colder,

494
00:24:18,079 --> 00:24:20,240
like the air was getting pulled away from me. The

495
00:24:20,319 --> 00:24:23,880
room looked empty, nothing move until I glanced up. The

496
00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:26,480
added panel was open, just hanging there, like someone had

497
00:24:26,559 --> 00:24:28,319
nudged it up and then forgotten to put it back.

498
00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:31,799
I pulled it down, climbed into the kraal space. It

499
00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:33,759
was tight, crapped, a kind of place where you can't

500
00:24:33,799 --> 00:24:35,759
stand up and your knees creak the second you crouch.

501
00:24:36,519 --> 00:24:38,359
At the far end was my old kemping gear, and

502
00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:41,000
sitting neatly on top of it, bone dry, perfectly folded,

503
00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:43,799
was that same black coat. I didn't touch it, didn't

504
00:24:43,799 --> 00:24:46,440
say anything, just back down the ladder, closed the panel

505
00:24:46,559 --> 00:24:49,559
and left the house. I didn't even grab my keys,

506
00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:52,799
just started the truck and drove straight to the Sheriff's office.

507
00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:55,559
I told them someone had broken in. They did a

508
00:24:55,559 --> 00:25:02,240
full sweep, checked for footprints, nothing, no forced, no tempered locks.

509
00:25:02,559 --> 00:25:04,720
They even pulled the footage from the security cameras I'd

510
00:25:04,759 --> 00:25:07,759
installed lost spring after a breaking scare. They told me

511
00:25:07,799 --> 00:25:10,440
I might have imagined it. That cold and stress can

512
00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:13,400
do weird things to your head. Long winter, they said,

513
00:25:14,039 --> 00:25:17,160
probably just fatigue. I sold the house a week later.

514
00:25:17,759 --> 00:25:20,599
Guy who bought it was a contractor from Alton. Last

515
00:25:20,599 --> 00:25:23,440
I heard he halted renovations after one of the crew

516
00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:26,039
had an accident, fell through the attic panel. I was

517
00:25:26,079 --> 00:25:29,079
thirty two when it happened. This estate park tucked out

518
00:25:29,079 --> 00:25:32,039
near Marlow Ridge. I've been working there seasonally for a

519
00:25:32,079 --> 00:25:36,240
few years, Cheril clan up facilities, checks stuff like that.

520
00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:38,359
That winter, I agreed to take the weekend shift during

521
00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:41,920
the storm front. It was voluntary extra pay, not mandatory,

522
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:44,559
and I figured I could use the cash. There wasn't

523
00:25:44,599 --> 00:25:47,440
much to it, just keep the generator running, checking on

524
00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:50,240
the buildings, report anything that got damage, and listened for

525
00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:52,920
a weather alerts in the radio. Most of the time

526
00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:56,200
you just sat in the staff cabin doing nothing. Friday morning,

527
00:25:56,279 --> 00:25:58,440
the other ranges packed up and left early, trying to

528
00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:01,319
beat the snow. By that afternoon, the road end had

529
00:26:01,359 --> 00:26:05,279
already iced over. I wasn't worried. The cabin was solid,

530
00:26:05,319 --> 00:26:07,640
stopped for food and back of Peters, and I'd stayed

531
00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:11,039
through worse. The park was technically closed to visitors during

532
00:26:11,079 --> 00:26:13,720
stones like that, so I didn't expect anyone to show up.

533
00:26:14,319 --> 00:26:16,839
By Saturday night, the wind was howling loud enough that

534
00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:19,359
even the walls of the shed sined to vibrate. I

535
00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:21,839
had the radio on low, mostly for company, though it

536
00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:24,440
was hard to hear anything over the wind. The January

537
00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:27,440
to hum steadily outside, and I double check everything before dark.

538
00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:30,440
I remember thinking it would be an easy, quiet night.

539
00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:34,279
Then just after nine Cyril, the motion light outside clicked on.

540
00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:37,400
That caught my attention. It's the kind of light that

541
00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:39,680
only trips of something passes directly in front of it,

542
00:26:40,279 --> 00:26:45,720
nottswaying trees, not wind. Maybe an animal, a dear maybe

543
00:26:46,319 --> 00:26:48,759
or a fox. But when I looked out the window,

544
00:26:48,799 --> 00:26:53,160
I saw tracks in the snow, small ones, uneaten, a

545
00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:56,559
little scattered, but definitely footprints heading right up to the

546
00:26:56,559 --> 00:26:59,559
front steps. I grabbed my coat, sitted up tight, and

547
00:26:59,599 --> 00:27:03,039
opened the door. She was just standing there, a girl,

548
00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:08,079
maybe seven or eight, no jacket, no boots, just as

549
00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:11,599
flimsy like purple sweater and black leggings. Her hair was

550
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:13,519
wet and plastered to her for had like she'd been

551
00:27:13,559 --> 00:27:17,079
out there for a while. Her cheeks were pale lip too.

552
00:27:17,759 --> 00:27:20,519
I froze for a second, not because I was scared,

553
00:27:20,559 --> 00:27:23,519
but because it didn't make any sense. There were no cars,

554
00:27:24,279 --> 00:27:28,119
no snowshoes, nothing on the surface road leading in, and

555
00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:30,759
no family. No one was supposed to be in the park.

556
00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:34,160
I stepped closer and asked if she was okay. She

557
00:27:34,279 --> 00:27:36,680
didn't answer. She just looked up at me with these

558
00:27:36,759 --> 00:27:39,319
dull eyes and asked, can I come in? There was

559
00:27:39,319 --> 00:27:42,519
no urgency in her voice, no emotion at all. Really,

560
00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:45,720
she sounded like some one asking for the time. It

561
00:27:45,799 --> 00:27:48,440
was weird, yeah, but my brain jumped straight to hypothermia.

562
00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:52,000
Maybe she wandered off from a cabin near by. Maybe

563
00:27:52,039 --> 00:27:54,359
she'd been out too long and didn't know where she was.

564
00:27:55,079 --> 00:27:58,880
I asked her name, nothing, just the same question again,

565
00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:01,880
can I come in? So I let her in? What

566
00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:04,720
else was I supposed to do? The second she stepped

567
00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:07,599
over the vessel, the lights cut out all at once,

568
00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:13,880
total darkness, total darkness. The generator stopped humming, the radio

569
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:18,279
went silent. She didn't even flinch, just walked inside like

570
00:28:18,319 --> 00:28:20,279
nothing had changed, and sat down on the floor near

571
00:28:20,319 --> 00:28:24,119
the cold stove, legs crossed, hands in her lap. I

572
00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:26,559
grabbed the emergency lantern from the shelf and flipped it on,

573
00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:29,480
said it beside her. The light caught her eyes in

574
00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:33,079
a weird way, too bright to glassy, but I figured

575
00:28:33,079 --> 00:28:34,680
maybe she was in shock, or had eyes in her

576
00:28:34,759 --> 00:28:37,880
lashes or something. I wasn't thinking clearly at that point.

577
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:42,559
My adrenaline was going haywire. I tried the radio, nothing,

578
00:28:43,279 --> 00:28:48,319
not even static, just empty. Checked a fuse box. Everything

579
00:28:48,359 --> 00:28:50,920
looked fine. I put on gloves and went outside to

580
00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:55,200
check the generator. Horror still warm, no ice blockage, no

581
00:28:55,319 --> 00:28:57,000
reason for it to be off, but it wouldn't turn

582
00:28:57,039 --> 00:29:00,559
over again. When I came back in, she hadn't inch.

583
00:29:01,279 --> 00:29:04,000
I grabbed two thermal blankets, wrapped them around her shoulders.

584
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:06,640
Tried again to get her to talk. I crouched down,

585
00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:08,400
looked her right in the face, and asked if she

586
00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:11,440
knew where her parents were. She didn't blink, just stared

587
00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:14,720
at the lantern flame. Then, finally, almost under her breath,

588
00:29:14,759 --> 00:29:18,720
she said, there coming. It wasn't a warning, it wasn't hopeful,

589
00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:22,240
just a flat, casual statement, like she was commenting on

590
00:29:22,279 --> 00:29:25,720
the weather. After that, she didn't speak again. The next

591
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:28,920
ire crawled. I kept checking the windows, though the snow

592
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:30,720
was falling so thick I could bare as he pass

593
00:29:30,759 --> 00:29:34,559
the porch. My phone showed no baws. I tried climbing

594
00:29:34,599 --> 00:29:35,960
up onto the desk by the window to get a

595
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:39,640
better signal. Nothing. I even considered hiking down to the

596
00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:41,880
shed again to try the emergency line, but I didn't

597
00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:44,200
want to leave her alone in the cabin. Even if

598
00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:47,400
she wasn't acting normal, she was still a kid. I

599
00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:50,039
made instant souper round eleven, put a steaming cup in

600
00:29:50,039 --> 00:29:53,200
front of her. She didn't even glance at it. I

601
00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:55,480
watched her for a long time, waiting for some sign

602
00:29:55,559 --> 00:30:00,160
of life, shivering, blinking, swallowing nothing. At one point, when

603
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:02,319
the cabin door again to check the build up, I

604
00:30:02,359 --> 00:30:04,319
glanced down at the steps in her footprints. The ones

605
00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:08,720
she left coming up were gone, completely gone, not even smudged,

606
00:30:09,519 --> 00:30:11,359
just a smooth stretch of snow where there should have

607
00:30:11,359 --> 00:30:14,599
been a trail. Around midnight, I saw headlights through the trees.

608
00:30:15,319 --> 00:30:18,119
I pressed my face to the window. A black suv

609
00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:20,880
crawled up the service road. It didn't have part to

610
00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:25,759
cows or emergency lights, no flushers, just steady, low beams.

611
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:28,200
It stopped a few feet from the porch and idled.

612
00:30:28,839 --> 00:30:31,359
No one got out. I threw on my coat again

613
00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:33,440
and opened the door, expecting to see a ranger or

614
00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:36,240
maybe some local who got lost. But when I turned

615
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:37,920
to tell the girl, she was already at the door.

616
00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:42,440
No sound, no movement before that, she was just there

617
00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:45,720
beside me. Then she stepped outside, barefoot through the snow,

618
00:30:45,799 --> 00:30:48,960
and walked toward the suv. The passenger door opened slowly

619
00:30:49,039 --> 00:30:52,359
before she reached it. I leaned forward, trying to see inside.

620
00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:55,599
There was no one in the driver's seat, no movement,

621
00:30:56,279 --> 00:31:00,200
no light from the dashboard, just darkness. She climbed him

622
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:04,160
without a word. The door shut, the suv reverse turned

623
00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:07,480
and disappeared down the trail without headlights. I watched until

624
00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:09,720
the tree swallowed it. I don't know how long I

625
00:31:09,759 --> 00:31:12,559
stood out there. When I went back inside, the cabin

626
00:31:12,599 --> 00:31:16,400
felt colder than it had before, not temperature wise, just empty,

627
00:31:16,759 --> 00:31:20,039
like she'd taken something with her. Around dawn, everything powered,

628
00:31:20,039 --> 00:31:23,839
back up, lights, radio, generator, all of it just kicked

629
00:31:23,839 --> 00:31:26,920
on like nothing had ever happened. My phone buzz were

630
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:30,640
backed up with alerts, all normal. I made the call

631
00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:33,480
to the ranger station just after seven, told them a

632
00:31:33,559 --> 00:31:36,519
kid showed up during the storm, said she got separated

633
00:31:36,519 --> 00:31:40,480
from some hikers and someone came together her. They lowered it,

634
00:31:40,519 --> 00:31:43,440
thanked me, didn't ask for much detail. That shift was

635
00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:46,160
the last winter watch I ever took. I asked to

636
00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:49,680
be reassigned to spring maintenance and never looked back. They'd

637
00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:51,839
set me up north again, this time to win Farm

638
00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:55,200
in western Nebraska, just outside a little town, cold Farage.

639
00:31:55,759 --> 00:31:58,599
The job was a three week maintenance rotation. I was

640
00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:00,759
filling him for a guy who'd gotten in shattered his

641
00:32:00,799 --> 00:32:03,359
ankle stepping off the lift platform during an ice storm

642
00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:06,839
typical for January. There were five of us total, working

643
00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:09,440
in a kind of rotating split shift pattern. We each

644
00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:11,799
had our assigned clusters, and unless he were lucky enough

645
00:32:11,799 --> 00:32:14,000
to cross paths at the control shehdow during a radio

646
00:32:14,079 --> 00:32:16,039
check in, it was easy to go days without seeing

647
00:32:16,079 --> 00:32:20,279
another human face. I didn't mind the solitude. I'd always

648
00:32:20,279 --> 00:32:22,680
been the kind of person who preferred mechanical problems over

649
00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:26,119
people problems. Just me, a tolkit and one hundred fifty

650
00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:28,480
feet of steel tow humming in the wind. There was

651
00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:32,039
something almost peaceful about it. And told the storm the

652
00:32:32,079 --> 00:32:36,720
forecasts had four inches of snow overnight. That's it. No warnings,

653
00:32:36,759 --> 00:32:41,039
no alerts, just your average dusting. Instead we got buried

654
00:32:41,759 --> 00:32:44,799
full long, wide out by sundown wind howling like it

655
00:32:44,839 --> 00:32:47,039
was trying to peel the nasals clean off their spindles.

656
00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:50,720
Visibility dropped to nothing in under two hours. I was

657
00:32:50,799 --> 00:32:53,440
lucky enough to already be stationed inside my assigned tower,

658
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:58,200
BEAMNUS seventeen. When things turned. We lost contact early. I

659
00:32:58,279 --> 00:33:00,680
remember trying to radio in a routine deg nosticheck and

660
00:33:00,759 --> 00:33:04,599
getting nothing but static, not even a crackle. I figured

661
00:33:04,599 --> 00:33:08,000
dispatch with update US when the signal cleared, I wasn't panicked,

662
00:33:08,039 --> 00:33:11,640
not yet. Then Marcus went missing. He'd radioed that he

663
00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:14,359
was headed to the auxiliary Shedney Taubens nine to grab

664
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:18,559
Baca Peter's. That was around four in the afternoon. By nightfall,

665
00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:20,839
he hadn't checked in and no one could raise him.

666
00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:22,960
I figured maybe he'd hold up in one of the

667
00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:26,000
closer towers, waiting for things to calm down. We'd all

668
00:33:26,039 --> 00:33:29,480
done it before, stand up procal when visibility dropped and

669
00:33:29,559 --> 00:33:32,680
you can't see your own boots. Still, something about the

670
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:35,440
silence after his lost coal got under my skin. My

671
00:33:35,519 --> 00:33:38,160
own tower, be Minu seventeen, was one of the oldest

672
00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:42,000
on the side, Loud, drafty and hafty. Internal lights flickered

673
00:33:42,079 --> 00:33:45,319
like dying Christmas decorations, but it had one thing going

674
00:33:45,319 --> 00:33:48,480
for it, a functioning baccapeter. The others had burned out

675
00:33:48,559 --> 00:33:51,599
or gun cold during the previous freeze. So that night

676
00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:53,799
I bumped up inside the nasal sipped into one of

677
00:33:53,799 --> 00:33:57,359
those the industrial sleeping bags. It smelled like mildew and vinyl,

678
00:33:57,519 --> 00:33:59,799
but it was warm. I was grateful for that hum

679
00:33:59,880 --> 00:34:02,559
of the heater, dull and steady, like a heartbeat some

680
00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:04,359
time around to you. In the morning, I woke up

681
00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:07,359
drenched in sweat. At first I thought the thermost hat

682
00:34:07,359 --> 00:34:10,800
had gone haywire. The air inside felt wrong, dense, like

683
00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:13,480
I was breathing through wet towel. I sat up to

684
00:34:13,519 --> 00:34:16,440
fasten the well, tilted, my head spun and I had

685
00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:19,079
to steady myself against the wall. I could feel the

686
00:34:19,079 --> 00:34:21,440
weight of the heat pressing against my skin, thick and stale,

687
00:34:21,639 --> 00:34:24,480
like it hadn't cycled in. IROs. I crawled over to

688
00:34:24,519 --> 00:34:26,320
the rear hatch and cracked it just enough to let

689
00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:29,360
some of that frigida cut through the stuffness. It helped

690
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:32,599
the disiness eased, and I started to feel like myself again.

691
00:34:33,199 --> 00:34:36,000
That's when I noticed the axis panel. It was one

692
00:34:36,039 --> 00:34:38,679
of those standard emergency kitts, bolted into the sidewall first

693
00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:41,920
aid spare filters, a back up radio battery. I'd opened

694
00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:44,800
it earlier that evening to check inventory. I close and

695
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:48,519
latched it tight. I'm methodical like that, but now the

696
00:34:48,559 --> 00:34:50,760
panel door hung slightly jar, and the latch looked bent,

697
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:54,880
not broken, not kicked in, just twisted like someone had

698
00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:57,880
drenched it open from the inside. The kit itself hadn't

699
00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:00,880
been disturbed. Everything was in its place, but that latch

700
00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:03,599
stuck with me. I couldn't stop looking at it. Something

701
00:35:03,639 --> 00:35:05,679
about it felt personal, like some one had tried to

702
00:35:05,679 --> 00:35:08,760
get my attention without leaving a note. I tried the

703
00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:12,440
radio again. Still nothing, just dead air and a low,

704
00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:15,400
coaling static that almost sounded like whispering. If you listened

705
00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:18,360
too long. I needed to move, needed to do something,

706
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:21,000
so I forced myself into a basic walk through of

707
00:35:21,039 --> 00:35:24,760
the nasal interior. I checked every kibble housing, every port,

708
00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:27,760
even the bolts in the axis hatch. Everything looked fine,

709
00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:30,119
except for the glove. It was wedged deep into the

710
00:35:30,199 --> 00:35:33,079
edge of the battery compartment, half hidden behind the insulation form.

711
00:35:33,599 --> 00:35:37,840
I almost missed it. It was mine. Wrong sighs, wrong color.

712
00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:41,920
I wore thick black gauntlets. This one was navy blue, sleeker,

713
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:44,280
more like what you'd wear on a cold hike. No

714
00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:47,360
company logo. The fingers were stiff, and when I pulled

715
00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:50,239
it out, it was frozen solid. There was no reason

716
00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:52,440
for that glove to be there. By the time the

717
00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:54,280
sky started to brighton, if he could call it that.

718
00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:57,639
In a storm, the heater it completely cut out. No warning, beap,

719
00:35:57,719 --> 00:36:01,119
no system error, just silence. I bundled up and climbed

720
00:36:01,119 --> 00:36:02,840
down to check the system, and that's when I saw

721
00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:06,760
the footprints. They were cursp by, mistakably fresh. The snow

722
00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:09,199
round them was undisturbed, no sign of drift or melting.

723
00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:11,960
They led away from the tower, away from everything, out

724
00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:13,920
toward a clump of trees, maybe half a mile off.

725
00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:19,119
There's nothing in that direction, though, road, no structure, just

726
00:36:19,159 --> 00:36:21,920
a patch of pine, barely taller than the turbines themselves.

727
00:36:22,599 --> 00:36:26,440
What really got me was the size. The prince were small, narrow,

728
00:36:27,199 --> 00:36:31,280
no heel drag, no stagger. Whatever boots made them, they

729
00:36:31,280 --> 00:36:35,000
weren't standard issue. The tread looked wrong, too, like something

730
00:36:35,039 --> 00:36:38,320
you'd buy at a sporting good store, not an industrial supplier.

731
00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:41,880
I followed them just for a bit, maybe twenty minutes,

732
00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:44,800
twenty five yards. But the further I went, the worse

733
00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:47,119
of silence. Felt like I was being watched or listen to.

734
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:50,400
It was hard to explain, but my whole body felt wired,

735
00:36:50,559 --> 00:36:53,159
like the inside of my chest was buzzing. I stopped,

736
00:36:53,199 --> 00:36:55,039
looked up at the trees in the distance. Then I

737
00:36:55,079 --> 00:36:58,400
turned around and went back to Beaman of seventeen. Inside

738
00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:01,480
it was already colder. I rigged what insulation I could,

739
00:37:01,559 --> 00:37:04,000
wrapped my sleeping bag and a top, and sat close

740
00:37:04,039 --> 00:37:06,199
to the wall for warm. I kept trying the crank

741
00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:10,559
radio every hour, hoping for a break. Nothing That night dragged.

742
00:37:11,159 --> 00:37:14,440
I didn't sleep. At one point, maybe three in the morning,

743
00:37:14,519 --> 00:37:18,320
I heard something scrape across the outside hallnot went not

744
00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:21,639
metal shifting. This was deliberate, like someone dragging a tool

745
00:37:21,639 --> 00:37:24,320
against the tower skin. I sat there in the dark,

746
00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:28,079
holding a wrench like it meant something. Didn't move, didn't

747
00:37:28,079 --> 00:37:31,639
even breathe. Next morning I got a signal faint but

748
00:37:31,679 --> 00:37:34,239
there a burst of static and a voice cutting in

749
00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:41,400
and out. Medical Irak turbund. Six minutes one emergency six minutes.

750
00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:44,360
One was east far side of the field, a mile

751
00:37:44,519 --> 00:37:47,840
maybe more in the snow. I didn't think twice. I

752
00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:51,320
grabbed my gear and left, took over an iro. I

753
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:53,880
was exhausted by the time I reached it. The hatch

754
00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:57,679
was open, not a jar, wide open inside. The latter

755
00:37:57,840 --> 00:38:02,599
lights were on. I called out, no reply. I climbed anyway.

756
00:38:03,159 --> 00:38:06,440
About half way up, I saw it, something dark, frozen

757
00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:10,679
along one of the wrongs. I leaned in blood, a

758
00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:12,840
smear of it, right where your hand would land if

759
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:16,440
you were climbing up in a hurry. Michaelovesitched. I didn't

760
00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:18,760
want to keep going, but I did. At the top,

761
00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:23,199
the nasal was empty, no one, no gear, just a

762
00:38:23,239 --> 00:38:25,719
single sleeping bag in a corner, unzipped and crumpled like

763
00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:28,119
some one left in a hurry. And above the dead

764
00:38:28,119 --> 00:38:31,039
heater units grasped faintly into the aluminum panel before words,

765
00:38:31,119 --> 00:38:33,920
don't follow the boots. I stared at that for a

766
00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:37,280
long time. Then I climbed down, went back to be seventeen,

767
00:38:37,519 --> 00:38:39,440
and locked the hatch behind me. I stayed there for

768
00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:45,119
three more nights, eight protein bars cranked. The radier didn't sleep.

769
00:38:45,599 --> 00:38:47,800
When the chopper finally came, I barely heard it over

770
00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:51,320
the wind. I waved and waited. Every One else made

771
00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:54,800
it out. Marcus didn't. They found pieces of his gay

772
00:38:54,880 --> 00:38:57,000
near a frozen creaked bed six miles east past the

773
00:38:57,039 --> 00:39:01,639
tree line. They said exposure, this so orientation, maybe even

774
00:39:01,719 --> 00:39:05,199
hypothermia and disbehavior. I was twenty four when it happened.

775
00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:07,760
My cousin Marra had asked me to have sit while

776
00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:10,480
she was out in Montana for a teaching seminar. She

777
00:39:10,639 --> 00:39:12,599
just got a tenure at some small college and was

778
00:39:12,639 --> 00:39:15,960
doing all these professional development retreats. Her place was up

779
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:19,679
in northern Vermont, way past Saint Saying Alban's practically brushing

780
00:39:19,679 --> 00:39:22,360
against the Canadian border. She lived in this old a

781
00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:24,559
frame house her partner had fixed up. Before this split

782
00:39:25,159 --> 00:39:28,800
cozy would stove lots of glass spacing the trees pretty

783
00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:31,519
enough in the fall, I imagine, but in early winter,

784
00:39:31,599 --> 00:39:33,800
right before everything shuts down for the season, a whole

785
00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:37,159
area just feels emptied out, like the world press palls.

786
00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:40,679
I drove in on a Monday, snow was already starting

787
00:39:40,679 --> 00:39:42,440
to dust the treat ups, and mar told me to

788
00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:44,719
stock up on groceries in town, because once the snow

789
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:47,519
started falling up there, I wouldn't want to be driving anywhere.

790
00:39:48,119 --> 00:39:51,239
She was right. The nearest market was nearly an Ira way,

791
00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:53,199
and the little general store a few miles off the

792
00:39:53,199 --> 00:39:57,719
main road barely canted. They sold more hunting gate and food. Still,

793
00:39:57,840 --> 00:39:59,639
the idea of being holed up in a cabin with

794
00:39:59,639 --> 00:40:02,199
nothing but Juniper, a little shaggy mutt, and a stack

795
00:40:02,199 --> 00:40:04,800
of books didn't sound so bad. The storm walled in

796
00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:07,960
late on my second night. At first it was just floorers.

797
00:40:08,639 --> 00:40:10,679
I watched them fall through the big living room window

798
00:40:10,719 --> 00:40:12,800
while I made poster and let Juniper chase her tail

799
00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:15,440
across the floor. By the time I went to bed, though,

800
00:40:15,480 --> 00:40:18,360
the wind was upon howling through the rafters, making these strange,

801
00:40:18,400 --> 00:40:21,760
hollow morning sounds in the chimney. It was scary, exactly,

802
00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:24,400
just loud and weirdly constant, like someone was trying to

803
00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:27,920
homitune through the walls. Self service had already dropped out

804
00:40:28,159 --> 00:40:31,000
no Boss since some time after dinner, but the power

805
00:40:31,039 --> 00:40:32,920
was still on, and I figured if it stayed that way,

806
00:40:32,960 --> 00:40:36,440
I could write out whatever came. By morning, everything was buried.

807
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:38,679
I looked out the front window and couldn't see the

808
00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:40,679
driveway at all, just a sheet of white stretching to

809
00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:43,159
the tree line. Snow had piled half way up the

810
00:40:43,159 --> 00:40:45,519
port railings and the stairs leading down to the yard

811
00:40:45,559 --> 00:40:48,559
were basically gone. The wind was still going strong, and

812
00:40:48,599 --> 00:40:50,719
the sky had that thick, low hanging look that says

813
00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:53,920
we're not done yet. I made coffee, wrapped myself in

814
00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:56,320
a blanket, and settled on the couch with Juniper snoring

815
00:40:56,320 --> 00:40:59,760
beside me, watching muded runs on the DVD player. And

816
00:40:59,840 --> 00:41:04,159
then around noon some one knocked, not generally either three

817
00:41:04,199 --> 00:41:08,920
sharp raps fastened deliberate. I froze. Juniper perked up immediately,

818
00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:12,320
ear stiff, body alert. For a second, I honestly thought

819
00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:15,239
maybe I'd imagined it. The storm had been beating against

820
00:41:15,239 --> 00:41:18,159
the windows all morning, and sometimes her brain turns noises

821
00:41:18,159 --> 00:41:22,559
into patterns. But then it came again, same three knocks.

822
00:41:22,920 --> 00:41:24,559
I got up slowly and went to the front door.

823
00:41:24,599 --> 00:41:26,840
Looked through the peep hole. There was a man on

824
00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:29,519
the porch. He was standing just far enough back that

825
00:41:29,559 --> 00:41:32,559
the overhang didn't fully cover him, hut up, face half

826
00:41:32,599 --> 00:41:35,400
in shadder, wearing a gray pocker dodge and soap from

827
00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:38,239
the knees down. His boots were half buried in the snow.

828
00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:39,960
But what stuck with me was how still he was

829
00:41:40,039 --> 00:41:43,840
completely motionless, no stomping his feet, no brushing snow off,

830
00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:46,480
just waiting. He saw the people shift and tilted his

831
00:41:46,519 --> 00:41:50,360
head slightly, then smiled. I didn't smile back. I didn't

832
00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:52,960
say anything. I stepped away from the door, and then

833
00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:55,119
he knocked again, slower this time, like he knew I

834
00:41:55,159 --> 00:41:58,199
was right there. You got a phone, he said, His

835
00:41:58,320 --> 00:42:01,480
voice was muffled but clear. My car stuck down the road.

836
00:42:02,119 --> 00:42:04,960
That was believable. I guess there was a sharp bend

837
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:07,000
a mile or two back where you could definitely skid

838
00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:09,679
out if you weren't used to mountain driving. Still, I

839
00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:12,760
kept my voice level when I answered, no signal, I

840
00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:15,559
said through the door. Lines are down, Can I come in?

841
00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:17,760
Just want to call at a shock? I won't stay along.

842
00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:20,760
He said it politely, calmly, that there was something off

843
00:42:20,760 --> 00:42:23,039
in the way he spoke. It wasn't what he said,

844
00:42:23,079 --> 00:42:25,760
it was how confident he sounded, like he already knew

845
00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:29,599
I'd opened the door. Likeness was just a formality. I said,

846
00:42:29,599 --> 00:42:32,519
no from this time, sorry, I can't let anyone in.

847
00:42:33,079 --> 00:42:36,840
He didn't argue, didn't plead or curse. He just stood

848
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:40,760
there another few seconds. I counted them. Then he turned

849
00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:43,480
and stepped off the porch. I rushed to the side

850
00:42:43,519 --> 00:42:46,119
window and watched him. He wasn't heading for the road.

851
00:42:46,840 --> 00:42:49,119
He was circling the house, moving through the snow, slowly,

852
00:42:49,239 --> 00:42:51,639
like he was checking something, not looking in the windows,

853
00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:54,119
just walking the perimeter, like people do when they're scoping

854
00:42:54,159 --> 00:42:56,800
out a place. That's when I grabbed Juniper and double

855
00:42:56,840 --> 00:42:58,719
checked the back door, locked it, turned off all the

856
00:42:58,800 --> 00:43:02,440
lights except the kitchen. Then I waited. He didn't come back.

857
00:43:03,119 --> 00:43:08,079
No more knocks, no sounds, nothing but wind and snow outside.

858
00:43:08,679 --> 00:43:11,280
Still The rest of that day dragt. I kept the

859
00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:14,360
bath from the hallway closet beside me, Juniper stay glued

860
00:43:14,360 --> 00:43:16,960
to my side. At one point I thought I heard

861
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:19,000
something on the roof like a creak or shuffle, but

862
00:43:19,079 --> 00:43:21,840
it could have been snow sliding off. I told myself

863
00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:25,119
it was snow that night. I didn't go upstairs. I

864
00:43:25,199 --> 00:43:26,920
dozed off and on with that. He be humming static

865
00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:29,960
in the background. Juniper gurled under her breath every time

866
00:43:30,000 --> 00:43:33,599
the wind shifted. Then at two in the morning, almost exactly,

867
00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:36,360
I heard the back door of Braddle just once, like

868
00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:39,960
some one testing it. I didn't breed, didn't move. Then

869
00:43:40,039 --> 00:43:43,800
came the tapping, not loud, not even forcible, just a

870
00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:46,800
finger tapping the kitchen window above the sink, A light,

871
00:43:46,880 --> 00:43:50,280
steady rhythm, tap tap, tap, tap, same speed each time.

872
00:43:50,920 --> 00:43:53,440
I pictured some one standing out there using their knuckle.

873
00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:55,760
I crept to the hallway and grabbed the bat again,

874
00:43:55,920 --> 00:43:59,239
metle against my palm. Juniper was stiff beside me. Here

875
00:43:59,320 --> 00:44:02,599
is pinned back, not making sun. This time I waited there,

876
00:44:02,679 --> 00:44:05,559
crouch for I don't even know how law. Eventually the

877
00:44:05,599 --> 00:44:08,920
tapping stopped. I gave it at least thirty minutes before moving.

878
00:44:09,480 --> 00:44:11,760
When I finally dared to peek, the window was empty,

879
00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:16,360
but the snow just outside. There were footprints, their foot prints,

880
00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:21,039
no boots, just human feet. He They led straight from

881
00:44:21,039 --> 00:44:22,800
the edge of the woods to the back door, then

882
00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:25,880
turned and disappeared into the trees. I stayed awake the

883
00:44:25,920 --> 00:44:29,840
rest of the night, lights on bat in hand. When

884
00:44:29,840 --> 00:44:31,679
the sun finally came up and the snow led off

885
00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:33,800
enough for the plas to clear the roads, I growbed

886
00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:36,920
my things, loaded Juniprint to the suv and drove straight

887
00:44:36,920 --> 00:44:39,440
to the sheriff's office in town. They sent some one

888
00:44:39,480 --> 00:44:43,239
back out with me, nice guy, Deputy Moser, I think,

889
00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:47,679
but he didn't find anything. Then that winter had different,

890
00:44:47,840 --> 00:44:51,360
not just colder, but heavier somehow. I'd been working maintenance

891
00:44:51,360 --> 00:44:53,719
as sell a monitoring station outside a little town named

892
00:44:53,719 --> 00:44:56,880
Montana cold ryse Field. If you blinked, you'd miss it.

893
00:44:57,599 --> 00:44:59,199
Just a dine at a gas pump and a post

894
00:44:59,239 --> 00:45:02,599
office that closed by the facility was about twenty miles

895
00:45:02,639 --> 00:45:06,920
further out, real medal of nowhere stuff. We had strift protocols,

896
00:45:07,599 --> 00:45:10,920
no overnight's days, the buildings weren't designed for it, and

897
00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:13,920
there was a full time crew on site. Usually I'd

898
00:45:13,920 --> 00:45:15,840
been and out in a couple ears, check the equipment

899
00:45:15,880 --> 00:45:18,440
log any faults, then back on the road by late afternoon.

900
00:45:18,920 --> 00:45:21,320
But that day a storm rolled in earlier than expected.

901
00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:23,920
I was on the roof checking junction seals when the

902
00:45:23,920 --> 00:45:27,840
wind picked up. Visibility dropped fast. One second I could

903
00:45:27,880 --> 00:45:30,440
see the gravel lot, the next it was like being

904
00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:34,119
inside a snow globe. Some one shook too hard. By

905
00:45:34,159 --> 00:45:36,400
the time I climbed back down, the road was already

906
00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:39,039
asked over. There were no tire trucks left from when

907
00:45:39,079 --> 00:45:41,679
I'd come in, just a thick white blanket swallowing everything.

908
00:45:42,159 --> 00:45:45,119
I didn't have snow chains with me, dumb mistake. Figured

909
00:45:45,159 --> 00:45:48,199
i'd be back before things got bad. Luckily there was

910
00:45:48,199 --> 00:45:51,519
an old shed tuck behind the main facility. Everyone called

911
00:45:51,519 --> 00:45:54,199
at the cabin, though that was being generous, just a

912
00:45:54,239 --> 00:45:56,480
glorified storage room that some one had stuck a cot

913
00:45:56,519 --> 00:45:59,519
and appropian heater in years back. It was supposed to

914
00:45:59,519 --> 00:46:02,559
be for merging sees. Only A radio dispatched to say

915
00:46:02,559 --> 00:46:05,719
I'd be hunkering down until the storm passed. Got nothing

916
00:46:05,760 --> 00:46:08,159
back but statik in that sharp digital wind the radios

917
00:46:08,159 --> 00:46:10,960
made when they couldn't find a signal. Still, I wasn't

918
00:46:10,960 --> 00:46:13,800
too worried. It wasn't my first time getting stuck somewhere.

919
00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:16,360
Over night. I found a few cans of soup in

920
00:46:16,360 --> 00:46:18,159
the cupboard, used the heater to warm one up, and

921
00:46:18,199 --> 00:46:20,599
settled on to the cot in my coat. The wind

922
00:46:20,599 --> 00:46:22,800
banged around outside for ires, like it was trying to

923
00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:26,480
rattle the bolts loose. I eventually dozed off, wrapped in

924
00:46:26,519 --> 00:46:28,960
two emergency blankets and hoping I wouldn't have to dig

925
00:46:28,960 --> 00:46:31,199
the truck out in the morning. Then at some point

926
00:46:31,239 --> 00:46:33,599
deep into the night, I woke up freezing. It was

927
00:46:33,639 --> 00:46:35,840
that kind of cold, the punches through layers, not a

928
00:46:35,880 --> 00:46:38,360
gentle chill, an absence of warm, so sharp it feels

929
00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:41,039
like someone sucking the heat out of your bones. I

930
00:46:41,079 --> 00:46:45,079
sat up, confused the heater had stopped hommy first thaw

931
00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:47,840
out of fuel. I swung my legs off the cot,

932
00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:50,360
bracing myself for the coal floor, and that's when I

933
00:46:50,440 --> 00:46:53,679
noticed it. The door. It was shut all the way,

934
00:46:54,480 --> 00:46:57,519
just hanging there a couple inches open enough for the

935
00:46:57,559 --> 00:47:00,159
wind to snake through. But the strange pot was I

936
00:47:00,239 --> 00:47:02,920
knew i'd latched it. It wasn't a casual, push closed

937
00:47:02,960 --> 00:47:06,000
kind of door. It had a thick, industrial grade latch.

938
00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:08,679
She had to slide into place with real force. It

939
00:47:08,719 --> 00:47:10,880
made the sharp clanking sound. Would it locked loud enough

940
00:47:10,920 --> 00:47:13,599
to echo in that tiny space. I just stood there

941
00:47:13,639 --> 00:47:16,400
staring at it. My ears were ringing from her silent

942
00:47:16,360 --> 00:47:19,320
and everything was that kind of silence you only get

943
00:47:19,320 --> 00:47:22,880
out in the deep cold, no like something physical. Eventually,

944
00:47:22,960 --> 00:47:25,039
I stepped forward and pushed the door open a little further.

945
00:47:25,679 --> 00:47:28,440
The snow had eased up. It was still falling, but

946
00:47:28,480 --> 00:47:30,960
in that soft, quiet Waylika didn't want to draw attention

947
00:47:31,039 --> 00:47:35,119
to itself. I stepped out and looked around. Nothing, no

948
00:47:35,199 --> 00:47:38,480
footprints leading in or out. The snow was smooth and broken,

949
00:47:38,719 --> 00:47:41,920
not even the usual drift patents. It looked almost too clean,

950
00:47:41,960 --> 00:47:43,880
like it had for said itself. Somehow. I backed inside,

951
00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:45,639
locked the door again with a heavy clunk, and checked

952
00:47:45,639 --> 00:47:47,760
the probein tanget wasn't empty. It had been turned off.

953
00:47:47,800 --> 00:47:49,400
Some one had twisted the knob to the off position.

954
00:47:49,519 --> 00:47:51,039
I stood there with my hand on the valve, not

955
00:47:51,119 --> 00:47:53,000
really knowing what to make of it. I checked the window,

956
00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:54,880
no cracks, no signs of tamper in the place were

957
00:47:54,880 --> 00:47:57,039
sealed up, and yet that the door had definitely opened,

958
00:47:57,119 --> 00:47:59,440
and the heater some one had to physically turn it off.

959
00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:02,000
I didn't sleep the rest of the night, just sat

960
00:48:02,039 --> 00:48:04,440
on the cot, watching the door listening to every creek

961
00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:07,519
and gone the walls made there weren't many, just that low,

962
00:48:07,679 --> 00:48:10,199
almost under water silence, like the world had stopped moving.

963
00:48:10,760 --> 00:48:12,920
When the sky lightened and it felt safe enough to move,

964
00:48:12,960 --> 00:48:14,760
I packed up my bag and hight cross the lot

965
00:48:14,760 --> 00:48:17,320
to the main facility. The wind had died, but the

966
00:48:17,360 --> 00:48:21,400
snow's deep and uneven, making each step awkward. I slept twice.

967
00:48:21,920 --> 00:48:23,760
By the time I got to the building. My gloves

968
00:48:23,760 --> 00:48:26,440
were stiff with cold. The power was still out, but

969
00:48:26,480 --> 00:48:28,840
I had a master key and let myself in. It

970
00:48:28,880 --> 00:48:31,639
was warmer inside even without the heat, probably residual from

971
00:48:31,679 --> 00:48:34,880
the insulated walls. I headed to the break room first.

972
00:48:35,559 --> 00:48:39,079
That's when I noticed it, a ther mess, just sitting

973
00:48:39,079 --> 00:48:41,639
there in the middle of the table, plain black one

974
00:48:41,679 --> 00:48:44,519
with the company logo. I hadn't touched that building since

975
00:48:44,559 --> 00:48:47,440
the previous afternoon, and I knew the schedule. No one

976
00:48:47,440 --> 00:48:49,360
else was supposed to be on sight for another forty

977
00:48:49,400 --> 00:48:53,000
eight iOS. I picked it up. It was still warm.

978
00:48:53,639 --> 00:48:56,440
That gave me pause. But what hit even harder was

979
00:48:56,480 --> 00:48:59,000
the chair. One of the plastic chairs at the table

980
00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:01,800
had been pulled back several feet, not tucked under the

981
00:49:01,840 --> 00:49:05,039
table like the others. It was turned slightly angled toward

982
00:49:05,079 --> 00:49:07,400
the hallway that led to the server room, like some

983
00:49:07,440 --> 00:49:11,280
one had been sitting there watching. I checked the axis locks.

984
00:49:11,599 --> 00:49:13,400
My badge was the only one scand and over the

985
00:49:13,440 --> 00:49:18,239
last twenty four hours, I double checked nothing, not even

986
00:49:18,239 --> 00:49:21,280
the weekend janitor. Then I pulled up the perimeter cameras.

987
00:49:21,760 --> 00:49:24,400
Most were glitching, snow distorted, but one had managed to

988
00:49:24,400 --> 00:49:26,920
record about five seconds of footage around one point thirty

989
00:49:26,960 --> 00:49:29,719
that morning. It showed the back path, the one leading

990
00:49:29,719 --> 00:49:32,480
from the cabin to the main building. The image flickered,

991
00:49:32,519 --> 00:49:34,599
blurred with blowing snow ow, but just before the feet

992
00:49:34,599 --> 00:49:38,480
cut out, something stepped into frame. A figure tall, broad shoulders,

993
00:49:38,599 --> 00:49:41,320
no face visible, just a bulky out line half shadowed.

994
00:49:41,480 --> 00:49:44,480
It was walking slow, one leg drag behind like it

995
00:49:44,559 --> 00:49:48,519
was fully lifting it. The movement was jerky, unnatural. I

996
00:49:48,559 --> 00:49:51,960
watched it loop three times, each time the same awkward drag.

997
00:49:52,599 --> 00:49:54,920
I didn't know what to make of it. I tried

998
00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:57,559
to tell myself it was a neighbor. Maybe someone had

999
00:49:57,599 --> 00:50:00,400
gotten turned around in the storm. But that path was

1000
00:50:00,440 --> 00:50:02,960
a straight shot. No one would have wandered up it

1001
00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:05,760
by accident, And even if they had, why not knock,

1002
00:50:06,599 --> 00:50:10,000
Why just lurk? The roads didn't clear for another two days.

1003
00:50:10,719 --> 00:50:12,880
I stayed in the main building the entire time, sleeping

1004
00:50:12,920 --> 00:50:15,480
in a chair in the control room, lights on, door locked.

1005
00:50:16,119 --> 00:50:17,880
I didn't go back to the cabin until the day

1006
00:50:17,880 --> 00:50:20,199
I left. Only returned because I had left my toolbooks

1007
00:50:20,199 --> 00:50:23,119
some winter gear inside. I kept it quick in, grabbed

1008
00:50:23,119 --> 00:50:25,840
the bag at but just as I was about to leave,

1009
00:50:25,920 --> 00:50:28,800
something stopped me. The cot had been moved, not by

1010
00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:31,000
a lot, just pulled slightly away from the wall, but

1011
00:50:31,119 --> 00:50:33,840
enough to notice, enough to make me pause. And the

1012
00:50:33,880 --> 00:50:36,000
blanket still creased where I had slept. But now there

1013
00:50:36,000 --> 00:50:38,920
were two impressions, one at the top where my head

1014
00:50:38,920 --> 00:50:41,480
had been, and one smaller one near the foot, like

1015
00:50:41,559 --> 00:50:44,239
someone something smaller, had curled up there beside me, facing

1016
00:50:44,280 --> 00:50:47,360
the other way. I froze. There was this rush of

1017
00:50:47,360 --> 00:50:50,000
heat up the back of my neck. Not fear exactly,

1018
00:50:50,679 --> 00:50:54,360
more like this full body awareness, like muskin. Suddenly remembered

1019
00:50:54,360 --> 00:50:56,880
I was alone. I should have left right then, but

1020
00:50:56,960 --> 00:50:58,679
for some reason I turned to look at the window.

1021
00:50:59,280 --> 00:51:01,639
There on the inside of the glass were for smudges

1022
00:51:01,679 --> 00:51:06,039
in the frost, long thin lines angled downward, light fingertips

1023
00:51:06,119 --> 00:51:08,159
dragging from the top corner of the window down toward

1024
00:51:08,199 --> 00:51:12,400
the middle. I didn't breathe, did it blink, just turn,

1025
00:51:12,519 --> 00:51:15,199
grabbed the door handle and got out. I drove straight

1026
00:51:15,239 --> 00:51:17,559
through the pass, changed or not, white knuckled it the

1027
00:51:17,559 --> 00:51:19,639
whole way back to Ryersefield and didn't even stop to

1028
00:51:19,719 --> 00:51:22,440
check in. Just called my supervisor the next day and

1029
00:51:22,480 --> 00:51:25,400
said I needed time off. The storm was already getting

1030
00:51:25,400 --> 00:51:27,559
serious by the time I clocked out and left the wares.

1031
00:51:27,559 --> 00:51:29,079
A few of the guy's Brian Melt and the new

1032
00:51:29,159 --> 00:51:31,119
kid who always wore head ferns, told me I should

1033
00:51:31,159 --> 00:51:32,960
just cross there for the night. They'd enrolled some mats

1034
00:51:32,960 --> 00:51:34,880
near the break area and were already plying to heat

1035
00:51:34,960 --> 00:51:37,239
up left over pizza. I appreciated it, but I passed.

1036
00:51:37,239 --> 00:51:39,559
I at this stubborn thing about finishing what I started,

1037
00:51:39,679 --> 00:51:41,880
and at night. What I started was a week alone

1038
00:51:41,880 --> 00:51:44,320
in the hills with no one around. The idea of

1039
00:51:44,360 --> 00:51:46,400
waking up in a dusty wharuse next to the vending

1040
00:51:46,440 --> 00:51:49,400
machine just didn't match the plan. My cabin wasn't far

1041
00:51:49,440 --> 00:51:52,000
about forty minutes north, near a stretch of woods outside

1042
00:51:52,079 --> 00:51:55,639
Carver's Ridge. I had taken some time off work to decompress,

1043
00:51:55,800 --> 00:51:58,119
not for any dramatic reason, just to build up of

1044
00:51:58,159 --> 00:52:00,000
too many days in a rowse bend under buzzing life

1045
00:52:00,039 --> 00:52:04,079
light and hearing the same conversations I wandered quiet. I

1046
00:52:04,119 --> 00:52:06,440
found this rental online a little a framed tug back

1047
00:52:06,480 --> 00:52:09,639
off a barely paved access road, no Wi Fi, barely

1048
00:52:09,679 --> 00:52:13,360
any cell service. It was perfect. The first part of

1049
00:52:13,360 --> 00:52:16,239
the drive was uneventful, even kind of peaceful. I had

1050
00:52:16,239 --> 00:52:18,320
the heat cranked in one of those long ambient playlists

1051
00:52:18,360 --> 00:52:21,000
going the kind with wind chines and soft cords like

1052
00:52:21,079 --> 00:52:24,360
Coatel Spall Music. But about twenty minutes in the snow

1053
00:52:24,360 --> 00:52:28,440
picked up fast. I'm talking white up conditions, thick flakes

1054
00:52:28,440 --> 00:52:30,800
hammering the windshield, the kind that blow your headlights and

1055
00:52:30,840 --> 00:52:34,880
turn everything into static. I slowed way down. Didn't matter

1056
00:52:34,920 --> 00:52:37,719
that I had snow tires. If you can't see the road,

1057
00:52:37,800 --> 00:52:40,480
they don't help much. That's probably when I made the

1058
00:52:40,480 --> 00:52:42,719
wrong turn. It couldn't have been more than a few

1059
00:52:42,760 --> 00:52:44,960
degrees off the correct route, but in that weather, that's

1060
00:52:44,960 --> 00:52:48,159
all it takes. One moment I was cruising between familiar

1061
00:52:48,239 --> 00:52:50,440
trees and old wooden mail boxes, and the next hour

1062
00:52:50,519 --> 00:52:53,400
was staring at a dead end, a bunch of down branches,

1063
00:52:53,400 --> 00:52:55,280
and what look like the edge of a small ravine.

1064
00:52:55,760 --> 00:52:58,440
No signs, no lights, no indication I'd ever been on

1065
00:52:58,480 --> 00:53:02,559
that road before. I tried to reruiate myself. That's when

1066
00:53:02,599 --> 00:53:05,599
I saw it alongside road leading off to the left,

1067
00:53:05,679 --> 00:53:10,119
perfectly plowed, not just scrape ones either. It looked freshly cleared.

1068
00:53:10,760 --> 00:53:13,280
I figured it had to lead somewhere civilized, maybe a

1069
00:53:13,320 --> 00:53:16,159
lodge or ranger station. Every other road I passed had

1070
00:53:16,159 --> 00:53:19,920
been swallowed by snow, so this one stood out too much. Honestly,

1071
00:53:20,559 --> 00:53:23,679
I checked my phone, no signal. GPS was frozen mid

1072
00:53:23,719 --> 00:53:27,920
load right, but the alternative was sitting there waiting to

1073
00:53:27,960 --> 00:53:30,679
get stuck or worse. So I turned onto the plaid

1074
00:53:30,760 --> 00:53:32,199
road and hoped for a turn off or lit that

1075
00:53:32,280 --> 00:53:34,880
my connect back to the highway. That road felt like

1076
00:53:34,880 --> 00:53:39,480
it went on forever, no street lights, no signs, just

1077
00:53:39,519 --> 00:53:41,960
thick trees pressing in on both sides and the occasional

1078
00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:44,480
flicker of an old fence post under the snow. A

1079
00:53:44,519 --> 00:53:46,599
couple miles in A saw tire trucks ahead of me,

1080
00:53:46,920 --> 00:53:50,159
just one set, partly covered but recent. A little further

1081
00:53:50,239 --> 00:53:52,599
down there was a rusty gate hanging crooked off its hinges,

1082
00:53:52,840 --> 00:53:54,719
wide open, like someone had left it in a hurry.

1083
00:53:55,280 --> 00:53:57,000
Past the gate was a clear with a few large

1084
00:53:57,000 --> 00:54:02,119
concrete buildings, government looking maybe a state facility. At first glance,

1085
00:54:02,280 --> 00:54:04,599
it reminded me of the summer camps built in the seventies.

1086
00:54:05,320 --> 00:54:08,840
Plain functional, weirdly grim. Most of the windows were boarded,

1087
00:54:09,000 --> 00:54:13,199
some half smashed paint head peeled off in sheets. Still,

1088
00:54:13,360 --> 00:54:16,760
something about the place didn't scream abandoned. It felt paused,

1089
00:54:16,800 --> 00:54:19,519
like people had just stepped out. I pulled into what

1090
00:54:19,559 --> 00:54:21,880
looked like an old lot and parked near the smallest building,

1091
00:54:21,960 --> 00:54:24,519
the one closest to the road, probably used to be

1092
00:54:24,559 --> 00:54:27,280
the main office. The wind had died done for a bit,

1093
00:54:27,440 --> 00:54:30,000
just a dull roar in the distance. I got out,

1094
00:54:30,079 --> 00:54:33,079
stretched my legs, tried my front again. Still nothing. The

1095
00:54:33,119 --> 00:54:36,239
snow was already filling my tier tracks. I figured i'd

1096
00:54:36,320 --> 00:54:38,960
knock on a door. Maybe someone kept the place as

1097
00:54:38,960 --> 00:54:41,840
a window base or emergency station, or at the very

1098
00:54:41,920 --> 00:54:44,000
least I could wait inside and get my bearings until

1099
00:54:44,000 --> 00:54:47,960
the storm settled. The front door was locked. It opened slow,

1100
00:54:48,039 --> 00:54:49,960
the kind of slow that tells you nobody's come through

1101
00:54:49,960 --> 00:54:52,880
it in a while. The hallway inside smelled like cardboard

1102
00:54:52,960 --> 00:54:55,840
an old carpet, but it was dry. I stepped through

1103
00:54:55,920 --> 00:54:58,480
dusty foy with broken chairs and a dented vending machine,

1104
00:54:58,480 --> 00:55:00,480
then into a larger room that looked like a visitor

1105
00:55:00,559 --> 00:55:03,239
check in area. There were still some papers pinned to

1106
00:55:03,280 --> 00:55:06,960
the bulletin board, most had yelled to brittle tan. Off

1107
00:55:07,000 --> 00:55:08,559
to the side was a small room with a big

1108
00:55:08,599 --> 00:55:13,039
desk and a cracked window, the security booth probably inside.

1109
00:55:13,079 --> 00:55:15,159
I found a space heater, a batted silver chair, and

1110
00:55:15,199 --> 00:55:18,079
a few empty water bottles under the desk. I flugged

1111
00:55:18,079 --> 00:55:21,679
the heater in just to see. Surprisingly it worked. That

1112
00:55:21,800 --> 00:55:24,280
felt like a wind. I sat at a sund which

1113
00:55:24,280 --> 00:55:26,559
had packed her a layer and tried to think my

1114
00:55:26,679 --> 00:55:28,719
pand was to stay put, warm up, and head out.

1115
00:55:28,719 --> 00:55:33,599
One's visibility returned. It was quiet, not peaceful quiet, more

1116
00:55:33,679 --> 00:55:35,760
like the kind of quiet where your brainstuts and venting

1117
00:55:35,760 --> 00:55:39,199
background noise to fill the silence. The heater hum steadily,

1118
00:55:39,239 --> 00:55:41,239
giving off just enough warmth to make me forget how

1119
00:55:41,239 --> 00:55:44,480
cold the rest of the building was. Then I heard voices.

1120
00:55:45,159 --> 00:55:47,079
At first I thought it was static from the heater,

1121
00:55:47,760 --> 00:55:51,679
but no, this was speech, male voices at least two

1122
00:55:51,760 --> 00:55:57,320
of them, not yelling, not panicked, just talking blurfs. I

1123
00:55:57,360 --> 00:56:01,079
turned the heater off. The voices got clearer. Don't want

1124
00:56:01,079 --> 00:56:03,599
to drag them out there, not while it's still lie.

1125
00:56:04,280 --> 00:56:08,679
Doesn't matter. If someone sees tracks, that's worse. What about

1126
00:56:08,679 --> 00:56:12,719
the car it's new, that's not local. Then me deal

1127
00:56:12,760 --> 00:56:16,159
with it like the others. Those last three words they

1128
00:56:16,159 --> 00:56:20,440
didn't feel hypothetical. Everything in my body tensed. I didn't think.

1129
00:56:21,119 --> 00:56:23,119
I just slid down behind the desk and stayed low.

1130
00:56:23,679 --> 00:56:25,800
The room had one narrow window, but the snow had

1131
00:56:25,800 --> 00:56:28,400
fogged it over. I couldn't see out, but I could

1132
00:56:28,400 --> 00:56:33,599
hear footsteps, steady, calm approaching. Then creek one of the

1133
00:56:33,599 --> 00:56:36,639
hall way doors opened. I pressed my hand over my mouth.

1134
00:56:37,159 --> 00:56:39,119
I could hear the four boards just outside the booth,

1135
00:56:39,760 --> 00:56:43,360
the creak of weight shifting, Then boots right in front

1136
00:56:43,400 --> 00:56:47,400
of the desk. A man's voice, This one's not empty.

1137
00:56:48,039 --> 00:56:52,159
Another voice further off. Your heater's running. I didn't wait

1138
00:56:52,199 --> 00:56:55,519
to hear anything else. I grabbed my backpack and bolted

1139
00:56:55,559 --> 00:56:58,199
for the side door. My foot caught on something I

1140
00:56:58,239 --> 00:57:00,119
don't even know what, and I went hard down the

1141
00:57:00,280 --> 00:57:03,239
icy stairs, catching myself with my left hand. It went

1142
00:57:03,360 --> 00:57:07,159
numb immediately. I didn't stop. I ran across the lot,

1143
00:57:07,280 --> 00:57:10,559
weaving between buildings, slipping on frozen patches, ducking under what

1144
00:57:10,679 --> 00:57:13,280
used to be a covered walkway. I didn't look back,

1145
00:57:13,400 --> 00:57:15,719
but I could hear one of them shout. The wind

1146
00:57:15,760 --> 00:57:18,559
muffled the words. There was no getting to my car.

1147
00:57:19,079 --> 00:57:21,599
They were between me and the road now, so I

1148
00:57:21,599 --> 00:57:24,320
did the only thing that made sense. I ran into

1149
00:57:24,320 --> 00:57:27,280
the woods. The snow was almost knee deep in places,

1150
00:57:27,519 --> 00:57:29,400
and every few steps I thought I'd trip or roll

1151
00:57:29,440 --> 00:57:31,679
an ankle. I kept my eyes, and the creek had

1152
00:57:31,679 --> 00:57:34,519
passed earlier, the one I'd seen through the trees. It

1153
00:57:34,559 --> 00:57:37,119
was mostly frozen, but still gurgling faintly under a thin

1154
00:57:37,159 --> 00:57:40,599
strip of dark water. I followed that sound form mys probably,

1155
00:57:40,760 --> 00:57:43,639
or at least if fought that way. Eventually I found

1156
00:57:43,639 --> 00:57:46,400
an old utility shed near broken fence line. The door

1157
00:57:46,440 --> 00:57:48,880
had a chain on it, but no lock. I climbed

1158
00:57:48,880 --> 00:57:51,719
inside and pulled the chain clothes behind me. There was

1159
00:57:51,760 --> 00:57:54,760
nothing inside except rusted tools and a stack of crush boxes,

1160
00:57:54,840 --> 00:57:57,599
but it was shelter. A cross in the corner. Trying

1161
00:57:57,599 --> 00:58:00,159
not to breathe too loud, trying not to cry. I

1162
00:58:00,159 --> 00:58:03,760
stayed there until nightfall, Somewhere in that dark cramp space.

1163
00:58:03,920 --> 00:58:06,559
They must have passed out from exhaustion. When I came

1164
00:58:06,599 --> 00:58:08,760
to you. My legs were stiff, my fingers burning from

1165
00:58:08,800 --> 00:58:11,599
the cold. But the wind had stopped, the woods were still.

1166
00:58:12,239 --> 00:58:15,440
I slept out, moved slow and cap hitting west. I

1167
00:58:15,440 --> 00:58:17,320
didn't stop until I saw two lane road and the

1168
00:58:17,360 --> 00:58:19,960
blinking light of a snow poll in the distance. The

1169
00:58:20,039 --> 00:58:23,280
driver didn't ask many questions. Back in town, I went

1170
00:58:23,280 --> 00:58:25,760
straight to the shere's office and told them everything. The

1171
00:58:25,800 --> 00:58:27,760
deputy on duty gave me a long look and said

1172
00:58:27,760 --> 00:58:29,960
the road I described didn't exist. Claimed there was nothing

1173
00:58:29,960 --> 00:58:32,360
out that way except burned out correctional center that had

1174
00:58:32,360 --> 00:58:34,679
been shut down for years. Said the Axiss road had

1175
00:58:34,719 --> 00:58:37,679
been removed entirely. I asked if I could take them there.

1176
00:58:38,320 --> 00:58:40,440
They told me to go home, get some sleep, and

1177
00:58:40,480 --> 00:58:43,199
come back. When I was thinking clearly. I worked solo,

1178
00:58:43,320 --> 00:58:46,519
running medical equipment out to small clinics across northern Minnesota.

1179
00:58:46,880 --> 00:58:49,360
This happened in late January, right in the thick of

1180
00:58:49,400 --> 00:58:51,400
one of those weeks where the snow just would stop

1181
00:58:51,400 --> 00:58:53,480
piling up and the cold makes your steering wheel feel

1182
00:58:53,519 --> 00:58:56,199
like a frozen pipe. You step outside and your nose

1183
00:58:56,199 --> 00:58:58,880
hairs freeze up in seconds. You know the kind of

1184
00:58:58,920 --> 00:59:01,480
cold I mean, the sword that doesn't just settle in,

1185
00:59:01,559 --> 00:59:04,199
It clumps down and hangs there. I just wrapped up

1186
00:59:04,199 --> 00:59:07,039
a delivery at clinic in a place called Renford, real

1187
00:59:07,119 --> 00:59:08,960
Sma all blinks by if you sneeze kind of place.

1188
00:59:09,639 --> 00:59:12,719
The plan was simple, hit south two ires on back

1189
00:59:12,800 --> 00:59:15,440
roads through forest and farmland, and stop for fuel near

1190
00:59:15,440 --> 00:59:18,840
Helma's crossing before heading home. The drives started out quiet,

1191
00:59:18,960 --> 00:59:20,679
just a dull stretch of gray and white, the kind

1192
00:59:20,719 --> 00:59:22,760
that makes your eyes glaze over if you're not careful.

1193
00:59:23,360 --> 00:59:25,599
I didn't have a signal for MOSCIVI, which was pretty

1194
00:59:25,639 --> 00:59:28,400
normal out there. The farther I drove the worse. The

1195
00:59:28,400 --> 00:59:31,199
snow forgot thick enough that I had to lean forward

1196
00:59:31,199 --> 00:59:33,519
just to see past the hot head lads practically bouncing

1197
00:59:33,519 --> 00:59:36,079
off a wall of white. Then came the pop, loud

1198
00:59:36,079 --> 00:59:38,599
and abrupt, like a gunshot. Under the van. One of

1199
00:59:38,599 --> 00:59:40,440
the rear tires blew, and I felt the whole vehicle

1200
00:59:40,440 --> 00:59:43,400
shift hard left. I wrestled it back, but couldn't stop

1201
00:59:43,480 --> 00:59:45,360
if from sliding into snow bunk on the right side

1202
00:59:45,360 --> 00:59:47,519
of the road. It hit with a heavy thud that

1203
00:59:47,599 --> 00:59:49,719
jowled me forward through the sleeper caught me in time.

1204
00:59:50,280 --> 00:59:52,360
For a second. I just sat there with both hands

1205
00:59:52,360 --> 00:59:55,119
and the wheel hal thumping from the jolt. Then the

1206
00:59:55,159 --> 00:59:58,000
frustration said in. I knew before I even got out

1207
00:59:58,039 --> 01:00:00,880
what I was going to find. Sure enough, the tire

1208
01:00:00,920 --> 01:00:04,280
was toast, half burdened, snow half shreded. I stood thus,

1209
01:00:04,320 --> 01:00:06,840
staring at it, snow needling my face, wondering if I

1210
01:00:06,840 --> 01:00:09,199
could dig it out enough to change it myself. I

1211
01:00:09,239 --> 01:00:11,480
didn't think I could not without freezing half to death

1212
01:00:11,519 --> 01:00:14,559
in the process. I my phone still dead to the world,

1213
01:00:15,199 --> 01:00:18,159
no bars, no data that when the headlights appeared in

1214
01:00:18,159 --> 01:00:20,559
the mirror, dim and slow moving, cutting through the snowful

1215
01:00:20,599 --> 01:00:23,519
behind me, a dark blue recuv creeping up until it

1216
01:00:23,559 --> 01:00:26,519
came to stop a few feet back. The window rolled down,

1217
01:00:26,559 --> 01:00:29,000
and a woman leaned over from the driver's seat. She

1218
01:00:29,079 --> 01:00:32,440
looked mid forties, maybe a little older, show up, brown hair,

1219
01:00:32,559 --> 01:00:34,639
flushed cheeks like she just common from the cold, though

1220
01:00:34,679 --> 01:00:37,440
she was already outside. She wore a white pocket with

1221
01:00:37,480 --> 01:00:40,599
the hood down, which struck me as odd. Everyone else

1222
01:00:40,639 --> 01:00:43,000
I'd seen that day had been bundled to the eyebrows.

1223
01:00:43,360 --> 01:00:47,119
She didn't seem bothered. You stuck, she asked, not as

1224
01:00:47,159 --> 01:00:51,280
a question, more like a statement. I nodded, tire's gone.

1225
01:00:51,800 --> 01:00:55,599
No signal. She didn't ask if I was okay, didn't

1226
01:00:55,599 --> 01:00:57,559
offer a phone or a blanket or even her name,

1227
01:00:58,280 --> 01:01:00,519
just said her brother lived nearby, had ho chain in

1228
01:01:00,519 --> 01:01:02,599
his garage and could pull me out if I followed

1229
01:01:02,639 --> 01:01:05,960
her up the road. Said it wasn't far. I told

1230
01:01:05,960 --> 01:01:07,719
her I'd tried to call for service once I got

1231
01:01:07,719 --> 01:01:10,559
a signal, but she shook her head. You want out here,

1232
01:01:11,360 --> 01:01:14,679
just follow me. It's nothing. The way she said it,

1233
01:01:14,679 --> 01:01:18,159
it was fast, washed, like she wanted to close the

1234
01:01:18,199 --> 01:01:20,079
deal before I could think about it too hard, and

1235
01:01:20,159 --> 01:01:23,719
I hesitated. I really did. Every part of me was

1236
01:01:23,760 --> 01:01:25,760
saying this is off. But it was snowing harder by

1237
01:01:25,800 --> 01:01:28,679
the minute, and standing out there wasn't helping. I figured

1238
01:01:28,719 --> 01:01:31,599
i'd follow her, see the supposed garage, and worst case

1239
01:01:31,679 --> 01:01:35,239
turn around, I had the van I could leave any time.

1240
01:01:35,840 --> 01:01:38,119
She pulled ahead, and I climbed back into the driver's seat,

1241
01:01:38,159 --> 01:01:40,880
teeth chattering now from the cold. I eased the van

1242
01:01:40,920 --> 01:01:42,840
out of the snow bank and followed her slowly down

1243
01:01:42,840 --> 01:01:45,679
the road. We drove maybe ten minutes. Her flasher was

1244
01:01:45,679 --> 01:01:48,079
blinking through the white out. Then she turned down a

1245
01:01:48,159 --> 01:01:50,320
side road I hadn't even noticed until she was already

1246
01:01:50,360 --> 01:01:53,440
on it. No sign, no markers, just a narrow track

1247
01:01:53,480 --> 01:01:56,920
between the trees. That's one thing started feeling really wrong.

1248
01:01:57,519 --> 01:01:59,960
The trees closed and fast on both sides, pine bread

1249
01:02:00,000 --> 01:02:01,840
bunch is low enough to scrape the roof and places,

1250
01:02:02,519 --> 01:02:05,039
the road twisted more than it should have. No tire

1251
01:02:05,119 --> 01:02:07,639
tracks except for hers and mine. Then after one sharp bend,

1252
01:02:07,880 --> 01:02:09,840
we rolled into a small clearing. There was a cabin

1253
01:02:09,880 --> 01:02:11,760
at the center of it, old wood, low roof, no

1254
01:02:11,840 --> 01:02:14,199
garage inside. A faint yellow like glowed behind one window,

1255
01:02:14,199 --> 01:02:16,000
though there were thick blankets nailed up over it from

1256
01:02:16,000 --> 01:02:18,599
the inside. No driveway, just snow packed on in two

1257
01:02:18,639 --> 01:02:20,360
fresh sets of tire prints. She stepped out of the

1258
01:02:20,440 --> 01:02:22,880
suv and waved like she was welcoming me to dinner party.

1259
01:02:22,880 --> 01:02:25,960
I didn't move, just kept the engine running and watched.

1260
01:02:26,639 --> 01:02:30,119
A minute later, another vehicle appeared, and older ad picket

1261
01:02:30,119 --> 01:02:32,920
that crunched slowly over the snow. The man who climbed

1262
01:02:32,920 --> 01:02:35,840
out didn't match anything she'd said. He looked well into

1263
01:02:35,880 --> 01:02:39,800
his sixties, weathered face, slow steps. He wore a heavy

1264
01:02:39,840 --> 01:02:41,960
brown hunting jacket with stains on it that looked too

1265
01:02:42,000 --> 01:02:44,639
dark to be mud. He didn't glance in my direction,

1266
01:02:45,360 --> 01:02:47,199
just walked over to her and started talking in a

1267
01:02:47,199 --> 01:02:51,360
low voice. They kept glancing at me between sentences. Then

1268
01:02:51,400 --> 01:02:54,199
she came back alone and stopped at my window again.

1269
01:02:54,840 --> 01:02:57,920
I cracked it half way. She smiled again, still too wide,

1270
01:02:57,960 --> 01:03:00,519
and said he's grabbing the chain. You can come in

1271
01:03:00,559 --> 01:03:03,880
where it's warm. I shut my head. I'm good here.

1272
01:03:03,920 --> 01:03:06,360
She paused, just stood the smiling like she didn't hear me,

1273
01:03:07,280 --> 01:03:09,480
then finally nodded and walked way back to the man.

1274
01:03:09,679 --> 01:03:11,920
I sat there, trying to figure out what felt so wrong.

1275
01:03:12,519 --> 01:03:15,199
The window was lit but sealed up. There were no

1276
01:03:15,320 --> 01:03:19,840
other houses, no visible wires or satllite dishes, no signs

1277
01:03:19,840 --> 01:03:22,880
of recent snowfall on their vehicles, but mine was already

1278
01:03:22,880 --> 01:03:26,440
wearing a fresh white cap. That didn't make sense. Then

1279
01:03:26,480 --> 01:03:29,320
the man came back out. He had the chain, now

1280
01:03:30,000 --> 01:03:32,679
heavy and lawn. He didn't look at me, just walked

1281
01:03:32,679 --> 01:03:36,199
behind the van and crouched low, too low. I checked

1282
01:03:36,199 --> 01:03:38,679
the mirrors but couldn't see what he was doing. I

1283
01:03:38,719 --> 01:03:41,000
only saw his head and shoulders moving in short, cuick

1284
01:03:41,079 --> 01:03:45,400
motions under the bumper. Something in me snapped. I dropped

1285
01:03:45,400 --> 01:03:48,800
the gear into reverse and slammed the gas. Van lurched backward,

1286
01:03:48,840 --> 01:03:50,760
and I felt the back wheels bump over something hard.

1287
01:03:51,519 --> 01:03:54,280
Maybe the chain may be his foot, I didn't know.

1288
01:03:55,000 --> 01:03:58,400
He jumped back, arms flailing, shutting something I didn't catch.

1289
01:03:59,079 --> 01:04:01,760
I didn't stop. I jerked the wheel and spun around

1290
01:04:02,320 --> 01:04:04,840
the van, fish tailing until the ties found traction again.

1291
01:04:05,320 --> 01:04:07,599
Then I fawed at tearing back down that winding forest

1292
01:04:07,679 --> 01:04:11,400
road as fast as I could manage. Nobody followed. I

1293
01:04:11,400 --> 01:04:13,519
didn't look in the rarvy mirror until I hit the highway.

1294
01:04:14,119 --> 01:04:16,639
Even then nothing but white behind me. I kept driving

1295
01:04:16,719 --> 01:04:19,079
until I reached a gas station, almost thirty minutes later.

1296
01:04:19,760 --> 01:04:22,960
My hands were shaking as a pump gas signal finally

1297
01:04:23,000 --> 01:04:25,559
came back, just one bar, but it was enough to

1298
01:04:25,559 --> 01:04:28,000
call at her truck. When they lifted the vent the

1299
01:04:28,079 --> 01:04:30,559
mechanic fan, the chain twisted tightly round the rear axle,

1300
01:04:31,159 --> 01:04:34,000
not hooked, not wrap for towing, just looped and for

1301
01:04:34,079 --> 01:04:35,719
I did in a way that didn't make sense unless

1302
01:04:35,760 --> 01:04:38,239
you were trying to lock the wheel solid, he said.

1303
01:04:38,280 --> 01:04:40,320
If I'd driven another few minutes like that, the whole

1304
01:04:40,360 --> 01:04:43,079
axle could have seized up, could have flipped me. I

1305
01:04:43,079 --> 01:04:46,880
didn't tell any one what happened, not officially. I didn't

1306
01:04:46,880 --> 01:04:48,800
file a report or try to describe the woman or

1307
01:04:48,840 --> 01:04:50,559
the man, or that we had rowed that doesn't seem

1308
01:04:50,639 --> 01:04:53,320
to exist any more. I don't even know what i'd say,

1309
01:04:54,320 --> 01:04:56,760
and that is the end. Thank you for listening, and

1310
01:04:56,840 --> 01:05:10,519
I will see you in the next one.