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Speaker 1: The train pulled into Slangming station under a pale, graying sky,

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snow lined the tracks, packed tight and dirty, with a

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wind that pushed it against the platform. I stepped out first,

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drawing a deep breath of air that felt sharper than

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anything I was used to. Will was right next to me,

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dragging his stuffel bag by his shoulder strap and grinning

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despite his nose already turning pink. We took a shuttle

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from Slanding upped Aramseau and d Eystein, which clung to

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the edge of the alpine slope. Every building looked older

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than it probably was, with sharply pitched roofs thick with snow,

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wooden balconies stacked with chopped firewood, and narrow windows that

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glowed faintly orange. As evening settled over the ridge, the

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main street was quiet. A few bundled up figures walked

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with purpose, but didn't linger. Every step we took echoed

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between the buildings. The air smiled faintly of pine and smoke.

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Albin and Marcus were already waiting at the guesthouse when

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we arrived. They stood near the steps, both taller than

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I expected. Albin wore a heavy black coat zipped to

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his throat, a thick beanie pulled low. Marcus looked more relaxed,

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leaning against the wooden railing, smoking a cigarette, his backpack

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at his feet. Meeting them for the first time felt surreal.

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We'd spoken for almost a year online, but there was

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still something odd about standing face to face. You get

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so used to that screen buffer that seeing your online

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friends in real life is almost uncanny. Will went right

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up to shake their hands, already launching some sort of

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joke aft, though I could tell it was more polite

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than genuine. We were the odd ones out, and it

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showed they were the outdoor kids and we were the

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indoor type. I kept my hands buried deep in my

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coat pockets, trying not to look too obvious. We checked

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into the guest house. I remember sitting down on the

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bed and peeling off my gloves, the tip of my

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fingers numb and slow to respond. I was in use

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to this kind of cold. Marcus brought out the maps,

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unfolded one across the table between us, and we all

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crouched around it. The trail they picked out looped around

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the base of Hue Dashstein, curving through steep sections of

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alpine forest before veering off into more isolated ridge lines.

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It would take several days, but nothing they claimed we

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couldn't handle. We double checked our gear before dinner. Everyone

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had the basics. Insulated jackets, thermal base layers, crampons that

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we wouldn't actually need, ultra light sleeping bags, collapsible cookware,

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freeze dried meals, snow goggles, and small fire starting kits.

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Each of us carried a knife, nothing large, just those

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small practical blades meant for wood shaving, rope cutting and

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food prep. Mind fit in the side pocket of my pack,

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half the handle wrapped in red tape to make it

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easier to find by torch. That night, we walked through

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the quiet village and stopped at a small restaurant tucked

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between a bakery and a church. Inside it was warm,

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a stark difference compared to the outside. The food was heavy,

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rich with gravy, and the portions looked fit for men.

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Twice sighs. The locals didn't speak much, and when they did,

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their tone was clipped and curt They weren't rude, but

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there was no welcome in their eyes either. You could

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tell they'd forget about us as soon as their eyes

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wandered somewhere else. Still, none of us cared. We could

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tell they weren't being rude. That's just how it was

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around here. We were set to head out the next day.

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Everything was packed, charged, checked, and sorted. We were ready,

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or at least we thought we were. Morning came with

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a hard chill that clung to my neck even after

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I layered up. The sky outside the guesthouse window looked

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washed in pale blue, broken only by faint streaks of

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serious clouds that barely moved. We ate quick loaded our

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packs and met in the narrow gravel lot out front.

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Marcus checked his watch and gave a nod as if

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to formerly signal the beginning of something. I tightened the

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straps of my pack, and glancing at Will, who looked

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too pleased with himself for some one who hadn't hiked

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more than a few city parks, We set out through

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the village on foot, snow crunched beneath our boots, packed

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just enough to give way with every step, but not

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deep enough to slow us down. The trailhead sat just

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past the line of spruce trees on the edge of town,

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marked with a worn wooden post and a frost bitten

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map encased in fogged plastic. Their poles clicked rhythmically against

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the frozen path. Will and I trowled slightly behind, mostly

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because we kept stopping to take pictures. He'd pause every

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few minutes to make some stupid comment about posing against

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the trees or pretending to fight off imaginary bears. I

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told him to save the battery, but he kept doing

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it anyway. The forest around us grew denser as we climbed,

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The wind stayed still, branches drooped under the weight of

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snow that looked older than the season. I began to

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notice that the snow was getting deeper. It hadn't looked

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that thick when we left the village, but up here

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it gathered around our ankles and sometimes higher. Marcus called

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back to make sure we were keeping pace, and I

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gave him a thumbs up without saying much. I didn't

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want to admit how quickly the cold was biting through

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my gloves were how my calves had started their ache already.

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Then we saw a rusted metal sign nailed to the

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side of a pine tree. After the right of the trail,

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snow had crusted around its edges, bending against the face

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plate where the metal had bowed outward. It wasn't bright

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enough to reflect anything, but it caught our attention because

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it didn't match the wood markers we'd been following. Marcus

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stepped off the trail first and cleared some of the

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snow with his gloved hand. The red lettering emerged beneath it,

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streaked with rust Geschlausen Vigan on Vetta geffar close due

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to severe weather. We stood there for a moment. The

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sky above remained crystal clear. Albin gave a short laugh

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and said someone had forgotten to take it down after

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the last tourist season. Will nodded along, already pulling his

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phone from his pocket to take a photo of it,

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saying it would make a great inside joke. Later, we'd

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been delayed by nearly two weeks. Flights got canceled whether

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elsewhere turned unpredictable. Marcus said most trails this high didn't

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see real traffic this time of year anyway, so some

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one forgetting to take this down wasn't too weird. The

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trail beyond the sign dipped slightly before rising again toward

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a distant line of trees. Snow covered rock jotted up

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beyond the forest, and above that the pale crown of

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the mountain sat framed against the sky. We stepped past

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the sign and kept going. It just looked like a

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short cut, and we wanted this trip to be memorable,

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so why not do the stupid thing. We'd been walking

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for nearly two hours when Will slowed down beside me

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and pointed toward the ground ahead. I looked where he gestured,

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squinting against the glare. There in the snow, just past

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the sloped patch of trail, where the trees thinned, a

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set of footprints curved gently off to the left. The

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edges were sharp, the indentations clean, not yet softened by

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wind or drifting snow. The pattern suggested boots, maybe slightly

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smaller than Albin's but deeper than mine. They cut across

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the slope and disappeared into a thicker patch of forest

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that veered away from the main trail. Marcus was already

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moving toward them before any of us spoke. He crouched down,

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pressing two fingers into the nearest print, and nodded to himself.

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Someone came through recently, he said, lifting his hand and

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brushing off his glove. Probably this morning, Albin came up

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beside him and followed the line of tracks with his eyes.

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Looks like they were heading northwest. Might be going to

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that outer ridge. Will and I exchanged the glance. We

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were excited. Every step we took on the empty trail

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gave the impression that we were moving through something abandoned.

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I mean, we knew it wasn't, but given the fact

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that we arrived here during the off season, we had

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already kind of accepted that we wouldn't be seeing too

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many hikers here. Seeing footprints, even from a stranger, meant

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someone else was out here. We were excited to make friends,

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meet new people, and hear new stories. Will gave a

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grin and said we should tried to catch up. He

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said it would be good to meet someone who actually

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knew these paths. I agreed, though part of me suspected

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he just wanted a break from trailing behind Marcus and Albin,

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who barely seemed winded, while Will and I already felt

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the ache in our legs. The path feared gradually up here,

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but there were no trail markers in sight. The ground

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was uneven and covered in layers of snow that looked

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older than what we'd been hiking through earlier. Branches lay

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half buried in the snow. Many snapped at their middles,

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as if from weight rather than age. The trees grew

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closer together here the light filtered through in a canopy

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that seemed lower than before, despite the fact we were climbing.

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Marcus stayed ahead, eyes down, occasionally checking the spacing of

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the Prince. Albin troiled close behind him. Will and I

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moved slower, watching our footing through the sections where the

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snow dipped into holes beneath tangled roots. The air had

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changed as well. I hadn't noticed it until then, but

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the breeze had faded. There was no wind brushing across

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my ears. Every now and then I looked up and

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scanned the fire, expecting to see movement between the trunks

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or hearing distant voices. Nothing. Whoever walked through here must

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have been experienced, I thought to myself. Before princes showed

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no signs of backtracking or double checking. Eventually, Will muttered

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that we should have caught up by now. He wasn't wrong.

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The prince had looked fresh when we found them. They

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should have led us to someone really showed signs that

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the person had stopped. There had been nothing. Still, none

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of us said we should turn back. The idea of

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meeting someone, anyone had become a silent goal, so we

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kept walking, eyes locked on the tracks, boots pressing into

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snow that had only been disturbed by one person before us.

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The climb began to wear on us. After another hour,

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the slope had steepened gradually enough, though it was barely noticeable,

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the air had thinned, and each breath started to carry

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a raw edge. Will was the first to speak up.

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He stopped and lean forward, hands resting on his knees,

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his breath fogging him burst as he looked over at Alban.

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We need a break, he said, not quite out of breath,

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but close. Albin didn't argue. He dropped his pack into

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the snow and pulled off his gloves to flex his fingers,

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red from cold. Marcus, who had been ahead by a

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few meters, turned back and raised an eyebrow. I could

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see from his expression that he didn't want to stop.

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He looked back down at the trail, then at me,

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as if asking for confirmation. The prince still looked fresh.

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The snow around them hadn't softened or filled in whoever

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we were following couldn't have been far. I told him

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we'd keep going just for a few minutes. If we

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didn't see anything soon, we'd turn around and meet back here.

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Will looked up and gave a lazy wave. Already digging

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in his pack for a protein bar, Albin muttered something

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about starting a small fire. While they waited, The forest

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grew denser with each step. The trees were spaced more tightly,

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their branches reaching inward, creating a canopy that filtered the

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light and gave everything a dull gray tint. Some of

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the trunks had twisted and broken unnaturally, Bark peeled in strips,

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and several trees sagged in the middle, as if something

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heavy was on top of them. Heavier than snow. Branches

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lay broken across the path, not snapped by storm or wind,

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but fractured at clean angles. Many buried half way beneath

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the snow, as though they had dropped vertically. If I

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didn't know any better, I'd have assumed a monkey was

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climbing around here. The branches dropping and snapping under the weight.

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Then the prince stopped. We both saw it at the

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same time. Marcus slowed, then came to a full stop.

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I stepped forward to join him and stared at the

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snow ahead. The trail had continued in a clear pattern

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until this point, deep indentations in a single line. Heeled

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to toe, spaced evenly, and then nothing. The track simply ended,

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a clean line of prints that led into untouched snow.

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I crouched down and brushed at the powder with my glove.

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The surface resisted. There was no hidden depressions beneath. I

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looked left and right. The snow in both directions stretched

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out without disturbance. Marcus spoke up and gave a sturdy explanation.

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Snow must have fallen in that section earlier. Maybe a

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small drift had covered them up. It was plausible. Marcus

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glanced behind us, then turned and started walking back. I

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followed without speaking. The forest around us creaked slowly. Somewhere

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far off, a branch cracked. When we got back, the

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forest had started the dim The light no longer filted

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cleanly through the trees, shadows had stretched across the clearing,

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and the smoke from the fire drifted unevenly in the air.

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Albin crouched beside the flames, turning something over in a

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small steel pan, the handle wrapped in cloth to keep

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it from freezing fingers. Will sat on a fallen tree trunk,

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gloved hands copped around a plastic mug, steam rising from

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whatever he had mixed inside. They had already pitched the tents.

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They stood a few meters from the fire, staked into

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the packed snow, with robes strung around buried stones. Will

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looked up as we stepped into the light of the

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fire and raised his eyebrows. No lock. Marcus shook his

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00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:50,039
head and dropped his pack next to a tent. Tracks

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00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:56,599
just stopped. He said, looked like snow covered them. That

239
00:17:56,720 --> 00:18:02,359
explanation satisfied. Everyone handed us balls and divided the food.

240
00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:08,640
Some dehydrated stew he had rehydrated with melted snow. It

241
00:18:08,759 --> 00:18:12,880
tasted overly salty and the texture left something to be desired,

242
00:18:13,759 --> 00:18:18,599
but none of us complained. The heat settled into my stomach,

243
00:18:19,039 --> 00:18:23,440
pulled the tension I hadn't realized had built up. We

244
00:18:23,519 --> 00:18:26,839
drank from metal cups filled with warm, powdered cider that

245
00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:30,759
Marcus had packed for morale. The taste reminded me of

246
00:18:30,759 --> 00:18:34,799
something from a childhood field trip, though I couldn't remember where.

247
00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:39,920
Will tried to tell a story, but eventually started forgedin

248
00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:42,720
where he was going with it, which made it funnier.

249
00:18:43,759 --> 00:18:47,119
Alpin snorted through his nose, which nearly spilled his drink.

250
00:18:49,079 --> 00:18:55,160
I caught myself smiling while we were conversing. It had

251
00:18:55,160 --> 00:19:00,440
started the snow. It didn't fall heavy. The flakes drifted

252
00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:03,720
down in slow spirals, catching the light of the fire

253
00:19:04,119 --> 00:19:08,799
and tumbling through it before landing soundlessly around us. The

254
00:19:08,799 --> 00:19:13,480
flames flickered orange and yellow, casting moving shadows into the trees,

255
00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:23,640
then out of nowhere. Conversation was interrupted. Sh shut up,

256
00:19:25,799 --> 00:19:29,599
The words cut through the laughter. We all stopped moving.

257
00:19:31,039 --> 00:19:33,160
The only sound for a moment was the hiss of

258
00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:37,160
the melting snow on the edge of the pan. Then

259
00:19:37,519 --> 00:19:47,799
I heard it, faint but clear. Crunch, crunch, crunch. It

260
00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:53,640
came in slow intervals, snow compacting underweight, not loud enough

261
00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:57,559
to be something big, but still close enough to be dangerous.

262
00:19:59,039 --> 00:20:04,400
They circled the sound, moved behind the trees, disappeared, then

263
00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:09,960
returned again from another wrangle. Marcus stood, He looked toward

264
00:20:10,039 --> 00:20:15,359
the direction of the sound, eyes narrowed, postured tight. Hey.

265
00:20:16,279 --> 00:20:22,559
He shouted, something moved a thooding scramble pressed into the

266
00:20:22,599 --> 00:20:27,160
snow and broke it apart four point rhythm heavy enough

267
00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:31,359
to echo off the surrounding trees. I glimpsed the shadow

268
00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:36,839
moving between trunks, long enough to scense mass. Then it

269
00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:42,920
was gone. No one moved for several seconds. The forest

270
00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:49,319
turned to stillness, its wolves. Albin said he didn't try

271
00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:54,799
to dress it up. Will open his mouth, probably to joke,

272
00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:59,680
but closed it again. He looked at me, then at

273
00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:04,960
the tree line. We decided to sleep. Soon after that.

274
00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:09,160
No one wanted to say it out loud, but a

275
00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:11,759
presence like this was enough for us to want to

276
00:21:11,759 --> 00:21:15,599
cut this specific hike short. We could go to a

277
00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:19,079
different trail, and being in the presence of wolves while

278
00:21:19,079 --> 00:21:31,400
off trail didn't seem like a fun time. When morning came,

279
00:21:31,839 --> 00:21:34,759
I stepped out of the tent, boots crunching as I

280
00:21:34,839 --> 00:21:42,400
shifted weight onto half frozen ground, and I saw them prints,

281
00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:47,079
dozens of them, all around the tent. The snow had

282
00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:51,599
recorded every step in perfect detail. Some had pressed so

283
00:21:51,759 --> 00:21:54,559
close to the nylon that I could see whether paws

284
00:21:54,599 --> 00:22:00,200
had shifted mid stride. They circled in low, looping arcs.

285
00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:04,720
Some approached the tent directly, then turned away again. A

286
00:22:04,759 --> 00:22:09,759
few branched off into the woods before rejoining the others.

287
00:22:09,799 --> 00:22:13,160
Marcus walked up beside me and led out a low breath.

288
00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:19,119
Albin came out next, squinting in the morning light, then

289
00:22:19,519 --> 00:22:24,000
staring at the ground. Will followed and whistled through his teeth.

290
00:22:25,599 --> 00:22:32,440
Let's move. We packed in silence. The tents came down quickly,

291
00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:38,119
my hands moving with more speed than coordination. We started moving,

292
00:22:38,839 --> 00:22:42,880
and after about two hours of walking, we finally admitted

293
00:22:43,079 --> 00:22:47,880
what we didn't want to the original trail we had followed.

294
00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:53,960
The prints we had chased were gone. The snowfall had

295
00:22:54,079 --> 00:22:59,839
raised them. Not even a partial indentation remained. There was

296
00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:05,920
no path to retrace. Marcus adjusted the strap across his

297
00:23:06,079 --> 00:23:11,200
chest and looked north. We followed the sun we head low.

298
00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:18,319
None of us had a better idea, so we walked.

299
00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:23,039
We moved in silence for the rest of the day.

300
00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:27,279
The snow had deepened again, and each step sank further

301
00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:31,720
than the last. The slope dipped in places, then rose

302
00:23:31,759 --> 00:23:35,079
without warning, forcing us to stop and catch our breath

303
00:23:35,359 --> 00:23:39,799
more often than before. The sunlight filtered through the trees

304
00:23:39,839 --> 00:23:45,440
in pale shafts, but none of it felt warm. Everyone

305
00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:49,319
stopped speaking. At this point. Will had not said anything

306
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:53,400
for over an hour, which felt unnatural coming from him.

307
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:59,480
Albin occasionally looked behind us. Marcus walked ahead, his shoulders squared,

308
00:24:00,079 --> 00:24:05,640
presumably in an attempt to fake confidence. I began to

309
00:24:05,759 --> 00:24:10,640
notice movement. It started with a flicker just outside my

310
00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:16,400
filter vision, something moving between the trees. I couldn't make

311
00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:19,920
out exactly what it was, but I knew it was there.

312
00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:25,680
The shape appeared again, further along a bulk, sliding from

313
00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:28,720
one trunk to the next, then freezing. When I looked

314
00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:33,640
at it, the others had seen it too, I could tell.

315
00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:39,039
Will walked closer to me than before. His eyes fixed ahead,

316
00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:42,279
though they twitched toward the sides. When he thought no

317
00:24:42,319 --> 00:24:45,720
one was watching, he rubbed the back of his neck.

318
00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:50,559
His mouth opened once, then closed again, without saying anything.

319
00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:56,559
We continued on without speaking, our boots dragged. No one

320
00:24:56,640 --> 00:25:01,240
looked behind us anymore. We knew we were being followed

321
00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:04,240
by the wolves, but running was out of the question.

322
00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:11,400
We were too afraid of them giving chase. It was

323
00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:15,240
Albin who stopped first. His legs gave out on a

324
00:25:15,279 --> 00:25:18,640
patch of uneven snow, and he dropped to one knee.

325
00:25:19,759 --> 00:25:24,440
He didn't curse or complain. He just stayed there, shoulders

326
00:25:24,559 --> 00:25:28,440
rising and falling. The rest of us gathered around him

327
00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:35,640
without deciding to. We had reached our limit. The clearing

328
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:38,519
we stopped him was only a small gap between the trees,

329
00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:42,400
with the slope leveled out for a few meters. It

330
00:25:42,519 --> 00:25:47,319
wasn't much, but it was enough. Marcus set down his

331
00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:50,839
pack and began unpacking the tent without waiting for agreement.

332
00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:56,039
There was no discussion this time. We were all feeling

333
00:25:56,079 --> 00:26:00,960
the pressure. We didn't split off into separate tents. We

334
00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:05,680
needed to be in one place. We didn't cook. No

335
00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:09,640
one gathered firewood. We opened vacuum sealed meal packs and

336
00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:13,799
chewed through them without warming them up. The food was

337
00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:18,559
dense and cold. My teeth ached with every bite. Will

338
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:22,039
passed around a canteen of melted snow mixed with sugar tablets.

339
00:26:23,559 --> 00:26:27,279
Four bodies pressed into one space with barely enough room

340
00:26:27,359 --> 00:26:31,839
to stretch out. Our bags lined the edges, our boots

341
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:35,480
remained on. Each of us kept a knife in our hand.

342
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:40,200
The fabric walls moved faintly whenever the wind pushed through

343
00:26:40,279 --> 00:26:43,480
the trees, and I watched the seams, with a growing

344
00:26:43,559 --> 00:26:52,599
certainty that something stood just beyond them. I woke up

345
00:26:52,799 --> 00:26:56,519
sometime in the early hours. My body throbbed from the

346
00:26:56,559 --> 00:26:59,559
awkward angle I'd been lying in in the air inside

347
00:26:59,599 --> 00:27:03,759
the tent had cooled into something sharp. My breath turned

348
00:27:03,759 --> 00:27:08,799
into mist and faded just above my face. I remained

349
00:27:08,799 --> 00:27:17,440
still ears, straining. Something had woken me up. There was

350
00:27:17,559 --> 00:27:21,599
movement outside. I heard the sound of paws pressing into snow,

351
00:27:22,759 --> 00:27:29,559
one step, then another, slow, measured It moved in circles

352
00:27:29,599 --> 00:27:35,119
around us. Once more I could hear it, or them sniffing.

353
00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:41,519
I turned my head. Will was awake, so was everyone else.

354
00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:47,559
Their eyes were wide, their faces expressionless. Marcus had his

355
00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:50,960
knife in one hand, held just beneath the sleeping bag.

356
00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:55,759
His knuckles had gone pale. We all turned our heads

357
00:27:55,799 --> 00:27:59,440
in unison as a tearing of cloth rang out in

358
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:05,720
the tent. Cloth was pulled tight, threads separating. A line

359
00:28:05,799 --> 00:28:10,720
opened along the corner, slow at first, then wider. The

360
00:28:10,799 --> 00:28:16,759
cold surged inward. A shape pushed through the teir. The

361
00:28:16,799 --> 00:28:20,480
wolf's head appeared. At first, its eyes caught what little

362
00:28:20,559 --> 00:28:24,319
light came through the snow, reflecting a dull liquid yellow.

363
00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:29,599
Its muzzle opened, I saw the teeth just before it lunged.

364
00:28:30,519 --> 00:28:33,200
It clamped down on my shoulder with sudden weight, and

365
00:28:33,319 --> 00:28:37,519
heat exploded across my collar bone. My scream rang out

366
00:28:37,599 --> 00:28:44,119
in my own ears. The tent collapsed into chaos. Everyone

367
00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:48,720
moved at once, arms flailed, blades flashing. I stepped through

368
00:28:48,759 --> 00:28:51,799
the dark with my free hand, the knife barely penetrating

369
00:28:51,839 --> 00:28:56,759
through thick fur and skin. The wolf snarled, its body jerking.

370
00:28:58,079 --> 00:29:01,279
Albin hit it in the side. Marcus drove his knife

371
00:29:01,319 --> 00:29:04,880
into its ribs. Will stabbed at the shoulder and trembling.

372
00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:09,000
The cuts were shallow, but they came fast and wild.

373
00:29:10,279 --> 00:29:14,039
The wolf twisted, trying to pull back its legs, kicked,

374
00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:18,079
its jaw loosened. I kept stabbing until my arm gave out.

375
00:29:18,839 --> 00:29:21,759
Blood covered the floor of the tent, soaking into my

376
00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:24,640
shirt and pulling in the folds of the sleeping bag.

377
00:29:26,559 --> 00:29:31,519
Then the animal fell. Its body went limp, its mouth

378
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:38,359
hung open. I couldn't tell if it was breathing. As

379
00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:40,799
we waited for another one of them to enter the tent,

380
00:29:41,359 --> 00:29:44,640
all of us shaking from adrenaline, we turned our attention

381
00:29:44,759 --> 00:29:48,079
to a noise we hadn't noticed during the scuffle, but

382
00:29:48,279 --> 00:29:56,920
was present all throughout, thrashing, thumping, then whining, then silence

383
00:29:56,920 --> 00:30:05,039
again side the tent. We did not speak. We waited.

384
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:10,599
No one moved. For several seconds after the wolf went silent.

385
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:14,960
My breath came in short bursts, each one shorter than

386
00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:18,319
the last. Blood soaked the left side of my jacket,

387
00:30:18,759 --> 00:30:22,799
hot where it had spread cold in some places. The

388
00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:27,680
knife in my hand felt heavy, slick, and unsteady. Albin's

389
00:30:27,759 --> 00:30:31,440
arm trembled beside me, the blade in his fist still raised,

390
00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:35,240
though his eyes were locked on the tent wall, waiting

391
00:30:35,319 --> 00:30:43,920
for another sound, but nothing ever came. Will leaned forward first,

392
00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:48,960
his fingers reached out hesitant and gently pulled at the

393
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:53,839
corner of the torn tent wall. The flap peeled open, slowly,

394
00:30:54,359 --> 00:30:58,599
held together by threads that had not fully ripped. He

395
00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:03,480
peeped through just a narrow glance at first, then widened

396
00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:09,920
the opening with both hands. He did not speak. Marcus

397
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:14,759
leaned over and looked. Alban moved next. I stayed still,

398
00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:18,400
pressing one hand into the bite of my shoulder, the

399
00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:22,920
other gripping the tent pole for balance. When they stepped

400
00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:28,440
out into the snow, I followed the ground surrounding our

401
00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:32,000
camp had been torn apart. A single branch lay at

402
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:34,799
the ground at the edge of camp, one that wasn't

403
00:31:34,839 --> 00:31:38,960
there when we got here. Wolves lay scattered across the

404
00:31:39,039 --> 00:31:43,400
snow in every direction. Some had been thrown against trees,

405
00:31:43,839 --> 00:31:48,599
Others were collapsed in contorted positions, limbs bent at angles

406
00:31:48,599 --> 00:31:53,200
that suggested violent force. Fur was matted with blood and

407
00:31:53,319 --> 00:31:57,240
patches of ice. One had its rib cage split open,

408
00:31:57,799 --> 00:32:01,119
and another lay without a jaw. A third was missing its

409
00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:06,079
front legs entirely. Their bodies stretched beyond the perimeter of

410
00:32:06,119 --> 00:32:11,359
our camp. The snow around them had been trampled. Massive

411
00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:15,599
prints stamped into the crust, some deeper than others, forming

412
00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:20,680
erratic patterns. They were roughly human in shape, though the

413
00:32:20,759 --> 00:32:25,160
spacing and depth made no sense. Some stood close together,

414
00:32:25,799 --> 00:32:31,000
others stretched meters apart. Albin stood near the edge of

415
00:32:31,039 --> 00:32:35,000
the clearing Markers paced in a slow circle around one

416
00:32:35,039 --> 00:32:38,559
of the larger corpses. Will just stood with his arms

417
00:32:38,599 --> 00:32:42,160
hanging at his sides, the knife still dangling from his hand.

418
00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:46,920
I sat on the packed snow and pulled my jacket

419
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:51,640
off slowly. The wound throbbed beneath my shirt. The skin

420
00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:54,400
had been punctured in three places where the teeth had

421
00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:58,960
broken through. Albin knelt beside me and opened the medkit.

422
00:33:00,039 --> 00:33:03,119
He poured water over the bite, wrapped goree around the arm,

423
00:33:03,519 --> 00:33:06,240
and tied it in place with strips of clean fabric.

424
00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:12,839
Marcus stood guard without speaking. We didn't even wonder about

425
00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:16,599
the human footprints around. We had no more energy or

426
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:21,559
will power to ask questions. We just started moving solemnly again.

427
00:33:23,119 --> 00:33:26,319
We left our tent there. We just walked without a

428
00:33:26,319 --> 00:33:31,200
clear direction for what felt like ours. We saw something

429
00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:36,480
familiar in the snow. Ahead of us. A narrow set

430
00:33:36,519 --> 00:33:42,400
of footprints ran parallel to our path. Human, the edges sharp,

431
00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:47,119
just as the last ones had been. Hope did not

432
00:33:47,279 --> 00:33:50,400
need to be acknowledged. It passed between us at a

433
00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:56,000
shared current, carried by the possibility of someone ahead, a

434
00:33:56,119 --> 00:34:01,160
trail to follow, a direction to believe in. We stepped

435
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:04,079
into the line of print and followed them through the trees.

436
00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:08,039
We didn't even ask one another what another human was

437
00:34:08,079 --> 00:34:11,280
doing here, or how the footprints just appeared in the

438
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:17,280
middle of nowhere without any prior tracks. The trail curved

439
00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:23,639
slightly ahead, then narrowed. We walked for fifteen minutes, maybe more.

440
00:34:24,599 --> 00:34:31,639
The prince continued in a clear path. Then they stopped.

441
00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:39,280
The ending came abruptly, just like before. We paused for

442
00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:46,239
a moment, contemplating our next move. It was Marcus. We

443
00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:53,039
saw it first. His arm rose slowly, fingers stiff, and

444
00:34:53,119 --> 00:35:00,480
he pointed upward. We followed his gaze. There so spended

445
00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:03,760
between the highest limbs of a pine several meters ahead.

446
00:35:05,159 --> 00:35:11,440
Something watched us. Its forms stretched unnaturally broad through the chest,

447
00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:14,920
its shoulders round it with thick cords of frozen muscle,

448
00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:20,519
completely frostbitten. The surface of its body was torn and pitted.

449
00:35:21,239 --> 00:35:25,800
Segments of skin looked burnt or blistered, with patches missing entirely.

450
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:30,559
Coarse fir clung to sections of its frame, but most

451
00:35:30,559 --> 00:35:33,599
of it had been rubbed away or never grown at all.

452
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:38,400
Long antlers covered in moss, and what looked like veins

453
00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:41,760
of black frost jotted from either side of its head.

454
00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:50,559
Its eyes met mine. They were green, unmoving and wide.

455
00:35:53,079 --> 00:35:59,079
Its legs hung beneath it, short and pale, but unmistakably human.

456
00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:03,960
They swung slightly in the breeze, too small to support

457
00:36:04,039 --> 00:36:08,079
something of that mass, as if borrowed from something else,

458
00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:15,239
and crudely attached. The branches creaked beneath its weight. Then

459
00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:21,639
they broke. The thing dropped. It struck the ground with

460
00:36:21,679 --> 00:36:24,559
a blunt thud that sent snow upward in a ring

461
00:36:24,639 --> 00:36:29,599
around it. The limbs absorbed the fall, then flexed. The

462
00:36:29,639 --> 00:36:33,920
body shifted towards us. It reached out with both arms,

463
00:36:34,199 --> 00:36:37,639
gripped Marcus by the waist, and lifted him into the air.

464
00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:43,719
He didn't even have time to scream. The creature slammed

465
00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:47,960
him into the snow once twice, then flung him against

466
00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:51,960
the tree trunk. His body folded and broke at the base.

467
00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:57,239
We ran in different directions, each of us, driven by

468
00:36:57,280 --> 00:37:02,000
the instinct to survive, moved before my thoughts caught up.

469
00:37:02,519 --> 00:37:05,719
The air tore past my face, thick with snow and

470
00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:09,639
the sharp scent of blood. I did not call out

471
00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:13,280
or checked to see where the others were. Branches tore

472
00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:17,920
at my sleeves, The terrain blurred, trees passed in rapid succession.

473
00:37:19,119 --> 00:37:22,440
I tripped once, fell into a bank of snow, then

474
00:37:22,519 --> 00:37:26,679
scrambled out without feeling the pain. My shoulder burned from

475
00:37:26,719 --> 00:37:30,400
the wound, every cholt, sending a wave of nausea up

476
00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:34,559
to my neck. I could not stop, I could not

477
00:37:34,639 --> 00:37:37,559
breathe without hearing the echo of that thing hid in

478
00:37:37,599 --> 00:37:42,920
the ground. At some point, the slope began to descend.

479
00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:47,639
The snow thickened underfoot, and the trees opened into a

480
00:37:47,679 --> 00:37:52,440
familiar pattern. I recognized the broken trunk on the right,

481
00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:57,880
a line of disturbed snow running through the clearing. I

482
00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:00,880
knew the scorch marks and the tree the first fire

483
00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:05,239
had been built. I had returned to the first camp.

484
00:38:06,039 --> 00:38:10,360
The tent still stood in fragments. Blood had frozen in

485
00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:13,920
streaks along the entrance. The bodies of the wolves had

486
00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:18,079
begun to settle into the snow, their outlines softened by

487
00:38:18,199 --> 00:38:26,639
frost and time. Nothing moved. I dropped to my knees

488
00:38:26,679 --> 00:38:31,360
beside the tent and crawled inside. The sleeping bag remained

489
00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:35,440
in a heap, twisted from the fight. I found the

490
00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:38,440
one I had used and pulled it around me. The

491
00:38:38,519 --> 00:38:43,400
zipper barely functioned, jammed from the torn lining. I shoved

492
00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:46,960
myself deep into the fabric, got into the warmest shape

493
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:52,760
I could manage, and tried to slow my breathing. Outside

494
00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:57,760
the forest remained silent. I waited in the shadows until

495
00:38:57,760 --> 00:39:03,079
my muscles refused to respond. The first sound I heard

496
00:39:03,440 --> 00:39:06,719
came with a crunch of packed snow and the low

497
00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:12,000
hum of an engine. I remained still, at first, unsure

498
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:18,239
if I had imagined it. Then I heard voices, one male,

499
00:39:18,679 --> 00:39:25,440
one female, speaking German, Moro Austrian. Then a second engine closer.

500
00:39:27,199 --> 00:39:29,800
I pushed my head from the sleeping bag and looked

501
00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:34,480
toward the torn edge of the tent. Two figures approached

502
00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:41,400
on foot. The jackets bore patches mountain patrol. Behind them,

503
00:39:41,559 --> 00:39:45,039
a snowmobile idle near the edge of the trees, its

504
00:39:45,079 --> 00:39:49,119
tracks buried in a swirl of powder. One of them

505
00:39:49,199 --> 00:39:52,800
knelt beside the tent, then leaned back and called over

506
00:39:52,840 --> 00:40:00,719
a radio. The other moved toward me, Crouching low. He

507
00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:04,679
spoke to me, calmly, asking my name, asking if I

508
00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:09,880
was alone. I nodded. He asked if I was injured.

509
00:40:10,679 --> 00:40:15,360
I pointed to my shoulder. I tried to speak, but

510
00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:20,199
the words came out hoarse and correct. I started to explain.

511
00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:23,559
I told him about my friends, about the creature and

512
00:40:23,639 --> 00:40:28,719
what it had done. He listened, but his face did

513
00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:33,440
not change. He placed the hand of my wrist, told

514
00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:37,760
me to stay still, and wrapped a blanket over my back.

515
00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:45,639
Later I would learn why they had come. The wolves

516
00:40:45,679 --> 00:40:50,079
we had encountered belonged to a monitored pack. Each carried

517
00:40:50,119 --> 00:40:54,679
an implant tracker used by conservation authorities to study movement

518
00:40:54,760 --> 00:41:00,000
and behavior. According to the data, the signals all stopped

519
00:41:00,320 --> 00:41:04,400
within the same thirty minute window. That kind of mass

520
00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:11,559
failure had never occurred before. They assumed poachers. They dispatched patrols,

521
00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:16,639
and they found me. I somehow ended up getting a

522
00:41:16,679 --> 00:41:20,320
lawyer who spoke and clipped English, told me to cooperate

523
00:41:20,559 --> 00:41:24,639
and say as little as possible. An article would come

524
00:41:24,639 --> 00:41:30,199
out later. Taurus, accused of a legal wolf killing, faces

525
00:41:30,199 --> 00:41:35,880
sentencing on Friday. They said trauma had distorted my memory

526
00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:41,639
from what they theorized. Cold and blood loss created hallucinations.

527
00:41:42,679 --> 00:41:48,000
My judgment was fractured after experiencing a traumatic event. The

528
00:41:48,079 --> 00:41:52,599
conversation laws were strict. Wolves in this region were protected

529
00:41:52,920 --> 00:41:57,559
under the national and EU policy. Killing even one carried

530
00:41:57,599 --> 00:42:01,559
prison time, and I had been found in a camp

531
00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:11,639
surrounded by corpses. My story was never considered. I served

532
00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:25,920
twenty months. The job offer came as an email with

533
00:42:26,119 --> 00:42:30,079
no company logo, no sender information beyond a string of

534
00:42:30,159 --> 00:42:34,800
numbers and a subject line that just read conductor position,

535
00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:40,599
private contract. I'd been out of work for months, barely

536
00:42:40,639 --> 00:42:45,559
scraping by and scam emails for nothing new, But when

537
00:42:45,599 --> 00:42:50,880
I opened it, the details made me pause. The pay

538
00:42:51,199 --> 00:42:55,639
was astronomical, six times what I'd ever made running freight

539
00:42:55,679 --> 00:42:59,760
trains for a single ride. The hours were vague, but

540
00:42:59,840 --> 00:43:05,599
the message emphasized discretion, reliability, and the ability to work alone.

541
00:43:07,039 --> 00:43:11,320
There was a number at the bottom. I called, half

542
00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:17,519
expecting a disconnected line or a robotic scam message. Instead,

543
00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:23,159
a man entered on the first ring. He introduced himself

544
00:43:23,239 --> 00:43:27,480
only as a recruiter for a private client and asked

545
00:43:27,519 --> 00:43:30,920
if I was available to meet the next day. No

546
00:43:31,079 --> 00:43:36,719
company name, no office address, just a location, a roadside

547
00:43:36,719 --> 00:43:43,559
diner off a highway. I went, of course. The diner

548
00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:47,440
was nearly empty when I arrived. The man was waiting

549
00:43:47,480 --> 00:43:51,119
for me, sitting at a booth near the back. He

550
00:43:51,159 --> 00:43:54,599
wore a black suit, a crisp tie to match, and

551
00:43:54,679 --> 00:44:00,320
a dull expression. He didn't even introduce himself properly, just

552
00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:05,400
gestured for me to sit. There wasn't any small talk.

553
00:44:06,440 --> 00:44:11,239
He slid a contract across the table. You'll receive a

554
00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:15,920
list of instructions, he said, voice flat, read them on

555
00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:21,400
your job site. They are non negotiable. Ah, all right,

556
00:44:21,920 --> 00:44:28,360
what kind of instructions? A pause? Then I tried again.

557
00:44:30,239 --> 00:44:33,679
I looked up at the recruiter. What kind of train

558
00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:41,079
is this? His expression didn't change. Just follow the instructions.

559
00:44:41,639 --> 00:44:47,079
Everything else is self explanatory. Then he pointed to something

560
00:44:47,199 --> 00:44:50,800
in the middle of the contract, a single bolded line.

561
00:44:52,639 --> 00:44:56,119
If you break any instructions, press the red button on

562
00:44:56,199 --> 00:45:00,320
the center console immediately. Someone will tell you what to do.

563
00:45:03,039 --> 00:45:08,800
I almost laughed. And if they don't, the recruiter didn't

564
00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:14,519
blink or say a word, just stared. After a long silence,

565
00:45:15,039 --> 00:45:23,599
he tapped the contract again. Sign The private station was

566
00:45:23,679 --> 00:45:27,440
nothing like I expected. It was tucked away in a

567
00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:31,519
dead end road beyond an industrial lot, surrounded by rusted

568
00:45:31,559 --> 00:45:37,039
fences and half collapsed buildings, no signs or employees, just

569
00:45:37,119 --> 00:45:40,320
the set of old but pristine tracks and a sleek,

570
00:45:40,559 --> 00:45:45,400
immaculate train waiting for me in the dark. The train

571
00:45:45,480 --> 00:45:50,519
looked like it belonged in a billionaire's collection, long streamlined,

572
00:45:50,920 --> 00:45:55,840
gleaming under the dim platform lights. The exterior was spotless,

573
00:45:56,320 --> 00:46:00,480
not a single scratch or sign of wear, boarded the

574
00:46:00,519 --> 00:46:06,480
conductor's entrance and stepped into the control cabin. The cabin

575
00:46:06,559 --> 00:46:11,280
smelled like fresh polish. Every dial, switch and lever was

576
00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:17,440
perfectly placed, modern yet oddly unfamiliar. There was no dust,

577
00:46:17,800 --> 00:46:20,960
not a single clue to indicate this train had ever

578
00:46:21,159 --> 00:46:25,199
actually been used. The chair was stiff and the seat

579
00:46:25,199 --> 00:46:30,519
belt untouched, and the passenger cars were almost completely empty.

580
00:46:31,559 --> 00:46:34,480
No boarding crew or a bit of luggage here and there.

581
00:46:35,639 --> 00:46:39,719
No clients were anywhere to be seen. I had no

582
00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:43,079
idea where I was going, who owned this train, or

583
00:46:43,159 --> 00:46:49,000
what I was transporting, if anything. I sat down on

584
00:46:49,039 --> 00:46:52,519
the chair and picked up a laminated sheet sitting on

585
00:46:52,599 --> 00:46:59,119
top of the control panel. The instructions the train must

586
00:46:59,159 --> 00:47:04,559
never stop, no matter what happens. Keep moving. Do not

587
00:47:04,880 --> 00:47:08,480
open any passenger doors. No one should be on board.

588
00:47:09,519 --> 00:47:13,440
If you hear knocking from inside an empty car, ignore it.

589
00:47:14,519 --> 00:47:17,559
If some one appears on the tracks, do not slow down.

590
00:47:18,320 --> 00:47:20,440
Do not look at them in the rear view mirror.

591
00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:25,599
At exactly two thirteen a m. Turn off all cabin

592
00:47:25,679 --> 00:47:31,239
lights for three minutes. Do as instructed. Thereafter. If the

593
00:47:31,280 --> 00:47:35,000
intercom comes on but no one speaks, respond by saying

594
00:47:35,840 --> 00:47:39,239
we are on schedule. Then do not speak again for

595
00:47:39,320 --> 00:47:43,400
exactly five minutes. One of the train cars will be

596
00:47:43,400 --> 00:47:47,280
filled with passengers. Do not acknowledge them, do not look

597
00:47:47,320 --> 00:47:51,760
at them. Do not enter the car. If you see

598
00:47:51,800 --> 00:47:54,199
some one sitting on the conductor's seat. When you return

599
00:47:54,280 --> 00:47:58,199
from a break, leave the train immediately. You will not

600
00:47:58,239 --> 00:48:02,159
be able to board again. You may see another train

601
00:48:02,239 --> 00:48:06,280
running parallel to yours. If this happens, do not look

602
00:48:06,320 --> 00:48:10,360
at it for longer than ten seconds. If you break

603
00:48:10,400 --> 00:48:14,920
an instruction, press the red button immediately. Someone will call

604
00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:21,320
you with further instructions. I read them once, then again.

605
00:48:22,920 --> 00:48:26,880
My first thought was, what kind of sick joke is this?

606
00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:32,360
I glanced around the cabin, expecting cameras, some hidden speaker

607
00:48:32,440 --> 00:48:35,719
system ready to blare out a voice laughing at my reaction,

608
00:48:37,119 --> 00:48:40,920
But I was only met with ornate and beautiful decorations

609
00:48:41,280 --> 00:48:44,199
that adorn the corners and walls of the control cabin.

610
00:48:46,199 --> 00:48:50,880
I scoffed, shaking my head. I'd heard of companies testing

611
00:48:50,920 --> 00:48:53,119
new hires to see how much crab they'd put up with,

612
00:48:54,159 --> 00:48:59,440
but I wasn't sure. A scare tactic, maybe some over

613
00:48:59,480 --> 00:49:03,719
the top to keep conductors focused on the job. But

614
00:49:03,800 --> 00:49:07,440
why the hell, woere they need to? It's a train.

615
00:49:08,840 --> 00:49:12,599
You follow the schedule, watch the tracks, and keep things moving.

616
00:49:14,159 --> 00:49:17,039
What was all this about knocking doors and not looking

617
00:49:17,039 --> 00:49:24,800
at passengers? I rubbed my temples. Whatever if they wanted

618
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:28,599
me to play along, and I'd play along as long

619
00:49:28,639 --> 00:49:31,840
as the paycheck cleared, they could put all the weird

620
00:49:31,920 --> 00:49:39,000
rules they wanted. The train pulled out of the station, smoothly,

621
00:49:39,559 --> 00:49:43,800
gliding over the tracks with barely a tremor. The engine

622
00:49:43,880 --> 00:49:48,159
was quieter than anything I'd operated before, smooth to the

623
00:49:48,199 --> 00:49:50,920
point I couldn't even tell when I was moving when

624
00:49:50,920 --> 00:49:54,320
I closed my eyes. I barely had to touch the

625
00:49:54,360 --> 00:49:59,960
controls for the first hour, not much to not tappen,

626
00:50:00,039 --> 00:50:04,519
and just endless stretches of empty fields and dense forests

627
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:09,079
rolling past under the dim glow of the moon. The

628
00:50:09,199 --> 00:50:13,840
rails were calming. For a moment, I actually thought this

629
00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:20,119
might be the easiest job I'd ever had. Then the

630
00:50:20,119 --> 00:50:25,599
intercom crackled a burst of static, sharp and sudden, filled

631
00:50:25,599 --> 00:50:31,079
the cabin. I turned instinctively, waiting for an announcement, for

632
00:50:31,159 --> 00:50:37,360
some kind of instruction. I frowned, tapping the panel, flipping

633
00:50:37,360 --> 00:50:45,280
a few switches to clear the channel. Still nothing. My

634
00:50:45,360 --> 00:50:47,840
eyes wandered to the list of rules sitting next to me.

635
00:50:49,360 --> 00:50:53,440
Number six. If the intercom comes on but no one speaks,

636
00:50:54,119 --> 00:50:57,960
respond by saying we are on schedule, then do not

637
00:50:58,079 --> 00:51:05,760
speak again for exactly five minutes. I almost hesitated. It

638
00:51:05,880 --> 00:51:10,320
was stupid, right, just a dumb corporate rule, a test

639
00:51:10,400 --> 00:51:12,880
to see if I would comply. I was sure of it.

640
00:51:14,679 --> 00:51:20,079
I cleared my throat. We uh, we are on schedule.

641
00:51:23,039 --> 00:51:27,320
Something had changed, but I couldn't tell what it was. Immediately,

642
00:51:28,800 --> 00:51:32,599
some sort of pressure started rubbing against my skin. The

643
00:51:32,679 --> 00:51:35,679
hum of the engine felt further away, like I was

644
00:51:35,719 --> 00:51:41,559
sinking underwater while everything else drifted above me. I stared

645
00:51:41,639 --> 00:51:47,719
straight ahead, forcing myself to focus on the tracks. Four minutes.

646
00:51:49,360 --> 00:51:52,760
The longer I sat there, the worse it got. My

647
00:51:52,840 --> 00:51:56,280
head started ringing and I couldn't keep my eyes focused.

648
00:51:57,719 --> 00:52:02,360
Three minutes, the hairs and my arms stood up. The

649
00:52:02,360 --> 00:52:08,719
air smelled different, now charged, like the moment before a thunderstorm.

650
00:52:09,039 --> 00:52:15,920
Two minutes I was entirely hitched in place. One minute

651
00:52:18,559 --> 00:52:24,639
the feeling past, just like that. The weight lifted, the

652
00:52:24,639 --> 00:52:30,760
engine sounded normal again. I checked the clock. Five minutes exactly,

653
00:52:32,519 --> 00:52:39,199
I exhaled slowly, what the hell was that. My mind

654
00:52:39,239 --> 00:52:43,039
started wondering with ideas from conspiracy theory documentaries. I've been

655
00:52:43,079 --> 00:52:48,679
watching brainwashing people into specific radio waves and such. But

656
00:52:48,760 --> 00:52:54,440
I brushed it aside and kept moving. The train sped forward,

657
00:52:54,920 --> 00:52:59,760
the night stretched out ahead of me. A blur of

658
00:52:59,840 --> 00:53:03,639
my movement flashed just ahead, right as I was starting

659
00:53:03,639 --> 00:53:09,360
to relax and put the strange feeling aside. I concentrated

660
00:53:09,519 --> 00:53:11,679
as the shape moved out of the trees to the

661
00:53:11,800 --> 00:53:16,079
left and right onto the tracks, fast enough that I

662
00:53:16,119 --> 00:53:20,960
couldn't properly register it. The headlights cut across the rails,

663
00:53:22,199 --> 00:53:29,519
and my stomach lurched. Someone was standing right on the tracks,

664
00:53:30,159 --> 00:53:34,440
a man. His clothes were loose, billowing in the wind,

665
00:53:34,880 --> 00:53:38,920
even though the night was clear. His outline was blurry,

666
00:53:39,840 --> 00:53:44,920
but I was closing in on him quickly. He didn't move.

667
00:53:46,079 --> 00:53:49,920
My fingers twitched toward the brakes. I had to stop.

668
00:53:52,159 --> 00:53:58,199
I remembered number four. If someone appears in the tracks,

669
00:53:58,519 --> 00:54:01,599
do not slow down. Do not look at them in

670
00:54:01,639 --> 00:54:06,800
the rear view mirror. Every muscle in my body screamed

671
00:54:06,840 --> 00:54:09,719
at me to hit the brakes, but I willed myself

672
00:54:09,760 --> 00:54:13,960
to stop. I don't know what made me think hitting

673
00:54:13,960 --> 00:54:16,360
a man with a train was going to be justified

674
00:54:16,400 --> 00:54:19,800
by any instruction or rule. But I'd no time for

675
00:54:19,880 --> 00:54:28,159
second thoughts. The train plowed through him, no impact or thud.

676
00:54:29,199 --> 00:54:34,360
I looked around, panicking. I couldn't believe what I'd just done.

677
00:54:34,719 --> 00:54:37,159
My heart hammered, and I snapped my gaze to the

678
00:54:37,159 --> 00:54:44,920
rear view camera, then stopped myself. I couldn't look. I

679
00:54:45,039 --> 00:54:48,719
forced my eyes back to the controls, gripping the levers tightly.

680
00:54:49,760 --> 00:54:53,440
The train rattled slightly as it shot forward, speeding into

681
00:54:53,480 --> 00:54:58,000
the black. I let go of the levers, pulse raising.

682
00:54:59,679 --> 00:55:03,320
It was fine, just the trick of the light, astray

683
00:55:03,400 --> 00:55:07,280
thor getting tangled with the night. If I had actually

684
00:55:07,360 --> 00:55:12,039
hit something, the results would have been catastrophic. I was

685
00:55:12,119 --> 00:55:15,800
going ninety five miles per hour. A train this size

686
00:55:15,880 --> 00:55:18,679
going at that speed would make some sort of noise,

687
00:55:18,760 --> 00:55:23,519
hitting even a leaf. I led out a slow breath,

688
00:55:23,880 --> 00:55:27,119
trying to shake the tension off, reminding myself of the

689
00:55:27,199 --> 00:55:31,000
money waiting for me at the end of it. These

690
00:55:31,119 --> 00:55:33,679
rules were making me forget that I'd been doing this

691
00:55:33,840 --> 00:55:37,760
exact job for years. This was going to be no different.

692
00:55:38,880 --> 00:55:43,159
I was just nervous and overanalyzed everything, so I guess

693
00:55:43,199 --> 00:55:50,360
the rules worked. My mind started to wonder. There wasn't

694
00:55:50,400 --> 00:55:53,840
much to do while the train ran, just miles of dark,

695
00:55:54,119 --> 00:56:00,199
empty landscape stretching out ahead. My mind drifted, skimming over

696
00:56:00,239 --> 00:56:05,239
the rows of dials and switches, then settling almost absent mindedly,

697
00:56:05,599 --> 00:56:10,280
and the passenger monitors. Someone was sitting in one of

698
00:56:10,280 --> 00:56:16,239
the previously empty chairs, same loose, billowing clothes, same blurred,

699
00:56:16,440 --> 00:56:22,159
indistinct face, the same man I'd seen on the tracks.

700
00:56:23,159 --> 00:56:28,679
I blinked hard. What I had checked the entire train

701
00:56:28,760 --> 00:56:34,079
before departing. Every car was empty. I would have seen him.

702
00:56:34,519 --> 00:56:37,599
There was no way I missed someone had he been

703
00:56:37,639 --> 00:56:41,400
here the whole time. There had to be a logical explanation.

704
00:56:42,679 --> 00:56:45,760
Maybe I'd just been too focused on the startup sequence,

705
00:56:46,280 --> 00:56:49,239
going through the motions without really seeing the empty cars.

706
00:56:50,280 --> 00:56:53,280
It wouldn't have been the first time. Or maybe I'd

707
00:56:53,320 --> 00:56:57,199
just spaced out long haul conductors to it all the time.

708
00:56:58,000 --> 00:57:01,159
You get used to the routine, your mind drifts and

709
00:57:01,280 --> 00:57:10,920
things blur together. Yeah that was It didn't matter. Chances

710
00:57:10,960 --> 00:57:14,360
were this was some rich big shot I was transporting,

711
00:57:15,039 --> 00:57:18,840
and he wanted a train all to himself, maybe even

712
00:57:18,920 --> 00:57:23,320
hid from me somehow, on purpose. I shook the tension

713
00:57:23,360 --> 00:57:27,320
from my hands and calmed down. The train was moving,

714
00:57:27,880 --> 00:57:31,119
everything was running, and I even had a passenger. Now

715
00:57:32,039 --> 00:57:35,719
I knew what I was transporting. As long as I

716
00:57:35,800 --> 00:57:43,079
followed the schedule, I'd be fine. Outside the world slipped

717
00:57:43,079 --> 00:57:46,679
by in streaks of dark green and silver, thick forest,

718
00:57:46,960 --> 00:57:51,159
stretching endlessly into the night. The hum of the engine

719
00:57:51,199 --> 00:57:55,800
filled the cabin, steady, and even a rhythmic pulse beneath

720
00:57:55,880 --> 00:58:02,400
my finger tips miles of emptiness ahead, miles of emptiness behind.

721
00:58:04,480 --> 00:58:11,199
Then out of nowhere, a slow, steady tap, tap tap

722
00:58:11,920 --> 00:58:16,760
against one of the cabin doors. I straightened in my seat,

723
00:58:17,480 --> 00:58:21,880
eyes flicking toward the control panel. The passenger cars were

724
00:58:21,920 --> 00:58:28,079
still empty. Apart from the man. Nothing had changed, and

725
00:58:28,159 --> 00:58:35,920
yet the knocking persisted. I reread the rules, rule three.

726
00:58:36,239 --> 00:58:40,920
If you hear knocking from inside an empty car, ignore it.

727
00:58:42,840 --> 00:58:46,679
I did my best, the focus forward, pretending it wasn't happening,

728
00:58:48,239 --> 00:58:53,599
but the knocking grew louder, bam bam bam, like someone

729
00:58:53,679 --> 00:58:58,440
was hammering their fists against the metal, trying to break through. Desperate,

730
00:59:00,119 --> 00:59:03,480
I felt a sensation in my chest, a deep frustration,

731
00:59:04,960 --> 00:59:08,559
I was tired, I was irritated, and I was done

732
00:59:08,639 --> 00:59:12,719
playing along with these stupid rules. They had driven me

733
00:59:12,760 --> 00:59:17,599
to such delusion that I thought I'd hit someone. I

734
00:59:17,639 --> 00:59:21,320
stood up. My boots thudded against the floor as I

735
00:59:21,360 --> 00:59:25,599
strode back into the passenger cabins, heart pounding as I followed.

736
00:59:25,639 --> 00:59:32,079
The sound the knocking led me to cast six. I

737
00:59:32,199 --> 00:59:38,880
hesitated the rules says to ignore it. I inhaled sharply,

738
00:59:39,400 --> 00:59:43,880
my hand hovering over the latch. What was I expecting

739
00:59:44,880 --> 00:59:49,199
a prank, a malfunctioning door. If it was any of those,

740
00:59:49,719 --> 00:59:54,360
I was entirely ready for the consequences. These rules were

741
00:59:54,360 --> 00:59:57,239
taking a toll on me, making me imagine things that

742
00:59:57,320 --> 01:00:01,840
weren't even there. I just break this one rule, proved

743
01:00:01,920 --> 01:00:07,079
myself right, and get on with my shift. I unlatched

744
01:00:07,079 --> 01:00:12,199
the lock and swung the door open. The cabin was

745
01:00:12,239 --> 01:00:18,119
completely empty. No people, no luggage, no sign of life

746
01:00:18,159 --> 01:00:26,920
at all, except for the footprints. They stretched across the

747
01:00:27,000 --> 01:00:30,320
floor in a perfect trail, starting right in front of

748
01:00:30,360 --> 01:00:36,599
me and disappearing into the next car. The footprints were dirty, muddy,

749
01:00:37,360 --> 01:00:42,360
like someone had just stepped inside. A shiver crawled up

750
01:00:42,400 --> 01:00:47,000
my spine, A feeling deep inside me, screaming that I

751
01:00:47,039 --> 01:00:51,920
had just made a mistake. Before that thought could fully manifest,

752
01:00:52,719 --> 01:00:58,480
I was thrown off balance. The train started slowing down.

753
01:01:00,920 --> 01:01:03,920
The air around me lurched, and I grabbed the doorframe

754
01:01:04,000 --> 01:01:08,559
to steady myself. The train was losing speed, but I

755
01:01:08,599 --> 01:01:13,760
hadn't touched anything. I spun, rushing back to the control cabin,

756
01:01:14,480 --> 01:01:18,880
my breath coming faster now. My eyes flicked to the dashboard.

757
01:01:19,840 --> 01:01:24,320
Every system was still active. The speed should have been constant,

758
01:01:24,960 --> 01:01:30,679
but the train was steadily slowing down. The radio crackled again,

759
01:01:31,400 --> 01:01:35,519
a burst of static, followed by a voice warped and distorted,

760
01:01:35,920 --> 01:01:40,639
like it was dragging itself through the speakers. Why did

761
01:01:40,679 --> 01:01:47,400
you stop, my palls hammered against my ribs. I I didn't.

762
01:01:49,440 --> 01:01:54,199
The brakes when engaged. The emergency systems weren't triggered. The

763
01:01:54,280 --> 01:01:59,079
train was stopping on its own. I grabbed the controls,

764
01:01:59,280 --> 01:02:02,400
yanking the throat, trying to force it back to speed.

765
01:02:04,079 --> 01:02:10,039
It wouldn't respond. Outside the front window, the landscape crawled by,

766
01:02:10,280 --> 01:02:19,599
slower and slower, until the train finally completely halted silence.

767
01:02:21,280 --> 01:02:29,599
Shortly after movement beyond the trees, just at the edge

768
01:02:29,639 --> 01:02:34,199
of the dim platform lights. Figures were emerging from the darkness,

769
01:02:35,599 --> 01:02:40,199
dozens of them, tall and thin, the limbs stretching at

770
01:02:40,280 --> 01:02:43,800
unnatural angles as they moved toward the train in slow,

771
01:02:44,199 --> 01:02:51,760
balanced steps, not rushing, just walking. A mechanical hiss cut

772
01:02:51,800 --> 01:02:55,960
through everything. I snapped my head toward the monitors, a

773
01:02:56,079 --> 01:03:01,000
cold pit forming in my stomach. The train doors were

774
01:03:01,039 --> 01:03:08,039
opening once again. I hadn't touched the controls. My hands

775
01:03:08,079 --> 01:03:12,559
were still clenched around the throttle, my knuckles white. The

776
01:03:12,639 --> 01:03:17,360
system hadn't even indicated a stop. We weren't supposed to stop,

777
01:03:18,320 --> 01:03:24,599
and yet the door slid open smoothly. Outside the figures

778
01:03:24,599 --> 01:03:29,039
stepped forward. One by one. They emerged from the trees,

779
01:03:29,599 --> 01:03:32,960
their shapes flickering against the dim glow of the train's lights.

780
01:03:34,000 --> 01:03:36,960
They moved like they had all the time in the world.

781
01:03:38,679 --> 01:03:44,880
The first one stepped inside, then another, and another, filling

782
01:03:44,960 --> 01:03:49,400
the empty cars. I could see them on the monitors,

783
01:03:49,639 --> 01:03:54,320
standing in the aisles, in the seats, occupying every available space,

784
01:03:55,079 --> 01:04:00,800
yet never moving. I swore quietly, my finger flying over

785
01:04:00,840 --> 01:04:04,920
the dashboard, searching for anything, some kind of override, an

786
01:04:04,960 --> 01:04:12,000
emergency restart that failsafe. Nothing worked. I tried the radio.

787
01:04:12,320 --> 01:04:18,559
I flipped the breakers. I jammed the throttle forward, no results.

788
01:04:19,280 --> 01:04:23,800
Outside the figures had started boarding. The doors remained open

789
01:04:25,119 --> 01:04:28,960
none how the figures did anything but stare blankly forward.

790
01:04:30,199 --> 01:04:33,760
I felt panic rise up in my chest, real panic.

791
01:04:34,519 --> 01:04:38,800
My pulse roared in my ears. Why is the train

792
01:04:38,960 --> 01:04:44,639
not moving? My eyes darted to the red button. I

793
01:04:44,760 --> 01:04:52,679
slammed my palm against it. The radio crackled a life instantly, Hello,

794
01:04:53,519 --> 01:04:57,559
My voice came out sharp, panicked. I didn't do anything.

795
01:04:57,840 --> 01:05:02,159
The train stopped on its own. You broke a rule.

796
01:05:04,199 --> 01:05:08,159
My throat tightened, but before I could say anything, the

797
01:05:08,320 --> 01:05:14,719
voice continued, Do not acknowledge them, they are the passengers.

798
01:05:14,719 --> 01:05:19,000
Now keep driving until the last stop, and do not

799
01:05:19,239 --> 01:05:25,840
break any more rules. Stay vigilant. A low clunk echoed

800
01:05:25,840 --> 01:05:31,000
through the cabin. The door slid shut. I tried moving

801
01:05:31,039 --> 01:05:34,519
the train again, and as smoothly as the first time,

802
01:05:35,360 --> 01:05:41,039
it started moving forward. I press my lips together, keeping

803
01:05:41,039 --> 01:05:46,199
my gaze locked forward. The intercom stayed silent, and the

804
01:05:46,280 --> 01:05:53,480
train sped back into the night. The tension never left

805
01:05:53,559 --> 01:05:58,239
my body. My fingers remained locked around the controls, stiff

806
01:05:58,320 --> 01:06:03,639
and aching, my forearms hurting from the strain. I refused

807
01:06:03,639 --> 01:06:07,400
to look back, not even a glance. There was an

808
01:06:07,480 --> 01:06:10,599
overwhelming sense that if I did, if I so much

809
01:06:10,679 --> 01:06:14,320
as acknowledged their existence again, I would not be in

810
01:06:14,360 --> 01:06:20,679
for a good time. After a while of total stillness, monotony,

811
01:06:20,760 --> 01:06:25,119
and paranoia from my end, something shifted at the very

812
01:06:25,320 --> 01:06:30,360
edge of my vision. Moving alongside the train keeping perfect pace,

813
01:06:31,599 --> 01:06:37,320
another flicker, a break in the darkness. A second train

814
01:06:37,480 --> 01:06:42,159
was running parallel to mine. The sight of it made

815
01:06:42,159 --> 01:06:45,920
no sense. There had been no crossings or signals that

816
01:06:46,039 --> 01:06:50,920
another set of tracks even existed beside my own. Yet

817
01:06:50,920 --> 01:06:56,039
there it was, keeping speed effortlessly, its steel body gleaming

818
01:06:56,199 --> 01:07:02,519
under the faint moonlight, and through the windows I saw figures.

819
01:07:03,639 --> 01:07:08,880
They appeared dark, the interiors shrouded in shadow. But as

820
01:07:08,920 --> 01:07:12,880
I looked closer, I realized there were dozens of them,

821
01:07:13,360 --> 01:07:18,159
maybe more, pressed harshly against the glass, each one wearing

822
01:07:18,199 --> 01:07:22,880
the same wide grin. Their faces were frozen, their eyes

823
01:07:22,920 --> 01:07:27,159
locked directly at mine. They looked just like the passengers

824
01:07:27,519 --> 01:07:33,880
that had just joined my own train number nine. If

825
01:07:33,920 --> 01:07:37,760
you see another train running parallel to yours, do not

826
01:07:37,880 --> 01:07:43,480
look at it for longer than ten seconds. I wouldn't

827
01:07:43,480 --> 01:07:46,840
make the same mistake again. The presence of the other

828
01:07:46,960 --> 01:07:50,880
train lingered in my periphery, but I didn't acknowledge it again.

829
01:07:52,320 --> 01:07:58,840
I just kept driving. The intercom shot to life with

830
01:07:58,920 --> 01:08:02,559
sudden bursts of status, made my shoulders jump, the tension

831
01:08:02,599 --> 01:08:07,320
in my body snapping tight. For a moment, there was

832
01:08:07,440 --> 01:08:11,960
only empty noise, the same cold emptiness that had filled

833
01:08:11,960 --> 01:08:14,480
the radio the last time I pressed the red button.

834
01:08:16,520 --> 01:08:21,479
Look at the time. Slowly, I glanced at the digital

835
01:08:21,520 --> 01:08:28,039
clock on the control panel, two twelve AM, number five.

836
01:08:29,399 --> 01:08:33,000
At exactly two thirteen a m. Turn off all cabin

837
01:08:33,119 --> 01:08:39,600
lights for three minutes. Do was instructed. Thereafter, I paused

838
01:08:39,760 --> 01:08:44,039
and reached for the switch. My fingers trembled slightly as

839
01:08:44,079 --> 01:08:49,720
I flipped it down. The cabin was plunged into absolute darkness.

840
01:08:51,000 --> 01:08:54,760
I blinked, trying to adjust, but there wasn't anything to

841
01:08:54,840 --> 01:08:59,960
adjust to. It was so dark that everything was swallowed whole.

842
01:09:00,920 --> 01:09:04,960
No outlines, no faint glimmers of control lights, no reflection

843
01:09:05,119 --> 01:09:11,319
of the window. Just avoid. The intercom came through again.

844
01:09:12,159 --> 01:09:16,319
This time there was no prelude to it, just a clear,

845
01:09:16,640 --> 01:09:26,760
short sentence, do not move. A new sound filled the air.

846
01:09:28,199 --> 01:09:32,199
I heard it before, I felt it, A slow, painful

847
01:09:32,279 --> 01:09:38,159
movement against the metal floor. Not footsteps, but something dragging

848
01:09:38,199 --> 01:09:44,239
itself forward, joints popping, a strange, slithering scrape beneath the

849
01:09:44,239 --> 01:09:50,479
clatter of the train. Whatever was making that noise, it

850
01:09:50,640 --> 01:09:57,279
was in the cabin with me. Then came the wheezing.

851
01:09:59,359 --> 01:10:03,079
It was deep, uneven like. Whatever it was had several

852
01:10:03,159 --> 01:10:07,920
lungs that were inhaling, in staggered burst. Each breath pulled

853
01:10:07,960 --> 01:10:11,359
at the air, filling the cabin with a thick, humid

854
01:10:11,359 --> 01:10:16,439
heat that stuck to my skin like mucus. The smell

855
01:10:16,520 --> 01:10:21,319
followed her second later. It wasn't like anything I'd ever

856
01:10:21,479 --> 01:10:27,800
encountered before. It was sharp, medicinal hoemost, but undercut with

857
01:10:27,880 --> 01:10:32,840
a sticky sour scent, like burnt plastic mixed with harsh chemicals.

858
01:10:34,239 --> 01:10:37,319
The stench made me want to throw up, but I

859
01:10:37,399 --> 01:10:44,279
kept perfectly motionless. It crawled closer, still shifting near the

860
01:10:44,319 --> 01:10:51,000
control panel, sniffing its breath, rasping against the levers. A

861
01:10:51,039 --> 01:10:54,960
single clawed scrape against the console made my entire body

862
01:10:55,039 --> 01:11:00,399
lock up. It circled me, the warmth of its breath,

863
01:11:00,560 --> 01:11:04,600
shifting from one side to the other, something brushing against

864
01:11:04,640 --> 01:11:10,720
my shoulder, but not quite touching my chest burst, but

865
01:11:10,800 --> 01:11:16,319
I didn't dare do so much as exhale. Three minutes

866
01:11:17,600 --> 01:11:20,439
I counted in my head, trying not to let panic

867
01:11:20,479 --> 01:11:25,560
take hold. I couldn't move, I couldn't react. I could

868
01:11:25,560 --> 01:11:29,439
only sit there, locked in place, as whatever was inside

869
01:11:29,479 --> 01:11:32,960
the cabin decided whether or not I was worth noticing.

870
01:11:36,119 --> 01:11:41,199
In a split second, with no sound at all, it

871
01:11:41,319 --> 01:11:46,760
was gone. The heat in the air lifted, the smell faded,

872
01:11:48,239 --> 01:11:55,119
a low click, the cabin lights flickered back on. I

873
01:11:55,279 --> 01:11:59,840
was still too terrified to move, unwilling to take any chances.

874
01:12:01,359 --> 01:12:04,800
After a while, I was confident enough to adjust myself

875
01:12:04,840 --> 01:12:08,840
and my chair. I shoved down the lingering nausea and

876
01:12:08,920 --> 01:12:11,920
pressed my hands against my lap, trying to stop them

877
01:12:11,920 --> 01:12:18,479
from shaking. The digital clock blinked two sixteen a m.

878
01:12:20,119 --> 01:12:24,640
I saw the words appear in the main display final stop,

879
01:12:25,199 --> 01:12:30,800
arrival imminent. The station lights emerged from the darkness ahead,

880
01:12:31,119 --> 01:12:36,000
cold and unwelcoming, but still the most welcoming thing possible

881
01:12:36,119 --> 01:12:40,640
to me. The train didn't slow as it approached. I

882
01:12:40,720 --> 01:12:46,199
calmly pulled the brake, but it wouldn't budge. We were

883
01:12:46,279 --> 01:12:49,800
getting closer. I pulled the lever until My arms felt

884
01:12:49,840 --> 01:12:53,520
like they'd rip off my body. I fumbled with the controls,

885
01:12:53,880 --> 01:12:58,600
smashing the red button into my palm. Throbbed, but nothing gave.

886
01:13:00,119 --> 01:13:03,920
We rushed toward the platform at a great speed. I

887
01:13:03,960 --> 01:13:07,239
didn't know what to do. Adrenaline searched through my body

888
01:13:07,439 --> 01:13:11,039
as my legs started shaking, and before I could even

889
01:13:11,079 --> 01:13:18,960
take precaution impact the first jolt sent me flying forward,

890
01:13:19,239 --> 01:13:23,079
slamming my chest into the console. A crunch from inside

891
01:13:23,079 --> 01:13:27,119
me followed. It hurts so badly, I thought I'd die

892
01:13:27,199 --> 01:13:32,199
then and there. The windshields shattered as steel and concrete collided,

893
01:13:32,960 --> 01:13:37,079
the deafening snap of metal ripping through the cabin. The

894
01:13:37,199 --> 01:13:42,880
sound was unbearable, screeching, tearing, the agonized wail of the

895
01:13:42,920 --> 01:13:47,560
train collapsing in on itself. Sparks exploded across my vision

896
01:13:47,840 --> 01:13:50,920
as the front cars crumpled like a soda can, the

897
01:13:50,960 --> 01:13:55,960
force of the impact buckling the walls inward. The entire

898
01:13:56,039 --> 01:14:02,479
world turned sideways. I was thrown backward, hitting the wall

899
01:14:02,600 --> 01:14:06,159
before rolling on to the floor. My ears rang, my

900
01:14:06,279 --> 01:14:09,680
ribs ached. The air was thick with smoke and dust,

901
01:14:10,079 --> 01:14:14,880
filling my lungs with every ragged breath. Somewhere beyond the

902
01:14:14,960 --> 01:14:18,439
ringing in my skull, I could hear the train's last

903
01:14:18,720 --> 01:14:23,159
desperate groans, the final shuddering lurch as it came to

904
01:14:23,199 --> 01:14:29,680
a violent grinding hold. I lay there, stunned, my hands

905
01:14:29,720 --> 01:14:37,880
trembling against the cold floor. I was still alive, somehow,

906
01:14:38,039 --> 01:14:42,720
despite the crash, despite the sheer destruction I just experienced,

907
01:14:44,479 --> 01:14:51,600
I was fine. Slowly, painfully, I pushed myself up. The

908
01:14:51,680 --> 01:14:58,760
cabin was intact, no shattered glass, no twisted wreckage, no

909
01:14:58,920 --> 01:15:03,239
clapsed walls. The train sat perfectly parked at the station,

910
01:15:04,079 --> 01:15:07,720
as if it never even moved at all. The console

911
01:15:07,880 --> 01:15:12,199
was unscathed, the windshield unbroken. Even the faint hum of

912
01:15:12,239 --> 01:15:16,159
the engine had returned steady, like it had been running

913
01:15:16,199 --> 01:15:21,399
this whole time. But I knew what I felt. The

914
01:15:21,439 --> 01:15:26,920
bruises falling on my arms. I had been in that crash.

915
01:15:27,520 --> 01:15:30,039
My injuries weren't as fatal as I was sure they

916
01:15:30,079 --> 01:15:34,000
were just moments ago. But the train had collided with

917
01:15:34,119 --> 01:15:39,199
the station had collapsed around me, that I was sure of.

918
01:15:41,159 --> 01:15:46,800
Yet here I was unharmed. I turned toward the passenger

919
01:15:46,840 --> 01:15:51,520
monitors to see empty rows of seats, the train finally

920
01:15:51,640 --> 01:15:57,079
rid of its impossible travelers, my stomach tightened the moment

921
01:15:57,359 --> 01:16:01,520
my eyes landed on him, the figures from earlier had

922
01:16:01,560 --> 01:16:07,039
all disappeared, but the man remained. His clothes waved around

923
01:16:07,079 --> 01:16:10,279
as he walked. There was a fluid grace to him.

924
01:16:10,520 --> 01:16:13,680
As he rose from his seat and began walking forward.

925
01:16:14,680 --> 01:16:19,319
His movements were so smooth that they were hypnotizing. My

926
01:16:19,399 --> 01:16:23,640
body tensed, my instincts screaming at me to move, to run,

927
01:16:24,159 --> 01:16:27,039
to get out before something happened that I couldn't undo.

928
01:16:28,399 --> 01:16:33,199
I staggered toward the door, but it was locked. No

929
01:16:33,239 --> 01:16:36,640
matter how much I pulled or pushed, I couldn't open it.

930
01:16:38,000 --> 01:16:41,439
The weight of the moment was suffocating, and for the

931
01:16:41,479 --> 01:16:45,840
first time since this nightmare began, I finally had a

932
01:16:45,920 --> 01:16:51,039
moment of clarity, and I realized just how wrong everything

933
01:16:51,079 --> 01:16:56,039
had gone. I snapped out of my days and slammed

934
01:16:56,079 --> 01:17:00,000
my hand against the red button. The radio remained silent,

935
01:17:00,000 --> 01:17:05,039
and I headed again, harder, this time, my palms sweating

936
01:17:05,079 --> 01:17:11,800
against the plastic. No response. The man kept walking. I

937
01:17:11,920 --> 01:17:16,319
pressed the button again harder. Desperation crawled up my throat

938
01:17:16,439 --> 01:17:24,399
like bile. The doors behind me opened. A deep mechanical

939
01:17:24,479 --> 01:17:28,119
noise filled the cabin as the last remaining entrance slid

940
01:17:28,159 --> 01:17:34,560
open with agonizing slowness, revealing an empty black voiead beyond it,

941
01:17:35,960 --> 01:17:41,880
he stepped into the conductor's cabin. I was trapped, my

942
01:17:41,960 --> 01:17:45,640
back pressed against the console, every muscle in my body

943
01:17:45,760 --> 01:17:48,800
locked in place as he stopped just a few feet

944
01:17:48,840 --> 01:17:53,399
from me. Up close, his shape was even more wrong,

945
01:17:54,279 --> 01:17:58,880
his proportions slightly off, his arms too long, his posture

946
01:17:59,079 --> 01:18:03,119
just a fraction to rigid. It was like someone had

947
01:18:03,159 --> 01:18:06,520
built the idea of a man without ever having seen one,

948
01:18:07,279 --> 01:18:12,239
a close approximation that almost fit, but missed something fundamental.

949
01:18:14,479 --> 01:18:18,439
For the first time, he turned his head slightly, as

950
01:18:18,479 --> 01:18:22,640
if acknowledging me directly, and in a voice there was

951
01:18:22,720 --> 01:18:26,960
neither deep nor high, neither young nor old, neither kind

952
01:18:27,039 --> 01:18:37,840
nor cruel. He spoke, thank you for the ride. He

953
01:18:37,880 --> 01:18:41,720
looked at me a moment longer, his featureless face betraying

954
01:18:41,800 --> 01:18:47,720
no emotion. Then, without another word, he turned and opened

955
01:18:47,720 --> 01:18:51,399
the conductor room door, the one that I couldn't open

956
01:18:51,520 --> 01:18:57,800
no matter how hard I tried. Then stepped out. A

957
01:18:57,880 --> 01:19:04,439
new sound pulled my attention away. Footsteps I turned toward

958
01:19:04,479 --> 01:19:10,399
the platform the recruiter was waiting. His hands were clasped

959
01:19:10,439 --> 01:19:13,760
neatly in front of him. I practically jumped out of

960
01:19:13,800 --> 01:19:18,359
my seat and straight toward the man. Who What the

961
01:19:18,399 --> 01:19:21,920
hell was that? What the hell was I transporting? What

962
01:19:22,159 --> 01:19:30,720
just happened? The recruiter didn't answer immediately. Instead, he glanced

963
01:19:30,760 --> 01:19:34,239
past me toward the train, his gaze lingering on the

964
01:19:34,319 --> 01:19:40,399
now empty cars. He exhaled and barely their sound before

965
01:19:40,439 --> 01:19:46,479
finally speaking, what did you think of the job. There's

966
01:19:46,520 --> 01:19:50,640
another Riote schedule for tomorrow night. You did a splendid job,

967
01:19:50,680 --> 01:19:53,319
bringing the train all the way to the last stop.

968
01:19:55,039 --> 01:19:59,119
I quit, I rasped my voice, raw. I don't care

969
01:19:59,159 --> 01:20:01,640
about the money, I don't care about whatever this is.

970
01:20:02,439 --> 01:20:10,279
I'm done. The recruiter smiled, not smuggly, though, just the

971
01:20:10,359 --> 01:20:16,479
warm and welcoming smile. Then he gave me a slow nod.

972
01:20:17,399 --> 01:20:25,359
You were transporting the dead. I didn't ask any more questions.

973
01:20:26,239 --> 01:20:29,800
As absurd as what he had said just sounded. I

974
01:20:29,920 --> 01:20:34,720
was too tired to care or rationalize anything else. I

975
01:20:34,800 --> 01:20:38,239
walked away from the train, from the recruiter, from the

976
01:20:38,319 --> 01:20:43,119
nightmare I had barely survived. I just knew one thing

977
01:20:43,239 --> 01:20:49,600
for certain, I would never set foot on a train again.

978
01:20:58,800 --> 01:21:01,359
I don't remember the first time I watched an urban

979
01:21:01,439 --> 01:21:05,239
exploration video. I don't think it started as a lightning

980
01:21:05,239 --> 01:21:09,560
bolt moment. It just sort of crept in little by

981
01:21:09,640 --> 01:21:14,159
little until it was the only thing I watched. Most

982
01:21:14,199 --> 01:21:17,159
kits around me were obsessed with gaming videos and things

983
01:21:17,199 --> 01:21:22,359
like prank channels, But me, I ended up on channels

984
01:21:22,359 --> 01:21:26,079
where people walked through empty malls and long forgotten tunnels,

985
01:21:26,479 --> 01:21:31,800
with water dripping down the walls and silence stretching for miles.

986
01:21:32,520 --> 01:21:37,199
It fascinated me. These were places people had once depended on,

987
01:21:37,920 --> 01:21:42,960
places that held stories without ever telling them directly. I

988
01:21:43,000 --> 01:21:46,239
wondered what had happened to them, why they had left,

989
01:21:46,800 --> 01:21:51,760
why no one had come back. Even at ten, I

990
01:21:51,840 --> 01:21:56,479
found comfort in those silences. Something about those forgotten corners

991
01:21:56,479 --> 01:22:00,399
of the world felt honest to me, raw, untip by

992
01:22:00,439 --> 01:22:03,239
the polished garbage the rest of the Internet churned out.

993
01:22:04,640 --> 01:22:08,079
While my classmates were trading memes and game clips, I

994
01:22:08,239 --> 01:22:10,920
was mapping out places I wanted to visit one day.

995
01:22:12,680 --> 01:22:17,319
I'd dream about it at night, wondering endless concrete hallways,

996
01:22:17,359 --> 01:22:19,840
no sound but my own breath and the scuff of

997
01:22:19,920 --> 01:22:25,560
my shoes, flashlight beam jittering across crack tile. I wanted

998
01:22:25,600 --> 01:22:30,800
to be there more than anywhere else. I didn't wait

999
01:22:30,840 --> 01:22:34,199
long to try it for myself. There was a gas

1000
01:22:34,199 --> 01:22:37,520
station just off the interstate, a place that had shut

1001
01:22:37,560 --> 01:22:40,800
down five or six years earlier after a truck slammed

1002
01:22:40,840 --> 01:22:44,560
through its front windows. My friend Josh dared me to

1003
01:22:44,600 --> 01:22:47,640
go there after school one day. I told him I

1004
01:22:47,680 --> 01:22:52,520
had already planned to. That was a lie, but it worked.

1005
01:22:53,479 --> 01:22:56,159
We brought our bikes and ditched them behind the dumpsters.

1006
01:22:57,279 --> 01:23:01,720
The building looked small behind the road close it stretched deep.

1007
01:23:02,680 --> 01:23:05,840
The windows were covered in faded boards, and someone had

1008
01:23:05,840 --> 01:23:10,520
spray painted something unreadable in green across the siding. We

1009
01:23:10,560 --> 01:23:14,239
stepped behind the counter and found the freezer still half open.

1010
01:23:15,239 --> 01:23:18,800
Inside were candy bars that had sagged into themselves. The

1011
01:23:18,920 --> 01:23:24,319
labels were faded, their insides bloated. Being in one of

1012
01:23:24,319 --> 01:23:28,840
these places felt amazing, more so than I'd ever imagined.

1013
01:23:29,880 --> 01:23:32,119
It felt like I was stepping into a memory I

1014
01:23:32,199 --> 01:23:35,319
was never supposed to be a part of. It was

1015
01:23:35,359 --> 01:23:37,760
one thing to walk through a place and wonder who

1016
01:23:37,840 --> 01:23:40,760
used to be there. It was another to be a

1017
01:23:40,800 --> 01:23:45,680
piece of them. I remember Josh making a joke something

1018
01:23:45,760 --> 01:23:49,560
stupid about ghosts. But I wasn't really listening to what

1019
01:23:49,640 --> 01:23:53,720
he had to say, And that was the moment it clicked.

1020
01:23:54,680 --> 01:23:58,000
I wasn't just breaking into places. I was doing the

1021
01:23:58,079 --> 01:24:03,000
closest thing to time traveling as possible, stepping sideways into

1022
01:24:03,039 --> 01:24:08,880
someone else's story. We left after that, but I came

1023
01:24:08,920 --> 01:24:13,439
back alone a few times. Never told Josh I didn't

1024
01:24:13,439 --> 01:24:22,399
need his or anyone's company. A couple years later, I'd

1025
01:24:22,439 --> 01:24:28,199
find Grayson Vance. His videos were really simple. He'd start

1026
01:24:28,239 --> 01:24:31,760
with a quiet drone shot over a deserted property, then

1027
01:24:31,800 --> 01:24:35,920
ease in the narration. He felt more like a documentary

1028
01:24:35,920 --> 01:24:39,119
than a vlog. I'd never seen him try to do

1029
01:24:39,199 --> 01:24:42,800
that whole ghost story cliche that most content creators seemed

1030
01:24:42,840 --> 01:24:48,359
to try nowadays. His camera did the talking. I found

1031
01:24:48,359 --> 01:24:51,119
his channel late one night, while watching a video about

1032
01:24:51,159 --> 01:24:55,720
an abandoned power station in the Balkans. YouTube AutoPlay kicked

1033
01:24:55,760 --> 01:24:59,159
in and landed me on Grayson's tour of a sunken

1034
01:24:59,199 --> 01:25:03,000
hotel half the coast of Italy. The whole thing was

1035
01:25:03,119 --> 01:25:06,720
underwater at high tide, and he'd gone at dusk, wading

1036
01:25:06,800 --> 01:25:11,359
through flooded hallways with his camera above the waterline, narrating

1037
01:25:11,439 --> 01:25:15,960
it like it was a love letter. I binged watched

1038
01:25:16,000 --> 01:25:20,880
his entire catalog that week. He explored old prisons in Iceland,

1039
01:25:21,239 --> 01:25:24,920
war bunkers in Belgium, collaped schools in the deserts of Chile.

1040
01:25:26,119 --> 01:25:28,720
He never acted like it was braver than anyone else.

1041
01:25:29,479 --> 01:25:35,840
He moved through every place with respect. I wanted to

1042
01:25:35,920 --> 01:25:40,199
do that, too, wanted to be that. I started practicing

1043
01:25:40,279 --> 01:25:43,600
with a phone camera in empty parking garages, trying to

1044
01:25:43,680 --> 01:25:48,720
mimic his pacing. I studied his videos, replayed them over

1045
01:25:48,880 --> 01:25:52,239
and over, tried to figure out what he looked for.

1046
01:25:53,479 --> 01:25:57,359
I followed every platform he posted on, commented on everything,

1047
01:25:57,960 --> 01:26:02,319
hoping one day he'd notice. I didn't even feel like

1048
01:26:02,319 --> 01:26:05,119
a fan of his. If I'm being honest, he felt

1049
01:26:05,119 --> 01:26:07,800
more of a teacher to me, guiding me to a

1050
01:26:07,920 --> 01:26:14,279
future I was destined to reach. It was a Tuesday night.

1051
01:26:14,520 --> 01:26:18,079
If I remember correctly, I should have been working on

1052
01:26:18,119 --> 01:26:21,520
a labrite up for chemistry, but I had already convinced

1053
01:26:21,560 --> 01:26:25,640
myself it could wait. I had my phone propped against

1054
01:26:25,640 --> 01:26:29,439
a glass of water on my desk, headphones in my lamp,

1055
01:26:29,560 --> 01:26:33,279
the only thing keeping the room from going black. I

1056
01:26:33,359 --> 01:26:36,840
was scrolling through video suggestions in that half focused trance

1057
01:26:36,920 --> 01:26:40,960
I always seemed to fall into. That was when I

1058
01:26:41,000 --> 01:26:48,319
saw it. Grace and Vance abandoned a hospital as p usual,

1059
01:26:48,960 --> 01:26:54,000
a simple title and thumb nail. Grayson's voice came on

1060
01:26:54,159 --> 01:26:58,720
almost immediately. Who We started the same way with a

1061
01:26:58,760 --> 01:27:02,399
brief intro, a few quiet cuts of him walking the perimeter,

1062
01:27:02,960 --> 01:27:08,640
showing the outside before slipping inside. I felt my chest

1063
01:27:08,680 --> 01:27:13,399
tightened with excitement as I realized I recognized that place.

1064
01:27:14,560 --> 01:27:18,119
I knew those gates, the vines climbing the outer brick wall,

1065
01:27:18,760 --> 01:27:23,399
the sign half swallowed by overgrowth. I paused the video,

1066
01:27:23,760 --> 01:27:28,399
dragged the time bar back, and looked again. Then I

1067
01:27:28,479 --> 01:27:32,399
opened a tab and searched for images of old Florence

1068
01:27:32,479 --> 01:27:39,720
Hill Hospital. It matched. My mom would always drive past

1069
01:27:39,720 --> 01:27:42,680
it when I was younger. The place had been locked

1070
01:27:42,760 --> 01:27:47,000
up for decades, boardered tight and fenced off, though rumors

1071
01:27:47,039 --> 01:27:50,640
always floated around about kids getting in through a loose fence.

1072
01:27:52,000 --> 01:27:54,880
Mose said he was used as a psych word. Some

1073
01:27:54,960 --> 01:27:58,000
claimed it was a treatment scent of a violent offenders.

1074
01:27:58,840 --> 01:28:05,039
But regardless, Grayson was inside. He moved through it, slowly,

1075
01:28:05,560 --> 01:28:10,079
panning across doorways and peeling walls. The audio picked up

1076
01:28:10,119 --> 01:28:12,960
the creak of his boots on the tile, the quiet

1077
01:28:13,000 --> 01:28:18,119
drip of water hitting metals somewhere in the distance. I

1078
01:28:18,159 --> 01:28:22,560
couldn't believe it. He was only thirty minutes from where

1079
01:28:22,560 --> 01:28:28,520
I lived. Grayson reached the hallway. One of the walls

1080
01:28:28,520 --> 01:28:32,439
had collapsed inward, but he edged around it, ducking under

1081
01:28:32,439 --> 01:28:35,119
a reebarre and dry wall to step into a room

1082
01:28:35,159 --> 01:28:39,079
that looked like an old kitchen or freezer storage. A

1083
01:28:39,199 --> 01:28:44,199
row of broken industrial shelves leaned against the wall behind them,

1084
01:28:44,640 --> 01:28:47,960
half hidden by a stack of topple boxes with something

1085
01:28:48,000 --> 01:28:54,279
metallic embedded in the floor. He adjusted the focus, stepped closer,

1086
01:28:54,439 --> 01:28:59,840
and knelt beside it. A hatch bolted down on one side,

1087
01:29:00,560 --> 01:29:03,039
though the rust made it impossible to tell if it

1088
01:29:03,119 --> 01:29:07,520
was still sealed properly. The camerangle dipped as he brushed

1089
01:29:07,560 --> 01:29:12,359
dirt away with his sleeve. Then his voice came through again.

1090
01:29:13,920 --> 01:29:18,439
What do we have here, he said? Huh, goud be

1091
01:29:18,479 --> 01:29:21,439
some runoff tunnel or a different section of the hospital.

1092
01:29:23,560 --> 01:29:27,520
He tapped it once with a knuckle. Tell you what, guys,

1093
01:29:28,079 --> 01:29:31,199
If this video hits a thousand likes within twenty four hours,

1094
01:29:31,800 --> 01:29:36,399
I'll come back and go down there. He stood up.

1095
01:29:37,359 --> 01:29:40,680
The video cut a few seconds later, replaced by his

1096
01:29:40,840 --> 01:29:46,479
usual closing title card. I paused the screen, open the

1097
01:29:46,520 --> 01:29:51,760
common section, then scrolled back to the like counter one

1098
01:29:51,800 --> 01:29:58,000
point two K. I refreshed the page. No new video

1099
01:29:58,399 --> 01:30:03,960
had checked his Twitter new announcements. Where was the video?

1100
01:30:07,840 --> 01:30:11,359
I kept thinking about how close it was. How many

1101
01:30:11,439 --> 01:30:14,960
years I'd spent watching videos of buildings in countries I'd

1102
01:30:14,960 --> 01:30:18,479
never afford to visit, and now the biggest one of

1103
01:30:18,560 --> 01:30:22,760
all might be sitting right outside my town waiting for

1104
01:30:22,800 --> 01:30:26,600
someone to explore it. I was almost mad at myself

1105
01:30:26,600 --> 01:30:30,279
for not thinking to go there. But if Grayson was

1106
01:30:30,359 --> 01:30:35,960
taking his sweet time, maybe I could go first, maybe

1107
01:30:35,960 --> 01:30:39,640
even catch him there in the middle of filming. The

1108
01:30:39,720 --> 01:30:43,680
thoughts started as a fantasy, but it didn't stay one

1109
01:30:43,840 --> 01:30:49,119
for long. Just a few minutes later, I had dug

1110
01:30:49,159 --> 01:30:51,920
out my dad's old camcorder from the top of the closet.

1111
01:30:53,039 --> 01:30:56,000
The battery was swollen, but it had a backup pack

1112
01:30:56,039 --> 01:30:59,000
from a second store I used once for a film project.

1113
01:31:00,159 --> 01:31:02,640
I charged them both and tested the mic in my room.

1114
01:31:03,800 --> 01:31:07,439
The flashlight needed fresh batteries, too, so I biked to

1115
01:31:07,479 --> 01:31:10,159
the gas station near the highway and picked up a

1116
01:31:10,199 --> 01:31:14,000
six pack. I wrote a note and left it on

1117
01:31:14,039 --> 01:31:17,880
the fridge so my mum wouldn't be worried something about

1118
01:31:17,920 --> 01:31:24,039
group study. Every few minutes, I would imagine running into

1119
01:31:24,039 --> 01:31:27,640
Grayson down there. What I would say, How I'd play

1120
01:31:27,640 --> 01:31:31,720
it cool, maybe help him film, maybe even scare him

1121
01:31:31,720 --> 01:31:36,239
a little and record his reaction. He'd laugh, we'd talk gear,

1122
01:31:36,920 --> 01:31:39,880
He'd realize I was serious about this stuff, that I

1123
01:31:39,960 --> 01:31:42,600
wasn't just another fan trying to leach off of his name.

1124
01:31:44,840 --> 01:31:47,920
I packed everything into my school bag and zipped it tight.

1125
01:31:49,000 --> 01:31:51,720
Before I left the house, I stood in front of

1126
01:31:51,800 --> 01:31:54,960
my mirror, held the camera up to my eye, and

1127
01:31:55,079 --> 01:31:59,880
practiced an intro. The words felt weird in my mouth,

1128
01:32:00,760 --> 01:32:04,439
but I got through it. This could be the start

1129
01:32:04,560 --> 01:32:11,079
of everything I'd ever dreamed of. The sun was starting

1130
01:32:11,119 --> 01:32:13,960
to set when I got there. It hung behind a

1131
01:32:14,000 --> 01:32:17,279
screen of clouds, turning the sky into the color of

1132
01:32:17,399 --> 01:32:21,600
copper tarnish. I left my bike stashed beneath a clutter

1133
01:32:21,640 --> 01:32:24,680
of dog woods across the road and crossed the gravel

1134
01:32:24,760 --> 01:32:30,079
shoulder on foot. The outer gate had collapsed inward, its

1135
01:32:30,119 --> 01:32:33,439
posts bend and the chains slack enough to dug beneath

1136
01:32:35,119 --> 01:32:39,399
the hospital loomed ahead. The windows had been busted out,

1137
01:32:40,520 --> 01:32:42,840
while remained of the glass clung to the frames in

1138
01:32:42,920 --> 01:32:48,560
jagged patterns, catching the last light and reflecting it. I

1139
01:32:48,640 --> 01:32:54,359
pulled out the camcorder and switched it on the battery,

1140
01:32:54,439 --> 01:32:57,600
held steady. The light on the side blinked to life,

1141
01:32:57,920 --> 01:33:02,079
casting a small circle ahead of me. I hit record

1142
01:33:02,520 --> 01:33:08,039
and held it at chest level. All right, I said,

1143
01:33:08,560 --> 01:33:12,720
I'm standing just outside Florence Hill Hospital. I'm here to

1144
01:33:12,720 --> 01:33:14,800
see if I can find the spark Grace and Vance

1145
01:33:14,800 --> 01:33:18,199
filmed in his latest video. There's supposed to be a

1146
01:33:18,239 --> 01:33:21,479
hatch in the basement or storage wing. He said he'd

1147
01:33:21,479 --> 01:33:28,560
go down next time, Bun. I figured, I wait. The

1148
01:33:28,600 --> 01:33:33,920
intro came out stiff, but it felt good. I stepped

1149
01:33:33,920 --> 01:33:37,359
inside through a doorway where both doors had been torn off.

1150
01:33:38,520 --> 01:33:42,479
The floor inside had walked from years of neglect. Dust

1151
01:33:42,520 --> 01:33:45,880
and leaves had gathered into piles along the edges, and

1152
01:33:46,000 --> 01:33:50,439
most of the tiles had cracked. The air hit me

1153
01:33:50,520 --> 01:33:56,800
at once, wet, stagnant, and full of mildew. It clung

1154
01:33:56,840 --> 01:33:59,399
to the inside of my nose and sat heavy in

1155
01:33:59,439 --> 01:34:04,079
the back of my throat. Graffiti covered the walls in

1156
01:34:04,199 --> 01:34:08,000
bursts of neon and black marker. A lot of it

1157
01:34:08,079 --> 01:34:14,079
was nonsense tags, cartoonish faces, crude jokes, but a few

1158
01:34:14,159 --> 01:34:19,039
names repeated across different wings. I used those to orient

1159
01:34:19,119 --> 01:34:23,680
myself checking Grayson's video game following where the camera panneda

1160
01:34:23,680 --> 01:34:26,640
cross doorways or the way light had come in through

1161
01:34:26,720 --> 01:34:31,359
broken window panes. I stopped every few minutes to get

1162
01:34:31,359 --> 01:34:36,079
my bearings and film another few seconds of commentary, though

1163
01:34:36,119 --> 01:34:41,960
my voice kept slipping into whispers without meaning to. The

1164
01:34:42,039 --> 01:34:46,680
deeper removed the darker it got. Most of the corridors

1165
01:34:46,680 --> 01:34:50,279
were blocked by fall and ceiling panels or crossed furniture,

1166
01:34:51,199 --> 01:34:53,920
but the root from the video matched just enough for

1167
01:34:53,960 --> 01:34:59,119
me to follow it. After fifteen minutes, I started to

1168
01:34:59,159 --> 01:35:02,600
recognize the the pattern of damage from his footage, the

1169
01:35:02,640 --> 01:35:09,640
watermarks and the ceiling. I was close the hallway at

1170
01:35:09,640 --> 01:35:12,000
the end of the service wing, curved slightly to the

1171
01:35:12,079 --> 01:35:15,239
left and kept going until I hit a dead end.

1172
01:35:16,760 --> 01:35:19,119
I had to double back and rewatch part of the

1173
01:35:19,199 --> 01:35:23,600
video again. Grayson had veered off behind a broken freezer

1174
01:35:23,720 --> 01:35:27,640
unit next to a side door labeled Storage three C.

1175
01:35:30,039 --> 01:35:34,159
I retraced my steps and found it. This time, the

1176
01:35:34,159 --> 01:35:37,399
freezer door had rusted off its hinges and now leaned

1177
01:35:37,439 --> 01:35:41,600
sideways into the wall behind it, past the tangle of

1178
01:35:41,720 --> 01:35:46,439
old shelving and a disassembled mop SYNC sat the hatch.

1179
01:35:48,520 --> 01:35:53,920
It already stood open, which fuelled me with excitement. The

1180
01:35:54,000 --> 01:35:57,800
hatch itself was round, heavy looking, with a series of

1181
01:35:57,840 --> 01:36:01,560
bolts plunged into one side and scorch marks fanned out

1182
01:36:01,600 --> 01:36:05,880
across the floor. I angled the camera toward it and whispered,

1183
01:36:07,000 --> 01:36:10,079
this is it. This is the hatch from the video.

1184
01:36:10,359 --> 01:36:13,800
Grayson is probably down there as we speak. The hatch

1185
01:36:13,880 --> 01:36:18,800
is even still open. I reached forward and brushed my

1186
01:36:18,840 --> 01:36:22,479
fingers across the handle. It was worn from the heat

1187
01:36:22,600 --> 01:36:29,159
trapped in the room. Let's do this. I pointed my

1188
01:36:29,279 --> 01:36:35,319
flashlight down. The beams struggled to touch the floor. Only

1189
01:36:35,399 --> 01:36:37,720
part of it was visible through the narrow gap in

1190
01:36:37,760 --> 01:36:41,560
the concrete, just enough to show a ladder mounted to

1191
01:36:41,640 --> 01:36:46,920
the far wall, stretching into shadows. The rungs were metal

1192
01:36:47,079 --> 01:36:50,840
and bolted into place, though half of them looked eaten

1193
01:36:50,920 --> 01:36:56,479
by rust. Several bolts had sheered away from the surrounding concrete.

1194
01:36:57,159 --> 01:36:59,960
One side of the ladder swayed freely when I tapped

1195
01:36:59,920 --> 01:37:04,560
it with my foot. I stared at it for a while.

1196
01:37:06,319 --> 01:37:10,079
The camcorder was still recording. I brought it up and

1197
01:37:10,159 --> 01:37:14,239
whispered to the mic, this thing is barely holding on.

1198
01:37:14,920 --> 01:37:22,119
If it snaps, I'm screwed. I turned the flashlight between

1199
01:37:22,159 --> 01:37:27,079
my teeth and lowered myself down. The metal flakes beneath

1200
01:37:27,119 --> 01:37:32,560
my hands. Each rung felt slick and uncertain. The bolts

1201
01:37:32,640 --> 01:37:36,399
moaned with even the slightest shift of weight. A few

1202
01:37:36,520 --> 01:37:40,479
crumbled around the edges when I grabbed them. My fingers

1203
01:37:40,520 --> 01:37:45,880
burned from holding on so tightly. Half way down, I

1204
01:37:46,000 --> 01:37:49,039
paused to a just the camera angle, but I nearly

1205
01:37:49,119 --> 01:37:53,399
slipped doing it, so I just let it dangle on

1206
01:37:53,479 --> 01:37:57,880
its strap instead. I could hear my breath echoing off

1207
01:37:57,880 --> 01:38:02,600
the walls. When I reached the floor, my boots hit

1208
01:38:02,720 --> 01:38:08,479
uneven concrete. The walls on either side stretched into opposite directions.

1209
01:38:09,319 --> 01:38:12,920
The flashlight beam bounced off metal shelving and fragments of

1210
01:38:13,039 --> 01:38:19,319
painted wall. I took a slow breath and turned slowly.

1211
01:38:21,600 --> 01:38:36,239
I was in the room was enormous concrete stretched beneath

1212
01:38:36,319 --> 01:38:41,560
me in long, uneven slabs. Some sections had sunken, leaving

1213
01:38:41,640 --> 01:38:46,760
shallow dips filled with stagnant water. Rusted shelving units leaned

1214
01:38:46,800 --> 01:38:51,159
against the brick walls, their contents either collapsed or covered

1215
01:38:51,159 --> 01:38:56,039
in sheets of decomposing plastic. A gurney rested upside down

1216
01:38:56,079 --> 01:38:59,840
near the center, one of his wheels spinning slowly before

1217
01:39:00,079 --> 01:39:04,880
locking in place with a soft metallic click. I whispered

1218
01:39:05,000 --> 01:39:10,159
into the camera. Bigger than I expected. Definitely not a

1219
01:39:10,199 --> 01:39:17,520
storage closet. Let's see where Grayson is. My light followed

1220
01:39:17,560 --> 01:39:22,000
a long pipe overhead, thick with corrosion and patched with

1221
01:39:22,039 --> 01:39:26,359
what looked like duct tape and rubber fittings. Below it,

1222
01:39:26,680 --> 01:39:30,520
the moisture had pulled into a discolored stain, slick and

1223
01:39:30,600 --> 01:39:34,640
pulsing with slow drops. Each one landed with a clip

1224
01:39:36,640 --> 01:39:41,640
at the far wall. Something caught my attention. I walked

1225
01:39:41,640 --> 01:39:46,479
toward it slowly. My boots sent wet crunches into the dark,

1226
01:39:47,079 --> 01:39:50,880
echoing back against the walls. The beam of my light

1227
01:39:51,039 --> 01:39:54,319
lit up the last stretch of space with the concrete

1228
01:39:54,359 --> 01:39:59,880
gave way to older brick. The transition was uneven, almost

1229
01:40:00,000 --> 01:40:03,319
as though the building had been expanded downward after the

1230
01:40:03,359 --> 01:40:08,720
original structure had already been built. The wallpaper here peeled

1231
01:40:08,720 --> 01:40:13,920
away in thick, soft curls behind it, water stained plaster

1232
01:40:14,119 --> 01:40:18,640
gave way to a painted mural blue clouds, yellow suns,

1233
01:40:19,159 --> 01:40:23,279
animals drawn in past those shapes. A lion with cartoon

1234
01:40:23,319 --> 01:40:26,239
eyes stood next to a duck wearing a nurse's cap.

1235
01:40:27,119 --> 01:40:30,079
A giraffe was curled into a bed with a thermometer

1236
01:40:30,359 --> 01:40:35,560
in its mouth. I scanned across the floor in front

1237
01:40:35,600 --> 01:40:39,600
of it. The dust of the floor was scattered around,

1238
01:40:40,159 --> 01:40:45,199
revealing footprints and what looked to be drag marks. Grayson

1239
01:40:46,159 --> 01:40:52,359
was definitely here. I moved through the corridor as quietly

1240
01:40:52,399 --> 01:40:57,239
as I could. The walls here narrowed, there were fewer

1241
01:40:57,279 --> 01:41:01,479
open rooms. The hall turned left and then again to

1242
01:41:01,560 --> 01:41:05,000
the right, forming a horseshoe path around a closed off

1243
01:41:05,039 --> 01:41:09,279
surgery wing. At least that's what the faded lettering said

1244
01:41:09,279 --> 01:41:13,600
and the signs overhead. I kept imagining. I would turn

1245
01:41:13,640 --> 01:41:19,880
a corner and seemed crouched over a tripod. Eventually I'd

1246
01:41:19,880 --> 01:41:24,479
find his camera in a brake room. It sat on

1247
01:41:24,560 --> 01:41:28,680
a metal cart near a vending machine. The camera's glass

1248
01:41:28,680 --> 01:41:33,520
had been cracked, but it still functioned. The logo blinked once,

1249
01:41:33,840 --> 01:41:39,479
then faded. I could still navigate the video menu. I

1250
01:41:39,600 --> 01:41:44,279
leaned closer and whispered into my own camcorder, barely containing myself.

1251
01:41:45,760 --> 01:41:48,319
It's his, Let's see what I can find on it.

1252
01:41:49,279 --> 01:41:51,600
He probably got spooked by some rat and dropped it.

1253
01:41:52,479 --> 01:41:57,920
Poor guy. I smiled at the lens. My fingers hovered

1254
01:41:57,960 --> 01:42:03,079
over the playback button before I was able to hit play,

1255
01:42:03,800 --> 01:42:07,000
and alert popped up, letting me know the battery was low.

1256
01:42:08,560 --> 01:42:13,520
Navigating the menu was slow, the button stuck. A couple

1257
01:42:13,520 --> 01:42:17,000
of video philes sat in the memory. I selected the

1258
01:42:17,039 --> 01:42:23,359
most recent one and hit play. The footage opened with

1259
01:42:23,439 --> 01:42:28,600
Grayson already exploring the basement, but the screen was entirely black.

1260
01:42:30,000 --> 01:42:34,119
I thought maybe the file had corrupted, but the audio continued.

1261
01:42:36,079 --> 01:42:41,159
A wet, slithering sound dragged across the speakers, something heavy

1262
01:42:41,239 --> 01:42:51,079
scraping against concrete, then something else. Shallow breathing metal clattered

1263
01:42:51,119 --> 01:42:56,000
in the background, followed by a wet cough, then gurgling.

1264
01:42:57,720 --> 01:43:03,479
It sounded close to the mic. I leaned in. I

1265
01:43:03,600 --> 01:43:07,119
moved to rewind. I was curious as to what had happened,

1266
01:43:08,039 --> 01:43:13,399
but the display blinked once, then shut off. The battery

1267
01:43:13,479 --> 01:43:20,000
died in my hands. I could have left then and there,

1268
01:43:21,000 --> 01:43:27,079
maybe even should have, but I didn't. Grayson was down

1269
01:43:27,119 --> 01:43:31,680
here somewhere. Maybe something has spooked him into hiding. But

1270
01:43:31,800 --> 01:43:35,000
I just imagined myself doing something that scared even the

1271
01:43:35,000 --> 01:43:42,239
most popular urban explorers. I saw an opportunity. This was

1272
01:43:42,279 --> 01:43:46,039
my one and only chance to be a part of it.

1273
01:43:48,279 --> 01:43:53,960
So I walked. Dust turned to grime. Drawings on the

1274
01:43:53,960 --> 01:43:58,840
wall transitioned to a pale green beneath layers of peeling white.

1275
01:43:59,079 --> 01:44:02,279
I passed the rust wheelchair with two broken foot rests

1276
01:44:02,680 --> 01:44:07,039
and a dried smear along the cushion. Beyond that, a

1277
01:44:07,119 --> 01:44:11,000
row of cracked observation windows stared out into padded cells.

1278
01:44:12,119 --> 01:44:16,640
The batting had been torn open, foam exposed. Some of

1279
01:44:16,680 --> 01:44:21,479
it was darkened with rot. I stepped carefully, trying to

1280
01:44:21,560 --> 01:44:27,000
keep my breathing. Even the camera picked up everything. I

1281
01:44:27,119 --> 01:44:32,319
made sure of it. The hallway ahead sloped slightly to

1282
01:44:32,399 --> 01:44:37,119
the left, its walls warped from years of water damage.

1283
01:44:37,439 --> 01:44:41,840
I moved slow, careful. Where I stepped, my boots sank

1284
01:44:41,920 --> 01:44:45,520
into patches of soggy paper that had melted into the tile.

1285
01:44:46,760 --> 01:44:50,039
The beam of my flashlight shook across chipped paint and

1286
01:44:50,079 --> 01:44:57,039
empty door frames. I turned the corner. That was when

1287
01:44:57,079 --> 01:45:01,079
I saw him. A figure stood at the far end

1288
01:45:01,119 --> 01:45:06,279
of the corridor, motionless back to me, feet spread apart,

1289
01:45:06,560 --> 01:45:14,720
shoulders squared. He didn't move. I froze the light from

1290
01:45:14,720 --> 01:45:18,319
my flashlights sat on his back. He was too far

1291
01:45:18,359 --> 01:45:22,159
away to make out detail, but his silhouette was visible enough.

1292
01:45:24,159 --> 01:45:29,319
My first thought, without hesitation, was that it was Grayson.

1293
01:45:31,199 --> 01:45:35,399
I whispered into my camera. I think I just found him.

1294
01:45:37,840 --> 01:45:43,039
The figure remained completely still. I switched off the flashlight,

1295
01:45:43,520 --> 01:45:46,880
swallowed the tightness in my throat, and crouched behind an

1296
01:45:46,960 --> 01:45:51,239
overturned gurney. The glow from my camera screen cast a

1297
01:45:51,319 --> 01:45:55,840
dull blue over my hands. I angled it toward my face.

1298
01:45:57,399 --> 01:46:01,560
All right, I whispered, I'm getting the scaring camera. He

1299
01:46:01,680 --> 01:46:08,119
probably has no clue I'm even down here. I stood slowly,

1300
01:46:08,880 --> 01:46:13,479
careful not to let my shoes drag. I inched forward,

1301
01:46:13,960 --> 01:46:18,880
heart hammering in my ribs. The silence stretched, my mouth

1302
01:46:18,920 --> 01:46:23,399
had gone dry. I kept one hand steady on the camcorder,

1303
01:46:23,800 --> 01:46:28,800
the other clenched in my chest. I crept behind him,

1304
01:46:29,279 --> 01:46:32,239
close enough now to make out the seams on his jacket.

1305
01:46:34,119 --> 01:46:43,840
Then I jumped yo. The figure whipped around faster than

1306
01:46:43,920 --> 01:46:47,319
anything I had ever seen. I caught a glimpse of

1307
01:46:47,359 --> 01:46:52,479
the bandages, thick strips, yellowed with age and grime, wrapped

1308
01:46:52,479 --> 01:46:57,199
tightly across his head. Only his eyes were visible, red

1309
01:46:57,359 --> 01:47:00,720
and bursting from blood vessels that had ruptured beneath the lid.

1310
01:47:02,520 --> 01:47:06,760
Before I could step back, he slammed into me. His

1311
01:47:06,880 --> 01:47:10,640
forehead cracked against my cheek bone with a thud. I

1312
01:47:10,720 --> 01:47:14,039
hit the floor. My camera had tumbled across the tile,

1313
01:47:14,479 --> 01:47:18,880
pouncing into a pile of torn insulation. My flashlight clattered

1314
01:47:18,880 --> 01:47:23,439
near my hand. I gasped and rolled, grabbing for the light.

1315
01:47:24,760 --> 01:47:27,760
When I found it, I twisted the switch until it

1316
01:47:27,800 --> 01:47:32,479
clicked back on. He stood only a few feet away,

1317
01:47:32,960 --> 01:47:36,800
swaying slightly. The folds of his straight jacket heavy with

1318
01:47:36,960 --> 01:47:41,399
sweat and filth. The straps wound tight across his chest,

1319
01:47:41,760 --> 01:47:45,840
soaked through. His face was covered in bandages that had

1320
01:47:45,880 --> 01:47:50,239
melted away around the mouth, exposing jagged teeth and gums

1321
01:47:50,279 --> 01:47:54,479
coated in black rot. Dark puss clung to his lips

1322
01:47:54,760 --> 01:47:59,279
and dripped into the collar of his jacket. His breath

1323
01:47:59,279 --> 01:48:03,119
wheezed through clenched teeth. The sound reminded me of water

1324
01:48:03,399 --> 01:48:10,039
caught in a clogged drain. I launched myself upright and ran.

1325
01:48:11,920 --> 01:48:14,920
My boots slipped on the slick floor. I nearly lost

1326
01:48:14,920 --> 01:48:18,720
my footing At the first corner behind me, I heard

1327
01:48:18,800 --> 01:48:24,800
him or it scream, wet shrill, cracked in the middle,

1328
01:48:25,640 --> 01:48:28,399
and then the crash of his body slamming into metal.

1329
01:48:30,279 --> 01:48:35,560
He was chasing me. Gurney shattered as he ran through them.

1330
01:48:36,479 --> 01:48:41,239
I heard wheels spinning, furniture scraping across the floor, something

1331
01:48:41,319 --> 01:48:45,039
heavy hitting the wall. He made no effort to move

1332
01:48:45,079 --> 01:48:49,720
around anything, just slammed through them, tearing it and himself

1333
01:48:49,760 --> 01:48:55,319
apart in the process. Every corner turned, I expected him

1334
01:48:55,319 --> 01:48:58,800
to cut me off. I heard him gag, then cough,

1335
01:48:59,239 --> 01:49:03,000
then dragging an another breath through mucus and bile. His

1336
01:49:03,079 --> 01:49:05,960
body slammed against the corner I had just cleared, and

1337
01:49:06,039 --> 01:49:11,479
he recovered fast. Another screech, this one higher, almost animal.

1338
01:49:12,760 --> 01:49:15,479
I barrowed through a doorway and nearly tripped over a table,

1339
01:49:15,520 --> 01:49:20,199
flipped on its side, and vaulted it behind me. I

1340
01:49:20,239 --> 01:49:22,479
heard his body hit the edge and roll across it.

1341
01:49:23,239 --> 01:49:26,800
The screech of nails or teeth or something sharp dragging

1342
01:49:26,840 --> 01:49:32,479
over the surface, followed by a thump, then more footsteps.

1343
01:49:33,399 --> 01:49:38,960
I glanced over my shoulder just once bent forward. Face

1344
01:49:39,079 --> 01:49:44,000
slack drewel mixed with black fluid, trailing behind him in globs.

1345
01:49:44,479 --> 01:49:48,600
His shoulders rocked with each step, but his legs kept moving.

1346
01:49:49,520 --> 01:49:55,319
Foam lined his jaw. Now I ran harder. Upper head

1347
01:49:55,600 --> 01:50:00,680
lights spilled in from the shaft above the hatch the ladder.

1348
01:50:02,119 --> 01:50:06,960
I was almost there. It still dangled from its rusted bolts,

1349
01:50:07,239 --> 01:50:11,000
swaying slightly. The top half clung to the concrete wall,

1350
01:50:11,439 --> 01:50:14,920
the bottom half hung loose. The screws along the right

1351
01:50:15,000 --> 01:50:20,319
side bent nearly to the point of snapping. I jumped.

1352
01:50:21,720 --> 01:50:24,159
My hands caught a rung near my chest, and I

1353
01:50:24,239 --> 01:50:28,039
hauled myself upward, my boots slamming against the wall. As

1354
01:50:28,039 --> 01:50:31,640
I found a foothold, the metal rattled under my weight.

1355
01:50:32,319 --> 01:50:36,039
The rung shifted beneath my palms, slipping half an inch

1356
01:50:36,079 --> 01:50:43,680
before catching again below me. I heard him. His feet

1357
01:50:43,760 --> 01:50:50,399
slapped the tile. Then something heavier his full body, probably

1358
01:50:50,439 --> 01:50:56,239
thrown itself forward. A choking gargle echoed upward, long and strained.

1359
01:50:57,760 --> 01:51:00,960
When I glanced down, I saw him burn through the corridor,

1360
01:51:01,319 --> 01:51:05,439
head tangled across his face, the bandages flaring outward as

1361
01:51:05,479 --> 01:51:09,840
his jaws widened, his arms still bound in the jacket

1362
01:51:10,239 --> 01:51:14,880
thrashed at his sides. He shouldn't have been able to climb.

1363
01:51:15,640 --> 01:51:21,920
I thought I was safe, but he jumped. His head

1364
01:51:22,000 --> 01:51:26,800
snapped upward, mouth opening wide. He sank his teeth into

1365
01:51:26,840 --> 01:51:31,640
the rung just below my foot. His jaw clenched. Then

1366
01:51:32,000 --> 01:51:35,119
his legs kicked off the floor, and he began to swing.

1367
01:51:36,520 --> 01:51:39,640
He climbed on tight, using his molars and cracked in

1368
01:51:39,720 --> 01:51:44,399
sizes to hold himself steady. His feet scraped against the wall,

1369
01:51:44,680 --> 01:51:51,640
searching for traction. Somehow impossibly, he started to pull himself

1370
01:51:51,720 --> 01:52:00,399
higher by his mouth. The ladder shook hard, dreamed, and

1371
01:52:00,439 --> 01:52:04,359
climbed faster. My knees struck the rungs. My shoulders scraped

1372
01:52:04,399 --> 01:52:07,119
the edge of the hatch. I could hear the metal

1373
01:52:07,159 --> 01:52:11,920
wrenching below, one of the supports, snapping with a sharp twang.

1374
01:52:13,520 --> 01:52:17,680
I looked down once more. He was inches from my boots.

1375
01:52:18,279 --> 01:52:21,880
Lips peeled back, blood leaking from his gums where metal

1376
01:52:21,960 --> 01:52:26,359
had cut into his jaw. His eyes rolled upward, wide

1377
01:52:26,399 --> 01:52:30,399
and straining. I swung my foot out and kicked hard.

1378
01:52:32,079 --> 01:52:36,760
The ladder gave the top bolt snapped free. The structure

1379
01:52:36,840 --> 01:52:43,439
lurched to the side. He fell. I pulled myself through

1380
01:52:43,479 --> 01:52:46,920
the hatch as the ladder tore away, crashing down into

1381
01:52:46,920 --> 01:52:51,199
the dark. The impact echoed to the shaft, shaking the

1382
01:52:51,239 --> 01:52:57,199
walls beneath it. I heard a wet, snapping sound and

1383
01:52:57,279 --> 01:53:03,079
something low and guttural, a moan maybe, or a final breath.

1384
01:53:04,880 --> 01:53:08,800
I didn't stay to find out. I ran until I

1385
01:53:08,800 --> 01:53:13,279
couldn't feel my legs. The hospital doors passed in a blur.

1386
01:53:13,960 --> 01:53:18,199
The light outside had shifted to blue just before dawn.

1387
01:53:19,600 --> 01:53:22,119
The air stung my lungs as I pushed past the

1388
01:53:22,199 --> 01:53:25,960
crumbling fence, falling to my knees in the weeds before

1389
01:53:26,000 --> 01:53:30,840
crawling through the gap and stumbling onto the road. I

1390
01:53:30,920 --> 01:53:34,359
made it halfway down the road before my legs finally

1391
01:53:34,439 --> 01:53:38,800
gave out completely. I collapsed onto a patch of gravel

1392
01:53:38,840 --> 01:53:42,239
beside a rusted mar marker and lay there until my

1393
01:53:42,319 --> 01:53:46,760
heart stopped hammering. At some point I reached the bus

1394
01:53:46,760 --> 01:53:50,399
stop near the edge of town. I sat on the bench,

1395
01:53:50,920 --> 01:53:58,399
hand shaking, shirt soaked through with sweat. I thought about

1396
01:53:58,439 --> 01:54:02,520
calling someone, thought about telling the police, leading them to

1397
01:54:02,600 --> 01:54:05,920
the hatch. I even pulled out my phone and started

1398
01:54:05,920 --> 01:54:12,760
the dial. Then I stopped. They'd ask why I was there,

1399
01:54:13,279 --> 01:54:16,159
why I didn't call earlier, why I didn't stop when

1400
01:54:16,159 --> 01:54:20,920
I first heard something they'd touched the hospital. It would

1401
01:54:20,960 --> 01:54:23,840
all come back to me, whether that thing in the

1402
01:54:23,840 --> 01:54:30,800
strait jacket was human or not. I killed it, and

1403
01:54:30,880 --> 01:54:37,760
so I just went back home. Grayson never posted again.

1404
01:54:38,640 --> 01:54:44,479
His channel remained untouched. Comments slowed over time, then stopped completely.

1405
01:54:45,840 --> 01:54:51,159
People moved on. New explorers took his place, and I

1406
01:54:51,319 --> 01:55:08,720
never when urban exploring again. I'm serious this time, Cody said,

1407
01:55:09,079 --> 01:55:13,479
leaning across the cracked picnic table. His breath smeled like

1408
01:55:13,560 --> 01:55:16,880
sour candy, and his eyes looked huge behind his bent

1409
01:55:17,000 --> 01:55:22,359
up glasses. It's a real ritual, real real I didn't

1410
01:55:22,399 --> 01:55:25,279
just find it on Google or YouTube this time. I

1411
01:55:25,279 --> 01:55:27,640
had to go through this whole creepy website you can't

1412
01:55:27,680 --> 01:55:30,399
even find unless you do this thing with your computer.

1413
01:55:31,119 --> 01:55:35,920
It's called a hidden browser or something. I snorted and

1414
01:55:36,079 --> 01:55:40,079
picked at the peeling paint on the table. Yeah, just

1415
01:55:40,119 --> 01:55:42,399
like the real ritual where you made me eat a

1416
01:55:42,439 --> 01:55:44,720
crayon and told me my future would come true if

1417
01:55:44,760 --> 01:55:48,840
I pooped out the whole thing in one piece. Cody

1418
01:55:48,880 --> 01:55:52,079
shoved me with his elbow, but it barely counted as

1419
01:55:52,119 --> 01:55:57,399
a shove. He was skinny, always had been, with elbows

1420
01:55:57,399 --> 01:56:00,840
so pointy he could probably stab someone if he wanted.

1421
01:56:02,119 --> 01:56:05,880
That was a joke. This is different. I did research

1422
01:56:05,960 --> 01:56:12,640
this time, real research. Hows of it. I leaned back

1423
01:56:12,720 --> 01:56:15,800
and squinted at him, trying to keep a straight face.

1424
01:56:17,239 --> 01:56:21,079
Cody doing research usually meant he found some kid on

1425
01:56:21,119 --> 01:56:23,520
a forum who told him how to summon a ghost

1426
01:56:23,760 --> 01:56:28,600
with a spoon and a prayer. Thing was he was

1427
01:56:28,680 --> 01:56:33,880
my friend, always had been, ever since kindergarten, when he

1428
01:56:33,920 --> 01:56:36,640
wore a cape to school for three weeks straight and

1429
01:56:36,720 --> 01:56:41,000
told everyone he had wizard blood. Cody had this thing

1430
01:56:41,079 --> 01:56:46,840
about creepy stuff, monsters, spells, ghost stories, you name it.

1431
01:56:48,000 --> 01:56:50,880
He collected weird facts the same way normal kids collect

1432
01:56:50,960 --> 01:56:55,159
baseball cards. Every week he had a new ritual, or

1433
01:56:55,199 --> 01:56:58,319
a new monster, or a new story about a haunted

1434
01:56:58,399 --> 01:57:02,239
road he read about somewhere on a blode. Since I

1435
01:57:02,279 --> 01:57:05,039
had stuck with him through all of it, most kids

1436
01:57:05,079 --> 01:57:09,039
lumped me into the same weird bucket. We were the

1437
01:57:09,079 --> 01:57:12,640
spooky kids, the ones who made paper mache monsters in

1438
01:57:12,760 --> 01:57:17,520
art class instead of finger painting flowers. Teachers thought we

1439
01:57:17,520 --> 01:57:22,720
were harmless, but other kids mostly kept their distance. I

1440
01:57:22,760 --> 01:57:25,840
think They figured if they stood too close, they might

1441
01:57:25,920 --> 01:57:32,359
catch whatever weirdness we had. Cody could be annoying sometimes.

1442
01:57:33,199 --> 01:57:36,840
He always thought he knew more than everyone else. He

1443
01:57:36,880 --> 01:57:39,479
had this thing where he would keep secrets on purpose,

1444
01:57:39,960 --> 01:57:43,880
just to drive you crazy enough to beg him for answers.

1445
01:57:44,520 --> 01:57:49,760
But he was my best friend. So when he looked

1446
01:57:49,760 --> 01:57:53,800
at me with that dopey, excited face and said, come on,

1447
01:57:54,119 --> 01:57:59,039
it'll be awesome, I swear, I sighed and gave him

1448
01:57:59,079 --> 01:58:03,960
a fist bump across the table. Fine, I said, but

1449
01:58:04,039 --> 01:58:07,000
if I end up eating another crayon, I'm never speaking

1450
01:58:07,039 --> 01:58:12,520
to you again. Cody grinned so hard I could see

1451
01:58:12,520 --> 01:58:17,359
the spot. Whereas to the chip, last summer deal, and

1452
01:58:17,439 --> 01:58:21,319
if it does work, this is the last one. Swear

1453
01:58:21,359 --> 01:58:26,279
in your Pokemon cards. He agreed, and that's when I

1454
01:58:26,319 --> 01:58:33,920
knew he was serious. We met up after school and

1455
01:58:34,000 --> 01:58:37,239
got on our way. Cody beat me off the starting

1456
01:58:37,239 --> 01:58:40,720
line by a mile, his sneakers slamming against the pedals,

1457
01:58:41,119 --> 01:58:44,800
his bike rattling across the potholes so bad I thought

1458
01:58:44,800 --> 01:58:48,640
his front wheel was going to pop off. I pushed harder,

1459
01:58:49,000 --> 01:58:52,279
standing on my pedals and leaning into the race, but

1460
01:58:52,479 --> 01:58:56,039
Cody had that manic energy you only get when you

1461
01:58:56,119 --> 01:59:00,920
think you're about to do something historic through the neighborhood,

1462
01:59:00,960 --> 01:59:03,640
fast enough to make old ladies walking their dogs yell

1463
01:59:03,680 --> 01:59:07,840
at us. Lawns blurred past, and I could smell fresh

1464
01:59:07,840 --> 01:59:12,520
cut grass and someone grilling hot dog somewhere. Cody whooped

1465
01:59:12,600 --> 01:59:15,560
when we hit the downhill slope by the abandoned video store,

1466
01:59:16,119 --> 01:59:21,279
arms outstretched, coasting like he was flying. His house came

1467
01:59:21,319 --> 01:59:24,520
into view at the end of the block, squat and square,

1468
01:59:25,000 --> 01:59:28,159
a saggy basketball hoop clinging onto the garage by a

1469
01:59:28,199 --> 01:59:33,359
single bolt. The lights were off. They were always off.

1470
01:59:34,600 --> 01:59:39,920
His mom worked nights, sometimes entire weekends. His dad was

1471
01:59:40,000 --> 01:59:44,640
never in the picture. Cody never said why, and I

1472
01:59:44,720 --> 01:59:49,399
never asked whatever had happened. He left Cody half wild

1473
01:59:49,560 --> 01:59:52,039
and half grown up in a way no one else

1474
01:59:52,039 --> 01:59:56,079
our age really was. He pretty much raised himself on

1475
01:59:56,279 --> 02:00:00,600
serial and horror movies. We dumped up bikes in the

1476
02:00:00,600 --> 02:00:04,479
dirt patch by his porch. The kickstands so useless it

1477
02:00:04,520 --> 02:00:08,359
was a miracle they stayed up at all. Cody fumbled

1478
02:00:08,399 --> 02:00:10,720
with his keys for a second before he got the

1479
02:00:10,720 --> 02:00:16,159
door open. Then he turned and grinned at me. Prepare

1480
02:00:16,279 --> 02:00:21,680
to be amazed, he said, puffing his chest out. I

1481
02:00:21,760 --> 02:00:26,399
followed him. Inside. The house smelled a little dusty, a

1482
02:00:26,439 --> 02:00:30,640
little sweet, probably from the mountain of snack wrappers Cody

1483
02:00:30,680 --> 02:00:34,479
never got around to cleaning up. We headed straight for

1484
02:00:34,600 --> 02:00:38,720
the basement door. Cody threw it open with a dramatic

1485
02:00:38,800 --> 02:00:43,760
sweep of his arm, motioning me to go first. I

1486
02:00:43,800 --> 02:00:52,560
took one step down and froze. The whole basement had

1487
02:00:52,600 --> 02:00:57,279
been transformed. There were candles arranged in neat little circles

1488
02:00:57,720 --> 02:01:01,760
around a massive chalk pentagram drawn right into the concrete floor.

1489
02:01:02,760 --> 02:01:05,680
Bowls of salt sat at every point of the star.

1490
02:01:07,079 --> 02:01:11,640
We had chunk, broken mirrors, little bones. Stacks of torn

1491
02:01:11,680 --> 02:01:16,399
book pages sat all over the place. The air felt heavier,

1492
02:01:16,880 --> 02:01:21,199
almost sticky, and it smelled like burnt matches and something else.

1493
02:01:22,840 --> 02:01:25,640
Cody bounded past me and let down the last few

1494
02:01:25,680 --> 02:01:29,279
steps two at a time. He grabbed a crumpled bag

1495
02:01:29,319 --> 02:01:31,720
of chips from the arm of a ragged chair and

1496
02:01:31,840 --> 02:01:37,680
tossed it my face. Armor up, soldier, he said, ye

1497
02:01:37,680 --> 02:01:42,359
cannot battle age and evil and an empty stomach. The

1498
02:01:42,399 --> 02:01:45,239
bag hit me square between the eyes and dropped to

1499
02:01:45,319 --> 02:01:48,960
the floor. I bent down to pick it up, feeling

1500
02:01:48,960 --> 02:01:54,479
my heart thump a little harder. This was way beyond

1501
02:01:54,640 --> 02:02:01,359
anything Cody had ever done before. Again, usually his rituals

1502
02:02:01,399 --> 02:02:04,079
meant chanting into a bathroom mirror with the lights off,

1503
02:02:04,560 --> 02:02:06,520
or making me stack a bunch of river rocks in

1504
02:02:06,560 --> 02:02:09,479
a circle and whispered to them until we got bored.

1505
02:02:10,800 --> 02:02:14,279
One time, when he really tugged it up, he confessed

1506
02:02:14,319 --> 02:02:17,159
afterward that he had made the whole thing up because

1507
02:02:17,199 --> 02:02:19,239
he thought it would be funny to tell people we

1508
02:02:19,319 --> 02:02:23,520
thought a ghost by hitting it with plastic baseball bats.

1509
02:02:24,279 --> 02:02:30,239
But this looked real. I crinkled the bag chip in

1510
02:02:30,279 --> 02:02:34,159
my hands and gave him a look. He went full

1511
02:02:34,239 --> 02:02:40,239
psycho for this one. Hah. Cody just grinned wider, bouncing

1512
02:02:40,239 --> 02:02:45,279
on the balls of his feet, candles flickering behind him.

1513
02:02:45,319 --> 02:02:49,720
Only the best for my last ritual ever, he said,

1514
02:02:49,720 --> 02:02:54,600
swear it. Cody plopped down, cross legged at the edge

1515
02:02:54,600 --> 02:02:57,600
of the pentagram and motioned for me to do the same.

1516
02:02:58,800 --> 02:03:02,079
I settled into the spot across from him, cradling the

1517
02:03:02,119 --> 02:03:05,560
bag of chips he had thrown at me earlier. Crumbs

1518
02:03:05,560 --> 02:03:08,600
stuck to my fingers already, and I knew he would

1519
02:03:08,680 --> 02:03:12,520
yell at me if I touched anything important. So I

1520
02:03:12,560 --> 02:03:18,199
wiped my hands and my jeans first. Okay, Cody said,

1521
02:03:18,520 --> 02:03:21,560
pulling a rumpled piece of notebook paper from his hoody pocket.

1522
02:03:22,720 --> 02:03:26,479
The lines were crooked and written in his messy, tilted handwriting.

1523
02:03:27,600 --> 02:03:30,479
He smoothed it out on the floor, squinting at it

1524
02:03:30,560 --> 02:03:35,520
in the candlelight. You gotta read these lines together. You

1525
02:03:35,640 --> 02:03:40,199
gotta mean it too, or it won't work. I stuffed

1526
02:03:40,199 --> 02:03:42,600
a handful of chips into my mouth and gave him

1527
02:03:42,600 --> 02:03:47,640
a thumbs up. He cleared his throat, and together we

1528
02:03:47,720 --> 02:03:54,960
started mumbling through the words. It sounded like total nonsense.

1529
02:03:55,880 --> 02:03:58,359
Some of it was in Latin, or at least what

1530
02:03:58,520 --> 02:04:03,520
Cody thought Latin sounded like. Other parts were weird gibberish phrases,

1531
02:04:04,279 --> 02:04:09,119
things about opening doors and trading names. I mumbled along,

1532
02:04:09,399 --> 02:04:13,359
half hearted, crumbs falling into my lap, trying not to

1533
02:04:13,439 --> 02:04:16,279
crack up when Cody got super intense and threw his

1534
02:04:16,359 --> 02:04:20,560
whole chest into the weirder parts. Every now and then

1535
02:04:20,720 --> 02:04:23,880
he would stop and scurry around the circle, fixing a

1536
02:04:23,920 --> 02:04:26,800
candle that burned too low, or pushing the salt line

1537
02:04:26,840 --> 02:04:30,159
back into shape with the side of his shoe. His

1538
02:04:30,279 --> 02:04:33,479
forehead was shiny with sweat, and his face had that

1539
02:04:33,600 --> 02:04:37,000
scrunched up serious luck he got whenever he played board

1540
02:04:37,039 --> 02:04:42,840
games or made spaghetti by himself. I was halfway through

1541
02:04:42,840 --> 02:04:47,039
another handful of chips when it happened. The pentagram on

1542
02:04:47,079 --> 02:04:51,960
the floor pulsed. At first, I thought it was my

1543
02:04:52,039 --> 02:04:55,720
eyes playing tricks on me. Maybe the candles were flickering

1544
02:04:55,720 --> 02:05:00,159
weird because of the traft from the basement door. Then

1545
02:05:00,159 --> 02:05:04,239
I pulsed again. A faint red glow crawled along the

1546
02:05:04,279 --> 02:05:09,479
lines Cody had drawn. I blinked and leaned forward, wiping

1547
02:05:09,520 --> 02:05:12,520
my hands again, trying to make sure I was not

1548
02:05:12,640 --> 02:05:17,359
just seeing things. Cody sat back on his heels, mouth

1549
02:05:17,479 --> 02:05:24,119
hanging open, eyes huge. I told you, he whispered, bouncing

1550
02:05:24,159 --> 02:05:30,720
a little where he sat. I told you. The glow deepened,

1551
02:05:31,119 --> 02:05:37,880
steady and low, and the candles began to tilt, not flicker, tilt.

1552
02:05:39,640 --> 02:05:44,000
Every tiny flame bent inward toward the center of the pentagram,

1553
02:05:44,319 --> 02:05:49,359
like little soldiers getting pulled by invisible strings. The air

1554
02:05:49,399 --> 02:05:53,439
got thicker. It pressed against my skin, against my ears,

1555
02:05:53,880 --> 02:05:59,279
almost buzzing. I could smell something new, now sharp and metallic,

1556
02:05:59,439 --> 02:06:04,680
under the bar much smell. Cody clapped his hands once beaming.

1557
02:06:05,880 --> 02:06:10,640
It's happening. Finally, did you use glowing the dark chalk

1558
02:06:10,800 --> 02:06:15,920
or something? I quizzed. He jumped up, ignoring my question

1559
02:06:16,560 --> 02:06:20,840
and started pacing outside the circle, waving the crumpled notebook

1560
02:06:20,840 --> 02:06:26,920
paper around. Okay, okay, okay, So there's some rules, he said,

1561
02:06:27,279 --> 02:06:31,159
excitement pouring out of him. But trust me, it's worth it.

1562
02:06:31,600 --> 02:06:34,159
I mean, you have to follow the rules, duh. But

1563
02:06:34,199 --> 02:06:36,600
there's a reward at the end, and it's supposed to

1564
02:06:36,640 --> 02:06:41,840
be awesome, like life changing awesome. He darted back to

1565
02:06:41,880 --> 02:06:45,560
the edge of the circle, crouching low. His voice dropped

1566
02:06:45,560 --> 02:06:50,159
to a whisper. Even though we're alone and there's a

1567
02:06:50,239 --> 02:06:53,680
fail safe, I can end it whenever, so don't freak out,

1568
02:06:53,680 --> 02:06:56,039
all right, I'm not going to tell you what it

1569
02:06:56,119 --> 02:06:59,119
is yet, though I know you you're chicken out the

1570
02:06:59,159 --> 02:07:04,199
second you feel wreising your neck or something. I opened

1571
02:07:04,239 --> 02:07:09,399
my mouth to argue, but the words froze in my throat.

1572
02:07:11,159 --> 02:07:17,199
Something was moving behind Cody. I stared, heart hammering so

1573
02:07:17,439 --> 02:07:23,359
loud I could hear it in my ears. A shape black,

1574
02:07:23,920 --> 02:07:27,319
rising slow out of the glowing center of the pentagram,

1575
02:07:28,159 --> 02:07:33,560
arms unfurling like smoke, but heavier It towered over Cody

1576
02:07:33,680 --> 02:07:38,840
without making a sound, just this huge, awful silhouette, when

1577
02:07:38,920 --> 02:07:43,119
nothing had been a second ago. I tried to yell,

1578
02:07:43,600 --> 02:07:46,680
tried to say his name. My tongue fumbled around in

1579
02:07:46,680 --> 02:07:49,920
my mouth, pushing out broken pieces of words that did

1580
02:07:50,000 --> 02:07:56,039
not make sense. Cody frowned at me, confused, his eyebrows

1581
02:07:56,079 --> 02:08:02,760
scrunched together. Dude, what do you do? He never finished

1582
02:08:02,800 --> 02:08:08,119
the sentence. The thing behind him moved fast. There was

1583
02:08:08,159 --> 02:08:12,680
a sound, sharp and wet and cold. His head snapped

1584
02:08:12,720 --> 02:08:16,920
sideways and tumbled off his shoulders before his body even

1585
02:08:17,039 --> 02:08:22,039
knew what happened. His body wabbled for a second, knees

1586
02:08:22,119 --> 02:08:26,439
knocking together, and then it collapsed in a heap beside

1587
02:08:26,439 --> 02:08:32,560
the pentagram. Blood sprayed across the floor, across the chalk line,

1588
02:08:32,880 --> 02:08:38,079
across the toes of my shoes. I hit the basement

1589
02:08:38,159 --> 02:08:42,359
stairs so hard I barely touched the steps. My shoes

1590
02:08:42,399 --> 02:08:45,199
slipped against the wood, and I slammed my shoulder into

1591
02:08:45,199 --> 02:08:48,880
the wall. It scraped along the old, chipped paint, but

1592
02:08:48,960 --> 02:08:54,039
I barely noticed. I kept moving, grabbing for the hand

1593
02:08:54,159 --> 02:08:58,800
rail and yanking myself up faster. The second the basement

1594
02:08:58,840 --> 02:09:01,199
door came in to reach, I threw it opened so

1595
02:09:01,359 --> 02:09:04,920
hard it banged against the wall behind it. I tore

1596
02:09:05,000 --> 02:09:08,000
through Cody's living room, knocking over a lamp with a

1597
02:09:08,039 --> 02:09:13,520
crash that exploded behind me. My chest burned already, but

1598
02:09:13,600 --> 02:09:17,479
I could not stop. I skidded out the front door

1599
02:09:17,560 --> 02:09:21,119
and sprinted for my bike, yanking it upright so hard

1600
02:09:21,399 --> 02:09:25,520
the kickstand snapped off and skittered across the sidewalk. I

1601
02:09:25,640 --> 02:09:28,720
threw myself onto the seat, peddling before I had both

1602
02:09:28,720 --> 02:09:33,479
feet planted, knees wobbling, tires spitting gravel. As I took

1603
02:09:33,520 --> 02:09:37,560
off down the street, my lungs heaved against my ribs.

1604
02:09:37,880 --> 02:09:41,119
My legs screamed. My teeth were clenched so hard my

1605
02:09:41,239 --> 02:09:50,279
jaw ached. It's fake. It's fake. He's pranking me. The

1606
02:09:50,319 --> 02:09:53,479
words pounded against the inside of my skull with every

1607
02:09:53,520 --> 02:09:57,239
spin of the pedals. Cody had set it up. He

1608
02:09:57,319 --> 02:09:59,920
probably hired his older brother or some one from the

1609
02:10:00,079 --> 02:10:02,920
high school to wear a costume to pull some sick

1610
02:10:03,000 --> 02:10:06,159
horror movie trick on me. He'll be standing in his

1611
02:10:06,239 --> 02:10:09,680
driveway tomorrow morning with a video on his hand, laughing

1612
02:10:09,760 --> 02:10:13,199
so hard he could barely breathe. He would show everyone

1613
02:10:13,199 --> 02:10:19,840
at school The street lights buzzed overhead, casting puddles of

1614
02:10:19,920 --> 02:10:23,760
orange across the sidewalk. As I tore through them, I

1615
02:10:23,840 --> 02:10:27,279
blew past Missus Redfield's prize rose bush and clipped the

1616
02:10:27,319 --> 02:10:30,760
edge of mister Tanner's garbage cans, sending them rolling out

1617
02:10:30,800 --> 02:10:35,800
into the road behind me. I finally skidded into my driveway,

1618
02:10:36,319 --> 02:10:40,920
tires squealing against the crack cement. My legs gave out

1619
02:10:40,960 --> 02:10:44,079
halfway off the bike, and I stumbled to the front door,

1620
02:10:44,560 --> 02:10:47,600
fingers fumbling with the handle. Before I managed to shove

1621
02:10:47,640 --> 02:10:53,119
it open. The sound of my parents arguing hit me

1622
02:10:53,399 --> 02:10:57,640
before I even stepped inside. It was the same fight.

1623
02:10:57,720 --> 02:11:02,039
They always had money schedules who forgot to pay the

1624
02:11:02,079 --> 02:11:07,359
water bill? This time their voices tangled together into one long,

1625
02:11:07,520 --> 02:11:11,520
messy noise that filled the house and rattled the windows.

1626
02:11:12,359 --> 02:11:15,640
I bolted up the stairs two at a time. My

1627
02:11:15,680 --> 02:11:18,840
hands shook so bad I could barely grab the railing,

1628
02:11:20,520 --> 02:11:22,920
but I made it to my room and slammed the

1629
02:11:23,000 --> 02:11:28,359
door behind me. I crawled into bed, still wearing my shoes.

1630
02:11:29,279 --> 02:11:32,359
I yanked the blanket over my head and curled up

1631
02:11:32,439 --> 02:11:35,039
as small as I could get, pulling my knees to

1632
02:11:35,079 --> 02:11:38,479
my chest. The smell of sweat and dirt clung to

1633
02:11:38,520 --> 02:11:41,960
my clothes. My heart thudded against my ribs so hard

1634
02:11:42,000 --> 02:11:47,840
it hurt. He pranked me. That was all it was.

1635
02:11:48,920 --> 02:11:51,520
He scared me so bad. I thought it was real.

1636
02:11:52,439 --> 02:11:57,520
That stupid, stupid glowing the dark pentagram, that fake monster suit.

1637
02:11:58,199 --> 02:12:00,920
That blood was probably just catching up or something he

1638
02:12:01,000 --> 02:12:04,880
bored at the Halloween store. He was going to laugh

1639
02:12:04,920 --> 02:12:08,800
about this forever, he was going to tell everyone. I

1640
02:12:08,880 --> 02:12:11,039
was going to be the joke of the whole school.

1641
02:12:13,039 --> 02:12:16,359
I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to slow my breathing.

1642
02:12:17,800 --> 02:12:22,720
Tomorrow he would text me. Tomorrow, he would say gotcha

1643
02:12:23,279 --> 02:12:25,800
and send me the video, and I would hate him

1644
02:12:25,800 --> 02:12:28,359
for a week, and then we would be fine again.

1645
02:12:29,560 --> 02:12:40,039
Tomorrow this would all be over. My parents kept arguing

1646
02:12:40,079 --> 02:12:43,560
over groceries, just another part of the night I could

1647
02:12:43,560 --> 02:12:47,880
ignore if I squeeze my eyes shut hard enough. I

1648
02:12:47,960 --> 02:12:50,760
wanted to wait for them to quit arguing and then

1649
02:12:50,880 --> 02:12:54,920
ask about Cody. Maybe they go check just in case.

1650
02:12:56,960 --> 02:13:03,479
Then my dad's voice changed. It cracked, pitched higher, a

1651
02:13:03,680 --> 02:13:09,479
sound I'd never heard him make before. Something slammed downstairs hard.

1652
02:13:10,399 --> 02:13:14,880
Something else toppled over right after it. Glass shattered, thick

1653
02:13:14,920 --> 02:13:19,600
and ugly. My body went stiff under the blanket. I

1654
02:13:19,600 --> 02:13:25,039
gripped the fabric tight enough that my knuckles popped. Another slam, louder,

1655
02:13:25,079 --> 02:13:34,279
this time something heavy hitting the wall. Then nothing. Silence

1656
02:13:34,359 --> 02:13:37,600
pressed against my ears until I could hear my own breathing,

1657
02:13:38,359 --> 02:13:42,479
rough and shallow under the covers. I stayed frozen for

1658
02:13:42,560 --> 02:13:49,439
a bit. My parents never fought. I didn't really know

1659
02:13:49,560 --> 02:13:54,000
what to do, so I sat waiting for my mom's

1660
02:13:54,039 --> 02:13:57,319
voice to come cutting through the quiet, waiting for to

1661
02:13:57,399 --> 02:13:59,840
yell at my dad again, for the fight to pick

1662
02:14:00,159 --> 02:14:07,279
where it left off. Nothing came. I pulled the blanket

1663
02:14:07,319 --> 02:14:11,560
off my face, Moving slow, I slid off the bed,

1664
02:14:11,880 --> 02:14:15,640
feet hitting the floorboards so soft they barely made a sound.

1665
02:14:17,039 --> 02:14:19,920
I crept tow'ard the door and pressed my ear against it.

1666
02:14:21,680 --> 02:14:29,000
Still nothing. My fingers trembled against the doorknob. The hallway

1667
02:14:29,039 --> 02:14:32,920
outside stretched, shadows pooling at the edges, with the light

1668
02:14:32,960 --> 02:14:37,199
from my room did not reach. I took one step out,

1669
02:14:38,000 --> 02:14:43,479
then another. I leaned over the banister and looked down

1670
02:14:43,640 --> 02:14:49,359
into the living room. For a second, my brain could

1671
02:14:49,399 --> 02:14:52,960
not make sense of what I saw. The couch was

1672
02:14:53,039 --> 02:14:59,399
overturned cushions split open, stuffing spilling across the floor. The

1673
02:14:59,399 --> 02:15:03,680
coffee tape had been smashed into splinters, pieces of wood

1674
02:15:03,760 --> 02:15:08,520
sticking up in every direction. Blood soaked into the carpet,

1675
02:15:09,279 --> 02:15:12,359
a deep, dark stain that spread all the way to

1676
02:15:12,439 --> 02:15:16,399
the walls. My parents were in the middle of it,

1677
02:15:17,119 --> 02:15:20,960
twisted and broken, their faces stared up at the ceiling

1678
02:15:21,000 --> 02:15:25,359
with wide, glassy eyes, mouths frozen open like they had

1679
02:15:25,399 --> 02:15:30,560
been mid scream. Blood pulled under their bodies, seeping into

1680
02:15:30,600 --> 02:15:36,720
their clothes, their skin already pale. I stumbled back a step,

1681
02:15:37,319 --> 02:15:40,520
my hand clamping over my mouth before a scream could

1682
02:15:40,600 --> 02:15:46,239
tear loose. In the far corner of the room, crouched

1683
02:15:46,279 --> 02:15:52,520
low near the fireplace, something moved. It was hunched over,

1684
02:15:53,119 --> 02:15:56,680
folded in on itself, head cocked at an angle that

1685
02:15:56,760 --> 02:16:02,239
made my stomach turn. Its skin was stretched, almost black

1686
02:16:02,279 --> 02:16:08,319
against the shadows. Then it lifted its head, its eyes

1687
02:16:08,399 --> 02:16:14,039
locked onto mine. I knew without a doubt it was

1688
02:16:14,079 --> 02:16:17,520
the same thing from the basement, the thing that had

1689
02:16:17,560 --> 02:16:20,720
taken Cody's head clean off his shoulders without a sound.

1690
02:16:22,239 --> 02:16:26,520
It had followed me home. Cody had promised he could

1691
02:16:26,640 --> 02:16:29,720
end it whenever he wanted. He had said there was

1692
02:16:29,760 --> 02:16:34,280
a fail safe, a way to stop it. But Cody

1693
02:16:34,399 --> 02:16:38,399
was dead and I had no idea how to end it.

1694
02:16:40,440 --> 02:16:44,639
I turned started running again, slipping once on the wood

1695
02:16:44,840 --> 02:16:48,600
and smashing my shins so hard I almost fell. I

1696
02:16:48,680 --> 02:16:52,239
caught myself on the railing and stumbled forward, crashing through

1697
02:16:52,280 --> 02:16:56,360
the hallway, barreling down the stairs so fast my shoulders

1698
02:16:56,440 --> 02:17:00,879
slammed against the wall at the bottom. The creature had moved.

1699
02:17:01,760 --> 02:17:05,280
I could hear it behind me now, something scraping across

1700
02:17:05,319 --> 02:17:09,600
the broken floor. I hit the front door full speed,

1701
02:17:09,920 --> 02:17:13,600
shoulder first. Then it popped open so hard it bounced

1702
02:17:13,600 --> 02:17:18,239
off the outside wall. Cold air slapped against my face.

1703
02:17:19,360 --> 02:17:22,920
Pain shot up through my legs, but I kept going.

1704
02:17:24,399 --> 02:17:27,719
Tears blurred against my vision until the trees at the

1705
02:17:27,840 --> 02:17:30,799
edge of her backyard became one big smear of black.

1706
02:17:32,520 --> 02:17:36,600
I headed straight for them, gasping so hard my chest

1707
02:17:36,639 --> 02:17:40,920
felt like it would tear open. The old shack sat

1708
02:17:40,959 --> 02:17:44,159
half hidden in the woods. It had been there since

1709
02:17:44,159 --> 02:17:47,479
before I was born, left over from whoever owned the

1710
02:17:47,559 --> 02:17:51,440
land before our house was built. It smelled like wet

1711
02:17:51,440 --> 02:17:55,559
wood and mold and raccoons. Cody and I used to

1712
02:17:55,559 --> 02:17:58,280
play there when we were younger, before we got too

1713
02:17:58,319 --> 02:18:03,520
old for secret forts. I dove inside, tripping over the

1714
02:18:03,559 --> 02:18:08,120
broken threshold, landing hard on my hands and knees. I

1715
02:18:08,159 --> 02:18:11,840
scrambled o'er the darkest corner, curling up behind a pile

1716
02:18:11,920 --> 02:18:16,680
of rotten beams and torn up insulation. The air in

1717
02:18:16,719 --> 02:18:20,360
the shack was colder than outside. It scratched at my

1718
02:18:20,440 --> 02:18:24,079
throat with every breath, dust stuck to the sweat of

1719
02:18:24,159 --> 02:18:28,600
my face. I pressed my forehead against my knees, trying

1720
02:18:28,639 --> 02:18:32,360
to fold myself into a ball so small nothing could

1721
02:18:32,399 --> 02:18:36,719
find me. My heart beat against my ribs so hard

1722
02:18:37,120 --> 02:18:41,920
it made me feel sick, every thump louder than the last,

1723
02:18:42,639 --> 02:18:46,440
until it filled my ears and drowned out everything else.

1724
02:18:48,479 --> 02:18:51,600
I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to breathe without

1725
02:18:51,639 --> 02:18:57,000
making a sound. I don't know what it is. I

1726
02:18:57,040 --> 02:19:02,680
don't know what it wants. I don't even know how

1727
02:19:02,719 --> 02:19:16,120
to stop it. I graduated college three months ago, and

1728
02:19:16,200 --> 02:19:20,319
it already felt like a lifetime. The ceremony had been

1729
02:19:20,319 --> 02:19:25,159
small and awkward. My parents hadn't flown in. I stood

1730
02:19:25,239 --> 02:19:28,120
there alone, clutching a piece of paper that had cost

1731
02:19:28,159 --> 02:19:32,319
me nearly seventy thousand dollars, wondering how it was supposed

1732
02:19:32,319 --> 02:19:39,079
to fix anything. The degree was useless communications, some vague,

1733
02:19:39,120 --> 02:19:42,280
frilly word that had sounded smart when I was nineteen

1734
02:19:42,879 --> 02:19:48,840
and sounded absolutely idiotic now. Every interview ended with a

1735
02:19:48,879 --> 02:19:54,399
half apology about experience requirements or budget freezes. I finally

1736
02:19:54,479 --> 02:19:57,840
landed something entry level in the city, but the pay

1737
02:19:57,920 --> 02:20:01,840
barely scratched the minimum wage. I had enough in my

1738
02:20:01,920 --> 02:20:05,000
checking account for a single tank of gas and maybe

1739
02:20:05,040 --> 02:20:09,680
two decent meals. My savings, what little I had hoarded

1740
02:20:09,719 --> 02:20:13,600
through part time jobs during college, disappeared faster than I

1741
02:20:13,600 --> 02:20:18,159
could even feel it. Leaving the car became my home.

1742
02:20:19,040 --> 02:20:21,559
I'd been sleeping in the back seat for the past week,

1743
02:20:22,079 --> 02:20:25,840
folded up awkwardly across cracked faux leather that stuck to

1744
02:20:25,879 --> 02:20:30,159
my skin. Every morning I showered at the gym, I

1745
02:20:30,280 --> 02:20:33,520
kept my interview clothes folded on the passenger seat to

1746
02:20:33,600 --> 02:20:38,120
keep them from wrinkling too badly. I told myself it

1747
02:20:38,200 --> 02:20:42,280
was temporary, but every night, staring up through the cracked

1748
02:20:42,280 --> 02:20:49,040
windshield made it harder to believe. The affordable apartments I

1749
02:20:49,040 --> 02:20:51,959
could reach were two hours away by bus from my job.

1750
02:20:52,680 --> 02:20:57,159
If the bus even arrived on time two hours each way,

1751
02:20:58,079 --> 02:21:01,959
four hours of my life every single day, wasted before

1752
02:21:02,000 --> 02:21:06,120
I even clocked in. My body already ached by the

1753
02:21:06,159 --> 02:21:09,200
time I finished my shifts, and the thought of sitting

1754
02:21:09,280 --> 02:21:12,680
stiff and sweaty in a plastic seat while the city

1755
02:21:12,799 --> 02:21:16,559
crawled past the windows crossed whatever energy I had left.

1756
02:21:19,000 --> 02:21:23,719
There was another option, a building ten minutes from work,

1757
02:21:24,280 --> 02:21:27,920
tucked between a broken laundromat and an abandoned Peter shop,

1758
02:21:28,959 --> 02:21:32,159
dirt cheap, less than half the rent of the units

1759
02:21:32,159 --> 02:21:36,559
across the river. The photos online made the place look rough,

1760
02:21:37,479 --> 02:21:39,879
but at that point I would have slept in a

1761
02:21:39,920 --> 02:21:42,639
closet if it meant a roof and a locked door.

1762
02:21:44,200 --> 02:21:48,600
I barely hesitated. Pride was for people who had choices.

1763
02:21:49,760 --> 02:21:54,719
I signed up for reviewing. The next morning. The landlord

1764
02:21:54,799 --> 02:21:58,399
met me out front, a thin man with nervous hands

1765
02:21:58,600 --> 02:22:01,719
and a sweat damp collar. He looked at me the

1766
02:22:01,760 --> 02:22:04,479
same way somebody might look at a problem they could

1767
02:22:04,520 --> 02:22:10,559
not avoid. His greeting was short, almost mumbled. I followed

1768
02:22:10,600 --> 02:22:13,879
him up the cracked front steps and through the main hallway,

1769
02:22:14,440 --> 02:22:17,319
which smelt sharply of bleach that had failed to mask

1770
02:22:17,399 --> 02:22:23,120
a deeper, more sour odor. Every doorway passed seemed slightly

1771
02:22:23,159 --> 02:22:26,040
off its hinges, and there were dark patches and the

1772
02:22:26,120 --> 02:22:31,360
ceiling that looked suspiciously fresh. The unit he showed me

1773
02:22:31,520 --> 02:22:34,920
was on the third floor. He fumbled with the keys

1774
02:22:35,000 --> 02:22:39,200
before getting the door open. The walls had been painted once,

1775
02:22:39,879 --> 02:22:43,760
maybe a decade ago, but the color had faded into

1776
02:22:43,760 --> 02:22:48,000
a sickly yellow green. Chunks of paint curled up near

1777
02:22:48,040 --> 02:22:52,319
the corners of the rooms. The floors were stained soft

1778
02:22:52,360 --> 02:22:57,120
in places where water must have gotten underneath. The living

1779
02:22:57,200 --> 02:23:00,360
room held a single ceiling van that sagged down onward,

1780
02:23:00,879 --> 02:23:05,920
spinning slowly and unevenly. The windows were cracked at the corners,

1781
02:23:06,319 --> 02:23:10,600
patched up poorly with clear tape. There was no furniture,

1782
02:23:11,000 --> 02:23:14,760
no appliances, beside a dented mini fridge shoved against the

1783
02:23:14,799 --> 02:23:19,840
far wall of the kitchen. I wanted to turn around

1784
02:23:19,840 --> 02:23:25,319
and leave, but there was nowhere else to go. Sleeping

1785
02:23:25,360 --> 02:23:28,719
in the car for another week meant risking parking tickets

1786
02:23:28,719 --> 02:23:33,360
I could not afford, or worse, I kept my mouth

1787
02:23:33,399 --> 02:23:36,840
shut as we tore the bedroom, which was just large

1788
02:23:36,920 --> 02:23:41,280
enough for a mattress and a pile of regrets. When

1789
02:23:41,319 --> 02:23:46,040
we reached the bathroom, the landlord hesitated. He touched the

1790
02:23:46,079 --> 02:23:49,040
door frame with his finger tips, then gave me a

1791
02:23:49,079 --> 02:23:56,280
stiff smile. You should take a look at this, he said.

1792
02:23:57,000 --> 02:24:02,479
I stepped past him and peered inside. The bathroom was small,

1793
02:24:03,239 --> 02:24:07,040
narrow enough that stretching both arms would have hit either wall.

1794
02:24:08,040 --> 02:24:12,040
The floor was lined with cheap linonium tiles and cracked

1795
02:24:12,079 --> 02:24:16,399
mirror hung over a rustained sink. The toilet looked usable,

1796
02:24:16,840 --> 02:24:20,200
but sat slightly uneven, as though the floor beneath it

1797
02:24:20,239 --> 02:24:25,559
had sunk inward. My eyes finely landed on the shower,

1798
02:24:27,000 --> 02:24:30,840
a small box in cabin with frosted tempered glass walls

1799
02:24:31,000 --> 02:24:34,959
that had gone cloudy with age at the bottom near

1800
02:24:35,000 --> 02:24:38,520
the drain. Near the drain, there was a jagged crack

1801
02:24:38,719 --> 02:24:43,319
stretching across one panel, sealed over sloppily with silicone colk.

1802
02:24:44,559 --> 02:24:47,680
The patch job was so obvious it almost drew the

1803
02:24:47,760 --> 02:24:52,440
eye before anything else. The landlord cleared his throat softly

1804
02:24:52,520 --> 02:24:59,959
behind me, but said nothing. I nodded stiffly, pretending to exact.

1805
02:25:00,000 --> 02:25:03,280
I meant the rest of the room, but I had

1806
02:25:03,319 --> 02:25:08,079
already made my mind up. It did not matter. I

1807
02:25:08,120 --> 02:25:13,600
had no other options. I signed the lease that afternoon.

1808
02:25:17,559 --> 02:25:21,000
The building was already humming with muffled voices and the

1809
02:25:21,040 --> 02:25:24,479
occasional slam of a distant door. When I unlocked the apartment,

1810
02:25:25,399 --> 02:25:29,280
the door scraped against the floor as I pushed it open.

1811
02:25:29,440 --> 02:25:32,200
I stepped inside and dropped my duffel bag onto the

1812
02:25:32,239 --> 02:25:33,280
cracked floorboards.

1813
02:25:34,200 --> 02:25:35,280
Speaker 2: Dust puffed up in.

1814
02:25:35,319 --> 02:25:41,360
Speaker 1: Little clouds where it hit. I did not even bother unpacking.

1815
02:25:42,319 --> 02:25:44,920
I kicked the door shut behind me and went straight

1816
02:25:44,959 --> 02:25:48,079
for the bathroom, tugging my shirt over my head as

1817
02:25:48,120 --> 02:25:51,879
I went. The floor of the bathroom was called against

1818
02:25:51,920 --> 02:25:55,840
my bare feet. I twisted the shower knob and waited,

1819
02:25:56,520 --> 02:25:59,239
half expecting the water to come out brown or not

1820
02:25:59,399 --> 02:26:04,840
at all. Instead, a weak but steady stream poured from

1821
02:26:04,879 --> 02:26:09,600
the shower head. It was lukewarm at best, but after

1822
02:26:09,719 --> 02:26:13,799
days of jim showers and cold gas station sinks, it

1823
02:26:13,879 --> 02:26:18,920
felt almost luxurious. The cracked patch near the drain caught

1824
02:26:18,920 --> 02:26:22,079
my eye again, but I forced myself to ignore it.

1825
02:26:23,399 --> 02:26:27,120
The water patted against my skin, washing away three days

1826
02:26:27,159 --> 02:26:31,159
worth of grime. In exhaustion, I leaned against the wall

1827
02:26:31,360 --> 02:26:34,280
and closed my eyes, letting the sound of the water

1828
02:26:34,520 --> 02:26:40,159
drown out everything else for the first time in days

1829
02:26:40,719 --> 02:26:46,000
may be longer. My muscles loosened. The worry, the fear,

1830
02:26:46,600 --> 02:26:50,159
the constant hum of hunger and anxiety that lived behind

1831
02:26:50,200 --> 02:26:55,719
my ribs eased just a little. I do not know

1832
02:26:55,799 --> 02:27:02,440
how long I stood there before it happened. At first

1833
02:27:02,639 --> 02:27:06,280
I thought it was the pipes, a faint noise buried

1834
02:27:06,319 --> 02:27:11,399
under the rush of the water. Then it sharpened, heavy

1835
02:27:11,879 --> 02:27:16,159
frantic shuffling sounds, as if someone were dragging themselves back

1836
02:27:16,200 --> 02:27:21,159
and forth across the bathroom floor. Behind that, rising up

1837
02:27:21,200 --> 02:27:27,040
in broken waves, came the unmistakable sound of screaming. Faint

1838
02:27:27,360 --> 02:27:33,079
were filled with a raw, ragged panic. My eyes snapped open.

1839
02:27:33,879 --> 02:27:36,959
I stumbled backward, slamming my shoulder into the wall of

1840
02:27:37,000 --> 02:27:42,399
the shower cabin. The sound stopped instantly, cut off mid scream.

1841
02:27:44,239 --> 02:27:47,319
All I could hear was the water splashing against the

1842
02:27:47,360 --> 02:27:52,920
plastic floor and the frantic pounding of my own heart.

1843
02:27:53,479 --> 02:27:57,200
There was nothing now, no shadow moving under the crack

1844
02:27:57,239 --> 02:28:01,200
of the door, no handle rattling, no shape looming in

1845
02:28:01,239 --> 02:28:04,040
the steamed up mirror across the room, as I'd feared.

1846
02:28:05,559 --> 02:28:07,959
It took a full minute before I managed to breathe

1847
02:28:08,000 --> 02:28:11,639
properly again. I wiped the water from my face and

1848
02:28:11,760 --> 02:28:16,280
gave a short, humorless laugh. It had to be stress,

1849
02:28:16,760 --> 02:28:20,520
sleep deprivation. Maybe something I had read online was playing

1850
02:28:20,559 --> 02:28:23,920
tricks on my brain. I remembered to read it thread

1851
02:28:24,360 --> 02:28:27,040
buried deep in a horror of bread it where people

1852
02:28:27,200 --> 02:28:30,520
talked about hearing strange noises if they closed their eyes

1853
02:28:30,600 --> 02:28:35,799
too long in the shower. Still, it made more sense

1854
02:28:35,840 --> 02:28:39,959
than anything else. I finished rinsing off as quickly as

1855
02:28:40,000 --> 02:28:44,280
I could. I dressed and crawled onto the bare mattress

1856
02:28:44,360 --> 02:28:47,840
I had dragged into the bedroom. The ceiling van creaked

1857
02:28:47,840 --> 02:28:53,600
and shuddered with every rotation. Sleep came slowly, weighed down

1858
02:28:53,680 --> 02:28:56,440
by a knot of her knees, and I could not

1859
02:28:56,639 --> 02:29:01,719
shake loose the next time. Day at work was worse

1860
02:29:01,760 --> 02:29:06,239
than anything that had come before. My boss, a red

1861
02:29:06,280 --> 02:29:09,719
faced man with a voice like a broken radio, found

1862
02:29:09,719 --> 02:29:15,000
new ways to humiliate me. Every mistake, every misst memo,

1863
02:29:15,559 --> 02:29:18,559
every delayed email was met with a fresh round of

1864
02:29:18,600 --> 02:29:23,040
public berating. I spent the whole day swallowing my words

1865
02:29:23,360 --> 02:29:28,559
and smiling through clenched teeth. By the time my shift ended,

1866
02:29:29,280 --> 02:29:33,799
I was barely upright, my feet ached, my spine felt

1867
02:29:34,040 --> 02:29:37,159
as if it had been compressed into half its size.

1868
02:29:37,520 --> 02:29:40,200
My head pounded with the dull pressure of a migraine

1869
02:29:40,239 --> 02:29:45,200
creeping in. I needed a shower. I needed to scrub

1870
02:29:45,200 --> 02:29:47,840
away the stink of the day before it soaked into

1871
02:29:47,840 --> 02:29:53,280
my skin. My body moved on autopilot. I peeled off

1872
02:29:53,319 --> 02:29:56,000
my work clothes, tossed them into a sad heap in

1873
02:29:56,040 --> 02:30:00,879
the corner, and stepped into the bathroom. The sh groaned

1874
02:30:00,920 --> 02:30:04,559
when I turned the knob, the lukewarm water drizzled out,

1875
02:30:05,040 --> 02:30:08,040
and I stepped in, letting the spray hit my face

1876
02:30:08,079 --> 02:30:15,120
and chest. I closed my eyes. The screaming hit almost immediately.

1877
02:30:16,200 --> 02:30:21,879
It clawed at my ears, shuffling heavy, dragging footsteps just

1878
02:30:21,959 --> 02:30:26,399
beyond the shower door. Before I could even react, a

1879
02:30:26,440 --> 02:30:30,319
loud thud echoed through the tiny bathroom. It was as

1880
02:30:30,360 --> 02:30:33,000
loud as what I'd imagine a grenade going off is like.

1881
02:30:34,319 --> 02:30:37,399
I jerked my head up, so burning into my eyes,

1882
02:30:38,479 --> 02:30:42,920
blinking against the sting, I saw my shampoo bottle lying

1883
02:30:42,959 --> 02:30:46,239
on the floor of the cabin, spinning slightly as it

1884
02:30:46,319 --> 02:30:51,719
leapt bright blue. My heart pounded. I wrenched the door

1885
02:30:51,760 --> 02:30:55,760
open and stepped out into the bathroom, dripping water everywhere,

1886
02:30:56,360 --> 02:31:02,040
Searching for something, anything. I stood there for a long moment,

1887
02:31:02,600 --> 02:31:07,639
breathing so hard my vision blurred around the edges. There

1888
02:31:07,680 --> 02:31:13,200
had to be an explanation, so I decided to check.

1889
02:31:15,520 --> 02:31:19,680
I started with the apartment upstairs. If someone was messing

1890
02:31:19,719 --> 02:31:24,799
around up there, making noise, it would explain everything. I

1891
02:31:24,879 --> 02:31:31,360
trudged up the narrow staircase, the carpet crunching. I knocked, waited,

1892
02:31:32,040 --> 02:31:39,040
knocked again. The hallway lights flickered weakly overhead. No answer.

1893
02:31:40,760 --> 02:31:46,319
I knocked louder, my hands stung with the effort. Still nothing.

1894
02:31:48,280 --> 02:31:53,079
A door downstairs creaked open. I headed back downstairs and

1895
02:31:53,159 --> 02:31:57,239
saw a woman poking her head out, white hair pulled

1896
02:31:57,280 --> 02:32:02,280
into a messy bun, glasses perched on her nose. She

1897
02:32:02,319 --> 02:32:05,239
looked at me with a curious tilt of her head.

1898
02:32:06,760 --> 02:32:12,399
You looking for someone, dear, she asked. I cleared my throat,

1899
02:32:12,719 --> 02:32:18,079
suddenly feeling foolish. Yeah, sorry to bother you. Just trying

1900
02:32:18,120 --> 02:32:21,040
to figure out if anyone lives right above me. I

1901
02:32:21,079 --> 02:32:23,319
thought maybe there was some noise coming from that unit.

1902
02:32:25,479 --> 02:32:29,479
She smiled, a soft, patient smile and made her look

1903
02:32:29,559 --> 02:32:35,879
even older. Nobody's been up there in months, empty. You

1904
02:32:35,959 --> 02:32:41,799
must have heard something else, I nodded, feeling heat rise

1905
02:32:41,879 --> 02:32:46,479
into my face. She introduced herself, said her name was

1906
02:32:46,520 --> 02:32:50,959
Missus Cartwright. She lived across the hall from me. She

1907
02:32:51,079 --> 02:32:54,000
mentioned her grandkids used to visit, but they had moved

1908
02:32:54,000 --> 02:32:59,719
away recently, and now it was just her. I think

1909
02:32:59,799 --> 02:33:02,920
to quickly said something about needing to get to work,

1910
02:33:03,399 --> 02:33:06,479
and retreated down the hall before the embarrassment could root

1911
02:33:06,559 --> 02:33:12,239
itself any deeper. Back inside my apartment, I locked the

1912
02:33:12,280 --> 02:33:17,280
door and leaned against it, breathing out slow. If the

1913
02:33:17,319 --> 02:33:20,120
place upstairs was empty, and if the place next to

1914
02:33:20,200 --> 02:33:24,040
mine housed an elderly woman who needed help caring her groceries,

1915
02:33:25,040 --> 02:33:29,559
then who had been making those noises? I chewed on

1916
02:33:29,639 --> 02:33:32,639
it for the rest of the day, even at work

1917
02:33:32,680 --> 02:33:36,120
the next day, while my boss barked orders and slammed drawers.

1918
02:33:36,799 --> 02:33:41,040
The thought gnawed at me from underneath. By the time

1919
02:33:41,079 --> 02:33:47,799
I got home, I decided to test it. It felt stupid, superstitious,

1920
02:33:48,719 --> 02:33:51,959
but there had been a pattern, and I had ignored it.

1921
02:33:53,680 --> 02:33:57,879
The noises only ever came when I closed my eyes.

1922
02:33:59,120 --> 02:34:04,000
Every single time it started. The moment my vision went dark,

1923
02:34:04,920 --> 02:34:09,479
that had to mean something. I stripped down, stepped into

1924
02:34:09,520 --> 02:34:14,479
the shower and twisted the knob. The water sputtered and

1925
02:34:14,559 --> 02:34:18,799
spat before settling into a weak stream. I let it

1926
02:34:18,879 --> 02:34:23,120
run over me and kept my eyes wide open, staring

1927
02:34:23,159 --> 02:34:30,000
straight ahead at the fogging walls. Nothing happened. The minutes

1928
02:34:30,079 --> 02:34:34,280
dragged on, the air grew heavy with steam. My arms

1929
02:34:34,280 --> 02:34:38,120
prickled from the temperature drop every time. The water pressure stuttered,

1930
02:34:39,879 --> 02:34:45,040
but the bathroom stayed silent. I let out a slow

1931
02:34:45,120 --> 02:34:53,799
breath and decided to push it. I closed my eyes instantly,

1932
02:34:54,440 --> 02:35:01,959
the bathroom exploded into chaos. Screaming, furious, desperate rattled the walls.

1933
02:35:02,879 --> 02:35:06,399
Heavy dragging footsteps stumped around the outside of the shower.

1934
02:35:07,239 --> 02:35:10,200
The shampoo bottle bounced off the floor with a sharp crack.

1935
02:35:10,239 --> 02:35:15,600
Once again, I yanked my eyes open. The sound vanished

1936
02:35:15,639 --> 02:35:18,840
so fast and left a hollow ringing in my ears.

1937
02:35:21,000 --> 02:35:24,239
I had proven something to myself, but it did not

1938
02:35:24,399 --> 02:35:29,200
feel like a victory. It felt worse, if I'm being honest.

1939
02:35:30,600 --> 02:35:37,799
But I was stubborn, and admittedly I was curious. I

1940
02:35:37,920 --> 02:35:41,680
decided to try again. This time, I would keep my

1941
02:35:41,719 --> 02:35:46,120
eyes closed longer. Maybe it would stop, maybe it would

1942
02:35:46,159 --> 02:35:51,040
burn itself out. I shut my eyes, squeezing them tighter

1943
02:35:51,159 --> 02:35:56,319
to brace against the expected noise. The screaming came fast,

1944
02:35:56,920 --> 02:36:00,159
roarer than before, as if whatever it belonged to who

1945
02:36:00,200 --> 02:36:03,680
had been waiting for me to test it. It built

1946
02:36:03,680 --> 02:36:07,959
into a frenzy. The temperature around me dropped sharply, cutting

1947
02:36:07,959 --> 02:36:12,200
through the steam with a damp, icy edge. I felt

1948
02:36:12,200 --> 02:36:16,120
something brush against my back, a cold, wet hand that

1949
02:36:16,239 --> 02:36:21,079
smeared water across my skin. I flinched, but kept my

1950
02:36:21,120 --> 02:36:30,079
eyes shut, muscles locked. Then came the pain, A sharp,

1951
02:36:30,399 --> 02:36:35,040
raking sensation tore across my upper back. It was deep

1952
02:36:35,079 --> 02:36:39,239
and hot, blooming into immediate agony that stole the breath

1953
02:36:39,239 --> 02:36:44,239
from my chest. I screamed and staggered forward, slamming into

1954
02:36:44,280 --> 02:36:48,600
the shower wall. My hand scrambled for the door handle.

1955
02:36:49,360 --> 02:36:52,680
I shoved it open and tumbled out, falling onto the

1956
02:36:52,719 --> 02:36:57,280
cold linonium of the bathroom floor. I gasped for air

1957
02:36:57,920 --> 02:37:02,200
every inch of my back, screaming at me. Water splattered

1958
02:37:02,200 --> 02:37:05,719
onto the floor beside me. My hands shook as I

1959
02:37:05,799 --> 02:37:09,920
pushed myself upright, moving straight for the mirror above the sink,

1960
02:37:11,719 --> 02:37:18,920
I turned, craning my neck. Three long scratches ran diagonally

1961
02:37:19,079 --> 02:37:23,280
across my back. The skin was torn in uneven lines,

1962
02:37:23,719 --> 02:37:27,079
angry and red, already starting to bead with a thin

1963
02:37:27,200 --> 02:37:31,600
trail of blood. I pressed the towel against the wound,

1964
02:37:32,120 --> 02:37:36,719
wincing as the fabric stuck to the blood. My mind

1965
02:37:36,760 --> 02:37:43,079
spun with explanations, each one weaker than the last. There

1966
02:37:43,120 --> 02:37:45,479
had to be a reason, There had to be a

1967
02:37:45,520 --> 02:37:52,159
way to understand. It was the shower haunted. I hated

1968
02:37:52,280 --> 02:37:55,520
using that word. I had already started feeling like a

1969
02:37:55,559 --> 02:38:00,280
lonesome reditor, screaming into a dead subbredded about ghosts. Yet

1970
02:38:00,280 --> 02:38:03,680
I couldn't deny what was going on, not when I'd

1971
02:38:03,799 --> 02:38:09,200
just been attacked physically. I did not sleep that night.

1972
02:38:10,520 --> 02:38:13,600
Every time I closed my eyes, even for a second,

1973
02:38:14,319 --> 02:38:17,440
I felt the memory of the scratches burn across my skin.

1974
02:38:19,040 --> 02:38:23,360
Morning came slowly bleeding through the cracked blinds in sickly

1975
02:38:23,520 --> 02:38:29,079
strips of light. I got up, already dreading the day.

1976
02:38:31,159 --> 02:38:34,639
I sat at the kitchen counter. If the battered slab

1977
02:38:34,639 --> 02:38:38,079
of plywood could even be called that, and opened my

1978
02:38:38,159 --> 02:38:42,399
banking app, I knew it would be bad. I had

1979
02:38:42,440 --> 02:38:46,319
been ignoring the low balanced alerts for days, pretending that

1980
02:38:46,399 --> 02:38:49,040
if I did not see the number, it would not

1981
02:38:49,159 --> 02:38:56,200
be real. Thirteen dollars and seventy three cents. I stared

1982
02:38:56,200 --> 02:39:00,440
at the screen until the numbers blurred. Reent was come up.

1983
02:39:00,920 --> 02:39:04,319
Food was becoming a luxury. Gas for the car was

1984
02:39:04,399 --> 02:39:08,040
hanging on by a thread. There was no money for

1985
02:39:08,120 --> 02:39:14,559
anything else, not even small indulgences. Forget moving out. I

1986
02:39:14,680 --> 02:39:19,319
was trapped in a place that was clearly haunted. I

1987
02:39:19,399 --> 02:39:23,959
pulled up a search bar and typed in cost of exorcism.

1988
02:39:24,680 --> 02:39:29,760
The results made me laugh, short, brittle laughter that cracked

1989
02:39:29,760 --> 02:39:34,799
and died in my throat. Hundreds of dollars for consultations alone,

1990
02:39:35,479 --> 02:39:40,799
thousands for anything serious. Half the websites looked scammy. The

1991
02:39:40,840 --> 02:39:45,360
other half looked worse. I slammed the laptop, shot and

1992
02:39:45,479 --> 02:39:49,840
rested my forehead against the counter. I could not leave,

1993
02:39:50,280 --> 02:39:53,319
I could not fix this. I could barely afford to

1994
02:39:53,360 --> 02:39:58,000
stay alive. The next few days blurred into something heavier

1995
02:39:58,040 --> 02:40:02,719
than exhaustion. I went to work, I came home. I slept.

1996
02:40:03,639 --> 02:40:08,639
I avoided the bathroom unless it was absolutely necessary. I

1997
02:40:08,719 --> 02:40:14,600
stopped showering. At first, it was manageable, deodoran, wet wipes,

1998
02:40:15,159 --> 02:40:17,760
anything I could find to scrub away the worst of it.

1999
02:40:19,120 --> 02:40:22,680
But as the days stretched on, the smell clung to me.

2000
02:40:23,719 --> 02:40:27,719
It wrapped around my clothes, settled into my skin, buried

2001
02:40:27,760 --> 02:40:32,000
itself into every inch of fabric and hair. I caught

2002
02:40:32,040 --> 02:40:35,479
people at work wrinkling their noses when I passed. My

2003
02:40:35,559 --> 02:40:40,639
boss started mentioning personal hygiene standards during meetings, staring pointedly

2004
02:40:40,680 --> 02:40:44,000
at me when he spoke I no longer had a

2005
02:40:44,040 --> 02:40:47,319
gym membership. I thought I was going to be fine

2006
02:40:47,360 --> 02:40:50,799
now that I had a place, but clearly I was wrong,

2007
02:40:51,920 --> 02:40:56,680
and now with rent, I could no longer have forward one.

2008
02:40:57,399 --> 02:41:01,600
I felt it. I felt every minute. It a sickly,

2009
02:41:01,840 --> 02:41:05,200
oily grime that no amount of wiping could scrub away.

2010
02:41:06,559 --> 02:41:11,719
It made my skin crawl. Still, the thoughts of stepping

2011
02:41:11,760 --> 02:41:15,079
back into that shower have closed my eyes, even for

2012
02:41:15,159 --> 02:41:18,600
a second. While trapped in that narrow coffin rooted me

2013
02:41:18,639 --> 02:41:23,000
in place. I told myself I would figure something out.

2014
02:41:23,559 --> 02:41:26,399
Maybe find a cheap motel for a night, Maybe find

2015
02:41:26,399 --> 02:41:31,040
a public pool where I could sneak a rinse. One night,

2016
02:41:31,440 --> 02:41:36,159
after another shift, spent awake and fully miserable, I collapsed

2017
02:41:36,159 --> 02:41:40,799
onto my mattress and opened my phone without thinking. A

2018
02:41:40,879 --> 02:41:45,079
notification blinked at the top of the screen. Her friend

2019
02:41:45,159 --> 02:41:52,639
request her name, jolted something in my chest. Allison. We

2020
02:41:52,680 --> 02:41:55,639
had shared two classes during my second year of college.

2021
02:41:56,239 --> 02:41:59,159
We had laughed over terrible group projects and late night

2022
02:41:59,200 --> 02:42:02,520
coffee runs. We had made promises to keep in touch

2023
02:42:02,559 --> 02:42:09,760
after graduation. I hesitated, thumb hovering over the screen. Then

2024
02:42:10,360 --> 02:42:17,040
I accepted. The messages came fast, Hey, long time, no see.

2025
02:42:17,639 --> 02:42:20,159
How have you been? What are you up to these days?

2026
02:42:22,239 --> 02:42:25,840
I lied, said work was keeping me busy. I said

2027
02:42:25,840 --> 02:42:30,040
the city was treating me well. Before I could second

2028
02:42:30,040 --> 02:42:32,760
guess it, she asked if I wanted to grab a

2029
02:42:32,840 --> 02:42:37,000
drink sometime, catch up properly. She would be my part

2030
02:42:37,040 --> 02:42:41,440
of town over the weekend. I stared at the message,

2031
02:42:41,760 --> 02:42:45,319
heart hammering. I thought about the shirt tucked in the

2032
02:42:45,319 --> 02:42:48,399
back of my chair with dried sweat. I thought about

2033
02:42:48,399 --> 02:42:52,159
the sour, greasy smell that clung to me so stubbornly

2034
02:42:52,520 --> 02:42:56,760
I could barely smell anything else. I did not have

2035
02:42:56,799 --> 02:43:00,799
a choice. If I showed up like this, I would

2036
02:43:00,840 --> 02:43:03,920
be dead in the water before the night even started.

2037
02:43:05,319 --> 02:43:09,000
I kneaded a shower. I naded a step into that

2038
02:43:09,159 --> 02:43:13,760
cursed rotting shower. I tossed my phone on to the

2039
02:43:13,799 --> 02:43:17,479
mattress and stared up at the ceiling counting the slow,

2040
02:43:17,879 --> 02:43:21,600
uneven rotations of the ceiling van until I could convince

2041
02:43:21,639 --> 02:43:26,120
myself to stand. I peeled off my clothes, feeling my

2042
02:43:26,200 --> 02:43:30,719
stomach twist into knots. Every step toward the bathroom door

2043
02:43:30,799 --> 02:43:34,399
felt heavier. My hand trembled. When I reached for the knob,

2044
02:43:36,000 --> 02:43:40,639
I pushed it open. The air inside was thick and heavy,

2045
02:43:41,239 --> 02:43:43,840
still damp, even though I had not run the water

2046
02:43:43,920 --> 02:43:48,799
in days. I stepped inside and shut the door behind me.

2047
02:43:50,680 --> 02:43:54,000
I twisted the knob on the shower. The water came

2048
02:43:54,079 --> 02:43:59,719
spluttering out, colder than usual, but steady enough. I waited

2049
02:43:59,799 --> 02:44:03,159
and till the cabin filled with steam, before stepping in.

2050
02:44:04,799 --> 02:44:08,879
The door clicked shut behind me. I told myself I

2051
02:44:08,920 --> 02:44:12,719
would keep my eyes open the entire time. I would

2052
02:44:12,719 --> 02:44:17,280
not let them close, not even for a second. I

2053
02:44:17,319 --> 02:44:19,840
repeated the promise in my head as I reached for

2054
02:44:19,920 --> 02:44:23,239
the shampoo bottle, as I scrubbed the layers of filth

2055
02:44:23,239 --> 02:44:27,079
that coated my skin. As the water poured down steadily,

2056
02:44:28,600 --> 02:44:30,959
I tilted my head back to rinse out the SuDS,

2057
02:44:31,600 --> 02:44:36,600
careful to keep my eyes open. Soaps stung, the foam

2058
02:44:36,719 --> 02:44:40,520
slid down into my lashes. My eyes stung and my

2059
02:44:40,559 --> 02:44:45,719
body almost betrayed me, but my eyes stayed open. The

2060
02:44:45,760 --> 02:44:48,639
cabin shook slightly as I managed to keep my vision going.

2061
02:44:49,719 --> 02:44:53,840
That surprised me a little things would only happen when

2062
02:44:53,879 --> 02:44:57,000
I closed my eyes, never when I had them open.

2063
02:44:58,879 --> 02:45:04,239
Minutes crawled by, I washed, I scrubbed, I rinsed, and

2064
02:45:04,319 --> 02:45:07,920
through it all I kept my eyes wide open, fixed

2065
02:45:07,959 --> 02:45:12,040
on the walls. Reliefs started to creep in at the

2066
02:45:12,120 --> 02:45:15,959
edges of my mind, a dangerous feeling, but I could

2067
02:45:16,000 --> 02:45:21,319
not help it. I was almost done. I could towel off,

2068
02:45:21,559 --> 02:45:26,840
get dressed, leave this nightmare behind me. I reached for

2069
02:45:26,879 --> 02:45:31,200
the forrcet to shut the water off, and suddenly the

2070
02:45:31,239 --> 02:45:36,600
pressure in the shower changed. The steady stream faltered, stuttered,

2071
02:45:37,760 --> 02:45:44,280
then surged back stronger, Hammering down against the floor, something

2072
02:45:44,319 --> 02:45:47,840
shifted in the air. The temperature dropped hard enough to

2073
02:45:47,879 --> 02:45:51,920
suck the breath from my chest. A scream irrupted from

2074
02:45:51,959 --> 02:45:59,680
all around me. It sounded furious and almost sad. The

2075
02:45:59,719 --> 02:46:03,639
wall around the shower shuddered, vibrating so hard I thought

2076
02:46:03,680 --> 02:46:07,559
they would tear themselves apart. Was this thing mad that

2077
02:46:07,639 --> 02:46:11,639
I kept my eyes open the entire time. The floor

2078
02:46:11,719 --> 02:46:16,000
underneath my feet jumped and twisted. Bottles shot off the shelves,

2079
02:46:16,200 --> 02:46:19,639
slamming into walls and the floor with heavy, wet cracks.

2080
02:46:20,840 --> 02:46:23,440
Something dense and heavy banged against the outside of the

2081
02:46:23,520 --> 02:46:28,120
shower door, over and over again, loud enough that the

2082
02:46:28,280 --> 02:46:33,200
entire cabin shook under the force. Ice cold water was

2083
02:46:33,239 --> 02:46:37,559
getting into my eyes, blurring my vision. The drain beneath

2084
02:46:37,600 --> 02:46:41,399
me gurgled, heaving upward instead of pulling the water down.

2085
02:46:42,639 --> 02:46:46,799
Thick clumps of hair, long and matted with something black

2086
02:46:46,840 --> 02:46:50,920
and sticky, twisted free and floated up toward the surface.

2087
02:46:51,959 --> 02:46:58,319
Small jagged objects bobbed up alongside it, teeth tiny and cracked,

2088
02:46:58,920 --> 02:47:03,680
some still speckled with dry blood. Something red rose in thick,

2089
02:47:03,879 --> 02:47:08,040
slow bubbles, staining the water in white pink streaks that

2090
02:47:08,159 --> 02:47:12,920
swirled around my ankles. The cabin floor pitched under me,

2091
02:47:13,479 --> 02:47:17,639
and I nearly slipped. I forced my fingers against my

2092
02:47:17,719 --> 02:47:20,559
water filled eyes and rubbed them hard enough that bright

2093
02:47:20,639 --> 02:47:25,200
spots exploded across my vision. It hurt, but I managed

2094
02:47:25,239 --> 02:47:30,840
to keep them peeled open. The world came back into focus.

2095
02:47:32,120 --> 02:47:35,920
Pressed against the inside of the shower door, directly in

2096
02:47:35,959 --> 02:47:39,920
front of my face, a palm flattened itself against the

2097
02:47:40,000 --> 02:47:46,760
tempered glass. The skin pulsed faintly, as if breathing. There

2098
02:47:46,840 --> 02:47:50,479
was no arm connected to it, just the pale, bloated

2099
02:47:50,559 --> 02:47:56,000
hand flexing his fingers against the door. I fumbled backward

2100
02:47:56,159 --> 02:47:58,639
until my spine hid the opposite wall of the cabin.

2101
02:47:59,520 --> 02:48:02,000
The water kept pouring from the shower head above me,

2102
02:48:02,639 --> 02:48:06,760
colder than ice, now soaking through to the bone. It

2103
02:48:06,879 --> 02:48:10,159
stung across the half field, scratches on my back, and

2104
02:48:10,239 --> 02:48:13,959
made my teeth chatter so violently I could hear them clacking.

2105
02:48:15,440 --> 02:48:17,559
I reached for the knobs to shut the water off.

2106
02:48:18,360 --> 02:48:23,239
My fingers slipped once, twice, three times, but I finally

2107
02:48:23,239 --> 02:48:30,360
managed to twist them both shut. Nothing changed. The water

2108
02:48:30,479 --> 02:48:34,280
kept blasting at full force, roaring against the cracked floor,

2109
02:48:34,760 --> 02:48:37,600
splashing high enough that it sprayed over the door frame.

2110
02:48:38,799 --> 02:48:41,600
The drain only vomited more filth up into the small,

2111
02:48:41,760 --> 02:48:46,600
confined space. Hair wrapped itself around my ankles, tightening with

2112
02:48:46,680 --> 02:48:51,959
every shift of my weight. The water level was rising.

2113
02:48:53,479 --> 02:48:57,159
It climbed past my ankles up to my shins. The

2114
02:48:57,239 --> 02:49:01,479
cold bit deeper with every inch. I grabbed the door

2115
02:49:01,520 --> 02:49:06,799
handle and he yanked. It did not budge. I pushed harder,

2116
02:49:07,120 --> 02:49:10,440
using both hands, now throwing all my weight against it.

2117
02:49:11,520 --> 02:49:15,280
The shower door groaned under the strain, but held. I

2118
02:49:15,319 --> 02:49:20,959
slammed my shoulder against it once, twice, three times. Still nothing.

2119
02:49:22,360 --> 02:49:26,840
Another handprint bloomed beside the first one. The fingers splayed

2120
02:49:26,879 --> 02:49:31,000
wide across the surface, some longer than others, joints bent

2121
02:49:31,120 --> 02:49:36,040
at strange angles. The prince pressed in, dimpling the plastic,

2122
02:49:36,399 --> 02:49:39,200
as though something immense leaned on them from the other side.

2123
02:49:40,719 --> 02:49:44,799
Who was trying to trap me in here? I screamed

2124
02:49:45,120 --> 02:49:48,520
high and panicked, raw air tearing out of my throat.

2125
02:49:49,680 --> 02:49:52,959
I punched the door, paine, lancing up my arms as

2126
02:49:53,000 --> 02:49:57,319
my fists met the unforgiving glass. My knuckles split on

2127
02:49:57,399 --> 02:50:00,719
the rough edges. Blood smeared across the door and messy

2128
02:50:00,920 --> 02:50:07,520
broken arcs. I punched again again. The water rose past

2129
02:50:07,559 --> 02:50:11,280
my knees, swirling with hair and teeth and bits of

2130
02:50:11,360 --> 02:50:15,879
something too small to name. The hand prince did not

2131
02:50:16,040 --> 02:50:21,280
pull away. They pressed harder. I could barely fill my

2132
02:50:21,319 --> 02:50:25,879
fists anymore. My knuckles throbbed with every heartbeat, slick with

2133
02:50:25,959 --> 02:50:29,799
a mixture of blood and water. The shower filled up

2134
02:50:29,879 --> 02:50:34,360
highre lapping up toward my waist, the freezing water numbing

2135
02:50:34,399 --> 02:50:39,159
everything it touched. The hand Prince leaned in harder, the

2136
02:50:39,200 --> 02:50:43,479
plastic bowing inward under the pressure. I knew I could

2137
02:50:43,520 --> 02:50:47,840
not keep hitting the door. My arms were spent. I

2138
02:50:47,920 --> 02:50:52,120
needed to do something else. I braced against the wall

2139
02:50:52,159 --> 02:50:55,040
of the cabin sucking in a breath so cold it

2140
02:50:55,079 --> 02:50:58,600
burned the back of my throat. I lifted my knee

2141
02:50:58,639 --> 02:51:01,159
and slammed it against the crack section near the bottom

2142
02:51:01,200 --> 02:51:05,280
of the door. The impact sent a sholt through my bones,

2143
02:51:05,719 --> 02:51:10,479
rattling my teeth together. The crack widened, spider webbing across

2144
02:51:10,520 --> 02:51:15,399
the surface and jagged, uneven lines. I pulled back and

2145
02:51:15,399 --> 02:51:18,479
did it again, putting every shred of strength I had

2146
02:51:18,520 --> 02:51:23,239
into it. The third hit split the tempered glass completely.

2147
02:51:24,520 --> 02:51:27,200
The pressure of the water burst the door outward with

2148
02:51:27,280 --> 02:51:30,920
a violent pop, sending a tidal wave crashing across the

2149
02:51:30,959 --> 02:51:35,479
bathroom floor. I was carried with it, thrown against the

2150
02:51:35,479 --> 02:51:39,399
base of the sink. My head cracked hard against the cabinet,

2151
02:51:39,719 --> 02:51:44,079
and for a second the world spun into dizzying, colorless shapes.

2152
02:51:46,840 --> 02:51:50,399
I crawled backward and shaking, hands and knees, slipping across

2153
02:51:50,399 --> 02:51:56,159
the flooded lenonium. Gasping for air, my body shuddered, uncontrollably,

2154
02:51:56,719 --> 02:52:00,559
soaked through to the bone, every muscle twisted up tight

2155
02:52:00,680 --> 02:52:08,840
with fear and cold. The bathroom lights flickered overhead. Somewhere

2156
02:52:08,840 --> 02:52:11,719
behind me, the water sputed to a stop from a

2157
02:52:11,760 --> 02:52:15,319
broken shower, the last of the water pouring across the

2158
02:52:15,360 --> 02:52:22,600
floor in steady, unstoppable waves. I pressed myself into the corner, panting,

2159
02:52:23,319 --> 02:52:27,280
watching the shattered door swing uselessly on its broken hinge.

2160
02:52:29,000 --> 02:52:32,600
When I finally stood, my knees buckled. I grabbed the

2161
02:52:32,639 --> 02:52:36,879
doorframe for support and staggered into the main room, leaving

2162
02:52:36,920 --> 02:52:41,559
a trail of wet footprints behind me. I did not

2163
02:52:41,760 --> 02:52:47,440
step back into that bathroom again. The next morning. I

2164
02:52:47,559 --> 02:52:52,479
made a decision. It was not a proud one, it

2165
02:52:52,559 --> 02:52:55,959
was not a brave one. It was what I had

2166
02:52:55,959 --> 02:53:01,079
to do. I knocked on missus Cartwright's door or standing

2167
02:53:01,159 --> 02:53:05,520
awkwardly in clothes that smiled faintly off panic. She answered

2168
02:53:05,600 --> 02:53:10,479
quickly and knitted shawl wrapped around a narrow shoulders. Her

2169
02:53:10,520 --> 02:53:14,280
face softened when she saw me. I asked if she

2170
02:53:14,360 --> 02:53:18,399
needed any help around the house. Grocy runs heavy lifting

2171
02:53:19,200 --> 02:53:22,799
anything at all I told her I'd be happy to

2172
02:53:22,879 --> 02:53:27,600
do it. I told her it was no trouble. She

2173
02:53:27,719 --> 02:53:31,799
smiled a real smile, the sort of smile that lit

2174
02:53:31,879 --> 02:53:35,040
up a whole face, and said she could use her

2175
02:53:35,079 --> 02:53:40,239
hand now. And then I mentioned, as casually as I could,

2176
02:53:40,760 --> 02:53:44,079
that my shower was broken. I asked if she would

2177
02:53:44,120 --> 02:53:46,520
mind letting me use hers once or twice a week

2178
02:53:47,079 --> 02:53:51,600
until I could get it fixed. She agreed without hesitation.

2179
02:53:53,799 --> 02:53:56,479
From then on, I spend as little time in my

2180
02:53:56,559 --> 02:54:00,760
own bathroom as possible. I brush my teeth the kitchen sink.

2181
02:54:01,360 --> 02:54:07,559
I used the bathroom only when I absolutely had to. Luckily,

2182
02:54:07,920 --> 02:54:11,639
the date went well. Alison did not seem to notice

2183
02:54:11,680 --> 02:54:16,559
the faint stiffness in my posture. I returned home and

2184
02:54:16,680 --> 02:54:19,719
decided to hang up curtains just past the kitchen sink

2185
02:54:20,520 --> 02:54:22,959
so I wouldn't have to look at the shower anymore.

2186
02:54:24,200 --> 02:54:27,639
I don't know what to tell my landlord about the damage,

2187
02:54:27,799 --> 02:54:31,440
but he'd have to deal with it. I'm sure he

2188
02:54:31,559 --> 02:54:35,200
knew the place was like this, and he never decided

2189
02:54:35,239 --> 02:54:50,680
to tell me, so I won't tell him either. I've

2190
02:54:50,680 --> 02:54:55,040
been surrounded by conspiracy theories my whole life. I don't

2191
02:54:55,079 --> 02:54:58,680
mean that I believe in them. Most of them are ridiculous,

2192
02:54:59,399 --> 02:55:03,959
some of them dangerous. I only ever got into that

2193
02:55:04,000 --> 02:55:08,600
stuff because of my uncle. When you grew up visiting

2194
02:55:08,600 --> 02:55:11,159
a man who owns more black and white photocopies of

2195
02:55:11,239 --> 02:55:14,920
underground based schematics than he does shirts, it starts to

2196
02:55:15,000 --> 02:55:18,799
rub off on you. I never cared much about bigfoot,

2197
02:55:19,520 --> 02:55:23,559
but more people and pigeon robots. It was interesting to

2198
02:55:23,639 --> 02:55:29,360
listen to my uncle. Warren was that relative, the one

2199
02:55:29,440 --> 02:55:32,920
everyone keeps at arm's length during the holidays, the one

2200
02:55:33,000 --> 02:55:37,040
people warn their kids about before they visit. He didn't

2201
02:55:37,040 --> 02:55:41,120
do anything wrong, not ever, but there was always something

2202
02:55:41,159 --> 02:55:46,440
about him that made others uncomfortable. He had a disorder.

2203
02:55:47,280 --> 02:55:51,000
It had walked his jaw since birth. His teeth jotted

2204
02:55:51,000 --> 02:55:55,200
out at an angle, like a row of warped fence posts.

2205
02:55:55,840 --> 02:55:58,360
He had to wear these weird rubber mouthguards at night

2206
02:55:58,760 --> 02:56:02,280
just to stop them from cutting into his cheeks. He

2207
02:56:02,360 --> 02:56:06,680
also had diabetes, and that was a constant battle for him.

2208
02:56:07,159 --> 02:56:09,799
He kept sugar tabs in his shirt pocket and always

2209
02:56:09,799 --> 02:56:14,319
smelled of insulin and peanut butter crackers. He wore shirts

2210
02:56:14,319 --> 02:56:17,760
that had been washed until the graphics faded into pale ghosts,

2211
02:56:18,239 --> 02:56:21,799
jeans with cracked belt loops, and a windbreaker that had

2212
02:56:21,840 --> 02:56:26,520
probably been navy blue twenty years ago. His glasses were

2213
02:56:26,520 --> 02:56:29,760
too large for his face. His hair had receded before

2214
02:56:29,799 --> 02:56:34,319
I was even born. Most people didn't give him a

2215
02:56:34,319 --> 02:56:40,319
second chance. The ones who did usually looked away. But

2216
02:56:40,399 --> 02:56:47,040
to me, he was great. He wasn't just a family weirdo.

2217
02:56:47,719 --> 02:56:52,239
He was brilliant. He knew how to fix things, build things,

2218
02:56:52,399 --> 02:56:56,079
explain things. He could talk about sub sonic weapons and

2219
02:56:56,120 --> 02:56:59,040
hollow earth theories in the same breath he walked me

2220
02:56:59,040 --> 02:57:03,559
through fixing a blown capacitor. He was patient, He had

2221
02:57:03,600 --> 02:57:07,159
time for me. I didn't get that from many people.

2222
02:57:07,200 --> 02:57:12,399
Growing up. His house felt like some kind of time capsule.

2223
02:57:13,360 --> 02:57:17,879
Old wallpaper, flickering fluorescent lights, carpet that had gone stiff

2224
02:57:17,879 --> 02:57:21,479
at the edges. But what always pulled me in was

2225
02:57:21,520 --> 02:57:26,719
the back room. He called it his workshop. No one

2226
02:57:26,799 --> 02:57:30,600
else ever went back there. I think my mom saw

2227
02:57:30,639 --> 02:57:35,840
it once and refused the step inside again. It was

2228
02:57:35,920 --> 02:57:38,879
cramped and packed wall to wall with shells full of

2229
02:57:38,920 --> 02:57:43,520
scrap parts, tools, plastic tubs, and print outs that had

2230
02:57:43,600 --> 02:57:48,079
yellowed into brittle curls. It had cathoed monitors stacked on

2231
02:57:48,120 --> 02:57:52,079
top of a filing cabinets, each one hooked into something different.

2232
02:57:53,639 --> 02:57:56,120
One of them looped footage from a cave in Turkey.

2233
02:57:56,680 --> 02:58:01,639
Another displayed seismic readouts. I'd sit at his work bench

2234
02:58:01,760 --> 02:58:05,600
while he soldered or rewired something. The smell of burned

2235
02:58:05,600 --> 02:58:09,760
plastic and machine oil always stucked my clothes after I left.

2236
02:58:11,559 --> 02:58:14,719
He had this Motorola flip phone with a thick black antennor.

2237
02:58:15,600 --> 02:58:18,600
He clipped it to his belt like it was a badge.

2238
02:58:18,959 --> 02:58:21,319
I once asked him why he didn't just get a smartphone,

2239
02:58:21,760 --> 02:58:23,920
and he looked at me like I had asked him

2240
02:58:23,959 --> 02:58:28,600
to put a tracking device in his skull. The only

2241
02:58:28,639 --> 02:58:32,200
thing about him that I found strange was his obsession

2242
02:58:32,319 --> 02:58:36,920
with mole people. He didn't picture them as cartoonish or

2243
02:58:37,000 --> 02:58:42,000
green or wearing goggles. He imagined them as pale, sightless things,

2244
02:58:42,799 --> 02:58:47,360
humanoid but not entirely human, adapted to a place where

2245
02:58:47,440 --> 02:58:51,959
light never touched. Here, theories about how their society worked,

2246
02:58:52,239 --> 02:58:55,319
what tools they used, how they might hear our movement

2247
02:58:55,360 --> 02:59:00,680
from beneath the crust and respond with coded vibrations. He

2248
02:59:00,840 --> 02:59:03,440
rarely even wanted to use light outside of his home,

2249
02:59:04,239 --> 02:59:06,879
and that really shined through the time I went camping

2250
02:59:06,920 --> 02:59:10,760
with him. I tried to set up a fire. I

2251
02:59:10,799 --> 02:59:14,440
had gathered kindling, stacked it carefully, even brought a fire

2252
02:59:14,479 --> 02:59:18,000
start to cube because I was proud of thinking ahead.

2253
02:59:19,280 --> 02:59:22,719
He stopped me the moment I could light it. He

2254
02:59:22,760 --> 02:59:25,719
didn't yell, He just stared at the pile for a

2255
02:59:25,719 --> 02:59:30,040
long moment, then told me gently to leave it alone.

2256
02:59:31,639 --> 02:59:35,600
He said fire draws attention. He said some things can't

2257
02:59:35,600 --> 02:59:41,399
handle sudden brightness, that it confuses them, hurts them. That

2258
02:59:41,479 --> 02:59:46,440
when you're near their domain, you should respect their rules.

2259
02:59:47,040 --> 02:59:50,680
I didn't understand at all, but I just let it go.

2260
02:59:52,959 --> 02:59:56,200
Months pasted. After that, we fell out of touch for

2261
02:59:56,239 --> 03:00:00,479
a while. I got busy. Life crept in as it

2262
03:00:00,520 --> 03:00:06,040
does slowly at first, then all at once when you

2263
03:00:06,120 --> 03:00:09,959
start working full time. Checking in on your eccentric uncle

2264
03:00:10,440 --> 03:00:15,079
doesn't always top the list, but I still thought about him,

2265
03:00:15,440 --> 03:00:18,840
especially when I saw something odd on TV or read

2266
03:00:18,920 --> 03:00:23,840
a weird headline online. I always think Warren would have

2267
03:00:23,879 --> 03:00:29,280
something to say about that. Then one day I heard

2268
03:00:29,319 --> 03:00:35,280
from my mom that he was gone. She said it offhand,

2269
03:00:35,680 --> 03:00:39,479
like it wasn't worth more than a sentence. Oh, By

2270
03:00:39,520 --> 03:00:42,440
the way, your uncle hasn't been home in weeks. Your

2271
03:00:42,440 --> 03:00:47,840
cousin Todd went to check. He wasn't there. That was it.

2272
03:00:48,719 --> 03:00:52,360
No missing person fliers or searches, just the call to

2273
03:00:52,399 --> 03:00:55,840
the authorities and a casual shrug passed around the family

2274
03:00:55,879 --> 03:01:01,840
group chat. Everyone had an explanation ready. He'd probably gone

2275
03:01:01,879 --> 03:01:04,920
off chasing one of those rabbit holes. He did that

2276
03:01:04,959 --> 03:01:08,840
once years ago, spent three weeks in New Mexico because

2277
03:01:08,840 --> 03:01:13,040
he thought the government was digging under old reservations. Turned

2278
03:01:13,040 --> 03:01:17,040
out he just wanted to try desert photography. But even

2279
03:01:17,079 --> 03:01:22,239
then he'd told me before he went. Todd had apparently

2280
03:01:22,319 --> 03:01:25,799
driven over, walked round the house, once, tried the door,

2281
03:01:26,159 --> 03:01:30,239
peered through the blinds, then left said everything looked fine.

2282
03:01:31,520 --> 03:01:36,680
That was enough for them, but something about it sat

2283
03:01:36,680 --> 03:01:41,639
wrong with me. I couldn't explain it. I hadn't seen

2284
03:01:41,719 --> 03:01:44,200
him in months, and I had no reason to assume

2285
03:01:44,239 --> 03:01:48,680
the worst. But I knew him. He wouldn't vanish for

2286
03:01:48,799 --> 03:01:51,360
weeks without at least leaving a note taped to the

2287
03:01:51,440 --> 03:01:55,920
door or a voicemail filled with static and obscure hints.

2288
03:01:56,520 --> 03:02:03,399
He was weird, not careless, So I went. I didn't

2289
03:02:03,440 --> 03:02:06,799
tell anyone. I got in my car early one morning

2290
03:02:07,120 --> 03:02:10,760
and drove out to his place. The further I got,

2291
03:02:11,559 --> 03:02:17,120
the heavier it felt. When I pulled up to the house,

2292
03:02:17,559 --> 03:02:20,719
it looked the same as always. I went up to

2293
03:02:20,760 --> 03:02:24,559
the mailbox to retrieve the spare key. Uncle had told

2294
03:02:24,600 --> 03:02:26,760
me about where he kept it in case I need

2295
03:02:26,799 --> 03:02:29,680
to grab something from his workshop when he's sleeping or away.

2296
03:02:31,399 --> 03:02:34,520
His car was parked in the driveway, right where it

2297
03:02:34,559 --> 03:02:38,239
always sat, but the porch light bulb had burned out.

2298
03:02:39,440 --> 03:02:43,200
I noticed that as I climbed the steps, a tiny

2299
03:02:43,239 --> 03:02:47,520
bulb dead and cold in its fixture. I un locked

2300
03:02:47,559 --> 03:02:51,360
the door and stepped inside. I moved through the living

2301
03:02:51,440 --> 03:02:55,520
room slowly. My shoes made no sound on the old carpet.

2302
03:02:56,479 --> 03:02:59,239
Something in me didn't want to break whatever spell was

2303
03:02:59,280 --> 03:03:03,719
holding the place since suspension. I stepped into the kitchen.

2304
03:03:04,879 --> 03:03:09,479
That's when I saw his medication. It sat in its

2305
03:03:09,559 --> 03:03:14,959
organizer on the counter, color coded labeled by day Sunday

2306
03:03:15,000 --> 03:03:21,479
through Saturday, each compartment still full. His blood sugar monitor

2307
03:03:21,520 --> 03:03:24,879
was next to it, turned off. The testing strips were

2308
03:03:24,920 --> 03:03:30,440
still sealed. I stared at it for a while. My

2309
03:03:30,600 --> 03:03:33,840
uncle had never missed the dose in his life, He

2310
03:03:33,959 --> 03:03:38,319
treated his condition with an almost ritualistic precision. It had

2311
03:03:38,360 --> 03:03:44,399
been drilled into him. Skipping intolin wasn't just irresponsible, It

2312
03:03:44,479 --> 03:03:49,959
could kill him. I followed the faint electric buzz toward

2313
03:03:50,040 --> 03:03:52,920
the back of the house, A sound I knew well.

2314
03:03:54,040 --> 03:03:57,920
It was always there when I visited. The workshop ran

2315
03:03:57,959 --> 03:04:03,079
in its own circuit, something he wired himself. Even when

2316
03:04:03,120 --> 03:04:07,399
he wasn't home, he left certain things running. The world

2317
03:04:07,399 --> 03:04:10,639
doesn't pause just because I step out, he used to say.

2318
03:04:12,120 --> 03:04:18,000
Across the threshold and stepped inside. The air inside was

2319
03:04:18,079 --> 03:04:21,760
heavy with solder and paper. The whir of a low

2320
03:04:21,799 --> 03:04:25,520
powered van came from the corner. Dust hung in shafts

2321
03:04:25,559 --> 03:04:30,319
of afternoon light filtering through the narrow window. My eyes

2322
03:04:30,399 --> 03:04:35,639
moved across the space, automatically, picking up old landmarks, the

2323
03:04:35,680 --> 03:04:39,639
metal rack of spools and wires, the blinking VHS converter,

2324
03:04:39,760 --> 03:04:43,440
and the shelf above the filing cabinet. The digital thermometer

2325
03:04:43,680 --> 03:04:48,360
which between two brakes and the floor. But something was

2326
03:04:48,399 --> 03:04:55,879
different this time, the sound a beeping. I moved toward it,

2327
03:04:56,360 --> 03:04:59,799
but I didn't reach for it yet. My eyes caught

2328
03:05:00,040 --> 03:05:06,040
something else first. The chalkboard covered almost the entire wall.

2329
03:05:06,959 --> 03:05:10,239
He had bolted it directly into the studs. Years ago,

2330
03:05:10,879 --> 03:05:13,959
I remember watching him do it, sweating through his shirt,

2331
03:05:14,319 --> 03:05:17,760
mumbling about how dry wall was the enemy of permanence.

2332
03:05:19,159 --> 03:05:24,440
Now it was covered in layers of overlapping diagrams, notes, sketches,

2333
03:05:24,639 --> 03:05:29,920
and pin photographs. The usual chaos was there, but this

2334
03:05:30,120 --> 03:05:36,399
time it was all focused. Everything pointed to one subject,

2335
03:05:38,040 --> 03:05:44,239
more people. There were diagrams of hand structures, claw curvature,

2336
03:05:44,639 --> 03:05:49,520
and comparative models against known borrowing mammals. There were skeletal

2337
03:05:49,559 --> 03:05:52,719
projections showing how a human spine would have to evolve

2338
03:05:53,079 --> 03:05:57,840
to function primarily in a crouched lateral motion. Heat mapping

2339
03:05:57,920 --> 03:06:02,239
charts had been overlaid with seismographs, readings with annotations in

2340
03:06:02,319 --> 03:06:07,639
read ink, he'd written detailed estimates on hearing ranges, potential

2341
03:06:07,719 --> 03:06:13,200
hive networks, and low frequency signal behavior. Pinned to the

2342
03:06:13,239 --> 03:06:18,040
center of the board was a photo black and white,

2343
03:06:18,440 --> 03:06:24,120
grainy taken from above a depression in the earth. The

2344
03:06:24,200 --> 03:06:30,200
soil looked compressed inward with unnatural symmetry. Below it, he'd

2345
03:06:30,200 --> 03:06:36,280
written a date, a coordinate set a single phrase too

2346
03:06:36,399 --> 03:06:41,760
consistent to be weather. I scanned the rest of the wall.

2347
03:06:42,719 --> 03:06:46,079
A long timeline stretched across the upper edge. All of

2348
03:06:46,120 --> 03:06:52,440
it converged. He had found something. I realized he had

2349
03:06:52,440 --> 03:06:59,760
gone to find proof. The beeping grew louder as I

2350
03:06:59,799 --> 03:07:03,360
moved toward the bench. It was coming from a hand

2351
03:07:03,399 --> 03:07:08,399
held GPS receiver. The screen was small and monochrome. A

2352
03:07:08,520 --> 03:07:13,479
single blinking dot pulsed on the display. Next to it

2353
03:07:13,520 --> 03:07:17,159
was a folded piece of paper torn at the edge,

2354
03:07:17,440 --> 03:07:23,040
written in sharp block letters. I recognized this handwriting immediately.

2355
03:07:25,559 --> 03:07:28,079
I'll assume you'll be the one to find this, nephew.

2356
03:07:29,079 --> 03:07:32,920
I knew it'd be you. I finally found something, and

2357
03:07:33,000 --> 03:07:36,680
I want you to see it. Follow the signal. I'll

2358
03:07:36,719 --> 03:07:43,879
finally prove myself right to you. I picked up the GPS.

2359
03:07:44,600 --> 03:07:50,239
The signal was holding steady, still transmitting. I took a breath.

2360
03:07:50,719 --> 03:07:54,520
My throat felt dry. I took the medicine into my bag,

2361
03:07:55,000 --> 03:07:58,600
pocketed the GPS unit, and walked out the front door.

2362
03:08:00,040 --> 03:08:03,440
The GPS coordinates pointed somewhere deep in the northern Range,

2363
03:08:03,920 --> 03:08:07,840
far beyond cell towers or road markings. I had to

2364
03:08:07,879 --> 03:08:11,079
stop twice to recheck the route, and once to talk

2365
03:08:11,159 --> 03:08:18,600
myself into continuing. I packed carefully, water, flashlight, the insulin,

2366
03:08:19,079 --> 03:08:24,440
extra batteries, snacks. I stared at the receiver for ten

2367
03:08:24,520 --> 03:08:29,559
minutes before I even turned the ignition. There was no deadline,

2368
03:08:30,399 --> 03:08:35,000
but it felt like I was already running behind. I

2369
03:08:35,000 --> 03:08:38,799
couldn't tell if it was guilt or something heavier. Maybe

2370
03:08:38,840 --> 03:08:42,239
I'd waited too long, Maybe I had already missed him.

2371
03:08:43,360 --> 03:08:46,360
But if he was alive, if he was just stranded

2372
03:08:46,479 --> 03:08:49,600
or hurt, or waiting for someone to show up, then

2373
03:08:49,600 --> 03:08:55,319
I couldn't waste any more time. The last stretch of

2374
03:08:55,440 --> 03:09:00,399
road turned to gravel, then gravel gave out entirely. I

2375
03:09:00,479 --> 03:09:04,319
parked beneath a canopy of thin, brittle trees, the leaves

2376
03:09:04,319 --> 03:09:08,239
scorched from a summer that had lasted too long. The

2377
03:09:08,319 --> 03:09:12,479
signal still blinked on the hand held. I walked for

2378
03:09:12,559 --> 03:09:16,399
over an hour, boots crunching through rock and shale, the

2379
03:09:16,440 --> 03:09:21,520
sky dimming above me. When I finally reached the destination,

2380
03:09:22,639 --> 03:09:25,559
I thought at first I had gone the wrong way.

2381
03:09:26,200 --> 03:09:29,760
There was nothing there, just a low ridge of broken

2382
03:09:29,840 --> 03:09:33,319
stone and a slope that dropped off into a dry gulch.

2383
03:09:34,680 --> 03:09:38,239
The quarry was just beyond it, old and half reclaimed

2384
03:09:38,280 --> 03:09:42,319
by moss and brush. I almost turned back to double

2385
03:09:42,399 --> 03:09:47,040
check the coordinates, but something caught my eye, a seam

2386
03:09:47,120 --> 03:09:50,719
in the cliff side. It was in a cave mouth.

2387
03:09:51,440 --> 03:09:54,360
It was more of a split between two walls of stone,

2388
03:09:54,840 --> 03:09:58,760
vertical and narrow. Some one could walk past it and

2389
03:09:58,879 --> 03:10:04,600
never notice. I stepped closer, shining the light into the space.

2390
03:10:05,719 --> 03:10:13,120
The beam hit nothing just there that meant depth. The

2391
03:10:13,200 --> 03:10:17,040
crack was just wide enough to squeeze through. I just

2392
03:10:17,079 --> 03:10:20,840
died the strap of my bag and stepped forward. The

2393
03:10:20,920 --> 03:10:25,520
walls pressed close around my shoulders, rough and uneven. Bits

2394
03:10:25,520 --> 03:10:29,280
of stone scraped at my sleeves. I kept one hand

2395
03:10:29,319 --> 03:10:32,959
on the rock and the other around the flashlight, angling

2396
03:10:33,000 --> 03:10:37,399
it downward to avoid blinding myself. I could get through

2397
03:10:37,440 --> 03:10:40,879
without too much issue, but a small laugh bottled out

2398
03:10:40,920 --> 03:10:44,000
of me as I thought about Uncle squeezing through here.

2399
03:10:45,440 --> 03:10:49,360
My chest tightened as the gap narrowed further, But then

2400
03:10:49,920 --> 03:10:57,799
after about twenty paces, it opened, not completely, but enough

2401
03:10:57,840 --> 03:11:04,040
to stand comfortably. The space beyond the crack was colder still.

2402
03:11:04,319 --> 03:11:08,040
The sound of my boots echoed softly, bouncing from surface

2403
03:11:08,079 --> 03:11:12,280
to surface, dust coat to the floor in a thin layer,

2404
03:11:12,760 --> 03:11:16,840
disturbed only where my footprints had cut through. I saw

2405
03:11:16,879 --> 03:11:20,760
the first one just ahead of me, a boot print,

2406
03:11:21,319 --> 03:11:28,840
then another, the heel worn unevenly, the flashlight being trembled

2407
03:11:28,840 --> 03:11:34,680
in my hand. I steadied my breath, tried to listen. Nothing,

2408
03:11:36,079 --> 03:11:40,079
just the hum of air deep underground. A breast on

2409
03:11:40,520 --> 03:11:46,280
following the prince. They curved inward, deeper into the passage.

2410
03:11:46,680 --> 03:11:49,479
The air grew heavier. The light from the entrance had

2411
03:11:49,479 --> 03:11:54,360
disappeared entirely. My flashlight was now the only thing keeping

2412
03:11:54,399 --> 03:12:00,319
the dark from swallowing me. The tunnel widened slightly, then

2413
03:12:00,399 --> 03:12:04,479
narrowed again. The ceiling dropped just enough to make the duck.

2414
03:12:05,799 --> 03:12:10,760
I moved slowly, scanning every inch with the light. Something

2415
03:12:10,840 --> 03:12:17,479
crunched beneath my boot. I crouched, brushing away dust. A

2416
03:12:17,559 --> 03:12:23,280
plastic wrapper, torn open, corners folded inward, dust clinging to

2417
03:12:23,319 --> 03:12:28,159
the sugar residue. I picked it up, one of those

2418
03:12:28,200 --> 03:12:33,520
glucose shoes. He always carried strawberry flavor. He used to

2419
03:12:33,559 --> 03:12:37,040
say they tasted worse than cardboard, but they worked fast.

2420
03:12:38,920 --> 03:12:43,680
A few steps later I saw the glove, fingers stiff

2421
03:12:43,799 --> 03:12:48,680
with dirt. The wrist strap was still cinched. I turned

2422
03:12:48,680 --> 03:12:52,559
it over. A tear had opened across the palm, the

2423
03:12:52,639 --> 03:12:56,280
kind that comes from bracing a fall. The ground here

2424
03:12:56,399 --> 03:13:00,959
was uneven and covered in loose stones. His phone was

2425
03:13:01,159 --> 03:13:04,639
much further from there. It sat balanced on a ledge

2426
03:13:04,639 --> 03:13:09,200
of rock, screen glowing faintly in the dark. The plastic

2427
03:13:09,239 --> 03:13:12,440
casing was scuffed, and the rubber and tenor leaned slightly

2428
03:13:12,479 --> 03:13:17,120
to one side. The signal bar pulse gently, battery at

2429
03:13:17,159 --> 03:13:22,079
twenty three percent. I reached for it and stared at

2430
03:13:22,079 --> 03:13:25,440
the home screen. I held the phone for a moment

2431
03:13:25,520 --> 03:13:30,479
longer before slipping it into my pocket. Now I know

2432
03:13:30,639 --> 03:13:34,639
for sure he was here. I stood still and called

2433
03:13:34,680 --> 03:13:42,840
his name once, then again louder. I saw it just

2434
03:13:43,000 --> 03:13:46,040
past the bend in the tunnel, tugged against a stone

2435
03:13:46,079 --> 03:13:50,399
wall where the cave curved. The sleeping bag looked old,

2436
03:13:50,959 --> 03:13:55,479
almost sunken into the ground, but I recognized it immediately,

2437
03:13:56,719 --> 03:14:00,559
faded green canvas with a broken zipper. He had owned

2438
03:14:00,559 --> 03:14:03,959
it for decades. I remember him using it in the

2439
03:14:04,000 --> 03:14:06,319
woods when I was still too young to carry my

2440
03:14:06,360 --> 03:14:10,120
own pack. He used to say that newer ones trapped

2441
03:14:10,120 --> 03:14:16,680
too much moisture. I moved fast, boots scraping against loose grit.

2442
03:14:17,479 --> 03:14:21,680
My chest tightened with something close to hope. My voice

2443
03:14:21,719 --> 03:14:26,280
came before I even reached him, Uncle Warren, I heard

2444
03:14:26,280 --> 03:14:29,760
myself say, it's me. I brought your meds. What the

2445
03:14:29,799 --> 03:14:34,079
hell are you doing down here? The beam of the

2446
03:14:34,120 --> 03:14:39,040
flashlight wavered slightly as I knelt beside him. He hadn't moved.

2447
03:14:40,159 --> 03:14:42,200
The top half of the bag was pulled up to

2448
03:14:42,239 --> 03:14:46,639
his shoulders, his arms resting across his chest, hands tucked

2449
03:14:46,639 --> 03:14:50,479
beneath the flap. His head leaned against the cave wall

2450
03:14:50,600 --> 03:14:53,920
at a slight angle. His glasses were still perched on

2451
03:14:54,040 --> 03:14:57,079
his forehead, pushed up the way he always wore them

2452
03:14:57,319 --> 03:15:01,959
when working on something close range. I reached out and

2453
03:15:02,079 --> 03:15:10,440
touched his shoulder. The fabric was damp, My throat closed.

2454
03:15:10,639 --> 03:15:14,200
Before I could call his name again, I shifted the

2455
03:15:14,280 --> 03:15:19,040
light downward, trying to get a better look. That was

2456
03:15:19,079 --> 03:15:22,360
when I saw the color of the fabric change from

2457
03:15:22,360 --> 03:15:27,479
green to black, stained through the canvas. Wasn't folded in

2458
03:15:27,479 --> 03:15:33,079
at his stomach. It had collapsed. I gripped a zipper

2459
03:15:33,120 --> 03:15:36,239
and pulled it back. His chest had carved in where

2460
03:15:36,239 --> 03:15:40,159
the sleeping bag had dipped. Flesh and bone had been

2461
03:15:40,200 --> 03:15:44,120
torn apart. His torso was still whole. Above his ribs,

2462
03:15:44,680 --> 03:15:49,159
skin pale and drawn, but everything below that had been opened,

2463
03:15:50,280 --> 03:15:54,159
not by a blade. There was no clean line. The

2464
03:15:54,200 --> 03:15:58,959
wounds looked jagged, pulled apart. His adomen had been torn

2465
03:15:59,000 --> 03:16:04,280
open and wide. Uneven ridges, muscles, and viscera were exposed

2466
03:16:04,280 --> 03:16:08,120
beneath the shredded fabric of his shirt. The blood had

2467
03:16:08,159 --> 03:16:10,879
soaked into the bag long enough to turn it thick

2468
03:16:10,920 --> 03:16:15,600
at the seams. The skin along his side had deep

2469
03:16:15,680 --> 03:16:20,360
indentations when something had clamped down or hooked in. I

2470
03:16:20,399 --> 03:16:24,440
saw striations in the torn flesh, shallow grooves, shaped and

2471
03:16:24,639 --> 03:16:28,639
arcs too round to be teeth. His hands were still

2472
03:16:28,680 --> 03:16:31,639
crossed at his chest, but the onand to his left

2473
03:16:31,719 --> 03:16:37,200
was missing its pinky. The stump had gone gray. The

2474
03:16:37,239 --> 03:16:42,280
air around me changed. Then the smell reached me rot,

2475
03:16:42,399 --> 03:16:48,000
first sharp and acidic, then iron, thick enough to taste

2476
03:16:48,360 --> 03:16:53,920
behind it something else, a damp sweetness, the scent of

2477
03:16:54,000 --> 03:16:56,799
compost that had been turned too late in the season.

2478
03:16:58,280 --> 03:17:01,799
I climbed a hand over My mouth turned and doubled over.

2479
03:17:03,040 --> 03:17:06,600
My stomach clenched, and bile forced its way up. Before

2480
03:17:06,600 --> 03:17:09,600
I could stop it. It hit the rock floor in

2481
03:17:09,639 --> 03:17:15,879
a splash. I stayed bent over, gasping a flashlight shaking.

2482
03:17:15,520 --> 03:17:20,920
Speaker 2: In my hand. I couldn't look back at him, not yet.

2483
03:17:23,120 --> 03:17:25,840
I closed my eyes and tried to breathe through my nose.

2484
03:17:26,479 --> 03:17:29,520
I tried to hold on to something else, anything else,

2485
03:17:30,760 --> 03:17:33,479
but all of it was drowning under the smell and

2486
03:17:33,559 --> 03:17:37,440
the sound of my own pulse pounding in my ears.

2487
03:17:38,200 --> 03:17:41,360
And forced myself to step back from the body. My

2488
03:17:41,479 --> 03:17:44,399
legs moved, but my eyes didn't want to leave him.

2489
03:17:45,479 --> 03:17:47,479
I had to blink a few times to break whatever

2490
03:17:47,600 --> 03:17:51,520
spell I had fallen under. The flashlight trembled in my hand.

2491
03:17:52,120 --> 03:17:54,319
I wiped the back of my wrist against.

2492
03:17:53,959 --> 03:17:58,559
Speaker 1: My mouth and breathed through my teeth. Then I heard

2493
03:17:58,559 --> 03:18:05,280
it faint, scrape something against the rock. The sound came again,

2494
03:18:06,159 --> 03:18:11,959
then another higher, pitched from a different direction. I froze,

2495
03:18:12,200 --> 03:18:17,639
my grip on the flashlight tightened. I turned slowly, shining

2496
03:18:17,680 --> 03:18:24,680
the beam toward the sound. Nothing. I took one step back.

2497
03:18:25,559 --> 03:18:30,000
The beam shifted. I was when something darted across the

2498
03:18:30,079 --> 03:18:33,959
far wall, just outside the edge of the light. I

2499
03:18:34,040 --> 03:18:39,280
blur gray and low. I turned the light quickly, but

2500
03:18:39,399 --> 03:18:44,360
it was already gone. Another shape followed, cutting across the

2501
03:18:44,479 --> 03:18:48,760
dust ahead of me. My eyes couldn't track it fast enough.

2502
03:18:50,639 --> 03:18:56,120
There was more than one I kept my feet planted,

2503
03:18:56,520 --> 03:19:03,319
trying to count the echoes of movement, maybe four. None

2504
03:19:03,360 --> 03:19:06,520
of them made a sound I could identify, just the

2505
03:19:06,600 --> 03:19:09,479
soft scrape of nails and the drag of their limbs

2506
03:19:09,520 --> 03:19:13,799
brushing loose gravel. With these the things that had done

2507
03:19:13,879 --> 03:19:19,319
this to Uncle, I couldn't know for sure. I crouched

2508
03:19:19,360 --> 03:19:23,879
slightly and angled the light across the walls. They weren't climbing,

2509
03:19:24,440 --> 03:19:27,959
but they were getting closer, hugging the edges of the chamber,

2510
03:19:28,440 --> 03:19:35,079
staying just outside the illumination. Wherever they were, they didn't

2511
03:19:35,120 --> 03:19:39,840
want to be seen. I thought of something Warren once

2512
03:19:39,879 --> 03:19:44,559
told me. Most animals don't want to fight. If you

2513
03:19:44,639 --> 03:19:48,879
scare them, they wait, but if you run, they chase.

2514
03:19:51,000 --> 03:19:53,200
It had been drawing a story about a coyote that

2515
03:19:53,280 --> 03:19:56,719
followed him for two miles. I remember the way he

2516
03:19:56,760 --> 03:20:00,680
had spoken, then, calm, like it was more important to

2517
03:20:00,760 --> 03:20:06,239
think than to react. I could hear scuttling again, louder now,

2518
03:20:07,319 --> 03:20:12,559
so I stayed calm and tested my theory. I flicked

2519
03:20:12,600 --> 03:20:19,680
the flashlight off. The darkness was instant, complete, just pressure

2520
03:20:19,680 --> 03:20:25,639
and sound. The scratching grew sharper, closer. I could feel

2521
03:20:25,680 --> 03:20:30,600
them now, small, displacements in the air, loose pebbles shifting

2522
03:20:30,680 --> 03:20:35,399
near my boots. Clenched my jaw, counted silently to four,

2523
03:20:36,879 --> 03:20:41,760
and snapped the beam back on. The light cut through

2524
03:20:41,760 --> 03:20:45,840
the dark like a blade. One of them froze mid movement.

2525
03:20:47,879 --> 03:20:53,920
For a split second I saw it. It had crept

2526
03:20:53,959 --> 03:20:57,680
within six feet of me, crouched low, body compressed in

2527
03:20:57,719 --> 03:21:00,840
a tense arch. It skided it off when the light

2528
03:21:00,920 --> 03:21:04,000
hit it. Its limbs locked in place for a fraction of

2529
03:21:04,040 --> 03:21:08,479
a second. Muscles coiled but frozen. The skin on his

2530
03:21:08,639 --> 03:21:14,200
back was patchy and raw, hairless, pink and gray. The

2531
03:21:14,239 --> 03:21:17,799
skin across the skull had been stretched. It looked almost

2532
03:21:17,879 --> 03:21:21,879
human from the silhouette, but it had no eyebrows or cheekbones.

2533
03:21:22,959 --> 03:21:27,520
The flesh sat low, sagging slightly under its weight. It

2534
03:21:27,639 --> 03:21:30,000
reminded me of moles we used to see in the garden,

2535
03:21:30,719 --> 03:21:34,879
but wrong in proportions. The head was too large, the

2536
03:21:35,000 --> 03:21:39,959
jaw too wide. The eyes were small, swollen and dark

2537
03:21:40,719 --> 03:21:44,600
with the sclarer had a watery gleam. They didn't reflect

2538
03:21:44,600 --> 03:21:49,799
the light. They resisted it. I watched as the pupils

2539
03:21:49,879 --> 03:21:57,000
constricted into pinholes. It shrieked, not loud, but high and shaking.

2540
03:21:58,159 --> 03:22:00,840
Then it turned and vanished into the rock behind it,

2541
03:22:01,280 --> 03:22:05,760
slipping through a narrow gap I hadn't seen before. A

2542
03:22:05,799 --> 03:22:11,719
moment later, another shape followed it, then another. My hands

2543
03:22:11,760 --> 03:22:15,319
were soaked in sweat, even through the fabric of my sleeves.

2544
03:22:16,200 --> 03:22:19,440
My heart hammered so loud I almost missed the next sound.

2545
03:22:21,360 --> 03:22:28,239
I turned and ran. All those quiet lessons about staying

2546
03:22:28,280 --> 03:22:33,719
calm and holding your ground evaporated. Every animal documentary, an

2547
03:22:33,920 --> 03:22:37,600
educational video i'd ever watched, crumbled under the sound of

2548
03:22:37,719 --> 03:22:43,120
claws skittering against stone. I ran hard, light, swinging in

2549
03:22:43,200 --> 03:22:47,319
frantic arcs across the tunnel walls. The beam flickered against

2550
03:22:47,399 --> 03:22:51,159
rock and dust and things I could not name. My

2551
03:22:51,239 --> 03:22:55,520
bag clipped the side of the cave. I stumbled, caught myself,

2552
03:22:55,719 --> 03:23:00,200
and kept moving. I heard them hiss behind me. A

2553
03:23:00,280 --> 03:23:05,159
sharp click followed close to my left, then another above.

2554
03:23:06,319 --> 03:23:09,760
One of them was moving across the ceiling. I heard

2555
03:23:09,799 --> 03:23:12,159
the scrape of its limbs and the dull thood of

2556
03:23:12,200 --> 03:23:18,040
its body repositioning overhead. I couldn't look. I didn't want

2557
03:23:18,079 --> 03:23:22,559
to see how close it was. My lungs burned, my

2558
03:23:22,680 --> 03:23:26,360
throat felt raw. The air was heavy and damp and thick,

2559
03:23:26,399 --> 03:23:30,479
with the scent of something. I could see the narrow

2560
03:23:30,520 --> 03:23:34,200
path ahead, the one I had come through the tunnel.

2561
03:23:34,239 --> 03:23:38,000
I never felt so long. The beam of my flashlight

2562
03:23:38,079 --> 03:23:43,959
hit the rock just ahead. That was when one lunged.

2563
03:23:45,280 --> 03:23:47,959
It came from the dark on my right, a blur

2564
03:23:48,120 --> 03:23:51,959
of pale limbs and teeth. I turned just enough to

2565
03:23:52,000 --> 03:23:55,719
avoid it. Its claws raked the cave wall and sent

2566
03:23:55,760 --> 03:23:59,559
a cascade of dust across my shoulder. I threw my

2567
03:23:59,600 --> 03:24:04,920
weight forward, pushed off the ground, and ran harder. Then

2568
03:24:04,959 --> 03:24:12,680
another dropped from above. I screamed. It missed barely. It

2569
03:24:12,760 --> 03:24:17,079
hit the floor behind me and skidded, claws dragging. I

2570
03:24:17,159 --> 03:24:21,479
didn't stop. I knew they were closing in. I felt

2571
03:24:21,479 --> 03:24:24,239
the weight of them behind me, pressing the air forward,

2572
03:24:24,639 --> 03:24:31,799
shrinking the distance between us. Then claws wrapped around my leg.

2573
03:24:33,280 --> 03:24:36,840
My body slammed into the ground. The impact drove the

2574
03:24:36,879 --> 03:24:39,920
air from my lungs. The flashlight bounced out to my

2575
03:24:40,000 --> 03:24:43,920
grip and rolled across the stone. The beams swung wildly,

2576
03:24:44,360 --> 03:24:49,440
strobing through the cave in broken fragments. I kicked my

2577
03:24:49,520 --> 03:24:53,479
heel caught something the grip and my leg tightened, pulling

2578
03:24:54,600 --> 03:24:57,639
I clawed at the ground. My fingers found nothing but

2579
03:24:57,760 --> 03:25:02,799
dust and sharp gravel. Another shape moved in from the left, crawling,

2580
03:25:02,879 --> 03:25:08,319
low eyes leaking, its jaw clicked open, saliva dripping from

2581
03:25:08,360 --> 03:25:13,319
the mouth of a mole. A distorted melody warped by

2582
03:25:13,399 --> 03:25:19,120
decades of overuse, blasted through the cave. Mechanical static layered

2583
03:25:19,239 --> 03:25:25,840
over digital tones. The motor roller it had slid from

2584
03:25:25,879 --> 03:25:29,120
my jacket pocket when I hit the floor. The antenna

2585
03:25:29,280 --> 03:25:34,200
stuck at an angle. The screen glowed. We were close

2586
03:25:34,319 --> 03:25:37,799
enough to the surface. Now it had found a signal.

2587
03:25:39,680 --> 03:25:45,600
Everything it had missed, calls, voicemails, alert had come through

2588
03:25:45,719 --> 03:25:52,639
at once, dozens, maybe hundreds. The speaker vibrated against the stone.

2589
03:25:52,959 --> 03:25:58,920
Every sound echoed through the tunnel, magnified tenfold. I'd always

2590
03:25:58,920 --> 03:26:02,920
marked the ring tone, a broken remix of old midiphiles,

2591
03:26:03,000 --> 03:26:08,440
layered with sirens and overlapping voice prompts. It sounded awful.

2592
03:26:10,360 --> 03:26:13,239
The thing on my legs shrieked and let go. Its

2593
03:26:13,360 --> 03:26:16,799
arms snapped up to shield its head. The one crawling

2594
03:26:16,879 --> 03:26:21,319
towards me recoiled, clawing at its skull. Both of them

2595
03:26:21,360 --> 03:26:25,319
backed away from the phone, their bodies twisting against the walls,

2596
03:26:25,840 --> 03:26:30,040
trying to escape the sound. One slammed into the rock

2597
03:26:30,200 --> 03:26:34,799
so hard dust exploded from the ceiling. Another scraped at

2598
03:26:34,840 --> 03:26:38,239
its own ears, tearing shallow furrows into the sides of

2599
03:26:38,280 --> 03:26:43,719
its head. The ring tone kept playing. The cave vibrated

2600
03:26:43,760 --> 03:26:48,520
with it. Loops of distorted melody collided with incoming alert

2601
03:26:48,840 --> 03:26:53,079
and static grid and voicemails. I pushed myself up and

2602
03:26:53,120 --> 03:26:56,520
grabbed the flashlight. The beam caught one of the creature's

2603
03:26:56,520 --> 03:27:01,000
mid turn. It screamed and scrambled back into the dark.

2604
03:27:02,840 --> 03:27:06,040
The crack of the cliff side was ahead. I threw

2605
03:27:06,120 --> 03:27:10,959
myself through it, shoulders, slamming into the stone on either side.

2606
03:27:11,319 --> 03:27:14,079
The cold air outside hit my face and chest like

2607
03:27:14,120 --> 03:27:17,719
a tide. I dropped to my knees on the gravel

2608
03:27:17,760 --> 03:27:26,200
slope just beyond the entrance, but above me sunlight. I

2609
03:27:26,280 --> 03:27:32,120
looked up and saw the sky. I never found the

2610
03:27:32,159 --> 03:27:35,239
courage to go back. I wish I could say I

2611
03:27:35,280 --> 03:27:39,680
went back in there retrieved my uncle's body, but I

2612
03:27:39,760 --> 03:27:44,399
was scared. I gave an anonymous tip to the police.

2613
03:27:44,639 --> 03:27:48,200
They found the body, and later the cave was sealed

2614
03:27:48,200 --> 03:27:53,200
off because it was deemed too dangerous. The official story

2615
03:27:53,719 --> 03:27:56,680
was a lonely hermit, losing his life in a cave.

2616
03:27:59,239 --> 03:28:00,280
But I knew better.