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Speaker 1: It started on the third floor of an old apartment

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building I just moved into. The place was cheap, like

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what's the catch?

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Speaker 2: Cheap?

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Speaker 1: But I was broken, desperate, and appealing wallpaper didn't scare

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me nearly as much as student loans. First night, I

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lit up to celebrate a new highbrid Caleb gave me

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called dejau blue blueberry forward, heavy in the brain with

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slow rolling body buzz. He told me, smoke this and

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watch who shows up. I thought he meant hunger or paranoia,

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but it was something else entirely.

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Speaker 3: I took a long hit by the crack kitchen.

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Speaker 1: Window and exhaled into the moonlight. That's when I heard it,

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three slow knocks at my front door. No one knew

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I lived here. When I opened a door, he was

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just standing there, tall, pale, wearing a faded brown coat,

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his face off like it was built from memories that

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didn't quite match.

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Speaker 3: He smiled tight and unblinking.

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Speaker 2: Evening He said, just wanted to see if you remember me.

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Speaker 1: I blinked, Do do I know you? Or have we

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met before? I asked, brain swimming and smoking confusion. His

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smile twitched wider.

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Speaker 2: Yes.

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Speaker 1: Then he turned and walked down the hall, disappearing into

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the stairwell without another word. The next night, I smoked again,

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same strain, same window, three knocks.

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Speaker 3: I froze. This time I didn't open the door. Instead,

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I peered through the people.

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Speaker 1: Nothing there. I exhaled and turned around. He was standing

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in my kitchen, same coat, same crooked grin. He tilted

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his head.

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Speaker 2: Do I know you or have we met before?

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Speaker 3: My skin crawled. No, you're not supposed to be here.

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He stepped closer.

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Speaker 2: But you invited me in every time you smoked that strain,

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and you opened the door wider.

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Speaker 1: I tried to back away, but my legs didn't move,

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like I was watching some one else's dream from inside

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their skull.

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Speaker 3: Then I blinked. He was gone. I tried to stop.

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Speaker 1: Next morning, I flushed the rest of daj out, blew

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down the toilet, got rid of the lighter, but the

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apartment still smelled like it, like the smoke had soaked

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into the walls. When I closed my eyes, I heard

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the knock. When I tried to sleep, I dreamt of

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his face, stitched.

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Speaker 3: From old memories.

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Speaker 1: One day I woke up and found a joint perfectly

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rolled on my night stand, lit burning slowly calling me.

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I caved, smoked it down to the filter. Everything melted,

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Walls shifted, windows blinked. My own reflection looked disappointed. Then

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three knocks, not at the door inside my head.

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Speaker 3: I turned.

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Speaker 1: He was there again, closer than ever. His skin rippled,

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and for a moment I saw my own face underneath.

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Speaker 2: You don't remember me yet, he asked, I was you

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long ago the first time you smoked it?

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Speaker 1: He reached out, touched my chest, and then he said,

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welcome back. After that, night time stopped behaving correctly. Morning

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would come without warning, light bleeding to the blinds like

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an accusation, and I'd be sitting in a chair I

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don't remember pulling out ashes piled high and an astray.

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I didn't own no joint in my hand, but my

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lungs they burned like I'd been smoking all night. The

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mirror in the bathroom stopped reflecting me properly. Sometimes my

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eyes blinked a half a second too late. Sometimes the

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mouth smiled when I didn't. Once I leaned close.

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Speaker 3: And whispered, are you there?

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Speaker 1: The reflection answered softly, yes. I tried leaving the apartment.

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The hallway stretched longer than it should have doors, repeating numbers,

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shifting three C, becoming three B, then three C again.

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The exit sign flickered, spelling remember instead of exit. A

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neighbor passed me, an older woman with hollow cheeks and

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shaking hands.

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Speaker 3: She avoided my eyes.

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Speaker 1: You smoked the blue stuff, right, she muttered as she

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shuffled by.

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Speaker 3: I grabbed her sleeve. What happens here? She swallowed.

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Speaker 1: You don't leave, you get replaced. Before I could ask more,

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she knocked on the door that looked exactly like mine.

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Speaker 3: Three times. The door opened from the inside.

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Speaker 1: She screamed as the smoke swallowed her. The door closed

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and the hallway shortened again. I needed answers, so I

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called Kleb. He didn't remember giving me the strain, not

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this time.

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Speaker 4: What are you talking about, he said, Gage all blue,

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nah Man, that was a limited one years ago. Pulled

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it after people started claiming weird shit, memory loss, disassociation,

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seeing doubles.

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Speaker 3: My stomach twisted. Who grew it? There was a pause.

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Speaker 4: No one knows cut your showed up like it been everywhere.

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Speaker 1: Before he could say more, the line filled with static

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through it. I heard knocking, Caleb screamed.

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Speaker 2: Once er.

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Speaker 1: I found a hidden behind the radiator a notebook swollen

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with age and smoke stingers. Inside were names, dozens of them,

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all written in different hands, all ending with the same sentence,

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Do I know you?

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Speaker 3: Or have we met before? The last page was.

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Speaker 1: Blank, except for my name already written below it. Fresh

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ink slowly bled into the paper.

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Speaker 3: Forming new words. You're late that night. I didn't smoke.

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I didn't need to. The apartment exhaled for me.

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Speaker 1: Smoke pored on the vents, the sockets, the cracks in

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the walls. The door knocked itself, three slow raps, echoing

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from everywhere at once.

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Speaker 3: He stepped out of my shadow.

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Speaker 1: No coat now, no disguise, just me, older, thinner eyes,

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burning out by repetition.

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Speaker 2: I was the first tenant, he said, and the last.

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The strain doesn't trap people, It traps versions.

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Speaker 1: He leaned in close, breath freaking of blueberries and ash.

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Speaker 2: Every time someone smokes it here, they don't see me,

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They see who they're going to become.

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Speaker 1: I tried to scream instead, I spoke his words. My

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body moved without asking. He stepped backwards into me, like

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slipping into a jacket. The room steadied, The panic faded

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when it was over. I stood alone by the window,

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smoke curling lazily around my head. Somewhere deep inside me.

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Someone knocked. I smiled, tight and unblinking. The next tenant

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arrived the following evening, young, nervous, broke. I watched them

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light up at the crack kitchen window, eyes wide with relief.

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The smoke turned blue. I knocked on the door three times.

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When they opened it, I smiled and asked a question

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that felt older than language. Do I know you or

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have we met before? The building is still cheap, still

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smells like blueberries, and regret still available. If you ever

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need somewhere to disappear, or somewhere that already knows you,

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just light up.

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Speaker 3: I'll be waiting