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Speaker 1: If you grow up in the city, adventure is something

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you watch on a screen. You sit in front of

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a TV watching kids your age climb trees, build forts,

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sneak through the woods with flashlights. You see them find

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things you could only dream of, exploring, hidden and forgotten

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places one's adults don't go to. But when you step outside,

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there's no wilderness waiting for you, No abandoned cabins with

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secrets inside. Just endless concrete sidewalks, chain link fences, apartment rooftops,

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dead ended alleys, a world where every inch of space

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is mapped, numbered, owned by someone else. The closest thing

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to adventure was jumping between buildings, sneaking into construction sites,

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tagging a name on walls that won't be there in

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a year. It wasn't enough, not for Liam. I've known

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Liam since we were kids. He was always the loudest

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voice in the room, the one with the biggest ideas.

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He could make you believe in something just because he did.

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If Liam said We're going to sneak into the old

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rawyard and see if we can get on top of

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a train before it moves, then yeah, you were going

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to do it. If he said this abandoned apartment tower

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is safe to climb, no one ever checks inside. You

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trusted him, and most of the time he was right. Ethan,

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on the other hand, was the opposite. He was quiet, thoughtful,

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always last to agree, but he never backed out. Here

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we stood just behind Liam and I, arms crossed, scowling,

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always looking like he was seconds away from saying this

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is stupid, but ever actually did. Ethan didn't love the

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things we did, but he loved being there. I fell

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somewhere between them. Liam led, Ethan hesitated, and I was

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the one who said, screw it, let's go. That was

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our balance. That was how it had always been until

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Liam said I think I know what we should do,

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and we said what And he said, let's get out

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of the city. We were sitting on the roof of

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a half finished apartment complex, watching cars blur below us,

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the hummer the city swallowing our words. Liam was scrolling

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through his phone, flicking between photos of forests, lakes, abandoned

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buildings half swallowed by trees. This is what we're missing,

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he said. We waste all our time sneaking into places

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that suck. Look at this, actual abandoned places out in

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the woods. No cameras, no fences. We should do this.

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He want us to go camping, Ethan asked, skeptical, not

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camping exploring. Ethan sighed, how do you even find a

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place like that? I already did, Liam said, grinning. He

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turned his phone, showing us a grainy satellite image a

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patch of woods just past the city limits, near an old,

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unnamed road. There's something there, a building or I don't know,

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but no one goes out that way, no one talks

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about it. It's just there, sitting in the middle of nowhere.

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How do you know it's not private property? I asked,

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How do you know it isn't? Liam shot back. Ethan scoffed,

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that's a solid argument, dude, really air tight. Liam ignored him,

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leaning forward, eyes bright. Come on, just one trip. We

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leave Saturday morning, check it out, and come back before dark,

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just like the kids in the movies. Just one time.

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I could see it in his face. He'd already decided,

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and part of me already knew that I had as well.

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Ethan sighed, shaking his head, but he didn't say no.

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The weekend came and we went. It felt weird stepping

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onto a bus that took us away from the city

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instead of deeper into it, watching the skyline shrink behind us,

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disappearing behind hills and stretches of open road. I caught

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Ethan staring at the window, watching the trees go past,

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hands clenched on his backpack straps. Liam was grinning. He

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kept checking his phone, double checking the location he'd found.

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Almost there, he said, eyes shining. The bus let us

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off at a half empty gas station where the only

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road aheads stretched into the trees. It felt different here.

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The air was quieter, almost peaceful, like we had stepped

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out of our world and into another. Liam was the

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first to walk toward the tree line, sneakers crunching against

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the dirt. Let's go, he said. We followed. The woods

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were bigger than I expected, not just taller, but deeper.

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The city was all about height, skyscrapers, bridges, endless metals

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stacked toward the sky. This was different. It fell old

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and alive. The trees stretched high above us, branches twisting

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like veanes against the sky. The air was cooler here,

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thick with a scent of dirt and pine. The only

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sounds were her own footsteps, the occasional snap of a branch,

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and the distant hum of something unseen when through leaves,

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or something else entirely. For the first time in my life,

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I felt small, and from the look on Liam's face,

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he'd never felt bigger. See he said, spinning in a

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slow circle, arms outstretched like he was soaking it in.

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This is what I'm talking about, this is what we've

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been missing, Ethan muttered as he kicked a rock, but

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I could tell even he was feeling it. We ran

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through the trees like kids, throwing rocks into a half

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dried stream, scaling fallen logs like we were climbing mountains.

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At one point, Liam grabbed a branch, swinging from it

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like Tarzan, whooping before dropping into a pile of leaves.

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We were in it, a real adventure. For once. This

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wasn't something we were watching on a screen. We were

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living it. And then Liam found the building we'd been

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looking for. It was almost hidden, swallowed by the trees.

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At first, it looked like a hill covered in vines

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and dead leaves, like the forest that tried to pull

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it underground to erase it. But then I saw the

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edges of a structure, concrete cracked and weathered, barely visible

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through the overgrowth, and when Liam puts forward, brushing aside

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the vines, the truth became clear. It was a building,

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half buried, lopsided like it had sunk into the earth,

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a sagging roof, broken windows, and a doorway gaping open

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into darkness. Liam's eyes went wide. He stepped forward, running

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a hand along the crumbling wall. This is it, he

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exclaimed with joy. Ethan stiffened. What there was some urban legend,

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Liam said, absently, still staring at it, someplace in the

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woods where I don't know people used to go and

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never come back. Ethan scoffed, cool, that's real comforting, man.

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But Liam wasn't listening. He was already walking toward the entrance.

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I felt something shift in my stomach, a feeling like

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we had stepped over an invisible line, like up until

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now we had been on safe ground, liam, Ethan called,

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his voice sharpened. Now maybe we should But Liam had

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already stepped inside, and like always, we followed inside. The

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air felt wrong, not just stale, just still. We could

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tell no one had set foot in air for years,

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maybe decades. The floor was covered in dust, except for

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where rain had dripped through the cracks in the ceiling.

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Leaving dark water log stains. The walls were made of

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concrete and rusted metal beams, part of them buckling inward,

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threatening to collapse. A long hallway stretched ahead of us,

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dark doorways gaping open, leading deeper into the unknown. And

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yet despite all of that, Liam was grinning. This is insane,

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he said, stepping forward, his voice echoing through the empty space,

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Like how the hell has no one found this? Maybe

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because they don't want to, Ethan muttered. Liam ignored him.

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He ran his hand along the walls, kicking had a

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fallen chair. The sounds sharp in the silence. You feel that,

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he asked, looking over his shoulder. That energy like something

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big happened here. Ethan scoffed. Yeah, pretty sure. The big

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thing was time and gravity. Dude, this place is falling apart.

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Come on, Liam said, still grinning. A little imagination never

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hurt anyone. For the first few minutes, it was fun.

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We kicked through old furniture, picked up faded scraps of

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paper that had long since become unreadable, made up stories

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about what this place used to be. An old military bunker,

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a cold tied out a secret government lab. The only

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thing we were missing to truly make this a movie

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was a big camera. But then after a while Ethan

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stopped playing along. I noticed it when he started hanging back,

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keeping his arms crossed, not really looking around anymore. Liam

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noticed it too. Okay, what's up with you, Liam said,

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turning to him. We finally get to do something cool,

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and you're standing there like a dog just died. Ethan

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didn't respond right away, Then finally he let out a

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slow breath. You ever noticed how this happens every time time,

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he said, voice quieter than before. You always find something

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fun to do, and at first, yeah, it's great, but

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then you always always push it too far. Liam's grin

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flickered for half a second. What are you talking about?

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You don't know when to stop. Ethan shifted his weight,

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running a hand through his hair, like that time with

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the train yard, or when we climbed that tower and

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the stairs gave out. Well, heck this, we should have

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turned back before even got on the bus. Lilliam's face

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darkened like Ethan had crossed the line. But then instead

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of snapping back, Liam hesitated, And that alone was weird

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enough to make me feel weird. He exhaled through his nose,

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looking down at the ground. You ever think, Liam said

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slowly that maybe I don't want to stop. Ethan frowned.

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What Liam stuffed his hands in his pockets. You think

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I don't know when I'm pushing things too far? His

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voice was quiet. I know I always know silence. Ethan

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and I exchanged the glance for once. Liam wasn't boasting,

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he wasn't brushing it off. He was being honest. I

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just Liam ran a hand over his face. I don't

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like being home, okay, It's like every time I'm there,

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I feel like I can't He stopped, readjusting his posture.

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Then finally, I just don't want to feel the way

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I feel at home. The words hung there for a moment.

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None of us spoke. Ethan looked like he wanted to

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say something, maybe something important, But before he could, something moved,

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a rustling noise somewhere deeper into the building. All three

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of us froze. William's head snapped up. Did you hear that?

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Ethan took a step back. It's probably just this old building,

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you see the state it's in, he muttered, but there

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was no conviction in his voice. Then it happened again,

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a shuffle and a scrape, something was in here with us.

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William's eyes flickered toward the dark hallway ahead. Her shadow

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stretched a long against the far wall, cast by something

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moving just out of sight. Ethan grabbed my arm. Guys,

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let's go, but Liam pushed forward. It's probably just rats,

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he said, but I could hear the edge in his voice. Now,

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come on, we didn't come all this way to turn back. Now,

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we should have turned back, but instead we followed, and

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we went deeper. The deeper we went, the worse the

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air got. It became wet, almost despite the dust, like

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something rotting in the walls. The floor dipped downward, leading

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us to what used to be a staircase. Most of

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it had collapsed, the steps crumbling into a mess of

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broken concrete and rusted metal, but at the bottom, barely

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visible in the dinner light, a lower level, a basement

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half submerged in stagnant water. Liam turned back to us,

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eyes alight with curiosity. Okay, he grinned, this is actually

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kind of sick. Ethan stood stiffly behind him, arms crossed

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tight or hear me out, we don't go into the

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creepy basement, and instead we turn around and go home.

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Liam laughed, Come on, man, you've never wanted to find

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something real. Ethan's jaw tightened, but Liam wasn't waiting for

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an answer. He crouched near the edge of the staircase,

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gripping one of the railings and peering down into the darkness.

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Then he made a face holy. He pointed at something

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on the ground. I stepped closer and felt my stomach

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chin scattered across the bottom of the stairs were rats,

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not just stared mutilated. Some were half drowned in the

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stagnant water, their small bodies bloated in misshapen. Others lay

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twisted and broken, their furs slick with something dark and drying.

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They hadn't been eaten. Something killed them then left them.

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I took a slow step back, pulse pounding in my throat.

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If it wasn't the rats that made that noise earlier,

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then Ethan excelled, sharply, rubbing his hands down his face.

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Then what made that noise was whatever did this to

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the rat? A rabbit animal? We should really get out now, Liam,

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though Liam just stared a flicker of doubt, a tiny,

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unspoken realization like the edges of his adventure had suddenly

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sharpened like maybe, just maybe he'd finally pushed too far.

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But then he stopped breathing, not literally, but he froze completely.

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His whole body tensed, his hands gripping the railing tight.

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His lips parted just slightly, like he was about to

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say something but didn't or was too afraid to. Ethan

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frowned Liam. Liam shook his head, not a no, not

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a yes, just a barely. Their movement slow but unsteady,

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A big crash came from behind us, like dynamite exploding.

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My head snapped back. Dust rose up from the stairs

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and slowly settled as we stared. When the noise faded

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into the distance, What was that? Even let out a

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half whisper, half shout. Wait, Liam said, sharply, silence again.

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I didn't understand at first, but then I heard it.

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Something breathing. It wasn't any of us. It came from below,

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from the basement, and as we stood there, frozen, ears straining,

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something shifted, something unfolding itself, something rising. We ran, not

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because we had a plan, not because we thought we

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could get away, because there was nothing else we could do.

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The sound behind us wasn't footsteps. It was worse, a deep,

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cultural clicking, reverberating off the walls, filling every space at once,

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like something shifting, rearranging itself as it moved. I didn't

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look back. I couldn't, but I felt it. I felt

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it breathing down my neck, even though it was nowhere

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near me. The hallway. My head twisted and turned, the

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walls seeming to close in on us, the darkness swallowing

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us whole. My eyes burned. Ethan stumbled, gasping, but Liam

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grabbed his arm yanking him forward. We need the main door,

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I yelled. The way we came in, We turned a corner,

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practically skidding into the entry hall and stopped. The ceiling

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had collapsed. The entire doorway was chocked with debris, thick

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slabs of concrete and rusted beams blocking any way out. No, no, no,

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Ethan gasped, eyes darting frantically. There has to be another way.

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Liam spun, searching, his head snapped upward. There. I followed

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his gaze and saw it. A hole in the ceiling,

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a small opening where the structure had rotted away, just

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wide enough to squeeze through. Hope searched my chest. This

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was it. We could get out. Liam grabbed the edges

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of the broken ceiling and hauled himself up first, grunting

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with effort. He reached down immediately, his fingers closing around

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my wrist. Ryan, come on, I scrambed my feet, scraping

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against the crumbling walls as I kicked off, prushing with

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everything I had, and then I was up. We made it.

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We were going to live. Then I heard Ethan struggle below.

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I turned back, looking down, and my stomach dropped. Ethan

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was too slow. His hands were clawing at the edge,

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trying to pull himself up, but his arms shook violently

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from exhaustion. His sneakers slipped against the slick, broken walls,

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failing to find any purchase. And beneath him, in the dark,

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who was coming? A shadow, twisting, shifting, a blur of

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something impossibly long, impossibly wrong. Liam saw it too, and

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he made his decision before I even realized what was happening.

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Liam looked at me and he smiled. It wasn't cocky

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or forced, like he'd finally found what he was looking for.

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He'll tell a good story about this, he said, and

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dropped back down. Liam landed hard, his feet slammed into

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the hard concrete below, and for a split second I thought,

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for a second that he could still climb back up,

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that this wasn't the end. Then it moved something in

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the dark. It didn't lunge. It unfolded. A shape crawled

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out from the blackness beneath a broken stairwell, stretching tall

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and thin, its body unnatural, wrong. I saw its arms, first,

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long appendages with countless joints, all cracking in unison, fingers

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shaped like hooks. Then its head tilted up. It had

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no eyes or face to speak of, just the smooth

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stretch of bone, white skin, pulled tight over a shape

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that resembled something between human and the dog. It didn't

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make a sound. Liam spun toward Ethan. Go Ethan froze.

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He just stood there, wide eyed, lips moving, but making

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no sound. Liam grabbed him, fingers twisting the fabric of

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Ethan's hoodie, boosting him up. Ethan gasped hands, scrambling for

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the ledge, one foot kicking against Liam's hands, the other

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trying to find a leverage on the bare wall. But

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Liam wouldn't let him fall. With one final heave, he

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threw Ethan up. Ethan crashed over the edge, scrambling away

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on his hands and knees, gasping for breath. Liam I

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reached for him, Both of us did, but it was

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too late. The creature's arms shot forward and Liam screamed.

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He wrapped around his chest with impossible speed, pulling him

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backward and back down to the ground. His body skidded

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against the dry concrete, sending dust and debris into the air.

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He tried grabbing anything on the ground to hoist himself up.

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Ethan reached down as far as he could, so far

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that he would have fallen back in if I hadn't

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caught him. But it wasn't enough. The ceiling creaked under

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our weight. The walls groaned, dust and stone raining down

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from above, shifting beneath our weight, a warning. If we stayed,

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we'd all die. The thing yanked him backward. The ceiling

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gave way a violent crack. Dust exploded into the air,

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chunks of stone crumbling beneath us. Ethan grabbed my arm,

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yanking me back. Liam I tried to scream, but the

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noise of the collapse swallowed his name. We had to run,

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and Liam, Liam couldn't. We ran until our legs gave out.

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We didn't stop the think. We didn't want to through

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the trees, past the empty roads, until the gas station

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came into view, the first sign of normalcy, of civilization.

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By the time we stumbled inside, breathless and shaking, the

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old man behind the counter barely had time to ask

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what was wrong before Ethan collapsed against the shelves, hands

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on his knees, gasping. Call the cops. We told them everything.

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We told them about the building, about the creature, about Liam.

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They didn't dismiss us, but they didn't believe us either,

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just two hysterical kids, filthy and bruised, talking about monsters

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in the dark. Still, they sent a search team out.

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By the time we were allowed to go back to them,

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the sun was rising, the world slowly bleeding back into reality.

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I remember how silent it was standing at the edge

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of the wreckage, because that's all that was left. The

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building had collapsed, a pile of broken concrete, shattered wood,

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twisted metal. The entrance was gone, buried. There was no

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sign a thing, but there was a sign of Liam.

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I saw him first, what was left of him. The

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police had to pull us back, keep us from getting

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too close, but I saw enough. A body crushed beneath

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fallen debris, his face blooded and unrecognizable. Just the boy

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who got trapped in a crumbling building. That's what they said.

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That's what everyone would say. There was an article written

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about it in the local paper. Three kids, when exploring

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somewhere they shouldn't have was the headline. They found an

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abandoned building. They went inside. It collapsed. Two of them

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made it out, one of them didn't. A tragic incident.

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The police called it unstable structures, that they dangerous. You

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boys were lucky. They shook their heads when we told

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them the truth. They told us that there was no creature,

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no thing in the dark. Whatever you thought you saw,

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one of them told us, was just panic. Feared us.

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Weird things to the mind. Ethan and I never spoke

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about it again. Not because we didn't remember, not because

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we didn't think about it every night when the city

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lights flickered through our windows, but because there was no point.

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No one would ever believe us. Maybe it was better

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that way. I could never quite figure out why Liam

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decided to jump back down the way he did not.

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At first, I thought about it constantly, that the final

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moment when his feet hit the ground, when He looked

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at me with that expression of finality as he said

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his last words to me, He'll tell a good story

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about this. The look in his eyes was something I

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couldn't understand. At night, I'd stare at my ceiling, replaying

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it over and over. What did it mean? Why would

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he do that when he knew he was going to die?

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I couldn't ask Ethan. He wasn't talking about it. We

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didn't call for so much as text. The few times

359
00:30:39,279 --> 00:30:41,960
we ran into each other at school, we barely looked

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at one another, like if we didn't acknowledge it, maybe

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it wouldn't be real. And maybe Ethan hadn't heard it

362
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Liam's last words. Maybe he didn't know, but I did,

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and I couldn't let it go. A few weeks later

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I saw Liam's parents. They were walking down a busy street,

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lost in the crowd. I stopped in my tracks, my

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heart slimming against my ribs. I expected them to look different, weaker,

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grief stricken, lost. Instead, they looked normal, not exactly happy,

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00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:36,759
but not broken either. Definitely not the way loving parents

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would look after they'd just lost their child in such

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a tragic way. And they didn't recognize me Liam's best friend,

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the kid who had spent years by his side. They

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walked right past me, no sign of recognition on their faces.

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I was just another face in the city to them.

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That was when it clicked. Liam never liked being at home.

375
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He never talked about it, not directly, but looking back,

376
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all the signs were there. The way he'd always want

377
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to be anywhere else. How he'd never invite us over,

378
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how he'd change the subject at any time we asked,

379
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The way he threw himself into every stupid, reckless adventure,

380
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as if standing still was worse than falling. And that's

381
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when I knew it wasn't just about a thrill. He

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just wanted to escape. Every rooftop, every train yard, every

383
00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:50,039
broken down place we snuck into. It was about something

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more than fun for Liam. He had been running his

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whole life, and in the end he got exactly what

386
00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:06,640
he wanted, the ultimate adventure, a place no one else

387
00:33:06,759 --> 00:33:10,240
would ever go, a place where no one could follow

388
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because it finally escaped