WEBVTT
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Total darkness, no memory of how you got there, and
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something else in the room with you. Tonight, we follow
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one man's descent into the dark as he struggles to
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survive a nightmare where the only thing worse than not
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knowing what's out there is knowing.
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What's that. You want to be scared, Come with me.
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You will experience tales over opera, ghosts, and death. It
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is not recommended for the week at our tart listen
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as in the dark, it's more fun at that way way.
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This is Weekly Speaking.
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Hello, my spookies, It's Wednesday, and you know what that means.
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It's time for a little spooky in your weekly. I'm
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your host and narrator, Enrique Kuto, and tonight we have
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a darkly terrifying story to dive into. But before we
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get to that, I want to say thank you all
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so very much for joining me tonight. If it's your
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first time, I assure you will have something to scare
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you right here every single week, So make sure you're
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subscribed on your favorite podcasting app like Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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And while you're at it, why not leave us a
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five star rating. It would mean a lot to us
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and help other spookies discover the program. And speaking of
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other spookies, we have a little community we like to
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hang out at over on Facebook at Weekly Spooky Tomb
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of Terror. It's free to join. All you have to
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do is type in Weekly Spooky's Tomb of Terror and
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you can join myself, many of our authors and other
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spookies just like you. It's Weekly Spooky's Tomb of Terror
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over on Facebook. And if you love what we're doing
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so much, you want to support us and get two
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bonus episodes every single month, head to Weeklyspooky dot com
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slash Join for as little as one dollar a month.
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You get the two bonus episodes, exclusive audiobooks and creepypasta readings,
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and so much more. That's Weeklyspooky dot Com slash Join.
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But now for the topic at hand. What's the worst
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thing you could wake up to A nightmare, a bad memory,
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or maybe nothing at all. Imagine opening your eyes and
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seeing nothing, no light, no shapes, just pitch black emptiness
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stretching forever. Now, imagine hearing something breathing in that same darkness,
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something big, something close. Tonight's story is about a person
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who wakes up in a place they don't remember, with
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no way out. And it begins after this. I woke
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in a dark room. Something horrible was in there with me.
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By Michael Kelso. Darkness engulfs me. It devours me like
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the creature I fear most. I try opening my eyes,
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but there's no difference. All I see is total black nothingness.
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It wouldn't be so bad if I weren't deathly terrified
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of the dark. At home, there's never a time when
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I allow darkness to fully overwhelm the light. I have
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night lights and security lights lining every hall and in
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every room. I'm never one hundred percent in the dark.
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That is until now I feel beads of sweat forming
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on my forehead at the mere thought of what could
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be lurking in the inky blackness that envelops me. Even
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the most mundane holds terror when you can't see it,
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but your mind tells you it's there. A throng of
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spiders waiting just out of reach to make me its
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next meal, A pit of snakes that you dangle perilously
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close to the precipice. If you can't see, how can
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you tell if your eyes are open or closed. I
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reach down and press my hand against the cold floor,
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that I lay on. I stretch out my fingers, laying
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them flat to feel it. The cold creeps into them,
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its tendrils invading my body like a virus. It feels
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like the darkness is digging through my skin, deeper down
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inside me, to my bones, to my marrow, to my soul.
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I'm lost in this sea of gloom. I don't even
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know where I am. I'm terrified to make a move
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lest I tumble over the invisible edge. I don't know
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how I got here. I don't know where here is.
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I have no idea why I'm here unless. As fearful
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as this mysterious place makes me, the thought of unless
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chills me to the marrow. The darkness is even set
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aside for a moment in my mind, displaced by the unless.
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It seems so long ago, and at the same time,
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it feels like it just happened. The deepest, darkest place
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in my soul, the thing I keep locked up tight,
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never to ponder, let alone discuss, the Unless, is untouchable.
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Only in my worst nightmares does my subconscious toy with
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the idea of the Unless. No, I can't let it
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consume me. My thoughts running rampant won't help me to
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discover what this place is. I must do that first,
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if the miracle of escape is even possible. I slowly
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slide my hand outward as far as it will reach,
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each micro moment, prepared to withdraw it if harm is approached.
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With my senses diminish wish, the only way to search
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for harm is to sacrifice my hand, like sending out
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a scout to see if the area is clear or
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the enemy is close by. My hand reaches its limit unmolested,
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I change direction from straight out to an arc, feeling
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for anything like a one winged snow angel. My hand
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discovers nothing, but the movement has stimulated something of my
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lost senses. I hear the sliding of my fingers on
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the floor's surface. It echoes back to me quickly. I
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try once again, faster and louder. This time. The echoes
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return almost immediately. My mind absorbs the details and makes
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a conclusion. The room must not be very big. It
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augments the conclusion with the supposition that the floor is concrete.
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The smoothness, the cold, and the sound it makes all
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seem to come together. I further test the conclusion by
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forming a fist and knocking on the floor. The sound
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and feel cement the hypotheses. As I congratulate myself on
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my deduction, I hear something, having not moved. I don't
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think the sound came from me. It happened only briefly,
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and I wasn't listening for any sounds outside the ones
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I had made. My mind replayed it and came to
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a startling conclusion. It sounded like a sigh, as if
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someone was my unwitting cellmate in this murky prison. Relief
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and despair fought a furious battle at the prospect of
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another in my company that I know nothing about. Company
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in this tenebrous place would be a welcome happenstance. It
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may even lead to our escape if we work together. However,
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if I am here about the unless, then what horrid
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crime had they committed to be relegated to this torturous existence.
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Caution seemed the most prudent course. Perhaps my cellmate was
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unaware of my existence. Keeping it that way until I
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could discover more seemed a prudent goal. Armed with the
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knowledge of the floor's composition and the existence of a
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potential cellmate, I set about to gather more information about
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my surroundings. I rolled onto my back slowly, so as
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not to make any noise that would alert the other
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to my presence. I then used my other arm to
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search for any obstructions within its arc. Finding none, I
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proceeded to move my legs as far to the side
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as possible, completing my concrete angel next on my list
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for this absurd exploration, I slowly rolled over onto my stomach,
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making sure to feel as far out with my hand
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should a sudden drop off present itself unannounced and end
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my journey in the most horrific fashion. Finding nothing to
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impede my progress, I took the next step of taking
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my first step. As I did, my shoe brushed the floor,
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making a sound that under normal circumstances would barely be noticed. However,
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I wasn't in normal circumstances. The effect was immediate and terrifying.
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This time, there was no sigh. No, it was a
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low throated growl.
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Don't go away, weakly, spooky, will be right back.
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I became a statue as liquid nitrogen rushed through my veins.
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The growl was deep and throaty, like a lion's, only
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somehow different. Every inch of my being clenched into a
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group effort to stay as still as humanly possible. My
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hope was that this thing would think it had made
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a mistake and hadn't heard the move of its next
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potential meal. It was more than a hope, it was
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the key to my survival. The problem was I was
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trapped in a position kneeling on one knee about to
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get up. My knee on the hard floor was starting
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to complain, and I knew it was only a matter
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of time until my balance wavered. I couldn't hold this
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position for long. I was already starting to shake from
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the effort. My balance was teetering. Beads of sweat formed
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on my forehead. I hoped it couldn't smell fear, because
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I was throwing out waves of it. My leg was shaking,
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my knee was screaming. I had to make a decision.
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Do I sit back down or go all the way
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to standing. Whichever I did needed to happen fast before
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my knee gave out and I collapsed to the floor
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in a noisy heap. I decided to stand. Putting one
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hand on my knee and the other on the floor,
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I pushed up and descended as I rose, my knee popped.
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It wasn't painful, but it was loud in this quiet room,
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so loud that it echoed back to me. I made
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it all the way to the standing position before I
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heard the growl again. This time, it was followed by
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sounds that were much worse. First was a sniffing sound,
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as if it was testing the air, searching for its prey.
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The second was the soft, yet unmistakable sound of a footstep.
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I didn't breathe as I waited to hear another. I
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listened for any sound, and unfortunately I heard one. It
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was this thing's breath. It was long and slow, as
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if the monster's lungs were huge to accommodate a massive body.
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The sniffing continued, but the second footfall didn't come. Perhaps
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it was confused as to why it was here. I
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was never so glad about the darkness as at that
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very moment. I was still terrified, but at least the
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darkness had become my ally, if only for a moment,
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I couldn't see the monster, which was a blessing in itself.
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My imagination was already picturing the most horrendous, demonic thing
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that ever cursed the planet with its existence. But the
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darkness was a double edged sword. It couldn't see me either.
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If I stayed quiet enough, it might write me off
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as nothing more than a figment of its imagination. With
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only rhythmic breathing and no sound of pursuit, I took
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my first standing step away from the beast with measured
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and calculated caution. I stepped away from the sound of
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my bane and felt silently and carefully with the toe
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of my shoe to make sure there was indeed a
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floor to step onto. My foot landed with the impact
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of a feather. I transferred weight to that leg and
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stepped with the other. With the lights on and no
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demon waiting to devour me, my motions would have been
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quite comical, as the situation was, they were anything, but
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I continued the arduous task of silent escape, listening intently
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for any change in the monster's breathing. Time had no
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meaning in this place, but if I were to guess,
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I would say it took me nearly half an hour
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to take ten steps. The eleventh step, however, was the problem.
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When I put my foot out, it hit something I
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immediately froze. I couldn't tell if the something had been
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hard like a table, or soft like another creature lying
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in wait for some poor, stupid person to stumble into it.
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I drew my foot back and waited to see if
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whatever it was reacted. The darkness didn't abate. At times,
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I considered holding my eyes closed, at least that would
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keep them hydrated. For some reason, it also seemed to
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help my focus. I listened for any sign that this
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object was alive and or about to devour me. After
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a few moments, the only sound I heard was my
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own breathing. I tentatively stuck out my foot and touched
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the object again. It was hard and unyielding. I reached
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out with my arm and also touched something solid. I
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felt around on it and bent down all the way
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to the floor. It was a wall. The rough texture
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and ridges told me it was made of concrete block.
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I reached as high as I could, even getting on
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my tiptoes, trying to find anything useful. I explored the wall,
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feeling my way to the right until I reached a corner.
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As tempted as I was to turn and feel down
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this new wall, I knew it ended on the side
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of the room where the monster dwelled. I had no
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desire to approach that thing without light and a very
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deadly weapon. As much as my fingers had become my eyes,
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my ears became my sonar, staying tuned to any sound.
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To this point, there hadn't been much that didn't last.
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There was a shuffling sound that made me freeze. It
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was followed by the sounds of scraping on the concrete floor.
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Its soft breathing had gotten deeper and steadier. It was
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getting up. I stood in my corner, not moving, barely
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breathing as I heard one soft footstep after another, getting
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louder with each step. It was curious about the other
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side of the room, my side of the room. I
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had to focus, not to give it a strong smell
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to follow. I hadn't used the bathroom in hours, not
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that there was a bathroom in here that I knew of,
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but I would have used the other corner and then
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never returned to it until nature called again. As the
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monster continued across the room, I could hear sniffing. It
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was hunting for me.
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You're not safe yet, weekly Spooky will be right back.
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My nerves told me to run. My mind told me
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to stand still, my bladder didn't care as long as
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it was emptied. Soon, the footsteps continued to approach. There
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was no doubt it was searching for me, and it
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would find me. My mind ran through every option available.