Jan. 3, 2026

Small Town Secrets: Five Horror Stories of Hidden Cults, Monsters, and Dark Rituals

Small Town Secrets: Five Horror Stories of Hidden Cults, Monsters, and Dark Rituals
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Small town horror stories hit different—because everyone knows your name… and everyone is hiding something. In this Weekly Spooky Vault compilation, we dig into Small Town Secrets where quiet streets cover up occult rituals, missing people, backwoods monsters, and ancient things that should’ve stayed buried. Lock your doors, kill the lights, and listen close—because the scariest part is how normal it all looks in daylight.

• I Was Sent to a Small Town Where Strange Things Were Happening — Michael Kelso:
A security specialist arrives in a remote New England “tourist town” and discovers the restoration project is a cover for something older—something that wears faces, erases memories, and waits beneath a church like a heartbeat in the dirt.

• The Devil Reaps the Harvest — John Oak Dalton:
A shady deal at an “abandoned factory” turns into a nightmare chase when buried experiments wake up hungry—dragging a town’s dirty secrets into the open with blood on the asphalt.

• Eh, Real Monsters from NEPA — Michelle Antisocial:
In rural Northeastern Pennsylvania, a bullied new kid, feral dog attacks, and livestock killings spiral into a full-moon panic… until the truth reveals who the real monster has been all along.

• Sin — Rob  Fields:
At Strickfield Academy, a runaway with a stolen uniform finds a forbidden “bible” and embraces something far worse than rebellion—an occult ascension fueled by blood, devotion, and a demon-goddess calling from beyond.

• The God Tongue — Dan Wilder:
A voiceless outcast from Jayden’s Cross hunts in the fog, kills the wrong “stag,” and awakens an ancient lineage—forcing him to speak with voices that aren’t his… for a town that has been listening for centuries.

New here? This episode stands alone—just press play and let the secrets crawl out. If you’ve been binging the Weekly Spooky feed, you already know the rule: small towns keep trophies.

🎧 LISTEN NOW and subscribe for spine-tingling horror stories every week!

🎉 Unlock exclusive bonus episodes and support the show on Patreon!
👉 WeeklySpooky.com/Join

📬 Contact Us / Submit Your Horror Story!

🎵 Music by Ray Mattis 👉 Check out Ray’s incredible work here !
👨‍💼 Executive Producers: Rob Fields, Bobbletopia.com
🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
🌐 Explore more terrifying tales at: WeeklySpooky.com
WEBVTT

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Well, my Spookyes. Welcome back for another trip to the

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Weekly Spooky Vault, where the post cards are pretty, the

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locals are friendly, and the ground beneath your feet is

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actively telling you a lie. Tonight's theme is small town secrets,

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the kind you taste in the diner coffee and feel

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in the silence after someone says you're not from around here,

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are you? In just a moment, you'll walk into a

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quiet town that hires an outsider for security, while a

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church renovation quietly opens the door to something that loves

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basements and forgotten history. Then will pass an abandoned factory

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where a shady deal turns into a sprint for your

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life because some experiments do not stay buried. And after that,

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welcome to Nepa or northeastern Pennsylvania, where the woods press

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in close, the dogs start acting wrong, and the moon

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makes everybody remember why they splurged on that second dead bolt.

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And if you think school is safe, well wait until

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we visit Strickfield Academy, where a stolen uniform and a

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forbidden book can buy you power if you pay in blood. Finally,

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we'll meet someone with no voice at all until the

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fog gives him one. So lock the doors, turn down

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the lights, and let's let the secrets crawl out. I

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was sent to a small town where strange things were

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happening by Michael Kelso. Even thinking about retelling this story

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has made me the most afraid I've ever been in

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my life. I suppose if I keep it bottled up,

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I'll go insane. God knows, the security company isn't talking.

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I feel like if I don't warn people and they

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go there all right, if I'm telling the story, then

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I'd better back up a bit. It started a little

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over a month ago. I work for a security firm

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that guards projects all over the country. I'm sort of

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a specialist. It seems like if there's some weird stuff

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happening at a site, I get called in. I'm not

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sure why. Maybe my ex military background, or maybe the

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fact that, well, we'll get to that. This place up

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in New England was having some trouble. A local firm

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was remodeling an old church when workers suddenly started quitting.

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No one seemed to have a good reason why they

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didn't want to work there anymore. So guess who got

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the call to come in and straighten things out. Driving

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up there, gave me the most profound feeling of being

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alone I've ever had. And mind you, I've sat watch

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in caves, foxholes, ditches, some of the most god forsaken

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places on the planet, all by my lonesome, and never

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did I ever feel his soul crushingly alone as driving

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up that little two lane road that was the only

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sign of humanity, as the trees seemed to close in

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on me from every side. As unnerving as that was,

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it was nothing compared to pulling into the little town

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where the church was. It was like the nightmare scene

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from a bee horror movie. I guess arriving at night

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in the middle of a rainstorm didn't help much. I

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pulled in beside the only vehicle I saw and ran

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inside the hotel that looked like a saloon out of

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an old Western. I barely got the door closed when

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there was a light and a gun shoved in my face.

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Who the hell are you, said a man from somewhere

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behind the glare of a flashlight. Jones, I said, slowly,

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raising my hands. I was called in to help out

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with your worker problem. The light lowered, but the gun stayed.

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What company do you work for? Sentinel Security? I saw

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the man relax a little, but mostly I was happy

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that he lowered the gun. In the best of times,

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a gun in a situation is less than ideal. All

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kinds of accidents can happen. I've seen many innocent bystanders

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fall victim to contagious gunfire. The man stepped over to

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a table and sat. As I looked around the room,

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I was surprised at how much it looked like a

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movie set from an old Western, right down to the

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lit lanterns on the tables and hanging from the afters.

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He beckoned me over and I sat across from him.

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Judging by the welcome I'm guessing the workers aren't the

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only ones who are spooked, I said. He looked at

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the gun, then laid it on the table. He seemed

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to be in his forties or fifties, but there was

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a tiredness in his eyes. He looked weary and haggard.

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Truth be told, I'm not even sure a gun would

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do any good. Maybe you should tell me when the

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trouble started. He looked at me. I could see worry

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tugging at his eyes. Your contract's open, right, I nodded,

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which means you have to finish the job or you

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don't get paid, right, I nodded again. He looked me

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over for a long moment, then sat back, drained his

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glass of amber colored liquid, and sighed. I bought this

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town a while back, he started recently with the past

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my wife. I decided I needed to throw myself into

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a project to keep me busy. I wanted to revitalize

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this town and turn it into a tourist attraction. I'm

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sorry for your loss. He nodded in recognition, but never

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said another word about her. Things were going along smoothly,

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he said. The buildings you see have all been restored.

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They look good. You should have seen them when we started,

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he scoffed, they were falling apart. No one had lived

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here for years. That's why I was able to buy

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the whole place for next to nothing. I'm thinking that's

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not the only reason, yes, he said, as a haunted

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look passed through his eyes. We saved the church for

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last because it needed the most work. But once they

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started remodeling is when things began to happen. Things It

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wasn't much at first, shovels and saws would go missing,

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to would be left in fine order. At night, only

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to be in complete disarray in the morning. For a while,

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the workers blamed each other, saying there was a prankster

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among them. But that wasn't the case. Oh how I

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wish it was. I waited for a long moment for

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him to continue. We found the first body shortly after that,

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he said so quietly, I barely heard him. Of a worker,

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He nodded dead. He nodded again. Why didn't you stop

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everything and leave? Because it was already too late, he said,

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we had disturbed it disturbed what. He opened his mouth

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as if to speak, but no words came out. He

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shook his head and looked away. For a moment. I

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could swear I saw a tear run down his cheek.

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I'm sorry, he said, rubbing his palms on his face.

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Let me take you to your room and we'll discuss

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this further in the morning. My curiosity wanted him to

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finish the story, but it seemed like his weariness had

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been amplified by alcohol. I followed him as he carried

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the lantern up the stairs to the first floor and

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opened it for me. He handed me the light and

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told me the bathroom was across the hall if I

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needed it. I'll be here bright and early in the

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morning to give you the dollar tour, he said, sounding

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more like a host. Aren't you staying here tonight? His

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eyes flashed genuine fear. Not here, he said, I'll be

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back in the morning. I looked around the comfortable looking room,

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trying to decide what was so wrong with it. As

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he stepped to the door. Oh, by the way, he said,

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stopping at the doorway. Don't bother with your cell phone.

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There's no signal up here. I glanced down at my phone,

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and when I looked up, he was gone. I picked

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up the lantern and stepped to the doorway, but I

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didn't hear him leaving. He would have thought someone walking

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out on the hardwood floor would make some noise, but

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it was silent. The only noise I heard was the

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rain pelting against the windows. Since I was already in

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the hallway, I decided to check out the bathroom. I

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walked a short distance down the hall and found it

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to be functional and clean, but nothing extraordinary. While I

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was there, I used the toilet and washed my hands,

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then went to my room and got my toiletry's kit

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to brush my teeth. Carrying a lantern, around was a

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little disconcerting. I've had to deal without electricity many times before,

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but that wasn't what was bothering me. The shadows from

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the lamp danced all over, giving the impression of others

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in the room with me. It's strange because I've never

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had that feeling before. Shadows were always just shadow. I

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was trained to be cautious of who could be hiding

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in the shadows, but not the shadows themselves. I finished

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up my bedtime routine and settled in to sleep. There

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wasn't much of anything else to do, so might as

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well get some rest. One of the things I was

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taught early on in my career was that any time

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you'd get a chance rest, you never know when the

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next chance will come. I laid down on the comfortable

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bed and did some relaxation exercises. Before I knew it,

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I was asleep. I woke with a start, not knowing

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why it was pitch black in the room. Instead of panicking,

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I touched my watch to illuminate it and found my phone.

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Turning on the flashlight and lighting the lamp helped me

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get my bearings, but still didn't tell me why I

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was awake. I sat there for a long moment. Then

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I heard it. There was a loud clanking sound coming

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from somewhere outside. Sleeping in my clothes when on a

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job was a habit I'd gotten into when I first

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started doing private security, another carryover from the military. I

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slipped out of bed and into my boots, then strapped

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on my utility belt, then checked to make sure my

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side arm was loaded. I turned off the phone's flashlight

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and grabbed a small utility flashlight from one of the

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pouches on the belt. For the moment, I holstered the

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gun and explored with just the flashlight. This could be nothing.

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I didn't want to go in gangbusters just to find

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some kids playing around or a worker who came in early.

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I double checked my watch. It was five o'clock in

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the morning. Seemed like an odd time for a worker

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to come in, but stranger things have happened. Working my

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way down the stairs quietly, I double checked the bar room.

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It was empty. Opening the door, I had the strangest

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feeling that something was wrong. Nothing seemed to be out

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of place. It had stopped raining, and I stepped out

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into the street to find a light layer of fog.

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Looking up and down the street. I heard the noise again.

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It sounded like it was coming from the direction of

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the church. Leading with the flashlight, I started in that direction.

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There seemed to be a slight orange glow coming from

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the inside of the building. The closer I got, the

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beam of my flashlight made the air around me glow.

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It made me feel like I was giving my position away.

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I fought back the feeling. This was a little town

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in Vermont, not an active war zone. I had to

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be cautious, but also temperate with non lethal actions. The

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church loomed in front of me. It seemed much larger

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up close. I climbed the steps and reached for the

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door knob. When a loud crack sounded behind me. I

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whipped around, shining my flashlight at everything, but there was

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nothing there. As I was looking back, I noticed a

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light in the window of my room. I must have

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left the lantern lit. As I looked, I saw the

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light dim for an instant and then get brighter, almost

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as if some one had walked in front of it.

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The temperature felt like it was in the lower seventies,

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but that didn't keep a chill from running down my spine.

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Some one was curious to know who I was. From

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years of experience, I've found that it's never good if

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someone wants to find out who you are but doesn't

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want to do it face to face. That would be

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something to deal with. When I got back to my room.

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For now there was a church to explore, I got

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the feeling that someone was trying to distract me from entering.

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I reached the top of the stairs and turned the knob,

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but nothing happened. It didn't feel like it was locked.

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It was almost as if someone was on the other

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side holding the knob. I turned as hard as I could,

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and finally it gave and the door opened, dragging me

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inside and nearly knocking me to the floor. Regaining my balance,

217
00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:29.000
my hand hovered over my gun, expecting to see someone

218
00:14:29.080 --> 00:14:33.320
doing something they weren't supposed to. As I slowly panned

219
00:14:33.320 --> 00:14:39.919
around the room, I found something much worse, absolutely nothing.

220
00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:43.799
There was a lit lantern set up on a table

221
00:14:43.879 --> 00:14:46.919
near the altar that was in the middle of being restored.

222
00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:50.360
Other than that, there were a lot of pews that

223
00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:54.039
were halfway constructed. The ones that were finished looked like

224
00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:56.200
they had been sanded and were waiting for a layer

225
00:14:56.240 --> 00:15:00.559
of stain. I walked down the center aisle as looking

226
00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:12.200
for a seat at a wedding or a funeral. As

227
00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:16.519
I approached the partially reconstructed pulpit, I looked up and

228
00:15:16.600 --> 00:15:20.559
saw a life sized wooden carving of Jesus on the cross.

229
00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:24.799
It looked old, not like wine that ages well, but

230
00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:30.000
like decrepit. It had been painted flesh colors at one time,

231
00:15:30.519 --> 00:15:33.600
but now it was cracked and peeling away from the carving.

232
00:15:34.440 --> 00:15:38.240
It looked grotesque to see layers of skin peeling away,

233
00:15:38.360 --> 00:15:41.759
like it was rotting off his body. I'm not the

234
00:15:41.799 --> 00:15:46.080
most religious man, but I believe in Jesus. I've prayed

235
00:15:46.200 --> 00:15:50.559
enough prayers sitting in foxholes and caves, asking to be

236
00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:55.440
rescued from bad situations, and I'm still here. I wouldn't

237
00:15:55.480 --> 00:15:58.799
call him and I best buds. I know our relationship

238
00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:02.840
could be closer, but seeing him that way, rotting to

239
00:16:02.919 --> 00:16:08.480
pieces was just disturbing. As I looked into his face,

240
00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:12.039
I swore I saw his eyes open. For an instant.

241
00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:14.440
I blinked my own eyes to be sure I was

242
00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:18.679
seeing right, but when I looked again, they were closed.

243
00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:23.399
It was my imagination playing tricks on me. At least

244
00:16:23.399 --> 00:16:25.559
that was what I told myself as I stepped onto

245
00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:30.279
the platform and looked around. Off to each side were doors.

246
00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:32.919
I went to the one to the right and found

247
00:16:32.919 --> 00:16:36.279
a small broom closet. The one on the left held

248
00:16:36.279 --> 00:16:39.679
a set of stairs that went down and disappeared into darkness.

249
00:16:41.080 --> 00:16:43.639
Just inside the door, there was yellow and black caution

250
00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:47.399
tape blocking the way down. I shone the light on

251
00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:52.159
the stairs, and they looked sturdy enough. I reached for

252
00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:54.639
the tape, but before I got hold of it, a

253
00:16:54.759 --> 00:16:58.720
strong hand grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. What

254
00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:01.559
do you think you're doing here, said a man who

255
00:17:01.639 --> 00:17:04.319
was a full foot shorter than me, but his grip

256
00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:07.599
felt like iron. I was about to go down those stairs,

257
00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:11.160
I said. He looked at me with the incredulous look

258
00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:13.880
a parent gave a toddler who was reaching for a

259
00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:18.880
hot stove. And you didn't see the caution tape, he said,

260
00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:23.079
I saw it. Who are you anyway? I've never seen

261
00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:28.000
you before, Jones, I said, offering my hand. I'm with

262
00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:31.559
Sentinel Security. I was called in to investigate why workers

263
00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:34.759
keep quitting. He looked at my hand, then at me.

264
00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:41.839
So this investigation includes ignoring obvious warnings. My hand was

265
00:17:41.880 --> 00:17:45.279
still extended but had yet to be shaken. I let

266
00:17:45.319 --> 00:17:48.240
it fall to my side. Are you a worker or

267
00:17:48.279 --> 00:17:53.200
a foreman? He scoffed, Nothing so formal. I make sure

268
00:17:53.240 --> 00:17:57.240
people do what needs to be done, so foreman. His

269
00:17:57.400 --> 00:18:01.240
eyes bled with suspicion as he stared at me. Where

270
00:18:01.240 --> 00:18:04.119
did you say you were from? Again? As I was

271
00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:07.480
about to answer, more workers entered, followed by the owner

272
00:18:07.559 --> 00:18:10.680
i'd met last night. Let's ask the boss if he

273
00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:14.920
knows you, the foreman said, smugly. The owner locked eyes

274
00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:17.759
with me and gave me the strangest look as he

275
00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:21.680
walked up to us. Good morning, he said, addressing both

276
00:18:21.720 --> 00:18:25.559
of us. Good morning, sir. The foreman said, I caught

277
00:18:25.559 --> 00:18:29.640
this man snooping around in here, did you now? He said?

278
00:18:30.440 --> 00:18:35.279
Is that true? I wasn't snooping. I was investigating, I said.

279
00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:39.480
Don't you remember our conversation from last night? His eyes

280
00:18:39.559 --> 00:18:42.640
opened a hair wider for an instant, then went back

281
00:18:42.680 --> 00:18:46.240
to normal. Of course I do, he said, with a

282
00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:50.920
smile that seemed forced. Remind me again. My memory isn't

283
00:18:50.920 --> 00:18:54.559
the best. We met in the saloon, talked for a

284
00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:58.240
little bit, and then you showed me to my room. Indeed,

285
00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:02.680
he said, with a raised eyebrow. Did I say anything else?

286
00:19:03.559 --> 00:19:05.640
You told me you bought this place after your wife

287
00:19:05.720 --> 00:19:08.680
passed away, and problems started after you found the first

288
00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:13.720
dead worker dead. The foreman said, with alarm. When did

289
00:19:13.720 --> 00:19:20.160
this happen? The owner burst into laughter. It appears mister Jones,

290
00:19:20.920 --> 00:19:23.279
mister Jones here has pulled a fast one on you,

291
00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:26.319
he said to the foreman. Perhaps he and I should

292
00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:29.000
go and discuss the matter in private, and you can

293
00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:32.039
continue with your work. The owner grabbed my arm and

294
00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:35.279
guided me away from the foreman, whose eyes burned as

295
00:19:35.319 --> 00:19:38.000
they followed us out the door. We walked out of

296
00:19:38.039 --> 00:19:40.720
the church in silence as he nodded to workers who

297
00:19:40.759 --> 00:19:43.640
were straggling in to start work for the day. He

298
00:19:43.799 --> 00:19:46.119
led me back to the saloon where we sat at

299
00:19:46.119 --> 00:19:49.960
the same table as before. So you and I met

300
00:19:49.960 --> 00:19:54.640
in this saloon last night, he said, at this very table.

301
00:19:54.920 --> 00:19:57.559
I said, I came to the door and you pulled

302
00:19:57.559 --> 00:20:01.960
a gun on me. His eyebrows ran, Did I now,

303
00:20:02.759 --> 00:20:06.759
and what time was this? I'd say around nine? We

304
00:20:06.839 --> 00:20:09.559
sat here and talked about what was going on with

305
00:20:09.640 --> 00:20:13.599
the workers. And what else did I say other than

306
00:20:13.640 --> 00:20:17.920
about the worker? I asked you why you hadn't left,

307
00:20:18.279 --> 00:20:22.000
and you said it was too late. This time, he

308
00:20:22.039 --> 00:20:25.119
didn't try to hide it. His eyes grew wide. He

309
00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:28.480
stared at me for a long moment, then seemed to

310
00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:33.400
gather himself. I apologize, mister Jones, if this all seems

311
00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:37.440
a little strange, he said. You and I did not

312
00:20:37.640 --> 00:20:41.400
have a conversation last night. It was my turn to

313
00:20:41.480 --> 00:20:45.480
raise my eyebrows at nine o'clock last night. I was

314
00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:50.359
in bed with my very much alive wife. But you said,

315
00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:55.480
and we have not had any workers die. I don't understand.

316
00:20:55.960 --> 00:20:59.319
Neither do I. I thought about it for a long moment.

317
00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:02.599
You were drinking when you talk to me. Is it

318
00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:06.880
possible you were too drunk to remember? He leaned a

319
00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:11.759
little closer. I haven't had a drink in nineteen years.

320
00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:14.680
He reached into his pocket and set a coin on

321
00:21:14.759 --> 00:21:17.920
the table. I picked it up and looked at it.

322
00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:22.799
It was an alcohol anonymous coin. Then who did I

323
00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:26.079
talk to last night? He put the coin back in

324
00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:29.960
his pocket. Are you sure it was me who was drinking?

325
00:21:30.920 --> 00:21:33.400
I looked at him and read the suspicion in his eyes.

326
00:21:34.440 --> 00:21:38.359
I don't drink. He leaned back in his chair. It

327
00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:42.799
seems we've reached an impasse, he said. Perhaps I should

328
00:21:42.839 --> 00:21:45.079
call your company and have a different person come and

329
00:21:45.160 --> 00:21:48.839
investigate the matter. I wanted to find out what was

330
00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:52.519
going on. Perhaps you should give me at least a

331
00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:56.839
day to investigate, I said, unless there's some other reason,

332
00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:58.640
you don't want me to get to the bottom of this,

333
00:21:59.839 --> 00:22:05.680
he smiled, but it wasn't friendly. Please continue your investigation,

334
00:22:05.880 --> 00:22:11.319
mister Jones, he said, unimpeded. I will inform the foreman

335
00:22:11.400 --> 00:22:15.720
to allow you free reign. Thank you, I said, standing

336
00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:20.920
to leave. Just one more thing, he said, what was

337
00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:24.920
the last part of what my doppelganger told you? You

338
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:27.160
said it was too late to leave because you had

339
00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:31.440
disturbed something. His eyes fell to the table, as if

340
00:22:31.480 --> 00:22:34.559
deep in thought. I went back to the church and

341
00:22:34.599 --> 00:22:37.839
began talking to the workers one by one. Each of

342
00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:40.880
them was hesitant to talk around the foreman, but once

343
00:22:40.920 --> 00:22:44.640
they were out of earshot, told very similar stories. There

344
00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:48.640
had been strange things going on, especially at night. It

345
00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:52.519
was more than just tools being moved around. Strange symbols

346
00:22:52.519 --> 00:22:55.680
would appear carved into the wood they were using. The

347
00:22:55.720 --> 00:22:58.200
owner would tell them to cut the symbols out and

348
00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:01.000
use whatever they could of the wood. One of the

349
00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:03.960
workers had gone missing, but after a day or so,

350
00:23:04.200 --> 00:23:07.680
the owner said he had quit. The strange thing was

351
00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:11.440
no one was able to contact him after that. The

352
00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:14.920
more I dug, the more I found some of the

353
00:23:14.920 --> 00:23:18.000
workers had become curious as to why they were restoring

354
00:23:18.039 --> 00:23:21.400
this town out in the middle of nowhere. It turned

355
00:23:21.400 --> 00:23:24.960
out it had been long suspected that Satanic rituals were

356
00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.359
carried out in this very church. It was also suspected

357
00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:33.079
to be the sight of the earliest witch burnings. But

358
00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:35.480
the two facts that stuck out in my mind were

359
00:23:35.960 --> 00:23:39.240
no one hung around after dark, that was when things

360
00:23:39.240 --> 00:23:43.279
were alleged to get strange, and no one was allowed

361
00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:46.039
down the steps I had found before the foreman stopped me.

362
00:23:47.160 --> 00:23:49.960
The workers had been told the steps were unsafe and

363
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:53.240
could collapse under the weight of a person. It didn't

364
00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:56.960
take much convincing to keep them away from the creepy stairs.

365
00:23:57.519 --> 00:23:59.960
By afternoon, I knew exactly what my next move was.

366
00:24:01.039 --> 00:24:03.039
I went back to my room and checked around to

367
00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:07.319
see if anything was missing. Nothing seemed to be, so

368
00:24:07.400 --> 00:24:10.920
I set my watch and took a nap. The alarm

369
00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:13.839
went off at nine o'clock I went to the bathroom

370
00:24:13.880 --> 00:24:16.839
to splash some water on my face, then geared up

371
00:24:17.160 --> 00:24:20.880
for my expedition. When I got to the church, it

372
00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:23.640
was empty. I made a bee line for the left

373
00:24:23.640 --> 00:24:27.519
door in the creepy staircase. With flashlights attached to a

374
00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:30.599
headband and my waistband, I was good to go. To

375
00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:33.319
keep my hands free for whatever I might need them for,

376
00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:37.440
I attached a safety rope like mountain climbers do and

377
00:24:37.519 --> 00:24:40.000
found a sturdy spot to anchor it into the wall.

378
00:24:40.799 --> 00:24:42.839
If the stairs gave out on me, at least I

379
00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:47.480
wouldn't fall. As advertised. Every stair creaked like it was

380
00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:50.799
about to give out, but thankfully none of them did.

381
00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:55.519
The trip down was an assault on the senses. The damp,

382
00:24:55.640 --> 00:24:59.640
musty smell of rotting wood in general decay was nearly overwhelming.

383
00:25:00.319 --> 00:25:03.960
I was surprised at the general lack of cobwebs. It

384
00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:07.200
told me this area wasn't quite as off limits as

385
00:25:07.240 --> 00:25:11.240
some had let on. Surprisingly, the bottom didn't open up

386
00:25:11.240 --> 00:25:14.599
into a full basement. There were a few wooden shelves

387
00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:18.720
at the base of the stairs, but they were empty. Instead,

388
00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:23.759
it became a narrow passageway. The floor was made of dirt,

389
00:25:23.960 --> 00:25:26.480
and the walls were the same stone the foundation of

390
00:25:26.519 --> 00:25:30.039
the church was made from. It seemed whoever had built

391
00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:33.160
this tunnel built it at the same time as the church.

392
00:25:34.200 --> 00:25:37.240
The ceiling barely made it to six feet. I had

393
00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:39.559
to duck to keep from brushing my head against it.

394
00:25:40.519 --> 00:25:43.519
I wasn't sure what I expected to find, but this

395
00:25:43.880 --> 00:25:47.799
was the key to discovering what was happening here. I

396
00:25:47.799 --> 00:25:52.000
had been walking for ten minutes, senses alert, hand on

397
00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:58.000
my holstered side arm. Suddenly the air changed. The smell

398
00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:02.480
became more pungent, and the air there was a feeling

399
00:26:02.599 --> 00:26:05.039
of closing in that made the hairs on my arms

400
00:26:05.079 --> 00:26:08.519
stand up. I turned a corner and the tunnel opened

401
00:26:08.519 --> 00:26:12.519
into a large room with a high ceiling. I panned around,

402
00:26:12.599 --> 00:26:14.920
trying to get the scope of the room, when my

403
00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:19.119
light fell on something big in the corner. It looked

404
00:26:19.160 --> 00:26:22.720
like a massive black boulder that was made of leather.

405
00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:29.640
Watching transfixed, I noticed it was moving, not much, but

406
00:26:29.920 --> 00:26:36.079
just a bit, rising and falling. I realized it was breathing.

407
00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:40.759
Fear gripped me. I no longer had any interest in

408
00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:43.680
finding out what was going on here. I just wanted

409
00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:49.519
to turn and slowly back away. The thing made a noise.

410
00:26:50.319 --> 00:26:52.920
It was either a snort or a cough, but in

411
00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:56.920
either case it seemed to be waking up. I doused

412
00:26:56.960 --> 00:26:59.960
my lights and stayed as still as possible while listening

413
00:27:00.440 --> 00:27:05.359
in the total darkness. Its breathing became louder and less steady.

414
00:27:06.279 --> 00:27:09.000
I heard a creaking that sounded like bones when some

415
00:27:09.079 --> 00:27:13.519
one stretched. It was getting up, and I was standing

416
00:27:13.519 --> 00:27:17.119
in the middle of the tunnel. If by some miracle,

417
00:27:17.160 --> 00:27:19.960
it didn't already know I was here, as soon as

418
00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:22.119
it walked over here, it would run right into me.

419
00:27:23.240 --> 00:27:25.519
My mind raced to come up with options. As I

420
00:27:25.559 --> 00:27:30.240
heard footsteps coming closer, I backed up against the wall

421
00:27:30.599 --> 00:27:33.480
and started edging to the left, hoping I was in

422
00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:36.839
the main room and not still in the tunnel. The

423
00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:40.880
footsteps were so close when they suddenly stopped, the absence

424
00:27:40.920 --> 00:27:44.200
of sound was deafening. I tried to hold my breath

425
00:27:44.200 --> 00:27:47.680
as I listened for the beast's breathing. It was slow

426
00:27:47.720 --> 00:27:52.680
and sporadic, as if it was listening for me. Neither

427
00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:57.440
of us moved. We barely breathed, each waiting for the

428
00:27:57.519 --> 00:28:01.720
other to reveal their location. My hand drifted to the

429
00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:03.279
gun As I tried to pull it out of the

430
00:28:03.319 --> 00:28:08.519
holster as quietly as possible, the air shifted. The beast

431
00:28:08.559 --> 00:28:11.759
had moved, but I didn't know where. I heard a

432
00:28:11.839 --> 00:28:17.559
strange squelching sound, and then, what are you doing, mister Jones?

433
00:28:18.279 --> 00:28:20.680
I tried to hold off as long as possible, but

434
00:28:21.640 --> 00:28:24.920
curiosity got the best of me. I turned on my

435
00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:27.640
head lamp to find the owner standing right in front

436
00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:32.720
of me, staring at me with a maddening smile. My

437
00:28:32.839 --> 00:28:36.440
eyes darted around looking for the beast, but I knew

438
00:28:36.480 --> 00:28:39.680
I wouldn't find it. It was standing in front of me.

439
00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:44.720
So are you the real thing? I said, hoping to

440
00:28:44.799 --> 00:28:47.759
keep the panic out of my voice. Or are you

441
00:28:47.880 --> 00:28:50.519
some shape shifter who pretends to be some one else

442
00:28:50.559 --> 00:28:54.640
because he has no identity of his own. I am

443
00:28:54.720 --> 00:28:58.160
whoever I want to be, he said. I heard the

444
00:28:58.200 --> 00:29:01.720
squelching again, only this I had the displeasure of watching

445
00:29:01.799 --> 00:29:05.960
it happen. His entire body rippled and tore itself apart,

446
00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:09.599
only to reform into the beast for a moment, then

447
00:29:09.720 --> 00:29:14.480
tear apart again and reform into something much more terrifying.

448
00:29:15.480 --> 00:29:20.960
I gasped, looking into my very own eyes. You see,

449
00:29:21.400 --> 00:29:24.359
he said in my voice, I can take your place

450
00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:29.240
and travel around pretending to solve problems. While he was changing,

451
00:29:29.279 --> 00:29:32.039
I glanced around to see if there was anything else

452
00:29:32.079 --> 00:29:34.720
in the room I could use. In the far corner,

453
00:29:34.759 --> 00:29:37.720
I saw what looked like a nest and an inverted

454
00:29:37.799 --> 00:29:42.839
cross hanging on the wall. If you could, why haven't you,

455
00:29:43.240 --> 00:29:48.079
I said, playing a hunch. What if you were free

456
00:29:48.119 --> 00:29:51.160
to go anywhere, then why haven't you? Why sit here

457
00:29:51.160 --> 00:29:52.960
in the middle of the woods with nothing to do.

458
00:29:54.440 --> 00:29:58.640
I choose to stay here, he said in my voice.

459
00:29:58.920 --> 00:30:02.839
You choose because this is where your power is. You

460
00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:06.799
know so little. I'm rebuilding this place so my worshippers

461
00:30:06.839 --> 00:30:09.599
can live here and pray to me, giving me all

462
00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:13.359
the power I need, just like when this place was

463
00:30:13.400 --> 00:30:18.720
first built, and until my followers thrive, I survive off

464
00:30:18.759 --> 00:30:23.440
of human sacrifices. So you did kill the worker, and

465
00:30:23.519 --> 00:30:27.480
no one remembers him, just like they won't remember you.

466
00:30:28.559 --> 00:30:30.960
He grinned and took a step toward me, but I

467
00:30:31.079 --> 00:30:33.880
drew my pistol and shot him in the forehead. He

468
00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:37.519
fell to the ground, bleeding. It was a strange sight

469
00:30:37.599 --> 00:30:41.599
to watch myself die. But then the squelching began again,

470
00:30:42.279 --> 00:30:46.240
and he reshaped into his demonic form. He stood ten

471
00:30:46.279 --> 00:30:49.279
feet tall and covered in leathery skin that looked like

472
00:30:49.440 --> 00:30:52.960
tiny teeth. His face was a nightmare of glowing red

473
00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:56.559
eyes and massive, sharp fangs. He roared at me in

474
00:30:56.599 --> 00:31:00.279
what sounded like a thousand voices. I turned and ran

475
00:31:00.319 --> 00:31:02.720
down the tunnel, ducking so I didn't hit my head

476
00:31:02.799 --> 00:31:06.279
and knock myself out. That would have ended my escape

477
00:31:06.319 --> 00:31:10.799
and my life. I heard the squelching again and heard

478
00:31:10.839 --> 00:31:15.079
my voice call after me. You can't escape, and besides,

479
00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:18.319
I know how to find you. I turned and fired,

480
00:31:18.400 --> 00:31:22.279
hitting him or me in the chest. He dropped and

481
00:31:22.359 --> 00:31:25.920
squelched again. I wanted to watch him turn into his

482
00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:29.359
demon form, to see him squashed into the tunnel that

483
00:31:29.519 --> 00:31:32.720
was too small for him, But I didn't dare squander

484
00:31:32.799 --> 00:31:36.240
this time for anything but escape. It seemed like forever

485
00:31:36.359 --> 00:31:39.160
until I came to the stairs. I took them two

486
00:31:39.240 --> 00:31:42.119
at a time. Once I reached the top, I turned

487
00:31:42.119 --> 00:31:44.960
to see him at the bottom. I shot him again,

488
00:31:45.559 --> 00:31:49.160
then found a lantern inside the church, lit it and

489
00:31:49.319 --> 00:31:53.319
tossed it down the stairs. The glass shattered, spreading fire

490
00:31:53.480 --> 00:31:57.359
all over the bottom stairs. They began to burn almost immediately.

491
00:31:58.119 --> 00:32:01.559
I could hear his desperate cry as the flames crawled

492
00:32:01.640 --> 00:32:05.920
up the stairs, destroying them one by one, turning and

493
00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:08.839
running out the doors. I didn't bother with my things

494
00:32:08.880 --> 00:32:12.160
in my room. I hopped in my car and drove

495
00:32:12.319 --> 00:32:16.079
like a bat out of well, you know. My hands

496
00:32:16.119 --> 00:32:18.119
shook on the steering wheel as I glanced in my

497
00:32:18.200 --> 00:32:23.680
rear view mirror, hoping I wouldn't see that thing chasing me. Instead,

498
00:32:24.680 --> 00:32:27.640
I saw a glow growing in the forest behind me.

499
00:32:28.799 --> 00:32:32.000
I prayed the whole church was on fire and it

500
00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:36.000
would spread to all the houses. I only wished his

501
00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:39.799
followers were in the houses when they burned. I wondered

502
00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:43.400
how many more places there were like this in the world.

503
00:32:49.839 --> 00:32:54.680
The Devil Reaps the Harvest by John Oak Dalton. The

504
00:32:54.799 --> 00:32:57.079
laboratory at the end of the dead End Road had

505
00:32:57.119 --> 00:32:59.920
been closed for so long now that people had forgotten

506
00:33:00.240 --> 00:33:03.680
all about it, or tried to forget about it, and

507
00:33:03.759 --> 00:33:07.839
now everybody said it was an abandoned factory. It was

508
00:33:07.880 --> 00:33:10.160
there that Peter O'Day was supposed to meet a guy

509
00:33:10.200 --> 00:33:12.599
who had a couple of kidneys and a beer cooler.

510
00:33:13.160 --> 00:33:16.200
So Peter parked in a weed choked employee lot and

511
00:33:16.279 --> 00:33:19.119
walked about a quarter a mile into the woods where

512
00:33:19.160 --> 00:33:24.640
the old laboratory sat. There he was meeting Octavius. Octavius

513
00:33:24.680 --> 00:33:27.839
sounded like a mad scientist's name, and as it happened,

514
00:33:27.880 --> 00:33:31.680
Octavius kind of was a mad scientist. He had worked

515
00:33:31.680 --> 00:33:34.640
at the lab long ago doing things that are frowned

516
00:33:34.720 --> 00:33:38.559
upon in the mainstream medical world, but that gig dried up.

517
00:33:39.160 --> 00:33:42.240
He ended up harvesting organs, which wasn't much of a

518
00:33:42.319 --> 00:33:45.559
step down. He still liked meeting people there for the

519
00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:49.519
handoff because his greatest triumphs had been at that lab.

520
00:33:50.240 --> 00:33:54.519
Also his greatest failures, but those were buried here and

521
00:33:54.680 --> 00:33:58.400
there around the property. Peter had a bag of money,

522
00:33:58.440 --> 00:34:00.799
and Octavius had a cooler with organs in it and

523
00:34:00.839 --> 00:34:03.759
a new England Patriots sticker on it, so that went

524
00:34:03.839 --> 00:34:08.000
down about like you'd expect. Peter was a dot com guy.

525
00:34:08.079 --> 00:34:10.599
The bubble never burst on, so he had plenty of

526
00:34:10.599 --> 00:34:13.119
money and could jump the transplant list and buy a

527
00:34:13.159 --> 00:34:17.079
new kidney for their little girl a landra. People with

528
00:34:17.119 --> 00:34:20.000
money can pretty much do what they want. Just look

529
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:22.880
at celebrities. They do drugs and get married eight or

530
00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:26.000
ten times, but can adopt all the kids they want

531
00:34:26.039 --> 00:34:29.760
and go on TV talking about various causes. If they

532
00:34:29.760 --> 00:34:32.159
did all the same things but lived in that trailer

533
00:34:32.199 --> 00:34:34.679
park on the other edge of town, the one called

534
00:34:34.760 --> 00:34:38.559
Warning Side, but everybody actually called it homicide, nobody would

535
00:34:38.599 --> 00:34:41.400
give them kids or want them on TV talking about

536
00:34:41.400 --> 00:34:45.679
their causes. When Peter took the Patriots cooler from Octavius

537
00:34:45.880 --> 00:34:49.159
that had a kidney and despair for Alandra, his hands

538
00:34:49.199 --> 00:34:52.559
were shaking pretty badly, and some of the blood sloshed

539
00:34:52.599 --> 00:34:55.039
out from under the lid and onto his shoes and

540
00:34:55.199 --> 00:34:58.280
into the dirt. And it wasn't until that very moment

541
00:34:58.280 --> 00:35:01.440
that Peter sort of realized what hell he was doing.

542
00:35:02.320 --> 00:35:06.199
Octavius stepped back easily and missed the sloshing, but he

543
00:35:06.280 --> 00:35:08.719
was used to blood spraying out all over the place.

544
00:35:09.320 --> 00:35:13.159
Peter nodded and walked away, but Octavius stayed where he was.

545
00:35:13.960 --> 00:35:17.480
To his misfortune, he had parked behind the old lab

546
00:35:17.559 --> 00:35:21.440
on an access road everybody had forgotten about too, because

547
00:35:21.840 --> 00:35:24.199
he did not want Peter or anybody else to see

548
00:35:24.199 --> 00:35:27.079
the car he drove. Peter was hardly out of sight

549
00:35:27.440 --> 00:35:31.079
when something just under Octavius's feet, where the blood was

550
00:35:31.079 --> 00:35:36.800
soaking in sniffed and swallowed and opened its eyes. If

551
00:35:36.800 --> 00:35:39.840
this lab had been that good at black science, they'd

552
00:35:39.840 --> 00:35:43.039
still be in business. But they weren't, so they made

553
00:35:43.039 --> 00:35:46.480
the mistake of burying their problems instead of burning them

554
00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:49.719
in a big bonfire so that there would be no trace,

555
00:35:50.719 --> 00:35:55.400
or in this case, so something could not bite and

556
00:35:55.639 --> 00:35:59.400
claw its way with long fingernails and sharp teeth out

557
00:35:59.440 --> 00:36:03.000
of the dirt and grab Octavius by the ankles, then

558
00:36:03.119 --> 00:36:05.559
pull him to the ground and bite him right on

559
00:36:05.639 --> 00:36:08.760
his face. But his face was kind of bony, so

560
00:36:09.239 --> 00:36:12.639
it started working on some of the soft parts. Peter

561
00:36:12.760 --> 00:36:15.599
had stopped not far away to call his wife, but

562
00:36:15.679 --> 00:36:19.159
never heard a damn thing. It was ironic because as

563
00:36:19.159 --> 00:36:21.559
soon as that creature's hand popped out of the dirt,

564
00:36:21.920 --> 00:36:26.920
Octavius's heart popped like a balloon. All those times Octavius

565
00:36:26.920 --> 00:36:29.280
had arranged for guys to meet Russian women off the

566
00:36:29.320 --> 00:36:32.360
internet for a night of passion, only for those guys

567
00:36:32.360 --> 00:36:34.679
to wake up in the hotel tub, packed an ice

568
00:36:35.280 --> 00:36:37.679
or dumped in a landfill, and never waking up at all.

569
00:36:38.400 --> 00:36:42.280
All those times, Octavius never knew he needed an organ himself.

570
00:36:43.079 --> 00:36:46.079
He ignored the shortness of breath and the tingling in

571
00:36:46.119 --> 00:36:50.440
his fingers and all the rest. Like I said, if

572
00:36:50.440 --> 00:36:53.480
they were better at science, they would still have been

573
00:36:53.480 --> 00:36:56.679
in business, And if they weren't all so lazy, they

574
00:36:56.679 --> 00:37:02.639
would have buried these things deeper. Peter's wife was named

575
00:37:02.679 --> 00:37:05.400
Stacy and was waiting in a big McMansion out in

576
00:37:05.440 --> 00:37:08.519
the suburbs for news of a Landra's kidney. Do I

577
00:37:08.559 --> 00:37:10.920
even need to say that? This was his second wife

578
00:37:11.400 --> 00:37:16.159
and very young. Were halfway there, Peter told her, it's

579
00:37:16.199 --> 00:37:20.599
not like a pig kidney or anything. She asked, how

580
00:37:20.639 --> 00:37:25.199
would I know? I don't know, She fretted. Look, this

581
00:37:25.239 --> 00:37:28.400
guy came highly recommended, and when it comes to Alandra,

582
00:37:28.679 --> 00:37:33.079
we don't have another choice, I know, said Stacy. And

583
00:37:33.119 --> 00:37:35.840
there was a lot in those words, And those two

584
00:37:35.880 --> 00:37:39.199
words were all the feelings Stacy had growing for little

585
00:37:39.199 --> 00:37:43.400
Elandra and all the feelings Peter lacked. But Peter did

586
00:37:43.440 --> 00:37:46.119
what he had to do. What Peter had to do

587
00:37:46.199 --> 00:37:48.639
next was walk out of the edge of the overgrown

588
00:37:48.679 --> 00:37:51.199
parking lot and wait for a guy from the transplant

589
00:37:51.280 --> 00:37:55.079
organization he'd paid off. Actually, this guy, whose name was

590
00:37:55.159 --> 00:37:59.199
Rollo New Octavius quite well, but neither man wanted anyone

591
00:37:59.239 --> 00:38:02.679
to know they were. Rollo had worked in that lab too,

592
00:38:03.000 --> 00:38:06.119
back in the day, not so much in the sciences

593
00:38:06.159 --> 00:38:11.039
as in the more nebulous parts of the organization. Octavius

594
00:38:11.039 --> 00:38:14.519
could have just given the organ to Rollo, but Octavius

595
00:38:14.519 --> 00:38:17.760
and Rollo always wanted a middleman. It wasn't fool proof,

596
00:38:17.800 --> 00:38:21.360
but it was better than nothing. Look, just go to

597
00:38:21.400 --> 00:38:24.280
the hospital and wait, Peter said. The guy is on

598
00:38:24.360 --> 00:38:26.440
his way here, and then he's going to be bringing

599
00:38:26.480 --> 00:38:31.679
the kidneys within the hour. Okay, said Stacy, but there

600
00:38:31.760 --> 00:38:34.559
was so much she could not face. She knew she

601
00:38:34.639 --> 00:38:38.880
was staying right where she was Okay, and Peter hung up.

602
00:38:39.840 --> 00:38:42.039
Peter had only taken a few steps before he saw

603
00:38:42.079 --> 00:38:45.719
something moving in the trees, just out of the corner

604
00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:48.480
of his eye. Of course, Peter was thinking it was

605
00:38:48.519 --> 00:38:52.519
a cop or the FBI, or maybe an investigative reporter

606
00:38:52.679 --> 00:38:54.840
trying to entrap him and put him on TV with

607
00:38:54.880 --> 00:38:58.000
all the pedophiles. So Peter stepped off the road and

608
00:38:58.039 --> 00:39:01.760
hid behind a tree, which was stupid because unlike cops

609
00:39:01.760 --> 00:39:05.320
and FBI agents and reporters, what was shambling towards him

610
00:39:05.360 --> 00:39:09.519
could smell the blood on his shoes, Peter peeked around

611
00:39:09.519 --> 00:39:12.079
the tree and realized he was wrong about the cops

612
00:39:12.079 --> 00:39:16.199
and the reporters, because how this person was dressed, how

613
00:39:16.239 --> 00:39:21.559
this shape was dressed, was in things goodwill would not take.

614
00:39:22.440 --> 00:39:25.679
They looked like clothes somebody took out of a compost pile.

615
00:39:26.599 --> 00:39:29.360
Peter started moving quickly through the trees, trying not to

616
00:39:29.400 --> 00:39:32.719
slash the beer cooler too much, and cut cross country

617
00:39:32.760 --> 00:39:36.000
towards the parking lot. All the bones and muscles and

618
00:39:36.039 --> 00:39:40.199
ligaments and the things sniffing along behind Peter, which seemed

619
00:39:40.239 --> 00:39:43.320
barely connected to each other still let the thing move

620
00:39:43.400 --> 00:39:46.719
faster than you would think, But it would not have

621
00:39:46.800 --> 00:39:49.880
mattered if Peter had watched where he was going, which

622
00:39:49.880 --> 00:39:53.079
he did not, so he overshot the parking lot and

623
00:39:53.239 --> 00:39:57.039
thrashed deeper into the woods, and the thing that could

624
00:39:57.039 --> 00:40:01.239
smell his bloody footprints, who saw the shoeprint, glowing like fire,

625
00:40:01.679 --> 00:40:06.119
kept on coming. Peter saw the bland gray concrete block

626
00:40:06.199 --> 00:40:08.760
of the lab building looming in front of him, and

627
00:40:08.840 --> 00:40:12.360
he realized he'd been a dumbass and circled back on himself.

628
00:40:12.519 --> 00:40:15.719
He was ultimately a tech guy. He'd never been much

629
00:40:15.760 --> 00:40:17.920
out in nature and did not really know how to

630
00:40:18.039 --> 00:40:21.760
navigate even a small forest of trees, much less tell

631
00:40:21.840 --> 00:40:25.159
one from another. And he'd never seen a dead body,

632
00:40:25.840 --> 00:40:29.000
but he recognized that Octavius was dead when he saw

633
00:40:29.039 --> 00:40:31.239
what was left of him in the small clearing where

634
00:40:31.280 --> 00:40:35.159
they had met up minutes ago, the chewed parts and

635
00:40:35.199 --> 00:40:38.559
the parts that should have been tucked inside but were

636
00:40:38.599 --> 00:40:42.440
glistening in the sun. The thing behind Peter was getting closer,

637
00:40:43.079 --> 00:40:46.639
so close now Peter could hear a slurping noise. And

638
00:40:46.679 --> 00:40:49.840
Peter turned and looked, and what he saw sent his

639
00:40:49.920 --> 00:40:54.000
heart plummeting and his balls scurrying up inside himself to

640
00:40:54.039 --> 00:40:57.639
meet it, and his butthole slammed shut with the finality

641
00:40:57.639 --> 00:41:01.280
of a coffin lid. Peter dropped the beer cooler, and

642
00:41:01.320 --> 00:41:04.440
this time a lot more blood slashed out than was good,

643
00:41:05.079 --> 00:41:08.880
and the thing moved faster. Somehow, Peter grabbed the cooler

644
00:41:08.920 --> 00:41:11.800
back up and started running. Peter was running, and the

645
00:41:11.840 --> 00:41:15.280
only place he knew he was running was away, wherever

646
00:41:15.320 --> 00:41:18.239
that was, and he was bouncing off of trunks and

647
00:41:18.280 --> 00:41:20.760
getting whipped in the face by branches and all that

648
00:41:20.920 --> 00:41:24.239
because instead of joining boy scouts, he had taught himself

649
00:41:24.320 --> 00:41:29.400
computer programming he was richer, but very close to being dead,

650
00:41:29.840 --> 00:41:34.519
so some of his life choices seemed poorer today. He

651
00:41:34.639 --> 00:41:37.360
kept splashing blood out of that cooler, and that wasn't

652
00:41:37.360 --> 00:41:41.239
great for a landra, but more importantly for Peter, it

653
00:41:41.280 --> 00:41:44.440
wasn't great for him at all. So Peter stopped and

654
00:41:44.519 --> 00:41:47.519
opened the cooler. He plunged his hand in and grabbed

655
00:41:47.519 --> 00:41:50.480
out a kidney that was in a leaky sandwich bag,

656
00:41:50.599 --> 00:41:53.039
and he flung that kidney in a long red arc

657
00:41:53.360 --> 00:41:56.159
that hit the thing's chest with a wet sound and

658
00:41:56.199 --> 00:41:58.920
plopped into the grass, and the creature looked down at

659
00:41:58.960 --> 00:42:01.880
it with yellow eyes, and it gave Peter a chance

660
00:42:01.920 --> 00:42:05.559
to catch his breath. Then the creature showed broken teeth

661
00:42:05.599 --> 00:42:08.320
and reached down with those long nails and grabbed the

662
00:42:08.400 --> 00:42:12.320
kidney up and it went down in one gulp, and

663
00:42:12.400 --> 00:42:15.760
Peter threw up in his mouth a little. When Peter ran,

664
00:42:15.840 --> 00:42:18.199
this time, he didn't even pick up the cooler. The

665
00:42:18.239 --> 00:42:21.239
thing tipped the cooler back and gulped the other kidney down,

666
00:42:21.719 --> 00:42:25.239
and that bought Peter a little more time. Peter ran

667
00:42:25.320 --> 00:42:28.480
and looked back, ran and looked back, and sure enough,

668
00:42:28.599 --> 00:42:31.159
in a minute or two, he saw that raggedy shape

669
00:42:31.199 --> 00:42:34.599
moving between the trees. Again, Peter was looking back when

670
00:42:34.599 --> 00:42:37.239
his foot touched asphalt and he was out on a

671
00:42:37.280 --> 00:42:40.920
country road. The woman driving the mini van was leaning over,

672
00:42:41.000 --> 00:42:44.360
pushing the Hocus Pocus DVD into the dashboard for her

673
00:42:44.440 --> 00:42:47.159
kids in the back seat to watch for the millionth time,

674
00:42:47.920 --> 00:42:51.159
so she didn't even tap the brake before she hit

675
00:42:51.239 --> 00:42:55.039
Peter head on. Rather than explain what that looked like,

676
00:42:55.400 --> 00:42:58.679
it's simpler to say the kids never asked to watch

677
00:42:58.679 --> 00:43:03.800
Hocus Pocus ever. Again, As it happens, Rollo was not

678
00:43:03.960 --> 00:43:06.199
too far behind the woman in a truck that looked

679
00:43:06.239 --> 00:43:10.159
like a medical vehicle but really wasn't. Rollo was very

680
00:43:10.199 --> 00:43:12.480
quick on his feet and looked like he had a

681
00:43:12.519 --> 00:43:15.920
lot of authority. He bet on ponies with the same authority,

682
00:43:16.000 --> 00:43:18.760
but no common sense, which is what got him into

683
00:43:18.760 --> 00:43:21.760
this bad situation to begin with. It didn't take much

684
00:43:21.760 --> 00:43:24.199
for Rollo to convince the stunned woman that he was

685
00:43:24.239 --> 00:43:26.679
going to take care of everything and she was free

686
00:43:26.679 --> 00:43:30.400
to go. He would even contact her insurance company for her.

687
00:43:31.119 --> 00:43:33.280
She wrote everything down on a piece of paper with

688
00:43:33.360 --> 00:43:36.320
tears in her eyes. Of course, as soon as she

689
00:43:36.400 --> 00:43:38.559
drove away, he chucked that paper in a cup of

690
00:43:38.599 --> 00:43:41.800
cold coffee he left on the dash. Rollo set to

691
00:43:41.840 --> 00:43:44.599
looking around for that cooler and started back into the

692
00:43:44.639 --> 00:43:48.599
tree line. He didn't find it, but he found a shambling,

693
00:43:48.840 --> 00:43:52.559
shuffling creature with blood dripping off of a lipless, leering

694
00:43:52.639 --> 00:43:58.239
mouth and grasping clawed hands stained with blood. Rollo was

695
00:43:58.320 --> 00:44:01.880
a bad gambler, but he'd been a good crooked cop

696
00:44:01.920 --> 00:44:05.000
and a decent emt who stole drugs. So he took

697
00:44:05.039 --> 00:44:07.760
a snubnose thirty two he kept under his shirt tail

698
00:44:07.800 --> 00:44:10.480
in the back and shot that thing in both its

699
00:44:10.599 --> 00:44:14.800
yellow eyes. It fell down, as you might suspect, and

700
00:44:14.880 --> 00:44:18.360
did not get back up. Then Rollo found the empty,

701
00:44:18.679 --> 00:44:21.880
bloody cooler with the Patriot sticker on it. His mind

702
00:44:21.960 --> 00:44:25.280
remained remarkably clear, and he knew what he had to do.

703
00:44:26.280 --> 00:44:29.239
Rollo did a very good job at the transplant center,

704
00:44:29.440 --> 00:44:32.599
which was his real job now, but he paid special

705
00:44:32.639 --> 00:44:35.639
attention when he was getting a fat envelope on the side.

706
00:44:35.840 --> 00:44:38.320
Rollo pulled Peter's body up into the back of the

707
00:44:38.320 --> 00:44:41.480
white truck that if you squinted your eyes at it

708
00:44:41.559 --> 00:44:44.880
might be a medical vehicle. He had some tools back there,

709
00:44:44.920 --> 00:44:48.239
that could have medical uses. The back of his truck

710
00:44:48.320 --> 00:44:50.559
was not as clean as some places, but it was

711
00:44:50.639 --> 00:44:53.360
not as dirty as the back room of that massage

712
00:44:53.440 --> 00:44:57.159
parlor where Rollo knew Octavius had done a little surgery.

713
00:44:57.880 --> 00:45:00.679
If he hadn't already been a decent empt, he could

714
00:45:00.719 --> 00:45:06.400
have used you tube. Stacy had been sitting very still

715
00:45:06.519 --> 00:45:09.639
in her spacious living room when the doorbell rang. She

716
00:45:09.800 --> 00:45:14.360
answered it, her hands trembling. Two stone faced men in

717
00:45:14.440 --> 00:45:19.000
dark suits stared at her. Stacy O'Day one asked. It

718
00:45:19.039 --> 00:45:22.840
was more of a statement than a question. Yes, is

719
00:45:22.880 --> 00:45:27.039
this about a landra? She asked in a manner of speaking.

720
00:45:27.360 --> 00:45:29.639
The man showed her a piece of official looking paper.

721
00:45:30.360 --> 00:45:33.960
This is a warrant to search your house. Stacy took

722
00:45:34.000 --> 00:45:38.000
a step back. But a landra's in the hospital. She

723
00:45:38.079 --> 00:45:41.159
needs a transplant. It's on its way. Why is this

724
00:45:41.280 --> 00:45:45.719
happening right now? The man looked at her. That's just it.

725
00:45:46.239 --> 00:45:49.760
The hospital checked. There's no record that Alandra was officially

726
00:45:49.760 --> 00:45:55.719
adopted from anywhere. Stacy swallowed hard. There's no record she

727
00:45:55.800 --> 00:45:59.440
was ever enrolled in school. Stacy got her feet under her.

728
00:46:00.639 --> 00:46:04.599
She's homeschooled. Your neighbors have a lot to say. One

729
00:46:04.639 --> 00:46:06.960
of them says they saw a mattress on the floor

730
00:46:07.000 --> 00:46:09.519
in the basement, next to an ironing board and a

731
00:46:09.559 --> 00:46:14.719
stack of laundry. Stacy shook her head. We're painting her room,

732
00:46:15.320 --> 00:46:18.840
so can you show me that room? He asked, Like

733
00:46:18.880 --> 00:46:22.280
I said, it's being painted. The cop gave her a

734
00:46:22.320 --> 00:46:26.440
thousand yard stare. You're not the first housewife that needed

735
00:46:26.440 --> 00:46:30.039
a little help around the place. Tears showed in Stacy's eyes.

736
00:46:30.599 --> 00:46:35.079
She's living better than she was in that hell whole orphanage.

737
00:46:35.119 --> 00:46:38.400
She will be. She's in surgery and the kidney looks

738
00:46:38.440 --> 00:46:41.199
like it's going to take. Stacy leaned against the wall

739
00:46:41.239 --> 00:46:44.960
with relief, which surprised the two cops. But she's not

740
00:46:45.039 --> 00:46:48.559
coming back here, the cop added. Stacy stood up straight.

741
00:46:49.320 --> 00:46:51.920
If I didn't care, I wouldn't have pushed to get

742
00:46:51.920 --> 00:46:54.719
her that kidney when she got sick. The cop had

743
00:46:54.760 --> 00:46:58.360
cold eyes. What else could you do? I reckon you

744
00:46:58.400 --> 00:47:03.000
didn't keep the receipt. Stacy processed this. She looked the

745
00:47:03.039 --> 00:47:06.679
cop full in the face. This whole thing, it started

746
00:47:06.679 --> 00:47:10.400
out differently than it ended with a landra at least

747
00:47:10.400 --> 00:47:14.119
for me, Stacy making that statement was the only thing

748
00:47:14.119 --> 00:47:16.639
that kept the cops from cuffing her and banging her

749
00:47:16.679 --> 00:47:18.760
head on the door when they lowered her into the

750
00:47:18.800 --> 00:47:21.440
back seat. They let her walk out on her own

751
00:47:21.480 --> 00:47:24.719
free will, but she did not see that McMansion again

752
00:47:25.239 --> 00:47:28.719
for a long time. The cops assumed Peter had run

753
00:47:28.719 --> 00:47:31.360
out on Stacy and all of their problems. Nobody ever

754
00:47:31.400 --> 00:47:33.840
found a trace of him. They were soon distracted by

755
00:47:33.880 --> 00:47:36.239
a very large fire at an old factory in the

756
00:47:36.280 --> 00:47:40.440
woods outside of town, which burned a big tract of land.

757
00:47:41.519 --> 00:47:44.480
Rollo had a steady hand and a clear head and

758
00:47:44.519 --> 00:47:47.519
got a bonus for all his quick thinking. Didn't change

759
00:47:47.519 --> 00:47:58.360
his luck at the track. But you can't have it all, eh.

760
00:47:58.719 --> 00:48:07.559
Real Monsters from by Michelle Adler. I don't know about

761
00:48:07.559 --> 00:48:10.320
the new kid. Don't you think he's a little weird.

762
00:48:10.760 --> 00:48:14.239
Tom McCullough whispered, leaning slightly over his desk to get

763
00:48:14.239 --> 00:48:18.199
closer to his friend, A little weird. Come on, he's

764
00:48:18.199 --> 00:48:22.480
a freak. Jacob nodded. They both snickered in front of them.

765
00:48:22.519 --> 00:48:26.639
Sat Patrick Marshall Sherwood, the third the aforementioned new kid.

766
00:48:27.079 --> 00:48:30.840
His incredibly formal sounding name wasn't really befitting his posture.

767
00:48:31.480 --> 00:48:34.920
Hunched over, staring at his desk and wincing at their laughter.

768
00:48:35.639 --> 00:48:39.519
His dyed black shoulder length hair, eyeliner, and all black

769
00:48:39.559 --> 00:48:43.159
wardrobe should have succeeded in making him look dangerous, but

770
00:48:43.239 --> 00:48:46.599
in reality it just made him look tired and pale.

771
00:48:47.159 --> 00:48:50.199
I have to admit I felt bad for the kid.

772
00:48:50.559 --> 00:48:52.800
The rumor around school was that his dad had been

773
00:48:52.920 --> 00:48:55.800
killed by a pack of feral dogs while he and

774
00:48:55.840 --> 00:49:00.480
Patrick were camping somewhere in the mountains of Georgia. Patrick

775
00:49:00.519 --> 00:49:03.760
had somehow escaped meeting his end there, but he hadn't

776
00:49:03.800 --> 00:49:07.840
gotten away easily. His face and arms were covered in

777
00:49:07.880 --> 00:49:11.719
a multitude of deep, gnarly scars from the event, a

778
00:49:11.760 --> 00:49:16.199
permanent reminder that he and only he, had survived something

779
00:49:16.320 --> 00:49:20.920
truly horrible, and not by much. To be fair, he'd

780
00:49:20.920 --> 00:49:23.639
have been an ugly kid even without the scars. He

781
00:49:23.760 --> 00:49:26.159
was just a little too lanky and awkward for me

782
00:49:26.199 --> 00:49:29.599
to believe he'd ever been cool. Life ain't really fair,

783
00:49:29.920 --> 00:49:33.239
I guess. I didn't know how much if any of

784
00:49:33.280 --> 00:49:36.679
the story was just dumb rumors. I wasn't even sure

785
00:49:36.679 --> 00:49:41.079
if Georgia had mountains, But if it was true, he'd

786
00:49:41.119 --> 00:49:43.519
picked just about the worst town to move to if

787
00:49:43.559 --> 00:49:46.480
he and his mom were trying to escape their tragic passed.

788
00:49:47.039 --> 00:49:51.079
Our town, located in a quiet corner of northeastern Pennsylvania,

789
00:49:51.239 --> 00:49:54.320
was mostly rural, encompassing part of the valley and a

790
00:49:54.320 --> 00:49:57.800
lot of the surrounding woods. That might sound fine, though

791
00:49:57.880 --> 00:50:01.840
maybe boring on paper, but incidents involving feral dogs had

792
00:50:01.840 --> 00:50:05.400
always been common here. Usually it was just pets and

793
00:50:05.519 --> 00:50:09.239
small animals that went missing, but lately some cows had

794
00:50:09.280 --> 00:50:13.159
been found halfway eaten, dotting the nearby farms. Some more

795
00:50:13.199 --> 00:50:17.360
people were on edge than usual. Not really a vacation

796
00:50:17.559 --> 00:50:20.679
from their grief, is what I mean. So back to

797
00:50:20.719 --> 00:50:24.360
the story. Those chuckleheads kept up with their insults for

798
00:50:24.440 --> 00:50:27.119
a while, calling him every name they could think of,

799
00:50:27.599 --> 00:50:30.519
poking him, sticking gum on his back, you name it.

800
00:50:30.840 --> 00:50:33.880
You'd probably have thought that our English teacher, missus Alder,

801
00:50:34.079 --> 00:50:37.599
just kept blathering on about Shakespeare during all this. I

802
00:50:37.639 --> 00:50:40.480
wish she'd take notice, but she was so hard of

803
00:50:40.519 --> 00:50:42.639
hearing that I wasn't sure she could even hear what

804
00:50:42.960 --> 00:50:46.519
she was saying half the time. She was so old

805
00:50:46.599 --> 00:50:49.920
and fragile looking that I often wondered if she'd escaped

806
00:50:49.960 --> 00:50:53.280
a nursing home every morning just to come and teach us.

807
00:50:53.800 --> 00:50:57.119
It wasn't fair though. I sat directly behind Tom in

808
00:50:57.159 --> 00:50:59.719
the last row of desks against the window, like a

809
00:50:59.719 --> 00:51:04.760
true delinquent. I was bouncing my leg waiting for I

810
00:51:04.800 --> 00:51:08.199
don't know, a sign that I should jump in. I'm

811
00:51:08.239 --> 00:51:10.639
not proud of the fact that it took Patrick brushing

812
00:51:10.679 --> 00:51:13.880
teardrops off his desk for me to do something. I

813
00:51:13.960 --> 00:51:16.840
reached forward and punched the back of Tom's chair hard

814
00:51:16.920 --> 00:51:20.800
enough to get everyone, including our teacher's attention, stop making

815
00:51:20.880 --> 00:51:22.519
fun of him, or the next thing I punch will

816
00:51:22.519 --> 00:51:25.920
be your face, I shouted. I saw Tom and Jacob

817
00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:32.119
flinch from behind. Marisa, missus Alder, spat sternly, miraculously cured

818
00:51:32.159 --> 00:51:35.360
of her partial deafness for a moment. How many outbursts

819
00:51:35.400 --> 00:51:39.440
do we really need to have this week? But they were,

820
00:51:40.119 --> 00:51:43.400
I tried. No one will be picking on poor Patrick

821
00:51:43.480 --> 00:51:46.599
in my classroom. It's not his fault. He's covered with

822
00:51:46.639 --> 00:51:51.440
horrible scars, she continued. I watched Patrick cringe, and the

823
00:51:51.480 --> 00:51:56.039
whole class began to giggle. There I go again, making

824
00:51:56.119 --> 00:52:00.360
matters worse. I left school late that day, long after

825
00:52:00.400 --> 00:52:04.159
the buses and carpools had gone basically my normal routine.

826
00:52:04.639 --> 00:52:08.320
Gotta make sure I don't run into any trouble. You see,

827
00:52:08.559 --> 00:52:11.280
like our scarred up sad boy, I too was the

828
00:52:11.320 --> 00:52:14.880
subject of the other kid's hatred. But unlike him, I

829
00:52:14.960 --> 00:52:16.840
actually knew how to stand up for myself and I

830
00:52:16.840 --> 00:52:20.079
could hold my own in a fight. Still, I didn't

831
00:52:20.119 --> 00:52:22.719
like to start trouble. I just relished in it when

832
00:52:22.760 --> 00:52:26.199
it came calling. But even if I won, bites and

833
00:52:26.239 --> 00:52:29.440
scratches do hurt, after all, so it was better to

834
00:52:29.480 --> 00:52:33.159
avoid the rest of the student body when we were unsupervised,

835
00:52:33.599 --> 00:52:37.280
especially in the middle of the afternoon in broad daylight.

836
00:52:37.920 --> 00:52:42.079
Who needs that kind of attention. However, on this particular day,

837
00:52:42.119 --> 00:52:45.559
waiting until my usual time four PM to leave wasn't enough.

838
00:52:46.199 --> 00:52:49.119
I pushed open the side entrance and there was Patrick.

839
00:52:49.719 --> 00:52:52.480
He sat on the curb, his posture the same as earlier,

840
00:52:53.079 --> 00:52:56.119
the cool autumn breeze blowing his hair over his face.

841
00:52:57.079 --> 00:53:00.760
I held my breath, trying to be comically quiet and

842
00:53:00.880 --> 00:53:04.320
sneak away before he noticed. I just wanted to get

843
00:53:04.320 --> 00:53:08.719
home and not do my homework. Until again I realized

844
00:53:09.199 --> 00:53:13.199
he was crying. I sighed and plopped myself down next

845
00:53:13.199 --> 00:53:15.880
to him, waiting for your folks to pick you up.

846
00:53:16.559 --> 00:53:21.199
Oh right, I forgot dead dad. Your mom running late,

847
00:53:21.480 --> 00:53:26.519
I corrected myself. I don't think she's coming, he said softly,

848
00:53:27.079 --> 00:53:29.880
continuing to focus on the puddle of tears collecting on

849
00:53:29.920 --> 00:53:33.519
the asphalt. I realized this was the first time i'd

850
00:53:33.519 --> 00:53:39.639
heard him speak. She's been different since. I can tell

851
00:53:39.679 --> 00:53:42.280
she doesn't like to look at me. Sometimes I think

852
00:53:42.320 --> 00:53:45.760
she forgets me on purpose. I would just try to

853
00:53:45.800 --> 00:53:48.880
walk back, but I don't know how to get home

854
00:53:48.920 --> 00:53:51.039
from here. I can't even look it up because a

855
00:53:51.079 --> 00:53:54.400
couple of kids from class pushed me and my phone

856
00:53:54.440 --> 00:53:58.480
broke my fall. You just gonna sit here all night? Then,

857
00:53:59.440 --> 00:54:03.880
I was hoping too. I like the dark. I honestly

858
00:54:03.920 --> 00:54:06.480
couldn't tell if that line was supposed to be sarcastic.

859
00:54:07.400 --> 00:54:09.760
Come on, tell me where you live. I'll walk you home,

860
00:54:10.280 --> 00:54:12.599
I offered, as I stood up and brushed myself off.

861
00:54:14.599 --> 00:54:17.280
You're not going to trick me and leave me halfway

862
00:54:17.320 --> 00:54:21.960
and steal my wallet, right, he asked expectantly. Well, geez,

863
00:54:22.079 --> 00:54:26.519
not anymore. I'm not, Patrick let out a little chuckle. Okay,

864
00:54:26.639 --> 00:54:30.400
maybe we could make this work. I'm Marisa, I said,

865
00:54:30.519 --> 00:54:33.199
helping him up, and I promise I won't hurt you.

866
00:54:33.920 --> 00:54:37.440
Us freak's got to stick together. As it turned out,

867
00:54:37.800 --> 00:54:40.079
Patrick only lived one block over from me and the

868
00:54:40.159 --> 00:54:43.360
cute little cape cod that old mister Patel owned before

869
00:54:43.360 --> 00:54:45.480
he got sick and had to move in with his kids.

870
00:54:46.199 --> 00:54:48.280
It was great because I didn't really have to go

871
00:54:48.320 --> 00:54:51.360
out of my way, but also a little sad because

872
00:54:51.440 --> 00:54:54.280
I only lived six blocks from the school. He was

873
00:54:54.360 --> 00:54:57.280
crying over a ten minute walk. I agreed to help

874
00:54:57.320 --> 00:54:59.400
him find his way back to school the next morning,

875
00:55:00.039 --> 00:55:03.639
walk home with him again the following afternoon. Like I said,

876
00:55:04.239 --> 00:55:08.199
freaks need to stick together. So is it true about

877
00:55:08.199 --> 00:55:10.760
what happened to your dad? I asked? On our walk

878
00:55:10.800 --> 00:55:14.320
home the following afternoon, Patrick stopped dead in the center

879
00:55:14.360 --> 00:55:19.079
of the sidewalk. Isn't it obvious it is? He touched

880
00:55:19.079 --> 00:55:22.480
one of the scars on his arm tenderly. My dad

881
00:55:22.559 --> 00:55:25.320
is dead, my mom probably blames me, and I look

882
00:55:25.400 --> 00:55:28.760
like some villain from a slasher film. My life is

883
00:55:28.840 --> 00:55:34.639
totally ruined. Oh that's a little dark, dude. I'm sorry. No,

884
00:55:34.880 --> 00:55:37.360
it's better if I just lean into it. I'm a

885
00:55:37.400 --> 00:55:39.280
monster now and I have to get used to it,

886
00:55:39.599 --> 00:55:43.599
he sighed. Us monsters got to stick together. I said,

887
00:55:43.679 --> 00:55:48.599
like it was my tagline or something. Marisa, he said bluntly,

888
00:55:49.239 --> 00:55:52.960
you are not a monster. I furrowed my brow. He

889
00:55:53.079 --> 00:55:55.599
was silent the rest of the walk home. I felt

890
00:55:55.679 --> 00:55:58.239
bad for bringing up his dad and wouldn't have blamed

891
00:55:58.280 --> 00:56:00.920
him if I didn't even get a goodbye. But when

892
00:56:00.960 --> 00:56:05.159
he was halfway up his driveway, he stopped. Marisa, I

893
00:56:05.239 --> 00:56:08.000
need to tell you something, he began without turning around.

894
00:56:08.760 --> 00:56:11.840
Can you keep a secret. What did I say five

895
00:56:11.840 --> 00:56:15.519
minutes ago about us sticking together? Patrick paused for a

896
00:56:15.559 --> 00:56:21.000
long time, like he was having trouble finding the right words. Listen,

897
00:56:21.519 --> 00:56:25.079
you're gonna think I'm crazy. But that's okay. Even I

898
00:56:25.119 --> 00:56:29.440
think I'm crazy sometimes. He clenched his fists tightly at

899
00:56:29.440 --> 00:56:34.519
his sides. But when we were camping, when those dogs

900
00:56:34.519 --> 00:56:39.199
showed up, they attacked me first. My dad fought so

901
00:56:39.360 --> 00:56:41.440
hard to stop them and lure them away from me.

902
00:56:42.760 --> 00:56:47.880
That's why he's dead, and I'm just this thing now.

903
00:56:49.320 --> 00:56:52.000
It's not your fault. No, that's not what I mean.

904
00:56:52.519 --> 00:56:54.760
When I was lying there when they were tearing my

905
00:56:54.880 --> 00:56:57.159
dad to shreds, I could have sworn I heard them

906
00:56:57.239 --> 00:57:01.239
talking to each other. I could have sworn they were laughing.

907
00:57:02.480 --> 00:57:05.280
What does that even mean? I guess it's possible that

908
00:57:05.320 --> 00:57:08.480
I was delirious from blood loss. But if that's true,

909
00:57:08.559 --> 00:57:13.079
then how come even now when it's really quiet, I

910
00:57:13.119 --> 00:57:16.639
can almost still hear them laughing. His voice was shaking

911
00:57:16.960 --> 00:57:19.440
at this point. He was staring directly at me again,

912
00:57:19.800 --> 00:57:24.280
his eyes full of fear. Are you saying, I don't

913
00:57:24.320 --> 00:57:31.280
think they were dogs? I think they were something else, wolves, maybe,

914
00:57:31.360 --> 00:57:35.400
I offered, Patrick let out a little pitiful laugh. No,

915
00:57:36.400 --> 00:57:41.559
not wolves. So now you know the truth. I'm crazy

916
00:57:42.320 --> 00:57:46.760
nice knowing you. I don't think you're crazy, Patrick, I said,

917
00:57:47.320 --> 00:57:50.079
not sure if I was lying or not. Either way,

918
00:57:50.159 --> 00:57:52.079
I don't think that's a good enough reason for us

919
00:57:52.079 --> 00:57:55.159
to stop hanging out. He smiled in a mix of

920
00:57:55.239 --> 00:58:00.400
confusion and relief. Thanks, Marisa. It seemed that let someone

921
00:58:00.480 --> 00:58:02.719
else share his secret took a lot of weight off

922
00:58:02.760 --> 00:58:05.880
the poor guy's shoulders, because after that he was a

923
00:58:05.880 --> 00:58:09.199
lot more outgoing around me. The edges of his sadness

924
00:58:09.199 --> 00:58:11.400
had been sanded down a little, and he actually let

925
00:58:11.440 --> 00:58:13.840
me get to know him. And as it turned out,

926
00:58:14.079 --> 00:58:17.039
Patrick was a pretty good kid. We were into the

927
00:58:17.079 --> 00:58:20.000
same comics and video games and even got each other's humor.

928
00:58:20.679 --> 00:58:22.880
We walked to and from school together every day for

929
00:58:22.920 --> 00:58:24.679
the next couple of weeks, and my mom let him

930
00:58:24.719 --> 00:58:27.719
stay for dinner most nights and sleep over on the weekends.

931
00:58:28.280 --> 00:58:31.039
As much as I considered myself something of a lone wolf,

932
00:58:31.320 --> 00:58:33.360
I had to admit it felt good to have someone

933
00:58:33.400 --> 00:58:35.920
around that really got me. I guess this is what

934
00:58:35.960 --> 00:58:39.000
it's like to have friends. Huh. Things stayed good for

935
00:58:39.079 --> 00:58:41.440
a while. When the other kids realized that I had

936
00:58:41.440 --> 00:58:43.960
taken him under my wing, a lot of the bullying stopped,

937
00:58:44.480 --> 00:58:46.840
and when he was picked on, he had gotten pretty

938
00:58:46.880 --> 00:58:50.079
good at standing up for himself. This, however, leads us

939
00:58:50.079 --> 00:58:52.480
to the incident that threatened to shatter the small bit

940
00:58:52.519 --> 00:58:55.880
of peace we'd begun to carve out for ourselves. Tom

941
00:58:55.920 --> 00:58:58.880
and Jacob, the only two kids still brazen enough to

942
00:58:59.000 --> 00:59:01.639
constantly mess with Patrick, had come up with a new

943
00:59:01.639 --> 00:59:05.280
way to get under his skin. You see, whenever Patrick

944
00:59:05.360 --> 00:59:08.280
tried to speak in class, or passed them in the hallway,

945
00:59:08.800 --> 00:59:12.840
or even entered a room, they'd howl like wolves. Because

946
00:59:12.880 --> 00:59:15.480
it was a relatively easy and safe way to upset him.

947
00:59:15.480 --> 00:59:18.000
They were usually able to get whoever else was around

948
00:59:18.079 --> 00:59:21.199
to howl along with them. I know it doesn't sound

949
00:59:21.280 --> 00:59:24.400
that bad, but after three days of it, Patrick wasn't

950
00:59:24.400 --> 00:59:28.079
looking too good. It happened in missus Alder's class, as

951
00:59:28.119 --> 00:59:31.519
most bad things did. Man, she was a terrible teacher

952
00:59:31.800 --> 00:59:34.519
and was discussing another terrible book that they tell you

953
00:59:34.639 --> 00:59:37.719
was a classic and has all this symbolism, but was

954
00:59:37.800 --> 00:59:40.239
just written by some dumb guy who probably didn't even

955
00:59:40.239 --> 00:59:44.119
know what symbolism was. So who can tell me why

956
00:59:44.159 --> 00:59:47.039
they think the author decided to make the badge read?

957
00:59:47.519 --> 00:59:52.599
She asked. Everyone stayed perfectly, still dead eyed, hoping to

958
00:59:52.639 --> 00:59:57.480
avoid being called on having to discuss colors. Well, everyone

959
00:59:57.559 --> 01:00:02.119
except Patrick. He actually raised his and ah, yes, mister

960
01:00:02.159 --> 01:00:07.360
Marshall Sherwood, please enlighten us. You see there's not actual,

961
01:00:08.039 --> 01:00:10.920
was all I could hear before a cacophony of howling

962
01:00:10.960 --> 01:00:15.599
delinquents overtook his quiet voice. Now, students, settle down and

963
01:00:15.679 --> 01:00:18.000
let him finish. You can howl all you want on

964
01:00:18.039 --> 01:00:21.400
the bus home, she said, sternly, in her traditionally tone

965
01:00:21.440 --> 01:00:25.480
death sort of way. Silence returned to the room. Patrick

966
01:00:25.519 --> 01:00:30.599
tried again, there's not actually a The howling returned, then

967
01:00:30.760 --> 01:00:37.360
quickly abated, go on, not actually a howling, then silence again,

968
01:00:38.079 --> 01:00:42.119
a reason that howling, then silence. This pattern continued for

969
01:00:42.159 --> 01:00:45.679
a tragically long time. I thought maybe he'd be struggling

970
01:00:45.719 --> 01:00:47.800
to say that one sentence for the rest of the class,

971
01:00:48.199 --> 01:00:51.880
until during that last interruption I saw something change in

972
01:00:51.960 --> 01:00:57.400
his eyes. Patrick had finally snapped. He waited patiently for

973
01:00:57.440 --> 01:01:01.719
the noise to calm and took a deep breath. Let

974
01:01:01.719 --> 01:01:06.280
me start over. There's not actually a reason this time.

975
01:01:06.360 --> 01:01:09.599
He didn't stop when they began again. He just slowly

976
01:01:09.639 --> 01:01:13.320
turned to Tom, who was directly behind him, grabbed him

977
01:01:13.320 --> 01:01:16.079
by the collar, and punched him in the face repeatedly,

978
01:01:16.159 --> 01:01:19.280
all the while continuing to relay his point about the book.

979
01:01:19.960 --> 01:01:22.719
When he was done, Tom's face was a mess, and

980
01:01:22.760 --> 01:01:27.239
there was no more howling. Ever, again, the rest isn't

981
01:01:27.280 --> 01:01:30.440
really important. Patrick went to the principal's office and got

982
01:01:30.440 --> 01:01:32.440
detention for the rest of the week, and Tom went

983
01:01:32.480 --> 01:01:35.519
to the nurse and got everyone's sympathy. Even though he'd

984
01:01:35.559 --> 01:01:40.000
gotten in trouble, Patrick's attitude drastically improved. Detention was a

985
01:01:40.039 --> 01:01:42.400
small price to pay for being able to speak again.

986
01:01:43.360 --> 01:01:45.639
This did mean that we couldn't walk home together for

987
01:01:45.679 --> 01:01:48.920
a while, though on Fridays he would usually pack an

988
01:01:48.960 --> 01:01:51.480
overnight bag and come straight home with me for the weekend.

989
01:01:51.920 --> 01:01:55.000
But with detention and his mom grounding him for beating

990
01:01:55.039 --> 01:01:57.760
Tom to a bloody pulp, Patrick told me we'd have

991
01:01:57.800 --> 01:02:01.639
to skip our normal weekend hangouts. It was actually relieved

992
01:02:01.639 --> 01:02:03.559
to hear it. It was a weird time of the

993
01:02:03.599 --> 01:02:06.599
month for me, and our hangout would have been super awkward.

994
01:02:07.360 --> 01:02:09.639
I felt I dodged a major bullet, and was also

995
01:02:09.719 --> 01:02:12.000
thrilled that his mom was paying enough attention to know

996
01:02:12.079 --> 01:02:15.079
he'd gotten in trouble and that she actually seemed to care.

997
01:02:16.199 --> 01:02:18.840
I expected an easy Friday night, so I was surprised

998
01:02:18.880 --> 01:02:21.559
that as I finished washing dishes from dinner and turned

999
01:02:21.559 --> 01:02:24.360
off the water, I was alerted to a frantic knocking

1000
01:02:24.400 --> 01:02:27.679
at our front door. Maybe Patrick's mom had changed her mind,

1001
01:02:27.719 --> 01:02:31.440
I figured, disregarding the overwhelming panic that seemed to loom

1002
01:02:31.480 --> 01:02:34.079
in the constant banging. I was totally shocked when the

1003
01:02:34.119 --> 01:02:37.360
opening door revealed none other than the devil himself, Tom

1004
01:02:37.440 --> 01:02:40.159
mc cullough, still bruised from his run in earlier in

1005
01:02:40.159 --> 01:02:44.039
the week, panting hard. Why are you here? I asked.

1006
01:02:44.280 --> 01:02:47.119
I really couldn't think of a single reason he'd want

1007
01:02:47.199 --> 01:02:50.679
anything to do with me. He tried to catch his breath.

1008
01:02:51.239 --> 01:02:58.519
I where's Patrick? He pleaded, What you want a rematch? No? No, listen,

1009
01:02:58.679 --> 01:03:01.039
I think I messed up. He was still trying to

1010
01:03:01.079 --> 01:03:03.559
catch his breath. Had he ran all the way here?

1011
01:03:04.199 --> 01:03:08.280
You want to apologize? Well, he isn't here. He's at home, grounded,

1012
01:03:08.880 --> 01:03:10.800
I was ready to close the door and get back

1013
01:03:10.840 --> 01:03:14.320
to my evening. No, he isn't. I went there first.

1014
01:03:14.559 --> 01:03:17.159
His mom said he never came home after detention. I

1015
01:03:17.239 --> 01:03:19.440
was hoping I was wrong and that he's here. But

1016
01:03:20.239 --> 01:03:24.360
oh no, I really messed up. His voice trembled. What

1017
01:03:24.400 --> 01:03:27.280
are you trying to say? Tom? Maybe I already knew.

1018
01:03:28.519 --> 01:03:30.599
My dad was pretty upset that I got beat up,

1019
01:03:30.599 --> 01:03:33.639
and I was really angry, so I said some things

1020
01:03:33.639 --> 01:03:37.199
about Patrick that maybe I shouldn't have. You know, we

1021
01:03:37.239 --> 01:03:40.239
own the farm on Schoogl Road, right, and you know

1022
01:03:40.400 --> 01:03:43.119
some of our animals have been killed lately. Right, Well,

1023
01:03:43.920 --> 01:03:48.599
he thinks, Tom struggled with how to say the next part.

1024
01:03:49.159 --> 01:03:53.039
I could feel adrenaline creeping into my limbs. I heard

1025
01:03:53.079 --> 01:03:55.639
him talking to his friends this afternoon, and I saw

1026
01:03:55.760 --> 01:04:01.119
him load silver bullets into his shotgun. Marisa, he knows

1027
01:04:02.639 --> 01:04:06.760
everything felt fuzzy. Where would they take him? I had

1028
01:04:06.760 --> 01:04:11.360
to think, clearly, there's woods on our property, fifteen acres

1029
01:04:11.400 --> 01:04:15.000
of it. We can basically do anything we want out there. Okay.

1030
01:04:15.679 --> 01:04:17.760
I pushed him out of the way and proceeded down

1031
01:04:17.800 --> 01:04:21.119
my steps. The sky was already turning pink and purple

1032
01:04:21.159 --> 01:04:24.039
with the coming of evening. There was no more time.

1033
01:04:24.480 --> 01:04:27.920
There was going to be a full moon tonight. Wait,

1034
01:04:28.239 --> 01:04:31.800
I'll come with No, it's dangerous and you've messed up enough,

1035
01:04:32.320 --> 01:04:35.559
I thundered, not bothering to look back. This is why

1036
01:04:35.599 --> 01:04:41.000
we don't tell adults things. They always get all murdery. Marisa,

1037
01:04:41.320 --> 01:04:44.239
you have to understand, I didn't mean for this to happen. Sure,

1038
01:04:44.280 --> 01:04:46.719
I've been messing with Patrick, but I would never want

1039
01:04:46.760 --> 01:04:51.400
him to get He paused, hurt. I tried to stop.

1040
01:04:51.400 --> 01:04:53.519
My dad tried to pretend I was lying about the

1041
01:04:53.559 --> 01:04:57.239
whole thing, but he's so set on well you know

1042
01:04:58.079 --> 01:05:00.679
that he wouldn't listen to me. I turned toward the

1043
01:05:00.719 --> 01:05:04.199
direction of the farm and took off running. Marisa. Tom

1044
01:05:04.280 --> 01:05:07.360
called out, but he was far behind me. Now. There

1045
01:05:07.400 --> 01:05:09.239
was no way I could be there before the sun

1046
01:05:09.280 --> 01:05:12.039
went down, but maybe I could still get there in

1047
01:05:12.079 --> 01:05:14.920
time to stop them. By the time I reached Tom's

1048
01:05:14.960 --> 01:05:17.719
family farm, the last threads of daylight were fading from

1049
01:05:17.719 --> 01:05:20.719
the sky. I was exhausted, but confident that I was

1050
01:05:20.760 --> 01:05:23.559
about to get my second wind. The woods were dark

1051
01:05:23.599 --> 01:05:26.440
and cool, and I could feel myself returning to my senses.

1052
01:05:27.000 --> 01:05:28.960
I picked up speed, heading in the direction I was

1053
01:05:29.000 --> 01:05:33.039
now confident I would find them. Please let me make

1054
01:05:33.079 --> 01:05:38.000
it in time. Eventually, distant chatter alerted me to Patrick's location.

1055
01:05:38.800 --> 01:05:42.079
I approached quietly, hiding myself in the underbrush while I

1056
01:05:42.119 --> 01:05:45.800
gaged the situation. Crickets and frogs had begun to sing.

1057
01:05:45.840 --> 01:05:49.639
In the blackness of the evening. Seven adults with flashlights

1058
01:05:49.840 --> 01:05:53.119
were gathered in a circle. I couldn't see him, but

1059
01:05:53.199 --> 01:05:55.920
I knew Patrick was in the center. Each man was

1060
01:05:55.960 --> 01:05:58.559
carrying a firearm on his shoulder or holding one in

1061
01:05:58.599 --> 01:06:01.559
his hand. I was not relieved to confirm that Tom

1062
01:06:01.639 --> 01:06:05.480
had been telling the truth. Please, I don't understand what

1063
01:06:05.519 --> 01:06:08.360
you're talking about. What would I want with cows? I'm

1064
01:06:08.360 --> 01:06:11.760
a vegetarian. A voice that had to be Patrick's pleaded.

1065
01:06:12.119 --> 01:06:13.760
In the back of my mind, I got a weird

1066
01:06:13.800 --> 01:06:18.320
feeling that something wasn't right, but brushed it off. Listen,

1067
01:06:18.559 --> 01:06:21.039
we know it was you. I mean, a kid who's

1068
01:06:21.079 --> 01:06:23.960
been attacked by feral dogs shows up and we just

1069
01:06:24.079 --> 01:06:27.599
coincidentally start losing livestock. I don't need to be a

1070
01:06:27.639 --> 01:06:31.039
statistician to see the connection. A man that was probably

1071
01:06:31.079 --> 01:06:35.039
Tom's dad was saying, confess now, and maybe we'll be

1072
01:06:35.119 --> 01:06:36.800
kind enough to let you live out the rest of

1073
01:06:36.840 --> 01:06:40.159
your life in a cage. I swear I didn't do

1074
01:06:40.199 --> 01:06:42.880
anything bad. I don't know what you've heard, but please,

1075
01:06:43.159 --> 01:06:46.960
I'm telling you the truth. Patrick begged. We'll see about

1076
01:06:46.960 --> 01:06:51.599
that in a minute. Any minute now, mister McCullough said,

1077
01:06:51.599 --> 01:06:53.960
looking up at the sky. One of the other men

1078
01:06:54.039 --> 01:06:57.239
cocked his rifle. I'm tired of waiting. Let's get this

1079
01:06:57.320 --> 01:06:59.960
over with. I'm missing my shows. A few of them

1080
01:07:00.239 --> 01:07:02.920
began to argue about the merits of killing my friend

1081
01:07:02.960 --> 01:07:05.880
now as opposed to later, and that was really enough

1082
01:07:05.880 --> 01:07:09.719
for me. I moved forward slightly, twigs snapping under my weight,

1083
01:07:09.920 --> 01:07:12.960
and let out a loud, guttural cry that just about

1084
01:07:12.960 --> 01:07:17.320
shook the earth. The entire forest went completely silent and

1085
01:07:17.400 --> 01:07:21.639
stayed that way. I saw fear overtake the murderous group

1086
01:07:21.840 --> 01:07:23.920
as they tried to find the source of the noise.

1087
01:07:24.719 --> 01:07:28.320
I emerged confidently from my hiding place. Let him go,

1088
01:07:28.960 --> 01:07:32.239
I howled. The blood collectively drained from their faces as

1089
01:07:32.280 --> 01:07:35.119
they got a good look at me. I positioned myself

1090
01:07:35.119 --> 01:07:38.199
to look as large as possible, my dense, wiry hair

1091
01:07:38.360 --> 01:07:42.440
standing on end, teeth exposed in a snarl, saliva dripping

1092
01:07:42.480 --> 01:07:45.840
from my jagged mouth. They pointed their guns in my direction,

1093
01:07:46.119 --> 01:07:48.800
but I charged forward and latched onto the closest one,

1094
01:07:49.039 --> 01:07:51.320
pulling it away from its owner and smacking him in

1095
01:07:51.320 --> 01:07:53.239
the head with it. He hit the ground with the

1096
01:07:53.280 --> 01:07:56.599
resounding thud. I bit into the rifle and broke it

1097
01:07:56.639 --> 01:07:59.280
into pieces with my massive jaws, as easily as if

1098
01:07:59.280 --> 01:08:02.599
it had been a crack. You really think your tiny

1099
01:08:02.639 --> 01:08:06.719
bullets can stop me, I wailed. They inched back, still

1100
01:08:06.760 --> 01:08:11.239
surrounding Patrick, but I was winning. Just one more push, guys,

1101
01:08:11.840 --> 01:08:16.199
shoot him already. Oh thanks, mister McCullough. I've had enough.

1102
01:08:16.840 --> 01:08:19.119
I lunged at them, ready to do whatever I had to,

1103
01:08:19.600 --> 01:08:22.039
but that was enough to send them running for their lives,

1104
01:08:22.239 --> 01:08:27.359
Scurrying away like the cockroaches. They were cowards, I huffed.

1105
01:08:28.239 --> 01:08:30.920
Patrick was still on the ground, his hands were tied,

1106
01:08:30.960 --> 01:08:34.159
and he looked a little beaten up. He stared up

1107
01:08:34.159 --> 01:08:37.600
at me, his whole body shaking in fear. I poked

1108
01:08:37.600 --> 01:08:40.520
my nose in closer and sniffed at his face, trying

1109
01:08:40.560 --> 01:08:43.880
to wrap my mind around the situation, then went for

1110
01:08:43.960 --> 01:08:47.279
his hands. He flinched at my hot breath, not seeming

1111
01:08:47.319 --> 01:08:50.279
to realize that I was chewing through the ropes and

1112
01:08:50.319 --> 01:08:56.000
not his fingers. It's okay, You're okay, I assured him,

1113
01:08:56.199 --> 01:09:03.760
but he was just hopelessly confused. Suddenly his posture shifted. Marisa,

1114
01:09:04.600 --> 01:09:10.439
you're why are you a werewolf? Patrick? Why are you

1115
01:09:10.640 --> 01:09:14.520
not a werewolf? I don't know how to answer that.

1116
01:09:16.079 --> 01:09:19.920
You aren't going to eat me? Are you? Well? Not anymore?

1117
01:09:20.000 --> 01:09:23.880
I'm not, I groaned. Us. Monster's got to stick together

1118
01:09:24.000 --> 01:09:36.359
after all, sin by rob Fields. I'm sitting here in

1119
01:09:36.439 --> 01:09:41.520
this motherfucking classroom about to lose my mother fucking shit

1120
01:09:41.920 --> 01:09:47.520
listening to this boring, mother fucking lecture. Like I give

1121
01:09:47.640 --> 01:09:53.399
two mother fucking shits about religion. Personally, I like my

1122
01:09:53.479 --> 01:09:57.119
other classes. I just hate the ones about a fictitious

1123
01:09:57.159 --> 01:10:00.399
God and the stories that come out of that big

1124
01:10:00.439 --> 01:10:05.760
book of lies called the Holy Bible. That's what I

1125
01:10:05.800 --> 01:10:11.039
get for coming to a hell hole like Strickfield Academy. Still,

1126
01:10:11.600 --> 01:10:16.159
this place does have its advantages. For one, it's got

1127
01:10:16.199 --> 01:10:21.319
great food, unlike your average high school cafeteria. Two, they

1128
01:10:21.359 --> 01:10:26.840
give you these sexy schoolgirl outfits. And three I get

1129
01:10:26.880 --> 01:10:31.640
away with murder here. No really, I do get away

1130
01:10:32.199 --> 01:10:38.840
with murder here. Listen and learn. I'm listening to Sister

1131
01:10:38.960 --> 01:10:43.560
Mary Theodore talking about some shit called revelations. I can't

1132
01:10:43.560 --> 01:10:46.640
wait to get the fuck out of here. Then these

1133
01:10:46.720 --> 01:10:49.960
two cunts get my attention. We ain't allowed to have

1134
01:10:50.039 --> 01:10:53.600
smartphones on in classes. Let these nuns catch you with one.

1135
01:10:53.640 --> 01:10:56.760
You're lucky if you'll ever see it again. So these

1136
01:10:56.800 --> 01:11:01.840
two are going old school passing notes. Personally, I don't

1137
01:11:01.880 --> 01:11:04.920
care if people pass notes. It's the two of them

1138
01:11:05.079 --> 01:11:09.680
hissing piste when they pass them. When I've had enough

1139
01:11:09.720 --> 01:11:13.760
of their pists, I snatch the note and crinkle it up,

1140
01:11:14.079 --> 01:11:17.399
making sure the nun catches me. She comes right over

1141
01:11:17.479 --> 01:11:21.479
and holds out her hand, hand it over Elaine. Now

1142
01:11:22.039 --> 01:11:27.520
she snaps, that's Laney to you. I reply and throw

1143
01:11:27.600 --> 01:11:31.079
the crinkled ball up front. The bitch retrieves it and

1144
01:11:31.119 --> 01:11:36.600
reads it to herself. Then she reads the rather interesting

1145
01:11:36.760 --> 01:11:41.720
conversation to the whole class. These two both glare at

1146
01:11:41.760 --> 01:11:45.079
me after the rest of the class finishes, laughing at

1147
01:11:45.079 --> 01:11:48.600
the juiciness the sister just read. The girls are both

1148
01:11:48.680 --> 01:11:53.199
told to go see Headmistress Hiltonson. Then the bitch points

1149
01:11:53.199 --> 01:11:58.600
at me, you too, Elaine. Now, I sigh and grab

1150
01:11:58.720 --> 01:12:01.159
my books as long as it gets me out of

1151
01:12:01.199 --> 01:12:06.560
this fucking class. Excuse me, she demands. You heard me.

1152
01:12:07.560 --> 01:12:10.760
I've easily got the attention of the other students. They

1153
01:12:10.800 --> 01:12:16.079
know I don't take shit from anybody, especially these fucking nuns. Oh.

1154
01:12:16.159 --> 01:12:19.239
I know, Sister Theodore wants to call me everything but

1155
01:12:19.399 --> 01:12:24.560
a child of God. I just love pushing her buttons,

1156
01:12:25.079 --> 01:12:28.640
but not nearly as much as I love pushing Headmistress Hiltonson's.

1157
01:12:30.880 --> 01:12:35.720
After school, I walk into detention hall and those two

1158
01:12:35.800 --> 01:12:39.199
cunts are here. I think their names are Joni Sawyer

1159
01:12:39.239 --> 01:12:44.640
and Teresa Gilmer. Yep, they're glaring right at me. One.

1160
01:12:45.000 --> 01:12:48.239
I got them both in trouble. Two. I only have

1161
01:12:48.319 --> 01:12:51.920
to be in detention just today. Those two are here

1162
01:12:51.960 --> 01:12:55.880
for a whole week. Ain't it funny those two are

1163
01:12:55.920 --> 01:12:59.920
passing sexual notes to each other. I back talked both

1164
01:13:00.119 --> 01:13:03.880
Sister Theodore and head Mistres Hiltonson, and all I get

1165
01:13:04.000 --> 01:13:08.439
is one detention period. I keep telling Hiltonson she can

1166
01:13:08.479 --> 01:13:13.600
expel me anytime she likes, but she won't budge. Still,

1167
01:13:13.880 --> 01:13:17.479
I cause more problems than both Janie and Teresa, and

1168
01:13:17.600 --> 01:13:23.159
I keep getting the lesser punishments. You're dead, Jony hisses.

1169
01:13:23.920 --> 01:13:29.279
After detention. Teresa adds, I roll my eyes eat me,

1170
01:13:30.359 --> 01:13:32.680
remembering my shirt is tied up in front of me

1171
01:13:32.720 --> 01:13:35.840
and not buttoned. I decide to provoke Jony and Teresa

1172
01:13:35.920 --> 01:13:40.359
even more, and to show I really don't give a fuck,

1173
01:13:41.000 --> 01:13:43.800
I pull down my bra and shake my tits for them.

1174
01:13:44.319 --> 01:13:47.600
I even get the appropriate reactions from everybody else in here.

1175
01:13:48.319 --> 01:13:50.960
Jony and Teresa are out of their seats and ready

1176
01:13:50.960 --> 01:13:54.840
to lunge at me when I quickly sit down. Sister Theodore,

1177
01:13:54.920 --> 01:13:57.720
who's in charge of detention hall this week, comes in.

1178
01:13:58.399 --> 01:14:01.199
I'm laughing inside when she points right at those two

1179
01:14:01.439 --> 01:14:05.439
and tells them they'll be in detention all next week too.

1180
01:14:05.640 --> 01:14:09.880
Teresa points right at me. She just flashed her fucking

1181
01:14:10.000 --> 01:14:14.319
tits at us. Bad move. Sister Theodore not only kicks

1182
01:14:14.359 --> 01:14:17.119
them both out of detention Hall, but she tacks on

1183
01:14:17.199 --> 01:14:21.279
two more weeks for the f bomb and the vulgar

1184
01:14:21.399 --> 01:14:26.520
bodily reference her words, I'm serving my detention by reading

1185
01:14:26.800 --> 01:14:30.720
my Bible. Oh no, I never read the false words

1186
01:14:30.720 --> 01:14:36.239
of the fictitious God. No, I read a completely different Bible.

1187
01:14:36.920 --> 01:14:39.039
To the naked eye, it looks like a copy of

1188
01:14:39.079 --> 01:14:42.520
the Holy Bible, but what I'm really reading are the

1189
01:14:42.560 --> 01:14:47.399
words of hell Weaver. There's no name for this Bible

1190
01:14:47.439 --> 01:14:50.239
that I'm aware of. I found it when I was

1191
01:14:50.279 --> 01:14:53.920
swimming naked in the Castalia River next to some caves

1192
01:14:53.960 --> 01:14:56.560
two weeks ago. I got out of the water and

1193
01:14:56.600 --> 01:14:58.560
went into the cave where I was going to spend

1194
01:14:58.560 --> 01:15:02.840
the night. Get the idea yet, I'm a fucking runaway.

1195
01:15:03.039 --> 01:15:05.640
I ran away from home when I was twelve. Believe

1196
01:15:05.640 --> 01:15:08.960
it or not. I came from a very rich family,

1197
01:15:09.479 --> 01:15:12.399
probably not as rich as these Mirons living in Strickfield.

1198
01:15:12.439 --> 01:15:15.920
But our family never wanted for anything. And that was

1199
01:15:16.000 --> 01:15:19.079
the big problem. Right there. You'd think I'd be so

1200
01:15:19.439 --> 01:15:24.159
happy with having money and power. The problem was money

1201
01:15:24.279 --> 01:15:29.520
just didn't interest me. It's fucking toilet paper. Then there

1202
01:15:29.600 --> 01:15:34.479
was the whole society thing and the government bullshit. To

1203
01:15:34.560 --> 01:15:38.880
put it mildly, I just do not respect or appreciate

1204
01:15:39.359 --> 01:15:42.439
being told what to do. I fucking hate rules. I

1205
01:15:42.479 --> 01:15:46.840
fucking hate society. On my twelfth birthday, I couldn't take

1206
01:15:46.880 --> 01:15:50.399
it anymore. I left that huge fucking mansion in Los

1207
01:15:50.439 --> 01:15:54.199
Angeles with only the clothes on my back. I didn't

1208
01:15:54.239 --> 01:15:59.199
take my smartphone or any money. Why I can just

1209
01:15:59.239 --> 01:16:03.680
steal whatever I want. Through the years, I've paid my dues,

1210
01:16:03.880 --> 01:16:06.399
I got my ass kicked, I learned to kick ass.

1211
01:16:06.680 --> 01:16:09.880
I've even killed people. I learned so much in the

1212
01:16:09.920 --> 01:16:12.479
wild that if it was a profession, I could have

1213
01:16:12.520 --> 01:16:17.319
made big money. Anyway, I kept wandering from place to place,

1214
01:16:17.680 --> 01:16:21.119
stealing everything I needed or living off the land. I'm

1215
01:16:21.159 --> 01:16:25.920
currently nineteen years old and doing just fine. Why did

1216
01:16:25.960 --> 01:16:29.279
I come to Strickfield. I just happened to jump off

1217
01:16:29.279 --> 01:16:32.159
a train in that area. As I walked the tracks,

1218
01:16:32.199 --> 01:16:36.479
two girls wearing Strickfield Academy uniforms decided to fuck with me.

1219
01:16:37.359 --> 01:16:39.760
When they decided to jump me from behind, I grabbed

1220
01:16:39.760 --> 01:16:43.239
one girl and snapped her neck. Then I grabbed the

1221
01:16:43.279 --> 01:16:45.800
other one and bit a huge chunk of flesh right

1222
01:16:45.840 --> 01:16:48.720
out of her neck. She bled all over me before

1223
01:16:48.760 --> 01:16:52.800
she fell over and died. I took both of their

1224
01:16:52.880 --> 01:16:57.279
uniforms and washed them in the nearby river. Curiosity got

1225
01:16:57.279 --> 01:16:59.319
the better of me, and I wanted to see what

1226
01:16:59.359 --> 01:17:04.000
Strickfield Academy was all about. After checking it out and

1227
01:17:04.039 --> 01:17:07.520
seeing the place was pretty much a parochial school for

1228
01:17:07.680 --> 01:17:11.600
fucking rich brats, I decided to settle down here for

1229
01:17:11.680 --> 01:17:15.560
the time being. Unfortunately, you needed money to go here,

1230
01:17:15.640 --> 01:17:19.359
so I had to steal some. Far from that, getting

1231
01:17:19.399 --> 01:17:24.359
in here was easy peasy. Getting back to swimming naked

1232
01:17:24.399 --> 01:17:27.479
in the river. I was staying at this nearby cave.

1233
01:17:28.079 --> 01:17:30.680
I got done swimming and was sitting down. I had

1234
01:17:30.720 --> 01:17:32.760
a fire going and was eating a hot dog. I

1235
01:17:32.840 --> 01:17:35.479
was cooking on it. While I was eating, I saw

1236
01:17:35.840 --> 01:17:39.000
something interesting sticking out a little further in the cave.

1237
01:17:39.640 --> 01:17:42.359
I got up and went to look. I found and

1238
01:17:42.560 --> 01:17:48.279
uncovered this big, thick book, a copy of the Bible. Fuck. No,

1239
01:17:48.640 --> 01:17:52.199
who the hell would bury that fucking book in here? No,

1240
01:17:53.239 --> 01:17:58.479
someone buried this particular book to keep it secret. I

1241
01:17:58.520 --> 01:18:01.720
took it back to my fire, opened it. The text

1242
01:18:01.840 --> 01:18:05.560
was in some language I'd never seen before. Funny thing, though,

1243
01:18:06.039 --> 01:18:10.479
I found I could both read and understand the words

1244
01:18:11.039 --> 01:18:14.199
I'm not any special kind of girl with powers or anything.

1245
01:18:14.399 --> 01:18:17.119
The only other language I could speak fluently was Spanish,

1246
01:18:17.840 --> 01:18:22.079
but there I was reading away. I read about a

1247
01:18:22.079 --> 01:18:26.199
demonic goddess called hell Weaver. Turns out she was banished

1248
01:18:26.239 --> 01:18:30.199
to the hellish dimension known as Perdition. Hell Weaver battled

1249
01:18:30.199 --> 01:18:34.039
with an alien girl known as Genessa. Hell Weaver was

1250
01:18:34.079 --> 01:18:36.680
going to use the reality sphere to change the entire

1251
01:18:36.760 --> 01:18:40.640
multiverse into a hellish one of her desire. Jenessa had

1252
01:18:40.640 --> 01:18:44.319
done the unthinkable and damaged the reality sphere to where

1253
01:18:44.359 --> 01:18:48.520
it exploded. This Bible doesn't say what happened to Genessa,

1254
01:18:49.039 --> 01:18:52.960
but hell Weaver found herself banished and imprisoned in Perdition,

1255
01:18:53.800 --> 01:18:58.119
where she remains trapped to this day. Hell Weaver had

1256
01:18:58.119 --> 01:19:01.479
been able to communicate with other beings, which would explain

1257
01:19:01.600 --> 01:19:05.479
how this Bible was created. Hell Weaver had been trying

1258
01:19:05.479 --> 01:19:09.199
to escape Perdition for eons. There were two ways to

1259
01:19:09.279 --> 01:19:13.680
free hell Weaver. One find the reality sphere and throw

1260
01:19:13.720 --> 01:19:17.279
it into the Infinity Core. But since us mortals can't

1261
01:19:17.319 --> 01:19:21.520
exactly move through time and space, hell Weaver had defined

1262
01:19:21.560 --> 01:19:26.119
another way, and she did. It's a long process, but

1263
01:19:26.359 --> 01:19:30.239
if done correctly, it would weaken and shatter the barriers

1264
01:19:30.560 --> 01:19:35.800
that keep hell Weaver locked in perdition. In fact, that's

1265
01:19:35.800 --> 01:19:39.920
what I'm reading about again here in detention right now. First,

1266
01:19:40.159 --> 01:19:44.399
Hell Weaver needs a disciple, an advocate, someone who's willing

1267
01:19:44.439 --> 01:19:48.359
to give herself to hell Weaver. I already told you

1268
01:19:48.439 --> 01:19:51.680
how sick I am of this fucking world, about everything

1269
01:19:51.720 --> 01:19:56.159
being about money and rules. The more I'm reading these passages,

1270
01:19:56.319 --> 01:19:59.359
the more I'm absolutely sure I want to commit myself

1271
01:19:59.680 --> 01:20:04.039
to help Weaver. Once I succeed in bringing her into

1272
01:20:04.079 --> 01:20:07.479
our world, she can do what this Genessa kept her

1273
01:20:07.479 --> 01:20:12.079
from doing. However, long ago. That was the first step

1274
01:20:12.159 --> 01:20:15.359
to becoming hell Weaver's advocate, is to prove to her

1275
01:20:15.439 --> 01:20:18.680
that I'm willing to do whatever it takes. In fact,

1276
01:20:19.319 --> 01:20:23.119
that's what's going to happen. After detention, thirty minutes go

1277
01:20:23.199 --> 01:20:27.920
by quickly, Sister Theodore says, we can leave. I repacked

1278
01:20:27.960 --> 01:20:32.159
my Bible and slide my backpack on. Sure enough, as

1279
01:20:32.159 --> 01:20:34.680
soon as I leave through the gates of Strickfield Academy,

1280
01:20:35.159 --> 01:20:38.319
Joni and Teresa are waiting for me, and they made

1281
01:20:38.319 --> 01:20:42.880
it a point to bring friends. Teresa has a wicked smirk.

1282
01:20:43.319 --> 01:20:47.199
We're gonna fuck you up. Should we kick or kill

1283
01:20:47.239 --> 01:20:52.560
her ass? Petitole asks kill her ass. Joni immediately answers.

1284
01:20:53.079 --> 01:20:55.560
Then she takes a switchblade out and shows me the

1285
01:20:55.600 --> 01:21:01.600
glistening steel after we cut off her tits. I smile

1286
01:21:01.720 --> 01:21:06.239
a sexy smile. What these old things? I pull my

1287
01:21:06.359 --> 01:21:11.079
broad down and flash them all. Now get her, Petta yells.

1288
01:21:11.840 --> 01:21:14.479
I quickly turn and run. I can hear all those

1289
01:21:14.520 --> 01:21:17.680
bitches right behind me. I won't be able to outrun them,

1290
01:21:17.760 --> 01:21:20.239
especially with the weight of my hell Weaver Bible in

1291
01:21:20.319 --> 01:21:23.560
my backpack, but I can keep some distance in between

1292
01:21:23.600 --> 01:21:27.520
me and them. Unlike them, I'm in great physical shape,

1293
01:21:27.720 --> 01:21:31.720
thanks to enough years of exercising and also running from

1294
01:21:31.720 --> 01:21:34.960
the cops. I lead them to the abandoned house I've

1295
01:21:35.000 --> 01:21:37.439
been staying at. When I reach it, I move to

1296
01:21:37.479 --> 01:21:40.279
a basement window and throw my backpack in before I

1297
01:21:40.359 --> 01:21:44.079
slide right in myself. I'm already moving up the stairway

1298
01:21:44.119 --> 01:21:46.880
with my backpack when the bitches reach the window and

1299
01:21:46.920 --> 01:21:50.800
start coming in. It takes the bitches long enough, but

1300
01:21:50.880 --> 01:21:53.399
they finally find me sitting at a window sill of

1301
01:21:53.439 --> 01:21:56.520
what used to be the master bedroom, and my tits

1302
01:21:56.520 --> 01:21:59.800
are still out for them to see. Jony points right

1303
01:21:59.800 --> 01:22:03.640
out nowhere left to run. You are so fucking dead,

1304
01:22:04.399 --> 01:22:08.800
I laugh, Well, I'm right here. Come and get me.

1305
01:22:09.640 --> 01:22:12.079
When they come for me, I pull two hunting knives

1306
01:22:12.079 --> 01:22:15.399
out from behind me and go at them. The bitches

1307
01:22:15.439 --> 01:22:19.000
are finding out this girl's got moves. In under two minutes,

1308
01:22:19.039 --> 01:22:22.560
I've got multiple dead bodies all over the floor. I

1309
01:22:22.640 --> 01:22:27.159
lick the blood off both knives before I put them down. Mmm,

1310
01:22:27.600 --> 01:22:31.520
you babes made me feel so dirty. I purr as

1311
01:22:31.560 --> 01:22:34.920
I start taking my clothes off. I think I need

1312
01:22:34.960 --> 01:22:38.399
a bath. When I'm fully naked, I look at the

1313
01:22:38.439 --> 01:22:43.520
bodies and you can help me fill the tub. I

1314
01:22:43.600 --> 01:22:46.760
step into the full tub and lower my naked body

1315
01:22:47.239 --> 01:22:51.000
into the blood. When I'm seated, I sink underneath the

1316
01:22:51.039 --> 01:22:55.279
blood for a long moment and come back up. Those

1317
01:22:55.359 --> 01:22:59.640
girls were more than enough to fill this tub. Their

1318
01:22:59.640 --> 01:23:06.479
bloodlood is so rich, so warm, and so sticky. No,

1319
01:23:06.720 --> 01:23:10.119
I'm not taking after that blood, Countess. This blood won't

1320
01:23:10.159 --> 01:23:14.640
let me retain my youth and hotness. Also, I'm pretty

1321
01:23:14.680 --> 01:23:18.199
sure none of it is virgin blood. No. The first

1322
01:23:18.199 --> 01:23:21.640
step to becoming hell Weaver's advocate is to wash yourself

1323
01:23:21.640 --> 01:23:26.119
in the blood of your own kind mortals. I moan

1324
01:23:26.319 --> 01:23:30.199
softly and scoop some blood into both hands. I bring

1325
01:23:30.279 --> 01:23:32.720
them up and pour it over my face and hair.

1326
01:23:33.359 --> 01:23:36.439
I bathe in this blood for several minutes before I

1327
01:23:36.479 --> 01:23:39.680
get out of the tub and proceed to the second step.

1328
01:23:40.399 --> 01:23:43.079
I lower myself to my knees and pick up one

1329
01:23:43.119 --> 01:23:46.680
of the hearts I extracted from those girls. I don't

1330
01:23:46.720 --> 01:23:48.399
even think about it as I bring it to my

1331
01:23:48.520 --> 01:23:52.800
mouth and start eating. I have to eat all the

1332
01:23:52.840 --> 01:23:56.800
hearts of those sinful mortals I killed for their blood.

1333
01:23:57.279 --> 01:24:00.800
They couldn't be innocent hearts. I kept a close eye

1334
01:24:00.800 --> 01:24:05.159
on this particular group. They didn't just bully other students

1335
01:24:05.159 --> 01:24:08.560
at the academy. They sometimes beat them within an inch

1336
01:24:08.600 --> 01:24:12.279
of their lives. They also committed burglaries and hurt the

1337
01:24:12.319 --> 01:24:16.920
people they stole from, sometimes severely. I needed to show

1338
01:24:17.000 --> 01:24:19.960
I was even more merciless than they were and would

1339
01:24:20.000 --> 01:24:24.960
do whatever it took to win hell Weaver's favor. These

1340
01:24:25.039 --> 01:24:29.920
hearts are actually delicious, in case you haven't figured it out,

1341
01:24:30.159 --> 01:24:35.000
I've eaten other humans for food many times, kill or

1342
01:24:35.039 --> 01:24:39.279
be killed that's how this world works. My tummy's really full,

1343
01:24:39.479 --> 01:24:41.840
and I have one heart left to eat. I have

1344
01:24:41.920 --> 01:24:45.359
to force myself to I feel like I'm ready to burst.

1345
01:24:45.720 --> 01:24:48.119
I feel like I'm going to puke. I keep taking

1346
01:24:48.159 --> 01:24:51.680
in deep breaths until I'm starting to feel better. But

1347
01:24:51.800 --> 01:24:55.920
I do finish eating that final heart. Now, for the

1348
01:24:55.960 --> 01:24:59.479
third and final step, I must summon hell Weaver herself

1349
01:24:59.640 --> 01:25:03.520
and have he come before me. The Bible is already

1350
01:25:03.560 --> 01:25:07.560
open to the pages I need. Then I light enough

1351
01:25:07.640 --> 01:25:12.079
candles to illuminate this whole room for the ritual. Note

1352
01:25:12.119 --> 01:25:15.319
it's still daylight yet. I kneel down in front of

1353
01:25:15.359 --> 01:25:19.439
the pages and start reading the incantations. When I finish,

1354
01:25:19.560 --> 01:25:24.720
this light appears near me. I shriek with such happiness

1355
01:25:24.840 --> 01:25:30.279
when I finally see her. Hell Weaver is so very beautiful.

1356
01:25:30.720 --> 01:25:33.319
I've only seen the renderings of her in this Bible,

1357
01:25:34.159 --> 01:25:37.680
but they don't do her justice. Even though she appears

1358
01:25:37.720 --> 01:25:42.760
before me, She's not really here. It's just a manifestation

1359
01:25:43.000 --> 01:25:47.279
of herself from perdition. She's still trapped there until I

1360
01:25:47.319 --> 01:25:50.680
can free her, which will take much longer than the

1361
01:25:50.680 --> 01:25:54.520
summoning ritual. I just did. I turn my body to face,

1362
01:25:54.560 --> 01:25:58.600
hell Weaver, but remain on my knees. It's really you.

1363
01:26:00.279 --> 01:26:03.720
Hell Weaver smiles and takes firm hold of my chin.

1364
01:26:04.880 --> 01:26:08.319
And you are the first mortal to perform the ritual.

1365
01:26:09.760 --> 01:26:14.039
This goddess is the best way I can describe her,

1366
01:26:14.760 --> 01:26:17.960
an amped up version of a succubus. I mean, she's

1367
01:26:18.000 --> 01:26:20.960
a combination of whatever makes up her flesh, in her armor,

1368
01:26:21.520 --> 01:26:24.720
the blank fiery gems that are her eyes look deep

1369
01:26:24.800 --> 01:26:30.119
into mine. You're so beautiful, I choke out. I love you.

1370
01:26:31.159 --> 01:26:35.239
Hell Weavers still smiling. I have never seen or felt

1371
01:26:35.399 --> 01:26:42.520
such devotion from one among your mortal kind. Please please

1372
01:26:42.640 --> 01:26:46.319
let me serve you. I beg her. She still holds

1373
01:26:46.359 --> 01:26:51.880
my chin. I can feel that you abhor authority. Why

1374
01:26:51.920 --> 01:26:56.560
would you now obey me? Because I want to free you?

1375
01:26:57.119 --> 01:27:00.239
I reply, I want you to destroy this world and

1376
01:27:00.279 --> 01:27:03.800
remake it the way you desire. I hate my people,

1377
01:27:04.000 --> 01:27:06.720
I hate this world what it's become. I want there

1378
01:27:06.760 --> 01:27:10.439
to be hell on earth. I can feel myself crying now.

1379
01:27:11.359 --> 01:27:15.159
I swear my eternal loyalty to you, my hell Weaver.

1380
01:27:15.680 --> 01:27:19.319
I'll obey your every command. Whatever you want, name it.

1381
01:27:20.359 --> 01:27:26.520
Hell Weaver smiles again. Interesting, none have ever cried for

1382
01:27:26.640 --> 01:27:32.000
me before I've read your words. I reply, You're real,

1383
01:27:32.359 --> 01:27:34.680
You're not a false god. I want to free you

1384
01:27:34.840 --> 01:27:39.000
and be by your side. I'm crying more now. I

1385
01:27:39.039 --> 01:27:42.760
love you. I choke out again. She lets go of

1386
01:27:42.760 --> 01:27:47.640
my chin rise. She takes my hand and helps me

1387
01:27:47.720 --> 01:27:51.119
to my feet. She takes a I don't know, a

1388
01:27:51.199 --> 01:27:54.359
kind of motherly hold of my face as she looks

1389
01:27:54.399 --> 01:27:58.119
into my teary eyes. Again. You have proven to me

1390
01:27:58.520 --> 01:28:02.600
that you can become my advocate it Elena Lister. But

1391
01:28:02.880 --> 01:28:06.479
you haven't just proven yourself to me, my daughter, You

1392
01:28:06.600 --> 01:28:09.920
even feel for me. This is a first for both

1393
01:28:09.920 --> 01:28:13.479
a disciple and a mortal. It was so easy for

1394
01:28:13.560 --> 01:28:16.760
you to bathe in the foul blood of your own kind. However,

1395
01:28:16.880 --> 01:28:20.479
eating all of their hearts was something only you have

1396
01:28:20.600 --> 01:28:24.119
succeeded in doing. It shows that you would give your

1397
01:28:24.319 --> 01:28:29.720
very existence to serve me, and you do not fear me.

1398
01:28:30.399 --> 01:28:33.239
I do not know whether you are foolish or I

1399
01:28:33.279 --> 01:28:37.840
don't fear you because I love you. I cry. Do

1400
01:28:37.880 --> 01:28:39.840
I need to prove myself more to show you that

1401
01:28:41.399 --> 01:28:45.600
hell Weaver considers me. Now come with me, my child.

1402
01:28:45.720 --> 01:28:48.319
There is one way you shall prove your love for me.

1403
01:28:49.800 --> 01:28:54.760
Suddenly everything changes. Now I find myself in an extravagant bedroom.

1404
01:28:55.439 --> 01:28:59.800
I know exactly where I am. This is my old house.

1405
01:29:00.800 --> 01:29:03.960
I ran away from here when I was twelve. Hell

1406
01:29:04.039 --> 01:29:07.880
Weaver folds her arms in front of her. You left

1407
01:29:07.920 --> 01:29:11.119
your family at such a young age, especially when you

1408
01:29:11.159 --> 01:29:15.920
had everything you could ever want. I hated my family.

1409
01:29:16.399 --> 01:29:20.800
I growled everything was all about money and power. They

1410
01:29:20.800 --> 01:29:24.560
were always forcing their ways on me, smothering me. This

1411
01:29:24.640 --> 01:29:29.319
house felt like a fucking prison. I had to run away,

1412
01:29:29.359 --> 01:29:32.359
and when I did, they wouldn't stop coming after me.

1413
01:29:34.239 --> 01:29:36.840
Not because they loved me, but because they wanted to

1414
01:29:36.880 --> 01:29:42.560
prove their power and superiority. Then prove yours. Sever your

1415
01:29:42.600 --> 01:29:49.960
ties with your family, completely kill them, kill all of them. Suddenly,

1416
01:29:50.000 --> 01:29:54.000
an ancient looking dagger appears in front of me. Due

1417
01:29:54.000 --> 01:29:56.520
to them, what you did to your enemies to summon me,

1418
01:29:56.960 --> 01:30:00.399
show me that you truly love and cherish own me me.

1419
01:30:01.079 --> 01:30:04.199
Do this act without mercy, and you shall be reborn

1420
01:30:04.680 --> 01:30:08.319
unto me. I take the dagger and start moving throughout

1421
01:30:08.319 --> 01:30:12.359
the house. Oh, the servants are quite surprised when they

1422
01:30:12.439 --> 01:30:16.239
see me naked and soaked with blood, and that's the

1423
01:30:16.319 --> 01:30:19.560
last thing they see before I use the dagger to

1424
01:30:19.720 --> 01:30:25.279
kill them. Wow, my parents sure had a lot of servants. Next,

1425
01:30:25.319 --> 01:30:29.000
I find my brothers and sisters, and I kill them too.

1426
01:30:29.720 --> 01:30:32.039
A few of them don't recognize me because they were

1427
01:30:32.039 --> 01:30:35.520
born after I ran away. As for my older siblings,

1428
01:30:35.520 --> 01:30:39.800
they recognize me immediately. Being naked and bloody certainly gives

1429
01:30:39.840 --> 01:30:45.720
me an advantage. Huh. Now it's down to only my parents.

1430
01:30:46.600 --> 01:30:49.319
I find Mom and Dad sitting in bed together and

1431
01:30:49.359 --> 01:30:52.920
watching TV. No surprise, the two of them aren't fucking

1432
01:30:53.359 --> 01:30:56.600
as many kids as they've had together. Boy do they

1433
01:30:56.640 --> 01:31:03.000
ever shit when they see me, Elena. Mom gasps, good God,

1434
01:31:03.600 --> 01:31:07.399
Dad practically chokes out. I don't waste time and march

1435
01:31:07.479 --> 01:31:11.199
right to their bed and slaughter them. I don't just

1436
01:31:11.279 --> 01:31:14.520
give them a few stabs. I fucking lay into them.

1437
01:31:14.640 --> 01:31:17.520
I hate them both so much that I viciously stab

1438
01:31:17.600 --> 01:31:20.840
them multiple times. When their blood splashes on me, I

1439
01:31:20.960 --> 01:31:24.199
rub it into the blood already on my body. Then

1440
01:31:24.239 --> 01:31:27.520
I put the dagger down and tear them both open.

1441
01:31:27.800 --> 01:31:30.560
I soak my hands and their blood and wet myself

1442
01:31:30.600 --> 01:31:33.560
more with it. I even wash my face and hair

1443
01:31:33.600 --> 01:31:38.399
with it. My hell weaver watches me. Do you want

1444
01:31:38.439 --> 01:31:43.880
me to eat their hearts too, I ask, yes, I'm

1445
01:31:43.920 --> 01:31:46.520
still very full from the other hearts I've already eaten,

1446
01:31:47.039 --> 01:31:49.840
but I don't hesitate. I reach inside my parents and

1447
01:31:49.920 --> 01:31:52.479
pull their hearts out. I eat them both in front

1448
01:31:52.479 --> 01:31:56.560
of my hell Weaver. Much to my surprise, my tummy

1449
01:31:56.640 --> 01:32:00.640
doesn't burst as I finish both of them. I love you.

1450
01:32:01.520 --> 01:32:05.199
I tell her again, anything you demand I will do.

1451
01:32:06.079 --> 01:32:11.560
She approaches me. Indeed, you have won my love, my child.

1452
01:32:11.720 --> 01:32:14.319
You may yet serve me and rule at my side.

1453
01:32:14.920 --> 01:32:17.439
But for you to do so, you must be reborn.

1454
01:32:17.760 --> 01:32:20.960
You must shed your mortal roots. You must allow me

1455
01:32:21.079 --> 01:32:24.720
to both destroy and remake you. This is all that

1456
01:32:24.800 --> 01:32:28.560
I further require for you to be my true daughter.

1457
01:32:29.399 --> 01:32:33.239
Will you knowingly and willingly give yourself unto me, body

1458
01:32:33.319 --> 01:32:38.159
and soul. I look into the Goddess's eyes. I give

1459
01:32:38.199 --> 01:32:41.800
you my everything. Hurt me, torture me, abuse me any

1460
01:32:41.840 --> 01:32:45.119
way you like. I'll prove my loyalty and love to

1461
01:32:45.159 --> 01:32:50.880
you again and again. Anything make me yours very well,

1462
01:32:51.800 --> 01:32:57.079
then you shall be reborn unto me. The scenery changes again.

1463
01:32:58.079 --> 01:33:00.880
We're in a temple right and in front of an altar.

1464
01:33:01.680 --> 01:33:04.960
Even though hell Weaver can't leave perdition. She's able to

1465
01:33:04.960 --> 01:33:08.399
bring me into her realm. My goddess lifts me into

1466
01:33:08.439 --> 01:33:11.720
her arms and places me on the altar. Now she

1467
01:33:11.840 --> 01:33:15.199
has fangs just like a vampire and sinks them deep

1468
01:33:15.680 --> 01:33:21.079
into my neck. I moan hard as she drinks my blood. Next,

1469
01:33:21.159 --> 01:33:25.239
she easily pushes her hot claws into my stomach. I'm

1470
01:33:25.239 --> 01:33:28.920
in serious pain, especially when I feel her hand on

1471
01:33:29.039 --> 01:33:33.039
my heart. The pain becomes so intense I don't think

1472
01:33:33.079 --> 01:33:35.680
anybody has ever felt this. I grit my teeth and

1473
01:33:35.760 --> 01:33:39.680
want to scream so badly. My Goddess stops drinking from me.

1474
01:33:40.640 --> 01:33:43.920
Drink the pain in my child, accept and relish it.

1475
01:33:44.720 --> 01:33:47.319
This is how you will shed your mortal roots and

1476
01:33:47.399 --> 01:33:51.960
become my true daughter. Give yourself to me, body and soul.

1477
01:33:52.560 --> 01:33:58.279
You must, yes, I scream. Now I can see my

1478
01:33:58.359 --> 01:34:00.880
beating heart in her hand as she pulls it right

1479
01:34:00.920 --> 01:34:04.159
out of me. Next, my body begins to burn with

1480
01:34:04.239 --> 01:34:07.640
her fire. The pain is terrible now, as I feel

1481
01:34:07.640 --> 01:34:11.279
my flesh and muscles burning right off my body. Soon

1482
01:34:11.319 --> 01:34:15.279
I can feel I'm just a charred skeleton. I'm laying

1483
01:34:15.319 --> 01:34:19.680
there helplessly as my hell weaver devours my heart. I'm

1484
01:34:19.720 --> 01:34:23.279
only a skeleton with just my eyes left. I look

1485
01:34:23.359 --> 01:34:26.479
up at my beautiful goddess in all of her glory

1486
01:34:26.520 --> 01:34:31.600
as she finishes eating my beating heart. Now she looks

1487
01:34:31.640 --> 01:34:36.720
at me, You shall die and relinquish the mortal realm.

1488
01:34:37.239 --> 01:34:42.319
You shall be reborn unto me. Very soon, I feel

1489
01:34:42.359 --> 01:34:45.960
myself being levitated off the altar. Now, I feel my

1490
01:34:46.039 --> 01:34:51.920
skeleton disintegrating until there's literally nothing left of me. I'm dead,

1491
01:34:52.359 --> 01:34:57.319
and yet I'm not. Now I'm in some kind of liquid,

1492
01:34:57.479 --> 01:35:00.760
and I see something attached to my tummy like a cord.

1493
01:35:01.560 --> 01:35:05.000
I can see how tiny I truly am now, and

1494
01:35:05.039 --> 01:35:07.960
then I realize what my hell weaver meant when she

1495
01:35:08.079 --> 01:35:11.960
said I had to be reborn unto her, I'm literally

1496
01:35:12.079 --> 01:35:17.319
inside the Goddess's womb, and she's pregnant with me. I'm

1497
01:35:17.359 --> 01:35:20.479
literally watching my own birth as I grow inside my

1498
01:35:20.560 --> 01:35:23.880
new mother. When the time comes, I can see myself

1499
01:35:23.920 --> 01:35:27.119
being pushed out of her own body. I'm a baby

1500
01:35:27.239 --> 01:35:31.079
all over again. I watch and feel myself grow and

1501
01:35:31.199 --> 01:35:33.920
mature as my new mother feeds me from her own

1502
01:35:33.960 --> 01:35:38.039
bountiful breasts and nurtures me. She teaches me everything I

1503
01:35:38.079 --> 01:35:41.239
need to know, re educating me She gives all of

1504
01:35:41.279 --> 01:35:44.479
herself to me, as an excellent mother would do with

1505
01:35:44.560 --> 01:35:48.960
a child she truly loves. Until finally I'm a full

1506
01:35:49.000 --> 01:35:52.319
adult once again. As I wake up and find I'm

1507
01:35:52.359 --> 01:35:56.640
in my own bed, in my new chambers, my new

1508
01:35:56.680 --> 01:36:00.520
mother is at my bedside. Rise, my daughter, you have

1509
01:36:00.600 --> 01:36:05.239
truly been reborn, unto me. I sit up and face

1510
01:36:05.359 --> 01:36:08.439
my new mother. Then she takes my hands so I

1511
01:36:08.479 --> 01:36:13.199
can stand. She brings me to a walled mirror. I'm naked,

1512
01:36:13.279 --> 01:36:15.720
and I scream when I see my new body for

1513
01:36:15.760 --> 01:36:19.520
the first time ever. My hair was just a dirty

1514
01:36:19.600 --> 01:36:24.319
color before. Now it's a mix of flaming red and yellow.

1515
01:36:25.079 --> 01:36:28.520
My eyes still look mortal, but now there as red

1516
01:36:28.520 --> 01:36:32.680
as my mother's. My tits were already sexy before, but

1517
01:36:32.840 --> 01:36:35.760
now they're as big as mother's. I'm the sexiest I've

1518
01:36:35.760 --> 01:36:38.399
ever looked. If I do say so, I'm the most

1519
01:36:38.399 --> 01:36:42.439
beautiful thing that's ever existed, now next to my mother.

1520
01:36:42.520 --> 01:36:46.800
Of course, I know I'm not mortal anymore. Truly I

1521
01:36:46.960 --> 01:36:52.520
have been reborn through Mother. I quickly kneel before my

1522
01:36:52.600 --> 01:36:58.119
new mother and cry again. I don't deserve this. Mother

1523
01:36:58.279 --> 01:37:02.960
caresses my cheek and smile. There is no return for you. Now,

1524
01:37:03.439 --> 01:37:06.319
from the moment I birthed you, you truly became my

1525
01:37:06.520 --> 01:37:10.560
daughter and my child. You ceased being Elaine a lister

1526
01:37:10.920 --> 01:37:14.079
when you surrendered yourself unto me. And now I shall

1527
01:37:14.119 --> 01:37:18.319
give you a new name. From this moment forward, your

1528
01:37:18.399 --> 01:37:25.000
name shall be Sin, simply Sin, for you abound with

1529
01:37:25.159 --> 01:37:28.359
so much of it, more than any other being I

1530
01:37:28.399 --> 01:37:34.239
have ever encountered. She caresses my cheek again. Arise, Sin

1531
01:37:34.800 --> 01:37:38.399
and stand with me. As of now you rule at

1532
01:37:38.439 --> 01:37:42.720
my side. I obey mother and stand in front of her.

1533
01:37:43.399 --> 01:37:47.000
You are entrusted to complete the ritual, to release your

1534
01:37:47.000 --> 01:37:50.039
mother from this prison that is perdition, and to help

1535
01:37:50.079 --> 01:37:53.840
me see my vision for this multiverse to its end.

1536
01:37:54.359 --> 01:37:58.079
I gaze into her eyes. Yes, Mother, I will not

1537
01:37:58.239 --> 01:38:03.039
fail you. I cry again. Now she leans in and

1538
01:38:03.119 --> 01:38:07.640
licks some of my tears away. Must you continue to cry?

1539
01:38:08.840 --> 01:38:11.960
I can't help it, Mother, I love you so deeply,

1540
01:38:12.279 --> 01:38:15.600
and you've truly blessed me with your love. That's why

1541
01:38:15.640 --> 01:38:18.800
I know I can't fail you. Use the power I

1542
01:38:18.840 --> 01:38:21.840
have given you, Sin, You are no longer mortal. Your

1543
01:38:21.880 --> 01:38:25.439
power is now second only to my own. She presents

1544
01:38:25.479 --> 01:38:27.720
me with new clothes to put on my new body.

1545
01:38:28.359 --> 01:38:31.960
You shall return to Strickfield to the exact moment. When

1546
01:38:31.960 --> 01:38:35.119
you summon me from there, you shall accomplish the first

1547
01:38:35.159 --> 01:38:39.960
task needed for the ritual. Also, I have a second

1548
01:38:39.960 --> 01:38:44.039
disciple on your world, my high Priest. I have placed

1549
01:38:44.079 --> 01:38:47.600
this knowledge within your mind as well. You shall know

1550
01:38:47.760 --> 01:38:50.840
of my High Priest once the two of you encounter

1551
01:38:50.960 --> 01:38:55.199
one another. As I dress, I will myself to change.

1552
01:38:55.600 --> 01:38:58.720
I now have wings and horns that are metallic and

1553
01:38:58.880 --> 01:39:03.079
razors sharp, just like my beautiful mother. My outfit is

1554
01:39:03.119 --> 01:39:07.119
an armored bra and panty set with open toad stiletto boots.

1555
01:39:07.840 --> 01:39:11.720
Mother is most pleased when she looks at me. Shall

1556
01:39:11.760 --> 01:39:23.279
I begin now, Mother, I ask eagerly. Yes. The next morning,

1557
01:39:23.359 --> 01:39:27.279
I'm walking the halls of Strickfield Academy. You wouldn't believe

1558
01:39:27.359 --> 01:39:30.399
all the heads I'm turning now. The nuns are looking

1559
01:39:30.399 --> 01:39:34.600
at me with such anger. Mother has truly given me

1560
01:39:34.680 --> 01:39:39.399
a beautiful new body and even greater beauty. I am

1561
01:39:39.600 --> 01:39:43.680
sin now, but I'll resume being laany lister while in

1562
01:39:43.720 --> 01:39:47.079
the mortal realm, I'm also in my human form. By

1563
01:39:47.119 --> 01:39:50.239
the way, I'm only going to be here long enough

1564
01:39:50.319 --> 01:39:53.680
to claim the heart of one of these nuns. It

1565
01:39:53.720 --> 01:39:56.560
can't be just any nun, however, it must be one

1566
01:39:56.640 --> 01:40:00.680
who's shall we say, a wolf in she Hepe's clothing.

1567
01:40:01.359 --> 01:40:04.079
Mother assured me that my new powers will allow me

1568
01:40:04.159 --> 01:40:08.920
to find such a nun here easily. You will always

1569
01:40:08.960 --> 01:40:13.560
find hypocritical false servants within your churches or places that

1570
01:40:13.680 --> 01:40:17.760
profess to follow in the path of their fictitious God.

1571
01:40:17.880 --> 01:40:20.760
You will see their sins on them as plain as

1572
01:40:20.800 --> 01:40:25.119
mortal days. And no sooner do I walk right past

1573
01:40:25.640 --> 01:40:31.279
Sister Mary Theodore. Wow, this fucking nun reeks of sin.

1574
01:40:31.760 --> 01:40:34.920
In fact, I can smell fresh sex right on her.

1575
01:40:35.600 --> 01:40:40.359
Elaine Lister. She yells at me. Over here now. I

1576
01:40:40.520 --> 01:40:44.239
walk right over to her eagerly. She's looking me over now.

1577
01:40:44.680 --> 01:40:47.600
As usual, I have my uniform shirt tied in a

1578
01:40:47.680 --> 01:40:50.359
knot in front of me, showing off my tight bra

1579
01:40:50.640 --> 01:40:55.079
with my new juicies ready to burst out. This time,

1580
01:40:55.439 --> 01:40:58.359
I've got a belly button stud on, which is against

1581
01:40:58.359 --> 01:41:01.560
the rules. Here he grabs my arm and pulls me

1582
01:41:01.640 --> 01:41:05.520
into an empty classroom. Get in here right now, you, Jezebel.

1583
01:41:06.119 --> 01:41:09.079
Then she pulls the door shut. When she turns and

1584
01:41:09.079 --> 01:41:14.000
glares at me, I immediately notice she's looking me over more.

1585
01:41:15.279 --> 01:41:17.760
What you don't want me to go to head Mistress

1586
01:41:17.800 --> 01:41:22.239
Hiltonson's office again, I purr softly. She's looking at my

1587
01:41:22.279 --> 01:41:27.239
belly button. Stud Remove that now, I smile, a very

1588
01:41:27.359 --> 01:41:33.560
toothy smile. Remove this. I untie my shirt and shake

1589
01:41:33.640 --> 01:41:35.640
myself a little to let it drop to the floor.

1590
01:41:36.720 --> 01:41:38.840
She's ready to give me hell again, but I can

1591
01:41:38.920 --> 01:41:45.920
literally feel the lust welling up. Insider. No, I whisper, okay,

1592
01:41:46.600 --> 01:41:49.800
maybe this. I grab the front of my braw, break

1593
01:41:49.840 --> 01:41:51.760
it open and let it drop to the floor. Then

1594
01:41:51.800 --> 01:41:53.640
I grab the nun and lock her in a deep,

1595
01:41:54.039 --> 01:41:57.680
lustful kiss. She kisses me back with the same hunger

1596
01:41:57.960 --> 01:42:01.039
and feels me up. Soon I let her strip me naked.

1597
01:42:01.239 --> 01:42:03.560
Then I unzip the back of her habit and watch

1598
01:42:03.600 --> 01:42:08.119
it fall to reveal she's not wearing anything underneath. Makes

1599
01:42:08.159 --> 01:42:11.039
me wonder how many of her so called God's commandments

1600
01:42:11.039 --> 01:42:14.800
she's broken here at Strickfield Academy, including the one on

1601
01:42:14.880 --> 01:42:18.680
committing adultery. I kiss her some more and caress her

1602
01:42:18.720 --> 01:42:21.760
this time for the record, I'm not going to have

1603
01:42:21.840 --> 01:42:25.800
sex with her. I'm here with this wretched, sinful nun

1604
01:42:26.560 --> 01:42:30.279
for one reason only. I feel her up a little

1605
01:42:30.359 --> 01:42:33.520
longer before. I will my finger nails to become claws

1606
01:42:33.800 --> 01:42:37.079
and slide them into her flesh like butter. She only

1607
01:42:37.159 --> 01:42:40.039
manages a gasp as I quickly rip her flesh open

1608
01:42:40.119 --> 01:42:43.359
right up the middle. I reach up into Sister Theodore's

1609
01:42:43.399 --> 01:42:47.079
rib cage and remove her corrupt heart. I hold the

1610
01:42:47.159 --> 01:42:50.960
dripping trophy in front of me to examine it. Yes,

1611
01:42:51.560 --> 01:42:57.439
this is perfect, well done, daughter, Now you must continue.

1612
01:42:57.880 --> 01:43:01.800
I hear my mother in my mind. Yes, Mother, your

1613
01:43:01.800 --> 01:43:05.680
every wish is my command. This is only the first

1614
01:43:05.720 --> 01:43:08.800
piece for the ritual to free mother. There are many

1615
01:43:08.880 --> 01:43:12.279
other pieces to obtain. A few more will be easy,

1616
01:43:12.399 --> 01:43:16.640
while others will be most difficult. But I will free Mother.

1617
01:43:16.920 --> 01:43:20.079
She will reshape this multiverse in her image. I'll be

1618
01:43:20.199 --> 01:43:23.279
right there by her side to see it all happen.

1619
01:43:24.119 --> 01:43:29.479
All life will be enslaved to her will, including you.

1620
01:43:36.560 --> 01:43:41.720
The God Tongue by Dan Wilder. Born without a tongue

1621
01:43:41.720 --> 01:43:44.680
to grant him the power of speech, Ezra had long

1622
01:43:44.760 --> 01:43:48.079
been the target of derision by his peers, so much

1623
01:43:48.119 --> 01:43:50.920
so that when his beloved mother had breathed her last,

1624
01:43:51.319 --> 01:43:53.960
he abandoned the home in which he was raised and

1625
01:43:54.039 --> 01:43:57.560
took to the hills and forests that bordered the microcosm

1626
01:43:57.600 --> 01:44:01.159
of the world's backwoods notions that was the town of

1627
01:44:01.239 --> 01:44:05.760
Jaden's Cross. Once there, Ezra built himself a modest cabin,

1628
01:44:05.920 --> 01:44:09.199
financed with his meager inheritance, where he could find solace

1629
01:44:09.479 --> 01:44:13.880
away from the chorus of mocking voices. Living off the land,

1630
01:44:14.199 --> 01:44:17.520
Ezra killed only that which he could consume, and his

1631
01:44:17.640 --> 01:44:21.439
growling stomach, coupled with his barren ice box, had told

1632
01:44:21.520 --> 01:44:23.640
him it was high time to venture out into the

1633
01:44:23.680 --> 01:44:28.880
crisp autumnal evening. After long, fruitless hours, Ezra had seen

1634
01:44:28.960 --> 01:44:31.920
nary a hint of prey, and though the moon hung

1635
01:44:32.039 --> 01:44:35.239
swollen in the sky, a mist had begun to encroach

1636
01:44:35.319 --> 01:44:38.880
upon the landscape of stoic pines that pointed like accusing

1637
01:44:38.920 --> 01:44:43.159
fingers at the heavens. Ezra exhaled wearily and sat down

1638
01:44:43.199 --> 01:44:46.319
at the base of the nearest pine. The miasma played

1639
01:44:46.359 --> 01:44:49.640
seductively at his neck and chin, causing his skin to

1640
01:44:49.680 --> 01:44:52.159
turn to goose flesh. As the fog was a great

1641
01:44:52.199 --> 01:44:55.960
deal cooler than the air that surrounded it, Ezra closed

1642
01:44:55.960 --> 01:44:58.199
his eyes for a moment and let the symphony of

1643
01:44:58.199 --> 01:45:01.760
the forest fill his ears, and for minutes, it did

1644
01:45:01.880 --> 01:45:05.279
just that, until his placid repose was shattered by the

1645
01:45:05.319 --> 01:45:08.000
sound of a twig breaking that echoed through the cool

1646
01:45:08.039 --> 01:45:12.520
air like the report of a shotgun being discharged. Ezra's

1647
01:45:12.520 --> 01:45:16.600
eyes snapped open, and as his gaze furatively darted to

1648
01:45:16.680 --> 01:45:20.600
and fro, he spied majestic antlers rising from the fog

1649
01:45:21.560 --> 01:45:23.920
in a fluid motion. He rose to his feet and

1650
01:45:24.000 --> 01:45:26.159
brought the sight of his Remington rifle to bear on

1651
01:45:26.239 --> 01:45:29.560
the dark shape that stood just below the mist. Ezra

1652
01:45:29.640 --> 01:45:32.960
squeezed the trigger, sending fire and thunder forth into the night,

1653
01:45:33.239 --> 01:45:36.920
and as soon as they appeared the antlers fell. He

1654
01:45:37.000 --> 01:45:40.239
bolted forward through the swirling gray, which seemed to recoil

1655
01:45:40.319 --> 01:45:43.119
from his advancing form, as if fearful of his presence

1656
01:45:43.199 --> 01:45:47.000
to his quarry. As he approached, the fog had now

1657
01:45:47.079 --> 01:45:50.439
parted and refused to trespass where the beasts lay. And

1658
01:45:50.520 --> 01:45:53.119
while Ezra was unable to give voice to his shock,

1659
01:45:53.640 --> 01:45:57.079
his slack jaw and bulging eyes more than conveyed his emotions.

1660
01:45:57.640 --> 01:46:01.279
For while he expected to find a stag, he instead

1661
01:46:01.680 --> 01:46:06.479
found a caricature of a man, albeit a man with antlers.

1662
01:46:08.119 --> 01:46:11.479
Ezra kneeled and rolled the creature on its back. Its

1663
01:46:11.520 --> 01:46:14.960
lifeless eyes were large, dark and set wide upon a

1664
01:46:15.039 --> 01:46:18.600
face covered in coarse fur. It wore little in the

1665
01:46:18.600 --> 01:46:22.119
way of clothing, just a simple robe, from which extended

1666
01:46:22.159 --> 01:46:25.600
limbs that resembled a dog's leg that ended in long,

1667
01:46:25.800 --> 01:46:30.079
tapered fingers tipped with crimson nails. It was in one

1668
01:46:30.159 --> 01:46:33.760
such appendage that the creature clutched what at first appeared

1669
01:46:33.760 --> 01:46:37.239
to Ezra to be a smooth ebony stone. He reached

1670
01:46:37.239 --> 01:46:41.800
for the object and found it malleable and warm, more

1671
01:46:41.960 --> 01:46:45.960
flesh than mineral. As he turned the artifact over and

1672
01:46:46.079 --> 01:46:49.680
over in his palm, the mist began to slowly creep back,

1673
01:46:50.319 --> 01:46:55.520
and with it came the inhuman wailing. Ezra panicked as

1674
01:46:55.600 --> 01:46:58.800
the mist around him produced its litany of grief, which

1675
01:46:58.840 --> 01:47:01.840
resulted in a mad flight through the dense pines. As

1676
01:47:01.880 --> 01:47:04.840
he ran, Ezra could feel the miasmas strike his legs

1677
01:47:04.880 --> 01:47:08.760
as it began to solidify into long, lashing tendrils. As

1678
01:47:08.760 --> 01:47:12.319
if that wasn't disconcerting enough, the wailing had now transformed

1679
01:47:12.319 --> 01:47:17.760
into protracted screams of pure rage. Onward, he flew, tripping

1680
01:47:17.800 --> 01:47:21.399
and struggling as the fog continued its battery Finally he

1681
01:47:21.439 --> 01:47:23.920
saw the familiar outline of his cabin in the clearing

1682
01:47:24.119 --> 01:47:26.840
just beyond the forest. He threw his weight against the

1683
01:47:26.960 --> 01:47:30.439
unlocked front door and exploded into his domain. In an instant,

1684
01:47:30.520 --> 01:47:33.000
he slammed shut the door, threw the bolt into place,

1685
01:47:33.039 --> 01:47:35.840
and collapsed to the floor in a crumpled mass of

1686
01:47:35.920 --> 01:47:40.199
pure exhaustion. He sat for minutes as hot tears ran

1687
01:47:40.239 --> 01:47:42.840
down his cheeks, and his heart beat so fast and

1688
01:47:42.920 --> 01:47:45.199
hard that at any other time he would have been

1689
01:47:45.239 --> 01:47:48.960
sure he was having a heart attack. Indeed, his hammering

1690
01:47:49.000 --> 01:47:51.319
pulse was all he could hear, and it was that

1691
01:47:51.479 --> 01:47:55.960
fact that made him realize that whatever outray abominations he

1692
01:47:56.000 --> 01:47:58.880
had left behind in the woods, they had decided not

1693
01:47:59.000 --> 01:48:02.800
to stray from that round. Finally, he gained control of

1694
01:48:02.840 --> 01:48:05.800
his faculties, moving his hands to his face to rub

1695
01:48:05.800 --> 01:48:09.439
the last vestiges of tears from his eyes, Ezra realized

1696
01:48:09.479 --> 01:48:13.159
he still clutched that preternatural stone, and where once it

1697
01:48:13.239 --> 01:48:17.840
was merely matt black, now it glowed a brilliant gold

1698
01:48:17.960 --> 01:48:21.960
from a thousand hairline cracks that crossed its surface like arteries,

1699
01:48:22.000 --> 01:48:25.960
no wider than a human hair. Ezra was entranced by

1700
01:48:26.000 --> 01:48:29.520
the artifact. So entranced he failed to notice the mist

1701
01:48:29.680 --> 01:48:33.199
that had crept ever closer along the floorboards as it

1702
01:48:33.279 --> 01:48:37.319
issued forth from the small wood burning stove behind him.

1703
01:48:37.640 --> 01:48:41.439
Ever onward it came crawling up his back, until finally

1704
01:48:41.840 --> 01:48:45.560
it plunged deep into his brain via his left ear canal.

1705
01:48:46.520 --> 01:48:49.520
Ezra's brain exploded with a thousand images of a history

1706
01:48:49.920 --> 01:48:52.960
not his own. He saw an endless array of beings,

1707
01:48:53.159 --> 01:48:56.399
more beast than man, hideous and beautiful in equal measure.

1708
01:48:56.880 --> 01:49:00.199
He floated onward through a great city beneath the forest floor.

1709
01:49:00.520 --> 01:49:04.439
Finally he saw a diaphanous stag over twenty feet high,

1710
01:49:04.640 --> 01:49:08.279
its head adorned with seven sets of antlers. The image

1711
01:49:08.319 --> 01:49:11.199
swirled and rippled as the sight of that ebony edifice

1712
01:49:11.279 --> 01:49:15.079
he held filled his field of vision. Ezrah felt his

1713
01:49:15.239 --> 01:49:18.279
arm move of its own accord, and while he struggled

1714
01:49:18.279 --> 01:49:20.720
to make it remain at rest, he was powerless to

1715
01:49:20.760 --> 01:49:23.880
stop its ascent or the action which followed. His hand

1716
01:49:23.920 --> 01:49:27.199
simply placed the glowing midnight hued object into his mouth,

1717
01:49:27.800 --> 01:49:31.560
which had mechanically opened to accept it. For the briefest

1718
01:49:31.600 --> 01:49:35.000
of seconds, he could taste infinity, and with that he

1719
01:49:35.000 --> 01:49:38.680
could feel a new organ grow inside him, a tongue

1720
01:49:39.279 --> 01:49:43.800
which pulsed and throbbed within his mouth. His first words

1721
01:49:44.000 --> 01:49:49.159
were a scream. Then came blackness. You murdered the historian.

1722
01:49:50.079 --> 01:49:53.720
You must take his place, The voice echoed so loud

1723
01:49:53.800 --> 01:49:57.039
in his mind that it snapped him awake. Ezra found

1724
01:49:57.079 --> 01:50:00.920
himself lying on the cold floor of his cabin Historian,

1725
01:50:01.239 --> 01:50:04.520
he said involuntarily. His eyes grew wide as the memory

1726
01:50:04.560 --> 01:50:07.399
of the dark tongue which had replaced his own missing organ,

1727
01:50:07.520 --> 01:50:10.920
flowed into his head. With a start, he lifted himself

1728
01:50:10.920 --> 01:50:14.399
from the floor and sped to the bathroom. Examining himself

1729
01:50:14.439 --> 01:50:16.600
in the mirror, he opened his mouth to view that

1730
01:50:16.680 --> 01:50:21.119
demon tissue, which he seemed to know, by some arcane intuition,

1731
01:50:21.680 --> 01:50:25.720
was connected to that ancient stag. There sat the obsidian

1732
01:50:25.880 --> 01:50:29.079
stone like mass of the previous night, But now it

1733
01:50:29.239 --> 01:50:33.159
pulsed and throbbed with an unearthly power, which flowed through

1734
01:50:33.199 --> 01:50:37.399
those golden veins which now had spread throughout the interior

1735
01:50:37.680 --> 01:50:41.479
of his mouth. Ezra began clawing at the offending member,

1736
01:50:41.640 --> 01:50:46.680
but to no avail. The flesh, though supple, was completely unyielding,

1737
01:50:47.520 --> 01:50:50.760
his thoughts locked upon its removal. Ezra ran to the

1738
01:50:50.840 --> 01:50:54.159
kitchen to procure a large steak knife. As he steeled

1739
01:50:54.199 --> 01:50:57.039
his nerves, Ezra stuck out his tongue and brought the

1740
01:50:57.039 --> 01:51:00.520
blade into place for the amputation. The air split with

1741
01:51:00.560 --> 01:51:03.720
static before he could begin that dreaded surgery. The small

1742
01:51:03.760 --> 01:51:07.760
shortwave radio his one mechanical distraction, which provided for him

1743
01:51:07.760 --> 01:51:10.680
a chance to voyeuristically listen to the voices of others

1744
01:51:11.079 --> 01:51:14.439
without being pressed to respond in kind, had come to

1745
01:51:14.479 --> 01:51:17.520
life from its home atop his rough hewn dining room table.

1746
01:51:18.600 --> 01:51:21.119
As he dashed into the room, his eyes beheld yet

1747
01:51:21.119 --> 01:51:26.399
another incomprehensible sight, the mist, now solidified into the contours

1748
01:51:27.039 --> 01:51:30.560
of a vaguely humanoid shape, save for the long horns

1749
01:51:30.600 --> 01:51:34.680
protruding from its incorporeal forehead. It hunched over the device

1750
01:51:35.039 --> 01:51:39.159
and exhaled streams of vapor directly into the microphone from

1751
01:51:39.199 --> 01:51:42.800
somewhere that sounded both close and at the opposite end

1752
01:51:42.800 --> 01:51:45.720
of the galaxy. Came a sound that at first was

1753
01:51:45.840 --> 01:51:49.279
not unlike the purring of a large cat, but quickly

1754
01:51:49.319 --> 01:51:54.159
turned into a low, guttural growl, before finally becoming words

1755
01:51:54.159 --> 01:51:57.439
that simply could not have been formed by human lips.

1756
01:51:58.000 --> 01:52:02.239
Pass on, old friend, we are coming, Ezra reached for

1757
01:52:02.239 --> 01:52:05.880
the figure, which dissipated into the ether at his touch,

1758
01:52:06.039 --> 01:52:09.960
accompanied by a chorus of melodic laughter. He grabbed for

1759
01:52:10.000 --> 01:52:12.520
the microphone in one hand, and with the other tried

1760
01:52:12.560 --> 01:52:15.479
furiously to find the proper channel to connect him with

1761
01:52:15.600 --> 01:52:17.720
the one agency he felt would be able to help

1762
01:52:17.800 --> 01:52:21.640
him fend off whatever malevolence was creeping his way the

1763
01:52:21.640 --> 01:52:26.119
town militia of Jaden's Cross. Finally, he arrived at the

1764
01:52:26.119 --> 01:52:29.840
proper frequency and parted his dry lips to do that

1765
01:52:29.960 --> 01:52:34.399
which had eluded him low these many years. Pressing the

1766
01:52:34.439 --> 01:52:36.920
button which would allow his voice to travel the waves,

1767
01:52:37.359 --> 01:52:42.239
Ezra began to speak. What followed was not one voice

1768
01:52:42.319 --> 01:52:47.560
but legion. Some were mere growls, others came like gently

1769
01:52:47.720 --> 01:52:50.880
chirping birds, and a few were close to human, yet

1770
01:52:51.239 --> 01:52:55.319
still possessing a preternatural timber. But above all rang the

1771
01:52:55.359 --> 01:53:00.239
impossibly deep tones of their god. For the stag did Sara,

1772
01:53:00.920 --> 01:53:03.920
the great animal whose voice was known when the universe

1773
01:53:03.960 --> 01:53:07.039
was a mere speck of dust hanging like a moat

1774
01:53:07.279 --> 01:53:11.159
in the eye of infinity. With that, the radio exploded

1775
01:53:11.159 --> 01:53:13.920
in a shower of acrid smoke and sparks that knocked

1776
01:53:13.960 --> 01:53:17.560
Ezra to the floor, Ezra began to weep, yet the

1777
01:53:17.600 --> 01:53:20.159
sound of crying that issued from his mouth was again

1778
01:53:20.640 --> 01:53:24.920
the product of that unholy throng. Unable to retain his

1779
01:53:25.039 --> 01:53:28.279
tenuous grasp on sanity, he was determined to rip the

1780
01:53:28.399 --> 01:53:31.239
organ from his mouth with his bare hands, hands that

1781
01:53:31.279 --> 01:53:34.560
he noticed were covered in ruins and glyphs carved deep

1782
01:53:34.640 --> 01:53:38.199
upon the surface of his skin. Furiously, he flew again

1783
01:53:38.199 --> 01:53:41.399
into the bathroom, where he exhaled in shock at the

1784
01:53:41.439 --> 01:53:45.239
face that met his gaze within the mirror. Like his

1785
01:53:45.399 --> 01:53:48.560
hands and every other scrap of visible flesh, he was

1786
01:53:48.600 --> 01:53:52.319
covered in those strange markings. Ezra clawed at the skin,

1787
01:53:52.399 --> 01:53:55.199
which gave way in thin sheets to reveal layers of

1788
01:53:55.239 --> 01:53:58.439
fresh dermis below, marked the same as the skin above.

1789
01:53:59.079 --> 01:54:02.199
He attempted to scra but what came instead was the

1790
01:54:02.239 --> 01:54:06.399
shouting of every supernatural being that had ever or will

1791
01:54:06.439 --> 01:54:09.600
ever walk the earth, all proclaiming their name to the

1792
01:54:09.640 --> 01:54:13.560
midnight that lie just beyond the cabin's roof. Ezra ran

1793
01:54:13.640 --> 01:54:16.279
towards the door of the cabin, the ancient instinct to

1794
01:54:16.319 --> 01:54:19.760
flee that which we do not or simply cannot understand

1795
01:54:19.800 --> 01:54:23.760
overtaking him. But suddenly he could move forward no more,

1796
01:54:24.319 --> 01:54:27.960
as that demon mist once more held him firm, where

1797
01:54:28.000 --> 01:54:30.640
it issued from between the floorboards of the cabin to

1798
01:54:30.720 --> 01:54:34.720
solidify into its humanoid form, the shifting arms of which

1799
01:54:34.720 --> 01:54:39.840
wrapped tightly around its panic stricken prey. You murdered me,

1800
01:54:40.680 --> 01:54:46.319
it whispered seductively. Now you shall walk eternally into that

1801
01:54:46.439 --> 01:54:51.439
resplendent ebony with your brethren. Ezra struggled for a moment

1802
01:54:51.720 --> 01:54:55.479
until a sound distant at first yet growing ever nearer,

1803
01:54:55.520 --> 01:54:59.199
began to fill the room, the pounding of hoofs upon

1804
01:54:59.279 --> 01:55:03.479
cold ground. The front door exploded in a mouthstrom of splinters,

1805
01:55:03.640 --> 01:55:07.359
as a menagerie appeared that was equal parts animal and man,

1806
01:55:08.000 --> 01:55:11.520
and the worst of both. Ezra once again succumbed to

1807
01:55:11.600 --> 01:55:16.760
the ebben darkness. Over the next hours, Ezra would occasionally

1808
01:55:16.800 --> 01:55:21.000
regain consciousness, and while the moonlight illuminated only endless miles

1809
01:55:21.000 --> 01:55:24.720
of forest, it also revealed the talon tipped hands that

1810
01:55:24.840 --> 01:55:30.119
held him aloft, as well as the nightmares they belonged to. Finally,

1811
01:55:30.199 --> 01:55:33.159
he came to the group had stopped before a long

1812
01:55:33.199 --> 01:55:36.920
forgotten farmhouse. Even in the waning moonlight, the house looked

1813
01:55:37.239 --> 01:55:41.520
impossibly ancient and beyond any hope of repair. One of

1814
01:55:41.560 --> 01:55:44.920
the creatures to his left loped forward and threw open

1815
01:55:44.960 --> 01:55:48.600
the large storm doors, whose hinges creaked and protested, and

1816
01:55:48.680 --> 01:55:52.119
led Ezra down into the darkness. They walked for what

1817
01:55:52.279 --> 01:55:57.159
seemed several minutes through the inky blackness. Occasionally Ezra could

1818
01:55:57.159 --> 01:55:59.479
swear that he felt hot breath on the back of

1819
01:55:59.520 --> 01:56:03.399
his neck, or a gentle touch of something inhuman reaching

1820
01:56:03.439 --> 01:56:07.399
toward him from the darkness. Soon, in the distance, a

1821
01:56:07.439 --> 01:56:10.560
faint light could be seen, which grew brighter and brighter,

1822
01:56:10.880 --> 01:56:14.199
until Ezra could make out the lithe silhouette of his guide.

1823
01:56:14.640 --> 01:56:17.760
They arrived in a large circular room which was carved

1824
01:56:17.800 --> 01:56:21.880
from the earth itself. A multitude of doorways dotted the walls,

1825
01:56:22.279 --> 01:56:25.840
and in the darkness of each Ezra could see indescribable

1826
01:56:25.880 --> 01:56:30.079
shapes moving ever closer in the light. Finally, all were

1827
01:56:30.119 --> 01:56:33.199
revealed as creatures which may have been constructed of wild

1828
01:56:33.239 --> 01:56:37.000
day dreams, absent visions, and children's chalk drawings. Gathered in

1829
01:56:37.079 --> 01:56:41.680
the chamber. Ezra shrunk under their gaze, for here, as

1830
01:56:41.720 --> 01:56:45.560
in the world above, he felt the outsider say hello

1831
01:56:46.159 --> 01:56:50.840
to your new family. Something croaked from the assemblage, a

1832
01:56:50.960 --> 01:56:54.640
being more owl than man stepped from the crowd and

1833
01:56:54.720 --> 01:56:59.079
stared at Ezra for what seemed like days. As it looked,

1834
01:56:59.359 --> 01:57:01.640
it would crane its head from side to side and

1835
01:57:01.800 --> 01:57:08.399
snap its great beak open and shut. Ezra stood stock still.

1836
01:57:09.000 --> 01:57:12.159
Suddenly it dawned on him that the beast wasn't figuring

1837
01:57:12.159 --> 01:57:15.000
out the best way to pluck out his eyes. Rather,

1838
01:57:15.079 --> 01:57:18.920
it was reading the glyphs that adorned his face. He gasped,

1839
01:57:19.199 --> 01:57:23.000
as the owl spoke, you you tell the story of

1840
01:57:23.000 --> 01:57:27.439
my family. Ezra could only stare at the being dumbfounded. No,

1841
01:57:28.000 --> 01:57:30.479
came a voice from the throng. He tells the tale

1842
01:57:30.520 --> 01:57:32.720
of the fleet Claus. I can read it even from

1843
01:57:32.760 --> 01:57:37.600
here and the moon rays, came a response from the crowd. No,

1844
01:57:38.000 --> 01:57:41.760
he tells the story of us all. Look. Ezra looked

1845
01:57:41.800 --> 01:57:44.399
down at his hands, which had started to unravel into

1846
01:57:44.479 --> 01:57:47.640
long flesh scrolls, which were soon picked up by the

1847
01:57:47.640 --> 01:57:51.560
discolored fingers, talons, and tentacles, the owners of which read

1848
01:57:51.600 --> 01:57:56.039
aloud and babbled excitedly of the stories contained therein, of

1849
01:57:56.079 --> 01:58:00.439
their sacred lineage as well as their futures. When Ezra

1850
01:58:00.560 --> 01:58:03.600
was unraveling from every piece of exposed skin, some of

1851
01:58:03.640 --> 01:58:06.000
which drifted to the ground as torn pages from an

1852
01:58:06.000 --> 01:58:09.960
ancient tome. More creatures arrived and picked up the pages,

1853
01:58:10.279 --> 01:58:13.600
laughing as they celebrated all that made them. Onward and

1854
01:58:13.640 --> 01:58:17.199
onward the pages and scrolls fell, until finally all that

1855
01:58:17.319 --> 01:58:21.439
was left of Ezra were the pages themselves. Each tribesmen

1856
01:58:21.560 --> 01:58:24.239
held a page or scroll of their own, and each

1857
01:58:24.520 --> 01:58:28.479
cherished the sacred words they contained. The stranger came to

1858
01:58:28.520 --> 01:58:32.439
speak to us all, and what words he has brought us?

1859
01:58:36.840 --> 01:58:42.399
And that's small town's secrets. Proof that the scariest places

1860
01:58:42.479 --> 01:58:49.800
aren't abandoned. They are occupied by neighbors, by traditions, by

1861
01:58:50.000 --> 01:58:55.560
things that have been normal for so long nobody remembers

1862
01:58:56.239 --> 01:59:02.399
what exactly started them or what they're feeding. If you

1863
01:59:02.520 --> 01:59:05.760
had a good time tonight, please do me a favor

1864
01:59:06.239 --> 01:59:10.680
and follow Weekly Spooky on your favorite podcasting app. And

1865
01:59:10.720 --> 01:59:13.279
while you're at it, why not leave a rating and

1866
01:59:13.359 --> 01:59:18.680
tell a friend who swears their hometown is boring. Those

1867
01:59:18.760 --> 01:59:23.399
are the ones with the best secrets. And don't go anywhere,

1868
01:59:23.439 --> 01:59:27.319
because this Monday, we've got a brand new terrifying and

1869
01:59:27.439 --> 01:59:33.800
true that's equal parts folklore, fever, dream and real world tradition.

1870
01:59:34.640 --> 01:59:40.960
Portugal's carnival demons, the Carretos Day and Trudeau. Imagine cow

1871
01:59:41.000 --> 01:59:47.000
bells clattering through stone alleys, horned masks, wild ribbons, torchlight bonfires.

1872
01:59:47.720 --> 01:59:51.039
It's ancient and unsettling, and I'll be telling you all

1873
01:59:51.079 --> 01:59:57.439
about it on Monday. Until then, stay warm,