# 7 SCARY Horror Stories to vibe with on a quiet summer night

An episode of [CreepsMcPasta Creepypasta Radio](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1492008134), 21 Jun 2025, 3 h 42 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/66679768/7_scary_horror_stories_to_vibe_with_on_a_quiet_summer_night.mp3

CREEPYPASTA STORIES- ►0:00 👁️ ►25:44 "We Were Alone During the Amber Alert. Then I Looked Under the Bed" Creepypasta ►50:30 "We Broke the Seal on the Old War Tunnel. We Found What Was Left Behind" Creepypasta ►1:09:59 "This Town Warned us to Never Speak to the River Wives" Creepypasta ►1:57:51 "I Signed Up to Work in a Fire Lookout Tower. But I Can’t Explain What I Saw" Creepypasta ►2:24:30 "A Company Sent Ex-Cons to Chart a Mine No One Else Would Touch." Creepypasta ►2:51:25 "Something is Growing in the Tree Where We Buried Our Daughter. It Has Her Face." Creepypasta Creepypastas are the campfire tales of the internet. Horror stories spread through Reddit r/nosleep, forums and blogs, rather than word of mouth. Whether you believe these scary stories to be true or not is left to your own discretion and imagination. LISTEN TO CREEPYPASTAS ON THE GO- SPOTIFY► https://open.spotify.com/show/7l0iRPd... iTUNES► https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast... SUGGESTED CREEPYPASTA PLAYLISTS- ►"Good Places to Start"- • "I wasn't careful enough on the deep web" ... ►"Personal Favourites"- • "I sold my soul for a used dishwasher, and... ►"Written by me"- • "I've been Blind my Whole Life" Creepypasta ►"Long Stories"- • Long Stories FOLLOW ME ON- ►Twitter: / creeps_mcpasta ►Instagram: / creepsmcpasta ►Twitch: / creepsmcpasta ►Facebook: / creepsmcpasta CREEPYPASTA MUSIC/ SFX- ►http://bit.ly/Audionic ♪ ►http://bit.ly/Myuusic ♪ ►http://bit.ly/incompt ♪ ►http://bit.ly/EpidemicM ♪ This creepypasta is for entertainment purposes only

## Transcript

[0:02] Speaker 1: The front door to my apartment stuck like doorways. I
[0:05] Speaker 1: should have sanded the frame down months ago. I should
[0:09] Speaker 1: have done a lot of things. The hallway light flickered
[0:12] Speaker 1: and fizzled into nothing as I stepped over a pile
[0:15] Speaker 1: of unopened mail and made my way to the fridge. Inside,
[0:20] Speaker 1: the air smelled like old mustard and aluminium, and it
[0:24] Speaker 1: lingered in the air too long, even when closed. I
[0:28] Speaker 1: pulled out the last microwave meal and peeled back the
[0:31] Speaker 1: corner of the film. Then watched as the trace stuttered
[0:35] Speaker 1: left or right on top of the cracked turntable of
[0:37] Speaker 1: my microwave, making it hot around the corners and frozen
[0:41] Speaker 1: on the inside. I passed the kitchen table on my
[0:45] Speaker 1: way to the bedroom and dropped my keys like usual.
[0:49] Speaker 1: The metal clinked against something soft, and the whole tablecloth
[0:53] Speaker 1: shifted sideways. I paused and looked down, noticing a round
[0:59] Speaker 1: lump beneath a fabric. I thought maybe here was something
[1:03] Speaker 1: my eggs had left behind, maybe a button or a
[1:06] Speaker 1: marble that had rolled under and been forgotten. So I
[1:11] Speaker 1: pulled the mat up. The second I saw it, I
[1:18] Speaker 1: recoiled my heel, caught the chair leg and I nearly
[1:22] Speaker 1: fell backwards. My heart almost skipped a beat as I
[1:26] Speaker 1: stood in shock, gripping the table's edge or trying to
[1:29] Speaker 1: make sense of the sight in front of me. There
[1:35] Speaker 1: was a fully formed human eye, wet detailed and embedded
[1:41] Speaker 1: in the wood. The skin around it was faint and translucent,
[1:45] Speaker 1: barely raised, but enough to show it wasn't drawn or carved.
[1:51] Speaker 1: It also seemed to blink. I stared at it, expecting
[1:56] Speaker 1: it to vanish, to prove itself as some trick of
[1:59] Speaker 1: the light or exhaustion. But it didn't. The thing stayed there,
[2:06] Speaker 1: staring straight up at me, the pupil shifting slightly, as
[2:11] Speaker 1: if adjusting to the angle of my shadow. I kept
[2:15] Speaker 1: telling myself there had to be an explanation. Maybe it
[2:19] Speaker 1: was a fungus, some kind of growth that reacted to
[2:22] Speaker 1: heat or light. Maybe moisture in the wood was making
[2:25] Speaker 1: it warp, and my mind filled in the rest That
[2:29] Speaker 1: was possible, wasn't it. I squinted and leaned a little.
[2:36] Speaker 1: It had a light blue iris that shot through with
[2:39] Speaker 1: broken red veins. There was a little milky film along
[2:42] Speaker 1: the edges. My scalp brickled, but I forced myself to
[2:47] Speaker 1: breathe steadily. I pressed the tablecloth down again, flattening it
[2:52] Speaker 1: over the thing, hoping he would disappear. But when the
[2:56] Speaker 1: lump remained, I couldn't help mess with it. I grabbed
[3:01] Speaker 1: a spoon from the drawer and tried prying the eye,
[3:04] Speaker 1: but it didn't work. I couldn't get it wedged, and
[3:09] Speaker 1: any effort to damage whatever had taken the shape of
[3:11] Speaker 1: an eye proved pointless, so I just gave up. At
[3:16] Speaker 1: least I could say I tried getting rid of it
[3:18] Speaker 1: on my own. I placed the cloth back over it
[3:22] Speaker 1: and tried forgetting I'd call someone, not now, but maybe
[3:28] Speaker 1: later in the week. I didn't have the cash to
[3:31] Speaker 1: throw around on some specialist, and it didn't look dangerous.
[3:36] Speaker 1: I hadn't been hallucinating at work or anything. I'd been
[3:39] Speaker 1: eating fine, sleeping enough, more or less. Whatever it was,
[3:46] Speaker 1: it wasn't hurting me. I woke up later than I
[3:52] Speaker 1: should have, and as I shuffled to the bathroom to
[3:55] Speaker 1: brush my teeth, I remembered the lump, so I snuck
[4:00] Speaker 1: glance at the table again. The tablecloth had another bulge
[4:04] Speaker 1: under it. Now, two raised shapes pressed through the cloth,
[4:09] Speaker 1: side by side, distorting the fabric. I already had a
[4:14] Speaker 1: feeling as to what would be there, but I forced
[4:18] Speaker 1: myself to keep moving. I wiped my mouth, stepped back
[4:22] Speaker 1: into the bedroom and got dressed. I poured a half
[4:26] Speaker 1: cup of bit of coffee from the cold pot and
[4:28] Speaker 1: locked the door behind me without glancing at the table.
[4:32] Speaker 1: I didn't need any additional stress. I'd get rid of it. Eventually.
[4:40] Speaker 1: Things were worse at work. Someone had watched the inventory
[4:44] Speaker 1: numbers in the overnight batch, which meant none of the
[4:47] Speaker 1: reports matched the previous week. I couldn't fix it without
[4:50] Speaker 1: re entering everything by hand. Plus the office was full
[4:55] Speaker 1: of complaints before I even got my head set on,
[4:59] Speaker 1: I kept getting yelled, and it didn't help that I
[5:01] Speaker 1: couldn't forget about the kitchen table. I tried not to.
[5:06] Speaker 1: I knew how much a full mold treatment would cost.
[5:10] Speaker 1: They'd have to come in, tear part of the surface out,
[5:13] Speaker 1: spray the place down, and maybe even inspect the dry wall.
[5:18] Speaker 1: The table was cheap, but not something I could replace
[5:21] Speaker 1: right now, and I really didn't want to throw it away.
[5:26] Speaker 1: I didn't have time for this. I needed that table
[5:29] Speaker 1: to not be turning into some weird, freaking biology exhibit
[5:32] Speaker 1: in my kitchen. When I eventually returned, the air in
[5:38] Speaker 1: my apartment felt heavier, and the window had fogged up again.
[5:42] Speaker 1: I headed toward the kitchen to pour a glass of
[5:44] Speaker 1: water while I'd try my best not to look at
[5:47] Speaker 1: the table, but my curiosity got the best of me,
[5:53] Speaker 1: and I caught sight of the tablecloth in the corner
[5:56] Speaker 1: of my eye. It was raised more than it was
[6:00] Speaker 1: that morning. The entire surface was covered in bulges, maybe
[6:04] Speaker 1: a dozen or so, so I peeled it back. A
[6:11] Speaker 1: collection of eyes stared back at me. Some were wide
[6:16] Speaker 1: and alert, others moved slowly, blinking with effort. There were
[6:21] Speaker 1: brown ones and hazel, and some flat gray, others nearly violet.
[6:27] Speaker 1: A few were bright red around the edges, veined and swollen.
[6:31] Speaker 1: One had long lashes. Another was clouded with a pale film.
[6:37] Speaker 1: It was spreading like some form of molder fungus. So
[6:41] Speaker 1: I opened my laptop and typed out mold Inspection near me.
[6:46] Speaker 1: The top result looked professional. There was a chat box open,
[6:50] Speaker 1: already offering a quote. I clicked out of it. The
[6:55] Speaker 1: price was more than I had to spare. My next
[6:58] Speaker 1: paycheck wouldn't come through for another five days, so I
[7:02] Speaker 1: closed the tab. I went to bed without brushing my teeth.
[7:08] Speaker 1: Sleep didn't come easy. My body kept twitching like it
[7:13] Speaker 1: wanted to stay awake. I flipped the pillow twice and
[7:16] Speaker 1: tried lying in my stomach. The sheets were damp with
[7:20] Speaker 1: old sweat. At some point I must have passed out
[7:27] Speaker 1: in the morning. When I stretched, I felt it immediately.
[7:33] Speaker 1: My back wasn't pressing against fabric, it was uneven and
[7:38] Speaker 1: damp in places. The weight across my ribs shifted. Something
[7:45] Speaker 1: was underneath me. I closed my eyes and tried to
[7:49] Speaker 1: breathe slowly, making the sensation disappear weirdly enough. When I
[7:54] Speaker 1: opened them, however, it returned. I sat up and threw
[8:00] Speaker 1: the blanket off. The mattress was covered in eyes. They
[8:07] Speaker 1: stretched from the headboard to the foot. Some tugged near
[8:11] Speaker 1: the corners, others exposed across the surface. I could see
[8:16] Speaker 1: the indents where I had slept across them. Some had
[8:19] Speaker 1: left wet trails. Others blinked up at me lazily. The
[8:23] Speaker 1: lids crusted with yellow discharge. One followed my movement. As
[8:27] Speaker 1: I stepped back. I gagged, but nothing came up. I
[8:34] Speaker 1: looked around the room. Nothing else had changed, The walls
[8:39] Speaker 1: were clean, the floor was fine. I stared back down
[8:43] Speaker 1: at the bed. It was getting out of control. Was
[8:49] Speaker 1: this even of fungus? What was I looking at? It
[8:53] Speaker 1: just didn't make sense. I walked to the kitchen and
[8:57] Speaker 1: picked up the phone. My fingers slip on the screen once,
[9:01] Speaker 1: but I managed to book a late night slot with
[9:03] Speaker 1: a mold removal specialist. The court that gave me made
[9:06] Speaker 1: my stomach twist, but I didn't argue. I gave my
[9:11] Speaker 1: dress and said i'd be home after seven. I got
[9:16] Speaker 1: dressed in silence. Work meant nothing that day. I sat
[9:21] Speaker 1: in my chair, stared at the numbers on the screen
[9:24] Speaker 1: and answered one call, maybe two. The rest blurred every
[9:31] Speaker 1: few minutes. I thought I saw something twitch in the
[9:34] Speaker 1: corner of the monitor. I ended up leaving two hours
[9:38] Speaker 1: early without permission. I needed to be there when the
[9:43] Speaker 1: exterminator arrived. The sun had dropped below the buildings when
[9:49] Speaker 1: the exterminator and I met, I pulled up outside and
[9:53] Speaker 1: he stood there, already looking worn out. The guy logged
[9:58] Speaker 1: mid forties with a thick coat. He slipped halfway and
[10:01] Speaker 1: a clipboard tugged under one arm. His spray tnchor dried
[10:05] Speaker 1: streaks down the side. He nodded, asked if I was
[10:09] Speaker 1: the guy, and I led the way. Then I saw
[10:14] Speaker 1: the apartment. I paused in the doorway. The eyes had
[10:20] Speaker 1: taken over everything. They covered the back splash, behind the sink,
[10:26] Speaker 1: nested in the gaps between countertiles, and split from half
[10:30] Speaker 1: open drawers. The coffee maker had one in the reservoir,
[10:34] Speaker 1: partially submerged. A few had stuck to the inside of
[10:37] Speaker 1: the fridge door. One blinked slowly and quietly between a
[10:42] Speaker 1: ketchup bottle and a box of baking soda. The worst
[10:47] Speaker 1: were the clusters. They started forming, small bunches, growing in
[10:53] Speaker 1: tight patches. One whole corner of the ceiling looked swollen
[10:57] Speaker 1: with them, blinking at on interval. Some had red rimmed lids,
[11:03] Speaker 1: others were cracked through the iris. I didn't say anything.
[11:08] Speaker 1: I didn't have words for it anymore. Everything all right, sir,
[11:14] Speaker 1: the exterminator asked. Finally, I turned toward him. I stared
[11:20] Speaker 1: too long before answering, you don't see all this. He
[11:27] Speaker 1: looked around again, slower this time. His eyes passed over
[11:32] Speaker 1: the sink, the walls, and the table. I watched for
[11:36] Speaker 1: a change in his expression. There was none. See what exactly,
[11:44] Speaker 1: he asked. He said it carefully and politely, try not
[11:49] Speaker 1: to set anything off. I looked back at the room.
[11:54] Speaker 1: One of the eyes in the cabinet had started to leak.
[11:57] Speaker 1: The liquid was thick, pale yellow, and it ran down
[12:01] Speaker 1: the handle toward the floor. I wiped my palms on
[12:04] Speaker 1: my pants. Do your thing, I guess, I said. He nodded,
[12:11] Speaker 1: adjusted the pressure valve on his tank and started spraying.
[12:16] Speaker 1: When the spray hid the eyes, I waited for a reaction,
[12:21] Speaker 1: but the eyes didn't seem to react to it stood
[12:25] Speaker 1: clearer by morning, he said. Once he finished the perimeter,
[12:29] Speaker 1: you'll want to keep the windows open if you can
[12:32] Speaker 1: air it out overnight. He handed me a receipt. I
[12:37] Speaker 1: tapped through the pavement screen on his phone. He walked away,
[12:41] Speaker 1: and the door clicked softly behind him. I stood there
[12:47] Speaker 1: for a few seconds, then turned and walked straight to
[12:51] Speaker 1: the bedroom. Surely they'd be gone soon, Just like he said,
[12:59] Speaker 1: The bed was still as of pupils and lashes. I
[13:02] Speaker 1: pulled a thick quilt from the closet, threw it over
[13:05] Speaker 1: the mattress, and added an old comforter. I pushed down
[13:09] Speaker 1: hard across the fabric. I couldn't see them anymore, but
[13:14] Speaker 1: I knew they were there. I lay down on top
[13:17] Speaker 1: of the layers. I could still feel them, but when
[13:22] Speaker 1: I closed my eyes, the pressure vanished. The twitching beneath
[13:28] Speaker 1: my back disappeared. When I opened my eyes again, the
[13:33] Speaker 1: pressure came back, a slow return of weight along my spine,
[13:37] Speaker 1: tinting under my shoulder blades. I sat up fast and
[13:41] Speaker 1: looked down. The eyes had pushed through the padding, stretching
[13:46] Speaker 1: the quilt fabric. They blinked at me through the threads,
[13:52] Speaker 1: and then an idea popped into my head. I closed
[13:57] Speaker 1: my eyes and immediately felt the pressure and beneath me disappear.
[14:02] Speaker 1: When I opened my eyes again, the eyes reappeared. I
[14:07] Speaker 1: didn't know what to do with that. Sure, I couldn't
[14:09] Speaker 1: feel or see them when I closed my eyes, but
[14:12] Speaker 1: it didn't change much. But at least I could sleep
[14:17] Speaker 1: mostly undisturbed. That was something. When I woke up, the
[14:26] Speaker 1: entire apartment was buried in them. There wasn't a single
[14:31] Speaker 1: surface left untouched. The ceiling was dense with them. Some
[14:36] Speaker 1: fused together lids tangled into swollen fold that blinked out
[14:40] Speaker 1: A sink the wall set eyes where the painted cracked
[14:44] Speaker 1: years ago. Some nested along the doorframe. I stepped off
[14:49] Speaker 1: the bed and into a field of them. I tried
[14:53] Speaker 1: walking slowly, but it didn't help. I closed my eyes
[14:57] Speaker 1: and tried to navigate through my apartment blind. I managed
[15:01] Speaker 1: to pull it off and got outside, though on the
[15:05] Speaker 1: outside things weren't better. The sidewalk had begun to change.
[15:11] Speaker 1: They were tugged between the cracks and the concrete. One
[15:15] Speaker 1: blinked from the inside of a broken soda can. A
[15:18] Speaker 1: few were staring from the storm drain. I walked fast
[15:22] Speaker 1: to my car. When I got to work, I went
[15:26] Speaker 1: straight to my desk. The monitor was already on. There
[15:32] Speaker 1: was an eye on the screen itself, faint behind the glare.
[15:37] Speaker 1: I sat down and tried to open the coal dashboard.
[15:41] Speaker 1: I didn't get far, so one tapped my shoulder. Who
[15:46] Speaker 1: was the assistant manager you wanted in the back? I
[15:52] Speaker 1: followed them down the hallway. He was sitting at his desk,
[15:57] Speaker 1: hands folded, face still. He used to be clean cut.
[16:02] Speaker 1: Now he looked swollen. He'd always had a ruddy complexion,
[16:07] Speaker 1: but his cheeks were rippling under the skin. Something was
[16:12] Speaker 1: pushing forward the folds of his neck moved. He stood
[16:18] Speaker 1: up and walked toward me. His chest shifted under the shirt.
[16:23] Speaker 1: Pockets of skin bulged, then opened. Eyes blinked from his sternum.
[16:29] Speaker 1: I could see them from the fabric of the shirt.
[16:33] Speaker 1: Two more peeled from under his collar. His gums had
[16:37] Speaker 1: them too. Each time he moved his jaw, pale fluids
[16:42] Speaker 1: slipped from the corners of his lips. He ran down,
[16:45] Speaker 1: his chin caught in his tie. He opened his mouth.
[16:51] Speaker 1: It was filled with eyes that leaked puss. He said something,
[16:59] Speaker 1: though I couldn't hear it. I was too distracted by
[17:02] Speaker 1: the abomination he had become. He said it again, louder,
[17:09] Speaker 1: Are you even listening? What the hell's wrong with you? Lately?
[17:13] Speaker 1: I blinked hard. I ah huh. He stared for a second,
[17:22] Speaker 1: then his voice dropped. Get out. I didn't argue. I
[17:33] Speaker 1: got to the parking lot and stopped beside the car.
[17:37] Speaker 1: The eyes had gotten inside. The seat was lined with them,
[17:42] Speaker 1: The steering wheel had them wrapped through the leather. One
[17:45] Speaker 1: looked out from the base of the air vent. The
[17:48] Speaker 1: rearview mirror was covered the lenses facing inward. I couldn't drive,
[17:54] Speaker 1: even if I wanted to. I turned around and walked.
[18:00] Speaker 1: The neighborhood looked bent out of shape. I stop sighing,
[18:03] Speaker 1: had a ring of eyes running around its rim. The
[18:05] Speaker 1: bus stop had them in the glass. A kid near
[18:09] Speaker 1: the corner bent down and pulled something from the grass.
[18:13] Speaker 1: She held it up to show a mother. It looked
[18:17] Speaker 1: like a white daisy at first, until it blinked. A
[18:22] Speaker 1: blue iris sat in the middle of the petals, unblinking
[18:25] Speaker 1: in a palm. I didn't stop. I didn't slow down.
[18:32] Speaker 1: When I got home, I had to shouldered the door open.
[18:35] Speaker 1: It resisted for a moment, then gave. I stepped inside carefully.
[18:42] Speaker 1: There were more, now thicker clusters. The table had sprouted,
[18:46] Speaker 1: an entire patch of them. Eyelids tangled into another, shifting
[18:50] Speaker 1: in a wave across the surface. I reached my chair
[18:54] Speaker 1: and sat down. It was covered too. They pressed into
[19:00] Speaker 1: my legs, my back, the base, and my spine. I
[19:04] Speaker 1: didn't care. I closed my eyes and they disappeared. I
[19:14] Speaker 1: kept my eyes shut for a long time. I breathed
[19:17] Speaker 1: in through my nose and waited for the tension to
[19:20] Speaker 1: ease out of my shoulders. I knew what I had
[19:25] Speaker 1: to do. I known for a while. I could make
[19:29] Speaker 1: them disappear. I stood up. My knees cracked under the
[19:36] Speaker 1: weight of it all. I walked to the kitchen and
[19:39] Speaker 1: opened the drawer under the cutlery. I had to dig
[19:43] Speaker 1: under old spatchelors and dull knives to find what I needed.
[19:48] Speaker 1: A spoon. It had dried sauce on the edge, but
[19:52] Speaker 1: the shape was right. I placed it on the counter
[19:57] Speaker 1: next straw. I found the scissors at the back, past
[20:00] Speaker 1: the ball of twine and a melted flashlight. The blades
[20:04] Speaker 1: were half rusted, but the open clean enough. I stared
[20:09] Speaker 1: at both for a moment. The metal felt cold against
[20:13] Speaker 1: my skin. Then I walked to the bathroom. I sat
[20:20] Speaker 1: on the countless eyes covering my bathroom floor. I held
[20:24] Speaker 1: the phone in my hand and dialed emergency. My thumb
[20:28] Speaker 1: hovered over the coal button for a second before pressing down.
[20:34] Speaker 1: I'm hurt, I said. When the despatcher picked up severe bleeding.
[20:39] Speaker 1: I'm on the floor. I don't think I'll stay conscious
[20:41] Speaker 1: for long. They asked questions, I gave my dress. I
[20:47] Speaker 1: ended the call before they could say anything else. I
[20:52] Speaker 1: leaned back against the tub and took the spoon in
[20:55] Speaker 1: one hand. The scissors lay across my lap. I blinked once,
[21:01] Speaker 1: slow and heavy, then raised the spoon. I pressed it
[21:09] Speaker 1: into the bone, just beneath my eye. The precious and
[21:13] Speaker 1: sparks at my spine. I slipped the rim upward, forcing
[21:17] Speaker 1: it behind the socket. It didn't slide clean. My hands
[21:22] Speaker 1: were shaking. The first movement galloped into the flesh above
[21:26] Speaker 1: the lid. The skin tore away. Warm blood streaked down
[21:31] Speaker 1: my face. The pain didn't make me stop. I dug deeper.
[21:38] Speaker 1: The handle braced against my chaw. I grunted, screamed. My
[21:43] Speaker 1: shoulder locked. The eye fought back, wobbling in place, pushing outward.
[21:48] Speaker 1: I screamed again and pulled harder. There was a wet pop,
[21:54] Speaker 1: and the eyeball dislodged, but stayed connected by something deep
[21:57] Speaker 1: and sinewy. I could still see through it. It dangled
[22:02] Speaker 1: against my cheek. I grabbed the scissors. My fingers slipped.
[22:08] Speaker 1: The first got missed. I clicked the skin. The second
[22:12] Speaker 1: one called the optic cord halfway. I pressed the blades together.
[22:18] Speaker 1: The sniper wasn't clean. It felt like trying to chew rubber.
[22:24] Speaker 1: When the connection severed, everything went dark on one side
[22:28] Speaker 1: as a wet mass hit the floor. I panted hard,
[22:32] Speaker 1: bracing for the second. The other eye took longer. I
[22:37] Speaker 1: slipped twice. My vision kept blurring. The metal tore through
[22:42] Speaker 1: the socket wall, and I ripped the lid off without
[22:45] Speaker 1: meaning to. The bulb pushed forward on its own. I
[22:50] Speaker 1: stabbed deep. Something in my head cracked and my nose
[22:54] Speaker 1: started bleeding. The eye split as I pulled. When it
[22:59] Speaker 1: was out, I held the pieces in my lap. Everything
[23:05] Speaker 1: was black. I slumped forward, My arms slid out under me.
[23:12] Speaker 1: The spoon clattered away somewhere behind the toilet. I could
[23:17] Speaker 1: hear sirens. The blood soaked into my sleeves and pulled
[23:21] Speaker 1: beneath my jaw. But at least I couldn't feel or
[23:26] Speaker 1: see those eyes any more. When I woke up, the
[23:34] Speaker 1: world was quiet. My face was wrapped in gauze. My
[23:38] Speaker 1: body was stiff, but the pain had dulled into a
[23:41] Speaker 1: deep throb. I could breathe clearly again. I knew I
[23:47] Speaker 1: was in a hospital bed. I could hear the faint
[23:50] Speaker 1: beep of a monitor and the low hum of machines.
[23:54] Speaker 1: The door opened and somebody stepped in. You made it through,
[24:00] Speaker 1: she said, You lost a lot of blood. You're stable now,
[24:05] Speaker 1: but you won't be seeing again. I didn't say anything.
[24:13] Speaker 1: She walked closer and adjusted the monitor. They couldn't save
[24:17] Speaker 1: the eyelids either, They were torn past repair. It means
[24:21] Speaker 1: blinking won't be possible, so you'll just need to get
[24:25] Speaker 1: adjusted to everything. Still, I didn't speak. I listened to
[24:32] Speaker 1: the shuffling of her shoes against the floor. I imagine
[24:35] Speaker 1: the light above my bed flickering, the way hospital lights
[24:39] Speaker 1: always do. She walked out, closing the door behind her.
[24:45] Speaker 1: I lay still. At first, I felt peace. Then the
[24:53] Speaker 1: mattress shifted. It was slow, barely there arise under my back.
[25:01] Speaker 1: I didn't have to see them to know they were here.
[25:07] Speaker 1: I held still, my throat tightened. I could feel the
[25:11] Speaker 1: shapes beneath me moving, swelling upward, slow and certain. I
[25:17] Speaker 1: could feel their gaze through the layers, but I couldn't see.
[25:23] Speaker 1: That had been the rule, That had always been the rule.
[25:27] Speaker 1: So why were they back? Was it ever about sight?
[25:33] Speaker 1: Or was it about closing my eyes? When I was
[25:46] Speaker 1: sixteen when it happened, I didn't talk about it for
[25:50] Speaker 1: a long time, But sometimes when I can't sleep, I
[25:55] Speaker 1: still go over that night in my head. I'm older now,
[26:00] Speaker 1: I've moved out and got my own place and job,
[26:03] Speaker 1: but a part of me is still anchored to that house.
[26:08] Speaker 1: There was something about it that never made sense. We
[26:13] Speaker 1: grew up in a bad area. I'm talking burglaries, gang
[26:17] Speaker 1: signs sprayed over garage doors, cops cruising past our streets
[26:21] Speaker 1: slow enough to make it feel like they were waiting
[26:23] Speaker 1: for something to happen. I saw someone get dragged out
[26:27] Speaker 1: of their car in front of our house. When I
[26:29] Speaker 1: was thirteen. We heard gunshots a few blocks over so
[26:33] Speaker 1: often we stopped checking the news the next morning. People
[26:37] Speaker 1: broke into homes for TVs, tools, even food. It happened
[26:43] Speaker 1: all the time, but it never happened to us. That
[26:51] Speaker 1: was something I could never explain. We weren't special. We
[26:55] Speaker 1: didn't have a dog or bars on the windows. We
[26:58] Speaker 1: didn't even have a working secure curity system. Sometimes I'd
[27:02] Speaker 1: come home and find the screen door unlatched or a
[27:05] Speaker 1: window that looked tampered with, but nothing ever came of it.
[27:10] Speaker 1: My mom would brush it off and tell me not
[27:12] Speaker 1: to worry. I tried not too, but he'd always stuck
[27:17] Speaker 1: with me. On the other hand, my old man was
[27:22] Speaker 1: gone before I even turned six. I used to ask
[27:25] Speaker 1: about him sometimes. My mom never had much to give.
[27:30] Speaker 1: She said he worked in a specialized field. Whatever that meant,
[27:35] Speaker 1: I figured it was a nice way of saying he
[27:37] Speaker 1: was mixed up in something illegal. Maybe ran off to
[27:40] Speaker 1: keep us safe or save his own skin. I never
[27:44] Speaker 1: bought the noble sacrifice angle he left us behind. My
[27:51] Speaker 1: mom worked her ass off to keep things afloat. I
[27:54] Speaker 1: watched her come home with her feet so swollen she
[27:57] Speaker 1: had to sit on the bottom step to untie her shoes.
[28:00] Speaker 1: She'd run her hand through my hair and go check
[28:03] Speaker 1: on my little brother before she even made herself a plate.
[28:07] Speaker 1: She was always tired, but never stopped trying. I couldn't
[28:12] Speaker 1: imagine walking out on that. I started stepping in when
[28:17] Speaker 1: I got old enough to see how much she carried
[28:19] Speaker 1: on her back. I didn't want my brother growing up
[28:23] Speaker 1: with a kind of resentment that built up in me.
[28:26] Speaker 1: I figured if I could keep his world calm, maybe
[28:30] Speaker 1: he wouldn't need to carry a grudge. His name was Michael,
[28:35] Speaker 1: same as our father. I remember fighting her on it
[28:39] Speaker 1: when I first heard. I was only eight, but I
[28:42] Speaker 1: remember sitting on the side of a hospital bed saying
[28:45] Speaker 1: it made my skin crawl. I didn't want to come
[28:49] Speaker 1: home and say that name again every day. I didn't
[28:52] Speaker 1: want to picture that man every time my brother laughed
[28:55] Speaker 1: or cried or needed help tying his shoes. But she
[29:01] Speaker 1: wouldn't budge. I called him Mikey still do wouldn't say
[29:07] Speaker 1: the full name if I could help it. He was
[29:11] Speaker 1: a good kid, though, smart, curious, always in his own
[29:16] Speaker 1: little world. My mom got the call on a Thursday night,
[29:22] Speaker 1: about twenty years ago. She didn't say much when she entered.
[29:27] Speaker 1: She only stepped out onto the porch with her coat
[29:29] Speaker 1: still on. I stood in the kitchen watching the clock
[29:33] Speaker 1: tick toward ten, already knowing what it meant when I
[29:37] Speaker 1: saw how she kept her hand on a hip, nodding.
[29:41] Speaker 1: She came back in after a while, and before I
[29:44] Speaker 1: could ask, she rubbed the side of my face and
[29:47] Speaker 1: told me she needed to leave in the morning, some
[29:50] Speaker 1: project downstate. It was part of a job, some contract
[29:56] Speaker 1: work she'd picked up to fill the gaps that a
[29:58] Speaker 1: full time gig didn't cover. It wasn't optional. She packed fast.
[30:06] Speaker 1: It wasn't a first time leaving for a job like that,
[30:09] Speaker 1: but it had never been for a full week before.
[30:12] Speaker 1: She made a list of meals and taped it to
[30:15] Speaker 1: the fridge, left cab money under the toaster in case
[30:18] Speaker 1: something happened, and showed me where she kept the house
[30:21] Speaker 1: key she used to hide in the crawl space. In
[30:25] Speaker 1: the morning, she left before the sun came up. She
[30:30] Speaker 1: stood in the hallway for a second watching me make toast,
[30:33] Speaker 1: and said she didn't like leaving us. I told her
[30:38] Speaker 1: I knew, and I'd take care of everything. She held
[30:43] Speaker 1: on to the door frame like she didn't want to
[30:45] Speaker 1: let go of it. Then she walked out without looking back.
[30:52] Speaker 1: She trusted me with a house, and more than that,
[30:56] Speaker 1: she trusted me with my key. Later after dinner, Mikey
[31:05] Speaker 1: was laying on the floor with his knees pulled up
[31:07] Speaker 1: while he scribbled into the back pages of a notebook
[31:10] Speaker 1: he'd torn from school. I was sitting on the couch
[31:14] Speaker 1: flipping through channels. I wasn't watching, but every so often
[31:18] Speaker 1: I looked at him. He was humming under his breath
[31:22] Speaker 1: some off key tune he'd made up that he never
[31:25] Speaker 1: stopped repeating. He was focused on whatever he was drawing,
[31:30] Speaker 1: with a seriousness that didn't fit an eight year old.
[31:34] Speaker 1: He always had that far off focus when he got
[31:37] Speaker 1: stuck in his head. I didn't think he was weird.
[31:41] Speaker 1: I think he saw things differently than most people, since
[31:45] Speaker 1: he could form full sentences. He'd been adamant that there
[31:49] Speaker 1: was something in his room, not some one, something. I
[31:55] Speaker 1: remember him telling mom that it whispered to her while
[31:58] Speaker 1: she slept. He woke up one night and saw repetting
[32:02] Speaker 1: her hair. She didn't know what to say to that.
[32:08] Speaker 1: Clearly it freaked her out, but she told him he
[32:11] Speaker 1: had a vivid imagination and turned the lights on in
[32:14] Speaker 1: his room for a week after that. It didn't help.
[32:20] Speaker 1: Mikey tore my train of thought when he joined me
[32:23] Speaker 1: on the couch. He sat close enough that his shoulder
[32:26] Speaker 1: touched mine. There was always his way of asking for
[32:30] Speaker 1: something without saying it outright. When I didn't react, he
[32:35] Speaker 1: finally spoke, Do you think we could watch a scary movie?
[32:42] Speaker 1: He asked. I gave him a side eye since went
[32:47] Speaker 1: do you care about scary movies? I found out about
[32:51] Speaker 1: them today in school. Me and my friends were talking
[32:54] Speaker 1: about monsters, and they said, people make movies out of them.
[32:59] Speaker 1: You already have enough problems sleeping. I won't if I
[33:02] Speaker 1: see what they really like, he said smugly. I figured
[33:09] Speaker 1: if he saw a guy in a rubber soup pretending
[33:11] Speaker 1: to be a ghost in my break. Whatever spell he'd
[33:14] Speaker 1: put himself under, fine, I muttered, but if you have
[33:19] Speaker 1: a nightmare, I'm making you sleep in the laundry room.
[33:24] Speaker 1: He smiled and shook his head. I won't. I started
[33:30] Speaker 1: flipping through the free channels. Most of it was junk,
[33:35] Speaker 1: but one station had a horror line up running. There
[33:38] Speaker 1: was a zombie movie halfway through, another one about some
[33:42] Speaker 1: haunted motel. I let the previews play while Mikey leaned forward, fascinated.
[33:49] Speaker 1: Then the screen flickered black and the emergency broadcast tone
[33:54] Speaker 1: kicked in. I froze, hands still in the remote as
[33:59] Speaker 1: that fly buzzing drone filled the room. Mike leaned back, confused.
[34:06] Speaker 1: The words Amber alert appeared in block white letters, then
[34:10] Speaker 1: switched to the red warning screen. The message said there
[34:14] Speaker 1: had been a confirmed break in a few blocks over.
[34:18] Speaker 1: The authority's urged residents in the surrounding neighborhoods to lock
[34:21] Speaker 1: all the windows and doors and to report anything suspicious immediately.
[34:28] Speaker 1: Mikey read it slowly, lips moving, then turned to me.
[34:34] Speaker 1: He didn't seem worried, but he watched me get up.
[34:38] Speaker 1: I could already feel my chest tightening. It wasn't the
[34:42] Speaker 1: alert itself, it was the idea that if something went wrong,
[34:46] Speaker 1: I'd be the one standing between him and whatever came
[34:50] Speaker 1: through the door. I'm gonna check the house, and I said,
[34:55] Speaker 1: go brush it, eeth, get to bed. But no, the
[34:59] Speaker 1: movie is over. He groaned and stood up, dragging his
[35:05] Speaker 1: feet toward the stairs. I walked to the front door,
[35:08] Speaker 1: pressed in the lock, tested it twice. I pulled the
[35:12] Speaker 1: windows closed, tightened the latches, shut the blind. My hand
[35:17] Speaker 1: was shaking, and I hated that. After my paranoia induced
[35:23] Speaker 1: energy wore off, I shut off the lights in the
[35:26] Speaker 1: living room and headed upstairs. I passed Mike's room and
[35:31] Speaker 1: saw that his door was cracked open. He was already
[35:35] Speaker 1: under his blanket. He didn't say anything when I walked by,
[35:40] Speaker 1: but I knew he was still awake. I stepped into
[35:44] Speaker 1: my room and shut the door behind me. I dropped
[35:47] Speaker 1: into bed and stared at the ceiling, the same as
[35:50] Speaker 1: Mikey was probably doing. I kept my phone close. The
[35:55] Speaker 1: charger cable was lying on the ground unused. I hadn't
[35:59] Speaker 1: plugged it in earlier, and now I didn't feel like
[36:02] Speaker 1: the right time to go hunting for the outlet. I
[36:07] Speaker 1: must have been hovering on the edge of sleep when
[36:10] Speaker 1: I heard it, a high pitched scream, Mikey's voice. I
[36:18] Speaker 1: sat up so fast my shoulder cracked. My feet hit
[36:22] Speaker 1: the ground, and I was through the hallway before I
[36:25] Speaker 1: knew i'd start up. My heart kicked hard in my chest.
[36:29] Speaker 1: I didn't have time to think. He was screaming, and
[36:33] Speaker 1: there was no question in my mind what that meant.
[36:37] Speaker 1: The alert the burglar must have broken in and now
[36:41] Speaker 1: is after Mikey. I should have grabbed something about the
[36:45] Speaker 1: chair by the stairwell, anything I didn't. I pushed this
[36:51] Speaker 1: door open so hard it bounce off the wall behind it.
[36:56] Speaker 1: There was nothing. It was only Mikey, sitting up in
[37:00] Speaker 1: bed with his arms around his knees, crying through his teeth.
[37:05] Speaker 1: His eyes were wide, stuck on something that wasn't there anymore.
[37:11] Speaker 1: He saw me and flinched, then opened his mouth to speak,
[37:16] Speaker 1: but nothing came out. I walked over and sat on
[37:20] Speaker 1: the edge of the bed. My hands were shaking worse
[37:23] Speaker 1: than his. You're okay, I said. I kept my voice low,
[37:29] Speaker 1: my throat was dry. You're right. He didn't answer. His
[37:35] Speaker 1: breath hitched a few times before he could get it
[37:38] Speaker 1: under control. I reached over and pulled him in. He
[37:43] Speaker 1: was sweating through his shirt. Bad dream, I asked. He nodded,
[37:50] Speaker 1: his face stayed buried in my shoulder. I wanted to
[37:54] Speaker 1: be annoyed, but I wasn't. That scream had torn through
[37:58] Speaker 1: everything I thought I could have. The fact that it
[38:02] Speaker 1: was a dream made it easier, but it didn't make
[38:04] Speaker 1: it go away. I was still wound up so tight
[38:08] Speaker 1: my neck hurt. You want water, I asked, No, he whispered,
[38:17] Speaker 1: You want me to sit with you a bit? He
[38:21] Speaker 1: nodded again. After a minute, he pulled away and wiped
[38:26] Speaker 1: his face with the sleeves of his pajama top. He
[38:30] Speaker 1: wouldn't look at me. Here was the monster again, he said.
[38:37] Speaker 1: I glanced around the room, taking it in. There were
[38:41] Speaker 1: clothes on the floor, a plastic cup with a juice
[38:44] Speaker 1: box straw still stuck in it, and one of his
[38:46] Speaker 1: drawings taped to the wall above his head. A thick
[38:50] Speaker 1: black line ran down the middle of the page, splitting
[38:53] Speaker 1: it in two. On one side was a boy with
[38:56] Speaker 1: a balloon, and the other side was with bigger made
[39:00] Speaker 1: of scribbles. He saw me looking can you check, he asked,
[39:08] Speaker 1: his voice cracked at the end. You know there's nothing here,
[39:14] Speaker 1: I said, already standing. He probably packed up and moved
[39:18] Speaker 1: when he heard me coming. Mikey didn't laugh. He watched
[39:25] Speaker 1: me with his hands, bawled into his blanket. I sighed
[39:29] Speaker 1: and walked over to the closet. I slid it open
[39:33] Speaker 1: and waited. Nothing but a few shoes and one of
[39:37] Speaker 1: my old hoodies. He kept stealing when I wasn't looking.
[39:41] Speaker 1: I turned to him and gave a mock gasp, empty guess.
[39:46] Speaker 1: We caught him on a smoke break. Still nothing, all right,
[39:53] Speaker 1: I said, let's go all in clausets cleared now from
[39:58] Speaker 1: under the bed, I dropped to one knee and leaned in.
[40:04] Speaker 1: I expected dust, a sock, a piece of broken toy,
[40:08] Speaker 1: maybe one of his drawings crumbled up and shoved out
[40:11] Speaker 1: of sight. But that's not what I saw. At first,
[40:18] Speaker 1: all I saw was darkness and the clint of something
[40:21] Speaker 1: smooth in the back corner. I thought it might be
[40:24] Speaker 1: a marble or one of those glass eyeballs he picked
[40:27] Speaker 1: out of a Halloween prize bin last year. But then
[40:32] Speaker 1: it blinked. It didn't blink like a person. It flexed.
[40:39] Speaker 1: A long, vertical slit opened and closed slowly, and I
[40:43] Speaker 1: realized it was staring at me. Two massive yellow eyes
[40:49] Speaker 1: sunk into a head and should not a fit in
[40:52] Speaker 1: the crawl space beneath a child's bed frame. The pupils
[40:56] Speaker 1: adjusted as I stared, thin and long, narrowing against the light.
[41:02] Speaker 1: The longer I looked, the more of it I could
[41:06] Speaker 1: make out. It was covered in thick, uneven fur damp
[41:12] Speaker 1: around the edges, clinging to the floor, as if it
[41:15] Speaker 1: had soaked into the boards. Its body stretched deeply on
[41:19] Speaker 1: the foot of the bed. Thick limbs pressed against the underside,
[41:23] Speaker 1: like they were forced there, like it had wedged itself
[41:26] Speaker 1: into a shape that didn't belong to it. It stared
[41:31] Speaker 1: at me. Its mouth was slightly open, its tongue sat
[41:35] Speaker 1: limp between rows of disjointed teeth. Thick strings of spit
[41:40] Speaker 1: hung from its staw. There was something in that look,
[41:45] Speaker 1: something not curious, not afraid, not hostile either, If anything,
[41:52] Speaker 1: it looked pleased. I couldn't breathe, my chest locked up.
[41:58] Speaker 1: I could feel my pulse, eye ears, but I couldn't
[42:01] Speaker 1: will my body to move. Then its jaws shifted, not wide,
[42:10] Speaker 1: but enough to show more of the teeth. It grinned
[42:14] Speaker 1: at me. The spell snapped. I threw myself back and
[42:20] Speaker 1: scrambled to my feet. Mikey was watching me with white eyes,
[42:25] Speaker 1: waiting for me to say he was crazy, or that
[42:28] Speaker 1: it was clear, or that we could both go back
[42:30] Speaker 1: to sleep. I didn't say anything. I grabbed him by
[42:36] Speaker 1: the arm and pulled him so hard he stumbled. I
[42:39] Speaker 1: dragged him out of the room, across the hallway toward
[42:42] Speaker 1: the attic hatch near the laundry closet. He was asking questions.
[42:48] Speaker 1: I couldn't hear them. I pulled the chain, dropped the ladder,
[42:52] Speaker 1: and shoved him up ahead of me. I scrambled into
[42:56] Speaker 1: the attic behind him, grabbing the string and yanking the
[42:59] Speaker 1: lad to back up with both hands. He retracted with
[43:03] Speaker 1: a crack. I slammed the hatch shut and sat back,
[43:07] Speaker 1: listening for anything beneath us. Nothing. Mikey was sitting in
[43:16] Speaker 1: the corner near the insulation rolls, breathing through his nose,
[43:19] Speaker 1: trying not to cry. I sat beside him and stared
[43:23] Speaker 1: at the hatch. I pulled on my phone. I cracked
[43:27] Speaker 1: thing I brought from a guide school for forty bucks.
[43:31] Speaker 1: The screen was scratched but still worked. I dialed nine
[43:35] Speaker 1: one one and pressed it to my ear. My hand
[43:38] Speaker 1: wouldn't stop shaking. It rang once before the operator answered.
[43:44] Speaker 1: I didn't wait for it to go through the usual questions.
[43:48] Speaker 1: Someone broke in. I said, there's someone in our house.
[43:54] Speaker 1: I hesitated. That wasn't what I meant, but I didn't
[43:58] Speaker 1: have the words for what i'd I couldn't tell her
[44:01] Speaker 1: there was something under the bed, so I didn't explain.
[44:05] Speaker 1: I repeated myself, voice cracking, there's something in her house.
[44:11] Speaker 1: We're in the attic. Please send someone, please. She asked
[44:17] Speaker 1: for my address. I gave it to her twice. She
[44:21] Speaker 1: told me to stay calm. She said officers were en
[44:24] Speaker 1: route and asked if I could describe the intruder. I
[44:29] Speaker 1: didn't answer that. I told her the doors were locked,
[44:33] Speaker 1: that we were hiding. I asked her how long they'd take.
[44:39] Speaker 1: Then the screen went black. I stared at it for
[44:43] Speaker 1: a second, not understanding what had happened. I pressed the button. Nothing.
[44:50] Speaker 1: I flipped it over. Nothing. It had died in my hand.
[44:56] Speaker 1: Mikey looked at me. He didn't ask if it was okay.
[45:00] Speaker 1: He knew from my face that it wasn't, and then
[45:04] Speaker 1: from downstairs, something broke through the kitchen window, followed by
[45:10] Speaker 1: scrambling steps and drawers opening and closing. Eventually it was
[45:17] Speaker 1: accompanied by another sound, a massive crash that sounded like
[45:22] Speaker 1: it came from where Mike's room would have been. Another
[45:26] Speaker 1: set of steps started, but they were strange, like whatever
[45:30] Speaker 1: was down there didn't walk often. The first view was slow,
[45:35] Speaker 1: then it turned into what sounded like a gallop. Something
[45:39] Speaker 1: big moved through the house, gaining speed. The other set
[45:44] Speaker 1: a footprints, presumably in the living room, stopped. A while later.
[45:51] Speaker 1: I could hear blooded screams. Cabinets slammed, a table, tipped,
[45:56] Speaker 1: chairs screeched across the floor. Wood split into something thick
[46:02] Speaker 1: and weight he tore through the hole. I heard an
[46:05] Speaker 1: animalistic noise roll up through the floorboards, something between a
[46:10] Speaker 1: growl and a calf. Something started crunching, and a massive
[46:15] Speaker 1: gulp radiated through the house. Mikey buried his face in
[46:20] Speaker 1: my side. I couldn't move. Then all sound ceased. Nothing
[46:28] Speaker 1: followed only the cold stillness of insulation pressing against my
[46:33] Speaker 1: back and Mikey's rapid, silent breaths against my ribs stayed.
[46:39] Speaker 1: I didn't know what was going on down there, but
[46:41] Speaker 1: I knew sure as hell. I didn't want to find out.
[46:47] Speaker 1: I didn't ask Mikey if you heard it, that would
[46:50] Speaker 1: have been insulting. He was shaking, hands clenched around my shirt.
[46:57] Speaker 1: I didn't speak either. I didn't want my voice to
[47:00] Speaker 1: break the silence, in case the silence was what kept
[47:03] Speaker 1: it from returning. Time passed. When the first blue light
[47:11] Speaker 1: hid the far window in the attic, I audibly gasped.
[47:16] Speaker 1: A car door slammed, then another. Boots moved across the porch.
[47:21] Speaker 1: A voice called out from the front of the house,
[47:24] Speaker 1: but I was too afraid to make a sound. They
[47:27] Speaker 1: found us both in the attic. We were pale and shaking.
[47:32] Speaker 1: My throat was so dry I couldn't answer their first question.
[47:36] Speaker 1: Mikey hid behind me, still holding under the hem of
[47:40] Speaker 1: my shirt. One of the officers stepped in gently, eyes
[47:44] Speaker 1: scanning the hallway, his free hand near his hip. They
[47:48] Speaker 1: led us downstairs once they confirmed we were alone. The
[47:53] Speaker 1: house was a wreck. The dinner table had been split
[47:58] Speaker 1: in two. It sent a leg crossed inward. Two chairs
[48:02] Speaker 1: were broken in places, one lodged halfway through the dry wall.
[48:07] Speaker 1: The cabinet doors hung open and their contents scattered across
[48:11] Speaker 1: the floor. A streak of something dark had smeared across
[48:15] Speaker 1: the linonium one wall, the one beside the coat rack
[48:19] Speaker 1: near the stairs had been cracked open with sheer force.
[48:23] Speaker 1: I could see where the wood splintered outward. The broken
[48:28] Speaker 1: kitchen window led in a gust of wind, and on
[48:30] Speaker 1: the floor below it was a pistol. The officer picked
[48:36] Speaker 1: it up with gloved hands. He turned it to his
[48:38] Speaker 1: partner and said something I didn't hear. From what I overheard,
[48:46] Speaker 1: they identified it as having belonged to the man from
[48:49] Speaker 1: the Amber alert, the burglar who'd been breaking into homes nearby.
[48:54] Speaker 1: One of the officers patted my shoulder. He told me
[48:57] Speaker 1: I'd done a good job, said calling it in had
[49:01] Speaker 1: probably saved both our lives. His tone carried confidence. He
[49:07] Speaker 1: looked past me a few times while he spoke, scanning
[49:10] Speaker 1: the room as if something might still be standing in
[49:13] Speaker 1: the shadows. He said the guy must have broken in,
[49:17] Speaker 1: panicked and fired off around before trying to escape, or
[49:21] Speaker 1: maybe something else scared him. They didn't know. No one
[49:27] Speaker 1: had found anything at all, and they never found that man.
[49:30] Speaker 1: After this, I nodded and kept my mouth shut. I
[49:37] Speaker 1: didn't see a reason to correct him. I wouldn't have
[49:40] Speaker 1: known what to say if I tried. Years later, I
[49:46] Speaker 1: kept thinking about what the cop said, that maybe something
[49:50] Speaker 1: scared him off. I never saw the thing under the
[49:54] Speaker 1: bed again after that night. I don't think Mikey did either.
[50:00] Speaker 1: He stopped talking about it. But I've thought about it
[50:03] Speaker 1: more than I care to admit. That night, it could
[50:09] Speaker 1: have followed us up to the attic, but it didn't,
[50:15] Speaker 1: and I've come to believe it wasn't haunting Mikey at all.
[50:21] Speaker 1: It was guarding him. I don't usually get sent to
[50:34] Speaker 1: jobs with anybody which suits me. People are all right,
[50:39] Speaker 1: but I'm not built for chat. I'm terrible at eye contact,
[50:43] Speaker 1: and I always missed the punchlines. Apparently I've got the
[50:47] Speaker 1: social instincts of a damn traffic cone. Still I like
[50:52] Speaker 1: what I like, and that's all the boring wartime stuff.
[50:56] Speaker 1: No one under sixty gives a toss about. Learn not
[51:00] Speaker 1: to bring that up unless some one's very bored, very polite,
[51:05] Speaker 1: or already half way through a Scotch egg, so they
[51:07] Speaker 1: can't tell me to shut up anyway. The job was
[51:12] Speaker 1: a disused tunnel flagged under the South Cut Clearance Survey.
[51:16] Speaker 1: No one had set foot in there since nineteen forty four,
[51:19] Speaker 1: and when something's been sealed that long, you've no idea
[51:23] Speaker 1: what you're walking into. So they sent me with Dan.
[51:29] Speaker 1: He was in his early twenties, one of those blokes
[51:32] Speaker 1: never without his air pods, a vape and a running
[51:35] Speaker 1: commentary on UFC fights. It's not my usual preference, but
[51:41] Speaker 1: I've survived us and once still weak on the Carlile
[51:45] Speaker 1: line with a bloke who thought Dunkirk was in Germany.
[51:49] Speaker 1: Our job was the log debris, test the clearances and
[51:53] Speaker 1: ensure the place wouldn't shear a wagon in half, ready
[51:57] Speaker 1: to open up for public use in the summer. He looked,
[52:01] Speaker 1: promising they'd green light a proper team. If not, they'd
[52:06] Speaker 1: break it up and pretend it had never happened. Our
[52:10] Speaker 1: boots hit the ballast just past five a m. Geared
[52:14] Speaker 1: up in our safety gear, filtered respirators, tool bags and radios.
[52:20] Speaker 1: The tunnel entrance was locked up with heavy gage chain
[52:23] Speaker 1: link fencing two layers deep, backed by timber boards and
[52:27] Speaker 1: a padlock the size of your fist in luglock. Someone
[52:31] Speaker 1: had gone at it with bolt cutters, and it had
[52:34] Speaker 1: been clumsily patched up above it, the original cast iron
[52:40] Speaker 1: arch loomed, rusted, and stamped with a wartime engineering mark.
[52:45] Speaker 1: You'd miss it unless you knew what you were looking for.
[52:50] Speaker 1: Once we'd cracked the fencing and slipped inside, we clicked
[52:53] Speaker 1: on our torches, both beams, cutting lines through the misty black.
[52:59] Speaker 1: The air hit us once we got far enough in,
[53:02] Speaker 1: Even with a respirator, it felt like licking the inside
[53:06] Speaker 1: of an old kettle. Every step stirred up dust. Dan
[53:11] Speaker 1: glanced around and muttered, bit grim in here. Yeah, can't
[53:17] Speaker 1: imagine coming in here without respirators. Have you ever heard
[53:20] Speaker 1: of the Cross Line, I asked? Dan shook his head.
[53:26] Speaker 1: Is that like a brand? Nah, that's the name of
[53:30] Speaker 1: the line this tunnel was part of. They used it
[53:33] Speaker 1: to move supplies between coastal depots and the RAF sites,
[53:37] Speaker 1: mostly crates, fuel, and the odd medic unit. March forty four,
[53:43] Speaker 1: it called a loved offt air strike at the Southern
[53:45] Speaker 1: Mouth just as a supply train broke down inside. Dan's
[53:51] Speaker 1: voice came quiet over the crunch of our boots. Never
[53:55] Speaker 1: heard of that one, he said. The blast created a
[53:59] Speaker 1: vacuum of I continued, had touched too brightly for the subject,
[54:05] Speaker 1: sucked a fireball straight down the tunnel while they were
[54:08] Speaker 1: fixing the train. WHOA were there any survivors? I gave
[54:15] Speaker 1: a dry shrug. Place would have been charred end to
[54:19] Speaker 1: end by the time the fire burnt out. With another
[54:22] Speaker 1: line still running and a war to fight that he
[54:25] Speaker 1: didn't bother with. The recovery crew just sealed it up
[54:29] Speaker 1: and moved on. Dan stayed quiet after that, boots crunching
[54:35] Speaker 1: beside mine. I didn't say anything else either. After a
[54:42] Speaker 1: few minutes, he cleared his throat and muttered something about
[54:46] Speaker 1: a fatherweight bout he'd watched last weekend, like he couldn't
[54:49] Speaker 1: bear the quiet any longer, said the bloat came in
[54:52] Speaker 1: underweight and still managed to drop the other guy in
[54:55] Speaker 1: the second round with a spinning elbow, absolute belt. He
[55:00] Speaker 1: called it. I nodded, grateful for the mood change, even
[55:05] Speaker 1: if I had no clue who's on about. It wasn't
[55:10] Speaker 1: long after that till we noticed signs that tunnel had
[55:13] Speaker 1: taken a knock or two. A few ceiling plates were broken,
[55:17] Speaker 1: with rusted bolts hanging loose, and there was a shallow
[55:21] Speaker 1: pile of crumbled brick near one of the cable housings
[55:24] Speaker 1: that looked more recent than the rest. Nothing structural, but
[55:29] Speaker 1: enough to keep your eyes peeled. Then we started spotting
[55:33] Speaker 1: bits of cloth, mostly torn and oily ground into the gravel.
[55:40] Speaker 1: There was a piece twisted under a bolt. He looked
[55:43] Speaker 1: like canvas, only thinner. I gave it a nudge with
[55:48] Speaker 1: my boot. What do you think it is? Dan asked.
[55:54] Speaker 1: Could be a left oversleeve from the poor sade they
[55:56] Speaker 1: sealed up. He stared at me for a beat. You're joking, right,
[56:03] Speaker 1: of course, I am, I said, half laughing. It's probably
[56:07] Speaker 1: just a bit of coat from some drafted trespasser poking around.
[56:11] Speaker 1: Does look weird, though, should handle this, he muttered. Stuff
[56:17] Speaker 1: like this can trip someone up if they don't see
[56:19] Speaker 1: it proper. Hasard If it's sticking up like that. He
[56:23] Speaker 1: crouched over it and gave it a once over with
[56:26] Speaker 1: his glove. Feels weird, bit tough. Not what I was expecting,
[56:33] Speaker 1: all right, I said, watching him pull out a multitude
[56:37] Speaker 1: from his bag. I'll log the next segment up ahead.
[56:40] Speaker 1: The junction box should be just past that bend. I
[56:44] Speaker 1: tapped the radio clipped onto my chest. Channel four yeah, sheut,
[56:50] Speaker 1: if you need anything, or if the fabrics starts acting
[56:53] Speaker 1: all haunted either or he snorted, if it does much
[56:59] Speaker 1: of anything, I'm legging it. Fair play, I said, and
[57:05] Speaker 1: carried on ahead. The tunnel swallowed me up. Each step
[57:11] Speaker 1: pulled the air thicker. It was damp and stale, like
[57:15] Speaker 1: the breath of something sleeping. Every twenty or thirty yards
[57:20] Speaker 1: there was a refuge bay built for workers that duck
[57:23] Speaker 1: into when trains passed. I made a habit of counting
[57:27] Speaker 1: them to pass the time. Just after the eighth bay,
[57:31] Speaker 1: I spotted the glint of twisted steel the husk of
[57:36] Speaker 1: a freight wagon. My heart actually gave a little thumb.
[57:41] Speaker 1: It was a supply train from the cross line story
[57:44] Speaker 1: I'd rambled to down about. It was gutted, half melted
[57:49] Speaker 1: across the rails. One axle had folded in on itself,
[57:54] Speaker 1: and most of the siding was gone, peeled back like
[57:57] Speaker 1: a tin of spam. Remained was pitted with rust and
[58:02] Speaker 1: speckled with the droppings of whatever bats or birds had
[58:06] Speaker 1: snuck in over the ears. My torch played over the wreck,
[58:10] Speaker 1: and I caught hints of sinched fabric fused into the
[58:14] Speaker 1: rivert and melted boots ale stuck beneath the wheel assembly.
[58:19] Speaker 1: I felt giddy, then grim, and then there was movement
[58:30] Speaker 1: just beyond the wreck. Something disturbed the gravel. I froze
[58:37] Speaker 1: torch fixed dead ahead. I thought it was a bit
[58:40] Speaker 1: of de brieze settling. But just where my light couldn't reach,
[58:45] Speaker 1: I noticed the shape, slow and jerky, dragging itself from
[58:51] Speaker 1: the far side of the carriage. At first I thought
[58:55] Speaker 1: some homeless guy had found a way in and picked
[58:58] Speaker 1: the place for shelter. Wouldn't have blamed him in fairness.
[59:02] Speaker 1: It was dry and quiet. You can't be here, mate,
[59:07] Speaker 1: I called, there's hazardous conditions you need to clear off.
[59:12] Speaker 1: I won't press you, just get out. That was when
[59:17] Speaker 1: he shifted into my light. The first thing I noticed
[59:22] Speaker 1: was it looked like he was wearing someone else's skin,
[59:28] Speaker 1: or trying to. Chunks of it clung to him. It
[59:32] Speaker 1: was as if he'd torn it free in a frenzy
[59:35] Speaker 1: and slapped it over himself without care. Bit of torso,
[59:39] Speaker 1: her forearm, part of the thigh. The rest of him
[59:43] Speaker 1: was raw, a blistered patchwork of wet red tissue and
[59:47] Speaker 1: veins like overstrung wires. I staggered back hard boots, skidding
[59:54] Speaker 1: over the ballast and landed like a sack of bricks.
[59:58] Speaker 1: My tord slipped my grip, skittering across the gravel and
[1:00:03] Speaker 1: landing a few feet in front, its beam fixed squarely
[1:00:06] Speaker 1: on the thing. I didn't go for it, No, I
[1:00:12] Speaker 1: turned and bolted, heart hammering feet slipping over a loose stone.
[1:00:18] Speaker 1: I threw myself into the nearest refuge bay and crouched
[1:00:21] Speaker 1: low in the dark, breath snagging in my throat. I
[1:00:27] Speaker 1: stayed silent, listening for footsteps until I realized the texture
[1:00:32] Speaker 1: under my knee wasn't ballast. Whatever it was was tacky
[1:00:37] Speaker 1: and stuck to my trousers. I reached for my phone
[1:00:41] Speaker 1: and lit the lock screen. The glow spilled over the
[1:00:45] Speaker 1: torn flesh. Skin was missing in wet flaps. Chunks of
[1:00:49] Speaker 1: it peeled and cut off messily, exposing glistening muscle and
[1:00:54] Speaker 1: slashed tendon. It was clear the man, or whatever it was,
[1:01:00] Speaker 1: had done it. My hands shook as I cut the
[1:01:03] Speaker 1: light and pressed back hard against the stone. Every inch
[1:01:08] Speaker 1: of me was worn tight with panic, but I didn't
[1:01:11] Speaker 1: dare move or breathe too loud. I strained to listen
[1:01:16] Speaker 1: for any sign that the thing out there had heard me,
[1:01:19] Speaker 1: But there was only a faint sound of metal clinking
[1:01:23] Speaker 1: and some sort of sloshing. So I shifted forward just
[1:01:28] Speaker 1: enough to risk a glance around the bay's edge and
[1:01:32] Speaker 1: saw the creature was caught on a heavy still cabling
[1:01:35] Speaker 1: that had fused into his flesh. It carved deep, wet
[1:01:39] Speaker 1: gougers through the meat of his legs where it had
[1:01:42] Speaker 1: melted in. Every tug sent a fresh jerk through his frame.
[1:01:48] Speaker 1: He tried to move forward, with the cabling dragged him back.
[1:01:53] Speaker 1: As horrific as it was, I felt a twisted child
[1:01:56] Speaker 1: of relief because it meant he couldn't get to me.
[1:02:02] Speaker 1: So I crept forward on all fours as slowly as
[1:02:06] Speaker 1: I could manage, keeping my eyes fixed on him. He
[1:02:11] Speaker 1: was still jerking, still struggling against the cable's raw legs,
[1:02:15] Speaker 1: dragging in little burst, but I kept going. Unto my
[1:02:20] Speaker 1: fingers found the torch and closed around it. Just as
[1:02:25] Speaker 1: I was shimming away, my radio lit up self could
[1:02:32] Speaker 1: control this is red lead enemy overhead, repeat enemy aircraft sighted,
[1:02:37] Speaker 1: brace for impact. It was tinny and statigy. The creature
[1:02:43] Speaker 1: jerked harder, responding to the sound. He threw himself forward
[1:02:47] Speaker 1: with a raspy scream, his limbs stretched at sick angles,
[1:02:52] Speaker 1: cabling biting deeper as he tore through his own meat.
[1:02:57] Speaker 1: That sudden frenzy broke me. I turned and ran at
[1:03:02] Speaker 1: full sprint, torch clutch tight and breath slicing in short
[1:03:07] Speaker 1: panic burst through the respirator. Then Dan's voice filtered in,
[1:03:12] Speaker 1: crackling through the static. Callum, callum mate. I heard him
[1:03:19] Speaker 1: breathing fast and shallow, like he was trying not to
[1:03:22] Speaker 1: be heard. Something's here. I don't, I can't. I phonebled
[1:03:29] Speaker 1: for the radio. Dan, I'm on my way. Just hold on,
[1:03:33] Speaker 1: don't move all right, whatever's down here, it's not right.
[1:03:38] Speaker 1: Just come back, come back. Another burst of static and
[1:03:43] Speaker 1: no reply. I ran, trying to keep my bearings while
[1:03:49] Speaker 1: every bone in my body begged me to look back.
[1:03:53] Speaker 1: I knew it hadn't gotten free, I hadn't heard it following,
[1:03:57] Speaker 1: but my body didn't care. I didn't stop imagining it,
[1:04:01] Speaker 1: hunting me down. Every step felt too slow. I wanted
[1:04:06] Speaker 1: nothing more than to grab Dan and escape out of
[1:04:09] Speaker 1: the tunnel. When I reached where I'd left Dan, his
[1:04:14] Speaker 1: tool bag was still there, sitting just where he placed it.
[1:04:20] Speaker 1: There was no sign of him, though. My torch flicked
[1:04:24] Speaker 1: across the walls until it caught on a maintenance tunnel
[1:04:27] Speaker 1: branching off to the side, narrow and half choked with dust.
[1:04:33] Speaker 1: I stepped toward it, my heart hammering torch hill tight Dan, Dan,
[1:04:42] Speaker 1: I called, cursing myself out in my head for not
[1:04:46] Speaker 1: just bucking it out of there alone. Then I saw
[1:04:51] Speaker 1: him hunched over near the far wall of the maintenance tunnel,
[1:04:56] Speaker 1: breathing in shallow rasps. Back turned old as twitching like
[1:05:01] Speaker 1: he was about to throw up. Dan, I said again, lower.
[1:05:07] Speaker 1: This time I saw something down by the wreck who
[1:05:11] Speaker 1: was wearing someone's skin or something. I don't know, but
[1:05:15] Speaker 1: we need to get out now. As it got closer,
[1:05:21] Speaker 1: I realized the skin along the spine looked torn and stretched.
[1:05:27] Speaker 1: His proportions were off. He was too broad in the
[1:05:30] Speaker 1: shoulders and too long in the limbs. I realized then
[1:05:36] Speaker 1: that it was one of those skin creatures, and this
[1:05:40] Speaker 1: one had done a better job than the last. It shifted,
[1:05:45] Speaker 1: turning fluidly. Dan's face twitched as the thing twisted its neck.
[1:05:53] Speaker 1: It straightened up and lunged towards me. My boots skidded
[1:05:59] Speaker 1: as I tore back through the tunnel, light bouncing off
[1:06:02] Speaker 1: sutt and stone. I could hear its irregular foot force,
[1:06:06] Speaker 1: pounding and scraping against the gravel as it chased me.
[1:06:10] Speaker 1: The mouth of the tunnel appeared ahead, a thin slice
[1:06:14] Speaker 1: of morning light, calling like a lifeline. I charged full tilt,
[1:06:19] Speaker 1: shoulder checking the gate as I hit it. The chain
[1:06:22] Speaker 1: link rattled, hinges, groaning as it gave way under my weight.
[1:06:27] Speaker 1: I burst into daylight and spun around, grabbing for the
[1:06:30] Speaker 1: edge of the gate, trying to haul it closed. But
[1:06:34] Speaker 1: I wasn't fast enough. The thing was right behind me.
[1:06:40] Speaker 1: The service train we'd taken in sat a few dozen
[1:06:42] Speaker 1: yards down the track. I folded the step and scrambled inside,
[1:06:47] Speaker 1: boots thudding against the metal floor. I turned to see
[1:06:51] Speaker 1: if it had followed, and just in time to watch
[1:06:54] Speaker 1: it slammed through the gate, limbs flailing. The second it's
[1:06:59] Speaker 1: bare back met daylight, it shrieked. The exposed flesh sizzled,
[1:07:06] Speaker 1: blistering and splitting down. Steam hissed from beneath Dan's skin.
[1:07:12] Speaker 1: It stumbled, jerking violently. What was left of Dan's face
[1:07:17] Speaker 1: sagged sideways, folding at the edges. Then it reeled back,
[1:07:22] Speaker 1: flailing as it crawled in reverse, dragging itself back into
[1:07:27] Speaker 1: the dark. I stood there, panting, hands braced against the
[1:07:34] Speaker 1: inside wall of the carriage. I shakily tore the respirator
[1:07:38] Speaker 1: off my face and sucked in the cold morning air
[1:07:42] Speaker 1: in deep and frantic gulps. My heart was still in
[1:07:47] Speaker 1: my throat, every muscle in my body twitching with the
[1:07:51] Speaker 1: tail end of the panic. When I was sure it
[1:07:57] Speaker 1: wasn't coming back, I climbed down from the lakes jelly
[1:08:01] Speaker 1: beneath me and turned toward the entrance. Part of me
[1:08:06] Speaker 1: wanted to turn around and leave it swinging, but letting
[1:08:09] Speaker 1: it out wasn't an option, so I hauled the gate
[1:08:14] Speaker 1: shut and snapped the lock into place, stepping back fast
[1:08:18] Speaker 1: the second it clicked. After that, I sat on the
[1:08:23] Speaker 1: train floor for a while with my elbows on my knees,
[1:08:27] Speaker 1: and when I could bring myself to move again, I
[1:08:31] Speaker 1: started the train up and took it slow on the
[1:08:33] Speaker 1: way back, my hands white knuckled on the throttle. I
[1:08:39] Speaker 1: told the site leads those a collapse. Dan got caught
[1:08:43] Speaker 1: in it and I had barely made it out. When
[1:08:47] Speaker 1: they asked about recovering his body, I said it was
[1:08:50] Speaker 1: very deep on the debris, inaccessible without risking more lives,
[1:08:56] Speaker 1: anything to keep anyone else from going back in That night,
[1:09:04] Speaker 1: I just lay there, flat on my back, staring at
[1:09:08] Speaker 1: the ceiling, and I couldn't stop thinking. My heart kept
[1:09:13] Speaker 1: throwing itself around in my chest like it hadn't figured
[1:09:17] Speaker 1: out the danger was over. So I got up. I
[1:09:22] Speaker 1: turned the telly on and started flicking through the channels,
[1:09:26] Speaker 1: looking for something loud enough to drown out my thoughts.
[1:09:30] Speaker 1: I landed on a fightery run, and it took a
[1:09:33] Speaker 1: second to realize it was the one Dan had been
[1:09:36] Speaker 1: on about a featherweight about. I watched the bloke duck
[1:09:41] Speaker 1: a hawk and come back with a spinning elbow that
[1:09:44] Speaker 1: dropped the other guy flat, and he was right. It
[1:09:51] Speaker 1: was an absolute belter. The hilltop cottage was somehow even
[1:10:04] Speaker 1: smaller than it looked online, but it made it feel
[1:10:07] Speaker 1: more charming. Sunlight split generously through the mismatched windows, catching
[1:10:13] Speaker 1: on the old brass fixtures and the worn but beautiful
[1:10:16] Speaker 1: woodwork that ran along the door frames, while the garden
[1:10:20] Speaker 1: was wild and overgrown in the best way, full of
[1:10:23] Speaker 1: wild pollinator flowers for bees and tangled roses. With time
[1:10:28] Speaker 1: creeping into the cracks of the old stone path. It
[1:10:32] Speaker 1: had flows, but the price had been unbelievably low for
[1:10:36] Speaker 1: what it was, and Mara was over the moon. I
[1:10:41] Speaker 1: love it, she beamed, arms spread like she was already
[1:10:44] Speaker 1: embracing it. And look at that view. It's like a painting.
[1:10:49] Speaker 1: There are so many pretty places to take pictures off
[1:10:51] Speaker 1: from my shop. She was right. Our view was stunning,
[1:10:58] Speaker 1: fields folded over each other in soft green swells, a
[1:11:02] Speaker 1: thin river glinting with seams of silver, while the town
[1:11:06] Speaker 1: itself sat low, as much of clustered rooftops nestled in
[1:11:10] Speaker 1: the valley, ringed by more of those sleepy trees. I
[1:11:15] Speaker 1: had told Mara it was a romantic reset. I used
[1:11:18] Speaker 1: words like digital detocks and back to basics, which she
[1:11:22] Speaker 1: ate up for what she didn't know. Because I was
[1:11:26] Speaker 1: buried in debt so deep I couldn't see daylight, cards, loans,
[1:11:32] Speaker 1: sharks that keep lending even when I had nothing left
[1:11:35] Speaker 1: to prove I could pay them back. I'd better house
[1:11:39] Speaker 1: as a final hope to get it all back, and
[1:11:42] Speaker 1: I'd lost This cottage was a cheap scapegoat. I just
[1:11:47] Speaker 1: didn't know how long we could keep it up. The
[1:11:51] Speaker 1: general store sat squat and low, as if it had
[1:11:54] Speaker 1: grown there. Inside it smelled like old wood and something sharp,
[1:12:00] Speaker 1: like vinegar or pickled onions. Mara was already halfway down
[1:12:04] Speaker 1: to one of the narrow aisles, asking about local trails
[1:12:08] Speaker 1: and making conversation the way she was always good at doing.
[1:12:12] Speaker 1: The man she was talking to was in his late fifties,
[1:12:15] Speaker 1: maybe older, with a weathered face and hands that looked
[1:12:19] Speaker 1: too big for the delicate register he tapped with one knuckle.
[1:12:23] Speaker 1: When he finally looked up, he did it slowly and grumpily,
[1:12:28] Speaker 1: in that way that I assumed came with age. He
[1:12:31] Speaker 1: looked at Mara, then me, and finally tilted his chin
[1:12:36] Speaker 1: towards our new home. The river wives don't like being seen,
[1:12:42] Speaker 1: he said. His voice was calm, but it felt rehearsed,
[1:12:47] Speaker 1: especially not by young women. Mara paused halfway through, flipping
[1:12:53] Speaker 1: a trail map over for what the ones by the river?
[1:12:59] Speaker 1: He responded quickly, you'll know them if you see them.
[1:13:03] Speaker 1: Don't let it get that far. And if you have
[1:13:06] Speaker 1: to walk past the river, wear something that doesn't invite trouble.
[1:13:11] Speaker 1: Cover up. Before we could ask what he meant, another man,
[1:13:17] Speaker 1: a customer, presumably spoke from somewhere in the store. He's right,
[1:13:22] Speaker 1: don't greet him in Do you best to ignore him?
[1:13:28] Speaker 1: Mara turned frowning, like she was trying to decide if
[1:13:31] Speaker 1: this was a joke or some backwards performance art. I
[1:13:35] Speaker 1: watched as she folded the trail map with careful fingers,
[1:13:38] Speaker 1: her mouth pressed into a polite, unreadable line. She didn't
[1:13:43] Speaker 1: say anything, but the silence felt like it had teeth.
[1:13:48] Speaker 1: She gave the man a short nod and stepped away,
[1:13:51] Speaker 1: the trail map still clutched in her hand. At the
[1:13:55] Speaker 1: far end of the counter, a woman looked up from
[1:13:58] Speaker 1: a station behind the battered produce scale, late sixties, maybe,
[1:14:02] Speaker 1: with a pinched expression that made it hard to tell
[1:14:05] Speaker 1: if she was squinting at something. She looked at Mara.
[1:14:11] Speaker 1: Girls dressed like that in the city, I'm sure, she said,
[1:14:15] Speaker 1: sizing Mara up. But the River's not a place to
[1:14:18] Speaker 1: be soft hearted. She dropped a handful of apples into
[1:14:23] Speaker 1: a paper bag and folded the top slowly. Some bits
[1:14:27] Speaker 1: out here take advantage when you go offering bits of
[1:14:30] Speaker 1: yourself without thinking. Mara smiled politely, but I could see
[1:14:36] Speaker 1: the muscle working in a jaw. She wasn't the type
[1:14:39] Speaker 1: to speak to strangers, so she gave a quick of
[1:14:43] Speaker 1: course and turned to me. I caught her expression, the
[1:14:49] Speaker 1: kind of look that meant get me out of here
[1:14:51] Speaker 1: before I say something i'll regret. Let's go, I said,
[1:14:57] Speaker 1: already moving, still need to get to the hard way
[1:15:00] Speaker 1: shot before it shuts. Thank you for the advice. We
[1:15:06] Speaker 1: stepped out into the sun and Mara was quiet for
[1:15:09] Speaker 1: exactly three seconds. Bloody hell, she muttered, cover up because
[1:15:15] Speaker 1: my arms are out. It's twenty one degrees and I'm
[1:15:18] Speaker 1: wearing a nice sun dress. Sorry for dressing like it's
[1:15:21] Speaker 1: a warm day and not a funeral. She didn't wait
[1:15:26] Speaker 1: for me to respond, just kept walking. I get that
[1:15:30] Speaker 1: it's a small town, she said, but come on offering
[1:15:34] Speaker 1: bits to yourself. Wear something that doesn't invite trouble. She
[1:15:39] Speaker 1: made air quotes without slowing a pace. It's all just
[1:15:42] Speaker 1: polite language and know your place. Girl. Did you notice
[1:15:46] Speaker 1: they didn't say a word to you. I did notice,
[1:15:50] Speaker 1: I said, and yeah, it's daft. I glanced back at
[1:15:55] Speaker 1: the shop, then ahead at the worn cobbles, tufts of
[1:15:59] Speaker 1: grass poking through the gaps, and nettles crowding the edge
[1:16:02] Speaker 1: of the road. These people have known each other forever.
[1:16:07] Speaker 1: They've grown up together and seen each other through weddings,
[1:16:10] Speaker 1: funerals in the lot. They've probably sat in the same
[1:16:13] Speaker 1: pub with the same pint and the same complaints since
[1:16:16] Speaker 1: the seventies I kicked at a loose stone. Were just
[1:16:21] Speaker 1: new faces to them. It doesn't matter what we say
[1:16:24] Speaker 1: or how reasonable we know we sound. It's just us
[1:16:27] Speaker 1: stepping into their town. That doesn't make what they said right,
[1:16:32] Speaker 1: just means it's not about us. I gave her a
[1:16:37] Speaker 1: note with my elbow. You know, you could always bring
[1:16:40] Speaker 1: a few soaps around to the shop. You give them
[1:16:43] Speaker 1: something nice, they might start being nice back. That got
[1:16:48] Speaker 1: the corner of a mouth to twitch just enough to
[1:16:52] Speaker 1: call it a win. A few days in, I was
[1:16:58] Speaker 1: still finding my rhythm, but Mara tucked to the countryside
[1:17:02] Speaker 1: as if she had always belonged in it. She was
[1:17:05] Speaker 1: already in boots, basket looped over her arm, picking wild
[1:17:08] Speaker 1: things from the hedgerow as she knew them by name.
[1:17:12] Speaker 1: She dried bundles of herbs and twine stretched across the
[1:17:15] Speaker 1: kitchen window. Yarrow, mug water, lavender, horsetail, always something gently fragrant,
[1:17:23] Speaker 1: tucked beneath her ear. She sang when she worked, little
[1:17:27] Speaker 1: hums and wordless melodies that carried through the house like
[1:17:30] Speaker 1: incense and cheered me up as I worked remotely. Sometimes
[1:17:35] Speaker 1: I'd find love notes folded and slipped under my coffee mug,
[1:17:39] Speaker 1: tiny sketches of flowers or hearts, which felt great until
[1:17:44] Speaker 1: I remember the real reason we were here. I started
[1:17:48] Speaker 1: going for early runs most mornings. I was out the
[1:17:51] Speaker 1: door before Maro was up, lacing my shoes and the
[1:17:54] Speaker 1: doorstep while the sky was still waking. It gave me
[1:17:58] Speaker 1: space to think proper. But no matter how far I went,
[1:18:03] Speaker 1: I always ended up circling back to the same thought
[1:18:08] Speaker 1: I needed to tell her, And the longer I left it,
[1:18:12] Speaker 1: the worse it would be. I'd lost our old life
[1:18:17] Speaker 1: to a stupid, selfish mistake. I hadn't just messed up.
[1:18:22] Speaker 1: I properly wrecked things. This cottage, this so called fresh start,
[1:18:27] Speaker 1: was damage control. And yet she liked it here. She
[1:18:34] Speaker 1: was happy, and part of me kept wondering if I
[1:18:37] Speaker 1: told her now, would she be furious enough to leave
[1:18:41] Speaker 1: or would she stay? Because despite everything, something good had
[1:18:45] Speaker 1: come out of the mess. I didn't know. I just
[1:18:50] Speaker 1: knew I couldn't keep dodging it forever. One of the
[1:18:56] Speaker 1: first few mornings I decided to try a different path.
[1:19:00] Speaker 1: I was still working out which ones were worth the
[1:19:02] Speaker 1: mud and which ones didn't leave you stuck two fields
[1:19:05] Speaker 1: from where you meant to be. This one dipped through
[1:19:09] Speaker 1: a patch of large and followed the river for a bit.
[1:19:13] Speaker 1: I hadn't been that way before. It was colder down there.
[1:19:17] Speaker 1: Damp hung heavy in the air and caught in your throat.
[1:19:21] Speaker 1: And in the mornings there was a fog that thickened
[1:19:24] Speaker 1: the closer you got to the river's path. I spotted
[1:19:28] Speaker 1: some figures in the fog. There were women standing knee
[1:19:32] Speaker 1: deep in the river, backs turned half lost between the
[1:19:36] Speaker 1: trees and the fog. They seemed to be barefoot. Their
[1:19:40] Speaker 1: dresses hung soaked and heavy, clinging to their legs, headscarves
[1:19:45] Speaker 1: not a tight, not a strand of hair showing. They
[1:19:50] Speaker 1: moved in silence, slowly and steadily, scrubbing stained fabric against
[1:19:55] Speaker 1: old wooden washboards. One of them lifted a strip of cloth,
[1:19:59] Speaker 1: wet and hair. She twisted it with both hands, and
[1:20:03] Speaker 1: red water trickled out. Then my foot went out from
[1:20:09] Speaker 1: under me. I went down hard, knee first onto the path.
[1:20:14] Speaker 1: Paine shot at my legs, sharp enough to make me
[1:20:17] Speaker 1: swear out loud. My palms followed, scraping against the grit
[1:20:22] Speaker 1: and shaving away my skin. I stayed down for a second,
[1:20:27] Speaker 1: catching my breath. When I looked, blood was already starting
[1:20:32] Speaker 1: to soak through the fabric of my joggers. When I
[1:20:36] Speaker 1: limped back into the kitchen, Mara was already at the counter,
[1:20:41] Speaker 1: hanging another row of drying bundles in the window while
[1:20:44] Speaker 1: she made breakfast. She turned, took one look of my leg,
[1:20:49] Speaker 1: then my top, and frowned. What the hell happened to you,
[1:20:55] Speaker 1: river path, I said, slipped eyes, The blooded streaks down
[1:21:01] Speaker 1: my trousers, the stubborn stains spreading beneath the fabric. She
[1:21:06] Speaker 1: touched the him gently, then looked at me for a moment.
[1:21:10] Speaker 1: Lucky you, she said, I made a new bar yesterday.
[1:21:14] Speaker 1: It's good for blood. Could pull that out nicely. She
[1:21:19] Speaker 1: moved to the shelf and peeled back the linen from
[1:21:21] Speaker 1: the stack of pale gray soap bars, all the same
[1:21:24] Speaker 1: size and shape, more than she usually made in one go.
[1:21:29] Speaker 1: I frowned, you planning a bulk sale. I didn't know about.
[1:21:34] Speaker 1: She didn't answer, too preoccupied with insuring her food didn't burn.
[1:21:40] Speaker 1: She passed it to me like she hadn't heard the question.
[1:21:44] Speaker 1: Use cold water first, she said, always cold heat sets
[1:21:48] Speaker 1: it in, then scrub it out with this, work it
[1:21:51] Speaker 1: into it, let it sit a bit. She didn't offer
[1:21:55] Speaker 1: to do it for me, which was strange for her.
[1:21:59] Speaker 1: Was it the by the bend, she asked, almost half handedly.
[1:22:03] Speaker 1: Where the fog rolls in? I nodded, She didn't look up.
[1:22:10] Speaker 1: That's where the best wild arrow grows, loads of it,
[1:22:13] Speaker 1: just before the river curves back inland. Some of it's
[1:22:17] Speaker 1: already gone to seed, but I've still been able to
[1:22:20] Speaker 1: find the good stuff. She stirred the part on the stove,
[1:22:24] Speaker 1: her wrist moving slowly and steadily. It's quiet out there,
[1:22:29] Speaker 1: she said, I know what you're going to say. Yes,
[1:22:34] Speaker 1: I saw the river wives as they call them. Don't worry,
[1:22:38] Speaker 1: she scoffed. I didn't bother them. But I still think
[1:22:42] Speaker 1: it's mad that a town like this let disordest women
[1:22:44] Speaker 1: stand out in the col don't laundry like it's eighteen
[1:22:47] Speaker 1: twenty bloody backwards. If he asked me, there was a
[1:22:52] Speaker 1: long pause as I recorded my encounter this morning. Yeah,
[1:22:57] Speaker 1: you're right, I said, but it's not our place. Do
[1:23:02] Speaker 1: you really need to go all the way out there
[1:23:03] Speaker 1: for yarrow? I can pick it up for you on
[1:23:06] Speaker 1: my runs if you want. She turned slowly. I like
[1:23:11] Speaker 1: it here, she said, I love it, actually, But I'm
[1:23:15] Speaker 1: not stupid. You've seen how they talk to me like
[1:23:18] Speaker 1: I'm a child or a house care She set the
[1:23:22] Speaker 1: spoon down a bit harder than she probably meant to.
[1:23:26] Speaker 1: I won't play small just because it makes this place
[1:23:29] Speaker 1: more comfortable. I like my walks. I like finding things
[1:23:32] Speaker 1: with my own two hands. I don't need someone fetching
[1:23:35] Speaker 1: yarrow for me, like I'm some little wifey who save
[1:23:38] Speaker 1: us staying inside? All right, all right, I said gently.
[1:23:43] Speaker 1: I get it. I'm sorry, she sighed, pinching the breech
[1:23:49] Speaker 1: of her nose. Sorry that was an aim at you,
[1:23:52] Speaker 1: just all of it. This place is so beautiful until
[1:23:57] Speaker 1: people start speaking that way. I stepped forward and rested
[1:24:02] Speaker 1: her hand lightly on her back. She didn't pull away.
[1:24:07] Speaker 1: You're right, I said quietly. You shouldn't have to shrink,
[1:24:11] Speaker 1: not for any one. She looked at me, and something
[1:24:16] Speaker 1: softened behind her eyes. Her shoulders dropped a little. We
[1:24:21] Speaker 1: moved here to grow, and instead I'm supposed to fold
[1:24:25] Speaker 1: up smaller. You won't, I said, not with me. Not Ever,
[1:24:32] Speaker 1: She leaned into my chest with a soft, exhausted sigh,
[1:24:36] Speaker 1: and I wrapped my arms around her, careful of the herbs,
[1:24:39] Speaker 1: still tired at her hip. I like that, you worry,
[1:24:44] Speaker 1: she murmured. Just don't make it delicate. I'm not I know,
[1:24:50] Speaker 1: I said, You're a bloody force. There got a quiet laugh.
[1:24:56] Speaker 1: She pressed the forehead into my shoulder and let it
[1:24:59] Speaker 1: sit there for a few seconds longer. Then she pulled
[1:25:03] Speaker 1: away and gave my leg a glance. You'd better get scrubbing,
[1:25:08] Speaker 1: by the way, if you let that set. I'm not
[1:25:10] Speaker 1: making a second batch, noted, I said, cold water, firm scrubbing.
[1:25:17] Speaker 1: Let it sit, got it. She gave me a mock
[1:25:22] Speaker 1: stern nod and went back to a part. I waited
[1:25:27] Speaker 1: a few days before running again. My knee still twined
[1:25:31] Speaker 1: when I bent it too far, but I told myself
[1:25:34] Speaker 1: the ache was good. It meant I was healing. It
[1:25:38] Speaker 1: was early again, and the fog thickened as I got closer,
[1:25:42] Speaker 1: just like last time. This time, however, I was determined
[1:25:47] Speaker 1: to see what was past the river, and as I'd expected,
[1:25:53] Speaker 1: they were there again, the same women in soaked dresses,
[1:25:58] Speaker 1: dragging the soaking clothes against the washboard. But this time
[1:26:02] Speaker 1: one of them turned slightly, like she'd heard me coming.
[1:26:07] Speaker 1: Her face stayed hidden, just enough that the scarf blocked
[1:26:10] Speaker 1: everything but the curve of a jaw. Would you be kind,
[1:26:16] Speaker 1: she spoke, and give this one a twist. These old
[1:26:19] Speaker 1: hands aren't what they used to be. She held up
[1:26:24] Speaker 1: a sodden sheet. It was dark and dripping. She turned
[1:26:28] Speaker 1: it slightly in her hands. It hung limp and lifeless,
[1:26:32] Speaker 1: the water sliding off in long, reluctant ropes. There was
[1:26:38] Speaker 1: something in the way, she asked, though I couldn't put
[1:26:41] Speaker 1: my finger on it, so I stopped. The fog pressed
[1:26:46] Speaker 1: against my back. The only sound was the slow trag
[1:26:49] Speaker 1: of fabric and the slap of water on stone. The
[1:26:53] Speaker 1: bird song had long disappeared. My fingers twitched like they
[1:26:58] Speaker 1: might move on their own, and I shuffled my feet forward.
[1:27:02] Speaker 1: But then I noticed their arms. They were pale and bloated,
[1:27:07] Speaker 1: way past the usual prune from water. Then I noticed
[1:27:11] Speaker 1: the folds of the dress near her wrists were torn
[1:27:14] Speaker 1: in places, like the fabric had been picked at and
[1:27:18] Speaker 1: the sheet. It wasn't clean, the water sliding off. It
[1:27:23] Speaker 1: was thick and red, too heavy looking to just be mud.
[1:27:28] Speaker 1: Come on, love, she said again, voice softer this time.
[1:27:33] Speaker 1: You've got young arms. I've had awful joint pain lately,
[1:27:37] Speaker 1: and a terrible bit of rheumatism in the elbows. It
[1:27:40] Speaker 1: just needs a twist. She gave the sheet a small,
[1:27:46] Speaker 1: hopeful jiggle, like that would draw me closer. She still
[1:27:50] Speaker 1: didn't look at me, which bothered me more than I
[1:27:53] Speaker 1: wanted to admit. I don't know why, but it made
[1:27:57] Speaker 1: my skin crawl. There was something unnatural about someone asking
[1:28:02] Speaker 1: you for help without ever meeting your eyes. My wrists
[1:28:07] Speaker 1: have been locking up something terrible, she added, as if
[1:28:11] Speaker 1: it hurt just to say, all this damp in the air,
[1:28:15] Speaker 1: worse than it used to be, you'd be doing me
[1:28:18] Speaker 1: a kindness. The other women didn't react. They continued dragging
[1:28:25] Speaker 1: their fabrics against the washboard like I wasn't even there.
[1:28:29] Speaker 1: The words from the general store came crawling back. Ey's low,
[1:28:34] Speaker 1: don't greet them, don't offer anything. I thought it was
[1:28:39] Speaker 1: cruel the first time, rude for the sake of it,
[1:28:43] Speaker 1: but at that moment they felt like advice was passed
[1:28:46] Speaker 1: on with caution. Still, I hesitated, because what if she
[1:28:53] Speaker 1: really was just some old woman in the cold water,
[1:28:57] Speaker 1: soaked to the skin, wrists giving out from year of
[1:29:00] Speaker 1: doing this exact motion. What if I was being the
[1:29:03] Speaker 1: bad guy here, watching her struggle and walking away like
[1:29:07] Speaker 1: it could cost me something? Um, I began, Oh, sort it.
[1:29:14] Speaker 1: Then she snapped at my voice, suit yourself. The shift
[1:29:20] Speaker 1: in the tone shocked me. It wasn't the sort of
[1:29:23] Speaker 1: hurt you'd expect from being turned down. It was snappy
[1:29:27] Speaker 1: and impatient, like she dropped something and blamed me for
[1:29:30] Speaker 1: not catching it. Not even a moment for an old
[1:29:34] Speaker 1: woman with bad arms. She hissed, more to the river
[1:29:38] Speaker 1: than me. What a thing to watch someone struggle and
[1:29:42] Speaker 1: turn your back on them. Must be nice being young
[1:29:45] Speaker 1: and quick. Men are so bloody selfish. I clenched my jaw.
[1:29:51] Speaker 1: He flared across my face from embarrassment. A few days ago,
[1:29:56] Speaker 1: Mara had practically bitten my head off for offering to help.
[1:30:00] Speaker 1: Now some old hag in a river made me feel
[1:30:02] Speaker 1: like the villain for not pitching in. I didn't know
[1:30:06] Speaker 1: what the hell women wanted any more. I decided to
[1:30:10] Speaker 1: stay silent and let the fog have the last word.
[1:30:14] Speaker 1: I turned back to the path and let my feet
[1:30:17] Speaker 1: do what they came here to do. Move. My breathing
[1:30:23] Speaker 1: evened out as I picked up my speed. The rest
[1:30:26] Speaker 1: of the trail cut through thickets and a small patch
[1:30:29] Speaker 1: of pine. The cold stuck to my skin, and the
[1:30:32] Speaker 1: sound of the river grew faint behind me, and I
[1:30:37] Speaker 1: let it fade. By the time I got home, the
[1:30:42] Speaker 1: sun had risen properly. The mist was already pulling back
[1:30:46] Speaker 1: like it hadn't touched anything, but something had. I felt off,
[1:30:53] Speaker 1: like the run had taken something out of me. My
[1:30:56] Speaker 1: legs ached, my fingers felt stiff, and there was a
[1:31:00] Speaker 1: in the back of my head that hadn't been there
[1:31:02] Speaker 1: when I left. I skipped to breakfast, took a shower
[1:31:06] Speaker 1: so hot it should have scolded. Still, he barely did anything.
[1:31:12] Speaker 1: By late afternoon, I was curled up on the sofa
[1:31:15] Speaker 1: under a blanket, useless. Mara came in from the garden
[1:31:21] Speaker 1: with dirt on her knees and a fresh bundle of
[1:31:23] Speaker 1: herbs in one hand. That's me sorted for a few months.
[1:31:29] Speaker 1: She was slightly wet from getting caught in sudden rain.
[1:31:33] Speaker 1: She glanced at me, taking in my pale face, then
[1:31:37] Speaker 1: back at the kettle near the fire. You're not running tomorrow.
[1:31:42] Speaker 1: I wasn't planning to, I said. My voice came out hoarse,
[1:31:47] Speaker 1: like i'd been shouting when I hadn't said much of anything.
[1:31:51] Speaker 1: You will like a washed out sock, she said, crouching
[1:31:55] Speaker 1: to soak the fire back to life. Then a man
[1:31:58] Speaker 1: flew something like that. She didn't press, and set the
[1:32:04] Speaker 1: kettle above the fire more carefully than usual, and sat
[1:32:08] Speaker 1: beside me, still smelling like rosemary and wet grass. Maybe
[1:32:13] Speaker 1: your body's trying to tell you something, she said, quietly.
[1:32:17] Speaker 1: They keep pushing into places that you don't want to.
[1:32:21] Speaker 1: I didn't answer. I didn't know how to. Really, she
[1:32:26] Speaker 1: didn't know it, but she was spot on. She passed
[1:32:30] Speaker 1: me a cup of tea. She hadn't asked if I
[1:32:32] Speaker 1: wanted strong, slightly bitter, the kind she made when I
[1:32:37] Speaker 1: was sick. You're resting tomorrow, she asked, again, gently this
[1:32:42] Speaker 1: time yeah, I said, I'm staying in. We can have
[1:32:48] Speaker 1: a lion together. She smiled, but kept a distance. Absolutely not,
[1:32:56] Speaker 1: she said, I make soaps, not cures. The last thing
[1:32:59] Speaker 1: I need is catching whatever this is. And sneezing over
[1:33:02] Speaker 1: my stock. I gave a weak laugh, half into the tea. Wow,
[1:33:09] Speaker 1: no bedside manner, she grinned, not in the job description.
[1:33:16] Speaker 1: You want sympathy, you'll have to bribe me with biscuits.
[1:33:19] Speaker 1: Then you'll get some tea and toast in bed if
[1:33:22] Speaker 1: you're lucky. The next morning, the sun woke me up
[1:33:30] Speaker 1: before I was ready. It poured through the thin curtains
[1:33:34] Speaker 1: and strips warm across my face. Nice, actually, one of
[1:33:39] Speaker 1: those rare moments where the light feels soft instead of sharp.
[1:33:44] Speaker 1: I still felt awful, and became clear that I sweated
[1:33:47] Speaker 1: through the night, despite the fact that the sun's warmth
[1:33:50] Speaker 1: and quiet made me feel like I could have maybe
[1:33:53] Speaker 1: stayed like that for a while. I reached over, expecting
[1:33:57] Speaker 1: to feel the softness of mar skin, but the bed
[1:34:01] Speaker 1: was empty. The covers and Morra's side were flat and cold.
[1:34:06] Speaker 1: I blanked up at the ceiling, confused for a second,
[1:34:11] Speaker 1: I had been looking forward to tea and toast in bed,
[1:34:13] Speaker 1: like she usually did when I had the man flu.
[1:34:17] Speaker 1: I listened for her. The house had thin walls. You
[1:34:20] Speaker 1: could hear everything in it, but there was nothing, just quiet.
[1:34:27] Speaker 1: I sat up slowly, my head swam with that awful
[1:34:31] Speaker 1: cotton wool in your skull kind of dizzy. Everything felt
[1:34:35] Speaker 1: a bit too bright, a bit too sharp. My legs
[1:34:40] Speaker 1: were heavy with fatigue, but I swung out of bed anyway,
[1:34:44] Speaker 1: feet hitting the cold tile on the floor. I made
[1:34:49] Speaker 1: my way around the house, noticing nothing unusual until I
[1:34:53] Speaker 1: saw that her boots were missing. She wouldn't have gone far,
[1:34:59] Speaker 1: or at least that's what I told myself at first,
[1:35:03] Speaker 1: But something didn't sit right. Mara had already gathered all
[1:35:07] Speaker 1: the herbs she needed, she'd said, so everything was drying
[1:35:11] Speaker 1: nicely on the twine above the sink, and the rest
[1:35:14] Speaker 1: of her supplies were tugged away in their usual spots.
[1:35:18] Speaker 1: I looked up at the shelf where she kept her
[1:35:20] Speaker 1: finished soaps. The top row was still lined with the
[1:35:24] Speaker 1: usuals lavender, oat, rosemary, but the pale gray bar she
[1:35:30] Speaker 1: had me use the other day we're gone. I moved closer, squinting.
[1:35:36] Speaker 1: Maybe theyde me move to the market box. My brain
[1:35:40] Speaker 1: felt fogged over, like thinking through clingfilm. I touched the shelf,
[1:35:45] Speaker 1: ready to steady myself. Nothing, not a single bar left.
[1:35:53] Speaker 1: I opened the bin on instinct, half buried unto yesterday's peelings.
[1:35:58] Speaker 1: Was the linen wrap she used for packaging, the same
[1:36:01] Speaker 1: dotted one she'd used when she first showed me the batch.
[1:36:05] Speaker 1: She had folded once, then crumpled like someone had changed
[1:36:09] Speaker 1: their mind. At the last second. I knew where she'd gone,
[1:36:14] Speaker 1: even before I admitted it. I knew. I turned and
[1:36:20] Speaker 1: grabbed the nearest pair of shoes, my head spinning as
[1:36:23] Speaker 1: I bent down, but I shoved them on anyway. The
[1:36:27] Speaker 1: air outside was sharp but warm from the rising sun.
[1:36:31] Speaker 1: That same low mist was back again, thicker near the fields,
[1:36:35] Speaker 1: sticking to my throat with every breath. My legs protested
[1:36:39] Speaker 1: the second I pushed into a run, cold muscles left
[1:36:43] Speaker 1: over fever. I felt wrong, but still I ran. The
[1:36:50] Speaker 1: trail was soft from last night's rain. I kept slipping,
[1:36:54] Speaker 1: catching myself Just before I went fully down, my breathing
[1:36:58] Speaker 1: turned quick and ragged it too soon. I followed the
[1:37:02] Speaker 1: curve on the path past the hedgerow, past the spot
[1:37:05] Speaker 1: I fell before, and then I saw a bootprints in
[1:37:09] Speaker 1: the mud leading down to the water's edge. I picked
[1:37:14] Speaker 1: up speed, and there she was. Mara stood at the bank,
[1:37:21] Speaker 1: boots muddy, sleeves pushed up. She had both hands out
[1:37:26] Speaker 1: in front of her, offering the soap to the river wives.
[1:37:30] Speaker 1: The woman closest to her lifted her head and I
[1:37:34] Speaker 1: saw her. Her face was puffed out in places and
[1:37:38] Speaker 1: sunken in others, like it had been soaking too long
[1:37:42] Speaker 1: in the wrong kind of water. Her bloated corpse came
[1:37:46] Speaker 1: to mind. Her skin had that gray, puffy look like
[1:37:50] Speaker 1: you'd seen pictures you wish you hadn't clicked on. Her
[1:37:54] Speaker 1: lips were pulled thin, but puffed at the edges, like
[1:37:57] Speaker 1: they were losing their shape. I opened my mouth to
[1:38:01] Speaker 1: call out, but instead my stomach turned. The run, the fever,
[1:38:07] Speaker 1: and the sight of the woman all hit me at once.
[1:38:11] Speaker 1: The taste of last night's food climbed back up my throat,
[1:38:14] Speaker 1: and I barely had time to lurch to the side
[1:38:17] Speaker 1: before it came up. I doubled over, wretching hard, hands
[1:38:22] Speaker 1: braced to my knees, bitter half digested vomit, hid the
[1:38:26] Speaker 1: mud with a wet slap my eyes watered. The noise,
[1:38:31] Speaker 1: the stench, and the sting in my nose all grounded
[1:38:34] Speaker 1: me and made it worse. I wiped my mouth of
[1:38:38] Speaker 1: the back of my dressing gown sleeve. Heart still hammering,
[1:38:41] Speaker 1: chest heaving, and Mara had turned towards me with a
[1:38:46] Speaker 1: concerned look on her face. She didn't have time to
[1:38:52] Speaker 1: say anything. The river wives moved faster than they had
[1:38:57] Speaker 1: any right to. One of them searched from the wa
[1:39:00] Speaker 1: water in a wet heave, cloth slapping against stone. Mara
[1:39:04] Speaker 1: turned too late, her hands fumbled, soap, slipping from her
[1:39:08] Speaker 1: palms and hitting the rocks. Another one rose behind her,
[1:39:12] Speaker 1: then another and another. They surrounded her, water logged limbs
[1:39:18] Speaker 1: coiling around her legs, wasisting arms. One pressed a palm
[1:39:22] Speaker 1: flat against her chest. Her boots lost grip, and her
[1:39:26] Speaker 1: knees gave. They began to drag their washboards across her back,
[1:39:31] Speaker 1: over her arms, over a scalp, like they were trying
[1:39:34] Speaker 1: to strip a clean They worked fast. Her clothes came
[1:39:39] Speaker 1: apart of the seams. Threads poured like worms from the stitching.
[1:39:44] Speaker 1: Her skin went with it, peeled back in patches, red, bloomy,
[1:39:49] Speaker 1: and then vanishing under the froth. One of them worked
[1:39:53] Speaker 1: at her wrist until the joint gave a little pop,
[1:39:57] Speaker 1: then twisted another open the mouth wide and bit down
[1:40:01] Speaker 1: on Mara's shoulder like it was bread. The flesh gave.
[1:40:07] Speaker 1: Mara's mouth opened, but no sound came. I forced myself upright,
[1:40:14] Speaker 1: stumbling forward. My legs didn't want to cooperate. Mara reached
[1:40:19] Speaker 1: out in a last weak attempt to push away, to
[1:40:22] Speaker 1: reach for me, but then her head went under Her
[1:40:27] Speaker 1: hair was the last thing I saw of her, fanned
[1:40:30] Speaker 1: out on the surface like ink in water. I finally
[1:40:35] Speaker 1: made myself step forward, and one foot sank into the bank,
[1:40:41] Speaker 1: but I didn't go any further. I couldn't. I was outnumbered.
[1:40:49] Speaker 1: There were too many of them, and whenever they were,
[1:40:52] Speaker 1: they weren't just old bats with bad joints. I threw
[1:40:57] Speaker 1: up again, barely staying upright, still shaking. I could taste
[1:41:02] Speaker 1: it all in my mouth, and the feel of last
[1:41:04] Speaker 1: night sweat still clinging to my neck. One of them
[1:41:08] Speaker 1: turned slightly in my direction, just enough to let me
[1:41:11] Speaker 1: know she clocked me, and I stumbled back weakly, shoes
[1:41:16] Speaker 1: skidding in the mud. My heel caught a root and
[1:41:20] Speaker 1: I went down hard, hands scraping against the cold, mudded
[1:41:24] Speaker 1: stone as I scurried back on my feet, losing a
[1:41:27] Speaker 1: shoe to the river, and I ran faster than I
[1:41:32] Speaker 1: had ever run before. I didn't stop until I hit
[1:41:37] Speaker 1: the edge of the village. My lungs were burning, my
[1:41:40] Speaker 1: chest felt too small. One foot was raw, my sock
[1:41:44] Speaker 1: soaked through, and mud clinging to the back of my
[1:41:47] Speaker 1: legs like tar. I stumbled into the center, wheezing, hunched ies,
[1:41:54] Speaker 1: scanning for anyone. The first person I saw was the
[1:41:59] Speaker 1: woman from the shop. She didn't flinch. You're a state,
[1:42:05] Speaker 1: she said, instead, eyes flicking to my missing shoe, then
[1:42:09] Speaker 1: the blood and the dirt down my arm. You went
[1:42:13] Speaker 1: down there, didn't you. I opened my mouth to speak,
[1:42:18] Speaker 1: but the words weren't ready. My throat closed around them.
[1:42:23] Speaker 1: Behind her, another man leaned out from the post office steps.
[1:42:28] Speaker 1: He took one look at me, then shook his head
[1:42:31] Speaker 1: like he's seen all he'd needed. You were worn, son,
[1:42:36] Speaker 1: Better not bring that hassel into town. Either leave or
[1:42:39] Speaker 1: go back and finish what you've started. I shook my head,
[1:42:45] Speaker 1: still breathless, voice barely there. I need the police, I
[1:42:51] Speaker 1: need someone to The woman scoffed, actually scoffed, Oh love,
[1:42:59] Speaker 1: no one's pulling anyone. What would they even do? Fill
[1:43:03] Speaker 1: out a form and lose it. I looked up at her,
[1:43:07] Speaker 1: mud streaked at my legs, acid in my throat, one
[1:43:11] Speaker 1: shoe gone to the river. I must have looked half mad.
[1:43:16] Speaker 1: She's gone, I said. It came out dry and it stung.
[1:43:22] Speaker 1: They took her. The woman from the shop just shook
[1:43:27] Speaker 1: her head. Then it's done. She looked me over again.
[1:43:34] Speaker 1: But there was no pity in it. They're not coming
[1:43:38] Speaker 1: for you, she said. Whatever happened out there, it was
[1:43:42] Speaker 1: between her and them. They don't take much interest in men.
[1:43:48] Speaker 1: She nodded at my state like that explained it all.
[1:43:52] Speaker 1: You're not. There's the bother unless you give them a reason.
[1:43:58] Speaker 1: She paused momentary, as if deciding whether to waste the
[1:44:02] Speaker 1: time saying the rest. Then she nodded toward the village green.
[1:44:07] Speaker 1: You can waste your morning reporting it. The police will
[1:44:11] Speaker 1: be down there, poke around with a note box, and
[1:44:14] Speaker 1: by the time they do, they won't find a thing.
[1:44:18] Speaker 1: They never do. She shifted a weight and tucked her
[1:44:24] Speaker 1: hands into a cardigan's sleeves. Or you can come inside,
[1:44:29] Speaker 1: sit down and have a cup of tea. Let it
[1:44:32] Speaker 1: settle a bit, figure out what you want to do next.
[1:44:36] Speaker 1: If anything, I couldn't answer. The clouds had closed in
[1:44:43] Speaker 1: and rain had started again, that fine, soaking kind she
[1:44:49] Speaker 1: gave me a look that wasn't quite sympathy, just something like,
[1:44:54] Speaker 1: well pick. The weeks that followed were slow and quiet
[1:45:04] Speaker 1: in the worst kind of way. The shop lady was right.
[1:45:09] Speaker 1: The police didn't find anything. They looked at me like
[1:45:12] Speaker 1: they knew what was happening, like an adult checking under
[1:45:16] Speaker 1: a child's bed for monsters. They asked me to walk
[1:45:19] Speaker 1: them through it, so I did. The whole thing sounded
[1:45:24] Speaker 1: like a story. One of them nodded like he was listening,
[1:45:28] Speaker 1: but I could tell he wasn't hearing a word and
[1:45:30] Speaker 1: just filling in boxes in his head. They stepped down
[1:45:34] Speaker 1: to the river eventually, boots careful on the edge, like
[1:45:38] Speaker 1: they didn't want to get dirty. One of them crouched
[1:45:42] Speaker 1: and stared at the water for a while, like he
[1:45:44] Speaker 1: might offer something up if he looked long enough. The
[1:45:48] Speaker 1: other paced around with a stick, proding at the reeds
[1:45:52] Speaker 1: like he would find her folded neatly in the mud,
[1:45:55] Speaker 1: just waiting to be uncovered. They didn't find any thing.
[1:46:01] Speaker 1: They knew they wouldn't. I could see it in the
[1:46:04] Speaker 1: way they moved, slow and half hearted. In the end,
[1:46:10] Speaker 1: they gave me a number to call and said someone
[1:46:13] Speaker 1: might be in touch if anything came up, though it
[1:46:16] Speaker 1: probably wouldn't. I didn't leave the town. I couldn't. Every
[1:46:23] Speaker 1: room still had her in it despite our short time here.
[1:46:27] Speaker 1: Her handwriting on labels, her coat on the back of
[1:46:30] Speaker 1: the door, A stupid mug with a chip in the handle,
[1:46:33] Speaker 1: she always said, gave it character. Some mornings I'd wake
[1:46:39] Speaker 1: up forgetting, turning to her side of the bed, expecting
[1:46:43] Speaker 1: her weight and warmth, only to be met with a
[1:46:46] Speaker 1: flat sheet in silence. And that's all it took. The
[1:46:54] Speaker 1: silence would drag me back to that day, straight to
[1:46:57] Speaker 1: the mud her final moments, and she reached out, my
[1:47:02] Speaker 1: chest would lock up like someone had stuck their hand
[1:47:04] Speaker 1: inside and squeezed tight, and my hands would shake. Breathing
[1:47:10] Speaker 1: would come out wrong, sharp and fast, like I was choking.
[1:47:16] Speaker 1: Sometimes I'd curl up and try to ride it out.
[1:47:19] Speaker 1: Other times I'd sit up and press my palms to
[1:47:22] Speaker 1: my knees like they might pin me to the moment
[1:47:25] Speaker 1: and anchor me down until the wave passed. It always passed,
[1:47:31] Speaker 1: but it took its time. Some days I thought I
[1:47:36] Speaker 1: should burn the whole house down with myself in it,
[1:47:40] Speaker 1: but I didn't. The people in town started treating me
[1:47:44] Speaker 1: differently with noods and cups of tea. The townspeople stopped
[1:47:49] Speaker 1: to ask how I was holding up. They didn't say sorry,
[1:47:53] Speaker 1: not outright, but it was there and the way they
[1:47:56] Speaker 1: helped me. The shop woman held even started saving me
[1:48:01] Speaker 1: the good milk without asking. One of the older men
[1:48:05] Speaker 1: gave me a spare radio in case the silence ever
[1:48:08] Speaker 1: gets too loud. You're one of us, now, Hilda said,
[1:48:14] Speaker 1: handing me a paper bag of apples without charging. Everyone
[1:48:18] Speaker 1: loses someone eventually, in one way or another. So I stayed,
[1:48:27] Speaker 1: partly because I had nowhere else to go, and partly
[1:48:30] Speaker 1: because of my debt. Even if I could, the thought
[1:48:34] Speaker 1: of packing up and moving on somewhere else without her
[1:48:37] Speaker 1: made me feel sick. I kept Mara's little shop going
[1:48:41] Speaker 1: under a name, changed the labels on a soap to
[1:48:45] Speaker 1: Mara's Blend, and started selling them at the market. They
[1:48:49] Speaker 1: did well. I messed up a few batches, some trial
[1:48:54] Speaker 1: and error, but before I knew it, they started to
[1:48:58] Speaker 1: smell like hers. It was maybe a month when I
[1:49:02] Speaker 1: realized I was out of Yarrow. I'd use the last
[1:49:06] Speaker 1: bit of it on the latest batch. He didn't feel
[1:49:10] Speaker 1: right to stop making one of her best sellers. I
[1:49:13] Speaker 1: thought about asking someone to fetch some for me, but
[1:49:16] Speaker 1: that felt like cheating, so I waited. A few days
[1:49:23] Speaker 1: turned into a week. I kept putting it off, and
[1:49:26] Speaker 1: even tried looking for it in different areas. At one point,
[1:49:31] Speaker 1: I told myself the blend didn't need yarrow, but I
[1:49:34] Speaker 1: knew I was wrong. Every time I ran my thumb
[1:49:37] Speaker 1: over the label. Mara would have been furious at me
[1:49:41] Speaker 1: for half passing something under her name. The thought stuck
[1:49:46] Speaker 1: and grew teeth. I kept seeing her hands, the way
[1:49:50] Speaker 1: she held the bars when they were still curing, her
[1:49:53] Speaker 1: thumb running along the edge. She'd never half finished anything,
[1:49:58] Speaker 1: not even breakfast, And there I was, letting fear decide
[1:50:04] Speaker 1: what got made and what didn't, letting it whisper that
[1:50:08] Speaker 1: maybe it wasn't worth finishing. Maybe I was safe and
[1:50:12] Speaker 1: not to Mara would have seen through that. In two seconds,
[1:50:17] Speaker 1: she'd have thrown something at me, probably a damp tea towel,
[1:50:21] Speaker 1: and she'd have followed it up with that sharp look
[1:50:24] Speaker 1: she had, the one that said pull yourself together, and
[1:50:30] Speaker 1: she'd have been right. All I did was give the
[1:50:34] Speaker 1: anger space to grow. It started low in my chest
[1:50:39] Speaker 1: and curled around the edges of everything, as if fested
[1:50:42] Speaker 1: into the corners of the cottage and on to her
[1:50:45] Speaker 1: side of the bed. Eventually it boiled up into an idea,
[1:50:53] Speaker 1: one I couldn't shake away no matter what I tried.
[1:51:01] Speaker 1: That evening, the local pub was lively and dimly lit.
[1:51:06] Speaker 1: A few of the regulars scattered across the low tables,
[1:51:09] Speaker 1: shouting across to each other, cracking jokes. The fire was
[1:51:13] Speaker 1: more glow than flame by now, mostly embers tucked into
[1:51:17] Speaker 1: the grate, flickering just enough to keep the cold off
[1:51:20] Speaker 1: the walls. George, the gent who gave me the radio,
[1:51:24] Speaker 1: sat near the back half, watching darts on the telly.
[1:51:29] Speaker 1: I took the stool next to him, no fuss, and
[1:51:32] Speaker 1: didn't bother with a pint. You still got that shotgun,
[1:51:37] Speaker 1: I asked, Bloody hell, he said, after a pause. You
[1:51:43] Speaker 1: don't start with hello anymore. Didn't feel like chatting. Clearly,
[1:51:49] Speaker 1: he glanced at me, suspiciously, like you already knew why
[1:51:52] Speaker 1: I was there? What for foxes? I said, been getting
[1:51:59] Speaker 1: into the garden. They've stuck up half the beds, most
[1:52:02] Speaker 1: of Mara's corner, chewed through all her hard work. That
[1:52:08] Speaker 1: made him pause, and he set his pint down onto
[1:52:11] Speaker 1: the sticky table, sombly, blerdy hell. He muttered that patch
[1:52:17] Speaker 1: always looked proper. Never thought foxes would go after herbs.
[1:52:23] Speaker 1: He went quiet at that rouse, drawing in a touch,
[1:52:27] Speaker 1: the lines around his eyes settling deeper, as if he
[1:52:30] Speaker 1: were figuring out whether that was the truth or not.
[1:52:35] Speaker 1: Been hearing that from folks too, he said, after a beat.
[1:52:39] Speaker 1: Not just foxes, badgers and rabbits too, all of them
[1:52:43] Speaker 1: turning up where they shouldn't be. They're bold, like they've
[1:52:47] Speaker 1: forgot how to be wild. Don't bolt anymore, just stand
[1:52:51] Speaker 1: and watch you like they're taunting you. I nodded. Once,
[1:52:57] Speaker 1: that's what they've been doing. He studied me again. You're
[1:53:03] Speaker 1: planning to shoot anything, only if I have to. He
[1:53:09] Speaker 1: let that sit between us for a second, then gave
[1:53:13] Speaker 1: a small nod. I'll get it to you in the morning,
[1:53:17] Speaker 1: he said, one day. Only barrel pulls a bit left
[1:53:20] Speaker 1: if you're not paying attention, and it kicks like it's
[1:53:23] Speaker 1: got something to prove. So don't try and be clever.
[1:53:28] Speaker 1: I won't. Once I had the gun, I set out early.
[1:53:35] Speaker 1: The sky was gray and the path was soft with
[1:53:38] Speaker 1: last night's rain. The shotgun was wrapped in oil cloth
[1:53:42] Speaker 1: and strapped across my back. I could feel it with
[1:53:46] Speaker 1: every step foxes, I said, pests. George must have known
[1:53:54] Speaker 1: he'd handed me the gun. Like he understood. He said nothing,
[1:53:58] Speaker 1: but gave me a small nod, the kind that said
[1:54:02] Speaker 1: do whatever you got a doo, mate, but don't come
[1:54:05] Speaker 1: crying after The fog was thicker, this time, proper thick.
[1:54:12] Speaker 1: It clung to the hedges and swelled low across the path.
[1:54:16] Speaker 1: The visibility was awful. The river wasn't even in sight yet,
[1:54:21] Speaker 1: but I could feel it just around the bend, that damp,
[1:54:26] Speaker 1: cold presence and impending doom. I stopped walking, reached back
[1:54:32] Speaker 1: and undid the strap. It came free, without fuss, oilcloth,
[1:54:38] Speaker 1: damp with mist. I wrapped it slowly, feeling the weight
[1:54:42] Speaker 1: of it in my hands. It felt wrong, like it
[1:54:47] Speaker 1: knew I had no business holding it. My arms weren't
[1:54:51] Speaker 1: made for this, My hands weren't steady. I never handled
[1:54:55] Speaker 1: one before, not properly, not like this. And there I
[1:55:00] Speaker 1: was alone in the mud, with fog at my ankles
[1:55:04] Speaker 1: and a loaded shotgun in my grip. Like I knew
[1:55:07] Speaker 1: what the hell I was doing. I broke it open
[1:55:11] Speaker 1: to check the two shells. They were right where they
[1:55:14] Speaker 1: were meant to be, and when I clicked it shut,
[1:55:18] Speaker 1: it made a proper sound, clean and final. Then I
[1:55:24] Speaker 1: kept moving slowly. My boots sank a little into the
[1:55:28] Speaker 1: wet ground. With each step. I could feel the thud
[1:55:31] Speaker 1: of my heart beat in my jaw and finger tips.
[1:55:36] Speaker 1: Then I saw it, a figure of a woman standing
[1:55:40] Speaker 1: in the water with her back turned, her dress soaked
[1:55:43] Speaker 1: and clinging to her legs, and her head was wrapped
[1:55:46] Speaker 1: in a scarf pulled tight. Every muscle in me went taut.
[1:55:53] Speaker 1: I raised the gun and flicked the safety off with
[1:55:56] Speaker 1: my thumb, clumsy and stiff. Was louder than I expected.
[1:56:02] Speaker 1: It made the hairs on the back of my neck
[1:56:04] Speaker 1: stand up. The figure reacted to the noise, one foot
[1:56:09] Speaker 1: dragging through the water, like she was remembering how to stand.
[1:56:14] Speaker 1: Her body swayed slightly, and every part of me tensed.
[1:56:19] Speaker 1: My arms were locked and my shoulders tightened. I braced
[1:56:23] Speaker 1: the stock against my shoulder properly, lifted the barrel and
[1:56:27] Speaker 1: lined it up through the gray. The fog swirled around her,
[1:56:32] Speaker 1: thick as milk, only showing a blur of her I
[1:56:36] Speaker 1: couldn't see her face. But I knew what this was.
[1:56:40] Speaker 1: What it had to be one of them. I had
[1:56:46] Speaker 1: seen this before. I knew this shape, this silence, the
[1:56:50] Speaker 1: soap dress clinging to her legs, sleeves hanging, heavy hair hidden,
[1:56:56] Speaker 1: no part of her left of recognize. She was just
[1:57:00] Speaker 1: another one of them, waiting for a next victim. So
[1:57:06] Speaker 1: I aimed, and just when I had her square in
[1:57:09] Speaker 1: my sight, she spoke, did you finally bring those biscuits
[1:57:17] Speaker 1: you promised me? The words took the ground from under
[1:57:23] Speaker 1: me without warning, and my arms dropped just a little
[1:57:28] Speaker 1: and shock. I couldn't help it. It felt as if
[1:57:33] Speaker 1: the gun had become heavier because it was her. It
[1:57:42] Speaker 1: was Mara. Around five years ago, I started gravitating towards
[1:57:56] Speaker 1: jobs that made solitude or requirement instead of a consequence.
[1:58:02] Speaker 1: Just after finally accepting that I was an introvert. I
[1:58:05] Speaker 1: tried wild life surveys, a forestry internship, and even worked
[1:58:10] Speaker 1: private fire mitigation one summer before this gig found me.
[1:58:15] Speaker 1: It's how I ended up at my post on the
[1:58:17] Speaker 1: Northern Edge Tower nine. The government or whoever owned this
[1:58:23] Speaker 1: place referred to it as a conservation perimeter or some
[1:58:27] Speaker 1: other empty phrasing. What it really was, though, was a
[1:58:31] Speaker 1: swath of wilderness, too big and too wild for any
[1:58:35] Speaker 1: one to trust leaving alone. The acreage stretched far enough
[1:58:39] Speaker 1: to swallow towns Hall. Thirteen fire towers covered the zone.
[1:58:45] Speaker 1: Thirteen watchers, if you counted us all. They called us rangers,
[1:58:50] Speaker 1: though it was more about fire prevention than policing hikers
[1:58:54] Speaker 1: or keeping bears away from trailheads. Most rangers keep to
[1:58:58] Speaker 1: their towers, but some of us made a habit of
[1:59:01] Speaker 1: breaking the rules we decided were pointless. Technically, we weren't
[1:59:06] Speaker 1: supposed to leave our posts without clearance, especially during the
[1:59:10] Speaker 1: dry season. But out here, miles from the nearest supervisor,
[1:59:15] Speaker 1: the rules didn't mean much. Logan worked out in Tower seven,
[1:59:21] Speaker 1: which sat a good few miles east. He didn't talk
[1:59:25] Speaker 1: much about where he came from. He'd gnored through most
[1:59:28] Speaker 1: of the conversation, say something dry under his breath, then
[1:59:32] Speaker 1: go quiet again. But he was solid. We didn't hang
[1:59:37] Speaker 1: out often, but sometimes we'd meet half way between towers,
[1:59:41] Speaker 1: trade supplies, pass a flask, and sit in silence. I
[1:59:47] Speaker 1: liked that about him, but not everyone was like Logan.
[1:59:52] Speaker 1: Ezekiel worked out of Tower eight, the closest one to me,
[1:59:56] Speaker 1: and he'd been there longer than any one. Every range
[2:00:01] Speaker 1: I asked gave me a different answer about how long
[2:00:04] Speaker 1: it'd been around. Some said five years, others said twenty.
[2:00:10] Speaker 1: I knew only this. He never left. Those were the
[2:00:16] Speaker 1: only two towers that were within reasonable trekking distance. The
[2:00:21] Speaker 1: other towers sat so far away the only interactions I
[2:00:24] Speaker 1: ever got with them was through the radio. Winter rotation
[2:00:28] Speaker 1: was optional. Most of us rotated out during the snow season,
[2:00:33] Speaker 1: took breaks, went home, let the off season crew handle things.
[2:00:38] Speaker 1: But Ezekiel stayed through all of it, year after year.
[2:00:43] Speaker 1: Supposedly he'd signed some agreement with the agency to maintain
[2:00:47] Speaker 1: permanent watch. I'd only spoken to him twice. Both times
[2:00:52] Speaker 1: were uncomfortable. The first time I passed him on the
[2:00:56] Speaker 1: ridge while heading toward Tower six, I didn't say anything
[2:01:00] Speaker 1: to him, and I felt bad about it. But Logan
[2:01:04] Speaker 1: had told me so much creepy stuff about Ezekiel that
[2:01:07] Speaker 1: I almost didn't even want to speak to him. He
[2:01:11] Speaker 1: didn't say anything either until I was nearly past and
[2:01:14] Speaker 1: asked me if i'd seen anything strange on my way.
[2:01:18] Speaker 1: I said I hadn't, and he just looked away and
[2:01:21] Speaker 1: seemed to be focused on something else entirely already. He
[2:01:27] Speaker 1: wasn't warm, far from it, and I didn't really like
[2:01:30] Speaker 1: spending too much time around him. My first winter in
[2:01:36] Speaker 1: the tower wasn't forced on me. I asked for it.
[2:01:40] Speaker 1: The agency gave me a pay cut, and in short
[2:01:42] Speaker 1: I understood the response time would be a joke if
[2:01:45] Speaker 1: anything went wrong, but I signed off anyway. I was
[2:01:50] Speaker 1: starting to really like this job. Once Logan cleared out,
[2:01:56] Speaker 1: the ridge went dead quiet. His tower light stopped flickering
[2:02:00] Speaker 1: across the tree line. In the evenings that left me
[2:02:04] Speaker 1: and Ezekiel, I didn't think about it much. I just
[2:02:10] Speaker 1: focused on the scenery. The forest itself had no straight edges.
[2:02:16] Speaker 1: It was hills and valleys stitched together by frozen creeks.
[2:02:20] Speaker 1: Snow blanketed the evergreens early that year. Most of the
[2:02:24] Speaker 1: smaller trees had dropped their leaves already, and the taller
[2:02:28] Speaker 1: ones stood out black against the white. Wind carved up
[2:02:32] Speaker 1: the snow into low spines that looked like frozen wakes,
[2:02:36] Speaker 1: as if something had swung through the powder and disappeared.
[2:02:41] Speaker 1: I was out near the edge of my patrol line
[2:02:44] Speaker 1: when I saw it. The light had shifted into that
[2:02:49] Speaker 1: flat winter amber that makes shadows long and deceptive. I'd
[2:02:54] Speaker 1: been inspecting some of the brush piles left behind by
[2:02:57] Speaker 1: the firebreak cruise. The wind was quiet and the trees
[2:03:01] Speaker 1: barely moved. Then a break in the whiteness. It was
[2:03:08] Speaker 1: too far off to see clearly, but it looked like
[2:03:11] Speaker 1: a large deer limping. I don't mean walking unevenly, I
[2:03:16] Speaker 1: mean dragging itself forward and slow, holding burst like one
[2:03:21] Speaker 1: of its legs didn't want to follow. My first instinct
[2:03:25] Speaker 1: was the staput. We're told not to interfere with wild life.
[2:03:30] Speaker 1: If an animal dies, it dies, we aren't rescue. But
[2:03:36] Speaker 1: I hadn't been out here long enough to be numb
[2:03:38] Speaker 1: about animals suffering. I stood there for a minute, staring
[2:03:43] Speaker 1: across the slope. The sky overhead was clear, visibility wasn't bad.
[2:03:49] Speaker 1: I could see the shapes of the trees for a
[2:03:51] Speaker 1: few hundred yards before they disappeared behind a ridge. The
[2:03:56] Speaker 1: animal had crossed into a shallow trench and left the
[2:03:59] Speaker 1: trail behind it, a broken red line bleeding into the snow.
[2:04:06] Speaker 1: I figured I could follow it for a bit and
[2:04:08] Speaker 1: see if I could help it somehow. I wasn't even
[2:04:11] Speaker 1: sure how, but I knew it did stare my mind.
[2:04:15] Speaker 1: If not, I could at least make sure I didn't
[2:04:18] Speaker 1: go down in some ditch where nothing would find it
[2:04:21] Speaker 1: until spring. I checked my belt, my radio was on,
[2:04:26] Speaker 1: my coat was zipped tight. I still had enough daylight
[2:04:30] Speaker 1: to get back if I moved quick. I started walking.
[2:04:36] Speaker 1: The snow had only started falling the night before, so
[2:04:40] Speaker 1: it was easy to see the fresh marks. But the
[2:04:43] Speaker 1: tracks were off. I've seen deer prince plenty of times,
[2:04:49] Speaker 1: and these didn't match. They were larger, for one thing,
[2:04:53] Speaker 1: and they weren't symmetrical. The spacing between them seemed wrong,
[2:04:58] Speaker 1: longer than a deer should have been able to manage
[2:05:01] Speaker 1: with a limp. I stopped to examine them several times,
[2:05:05] Speaker 1: crouching down to touch the edges. Some of them looked
[2:05:10] Speaker 1: melted around the sides, as if the heat had softened
[2:05:13] Speaker 1: the snow when they formed. An injury, maybe a birth defect.
[2:05:19] Speaker 1: I kept moving forward. The blood trail dipped into a
[2:05:24] Speaker 1: shallow drainage basin where the trees thinned out. I followed
[2:05:29] Speaker 1: it between clumps of dead brush and saplings half buried
[2:05:32] Speaker 1: under snow drifts. The wind began to shift while I walked.
[2:05:38] Speaker 1: I felt it before I heard it, sharp, low, funneling
[2:05:44] Speaker 1: down the slope, like something alive. The clouds hadn't warned me.
[2:05:49] Speaker 1: The sky had stayed open and glassy above the tree tops,
[2:05:53] Speaker 1: but within seconds the snow came, driving in sideways, fine
[2:05:58] Speaker 1: and fast. The shift was absolute. One moment I could
[2:06:04] Speaker 1: still see the trees standing in soft ranks ahead of me.
[2:06:08] Speaker 1: Then without build up, they disappeared. Wind slammed through the
[2:06:14] Speaker 1: trees and pulled the temperature down so fast my fingers
[2:06:17] Speaker 1: ached through the gloves. I stopped walking, turned a slow circle.
[2:06:24] Speaker 1: Everything I'd used to orient myself, tree formations, ridge lines,
[2:06:28] Speaker 1: even the slope under my feet vanished beneath a layer
[2:06:32] Speaker 1: of rushing white. I squinted through the sudden torrent. The
[2:06:37] Speaker 1: trail had disappeared, so had everything else. I looked behind me,
[2:06:45] Speaker 1: where my bootprints had been only second to go. There
[2:06:49] Speaker 1: was nothing. The snow had sealed them up, as if
[2:06:52] Speaker 1: I had never walked there at all. My first thought
[2:06:57] Speaker 1: was the fine higher ground. I turned around and took
[2:07:00] Speaker 1: two steps, then stopped again. I couldn't see anything I recognized.
[2:07:07] Speaker 1: Even the sound of my own steps felt swallowed by
[2:07:10] Speaker 1: the wind. It wasn't that I couldn't tell which direction
[2:07:13] Speaker 1: I had come from. I had no idea which direction
[2:07:17] Speaker 1: anything was any more. I reached for my radio and
[2:07:21] Speaker 1: keyed it tower nine. To anyone on frequency, come in
[2:07:28] Speaker 1: nothing repeat, this is tower nine. Whiteout conditions need triangulation
[2:07:33] Speaker 1: or direction. Assist anyone reading this silence. I lowered the radio.
[2:07:43] Speaker 1: I tried to listen past the storm to find some
[2:07:46] Speaker 1: auditory landmark that might give me a clue. Still, there
[2:07:51] Speaker 1: was nothing except wind tearing across the snow and the
[2:07:54] Speaker 1: occasional snap of overburdened branches breaking underweight. I started walking again.
[2:08:02] Speaker 1: I kept my bearings tight, using small trees as markers,
[2:08:06] Speaker 1: and moving slowly, hoping to recognize some formation or shape
[2:08:10] Speaker 1: that would confirm I was looping back toward familiar territory.
[2:08:15] Speaker 1: I paused again and took a long breath. My breath
[2:08:19] Speaker 1: bugged up the inside of my hood. I adjusted the
[2:08:22] Speaker 1: draw string, tried to calm the pounding in my chest.
[2:08:27] Speaker 1: Getting lost out here wasn't new. Every ranger did it,
[2:08:30] Speaker 1: at least once. I kept walking. Minutes passed, I couldn't
[2:08:36] Speaker 1: tell how many. Then I saw something on the ground ahead.
[2:08:43] Speaker 1: It was the deer or what had looked like one.
[2:08:47] Speaker 1: I approached slowly, expecting it to jolt up, the way
[2:08:51] Speaker 1: wounded deer sometimes do when you get too close. But
[2:08:55] Speaker 1: it stayed still, half buried in the snow rips, rising
[2:09:00] Speaker 1: in a sharp curve. One hind leg twisted off to
[2:09:03] Speaker 1: the side at an unnatural angle. The closer I got,
[2:09:08] Speaker 1: the less it made sense. I stopped ten feet away
[2:09:14] Speaker 1: and stared. Its head was all wrong. At first glance,
[2:09:20] Speaker 1: it resembled a deer skull, long and narrow, with patches
[2:09:24] Speaker 1: of fur frozen stiff across it, but the face and
[2:09:28] Speaker 1: lips thin cracked lips stretched back over teeth, almost human.
[2:09:35] Speaker 1: Its neck bent upward in a way no animal spine
[2:09:38] Speaker 1: should have allowed. Antlers or something like them, jotted out
[2:09:42] Speaker 1: in short knobs from either side of its skull, but
[2:09:46] Speaker 1: they had branching ends that looked almost sculpted. Its torso
[2:09:51] Speaker 1: heaved slow and unsteady, and I realized it was still breathing.
[2:09:59] Speaker 1: I took one step back, then another. My boots sank
[2:10:03] Speaker 1: into the snow. I tried not to make noise. Its
[2:10:07] Speaker 1: eye turned toward me, singular strikingly human, and its body
[2:10:14] Speaker 1: convulsed A pause shot forward from beneath its torso, not
[2:10:19] Speaker 1: a hoof, not a deer leg A bear's limb, thick
[2:10:24] Speaker 1: and matted with fur, punched into the snow and dragged
[2:10:28] Speaker 1: the rest of the body forward. As it rose, it
[2:10:32] Speaker 1: stood half upright, something between a man and a beast.
[2:10:38] Speaker 1: Then it lunged. I dropped my radio and fell sideways
[2:10:44] Speaker 1: into the snow. Its claws grazed the sleeve on my jacket,
[2:10:49] Speaker 1: tearing the fabric but missing the flesh. I rolled backward
[2:10:53] Speaker 1: and kicked at its ribs, but its weight bore down fast.
[2:10:58] Speaker 1: It snarled, breath blasted against my neck. The smell made
[2:11:03] Speaker 1: me gag. I noticed then a massive bleeding gash on
[2:11:08] Speaker 1: its side. Quickly, I grabbed a branch off the ground,
[2:11:12] Speaker 1: snapping it from the ice. I drove it into the
[2:11:15] Speaker 1: thing's injury. It made a deep choking noise and reeled back,
[2:11:21] Speaker 1: landing hard. I scrambled to my feet and ran. I
[2:11:27] Speaker 1: pushed through snow drift and tree trunks, branches tearing at
[2:11:31] Speaker 1: my clothes, breath heaving through my throat. My legs went
[2:11:35] Speaker 1: numb from the cold, but I didn't stop. I ran
[2:11:40] Speaker 1: until my lungs burned, and the wind was a wall
[2:11:43] Speaker 1: against my chest. I didn't even realize where I was
[2:11:47] Speaker 1: until I saw the structure through the white, thin metal
[2:11:51] Speaker 1: legs extended upward into the mist, too straight to be natural.
[2:11:56] Speaker 1: I recognized the silhouette immediately a tower, Ezekiel's Tower. Somehow
[2:12:05] Speaker 1: I had looped west. I didn't waste time. I found
[2:12:11] Speaker 1: the staircase and started up, my boots barely gripping the
[2:12:14] Speaker 1: ice slicked metal. I knocked when I reached the top.
[2:12:19] Speaker 1: No answer. I knocked again, harder, this time nothing. I
[2:12:25] Speaker 1: pushed the door open. The warmth hit me first. A
[2:12:30] Speaker 1: weak orange glow flickered from an old stove in the corner.
[2:12:34] Speaker 1: The windows were covered in thick, mismatched curtains. Blankets and
[2:12:39] Speaker 1: furs were piled around the walls. I stepped inside and
[2:12:43] Speaker 1: closed the door behind me, my fingers trembling. I didn't
[2:12:48] Speaker 1: realize how cold I had been until the heat hid
[2:12:51] Speaker 1: my skin. Then I looked around. I had never been
[2:13:00] Speaker 1: inside his Equals Tower. I didn't know anyone who had.
[2:13:05] Speaker 1: The space was packed with things that didn't belong in
[2:13:07] Speaker 1: a lockout. Wall to wall, hooks and shelves cradled with weapons.
[2:13:13] Speaker 1: Rifles lined the east wall. Hand guns rested in open crates,
[2:13:18] Speaker 1: ornamental carvings marked every one of them. Runs letters I
[2:13:23] Speaker 1: couldn't read, lines and circles scratched into the stocks and barrels.
[2:13:28] Speaker 1: Several of the bullets were laid out across the table
[2:13:30] Speaker 1: under the window, their surfaces glinting like silver or some
[2:13:34] Speaker 1: other precious metal. Dream catchers hung in the corners. Animal
[2:13:39] Speaker 1: schools rested on ledges, each of the forehead marked with
[2:13:43] Speaker 1: the red wax or ink. I backed away from the
[2:13:47] Speaker 1: table and sank into a low chair near the stove,
[2:13:50] Speaker 1: trying to catch my breath. My chest stached. I leaned forward,
[2:13:56] Speaker 1: resting my arms on my knees. Then I heard the
[2:14:00] Speaker 1: stairs creaking outside. I immediately thought of that thing. My
[2:14:05] Speaker 1: first thought was that it had tracked me down, and
[2:14:08] Speaker 1: now I had nowhere to actually go. I raced toward
[2:14:12] Speaker 1: the wall for one of Ezekiel's guns. When the door
[2:14:15] Speaker 1: opened behind me and Ezekiel stepped inside. His coat was
[2:14:21] Speaker 1: dusted in snow, his gloves were off. He shut the
[2:14:25] Speaker 1: door and looked over at me with no surprise. I
[2:14:30] Speaker 1: looked at him, dumbfounded, my hands resting on one of
[2:14:33] Speaker 1: the rifles still attached to the wall. Ah Yah, Ezekiel
[2:14:40] Speaker 1: you won't believe me, But you saw it, he asked.
[2:14:46] Speaker 1: I opened my mouth trying to explain, but he cut
[2:14:49] Speaker 1: me off before I could finish. Was it injured? I nodded.
[2:14:56] Speaker 1: Good means the trap worked, he responded, after a brief silence. Well,
[2:15:04] Speaker 1: he said, at last, since he already saw it. He
[2:15:08] Speaker 1: turned and met my eyes. The corner of his mouth
[2:15:11] Speaker 1: twitched in what might have been a grimace. It can't
[2:15:15] Speaker 1: be helped now. He walked across the room with the
[2:15:19] Speaker 1: slow certainty of a man who knew where every board creaked.
[2:15:24] Speaker 1: He moved past the stove, past the table with a bullet,
[2:15:27] Speaker 1: and stopped in front of a tall shelf near the corner.
[2:15:31] Speaker 1: His hands hovered momentarily, then landed on a thick, water
[2:15:36] Speaker 1: warped book, bound in leather and marked in strange faded lettering.
[2:15:42] Speaker 1: He pulled it free, thumbed through the pages and found
[2:15:45] Speaker 1: what he was looking for. I am sorry, though, he said,
[2:15:51] Speaker 1: not looking up. I hadn't let one slip in in
[2:15:54] Speaker 1: over a decade. Maybe I am getting old. The page
[2:16:00] Speaker 1: just made a dry sound as he turned them. It's smart,
[2:16:04] Speaker 1: Azekil muttered, eyes scanning the page, real smart. See some
[2:16:10] Speaker 1: people think it's three creatures sewn together. Somethink it's one
[2:16:14] Speaker 1: thing splitting apart into three. He turned the book toward me.
[2:16:20] Speaker 1: The illustration on the page looked too exact to be
[2:16:23] Speaker 1: guess work antlers, human faces, claws from something simian or
[2:16:28] Speaker 1: bare like. Its body was sketched mid motion. He looked
[2:16:34] Speaker 1: at the page, then back at me. You're lucky he
[2:16:39] Speaker 1: was wounded. Would have killed you otherwise. He snapped the
[2:16:44] Speaker 1: book shut and slid it under his arm. Then he
[2:16:48] Speaker 1: crossed to another shelf. His hand moved quickly, this time
[2:16:53] Speaker 1: grabbing a flat, circular object wrapped in cloth. He unwrapped
[2:16:57] Speaker 1: it and held it out to me. It looked like
[2:17:01] Speaker 1: a mirror, but the surface was darker than glass, more
[2:17:05] Speaker 1: reflective than metal. The edges were edgeless cymbals, and the
[2:17:10] Speaker 1: reflection it gave back felt delayed. Take it, he said,
[2:17:16] Speaker 1: I didn't move. He held it closer. You're coming with me.
[2:17:22] Speaker 1: You know where it was last. I need you to
[2:17:25] Speaker 1: take me there. I stared at the mirror, then at him.
[2:17:32] Speaker 1: You think I want company. I'd rather do this alone.
[2:17:36] Speaker 1: One man would have trouble taking it down. Two You
[2:17:39] Speaker 1: should make it manageable. He let go of the object.
[2:17:44] Speaker 1: I caught it, cradled the weight of it in both hands.
[2:17:48] Speaker 1: You're part of this now, whether you want to be
[2:17:51] Speaker 1: or not. After that, Ezekiel briefly explained the plan to me.
[2:17:59] Speaker 1: I was to be a distraction, since I held its
[2:18:01] Speaker 1: scent and it saw me as its prey. I was
[2:18:05] Speaker 1: to point the mirror toward it, leaving it frozen just
[2:18:08] Speaker 1: long enough for Ezekiel to take it out. Ezekiel put
[2:18:13] Speaker 1: his coat back on and grabbed a large tool where
[2:18:16] Speaker 1: looked to be a crossbow from the wall and motion
[2:18:19] Speaker 1: for me to move in front of him. I obeyed.
[2:18:28] Speaker 1: The snow had slowed, though only slightly, by the time
[2:18:32] Speaker 1: we set out. The wind still bit through the tree tops,
[2:18:36] Speaker 1: and the sky hung low above us, dull and thick,
[2:18:40] Speaker 1: but it wasn't a full white out anymore. We moved downhill,
[2:18:45] Speaker 1: cutting through what was left of my trail. Ezekiel walked
[2:18:49] Speaker 1: with purpose, one hand gripping his crossbow, the other steadying
[2:18:53] Speaker 1: himself along exposed trunks and roots. He didn't speak much
[2:18:58] Speaker 1: except a nod when we hit terrain he recognized from
[2:19:01] Speaker 1: my descriptions. I stayed in front of him, scanning every branch,
[2:19:07] Speaker 1: every path of snow that looked uneven. I wasn't sure
[2:19:11] Speaker 1: if the thing had kept moving after it attacked me.
[2:19:14] Speaker 1: I wasn't even sure it could bleed out. That was
[2:19:18] Speaker 1: the problem. I didn't know anything about what it was
[2:19:23] Speaker 1: or how we were going to take it out. We
[2:19:27] Speaker 1: found the place after thirty minutes of trudging. It wasn't
[2:19:30] Speaker 1: far from the tower. I'd run further than I realized
[2:19:34] Speaker 1: during the panic. The snow in the clearing was broken
[2:19:38] Speaker 1: and stained, dark veins crisscrossing through it in wild spirals.
[2:19:44] Speaker 1: Ezekiel moved to the center, crouched down, and studded the ground.
[2:19:49] Speaker 1: He shifted the snow, gently brushing away the surface to
[2:19:53] Speaker 1: expose the soil beneath. I kept thinking about whether I
[2:19:58] Speaker 1: could actually do this, whether I'd freeze if it showed
[2:20:02] Speaker 1: up again, whether he'd see it in my face. He
[2:20:06] Speaker 1: looked over his shoulder at me, Keep your eyes open.
[2:20:14] Speaker 1: It hit us without warning. One second we were standing
[2:20:19] Speaker 1: in silence, and the next the trees exploded into motion.
[2:20:25] Speaker 1: Snow burst upward as a massive form barreled out from
[2:20:28] Speaker 1: the gully to our right. Ezekiel spun, raising his weapon,
[2:20:34] Speaker 1: but the thing was faster. It slammed into him before
[2:20:37] Speaker 1: he could aim. The crossbow flew from his grip and
[2:20:41] Speaker 1: skidded into the trees. Ezekiel hid the ground hard. I
[2:20:47] Speaker 1: froze for a moment. The creature loomed over him, its
[2:20:51] Speaker 1: shape warping in place where muscle met hide, one shoulder
[2:20:55] Speaker 1: twitching as if it had too many limbs packed into
[2:20:58] Speaker 1: too little space. Its breathing was aggressive. It was angry
[2:21:04] Speaker 1: hiss jaws stretched open as it stared at Ezekiel. Its
[2:21:09] Speaker 1: eyes were set wide across his head, mismatched in shape
[2:21:13] Speaker 1: and size. Ezekiel tried to reach for something at his belt,
[2:21:17] Speaker 1: but the beast slammed its elbow across his chest. I
[2:21:21] Speaker 1: heard something crack. I ran toward them and kicked hard
[2:21:26] Speaker 1: into the thing's exposed flank. My boot landed near the
[2:21:30] Speaker 1: wound i'd seen earlier. The creature shrieked and stumbled sideways.
[2:21:35] Speaker 1: I fell back and grabbed Ezekiel by the arm, but
[2:21:38] Speaker 1: he was too heavy to move. His legs didn't respond.
[2:21:42] Speaker 1: His mouth opened, but no sound came out. His hand
[2:21:47] Speaker 1: finally twitched and pointed toward the crossbow. The creature's body
[2:21:54] Speaker 1: shifted as it rose, bones stretched, furs, slowed off in clumps,
[2:22:00] Speaker 1: revealing muscle underneath that pulsed visibly. It looked at me,
[2:22:05] Speaker 1: then had Ezekiel. It growled a low noise that vibrated
[2:22:10] Speaker 1: in my chest. Move his Ekil managed the painful shout.
[2:22:17] Speaker 1: I backed up, raised the mirror and held it in
[2:22:19] Speaker 1: both hands. I had forgotten I still had it until then.
[2:22:24] Speaker 1: The creature looked directly into it and stopped moving. Its
[2:22:31] Speaker 1: head tilted, its limbs slackened, the snarl faded from its face.
[2:22:38] Speaker 1: For a moment, it simply stood there, frozen. I lowered
[2:22:43] Speaker 1: the mirror and dove with the crossbow, my hand wrapped
[2:22:47] Speaker 1: around the grip, fingers clumsy with adrenaline, I turned back
[2:22:52] Speaker 1: toward it and brought the weapon up. I hadn't fired
[2:22:56] Speaker 1: one in years. The trigger felt unfamiliar, the bolt was
[2:23:01] Speaker 1: already loaded. I aimed, then hesitated. I only had one chance,
[2:23:09] Speaker 1: and if I missed, it blinked and the spell broke.
[2:23:15] Speaker 1: The creature launched forward again, this time angling toward his Ekiel.
[2:23:21] Speaker 1: His hands went up weakly to defend himself. I quickly
[2:23:25] Speaker 1: inhaled and pulled the trigger. The bolt sank deep into
[2:23:30] Speaker 1: the creature's ribs as it twisted mid motion, it shrieked
[2:23:36] Speaker 1: a horrible noise that shifted in pitch half way through,
[2:23:39] Speaker 1: as if several voices were laid beneath it. Its body staggered,
[2:23:44] Speaker 1: then shimmered. The edges of it began to thin, stretching
[2:23:48] Speaker 1: outward like smoke caught in reverse wind. It disappeared. The
[2:23:55] Speaker 1: clearing was silent again. I looked over as Egil was
[2:24:01] Speaker 1: slumped against the trunk, his coat soaked through with blood.
[2:24:06] Speaker 1: He gave a dry, hoarse chuckle and shook his head
[2:24:11] Speaker 1: not bad. He coughed. It was at that moment that
[2:24:16] Speaker 1: I wondered if e Egel would ever need help again,
[2:24:21] Speaker 1: After all, he was getting old. I wasn't a good man.
[2:24:34] Speaker 1: I didn't grow up with a wrong crowd or fallen
[2:24:37] Speaker 1: with bad influences. I made my choices. When the trial ended,
[2:24:43] Speaker 1: the judge said I was the most calculated man he
[2:24:46] Speaker 1: had ever sentenced, and granted me life without parole, no visitors,
[2:24:51] Speaker 1: no possibility of release. They buried me, and that was
[2:24:56] Speaker 1: that until she came along That day. Guards poured me
[2:25:03] Speaker 1: out of my cell without a word. Two stayed at
[2:25:06] Speaker 1: my sides, two more behind. We passed through corridors where
[2:25:11] Speaker 1: walls sweated under fluorescent lights. Doors slid open ahead of
[2:25:15] Speaker 1: us after key card scuns. Eventually we stopped at a
[2:25:20] Speaker 1: reinforced door. One of the guards stepped forward and unlocked
[2:25:24] Speaker 1: it without speaking. Cold air drifted out into the hallway.
[2:25:30] Speaker 1: Inside was a table bolted to the floor and two chairs,
[2:25:35] Speaker 1: one empty, one occupied. Her eyes were already locked on
[2:25:40] Speaker 1: mine before I sat down. She wore a gray suit
[2:25:44] Speaker 1: with a faint pin striped pattern, hair pulled tight against
[2:25:48] Speaker 1: her head, skin pale but without blemishes. The guards forced
[2:25:53] Speaker 1: me into the chair across from her, wrists shackled to
[2:25:56] Speaker 1: the ring at the center of the table. She didn't
[2:26:01] Speaker 1: introduce herself. Do you want to rot here until your
[2:26:05] Speaker 1: skin comes off your bones? She asked, what do you
[2:26:09] Speaker 1: want a chance? She sounded studio practiced. I didn't answer.
[2:26:18] Speaker 1: She slid a folder across the table. A thick black
[2:26:21] Speaker 1: clip held the pages together. I could barely move my arms,
[2:26:26] Speaker 1: but she didn't seem concerned with that. There's a sight,
[2:26:31] Speaker 1: she said, tapping the folder with her index finger. Her
[2:26:35] Speaker 1: cave deepest ever discovered, deeper than anything on record. Her
[2:26:41] Speaker 1: first expedition didn't return. She didn't blink. They made several
[2:26:47] Speaker 1: kilarmeters down before something killed them. We believe it was biological,
[2:26:52] Speaker 1: possibly sentient. She let that sit for a second, then
[2:26:59] Speaker 1: flip the fold or open. The first image was an
[2:27:03] Speaker 1: aerial shot of a dense mountain range, followed by several
[2:27:07] Speaker 1: grainy stills of people in environmental suits carrying gear through
[2:27:11] Speaker 1: a jagged tunnel. We considered sending qualified personnel, but the
[2:27:17] Speaker 1: risk is too high. We'd rather loose someone replaceable. You're
[2:27:22] Speaker 1: a murderer, a terrorist. You're already a dead man. If
[2:27:26] Speaker 1: this doesn't work, we'll find another one like you cheaper
[2:27:31] Speaker 1: that way. She paused. Then she folded her hands. You
[2:27:37] Speaker 1: won't be alone after a short debrief. You'll be taken
[2:27:41] Speaker 1: to the cave entrance of three others. You'll be outfitted
[2:27:44] Speaker 1: with recording devices, weaponry, and monitoring equipment. There is a
[2:27:49] Speaker 1: strong likelihood you will not return. If you survive and
[2:27:53] Speaker 1: complete the contract, you walk free. She tapped folder again.
[2:28:01] Speaker 1: Clean record. You pick where you go after. My first
[2:28:09] Speaker 1: instinct was the laugh. I hadn't tasted outside air in
[2:28:14] Speaker 1: over a decade. I hadn't seen a sky without mesh
[2:28:17] Speaker 1: across it since sentencing, so I didn't ask where the
[2:28:21] Speaker 1: contract involved what they were really looking for, or how
[2:28:25] Speaker 1: many had already died trying to find it. It didn't
[2:28:29] Speaker 1: matter what I signed. I'd already died once. If this
[2:28:34] Speaker 1: got me out, even if it killed me for good,
[2:28:38] Speaker 1: I was ahead, fine, I said, strap me in. She
[2:28:47] Speaker 1: nodded to someone I couldn't see. I felt the sting
[2:28:50] Speaker 1: of a needle in my neck. Cold spread through my spine.
[2:28:54] Speaker 1: Before I could ask where I'd be taken, the ceiling
[2:28:57] Speaker 1: peeled away from me, then the light, then everything. I
[2:29:07] Speaker 1: woke in a bed with clean sheets, white walls, a
[2:29:11] Speaker 1: smooth ceiling with a built in glow panel that lit
[2:29:14] Speaker 1: the room without a bulb or fixture. Before I could
[2:29:17] Speaker 1: sit up properly, a door opened. A man in sterile
[2:29:22] Speaker 1: clothes stepped inside, gestured, and stepped back without a word.
[2:29:28] Speaker 1: I followed. They took me through a short, carried door
[2:29:32] Speaker 1: and into a chamber where the lights were brighter and colder.
[2:29:37] Speaker 1: Four chairs faced the screen, Three were already occupied. A
[2:29:42] Speaker 1: man with a tag that read Hollis on his shirt
[2:29:45] Speaker 1: sat with his legs spread wide, arms tattooed to the wrist,
[2:29:50] Speaker 1: jaw unshaven, and a permanent smirk planted across his face.
[2:29:56] Speaker 1: He glanced at me and snorted. Drew beside him, bald
[2:30:01] Speaker 1: and built, thicker, his hands clasped between his knees. He
[2:30:07] Speaker 1: didn't react to me at all. He stared forward with
[2:30:10] Speaker 1: dead focus. The third was smaller, shoulders hunched. Nervous energy
[2:30:16] Speaker 1: rolled off her in waves. She twitched every few seconds.
[2:30:22] Speaker 1: Sometimes her head jerked to one side. Sometimes her knuckles tensed,
[2:30:26] Speaker 1: then released. She'd make a strange sound every once in
[2:30:31] Speaker 1: a while, and looked involuntary. Nobody said a word. As
[2:30:37] Speaker 1: I sat in the last open seat, the lights dimmed
[2:30:41] Speaker 1: and the screen blinked on. We were ushered into another
[2:30:45] Speaker 1: room after the short presentation ended, some vague footage of
[2:30:50] Speaker 1: cave walls and sensitata, nothing identifiable. This one had a
[2:30:56] Speaker 1: long table, cold steel surface, and no chairs. A man
[2:31:00] Speaker 1: in a black uniform stood at the far end, holding
[2:31:03] Speaker 1: a remote in one hand and a tablet in the other.
[2:31:08] Speaker 1: As you already know, he sighed, You're going underground. You'll
[2:31:13] Speaker 1: be outfitted. You'll be monitored, your vitals, your recordings, every
[2:31:18] Speaker 1: word you say will be logged. You'll love one guide.
[2:31:22] Speaker 1: Her name is Wren, the girl with the ticks. Presumably
[2:31:26] Speaker 1: Wren glanced up but didn't speak. She was part of
[2:31:30] Speaker 1: the first mission, he continued. She didn't witness the attack.
[2:31:35] Speaker 1: She abandoned a team before it occurred. She was found
[2:31:38] Speaker 1: days later at the mountain base. She ran, Hollis said, grinning,
[2:31:45] Speaker 1: you're sending us down there with a coward. Wren flinched
[2:31:49] Speaker 1: and her shoulders jerked. She tried to hold still, but
[2:31:53] Speaker 1: the tension inside her was impossible to miss. The man
[2:31:58] Speaker 1: ignored them both. You are explorers. You're being given an opportunity.
[2:32:04] Speaker 1: Find out what happened, find out what they discovered, assess
[2:32:08] Speaker 1: the biological threat. You will have audio and video documentation
[2:32:12] Speaker 1: running at all times. You will not go off plan.
[2:32:16] Speaker 1: You will not deviate from the root, she outlines. You
[2:32:18] Speaker 1: will not improvise. Do that, and you'll ever shot at.
[2:32:22] Speaker 1: Walking out, they loaded us into the back of a
[2:32:28] Speaker 1: truck with no windows, no light, no sense of movement
[2:32:31] Speaker 1: beyond the vibration of the road. Beneath. Ren and I
[2:32:35] Speaker 1: sat across from each other, silent for most of the
[2:32:38] Speaker 1: first hour. Her leg bounced nervously. You're right, I asked.
[2:32:46] Speaker 1: She blinked hard and nodded, yeah, sorry, it's well, it's not.
[2:32:53] Speaker 1: She stopped and forced the head straight. It's hard sometimes
[2:32:59] Speaker 1: you were there before. She nodded again. What happened? Well,
[2:33:06] Speaker 1: she said, it's silly, but I was scared. I left
[2:33:11] Speaker 1: before anything even happened, as you heard. I didn't have
[2:33:15] Speaker 1: a reason. I guess I just kind of felt claustrophobic.
[2:33:18] Speaker 1: Maybe I don't know. Something about the place spooked me,
[2:33:22] Speaker 1: so I ran out of the cave. I'd walked all night.
[2:33:28] Speaker 1: I looked at her carefully. And you still don't know
[2:33:31] Speaker 1: why you left. I've been trying to figure it out,
[2:33:36] Speaker 1: especially after they questioned me a bunch of times. I
[2:33:39] Speaker 1: guess I did avoid danger. She seemed sincere. You scared
[2:33:45] Speaker 1: of going back in? She perked up suddenly, full of energy.
[2:33:51] Speaker 1: Of course, something in there killed my colleagues, and she slowed.
[2:33:58] Speaker 1: They told me I breached contract and I was required
[2:34:01] Speaker 1: to do this. After a brief pause, why are you here,
[2:34:08] Speaker 1: she asked, I mean really, I lit them buildings on fire,
[2:34:14] Speaker 1: I said, keeping the other things secret. She didn't look away.
[2:34:20] Speaker 1: Do you regret it? I didn't answer her right away.
[2:34:26] Speaker 1: I watched her instead, I guess so her eyes flicked
[2:34:33] Speaker 1: back toward me, searching for something. Maybe she found it.
[2:34:38] Speaker 1: She gave me a small nod, then looked away again.
[2:34:43] Speaker 1: When the truck stopped, they kept us inside for another
[2:34:46] Speaker 1: twenty minutes. When they finally opened the doors, daylight hit
[2:34:50] Speaker 1: me so hard I had to shield my eyes. A
[2:34:54] Speaker 1: dozen figures waited near a chain link gate that had
[2:34:57] Speaker 1: been waged into a stretch of pale rock. They wore gear, helmets, visors,
[2:35:03] Speaker 1: and gloves. We looked at them in disbelief as they
[2:35:07] Speaker 1: pointed toward a crate full of weapons. I took a
[2:35:11] Speaker 1: short gun and a side arm. Harlis went straight for
[2:35:14] Speaker 1: the automatic rifle and smirked when they didn't stop him.
[2:35:18] Speaker 1: Drew slung a belt of shells across his shoulders, and
[2:35:21] Speaker 1: picked a pump action like it was a toy. He
[2:35:24] Speaker 1: really given us guns, Harlis said, shaking his head and
[2:35:28] Speaker 1: turning around to face us. They gave the prison crew guns.
[2:35:34] Speaker 1: Harllis turned toward Wren, who backed herself against the side
[2:35:38] Speaker 1: of the truck. She hadn't taken anything from the crate.
[2:35:43] Speaker 1: What about her, he said? Do we even need her?
[2:35:47] Speaker 1: What if we take her hostitch? Maybe walk her back out.
[2:35:50] Speaker 1: Tell them we want a helicopter or something. He didn't
[2:35:55] Speaker 1: sound serious, but he didn't sound like he was joking either.
[2:36:00] Speaker 1: One of the mass guards looked at him, and Hollis
[2:36:03] Speaker 1: piped down. He looked disappointed. Ah, I guess that wouldn't work,
[2:36:09] Speaker 1: would it. A man in a hazard suit gave a
[2:36:14] Speaker 1: final briefing. Equipment had already been staged inside ammunition, light,
[2:36:20] Speaker 1: nutrition packs, water. There was no communication. Once we entered,
[2:36:26] Speaker 1: we would document everything, follow the route, and if we
[2:36:30] Speaker 1: tried to exit early, the doors would remain locked until
[2:36:33] Speaker 1: the scheduled retrieval time. The cave entrance was tiny, a
[2:36:38] Speaker 1: little more than a slitting stone. The walls were uneven,
[2:36:43] Speaker 1: jagged in some places, then smooth in others. They were
[2:36:47] Speaker 1: wide enough for two of us to walk side by side,
[2:36:50] Speaker 1: with space in between. We moved through long tunnels that
[2:36:54] Speaker 1: opened into chambers large enough to park aircraft in. Wren
[2:36:59] Speaker 1: led the way. She had a tablet secured to a
[2:37:02] Speaker 1: vest and a laminated map strapped to a leg. We
[2:37:06] Speaker 1: found a flat stretch of tunnel that widened near a
[2:37:09] Speaker 1: wall of crossed sediment. Someone had left old markers orange tags,
[2:37:15] Speaker 1: half buried under dust. Wren told us this was the
[2:37:19] Speaker 1: first stop. We weren't expecting to reach the next landmark
[2:37:24] Speaker 1: until morning. We dropped gear, rolled mats and sat down
[2:37:29] Speaker 1: in the dirt, drew, leaned against the slab of rock,
[2:37:33] Speaker 1: and slept. Almost immediately after a few minutes, Wren approached me.
[2:37:40] Speaker 1: She looked hesitant. I don't want to be near them,
[2:37:45] Speaker 1: she said, yeah, I know, maybe I'm a getting scared
[2:37:49] Speaker 1: for no reason again, But I don't know what if
[2:37:53] Speaker 1: they do something, they might I said, whatever, let's just
[2:37:59] Speaker 1: stick together, the two of them and the two of us. Sure,
[2:38:03] Speaker 1: I nodded. She breathed out through a nose and nodded again.
[2:38:09] Speaker 1: Then she lowered her head and mumbled something I didn't catch.
[2:38:15] Speaker 1: We all woke up around the same time, and nobody spoke.
[2:38:19] Speaker 1: We just started walking again. It was a strange situation.
[2:38:25] Speaker 1: We all knew we could potentially die here. Whatever had
[2:38:28] Speaker 1: killed those researchers was still down here, and now that
[2:38:32] Speaker 1: we were getting closer, that realization was sinking in deeper
[2:38:36] Speaker 1: than ever before. A few hours in the cave shifted,
[2:38:43] Speaker 1: the walls widened again, and the floor began to level out.
[2:38:48] Speaker 1: The slope that had pulled us down from the start eased,
[2:38:51] Speaker 1: but the tunnel didn't narrow. It kept expanding in every direction.
[2:38:58] Speaker 1: That was the first place saw the trail. It stretched
[2:39:02] Speaker 1: across the stone like someone had spilled the vatter silver
[2:39:05] Speaker 1: and led it cool. Long lines of dull metal fused
[2:39:09] Speaker 1: with the ground, following the cave's natural channels. Some parts
[2:39:14] Speaker 1: had pulled into circular patches. Others looked like they had
[2:39:18] Speaker 1: been flung out during motion. Thin trails scattered, but clearly
[2:39:23] Speaker 1: following something's path. Wren stopped and knelt um. She started
[2:39:31] Speaker 1: the original crew. There was a satellite scan if I
[2:39:35] Speaker 1: remember correctly, something in this range gave her a turn
[2:39:38] Speaker 1: that matched heavy rhodium content. It was a really dense
[2:39:42] Speaker 1: and unnatural concentration. It could have been worth a fortune,
[2:39:47] Speaker 1: so it's no wonder there are traces of it around.
[2:39:51] Speaker 1: We listened briefly. Drew talked about bringing some of it
[2:39:55] Speaker 1: back and potentially getting paid for it, but no one
[2:39:58] Speaker 1: answered him. We kept walking. More trails appeared. Some ran
[2:40:05] Speaker 1: along the walls, and a few looped over natural arches
[2:40:08] Speaker 1: over our heads. It was everywhere. It reached the junction
[2:40:13] Speaker 1: where the ceiling opened into a chamber almost the size
[2:40:17] Speaker 1: of a hangar. The walls clinted. Strips of exposed minerals
[2:40:22] Speaker 1: caught the low light. Veins of gold, and something darker
[2:40:25] Speaker 1: ran through the rock, like roots frozen in place. That
[2:40:30] Speaker 1: was when I heard it. A series of sharp clicks
[2:40:34] Speaker 1: echoed behind us. They were fast. I turned. It emerged
[2:40:41] Speaker 1: from the bend in the tunnel without warning, moving on
[2:40:44] Speaker 1: all fours but rising as it entered the open chamber.
[2:40:49] Speaker 1: Its forearms twisted at a sick angle, ending in serrated
[2:40:52] Speaker 1: appendages that resembled both talons and surgical blades. Beneath its skin,
[2:40:59] Speaker 1: if it could be called that something pulsed in irregular spasms,
[2:41:03] Speaker 1: Thick cables of muscle rolled beneath the fused metallic and
[2:41:07] Speaker 1: oily surface, as though it had been dipped in molten chrome,
[2:41:11] Speaker 1: and left it congeal in uneven patches. Its head was
[2:41:15] Speaker 1: horrific elongated, tapering to a point that hovered behind its shoulders.
[2:41:21] Speaker 1: The jaw split downward instead of opening wide, unhinging into
[2:41:25] Speaker 1: four separate folds, and molten metal leaked out in thin
[2:41:29] Speaker 1: lines that hissed against the stone. He raised his head
[2:41:33] Speaker 1: and looked around, almost like it was trying to listen.
[2:41:38] Speaker 1: We looked at it in the silence, and then Hollis
[2:41:42] Speaker 1: lifted his rifle and fired it a full burst tore
[2:41:48] Speaker 1: through the cavern. Air shells clattered to the ground. The
[2:41:52] Speaker 1: noise was deafening. Drew stepped up behind him and joined in,
[2:41:57] Speaker 1: racking around into the chamber with a grin. The creature
[2:42:02] Speaker 1: didn't even flinch, but he started moving toward them, seemingly
[2:42:07] Speaker 1: now alerted to their presence. It was fast and fluid.
[2:42:12] Speaker 1: Hollis got half a breath into another laugh before it
[2:42:15] Speaker 1: reached him. One swipe took his legs, another tore through
[2:42:19] Speaker 1: his chest. I didn't see what happened next. There was
[2:42:24] Speaker 1: in a sound beyond the gun shots and the wet
[2:42:26] Speaker 1: slap of contact. Drew kept firing until the gun locked open.
[2:42:32] Speaker 1: The creature pivoted toward him, already moving, I turned and ran,
[2:42:38] Speaker 1: and that seemed to alert Wren. She moved with me,
[2:42:42] Speaker 1: and a body convulsed in both physical and vocal ticks.
[2:42:46] Speaker 1: The shots behind us faded, then there was nothing. Wren gasped,
[2:42:53] Speaker 1: her mouth opened, but she didn't speak. I pushed the
[2:42:56] Speaker 1: harder toward a split in the tunnel ahead. We moved
[2:43:00] Speaker 1: fast and low, and I started to realize something. It
[2:43:06] Speaker 1: was blind. I slowed, pulling her behind a wall of
[2:43:11] Speaker 1: rock where the ground dipped her head shook. She kept
[2:43:15] Speaker 1: whispering something beneath, her breath, split up by involuntary yelps
[2:43:19] Speaker 1: that were too loud for comfort. You have to stop,
[2:43:23] Speaker 1: Do you hear me? She nodded hard, her jaw clenched tight.
[2:43:29] Speaker 1: Sweat ran down the side of her face and streaks,
[2:43:32] Speaker 1: and her whole body trembled from the effort of holding still.
[2:43:36] Speaker 1: It can't see he can only hear us. You have
[2:43:40] Speaker 1: to stay quiet. She nodded again, and this time her
[2:43:45] Speaker 1: body stilled, not entirely, but enough. We moved without speaking.
[2:43:53] Speaker 1: Every step felt calculated, every breath too loud. The tunnels
[2:43:59] Speaker 1: narrowed again as we descended behind us. Sounds from the
[2:44:04] Speaker 1: creature could still be heard, but it was far enough
[2:44:07] Speaker 1: away to give us some hope of survival. Not even
[2:44:11] Speaker 1: bullets damaged it, so our best bet was to try
[2:44:15] Speaker 1: sneak past it. Somehow, we entered another chamber, smaller than
[2:44:20] Speaker 1: the last one, but wide enough of the darkness to
[2:44:23] Speaker 1: stretch past the range of our lights. The ceiling bowed downward.
[2:44:28] Speaker 1: I stepped around a jagged edge and nearly tripped over
[2:44:31] Speaker 1: a body, or what was left of it. It wore
[2:44:36] Speaker 1: a suit or what had been a suit. Once the
[2:44:39] Speaker 1: fabric had fused, the limbs torn open across the chest
[2:44:43] Speaker 1: and peeled back at the shoulder. The skin beneath had
[2:44:47] Speaker 1: dried into something gray, stiff, and hollow. I counted three
[2:44:52] Speaker 1: more nearby. Ran knelt slowly next to one of the bodies.
[2:44:58] Speaker 1: I knew her. She whispered, but there was no time
[2:45:03] Speaker 1: for reminiscing or anything of the sort. I tapped on
[2:45:07] Speaker 1: the shoulder and gestured for her to move. The tunnel
[2:45:12] Speaker 1: dropped hard. After that, we slid down a slope that
[2:45:15] Speaker 1: forced us onto our hands, boots scraping loose rock. The
[2:45:20] Speaker 1: air was changing again, hot, an now not from the strain.
[2:45:25] Speaker 1: It hit my face before we saw the sauce. Then
[2:45:28] Speaker 1: we rounded a bend and the floor dropped out into
[2:45:32] Speaker 1: a massive chasm. Rehn and I stared in disbelief as
[2:45:37] Speaker 1: the lake stretched out in front of us, smooth as glass,
[2:45:42] Speaker 1: not one made of water, but rather molten metal, gold, silver, blue,
[2:45:49] Speaker 1: all bleeding into each other in an endless loop. Heat
[2:45:53] Speaker 1: poured from the surface. Sweat ran down my back in
[2:45:56] Speaker 1: slow waves. My hands felt down beside my gloves. I
[2:46:02] Speaker 1: thought about how this was possible. Surely the heat from
[2:46:05] Speaker 1: the molten metal itself would have killed us by now,
[2:46:09] Speaker 1: but my attempts at rationalization were interrupted by a clicking
[2:46:13] Speaker 1: sound behind us and a realization that we had just
[2:46:17] Speaker 1: reached a dead end. We moved to the side and
[2:46:21] Speaker 1: took cover behind a jagged ridge of stone at the
[2:46:24] Speaker 1: lake's edge. It was a match, enough to break the
[2:46:28] Speaker 1: line of sight, maybe enough to muffle sound. Ren's body
[2:46:33] Speaker 1: convulsed and she put both hands over her mouth butt.
[2:46:37] Speaker 1: If she made a single sound, we'd die. I could
[2:46:45] Speaker 1: feel the creature approaching. The air shifted as it entered
[2:46:48] Speaker 1: the chamber. She reached for me. Her fingers closed around
[2:46:53] Speaker 1: my arm, trembling, horizonment mine. She knew. I looked at her.
[2:47:02] Speaker 1: I didn't say anything. There wasn't time. Even a whisper
[2:47:06] Speaker 1: could have ended it. She mouthed something. I raised the shotgun.
[2:47:14] Speaker 1: Her head shook, small and sharp. Her lips trembled, but
[2:47:19] Speaker 1: she didn't speak. Her hand tightened around my arm. I
[2:47:24] Speaker 1: felt her finger nails through the fabric. She tried to
[2:47:27] Speaker 1: pull back. Her mouth opened, no sound came out. Her
[2:47:33] Speaker 1: eyes screamed. I fired, Her head snapped sideways, gone before
[2:47:40] Speaker 1: the rest of her had time to fall. Blood hit
[2:47:44] Speaker 1: the rock behind us in a wet splash. Her body
[2:47:47] Speaker 1: collapsed at my feet. The creature sprung into motion. I
[2:47:53] Speaker 1: could hear it. It stood on top of the rock
[2:47:56] Speaker 1: I was hiding and slowly dropped itself down. His tail
[2:48:00] Speaker 1: ran right past my arm, and it seemed to inspect
[2:48:04] Speaker 1: Wren's body. It lifted her up by the torso and
[2:48:08] Speaker 1: walked out of view. I could hear the liquid sloshing.
[2:48:14] Speaker 1: Curiosity got the better of me. I peeked around the
[2:48:17] Speaker 1: corner to see the monster slowly walking into the lake
[2:48:21] Speaker 1: of metal, Wren's body in tow The surface took both
[2:48:26] Speaker 1: of them, metal folding upward to embrace its body as
[2:48:30] Speaker 1: it descended into the glowing pool. Then it was gone.
[2:48:37] Speaker 1: The lake smoothed over again, silent still, as if nothing
[2:48:44] Speaker 1: had ever broken its surface. I didn't know how long
[2:48:49] Speaker 1: it would stay submerged, but I wasn't going to give
[2:48:52] Speaker 1: it time to come back. I stood and ran. I
[2:48:58] Speaker 1: followed the same path taken down or close to it.
[2:49:02] Speaker 1: I kept one hand on the rock to guide my turns.
[2:49:06] Speaker 1: Everything looked different on the way up. Eventually I reached
[2:49:10] Speaker 1: the chamber where Drew had fallen. His body was bent
[2:49:13] Speaker 1: in half across a flat boulder, split from the ribs down.
[2:49:18] Speaker 1: I recognized the boots before I saw the rest. Hollis
[2:49:22] Speaker 1: lay a few feet away, or at least most of
[2:49:25] Speaker 1: them did. His rifle was still in one hand, his
[2:49:28] Speaker 1: other hand was missing. I kept moving. By the time
[2:49:34] Speaker 1: I saw the faint blue glow of the reinforced entrance,
[2:49:37] Speaker 1: I couldn't feel my legs anymore. Two guards stood at
[2:49:41] Speaker 1: the threshold. The helmets reflected my face as I stumbled forward.
[2:49:47] Speaker 1: Neither of them moved until I crossed the final threshold
[2:49:50] Speaker 1: and fell to my knees. I didn't speak. They didn't either.
[2:49:57] Speaker 1: One of them stepped forward and removed the shotgun from
[2:50:00] Speaker 1: my back. The other one retrieved the body cam. They
[2:50:03] Speaker 1: helped me to my feet and led me into transport.
[2:50:08] Speaker 1: A little while later, she sat across from me again,
[2:50:12] Speaker 1: in the same suit. We reviewed your footage. She said,
[2:50:18] Speaker 1: your documentation exceeded expectations. She flipped through a few pages.
[2:50:25] Speaker 1: What happened to Wren was unfortunate. She closed the folder
[2:50:31] Speaker 1: and pushed it aside. You've done your part, she gestured
[2:50:36] Speaker 1: toward the door. The hallway stretched in front of me,
[2:50:41] Speaker 1: too bright to focus on a man in black uniform
[2:50:45] Speaker 1: walked me through two check points, then into another chamber.
[2:50:50] Speaker 1: He handed me a small envelope. Inside were travel documents,
[2:50:55] Speaker 1: a debit card, and a folded sheet with my new credentials.
[2:51:00] Speaker 1: I was escorted outside, and just like that I was alone.
[2:51:08] Speaker 1: I walked until the facility shrank behind me, nothing more
[2:51:12] Speaker 1: than a shape at the edge of stone. I was free.
[2:51:27] Speaker 1: We buried our little girl, Elsie in the orchard, within
[2:51:31] Speaker 1: the rows of pear trees. She used to run between
[2:51:34] Speaker 1: to mark the spot we planted a young sapling that
[2:51:37] Speaker 1: still had a few years left to bear fruit. She
[2:51:41] Speaker 1: loved pears more than any child I'd ever met. She'd
[2:51:44] Speaker 1: eat them, warm and mushy from the branch like it
[2:51:47] Speaker 1: was the best thing she'd ever tasted. During harvest, she'd
[2:51:51] Speaker 1: march around to the basket half a size, pointing at
[2:51:55] Speaker 1: which ones were the good ones, like a tiny dictator.
[2:52:00] Speaker 1: AH little help her. The morning it happened, she'd been
[2:52:04] Speaker 1: headed outside to play, the same as always. I remember
[2:52:09] Speaker 1: the screen door creaked open, then shut, and I heard
[2:52:13] Speaker 1: her humming to herself, and then the quiet stretched too long.
[2:52:19] Speaker 1: By lunch time, we couldn't find her, not in the yard,
[2:52:23] Speaker 1: not in the house, Marissa checked the barn. I checked
[2:52:27] Speaker 1: the orchards and yelled the name until my throat hurt.
[2:52:31] Speaker 1: And then I saw the shoe by the pond, sideways
[2:52:35] Speaker 1: in the mud. Everything after that here's a blur. But
[2:52:41] Speaker 1: that moment, the shoe, that's the part I still see
[2:52:45] Speaker 1: when I close my eyes. Marissa didn't talk for a while.
[2:52:51] Speaker 1: At night, she'd curl up on her side of the
[2:52:53] Speaker 1: bed with Elsie's pajama shirt clutched to her chest. I
[2:52:58] Speaker 1: lay beside her every night, helpless. I'd hold her hand
[2:53:02] Speaker 1: or rub her back while my own chest felt like
[2:53:05] Speaker 1: it was caving in. Her sobs would start quietly, like
[2:53:09] Speaker 1: she was trying to hold them in for my sake,
[2:53:12] Speaker 1: and then they'd break loose, spilling out of her like
[2:53:16] Speaker 1: a flood, and I'd just lay there while my throat
[2:53:20] Speaker 1: burned with the things I couldn't say. When it was
[2:53:24] Speaker 1: over and she'd gone still again, I'd press my lips
[2:53:28] Speaker 1: to her forehead and whisper something dumb and small, like
[2:53:33] Speaker 1: it's okay, I've got you. She never answered, but she
[2:53:38] Speaker 1: always reached for me. One night, I brought her a
[2:53:42] Speaker 1: mug of camomile and sat beside her. I silently watched
[2:53:47] Speaker 1: as she took the mug and held it between her palms.
[2:53:51] Speaker 1: She loved how you peeled them for her, Marsa said,
[2:53:55] Speaker 1: Even when I taught her how to do it herself,
[2:53:58] Speaker 1: she still brought them to you. She liked the way
[2:54:01] Speaker 1: you sang while you cooked, I said, even when you
[2:54:05] Speaker 1: were off key, especially then. She looked at me then,
[2:54:10] Speaker 1: and something in her face softened. I reached over and
[2:54:14] Speaker 1: took the piece of her hair behind her ear. She
[2:54:17] Speaker 1: leaned into my hand. I miss her, she whispered, me too,
[2:54:24] Speaker 1: I said, everywhere. She nodded. We sat like that for
[2:54:31] Speaker 1: a long time, her fingers intertwined with mine, the tea
[2:54:36] Speaker 1: forgotten and going cold on the nightstand. That was the
[2:54:41] Speaker 1: night we started talking again. Although things were getting better,
[2:54:47] Speaker 1: the bills were still there, even though we were starting
[2:54:51] Speaker 1: to come back to ourselves. The money was going faster
[2:54:54] Speaker 1: than ever. We saved what we could by burying Elsie ourselves,
[2:54:59] Speaker 1: but the tractor needed a belt, the west fence sagged,
[2:55:03] Speaker 1: and our pump trucks sat dry because fue will cost
[2:55:06] Speaker 1: more than what we had. But then Graftco knocked on
[2:55:11] Speaker 1: our door. The man they sent out was named doctor Levin.
[2:55:17] Speaker 1: He said, they found us through a regional yield audit
[2:55:20] Speaker 1: and flagged our land as having low potential with high
[2:55:23] Speaker 1: legacy viability. That's the kind of language you only hear
[2:55:27] Speaker 1: from people who've never swept through the harvest. He explained.
[2:55:32] Speaker 1: They'd fit our orchard with experimental grafting tech, some kind
[2:55:36] Speaker 1: of bioengineered rootstock that would result in triple yield and
[2:55:40] Speaker 1: bring the trees back stronger than ever. Mercer asked him
[2:55:45] Speaker 1: if it was safe. He said, safer than what you're
[2:55:49] Speaker 1: doing now. Then he told us they'd sponsor the whole
[2:55:53] Speaker 1: thing and cover installation and materials, and even throw a
[2:55:57] Speaker 1: stipend for our time. Any condition was access. They'd need
[2:56:04] Speaker 1: to monitor everything, growth rates, soil conditions, fruit development. It
[2:56:11] Speaker 1: sounded too good to be real, so we took a
[2:56:14] Speaker 1: few days to think about what we were signing up for.
[2:56:18] Speaker 1: If it failed, or if the tech damaged the trees,
[2:56:21] Speaker 1: stunted the orchard, or left us worse than before, we
[2:56:25] Speaker 1: couldn't afford to recover from that. But then the stip
[2:56:29] Speaker 1: end hit the account, just the advanced portion. It was
[2:56:34] Speaker 1: enough to buy fuel and fix the tractor, so we accepted.
[2:56:41] Speaker 1: The installation took a weekend, a crew came with crate
[2:56:45] Speaker 1: of tubing, sleek little graph notes like plugs for a machine,
[2:56:49] Speaker 1: and boxes labeled with long coats and the graph Co logo.
[2:56:54] Speaker 1: They moved quickly and were polite and a little too quiet, Marisa.
[2:57:01] Speaker 1: They declined. By Monday, the orchard was different. The soil
[2:57:08] Speaker 1: had this strange, clean smell, like antiseptic. There were metal
[2:57:12] Speaker 1: caps at the base of each tree, and thin wires
[2:57:15] Speaker 1: ran under the dirt. Elsie's tree got the same treatment
[2:57:19] Speaker 1: as the rest. I didn't like it, but within days
[2:57:25] Speaker 1: the changes started. Buds opened, early, leaves spread wide and fast.
[2:57:32] Speaker 1: It was a miracle. The orchard looked fuller than it
[2:57:35] Speaker 1: had any right to, and then somehow the fruit came
[2:57:41] Speaker 1: way ahead of schedule. Elsie's tree bloomed with the rest.
[2:57:47] Speaker 1: That morning, I stared at a single bulb hanging off
[2:57:50] Speaker 1: one thin branch, plump green and tiny. Marissa crouched beside it,
[2:57:57] Speaker 1: eyebrows pinched. That's not right, she said, it's too early.
[2:58:04] Speaker 1: I said, way too early. What could they have done
[2:58:08] Speaker 1: to speed it up this much? We kept her eye
[2:58:12] Speaker 1: on the tiny bulb, expecting it to fall off ull
[2:58:15] Speaker 1: rot like immature fruit does. But it didn't. It just
[2:58:20] Speaker 1: kept growing. In week one, the single fruit swelled faster
[2:58:27] Speaker 1: than anything else in the orchard. It looked smooth and full,
[2:58:32] Speaker 1: like it had never struggled for sunlight a day in
[2:58:34] Speaker 1: its life. Marissa kept returning to it, lingering longer each time,
[2:58:40] Speaker 1: her brow furrowed, like she was searching for something familiar
[2:58:44] Speaker 1: in its skin. It's round, she said, finally, frowning a
[2:58:50] Speaker 1: little like baby cheeks. In week two, she called me
[2:58:57] Speaker 1: over before I'd even set down my coffee. The fruit
[2:59:01] Speaker 1: had grown bigger, and what started as a bulb was stretching.
[2:59:06] Speaker 1: There was a soft indent where her mouth might form.
[2:59:09] Speaker 1: At the very top, the skin curled into a little
[2:59:12] Speaker 1: twist of green that looked oddly like a cow lick.
[2:59:17] Speaker 1: Marissa ran her finger gently across the curve of the fruit,
[2:59:20] Speaker 1: down to what appeared to be a neck that had
[2:59:22] Speaker 1: begun to form, and beneath it a roundness that hinted
[2:59:28] Speaker 1: her shoulders. There was a slope to the body now,
[2:59:32] Speaker 1: the faintest rise of arms pressed close to her chest.
[2:59:37] Speaker 1: She always had that little swirl and her temple, Marissa
[2:59:41] Speaker 1: said quietly. I used to smooth it down every morning, Remember,
[2:59:48] Speaker 1: I did. I remembered how every morning, without fail, I'd
[2:59:53] Speaker 1: hold Elsie still and Marissa would smooth that stubborn swirl
[2:59:57] Speaker 1: back in place with a wet thumb. I nodded, eyes
[3:00:01] Speaker 1: still on the fruit. Yeah, I said softly, you'd smooth it,
[3:00:08] Speaker 1: and she'd mess it up five minutes later. But it's
[3:00:12] Speaker 1: just a coincidence. By week three, the fruit had a
[3:00:18] Speaker 1: distinct face, and there was no denying it. The rest
[3:00:24] Speaker 1: of the shape had filled out too. Her legs were there, now,
[3:00:28] Speaker 1: curled up beneath her in a fetal position, the toes
[3:00:31] Speaker 1: so delicately formed they looked like they'd twitch any second.
[3:00:36] Speaker 1: And the whole thing hung there, still and eerily peaceful,
[3:00:41] Speaker 1: like she was just asleep. Everything inside me turned heavy.
[3:00:48] Speaker 1: I looked at Marissa, hoping for some shared confusion, but
[3:00:52] Speaker 1: her eyes were fixed, unblinking as she studied the fruit
[3:00:57] Speaker 1: like it might wake up if she waited long enough.
[3:01:01] Speaker 1: That's her, she said, I don't care if it's green.
[3:01:06] Speaker 1: That's our girl. She stepped closer, fingers brushing against the
[3:01:12] Speaker 1: chubby cheeks. I remember when she was this little, feels
[3:01:17] Speaker 1: like it was just yesterday, And for a second, standing
[3:01:22] Speaker 1: there beside her, I almost believed it too. That night,
[3:01:30] Speaker 1: she didn't come in for dinner. I found her in
[3:01:33] Speaker 1: the dark, sitting under the tree, cradling the fruit in
[3:01:37] Speaker 1: both arms like a newborn, her body curved around it protectively,
[3:01:43] Speaker 1: swaying just slightly, murmuring lullabies. She rocked it with the
[3:01:48] Speaker 1: same rhythm she used to rock Elsie when she was colocky,
[3:01:52] Speaker 1: thumb brushing over the curve of the cheek, like she
[3:01:54] Speaker 1: was soothing a real child back to sleep. From then on,
[3:02:00] Speaker 1: Marissa barely left the orchard. I'd find her under the
[3:02:04] Speaker 1: tree with a blanket draped over a lap and a
[3:02:07] Speaker 1: book open in her hands. She looked alive again, but
[3:02:12] Speaker 1: something about the fruit didn't feel right. I wanted to
[3:02:16] Speaker 1: tell her to slow down and that it wasn't normal,
[3:02:20] Speaker 1: but the words caught in my throat every time, so
[3:02:25] Speaker 1: I kept quiet. I watched as she treated the fruit
[3:02:29] Speaker 1: like Elsie had returned to her. She'd became content and
[3:02:33] Speaker 1: sleep without crying herself to sleep. Sometimes she'd rest her
[3:02:38] Speaker 1: head on my shoulder like she used to curl into me.
[3:02:42] Speaker 1: She'd squeeze my hand under the covers and murmur good
[3:02:45] Speaker 1: night before drifting off. There are even mornings where she'd
[3:02:49] Speaker 1: lean over and kissed my cheek before getting up to
[3:02:52] Speaker 1: check the fruit. Her softness in her eyes I thought
[3:02:55] Speaker 1: I'd never see again. For a while, it felt like
[3:03:00] Speaker 1: maybe the fruit wasn't so bad. Then Grafco called to
[3:03:06] Speaker 1: schedule a check in. Marissa's hands shook when she hung
[3:03:10] Speaker 1: up the phone. I knew something was wrong when she
[3:03:13] Speaker 1: silently walked out to the orchard and sat under the tree.
[3:03:17] Speaker 1: While she was standing guard. I found her pacing in
[3:03:20] Speaker 1: the kitchen at three a m. Whispering to herself and
[3:03:23] Speaker 1: swinging shears. They'll see her, she said, they'll take her.
[3:03:29] Speaker 1: They'll say it an anomaly and cut her down. I
[3:03:32] Speaker 1: stepped toward her gently, shook the shears from her hand,
[3:03:36] Speaker 1: and said, hey, look at me. She didn't, Marissa, I
[3:03:43] Speaker 1: said again, softer this time. It's just the check in.
[3:03:47] Speaker 1: They won't take anything. We're not doing anything wrong. When
[3:03:52] Speaker 1: she finally looked at me, I saw the fear on
[3:03:55] Speaker 1: her face. You don't know that they'll see her, they'll
[3:04:00] Speaker 1: cut her down. Paul I held her face in both hands.
[3:04:05] Speaker 1: I could feel her trembling. We'll protect her, we'll protect
[3:04:10] Speaker 1: each other. You don't have to do this. Alone. I
[3:04:15] Speaker 1: didn't want to lose this happy version of her, so
[3:04:18] Speaker 1: I let go of her slowly and handed her back
[3:04:21] Speaker 1: the shears. If it'll make you feel better, I said,
[3:04:26] Speaker 1: then I'll do it. She blinked hard, wiped her eyes,
[3:04:31] Speaker 1: and walked out the door without another word. I followed
[3:04:35] Speaker 1: and watched as she clipped the fruit from the branch.
[3:04:38] Speaker 1: Her hands caught it gently, like she was carrying something precious.
[3:04:43] Speaker 1: She cradled it close to her chest and pulled out
[3:04:46] Speaker 1: a faded yellow cloth with tiny embroidered ducts. It was
[3:04:51] Speaker 1: one of Elsie's old muslins, and she swaddled the fruit
[3:04:54] Speaker 1: with it. As she wrapped it tight, she murmured, they're okay,
[3:05:00] Speaker 1: now we've got you. No one's going to take you
[3:05:04] Speaker 1: away this time, I promise. I followed her inside and
[3:05:10] Speaker 1: watched her set it gently on the counter, still wrapped
[3:05:13] Speaker 1: in the muslin. Her hands hovered. Something's wrong, she said,
[3:05:21] Speaker 1: voice tight. There was a dark spot blooming through the fabric.
[3:05:27] Speaker 1: Marissa gasped and fumbled to unwrap it. A cloth clung
[3:05:31] Speaker 1: to the skin like it didn't want to let go,
[3:05:33] Speaker 1: and released with a sickening, tearing noise. Marissa let out
[3:05:37] Speaker 1: a sharp breath and staggered back. It was rotting fast.
[3:05:44] Speaker 1: The green skin had darkened and peeled back in places
[3:05:47] Speaker 1: to reveal something underneath that looked like flesh, pulp and
[3:05:51] Speaker 1: muscle twisted together, tiny teeth budding where the mouth had been.
[3:05:57] Speaker 1: One eye collapsed in on itself, like it deflated. Marisa
[3:06:02] Speaker 1: let out her hard sob park gag and backed into
[3:06:06] Speaker 1: the corner. I didn't know, she whispered. I didn't mean
[3:06:11] Speaker 1: to hurt her. Marisa started full body sobbing. She dropped
[3:06:16] Speaker 1: to the floor beside the counter, her back pressed to
[3:06:19] Speaker 1: the cabinet, fists against her temples. I killed her, she
[3:06:25] Speaker 1: choked out. I killed her again. I dropped beside her
[3:06:31] Speaker 1: and wrapped my arms around her while she fought me,
[3:06:34] Speaker 1: crying and pushing and begging, no, no, please. She was
[3:06:38] Speaker 1: getting better, she was almost done. You were just trying
[3:06:42] Speaker 1: to protect her, I said, my voice shaking. You did
[3:06:47] Speaker 1: what any mother would do. You loved her so much
[3:06:50] Speaker 1: it hurts. That's not wrong, Mirsa. She clawed at her sleeves,
[3:06:56] Speaker 1: at her throat, like the grief was something she could
[3:06:59] Speaker 1: tear out of her skin. Again, the whole body shook.
[3:07:03] Speaker 1: I just wanted to keep her safe. She gasped. I
[3:07:08] Speaker 1: held her tighter. I know, I whispered, I know. I
[3:07:15] Speaker 1: stayed with her there until her sobs turned to silence.
[3:07:19] Speaker 1: Then I helped her to her feet and walked to
[3:07:21] Speaker 1: her bed. Once she was settled, I lifted the muslin
[3:07:26] Speaker 1: gently from the counter and took it outside. I felt
[3:07:33] Speaker 1: wrong to throw the fruit away because of how much
[3:07:36] Speaker 1: it looked like Elsie. It was strange. It felt like
[3:07:40] Speaker 1: she was back. She almost looked alive in Marissa's arms.
[3:07:45] Speaker 1: My hands shook as I grabbed a spade from the shed.
[3:07:49] Speaker 1: I walked out to Elsie's tree, knelt at the base,
[3:07:52] Speaker 1: and started digging. The muslin reaked enough to make me gag.
[3:07:58] Speaker 1: I turned my head and swallowed it down. When the
[3:08:01] Speaker 1: hole was deep enough, I unwrapped the cloth one last time,
[3:08:06] Speaker 1: just enough to see the curve of what used to
[3:08:08] Speaker 1: be her face, and lowered it in slowly. I pressed
[3:08:13] Speaker 1: the dirt back over gently, smoothing it flat with my palm,
[3:08:17] Speaker 1: and sat there a long time, not ready to leave.
[3:08:22] Speaker 1: When I stood and brushed the soil from my knees,
[3:08:26] Speaker 1: I looked up. Another fruit was growing, just beginning to swell.
[3:08:34] Speaker 1: Marissa was still asleep. When I came back in, her
[3:08:38] Speaker 1: breathing was shallow and her face was swollen from crying.
[3:08:42] Speaker 1: She didn't stir when I sat beside her and laid
[3:08:45] Speaker 1: my hand on her back. I let her rest. The
[3:08:52] Speaker 1: next morning, Grafco arrived two reps, this time doctor Levin
[3:08:58] Speaker 1: and someone new in an baby jacket, clipboard in hand,
[3:09:02] Speaker 1: both of them all business. I told them Marissa wasn't
[3:09:07] Speaker 1: feeling well. They didn't ask questions. They weren't expecting anything
[3:09:13] Speaker 1: from Elsie's tree anyway. According to their notes, it wasn't
[3:09:17] Speaker 1: supposed to yield for another season. They stopped to take
[3:09:21] Speaker 1: growth measurements, height, trunk, wet, the soil balance, but the
[3:09:26] Speaker 1: other trees they were thrilled, called the results accelerated but stable,
[3:09:34] Speaker 1: used words like promising and replicable. When they left, I
[3:09:39] Speaker 1: brought Marissa a plate of toast and eggs and set
[3:09:42] Speaker 1: it on the nightstand beside her. She hadn't moved much,
[3:09:46] Speaker 1: eyes half open but vacant, her face still blotchy and tired.
[3:09:52] Speaker 1: You should eat, I said, sitting on the edge of
[3:09:55] Speaker 1: the bed. She turned her face into the pillow. I
[3:10:01] Speaker 1: buried it under the tree, I whispered, Marissa led out
[3:10:06] Speaker 1: this half sob and something about that broke me wide open.
[3:10:12] Speaker 1: I reached for her, but she curled tighter, her shoulders shaking.
[3:10:17] Speaker 1: And there's there's another one. It's starting again, just a bud,
[3:10:24] Speaker 1: but it's there. The words just came out. I shouldn't
[3:10:31] Speaker 1: have said anything. I knew what that tree was doing
[3:10:34] Speaker 1: to her. But when she pulled her face from the
[3:10:37] Speaker 1: pillow and looked at me, face blotchy and puffy, eyes
[3:10:41] Speaker 1: bright and that hopeful, desperate way, it was too late
[3:10:46] Speaker 1: to take it back. Another one, she said, barely more
[3:10:51] Speaker 1: than a breath. I nodded her hand, reached out and
[3:10:56] Speaker 1: held mine. She sat up, slow and stiff. I still
[3:11:01] Speaker 1: locked on mine. It wasn't ready, she said, the last one.
[3:11:07] Speaker 1: It hadn't fully become her yet. I didn't understand at first.
[3:11:14] Speaker 1: She squeezed my hand. It was too young, like picking
[3:11:18] Speaker 1: a pair before it's ripe. Her voice cracked. It wasn't
[3:11:22] Speaker 1: completely Elsie. She leaned in close, forehead against mine. Promise
[3:11:29] Speaker 1: me we wait next time. We don't touch it, not
[3:11:33] Speaker 1: until it's her, just before it happened. That's when we'll
[3:11:38] Speaker 1: know it's done. I hesitated. Everything in me wanted to
[3:11:44] Speaker 1: tell her no, to remind her that it wasn't really Elsie.
[3:11:49] Speaker 1: But she looks so certain, so sure, so I said yes.
[3:11:59] Speaker 1: Missa watched the new bud every morning like a kid
[3:12:02] Speaker 1: waiting for Christmas. She raked mulch into the soft cradle
[3:12:06] Speaker 1: shape directly under the branch where the fruit hung, and
[3:12:09] Speaker 1: tucked an old pillow into its curve. When I stepped
[3:12:13] Speaker 1: into view, Marissa looked up and smiled like this was
[3:12:17] Speaker 1: all perfectly normal. She's growing fast, she said, faster than
[3:12:23] Speaker 1: last time. Her voice had that same softness she used
[3:12:27] Speaker 1: when Elsie was sick. I watched her took the corners
[3:12:31] Speaker 1: of the muslin under the pillow like it was a bassanette.
[3:12:35] Speaker 1: She'll be walking before we know it, she added, with
[3:12:39] Speaker 1: this tiny, wistful laugh that didn't reach her eyes. It
[3:12:44] Speaker 1: gutted me weeks past. The fruit grew fuller, like it
[3:12:50] Speaker 1: was aging through Elsie's life stages, one feature at a time,
[3:12:56] Speaker 1: but the eyes stayed shut. It looked like she was
[3:12:59] Speaker 1: fast asleep, like she could wake at any moment. Soon.
[3:13:04] Speaker 1: Its skin flushed warm to the touch, and when I
[3:13:07] Speaker 1: pressed my fingers to the stem, I could feel a pulse.
[3:13:13] Speaker 1: She looked at me, then gently lifted the fruit and
[3:13:17] Speaker 1: extended it toward me. Hold her. She said, she wants
[3:13:22] Speaker 1: to know who you are. She misses you. I hesitated,
[3:13:30] Speaker 1: everything in me recoiled, but Marissa's eyes were steady, soft,
[3:13:37] Speaker 1: so I reached out. The moment my hands touched the fruit,
[3:13:44] Speaker 1: something in me melted. It was warm, heavy, in that
[3:13:51] Speaker 1: way sleeping children always are, and beneath the skin I
[3:13:56] Speaker 1: could swear I felt the faintest flutter of her heart beat.
[3:14:00] Speaker 1: My arms curled around it instinctively, it felt like her,
[3:14:06] Speaker 1: the way she sagged into me after a long day outside.
[3:14:10] Speaker 1: It couldn't really be her. I knew that, but in
[3:14:14] Speaker 1: that moment, it felt like holding her again, like she'd
[3:14:20] Speaker 1: never left. Then Graftco came back. We hadn't expected another
[3:14:35] Speaker 1: visit so soon, but a single assistant came to check
[3:14:39] Speaker 1: the progress. Just the kid, barely older than a college
[3:14:43] Speaker 1: in turn, with a silver case and a polite smile.
[3:14:47] Speaker 1: He didn't even knock. I didn't even know he was
[3:14:50] Speaker 1: here until I heard a crash, and then Marissa's voice,
[3:14:54] Speaker 1: high and breaking. They're going to take her, Paul, They're
[3:14:57] Speaker 1: going to see her, she said the window, wide eyed.
[3:15:03] Speaker 1: You have to stop them. She said they'll take her.
[3:15:06] Speaker 1: They'll cut a down like she's nothing. You promised, Paul,
[3:15:09] Speaker 1: you promised, I tried to calm her voice, low and steady.
[3:15:16] Speaker 1: I'll handle it. I won't let them near her. Just
[3:15:19] Speaker 1: stay here, please, Reesa. She shook her head like she
[3:15:24] Speaker 1: couldn't hear me, tears tracking down her cheeks. She's not ready,
[3:15:29] Speaker 1: he said, we'd wait. You said we'd protect her. I
[3:15:33] Speaker 1: mean it, I said, already turning toward the door. I'm going.
[3:15:38] Speaker 1: I'll take care of it, I swear. My heart thudded
[3:15:43] Speaker 1: harder with each step. The assistant was already scanning through
[3:15:47] Speaker 1: the trees and taking notes. I forced a smile on
[3:15:50] Speaker 1: to my face as I approached him, hoping he couldn't
[3:15:53] Speaker 1: see the panic behind it. Morning, I said, keeping my
[3:15:58] Speaker 1: tone casual. You folks sure know how to pick your weather.
[3:16:04] Speaker 1: He glanced up and gave a short nod distracted. Yeah,
[3:16:08] Speaker 1: sorry to drop an unannounced just a routine check. Shouldn't
[3:16:12] Speaker 1: take long. You'll want to see the roots well in
[3:16:15] Speaker 1: the north row. It tripled last month, he blinked at me,
[3:16:21] Speaker 1: distracted eyes already drifting toward the younger block. That one's
[3:16:26] Speaker 1: still sterile. I added, quickly, pointing at Elsie's tree. Not
[3:16:31] Speaker 1: due to fruit for another year, maybe two. He nodded
[3:16:36] Speaker 1: slowly and followed me away. But half way down the row,
[3:16:40] Speaker 1: he paused, glanced over his shoulder. Mind if I take
[3:16:45] Speaker 1: a quick reading over there, he asked, already starting back
[3:16:49] Speaker 1: toward that tree. I caught up in two strides. It's
[3:16:54] Speaker 1: really not necessary, nothing viable there yet, he shook his head.
[3:17:00] Speaker 1: Doctor Levin wants the monitor the growth. And then he
[3:17:03] Speaker 1: stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the fruit hanging
[3:17:07] Speaker 1: from Elsie's tree. It was rounded, flushed, too lifelike to
[3:17:12] Speaker 1: be dismissed. What the hell? He dropped to his knees
[3:17:19] Speaker 1: to get a closer look, pulling out a handheld scanner
[3:17:22] Speaker 1: from his belt. This wasn't in the notes, I watched.
[3:17:29] Speaker 1: As he raised the device toward the fruit, the scanner beaped.
[3:17:34] Speaker 1: He turned to me. I'm going to have to report this.
[3:17:40] Speaker 1: Panic crawled up my throat. Wait, it's probably just the deformity.
[3:17:45] Speaker 1: The hormones can cause mutations, right, His eyes narrowed. This
[3:17:53] Speaker 1: isn't a mutation, this is something else. He looked again
[3:17:59] Speaker 1: and reached out like you might touch it. He had
[3:18:03] Speaker 1: no idea what she meant to us. I thought about Marissa,
[3:18:08] Speaker 1: how she'd curl around that muslin like she was holding
[3:18:10] Speaker 1: our girl again. How she'd cried herself to sleep when
[3:18:13] Speaker 1: it rotted, how her voice broke when she whispered, they'll
[3:18:18] Speaker 1: take her. Suddenly, I couldn't see the assistant anymore. I
[3:18:25] Speaker 1: saw a man walking out of there with Elsie's face
[3:18:28] Speaker 1: in a folder. I saw Marissa break all over again,
[3:18:33] Speaker 1: something I couldn't handle anymore. I thought about grabbing him,
[3:18:38] Speaker 1: just wrapping my arm around his throat and squeezing until
[3:18:41] Speaker 1: the life left his eyes. The thought alone made my
[3:18:44] Speaker 1: fingers twitch. But before I could move, a pruning tool
[3:18:51] Speaker 1: stuck the back of his head with a sickening crunch.
[3:18:55] Speaker 1: The blade slid in just above the neck, through the
[3:18:58] Speaker 1: soft spot with a spine and skull met A shudder
[3:19:02] Speaker 1: ripped through him. He stiffened on his knees, then sagged forward, gurgling.
[3:19:09] Speaker 1: His arms failed once, and then he slumped cheek, hitting
[3:19:14] Speaker 1: the dirt. His scanner landed in the mulch of the
[3:19:17] Speaker 1: muffled crunch. Blood seeped into the soil, dark and fast.
[3:19:23] Speaker 1: A low, gurgling breath hissed from his throat and one
[3:19:26] Speaker 1: leg jerked. He wasn't dead, Damn, I breathed. Marissa stepped
[3:19:36] Speaker 1: into view behind me, her face pale and wet with sweat.
[3:19:40] Speaker 1: The bruning tool hung limp in her hand. He's not
[3:19:45] Speaker 1: I started. I had to, she said quickly, her voice shaking. Paul,
[3:19:51] Speaker 1: I had to. He saw her, You saw him. He
[3:19:55] Speaker 1: was going to take her. I couldn't let him take her,
[3:20:00] Speaker 1: still alive, I said, dropping to one knee. We need to. No,
[3:20:06] Speaker 1: Marissa snapped, we can't. He'll tell them we'll lose her
[3:20:10] Speaker 1: all over again. Her eyes darted to the fruit, then
[3:20:16] Speaker 1: back to me. I saved her, Paul, don't you see
[3:20:21] Speaker 1: I saved her. He's dying, Marissa. We can't just just
[3:20:27] Speaker 1: leave him. We have to, she snapped, You said you'd
[3:20:32] Speaker 1: protect her. I looked back down at the assistant, his
[3:20:38] Speaker 1: chest barely rising. Blood bubbled at the corner of his mouth.
[3:20:43] Speaker 1: His fingers twitched like he was trying to reach for something.
[3:20:48] Speaker 1: I clenched my fist and squeezed my eyes shut. Every
[3:20:52] Speaker 1: part of me screamed to act to fix it, but
[3:20:57] Speaker 1: I was frozen. Marissa cut to my face with trembling hands.
[3:21:04] Speaker 1: We're doing this for her, for her daughter. I nodded barely.
[3:21:12] Speaker 1: Then we need to finish it fast. I reached down
[3:21:18] Speaker 1: with shaking hands and pulled the pruning tool from where
[3:21:21] Speaker 1: it had fallen. The blade tore out with a wet pop.
[3:21:25] Speaker 1: I hovered over him, the way to the metal suddenly
[3:21:28] Speaker 1: immense in my hand. His eyes fluttered, her breath wheezed
[3:21:34] Speaker 1: out of him, his fingers twitched. I could have ended
[3:21:39] Speaker 1: it right then I knew I should. I gripped the
[3:21:43] Speaker 1: handle and brought the tip to the base of his
[3:21:46] Speaker 1: skull and froze. My hands shook. He was someone's kid.
[3:21:56] Speaker 1: He didn't deserve any of this, and here I was
[3:22:00] Speaker 1: on my knees, about to end it because I was
[3:22:02] Speaker 1: too much of a cow to fix any of it.
[3:22:06] Speaker 1: Then I looked to the side. I saw Marissa holding
[3:22:09] Speaker 1: the fruit, and for a second I saw Elsie in
[3:22:14] Speaker 1: her arms. My throat burned. I blinked hard, tried to
[3:22:20] Speaker 1: steady my grip. I'm sorry, I whispered, and then I
[3:22:26] Speaker 1: drove the blade down through the soft spot in his skull.
[3:22:31] Speaker 1: I looked down at the body, blood thick in the dirt,
[3:22:36] Speaker 1: and I felt sick. Was this worth it? I tried
[3:22:41] Speaker 1: to swallow the question, but it stuck there. Marissa brought
[3:22:46] Speaker 1: the tarp from the shed and helped roll his body
[3:22:49] Speaker 1: into it. Neither of us spoke. We dragged him past
[3:22:54] Speaker 1: the rose to the far edge, near the compost pit,
[3:22:57] Speaker 1: where the ground was softer. I took the shovel and
[3:23:01] Speaker 1: started digging. The smell of dirt and blood mixed in
[3:23:06] Speaker 1: the air, and the hole was deep enough. We lowered
[3:23:10] Speaker 1: him in. I didn't look at his face. We covered
[3:23:16] Speaker 1: it fast, packed the dirt back over, kicked mulch across
[3:23:20] Speaker 1: the top. By the time we finished, my arms were shaking.
[3:23:25] Speaker 1: Marissa stood beside me, her eyes glassy and far away.
[3:23:31] Speaker 1: We have to clean the scanner, she said, and burn
[3:23:34] Speaker 1: the tarp. I nodded, and make sure they never send
[3:23:40] Speaker 1: any one again. A week passed. Every night I lay
[3:23:50] Speaker 1: beside Marissa, with the weight of what I'd done disturbing
[3:23:53] Speaker 1: my thoughts. I kept telling myself it was for them,
[3:23:58] Speaker 1: but I couldn't shake the sound of the girl in
[3:24:00] Speaker 1: his throat. I tried to picture Marissa's face when she
[3:24:04] Speaker 1: held that fruit, and tried to hold onto that try
[3:24:08] Speaker 1: to believe it was worth it. The fruit had grown bigger,
[3:24:13] Speaker 1: It was heavier now, thick around the middle, and long
[3:24:17] Speaker 1: enough to touch the ground. It curled into the mulch
[3:24:20] Speaker 1: like it was sleeping, and it looked older now, almost
[3:24:25] Speaker 1: the same age as Elsie had been before she died.
[3:24:29] Speaker 1: We both started spending more time under the tree. I'd
[3:24:33] Speaker 1: catch Marissa brushing mulch away from the fruit side, or
[3:24:37] Speaker 1: humming softly, like she used to at bedtime. One morning,
[3:24:42] Speaker 1: while I tied down a saggy branch, she looked up
[3:24:46] Speaker 1: from where she sat, one hand resting gently on the
[3:24:49] Speaker 1: curve of the fruit. I think she's going to open
[3:24:53] Speaker 1: her eyes soon, she said. I nodded slowly, unsure of
[3:24:58] Speaker 1: how to answer. She looks ready. Marisa smiled, Our baby's
[3:25:06] Speaker 1: coming back. I sat beside her for that moment, with
[3:25:12] Speaker 1: the smell of bark and mulch around us and that
[3:25:15] Speaker 1: fruit between us, it felt like it might actually be true.
[3:25:22] Speaker 1: And then the phone rang from the house. It was Grafco,
[3:25:26] Speaker 1: the same polite voice that it scheduled the check ins before.
[3:25:31] Speaker 1: Just following up, he said, one of our assistants had
[3:25:34] Speaker 1: scheduled a sight visit in your area. Did they make contact?
[3:25:40] Speaker 1: I met Marissa's eyes across the kitchen. Her grip on
[3:25:43] Speaker 1: the coffee mug tightened. No, I said, no, one showed understood,
[3:25:50] Speaker 1: thank you, We'll be in touch. The lion clicked dead.
[3:25:57] Speaker 1: If that wasn't enough stress. When Marissa turned the radio on,
[3:26:01] Speaker 1: it crackled to life with the tail end of an
[3:26:04] Speaker 1: emergency broadcast. Heavy winds expected across the valley floor. Lightning
[3:26:10] Speaker 1: activity reported near the ridge. Residents should secure loose property
[3:26:14] Speaker 1: and avoid open areas. Advisories are in effect until midnight.
[3:26:19] Speaker 1: Repeat high wind and lightning warnings issued through tonight. The
[3:26:26] Speaker 1: sky had that bruised tone to it, too dark for
[3:26:29] Speaker 1: the morning. She's not ready, Marissa said, quietly. If that
[3:26:35] Speaker 1: wind knocks it down, it won't. I said, we won't
[3:26:39] Speaker 1: let it. We grabbed what we had, twine, steaks, and
[3:26:45] Speaker 1: spare netting from the tool shed. I carried out an
[3:26:49] Speaker 1: old canopy from the market days metal legs, rusted but
[3:26:53] Speaker 1: still usable. Marissa followed me arms full of blankets and
[3:26:58] Speaker 1: old towels. The wind had already picked up by the
[3:27:02] Speaker 1: time we reached the tree. The leaves shivered overhead, that
[3:27:07] Speaker 1: warning rustle that comes before the break. So we worked fast.
[3:27:13] Speaker 1: Marissa crouched beneath the branch, copping the fruit with both hands,
[3:27:17] Speaker 1: like it might already be slipping away, or we should
[3:27:21] Speaker 1: anchor it. She said, something soft, just in case. I
[3:27:27] Speaker 1: nodded and wedged an old pillow beneath the branch, tying
[3:27:30] Speaker 1: it up loosely so it cradled the stem without tugging.
[3:27:35] Speaker 1: She wrapped the towels around it like insulation, tugging every edge.
[3:27:40] Speaker 1: Then I pulled the canopy over and hammered stakes around
[3:27:43] Speaker 1: the base. We stretched the mesh netting torch around the frame,
[3:27:48] Speaker 1: leaving room for the wind to pass, but not enough
[3:27:51] Speaker 1: to tear it. Looks like a damn tent, I muttered,
[3:27:55] Speaker 1: stepping back. A flash of lightning licked the sky in
[3:27:59] Speaker 1: the distance, followed by a slow roll of thunder. A
[3:28:03] Speaker 1: few seconds later. I counted out of habit maybe three
[3:28:08] Speaker 1: or four miles off. We need to go inside, I said,
[3:28:13] Speaker 1: my voice firm. Marissa refused to move. She was still
[3:28:19] Speaker 1: crouched one hand on the branch, the other gently covering
[3:28:22] Speaker 1: the base of the fruit through the canopy. She's going
[3:28:26] Speaker 1: to be scared alone, she said. We can't just leave her. Marissa,
[3:28:32] Speaker 1: She's just a kid, Paul. She doesn't understand storms. What
[3:28:36] Speaker 1: if she thinks. We abandoned her again and knelt beside her.
[3:28:41] Speaker 1: The air buzzed faintly, starting in pressure and dread, curling
[3:28:45] Speaker 1: in the space between each gust. You've done everything you can,
[3:28:50] Speaker 1: I said. She knows that. But if lightning strikes, another
[3:28:56] Speaker 1: flash cut across the sky, this one closer. Thunder crackled overhead,
[3:29:02] Speaker 1: and Marissa winced. I grabbed her hand. Come on, we'll
[3:29:07] Speaker 1: watch from the house. We'll be right there, just like
[3:29:10] Speaker 1: when she spent the night camping in the garden. He
[3:29:13] Speaker 1: didn't leave her then either. She hesitated, Then she nodded. Slowly.
[3:29:20] Speaker 1: We ran for the house through the rising wind. Once inside,
[3:29:25] Speaker 1: Marissa pressed herself to the window, breath fogging the glass.
[3:29:30] Speaker 1: The next bolt of lightning struck somewhere beyond the east Grove,
[3:29:34] Speaker 1: close enough at the flash painted the entire sky white.
[3:29:39] Speaker 1: A half second later, the thunder crackled so hard the
[3:29:43] Speaker 1: glass trembled in its frame. Then her sharp smell hit
[3:29:49] Speaker 1: electrical and burned. I looked past Marissa's shoulder and saw
[3:29:55] Speaker 1: sparks flaring from one of the grafcow notes at the
[3:29:58] Speaker 1: base of the tree three rows down. Paul. Marissa said,
[3:30:04] Speaker 1: voice sharp, do you see that, Yeah, I breathed. The
[3:30:11] Speaker 1: sparks caught the dry mulch. Fast flames licked up the
[3:30:15] Speaker 1: base of the trunk. Then another node popped, another burst.
[3:30:21] Speaker 1: The fire jumped from one row to the next, like
[3:30:23] Speaker 1: it had been waiting. Marissa slammed her hand against the window. No, no, no.
[3:30:31] Speaker 1: I grabbed the fire extinguisher from under the sink. Call
[3:30:34] Speaker 1: nine one one, I barked. Now she didn't move, Marissa.
[3:30:42] Speaker 1: She tore her eyes away from the window, fumbling for
[3:30:45] Speaker 1: the phone. I bolted for the door, heart pounding the
[3:30:50] Speaker 1: air outside already thick with smoke and heat. The fire
[3:30:54] Speaker 1: raced faster than I expected. The wind whipped through the rose,
[3:30:59] Speaker 1: feeding the flames. The extinguisher hissed uselessly against the growing
[3:31:03] Speaker 1: wall of orange and black. I turned and saw Marissa
[3:31:08] Speaker 1: turning toward the tree. Phone clutched in one hand, the
[3:31:11] Speaker 1: shears glinting in the other. Her face was streaked with
[3:31:15] Speaker 1: sweat and panic. We have to get her, she shouted, Marissa. No,
[3:31:22] Speaker 1: I'm not leaving her. She dove under the canopy as
[3:31:27] Speaker 1: flames crept closer through the underbrush. The air was thick
[3:31:31] Speaker 1: and angry. I heard the pop of another node and
[3:31:35] Speaker 1: the shattering snap of a branch. I ran to her.
[3:31:40] Speaker 1: She emerged cradling the fruit to her chest, wrapped in
[3:31:44] Speaker 1: a blanket. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back
[3:31:47] Speaker 1: with everything I had. We ran, ducking under limbs, smoke,
[3:31:53] Speaker 1: clawing at her lungs. We returned to the porch just
[3:31:57] Speaker 1: after another lightning bolt split the scar. The boom of
[3:32:01] Speaker 1: thunder hit a second later, like the world was splitting inside.
[3:32:07] Speaker 1: She held on to the fruit, like when she carried
[3:32:10] Speaker 1: Elsie to bed after falling asleep on the couch. Its
[3:32:14] Speaker 1: skin glistened as if weeping, a thick, clear trail rolling
[3:32:19] Speaker 1: down her cheek. Is that sap, I asked. She shook
[3:32:25] Speaker 1: her head slowly. She's crying. She was scared. The fruit
[3:32:34] Speaker 1: didn't pulse anymore, but it was warm. The resemblance was
[3:32:39] Speaker 1: more complete than before. It looked done. Maybe she was ready,
[3:32:47] Speaker 1: Marissa whispered. Another crack of lightning ripped across the sky,
[3:32:52] Speaker 1: and thunder followed so fast it felt like it landed
[3:32:56] Speaker 1: on our roof. I looked at Marissa, who called to help.
[3:33:01] Speaker 1: Right She nodded barely, they're coming. Her attention was on
[3:33:09] Speaker 1: the fruit. She began to rock it gently. Sh baby,
[3:33:15] Speaker 1: it's all right, it's just a storm. You're safe. We've
[3:33:19] Speaker 1: got you. She kept whispering to it, words soft and soothing,
[3:33:25] Speaker 1: like she was lulling it back to sleep. You're scared now,
[3:33:29] Speaker 1: I know, I know. But we're here. We're not going anywhere.
[3:33:36] Speaker 1: I turned to the window. The fire trucks hadn't arrived yet.
[3:33:41] Speaker 1: Outside the orchard glowed with shifting orange light, the trees
[3:33:45] Speaker 1: going one by one. Our whole life unraveled, row after
[3:33:51] Speaker 1: row of work, memory sweat, just gone, years of early mornings,
[3:33:58] Speaker 1: of pruning in frost and picking in heat, of coaxing
[3:34:02] Speaker 1: life out of cracked earth, all of it vanishing into smoke.
[3:34:07] Speaker 1: The trees we planted our first spring. Then the fire
[3:34:13] Speaker 1: had reached Elsie's tree. The canopy, red built mint to
[3:34:17] Speaker 1: shield and protect, caught instantly. The netting ignited like dry paper,
[3:34:23] Speaker 1: flames raising up the edges. The towels and blankets Marissa
[3:34:28] Speaker 1: had so carefully wrapped became fuel. Lightning struck again, closer.
[3:34:34] Speaker 1: This time it split a branch two rows over and
[3:34:38] Speaker 1: sent a shock wave through the orchard. I watched the
[3:34:42] Speaker 1: bark blacken and peel with branches thrashing in the heat.
[3:34:47] Speaker 1: Another flash lit the sky and thunder cracked like a gunshot.
[3:34:52] Speaker 1: The maulchar around the base popped, and the wires underneath
[3:34:56] Speaker 1: sparked again, throwing arcs into the inferno and feed the
[3:35:00] Speaker 1: fire until it roared like a living thing. Marissa shrieked,
[3:35:09] Speaker 1: I turned and sawah doubled over the counter, arms wrapped
[3:35:12] Speaker 1: protectively around the fruit, rocking it. No, no, please, no,
[3:35:19] Speaker 1: she whimpered, not again, not again. The fruit skin had
[3:35:25] Speaker 1: the jaw split open, wet and sudden. A thick line
[3:35:30] Speaker 1: tore sideways through the cheek the way overripe fruit bursts
[3:35:34] Speaker 1: under its own weight. Inside were muscles and tendons. Pink
[3:35:40] Speaker 1: curled around the edges of the wound like fresh gum, twitching.
[3:35:44] Speaker 1: It glistened with something slick. Marissa's hands scrambled to press
[3:35:49] Speaker 1: the pieces back together. No, baby, stay, stay with me, please,
[3:35:55] Speaker 1: she whispered, pressing her palms against the softening flesh like
[3:35:59] Speaker 1: she could hold it in place by force. Her fingers
[3:36:02] Speaker 1: smeared black and red residue across the muslin. Don't go,
[3:36:07] Speaker 1: she begged. You're almost there, you're almost done. Please don't
[3:36:11] Speaker 1: leave me. Then it started to cave. The jaw turned
[3:36:18] Speaker 1: dark and black and fully the flesh sagged and collapsed
[3:36:22] Speaker 1: into itself, caving inward like it was folding back into
[3:36:26] Speaker 1: the pit it came from. Marissa tried to catch the
[3:36:30] Speaker 1: pieces as they fell, cupping her hands beneath them, but
[3:36:34] Speaker 1: they slid through her fingers in wet, shapeless slumps. Each
[3:36:39] Speaker 1: chunk landed on the counter with a thick, soft supplat
[3:36:44] Speaker 1: She shrieked again and grabbed at what was left, trying
[3:36:47] Speaker 1: to reassemble it. I can fix it, I can fix it.
[3:36:52] Speaker 1: Just give her back. A vein unspooled from the center
[3:36:57] Speaker 1: and shriveled before I could finish. What was left with
[3:37:01] Speaker 1: scraps of soft, black tissue, slick with residue. In the
[3:37:06] Speaker 1: center lay a single seed. Marissa reached for it with
[3:37:12] Speaker 1: shaking fingers, hands coated in the pulp of what used
[3:37:16] Speaker 1: to be elsie. She cut the seed. Her mouth moved,
[3:37:21] Speaker 1: but no sound came out, at first, just to quiver.
[3:37:26] Speaker 1: Then her lips parted. No, no, no, this isn't what
[3:37:33] Speaker 1: was supposed to happen. I waited, we waited. She was
[3:37:37] Speaker 1: supposed to be ready, She was almost here. She backed
[3:37:42] Speaker 1: into the wall and slid down, curling around the seed,
[3:37:46] Speaker 1: muttering fragments, apologies, lullabies. Her eyes were wild, darting toward
[3:37:53] Speaker 1: the window. The storm, the fire, It scared her, she whispered,
[3:38:00] Speaker 1: She got scared, and she left. Blue and red light
[3:38:09] Speaker 1: flashed against the walls, strobing across the kitchen. As sirens
[3:38:13] Speaker 1: filled the air. The fire trucks pulled into the drive,
[3:38:17] Speaker 1: wheels kicking up gravel and smoke. Boots hid the ground.
[3:38:21] Speaker 1: Running shouts rang out. Water lines hissed as they unspooled.
[3:38:26] Speaker 1: I stepped away from the window, chest heavy, the sound
[3:38:30] Speaker 1: of the orchard crackling like coal in a furnace. I
[3:38:34] Speaker 1: looked at the seed, still cradled in Marissa's hands, and
[3:38:39] Speaker 1: felt something sickening in my stomach. Marissa rocked on her heels,
[3:38:44] Speaker 1: clutching the seed tight against the chest. Her eyes were glassy, unfocussed,
[3:38:51] Speaker 1: fixed on nothing. Then she looked up at me, sudden
[3:38:56] Speaker 1: and sharp. We need to replant it, she said. We
[3:39:01] Speaker 1: can't let it in like this. We need to give
[3:39:04] Speaker 1: her another chance. My throat tightened. I glanced at the seed,
[3:39:10] Speaker 1: thinner the glow of the fire. Marissa, I said, carefully,
[3:39:17] Speaker 1: we have to wait. The storm isn't done, not yet.
[3:39:22] Speaker 1: She shook her head like she hadn't heard me. We
[3:39:26] Speaker 1: can't wait too long. She's still out there. I can
[3:39:29] Speaker 1: feel it. We can't leave her alone for too long.
[3:39:33] Speaker 1: She gets scared. It took hours to fight the fire.
[3:39:40] Speaker 1: The orchard was a patchwork of scorched trunks and blackened earth.
[3:39:44] Speaker 1: By the time the smoke cleared, what hadn't burned down
[3:39:48] Speaker 1: was drowned. We lost nearly everything, the pears, the apples,
[3:39:54] Speaker 1: the entire eastern block, years of pruning, grafting and coaxing,
[3:39:59] Speaker 1: life and bark and soil all gone. When the trucks
[3:40:04] Speaker 1: finally rolled out and the sky had cleared, I walked
[3:40:07] Speaker 1: back inside. Marissa had fallen asleep on the kitchen floor,
[3:40:13] Speaker 1: the seed still clutched to her chest. I stood over
[3:40:18] Speaker 1: her for a long time. Then I reached down and
[3:40:23] Speaker 1: gently pried the seed from her fingers. She stirred, but
[3:40:27] Speaker 1: didn't wake. I carried it to the bathroom, closed the door,
[3:40:34] Speaker 1: sat on the edge of the top and stared at
[3:40:37] Speaker 1: it resting in my palm. It looked harmless, just a
[3:40:43] Speaker 1: simple seed. But I couldn't do it again. Marissa would
[3:40:49] Speaker 1: heal eventually, so I flushed it. I watched as the
[3:40:56] Speaker 1: water swirled and it disappeared. Then I sat there in
[3:41:02] Speaker 1: the quiet, not sure if I just killed what was
[3:41:06] Speaker 1: left my wife, or finally let my daughter rest. Then
[3:41:12] Speaker 1: it all hit me. My shoulders caved forward, I bent
[3:41:17] Speaker 1: elbows to knees, face in my hands, and I cried, big,
[3:41:24] Speaker 1: ugly sobs that shook the floor and scraped out something
[3:41:27] Speaker 1: I hadn't touched since the day she died. My chest
[3:41:31] Speaker 1: seized with each breath, and I wept until my stomach cramped,
[3:41:36] Speaker 1: until snot and spit smeared down my chin. Months of
[3:41:41] Speaker 1: keeping it together cracked open in a single brutal moment.

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