WEBVTT
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[SPEAKER_00]: Dan is in the night.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to another episode of the Macabre.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The terrifying.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Tonight, let's celebrate a birthday in true horror style.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Our protagonist is a young boy whose household has a very strange ritual on his birthday.
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[SPEAKER_00]: they go out into a cabin in the woods, lock him in a secure room, and only bring him out in the morning.
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[SPEAKER_00]: What could possibly be going on here?
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[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I've heard of a lock in, but not like this, and never with only one or two guests.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This story is called, my dad got a strange and creepy email from one of his students before they went missing and was written by IVLO11.
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[SPEAKER_00]: My dad is a professor at a university in Canada, and he received a very strange email from one of his students.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He showed it to me and we laughed about it, but things quickly got weird when we found out the students had gone missing.
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[SPEAKER_00]: My dad brought it to the authorities, and they told him that others receive the same email.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's currently an open case, and I'm not even sure I'm allowed to share this, but it's really creepy.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I hope they find him.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I hope this isn't real.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We called it the Happy Birthday Hellspon.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The subject line of the student's email is just, I'm afraid.
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[SPEAKER_00]: If you're reading this, know that I'm afraid.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I have no one to turn to.
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[SPEAKER_00]: All I can do is try and explain the fear that has haunted me every year since I was born.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I see no point in protecting this family secret as I have since been deserted by them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I'm alone this time around, and I'm afraid that I won't make it out alive.
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[SPEAKER_00]: For most of my life, you could say I had a pretty regular upbringing.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I was raised by loving parents, encouraged to get good grades in school, got grounded if I fell out of line, and being the youngest of three was always pushed around by my older brother and sister.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In many ways, I was like every other kid.
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[SPEAKER_00]: My family made it especially important that I feel that way.
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[SPEAKER_00]: but by no means did we live an ordinary life.
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[SPEAKER_00]: You see, like everyone else, I had a birthday.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Only it wasn't what others would consider a celebration.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The earliest memory I have of a birthday is on the eve of my fourth.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I remember driving for hours through the country roads with my family up to a lonely cabin in the middle of nowhere.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Upon arriving, my father took me into a room in the basement with my sister who was seven at the time.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He left us there with a couple of toys and told us to sit quietly and play no matter what we heard upstairs.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Now, early memories are a strange thing.
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[SPEAKER_00]: As a child, you don't really know what you actually recall and what's your imagination.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I always struggled with one particular detail of that night as I grew up.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't the fact that my sister and I were locked in what seemed to be a fortified room.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It was the fact that my parents and my brother, who was 10 at the time, were brandishing rifles and weapons.
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[SPEAKER_00]: At that age, I convinced myself it must have been in my head, but as I got older, that illusion dissipated.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That morning, I remember me and my sister being blindfolded out of the cabin before being loaded into the car.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The ride home was strangely quiet.
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[SPEAKER_00]: My parents were exhausted and beat, and I'll never forget to look on my brother's face.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He was never the same after that day.
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[SPEAKER_00]: After that night, things went back to normal.
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[SPEAKER_00]: As I entered preschool that year, like most kids, I attended a string of birthday parties for my classmates, all of which included cake, presents, piñadas and goody bags.
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[SPEAKER_00]: A very big contrast to what I experienced on the anniversary of my birth and of my siblings.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I was a pretty observant kid.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I quickly realized that something was off as I got older.
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[SPEAKER_00]: When I asked my mother for a birthday party like that of my friends, she dismissed the idea and told me one day I'd understand.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The following birthdays were almost exactly the same, only it seemed my family was doing a better job at hiding whatever it was I thought I saw on that previous birthday, perhaps realizing that I started retaining information at that age.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The basement I previously remembered as fortified was now full of color, and looked like a playroom with eight different types of locks on the door.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Given the evidence, I always assumed that my family was having an adult gathering in the cabin upstairs, a celebration to mature for me and my sister.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The sounds I would hear creek through the ceiling gave the impression of loud and
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[SPEAKER_00]: I remember listening to the commotion and wondering what could be going on.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I'd imagine that the echoing bangs from outside the basement walls were fireworks.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The loud screams belonging to the excited, extended family I never met.
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[SPEAKER_00]: My young and arrogant self fantasized that it was a celebration in my honor.
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[SPEAKER_00]: On my seventh birthday, like usual, my father brought me down to the basement.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Only this time I was alone.
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[SPEAKER_00]: My sister, having turned 10 that year, was finally old enough to take part in the celebration I presumed.
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[SPEAKER_00]: On the right home that morning, something changed in my sister.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The look on her face was similar to my brothers on that morning after my fourth birthday.
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[SPEAKER_00]: She too was never the same.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I always wondered what changed.
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[SPEAKER_00]: My siblings almost resented me, ignoring me and keeping their distance.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Even despite all the tense silences, they were very protective of me and I didn't know why.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Sometime during that year, as I waited for my siblings at the bus stop after school, something strange happened.
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[SPEAKER_00]: An old lady stood a foot away from me, looking through my soul with her piercing eyes that seemed almost pitch black.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The way her skin wrapped around her bones was unusual.
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[SPEAKER_00]: She murmured some words under her breath before a creepy smile spanned across her face.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I'd be lying if I said I wasn't shaken.
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[SPEAKER_00]: When my brother arrived, he pulled me behind his back as my sister defensively stood up to the old lady with her own piercing gaze.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't say a word to her, but as my brother pulled me away, I looked back at the old lady and read her lips.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I'll be seeing you soon.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to paint the picture that my family and I didn't have any great times or fun memories because we did.
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[SPEAKER_00]: However, the closer we got to my birthday, I'd always feel a sense of tense uncertainty around the dinner table.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I knew something was going on.
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[SPEAKER_00]: My father would take my brother and sister somewhere for hours while my mom and I stayed home.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I was being kept in the dark about something, that much I knew.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't until a couple of months before my 10th birthday that I realized I'd soon come face-to-face with the truth.
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[SPEAKER_00]: After all, turning 10 seemed to be what got you out of the cabin basement.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Three months before I turned 10, my mother and father sat me down at the table to finally reveal the truth.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Since the day they told me, I feel like I haven't woken up from one long nightmare.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This is where you might think what I'm saying is something made up, but I assure you it is not.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Please, don't stop listening.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I need someone to understand.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know the specifics, as my parents only told me what I needed to know.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But before they immigrated to Canada, they were unable to conceive and were desperate to have children.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So, they went to a woman who dealt in black magic, and she somehow made it happen.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And that's when my brother was born.
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[SPEAKER_00]: After my sister was born and my mother was pregnant with me, my parents decided to move to Canada to give us a shot at a better life.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Again, I'm not too sure about the details, but something happened between the deal my parents had with the woman that led to her cursing them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The next words out of my parents mouths changed my life forever.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The curse was on their youngest child that they be returned to the entity that gave them the ability to conceive.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It was this revelation that made everything make sense.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I know what I'm about to say may sound ridiculous to whoever listens to this, but this is not a joke.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Every year on the anniversary of my birth, something evil comes for me.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It has a name, but it should never be repeated.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's not from this world, it's not human.
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[SPEAKER_00]: From midnight to dead hour, it comes after me relentlessly.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Since I was a child, my parents have protected me from it, and when my siblings became old enough to fight, they too protected me from it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That 10th year of my existence was the first time I'd face it with my family.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Everything made sense after that talk.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I revisited those memories of being locked in the basement, all the shaking and rattling of the cabin, the booming sounds of fireworks, and the loud shouts and screams.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They were never the celebration I imagined them to be.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It was my family defending me from the clutches of the beast I'd soon come to know.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I finally understood the looming uncertainty, fear and anxiousness that came over my family as my birthday approached.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Knowing that the days were bringing us closer and closer to a horrifying task, face to face with something insidious and evil.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I knew now why my brother and sister resented me.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They were children, and they were forced to face the boogie man in order to protect their little brother.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I found out the mysterious trips my father would take my siblings on, where to a gun range he made close to the cabin.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I joined them a few weeks before my birthday.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Had never held a rifle before, my father made sure I could at least shoot straight.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He never said much while he taught us how to reload a rifle and aim down its sights.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But on the last day at the gun range, he told me something I'd never forget.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It can be stopped, but it cannot be killed.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Every time you put it down, it will come back stronger.
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[SPEAKER_00]: One night of bravery and strength for a year of life.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Amongst the shared fear of his children, he smiled.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He could see the fear in our eyes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: His children standing there with rifles taller than them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It made him laugh for a moment.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I miss him dearly.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The first time I was to face the creature, my parents considered putting me back in the basement to keep me safe.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I told them I'd only be more afraid, being alone, knowing something was after me.
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[SPEAKER_00]: For the first time in my life, I experienced what it was like to not be locked away in the cabin basement.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We would unload the car of the rifles and ammunition, fortify the windows, set traps around the perimeter of the cabin, and after sunset, sit down for a family dinner.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I was too afraid to have an appetite, shaking in my chair.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Out of the silence, my brother laughed, and then my mother, and then my sister, and father.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They had faced this creature for years, but for me,
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[SPEAKER_00]: midnight approached.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Outside the cabin was an ocean of darkness, nothing but trees for miles.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We sat in silence watching the flames flicker in the fireplace.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I asked the question that had been haunting me since I first learned the truth.
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[SPEAKER_00]: What happens if it takes me?
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[SPEAKER_00]: My family assured
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[SPEAKER_00]: A distant screen came from outside as soon as the clock hit midnight.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I froze.
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[SPEAKER_00]: All I could do was hide in the corner with a rifle in my hands.
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[SPEAKER_00]: My father shouted orders to my siblings and my mother, and just like that, I saw it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Through the window, running on its arms and legs like a dog towards us.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It looked human, but the way it moved was anything but.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Pale skin and protruding bones.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It hit a trap before I could see its face.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's screeched in pain, fighting off the bare trap around its leg.
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[SPEAKER_00]: my father went out and put it down.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Then another scream.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This time on the other side of the cabin.
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[SPEAKER_00]: My father ran back in.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Every member of my family had a window covered.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I was the only one cowardly crying on the floor.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I couldn't believe it was all real.
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[SPEAKER_00]: For hours the creature attacked, coming out of the ground after every previous version of it was put down, bullet after bullet.
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[SPEAKER_00]: A few hours in, it was silent.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I went over to the window, and that's when it grabbed me.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It pounced through the window and pulled me by the legs so fast that I hit my head on the ground.
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[SPEAKER_00]: To my surprise, I woke up in the hospital the next day.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I watched as my parents flawlessly lied to the nurse about the biking accident that gave me a concussion.
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[SPEAKER_00]: At that moment, I truly convinced myself that it had all been a dream.
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[SPEAKER_00]: My parents were disappointed.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They managed to kill their creature before it could drag me away, but it was too close of a call.
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[SPEAKER_00]: For the rest of that year, my father took me to the gun range every weekend.
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[SPEAKER_00]: As my 11th birthday approached, they decided that it was too risky to have me fight alongside them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So, back to the basement I went, only this time medicated so that I could sleep through the night, and hope I didn't wake up in the clutches of the being that hunted me.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I would always ask about the creature.
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[SPEAKER_00]: What it was, where it came from, all I knew was that it wasn't from this world.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I found out that it could take the form of others so that it could get close to me during the year, but only during those four hours on my birthday, from midnight to dead hour, could it actually come for me?
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[SPEAKER_00]: This is one of the reasons my parents built a cabin miles away from any population.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It would only be us against the creature, with no one else around to get hurt or in the way.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The second time I faced the creature was on my 16th birthday.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I was no longer a whimpering coward.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I convinced my parents that I could stand my own ground, fight my own battle.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So, I did.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It didn't look the way it did before.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The creature changed.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It was bigger, stronger, didn't go down easy.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We never let it get as close as it did that first time around.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We changed our strategy and our weapons, but every year it learned and adapted.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The cabin deteriorated with every passing year.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We did our best to fix it up, but the damages were becoming more significant.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I'd see it in my nightmares, the creature calling me, the excruciating pain that came at its hands, the darkness of the place it would drag me to.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I would see people throughout the year staring at me in the distance.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Their skin hanging off their bones.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Just human enough to not call attention.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I knew it was the creature.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I became used to it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: As I got older, I could feel it wanted me more.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And kept getting closer and closer every time we fought it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Two years ago, my father died of prostate cancer four months before my birthday.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He died surrounded by all of us, made each of them promise to protect me.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I hated that, but I didn't need them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That year we fought the creature only the four of us.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It got close enough to where I could look into its dead pale eyes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Since my father passed, my mother's mental health has deteriorated.
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[SPEAKER_00]: My brother started a family and told me he could no longer be there to protect me.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Last year, it was only my sister and I that drove up to the cabin.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That was the longest night of our lives.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It took everything we had to keep the creature away.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And even then, it got close enough to claw her.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I took her to the hospital the morning after, and told the doctors we were hiking in the woods when an animal attacked.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He believed us.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I sat beside her as she recovered.
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[SPEAKER_00]: When she woke up, she told me that she couldn't do it anymore.
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[SPEAKER_00]: She wanted to travel and live in new places, eventually settled down and start a family.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I understood, I was afraid, but I reassured her that I'd be fine on my own.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I could see the guilt in her eyes as she betrayed the promise she made to my father, a sense of guilt that was missing from my brother's eyes when he told me he could no longer help.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I hate myself for what I've done to my family.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This curse that follows me has brought nothing but pain and fear to them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I want this to end, but I don't know how to make it stop.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so angry at my brother and sister for desserting me, but I don't blame them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I visit my mom from time to time to see how she's doing.
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[SPEAKER_00]: My brother won't speak to me.
20:06.222 --> 20:08.223
[SPEAKER_00]: My sister hardly answers my calls.
20:09.333 --> 20:14.298
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm too afraid to make friends or find a partner because I don't want to drag them into this.
20:15.839 --> 20:18.802
[SPEAKER_00]: I record this as I sit alone in the cabin.
20:19.502 --> 20:21.264
[SPEAKER_00]: It's my birthday in a few hours.
20:22.365 --> 20:25.128
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm turning 21, and I'm afraid.
20:26.349 --> 20:28.631
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if I'll make it out alive this time.
20:29.532 --> 20:33.675
[SPEAKER_00]: For the last few weeks, my nightmares have kept me from sleeping.
20:34.618 --> 20:41.403
[SPEAKER_00]: A part of me doesn't want to fight it anymore, but I fear that my fate would be much worse if I let it take me.
20:42.684 --> 20:50.430
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if I'll be a match for it, facing it on my own, and wish I could be certain that I'll be around tomorrow, but I'm not.
20:51.731 --> 20:53.352
[SPEAKER_00]: This is why I'm doing this.
20:54.593 --> 21:01.778
[SPEAKER_00]: If I live to see another day, I'll be returning to find the woman responsible for this curse and put an end to all this.
21:06.822 --> 21:07.322
[SPEAKER_00]: update.
21:08.923 --> 21:10.945
[SPEAKER_00]: We woke up to some chilling news.
21:12.345 --> 21:21.291
[SPEAKER_00]: This morning the police told my dad that they found the location of the cabin, but unfortunately it was in ruins and gulfed in flames.
21:22.852 --> 21:26.394
[SPEAKER_00]: The fire department was dispatched to put out the raging fire.
21:27.274 --> 21:33.098
[SPEAKER_00]: The officer said they're still working on putting it out as the flames managed to spread to the surrounding woods.
21:34.715 --> 21:37.616
[SPEAKER_00]: But there's still a chance this could all be a joke, right?
21:39.097 --> 21:42.659
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll keep you all updated once they put out the flames and search the cabin.
21:44.760 --> 21:47.261
[SPEAKER_00]: Please let this email not be true.
21:53.283 --> 21:56.345
[SPEAKER_00]: A burning cabin in the woods, huh?
21:57.171 --> 22:00.634
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's not conclusive, I guess.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps he trapped it in the secure room and fled after setting the cabin a light.
22:07.801 --> 22:10.464
[SPEAKER_00]: You never know, which reminds me.
22:11.044 --> 22:14.928
[SPEAKER_00]: There seems to be another part or two to this story.
22:15.609 --> 22:20.994
[SPEAKER_00]: If you'd like to hear more about this, please leave me a comment and let me know.
22:22.562 --> 22:31.526
[SPEAKER_00]: The premise of this story is so fun, I found myself pausing to consider how I would handle a situation like this.
22:32.607 --> 22:35.488
[SPEAKER_00]: I bet you were daydreaming about it too, weren't you?
22:36.409 --> 22:38.530
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, what would you do?
22:39.450 --> 22:45.013
[SPEAKER_00]: While you're writing your essay in the comments, I'll tell you what my first thought was.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Uninternational flight!
22:49.520 --> 22:54.023
[SPEAKER_00]: That seems like a high-risk, high-reward gambit, doesn't it?
22:54.983 --> 23:00.327
[SPEAKER_00]: So far, the beast only comes out of the ground, so you should be safe in the air.
23:01.327 --> 23:04.509
[SPEAKER_00]: But can you imagine if the rules changed?
23:05.010 --> 23:08.612
[SPEAKER_00]: And that thing, a lurch is out of the little airplane bathroom?
23:09.772 --> 23:10.233
[SPEAKER_00]: Yikes!
23:11.133 --> 23:14.796
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's make it a helicopter, just to be on the safe side.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Fewer hiding places.
23:18.415 --> 23:23.018
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't forget to subscribe to hear more stories like this one.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever you do, read the contract of your black magic bargain very closely.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And don't fall asleep.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
00:00.628 --> 00:02.950
[SPEAKER_00]: Dan is in the night.
00:03.671 --> 00:07.434
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to another episode of the Macabre.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The terrifying.
00:10.836 --> 00:16.601
[SPEAKER_00]: Tonight, let's celebrate a birthday in true horror style.
00:18.162 --> 00:25.448
[SPEAKER_00]: Our protagonist is a young boy whose household has a very strange ritual on his birthday.
00:26.433 --> 00:35.522
[SPEAKER_00]: they go out into a cabin in the woods, lock him in a secure room, and only bring him out in the morning.
00:36.423 --> 00:39.086
[SPEAKER_00]: What could possibly be going on here?
00:39.807 --> 00:47.595
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I've heard of a lock in, but not like this, and never with only one or two guests.
00:49.039 --> 01:00.430
[SPEAKER_00]: This story is called, my dad got a strange and creepy email from one of his students before they went missing and was written by IVLO11.
01:08.691 --> 01:15.581
[SPEAKER_00]: My dad is a professor at a university in Canada, and he received a very strange email from one of his students.
01:16.502 --> 01:24.253
[SPEAKER_00]: He showed it to me and we laughed about it, but things quickly got weird when we found out the students had gone missing.
01:25.093 --> 01:30.234
[SPEAKER_00]: My dad brought it to the authorities, and they told him that others receive the same email.
01:30.895 --> 01:36.696
[SPEAKER_00]: It's currently an open case, and I'm not even sure I'm allowed to share this, but it's really creepy.
01:37.696 --> 01:38.557
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope they find him.
01:39.257 --> 01:40.697
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope this isn't real.
01:42.318 --> 01:45.879
[SPEAKER_00]: We called it the Happy Birthday Hellspon.
01:46.959 --> 01:51.220
[SPEAKER_00]: The subject line of the student's email is just, I'm afraid.
01:53.140 --> 01:55.923
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're reading this, know that I'm afraid.
01:56.583 --> 01:57.964
[SPEAKER_00]: I have no one to turn to.
01:58.865 --> 02:04.190
[SPEAKER_00]: All I can do is try and explain the fear that has haunted me every year since I was born.
02:05.291 --> 02:11.256
[SPEAKER_00]: I see no point in protecting this family secret as I have since been deserted by them.
02:12.097 --> 02:16.821
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm alone this time around, and I'm afraid that I won't make it out alive.
02:18.595 --> 02:22.599
[SPEAKER_00]: For most of my life, you could say I had a pretty regular upbringing.
02:23.439 --> 02:35.710
[SPEAKER_00]: I was raised by loving parents, encouraged to get good grades in school, got grounded if I fell out of line, and being the youngest of three was always pushed around by my older brother and sister.
02:36.511 --> 02:39.794
[SPEAKER_00]: In many ways, I was like every other kid.
02:40.875 --> 02:44.338
[SPEAKER_00]: My family made it especially important that I feel that way.
02:45.263 --> 02:48.305
[SPEAKER_00]: but by no means did we live an ordinary life.
02:49.086 --> 02:52.608
[SPEAKER_00]: You see, like everyone else, I had a birthday.
02:53.069 --> 02:56.431
[SPEAKER_00]: Only it wasn't what others would consider a celebration.
02:58.273 --> 03:02.716
[SPEAKER_00]: The earliest memory I have of a birthday is on the eve of my fourth.
03:03.476 --> 03:10.742
[SPEAKER_00]: I remember driving for hours through the country roads with my family up to a lonely cabin in the middle of nowhere.
03:11.747 --> 03:17.990
[SPEAKER_00]: Upon arriving, my father took me into a room in the basement with my sister who was seven at the time.
03:18.851 --> 03:25.554
[SPEAKER_00]: He left us there with a couple of toys and told us to sit quietly and play no matter what we heard upstairs.
03:27.355 --> 03:30.457
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, early memories are a strange thing.
03:31.397 --> 03:36.120
[SPEAKER_00]: As a child, you don't really know what you actually recall and what's your imagination.
03:37.312 --> 03:41.533
[SPEAKER_00]: I always struggled with one particular detail of that night as I grew up.
03:42.613 --> 03:47.315
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't the fact that my sister and I were locked in what seemed to be a fortified room.
03:48.295 --> 03:55.017
[SPEAKER_00]: It was the fact that my parents and my brother, who was 10 at the time, were brandishing rifles and weapons.
03:55.937 --> 04:03.259
[SPEAKER_00]: At that age, I convinced myself it must have been in my head, but as I got older, that illusion dissipated.
04:04.717 --> 04:11.018
[SPEAKER_00]: That morning, I remember me and my sister being blindfolded out of the cabin before being loaded into the car.
04:12.038 --> 04:14.699
[SPEAKER_00]: The ride home was strangely quiet.
04:15.499 --> 04:20.740
[SPEAKER_00]: My parents were exhausted and beat, and I'll never forget to look on my brother's face.
04:21.440 --> 04:24.141
[SPEAKER_00]: He was never the same after that day.
04:25.961 --> 04:28.942
[SPEAKER_00]: After that night, things went back to normal.
04:29.689 --> 04:40.596
[SPEAKER_00]: As I entered preschool that year, like most kids, I attended a string of birthday parties for my classmates, all of which included cake, presents, piñadas and goody bags.
04:41.597 --> 04:47.400
[SPEAKER_00]: A very big contrast to what I experienced on the anniversary of my birth and of my siblings.
04:48.541 --> 04:50.162
[SPEAKER_00]: I was a pretty observant kid.
04:50.742 --> 04:54.425
[SPEAKER_00]: I quickly realized that something was off as I got older.
04:55.650 --> 05:04.072
[SPEAKER_00]: When I asked my mother for a birthday party like that of my friends, she dismissed the idea and told me one day I'd understand.
05:05.812 --> 05:20.116
[SPEAKER_00]: The following birthdays were almost exactly the same, only it seemed my family was doing a better job at hiding whatever it was I thought I saw on that previous birthday, perhaps realizing that I started retaining information at that age.
05:21.188 --> 05:31.315
[SPEAKER_00]: The basement I previously remembered as fortified was now full of color, and looked like a playroom with eight different types of locks on the door.
05:33.036 --> 05:43.463
[SPEAKER_00]: Given the evidence, I always assumed that my family was having an adult gathering in the cabin upstairs, a celebration to mature for me and my sister.
05:44.424 --> 05:49.267
[SPEAKER_00]: The sounds I would hear creek through the ceiling gave the impression of loud and
05:51.364 --> 05:55.526
[SPEAKER_00]: I remember listening to the commotion and wondering what could be going on.
05:56.367 --> 06:01.349
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd imagine that the echoing bangs from outside the basement walls were fireworks.
06:02.029 --> 06:06.332
[SPEAKER_00]: The loud screams belonging to the excited, extended family I never met.
06:07.512 --> 06:12.735
[SPEAKER_00]: My young and arrogant self fantasized that it was a celebration in my honor.
06:14.216 --> 06:18.819
[SPEAKER_00]: On my seventh birthday, like usual, my father brought me down to the basement.
06:19.280 --> 06:20.841
[SPEAKER_00]: Only this time I was alone.
06:21.741 --> 06:28.786
[SPEAKER_00]: My sister, having turned 10 that year, was finally old enough to take part in the celebration I presumed.
06:29.807 --> 06:33.830
[SPEAKER_00]: On the right home that morning, something changed in my sister.
06:34.490 --> 06:39.214
[SPEAKER_00]: The look on her face was similar to my brothers on that morning after my fourth birthday.
06:40.294 --> 06:42.056
[SPEAKER_00]: She too was never the same.
06:43.190 --> 06:45.334
[SPEAKER_00]: I always wondered what changed.
06:46.315 --> 06:51.083
[SPEAKER_00]: My siblings almost resented me, ignoring me and keeping their distance.
06:52.024 --> 06:57.814
[SPEAKER_00]: Even despite all the tense silences, they were very protective of me and I didn't know why.
06:59.863 --> 07:06.727
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometime during that year, as I waited for my siblings at the bus stop after school, something strange happened.
07:07.628 --> 07:15.732
[SPEAKER_00]: An old lady stood a foot away from me, looking through my soul with her piercing eyes that seemed almost pitch black.
07:16.793 --> 07:20.175
[SPEAKER_00]: The way her skin wrapped around her bones was unusual.
07:21.176 --> 07:26.319
[SPEAKER_00]: She murmured some words under her breath before a creepy smile spanned across her face.
07:27.295 --> 07:29.297
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd be lying if I said I wasn't shaken.
07:30.178 --> 07:37.825
[SPEAKER_00]: When my brother arrived, he pulled me behind his back as my sister defensively stood up to the old lady with her own piercing gaze.
07:38.786 --> 07:45.373
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't say a word to her, but as my brother pulled me away, I looked back at the old lady and read her lips.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I'll be seeing you soon.
07:52.405 --> 07:58.967
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to paint the picture that my family and I didn't have any great times or fun memories because we did.
08:00.007 --> 08:07.049
[SPEAKER_00]: However, the closer we got to my birthday, I'd always feel a sense of tense uncertainty around the dinner table.
08:07.769 --> 08:09.289
[SPEAKER_00]: I knew something was going on.
08:10.269 --> 08:15.851
[SPEAKER_00]: My father would take my brother and sister somewhere for hours while my mom and I stayed home.
08:16.831 --> 08:20.332
[SPEAKER_00]: I was being kept in the dark about something, that much I knew.
08:21.433 --> 08:28.659
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't until a couple of months before my 10th birthday that I realized I'd soon come face-to-face with the truth.
08:29.540 --> 08:33.884
[SPEAKER_00]: After all, turning 10 seemed to be what got you out of the cabin basement.
08:35.025 --> 08:42.231
[SPEAKER_00]: Three months before I turned 10, my mother and father sat me down at the table to finally reveal the truth.
08:43.312 --> 08:48.497
[SPEAKER_00]: Since the day they told me, I feel like I haven't woken up from one long nightmare.
08:49.935 --> 08:55.799
[SPEAKER_00]: This is where you might think what I'm saying is something made up, but I assure you it is not.
08:56.640 --> 08:58.261
[SPEAKER_00]: Please, don't stop listening.
08:58.641 --> 09:00.663
[SPEAKER_00]: I need someone to understand.
09:02.524 --> 09:07.147
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know the specifics, as my parents only told me what I needed to know.
09:08.140 --> 09:14.023
[SPEAKER_00]: But before they immigrated to Canada, they were unable to conceive and were desperate to have children.
09:14.563 --> 09:20.605
[SPEAKER_00]: So, they went to a woman who dealt in black magic, and she somehow made it happen.
09:21.506 --> 09:22.866
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's when my brother was born.
09:23.607 --> 09:30.970
[SPEAKER_00]: After my sister was born and my mother was pregnant with me, my parents decided to move to Canada to give us a shot at a better life.
09:31.870 --> 09:40.812
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, I'm not too sure about the details, but something happened between the deal my parents had with the woman that led to her cursing them.
09:41.912 --> 09:45.993
[SPEAKER_00]: The next words out of my parents mouths changed my life forever.
09:47.073 --> 09:54.395
[SPEAKER_00]: The curse was on their youngest child that they be returned to the entity that gave them the ability to conceive.
09:55.435 --> 09:58.596
[SPEAKER_00]: It was this revelation that made everything make sense.
10:00.682 --> 10:06.805
[SPEAKER_00]: I know what I'm about to say may sound ridiculous to whoever listens to this, but this is not a joke.
10:08.225 --> 10:14.228
[SPEAKER_00]: Every year on the anniversary of my birth, something evil comes for me.
10:15.008 --> 10:17.689
[SPEAKER_00]: It has a name, but it should never be repeated.
10:18.169 --> 10:20.770
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not from this world, it's not human.
10:21.891 --> 10:26.693
[SPEAKER_00]: From midnight to dead hour, it comes after me relentlessly.
10:27.533 --> 10:36.141
[SPEAKER_00]: Since I was a child, my parents have protected me from it, and when my siblings became old enough to fight, they too protected me from it.
10:37.182 --> 10:41.646
[SPEAKER_00]: That 10th year of my existence was the first time I'd face it with my family.
10:43.497 --> 10:45.738
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything made sense after that talk.
10:46.638 --> 10:57.600
[SPEAKER_00]: I revisited those memories of being locked in the basement, all the shaking and rattling of the cabin, the booming sounds of fireworks, and the loud shouts and screams.
10:58.661 --> 11:01.301
[SPEAKER_00]: They were never the celebration I imagined them to be.
11:02.082 --> 11:07.443
[SPEAKER_00]: It was my family defending me from the clutches of the beast I'd soon come to know.
11:08.428 --> 11:16.054
[SPEAKER_00]: I finally understood the looming uncertainty, fear and anxiousness that came over my family as my birthday approached.
11:16.995 --> 11:25.862
[SPEAKER_00]: Knowing that the days were bringing us closer and closer to a horrifying task, face to face with something insidious and evil.
11:26.823 --> 11:29.685
[SPEAKER_00]: I knew now why my brother and sister resented me.
11:30.205 --> 11:35.770
[SPEAKER_00]: They were children, and they were forced to face the boogie man in order to protect their little brother.
11:37.484 --> 11:44.345
[SPEAKER_00]: I found out the mysterious trips my father would take my siblings on, where to a gun range he made close to the cabin.
11:45.245 --> 11:47.386
[SPEAKER_00]: I joined them a few weeks before my birthday.
11:48.006 --> 11:53.107
[SPEAKER_00]: Had never held a rifle before, my father made sure I could at least shoot straight.
11:54.107 --> 11:58.828
[SPEAKER_00]: He never said much while he taught us how to reload a rifle and aim down its sights.
11:59.688 --> 12:03.949
[SPEAKER_00]: But on the last day at the gun range, he told me something I'd never forget.
12:05.185 --> 12:08.026
[SPEAKER_00]: It can be stopped, but it cannot be killed.
12:08.686 --> 12:12.107
[SPEAKER_00]: Every time you put it down, it will come back stronger.
12:13.147 --> 12:16.328
[SPEAKER_00]: One night of bravery and strength for a year of life.
12:18.029 --> 12:21.370
[SPEAKER_00]: Amongst the shared fear of his children, he smiled.
12:22.010 --> 12:23.551
[SPEAKER_00]: He could see the fear in our eyes.
12:24.191 --> 12:27.372
[SPEAKER_00]: His children standing there with rifles taller than them.
12:28.292 --> 12:29.812
[SPEAKER_00]: It made him laugh for a moment.
12:30.713 --> 12:31.893
[SPEAKER_00]: I miss him dearly.
12:33.678 --> 12:39.644
[SPEAKER_00]: The first time I was to face the creature, my parents considered putting me back in the basement to keep me safe.
12:40.385 --> 12:45.149
[SPEAKER_00]: I told them I'd only be more afraid, being alone, knowing something was after me.
12:46.170 --> 12:52.797
[SPEAKER_00]: For the first time in my life, I experienced what it was like to not be locked away in the cabin basement.
12:53.668 --> 13:05.014
[SPEAKER_00]: We would unload the car of the rifles and ammunition, fortify the windows, set traps around the perimeter of the cabin, and after sunset, sit down for a family dinner.
13:06.514 --> 13:10.316
[SPEAKER_00]: I was too afraid to have an appetite, shaking in my chair.
13:11.417 --> 13:16.739
[SPEAKER_00]: Out of the silence, my brother laughed, and then my mother, and then my sister, and father.
13:17.680 --> 13:20.581
[SPEAKER_00]: They had faced this creature for years, but for me,
13:23.910 --> 13:24.990
[SPEAKER_00]: midnight approached.
13:25.951 --> 13:31.033
[SPEAKER_00]: Outside the cabin was an ocean of darkness, nothing but trees for miles.
13:32.213 --> 13:35.935
[SPEAKER_00]: We sat in silence watching the flames flicker in the fireplace.
13:37.135 --> 13:41.057
[SPEAKER_00]: I asked the question that had been haunting me since I first learned the truth.
13:42.278 --> 13:44.498
[SPEAKER_00]: What happens if it takes me?
13:45.899 --> 13:46.899
[SPEAKER_00]: My family assured
13:52.338 --> 13:56.464
[SPEAKER_00]: A distant screen came from outside as soon as the clock hit midnight.
13:57.325 --> 13:57.926
[SPEAKER_00]: I froze.
13:58.927 --> 14:02.512
[SPEAKER_00]: All I could do was hide in the corner with a rifle in my hands.
14:03.476 --> 14:09.240
[SPEAKER_00]: My father shouted orders to my siblings and my mother, and just like that, I saw it.
14:10.081 --> 14:14.544
[SPEAKER_00]: Through the window, running on its arms and legs like a dog towards us.
14:15.545 --> 14:19.128
[SPEAKER_00]: It looked human, but the way it moved was anything but.
14:20.009 --> 14:22.410
[SPEAKER_00]: Pale skin and protruding bones.
14:23.451 --> 14:25.893
[SPEAKER_00]: It hit a trap before I could see its face.
14:26.774 --> 14:30.637
[SPEAKER_00]: It's screeched in pain, fighting off the bare trap around its leg.
14:31.519 --> 14:33.660
[SPEAKER_00]: my father went out and put it down.
14:34.441 --> 14:36.362
[SPEAKER_00]: Then another scream.
14:37.022 --> 14:39.003
[SPEAKER_00]: This time on the other side of the cabin.
14:39.904 --> 14:41.364
[SPEAKER_00]: My father ran back in.
14:42.365 --> 14:44.986
[SPEAKER_00]: Every member of my family had a window covered.
14:45.627 --> 14:48.308
[SPEAKER_00]: I was the only one cowardly crying on the floor.
14:49.049 --> 14:50.930
[SPEAKER_00]: I couldn't believe it was all real.
14:51.930 --> 15:00.035
[SPEAKER_00]: For hours the creature attacked, coming out of the ground after every previous version of it was put down, bullet after bullet.
15:01.084 --> 15:03.425
[SPEAKER_00]: A few hours in, it was silent.
15:04.346 --> 15:07.468
[SPEAKER_00]: I went over to the window, and that's when it grabbed me.
15:08.068 --> 15:13.551
[SPEAKER_00]: It pounced through the window and pulled me by the legs so fast that I hit my head on the ground.
15:15.312 --> 15:18.734
[SPEAKER_00]: To my surprise, I woke up in the hospital the next day.
15:19.849 --> 15:26.739
[SPEAKER_00]: I watched as my parents flawlessly lied to the nurse about the biking accident that gave me a concussion.
15:27.640 --> 15:32.466
[SPEAKER_00]: At that moment, I truly convinced myself that it had all been a dream.
15:34.189 --> 15:35.871
[SPEAKER_00]: My parents were disappointed.
15:36.856 --> 15:41.779
[SPEAKER_00]: They managed to kill their creature before it could drag me away, but it was too close of a call.
15:42.459 --> 15:46.741
[SPEAKER_00]: For the rest of that year, my father took me to the gun range every weekend.
15:47.622 --> 15:53.705
[SPEAKER_00]: As my 11th birthday approached, they decided that it was too risky to have me fight alongside them.
15:54.225 --> 16:04.391
[SPEAKER_00]: So, back to the basement I went, only this time medicated so that I could sleep through the night, and hope I didn't wake up in the clutches of the being that hunted me.
16:06.019 --> 16:08.141
[SPEAKER_00]: I would always ask about the creature.
16:08.602 --> 16:14.508
[SPEAKER_00]: What it was, where it came from, all I knew was that it wasn't from this world.
16:15.429 --> 16:28.183
[SPEAKER_00]: I found out that it could take the form of others so that it could get close to me during the year, but only during those four hours on my birthday, from midnight to dead hour, could it actually come for me?
16:28.895 --> 16:33.700
[SPEAKER_00]: This is one of the reasons my parents built a cabin miles away from any population.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It would only be us against the creature, with no one else around to get hurt or in the way.
16:41.670 --> 16:45.412
[SPEAKER_00]: The second time I faced the creature was on my 16th birthday.
16:46.153 --> 16:48.154
[SPEAKER_00]: I was no longer a whimpering coward.
16:48.935 --> 16:53.118
[SPEAKER_00]: I convinced my parents that I could stand my own ground, fight my own battle.
16:53.878 --> 16:54.999
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I did.
16:55.839 --> 16:57.460
[SPEAKER_00]: It didn't look the way it did before.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The creature changed.
17:00.242 --> 17:03.905
[SPEAKER_00]: It was bigger, stronger, didn't go down easy.
17:04.752 --> 17:07.877
[SPEAKER_00]: We never let it get as close as it did that first time around.
17:08.618 --> 17:14.347
[SPEAKER_00]: We changed our strategy and our weapons, but every year it learned and adapted.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The cabin deteriorated with every passing year.
17:19.001 --> 17:23.646
[SPEAKER_00]: We did our best to fix it up, but the damages were becoming more significant.
17:25.207 --> 17:36.257
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd see it in my nightmares, the creature calling me, the excruciating pain that came at its hands, the darkness of the place it would drag me to.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I would see people throughout the year staring at me in the distance.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Their skin hanging off their bones.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Just human enough to not call attention.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I knew it was the creature.
17:50.049 --> 17:51.331
[SPEAKER_00]: I became used to it.
17:52.271 --> 17:55.855
[SPEAKER_00]: As I got older, I could feel it wanted me more.
17:56.435 --> 17:59.578
[SPEAKER_00]: And kept getting closer and closer every time we fought it.
18:01.103 --> 18:06.567
[SPEAKER_00]: Two years ago, my father died of prostate cancer four months before my birthday.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He died surrounded by all of us, made each of them promise to protect me.
18:13.991 --> 18:16.653
[SPEAKER_00]: I hated that, but I didn't need them.
18:17.894 --> 18:20.656
[SPEAKER_00]: That year we fought the creature only the four of us.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It got close enough to where I could look into its dead pale eyes.
18:27.266 --> 18:31.612
[SPEAKER_00]: Since my father passed, my mother's mental health has deteriorated.
18:32.433 --> 18:37.619
[SPEAKER_00]: My brother started a family and told me he could no longer be there to protect me.
18:38.440 --> 18:42.285
[SPEAKER_00]: Last year, it was only my sister and I that drove up to the cabin.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That was the longest night of our lives.
18:46.979 --> 18:50.444
[SPEAKER_00]: It took everything we had to keep the creature away.
18:50.785 --> 18:54.030
[SPEAKER_00]: And even then, it got close enough to claw her.
18:55.091 --> 19:01.200
[SPEAKER_00]: I took her to the hospital the morning after, and told the doctors we were hiking in the woods when an animal attacked.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He believed us.
19:03.863 --> 19:05.724
[SPEAKER_00]: I sat beside her as she recovered.
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[SPEAKER_00]: When she woke up, she told me that she couldn't do it anymore.
19:11.268 --> 19:17.173
[SPEAKER_00]: She wanted to travel and live in new places, eventually settled down and start a family.
19:18.459 --> 19:25.304
[SPEAKER_00]: I understood, I was afraid, but I reassured her that I'd be fine on my own.
19:26.284 --> 19:37.471
[SPEAKER_00]: I could see the guilt in her eyes as she betrayed the promise she made to my father, a sense of guilt that was missing from my brother's eyes when he told me he could no longer help.
19:39.473 --> 19:42.955
[SPEAKER_00]: I hate myself for what I've done to my family.
19:43.940 --> 19:48.184
[SPEAKER_00]: This curse that follows me has brought nothing but pain and fear to them.
19:49.065 --> 19:52.048
[SPEAKER_00]: I want this to end, but I don't know how to make it stop.
19:53.129 --> 19:58.794
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so angry at my brother and sister for desserting me, but I don't blame them.
20:00.196 --> 20:03.399
[SPEAKER_00]: I visit my mom from time to time to see how she's doing.
20:04.420 --> 20:05.721
[SPEAKER_00]: My brother won't speak to me.
20:06.222 --> 20:08.223
[SPEAKER_00]: My sister hardly answers my calls.
20:09.333 --> 20:14.298
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm too afraid to make friends or find a partner because I don't want to drag them into this.
20:15.839 --> 20:18.802
[SPEAKER_00]: I record this as I sit alone in the cabin.
20:19.502 --> 20:21.264
[SPEAKER_00]: It's my birthday in a few hours.
20:22.365 --> 20:25.128
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm turning 21, and I'm afraid.
20:26.349 --> 20:28.631
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if I'll make it out alive this time.
20:29.532 --> 20:33.675
[SPEAKER_00]: For the last few weeks, my nightmares have kept me from sleeping.
20:34.618 --> 20:41.403
[SPEAKER_00]: A part of me doesn't want to fight it anymore, but I fear that my fate would be much worse if I let it take me.
20:42.684 --> 20:50.430
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if I'll be a match for it, facing it on my own, and wish I could be certain that I'll be around tomorrow, but I'm not.
20:51.731 --> 20:53.352
[SPEAKER_00]: This is why I'm doing this.
20:54.593 --> 21:01.778
[SPEAKER_00]: If I live to see another day, I'll be returning to find the woman responsible for this curse and put an end to all this.
21:06.822 --> 21:07.322
[SPEAKER_00]: update.
21:08.923 --> 21:10.945
[SPEAKER_00]: We woke up to some chilling news.
21:12.345 --> 21:21.291
[SPEAKER_00]: This morning the police told my dad that they found the location of the cabin, but unfortunately it was in ruins and gulfed in flames.
21:22.852 --> 21:26.394
[SPEAKER_00]: The fire department was dispatched to put out the raging fire.
21:27.274 --> 21:33.098
[SPEAKER_00]: The officer said they're still working on putting it out as the flames managed to spread to the surrounding woods.
21:34.715 --> 21:37.616
[SPEAKER_00]: But there's still a chance this could all be a joke, right?
21:39.097 --> 21:42.659
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll keep you all updated once they put out the flames and search the cabin.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Please let this email not be true.
21:53.283 --> 21:56.345
[SPEAKER_00]: A burning cabin in the woods, huh?
21:57.171 --> 22:00.634
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's not conclusive, I guess.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps he trapped it in the secure room and fled after setting the cabin a light.
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[SPEAKER_00]: You never know, which reminds me.
22:11.044 --> 22:14.928
[SPEAKER_00]: There seems to be another part or two to this story.
22:15.609 --> 22:20.994
[SPEAKER_00]: If you'd like to hear more about this, please leave me a comment and let me know.
22:22.562 --> 22:31.526
[SPEAKER_00]: The premise of this story is so fun, I found myself pausing to consider how I would handle a situation like this.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I bet you were daydreaming about it too, weren't you?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Well, what would you do?
22:39.450 --> 22:45.013
[SPEAKER_00]: While you're writing your essay in the comments, I'll tell you what my first thought was.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Uninternational flight!
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[SPEAKER_00]: That seems like a high-risk, high-reward gambit, doesn't it?
22:54.983 --> 23:00.327
[SPEAKER_00]: So far, the beast only comes out of the ground, so you should be safe in the air.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But can you imagine if the rules changed?
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[SPEAKER_00]: And that thing, a lurch is out of the little airplane bathroom?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yikes!
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[SPEAKER_00]: Let's make it a helicopter, just to be on the safe side.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Fewer hiding places.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Don't forget to subscribe to hear more stories like this one.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever you do, read the contract of your black magic bargain very closely.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And don't fall asleep.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
