Speaker 1: You take a final look at the cabin, then turn
Speaker 1: back to the forest. Just then something bursts out from
Speaker 1: behind a distant tree. It looks like a small child
Speaker 1: in a bright red hooded cape, running away at speed. Hey, wait,
Speaker 1: you cry out as you start to give chase. You
Speaker 1: fight desperately to keep up, swatting branches away and leaping
Speaker 1: over the undergrowth as the child keeps on ahead of you,
Speaker 1: swerving in and out of the trees, but soon you're
Speaker 1: reeling them in, and finally, just when you think you
Speaker 1: can't run any more, the child stops. Hey, you call
Speaker 1: out again, as they stand still with their back toward you,
Speaker 1: their head shrouded in that big red hood. What's your name?
Speaker 1: You ask? As you draw closer. Do you know the
Speaker 1: way out of here? And now you are only meet
Speaker 1: us away? Even with their back toward you, you can
Speaker 1: see their chest heaving up and down as tentatively they
Speaker 1: pull down their hood to reveal a matted cascade of hair.
Speaker 1: Then slowly they begin to turn around. You gasp in
Speaker 1: terror at the oddly waxy and rigid, childlike face of
Speaker 1: the thing that now stands before you, and barely notice
Speaker 1: the movement of its hand shooting out toward your stomach.
Speaker 1: Then you feel the sting and see the rip in
Speaker 1: your t shirt. Lifting it up, you look down in
Speaker 1: horror at the fine etching in your skin, then at
Speaker 1: the sharp claw of the figure's hand, now held out
Speaker 1: in front of you. Then the blood appears, seeping out
Speaker 1: of the cut, and soon it is gushing from your belly.
Speaker 1: As the incision slowly begins to expand you grab at
Speaker 1: it with your hands, trying desperately to keep it closed,
Speaker 1: but you can only look on in disbelief. As your
Speaker 1: hot innards begin to still from your stomach, crying out
Speaker 1: in agony, you work fast to keep them inside, grabbing
Speaker 1: at what you can, but there is just too much
Speaker 1: to hold. Only then when you look back up at
Speaker 1: the thing in front of you do you realize its
Speaker 1: face isn't a face at all, but a mask made
Speaker 1: of skin, dried out and crudely stitched together. Under those
Speaker 1: rigid lips, you can just make out something twitching into
Speaker 1: a grin, and from under the eye holes, two beady
Speaker 1: eyes stare hungrily out at you. All the while your
Speaker 1: entrails are steadily squirming out of your stomach, until finally
Speaker 1: they fall to the ground with a wet slap. You
Speaker 1: can only stumble back, hopelessly, collapsing to the floor. As
Speaker 1: the thing moves closer toward you. You turn and claw
Speaker 1: at the dirt, trying to drag yourself away, only to
Speaker 1: then feel the weight of it on top of you,
Speaker 1: pulling you back, and then you realize it is gnawing
Speaker 1: on your insides. With your last ounce of strength, you
Speaker 1: try to push it away, but only succeed in grabbing
Speaker 1: the mask, which slips off in your hand. But before
Speaker 1: you can see what is underneath, the light and the
Speaker 1: pain are fading, the edges of your vision beginning to
Speaker 1: blur and darken until a final Now it's time to
Speaker 1: take care of yourself to make time for you. Teledoc
Speaker 1: gives you access to a licensed therapist to help you
Speaker 1: get back to feeling your best. Speak to a licensed
Speaker 1: therapist by phone or video any time between seven a m.
Speaker 1: To nine pm local time, seven days a week. Teledoc
Speaker 1: Therapy is available through most insurance or employers. Download the
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Speaker 1: Today to get started. That's t e LA DC dot
Speaker 1: com slash Unexplained podcast