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Speaker 1: Hey, this is any and Samantha, and welcome to Stephan.

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Speaker 1: I've never told your production of I Heart Radio and

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Speaker 1: it is time for another edition of Smindy Fiction. And

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Speaker 1: as always, thanks right up front to super producer Christina

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Speaker 1: who makes things happen. And also right up front disclaimer.

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Speaker 1: If this is not your thing, we only do it

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Speaker 1: once a month, so you know, move on. We'd love

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Speaker 1: to have you. But if you don't want to be here,

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Speaker 1: move on, Samantha. When he came out a bit more

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Speaker 1: bluntly than I did, Okay, sorry, that's just where we

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Speaker 1: are today. Okay, perfect, perfect, perfect um. So to start

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Speaker 1: this one, I guess I should say like, this one's

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Speaker 1: a little gnarly. Um, not that too much. I'm trying

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Speaker 1: to think of a way to describe it without spoiling it.

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Speaker 1: But it's a little gross. It's not that gross. Little gross.

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Speaker 1: I think you'll be fine. Okay, I'll put that out there.

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Speaker 1: I want to ask you, Samantha. We've talked about this

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Speaker 1: a lot in several locations, but I don't think i've

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Speaker 1: ever asked you. Did you like people to read what

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Speaker 1: you wrote? It's according to who it was, and if

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Speaker 1: I trusted you I sent you one of my short stories. Actually,

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Speaker 1: I had a small group of friends that we did

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Speaker 1: a little writing club so that we could get together

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Speaker 1: and quitta ea other's writing and talk about it. At

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Speaker 1: the end of thing, we were a pretty healthy group.

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Speaker 1: There was about four or five of us and we

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Speaker 1: would share stories and short stories and gift critiques. And

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Speaker 1: then there was a few friends that I would send

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Speaker 1: to and let be like, let me know what you

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Speaker 1: think about this. So, yes, handful of people probably all

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Speaker 1: could be like ten and less ten and less. That's

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Speaker 1: pretty good, though. Yeah, how do you when someone would

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Speaker 1: send you something that they wrote to read? Were you

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Speaker 1: like nervous to do it? Were you like, what if

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Speaker 1: this is terrible? I can't know. Um, it wasn't until

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Speaker 1: after the fact of like oh what do I do?

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Speaker 1: But initially I would just go win and be like

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Speaker 1: all right, here we go. And also who it was,

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Speaker 1: because if I know you and know the type of

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Speaker 1: writing you do, I'm like, oh, here we go, type

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Speaker 1: of like mentally preparing. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense, that

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Speaker 1: makes sense. I I'm very protective of stuff I've written,

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Speaker 1: which might sound funny given that would do this segment.

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Speaker 1: Now you did destroy your previous works. I did. If

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Speaker 1: you don't know what she's talking about listeners when I

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Speaker 1: think I used in high school. Gosh, I can't wait

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Speaker 1: to talk about Turning Red. There's so many things that

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Speaker 1: connected with in that movie. But there was a point

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Speaker 1: in high school where I destroyed pretty much everything i'd

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Speaker 1: ever written, including a four book and then an ethically

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Speaker 1: long Harry Potter fan fiction and Peter Pan fan fiction

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Speaker 1: and Lord of Rings fan fiction. I ripped them up

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Speaker 1: and then burned them. Sad. Yeah, I'm really sad. I

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Speaker 1: bet they were terrible, But I wish I could read

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Speaker 1: them and make that judgment for myself. Now, yeah, I

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Speaker 1: wish I could. That's a lot of commitment, Like I've

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Speaker 1: hit a hundred, I think a D fifties, the Maccid

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Speaker 1: I don't like, Nope, done. Yeah, And I think one

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Speaker 1: of the reasons I destroyed it is something we've also

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Speaker 1: talked about before, where I felt like, that level of

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Speaker 1: it's not perfect, so I have to get rid of it.

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Speaker 1: But also I was ashamed of them because I was

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Speaker 1: even though like now I'm a sexual, uh, I was

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Speaker 1: going through puberty and I was writing about what I

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Speaker 1: thought like and I just sex, but like kissing. And

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Speaker 1: I remember in my to the Rings when I wrote

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Speaker 1: I let a friend read it, and there's a kissing scene,

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Speaker 1: and she, rightfully but hurt my feelings, pointed out, I

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Speaker 1: don't think that's how kissing works. You don't kiss for

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Speaker 1: that long, because I think I like, they kissed her

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Speaker 1: ten minutes under like a waterfall or something. Look, one

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Speaker 1: of the worst kisses I ever had was doing the

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Speaker 1: movie Kiss and it was so bad. It was like,

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Speaker 1: what are you doing. I was like, yeah, that was

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Speaker 1: bad because that's what I'd seen on TV. But it's

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Speaker 1: so unrealistic. So this is what we were taught. So

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Speaker 1: I don't blame you, Thank you, thank you. But I

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Speaker 1: was embarrassed when she said that because I was like, oh, no,

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Speaker 1: she's right. I have no idea how this works. And

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Speaker 1: then one of my brother's friends accidentally he read one

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Speaker 1: of my journals and he was real neat about it. No,

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Speaker 1: that's an invasion of privacy. It was it was it

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Speaker 1: was a short story. It was a fan fiction. It

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Speaker 1: was a celebrity fan fiction. I can't remember who it

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Speaker 1: was with, but he is the car broke down and

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Speaker 1: I helped him. I helped him out and then he

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Speaker 1: fell immediately, of course, of course. And then my mom

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Speaker 1: she read one and she had the grace not to

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Speaker 1: say anything, but that one was kind of sexual. That

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Speaker 1: one was a little so I was like a turning

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Speaker 1: red moment. It was sexual in yourn. I know. That's

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Speaker 1: why I can't wait to talk about it. It's gonna

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Speaker 1: be great. I was like, oh, my god, this is

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Speaker 1: exact thing, same thing happened to be almost oh, but

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Speaker 1: I said, the short story reading today is kind of

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Speaker 1: an abridged I wrote a trilogy of books that's based

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Speaker 1: on this idea, and this is like a three page

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Speaker 1: short story that is sort of consolidating it. Um. And

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Speaker 1: I loved this story. I did my first Dungeons and

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Speaker 1: Jagon's campaign. The character I made I've talked about before

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Speaker 1: was based on this, which actually was really difficult because

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Speaker 1: it's a real messed up story. So you introduced that

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Speaker 1: element into a just in Jackon's campaign. I guess, real messy.

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Speaker 1: But I loved it, and it was something I did

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Speaker 1: for stress where I would write on this right on

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Speaker 1: this story, and people really wanted to read it because

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Speaker 1: they had heard me talk about it. Um. Probably no

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Speaker 1: one has seen it. But there is a movie I

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Speaker 1: was in called Annie in the City, and they even

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Speaker 1: mentioned it in there, like there's an assassin at the

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Speaker 1: end that like wakes her up in a dream that

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Speaker 1: characters involved in this. But it's kind of it's it's

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Speaker 1: well known, it is what I'm saying. My friends knew

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Speaker 1: where I was writing it, and I wanted to know

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Speaker 1: about it, wanted to read it, and I kept like

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Speaker 1: holding it close to my chest. No one ever was

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Speaker 1: going to read it. I still have people ask me

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Speaker 1: about it. In fact, a colleague of ours recently asked

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Speaker 1: me if I could read it. I was like sure,

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Speaker 1: and then I never sent it because I am very

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Speaker 1: protective and like I get really in my head about

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Speaker 1: if something's good or what if what if it's not feminist?

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Speaker 1: What if I'm like passing on some harmful message that

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Speaker 1: I don't know that I'm passing on, which I guess

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Speaker 1: ultimately be good to know that better than not know

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Speaker 1: that or you trying to publish something. But at one time,

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Speaker 1: my one of my ex boyfriends read part of it

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Speaker 1: and I didn't know he read part of it, and

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Speaker 1: I freaked out, like not on him, but like in

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Speaker 1: my in my heart, like in my body panic, Samantha panic.

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Speaker 1: And he said I liked the part that I read,

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Speaker 1: and I was like, then you're messed up too. And

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Speaker 1: then I thought, well what does that say about me?

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Speaker 1: So listeners, you're in for a treat and go inside

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Speaker 1: the mind. Yes, and I have some points I want

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Speaker 1: to discuss afterwards, but in the meantime, let's get to

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Speaker 1: to this short story called Dark Family Secret. Can I

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Speaker 1: let you in on my Dark Family's Secret? We all

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Speaker 1: have origin stories, lies we tell ourselves over and over

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Speaker 1: until we believe them. The lies I told myself they

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Speaker 1: held so much power over me. I wanted to be fearless,

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Speaker 1: but fear exists for a reason. Open your eyes to

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Speaker 1: the lies. I will change you, It will liberate you

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Speaker 1: if you let it. Be brave. Living with a lie

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Speaker 1: is easy, but don't shy away from the gray. As

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Speaker 1: complex and unsatisfying as it may be, embrace it. It's

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Speaker 1: where you live with all of us. I first heard

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Speaker 1: of Nova as a pledging reporter researching a string of

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Speaker 1: unexplained phenomena, people disappearing into thin air literally, others apparently

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Speaker 1: harnessing fire in their fist, manipulating time, super strength, superspeed,

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Speaker 1: quick healing generation, and with all of this whispers whispers

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Speaker 1: of an elusive drug behind it. It was called Nova.

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Speaker 1: Even finding this information took a monumental amount of leg work.

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Speaker 1: It was as if the people on the no authorities

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Speaker 1: included were actively hiding it. Even as the rate of

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Speaker 1: these incidents increased, cover ups became more difficult to believe,

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Speaker 1: thet whispers growing and possible to ignore. The difficulty of

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Speaker 1: finding it made the allure of being the one to

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Speaker 1: break the story all the more intoxicating. Asking around, for

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Speaker 1: the most part, resulted in blank stares, but on rare occasions,

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Speaker 1: these sustions yielded parentoige responses or vague threats, urges to

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Speaker 1: drop it. If I knew it was good for me,

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Speaker 1: but I didn't drop it, some would argue I didn't

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Speaker 1: know what was good for me either. I scoured the

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Speaker 1: dark corners of the Internet, encountering images and stories that

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Speaker 1: made my skin crawl, that made me think of people

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Speaker 1: in a different way that are forever burned into my brain. Finally,

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Speaker 1: I uncovered a form dedicated to finding people who sold Nova.

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Speaker 1: For the first time, I acknowledged the question that had

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Speaker 1: been lingering in the back of my mind, like a shadow.

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Speaker 1: If I got my hands on some was I going

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Speaker 1: to try it? Who doesn't? What superpowers? Right? The paranoia

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Speaker 1: surrounding it, the threats hinted at something sinister. Still I

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Speaker 1: was curious. I put out feelers to the group, build

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Speaker 1: up a rapport, established a trust as much as can

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Speaker 1: be established in the darkest corner of the Internet, trying

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Speaker 1: to get a lead on an underground drug. It took time,

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Speaker 1: but I got an invitation to an address I didn't recognize,

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Speaker 1: with instructions to show up after midnight and to promise

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Speaker 1: that if I shared this with anyone, the consequences would

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Speaker 1: be severe. This was followed by a block of personal

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Speaker 1: information social security number, apparent social security numbers, phone address,

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Speaker 1: credit cards, passwords. My stomach curdled, and for a moment

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Speaker 1: I teetered on calling the whole thing off. But I'm

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Speaker 1: nothing if not stubborn. The next night, I found myself

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Speaker 1: nervously looking around a dark alleyway, fighting against the chill

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Speaker 1: in the post midnight air. A fog hung in the dark,

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Speaker 1: obscuring the streets the sky. I checked my phone GPS

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Speaker 1: for the fourth time to confirm that I was in

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Speaker 1: the right place. I wrapped my arms around my midsection,

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Speaker 1: wondering if I should just leave, if it had all

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Speaker 1: been a setup. A metal creaking to my left made

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Speaker 1: me jump so badly almost fell over. Red light flooded

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Speaker 1: into the alleyway, the fog twirling within the humming crimson beam.

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Speaker 1: It was a door in the ground. I just assumed

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Speaker 1: it was a cellar or for maintenance, and certainly didn't

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Speaker 1: look like something I should open. I crept towards it,

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Speaker 1: anticipation building almost painfully within me. My friends always joked

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Speaker 1: my curiosity would get me killed. One day, as I

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Speaker 1: got closer, I realized there was a heavy, pulsating beat

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Speaker 1: coming from inside. An electric energy from within or without,

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Speaker 1: I couldn't be sure. Made the hair on my arms

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Speaker 1: stand up. A tall, thin man emerged, dressed mostly in black,

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Speaker 1: his silhouette throne and struck relief in the red light,

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Speaker 1: almost making him glow around the edges a thin, bright

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Speaker 1: red line. For a moment, we stared at each other, frozen.

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Speaker 1: Then he turned sharply on his heel and left eerilysa

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Speaker 1: islence swallowed up in the red and the fog. I hesitated.

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Speaker 1: He'd left the door open. I needed answers, I needed

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Speaker 1: to know. I longed for fame, prestige, for immortality in

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Speaker 1: one form or another, that gaping need. I don't know

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Speaker 1: why it was a part of me, why it's a

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Speaker 1: part of so many of us. A way to cheat death,

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Speaker 1: perhaps to convince ourselves that we mattered. Decision made. I

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Speaker 1: strode towards the cellar door, blinking against the light. As

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Speaker 1: I turned towards its source, a red rectangle burned on

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Speaker 1: my retina, as if in a trance. I descended a

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Speaker 1: set of steep metal stairs that clanged with each step,

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Speaker 1: the sound oddly loud, despite the music growing in volume

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Speaker 1: as I headed towards it. On the final step, the

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Speaker 1: door slammed shut behind me. I nearly jumped out of

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Speaker 1: my skin. Screen caught my throat. When I spun around,

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Speaker 1: another figure stood in front of me, a pale, smiling

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Speaker 1: figure for the second time in as many seconds. I

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Speaker 1: almost fell backwards, gasping wildly. Hello, she said, pleasantly enough.

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Speaker 1: I tried to look behind her to gauge the safety

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Speaker 1: of entering further, but her body in the entry way

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Speaker 1: scared my view. I wondered how likely I'd be able

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Speaker 1: to lift the door in the chance I needed to

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Speaker 1: make a quick exit. She laughed and unseddening the false sound.

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Speaker 1: Do not be afraid, she said, I will be your guide.

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Speaker 1: Then she held out her hand as though to take mine.

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Speaker 1: I forgot how to breathe. I did not take her hand,

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Speaker 1: but I steeled myself and took the final stare, descending

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Speaker 1: completely into the burning red light. She smiled, too white

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Speaker 1: for her face. Her eyes blowed unnervingly. The woman led

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Speaker 1: me inside her pace. Oh. The entryway led into a large, wide,

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Speaker 1: open space, big enough that the red light mellowed and

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Speaker 1: I was able to make out the details of the space.

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Speaker 1: On the left was what appeared to be a bar.

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Speaker 1: The board above sporting names. I didn't recognize the descriptions underneath,

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Speaker 1: reminiscent of wine or oysters, where it's like salty, briny, robust,

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Speaker 1: fruit forward, bitter. Some had phrases like take a walk

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Speaker 1: on the wild side, flirt with death. Next to the

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Speaker 1: descriptions were two sets of percentages, ranging from relatively low

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Speaker 1: to quite high. Some almost assize too high to be alcohol.

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Speaker 1: The prices were exorbitant. I shifted my focus to the

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Speaker 1: center of the room and faltered with a dreadful start,

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Speaker 1: I realized that the people sitting around the tables were

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00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:54,800
Speaker 1: hooked up to what looked like ivy bags of dark

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Speaker 1: liquid to stretching like umbilical cords. The woman's hand on

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Speaker 1: my arm directed me forward. Still processing what I was seeing,

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Speaker 1: I allowed her to lead me to a table in

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Speaker 1: the center, and she guided me onto a soft leather seat.

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Speaker 1: She sat across from me. That too wide, smile on

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Speaker 1: wavering on her face. Tell me what you seek, she asked,

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Speaker 1: My mouth dry, I managed nova. Her voice was strange,

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Speaker 1: vibrating when she responded, you have come to the right place.

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Speaker 1: What what? I looked around, unsure what to ask. First,

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Speaker 1: I gestured at the ivy chords. Is that Nova? She nodded, once,

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00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:49,640
Speaker 1: her eyes bright. What about the percentages? She told me

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00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:53,920
Speaker 1: Nova was unlike anything I ever seen, that it offered

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Speaker 1: an unlimited power, immortality, but that the offering did not

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Speaker 1: come without a risk. The first percentage was the likelihood

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Speaker 1: you turn forever, never needing to take Nova again to

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Speaker 1: reap its benefits, becoming more than human, a part of

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Speaker 1: the new world order. The second was the risk of

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Speaker 1: death or insanity. My gaze darted back to the board

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Speaker 1: so high I breathe this. Many people are willing to

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Speaker 1: take the risk, aren't you, the woman asked, I was,

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Speaker 1: I realized. Her smile grew wider, as though she already

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00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:46,800
Speaker 1: knew the answer. Human life is meaningless, she said, nova

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Speaker 1: can offer so much more. Life can be so much more.

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Speaker 1: The greater the risk, the greater the reward. In the end,

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Speaker 1: I still went with the least risky option, cringing at

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Speaker 1: the price. She asked if I'd like the drip or

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Speaker 1: the drink. I asked the difference. She looked at me

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Speaker 1: for a long moment before she stood without responding. I

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00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:15,359
Speaker 1: glanced around as she rose to get it for me,

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00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:20,320
Speaker 1: subtly cataloging the other patrons. Their faces were painted with ecstasy,

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00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:25,800
Speaker 1: as though they were seeing wonders, untold wonders unimaginable. It

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00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:30,879
Speaker 1: filled me with awe and terror and cavernous curiosity. I

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00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:33,680
Speaker 1: had to admit there was some excitement in toying with

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Speaker 1: death and madness. The woman returned with a glass of dark,

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00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:41,199
Speaker 1: viscous liquid, retaking her seat and delicately placing it in

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00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:44,520
Speaker 1: front of me. I stared at it, the red light

287
00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:48,040
Speaker 1: reflecting off of it. My heart pulsing along with the music.

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00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:54,479
Speaker 1: Something about it pulled a siren song. Tentatively, I grasped

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00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:59,359
Speaker 1: the stem, slowly, twirling it around, asking if I drink this,

290
00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:08,800
Speaker 1: I'm my just die or there's my mind right here, yes,

291
00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:12,800
Speaker 1: she smiled. I thought of my body being dragged out

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Speaker 1: of this grungy space, tossed like garbage. No one would

293
00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:21,080
Speaker 1: ever know what happened. Or I could take this right

294
00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:28,359
Speaker 1: now and become legendary, no risk, no reward. I tossed

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00:19:28,359 --> 00:19:30,639
Speaker 1: it back in one big gulp, slamming the glass on

296
00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:33,560
Speaker 1: the table with perhaps too much force, wiping my mouth.

297
00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:37,920
Speaker 1: It tasted like salt and overly ripe fruit. I took

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00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:41,480
Speaker 1: a gasp, then another, thinking it hadn't worked, but I

299
00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:46,640
Speaker 1: was all alive after all. Then the world split apart.

300
00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:50,560
Speaker 1: My mouth was on fire. Every taste but on my

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00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:56,560
Speaker 1: tongue was reverberating. It was like tasting pure undistilled power.

302
00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:01,800
Speaker 1: I had never felt anything mike, It never believed anything

303
00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:05,439
Speaker 1: like it could have existed. It was as though I

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00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:08,840
Speaker 1: had been dead and was now alive, that I could

305
00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:12,400
Speaker 1: truly see for the first time, and everything so much

306
00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:16,840
Speaker 1: more beautiful than I could ever have imagined. I could

307
00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:22,080
Speaker 1: see time itself, all of the past not taken, the universe,

308
00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:28,840
Speaker 1: like bear, all of it. Mine too alive to alive,

309
00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:33,119
Speaker 1: life itself, fire, fire, fire, too much for this pitiful body.

310
00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:38,520
Speaker 1: I was laughing wildly. I realized my skin tingled with pleasure.

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00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:42,000
Speaker 1: A wide smile pulled up my lips. I forced my

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00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:46,000
Speaker 1: eyes to focus every breath pure electricity. The glass in

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00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:50,320
Speaker 1: front of me exploded, and I laughed louder. People looked

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00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:54,560
Speaker 1: at me and away, grinning, clearly having seen it before,

315
00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:58,440
Speaker 1: ready to go back to their own highs. Is this real?

316
00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:05,920
Speaker 1: I asked what? There was no answer. Instead, my guide said, congratulations,

317
00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:11,119
Speaker 1: you survived. Then I asked the question I should have

318
00:21:11,119 --> 00:21:13,439
Speaker 1: asked at the outset, but had been too afraid to,

319
00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:20,760
Speaker 1: afraid it would stop me. What is this? What is nova?

320
00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:26,520
Speaker 1: Do you care? The voice asked, and for a moment,

321
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,840
Speaker 1: bathing in the beautiful warmth and casing me, I didn't,

322
00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:35,640
Speaker 1: but I made myself nod. Ever, the curious one, it's

323
00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:40,480
Speaker 1: a gateway to what we could be, what we could experience.

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00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:45,640
Speaker 1: It's the next step in human evolution, she offered, somehow

325
00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:51,879
Speaker 1: both serene and terrifying. I persisted, you want in on

326
00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:56,600
Speaker 1: our dark family's secret. She whispered, somehow loud over the music.

327
00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:03,000
Speaker 1: Now that you're one of us, The words blared chaotically

328
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:07,840
Speaker 1: in my brain. She leaned closer, a red halo around her,

329
00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:15,360
Speaker 1: everything in vivid clarity. Why it's blood, my dear. Her

330
00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:19,640
Speaker 1: words were like horrible bells, clawed hands wrapping around my lungs.

331
00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:26,280
Speaker 1: The blood of children aged, it's the most effective. I

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00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:29,240
Speaker 1: stared down into the broken glass at the vestiges of

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00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:34,800
Speaker 1: dark buscus, liquid dream like surreal. I pivoted, observing all

334
00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:38,720
Speaker 1: the patrons hooked up to their I VS. They all knew.

335
00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:43,600
Speaker 1: I realized they all knew, and we're choosing it anyway.

336
00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:50,959
Speaker 1: And the children, do you kill them? My voice sounded

337
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:56,040
Speaker 1: distant to my own ears. Only sometimes came the far

338
00:22:56,200 --> 00:23:00,680
Speaker 1: to non slad answer. They're rare, the ones that into SNOVA.

339
00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:05,679
Speaker 1: Try to keep them alive again. I glanced around, wondering

340
00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:11,119
Speaker 1: if what we've chosen was life our death. Ultimately I

341
00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:14,920
Speaker 1: decided it didn't matter. I did not ask any more questions.

342
00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:18,639
Speaker 1: I didn't push the high was so great. I just

343
00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:22,760
Speaker 1: didn't want to know, and knowing what I do now,

344
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:27,879
Speaker 1: I would do it again. I try not to linger

345
00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:31,040
Speaker 1: too long on that thought, but it is the truth.

346
00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:34,760
Speaker 1: I was one of the family now, a family connected

347
00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:37,480
Speaker 1: by blood and by the knowledge we drank the blood

348
00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:42,399
Speaker 1: of children, joined forever by the dark truth of what

349
00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:49,879
Speaker 1: we've done. My family is growing all around to be

350
00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:54,320
Speaker 1: honest with herself. Give them the chance. Can you be

351
00:23:54,440 --> 00:24:19,640
Speaker 1: certain you wouldn't take it? And we're back? Yes, Yes,

352
00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:24,439
Speaker 1: very dramatic, very dramatic. So there are several things I

353
00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:26,520
Speaker 1: want to talk about. First of all, I want to

354
00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:31,760
Speaker 1: say I wrote this the first version of this story

355
00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:35,800
Speaker 1: in middle school, and I've rewritten it like seven times.

356
00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:40,520
Speaker 1: But I had this idea a long time ago, I

357
00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:44,960
Speaker 1: want to say, because it's weird to be reading this now,

358
00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:50,720
Speaker 1: which is a story about drinking someone's children's blood essentially

359
00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:57,560
Speaker 1: to get powers. When Q and On has this whole

360
00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:04,560
Speaker 1: idea that is very similar as part of their conspiracy

361
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:08,800
Speaker 1: and way of thinking. And when that happened, when I

362
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:16,160
Speaker 1: was hearing about what they believe gave me boss oh

363
00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:22,440
Speaker 1: no looks like hands to me, going okay, um, I

364
00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:27,359
Speaker 1: think it's some bed pan and you bypass that. I

365
00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:35,200
Speaker 1: love it so so I think one of the things

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00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:40,480
Speaker 1: we've talked about that is related to this. We've discussed

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00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:45,080
Speaker 1: it many times. Is this idea of really playing on

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00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:51,520
Speaker 1: women and their protection, like I need to protect children

369
00:25:52,960 --> 00:26:00,960
Speaker 1: and those quote maternal instincts and using that sort of

370
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:07,639
Speaker 1: a trojan horse for a lot of other nefarious things.

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00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:11,960
Speaker 1: Because if you're saying I mean essentially, if you get

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00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:15,400
Speaker 1: behind the like we've got to protect the children flag,

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00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:19,119
Speaker 1: I feel like we've used that for so many damaging

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00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:26,520
Speaker 1: causes throughout time. So when I originally had this idea,

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00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:28,600
Speaker 1: which again I was in middle school, which I guess

376
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:30,439
Speaker 1: you can judge me for that if you want, but

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00:26:31,359 --> 00:26:33,439
Speaker 1: I think I think I was going off of the

378
00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:39,920
Speaker 1: what would be the most kind of disturbing trolley problem

379
00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:42,680
Speaker 1: of I want superpowers? Oh it means I'm drinking this

380
00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:45,639
Speaker 1: child's blood to get them? Do you still do it?

381
00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:50,240
Speaker 1: So I get like the that I remember I had

382
00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:53,440
Speaker 1: a teacher I think I've talked about her before, Ms. Tipton.

383
00:26:54,359 --> 00:26:56,800
Speaker 1: She was my language professor, and she was so difficult.

384
00:26:56,880 --> 00:26:58,959
Speaker 1: She was in high school. She's so hard. And I

385
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:02,560
Speaker 1: read this essay one that I had written about well,

386
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:05,479
Speaker 1: I didn't think we should go to war in Iraq,

387
00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:08,520
Speaker 1: and I had like a really what I thought was

388
00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:13,640
Speaker 1: like a really moving passage and there about basically like

389
00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:16,120
Speaker 1: I focused in on a story about a child who

390
00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:23,560
Speaker 1: had died in a strike, and she was like, you know,

391
00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:26,119
Speaker 1: you can use that stuff, but that's a lot of

392
00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:30,480
Speaker 1: emotional manipulation, and you're doing a lot of like you

393
00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:35,480
Speaker 1: need to give more than that. And that's like a

394
00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:38,199
Speaker 1: lot of our politics today does that. Like we were like,

395
00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:41,960
Speaker 1: here's this one story, it's so terrible, right, therefore that

396
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:47,520
Speaker 1: means all of it's terrible. We have to fix yeah, right, right,

397
00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:50,440
Speaker 1: And I think that really stuck with me. I think

398
00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:54,960
Speaker 1: obviously I still think about it to this day. But

399
00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:58,480
Speaker 1: it also is interesting again, this is a really consolidated

400
00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:00,320
Speaker 1: version of what I originally wrote, and I do have

401
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:04,159
Speaker 1: plans to read more of it on on here eventually.

402
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:06,639
Speaker 1: But it also has like the most cinnamon role of

403
00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:09,000
Speaker 1: cinnamon roal characters before I even know what a cinnamon

404
00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:13,320
Speaker 1: role was. So then you feel extraterrible because it's a

405
00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:16,879
Speaker 1: cinnamon role that you're doing this too. And it also

406
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:18,679
Speaker 1: has a tripe. I know we've talked about it recently

407
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:21,320
Speaker 1: and I've written several things about this, so clearly it's

408
00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:24,600
Speaker 1: a thing and I know that people it bothers people

409
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:26,600
Speaker 1: and it is worth talking about. But of the like

410
00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:31,760
Speaker 1: journalists who isn't a good journalist who you know, um

411
00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:36,720
Speaker 1: falls in love with the subject or engages in something

412
00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:45,560
Speaker 1: like this. I like this character because she, um, she

413
00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:48,880
Speaker 1: has this whole backstory in my head about wanting to

414
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:50,520
Speaker 1: be famous, like wanting to be a journalist for the

415
00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:55,520
Speaker 1: wrong reasons, like um, So I think that's also something

416
00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:57,120
Speaker 1: we should talk about. But I just want to say

417
00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:00,200
Speaker 1: I totally hear that critique, and I think it's a

418
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:03,840
Speaker 1: good critique. I think it's legit mm hmm, especially for

419
00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:09,680
Speaker 1: like women journalists right right. And then the title from

420
00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:14,520
Speaker 1: this one I liked because I like a lot of

421
00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:18,640
Speaker 1: that stuff of you know, the dark things in our

422
00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:20,720
Speaker 1: families that we try to hide, that we keep secret,

423
00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:22,400
Speaker 1: and in this one, being like, if you know the

424
00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:24,920
Speaker 1: secret of how you've got the powers, the dark family secrets,

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Speaker 1: you know where it comes from, so you're kind of

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Speaker 1: connected through this bloodline, through this drug, So to continue

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Speaker 1: to engage in it dark family SECRETO. Yeah, it didn't

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Speaker 1: end well for my character and Dungeons and Dragons, I'll

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Speaker 1: tell you that it didn't end well for like anybody's

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Speaker 1: character in my campaign. But you know, we all made

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Speaker 1: our choices. We made our choices. It is there, it

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Speaker 1: is well. We hope that you've enjoyed this fictional segment.

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Speaker 1: We love doing them, and we'll see you next month

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Speaker 1: with another one. Uh. In the meantime, if there's any

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Speaker 1: fiction in the public domain you want us to read

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Speaker 1: and give the same treatment to we up to do it. Um.

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Speaker 1: You can emails that stuff in your mom stuff at

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Speaker 1: i heeart meta dot com. You can find us on

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Speaker 1: Twitter at mom Stuff Podcasts or Instagram at stuff I

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Speaker 1: Never Told You. Thanks it's always to a super producer, Christina,

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Speaker 1: super duper producer. Oh yeah, and thanks to you, you're

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Speaker 1: listening stuff I Never told you protection I h Heart

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Speaker 1: Radio from more podcast from I Heart Radio. Visit radio

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