WEBVTT - La Bruja del Desierto 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:03.880 Twelve Ghosts is a production of I Heeart three D 0:00:04.000 --> 0:00:07.680 audio and grim and mild from Aaron Banky headphones recommended 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:23.880 listener discretion advised. In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind may 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:29.680 moan earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone. 0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:38.839 Snow had fallen, Snow on snow, snow on snow in 0:00:39.000 --> 0:01:24.839 the bleak midwinter long ago. Uh right, you look quite surprised, Annabelle. 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:28.240 But you don't know how you ended up in these 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:32.800 woods so very far from home. I was confused. I 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:34.960 could have been hit on the head and wandered into 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:39.639 the night. I could be dreaming. It could be the wine. 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:44.000 The wine does not exist except in our heads. And 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:48.840 to be quite frank, our heads don't exist, at least 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:52.400 not in the way you're accustomed to them existing. Though 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:56.600 that doesn't mean they aren't real. But I expect you're 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:59.280 not up for a metaphysical debate at this late hour, 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:03.800 especially since suddenly learning that you're in fact very much 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:11.240 not corporeal in the classical sense. I don't believe it. 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:14.200 There's very little of existence that we haven't hung our 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:18.800 metaphors over. Frank consense and mer used for worship and 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:24.040 funerary practices going as far back as written history. Given 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:28.440 as gifts in the Nativity story precious and rare. Yes, 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:32.280 a good gift on its own. But of course we 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:36.160 add our layers of allegory to the action. Gold for 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:41.760 a king, frank consense symbolized worship, may're to symbolize the 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:46.520 sacred act of dying for another. We offer the sense 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:49.480 up to the gods and hope that they will be 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:54.600 pleased and have mercy on us. I just like the smell, 0:02:55.680 --> 0:03:02.600 of course people attach meaning to it. It's deep, heavy, mystical. 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:07.799 All that to say, there are more things in heaven 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:13.600 and earth ratio than are dreamt of in your philosophy. 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:23.399 We should be expecting our next guest at any moment. Oh, 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:33.840 who will it be? Welcome, my dear, coming from the cold. 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:41.120 My goodness, you're freezing. Come. We poured wine for you. 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:48.200 That would be very nice. Thank you. Where am I 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:53.160 at the end of things? Now you're safe in a 0:03:53.240 --> 0:04:03.240 place of rest. Sit. I'm dead right. Nothing gets post you, 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:08.320 does it. I'm not surprised. I thought i'd come in 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:17.720 them all away. Did you tell me what happened? So 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:22.159 this is the original story or at least the way 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:25.520 they told us when we were kids. And the thing 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:31.440 you have to understand is Mexican ship changes. It's different, 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:35.360 like a whole different story, depending on where you lived 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:38.880 or who told it to you. There's no one version 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:44.200 of anything. And what I learned after everything that happened 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:50.880 is it doesn't matter ghost monsters, whatever you were told, 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:59.200 whatever you believe, they will find you. So the version 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:01.880 I was told growing up and West they has in 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:05.200 the late eighties, the version of my grandma told us 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:09.800 leading up to Christmas Eve. She say, be careful on 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:14.680 Christmas morning, Mi huh, because Santa Claus and your mother 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:18.440 and father will give you all the presents they can, 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:23.520 but you might not get everything you want. And if 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:29.440 you grow boss, if you complain la brue Halo, she'll 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:33.160 snatch you up and drag you away to the desert 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:37.080 and she'll fill your mouth with sand so no one 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:43.560 will hear you gry no more. And then she just 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:46.920 kiss us and put us to bed, just like that. 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:52.560 It's messed up, but it worked because my family was poor, 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:57.479 so our presents every year were scraps, total shit. But 0:05:57.560 --> 0:06:00.640 did I say one word about it? Get La Bruja 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:05.440 into the house to take me away. You better believe 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:08.080 I sat there with a big, fake gass grin on 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:12.840 my face and said thank you loud and fled looking 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:17.520 over my shoulder, playing with some dollar store barbie knuckle 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:21.840 called Pretty Patty or whatever. Oh you bet, I pretended 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:25.200 to love that ship. As I got older, it became 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:30.120 clear La the Desert, which was just our version of 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:34.120 the Boogeyman, something to scare kids into behaving, and we 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:41.120 already had so many of those, a random spirits and saints. 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:45.440 Between Bruhia and and being Catholic, we spent like half 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:49.880 of our childhood lighting candles and cracking eggs under the bed, 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:53.159 dealing with my Lojo, inviting the priest over to bless 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:58.720 the corners of the house. Ghost everywhere, and who cares. 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:06.960 It's all make believe, right, but it's not. It shows 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:13.920 up smelling of roses and rips, lives to pieces after 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:19.960 what happened. I've tried to learn about her, but it's 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:22.840 hard with all the different stories out there, the version 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:26.679 of my brother Joaquin and I. The one most kids 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:29.760 heard is that her son pitched a fit on Christmas 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:32.480 morning because he didn't get what he'd wanted, and he 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:35.800 ran away, and she ran off into the desert to 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:39.280 find him and died out there. In some versions, she 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:44.120 learns to cast spells. Some kids heard she asked the 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:48.600 Blue for help, and the magic turns on her. Sometimes 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:52.560 she gets you because she thinks you're her son. Sometimes 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:57.480 she's doing it as revenged for all mothers everywhere. Whichever 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:01.720 story you believe, the one can instant is in the end, 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:06.080 when you break your mother's heart, La Bruja is there 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:10.960 to take you away. I'll be real. The story of 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:14.040 La brue how was always hard for me because I 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:22.160 didn't have the best relationship with my mom. We got 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:25.720 on okay, but it was cold. I always felt like 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:28.760 she was stuck in between, Like she grew up with 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:31.000 this idea of what a good little Mexicana girl was 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:36.000 supposed to be, how we were supposed to act, but 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:38.400 by the time I came up, it wasn't a thing anymore. 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:42.520 I didn't want it anyway. She even straight up asked 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:44.280 me when I was a little girl if I wanted 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:47.480 a quintana, and I told her, Nah, I wanted a 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:52.800 car instead. She tried and share my little brother were unit, 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:58.880 but that wasn't us. I know now that that's on 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:02.280 me that I should have been there for my mom. 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:05.839 After my dad died, I was just mad all the time. 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:12.200 I wanted him back. It was hard enough before he 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:16.720 died because we were dirt poor, I mean a literal 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:21.319 dirt middle of nowhere West. They has just all we 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:24.160 knew was these tiny little houses with window a C 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:29.120 units fighting for their lives in a highway and desert 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:35.480 and nothing's fucking brown everywhere you look, nowhere to go. 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:40.880 But my dad made the most of it. My dad 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:44.160 was the best, and he wasn't even showy about it 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:47.240 or anything. He didn't need to show out, spill a 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:52.240 million words to you, talk over you. He just kept 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.600 to himself. So when he did something small like put 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:58.520 a hand on your shoulder, it felt like you were 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:02.439 getting approval straight from God and the Holy Ghost themselves. 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:07.760 Mm hmm. My mom and I just didn't get each other. 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:13.959 But my dad, that ship was locked down. I was 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:21.160 Daddy's girl. He loved us so much. Traveled all the 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:24.440 way to Fort winn to work in some unaired conditioned 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:27.640 factory six days a week just to put food on 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:29.959 the table. And by the time he got home. He 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:32.880 was so tired. He just sit in his good chair 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:37.199 and smiled when we came running to him. I think 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:40.640 he might have been embarrassed about not speaking English too good, 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:43.640 but they decided not to speak Spanish in the house 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:47.000 so we could grow upo aut Real Americans or whatever, 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:51.640 so he stuck to it. He'd use little Spanglish words 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:55.400 that felt okay, like me, hed I told you to 0:10:55.520 --> 0:11:00.360 leave until your mother and ship like that. But that 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:08.560 was it. I remember everything. Joaquin didn't. He was too young, 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:14.880 but I was almost eleven when it happened. I remember 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.840 everybody all panicked after the phone rang, my mother rushing 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:22.400 out to the hospital. They never told me exactly what 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:25.440 the machine did to him, but the casket was closed, 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:28.800 and for years, anytime his name came up, my aunts 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:37.760 would cross themselves and say, Santiago. That was my dad's name, Santiago, Boba, Santiago, 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:43.400 and then they shake their head. After that, my grandma 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:45.199 moved in with us to take care of my brother 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:48.520 and I, while my mom started pulling morning and lunch shifts. 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:51.560 At this dinner off, I tend closer to the base. 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:56.080 My mom never dated, as far as I knew, I 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:59.080 could tell she was lonely all the time. The family 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:02.280 martyr just go into work and being with us, talking 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:04.640 to the pictures on my dad she kept on the table. 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:09.080 So all these years passed, and now I'm fourteen, and 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:15.680 that's when my mom comes home with ed I never 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:21.240 met anybody like Edgar before. Tall and clean and skinny. 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:25.439 Everybody I knew lived rough, but Edgar looked like he'd 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:30.680 never been outside. I thought maybe he was Spanish at first. 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:33.280 When he came around, she was always calling him my 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:38.240 friend Edgar. But I knew better, and he seemed real nice. 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:40.720 But I couldn't help but give him a hard time. 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:45.880 Mostly it was small stuff. He'd take his shoes off 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:49.199 when he came over, so I'd filled them with bugs 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:53.000 and rocks and stuff. He tried to play catch with us, 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:55.400 but I just throw the football as hard as I 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:58.120 could at his head. And he never made a joke 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:01.880 about me not throwing like a girl. But I kept 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:04.600 wishing he would so I can go off on him 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:06.760 like I did when he sat in my dad's chair. 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:11.120 Weird thing was every time I did something like that, 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:14.640 I catched the smell of roses on the wind. Here, 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:19.760 this pleasant little rattle like castanets or shells clicking against 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:24.120 each other. It felt like a reward. Maybe want to 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:30.200 keep doing it. Joaquin wasn't about that. He loved his 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:34.600 new buddy, Edgar, loved having somebody to play with, loved 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:38.120 getting taken to do stuff because my mom had always 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:40.840 been too tired and my grandma had too much to 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:44.439 do around the house. I don't think he understood what 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:48.040 Edgar was doing there, but he liked having somebody new. 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:53.480 So about a year has gone by since we met Edgar, 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:56.880 and I'm getting used to him being around. And now 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.800 it's Christmas Eve, which was usually when Mayawata would be 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:02.400 telling thing us about La Blue Jab But we're too 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:06.040 old for all that now, and Edgar's there, which feels 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:09.880 a little weird. But we do dinner and we play 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:13.160 Notteia with beans on the cards and all that. And 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:17.400 later Edgar takes me outside and he tells me, Amiliana, 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:20.360 I know this is your house and I care about 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:24.080 your mother, but I could never replace your father, and 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:27.040 I would never try. I know what he meant to you, 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:30.400 and I promise you I will honor his memory no 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:34.000 matter what happens. And we shook hands and just like 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:41.280 that we were cool. So now it's Christmas Day. We 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:45.720 wake up early and it's just like every year, pretty patty, 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:50.440 thank you, socks and pencils, thank you. And then Edgar 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:54.119 rose up and all of us, even my mom, looked surprised. 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:57.360 We didn't think we were going to see Edgar today, 0:14:57.400 --> 0:14:59.920 but here he comes, stressed on nice and he gave 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.840 is my Boilah a big hug, and he's all excited 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:05.760 to see everybody and gives me and my brother these 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:09.960 huge gifts. And mine, I told him a few weeks 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:13.120 earlier how I wanted to learn skateboard. So mine is 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:16.920 this sweet deck with the trucks all high and everything 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:20.600 pink helmet, but I'm not mad about it. And my 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:25.560 brother he gets this big hot wheels track with Ramsey ol, 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:30.080 so he immediately starts opening it. And then Edgar goes 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:35.280 one more present and he moves in front of my 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:40.560 mom and he gets down on one knee and he 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:46.040 starts in. I know it's only been a year, but 0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:48.200 ever since the day I met you at the dinner, 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:53.040 I've blah blah blah blah, and at this point I 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:56.880 don't hear nothing, just ringing in my ear, just just noise, 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:00.120 and I can feel my heart and my adrenaline and 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:03.680 starts to go, looking at my mom smiling. She's starting 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:07.640 to cry, while Edgar pulls out this tiny box and 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:10.800 starts to open it, and and just as I'm about 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:14.240 to say something, there's this big crash, and we all 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:17.360 turned to look because Joaquin has thrown his present against 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:20.960 the wall as hard as he can, before anybody can 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:24.400 do anything. He's screaming, no, no, no, you're not my father, 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:27.880 You're not my father, and and we're stunned. I've never 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:30.640 seen this kid yelled once in his life, but he's 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:33.760 hollering and stomping his foot and trying to grab the 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:37.280 ring away, and Edgar's up now keeping the box out 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:39.560 of rage, trying to laugh it off. But but now 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:42.200 Hawkin is crying, and he runs to my grandma, while 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:45.760 Edgar says, I told you, I told you this was 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:48.680 a bad idea, and he goes to leave, and my 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:52.800 mom chases him outside, all this yelling, my brother hauling 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:56.800 with my grandma trying to console him, and I could 0:16:56.840 --> 0:16:59.880 smell his roses, and I feel like I'm gonna pa 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:03.880 us out. We hear Edgar drive off, and and my 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:07.960 mom comes in, guns blazing, yelling at Joaquin, what got 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:12.280 into you? What are you thinking? Those cassinettes? The clicking 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:16.240 growing louder, and my head And she spins around to 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:18.960 where I am and points her finger in my face 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:23.639 and say, you you're the one who did this. You 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:28.640 poison his mind. And she goes running into her room 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:34.280 and crying, with my grandma chasing after her. I'm left 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:38.600 there with Joaquin, and I'm like, why did you do that? 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:43.840 And guy's a good guy. He's crying and saying I 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:46.800 don't know, I don't know, and and we're both crying 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:50.640 at this point, and I'm so worked up I don't 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:54.520 even notice. The ground underneath us is shaking. Now there's 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:59.080 a rumbling, this huge sound all around us, and all 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:02.840 the light bulbs and how's explode all at once. Then 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:06.000 the wall, the one facing away from the street into 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:09.959 the desert, rips away. It's it's ten o'clock in the morning, 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:15.000 but the sun it's completely gone, clouded over, this sandstorm 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:19.120 whirling all around us. Walking yells for me. I don't 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:21.320 know what's happening. I don't have time to pray, I 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:24.080 don't have time to cry. I just think about my 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:26.359 mother and how I wish she would come back and 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:35.240 save us. She doesn't save us. Instead, something I can't say, 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:38.680 snatches up walking and drags him into the desert. I 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:42.160 go chasing after them. It's not hard. All I can 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:45.320 hear is the sound of my baby brother screaming like 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.919 he'd never scream in his life. After a while, I 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:52.520 can hear they've gone up over this ridge. And when 0:18:52.560 --> 0:18:55.880 I'm finally able to climb down and I find them 0:18:55.880 --> 0:19:04.200 in the clearing, there she is and all her glory. 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:08.639 She's more horrible than I could have possibly imagined when 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:12.160 we were told the stories. I've always pictured like an 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:17.240 old lady, gray hair, long fingernails, and she is that. 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:27.159 But then there's a smell, the roses putred, rotting, overwhelming everything, 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:33.000 making me gag. Ears filled with the rattling the cassinets 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:39.359 chattering NonStop, piercing into my bones. And she's floating, commanding 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:45.280 everything around her, her big white eyes glowing with no pupils. 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:49.600 And then I saw him floating there in the circle 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:57.520 near Joaquin. It was my father, but it wasn't him. 0:19:57.600 --> 0:19:59.679 It wasn't a ghost, like the way they look so 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:03.760 nice and clean in the movies. He looked like my father, 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:10.160 but he wasn't complete, all these pieces of him missing 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:15.960 his head. I knew it was him, but his head. 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:22.360 I heard his voice loud for the first time, feeling 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:30.359 the whole night sky walking me hole. I told you, 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:38.160 always be a good boy, always mine your mother. It's 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:46.080 a goody. You did what you could, and now you 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:53.919 can leave with us over here in the sun forever. 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:01.320 The ground began to rumble again, and the earth underneath 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:04.879 Labruja opened up for them to descend. I cried out, no, 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:10.200 take me, it was me, It was me. La Bruja 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:13.560 in an instant, was face to face with me, still 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:17.879 holding my brother up. She bared her teeth and his back, 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:22.119 and these were the only words she spoke the whole time. 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:36.800 And just like that, Walking and my father and La 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:41.440 Bruja disappeared into the earth, and the sand washed over 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:45.720 everything like it had never happened, Like it was just 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:55.280 as God had left it. I ended up in Virginia, 0:21:56.280 --> 0:22:00.359 lots of mountains, trees, about as far away you can 0:22:00.400 --> 0:22:02.919 get from the desert without falling off into the ocean. 0:22:04.240 --> 0:22:07.959 You get used to the cold, he told everybody. Walking 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:11.879 ran away from home and they believed us. The police 0:22:11.920 --> 0:22:15.400 barely looked for him. Then we left, and as far 0:22:15.440 --> 0:22:17.800 as I could tell, nobody missed us when we were gone. 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:24.359 My grandma died shortly after that. Then we lost my 0:22:24.440 --> 0:22:29.760 mom a few years. Hugo. Cancer sucks. I've got kids 0:22:29.760 --> 0:22:33.840 of my own, now, boy and a girl. She's starting 0:22:33.840 --> 0:22:38.760 fourth grade this year. It's crazy. I haven't told anybody 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:45.480 would happened, not even my husband. I just hold it in, 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:51.399 you know, keep it here. Nobody else needs it. I 0:22:51.440 --> 0:22:54.440 feel like if I started talking about it, I never stopped. 0:22:55.359 --> 0:22:59.600 I just keep screaming. She can't do that. They take 0:22:59.640 --> 0:23:02.520 you away, and I can't let them take me away. 0:23:03.520 --> 0:23:05.680 My mom has been dead for years, and I'm still 0:23:05.720 --> 0:23:08.520 afraid to cross her, still afraid I might break her heart. 0:23:08.840 --> 0:23:12.960 Wherever she is. I'm afraid of whoever is watching from 0:23:13.000 --> 0:23:19.520 whatever distance, those white hot eyes. So I'm I'm good 0:23:19.520 --> 0:23:23.160 to everybody. I'm afraid not to be, because I've got 0:23:23.160 --> 0:23:25.920 to protect the people around me. I light my candles, 0:23:26.760 --> 0:23:31.680 I look over my shoulder. I'm so tired. It's too much, 0:23:32.600 --> 0:23:39.240 it's too much to bear. But then I suppose that 0:23:39.240 --> 0:23:45.280 doesn't matter. Now, now that I'm here. I'm so tired 0:23:46.520 --> 0:23:53.280 of the worry. La brush can't get you anymore. Would 0:23:53.320 --> 0:24:02.400 you like to sleep? Yes, very much. This key belongs 0:24:02.480 --> 0:24:06.159 to a door up those stairs, fourth on the left. 0:24:06.920 --> 0:24:14.639 You'll find everything you need there. Rest now, Thank you. 0:24:24.160 --> 0:24:27.359 I saw something in your face as you listen to 0:24:27.400 --> 0:24:31.199 her story. Just now, What do you mean? What do 0:24:31.240 --> 0:24:35.200 you think you saw? I'm not sure. If I were 0:24:35.240 --> 0:24:42.879 to guess, I would call it a recognition, Something struck 0:24:42.920 --> 0:24:49.800 a chord. There was something that felt familiar to me. Well, 0:24:50.720 --> 0:24:54.080 perhaps you'll get it out of you before the night end. Yeah, 0:24:54.920 --> 0:25:01.200 everything eventually comes to light here here at the end 0:25:01.240 --> 0:25:21.199 of things. Twelve Ghosts starring Malcolm McDowell as the Innkeeper 0:25:21.480 --> 0:25:25.640 and Gina Rikiki as Annabelle. Episode four, La Bruja del 0:25:25.680 --> 0:25:30.639 Dasierto written by Chris Alonso with additional writing by Nicholas Takowski, 0:25:31.200 --> 0:25:35.400 Editing by Chris Childs and Stephen Perez. Featuring Laura Lorreina 0:25:35.480 --> 0:25:41.080 Morales as Ameliana. Directed by Nicolas Takowski, Original score and 0:25:41.160 --> 0:25:46.560 sound design by Chris Childs. Executive producers Aaron Mankey, Matt Frederick, 0:25:46.680 --> 0:25:52.840 Alexander Williams, and Nicholas Takowski. Supervising producer Josh Stain, Producers 0:25:52.920 --> 0:25:57.240 Chris Childs and Stephen Perez. Casting by Sunday Bowling c 0:25:57.480 --> 0:26:00.320 s A and Meg Mormon c s A. Per aduction 0:26:00.359 --> 0:26:04.880 coordinator Wayna Calderon. Recorded at Lantern Audio in Atlanta, Georgia, 0:26:05.240 --> 0:26:10.400 engineered by Chris Gardner Aeros Sound and Recording in Ojai, California, 0:26:10.840 --> 0:26:14.879 engineered by Ken Arrows. Twelve Ghosts was created by Nicholas 0:26:14.960 --> 0:26:17.679 Takowski and is a production of I Heeart three D 0:26:17.760 --> 0:26:20.840 Audio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky. Learn more 0:26:20.880 --> 0:26:23.600 about the show at Grim and Mild dot com and 0:26:23.640 --> 0:26:26.080 find more podcasts from my heart Radio by visiting the 0:26:26.119 --> 0:26:29.400 i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 0:26:29.480 --> 0:26:30.439 to your favorite shows.