Borrasca Pt. 1 | Creep Cast
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Welcome back to Creepcast! Today we're talking about Barasca! Let's go! That's how you say it, Barasca. That's how I've always pronounced it. I could be horribly wrong, but it's too late to stop me now. So yeah, Barasca. That's what we're covering today. And I am so excited, because out of all the creepypasta I've read, this one's always been my favorite. It's been a long time since I've looked at it, but I mean, like...

I can't think of one that's compared to it, at least at the time I've read it. So I'm interested to look back on it. Have you ever read Boroska? I haven't. No. Oh, yeah. Let's go. I've just seen you. I've seen you talk about it. And then also, I think in every episode that we've uploaded, out of all three episodes, this is probably the most talked about one in terms of people wanting us to read it and talk about it. So I'm stoked. I'm extremely stoked to get into it. I'm excited too, man. Which...

It's written by Rebecca Klingle, also known as C.K. Walker. They are a writer renowned for her contributions to horror and suspense genres. She gained prominence on the NoSleep subreddit, a platform sharing original horror stories. Her notable works include Boroska, which is highly popular on NoSleep. Which, I guess, yeah, this is one of the most popular out there. Yeah.

One thing that's interesting is from that, from her writing on No Sleep, she got to, uh, she had a pretty big involvement in the writing in The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix, which is a Mike Flanagan show, really fucking good, so I loved Haunting of Hill House, so I'm super, super excited, and I think this is, like, kind of a longer story, so I think we're gonna break this up into two parts.

It's a four-part story, all in all, so we'll probably start with part one and two this time, and then wrap it up next time with three and four. So, a nice little two-parter, something that you get to sit and wait. So, we'll see. And if you all hate it, well, that's too bad, because we want to do it this way. So, it's our podcast. You can get over it. It is true. And you know what's weird? I'm finding that...

A lot of... Like, this was published in 2015, the first part here. It seems like so many stories were coming out around that time. Doesn't it feel that way? It feels like Stare in the Woods. You know, that's when that came out. It feels like there was just a big...

big boom then I don't know if that's true or not that's me being completely speculative well I do I do have a theory around that so you know how like when did creepypastas start like 2010 ish 2010 2012 stuff like that so yeah 2015 2016 gives it a few years to kind of evolve the process the mind I mean it's the same thing we see with stuff like analog horror now right

There were a few people that pioneered. And then a few years after that, you kind of have this deeper exploration. It gets better. It effectively refines itself, right? So I think that's why some of the more interesting stories we see out of like internet horror come from that time period. Because the genre has been given time to grow at that point. Yeah. I mean, obviously I'm like...

jumping to conclusions about a story you haven't read. But if you don't like it, I will fight you live on air. So, you know. I'm fine. I'm fine with that. So, Baraska is all about people relocating, which I thought this was funny. It's a family moving to Dress King, Missouri, which I'm originally from Missouri, but...

Dress King is like in the Ozarks area. And it's about pretty much this whole thing is about a family's relocation because I believe their father has is being reassigned to a sheriff's department. So it's about a nine or narrator who is a nine year old boy and his sister and the family there.

But I just thought that was kind of interesting. The Ozarks is close to me. And apparently this whole thing is about a place that is called Boroska, which is where creepy things happen. So without further ado, I think we should just get into it. I think we should as well. Boy, I'm so excited. It has been so long since I've looked at this story. Yeah.

Well, let's see if it holds up. I'm doing this as like a litmus test, like we have with past ones, to see if it holds up. I'm also excited for you to see how this turns out. Yeah, I think I'm going to have a good experience with it, since it's like my first time. I think that I'm going to have like rose goggles on, I bet. Perfect. I can't wait. All right, so I'll go ahead and get started with this first part.

So we've got our narrator, the nine-year-old boy, and then Whitney, the narrator's 14-year-old sister. And they're upset about, or at least the sister is upset about leaving her life and her boyfriend behind. One of our first paragraphs we see.

I was nine, so it didn't take me too long to warm to the idea of change. It was like an adventure. New house, new school, new friends. Whitney, of course, felt the opposite. Moving to a new school at her age is hard. Moving away from her new boyfriend, however, was even harder.

While the rest of us packed up our things and said our goodbyes, Whitney sulked and cried and threatened to run away from home, but a month later, when we pulled up to our new house in Driskin, Missouri, she was sitting right next to me texting viciously on her phone.

So little kid, you know, excited to see new stuff. Older sister doesn't the classic, the normal setup. We all, we all understand. Um, however, yeah, after that, well, I could, I could read this part of you can, if you want to, I don't want to read all these sections just cause I'm excited, but I will continue. Yeah. Keep going. Keep going. All right. So they get to Drisking. The family finds it to be like this, you know, picture book, classic, nice town, nothing creepy happening yet. Um,

And it says that at one point while they're in the town, this is another section, my face fell. Now I knew they were making fun of me. Speaking of the local kids in town. That's a lie. You guys are lying to me. No, we're not, Kimber insisted. Kimber being one of the local girls. Yeah, we'll show you. We just had to get a knife for the ceremony and we'll go. What? I feel like we're missing some context here. I don't know.

The boy continues and says,

So the nine-year-old boy continues talking about how he was unsure of the change at first, but he likes it now. He continues and says,

There were no bad areas and the entire town looked like something you'd see on a postcard. Driskin was built in a mountain valley surrounded by healthy forest land with walking trails and crystal clear lakes. I was nine, it was summer, and this was heaven. We'd only been living in Driskin a week or so when our next door neighbors came to introduce themselves. Mr. and Mrs. Landy and their 10-year-old son, Kyle.

While our parents talked and drank mimosas, I watched the Landys' lanky, red-headed son hung out in the doorway, shyly eyeing the PS2 in the living room. So, for the first time from this point, Kyle and the narrator begin to become friends. They start to play Tekken together, which, you know, classic nine-year-old boy friendship, getting to punch stuff, right? So...

The two of them begin to blossom this relationship. Shyly eyeing the PS2 in the living room is such a great line. Yeah. I love that. What small boy hasn't shyly eyed a PS2, dude? Which I will say, it's just funny because the city was much smaller than St. Louis, but also a lot nicer. St. Louis...

It's my least favorite city in probably the entire world. So to me, this little nine-year-old boy, he's getting a start on his real life. He's getting out of this hellhole, and he's starting to blossom in this small little suburban lake town. So it's... But...

developing his friendships now you know he i i think that you know it it's it's setting something up and i think that we're starting to see that it's going to set up that i think that these little these new kids in the neighborhood are probably going to tell them something a little weird then they're going to introduce them to some lake of the ozark dark magic black magic

Oh, you're scarily close to where this is going. Are you sure you haven't read this before? Because that... Alright, so after that, before you jump the gun...

So it says, in that afternoon, with the ease and simplicity of our age, Kyle and I became friends. We spent the cool summer mornings outside exploring the Ozarks and the hot afternoons in my living room playing the PS2. He introduced me to the only other kid in the neighborhood our age, a skinny, quiet girl named Kimber DeStero. She was shy, but friendly and always up for anything. Kimber kept up with us so well that she quickly became the third wheel on our tricycle.

So anyway, the three of them become friends. They start to run around the town and everything's going great. That is until, as the story says, on the last Saturday before school started, Kyle and Kimber told me they were going to take me somewhere special. Somewhere we hadn't been yet. The Triple Tree. What's a triple...

You know it's bad in a story where it's like, we're going to take you somewhere special, somewhere we hadn't been yet. It's such an ominous little line. It's nine-year-old kids talking this, but it's a beautifully put horror trope right here where that's the initial reaction that I had to it. Just, oh, God. Good Lord. This can't go well. The triple tree. Yeah.

Yeah, it goes about as well as you could. So their initial conversation about it goes like this. What's a triple tree? I asked. It's a totally awesome, totally huge tree house out in the woods, Kyle said excitedly.

Whatever Kyle, come on. You guys, if there was a freaking tree house, you would have showed it to me already. That's very cute, that's a cute line. Yeah, yeah, exactly. If there was a tree house, you would have showed it to me already, right? You wouldn't be hiding a tree house from me, would you Kyle? Yeah, what the hell Kyle, I thought we were friends. Nuh-uh, we wouldn't have, Kyle shook his head. There's a ceremony for first timers and everything.

Kimber nodded eagerly in agreement, her dark orange curls bouncing off her tiny shoulders. Yep, it's true, Sam. If you enter the treehouse without the proper ceremony, you'll disappear and then you'll die. My face fell. Good God! How is that that casual? Wait, what? She just says, yep, it's true, Sam. If you enter the treehouse without the proper ceremony, you'll disappear and then you'll die. Good God! I mean... God! Well, it's...

What else would the ceremony be for? I mean, I guess that's true. I thought it was going to be something where maybe they smoke menthol cigarettes together or something like that. Like, that's their ceremony. We're all blood brothers now. Yeah, like it's a stand by me kind of thing or something.

something yeah exactly like maybe they're maybe they're sitting there and having like a little shot of whiskey and they're like no don't tell anybody you know what I mean but no you'll just disappear and then you'll die if you don't do the ritual if you don't yeah that is okay yeah yeah the ritual isn't disappearing and dying you want to prevent that yeah yeah the dare program did not prepare me for this kind of peer pressure yeah

So you're probably gonna find people who also... You're probably gonna find people who are like, if you don't do this, you'll disappear and die. That's the... What is that? That has to be one of the letters in the DARE program. I forgot all of them. All I remember is D, I won't do drugs. Yeah. And then A, avoid disappearing and dying in the woods. Yeah, A...

D. I won't do drugs. A. Avoid the ceremony, disappear, die, and go in a treehouse. R. It's okay. A tale as old as time. So from there...

So it's, you'll disappear and you'll die. It says, my face fell. Now I knew they were making fun of me. That's a lie. You guys are lying to me. No, we're not, Kimber insisted. Yeah, we'll show you. We just have to get a knife for the ceremony and we'll go. Oh no. What? What?

You know what's fucked up too is I don't want to keep derailing the conversation, we're just getting through some dialogue But I immediately imagine that the knife was you remember in Mulan whenever like the main bad guy He had like that swivel sword. You know how like there's ceremonial daggers like that Yeah, I almost imagine that they're like yeah, we just have to grab a knife from you know wherever and the ceremony so I just imagine these nine-year-old kids are just like they have like these golden daggers and

With like ruby encrusted handles and stuff. And they're like, all right, we're good to go to the treehouse. Next stop, Triple Tree. The knife's like whispering to them like, oh, it does that. Yeah, exactly. Speaking in tongues and shit. It says I've been bad. It's like, what?

Yep, like holding it right up to their ear. So, anyway, continuing from there. What? Why do you need a knife? Oh, do you want to go ahead? You can take it if you want. What? What? Why do you need a knife? Is it a blood ceremony? I whispered. No way, Kimber promised. You just say some words and carve your name into the triple tree. Yep, it takes like one minute, Kyle agreed.

And it's a really cool treehouse, right? I asked. Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, Kyle promised. Okay, I guess I'll do it then. This is bad. Bad narrator. You need to...

ask more questions than that. I will say it does feel very, very kid-like. That's one thing I like about all this so far is it feels very realistic. Like I think all of the dialogue and like how they're going about it. I feel like a kid would probably just say that. Like a kid would just be like, but it's pretty sweet, right? And they're like, oh yeah. Okay, fine. It's like, that's all I didn't know. Treehouse? Okay, I'll go.

But yeah, let me go to the next part here. Kyle insisted on using the same knife he used during his own ceremony, but we paid a price to get it. Mrs. Landy just happened to be home with her youngest son, Parker, and despite Kyle's many objections, his mother insisted he take his six-year-old brother with him. Mom, we're going to the treehouse. It's only for older kids. Parker can't go. I don't care.

That's probably a bad mom voice. I'm gonna use it anyways, though. "I don't care if you're going to see an Exorcist movie marathon. You're taking your brother with you. I need a break, Kyle. Can't you understand that? I'm sure your friends won't mind." She flashed Kimber and me a challenging look. "Right?" "No, not at all," Kimber said, nodding in agreement. Kyle made a loud dramatic sigh and called his brother. "Parker, put your shoes on! We're leaving now!"

I met the youngest Landy several times before and found that he was unlike his older brother and looks as in desp- Oh my god, as in disposition. Holy shit. I'm having a fucking stroke. Where Kyle was wild, excitable fireball with hair to match, I found Parker to be an anxious fidgety boy with small eyes and dark brown hair. I don't know why, but I really enjoy the description of somebody with just saying they have small eyes.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Just extremely tiny eyes. Also, just kind of insulting, too. They're like, yeah, his brother's a firecracker, an absolute fireball. Yeah, but his brother is a bit of a tiny, anxiety-ridden mess with...

Little eyes! And a gross smile. I imagine them like unsettling, small, like, ugh. Yeah, exactly. You're like, Jesus, is he okay? He looks sick. We got on our bikes and made our way to a lesser-known hiking trail a few miles away. I'd asked before where the trail led when we'd ridden across it several weeks before, and Kyle had given me the underwhelming answer of, "'Nowhere interesting.'"

We pulled up on a trail ahead, leaned our bikes against the wood signpost, which read, West Rim Prescott Oral Trail. Why are so many trails around here named Prescott? I asked. Is this Prescott Mountain or something? Kimber laughed. No, Demi. It's because of the Prescotts. You know, the thing that lives in the mansion up on Fairmont? Mr. Prescott and his son Jimmy own like half the businesses in town. Now, if I had to guess, since I haven't read this, I have a feeling like...

I'm hoping that we get an encounter with the Prescotts or we have to go into their spooky mansion. Or is it a regular mansion? I don't know. I'm curious. I hope that we get to meet the Prescotts. You're so whimsical and full of hope. Keep that. Keep that. Okay. I'll try to. More than half, Kyle agreed. Which ones? Does he own the GameStop?

Oh, hell yeah. What? The Prescott's own a GameStop, too? I like how so far it's been riddled with PS2s and stuff, and now he's like, which ones? Does he own the GameStop? That's the most nine-year-old question, though, right? He owns half the stores in town. What about GameStop? Does he own the GameStop? And I love the part in the line after this is, the only store in Drisking I really cared about. Exactly. What a G. Exactly. A legend.

Yeah, the narrator really showing his true nine-year-old colors here. We gotta love it. I don't know about that one. Damn. Kyle wound a lock around the four bikes and clicked the bar into place. Then spun the numbers on the dial. But like the hardware store, the pharmacy, Glinton's on second and the newspaper.

Did they start this town? I asked. Nah, mining started the town, I think. All right, what am I reading here? This is them discussing. The important thing to take away, though, from that area is that the Prescotts are important people, right? And that quick line about mining starting the town will come back later. So from here, they're just talking. They're like, oh, that's such a long walk. I don't want to walk that far. And then, like...

"Nanana, you're a sissy, whatever." Oh, sorry, apologies. It is the younger brother, the one with small eyes, quote unquote, who's the one who's afraid, who doesn't want to go walking down the road. They're talking about going up this trail and then all of a sudden Parker, the little brother who, as mentioned earlier, small eyes, only six years old, doesn't want to go out on the trail because it's scary, it's a long walk, you know, general kid stuff, right?

And there is one mention here whenever our narrator is describing what Kyle's talking about. He says, So they eventually make it all the way to the treehouse. And then in describing it,

Our narrator says, "It's... I studied the tree as I caught my breath. It's pretty awesome. I smiled and it was. They had it lied. The treehouse was the biggest I've ever seen. It had multiple rooms and there were actual curtains in the windows. A sign above the door said, 'Ambercott Fort' and a rope ladder hung below the threshold, missing several planks. 'I'm going up first,' yelled Parker, but Kimber caught his arm.

You have to do the ceremony first or you'll disappear, she reminded him. That'd be fine with me, Kyle grumbled. I was eager to get in the fort myself. Give me the knife. I held out my hand. Kyle smiled and dug the switchblade out of his pocket. There's some space in the back to carve your name.

I opened up the knife, walked around the tree looking for an empty spot. There were so many names on the tree that I had to crunch down and look near the bottom since I couldn't reach any higher. I spotted both Kyle and Kimber's carvings on the tree and I finally found a spot I liked near the ladder. I bit my tongue and carved "Sam W." into a blank piece of bark underneath someone named Paul S.

Parker went next, but had so much trouble with the knife that Kyle had to do it for him. That also gives us our narrator's name, Sam.

So, we see what the ceremony is. Whenever you approach the treehouse, you have to walk around to the back of the treehouse and then carve your name into it. And as mentioned, and that's an important detail for later, there's so many names on the back of this tree that it's hard to find a spot to put your name. Yeah, I love that visual. I like the visual of especially just being able to actually... It really doesn't matter if you can legibly read it, but I love the idea of just seeing like...

I don't know, hundreds of names carved in there. Mm-hmm. Just a really cool thing. Especially with such an eccentric treehouse. I mean, like, when I was reading... Or when you were reading that thing and it said that there was, like, curtains in the windows...

That simple description kind of gives it a fun... It almost makes it feel like a house on a tree. It's like uncanny. It doesn't feel like a rinky-dink thing. Yeah, exactly. There's... I don't know. I'm remembering some of the... Because thinking back on this story, I remember the plot beats and especially the ending. And that's what always stuck out to me. But...

Hearing some of these little details and stuff like that, I wonder if there was some quality in the writing that I didn't pick up as a kid directly, but I kind of internally processed, right? Maybe I read those details and was like, I like that. This makes me think of something bigger. Even though they didn't go into much description on it, it kind of let my imagination play with it. It's fascinating. Kimber sang them out. Underneath the triple tree, there's a man who waits for me.

And should I go or should I stay? My fate's the same either way. That's creepy, I said. What does it mean? Kimber shrugged. No one knows anymore. It's just tradition. Okay.

can you say it one more time slower once parker and i recited the poem we were ready to go i climbed the rope ladder and took and took stock of my new surroundings the treehouse was more or less empty just a dirty rug here and there and some trash old soda cans beer cans and fast food wrappers i went room to room four in total and found nothing of real interest until the last one an old mattress lay in a corner piles of musty ripped clothing scattered the floor

"Did a hobo live here?" I asked. "Now, this room has been like this for a long- as long as I can remember," Kyle said from the doorway behind me. "It smells gross," I said. Kimber walked up to the threshold but refused to go any further. "It's not the smell that freaks me out. It's that." She pointed up on the ceiling, and I raised my eyes to read what was written there. "Roads to the Gates of Hell, Mile Marker 1."

That's pretty sweet. Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. That goes pretty far. It's interesting. There's a lot of stuff to unpack here, like, very quickly. I kind of like that they do, you know, like, he's looking through this. I mean, four rooms in a treehouse. That's a big treehouse. I mean, full rugs on the deal. You're getting a sense of the scale, and I like how it does, like,

You know, it's filled with kind of what you would expect, right? Trash, soda cans, beer cans, magazine, blah, blah, blah. But then I really like just immediately on the next one. There's an old mattress on a corner and piles of musty ripped clothing scattered the floor.

Just such an interest, like, you're already starting to be like, what happened here? What can happen here? To me, it's a lot more malicious. It feels a lot more evil than that. And I think through the lens of these children, I don't really think that they even process how maybe evil or violent that just ripped clothing scattered on the floor can be.

So it's kind of interesting because now I'm like, in my mind, I'm like, you guys need to get the hell out of there. Especially with a nice sign that says, Road to the Gates of Hell, mile marker one. Pretty awesome. Go ahead. Continue, Wichie. And then they say, or Sam, our narrator says, what does it mean?

It's just older kids being dicks, Kyle said. Come on. I'll show you the best part of the treehouse. We walked back and... I guess I want to stop again real quick. It's interesting. That's the second time that they kind of nonchalantly shrug off something. The first one being a poem about how a man is going to take you, potentially. And then now it's like a sign that says, Roads to the Gates of Hell. It's like, ah, you know, it's just people being weird losers.

I can't tell if they're hiding information from Sam or if they're just in their kid brains being like, eh, it's whatever. It is what it is. You know what I mean? Like they've been here so many times that it's, you know, who knows. We went back into the first room and Parker looked up at us and smiled, pointing down to what he clumsily carved into the wooden floor. Fart. Kyle read. That's hilarious. Fart.

I wanted you to read that part really bad. Yeah, fart, Kyle read. That's hilarious, Parker. That is funny. Imagine going into a demonic fucking tree house and you just fart into the floor and you're like, awesome. Yeah, brother. He rolled his eyes, but his little brother didn't pick up on the sarcasm and smiled proudly at a boy, Parker. Kimber sat down on the floor next to Parker and I sat on the other side. Comforting.

Kyle took the knife from his brother and then walked across the room and wedged the blade between the two planks on the wooden wall. He pushed and the board gave, opening up a small secret compartment in the wall. Kyle took something out and pushed the plank back until it was flush with the others. Check it out.

He turned and probably held up two cans of Miller Lite beer. Oh, there you go. See, now we're getting into it. I love it. Whoa, I said. Ew, warm beer. That's gross. How do you even know it was there, Kimber asked. Phil Saunders told me. Classic Phil.

are we going to drink it? I asked. Hell yeah, we're going to drink it. This is my kind of party, dude. So over the next few paragraphs, uh, it just talks about them drinking, talking about town and whatnot. I do like the note that enough kids visit this tree that they have like these, like, like he says, Oh, Phil Saunders told me. So like the tree house is popular enough that like the kids know where to leave stuff. They have almost dead drops set aside for each other. Um,

So they go a little bit down. They're sitting around talking everything's fine. However, it then says Kimber was in the middle of reciting the alphabet backwards when a loud metallic grinding suddenly pierced the calm Mount air like a gunshot Kimber stopped talking and we spent a few minutes staring at each other waiting for the noise to end Parker curled into Kimber and put his hands over his ears. I

After what seemed like ten whole minutes, the sound ended as suddenly as it had begun. "What was that?" I asked, and Parker mumbled something into Kimber's sweatshirt. "Do you guys know?" I tried again. Kimber stared at her feet as she crossed and uncrossed them. "Well, it's nothing," Kyle answered finally. "We hear it sometimes in town. It's not a big deal. It's just louder up here." "But what's making that sound?" "Baraska."

Kimber whispered without taking her eyes off her feet. "Who's that?" I asked. "Not who. Where?" Kyle answered. "It's a place." "Another town?" "No, it's just a place in the woods." "Oh. Bad things happen there," Kimber said more to herself than me. "Like what?" "Bad things," Kimber repeated. "Yeah, don't ever try to find it, dude," Kyle said behind me. "Or bad things will happen to you too." "But like, what bad things?"

I turned around, Kyle shrugged, and Kimber stood up and walked over to the rope ladder. "We'd better go. I have to get home to my mom," she said. We climbed down the ladder one by one and then started to walk back to the trail in an unfamiliar silence. I was dying of curiosity about Boroska, but couldn't decide if and what to ask about it. "So who lives there? Where?" Kyle asked. "Boroska. The skinned man," Parker answered. Kyle laughed. "Only babies believe that."

Like men who are skinned? Like their skin is gone? I asked excitedly. Excitedly. Yeah, like men who are skinned? Like their skin is gone? Really? What the fuck? You promise? All right, yeah. Now we're slowly realizing that Sam is a psychopath. Yeah, that's what some kids say. Most of us stop believing in that, though, when we turn double digits, Kyle said.

I looked back at Kimber, who was still nine like me, but she was staring down the trail, ignoring us. That seemed to be the end of the conversation, and by the time we reached our bikes, the awkwardness was gone and we were giggling trying to decide if we were too drunk to bike home.

That's cute. Sipping some warm Miller Lite. We're probably too wasted to ride, man. So, yeah, so that's basically the end of that scene. They go up there, this big treehouse everyone cards their names into, but then there's this loud metallic noise coming from a place called Boroska.

And other than the mention of the skinned man, that's all that we get about the location so far. Yeah, the skinned men also. It's not even just a man. It's like there's multiple people who are skinned. It's very interesting. Which I was going to say, too, when reading this, the sound came outside of the treehouse, right? Yeah, yeah. It was like further up the mountain. Yeah, yeah. Right. It's louder when you're away from town.

I'm picturing just like a long metal scraping sound, like just something really horrid and just like, you know what I mean? Just something completely, what is it? Just like almost unbearable, like nails on a chalkboard. It's interesting. It kind of feels like also that they set up the treehouse to be...

It's almost like you expect the treehouse to be the evil place, but then they do the nice subversion of, like, actually it's this completely other place that makes everybody else uncomfortable. Because until this point, too, Kyle and Kimber have both been very like, oh, it's just superstitions, oh, it's tradition, oh, it's just a dick, whatever. But then whenever this gets brought up, it gets very serious, it gets very quiet, and now it kind of completely disrupts the flow of what they had before. So...

But also it's weird too. Sam is like very, like, it seems like he's anxious to hear about it, but then just even the word excitedly is interesting where it's like, now it kind of seems like I have a, I have a bad feeling. Sam is going to want to like pursue this, like, like pursue this idea of finding it and knowing what it is, man. I'm over here. I'm almost getting like nostalgic thinking about hearing you describe it like that. I dropped all these nuances this early in the story, but,

Man, this is a good one. Okay, I'm so back. I'm so ready. Because, like, every one we've covered, even the ones I like, I go in, like, scared. Like, what if this isn't as good as I remember? But this is so much cooler than I remember because, like, there's stuff I'd completely forgotten about along that, which, slight spoiler, you're totally right with your idea of, like, maybe Sam will have some, like, desire to go look for it, but...

Wow. Okay. Anyway. It's interesting. Well, the thing about it too, that's just, I don't want to like get too far off. I know I'm sure our viewers want to keep hearing about the story, but it's just interesting in terms of storytelling, having it start off by a kid who's moving to a town and

It's already a fish-out-of-water situation, right? Being introduced to new friends who are introducing him to all of these new things and all these other kinds of weird stuff going on. It's very believable that a kid would become obsessed or that he would have some kind of, like...

Just like innate desire to find this thing that is like this fantastical thing. Especially whenever Kimber and Kyle are already prepping up like the ceremony and the treehouse and stuff. All this stuff is so new and exciting that in a way, I feel like there's just so much that he is going to... Sam is going to want to...

I wouldn't say prove it to his friends, but I think prove it to himself that he can go and find this thing and learn more about it. I think it's like forbidden fruit in a weird way. Oh man. Okay. Well, to continue on in the story. So after that, it's, it skips forward a bit and talks about the first day of school. Uh, it says there's this dialogue between Sam and his dad where his dad's like, you know, saying, ah, you're not getting out the car till you give me a hug or whatever. Um,

It's mentioned that Sam's dad's a police officer. I'm pretty sure he's a police officer later in the story if I remember right. And there's a mention here, I threw open the back door of his cruiser before he could say anything more. But other than that, just a brief exchange between Sam and his dad.

and then he runs up and he meets with Kimber and Kyle as they're about to walk into school and there's this quick mention most of this isn't like super important for the narrative it's just character stuff like haha oh what are you nervous for whatever but there is this one short thing I want to read where it says whose class are you in Kimber asked she was wearing a red sweater and leggings with frogs on them her

Her curly orange hair was brushed into ringlets and her lips were pink and shiny. She never looked prettier and I was surprised to realize I'd never really seen Kimber as a girl." So the slight mention that Sam is maybe developing some feelings towards Kimber. Wanted to bring that up. Anyway, so they're talking about the rest of class. One of them swears and then a teacher overhears it. Typical, you know, middle school cutesy stuff, right?

Even some of the stuff here, it looks like there's some... Even like you were saying that he might be developing feelings for her. I mean, there's some stuff where, you know, the way that Sam is saying things and Kimber's giggling, it's very cutesy. It is very cutesy. This whole thing is very young love. Young, cutesy love. And it's very innocent, too. Everything so far is just like fun and games, nothing to it. There is one character that gets brought up in the scene that I want to mention. So...

Kyle says that he drops an f-bomb in conversation and then up behind them we hear excuse me Mr. Landy I immediately recognized the tall man that had suddenly appeared behind the white-faced Kyle sorry sir I met dang Kimber giggled I'm sure you did he nodded hi Sheriff Clary even though I'd only met him a few times I liked my dad's boss and he liked me

"Well, hello Sammy. Are you excited for your first day?" Sheriff Clary crossed his arms in front of me and widened his stance imposingly, but gave me a wide smile. "Yes, sir," I said, and then added lamely, "What are you doing here?" "Well, I'm giving a presentation to the fifth and sixth grades about safety when walking to and from school." "Yeah, he gives it every year," Kyle muttered. "Cool," I smiled. Sheriff Clary nodded at me and he turned and walked away. I looked around confused.

Where's Kemper?

She took off. She is annoyingly on time to everything. And as if to illustrate his point, the bell rang. We both ran up the stairs and inside. So from there they go to their first day of school. So there's a mention there, his dad isn't a police officer per se, he's a sheriff's deputy in the small town. And Sheriff Clary's here giving it. It also further, like you said, paints the idea of this idyllic small town. Oh, the sheriff comes to the local school to give presentations about, you know, stranger danger or whatever, right?

Everything's very picture book right now. Yeah. I mean, even just – I've had that happen in my own – like when I was younger too, people were talking about like a sheriff or a cop coming in from in town and talking about like the – like safety concerns and stuff. But especially though, so far in the story, to me, it just feels like a subtle nod of – especially the –

the guy talking to fifth and sixth grades about, you know, the safeties of, like, walking home from school or to school. It just feels like there's something being set up or there's, like, something in town going on where they're trying to, like, let people know, like, hey, you should be careful because, I don't know, stuff is happening. But I think that's just my excited little...

evil brain getting, you know, prepping what I think is going to happen. Yeah. I do want you to read this part, both because I think it's good for like character growth, but also because I think you'll find it funny. A group of girls who sat near the front snuck looks at us all morning and snickered. I asked Kimber who they were and she shrugged during our second break. They came up and talked to me.

Are you friends with Kimber DeStaro? A tall, dark-haired girl asked me. Yeah. I answered and I looked over at Kimber. She was watching me with worried eyes. Are you related to her? No. I didn't think so because you don't have orange hair. I didn't know what to say to that. Yeah, it's like, okay. Fuck.

You don't have to be friends with her, you know, said the second girl with oddly round face. I want to be friends with her. A third girl behind the other two snorted. She had pretty auburn hair and rude upturned nose. Well, if you do, you're going to be in the ugly kid group, the first girl warned. And once you're in that group, you can't leave it ever. Better than the bitch group, I said.

Rude nose and round face gasped, but dark hair smiled. Wealthy, she said, and the three returned to their corner of the room. I sat back down to the next day, Kimber, feeling like a badass. It was the first time I'd ever used a swear word in front of anybody other than Kyle. Hell yeah. What did they say to you? Kimber asked nervously. They said you're too pretty to be near them.

And that you make them look gross, so we have to stay away from them. Liar, Kimber answered. But I could tell she was smiling. That's so sweet, isn't it? Yeah, I love that. That's an adorable interaction. It is. It's super nice. I also, I love...

Man, I love the idea, too, of just how real it feels for a kid to be like, God, I feel like such a badass. Because he just said, bitch. Yeah. Usually I don't say that in public. But he used his power for good. He used it to defend his friend. It was very sweet. There's another part later when it's talking about them at lunch. This is, again, seems like character dialogue, but this is setting up important world building. Similar to the sheriff mentioned earlier. When it says...

"Hey, are you Sam Walker?" the kid asked. By the way, they're at lunch now, like him, Kyle, and all them. "Hey, are you Sam Walker?" the kid asked. "Yeah." "Oh, your sister is dating my brother." "Oh man," Kyle laughed. "Your sister is dating a Whittaker." Remember Whitney, Sam's older sister who's like 14, that's who they're referring to. "Your sister's dating a Whittaker." "Shut up, Kyle," the kid grumbled. "She's gonna be Whitney Whittaker."

As funny as it was, I couldn't help but be a little surprised. Not that I've been paying attention, but I'd only seen Whitney out of her room once over the summer. "Um, where did she meet him?" I asked the Whittaker kid. "I don't know. Probably at his job." "His job where?" "He works at Driskin Water."

So anyway, the kid doesn't really, like Sam doesn't think a ton about it, but we get another mention. His older sister Whitney is dating someone, right?

And also he is a part of the Whitaker family, which similar to the Prescott family is a pretty well renowned to do family inside of this town. Yeah. Well off kind of like one of the wealthier families in town. Definitely like a name. Exactly. Yeah. Like, oh man, she's going to be a Whitaker like that. That carries some weight even to these like fourth graders.

Because if anything, you kind of assume that maybe their families talk about it and stuff. Like, kids can pick up on that. Yeah. You know? It becomes something, yeah, pretty real. So, anyway, it goes on from there. They go about their first day of school. And then, a few days later, it says, The rest of the school week followed much like the first. We were well into the first month when I heard someone mention the skinned men again.

We were out on the playground and Kyle and I were trying to start a fire with two large wood chips. I'd just given myself a splinter when the distant sound of metal grinding on metal flooded over the playground, silencing every one of us. "Baraska," I said in awe. "Yep," said Phil Saunders. "The skinned men kill again." "Hey, Kyle said only babies believed in skinned men." I threw an accusatory look at Kyle. "They do. Phil is just stupid."

Am not. Ask Danielle. She's seen them. Yeah, yeah. Wait, she's seen... She's... I think it's just me. Okay, yeah, yeah. I felt like I was having a stroke just then. Yeah, yeah. I was like, wait a minute. Yeah, yeah. Ask Danielle. She's seen them. Phil scanned the playground and then yelled at a blonde girl talking to Rude Nose. Hey, Danielle, come over here. The blonde girl rolled her eyes but came skipping over anyway. What do you want? I told you Kayla doesn't like you, Philip. What?

No. No, this isn't about that. That's for later. No, tell them about the skinned men. Phil gestured to the air around us, which was filled with metallic scraping coming down from the mountain. You tell them. No, you saw them, so you tell them. I didn't see them. Paige saw them. Oh, Phil said, and an uncomfortable silence descended. You guys are weird, Danielle said before flipping her hair in our faces and leaving.

"'Who's Paige?' I asked when she'd gone. "'Her sister,' Phil said. "'Paige disappeared when we were like five,' Kyle said. "'After she saw the skinned men,' Phil added. "'The sounds from the mountain abruptly ended "'and the subdued atmosphere of the playground disappeared with it. "'When the bell rang, Kyle lined up in his class line "'and since Phil was in my class, I made sure I was behind him. "'The teachers began to count us off. "'Hey, what else do you know about Boroska?' I whispered to him.

My brother said that's where people go when they disappear, to Boroska. What happens to them there? Bad things, he said, and then shushed me when I asked him what he meant.

And that's the end of that scene. So, okay, we have some interesting stuff here. For one, I love the haunting visual of a schoolyard full of children going silent when the metal starts, you know? It's like there's this understood, almost reverence they have for it, right? Of like, oh, it's beginning again. That's them. And then they make the shrewd comment of like, oh, that's the skinned men. They're killing again, right?

However, the one that's really haunting is the mention of Paige's older sister who disappeared when they were like five, right? So, and what do we know about the ritual for the tree? If you don't write your name on your tree, you disappear, right? So we're starting to see some reoccurring themes. If you don't write your name on the tree, you disappear. Paige had an older sister who disappeared and apparently she saw the skinned man.

It's interesting. Yeah. It's interesting too, because there's just adding to what you said about like even the Barasca sound of the metal scraping. I was curious because there could have been a couple different ways it goes where the kids in town who are there are so used to it that they don't really pay any attention. But still, even though it's a regular thing,

It still sounds as people. Like, I think that it's still something that just, like, fundamentally affects and people are... Everybody's afraid of it. But yet, still, there's, like, an urban legend to it. Like, there's interesting things where some people are like, yeah, there's a skin man. No, I... She said she's seen it. No, they're not real. There's still, like, urban legends, even though there's this huge grating thing and there is this, like, base level of fear that everyone believes in. So...

I don't know. You know what's crazy, though, too, is Sam saying Baraska in awe. Like, it really shows that I think that he is going to... I think that he's going to form some kind of obsession. I think it's going to, like, call him, or he is, like...

I think that something's going to happen to where he's going to have to explore it by himself because he is like, I think because he's so new and so naive, I think that it's going to inevitably lead him to go there by himself and kind of like disregard all of the things that people have said, all of the warnings and

So after the, I can't comment on it because it'd be getting into spoiler territory. Don't comment on it. I'm just saying this is where, this is my thought now. Yeah. Right. So it says that a few months go by, it's around Christmas break. And one day, um, it, Sam's sitting in his room and he hears the metal again. Um, it, he hadn't heard it since that time at the playground. So it's a few months between the noise, right? It's not like it's every day or something.

So he hears the noise again at the same time that his dad comes home from work. So when his dad comes inside he says, "Hey dad, do you hear that? That like machine sounding noise?" "Yep, I hear it in town every now and then." "Do you know what it is?" I asked the sheriff about it and he told me the noise comes from private property up in the Ozarks. "Is the property called Boroska?" I asked quickly.

I guess I should be like, is the property called Boroska? But you get the point. Is the property called Boroska? Is the property called Boroska? I have no idea. Boroska? Where'd you hear that? I shrugged. Kids at my school. Well, it's nothing to worry about, Sammy. Probably just some logging equipment. But is the place called Boroska? Like, have you heard that name before? No, I've not heard that before. Dad pulled his boots off and shrugged off his coat, looking toward the kitchen. I could tell I was losing him.

Have you ever heard of the Skinned Man? Hold on. Have you ever heard of the Skinned Man? I asked quickly. Skinned Man? Good God, Sam. Is your sister telling you these stories? This is me. I used to do this as a kid. I would terrorize my younger sisters with things I heard all the time. God. No, but he wasn't listening to me anymore.

"Whitney!" he yelled upstairs. "No, Dad, Whitney doesn't even talk to me." I repeated. I heard a door creak open upstairs and Whitney peered over the railing, phone in hand and an annoyed look on her face. "Are you trying to scare your brother?" Dad demanded. "Dad, no." I said again. Whitney shot me a betrayed look, seriously as if I'd waste my time. "Why aren't you telling him stories about skinned men?"

No, Dad, I told you I heard it at school, I said. Winji gestured to me as if to say, see? All right, well, you kids need to start getting along. You're family, for God's sakes.

Whitney rolled her eyes and when dad walked into the kitchen, she stuck her tongue out at me. Real mature Whitney, I yelled up to her, but she was already gone. I'll tell dad about your boyfriend. That's the end of that. But there's that mention around the father. I won't say anything specific now, but just keep that interaction in mind, right? Yeah, I don't believe him. I don't believe him. I feel like maybe not this skin men thing, but I do feel like...

Well, because here's the thing. I'm wondering how long has this been going on for? And if there's local sheriffs, because if it's like a sheriff, right, in a small town, I would say the majority of time you're like a hometown boy, right? You're like a little... You were born and raised there. So to me, I'm like...

I feel like, unless the other sheriffs aren't being honest, I feel like the dad would have heard Baraska. Just depending, but to be fair, we don't know the context of when really these sounds started or anything, or when this urban legend kind of happened, so I'm curious. Because the skin men thing, it's easy for him to be like, Jesus, no, good God, where the hell are you hearing this? But at the same time, I'm wondering, too, how much of it is him trying to be, trying to...

I guess not scare his kid or something. I don't know. I don't trust the dad for some reason. That's probably, you know, some personal issue I have with my own father, but I'm always like, he's lying. It is like the kind of... It's weird to say about a story, but kind of the body language the father has in the scene where it's like, Baraska, where'd you hear that? I just heard it at school. Oh, well, I've never heard of that before. You know, like it's...

It's like he's trying to pry for information but doesn't want to give anything away. That's what I mean, yeah. I just feel like he knows more. I feel like they're... And I could be completely reading it wrong, but to me it just feels like... Exactly, you're prying for information because you don't want to reveal your hand yet. And I think it's easy to also pass people off because of not wanting to talk about something.

and you just kind of give him the whole excuse of like oh this is ridiculous and then he even brings this doc like the kid sam is being very transparent like no i heard it at school and he's like did your sister tell you hey you know uh emily get down here what like it seems like it's trying to sway the conversation in a certain way and also completely ignore it even though i don't think sam is being irrational at all even though he's not i understand he's nine but still

I don't think that he's doing anything that's totally absurd. So I don't know. My little... My suspicious blinders are on for the dad as well. I feel like there's just not enough. I don't know. The cards are being held too close to the chest. Yeah. Well, anyway, those are interesting things that you said that I won't say anything about, so continuing on...

So the next day they go to school, or not the next day, after Christmas break, they go to school. The girls mentioned earlier, the three who made fun of Kimber, they come up, push Kimber again. Kimber says that she hates all those girls. And then the three of them are going to the assembly hall in the school because there's a D.A.R.E. presentation, or they say it's either D.A.R.E. or the History Society's presentation, which is funny because we mentioned D.A.R.E. a minute ago.

I'm telling you. Yeah, it's coming full circle. It's coming full circle now. So the three of them go to the auditorium, and then a teacher named Mrs. Teverty walks onto the stage and says, Hello, fourth grade students. This morning we have a special presentation for you from the Historic Preservation Society of Driskin. If you have questions during the course of the lecture, please raise your hand. Like that'll happen, Kyle laughed.

Now I'd like to introduce you to Mr. Wyatt Dowding, Miss Katherine Scanlon, and of course, Mr. James Prescott. "What? Jimmy Prescott and not his dad? That's so weird!" Kimber whispered. "Dude, Thomas Prescott has done this presentation every year for like 20 years," Kyle said. "It's definitely weird."

"'It's not weird,' whispered Mike Sutton from behind us. He leaned forward. "'Tom Prescott went crazy like a year ago. He didn't do the presentation last year when my sister was here either. I don't like Jimmy Prescott,' Kimber shook her head. "'He gives me the heebie-jeebies. His dad's so much nicer. He's like a grandpa.'

The presentation was slow and boring. Mr. Dowding and Ms. Scallion talked about the first settlers here, the Cherokee and the Trail of Tears. They talked about Alexander Drisking's discovery of a motherlode of ore in the mountains and settling here with his family to mine and refine the iron. Then James Prescott took the stage from there to tell the story of his family's early journey to the town and their role in the revitalization of Drisking itself in the late 50s.

The last part was the most interesting of it all and I found Jimmy Prescott to be infallibly charismatic and entertaining. I was so busy laughing at his jokes and hanging on his every word that by the end of his presentation I realized I'd actually learned quite a bit. So much so that I was interested enough to ask a question, which Kyle warned was committing social... unaliving for YouTube. Mr. Prescott scanned the room and answered a few other questions before he finally got to me at the back.

Yes, you in the back. Uh, Mr. Prescott? Why did the mines close? Like, what happened? I asked. Very good question, young man. What did you say your name was? Uh, Sam Walker? Ah, I believe I met your father the other day at the sheriff's office. Welcome to Drisking. As for your questions, most of the mines were closed in 1951 after a long period of unprofitability. The mountain had simply ran out of iron ore.

The mills and refineries were abandoned and the town suffered for years. The miners and their families moved away. Stores went out of business. Schools closed and Drisking became a ghost town. That would have been the end of it if it weren't for stubborn families like mine who refused to leave. We refused to give up the town and after many, many years of hard work, Drisking became the picturesque little haven in the Ozarks that it is today. I hope that answers your question.

I sat back down and Kyle shook his head at me. Bro. So anyway, that gives us an important thing. For one, we see the families again. The important families mentioned.

Specifically, we hear that Ted Prescott, or Thomas Prescott, the older one, went mad, according to them. And now his son, Jimmy Prescott, is the one holding the assembly. So again, there's a mention that the Prescotts are an important family. Remember all the trails around town and all the roads are named after them? And there's a mention that while it was at one point a big mining town, it lost its economy in the 50s and families like the Prescotts revitalized it.

Um, so that's probably why all of these different families have such predominance in the town because they kind of saved it from, uh, from an economic collapse. Kind of makes me, it made me think of like, like mine carts and stuff, the grindings and everything. I'm wondering, uh, I'm wondering if, if, if the sound is my immediate, my immediate thing is thinking that the sounds are coming from the mines, especially because, uh,

Down here a bit. There's some dialogue basically the kids after the presentation Kyle's like this is so boring whatever and

They're kind of giving Sam a hard time for asking about it. And Sam says, I just wanted to know about the mines. Mines are creepy. That's all. Yeah, but all of our mines were blown up. You can't go in them anymore, Kyle said. Blown up, I asked. Kimber nodded. Some kids died after going in the mines, so the city set off some controlled blast to implode the caverns. At least that's what my mom said. They messed up, though, and I heard they blew up the water table or poisoned it or something.

What? How do you know that? Kyle asked. Kimber shrugged. I heard my dad talking about it. Do you use C4 or something? I guess. That's a very general question. So, like, we all drink the water so we have C4 in our bodies and we don't explode at any minute, Kyle said excitedly. Do you think that's what's happening to all the missing people? I asked him. Just sitting there one day and boom! Boom!

Yeah, dude. Kyle grabbed my shoulders, and that's where the skin men come from. I made the intentional symbol of mind blown, and we laughed hysterically. I don't know. What do you... If you had... Well, fuck it. What sucks is that you already know. I need someone here to hypothesize. We need a third party. It's funnier if I torment you with it, though. If I'm like, hmm, I don't know. It is true. What could happen? That's a good question, Hunter. Why don't you tell me more of your theories?

So, but what are you thinking? What are you thinking right now? Where's your mind up? I don't know. I mean, like they're setting up some stuff. I don't think that we're getting like, I don't think any of the information that we're getting so far is like not intentional. Like I think it's, it's not intentional. It isn't just random that we hear about Thomas Prescott going insane. Right. And how it's a big deal that the younger Prescott who Kimber finds creepy is

is doing the presentation and stuff there's just too many little subtle things being hinted and dropped at especially a big emphasis on mining and like how mining built a town you know to me i think that i think that we're going to end up in the mind somehow but i'm wondering how it correlates with the tree house or even if the man that uh the skid men or uh

The man from the poem might be, I don't know, people that have gone insane or like in my head says Thomas Prescott, but I have no idea to know how old the poem is. Because to my head, I'm wondering if the Prescotts who are obsessed with this town, especially the mining and stuff, if they're like lurking around up there or something. I don't know. I'll tell you this. I'll give you this. You are holding all of the right pieces.

Everything you're saying, all these thoughts in your head, you've got all the pieces together. You're not putting them together right per se, but I think you know that. I think you know you don't have all the information. But you're catching on to everything you should be. It's becoming one of those things where it's like I'm theorizing, but every time I say it, especially when I'm saying it out loud for...

the viewers to hear because it's embarrassing. It sounds very dumb, but I do think that it's going to, I mean, obviously as we get more information, it'll piece itself together, but I think it's going to be one of those things where I'm like, how did I not see that? You know what I mean? I think that the story is going to be one of those stories where from beginning to end, it's like you had every clue right in front of you or every answer right in front of you the whole time.

Yeah. So I'm curious. Okay. So the story has a very dramatic tonal shift here, right? Because after that conversation, the two of them, it says they go home from school. And Kyle says specifically, I remember thinking in that moment that I was happy here in Drisking, Missouri, with these two people. Happier than I'd ever been anywhere else. It was the last truly happy moment I ever had.

Less than an hour later, Mr. Diamond's phone rang, and he exchanged a few quiet words with the person on the other end, his eyes flicking to and from my desk. It was hard to be surprised then when he hung up and asked me to come up to the front. Oh shit, did his dad die? When I got there, he told me my mom was waiting for me in the office and I was going home for the day. I traded a confused and worried look with Kimber and then packed up my backpack and went to the office. When I got there, my mom was crying.

Oh, God.

"Oh no, Mom. I think she ditched," I said quietly. "I saw her leave this morning and it was really early, like 6, and she was with her friends, Pete Whitaker and that kid Taylor." "We know about all that, Sam, but they made it to school and Whitney wasn't with them. They said she wanted to stop by the Circle K near Drisking High, so they left her there and no one's seen her since." Well, my brain struggled to come up with an explanation. Maybe she's ditching.

No, honey. My mom put the car back in drive and drove up to our house, parking behind a police cruiser. The police, as well as your father, think that Whitney is with Jay. But she has a new boyfriend here. We found all her books on the floor of her room this morning and half her clothes gone, along with some cash of your dad's.

But right now we think that she hitched a ride to St. Louis and that she's with Jay. The sheriff's office is trying to contact the boy's parents now. Whitney ran away? Anyone who knew my sister knew she was prone to dramatics and empty threats. Plus she was dating Chris Whittaker's older brother Pete. I'm sure of it.

We walked up the steps and into a house filled with stale coffee and quiet murmurs. Oh, gosh, that's a great... That line gave me goosebumps of like that pulp I love so much. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry, sorry. Stale coffee and quiet murmurs. I tried to remember if Whitney herself had ever actually confirmed she was dating Pete, but I drew a blank.

When we walked into the kitchen, I saw my father sitting at the table, staring at phone records, head in hand. He looked up when I came into the room and gave me a weak smile. Hey, buddy. Dad, I have to tell you something. I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder and turned to look up at Solemn Sheriff Clary. Everything and anything you might know, son, no matter how trivial you think it is. I nodded and sat down at the table with my dad as my mom handed the big man a cup of coffee.

Bro, what the... The writing turned up a bit. It got into the... Anyway, anyway.

Well, just, I heard Whitney had a boyfriend. That guy Pete Whittaker that she's been hanging out with. And I saw them and Taylor Dranger leave this morning before me. What time did they leave? Asked the sheriff. I don't know, like before six? He nodded. That matches the statements of Taylor Dranger and the Whittaker boy. My father's head sunk lower to his hands and I knew I'd let him down. But I rushed.

I don't think she went back to St. Louis because she was dating Pete and I don't think she wanted to be with her boyfriend back home anymore. I understand that, son, but a teenage girl's mind is a complicated thing. My officers are trying to get a hold of the boyfriend's family back at St. Louis. Clary nodded to my father. Now why don't you head up to your room and let us work, Samuel? I looked up at him in surprise. What? No, I want to stay down here. I can help.

No, son. There's nothing more you can do here. You've been a good brother. Now let us handle this. But I can help. You already have. Dad! I looked over at my dad with begging eyes. Go to your room, Sam. He said quietly after a moment. I balked. Dad! Now. I was angry. I did the only thing I could do to make my rage known. I stomped upstairs, slammed the door, and then sat on my bed in disbelief.

The tears came then and I laid there feeling helpless, worthless, and scared for my sister. I thought about all the places Whitney could be. Was she scared? Was she alone? Was she dead? When the sun began to set, I finally got out of bed and went to check my email. I was expecting lots of messages from Kimber and Kyle, but there was only one. Did she go to the treehouse? I sat staring at the computer screen for almost a minute. Kimber's words from last fall echoed in my brain.

If you enter the treehouse without the proper ceremony, you'll disappear and then you'll die. I didn't buy that Whitney had gone to Circle K that morning, and I especially didn't believe that she'd hitchhiked out of town. Nothing they were saying downstairs made any sense if you knew my sister, but maybe this did. Maybe she and her boyfriend went to the treehouse to make out or something, and maybe he'd left her there. Maybe she'd gotten lost, or maybe the skinned men had found her. That was the worst thought of all.

I didn't need to sneak out because the police were too busy with my parents to care about me anyway. I snuck my bike out of the garage and rode the three miles to the West Rim Prescott Ore Trail. When I got there, I saw two bikes already locked to the signpost and my two best friends sitting in the snow next to them. "I knew you'd come," Kyle said when I pulled my bike up and Kimber ran up to hug me. "I'm so sorry, Sam."

There's really nothing for me to say and they didn't push. Kimber took my arm and we started up the trail. The silence between us was stretched but comfortable. We trudged through the snow and all the while I searched for the telltale footprints of others but the snow was coming too fast. The hike up the mountain was harder and wetter than when we'd come in the fall and when Amber caught fort finally came into view over the ridge it was a welcome sight. The sun was getting low and we hadn't brought flashlights.

I fell as I ran up to the tree, calling my sister's name to the quiet wild. Kyle was right behind me and leapt impressively onto the rope ladder, climbing quickly up the planks. I kept calling Whitney's name, waiting for Kyle to yell that he'd found her or that there was at least some sign of her. And then I heard Kimber quietly say my name from where she stood at the triple tree. I ran over and tried to follow her eyes to confirm what I already knew was there. And then I found it, freshly carved near the top.

Whitney W. My breath froze in my chest and my vision blurred with unwelcome tears. And as the sun took its last desperate breath before plunging into the deep of the horizon, a deafening metallic whirl sang out from the wilderness and spilled down the mountainside. And that's the end of part one. End of part one. Beautiful. Really the flavor of that. Like, I mean, the prayer...

Hands of Prayer, you know, and that line there. Let me see if I can find that again because that was awesome. It's weird, too. We're doing a lot of reading, but it's hard because there's so much. It's so good. There's just so much great flavor. Yeah. Yeah.

It's really good. I think that... I don't know. Now it makes me think that every time that we hear the metallic ringing, it makes me think that someone has been captured or someone's been caught or the skin men have taken a victim or something like that is what it kind of feels like. Because I was wondering, and I could be getting my time wrong here. So, a lot of stuff. A couple thoughts before we move into part two, which is a couple cool things. One is...

Were they on the playground this morning when the metallic thing rang? Was that the same day that the sheriffs came and talked about? No, this is spread out over the course of, like, several months. Yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. So the metallic whirring was the first week of school, and then the sheriff's thing was around December, and this is, like, in the winter, early winter school. Okay. Because, yeah, I was wondering if it was the same day if Whitney left that morning that...

it would just help me figure out more of it's like, oh, she was walking to school and she got caught or whatever. But the idea to where this happens around the same time, because though it is months or though it is weeks or months in between stuff, the idea that the sheriffs are coming there and they're talking about people, you know, there's, he was talking to the fifth and sixth graders about, uh, walking home from school and stuff. And this is like the literal, uh, parents, literal worst nightmare kind of thing. Uh,

Yeah, I'm very curious to see. Once again, I don't know. I mean, the dad... I don't... Sheriff Clary just... I don't know. I don't like him. Don't trust him. Don't trust him at all. He's always just kind of around. Big, ominous kind of thing. Made a real good point to talk about how weird his...

His pose was when he was talking to the kids the first time. And then even the whole thing about him putting his large hand on the kid's shoulder and just kind of being like, tell us what you know. It gives you weird vibes, doesn't it? It does. And it's nothing really justified yet, but I think it's just because we're so early on to it and still so much unknown that right now it's kind of like... It's that early part of the game of Clue where everyone's kind of a suspect in a weird way. But I think...

I don't know. I feel bad for the parents. The dad feels very realized now, too. And I feel like I am a little more on his side because I think that he's just thinking the worst of, like, his daughter running away. But once again, it's just the idea of them completely ignoring, I guess, the kid. But he's nine, you know? If your kid ran away, you probably wouldn't be like, you wouldn't.

Try to get rational. Especially if you're discussing the concept of, okay, maybe your daughter... Let's discuss kidnapping. Let's discuss maybe she got involved with drugs or something. You don't want to discuss that in front of her younger brother, right? Yeah. No, that's fair. It makes sense. But yeah, that whole sequence feels...

And we're seeing it from the kids' perspective, but it feels very odd how everyone's like, yeah, I guess she just went back to Kansas City after half a year, you know? Yeah, or it just doesn't make any sense. Like, she's going back with her new boyfriend to St. Louis, but she's not even dating the guy that she was there. St. Louis, St. Louis, one of those Midwest towns. Whatever, Missouri City that no one gives a shit about. Yeah, that's what I meant.

But it just doesn't make sense. Like, why would she go back to Salem? Which the only thing is like, well, there's more to do, but I don't really think that she, there wasn't enough of a discussion about, I don't think that she was super happy with it, but I think that she was more so at the beginning of the story worried about

Not being able to be around her boyfriend. So it's just weird. There's no real reason why she would have gone back. Especially since she's not dating that guy anymore. She's dating a new guy. So the weird puppy dog love kind of thing that a young girl might have. But to just go back to a city just doesn't make a lot of sense. Especially since she hasn't made a lot of vocalized...

it's not like she's complaining all the time like there's nothing to do I'm so bored blah blah blah because that's usually a trope that people do too but I don't know I'm hoping that she you know wasn't taken into the mountains or something like that but we'll see but yeah part two yeah part two oh boy I will say that like

I'm almost getting, I have this such a weird, I don't know what the emotion to describe it is, but like, I remember reading Baraska when I was, I guess I would have been 15, 14 or 15 when I read it. And I remember reading it and being like, wow. Baraska is one of those pieces I can say made me like want to be a storyteller.

Like, it was one of the early pieces I read that really impacted me. So coming back to it and seeing that it's like, it's still this good is, it's weirdly encouraging. It's, I don't know, I'm having a great time. I mean, so far, this is easily leagues above anything that we've seen.

read in terms of like and that isn't to say that none of the other stuff that we've read is it's a different kind it's a different kind of stuff like I'm a search and rescue officer is very anecdotal it's supposed to be about the mystique of it you know yeah and it's good still yeah I just in terms of like the story of story yeah it's just a different kind of story and I think that

it's it's very flavorful like it's it's it feels extremely realistic this is my biggest compliment so far to it is the i'd like i mean the dialogue of the kids you know how hard it is to write dialogue for children that feels believable that isn't coming from like an adult's voice yeah it's very hard so all of it feels like there how many times did we sit there and talk about like you know you know

laughing about how cute something is or like it's just so believable there's so many moments where you're like yeah I I've I've said that exact thing before yeah that is how a kid would say something like this it's just little cute moments that are extremely impactful of like immersion like I feel fully immersed into these characters it's it's awesome I I I must continue

Which part two, once again, starts with the poem. I will say there has been a, you'll see it in a minute, but just so you know, there's been a significant time jump here. Okay. Just so you know. Continue. Okay. So it starts off again with the poem of underneath the triple tree, there's a man who waits for me. And should I go or should I stay? My fate's the same either way.

Good morning. The words faded back into the ether, and I awoke with a start. Jimmy Prescott was lounging against the wall near the door, an amused yet disproving look on his face. Shit, sorry, Mr. Prescott. I didn't hear you come in. You know I worked in here when I was a kid, too. I installed the bell on the door for this very reason. Didn't seem to wake you up, though. He laughed. I mumbled another apology and idly straightened the stack of business cards in front of me. Late night? Uh, kinda. Very.

I hope you weren't out on the bonfires with all those other underage drinkers. No, sir. Yep. Oh, yeah. So this is setting up to be like.

I wonder how old he's supposed to be. I think he's like, if I recall right, he's like 15 here, something like that. Because it feels like a significant jump. He's going out to bonfires, getting drunk with other kids, yeah. It's like high school. And also, he just now has a relationship with Jimmy Prescott now. Yep, he's working at a business. The man he was enamored with before. Yeah, he works at a business that Prescott owns, yeah, yeah.

Good. Anyway, I'm just here for my lunch. I'll take parmesan chicken with avocado on rye. Yes, sir. Happy the conversation was over. I walked over to the sandwich counter and unwound the twisty tie from the rye bread. Jimmy Prescott stepped back from the counter and idly studied the pictures on the wall. Though he'd seen them a thousand times before, more of the photos were of the Prescott family, taken over the last century. I'd always thought it was odd decor, but then the shop was named after them after all.

Or sorry, "Is Mira here?" Prescott asked as I wrapped his sandwich. She's in the back. "Ah, I thought she'd still be in St. Louis. Well, when you're finished, would you mind getting her for me?" "Shit." "Yes, sir." I handed him a sandwich and went back to find Mira. She was in the office, furiously punching the keys on her accounting calculator. "Uh, Mira, Jimmy Prescott's out front. He wants to talk to you." She turned and gave me a dubious look. "Did he say 'what about'?" I shook my head. "Okay," she sighed.

You can go home for the day, Sam. But are you sure? I still have three hours on the clock. He's the only customer we've had since we've opened. Don't worry. I'll pay you for the whole day, kiddo. Thanks, Mira. Good luck, I guess. Which I just want to say, before I keep going on, it's kind of a sad thing. Like, you'd have to assume here, too, with this time jump with what this is, which the... It's not that we've, you know... It's not like the...

It's not like the story is like 10 years later or anything. It's just an assumed time jump. But you also have to assume that his sister was never found. It's kind of what I'm assuming. And to spoil it for you, she was never found. Yeah. Yeah. So...

And it's such a depressing note, too, because like you said, it's like, oh, well, the story will pick back up when there's a development in the case. And it picks back up and there's no development in the case. It's very. Yeah. Not only is there no development in the case, but it's just like life has had to continue with this mystery for years now, which is so torturous, like so extremely. You know, it's an interesting narrative device that I guess I don't really think about.

until I see it like right there because emotionally we're still there, right? We're still in that living room with the family. Like what happened to Whitney? Where's Whitney? And now our characters are completely distant from it. They're six years separated, if not more like there it's in the back of their mind. They're not thinking about it, but that's still at the front of our thoughts. So it kind of, it disconnects us from the narrative for a second to kind of replace us somewhere else. It's interesting. It is. Yeah. Which, uh,

To continue, I left the store out the back door so I wouldn't have to see Jimmy Prescott again. His weird yellow to amber eyes always set me on edge. Not to mention he was a total tool. Interesting. I thought that he was very enamored with him when he was younger. I hopped in my car and texted Kyle that I was off work. He answered immediately and told me to come meet him. I happily whipped my apron off over my head and threw it in the car into reverse. Crystal Lake was my favorite place in all of Drisking.

I had to park almost... Isn't Crystal Lake the name of the Friday the 13th? Camp Crystal Lake, yeah. Okay, yeah. I thought so, just making sure. Yeah. How funny would it be if we're complimenting the whole time and then it just turns out that it's just Jason Voorhees is the skin men taking people. Bro, what if that's

That's what it was. It's like Jason just becomes a slasher for like none of the character setups matter or anything. Just beautiful, beautiful, beautiful writing all for it to be a Friday the 13th fanfic. Bro, that would be hilarious. That'd be such a good prank. It would be a pretty good way to like totally burn people. Even if it's not Friday the 13th, like it gets to the end of the story and it's just like...

And then a creature appeared. The creature appeared and killed everyone. Like, you just, like, run into the dirt. That'd be good. That was definitely not worth it. Yeah. So, I had to park almost a mile away since the lake was so packed. I eventually found Kyle and Kimber sitting on a rock that jutted out over the beach.

Kimber was sunbathing in a blue floral bikini and Kyle was wearing his, no one can tell where my eyes are looking. Yeah, brother. Yeah. So also we see some stuff here, right? Because like when they were nine or 10, uh,

Sam was like, Kimber's kind of cute. I see her as a girl. And now when they're 16, 17, Kimber was wearing a blue floral bikini. We know where his mind's at. Yeah. Especially with the don't know where my eyes are looking, which kind of insinuates, I think, jealousy of is he looking at her?

Or just women in general, because it's a packed lake, right? He's just looking at all the girls going by. They're teenagers now, right? They're like young adults. And he also was able to drive, so not 15, like 16, 17. I think they're still in high school, if I remember right. So yeah, like 16, 17.

uh times times changed a little bit right um yeah but like you said there's this like melancholy because we know nothing's changed with his sister because you know the story isn't going to be like whitney runs up oh hi guys real weird i disappeared for a few weeks back when we were like 10 right because whitney would be whitney would have to be like 22 23 at this point something like that but yeah she hasn't been seen since just very interesting um

I'm curious to... I really want to see where the character dynamic comes in. Which they start talking, they're kind of like joking around with each other until Sam says, you know, Prescott came in today. Ew, Kimber squirmed. He totally freaks me out. He's been staring at me since like fifth grade. Mm-hmm.

That's an interesting deal there. Because there's the mention she had, remember, where she's like, Jimmy gives me heebie-jeebies. Yeah, exactly. And now she's old enough to think about the implications of that and be like, oh, that was weird. Next time he stares at you, let me know and I'll knock him the fuck out. Kyle has always been protective of her Kimber. But ever since they started dating, I'd gotten ten times more unbearable. Oh! No.

Yep. They're dating now. Yep. Kyle. Kyle and Kimber are dating. Yes. Kimber weak to them. So what did he want, Sam? He wanted to talk to Mira. Probably about the sandwich shop. You mean about how no one goes there and the business should have closed years ago, but it won't because the Prescott's are stubborn and vain, Kyle said. Yeah, probably. I mean, she looked pretty worried. I can count on one hand how many sandwiches I've sold in the past month. Ouch.

Kimber grimaced. Yeah, I'm sure she's going to get chewed out. I really don't like the guy. I thought about the squirmy yellow-eyed freak yelling at sweet little Mira, and it made my blood boil. They really emphasize his yellow eyes, like he has jaundice or something like that. You should have met his dad, Kyle snorted. He was a piece of work. His dad? Yeah, Tom Prescott, Kimber said. The family put him in a home a few towns over. Why is he in a home?

I heard he got dementia and he was embarrassing the family in public, Kyle said. I heard that too. Kimber brushing her long curls off her shoulders. I always liked Tom Prescott. It was a pretty shitty thing to do. Hey kids! We turn to Newsend and see Phil Saunders come stomping out of the bushes behind us with Mike Sutton following behind. So this is where the cool people hang out. High above the kingdom on Pride Rock.

Sup, Mike? Kyle said, ignoring Phil, who he disliked ever since Phil had briefly dated Kimber. Phil was either unaware or uninterested in Kyle's feelings. Of course, that may also have been because Phil was stoned out of his mind most of the time and now was no expectation or no exception. What's funny about this, too, is I love that our introduction to this is like nine-year-olds and it's just like, look how cute all these kids are. And now it's like, they're stoned. They're all dating and fucking and, you know, all that kind of stuff. But at the same time, it's like...

it's, it's still keeps that kind of like storybook coming of age thing. Right. Cause it's a small town, the kids, you know, Kimber's dated a few of the guys and, uh, there's a mention where they talk about round nose down there, but one of them around face or whatever, but one of them ran off to be with a college guy. Like it's a small town, but things have grown up. Dynamics have changed, but there's still kind of that tight knit community. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's, uh, which, uh,

They go on to talk about... Pretty much just talk about being high, and it's just kind of like some bro-y stuff. And they're doing some real introspective things about, we're all just drinking the Kool-Aid. And they're having a big group chat here. But...

I think that an interesting part to pick back up on is when Kyle, who I knew had been monitoring the conversation for mention of this very thing, sprang to his feet and opened his mouth to yell at Phil. Now, Whitney Walker ran away to St. Louis. Remember, Mike said, I saw Kyle and Kimber exchange a quick look as I try to remain passive from behind the blue boxers. That true man, Phil asked.

And there it was. I knew Kyle and Kimber had always wondered what I thought about Whitney, and if I'd ever accepted the official statement that she and Jay ran away together. They were kind enough not to bring it up, and I knew they wanted to know what I believed, what I thought had really happened. I loved them both, and I wanted to talk to them about it. I just couldn't. Everyone thought that I had spent the last seven years quietly grieving, and that I'd put the incident behind me. At least, that's what I tried to show them.

The truth was that I'd never given up on Whitney. I'd waited years for Jay to show up on social media, and when I finally found him last year, I'd been devastated. I'd always hoped the official report was right, and that Whitney was somewhere far away from here, alive and happy with Jay Bauer. But his MySpace page showed a thriving teenager, still living at home with his parents, and his ex-girlfriend Whitney, the furthest thing from his mind. Ah, just, uh...

So we finally get some, you know, we officially know that seven years later, so he's 16, Sam's 16, all those people are 16, and that people, you know, they haven't really brought it up. And that the whole thing now, too, is that Sam has never really stopped. I don't think that he ever really believed this statement. But with the use of social media and stuff, he found that it officially isn't true, which I'm wondering why.

If the parents know that as well. To cut you off, to clear up that thought, the next paragraph says, When I brought the evidence to my dad, he read the pages I printed off and then shut the door to his office, me on the other side. I heard him crying in there for hours as I waited for him to reopen the case and bring the smackdown on the Butler County Sheriff's Department. But justice had never come and we never mentioned Jay Bauer again.

Ugh. Yeah. So sad. The whole thing there, too, is you know that the dad is probably like, because what's the first thing that you think is like, okay, one, kidnapped, two, murdered, like horrible. I mean, especially as being a parent here, it's terrible. And then now here Sam has to just be like, okay, he's wanting there to be justice. He's wanting to find his sister. But it's just something that apparently we never get. Yeah.

Which is also oddly suspicious, too. Goddamn that Sheriff Clary. I do not trust him.

For whatever reason, I never told Kyle or Kimmerer about any of that. Maybe it was because I was worried they'd blow it off like my dad had, or maybe, and far more likely, I didn't want them to know how obsessed I'd become with the Baraska and the Skin Men. I knew as assuredly as the sun would rise tomorrow that Whitney's death had happened there, just like all the others who'd gone to the Triple Tree. Okay, so he is fully invested into that still. It's good to know, too, that just that little bit of line lets us know that he's still... Because I...

I actually thought that this was going to go that he's like, that maybe Sam was like, oh, Baraska, that's a kid's thing. Yeah. You know, skin, you know, that's unrealistic. But no, he's fully invested still. I think he may have done that. Like, oh, it's a kid's thing. Had it not been for Whitney's name being carved on the triple tree. Yeah. I mean, it's too impactful. Yeah. How do you reconcile that? Right. Well, you can't. Yeah. I mean, you can't. The day she disappears, her name was on the tree. And then you heard the metal noise. Like.

Like, especially out of all those names too. It's like, cause the whole thing, cause I was thinking about this and I was like, oh, justifying it. It's like, oh, well maybe it's a different Whitney, but it's at the very top. It's a fresh marking. Like, yeah, I don't know. Yeah. It's Whitney W, you know, same last name. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. So from there, Sam says, yeah, it's true. She ran off with the guy Jay from our hometown. I answered that was enough for Kyle.

Alright guys, seriously, he's the sheriff's kid. What do you think is going to happen if he gets caught with the weed? The little man is right, Phil. Let's bounce. I don't need any more trouble with the cops around here, Mike said. So I have a couple things there. For one, Sam is saying to the group, yeah, the official story is correct because he doesn't want them to know how obsessed he is with it. And also we have the fact that recently Sam's dad has become sheriff.

We're trying to make this as digestible as possible because there is a lot of dialogue that is...

That I think for our sakes I don't think it's super necessary that we include it in but I think it but if you're reading it I think that all this dialogue. It's just straight immersion like I mean it is Solely making it as realistic as possible and honestly it sets up a great way of character building you get you know exactly Who these kinds of people are I think that like a lot of people would say that this is like filler or fluff or something like that? But I just I think that it just completely sets up the dynamic of

of these characters and also with a lot of things here how you know it sets us up to tee up new bits of information as well I do want to read this one dialogue between Kyle and Kimber so after they leave Sam hears this going on behind him he hears I didn't say I wanted to go I said I had to go Kimber said it's only two o'clock and it's Sunday I know but my parents have been fighting a lot lately and I don't want to leave my mom alone too long

I thought she was doing better. A little, but she's still depressed, Kyle. Do you want to stay over at my place tonight? Kimber's voice dropped into a whisper. I just don't... I don't think I'm ready for that yet. What? No, wait. That's not what I meant. I'd sleep on the pullout in the basement and you would have my room.

Very awkward silence. My parents love you, you know, he added. Kimber laughed. I know, I just want to be there for my mom right now. But thank you, sweetie. And then the absolutely disgusting sound of my best friend's kissing. I would never get used to. On that note, I'm out of here too. I stood up and gave them both a shaming look. Oh, come on, Sam, don't be jealous. We'll find you a girlfriend someday, Kyle joked.

I really don't need your help with that, I muttered, glancing down to the beach where Emmeline Adler was sunbathing. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Last week of school, Kimber yelled at my retreating back. Thank God. So, yeah, continuing on from there. He mentions this his sophomore year, so yeah, 16-year-old, like we mentioned. Um...

uh, it says that, uh, the, the summer meant no distractions, more time to think, and even more hours of boredom at Prescott, uh, artisan sandwiches, which for one, imagine owning this small town and you set, you put in a sandwich shop and you call it your, your last name, artisan sandwiches. I, I hate this guy. I,

They are setting him up to be just one of the biggest pieces of shit. This is the kind of person you know, too, where you're like, God, yes, the Prescott's. And I'm thinking exactly this. A corner shop of artisan sandwiches. It's like, yeah, no shit. Nobody wants to go in there. And it's pictures of him all over the wall. Yeah. I'm like...

He went and he's like the only person that buys sandwiches to there. It's like his own personal store of getting rye bread sandwiches. Yeah, Prescott sucks. We find here, you know, Sam saying that he's looking forward to his sophomore year beginning on Monday and that it's his sophomore ditch day that's happening. His dad knows about it and he's just like, you know, set a good example, you know, but he's going to do it anyways.

Kimber and Kyle were sympathetic and had offered to share in my misery I had of course said yes. Wait, what? I had of course said yes, much to Kyle's sadness. As I had expected, my dad was waiting for me when I got home. We shared a brief, stained conversation about respective days, and then he finally got to it. Remember, Sammy, we're cracking down on truancy this year. I want to see you at school tomorrow. Yeah, I got it, Dad. And I hope I won't have to write a ticket to Kyle either. I sighed.

It's a tradition. Even the teachers sort of encouraged it. On Friday, they said. I don't care what they said, Sam. Besides the fact that I'm the sheriff, I'm also your father, and I want my son in school. Oh, so is he the main sheriff in town now? Is that where we're insinuating? Yeah, yeah. So he's become the sheriff. He's got elected. Yeah, so Sheriff Clary, the man that I was super suspicious of, might not even be in the picture anymore. Has stepped down or didn't get elected, one or the other.

I laughed and shook my head. What a joke. I can't control what Kyle does. Fair enough, but you can control what you do. I said nothing and Dad sighed. It's almost over, Sam. Just get through these last five days and you can be done with school for a few months. Fine. I walked out of the kitchen, rudely ending the conversation. I climbed the stairs and passed Whitney's door on the way to the room. The

The light was on and silence was behind it. I knew my mother was in there. She was always in there doing God knows what. Sad and creepy. Oh, my gosh. That is heartbreaking, man. Heartbreaking and also you wonder too... They haven't really dived too much into it. I mean...

I'm curious the relationship strain between everybody. Like, I almost expected the mom to have... Because usually when this stuff happens, too, we usually find that, like, the mom and dad divorce because it's, like, too much of a strain on the relationship. So now it kind of seems like she's just, like...

It at least seems like if the mom is always in there doing God knows what, which means that Sam probably never goes in there because he's too emotionally driven by it. But it almost makes the... The mom is probably fundamentally emotionally and mentally broken still. And probably will never recover. I mean, how do you get over that? I know parents who have lost kids and it's like...

It's not like, not to say that they're stuck there forever. I mean, some of them like, you know, they have lives afterwards, but a lot of them just, they, they just, it's like time freezes, you know, they never leave that place. Yeah.

It's one of those things where I think it's, you will never know how it feels unless it happens to you. It's so easy to be like, that's horrible or whatever. But I think it's a different kind of pain, a different kind of loss. Like it's just a whole piece of you completely missing. So yeah, I can't even imagine.

I walked to my own room, shut the door behind me and locked it. The next day at school ended up being more embarrassing than anything else. There were a few others that hadn't skipped, maybe a total of 10 of us. And then in the looks they shot,

And the looks they shot at me made it clear that my dad was the reason they were there. So from there, it talks about the officers going around. They collect attendance and everything. Then eventually it says that at lunch, Kyle and Sam go out to his car to get high. And they're sitting in the car smoking. And it says that Sam begins and said, did you text Kimber? I asked him while he hit it.

Yep, he said through tight lips as he let the smoke sit in his lungs and then blew it all over my dashboard. She went home after fourth period. She said her mom called her and she was going home to take care of her. I don't know, man. Doesn't her mom hate you? One second. I was going to say real quick, did we ever figure, unless I missed it, is there a reason why her mom is so distressed or something's wrong with her? The only thing we've heard so far is that her parents fight and she's depressed.

Okay. Okay. As far as that's the, unless we've tragically missed something, which if I recall, right, we have it. That's just, that's all. I don't, I don't think we have, but that's why I just, it's just something where it's like if a, if a high schooler, especially a sophomore is going home to take care of their parent, I just didn't know if she was sick or something, but it makes it even more, I guess, kind of weird that she's just, I guess, depressed and the kid has to go home and help. It's interesting. Yeah. So, so, um,

"Doesn't her mom hate you?" I asked, taking my turn with the bowl. Yeah, I mean, that's a fairly new development. Ever since Kimber and I started dating, but I'm pretty sure she's always hated me and just hit it better before. Now that she's all depressed and whatever, she doesn't give a shit. It was hard to picture anyone hating Kyle. Why can't Kimber's dad take care of her? I don't know. I hit the pipe again.

Hey, man, let's not even go back today, Kyle said. You think? I asked. Yeah, I mean, you put in four periods, you've been a good son, and Officer Dickass already came around and collected the attendance sheets. Although, I feel like the next few are you. The dialogue lines. Yeah, he's like, Dickass, really? You're better than that, man.

Officer Ass Dick. You're fucking made, Kyle. Seriously, man, let's go. That's pretty good. From there, they're like, all right, let's get out of here. Let's ditch school, right? And then there's the mention that Kyle had let the insurance lapse on his card, didn't have money for gas. Kyle's kind of your typical, like, you know,

I don't want to say deadbeat, but like, you know, bumming his way through high school type of guy. Right, right. And Sam's forced to not be that by his dad, basically. So anyway, it says that a lot of the stuff Kyle does is to impress Kimber. And then while Sam is thinking about Kimber and Kyle, he says, they started dating in the fall and Kyle quit his job to spend more time with her. Kimber didn't seem like the kind of girl to be impressed by a Pontiac Bonneville, but Kyle was convinced that was how he'd want her over.

I was sure all, yeah, that'll get away. High school girls like easily. A Pontiac Bonneville. That's the panty dropper for sure. But do you remember like being in high school and like we had thoughts of that? Like, oh bro, I bet they like cars. Like that is the last thing going through their mind. And I'll tell you, depending on what year the Pontiac Bonneville is,

It's a solid car. Yeah. Solid car. If it's a 90s one, probably not as much. But, you know, it's, you know, who knows? I think it was...

I'm a Kyle supporter here. Yep. I was sure all the car had really done was given him the confidence to ask her out. And now that it's part in their... Wait. And now that it's part in their romance ended, the car sat in the garage of the Landy home collecting dust instead of memories. Oh, that's good. Dang it. I like this story. Anyway, I love the writing. Yeah, it's good.

Uh, GameStop didn't have what I wanted and neither did Driskin Games and Media. Since I had nothing else to do, I decided to show up to work early and hope that Mira would let me leave early too. I parked in front and walked in the door, unsurprised to see no one at the front counter. There were only three of us that worked at the shop and sadly I never got to see the other girl, Emmeline, who worked on the days I didn't. This was disappointing to me since she was half the reason I applied there in the first place.

I went into the back... Ooh. Ooh, there's someone like Emmeline. Emmeline is hot. I went into the back to tell Mira I was there and found her slumped over her desk on a pile of receipts and paperwork. This wasn't an unusual way to find Mira, but something seemed different today. I immediately felt a disturbance in the force, but before I could run away, she turned toward me and I saw I was right to flee. Mira was crying. Are you...

Are you... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, she said quickly, wiping her eyes. Is it four already? No, it's 2.15. I just thought maybe if I came in early... Oh, right, it's your ditch day. Mira wiped her eyes, only to have them filled with tears again. I don't understand, Sam. This store had been operating in the red ever since I was hired to manage it. What am I doing wrong? I don't... No, I offered lamely. The instinct to escape, never stronger.

No one comes in here ever and Mr. Prescott refuses to let me put signs up to advertise. He says they're unsightly, but how does he expect me to pull in business? I need this job, Sam. God, I just... I must have looked like a frightened deer because when Mira glanced over at me she seemed to subtly collect herself. Go ahead and go out to the front. I'll do your time card. She didn't have to tell me twice. I really liked Mira and I hated seeing her like this. The front didn't end up being much better.

I could hear Mira crying over the store's dated music track. Jesus. She's just like bawling her eyes out. This guy sitting there like making ham sandwiches. Would you like black olives with that? Scream crying in the back. Her sobs went from painfully audible.

The muffled whispers. Oh my gosh. She's like, and then it turns out to she's like throwing stuff like you hear stuff breaking.

It's especially weird, too, when you're kind of, like, younger, like, if you're 15 or 16, and you are, like, looking at an adult cry, it's even more awkward. I don't know why, but it's just something where it's like, you're not supposed to do that. You know what I mean? So it's like, this is, like, adult woman who's just, like, bawling, and this is, like, 15-year-old kid who's just, like, I...

I'm just here to make pastrami sandwiches. I have nothing to give. So he says here, he says, after half an hour, I decided I had to do something. Since I was entirely unequipped to deal with an adult woman's emotions. Man, brother, aren't we all? Hey, hey, it never gets any easier, Sam. It never gets any easier.

That's how it is in this earth, you know. I decided to call Mira's husband, Owen. He was thankfully at home and answered on the second ring. I'll be right there. I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard a car pull up outside and saw the tall, girthy Owen get out of it.

He walked in... Girthy. Girthy. He walked in... The story likes him, so it doesn't call him fat. It says girthy. Yeah, exactly. Girthy. If it was Mr. Prescott, he'd be fat. Yeah, fat piece of shit, Mr. Prescott. But no, girthy Owen. He's like a chode. He walked in during a quiet lull in his wife's breakdown. Yeah.

it has its phases its cycles i'm sorry to call you at home mr daily i just didn't know how what else to do that's okay sam you did the right thing he looked tired and i could tell the situation wasn't new to him is she okay i mean like like will she be okay oh yeah he nodded we're just going through some things oh mira said the store is going bankrupt too i winced as soon as the words were out of my mouth

Yeah, Owen ran a hand through his hair. That's part of it. Although, I don't think Jim is going to let that happen. Mira's more upset about... He sighed. Has Mira told you about her appointments? No. Well, we've been trying to get pregnant for years. Long, painful years. Kind of a... Long, painful years. I'm sorry, it's not funny. It's not funny. It's so true.

That's the brain of a 12 year old, I'm sorry. Long, painful years. Okay.

It's just so important for her to have a baby. And you know she blames me for our problems. Man, he's dumping on a 16-year-old. I was going to say, this 16-year-old is... I mean, this is a fucking... This is a heavy load. This is a lot. Yeah, you know... Do you know that my wife in there who's losing her job blames me for infertility? Do you know she thinks it's my... And he's like, I'm still high. I'm ditching school today. Exactly. He's like...

He's like, "Did you know we got Swiss cheese in? We offer Swiss cheese now?" And he's like, "I want her to be pregnant! I've been trying so hard!" You know she blames me, right? You're like, "Yeah, so we got actually--" Every day she looks at me like it's me. Do you know what that's like to look-- to come home and see? Yeah. So we actually make our own sourdough bread here. It's like just trying so hard to like get the fuck out of this conversation.

And then I have to go to work. I have to provide for this house while she runs this dead-end job. And then I'm the monster. I come home and it's me. I'm the devil. Yeah, so I'm hoping to graduate in two years. Okay, do you want Pepsi with that? Yeah. He walked around the room staring at the pictures, not really talking to me anymore.

I understand why it's important to her. I just don't understand the obsession with it, you know? Because she's the last one in her family? Because she's the last McCaskey on the planet? I mean, does she even realize that our baby wouldn't be a McCaskey? He'd be a Daley! I tell you, Sam, never marry a woman with a crazy father and four dead uncles. They develop these obsessions with lineage and... Which, first off...

Dude, this is a crazy conversation. This is a wild thing to say. We were joking around, but that pretty much nailed the exact paragraph. That is the vibe that's happening in the room. Four dead uncles? What? Oh, yeah. The famous ones. You know, the four brothers who died in the Drisking Mines?

Well, that only left her dad, and her parents were the only able to conceive her, which leaves her as the last McCaskey, and the hope for the family line. So of course you know, this is all my fault. We looked at him blankly and sighed. I'm sorry, kid. These aren't your problems, and they're way over your pay grade anyways. I'm just very stressed out these days. Our fertility issue and Mira's absolute abhorrence to our only other option, it's...

But how did they die? It was best to talk about anything else in the story of Mira's uncle's interest to me. The McCaskey boys?

I don't really know. They died on the mountain somewhere. Oh, well, um, have you heard about the skin men? Sample needs to find a better way to approach people about the skin men. Oh, her uncles are dead? That's weird. Hey, have you heard of skin men before? Yeah, exactly. This guy, he's like pouring his heart out. He's like, yeah, I mean, you know, it's a lineage thing. I don't know if our marriage is going to survive it. And he's like, yeah, that's weird. Have you heard about the skin men? What?

And then the guy's like, skin men. Man, we were joking, but we hit the nail on the head for how absurd this is. Oh, God. I don't think so. What about Baraska? Yeah, Sam just doesn't give a fuck about anybody. He's just letting them fly, like, out there in the air. Owen Daly squeezed his eyes and pushed in on his temples with his fingers. What? What does Baraska have to do with anything? Owen? Mirror voice squeaked from the doorway. Oh, baby, are you okay? Sam called the house.

Uh, oh, Sam called the house. "I want to do it." "You do?" Owen asked dubiously. I called him. His eyes flicked over to me and I immediately looked away. Another conversation I didn't want to be a part of. "Sam, why don't you take off for the day? Mere and I will handle things here." Okay, I mumbled and bolted to the door. Once I was in my car and backing away, I called Kyle. "Dude, fucking weird shit is going down in this town."

What happened? I can't explain it over the phone. Where are you at? I'm at Kimber's. Are you at Fork? Yeah, I'm coming to get you. I want to do it. What does that mean? What did Mira mean when she said that? So I assume she's referring to when he said right before Kyle cut him off, the lines Owen said was...

Our fertility issues and mirrors absolute abhorrence to our only other option. It's, and then, uh, Sam, or sorry, not Kyle, Sam cuts him off to talk about how the, how her uncles died. So I, it, I imagine it's referring to like adoption. Like she abhors the idea of like, Oh, like adopting a kid when she can't have one. Right.

Right, right. Or maybe like in vitro fertilization. Because it's not blood. Exactly, yeah. Maybe some kind of... Some other step to having a kid. But now Mira's at the point that she's like, I called him, we're going to do it. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Yeah, that makes sense. So... Pretty much Sam...

is freaking out uh thinking that weird shit's going on he's gonna go meet up with uh kyle and kimber at their house by at kimber's kyle meant sitting on the curb in front of the house kicked off the property again when i pulled up kimber came out and met us at the curb i'm so so i'm so sorry kyle she said she's really upset today she wouldn't even let me leave the house to sit with you it

It's okay, he said. Don't worry about me. I just want to make sure you and your mom are okay. I mean, her mom must be like, it almost seems like she's going insane. Like she's manic or something now. Yeah, like it's some kind of like swinging episodes or something like that. Yeah, yeah. We're okay and my dad will be home soon. Text us when he gets home and we'll come get you, I said. I wish I could. I'm babysitting tonight until 7.30. Maybe after that? Sure.

Kyle and Kimber hugged goodbye and Kimber rushed back to her house as something crashed inside. Jesus. Yeah. Good God. Mom's like breaking vases and shit inside. Yeah.

So what's going on, Kyle asked, taking a drink of warm Dr. Pepper sitting in the cup holder. You're still wearing your apron now. Mira had a breakdown, I said, peeling it off. Really? What happened? I told Kyle the full story, giving particular attention to the four uncles. Yeah, the McCaskies. I've heard of them. Didn't know Mira was one, though. I thought they were all dead. Yeah, she's the last one. So, like, do you think the McCaskie deaths have anything to do with the other disappearances? It had been a while since I'd mentioned anything about Baraska, and Kyle choked a little on the Dr. Pepper.

"I don't... I don't know, man. I mean, maybe if the disappearance started around the same time..." "How can we find that out? Maybe the cops? There have to be police reports." "Okay. But what if I... uh... but what if I couldn't ask my dad?" Kyle shook his head. "I don't know, then. What about the, like, records? Historical Society people, maybe?" "Oh yeah," he said, nodding. "We can try them. They're over on 2nd. They're over on 2nd. They share an office with Drisking Arts and Antiques."

I made a U-turn and started back towards town. So now basically Sam is really fixated on the four uncles being missing. And I think he's thinking of a way how it could correlate with even Whitney's disappearance. And I think he realizes too that he can't ask his dad because I think it would send him and probably his dad and his mom into, I would assume, a...

you know, an emotional episode as well. Like, I think that he just doesn't want to put that on them. Plus like, I, I get the feeling Sam's a little suspicious of his dad, uh, because he's like, I brought all the evidence that the official story of Whitney was wrong to my dad. He cried for three hours and then never reopened the case. So, well, that's the weirdest thing is that the dad is, uh,

emotionally they're on the same page or like at least Sam and his dad are on the same page of like, okay, well she definitely didn't run away, but it's so odd that the dad didn't do anything to try to rectify or find out the truth. So it is, it is very suspicious. It's like, it's one of those things where he probably doesn't want to bring it to him because who knows, he might just like not do anything with it again. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So from there, and I also like the idea of like Sam, like there's a lot happening in town. Like sure, he was weirded out by Mira's emotional breakdown, but as soon as Owen mentioned like, oh, the mines, he's like, what do you mean the mines? What happened? Tell me more. Like he's trying to learn everything he can about what might've happened to his sister. Well,

Well, we kind of get, it's like almost like a flashback to when he was nine again and how pressing he was about it then too. Yeah. Because it's been, up until this point, it's been, all of these characters are so new, it feels like.

You know, they're all older. They're doing different things. But this immediately made me it's like he's right back, which is cool because it puts him right back into his mind when he was there and he was obsessed about it, which I know they say he has been obsessed. But even like the verbiage used in the story here makes it seem like he's like nine years old and obsessed with this thing again. Yeah. And like I like. So the sex part says he makes the U-turn to go back towards town. And Kyle says, hey, why are we doing this?

I'd known the question was coming. I'd hoped to have more answers myself before I had to give him one. Just Whitney was all I could say. Kyle didn't ask anything more. I like that. I like how, like, even though Kyle's, like, kind of foolhardy, dumb kid, like, he hears that and he gets it. Yeah, he catches up on it. I mean, you even see that too early in the story when Kyle and Kimber, none of them ask about...

that like none of them have ever pressed him about it you know i mean i think that they just kind of understand that like there is a level of respect that his friends have for him which is it's nice i really i really enjoy kyle and kimber yeah i do too um so so from there it says cal didn't ask anything more the historic the historic preservation society of drisking was at the back of the building and we had to walk through the antique shop as the owner mr dranger i just warily

At the end of a short hallway, we found a small room with two desks pushed together. One was empty and the other was stacked high with books and folders of loose paper. We could hear someone typing behind the stacks. I cleared my throat. "Hello?" A small woman popped up from behind the desk. I recognized her as the same woman who had given us a lecture in fifth grade. "Hello, how can I help you boys?" she asked, walking out to greet us. "Uh, yeah, I have a few questions about Drisking's... history, I guess."

"Oh, great! Is this for an end of year report? Have a seat, boys." She gestured to the empty chair sitting behind the other desk. I nodded a call and he sat down looking uneasy. "Yeah, it's for an essay we have to write. Uh, hey, I think you gave a lecture to us like seven years ago at school." "Oh, yes, I give lectures every year with Mr. Prescott," she smiled.

Yeah, it was you and one other guy too, a bald guy, Kyle said, shifting uncomfortably in the wooden chair. Yes, that was my fiancé, Wyatt Dowding. He passed several years ago.

Oh, Kyle said. Kyle, the king of... Oh, he's dead? Gross. Yes, that was my fiance, Wyatt Downing. He passed several years ago. So instead of just being like, oh, I'm sorry. Just, oh. Yeah, I read it very much like, oh.

So, uh, Miss, Miss Scanlon, but you can call me Catherine, she said. Catherine, I tried. I hated calling adults by their first names. Um, we want to know about the McCaskey kids. Oh, Catherine said, shaking her head. Dark part of history there, but still history nonetheless. Yeah, so when did that happen? And how did they die? Kyle added.

Well, they didn't die. I mean, they certainly perished in the mines, but their bodies were never recovered. They didn't die. I mean, they certainly perished in the mines. It's like, good lord. God, Catherine, you crazy old hag. Good lord. They didn't die, but their bodies succumbed to the nature. Yes, succumbed to the earthly grave. They were swallowed by the earth, returned to their once more. But no, they weren't dead, per se, I don't think. No.

Well, they certainly perished in the mines, but their bodies were never recovered, so we don't know the answer to that. I would think dehydration, starvation, and exhaustion killed them within days of getting lost down there. And to your second question, that was 1953, I believe, and the mines closed that year. Well, actually, the mines officially closed the year after. There was a legal spat between the city and the Prescott family who wanted to leave the mines open until the bodies were found. The city won and the mines were condemned.

Wait, why did the Prescotts care? Don't you want to write this down? Catherine asked. Kyle tapped his head twice with his finger. Catherine shrugged and continued. Ah, don't worry, it's all up here, lady. It's all up here, Catherine. Don't you worry about it.

Well, the Prescott and the McCaskey family were closely related. Tom Prescott was paying teams of unemployed miners to go down in the mines and search for bodies. The city had had enough of it. The mountain was unstable and they didn't want any more deaths. The mines had been abandoned years before and were structurally unsafe. After the city banned the recovery teams from the mines, members of the Prescott family started going down there themselves.

Finally, the city had enough and they had the mines collapsed. With bombs? Kyle asked. Well, with explosives. And that's what led to the incident. By this time...

By this time, the mines had been unprofitable for a few years and the city was quite broke. They hired a less than reputable company to collapse the mines and, well, when they set off the explosives, they accidentally broke into Drisking's water table. The city went into debt trying to purify the water of silt and iron ore. It wasn't until two years later that things started getting better. Thanks to the Prescotts who truly did revitalize Drisking. Kyle's phone chirped and he pulled out of his pocket. It's Kimber. She wants us to come over.

Okay, thanks, Miss Scallion. I mean, Catherine. Sure, if you have any other questions, feel free to come by. We're almost always open during the day. Oh, or you can email me. She dug into her jacket pocket and pulled out a loose business card. It was creased and had a dusty smudge on it. Thanks. So, what do you think? Kyle asked when we got in the car. I don't know. It's weird, isn't it? I mean, why would the press gods give a shit if the town suffers after they refused to help him find their family and were actively working against them?

Maybe they forgave and forgot, Kyle shrugged. Does Jimmy Prescott seem like a guy to forgive and forget to you? Uh, no. And his dad's even worse. Exactly. Maybe we should... Turn here. Sorry, Kimber's still babysitting and she's over at Amherst. When we pulled up, Kimber was out in the front yard with two young boys who were playing in the driveway. She was holding a sleeping baby and waving to us. We parked in the driveway and she introduced us to the two older kids. They gave a shy hello and ran off to continue their game.

So did the Prescotts, were they interested in fighting the bodies or were they, are they the ones that were more interested in shutting the mines in the city? So it's mentioned that the Prescotts and the McCaskies were very close to each other, right? And then the four McCaskie brothers die in the mines. So the Prescotts start sending in untrained crews into the mines to try to recover the bodies. And,

And there's danger that the crews are going to go missing or die as well. So the city wants to have the mines condemned so no one else goes down there. And the Prescott's are fighting to leave the mines open so they can recover the bodies. Eventually, the city wins, blows up the mines, but it was done unprofessionally and it poisoned the water table. Interesting. Okay.

So that's the history lesson we got there. Which, yes, I will confirm that all of this does come back later in the story. This isn't just set dressing for the sake of it. No, I figured. I mean, it also shows some stuff, too. Well, it sets some stuff up to why the Prescott would have a McClaskey, the last remaining McClaskey, run this dying business and keep it open to give her work or whatever. But there's still something malicious with the Prescotts. There's too much emphasis also on people...

Being like, oh, the Prescotts really did help and stuff like that. I just, I, there's something fishy going on. Yeah. Yeah. So, so they're sitting there with, it's the three of them now and Whitney's still, sorry, not Whitney. Kimber's still babysitting the two kids and says, once they'd left, we explained everything that happened to Kimber while she listened and rocked the baby in her arms. Sam's right. That doesn't make sense. But why are we even concerned about something that happened decades ago? Whitney. Kyle said, so I didn't have to.

A flash of surprise crossed Gimber's face and she walked over to put the baby down in his playpen. Then she walked back and pulled me into one of her famous, super comforting, not at all awkward hugs. When she released me, she began to pace around the driveway. Okay, so we think Whitney somehow got involved in all of this. And you're right. If we want to figure this out, we need to start at the beginning. Phil is right. Every mystery in this town is one piece of a larger puzzle. It's all related. She stopped and looked over at us.

We need to go to the source if we want answers. Yeah, that's not a bad idea, Kyle agreed. I know he likes to hang out in the hideaway and get drunk with ex-sheriff Clary. Uh, no, Kyle. Not Jimmy. His dad. Tom? He's so crazy, they put him in a home. He's the horse's mouth, though, isn't he? Jimmy isn't likely to know half as much as his dad. But... As Kyle and Kimber argued, I watched the kids chase each other around the tree in the front yard. There seemed to be something carved into the bark.

Not unlike the triple tree at Ambercott Fort. It was too far away to read what it said. He got you, he got you, I heard the youngest one call to his brother. The skinned man got you. Now you have to die. Nuh-uh, Peter, I was touching the tree. No, you weren't, you're a liar. One of them got you, and now you have to meet the shiny gentleman. No, I don't.

Kim. Oh my gosh. Oh bro. I, I forgot about that detail of the story. Oh man. I can't talk about it cause I know where this is going, but the shiny gentleman. Oh my gosh, bro. I was going to say, all I know is I'm sure as soon as one, as soon as one of the people said something about skin tree, I feel like Sam probably shit a brick. You did not. Did you just say the skin men?

And then also now a new introduction to somebody called the shiny gentleman. There's just something always so creepy about just children saying stuff like that. If it was an adult saying shiny gentleman, you're like, oh. But for some reason, a kid saying it just makes it so much worse. I've been about to blow a gasket this whole time because I can't talk about the foreshadowing that's happening. But for the people who know this story, the shiny gentleman, I'm going to die immediately.

I'm about to blow. Oh my gosh. Okay. You have to meet the shiny gentleman. No, I don't. Kimber, Josh is cheating. I shuddered and turned away from them. Where's the nut house? I interpreted them. Is it close? I love this dynamic too because like,

Okay, Kimber hears that it's about Whitney and she's immediately like, all right, we've got to fix this. You know, it's Sam, he's our friend, we've got to do something. And then they're talking about how absurd it would be to go find, you know, this old man who just may know something that's going on. And then Sam hears the kids playing and making skinned man jokes and all of that. And he's like, all right, where's the nuthouse? Where is it? Is it close? Can we make it to it? Like the urgency is kind of picking up in his mind.

Well, it immediately makes me think they put such an emphasis on like, oh, yeah, the oldest grandpa, Thomas Prescott, who

Yeah, he's crazy. Which, if anything, he could be in a place of hysteria, but he could be telling the truth also. So he could be, like, ranting and raving about the skin men or shiny gentlemen and stuff. Yeah. So I feel like whenever they go meet him, I think it's going to be something where he is going to spill some beans, I think. And I do think Jimmy Prescott is going to be pissed. Yeah. I can't say anything, but those are interesting ideas you have. We'll see how they play out. Um...

So anyway, it's not a nut house. It's more like a hospice, Kimber Chyden. The rumor I've heard is that he's at Golden Elm and that's in Cape Gerardo. I'm sorry. I think it's Gerardo. Gerardo, thank you. Gerardo. Gerardio. Yeah, that's it. That's about 40 minutes away, Kyle said and pulled out his phone. I'll check the visiting hours for Tuesdays. Sam, do you work tomorrow? I work every day, but I'll get out of it. I promised. Okay, cool. Let's plan to leave after school.

So the three of them are going to set off and they're going to head to meet the old Prescott to see if they can get any information out of him. So after school's over, they get in their car. It says the drive took longer than we expected when I got lost in Cape Girardio. I would get lost too if I could have pronounced it. The town was bigger than Driskin and the streets weren't laid out with any sort of planning or logic. By the time we arrived at Golden Elm, we only had 20 minutes left for visiting hours.

We're here to see Mr. Thomas Prescott, Kimber told the nurse at the front desk. We let her do the talking since she had a disarming, old-fashioned charm about her that put people in a friendly mood. Old Tom? Wow, he hasn't had a visitor since Christmas when his son came up. Sign the check-in sheet and take a visitor sticker.

Your family, then? Do you know where his room is? The nurse arched a thin, suspicious eyebrow. I'm sorry, we don't, Kimber apologized. My mother has been asking me to check in on my great-uncle while she's away doing Doctors Without Borders. I should have gotten more information from her, but, you know, she only has so many minutes to call home. Smart girl. Very smart girl, yeah. Oh, of course, dear. Let me get someone to escort you.

An orderly led us to Tom Prescott's room, which we found empty. He pointed down the hall and said, "He likes to read in the sunroom." We walked down the hall and found an old thin man with, I think it means while, an old thin man sitting alone and whispering to himself. He was sitting at a table in front of a bat game and board, moving chess pieces around it. "Tom Prescott?" Kimber said smiling. He didn't look up and I wondered if he heard her at all.

Kimber took a deep breath to try again, but the old man suddenly slammed his fist on the table. It's him! I'm... Wait, wait. Oh, hold on. I'm him! Yeah. I'm him, goddammit! I'm Mr. Thomas Prescott. Don't call me Tom. People's kids used to have more respect. I'm sorry, sir, Kimber said gently as she sat down in the chair opposite of him. You kids have no respect. Do you even know who I am? It's my son that's done it. That's...

That boy's mama should have whipped him, but she was soft. And now he's running around my town spreading the vulgarity and disrespect. Our apologies, Mr. Prescott. We never meant to be disrespectful. We greatly admire you. You're the man who built our town into what it is today. Everyone remembers that. Driskin was suffering, and the town was dying, and you fixed it. We know that. I did what I had to do, the old man grumbled. It was my town. It still is. Who are you?

"Who are you, little girl, to come in here and suggest otherwise?" "Uh, no, no, that's not what I said," Kimber changed tactics. "As for who we are, we're Merrick McCaskey kids. Do you remember the McCaskies?" "Huh. So you're Ada's granddaughter? That explains why you're not there. That explains why you're not there." We exchanged puzzled looks. "We're right here, Mr. Prescott," Kimber said. "You know what I meant, young lady. They all know. They know I rescued a town. That's my town.

"Of course, we're going to let, uh... Of course, we're going to let me do anything. I want-" Fuck sakes. "Of course they were going to let me do anything I wanted as long as the money kept coming in. That's why it's MY town!" "Is the money still coming in?" Kimmerer tested. "Well, you're here, aren't you?" "They didn't like it, but they kept- but they took the money. They didn't know. Not everything. They didn't. But they suspected some. And they must have been okay with it because they kept electing Clary and they kept taking the money."

Prescott picked up a pawn and ran his finger across it as he talked. "It's just a powder, you know. So unassuming. A fine, soft powder. A powder doesn't know what it is. It doesn't know it's bad. It's the people who say it's bad. But it needed to be done. You know that, Ada. You know we had to do it." Kimber hooked him in. "I know. I know we had to, but it's your son.

I don't think he's doing it right. Well, of course he isn't! The elderly Prescott slammed his fist on the table again and two rooks tumbled to the floor. They were mine! He took them from me. He thought he could do it better, but he took mine and he ruined my legacy! Decades of work and now it's all run by powder. It's the dust of the Crumbled Empire. What about the skin men, I asked. God, Sam, Jesus. Give it the fuck- give it fucking ten minutes, dude. Ten minutes! What about the skin men, I asked, caught up in the moment.

"What are you talking about, boy?" he growled. "And the treehouse! The Triple Tree! What is it? What is it for?" "Triple Tree? I didn't authorize that. We paid triple the price, but it was only for a short while, when things were slow. We never changed triple. That's bad business." "Where is Bur- has my idiot boy been telling you that? Did he offer you triple for them?" "He's ruining my town, isn't he?" "God damn it, Jimmy. You get him in here."

"Ada! Get me my boy on the phone!" "You tell Jimmy I want to talk to him." "You tell him they're still mine." "Ada! Ada, get Jimmy on the phone!" Kimber jumped up and Kyle pushed her behind him as the old man rose to his feet, tall and imposing.

We were backing toward the door when the orderly came in with disapproving look on his face and shoot us out. Long after we'd made it to the lobby, we could still hear Tom Prescott yelling for his son. The ride home was quiet, and I spent it trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. The skin men, the triple tree, the shiny gentleman, the powder. These things seemed to have been pulled blindly from the aether, random and meaningless. The veil over my eyes was thick and heavy, but I was closer to Baraska than I'd ever been before.

I could feel it all around me, but I couldn't see it. I could almost touch it, but I couldn't yet comprehend it. I suddenly realized that Kyle was pulling over off the road, and I snapped out of my contemplation. He put the car in park and turned over and looked at me in the backseat. "'Is this really about Whitney, Sam?' "'Yes.' Kimber washed us with worried eyes. "'Why do you think that?' "'The cops, I mean, even your father confirmed that Whitney ran away.' "'I don't believe them,' I said through clenched teeth.'

"Look, Sam. We're getting pretty deep in here, and I'm only- *ahem* I'm with you every step, but I have to know that there's a reason we're doing this, and pulling Kimber in too. I have to know this is important to you for the right reasons and not just an obsession." I looked out the window and realized he'd pulled over near the West Rim Prescott Ore trailhead. He was right to worry, and even more so to be protective of Kimber. Kyle was thinking- *ahem* Kyle was thinking it, and so was I. The powder.

If Borosco really did involve moving mass amounts of drugs, did I want to be involved with my friends any further? This wasn't their fight. I love these people. Could I really risk their safety for my own curiosities and vendettas? But as hard as I wish I could let them go, I knew I needed them. I have to know what really happened to Whitney, I whispered.

Dad? What? Wait. What do you mean? D-Dad?

"No, wait, slow down. Hello?" She took the phone away from her ear. Something happened to my mom, and she's at the hospital. Tears filled Kimber's soft, green eyes. Kyle threw the car in gear and screeched into the parking lot. We made the 10-mile trip to the hospital in as many minutes, which was criminally fast on service streets. Kyle stopped the car at the emergency entrance, and Kimber and I ran inside.

A deputy was there waiting. He refused to answer Kimber's desperate questions as he led us to her father. When the deputy swung open the doors, I saw my dad standing next to Kimber's and I braced myself for the worst. Kimber's dad took her in one direction and my dad took me in the other. Before he said a word, I saw Kimber crumble to the floor on the other side of the room. I looked at my dad helplessly and he gave me a sympathetic nod and pulled me into a hug.

He sat down in a corner and I stared at my hands as he quietly explained that Mrs. Destaro had gone grocery shopping at around one o'clock, come home, put the groceries away, made two lasagnas and a meatloaf, put them in the freezer. Then she got in her car, drove to the hospital, parked in the shade, took the stairs up seven floors to the roof and jumped off of it. She lived long enough to apologize to the EMT who found her.

Oh my God. I watched Kimber fall apart as her mother's body slowly grew cold in the morgue, one floor beneath us. End of part two. End of part two. And the end of part one of our episode here. Yes. Yeah. Yes. That's the end of our cover. For one, just real quick. What do you think of the story so far?

I think it's very good. The thing about it so far is that it's tapping... It has a lot of eccentricies. Is that the right word? I don't know. You're talking about stuff called Baraska, which is fine, but you're talking about stuff like the skin men and stuff, and there really hasn't been any elements of actually visually being able to see anything.

Really, the horrors of a lot of the stuff so far of this story has been putting yourself in the shoes of somebody of like a brother or a parent losing a child or a sister or sibling. And even so much of this of dealing with somebody with mental health issues that had tried to unalive themselves and having to deal with that and the long periods of stretches of how that affects you. So I think that it's...

It's extremely well written. But I also more so like that it's taking its time. It's really not trying to reveal too much. It's not trying to be big and flashy. There's moments too, like... I think the biggest thing from this one I thought was interesting was I really thought that we were gonna get...

something a little more than our meeting with Thomas. Thomas being obsessed with... Thomas Prescott being obsessed with the ownership of the town and stuff, I thought was going to go in a different direction. So I'm curious. I would like to highlight something about that conversation, right? Yeah. So we know that the Prescotts revitalized the town in the 50s, right? Yeah. So...

The Prescotts did something, right? Town starts making money. And we hear at the beginning of the conversation, he's talking about it's my money or whatever. And they apologize. And the old man says, I did what I had to do. It was my town. Who are you to suggest otherwise?

And he says, whenever she identifies herself as Ada's granddaughter, he says, oh, then you know what I mean, young lady. They all know. They know I rescued the town. That's my town. Of course they were going to let me do anything I wanted as long as the money kept coming in. That's why it's my town. And then whenever Kimber says, is the money still coming in? He says, well, you're here, aren't you? They didn't like it, but they took the money.

They didn't know, not everything. They didn't, but they suspected some. And they must have been okay with it because they kept electing Clary and they kept taking the money. Yeah, he's trying to assume that it's bad, like...

That it's a crooked cop. Especially the emphasis of him continuously using the word powder and stuff, which is usually people associate that with cocaine. But I don't think it's that. I don't think that it has anything to do with a drug ring or anything like that. What I am curious is potentially like an H.P. Lovecraft situation thing where the powder could be

you know, something not of this world, something that maybe they found in the mine that like presented them some kind of wealth or whatever, which is also maybe why the Prescotts were so advantageous to keep the, uh, minds open, not necessarily to find the people or if they were to find the people to have them, you know, because the McClaskey's were important to them somehow as well. Yeah. So I'm, I'm, I'm very intrigued. I'm extremely intrigued. And I really, um,

I don't know. Like, so far, in terms of dialogue and believability, this is just extremely well written. Such a... It's, like, so visually clear...

And I think that just the way that each part – one thing that I love about these so far, especially with part one and two, is it ends on such a great moment, like such an impactful moment that sits with you. Plus, that conversation is derailed when he asks about the skin man because Prescott goes from talking about like, oh, the dust. It's the dust of the crumbled empire. Like he's talking about something tangible. And then when he says the skin man, he goes, what are you talking about?

And then at the mention of Triple Tree, he's like, I didn't authorize that. Why would we ever charge triple? Like he has that. The old man has no idea what the skinned man or the Triple Tree is or anything like that. Yeah, no, I think that Sam's eagerness and Sam's obsession. Because even like I think that Kimber and Kyle are starting to see it too. He's like, I just need to make sure that this is actually for Sam.

something tangible and not just your obsessive mind needing to get your fix or whatever. But I think that even when they were talking to Thomas and it is an obsession in a way for Sam. And I think that it's like, it's, it's like a, it's like a scratch or it's like a, it's like a thing that needs to be itched. You know what I mean? Like he, he, he couldn't wait any longer. He had to like bark out and say it. And I completely derailed this thing when it seemed like Kimberly or when it seemed like Kimber had, uh,

you know, her, it seemed like she was controlling the conversation pretty well. Like she was like navigating it well and, and,

like following his sways of emotion. But now I think Sam fucked it up. Yeah, Kimber was just leaning into whatever he was saying and then Sam killed it. Yeah. Good job, Sam. Sam's obsessed with being like, do you know the Skidmen? And people would be like, what are you even talking about? But to be fair, that is the only pieces of the puzzle that Sam has. And he had just heard kids mentioning it earlier. So he thinks that it's a common thing around.

Like he didn't. Sure. I see why he would have asked that. Yeah. It's not totally unjustified for sure. And also it's become a thing where now it's this, like, it's almost this symbol or it's this like kind of tangible, you know, and he says it too in the cards. Like I, he feels like he's right there, but he just can't comprehend it yet. You know, it's like, I, he feels like he's right by it, but he just can't see it. So it's, it's plaguing him. And I think that it's the only thing, it's like the only ounce of hope he has left to solve this thing. Um,

with his sister, and even just this greater mystery of everything else going on in the town. So it's awesome. I mean, I'm totally bought in. I cannot wait to see where this goes. And it seems like a lot of people have read this story too. So I'm curious to see, because this has been kind of a fun juxtaposition of you've read this, you know where this is going, and then you're kind of been just like,

grinning and like over me trying to see where it is going. So I'm curious to see if people haven't read this so far, if they're kind of who's in the wheelhouse with you and who's in the wheelhouse with me of people speculating and then also people seeing how, you know, if you've read the story, how it could have

be perceived or hopefully my first time reading experience is making sense with people. I will say, cause I can't give away stuff right now, but I will say that I forgot how like well-written, like actually the specific segments of it were like how much I like the dialogue moments that are kind of more pulpy, but I love stuff like stale coffee and quiet, you know, quiet conversation or whatever. Um,

Like, I forgot how expertly done it is in, like, a literal sense. But also, some of this foreshadowing, some of the character drives getting built up and stuff, I'm so thrilled to see it's even better than I remembered. So I couldn't be happier with it. Yeah. I mean...

It does it in the best ways. I love a lot of flavor, and like you were saying, pulp with that. It writes this fine line of extremely believable dialogue and descriptions and content, and then it just gives you these beautiful little cherries on top with little moments like that, where it's just these little lines that are just so tasty, so nice. And also, I'm assuming that the sandwich shop has to be some kind of Ponzi scheme or front. Yeah.

I think is a big thing. That's what I was going to say too. I think that like a failing business like that, I don't know what they're using the sandwich shop for. I'm not saying that it's a skin men sandwich shop, but I do think that the sandwich shop being open and it being a business, and also we haven't, you know, I'm curious to see what Jimmy Prescott said to Mira in private and kind of that stuff. And also her being so, you know, we have gotten conversations about

You know, she's probably depressed because of the business. She's probably depressed because of the baby situation and stuff. But I think there's more to that as well. Like, I think it's just that I think that all of those things are true, but I think it's not the full picture. And not to mention, we have the death of Kimber's mother that was also supposedly just a manic depressive episode, right? Yeah.

Yeah, it just feels too coincidental. Especially because you would almost assume that instead of Kimber's mom, it would be Sam's mom or something that would be going into this fit. You would think. You would think, but it's like we just had... I think there's just even stuff that Kimber hasn't told us yet. It's all just so vague. It's so vague. And the mystery is thickening and it's really making... It's piquing a lot of stuff. It's piquing a lot of curiosities. It's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun. Yeah, yeah.

But for now, that is our part one of Baraska. I think this is amazing. It's really good. But next time we'll be tackling the part three and four. So please be sure to show up next time. And also you can listen to these episodes on Spotify. I think we're, I don't know if we're, are we up on Apple yet? Are we up on everything? I think we're up on everything. I'm pretty sure. Bye.

I like Spotify better, so I prefer that. Yeah, I never use Apple, but what do you do? But if you do listen to things anywhere, be sure to give us a positive rating if you like it. I think that helps us out. And yeah, we will see you in the next one. Thank you all so much for watching. It means the world. And can't wait to finish up this great story, and hopefully you all enjoy it. And again, thank you for watching. Hugs and kisses.