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M Thirteen

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Days of Halloween, Devil's Night,

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a production of I Heart three D audio Blumhouse

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Television and Grimm and Mild from Aaron

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Mackey. Headphones Recommended.

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Listener discretion advised. Yeah,

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m give me a come

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on. That's it. That's

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that's it. I got you.

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You're all right, You're all right

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now. I

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gotta camp fire. You get

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yourself dry man, drape

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this only let

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me move that guitar. Two.

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Yeah, you're a good bupper.

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What's his name? Friend? Arrow?

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Arrow, straight and true and

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yours Max,

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and mine is barred, or

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at least that's what VOTs call me on

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account of my talents and proclivities.

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But enough about me. What

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you're doing in the river? Max? Jump

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off a train? Oh, the

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old railway bridge. I

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bet that's a story.

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You ain't gotta tell me. But I bet that's

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a story and a half. You're

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lucky i'm here, Otherwise you'd be a mile

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down river by now. Thanks

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for pulling me up. I

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I gotta get to town. Friend, you're sharing

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like a cartoon dog, Warm

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up first smoke?

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Mm hmm, suit

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yourself. Who's

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your friend? Friend? You

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mean Arrow? No?

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I mean that other friend I

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saw two of you downstream.

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Hey, calm yourself, it's

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just us. Now. Whoever

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you saw he ain't my friend.

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Well you got a friend

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and Jesus friend to

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a preacher too. Now

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I ain't taking that up yet. I

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twisted my ankle and gotta rested

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a bit, So I'm biding my time

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here beneath the bridge like some kind

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of troll. The

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troll, Well, I ain't

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much to look at, right, I

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live under a bridge, and

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I know a few things about it's crossing.

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What's a troll? If not that? If

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you say so, Mr town

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h. Bradberry, isn't

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Yeah, h little

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ways off, but it's a straight shot.

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It's the right road up there. But you're

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you're gonna have to climb up that embankment

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cross overhead. Which

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road is it? I don't know its name.

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I just know where it goes. It'll

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take you straight in sure enough. I'm

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guessing you'd rather stay off the

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main track. Lots

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of curious folks out tonight. You

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might cut through the woods and the hobo

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camp. But either way you

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gotta cross. Thanks

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for the help, But I got a warden up

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there. What bridges

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have wardens? Wardens

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above, wardens below? And

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here's some free advice. It's

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the wardens above that you gotta worry

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about it. They're the ones calling

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the shots. They're the ones with the

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guns and dogs no

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offense. They're

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the reason the whole damn world is in this

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mess, and they're awake,

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dust and ruin. Remember

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that. Now, those of

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us beneath the bridges, we look

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to the rivers and streams, friend, the

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old ways, the old

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flow. When

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they built the bridges, they bisected

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it. They linked lands that

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shouldn't be linked. Spread the

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curse of road from here to

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Timbuctoo. I

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don't think I understand what you're trying to

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say. Bridges

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are unnatural things, and

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they collect unnatural energies.

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Friend, there are

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a place where boundaries were thin.

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They draw and loathsome souls who sometimes

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find sweet release in the waters.

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Beneath the span, there

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are a place of execution. To you

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saying, I'll tell your

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tale across

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the sea over and Hint

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they have a bridge between town and

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castle, and there

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the Count of Hint had his headsmen

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ply the trade. Now,

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it's a shame when a father and son both

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stand accused the same crime. But

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that's what happened in this case, the

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crime was rebellion, so the acts

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had to fall. But

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the Count was a strange man. Into him,

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common ways were even stranger. Most

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perplexing of all was love, and

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he wondered which love is stronger,

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the love of a child for apparent or

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apparent for a child. So

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the Count told the father and son he'd spare

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whichever of them cut the head from the

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other, work it out between the two

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of you, said naturally,

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the father would only have it one way, and

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the son reluctantly agreed, tears

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streaming down his cheeks. The

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sun lifted the blade on high.

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He brought it down with all the skill and

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precision he could muster, amateur

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that he was. For Then something

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miraculous happened. The

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sword shattered against

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his neck, Against

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his neck, what could

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the Count do? He pardoned

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them both. He threw

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the broken blade into the waters

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below the bridge, where it said

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the heads of the executed swam

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and leapt excitedly, for

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something had occurred to break the

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cycle of death on

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that unwholesome span of brick

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and iron. You

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sure know a lot about bridges.

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I know a lot about some things, and almost

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nothing about most things. I

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can't tell you who the president is, but

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I can tell you about the mud monster

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of more right,

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no sit

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for this one, friend, You're

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not drawn off yet by half up

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in Ile. There's a bridge

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near Moor. They say

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that's where a fellow drove to after

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he killed the whole family. Some

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say his family with

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a great, big bloody hammer.

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I know Ralph could

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think about impossible

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to live with. Some

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say the cops took chase and he drove

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off the bridge. Others

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insist he lashed that big hammer

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to his own neck and just jumped

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into the drink. Either

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way, they never found the body. It

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sank beneath the gray waters. His

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face was never seen again. But

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you know how these things go. For hid

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everything that sinks the most surface,

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and everything thing that rises,

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he keep back. So

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they say my

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beard's just a tail to keep kids

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away from the bridge. But

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they say what's left of him does rise

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up from the monk, a

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body caked in mud and clay,

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smelling all catfish

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and the crypt creeping

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with a pace of geology.

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He's slow but unstoppable,

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and so folks who go messing around

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the bridge at night. Sometimes

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hear odd sounds from the water,

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amorous Couples who tarry too long

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might feel a cold clay hand

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on thigh, and

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them's that sleep beneath the bridge

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during the downpour may find

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themselves dragged into the depths.

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All but I've done and scared your

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dog. We're fine

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here, buddy. I gotta

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treat in my bag for you. One

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set. I

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gotta go, mr. I know you

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do, friend, Uh, I

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gotta advise you once more about

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the warden up there. I'll

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sneak around him. It don't work like that.

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You crossed the bridge, you cross his gaze,

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and then you gotta deal with him directly.

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It'll look you in the eyes, and if you don't

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know exactly what to do, you'll

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be his no homecoming

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for max and hour. What

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do I do? Then there's

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an exact course of action, and

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I'll tell it to you for free. Friend

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of friend. Legend

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tells of a goatherd who crossed

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an old bridge every market day,

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and who should guard this bridge? But

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a troll. Not a

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warden beneath, mind you, but a

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warden above. This

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troll slept atop the bridge,

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blocking the way with his loathsome

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bulk, and the slightest footsteps

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would waken to demand payment a

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single goat, which he'd gobbled down

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bones and all the

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goat hurt. Always paid up, bade

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up and tried not to listen too hard

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to the chewing sounds that followed.

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But then one market day he

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encountered not one, but two trolls.

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They demanded two goats, hardly

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fair at all, but he paid

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the toll. He pinched

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his ears and walked on. Then

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one day he came to cross

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and encountered three trolls, and

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him only having three goats. You

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gotta goat for me to take up there, no listen.

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The goatherd had something better, a

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micah stone he picked up

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in the woods. It glittered

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and shone like silver in the light,

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A shimmering silver coin, it

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looked like it. And so when

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the three trolls rose from their

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slumber, stretching their grotesque

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glenbs in the morning light, the

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goatherd produced this false silver,

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held it high for them to fathom, and

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then he threw it off the bridge. Wouldn't

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you know those three troll brothers fought

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and tripped over themselves to claim

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the coin, and all fell into

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the river. They washed

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down stream, away from their bridge and

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its power, where the sun

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turned them into rocky aisles. I'm

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going you see silver,

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you throw it over the side. Only

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way you're a get at a cross friend at

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least tongue to put your troll talk. Well,

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I didn't catch the others. I'm arresting

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you. I

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wear up and nothing off, really, and

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you're wearing a sheet would sit around your eyes?

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What are you throwing the river? When I pulled up empty

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milk bottle? Oh lord? What was the just

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deg and so hurricanic gas? All

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the same, will be satisfied that you

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finally up would kill someone. These cops

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are too tight. I reckon they are. Hey,

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stop right there, boy, this

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one with you? I don't know that

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kid. Boy you with him? No,

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I head over here. Now, don't make me chase you.

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I I'm not gonna ask again. Kid move,

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yes, sir. If anyone's up to something, it's

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him. Officer shushing. He's one of those wild

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boys. It looks like ship anymore that from

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you, And I'm not dropping you theself. I'm dropping

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you five miles down the road with a boot

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in your grass. You got a junior kid.

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You aren't threatened me. He means to bust me up.

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Buss you up like hell like this,

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I'm dropping up both of you and the sticks tit,

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I said Tom here. I

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tried to warn him. I did, And

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now he sees what that wardens all

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about. He sees where compliance

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will get it dragged out to

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the county line and left in the dark

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or worse. He's stuck

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now. But this is when he sees

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it, gleaming silver in the moonlight,

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pinned to the wardens shirt with the text

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police embossed

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across. He realizes,

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now I told him, true, you

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see silver, you shrow

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it over the side. Otherwise

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the gig is up, I

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said Catherine over here, kiss stop,

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I didn't do anything. You're

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all wet up. God

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damn. But this is the

15:21

moment, heavy swollen.

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It swallows up the whole night. The

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squad car idling there like

15:29

a beast, burning twin beams

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into the dark, the teen

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in bedsheets, his nose bloody

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and his eyes still sooted up like a

15:39

skulk arrow tugging

15:41

at the policeman's pant let again. And

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there's that badge, glowing

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silver in the moonlight like

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a promise ful

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max nose. It's

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now or never.

15:59

What the hell you doing like that

16:03

the team may be bloody, he

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ain't out. He seizes

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the chance as well. The

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cop don't say anything, you

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don't have to. His eyes

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are wild with rage, trickle

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of blood flowing down his scalp because

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he leans there against the side of the

16:31

bridge. I think

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the kids seen eyes like those before.

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I think he knows what's gonna go next.

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A man like that's only gonna respond

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to a certain kind of way. The

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kids horrified, and

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he's even more horrified when he sees

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what comes rising

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up behind him? What

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what? What the hellas that? They

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stare agape as the earth itself

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rises up A figure

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sculptor out of fetid muck,

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long and tuned in river bottom

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clay. It's voice

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nothing but a mud choke death

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rapp or.

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It wraps its dripping arms around

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the policeman and pulls

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the cop over the side of the bridge.

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Payment for passage. Just

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don't look back, don't look a

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back. See.

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I knew he had a friend out there, someone

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to watch. All were him in the night, a

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warden of the heart. Mm

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hm. They

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have we triess and

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temptedships

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is their trouble anywhere?

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We should never be

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scared. Take

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it to the Lord in

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prayer. What

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a friend we have injurious

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Well? I was wondering when you turn

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up again? Half was some

19:13

trick friend. You got

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a good kid there, yes,

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stubborn but

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full of surprises.

20:00

Thirteen Days of Halloween Devil's

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Night, starring Carter Rockwood

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and Clancy Brown. Episode

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five, The Bridge, written by Robert

20:10

Lamb, edited by Zoe Shay,

20:12

Sound designed by Jesse Funk, featuring

20:15

the voices of Joe Hart, Raphael

20:17

Corkill and Vinnie Belbo. And guitar

20:19

playing by Joe Hart. Directed

20:22

by Alexander Williams. Script

20:24

supervision by Nicolas Takowski. Casting

20:27

by Sunday Bowling c s A and Meg

20:29

Mormon c s A. Production coordinator

20:32

Wayna Calderon. Production assistants

20:34

Zoe Shay and Amber Ferris. Animal

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recording by Ben James, closing

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theme by Rose Azerte. Loyalty

20:42

Freak Music dot Com. Recorded

20:45

at d G Entertainment in Los Angeles,

20:47

California. Engineered by Gary Forbes

20:50

and Jody Abbott. Executive

20:52

producers Aaron Manky, Noah Finberg,

20:55

Chris Dickey, Matt Frederick, and

20:57

Alexander Williams. Supervising

21:00

producers Trevor Young and Josh Thane,

21:02

producers Jesse Funk and rima

21:05

Il Kali. Thirteen

21:07

Days of Halloween was created by Matt Frederick

21:09

and Alexander Williams and is a production

21:12

of I Heeart three D Audio, Blumhouse

21:14

Television, and Grim and Mild from Aaron

21:16

Mankey. Learn more about the show at

21:18

Grim and Mild dot com. Slash

21:21

thirteen Days and find more podcasts

21:23

from I heart Radio by visiting the i heart Radio

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app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

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listen to your favorite shows.