ADR - Episode 639: The Old Bridge in the Park

[00:00:05] And welcome to Adente Rigamortis, I'm Review Cultist. I'm Mikey, the East Ends for Evil. And I'm the Gamer in Yellow. And we're here to discuss those internet stories, most creepy and most pasta, and be critically silly doing it. And tonight we have... The Old Bridge in the Park.

[00:00:35] So, yeah, decided we would cover one of the pasta of the month, CreepPastas. CreepPastas.fandom.com slash wiki has a whole category for pasta of the month. And this was one of the 2018 pastas of the month. So, I figured we'd give it a shot. So you can check it out there on CreepPastas wiki. It's the Old Bridge in the Park. It's by Moist Squelch.

[00:01:06] Great name. Yeah, gotta love those internet names. So, yeah, we should probably do our initial recommendations. I will recommend it. I will not recommend it because this also made me irrationally angry. Oh, great. It's one of those. Okay. I'm curious. Alright. I really want to know why. Because, yeah, I'll recommend it. I'm curious if your irrational anger, if I'll like connect with it and be like, oh, you know what? You're right. Yeah, I'm curious.

[00:01:37] And I'm wondering if I will like vehemently like defy you and like, no, you're wrong. Which I'll see. Also, I'm also really curious if you've created a new CreepPasta out of spite. I've created a new ending out of spite. Oh, okay. I have a feeling I might, I might have, I might have an idea for like the ending as well. Because I also had like an idea for the ending that may, that I. Me too. Okay. We all have, we all have feelings about the ending. Okay.

[00:02:07] But we'll, we'll get to that. Let's dive into the story and explain. Start with the card first. Yeah. Let's, let's get out of the weeds a second so we can go back into the weeds. Mm hmm. Um, but yeah, so yeah, go check it out on CreepPasta wiki. Uh, and we will dive into the rundown. So, uh, everyone in the town of redacted knows the story of kids that go missing when they cross the old bridge in the park at night. Credits.

[00:02:38] No. Um. That would work as like a micro pasta. Honestly, it would so well. It just, it's like, it's like one of those like two sentence stories, like those two sentence spooky stories that like, where it was the trend on, on Twitter or like social media. Yeah. I'd be angry and I would want more. That's not enough to talk about for recording. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. We'd have to do like, honestly, if we ever do like the two sentence creepypastas, we, we'd have to like gather up a bunch of them just to fill out even like a half hour.

[00:03:07] Yeah, absolutely. But, um, yeah, the, uh, the kids know the truth that it's some kind of monster on the bridge while the adults just sort of chalk it up to something ordinary or like bad, but they don't, they don't want to talk about monsters. So they put the impression that they also were aware that it's supernatural. I, I got the feeling it was like, like that, or like they were in denial. Like, oh no, the monsters don't exist. So they can't be that it's gotta be something else, but we'll put up a gate.

[00:03:37] Regardless, we're going to put up a gate to block off access in the evenings. Yes. Um, for this park. Um, and then there's this very skeptical kid, Eleanor, who is ostracized by the other kids for not believing in the stories and eventually decides to prove herself, uh, to them, uh, improve them or prove them all wrong. By going out there and, and showing them like, she'll come back and she'll be fine.

[00:04:04] Carrying a flashlight and video camera starting a found footage movie. She sneaks out and hops the gate to re to reach the old bridge in the park credits. Stop. There's a lot of credits in this. Yeah. Once she finds upon crossing the threshold to the bridge is a never ending bridge. Uh, and then this creepy, kindly old lady who quickly turns out to be a monster, uh, who wants to gobble her up.

[00:04:31] Uh, Eleanor only escapes because she took the monster by surprise, by hugging her thinking like with Eleanor thinking that the old lady was like her salvation from the endless bridge. Um, before then fleeing away from the monster.

[00:04:46] Uh, Eleanor eventually crosses the bridge as morning light rises, uh, but is soon after hit by a truck and killed before she can rally the other kids to stop the evil befall in the town of redacted. Uh, Finn. Finn. So yeah, that was the old bridge in the park. Um, and so I suppose we'll move on to everyone tolerance the gram inquisitions at this point.

[00:05:16] So I have nothing. Mikey, what do you have? I have a conjunction junction. All right. And next stop conjunction junction. Doot doot. It wasn't long before everyone started avoiding her, fearing that her blatant disrespect of the supernatural made her dangerous and unlucky. It's just a bunch of stones.

[00:05:42] But while things like Mr. Mason and the sewer clowns were survivable, the old bridge in the park promised at least a bazillion percent chance of never being seen again. But stubborn little Eleanor wouldn't listen to reason or bribery.

[00:06:07] It was particularly foggy, and it took her longer than expected to get to the bridge. It was eerily quiet. It wasn't too late to turn back. And it's so foggy. It felt like three hours passed, but in reality it was closer to two and a half.

[00:06:34] But she would need help. It was time for that to change. Finn. Wow. Poor Eleanor's just trapped on that foggy bridge. Nothing ever bad happened to her. She's just wandering around. Liminal space. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:07:02] For those unaware, Mikey grabs all the sentences through a story that start with words that they probably shouldn't like its ends or buts. Strings them together into a story with sometimes hilarious results. Basically to highlight that there's generally better words to use. Except when it's dialogue, but we do it for the bit. Yeah. All right. Gamer. No. Okay. On to actual thoughts, I suppose. I'm going to start with this one here.

[00:07:28] The children in the town of Redacted knew better than to cross the old bridge in the park. Wow. Credit in the first scene. In the first sentence. Just credits. Yeah. The first sentence hasn't even finished. That's true. It's common. Yeah. I do like the name of their town, though. It's quite nice. I. Okay. I'm going to go to that one next, I guess. Okay. I understand.

[00:07:57] So yeah, like, like, I understand that that redacted like the brackets and all is just like a redaction of the town's name, like almost like the stories like trying to protect the town or like the people that live there, like from being identified. But I kind of love the idea that this town is actually called redacted like brackets and all. Yeah. Yeah. Because there's just so much weird shit that goes on there that like. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:08:26] Oh, yeah. Like that's not going to lie. I kind of love that idea. Like just that happening. And. Yeah. Some kind of on a same on a tangential vein of that. I'll go to my next quote and comments. She was nearly as ignorant as a grownup, constantly questioning things and demanding evidence for every trivial truth.

[00:08:53] Some of the harsher rumors claimed that she didn't believe in ghosts, aliens, or even the completely inarguable fact that the fourth grade homeroom teacher, Mr. Mason, was a werewolf demon hybrid from heck who worked for the devil himself. Okay. This isn't a Hogan's gap Curtisville story. I'm sure about that. I was actually hoping, waiting for one of you guys to comment.

[00:09:21] Like, no, clearly it's the town of redacted. But anyway. But it's starting to feel like it. And kind of much to what gamer just brought up is like, yeah, you sure about that? Like, cause it's kind of like, it's, I would not be surprised if they're in the same universe or like, it's just like, again, it's, it's a, it's a similar situation where like, it's a town where like all the, all the, there's all this like weird supernatural stuff that only the really, the kids fully acknowledge.

[00:09:46] Whereas like the, the adults just like kind of like, so they might acknowledge it, but like, they don't want to address the elephant in the room. Yeah. Um, and I just like, yeah, it's just one of those things. I just love like that kind of vibe. So comparing to it, to Curtisville though, it's a lot less whimsy. Like it keeps the darker tone because it like, it mentions this, like that dude is totally a werewolf, but like, it's not in your face as much. Cause everyone now, everyone is human beings.

[00:10:16] So it's a lot more grounded. Yeah. I would say it's, it's more like Curtisville than Hogan's gap because Hogan's gap is just like whimsical as fuck. Curtisville at least has a little bit of groundedness and like street, street level. But like, I'd say more like, yeah, it's more like, like you just said, like, it's, um, like everyone's human, but there's like rumors. And like, some of those rumors are probably true based on like what we, what we see in the story. It's street level whimsy. Yeah. Street. It's street level whimsical creepiness.

[00:10:47] Yes. Like it's all, it's on, uh, what do they call it? There's actually a term for like, um, when like the supernatural is like, is, is among the mundane, but it's like on the, it's underneath, it's under, um, it's in disguise and stuff of that. It's actually a type of genre of, of supernatural fiction. Yeah. But I magical realism, are you? It's not magical realism. It's, it's a different, um, I think it's called, I almost think it's called Wayne's coat.

[00:11:14] Um, like genre, um, ding, ding, ding. Yes, it was in fact, Wayne's coat fiction that I was thinking of, which is commonly used in speculative fiction with a group of supernatural things or otherwise extraordinary people hiding their existence from the mainstream society in their respective setting.

[00:11:33] Uh, these hidden groups are sometimes referred to as a Wayne's coat society or Wayne's coat society, wherein they live parallel to mainstream society in a covert manner, but overall remain their own distinct entity with their own culture. Thanks Wikipedia. And now back to the past. It almost kind of feels like, like idiosyncratic stuff where it's like, it's stuff that seems normal, but it's not.

[00:12:03] Yeah. A little bit like that. Or it's again, like just like the supernatural is, is actually like kind of hidden away from like the public eye, but like people in the know, no. I know what this is. This is, um, Widow's Bay. I, you know, I was definitely thinking that Widow's Bay or Gravity Falls, even to a degree, like it's very much. I can't say. Well, you, you've technically seen Gravity Falls. Have you seen Widow's Bay? Cause they're basically just Widow's Bay is just a live action, more adult version of Gravity Falls. Okay. Fair.

[00:12:34] Um, but yeah, it's very much like that. Like where like the town has secrets and supernatural stuff there, but like most of the time the people either don't know or they're hiding it or they're keep through. They're trying to keep it under wraps. And I'll say, I, I really like that whole like idea behind the story where it's like, yeah.

[00:12:52] Like if there's a, um, an outsider that comes into town and they're ignorant to the ways of the town and the town is surviving because they know, but they don't tell the, um, the wanderer, basically the person who comes in, what the hell is going on. So then they have to deal with it. Or they do tell the wanderer, but the wanderer is skeptical. Yeah. That's, that is, wow. That is also basically the main character in Widow's Bay. Yeah, absolutely. Tissues time. A couple of us have watched Widow's Bay.

[00:13:23] If you haven't, those at home, if you haven't seen it, go see it. It's good. Yes, it is a good series. Um, but yeah, so, um, yeah, so that's, that's my other thing is like, I just like, I just really interesting that the story while told it's so like, as I kept reading the story, I realized the story is kind of like from an omniscient narrator, but the way the story is written and the way like the, the omniscient narrator is, is, is, is talking or is telling the story.

[00:13:52] It almost felt like it was also from the perspective of some, it felt like it was like one of the kids who are experienced with the supernatural talking about the story or like somebody in the know about the town supernatural stuff. Like telling this tale to somebody. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:14:06] The narrator was flipping back and forth for me too, because yeah, like on one hand there's stuff how he's narrator says it's inconceivable that another kid wouldn't believe in baby eating clowns and a bazillion percent chance that Eleanor would die on the bridge, which does make it sound like a child. But then in the next sentence it says stuff like, sure. The children hated Eleanor, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So it's clearly not a child saying it because a child wouldn't refer to the children as children. Yeah. Sure.

[00:14:35] We didn't hate it. Sure. We hated Eleanor is what it would be if it was a kid. Yeah. It actually, it, I might, I might put a pin on this for a second, because like at the end of my notes, I have something about like regarding the ending that kind of makes me wonder if like, or like either makes me wonder or the very least, like maybe this would have been good as like a reveal at the end. Of like who the narrator was, but again, I'll, I'll dive into that in a minute. Yeah. For me though, I just kind of felt that it's a quirky narrator narrator. Oh yeah.

[00:15:03] That like, depending on who he's focusing on, he's like, kind of like picks up on their vibe and speaks that way. Yeah. I like that actually too. Like that's just like, it's just, it's just the quirk of the style of the, like how the story is being written and like how the narrator is telling the story. It's cool. Like seeing, mostly it's in the kid perspective, but it's, it's cool seeing both viewpoints a little bit. Uh, I'll move on to the next thing though.

[00:15:30] Um, distraught the sweet and generous child, or distraught the sweet and generous children of Redacted decided they'd try and be nice to Eleanor on her last day alive. Including Patty, who wasn't too keen on being the stupidest child in school again by not stealing the dessert from her lunch and not throwing worms at her during recess. Eleanor didn't appreciate their efforts. Okay.

[00:16:00] So this is kind of funny and all it just like, again, like the quirkiness of the writing, but from the sounds of it, these kids are the fucking worse. Like, I get it. Kids can be cruel to like an outside, to somebody who's, who doesn't like agree with them and stuff like that. I've seen it all before, like in fiction and also in reality. Like, um, and Eleanor definitely isn't making it easy for the, for herself. No, because she's a stuck up snob that refuses to listen to anyone. Yeah.

[00:16:30] And she's the new kid trying to fit in. Meanwhile, she is not trying to fit in. She's trying to stand out. So like, she's causing this on herself. Yeah. And like, she's definitely like, like her skepticism and some of that is definitely like anchoring that kind of like superiority complex. Like she's like, I think she's smart, like smarter than everybody because she doesn't believe in this stuff. Even though like, like the people are like, no, like this shit happens. Like we've been lived, we've lived her all our lives. And then like this, this woman, this little girl's like coming in is like, no, like ghosts and stuff aren't real.

[00:17:00] Like, come on, get rid of it. She thinks that they're like gaslighting her basically. Cause this is the new kid's like, ah, you believe me? You're an idiot. Nah. But that, that all said, like, like her, like her not making it easy on them. Like, do they really need to steal her, her dessert at lunch and like throw worms at her? Like, it sounded like they were doing that before her last day. Yeah. That's what they do on a daily basis. That is their routine. That's kind of brutal. Like, I'm not going to like, like, like lie.

[00:17:29] Like that's kind of some, that's, that's kind of BS, but. It's tough love, man. They're trying to force her to be like, look, we are right. We are going to continue stealing your dessert and throwing worms at you until you realize that we are right. It's for the greater good. It's for her benefit. I, if, if all I'm saying is like, if this was in like a more, like if this, if they weren't in the right, they'd be assholes, like total assholes. I mean, it's still a dick move regardless. But yeah. Yeah. We can all agree on that. Um, kids be kids.

[00:17:59] Yeah. No. Like as soon as you do something or like the, the, uh, either one kid or like the group of kids doesn't like you're, you're ostracized. Like, yeah. Yeah. Which is kind of funny. Cause it's almost like a reverse of like how things usually are. It's like, usually like the weirdo kid is the one that believes in all that kind of stuff. But then we get the one normie who comes into town and doesn't believe in like ghosts and spookums. And then, uh, it comes to the town where like all that stuff is like real to the kids.

[00:18:25] So like that one that it turns out that, that skeptical mindset is actually like the weird kid. Yeah. It's fun seeing that flipped on its head. Yeah. Well, that, that's something I also didn't really like though is that cause the skepticism is also tied to curiosity. Like, aren't these other kids curious to find out if the bridge is actually haunted or not? Like. I think they know good and well it's haunted. Yeah.

[00:18:55] But there's still like curiosity. They don't, kids don't usually take adults words for things. They like to find things out on their own. Probably what happened, what the reason that they know it's haunted is probably cause like they went there and they, they were scared to go. And one of their friends went and they just heard screaming and he never came back. Yeah. Like I think that happened multiple times with multiple different friend groups probably.

[00:19:21] So throughout that happening, all the kids know that, that, that bridge be scary. And they probably literally witnessed the, uh, um, the teacher turning into a werewolf at one point. Maybe they have pictures of it. Like from what it feels like the kids know that this shit is real.

[00:19:40] But, but the thing is like, there should be some form of evidence to give Eleanor, like some articles from the local newspaper stating that kids went missing or whatever. Yes. You know, there should be something there. Yes. The, the kids didn't do the best job protecting this newbie. Um, I mean, they were like, they're also just kids. That's how kids usually act too. So.

[00:20:09] Okay. Yeah. But like they were, um, so yeah, actually it's my second note. Cause the first note was talked about. So regarding Eleanor wanting to go to the bridge and the kids trying quote unquote everything to get her to stop, even like, I'll invite you to my party. Don't, don't go like they're, they're doing like everything. Yeah. But they're really not doing everything. Cause like, for example, as Mikey said, evidence, if they showed any evidence, then cool.

[00:20:37] Maybe one of the kids has a gash on their arm from like the werewolf attack or something. That's like a scar or her pictures or something. Yeah. I mean, with the gash, I could see Eleanor was like, oh, that's just an animal attack. Like that wasn't, this is a dog, but you like, you're, you're, you're, that's not weird. They should at least try. I want to see her say, no, you guys are idiots. I want to see that. I want to see them trying everything to save this kid.

[00:21:01] Like, I know they don't like her, but it seems like they want, the kids don't seem like bad kids is what I'm trying to say. They seem like they, they're like, okay, we don't, they look, it literally says like, we wouldn't wish, wish this on our worst enemy. Like being taken by the bridge. Like we want to stop this person from going to the bridge, but they don't try hard enough. Like they don't, again, no evidence.

[00:21:26] And also like, why didn't any of the kids bring this up to Eleanor's parents or realistically bring this up to their own parents? Because the local kids' parents know how bad the bridge is and they're adults. So they would be believed. So like, realistically, if any of these kids went and told their own parents that there's this new kid at school and she wants to really go to, she wants to go to the bridge at night. We tried to stop her, but she won't, she's going to go.

[00:21:56] They'd be like, okay, I'm going to go talk to their parents right now. And they would go over there and be like, look, there's been a lot of disappearances and murders on that bridge to the point that we have blocked it at night. So no one goes there. We heard that your daughter's going to go there. Don't let her go there. Like if they just said it like that, I'm sure the parents would be like, um, okay, shit. And then no story. All right. Well, yeah. Yeah. That's the problem though.

[00:22:24] If, if the kids did everything right and the parents did everything right, we would have no story, but would, because what you could do is the parents tell Eleanor like, no, you can't go. We, we've been told that it's a dangerous part of the town here, especially at night with disappearances and murders. You cannot go. And then she'd be like, fuck. And then she'd wait. And then it would cut to the next day.

[00:22:51] And then being like, looks like you guys tattletaled on me. Wow. Good job. Now I'm in trouble with my parents. And then like, that's when all the information dumping goes. And then maybe a couple of them go with her to try to convince her not to go. Like she still wants to go after the fact anyways, but she sneaks out or something. Like there is a way to continue the story with that happening. It's just, it's harder and you have to make the story longer to do that. Yeah, exactly.

[00:23:20] But like, I think the thing with this story is like, it is trying to like, do like a, like a goofus and gallant thing where it's like, oh, like this, like it's a cautionary tale. Like, yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's trying to like up the ante on like the whole, like, like the character being reckless and like getting away, like being able to sneak out and do that stuff. Because otherwise then, then we're just getting monster squad, which again, I'm fine with. Like, I kind of, when the, when, when we got the ending, the way we got the ending, I was like, oh, that's kind of sucks.

[00:23:49] Cause I was kind of really hoping we'd get like a rallying and like, I kind of want to see more of this store. I kind of want to revisit redacted. Like I want, I want the kids to rally up and fight differently. Like I want to fight those, those sewer clowns or that, or the, the, the monster on the bridge and stuff like that. Like, and, and maybe deal with Mr. Martin or what's his name? Not Mr. Martin. And, um, Mason. Yeah. Mr. Mason. Um, cool though. Yeah, he could be cool. He like helps kids actually not die.

[00:24:18] It could be a, uh, a Bakersfield kids novel story set up where it's like werewolf demon hybrids. Don't teach middle school or don't teach elementary school. Like, do you guys remember those novels as a kid? Like they're called the Bakersfield, uh, Bakersfield's kids stories were like novels. And each title was like Dracula doesn't make pizza or like, like aliens don't teach music.

[00:24:45] Or, and it's like, and like, it's like every, these kids just kept dealing with like, keep having suspicions that like their teacher or like the local pizzeria guy or whatever. We're some kind of monster. And then like, I think I'm, I, I can't remember a hundred percent cause it's been a hot minute since I was a kid and reading these stories. But I, I think they're called the Bakersfield kids. And like, they had some kick-ass, um, like cover art. Hang on. I might be getting, I might not be big. I don't, is it Bakersfield?

[00:25:14] The adventures of the Bailey school kids. Yeah. The Bailey school kids. Yes. That's what they were called. Yeah. And it was like, like, look at some of the other, like, uh, we're kind of thinking of this quick tangent, tangent, please back off. This shit's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. This shit was my jam.

[00:25:32] Maybe this might, this might explain a few things about my childhood, but like genies don't ride bike bicycles or like Cupid doesn't flip hamburgers or, um, werewolves don't go to summer camp or like vampires don't wear polka dots. Like they were, and it was like, like the, the reason why like vampires don't wear polka dots is because, uh, the kids all believe their, their like homeroom teacher was a vampire who wore polka dots.

[00:26:00] And I, I can't recall if like the monster, if the kid, if the, uh, the, the accusing monster or like person was actually a monster or not, or it was just like, um, uh, all one big, like just a, uh, like just the kid's imagination. But I, I feel like they were actually the monsters. Leprechauns don't play basketball. Yeah, exactly. Or like skeletons don't play tuba. There's so many of them. There are there.

[00:26:28] It's, it's like, it's like, uh, the Animorphs series. It's like, it's a huge series of stories that came out back in like the two thousands. Ghouls don't scoop ice cream. Frankenstein doesn't, Frankenstein doesn't plant petunias. Ghosts do splash in puddles. There's some dews in here. Okay. Hang on. We, we do need to slow, like stop. We are, we are pulling away from, from the store, the pasta at hand. We will cover, we will cover the Bailey school kids stories at some later date.

[00:26:58] This last one is leaving me so confused though. Snow monsters do drink hot chocolate. Wouldn't that kill them though? Is it a snowman on the cover? They'd melt from the inside. Wait, snow monsters. Yeah. Is it like Bigfoot kind of thing? Or like sat like it. Is it literally a dude that's just like wearing a white, like winter outfit and he's snowboarding? He has like a blonde beard. He's just a guy. Yeah. No, again, like most of the, or it's like my favorite one is the most mundane. Ah, yes.

[00:27:28] The most mundane of monsters. Pirates don't wear pink sunglasses. Wow. Like that's just a regular guy. Like he can also be a pirate who can also be an ex pirate. Like you're just like, it's so dumb. Anyway. Maybe there are pirates from the past that are in the future, in the present now. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We, we've gotten so far off the, uh. Fine. We'll go back and talk about this story. We will, we will cover the Bailey School Kids if, if there's a demand for it on Patreon.

[00:27:57] That will be our new book club thing for Patreon. Wow. Anyway. Uh, okay. The Tangent Police cannot be held back any longer. I'm, I'm stopping this now. We will cover, we'll, we'll, we'll address the Bailey School Kids later. But yeah, like that's, I kind of, I do agree. Like I kind of would love a series of stories set in redacted. Cause like, I feel like that could, it could also be like the next, like kind of like goosebumpsy thing or something. Cause it's like the town of redacted.

[00:28:25] It's very like creepy pasta goosebumps kind of coded. Yeah. Like their whole town history is all this weird stuff that can't be, can't be explained. Yeah. Um, but yeah, so I do agree, but also I do, I do enjoy the story as it is of just being like this tragedy of like this kid. If only this kid had, if only the other kids had like had proof or if only they had shown the proof or if only they had told their parents who actually listened and if only the

[00:28:55] adults of this town actually fucking listened about, about the monsters and stuff and not just like, did we're, we're, we're kind of like half skeptical or at least in denial themselves about situation about the supernatural situation. Like, I, I get what you guys are saying. Like, Oh, like, like, why didn't they do this? Why didn't they do this? I get that. But I like the, the sort of like spiral of dumb actions. Cause like, that is sort of also like how most horror movies is like most horror movies.

[00:29:22] Because if they, if somebody didn't do something stupid, IE be human, we wouldn't have the, some of the fumbles and foils of like Jason Voorhees and such. Yeah. It's, it's like what you said, there'd be no story if they did everything right. Yeah. Well, or the story would stop being a horror thing and be more of like an act, like a thriller or an action thing. Like again, like the, it would be more like the monster squad or the Goonies rather than,

[00:29:47] you know, I mean, chapter one, but regardless of make the story long, anyways, moving on. Okay. Uh, where was I? Where the hell was I? Um, oh yeah, this one. All right. So this is when like Eleanor does sneak out and does go to the, uh, go to the bridge. And she, um, she has like the, uh, flashlight and video camera in hand and such.

[00:30:16] Um, and then we get this part here. It's like her panic only rose when she checked to see how long the camera had been recording. Eleanor hadn't pressed the button and all this time she'd been talking to no one like a complete maniac. Uh, I kind of don't like that. She didn't record any of that early stuff.

[00:30:41] Like I was kind of hoping that the camera would be found if Eleanor, this is me recording, like drawing down my notes in the, in the past. If, if Eleanor had, had died at the end of the session, at the end of the, the, the story and somehow like somebody found the camera and then that's how we're getting the details of this story is through the camera. Um, little did I know we probably did get that. That's probably how the, how those, some of the details got out.

[00:31:10] But again, that's also before I realized that the story was mostly done by like a, uh, omniscient narrator. Anyway. Um, also on the matter of like a kid with like the camera roaming around a seemingly liminal bridge, like never ending foggy, dark bridge. Um, and it kind of brought to mind, uh, uh, Marvel Hornets Rosewood, the little mini series that the Marvel Hornets guys did, um, and released last year, uh, on their YouTube channel as

[00:31:39] sort of like, uh, like sort of like a separate thing from like the main series, like from way back when, but like where they, they it's them, like it's, it's like a version of them like years later after the Marvel Hornets incident going back to Rosswood park and getting like liminally trapped inside Rosswood park in a seemingly never ending night as the slender man creature has like captured them in its web. And I, I kind of was hoping that was going to be the, the sort of, it was kind of giving

[00:32:08] me that kind of vibe for like what, as soon as she entered the bridge and then she just I hear the sounds of the river below and why is it so dark and foggy and oh my God, it's a liminal never ending bridge. And like, why is the daylight? Why is it? Why is it so much later than I thought it was? Um, and then she bumps into the monster. It wasn't her watch. Like it stopped working or something like that when she was on the bridge.

[00:32:34] No, I think it was, she thought it was, it was, she thought it was, um, I think it was telling the right time, but like, she thought it was a lot less time than she was, than she had longer, more time. Yeah. Like more time. Three hours as opposed to two and a half. Yeah, exactly. So there's some slight time dilation going on. Very slight. That's hardly noticeable. Yeah. I was expecting it to be like, she thought it'd be 10 minutes, but it's been three hours,

[00:33:03] you know, that would have been more like, like a more like suitable, like freak out time. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and then we get, we get the confrontation with the, the old lady term monster or the old lady monster, I guess. Old mama monster. Um, uh, she couldn't yet see that the old woman had no eyes or that her right arm appeared to be made of solid gold.

[00:33:28] She didn't see the many rows of bristle like teeth or the fingers that seemed to have twice as money, twice as many bones as they should have. If she had, maybe she'd have stopped herself before running straight into the monster's arms and hugging her close. Please, will you take me home? The monster was taken aback. Like she'd eaten many children, but this was the first, uh, first to so quickly give itself

[00:33:57] up to her. And to this, I was just like, buddy, horror, buddy, horror, buddy, horror. It started feeling like it. Like the monster being taken aback, like being caught off guard by, by like the hug. Oh, that's adorable. But you're also food, but adorable though. But you might be friend and friends are not food. Yeah. I let her go. She can bring back more food friends.

[00:34:29] Yeah. I just, I also, I just like this sort of dynamic. Cause like, if I'm not gonna lie, I kind of want to use this as the origin for a monster kid duo from like the RPG monster and other challenges things like a kid who's very hard pressed to believe in the supernatural nonsense who has a monster friend who's like a monster granny figure, um, that she met while trying to disprove a local legend about the supernatural on a bridge. Like, I think that would have been like, that would be a really cool, like monster, the monster duo. It's like, I don't know. Yeah.

[00:34:59] I really liked it. Like, and the, and the only reason she, the monster granny didn't eat her is because she like the power of friendship and love or like the power to the power of a scared, of a scared little girl, like giving her like puppy dog eyes is like, she was like looking for somebody to rescue her and then like the monster, like the monster's heart grew several times that day, that night. Maybe the kid looked a lot like her, uh, her daughter or something or her granddaughter. Yeah. Before she became a monster or even. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:35:29] It's just, so it's either like it reminds her of that. So like, she, I can't, I can't eat you. You look too much like my family. Or it's just like, she's just mistaken the girl for her, her daughter, her locks, her long lost daughter. Oh yeah. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I just, I really liked, and then like Eleanor finally realized what's that she screams through herself off the monster and goes and like goes running like off to the, um, like running down the bridge to escape the monster.

[00:35:56] And I kind of, and it gave like, she's given some time because the old woman regained her wits and let out a cackle before chasing Eleanor. And I, I kind of, again, I kind of love the idea of the monster being caught off guard for a moment. Like it actually gave the monster a little bit of character. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. It was pretty cool. Um, and then we get to the end of the story that I think we all were kind of taken aback by.

[00:36:25] Um, that gives us character though. Yeah. I guess. Nice. Um, together they would rock. So this is like Eleanor, like thinking about after she has escaped the bridge and the monster and like it's daytime now. And she's like thinking about like how she's, what she's going to do after when she gets home, when she gets back with all the evidence and stuff. Was it daytime at the end? Yeah. Well, like lighted light head started. Like, oh yeah. Right. Because it banished the. The monster. Yeah.

[00:36:53] Um, together they would rid the place of whatever monsters may plague it. Eleanor sprinted off the bridge and through the woods, breaking out into the, into the road, leading back home. Blam! The truck had seemingly come out of nowhere, flattening Eleanor before she knew what hit her. Literally. Thus, the first child ever to survive crossing the old bridge died. Not because of the monster that haunted it, but because they were too stupid to look both

[00:37:22] ways before crossing the street. Wow. That is both brutal and tragic. Good lesson too. Yeah. Okay. I've got a secondary connective tissues time with this actually. Okay. This week I went to go visit my niece at the, at our, at our cottage. Um, and I had to, I had to take her across like a road and I was looking both ways. My, as I was walking across the road to make sure there's no like upcoming traffic to the docks.

[00:37:53] My niece just kept walking. I was like, niece called us. Did you, did you look both ways? Like I looked one way. I was like, well, it's a good thing I was here. Gee. Yeah. And this was before I had read this story too. So yeah. So yeah. So I'm going to just dive on that, but yeah, it's like, I, I was expecting the monster to get like one last shot in and eat her. And like that, uh, as she was like gloating about stopping it and stuff like that, like that, that's what, like what was going to end up happening. Yeah.

[00:38:22] But no, she's just run over by a totally mundane truck. Just like, unless it's some kind of, uh, gerst, it's some kind of cursed ghost truck that drives the roads of redacted in the morning. I wouldn't be surprised. And here's, here's the thing I, here's my suggestion for like how to maybe make the ending a little bit better. Perhaps the narrator was said ghost driver or some entity that sees things in the town.

[00:38:52] Hence why he stopped Eleanor before she could rally the children against the monsters. Stopped her very abruptly. Yeah. It was probably a mundane truck. Topped her at 100 miles an hour. Yeah. It was probably just a mundane truck. Like that was like written into like, just like have that, like last, like kind of fuck you for like, oh no, like to subvert our expectations. But like, I kind of liked the idea that like, it was actually some kind of like demon truck or like ghost truck. That was also the narrator of the story.

[00:39:22] But yeah, damn. That was like, like, yeah, I'm going to rally the kids and we're going to like, I'm, I'm going to be the beacon of, of logic and like, and encourage like all these other, all these other kids have been living in fear for years. What? Oh, but yeah. I do kind of like the idea of like, yeah, like these, these kids have been living in like fear of monsters and stuff like that. Because like, maybe again, like generations of like kids getting picked off and like the town's just like, maybe being under like a miasma, like, like the town of Derry where

[00:39:52] like no one, like by all record, by all means, like generationally people should leave Derry. But Pennywise has like a field of influence over the town of Derry and its citizens that like keeps people from fully comprehending him and like what's going on and has them stay in Derry. And so I kind of like the idea of like, we have this outsider come in and like not be

[00:40:16] that affected by the, the, the fear and the, the isolationism of, of these kids of like the rest of the kids in town. And like, like you, you guys are bringing, bringing it up as like, of like, oh, I wish like this, like they had like rallied together and fight the fight these monsters. So we can have like a series of stories where there are like a bunch of kids hunting down monsters in town. But then the story just ends with like, like, nope, that kid is not going to be our savior. Yeah.

[00:40:45] That kid was stupid because they didn't look both ways. So it's like, I almost wonder, it's like, is this creepypasta, like a horror comedy? It kind of feels like it a little bit. It's, it's not really comedy. Like, I don't know. There's some lighthearted stuff. Yeah. There's some lighthearted stuff with the, like the way that the narrator describes things and with the ending, but I wouldn't say it was funny. It's more like, it's not karmic. What is it? I don't know.

[00:41:15] I think that's actually karma. Yeah. Is it karmic? Yeah. I think that's a karma. Like, like, cause like, yeah, like she was so like, she was like, yeah, I'm going to rally things up and then like, didn't look both ways. Bang. Yeah. Yeah. It's truck Mick. It's what? Oh God. No, it's no. Car Mick truck guy driving the truck. His name is Mick. He's truck Mick. Oh, the truck driver, truck Mick. All right. Well, I'm done.

[00:41:45] I'm done. Don't show. I'm done. We had a good run. This is episode 639. We didn't even make it a 6, 640. Damn. Oh, well. Anyway. The. Yeah. That's the end of my actual thoughts. I'm out of thoughts. That, that, that truck Mick.

[00:42:15] Like just. It stopped my energy flat. Like. Like. It killed you the same way that it killed Eleanor. Yeah. I'm done. Instantaneously. Mikey. The East Death Reval. Wait. Truck Mick. Mikey. Oh. It's Mikey in front of. In, in, in the, in the. Behind the wheel of that truck. I can see it. All right. So. The.

[00:42:47] Part of this. Ending. Or whatever. Is the blam. Yeah. So. I. Foolishly. Accidentally. Read the blam. Before I got there. So I was like. Oh. Something's going to explode. Yeah. Honestly. I did too. Yeah. So. For me. It might. Be better. For it to be slam. Or splat. Or crunch.

[00:43:18] Yeah. Or put it in the same paragraph. Put it in a paragraph. To hide it. Because. The reason we see it immediately. Is because it's by itself. In all caps. Yeah. Like maybe have it like. Like that. Back home. Dash. Dash. Dash. Bam. Or slam. That being said. Like you don't even need to put the sound effect in there. Because it would work without it. Eleanor sprinted off the bridge. And through the woods. Breaking out into the road. Leading back home. The truck had seemingly come out of nowhere. Lightning Eleanor.

[00:43:48] Yeah. Yeah. That is kind of. Yeah. That's. That's always like. That's always sort of like the. Like the. The judgment call is like. Do you add a sound effect in the. Because like. Right now. It's like very loud. But like. The subtler way to not. Not have the sound effect. Word there. And just have the next thing be. Like the truck has. The truck had seemingly come out of nowhere. Just having like. Cutting off. Like Eleanor's train of thought. With a truck. Um.

[00:44:16] I think that's actually more powerful. Honestly. If the blam was there. You wouldn't see it coming. There'd be no way. Especially if both of those parts. Are one big paragraph at the bottom. Yeah. Without the triple. Like M dash. If they're just. Breaking out into the road. Leading back home. Period. The truck had come out of nowhere. And then just like. Immediately shift. Oh. Damn. I don't know. I think there should be like a dot dot dot. Or like a. Or a. Maybe just one dash. And then cut to like. The next sentence. But yeah.

[00:44:48] Yeah. Yeah. I think. Yeah. The blam. And it's like. Immediately connecting the truck. To back home. Because it's immediately shifting gears. At that point. Yeah. Yeah. Uh. And. Uh. For me. The. The truck. Scene. Came out of Left Town. Um. Well yeah. So. Left Town's. The neighboring city. Of. Of Redacted. Yeah. Of course.

[00:45:18] But that's also the whole point. Mikey. Yeah. It's supposed to come out of nowhere. Yeah. Yeah. But. The whole. Uh. Exposition about forgetting to look both ways. Like. The. This character. Is skeptical. And. Uh. Follows what. Truths are given to her. Like. She would have been. Shown. That. There's vehicles. And.

[00:45:47] It's dangerous. Look. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Do you want to take this gamer? I got this bro. I got you. She just survived. Running away from a monster. That she didn't think existed. Her mind is not right right now. She's freaking out. She's going over a whole million. A bazillion things in her head right now. She ain't thinking about crossing the street properly. She's just trying to get home. And because of that one. Like.

[00:46:16] Lapse in judgment. When she got to a road. Bam. I suppose. But I mean. The. The. For the. Omniscient narrator. Just say. Not looking both ways. Like that. That phrases it. To obviously make her seem stupider than she is. When she's like one of the smartest kids in the class. Because she's skeptical. Yes.

[00:46:46] But the entire story. Like that has been the attitude of the narrator toward Eleanor. Because that's the attitude of the kids to Eleanor. So like. It would make sense that it would continue with that through line of attitude. To the very end. Like irony and stuff like that. Like she's intelligent. But she's not. She doesn't have street smarts. Uh-huh. Or again. Like she may be intelligent. But even like the most intelligent person. When. When terrified for their life. Can. Can fuck up. And like. Forget to do something.

[00:47:15] As rudimentary as look both ways. Like that's been ingrained in there. In them for. For years. Yeah. Because all you're thinking in your head is. Get away from the bridge. Get away from the bridge. You gotta get home. Yeah. And so like she gets off. Like gets out of the. Gets out of the woods. And gets out onto the road. But again. Like she's. She's thinking she's free. And doesn't like. But like in that moment of weakness. Forgets. To. To follow the. The basic rules of the road. Which is to look both ways. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:47:44] But I mean. She does have. A moment of respite. Where. She survived the old bridge. And she just stops. And looks at her camera. So. But she's. Yeah. Okay. Like. She's still panicking though. Like she's still in like a fight or flight mode. At that point. I don't know. Mikey's kind of right. Cause like. She is kind of like. Chilling down at that point. She's not freaking out. But the whole point of the ending is. It's ironic. Or whatever. Like.

[00:48:19] Gets away from the bridge. She's like calming down. From that. But now she's like. Occupying her mind with like. Alright. I need to rally the kids. Like. We can stop this. We can do this. Like. She's. Again. She's occupied. And she's in like. Again. Still panicked. Like. You can be like. Like you can calm down from something like. Like horrifying. Like. And like. Life or death. And like. Still be in panic mode. For like. Hours afterward. And so like. That's kind of what. I figured like. What happened was like. She was just like. Getting too caught up in the moment. And was like. Her. Like. She just.

[00:48:49] Wasn't. Wasn't focusing on. Everything around her. Cause as far as she had. As far as she could tell. She was safe. Yeah. So her body was on the autopilot. While her brain was in overdrive. Thinking about. How to get the kids to believe. Ever. What to do. What would work. What won't work. How did I get out of that. And then bam. So. Long story short. I don't think. The ending. I don't. I think the ending.

[00:49:19] Made more sense to Cultus and I. Than it did to you. Yes. Yeah. Yes. So should we. I guess. Move on to my rewrite. Of the ending. Please. I'm curious. You. You. You. Irrational anger. In few. Irrationally angry. Fueled. Rerate of the ending. All right. All right.

[00:49:49] Elinor sprinted off the bridge and through the woods. Blam. A shotgun blast rang out through the cool morning air. Mr. Mason walked down to the nearby bushes. Wielding a smoking shotgun. The first rays of light from the sun hit his face. Which caused him to chain from his humanoid werewolf form into his regular human form. Shaking his head.

[00:50:17] He let him to sigh as he reached Elinor's body. Damn it. Not again. This is why we warn people not to go on the old bridge in the park on dark foggy nights. So it's the same ending is what you're saying. Okay. Okay. It's the same ending.

[00:50:42] But the truck that came out of nowhere is not like he's using an asset from that was described earlier. So he's he's basically pulling. What's that? What is that? I'm using Chekhov's gun. Yes. Yeah. Chekhov's gun. You introduce a werewolf hybrid. A werewolf demon hybrid in the first act. You better use it by the end of the third act. And yeah. I kind of. Any.

[00:51:09] I thought your whole problem with the ending is the fact that like she shouldn't have died in the first place because she was too smart to die. Or is it basically like she didn't have a choice because she was shot? It's removing the the the choice of her whether it's an active or passive choice of not obeying the rules of the road to just know you're dead. Yeah.

[00:51:34] And I mean, it goes along the lines of like, well, why do people disappear? It's because there's a support group basically watching to make sure the monster doesn't leave the bridge. Oh, OK. See, I was I was it was like it's a monster support group that's just like covering up for like when somebody goes missing from the monster. Like like like not that like the monsters contain the monsters fine staying on the bridge.

[00:52:02] It but like it needs some some support from like within the town to keep things like quiet. But well, I do. Well, my thought process is the monster that's on a horrible screech. Mm hmm. Mr. Mason is in werewolf form so he can smell the monster. I thought you were going to say you can smell the monster's screech. It's like, what?

[00:52:30] No, no, just smell the monster, period. And then there's sudden movement moving away from the bridge. And it's foggy. OK, so you can't confirm or deny that it's the monster. So it's shoot first, ask questions later. And he just keeps shooting little kids.

[00:52:57] It turns out the the the monster on the bridge never catches anyone ever. Yeah. All of them just get killed by the people that are trying to keep the monster on the bridge. Yeah. Trying to starve it out. Also, yeah, I do like that was nothing I liked about the like early on is like the fact that like it explains the monster. Like the reason why Eleanor was able to escape the monsters because it had the kids had done such a good the kids and the adults had done such a good job at keeping people away from the bridge.

[00:53:26] So the monster had been starving. So it was it was actually it was weakened by that. But I do like this version of the ending a little bit, because, again, it does incorporate something that was introduced earlier on, but then just kind of went nowhere. It's just like, oh, at the room, the indeniable rumors that Mr. Mason is a wolf demon hybrid. Hey, well, they also talk about baby eating clowns. So does that mean baby eating clowns have to show up in the story? No, but like it's again, like I'm not saying like they don't like not everything has to be brought back.

[00:53:55] But like I for like, I'm fine with the truck thing, but I'm also I do like the the fact that like Mikey here has tried to bring in like something from the from earlier to kind of like bring it in just kind of like I'll have it come like full circle a little bit. Rather than have a truck that comes out of nowhere. Yeah, I don't know. I think the werewolf guy.

[00:54:20] Oh, at least if nothing else, he dropped way too much exposition after murdering someone. Yeah. Speaking to no one. It would be better if it was basically the narrator saying that not him actively saying it. True. Maybe that was the intent. I didn't see the quotation, the marks that you were putting in. Yeah. And I mean, again, like the ending as it is, like, it's still like, like a fun little thing. It's like, oh, like it wasn't the monster that killed her.

[00:54:49] It was just mundane bullshit. Yeah, it subverts your expectations, right? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. But both of these do. Both of these endings. What I'm saying is we can all go to prom. Because I do actually like, because it's like, I hate, like, I hate and I love it. Because like, I loved, I liked the ending, like as it was. But I also kind of like your ending. Like, almost as much.

[00:55:19] If only because it brings some things around. But like, yeah. Yeah. And again, it opens it up for like more stories to be like told in this, in the town of Redacted with like, just like the monster squad, but like the literal monster squad, like Mr. Mason's not like a bad guy. Like he may be a werewolf demon hybrid. But he's also like part of like, like the neighborhood watch, like the supernatural neighborhood watch of this town.

[00:55:51] Yeah. And that's into my actual thoughts. All right. Gamer. Let's see what I have left. One is I like the little cutouts throughout the story of like, God's probably doing this or probably doing that. It's kind of funny. It doesn't really sully the mood either. It's just kind of like, haha, moving on, you know, because like it's, it's a pretty high magic setting anyways. Yeah.

[00:56:22] By the way, there is some magical realism afoot here. Yeah, for sure. Magical realism. Is that the one I was? Magical realism is like when something fantastical or magical is like shown in a way that's believable. Yeah. So it's treated as mundane kind of thing. Well, no, it's not how it's treated. It's at least the way that I see magical realism is not that it's treated as mundane.

[00:56:49] Like, for example, in Dragon Ball Z, Super Saiyans on Earth is normal by halfway through Dragon Ball Z. That doesn't make it magical realism. Magical realism is stuff where it's like Shadowrun is magical realism to a point. Because, yeah, it's stuff that's, it makes sense. And it's not so fantastical that it's not believable.

[00:57:15] No, see, I always understood that like magical realism is like, it's like magic and other supernatural or fantastical elements like live alongside in society as commonplace kind of things. Whereas, but like everyone just accepts them. Like rather than like just a few people accept it and like other people like don't believe it and so on. No, it's just, it's a, it's, it's as grounded a fact as science. Based on Bing AI co-pilot search. Okay. Google AI overlord. Okay. Yeah.

[00:57:45] This is Bing AI overlord. Oh God. Even worse. I know. Magical realism is a literary and artistic style that blends realistic depictions of everyday life with magical and fantastic elements. Is treating the extraordinary as part of the ordinary. So yes, you're right. I suppose. I was going to say, that's what I described. I know, but you're, you're both wrong. I don't believe AI. You refuse, you refuse to believe. All right. But you know what? Fuck you too. I'm done. I'm Eleanor right now. I refuse to believe you. Get hit by a trick.

[00:58:15] He needs more proof. God. All right. Agree to disagree. Let's move on. Fair enough. Okay. And then my other note is we talked about most of it, just like how it shows in the story, how, what the adults and kids have been doing to weaken this creature is actually working where most stories don't do that.

[00:58:44] Most stories are just like, there's this weird thing over there. Don't go over there. And then someone goes over there and dies. The end. This one's like, there's a weird thing over there. Don't go over there. And the reason that they're, and we see that because no one's been going there, we see the results of it. Like after X amount of time, like this thing could potentially starve to death. Yeah. And that's cool that like the, uh, the town is actually banding together.

[00:59:11] And while Eleanor doesn't think that they're actively doing something, they technically are. They're very slowly, slowly killing it. It's funny. Cause like, like the kids know to avoid the bridge, like the kids are in town, know to avoid the bridge. And the adults know something's going on with the bridge and they've, they've constructed like gates and barriers and stuff like that. So it's like two groups doing something independently of each other, but like toward the same goal. Yeah.

[00:59:40] Almost like accidentally or like, but for the adults accidentally. Cause like, again, the story, again, the early on in the story, like it's like the kids have a very low, uh, low viewpoint of the adults and grownups. Like, Oh, there's, they seem so proud of themselves for protecting the little ones. And even though like, and like setting up these things, even though like, you know, everyone knew not to cross that bridge at night. Like, so the gate was kind of, there was no reason for that gate. Cause like, no one's going to do it. I mean, also the gate didn't do shit. Cause Eleanor just kind of went over.

[01:00:11] Exactly. No, exactly. Yeah. So like, what does the gate do? Stop you from driving a car on the bridge? Like, yeah. Or just like, it's just another like barrier, like to stop, like a possible, like somebody walking by and like going in. And it's only the, the extreme people that like, I need to get onto that bridge to prove people wrong. That like, there's nothing weird about it. Yeah. That you're going to get the, that that's, that it's a filter for the, for the regulars. If you put a physical barrier, uh, then you can say there was a physical barrier.

[01:00:40] He chose to go over it. Oh my God. It's a filter for the filthy casuals. Yeah. A little bit. Yeah. And then, yeah. Um, moving from there to the ending, it was a bit of a rollercoaster for me reading it. Cause first, by the time I got to the ending, um, and like Eleanor was running away from this thing, I was like, okay, hell yeah. Eleanor's going to die. I hate this character. She's going to die. Everyone hates her. Go get her, get her creepy monster. Show us what you can do.

[01:01:10] Um, but then like she survived. So like, I was like, okay, I kind of hate that she survived. I thought the whole point of this was a cautionary tale. Um, and I thought it would have been spookier if she got what she had coming basically. But then it switches to her talking about standing up to the monsters and helping the kids band together to fight them all. And I'm like, that shit sounds awesome. Okay. This character's redeemed. Meep meep. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:01:39] I was half waiting for some supernatural, like an, a Valkyrie to come down from the heavens and raise Eleanor back up. So she can actually continue, but then she gets back to town and like, when she gets back into town, like, because she was brought back to life, she, she, her hair is like pure white or something. And her eyes are glowing red. So she immediately gets shot or something like just constantly dying and resurrecting.

[01:02:09] But yeah, anyway, rollercoaster road, uh, rollercoaster ride for me on the end. Um, where I kept wanting her to live and then die and then live and then die. And I don't know how I feel by the end of it because I was, I've been played with so much. But yeah, for creepy tones, I kind of wish you just died on the bridge. Yeah. As a, you know, to cement this as a cautionary tale and like, yeah, shit's bad. And then, I don't know.

[01:02:37] But then the idea of monster squad is fun though. Yeah. Again, like the opening, opening this up to be like a bigger, like world would be really cool. I think. But, but then I think, I think overall by the end though, I actually prefer the ending we got now that I think about it because like, while it's like, yeah, it's a cautionary tale. Okay. That's been done before. Uh, yeah, it could have been, she, she gets out and then bands the kids together and then like, that's the good ending. Okay, cool.

[01:03:06] We don't get many endings like we have now where like, there's a glimmer of hope for this town and then it's squashed immediately. Immediately. So like the town is forever stuck, uh, like fearing this thing because the one person that got away from it immediately died and wasn't able to actually pass on that knowledge. Yeah. The other way for the next protagonist character to show up in years or like another generation. Yeah.

[01:03:36] Yeah. So long story short on that note, while the ending was flip floppy and confusing, I ended up for the one we got over to all of the previous ones that I thought I would like better. Nevermind. I'll just shut up now. No, no. Like there's a discussion. The more I think about it, the more I'm like, you know what? That shit's cool. Yeah. No, like there's a discussion here. Like there discussions are a process. We have to get, we, we have to have, we have to show our work before we get there. Yeah. For sure. So like, yeah, I'm, I'm down with it.

[01:04:05] Also the fact that you're, you're, you're continuing, you're, you're still on my side is fine. It has nothing to do with my happiness about that being said. Oh, gamer got hit by a truck. He'll never know the, he'll never know. That was one aggressive truck. It really was. I'm in the basement. God damn, the Iranian trucks. Mm-hmm.

[01:04:33] Just burrows to the ground to get me. The mole man driving. Anyway. We can move on from here now. Yeah. Yeah. At this point it's going to be the freaking SWAT truck. The, the, of the, the, um, tangent police. Yes, absolutely. Anyway. Uh, yeah. So, okay. Uh, final thoughts then. Um, yeah, I'm still going to recommend it. Um, for me, there is a lot of charm. Here. Like, I like the premise. The little, the setting of the, the town of Redacted.

[01:05:03] And like, the kid, the kid versus grown up dynamic. Of like, the views of the, of the town and stuff. Um, I like the monster. Um, it was very kids on bikes. Again, like Goonies. Like, a little bit of Goonies mixed with like Monster Squad stuff. Like, there's, but it was also like whimsically macabre. Kind of in the same vein as the video game Little Misfortune. Where it's just like, just one tragedy after the other. Is you're just playing this little girl who's just getting like fucking shit can't.

[01:05:32] Like, by karma. And like, and like, you try your best to make the best decisions. And you still just get fucking like run over by a truck. Like, like, like, again, like, I, I do go back. It's basically, yeah. Like, like she like tries to help this like dog. It's, it's a very, I hate, uh, the one part of the game I hate is like, she tries to like help a dog. And then the dog ends up getting killed. Of course. Because she helped. Yeah, exactly.

[01:05:59] But if she, and, but if she had let it go, like, let it, let it, uh, like, like kept it where it was. It would have been like, it would have like strangled itself or like, it would have like a tree kind of thing. Yeah. No, it's not any better. It's, it's damned if you do damned if you don't sort of like situation. Oh, it's that bad. Yeah. I thought it was like all the good decisions are actually the bad decisions kind of thing. It is both. Love it. Yeah.

[01:06:22] It's, it's a very macabre and like gallows humor, like whimsical, like depressive game, but people seem to enjoy it because it's got like very, a very interesting kind of cozy, like art style and like very cutesy, like voices and stuff. But it's also just, it's really like dark. Yeah. Um, but that was kind of the vibe I was getting from this. It's just like, just of Eleanor's sort of descent into like, like her again, the roller coaster of Eleanor here.

[01:06:51] Like, oh, she's going to die. Maybe she's going to get killed. Is she going to get eaten by the monster? No, she gets hit by a car. It's like, okay, well, wow. Fuck. Like it, it, it like, I guess it's, it's that whimsical macabreness that like, of like also breaking your expectations or like, yeah. Um, and I do feel bad for, for Eleanor. Um, but I mean, she really should have looked both ways before getting across that road. Just, just saying. Do I have to convince you now? No, I'm, I've got a lot going on in her head.

[01:07:20] That was a joke. You're going to trigger Mikey. He's going to be, but no, yeah. Like it's just like, yeah, no, I, it was, that was, that was meant to be a joke. Uh, uh, uh, um, but yeah, I just, I am. That's why I jumped in. Yeah. So he jumped at my fucking throat. Yes. Anyway. Uh, anyway. Um, but yeah, that's, I, I, I did enjoy it.

[01:07:44] I, I do think it's almost like a, I guess on a creepypasta side of things, like it's kind of spoopy, but like not really like it's more, again, this is more like it kind of got the impression by the end. Like this is almost more of like a, um, a horror comedy. So there's like, like there's some lightheartedness to it in a, in a macabre way, weirdly enough, on top of being like kind of spooky.

[01:08:08] Like when, when the, um, uh, when the creature, like when, when the, uh, the granny, that's not a granny shows up, like that's when the creepy stuff happens. But then it's caught off guard by her hugging it and then like screams and runs away. And then we kick back into creepypasta gear. Um, so yeah, like, yeah, I, I, I think it's still, I, I don't know. It's still enjoyable. I really enjoyed it.

[01:08:32] Um, just for like the kind of flip floppy, like rollercoaster ride of like spooky and like whimsical and macabreness. So I, I'm still going to recommend it at the end of the day. Um, honestly, I found this story creepier than most of the stories that we've been reading lately. Really? Okay. Because like the whole town is screwed and they're all aware that they're screwed, but they're doing their best to survive because of it.

[01:08:58] Like just because there's a quirky narrator and a karmic end, I didn't feel that ruined the, the, the spookiness, at least to me. Yeah, no, that's fair. I'm just saying, I'm just saying like what I, how I like felt when I was reading the story. Yeah, of course. Yeah. So yeah, that's my, uh, my recommendations, my thoughts, my, my final thoughts and such. So Mikey, these sense for evil.

[01:09:23] Uh, well, the, as I said, I really didn't like the ending because I would have much preferred, um, if they brought back an element like Mr. Mason, uh, to the ending. Um, but we don't get that. We instead of get a stupid truck, um, stupid truck and stupid left town.

[01:09:53] I, I, I, I, I, I gotta reiterate. I do love your idea of bringing this Mr. Mason as like, he is the truck driver. Uh, yeah, yeah. It was a drive by. It's like, but I, I, I get, I, yeah. Continue. Yeah.

[01:10:11] Um, and then, uh, it didn't gel with me that there wasn't any other kids that also didn't believe in the supernatural. Uh, or believe that this, uh, bridge wasn't supernatural. She was the only outsider. Yeah, but I mean.

[01:10:38] All the kids grew up with this stuff, hearing it on the news, hearing it on newspapers, seeing their friends disappear. I suppose that's true. But still, like, the, the, the, as, as Gamer mentioned, they, the kids didn't seem to care at all about her to do enough to get the adults involved. Hmm. Um.

[01:11:06] But, like Kulta said, there'd be no story for that. Yeah. But like I said, there could be. But it would take a lot more work to continue the story, because it'd be days after where they have to go back out. You know, stuff like that, but yeah. It's been an easy episode. I just gotta sit back and let Gamer, uh, voice my opinions. Yeah, so. Uh. That's the main thing for me.

[01:11:34] Like, even with the monster being somewhat creepy, and the never-ending bridge, the, for me, the ending ruined my enjoyment. I'm still not gonna recommend it. Alright. And Gamer? Uh, for me, I still liked it. Um. I liked the read. I liked the bit of back and forth on the ending. Um.

[01:12:04] Because it was, it was just, it's just a fun to read regardless. The first time I went through, I was like, yeah, it was pretty good. And then by the time I got to the recording and us talking about it, I'm like, you know what? The ending was kind of annoying. But then when I sat down and actually voiced my opinion on the ending, I'm like, you know what? No. I like the ending the way it is. Fuck me. Fuck that guy in particular. Yeah. Screw you, brain. I like it. Yeah. Um. But yeah, I like this little reveal of, like, the whole deal with the bridge, too.

[01:12:34] Because it's not like she just gets on the bridge and the monster's like, hey. You know? Just right there. Um. Like, it kind of toys with her. Or, like, has to slowly get to her because of how weak it is. Yeah. And the, uh, the colorful flavor text in the scriptures was fun. With, like, God's probably doing this. God's rolling his eyes. Being like, God damn, girl. What are you doing? You know? Um. Damn, girl. What are you crazy? Yeah. Exactly. Uh.

[01:13:04] But yeah. And I'll say this, too. The author did their name proud. There was a moist squelch at the end. Oh, my God. And a crunch. A bit of a crunch. But yeah. Also probably moist. Definitely. Probably. Definitely. Probably. A moist squelch. Yes. Absolutely. Also, can we all just. Another thing I'm just, like, seeing. I just realized. Can we all just appreciate that the. While the town is also called redacted. They've also named the elementary school. Redacted elementary.

[01:13:34] Why is that weird? I don't know. It's just. I love. Again, I love the idea of the town being called redacted. Yes. Absolutely. But. In a small town. If there's one school. It's. Insert. Town name. Here's school. You know? Yeah. Or it's named after. Like, the founder of the town. Kind of thing. The founder of the town is redacted. Also, it doesn't even have to be a small town. Yeah. The town near us. It's. Insert. Town's. Secondary school. That's all it's called now.

[01:14:03] Oh, right. Okay. Now it is. Like, back in the day it wasn't. Yeah. It wasn't. It was called something cooler. But now they're like. Let's renovate it and give it the most boring ass name ever. Yeah. Mm hmm. This city's. Secondary school. In this state. Yeah. We live in the. The police academy. Police academy universe. But yeah. So long story short. Yeah. It was good. I liked it. Yeah.

[01:14:34] All right. So I guess. One non recommendation. And two recommendations. And I suppose that'll. That'll do it for tonight's episode. So. If you like what you heard. Or if you didn't. Leave us a comment in the comment section below. Where this gets posted. Some of us are on blue sky. Mikey is at the E stands for evil. And I'm at review cultist. You can also send us emails. At al dente rigamortis. At gmail.com. That's. A L. D E N T E R I.

[01:15:04] G A M O R T I S. At gmail.com. Where you can also leave us suggestions. For other creep pastas. SCPs. Spooky things. You creep it. We'll peep it. Yeah. And if you'd like to help support our show financially. You can go to Patreon. We have special episodes. Early access. And extra content. To all our patrons. Helping support the show. Thank you immensely. You're helping keep those hosting bills at bay. And as always. We very much appreciate that. And to our listeners. And the authors of these stories. Thank you immensely.

[01:15:34] Because. Without your listenership. It'd be like screaming into the void. Or walking down an endless bridge. With no one to surprise Glomp. Exactly. That's basically what she did. Oh my gosh. She definitely surprised Glomp. That old lady monster. Yeah. And. Without. Without your stories. Without your authorship. Writing and posting these stories. On the internet. We really wouldn't have much of a show. Because we'd have nothing to talk about. So thank you. Now's a good time to mention.

[01:16:04] That we are a part of a podcast network. Brit in the Night. An actual play. And creepypasta podcast network. We're there alongside our sister podcast. One Less Die. And our cousin podcast. The Role Playing Exchange. For things that go crit in the night. Until next time. I've been your host. Review Cultist. I'm Mikey. The East Ends for Evil. And I'm the Gamer in Yellow. And this has been. Al Dente Rigamortis. Sleep well. I'm the Gamer in Yellow. The East Ends for the Living. Spend in the Night. The Trust in the Night. The West Ends for Evil. The East Ends for the time. You're the East Ends for thezza.