Jesse
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Appearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
I stood there for a long time looking at it.
I could feel my heartbeat in my throat.
The smell hit me then.
The same sweet rot from before, but fresher, more intense.
Coming from the elk.
But the elk didn't look decomposed.
It looked like it had died that morning.
The smell was wrong for the state of the body.
It was the smell of something much further gone, something that had been dead for weeks, coming from a carcass that couldn't have been more than hours old.
I went back to the station.
I didn't run, but I walked fast, and I didn't stop.
I radioed Linda again.
I told her I'd found a dead elk and described the condition.
She was quiet for a moment, then asked me to repeat the part about the head.
I repeated it.
She said she'd send someone up to take a look but it might be a few days because they were short-staffed.
She asked me if I was okay.
I said yes.
I wasn't.
That night I closed the windows and bolted the door and left the propane lantern burning on the table.