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Thank you. The Silent Directive Episode 8 The
Bloodiest Five Hours As you know, I still don't
know how to move my gaze, as it were. After,
um, the girl at the university, I've had some
time to think. Contrary to what I've led you
to believe, I don't jump straight from story
to story. In between, I drift. I've seen a seed
in the ground slowly opening to spread roots.
I've seen a frozen lake crack and thaw. I've
watched a cloud from birth to death. I've watched
fire burn a log into ash. It's beautiful, all
of it. I'd be content watching these things forever.
Yet, I regularly find myself drawn to, well,
you, humans, living people, thinking living things.
While the intricacies of the world are a wonder,
the events of a conscious life are the most unique
things in the universe. If I could control my
gaze, I'd like to watch a life. I mean, every
first kiss is different. First nightmare. First
day at college. Last day at work. Last goodbye
to a partner. Last breath. Or the middle of life.
A random day at a boring job. A lazy weekend
evening. A morning commute. You define it as
the mundane, but not a single one event is exactly
the same as another. It's fascinating. So why
do I always find myself watching the end of a
life? Why do I find myself drawn to the extreme?
The horrifying encounters, the gruesome ends?
I don't know. But I regularly find myself present
to watch the tale of the unliving. I think monthly.
I haven't quite counted the days, but... I think
I'm going to start, I don't know, going back
to my roots of counting divots in the drywall,
I guess. Anyway, sure enough, I do have another
story for you. An interesting one. About 20 days
ago, there was a lunar eclipse. Maybe you saw
it on the news. Maybe you saw it in person. The
moon passed behind Earth, and for five hours,
it appeared red for a section of the Earth. For
this reason, it was called a blood moon. It sounds
spooky, but it's just named after the color the
moon appears to be. There's no actual blood involved.
Or at least not usually. Par for the course for
me. In many cultures and mythologies, the moon
is linked to the paranormal. I'm not sure if
there's any truth in that, which is odd. I'm
usually sure. I'll have to find out. But I'd
say there's good evidence based on what I saw.
When the sun set and the moon rose, something
happened. Now, the eclipse was only visible in
some parts of the world, as they usually are.
This time, it was the Americas. All of North
America and most of South America. Many events
happened under the eclipse. I'll share one. The
one that I saw. A group of teenagers got it in
their minds that it would be a good idea to watch
the lunar eclipse in a nearby field in their
hometown of Franklin, Tennessee. It was a good
idea. It was dark, quiet, and empty. This wasn't
a spur -of -the -moment idea, either. The four
had been planning that night for a while. They
had everything ready for their little makeshift
picnic to watch the moon rise. The sky was clear,
the air was calm. It was perfect. Usually, when
I observe an encounter, it is an individual one.
That's part of the fear, isn't it? You're alone.
No one to help you through it. Oh, but not this
time. No, these four experienced this one together.
Each of them were juniors in high school, and
they had known each other for quite a long time.
There was no leader of the group, but if there
were, it would be Erin. She was the one who planned
everything, made sure everyone's schedules worked.
It was by her coordination that the moonlit picnic
was possible, and she was the first to arrive
to the empty field. Nico had arrived alongside
her. sitting passenger in Eren's car. From what
I could tell, he had a crush on her. Not that
he'd ever act on it for fear of change. He was
the primary hand by which Eren's plans were enacted.
If she needed a table moved at a school event,
Nico would move it. If she needed chairs and
food carried from her car to the field, Nico
would carry them. Maybe that was him acting on
his feelings. The two that arrived next were
Anya and Ren. Anya wasn't as social as her peers,
but she was dragged along every time. While she
was the quietest one in the group, she was the
most thoughtful. Maybe those traits are one and
the same. Ren was the youngest of the group,
only by a year, but to teenagers, that's substantial.
However, they were the smartest of the group.
Ren was fascinated by all things astronomical,
and they were planning to enter that field of
study. Ren was the one who found out about the
eclipse, and found the best location for it.
The group arrived and set up in less than 15
minutes, thanks to Eren's planning and Nico's
execution. The moon rose into the sky. The sun
was completely blocked by the earth, creating
a deep red glow rather than the usual moonlight.
The picnic was well underway. The group was enjoying
themselves. The music floating from their speaker
filled the field as the sun went down. It wasn't
too cold out either. For the next hour, they
played card games and laughed among themselves.
Then they heard the first gunshot. They sat up,
not quite panicked, just curious, cautious. The
field was still empty, and the shot sounded like
it was far away, if it had been a gunshot at
all. They joked among themselves, quickly settling
back into the mood. At this point, the moon was
settled into the sky, shining a dark, dim red.
One of them, nervous at the noises, suggested
they leave. This was Anya. I remember that moment.
I thought the others might listen, and the four
might survive the night after all. But they didn't.
I wish I could have warned them. because at that
point, I could see something they could not.
Buried deep in this field were the scattered
remains of nearly 1 ,000 Confederate soldiers.
Franklin, Tennessee was home to a decisive Civil
War battle. The Confederate slave owners had
lost major ground and took a huge blow to their
military force. As the moon rose, for whatever
reason, so did the souls of the soldiers. They
rose from the ground, clawing their way out of
the dirt. Some rose early, but a majority of
them rose at the same time. And yes, these were
not incorporeal ghosts. They were solid, physical
beings. They could have passed for living humans,
if not for the blood. The spirits seemed to be
reimagined at the moment of their death. Some
had holes through their body, perhaps from cannon
fire. Others had large, open gashes across their
bodies, faces, and limbs. They did not know they
weren't living. These spirits, unrestful in their
life and death, rose again, filled with the same
rage and fervor that they died carrying. And
those poor teenagers were sitting in the middle
of the old battlefield. The majority of the soldiers
rose in the same instant. The field, in a very
literal sense, exploded. Grass and dirt churned
and flew in all directions as these things rose
to their feet. The four scrambled to their feet
as they watched the events unfold. They weren't
frozen. They had the thought to run, but to where?
These soldiers were rising in every direction.
A bayonet ripped through their picnic blanket
as a soldier rose from under their feet. The
four scrambled away from it, only to bump into
more soldiers. The group made their mind up to
run for the parking lot, pushing through the
soldiers in their way. Nico took a swing at a
soldier whose neck was slashed. Only these were
not zombies as the teens thought they were. These
were spirits. These were replicas of once -living
people. So when Nico's fist connected, it connected.
with a Confederate soldier's solid face. And
he only stumbled back slightly. In a second,
a different soldier stepped forward, saber -drawn.
He slashed at Niko, but missed. The group rushed
around the soldiers any way they could. The field
was filled with thousands of the soldiers, rushing
about, shooting their guns, waving their swords,
as if they were still in the battle that left
them dead. Erin reached the top of a small mound,
allowing her to see the parking lot over the
heads of the many soldiers. She turned back to
her friends, just as a volley of gunfire rang
out. Aaron collapsed to the ground immediately.
The others rushed forward, but a squadron of
soldiers appeared from over the hill. The three
were separated. Ren and Anya were pushed to the
right and Niko to the left. He struggled against
the line of soldiers trying to get to Aaron and
the others. They shoved him back. One soldier
unsheathed his saber, slashing Niko across the
chest. He fell to the ground, clutching his chest
and curling into a ball as the squadron marched
over him. He raised an arm to protect his head
as the boots crushed him into the dirt. A soldier
moving past noticed him on the ground and plunged
his bayonet into Niko's side. Ren and Anya kept
moving, completely overwhelmed by the events
and unable to see the fates of their friend.
By this time, the field was filled with smoke
and dust, kicked up by the soldiers' boots and
guns. The two ran as fast as they could, avoiding
soldiers in their path. But there were just too
many. A soldier sprinted between Anya and Ren,
waving his saber wildly. He cut Ren across the
face and shoved them to the ground. Ren fell
onto their arm with a snap and rolled down the
hill into a bush. Thorns ripped at their skin.
Anya turned back to help, but a soldier grabbed
her arm. She kicked and yanked herself away.
Three more soldiers ran up to her, sabers and
bayonets drawn. They slashed and stabbed until
Anya was no longer moving. It took an hour for
the eclipse to exit totality. and the spirits
were pulled back to the afterlife, leaving only
the chaos in the field to show they were there.
Local police responded to the noise of the event,
finding the bodies of the teenagers and Ren unconscious
in the bush. They were rushed to the hospital.
I watched all of this. I watched it happen 20
days ago. I would have delivered my story sooner,
but I was hoping to see the survivor recover.
I told you I don't know how to control my gaze,
but I was... Able to stay with Ren as they recovered.
Maybe that's progress. Maybe it was just luck.
I felt I had to. Not a single living soul had
seen what this child had seen. Except for me.
They did recover. Physically. Mentally, how can
anyone? I need to... I need to change. I cannot
keep living like this. Violent end after violent
end. I have to stop. I have to find a way to
control where I end up.