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--donation bonus (day #11, post 5/5)--
‘Okay, just tell me where you are first,’ said Garovel.

‘I don’t really, uh... I think I went south...’

‘You gotta give me more to go on, Hector.’

‘I’ll... I’ll make you a guidepost.’

‘What do you mean?’

Hector stretched his arms. He took a hard breath and rubbed his hands together. ‘Fly up high and look south.’

‘Er, okay...’

He placed both hands against the ground. A metal beam exploded out of the ground in front of him. He continuously added to it, wider and wider layers at its base, and soon, he had created the tallest needle he’d ever seen. ‘Do you see it?’

‘Um. See what?’

Hector furrowed his brow. He took a step back and added even more. It shot up into the sky, becoming a tower.

‘Holy shit,’ said Garovel. ‘You didn’t just... Did you really just make that gigantic needle there?’

‘Yeah...’

‘Oh, wow... I’m on my way. Now what the hell happened?’

Hector still wasn’t sure where to begin. He closed his eyes and tried to think. ‘The cellphone,’ he thought. ‘The text messages... they were a trap. By Geoffrey.’

‘Not sure I understand...’

Hector elaborated at length. He told the reaper everything. He fumbled over the worst parts. His father. Nathan. Micah. At least a dozen students. His throat swelled up as he talked further. He was practically choking by the end.

And Garovel listened patiently to it all. Perhaps too patiently. The reaper hardly said anything. His skeletal face spoke of abject horror. Evening arrived by the time Garovel spoke again. ‘How could...? I was only gone for three hours... three-and-a-half, at the most...’

Hector leaned against a tall rock and rubbed his swollen eyes. “What do we do now, Garovel? I’m just... I’m so fucking lost...”

For a long while, Garovel had no answer to that. But then he said something that made Hector stare. ‘...Who still needs you?’