For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
After they heard the mysterious woman’s voice a bright light was turned on further down the tunnel and in front of them a man was hanging from one of the overhead beams. A couple of the girls shot at the light knocking it out and then 3 of them ran over to it. No one was there but it was a large spotlight hooked up to a big battery. Someone had to be there initially to turn it on, perhaps the woman?
The others cut down the man, it was Mark and he had been dead for a while already. They tried calling for Sam and Melinda but there was no answer. Then suddenly a very high pitched noise, so bad that the girls were nearly paralyzed by it. They screamed, covered their ears and made their way back to the entrance, tripping and falling several times along the way. They had to leave Mark’s body behind too.
Once out they were soaked with sweat even though it was quite cold in the mine. “Hey, where is Carine?”, asked Axelina. Angel and Axelina ran back inside, but by the time they got to where they found Mark’s body, Carine was gone, nowhere to be seen and Mark’s body was also gone. They ran right back out again and told Kat. “What should we do?, asked Angel. “We go back to town,” said Kat, “and report to Steve. It would be too dangerous to continue searching that mine right now.
If we got further inside and came up against that noise again, we would never make it out.” The others agreed with that. So, although they hated the idea of leaving Carine behind, they realized it was the right decision at the moment.
Meanwhile…back to us in town. “So, who is your new wife?”, I asked Rock. “This is Caren,” he said, “she would like to be a member of our team, and Baldwin wanted to keep Annelie back to help us there.” “Good thinking,” I said, “nice to have you here with us Caren. But joining us on this case might convince you to change your mind about joining us.”
“No, it will not change my mind,” she said, “if I was not sure of joining, I would not be here now. And thank you.” “I sure hope everything is okay with Sam and the others,” I said, “we need to talk with Sam soon, he is holding something back from us and I do not like that.” After a long afternoon the girls returned from the mine giving us the news I did not want to here.
“Okay,” I said, “this has gone far enough. It is time for a good talk with Maggie. That will be your job Kat and Jenny.” “Oh, when we were coming back we saw Mike and Val go to the house,” said Kat, “Mike will be a problem.” “No he will not,” I said, “Rock and I will have a talk with him. He must be involved and I am sure he knows some things about what is going on here.” “Do you think he will cooperate?”, asked Galyna.
“He will, or he will be very sore,” I said, “Rock here has a simple way with words that gets results. Actually, Caren, you stay with Kat and Jenny also. The rest of you take Val for a walk and talk with her.” So off we went to the house. “Maggie, it is time to have a good long talk about things,” I said, “and you need to be totally honest.” “Don’t say a word to them!”, yelled Mike. “Oh, you, Rock and I are going outside to have a talk,” I said.
“Forget it!”, he growled. Rock went over and picked him up and stood him on his feet. “Now,” I said, “we are going outside.” He did not look like he would move so Rock grabbed his arm and moved him toward the door. The other girls took Val outside for a walk over to the hotel and sat outside to talk with her. “Okay Mike,” I said, “start talking and tell me what is going on here. Every time you refuse to talk or give me a wrong answer and Rock will let you know that is not a good idea.
Believe me, you do not want that. Now, one of our girls is missing, Mark is dead and his wife is missing along with Sam. What is going on?” Just then, Jenny came out with a note that Maggie had found on the dining room table. It was addressed to me again. “You do not listen well. If you want Carine back alive, then you must promise to leave right away and go back home. This is no place for amateurs.” Hmm, people keep saying that to us. I turn to Mike, “now, start talking or Rock will start breaking your bones, one by one. I want Carine back, alive.”
To Be Continued.
Β©2022 Steve McLeod.
π€π€π€ hehehe, Rock is going to gave some fun with this guy!ππ
But, I wonder what he could be hiding?π€π€
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Rock does enjoy his work! He knows something this guy, he has been trying to keep us away from Maggie the whole time they have been here. And I think he has been persuading Sam not to tell us anything too. Now we will find out why. But who is the mystery woman in the mine? And why try to keep people out of the mine? Or is the mine just being used to divert attention from the town?π€π©π©π©π©π©π©π©π©ππΎπΎπΎπ΅οΈ
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Well an unknown subject is always hard to determine their role in anything.. clearly keeping Carine in the mine is an attempt to shift the focus of why you’re really there. I think you’re right, it’s got to be something in town.
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Good thinking! Yep, I think they want us out of town, perhaps so they can move something in or out. But we have to get Carine before they do something to her, so we might have to play their way for now. Then it will be our turn.π πΎπΎπΎ
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Wow I just got 5 or 6 replies at once..
Yep, it’s a diversion! Now you need to make it look like everyone is out looking for Carine but leave someone behind to hide and watch what’s going on.ππ
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Yes, that would be a good idea, except everyone knows how many there are of us, so all they would have to do is count as we leave. But there is a way we might be able to do it if we do it so we can do it.π€π
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Now you’re getting the idea!!πππ€«π€«
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Or we could just all stay behind and catch them doing whatever they are doing if they are doing it. Leaving just one person would be dangerous anyway.π€π¬π
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Ok, two people then.. harder to pull off with more than one!ππ€π€
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But we already decided to stay in groups of 3 for safety reasons. We don’t want more problems by losing more of us!π¬π΅οΈπΎ
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Looks like my idea of spying on them isn’t going to work π€π€
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It’s a good idea though, but I just can’t leave one alone like that, too dangerous.π¬π¬
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There’s always a hidden set of cameras π· π€ π π
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Now we’re talking with turkey brains!ππ·π·π·
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Well I didn’t want to give it away..ππ oooppssπ¬
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You were going to charge for that?π€π¬ππ
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No… the readers! I didn’t want to spoil the story by telling parts of what might happen!! I like to be surprised when I read it, and telling you what’s gonna happen will spoil the surprise for me and the readers!!ππππ
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Oh, that’s very good and nice too. Plus you might spoil it for me too by saying what it is I am actually planning to do so then I can’t do it.π€π¬π
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Right!!π so I won’t say anymore!!ππ
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Me neither!π€π
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Whew!! That was close! We almost might have spoiled the whole chapter??π³π²
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Yes, you might have!π€π¬
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It was an accident really!!ππ
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So true.
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I think I resemble that remark!π€π€
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That’s re mark able!πππΉππ
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Who’s Mark??π€π
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Aha! You didn’t read the chapter!ππI’m gone.
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He’s missing so how would I know who he is??πππ
GN π΄ π€ π€π€
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He’s not missing anymore, remember?
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True he’s dead but his body is missing!π€π
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But he did come out of hiding temporarily to die before he went off somewhere again.π€π±π
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So maybe hes not dead?
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You might find out in todays chapter!
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I am on my way to read it now!!π
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Good and okie and dokie too!π
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I’m back! Miss me??ππ€π€
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You went somewhere?π€π
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Not really..π I left the messages page and went to the stories page and now I’m back on the messages page again.π
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Aha! So you did go someplaces! I hope you didn’t get tired running around like that. Those pages are not really very close together.π€πππ
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I knowπ₯΅ Good thing I’m in better shape than I had been!!π³
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That walking is really paying off!ππΆββοΈ
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Yep! And it’s paying it in weight loss!ππππ
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Hey, that’s great! I’m back again, Sir Henry was here for his snack and then Muffin wanted a snack and then I noticed my plants outside were dry so I had to water them and then I broke something and had to clean things up and then I needed to take my pills. But I’m here again. Kinda.πππ€―
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I was wondering what happened to you..π€
It is a bit early to get the feeders in.
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Yep, the birds were still busy out there, but I think things are getting quiet now so I will be able to bring them in soon.π
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Yeah, it doesn’t get dark there now until around 9 central right?
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Closer to 9:30 now, sun sets around 9. Daylight at 4;15am.
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Makes for a nice long day!ππ
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Yeah, wish I could be up for it all! I would like to start getting up earlier starting June 1.π€π
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Well… set the alarm β°οΈ and try to get done!ππ
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It isn’t June 1 yet. A little at a time.π
I was surprised how easy it was walking to the river today,ππΆββοΈ though I sure am tired now. Should sleep good tonight.ππ΄
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Good for you!! I’m glad it went well for you!π That’s one of the benefits from a good walk. It helps you sleep!ππ
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Yes, that is true! But that water is sure high, part of the path was underwater so I could not go to where I was hoping. Plus another part of the path which goes along a steep embankment of gravel and mud had collapsed into the river. The path is okay, but it’s kinda close to the edge now.
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Oooo… you better be careful there!!π³ That could give way without warning β οΈ π¬π¬
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Yes, that is a bad spot, but I can walk further back along there, just a few small bushes in the way.π€π¬
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Good!
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I have to go get the feeders in now.
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Ok
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I’m back. It is so nice out there right now. Neighbors are having bonfire again, smells so nice. Little birds are chipping, nighthawks are buzzing, chipmunks are munking.π
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Munking?? π³π³ I’m afraid I don’t know what that is!!π€π€
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That’s because you’re not a chipmunk.π It means scrounging around for any leftovers from the day.π
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Oh!!! I do that every night!!ππππππ
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That’s munking.ππΉπΏοΈπΏοΈπΏοΈ
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Huh!π€ I must be part chipmunks πΏ π€£ π
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A great big, huge, monster sized, um, chipmunk.πππΏοΈ
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Not so great big anymore!! Well maybe great? Yeah I’m pretty sure on that… definitely great, but not big!ππππ
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Compared to a chipmunk, you’re a giant! I mean, they only weigh few ounces!
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Part of me only weigh a few ounces!!πππ€π€π€
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Did 2 did2!!ππ
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Did 3 did 3πππΉ
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ππ oh sureπ€π€π€
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Thank you for agreeing! Bye for now!ππ€£
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πππ
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You around someplaces?
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I am!π
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I’ll be here when you get back.
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I’m back… but I think I said before??π€π€ππ
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I think you said that before.π€ππΉ
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I’m pretty sure I did also.ππ
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What did you did also?π€π
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Say that…π³
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Okay, “that”.πππΉπΉ
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Oh brother..πππππ€π€π€
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Good one, wasn’t it?πππΉπΉ
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Yes… it was..ππ
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πππΉπΉI come up with them, have to do something with that big empty thing on my shoulders!πππ€£π€£
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The wooden block?π€π€
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More like a boney football.π€£ππΉβ½
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Aren’t they kinda the same thing?ππ
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Are you calling me a blockhead?π€π€¨
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Oh no… a boney football β½οΈ π ππππ
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Good way to hurt feet!πππΉπΉβ½
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Yeah no kidding..π«
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Nope, no kidding.
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My feet already hurt! π© They couldn’t take hitting something that hard!!π¬π³
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How’s those blasters doing?
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I had to drain them again today. But they didn’t affect my walk so that was good!π
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Well, that was good.π
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Yes it was! I walked it in the shortest time yet.
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Hey, that’s good too! I didn’t set any speed records, but I had to stop and take pics along the way.ππΆββοΈπ·
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Well, I only go fast because I’m on my lunch break. So I try to get back as quickly as I can.
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That makes sense. Doesn’t it make you tired for the afternoon shift?π€
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Not too much… π€π€
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Well, fresh air is good for the ol’ brain to get it thinking clearly…about sleeping!πππΉπΉ
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That’s true and the shower usually helps keep me awake to!ππ
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That must be hard while you’re walking.π€π
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LOL π π π€£ πΉ I shower at home when I get back!πππ
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Much better idea, that’s for sure.
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I think so!!! So do the neighbors!!π³π²ππ
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That’s a thought!
Well, must head off to bed, kinda tired now.π₯±
Good night Dusty!π
Sleep well and chatter tomorrow!ππ΄π΄
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Me too!!π₯±π΄
Good Night π΄ π₯±
Sleep Good π΄ π
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Good Morning π π π βοΈ π€
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Good morning Dusty!πππ π
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Any coffee βοΈ and coffee cupcakes left?π€ππ
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Nothing today. I was going to make some coffee cupcakes yesterday then I realized I didn’t have all the ingredients. Sigh. But always lots of coffee. Maybe I will make some blueberry cupcakes later. I’m just waiting for my phone to finish charging then I’m out for my walk to the river!ππ πΆββοΈπΆββοΈπ³π²π²
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Hey, that’s what I’m doing too!!ππ
Blueberry π« cupcakes sound delicious π π π π
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Try not to walk into something while you’re typing!πΆββοΈππΉ Yep, bought some fresh picked blueberries yesterday.π«π
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Yum!!πππ
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Unless I’m too tired to bake them when I get back.π€π
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You either!π€ͺ
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I never type when I walk!πππΉπΆββοΈ
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That’s so boring π΄ but you are taking pictures though..π
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That’s right, I need my left hand for the camera and the right hand for my, um, walking stick.ππΆββοΈππ·
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Yep! Dint want you to slip and fallπ¬π³
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That is very true, well, phone is ready so I’m off for my walk, talk later!ππΆββοΈππ·π²π³
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Perhaps the girls have been implanted with a device which can paralyze them with sound π€ You need to look into this and have it removed ! π²π΅οΈββοΈπ©π©π©π©π©π©πΌπΌπΌ There are more problems ahead ! π’
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There would be no way to do that to the girls without anyone knowing about it. But sound at a high enough decibel can paralyze, causing people to sweat terribly until they go deaf. However, we are prepared for this. But what other traps might be in there? I think they just want to get us out of town for some reason, but why?π€π©π©π©π©π©π©π©π©πΎπΎπΎππ΅οΈ
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