This episode of The Apex and the Abyss contains graphic descriptions and audio that may be disturbing to some listeners.

Listener discretion is advised.

Imagine being stripped of your humanity.

You are no longer looked at as a person, but a project.

You are observed, you are studied. Unbeknownst to you, you are the subject of someone's

obsession. This compulsion can be a powerful motivator to some, and the insatiable desire for

control can become all-consuming. The feeling is so immense, in fact, that it spills over

into some unspeakable act.

Even though you are ignorant to these actions, you know something isn't quite right.

I think you all know the feeling I'm talking about.

When something is slightly out of place, or that feeling you get when you're being watched,

I believe it is a guttural instinct that we all have,

the ability to sense danger when we have nothing else distracting our senses. You hear the echo of

footsteps in the dark when there shouldn't be any, the snap of a branch making the world behind

you feel unsafe. The hair on the back of your neck stands on edge.

But you get enough courage to turn around to look and see.

But there's nothing.

So the feelings subside and you go about your business.

Sometimes that's as far as it goes.

It's an uneasy feeling that surmounts to nothing.

But for one particular brand of monster, just looking and fantasy within his own mind wasn't

enough.

...