This is a recording of an interview between myself - Bernard Culpepper - and Ruth Haddon.
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B.C. Would you state your name and age?
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R.H. My name is Ruth Haddon, and I am thirteen years old.
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B.C. All right, what about the name of your monster?
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R.H. My monsters name is Reat.
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B.C. Could you describe Reat for me?
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R.H. Why, everyone knows what he looks like.
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B.C. It’s just for the record.
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R.H. Fine. Reat is about five and a half feet tall; weighs about one hundred and ten pounds. He has short brown hair, and green eyes, and has slightly tanned skin.
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B.C. Is this him? For the record, I am holding up a picture of Reat and showing it to Ruth Haddon.
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R.H. Yes, that is him.
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B.C. He’s terrifying, isn’t he?
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R.H. What?! No, well - I suppose at first, he was. But he isn’t scary to me at all anymore.
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B.C. Ok, so tell me in your own words what happened.
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R.H. Well, when I was old enough to get my own room, Reat was put under my bed, and I was told that on my thirteenth birthday I would have to fight him–and kill him. It was a tradition in our society. At first, I didn’t really know any better, so I dealt with him under there. He would pester me a lot whenever I was in my room. Sometimes I didn’t want to wait till I was thirteen to kill him. But then sometimes he was really nice and we would talk and play. I got to know who he was and where he came from.
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R.H. And then one day my brother turned thirteen, and he killed his monster. I could tell he was scared, but he went after his monster and picked him up and ripped him to pieces. I felt bad for his monster, and I promised myself that day that I wouldn’t fight mine, and that I would help him escape. We g--
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B.C. Sorry to interrupt you, but how old were you at the time that your brother fought his monster?
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R.H. I was ten years old.
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R.H. So anyway, we got home, and I went to my room. I told Reat that I would find a way to escape with him and that I refuse to fight him. He was happy that I said that. So, we started to make a plan. The week before our fight, the Grand Council will take us to the arena so that we can practice. I told Reat that I would unlock my window, and when it got dark, he should climb out and hide in the bushes under the window, and that when I got back we would leave.
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R.H. Everything went as planned, but my brother saw me climb out my window with my pack. He asked me what I was doing, and I told him I couldn’t kill Reat and that we were leaving together. My brother then yelled for our parents and Reat and I ran together down the street until we got to the edge of the forest.
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R.H. But the Council Authority were waiting for us. They captured us and took us to see the Grand Council. They asked me a lot of questions, mainly about Reat, like had he hurt me or said he would hurt me if I tried to fight him and I told them that after seeing my brother fight his monster, that I didn’t want to hurt mine. Why would I? He has been nothing other than nice. Well, except a few times when we fought. But what friends don’t fight from time to time?
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B.C. So what happened next?
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R.H. The Grand Council said we had no choice - that we would have to fight each other. I don’t want to fight him, he’s my best friend. They told us that tomorrow we will have to go to the arena and fight. If not - they would kill Reat and make me fight another monster. So, I told them we would fight.
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B.C. How prepared are you for this fight? Do you think you have what it takes to kill your monster?
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R.H. I’m very well prepared, but it kills me inside that we have to do this.
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B.C. Well, thank you for your time, I appreciate you doing this interview with me. This will probably be the most exciting match that we have seen in a long time. I don’t think anyone has ever refused to fight their monster.
The next morning, she was awoken by one of the Council Authority and was told to get ready for her fight. She could just barely hear the blasts of the trumpets and the bangs of the drums over the cheers of the crowd waiting to see a bloodbath.
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She walked down the hall to the gate of the arena grounds... her eyes squinting and scaly brow furrowed as the sunlight poured in through the gate. The two gates opened, and the crowd went crazy.
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Ruth walked out to the middle of the arena grounds her long black tail dragging behind her and waited for Reat to meet her in the middle. Tears streamed down her black scaly face as Reat walked towards her. Once Reat got to the middle of the arena the two hugged one last time as Ruth stabbed her sharp claws into her neck and ripped out her own throat, Reat then grabbed her bloody claws and stabbed himself in the side of the neck. The two friends died in each other’s arms to the horror of the crowd and her family.
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Three days later this interview was printed in the newspaper, and the people immediately fell in love with her story. They rallied for her and eventually managed to outlaw the barbaric practice of killing the monster under the bed. There is a statue in the middle of the arena to this day honoring the two friends.
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