You were there. You saw it. You know what happened.

"That's not what happened."

The first time he rewrote reality in front of her face. It won't be the last.

TRIGGER WARNING: The gaslighting is huge in this one.

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A lie confirmed. Bruises explained away. A bag of beach trash presented as a gift.

And somewhere underneath all of it, a woman who survived something terrible before any of this even started.

It was never intimacy. It was research.

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She finally made a friend. He sulked about it.

Then she introduced him to one of her closest friends. He held it together just long enough.

And then the mask slipped.

In public. In front of everyone.

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Her friend said "you what the what now?" A reasonable response, honestly.

Because in the same week: an engagement, a party that ended with police, a fiancé who ran and left her alone when they arrived, a stranger answering his phone, a warrant, pigeons, registration tag theft, and a man named Dogfucker.

And then they made falafel and he posted about it on Instagram.

Just another week in paradise.

This is fine.

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Sticky fingers at the grocery store. Board shorts dropped on a public street. A moving job, a fake proposal, and then—

Wait. Was it fake?

After a week together, with two mongooses and a park ranger as witnesses, he asked.

And she said yes.

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He steals a frying pan from a restaurant and tells her to be grateful.

He rearranges her entire apartment and tells her how lucky she is.

He crosses a boundary she explicitly stated and tells her it felt better anyway.

And every single time she raises a concern?

Lighten up.

Lighten Up.

WARNING: This episode in particular touches on themes around consent. Please prioritize your mental health.

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He carries a knife everywhere he goes. He wears a deer spine around his neck. He talks about woodchippers with a fondness that doesn't quite sit right.

But he also shares his deepest vulnerabilities. He listens. He makes her feel completely safe.

And his oldest friend just quietly said he can only take him in small doses.

She heard it. She just wasn't ready to listen yet.

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He's funny. He's attentive. He notices everything.

He puts a flower behind her ear and makes her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.

There's a suitcase on his bed that belongs to another woman. There's an edge in his voice that appears and disappears before she can quite catch it.

But the charm is so very pretty.

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She made it. New city, new life, new beginning.

Sabre's in quarantine. The apartment is empty. She doesn't know a single person.

And somehow, within hours of landing, he's already there.

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You've met Heidi. You've met Margaux.

Now meet Timmy.

He's charming. He's funny. He gives her butterflies she hasn't felt in years.

And the skating video that sealed the deal: https://youtube.com/shorts/QsCv-_2Kgec

Don't say we didn't warn you.

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In our first episode, Heidi introduces the podcast, reads the dedication and trigger warnings, and covers the two prologues and first chapters of Pretty Red Flags — including why she wrote a character who never actually existed.

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