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Button Day



Estimated reading time — 9 minutes

Laura was woken by her father; something that he had not done since she was a child. As her thoughts slowly swam back into focus, she was suddenly sure that she had slept naked and he had seen her, but to her relief she was wearing her baby-blue pyjamas. God, what was he doing in here anyway?

“Come on, you,” he said brightly, opening the curtains and letting the sunlight in. Outside, she could hear a lawnmower running, perhaps in the next street, and what could’ve been birdsong. “It’s Button Day, remember? Get dressed, put something nice on. We’re leaving in an hour.”

Laura stirred, her voice groggy. “Dad, what the hell? Couldn’t you just knock? What if I’d slept nude?”
He didn’t look at her, he was too busy admiring his garden from the window. “Oh, you’ve nothing I haven’t seen before. I’m your bloody father, I‘ve wiped your arse many a time before now.”

“Not the point, Dad.“ Squinting, Laura sat up, rubbing her eyes, and remembered what he’d just said.
“Dad, did you just say ‘Button Day’?”

“Well, yeah. What, did you forget?” He laughed as he crossed the room to the door. “You were only talking about it last night.”

“Wait – what?” She frowned, not understanding. Something was wrong here. A fine way to start the day, really. She hadn’t even gotten out of bed yet, and she was already getting weird shit. “What are you talking about?”

He shook his head, still smiling as he left the room. “Get dressed. Breakfast is ready.”

He left her sitting up in bed, holding the covers to her breasts, a look of confusion on her face. Eventually she got out of bed, and began to pull some clothes on that were to hand. Familiar sounds floated up to her from downstairs: pots and pans rattling, the TV on low, the muffled tones of her family talking to each other, a short, harsh laugh – her brother. No doubt laughing at the TV.

She did her zipper on her jeans, and stood for a second before finally saying out loud, “Button Day?”

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Downstairs, her mother was washing the dishes, humming to herself. Sunlight filled the room, making it warm and fresh. Her father and brother were sitting at the table, eating toast. There was a plate set for her, and she sat down, pulling it towards her.
Her brother was wearing a crisp white shirt – and he never wore shirts. She doubted that he even owned one. This was one of her father’s, she recognised it.

“What’s with the shirt?” She asked, picking her toast up, and his eyes never left the TV, which was typical of him. A year younger than her at fourteen, he was arrogant and know it all to boot.
“It’s Button Day, isn’t it?” He mumbled through a mouthful of toast, and her mother turned around, and tutted loudly at him.

“Mark, don’t talk with your mouth full.” She saw Laura and sighed. “Laura, you could dress a little better than that. At least make an effort.”

“What for?” Laura said, then looked at the ceiling, irritated. “Oh wait, let me guess. Button Day. Am I missing something here?”

Her mother shook her head, turning back to the dishes. “Don’t be so childish, Laura. It doesn’t suit you. Please make sure you get changed into something else before we leave.”

“I wanted to see Michael today. I’m not going with you, sorry.”

A hush fell over the kitchen as everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at her in surprise. Warily, Laura said, “What?”

“Are you crazy?” Her brother asked. “You can’t go out today, you’re coming with us!”

“Laura, you made plans? Today, of all days?” Her father asked, and she pushed back on her chair as a dull anger rose in her.

“Yes, I made plans! What the hell is going on this morning?”

No-one answered her. They were staring at her as if she’d took a crap on her plate. She got up, pushing her plate away. “You know what? Forget it.”

“Laura, stop this, right now,” her mother snapped. “You knew perfectly well what we were doing today. It’s been planned for a long time. Now you can just call Michael and tell him why you’re not seeing him.”

“That’s just it!” Laura yelled. “What do I tell him? I don’t know why I can’t go! It’s just you telling me I can’t!”

“It’s Button Day,” her brother said. “That’s why.”

“Button Day?” She cried. “What the hell are you all talking about? I’ve never heard of Button Day! You’re all acting like-” She suddenly stopped, comprehension dawning on her face. Her family were playing a joke on her. This was all a joke. With a warm rush, a huge weight lifted from her shoulders. Now she understood.

“Very funny, guys,” She said, her voice calm and collected. “You really had me going there.” She turned and left the room, heading for the front door. As she went, her mother called after her, “Laura! Please be back in an hour, we can’t leave without you, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Laura called back. “I wouldn’t want to miss Button Day, would I?”

The short walk to Michael’s house gave Laura enough time to feel guilty about how angry she had gotten with her family. As she’d gotten older, her temper had shortened. She planned on apologising later – she had an hour, right? Wasn’t that what her mother had said?

I wonder where we’re going, Laura thought, watching a plane a few miles above cut a white line across the sky. Or was that a joke too? Was it that they really were going out, and it had been a planned thing, and she had simply forgotten all about it?

She could see Michaels house from here, with the white fence and broad front lawn. She began to jog, eager to see him. As she crossed his driveway the front door opened and Michael came out with a look of shock on his face. He had seen her coming up the street.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Laura asked, and to her dismay he suddenly looked a little angry.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said.

“What, did we fight, and I missed the memo?”

“You told me this was your family’s Button Day,” he said, and there was movement behind him.

Laura blinked, her mouth open in surprise. A blonde girl came to the door, squinting in the light, and slinked her arm around Michael. She was wearing a nightshirt and nothing else, and her hair was tousled.

“Go home,” the blonde said, and Laura backed away, blinking back sudden tears. Michael would not meet her eyes, so she turned and ran.

Her mother caught her just as she was about to run into her bedroom.

She pulled Laura close, holding her as she sobbed. “I know, I know. Let it all out.” She stroked Laura’s hair, rocking her a little. “Men are bastards, aren’t they?”

Laura pulled back to look at her mother, sniffing. “…You know?”

“You’ve just come back from his place in floods of tears. It doesn’t take a genius to work out what happened.”

“He’s got himself a blonde. A blonde! I’ll bet that’s why he wanted me to dye my hair!”

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She cried for a little longer, and her mother held her. “There, there. Come on. Let’s get you changed for our trip.”

“…So we are going out?”

“Of course we are, silly! Here we are, this is a nice blouse. Your best, I think. Put this on, I want us looking our best for our Button Day.”

Laura’s stomach rolled lazily. She suddenly remembered Michael mentioning Button Day, too. This wasn’t a joke. This was real. It was all real, and she didn’t have a clue what was happening.

“Mom, listen to me a minute. Something here is very wrong.”

“I know. You really liked him, I know you did. It’s terrible that he’s upset you, on this day, of all days.”

“That’s just it, Mum – I don’t know anything about Button Day. I’ve never heard of it, and since this morning I feel as if I’m the only one who hasn’t the faintest idea what’s going on!”

“Well, to be honest, I’m no expert. I know it was the Governments idea to combat overcrowding, but other than that-”

“No, no. I mean at all. I’ve never heard of it.”

There was an uneasy silence, in which her mother looked at her for a long time. Her mouth was set in a hard line.

When she finally spoke, her voice was calm. “I know you’re upset, so I’ll play along with your little prank, okay? Just get changed – here’s your blouse – and I’ll see you in the car in five minutes, okay? We’re waiting for you.”

Her mother walked away, leaving Laura alone and frightened, her best blouse in her trembling hands.

The next thing she knew, she was in the car. Everything was flowing by in a fluid, carefree motion that made her feel more and more uneasy. What the hell was going on? Why did she not recall anything about this day that everyone was talking about?

She could see everything in absurd detail, slowed down to super slow motion: The fluff on the back of her mothers headrest. A bit of stubble that her fathers razor had missed. A crack in the pavement as they passed. She suddenly felt more lucid than she had ever felt in her whole life, yet she was unable to speak, trapped inside her own body. It was as if she were a puppet, walking on strings made from fear’s own web.

Somewhere deep inside, she was still clinging to an ocean-battered rock of hope, a charred crater of sense that told her that this was all a massive joke, a huge, elaborate hoax. As they pulled up outside the white, box-like building, squat and stern, that hope faded.

“Here we are,” her father said cheerfully, and she felt herself pull the door handle and step out of the car. She stood trembling in the sun like a baby deer, the building bearing down on her as if it had teeth.

Acting as if they were at the seaside, her family got out of the car, chatting animatedly. They set off towards the main entrance, Laura trailing behind. A sign stood over them: GOVERNMENT PROPERTY – KEEP OUT. She saw the security cameras watching them, and hurried after her family, her footsteps flat and dead.

The door to the building was made of glass, and as they pushed through into the clean lobby, Laura saw a receptionist busily typing on a computer. The receptionist looked up with a professional smile at her father as he approached.

“Hi, we’re the Krandalls. Here for our Button Day,” he said, and she smiled.

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“Go on through, sir. Just keep walking that way.”

Her father thanked her, and on they went, down a long brightly lit corridor, lined with brass plaques which gleamed. There was something engraved on them all, blocks and blocks of text, and she drew closer as she walked to see what it was. She saw her own reflection looking back at her, and in the harsh fluorescent lights, she looked haggard.

Names. Hundreds and hundreds of names, thousands of names, one after another. Hogg. Wilson. Carpenter. Buxton. Bell. Palmer. Rowe. Brown. The list went on, seemingly endless.
Her family walked on, still chatting as if they were on holiday, and up ahead the corridor was coming to an end.

The corridor opened up into a large, white room. In this room, four small, waist high pillars stood, each with a red button on the top. Beyond them was a long polished desk, with three Government officials seated at it. The Government insignia hung on a huge banner over it all. The room was silent, and sterile.

Laura watched her family each step up to a pillar, watching the officials expectantly, leaving a pillar for her. Her very own button. Trembling, she stepped up to the pillar, only to notice with a jolt that the floor around them all was on a slight incline, angled towards a drain behind that she hadn’t noticed when she had first arrived. One of the officials spoke, his voice echoing in the open space.

“Krandall family. The Government has deemed this to be your Button Day. We thank you for your sacrifice to your country, and to your people. Your names shall join those in the long Hall in your honour.”

“We’re proud,” her father said, and her mother nodded, sincere. Her brother looked as if he were about to weep with pride.

The official continued. “Then please, in your own time, push your buttons. May God be with you all.”
Her father turned to his wife, his son, and his daughter, and smiled. “I’ll go first, to show you how easy it is.” He pushed the button on the pillar, and it depressed with a loud, satisfying click.

As Laura watched, her fathers face turned red, as if he’d been jogging. She remembered how easily flustered he got with exercise, and assumed he’d just walked too fast down the corridor, or something. That was when a crimson teardrop slid down his cheek, and plopped fatly onto the hard, white floor.

Laura watched, frozen, as blood began to pour from her fathers eyes, nose, ears and mouth. It ran down his shirt, over the belt that she had bought him for his birthday, and down his trousers. It splattered onto the floor. All at once, his eyes burst like over-ripe plums and hung on his cheeks, still connected by red strings. Liquefied brain ran from his eye sockets.

As his body crumpled to the floor, her mother and brother looked at each other and smiled, pushing their buttons at the same time. They turned to Laura, holding their hands out, blood seeping from their eyes and noses, tricking from their mouths. They assumed Laura had pushed hers, too.

Laura drew in a breath to scream, but the soft pop of her mothers and brothers eyeballs made it catch in her throat. They fell over backwards, landing on top of each other. Blood was being channelled to the drain, which drank quietly.

All was silent.

“Miss Krandell?”

Numb, she saw the officials watching her closely.

“Miss Krandell, overpopulation is destroying our towns and cities. Your country needs your action today.”

She stared wide-eyed at the official. To her side, her brothers hand twitched, the last of the nerve impulses fading. Blood was already congealing in his empty eye sockets.

The official was standing up slowly, and she saw that he was a tall man. Taller than most, no doubt.
“Humanity has called,” he said, his voice dropping to almost a whisper. The world had faded away to the button under her fingertips. It was smooth and red. Pushable.

“…Will you answer?”

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248 thoughts on “Button Day”

  1. Yanni Papanikolaou

    Ok pretty well written. A few plotholes most glaringly, why couldn’t she remember button day? Excellent concept and definitely needs a revisit and an expanding.

  2. I love it but i also dont? I feel it was incredible and i loved how it kept you questioning the whole time. Really well written as well.
    What i didnt like/confused me:
    1. Why her boyfriend would find a new girl so quickly instead of mourning.
    2. Why was everyone happy EXCEPT her boyfriend.
    3. Why she was the only person who had never heard of this day (i know it was to keep the reader guessing, but i wish there was a reason she didnt know)
    4. The ending. I think it was junt kind of bland and wasnt really a cliffhanger; more of a cut off.
    5. Also wish it had a better name for the day ;P button day makes me think of Coraline.

    I did really like the read though! Would love to read more!

  3. Omg this would make a great book, or even a good movie! The plot to this is just amazing and this could easily be made into something better than a short story. It’s a wonderful pasta :D good job, whoever the author is…

  4. I can’t be the only one on this site who’s read “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson — same plot, but the execution actually makes sense. It blows my mind that the author expects me to believe that the protagonist has never heard of Button Day, a government-sanctioned event for the purpose of thinning out the population in absurdly gory fashion. And it blows my mind that this story has been so highly regarded by so many people.

  5. so thats why her boyfriend had another girl! omg i wouldn’t have pushed the button and went back to him to show him i was alive, and i would’ve kicked the blonds ass…all i all incredibly great pasta, id eat it again.

  6. Goddamn. That’s nasty. If a government wants to control overcrowding, they would probably just have people gassed. Much less painful. I think some people would be glad to participate, all the suicidals finally finding a genuine and painless way to die that is justified by the government.

  7. To the author-

    I would like to know if I can re-write, and re-post this story (with full credit to the original author) so if you are the author of this story, please email me at [email protected], and we can discuss. Thank you for taking time to read this!

    -Cora

  8. This was good, a bit predictable, but still good. There were just two places which seemed kinda odd:
    1) I think the way that the family died should’ve been a bit less dramatic and a bit more mechanical (I’m not talking about the ceremony, I’m talking about the death itself). That would give the feeling that this is a normal “efficient” process.
    2) It kinda lacked that kicker at the end. I’m sorry, but “…Will you answer?” just doesn’t do it for me.
    Everything else was fantastic in my opinion.

  9. Anonymous Pasta Fan

    Omg! This was the best pasta that I have ever read. This is the official pasta that is going to make me get an account! Yay! That didn’t entirely make sense!!!

  10. Great pasta. I really love this one. It really makes me think. Slowly but surely the world is becoming overpopulated. Eventually there may not be enough room for everyone. It makes me wonder if something similar to this could ever happen.

  11. First of all, if the government REALLY wanted to combat overpopulation, they wouldn’t brainwash them and ask them to commit suicide, they would limit the amount of children you could have to two and stop immigration. Plus, if they really were going to go about stopping overpopulation that way, why would they do it one at a time? I mean HELLO, several million people live in the US, a few wouldn’t matter.

    Obnoxious rant aside, good pasta :D.

    OMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM

  12. A narrow, conentrated beam of pressure coulda caused them to bleed that way. Also, might wanna delete the story before real governments get this idea lol except they would probably just kidnap the ppl and force them to press the button lol so yeah scary

  13. I’d really wish the author had cleared up why Laura couldn’t remember anything ( I sort of thought her memory loss would be part of the twist ).

  14. It’s pretty good..but not all of it makes sense to me. Did Laura wake up with amnesia? Why is government executing families? Why in such a painful and gruesome way? What happens if you refuse, can you refuse? Etc Etc ‘questions’.

    This Pasta is full of pretty good seasonings and mystery meats.

  15. Fairly well-written but as a short story with such a predictable ending it is entirely too detailed. Most of the information was irrelevant and frankly boring. I loved the happiness they got but seriously microwaving yourself to help with overpopulation? And her amnesia to what was going to happen and turmoil of the country made no sense. 4/10

  16. Although the beginning was interesting, the ending was no surprise and poorly executed. Why would the government make such a graphic dead for volunteers? Done like this, people would start running as soon as the first volunteer pressed the button.

  17. @Sanya exacally, i read the lottery ifor english class, thats where there is that lottery thing and the lady gets the peice of paper with the lack dot, and then eeyone pummels her to death with rocks right. Also the hunger games is like this if u have seen or red it

  18. With the theory of the realities, wouldn’t she live? Because I would think they’d have proper implants in their craniums to produce low decibel, low range frequencies to liquify the brain without affecting other subjects/bystanders. I vaguely remember the story specifying that the pedestals were spaced far apart, simply because the room was large, and there was more than enough room for the family to be unaffected by the termination method.

  19. Well written, suspenseful, a delicious pasta. A bit predictable, though, when her mom said something about the government controlling the population, you could tell more or less what the buttons did.

  20. Okay, this pasta was very well written but, it seemed more on the futuristic side in which the government had to be evil and shit. We also need an explanation as to why she doesn’t know what Button day is. Her father said that she was talking about it just yesterday, what’s with the random memory loss? And to people who are wondering why she seemed to want to press the button at the end, she had no family any more, her boyfriend had cheated on her, what point is living anymore? The button seemed attractive to her at the end. So chances are she pushed it. And I agree with one of the persons here, forget their username sorry, why not kill all the prisoners and criminals? Much better than killing a quite happy-looking well doing family.

  21. I loved this! I think Arancaytar’s explanation was brilliant. I give the story 9 3/5, I give the ending a 7 1/2 because I NEED CONTINUATION. This story forced me to comment when I almost never do. I hope I am able to read more from this author.

    P.S. I liked the whole “It’s like ‘The Lottery’!” buzz.

  22. I have to agree with Rainshine. If the practice of “Button Day” was acceptable and even admirable in that society, why coudn’t the main character remember what it was? Some explanation was definitely lacking and it took away from the story.

    I’ll admit, not a lot actually physically affects me, but this one…
    My stomach sank, my cheeks felt flush, and I was horrified to my core.

    Fantastic pasta.

  23. The Awkward Dancer

    That is awesome. That is incredibly awesome. This should be made into a full movie, or a full novel or SOMETHING! I wanna read more! This seems realistic too. I’m scared. This is scary. “Moo,” said the cow.

  24. Rainshine the Grammar Hyena

    Oh, wow… O_______O
    That was freaking awesome on the creepiness factor!
    The creepiest part of the story, in my opinion, was the fact that the government official asked her to willingly and proudly kill herself for the good of her country… I don’t know why, but the fact that she has a “choice” but will be looked down upon for saying no just scares the shit out of me. -pasta jizz-
    Unfortunately, I had to rate it a 9/10 because the grammar was a bit lacking, and for some reason I kept expecting there to be an explanation as to why the main character couldn’t remember what was happening.
    The story would perhaps have been better if a reason had been given for her ignorance, such as perhaps stating that she had hit her head or had short-term memory loss or something, and that illness was in the government’s record of her family.

  25. CREEPY. AUGH. I liked it though! 10/10 ~ I got the security code wrong and “security” was spelled wrong in the pop-up. Just a random tidbit of information.

  26. i read this a long time ago, but never posted a comment till now and omg this should be made into a short film or continued or something
    this sent chills in a non-typical way
    pretty original, kudos to the author!!!

  27. Should overpopulation become a burden on humanity, and it will eventually, Britain would no doubt be among the first to feel the negative effects as it is already quite crowded in very many areas.

    At least this seems like a more merciful solution over the Reaper virus.

  28. there is plenty of space in space and also i guess this is what happens when the american empire cannot fall and heal time it just grows and spins out of control never falling

  29. It was well written, but the premise is ridiculous. There are far more humane and efficient means of population control than simply forcing entire families to commit suicide. Aside from the fact that it would go against genetic diversity – something necessary for a closed society – it also kills children, rarely an efficient means of population control, as they’ve had to be fed, cared for, and don’t live to see the age of productivity.

    It’s chilling. It’s unique. And it makes absolutely no sense from a socio-economic point of view.

  30. Wait, how is the boyfriend an asshole for finding another girlfriend? He knew it was their button day. He knew his girlfriend was going to commit suicide. So why would the mother call him a bastard? Is it because of how fast he moved on?

    I mean, god!

  31. Reminds me of that one Star Trek episode, A Taste of Armageddon, where the citizens willingly kill themselves in virtual wars so their government doesn’t have to fight real wars.

    Very good story. I’ve always loved dystopian fiction.

  32. How would she not remember button day if thats what it was? Did she suffer amnesia? I mean really…..

  33. hi, dont turn around

    @ manan doll, they made a movie “the button” (no relation to this story) off of an old twilight zone no one took credit for
    @ all the shits wondering why she doesnt know: supressed memories bitches, obviously she loved her life and couldnt deal with knowing when and how she would die,
    the button method is stupid in its self, if you have a button for each person, why make them come press it? if not, laura jump off the fucking pad,
    her family was happy because, they live in a society thats willing to kill for others, correct? obviously they where raised to accept this fate, no mater how gruesom

    im disappointed, i was hoping for something sexual do to her sleeping nude >:P

  34. This was somewhat lengthy. A good ending, although it sounds more like short-range microwaves, has anyone read Matthew Reilly’s Scarecrow? one of the sub-villians suffers a similar fate. If the government is going to kill off various people to solve overcrowding, isn’t it somewhat contradictory to have what sounds like only one death station? If the government is willing to invest money and technology into solving overpopulation, why not send the people to the moon or mars? I presume that there are multiple stations all over the planet, and how much would that have cost? But, my main problem with this is that it took too long to reach a cheesy ending.

    Fear The Darkness

    -Nex

  35. Ending was bullshit, i was waiting for her to run away, find a lost boy her age (cute by the way) who had also taken off just after his family pushed their buttons, they speak to an old man on the outskirts of town, he reveals to them that the government has been overtaken by aliens who can shapeshift and they have murdered everyone in government and taken their forms so they could get rid of the worlds population and ‘start over’ as they cannot just kill everyone, they need to do it in an orderly fashion and take record of who they get to commit suicide as the aliens also all have obsessive compulsive disorder (and they like chocolate caramel slices and ginger beer) and the only way to kill them is to throw a bucket of holy water on them, and then the old man dies and comes back as a ghost and he rapes all the aliens and ….. no wait…..i went off track….that ending was worse than the actual storys ending somehow…. ignore me people….having a moment….

  36. Wow Arancaytar, that would really fit into the story well. I liked #2 as well.

    Without intertwining a meaning to all the details, the details would have been mundane and useless. That’s what I felt when I read about “sleeping naked”, her boyfriend etc. Those are all useless and do not contribute to the story. However, if the author had somehow tied it all back together, this would have been one hella good pasta.

  37. honestly, “The Lottery” much? otherwise I was impressed, very well written… what will the government ask us to do next? that’s definitely creepy to me, well done

  38. Absolutely the best pasta i’ve tasted all night. Not creepy at all, but really played into one of my more abstract fears, of everybody around me knowing something i didn’t and it being like i was supposed to know it and no one beliveing me that i had no idea what was going on. I definitely feel like this should be a much longer story. Bravo good sir, this pasta has filled me up well.

  39. I actually had come to the conclusion that there was a subtext that an alternate-reality version of herself from a world without Button Day had somehow ended up there before reading the comments to find that someone else came to the same conclusion. It explains everything — why she has literally no idea what was going on, why she would remember plans she had made with her boyfriend that she couldn’t possibly in this reality, why she expected to wake up naked but was in pajamas…

  40. Wow this was creepy. I was expecting it, when they her mom said ‘over populating’. But i thought it would be like one of those stories where they all draw names and end up stoneing one of them. good job

  41. What the hell?
    Isnt this a story by Anthony Horowitz?
    Its in one of his short horror story books.
    I think there are 2.

  42. Loved this one enough to read it a couple of times and suggest it to friends who don’t even read creepypasta. It reminded me of an extremely demented version of The Lottery, though I’m sure somewhere in this myriad of comments, that’s already been said. The random amnesia was almost inexplicable, which did ruin the overall story because there is no reason that she should be the only one not to know. However, removing the context of the story, it would be really boring for us to read it if she already knew.

    I enjoyed this to an extent that I probably shouldn’t have. Job well done.

  43. where’s the explanation for her sudden amnesia? when did the US government suddenly turn into the society from The Giver? And I dont care how symbolic or creepy it’s supposed to be, where the hell is the explanation for why her family was so desensitized to having their goddamn brains liquefied through their skulls that they don’t mind watching their father/husband go through it first?

    i dont care how nicely written this pasta was, this was a plothole-ridden piece of garbage all tied up in a fancy bow of good grammar and narrative. there is literally no suspension of disbelief at the end whatsoever, and the whole story is sacrificed for a shitty version of the “LOL BIG BROTHER BIG GOVERNMENT IN CONTROL” message from Orwell’s 1981. what the fuck.

  44. Just saw another mystery that I think my above idea would explain:

    “As her thoughts slowly swam back into focus, she was suddenly sure that she had slept naked and he had seen her, but to her relief she was wearing her baby-blue pyjamas.”

    She slept naked in her own reality, but the “consciousness transfer” dropped her in the Button-Day reality, where she didn’t.

  45. “I’m intrigued how pushing that little red button makes u bleed from every hole and make ur eyes pop out lol”

    My guess: Resonance vibration. There are church bells that can give you a nosebleed if you stand too close to them. Imagine that for the entire body…

    (Flaw: The soundwave would have to be extremely short-range to mangle the person near the button without even injuring others in the room.)

    “Why didn’t Laura know what Button Day was?”

    Well, clearly others remember her knowing:

    “You told me this was your family’s Button Day,”

    My two guesses are:

    1.) She knew of this day before, and her fear induced amnesia to the point of inventing another world where Button Day didn’t exist. Basically, Button Day always existed, and she just went crazy.

    2.) This is the one I prefer because it’s creepy and supernatural. Maybe it could even be written up as a prequel of sorts. I’m trying to keep this one “OOC”, not a story, though I’m slipping into a literary style by the end:

    Laura knew she was going to die. She tried to find a way to avoid this, and somehow came across a way to travel to another reality in her sleep, switching places with her alternate self. So that’s what she did on the night before Button Day.

    She woke up in a mixture of hope and dread, not sure whether her escape had worked. She ran to her parents’ bedroom and woke them up, and fearfully asked them if they were late for Button Day.

    Her dad looked at her oddly, and asked what Button Day was.

    Shaking from relief, she only just managed to blurt out that she had had a bad dream. She had barely time to run back to her room before she broke down weeping at the joy of having an entire life ahead of her again.

    Through that joy, she felt only a little twinge of unease about the girl she had displaced – her twin she had never known, who would even now be spending the last day of her life in complete confusion.

  46. > Does it remind anyone else of the blue-handed men in
    > Firefly? With their blue glowsticks that did pretty much
    > what the buttons did?

    Absolutely.

    I wonder why they pick such an awful method of execution instead of a more painless alternative.

    I also want to know if Laura is going to push this button, and what will happen to her if she doesn’t. I want her to get away. :P

  47. Mm. As scary as this story was, and oh it was a great story, it’s even moreso to entertain the idea that it’s not so out-in-left-field that it couldn’t happen, given the right push. Humanity is the only species that willing kills themselves and each other… for no reason at all. What’s a little regulated mass suicide via propaganda and good old brainwashed patriaotism? Pasta disturbs the hell out of me. o.o;

  48. Lottery-esque, but the fact that they are actually getting themselves killed willingfully makes it take a different turn.

    Makes you wonder which is creepier: this, or an entire town killing a woman with stones, including her little sons?

  49. she sleeps naked and is surprised when her brother wears shirts. nudist colonies have such strange rules. like mandatory self annihilation.

  50. It’s pretty good, but it would be a lot better if it hadn’t been so many times in the past.

    The Lottery, Examination Day, etc.

    It was really predictable.

  51. rabblerabblerabble

    I’m intrigued how pushing that little red button makes u bleed from every hole and make ur eyes pop out lol

  52. Wow. I liked this one.
    But why didn’t she remember about Button Day?
    I DEFFINETELY would have remembered.
    It seems like a big nightmare to me.
    Or, this could be a huge novel. She could run for it, and they could do a search, kind of like the Giver.

  53. Mr. Welldone wrote the pasta about himself I’m pretty sure. I think I remember him posting it on the forum ages ago right after the site started.

    I don’t mind him. His comments are usually at least a bit interesting, it’s the idiots mocking him that are annoying. At least if they’re going to make fun of him… BE MOAR FUNNY!

  54. Am I the only one who finds Mr. Welldone not annoying? You people seem to hate him, but I love reading his comments. And some of you seem to think the person behind Mr. Welldone came up with the pseudonym, when in fact there’s a creepypasta with it. Read it.

  55. This is only the first half, another version has a chase at the end, then the T1000 comes in and says “If you wanna stay alive, stay with me”

  56. Jesus, this really has touched me. By the line “Well, to be honest, I’m no expert. I know it was the Governments idea to combat overcrowding, but other than that-” though you could guess the inevitable. I can’t believe how strongly this is written and how its actually made me quite sad and helpless.

    Damnyouuuuu!

  57. Pfft, the government of america wouldnt be dumb enough to waste money on thousands of buttons only to control population, just nuke them! One nuke bomb, thousands of people dead, population controlled and they could just blame it on Russia or Iraq!

  58. Holder of the Penis

    Exceptional pasta, would dine again!

    I’m with Glowstick, this instantly reminded me of The Twilight Zone – especially some of the much darker stories from the 80’s series.

    @124 – But who’s to say that it really WAS to help with overpopulation? The motivations of the government aren’t made clear in any way. All we’re given is their ‘word’ that’s its what’s best for the country. I thought is added much more creep factor.

  59. …Well regardless of what everyone else said, I liked it, Spelling and grammar aside, it was interesting enough.

    I believe the whole ‘boyfriend’ side piece was for character development.

    That’s what I think anyway.

    This sounds like it’s straight out of The Twilight Zone , which is right up my ally story wise.

  60. this would of been good if there were an ending but there wasn’t so i gusse it was a waste of time it started out good like a dean koontz book but then it just end with no point being made like barney

  61. forgot to add this, just cause all these people an heroed doesnt mean overpopulation would be cured. u would need a large amount of falcon punches, shoop da whoops and Candlejack just to clear some out, oh shi

  62. tl;dr haha jk it was great, but i would have killed the bastards. leave it to the government to casue people to explode

  63. Damn. That was awesome. I can’t say anything more than that. Maybe it’s just me, but I felt a very V for Vendetta (the comic, not the movie) feel to this story, partly because of the obvious British tones.

    Phenomenal. I think it’d make a better short film rather than a movie. I second the notion of a film, with credit being given to an anonymous source.

    Also, Mr. Welldone, you’re a fantastic enigma, a real villain arousal here, but here’s a friendly tip, flaming aside. Stop sounding like a 14 year old emo kid.

  64. Aaaand I have yet more to say. I’m sorry, I know I have to learn to say everything I want to say in one comment.

    Anyway. This has made me fear death even more and I hope I die painlessly of age in my sleep.

    Like my great-aunt Agnes.

    ;-;

  65. One more thing.

    How could any human being stay sane after watching a bunch of people kill themselves in such a bloody way? Do the g-men watch people’s Button Days in shifts, or something?

  66. Oh shiz. o_O

    This disturbs me to no end and I sincerely hope that it never has to happen in real life.

    As a pasta, though, I thoroughly enjoyed this. I love the fact that it could actually happen, minus the instant Ebola produced by pressing a little red button. There are far too many stories on this site about demons and monsters and things that go bump in the night for my taste.

    @101

    Ily. 8D

  67. @3

    the writer you’re thinking of is shirley jackson, not daphne dumaurier. jackson wrote the lottery, which is clearly the story this pasta is based on.

    still a fun read.

  68. Government could have just shot them. A facility where you go to kill yourself in an excessively high tech manner just screams inefficiency.

  69. It was interesting, but I saw the ending coming (not so grotesquely in my mind’s eye, however). But it kind of reminded me of that story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. A lot.

  70. 0.o I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT AT ALL… i thought i dno… some ghost would do whatever i dont even know what i thought but just woooow

  71. all i want to know is why she didn’t know about it. It was like i was waiting for a revelation to happen. Why couldn’t she remember?

  72. @21 ~Dj Loona
    my best guess is that the reason her boyfriend already know there was a button day, he just seek for another Girlfriend, cuz, the one she got, will actually die.

    It’s like “uhm, mi Gf would die tomorrow… i really need a new one”

  73. When he asked me if I would answer the call I’d be like “Uh… No.. Sorry. Tell them I can’t come to the phone right now…”
    Very good story, except I could have lived without the boyfriend part, it was kind of unessicary.

  74. my favorite part of this–when it said her dad plopped “fatly” on the ground.
    lmaooooo.

    but i did kinda like this. although the boyfriend-foreshadowing was probably what i found most interesting. getting a new girlfriend… saying she should dye her hair (i’ve interpreted that as him saying she could change her appearance and run away…)

  75. @39

    hey,what a co-inky-dink. i jsut happe nto have Several shotguns and shells in m ybasement for jsut such a ocassion. ima bust one up this guys balls

  76. i get up at mdnight to go home

    Who the hell would be happy about killing themselves? lol i like it it makes it even creepier :P wow it would be so scary if somthing like that did happen…..anyway it was really good :P

  77. Maybe it was some suppressed memory or something. Like how some victims of traumatic incidents don’t remember what happen because they suppress their own memory. I like how it’s vague, leaves one to explore the story.

    It sounds weird how the government would choose such a digusting and troublesome way to get rid of people though. Wouldn’t it have been easier to get a bunch of people together and burn them or something? No mess to clean up.

  78. part of me liked it, part of me was kinda scared, but the other part was somewhat realistic and said “yes the government is full of snide, creepy assholes but they wouldnt dipose of people in this way as it is deemed as inhumain”

    so there lol
    but i did like it

  79. I thought this was pretty good. The deaths were a little too much in this scenario. It would have been a lot better if it had just been an injection or something.
    But, one thing I actually really appreciated was the end. I know some people were mad about how it was just a cliffhanger– but it makes sense. It seems like it tries to put yourself in Laura’s shoes, like “What would you do?” It made me think.
    Good story. That was just my opinion on it. :]

  80. it was fucking shit, i prefer traditional pasta, just short, shitty, and scary, if i wanted an elaborate story, i got edgar allan poe and stephen king.

  81. i was rather fond of this creepy pasta,although i would’ve like a conclusion.i felt it ended rather abruptly.Over all,it was well written but lacked a certain something.

  82. Apparently my first comment was deleted…

    Whatever.

    For all of you who say “why would they be happy?”, please look at history and consider it is not outside the scope of human capacity to be happy to be sacrificed. The Mayans for instance would play great games of… well the game was similar to soccer, and the winners would be sacrificed, and it was considered to be an honor to serve in this capacity.

  83. This was a very good creepy pasta.

    Really very good.

    Bit mind boggling.

    Part of me is asking how she didn’t know about it, did her mind block out the idea, or did she somehow wake up in a parallel universe?

    I

  84. shortys roc my sox

    omg I WAS PHONE i am like so srry my friend almost died in a car crash and if she died it would b alot on me but if my sister and dad died i would proble go crazy i am so so so srry :(

  85. MR.WELLDONE:

    FUCK YOU.
    FUCK YOU UP THE ASS.

    I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT YOU ARE A RICH BOY WHO THINKS HIS PARENTS ARE THE ANTICHRIST AND THINKS HE IS TOO GOOD FOR EVERYONE IN HIS SCHOOL.

    YOU EMBARRASS PEOPLE LIKE ME WHO HAVE LOST EVERYTHING. MY FATHER AND OLDER BROTHER DIED IN A CAR CRASH THAT CRIPPLED ME FOR YEARS.

    DO NOT TAKE LIFE LIGHTLY.

  86. It slightly sounds somewhat to the aztecs. The People happily and willingly Sacrificed Themselves to the sun god. Very well Written story. Will Never Forget it.

  87. This was a great pasta.
    I have two ideas why Laura forgot about Button Day:
    a)She didn’t want to die, and was freaked out, and that caused her mind to block out the knowledge, maybe so she’d not go along with it. To live.
    OR b) Twilight Zone scenerio?

    Either way, great story.
    ALSO, freaky way of dieing+unconditional want to do it= freaked shinless.

  88. Wow I hate to be Mr. Negative but I thought this was… not so stellar as everyone else seems to think

    1. This can’t really even be considered a creepypasta. Can you imagine trying to post this in a thread? This is like a very short short story.
    2. It’s very predictable. A family is going to some government facility that controls overcrowding n a horror story. Honestly half way through the story I was thinking “well they better die in an interesting way”, and of course they didn’t. Their blood vessels just burst or something.
    3. I have no idea how you people think this is well written. Some of the lines use very poor grammar, and all of the metaphors are poorly chosen and very disrupting to the flow.

    “It was as if she were a puppet, walking on strings made from fear’s own web” when I read this I thought of Zapp Branagan’s uncanny way of using metaphors to make himself seem like an idiot.

    So really it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve read, but if it is going to completely break away from the copypasta form of being as short as possible, then at least don’t give away the ending right off then weigh the thing down with poorly written detail.

  89. I’m not a puritan or anything, but if the Government is really concerned about Overpopulation, ahouldn’t they be cracking down on Michael and his new teenaged girlfriend having sex? (well, I assume they had sex, why else would she already be at his house ‘scantily clad’, first thing in the morning?)

  90. That was lame… First off, why doesnt she know about button day? The story makes it clear that she knew about it the day before, so how did she forget overnight? And if everybody is so fucking proud to take part, why wont they explain to her what it is? And why would anybody WANT to take part in it. Why do they bleed out their faces when they die? It would make so much more sense if it had of been lethal injection day.

  91. @ Abbey

    I think it’s because she was no longer brainwashed. She woke up with her freewill back or something. That’s what I think. That’s why in the end she got to choose.

  92. Oh wow that was pretty good! Not like other story here, which have some kind of monster..
    But why did Laura not remember anything about button day?

  93. thepizzaelemental

    Ben stole pretty much all of my thunder.

    This was basically a ripoff of Soylent Green, except they don’t get anything useful out of the people who off themselves. Not even entertainment. Any government capable of that level of brainwashing would be capable of getting much more use out of the citizens. And any society advanced enough to remotely microwave a man’s brain would be able to kill somebody much more cleanly and efficiently. The bloody deaths added absolutely nothing to the story. And the idea of Laura spontaneously forgetting what ‘button day’ is was pretty weak.

    I know a lot of people are loving this story, but i see a story that could have been so much more.

  94. This is a great story. For one, there’s a backstory that isn’t really a back story and it’s awesome.

    Other thing I noticed is that her family seems zombie like with their willingness to kill themselves. It’s as if Laura had woken up not remembering Button Day because she finally got her will back.

  95. There is alway expansion to the Moon and Mars, besides we know the first get the Button Day would be the Chinese and Indians.

  96. when does n e country ever care about rights or what not after something goes terribly wrong? nazi germany as just 1 example.

    if everyone has a right to life why is there war?

    yes china is becoming more capitalist i agree with you there…but the fact that your a capitalist country doesn’t mean you wouldn’t do sumthing so immoral.
    come on don’t be naive

    but wtf do i know i’m a 19 year old living in jamaica =[

  97. I personally like the beginning paragraphs it adds more realism to the piece.

    @DJ LoONa

    We have the right to LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In our lifetime that would never occur at least in our country…

    I wouldn’t know anything about china except they have a one child policy and already they’re seeing problems. Boys are more desired children so girls are either aborted or given up to adoption. Men are finding it hard to find a partner therefore get married therefore even less children. :[ I can see communist as maybe executing undesirables but china is becoming more and more capitalist. Executing people would be bad for morale and you’d be exterminating workers :[

    But wtf do I know I’m an 18 year old living in america :[

  98. @ DJ LoONa and lostmyselfalongtheway

    :O maybe it was an alien! That would explain why he was taller than most pple, and could hypnotise the family. Srsly, when the hell would the government think of something as smart as that???? Wow, i sound like a hypocrite >->’ but still…

  99. lostmyselfalongtheway

    I was hoping for a supernatural twist but this one is okay too. But as soon as I read the part about overpopulation I figured out the ending quickly afterwards.

  100. #13 “Why the hell would anyone willingly torture and kill the Jews in the name of the National Socialist Party of Germany?”

    I was just following orders!

  101. i knew what was coming the second her mother was talking about ‘the government’ dun dun dunnnn
    i didn’t think their faces shudve popped tho…and y was the guy at the end taller than normal guys?…perhaps he shud b executed for being so unnaturally tall…and who are they to choose who dies or not? stupid govt privileges!
    how did they brainwash the ppl and just happen to miss laura?
    her bf is a cunt btw, just cuz u kno ur gf’s gonna die doesn’t mean u shud hav a new slut on the side ><
    i still kinda see this as a ‘big brother’ 1984 type thing…
    our govts are watching us and tapping into our fone lines [c’mon ppl, the u.s. govt has killed loads of ppl secretly cuz of the patriot act i’m sure]
    i wont b so shocked if this started happening in our lifetime…-cough cough- china -cough-

  102. wow…just wow… this was so good!! I wish the person who wrote it would tell us who they are this was incredible!!!! I hope the government doesn’t get ideas from this >->’

  103. Hmmm. It was really well written but the ending was a bit sudden and kind of broke it I think.

    Why didn’t Laura know what Button Day was? I really think this needs some kind of answer. I know it was too add to our suspense but by not giving a reason at the end the “why” of it overshadows the big reveal of the execution.

    Why make the death so gruesome. I can understand people being brain washed into thinking killing themselves for their country is a good idea, but watching your loved ones faces pop/bleed/etc is not something you could just smile about… I don’t think any amount of brain washing would make me shrug that off.

    Why families? Why not criminals, or other “non-productive” people… Ok, that’s a moot point as the justice system, etc, isn’t discussed in the story.

    But the biggest thing… Why random execution?! If you can convince families to melt their faces off then surely you can convince them to have no more than two children per family. Over a couple of generations that would allow the infastructure of a country to catch up with its population and even reduce it to some degree. It would surely be more effective than a death lotto and that way useful members of society wouldn’t be lost to random chance.

    A very well written story, but the creepiness kind of collapses in on itself.

    Also, “arse” is used in all of Britain, not just Scotland and Ireland.

  104. Governments would never do this to families. It would probably be something a lot less horrifying to watch, such as shuffling all of the family members into a giant furnace or posioning them. Something painless, if the money’s right.

    I just realised that I have suggested what Hitler did and just called it humane by comparison. Wow.

  105. If whoever wrote this doesn’t come forward, I’ma make a movie about it and they can’t sue me for copyright violation.

    It’d make a hell of a movie, you know. x3

  106. corrosive nutsack

    The father’s dialogue at the beginning where he says “I’m your bloody father. I’ve wiped your arse many a time before now.” This suggests this is Scotland or Ireland?

    1. That along with the use of the word ‘mum’ can indicate nearly any European country. Either way, why does it matter? You country-ist or something?

  107. The part about her boyfriend getting a new girlfriend was merely foreshadowing. He got a new girlfriend because he knew his old one was going to die when it came for her Button Day.

  108. I don’t get why she didn’t know what “Button Day” was.

    Why was she the only one in her family that didn’t know what was going on?

  109. The Person formerly know as 'Noneya'

    Also, I agree with ‘Random Reader’.

    Mr. Welldone, If you want to die and cant you’ve obviously are ‘DOIN’ IT RONG’. Talk to the Emo’s, they know the ways of self termination if you dont mind having to put on ‘guy-liner’.

  110. The Person formerly know as 'Noneya'

    HOSHIT!

    I liked that one because it was well written and clever, and I hated it because I want Laura to run the fuck away from there screaming her head off.

    @Ma Cherie: Something like that couldnt happen, not in our lifetimes. Those people went WILLINGLY to die, and if the goverment ever tried to get people WILLINGLY to kill themselves the world’s leaders would find themselves surrounded by angry Texans who ‘just happened’ to have a few thousand shotguns and bullets in their basements for such an ocasion.

    When humanity cuts it close, and the populace get too squished down we have a history of replacing those in charge to ones that suit us. It may take hundreds upon hundreds of years, and a whole load of wars, but Czar Nicholas still gets shot, Marie Antoinette’s head still gets chopped, and Saddam is still strung up in the end.

  111. Someone PLEASE write an ending to this story that involves her not pushing the button and running away form the government. This story has potential still, it shouldnt be over yet!
    BUTTON DAY PART II
    Cmon someone break the usual CreepyPasta formula and another part where there is an actual end. Develop the characters. This story deserves it.

    tl;dr MORE BUTTON DAY.

  112. Dammit. i got halfway through with no “WHO WAS BUTTON” then bam…there it was. Its a really great story, very well written. Her boyfriend is still a dick for replacing her so quickly though.

  113. I enjoyed this pasta because its very different from everything else ive read. it was sort of predictable (after reading the book Haunted I sort of noticed the resemblance) and the ending does make one wonder.

    However I dont think I would of pushed the button.
    When I die, I want to die for something worth dying for(not overpopulation that could be rid with with a few changes) or unexpectedly, like most.

  114. Hello, Sigma.

    While I am aware that humanity inflicts some of the most inspiring of horrors upon itself, many such horrors are of a world I am not a part of.

    Also, humanity has been a bit dull as of late.

    I put little stock in such words as government, for it is simply yet more humanity.

    Humanity’s collective idea of government has as much authority over me as a worthless servant, begging for release from the anguish I am visiting upon him in payment for his disobedience.

    As such, the concepts of power at play here are paltry, at best.

    I speak of grasping the animating force of the cosmos in one’s very hands, and this story speaks of such a woefully uninteresting concept as death.

    I do not fear death.

    I long for it.

    This story is of little interest to me.

  115. i agree with vince [comment 4]
    the beginning bit has just irrelevent whatever…who cares about her boyfriend? he’s uneccessary, and the blond he’s with?…arent they 15? why is she scantily clad?

    and y wud her family b all happy?…is this trying to seem like 1984, false happy because they don’t know better?

    wen the family finally came to the office the story started to pick up…and u can tell that whether she pushes the button or not, she’s totally gonna die

    1. The boyfriend cheating is a hint, he knew it was her “button day” so he got some replacement ass, because he thought she was gonna die. Also they are happy because their doing their country a service, much like pride in serving in the armed forces. I also don’t believe brainwashing is involved, I believe they’re just willing to sacrifice themselves for their country, and the greater good, as we all should be.

  116. Reminds me of the final story in Chuck Palahniuk’s “Haunted”, ‘cept that the female main character there knew exactly what the “emigration” process entailed, and refused to participate before it was too late.

  117. THEN WHO WAS RED BUTTON??
    Sorry.
    Really.

    Anyway, I like this one A LOT.
    But what I don’t get is why they had to die so gruesomely, if when you pressed the button you were vaporized instantly it would seem better.

    But then it wouldn’t be creepypasta, would it? I’m getting eye aches right now.

    I await Mr. Welldone’s review.

  118. @1&2 – I have no idea. I found it with no credited author, and googling “button day” came up with lots of sewing sites & a few results about the LHC, but nothing about this story, at least on the first few pages. So if anyone knows, I’d love to credit them. They obviously put a lot of effort into this story!

  119. omg I absolutely adored this creepypasta
    it was written from a girl’s perspective so I could easily feel the emotions she was feeling

    I like it was written realistic almost like this could actually happen in a distant future.

    It’s amazing the things people will do after a little brain washing :[

  120. @3

    Why the hell would anyone willingly torture and kill the Jews in the name of the National Socialist Party of Germany?

  121. @Sara:

    I suppose it’s because they believe that it is for the sake of their country. You know, become “an hero” to help the population and you’ll get your name on a plaque like those who have died in war.

    I, however, would be like, “Fuck this, I’m changing my identity.”

    I’m terrible at explanations, sorry ^^;

  122. How’s THAT for a good story. Wow…just wow…that’s insane.
    You get that hopeless feeling when she wakes up and doesn’t have a clue what Button Day is.

  123. OHSHI-

    This was so good, it made me nauseated. It took forever to get to the point, but that just added to the suspense. The ending, I will never forget.

    Congradulations, this pasta wins.

  124. Holy fucking shit O______O

    Kinda makes you wonder if the government would ever actually do something like that to control the population.

    Wow…

    Other than a couple of typos, I think this was very, VERY well written. Definitely one of my favorite creepypastas.

    1. The government definitely would do something like this, If they didn’t have to push their own buttons then they wouldn’t mind.

  125. This was the best thing I’ve read yet today. Absolutely my favorite creepypasta.

    Just…wow.

    Does it remind anyone else of the blue-handed men in Firefly? With their blue glowsticks that did pretty much what the buttons did?

    Haha, instant ebola.

  126. The plot is great. However, it’s a bit too detailed for a short story, all of the paragraphs before her family kills themselves are full of irrelevant details that I just skimmed over. Also, the “cliffhanger” ending was like a bitter aftertaste, I wish whoever wrote this would have come up with a real ending.

  127. Ooh, this is very well-written, less like a creepypasta andmore like a short story. Do you know who the author is? Was this published anywhere?

    I want to read more of this author’s works!

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