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"Ship It"

The world is filled with interesting curiosities. Some are a mystery yet to be figured out, such as why we dream when we sleep. Others are manufactured that are rarely looked into, such as today's story, can you send someone through the mail? And what if you could defy the odds and actually manage to do so? 

Stepping into the taxi, I figured it would be a decent ride to my good friend's house. I wasn't one to strike up conversation with people I didn't know. I simply gave him the address where I was headed, handed him my card, and we were on our way. The driver tried making small talk, but I pulled my phone out to avoid him. He took the hint and remained silent.
Scrolling through my phone, I figured, what better time than now to remind myself why I was heading to see this good friend? I opened YouTube and found their video. As the video went on, he explained that he had plans to mail himself about and hour from where he lived. He had set for his father to pick him up once he got there. It sounded like a sketchy idea, but I went with it.
He mentioned all his preparations, food and a basket with a trash bag for doing the unmentionable while in transit. I think I remember looking it up a while back, that it was illegal to do something like this. There's no way he actually did it, did he?
As the video went on, he had hidden cameras set up throughout his box, as well as one on the inside to monitor what he was doing to keep himself entertained. It was a little cringy, the jokes he tried making. As the video stretched on, any footage on the outside of the box was too dark to make out. Sure, they had the footage of someone bringing the box in to mail, but anything following was difficult to make out at best.
At this point, I have no doubt that most of the people watching the video had to leave a dislike and a comment calling out what all they believed to be fake. This video was clearly not doing well.
The video was nearing its end when the driver told me we had arrived. He handed me back my card and I headed out, my bag in hand. The look on his face only told me he bored with the journey and wanted me out. I didn't blame him, I didn't like people either.
I got out of the car and walked up the steps to my friend's house. It was a short, cemented pathway, cracked and worn with age. This didn't look like the kind of house you'd expect fake videos like I'd just watched, to be filmed. Even still, I knocked on the door. It took a moment to get a response. Of course, it was him that answered.
I told him I was an old friend, and he invited me inside. He lead me to the living room and we sat on chairs across from each other. This certainly looked like the main room most of his videos were filmed in. it felt surreal almost.
"How do I know you," he asked, eyeing me up and down, trying to gather any once of familiarity.
"Do you remember a few months ago, I made a video about how I believed your mailing video to be fake?" I asked. "You later went on your channel to disprove everything I'd said."
"I think I remember," he said. "What are you doing here?"
"I want you to redo your mailing video," I explained. "I brought plenty of hidden cameras to hide throughout the box, night vision and all. I'll pay for and provide everything you need to make this happen."
He hesitated, eyeing me up and down, as if to see if I was serious. Of course, there was no doubt I was. "I'll tell you what, I'll pay you a dollar for every view you got on your last video to do this."
"But that video has like four million views," he said.
I nodded in response. "I'll pay you every dollar of it as soon as you do it. You can record it for your channel, I'll probably record something. It'll be a whole thing."
He quickly agreed. Of course, who could ever resist money? It didn't take long, a meer matter of days to set up. We got his dad involved and a few of my own friends. We agreed that if anything were to go wrong, we would call the postal service and get him to safety as soon as possible. If any legal trouble were to arise, we would get a good legal team on it. We had everything figured out.
Finally, the day arrived for us to mail him. It seemed rather simple. They sent the box to the back to weigh and I paid the postage. It was a ridiculous amount, but it didn't matter. After mailing, I went back to my place and watched the hidden cameras over my phone. I had to see how he was doing. He was in a room in the back of the post office at the moment.
As days passed, he was moved to a truck to be transferred to the next town over. He didn't seem to be doing too bad. That was until I saw some boxes sliding around. Over the microphone, he seemed to be doing fine. I looked forward to seeing him tomorrow with this actually being pulled off.
I must have been asleep when it happened. I didn't find out until I woke up the next morning, checking my phone and expecting to see the box being dropped off at the post office. The screens were blank. I panicked and went back through the footage. The last I saw was every box in the truck going skyborn. The truck had flipped. The box, and the man inside, were crushed in the disaster.

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