I took a good look today and the member that said "the flapper is pressed in" was right!
So, now, I guess I could just ("just" as if it will be that easy

) tap it out from the top and pull from the bottom?
Surely someone has taken their flapper out of their heater box! How did you do that?
*I spoke with my dad and he thinks I shouldn't try to remove it. What do you guys think?