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The subreddit for the Reddit /r/running traveling singlet
2016.11.05 21:36 RedKryptonite The subreddit for the Reddit /r/running traveling singlet
/travelingsinglet is devoted to following the progress of the Traveling Singlet (and its predecessor the Silver Singlet) as it makes its way from member to member of the /running sub and the /running Facebook group.
2023.06.05 06:02 Metal_Florida June 5: North/Central Florida concert and festival picks.
P
lease note that the ticket links are usually for general admission; for VIP tickets, if available, you may have to go to the band's website. Monday, Jun 5, 2023 | Rhapsody on Fire, Wind Rose, Seven Kingdoms | Conduit - Winter Park |
Tuesday, Jun 6, 2023 | Dying Whale, Dead Register, Moth Bite, The Path | Born Free Pub & Grill - Tampa |
| Heart Attack Man, Super American, Arm's Length | The Abbey - Orlando |
Wednesday, Jun 7, 2023 | Mike's Dead, The Haunt | Level 13 - Orlando |
| Within Chaos, Eyes Sewn Shut, Automatik Fit | Jack Rabbits - Jacksonville |
| Jameson Tank, Parks & Razz, Outer Edge Band | 1904 Music Hall - Jacksonville |
Thursday, Jun 8, 2023 Friday, Jun 9, 2023 | Grass is Dead, The Coppertones | Underbelly - Jacksonville |
Saturday, Jun 10, 2023 | Halo Scars, Mind Virus, Cypher Machine, Re-Birth | Brass Mug - Tampa |
| Maul, Tombstoner, Plasmodulated | Conduit - Winter Park |
| Downswing, Falsifier, Bottomfeeders | Manna Tea & Kava Bar - Sarasota |
Sunday, Jun 11, 2023 | My Children My Bride, Extortionist, No Cure | Conduit - Winter Park |
| Bury Your Dead, Thirst, Edict | Tipsy Tiki - Fort Pierce |
Monday, Jun 12, 2023 | Maul, Tombstoner | Brass Mug - Tampa |
| Spotlights, Skyliner, The Darling Fire | Jack Rabbits - Jacksonville |
Tuesday, Jun 13, 2023 Wednesday, Jun 14, 2023 | Drain, Drug Church, Magnitude, Gel | Brass Mug - Tampa |
| Halocene, Lauren Babic, Alphamega | Level 13 - Orlando |
| The Convalescence, Summoner's Circle | Jack Rabbits - Jacksonville |
| pulses., With Sails Ahead, I Met A Yeti | Will's Pub - Orlando |
Thursday, Jun 15, 2023 | Halocene, Lauren Babic, Alphamega | Jack Rabbits - Jacksonville |
Friday, Jun 16, 2023 | Roxx, Re-Birth, Cyber Machine, Haloscars | Conduit - Winter Park |
| Hollow Leg, Clamfight, Moat Cobra | Will's Pub - Orlando |
| Every Avenue, Makeout, Say We Can Fly | Orpheum - Tampa |
Saturday, Jun 17, 2023 | Crossbreed, Cultus Black, Cypher machine, Davey Partain | Orpheum - Tampa |
| Defy the Tyrant, Losing Daylight, Shadow the Earth | Kona Skate Park - Jacksonville |
| Breed, Gillian Carter, Audible Parts | Will's Pub - Orlando |
Sunday, Jun 18, 2023 | Crossbreed, Cultus Black, NoSelf, The Dev | Level 13 - Orlando |
| Bodybox, No Zodiac, High Pressure | Conduit - Winter Park |
| Dikembe, Camp Trash, Glazed | Will's Pub - Orlando |
Wednesday, Jun 21, 2023 Thursday, Jun 22, 2023 Friday, Jun 23, 2023 | Dream Theater, Devin Townsend, Animals As Leaders | Hard Rock Live - Orlando |
Saturday, Jun 24, 2023 Sunday, Jun 25, 2023 | No/Mas, Knoll, Shock | Conduit - Winter Park |
Monday, June 26, 2023 | We Are the Union, Kill Lincoln, Catbite | The Social - Orlando |
| No/Mas, Knoll | Orpheum - Tampa |
Tuesday, Jun 27, 2023 | Yungblud, The Regrettes, Caspr | Jannus - St. Petersburg |
Wednesday, Jun 28, 2023 | D.R.I., Metalriser | Underbelly - Jacksonville |
| Peter Frampton | St. Augustine Amphitheatre |
Thursday, Jun 29, 2023 | The Cure | Amalie Arena - Tampa |
| D.R.I., Metalriser | Will's Pub - Orlando |
Saturday, Jul 1, 2023 | D.R.I., Metalriser | Brass Mug - Tampa |
| Liliac, Fortune Child | The Twisted Fork - Port Charlotte |
Sunday, Jul 2, 2023 | Godflesh | Conduit - Winter Park |
Thursday, Jul 6, 2023 Friday, Jul 7, 2023 Saturday, Jul 8, 2023 Sunday, Jul 9, 2023 | Memphis May Fire, Norma Jean, Secrets | High Dive - Gainesville |
| Crown The Empire, Varials | Orpheum - Tampa |
Monday, Jul 10, 2023 | blink-182, Turnstile | Amalie Arena - Tampa |
| Orthodox, Cell, Chamber | Crowbar - Tampa |
Tuesday, Jul 11, 2023 | Analepsy, Cognitive, Wormhole, Nectoricgorebeast | Conduit - Winter Park |
Wednesday, Jul 12, 2023 | Analepsy, Cognitive, Wormhole, Nectoricgorebeast | Crowbar - Tampa |
Thursday, Jul 13, 2023 | Staind | Seminole Hard Rock - Tampa |
Friday, Jul 14, 2023 | Staind | Hard Rock Live - Orlando |
Saturday, Jul 15, 2023 | Obituary | Brass Mug - Tampa |
| Flag On Fire, Scatter Shot, Backslide, Regions | O'Malley's Alley - Ocala |
Monday, Jul 17, 2023 | Cenotaph, Horrific Visions, Architectural Genocide | Conduit - Winter Park |
Tuesday, Jul 18, 2023 | Agents of Chaos, Black Clash | Jack Rabbits - Jacksonville |
Friday, Jul 21, 2023 | Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Bryan Adams | Amalie Arena - Tampa |
| Mudvayne, Coal Chamber, Gwar, Nonpoint, Butcher Babies | MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa |
| The Final Sound, Abbey Death, Layne Lyre | New World Music Hall - Tampa |
| Yosemite In Black, Endbringer, Murder Afloat | Orpheum - Tampa |
Saturday, Jul 22, 2023 | Yellowcard, Mayday Parade, Story of the Year | Daily's Place Amphitheatre - Jacksonville |
| Less Than Jake, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Devon Kay & the Solutions | House of Blues - Orlando |
| Rising Up Angry, Tragic, Legions Blind | Kona Skate Park - Jacksonville |
Sunday, Jul 23, 2023 | Yellowcard, Mayday Parade, Story of the Year | Yuengling Center - Tampa |
| Endbringer, Yosemite In Black, Heavy Hitter | 1904 Music Hall - Jacksonville |
Tuesday, Jul 25, 2023 | Fall Out Boy, Bring Me The Horizon, Royal & The Serpent | MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa |
Thursday, Jul 27, 2023 | Havok, Toxic Holocaust, I AM, Hammerhedd | Conduit - Winter Park |
Friday, Jul 28, 2023 | Between the Buried and Me, Rivers of Nihil, Thank you Scientist | Jannus - St. Petersburg |
| Round Eye, No Fraud, Caffiends | Will's Pub - Orlando |
Saturday, Jul 29, 2023 | Between the Buried and Me, Rivers of Nihil, Thank you Scientist | Beacham - Orlando |
| Southpaw, Highest Crown, Fortitude, Dead Mirrors | Born Free - Tampa |
Sunday, Jul 30, 2023 | Crobot, Rickshaw, Billie's Burger Patrol | Orpheum - Tampa |
Thursday, Aug 3, 2023 | Underoath, The Ghost Inside, We Came As Romans | Yuengling Center - Tampa |
Saturday, Aug 5, 2023 | Disturbed, Breaking Benjamin | MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa |
| Underoath, The Ghost Inside, We Came As Romans | St. Augustine Amphitheatre |
| Sanguisugabogg, Kruelty, Vomit Forth | Conduit - Winter Park |
Sunday, Aug 6, 2023 | The Queers, The Radio Buzzkills, The Jasons | Jack Rabbits - Jacksonville |
Wednesday, Aug 9, 2023 | Pyrexia, Cerebral Incubation, Atoll | Conduit - Winter Park |
Friday, Aug 11, 2023 | The All-American Rejects, New Found Glory, The Starting Line | MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa |
| Black Flag | High Dive - Gainesville |
Sunday, Aug 13, 2023 | Alesana, Vampires Everywhere, Limbs | Level 13 - Orlando |
Wednesday, Aug 16, 2023 | The Offspring, Sum 41, Simple Plan | MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa |
| hed p.e., Lydia can't Breathe, Razorz Edge | Jack Rabbits - Jacksonville |
Saturday, Aug 19, 2023 | Left to Suffer, Distant, Justice for the Damned | Conduit - Winter Park |
Sunday, Aug 20, 2023 | The Smashing Pumpkins, Interpol, Rival Sons | MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa |
Tuesday, Aug 22, 2023 | The Mezingers | Underbelly - Jacksonville |
Wednesday, Aug 23, 2023 | Bless The Fall, Caskets, Kingdom of Giants | Orpheum - Tampa |
Thursday, Aug 24, 2023 | Clutch, Giovanni & The Hired Guns, Mike Dillon | Jannus - St. Petersburg |
Saturday, Aug 26, 2023 | Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper, Ministry | MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa |
Wednesday, Aug 30, 2023 Thursday, Aug 31, 2023 Saturday, Sep 2, 2023 Sunday, Sep 3, 2023 | Spitalfield, Rookie of the Year, The Future Perfect | Conduit - Winter Park |
Tuesday, Sep 5, 2023 | Bad Omens, ERRA, I See Stars | Jannus - St. Petersburg |
Wednesday, Sep 6, 2023 Friday, Sep 8, 2023 | The Waning Moon, Palace of Tears, Rux Vendetta | Hooch & Hive - Tampa |
Saturday, Sep 9, 2023 Sunday, Sep 10, 2023 | Angelmaker, Vulvodynia, Flasifier | Conduit - Orlando |
Tuesday, Sep 12, 2023 | Black Veil Brides, VV, Dark Divine | Jannus - St. Petersburg |
Wednesday, Sep 13, 2023 | 3 Doors Down, Candlebox | Daily's Place Amphitheatre - Jacksonville |
| Dance Gavin Dance, SiM, Rain City Drive | Hard Rock Live - Orlando |
Friday, Sep 15, 2023 Saturday, Sep 16, 2023 | Movements, Mannequin Pussy, Softcult | The Ritz - Tampa |
Sunday, Sep 17, 2023 | Avenged Sevenfold, Falling in Reverse | MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa |
| Wave to Earth, slchld | Orpheum - Tampa |
Tuesday, Sep 19, 2023 | Scowl, Militarie Gun, MSPAINT | Conduit - Winter Park |
Thursday, Sep 21, 2023 | Scowl, Militarie Gun, MSPAINT | 1904 Music Hall - Jacksonville |
Friday, Sep 22, 2023 | Cavalera Conspiracy, Exhumed, Incite | Beacham - Orlando |
Saturday, Sep 24, 2023 | Boys Like Girls, State Champs, Four Year Strong | House Of Blues - Orlando |
Sunday, Sep 25, 2023 | The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus | High Dive - Gainesville |
Friday, Sep 29, 2023 | CIRCLE JERKS, TSOL, Negative Approach | Underbelly - Jacksonville |
| Shinedown, Papa Roach, Spiritbox | MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa |
Saturday, Sep 30, 2023 | NOFX | Vinoy Park - St. Petersburg |
| Flogging Molly, The Bronx | House Of Blues - Orlando |
Thursday, Oct 5-7, 2023 Tuesday, Oct 10, 2023 | Ne Obliviscaris, Beyond Creation, Persefone | Orpheum - Tampa |
Wednesday, Oct 11, 2023 | Ne Obliviscaris, Beyond Creation, Persefone | Conduit - Winter Park |
| Fit For a King, The Devil Wears Prada, Counterparts, Landmvrks | The Ritz - Tampa |
Thursday, Oct 12, 2023 | Dawn of Ouroboros, Fires in the Distance, Somnent | Conduit - Winter Park |
Saturday, Oct 14, 2023 | Beast in Black, Dance with the Dead | Orpheum - Tampa |
| Fame on Fire, Kingdom Collapse | The Social - Orlando |
Sunday, Oct 15, 2023 | Beast in Black, Dance with the Dead | Conduit - Winter Park |
| Motionless In White, Knocked Loose, After the Burial, Alpha Wolf | Hard Rock Live - Orlando |
Tuesday, Oct 17, 2023 | Atilla, Gideon, Until I Wake, Ten56 | Underbelly - Jacksonville |
Wednesday, Oct 18, 2023 | Atilla, Gideon, Until I Wake, Ten56 | Orpheum - Tampa |
Friday, Oct 27-29, 2023 Tuesday, Nov 7, 2023 | Protest the Hero, Moontooth | The Abbey - Orlando |
Wednesday, Nov 8, 2023 | Protest the Hero, Moontooth | Orpheum - Tampa |
Friday, Jan 24, 2024 | Kansas | Florida Theatre - Jacksonville |
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2023.06.05 05:49 JLGoodwin1990 We broke into the Egyptian Theatre in Coos Bay to go ghost hunting. I wish we never had.
“I just had an idea pop into my head about something to do this coming weekend, and I wanted to bounce it off you two before it slips my mind” My friend Natasha said those words as the three of us sat on my couch one afternoon. I found myself sitting up slightly. Normally, Natasha was the last of our group to suggest things to do, letting Vinny, the third member of our group, or I come up with the plans to keep our free time occupied. The fact she was about to suggest something intrigued me. “What have you got in mind?” I asked her. A smile played over her face as her brown eyes seemed to flash. “How about a little ghost hunting?”
I felt Vinny sit straight up beside me. She had clearly grabbed both our attention now. The three of us were what you might call amateur ghost hunters, using very basic items we bought offline to visit some of the spookier places in the area and posting our adventures on YouTube, sort of like a crappier version of Ghost Adventures. “Now that’s one hell of a good idea” Vinny said, before a puzzled expression spread over his face. “But, I mean, where? We’ve already done most of the places around town. The Tioga building won’t let us in after that…well, what that one resident claims we stirred up in the old ballroom, and I’m not about to make the hours long drive to the Wolf Creek Inn” Natasha’s smile grew wider. “No, we don’t have to even go out of town for this one” she said, her voice dropping low, “What I’m suggesting, is we check out…” her voice trailed off, letting the suspense grow for a few seconds before finishing, “The Egyptian Theatre”
Instantly, Vinny let out a harsh bark of laughter. “HA! Now that’s a good one. You know damn good and well that the society that runs the theater won’t allow us in after hours to ghost hunt. As far as I know, they’ve never allowed any paranormal teams into the place” He pulled a face. “So, how exactly do you propose we get in there? You flutter your eyelashes for the night janitor and use your feminine charms to get us in?” Natasha still grinned, but rolled her eyes at our friend’s quip. “No, actually, I was thinking about using my lock picking skills to get us in” she declared. It was my turn to give her an incredulous look. “You’re joking, right?” I asked. She shook her head. “Nope, I’m dead serious” I let out an incredulous, almost baffled snort of laughter and pulled my glasses off my face, rubbing my eyes.
The country, and, to a large extent, the entire world, became gripped in an interest, sometimes bordering on obsession with all things Egyptian when King Tut’s tomb was discovered over a century ago. Many things came out of this, including the classic 1932 monster movie The Mummy. But, one thing that also came of this fever gripping the country was a desire to build many Egyptian style buildings. And one of the buildings which took this design and ran with it, were the movie theatres. A decade after the legendary discovery, over a hundred theatres had gone up all around the country, their interiors clad with fake temple columns, paintings of sphinxes and Egyptian gods such as Anubis decorating the walls, and hieroglyphs adorning the archways. People flocked in droves to them, both to watch movies, and live performances. But, like all trends, eventually, the interest began to wane, and as the late 20th Century approached, many began to shut down and be either remodeled, or straight up demolished. Today, there’s only between five and eight Egyptian style theatres left in the entire country.
And one just so happens to be right in the town I live in.
When I moved to Coos Bay, Oregon nine years ago, I immediately fell in love with the place. Even though it’s the largest coastal town on the Oregon coast, it’s a place which is more or less perpetually frozen in time, still looking pretty much as it did between thirty and seventy years ago. And, as someone who is not exactly into the modern world, it made a perfect place for me to live and escape away from the 21st Century. I began exploring right away, driving every street of it and the town neighboring it, North Bend, along with walking every alley and back road I could to learn the layout. That’s how I learned about the supernatural element to the town.
There are many places in town which people claim supernatural occurrences take place. From the remains of the old logging buildings on the estuary, to the old Tioga Hotel which has been remodeled into apartments, there is no shortage of ghostly tales. There was even the old McCauley Hospital, which had once been the focal point of the town’s annual ghost walks until it was demolished in 2018. As a side note, I heard a rumor that a couple people broke into that place right before it got torn down. Something sure spooked them, because a friend of mine on the police force told me they gave him a fright, bursting in the night before Easter and rambling about something. I always wondered what they saw in there.
But, for me, the place in town I always loved the most, and enjoyed the most hearing about the ghostly accounts told, was the Egyptian Theatre.
Originally built as a garage in 1922, it was renovated by a man named Charles Noble into a movie theatre in 1925, where it drew in droves of people from around the area to watch films, and enjoy live vaudeville performances. It continued to operate almost to the end of the 20th Century, when other theatres began to attract younger moviegoers, and for a while, it almost seemed as though the historic building might even be closed for good and gutted. But, thanks to the efforts of local preservation societies, it was saved, and now operates as a theatre once again. They mostly play only older movies, along with live performances.
And, of course, it draws curious people for the paranormal rumors surrounding it.
For years, people have reported strange occurrences happening inside the building, both when it’s open, and after hours. Patrons and employees alike have spoken about a pervasive feeling of being watched inside the building, but finding no one there when the place was searched. There have been reports of being touched by invisible hands, a few even pushed slightly. Beyond physical interaction, employees have reported the sounds of old film projectors playing and unseen audiences laughing after hours, along with the eerie playing of the theatre’s Wurlitzer pipe organ, along with a host of other occurrences. No ghost hunting team has ever gone in to try and document these events. And to Natasha, that was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Legal, or not.
“Are you freaking nuts?!” Vinny exclaimed, “Do you have any idea how much trouble we’d be in if we got caught breaking and entering? The cops around here are already a bit twitchy with the druggies and the homeless. You wanna give them a reason to throw us into jail alongside them?” Natasha held up a finger, flipping her black hair over her shoulder. “They won’t find out, because I have not one, but two aces in the hole here. The first is that thanks to being friends with Scott, I know the nighttime police sweeps, where they’re going to be and everything. There’ll be an hour long window where they’re not anywhere near the alley where the back door to the theatre is. We can get in and out with no threat of being spotted at all. And the second is, did you forget I’m dating Dylan now?” The realization washed over me like a wave; she had started dating the man who helped the preservation society run the theatre a month or so ago. Damn, she’s been planning this one for a while, I thought.
Vinny had a thoughtful look on his face, his green eyes darting around rapidly, but not seeing. “Hmm” he muttered, then looked at Natasha. “And you’re sure that there’s no chance of us getting caught?” he asked slowly. “Absolutely none” she said, then looked at both of us. “So, how about it?” For a few moments, there was silence, and then Vinny let out a chuckle. “What the hell, why not? The most exciting thing we’ve done the last few weeks is go down to the farmer’s market. This could shake things up a bit” I suddenly became aware that the two of them were looking at me, waiting for me to make my decision. I was always the most sensible of the three of us, doing all I could to keep us out of trouble with others as well as the law. But, I always had one nasty Achilles Heel ever since I had been a child, and that was peer pressure. So, despite the overwhelming feeling that I should tell them no, that I should say we should just find something else to do, I nodded. “Alright, let’s do it” I said simply, causing grins to break out on both of my friend’s faces.
I wish to God in retrospect that I’d just had the damn spine to stand up and say “No”
The rest of the week seemed to pass by faster than usual. Before I knew it, the weekend had arrived. We’d decided that late Saturday night would be the best time to do this, as most places downtown closed up between eleven and midnight, aside from the bars and strip club. To say I felt anxious about breaking the law, something I wasn’t used to doing at all, would be like calling a Megalodon a goldfish, but my worries about disappointing my friends ended up outweighing it. And so, at eleven-thirty, the three of us piled into my beat up Chevy Tahoe, and made our way towards downtown. As I drove us down Ocean Boulevard, which connected the two sides of town, something settled over me. I can’t exactly place it, even to this day. But it was the most uneasy feeling I’ve ever experienced. But I did my best to push it away. It’s nothing, Troy. It’s just because you’re, understandably, worried about this. Plus, the road being deserted isn’t helping much.
My mental chiding seemed to help center me a bit, which was a good thing. The road was now angling downward, and a moment later, we drove into downtown. The darkened shapes of the closed stores seemed to rise up higher on either side of us than they looked during the daytime. We’d decided to cruise by the front entrance first, just to see if anyone were still inside. As I turned the truck onto the main drag, the sign for the theatre rose high above us, a depiction of an Egyptian pharaoh next to the yellow and white letters which proclaimed its name to everyone who drove through town. I spared a glance as we passed it. The lit up marquee windows showed that The Blues Brothers and Jaws would be shown soon. For whatever reason, though, I couldn’t bring myself to look through the glass doors that showed the building’s darkened interior. The uneasy feeling had returned, and, for a moment, it felt as though if I did look, I would see someone, or something staring back out at me. And then we passed it, taking the next right and looping back around to Anderson Ave.
I turned the truck into the narrow alley drive which ran along the back of the theatre and neighboring buildings. Parking right next to the rear doors would be extremely conspicuous, so I pulled up a bit further and parked in a carport like area. Shutting off the engine, I turned to my two friends. “Well, this is it” I said, “Last chance to turn back if anyone’s having second thoughts” I’d hoped that either Vinny or Natasha would’ve gotten cold feet in the last few minutes, allowing us to go do something else. But there was no such luck. “Are you kidding me?” Natasha said from the passenger seat, “We are far too close to back out now!” Vinny grunted from behind me. Well, shit. Resigning myself to the fact they were determined to go through with this, I let a deep breath out through my nose and nodded. The others opened their doors and hopped out. A moment later, I followed.
The night air was cool and crisp on my skin as we slowly walked back down the alley to the rear of the yellow-ish, tan building. Three different sets of red double doors were built into the back of the theatre. Natasha pulled something out of her coat pocket, and I realized, with a small pang of surprise, that it was a lock pick set. A legitimate lock pick set. “Where the hell did you get that?” I whispered to her. She shrugged and smiled. “I have my ways of getting things” she said simply, then pointed to the far right set of doors. “We’ll have a bit of cover from that electrical box. You two keep an eye out while I deal with the lock” And with that, she scurried forward, bending down in front of the door handles. Vinny and I stood guard, each of us looking down both ends of the alley. As the soft sound of Natasha messing with the lock filtered over to me, I realized just how quiet it was. And how eerie hearing downtown so quiet was. Aside from a few distant booms and bangs, and the far off sound of a dog barking, all I could hear was the whistle of the wind as it whipped between the old buildings.
An involuntary shiver cascaded up my spine, and I tried again to reason myself back to a relative sense of calm. “Get a grip, dude, you’re gonna be fine” I whispered under my breath. But this time, it felt as though I weren’t able to entirely convince myself. I suddenly became aware of a creeping sensation, one which made me shoot a look around. Nothing moved in the stillness, no indication of anyone besides us being in the alley. And, yet…I was overcome with the distinct feeling of being watched. Not by either of my friends. But…by someone else. Before I had a chance to even think about it, I heard a rather loud click, and Natasha let out a soft laugh of triumph. “We’re in, ladies and gentleman!” she declared, standing up and pulling on the door. It opened silently, the streetlight in the alley casting a small shaft of light into the darkness beyond. Turning, she waved an arm at Vinny and I. “Come on, let’s get inside”
Before either of us could say anything, she turned and disappeared into the dark. I shot a look at Vinny, who simply shrugged. “After you, my man” he whispered. I let out a deep sigh, and then moved to the door. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the small flashlight, and then pulled on the heavy metal, slipping inside, Vinny right behind me. The darkness swallowed us as the door closed. For a moment, a small rush of panic from not being able to see flashed through me, before a light appeared beside me. It wasn’t from a flashlight, though; instead, a small, orange flame flickered beside me. “Don’t turn on your flashlights yet, just follow me” Natasha said, the flame making her face seem to dance and move behind it. She turned and headed away, leaving us no choice but to follow. I listened to her and didn’t turn on my flashlight. But every fiber of my being was screaming at me to. Because the feeling of being watched out in the alleyway? Had quintupled in here. The best way to describe it, was that we were angrily being stared at. And I didn’t like the sensation one bit.
Natasha led us up a flight of steps and pushed open another door. “We’re here” she said, still keeping her voice low, “You can turn on your flashlights now” Thank you, God, I silently said, snapping mine on and casting a bright white light into the room we’d entered. A moment later, so did my two friends’ lights. The beams played around, and I heard Vinny let out a bit of a gasp. “Ho-lyyyy shit” he muttered.
Natasha had guided us into the main theatre. The ceiling rose high above our heads, almost out of sight of even the flashlights. Rows upon rows of red movie seats stretched out and away from us, seeming almost unending in the shadows. The walls were all covered in hieroglyphs, all still original from the 1920s. To our left, the second story, which housed a smaller row of seats, along with the projection room rose about twenty feet above us. And to the right, was the stage itself. It was flanked by two huge columns, the screen rolled up and revealing a mosaic of an Egyptian building on the back wall, with two men clutching staffs sitting on either side. Directly in front of the stage sat the organ, its seating bench tucked beneath it.
“Okay, this is a trip to be in at night!” Natasha exclaimed excitedly, then pulled the backpack she’d been wearing off her shoulders. Dropping it into a seat, she unzipped it and began pulling items from it. “Guys, here” she said, holding them out. Vinny stepped forward and grabbed the camcorder from her; as someone who’d had a lifelong dream of being a filmmaker, he was our resident cameraman. I stepped forward and took two items from her: an infrared thermometer and an EVP recorder. The rest, she placed on the ground, and then faced Vinny. “Alright, tell me when you’re recording” He fumbled with the camcorder for a second, then shot her a thumbs up. Instantly, she took on a somber, eerie expression, giving an admittedly creepy look at the camera. “Well, well, welcome back to The Three Ghostkuteers, everyone. I hope you all have been well since our last trip. Tonight, you join us in a very, very special place, and one close to home for us. We are currently in the Egyptian Theatre in Coos Bay, Oregon, one of the last remaining in the country. It was built in the 1920s by a man named Charles Noble-“
I turned away, tuning her out as I did. The woman really, really enjoys being in front of the camera. Better her than me. Shining my light around, I looked up at the balcony. I could see the small hole in the projection booth where the movie projector would shine out onto the screen. Something caught the beam’s light, reflecting off it slightly, and I aimed the light at the wall. It was a wrought iron light fixture, one which had been shaped into the figure of a King Cobra, poised to strike. Gazing around, I saw they adorned much of the walls. I let out a small shudder at it. God, do I hate snakes. Thankfully, though, the feeling of being watched I’d had in the alley and the darkened back of the theatre had seemingly disappeared. Yeah, see, what’d I tell you, Troy? Nothing but your nerves.
Natasha had finished her opening monologue and moved to the edge of the stage, on which she placed the small, square spirit box. “And now, let’s see if anyone would like to speak with us” she said, flicking it on. Instantly, the silence of the theatre was shattered by the sound of static, intermittently interrupted by quick snippets of radio shows being picked up. “Is there anyone here who’d like to talk to us?” she called out into the huge room. The static and snippets were the only sound to answer her. After a minute, she tried again. “Are there any spirits who’d like to communicate with us?” There was still nothing. Vinny panned the camera from the box to Natasha as she paced back and forth for a few minutes. A small look of disappointment flooded over her face, but she instantly plastered it over with the same look she’d given the camera before. “Well, it looks like the spirit box isn’t gonna work tonight, so we’re gonna have to try something else” She pulled out an EVP recorder identical to mine and switched it on. “Let’s try this instead, shall we? Remember, by the way guys, if you’re new here and want to see more, to like and subscribe-“
I turned away again, feeling a small pang of irritation flow through me. This is freakin’ ridiculous, man. The longer we stay in here, the more chance we have of getting caught. Truth be told, as much as I enjoyed ghost hunting, I didn’t even really believe in the paranormal. In all the years the three of us had filmed together, not once had we caught anything, on tape or otherwise. In fact, many times we’d had to fake spooky occurrences in order to make sure our videos got any views at all. This is your own fault, man, I silently chided myself, you’re the one who couldn’t stand up to them and say no. You really, seriously need to grown a spine and learn how to say no. The mental self lecture was furthering my rotten mood, and I began to feel a wave of anger at my two friends, as well as myself boil up.
“Hell with this” I finally muttered, then turned and began walking up the aisle. “Troy, where the hell are you going?” I heard Natasha call out behind me. I stopped, not looking over my shoulder, but quietly aiming my voice behind me and allowing a hint of irritation to seep into it. “I’m gonna go check out the second floor balcony, okay? I don’t exactly like just standing here” For a moment, there was silence, and then her voice came, soft and almost apologetic. “Okay, go ahead” Before she could say anything more, I strode away, walking to the open doorway which led out of the theater and into the concession area. I hooded my flashlight beam with one hand to make sure it wouldn’t accidentally shine out of the glass entrance doors into the street and looked around. The lobby and concession stand took up most of the front area, the darkened shape of it stretching along the far wall.
Taking a few steps ahead, I turned and looked up at the wall above me. Large, blue letters stretched out from one side of it to the other. Through these doors pass the most wonderful people. I snorted softly. “Yeah, unfortunately, not tonight” I shook my head, then looked around. And nearly jumped out of my skin. Something also seemed to jump back. I felt my heartbeat begin to race in my chest and my breath quickened. “Shit…” I let out weakly, then slowly moved forward. After a few steps, I suddenly realized what I’d seen and let out a soft laugh of relief.
“Your own damn reflection, you fucking pussy” Shaking my head, I turned away from the glass wall and headed for the stairs to the second floor. At the base of them, I stopped and shone my flashlight up. “Ooh, boy” I said quietly. Sitting next to the stairway like a sentry, was a huge, golden statue of a pharaoh. It towered over me, and I estimated that, were it be standing straight up, it’d easily be between eight and ten feet tall. It stared straight ahead at the wall ahead of it, and I couldn’t help but let out a small shiver as I stared at it. It just seemed so damn eerie in the dark, and I quickly moved past it, heading up the stairs and stepping out onto the second story balcony.
I shone my light around. Red seats again surrounded me, though this time far fewer. Ahead of me, I could see the balcony’s edge and the hulking shape of the main stage beyond. I could also see the beams of my friends’ flashlights playing over it, and hear both of their voices speaking softly. Deciding while I was up here to at least check out the projection booth, I strode over to the door and tried to turn the handle. It was locked. Feeling my irritation bubble over into exasperation, I jiggled the handle in some stupid attempt to open it. But the door stayed shut. I turned away and rubbed my eyes, again hearing the voices of my friends softly filtering up to me from down below.
“Hey, if there really are any ghosts, or spooks, or specters, or whatever in here? If you’re actually real, could you appear to us, please?” I whispered to no one, “That way my friends can get what they want and I can go home” I received only silence in reply. I hadn’t really expected anything, anyways. You know what? Screw this, I’m going back down there and telling them I’m going home, with or without them. This is beyond stupid, I just broke the law for what? For nothing! For something dumb as hell. And with that, I turned to walk away. But I hadn’t even taken a single step when something crashed into me like a wave. The breath was driven from my lungs as I felt a massive chill shoot through me, as though I’d been doused with ice water. “What the fuck?!” I hissed through gritted teeth, then froze, my eyes going wide. The feeling of being watched had returned with a vengeance, and it had seemingly been ramped up in its intensity. I shot a look around, but saw nobody.
Still, the feeling remained, and with each passing second, it almost seemed to grow stronger. Chill after chill rolled up my spine, and even though I didn’t really believe, something deep inside me told me that it was time to get out. Okay, time to leave, I said in my head, and headed quickly for the stairs. As I reached the head, I turned to look back one final time. That’s when I saw something. It disappeared when I aimed my flashlight at it, but I swear a second earlier it had been the outline of a person, standing in the shadows and watching me. The split second sight catapulted me into motion, and I hurried down the steps, shining my light every which way but loose. Believer or not, I knew something wanted us out. I’d planned on jumping off the second to last stair and running for the main theatre floor. But as I reached the bottom, I froze.
For a moment, I couldn’t place why. And then, the realization fell over me like a tsunami. I let out an involuntary gasp, and fear like I’d never felt before surged through me. I didn’t want to turn around and look. I wanted to pretend I hadn’t seen it. I desperately wanted to. But, like a dumbass character in a horror movie, I couldn’t help it. I needed to look. I slowly turned, aiming my flashlight back up. And I couldn’t help but let out a strangled scream, falling backwards over my own feet as I began to backpedal rapidly.
The statue of the pharaoh still sat where it had. It still towered over me, looking as imposing and eerie as ever. But it’s carved and painted eyes were no longer staring straight ahead at the wall. Instead, they had somehow moved. And when I’d turned, I’d come to find they were staring directly at me.
I scrambled to my feet, snatching the flashlight from the floor where I’d dropped it and aiming it at the statue again. It stared straight out at nothing again. But I knew what I’d seen. It hadn’t been a trick of my mind, or the light. The freaking thing’s eyes had moved to watch me as I passed down by it. I began to stammer out as I backed away from it. “Okay, that’s it, no no no no, we’re done here, fuck this shit, I’m officially a believer, we’re leaving, right now” I kept backing towards the doorway to the theatre, never taking my eyes off the statue. I was terrified I’d seen it suddenly stand up and turn to lumber after me like Boris Karloff or something.
The blaring sound of the theatre’s organ slashed through the silence, causing me to let out another strangled scream and jump almost a foot off the ground. I whipped around, thinking I would see my moronic friends tinkering with the instrument. Instead, I froze again. The theatre was no longer dark. Both of my friends had seemingly vanished from the room, as I could no longer see them. The movie screen had somehow been pulled down, and above me, I heard the whir of the movie projector playing. An old, black and white movie, one which had no sound, played on the screen, occasionally changing to show dialogue being displayed in white letters.
It was also no longer empty.
The entire theatre was packed. I saw people sitting at almost every single seat in the huge room. I could only see the backs of their heads as they watched the movie playing. At the edge of the stage, what looked like a man now sat at the organ, playing it in time with the film. A slapstick moment came across the screen, and the audience began laughing. In any other situation, it would’ve been a comforting sound. But at that moment, it was the most spine chilling sound I’d ever heard. Especially as another wave of realization crashed into me. From the little I could see, everyone in the theatre looked to be dressed in long passed fashions.
That’s when the voice, low and quiet, came from behind me. “Good evening, sir” it said. It sounded like a man’s voice, one rather low and deep pitched, but something about it paralyzed me on the spot. The voice continued, putting on an air of pleasant politeness. “We’re so glad you could make it, it’s been so long since we’ve had new patrons arrive at a showing. If I could just see your ticket, please?”
For a moment, I couldn’t speak. Then, I managed to squeak out two words. “Uh, ticket?” The tone of the voice seemed to change somewhat. “Yes, your ticket. That’s the only way you could’ve gotten in. Please, let me verify it and show you to your seat” Ohhh, shit. Whoever, or whatever the voice belonged to, thought I had shown up like a regular moviegoer. The voice’s tone became less polite. “You do have a ticket, right, sir?” I was beyond terrified to answer, but I was more terrified to remain silent. For a moment, I considered lying. But I feared what might happen if I did. So I told the truth.
“I….uh, I, uh….I don’t have a ticket, sir” I stammered out, my voice barely above a whisper. Instantly, all sound stopped in the room like someone had flipped a switch. “You…don’t have a ticket?” the voice said, all pretense of manners vanishing from it, “Then how did you get in here for the late night showing?” Oh, god. I forced myself to speak, still unable to say anything except the truth. “My…my friends and I….broke in…through the back door…to…ghost hunt…” There was silence for a few moments, and then a heavy hand dropped onto my shoulder. My head swiveled to look at it. Oh, fuck me sideways. It wasn’t a regular hand. It was a fucking claw. One with black skin, tipped with what looked like razor sharp nails. It sat there for a moment, then tightened; almost painfully so, making me let out a small whimper of pain.
That’s when I looked up. Everyone in the theatre had turned to look at me. My initial thought had been correct; they all wore clothing from almost a century ago, and not the stuff cosplayers wear, either. They also had very angry expressions on their faces, as if they’d just noticed the intruder among their midst. The voice finally came again, almost directly behind me. Its tone lowered, almost sounding guttural and animal, making my legs almost melt into jelly from the fear. “Then, might I make a suggestion to you and your trespassing little friends?” My breath came in rapid, ragged gasps, and I barely managed to force out the one word. “Yes?”
“LEAVE”
At the single word reply, which now more closely resembled a growl than a word, I did something I will forever wish I hadn’t. I finally turned and looked up at who was addressing me. The only way I can describe what happened is, my mind shattered. The next thing I remember, I was crashing into the back doors of the theatre into the night.
And I was screaming.
That was a month or so ago. When I’d stumbled back into the alley, I’d turned and, in what I can only call blind fear and panic, bolted for my truck. I hadn’t even heard my friends chasing after me. Not until Vinny caught up to me as I scrambled with my keys, grabbing me from behind and turning me to face him. He said the look I’d had on my face scared him and Natasha more than anything ever had before. I’d been pale as a sheet, my eyes wider than they ever thought a human’s could be. I'd been babbling softly. I’d been saying the words “They want us to leave” over and over. They didn’t ask me what had happened. They just pushed me into the backseat of my truck and drove away from there. It was clear, as I found out later on, that both of them hadn’t seen anything. As far as they were concerned before seeing me dash to the rear doors, it was just an empty theatre. Neither one of them ever asked me what I saw that night. And for that, I’m thankful. Because I could never utter from my lips what I did see.
But I’ve had nightmares since then. Horrible ones. Ones that’ve been so bad, I had to let out what happened to me, deciding to just post it here, regardless of whether people believe me or not.
Nightmares about being back in that theatre after hours. About seeing that pharaoh statue’s eyes flick in its painted sockets to look at me. About seeing all those people, people long since dead, sitting and watching the films they did when they were alive. About seeing that hand fall on my shoulder, hearing that voice, telling me not to come back until I have a ticket.
And about turning to see who the hand and voice belonged to.
The Egyptian Theatre will be celebrating its centennial this year. People are planning to show up in 1920s cars, dressed in period clothing. They’re even going to show an old, silent film as part of the festivities. But I won’t be attending it. I won’t ever go anywhere near it again. The one time I tried, a week or so ago, I started trembling with fear. And the mental image played over and over in my head.
The image of turning to see that horrible canine head attached to the human-like body, red, glowing eyes glaring down at me as it’s sharp teeth glinted in the light.
I pray to god I never will end up with a ticket to one of its late night showings.
But I can't help but fear that, like those packed into the theatre, sooner or later, we all will.
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2023.06.05 05:33 moishepesach [HR] [MS] For Whom The Willow Weeps
Question: If April flowers bring May showers, what do May flowers bring? Answer: Puritans and misery. Part 1 - May Flower Moon I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure this is a ghost story. It all started in early May under the, "Flower Moon".
In the still of the night, I awoke from a deep sleep to witness a moonlight so spectacular it hurt my eyes.
Fumbling for my glasses, I found them, dropped them, cursed, then almost stepped on them. I finally got them where they belonged thinking I needed to use the bathroom. I glanced at the digital clock on my desk.
3:33 am. Again. Willow weep for me Bend your branches down along the ground and cover me -Ann Ronell as sung by Billie Holiday The birds were chirping loudly. I shuffled to the window. I looked up wide-eyed at the sky. There was the moon; big, round and golden like it didn't mind a big electricity bill. As I used the bathroom, I remember thinking that I didn't ever remember a full moon so bright it could light up my apartment.
I washed my hands then splashed warm water on my face. I cracked my neck. I dried my hands and face with a towel. I remember thinking if I didn't get back to sleep the day was going to suck.
Shuffling back into my bedroom I thought to look for my ski hat. I figured I could pull it over my eyes and escape the light under the blanket. Flower Moon was beautiful but so too is sleep. If I could just hide under the blanket perhaps it wasn't too late for sleep to creep up on me.
I have been renting the same sunny shoebox in old Brooklyn for more than 20 years. It's a corner apartment on the second floor of a 19th century walkup. Across the street, diagonally resides a community garden fronted by a very tall and expansive weeping willow tree that won't let me move away. I didn't know it's age until recently. But it's younger than me. Most things are these days.
I shuffled to the corner window to squeeze the blinds tight and that's when I felt grateful, grateful I had decided to use the bathroom first.
There, at the base of the hundred-foot-tall willow, behind the wrought iron fence, illuminated beneath the moon's glow, I witnessed something that froze my blood and tested my aging bladder. Standing beneath the moonlight, I saw, clear as day, a little boy in footed pajamas with a trap door. The little boy was holding a blue stuffed Grover Muppet in one hand and crying.
Trying to get a good look at the boy was like trying to look at something from behind a campfire. There was a shimmering distortion. What I could clearly see was that he was pointing down at the ground in front of his feet with the non-Grover hand. Suddenly, the little boy spun his head up and around looking directly at me. Eye contact occurred and then too, something I can't explain.
First, a truck transporting fuel broke loudly for the red light at the corner. Through the open windows I smelled what seemed like diesel. I grew light-headed. The room spun around. I remember thinking this feeling smelled both nauseating as well as timeless.
I reached down to try and pick up the floor and that's when it hit me in the face. A sharp pain across my cheek like I had been slapped in a 3 Stooges short. I felt icy fingers grab the hair I had not had in over 30 years and jerk my head back. I smelled more diesel. I grabbed the edge of the desk to keep from losing my balance.
Holding on to the desk, I noticed my mind's eye was playing the little boy's face like a movie. The camera panned in. His little boy face filled my consciousness like I was watching from the front row. He was about four or five years old with long dirty blonde hair. His face looked familiar from a dream.
Then, another slapping pain turned my last good cheek. Losing my balance, I fell ass first to the floor.
Out the window, from on my ass, I watched the traffic light turn green. I heard the truck lurch into gear, rev it's engine then drive away. As it rumbled off into the distance my equilibrium returned.
Muttering my life sucked I gently shook my head and felt for damage. Just my non-existent pride. I got myself vertical, yet once again; feeling a distinct twinge of anxiety.
I looked out the window but the little boy was gone. An FDNY ambulance took his place, it's siren jarring me back to reality. I closed the blinds and got under the blanket. I never did really get back to sleep that night. Or ever since.
Part II - Unhappily Ever Since Sad as I can be Hear me willow and weep for me... -Billie I keep seeing a little boy under the tree... - me ...
The first thing I want to say is that I keep waking up for decades at exactly 3:33 am.
It's the exact time my decrepit birth certificate claims I was introduced to this world. Can't say why, but ever since digital clocks became a thing, I'm up more often than not to witness 3:33 am transpire. Never remember it happening before digital.
One of my friends recently told me it was an angel number. I don't know anything about angels. Never met one. But I for sure have met some demons in my day. In fact. you might say I was born of demon mother, and I might not be offended. Back to my birth certificate. I was born and yes, still live in Brooklyn, New York. There were gaps but it's my home.
I moved to this particular apartment building a few months after 9/11. I had moved in with a woman at the tail end of doing a romantic nickel, but that fell apart like Madoff, Abramoff or Fuckoff, and she married another dude a year later. So, there in 2002, I and my faithful golden retriever, Spenser, found ourselves, for the very first time, on our own. And, we liked it.
Like I mentioned, Spenser and I lived diagonal to a community garden that fronts a big and beautiful weeping willow tree. I felt an immediate kinship as my favorite book as a child had been, "The Giving Tree" and that's what she reminded me of; only more beautiful.
There will be more about the tree. Anyway, the tree and I dwell in an old part of south Brooklyn called Park Slope, infamous for being the stomping grounds of a young Al Capone, and, believe it or not, young me.
That was a long time ago. Things have changed a lot since Al and I, were separately roaming the streets of Park Slope, looking for adventure and whatever came our way. I came up in the day when if you cried your mother would give you something to cry about. And, not going to lie, I cried a lot. I don't remember my dad that much.
I remember he was a hippie. I remember he had a big beard and moustache and long hair. I remember his denim jacket was always cold, smelling like weed and cigarettes. I remember he gave me, "The Giving Tree" and taught me how to read it. And then, I remember he was; gone. Just. Gone.
I also remember my mother. I remember her never talking much. I remember her just smelling like hair spray, cigarettes and instant coffee with sour milk. I never was able to drink milk, not even as a child, and to this very day just the sight of a milk carton turns my stomach to acid.
I lived alone with the old lady about half a mile from where I live now. Yeah, in over thirty years I made it a whole thirteen blocks. Like I said, my pride was non-existent these days unless I was sitting on it. Another, weird thing besides waking up at 3:33 am is I have a lot of memory lapses. It has been getting worse the last few years. Especially, since old Spenser had a seizure in my arms back on the 9/11 of '09. He was fifteen and my best friend. I'd always loved dogs. But after losing Spenser, I couldn't quite remember things right all the time.
Sometimes, it was little things. Like did I turn off the stove or lock the front door. Other times, it was deep things, like did the telephone repair man try to do something to me when I was five and left home alone. Like did I pull a kitchen knife on him before he scampered out like a thief in the night; scared he'd be caught by my screams for Batman? Did I remember my mother having strange guests over late at night? Did I remember being locked in my room? I just couldn't remember anymore.
I had taken to obsessively keeping lists. But you can't put ghost-busting on a list, can you? And that was my real problem. Ever since, the May Flower Moon the haunting just kept rinsing and repeating. Eat edibles, Nyquil, and Advil PM and still wake up at 3:33am. Smell diesel. Wave of nausea. Little boy in garden. Little boy crying. Little boy pointing at something. Little boy looking up at me. Little boy. Little boy. Little boy.
By last Friday, I was a mess.
My work is suffering. I am too embarrassed to tell my aunt or besties I see a little boy. They already think I am weird enough and last thing I need is a wellness check.
To remain scientific, I have continued my daytime visits to the garden whenever it is open. Everything seems so lovely in the day. I even brought the new woman I am seeing. She fell in love with the tree at first sight. The flowers are gorgeous. And the roses; so mesmerizing. Even the fish in the koi pond are happy.
But at night. Something isn't right. ...Weeping willow tree Weeping sympathy Bend your branches down along the ground and cover me Listen to me plead Hear me willow and weep for me... My new friend at work I mentioned, who told me about angel numbers, asked me recently if something was bothering me. She told me when we met, she is in the midst of a spiritual awakening.
Part of it includes awakening every morning to read the Tarot cards and commune with who, or what, she calls, "spirit".
I cracked and told her about the little boy under the tree. She didn't bat an eye. She told me spirit wants something from me. I didn't know what to say to that so I just left it alone. I guess I'm afraid what if she's right. And what if I don't like what, "spirit" wants?
Last night was Saturday. I had a dream.
That night I dreamed about a collie I had when I was a very young boy right after my dad split. Her name was Pearl. I had found her on the street on my block and for some inexplicable reason had been allowed to keep her.
Not long after, one hot summer day in Prospect Park, when my mother was going to give me something to cry about, Pearl suddenly ran down the hill she was frolicking on, making a wide sweeping arc that screamed, "ride or die, full throttle, and damn the fucking torpedoes," it's trajectory directly between my mother's legs. Fur overcame flesh just in the nick before I was given something to cry about.
Instead, I laughed.
I laughed so fucking hysterically at the sight of her on the grass, on her ass; smug look gone with the wind; replaced by an expression seething red menace that would have been McCarthy's wet dream.
And, like the little boy at 3:33 am, Pearl's eyes met mine. She seemed to nod her collie head, as if she were acknowledging that, yes, she was the best dog and don't you forget it. I didn't cry much for a while after that till I came home from school and Pearl was gone. Just gone. To some farm I was told. Where she could be happier. So, I guess I did get something to cry about after all.
And then last night I had a dream.
Part III -
It weeps for me? I dreamed of Peter Pan and buried treasure. I dreamed of Stove Stop stuffing and commercials loud enough to drown out a breech birth. I dreamed of Spider-Man letting Uncle Ben's killer go free. I dreamed of being American. I dreamed of Watergate, the fall of the Berlin wall, 9/11 and watching people jump out windows to avoid burning to death out the window of my office.
I dreamed of Iraq and Afghanistan and George Floyd and Covid and never-ending cycles of boom and bust. I dreamed of a golden carrot on what started out as a stick but soon morphed into what I realized was a branch. A long flowing beautiful branch covered in red. A branch that hung low. It swayed along the ground, swayed above my head and there I was.
I was in the garden. Under the tree. I felt drops of warm dew caressing my face. I was about to reach up to caress the tree. My tree. I noticed I was wearing pajamas. Not the black satin jammies I had been wearing for decades but old footie pajamas. They were Star Trek pajamas. With three golden rings on the cuffs and a trap door.
A drop of dew fell in my eye. I wiped it away and looked at my hand. It was red. Red with blood. My Mickey Mouse watch involuntarily color-coordinated with the blood. It appeared to be just after 3:30 am.
Suddenly, a dog appeared. It was Pearl. Then another, it was Spenser. They jammed their snouts into my flannel covered crotch. I pet them both and noticed my tears mixing with the dewy blood drops turning them a soft pink under the moonlight.
"Good boy. Good girl." I said.
"Hi," a voice I recognized but couldn't place said.
I looked around. And there, was, the little boy. And, in his hand was Grover.
"Hi," I heard myself say.
"Who's the dog?" he said.
"That's Pearl. And this is Spenser." I answered.
"I know Pearl, silly. She's my dog," then, "Hi, Spenser."
Spenser left my crotch for the little boy's. They went together like peanut butter and sandwiches.
"Where are your parents?" I heard myself ask.
"Dad left. Mom told me to stay here until she comes back."
"When was that?" I asked.
The little boy shrugged then, "Been a while I guess," and he started to cry. Spenser got agitated and started to whine. I approached. I went to put my hand on the boy's shoulder and he jumped.
"Hey, it's okay." I took my hand back.
He looked up at me. Then he said, "You want to see something?
I said, "Yes."
The little boy fished around in his pajamas and pulled out something, it looked like a piece of rolled up construction paper secured with a red ribbon that matched the bloody dew drops.
He un-scrolled it then solemnly showed it to me.
It appeared to be a child's treasure map. That ended in the garden. Only it wasn't a garden. It said, "JUNK YARD" and there was a big X next to the corner of the rectangle the words were written in. I looked down at him.
"There's no junk yard here, son," I said.
The little boy looked away from Spenser and up at me. Pearl ran to his side. I felt six eyes on me.
"That's what you think," he said
A moment later there was the loud cracking of fireworks being detonated. I awoke in my bed. Fumbling for my glasses, I found them, dropped them, cursed, then almost stepped on them. I finally got them where they belonged thinking I needed to use the bathroom. I glanced at the digital clock on my desk.
3:33 am. Again. I ran to the window to look out. But, unlike every other time for the past month, the boy was not in residence. He was gone. Just. Gone.
Part IV -
The is The End Gone my lovely dreams To weep my tears along the stream Sad as I can be Hear me willow and weep for me ...
This was fucking ridiculous. I am sane. I am not mad. I'd been reading, "The Giving Tree," too much. Spending too much time alone working from home. Maybe I just needed to get away. Take a trip somewhere.
I realized getting back to sleep was going to be impossible. So, I went into the kitchen and made a pot of tea. No milk.
Back at my desk, my "SHIT. FUCK. DAMN." glass mug of tea firmly in hand, I took a deep breath. There was no point in giving myself a heart attack. Maybe it was just anxiety. Maybe panic attacks. I had dated lots of neurotic women. That could be it. Maybe some Lexapro and I'd be good as new. I decided to check my email.
A woman I used to date from Queens and stayed friends with had sent me a link entitled, "Birth of a community garden." It was video to my garden. Before it was a garden. Over forty years ago. It was a decrepit vacant lot filled with dead cars and refuse and apparently had been a neighborhood drug bazaar. Like I said, things have changed a lot since Al and I were young as springtime.
By the time I moved back you would have never known what things had used to look like. Spray painted signs that read, "
NO DRUGS SOLD HERE!" and the like. Just like the Batman, Dark Knight, the 80s were a time when Urban Renewal was striking back. And before you could say, "corruption at City Hall," there was fecund soil where once had stood God knows what.
It gave me hope that humanity wasn't so bad. Maybe I had just been going through a tough time. Maybe I should quit while I am ahead and get a good night's rest. So, I closed the blinds and went to bed.
Why I am never sleeping again That night I dreamed I was part of the junk yard's saviors. Hauling out decades of festering trash and replacing it with good old Mother Earth. A whole community coming together to commune with nature. I felt myself smile.
All day we hoed the rows. The fecundity of the soil filling my nostrils. There was food and laughter and soon day turned to night. One by one all the gardeners left into the dusk. Soon I stood alone next to a young woman. She held a green army duffle bag. And two shovels.
"You look like a big, strong man. They're going to be planting a weeping willow tree here soon. But first, I wanted to leave the earth a special gift to grow up with the tree. This time I think we should give to the tree. Won't you help me?"
I felt a passing twinge of disgust. I rubbed my upper lip with the back of my hand and thought I smelled the faint smell of diesel. I heard myself say, "Hand me a shovel."
An hour later I had fulfilled the lady's request to deposit the duffel bag deep within the new garden's soil. She lit a cigarette I recognized. She blew some smoke in my face and it smelled like sour milk.
"Ever read a boy and his dog?" she asked.
I nodded.
"This is the opposite," she said. I smelled the diesel again and then remembered no more.
This morning I awoke feeling none too swell. I got my glasses on without dropping them for a change then sort of hobbled to the kitchen area to make some tea. I opened the blinds and there was my weeping willow tree. Swaying gently in the Sunday early June overcast chill.
Implacable. Inscrutable. True to it's nature. The day was gray as a widow's anniversary.
Well, there's always tea, I thought, ever the optimist. And then I dropped my, "SHIT. FUCK. DAMN." mug on my foot, simultaneously battering and scalding it. I let out a yelp.
Then, mouth agape, I smelled the diesel waft in the window by the fire escape. The window, where, leaning against the fire escape's stairs I witnessed something that froze my blood and tested my aging bladder.
I spied two shovels and an empty duffle bag.
I wonder what spirit will have to say about that?
Gone my lovely dreams To weep my tears along the stream Sad as I can be Hear me willow and weep for me Willow Weep For Me? submitted by
moishepesach to
shortstories [link] [comments]
2023.06.05 05:10 MayahWoo Urgent Housing Needed! Starting Mid July
Ok, So my name is Mayah and I have previously come here last year to ask for someone to contact me about being their roommate since I was moving into Dallas in order to attend the college in person. Well, I managed to find someone last year and have had a blast living here and attending said college.
I am now taking summer classes and will be attending in the Fall 2023 semester.
Here are some things about me -
I am 21, Latina, Trans woman and 1 year on HRT. I do not like to bother people who don't wanna be bothered, I always keep to myself and make sure to respect every ones space and privacy. I don't smoke, don't have people over and don't go out much, for I do not have a car. So you do not have to worry about the parking space! I usually just remain within my space, so I wont bother you or make a mess.
I really want to keep going to this college, it means the world to me and I have to money to always pay and never miss any deadline set up. The only things I ask for is that the apartment is near or next to the Comet Cruiser public transport system, since that is how I get to UTD without a car.
The lease I am currently rooming for ends in mid July, so I would need to move out the LATEST in July 13th.
If you are interested, feel free to contact me via Reddit Messages and we can talk about it and I will give any sort of information needed for this. Thank you.
submitted by
MayahWoo to
utdallas [link] [comments]
2023.06.05 05:09 notlikethatglue What do I know about glue
Yo glue. You don't use this place so you'll never hear this but I got to tell someone and I'm not going to send it to you and sound even crazier I don't want you thinking I'm some kind of psychopathic stalker and I want you to feel comfortable and respected with your boundaries. So let's get down to brass tacks.
Girl when I think about you and all this s*** that went on and I think about me. It reminds me of when in pulp fiction Bruce Willis is popping Marcellus Wallace (Ving rhames) in the face saying "you feel that?" That's your pride f****** with you or some s*** like that.
Man glue how the hell are my feelings going to be hurt and how can I be so selfish as to even think that I deserve to be respected or put any expectations on you I'm not going to go into huge detail. Reason being is because the rest of the world will hear it but you probably won't but at least out there in the void I'm going to make it to where the respect you deserve this voiced from me and that you're honored for the things that you've done selflessly. Being thet our sister birthday was yesterday and she's no longer with us I think she would smile from above knowing that I finally said something like this.
Hey let me say thank you for real. Thank you for shutting my ass down and thank you for this list I'm about to go through which I will go into detail at a later time.
I'm going to write a story about our lives. I'm telling you it's going to happen. I started three separate writings and I'm ready to scrap them all to tell our story. I'm going to focus on that in my writings anyways on to the summary of what glue means to me or what I acknowledge about glue.
What you were up against.
When we met. You a teenage girl. Abandoned by one parent in a very vile way. The other parent was raising you. We were running around, you got sick, and you were in the hospital for weeks with some very serious troubles. Towards the end of the hospital stay cuz I was in there with you the whole time. The other parent came said that they won't going to deal with you and for you to figure it out a young girl in the hospital. The crazy part is you had done nothing wrong. That was my first real dose of surrealism in people next to some childhood stuff from one of my mother's boyfriends. And shortly after you were told you didn't have a home to come back to as a teenage girl in the hospital the doctors came in and said you would never be able to get pregnant or bare children. You moved in with us me my mom and my sister. And after all that you have been through you would think that you'll be nervous or anxious or things will be awkward. No. You stepped into the home and you immediately brought light into it that it was missing. You immediately were a part of the family and you were a part that was missing the whole time that no one ever knew about. You became a daughter to my mother a sister to my sister and more important things than my words can express right now to me. You kept a strong mentality and glue you were always the caretaker. You dealt with me a young pig-headed man very much in love with you with the drug addiction you catered to me. But not like a slave you catered to my soul there is never someone that I can ever dream of to treat me the way you did. You were loyal man you were my everything. I was yours. None of this is going to be an order but I've traveled with you across the country. We moved to Louisiana. I got a job on the tugboats. You were in the middle of a new scary town. And here I was gone 30 days at a time. But you held on. That was a really stressful time when I look back and that was a time when even though it was an experience I regret that decision because being gone that long from you at that young seemed okay then but even though my buddy's family was around I should have been there. But we did it the best we could. Eventually that didn't work out I'll never forget two cats in a 1984 Ford escort and all our s*** driving all the way to the East Coast. That escort could do some runs now. Anyways we moved to the beach. Being close to home my drug addiction was still an active Factor at all times you held on every time you could. When we move to the beach we decided we were going to do other things we came back to the city. That's what my sister move to the beach with her friend and we were in the city and got to call she had been in a car wreck.
We fly down to the beach before that even cut my sister out of the car we made a 2-hour drive in about 45 minutes. They will my sister in you were right by her side by my side you were there fam you were going through it with me, with her, with the parents. The wheel her in she said she couldn't feel her legs. Boom paralyzed never going to walk again. Thank God she lived and thank God she has such an amazing sister beside her during it all.
After rehabilitation the situation that it happened put my mom into a absolute mental tailspin. So we stuck around as my mother could barely function to tend to my sister.. to your sister. So you a young young woman who had been s*** on by her family. Took over my mother's role and began caretaking for my sister, all the while taking care of my mom with her mental episodes and and down time, and taking care of a loving man with an addiction that had selfish tendencies and you filled the role of all three caretakers and still manage to love me and show me affection with a smile on your face. You took care of the whole house. You took care of the animals. I'm not talking about any of the good really that I did or anybody else did I just want you to be recognized here.
We decided to move to Florida after a long time of you taking care of my paralyzed sister and helping her acclimate until she started lighting it up. What she took off and became president the Honor society went back to school started doing fundraisers was in the Miss wheelchair state runnings eyeballing Ms wheelchair America..once she got in her groove... We went on to Florida.
In Florida you dealt with a man that had just found the purest cocaine he had done in a long time for dirt cheap prices. Through pretty much the whole stay we were there the years we were there. But I wasn't completely a lost cause so in Florida you became a business partner, an entrepreneur, an inventor, a teammate, a valuable asset, Chief cornerstone that all things business relied on between us and my buddy that we went into business with. Your pragmatic approach and abilities dominated with mine. The things I fell short in you could put into place... I don't want to say my inventiveness and idealism was the exact complimentary opposite to that where you lacked. But I'm going to be straight up with you you were just as inventive, sellable, full of ideas, practical enough to make it happen, and able to execute. So you were still at a young age early twenties the most amazing business partner I could ever ask for. Not to mention the fun in the sun the palm trees the tacky gold the new cars living on the beach man I was built for that s*** and I know you were. Eventually when the big collapse of the towers came, and us with our lack of savings which was a big part my fault. After September 11th the market just crashed and we didn't do business and s*** started going backwards and we sold our debt for what a couple thousand bucks? To watch my friend hold on to that business and buy us out of all that debt until it finally bankrupted was insane he really held on to that dream.
Anyways by the time we get back to our hometown not only is my sister been in a wheelchair now my sister develops a tumor on her pituitary gland Cushing's disease. My drug addiction is full force when we pull back into town. You jump right into action taking care of her everyone and by this time your family had got back in your life your parents. And you forgave them and let them in boy I'll never forget to work it took for you to get over that I remember the days that I sit with you and helped you work through that stuff. But you forgave you opened your heart and you opened your arms and embrace family. And you took care of everyone.
We get married. I get you pregnant the first child. I'm so far in addiction now that we're back home ground zero for those old habits. You're neglected, I'm high, selfish,I'm ashamed so basically I either don't come home because I've been up all night High s*** spending all of our money. And I mean all of it taking right out of my pregnant wife's and the baby's mouth to serve my f****** addiction. and you just held on. Remainder Rock still taking care of my sister. Still being there for my mom. And absolutely the polar opposite of what the doctor said when we first met about not being able to have kids. So after neglecting you constantly pawning off tons of responsibilities on you and spending every penny we had and expecting you to take care of the kids and never being home and being unavailable because I had a disgusting ratchet ass bottom of the barrel love affair that started with cocaine but once I tried to sling and learn how to cook cocaine became Crack to be exact. I traded you, businesses, vehicles, Mom Dad the kids, stability love, God, futures, anything everything I traded for that nasty b**** crack. Mind body Spirit trade it at all.
And what did you do you kept managing with what you we had you kept trying to hold it together and you held on for dear life.
Now you had already become a daughter to my mother and you were a sister to my sister so my part to play in that has nothing to do with y'all's relationship at this point. There's a very painful thing that I'm even scared to talk about maybe one day. Anyways finally you said you couldn't do it anymore I had driven us in the dirt I had literally turned us into basically homeless people with kids and I just could not stop when I would get to the bottom I'd bring a jackhammer and I'd find a new bottom. And you finally took your eyes off of me and you looked at what was the most important our child and you said it's time to separate you had to do it. Our separation you still tried to work with me as I got off the drug short-term and you came back and that's when I got you pregnant. That's what I want to talk to you about one day when we have time. But that has nothing to do with the honor you deserve because you are always were and not a doubt my mind always will be a loyal honorable commendable Royal woman a true virtuous woman.
Anyways when we started talking again during the separation I got you pregnant again. We got back together to try to make it work for both our kids now. But I wasn't going to give up crack for you all the families all the religion all the money and all the happiness in the world. I was that f****** stupid. God is good because I didn't 12 step my s*** out of there with that God come down and put a disgust and a chill in my bones about that s*** and made it disappear overnight. Maybe another time because it was way too late when it happened. Anyways I got you to raise two kids stole all of our money stole all of our food stole everything we didn't even have gas half the time. You hold on. You held one. I still have the claw marks in my soul from where you didn't want to let me go because you were that committed and that good of a woman. That in tune with family.
You went on to raise the kids by yourself you hooked up with another dude he got you pregnant then you dealt with him abusing you physically. Torturing that household. I know he's changed but I know some of this s*** that he did to my kids because I could see it in their eyes every time I would drop a fork. Thank God they healed from that. Whether they healed fully especially one of them I don't know. But then the question would have to be raised does the pain in the issues they go through revolve around him or revolve around the traumas from me. Cuz a dad supposed to be there. You basically dealt with him terrorizing y'all raising hell you've told me some of the things that he used to do to you I don't see how you can still talk to me like he needs you and you've got to be there for him but that's on you and I respect it but the way that you explain some of the things that he did to you to me it makes me sick to my stomach because I could just never see myself like harming you physically over and over and over again and doing things to you in other forms of physical abuse and getting pleasure or control out of it. But I can see taking you everything you ever owned and never given our kids a chance or anybody else and giving it all to crack can I so I don't know there. I just know it blows my mind. But I think it comes a lot from the fact I left us so bottom of the barrel out back from my addiction that as long as somebody was providing you felt some form of security over top of what I left you with which was complete insecurity. Maybe that's why you stuck around for the abuse and still justifiy it over top of the things I've done to this day.
You raised his kid, you raised my kids, you were the one true parent you were two dads you were one mom. You were a counselor, a provider a mediator a caretaker a teacher a protector a shelter a guide a mentor a motivator a problem solver you were a parent and you played the role of three parents. Plus you worked plus you were there for my family whenever they needed you. You were there for my sister all through her Cushing's disease. And there's so much more because you were building towards the future on your own establishing financial security vision for yourself holding the fort down getting damn near no financial help from me none 00.
I incurred 135,000 child support debt with you. How's that for deadbeat dead? See this isn't about the arrogant narcissistic guy you think I am this is about who you are. Let's just fast forward so we getting locked up for child support even though you had already told me you weren't working on getting all of that got rid of. And yes you may not believe this but my whole f****** inheritance is going to you not one red cent goes to me because you earned that. Yo you earned like 50,000 times that times a hundred times 50. All of the money in the world in my opinion is still not enough compensation if it was given all to you for the things you've done.
Now fast forward to my sister dying she's on her deathbed she's checking out. you stay and active part of her life and you check on her and you stay by her side and you are there with her as a friend you coming you become her caretaker in the end you help my mother you stand by my family side we see my sister into the Afterlife and we live the lives we live.
I come to the city out of the blue I'll come to find out there was a warrant out I get arrested. With some help from another family member if y'all bond me out with $13,000 cash. A week later I'm called by the courts they said we didn't have to show the decision could be made without us there and when we pop up they walk out and they say here here's your piece of paper sir. You owe $14.75. I'll look at the piece of paper it says Mr so and so your debt with child support enforcement has been cleared in full please pay us these $14 processing fees and your case is closed. You smiled me a smile at you.
And you said the most horrific thing I've ever heard in my life from someone. I'm being cynical here because it was really the most amazing thing but I hate the term because I'm a basket case. You looked at me and said be better do better.
Fast forward after that I started trying to get my s*** together started trying to help you with vehicles and stuff around the house and somehow... Some f****** way... I had the audacity to get offended by the way you were treating me. And I had a nervous breakdown. And I begin saying things to you the absolutely weren't true that I absolutely didn't mean and I f****** flaked.
You with no contact to protect yourself.
Look at what you have done how could I have done that?
Anyways I've seen my mom turn on you with her words. I've seen your parents turn on you, I've turned on you, seen your friends turn on you, I've seen a world I've seen your ex's turn on you, but you know what I've never seen you turn on the people that you give your ability and your honor to and your bonds to I've never seen you turn on them ever.
You didn't turn on me you were protecting yourself.
Glue you were the strongest f****** woman I've ever met and you are worthy of an award that his world renowned and recognized because there are so many things that I haven't said here.
You are The Rock, you are the glue, you are the ties that bind... You are the virtuous woman. Proverbs 31 versus 10 to 31 is the description of who You are. Even to the point of where our kids were raised by you to place the dwelling now that you're at. You have taken in so many other people's kids you're like a parent to everyone. You excel at every job that you do. Vital asset to every team that you join. Highly efficient highly intelligent. Insanely gorgeous. Smart funny. God your sense of humor is so f****** awesome.
I'll see things in pictures my brain sees things in pictures and I just see pictures of you sometimes where always if we were around somebody that was down you would do the goofiest s*** you had to do to get them to smile because that's what you do. Just like sis did and this is her birthday gift from me because she told me several times to think about how hard you have worked. And she begged me to draw that picture before she died I got it toward the day before she died it was so important to her that picture is me holding her hand and her grabbing a star and her feet rooted to the ground and the roots coming into my feet and it says my brother taught me to reach for the stars my sister taught me to remain grounded.
And it's weird because I look at that and I think about how much of a icon and how much of a aura and presence glue was see y'all were glue one and two. And I'll go get that picture that she had me draw and it brings these overwhelming senses of things because I miss her so much but it brings you into the picture too because you always kept me grounded and I could envision anything anything on vision and you could take it for what it was and you could be like okay it's not that practical but it can be done and you would make the systems that made it happen no matter what it was I could create anything with you. You are after all Earth. I'm air. Reach for the Stars grounded etc.
Do you have so many amazing qualities and you have done so many honorable things. And for my sister's birthday I honor you her sister because the things that she said really ring true now. If you never talk to me again I respect it, if you want us to try to have some kind of working amicable relation I respect it but I have to have communication, you are so much of everything good and honestly I still love you so much thatI fall apart in your presence. But forget me man for real f*** me. Glue I want you to be happy you deserve happiness and if I take away from that then I need to shut my f****** mouth and I need to take that s*** so I went down and I need to smile because I know that you're happier. I truly know what it's like to want something so bad because I have for years but I never got healthy I'm just now getting around to taking care of myself. But I have for years wanted you and when I couldn't have you that's when you became Bruce Willis and you was popping my ass in the face saying you feel that boy that's your pride f****** with you.
Will glue I'm swallowing my pride. I want you to be happy no matter what I want you to be honored. If you ever do decide you want me in your life in any form please give me the communication I need to approach it healthily if not I'll f*** it up. I'm not even going to ask you what you want I'm not going to bug you but if by some chance in hell you ever find this letter just know at any point anytime you can reach out to me and ask for anything. I have taken and taken and taken and you have given and given and given it's time for me to sit the f*** down shut the f****** and love you the way you're supposed to be loved. And that means unconditionally loving you for who you are not loving you for me loving you because I absolutely adore who You are and I want to see the best life you can have happen.
You probably can't see your value and priceless coming out of my mouth or anyone else still does not do it justice.
Going to write a story about us glue.
And I promise to never promise again and just show you by allowing you the power dynamic you deserve to make your own choices and get the happiest healthiest life you can without me interjecting you've done it well this far better than me. Have made myself look like a total helpless loser in this but we both know what I'm capable of and what I'm about. If you need a roll for me just communicate it. I'll give it my all even if giving it my all means standing outside the box looking in but never burdening you with the fact that I am anymore.
And I'm not going to bring it up. Man I hope one day you get all the things you deserve.
You're admired appreciated loved and honored. By many. You are the Chief cornerstone woman. You are woman all woman.
I love you always will. Have my power dynamics take what you need and should you ever need me to flex my power because we both know all you got to do is make the call and I'll flex on whatever the hell you need me to as hard as you need me to and I'll scoop my ass right on out the way if that's what you need after it's done
Thank you glue
Buy some odd chance should you ever want me to be the one to try to love you communicate with me and point me in the direction I'm so f***** up out here I need direction and I know that they could be poisonous to you so you being The logical thinker that you are take that for what you will.
I've never been able to fully give myself to anyone else because I truly feel that to this day I will take my love for you to the grave.
You're that special.
Should I ever get a chance to love you and stand by your side of your man again you're going to have to let me die and and come out of the death of at least once because I'll die of happiness and wake up I just I wouldn't know how to handle it.
To me it's like imagine somebody said hey here's this egg but it doesn't have a shell that's just made of the rubber stuff that holds the shell together and you've got to run this egg 3 MI of mountain terrain in 20 minutes or the whole world ends.
Well I would just take the f****** egg and throw it on the ground. That's how I've been treating things. That's what I'm relearning everything.
It could be a detriment to you you know the sign of this always protect yourself and do what's best for your happiness but if I could love you again and be your man the things I would do I can't tell you because that would be the same old same old and honestly I just don't know.
I just know I love you you've always been everything to me and there will never be anyone that compares and there never has been.
Thank you for who you are
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2023.06.05 04:51 humidsm Sunday
Ok here it's the day after a night after drinking the better part of a handle with my buddies
And I'm feeling really really lonely
You're sitting in my house and I think oh god you're gonna leave
And we're feeling really really sad
So you take off down the street in your Toyota Camry
And the bastard machine is falling apart at the seems
Meanwhile I'm taking off my vodka soaked pants
And I'm listening to a sad song by this band that usually makes joke songs
Meanwhile in the tight two way street you get pulled over by a gay biker couple or something
And they tell you your exhaust pipe's laying in the road
Okay so you're back at my house
And I'm unprepared and almost about to sleep
Then you start to cry
And it's kind of weird because I don't have any pants on
And seeing you cry is like seeing a grown man cry
Your car's parked outside my house
And I miss it being 24 hours ago
I miss our other friend
I miss your exhaust pipe
And it's still kind of weird because I don't have any pants on
I couldn't clean my room today
My head was too foggy
Instead in my moments alone I wrote more about you two
There's 3 months until you leave for a brightly colored education and city
And I stay five hours away in my uncleaned room without you
How does an exhaust pipe even fall off a car
And it's still weird because my pants are on the floor
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2023.06.05 04:34 Mean-Classic-7739 Something in the blizzard pt.1
This file comes from accounts of the [REDACTED] incident that took place [REDACTED].
The memories of [REDACTED] were successfully acquired for the best possible retelling.
The account:
PROLOGUE
Weather reports are saying a massive blizzard from the northernmost parts of Alaska will begin making its way down the west coast. Most are saying that the storm will hit us next week. People are calling it the storm of the decade, so sorry folks it looks like spring hasn’t sprung just yet.
The reporter continued but I stopped listening as my dad sputtered out: “Why in the heck do they expect me to believe that? This is bull crap I’m telling you complete bull crap. Blizzards don’t happen in April!”
Part of me wanted to stop and explain to him why the newsman was probably right but I knew my dad wouldn’t believe me. You see, in his old age, my dad had become quite well crazy. He didn’t trust anyone or anything and had gotten really into conspiracy theories.
“Dad, you can’t just dismiss facts and science like that,” My sister Gretchen said.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. They don’t know what they’re talking about, if you had only seen…” My dad was yelling before I cut him off, “Shut up!”
“Why the heck do you think you can talk to your daughter like that!” I screamed at him.
“What the heck, you’re talking like she wasn’t the one who was trying to tell me what to do!” He yelled again, and at this point, I gave up and left the room.
I found Gretchen. She stood in front of the mirror in the hall I stood next to her and looked into the reflection despite me and Gretchen being 9 years apart and having different moms we almost looked like twins. We both had short straight black hair, dark brown eyes, pale complections, and stood nearly the same height.
“I miss how he used to be,” She said somberly.
“I know me too sis,” I said leaning in and hugging her.
“Let's go,” She said softly.
I nodded and we both left, not bothering to say goodbye. I drove the short 20-minute drive to our house.
When Gretchen was 8 her mom died and my dad remarried a year later and they had me. They bought a small 1 story house in a nice rural neighborhood, then two years later they divorced and my mother got authority over us kids. Me and Gretchen never really moved out, because well the house was big. Despite being one story it was quite spacious and oddly built. It was much longer than it was wide. One long hallway ran the whole interior from the fireplace on one end of the house. To the fireplace on the other end of the house. It had a small kitchen, dining room, and four bedrooms along with a tiny library. In addition, it had a basement. The basement was like a large studio apartment with a kitchen/dining room, 2 bedrooms, and a large hang-out area.
Me and Gretchen walked inside and were immediately greeted by May, Moore, and Herman, our three dogs. May and Moore were both Australian shepherds, and Herman was an absolutely massive Saint Bernard.
Herman jumped up onto me, almost making me topple to the ground.
“Woah, easy boy,” I exclaimed, giving the big dog a pat on the head as I pushed him off.
“Hi sweeties,” I heard our mom say from the kitchen.
I stepped into the kitchen and saw Mom busy making dinner. Our mom was short with long brown hair and bright blue eyes
“Hi Mom,” I greeted, stepping over and giving her a huge hug.
“Where’s Chloe?” I asked quickly.
“And where’s the kids?” Gretchen asked after also hugging Mom.
“Chloe's downstairs playing with the kids,” Mom explained.
We both hurried down the hall and then down the stairs into the lounge. A mess of legos was on the floor and playing in this mess was Gretchen's sons.
Her first son was named Alby. He is 8 and is rather quiet, he usually has his head in a book and the only thing that consistently gets him outside is the dogs, or going fishing with his dad. Like his mom, he has straight black hair. He wears rectangular glasses and has hazel eyes.
The Second is Alan. Alan is 5 and is always wanting to play having a seemingly endless amount of energy. He had dirty blonde hair with hazel eyes and is fairly tall and stocky for his age.
Third and last is Aaron. Aaron is 3, and he doesn’t talk much. He is almost like Alan's shadow following him along and doing the same thing as Alan. He is tiny with blonde hair and dark brown eyes.
Alan and Aaron were seemingly having a war with Lego dinosaurs, Alby seemed to be constructing a car, and sitting on the couch behind them was Chloe.
Chloe is very pretty with light silky blonde hair that fell just past her shoulders, icy blue eyes that seemed almost impossible to look away from, pale skin, and an adorable smile.
The moment me and Gretchen were down those stairs Alan and Aaron had run up and hugged her.
“Mommy mommy!” They both yelled in excitement.
Chloe perked up and gave me a huge smile.
“Hi babe, didn’t know you’d be back so soon.” She exclaimed as she got up and hugged me.
“My dad yelled at Gretchen,” I said simply and we left it at that.
The blizzard people are now calling snowmageddon should hit us tomorrow and will likely cause a complete loss of power, and the government is mandating that by tomorrow no one is allowed to exit or leave town. They did not try to better explain this…
Chloe clicked off the tv. The storm was already making her nervous enough and she wanted to hear nothing more about it.
“Are you sure we have enough firewood?” Chloe asked, looking at me worried.
“We’ve got enough firewood to last three winters, babe,” I exaggerated.
“What about food, do we have enough food?” She asked, my words not getting to her.
“We could use a few more things, but I’m going to…” I was saying before Chloe interrupted: “Let's go now I want to make sure we have everything we need.”
“Ok babe, I’ll go get my jacket,” I said standing up from the couch and walking over to the bedroom.
I grabbed my jacket and shoes and met Chloe upstairs by the front door. She seemed excited that she wasn’t sitting around worrying and I think that’s why she wanted to go so bad.
“Hey Mom, Gretchen, we are going to the store, do you guys need anything?” I asked them both who were sitting in the kitchen.
“We need batteries, Joey.” My mom responded simply.
“Ok, batteries, anything else?”
“Nope,” They both said quickly.
Me and Chloe stepped outside the house and walked over to my jeep and got in. I pulled out of the driveway and looked around, our neighborhood had a very interesting layout. The houses were spaced out but not an extraordinary amount, just more than you’d see in the average neighborhood. Each house was probably 400 feet apart from each other. Our neighborhood also had a lot of trees, so many in fact that it was hard to see your neighbor's house through them. I could vaguely make out the Marley's house to the right, and to the left, I saw the Richardson's house. Both were older couples that had far much more than they needed.
But the more important thing I observed was that it seemed everyone was packing up. Multiple cars were out in their driveways with people hurriedly rushing in and out of the house with things. I pulled up next to the Richardsons' car and rolled down the window.
“Hey Greg, y'all leaving?” I asked, giving him a polite smile.
Greg Richardson looked over from the back of his van: “Yep, some people are saying the mountains are going to slow down the storm and that it could be here for a few days, so we’re leaving to be on the safe side.” He explained.
“I haven’t heard anything about that,” I exclaimed, a little more concerned about the blizzard now.
“Yeah, well y’all be safe,” He said, giving us a smile and a wave.
“You too,” I said, giving him a wave and then continuing our journey toward the store.
“Wow, there’s a lot of people leaving,” Chloe exclaimed with a slight shock and fear in her voice.
I let my eyes wander while trying to keep my eyes on the road. She was right, almost everyone was leaving town.
“Do you think we should leave?” Chloe asked me, eyeing the packed cars.
“No point, even if we wanted to, the storm would probably catch us in traffic because of all the people leaving,” I said and noticed her momentary worries dissipate.
After a couple of minutes, we pulled in front of the store. It was old, still styled like a store in the 80s. It was very busy today and me and Chloe had to park on the street. As we walked toward the store I felt a chill in the air. I could tell Chloe felt it too because she wrapped one arm around me and cuddled next to me as we walked.
We entered the store and it looked like a tornado had gone through it. Things were lying on the floor and almost everything was gone. There was a long line in front of the counter where the cashier sat. I knew the cashier, her name was Lacy, she was 17 and the daughter of the owner. Just then the owner Carl appeared from around the corner.
Carl was a very short guy with round glasses, dark brown hair, and a very poor attempt at a comb-over.
“Hey Joey and Chloe,” He greeted a large smile etched on his face.
We both smiled back, “How are you doing Carl?” Chloe asked.
“Doing the best I can, basically everyone who’s staying in town has come to stock up.” He explained, “You two staying in town?” He then asked.
“Yeah, just going to hold out,” I grinned a little excited to spend a few days not having to do anything.
“Alright, well if you need anything just give a holler,” He instructed before hurrying off to do something.
Me and Chloe grabbed baskets and split up to get everything we needed.
We met by the register after and waited in line during which I got a call. I pulled my phone out and saw it was from Dad. I thought about not answering but decided I’d better answer.
Before I could even greet him my dad had started on a rant: “Joey you and everybody need to get out of town right now. You gotta get out of there, they’ll escape from the lab and kill you if you don’t… their creatures they’ll kill you…” He tried to continue but I interrupted him, “I don’t know what you're going on about but I’m done.”
I hung up and Chloe gave me a worried look: “Who was it?”
“My dad, going off on his ramblings again,” I told her simply.
She nodded: “Anything I should know?”
“No he’s just being paranoid,” I explained.
We both stood there for a minute watching more people around the store fill their carts with things. One woman behind us had a shopping cart full of toilet paper. Then I noticed Chloe’s head turn toward the window.
“Hey look, it's started,” She exclaimed looking out the window.
I looked out and saw snow slowly beginning to fall to the ground, and I felt a deep sense of dread as it did.
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2023.06.05 04:21 svet_sedov SVET Markets Weekly Update (May 29 - June 2, 2023)
In Week 22, job openings increased, but the unemployment rate experienced a jump. AI follies, along with renewed expectations of the Fed not raising rates, helped drive tech stocks higher, and NASDAQ (o:13109, c:13240) managed to close the week with gains. Meanwhile, BTC (o:27919, c:27239) continued its downward drift amid a shrinking money supply.
Notable Macroeconomic Updates:
Unemployment Rate (May): 3.7 percent (fact), 3.5 (consensus), 3.4 (previous); JOLTs Job Openings (April): 10.103M (fact), 9.375M (consensus), 9.745M (previous); ISM Manufacturing PMI (May): 46.9 (fact), 47 (consensus), 47.1 (previous); Case-Shiller Home Price MoM (March): 1.5 percent (fact), 0.4 (consensus), 0.3 (previous); Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index (May): -29.1 (fact), -25 (consensus), -23.4 (previous).
World’s Updates:
Spain: The country’s consumer price inflation dropped; Italy: Producer Price Inflation for April decreased; Russia: In April, the country’s economic performance showed positive growth; Germany: Country’s consumer price inflation in May dropped; France: In May, consumer price inflation fell; India: Country’s economy expanded; South Korea: In May 2023, the consumer price index in the country saw an increase; Mexico: In April, the unemployment rate increased. On Tuesday, the Shiller Home Index jumped to a one-year high, the Dallas Fed Index sunk, NASDAQ (o:13109, c:13017) corrected, and BTC (o:27919, c:27861) ranged.
The Dallas Fed Business Activity Index for manufacturing decreased to -29.1 in May, the lowest since Q2 of 2020. The production index turned negative, while the employment situation improved, reflecting managers’ upbeat optimism. Meanwhile, the March Case-Shiller Home Price Index rose 1.5 percent MoM, the highest increase since May of 2022, with house prices increasing by 0.5%.
Other Markets Updates:
Spain: The country’s consumer price inflation dropped to 3.2 percent in May (previous: 4.1, consensus: 3.5) — the lowest level since July 2021. This decline was primarily driven by a decrease in fuel and food prices.
Italy: Producer Price Inflation for April decreased to -4.80 percent from -1.50 percent in March.
On Wednesday, NASDAQ (o: 12,968, c: 12,935) and BTC (o: 27,072, c: 27,010) continued to drift sideways on technicals, additionally suppressed by unexpectedly improved job openings.
BLS reported a surprising rise in job vacancies in April, reaching 10.1M, surpassing expectations of 9.375M. This rebound from the previous month’s low of 9.745M suggests a tight labor market, potentially leading to more interest rate hikes by the Fed. Job increased in a retail (209K) and transportation (154K). Regionally, job openings increased in the West (236K), Midwest (137K), and South (20K), but declined in the Northeast (-34K).
The Beige Book came out, indicating an uneven distribution of economic conditions. Some sectors, such as commerce, showed a contraction of activities, while others, like airlines, continued to expand with higher wage being requested by new candidates.
Details: Labor market conditions in some sectors are improving, with better success in hiring seasonal workers in agriculture and hospitality sectors. However, labor constraints and worker shortages are still present in other sectors, including healthcare and retail. Wage pressures remained elevated, with some industries continuing to pay above-average salary increases to attract and retain qualified workers.
Manufacturing output growth in Texas experienced a lull in April, with new orders continuing to fall. Airlines reported high ticket prices amid strong demand and constrained supply. Firms in infrastructure and other heavy construction reported generally stronger activity, while firms in industrial and commercial construction reported some softening.
Other Markets Updates:
Russia: In April, the country’s economic performance showed positive growth, increasing by 3.3% compared to the same period last year. This follows a revised contraction of 0.7% in the previous month. Notably, it represents the first monthly expansion in the economy after experiencing 12 consecutive months of decline, partly influenced by the comparison to a low base effect from the previous year.
Germany: Country’s consumer price inflation in May dropped to 6.1% YoY, down from 7.2% the previous month, and below the expected 6.5%. This marks the lowest rate since March 2022, primarily driven by slower increases in energy and food prices.
France: In May, consumer price inflation fell to 5.1% YoY — lowest level since April 2022 — down from 5.9% the previous month, and below the expected 5.5%.
India: Country’s economy expanded by 6.1% YoY in Q1 (expectations was 5%), and higher than 4.5% in Q4 2022. This growth was primarily driven by private consumption, services exports, and manufacturing, benefiting from reduced input costs.
On Thursday, NASDAQ (o:12944, c:13100) rose by 1.2 percent due to Representatives passing the ceiling bill and Fed members hinting at a pause. BTC (o:26947, c:26867) followed suit during the after-market.
At the same time, fundamentals continued to worsen. In May, the Manufacturing PMI dropped to 46.9 from April’s 47.1, below the predicted 47, marking the seventh consecutive month of decline in the manufacturing industry. New orders and inventories contracted, while production saw a rebound and employment increased at a faster rate. Additionally, there was a significant decrease in price pressures.
Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker suggested that the central bank might forgo a rate increase in the upcoming meeting. However, he emphasized that the choice to maintain current interest rates should not be interpreted as the conclusion of the tightening phase.
Other Markets Updates:
South Korea: In May 2023, the consumer price index in the country saw a 3.3% year-on-year increase, compared to a 3.7% rise in April, showing a continued easing for the fourth consecutive month. This marks the lowest level since October 2021. The Korean central bank halted its interest rate hikes at the April meeting after raising rates by a total of 3 percentage points.
On Friday, NASDAQ (o:13190, c:13240, +0.3) experienced an increase fueled by an ongoing micro-rally in tech stocks, supported by the BLS reporting rising unemployment and diminishing concerns over the Fed raising rates. BTC (o:27095, c:27239, +0.5) followed suit, although it remained constrained by a tight money supply and low demand from retail buyers.
In May 2023, the unemployment rate rose to 3.7 percent, reaching its highest level since October 2022 and exceeding market expectations of 3.5 percent. Despite this increase, the jobless rate remained historically low, indicating a tight labor market. The number of individuals who were unemployed increased by 440 thousand to reach 6.10 million, while employment levels saw a decline of 310 thousand to 160.72 million.
Other Markets Updates:
Mexico: In April, the unemployment rate saw a rise to 2.80 percent, up from 2.40 percent in March.
In Week 23, apart from the Services PMI for May published by ISM on Monday, not much macroeconomic data is released. Markets are expected to be volatile as traders adjust and readjust their positions before the June 14th FOMC rate decision. Additionally, technical indicators’ leading algorithms will react to the proximity of major index prices to important resistance levels.
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2023.06.05 04:14 Shot-Cucumber-9122 Hey :) I got accepted to the mental health counseling program for this fall. I’m coming from TX so any tips about places to live, moving across the country, the college in general etc. would be greatly appreciated!
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2023.06.05 03:58 C0smicoccurence Is Priory of the Orange Tree a Queernorm Book? My Collected Thoughts on the Matter
This post contains spoilers for Priory of the Orange Tree (notably, the romantic interest of one of the lead characters, though this becomes fairly obvious in the first third of the book, and a few events from throughout the book that relate to the barriers that relationship faces)
This weekend I finished reading Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon for my LGBTQ+ Bingo Card. While I picked it because of the dragons for the mythical beasts square, it’s also been mentioned as a good option for the Queernorm Square by many, and I was curious what that would look like in and Epic High Fantasy story, since I more often see this in more urban settings (Rook and Rose comes to mind).
What comes below are not a review of the book, but instead my rambling thoughts on whether or not this book is a Queernorm story.
What is a Queernorm Story?:
It’s probably best to start with a working definition. According to this year’s bingo card … “A book set in a world where queerness is normalized, accepted, and prevalent within communities. Characters are not othered, ostracized, or particularly remarkable in any way for their queerness”
I should also note that, as someone completing an LGBTQ+ card, and who reads a good amount of queer speculative fiction, I am perhaps a more rigorous set of standards for this than most. I also want to stress that queernorm =/= good and the reverse =/= bad. Non Queernorm Stories are just as important and wonderful. This conversation exists mostly in the context of the 2023 bingo contest and my own desire to overanalyze things.
What is Priory of the Orange Tree?
In short, this book is an Epic Fantasy story where four disparate protagonists try to stop the Nameless One from rising, and the Nameless One is a giant western style dragon. The characters come from a variety of cultures, which encompass many analogues from around the globe (notably, there are two types of dragons, Eastern and Western, which largely map onto how Eastern and Western cultures on our earth have depicted dragons). Goodreads has more information. eastern continent)
Queernorm Elements:
To start with, half of the four viewpoint characters are homosexual. Ead is a mage warrior secretly protecting a western foreign queen while living at her court, and Niclays is an exiled alchemist from said court now living in a tiny island town off the eastern continent. Ead’s romance is a major plot point in the book, and Niclay’s relationship with his deceased lover is a major part of his character. This prevalent queer rep in main characters is key to the argument that Priory is a queernorm book, especially since there’s no dramatic coming out, or need to comment on the fact that they’re gay at all. It’s treated like any other relationship in the book is. There are a few minor queer characters, mostly mentioned in passing, which is a part of a well realized queernorm world (and really any world where its mentioned people are married if we’re being honest)
There’s a lot of work put into pushing for world building elements that are queernorm in nature. Most notably, the world uses the term ‘companion’ instead of husband or wife, which is a clear attempt to make the world a more queer friendly place, since there is no distinction between different types of companionships/marriages.
These fairly major elements really lend strength to the argument that this is a Queernorm story, though the lack of any trans or gender diverse characters that I’m aware of is perhaps the only major obvious knock against it (and this shifts in the second book from what I’ve seen)
Where Things Start to Fall Apart
While I was reading, there was this nagging voice in my head that kept picking at this question of whether it was a queernorm book, in part because it was an element I was excited about. And I kept running into little things that bugged me.
To begin with, both of the main queer relationships were forbidden for unrelated reasons. The first is fairly straightforward: Niclays’ lover was already married to a woman, though he painted a positive relationship with her (and their children), even after his lover died. You see, the religion of the northern countries in the West (where both queer relationships spent most of their time occurring) have strict monogamous rules, and it doesn’t seem like divorce is an option.
This already provides systemic barriers for poly folks, but led to some more insidious forms of discrimination. You see, Niclay’s lover got engaged when the man was two years old for political reasons. In fact, all mentioned arranged marriages were between a man and a woman (although it is entirely possible that homosexual arranged marriages occurred as well, I can’t comment on what isn’t there). This, when combined with the strict religious monogamy laws, lead to queer people being forced into heterosexual relationships against their will in a systemic fashion.
The second forbidden relationship is between Ead and the Queen of Inys. For context, Inys is a Queendom, whose queens uncannily produce only one child: always a girl, and always with a very similar appearance. Sabran has long resisted marriage, but is forced to marry a man to produce an heir and cement of a political alliance. A lot of my above issues come into play here as well, but there’s a larger problem facing the queernorm label here. As a religion (and country) the need to produce heirs in a monogamous relationship forces any first son/daughter to be heterosexual, and it feels like a glaring oversight that an otherwise LGBTQ+ friendly world can’t figure this out. Heck, bloodline succession at all seems like a strike against queernorm stories without evidence that adoption is an acceptable alternative for queer couples.
To be fair, this storyline is actually engaged with in a meaningful way, as Sabran’s struggles with the expectations placed on her and her eventual daughter are a centerpiece to one storyline. It’s presented mostly through a feminist lens however, and doesn’t particularly consider its ramifications in terms of queerness. This isn’t a bad thing, because it was engaged with in critical a way that the problems facing Niclays’ relationship wasn’t. The discussion/struggle around Sabran’s limited options was one of my preferred parts of the books.
So no, I cannot in good conscience label Priory of the Orange Tree a queernorm book. It is certainly an LGBTQ+ book that seeks to reclaim space for us in the epic fantasy space where most queer authors have avoided treading, and not every book featuring LGBTQ+ themes should be queernorm. Discussion and engagement with struggle and hardship is important, and it’s okay that many queer folk refuse to read those book in favor of queernorm stories - and vice versa.
However, I definitely can’t recommend this for the Queernorm square of bingo, and I do wish that Shannon had considered the implications of arranged marriages on an otherwise LGBTQ+ friendly world, because it really feels like the culture should have this figured out based on the way they handle other queer topics.
TLDR: Priory is not a queernorm book. Lots of good representation of queer love, albeit forbidden for reasons other than LGBTQ+ identity. A culture of heterosexual arranged marriages made before children are born/have developed romantic/sexual preferences marginalizes queer folks in tangible ways in the book, and doesn’t leave room for those whose identities shift over time.
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2023.06.05 03:18 vhamerable Is this normal? Cannot figure out how to have more than 10 minute conversation with my mom and every time we see each other I end up crying or get angry.
I have a series of behaviors I am curious if fall into the narcissistic mom bucket. I think my mom is a covert N specifically . I also barely can talk to her without losing my shit so avoid her, but that makes me feel guilty and sad too.
Half of my frustration and our fights arise from the fact she either doesn't hear or listen to me. And she remembers things differently than how they happened.
- Visiting me in a different state, I asked her to not clean my apartment picking her up @ the airport. Get home from work day 1 = she has spent all day cleaning my apartment, which feels like such an invasion of privacy+ I don't want her spending her time doing that.
- She then thinks it wasn't a big deal b/c it was filthy (it wasn't) and it's not a crime, so what's the big deal.
- She can't apologize, doesn't think it matters, and blames me for hating her and being prejudice towards her.
- I tried to help her ReFi during covid, and she never got me her taxes. Refused to consider I could help, because she couldn't do it at Chase. This is after I spent months cleaning up her credit and talking to multiple nonprofits specializing in mortgages and housing accessibility.
- Didn't even give me an option to try.
- Over Christmas I was dog sitting in NYC and she was going to come spend time with me. I asked her to call me before she entered the home I was staying in - as to not make a scene in the lobby (she often makes scenes by being loud, confused, and doing weird things - and I was staying at someone's home w a Doorman.)
- She confirm OK, I explain the doorman thing. Then she calls me while in the lobby and the doorman looks so confused what this lady is doing. I get upset - and she starts screaming in that home making more of a scene. So the neighbors can hear her. It is an apt building in NYC after all Tries to leave on Christmas day. Refuses to leave the bedroom of the apartment designated for her. Refuses to answer questions about it. There are like 5 other fights - one of which she tells me I am still single because I drink too much alcohol (no one would ever say that about me - as I do not drink too much alcohol - maybe 2-4xs a month nowadays).
- Over thanksgiving she kept giving me food despite me saying I am not hungry, then is offended when I don't eat it. We went to a park and I left my jacket in the car, and asked for the car keys and she said I wasn't cold. Woudln't give me her car keys to go get the jacket and wanted me to wear her sweater despite me asking 3xs - til I started screaming to get them.
- Today she called me because she gave me power of attorney if she gets sick and wanted me to log into her gmail account to get the e-mail. I try to log in and it sends her a security prompt, she can't figure out. I patiently listen to her fiddling with her phone. Then finally am like mom: let me teach you how to find the google app. She starts talking over me (not listening) and I lost patience so said: - listen I don't have time to deal with this. And she figures out how to forward me the doc.
- She then calls me back, and I said listen - mom I don't mind that the phone is hard for you to use - 50% of our fights are that you do not listen to me. You never listen.
- She says it is b/c I don't have patience with her. So I say why is it always on me? Nothing is ever your responsibility?
- Over Christmas even you did not listen to me.
- She responds that over Christmas I locked her in a room without food or water. WTF are you talking about woman. A previous version of me would have tried to argue with her over that -. New me just hung up the phone on her. I just feel so bad and dissatisfied about it.
Also - My entire life I've tried to reason with my mom - just make her understand - lately after figuring out she's a narcissist I just gave up. Less crying, but it sucks. Though I also feel guilty about that. I want to get along with her - I just don't know how. I know she'll die one day and I'll feel even guiltier, but I simultaneously love her, pity her, and hate her.
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2023.06.05 03:15 Rednova66 Looking for 3 male roommates for an apartment.
Rent is 325 a month and utilities are separate, usually around $40. I’m looking for 3 male roommates, preferably juniors or older, for a 4 bedroom apartment in west Ames. 2 roommates graduated, and the third is going abroad for the fall.
The apartment has 4 bedrooms including mine, 2 bathrooms, laundry in unit. Parking is free, pets are allowed. The lease is for a full year, August-July, but the Landlord won’t have any issues with subleasing if you don’t want to stay the whole time. DM me if you are interested or have any questions!
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2023.06.05 03:04 nipplesaurus I had one rule: "No dating co-workers". Then I saw Lindsay...
Hi all. Just discovered this sub tonight, hopefully you can offer some words of support, advice, and maybe encouragement.
tl;dr: I'm shy. Haven't dated much. Had some romance with co-workers years ago but said never again. Saw a cute beautiful girl at work, she is also really shy. I said hi, don't know how to go further, due to working apart and not having much opportunity to get to know her. She blushes when we run into each other and I think she looks at me when she thinks I'm not looking
I have changed names for anonymity.
A bit about me: Male in my late thirties. Painfully shy with girls all my life. Had a high school girlfriend for two months, and a more serious, three-year relationship in my late twenties.
(Here comes a long backstory. Skip to *** if you want to skip most of it)
I went through a phase of trying (mostly very unsuccessfully) to date co-workers in my early to mid-20s. It alway ended terribly, as I worked with these girls closely twice a day, it led to some very awkward situations that I finally decided ten years ago to just cut out altogether and never try dating co-workers again. Shortly after taking the vow, I met a new co-worker (we had the same job) and we very quickly fell for each other but I turned her down because of the vow I made. I don't regret it though, other than feeling a bit bad for rejecting her, because I met my first serious girlfriend very soon after.
My ex and I dated for three years and were very much in love. She genuinely wanted to marry me, but I just couldn't get myself there with her. Frankly, as much as I did love her, I also resented her because of her controlling and insecure ways. Not going to go into too much detail there, but I was a film student and she essentially wouldn't let me watch movies because she was afraid I would see naked ladies, which she was very insecure about. Add on top of all of that, I was growing increasingly depressed due to the stress of work, feeling lost in life, and the way she treated me.
Anyway, we mutually decided to break up but we still saw each other, had sex, etc. She went away for an internship on the other side of the country and we kept in touch. I expected us to get back together when she returned in the fall but she didn't call, text, anything. Then I found out she had gotten pregnant just before she left for back home and that, combined with my preexisting and growing depression, sent me into a nervous breakdown.
I finally recovered enough to move on but the hurt remained and honestly, I still loved her very much. I decided very firmly that I never wanted to get back together, even after my ex started calling me again in 2020, but I still couldn't fully get over her. Call me wimp, whatever.
Then last year, I met four new girls (not all at once) and tried my hand at dating again, but each effort went down in flames. Still, it was good to try to get back out there. But still, I couldn't get over my ex. I would have episodes of pure sadness, remembering the love. I couldn't even look at the pictures of her or us in order to delete them. They just lived on my phone.
***
Then last year, I was working in a great [but unfortunately temporary] job that I loved, and rarely had to come into the office. But one of the rare occasions I did, and I saw this
super cute girl, Lindsay, had started working there. She was working in another department, and in a job that had a high turnover rate so she probably wouldn't be there for long. And to top it all off, I noticed that she bore a striking resemblance to Shirley, a woman I had worked with for twenty years and have always liked (as a person) and got along great with. Turns out Lindsay is Shirley's daughter.
I returned to the office and my permanent job this past January and Lindsay sits just on the other side of the cubicle. She is in a junior position in another department, and I am much more senior, but I have absolutely no authority or influence over her, so anyone reading this who is concerned about that need not be.
I told myself, "Yeah, she's cute but I don't date co-workers. Nope. Never again"
But then I noticed that Lindsay is not just super cute, but absolutely gorgeous. Like
stunning. I can't take my eyes off her. She is quiet and shy like me, and a snappy dresser. I resisted and resisted, telling myself no, but I can't resist anymore and decided that I have to break my one rule. I would never forgive myself if I let her go.
An interesting thing happened too: falling for Lindsay has given me the emotional break from my ex that even all four of those girls last year couldn't. Finally, two months ago, I was ready to delete all of the old pictures of my ex and I. And it wasn't that hard. I was finally ready to fully move on.
On April 11, I got a really bad haircut during my lunch break. Really bad. But despite that and the total blow to my self-confidence it gave me, I ran into Lindsay at the end of the day and introduced myself. I was not the lively person I wanted to be (because of the haircut) but Lindsay blushed and smiled when I said hello, then left me with a "have a good night"
The next day, I waved hello. A week or so later, I was passing by her and began smiling ear-to-ear completely involuntarily. She blushed.
Since then, I have been falling harder and harder and I swear she is getting more beautiful every day. I steal glances whenever I can, and I'm 99.99% sure I have caught her doing the same to me.
Three weeks ago, I was standing at my car and she came up behind me and said bye, but kept walking.
I also did what I told myself not to - I found her TikTok and Instagram. I'm old fashioned and want to learn about a girl by actually knowing and talking to her. But I got weak and looked at her profiles. Turns out she is
super single (at least as of last month) and looking. But she is also super shy, turns down dates, and doesn't talk to anyone. We're two peas in a pod, as the saying goes. The Instagram I found is her old one; she started a new, private one a couple months ago. Should I follow her? Is that weird? It's weird, isn't it?
So why don't I just ask her out, you say? Well, that's difficult. I am only in the office Monday and Friday. She's part-time, I'm full. On Mondays, we finish work at the same, on Fridays, she leaves an hour earlier than I. Plus she is in the different department, surrounded by prying eyes, so it would be awkward for both of us if I walked up to her desk to chat. And she never leaves her desk except to use the washroom or chat with her co-worker friend at lunch. So I only have Monday to catch her going out the door. And timing that is difficult. Sometimes she stops to chat with her co-workers, other times she leaves soon after me but has her earbuds in so when I am at my car and she walks by, her back is to me and she can't hear me. Plus, what am I going to yell, "Hey you!"? We don't even really know each other.
I'm old, time is getting on for me, and for all I know, the world could end next week. She's looking, I'm looking, so why don't I just go for it? I'm afraid. But mostly, I feel like I have no idea what to do. Like seriously, I feel completely lost and a little helpless. I met those other girls, but those conversations/connections happened more organically. I didn't have to pursue, really. With Lindsay, I have to make a move. A move at work. With people looking. Or if not that, I have literally thirty seconds once a week to try to nab her. But I can't get her out of my head and I can't let this chance, however slim it may be, slip away because I was scared.
As I mentioned, I have known Lindsay's mom for twenty years. I could ask her if Lindsay is single. Shirley has always liked me, and she's very nice. Is that a good idea?
Sorry for writing a novel. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
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2023.06.05 02:22 GalaxiGazer I'm so thankful for you, my soulmate!!!
Dear you,
This (
https://youtu.be/bLzUmfLckEw) was the last song that was playing as I parked my car after a full day of cleaning out my old place, grocery shopping, filling up my tank and stopping briefly at home to charge my phone before going to the gym. You were on my mind today and I just want to share with you my thoughts.
As I was at the old place and I was sweeping, mopping, scrubbing, and doing my damndest with that oven, I thought of you. My thoughts were beginning back to Summer 2021, when I began to feel the pain of our separation. Back then, I thought that it was me struggling with being without you. Now, in 2023, I now realize that the pain and struggle that I was feeling back then was
you missing
me. As I was wiping down the bathroom and washing those towel rags that I had used as additional mops, I thoughts about those dreams I've had of you. That golden piece of advice that your mom told me (rather,
it was my decision to put into practice the wisdom your mom told me) still screams out to me as I'm looking into that now empty bedroom and closet. I wiped the blinds remembering those dreams of you proposing, "
GalaxiGazer, will you marry me?" (I'll share one secret from you from those dreams where you proposed and I said "yes" each time with no hesitation. Besides that smug, happy and confident look in your face when you asked me, I had noticed a common theme: there was no ring. Now I know why: I already have it. When you're here, I'll show it to you and explain to you the significance of the ring's design) Back then, in 2021-2022, I laughed at the idea and found the concept nothing more than a joke to me at the time. You, being
my husband? You, that guy with whom I had
not even had one date?
You, being my life partner?
Seriously? Well, now, it's starting to grow on me. In fact, it's becoming so strong that I would actually be surprised and shocked as fuck if, for whatever reason, we don't end up being Mr. & Mrs. Who knows? Maybe the next move I'm making out of my (new) apartment will be across the country to Bragg (my brother already called on both).
When I stopped for lunch (Sonic) and decided to revisit The Good Place, it was when Michael was introducing those clumsy soulmates as part of his devious scheme in the simulated Bad Place. As I was watching Tahani grumble about her crocs, Chidi struggling to conversate with Pavita, and Jason trying to eventually leave his yurt, I remember when you had introduced me to The Good Place and we started talking about soulmates. Now, at the time (2020), I was very resistant to the idea of a soulmate and found the concept amusing. I've watched the show with appreciation over these past three years and I'm thankful that you introduced the show to me. Even more, I'm beginning to embrace you as my soulmate.
I just want to tell you thank you for continuing to walk with me, even if it's just in your soul and spirit alongside me right now. I'm thankful for the blessing of having you on my mind, almost like you're right here with me. I'm thankful for the blessing that my feelings for you have grown, changed, and matured over these past three years and our separation was such a sanctifier, burning away all those impure, immature, and negative things that had prevented you from being close to me. I'm thankful for the blessing of missing you, of thinking of you, for dreaming about you, and being able to strongly sense your love for me. It's hard to believe that the last time I had laid my eyes on you, you were waiting in line for me at The Yard House for dinner (yes, my brother was also in tow) and we immediately greeted each other with that long and very tight hug (oh, yeah, about that "are you done" comment, I haven't forgotten. I'll tell you more about that later). I can only imagine what it will be like when I lay my eyes on you again!! I look forward to it!!
Well, my phone's charged and it's time to get ready for the gym. As you continue to wake up and your morning unfolds, I just want you to know that I'm thinking of you and that I love you. I wish you a productive day ahead.
~ Me
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2023.06.05 02:18 cfrshaggy Featured story on The Atlantic.
Saw
this story on Apple News, and it really brings some some ring facts front and center.
An off-street parking spot, plus the room necessary to maneuver in and out of it, requires more than 300 square feet—about two-thirds the size of a typical new studio apartment.
More square footage is dedicated to parking each car than to housing each person.
The country builds more three-car garages than one-bedroom apartments.
Lots of good take aways from the article, so read at your leisure.
(
link is to The Atlantic’s article instead of the Apple News story to be device agnostic)
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2023.06.05 02:08 SWGeek826 2.5 weeks in Germany as an American
American here (31M, Los Angeles). Just got back from a 2.5-week solo trip to Germany. This was my first visit there, so I wanted to share my experience.
I stayed in the following cities:
- Frankfurt - Amazing skyline, loved viewing it from green spaces throughout the city. The Messeturm, Commerzbank, and St. Bartholomew's Cathedral were my favorite sights.
- Tübingen - Beautiful, brightly-colored medieval buildings. Surprising amount of graffiti, which seemed to clash with the character of the city. But the Neckar Riverfront is lovely to walk along.
- Munich - Gorgeous city. Lively, yet well-kept. I was in a good mood the whole time here. The Residenz Palace and Theatine Church are incredible.
- Nuremberg - Absolutely fascinating place. Well-preserved old town and excellent museums (Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nazi Documentation Center, Nuremberg Trials Memoriam).
- Dresden - The most elegant city. Truly breathtaking architecture (Frauenkirche, Royal Palace, Academy of Fine Arts, etc.). Especially impressive so much of it was rebuilt after WWII destruction.
- Berlin - So unique with so much to enjoy. Reichstag, Fernsehturm, Museum Island (Pergamon and Neues), Charlottenburg, the Wall memorials, East Side Gallery, etc. I can see why Berlin is so beloved.
I also took day trips to the following places:
- Mainz - Very charming and relaxing break from the bigger cities. So many pretty churches, especially the Mainzer Dom, the Christuskirche, and St. Peter's.
- Hohenzollern Castle - Delightful, really cool variety of turrets and towers. Great brown and blue-gray exterior, and more attractive interior than expected.
- Neuschwanstein Castle - A dream. The castle has a great design, and the setting in the Bavarian Alps is spectacular. The interior was surprising, but a fun look into the mind of Ludwig II.
Some general thoughts:
- German people are very friendly, about equal to the French in my experience (I visited France last year). Germans' energy feel more similar to Americans than the French, however.
- English is not as widely spoken as expected. This was generally a non-issue, as most people were helpful and willing to try their best English when I struggled with my German. Younger Germans seem more confident with their English than older Germans do.
- Despite the above, 93% of music played in public was English-language (Lady Gaga, The Offspring, R.E.M., etc.).
- German food is very good, if a bit repetitive (so much pork and potatoes!). The Franconian sausage is my favorite main dish, and the Mandelrolle is my favorite pastry.
- German beer is great too. Augustiner Edelstoff is my favorite. Ayinger Bräuweisse and Augustiner Lagerbier Hell are also good.
- Public transport in every city is fantastic! Rules are a bit inconsistent and confusing though. Example: In Munich, a ticket I bought for the U-Bahn in the city center required validation, but a ticket I bought for the S-Bahn at Leuchtenbergring station was too big for the validation machine. The latter ticket didn't require validation, but I didn't know that until I asked a German for help.
- Deutsche Bahn train system between cities is generally good, but more delays than I expected.
- Despite May temperatures in Germany being roughly the same as France last October, German apartments get much warmer at night.
- If Germany doesn't do air conditioning and you're expected to keep windows open, why no screens to keep out bugs? So many mosquitos, moths, and gnats...
- Smoking shockingly common, especially among young people.
- I respect the frequent bike usage and got used to the bike lanes. But bikes zooming through public squares and such made me jump several times.
- I have never seen more construction in my life.
- As a gay guy, Frankfurt and Berlin have the hottest men. Dresden's pretty good too.
- Germany is a verdant and beautiful country. Loved the mountains and farms of Bavaria, the hills of Saxony, the castles along the Rhine Valley, and the copious amount of parks and green space.
Overall, I had a great trip! Very glad I got to explore Germany and would love to see more of it (Hamburg, Heidelberg, Cologne, etc.). Thank you for making an American feel welcome!
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2023.06.05 02:07 SWGeek826 2.5 weeks in Germany as an American
American here (31M, Los Angeles). Just got back from a 2.5-week solo trip to Germany. This was my first visit there, so I wanted to share my experience.
I stayed in the following cities:
- Frankfurt - Amazing skyline, loved viewing it from green spaces throughout the city. The Messeturm, Commerzbank, and St. Bartholomew's Cathedral were my favorite sights.
- Tübingen - Beautiful, brightly-colored medieval buildings. Surprising amount of graffiti, which seemed to clash with the character of the city. But the Neckar Riverfront is lovely to walk along.
- Munich - Gorgeous city. Lively, yet well-kept. I was in a good mood the whole time here. The Residenz Palace and Theatine Church are incredible.
- Nuremberg - Absolutely fascinating place. Well-preserved old town and excellent museums (Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nazi Documentation Center, Nuremberg Trials Memoriam).
- Dresden - The most elegant city. Truly breathtaking architecture (Frauenkirche, Royal Palace, Academy of Fine Arts, etc.). Especially impressive so much of it was rebuilt after WWII destruction.
- Berlin - So unique with so much to enjoy. Reichstag, Fernsehturm, Museum Island (Pergamon and Neues), Charlottenburg, the Wall memorials, East Side Gallery, etc. I can see why Berlin is so beloved.
I also took day trips to the following places:
- Mainz - Very charming and relaxing break from the bigger cities. So many pretty churches, especially the Mainzer Dom, the Christuskirche, and St. Peter's.
- Hohenzollern Castle - Delightful, really cool variety of turrets and towers. Great brown and blue-gray exterior, and more attractive interior than expected.
- Neuschwanstein Castle - A dream. The castle has a great design, and the setting in the Bavarian Alps is spectacular. The interior was surprising, but a fun look into the mind of Ludwig II.
Some general thoughts:
- German people are very friendly, about equal to the French in my experience (I visited France last year). Germans' energy feel more similar to Americans than the French, however.
- English is not as widely spoken as expected. This was generally a non-issue, as most people were helpful and willing to try their best English when I struggled with my German. Younger Germans seem more confident with their English than older Germans do.
- Despite the above, 93% of music played in public was English-language (Lady Gaga, The Offspring, R.E.M., etc.).
- German food is very good, if a bit repetitive (so much pork and potatoes!). The Franconian sausage is my favorite main dish, and the Mandelrolle is my favorite pastry.
- German beer is great too. Augustiner Edelstoff is my favorite. Ayinger Bräuweisse and Augustiner Lagerbier Hell are also good.
- Public transport in every city is fantastic! Rules are a bit inconsistent and confusing though. Example: In Munich, a ticket I bought for the U-Bahn in the city center required validation, but a ticket I bought for the S-Bahn at Leuchtenbergring station was too big for the validation machine. The latter ticket didn't require validation, but I didn't know that until I asked a German for help.
- Deutsche Bahn train system between cities is generally good, but more delays than I expected.
- Despite May temperatures in Germany being roughly the same as France last October, German apartments get much warmer at night.
- If Germany doesn't do air conditioning and you're expected to keep windows open, why no screens to keep out bugs? So many mosquitos, moths, and gnats...
- Smoking shockingly common, especially among young people.
- I respect the frequent bike usage and got used to the bike lanes. But bikes zooming through public squares and such made me jump several times.
- I have never seen more construction in my life.
- As a gay guy, Frankfurt and Berlin have the hottest men. Dresden's pretty good too.
- Germany is a verdant and beautiful country. Loved the mountains and farms of Bavaria, the hills of Saxony, the castles along the Rhine Valley, and the copious amount of parks and green space.
Overall, I had a great trip! Very glad I got to explore Germany and would love to see more of it (Hamburg, Heidelberg, Cologne, etc.). Thank you for making an American feel welcome!
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2023.06.05 02:05 GoldenBull1994 America is quickly becoming a country where large buildings collapse. There have been 3 major building collapses in just 2 years. There’ve been Evacuations now in multiple states like Minnesota, Texas and Florida. It’s an issue not being discussed enough, it’s time for Washington to get involved.
America is becoming a country of aging buildings, and it’s clear nothing is being done about this issue.
While the occasional brownstone or small storefront collapse in old Midwestern or East coast cities like Detroit or Philly have been happening for years, it seems like the buildings are getting larger.
I used to think America was not a place where large buildings fall down, but apparently I was wrong and it’s a worrying trend.
We know about the Champlain Towers collapse—A high-end seaside condo building built for the rich would be the last place I’d expect to fall down but here we are. Then more buildings in the Miami area—Which was famous for throwing up structures of dubious quality, funded by cocaine and built with beach sand—had to be evacuated over structural concerns. A collapse was narrowly avoided at Dolphin towers, another 12 story high rise, which was showing structural issues as well, but was repaired just in time.
Then, in 2022, a 33-story skyscraper in Houston, the Royalton at River Oaks suddenly developed massive cracks and with the entire ground floor flooded. People were hurriedly evacuated, being told through their intercom systems “Get out, NOW”, no formalities included.
Not even a year later a parking garage collapses in New York City, killing one and injuring five. Multiple buildings nearby had to be evacuated. This is the kind of thing to be expected in Nairobi or Mumbai, not New York City.
Then another collapse involving a large apartment building in Davenport, Iowa, happened just within the past week.
And then another massive 15-story apartment building on Minnesota had to be evacuated over structural concerns, not even a week later.
What’s next, San Francisco’s Millennium Tower?
Folks, we have a problem here. There are hundreds of thousands of aging buildings in this country. Who knows what kinds of problems they’re hiding. It’s time to enforce an audit of such buildings on the kind of national scale that Korea did after the sampoong collapse. I get that it’s going to be far more resource intensive, and it will take a few years, but there’s no excuse for the richest country in the world to have this problem and to not be able to fix it.
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2023.06.05 02:03 JonathanS223 I Faced a Bone Walker and Lived
Hey all, it’s me Frank Jones again.
I wrote that post a while ago about why you shouldn’t be a paranormal investigator and a lot of you liked it. Since settling into my hideaway in the mountains, life has become quiet and I thought about checking in. The plague hit us like nothing and now that everyone is wanting to travel again, I thought to say hi. I want to say thanks to all of you who commented and gave me those weird pointy thingies this social media does. Some of you even figured out my post office box address and sent me letters. I appreciate it (and don’t do it again).
The common strain among your posts was wanting to know if I had ever encountered other things as an auditor. Of course I have but I have been reluctant to tell you because I don’t want to shine some sort of light on all of it or make it sound like some romantic adventure. It’s “pissing yourself” fear all wrapped up in a waking nightmare with a side of gory terror. I am one of the few who actually made it to retirement…if that’s what you could call this life I’m living now.
But, I have nothing else to do really. Carl only visits once in a while when he’s passing through and I cannot risk any other sort of company knowing I’ve pissed off a lot of people…and things. So, I’m back on this internet board and sharing. So many are curious, I thought maybe another story can scare you all straight. This was the first time complacency almost got me and another killed.
This story takes place somewhere in the 90s in a small New England town. It was one of those places nestled along the banks of a serene river, historic brick buildings line the winding streets, their facades adorned with weathered signs that hint at the town's seafaring heritage. A place where everything smelled like either the ocean or decaying fish. I’m not going to specifically name the town to protect the young lady that may still be living there but in the heart of the town, there’s a renowned drawbridge which stands as a testament to the place’s affinity for water. Its ancient mechanisms creak and groan when allowing vessels to pass through the calm waterway. It also had some of the best outdoor markets I had a chance to stop and check out.
I didn’t pass through this part of the country that often as my boss preferred me to do the long hauls across the country but there was a dead haul nobody wanted.I took it cause I wanted a change of scenery. I was already working as an auditor and part of a loose alliance of others who investigated and dealt with any weird things. I actually had a few monsters under my belt. I honestly had the foolhardy idea that I could handle anything out there. God, I was an idiot.
The supernatural never crossed my mind until that evening, stopping to fuel up my red 1992 Peterbilt 379 and paying for the gas with the attendant and restocking up on those beef jerky sticks and coffee.
That was when I noticed her. She was a young woman about in her mid 30s looking like one of the corporate types with the short hair cut and business suit. I would have not paid her any mind if it wasn’t for the touch of apprehension on her face as she talked on one of those new fangled bright yellow Nokia cellphones. Soft strands of chestnut hair framed her face, their gentle sway moving as she glanced around while talking on the phone. As I observed her, I couldn't help but notice the way her fingers trembled slightly, when trying to get money out of her pocket. I’ve seen that type of fear before. So, like a creep, I eavesdropped on her call.
“Yes, it happened again,” she had said as the nickels finally made it to the counter to pay for her snacks. “I could have sworn there was something outside the window near the edge of the forest….no, of course the security cameras didn’t pick up anything. They’re cheap. Ronald was a skinflint when it came to things like this. Hope he’s rotting in hell wherever he is.”
My mind began to drift away, more annoyed I couldn’t get a move on it. It sounded like a problem for the police and if anything, I was gonna tell her that. It was what she said next that made me stop and brought back the reality of the world.
“Yeah. like nine or ten feet tall. I’m thinking kids are playing around with scarecrows or something. Won’t come from the edge of the forest and when I check, I can see foot impressions and stuff. I already put in a call to the cops. They found nothing.“
“Did it sway a bit and its eyes seem to glint like a cats or owl?” I asked without thinking.
The look I got from both her and the gas attendant made me realize what I had done. Well, too late now.
“I’ll call you back,” she said quickly, eyeing me as she hung up the phone and slipped it back into her purse.
“You need me to walk you to your car, ma’am?” the attendant asked, staring at me.
Of course, I forgot that The Truck Stop Killer had only been arrested a few years before.
“I’m fine, thank you,” she said, quickly gathering her stuff and making for the door. I slapped the one hundred and seventy bucks on the counter to pay for my diesel guzzler ignoring the change and followed her out but making sure to not move in a way that caused the teenager in the station to call the cops.
“Ma’am,” I called out to her and she turned to me while hurrying up her pace.
“I’ve got pepper spray. Stay away from me.”
“The thing in the woods. You could have sworn you smelled fresh dirt like mulch and it seemed to sway back and forth like it could not keep its balance.” I threw it out there in desperation.
She froze and turned to look at me. Eying me up and down as I kept my distance and angled to head towards my truck.
“How do you know?”
“I…uh…dealt with something like that before. On a job in Canada.”
“Who are you?” she asked, looking at my faded shirt and company logo. “A trucker?”
“I moonlight as a problem solver. Like an auditor of sorts.”
“Who is it?” she demanded, eyes still affixed to me and hand in her purse.
“Better question is ‘what is it?’,” I answered.
I have learned to pick up on the contempt and disbelief from people who hadn’t seen what I have. I was already being dismissed as a whack job.
“You have tracks on your porch you have written off as animals, especially if you own a dog. If you did own a dog, it’s missing. Cops told you it ran away. You got a garden?”
“Yes,” the certainty had started to leave her voice. “A walled garden.”
“And anytime you’re in there, you feel like you’re being watched.”
At that, her hand came out of her purse empty and she approached me with the fear I had seen in her eyes now on her face.
“How did you know?”
“I’d rather not explain out here,” I said sheepishly running my hand through my sandy brown hair that only started getting flecks of gray. “But you got a…pest problem.”
“And you can do something about it? I’ve had exterminators, cops, nature lovers…even a priest.”
“None of those won’t do you any good and I don’t want to scare ya but it’s more active which is not a good sign.”
For a few moments, I could see the indecision in her eyes. The desperate want to dismiss me as a lunatic but whatever she had heard or seen won over.
“Fine. You can follow me to the house.”
“Mind if I hitch a ride?”
The woman started but then looked at my truck. “Promise. I mean you no harm. I really think you’re in danger.”
That was when I found her name was Isabelle Walker.
We left my truck in long-term parking after she told the attendant that I was a long lost relative and that’s why the change of demeanor. I don’t know if he believed her but at that point, I don’t think he cared. I left my truck with its metallic frame standing tall and proud amidst the rows of other vehicles.
I did not realize how desperate this woman was until we got going on the road. I had loaded myself in the passenger seat after pulling out my military backpack from the war which I also used for my auditing services and tried to look as harmless as a man of my stature could.
For the first fifteen minutes of the drive, her focus was on the lonely road, those beautiful eyes darting to me anytime I shifted my weight. I didn’t want to scare her so it was her that spoke first.
“What is it?”
“I really don’t know but the people in my profession call it a Bone Walker.”
The nose crinkled in disbelief.
“Halloween is not for a few more months, Mister…”
“Jones. Frank Jones.”
The James Bond reference caused her to snort in amusement.
“I don’t know what to tell ya, ma’am, except I’ve dealt with some pretty scary things out there. Normally I’m never this forward as most people try to call the cops on me or dismiss me as a lunatic. I mean, I could be a lunatic but I know what I’ve seen.”
“And that is…?”
“You know. Ghosts, vampires, werewolves. They’re real. They’re not common but real nevertheless.”
“Really?”
There was still the disbelief in Isabelle’s voice but I grew to ignore things like this.
“Sure. I mean, think of all the things you experienced and be open to alternate answers.”
Isabelle was quiet for a few minutes and then sighed. “Either you are telling the truth or you're the biggest liar and I’m a fool that’s not going to live through this night.”
“I promise,” I tried to reassure her. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
After a few more minutes and off the main highway, we approached her home. The large house stood resolute amidst the dense, ancient forest, its weathered exterior a testament to the passing of time. It was a grand structure, its imposing presence commanding attention. The sprawling estate exuded an air of mystery and faded grandeur, as if it held stories whispered through generations.
As we pulled in, the main house loomed before me, its facade adorned with intricate woodwork and worn stone. Ivy crept along the walls, weaving an emerald tapestry that hinted at the passage of years. The windows, framed by elegant yet slightly cracked panes, stared out into the world with a mixture of curiosity and melancholy.
To the side, a large shed stood detached from the main house, its weathered boards echoing tales of forgotten tools and lost endeavors. The wooden structure sagged under the weight of time, its roof covered in a patchwork quilt of moss. Inside, shadows danced amidst remnants of a bygone era, rusty equipment and dusty shelves attesting to the once-bustling activity that had long since ceased.
Not far from the shed, a family cemetery nestled amongst the ancient trees. Tombstones, adorned with intricate carvings and weathered inscriptions, dotted the landscape. The hallowed ground exuded a solemn tranquility, as if time stood still in reverence for those who rested eternally in its embrace. Wisps of fog clung to the grassy knolls, lending an ethereal quality to the sacred space.
At the far end of the property, an old walled garden stood as a testament to the house's former splendor. Once vibrant and lush, the garden now appeared overgrown and untamed. Stone paths meandered through a sea of tangled foliage, leading to hidden nooks and forgotten corners. Dilapidated stone benches, adorned with intricate carvings, sat scattered throughout the garden, silent witnesses to a time when laughter and conversation filled the air.
As I stood amidst the silence of the forest, the house, shed, cemetery, and walled garden formed a tapestry of history and mystery. They were a testament to the ebb and flow of life, the remnants of a bygone era that clung to the present. Within their weathered walls, secrets whispered and memories danced, waiting to be discovered by those who dared to venture into their enigmatic embrace.
“Great place to be haunted, huh?” she said with sarcasm. “My ex left it to me in the divorce. Was only going to be here long enough to sell it but no one wants it and my job wants me to move to this state anyway.”
“Where are you originally from?”
“California.”
“So, this is definitely a change of scenery for you,”
Isabelle only hummed back at me as she fumbled for her keys in the dying light of evening. I pulled my backpack closer to me as my eyes scanned the treeline where the shadows had begun to deepen. Nothing stood out against the silhouettes of ancient trees which was a good sign. I wasn’t too late.
Stepping through the weathered front door, I entered the interior of the old house, greeted by a mix of nostalgia and faded elegance. The air carried a hint of mustiness, a reminder of the countless years the house had to have witnessed. As my eyes adjusted to the dim light filtering through the stained-glass windows, I could make out the clash between old decor and the modern furniture Isabelle had bought.
The foyer, adorned with a worn, threadbare rug. The walls, once adorned with portraits and intricate wallpaper, now bore the markings of time's passage. The wooden banister of the grand staircase, polished with use, creaked softly under my touch as we made our way towards the living room.
Moving further into the house, I found myself in a spacious living room. Large, ornate windows which would have allowed slivers of daylight to filter through the heavy velvet curtains. The walls were adorned with faded wallpaper. An aged fireplace, its stone mantle adorned with trinkets and old photographs, served as the heart of the room.
“You want some coffee?” Isabelle asked, throwing her keys on to the coffee table. I sat down on her couch and dropped my backpack on it with a clunk.
“Sure.”
“Sugar?”
“A lot.”
The kitchen light clicked on and I heard her moving about setting up the coffee pot. The adrenalin was now pumping through me as my mind raced. I’m not going to go into a lot of detail on what a Bone Walker is but it’s a creature that usually haunts the western coast. It being so far out east was strange. I pulled out my old gun bag and unrolled it. My Stevens Model 520-30 “Trench” shotgun was the first thing I reached for as I popped open the internal pouch holding he high flash shells I was glad I packed. It was the startled sound from Isabelle that made me quickly look up.
She stood there with my coffee, eyes locked on the shotgun in my hand. I slowly held up one of the cartridges I was planning to load.
“Flash powder shotgun shells. No load. Just makes a loud noise and a bright white light. What we’re facing lives in the shadows and hates light…normally,” I had heard stories that they could strike in the day but it was extremely rare. She didn’t need to know that.
“Oh,” was her quiet response. “Do…do I need a gun?”
“You know how to use one?”
“No.”
“Then it’ll do more harm than good. You got any flashlights?”
Isabelle nodded mutely, the gravity of the situation sinking in at the array of weapons and items in my pack laid out in front of her.
“Go get them.”
While she was gone, I quickly unloaded the silver bullets out of my Makarov pistol (a gift from a Viet Cong officer and a story for another time) and placed normal 9mm rounds in the clip. I had it holstered under my jacket with the two back up clips when she returned with three cheap flashlights.
“One in your hand and one in your pocket.”
“Why?”
“In case you drop the one you are holding.”
The woman obeyed silently.
As night fell quickly around us, I slung my shotgun over my shoulder and with Isabelle close, we made our way upstairs. There were tell tale signs I needed to check as the only advantage I had over this thing was the fact it stuck to a pattern. If it was at the stage I thought it was, there would be signs.
“Which room is yours?” I asked.
Isabelle pointed to a door down the hallway across from a large window. Approaching it, I quickly shined my flashlight at the mahogany door frame. It was the glint that caught my eye. Deep gouges in the wood.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Claw marks,” I responded. There was no use sugar coating anything now.
“This thing was in my house?” Isabelle said horrified.
“For the last few weeks now,” I said, my nose picking up the faint odor of dirt and mud.
“Why didn’t it attack me then?”
“It wasn’t time.”
“What?”
Talking was going to be the only thing to keep her focused. I had felt the world shift a bit as night fell and I needed her not to panic.
“Bone Walkers are ritualistic creatures. They are very choosy over their prey. It can take a month or two before they move in. That’s why they are so hard to catch.”
“Criteria? Like what?”
“We don’t know.”
That was the honest truth. The only reason we knew their existence and patterns was thanks to blind luck and people surviving their encounters. I showed my light around looking for other signs. Discolored stains in the corners where shadows would naturally form, healthy moss and mold that shouldn’t be there. I found a patch around her bed. She did not notice and I did not want to tell her that it probably stood over her through the night watching her sleep. The sooner I buried this thing, the better.
“Frank!”
There was a trill of terror in Isabelle’s voice and I immediately looked to where she was. The woman was standing by her bedroom window staring out at something. I quickly moved and spotted what she saw. In the forest, at the edge of the shadow cast by the moonlight was an almost, imperceptible form. It stood nine feet, hunched over like a broken scarecrow, its owl like eyes staring back at us.
“Shit,” I muttered. Thank god we had turned on the lights as we went.
It was the flash of light and the crack of thunder that heralded the arrival of the storm. The lights of this old houses flickered which caused my belly to flop a few times. My brain was on fire as I glanced back from the lightbulb to where the creature was and found it had vanished.
“Where did it go?”
I did not have time to explain as another crack of lightning caused the lights to dim. I grabbed Isabelle roughly by the arm and yanked her back down the hallway towards the living room where I had left my stuff. We barely made it to the living room when the lights dimmed low. I grasped the glow sticks out of the bag, cracked a handful and scattered them about, their bright yellow light beginning to glow. The power then went out bathing us only in the eerie glow of the emergency lighting.
As we waited in breathless anticipation, the storm struck, its wrath manifesting in torrential rain. The mansion seemed to respond, succumbing to a power outage that plunged us into an abyss of blackness only moments before.
A trill of terror coursed through me. I knew this Bone Walker thrived in darkness, using it as a cloak to conceal its malevolence. We auditors were not sure if it actually teleported or it preferred to move in pitch darkness. I just knew that the black was our biggest threat.
For a few moments, we could only hear the ragged breathing of the two of us being drowned out by the pounding rain against shingle and glass. Isabelle had wound her hand into my jacket pocket and was gripping it tightly, I could feel her shaking with terror. I kept my shotgun gripped tightly in my hand listening for the tell tale sound of its arrival.
It was the movement out of the corner of my eye and the fact her grip got tighter on my jacket. I swiftly turned on my high-powered flashlight as I spun around and the brilliant beam pierced the obscure corner of the room. No matter what I had read or seen before did not prepare me for what I saw.
It stood there in the corner, its eight foot height engulfing that section of the house. My eyes strained as it appeared the thing was struggling to stay in focus. Its arms were too long for its body, spindly and almost to the floor while the legs appeared backwards giving it a strange forward leaning look. It wore a hunter’s long coat and trousers but through the rips and tears I could make out something squirming and moving underneath. The air filled with the stench of decaying plants and diseased vegetation. Its face was covered with what looked like the remnants of a cheap bandanna but its owl-like eyes gleaned back with malevolence.
Isabelle whimpered, her fear palpable in the room and the Bone Walker lunged toward us. Even though my fear was ripping through me like an unstoppable train, I had the sense to pull the trigger of my shotgun aimed in its direction. The flash and resounding roar painted the entire room in a brilliant black and white shadow causing every corner and edge to appear thick and vivid. The creature screamed and fell to the side into the shadow not illuminated by the weapon’s fire.
Isabelle had thrown herself on the couch and was huddled there, trembling with terror, while I moved quickly to crack a few more glow sticks and toss them into the dark corners of the room. In one, I saw its foot recoil back into the kitchen where it was darker than night itself. This was quicker than I had anticipated. The plans I had been formulating on the drive were no longer viable. I wanted to lure it to where I controlled the battlefield but that was not an option anymore. This had become a cat and mouse game and I knew this was with a predator I could not even hope to understand and had years to hone.
Out of the kitchen again this thing charged forward, relentless in its pursuit, it was trying to find a way around my light barrier which only appeared to slow it down. With shaking hands, I fired several more rounds, each blast forcing the creature to retreat and the girl to scream in terror. As soon as it retreated to a dark part of the house, I turned to where the woman of the house had been. To my horror, Isabelle's fear had gotten the best of her. In that moment of panic, she darted from the safety of the light, towards the hallway and the door outside.
“Isabelle! Stop!” I yelled trying to command her back with my voice but I doubted she heard me. Between the abject horror and the relentless rain, she was going to take her chance. A chance I knew she did not have.
I only took a step when I sensed it. The musty smell of an organic landfill overwhelmed me as the form silently darted past me, its long arm clobbering me up the side of the head. The world spun as pain burst through my brain. I felt the world tilt and fall heavily to the ground, flashlight and shotgun falling away.
As I slipped in and out of consciousness, I knew I was a sitting duck for this thing. There was no way for me to stop it from ripping me to shreds like some of the corpses I had seen. As I blinked, I came to my senses and realized I was alone. How long I had actually been on the ground, I did not know.
I sat up, my head pounding and I could see the door hanging open, the wind slamming the door on its hinges and the rain soaking the hallway floor. Struggling, I found my flashlight and gun and pulled myself together.
There was a slim chance that Isabelle was still alive. I had to think. Where would it go? I ran all the stories I could think of and then it hit me. The garden. The walled garden.
I charged into the rain-soaked night. I sprinted toward the enclosed garden at the edge of the property. As I grew closer, I saw that the rusted door was open and hope flickered in my soul. As I came to a stop, I brought my flashlight up again with my shotgun and saw it.
This creature stood there in the middle of the overgrown garden, its massive clawed hand wrapped around Isabelle’s chest and holding her up. Out from under its bandanna mask, putrid vines had appeared and led up to Isabelle’s face where they were forcing their way down her throat and up her nose. I could see the wide terror in her eyes as vines were snaking their way around her waist and I did not want to think about what they were planning to do.
I brought up the shotgun again and fired. Knowing that I had distance, the flash of light caught the creature by surprise. It shrieked as it fell back. Trying desperately not to release its prey. I did not hesitate to grab the machete at my side and hack at its arm until Isabelle fell down free of it.
It’s claw swiped at me striking me on the leg and easily tearing through my pants leaving bloody lacerations but I put the weapon point blank and fired another round. I do not know if it was the flash, the combination of the creature, or that the almighty above was looking out for me, but the creature caught ablaze from the spark.
It fell back swinging wildly as the fire spread unnaturally fast catching the plants around it on fire. Within a matter of seconds, the walled garden had become ablaze with the bone walker in the center. As I ripped the vines out of Isabelle’s mouth and dragged her towards the door, I looked up to see those owl-like eyes looking at me with such abject hatred that the look stick with me today.
I honestly don’t know how we survived. I had helped Isabelle to her porch and we both passed out against our will from the sheer terror and exhaustion. We were awoken by the sound of a siren. The lights had come back on sometime in our sleep and the rain had drifted off to a comforting drizzle. The fire was still raging in the garden but contained by the ancient walls. At least two fire trucks, an ambulance and cops were flying up the private road towards us.
This entire hunt had been ill-planned and stupid. I knew it. As the cops approached with their hand on their pistols, I knew that I had allowed my own ego to get in the way. I should have taken Isabelle somewhere else until I had done a proper reconnaissance. I shouldn’t have taken her home where it was waiting. And now, the cops were looking at two thoroughly soaked humans, one a trucker with a wound and a gun and a young lady in distress. I was pretty sure I was going to go to jail.
“Isabelle?” One of the cops and his voice caused her to sit up, relief washing over her.
“Derek!” she wailed. “We were attacked! In the garden!”
Another two cops that had arrived had taken off in that direction while Derek helped the girl up and took her towards the ambulance. The other cop with a comically large mustache looked at me with keen eyes, his hand still on his pistol, sergeant stripes glowing in the light.
“Attacked?”
“Yeah,” I said, sitting up slowly and keeping my hand away from the shotgun and trying not to show the one under my jacket. “Someone came after Mrs. Walker. They were in the garden.”
The cop watched me closely but there seemed to be a recognition in his eyes.
“You by any chance Frank Jones?”
My heart jumped and I must have looked startled as the cop’s face broke into a smile. To my relief, his hand fell away from his holstered sidearm.
“I’ll take that for a yes. My guess is you don’t remember me. Clay Wilson. Santa Fe PD, about six years ago. You helped my partner with a...problem. Nellie Nelson?”
I knew the name but the face escaped me.
“She told me you helped her audit a police union building.”
“Ah, yes,” I said, remembering dealing with the wraith and the twinge in my right arm from it’s bite.
The cop looked towards the fire that was slowly being put out by the fire fighters.
“Any chance this will be one of your audits?”
“Yeah.”
He seemed to think for a few minutes and then nodded.
“Then I think you need to grab that shotgun of yours and hitch a ride with me before too many people ask questions. Whatcha think?”
I nodded. I was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I collected my stuff quickly from the living room and made my way back out where he was waiting. As I limped with the cop to his car, I looked towards Isabelle who was being held by the other. She gave me a look of thankfulness as the cop looked at his partner with confusion.
“Her brother’s got her,” Clay said, opening the back door for me. I was not gonna argue or fight. If he took me to jail or not.
And that was it. My leg was not as bad off as I thought and wrapped it in the back of the police car. Clay only asked where I wanted to go and he took me back to my truck. With that time, I was back on the road with that small town in the rear view mirror.
I never did find out what happened to Isabelle after that, if another creature came looking for her or if she had a chance to live in peace. I just knew that we both barely made it out alive and that was due to my own stupidity. I was furious with myself for weeks after that and told myself I wouldn’t put another person in jeopardy like that again. At least, despite my idiocy, another life was saved and another monster was put in the ground...I hoped. I never did find out if
they found a body.
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2023.06.05 01:14 Alarming_Tooth_4363 21 F. Temporarily moving back into parent's messy, emotionally turbulent home. Need advice!
Hi everyone, I am open to all third-person perspectives, opinions, and advice on this situation.Thank you in advance.
So, I am moving back into my parents home after 3 years of living with my boyfriend. The reason behind this is because we are moving cross country, and there is no point in signing another lease for only a few months (also we don't really know when we will be leaving because my job is currently transferring me to a different office which takes some time). This means that I will be stuck having to live at my parents home for 1-4 months.
Just some cliff notes about my parents house for some context: My relationship to my mom is great although she is definitely mentally ill and neglected me as a child. She exhibited signs of hoarding throughout my whole life. My stepfather doesn't speak to me at all because I retaliated against him in high school (4 years ago), for him being emotionally abusive towards my mom. He would scream at her until she'd be in tears and I would often scream back. In the middle of all of this would be my step-brother. We don't have a very good relationship, but it's been getting better every time I see him since he's entered his early adolescence. My parent's home is a persistent construction zone. It is a huge dusty mess, and my stepfather starts projects before completing previous ones, which leaves very little habitable clean space to simply exist. My stepfather also sleeps on a mattress on the floor in the living room next to the front door, which he refuses to get rid of. This has been the case for the past 8 years. He is barely ever home and the entire atmosphere of the home changes negatively when he is there.
The reason I moved out to begin with was because my boyfriend's parents kicked him out (they are rich, posh assholes living in a McMansion) in the very beginning of COVID, since they suddenly deemed he had a drug problem and was unsafe to be around. They simply left him to his own devices after enrolling him in an ADULT rehab care facility for marijuana abuse for 6 months and some change, at only 19 years old. He was homeless, and his parents were dismissing him. At that point, we had been together through all of high school, so I thought it would be a wise idea to sneak him into my second story bedroom and have him live there for as long as I could manage. I went as far as installing a rope ladder onto my roof for him, so he could leave to hand out his resume at local businesses that were hiring. I hid him in my 60's themed room, and he had plenty of space to hang out thanks to all my intricate mandala tapestries I had hanging up.
We were so determined to both find jobs so we could move out and not have to deal with our toxic families anymore. However, at a the second week of my rouge operation, my mom noticed that I had left my phone in my bathroom and brought it into my room to give to me. This is when she found my boyfriend and I on my bed watching..... Ratatouille.... Sigh. She flipped out on me and pulled me downstairs while my boyfriend stayed in my bedroom. I explained the situation to her and my stepfather but they were both screaming at me and refusing to listen. Then, my mom called the police and my boyfriend and I packed a bag within 5 minutes.
Long story short, we were homeless for a week couch surfing at my friend's parent's houses and ultimately winded up having to sleep in a tent. Meanwhile, his parents did not care, and my parents took it too personally to see the situation for what it truly was. Two homeless kids in an unsafe park. During our time in the park, we were robbed and shot with BB guns, and even then our parents did not care to let us stay in their home. This shitshow ended with us being able to both find jobs within the span of a month, saving money and renting out an apartment together at not even 20 years old with no help. I was heartbroken.
Fastforward to now, three years later, I work in a major tech company with no degree and received an opportunity to move cross country to a place I've always dreamed of living. I've fostered a healthy, clean home with my boyfriend and my cat, and we are all ready to move. Our lease ends soon, and we will be separating temporarily and living at our parent's houses. I will be with my cat at my moms, which I am very unhappy about.
Today, I tried to talk to her about how stressful of an environment it is for me and asked her if she would consider therapy for the sake of my stepbrother, in the nicest way possible. She got very defensive and very sad. I feel like an asshole. I don't want my immigrant mom to feel like I'm rude or selfish. I could hear in her voice how heartbroken she was when I told her that she exhibits some hoarding behaviors, and that it impacts my brother and I. I also talked to her about therapy and, my stepdad. That she needs to either leave him or work on her marriage for the sake of her children.
I feel awful for having to lecture my mother on this. I also feel awful for getting ready to move as if I'm wiping my hands clean of the very much unresolved situation and moving on. I need advice on how to move forward.
TL;DR I feel awful for having to lecture my mother on this. I also feel awful for getting ready to move as if I'm wiping my hands clean of the very much unresolved situation and moving on. I need advice on how to move forward
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2023.06.05 01:04 North-Message4754 Our sleepy town has a secret that can't be revealed. [PART 1]
Please note that names have been changed for the sake of anonymity, as have also some events for the sake of simplicity and to help you understand the personalities.
Our city, once a humble town nestled in the embrace of the Andes Mountains, has undergone a remarkable transformation over the years. Evolving into a bustling capital and a prominent city within our country, it now stands as a symbol of progress and growth. Yet, beneath its surface of modernity and development, lies a hidden truth, a dark side that lurks in the shadows, concealed from the eyes of the uninitiated. It is a truth woven into the fabric of our city's history, whispered in tales of terror, and attributed to the elusive and enigmatic presence known as the "Twilight Menace." While outsiders may dismiss it as mere legend or the machinations of a criminal underworld, we, the locals, know better. We live in perpetual fear of this unseen terror that haunts our city.
And now, I find myself compelled to share this story with you, even as the memetic hazard surrounding the Twilight Menace threatens to erode my sense of reason. It is as if I am speaking to an inanimate object rather than a person, yet something within me tells me that you, a foreigner, possess the curiosity and open-mindedness necessary to understand and appreciate the fascinating and eerie history of our city.
Let me provide you with some much-needed context. The Twilight Menace is a term we have assigned to a group of nocturnal predators that have plagued our city for generations. They consist of ten distinct subspecies, each possessing its own unique characteristics and hunting techniques. Allow me to shed light on a few of them.
First among them are the Shadow Stalkers. These humanoid creatures boast pale or dark skin, sharp features, and unnaturally elongated limbs. Strikingly, they lack eyes, relying instead on their heightened sense of smell and acute hearing to track their unsuspecting prey. Like all members of the Twilight Menace, they are vaporized upon exposure to sunlight. Shadow Stalkers move with eerie silence within the shadows, patiently observing their targets for hours, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. It is worth noting that the largest known hunting party of Shadow Stalkers comprised a mere four members, prompting them to refrain from attacking when faced with a numerical advantage or disadvantage. The only known defense against them is to gather in groups of five or more, for it seems that their hunting instincts are deterred by such a formidable force.
Next, we encounter the Night Terrors, smaller and more agile than their Shadow Stalker counterparts. These creatures are adorned with fur as dark as the night itself, possessing razor-sharp jaws, claws, and piercing, luminescent eyes that aid their vision in the darkest of environs. What sets them apart is their uncanny ability to create illusions, disorienting their prey and rendering them vulnerable to capture. Similar to their brethren, they dissipate into nothingness upon exposure to sunlight. Unlike the Shadow Stalkers, however, the Night Terrors exhibit no hesitation in attacking their victims even when faced with a numerical disadvantage.
Another subspecies of the Twilight Menace is the Dread Fiends, hulking creatures draped in dark fur and bearing piercing yellow eyes that emit an otherworldly glow. They possess unmatched speed and move through the darkness with uncanny silence, often launching surprise attacks from behind. Their powerful jaws and claws allow them to mercilessly rend their victims apart, reveling in sadistic pleasure as they toy with their prey before finally delivering the fatal blow.
We must also contend with the Blood Mist Creatures, amorphous blobs of mist capable of shape-shifting at will. These entities often assume the form of a menacing, misty cloud, complete with glowing red eyes that flicker ominously. Their method of attack involves engulfing their prey in their ethereal mist, suffocating them while simultaneously absorbing their life-giving blood.
The ranks of the Twilight Menace also include the Silent Horrors, tall and gaunt figures reminiscent of the Shadow Stalkers. They possess long, spindly limbs and an eerie absence of facial features. Swift and soundless in their movements, they strike from the shadows, relying on their ability to induce paralyzing fear within their victims before delivering the final, fatal blow.
Another formidable adversary is the Dark Whispers, small and ghostly creatures resembling a swirling black mist adorned with gleaming green eyes. These elusive entities can effortlessly traverse through walls and floors, making them virtually impossible to evade. With their insidious whispers, they sow seeds of madness in the minds of their victims, driving them to the brink of insanity before ultimately sealing their fate.
The Graveyard Ghosts, skeletal apparitions with glowing red eyes, haunt the resting places of the deceased, emerging from the ground to assail unsuspecting victims. Their unique ability to phase through solid objects grants them an advantage in their pursuit of prey.
Among the Twilight Menace, we also encounter the Moon Howlers, creatures reminiscent of wolves with their black fur and hauntingly radiant blue eyes. These formidable hunters operate in packs, utilizing their sharp teeth and claws to bring down their chosen targets. Their haunting howls under the moonlight have a paralyzing effect, rendering their victims immobile with fear and vulnerability. The Moon Howlers are known to encircle their prey, amplifying the terror and panic experienced before delivering the final, fatal strike.
No discussion of the Twilight Menace would be complete without mentioning the Soul Snatchers, small and elusive creatures cloaked in shadows, their purple eyes glowing with an unholy light. Possessing an ethereal nature, they can effortlessly phase through walls and floors, rendering physical barriers futile. The Soul Snatchers are infamous for their ability to steal the very souls of their victims, leaving behind only empty shells of once vibrant beings.
Lastly, we have the Phantom Hunters, tall and ethereal figures that appear ghostlike, their piercing white eyes glowing with an otherworldly radiance. Often found in areas burdened by great tragedy or loss, these relentless hunters show no mercy to their prey. With the ability to pass through solid objects, they haunt their victims relentlessly, seizing control of their very essence before ultimately snuffing out their lives.
The abilities possessed by these entities may indeed instill terror and a sense of hopelessness. It may appear as though there is no conceivable way to counter their menace. However, there exists a method to confront and challenge them, albeit one that is only accessible to a chosen few. Fortunately, I am among the privileged individuals bestowed with this ability. My means of defense manifests in the form of a sword, an instrument of freezing cold capable of temporarily banishing these entities back to their home realm, known as the twilight lands.
You may wonder about the fate of those who lack the means to defend themselves. Do they inevitably succumb to the Twilight Menace? This is where the second part of the legend takes hold. We possess a protector, a human chosen from the multitude, tasked with wielding the fabled sword of Nott. Despite its connotation in certain languages, the sword stands as a potent tool bestowed upon the most loyal subject of the sun god, harnessing the very power of the sun itself. Any adversary unfortunate enough to cross paths with this radiant weapon is instantly consumed by its searing light, vanishing into oblivion. This chosen protector assumes the mantle of "Phantome."
The enigmatic Phantome remains veiled in mystery, an elusive figure who seemingly possesses the ability to be present in multiple locations simultaneously. They are the sole individuals granted permission to traverse the realm of the Twilight Menace, engaging in communication with these ethereal beings. Although no one has ever laid eyes upon Phantome, the blinding brilliance of the sword's collision with the enemy stands as a testament to their unwavering presence and devotion.
Let me introduce myself properly. My name is Sean van Delphi, and I'm no ordinary teenager. At just 15 years old, I have already faced more dangers and challenges than most adults. As a monster hunter, it's my job to protect the city from supernatural threats that lurk in the shadows. But that's not all there is to my life. When I'm not fighting monsters, I'm just a regular high school student. I attend New Lands, a private school located near my home. To get there, I ride my trusty electric bicycle - I mean, why waste energy on pedaling when I can conserve it for hunting down creatures of the night?
My house may be small, but it's my home. It was built when this area was still rural, but over time it has become a suburban haven, located just outside the bustling capital city. And believe me, when I say that what I'm about to tell you might sound unbelievable, I really mean it. But I need you to trust me, because what I'm about to share is the truth - and the truth can be stranger than fiction.
I live with the monsters I hunt.
My last name is not commonly found in this part of the world, with its European roots (until I experienced the supernatural firsthand, I was skeptical of the legends). My parents, a Dutch father and a Polish mother, chose this small Andean city as the place to start their new life together, and I was born shortly after their arrival. While I wish I could say more about them, my memories of my parents are few, but I do know that they loved me dearly and sacrificed everything for me. Their loss is one of the main reasons why I hunt monsters.
After my parents' death, I was left alone in the world. I spent at least a year wandering the city like a vagabond before stumbling upon my new family: a group of Phantom Hunters. They were searching for survivors of an explosion that had occurred in a nearby restaurant and, in my desperation, I was prepared to become possessed by a supernatural entity. Instead, they took me in and brought me to their home. I still don't understand why they were willing to take such a risk on a stranger, but I am eternally grateful for their kindness and generosity.
With the context out of the way, I’ll tell you my story and how it changed this city forever. It was a normal day, as normal as it can get in this city. I was at school, bored out of my mind, the teacher was giving a lecture about Figurative Language. I guess it was important to learn English but the way the teacher spoke about it just made me want to sleep. I yawned, then nudged my friend Mike to keep him awake. If I was going to be tormented by idioms, he was going to be tormented by metaphors and similes too. I glanced at the clock, it read 1:15 p.m.. Only 5 more minutes until recess, I thought, you just need to stay awake for 5 more minutes Sean. I then glanced at the schedule, I groaned, it was a monday, which meant we had English, recess and then English again. I wanted to kill myself, I wouldn’t be able to last those last 40 minutes. Time ticked by extremely slowly, I swear I nodded off at least 15 times before the bell rang, indicating that recess had started.
As I did every day, I headed to the nearest court, where all my friends were, to play volleyball. Today, however, the teacher denied us a ball, so we were left on our own trying to find what to do. I remember myself thinking Oh god, first English class and then this while I made my way to the parking lot, where there are 2 basketball courts. On the way, I passed through some young ones playing soccer. I figured I had nothing else to do so I took a seat at the edge of the field and watched the game unfold. I knew some of the people that were playing because my adoptive… foster brother was their age and up until some years ago he had been in the same school as me, that was until he decided to change to his old school. Oh, sorry I forgot, over the years, my family has adopted 2 other people, my brother (not related by blood) who is 12 years old, and my little sister (also not related by blood) who just turned 5 last week.
As I was saying, I had just taken a seat to admire the game when I was approached by 3 girls, they seemed the same age as my brother so I dismissed it as probably some of his friends coming to ask me “Oh, are you Jean’s older brother?”. I won’t disclose a lot of details about this conversation because I don’t really remember it that much, but I remember the start of the conversation because it was hilarious.
“Hi! Do you know she likes you?” the girl to the left, she was of average height, had a slightly tanned skin tone and wore glasses, greeted me cheerfully at the end of her dialogue she pointed to the one in the middle, a little bit taller than the first had a pale skin tone and a dark brown hair, the latter put a hand on the girl’s mouth only to recoil with an “EWWW”; they started bickering and wouldn’t calm down for at least five minutes.
“I’m sorry for my friends’ behavior,” The third girl interrupted, by far the tallest of them, standing just five or six inches shorter than me, even though I’m a good 5’9”, she had the appearance of a foreigner, I didn’t know many locals who were blonde with blue eyes, she spoke with a slightly off tone and when I looked at her in the eyes, I felt like my fight or flight instinct was kicking in, panic bells rang off inside my head, but not because I was talking to someone I liked, I didn’t, this feeling… I had only felt this feeling when my life was in imminent danger, like if I was being followed by a shadow stalker. “Name’s Zeph” It took me a moment to react, “Sean”. “Good to meet you” she said, and then proceeded to introduce her still bickering friends. “She’s Holly” she said as she pointed to the one in the middle, “and she is Sam” she pointed to the one on the left. The conversation that ensued in something I can’t recall, the only thing I remember is feeling weary all the time. There was this aura of calmness emanating from Zeph, it was so calm that it bothered me, like how a silent horror would attack its prey.
After the conversation, I left the soccer field and headed to the basketball court where Mike and the others were. I quickly told them what had happened, and Mike was ecstatic. “You’ve got yourself a girlfriend, Sean!” he said, with a huge grin on his face. “Shut up, Mike, I don’t even know if she likes me like that,” I replied, rolling my eyes. We started playing basketball, and I couldn’t stop thinking about Zeph. There was something strange about her, something that made me feel uneasy.
The bell rang, indicating that recess was over, and we headed back to class. I couldn’t focus on the lecture, my mind kept wandering back to Zeph. I decided to look her up on social media, and to my surprise, I found her profile easily. I scrolled through her pictures, trying to learn more about her. There were pictures of her at the beach, pictures of her with her friends, and even pictures of her playing guitar. I couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was something off about her, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
The next day passed by slowly, and as soon as the bell rang, indicating that classes were over, I rushed home. I went straight to my room, turned on my computer, and started researching. I spent hours reading about different cultures, different religions, and different beliefs. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with Zeph, but I knew that there was something.
Days passed, and I couldn’t get Zeph out of my head. I tried talking to her, but every time I did, I felt the same uneasiness that I felt the first time we talked. I decided to talk to my parents about her, but they didn’t seem to know anything about her. I tried talking to my friends, but they just laughed at me, thinking it was some sort of lame excuse to try to throw them off of bothering me with her. Then, one day out of the blue, the group of three decided that I was their perfect victim to their bickering.
As I waited for my parents to come and pick me up from school, I couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling that crept up on me. My bicycle had been totaled in an earlier fight, and I didn't feel comfortable walking, especially in the areas where darkness lingered, tempting unsuspecting victims into traps. Ignoring the ominous atmosphere, I tried to focus on something else, anything else.
"Hey!" Suddenly, I felt someone grab my arm, sending shivers down my spine. Sensitivity to touch was a part of my condition, and physical contact with others often made me feel claustrophobic. I turned to see who had grabbed me and found myself face to face with Holly. The proximity made me jump, and I knew I had to keep my guard up in case of a fight.
As I tried to compose myself, I felt something move behind me. I tried to turn around, but when I did, there was nothing there. Dread filled me, and I debated whether to draw my sword or not. In the end, I decided against it.
I turned my attention back to Holly, only to be met by Zeph, who appeared out of nowhere and scared me out of my wits. The uneasy feeling in my gut grew stronger, and I couldn't help but wonder what kind of trouble I had gotten myself into.
Out of the shadows emerged Sam, whom I hadn't noticed before. My gut feeling intensified as I looked around, trying to find a way to escape. I was trapped, backed against a tree and surrounded by a group of wild 12-year-olds.
"How are you doing?" Sam grinned, her glasses reflecting the sun, hiding her eyes. I searched for a way out and saw Holly standing arrogantly in front of me, while Zeph was on my right. As soon as I met Zeph's gaze, I expected to feel a sense of dread, but instead, I felt nothing.
“Hey, don’t be rude. Sam asked you a question,” Holly said, stepping closer to me. I could feel her breath on my face.
“I’m fine,” I managed to say, trying to keep my voice steady. “Just waiting for my parents.”
“Oh, we know,” Zeph said, stepping closer to me as well. “We just wanted to chat. You know, get to know each other better.”
I swallowed hard, feeling like a trapped animal. “I really need to go. My parents are waiting.”
“Oh, come on,” Sam said, moving closer to me too. “We’re not going to hurt you.”
But I knew better. These kids were trouble, and I had a feeling that they were up to no good. I looked around, trying to find an escape route, but I was surrounded.
Just as I was about to panic, I heard the sound of a car pulling up. Relief washed over me as I saw my parents getting out of the car. The group of kids scattered, disappearing into the shadows like they had never been there
I quickly walked towards my parents, feeling safe now that they were there. As we drove away, I couldn't help but wonder what kind of trouble those kids would get into next. And I made a mental note to avoid them at all costs in the future.
I got into the car, my dad was there, the vehicle was dark, so his shining white eyes were so easily found. “Who are those people that were talking with you” He said, his speech a mix of natural sounds and low screeches, it was the Twilight Lang, their form of speech I had learnt through the years.
“They are some weird friends” I answered him, shuddering, then added “Thanks for saving me there, you were just on time”
I don’t know if he knew something was off or he was just suspicious of something but he looked directly at me through the rearview mirror, his pale face a mix of worry and relief.
“I’m glad to be of help, as always” We didn’t speak more during the return trip, he left me to wonder what my fate would’ve been if he hadn’t shown up just then.
As we arrived home, I went straight to my room, feeling exhausted and relieved at the same time. I lay on my bed, thinking about the events that had just occurred. I knew I had to be more careful in the future and avoid getting into situations like that.
But the nagging feeling in my gut wouldn't go away. I couldn't shake off the feeling that there was more to the encounter than what I had seen. I wondered why those kids had targeted me, and what they had wanted from me.
I went to school the next day, still feeling a bit uneasy after the encounter with the group of kids. As I walked through the halls, I caught glimpses of the girls from the day before. It was strange, but I didn't feel the same sense of dread that I had before. In fact, Zeph seemed different somehow, as if her aura of calmness had suddenly disappeared, at least for me.
As the day went on, I tried to avoid them as much as possible. I didn't want to get involved with them again, especially after what had happened the day before. However, they seemed to be everywhere, like they were purposely trying to cross paths with me.
At lunchtime, I sat alone in the cafeteria, trying to eat my sandwich in peace. But soon enough, Holly and Sam appeared at my table, uninvited.
"Hey there," Holly said, smirking at me. "Mind if we join you?"
I didn't really have a choice, so I just shrugged and nodded. They sat down across from me, and I couldn't help but feel uneasy.
"So" Holly said, looking expectantly at me. She didn't say anything more so silence reigned over our table.
"So?" I asked, eager to break the muteness in the air
Holly leaned forward, a wicked glint in her eye. "We were just wondering if you've changed your mind yet. About joining our group, I mean."
I shook my head, they hadn’t asked me anything before, but I wasn’t going to join their group even if I wanted to die. "No, I haven't changed my mind. I don't think I want to be a part of your group."
Holly's smile faded, and her expression turned cold. "Well, that's too bad. We could've had some fun together."
I tried not to let her words affect me, but I couldn't help feeling a little scared. What did she mean by "fun"? And why did they seem so fixated on me?
The rest of lunch was uncomfortable, and I couldn't wait to leave the cafeteria. As I walked down the hallway, I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around and saw Zeph walking towards me.
"Hey," she said, her voice soft and hesitant. "Can we talk?"
I was surprised by her sudden change in demeanor, but I nodded anyway. We walked to an empty classroom and sat down at a desk.
"I just wanted to apologize," Zeph said, looking down at her hands. "For what happened yesterday. We didn't mean to scare you like that."
I wasn't sure if I believed her, but I appreciated the apology nonetheless. "Thanks," I said, still feeling wary.
Zeph looked up at me, her eyes searching mine. "I know Holly and Sam can be a bit intense sometimes. But they're not all bad. We just...we have our own way of having fun, you know?"
I raised an eyebrow. "What kind of fun?"
Zeph hesitated for a moment before speaking. "It's hard to explain. We just like to do things that are a little...different. Things that other people might not understand."
I couldn't help but feel a little intrigued. "Like what?"
Zeph smiled, seeming to relax a little. "Well, for example, we like to explore abandoned buildings. Or go on night hikes in the woods. Stuff like that."
I wasn't sure how to respond. On one hand, it sounded kind of exciting. On the other hand, it also sounded kind of dangerous.
Zeph must have sensed my hesitation because she quickly added, "But of course, we only do those things when it's safe. We're not stupid or anything."
I nodded, still not completely convinced. "I don't know, it just seems kind of risky."
Zeph shrugged. "It's not for everyone, I guess. But if you ever change your mind, you're always welcome to come along."
With that, our conversation ended, and we left the classroom. As I walked away, I couldn't help but think about what she had said. Maybe there was more to these girls than I had originally thought.
Oh how correct I was.
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2023.06.05 01:02 Successful_Move_158 40 Day Itinerary Check
Hi! I’m going on a 40 day solo trip to Japan next June. (I know that’s a long way away but I love to plan.) I’ve always loved the idea of solo travel and the culture in Japan but I’ve never had the chance to experience it myself.
As it is so far away and don’t like to have a ridged schedule I haven’t planned my exact day to day but I have a list of places I plan to visit while in each city.
Not sure if this is worth mentioning but I will be 18. I’m not sure how much this changes with Japanese laws.
Tokyo - 7 Nights
I would prefer to arrive at Haneda as I believe it’s closer to Shinjuku which is where I’ll be staying. I don’t plan to do much the first day.
General things to do and places to visit while staying in Shinjuku:
-Gyoen National Garden -Omoide Yokocho -View from Government Building -Kabukicho Tower -Kabukicho -Izakaya Hopping (but with ramen) -Book and Bed -Samurai Museum -Takadanobaba
Sapporo - 3 Nights
I would fly from Tokyo to Sapporo to get around the 10 hour train ride. (It’s also cheaper)
-Sapporo TV Tower -Odori Park -Tanuki Koji Shopping Street -Nijo Seafood Market -Susukino District @ Night -Ramen Alley -Mt. Moiwa -Fushimi Inari Temple -Hokkaido Modern Art Museum
Otaru - 2 Nights -Ice Cream -Walk around canal -Otaru Museum -Music Box Museum -Antique Shops -Sushi
Furano - 1 day (28 July) -Biei Pond -Shikosai no Oka -Cycling -Melon House??? -Hike
Nagoya - 2 Nights
Once again I would be flying to save money and time.
-Toyota Factory + Museum -Nagoya Science Museum -Osu Shopping Street -Explore Sakae -Walk Yamazaki River
Osaka - 5 Nights -Dotomdori District -Universal Studios Japan (probably not) -Osaka Castle -Shinsaibashi-Suji Shopping Street -Kuchu Teien Observatory -Namba Shops -Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine -Kuromon Market -Teamlab Osaka -Tenjinbashisuji
Kyoto - 3 Nights -Fushimi Inari-Taisha Shrine -Kinkajuji Shrine -Sanjusangendo Temple -Arashiyama -Gion -Monkey Park -Nishiki Market -Kyoto Tower -Mt Shosha
Hiroshima - 2 Nights (posibly 1 more for cat island) -Hiroshima Peace Museum -Hiroshima Castle -Miyajima Island -Ao Island (maybe)
Fukuoka - 2 Nights -Kushiro Shrine -Ohori Park -Uminonakamichi Seaside Park -Tenjin Underground Shopping -Fukuoka Tower -Nokonoshima Island -Momochi Seaside Park -Jim US Burger -Kuiyoiken Ramen
Okinawa - 3 Nights
I would be flying from Fukuoka to Okinawa.
-Shuri Castle -Churaumi Aquarium -Diving -Okinawa Peace Park -Mihama American Village -Kokusai Dori Street -Cape Manza -Miyako Island -Zamami Island
Hakone - 1 Night
I would fly from Okinawa to Tokyo. Then take a train to Hakone.
-Hot Spring -Chisuji Falls -Lake Ashi -Hakone Shrine
Enoshima -Iwaya Caves -Terrace Mall -Kamakura day trip -See the Town As cringe as it is I saw an anime a while back that impacted me. It is supposedly 1 for 1 set in the Enoshima area so it would be super cool.
Tokyo - 7 Nights (again)
This time I would stay in the Shibuya area.
-Meiji Jingu Shrine -Shibuya Crossing -Yoyogi Park -Hachiko Dog Statue (from that movie) -Takeshita Street -Cat Street -Shibuya Center-Gai -Shibuya Sky -Shibuya 109
If you have anything to add or suggestions, please share!
I would not be getting the JR pass as with the changes and my length of stay I would spend dramatically more money than I ever would just paying for everything with a Suica card (will all trains accept this? I know most will but will it pose a problem?)
Please let me know if you have any tips comments or concerns with my plans. I have a bunch of extra days laying around in Tokyo so I might do some day trips. Let me know if any you recommend.
I am expecting to spend about 8,000 USD on this trip. My breakdown is this. Does this all make sense. Obviously the less the better so if I hear I’m wrong that would be great. My plan for staying is AirBnB. In most places I would like to have a small kitchen. From the little bit I’ve seen I expect to spend 75 USD on average.
Budget:
$125 Daily Outline
———
$70 Housing
$40 Food
$15 Misc
———
Total Daily: $5,000
———
+$1,200 Flight
+$504 IC Card
+230 In Country
+$75 Sim Card
+$1221 Misc
———
Total Total: $8,000
Thanks a bunch!
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