Hi, I recently returned to NYC after doing a teaching exchange in Japan (career break/working holiday) for the last eight months. I used to work at a major tech company for 4 years and I’m trying to get back into my previous career as a technical writer, but honestly any job that’s remotely related would do. The job market has been terrible and I haven’t gotten any interviews in over 100+ applications. I have mostly been applying on LinkedIn, applying through company refferals, and messaging hiring managers directly. Any advice on how I can enhance my resume or job searching approach would be appreciated. Thank you so much 🙏

I'm just looking to get some opinions on the legality of this, as someone who knows nothing about it. I'm applying for jobs in the same field (pharmacy technician) that I've worked in for almost a year now. I found a pharmacy that is literally within walking distance of where I live, so, I happily applied. They have an in-store "We're hiring, and here is how to apply" infographic on the counter, as well as a job listing online for that store and for that position.
I submitted my application online, and about a week later, today, I walked into the store to show my face and let them know I had applied. The response from the tech at the counter was a heartfelt "I'm sorry, but we aren't hiring. In fact, we're cutting hours right now. There may be some other stores that are hiring right now, if you want to try those."
I'm not outright saying this is illegal, or fraud or whatever, but part of me wants something concrete for my frustration to latch onto. Part of the reason I left my old pharm tech job was because of cut hours leading to damn near unsafe working conditions when it comes to patient health. Why are there so many false listings? And how can you tell which are false?

Our company is looking for graduates with English/Literature/Journalism or allied courses background.
The candidate should have strong command with the English language. If you're interested or knows someone who is, please dm me.
The salary is very competitive (dependent on educational attainment and experience). Fresh grad is welcome to apply. Salary will be paid on a bi-monthly basis and is always on time.
Complete with HMO, and 13th month pay, Pag-Ibig, SSS, and other statutory benefits.
Make sure that you have TODiploma Ready. The application is completely online. PM me if interested
Note: This is a full-time job (we are not accepting part time)

Hello,
Sorry for the long post and I hope you take time to read this.
We are an emerging marketing consultancy in the UAE, dedicated to fortifying small to medium-sized businesses by enhancing their sales through effective marketing strategies. We optimize processes, aiding them in elevating their business by leveraging our comprehensive digital marketing solutions. We also offer training sessions for new customers to acquaint them with our marketing tools and strategies.
so basically our application is an all-in-one where you can integrate all your company's social media flatform into one application.
Example: You have meta, whatsapp, mails, linkedin, and SMS. when you connect it to our application, anyone who message you will be added to your contact and it's easier to for the users to transform and inquiries to a lead.
We are not offering just this feature, we also have an Calendar, Online-Consultation, AI integration, Automation, AI calling features (where AI will automatically give a call to the leads to gather information, like setting an appointment for you make the job much easier), Marketing (where you can plan your social media posts and contents), Online payments, reporting, opportunities, and more.
Basically anything you need in one application. Aside from that, we are offering unlimited user, so ideally if you have 10 people who do the admin, marketing and etc. You don't need to purchase subscription for each of them.
you can visit our link below:
https://ae.retrographic.digital/

Hi!
Our company is looking for graduates with English/Literature/Journalism or allied courses background.
The candidate should have strong command with the English language. If you're interested or knows someone who is, please dm me.
The salary is very competitive (dependent on educational attainment and experience). Fresh grad is welcome to apply. Salary will be paid on a bi-monthly basis and is always on time.
Complete with HMO, and 13th month pay, Pag-Ibig, SSS, and other statutory benefits.
Make sure that you have TODiploma Ready. The application is completely online. PM me if interested
Note: This is a full-time job (we are not accepting part time)

Our company is looking for graduates with English/Literature/Journalism or allied courses background.
The candidate should have strong command with the English language. If you're interested or knows someone who is, please dm me.
The salary is very competitive (dependent on educational attainment and experience). Fresh grad is welcome to apply. Salary will be paid on a bi-monthly basis and is always on time.
Complete with HMO, and 13th month pay, Pag-Ibig, SSS, and other statutory benefits.
Make sure that you have TODiploma Ready. The application is completely online. PM me if interested
Note: This is a full-time job (we are not accepting part time)

Hey Social strategy fans! Ever thought to yourself, "I could do it better than those people in the house!" Well here is the opportunity to prove it!
Big Brother Hometowns, a month long online Big Brother game played on Discord is casting for its 21st season, which will run from Saturday, June 15 - Saturday, July 20. You can expect engaging competitions, opportunities to let your social and strategic prowess shine and an overall fun time operated by a skilled production team.
That's not all! The winner will receive a $200 donation to a charity of their choice and some merch! Glad to answer any questions you may have. The application can be found here: https://forms.gle/fycNdU3mfRnFRJsh9

Does anyone else have terrible performance anxiety?? Recently I started wondering if my experience with my BPD mom contributed to this, as she critiqued EVERYTHING I did.
I’m 29 now but I still have theee worst anxiety when it comes to anything relating to other people’s opinions of me, like presenting, my career, and even just making food for people. I absolutely love baking but I can’t bring myself to making it for other people. My anxiety level around work is just off the charts and I worry it’ll never get better. I feel imposter syndrome with anything I do.
I have quit a few jobs just a couple days or weeks after starting, I’ve withdrawn my applications from places I’ve applied to when I’ve been asked to come in for an interview, I started doing freelance graphic design (I thought I might do better being my own boss) and had to stop because I didn’t think I was good enough and was terrified of rejection relating to my designs, I remember literally asking my teacher in high school if I could present my presentation facing the chalkboard instead of my class. Like it’s reeeaally bad…
Has anyone else experienced this and come out on the other side?

From 2019 to 2021 I (28, trans man) dated a woman (26F now). She was extremely physically abusive and tried to isolate me from my friends and family as well as ruin my connections with them which worked. In 2021 she ran off with some other guy she met online but honestly at that point I was more relieved than heartbroken. Living with her was hell. A few months later she begged me to take her back because things didn’t work out but I refused.
I thought I could just go back to my old life until I found out that when she said she’d “follow me to the ends of the earth and make sure I never found peace if I left her” she intended to make good on that.
She’s been stalking me. On one of my socials I noticed a weird account kept viewing my page and decided to see if it was anyone I knew. Turned out it was her. I later noticed similar accounts monitoring me on other social media (Facebook, Tumblr, etc). Keep in mind that after I refused to take her back I deleted all my socials and changed my phone number, email address and moved and resurfaced under a different screen name about a year later.
I need to circle back and give you some e background information on why I am so scared of her. She views herself as a vigilante. I found out while I was with her that I was not the first person she’s done this to.
Often times she feels like she hasn’t done enough and keeps tabs on people online. She had an ex boyfriend she did that too who I found out about long after she moved in with me. The guy relocated shortly after they broke up but she managed to dig up not only his new address but a bunch of other stuff like who he was living with and places he went to regularly. She had plans to come back and get revenge on him for dumping her and those two were only together for a few mont. We were together for a couple years and living together so I think she has something extra nasty in store for me, particularly since I started seeing someone else a couple years later.
People have dismissed my concerns because she’s “just a girl” and some even think I did something to deserve it. She tried to snap my cats neck, broke my nose by hitting me in the face with her big ass clunky phone, and attempted to stab me in the eye for talking to my aunt. She also told me that if I ever found anyone else after her she’d kill them. After some of the things she did to me I don’t think that was an empty threat.
Here’s the plan I’m trying make. I don’t think what she’s doing is limited to cyber stocking. I’ve been getting some really funny phone calls the last couple of days, even though I changed my phone number a couple of years ago. Not just on my cell phone either. I spent a couple days in a motel and received a funny call on the landline they had in their motel room. When I picked up, all I heard, was breathing on the other end for quite some time before they hung up. This is similar to the stuff she did in 2021 after I told her I wasn’t taking her back hence why I changed my number in the first place.
It even happened at work. I work the night shift and if you get any calls, it’s my job to answer them because I work the front. Normally, we never ever get calls after 10 PM and got one around one in the morning. It could’ve been someone who called us by accident but when I picked up the phone I heard a heavily distorted voice on the other end. I couldn’t really understand what they were saying, but it sounded like they said my name just before hanging up.
There’s another thing that really freaks me out. I got a few calls on my cell from a number with the same area code as hers. I looked the number up and not only did I find her name associated with it, but it also listed her newest address, as being in a city about an hour away from me. I find this particularly alarming, because her permanent address has been in the same state, her whole life and I moved to a different state because I knew she lived in that area. Now it says she lives in my state only 39 miles north of me.
I realize how crazy and paranoid I sound but I think I’ve got a reason to.
My problem is I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to move because I finally have a somewhat stable job. I’m on track to transfer to the university here and finish off my bachelors degree. This city also has some really good doctors and it is so hard to find a good doctor these days. I’ve only been here a little over a year. I don’t want have to move again.
The only person who knows about this is my mom who suggested I break my lease and move back in with her but I don’t want to do that. I made so much progress and I don’t want to ruin it and go back to living with somebody who treats me like I’m 12 years old, doesn’t accept me and is almost as controlling as my ex was.
I also don’t want to put anyone else in danger though. She went after my friends before, who’s to say she won’t do it again? Should I cut all of them off and break up with the person in seeing how to protect them?

As If It Were Kismet: Prologue
Matt tore through the brush, blind in the dark. He didn’t care where he was going. He only knew he needed to be elsewhere. Far from here.
Behind him a creature howled that shocked his mind. It’s form was cruel and dangerous, though female. Nothing like the young woman she had once been. Nothing but a girl, a small and slight female.
It’s guttural growls and howls only grew closer as Matt tried to pick between seeing where he was going and getting away. The few times he looked he caught sight of the creature behind him. Hopping through the air with a speed that told him he was being toyed with. As if he were a mouse being played with by a cat.
But the reflex in him to run kept him going. His adrenaline going as hard as it could. The tightness and burning in his core tensing and locking up as his legs felt like there were being burned from within while taking on more of a heaviness.
His lungs were starting to betray him as he tried to gulp big breaths of air but only rapid and shallow breaths were all that he could manage. His brain was starting to burn….and then he was falling.
Falling down the side of a hill he saw the creature dart in a spring towards him, imperceivably fast almost. Catching him in mid air it seemed.
Managing to wrap its body around him and cushion his impact against the ground as they rolled. His mind barely took in what was happening during the roll. Only starting to understand what was happening once they were still.
The creature's triple D-cup breasts were unmistakably pressed hard against his back as he laid facing up at the night sky.
For a few seconds the world stilled and the needle light pain hitting the center of his brain took over for the cooking heat his brain had felt. His whole body felt heavy and reluctant to move.
Even if he could have really moved, a dull ache came over his limbs making them feel stilled and trapped as if by immeasurable amounts of sand that had engulfed him.
Slowly the arms holding him started to move. Moving so the creature's hands could start exploring him. Causing Matt to unstoppably let out a pathetic moan that made him go cold inside as hands lifted up his shirt and started to touch his exposed stomach and then his chest.
He would have whimpered so pathetically had he not still been in the depths of terror.
As its hands felt and groped his pecs he tried to situp as if to get away. For his efforts, his reward was a hand around his throat and a collection snarls and growls against his ear. A beastly, guttural voice spat words at him while somehow holding a feminine tone.
“Don’t move….I don’t know if I can calm down…”
Her words were not helped by her moans in his ear and the subsequent kissing of his ear. The flesh of his ear going between her lips as she moaned and seemed to pant. Releasing it and licking the side of his face with a moist warmth. He could feel its spittle, viscous and coating his flesh where the tongue touched. He could smell something in his saliva. Something that subtly entranced him.
Matt went stock still with fear and the confusion of mixed arousal. He barely perceived her right hand traveling lower on his body. A surprised moan and shudder echoed in the night from Matt’s lips as she took ahold of him. Her hand above his pants but still….stimulating him.
A light squeezing and almost probing of her digits kept him aroused and confused within her grasp. Resigning himself to the strange fate, Matt looked up at the stars as his mind tried not to shatter under the strange maelstrom of events and sensation that had started mere minutes ago.
His mind was only more confused as a slight figure, feminine in build, how it seemed to thunk the ground audibly as she landed on her feet out nowhere. Her knees barely bending under the pressure of the landing. Yet dirt was kicked up anyways and some of it onto Matt. Feeling it pepper his shirt and pants as it fell.
The figure, lit only faintly by moonlight, roared some dark tone Matt could only perceive as a demon as her eyes went bright with a crimson light. A light in the darkness that should not have been. “Let him go you bitch.” Was its words following the roar. Spittle escaping its mouth with faint droplets hit Matt's face.
The creature holding him by his throat and crotch seemed to tighten the grasp of both hands as it roared back. “HE IS MINE!”
The figure paused with a moment's hesitation. He was also her quarry. She had felt his fear without him knowing. His confused arousal. His fear. His terror.
And now he laid at the center of a struggle between two monsters. Unsure of who he wanted to win.
As If It Was Kismet Ch. 1
Matthew Berkshire hadn’t seen his mom in two years. Not that he had seen her much over the last six years.
A messy divorce between messy people and mom’s chaotic want for a life in Alaska had been one of the most…upsetting times in life. Setting him up for so much of what had defined his life thus far but then that had really started two years before he ever turned.
His ear buds were basic and simple. A part of cheap five pack, common for his life as he was known to lose little things. Small things. They had a mix of metal and hard rock playing in them. Some classics, some alternative. Whatever made him feel something, anything. Even if it was hate. Anger. Rage. It was better than feeling numb. Not belonging.
The escalator down to his lone bag to go with his lone carry on showed his mom waiting for him. His had a type, that’s for damn sure. Not that it helped him in the genetics department as he was stuck at 5’9” to go along with his mother’s five foot even as his dad stood six foot. Forever leaving him to feel small, to pale, under his dad’s shadow. Did he ever stand a chance?
The guy next to her with the unkempt former seventies porn stache was “Dave.” He’d met him twice when his mother came and visited him in Florida. To his credit the guy didn’t look annoyed. Kind of concerned kind of which made Matthew want to break his frozen look but he was well practiced. Having removed any note of sadness from his face through much…tribulation.
His mother’s look on her face betrayed a hint of worry as the bruises on his face lightly showed up close. Saying his name was his like a distant echo that belonged to someone else.
Dave cut in and pulled out his right headphone. “What the hell bud, they knock you hard enough to hurt hearing? Your mom’s asking how you are doing.”
Matthew pulled out the other bud and grunted an empty “sorry.”
“You still have bruises after two week? What did they do to you?” His mom’s voice was full of worry. Something he hadn’t heard in….too long. Too long to make him feel anything. To ever make him believe there was any sincerity to her words. To not think her voice and mannerisms were an act. An act by someone who…wasn’t really there.
“It’s only fair. I took a nose. Fractured a couple orbital bones. Left one with having to get his jaw wired shut. And one will never walk right again for what I did to his knee cap.” Matthew said it all with a bored and disinterested tone. Perhaps well rehearsed.
“My man, handing out ass kickings, not bothering to take names.” Dave was quick to be the typical man’s man about it. Matthew wasn’t quite done yet. Lifting up his shirt to expose the right side near his kidney. Revealing a nasty scar from a six inch blade. “Luckily they gave me this first so they could rule it all in self-defense. The fuck didn’t get it in more than inch before I ruined his knee cap and then I took the nose of one of the fucks holding me.” Now he chose to smile keeping the well practiced dead look in his eyes.
No retorts. No questions. Just horrified looks on their faces. As he liked. As he preferred. They could hate him. They could be disgusted by him. But by God they would fear him.
“Well the doc did a good job sewing you up.” Dave commented uncomfortably. “Dissolving sutures. Ain’t they grand.” He smiled again and let it abruptly fall off his face and started walking to the carousel for the baggage claim.
Waiting and making small talk with Dave as his mother stood in silence. He was not the little boy she abandoned. The little boy she left with an angry man. While never hitting him. Left him in constant fear till he turned twelve and just didn’t care anymore. Something snapped. Broke. And he didn’t care if he died. Didn’t care if he stole. Didn’t even care if he killed. He just knew not to get caught. Something left over from his grandfather’s wisdom which came to make more and more sense with each passing year of life since that thing inside him broke.
Finally his bag came around and Dave went to try first to grab it but Dave practically leapt ahead of him. “Is that your grandfather’s rucksack bag?” his mother asked in a perplexed voice.
“Figured it’s been around since Viet Nam. So it’d serve me better than any of the worthless stuff they called luggage.” Dave commented after Matthew’s words. “Well hell yeah I still got mine from Desert Storm. You know the first one.” Dave laughed and Matthew eyed him oddly. Be it in the south or whether it was Alaska, country boys are country boys he guessed.
The car ride to the two people’s house, as Matthew thought of them. Was uneventful and full of vistas he imagined metropolitan types wetting themselves over. At most they meant isolation to him. Furtherness from the world as there were no mountains in Florida. And what mountains he had last seen in another state had been when he was eight. Another life, to Matthew it felt like. A life alien to him.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 2
Dave and his mom’s place was some two story type tucked into a tree line far up an elevated point. It was by no means the highest point in the mountain but it certainly felt up there.
Rocks were where the driveway should have been Matthew thought. Grabbing his backpack and rucksack from Dave’s jeep was no hard thing for him. Matthew was in formidable shape for someone his age, maybe even five years older. He had gotten a mix of fairly big shoulders and arms along with the chest to go for it when compared to most kids his age. A side effect of working out at least twice a day. First thing in the morning, some time in the evening, and the school’s gym when had had a good semester in school before he had to leave Florida.
Dave tried to come up and help him but Matthew walked past him towards the house. His mom was not sure what to make of his demeanor. Matthew was not the sweet kind boy he had once been. But she had been gone from his life essentially for a long time.
Ushering him into the house she cracked some joke he did not hear. He was too busy looking about and seeing a mix of old outdated decorating mixed with the strange and odd flair of his mother. Color contrasting against drab and dated. Like brightly painting over an old home that was falling apart he thought.
“Your room is this way Mattie.” His mom brightly intoned.
Without expressing any interest he followed his mother. Still faced and nonplussed. Just going along with the current. Pushed and pulled with its roll like a piece of driftwood.
The room was simple. A single small bed. A set of rubber weights with a curl bar and barbells. “Your dad said you were into weight lifting so we got you a bunch of stuff. Dave says it looks like his department’s gym almost. The woman’s smile felt very alien to him.
“Thank you. I appreciate it. I’ve got most of my stuff from home.” Matthew starting unpacking his rucksack and pulled out cables of repetitive and mixed colors. A single plastic barbell handle. The ruck sack could be filled with water bottles for added weight during pushups he figured. Remembering a Michael Keaton movie he watched with his dad post-Batman movies where he played a convicted killer using plastic bags filled with water for weights.
Matthew caught movement outside his lone fairly large window that could let him step out onto the roof of the house given its layout.
He saw a number of people running together through what he guessed was the backyard of the property, not that it had any fences to mark boundaries
They wore clothes that looked similar yet different from each other at the same time.”Oh those are the Johnston’s. Really nice bunch of people. Been on the mountain for a long time Dave tells me.”
Matthew looked at the group of people running and noticed the lack of resemblance. “They are related?” Matthew quizzically asked. Seeing a black and possibly a hispanic person amongst the bland looking white people.
“Oh well they are all adopted but for one or two of them…besides the parents of course. The family has a long tradition of taking in orphans they say. Real nice of them to do that don’t you think.”
Matthew looked at his mother and the hosier accent made no sense to him as he arched his left eye brow. Her and his dad were both from Florida. Born and raised. Sure her parents were from New York city but…
Matthew shook his lightly without turning to look at his mother as his vision was grabbed by one of the runners in particular. A girl of moderate height. Soft brunette. A plain beauty he figured with a slim build….and lack of remarkable breasts and rear to make any note of but….girls in general were his type at his age.
She was pretty enough. He couldn’t deny that but he found himself transfixed by her visage.
But the way she turned and looked at him, especially at that distance felt very disconcerting to him. Even if she was smiling like…she was a taste of a bright shiny day. Somehow.
Matthew’s mom noticed the exchange and smiled to herself with closed lips. “Oh that’s Vicky. She’s your age I think. Very sweet girl, who does the charity functions. You know bake sales, blood drives, car washes and the like. I think you should get to know her. Might be good for you.”
A truck horn sounded a couple of beeps in rather succession. “Oh that must be Mack, he said he might come by later this evening but he seems early.”
Matthew’s mother turned and left his room. Leaving Matthew to exchange a few looks with the alluring Vicky as she turned her head away from him to talk to the others in her group and look back at him.
Still Matthew’s left eyebrow was arched. In a way that reminded him of Spock from Star Trek that he and his grandpa used to watch on some streaming service or another.
As he heard ambient chatter elsewhere outside the house he figured to check it out as the alluring sight of Vicky would be around he figured. It was dull to stare at artwork. He was a boy who preferred jet skis and the like. Something he could ride and enjoy immensely. Even if at times it got him stabbed.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 3
Matthew sauntered out of the house and down the rockway that stood in for a driveway.
A few new people had come over from what he could first surmise of the situation. As he got closer it was obvious they were indigenous people. A couple of grown men…and a girl?
She was mousey. Maybe five foot. Hiding behind glasses and a big camo jacket that was far too big for her. It looked made for a grown man and the backwards trucker hat on her head kept her long black a beautiful mess of sorts.
She was cute in a way. A little androgynous but she had a cute energy to her. She reminded him of the more tomboyish Puerto Rican girls he had gotten into back in Florida. Given the deer corpses in the back of the truck….probably more dangerous to play with given the men in her family.
Small chatter passed between the adults when the girl noticed but turned away, trying to hide the tiny hint of a smile.
“Oh Mattie, this is Mack. He works with Dave at the sheriff’s department and John, he’s with fish and wildlife.” Matthew nodded at his mom’s words with some blankness as he looked at the deer the in the back of the pickup truck.
“Gale tells us you hunted with your dad some in Florida and Georgia.” Mack offered with a light hearted laugh camouflaged by his big simple and cheery but husky way he spoke.
Looking in the back of the truck he spoke. “We used lever action thirty-thirties and Mosin Nagants in seven-six-two-fifty-four-rimmed.” Mack and John whistled in an exaggerated fashion. Leaving Matthew to wonder if they were mocking him.
Mack spoke. “Well we just used thirty-odd-six in a custom gussied Garand.” That caught Matthew’s attention. “You have a Garand…” Matthew finally demonstrated interest in anything. “My dad has an SVT-40 and a Hakim 8mm but he always wanted a Garand but was too cheap to buy one.”
Gale, his mother, chimed in loudly. “Oh his Dad loved his guns but was such an odd duck about how he bought or why he bought them. Never made sense to me how he wasn’t a collector but he didn’t get the latest and greatest.” Gale laughed uncomfortably. At least it seemed that way to Matthew.
Matthew pointed to the girl with an underhanded pointing hand. “And who is this? A cute little mute mouse or does she have a name?” Dave and the other men laughed.
Mack again spoke. “Well you people call her Rebecca, she’s my adopted daughter.” Matthew was taken aback by what he heard. “You people?”
Rebecca kindly spoke with a soft but almost melodic voice as she struggled to maintain eye contact. “White people or rather not members of our tribe. It’s just easier to appease the colonizer kind of thing. Borrowed from when the Jesuit missionaries chased us up here.”
Mack stepped in. “It’s just easier to have white people names than have them try to say our tribal names. And we don’t want them shortening or Anglicising our names kind of thing.” Rebecca stepped back into the conversation cutting off her adopted father. “It’s an insult to our history basically.”
Matthew cocked his head sideways raising his eyebrows shortly before letting them drop. “Well as soon as I’m eighteen I’m out of here and back to Florida so I’m a sort of involuntary colonizer of sorts. So I won’t be taking any of your land from you. The Seminoles on the other hand are still shit out of luck.”
Rebecca’s smile caused Matthew to reflexively smile. Mack made the moment more awkward. “See Becca, I told you someone off the reservation would like you some. You just have to be creative.” Mack laughed in a chiding manner…Matthew presumed. He sensed that he was the butt of some kind of cultural joke. Like marrying a white guy was some sort of insult or mark of shame. That kind of thing.
Rebecca turning away from him was not something he had been expecting. Her then getting in the truck in a huff left the group in a silence for a moment.
Dave spoke to break the awkward silence. “Well just bring the truck to work on Monday and leave it for me to grab up.” Mack acknowledged Dave and they started to get off as Rebecca looked at Matthew for another instance. Matthew couldn’t look away for some reason as the two seemed to lock eyes for an instance.
Till Vicky and family seemed to come jogging down the road. While Matthew’s eyes diverted from Rebecca’s. Hers did not till she realized he was looking elsewhere. And her vision found Vicky and what had been a hint of smile on her face turned glum and disappointed.
Matthew did not look away from the vision of Vicky but instead of a starry eyed fool looking longingly. It was a baffled look. Well baffled for him, with his eyes drawn narrow and night with a focus.
There was something about her…he couldn’t quite put a name too. The way she appeared to him. One second brunette. The next second blonde or blonde like. As if the color appeared in her air and disappeared in fractions of seconds. Much the same way her body almost seemed to…shift…very subtly…smoothly. A nicer bum. Larger breasts. And then back to a simple and plain form. Feminine no doubt. Attractive. But not so…remarkable.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 4
The next two days passed without incident. Nothing of any real substance or challenge to note.
Matthew got settled somewhat and started working out almost immediately. Exploring around the woods but Dave told him not to go far. Especially without a hunting rifle. Dave had left a simple semi-auto Winchester out for him. His bear gun as Dave referred to it with its four round magazine. But Matt figured till he got some practice with the rifle to leave it alone. He made a hiking stick like his grandpa taught him and treated it over a low fire. He would take some electrical tape for the end his hand would grip around. Plenty enough to ward off anything smaller than a bear he figured.
The ride to school was a pain in the neck but simple enough. Dave would let him use a clunker pickup truck he had laying around. It wasn’t pretty but it would get him to and from. Even if it was from the eighties and still backfired on occasion. But for now Dave and his mom took him on their way to the sheriff’s department.
It wasn’t much of a school. It wanted to be modern but its fifties original construction was very obvious. It serviced the pipeline families and familys’ of fisherman who worked the seasons in between their time at the pipeline.
Matt was to report to the principal for some reason Dave and his mom wouldn’t share. Which annoyed him but he figured it was to read him the law of land. Small towns with their big views of the outside world and like.
Dressed in jeans, a grey sweatshirt under a light jacket with steel toed boots set him more apart then he expected. His buzzed head didn’t help matters. Already he was feeling like a stranger in a strange land but he was quite strange after all. And he liked it that way. Normal people were so pathetically disappointing to him.
A secretary or assistant or some such led him to the principal’s office. Where it reeked of real wood that was old and fabric and upholstery that needed to be updated for the last twenty years, Matt figured.
“This is Matthew Berkshire, Principal Andrews.” The man was turned with his back to the door and he was quick to wave her off as he turned her around.
He was an older man. Fat and large. Tall with a body built like he had once been fit and a demeanour of annoyed and irate already as he fixed Matt with a scowl and look of disgust. Another worthless government whore. Matt thought to himself. His father and his grandfather had bestowed unto him a natural disrespect for government workers and the figures that wore unjustified authority as a shield but pretended the weight of the state was not at their back ready to crush all who resisted. Little figures of valor pretending to be mighty and alone but acting with the tyranny of the state and all the backing.
“Mr. Berkshire, please sit down.” His tone wasn’t unusually hostile, just gruff. As if he had better things to do.
Matt complied and took a seat in the chair while maintaining a friendly facade. Not everyone was an enemy. And not everyone needed to be an enemy. Even if anybody could be any enemy. There was no reason to make enemies you didn’t have to. Another of his grandfather’s bastardised wisdoms.
“Well I looked over you file and you have quite the history Mr. Berkshire.” Matt resisted qiuping back a joke. Instead he waited for Principal Andrews to continue as he remained nonplussed and looking as if he felt no need to respond. A simple head tilt with dead eyes looking back at the principle as if he was not even there would suffice.
Matt’s reaction or lack of a reaction rather made Principal Andrews only narrow his eyes with examination. He was not used to a kid not responding to him. Especially with his gruff and hard act going on.
“Well by all accounts you moved here after some problems at your last school. A fight broke out and you did some real harm to your fellow students it appears.” Of course, he would take the side of the perpetrators. School administrators always did. Especially when they weren’t white. Just a fact of the times. Cowardice and pathetic mediocrity was the way they leaned, like good government workers sucking the dick of Big Daddy government. Worthless whores.
Matt chose to reply. “Oh you mean the criminals that stabbed me. Got arrested at the hospital and then pled to felonies. Yeah Florida, with the American counties are good like that.” Principal Andrews went real still. No shame. No fear. No penitence. He didn’t like that.
“Well be it as it may Mr. Berkshire we don’t tolerate that kind of behaviour here…” Matt cut him off responding with a deadpan tone. “You mean self-defense meant to save one’s own life while the cowardly and pathetic school workers look on with zero interest but to keep their money rolling in and will allow known gang members with records of violent acts and crimes that should have them expelled many times over, where in certain Democrat counties such cowardice and idiocy empowered a couple school shooters?”
Principal Andrews looked at the Matt with a note of disgust. “Look here Mr. Berkshire, your beliefs matter not one bit here. This isn’t Florida. We don’t like our way of life being disrupted by outside agitators who have problems with authority.”
Matt did his best not to roll his eyes and let the older fat man drone own as he dead-stared him. Lifeless and without emotion.
The man came to a finish and Matt spoke up without having listened to him or paid him any attention. “Great now that’s taken care of. Can I please get to class and finish my sentence of two years at your wonderful school?”
Principal Andrews huffed and snorted before calling in Vicky. Vicky stood in the corner after entering with a quiet and seamless presence. Matt felt disturbed and tried not betray his feelings as the young Vicky was perceived and not perceived to be moving.
Principal Andrews made the introductions and Matt nodded back. She was to be his chaperone for the day. They had the same classes and she was to show him the ropes so to speak. The ins and outs of the school. The locations of their classes.
He recognized her. It was hard not to. The way her appearance seemed to shift fluidly almost. The petite and skinny brunette ever so lightly had a big bust and blonde hair with curves added when she seemed to shift before his eyes. Like watching a film but each frame had a different person.
Matt didn’t say anything about it. Even if he did he would only be acknowledging his crazed state, if he had one. If.
Unlike an obedient puppy dog he got up in a slow and awkward fashion and followed behind her as his oddly disproportionate frame allowed. Causing her a note of concern for some reason. As if she was seeing something she shouldn’t have been….Or he was just weird. And Matt could admit to himself he was just weird. Part of his charm, he would jest about it at times. Not that he had many people to jest to now.
As If It Were Kismet Ch. 5
Following Vicky into the hall off to their first class was simple. She exchanged small talk and he slightly smiled as if to obviously suggest he was just being polite.
Inside his head, Matt was trying to figure out if he was having a psychotic break. The way Vicky looked kept changing and he looked at the other people around him and they stayed the same.
He was searching his mind as they were walking. And thus he wasn’t paying attention to where he was looking and so fell to his face forward over his feet seemingly out of nowhere.
A series of laughs erupted as it sunk in that he was obviously tripped. Like in prison this was a challenge to his superiority. If he let this pass he would be mocked and sneered at by this same group of boys. He wouldn’t walk to them like he was going to do nothing like a little bitch.
In a rage he turned and punched the stomach of the first face he saw. Some typical blonde haired wannabe jock. He knew from experience not to aim for the ribs. Instead he needed to aim for where he thought the belly button was.
Yells and screams blindly echoed around him as his after the punch he followed up his elbow of the opposite arm slamming into the face of the jock. Harder than a fist, the elbow struck the jock’s jaw and seemingly dropped him against a locker. Just in time to catch an errant and soft punch to the nose that sure enough hurt but did little to slow him down as his dad had taught him to fight through the pain. Blood and scars happened. They were a natural consequence of life to a man.
Taking the punch and falling further into his red state Matt headbutted the punch thrower before another guy arm bared his throat from behind. Which he managed to get his grip on the arm over a letterman jacked and jerk the unprepared boy to the side with him still latched on.
A few feet away from the lockers Matt knew his only chance was to jump and push off the lockers and knock the boy to the ground and so he did. He heard a thunk of the boy’s skull bouncing off the ground and he turned to pull out of the grapple.
The beatings he had taken from his father, the grapples, being choked unconscious. Had prepared him for fighting little bitches who didn’t know what a fight was. It wasn’t gay porn with rabbit punch fists flying.
Blood was running down his face and the pain started to hit him as the threats had been eliminated. Only then did he remember to breathe. Taking breathes as Vicky came up to him with tissues and took a hold of his nose.
“Owww owww owww what the fuck my nose could be broken.” He said to Vicky as she pulled his head up and back.
“It’s ok Carl. It’s done.” Matt tried to look to see who Vicky was talking to. It was a boy taller than his 5’9” by more than a small margin. The boy eyed him bored and annoyed before speaking. “What happened here?” An unoriginal line but one Matt couldn’t be a smart aleck about. “Well you see there was an outbreak of tripping and we all tripped over my dick. It happens.” Matt was about to laugh when Vicky seemed to pull up while still gripping his nose causing Matt no small amount of pain which he audibly evidenced.
Vicky spoke in a tone he wasn’t expecting. As if she was accustomed to issuing orders. “Keep Iris away from the hall till we sanitize the site. We have blood from at least three people contaminating the site. And have Jake bring me a spare jacket and shirt for this moron.”
Carl seemed to acknowledge her orders and seemed to blink away. Maybe the punch hit harder than he expected. He had no time to wonder as Vick took her hand away from his and pushed him against the lockers. With ease he had not been expecting from her form and stature.
Before he could respond Vicky licked his blood covered chin and then his lips and spoke to him. “Focus on me you little blood bag.” Her tone had an annoyed yet feminine sneer.
“Look into my eyes. Look at me. You belong to me. You are just another food source in a collection of food sources.” Her eyes were a beautiful hazel Matt thought. Almost green. Pretty like jewels in some old treasure collections. The eyes he could get lost in before kissing her. Finally Vicky was just a slight and petite brunette and he thought she was beautiful.
She would make a hell of a girlfriend. Some cute thing he could see laying on the beach in Florida on their sides laughing and smiling before trading light kisses while hands wandered innocently. Before his mind could drift further he felt her lips on his. It took him a second to mentally grasp the kiss but his arms were around her back as her hands were at his sides. His eyes reflexively closed as he saw hers close.
It was ineffable to Matt. Beyond words, what was happening. The kiss, the moments beforehand. The way his brain tickled with electricity and gentle warmth. He had never had a kiss like this and he had traded more than a few kisses with at least a few girls.
The kiss was like a warm bath with his consciousness slipping beneath the surface. Their lips only parted to try new angles and approaches as Matt struggled to take in breath. It was a moment he could have stayed trapped in for….he didn’t know. But a curt throat clearing by another girl pulled them out of the moment.
The girl was taller than Vicky. Blonde. With slight curves. Vicky addressed her bewildered and gobsmacked, and perhaps a bit embarrassed. “Tina?”

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I'm 19M and I've had ADHD and Anxiety for as long as I can remember. I've always loved learning but hated school. I've been running away from anything uncomfortable since I was about 7, when I ran out of my first Piano lesson (First ever regret, not getting good at the piano).
Over the years I have lost girls due to inaction, lost career opportunities, chickened out of School, then at 14 Film School (My greatest regret), then stopped studying, then stopped caring.
At 17 I became depressed due to my failures, and have been that way since. It's incredibly painful because at any point these past two years I could have figured out how to snap out of it, and turned things around. Now, I'm about to fail Online college. This has been my last chance to get back into the flow of education, and now anything that I do will likely not be fun or experimental as my primary chance of feeling better is to get online tutors and pass A-level exams without doing any courses.
It also means that I will lose any chance of entering an academic establishment to make new relationships, limiting my dating and friendship pool to chance encounters and work environments.
I am currently not even at a Highschool/Sixth form level, probably something like 8th Grade in most subjects. The thing is, like I said, I love learning even though ADHD and Anxiety prevents me from doing it or learning properly.
I feel like it's too late to join an institution like college, so I'll probably find a proper, entry-level job and support myself through online education, maybe even join a club to meet some new people. It won't be the same, but in a few years maybe I'll begin to feel like although my past hasn't been great, my future still can be.
For this newest plan to not feel like a completely failure by 25, I need to get my mind right. I always feel like I'm in a Fog, and like I can't do anything. I should be working right now, but have just spent the past hour scrolling through Reddit and whatnot. When I try to focus on work I just can't, my mind is all unfocused and I feel like I might have a panic attack (talking about it here helps I think). If I continue like this, I won't be able to work, have a social life, or ever feel like I've completed my education.
I have so many things I want to do, and could do, if I can just get my mind right. Please, tell me how to fix my brain. And also let me know if this sounds like a viable five-year plan.
Thanks for reading, take care.

So long story short moved cross country back to good ol Gloom County. My cars registration from my previous residence expired shortly after moving, do to not having a job initially it was let lapse, than the car had a ton of mechanical issues so it sat while those were taken care of. Now, almost 2 years, and way more money than the car is worth, it’s back to road worthy but needs to be registered in NY. I am still paying on the car so their is a lien on the title from the finance company (will be paid off end of August) I’ve tried reading up on this online to find exactly what forms to bring, what documents I need, and it seems to be a never ending looping rabbit hole. So I come to the finest corner of the internet to ask has anyone recently moved from Out of state (preferably with an expired registration) that could help guide me through this? I’m just sick of sitting at the DMV to finally get up to be brushed off as nope not what ya need honey. Like please just if someone has a list of the the forms, any help is going to be appreciated, I work 70 hours a week and have spent every spare second dealing with this for the last week.
Thanks…..
End Rant

This is just a whole rant/sob story about what I’ve been feeling as of recent.
I’ve been crying about yesterday’s U2 Chemistry exam, and today’s Pure 2 assessment for the entire day.
They were horrible. I can’t begin to describe the shock I am in. I've been holding in so much sh*t for so long, but these exams have left me unable to hold it in anymore.
I have done every single past paper, from the Sample Paper to the Jan 2024 papers. I have studied really, really well. I have made sure to study so hard to a point I that there was nothing left I could do. I literally don’t know what else I could have done to prevent this from happening.
I was always ready to sacrifice everything for my grades and my future. For these A-Levels, I have ruined my health, my happiness, my social life, wasted my youth, but for what?
I get around 4 hours of sleep every night. I’m always too stressed to have an appetite to eat. I feel tense and anxious almost all of the time. I am always tired and keep getting body aches for no reason. I have no time to pursue the things I love anymore. I can count the number of times I have gone out with friends in the past 4 years on a single hand. I see all these American teens online having fun and going out every other day. I can’t even remember the last time I left the house to do something enjoyable.
Yeah, I know it sounds like I’m overreacting, and it’s just some ‘exams’, but my whole future is literally dependent on this. Regardless of all the effort and hard work I’ve put in, I f-ed up these exams.
My biggest dream has always been to get into a prestigious university on a scholarship to study medicine. But I can say goodbye to that now.
I grinded so hard in my IGCSEs to do well and I did. I got A*s for every subject and I guess that gave me false hopes that I could ace my A-Levels. Having sat these two exams, I feel so doomed. I know I performed horribley on them.
I feel nothing but disappointment, hopelessness, and fear right now. I have disappointed myself by ruining my chances of making my dream come true.
It's even worse when you feel that the others around you, who have high expectations, are also disappointed. My chemistry teacher was saying how she knew I would do well because of how hard I've worked, then when I told her about how the exam was, I saw how her face just dropped. Everyone was telling her it was terrible, and I feel like she was on the verge of crying.
Then today, before going into the math exam, my math teacher saw me trying to breathe while I was very nervous, and he said that 'it's going to be fine'. I literally told him, 'I don't think it will be', and he just tried to be optimistic about it. After the exam, I knew he'd come to ask how we did, so I tried to hide from the shame, but he found my friend and I. I was crying before, but while he was trying to make us feel better the tears were just pouring down my face.
I feel like the biggest failure ever. During the math exam, my heart started to beat so fast as I realized time was running out and I still had so many questions I was stuck on to complete. That's exactly when the 'it's over - my future is ruined' thoughts came to my head. I just kept thinking 'forget about going to a big university, the only place I can go to now in my home country'. I couldn't even hold back my tears at school. I just started crying in front of everyone like that.
The biggest shock to all of this is that my parents weren't even angry with me; they were almost sympathetic. For reference, my parents are very strict when it comes to academics, so I was expecting them to blow up on me when I told them how it went. They didn't though. They kept telling me it was okay, and that I should focus on my next exam. Not gonna lie, this probably felt worse than having them shout at me. While they didn't say anything explicitly about how they feel, I can feel that they're miserable, and it's all my fault.
I feel so guilty. Is this what my parents immigrated for? My parents have endured so much racism, so many financial struggles, and just a whole lot of sh*t for a long, long time to make sure I can get a good education and have a good future. It feels like I wasted almost 2 decades of struggle in a foreign country.
Imagine all those relatives back home who are expecting me to become a doctor to realize I messed up this bad. Then there is the other side of the family who have criticized my parents since the day I was born for wasting all that time just for education. These same people are the ones who kept trying to convince my parents to try to have another child, hoping for a boy, because 'what is a girl going to do for you when you're old and tired?' I was dead-set on proving them wrong, and honoring my parents' hard work my succeeding and giving them the best life I could afford. I wanted to be the daughter who could make her parents live a life of comfort and peace, better than any son ever could. Now what? It's not happening.
I won't get into a top university, let alone get a scholarship. I won't study medicine as I've dreamed of. I won't become a doctor. I won't retire my parents and let them enjoy the rest of lives without a care in the world if we had enough money to pay rent. I won't be able to do anything I dreamt of.
I've always been insecure. At one point in time though, I made peace with it and said that if I can't be pretty or charismatic, at least I could be smart. It's been the one thing I knew I could count on. But now I feel so f-ing stupid. Like what am I useful for anymore? If that was the one thing I could do right, but now it's gone, what even is my use in life anymore? I used to cry about being ugly, but now I'm dumb too.
Since Year 9, I have been going through a really rough time mentally. I went through a period of time when I was bullied really bad, then another where we were flat broke, then another time when my dad lost his job, then another when my aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer, then half a year of my parents thinking of divorce, then dealing with the passing of 3 relatives. When does it stop being bad? I used to feed myself these corny lies of 'it's gonna get better' but it doesn't. And this exam period just proved me right.
I wanna give up now. I don't wanna sit anymore exams, and I'm just a third into it. In fact, I don't even wanna live anymore. I know it sounds dramatic to say this over an exam, but I've been holding in this entire rant for the longest time ever, and these exams just brought it out. I've attempted it twice already, but never succeeded.
Since I have no future anyways, I might as well not keep living. I swear to God, that if it weren't for my fear of going to hell, I would try to do it again. I won't though, until we see how the U2 Biology exam goes. But I don't have any hope for it to be any better.
I'm sorry for everyone who feels as though their future is ruined because of these exams, although they studied as hard as they could. May God reward us for our effort.

Responsible gaming programs are a critical part of everyday business practices in the U.S. casino gaming industry. The central goal of these programs is to ensure that patrons responsibly enjoy casino games as a form of entertainment.
The American Gaming Association’s (AGA) Responsible Gaming Statutes and Regulations Guide is a centralized collection of the statutes and regulations addressing responsible gaming in the 34 states and the District of Columbia with commercial casinos, sports betting or internet gaming as of August 31, 2022. It is intended as a reference guide for industry stakeholders, researchers, lawmakers and regulators.
Importantly, the gaming industry’s full efforts to promote responsible gaming and address problem gambling go well beyond the legal requirements identified in this resource. Industry responsible gaming programs operate in compliance and parallel with state laws and regulations on responsible gaming. The majority of gaming operators and suppliers voluntarily implement responsible gaming programs with measures that expand upon what is formally mandated by law or regulation.
Since the Responsible Gaming Statutes and Regulations Guide was last updated in September 2019, 16 states have adopted legislation and regulations for sports betting that include various responsible gaming provisions. Similarly, land-based commercial casino gaming has been approved in Nebraska and Virginia, while internet gaming has been legalized in Connecticut and Michigan. Beyond the expansion of new states, this guide provides insight into the changes and evolution of responsible gaming since 2019.
Although responsible gaming laws and regulations vary greatly between the 35 commercial gaming jurisdictions, many fit into the following broad categories:

• Responsible gaming plan required – 21 jurisdictions mandate that land-based and online gaming operators prepare and submit for approval a wide-ranging plan for addressing responsible gaming issues. Required elements of the plan often include employee training and public awareness efforts. For jurisdictions that require an overall plan, readers should examine the specific elements that must be included in each plan.
• Self-exclusion program – 34 jurisdictions require gaming or sports betting operators to adopt self-exclusion programs that enable patrons to exclude themselves from a casino or online/mobile gaming site and operators to expel self-excluded patrons if they are found gambling or wagering. The length of the self-exclusion periods available and the procedures for reversing self-exclusions vary by jurisdiction. A majority of jurisdictions establish a central self-exclusion register that includes enlisted patrons from all gaming venues and platforms. Some state laws specify that casinos and online operators must also eliminate direct promotional outreach to self-excluded individuals and deny them complimentaries – commonly known as “comps” – or access to credit.
• Property signage and responsible gaming disclosure – 31 jurisdictions have requirements around on property signage and/or disclosures related to responsible gaming. In some cases, that includes mandating the availability of brochures identifying the risks of problem gambling, requiring disclosure of toll-free helpline numbers and other resources for counseling and assistance, or that gaming advertising (print, billboards or electronic media) include responsible gaming messaging or a toll-free helpline number.
• Advertising restrictions – 30 jurisdictions establish specific restrictions on the types of, or content of, advertising that is permitted. Many jurisdictions require that gaming advertising not be deceptive or target minors.
• Wagetime limits – 25 jurisdictions with account-based online gaming, sports betting or digital wallet wagering in casinos require operators to provide a mechanism through which patrons may self-limit deposits, losses, wagering amounts and/or time spent gambling.
• Restrictions on extension of house credit – 28 jurisdictions block or limit the use of house credit in land-based and/or online casino gaming and sports betting. This may include outright bans on credit advances from gaming operators to patrons.
• Financial instruments restrictions – 17 jurisdictions restrict the ability of casinos or online gaming operators to accept credit card deposits, government issued checks or stored-value cards that represent public benefits, among other things.
• Treatment and research funding – 28 jurisdictions
• have codified commitments to support treatment for individuals with a gambling problem, education services concerning disordered or problem gambling, or research related to problem gambling. Most of those states earmark certain state revenues from gaming for these programs.
• Employee training – 20 jurisdictions specify that casino employees who work on the gaming floor or those who otherwise interact with customers must receive responsible gaming training. Some states require the training to include instruction on how to identify players demonstrating problematic or risky behavior on the gaming floor.
• Alcoholic beverage restrictions – 18 jurisdictions require casinos to limit alcoholic beverage service on the gaming floor or to limit access to gambling services for patrons who are visibly intoxicated.
• Beyond the overarching categories outlined above, states regularly implement other laws or regulations related to responsible gaming. These may include the creation of statewide responsible gaming programs, mandating research on the effectiveness of responsible gaming provisions, or requirements that operators verify gambling winners do not owe child support.

About the Guide AGA’s Responsible Gaming Regulations and Statutes Guide, developed in partnership with VIXIO GamblingCompliance, details the commercial gaming industry’s financial performance, including analyses of each of the 35 jurisdictions with commercial gaming operations in 2021.
Source: https://www.americangaming.org/resources/responsible-gaming-regulations-and-statutes-guide/

Hello, everybody! I'm here with my story about an ongoing series of ransom emails I've been receiving. I'm not scared as they are obviously fake, I'm more between entertained and curious.
Let's start from the beginning. I received an email having the low-effort password I use for non-important sites as a subject. The body is a copypasta in German, only having my password, my email address, the amount to pay and the address where to send the money as the customized parts, written in bold. The text, for whoever is curious enough to analyze this absurd story in depth, is the "Hallo, mein perverser Freund" one.
To summarize the content, this self-declared Big Brother or the All-Seeing Eye ("Big Brother oder das alles sehende Auge nennen") claims to have installed an unspecified trojan on an unspecified device of mine, and with that they recorded me pleasuring myself to highly controversial videos using the webcam. They ask for €1200 in Bitcoins with a 48h deadline to stop them from sending those videos to all my email contacts as well as uploading them online.
What's ludicrous about that, aside from how generic the claim is in order to be a little credible for any victim, is they claims they gained access to all my devices by hacking one. In my case, that's even more comedic as my laptop has a killswitch for the webcam (meaning it always had a black piece of plastic obscuring it, since I never use it), while my phone is an Asus Zenfone 6, which has no front camera (the rear camera flips over when you need one). They have been really unlucky with me. Also, How can they film what I've supposedly been watching while engaging in self eroticism with my front camera?
Other criticalities are: I have no contact in my email account, nor in any application I use it with. That's not how people use emails in 2024, unless it is a business account. Plus, they claim the password they displayed as the mail's subject is my email account password. No, it is not. It is just the zero-effort password I used on some websites that have been breached (eg Linux Mint Forums and the defunct Linux Forums among the others) back in 2018-2020 (they sure took their sweet time to decrypt an all-lowercase 10 letter password).
Also, they say they sent the mail form a temporary account. They did not. They used a regular hotmail account, which has been pwned too (the poor sap, which has the misfortune of having a physical address linked to his email address on a google-able website, used the same password for his email and a website that suffered a data breach). They say, judging from my conversations, people think I'm a decent person. I have no human conversations in my email. Just notices of new replies on forums etc.
To get to the title of my post, let's skip to 3 days later (oops, more than 48h). I received another email. This time in English. This time, apparently from my own address (I suppose it is to show they really have access to my email account), even if it doesn't show in my "Sent" folder (if they want to convince me they have access to my account, they shouldn't delete it from there, I think). They say they approved "a new payment schedule" for some random practice number never mentioned before. This time, they talk about Pegasus. I'm honored to know they used a spyware that costs millions of dollars for each license, and that the DEA refused to use because of its high price, on me. Luckily for me, either they are a different party, or they lowered their price. This time, they ask for $850 dollars. I suppose they don't know much about leverage.
Anyway, I opened the email's header. They were lazy enough to modify the "from" field, but not the "return-path" one. What puzzled me? This field appears to be an administrative address belonging to a private-owned Spanish online university. I have to admit I don't know much about informatics, and I can't tell if that grants the fact that was the true sender behind the fake self-sent email. But the hypothesis alone has me in stitches. Please help me uncover this mystery.
Thank you for your attention!

In taking a break from The Elder Scrolls, I dove into NieR Automata and then into many of the titles surrounding that. Currently I’ve been deep-diving NieR Reincarnation’s story, and I feel like that has done a great job of answering a lot of questions that I had, but left me with one glaring one that I was hoping to get some assistance with.
In Chapter 1 of NieR Reincarnation, you follow the story of Levania and Fio as they adventure through The Cage repairing memories within weapons that Fio perceives as dreams. Throughout all of these memories, except seemingly one, the story takes place in a world that was undisturbed by the 6/12 Incident. There is seemingly no mention of WCS, they do not use dragon magick equipment, and there’s no mention of Project Gestalt. Instead of the typical issues, this world faces an infestation of horrible man-eating Flowers that appear to add people to a collective. We are shown the stories of Lars and Griff, clones living in countries that are desperate for genetic diversity, and we are shown stories of what appears to be a YoRHa-like organization in the far-future that is full of people that, seemingly, worked with the Hamelin Organization and led to the creation of the Flowers in the first place sometime in the distant past and wield equipment that appears to be powered by the Power of Song.
The odd one out of these memories comes from Noelle, whose story we are introduced to right before we get Fio’s own. Noelle is part of a project by - seemingly - the Hamelin Organization seeking to create Living Weapons utilizing the mysterious illness that befell Eleanor in North America back in 2003. As we explore the facility, we are eventually greeted with the sight of Caim’s weapon held in a containment unit, which shows to us that this particular timeline — while utilizing cloning for a specific project — is not the same as the others shown to us before. This story eventually leads to the creation of Dragons, the Cathedral City, and seemingly a confrontation with the Black Flower in the Kingdom of Night which is (accidentally?) teleported back in time to 856AD.
With all of this in mind…
How does the Flower, which is seemingly born in the clone-dominant timeline shown to us in the majority of the memories “break containment”? It does not appear, to me, like the Flower from F66x and 063y’s timeline has the means to escape out and begin its metamorphosis progress to eventually becoming the Machine Network, which is at least what my take away was from the FFXIV crossover storyline.
“Facts” that I am operating with: - The Flower was created by the original human that would serve as the genetic material for F66x in a timeline where the 6/12 Incident never occurred. - The dragons were created by manipulation of Eleanor’s mysterious illness. The Hamelin Organization began these experiments and the Army of Humanity finished them within the NieR games’ timeline. - The Black Flower, the dragons, and the Cathedral City all were sent back in time from a confrontation in the Kingdom of Night to 856AD, leading to Drakengard 3. - 2003 serves as the dividing line in the sand where things begin to differ from our world. Eleanor gets sick regardless of the 6/12 Incident. Is this our “original” difference? - The Power of Song ≠ Magic. I’ve not been able to find a source on this, but it has been parroted so many times that I have just decided to trust it. - Nier was made into the Original Gestalt because his body was capable of purifying or processing maso into a useable form that would keep others from degrading. There are humans born in the world with more / less affinities for or strange interactions with Maso — which seems to occur naturally as an element in the world (unsourced, but mirrored by a lot of folks’ POV so running with it for now).
My biggest questions at the moment are — 1. How does the Flower “break containment” from the clone-dominated timeline? 2. If the Flower does “break containment”, how do we get to the events of Drakengard 3 with the dragons, city, and Flower being sent back in time to 856 from ~6200. 3. If there are “stable” time-loop shenanigans going on and Maso is naturally occurring, could the Flowers not create dragons using Eleanor’s illness and clones in their timeline, travel to ~6200s, and things “right themselves” for them to exist there? I admit I’m not as versed on some of these paradox concepts as others.
It is worth mentioning that in F66x and 063y’s timeline, there are seemingly already man-eating machines and the Flowers that exist in the timeline act like a network to collect everything into itself and from there can replicate. The Organization serves to run experiments, which seem to help the Flowers improve themselves.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Always been a distant fan of NieR, but really enjoying giving it its due.

There have been an increasing number of juniors visiting this sub asking for advice about writing essays. Below are some tips and advice for making your essay stand out as excellent. Feel free to ask questions because I will answer every single question in the comments.
I know from experience that many of you are struggling to identify a good topic for your essay. Conventional wisdom says to start by brainstorming a list of potential topics, and chances are, you have already started a mental list of ideas. You might think you only have a few choices for topics, based on your activities or experiences, or essay examples you read, or the rough draft you already started (or worse, that GPT started...). I advise, however, that you put down your list of topics and back away from it. Forget that exists for a moment. Seriously - thinking about this initial list tethers you to certain ideas that might not actually be your best options.
Now you can begin brainstorming with a clean slate.
Start with thinking about what you want to show in your entire application, not just one essay. Every single component in your app has one purpose – to tell more about YOU. Filling out the rest of the application by rote and focusing solely on the essay is short-sighted and will leave so much potential untapped in your application.

It's About You. Tell Your Story - And Be The Protagonist

An admissions officer’s goal is to understand you fully, in the context of your background and the rest of the applicant pool. They will begin this with assessing your academic abilities and potential. Then they will evaluate how you will fit into the student body they’re trying to curate. All of this can be somewhat broad and diverse and touch on several institutional goals. But they will dig deep to find out what each applicant is like, what your core values and motivations are, what kind of student you will be, how you will contribute to the vibrant and intellectual campus community they’re building, etc.
Your goal with essay brainstorming is to ascertain how to powerfully tell your story in a manner that will fit these criteria. The entirety of your application (again, not just one essay) aims to showcase your abilities, qualifications, and uncommon attributes as a person in a positive way. Before you begin outlining or writing your application, you must determine what is unique about you that will stand out to an admissions panel. All students are truly unique. Not one other student has the same combination of life experiences, personality, passions, or goals as you do. Your job in your application is to frame your unique personal attributes in a positive and compelling way. How will you fit on campus? What personal qualities, strengths, core values, talents, or different perspectives do you bring to the table? What stories, deeper motivations/beliefs, or formative experiences can you use to illustrate all of this?
It is always helpful to start with some soul-searching or self-examination. You might not immediately know what you want to share about yourself. It’s not a simple task to decide how to summarize your whole life and being in a powerful and eloquent way on your application. Introspection prior to starting your application takes additional time and effort rather than jumping straight into your first draft. But it is also a valuable method to start writing a winning application that stands out from the stack.
You'll see the advice everywhere that all essay prompts are really about the same thing - you. The goal of each essay then is to showcase who you are, what matters to you, and how you think. I guarantee if you're on this sub enough, you'll hear the advice to "show, don't tell" when writing about yourself. But what does this mean really, and how do you do it well? How do you even get started on an essay that does this?

Introspection Questions

It’s often easiest to start thinking in terms of superlatives, especially those related to personal insights -- what are the most meaningful things about you, and what do you value the most? Here is a list of questions to help you brainstorm broadly before you narrow down your focus for writing:

• What are your interests?
  
• What sparks your curiosity?
  
• About what topics do you enjoy reading?
  
• With whom do you enjoy spending time? Who has impacted your life the most?
  
• Reflect upon “superlatives” in your life. What moments were most memorable, formative, enlightening, enjoyable, or valuable? What physical possessions, experiences, dreams, or lessons could make your superlatives list?
  
• Stop and think about what things, people, or circumstances in your life are really unique, fascinating, or outlandish. Are there any that really have a lot of "cultural flavor" (whatever your culture is)?
  

I have a free introspection worksheet with over 100 questions like this designed to help you find ideas worth exploring in your essays. You can find it on the A2C Discord or download it directly here.

Find Your Story And Arc

Think of a small anecdote or story from your life that you could share that serves as a microcosm of who you are and what is important to you. It will massively help you narrow this down and find a gem of a story if you first start by thinking about your application arc or theme. This is the one-phrase summary of your entire application. It could be "brilliant entrepreneur who started her own successful business" or "talented athlete who wants to study economics and finance as they pertain to sports", or even "avid baker whose hobby sparked an interest in chemistry". It doesn't have to be related to your intended major, but it can help your arc be stronger and clearer if it is.
Once you have an arc determined and a story to share, think about what you want that story to say about you. This is where it can help to think of this as something you would share on a date - what impression does it make about you to the reader? Once you know this, start showing, not telling this attribute of yourself through your story. For example, instead of saying that you're compassionate toward others, you show an example of a time you were compassionate, then elaborate on why, and what it means to you.

Essay Brainstorming Techniques

If you are having trouble finding a story, or simply have writer’s block once you have picked your topic, here are some ideas to get your juices flowing:

• Stream of consciousness writing -- Start writing whatever is in your head, and don’t stop for 30 minutes. You probably won’t use what you just wrote for your essay, but it will help you find a starting point.
  
• Journaling -- Answer the prompt as if you were writing in a journal. This will get you in the habit of writing about yourself and establish comfort with the concept. It will also take you to a new level of introspection and self-awareness.
  
• Twitter X style -- Write several rapid-fire responses to the prompt in 280 characters or less. Choose an idea from these responses to expound upon in your essay.
  
• Read each essay prompt, then go through your introspection worksheet responses and connect the stories and insights to one or more of the prompts. Some students like using color coding to visually see how their different ideas might work together.
  

Why Essays Matter

Here's the thing a lot of people don't realize about college admission: it's not an award for being the smartest, most accomplished, or most impressive. It's an invitation to join a community. Far too many students think that if they can just show that they're smart enough, they'll get in. Yale even says right on their admissions website that 75% of their applicants are academically qualified to succeed at Yale. But only ~4% are getting in. That should tell you that they're looking for more than just top tier test scores and grades. To be perfectly clear, you will need top tier grades and (optionally) test scores to show that you're qualified, and the vast majority of my students come to me with this part already in the bank. But what sets the admits apart? It's personal insight - sharing who you are, how you think, what matters to you, and how you engage community. You can't just say "/IAmVerySmart, please admit me," or even "I did a cool thing guys! Isn't that neat!" You need to go deeper and show them your core values, personal strengths, motivations, aspirations, character traits, foundational beliefs, personality, etc. And you need to do it in a charming, winsome way that makes them like you and want to invite you to join their community.
So how do I get students to do this? All of my students complete that introspection worksheet. We go through it and find the stories, examples, anecdotes, conversations, memories, relationships, and other things from their life that will help us craft a strong and personally insightful narrative. We also make lists of the values, strengths, and key personal qualities we want to showcase. Once we have some topics, outlines, abstracts, or rough drafts, we talk about which stories to tell where, how to tell them well, and what details to include to present the best they have to offer. Then we refine, edit, polish, and enhance over and over until the story sings, but more importantly shows their heart and soul. We also go through all the other application components to ensure consistency, quality, and distinctiveness.
Here's why this works so well: at most highly selective colleges there is a primary reader (or 2-3) who will review everything first and then present it to the admissions committee, who then votes on whether to admit you. That presentation typically goes one of three ways:

1. Total enthusiasm, energy, and excitement. They strongly advocate for admission and paint a clear picture of how you will contribute to their goals and community. Everyone in the room picks up on that energy and is leaning forward in their chairs, looking for reasons to admit you. This is quite rare, generally less than 5 out of every 100 applications, even among those which are "fully qualified." When you do this right, you show depth, meaning, and valuable personal insights so the reviewer is learning about who you are and how you might engage the community they're curating. You come alive off the page as a person, not just another file.
   
2. Business as usual. You're another great applicant in a pile of great applicants. They share a basic review of the facts, your profile, stats, strengths, weaknesses, etc. Maybe someone on the committee finds something they love, and they really push for admission. More likely, not and you get deferred/waitlisted even though there wasn't anything "wrong" with your application. They just didn't love you enough to commit.
   
3. "Here's a stack of 20 applications that I didn't find all that compelling, so we won't present them individually, but you guys are the committee and you make the decisions. So let me know if there are any you want to talk about." In this case, unless there's a letter of endorsement from an athletics coach or your last name matches several buildings on campus, you're probably not getting additional consideration, much less admission. They will regret to inform you.
   

Everything we're doing is designed to help them get to know themselves, present the best they have to offer, and land in that first group. Having top tier essays is the single best way to get there. Get started on brainstorming in the next few weeks so you'll have time to get a few essays completed over the summer.

I passed the Mech Eng boards earlier this year with what I think is a high enough board rating and I’m finding it hard to land a job. I’m aggressively applying to every job opening I encounter, and there was one company in particular that I would like to join but unfortunately, they didn’t accept my application despite doing good in the interview.
Anyway, I’m planning sana on getting a job at powerplants/manufacturing plants but I’m finding it hard to reach the companies. I’m eyeing Aboitiz, PGPC or anywhere talaga as long as it’s a power plant. Any advice on this will be greatly appreciated.

I’ve always been really into ghost stories, or urban legends in general. The White Lady, haunted dolls, vampires, black eyed children, that kind of stuff. I know that, today, people my age aren’t big fans of that kind of horror anymore, preferring it things like the Backrooms, analog horror, all the new kinds of scary media. Honestly, I get it, things do need to evolve, and when we see everything that’s happening in the world, it’s understandable that a good old ghost story don’t do the job anymore.

Still, the “old fashioned” horror (it’s not that old, but things move fast on the internet) is always my jam. I grew up watching youtubers investigating haunted places, ghost hunting, with all their accessories, EMF meters, their little radio thing that they use to listen to radio frequencies so that they can hear any interference, their antenna that beeps when something approaches it, voice recorders, special flashlights, and let me tell you that all this, it was doing it for me.

So, since my, probably 7 years, I dreamt of doing these things myself. Of course, I tried everything a young boy is able to do, like Ouija or stupidly walking around my house with my phone filming, hoping that some random deceased person with unfinished business will show up to, I don’t know, have a chat. I wish I could say that other people’s judgement doesn’t affect me, but that would be a lie, so, going in to high school, I had to socially tone down my interest for those things in order to have friends. None of my friends and classmates knew about my persisting passion for ghosts and creepy stories.

I realize that keeping this such a secret is a bit ridiculous, especially approaching my 18^th birthday, but, you know, it would be even weirder to reveal it after hiding it for almost 6 years like it was something super taboo. So here I was, I started hiding my passion at 12 to avoid other’s judging it, and I’m now still hiding it at 17 to avoid others judging the fact that I hid it… A bit pathetic I got to admit.

Anyway, everything started a few days ago. I have an art history class at school and the teacher really likes to give us big works of research. This time, he had a new idea, the whole class will be divided into groups of two, and each group will receive a building from our city that the teacher had choose for his architectural and artistic interests, and we’ll have to give it a visit and write an analysis on the different things we’ll notice and link it to what we saw in class. Since all the buildings were not public places, he had asked the authorization of every property’s owner.

Honestly, this could have been worse. This actually sounded kinda cool to do. Now, what I was concerned about was who will be my partner. Obviously, I was hoping for one of my friends. After explaining the rules and exact instructions for the work, he started to announce the groups. I was waiting to hear my name, anxious, as all my friends were slowly starting to be put into their groups.

“Joshua!” The teacher said (yeah that’s my name). “You will be with…” I was holding on to my chair. “… Elizabeth!”

I turned to Elizabeth, and we looked at each other. Neither one of us seemed excited. It wasn’t a terrible pair, I thought to myself, I just didn’t know what to think of it exactly. Elizabeth was a pretty popular girl, not that I was an outcast or anything, but she was still way more popular than me. I didn’t know much more about her, despite the fact that we were in the same class since my first year of high school, but it looked like she was going to be an okay partner.

The teacher then gave us our building. I won’t reveal the real name of what he gave us so I’ll call it “Guaraldi’s Street 22”. Apparently, it was a pretty old house that had somewhat of an historic value to it. The teacher gave us some information so we wouldn’t stumble there without any prior knowledge. The owner was an old woman who had always lived there. She was apparently very glad to open her doors to young students and was ready to answer any questions we could have. He warned us that she had a weak audition and that we would have to speak loudly. The teacher then recommended us to do a little bit of research before going there, so we could already have some idea of where we were entering.

I then found myself in front of Elizabeth. I think the last time we even talked to each other was months ago when she was distributing a test to the class and that I said “Thanks”, so, yeah, not a lot of background. I noticed, and I don’t know why it took me so long, I guess I never paid much attention to her, that she was dressed in kind of an old style, she wore some clearly used dungarees. The date the teacher had scheduled for our visit was on Sunday, and we were Thursday.

“So, hum, I guess, we can both do research on our side, and we’ll meet, maybe at lunch break tomorrow to get on the same page. Is that good for you?” She asked me.

“Yeah, that’s good, we can do that.”

“Okay, then, see you tomorrow.” She said.

“See you.”

On that she turned her feet and left for her break. The rest of the day went by and I got back home. As usual, my mom wasn’t there, she often has to work late as she’s a single mom to me and my little sister Rosa. I ate my diner and went to my room. I opened my computer to start my research. It wasn’t hard to find information, even though things were repeating themselves a lot: “so much historical meaning for the city”, “a perfect example of “art-deco” architecture”, “a house filled with stories”. There was a lot of talk by local medias about it, but not much actual facts.

It was so weak, that I had to go to page 2 of the search results on google, or, as I like to call them, “the abyss of the internet” (I’m exaggerating a bit, but it’s not often that you have to go there).
Then, something caught my eyes. It was a forum about paranormal experiences, and the address was mentioned on a post. I immediately clicked on it and read the whole thing. It wasn’t exactly the most thrilling story I’ve read, but here’s what it basically said.

Apparently, the owner opened the house as a cottage during the summer, and the person posting was narrating what he experienced during his passage there. He described a very special and kinda suffocating vibe that was apparently all around the house, and the feeling of being observed all the time. He also talked about hearing voices at random moments. They were brief but often mentioned his name. The end of his testimony talked about his last night, when he said he saw a little child with no facial expression in front of his bed, who slowly started to climb into it and grabbed his legs, trying to pull him outside of his bed. The poster said he eventually succeeded to push the kid away, despite his unreal strength, and that the boy ended up running out of the room, laughing. When he spoke to the owner about it the next morning, she said that it must have been his imagination playing tricks on him, as she didn’t believe in paranormal and that nothing similar ever happened to her.

This wasn’t much, it could have been a complete lie, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t peak my curiosity. The story was as basic as it could be, but it was so specific for it to happen in that place, which was absolutely not famous, and even less for any paranormal events. I kept that in the back of my mind and continued my research, but I didn’t find much more, so I went to sleep.

As I was lying in my bed, I was thinking. What if the person who posted his story said the truth. This was the first time I was going to enter somewhere that old and charged with history, this could be the perfect place for my first ghost-hunt. But of course, I was going for school and won’t be alone, plus, it’s not really respectful to the owner, who kindly opened the doors of her family house to us. And even if I wanted to, I’d be constantly with Elizabeth, so, it was not really an option. I looked at the EMF meter I received for a birthday on my shelf and thought to myself that this would be for another time.

The next day, as planned, I met with Elizabeth at lunch break. We started to share the results of our research, where I did not include the post from the forum for obvious reasons. We talked a bit before coming to a clear conclusion.

“Yeah, the thing is, we have the same exact stuff, there isn’t much interesting infos to be found online, except very surface level stuff.” She said.

“Yes, I think we should prepare the questions we want to ask the owner instead.” I answered.

“You’re right, do you think you can have yours for Sunday?”

“Yeah, no problem.”

We exchanged a bit more and eventually went back to class.

On Saturday, I prepared a few questions to ask the owner.

Then came today, Sunday. The meeting was planned at 11AM. I woke up normally, took a breakfast, got dressed, everything. Before leaving my room, I took one last look at the room and I saw my EMF meter. It was like he was begging me to take him. I grabbed it and left. I didn’t know if I would actually use it, but I had it. It had an option where instead of lighting the small lamps he was vibrating, so I activated that and put it in my pocket.

I arrived at the house and Elizabeth was already waiting for me. We knocked and we could hear the owner walking towards the door saying “Yes, yes, just a second.” She opened and she looked like the sweetest thing ever. She was short and had a naturally kind face. We could see that she was clearly dressed and make up for the occasion. She welcomed us and let us in happily. The hallway was very pretty, I understood why our teacher got us this house, it was indeed very interesting. The walls were covered with paintings and old pictures, mostly portraits. On everyone of these, the people had a very serious look, but that’s not unusual for old pictures.

We walked to the living room where she served us tea and we sat together.

“So, I think you have some questions for me?” She asked. You could see that she was very glad to talk. “Don’t be shy, I’m open.”

Elizabeth started to ask her first question then I did, and we could ask her everything.

The house was her family’s for many generations, but it hadn’t always been theirs. All the persons in the hallway, paintings or pictures, were previous habitants of the house, and they went as far as the 15th century, so, yeah, it was all pretty old. She said they could only know the identity of some of the first generations but that a lot of the people were non identified. She answered a lot of other questions regarding the architectural and artistic heritage of the building, and she was surprisingly very interesting to listen to. Her enthusiasm and kindness were contagious, and we both couldn’t help but ask more questions.

Eventually, we arrived to the end of our list, and it was time for us to visit, take notes, analyze, all that. She asked us not to touch anything, as a lot of things had a lot of value, but let us wander free in the house. She said she’ll be making cookies for when we’ll be done. Elizabeth and I found ourselves alone in the living room and finished our tea.

“God,… She’s adorable.” Said Elizabeth with a smile.

“Yes, she’s so sweet, I wasn’t expecting that.” I said.

“Let’s, maybe start with there.” She said, pointing to the room besides us.

We got up and entered it. The walls were covered by huge bookshelves. Elizabeth started to take notes, looking at the room, and I started inspecting the books. There was probably a more than a thousand books, and some of them looked super old. I read the titles of some of them, and the least I could say was that it needed to be rearranged. “Cooking Asian Food”, “Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince”, some old book with the title erased, and even a CD in the middle, it was a bit random.

We eventually moved on to the hallway. It was a bit oppressing with all those eyes who seemed to observe us. Elizabeth did mention how it felt a bit weird and we started to take notes again. At some point, my look stopped on one painting at the back of the hall. It was a young lady, dressed classically, maybe a bit poorly even, for someone who would have lived there. She was kinda pretty, if I’m being honest. But the reason why it caught my eyes was that it was the only one who was smiling. All the other people represented looked dead serious, but her, she smiled. A sweet, even caring and warm smile. I noticed that it seemed like she was staring at me. Of course, a lot of paintings give that same impression, but it was more intense on her.

My heart skipped a beat. I was sure that I just saw her winked to me. I let out a gasp. I was convinced she winked at me. The vibe went from slightly oppressive to extremely heavy. Then we both heard it.

“Elizabeth.”

An unrecognizable voice had just whispered. Elizabeth turned to me.

“Did you say that?” She asked.

“Elizabeth.”

A younger voice this time. We were facing each other, so we knew it couldn’t be one of us this time, and the owner was in the kitchen. Elizabeth’s eyes opened wide and she slowly walked towards me.

“Elizabeth.”

She jumped.

“WHAT THE… fuck?” I let out. We were looking around us.

“Joshua, I don’t like this…”

“Yeah, me neither.”

We were frozen in place, with all the paintings looking right to us.

“Elizabeth.”

That time it was a deep voice, and it came from behind us. We turned. Slowly, all the faces of the paintings and pictures started to clearly move. They were opening their eyes wide and opening their mouths, maintaining their serious, and now even melancholic look.

“Holy shit, holy shit, what the fuck is that, what is it!” Elizabeth was mumbling, panicking as I was starting to breathe faster.

All the people started to say her name together on repeat: “Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Elizabeth…” I turned my head to the painting of the young lady from earlier, and she was the only one that wasn’t moving, still the same smile, she looked at peace.

I don’t remember exactly what I was whispering at that moment, but we were both freaking out.

We heard some scratching noise. Long, dirty hands with sharp nails, almost inhumans, were piercing the pictures and paintings. The eyes of the people were becoming all black, and their jaws were opening more than humanly possible as they kept on repeating her name. The hands were all getting closer from us. We were now touching one another, completely surrounded by those hands. Then, they moved way faster and a lot of them got their nails right into Elizabeth’s skin and pierced it while descending all over her body.

She screamed loudly out of pain. It was a terrifying scream. All the hands got to their pictures and back inside of it while closing what they pierced. Soon, the pictures and paintings were back to normal, but Elizabeth was bleeding from all over her body and was on the floor, crying. I got to her level and tried as much as possible to reassure her, but I wasn’t very effective as I was myself in shock and terrified.
We heard the owner walk towards us.

“What’s happening to you two? I heard screams, are you okay?”

She entered the hallway and saw the scene. She looked completely shocked.

“But what happened?” She asked.

Both of us were unable to answer to her, we had no idea what to say that wouldn’t make us sound crazy, so we just looked at her with whatever faces we were making at that moment. She didn’t wait long and went to take a first aid kid. She sat down and put some bandages all over Elizabeth, as I was reflecting on what happened. When she was done, we both wanted to leave, so we said that we had what we needed for now. She looked sorry and packed some cookies for each of us. As we opened the door to leave, she articulated one last phrase.

“I hope you’ll come back.” She had a look and a tone of sadness. We got out and were now on the street.

We both looked at each other. She was covered in bands, like she got into a huge fight. I started to speak but she lifted her hand.

“Not today. Another one.” She said. “I’ll see you at school.” And she left.

I got on my way too and gave one last look to the house. The old owner was watching me from her window, and I couldn’t tell what her expression was.

I was too tired so I ignored it and went back to my house.

I’m posting this now that I’m back at home. I have no news of Elizabeth, but she did add me on Instagram, so…

I have no idea what I should do now, I have so many questions, so, if anyone has any theories, I’ll take it. I’m also open to questions of course…