Tile abbott debt bankruptcy

Long story short I’m close to $200k in credit card and personal loan debts. I bring home $10450 monthly with my job and veteran disability.
I will probably need to do a chapter 13 because I did the means test online and I don’t qualify for a chapter 7 with my job income. I had a business that failed and I used my personal credit to fund it. I’ve been robbing Peter to pay Paul for a while. So currently I’m not behind on any payments, but I just can’t keep up with them anymore. One of the methods I was using PayPal myself from a credit card with the available balance so I could pay another credit card. But all my cards are maxed out at this point. After reading some, I didn’t even know I wasn’t supposed to be doing that.
There’s a couple things I’m wondering with a chapter 13.
Will I be able to keep my Home and car? Since I’m not behind any payments, do I need to just stop paying? How many months does the courts look at bank statements?
I did reach out to credit counseling and they referred me to bankruptcy. For a while, I knew this was the route I needed to go. I just was scared. Have a meeting with the lawyer this week. I probably need to consult with more than one lawyer.

Im 50 years old. My debt is growing. I’m now late on all my credit cards and bills. I have zero money. Credit cards are maxed over $20,000, bank accounts are zero and I have no incoming money until I start hustling again. I am not the same person as I was. I’ve been sick for a while, but this time around I just can’t multitask physically or mentally like before. I am self employed. I didn’t work for 8 days due to illness. I’m usually able to pull myself together and make some money to make ends meet. But this time, my body just would not let me this time. I’m falling behind in debt. I can’t shuffle money and credit to get through this month this time. It even came to the point of taking out advance payday loans to pay my car payment and rent. I’m now struggling to pay my priority bills.
I have options. I looked into 3.
I can call all my credit cards and ask for a financial hardship program. I did call some and they offered a lower interest rate. They offered a lower monthly payment and closure of my cards. If all of them do this, I might be able to cover the monthly for each card. I won’t have anymore active credit cards and will live off of cash. I believe my credit score will sink.
I also called a non profit debt management. Green Path Financial Wellness. They will call all my credit cards too. They will negotiate a low interest rate and lower payment. They gave me an estimate. It looks like I’ll pay them $600 a month payment and they will pay each card for me. I will also pay a one time $85 fee and $28 a month for their service. My cards will be closed and it will take 2-3 years to pay off. If I can work hard I think this is doable.
Other option chapter 7 bankruptcy. All CC debt gone. Clean slate. But 10 years BK on record.
Any advice on what to do? Best option. If anyone did the financial hardship programs on their own or used Green Path Financial Wellness debt management please share your experience. Or filed bankruptcy.

My wife and I recently moved in with a family member that has been needing help because of declining health. They have received social security disability, but because of some clerical errors are still waiting on medicaid.
Just last week our family member ended up in the hospital still with no insurance and has been in the hospital and no one is sure if he'll come out.
We were asked to move in to help because they knew their health was getting worse and that we were also looking to buy a house and in their will they have a transfer on death deed that goes to us and in the will we inherit everything since we've been the only family members to help out, but we have the concern that since they still don't have insurance, will medicaid, as they are only in their 50s doesn't qualify until 2 years for Medicare, that this hospital trip could bankrupt him if medicaid doesn't cover claims during the application process since the agent they were working with flipped their name on the application, so it got rejected.
Our question is, if our family member does have to file for bankruptcy or if they pass away before medicaid gets accepted, what are our options for protecting the house because otherwise we need to line up fallback plans.
If this isn't the right sub, if you could point me to a sub or resource that could help us, please let me know.
I'll be happy to answer any questions that I know the answers too.

I feel like I’m out of options
Hello everyone,
This may be a long post and I’m sorry in advance. If this isn’t the best spot to post please let me know. I (30F) was a caregiver for my mom pretty much since I was 10. I didn’t learn anything about personal finance or any “adult bills”. My mom was on a housing voucher so no rent and the monthly bills were paid with her disability check. I didn’t think of everything that was involved in all of this.
Fast forward to last year, my mom passed away and I was pushed into “adulting” full time all on my own. I’ve made many mistakes financially and I’m not sure how to get out of this debt cycle. I make good money for a single person (over 70k in a southern state) but still living paycheck to paycheck and tragically in a heap of debt (over 40k).
I’m thinking of filing bankruptcy for a clean slate. Between rent, car payment, insurance, utilities bills, and credit card payments, I have $0 left over every check. I’m super stressed out. It’s hard enough mourning and the additional financial stress is killing me.
Would bankruptcy be a good idea or is there something else I can do?
Edit to add:
Monthly take home is about $3700.(I work for the federal government so my take home is a lot less than usual) I said less in a previous comment since my loans are taken out automatically.
Rent + add ons- $1630
Car payment is $586.60 apr 13.56% bal: $16,858.24
Credit card #1- min $25 limit $400 balance $280 apr 28.15% (my first and longest credit line)
Credit # 2- minimum $160 limit 1600 balance 1849.58 Apr 28.74 (used to cover my moms funeral expenses)
Credit #3- min $20 apr 18% limit $500 balance $400
Loan #1- minimum $136.16, apr 4% bal $2766.28
Loan #2- min- 302.56 apr 3% bal 4457.91
(These loans are through my 401k and taken out from my take home pay automatically biweekly half of monthly ofc)
Insurance (car, renters, valuables)- 290.04
Phone bill- $220/m (making payments on a phone once it’s paid off my sister will take over my nieces line)
Just realized my other card is closed for no payment so I’ll worry about that later. I think that’s pretty much it.
Edit# 2- I have $20k in student loans but they are in forbearance until 2026 because the provider changed. My job will pay $10k of the balance this year and 10k next year so I didn’t add it in monthly even though I was paying it.

Me again! Curious if anyone knows if it's better to take the credit card company's (Chase Bank) settlement offer (which I asked for, and it was a good offer), or wait for "charge-off" and work with the collections agency and ask to settle with them? The reason I am wondering (and this has been mentioned before here) is that Chase said they "may" report part of the debt (the balance after settlement) to the IRS as income. Obviously I don't want that. Will a collections agency do the same? Since my credit is already crap with this, having a charge-off and going to a collections agency won't really matter credit-wise (I don't think). What would you guys do? Second part of question: is a charge-off as bad as a bankruptcy? TIA!!!

I fucked up made a terrible mistake. I 22F became really close to another 22F. Like two peas in a pot.
The problem started beginning of last year but I was dealing with my own issues that I didn’t have the mental space or maturity to seek for help. Beginning of 2022 I co-signed for a friend. I know. Anyways now I’m in my first real life adult fuck up because she became a druggie and simply stopped caring. We financed it in Washington state beginning of 2022. Everything was fine till the beginning of 2023. It started off with late payments she doesn’t have an excuse because we were getting around the same paycheck since we were both the same rank in the military.
WHAT SHE WAS DOING W/ HER MONEY IDK. I felt so stressed I actually talked to a superior about it. We tracked her down at work and turns out she was actually in the process of being kicked out the military. Pretty sure she popped for coke.
Scary. Now I knew she was out the door to basically ghost me and the problem of the vehicle. Now easy I was just going to take the car from her even though I was going through some bs myself but preferred to struggle with two car payments than keep dealing with her and the recurring late payments. Then she tells me it got towed in Oregon state. Okay. Around this time she had lost significant weight probably a 30lb difference within almost 2 weeks. She also began ghosting my calls and messages for days. This became the beginning of a her actually ghosting me and blocking me on her social medias.
Fast forward, I find the city and look up the plates for the car. Towing company tells me they don’t hold on to cars for that long and it’s been sent to auction. That’s around the time I started making the payments FEB2023. I was so scared of my credit score falling because I was looking for an apartment at the time. Then it became easier to ignore the problem and keep paying but now I don’t care anymore. It’s $271 that I don’t want to keep paying. I no longer care about burning my credit. I was watching videos on how bankruptcy works this morning but that seems too extreme for my situation. The total debt is around $12000. Please anyone know what my options?
This is the situation I wish I could take time back but I can’t. I need advice.

I considered bankruptcy a year previously it didn’t want to rope in my grandfather as he’s a co-sign on my vehicle. Seeing as that just got repoed I’d say the balance is now dismissible correct? I’m about 55k in the hole with the remaining vehicle balance, credit cards, and personal loans and I’ve now just recently been let go from work. I haven’t been able to pay for a couple months and frankly I wanna know if I should try to settle debts or file? I understand the challenges of bankruptcy but god I just want my life to get back in order I swear I’m never fucking up again.

https://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/2024/05/08/steward-staring-down-9-billion-in-debts-will-auction-off-31-hospital-properties/
All Steward hospitals — including those in the Bay State — will be put for sale at auction this summer, the company’s bankruptcy attorneys told a Texas court, and the goal is to get all 31 of them shifted to new owners without any closing first.
There is real value in the businesses and there are interested buyers, Steward attorney Ray Schrock told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Chris Lopez, who is overseeing the Chapter 11 proceedings which began Monday in the Southern District of Texas.
While the company doesn’t intend to forget about the patients they serve, Schrock said, Steward hopes to avoid “fire sale” prices as they work to dig themselves out of a $9 billion-deep financial hole.
“We’re presently marketing all of the hospitals,” he said, but stressed that “patient care is paramount to this company.”
“We want to maximize value, we’re here to maximize value, but it’s a hospital system. We’ve got people here who recognize that we need to work with the communities to do the right thing,” Schrock assured the court. “Our goal remains that there are zero hospitals closed on our watch.”
Its lawyers told the court that Steward Healthcare owes $6.6 billion on their future rent obligations, that they’ve stiffed hundreds of vendors on over $1 billion in unpaid invoices, that they owe another $1.2 billion to their lenders, and a quarter million in unpaid wages and benefits to their employees.
Despite this, Schrock started his address to the court by claiming the company and its CEO have been unfairly targeted with public criticism, and that only one side of the story has been shared.
The company got its start in 2010 by buying six “struggling” Massachusetts hospitals in a $895 million deal approved by then Attorney General Martha Coakley as “good for the health-care landscape in general.”
Caritas Christi Health Care CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre, now the CEO of Steward, told the Herald in 2010 that the sale would benefit “our patients, employees and pensioners and tremendously benefits the communities.”
His company’s bankruptcy attorney said the years following that purchase saw exponential growth and expansion into other states. Schrock seemed to indicate it grew too fast and that attempts to sell properties and turn a profit were stalled by regulations.
Before things went south, the company was making $6 billion in annual revenue, Schrock said.
“It is an impressive company, it provides care to millions of people. Certainly Dr. de la Torre and as well as Steward have been taking a lot of flak, and frankly taking a lot of punches in the press over the last several months,” Schrock said. “You only hear half of the story.”
Steward currently operates eight hospitals in seven Massachusetts cities and towns. Negotiations for a $75 million loan the company has secured as part of the bankruptcy process also include plans to sell those hospitals, along with properties in several other states. The company’s properties outside of Florida are scheduled for auction on June 28, and the remaining nine facilities in Florida will go up for sale two days later, though Schrock told the court those dates may change.
A Department of Public Health spokesperson told the Herald that it’s too soon to say precisely how the bankruptcy proceedings or the sale of those hospitals will affect services in the Bay State, but stressed the situation will be closely monitored by state officials.
“Steward has committed to a responsible transition of its Massachusetts hospitals. The Healey-Driscoll administration continues to collaborate and coordinate with health care leaders across the state to ensure the stability of our health care system, especially in areas where Steward operates. Working across government, with health care leaders, and external advisors, we continue planning for the best way to provide in-patient care, behavioral health care, maternity care, and much needed primary and specialty outpatient services in each region where Steward operates,” the spokesperson said.
Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan said St. Anne’s Hospital, the Steward facility in his city, has already seen interest from prospective buyers. It’s a busy hospital, Coogan said, and he thinks it turns enough of a profit that it isn’t in danger of closing.
If the hospital did close its doors, it would be “devastating to Fall River,” the mayor said.
“The jobs, the tax revenue, the services to our citizens — It’s been there a long, long time. It’s a key piece of the south end of the city and they serve a ton of people,” Coogan said.
Taunton Mayor Shaunna O’Connell said her city’s Morton Hospital is “is integral to the health and well-being of our residents and we will work with all of our stakeholders to ensure it remains open” and that, as the bankruptcy process plays out, the most important take away is that Steward Hospitals are still seeing patients.
“While the announcement that Steward had filed for bankruptcy was not surprising, it is of great concern to the City of Taunton. However, the Chapter 11 Bankruptcy filing by Steward allows for the reorganization and restructuring process to ensure our hospitals remain open to our communities,” she told the Herald in a statement.
Other Steward facilities include St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center and Carney Hospital in Boston, Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Holyoke Hospitals in Haverhill and Methuen, and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer. The company’s Norwood Hospital has been closed since 2020 due to flooding, and the company permanently shuttered New England Sinai Hospital on April 2.

Feeling crushed by $40k in credit card and personal loan debt. Minimum payments are killing my budget, and living paycheck to paycheck is brutal.
Freedom Debt Relief seems tempting, but reviews are all over the place. Anyone have experience with them? Is there a better option?
Considering bankruptcy, but worried about renting an apartment with my boyfriend in the future.
Really lost here.

(for those who did not see the email update)
Can a court appointed receiver help a company to restore compliance with OTC?(the following is an A.I. report)
A court-appointed receiver is a neutral third party who takes control of a company’s assets and operations, typically when the company is in financial distress or facing legal disputes.
The receiver’s role includes managing the company’s affairs to protect the assets, which may involve restoring compliance with regulatory requirements such as those for OTC markets.
Receivers are appointed to oversee various aspects of a company’s operations, including:

1. Asset Protection: Ensuring that the company’s assets are not wasted or mismanaged during legal disputes.
2. Fraud and Mismanagement: Taking control of a company to investigate and rectify issues related to fraud, embezzlement or mismanagement.

The receiver operates under the supervision of the court and is responsible for preserving the property and resolving claims related to it.
They also provide detailed records and regular reports to the court and relevant parties.
In the context of OTC markets, if a company has failed to meet its legal obligations or maintain the necessary regulatory compliance, a receiver might be appointed to address these issues.
The receiver would then work to bring the company back into compliance with OTC regulations, which could involve financial restructuring, addressing legal disputes, or other necessary actions to meet regulatory standards.
When a company’s management has been found guilty of embezzlement, a court-appointed receiver plays a crucial role in managing the company’s affairs:

1. Marshaling Assets: The receiver gathers all the company’s assets, including those that may have been embezzled.
2. Inventory and Management: They create an inventory of these assets and manage the company with good faith and prudent business judgment.
3. Notifying Creditors: The receiver notifies creditors about the receivership and the ongoing process.
4. Negotiating with Creditors: The receiver negotiates with creditors, aiming to create a repayment plan. If restructuring is possible, they work toward restoring the company’s financial health.

The receiver cannot directly claw back embezzled funds. The receiver’s primary role is to protect the company’s assets and address legal issues. Recovering embezzled funds typically involves separate legal proceedings, investigations, and potential lawsuits against the guilty parties.
While the receiver can help restore compliance and manage the company, the specific recovery of embezzled funds may require additional legal actions beyond the receiver’s scope.
Once compliance is restored, a court-appointed receiver may have the authority to help appoint a new board of directors to manage the company going forward.
The receiver’s responsibilities often include stabilizing the company and setting the stage for its future operations. This can involve:

1. Hiring New Management: If needed, the receiver can hire new management to run the company more efficiently and profitably.
2. Monitoring Administration: The receiver closely monitors the administration and submits monthly progress reports to the court, the company, and its creditors.
3. Preparing for Transition: Part of the receiver’s role is to prepare the company for a smooth transition back to normal operations, which may include the appointment of a new board of directors.

The specific powers and responsibilities of a receiver regarding the appointment of a new board will depend on the court order that established the receivership.
The court may grant the receiver broad powers to restructure the company, including the selection and appointment of new directors, especially if the previous management was involved in misconduct.
It’s important to note that the role of the original board of directors is suspended while the company is in receivership. Once the company is ready to exit receivership, the receiver will work according to the court’s instructions to re-establish governance structures, including a new board of directors, to ensure the company’s successful operation post-receivership.
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A court-appointed receiver can facilitate the sale, merger, or buyout of a company to other related companies.
The receiver’s role is to maximize the value of the company’s assets for the benefit of its creditors and stakeholders. This process may include:

1. Evaluating Offers: Assessing potential offers from interested parties to determine the best outcome for the company.
2. Negotiating Terms: Engaging in negotiations with potential buyers or merger partners to reach favorable terms.
3. Seeking Court Approval: Obtaining court approval for any proposed sale, merger, or buyout, as the receiver acts under the court’s authority.

The receiver’s actions are aimed at maximizing the return to creditors and shareholders.
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Shareholders have certain rights and may have a voice in decisions made during a company’s receivership, but their influence can be limited. The receiver is appointed by the court to manage the company’s assets and operations impartially and for the benefit of all interested parties, which includes the shareholders.
Here are some key points regarding shareholder rights in a receivership:
Voting Rights: Shareholders typically retain their voting rights, but these rights may be subject to the receivership’s terms and the court’s discretion.
Information Rights: Shareholders usually have the right to be informed about the receivership proceedings and any major decisions that affect their interests.
Legal Actions: In some cases, shareholders may have the right to take legal action if they believe their rights are being infringed upon during the receivership.
The court supervising the receivership will ultimately approve or disapprove actions proposed by the receiver, including those affecting shareholders.
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When a company successfully emerges from receivership, several positive outcomes can occur:

1. Debt Reduction: The company may have reduced its debt significantly through the restructuring process.
2. Capital Structure: It might have a strengthened capital structure, making it more financially stable and able to focus on growth.
3. Operational Improvements: The company could have improved its operational efficiencies and business model during the receivership.
4. New Leadership: There may be new leadership in place, including a new board of directors and management team.
5. Strategic Positioning: The company is likely better positioned for long-term success, with a focus on innovation and serving its customers effectively.
6. Shareholder Value: Shareholders might see an increase in the value of their shares if the company’s financial health and market position improve post-receivership.
7. Market Confidence: The successful emergence can restore confidence among investors, creditors, and customers, leading to more robust business prospects.
8. Continued Operations: The company can continue its operations without the constraints of the receivership, potentially exploring new markets and opportunities.

In essence, a successful emergence from receivership signifies a fresh start for the company, with the potential for renewed growth and prosperity. It’s a complex process that requires careful planning and execution, but with the right strategies and leadership, a company can recover and thrive post-receivership.
The role of new leadership in post-receivership success is pivotal. Here’s how effective leadership can influence the company’s trajectory after emerging from receivership:

1. Strategic Vision: New leaders provide a clear strategic direction, helping the company to navigate post-receivership challenges and capitalize on new opportunities.
2. Building Trust: They work to rebuild trust with stakeholders, including employees, customers, creditors, and investors, which is crucial for long-term success.
3. Cultural Transformation: Leaders can drive cultural change, promoting values like transparency and accountability that are essential for a fresh start.
4. Operational Excellence: They focus on operational improvements, streamlining processes, and enhancing efficiency to improve profitability.
5. Financial Management: Effective leaders implement robust financial controls and oversight to ensure the company remains compliant and financially healthy.
6. Talent Management: Attracting, retaining, and developing talent is key to innovation and competitive advantage in the post-receivership phase.
7. Stakeholder Communication: Keeping open lines of communication with all stakeholders helps in aligning interests and fostering collaboration.
8. Risk Management: New leaders assess and mitigate risks to prevent future financial distress and ensure the company’s resilience.
9. Governance Structures: They establish strong governance structures to oversee the company’s affairs and ensure ethical business practices.
10. Long-term Planning: Leaders engage in long-term planning, setting the stage for sustainable growth and avoiding short-term pitfalls.

In essence, new leadership is responsible for steering the company towards stability and growth, ensuring that the lessons from the receivership are applied to create a more robust and sustainable business model. Their ability to lead effectively can significantly impact the company’s success and its ability to thrive in a competitive marketplace.
If a company emerges from receivership with no remaining creditors, the feasibility of restoring the stock to trading status could indeed be more straightforward. Without the complexity of creditor claims, the company can focus on meeting the regulatory requirements for trading.Here’s how it might work:

1. Regulatory Compliance: The company must ensure that it meets all the regulatory requirements set by the securities exchange and the SEC.
2. Financial Reporting: Accurate and up-to-date financial reporting is crucial. The company must file all required reports and disclosures.
3. Corporate Governance: Establishing strong corporate governance practices is essential to regain investor trust and meet listing standards.
4. Market Communication: Transparent communication with the market about the company’s status and future plans is important.
5. Legal Clearance: The company may need to obtain legal clearance that it has resolved all issues that led to receivership.

With these steps, a company without creditors could more feasibly restore its stock to trading status, provided it diligently follows through with the necessary compliance and reporting requirements.
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A court-appointed receiver could potentially clear up a “caveat emptor” restriction due to non-filing.

1. Assessment: The receiver would assess the reasons behind the non-filing and the “caveat emptor” status.
2. Regulatory Compliance: They would work to bring the company back into compliance with filing requirements by ensuring that all necessary financial statements and disclosures are up-to-date and accurate.
3. Communication with Regulators: The receiver would likely communicate with regulators, such as the SEC, to address the deficiencies and negotiate the lifting of the restriction.
4. Legal Proceedings: If necessary, the receiver might engage in legal proceedings to resolve any disputes or issues that led to the non-filing status.
   
5. Restoration of Investor Confidence: By addressing the underlying issues, the receiver aims to . restore investor confidence and create a more stable environment for the company's . securities to trade.
   

It’s important to note that while a receiver has the authority to take these steps, the process can be complex and time-consuming. The success of such efforts would depend on the specific circumstances of the company and the nature of the compliance issues.
If the only requirement for restoring a company’s stock to trading status on the OTC markets is a financial update, it could indeed be a priority for the receiver to fulfill. The receiver’s role includes addressing compliance issues that are critical for the company’s operations and financial health. Providing a financial update to meet OTC markets’ requirements aligns with these responsibilities.
According to OTC Markets Group, to be eligible for trading, companies must be current in their reporting, have a minimum bid price, may not be in bankruptcy, and must undergo an annual verification and management certification process.
If non-filing is the sole impediment to trading, the receiver would likely prioritize resolving this issue as it is a direct path to restoring the company’s ability to trade its stock, which can be beneficial for the company’s recovery and the interests of its stakeholders.
The receiver would work to ensure that all necessary financial statements and disclosures are up-to-date and accurate, thereby clearing the “caveat emptor” restriction and allowing the stock to trade freely again.
This action would also help in improving transparency and potentially restoring investor confidence in the company.
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There are ways to raise the issue of restoring a company’s stock to trading status during the receivership process. Here are some steps that can be taken:

1. Stakeholder Meetings: Organize meetings with stakeholders, including shareholders, to discuss the company’s status and the importance of restoring stock trading.
2. Court Communications: Communicate with the court overseeing the receivership about the priority of restoring the stock to trading status, especially if there are no remaining creditors.
3. Legal Counsel: Work with legal counsel to ensure that all regulatory requirements are met and to advocate for the company’s interests in court.
4. Financial Reporting: Update financial reports and ensure they are filed promptly to meet the requirements of the OTC markets.
5. Regulatory Liaison: Appoint a liaison or a team to work directly with regulatory bodies to expedite the process of lifting any trading restrictions.
6. Transparency: Maintain transparency throughout the process to build trust and support among all parties involved.

By taking these steps, the receiver can effectively raise and address the issue of restoring the company’s stock to trading status during the receivership process.
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my comment:
I think we know what our mission's priorities are...we are fortunate that Blue Sphere has revenues, has assets (though currently illegally hidden), has few (if any) remaining creditors other than "toxic lenders", and will not be vulnerable to another sleazy CEO taking over the reigns (as has happened with many other micro-cap companies)...
We have a targeted focus: remove the CE-tag and restore market-cap value to the company, especially since the stock is currently trading (though only by a few brokerages) and has market makers willing to trade the stock (a major impediment for stocks that have "dried up" and become illiquid)...
I feel confident that we have all our puzzle pieces in place...

I fucked up. A terrible mistake. I honestly felt the betrayal so hard. We were really close.
The problems started beginning of last year but I was dealing with my own issues that I didn’t have the mental space or maturity to seek for help. Beginning of 2022 I co-signed for a friend. I KNOW. Anyways now I’m in my first real life adult fuck up because she became a druggie and simply stopped caring. We financed it in Washington state beginning of 2022. Everything was fine till the beginning of 2023. It started off with late payments she doesn’t have an excuse because we were getting around the same paycheck since we were both the same rank in the military.
WHAT SHE WAS DOING W/ HER MONEY IDK. I felt so stressed I actually talked to a superior about it. We tracked her down at work and turns out she was actually in the process of being kicked out the military.
Scary. Now I knew she was out the door to basically ghost me and the problem of the vehicle. Now easy I was just going to take the car from her even though I was going through some bs myself but preferred to struggle with two car payments than keep dealing with her and the recurring late payments. Then she tells me it got towed in Oregon state. Okay. Around this time she had lost significant weight probably a 30lb difference within almost 2 weeks. She also began ghosting my calls and messages for days. This became the beginning of a her actually ghosting me and blocking me on her social medias.
Fast forward, I find the city and look up the plates for the car. Towing company tells me they don’t hold on to cars for that long and it’s been sent to auction. That’s around the time I started making the payments FEB2023. I was so scared of my credit score falling because I was looking for an apartment at the time. Then it became easier to ignore the problem but now I don’t care anymore. It’s $271 that I don’t want to keep paying. I no longer care about burning my credit. I was watching videos on how bankruptcy works this morning but that seems too extreme for my situation. The total debt is around $12000. Please anyone know what my options are?
I obviously know I shouldn’t have done it. Typing that is zero help. I need actual helpful input.

VULCAN ZAS
WILLIAM D. COHAN
May 12, 2024
Could the Paramount mess actually provide an unexpected benefit to David Zaslav and Warner Bros. Discovery?
Now that the battle for Paramount has entered the black box phase, wherein everyone stays quiet and the bankers and lawyers help Shari Redstone decide to sell her company to either RedBird and Skydance (and face shareholder lawsuits aplenty) or Apollo and Sony (and face months of government scrutiny) or just say Fuck it, and keep going it alone (without much of a strategy, or an individual C.E.O., and down four board members). There aren’t any brilliant solutions at this point, particularly with her potential partners all likely feeling some level of deal fatigue amid this indecisive and self-destructive auction process. That’s in part why I think the person most likely to walk away with some of the most interesting, and potentially strategic, spoils of this war will be our friend David Zaslav at Warner Bros. Discovery.
Now that the battle for Paramount has entered the black box phase, wherein everyone stays quiet and the bankers and lawyers help Shari Redstone decide to sell her company to either RedBird and Skydance (and face shareholder lawsuits aplenty) or Apollo and Sony (and face months of government scrutiny) or just say Fuck it, and keep going it alone (without much of a strategy, or an individual C.E.O., and down four board members). There aren’t any brilliant solutions at this point, particularly with her potential partners all likely feeling some level of deal fatigue amid this indecisive and self-destructive auction process. That’s in part why I think the person most likely to walk away with some of the most interesting, and potentially strategic, spoils of this war will be our friend David Zaslav at Warner Bros. Discovery.
After all, both Sony/Apollo and Skydance/RedBird are primarily interested in the Paramount studio; neither cares as much about Paramount+ and CBS. Meanwhile, Zaz has long coveted CBS, as he told me years ago, before he did the deal for WarnerMedia. My bet is that he would still love to get his hands on the asset and combine it with CNN to create a news-gathering behemoth, and then unleash C.F.O. Gunnar Wiedenfels and his team of synergy experts to jettison costs left and right. Would Zaz also be interested in the local CBS stations? I don’t know, but if WBD doesn’t want them, chances are they could find a home at Tegna, Nexstar, Gray, or Sinclair. The sale of CBS and its affiliated stations would likely have significant tax implications, but their value is much lower than it was years ago, so I suspect that can be managed.
What about Paramount+? No matter who wins, Paramount+ has to be shut down or merged with another streamer. Losing $1.6 billion a year on a streaming service is not tenable (although the company hopes Par+ will be profitable by next year). Former Paramount Global C.E.O. Bob Bakish famously nixed a joint venture opportunity between Par+ and Peacock for reasons that apparently miffed Shari. But Max might be a better dance partner than Peacock. According to Zaz’s comments during last week’s earnings call, Max was profitable in the first quarter “despite heavy launch investments” in Latin America, and its subscriber base increased by 2 million, bringing the total subscribers into the range of 100 million. Zaz has also said that he believes the streaming service is on track to earn $1 billion, or more, in EBITDA—note he didn’t say “adjusted EBITDA”—in 2025.
Obviously, Max still has less than half of Netflix’s 220 million subscribers, for which the market has rewarded Netflix with a value of $262 billion, or more than 10 times WBD’s market value of $20 billion. (It’s worth noting, of course, that Netflix makes money—$5.4 billion of net income in 2023, compared with a $3.1 billion loss for WBD. Perhaps combining Max’s 100 million subscribers with Paramount+’s 67 million will allow WBD to not only better compete with Disney+, Prime Video, and Netflix, but maybe even begin to capture a fraction of Netflix’s extraordinary earnings multiple of 48x its 2023 net income.
Between a Rock and a Zas Place
Now that the battle for Paramount has entered the black box phase, wherein everyone stays quiet and the bankers and lawyers help Shari Redstone decide to sell her company to either RedBird and Skydance (and face shareholder lawsuits aplenty) or Apollo and Sony (and face months of government scrutiny) or just say Fuck it, and keep going it alone (without much of a strategy, or an individual C.E.O., and down four board members). There aren’t any brilliant solutions at this point, particularly with her potential partners all likely feeling some level of deal fatigue amid this indecisive and self-destructive auction process. That’s in part why I think the person most likely to walk away with some of the most interesting, and potentially strategic, spoils of this war will be our friend David Zaslav at Warner Bros. Discovery.
After all, both Sony/Apollo and Skydance/RedBird are primarily interested in the Paramount studio; neither cares as much about Paramount+ and CBS. Meanwhile, Zaz has long coveted CBS, as he told me years ago, before he did the deal for WarnerMedia. My bet is that he would still love to get his hands on the asset and combine it with CNN to create a news-gathering behemoth, and then unleash C.F.O. Gunnar Wiedenfels and his team of synergy experts to jettison costs left and right. Would Zaz also be interested in the local CBS stations? I don’t know, but if WBD doesn’t want them, chances are they could find a home at Tegna, Nexstar, Gray, or Sinclair. The sale of CBS and its affiliated stations would likely have significant tax implications, but their value is much lower than it was years ago, so I suspect that can be managed.
What about Paramount+? No matter who wins, Paramount+ has to be shut down or merged with another streamer. Losing $1.6 billion a year on a streaming service is not tenable (although the company hopes Par+ will be profitable by next year). Former Paramount Global C.E.O. Bob Bakish famously nixed a joint venture opportunity between Par+ and Peacock for reasons that apparently miffed Shari. But Max might be a better dance partner than Peacock. According to Zaz’s comments during last week’s earnings call, Max was profitable in the first quarter “despite heavy launch investments” in Latin America, and its subscriber base increased by 2 million, bringing the total subscribers into the range of 100 million. Zaz has also said that he believes the streaming service is on track to earn $1 billion, or more, in EBITDA—note he didn’t say “adjusted EBITDA”—in 2025.
Obviously, Max still has less than half of Netflix’s 220 million subscribers, for which the market has rewarded Netflix with a value of $262 billion, or more than 10 times WBD’s market value of $20 billion. (It’s worth noting, of course, that Netflix makes money—$5.4 billion of net income in 2023, compared with a $3.1 billion loss for WBD. Perhaps combining Max’s 100 million subscribers with Paramount+’s 67 million will allow WBD to not only better compete with Disney+, Prime Video, and Netflix, but maybe even begin to capture a fraction of Netflix’s extraordinary earnings multiple of 48x its 2023 net income.
Between a Rock and a Zaz Place
Now that the Reverse Morris Trust restrictions are off, WBD can do deals again without fear of tax consequences. And I would not be the least bit surprised to see Zaz walk off with CBS, its local stations, Paramount+, or some combination of the three, if Paramount ends up in Apollo's hands. He may, in fact, be the savior that each of Sony/Apollo, Ellison/RedBird, and CBS chief George Cheeks are looking for to guide them through the regulatory and financial thicket that may result if Shari finally picks one of her suitors.
Part of why I think Zaz emerges a winner in the Paramount follies has to do with him having thrown off the Reverse Morris Trust shackles, but I also think the market is truly underestimating WBD’s first-quarter performance and the growing momentum at the company. (This is not investment advice.) First of all, WBD is making money, even if it’s not yet producing net income. And by that I mean free cash flow, one of the most important metrics on Wall Street—and, yes, the key factor in Zaz’s endlessly fascinating compensation calculus. In the first quarter of 2024, historically WBD’s weakest of the year, the company generated $400 million of free cash flow, a turnaround of $1.4 billion from a $1 billion loss a year earlier.
What’s more: In the last trailing 12 months, WBD has produced $7.5 billion in free cash flow. Thanks to the free cash flow generation, WBD has paid down more than $6 billion of debt in the last 12 months, including debt reduction of $1 billion during the first quarter, which featured the clever move of buying $400 million of its own debt in the market at a discount. Since the start of the WBD experiment, the company’s net debt has been reduced to less than $40 billion from $55 billion. WBD management remains “committed,” Gunnar said on the first-quarter earnings call, to reducing the leverage ratio to between 2.5x and 3x.
According to Gunnar—and I find this most interesting—the average cost of WBD’s debt is 4.6 percent. That means the company’s cost of capital is relatively low, especially since the debt has an average maturity of 15 years. That also means, in the current rate environment, that WBD’s debt trades at a discount to par because interest rates on newly issued and similarly rated BBB debt are much higher than 4.6 percent. According to Gunnar, the spread between the actual cost of WBD’s debt and what it would cost WBD if that debt were issued or refinanced today is a “$6 billion asset in our debt stack.” He added that WBD would try to capture the value of that asset by continuing to buy WBD’s debt at a discount, using up to $1.75 billion of WBD’s cash. That’s just smart.
Equity investors may not like WBD’s stock price or its prospects—the stock is down 67 percent since WBD started trading publicly in April 2022—but WBD’s creditors seem to be pretty happy. WBD is a publicly traded L.B.O., and when its debt gets paid down and its cash flow increases, equity value is created (or should be). I understand why equity investors are still skeptical of the WBD story, but Zaz’s longtime mentor John Malone didn’t get to be a multibillionaire by making big mistakes, and he is still a big shareholder and on the WBD board. At some point, equity investors are going to clue into the fact that as the WBD debt gets paid down, the company’s equity value should increase.
In addition to the ongoing financial engineering, there are other green shoots. Warner Bros. is currently one of the hottest movie studios in Hollywood, amid a run that includes Barbie, Wonka, and Dune 2. So far this year, Warners has generated $1.8 billion in box office revenue and was the first movie studio to generate more than $1 billion in revenue in 2024. Not for nothing, I assume, are all of Ryan Coogler, George Clooney, Tom Cruise, Peter Jackson, and Paul Thomas Anderson in the Warners fold. HBO had a big year in 2023, with House of the Dragon, White Lotus, The Last of Us, etcetera, and Warner Bros. Television remains one of the most important producers of TV shows in Hollywood, with some 110 in its repertoire, including Abbott Elementary, Shrinking, Ted Lasso, and the Chuck Lorre portfolio on CBS.
I also want to take the other side of the NBA debate. I have no idea whether WBD will be able to make a deal with the NBA or not. But if Brian Roberts and NBCU get the NBA rights, it will be because they paid up big time for them. And if Zaz loses the NBA, I suspect he will find a profitable alternative use for that $25 billion-plus that he would have spent over the next decade on NBA content. Perhaps he’ll go after UFC rights, or deploy the cash elsewhere. While it’s obvious that the NBA would shore up TNT’s and WBD’s cable leverage with distributors in the near term, who knows what the future value of those advertising packages will be after all the biggest players build out their AVOD tiers.
Zaz also has the right to match Amazon’s offer of $1.8 billion a year for 11 years for a different package of NBA games, including games on Saturday nights, the in-season tournament and some postseason games. And as he said on the earnings call, “We’ve had a lot of time to prepare for this negotiation, and we have strategies in place for the various potential outcomes. However, now is not the time to discuss any of this. Since we are in active negotiations with the league and under our current deal with the NBA, we have matching rights that allow us to match third-party offers before the NBA enters into an agreement with them.”
I get that in its first two years, WBD has unquestionably been a loser stock. But I think equity investors are missing the bigger picture here. As the WBD debt continues to get paid down, the equity value has no choice but to go up. After all, we are in an age when content is just as important as distribution. (That’s certainly what we believe at Puck.) And there’s little doubt that WBD continues to produce some of the best content anywhere on the planet. Does it have the best distribution? Probably not. But Zaz is doing everything he can think of to solve that problem, too, including the Spulu sports bundle deal he made with Lachlan Murdoch and Bob Iger and the streaming partnership he just forged with Iger and his Disney+ and Hulu. And if he somehow ends up with CBS or Paramount+ and unleashes Gunnar? Well, then, we may just find out what the whole WBD narrative that Zaz and Malone have been cooking up is all about.

Hello, looking for some advice. For starters, I (37M) am from an immigrant background and as an only child the expectation is that I take care of my mother (67F) in retirement. I have no problem with this. My mom was a single parent and worked hard and sacrificed for me, so I am more than happy to make sure all her needs are met. My mom retired but didn't plan well for retirement at all..She has almost no money in the bank and lives on social security and a small govt pension. But I thought this would be fine since she has literally no expenses except for her daily food, hygiene, and recreational needs. I pay for all things housing, insurance, car expenses, bills etc. I just recently found out that she has gotten herself into over 17k in credit card debt. And with her income it will be so hard to pay that down and live. I really don't want to pay it myself because I feel like I am providing so much already and my own plans would be derailed. Plus, I know the debt wouldn't transfer to me upon her death so I don't want to help pay it down now. But I do want to come up with some type of plan so I know what we should be doing with it instead of being in limbo ... 1) Do we just leave it alone? At this stage my mom has no need for good credit. I was helping her rebuild her credit but now that she has all this debt and some missed payments from last year I feel like focus on credit at her age is useless. 2.) Should I have her file for bankruptcy? She filed for bankruptcy already about 10 years ago, so this will be her 2nd time. 3.) Do I help her pay it down to the best of my ability? I'm reluctant to do this because Im afraid she will not learn anything, I've already paid off her credit cards and car once and don't want to do it again. Plus I'm starting to build real wealth on my side and I rather not detract from that. 4) just have her pay the minimums, create a budget with her, and try to implement some type of snowball/avalanche debt payoff method. It will take a while and at her age I'm wondering if she should be throwing all that money at debt when she could use it for her daily needs.
Looking for any advice on the presented options or other options I'm not thinking of. Am I looking at this completely wrong? Any similar experiences out there? I love her so much but can't fathom how this happened or even where the money went. I have access to her bank statements now and will be looking into them thoroughly. Thank all.
TLDR: I pay for all of my mom's expenses but she accumulated 17k in debt. Living on just social security and a small pension, how should we think about dealing with this debt.

Hello Fellow Apes,
I have been getting a good amount of inquiries regarding the share buyback program that clov mentioned during its previous earning calls.
https://www.reddit.com/Healthcare_Anon/comments/1cmw9xk/clover_health_q1_earning_brief_andrew_troy_is_an/
Therefore, I am going to make a post about it since there are some misunderstanding regarding the process. At the recent Clov's earning calls and in its 10Q, Andrew Toy (Clov's CEO) announced that he has gotten the approval of Clov's board to do $20 million in share buyback program over a period of 2 years. A company's share buyback program, also known as a stock repurchase program, is when a company decides to buy back its own shares from the marketplace. This action can reduce the number of shares outstanding, potentially increasing the value of remaining shares and improving financial ratios such as earnings per share (EPS).
There are several reasons for why a company would initiate this type of program: 1) The company is buying back shares to signal to the market that they believe their stock is undervalued. This can reassure investors that management is confident in the company's future prospects. 2) Buybacks can be an efficient way to return money to shareholders, similar to dividends, but often with different tax implications. 3) By reducing the number of shares outstanding, buybacks increase EPS, which might make the company appear more profitable on a per-share basis. 4) Buybacks can help manage the cost of capital by reducing the equity base, which may make debt financing appear more attractive. 5) The company is being responsive to our recent filing with the SEC and Clover IR. We filed it our cases with the SEC and Clover IR regarding the stock manipulation that we see happening. We didn't think Clov leadership would be receptive or responsive, but it only took them 2 months to come up with a brilliant answer that can force margin calls at any given moment during a period of 2 years.
Now for the process, The process of a stock repurchase program typically involves several key steps. Below are the a general outline of how companies go about repurchasing their own shares:

1. Board Approval: The initiation of a share buyback program starts with the company’s board of directors. The board must approve the buyback plan, including the maximum number of shares to be repurchased and the total amount of money that can be spent on the buyback. Clover board has already approved of the purchase.
2. Regulatory Compliance: Depending on the jurisdiction, there may be regulatory requirements to meet before proceeding with a buyback. In the United States, for instance, buybacks are subject to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules and regulations. Rule 10b-18 provides safe harbor conditions under which companies can repurchase shares on any single day without being considered as manipulating the market, and this is where forcing a margin calls at any given moment come in.
3. Funding the Buyback: The company needs to decide how to finance the buyback. It can use cash reserves, proceeds from asset sales, or debt. The choice of financing affects the company’s balance sheet and financial ratios. Clov has been doing incredibly well financially. You can look at Moocao's DD of clover health vs the other companies on this reddit to see why. I'm not going into detail here. The point is Clov is going to use its profit to fund the buyback.
4. Execution Method: There are several ways a company can execute a buyback and we have no idea which one they are going to pick:
   • Open Market Purchases: This is the most common method, where the company buys shares on the open market over an extended period, often using a broker to avoid driving up the share price. Nevertheless, in the case of Clov and the regulatory compliance above, they can also buy it in one go. However, with the current volume and price point, Clove cannot buy more than around 2 million share per purchase per day, however this number can change.
   • Tender Offer: The company offers to buy back a specific number of shares at a premium to the current market price, and shareholders can choose to tender (sell) their shares back to the company. Clov will not be doing this because the point is to get back at the shorts that have been unreasonably shorting the stock beyond bankruptcy.
   • Direct Negotiation: Buying back shares directly from large shareholders, often at a negotiated price.
   • Dutch Auction: The company states a range of prices at which it is willing to repurchase shares. Shareholders then indicate how many shares they are willing to sell at each price within the range, allowing the company to determine the lowest cost method to buy a set number of shares. Clove has only said it will buy back $20 million and they have 2 years to do this.
5. Disclosure: Companies must publicly announce their buyback plans, typically through press releases or SEC filings, depending on the regulatory requirements. These disclosures ensure transparency and keep the shareholders informed. This was already done during the earning and 10q filing. They don't need to make any announcement nor do they want to.
6. Implementation and Timing: The company decides on the timing of the buyback, which can be influenced by market conditions, the company's performance, and its cash flow situation. The actual buying can be spaced out to avoid large market impacts. We have a good idea of what is the optimal price point, but we believe clov is going to time the repurchase when there is a high chance to force margin calls on shorts.
7. Cancellation or Retention: Once repurchased, shares can either be canceled or held as treasury stock. Canceling the shares reduces the total number of outstanding shares, potentially increasing earnings per share. If held as treasury stock, the shares can be reissued for uses like employee compensation plans or future acquisitions.
8. Post-Buyback Reporting: After the buyback, companies need to regularly update their shareholders about the progress and eventual completion of the program through quarterly or annual reports. At one of the future earning, clov will update on where they are with the share buyback process.

For those of you who are interested in this matter, you can follow the link below to track when new filing are done.
https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001801170&owner=include&count=40&hidefilings=0
I'm not here to give you financial advice or anything. My goal is to inform you about the process because there are a lot of misinformation out there. The reason why I think this is a response to our filing is because penny stocks rarely announce share buyback programs due to their lower market capitalization and strained financial conditions. Typically, they do not have the surplus cash needed for this kind of activities... but Clov does. ^__^

So, this topic is an interesting one and isn't talked about enough for me. Your house or apartment number radiates at a number based on the number itself it is one digit or the sequence being added into one.
For example, if you live in apartment 304, then your # will be 7 because you add all numbers until you get a single digit. If you live in an apartment that equals 7, you may find yourself extra inquisitive or connected to some type of contract or relationship. Some people living in 7 homes say that it ends up being related to ghosts and others notice it can be connected to learning about something more.
If you live in an apartment with 302, then your number will be 5. This is better than living in a 104/5 apartment because 104 is 14 and 14 is a karmic number. I actually lived in a 14/5 apartment which is a karmic debt number and this was after I didn't notify my income increase. 14 is taking advantage of a comfortable situation to get your way basically or in other words "dodging responsibility". It made a lot of sense when I looked into this. I didn't stay in the 14/5 apartment long. Since 302 isn't karmic, this may be a better 5 apartment or home to live in because 3 is connected to creativity, communication, friendship, and optimism. 2 is connected to cooperation, compassion, and love. This is probably a more ideal 5 energy to live under. You may notice an increase in your social activity and the excitement in your life.
No matter what your home or apartment number is, just add up all the digits until you get 1 digit and that is the number.
This is not focusing on the full address!
It is only your apartment or door number.
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The company I work for is on its last legs due to excessive debt and little demand for the product. Bankruptcy is definitely possible in the very near future due to lawsuits from creditors.
Back on January 1 the company removed 401k matching. It was also late a couple times in submitting employee 401k deposits to Fidelity (The Dept of Labor had to get involved to get them right with us) so now few employees trust senior leadership and have reduced their contribution to zero. The money is sitting in the company plan for now. The money I’ve been putting in for the last 15 years has limited funds I can pick from to invest in and I’d like more choices on how I invest.
Is there anything I should worry about that the failing company can unscrupulously do, like withdraw and monies that has been submitted to Fidelity?
Also, if the company goes under or even just declares bankruptcy, do I then roll it into an IRA?

I've always been bound to death.
On my eighth birthday, a shadow strode into my house and shot me and my family dead. I remember it vividly, every detail, every angle, etched and stained and carved into my memory.
I sat very still with my knees to my chest, my gaze glued to my siblings.
Lily and PJ looked like they were sleeping, and I could almost believe it.
I didn't look at the shadow.
From the comfort of my knees, I waited for my brother to lift his head.
But his body was so limp, so still, every part of him faltering. My sister’s head was nestled in his shoulder, thick beads of red running down her face.
They're just sleeping.
I could tell myself they were— as long as I didn't look at the splatter of scarlet staining the back of the couch and pooling at their feet.
BANG.
Mom’s body dropped onto the ground.
I lunged forwards, slamming my hands over my ears.
BANG.
PJ’s head slumped forwards, a teasing smile still frozen on his lips.
BANG.
Lily gently tipped into PJ, like she was going to sleep.
Before she closed her eyes, Mom told me to run.
I can't remember how long I stayed under the shattered remnants of Mom’s favorite table. The shadow was waiting for me to move, to make a noise.
I watched booted feet crunch through glass, getting closer and closer, and slowly, fight or flight began to take over.
Making it halfway across the living room, my palms slick with my mother’s blood, I thought I was going to live.
Cruel fingers wound their way through my hair and shoved me to my knees. I remember the phantom legs of a spider creeping down the back of my neck when the shadow with no face dragged the barrel of his gun down my spine.
“Turn around.”
The shadow had a voice.
When I didn't move, the protruding metal stabbed into my neck.
“Turn around, kid!”
I did, very slowly.
Behind him, my siblings still weren't moving.
They were asleep.
Lily was still smiling, strawberry blonde ringlets stained red.
I couldn't see PJ’S face anymore.
BANG.
I didn't feel the gunshot.
I didn't feel anything.
Looking down, I glimpsed slowly spreading red blossoming like a flower.
It felt like being cut from strings.
I hit the ground, just like my mother, my body felt heavy and wrong.
Paralysed.
I remember being unable to scream, unable to cry, the salty taste of metal filling my mouth. It was like being winded. Rolling onto my side, all I could see was flickering candlelight.
The air was thick, so hard to breathe.
I rolled onto my back trying to suck in air.
The shadow took a step back, opened the front door, and bled into the night.
I don't remember the pain, and I don't remember dying. I couldn't breathe, couldn't conjure words in my mouth.
I felt warm and sticky, lying in my own blood.
I think I tried to move.
But I was so tired.
I’m not sure what death feels like, because it's like going to sleep.
I remember my last shuddering breaths, a lulling darkness beginning to swallow me up. I don't know why I wasn't afraid.
Oblivion almost felt like I was sinking into lukewarm depths on a Summer’s day.
Oblivion wasn't pain, and there was a peaceful inevitability to it.
It was endless nothing, a nothing I found myself gravitating towards. But before I could envelope myself in that darkness, it was spitting me back out.
The next thing I knew, I was in a white room, a slow beeping sound tearing me from slumber. I had a vague memory of slow spreading roses blossoming across my shirt, like summer flowers blooming.
Everything was white.
The walls, the ceiling, and my clothes.
Sensation hit me in slow waves.
Exhaustion.
I felt it tightening its grip around my brain, dragging me back onto a mountain of pillows when I tried to jump up. My Aunt May was sitting next to me on a plastic chair, her warm fingers entangled in mine. Aunt May and Mom were practically twins, with the same thick red hair and pale skin.
Mom wore her hair in a casual ponytail, while May preferred a strict bun.
I had to bite back the urge to yank my hand away.
Aunt May was asleep, used tissues filling her lap.
There was a nurse pottering around, checking my vitals and prodding my arms. My eyes felt heavy. I had to blink several times to keep myself awake.
“Charlie?”
The nurse’s voice was like wind-chimes.
I pretended not to notice her forced lipstick smile, the way she stood with her arms folded, staring at me like I was one of my cousin’s experiments. “You were in an accident, sweetie,” the nurse spoke up. I could see her trembling hands. “Just, um, try and rest, okay?”
I wanted to ask where my family was, but I already knew the answer.
I think she knew that too.
“You died, Charlie.” The nurse’s voice was eerily cold. “You were dead for thirteen minutes.”
She took slow steps towards me, her eyes growing frenzied, like she couldn't understand me, like I was a puzzle she could not solve– and it was driving her crazy. I could see it in her twitching hands, her wobbling lips that were trying and failing to appear stoic.
“In fact, I just pulled you out of the morgue, honey. I opened up your body bag that I had just zipped up, and told your aunt that you were a miracle I just… can’t understand.” The nurse sounded like she was trying to choke down a laugh, or maybe a sob.
“Charlotte, you were pronounced dead at 3:02am from a gunshot wound to the chest.” Taking a slow, sobering breath, the nurse tried to smile. “The bullet went through the right ventricle of your heart and severely damaged your left lung, rendering you unable to breathe. Your heart stopped, and after four attempts to resuscitate, we called it.”
Something slimy wound its way up my throat when she began to pace the room. “I… did all the paperwork. It took me two minutes. Your death certificate was signed, and your body was taken to the morgue to be prepped for transportation. Then I had my lunch. Tuna salad with a protein milkshake. I’m not a fan of the chocolate flavor.”
She shook her head. “Anyway, when I came back to you, you were awake inside your body bag.” Her voice was starting to break. “You were…um, alive, and asked me for apple soda.”
The nurse moved closer, and yet kept her distance.
I could feel myself moving back, panic writhing through me.
“So.” The nurse spoke calmly. “How the fuck are you still alive, Charlie?”
I think I passed out after that.
When I woke up again, my head a lot less heavier, the nurse was gone.
Slowly, my foggy brain began to find itself and connect dots.
My mouth was dry, full of cotton.
There was a sudden tightness, a sharp and cruel sting in my wrists.
Something sharp was protruding into my flesh, and no matter how many times I violently wrenched my arm, it was stuck. It didn't feel right to be able to breathe so easily.
I knew the second I woke that my Mom was dead.
Lily and PJ were dead, and it was like losing them all over again.
As clarity came over me, I found my voice, a strangled cry escaping my lips.
“Get it out.” I whispered in a shrill cry.
Tugging at the IV in my wrist, I tried to yank the needle from my skin.
“Get it out!” I shrieked, my gaze glued to the tiny spots of blood staining the insertion point.
I could see it again.
So much blood.
Mom was curled up on the floor, lying in slow spreading red that wouldn't stop, seeping across her beaded rug.
She was all over me, slick on my skin and caked in my fingernails.
I couldn't wash her off of me.
“You're okay, Charlotte.”
Aunt May’s voice came from my right, stabling me to reality.
The world started to move again, started to make sense again, when she cupped my cheeks and told me to breathe. When I opened my mouth to ask where my family were, she lightly shook her head and I swallowed my words. Aunt May handed me a glass of water, and I drained it in one gulp.
She told me I was a miracle.
Aunt May didn't say much, and when she did, she broke into sobs.
Her eyes were raw from crying, clinging onto me, her shuddery voice reassuring me that I was going to be okay.
She told me I would be living with her from now on, before wrapping me into a hug and leaving to get coffee.
Once my aunt was gone, another nurse came to prod my IV.
I tried to sleep, but the uncomfortable tightness of the needle sticking into my skin and the sterile white lights in my eyes made it impossible. I waited for grief to catch up with me, drowning me in a hollow oblivion I wouldn't be able to claw myself out of. But I didn't feel sad. I didn't feel angry.
I wanted to know why my family were dead.
I wanted to know why I was breathing, and their skin was ice cold.
Rotting.
The sudden image of maggots crawling up my brother’s nose sent me lurching into a sitting position, my stomach heaving. Reaching for my glass of water, it was empty. The sensation of throwing up felt familiar, almost comforting.
Mom was always with me when I was sick, holding my hair back and lulling my hysteria with reassuring murmurs.
I was frowning at the trash can by the door, my cotton candy brain trying to figure out if I would be able to make it in time, when a small voice drifted from the doorway, startling me.
“I don't want you to come live with us.”
My cousin was peeking through the door, hiding behind a shock of dark brown curls. Jude was the only brunette in our family. The rest of us were redheads.
I wasn't sure why he was dressed up like a ghost, draped in a white cloak that was way too big for him. Jude was a weird kid. His mother, and my auntie, had inherited the family house, so in his mind, that made him superior.
Jude made it clear he didn't like his cousins, refusing to let us play with him and banning us from family gatherings.
When the adults were drinking cocktails and losing their awareness, Jude ordered us around. The times we did play with him, our cousin showed us his spider collection, or the raccoon brain he kept in a jar. PJ was convinced our younger cousin was a serial killer. Several months earlier, he'd happily showed us the roadkill he'd been growing bacteria on under his bed.
Jude’s ‘experiments’ were worrying.
He stuffed mushrooms down my brother’s ears while he was sleeping, to, and I quote, “Recreate The Last Of Us.”
When Lily had a nosebleed during Thanksgiving dinner, Jude collected all her bloody tissues and refused to tell us where he'd put them, and what he had done with them. Fast-forward two months, and I found them under a nest of spiders. Jude was trying to adapt the spiders to be able to feed on human blood. I was surprised my cousin hadn't immediately demanded to see my siblings’ dead bodies for autopsy.
Jude stepped into the room, shuffling his feet.
“I'm sorry about Lily, PJ, and Aunt Ivy.” He mumbled, glaring at the floor tiles.
My cousin made no move to offer real sympathy, instead speaking to the floor.
“But I don't want you to come live with us.” Jude lifted his head, looking me dead in the eye. “I don't like you, Charlie. I want you to stay away.”
Before I could reply, he stepped back like I was diseased.
“You should be dead.” Jude grumbled.
He scowled at me, getting my age purposely wrong as usual before running off.
“Happy 68th birthday.”
I was six months older than him.
In Jude’s eyes, I was ready for retirement.
Still, though, my cousin was right.
I was stone cold dead, and then I was somehow alive.
Which was wrong.
Growing up, I realized Death was not so subtly attempting to fix his mistake.
It started small. I'd choke on things I wasn't supposed to choke on.
Chips.
Candy.
Ice cream.
Aunt May had to perform the heimlich manoeuvre when I choked on a piece of chicken. I thought I was just really unlucky, but then I locked myself in a freezer that didn't have a lock, and almost drowned in the local swimming pool, catching my foot in stray netting.
At the summer fair, Jude convinced me to try apple bobbing, only for my head to conveniently get stuck underwater.
It started to make sense.
I was supposed to die with my family that night, and death was out to get me.
Death started to get clever, changing his tactic. Instead of using everyday things to try to kill me, he sent reinforcements.
I turned twelve years old, and my aunt threw me a huge party, inviting all my classmates. Aunt May was rich, rich.
Mom never explained it, but our grandparents left everything to May.
The house was like a palace, a labyrinth of floors I was yet to explore, and two swimming pools.
I was in the kitchen cutting myself a slice of cake, when, out of nowhere, a dead boy came rushing at me with one of my aunt’s favorite kitchen knives.
A dead boy who I immediately recognised.
Wren Oliver.
Several years prior, he'd gone missing from his parents' yard. The town launched a full investigation, only to find his body in a ditch a week later.
So, Death had sent a footsoldier.
Hiding under a hooded sweatshirt, Wren appeared older, like he had grown up with me. But there was a startling vacancy in his expression that drew the breath from my lungs, freezing me in place. Wren’s death was announced as an accident, though his wounds suggested the opposite, dried blood smearing his right temple and a cavernous hole in his chest, his clothes painted, stained, in bright red, glued in sticky mounds clinging to him.
The boy’s eyes were wild, feral, like an animal.
His hair was longer, a mess of reddish curls matted to his forehead.
Lip split into a demented giggle.
I remember taking a slow step back, my gaze glued to the knife.
Wren’s fingers were wrapped around the handle like he knew exactly how to use it, how to plunge it into my heart and kill me for good. He moved like a predator, zero self awareness or recognition, only driven to kill me.
The dead boy prided himself in slow, intimidating steps, shoving me against the wall and dragging the blade of the knife down the curve of my throat.
His eyes confused me, writhing with hatred that was artificial, programmed into him as Death’s official soldier.
He didn't speak, only smiled, revelling in my fear. I could tell it thrilled him, my trembling hands, my sharp, heavy breaths I couldn't control. Squeezing my eyes shut, I waited to finally die.
I waited for the pain, and to lose my breath once again.
But death was playing with me.
When I opened my eyes, the dead boy was gone, and I was on my knees, screaming.
“Wren Oliver is trying to kill me!" I managed to hiss.
My aunt knelt in front of me, her expression crumpling.
*Sweetie,” She spoke softly, squeezing my hands. Aunt May was trying to appear calm for my sake, but I could tell she was scared, her frantic eyes searching mine. “Wren Oliver is dead.”
The kids surrounding me started to giggle, whispering among themselves.
In the corner of my eye, my cousin was leaning against the door, mid eye roll.
When my aunt was ushering kids back to the pool, Jude came to crouch in front of me. Ever since I started living with him, he'd made sure to keep his distance.
This time, though, Jude leaned uncomfortably close, a sparkle in his eyes I had never seen before. Inclining his head, he rocked back and forth on his heels, prodding me in the forehead.
“If you see the dead boy again, can you tell me?” His lips curved into a smile.
“I did see him.” I gritted out. “I’m not lying.”
Jude shrugged. “I never said you didn't,” he lowered his voice into a whisper, “I wanna know when you see him again.”
“Why?”
His lips curved into a smirk.
“So, I can catch him.”
My cousin got closer, his breath tickling my cheek.
“I seeeeeeee dead people.”
After that incident, death left me alone for a while.
I was fifteen, walking through the forest with a friend, catching fireflies in bell jars. Aunt May was lucky to live so close to the forest, the entrance just outside her back door. When we were littles, PJ would drag Lily and I down the trail to escape Jude’s weird experiments.
I decided to invite Jem Littlewood on a summer walk.
Jem was cute, but in a dorky way. He was chronically clumsy, and dressed like he'd been spat out of a John Hughes movie. We hiked all the way to the end of the river and had a picnic, watching the sun set over the horizon. I was having conflicting feelings for this guy.
Jem was obsessed with fireflies.
Though he seemed more interested in photographing them than me.
The guy couldn't seem to sit still, jumping to his feet to marvel at tiny specks of light dancing in the air.
“I'm just going to take photos!” Jem beamed, holding up his camera.
I had to bite back the urge to say, “Don't you have enough photos?”
I nodded, and he turned and sprinted back down the trail.
Before his footsteps ground to a sudden halt.
At first, I thought he was snapping polaroids.
When I got closer, though, blinking in the eerie dark, I caught something.
Bending down, I picked up a bell jar still spilling fireflies.
Further down the trail, Jem was lying crumpled in the dirt, his camera smashed to pieces next to him, blood running in thick rivulets down his temple. There he was. Leaning against a tree, his arms folded, was the ghost boy. Wren Oliver was growing up with me. Now, a teenager, and yet his face was carved into something else entirely, more of a monster, slight points to his ears and too-sharp teeth, eyes ignited.
Wren didn't look like a ghost boy anymore.
Death had dressed him in shackles of ivy, a crown of glass and bone forced onto his head, entangled in his curls. Death was torturing him. Wren’s flesh was its canvas, and every time I got away, he was punished, painting his failures across scarred flesh. I should have been running for my life, but I was mesmerised by each symbol cruelly carved into his neck.
The boy did a slow head incline, like he couldn't believe I was standing in front of him.
His slow spreading smile caught me off guard.
I remembered how to run, stumbling over my feet.
But I couldn't move.
The burning hatred that death had filled him with, was stronger, hollowing him out completely. I managed two shaky steps, before I felt him, an unearthly force winding its way around my spine. This time, he didn't hesitate.
I watched his mouth move, a single curve of his upper lip that wrenched my body from my control, slamming me against a tree. There was something around my throat, choking the breath from my lungs, a thick fog spreading over my eyes. Following his mouth curving into silent letters, I could feel my feet slowly leaving the ground, my legs dangling.
I was floating.
Hovering off of the ground, suspended by his words.
Through half lidded eyes, I caught the glint of a blade between his fist, but I couldn't move, couldn't scream.
He was drowning me, bleeding into my blood, spider webbing and expanding in my brain without moving a muscle.
Instead, the ghost boy stood silently, running his thumb down the teeth of his knife while he ripped my lungs apart.
It was like suffocating, sinking into that peaceful oblivion I met at eight years old.
This time, though, the darkness was starving.
“Charlie?”
My eyes found daylight, a scream clawing out of my mouth.
“Charlie, it's past curfew!”
Wren flinched, his stoic expression crumpling.
The dead boy’s lips moved again, this time in a curse.
Fuck.
“Charlotte!”
Staggering back, Wren’s eyes widened and the suffocating hold on me severed.
His head snapped in the direction my aunt was coming from.
“Charlie, answer me right now.”
He hesitated, his bare feet pivoting in the dirt, like he was considering finishing me off. Wren studied me with lazy eyes, sucking on his bottom lip. When my aunt's footsteps got louder, branches snapping under her shoes, something contorted in the boy’s face.
Fear.
I guessed the boy wasn't expecting other humans to intrude.
Wren fell over himself, shuffling on his hands and knees, before diving to his feet. When he turned and ran, I was released, slipping to the ground, trying and failing to draw in breath. I barely felt the impact, only a dull thudding pain. I could hear the ghost boy’s footsteps, his uneven, shuddery breaths as he catapulted into a run.
Under a late setting sun, I watched his dancing shadow disappear into the trees.
Mission unsuccessful, I guessed.
When I was fully conscious, Aunt May was checking over Jem, helping him sit up.
“Where did he go?” I managed to get out, scanning the darkness for Wren.
“He's okay, just concussed.” May whispered, dialling 911.
My aunt applied a dressing to Jem’s wound, ignoring the boy’s hisses.
“Keep still.” she murmured, smoothing his bandaid. “What happened, Charlotte?”
“She pushed me over.” Jem groaned, shuffling away from me. When my aunt told him to stay calm, he straightened up, leaning against the tree. “The psycho bitch tried to fucking kill me!”
When my aunt's gaze flicked to me, I shook my head.
“It was Wren Oliver.” I gritted, teetering on hysteria. I could tell she didn't believe me, but I couldn't stop myself. I prodded at my throat, clawing for the indentations where his phantom fingers snaked around my neck, squeezing the breath from my lungs.
But there was nothing.
I could feel my mind starting to unravel. I nodded to my disgruntled classmate trying to dodge my aunt’s prodding.
“Ow, ow, ow! That stings!
“He knocked Jem out.” I managed. “Then he tried to kill me.”
Jem surprised me with a scoff. “You're seriously blaming your psychotic break on a dead kid?”
Aunt May pursed her lips, motioning for Jem to be quiet. Judging from her face, however, she agreed with the boy.
May forced a smile, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. “Okay. Can you, uh, describe the boy to me, Charlotte?”
“He was wearing a crown,” I said, “And he looked my age.”
Aunt May cocked her head, and I saw real worry, like she was trying not to freak out. Jem made a snorting noise.
“I'm sorry, he was wearing a crown?”
“Yes!” I insisted, getting progressively more frustrated.
I tried to jump up, only for my aunt to gently lower me back down. “I know it sounds crazy, but death has sent Wren Oliver to kill me, just like my family. He tried to kill me when I was twelve, too!”
Jem let out a bitter laugh. “Your niece is a fucking wackadoodle.”
Aunt May’s eyes darkened. She grabbed my shoulders, her nails stabbing into my skin. “Charlie, I want you to listen to me, okay?” When my eyes found the rapidly darkening sky, my aunt forced me to look at her.
“Charlotte!”
She was as scared as me, her voice shuddering.
“Wren Oliver is dead.” My aunt said firmly, shaking me. Even then, though, I wasn't even looking at her. I was trying to find his ignited eyes lighting up the dark. “Wren died at eight years old in a terrible accident, and you can't keep using him as an excuse for your mental trauma.” There was something twitching in her expression I was trying to make sense of. When I risked a look at Jem, the boy was staring at me dazedly– like I really was crazy.
Aunt May pressed her face into my shoulder, and I could feel her tears soaking into my shirt. She was trying to hold it together, trying to understand.
“Charlie, I know you lost your family,” she whispered. “But you and Wren Oliver are not the same. You survived, and he didn't.” Her voice splintered.
“You need to come to terms with that, okay?”
When I didn't respond, she pinched my chin, forcing me to look at her.
“Charlotte.”
Aunt May’s voice turned cold. “I ignored this when you were a kid, but if you continue to use this poor boy as a coping mechanism, I will have no choice but to send you to a specialist.”
When Jem was taken away by paramedics, Aunt May held my hand, squeezing my fingers for dear life.
I caught her gaze scanning the tree's around us, delving into twisting oblivion. Every little noise sent her twisting around. She was looking for something.
“I'm going to get you help.” Aunt May said in a low murmur when we were back at the house. Jude was sitting on the kitchen counter, legs swinging. I could feel his penetrating gaze burning into the back of my head.
Aunt May set a cup of cocoa on the table.
“No more fairytales.”
By the time I was eighteen, I had bitten three therapists.
They refused to believe that death was coming to reclaim my soul, and was using a dead boy to do his dirty work.
For my 16th birthday, I braced myself to come face to face with Wren Oliver’s ghost.
I wasn't even in town, staying at a friend's house.
But dead boys, and especially dead boys moulded into Death’s personal soldiers, could materialise anywhere.
I locked every door in the house, and taped up my friend’s window.
Nothing happened.
On my seventeenth birthday, I was sick in bed with gastritis.
Still no ghost boy.
Death seemed to have finally left me alone.
On my eighteenth birthday, I was stuffing books in my locker when my cousin popped up out of nowhere, scowling as usual. After an unexpected growth spurt and losing a tonne of baby fat, my cousin had scaled the high school hierarchy, swapping his weird experiments for a varsity jacket and experimenting with his sexuality.
The two of us had come to an unspoken truce.
I kept quiet about his spider collection to his popular friends, and he tolerated my existence until I left for college.
“Your surprise party is cancelled.”
Jude leaned against my locker, running a hand through thick dark hair tucked under a baseball cap. Jude never admitted it, but he was definitely embarrassed of being the odd one out.
My siblings may be dead, but they were still redheads.
I pulled off his cap with a smile, throwing it in his face. “Sure it is.”
My cousin’s eyes widened. He lost his slick bravado, grabbing for his cap.
“Hey!”
According to my cousin, my party was unexpectedly cancelled every year.
I wasn't sure if it was his weird superiority complex, or just plain jealousy, but it was getting exhausting.
Jude followed me down the hallway, matching my stride.
“Can you just not come home tonight?”
I quickened my pace. “It's only a party. I'm having some friends over, and no, we won't go anywhere near your room.”
“No, I mean.” Jude stepped in front of me, and for the first time in a while, he wasn't trying to hide disdain for me.
His dark eyes pinned me in place for a moment, the world around us coming to a halt. Sound bled away, and all I heard were his slow breaths. There was something there, an unexplainable twitch in his eyes and lips, that twisted my gut.
Jude stepped closer, his lip curling. He shoved me back, losing his facade.
“Stay the fuck away from the house tonight.” He said, and his voice, his tone, was enough to send shivers creeping down my spine. Jude had always hid behind a ten foot wall in his mind. It was jarring to see something in him finally start to splinter. Fuck. I thought.
This kid had serious Mommy issues.
I blinked, and the world resumed, kids pushing past us.
Jude seemed to catch himself, slipping back under his mask.
“I'm having friends over,” he rolled his eyes, “Your presence will ruin the vibe.”
“It's my birthday?”
He groaned, tipping his head back. “Yes, I know. But–”
“I think you can deal with the attention off of you for one night, Jude.”
“Will Wren Oliver be there too?” Jem Littlewood hollered.
Jude didn't respond for a moment, his lip curling.
“Shut the fuck up.” He spat at Jem, who immediately backed down. With an audience this time, Jude forced an award winning smile. “Fine.” His lips split into a grin I knew he hated. My cousin clamped his hand on my shoulder, hard enough to hurt. I could feel his fingers pinching the material of my jacket. “Have it your way, dude.”
Jude backed away with a two fingered salute.
“Happy 78th birthday!”
In a sense, I wish I listened to my cousin.
My party was a success, sort of.
Four of us, a crate of beers, and no sign of my cousin.
I was mildly tipsy, sitting on the edge of the pool, dangling my legs in the water when my friend demanded more beers.
I was also hungry for cake, so I stumbled inside in search of the goods.
The house was dark, lit up in dazzling blue from the pool's lights reflecting through the windows. Aunt May was in her office on the ground floor, and Jude was getting high in his room. In my drunken state, I found myself marvelling my aunt's house, and how much of it was left unexplored.
For example, in the foyer, past the spiral staircase she’d had custom made, was an elevator I had never questioned.
There was a girl my age standing on the staircase.
She was frozen, mid run, dressed in ragged jeans and t-shirt.
Everything about her stuck out to me, bringing me to a sobering halt.
The girl reminded me of my sister– or at least, if my sister had ever grown up.
I wasn't sure if I was drunk or hallucinating.
Her flower crown was pretty…
Lily had grown wings.
I was slowly moving towards her, a sudden bang sounding from the kitchen.
The bang of something shattering on the floor.
Twisting around, I found myself gravitating towards warm golden light.
The first thing I saw was the refrigerator door hanging open, and someone, no, something, rooting around inside it.
Glued to the spot, I dazedly watched them grab milk, guzzling it down, and then soda, cracking open each can and sucking them dry, before carving their fingers into my birthday cake. But I wasn't looking at the spillage of food seeping across the floor. Instead, my gaze found a crown of antlers, both human and animal bone entangled with dead flowers and human remains glued to a head of familiar matted brown curls.
There was something sticking from battered and bruised flesh, twin gaping slits sliced through a torn shirt resembling glass wings that were not yet formed, reminding me of a butterfly.
Wings.
But not the wings I dreamed of as a kid. These things were unnatural mounds that both did and didn't make sense on a human boy. I could see the trauma of them slicing through his flesh, monstrous, looming things protruding from what was left of a human spine.
Human, and yet I couldn't call his beautifully grotesque face human.
Wren Oliver had grown up with me, now an adult.
Eighteen years old.
His clothes confused me, a single white shirt and shorts.
Wren’s feet were bare, battered and bruised, blood smearing my aunt's tiles.
Angel.
Death had turned his footsoldier, and my future killer, into an angel.
But there was nothing angelic about the dead boy, his body and mind sculpted and moulded into Death’s own.
The boy no longer resembled a human, feral eyes and a manic smile, choking down pieces of cake. His face had been contorted into a monster, gnashing teeth and sharp points in his ears, a sickly tinge to malnourished skin.
And that's when it hit me, watching him stuff himself with food.
Something slimy inched its way up my throat.
The boy didn't move. I don't even think he'd noticed me, gorging himself on anything he could get his hands on.
Chicken, raw bacon, leftover salad.
When he moved onto cupcakes, licking frosting from his fingers, I glimpsed markings on his arms, a language I didn't understand, carved into him.
His wrists were shackled, bound, in entangled iron and vine, iron that was ingrained into his skin, vines and flowers and ivy entangling his bones, that were part of him, polluting his blood. Slowly, my eyes found stab wounds splitting open his torso.
Raw flesh, where his skin had been torched, melting, and then merging, ripped apart and put back together over and over again.
I found his heart, the gaping cavern in his chest where it should be.
And it was.
Marked, carved, and branded with a symbol resembling an X.
Wren Oliver was not dead.
But, just like me, he should have been.
I remember saying his name, my voice slurred slightly.
I didn't drink that much, but I could barely coerce words, my head spinning.
Wren’s neck snapped towards me, his eyes narrowing with resentment I couldn't understand, hatred that seemed to puppeteer him. Slowly tilting his head, the boy’s lips split into a grin, eyes filled, polluted, with mania. I could see where his lips had been stitched shut, and then ripped open.
“Hi.”
He held up his hand in an awkward wave.
When one of my friends stumbled into the kitchen, Wren reacted on impulse.
He picked up a knife from the counter, throwing it like a dart, straight through the guy’s throat.
Something shattered inside my mind.
Ignoring my friend bleeding out, Wren stumbled over himself, abandoning his feast. He took a single step towards me, backing me against the wall, coming so close, close enough for me to feel his very real breath grazing my cheeks. Just like when he was a kid, he traced the teeth of his blade down my throat. I wasn't expecting him to burst out laughing, trembling with hysteria.
His eyes were wild, feral and wrong, almost euphoric.
With what all I could only recognise as relief.
BANG.
I was barely aware of the gunshot.
The bullet went straight through his head, the winged boy hitting the ground.
Dead.
I saw the blood stemming around him in a halo before the bleeding pool faltered, seeping back inside his head.
Like rewinding a VCR.
Wren was dead, and then he was alive.
Wren’s body contorted, his chest inflating.
His gasp for air was painful, strangled, eyes opening wide.
Terrified.
“You fucking idiot.”
Jude’s voice sent me twisting around.
My cousin stood in the exact same robes he wore as a child.
The world tipped off kilter, and I was on my knees, then my stomach.
I sunk to the floor, my thoughts swimming.
Jude’s murmur followed me, creeping into the dark.
“I told you not to come home.”
I can't remember how long I was unconscious for.
When I woke, I was dressed in an evening gown, a dress that used to be my mother’s.
My vision cleared, and I found myself sitting in an unfamiliar room resembling an abandoned swimming hall.
The pool itself was empty, the bottom stained revealing scarlet.
There were symbols carved into each tile.
Like a game.
“Sit up straight, Charlotte.”
I was sitting at a banquet.
Jude was in front of me, sipping on wine.
He caught my eye for half a second before averting his gaze.
At the far end of the table sat my aunt May.
Kissing the rim of her glass, her smile was twisted.
“I've been waiting so long to give you your birthday presents, Charlotte. Your memories should be returning soon.”
“Mom.” Jude muttered, hiding behind his glass. “Calm down. You're embarrassing yourself.”
Ignoring my cousin, May tapped her glass with a fork, and in walked my birthday presents.
No, dragged.
By their hair.
Wren Oliver, the dead boy, was in fact my aunt's prisoner.
Behind him, was the girl who looked so much like Lily.
I think that's why my aunt chose her.
Aunt May cleared her throat.
“For a long time, our family has lived among creatures who live in the forest you played inside! In exchange for keeping this town safe, they only ask for small favors. Wayward children who disappear into the woods are good enough payment. However, you and your siblings do not share our inheritance. Your mother never wanted fae children. She wanted you to be human.”
Aunt May’s smile faded.
“After losing my sister, and my niece and nephew, I made a deal to give my last surviving niece 100 years of life.”
Her words were white noise, my gaze glued to my birthday presents. I couldn't call them human anymore.
I couldn't call Wren human, when his face was so beautifully grotesque, painfully hypnotising.
The monstrous things sticking from twin slits in his back were supposed to be wings, except they looked wrong, cruelly protruding from his exposed spine. Under the influence of alcohol earlier, the girl made me smile.
Her wings, to me, looked like one of a real fairy.
In reality, they were torn and shredded apart, bigger than the girl herself.
When she dropped onto her stomach, she was dragged back to her feet, her knees buckling under the weight. Her tiara of flowers and bone looked pretty to me when I saw her on the stairs.
Now, though, I could see the pearly white of a human child's skull forced onto her head, dead flowers threaded through cavernous, gaping eye sockets.
The two of them were violently shoved into the empty pool.
“Jude. Please demonstrate, sweetheart.”
Jude stood, pulling out a gun, and aiming it at the winged girl.
BANG.
The girl’s body hit the tiles, her blood seeping across stained white.
“Now, of course, our king did not give you life for free.” May continued.
“The King demanded a debt, as well as two heirs to join him in his court once your hundred years were complete.”
Her lips quirked into a smile.
“The king is smart. If a child cannot be stolen from the human world, they can, however, be made, moulded and shaped from their human forms, skinned of their humanity through their suffering, leaving a hollowed out shell in the child's place.” She was speaking so casually, ignoring Wren’s whimpers.
“The conversion takes a while. 100 years to birth a fully blooded fae heir, who will lose their human memories, in preparation to join their new family.”
Jude shot Wren in the chest, his eyes empty.
This time, he dropped his weapon, using finger-guns instead.
“Bang.” He deadpanned.
Then the neck.
I watched Wren come back to life, and then die.
Over and over again.
I think at one point, he screamed and cried.
But not now.
He was their puppet on display, dancing for their entertainment.
Half lidded eyes drowned in oblivion found mine, and I understood his hatred.
Before he was shot again.
Stabbed.
Branded and burned, and ripped apart.
At some point, I screamed at them to stop. I couldn't breathe, slamming my hands over my ears and begging them.
Aunt May didn't listen, ordering for my hands to be tied down.
“The King required two human sacrifices to suffer in your place.” She concluded. “For one hundred years.”
Aunt May’s smile was suddenly sad, and she lifted her glass in a toast.
I was watching their blood trickle down each tile in the pool, like every death, every time they suffered, my body became progressively less human.
I felt disgusting. I wasn't supposed to be alive. Every single year of my life, every breath I had taken, was stolen.
Aunt May nodded at me, her lips forming a proud smile. She stood up, and was handed a sacrificial knife.
Climbing into the swimming pool herself, she strode over to Wren.
The boy slumped to the floor, trembling, his knees against his chest.
Aunt May grabbed him by the hair, forcing his head up, and sliced the blade across his throat.
His eyes flicked to me, and I swore, he smiled.
Spots of red dotted yellowing tiles, a river trickling under my aunt's heels.
“Happy 78th birthday, Charlotte.”
Last night ended with me being locked in my room.
It's been almost 15 hours, and the door is still locked. Please help me. I'm fucking terrified of what my aunt is planning.
I can't stop shgajing. FycjbfucibFUCK
If she is telling the truth, I shouldn't be here, right??
And I can't stop thinking.
Is Wren Oliver trying to kill me, or himself?

Hey everyone I’ve noticed with the push in life insurance and annuity sales, that the sustainability for a Farmers Insurance Agency seems dismal. Has anyone else come to this same conclusion?
Higher rates than most other national insurers make it almost impossible to breathe. Even if you’re better than the next agent or more knowledgeable etc… it’s all about price most of the time.
I bought mine, unfortunately, in 2022 and the experience has been nothing short of a massive challenge. They told me that I could sell commercial insurance (which I was excited about) and then the day I bought the agency they put on a moratorium for all commercial insurance in my state.
Now a year later…they brought it back to our state, but selling it is like threading the finest needle since the guidelines are so restrictive. The only thing they want are licensed 1-2 person contractors, doctors, attorneys , and barber shops. No commercial umbrellas though and no inland marine. You have to go outside to quote that separately. 😂. They just want the BOP and WC lol.
Back to first 6 months… they sent out roof cancellations to anyone with a 15 year or older roof only to be told that was illegal by the DOI and they can’t do that. We still lost clients though because the letters went out to the clients before it was over turned.
In 2023 our new business commission was cut by 40% so the book that I bought was devalued by at least that much and of course the massive attrition that came from the company cancellation letters.
There’s so much with this company that could be amazing and really awesome though. Honestly I thought that it was going to be great when I looked at the numbers and decided to buy it. I even talked to other agents and did due dilligence (obviously not enough) and was told to go for it, it’s great. I should’ve known better.
At this point I’m so far in debt that I’m seriously considering bankruptcy. There’s so little light at the end of the tunnel and leadership is vague with no clear direction or target market.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with a company that has deployed such violent and destructive business practices like this? Anyone seeing success in their agency, other than North Dakota agents lol?
Never thought that I would be here in life but looking for a light from someone that has a better perspective than me on this.
Thanks for any insight!

I never thought I would waste my life away the way I did. The overarching feeling from which I'm typing this is "too late." It's too late for me. I don't want to keep trying anymore. I'm finished. I'm too tired to keep moving forward.
If you look at my post and comment history here you'll see I'm an incredibly embittered person. It's not always my intention to be a troll, but I use this platform as a way to let go a portion of the frustration that afflicts and invades my existence.
I'm a 28 year old guy with cerebral palsy and bipolar disorder. My entire life has been spent being the "weird" one, "different," and generally otherized. The bitterness on Reddit has its source in real life. Growing up I got expelled from five schools. This means one expulsion every two years until 9th grade. They were ALL due to my terrible behavior, again borne out of my anger towards the world.
Things really started to go south for me after high school when starting college in 2014. I never graduated before dropping out. During the course of my university life I started to get depressed. Each depressive episode being worse than the previous. This reached critical mass in 2018 when I got diagnosed with bipolar disorder after a disastrous manic episode that also led to my having to file for bankruptcy. After that I felt, for the first time, that my life was ruined. Eventually, depression and the start of the COVID pandemic made me drop out. Then, my grandparents, whom I was living with kicked me out in 2022. I stayed with my dad for a few months until he decided to move in order to kick me out.
I moved out in late 2022. I had over 20K in savings that eventually dried up. I had a full-time job for a time but had to quit because my body couldn't take being in an office environment for nine hours a day every day. When I quit in April of last year I started a relatively profitable freelance business but I never seem to be well enough to take advantage of my skills and maximize them for profit.
In February I completely ran out of money and tried to end myself. Sadly, I survived. My family has promised to pay the 20K of debt I accumulated (not the same 20K in savings) but I still haven't accomplished anything. I don't have anything. I can't get anywhere and I'm too disabled and too crazy to keep trying.
I'm done. I want out.

So I know credit karma isn't your true fico score, but we filed on the 9th, I logged into credit karma yesterday just for poops and giggles and our scores have gone up 150 points since the date we filed. I was floored to see that. Thank goodness we have an amazing attorney. Bankruptcy is such a forbidden word and so tabu but honestly at this point I'm more than happy with our decision to file chap 7. We got served a wage garnishment for 22k and that's not including all our other debts (which is a lot) and we were able to claim the homestead exemption so we get to keep our house and equity. Never in my life do I ever want to have a cc unless absolutely necessary. I wish the best for everyone in this forum❤️