For context, I’m a 25yo female, that comes from a mixed background (my mother 56F is a white woman from southern Europe, my father is from the Balkans and migrated to my country when he was younger). This is relevant and you will understand later.
I moved away from home as soon as I could when I was 18 after a not so good childhood, and currently live in another European country. My parents are divorced, my father is not really in the picture, I keep in touch with my mother on a daily basis and come visit her and the rest of the family once or twice a year. We never had the best relationship but since I moved out it improved a lot. I’d say we get along better when I’m far away from home.
Anyway, back to the reason of this post. I’ve been seeing this guy for more than a year, he’s great, we’re slowly getting to know each other and see where this is going. We are not in a rush but of course this is a relationship and I felt it was time to tell something more to my mother. I’ve always been quite open about my relationships and people I was dating, however since getting older I started being more private as I don’t think it would be good to mention every failed date to my mother (lol). We come from a typical small town in southern Europe, where people are bigots and close-minded. The news on the tv are constantly complaining about immigrants coming to our country and jadajadajada. The government is mostly right wing. So yeah, I didn’t really mentioned much about this guy, first of all cause I’m trying to keep it private but also because I could imagine her reaction, since she’s the standard average middle age woman that you find on Facebook without much culture. She is ignorant not as an insult but as in the real sense of the word: she ignores, she doesn’t inform herself and just believes whatever the media tells her.
Anyway, she suspected I was seeing someone for a while, I never really said much but I’ve been giving her a few hints in the past weeks and now that I came back to my hometown for a week she started being very curious. The day after I arrived we were casually talking before bed and she just kept asking “C’mon, don’t you have a pic of this guy? Show me! C’mon c’mon! I’m your mother!” so, one side of me didn’t wanna show her, the other one was excited cause at the end of the day I’m proud of my relationship and I was happy to tell her more (maybe naively hoping for a good outcome…). So without thinking much I showed her one of the best pictures of him. Literally in the millisecond while I was showing her the picture she said something like: “hope it’s not a n****” (WHATTT???).
At that point the phone was already on her face. It was done. She said it, and at the same time she saw the picture. She was speechless and I was too. I was ashamed of her. And sad.
She didn’t say anything more for the following 10 minutes, she went to her room and I went to mine. Afterwards she just asked “does he even work?!” And I told her “don’t worry about it, he’s better off than the both of us” just to make her shut up about that question that I found so disrespectful. This made me just so sad, and disappointed.
But the worst had yet to come. We didn’t speak much about it at all until today.
We were having a casual conversation during the afternoon when the relationship topic came out. In particular, we were talking about how your partner should improve your life and not making it worse, meaning he should make you happy, he should bring good positive vibes, get along etc. that’s what I was thinking and referring to. But she started being very materialistic, she asked me “so, in which way is he improving your life?!” in a very aggressive sassy tone “I don’t see anything changing“ she said. I was mentioning that he makes me happy when the conversation degenerated. All sort of things came out of it.
She started by saying:
“well, I truly hopes this will be just a friend and you will keep it like that”
She then continued with:
“please take birth control precautions before you regret it”
“don’t come to me later saying I didn’t stop you”
and the cherry on top was:
“I would have preferred if you told me you were a lesbian cause at least that is cool nowadays”.
I was speechless and I still am.
I asked her what is it that she doesn’t like and what is she basing her opinions on, since she literally knows nothing about him. She couldn’t answer. She kept repeating the same things over and over and she also said she would never want to meet him.
I have to mention that the few guys she met that I was dating were of different cultures, but she never had a problem with them, I guess because the skin color was the same… and in her mind there are probably foreigners of Class A, B, C…
I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I neither expected such a bad reaction.
All this hurts me so much.
I don’t know what to do.
In my mind it neither makes sense cause she married an immigrant but it seems like she never really came to terms with it, she never really accepted it. For instance, I know nothing about my father’s culture, I never learned the language or interesting facts about it because nobody ever thought me anything about it. I only learned about my mother’s culture, the one of the country I lived in. And I always felt out of place because this country is extremely racist. The fact that my father was not a good husband or father has nothing to do with where he comes from. If a person is an idiot, is an idiot no matter what. And I told her this when we were talking. The fact that she had a bad experience doesn’t mean that I will, just because I’m seeing someone from a different culture. I also explained to her that I am myself an immigrant, since I’m living in another country. But it doesn’t seem to click in her head. And when I told her, to her face, that she is indeed racist, she obviously denied it, because how can she be racist if she married an immigrant herself?
And of course during today’s conversation there was some victim behavior on her side, because every time I come back here it’s certain that we are gonna fight and every time it happens I say stuff like “let’s see when and if I will come back again!”. So she was bringing that up cause the other day I said “the first racist comment I hear I’m gone”. She mentioned that, saying I don’t care about her, that she has to beg for me to call her (mind you, we write good morning, good night, text here and there during the day and we talk on the phone 3/4 times a week…). She even said that “she lost me already the moment I left”. Honestly, I don’t know what else more than this she expects from me if what I do is not enough already.
So I don’t really know how to handle this. Any advice is appreciated.
TL;DR: my 25F mother 56F doesn’t approve of my boyfriend 28M just because of the color of his skin. Her opinion is based solely on a photo I showed her and claims she lost me.

I am not the OOP. The OOP is u/ThrowRa-Alergy posting in AITAH
Concluded as per OOP
1 update - Medium
Original - 9th May 2024
Update - 10th May 2024
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AITAH for telling my bf that his daughter is not allowed in my apartment because she doesn’t stop smuggling peanuts in?
​
I can’t have any contact with peanuts and I am terrified of them due to some bad experience ms ending up in the hospital. I have my shots now on me all the time. It is not exactly airborne but I could have irritation and if it for example touch something that had been in contact with peanuts i could have swollen eyes and itchy nose and throat. Ingesting is fatal.
She is 14 and has no respect what so ever for my anxiety. My bf and I moved in and she lives with us every other week. Now I told my bf that I don’t want her here because she is not respecting my boundaries. But that I understand that he doesn’t want to live with me in that case we could revert back to him being with me when he doesn’t have his daughter. He got very upset because he said that he loved me and wanted a real relationship and to live in one home.
So I told him that maybe he should be with someone who isn’t allergic then. He thinks I am being very unfair. He said well, she will probably hate the next one too and the next and the next because she wants her mom and me to be together again so it wasn’t “me specifically” that she dislikes. I said that maybe he needs to take a break from dating then until she is onboard but he said that he couldn’t be single just because his daughter wants him to. Before me he was single for 6 years and that wasn’t good enough.
Before we decided to move in together, we have done some “trial” living together and never once did his daughter do anything about the nuts. But now for 4 months she has always peanuts with her. I don’t know why she is doing this. I thought we were cool. She just smirks and says maybe if you are so allergic, maybe you’re not meant to survive(a stand up comedy bit from Louis CK)
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Comments
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ERVetSurgeon
NTA but you need to leave this relationship. She thinks it is funny and he doesn't care. The amount of disrespect for your health is amazing.
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CruelxIntention
This. He’s allowing this instead of getting to the core of it and putting the child in therapy where she clearly belongs. She’s plenty old enough to know this can kill someone and to have complete disregard over that shouldn’t be overlooked. You may love this guy but I’m betting you love breathing more.
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WonderingGemini84

"You may love this guy but I'm betting you love breathing more."

THIS!!!
You can not love someone when you're dead.
The boyfriend doesn't seem to realise how serious "the no peanuts"-thing is. This is a non-negotable. Your home should be your safe space, she doesn't respect that and he doesn't hear you (or doesn't care enough)
Throw them out OP!!!
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weeperOfChimneys
NTA, she has all but said she's attempting to kill you with peanuts. Quoting a comedian doesn't make it funny or acceptable. He hasn't bothered to search her and divest her of the nuts when he picks her up either.

OOP: He offered this as a suggestion. Visitation before she entered my apartment but I don’t want this kind of life. I was fine only seeing him on his weeks off. But I understand that he wants something more permanent than meeting every other week so he probably should find another woman

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YoghurtSnodgrass
She would probably just hide peanuts around his place for you to hopefully come in contact with. Just break up. His kid is trying to kill you.
Where is she even getting all these nuts from? Is her mom buying them for her? Does she buy them from a vending machine at school? How crazy is the little turd?
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**Judgement - NTA*\*
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Update - 1 day later
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Hi everyone! Thank you so much for really caring about a stranger with a dilemma. I was glad that I wasn’t wrong in my guts. I told my bf that I wanted to break up.
He was very sad and tried to reason with me. He suggested that we could live separately. His daughter will soon be an adult. I told him that being 18 doesn’t guarantee that she leaves the nest nor that he stops being a father either. Any time she could come across hardships and wants to move home and she needs to find that home. She couldn’t have it with me.
And about living separately, while it is fine now and some few years ahead. What about the future?
He was silent and listening to me. I felt overwhelmed because I love him. He said that the only way his daughter will be happy is when he is alone. She is in therapy but she has not shown any regards for her father or his life. She seems to not see him as an individual with feelings. He is just a father. I didn’t know what to tell him and just said that she probably needed time to grow up.
Until he moves out, his daughter is not allowed to be in my apartment. She called and threw a tantrum about her father choosing me instead. That she has the right to live with her father every other week and this shouldn’t change. I didn’t say anything, they need to fix this as a family, I am not a part of this family anymore.
He rented his apartment for a year’s contract so I don’t know how he will manage to find a new or terminate the lease so he could move back to his old apartment. Anyway he is staying here for a couple of months.
I am very sad that this beautiful relationship has come to an end. But I need to think about myself now.
​
Comments
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he_nooch73
Know you made the right choice for you, your health, your safety. As someone said in your other post ‘you may love him, but you probably love breathing more’. I think you’re right about his daughter never accepting his partners. He needs to address this with her in therapy. I hope her therapist knows about the peanuts because her behaviour is truly disturbing. I’m so sorry your relationship had to end.
Commercial-Ask3416
I feel so bad for you and your boyfriend. I feel like he is stuck between a rock and hard place regarding his daughter. I know people are saying he should discipline her or this and that, but it sounds like it wouldn't work and that she would likely escalate. I work with kids like her. Hoping her not being able to live with her dad the next few months will be a wake up call for her but in my experience I doubt it. Good luck to the both of you, especially him as he has to deal with the fallout. Not your monkey, not your circus anymore.
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I am not the OOP. Please do not harass the OOP.
Please remember the No Brigading Rule and to be civil in the comments

Not sure if I’m doing the right thing so I need second opinion if I’m being way too trusting and forgiving. So on the night of my boyfriend’s birthday I had the curiosity of checking my bf’s phone. For context it’s been a while since I’ve gone through it because I’ve previously had issues of him following inappropriate sexual content. He had porn on his Twitter, thirst trap TikTok’s, and followed half naked IG models. When I had found out I told him I wasn’t comfortable with him having porn or naked girls so he immediately removed it. Since it would be pushing my boundaries. I was consistent on making it known. I even said to not like other girls pictures. And he doesn’t so plus for him. This was 3 months into the relationship. In April he had commented that he watches pornhub and I appreciated the honesty but what had upset me was that I had mentioned before that I wasn’t not okay with naked girls and any sort of porn and he said that he thought that pornhub was okay since it’s normal most people use it and he said that he wouldn’t watch seeing how I cried and made me feel. I had even told him that I don’t want onlyfans also. Well on his birthday may 7th I had seen in his emails a notification for only fans. A login email for April before our second conversation. There was a chat for March 30th in which he was engaging with an OF girl. She sent a photo along with him sending one. The chat was short and then I had noticed a recent one where she sends a photo of her privates and him replying with a short message. Before, he had claimed that he was no longer that person and when I confronted him, he admitted to being a lustful person and is ashamed of that part of himself and he said he didn’t want to believe he had a problem with porn. He said he went to OF because I had told him I wasn’t comfortable with sending nudes which is true so he didn’t want to ask me so he resorted to OF which made me breakdown. Seeing he’s used it twice to text the same girl about a week apart. He says to give him another chance and 3 months to change his behavior. Am I right for taking him back on one condition of working on it and going to therapy?

Gday team. I have a note I add to when I learn things about SM. I got sick of seeing the same questions so I every time I answered I added to the note and just pasted a generic reply. I’ve been invited to post it here, so here you are!
Here’s my ever-growing, non-specific copy-paste reply, built from my own notes:

• Remember, followers are only for your ego. If you’re a business, Would you rather have a million followers who never buy anything or 1000 followers who purchase everything? (Read Kevin Kelly’s 1000 true fans article). However, if you’re trying to build an account for a brand or human deals, you need as many as possible. I.e. athletes wanting future deals/contracts, actresses wanting future roles, etc
  
• Dollars are the only score that matters in business. You can sell 1 million $1 items or 1x $1m item, it’s still a million dollars
  
• How do you get your first ten followers/sales? ASK. Start with your friends/family/personal socials. “Hey, I've started this thing; I'd love for you to follow”. Then contact everyone you've ever known (see cold outreach later, but this is warm haha). THEN ask them all for referrals: “who do you know that could use my help?”
  
• Re: cold contacting. Have a framework, but don't automate. Solve their problems. Say something personal (” [mutual person] told me to reach out to you” / “I really like your x” /”congratulations on y”). I noticed that [problem]. Fix their problem. Wish them a nice day. Have an offer in your email signature.
  
• Your profile description should be a hook/tagline / USP and link to your offer. Remember you’re building your house on rented land if you use socials as your client base. Algorithm changes, and they’re gone. Try sending them off socials to your email list, learn storytelling in email marketing (Russell Brunson has good advice), and you will own that contact for life.
  
• Choose a monetisable niche, find the most successful person in that niche, and put your spin on what they’re doing (ask AI)
  
• Make GOOD content that is visually appealing, entertaining, and has hooks (you have 3 seconds to get attention), but most importantly, ADDS VALUE to your target market (ask AI for suggestions - you can even ask AI to create a customer avatar for you and then ask it how to make good, relevant IG posts for that avatar)
  
• Keep your ears and eyes out for trends. Can you throw a trending song over a clip?
  
• Leverage pop culture. Search for what’s trending daily. Can you combine a movie or album release with your product? For example, if you’re in the auto niche, create an image of a car covered in green slime coinciding with the new Ghostbusters movie
  
• Document your process. Humans evolved on stories & we love to feel part of something and/or have front-row tickets to the show. For example, If you post art, film yourself making the art, not just the final product; talk about your decisions along the way. Also, it is easy content for you, and you’re just filming something you’re already doing
  
• Share as many success stories/testimonials as possible, preferably videos. Tag them. Make it easy for users to share themselves.
  
• In a similar vein, and with permission, share your audience questions in your stories (and tag them)
  
• Remember the rule of 100 (you need to do something 100x before you get “good” at it). Have you posted 100x and made changes as you’ve observed what worked and what didn’t?
  
• Every 5th or so post, add a Call To Action
  
• Always have something to invite people to, such as an event (e.g. Facebook live, face-to-face), a giveaway, a new product, etc. Ensure all your social media banners, popups, CTAs & email sig reflect this (read Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port)
  
• Use the right hashtags (be discoverable)
  
• Post at the correct times for your target market (I like 6-630am so when they wake up and scroll, it’s on their feed, their lunch break and a story at 8 pm in the relevant timezone). Steven Bartlett credits the daily 8pm personal thought post the most important part of his success.
  
• Follow the top 100 people in your niche with between 10k & 100k followers. Engage with them daily. Share their posts. Comment on Their work. As always, be sincere and say something meaningful
  
• Comment relevant things on important people pages (Gary Vees $1.80 strategy)
  
• Spend $10 a day on ads of targeted content to targeted people (don’t “but I want to grow organically” - Do you want to be seen or not?). Start ad sets at midnight.
  
• Russell Brunson recommends ads are only for offers; posts that aren't offers aren’t to be paid for ads—two separate things. Ads get your customers into the funnel and upsell makes you a profit. Say you sell a $10 ebook and a $300 course. Spend $10 per click for the ebook, so it’s a break-even cost, and everyone who buys the upsell is pure profit. Ad budget for testing is the price/profit of ONE upsell, so $300 in this example. Then, reassess, test and adjust. If it’s working, keep it going, but also test variations regardless. Brendan Kane suggests 50-100 variations from memory. Again, get AI to help. Start with your headline. Ask for ten variations. Then your pic. Get ten variations. Then your hook. Get ten variations etc.
  
• Pay relevant influencers to share your stuff
  
• Read all of Gary Vees and Brendan Kane’s books
  
• Do these things 30-50x a day (Gary Vees' advice for new accounts, search for his eight tips 2024 YT vid) across all your platforms for months, maybe years, and you’ll grow. Perhaps someone famous will share your stuff, and you’ll go viral. But remember, each platform has its nuances, so you need to rework content for it (again, use AI - create one piece and ask AI to brainstorm how to recreate for each platform - you can start with the longest form, say a YouTube vid or blog post and ask it how to make tweets or IG posts from it) however you can still “push”. For example, you can post native Facebook content, but you can also put your YouTube vids and IG posts there
  
• Make at least three posts a day for a month, that's 90 posts, and report back what you learned, what worked and didn’t for everyone else’s benefit. *I've had some pushback on this: A) I don’t make the rules; this seems to be current best practice; B) 1st post = a BTS post of you developing the post, 2nd post = the post, 3rd post = a story summing up your day. OR make all your content in one day and schedule it to post throughout the week. If you don’t have money, you have time; if you have money, outsource it.
  
• Good luck!
  

So I’ve been seeing this guy for about 2 months and everything has been going well, we haven’t had the “what are we” talk yet but I’ve gotten the vibe from him that this is a romantic relationship (he bought me some items to keep at his house for when I stay, taking me on a trip this summer, told his friends about me). However, he has this close girl friend that he talks about multiple times every time I see him. Here are some examples: - he saw her on one of our dates and got up to say hi very excitedly, and then started texting her when she left because she passed us by quickly and didn’t say hi back. - he told me on our last date that she’s just “one of those people you meet and just instantly connect with” and that their personalities mesh very well - he challenged me to an arm wrestle (fun) and said that she had done the same last time they hung out and that im stronger than her and he will have to tell her about that. - he casually brings her up in conversation and shows me funny texts she sends him fairly often. These seem like red flags that he has feelings for her, I’ve never known a guy to talk about a girl this way if he didn’t have feelings. I think he did mention she has a boyfriend and I fear that he’s only entertaining me because she’s unavailable.
I was cheated on in my past 2 relationships so I’m not sure if I’m being overly anxious or if these are truly concerning, but I need advice about if this seems suspicious so that I can feel confident in my decision to break things off or not (I’m leaning toward breaking it off). Thanks!

I slapped together a copypasta of all the comments from this Thread trying to help people. https://www.reddit.com/whiteoutsurvival/comments/17j8irz/what_are_the_best_heros/
I've left parts in that are irrelevant to you but I need to include. I'll post again later if anyone cares.
Someone asked Who are the best Heroes? I went off explaining the game as I had played to that point so I figured I would put it all together in one place.
***

What are the best Heros?

That's a really open-ended question. You've got to ask a few other questions before you come to the answer.
Did you just start? What heroes do you currently have? Are you willing to pay money?
Per rule of thumb, every time a new generation of heroes comes out they will be more powerful than the last so keep that in consideration.
With that being said, in the beginning Sergy is your best infantry option unless you're willing to pay for Jeronimo. In that case Jeronimo is your best best but he's pricey.
I forgot to mention Natalia. Her and Jeronimo are the best infantry if you are willing to pay but they both cost so damn much money. If you can afford it though Jeronimo, Natalia, and Molly are 3 solid heroes to start with and improve if you're paying. If not, go with Sergy.
Also remember that some heroes are good for exploration while others are better for expedition. Exploration is the Arena and the Exploration place where you fight. Expedition is battlefield or PvP.
Molly is hands down the best Lancer you'll get in the beginning of the game for both expedition and exploration. Jesse is good for expedition as well with her damage skill and Patrick is good for both exploration and expedition as a healer. Don't underestimate having a healer.
The best Marksman are going to be Gina for Exploration and Bahiti for exploration and expedition at least until you can get Alonso.
Once the new heroes come out select them as you can upgrade them. Certain new heroes like Flint and Alonso will replace your other heroes.
Molly is the only hero that you will have a while so for sure level her up before anyone. As soon as you can get Flint and Alonso do it and then once the new heroes come out get Logan and Greg (great for expedition) and so on.
I've got charts and graphs and could probably play this game professionally as could my wife. lol This game is SO IN DEPTH it's amazing.
*** Links to charts and graphs: https://www.reddit.com/whiteoutsurvival/comments/18bi341/im_only_going_to_post_this_once_to_help_all_the/ ***
I just hate the whole "pay 2 play" system. I think you should be able to pay for the game once and then enjoy the fruits but whatever...
Exploration- Molly, Natalia, Bahiti, Serg (for now) Expedition- Molly, Natalia, Bahiti and/or Serg as well. I wouldn't even put skill books into any blue characters exploration skills. Their expedition skills for gathering resources are what they're good for.
I'd highly suggest Patrick before the others.
I chose to go with a healer and Patrick was my only option. It really turns the tide in battle if you can get the rest of your heroes powered enough in arena and on tiles. I'd also suggest raising hero skills sparingly so you can decide who will lead the party and effect skills used.
*** Here, read this. It's complicated but it's very relevant.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CyN7AOLoWlS/
***
I started a new farm account and ONLY put skill books into Molly, Patrick, and Flint and I've to like 250 stage of exploration. I've saved all my other skill books until I really actually need them.
Don't use gems for VIP level up. That's a huge waste. Only use gems for the Wheel (to get new heroes and hero shards) or in the Hall of Heroes or whichever one it is that allows you to obtain new heroes.
Also use gems in the VIP shop to get skill books or other things you need. The only time you want to purchase VIP points is from the alliance shop that refreshes daily. Always buy any VIP points you see as you pay with them using alliance coins obtained by donating to the alliance skill tree.
You should be able to get to VIP 4-5 doing this. The rest you'll have to spend money to get to quicker since most packages give you VIP points.
As for spending money, the construction and march queue are excellent. You can get extra march queues through the research center later on also. I bought both queues in the beginning and I know have 6 march queues which allows me to gather all 4 of the resource types AND have 2 extra marches to auto rally with daily.
Chief Gear materials will be really needed.
Once you get that high you'll need to buy nothing but design plans from the Foundry shop (you won't be able to use them yet but buy them anyway cuz you'll need them. And also polishing solution from the Alliance Championship. You can buy alloy there too but you can also get alloy from polar terrors it just takes a LOT longer.
For mythic hero armor you need to buy it through the Arena Shop. MAKE SURE to do your daily mission thing EVERY DAY as you'll get a lot of perks and points to use in shops. Make sure to mine rss every day. Fight in the arena 5 times every day and complete your lighthouse missions as well as contribute rss to your alliance tech tree.
Oh , also, do NOT spend stuff like hero shards, speedups, chief gear stuff, unless it's for an event. SAVE THEM. You'll get points and rewards for using them during events so save even though it's hard. You won't regret doing so.
Keep your army camps training and your research center researching 24/7. Both of those things make a huge difference as you progress.
I would be more than happy to help you out but I doubt you'd want to come to my state. I'm here if you ever need help though.
I've got a wealth of images and graphs for this game.
My woman has been playing since it started and I started a few months after her. She has spent a shit ton of money on this game but I've only spent a small amount as that's all I feel it's worth. I love and HATE this game so much because of what they've done with the pay 2 play BS. They took the skill out of it and just made it where whatever little rich phuk can come along and rock your world with daddy's money.
If you haven't encountered whales yet, you will. It really sucks and can be depressing at times but don't let them get you down.
Let me know if you need any more help or need advice. You can DM if needed

Me and my boyfriend live around 4 hours apart. We talked for about 6 months before finally meeting and saying we were official. We first met June 24th of 2023. Not sure when, but a little while after, he received an inappropriate picture on Snapchat of another girl and made the mistake of opening it right in front of me. He said that she just does that randomly and told me he told her that it was inappropriate and that he has a gf now. He said he unadded her and I forgave him. Then, in August, we went on a trip together with his aunt and uncle. I checked his phone to make sure she was gone, and she wasn’t. They had been sending each other nudes and such. I confronted him about it when I got home since I don’t do well with talking about those things in person. He said that she kept complaining and so he just added her back. I told him to get rid of her again and he said he did. We were good for a while. Now it’s May and I went to visit his family. I checked his phone once again and she was there. There was only one new nude from her. I tried keeping it to myself until I got back home, but he knew I was upset. I couldn’t physically tell him so I typed it out on my notes app and showed him. He instantly went quiet and I threw up since my anxiety was through the roof. He kept saying he didn’t know why he added her back and that he had known her for 3 years and they just talked. That he didn’t ask for nudes and that she just sent it randomly one night. He ended up leaving me at his uncles house and went home bc I said I didn’t want to be around him. He didn’t want to leave me there but wanted to respect my space. I had my father come and get me (the whole 4 hours). The next day, he told me she means nothing to him and that he wants to change bc he doesn’t want to lose me. I said I would give him one more chance but I’m not sure it was the right decision bc it’s been eating away at me ever since and it’s only been a couple days. I don’t want to lose him, but I’m terrified that he will just go right back to her or that he never got rid of her in the first place. I’ve honestly never hurt more in my life and I’m not sure what to do.

I didn't realize how lucky I was to grow up in an urban and old walkable suburban community until me and my husband sold our first home and purchased a big MCmansion in an HOA community.
I went into a depression dealing with a crazy HOA (for instance the president decided one day she wanted ALL 5200 homes in our HOA to paint our homes the colors she liked or we would all get fined!!?) CRAZY B#+ch🤬. Using Google maps and drones to fly over our yards to find violations.
I lived in one of the better suburbs compared to what I read online, but the moment you leave the gated community it's an 8 lane stroad and parking lot target and winn Dixie big a$$ parking lot. There were parks that was empty 99.9 % of the time.
I didn't understand how I could be in this "nice" home in this "good" neighborhood and feel so sad. So I move there because I was pregnant and wanted to live somewhat closer to family. My baby not even 2 was already turning into an iPad kid and antisocial because literally nothing to F#$king do and no one to see but me. You can only play with the same toys but so much. So we would go to the park NOBODY WAS EVER THERE maybe one f$&king kid if we were lucky. My husband had to battle 1 1/2 of traffic morning and night. He was gone from 6-7am until 9 pm some nights. My baby would be sleep before he got home didn't see him for days.
My husband ended up crashing my car and I was TRAPPED for months. No car I the suburbs is a basically house arrest. I was going insane!!!!
I convinced my husband that renting out our home and moving closer to downtown in a 1 bd condo in an AMAZING walkable neighborhood was better.
BEST DECISION I EVER MADE!!!!!!!
I WALK to the library for FREE toddler events daily. My baby is socializing. He's so cute and deserved a be existence. Wanna go to the park???? NO PROBLEM!!! It's basically across the street. It's huge it's basically a town square. The neighborhood buildings are old and beautiful. The only thing that could rival it is like Norway or something. I have mom friends I see on a regular of ALL ethnicities and backgrounds. Mom's from France, Chicago, Ukraine..... I want a slice of pizza walk a few minutes BOOM a pizza!!! Want a fresh fruit smoothie BOOM 5 min walk... Wanna take a trolley and just sightsee!!? It's freeeee!!!! To the beach 15 min walk... Movie theater... Shopping.... 10min-30min walk 🥰
I'm in urban heaven!!!
I had no idea how HOAs could be are monsters. So I was like maybe we can potentially change our zoning and I realized my HOA didn't even want your cousin living with you, no way they would let a cafe start up in our garage.
I packed my 2 year old, myself and my husband, rented our home to someone who needed 5 bedrooms and I'm out.
99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% wrong with the U.S. is a domino effect of car dependent single family zoning.
The isolated gas guzzling lifestyle is fueling corporate giants because small businesses can't afford rents. The isolation make you paranoid causing people to vote out of fear rather than logic. The environmental damage and fueling war due to oil consumption
CAR DEPENDENT SINGLE FAMILY ZONING should be illegal!!!!!!!

Let's face it, jeans and boots are a match made in fashion heaven. But with trends constantly evolving, it's natural to wonder if this classic combo is still rocking the style scene in 2024.
Fear not, fashionistas! The answer is a resounding YES. But there are a few nuances to consider to keep your look on-point.
So, are tall boots with jeans still a thing? Absolutely! This iconic pairing remains a wardrobe staple, offering endless versatility and timeless style.
Now, let's delve deeper and explore how to rock this trend like a fashion pro in 2024.
Choosing the Perfect Boots:
The knee-high boot world offers a wide variety, so finding the ideal pair to complement your jeans is key. Here's a quick rundown of some popular styles:

• Classic: The quintessential knee-high boot with a sleek silhouette never goes out of style. It pairs beautifully with skinny jeans for a streamlined look.
• Slouchy: For a more relaxed vibe, slouchy boots are perfect. They add a touch of edge and work well with straight-leg or boyfriend jeans.
• Combat: Channel your inner rockstar with a pair of combat boots. They add a cool factor to skinny jeans or ripped denim.
• Western-inspired: For a touch of country charm, consider western boots. They look fantastic with bootcut jeans or a flowy midi skirt.

Denim Duos:
When it comes to jeans, the options are endless! Here are some pairings that are particularly trendy in 2024:

• Skinny Jeans: The classic combo! Tuck your skinny jeans into knee-high boots for a timeless and polished look.
• Straight-Leg Jeans: A universally flattering option, straight-leg jeans create a balanced silhouette when paired with boots.
• Boyfriend Jeans: For a casual yet chic vibe, boyfriend jeans with cuffed hems and knee-high boots are a winning combination.
• Bootcut Jeans: This classic denim style makes a comeback! Pair it with knee-high boots for a retro-inspired look.

Styling Tips and Tricks:
Elevate your look with these simple styling tips:

• Accessorize: Belts, scarves, and statement jewelry can add personality to your outfit.
• Outerwear: Layer with a leather jacket, a cozy sweater, or a statement coat to complete your look.
• Proportions: Balance is key. If your boots are slouchy, opt for more fitted jeans, and vice versa.

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My first breakup maybe? 19F 26M
So me 19F and my boyfriend 26M have been together 7months. We are long distance currently but we were in person for our first 3 months. Lately idk it’s been off. We fight a lot about him saying my affection and stuff like that has changed. He says I don’t message like I did before. It a good thing to note he gets upset and gets dry or just distant if I have been out or busy all day. I have never given him a reason to doubt me or anything. He says he trust me so I’m not sure. We have Life360 so he always knows where I’m at. He says it not like it was in the first months of knowing eachother. There’s a few other things fueling these “talks” but this is a huge one. When we talk about our future and things we want I usually tell him however he likes things is fine and yesterday I explained why. I have always done this a lil bit but not to the extent as of recently. The reason is because then it’s my fault. For example “I painted the walls this color because you wanted it” Ok valid but I never said it had to be that color that’s your walls and you asked my opinion but now the walls are that color and it’s my fault 🤦🏻‍♀️ I never asked him for anything nor demanded anything either so after saying stuff like that it doesn’t really help me to offer opinions right? So now today he’s barely talking to me at all like maybe ten messages max and well idk what this means. He’s really extreme with his emotions so it’s all or nothing. I’m not sure I have this feeling that we’re kinda over. I wish we would’ve been friends before starting anything. TL;DR : I’m not really sure what will happen tbh

I am a college-aged adult (a young adult, basically.)
Sexually, I am quite repressed. However, whenever I do think about men sexually, I tend to imagine myself with a darker skinned man (to me, darker skinned tends to mean either asap Rocky’s complexion, or just someone who is darker than a typical white man, like Fez from That 70s Show. I will typically imagine myself giving a blowjob or having sex with a man, I think in part because when I last had a boyfriend two years ago - a dark skinned black male, who was overweight - that was the first sexual thing I ever did with, well, anyone. I haven’t done anything sexually with anyone since, and haven’t had a boyfriend since.) I have trouble envisioning myself having sex with a white man, unless it’s someone who I’m very attracted to like Jake Gyllenhaal, and even then something about it doesn’t feel right.
I am not attracted, in general, to the average white man. I had a big crush on David Bowie in middle school and still felt attraction toward him when I watched him perform live in the 1970s on YouTube some months ago, because of his aura. I was also wildly attracted to Jake Gyllenhaal in “Donnie Darko” about two years ago and wrote a fanfic about three years ago about how handsome he was in “Brokeback Mountain” (from Ennis’ perspective.)
I am probably the least attracted to Asian men, but I really don’t mean that in an offensive way, I just haven’t felt attraction toward an Asian male in about a decade (literally.) I don’t think it will happen again. There are probably a variety of reasons as to why the attraction isn’t there (lack of media representation, stereotypes, probably other things idk.)
The two guys in high school who I was most attracted to were lightskinned and mixed race. One was conventionally attractive - someone who non-black people agreed was very cute - and had colored eyes. The other was slightly above average in 9th grade, but gradually became average (I was no longer attracted to him when he became average. He looked something like this: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyMJ4kvPgvq/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)
I notice that the white men who I have been attracted to tend to have blue eyes, typically a blonde hair and blue eyes combo.
I have been attracted to multiple Mexican/latino men, although they were above average. I briefly had a bit of a crush a few years ago on Benny from the sandlot.
View Poll

I need someone to hear me please.
I feel like I’ve failed my parents. I feel like a failure. I barely went to school this year, completed the bare minimum to graduate. And yet here I am. Preparing to stand next to everyone else who tried. Who deserves their diploma.
My dad died in December of 2023. From those of you who have been on this subreddit long enough you’ll recognize my story. Shorty after, my mom was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, and has been in a nursing home slowly declining since February. I see her often. But everytime it’s like a stab to the gut. Seeing my mom in this much pain. So out of it, barely speaking a word. Only 47. It breaks my heart. Nobody deserves cancer. But my mom especially. Because she is the most selfless, brave, kind, loving woman I have ever met. She gave up so much in her life and never complained. Went through cancer 3 times. While my father made it all about himself. Worked her butt off for years, being basically the only income in my household while my dad spiraled into depression and alcoholism.
Don’t get it twisted. I’d do anything for my father to come back. I miss him everyday and love him dearly. But that doesn’t excuse the pain he caused me and my family when he was drunk.
Anyways I’m getting off topic.
I was always the prodigy of the family. Taking college classes in 8th grade. All A’s etc*. When my dad died, and my mom got sick. I didn’t go back to school for months. So stuck in grief, and PTSD, and Depression. I didn’t leave my room for weeks, only to eat and go to the bathroom. Eventually, I had to go back. And I almost didn’t graduate. As I rightfully shouldn’t have. But, I had done all my work while gone. My GPA is a 3.4. So the school, thankfully, is letting me walk.
Despite this. I know I don’t deserve it. I’m not the success story they wanted. “Girl graduates after dad’s death and mom’s cancer diagnosis with honors”.
I’m not a success at all.
I don’t have any plans for my future. My dad’s gone, my mom’s dying. I haven’t told anyone the date I graduate. Haven’t set up a party. I don’t deserve their support. I don’t deserve anything.
I’m so lonely. I miss my dad. I wish my mom could see me walk. I wish they were the ones planning my party. I wish they were the ones sending out announcements. I’m not proud of myself. And I feel like they shouldn’t be either.
I’m usually good with words. But when it comes to this. this ugly feeling. I don’t know how to speak it.
Here’s something I wrote about grief. Or how I’ve experienced it everyday these past months. Maybe someone will understand it too.
“ Grief is one of those things that makes sense when you haven't experienced it. You think it's gonna be sudden. Like a cool bucket of water dumped over your head on a hot day.
A gasp of sudden breath, to make sure you're not drowning in it. In reality, it's not the water you should be dreading. That's the easy part. The shock.
It's the sun.
There's no sunscreen for grief. No way to stop it, to make it hurt less. You can run from it sure, enjoy the day.
But in the end, you're still sunburnt.”
I apologize if this makes no sense. I got sun poisoning last week and am sick af.

hi there! long one, but please give me a hand 😔
I'm going through a situation and I wanted to hear some thoughts outside my friendship's circle.
I'm going out with a guy for 2 months, we met on an app and I was 2 years without going out with anyone before him (I think it's relevant). By the first dates I thought we were too different, and thought it probably wouldn't work out bc of that, but it was kinda fun and I never really had this sort of casual dating before, so I thought I should try, further he was very loving so it weighted on my decision of giving a shot.
But since I'm not the most casual person, I ended up getting involved even though I always had some doubts bc of our differences.
Anyway, exactly one month ago, I had to be on the hospital for a couple of days and he went to spend the night there with me, which made me go more into him, cause I thought it was quite nice of him.
After I went out, we started seeing each other even more than we were before. We were seeing each other twice a week, and after the hospital I basically started spending 4 or 5 days a week with him.
two weeks ago we had an argument, towards some stupid things. But he ended being very rude to me in the end of the discussion. Told me to f*ck off, compared me to his ex which he critiques all the time and etcetera. I decided to leave his place when it happened and he started to apologize a lot, and asked me to come back after my work for us to talk, but when I came back he kinda acted like it was already solved and I didn't want to have the headache of going through that again so I left that be.
When we were together, we would split anything we buy on the groceries, cause mostly we were eating at his place.
So last week, I was arriving at my job and texted him to see if he was going to the groceries, cause I would send him some money if he was.
He told me to send, I said the things I wanted myself and told him to get something for us to eat.
When I left my work, he said he didn't make it cause he was still working (he's a tattooist), so I went there myself. I saw that the eating things we would get were too expensive, so I decided to just get some soda and some snacks both of us like, so I would ask food when I get his house.
When I arrived there, his friends were still there (he was tattooing one of them), so I thought it wouldn't be polite to ask him what he wanted to eat there in front of everyone, cause it would look like me wanting them to leave. He was the whole day without eating, so I asked the same thing we had the day before, cause I knew it was cheap, good and quick.
When the food arrived, I put it for both of us (his friends had already left) and asked which plate did he want. He said none, cause he still didn't want to eat.
He transfered me back the money I sent him earlier and I told him: "you know you still have to send me some money right?" he asked why and I said, "this money you sent was the one I gave to you earlier, for us to split the groceries. There's still your part of the groceries and of the food". I didn't say it rudely or anything, but he got mad cause I said that. He said that I didn't ask if he wanted to eat that, and when I said it was ok then, that he could split only the coke since he didn't want to eat that food, he kept saying a lot of things, things such as "you're not my daughter for me to pay for you" and that sometimes it looks for him that I want to take advantage of things, and stuff like that.
Just for the record, the amount he had to send me was the equivalent of less than 3 dollars.
Anyway, we started arguing, bc of that, cause he wouldn't stop saying that I shouldn't have asked for food without asking him first - even though I said it was ok, that he didn't have to split, that I thought he wanted and that's why I said for us to split - and at some point I lost my patience and answered him that he could try different on his next relationship (when he saw I wasn't answering him anymore and said to me that he was going to communicate more about the things he doesn't like, so things like that wouldn't happen)
it was still 2:am when it happened, so I decided I would wait the day after to leave. After that he had another small situation, in which he said some really mean things about me, and I didn't control myself, and started crying in front of him. After that I went to the couch and he followed me, to apologize again, like it happened on the other week. I told him I didn't want to be around him, so he left, but came back again to try another time apologizing, to each I said: "I don't wanna talk to you, I wanna wait for tomorrow, leave and end up things between us". And as he kept saying he was sorry, I told him it was coward of him to apologize, cause after being really mean to me he was doing it to feel better but it would make it worse for me to leave, cause I had already said to him that I wanted to keep that bad image of him so it would be easier for me to disattache. He said it wasn't to feel good, it was because he liked me and wanted us to stay together. He kept pushing to make me laugh and I'm not a resentful person, so once I give in, I don't get mad back...
We went back to his room, slept and the next day he mentioned the fact that I cried in a slightly perjorative way. Because of that, I decided to take my things with me when I was going to work, in case I decided it was better not to come back.
When he saw it, he got a bit mad (not arguing mad) but he said that he could send me my things so I didn't have to go with a heavy weight for work. As I was saying goodbye, I said "if I decide to not come I tell you then", to each he said that maybe he wouldn't want me to come.
Anyway
After that, I decided to stay home (it happened thursday to friday), and we talked a little by text on saturday.
Saturday and sunday were stressful and unproductive, cause we couldn't keep a normal conversation, he kept saying that I had to say that I was wrong (bc of the food I asked and because he said I manipulated things so I wouldn't admit I was wrong of asking the food).
Today, I said I was sorry because of the stress we spent with this unproductive conversations, and said that even though, it was offensive of him to keep calling me manipulative and stuff like that.
To which he said that he I should have said I was sorry three days earlier, so we wouldn't have this headache, and said that we should get back seeing each other only on the weekends.
Anyway, I don't know if he said that because he wants to get away and wanna do this slowly in order of "not hurting me". I'm quite confuse about wether I should or shouldn't stay with him, but I'm attached to him already. After these messages I mentioned, the last ones, he was kinda cold to me, and I can't help to feel a lil bit sad about it, even though he acted the way he did at his place. Also, I don't know if he indeed were sort of abusive... I my friends say he was, but friends always wants to protect us, so I don't know if their judgement are the best ones...

okay so i made a post when i first started QoS, and here’s my take for after. it’s always the last 100 or so pages man, it’s all i can think about. go grab some popcorn, here we go. i love rowen and aelin, i don’t care about the age gap and i know he was a douche canoe in the beginning but IMO aelin needed to be humbled. she needed someone to push her and to tell her no. i love rowan and that’s that. Manon, you miss girl.. thank you for finally getting off your high wyvern witch shiz and understanding it’s okay have feelings, my gosh. that took long enough. i still really want her to back Terrasen when it comes down to the big bang though. i hope the realizes what Perrington, i mean Erawan, is AKA a bag of crazy nuts. Im so proud of Aelin for how far she’s come and her acceptance in becoming Queen. the growth man🥺 i love her story and what she stands for. i do want to know how arobyn found her though. did he off her family? did he send assassins to off her family? idk but i am sure as heck glad he’s offed. he deserved he, he was always a POS but that ring stunt?!?! oh goodness. Lysandra, girl you did that!!! i wanted to hate you because of the beginning of the series but i don’t, not even a bit. you have grown so much and you really played the part well when needed. thank you for your hard work. i really want to see you happy and fall in love. maybe Aedion?!?! i can kinda see it… Aedion to me is just there so far, he’s a huge part of aelins journey in building terrasen but nonetheless just there… he does get points though for being willing to sacrifice himself for rowen. Poor Chaol though, that guy was done dirty. He too was a douche canoe however, i did want to see him happy. and he is with Nesryn (love her) but that man can never catch a break. hopefully the SC can help with the back issues. My guy Dorian, long time no see. Glad to see you’re back, maybe not better than ever, but at least you’re not a wimp anymore. and thank goodness you weren’t a goner because that collar almost had ya, woof…. please seek help about the nightmares and keep working on controlling that power. you give me golden retriever vibes with a hint of spice and i’ve always loved that about you. i think i have ptsd though from other books because in the back of my head i question if the demon dude is gone. i sure as crap hope. lastly THE KING BRO WTH. DIDNT SEE THAT ONE COMING. i thought he was Earwan but was i wrong. i still have trouble if i believe him or not about wanting to have done the right thing all these years but not having control. it makes sense, but also id definitely make up some stuff if i was on my death bed. but he did wish to be unalived so there’s that too. i hope we learn more about that situation because so many unanswered questions. also i want to learn more about Elide. she popped up out of nowhere where and we don’t have enough about her. so far she’s a badass and i hope she finds celaena aka aelin and rallies with her. plus someone fix the girls leg please.
thanks for reading! :) onto the tandem!

"A family is left in mourning as twenty-one-year-old Natalie Rose was found dead over the weekend," the TV blared into the room, "seemingly attacked by some sort of wild animal as she sat in her tent on what was meant to be a relaxing camping trip alone. Natalie's parents have requested privacy at this time, but they appreciate the condolences they have received. In other news-" Roman grabbed the remote from me and shut off the TV.
"Hey, I was watching that!" I said as I flipped him off from across the room. "Bullshit, you're on your phone," he chuckled, fixing his hair up in the mirror. "Okay, well, I was listening. I like to have background noise, dickhead," I replied, watching him in the reflection, his focus clearly not on this important conversation.
"Where are you going all dressed up?" I interrogated him. "Morgan and I are having our engagement party, but we've got to be there early to sort out seating."
"You're having your engagement party and you didn't invite your own brother?" I questioned him, offended at the audacity this man had. "I did invite you, dipshit. You told me you had a date with Katie tonight."
The realisation hit me like a punch to the gut. I'd completely forgotten about my movie date with Katie. With a surge of panic, I leaped from my seat, heart pounding, and scrambled to get dressed. Every second felt like an eternity as I cursed my forgetfulness. Then, I heard Roman's car start outside. Without a second thought, I sprinted out the door and down the driveway. Knocking on his window, I pleaded for a ride.
The soft hum of the road and the whirring of the engine filled the car as we silently moved through the night. Staring out the window at the blur of trees, I thought about how I would apologise to Katie. Roman reached for the radio, and a Trace Adkins song began playing. Seeing this as the perfect time to start a conversation, I spoke up, "So, are Katie and I coming to the wedding?" I asked, grinning. Roman let out a deep sigh as he turned off the music. "If Katie doesn't plan a date night on the same day, then yes," he replied.
Silence filled the car as we drove along the empty road. The vast woods surrounding us created an eerie atmosphere, intensified by the winter darkness cloaking the night sky above. Yet, for Roman and me, who had grown up in this land, these woods evoked nostalgic memories of our childhood adventures. While for others, it might be an unsettling glimpse into the barrier separating civilization from the unknown, for us, it was a comforting window back into our past.
When Roman bought the land we had grown up on after our parents passed, I was probably more excited than I should've been, considering I had just lost my mum and dad in a tragic carbon monoxide leak. But my relief at not having to leave this place was immense.
We eventually reached an area where the city lights were visible in the distance. I noticed Roman yawn as he adjusted his grip on the wheel. "You're gonna have to tell me where to go, I can't remember where Katie lives," he stated as he changed gears and prepared to enter the busy traffic, a stark contrast to the remote rural road we were about to vacate.
“Just take a left up h-" I began, but was interrupted as a white blur ran in front of the car, causing Roman to slam on the brakes and swerve. I grabbed onto the side of the door as we spun out of control, the screeching of the tires filling my ears, jolting me out of the relaxed state I had been in due to the many miles of quiet driving.
We eventually came to a stop, now facing the opposite direction, gazing down the endless stretch of desolate road we had just traversed. Roman calmly checked all his mirrors for whatever he nearly hit but failed to see anything through the dust he had stirred up in the spinout.
“You all good?” he asked, a relieved smile creeping up his face, a deep breath escaping his lungs.
“Yeah, what was that?” I asked as Roman started reversing, then turned the car back towards the busy city street about a kilometre away and began driving. I looked over to him, expecting an answer to my question, but didn't receive one. His brow was furrowed in an uncertain expression, clearly lost in thought, like he was trying to remember if he locked the front door.
“Roman?” I said, causing him to blink a couple of times.
“I don't know what it was," Roman answered, not breaking his intense stare at the asphalt in front of us as we drove along, approaching the main road. “Probably just a sheep, there's a few acres of farmland behind these trees,” he continued.
As we approached the intersection, Roman flicked his left indicator on before turning onto the main road. “Okay, now take the next right,” I said, feeling the weird atmosphere in the vehicle slowly dissipating. After a few more turns, Roman said that he knew the way from here and turned the radio back on, which cut the remaining tension that I could tell we were both feeling.
The chilly winter night was starting to bite at my skin, and I cursed myself for forgetting a jacket in my hurry. I swivelled my head around to see the backseat. “What are you looking for?” Roman asked, finally looking in my direction as he turned the music down slightly.
“Uh, do you have a jacket I can borrow? I didn't realise it was gonna be this cold,” I sheepishly admitted.
“Hold the wheel,” Roman told me as he reached around behind him, shifting around his hiking gear that he hadn't taken out since his camping trip with Morgan last month.
Eventually, he pulled out his gym hoodie and threw it on my lap. “This is all I got,” he grunted as he readjusted himself in his seat and took hold of the steering wheel again. When we pulled into Katie's driveway, I pulled the hoodie over my head and hopped out of the car into the brisk night air, my breath visible in the cold. “I'll pick you up around 11:30.” Roman shouted out the window as I pulled the hoodie the rest of the way down and waved to Roman as he drove away, beeping his horn as he left me in the chilling winter breeze.
I knocked on the door, checking the time to see that it was 7:37, only a few minutes late. As I waited in the dark, a surprisingly chipper Katie opened the door, hugging me and dragging me inside. “You didn't miss much,” she whispered as we stumbled through the house that had all of its lights off. “Why do you smell like your brother?” she asked, shooting me a dirty look before grabbing a handful of the hoodie and sniffing it. All I could do was shrug and grin, “I forgot how cold it gets in the winter time, he let me borrow it.” She rolled her eyes, and we sat down next to a bunch of her friends and her parents, who all whispered their hellos in the soft glow of the TV.
Around 11:18 pm when the movie was long since finished, Katie's parents said goodnight and headed off to bed, and a few of Katie's friends who had been visiting said goodbye and drove home. I got up to get some water from the kitchen, and as I walked back, I stood in the doorway that separated the kitchen from the living room, which was dark, only lit by the TV. This allowed me to see Katie frozen, staring towards the window, which was out of my direct line of sight.
Confused, I peeked my head out of the doorway and looked toward the window. I froze and dropped my glass; luckily, it landed on the carpet and didn't make much noise, and the tall, pale creature standing an inch from the window didn't notice. The creature was foul, a gaunt, lanky humanoid. Well, at least the head was humanoid; the body and limbs were almost ape-like, with long, disproportionate arms and less exaggerated legs. The creature's whole body was covered in grey skin stretched tightly over its abnormally long bones. It had no hair anywhere. Its mouth was strangely wide, stretching around to where its ears would be if it had them, and its eyes were just sunken, inky black pits in its head. But I could tell it was staring daggers at Katie, who had tears rolling down her face. She slowly turned her head to look at me, shaking and breathing quickly. I had never felt so powerless. I was supposed to protect her, and I would. I would die to protect her, but I had no idea how to shield her from whatever this thing was.
Then I had an idea. I looked to the light switch panel to my left. I knew one of them was the porch light, but there were three others: the living room light, the kitchen light, and the hall light. If I pressed the wrong light, I didn't know what the thing would do, but I had to try. I had to remember which light Katie's dad used to turn the porch light on when he goes out for a smoke.
I reached for the light second from the bottom and flicked the switch. The hall light turned on. Luckily, the hall was on the opposite side of the kitchen from where the living room was, and it was out of view for the creature at the window. But I couldn't mess up again. If the kitchen light turned on, the creature would see me, and if the living room light turned on, it might cause it to attack Katie. I looked back at the creature, which was using one of its hands to scratch the window as it sniffed around. I had to do something.
I reached for the bottom light switch and flicked it; the porch light turned on. The creature spun around to face it and let out a screech that will haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life. I ran to Katie and grabbed her, dragging her off the side of the couch where there was about a metre gap between the armrest of the couch and the wall.
The sound of the window smashing filled the house, and Katie cried into my shoulder. I couldn't see anything; it was pitch darkness besides the slight blue glare from the TV on the wall above us. But I could hear raspy breathing and bones cracking as the thing searched the living room. I heard it sniffing the couch where Katie was sitting, and I heard it make its way closer to the end of the couch, one of its hands pressed on the wall above us. I saw the silhouette of its head begin to peak over the side of the couch, but suddenly the light turned on, and Katie's dad yelled as he saw us from the kitchen while he was holding a shotgun.
The creature ran at him but fell to the ground as a loud shot rang out in the night, leaving only the sound of our combined breathing and Katie's soft sobs. I watched intently as the body lying between Katie's dad and me moved around on the floor, before slamming its hand down, then the other, and pushing itself to its feet.
Katie's dad reloaded his shotgun, but it was too late. The creature grabbed the poor man by his leg and pulled it out from under him, causing him to shoot the ceiling. I grabbed Katie and dragged her upstairs as the creature began tearing into her father. She cried and screamed, begging me to help him, but what could I do? Whatever that thing was, it just took a shotgun blast to the chest and brushed it off.
I locked us in her upstairs bathroom as the creature's loud and hurried footsteps made their way towards us. Katie was crying loudly now, insisting that we were going to die. Honestly, not a super helpful contribution, but I can't blame her.
As the creature began crashing against the door, pieces of wood started to splinter off. I shoved Katie into the tub, and then lay on top of her. Hopefully, my body would be enough to shield her from this thing. Time slowed down as the door exploded inward. I looked at the girl I loved, makeup running down her face, pieces of door in her hair, mouth wide open as she let out the most ear splitting scream. For some reason, I felt no fear. Even as the monster began tearing at my clothes and clawing at my flesh, I felt strangely calm.
Eventually, the creature grabbed me, swinging me around by my hoodie, slamming me into every wall and surface in the room. I fell to the ground as the hoodie ripped off, and the creature just stared at me, then the hoodie in its hand, then back at me. I stared back, utterly confused, as it leaned over and sniffed my entire body from head to toe. It looked as puzzled as I felt for a moment before I heard Roman's car pull up outside.
The creature screeched as it sprinted out the door, slamming into the hallway wall in its haste. "NO!" I shouted, leaving my still-shaking girlfriend in the tub as I chased the monster out of the house. Somehow, I caught up to the creature and grabbed onto it, bringing it to the ground below. The thing managed to get on top of me, biting and clawing at my arms and hands as I shielded my face.
Before I knew it, Roman came out of nowhere, tackling the creature off me, yelling for me to run. The creature, sleek and deadly, wasted no time in retaliating against Roman's attack. With a primal growl, it lunged at him, its claws slicing through the air like daggers.
Roman had a size advantage that I didn't have, and managed to hold his own for a few seconds as he wrestled with the beast. He'd always been as strong as a bull for as long as I can remember, tall with powerful hands and massive arms and shoulders. But I couldn't risk watching my brother, as strong as he may be, get killed by this… whatever it is.
With strength I didn't know I had, I grabbed the back of Roman's expensive shirt and pulled him out of the way of a fatal blow to the head, throwing him towards the car before I lunged at the creature and went feral. I don't know what came over me; I started swinging on the creature as we tumbled around in the muddy grass. Just when I thought I was actually winning, the creature managed to get its legs between us and kicked me off, then swung its clawed hand at my stomach, ripping it right open.
I collapsed to the ground as my body tried to comprehend what had just happened. My eyes narrowed as everything was drowned out. I watched the silent scene play out before me, my heartbeat pounding in my head.
The creature charged at Roman, who leaped to grab his car's back door handle just as the creature snagged his foot. It yanked at his leg, but Roman clung onto his car door tightly. The creature persisted in pulling as Roman struggled to reach for something in his hiking gear stored in the back seat.
With an agonising yell, Roman's leg gave a sickening snap. Despite the pain, he finally retrieved what he was searching for. Releasing the car door, Roman watched as the creature stumbled backward. Seizing the opportunity, he swiftly climbed on top of it, brandishing his trusty hunting knife from his camping trips.
As Roman wrestled with the creature, the air was filled with grunts and snarls. He plunged the hunting knife into the creature's body, eliciting a guttural howl of pain. The creature thrashed wildly, but Roman held on grimly, his determination unwavering.
With each strike, Roman's movements became more frenzied, fueled by adrenaline and the need to protect us. The creature's attempts to retaliate grew weaker as Roman's blows found their mark. With a final decisive thrust, Roman delivered the fatal blow, and the creature slumped to the ground, defeated.
Breathing heavily, Roman collapsed beside the creature, his body trembling with exhaustion and relief. I rushed to his side, concern evident in my voice. "Natalie-" he faintly murmured.
"Who? Who's Natalie?" I asked, my confusion growing.
Suddenly, the creature jolted up, its movements abrupt and startling. Without warning, it lunged at me, seizing me by the throat and hurling me against the car.
The last thing I saw before I blacked out was the creature sprinting towards me. In that moment, I felt a strange sensation coursing through my body, as if something within me was shifting. I glanced down at my hands and watched in horror as they contorted and turned a sickly shade of grey. Long claws protruded from my fingers, their sharp edges glinting in the dim light.
As my bones cracked and deformed under the strain of this inexplicable transformation, a sudden surge of anger and ferocity overwhelmed my senses. It was as though a primal instinct had taken hold of me, consuming my entire being in its relentless grip. With each passing moment, the world around me faded into darkness until finally, I lost consciousness, my mind consumed by the terrifying reality of what I had become.
I awoke hours later in the back seat of Roman's car. The hum of the road and the whirring of the engine attempted to lull me back to sleep, but I sat up, rubbing my head as the memories flooded back. "What happened?" I asked, my voice hoarse and strained.
Roman responded with silence, a familiar reaction from him, but this time, it sent a shiver down my spine. As I looked at my arms, then my stomach, and felt around my whole body, I realised the wounds and deep gashes caused by the creature were all gone, as if I had never been attacked.
I caught Roman's gaze in the mirror, but he quickly averted his eyes. That's when I noticed Katie in the passenger seat, her tear-stained face betraying her silent anguish. It was clear she wanted to say something, but I couldn't shake the feeling that Roman had warned her against it.
"What do you know about this place?" Roman asked sternly, his voice devoid of emotion.
"We've lived here all our lives, Roman," I replied, confusion evident in my tone. "What do you mean?”
Roman pressed down on the brakes, bringing us to a sudden stop. I noticed a pained expression flit across his face in the mirror, a fleeting moment of vulnerability that he quickly tried to conceal.
"Your leg!" I exclaimed, my voice laced with concern as I recalled the events from earlier.
"It was a dislocated hip. I fixed it," he replied bluntly, his tone revealing little about the ordeal he must have endured.
"This isn't real, Jason. None of this is real. You are not real!" Roman's voice was sharp, refusing to meet my eyes in the reflection.
"Back at Katie's house, I remembered everything the moment I looked into that creature's eyes. I remembered... I remembered Natalie," he said, his words catching in his throat, revealing the first hint of emotion I'd seen from him.
I watched as a tear rolled down Katie's face. I reached to put a hand on her shoulder but stopped myself.
"Roman got me to remember," Katie said, her voice trembling. "I remembered the emergency alert, and when those things broke down our doors. I watched as they dragged my parents out, then my baby brother, then me. I woke up in this fake world, in a family that isn't even mine, dating a boy who turns out to be one of the monsters who brought me here." She spluttered, and I began to cry silently as I realised what she was saying.
Roman eventually started driving again, occasionally getting a call from Morgan, but after the fifth call he threw his phone out the window. We drove until I fell asleep. I don't remember what I dreamed about, but it was peaceful. I think I was in that forest with Roman. We were children again, playing around in the trees, finding cool sticks and exploring the endless expanse of what felt like a fairytale, which I guess it was.
I was awoken by the abrupt sound of Roman's car door slamming. I looked outside and saw that it was daytime again. Trying to figure out where we had stopped, I noticed a giant sign that said “Library.” I hopped out of the car and jogged to catch up to Roman and Katie.
“What are we doing here?” I asked, clearly still being avoided. It was understandable, but it still hurt.
“I need to wake everyone up,” Roman said as we walked in and approached a computer.
I noticed we were getting odd stares from everyone as we walked by, which is when I also noticed that I looked like I had just come out the other side of a paper shredder. My clothes were all torn up with bits missing, apparently not possessing the magic healing ability that I do. The sound of Roman typing snapped me out of my self-conscious thoughts and redirected me to the computer screen.
"I'm going to be a while, guys," Roman said as he began writing out his story. "I need to tell the whole thing from the beginning. Go find a book or something.”
I looked over to Katie, her face void of expression, but a great sadness filled her now dry eyes, having cried all the tears she had. “Why don't you just wake up?” I asked, probably coming across as more insensitive than I intended.
“I've got nothing to go back to. Roman told me what the world is like back there. If my family is here, I have to find them and wake them up first,” she responded, finally meeting my eye.
I wanted to hug her so bad, but I knew she didn't love me anymore. She probably had a real boyfriend in the real world.
Hours went by as Katie and I found a place to sit and wait in silence, watching Roman. He looked funny in the little library chair, hunched over the computer. Such a big guy looked out of place here, his muscular presence overpowering that of the rest of the library's patrons, who were all either very old or very young.
I hate to admit I fell asleep, but I'm just telling the story how it was. I was awoken suddenly by sirens and shouts. “We have got you surrounded, come out with your hands up or we will come in and show you no mercy,” a man's voice yelled from outside through a speaker. I looked over to Roman, who was limping over to us as all the customers flooded out the exits.
“Get up, we need to leave. They've turned the law against us,” Roman ordered. Katie and I listened and followed him.
We made our way upstairs into the empty employee lounge, and Roman opened a window... with his elbow. “They've got every exit covered but this one. We need to jump,” he calmly told us. He stood up in the window frame, kicked off some of the remaining glass with his boots, and jumped to the roof of the single-story building below, wincing in pain as he landed on his bad leg.
That's when six armed officers kicked down the door and opened fire on Katie and me. I moved to block the bullets from hitting Katie, taking several hits to the head and back. I then pushed Katie through the window, and Roman caught her before I jumped out myself and followed.
We ran from rooftop to rooftop until we reached a ladder that led down into an alleyway, where we attempted to catch our breaths. Roman and Katie watched me intently as the bullets lodged in my body began to work their way back out, the wounds closing up after. My skin color shifted a little, and I felt a rattle leave my throat as a cold sweat came over me.
“Hey, control yourself,” Roman told me sternly. I nodded, struggling to remain composed.
“Did you finish the story?” Katie asked Roman.
“Yeah, I kind of had to rush the last part, but I got the message across,” he replied, slumping to the ground behind a dumpster, exhausted.
“What now?” I asked.
Roman looked at me, panting. “I'm gonna help Katie find her family, then I'm going back to Natalie,” he said between heavy breaths.
“What about Morgan?” I questioned, causing him to look down at his feet. “I don't even know her in the real world, and I would never have chosen to be with her. This place… it's like it wrote me a life that was least likely to let me remember who I am. The girl I'm engaged to is the complete opposite of Natalie. I've got a brother who lives with me, my parents are dead. There's literally nothing here to remind me of home, bro,” Roman said, shedding a couple of tears.
We waited in the alley until night, hearing sirens go back and forth every now and then. When Roman said we were in the clear, we made our way back to the car and started driving again. I noticed Roman's eyes fluttering after about an hour, and I told him I'd be happy to drive if he needed to sleep. I could tell that his ego didn't want to admit he was exhausted, and he also still didn't trust me, but he gave in and pulled over, falling asleep in the back seat as I drove off into the night.

Greetings to whom may read this,
I'm looking for a male to play a powerful and ruthless warlord who also is the ruler of the most feared kingdoms in the world, and you would wish that you never crossed paths with them at all. You may add your own touches to this rp as well because I don't want to be the only one shooting out ideas. I will go more into detail of my rp idea with whoever is interested as I don't wish to spoil it here.
This roleplay will not just be based on romance as it will have other elements such as a fantasy twist to it and would like to brainstorm plots that can go towards this as well.
Another thing please let me know if you can if your busy or going to busy.
Just send a Pm or leave a comment below if you're interested and we can go from there and if you PM put first what your favourite food is, so I know you have read this all and that you are truly interested.
Oh and I do have an idea to put towards this rp for those who are interested and i would love to hear what you think of it when we chat ^{^}
I hope to hear from you guys soon and have a good rest of your day :)

"A family is left in mourning as twenty-one-year-old Natalie Rose was found dead over the weekend," the TV blared into the room, "seemingly attacked by some sort of wild animal as she sat in her tent on what was meant to be a relaxing camping trip alone. Natalie's parents have requested privacy at this time, but they appreciate the condolences they have received. In other news-" Roman grabbed the remote from me and shut off the TV.
"Hey, I was watching that!" I said as I flipped him off from across the room. "Bullshit, you're on your phone," he chuckled, fixing his hair up in the mirror. "Okay, well, I was listening. I like to have background noise, dickhead," I replied, watching him in the reflection, his focus clearly not on this important conversation.
"Where are you going all dressed up?" I interrogated him. "Morgan and I are having our engagement party, but we've got to be there early to sort out seating."
"You're having your engagement party and you didn't invite your own brother?" I questioned him, offended at the audacity this man had. "I did invite you, dipshit. You told me you had a date with Katie tonight."
The realisation hit me like a punch to the gut. I'd completely forgotten about my movie date with Katie. With a surge of panic, I leaped from my seat, heart pounding, and scrambled to get dressed. Every second felt like an eternity as I cursed my forgetfulness. Then, I heard Roman's car start outside. Without a second thought, I sprinted out the door and down the driveway. Knocking on his window, I pleaded for a ride.
The soft hum of the road and the whirring of the engine filled the car as we silently moved through the night. Staring out the window at the blur of trees, I thought about how I would apologise to Katie. Roman reached for the radio, and a Trace Adkins song began playing. Seeing this as the perfect time to start a conversation, I spoke up, "So, are Katie and I coming to the wedding?" I asked, grinning. Roman let out a deep sigh as he turned off the music. "If Katie doesn't plan a date night on the same day, then yes," he replied.
Silence filled the car as we drove along the empty road. The vast woods surrounding us created an eerie atmosphere, intensified by the winter darkness cloaking the night sky above. Yet, for Roman and me, who had grown up in this land, these woods evoked nostalgic memories of our childhood adventures. While for others, it might be an unsettling glimpse into the barrier separating civilization from the unknown, for us, it was a comforting window back into our past.
When Roman bought the land we had grown up on after our parents passed, I was probably more excited than I should've been, considering I had just lost my mum and dad in a tragic carbon monoxide leak. But my relief at not having to leave this place was immense.
We eventually reached an area where the city lights were visible in the distance. I noticed Roman yawn as he adjusted his grip on the wheel. "You're gonna have to tell me where to go, I can't remember where Katie lives," he stated as he changed gears and prepared to enter the busy traffic, a stark contrast to the remote rural road we were about to vacate.
“Just take a left up h-" I began, but was interrupted as a white blur ran in front of the car, causing Roman to slam on the brakes and swerve. I grabbed onto the side of the door as we spun out of control, the screeching of the tires filling my ears, jolting me out of the relaxed state I had been in due to the many miles of quiet driving.
We eventually came to a stop, now facing the opposite direction, gazing down the endless stretch of desolate road we had just traversed. Roman calmly checked all his mirrors for whatever he nearly hit but failed to see anything through the dust he had stirred up in the spinout.
“You all good?” he asked, a relieved smile creeping up his face, a deep breath escaping his lungs.
“Yeah, what was that?” I asked as Roman started reversing, then turned the car back towards the busy city street about a kilometre away and began driving. I looked over to him, expecting an answer to my question, but didn't receive one. His brow was furrowed in an uncertain expression, clearly lost in thought, like he was trying to remember if he locked the front door.
“Roman?” I said, causing him to blink a couple of times.
“I don't know what it was," Roman answered, not breaking his intense stare at the asphalt in front of us as we drove along, approaching the main road. “Probably just a sheep, there's a few acres of farmland behind these trees,” he continued.
As we approached the intersection, Roman flicked his left indicator on before turning onto the main road. “Okay, now take the next right,” I said, feeling the weird atmosphere in the vehicle slowly dissipating. After a few more turns, Roman said that he knew the way from here and turned the radio back on, which cut the remaining tension that I could tell we were both feeling.
The chilly winter night was starting to bite at my skin, and I cursed myself for forgetting a jacket in my hurry. I swivelled my head around to see the backseat. “What are you looking for?” Roman asked, finally looking in my direction as he turned the music down slightly.
“Uh, do you have a jacket I can borrow? I didn't realise it was gonna be this cold,” I sheepishly admitted.
“Hold the wheel,” Roman told me as he reached around behind him, shifting around his hiking gear that he hadn't taken out since his camping trip with Morgan last month.
Eventually, he pulled out his gym hoodie and threw it on my lap. “This is all I got,” he grunted as he readjusted himself in his seat and took hold of the steering wheel again. When we pulled into Katie's driveway, I pulled the hoodie over my head and hopped out of the car into the brisk night air, my breath visible in the cold. “I'll pick you up around 11:30.” Roman shouted out the window as I pulled the hoodie the rest of the way down and waved to Roman as he drove away, beeping his horn as he left me in the chilling winter breeze.
I knocked on the door, checking the time to see that it was 7:37, only a few minutes late. As I waited in the dark, a surprisingly chipper Katie opened the door, hugging me and dragging me inside. “You didn't miss much,” she whispered as we stumbled through the house that had all of its lights off. “Why do you smell like your brother?” she asked, shooting me a dirty look before grabbing a handful of the hoodie and sniffing it. All I could do was shrug and grin, “I forgot how cold it gets in the winter time, he let me borrow it.” She rolled her eyes, and we sat down next to a bunch of her friends and her parents, who all whispered their hellos in the soft glow of the TV.
Around 11:18 pm when the movie was long since finished, Katie's parents said goodnight and headed off to bed, and a few of Katie's friends who had been visiting said goodbye and drove home. I got up to get some water from the kitchen, and as I walked back, I stood in the doorway that separated the kitchen from the living room, which was dark, only lit by the TV. This allowed me to see Katie frozen, staring towards the window, which was out of my direct line of sight.
Confused, I peeked my head out of the doorway and looked toward the window. I froze and dropped my glass; luckily, it landed on the carpet and didn't make much noise, and the tall, pale creature standing an inch from the window didn't notice. The creature was foul, a gaunt, lanky humanoid. Well, at least the head was humanoid; the body and limbs were almost ape-like, with long, disproportionate arms and less exaggerated legs. The creature's whole body was covered in grey skin stretched tightly over its abnormally long bones. It had no hair anywhere. Its mouth was strangely wide, stretching around to where its ears would be if it had them, and its eyes were just sunken, inky black pits in its head. But I could tell it was staring daggers at Katie, who had tears rolling down her face. She slowly turned her head to look at me, shaking and breathing quickly. I had never felt so powerless. I was supposed to protect her, and I would. I would die to protect her, but I had no idea how to shield her from whatever this thing was.
Then I had an idea. I looked to the light switch panel to my left. I knew one of them was the porch light, but there were three others: the living room light, the kitchen light, and the hall light. If I pressed the wrong light, I didn't know what the thing would do, but I had to try. I had to remember which light Katie's dad used to turn the porch light on when he goes out for a smoke.
I reached for the light second from the bottom and flicked the switch. The hall light turned on. Luckily, the hall was on the opposite side of the kitchen from where the living room was, and it was out of view for the creature at the window. But I couldn't mess up again. If the kitchen light turned on, the creature would see me, and if the living room light turned on, it might cause it to attack Katie. I looked back at the creature, which was using one of its hands to scratch the window as it sniffed around. I had to do something.
I reached for the bottom light switch and flicked it; the porch light turned on. The creature spun around to face it and let out a screech that will haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life. I ran to Katie and grabbed her, dragging her off the side of the couch where there was about a metre gap between the armrest of the couch and the wall.
The sound of the window smashing filled the house, and Katie cried into my shoulder. I couldn't see anything; it was pitch darkness besides the slight blue glare from the TV on the wall above us. But I could hear raspy breathing and bones cracking as the thing searched the living room. I heard it sniffing the couch where Katie was sitting, and I heard it make its way closer to the end of the couch, one of its hands pressed on the wall above us. I saw the silhouette of its head begin to peak over the side of the couch, but suddenly the light turned on, and Katie's dad yelled as he saw us from the kitchen while he was holding a shotgun.
The creature ran at him but fell to the ground as a loud shot rang out in the night, leaving only the sound of our combined breathing and Katie's soft sobs. I watched intently as the body lying between Katie's dad and me moved around on the floor, before slamming its hand down, then the other, and pushing itself to its feet.
Katie's dad reloaded his shotgun, but it was too late. The creature grabbed the poor man by his leg and pulled it out from under him, causing him to shoot the ceiling. I grabbed Katie and dragged her upstairs as the creature began tearing into her father. She cried and screamed, begging me to help him, but what could I do? Whatever that thing was, it just took a shotgun blast to the chest and brushed it off.
I locked us in her upstairs bathroom as the creature's loud and hurried footsteps made their way towards us. Katie was crying loudly now, insisting that we were going to die. Honestly, not a super helpful contribution, but I can't blame her.
As the creature began crashing against the door, pieces of wood started to splinter off. I shoved Katie into the tub, and then lay on top of her. Hopefully, my body would be enough to shield her from this thing. Time slowed down as the door exploded inward. I looked at the girl I loved, makeup running down her face, pieces of door in her hair, mouth wide open as she let out the most ear splitting scream. For some reason, I felt no fear. Even as the monster began tearing at my clothes and clawing at my flesh, I felt strangely calm.
Eventually, the creature grabbed me, swinging me around by my hoodie, slamming me into every wall and surface in the room. I fell to the ground as the hoodie ripped off, and the creature just stared at me, then the hoodie in its hand, then back at me. I stared back, utterly confused, as it leaned over and sniffed my entire body from head to toe. It looked as puzzled as I felt for a moment before I heard Roman's car pull up outside.
The creature screeched as it sprinted out the door, slamming into the hallway wall in its haste. "NO!" I shouted, leaving my still-shaking girlfriend in the tub as I chased the monster out of the house. Somehow, I caught up to the creature and grabbed onto it, bringing it to the ground below. The thing managed to get on top of me, biting and clawing at my arms and hands as I shielded my face.
Before I knew it, Roman came out of nowhere, tackling the creature off me, yelling for me to run. The creature, sleek and deadly, wasted no time in retaliating against Roman's attack. With a primal growl, it lunged at him, its claws slicing through the air like daggers.
Roman had a size advantage that I didn't have, and managed to hold his own for a few seconds as he wrestled with the beast. He'd always been as strong as a bull for as long as I can remember, tall with powerful hands and massive arms and shoulders. But I couldn't risk watching my brother, as strong as he may be, get killed by this… whatever it is.
With strength I didn't know I had, I grabbed the back of Roman's expensive shirt and pulled him out of the way of a fatal blow to the head, throwing him towards the car before I lunged at the creature and went feral. I don't know what came over me; I started swinging on the creature as we tumbled around in the muddy grass. Just when I thought I was actually winning, the creature managed to get its legs between us and kicked me off, then swung its clawed hand at my stomach, ripping it right open.
I collapsed to the ground as my body tried to comprehend what had just happened. My eyes narrowed as everything was drowned out. I watched the silent scene play out before me, my heartbeat pounding in my head.
The creature charged at Roman, who leaped to grab his car's back door handle just as the creature snagged his foot. It yanked at his leg, but Roman clung onto his car door tightly. The creature persisted in pulling as Roman struggled to reach for something in his hiking gear stored in the back seat.
With an agonising yell, Roman's leg gave a sickening snap. Despite the pain, he finally retrieved what he was searching for. Releasing the car door, Roman watched as the creature stumbled backward. Seizing the opportunity, he swiftly climbed on top of it, brandishing his trusty hunting knife from his camping trips.
As Roman wrestled with the creature, the air was filled with grunts and snarls. He plunged the hunting knife into the creature's body, eliciting a guttural howl of pain. The creature thrashed wildly, but Roman held on grimly, his determination unwavering.
With each strike, Roman's movements became more frenzied, fueled by adrenaline and the need to protect us. The creature's attempts to retaliate grew weaker as Roman's blows found their mark. With a final decisive thrust, Roman delivered the fatal blow, and the creature slumped to the ground, defeated.
Breathing heavily, Roman collapsed beside the creature, his body trembling with exhaustion and relief. I rushed to his side, concern evident in my voice. "Natalie-" he faintly murmured.
"Who? Who's Natalie?" I asked, my confusion growing.
Suddenly, the creature jolted up, its movements abrupt and startling. Without warning, it lunged at me, seizing me by the throat and hurling me against the car.
The last thing I saw before I blacked out was the creature sprinting towards me. In that moment, I felt a strange sensation coursing through my body, as if something within me was shifting. I glanced down at my hands and watched in horror as they contorted and turned a sickly shade of grey. Long claws protruded from my fingers, their sharp edges glinting in the dim light.
As my bones cracked and deformed under the strain of this inexplicable transformation, a sudden surge of anger and ferocity overwhelmed my senses. It was as though a primal instinct had taken hold of me, consuming my entire being in its relentless grip. With each passing moment, the world around me faded into darkness until finally, I lost consciousness, my mind consumed by the terrifying reality of what I had become.
I awoke hours later in the back seat of Roman's car. The hum of the road and the whirring of the engine attempted to lull me back to sleep, but I sat up, rubbing my head as the memories flooded back. "What happened?" I asked, my voice hoarse and strained.
Roman responded with silence, a familiar reaction from him, but this time, it sent a shiver down my spine. As I looked at my arms, then my stomach, and felt around my whole body, I realised the wounds and deep gashes caused by the creature were all gone, as if I had never been attacked.
I caught Roman's gaze in the mirror, but he quickly averted his eyes. That's when I noticed Katie in the passenger seat, her tear-stained face betraying her silent anguish. It was clear she wanted to say something, but I couldn't shake the feeling that Roman had warned her against it.
"What do you know about this place?" Roman asked sternly, his voice devoid of emotion.
"We've lived here all our lives, Roman," I replied, confusion evident in my tone. "What do you mean?”
Roman pressed down on the brakes, bringing us to a sudden stop. I noticed a pained expression flit across his face in the mirror, a fleeting moment of vulnerability that he quickly tried to conceal.
"Your leg!" I exclaimed, my voice laced with concern as I recalled the events from earlier.
"It was a dislocated hip. I fixed it," he replied bluntly, his tone revealing little about the ordeal he must have endured.
"This isn't real, Jason. None of this is real. You are not real!" Roman's voice was sharp, refusing to meet my eyes in the reflection.
"Back at Katie's house, I remembered everything the moment I looked into that creature's eyes. I remembered... I remembered Natalie," he said, his words catching in his throat, revealing the first hint of emotion I'd seen from him.
I watched as a tear rolled down Katie's face. I reached to put a hand on her shoulder but stopped myself.
"Roman got me to remember," Katie said, her voice trembling. "I remembered the emergency alert, and when those things broke down our doors. I watched as they dragged my parents out, then my baby brother, then me. I woke up in this fake world, in a family that isn't even mine, dating a boy who turns out to be one of the monsters who brought me here." She spluttered, and I began to cry silently as I realised what she was saying.
Roman eventually started driving again, occasionally getting a call from Morgan, but after the fifth call he threw his phone out the window. We drove until I fell asleep. I don't remember what I dreamed about, but it was peaceful. I think I was in that forest with Roman. We were children again, playing around in the trees, finding cool sticks and exploring the endless expanse of what felt like a fairytale, which I guess it was.
I was awoken by the abrupt sound of Roman's car door slamming. I looked outside and saw that it was daytime again. Trying to figure out where we had stopped, I noticed a giant sign that said “Library.” I hopped out of the car and jogged to catch up to Roman and Katie.
“What are we doing here?” I asked, clearly still being avoided. It was understandable, but it still hurt.
“I need to wake everyone up,” Roman said as we walked in and approached a computer.
I noticed we were getting odd stares from everyone as we walked by, which is when I also noticed that I looked like I had just come out the other side of a paper shredder. My clothes were all torn up with bits missing, apparently not possessing the magic healing ability that I do. The sound of Roman typing snapped me out of my self-conscious thoughts and redirected me to the computer screen.
"I'm going to be a while, guys," Roman said as he began writing out his story. "I need to tell the whole thing from the beginning. Go find a book or something.”
I looked over to Katie, her face void of expression, but a great sadness filled her now dry eyes, having cried all the tears she had. “Why don't you just wake up?” I asked, probably coming across as more insensitive than I intended.
“I've got nothing to go back to. Roman told me what the world is like back there. If my family is here, I have to find them and wake them up first,” she responded, finally meeting my eye.
I wanted to hug her so bad, but I knew she didn't love me anymore. She probably had a real boyfriend in the real world.
Hours went by as Katie and I found a place to sit and wait in silence, watching Roman. He looked funny in the little library chair, hunched over the computer. Such a big guy looked out of place here, his muscular presence overpowering that of the rest of the library's patrons, who were all either very old or very young.
I hate to admit I fell asleep, but I'm just telling the story how it was. I was awoken suddenly by sirens and shouts. “We have got you surrounded, come out with your hands up or we will come in and show you no mercy,” a man's voice yelled from outside through a speaker. I looked over to Roman, who was limping over to us as all the customers flooded out the exits.
“Get up, we need to leave. They've turned the law against us,” Roman ordered. Katie and I listened and followed him.
We made our way upstairs into the empty employee lounge, and Roman opened a window... with his elbow. “They've got every exit covered but this one. We need to jump,” he calmly told us. He stood up in the window frame, kicked off some of the remaining glass with his boots, and jumped to the roof of the single-story building below, wincing in pain as he landed on his bad leg.
That's when six armed officers kicked down the door and opened fire on Katie and me. I moved to block the bullets from hitting Katie, taking several hits to the head and back. I then pushed Katie through the window, and Roman caught her before I jumped out myself and followed.
We ran from rooftop to rooftop until we reached a ladder that led down into an alleyway, where we attempted to catch our breaths. Roman and Katie watched me intently as the bullets lodged in my body began to work their way back out, the wounds closing up after. My skin color shifted a little, and I felt a rattle leave my throat as a cold sweat came over me.
“Hey, control yourself,” Roman told me sternly. I nodded, struggling to remain composed.
“Did you finish the story?” Katie asked Roman.
“Yeah, I kind of had to rush the last part, but I got the message across,” he replied, slumping to the ground behind a dumpster, exhausted.
“What now?” I asked.
Roman looked at me, panting. “I'm gonna help Katie find her family, then I'm going back to Natalie,” he said between heavy breaths.
“What about Morgan?” I questioned, causing him to look down at his feet. “I don't even know her in the real world, and I would never have chosen to be with her. This place… it's like it wrote me a life that was least likely to let me remember who I am. The girl I'm engaged to is the complete opposite of Natalie. I've got a brother who lives with me, my parents are dead. There's literally nothing here to remind me of home, bro,” Roman said, shedding a couple of tears.
We waited in the alley until night, hearing sirens go back and forth every now and then. When Roman said we were in the clear, we made our way back to the car and started driving again. I noticed Roman's eyes fluttering after about an hour, and I told him I'd be happy to drive if he needed to sleep. I could tell that his ego didn't want to admit he was exhausted, and he also still didn't trust me, but he gave in and pulled over, falling asleep in the back seat as I drove off into the night.

I keep seeing people post about getting attacked by off-leash dogs and I was LITERALLY just talking with my boyfriend yesterday about how I wanted to start carrying something for protection when I walk our Tamaskan and Husky/Mal mix. Hours after that discussion the dogs and I went out for our evening walk around the neighborhood. We were almost home and passing the house of this nice lady who always blows kisses at my dogs. She was standing on her front porch smoking a cigarette and she had one of her small dogs out with her off leash. It was something like a maltipoo; fluffy white and maybe 10 pounds? We were on the other side of the street and this dog came at us with everything it had. It charged right up to my Tamaskan, who is a long and lean 75 pounds, and they made contact. It all happened so fast, I couldn't even tell if my dog had picked it up or if it had jumped up and grabbed onto mine's neck. I'm sure it was only seconds but it felt like forever. All I could think while I was trying to keep my husky/mal back AND trying to break up the fight was "oh my God he's going to kill this dog in the street". And then it was over! Did the dog let go or did my dog drop him? The little dog shook it off and trotted back across the street. The owner never even made it out of her yard. I was trying to check my dog to make sure he was ok, he seemed to be preoccupied sniffing the ground. Maybe the little dog had peed there? I yelled "is your dog ok?!" in total shock about it all. She yelled back "yea he's ok!", he was still shaking it off. They went inside and I hurried down the street a bit with my dogs. My tamaskan went RIGHT back to normal walk mode. When we got home he growled at me more than usual (mine is vocal about lots of things) when I took his collar off, I couldn't see or feel any injures. I told my boyfriend about it but he didn't seem to concerned about the actual event. I cried, a lot. I'm so glad it wasn't a bigger, more dangerous dog that we encountered, but neither of my dogs nor I needed that experience. I have been feeling more and more anxious about walking them in my neighborhood and now after this, I feel so defeated and sad.

"A family is left in mourning as twenty-one-year-old Natalie Rose was found dead over the weekend," the TV blared into the room, "seemingly attacked by some sort of wild animal as she sat in her tent on what was meant to be a relaxing camping trip alone. Natalie's parents have requested privacy at this time, but they appreciate the condolences they have received. In other news-" Roman grabbed the remote from me and shut off the TV.
"Hey, I was watching that!" I said as I flipped him off from across the room. "Bullshit, you're on your phone," he chuckled, fixing his hair up in the mirror. "Okay, well, I was listening. I like to have background noise, dickhead," I replied, watching him in the reflection, his focus clearly not on this important conversation.
"Where are you going all dressed up?" I interrogated him. "Morgan and I are having our engagement party, but we've got to be there early to sort out seating."
"You're having your engagement party and you didn't invite your own brother?" I questioned him, offended at the audacity this man had. "I did invite you, dipshit. You told me you had a date with Katie tonight."
The realisation hit me like a punch to the gut. I'd completely forgotten about my movie date with Katie. With a surge of panic, I leaped from my seat, heart pounding, and scrambled to get dressed. Every second felt like an eternity as I cursed my forgetfulness. Then, I heard Roman's car start outside. Without a second thought, I sprinted out the door and down the driveway. Knocking on his window, I pleaded for a ride.
The soft hum of the road and the whirring of the engine filled the car as we silently moved through the night. Staring out the window at the blur of trees, I thought about how I would apologise to Katie. Roman reached for the radio, and a Trace Adkins song began playing. Seeing this as the perfect time to start a conversation, I spoke up, "So, are Katie and I coming to the wedding?" I asked, grinning. Roman let out a deep sigh as he turned off the music. "If Katie doesn't plan a date night on the same day, then yes," he replied.
Silence filled the car as we drove along the empty road. The vast woods surrounding us created an eerie atmosphere, intensified by the winter darkness cloaking the night sky above. Yet, for Roman and me, who had grown up in this land, these woods evoked nostalgic memories of our childhood adventures. While for others, it might be an unsettling glimpse into the barrier separating civilization from the unknown, for us, it was a comforting window back into our past.
When Roman bought the land we had grown up on after our parents passed, I was probably more excited than I should've been, considering I had just lost my mum and dad in a tragic carbon monoxide leak. But my relief at not having to leave this place was immense.
We eventually reached an area where the city lights were visible in the distance. I noticed Roman yawn as he adjusted his grip on the wheel. "You're gonna have to tell me where to go, I can't remember where Katie lives," he stated as he changed gears and prepared to enter the busy traffic, a stark contrast to the remote rural road we were about to vacate.
“Just take a left up h-" I began, but was interrupted as a white blur ran in front of the car, causing Roman to slam on the brakes and swerve. I grabbed onto the side of the door as we spun out of control, the screeching of the tires filling my ears, jolting me out of the relaxed state I had been in due to the many miles of quiet driving.
We eventually came to a stop, now facing the opposite direction, gazing down the endless stretch of desolate road we had just traversed. Roman calmly checked all his mirrors for whatever he nearly hit but failed to see anything through the dust he had stirred up in the spinout.
“You all good?” he asked, a relieved smile creeping up his face, a deep breath escaping his lungs.
“Yeah, what was that?” I asked as Roman started reversing, then turned the car back towards the busy city street about a kilometre away and began driving. I looked over to him, expecting an answer to my question, but didn't receive one. His brow was furrowed in an uncertain expression, clearly lost in thought, like he was trying to remember if he locked the front door.
“Roman?” I said, causing him to blink a couple of times.
“I don't know what it was," Roman answered, not breaking his intense stare at the asphalt in front of us as we drove along, approaching the main road. “Probably just a sheep, there's a few acres of farmland behind these trees,” he continued.
As we approached the intersection, Roman flicked his left indicator on before turning onto the main road. “Okay, now take the next right,” I said, feeling the weird atmosphere in the vehicle slowly dissipating. After a few more turns, Roman said that he knew the way from here and turned the radio back on, which cut the remaining tension that I could tell we were both feeling.
The chilly winter night was starting to bite at my skin, and I cursed myself for forgetting a jacket in my hurry. I swivelled my head around to see the backseat. “What are you looking for?” Roman asked, finally looking in my direction as he turned the music down slightly.
“Uh, do you have a jacket I can borrow? I didn't realise it was gonna be this cold,” I sheepishly admitted.
“Hold the wheel,” Roman told me as he reached around behind him, shifting around his hiking gear that he hadn't taken out since his camping trip with Morgan last month.
Eventually, he pulled out his gym hoodie and threw it on my lap. “This is all I got,” he grunted as he readjusted himself in his seat and took hold of the steering wheel again. When we pulled into Katie's driveway, I pulled the hoodie over my head and hopped out of the car into the brisk night air, my breath visible in the cold. “I'll pick you up around 11:30.” Roman shouted out the window as I pulled the hoodie the rest of the way down and waved to Roman as he drove away, beeping his horn as he left me in the chilling winter breeze.
I knocked on the door, checking the time to see that it was 7:37, only a few minutes late. As I waited in the dark, a surprisingly chipper Katie opened the door, hugging me and dragging me inside. “You didn't miss much,” she whispered as we stumbled through the house that had all of its lights off. “Why do you smell like your brother?” she asked, shooting me a dirty look before grabbing a handful of the hoodie and sniffing it. All I could do was shrug and grin, “I forgot how cold it gets in the winter time, he let me borrow it.” She rolled her eyes, and we sat down next to a bunch of her friends and her parents, who all whispered their hellos in the soft glow of the TV.
Around 11:18 pm when the movie was long since finished, Katie's parents said goodnight and headed off to bed, and a few of Katie's friends who had been visiting said goodbye and drove home. I got up to get some water from the kitchen, and as I walked back, I stood in the doorway that separated the kitchen from the living room, which was dark, only lit by the TV. This allowed me to see Katie frozen, staring towards the window, which was out of my direct line of sight.
Confused, I peeked my head out of the doorway and looked toward the window. I froze and dropped my glass; luckily, it landed on the carpet and didn't make much noise, and the tall, pale creature standing an inch from the window didn't notice. The creature was foul, a gaunt, lanky humanoid. Well, at least the head was humanoid; the body and limbs were almost ape-like, with long, disproportionate arms and less exaggerated legs. The creature's whole body was covered in grey skin stretched tightly over its abnormally long bones. It had no hair anywhere. Its mouth was strangely wide, stretching around to where its ears would be if it had them, and its eyes were just sunken, inky black pits in its head. But I could tell it was staring daggers at Katie, who had tears rolling down her face. She slowly turned her head to look at me, shaking and breathing quickly. I had never felt so powerless. I was supposed to protect her, and I would. I would die to protect her, but I had no idea how to shield her from whatever this thing was.
Then I had an idea. I looked to the light switch panel to my left. I knew one of them was the porch light, but there were three others: the living room light, the kitchen light, and the hall light. If I pressed the wrong light, I didn't know what the thing would do, but I had to try. I had to remember which light Katie's dad used to turn the porch light on when he goes out for a smoke.
I reached for the light second from the bottom and flicked the switch. The hall light turned on. Luckily, the hall was on the opposite side of the kitchen from where the living room was, and it was out of view for the creature at the window. But I couldn't mess up again. If the kitchen light turned on, the creature would see me, and if the living room light turned on, it might cause it to attack Katie. I looked back at the creature, which was using one of its hands to scratch the window as it sniffed around. I had to do something.
I reached for the bottom light switch and flicked it; the porch light turned on. The creature spun around to face it and let out a screech that will haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life. I ran to Katie and grabbed her, dragging her off the side of the couch where there was about a metre gap between the armrest of the couch and the wall.
The sound of the window smashing filled the house, and Katie cried into my shoulder. I couldn't see anything; it was pitch darkness besides the slight blue glare from the TV on the wall above us. But I could hear raspy breathing and bones cracking as the thing searched the living room. I heard it sniffing the couch where Katie was sitting, and I heard it make its way closer to the end of the couch, one of its hands pressed on the wall above us. I saw the silhouette of its head begin to peak over the side of the couch, but suddenly the light turned on, and Katie's dad yelled as he saw us from the kitchen while he was holding a shotgun.
The creature ran at him but fell to the ground as a loud shot rang out in the night, leaving only the sound of our combined breathing and Katie's soft sobs. I watched intently as the body lying between Katie's dad and me moved around on the floor, before slamming its hand down, then the other, and pushing itself to its feet.
Katie's dad reloaded his shotgun, but it was too late. The creature grabbed the poor man by his leg and pulled it out from under him, causing him to shoot the ceiling. I grabbed Katie and dragged her upstairs as the creature began tearing into her father. She cried and screamed, begging me to help him, but what could I do? Whatever that thing was, it just took a shotgun blast to the chest and brushed it off.
I locked us in her upstairs bathroom as the creature's loud and hurried footsteps made their way towards us. Katie was crying loudly now, insisting that we were going to die. Honestly, not a super helpful contribution, but I can't blame her.
As the creature began crashing against the door, pieces of wood started to splinter off. I shoved Katie into the tub, and then lay on top of her. Hopefully, my body would be enough to shield her from this thing. Time slowed down as the door exploded inward. I looked at the girl I loved, makeup running down her face, pieces of door in her hair, mouth wide open as she let out the most ear splitting scream. For some reason, I felt no fear. Even as the monster began tearing at my clothes and clawing at my flesh, I felt strangely calm.
Eventually, the creature grabbed me, swinging me around by my hoodie, slamming me into every wall and surface in the room. I fell to the ground as the hoodie ripped off, and the creature just stared at me, then the hoodie in its hand, then back at me. I stared back, utterly confused, as it leaned over and sniffed my entire body from head to toe. It looked as puzzled as I felt for a moment before I heard Roman's car pull up outside.
The creature screeched as it sprinted out the door, slamming into the hallway wall in its haste. "NO!" I shouted, leaving my still-shaking girlfriend in the tub as I chased the monster out of the house. Somehow, I caught up to the creature and grabbed onto it, bringing it to the ground below. The thing managed to get on top of me, biting and clawing at my arms and hands as I shielded my face.
Before I knew it, Roman came out of nowhere, tackling the creature off me, yelling for me to run. The creature, sleek and deadly, wasted no time in retaliating against Roman's attack. With a primal growl, it lunged at him, its claws slicing through the air like daggers.
Roman had a size advantage that I didn't have, and managed to hold his own for a few seconds as he wrestled with the beast. He'd always been as strong as a bull for as long as I can remember, tall with powerful hands and massive arms and shoulders. But I couldn't risk watching my brother, as strong as he may be, get killed by this… whatever it is.
With strength I didn't know I had, I grabbed the back of Roman's expensive shirt and pulled him out of the way of a fatal blow to the head, throwing him towards the car before I lunged at the creature and went feral. I don't know what came over me; I started swinging on the creature as we tumbled around in the muddy grass. Just when I thought I was actually winning, the creature managed to get its legs between us and kicked me off, then swung its clawed hand at my stomach, ripping it right open.
I collapsed to the ground as my body tried to comprehend what had just happened. My eyes narrowed as everything was drowned out. I watched the silent scene play out before me, my heartbeat pounding in my head.
The creature charged at Roman, who leaped to grab his car's back door handle just as the creature snagged his foot. It yanked at his leg, but Roman clung onto his car door tightly. The creature persisted in pulling as Roman struggled to reach for something in his hiking gear stored in the back seat.
With an agonising yell, Roman's leg gave a sickening snap. Despite the pain, he finally retrieved what he was searching for. Releasing the car door, Roman watched as the creature stumbled backward. Seizing the opportunity, he swiftly climbed on top of it, brandishing his trusty hunting knife from his camping trips.
As Roman wrestled with the creature, the air was filled with grunts and snarls. He plunged the hunting knife into the creature's body, eliciting a guttural howl of pain. The creature thrashed wildly, but Roman held on grimly, his determination unwavering.
With each strike, Roman's movements became more frenzied, fueled by adrenaline and the need to protect us. The creature's attempts to retaliate grew weaker as Roman's blows found their mark. With a final decisive thrust, Roman delivered the fatal blow, and the creature slumped to the ground, defeated.
Breathing heavily, Roman collapsed beside the creature, his body trembling with exhaustion and relief. I rushed to his side, concern evident in my voice. "Natalie-" he faintly murmured.
"Who? Who's Natalie?" I asked, my confusion growing.
Suddenly, the creature jolted up, its movements abrupt and startling. Without warning, it lunged at me, seizing me by the throat and hurling me against the car.
The last thing I saw before I blacked out was the creature sprinting towards me. In that moment, I felt a strange sensation coursing through my body, as if something within me was shifting. I glanced down at my hands and watched in horror as they contorted and turned a sickly shade of grey. Long claws protruded from my fingers, their sharp edges glinting in the dim light.
As my bones cracked and deformed under the strain of this inexplicable transformation, a sudden surge of anger and ferocity overwhelmed my senses. It was as though a primal instinct had taken hold of me, consuming my entire being in its relentless grip. With each passing moment, the world around me faded into darkness until finally, I lost consciousness, my mind consumed by the terrifying reality of what I had become.
I awoke hours later in the back seat of Roman's car. The hum of the road and the whirring of the engine attempted to lull me back to sleep, but I sat up, rubbing my head as the memories flooded back. "What happened?" I asked, my voice hoarse and strained.
Roman responded with silence, a familiar reaction from him, but this time, it sent a shiver down my spine. As I looked at my arms, then my stomach, and felt around my whole body, I realised the wounds and deep gashes caused by the creature were all gone, as if I had never been attacked.
I caught Roman's gaze in the mirror, but he quickly averted his eyes. That's when I noticed Katie in the passenger seat, her tear-stained face betraying her silent anguish. It was clear she wanted to say something, but I couldn't shake the feeling that Roman had warned her against it.
"What do you know about this place?" Roman asked sternly, his voice devoid of emotion.
"We've lived here all our lives, Roman," I replied, confusion evident in my tone. "What do you mean?”
Roman pressed down on the brakes, bringing us to a sudden stop. I noticed a pained expression flit across his face in the mirror, a fleeting moment of vulnerability that he quickly tried to conceal.
"Your leg!" I exclaimed, my voice laced with concern as I recalled the events from earlier.
"It was a dislocated hip. I fixed it," he replied bluntly, his tone revealing little about the ordeal he must have endured.
"This isn't real, Jason. None of this is real. You are not real!" Roman's voice was sharp, refusing to meet my eyes in the reflection.
"Back at Katie's house, I remembered everything the moment I looked into that creature's eyes. I remembered... I remembered Natalie," he said, his words catching in his throat, revealing the first hint of emotion I'd seen from him.
I watched as a tear rolled down Katie's face. I reached to put a hand on her shoulder but stopped myself.
"Roman got me to remember," Katie said, her voice trembling. "I remembered the emergency alert, and when those things broke down our doors. I watched as they dragged my parents out, then my baby brother, then me. I woke up in this fake world, in a family that isn't even mine, dating a boy who turns out to be one of the monsters who brought me here." She spluttered, and I began to cry silently as I realised what she was saying.
Roman eventually started driving again, occasionally getting a call from Morgan, but after the fifth call he threw his phone out the window. We drove until I fell asleep. I don't remember what I dreamed about, but it was peaceful. I think I was in that forest with Roman. We were children again, playing around in the trees, finding cool sticks and exploring the endless expanse of what felt like a fairytale, which I guess it was.
I was awoken by the abrupt sound of Roman's car door slamming. I looked outside and saw that it was daytime again. Trying to figure out where we had stopped, I noticed a giant sign that said “Library.” I hopped out of the car and jogged to catch up to Roman and Katie.
“What are we doing here?” I asked, clearly still being avoided. It was understandable, but it still hurt.
“I need to wake everyone up,” Roman said as we walked in and approached a computer.
I noticed we were getting odd stares from everyone as we walked by, which is when I also noticed that I looked like I had just come out the other side of a paper shredder. My clothes were all torn up with bits missing, apparently not possessing the magic healing ability that I do. The sound of Roman typing snapped me out of my self-conscious thoughts and redirected me to the computer screen.
"I'm going to be a while, guys," Roman said as he began writing out his story. "I need to tell the whole thing from the beginning. Go find a book or something.”
I looked over to Katie, her face void of expression, but a great sadness filled her now dry eyes, having cried all the tears she had. “Why don't you just wake up?” I asked, probably coming across as more insensitive than I intended.
“I've got nothing to go back to. Roman told me what the world is like back there. If my family is here, I have to find them and wake them up first,” she responded, finally meeting my eye.
I wanted to hug her so bad, but I knew she didn't love me anymore. She probably had a real boyfriend in the real world.
Hours went by as Katie and I found a place to sit and wait in silence, watching Roman. He looked funny in the little library chair, hunched over the computer. Such a big guy looked out of place here, his muscular presence overpowering that of the rest of the library's patrons, who were all either very old or very young.
I hate to admit I fell asleep, but I'm just telling the story how it was. I was awoken suddenly by sirens and shouts. “We have got you surrounded, come out with your hands up or we will come in and show you no mercy,” a man's voice yelled from outside through a speaker. I looked over to Roman, who was limping over to us as all the customers flooded out the exits.
“Get up, we need to leave. They've turned the law against us,” Roman ordered. Katie and I listened and followed him.
We made our way upstairs into the empty employee lounge, and Roman opened a window... with his elbow. “They've got every exit covered but this one. We need to jump,” he calmly told us. He stood up in the window frame, kicked off some of the remaining glass with his boots, and jumped to the roof of the single-story building below, wincing in pain as he landed on his bad leg.
That's when six armed officers kicked down the door and opened fire on Katie and me. I moved to block the bullets from hitting Katie, taking several hits to the head and back. I then pushed Katie through the window, and Roman caught her before I jumped out myself and followed.
We ran from rooftop to rooftop until we reached a ladder that led down into an alleyway, where we attempted to catch our breaths. Roman and Katie watched me intently as the bullets lodged in my body began to work their way back out, the wounds closing up after. My skin color shifted a little, and I felt a rattle leave my throat as a cold sweat came over me.
“Hey, control yourself,” Roman told me sternly. I nodded, struggling to remain composed.
“Did you finish the story?” Katie asked Roman.
“Yeah, I kind of had to rush the last part, but I got the message across,” he replied, slumping to the ground behind a dumpster, exhausted.
“What now?” I asked.
Roman looked at me, panting. “I'm gonna help Katie find her family, then I'm going back to Natalie,” he said between heavy breaths.
“What about Morgan?” I questioned, causing him to look down at his feet. “I don't even know her in the real world, and I would never have chosen to be with her. This place… it's like it wrote me a life that was least likely to let me remember who I am. The girl I'm engaged to is the complete opposite of Natalie. I've got a brother who lives with me, my parents are dead. There's literally nothing here to remind me of home, bro,” Roman said, shedding a couple of tears.
We waited in the alley until night, hearing sirens go back and forth every now and then. When Roman said we were in the clear, we made our way back to the car and started driving again. I noticed Roman's eyes fluttering after about an hour, and I told him I'd be happy to drive if he needed to sleep. I could tell that his ego didn't want to admit he was exhausted, and he also still didn't trust me, but he gave in and pulled over, falling asleep in the back seat as I drove off into the night.

I don’t know if this is the right group for this but any feedback would be appreciated. The books is m/m romance, road-trip book.
What’s harder than cycling hundreds of miles down the west coast? Doing it with the annoyingly hot guy who hates your guts.
Cal is excited to go on a two-week cycling trip with his best friends. He doesn’t want, he needs the relaxation in order to kill his artist’s block—he has a new show coming up and he's nowhere near finished. However, things get complicated when one of his best friends, Alex, brings her standoffish brother Nate along for the ride without telling him. Which would be fine if the guy wasn’t a total jerk.
Sharing a tent with this guy every night should prove to be impossible, so when he and Nate actually start to get along he’s surprised. But Cal isn’t looking for love, he’s already been burned one too many times.
And so what if the guy has a couple good qualities, it doesn’t mean anything, right? Nate is a fancy coder and an obsessive cyclist with all the latest gear. He’s too black and white, too rigid, too perfect.
The total opposite of Cal, who’s had more jobs than he can count. He’s a mess. No way could they ever work out. Not to mention keeping a secret that huge from his two best friends might just be more than he can take.
Only 856 more miles to go. Can Cal and Nate put their differences aside to make this thing work?
Get ready for a swoony road trip story that features light enemies to lovers, only one bed, my best friend’s brother, a secret romance, and a vacation fling as a few of the tropes. From the meet-cute to the happily ever after 100 Miles Until I Love You crafts a charming romance you won’t want to miss.

First, I'll start off by saying that this is probably a me problem, and that I'm pretty sure I just need to learn how to not get anxiety from this, but I still want feedback to see what other people think.
I've been seeing this girl for a short time now. We're aren't exclusive, just going through the dates to see where it leads. In person and via FaceTime, our chemistry is off-the-charts, and we have both confessed in person that emotions are strong. We have another date planned for two weeks from now (we cant do sooner because of I'll be out of town for work for a bit).
The issue I have is that I'll have one day where she'll txt things like "You’ve been on my mind a lot☺️", or how our next date we have planned to make pizza together for our dinner date, and she says "Thinking about you and I making pizza together now, it’s got me cheesin☺️". There are other examples, and it gives me very strong confidence that she's really into me.
The anxiety starts to kick in though when we are vibing and in the middle of a back and forth thing, and the conversation just stops... she just doesn't reply. Or I'll send her a picture of something cool, and I'll get nothing in return.
For example, this past Friday night I sent her a text immediately after she sent me one (during a somewhat back-and-forth convo), and it was something along the lines of "can you see the northern lights where you are?" I waited about 36 hours for a reply on Sunday (a day and a half later) and it was.... "Hey baby😋". Didn't even respond the question at all. I then asked what she's been up to and she said she's been spending time with her mom for the weekend (because it was mother's day) and proceeded to tell me what they've been up to.
Her communication style is just.... odd compared to what I've seen from other women I've dated. It's not how I would ever communicate via txt at all. She skips questions, or doesn't respond to a picture of something, etc. It feels like she ignores it completely? Or is aloof in some weird way?
Now to be fair, I have brought up the topic of communication already as I was previously kinda worried about how things would go silent for long periods prior to this one, so, trying to be a communicating guy, I said about a week ago:
"I wanted to ask you… how much communication would you like between us while we’re apart? Are you ok with txting and FT’s, and how often? I wanted to check in and see what you’re comfortable with."
and her response was:
"I’m happy with our level of communication:) to be upfront it may get a teeny bit less frequent just because I keep a pretty full schedule. Especially during the summer months. And I’m also not on my phone very much. Tbh most of my phone time recently has been chatting with you, and that’s not a bad thing! I love our conversations and connection. Just wanted to be transparent so you don’t think I’m ghosting or anything haha My social battery isn’t the best so if I ever do need a day or two with no contact, whether that’s because I’m busy or just recharging, I will 100% communicate that😘"
I don't know.... am I overreacting here? Do any other men/women here txt like this? O just hate txting? Or just are never on your phone? She's 25, and I figured all young women in their 20's would be glued to their phone.
Maybe I'm just being stupid insecure and need to let it go.
Thoughts?