Acre conversions
Aitah for calling bylaw on my neighbours
2024.05.16 03:51 ExcitingTangerine373 Aitah for calling bylaw on my neighbours
So back story here and it’s LONG.. buckle in.. We purchased a home in rural Ontario, in a small hamlet with about <100 people. A majority of our neighbours are Mennonite- specifically to the right and left of us. There is a new subdivision right near us, and expansion is bringing a lot of people from all walks of life. So I wouldn’t say we moved into “Mennonite” territory.
We purchased the house in June - and upon closing our left side Mennonite neighbour had put up a 9ft fence on closing day, a couple inches from the property line - and did not inform us he was planning such. It obscures our backyard access from our left, but again it was a surprise on closing. Ok, we moved in and got over the Fort Knox wall, and decided to just leave it be and not make waves as new owners. He said he wanted his privacy, our driveway is shared, we understand that the homes are very close together.
Then this same neighbour informed us he had bought the small parcel of land behind us, and that he would be doing whatever he wanted with said land. A parcel that creates an L shape around our property. We were upset, and asked him if we could buy the land off him, he refused and stated a ridiculous price tag it was thrice what that dirt patch is worth, but he knows that. So we conceded and decided to let it go.
We noticed that there were some more items on the list that were a bit shady of our left neighbours, including a barn shed that was built too close to the property line for its size, and for our lot sizes. Think 20x25 by 17ft tall. Massive. Not code. Likely not permitted. I mentioned this to him in passing - he threatened if I called bylaw on his barn that he’s a Mexican Mennonite… whatever the hell that means.
Fast forward to another month, left neighbour planted corn in behind our backyard. It was nice to look at, I was pleasantly surprised that’s what he was doing w the parcel so we just went about life…until…a smell. Sitting outside in my yard I suddenly felt I was transplanted into a cattle farm. I couldn’t figure why my house was COATED in flies. So I decided to take a stroll around the corn he had planted and found 3 calves. In 1/8th of an acre/parcel of land. Directly down wind was our home and worst of all, our drinking well and the property is on a slope. I was furious. I immediately approached him and told him to remove his cattle - that it’s not allowed in a residential setting, and he told me, that it’s zoned agricultural, and he will remove them “when it’s convenient for him.” I was not impressed by his behaviour, he basically brushed me off as if it was his land and too effing bad for me. So I waited. And waited. 2 months passed by and my backyard was officially unbearable of smell. I called bylaw. They instructed him to remove cattle immediately, and he did within 7 days. Now he knows it was me, as the right neighbour (also Mennonite) to the other side of us is close with him.
This lovely Mennonite sandwich we have here - was also partaking in cattle maintenance and also didn’t inform us, but there were multiple occasions honest conversation could have happened. During bylaws visit - left neighbour was told to get rid of his chickens, which he did and then brought back. Here’s where right neighbour comes into play. They also have illegal chickens, and use our back yard as an egg freeway to trade and swap things for chickens, eggs, whatever. This happens all day. At various times. No problem even when we’re privately in our hot tub or sitting by our fire. ZERO CARE for our privacy. Front yard is just as open - but they would rather use backyard where they’re bothering us.
So… I called bylaw again. And put a stop to chicken egg freeway. What do you think? Am I the only one who would handle this situation this way? Aitah?!
submitted by ExcitingTangerine373 to AITAH [link] [comments]
We purchased the house in June - and upon closing our left side Mennonite neighbour had put up a 9ft fence on closing day, a couple inches from the property line - and did not inform us he was planning such. It obscures our backyard access from our left, but again it was a surprise on closing. Ok, we moved in and got over the Fort Knox wall, and decided to just leave it be and not make waves as new owners. He said he wanted his privacy, our driveway is shared, we understand that the homes are very close together.
Then this same neighbour informed us he had bought the small parcel of land behind us, and that he would be doing whatever he wanted with said land. A parcel that creates an L shape around our property. We were upset, and asked him if we could buy the land off him, he refused and stated a ridiculous price tag it was thrice what that dirt patch is worth, but he knows that. So we conceded and decided to let it go.
We noticed that there were some more items on the list that were a bit shady of our left neighbours, including a barn shed that was built too close to the property line for its size, and for our lot sizes. Think 20x25 by 17ft tall. Massive. Not code. Likely not permitted. I mentioned this to him in passing - he threatened if I called bylaw on his barn that he’s a Mexican Mennonite… whatever the hell that means.
Fast forward to another month, left neighbour planted corn in behind our backyard. It was nice to look at, I was pleasantly surprised that’s what he was doing w the parcel so we just went about life…until…a smell. Sitting outside in my yard I suddenly felt I was transplanted into a cattle farm. I couldn’t figure why my house was COATED in flies. So I decided to take a stroll around the corn he had planted and found 3 calves. In 1/8th of an acre/parcel of land. Directly down wind was our home and worst of all, our drinking well and the property is on a slope. I was furious. I immediately approached him and told him to remove his cattle - that it’s not allowed in a residential setting, and he told me, that it’s zoned agricultural, and he will remove them “when it’s convenient for him.” I was not impressed by his behaviour, he basically brushed me off as if it was his land and too effing bad for me. So I waited. And waited. 2 months passed by and my backyard was officially unbearable of smell. I called bylaw. They instructed him to remove cattle immediately, and he did within 7 days. Now he knows it was me, as the right neighbour (also Mennonite) to the other side of us is close with him.
This lovely Mennonite sandwich we have here - was also partaking in cattle maintenance and also didn’t inform us, but there were multiple occasions honest conversation could have happened. During bylaws visit - left neighbour was told to get rid of his chickens, which he did and then brought back. Here’s where right neighbour comes into play. They also have illegal chickens, and use our back yard as an egg freeway to trade and swap things for chickens, eggs, whatever. This happens all day. At various times. No problem even when we’re privately in our hot tub or sitting by our fire. ZERO CARE for our privacy. Front yard is just as open - but they would rather use backyard where they’re bothering us.
So… I called bylaw again. And put a stop to chicken egg freeway. What do you think? Am I the only one who would handle this situation this way? Aitah?!
2024.05.15 23:55 Ok_Stuff_4107 call recorder app
i have been trying for the past month or so to find an app that can record calls and the one i downloaded will only record my end of the call. I live in texas, which is a one party consent state when it comes to recording conversations. does anyone know any app that will record both ends of the call?
(i have the s23u)
update: i downloaded an app called cube ACR as well as the helper it asked me to download and this app does in fact record both sides of the conversation fairly clear.
submitted by Ok_Stuff_4107 to samsung [link] [comments]
(i have the s23u)
update: i downloaded an app called cube ACR as well as the helper it asked me to download and this app does in fact record both sides of the conversation fairly clear.
2024.05.15 21:32 Stagerunner Scotland Gets Green-Light For Huge New Film Studio
 | Stirling is set to take centre stage in Scotland’s film and TV industry with the creation of one of the biggest studios in the country. Thousands of high-skilled jobs could be created after the green light was given to establish the studio campus on former MoD land at Forthside.https://preview.redd.it/7kh3403y7n0d1.jpg?width=959&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=132bedf6f22bb03126a10220849cb66d52c85813The base – also known as Forthside Barracks – was built as an ordnance depot in 1899. It was purchased by Stirling Council for $5.6 million in March this year and is now set to be transformed into a bustling production facility for the small and silver screens.Experts have assessed there is currently 100,000 sq ft of studio space and 110,000 sq ft for production, logistics and office space at the site, which overall comprises 360-acres.The site will continue to be owned by Stirling Council, but an operator will be appointed to run the studios and the project hoping to attract both UK and global productions.Chief Executive Carol Beattie said she is confident about the future success of the studios, following “overwhelmingly positive” feedback from industry figures.An arial view of the site (Image: Christopher Jackson Drone Videography & Photography)She said: “In a previous role as Director of Creative Industries for Scottish Development International, I knew there was still an opening for more production space in Scotland. At that point, I spent time in London speaking to the British Film Commission and studio operators such as Pinewood, Three Mills and Warner Brothers to understand the specifications of a good site.“When I saw the unique buildings and location at Forthside, I considered it to be a fantastic fit, which has since been confirmed through our close consultation with the industry, including Screen Scotland.”The project has been supported by repurposing a proportion of the $21.3 million grant secured by the council from UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund (LUF) for the redevelopment and regeneration of Forthside.Stirling Council Leader, Cllr Chris Kane said the studio could be “truly transformational” for the area.He said: “We have an opportunity to embed an industry in our city which will bring thousands of high-skilled jobs, put us on a global creative map and deliver a significant economic boost to the region over many decades.“By making innovative use of the existing buildings on a former military site, we are creating a studio campus that will provide everything film producers need to meet demand in a thriving sector.“Students in our schools, our college and our University will be able to pursue creative careers right here in Stirling that in the past would have meant having to consider leaving to chase opportunities elsewhere.”He added: “I would like to thank everyone involved for their hard work in getting us to this point. We are determined to seize the moment for the people of Stirling and realise the rewards of this ambitious project.”Some of the buildings already on the site will be retained and refurbished for the film and high-end TV campus. The remainder of the land will be redeveloped and cleared.The site has already been used as a filming location which will provide valuable experiences and lessons to serve future high-end productions, Stirling Council said.UK Government Minister for Scotland John Lamont added: “Scotland and the UK are a true film and TV production success story and the creation of Stirling Studios to add to the high-quality portfolio of content being produced on these shores is brilliant news. “I’m delighted that £24 million UK Government funding is helping Stirling Council to purchase and redevelop the former MoD Forthside site. The jobs and economy boosting regeneration that will follow will provide fabulous opportunities for the region.“The UK Government is committed to making sure that Scotland and the wider UK remains an attractive location for film and high-end TV productions. That is why we have supported our world-leading creative industries with £1.1 billion in tax reliefs. In total we are investing £81 million in leveling up Stirling and Clackmannanshire and more than £3.2 billion across Scotland.Isabel Davis, Executive Director of Screen Scotland said: “The Stirling site’s location and ready potential for conversion into a studio are both exceptionally promising. Scotland has recently seen significant growth in productions looking to access its internationally recognized cast and crew, as well as its versatile natural and built environments.“This new site will only add to Scotland’s considerable offering as a filming destination. Working with Stirling Council on this over the last few months, we have been very encouraged by the visionary approach that the team there have taken to get to this stage, including the opportunity to grow the local crew base. We look forward to continuing to work with them towards the realization of the project.” |
2024.05.15 16:56 junkyard1897 New neighbors
About six years ago my family bought a place in rural Indiana, just outside of town. We bought it for the machine shop, a huge industrial building with zoning, power and access for trucks. I had been a professional metal smith for about ten years but had to leave that work behind for financial reasons and the cost of proper space where I live. This new place was on 5 acres with a house, barn and a creek in the back. It was bordered by a neighbor with an extensive garden and orchard on one side and an empty field on the other. Two years after we moved in the field sold. The new owner stored trucks and building supplies there for two years before starting on a house. It took them quite a while to build it- they were building it themselves. They seemed decent enough at the time. Now, I am used to being viewed as nuisance- I run a blacksmith/welding shop. I try to mitigate the noise. The building is insulated, and machinery anchored to huge (and expensive) concrete footings that reduce vibration. I don’t crank the stereo to drown out the machines, I have headphones. I do regular noise audits and keep reasonable hours ( nothing before 7 or after 9, and no weekend work) When the new neighbors began nearing completion, they brought goats out and stuffed them into a chicken coop about midway down our driveway. They would come out to check on the goats every few days but sometimes the animals would go a while without anyone coming by. My wife and I would walk the dogs past a few times a day ( it’s our driveway) and after a few days of goats screaming at us, one of us would go over and give them food and water. This was an every other week kind of thing. I figured these folks were probably really busy and just getting hung up on driving the 45 + minutes to feed the animals- not a big deal really. As they began moving in, they built a fence, or rather, they had a drunk uncle build a fence. It was just a foot, or two or three from my driveway, and as it meandered toward my house veered into my carport. I tried to have a conversation with them about this, and was threatened with a lawsuit… ( my first altercation with them) I approached the county only to be told that it would be a civil dispute and I would have to go through an attorney to get anything done. Now the drunk uncle realized he was off the line when he got to the carport and just stopped. For 8 months they did nothing. Well, they did start collecting animals. 6 more goats, 16 sheep, 2 then 4 horses and 4 cows…all of these tied to posts in chicken wire fences… I did call animal control. Animal control informed me that this county is rural and they can have whatever animals they want, and do to them whatever they want… (damn Indiana… just??? ) this was about the time he decided to start “training “ the horses. This involved tying them to a post in front of my porch, blasting mariachi music, while whipping the horse- for about two hours a night…they lost three horses, and got 5 more…the half built fence blew over into our driveway last spring. I was out of town working and my wife took the dogs out and took some pictures of the fence in our driveway. The neighbor called the police and reported that she was stalking them, and taking pictures of their workers ( who were eating lunch at the time apparently, but ran off when they realized they had been seen) the police were not thrilled with the call and gave the neighbor a bit of a talking to. The following week they pulled the fence and rebuilt it straight. It now fully encloses their property and is not interfering with my carport. Now, I don’t trust these idiots, but hoped this was the end….far from it. They covered their property with flood lights, that are motion activated. We no longer have dark nights. In the fall they began building a 7000-8000 sq ft barn. Right next to my front porch. Now, at least the horses have a decent place…(right? ) they brought in a full time horse trainer and are “raftering” the horses. The new barn comes with a sound system, and the horse beating is now an 8 am- midnight 7 day a week affair. When the horses get unmanageable they trade them out. I have no count on the animals anymore, but at least I don’t have to watch the beatings anymore. Four times now he has charged me on horseback while I was walking the dogs. I figured he had no control the first three times but the last time he looked me in the eye and spurred the horse directly at me… starting in late January the manure began. They have 7 acres. They pile the manure right by my porch. I messaged her- she blocked me. I e-mailed both of them. From February to April they just piled it higher. In May I called the health department ( damn Indiana…) On the books, the pile shouldn’t be within 200 feet of a residence. The inspector said horse manure doesn’t count…. They responded… the inspection got them riled up. Apparently I am the asshole for wanting the poop piled on the side of the barn that is not right by my front door and dining room window…My second conversation with them ( in two years) was two weeks ago, and now they are going out of their way to pile it closer to my house. I haven’t complained about the noise, or called zoning on them for the unapproved event space They are building, or mentioned any of a dozen other obnoxious things they do. I am concerned that they seem to only want to escalate things. From the conversation it sounds like they are getting flak from other neighbors and thinking it is me. I am not sure they realize that there are houses all around them. She “rescued” a cat that belongs to one of the other neighbors which makes me think she hasn’t talked to any of them. And she kept going on about us calling the police, which I never have. I can hear the mariachi music, literally night and day , echoing through my house, and in the shop ( built for noise abatement) with doors closed and machines running) I am fairly certain that is not going over well with some of the neighbors.
submitted by junkyard1897 to neighborsfromhell [link] [comments]
2024.05.15 09:11 Sweet-Count2557 15 Things to Do on a New Paltz Family Day Trip
 | 15 Things to Do on a New Paltz Family Day Trip Are you looking for a perfect family day trip destination near New York City? Well, you might be surprised to learn that New Paltz, located just 90 miles north of the bustling city, offers a plethora of activities for the whole family to enjoy.From picturesque hiking trails to fascinating museums, this charming town has something for everyone.So, whether you're an outdoor enthusiast, history buff, or simply looking to indulge in delicious food, join us as we uncover the 15 things you can do on a New Paltz family day trip.Trust us, you won't want to miss out on the exciting options that await you!Key TakeawaysOutdoor activities in New Paltz include hiking, rock climbing, biking, and canoeing/kayaking.There are various indoor activities such as visiting museums, attending performances, and playing at indoor parks.Educational activities include visiting art museums, learning about history, and exploring science centers.Families can enjoy dining at family-friendly restaurants, visiting parks and playgrounds, and exploring farms in the area.Outdoor ActivitiesWhen it comes to outdoor activities in New Paltz, there's no shortage of options for adventure and exploration. The town is surrounded by beautiful natural landscapes, making it the perfect destination for hiking and rock climbing enthusiasts.New Paltz is home to numerous hiking trails that cater to all skill levels, offering breathtaking views and the opportunity to connect with nature. One popular hiking destination is the Mohonk Preserve, which boasts over 8,000 acres of stunning scenery. Here, you can choose from a variety of trails that wind through forests, meadows, and along the Shawangunk Ridge. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced hiker, there's a trail for everyone to enjoy.For those seeking a more adrenaline-fueled adventure, rock climbing at The Gunks is a must. The Shawangunk Mountains are renowned for their world-class rock climbing routes, attracting climbers from all over the world. With its challenging cliffs and unique rock formations, The Gunks offer an exhilarating experience for climbers of all levels.Whether you're a nature lover or an adrenaline junkie, New Paltz has something to offer for everyone. The hiking trails and rock climbing opportunities in the area are unparalleled, providing endless possibilities for outdoor exploration. So, grab your hiking boots and harness, and get ready to embark on an unforgettable adventure in the heart of New Paltz.Indoor ActivitiesIndoor activities in New Paltz offer a diverse range of options for families looking to escape the elements and enjoy some quality time together. Whether you're looking for a little friendly competition or a chance to unleash your creativity, there's something for everyone.For those who love a good challenge, there are plenty of indoor games to keep you entertained. Head to the local arcade and try your hand at classic games like skee-ball and air hockey. Or, if you're feeling a bit more adventurous, check out the escape room where you can put your problem-solving skills to the test. With a variety of themes and difficulty levels, it's sure to be a thrilling experience for the whole family.If you're in the mood for something a bit more hands-on, why not try a creative workshop? There are several places in New Paltz where you can learn a new skill or craft. From pottery classes to painting workshops, there's no shortage of opportunities to let your imagination run wild. Not only will you have a blast creating something unique, but you'll also have a special keepsake to take home with you.No matter what your interests may be, New Paltz has plenty of indoor activities to keep you entertained. So, why not gather the family and escape the elements for a day of fun and adventure? Whether you're competing in indoor games or getting creative in a workshop, you're sure to make memories that will last a lifetime.Educational ActivitiesNew Paltz offers a wide range of educational activities that will engage and inspire the whole family. Here are three hands-on workshops and interactive exhibits that are sure to captivate your curiosity and expand your knowledge:The Dorsky Museum of Art: Step into a world of artistic expression as you explore the thought-provoking exhibits at the Dorsky Museum. From contemporary installations to classic masterpieces, this museum showcases a diverse collection that will ignite your imagination. Engage in interactive workshops where you can create your own artwork and experiment with different mediums.The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art: Located on the SUNY New Paltz campus, the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art offers a unique opportunity to delve into the world of contemporary art. Immerse yourself in thought-provoking exhibits that challenge societal norms and spark conversations. Participate in hands-on workshops led by professional artists, where you can learn new techniques and unleash your creative potential.The Science Discovery Center: Embark on a journey of scientific exploration at the Science Discovery Center. Engage with interactive exhibits that bring the wonders of science to life. From experimenting with electricity to exploring the mysteries of the natural world, this center offers a captivating experience for all ages. Participate in hands-on workshops where you can conduct experiments and discover the scientific principles that shape our world.As you embark on your New Paltz family day trip, these educational activities won't only provide valuable learning experiences but also foster a sense of wonder and curiosity. So, embrace the freedom to explore, discover, and expand your knowledge as you engage with these immersive hands-on workshops and interactive exhibits.Family-Friendly RestaurantsLet's dive into the delicious world of family-friendly restaurants in New Paltz, where you can indulge in mouthwatering meals that cater to all tastes and preferences. New Paltz is home to some of the best family-friendly restaurants, offering a wide range of cuisines that will satisfy even the pickiest eaters. Whether you're craving Italian, Mexican, or just a good old-fashioned burger, the restaurants in New Paltz have got you covered. Here are some of the top places to eat with kids in New Paltz:RestaurantCuisineHighlightsMain Course Catering & RestaurantAmericanOffers a kids' menu with options for all agesP&G's RestaurantItalianWood-fired pizza that will leave you craving for moreMexicali BlueMexicanColorful and flavorful dishes that kids will loveMoriello's GelatoDessertsHomemade gelato that will satisfy your sweet toothMain Course Catering & Restaurant is a popular choice for families, with its diverse menu that includes everything from burgers and sandwiches to pasta and seafood. They even have a kids' menu with options that will please even the pickiest eaters.If you're in the mood for some authentic Italian cuisine, P&G's Restaurant is the place to be. Their wood-fired pizza is a favorite among locals, and their pasta dishes are cooked to perfection.For a taste of Mexico, head to Mexicali Blue. Their colorful and flavorful dishes will transport you straight to Mexico, and they offer a variety of options for kids.And of course, no family day trip is complete without dessert. Stop by Moriello's Gelato for some homemade gelato that will satisfy your sweet tooth. With a wide range of flavors to choose from, there's something for everyone.These are just a few of the best family-friendly restaurants in New Paltz. Whether you're looking for a quick bite or a sit-down meal, you're sure to find something that the whole family will enjoy.Parks and PlaygroundsAs we continue our exploration of family-friendly activities in New Paltz, let's venture into the world of outdoor fun and discover the parks and playgrounds that offer endless adventures for kids of all ages. New Paltz is home to some of the best parks for picnics and family-friendly playgrounds. Here are three must-visit outdoor destinations that will provide a sense of freedom and joy for the whole family:Hasbrouck Park: This park is a perfect spot for a family picnic. Spread out your blanket on the lush green grass and enjoy a delicious meal while surrounded by the beauty of nature. The playground in Hasbrouck Park offers a variety of equipment for kids to climb, slide, and swing, ensuring hours of fun and excitement.Sojourner Truth Park: With its basketball court and picnic area, Sojourner Truth Park is a fantastic place for families to gather and enjoy outdoor activities. Let the kids shoot some hoops while you relax and soak up the sun. Pack some snacks and have a delightful picnic in the shaded picnic area, creating lasting memories together.Nyquist-Harcourt Wildlife Sanctuary: For a peaceful and serene picnic experience, head to the Nyquist-Harcourt Wildlife Sanctuary. This hidden gem is a haven for nature lovers and families alike. With its beautiful trails, lush greenery, and abundant wildlife, it offers the perfect backdrop for a relaxing picnic. Let the kids explore the surroundings and discover the wonders of the natural world.New Paltz's parks and playgrounds provide a sense of freedom and adventure for families seeking outdoor fun. Whether you're enjoying a picnic, playing on the playground, or simply exploring the beauty of nature, these destinations offer endless opportunities for family bonding and creating cherished memories. So grab your picnic basket, gather the family, and embark on an exciting day of outdoor exploration in New Paltz.Family-Friendly FarmsFamily-Friendly Farms in New Paltz offer a unique and educational experience for families looking to connect with nature and learn about farm life. These farms provide a variety of family-friendly farm activities that are both fun and educational.One popular activity is visiting farm petting zoos, where children can interact with and learn about different farm animals. At Kelder's Farm, families can enjoy a petting zoo experience like no other. You can pet and feed a wide range of animals, including goats, sheep, pigs, and even llamas. Kids will love getting up close and personal with these friendly animals, and it's a great opportunity for them to learn about animal care and farm life.Saunderskill Farms is another great option for families looking for a farm experience. In addition to their fresh produce and baked goods, they also have a petting zoo where kids can meet and greet farm animals. From chickens and ducks to rabbits and goats, children can learn about different animal species and their roles on the farm.Apple Hill Farm is a must-visit for families interested in learning about farm animals. They offer guided tours where kids can see cows, horses, pigs, and more. The knowledgeable staff will explain the importance of each animal and how they contribute to the farm's operations.Family-friendly farms in New Paltz provide a hands-on experience that allows children to learn about farm life in a fun and engaging way. Whether it's petting and feeding animals at a farm petting zoo or taking a guided tour to learn about different farm animals, these activities are sure to create lasting memories for the whole family.Family-Friendly EventsAfter exploring the family-friendly farms in New Paltz and learning about farm life, it's time to discover the exciting and entertaining world of family-friendly events in this vibrant town. New Paltz offers a variety of events that are perfect for the whole family. Here are three events that are sure to evoke joy and create lasting memories:New Paltz Regatta and Rubber Duck Race: Join in the fun at the annual New Paltz Regatta and Rubber Duck Race. Watch as colorful rubber ducks race down the Wallkill River, and cheer for your favorite as they compete for the finish line. This event is filled with laughter, excitement, and friendly competition.New Paltz Winter Carnival: Embrace the winter season at the New Paltz Winter Carnival. This event features a range of activities for all ages, including ice skating, sledding, snowman building, and even a snowball fight. Warm up with hot cocoa and enjoy the festive atmosphere as you make memories with your loved ones.New Paltz Halloween Parade: Get into the spirit of Halloween at the New Paltz Halloween Parade. Dress up in your favorite costume and join the community in a lively parade filled with music, dancing, and plenty of candy. This event is perfect for families who love the thrill of Halloween and want to celebrate together.These family-friendly events in New Paltz provide an opportunity to bond with loved ones, embrace the joy of community, and create cherished memories. Whether it's cheering on rubber ducks, enjoying winter activities, or celebrating Halloween, these events offer something for everyone.Historical SitesNew Paltz is home to a rich tapestry of historical sites that offer a glimpse into the town's fascinating past. From the Huguenot Street Historic District to the Deyo House Historic Site, there are many places to explore and learn about the town's history. Take a step back in time with historical walking tours and immerse yourself in the past with historical reenactments.Here is a table showcasing some of the historical sites in New Paltz:Historical SitesDescriptionHuguenot Street Historic DistrictA National Historic Landmark that preserves the unique history and culture of the Huguenots who settled in New Paltz in the 17th century.Deyo House Historic SiteExplore this historic house museum that showcases the lifestyle of a wealthy 19th-century family in New Paltz.Historic Huguenot Street CemeteryDiscover the final resting place of the Huguenot settlers and learn about their lives and contributions.Historical walking tours provide a great opportunity to explore these sites and gain a deeper understanding of New Paltz's history. Knowledgeable guides will lead you through the streets, sharing interesting anecdotes and stories along the way. You'll feel as if you've traveled back in time as you walk in the footsteps of those who came before.For an even more immersive experience, don't miss the chance to witness historical reenactments. These events bring history to life as actors dress in period costumes and recreate significant moments from New Paltz's past. Whether it's a battle reenactment or a colonial market, you'll be transported to a different time and gain a newfound appreciation for the town's history.New Paltz's historical sites offer a window into the past and provide a unique and educational experience for the whole family. So, grab your walking shoes and prepare to be captivated by the rich history that awaits you in this charming town.Nature CentersAs we continue our exploration of New Paltz, let's now turn our attention to the fascinating world of nature centers. These centers offer a unique opportunity to connect with nature, learn about wildlife, and engage in hands-on activities.Here are three exciting nature center activities that are sure to captivate the whole family:Wildlife Education Programs: Immerse yourself in the wonders of the natural world through engaging wildlife education programs. From interactive exhibits to live animal presentations, these programs provide a chance to learn about local ecosystems, animal behavior, and conservation efforts. Get up close and personal with fascinating creatures and gain a deeper appreciation for the delicate balance of our planet's biodiversity.Guided Nature Walks: Embark on a guided nature walk led by knowledgeable naturalists who'll introduce you to the diverse flora and fauna of the region. Explore scenic trails while learning about the unique features of the local ecosystem. Observe birds in their natural habitats, identify different plant species, and discover the hidden wonders of the natural world. These walks offer a chance to reconnect with nature and experience the serenity of the great outdoors.Nature-themed Workshops: Participate in nature-themed workshops that foster creativity and appreciation for the environment. From art classes inspired by the beauty of nature to hands-on activities focused on sustainability, these workshops provide an opportunity to learn new skills while deepening your connection with the natural world. Engage in eco-friendly crafts, explore nature-inspired photography, or try your hand at creating nature journals. These workshops are a perfect blend of education and fun.Nature centers offer a wealth of opportunities to learn, explore, and connect with the natural world. Engage in wildlife education programs, join guided nature walks, and participate in nature-themed workshops to create lasting memories and foster a sense of wonder and appreciation for our planet's incredible biodiversity.Water ActivitiesTo make the most of your family trip to New Paltz, immerse yourselves in a world of water activities that offer fun and adventure for everyone.New Paltz is surrounded by beautiful bodies of water, providing plenty of opportunities for water sports and boat tours.If you're looking for some excitement, try your hand at water sports on the Hudson River. You can rent paddleboards or kayaks and explore the scenic river at your own pace. Feel the rush as you paddle through the gentle currents and take in the breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains.For a more relaxing experience, consider taking a boat tour on the Hudson River. Hop aboard a comfortable vessel and let the knowledgeable guides show you the sights. Cruise along the river while learning about the history and wildlife of the area. Keep your eyes peeled for bald eagles soaring above and maybe even catch a glimpse of a playful seal.No matter which water activity you choose, be sure to pack sunscreen, towels, and a sense of adventure. Remember to stay hydrated and respect the environment by practicing responsible water sports and leaving no trace behind.Arts and CraftsLooking to unleash your creativity and explore the world of arts and crafts in New Paltz? You're in luck! This vibrant town offers a variety of opportunities for art workshops and handmade crafts that will inspire and delight. Here are three exciting options to consider:Mud and Fire Pottery Studio: Step into the world of pottery and get your hands dirty at Mud and Fire Pottery Studio. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced artist, their pottery classes cater to all skill levels. Learn the art of throwing clay on a wheel, hand-building techniques, or glazing and firing your creations. The studio provides a supportive and encouraging environment where you can let your imagination run wild and create unique, one-of-a-kind pieces.Fiber Flame Studio: If textile arts are more your style, then Fiber Flame Studio is the place to be. This cozy and inviting studio offers a wide range of classes and workshops, including fiber arts, mixed media, and collage. Dive into the world of fabric, yarn, and paper as you explore various techniques such as weaving, knitting, and needle felting. Let your creativity flow as you create beautiful and intricate pieces that reflect your personal style.Wallkill River School of Art: Immerse yourself in the world of painting at the Wallkill River School of Art. This art school and gallery offers a variety of painting classes for all ages and skill levels. From acrylics to watercolors, landscapes to portraits, there's something for everyone. Learn from experienced instructors who'll guide you through the process, helping you develop your skills and unleash your artistic potential. Whether you're a seasoned painter or just starting out, the Wallkill River School of Art is the perfect place to express yourself and create masterpieces.With these art workshops and handmade crafts, New Paltz provides the perfect opportunity to explore your creative side. Let your imagination soar as you engage in these artistic endeavors and discover the freedom of self-expression. Whether you choose pottery, textile arts, or painting, you're sure to have an unforgettable experience that will leave you inspired and fulfilled.Sports and RecreationNew Paltz offers a wide range of exciting sports and recreational activities that are sure to keep the whole family entertained and active. Whether you're looking for outdoor adventures or indoor fun, there's something for everyone in this vibrant town.For those who enjoy outdoor activities, New Paltz is a paradise. You can explore the numerous hiking trails in Mohonk Preserve, where breathtaking views and serene nature await. If rock climbing is your thing, head to The Gunks, a world-renowned climbing destination. Biking enthusiasts can pedal along the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail, while water lovers can canoe or kayak on the Hudson River.If you prefer indoor activities, there are plenty of options as well. Visit the Children's Museum of the Hudson Valley, where kids can learn and play at the same time. Explore the Historic Huguenot Street, a living museum that takes you back in time. You can also catch a performance at the McKenna Theatre or bounce around at the indoor trampoline park, Bounce!New Paltz is also home to family-friendly sports facilities. Play a round of mini-golf at the Apple Greens Golf Course or try horseback riding at the Payne Farm Too. The SUNY New Paltz Tennis Courts are perfect for a friendly game of tennis, and the New Paltz Golf Course offers a beautiful setting for a round of golf. If you're visiting during the colder months, don't miss the opportunity to go ice skating at the Kiwanis Ice Arena.No matter what your interests are, New Paltz has something for everyone. So gather your family and get ready for a day filled with excitement and adventure in this charming town.Day TripsEmbark on a day trip from New Paltz and immerse yourself in the beauty and culture of the surrounding areas. There are plenty of nearby towns to explore, each offering its own unique attractions and landmarks. Here are three options that are sure to evoke a sense of adventure and freedom:Visit the Walkway Over the Hudson in Poughkeepsie: Take a stroll across the longest elevated pedestrian bridge in the world and soak in breathtaking views of the Hudson River and surrounding landscapes. Feel the wind in your hair as you walk along the expansive bridge, enjoying the freedom of being suspended high above the water.Explore the Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz: Step back in time as you explore this historic Victorian castle nestled in the heart of the Shawangunk Mountains. Wander through lush gardens, hike scenic trails, or relax by the lake. Immerse yourself in the natural beauty of the area and revel in the freedom of being surrounded by nature.Discover the Storm King Art Center in New Windsor: Lose yourself in the vast outdoor sculpture park that spans over 500 acres of rolling hills and fields. Marvel at the impressive collection of large-scale sculptures by renowned artists. As you wander through the expansive landscape, you'll feel a sense of freedom and liberation as you explore the intersection of art and nature.These day trips offer the perfect opportunity to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life and indulge in the freedom of exploration. So pack your bags, hit the road, and let the adventure begin!ShoppingWhen it comes to shopping in New Paltz, there's no shortage of unique and charming stores to explore. Whether you're looking for local boutiques or artisan markets, this town has it all.One of the must-visit places for shopping in New Paltz is the Water Street Market. This picturesque market is home to a variety of shops that offer everything from handmade jewelry to vintage clothing. You can spend hours browsing through the quaint stores and discovering one-of-a-kind treasures.Another great shopping destination in New Paltz is the New Paltz Plaza. This shopping center offers a wide range of stores, including popular retail chains and local businesses. You can find everything you need, from clothing and accessories to home decor and electronics. The plaza also has plenty of dining options, so you can grab a bite to eat after a day of shopping.If you're looking for unique and handmade crafts, the Unframed Artists Gallery is the place to go. This gallery features the work of local artists and artisans, offering a wide range of handmade items such as pottery, paintings, and sculptures. It's the perfect place to find a special gift or a piece of artwork to decorate your home.For fresh and local produce, don't miss the New Paltz Farmers Market. This market is held every Sunday and features a variety of vendors selling fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and more. It's a great place to support local farmers and enjoy the flavors of the Hudson Valley.In addition to these shopping destinations, Main Street in New Paltz is lined with charming antique shops. You can browse through a wide selection of vintage furniture, clothing, and collectibles, and maybe even find a hidden gem.With its local boutiques, artisan markets, and charming antique shops, New Paltz is a shopper's paradise. Whether you're searching for unique gifts, handmade crafts, or fresh produce, you're sure to find it in this vibrant town. So grab your wallet and get ready to explore the wonderful world of shopping in New Paltz.Seasonal ActivitiesAs the seasons change in New Paltz, there are a variety of activities that offer something for everyone to enjoy. From winter wonderlands to festive markets, here are three seasonal activities that will ignite your sense of adventure and create lasting memories:Christmas Tree Farms: Immerse yourself in the spirit of the holiday season by visiting one of the charming Christmas tree farms in New Paltz. Bring your family along and wander through rows of beautifully decorated trees, breathing in the crisp winter air as you search for the perfect centerpiece for your home. The joy of finding and cutting down your own Christmas tree is an experience that will bring smiles to faces of all ages.New Paltz Winter Farmers Market: Embrace the cozy atmosphere of the winter season by visiting the New Paltz Winter Farmers Market. This vibrant market showcases an array of local vendors offering fresh produce, artisanal goods, and homemade treats. Stroll through the market, savoring the scents of warm apple cider and freshly baked bread. Engage with the friendly vendors, supporting their small businesses and discovering unique treasures that will delight your taste buds and nourish your body.New Paltz Spring Clean-Up Day: As the winter months transition into spring, join the community in a day of rejuvenation and restoration. Participate in the New Paltz Spring Clean-Up Day, where families come together to beautify their town by cleaning up parks, streets, and public spaces. This hands-on activity not only promotes a sense of civic pride and environmental stewardship but also fosters a deeper connection with the community. Pitch in with your loved ones, rolling up your sleeves and making a tangible difference in the place you call home.Celebrate the changing seasons in New Paltz with these engaging and family-friendly activities. Whether you're searching for the perfect Christmas tree, exploring a winter farmers market, or giving back to your community, there's always something special to do in this vibrant town. So, embrace the freedom of the seasons and create unforgettable memories with your loved ones.Frequently Asked QuestionsAre There Any Nearby Wineries or Vineyards to Visit During a New Paltz Family Day Trip?Yes, there are nearby wineries and family-friendly vineyards to visit during a New Paltz family day trip. You can explore the Robibero Family Vineyards, where you can enjoy wine tastings and beautiful views of the vineyards.Another option is the Whitecliff Vineyard & Winery, which offers a variety of award-winning wines and a picnic area for families to relax and enjoy.These wineries provide a perfect opportunity to unwind and experience the local wine culture while spending quality time with your loved ones.What Are Some Family-Friendly Hiking Trails in the New Paltz Area?When it comes to family-friendly hiking trails in the New Paltz area, there are plenty of options to choose from.Take a leisurely stroll through the beautiful Mohonk Preserve, where you can enjoy scenic views and picnic spots along the way.Or, explore the trails at Minnewaska State Park, which offer a mix of easy and moderate hikes suitable for all ages.These local attractions for kids are the perfect way to connect with nature and create lasting memories as a family.Are There Any Family-Friendly Museums or Art Galleries in New Paltz?Yes, there are family-friendly museums and art galleries in New Paltz.The Dorsky Museum of Art is a great place to explore various art exhibits and learn about different artistic styles.The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art is another museum that showcases contemporary art and offers educational programs for families.These museums provide a fun and educational experience for all ages, making them perfect destinations for a family day trip in New Paltz.Where Can Families Go for Swimming or Water Activities in New Paltz?For families looking for swimming spots or water activities in New Paltz, there are some great options to choose from.You can swim in the beautiful Lake Minnewaska, go fishing in the Wallkill River, or even try paddleboarding on the Wallkill River.Additionally, you can enjoy a boat tour on the Hudson River or have a picnic at the scenic Rosendale Trestle, which overlooks the Rondout Creek.There are plenty of opportunities for water fun in New Paltz!What Are Some Options for Family-Friendly Lodging in New Paltz for an Overnight Stay?When it comes to family-friendly lodging in New Paltz for an overnight stay, there are plenty of options to choose from. From cozy bed and breakfasts to spacious vacation rentals, there's something for every family's needs and preferences.These accommodations offer comfortable amenities and a welcoming atmosphere, ensuring a memorable and enjoyable stay for both parents and kids.With a range of kid-friendly activities in New Paltz, families can explore the outdoors, visit museums, and indulge in delicious meals, creating lasting memories together.ConclusionAs the sun sets on our family day trip to New Paltz, we carry with us memories that sparkle like the stars in the night sky.From soaring high on hiking trails to immersing ourselves in art and history, we discovered the beauty and wonder of this charming town.With bellies full of delicious meals and hearts full of joy, we bid farewell to New Paltz, knowing that our adventure will forever be etched in the tapestry of our family's story. submitted by Sweet-Count2557 to worldkidstravel [link] [comments] |
2024.05.15 07:23 Altruistic_Handle365 Help! I surrendered my dog to a behavioralist to be rehomed the new owners put him in a city pound.
This is going to be long, so thank you in advance for reading this, after writing the first draft it was mercilessly deleted. May be for the best, there are a lot of details and I want to be more precise.
Around 2021, I bought a dog off of an internet marketplace, we will call him Oscar. After being in lockdowns and feeling the weight of the world's panic I really wanted a dog. I live about forty minutes outside a small city, but my house is as rural as you get. The property is around 2 acres and most of is mowed but it is unfenced but we have a good sized, fenced in dog run in our back yard. I wasn't working at the time because in the past few years I have some ongoing health issues (unrelated to COVID) but I felt that I was well enough to deal with a puppy. My previous dog had died of Lymphoma a few years before this and I was ready for another dog.. Oscar's mom is a Pyrenees mix and his dad is a Golden retrievePyrenees mix so I knew that this dog would be both a companion and protector. Oscar was a great dog; very watchful and smart, protective and stoic. Oscar wasn't an overly affectionate dog but we had solidly bonded. He had some issues with other dogs, my older dog would try to dominate him and it would end up with them fighting. Since we live rurally, he was not very socialized. The other dogs who we met were either off leash and they would run at him or they would be tied up and they would bark at him. When Oscar was still young, he was attacked by an unattended husky who tried to bite him. My husband would use overly aggressive tactics with Oscar, so he would in turn act aggressively towards my husband. I would tell my husband that Oscar was my dog and to stop hijacking my training by being overly aggressive with him but he did not listen to me and that transfered on to Oscar. I had been given multiple ultimatums where it was Oscar or my husband instead I worked even harder with him, sometimes I felt like my husband was purposely trying to get rid of Oscar. I worked with Oscar on everything, walks, fetch, recall, resource guarding and handling other dogs. Oscar wasn't great with other dogs and with his resource guarding, we had a routine where I could feed him with no problems. When Oscar was just about to turn three, we decided that my husband and I would move to the city to look after my elderly parents. This wasn't a spontaneous decision, we knew that the day would come when we would help with my father and it was something that had been talked about for years before. Before and when we got to the city, Oscar had a lot of adjustment to make, so I made sure to work with him every day before and after the move. I would sit on the porch of my parent's house and get him used to dogs passing by, I desensitized him so he could walk properly and with confidence in the city. He had some bad experiences with children running up to him in a funny way so he was scared of them, especially on bikes or scooters. Oscar did make some dog friends and he felt comfortable enough with them to roll on to his back and have his belly exposed, I was really proud of him. My dad has memory issues and that became a problem, he would ignore Oscar's body language and then warnings and then complain that he was scared of my dog. Oscar would lay on his back, and it showed me that he felt comfortable, but my dad would try to pet his belly. Oscar would give warning signs, first showing some teeth, making a low growl and then snapping but my dad ignored all of it, no matter how many times that I reminded him that Oscar did not like it. My dad wanders a lot and sometimes it's that dad is attracted to a conversation which he can't quite hear, or he cannot remember which way he is going but my dad started standing over Oscar and he did not like it at all. Sometimes my dad would be going one way and in his poor decision making would end up standing over Oscar and he would started snarling and growling at my dad. I was told that Oscar was no longer welcome at their house, so I found a dog behaviourist and talked to him. The dog behaviouralist gave me good advice, what happens from here and what if my dad falls and Oscar doesn't understand and turns on my father. I had called around to dog rescues but of course they would not take him and the last place that I wanted Oscar to be, was in the city pound or euthanized. I really wish that I had just euthanized him, because he is currently in a pound and it has been two months and unsurprisingly no one will adopt him. Let's get back to the dog behaviouralist, he was too good to be true. I didn't feel as if I had many other options but this dog behaviouralist seemed great and I paid him around $5000 of money I didn't have to give Oscar a second chance. The money went towards: two weeks of training with the behaviourist, call him J, food, board, a vet trip and then two hours with J and the new family so that they understood the dog's challenges. On top of that, I would get frequent video and picture updates. There were red flags but I had ignored or rationalized them. J had compared his knowledge of dogs with Ceaser Milan, and assured me that he was really excellent with dogs. It seemed as if his business was in the process of taking off so althought it was corny and lame, he was peacocking a little to seem impressive. His business is a one bed room apartment on the first floor of an industrial apartment complex, the ones where it's like an ant hill of misery. I had researched J and he hadn't gotten too many reviews but it seemed like he was struggling like everyone else and he did used to have a facility. The people who did know him, seemed to be singing their praise and I guess I'm gulliable enough to have believed it. The days after I surrendered Oscar were awful and I didn't get out of bed, I felt so much guilt and it hit me in waves. When I started getting updates on Oscar and seeing him thrive I started to feel better and after two weeks I was excited to think about Oscar in a new home. When I filled out a surrender form for Oscar, I was very clear, not good with dogs and no children and J knew how important it was for him to not end up in the city pound.. It didn't take very long to find Oscar a new home and it sounded perfect, he would be living on a farm an hour and a half away outside a sprawling city but Oscar would be living with three other dogs. I had brought this up with J but he was very arrogant and told me that Oscar no longer had issues with dogs or resource guarding and my feelings were invalidated.
I had concerns but I was happy that Oscar had been rehomed and hopefully could live an even better life, one which his boundaries were respected. A month and a half goes by and I'm feeling better and better and I'm starting to move past Oscar and J asks for a review because he is trying to grow his business so I did, a glowing review. I felt so positively about the whole experience that I wanted to pay it forward by rescuing another dog, she is smaller, gentler and happy to be here and just about the perfect dog. The Humane Society calls me to tells me that Oscar had been surrendered by his new family and that my name is on his microchip and they're giving me a courtesy call. I am livid, and I give them all the information that they need then I call J who seems equally outraged. If there were any problems, the.new owners were supposed to call J but didn't. I talked about a plan about getting Oscar out but within days he was told that he didn't have any legal sway to get him out. I thought there was a plan but my texts were ignored and the answers became more and more vague and non existent. Because of my.glowing review, J seemed to be having an influx of new business and now I felt irrate and guilty for promoting him. Now J was recklessly rehoming dog and that is my fault, I have this great rescue dog and Oscar is in jail and it's my fault. It has been three months and I check in on Oscar and he hasn't found a home, he probably has that sad hopelessness that I saw when I rescued my new pup. Head down, no eye contact, no hope. I love my new pup so much but I can't let go of Oscar. Every day I wish he will find a permanent home, my family thinks that it's unhealthy that I'm still checking. J doesn't even remember who he is, just another dog, a check mark, a paid cheque. I am racked with guilt, I can't sleep. I get temporary hope when I see Oscar's face on the website and there are hopeful comments..I wish that I had saved him from this..
Edit: I need advice and when you down vote my question because you're mad at me for my stupidity, it's just further punishing Oscar and other dogs. Do something constructive like advice, please.
What the fuck is up with you people? Is this not a legitimate question? Did I not try to find a solution for him?
submitted by Altruistic_Handle365 to DogAdvice [link] [comments]
Around 2021, I bought a dog off of an internet marketplace, we will call him Oscar. After being in lockdowns and feeling the weight of the world's panic I really wanted a dog. I live about forty minutes outside a small city, but my house is as rural as you get. The property is around 2 acres and most of is mowed but it is unfenced but we have a good sized, fenced in dog run in our back yard. I wasn't working at the time because in the past few years I have some ongoing health issues (unrelated to COVID) but I felt that I was well enough to deal with a puppy. My previous dog had died of Lymphoma a few years before this and I was ready for another dog.. Oscar's mom is a Pyrenees mix and his dad is a Golden retrievePyrenees mix so I knew that this dog would be both a companion and protector. Oscar was a great dog; very watchful and smart, protective and stoic. Oscar wasn't an overly affectionate dog but we had solidly bonded. He had some issues with other dogs, my older dog would try to dominate him and it would end up with them fighting. Since we live rurally, he was not very socialized. The other dogs who we met were either off leash and they would run at him or they would be tied up and they would bark at him. When Oscar was still young, he was attacked by an unattended husky who tried to bite him. My husband would use overly aggressive tactics with Oscar, so he would in turn act aggressively towards my husband. I would tell my husband that Oscar was my dog and to stop hijacking my training by being overly aggressive with him but he did not listen to me and that transfered on to Oscar. I had been given multiple ultimatums where it was Oscar or my husband instead I worked even harder with him, sometimes I felt like my husband was purposely trying to get rid of Oscar. I worked with Oscar on everything, walks, fetch, recall, resource guarding and handling other dogs. Oscar wasn't great with other dogs and with his resource guarding, we had a routine where I could feed him with no problems. When Oscar was just about to turn three, we decided that my husband and I would move to the city to look after my elderly parents. This wasn't a spontaneous decision, we knew that the day would come when we would help with my father and it was something that had been talked about for years before. Before and when we got to the city, Oscar had a lot of adjustment to make, so I made sure to work with him every day before and after the move. I would sit on the porch of my parent's house and get him used to dogs passing by, I desensitized him so he could walk properly and with confidence in the city. He had some bad experiences with children running up to him in a funny way so he was scared of them, especially on bikes or scooters. Oscar did make some dog friends and he felt comfortable enough with them to roll on to his back and have his belly exposed, I was really proud of him. My dad has memory issues and that became a problem, he would ignore Oscar's body language and then warnings and then complain that he was scared of my dog. Oscar would lay on his back, and it showed me that he felt comfortable, but my dad would try to pet his belly. Oscar would give warning signs, first showing some teeth, making a low growl and then snapping but my dad ignored all of it, no matter how many times that I reminded him that Oscar did not like it. My dad wanders a lot and sometimes it's that dad is attracted to a conversation which he can't quite hear, or he cannot remember which way he is going but my dad started standing over Oscar and he did not like it at all. Sometimes my dad would be going one way and in his poor decision making would end up standing over Oscar and he would started snarling and growling at my dad. I was told that Oscar was no longer welcome at their house, so I found a dog behaviourist and talked to him. The dog behaviouralist gave me good advice, what happens from here and what if my dad falls and Oscar doesn't understand and turns on my father. I had called around to dog rescues but of course they would not take him and the last place that I wanted Oscar to be, was in the city pound or euthanized. I really wish that I had just euthanized him, because he is currently in a pound and it has been two months and unsurprisingly no one will adopt him. Let's get back to the dog behaviouralist, he was too good to be true. I didn't feel as if I had many other options but this dog behaviouralist seemed great and I paid him around $5000 of money I didn't have to give Oscar a second chance. The money went towards: two weeks of training with the behaviourist, call him J, food, board, a vet trip and then two hours with J and the new family so that they understood the dog's challenges. On top of that, I would get frequent video and picture updates. There were red flags but I had ignored or rationalized them. J had compared his knowledge of dogs with Ceaser Milan, and assured me that he was really excellent with dogs. It seemed as if his business was in the process of taking off so althought it was corny and lame, he was peacocking a little to seem impressive. His business is a one bed room apartment on the first floor of an industrial apartment complex, the ones where it's like an ant hill of misery. I had researched J and he hadn't gotten too many reviews but it seemed like he was struggling like everyone else and he did used to have a facility. The people who did know him, seemed to be singing their praise and I guess I'm gulliable enough to have believed it. The days after I surrendered Oscar were awful and I didn't get out of bed, I felt so much guilt and it hit me in waves. When I started getting updates on Oscar and seeing him thrive I started to feel better and after two weeks I was excited to think about Oscar in a new home. When I filled out a surrender form for Oscar, I was very clear, not good with dogs and no children and J knew how important it was for him to not end up in the city pound.. It didn't take very long to find Oscar a new home and it sounded perfect, he would be living on a farm an hour and a half away outside a sprawling city but Oscar would be living with three other dogs. I had brought this up with J but he was very arrogant and told me that Oscar no longer had issues with dogs or resource guarding and my feelings were invalidated.
I had concerns but I was happy that Oscar had been rehomed and hopefully could live an even better life, one which his boundaries were respected. A month and a half goes by and I'm feeling better and better and I'm starting to move past Oscar and J asks for a review because he is trying to grow his business so I did, a glowing review. I felt so positively about the whole experience that I wanted to pay it forward by rescuing another dog, she is smaller, gentler and happy to be here and just about the perfect dog. The Humane Society calls me to tells me that Oscar had been surrendered by his new family and that my name is on his microchip and they're giving me a courtesy call. I am livid, and I give them all the information that they need then I call J who seems equally outraged. If there were any problems, the.new owners were supposed to call J but didn't. I talked about a plan about getting Oscar out but within days he was told that he didn't have any legal sway to get him out. I thought there was a plan but my texts were ignored and the answers became more and more vague and non existent. Because of my.glowing review, J seemed to be having an influx of new business and now I felt irrate and guilty for promoting him. Now J was recklessly rehoming dog and that is my fault, I have this great rescue dog and Oscar is in jail and it's my fault. It has been three months and I check in on Oscar and he hasn't found a home, he probably has that sad hopelessness that I saw when I rescued my new pup. Head down, no eye contact, no hope. I love my new pup so much but I can't let go of Oscar. Every day I wish he will find a permanent home, my family thinks that it's unhealthy that I'm still checking. J doesn't even remember who he is, just another dog, a check mark, a paid cheque. I am racked with guilt, I can't sleep. I get temporary hope when I see Oscar's face on the website and there are hopeful comments..I wish that I had saved him from this..
Edit: I need advice and when you down vote my question because you're mad at me for my stupidity, it's just further punishing Oscar and other dogs. Do something constructive like advice, please.
What the fuck is up with you people? Is this not a legitimate question? Did I not try to find a solution for him?
2024.05.14 16:47 Then_Marionberry_259 MAY 14, 2024 API.CN APPIA ANNOUNCES ENCOURAGING INITIAL RESULTS FROM THE NEWLY IDENTIFIED TAYGETA AND MEROPE EXPLORATION TARGETS AT PCH PROJECT, BRAZIL
 | https://preview.redd.it/uqpvkb76ne0d1.png?width=3500&format=png&auto=webp&s=086ba9f5aafea4ae83d838124dbc09cd3a2f0ba9 submitted by Then_Marionberry_259 to Treaty_Creek [link] [comments] Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 14, 2024) - Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp. (CSE: API) (OTCQX: APAAF) (FSE: A0I0) (MUN: A0I0) (BER: A0I0) (the "Company" or "Appia") announced today the results from the newly identified exploration targets Taygeta and Merope. A total of 111 samples from 18 auger drill holes were assayed by SGS-GEOSOL Laboratories in Vespasiano, Brazil. The results confirm that the regolith developed over the Ipora Granite presented significant enrichment of Heavy Rare Earth Oxides (HREO), characteristic of the Ionic Adsorption Clay (IAC) rare earth elements (REE) deposits identified at other PCH target zones. Stephen Burega, President, commented, "These initial results from the auger drill program are very promising, and provide us with a strong indication that the PCH project can host multiple new IAC REE mineralized areas in addition to the resource already identified in our maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) completed by SGS Canada. Additionally, these new target zones are considerably larger in total area as compared to the Target IV. Desorption test results will be reported once received." Highlights
Table 1 - Intercepts from all auger holes on targets Taygeta and Merope. For a full list of results, pleaseclick here. https://preview.redd.it/zu8885a6ne0d1.png?width=775&format=png&auto=webp&s=dfa5c3f17b8c44c05bf1e0444f9523b1b28a4bce *Total Rare Earth Oxides: TREO = Y2O3 + Eu2O3 + Gd2O3 + Tb4O7 + Dy2O3 + Ho2O3 + Er2O3 + Tm2O3 + Yb2O3 + Lu2O3 + La2O3 + Ce2O3 + Pr2O3 + Nd2O3 + Sm2O3 *Heavy Rare Earth Oxides: HREO = Gd2O3 + Tb4O7 + Dy2O3 + Ho2O3 + Er2O3 + Tm2O3 + Yb2O3 + Lu2O3 + Y2O3 *Nd+Pr Oxides= Nd2O3+Pr2O3 *Dy+Tb Oxides= Dy2O3+Tb4O7 *Element to Oxide Conversion Factor - Cerium Ce2O3 1.1713, Cerium CeO2 1.2284, Dysprosium Dy2O3 1.1477, Erbium Er2O3 1.1435, Europium Eu2O3 1.1579, Gadolinium Gd2O3 1.1526, Holmium Ho2O3 1.1455, Lanthanum La2O3 1.1728, Lutetium Lu2O3 1.1371, Neodymium Nd2O3 1.1664, Praseodymium Pr2O3 1.1703, Praseodymium Pr6O11 1.2082, Samarium Sm2O3 1.1596, Terbium Tb2O3 1.1510, Terbium Tb4O7 1.1762, Thulium Tm2O3 1.1421, Yttrium Y2O3 1.2699, Ytterbium Yb2O3 1.1387 Figure 1 - Map presenting the exploration auger drill holes location and targets. https://preview.redd.it/06s5h6b6ne0d1.png?width=891&format=png&auto=webp&s=84e9790e49beda5b054ce629a03b661c44f70ca7 Figure 2 - Strip log of selected auger holes from Taygeta Target. https://preview.redd.it/lieizdd6ne0d1.png?width=552&format=png&auto=webp&s=97b73a9bf2efeedd673ff44b5d1f99769ead69e7 Figure 3 - Strip log of selected auger holes from Merope Target. https://preview.redd.it/qm9up9e6ne0d1.png?width=528&format=png&auto=webp&s=31f6c0d659efa70c30abac358a09d0f748a2cf80 Andre Costa, VP Exploration for Brazil, commented, "The confirmation of these new targets opens the prospect of finding new exploration targets associated with the Ipora Granite across the entirety of the PCH project area which covers an impressive +40,000 hectares. Auger samples for desorbability testing are being prepared to corroborate the IAC REE mineralization in Taygeta and Merope targets. Delineation drilling will follow upon favorable desorption results." On March 1st, 2024, the Company announced its maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) on Target IV and the Buriti Zone (Click here for the Press Release), and the companion NI 43-101 technical report on the PCH Project was filed on April 16th, 2024. (Click here for the Press Release) John Tumazos Very Independent Research Presentation Appia invites you to register for a webinar on May 14th at 9:45 AM EDT, Eastern Daylight Time (North America) with Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp.'s President, Mr. Stephen Burega and VP of Exploration, Brazil, Mr. Andre Costa, and renowned former Wall Street analyst, John Tumazos of Very Independent Research. John will dig in on the latest developments at Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp. To register for the event click here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. QA/QC Auger drill holes are vertical and reported intervals are true thickness. The material produced from drill holes are sampled at one metre intervals, resulting in average sample sizes of 5-10 kg. Quartering of the material was performed at Appia's logging facility using a riffle splitter and continued splitting until a representative sample weighing approximately 500g each was obtained, bagged in a resistant plastic bag, labeled, photographed, and stored for shipment. The bagged samples are sent to the SGS laboratory in Vespasiano, Minas Gerais. In addition to the internal QA/QC of the SGS Lab, Appia includes its own control samples in each batch of samples sent to the laboratory. Quality control samples, such as blanks, duplicates, and standards (CRM) were inserted into each analytical run. For all analysis methods, the minimum number of QA/QC samples is one standard, one duplicate and one blank, introduced in each batch which comprise a full-length hole. The rigorous procedures are implemented during the sample collection, preparation, and analytical stages to insure the robustness and reliability of the analytical results. All analytical results reported herein have passed internal QA/QC review and compilation. All assay results of Auger samples were provided by SGS Geosol, an ISO/IEC 17025:2005 Certified Laboratory, which performed their measure of the concentration of rare earth elements (REE) with the IMS95R analytical method that uses lithium metaborate fusion prior acid dissolution and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). The technical information in this news release, including the information related to geology, drilling, and mineralization, has been reviewed and approved by Andre L. L. Costa, Appia's VP Exploration for Brazil, with more than 29 years of relevant experience. Mr. Costa is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (FAIG) and is a Qualified Person (QP) as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. About Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp. (Appia) Appia is a publicly traded Canadian company in the rare earth element and uranium sectors. The Company holds the right to acquire up to a 70% interest in the PCH Ionic Adsorption Clay Project (See June 9th, 2023 Press Release - Click HERE) which is 40,963.18 ha. in size and located within the Goiás State of Brazil. (See January 11th, 2024 Press Release - Click HERE) The Company is also focusing on delineating high-grade critical rare earth elements and gallium on the Alces Lake property, and exploring for high-grade uranium in the prolific Athabasca Basin on its Otherside, Loranger, North Wollaston, and Eastside properties. The Company holds the surface rights to exploration for 94,982.39 hectares (234,706.59 acres) in Saskatchewan. The Company also has a 100% interest in 13,008 hectares (32,143 acres), with rare earth elements and uranium deposits over five mineralized zones in the Elliot Lake Camp, Ontario. Appia has 136.3 million common shares outstanding, 145 million shares fully diluted. Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements: This News Release contains forward-looking statements which are typically preceded by, followed by or including the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "estimates", "intends", "plans" or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance as they involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements and shareholders are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such statements. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For more information, visit www.appiareu.com As part of our ongoing effort to keep investors, interested parties and stakeholders updated, we have several communication portals. If you have any questions online (X,Facebook,LinkedIn) please feel free to send direct messages. To book a one-on-one 30-minute Zoom video call, please [click here](mailto:sburega@appiareu.com). Contact: Tom Drivas, CEO and Director (c) (416) 876-3957 *(e) *[tdrivas@appiareu.com](mailto:tdrivas@appiareu.com) Stephen Burega, President (c) (647) 515-3734 *(e) *[sburega@appiareu.com](mailto:sburega@appiareu.com) To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/209087 https://preview.redd.it/29ul6ef6ne0d1.png?width=4000&format=png&auto=webp&s=07601ba4d3abe2dbbfc5e132c36d4f84dad0afe6
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2024.05.14 15:47 brokensaint82 [FO4] Issues with graphical glitches and weird texture stretching
![[FO4] Issues with graphical glitches and weird texture stretching](https://b.thumbs.redditmedia.com/BhefX7J2GqRdTL7DgoXgmsyHSpvNDBV-ZD-AtOz3KuE.jpg "[FO4] Issues with graphical glitches and weird texture stretching") | submitted by brokensaint82 to FalloutMods [link] [comments] Weird black boxes and texture stretching Just black void As you can see in the pictures I get these black boxes either going through houses and such, as well as taking the screen over eventually. This is on a fresh install of the game with the updates installed. Is this just an issue with the latest updates borking my game and I should wait until F4SE and others are up to date or are there conflicting mods that are causing this? All mods are up to date and my load order is as follows: Fallout4.esm DLCRobot.esm DLCworkshop01.esm DLCCoast.esm DLCworkshop02.esm DLCworkshop03.esm DLCNukaWorld.esm ccBGSFO4044-HellfirePowerArmor.esl ccBGSFO4115-X02.esl ccBGSFO4116-HeavyFlamer.esl ccBGSFO4110-WS_Enclave.esl ccBGSFO4096-AS_Enclave.esl ccFSVFO4007-Halloween.esl ccBGSFO4046-TesCan.esl ccSBJFO4003-Grenade.esl ccOTMFO4001-Remnants.esl Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch.esp ArmorKeywords.esm WorkshopFramework.esm Homemaker.esm MutantMenagerie.esm SS2.esm SS2_XPAC_Chapter2.esm SS2_XPAC_Chapter3.esm CWPointLookoutFO4.esm MutantMenagerie_BackwaterBeasts.esm MutantMenagerie_GrilledTurkey.esm CanarySaveFileMonitor.esl CWPointLookoutFO4Patch.esl TacticalReload.esm M84FlashBang.esl TrueStormsFO4.esm NCRArmourPack.esl four_play_resources.esm Wetness Shader Fix.esp NoSharedDogmeatTemplate.esp ImmersiveGenericDialogues.esp PiperCaitCurieDialogueOverhaul.esp RepairSanctuary.esp Armorsmith Extended.esp Melee Replacer.esp Rebuild_Settlements.esp ThisIsTrash.esp LootableCrates.esp SS2Extended.esp WeightlessMods.esp clothingoverhaul.esp MojaveImports.esp SuperMutantRedux.esp ImmersiveAnimationFramework.esp SuperMutantRedux_AE-WSE-VIS-G-Insanity_AIO_Patch.esp WeightlessAid.esp FirstPersonMessagesMerged.esp MAIM Distributor.esp MAIM 2.esp ReducedJunkWeight.esp Stm_DiamondCityExpansion.esp Rebuild_Settlements_Previs.esp CrimeTown.esp HAIA With Crafting.esp Reverb and Ambiance Overhaul.esp Vivid Weathers - FO4.esp Vivid Weathers - FO4 - Quest.esp InstituteSettlements2.esp CombinedArmsNV.esp CombinedArmsEXPack.esp W.A.T.Minutemen.esp CheatTerminal.esp DT_GunnerOutfitPack.esp DTG_LeveledListIntegration.esp Eli_Armour_Compendium.esp BR77.esp XM2010_SniperRifle_by_tooun.esp 1CAS_ServiceRifle.esp SS2-PraRandomAddon.esp M2Agency.esp SS2-Jampads2.esp ImiUzi.esp Crossbow.esp Glock19x.esp KrissVector.esp BOCWNailGun.esp DoubleBarrelReloadRedoneTR.esp USP .45_by_tooun.esp SV-98.esp 9mmPistol.esp 3dscopes-replacer.esp four_play.esp MK18.esp Rangergearnew.esp LString_Bow.esp M1Garand.esp m2045magnumrevolverrifle.esp [SS2 Addon] SimSettlements SuperStructures.esp FO4 NPCs Travel.esp DX_Black_Widow.esp SteyrAUGnv.esp AKMnv.esp SanctFixedBridge.esp ElMudoStore.esp HuntingShotgun.esp DOOMThatGun.esp WinCowbowRepeater.esp MP7.esp HuntingRevolver.esp HK_MP5.esp GIAT_FAMAS.esp G36Complex.esp HK_UMP.esp M1918A2.esp AmmoCounterFramework.esp M1918A2_ACF.esp M1918A2_TR.esp PMC Operators Pack.esp WestTekTacticalOptics.esp TAC.esp K9TacticalHarness.esp GCM.esp Homemaker - Unlocked Institute Objects.esp SS2-PraRandomAddon-FIS.esp SS2-PraRandomAddon-LWIS.esp SS2-PraRandomAddon-VIS.esp SS2-PraRandomAddon-VISG.esp SS2AOP_VaultTecTools.esp ohSIM_Sim2_Settlements_Scrappers_Addon.esp Dongs_Of_Fallout.esp HRP_Mk23.esp AX50.esp L96A1.esp Factor.esp OMEGA - MutantMenagerieFH IAF Patch.esp ClothingOverhaulSP_XB1_PC.esp SuperMutantRedux_ArmorSmithExtended.esp classicghoulrace.esp BetterSettlers.esp AdvSettleTurretSet.esp Passthrough.esp WeightlessSpecialAmmo.esp MutantMenagerie_Scripts.esp D.E.C.A.Y.esp REAPER.esp SS2WastelandReconstructionKit.esp SS2_CityPlanPack_RiseOfTheCommonwealth.esp Vault-Tec Armor Redux - Modular Expansion & Fixes.esp rb_hairtonesredux.esp TrueStormsFO4-FarHarbor.esp Vivid Weathers - FO4 - Far Harbor.esp Vivid Weathers - Nuka World.esp VividFallout - AiO - BestChoice.esp Radiant Clouds and Fogs.esp Glowing Animals Emit Light.esp FAR.esp TrueGrass.esp CustomThirdrail_v2.esp dD-Enhanced Blood Basic.esp LongRangeBulletHoles.esp InstitutePowerArmor.esp Special Ops Goggles.esp Multiple Floors Sandboxing.esp Defective_Synth.esp Desert Punk Raiders.esp Synth Overhaul.esp Synth Overhaul - Black Patch.esp Synth Overhaul - No level requirements Patch.esp SuperMutantRedux_VIS-G_Patch.esp SuperMutantRedux_WeaponsmithExtended_Patch.esp Project Reality Footsteps FO4.esp Realistic Miniguns.esp JSSynths.esp KSHairdos.esp EveryonesBestFriend.esp LongerPowerLines3x.esp Scopes.esp Lots More Male Hairstyles.esp Lots More Facial Hair.esp PD_LowerWeapon.esp PA-Quick Animations.esp AzarPonytailHairstyles.esp LovingCait.esp BetterCompanions.esp EasyLockpicking.esp LovingPiper.esp rb_decayedarmyfatiguesfix.esp Insignificant Object Remover.esp SettlementMenuManager.esp RealNameSettlers.esp BetterSettlersMortalPack.esp BetterSettlersNoLollygagging.esp Nexus_PMC.esp PMC_extended.esp AKMnv_TacticalReloadPatch.esp AX50_TacticalReloadPatch.esp G36Complex_TacticalReloadPatch.esp Glock19x_TacticalReloadPatch.esp HK_MP5_TacticalReloadPatch.esp HK_UMP_TacticalReloadPatch.esp ImiUzi_TacticalReloadPatch.esp KrissVector_TacticalReloadPatch.esp M1Garand_TacticalReloadPatch.esp MK18_TacticalReloadPatch.esp MP7_TacticalReloadPatch.esp SV-98_TacticalReloadPatch.esp SteyrAUGnv_TacticalReloadPatch.esp TacticalReloadDLC.esp TacticalReloadVanilla.esp AWKCR - Mod Power Armor Engine Glitch Fix.esp More Power Armour Mods.esp Consistent Power Armor Overhaul.esp Brotherhood Power Armor Overhaul.esp PAMAP.esp More Power Armour Mods - Automatron.esp AnS Wearable Backpacks and Pouches.esp AnS Wearable Backpacks and Pouches - Power Armor Carry Capacity.esp AnS Wearable Backpacks and Pouches - AWKCR Power Armor.esp WorkshopPlus.esp AnimatedRadaway.esp RussianStimpack.esp Stimpaks help you breathe.esp CompanionAccuracy.esp LetMeUseThat.esp Realistic_conversations.esp UGO_PlayerModule.esp AnimatedIngestibles.esp Fatigue.esp ImmersiveVendors.esp Live Dismemberment - Brutal.esp Live Dismemberment - Insane-o.esp Live Dismemberment - Liebermode.esp Live Dismemberment - Mental.esp Live Dismemberment - Mind-Blowing.esp Live Dismemberment - POSTAL.esp Live Dismemberment - Regular.esp MAIM 2 - Dismemberment Patch.esp MAIM 2 - Russian Stimpak Patch.esp MAIM 2 - Stimpaks Help You Breathe Patch.esp Clean Pause Menu.esp FIS-Naming-Weap-Armo-EN.esp M8rDisablePipboyEffects.esp CROSS_CryoLance.esp BF1 Animations - Double Barrel Shotgun v2.3.esp Binoculars.esp ACR-W17.esp FO4LaserBolts.esp fn five-seven v3.0.esp 3dscopes-replacer-aug.esp 3dscopes-replacer-crossbow.esp 3dscopes-replacer-sv98.esp 3dscopes-wmsr.esp IAF - Far Harbor & Nuka World.esp AnS Wearable Backpacks and Pouches - Ballistic Weave.esp AnS Wearable Backpacks and Pouches - No Crafting Perks.esp AnS Wearable Backpacks and Pouches - AWKCR.esp VeryRichMerchants.esp CBBE.esp M1Garand - AWKCR-VIS-VW.esp M1Garand-1.5xDMG.esp BetterSettlersCCAPack2.0.esp Chem Lab Restoration Project - AWKCR AE CW.esp TrueStormsFO4-EarlierSunsets.esp TrueStormsFO4-EarlierSunsetsFH.esp TrueStormsFO4-FarHarborExtraRads.esp TrueStormsFO4-GlowingSeaExtraRads.esp CROSS_GoreCrits.esp CROSS_GoreCrits_FarHarborPatch.esp OMEGA - MutantMenagerie IAF Patch.esp MG42.esp dD-Realistic Ragdoll Force.esp RNS-WSFW-CompPatch.esp SS2-Jampads2_ImportsPatch.esp SS2_XDI Patch.esp move that workbench!.esp [MW2R] Shadow Company.esp BetterNightVision.esp DarkerNights.esp DarkerNightsDetection.esp EnhancedLightsandFX.esp Scrap Everything - Ultimate Edition.esp Pip-Boy Flashlight.esp SatelliteWorldMap.esp WorkshopFramework_ScriptOverride.esp |
2024.05.14 07:42 LeviTheLankyMan this is not real, you need to wake up! [CHAPTER TWO]
"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.
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"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.
2024.05.14 07:41 LeviTheLankyMan this is not real, you need to wake up! [CHAPTER TWO]
"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.
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"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.
2024.05.14 07:40 LeviTheLankyMan this is not real, you need to wake up! [CHAPTER TWO]
"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.
submitted by LeviTheLankyMan to scarystories [link] [comments]
"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.
2024.05.14 07:39 LeviTheLankyMan this is not real, you need to wake up! [CHAPTER TWO]
"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.
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"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.
2024.05.14 07:38 LeviTheLankyMan this is not real, you need to wake up [CHAPTER TWO]
"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.
submitted by LeviTheLankyMan to creepypasta [link] [comments]
"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.
2024.05.13 19:57 RetroGTNH 34 [M4F] #Oregon - Established Man Seeking a Monogamous Partner
You:
You are a woman who values her femininity and recognizes the importance of a healthy mind, body, and spirit. You are somewhat introverted and enjoy the country. You have her own passionate interests, especially if they are rather nerdy and/or athletic.
Me:
I am caucasian, 6’2”, brown hair, and an athletic build. I have a few tattoos and usually wear a short beard. I am happily childfree.
I live in Lane County, Oregon on 11 acres in the country, and eventually want my future partner to live with me. I work from home as a software engineer.
My hobbies include playing drums, weightlifting, strategy and RPG computer games, cooking, gardening, kayaking, and attending concerts.
I value deep thought, tolerance towards others, quality time with loved ones, and a good meal.
Us:
I want a monogamous, long-term relationship. My ideal partner wants to be my priority, and I hers. I do not intend on having children and want a partner who shares that value.
By writing this I hope to meet someone special with whom to play, grow, and learn - someone to fall in love with.
I offer my commitment to the mutual fulfillment of our complementary needs, and my experience and resources towards that end. I offer attention, affection, and lots of cuddles. I offer frank, honest, and ongoing communication. I offer safety in my arms and in my home.
Please do not hesitate to respond if this post appeals to you. Worst case scenario we have some friendly conversation, but if we’re honest and a bit lucky we might build something really magical and enduring.
All the best,
Joseph
submitted by RetroGTNH to r4r [link] [comments]
You are a woman who values her femininity and recognizes the importance of a healthy mind, body, and spirit. You are somewhat introverted and enjoy the country. You have her own passionate interests, especially if they are rather nerdy and/or athletic.
Me:
I am caucasian, 6’2”, brown hair, and an athletic build. I have a few tattoos and usually wear a short beard. I am happily childfree.
I live in Lane County, Oregon on 11 acres in the country, and eventually want my future partner to live with me. I work from home as a software engineer.
My hobbies include playing drums, weightlifting, strategy and RPG computer games, cooking, gardening, kayaking, and attending concerts.
I value deep thought, tolerance towards others, quality time with loved ones, and a good meal.
Us:
I want a monogamous, long-term relationship. My ideal partner wants to be my priority, and I hers. I do not intend on having children and want a partner who shares that value.
By writing this I hope to meet someone special with whom to play, grow, and learn - someone to fall in love with.
I offer my commitment to the mutual fulfillment of our complementary needs, and my experience and resources towards that end. I offer attention, affection, and lots of cuddles. I offer frank, honest, and ongoing communication. I offer safety in my arms and in my home.
Please do not hesitate to respond if this post appeals to you. Worst case scenario we have some friendly conversation, but if we’re honest and a bit lucky we might build something really magical and enduring.
All the best,
Joseph
2024.05.13 19:54 RetroGTNH 34 [M4F] #Oregon - Established Man Seeking a Monogamous Partner
You:
You are a woman who values her femininity and recognizes the importance of a healthy mind, body, and spirit. You are somewhat introverted and enjoy the country. You have her own passionate interests, especially if they are rather nerdy and/or athletic.
Me:
I am caucasian, 6’2”, brown hair, and an athletic build. I have a few tattoos and usually wear a short beard. I am happily childfree.
I live in Lane County, Oregon on 11 acres in the country, and eventually want my future partner to live with me. I work from home as a software engineer.
My hobbies include playing drums, weightlifting, strategy and RPG computer games, cooking, gardening, kayaking, and attending concerts.
I value deep thought, tolerance towards others, quality time with loved ones, and a good meal.
Us:
I want a monogamous, long-term relationship. My ideal partner wants to be my priority, and I hers. I do not intend on having children and want a partner who shares that value.
By writing this I hope to meet someone special with whom to play, grow, and learn - someone to fall in love with.
I offer my commitment to the mutual fulfillment of our complementary needs, and my experience and resources towards that end. I offer attention, affection, and lots of cuddles. I offer frank, honest, and ongoing communication. I offer safety in my arms and in my home.
Please do not hesitate to respond if this post appeals to you. Worst case scenario we have some friendly conversation, but if we’re honest and a bit lucky we might build something really magical and enduring.
All the best,
Joseph
submitted by RetroGTNH to cf4cf [link] [comments]
You are a woman who values her femininity and recognizes the importance of a healthy mind, body, and spirit. You are somewhat introverted and enjoy the country. You have her own passionate interests, especially if they are rather nerdy and/or athletic.
Me:
I am caucasian, 6’2”, brown hair, and an athletic build. I have a few tattoos and usually wear a short beard. I am happily childfree.
I live in Lane County, Oregon on 11 acres in the country, and eventually want my future partner to live with me. I work from home as a software engineer.
My hobbies include playing drums, weightlifting, strategy and RPG computer games, cooking, gardening, kayaking, and attending concerts.
I value deep thought, tolerance towards others, quality time with loved ones, and a good meal.
Us:
I want a monogamous, long-term relationship. My ideal partner wants to be my priority, and I hers. I do not intend on having children and want a partner who shares that value.
By writing this I hope to meet someone special with whom to play, grow, and learn - someone to fall in love with.
I offer my commitment to the mutual fulfillment of our complementary needs, and my experience and resources towards that end. I offer attention, affection, and lots of cuddles. I offer frank, honest, and ongoing communication. I offer safety in my arms and in my home.
Please do not hesitate to respond if this post appeals to you. Worst case scenario we have some friendly conversation, but if we’re honest and a bit lucky we might build something really magical and enduring.
All the best,
Joseph
2024.05.13 05:36 brokensaint82 Issues with graphical glitches in FO4
 | submitted by brokensaint82 to Fallout4Mods [link] [comments] I keep getting this and random textures popping into places Here is the load order: Fallout4.esm DLCRobot.esm DLCworkshop01.esm DLCCoast.esm DLCworkshop02.esm DLCworkshop03.esm DLCNukaWorld.esm ccBGSFO4044-HellfirePowerArmor.esl ccBGSFO4115-X02.esl ccBGSFO4116-HeavyFlamer.esl ccBGSFO4110-WS_Enclave.esl ccBGSFO4096-AS_Enclave.esl ccFSVFO4007-Halloween.esl ccBGSFO4046-TesCan.esl ccSBJFO4003-Grenade.esl ccOTMFO4001-Remnants.esl Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch.esp ArmorKeywords.esm WorkshopFramework.esm Homemaker.esm MutantMenagerie.esm SS2.esm SS2_XPAC_Chapter2.esm SS2_XPAC_Chapter3.esm CWPointLookoutFO4.esm MutantMenagerie_BackwaterBeasts.esm MutantMenagerie_GrilledTurkey.esm CanarySaveFileMonitor.esl CWPointLookoutFO4Patch.esl TacticalReload.esm M84FlashBang.esl TrueStormsFO4.esm NCRArmourPack.esl four_play_resources.esm Wetness Shader Fix.esp NoSharedDogmeatTemplate.esp ImmersiveGenericDialogues.esp PiperCaitCurieDialogueOverhaul.esp RepairSanctuary.esp Armorsmith Extended.esp Melee Replacer.esp Rebuild_Settlements.esp ThisIsTrash.esp LootableCrates.esp SS2Extended.esp WeightlessMods.esp clothingoverhaul.esp MojaveImports.esp SuperMutantRedux.esp ImmersiveAnimationFramework.esp SuperMutantRedux_AE-WSE-VIS-G-Insanity_AIO_Patch.esp WeightlessAid.esp FirstPersonMessagesMerged.esp MAIM Distributor.esp MAIM 2.esp ReducedJunkWeight.esp Stm_DiamondCityExpansion.esp Rebuild_Settlements_Previs.esp CrimeTown.esp HAIA With Crafting.esp Reverb and Ambiance Overhaul.esp Vivid Weathers - FO4.esp Vivid Weathers - FO4 - Quest.esp InstituteSettlements2.esp CombinedArmsNV.esp CombinedArmsEXPack.esp W.A.T.Minutemen.esp CheatTerminal.esp DT_GunnerOutfitPack.esp DTG_LeveledListIntegration.esp Eli_Armour_Compendium.esp BR77.esp XM2010_SniperRifle_by_tooun.esp 1CAS_ServiceRifle.esp SS2-PraRandomAddon.esp M2Agency.esp SS2-Jampads2.esp ImiUzi.esp Crossbow.esp Glock19x.esp KrissVector.esp BOCWNailGun.esp DoubleBarrelReloadRedoneTR.esp USP .45_by_tooun.esp SV-98.esp 9mmPistol.esp 3dscopes-replacer.esp four_play.esp MK18.esp Rangergearnew.esp LString_Bow.esp M1Garand.esp m2045magnumrevolverrifle.esp [SS2 Addon] SimSettlements SuperStructures.esp FO4 NPCs Travel.esp DX_Black_Widow.esp SteyrAUGnv.esp AKMnv.esp SanctFixedBridge.esp ElMudoStore.esp HuntingShotgun.esp DOOMThatGun.esp WinCowbowRepeater.esp MP7.esp HuntingRevolver.esp HK_MP5.esp GIAT_FAMAS.esp G36Complex.esp HK_UMP.esp M1918A2.esp AmmoCounterFramework.esp M1918A2_ACF.esp M1918A2_TR.esp PMC Operators Pack.esp WestTekTacticalOptics.esp TAC.esp K9TacticalHarness.esp GCM.esp Homemaker - Unlocked Institute Objects.esp SS2-PraRandomAddon-FIS.esp SS2-PraRandomAddon-LWIS.esp SS2-PraRandomAddon-VIS.esp SS2-PraRandomAddon-VISG.esp SS2AOP_VaultTecTools.esp ohSIM_Sim2_Settlements_Scrappers_Addon.esp Dongs_Of_Fallout.esp HRP_Mk23.esp AX50.esp L96A1.esp Factor.esp OMEGA - MutantMenagerieFH IAF Patch.esp ClothingOverhaulSP_XB1_PC.esp SuperMutantRedux_ArmorSmithExtended.esp classicghoulrace.esp BetterSettlers.esp AdvSettleTurretSet.esp Passthrough.esp WeightlessSpecialAmmo.esp MutantMenagerie_Scripts.esp D.E.C.A.Y.esp REAPER.esp SS2WastelandReconstructionKit.esp SS2_CityPlanPack_RiseOfTheCommonwealth.esp Vault-Tec Armor Redux - Modular Expansion & Fixes.esp rb_hairtonesredux.esp TrueStormsFO4-FarHarbor.esp Vivid Weathers - FO4 - Far Harbor.esp Vivid Weathers - Nuka World.esp VividFallout - AiO - BestChoice.esp Radiant Clouds and Fogs.esp Glowing Animals Emit Light.esp FAR.esp TrueGrass.esp CustomThirdrail_v2.esp dD-Enhanced Blood Basic.esp LongRangeBulletHoles.esp InstitutePowerArmor.esp Special Ops Goggles.esp Multiple Floors Sandboxing.esp Defective_Synth.esp Desert Punk Raiders.esp Synth Overhaul.esp Synth Overhaul - Black Patch.esp Synth Overhaul - No level requirements Patch.esp SuperMutantRedux_VIS-G_Patch.esp SuperMutantRedux_WeaponsmithExtended_Patch.esp Project Reality Footsteps FO4.esp Realistic Miniguns.esp JSSynths.esp KSHairdos.esp EveryonesBestFriend.esp LongerPowerLines3x.esp Scopes.esp Lots More Male Hairstyles.esp Lots More Facial Hair.esp PD_LowerWeapon.esp PA-Quick Animations.esp AzarPonytailHairstyles.esp LovingCait.esp BetterCompanions.esp EasyLockpicking.esp LovingPiper.esp rb_decayedarmyfatiguesfix.esp Insignificant Object Remover.esp SettlementMenuManager.esp RealNameSettlers.esp BetterSettlersMortalPack.esp BetterSettlersNoLollygagging.esp Nexus_PMC.esp PMC_extended.esp AKMnv_TacticalReloadPatch.esp AX50_TacticalReloadPatch.esp G36Complex_TacticalReloadPatch.esp Glock19x_TacticalReloadPatch.esp HK_MP5_TacticalReloadPatch.esp HK_UMP_TacticalReloadPatch.esp ImiUzi_TacticalReloadPatch.esp KrissVector_TacticalReloadPatch.esp M1Garand_TacticalReloadPatch.esp MK18_TacticalReloadPatch.esp MP7_TacticalReloadPatch.esp SV-98_TacticalReloadPatch.esp SteyrAUGnv_TacticalReloadPatch.esp TacticalReloadDLC.esp TacticalReloadVanilla.esp AWKCR - 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2024.05.12 18:08 Dolman Will this 18 acre property be too much for me? Concerned about mowing until conversion to prairie/forest
I'm considering a property purchase in the midwestern US. I've been wanting something like this for decades, but as I'm moving from 0.4 acres in town, I want to make sure I'm not biting off more than I can chew.
I would guess that this place currently has 3-4 acres of grass which require mowing. The large fields flanking the driveway are currently rented out to a farmer for the tax benefit (something I would plan on ceasing within a year or so?). But around the house and then along the driveway is a LOT of grass.
I would eventually like to reclaim the farmed land and turn it into prairie with some mowed walking trails throughout, along with planting lots of trees and extending the forested acreage throughout the property. An orchard would be nice too.
I'm looking for a reality check or words of wisdom. If this ends up being too much (the mowing), what are quick things I could do to lighten the burden—just stop mowing sections of the grass and brush-hog it back once a season? I like mowing to an extent, but the end goal is a place where I'm NOT doing it for 4 hours per mow, or whatever this currently takes. My first impulse is to shop for the largest zero turn I can find.
Some of the neighbors are Amish and I wouldn't expect to have issues regarding the "curb appeal" of this country property, whatever I decided to do, and most of the property is hidden from view at the street level anyway. The privacy is what attracted me to it initially.
TLDR: Long-term plan is privacy, nature retreat, gardening/possible food forest, chickens. Not sure about livestock. Maybe a pond or two. REDUCE grass lawn.
Edit: picture attached
https://preview.redd.it/g6g39ztur00d1.png?width=1944&format=png&auto=webp&s=92d6b987b62bb5fee1fe054de875eaec31f605b1
submitted by Dolman to Permaculture [link] [comments]
I would guess that this place currently has 3-4 acres of grass which require mowing. The large fields flanking the driveway are currently rented out to a farmer for the tax benefit (something I would plan on ceasing within a year or so?). But around the house and then along the driveway is a LOT of grass.
I would eventually like to reclaim the farmed land and turn it into prairie with some mowed walking trails throughout, along with planting lots of trees and extending the forested acreage throughout the property. An orchard would be nice too.
I'm looking for a reality check or words of wisdom. If this ends up being too much (the mowing), what are quick things I could do to lighten the burden—just stop mowing sections of the grass and brush-hog it back once a season? I like mowing to an extent, but the end goal is a place where I'm NOT doing it for 4 hours per mow, or whatever this currently takes. My first impulse is to shop for the largest zero turn I can find.
Some of the neighbors are Amish and I wouldn't expect to have issues regarding the "curb appeal" of this country property, whatever I decided to do, and most of the property is hidden from view at the street level anyway. The privacy is what attracted me to it initially.
TLDR: Long-term plan is privacy, nature retreat, gardening/possible food forest, chickens. Not sure about livestock. Maybe a pond or two. REDUCE grass lawn.
Edit: picture attached
https://preview.redd.it/g6g39ztur00d1.png?width=1944&format=png&auto=webp&s=92d6b987b62bb5fee1fe054de875eaec31f605b1
2024.05.12 05:22 Able_Beginning9709 Splitting household chores and finances?
Aloha! I (26F) have been with my fiancé (33M) for just over 3 years, and we are getting married this summer. We haven't had a specific conversation before about how we want to split household chores and finances (I know, its stupid and should have been had long ago, but here we are) and I'm looking for some advice/input. Our living and working situations have changed pretty drastically a few times since we began dating, and we've always just sort of assumed our roles without ever actually discussing it.
Some context because we have not had a traditional living experience: We moved pretty quickly in our relationship and unofficially moved in together only like a week after dating. He still had a room in a house with some friends for about 6 months after that though, so we paid our own rents, but went close to 50/50 on groceries and household stuff. He would help with some household chores like the dishes, but I was always the one who did the majority of the cleaning. I didn't mind this because I like my house to be cleaned a certain way, and I also use cleaning as a sort of therapy when I'm stressed or sad. There were over 14 deaths in my circle of family and friends the first year that we were together, so cleaning was pretty much all I did in that period (I think it makes me feel like I have control over my life, even when everything is absolutely falling down around me.) After he officially moved in we split expenses but I still maintained about 95% of the housework.
About a year later we moved to a small cabin on a 20 acre property in the jungle, where my fiancé worked as a caretaker for the property. He was only paid $400 a month for this work, but we didn't have to pay any rent to stay there. He was doing hard, physical labor 7 days a week and was understandably exhausted. Since he was making so little each month and his work was covering the entire cost of living in our home, I took on the cost of all other expenses (food, phones, household supplies, gas, etc.) I scored by finding a part time job that was super easy and paid $30/hr, so I was able to easily pay for our expenses and had the time to take on 100% of the housework.
Fast forward a year and a half to this February. We moved into a house with about an acre of land. He is no longer a caretaker and I lost my incredible job because the family I was working for as a cook/nanny moved to a different state, so we are both working full time now. We are 50/50 on our rent (we are off grid, so no utilities cost) and things like groceries, but I am still paying for our other major expenses (specifically our internet and storage unit which comes to about $250 each month) and I am also still doing almost all of the housework. I do all of the shopping, laundry, cooking, dishes, and general cleaning of the house. He does do a lot of work in the yard, but most of it is taking care of his flower garden, so it costs a lot to maintain but does not bring in a lot of money or food.
As I stated before: I do not mind doing the chores. However, now that I am working 40+ hours a week, its a lot harder to handle the work and maintain a nice, clean home. I also don't have the energy to cook lavish home cooked meals each night, and we usually end up eating frozen or pre-prepared meals.
I'm definitely beginning to resent our current setup and I think he is missing how things used to be in our home. I want to start an honest dialogue about our situation, and figure out together how to reach a solution. I'm so tired every day, and I don't think it's fair to me to take on over half of the living expenses and ALL of the housework. In my perfect world, we would have a more "traditional" arrangement where he could work and I can maintain the house and animals, but I know that that's not realistic because of where and when we are living. I think I've done myself a disservice by always taking on the household work, and not expecting or asking him to contribute.
So I guess my question is: how are these responsibilities divided in your household? If I continue to take on all of the household work, what is a reasonable cost split between the household expenses? I feel like I would be comfortable with a 70/30 split, but I don't know if that's possible with our current incomes. He tends to get very stressed out with difficult discussions (especially relating to money), so I would like to have a few options to throw out..
I would also like to clarify that I am NOT trying to trash on my fiancé. He is an incredible man, I love his heart and his soul. He always makes sure that I feel loved and safe. We laugh all of the time. When I'm with him, I feel completely free to be myself and I never have to worry that I'm not enough for him, because he's constantly telling me how much he loves and adores me.
TL;DR: I feel like I am taking on more than my portion of the burden of living and I am looking for helpful ways to bring up a change that will make our life more equal in contribution.
submitted by Able_Beginning9709 to relationships [link] [comments]
Some context because we have not had a traditional living experience: We moved pretty quickly in our relationship and unofficially moved in together only like a week after dating. He still had a room in a house with some friends for about 6 months after that though, so we paid our own rents, but went close to 50/50 on groceries and household stuff. He would help with some household chores like the dishes, but I was always the one who did the majority of the cleaning. I didn't mind this because I like my house to be cleaned a certain way, and I also use cleaning as a sort of therapy when I'm stressed or sad. There were over 14 deaths in my circle of family and friends the first year that we were together, so cleaning was pretty much all I did in that period (I think it makes me feel like I have control over my life, even when everything is absolutely falling down around me.) After he officially moved in we split expenses but I still maintained about 95% of the housework.
About a year later we moved to a small cabin on a 20 acre property in the jungle, where my fiancé worked as a caretaker for the property. He was only paid $400 a month for this work, but we didn't have to pay any rent to stay there. He was doing hard, physical labor 7 days a week and was understandably exhausted. Since he was making so little each month and his work was covering the entire cost of living in our home, I took on the cost of all other expenses (food, phones, household supplies, gas, etc.) I scored by finding a part time job that was super easy and paid $30/hr, so I was able to easily pay for our expenses and had the time to take on 100% of the housework.
Fast forward a year and a half to this February. We moved into a house with about an acre of land. He is no longer a caretaker and I lost my incredible job because the family I was working for as a cook/nanny moved to a different state, so we are both working full time now. We are 50/50 on our rent (we are off grid, so no utilities cost) and things like groceries, but I am still paying for our other major expenses (specifically our internet and storage unit which comes to about $250 each month) and I am also still doing almost all of the housework. I do all of the shopping, laundry, cooking, dishes, and general cleaning of the house. He does do a lot of work in the yard, but most of it is taking care of his flower garden, so it costs a lot to maintain but does not bring in a lot of money or food.
As I stated before: I do not mind doing the chores. However, now that I am working 40+ hours a week, its a lot harder to handle the work and maintain a nice, clean home. I also don't have the energy to cook lavish home cooked meals each night, and we usually end up eating frozen or pre-prepared meals.
I'm definitely beginning to resent our current setup and I think he is missing how things used to be in our home. I want to start an honest dialogue about our situation, and figure out together how to reach a solution. I'm so tired every day, and I don't think it's fair to me to take on over half of the living expenses and ALL of the housework. In my perfect world, we would have a more "traditional" arrangement where he could work and I can maintain the house and animals, but I know that that's not realistic because of where and when we are living. I think I've done myself a disservice by always taking on the household work, and not expecting or asking him to contribute.
So I guess my question is: how are these responsibilities divided in your household? If I continue to take on all of the household work, what is a reasonable cost split between the household expenses? I feel like I would be comfortable with a 70/30 split, but I don't know if that's possible with our current incomes. He tends to get very stressed out with difficult discussions (especially relating to money), so I would like to have a few options to throw out..
I would also like to clarify that I am NOT trying to trash on my fiancé. He is an incredible man, I love his heart and his soul. He always makes sure that I feel loved and safe. We laugh all of the time. When I'm with him, I feel completely free to be myself and I never have to worry that I'm not enough for him, because he's constantly telling me how much he loves and adores me.
TL;DR: I feel like I am taking on more than my portion of the burden of living and I am looking for helpful ways to bring up a change that will make our life more equal in contribution.
2024.05.11 18:28 nissan240sx One of my good friends got a pitbull
Real shame, they love my 4 year old daughter and spoil her rotten. Good people, but now we will stop visiting their house. Can’t risk it. Dude is stubborn AF so there’s no way of changing his mind. They had a 14 year old Aussie before this dog so they are going to learn the hard way. It’s going to be a fun conversation but I hope it doesn’t ruin our friendship. I’m also getting two new neighbors so I hope they will have friendly dogs because we share a couple acres together.
submitted by nissan240sx to BanPitBulls [link] [comments]
2024.05.11 10:05 FakeFicwriter Next part of the series,
 | https://preview.redd.it/jtrh7kzk8rzc1.png?width=522&format=png&auto=webp&s=8e47ce0caa1f587f0997d0412a77492dd36a0300 submitted by FakeFicwriter to BugFables [link] [comments] Team Snakemouth after a hearty breakfast and a bit of struggle at packing their preparations, set out towards the meetup spot at the old Ant kingdom settlement, they traverse the foggy landscape, and after some struggle in deciphering the newly placed direction signs and being lost for hour, they reached the old ant kingdom settlement, it’s still as barren as it was when it was abandoned though now there are at least some people in the settlement, including Maki, his sister Kina and Yin. "Oh, if it isn't team Snakemouth, you seem tired" "Of course, we had taken the same three path twice" “Told you we should have use the map” “Yeah-yeah, whatever” "Also, Sir Maki, I only currently see you, Kina and Yin, where are the rest at?" "The expedition leader is currently out to get some supplies, I am been asked to watch and test anyone that came to join the expedition," "Wait, Maki you are not the leader" "No, I am not, I was only requested by the queen to join to as part of the expedition as part of the deal she made with the leader, he is the one that made and set up the expedition" "Why though, you make for a good leader Maki" "He has more knowledge about where we’re going, he had prepared the path to go” “Huh, why don’t we hear about this Westland kingdom anywhere” “that’s because it was only very recently discovered by him” “Heya” At that moment a butterfly came in the settlement “I am Lyra” "Well nice to meet you" “Sup” “Hi” “Are you guys going to be a part of the expedition” “Yup” “So, are you the expedition leader?” “Nope, that will be him” Lyra pointed towards the other butterfly that came to the settlement “I am Ryaine, I will be the leader in charge of the expedition" “Oh, well nice to meet you” “You all should probably wait at the back, I am going to have a bit of a private talk with Sir Maki” “Kay” Everyone then went to wait near the old settlement’s tent further at the centre of the settlement, team Snakemouth decide to pull a conversation with Lyra “That’s a cute Chomper you have” “That’s Chompy, we found her seed at the Chomper cave and grow her, we now took care of her and she been on our adventures since” “That’s soo cool” “How about you Lyra, what kind of adventures you have” “Well… I have explored all of Bugaria, but those are just me following Ryaine” “That counts Lyra” “Lyra watch out behind you” “What is it?” “There is a flowerling behind you” “Oh, that’s just Flowy” (Pronounced Fla-wyie) “Floe- what?” As Vi’s confusion settles, a seedling and acornling came near Lyra “Guess Seedle and Acre is here” “Wait you know these seedlings?” “Yep, Flow, Seedle and Acre, I befriended them back then, they are my companions” “Huh, how did you befriend them” “Oh, I just-” As Lyra talks on how she manages to befriend her seedlings, Ryaine and Maki have their own conversation, more on the formal side regarding the expedition “Sir Maki, has anyone come in the settlement recently" "Well currently no one else other than my team and-" "Team Mothiva" Mothiva, the famous solo singer of Bugaria, and Zasp has just come to the settlement, "Can't have an expedition team to another kingdom without meee" "So, you both want to join" "Yup, sign us up, we already brought our preparations” “Well what is your skill and experience” “What you mean” “Standard procedure for consideration” “Mothiva is skilled in fighter and singing, she be a good asset for the team” “What about you sir” “Call me Zasp, I am a fighter with some experience in survival” “So can we join now” “Well Mothiva, Zasp, you have a pretty good set of skills and experience, I’ll discuss a bit with Sir Maki and-” “Heya, can we join” “Huh, Gen and Eri, not expecting you here” “Mothiva and Zasp, would you both mind wait a bit in the back” "Sure, where are the other members for the expedition anyway" "There" Ryaine pointed at team Snakemouth currently waiting near the tent “Oh, team Snakemouth is there…” “Well, if you have any problem-” “Nope, no problem, don’t worry about it” "*grumble* team Snakemouth…" “Let’s just go Mothiva” Mothiva and Zasp went and wait near the tent, much to Mothiva’s discontent, they went and sit beside team Snakemouth, trying to not make much eye contact “Guys, how long are we going to wait here, it has been like hours” “Vi, it has only been 30 minutes” “You can do a lot in 30 minutes, I am getting bored here” “How about striking a conversation with the others” “I guess I could- “Oh, come on now, Mothiva is here” “Guess she joined the expedition” “Knowing her she probably joined purely for the fame” “Well… hello there… team Snakemouth” "Hey... there Mothiva…" “sup” “sup” "Well Vi… I heard a lot about how you started that "campaign" for your brand of yours" "Yeah? What about it" "It could have been better if you had me as the one doing the branding" "WELL, AT LEAST I DON’T -" “Well, Zasp… how is your day” “Fine, what about yours” “Fine also, how is Mothiva” “Doing well, your team” “Doing great” As Mothiva and Vi have a loud bickering argument while Kabbu, Leif and Zasp has the calmest conversation in the settlement, Ryaine and Maki are now discussing over Gen and Eri who “Soo… Gen and Eri, you both want to join the expedition” “Yup” "Well, what skills and experience you both have" "Well... we could do a bit of crafting” “We have been a part of the reinforcements against the Wasp king, and..." "Quick question, are you capable of carrying supplies" "Well... we could carry some heavy stuff" "Great, you’re both in, please wait in the back" "Hold on Ryaine, are you sure, no offense but Gen and Eri are not very strong fighter" "I know they aren't the best at fighting, but they will fill other useful roles, I was needing someone with a crafty hand anyway" "Couldn't we find other alternative" "I really doubt it, it’s already been a week since the expedition is posted and no one else has yet to join, plus this expedition can finally start after a while" As Gen and Eri went to the back, they have a talk with the others “Heya” “Whoa, Gen, Eri, you both a part of the expedition” “Yup, that guy who was with Maki quickly accept us to the expedition” “Aren’t you both, like not that good at fighting” “We heard about filling other useful roles” “YOU KNOW YOU COULD-” “Ehh… What’s Vi and Mothiva bickering about” “Something about branding” “Should we stop them” “No, this is free entertaining” "Excuse me everyone" "WELL IT COULD AT LEAST NEED-" “Ehem” “ITS NOT LIKE PEOPLE-” "Vi… Mothiva…" "NOBODY IS TAKING YOUR-" "CAN YOU BOTH PLEASE STOP YOUR ARGUMENT" "Yeah, Ryaine?" “What argument?” "Look, I don't know what kind of business rivalry you have with each other but please try to get along if you were all going to work as a team, also Zasp, Mothiva, you are officially a part of the expedition" "What?! Ryaine, this must be a joke, they can't be part of the expedition" "No offense, but both of them are competent enough to fight you and still last long enough for a good battle, and I also don't have much option for who gets to join" "Ho, ho, ho, guess Mothiva winning this" "Still, don't let this go over your head, Mothiva, you may be the most popular singer in Bugaria, but that doesn't mean you get treated any differently, we don't have celebrity benefits in an expedition, everyone gets treated the same way, no matter what their role is" "Fine…" “Anyway, we are going to finally start the expedition, we will be going from here out to the Westlands, out of Bugaria’s borders, I want to confirm that everyone is already prepared with their preparations?” “Yup” “Finished” “Obviously” “Already done” “Good, here is something you all going to need” Team Snakemouth got a leaf tent set “What are these, leafy looking object” “Those will be your tents, it be your shelter at the night, I’ll teach you how to set up one later when we camp” “Also, each of you should take this” Team Snakemouth got a MedKit badge “If you are injured, there should common medical supplies in the kit that can be used to treat the injury” “So Ryaine, where we will start?” “Our journey will partly retrace the path of the former Queen Elizant the First, we be going south from here and then we’ll be going to west, a word of advised, stay close to each other, the fog of the Forsaken Land is very disorienting and it be hard to find each other if you get lost” “Right” “Kay” “Don’t worry about it” “Alright” “Say Ryaine, how would you know where to go” “I have drawn a map and have put flags in important spots, I have already done the same journey before” “Now shall we move?” The Westland Expedition team begins their journey, starting in the Forsaken land, consisting of 12 bugs of varying body, skills and experience, what a journey it would be. |
2024.05.10 16:58 TitansFrontRow Brian Kelley "Tennessee Truth" album review
Review, "Tennessee Truth"
Brian Kelley offers his listeners a rare opportunity. He offers us a solo album from 1/2 of what is arguably the biggest country pop act of all time-
And doesn’t make us feel like we are listening to that same group divided by two.
Brian Kelley is a solo artist with a distinct sound that stands very well on it’s own, and Tennessee Truth is Brian Kelley through and through.
It’s important to note that Kelley considers this album his debut attempt at a solo career. In 2021, Kelley released “Sunshine State of Mind”, which this author personally believes demands to be in the “top album” conversation for the past decade for any true light-country music fan. But Kelley considers SSOM to be a passion project, and so it exists in a different space for Kelley, and we should look at Tennessee Truth as his freshman effort when looking at his solo career.
However, in the same way that SSOM had a full album theme and had continuity between the songs, Tennessee Truth finds itself put together equally well. Both albums flow, and for better or worse, both albums are distinctly “Brian Kelley”. And this is a very, very good thing.
This album feels “Whole”. The album doesn’t appear to be a hit or two that was given the lions share of attention, leaving only anemic filler around those few “hopefully gonna be a-“ hit(s). Each song is well written. Each song has its own sound, while tying in nicely in a way that allows Kelley to own each track, without making any track feel like an outlier or as though it is sonically dissonant from any of the others.
The album isn’t overproduced. The depressingly familiar “Verse, Hook, Verse, transition, Hook, Hook, done” of Kelleys “previous” career isn’t here. It is, simply put. Refreshing.
It also isn’t a perfect album. There are far too many brand names mentioned- Kelley seems to have a knack for that, which I don’t love, but isn’t enough to detract from his tracks. This might be Kelley’s version of showing credibility, but most of us know what a Chevy, or a zebco is, and it often comes across as filler- Some people use the F- word in their music to add that extra syllable, Kelley uses “Yeti” or a “Chevy”. I’ll never fault a songwriter for keeping a good flow, but you can tell that in a fight with some of these call-outs and the flow of the song, the flow handily won.
I also have to say that “Trucks, Ducks, Bucks, and Beer” is just an awful, derivative, and trite song. It’s really the only track that I think lands in “you’re getting too close to the old band” territory. I also can respect that Kelley does, in fact, want to make money off of this album, and considering fishing is a recurring theme of the album, I can forgive him for trying to snag country-pop fans. If those fans listen to this album based on “lucks, mucks, trucks, and sucks”, there will inevitably be a cohort that sticks around and sees that Kelley’s style isn’t half bad. And business is business.
There’s no Jason Isbell level songwriting here. This album isn’t “Deep”. This album isn’t going to end with a contemporary Kris Kristofferson discovering a modern John Prine and the second coming of “Lake Marie”. And that’s ok. Kelley isn’t that. Kelley is an artist. A songwriter. Somebody who is more than likely probably better than you and I at putting words on paper and making music. And most of us who are reading this review will appreciate what Kelley is doing.
Overall, this is a really good album. It’s listenable through and through, and it has a defined theme throughout that I find is missing in a lot of contemporary album releases. The album can never be accused of trying to co-opt Kelley’s former bands fans via imitation (although I’m sure many will enjoy the album), and overall the album is definitely going to be worth adding to the rotation.
Overall grade: B+
Defining Tracks: Acres, See You Next Summer, Doing’ Nothin’, 10 O’Clock on the Dock.
Songs that are okay to skip…every time: Trucks, Ducks, Bucks & Beer.
submitted by TitansFrontRow to CountryMusicStuff [link] [comments]
Brian Kelley offers his listeners a rare opportunity. He offers us a solo album from 1/2 of what is arguably the biggest country pop act of all time-
And doesn’t make us feel like we are listening to that same group divided by two.
Brian Kelley is a solo artist with a distinct sound that stands very well on it’s own, and Tennessee Truth is Brian Kelley through and through.
It’s important to note that Kelley considers this album his debut attempt at a solo career. In 2021, Kelley released “Sunshine State of Mind”, which this author personally believes demands to be in the “top album” conversation for the past decade for any true light-country music fan. But Kelley considers SSOM to be a passion project, and so it exists in a different space for Kelley, and we should look at Tennessee Truth as his freshman effort when looking at his solo career.
However, in the same way that SSOM had a full album theme and had continuity between the songs, Tennessee Truth finds itself put together equally well. Both albums flow, and for better or worse, both albums are distinctly “Brian Kelley”. And this is a very, very good thing.
This album feels “Whole”. The album doesn’t appear to be a hit or two that was given the lions share of attention, leaving only anemic filler around those few “hopefully gonna be a-“ hit(s). Each song is well written. Each song has its own sound, while tying in nicely in a way that allows Kelley to own each track, without making any track feel like an outlier or as though it is sonically dissonant from any of the others.
The album isn’t overproduced. The depressingly familiar “Verse, Hook, Verse, transition, Hook, Hook, done” of Kelleys “previous” career isn’t here. It is, simply put. Refreshing.
It also isn’t a perfect album. There are far too many brand names mentioned- Kelley seems to have a knack for that, which I don’t love, but isn’t enough to detract from his tracks. This might be Kelley’s version of showing credibility, but most of us know what a Chevy, or a zebco is, and it often comes across as filler- Some people use the F- word in their music to add that extra syllable, Kelley uses “Yeti” or a “Chevy”. I’ll never fault a songwriter for keeping a good flow, but you can tell that in a fight with some of these call-outs and the flow of the song, the flow handily won.
I also have to say that “Trucks, Ducks, Bucks, and Beer” is just an awful, derivative, and trite song. It’s really the only track that I think lands in “you’re getting too close to the old band” territory. I also can respect that Kelley does, in fact, want to make money off of this album, and considering fishing is a recurring theme of the album, I can forgive him for trying to snag country-pop fans. If those fans listen to this album based on “lucks, mucks, trucks, and sucks”, there will inevitably be a cohort that sticks around and sees that Kelley’s style isn’t half bad. And business is business.
There’s no Jason Isbell level songwriting here. This album isn’t “Deep”. This album isn’t going to end with a contemporary Kris Kristofferson discovering a modern John Prine and the second coming of “Lake Marie”. And that’s ok. Kelley isn’t that. Kelley is an artist. A songwriter. Somebody who is more than likely probably better than you and I at putting words on paper and making music. And most of us who are reading this review will appreciate what Kelley is doing.
Overall, this is a really good album. It’s listenable through and through, and it has a defined theme throughout that I find is missing in a lot of contemporary album releases. The album can never be accused of trying to co-opt Kelley’s former bands fans via imitation (although I’m sure many will enjoy the album), and overall the album is definitely going to be worth adding to the rotation.
Overall grade: B+
Defining Tracks: Acres, See You Next Summer, Doing’ Nothin’, 10 O’Clock on the Dock.
Songs that are okay to skip…every time: Trucks, Ducks, Bucks & Beer.
2024.05.08 06:53 nomorelandfills Beloved rescue pit bull, raised from puppyhood, is euthanized as middle-aged adult after escalating odd and troubling behaviors culminate in attack on puppy
 | Found on Facebook, in a public group for a rescuer. submitted by nomorelandfills to BanPitBulls [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/e19w695it4zc1.png?width=342&format=png&auto=webp&s=3ea3b02ed2176f248dbdf7ce0c6d7b0ef8e08c2e This might be a long read with a few spelling errors but I'm good with that. I'm super sad and miss my big blockhead boy. I told you all I would let you know what happened and why this was so sudden. I'll give you a little background first. Years ago I was an animal law enforcement officer but it seemed cruelty investigations, abuse and neglect was a cancer I dealt with every hour of every day and took most of my time. It was in every community county wide and I never had to go far to find it. The beginning of my days were the toughest. That's when it was my job to euthanize whatever number of animals was in that part of the building and that got done before I headed out into the county each day. There were 3 of us to do this one week at a time in rotation plus whomever was in the building for the "in-between" euthanasias. This was a time we were doing it for all the reasons but mostly space. At my hands thousands upon thousands euthanized. You might say that you could never do it or ask me how could I have done that and that's fair enough. All I can really tell you is that if you had seen what was happening to them in our community you might come to the same conclusion that death was a better answer. Nobody came for them. Not their owners and not adopters. I could write a book on those cases won and lost. The one constant that absolutely never let up were the amount of Pitbulls that lost their lives. 50 runs on the right and 50 on the left and every single one had a Pit or Pit mix in it and the very minute one was pulled out another was placed there. The amount of fear energy that radiated within that corridor was palpable. Think what you will but this might be the single most misunderstood breed on the planet. Fast forward a few years when I left that line of work and unintentionally started rescue, I was newly healing from a major spine operation and I told John I was going to start looking for a puppy. I needed a purpose to motivate every day as I was healing. We decided it was gonna be a Pit. As you can imagine it didn't take long to find one. I spoke to a state trooper that had a 10 week old Pit ABD mix and picked Sparta up and brought him home. He was a phenomenal puppy. My intentions were to take him everywhere I went for rescue purposes because I wanted not only him to be well socialized with people and all animals, I wanted people to have a relaxed interaction with this breed. He was going to be the ambassador for the breed and change some opinions. He did exactly that. We worked very hard and consistently with obedience, recall and social skills. He shined. Over the years Sparta has raised numerous puppies and kittens. I know he'd rather be an only child but he took the chaos like a champ. As long as he had me, John and his stuffy his life was complete. Trips to DQ was always high on his list to. Sparta gave the best hugs! He'd push his chest close to mine and couldn't get any closer, wrapping his neck and huge head around me. All 130 lbs of him was space intrusive. If I needed a cry, cuddle or a hug no dog did it better. Life goes on and then we noticed a couple years ago some odd behavior. Sparta would be outside in his run which is probably 2 acres and when John or I would walk back to the house from the barn, Sparta would do his stranger bark like he didn't recognize us. The first time I thought was just a one-off and weird but then it happened again. He started the same behavior when we'd get out of our vehicles like he didn't know the vehicles were ours. Even when we spoke to him he would take a long minute for his body posture to soften. I thought maybe his vision was going bad but why didn't his other senses recognize it was us or our voices or our scent..... Sparta vetted completely clean, not one issue. This happened on and off for a couple years. Sparta has always been with another dog and has never been a single for long. Five years ago we lost Barney, a Great Dane St Bernard mix to an aneurysm and Sparta took it very hard with alot of nervous energy. Fast forward and we brought home Walker a pure Great Dane. We lost Walker last year due to him eating a stick that ruptured his intestines killing him quickly. Here is where Sparta really started falling apart. He would become super anxious, never aggressive. I would also catch him almost daily sitting up staring at a wall like he was in a trance. He would do this for hours and it took me saying his name loudly for him to snap out of it. The lights were on but nobody was home. He also would have bowel movements while in motion. He knew he was pooping but made no effort to stop. This wasn't him being sick like diarrhea or something. He was perfect as a puppy for potty training and had never gone in the house until now. He'd do it while running across the yard like he had no idea that that's not how it done. All of these behaviors were mental not physical sickness if that makes sense. When I was engaged with him he was right on point but when I stopped it's like his brain slipped into neutral. Again he's physically healthy so now we were looking at dementia. There is more to it but that really fit what we were experiencing with him. Dementia is what we were seeing a couple years ago when he didn't seem to recognize us. Also he seemed to not process the basic commands I know he was very good at. So here is where everything changed. John built the new puppy his very own outdoor area completely enclosed and safe where he could see everything around him but he'd be safe. This was for potty training. Enos decided he wouldn't poop in there so we'd let him out with Sparta and he'd sniff around and do a poop in Spartas run. The puppy was never left out there more than enough time to potty and Sparta wasn't aggressive with him. And no, I don't allow the puppy to bite or harass Sparta either. Sparta and Enos were doing their thing out there and I stepped back into the house for a hot minute and all hell broke loose. We have cameras at all angels out there and when I tell you they were far away from each other and this was unprovoked by the puppy. Sparta went after the puppy and was trying to end him! I'm screaming and Sparta wasn't responding. ENOS IS OK, HE'S GOOD, thank God. I got Enos back in the house, looked him over and other than a bump and a swollen eye he was fine, scared ofcourse but fine. Sparta on the other hand was not. All of a sudden I didn't know my dog. He just fucking snapped. I called John home from work which I've never done in 15 yrs. I was shaking so bad I thought I was gonna pass out. I made sure Sparta was contained and he couldn't access any other animals. After I calmed down we had a serious conversation about options with him. The vet has spoke about the whole dementia thing and there was conversation about a brain tumor possible causing this explosive aggression. We talked about MRIs, CT scans, medication and isolation. None of which was an option. I couldn't fathom drugging my boy and isolating him. I had to think about the nightmare of him getting ahold of a person if this happened again or the kittens or the mini goats and I just can't....... John reviewed the security footage and it was horrible. Unprovoked in any way. I knew almost immediately I could never ever trust him again and what quality of life would he have kept behind doors or kept outside and hope he wouldn't jump the fence. From my soul I'm devastated. He was my boy, my heart, my buddy. The trip to the vet this morning was devastating but the silence in the truck on the way home and looking in my rear view mirror and he wasn't there was crushing. Thank you Guardians for your love and kind words of support. R.I.H. Sparta, mommy loves you so very much and I'm so sorry you got sick. I'll see you again sweet boy |