Find kitchen wall spoon fork

Hello.
I just started renting a place since the middle of this month. Me and my partner haven’t fully moved in yet as we have been trying to clean it on our days off. She also said she would have the place clean but was there cleaning it on the day she gave us the house keys, there was layers of dust on the ceiling and fireplace. We have found numerous bugs on many occasions (moths, huge and small spiders, beetles, now a wasp) which the landlord first denied. Then she agreed to spray the house, sprayed it from head to toe with some chemical and now the chemical left a really sticky mess everywhere. When I went there the day after she sprayed I saw more bugs. What are my rights concerning this?
Also, two days after she gave us the keys she entered the house without permission and left a key for the outside shed on our kitchen counter. Later found out the key didn’t even work and I have proof via email that she left it in the house. Would this be enough to get out of the tenancy?
I clearly made a huge mistake but want to find out my options and clearly move elsewhere.
I would consider assigning the place but she was extremely picky when letting us rent, so I feel she would be extremely difficult to find a new tenant.

Sweat dripped down Don Carmichel’s face, the sweltering air stank of sulfur. His ankle twisted in in the opposite direction, bits of bone were poking through his dungarees. He dragged himself toward the entrance, gravel cut into his hands. Sharp pain agonized his every move, the torn muscle in his leg screamed. He crawled toward door, he only to get out and seal the exit. It was supposed to have been a simple plan, but simple plans don’t succeed in the face of the enemy.
Donald Carmicheal was a private investigator just outside of Baltimore Maryland. He had grown tired of spying on unfaithful couples and answered an add in the hills of Pennsylvania. B&N Mining were in search of a good spy to infiltrate their workers. Whispers of a Union traveled and the mining company had no tolerance for a strike. The country was still reeling from the Battle of Blair Mountain a few years prior.
Don agreed to the assignment and began to work as a miner. The hours were long and hard in the dark coal mines. He would cough up black soot every night and his body ached. He overheard the fellow workers talk about being paid poorly and in company scrip. They would go to work injured because they couldn’t afford a doctor and most of them looked half starved. Don didn’t blame them for wanting better pay and it was hard for him not to take thier side, but he was hired to do a job for B&N.
The workers spoke of a rally lead by Stanly Collins, a member of the United Mine Workers. Stanly traveled and began unions in various mining towns around Pennslyvania and West Virginia. His voice was loud and charismatic, and within him the worn faces of the workers found hope .
Don reported this to the Higher Ups, and they assigned the private investigator with finding any dirt on Stanly. The man was clean, didn’t drink, didn’t so much as smoke, went to church and doted on his ten year old son. There was no talk of a wife, so Don figured the man was a widower.
The higher ups thought about killing Stanley in an accident, but that would make him a martyr and the workers would strike to spite B&N. No, they needed to create a distraction for Mr. Collins, a way to stop him in his tracks. Mr. Collins had a ten year old son, Caleb, that son was their advantage.
They asked Don to catch him and hide him in a mine shaft until . It would only be for a couple of days, and the boy would be unhurt. All he had to do was keep an eye on him, after Mr. Collins agreed to call off the strike his boy would be returned back to him unharmed, it was as simple as that.
The prospect didn’t sit well with Don, but who was he to argue with the Higher Ups, he’d seen how they handled defiance before. Getting fired and evicted would be the least of his problems if he were to disobey.
The Higher Ups told Stanly’s son Caleb worked as hurrier for the mine. He would load coal carts and help push them through narrow passages that grown men were too big to fit through. Caleb would report the horrible conditions back to his Papaw and his Papaw would run his mouth to the UMW. It wouldn’t be hard to find Caleb after a shift and catch him.
Don walked on over to where the hurriers worked, the shaft was so short that he had to walk bent over. He jumped as a mine cart sideswiped him, the small brat pushing it yelled out “ watch where you’re going mister.” Don didn’t pay him no mind, the whelp would grow bow legged and stooped, succumbing to black lung like the rest of his unwashed brethren.
Don was saving Caleb from a life of servitude. Even if he followed in his father’s footsteps and organized unions, how much better could the bowls of the earth be? There’d always be hard work and heavy coal, no union would change that.
He found Caleb with a group of other boys. Soot covering his face, only white sleeveless shirt and dungarees. A boy his age should be fishing or playing in the woods , not digging in no mine shaft. His father’s hypocrisy knew no bounds when it came to getting his agenda across. If Stanly Collins cared about his son, he would be in school, along with all the other children.
Don walked up to the boy and kneeled to his level. “Are you Caleb Collins?”
“Yes Sir,” said the boy. His voice sounded tired and older than his years.
“I have some bad news, you’re daddy has been hurt awful bad, and I need you to come with me.”
Instead of looking surprised, Caleb stared at him with deep black eyes. The stare made Don’s blood turn cold.
“It’s urgent, he…uh… he needs you now,” Don managed to stutter out, his tongue had turned to clay.
“Yes Sir,” was all the boy said.
Don’s stomach dropped in that moment and he almost reconsidered his plan. He took a deep breath. Donald Carmicheal wasn’t terrified of no ten year old. He was going to take him somewhere deep in the mine and hold him until his daddy agreed to negotiate with the Higher Ups.
As he led the boy deeper down the mine shaft Don’s uneasiness grew. He thought about quitting, telling boy the truth and letting him go back to work, hell, letting the boy leave the mine all together. But the higher ups would put his head on a pike if he even considered this to be an option.
“Where are ya taken me?” asked Caleb. His voice had gone flatter and his whole eyes had turned solid black for a second.
“It… It’s just a little further down the mine shaft, son.”
“I ain’t your son! My daddy works on the upper levels, why ain’t you bringing me there?”
“Y…You’re father was on a special project with us, please it’s just a little further-”
“No he ain’t , the owner’s of this here mine would never let him in on a higher project.”
“D... don’t make this hard for me, boy.”
“You have no idea who I am, do you sir?”
Don turned around and once again, Caleb’s eyes went coal black. Inky tendrils of shadow formed and went up the walls of the mine. Stone cracked and crumbled around them. The boy’s skin cracked and peeled into oozing sores as he crept towards him.
“What in hell are you?” Don began to run up the mineshaft, but the inky coils formed on the rocks around him, forming fissures and cracks. The air turned hot and stank of sulfur as the mine began to crumble underneath them.
“I think you already know.” Caleb’s voice turned flat and was so deep it made Don nauseous and uneasy. It was old scratch himself, coming to collect on his soul. He should have sided with Stanly and the miners. He could have found an assignment with the UMW and helped turn the situation on thier side. Helped them organize a strike so it gave them doctors and schools but now it was too little too late.
Caleb followed him , his tendrils grasping for Don through the stone. The child’s skin flaked off as oily tentacles grabbed at Don. The workers panicked and ran out toward the exit, causing a jam at the door, their screams echoing in the chamber the stone began to crumble.
“Let them go, this is between us, they don’t need to suffer, what would you’re daddy think-”
“My daddy? You mean my host.” With that the monster’s tendrils went out through the staircase, toppling it and the crowd to the depths below. As they screamed in terror a boulder fell smashing in on Don’s ankle. Waves of excruciating pain went through his body causing him to vomit. The smell of sulfur and half digested fried chicken was too much for him to bear, his lungs tightened for air. The staircase was gone, but a narrow path that led toward the exit, cool breeze exited the doorway, giving him a ray of hope.
Caleb slammed down blocking his exit. Inky, oily tendrils snaked around Don’s body and squeezed tight, the veins in Caleb’s forehead grew larger as Don’s life force leached away. His body weakened as his eyes closed for the final time. Half the workers managed to make it out alive, Stanly among them. Cries echoed from the outside as the mine collapsed in on itself.
In the weeks following the mine collapse, the B&N mine company negotiated with the United Mine Workers for a fair deal. Stanlhy Collins and his son Caleb quit the mining business and settled into the nearby village of Junction Maryland, where Stanly was elected sheriff. He was thankful to be one of the few that made it out of the mine alive.
Though he was unsure where his son came from, he never remembered ever having a wife. Whenever he thought to question the boy, he looked at him with solid black eyes, and Stanly always forgot the question. It was all well and fine , they would make peace in this small town.

So... my mom has never really been loving. My dad had/had PTSD. It is his way or the highway. My mom will straight up tell people "I learned to ignore him", "I never wanted another kid, I should've got my tubes tied after the first one, his dad is the only reason I didn't get an abortion". She will buy me things, and then when i'm telling her she is acting horribly yelling at me for something minimal (not writing a note in the cashapp for example) and then say "I wasn't treating you horribly when I bought you this thing earlier!!"
I don't remember the last time I got a hug from either one of my parents.
My parents never actually helped me get my license, they claim they "Tried to teach me!!" but got about 20 driving hours for me, refused to fill out the time sheets, and would yell and freak out at every mistake I made on the road. They bought me a barely driveable $900 grandam @ 18 after I was told i'd get a new car when I graduated (I am 22 and graduated in 2020) I was expecting like a decent condition 2007-2008 car that would reliably get me from point a to point b but was bought a 2002 wrecked grandam with hood latches due to deer wreck damage and struts so bad that the back end would slide out from under it on minimal potholes and tires that I had the fill back up daily to keep it off the ground. I had to eventually buy my own car (they never helped me fix it depaite my dad being a literal jet mechanic) and drive it back and forth from work illegally until I got good enough at driving to get my license, because it was apparently easier for my mom to continue driving me to work on her lunch break and picking me up from work at 7 then to spend a few weekends and hours after work some days with me preparing for a drivers test.
Both my mother and my dad would get physically aggressive and spank pretty excessively but not to the point where I was like "this is abuse". As I grew older and grew to be a bigger teenager it turned into them moreso actually trying to physically fight me, me running as to avoid a fight as they yelled things like "I'M GOING TO RIP YOUR F***ING HEAD OFF" and locking myself in my room or running around outside until they were no longer violently angry.
One time I got a full blown blender thrown at my shoulder as a kid because I didn't help my dad find his shoes when he was late to meet some of his work friends, he also in that instance chased me a quarter way down our street (thankfully I was like 16 5'10 and fast) before going home and cooling down.
One time he also threw a tape measure at my shin and I still have a mark in my shin bone from that.
Lots of promises that were never kept and were forgot about. "If you help me with this massive months long hard process I will buy you shing expensive thing" helps and never gets said thing but gets yelled at the whole time for not doing things "the right way"
My mom also called me ugly as a kid, told people in front of me (and I quote) "Yeah I was pissed when he came out with red hair, i don't like red heads!"
She would tell people I was a little bastard and would tell them the amount of adhd medication I was on and how it was enough for like 2 adults (i already started questioning why the hell I was on that amount of adhd medication in the first place, i was basically m37hed out on adderall and vyvanse and concerts as a 7-14 year okd kid)
One time she bought me a pokeball as a kid at walmart, and our way home I did something she didn't like and she grabbed the pokeball and chucked it out the window and bragged to people about it
One year my brother got a laptop and an ipod and some other stuff and ya boy got some action figures
My mom thrrows a fit that I don't "contribute in the house" or clean when I stick to my area of the house, don't use the kitchen or dishes (i have my own dishes I use and I eat out mainly so i don't have to deal with them) and don't created that messes that need to be cleaned up and I keep my areas of the house clean. I could probably go count 7 wrappers and 6 pop cans and 3 plates down on our kitchen bar right now and I do not spend any time in the kitchen but I am apparently supposed to clean that stuff up as well as do the dishes that I don't use.
My dad will say "Here i'll tell you what you need to do" and if I do anything other than agree with him he will say "well then you're f***int stupid"
My dad would get violently angry at you if there was a tiny piece of lettuce in his taco or anything but meat and cheese on his burger and if you laugh at him for how ridiculous he is reacting he redirects that anger and amplifies it towards you
My parents and brother would kinda gang up and do things that would "trigger" me and laugh and yell at me when I reacted badly.
I just want confirmation that this is narccisism. I've been looking for what to call my experience with my parents for a while and I think this is it.

We've called a pest company once but had no assurance they'd find the nest and the ants stopped showing up after some borax and sugar around some spots. Now a year later we have these big boys...oops. wish I took action. What's the best route or just get a pest company to do the whole works?
I trapped one and confirmed they chug warm water, borax and sugar. So thinking to set that all over my garage where I see them most (guessing nest is close).
Kicker is 3 years ago I found nest saw dust and terminix sold me on termites stations as "the ants don't eat wood they search for termites, get rid of the termites get rid of the ants". Was spoon fed bs I think.
https://imgur.com/a/YkgjMW6

So I've got this nice music man hd130, but I noticed that with a guitar plugged in, there will be an audible pop or click noise when you touch the strings (or any other exposed metal, like knobs or toggle switches. ) It only happens when you go from touching NO metal to touching something-- i.e. if your left hand is already on the strings, touching other metal components makes no noise. I'm no expert, but this seems like it might be a grounding issue, and I have a touchy history here, so before i go further, excuse a brief aside:
My very first amp was an old solid state Marshall 2x12 combo from the early 80s, and it was in my grandmother's basement. She had an old house without any 3 prong outlets, and although it did have a label stating, "This apparatus must be earthed," I had no idea what that meant or why it mattered as a 12 year old. So I did what any idiot would do and used a 2-3 prong adapter and just plugged it in. I would get constant (but thankfully VERY mild) electric shocks from the strings (or any exposed metal) resulting in a slight tingling, but never having used an amp or electric guitar before, I had no idea how dangerous this was. It was only when I remarked at the local music shop, "I guess that's why they call it 'electric guitar,' right?" that the employees made me aware of the situation and the not insignificant risk of electrocution. That's the first time I encountered the concept of 'grounding' (or being "earthed" for Brits.) I attached a wire from the metal ring of the 2 prong adapter to a cold water pipe and the shocks were gone.
Back to today. After noticing this "popping" noise, I discovered that while the Music Man is plugged into a power strip with 3 prong outlets, when i followed the power strip to the wall, it's going into a 2 prong receptacle with one of those same adapters, and nothing is attached to ground ring. Ruh-roh. I also noticed that there is a toggle switch on the back labeled "ground."
So I've got a few questions I'm hoping you folks might be able to answer: Do you think that this lack of a third ground prong is indeed the source of the popping? What does the "ground" switch on the back of the amp actually do? Considering it's not shocking me, but IS making that popping noise, just how dangerous is it to use like this? (My gut instinct says at the exact moment, it's unlikely to kill me or start a fire as is--the real danger is what would happen should there be any other fault or failure, at which point the danger would be extreme and immediate, and it would be too late. And with an old amp, that could happen any time... I'm not looking for permission to ignore the issue and keep playing, just trying to better understand what the risks are and how likely they are. [If a capacitor in the power supply goes, I'll suddenly have a short that goes to what SHOULD be 'ground ' but since there's no return path for the current, suddenly all those metal knobs on the guitar are energized and My body will provide the return path as soon as I touch it?] Since there are no accessible 3 prong outlets in this area of the apartment (and this time, I'm not in a basement close to a cold water pipe that goes fairly directly to the LITERAL ground, but rather on the 3rd floor with multiple other tenants in the units below), what are my options?
There is a heavy, metal [cast iron?] hot water radiator near by, but I doubt it's tied to ground like cold water pipes usually are, so I think that's out... I could run a really long (30ft) wire along the ceiling into the kitchen and catch the cold water pipe.... but being on the 3rd floor with tenants below, I'm worried that (If for some reason there's a problem with the connection to true Earth ground), I could electrify the whole plumbing and electrocute my neighbors when they touch their sink... I i think and hope that's very unlikely, but I don't know...
Please folks-- give me your insight and advice! I

Okay, this is a twofer request. Maybe morefer. I dunno yet.
Okay, I'm seeking a mod that allows me to rearrange or reorganize or remove parts of my kitchen furniture? Either as an upgrade/house modification from Robin (preferably paid. adding a whole room for free in an instant? girl, getchoo your coin. don't do work for free!) that can remove the left line of counters, and maybe move the things next to the fridge? Move the fridge too?
I know there's retexture mods, and I thought there used to be a 'build your own kitchen' mod (did I hallucinate that?) but nothing I can find for this.

Next, is there something that provides modular countertops? Along the left side and beside the fridge? Extending that, is there something that provides modular FUNCTIONAL cupboards/countertops so that they can work as cooking connected storage without having to have chests/mini fridges everywhere?

Am i just asking for too much? I asked about this before 1.6 (i think?) but I noticed some packs for furniture framework being posted and thought maybe some core coding got rewhozits'd or something.
This will probably be my very small stardew hill to die on, I apologize for asking twice. Or if i'm asking for something obnoxiously expectant of when it comes to being a mod user and not a maker. I dunno the etiquette of the mod community yet.
I just am tired of looking at the same pattern of kitchens in everyone's adorable designs and retextures.

Squirmy sounds coming from behind wall in kitchen, this is a exterior wall. Just below this is a dishwasher which I got done running about 10 hours before I noticed the sound. So I don't think that would have anything to do with it. Also. The sounds are near a electrical outlet.
Edit: tried to upload a video I just took. But couldn't get it to attach.
Edit edit: if it helps. The sounds kinda sounds like a mix between baby birds chirping and those rubber black boots episode off spongbob.

I knew homeownership would come with new issues and responsibilities but I wasn't prepared for so much so soon.
Home inspection revealed a few things like some electrical repair, some mold under the kitchen sink, evidence of rodents and disrepair in the crawlspace, and some siding that needs to be replaced - all of which we budgeted for.
But I wasn't prepared for hidden mold behind the cabinets and in the fridge, having to replace the washer and dryer right away, rodents in the wall, corroded toilet flanges, etc etc on the ever-growing list. Oh yeah and the yard that looked ok in late winter but is already overrun with every type of toxic, invasive plant known to man.
I'm already exhausted and out of "fix it" funds - even for the diy stuff. We've already spent about $25k and haven't even touched things like the siding - much less the stuff we wanted/planned.
And time will tell how much damage the rats in the wall do before we can tackle that issue.
I never had these kind of issues in our rental, so I wasn't prepared to have a barrage of issues all within the first couple months. Is this just how it is? Am I terribly unlucky? Did I buy a dud?
Really hoping we're reaching the end of the surprises.

I moved into an apartment recently and I'm trying to find good stands / storage for my skimboards. Does anyone have to store some boards in a limited space? Got any suggestions?
I wouldn't mind having wall hangers for them to be on display when they're not in use, but just looking for suggestions.

I was just thinking about how my grandmother has been treating me. She hints at accusing me of being a psycho murderer. It’s all because my uncle is in her ear and taking bad about me and painting me in a bad light as revenge for calling out their shitty behaviour. A few months ago I was visiting them (my uncle often sleeps at his moms/my grandmothers house for some reason) and he was yelling about how his boss isn’t paying him enough money and saying that he wants to go and take his gun out and threaten him or maybe even kill him. This isn’t the first time he’s done this either. He’s ranted about killing others before too, or just threatening them by pulling his gun out and slamming it on their desk to show that he means business or something. This time in particular I watched him pace his moms kitchen and intimidate his mom into being kind of quiet while she cooked dinner for us. I thought “oh maybe after he eats he’ll calm down”. But nope, I watched him eat a plate of food and then push it away from him like a spoiled child, and then continue talking that way. I contacted my grandmother afterwards and mentioned this stuff and she said “oh he’s just mad because his pay is coming in late and he’s really broke right now” My grandmother is an enabler. It’s up to her children to decide to grow up on their if thats what they want, otherwise she’ll always be there to enable them and their bad behaviour. The next week I went over and was upset about some of the people who harmed me in my life. My uncle tells me “I find the best way to deal with these kinds of people is to just kill then with kindness. Just be nice to them and they won’t know what to do” and I told him I didn’t want to hear any of that from him because just last week he was yelling about killing people. He kinda looked away from me and looked at his mom with his head down and said “only some people…”
Now whenever I talk to my gram she hints that she doesn’t want anyone in her family to ever kill anyone and one time she brought up hannibal lecter to me, almost as if she was insinuating that I’m a sick psychopath like him. I’m sure this is because my uncle is telling her stuff like that he thinks I’m a psycho or something. He’s just mad because I called out his bullshit. And I said that his mom is an enabler. So it’s like he’s trying his best to mess with me.
He already ruined the relationship with me and my gram by getting jealous all the time. We were cooking great meals last year and it pissed him off and he got really jealous. He woukd downplay our dishes that we made and then when he tried copying me I watched him yell at his mom and kick her out of her own kitchen so that he could cook a really shitty macaroni and hamburg dish. He’s an imbecile. But my gram is too cenile to see through any of this.
I have a feeling that he’s going to try to sabotage my career if it starts taking off. In which case I’m going to go to the police and tell them that he’s a dangerous guy and shouldn’t be allowed to have any weapons. And I’ll tell his boss that he was talking about killing him. I know how it sounds, your probably thinking that I should do that now anyways. But I think he’s just going to flip out and go psycho if I do that, and it might bother my grandmother. But maybe thats the right thing to do. Maybe I could somehow put in an anonymous tip, telling them how he’s been acting adn to warn his boss that someones making threats to his life.
I feel like talking to my gram and saying that I won’t be talking to her from now on for tge rest of her life because of how she’s been treating me and accusing me of everything and ony listening to my uncle. She probably won’t care. But I feel like telling her how my uncle has been acting and warning her that if he does anything to mess with me and my future then I’m going straight to the police and his boss and telling them everything.

My planned layout!
Hi all! I recently upgraded to a queen size bed as the first step in a room revamp. I've got a lot of plans, but the room itself is a little weird. It has two windows on the back wall, two sliding closets on the right, and a bathroom. Because three of the walls all have structural bits to them, it makes it difficult to plan out with what I want to have vs. what is reasonable to fit. In the image, the bed and one of the bookshelves are the only things that are locked in, the nordli bedframe and the billy bookcase respectively from Ikea. My current desk setup is much smaller, but pictured are the measurements for a dual L shape desk setup to have a working space and a fun space. I play a lot on my computer, so having a larger desk has been a dream (one that could one day hopefully hold a nice sized ultrawide monitor). Because I have so many books and random garbage I've collected over the years, I added a second bookshelf, though I would love one or two more if they fit.
This was my plan for a while, maximizing space with a bedframe/storage combo and keeping much of the free wall for my computer desk setup. However, I understand positioning the bed facing the door is considered very bad luck, and I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with a solution to this issue. As I mentioned, one shelf and the bedframe are the only two things required here, as I can always find another desk solution, but I was wondering if there were any tips for maximizing the space here. Or, if I stuck with this layout, how can I "protect" myself from that bad energy? I'm rather superstitious when it comes to these things, but maybe I'm just crazy. Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to read and help!

My best friend's boyfriend always looks at me in a way that feels uncomfortable. And when I say uncomfortable, I mean he seems to undress me with his eyes. I find it hard to be alone with him for long because I know we might end up crossing a line.
I went to stay at her house for the weekend, and her boyfriend was also there. She left to get some things from the mall, and I sensed that might lead to trouble. While I was in the kitchen doing dishes, he came in and pretended he needed some water. He got so close behind me that I could feel his excitement pressed against me. He stood there moving just his hips while his hands were around me. I could tell he wanted to take things further, but then his girlfriend came back unexpectedly and said she forgot her card, asking me to come with her to the mall. I know he’ll be back for more 😜
Navigating this situation is tricky, and I’m not sure what to do next. It feels like a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.

Hey there all :D I apologize In advance if there is something that doesn't fit the rules. Please let me know and I'll adjust or delete from my post or my post accordingly. Please tell me if this even belongs here, I'm just spooked, and don't know who to ask or where to go with this.
Long Post Warning
I just woke up from a dream where I got cursed in it. I'm thinking it's a warning,maybe form the universe and my soul, and I want to make sure what I'm up against here. It's a dream about making a ritual targeting me.
I'm describing the dream. I told every detail I that I can remember, as details in dreams can mean a lot, and that maybe, this can be traced to some kind of a ritual I'm unaware of:
I was in a different house from where I live right now, living with my parents. They were planning a trip, packing stuff over the course of a couple of days, and didn't tell em anything. At the day they left, I woke up and saw my last ex standing in front of me, but I was like in a closet, seeing her in a different room in a different house.
She looked at me at like a surprise shock, also somewhat happy about it. We had an exchange of words which I do not remember, just that it felt very obvious she did something REALLY bad, and now laughing in my face and hiding it. Like she executed a malicious, villainous plan. She talked in a similar manner in our exchange. I then I woke up, sitting in a wooden chair in what was my room in the dream. There was an old metal bucket (not rusted, but just faded metal without shine), that had in it every icky thing imaginable, from worms and flees and parasites to molds and all sorts of stuff. I then tried my best to get out fo that room, brushing off anything that tried to burrow into my skinn. There were these kinds of buckets all over the house. In my parent's room, one of the coat closets, what was supposed to be my sister's room, very strategically placed. I then started to have a really bad feeling that things just won't go right, like I sometimes get. Like a steady burden of that feeling. Since that feeling, when I tried to caly parents, my gf or sister for help, the phones' network won't work every time I placed a call. Then, it went completely blacknwhen I still tried to make a call. Like it's bricked (non-functionin completely), and then turned back on immediately when I stopped trying (let go of the intention to call). It ehn tried to go down the stairs, the phone somehow fell between the stairs (floating, ascending stairs), rolled in the gap, then fell and broke it's screen (with a case on!). When I picked it up, it looked like a hammer went on it. The glass was broken shut. I then tried to go to the kitchen, spreading glass everywhere, but I wasn't injured. I tried to find tools to clean the house after tossing these bucket, not only nothing in cupboards and drawers, they were completely missing! Like my parents took them along with the contents or something. I had the question if they might have moved and kept me there, but there were valuable items in the house still remaining, so it wasn't that (my parents would never move without valuables). Then, I knew I needed to find her, or my current gf, or a friend of theirs that I knew in the dream previously and fell out fo touch with, that I felt was somehow connected to it. I knew they (the ex and this friend, and maybe more people) schemed something which I don't know the magnitude of it's negativity and darkness. I then went to visit my sister to warn her. She was just getting ready to see an employer for a job interview, and just when the employer went out of her office so summon my sister in, I just arrived, asking to speak urgently. My sister agreed, but then she got pull by someone along the way in finding a private room to discuss, and this friend (he's not someone I know irl) went next to me, glaring at me with a malicious grin and rage. I then started chasing him. He got into an elevator and called someone on his phone. The more I got away from the elevator, the door kept open. The more I ran towards him, they got more shut. Then I ran down the stairs, which was only made out of laundry dry lines (where you put up your laundry) instead of stairs, and some lines were even missing. I held a grocery store with I think milk or butter and a carton of 6 eggs. I almost fell a few stories to the ground on one of these missing stairs, and, barely managing to grab to the rail, obviously breaking at least one egg, as I saw it broken and leaking from the carton. I then felt completely exhausted, also drained by this curse, like it's meant so I'll delay in climbing back up and then continue moving down JUST enough (or even a lot) for him to get away, no matter what I would do. I just knew I gotta get down to ground floor and catch him, but was completely out of energy, took a while to even pull myself out of grabbing the rail and climbing back up in order to not fall a few stories to the floor. I heard him talking on his phone the whole way, probably with an accomplice to this scheme, even though he wasn't near me. I then woke up I think. It was like everything went south.
Idk if it's my ex that did something like that in the past, if my gf did it and sending me after the ex as projection, or who to trust about this at all.
For context: I'll add that I'm a channeler on several senses, including auditory intuition and clairvoyance (visions). Usually the visions come at day time, but I do take notice to my dreams as well. Me and my gf are both channelers, she does this for a living reading oracle cards and tarot, among other things. We also dealt with spells before, knowing my ex did put a spell on me in the past (love spell), and that we used an established expert to do a cleanse ceremony and protection from my ex, which had an expiry date I think, a long time ago. Things did get better after that ceremony, and still. Also, I've dealt with having an energetic parasite around that time being cleansed In a black candle cleaning ceremony. My gf also got a lot of times that she has an evil eye on her, even in daily messages. I also know there was (or still is) a blockage on my wealth and of living indepently.
With this context, idk if my gf did it, or my ex, or what's going on. Only I had the feeling in my dream that my ex did it, and wondered about my gf if she did it, or is in on it. I also got energetic parasite from my ex once, and in general very susceptible to energies as an empath.
Questions: 1. What can this be? Could the dream be real in some way and a warning? Or it's just a scare from my mind? 2. Do you recognize anything from this? Is it something that can be real? 3. What should I do?
Apologies for such a long post, I don't know what's relevant as important details from this, considering even one detail can mean a lot in a dream.
If you read through it, I thank you deeply, as I feel lost with it and completely spooked, and not knowing who to trust right now.

Hi there. The past couple years have been a rollercoaster for me due to chronic illness (doing fine now), and I still find myself struggling to overcome isolation. I’m really glad I found this community! My last cuddle buddy and I grew apart a few weeks ago, and I’m missing the comfort/healing that comes with holding someone and deeply connecting with no expectations of anything more.
I enjoy deep and wandering conversations and can spend hours discussing all kinds of things, but I also enjoy comfortable silences very much. I’m 5’10”, average build, clean, decent looking, and I’ve been told I’m a super safe feeling and comforting cuddler. Before I got sick, I was in a wonderful long-term relationship, so you could say I’m well-trained. Human touch still helps me recharge and feel grounded, but I’m not ready for more right now, so you see my dilemma.
I’m nerdy, emotionally intelligent, soft-spoken, and mostly a homebody. I work in tech from home and live alone in downtown Austin. I can host, but I’d prefer not to since I spend so much time here already. I don’t need much if you invite me over — I’m perfectly happy just cuddling up and watching TV or listening to music or telling each other about our days and thoughts. I’m definitely 420 friendly, and that would be a plus in my book. Overnight cuddles would be amazing — spooning all night is so fulfilling for me.
I’d prefer someone who can hang out at least once per twice every week. If you’re open to going out too, I’d love checking out artsy events, dining out, and going on gentle walks along the lake or around the neighborhood together. I’m also into the wellness community like guided meditations, sound baths, authentic relating, etc. I find it easier to go to things with someone else, and maybe you’re the same.
I have ADHD and I’m recovering from depression and PTSD, so I’m very understanding of those with similar experiences. In fact, if you’re neurodivergent or have struggled with mental illness, we might get along better. My expectations: no yelling or hurtful behavior ever, open and honest communication always, you are 35 or under, and you genuinely love giving and receiving affection.
If this sounds like you and you’re interested in sharing some cozy, platonic time together, please send me a message with a bit about yourself. Let’s create a warm and comforting space for each other and see where it takes us.
Don’t be shy!

Hello all!
I am struggling to find a starting point in my projects. I want to get back into flight sim again, DCS, and I was always annoyed by the things that needed to be pressed while I was flying. It meant taking my hand off the stick, and if in combat, means no win. It’s also just convenient. Anyway, I want to make clean devices. Make them with PCBs. Things like the F16 ICP and MFDS. My big thing is that these things WILL require button matrices. There are just so many buttons and whenever I DIY something, my goal is to minimize cost to the MAX.
Now, with PCBs. It takes about 2 weeks to get to my house. I’m worried even if I make ONE mistake, that increases the amount of time i am unable to use it for another 2 weeks. Of course i would love to buy a preexisting product, but I mean come on. $300+ for an ICP is INSANE.
Anyways. I wanted to learn design. How I can incorporate PCBs into preexisting designs or how I can design these things to my liking while keeping structure and cleanliness in mind. I see a lot of people on here making really advanced things. For example, the F16 ICP knobs that someone made using Hall effect sensors was just so cool, but seemed like he had to go through college to learn. And another one. The guy that had made a side mounted F16 TQS that had the rail guide built inside his little bearing that was also liftable for the detente and everything. I just want to know how I can get there, so that I can make all these things I’m wanting to make.
Right now, there just seems to be a wall.

First some context: I live in an apartment unit in a rowhouse in Philly. The building is three floors and basement, my unit is on the first floor and basement level. Our bedrooms are on ground level first floor and the basement level of our unit houses our kitchen and living room. The HVAC system is also in the basement. The two upstairs units do not have access to HVAC, it only cools our apartment.
Back in November, I smelled a nail polish/nail salon smell late at night flood into the apartment vents. It was in every room. I didn’t know what to do so I shut off the heat and went to bed. Smell was gone next morning and I kinda just ignored it.
Months later in March, the smell returns. We again shut off the air and it didn’t return for at least a week. Next time it returned, we tell landlord. HVAC guy cannot find anything wrong with the system inside the apartment. He cleans air filter. The smell comes back again. We had air duct cleaners come in to clean the ducts and still found nothing. The only thing they have yet to check is the condenser outside. Could this be the problem?
Please help I am desperate. We don’t know if this smell is harmful and I have a cat in the apartment and it’s 85 degrees out.

i'm working on a novel and would like to know if anyone could tell me any improvements i could make to the first chapter and prologue
Prologue
The day had started the same way it had for the past two years. The only difference was that I was going home. The hallway was crowded with people walking to and from their classes. Everyone was crowded next to each other so the halls were making the area feel claustrophobic. All the people talking mixed with the summer heat made me feel like I was locked in a sauna. I walked with Preston to the last class we would ever have together and as usual he was smiling. I never got why he always smiled even in situations where people should be sad he still smiled. He knew what today meant for me and he tried to keep light of the situation. I kept my head down away from what was ahead of me. My mind was too clouded about returning to see my family to notice anything in front of me. I walked into another student. It felt like I had walked into a wall. I knew immediately I had walked into tree. I stumble onto the ground and the commotion around me slows down to make room for us. He turned his bulky body around and apologized profusely without saying a word even though I had walked into him. He helped me off of the ground before hurrying down the hall.
“Alexandria, are you doing okay?” Preston said he had tilted his body downward so I had to look down to look him in his eyes. The way he was standing made him look like an idiot but he didn't seem to care. The way he acted made me laugh, which caused his smile to widen.
“I'm doing fine, just got lost in my head.”
“Thinking about how you’ll leave soon,” he said
“Was it that obvious?” He was the only person I told about me being an exchange student. I came to spend high school in Newkinawa and he was the only person I ever hung out with.
“I see what you mean,” he said “Newkinawa is a beautiful place with beautiful people to live in it…myself included”
“You wish,” I say with a smile we continue walking through the hallway “I'm just not excited to go back yet”
After I say that his smile grows wider “So you will miss me after all”
“I wouldn't say that much” I responded whilst smiling.
We had made it to our last class only to see it closed with a sign labeled “Uma incident” Uma was a student known for messing with the chemistry lab and destroying school property in the process. I've never actually met her but Preston says “She's a little weird but still nice”
“Guess class is canceled for today,” Preston remarked with a smile “Wanna go out to the court till the bell rings.”
“Sure let's go” I respond
The place we ate every day was outside. It used to be a tennis court before I moved in. Now they put trees and flowers all over the place. Preston really liked the blue color of the flowers but it just never clicked for me. I look over at Preston and he's staring up at the sky. There are a number of clouds in almost enough to block the sun but it still pokes its rays through and lands on Preston's face. The clouds swim in front of the sun till they block out the sun's light. Preston faces towards me.
“I'm gonna miss you Alexandria” he says
“You know you can just call me Alex,” I replied. I start to smile again. “I'll miss you too!" He smiles toward me again as we get up to leave as the clouds start to clump together and rain slowly falls. As we're walking back to the school there's a loud tearing sound followed by screams as the ground shakes.
The ground tears itself apart as the dirt and stone erupt from the ground. The sky blackens and a pale blue light escapes the earth. Then creatures erupt from the ground in a violent ejection from the earth creating a white pillar diffusing as they reach higher in the air. Some are clawing their way out of the cracks like maggots out of a corpse. People are swept into the updraft screaming for their lives.
The creatures descend like a tidal wave and tear apart any people caught in their path. They storm out of the crack in hundreds as more cracks in the earth form. Me and Preston started running away as people were screaming behind us. A girl running next to us has her legs slashed by a creature. The monster begins to tear open her chest as she chokes on her own blood. The monster shovels her lungs and innards into its decrepit mouth. Me and Preston keep running until we're met at the entrance of the school and we catch the attention of a monster as it begins to savagely rush toward us. The monster resembles ghosts my father told me about. But this one looks monstrously horrific. It floats in the air and opens its mouth so wide it nearly replaces its entire torso; its jaws hold savage teeth each the same old gray color of its body. Its eyes glow a rotten yellow color through the dark. It stretches out its arms showing its giant hands and claws like fingers. It swipes at us leaving a giant claw mark on the door behind us but Preston ducks my body down to avoid the attack. We run around it as the monster swaps its focus to another bystander. Screaming past us. Me and Preston run into the parking lot as people scream around us. We hide next to a car.
“What the hell is happening!?” I yell to Preston. More of the creatures fly over us and swoop down to people like vultures on roadkill devouring the fleeing people.
Preston starts to breathe heavily ”we need to get out of here and someplace safer”. As we were talking one of the monster phases through the car we were hiding next to forcing us to run into the street.
“Lets go to your house till things cool down” i say to Preston through panted breaths
“Wait couldn't we head to your house instead” Preston says.
“Why would that matter your house is closer anyways” i respond
“But-” Preston is interrupted by two creatures swooping above us to grab another person. The two monsters begin to pull the person apart while he writhes in pain before having his flesh be torn in half and having his organs be devoured.
“Come on lets go!!” I say as I grab his hand and run even faster.
By the time we reach Preston's house any living person is gone. On the street are just corpses laying torn and mutilated on the roads and sidewalk. The air in the neighborhood feels cold despite the season being summer. When I walk down the street I can still hear the occasional horrific wail the monsters give off. We move closer to Preston's house and I can see him sweating. He looked more worried than before when the creatures were chasing us and he kept darting his eyes away from his home.
“Preston, are you feeling okay?” he doesn't respond to my question and keeps darting his eyes. He walks slowly behind me and as I reach for the door handle and when I touch it it feels nearly freezing. I wrap my hoodie around my hand and slowly open the door. The house is quiet so me and Preston creep further into his house. The inside is cold and damp as if we were locked in a freezer. The further we move into the house the louder a subtle chewing sound is heard.
“It sounds like rats are eating a dead cow over there” I whisper. Preston continues to stay silent behind me. We slowly walk closer towards the kitchen and the sound gets louder and louder and louder until we reach the room.
We're met with a rancid smell of vomit and blood. My blood starts to run cold and every instinct in my body is telling me to run. I can feel Preston breathing get heavier as we get closer. We turn the corner and see Preston's mom lying on the ground dead with one of the creatures hunched over slurping her intestines. The sight causes me to vomit alerting the monster to our presence. The creature turns around and its mouth turns into a mortifying grin as it flies into Preston's moms body. The corpse begins to rise and spur splashing blood over the kitchen. When the corpse stops spasming it picks itself up from the ground and with glazed over eyes it holds its intestines in its hand and gives us the same grin it did when it was outside her body. The possessed corpse lunges at me and starts to chase me around the kitchen. The body is running into the walls and cabinets spraying its blood and other loose organs around the area as I'm avoiding its assault. The corpse leans over and ejects one of its loose intestines towards me, wrapping me in it. It pulls me towards it so fast I'm flung towards the ground. The corpse limbers over to me and raises its free hand aiming for my head. The creature's deranged smile causes the corpse’s cheeks to tear apart. It places both of its bloodied and demented hands on my face and starts to press my skull into the ground. I struggle to breathe. The room starts to get dark and blood escapes my head.
Until Preston jumps on top of his mothers corpse with a kitchen knife and repeatedly stabs it in the head. The possessed body tries to shake him off but he keeps stabbing, blood gets in on his face and tears start to escape his eyes. The creature violently ejects from the corpse's mouth causing her head to nearly explode and Preston stops stabbing the body. The body falls over in a splash of blood and organs. The monster leaves phasing through the roof leaving Preston crying over his mother's body. As the blood mixes with the tears he collapses to his knees crying. I walk over and hug him as the air around us turns bitter and the chill of death leaves the room and us with it.
Chapter 1 Eclipse
It's been 2 months since the apocalypse started. We've kept ourselves alive by looting grocery stores and houses, we hide from the creatures as we have no way to fight back against them. Preston came up with the idea to call them glanter’s. He’s looking better since we left his family home but I can tell something is wrong with him that he's not telling me. Everytime I ask him about it he tells me it's no big deal. I asked him earlier today and he just told me
“don't worry about it, I'm over it” without even looking at me. Now we're walking through the street and I'm walking behind Preston, I can barely see his head past the giant bag we're both carrying on our backs we use to carry supplies. I look up at the sky and it's still pitch black except for the moon giving us any amount of light. Preston turns around to face me.
“Let's check out that house, it might have some cool stuff in it” he points to a white house to our right. The house is a two story building with steps leading to the front door. There's a generator poking out from the backyard. The driveway is empty save for a couple of dried blood stains and tire marks. It's similar to the other houses in the neighborhood except for a couple broken windows.
“Sure why not” We head over to the house and I see something shining on the side of the house in the corner of my eye. I turn my head to look at it closer but it quickly disappears before I can see it clearly.
“Probably squirrel or something” I mumble to myself. Preston walks up the stairs to the house and I walk up the steps behind him as a breeze blows past my face. Preston tries to turn the door knob but the door is locked. I start to pull out a lockpick I grabbed at the store earlier. I motion towards Preston to move out of the way as I kneel down to pick the lock. It takes me a couple of minutes to unlock the door so I walk inside the house and Preston follows behind me while closing and locking the door. The doorway of the house leads to a dark room so I take a flashlight out of my bag to illuminate the area. Were put into the living room and bookshelves are on the walls and a large TV sat in front of a large black couch with smaller chairs surrounding it. Dust is covering every surface of the room and spiderwebs litter the corners of the walls. The area smells like moth balls and there's a lack of blood anywhere nearby.
“Guess the owners got out before the Glanter’s got in, '' I say to Preston. When he doesn't respond I turn around and he's already looking further into the house. When I find him he's managed to find a flight of stairs that lead to a lower portion of the house.
“I'll check on him later,” I think to myself as I headed towards the kitchen to see if we could restock on food. I walk past a bedroom and remark on how childish it looked. The walls were painted with blue and green stripes and a bunk bed sat on the right wall. There's a chest at the foot of the bed so I walk over and lift the top off of it. The box is layered with children's toys, a multitude of dolls, bears, and figures all jut out of the box. I notice a small robot toy and inspect it in my hands.
The cold metal makes my hand shiver and the sharp body shape makes the robot bigger than my hand. There's red lining around the robot's buttons surrounded by the cold gray of the robot's “skin”. It reminds me of a toy my little brother had. My heart feels heavy as I worry about what happened to my family. If they're alive, dead, or worse…possessed. The thoughts send a chill down my spine but I push them aside for now. I put the toy in my bag and exit the bedroom.
I can see the kitchen is down the hallway so I walk down the hall and enter. The kitchen is pretty clean except for a couple of dishes in the sink and the dust. There's a table seated for 3 people in the center of the room. I start opening the cabinets in search for any food or water. There's boxes of cereal leftover on top of shelves and a mix of chip bags and cookies in neat boxes stationed in the cabinets.
“Score,” I say to myself as I begin to put the snacks into my bag. When the cabinets are empty I look inside the fridge. The inside of the fridge ran out of power so most of the food inside is rotted. There are a couple of bottles of water in the front so I shove those in my bag. There's also a bag of oranges that still seem to be healthy in the back. I grab them and toss them on the table. There's rotten sandwich meat hidden in the drawer of the fridge.it smells like a dumpster outside of a butcher shop. I wrinkle my nose at the smell. I look around the kitchen for any bread with no luck.
I continue to look through the fridge until I hear Preston scream from another room. Immediately I bolt out of the kitchen leaving my bag behind and run towards the lower part of the house. I run down the stairs and nearly trip on the steps. The stairs lead to a big room. There are posters to tv shows and movies I don't recognize. The walls are painted black and there's a bear skin rug on the floor. I notice Preston standing next to a really big TV hyperventilating. I walk over to him and ask him.
“Are you ok? What happened?”
He talks through deep breaths “I… saw a… spider.”
“What?!” I respond in confusion.
“It was really big and I had jumped at my face”
“Sure it was.” I say while laughing “Let's go upstairs there's some food in the fridge we can eat”
“Wait, I think you should check this out.” He says while pointing towards one of the walls. I grab Preston's flashlight off the floor and face it towards the wall. Hanging halfway off the wall is a large map labeled Newkiwana scavenger hunt of 76.
“I think we should take it,” Preston says “You can read a map right?”
“A little but I'm not the best at it,” I say to him “can you read a map?”
“it shouldn’t be too hard it’s mainly pictures any way I'm sure I can figure it out”
I walk over to the wall where the map is hung there are trophies covering tables and shelved in their own personal cases one of them reads “1st place 100-meter swimming competition for 1986 Zack Hemmingway” and another one reads “2nd place 100-meter swimming competition for 1989 Zack Hemmingway”
“Guess this guy really liked swimming,” Preston remarks while staring at a wall of newspaper clippings. All of them are about the same person in swimming competitions. All labeled different things like “a new record for Zack “the dolphin” Hemmingway”,
‘Zach Hemmingway our star plans for the future” all the newspapers are about this kind he has paler skin and a bulky enough build to swim pretty well. Most of the pictures have him coming out of the water in a pool, his long black hair soaked and sitting at his shoulders. Another one has him sitting at a desk over a pile of books and his hair in a knot , “vicious wipeout ends the Dolphins career”, and “ex-swim champ Zack Hemmingway found in a drunken stupor outside strip club.
“Everyone has their own hobbies I guess,” I say as I take the map off of the wall and fold it up. “Sucks what happened to Zack though” I walked over to Preston’s bag and put the rolled map in one of the pockets. I walk back up the stairs and Preston grabs his bag and follows behind me.
We make our way towards the kitchen and Preston starts looking through the fridge for anything to eat. I grab an orange from the table and throw it at his head. The fruit bounces off his head and rolls on the floor. He turns around and grabs the fruit from the floor
“Why did you throw an orange at me?”
“It's the only food we have unless you plan on eating spoiled a sandwich“ He starts to peel it while walking towards the table. We both take a seat and start to eat the oranges from the bag. He plants his feet on top of the table and bites into the fully peeled orange. I grab a water bottle from a bag and start to drink from it as Preston says.
“I saw a dvd player in that man cave downstairs we could watch a movie if it still has power”
“Sure it could be fun.” Me and Preston spend the rest of our time eating until the bag of oranges is emptied and we head back downstairs. Preston grabs the DVD player from under the table and blows the dust off the top of it; he plugs it into the wall as I plop myself onto the couch. He plugs the DVD player into the TV and sits on the recliner next to me. He presses a few buttons on the remote and the TV lights up. I squint my eyes at how bright it is. It's the most amount of light I've seen that didn't come from a flashlight. I notice there's a box filled with DVDs. I pull the box over towards me. I ruffle through the box and see movies like Silence of the Lambs, Terminator 2, and Home alone.
“Dude some of these came out just before the world turned inside out” I say to him.
“Really? Let's play one.” He responds. I toss him Terminator 2 and he puts it into the DVD player.
We spend the next couple hours watching movies and laughing together. It's some of our only moments of peace we’ve had since the end of the world and to me it's the most fun I've had yet. We're putting in the next DVD when there's a loud crash outside and the TV shuts off. Preston goes behind it to see if it's still plugged in.
“I think the generator outside is busted” i say
“It seems that way” Preston replies while backing away from the tv” i'm gonna go check it out”
“Don't worry I got it” I say as I hop out of my chair. Preston waves goodbye as I head up the stairs. I make my way back through the hallway leading to the living room and front door. I reach the door and start to turn the knob. I open the door wide as a car speeds down the street. I step out of the door to see what had happened when I hear the screech of a glanter. It cuts through the sky like an unholy opera singer. A group of them fly by and chase the car as I rush back inside the house. I slam the door shut and look through the window as I see a couple of smaller glanters grab and shake the car violently looking for the driver. They tear at it, ripping off doors and breaking the windows. The driver screams as the seats cover with blood and he's ripped out of the car as multiple smaller glanters tear and bite off parts of his body like piranha's until his body is completely devoured. I run back to the man cave to warn Preston about what had happened. I spot him laying in his chair spinning a DVD disc on his finger.
“It's not safe outside right now”
“Why not?
“There's glanter's outside, they just ate a dude in his car”
“Did they see you come inside?”
“I don't think so , they flew off before I went inside.”
“well we're not dead so I'm gonna say they didn't see you. But let's stay here for a couple more hours just to be safe”
“Sounds good i'm gonna go find the master bedroom.” I start to walk back up the stairs to the house
“ Hold on why do you get the master bedroom” Preston says while walking after me.
“Because I'm gonna find it first” I say as I start to run to find the bedroom. He chases after me in pursuit of the bedroom. Me and Preston run around the house looking for the master bedroom. We look through room after room finding closets, the garage, a bathroom and a door leading to a balcony in the back of the house. I manage to run into the bedroom and yell out to Preston.``Found it!!”
He comes walking into the room breathing heavily from the running. We both check out the room. The walls are painted a cream yellow and the bed takes up most of the room's center. The bed has burgundy sheets poking out from its bottom and a quilt with multi-colored floral designs lay sprawled out on top of it. There's a wardrobe built into the wall and a black leather couch sits comfortably on the left wall.
“Dibs on the bed” I say as I jump on top of it. I stretch out on top of the quilt and search for a comfortable part to sleep in.
“Where am I supposed to sleep then?” Preston complains
“You can sleep on the couch it looks soft enough” I respond while pointing towards the couch “I saw some spare blankets in one of the closets”
“Alright i’ll be right back” he mumbles to himself “why do i always get the couch”
“ I'll be right here if you need me,” i call after him. I sit up on the bed and start to look around the room more. I notice the entrance to the wardrobe is cracked open slightly. I hop out of the bed and grab a flashlight from my bag as I walk into the wardrobe. I turn on my flashlight and stare in awe at how many clothes are in there. The room is only half as big as the bedroom but it's still bigger than any closet I've ever had. The wardrobe is full of shirts, dresses, pants, and shoes for men and women. I immediately start to look through the shoes to see if any fit my size. I throw a pair of black high heels behind me as Preston finds me in the wardrobe. He looks around before asking me.
“What are you doing?”
“Finding a new pair of clothes to wear cause I've been wearing the same pair of jeans for waaaaay too long”
“Fair enough. Is there any guy stuff in there?”
“Yeah right there” I hook my thumb behind me to point to the other end of the closet.
“I'm sure they won't mind if we take a couple of things…they're probably dead by now anyways,” Preston says with a slight grin on his face. The way he said made me spin my head to look at him but he was already on the opposite end of the wardrobe looking at suits.
I shake away the thought and continue looking for any pair of sneakers in my size. 40 minutes pass before I walk out of the wardrobe holding a new pair of jeans and a black guns-N-roses t-shirt. I toss the clothes on top of the bed and check to see if the shower in the bathroom still works. I turn the dial and wait for a moment. The shower head chokes a little before water comes pouring out. I reach my hand under the showerhead to feel the water. The water is cold, it causes my hand to shiver when I take it out. I shake the water off and say to myself.
“Good enough” as I start to take off my old clothes and get in the shower. The cold water bounces off my skin, it sends shivers down my spine but I still get the old dirt from the last few months off of me. I step out and see a couple of dry towels hanging off of the door. I grab one and dry my body off and grab another to wrap around my head and dry my hair. I step out of the bathroom and Preston is still inside the wardrobe. I put on my new clothes while his back is turned and walk over towards him when I'm finished.
“Still haven't found anything,” I ask him
He turns around “Nothing yet, the only thing interesting was this coat.” He holds a leather coat up to me. The coat is made of black leather and has a skull covered with blue flames on the back. There's a black shirt inside the coat with a skeleton hand making a thumbs-up embroidered on the front.
“ That's pretty cool, it's better than what you're wearing right now at least” he's outfitted in a blue hoodie with holes on the chest and tears at the sleeves. He also has a shirt with a faded picture of a blue flower printed on it.
“I guess you're right” he gets up from the floor and exits the wardrobe. He lays the clothes on the couch along next to the blanket and pillow he brought into the room.
“The shower works so you can get yourself clean In there,” I say to him
“You know, a shower sounds really good right now.” He gets up from the floor and grabs a pair of pajama pants that were laying next to him. He leaves the wardrobe and enters the bathroom, closing the door behind him. After a moment the water turns on and I hop on the bed to get ready to sleep. I squirm myself into the quilt and rest my head against one of the pillows. I shut my eyes and fall asleep listening to the passive sound of the shower like rain on a car.
I'm in a void. It feels like I'm standing in a puddle of water that reaches to my knees. I wade my way forward looking around for anything in the darkness. In the distance I can see 3 figures l. I moved closer to them and their silhouettes get clearer. I realize they are my dad and brothers. I start to run towards them kicking up water behind me until something grabs my leg. It pulls down violently forcing me under the water without a breath of air. I kick at the thing grabbing me until something grabs my other leg. I look down and see two glanter's each with a monstrous smile on their faces. They stare back at me and one of them tugs my leg harder than before and tears it off of my body. The water around me turns red as the glanter laugh's. The other smiles wider as it starts to fling me around the water forcing any air left in my lungs to be forced out as I scream in pain. The glanter throws me away and I can see my family slowly fade into the distance as I'm flown away.
I struggle to swim back to where I was, one of my legs is missing and the other is broken. The glanter's find me again and I try to get to the surface to escape them. I'm flapping my arms in any attempt to escape as one of the glanter's flies in front of me and grabs my arm. I look at the monster with tears in my eyes as it bites my arm and tears my body away from it. It flings my body away and with my remaining arm I clutch the wound as the water floods into my body leaving me in the void I started in. I look around and the glanter's seem to have left. I turn behind me and see my family again, this time I'm closer than before.
I grit my teeth and drag my body towards them slowly as I leave a trail of blood and tears behind me. I finally reach my family and grab one of my father's shoes. I stare up and he looks at me. His stare causes me to feel cold as a grotesque smile grows on his face. I stare in shock as my brothers each have the same look as my father.
I shoot up from my sleep panting heavily in a cold sweat.
“It was just a dream..just a dream…just a dream” I look at my hands as tears fall into them. I look around the room and see Preston sleeping peacefully on the couch. The room feels frozen in place as a chill runs down my spine. I get out of the bed and walk out of the bedroom. I make my way through the dark hallway and find the entrance to the balcony I saw earlier. I creak open the screen door and head outside. The Balcony is pretty large, about the size of the kitchen in the house. There are some chairs knocked over next to a table and I pick one up to sit on it. I look out into the expanse of the neighborhood, houses lined up next to each other, dozens broken apart by roads, and dead bodies scattered across the roads.
I look up in the sky and sit back in the chair. The sky looks empty except for the moon giving this world its only source of light. Without the moon, we’d be left in darkness. It hangs in the sky alone, no stars, no clouds, nothing but itself, and the void of the sky. I think back about the dream I had. My dad and my brother's all dead and possessed and then they kill me. I start to tear up thinking about it. I try to wipe away the tears but it’s no use. I'm too scared for my family. I don't know where they are if they're alive if they're worried about me I don't know anything! I start to quietly cry into my hands. I don't know how long I'm sitting there until I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn my head to face it and I see Preston. He was smiling and looking at me. I turn away to wipe my tears and he walks next to me.
“I heard you sneaking out of the bedroom so I followed you to see where you were going.” he says “but that's not my question.” he pauses and looks at me “my question is what’s got you feeling so down?” he leans over the railing of the balcony
“It's nothing, I just came out here to clear my head.” I say as more tears escape from my eyes in big slow drops that ride down the sides of my face.
“if you don't feel like telling me you don't have to but i'll be here if you ever change your mind”. He looks up at the moon before turning to face me and his smile widens “I'll always be here with you…trust me I'm not going anywhere”
I stare up at him and wipe away my tears as a smile grows on my face to match his. I get up and stare over the balcony with him. “So where are we heading next?” I say to him, Preston pulls the map we got from the man cave downstairs out from his pocket.
“After I got out of the shower I decided to take a look at the map for anything interesting we could see.”
“Ok did you find anything?” i ask
“I did,” he points at a spot on the right of the map. “We should head to the museum”
“I didn't want to go to a museum before the apocalypse why would i want to go now?'' I ask him.
“Well the best part of museums is the cool stuff right”
“Yeah what about it”
“The only problem is that you could only look at the fossils and armor but you could never take them.”
“So you want to rob a museum?” Prestons eyes light up at the question
“Exactly they might have a really cool sword I could use, or I could sharpen a dinosaur tooth and use that as a weapon, there might be a cursed shield that can summon the dead to fight for you. This opportunity is too good to pass up. We need to go!”
“That does seem pretty cool but wouldn't carrying that stuff weigh us down. What if a glanter is chasing us and we can't run fast enough because of the stuff we took from the museum.”
“We’ll only take things that are light. Even then I could just block the glanter with my newly acquired 2000 year old shield.”
“Fair enough we can go in a couple hours” I yawn and stretch out my arms. “Cause I'm feeling way too tired to walk all the way over there right now.”
“Alright i'm heading back to my couch and THEN we’ll head out to the museum” he leaves the balcony and heads back to the master bedroom leaving me alone on the balcony.
“Thanks Preston I'm not leaving either” I say into the sky. I turn around and walk back inside the house, closing the balcony door behind me. I walk back into the bedroom and Preston is hunched over and holding a flashlight looking at the map. He’s drawing lines through roads and marking X’s in different areas.
“What are the X’s for?” i ask him
“They’re places that glanter’s usually stay around. I'm marking them off so we remember not to go through them, or at least be more cautious.”
“Cool. Did you find where we are right now?” He points to an area where the lines all converge out of.
“Right around here is where the neighborhood ends. So if we follow this path we can make it to the museum in one piece” I pat him on the back and take the map from his hands.
“Get some sleep Preston, we have a full day tomorrow” he grins to himself before laying down on the couch. I put the map back into my bag and hop on the bed to get to sleep. I cover my body in the quilt and roll over facing away from Preston as he falls asleep. I nestle myself into the bed and slowly fall asleep to get ready for the next day.
I'm awoken by Preston shaking the bed I'm sleeping on. My eyes open and the room is foggy, I wipe away the sleep from my eyes and focus my attention towards Preston. He's practically jumping out of his skin with excitement, he's already fully dressed for the trip and shaking the bed with a wide smile on his face.
“Ok ok i'm up the air feels heavy as a groggy feeling fills my body. I wipe my eyes and the room starts to clear up. I turn to face Preston. He's still shaking my bed to wake me up, he’s already fully dressed and nearly jumping out of his skin in excitement.
“Ok ok, i'm up you can stop shaking the bed” i say
“Then get up we’ve got a long walk ahead of us” he says as he stops shaking the mattress. He grabs the map from my bag and points to one of the red lines.
“We're gonna follow this way to the museum. We’ll move past the hotel around the ice skating rink and around the park. We’ll mainly stick to walking through the streets, we might have to go rooftop hopping to avoid any glanter’s if we see them but i'm sure we won’t reach that point.” he explains
“Wait, wait, wait, why are avoiding the skating rink and the park” i ask
“ everytime we go near the park there's weird noises and light coming out of it”
“And why can't we go to the ice skating rink?”
“I didn't think it would be important”
“It couldn't hurt to check it out at least”
“Fine we could make a detour”
“Ok and how do you plan on getting on top of roofs?”
“I'm sure we'll figure it out when we get to it”
“Ok man as long as you’re sure '' I yawn and step out of the bed. Preston starts to put the map in his bag. I walk into the bathroom with my clothes and change out of my pajamas. Minutes later I walk out and see Preston sitting on the couch twiddling his thumbs.
“Finally you're out” he smiles at me before handing me my bag and slinging it over his shoulder. We took a last look inside the kitchen to see if we missed anything. Afterwards we leave for the outside. The cold air bites at my face but Preston walks down the stairs, his face buried in the map. I jog to catch up to him as we both head into the street.
“Hey Preston, could I see the map?”
“Sure” he hands over the map and continues walking. I look at the map and the numerous lines drawn on roads. I look at the corner of the map and notice a small map key with numerous symbols for different areas like a library, school, hospital, and more. There's even a way to tell how far away each location is. The text reads “1 inch=5 miles” I quickly count how far we are from the museum.
“Dude this museum is like 100 miles away.”
“Yep it'll be a long walk, it'll take us a while to get there”
“Did you plan on us walking there the whole time?”
“We might find bikes or something.” he pauses “well i did think we would walk the whole way”
“This is gonna take us weeks to get there!”
“Did you have anything else planned?”
“Well…i guess not but we should still try to find some bikes or something”
“Ok if we see any way to travel faster we’ll take it”
“Alright cool” I hand him the map back and he folds it back up and puts it in his bag. We walk further until we leave the gated neighborhood we started in. Preston takes the map back out and looks at it before he turns right and continues walking. I follow him staring forward at the expanse of the road. The outside of the neighborhood is surrounded by roads all leading to different parts of Newkinawa. We walk past a sign that reads “Coretown 20 miles ahead” I nudge Preston towards the sign and he checks the map again.
“Yep, the museum’s in Coretown. Would you believe the residents were pretty proud of it. Should be a fun place to explore” he says
“Yeah but it’ll take us a million years to get there.” i complain
“Lighten up, I'm sure it will be worth it”. We continue walking down the road slowly making our way to Coretown.

Hoping this kind of post is allowed. Just super happy right now that I'm seeing some actual improvement in my gameplay in what feels like 1000 hours of zero improvement. I've typically always sat in Guardian. Then, I recently started taking improvement more seriously. Spend a lot of time reading subs like this one, and watching streamers - Specifically, streamers who focus on educational content.
I think, especially for those in this sub, this doesn't need to be said but what made me improve the most was actually trying to learn and climb. I think it's common for a lot of players (including myself, until recently) to say that they're making an effort to improve when they really aren't. They'll watch a couple videos on the meta and then just grind ranked. I genuinely think most of my improvement has come from things outside of the game itself.
Just to make this a bit more of a high-effort post, I wanna describe some of the biggest changes I've made to my gameplay, so it can maybe help people who were in my situation. Keep in mind, I main support, so all of my advice is pretty specific to that:

• Stopped warding obvious spots. (Like cliff wards) I watched some videos on good places to ward that aren't so obvious, but honestly it's a lot to remember and I've started to just use my own judgement on it. Also learned about using spells to give vision of cliffs to deward without placing a sentry ON the cliff.
  
• If I do ward an obvious spot, I only do it if I plan on actually defending that spot. That means it's pretty rare because I can't really trust teams to do what I want them to do.
  
• Stopped spamming spells to harrass in lane and focus more on auto attacks. ESPECIALLY if they have a channeled ability and I have a stun to stop it. I used to just chuck spells out on CD to harrass. Feels obviously braindead to me now, but that's guardian gameplay I guess.
  
• I also stopped spamming spells in fights. Before I used to see teamfight start and just throw out every spell to deal damage. Now I try to look for the most impactful time to use it. For example, instead of stunning a Bristleback at the start of the fight, I'll stun the Enigma who black holes.
  
• A continuation of the last thing is positioning. I now stay positioned very safely behind the team. I mostly did this before, but very often I'd come in to auto attack towers with the rest of the team because I felt like I wasn't contributing if I'm sitting behind. Obviously this makes no sense because as a support you're probably dealing minimal damage to a tower with your auto attacks.
  
• Just paying a lot more attention to pull and stack times. Stacking a lot throughout a match helps a shit ton. The match that put me into archon was won largely due to me stacking a lot of camps, I think, as we were far behind and my stacks allowed our pb to get super ahead in farm.
  
• Abandoning lane when it's clearly lost. Too many matches would have me just stay with my pos 1 when we're just constantly feeding or just unable to farm lane. Now, if the lane is lost, I tell the carry to farm and go to the opposite lane. Sometimes that gets me a crying pos 1, but I find that it gives me better results than just bashing my head against a wall.
  

There's probably more, but these are the main things I think have helped me. My recent winrate is pretty high, so I honestly think just these things will keep me climbing, since it feels like I contribute a massive amount in my matches. Most matches I seem to have around 60% kill participation. Significantly more assists than the other support.
I also know that most of these tips are incredibly obvious, but it's stuff I didn't know, so there's definitely people out there who aren't aware of these things. If you think any of it is wrong, do let me know. I'm sure it's not perfect advice.