Pull a part salvage yard oklahoma city ok
Envirodome
2024.06.09 23:38 BigMikeyP72 Envirodome
“And for the missing person reports that date back many years, police still have not found any leads to the odd disappearance of multiple people around our little town of Welks, Utah. If police find any new leads, I, Nathan White, will be the first to give you the news.” Nathan White is a small town reporter who is finishing up his final words of the day's news. Charlie Akins, Nathan’s colleague and long time friend is manning the camera. Nathan is your typical guy who never gives up and has the determination of a beaver building its dam. He will take any story he is given and will do his best to make it the best. Charlie on the other hand is about as outgoing as a sloth and so paranoid he can’t go anywhere without thinking the worst, but will never leave his friend’s side. Soon after the two wrap up, Charlie gets a call from their boss who claims to have a new story they could cover. Nathan places their gear in the news van as Charlie walks over. With the way Charlie nervously walks over, Nathan knows something is odd. “So what’s the deal? We got a story or what?” Charlie gets in the driver seat of the van without saying a word and Nathan quickly follows, getting into the passenger seat. As Charlie begins driving, he tells Nathan what their boss had spoken to him about. An old abandoned government facility sits out in the farthest outskirts of the town. It’s in the shape of a dome that’s large enough to house an entire town. There’s no records of anyone ever entering the facility since the 50’s and no one seems to know what it was for. Only thing anyone knows, or suspects, is that it may be cursed or haunted as people who have ever been near it claim to hear screams and voices coming from within. Charlie is hesitant of even the thought of covering the story but continues to drive assuming Nathan will be intrigued. Charlie was correct, of course, as Nathan quickly calls their boss to inform him that they’re checking it out. Without question, Charlie continues driving until they are so far out that Welks is completely out of sight in the rearview mirror. They eventually see a large structure in the distance that they quickly realize is the center of their new story. “Holy shit, Charlie! I’ve never seen this place before and just… Wow,” Nathan says excitedly. “Nathan, I don’t know about this one. Something seems off. Even the boss seemed hesitant to tell me about this place,” Charlie responds. “Come on, Charlie. We’ve always wanted to cover a GHOST STORY.” “No, YOU have always wanted to cover a ghost story. I’ve always wanted to get the hell away from every single person I come in contact with and sleep in my bed.” “Don’t do me like that.” “You know I’ve got your back through thick and thin, Nate. But I’ve seriously got a bad feeling about this one.” “I know but come on, serious-... ly…” Nathan is awestruck by the sight of a large sign on the outer brink of a long driveway leading to the entrance of the dome. The sign reads:
RESTRICTED AREA
ENVIRODOME “WE EXPERIMENT FOR THE SAFETY OF OUR PEOPLE”
SPECIAL ACCESS IS NEEDED BEYOND THIS POINT
Although it was obvious by the city-sized dome in the middle of the desert, this sign fully confirmed they were in the right place. They continue down the driveway until they finally reach a parking lot that lies in front of the only noticeably cube-like design of the entire facility. The parking lot was small, or at least it seemed that way based on how huge the building was. Nathan and Charlie assumed it would be glass, but instead, the decrepit building, now known to be The Envirodome, was made of a strong thick, yet rusted metal. They realized this was most likely by design considering the people who created it wouldn’t have wanted anyone to know what went on inside. Almost the entire building was covered in a thick layer of vines except for the front door. The doors at the entrance were oddly only covered in smaller vine growth that was far more fragile than the rest. Charlie parks the van as an awestruck Nathan barely waits for him to stop and exits the passenger side. Charlie hesitantly follows suit. Nathan reaches the double entrance doors and rips away the vines. He quickly finds the handle of the right door and much to his surprise, it cracks open. “Ooh spooky,” Nathan jokingly says to Charlie. “Shut up,” Charlie snaps back. As Nathan and Charlie open the large metal door and walk inside, they find far more than, yet somehow everything, they had expected. The duo walk inside only to find an entire small community within. Businesses, homes, trees and more fill the miles long dome in all directions, seemingly to no end. “There’s a whole damn town in this place?! How the hell did not a single person know this existed,” Charlie exclaims out of pure shock. “Dude… How the fuck am I suppose to know? That’s why we’re here, remember? To cover the story of this place and get it out to the people…” Nathan sarcastically snaps back. Charlie, nervous as all hell, ignores Nathan as they continue forward in the hopes to find information on this place somewhere inside. They don’t even reach but about 10-15 feet inside before the door slams shut behind them and locks itself into place. Once fully locked, the doors start to change as if there was never a door or wall there at all. It quickly changes into a hyper-realistic hologram of more trees and roads. Soon enough, it looked as if an exit never even existed. Nathan quickly realizes that there seemingly are no walls in any direction. However, realistically and logically, there must be dead ends in all directions, the dome was obviously designed in a special way. Although there was a dome surrounding the town inside, there were still plenty of places Nathan and Charlie could explore. With beautifully green trees all around, houses and even rundown businesses, the entire place looked and felt like a normal little town instead of the inside of a previously government owned facility. Despite absolutely not a single structural flaw in the dome, a small breeze glides through the air, whistling to the ears of any who would listen. Both Nathan and Charlie are confused, yet in awe, by the experience at hand, but still they carry on. Nathan suggests going to the nearest building to search for information as he takes his next steps into the oddly beautiful scenery. Charlie, however, hesitates his next step until he realizes Nathan is already further ahead of him. Trees dance and sway in the cool breeze, grass and vines grow over large rocks and multiple buildings, and even clouds sail through the beautifully blue skies that couldn’t possibly be real but at this point it’s not unbelievable. With so much to admire, Nathan quickly loses focus on the task at hand until Charlie speaks up. “Hey, Nate. Shouldn’t we hurry up and get to wherever the hell we’re going?” “Huh? Oh… Yeah, yeah. Sorry…” Nathan snaps back to his senses and continues forward. As they continue to what seems like a small neighborhood, they notice something in the distant wooded area. It’s a four-legged creature that could be a wolf or coyote. Nathan and Charlie pick up speed as they are unsure of what it could really be and prefer not to be attacked. On arrival to the neighborhood, the two men notice that multiple mannequins are oddly placed around as if they had been living a life. An eerie feeling washes over them as they both become a little more skeptical of being there. Nathan looks back to check on his friend and notices Charlie is visibly paranoid as he looks around. He feels a moment of guilt for making him come here for a story to cover, but that moment was just that. A moment. Nathan quickly nudges Charlie to get him to come with him as he walks up to an open house. As they walk in, they split up. Charlie searches the living room and kitchen. Nathan goes straight to the farthest bedroom in the back. Searching every nook and cranny, Nathan finds absolutely nothing but an old withered bible. He begins to walk into another room when suddenly, Charlie’s voice echoes through the empty hallway. “Holy fuck,” Charlie exclaims. “What’s wrong,” Nathan yells while running into the living room. Nathan finds Charlie holding an old yellowed stack of papers. Charlie hands them to Nathan without uttering a single word. On top is an old document that reads:
Aug. 17, 1953: Testing is ready to commence for Project 718/Operation “SUPER” in the environment dome. However, there are no volunteers for testing just yet.
Aug. 18, 1953: Chief scientist, Dr. Maximus Woods, has volunteered as prime subject under the name: Subject Zero. All tests are now being prepared.
Aug. 20, 1953: Day 1 of testing has started. The Super Serum has been injected into Dr. Maximus Woods A.K.A Subject Zero at approximately 12:53 A.M. It has been hours and nothing has happened thus far.
Aug. 25, 1953: Subject Zero has gained a slight form of telekinesis. Small signs of abnormally quick healing factors have also appeared, taking only a couple of hours to fully heal mid-large wounds made on the subject's body. Tests, so far, seem to be successful with no side effects.
Aug. 30, 1953: Subject Zero has had impressive changes with easy to control telekinesis, rapid healing, and even large amounts of strength.
Sep. 5, 1953: Over the past week, Subject Zero has been undergoing small changes in personality, possibly a slight side effect of the serum. This will be monitored.
Sep. 10, 1953: Subject Zero has become rapidly unstable, showing major signs of insanity. Subject does not seem to realize the environment is simulated and treats test mannequins placed around the environment dome as if they were living beings.
Sep. 17, 1953: Multiple teams have been sent in to try and allow real communication with living beings. However, all teams have been killed by Subject Zero. He also does not allow anyone to retrieve the bodies and it is unclear what he does with them.
Oct. 3, 1953: Subject has become far too unstable to continue any further testing. All research will be abandoned but a small team will remain in the overseer’s office. For full safety measures, this team has agreed that if the facility must be destroyed then they will die with it. This was the intended way in case of emergency. If the facility is self-destructed, no one inside will survive.
“What the hell…” Nathan says fearfully. “Read the newspaper article that’s attached,” says Charlie. The newspaper article reads:
October 3, 1953 Today, the government-run facility, Envirodome, had been shut down after multiple men had been slaughtered at the hands of the company’s very own test subject, Subject Zero. The few men who made it out alive today could not speak of or about the tests done but we were told that their subject is still inside the facility. Test Subject Zero was locked inside only as a safety protocol but many wonder, how long will he remain there?
Upon this discovery, Nathan stops to think and wonders if he screwed up by taking on this story to cover. Nathan, being himself, tries to lighten the mood but before uttering a single word, he is cut off by a rough and deep voice in the distance. The voice now being the only thing to focus on, Nathan and Charlie look out the front windows of the old house and spot the figure of a man playing baseball with a mannequin. Upon further inspection, the man is wearing clothes obviously not of this era. With an old 50’s jacket that is nearly torn to shreds, an old pair of blue jean slacks, a red shoe on one foot and a black one on the other and hair that clearly hasn’t been washed in years, the man is the exact look and description of pure insanity. Not just with his looks but also with his actions, he clearly is not a stable man. In the yard of the next house over, the man is talking and playing catch with a mannequin. “For the last time Jimmy, I’m tired of your shit! Catch the damn ball or at the very least attempt to instead of just standing there,” the crazed man screams as he chucks a baseball at its head resulting in its immediate decapitation. Nathan, with a humor full of bad timing, nearly bursts into laughter. “Shut the fuck up, Nathan! That’s the guy from the document and newspaper article. He’s Dr… Uh… Maximus Woods! Subject Zero! He’s been here since the 50’s,” Charlie fearfully exclaims. “There’s no way in hell, Charlie. The guy doesn’t even look like he’s past his mid-30’s.” “I told you to call me Subject Zero! That old name is dead to me!” The man, now confirmed to be Subject Zero, yells out to another mannequin. “Believe me now, asshat,” Charlie snaps at Nathan. “Shush! What was that?” Subject Zero quickly snaps his attention to Nathan and Charlie’s direction and begins to walk to them. The two men look at each other in fearful confusion and simultaneously say, “oh shit.” Instinctually, Charlie runs out of the house from fear and with a quick, “FUCK!” Nathan follows him. Running out of the house like a couple of preyed upon animals, they run up the street further into the neighborhood. Taking a quick glance, Nathan spots a strange sight. Subject Zero and many other figures are chasing after them. Upon further examination, Nathan realizes that what he’s witnessing is something straight out of a horror movie. The other figures are , in fact, not even humans. They’re mannequins! All the mannequins they had seen back at the other houses are now moving like humans and coming right for them alongside Subject Zero. Nathan is running so fast you could mistake him for a train breaking loose from its tracks, but sadly, Charlie is slowing down, unable to keep up with his friend. Nathan manages to reach a hiding spot behind a dumpster, unintentionally leaving Charlie to await his own horrors as Nathan is nothing but forced to watch. Charlie begins to stumble and trips over his own feet. Soon after, the mannequins catch up to him. Nathan wants to help, but knows he can’t so all he does is watch in horror. Lying on the ground, Charlie gasps for air as the mannequins and Subject Zero surround him. They stare at him for a moment before eventually beating him simultaneously until Charlie is soaked in his own blood, barely alive. Suddenly, they stop. Charlie, nearly lifeless, drags his gaze in Nathan’s direction. He mouths, “GO” before coughing up blood. Nathan holds back tears and vomit as he looks away in guilt. All the mannequins that were once beating the life out of Charlie turn around and scatter before ultimately becoming, once again, inanimate objects. Like a lion searching for its prey, Subject Zero scans the area. With danger nearby, Nathan looks around to find a house with any open doors to attempt to find safety. He spots a nearby house with an open window and decides it's his best option. Without hesitation, Nathan sprints to the window and leaps in like a gazelle escaping its demise. Much to his surprise, he went unnoticed. “I might be insane, but I know I wasn't just seeing double of your little friend here. Where the hell are you,” screams Subject Zero as two mannequins carry Charlie's bloodied, yet still alive, body away. Nathan, afraid, yet determined, locks himself inside the house and sits behind a kitchen counter. He looks up to see if it's safe enough to search the house. Once he realizes it is, he begins to look around. The kitchen is oddly empty. Not a single piece of silverware, plate or food. Out of the entire house, the living room is the best looking part, even though it still looks like a tornado came through it. With hopes of finding something, Nathan scrummages through everything lying on the decrepit wooden floor. After a moment of searching, Nathan notices multiple papers scattered around all dated October of 1953. All the papers say different things about Project ‘SUPER’ and Subject Zero. Although most papers essentially say the same things, one paper stands out the most. It’s a newspaper dated a few days after the imminent shutdown of the facility. October 9, 1953 The project was abandoned and only a few escaped but one former employee of Envirodome decides to speak up about the events. “The main doors may have been closed but they sadly were not locked,” the scientist tells our interviewer, “Oddly, the doors were made to allow people in but not back out unless you went to the overseer’s office and unlocked the main doors. All this means, anyone who decides to go inside without knowing this info will be trapped forever with a psycho maniac. Fortunately, Subject Zero’s insanity affected his mind so badly he doesn’t even realize he’s in a fake little world that’s specially made for him.”
A little further down the same newspaper article it reads:
The former Envirodome employee continues. “All documents will state that Dr. Maximus Woods volunteered to be Subject Zero, but that just isn’t true. We tricked him. You see, we needed someone and Dr. Woods was just this weird scientist that no one really liked. We convinced him that if he volunteered that he would be a hero. Someone who could save our world if the serum worked. He was so happy and we just laughed at him but knew we needed him for the tests. As soon as everything began, it all ended. As he became more and more deranged, he also became more determined to make the serum work. He eventually took living people he kept with him and made his own serum to try and perfect it. But it never worked. It just leads to each person to become crazier and far quicker. He ended up just killing everyone that the serum didn’t work on. God knows what he does to any poor soul that innocently walks into that building and gets trapped.”
With this new knowledge, Nathan knew he fucked up by coming into this beautiful hell. Now filled with dreaded emotions, he gets onto his feet and sets onward through the hallway. As he reaches the beginning of the hallway, the front door is unexpectedly busted down by an already all too familiar figure, Subject Zero. Reacting quickly, Nathan sprints to the farthest back room of the house. Being the master bedroom, it has plenty of space but sadly doesn’t have a lock on the door. Thinking quickly, Nathan slams the door and nervously shoves a large stand up dresser down on its side and in front of the doorway. He knows it won’t hold for long, especially considering, just a mere seconds ago, he witnessed Subject Zero burst a door off its hinges in the blink of an eye. Subject Zero is on the hunt, looking in every room all while Nathan stands in the master bedroom freaking out. Eventually, he comes to his senses and looks out the room's only window. It’s quite a drop below due to the house sitting on a slanted yard. Without hesitation, Nathan prepares himself for his only option. He opens the window and prepares to jump as the door of the room begins to be beaten upon. The door eventually breaks in half and standing on the other side is Subject Zero. Nathan slings himself out the window but it inevitably leads to pain. Nathan, with a possibly broken ankle, stands against the wall to stay as Subject Zero looks through the window wondering how he could lose his only entertainment so easily. Subject Zero eventually angrily wanders off as he cusses at himself. Nathan takes that as his cue to stumble his way into the nearby forest. Nathan manages to make it a decent distance into the forest before stumbling and falling next to a large oak tree. Expecting to be free from danger for at least a while, he relaxes against the tree and closes his eyes. Far too early for assumptions, he hears something and quickly opens his eyes to see Subject Zero’s fist unexpectedly rushing to his face, resulting in a knockout. After a while, Nathan cracks his eyes open, barely able to see. He looks around in a trance until he hears a familiar voice. “Hey, Nate! Nate! Wake the fuck up! I’m not dead!” Nathan fully comes to and looks over to see an upside down Charlie. Confused, he looks at Charlie unsure of what to say. Eventually he speaks. “What the fuck…? Why the hell are you upside down?” Charlie points to Nathan’s feet, revealing he is in fact, the one upside down hanging by his feet. “Oh, fuck… WHAT THE FUCK?!? Get me down, you asshole!” Charlie unties the rope, leading to Nathan falling on his head. Rubbing his head, Nathan gets up with ease, which leads him to wonder why there’s no pain in his ankle. He quickly shrugs it off and looks back at Charlie as he finally realizes the situation. “Wait a damn minute, how the hell are you alive? I saw you get beaten to a pulp.” “Yeahhhh… Well, first off, thanks for leaving me, but I’ll tell you everything I know, just as they did for me.” Charlie points over to a small crowd of people waiting behind the dark shadows of the room. With a short, yet detailed, briefing, he tells Nathan that these people are all the missing people they’ve been reporting about. They all have been curious people who have wandered into the facility but inevitably became a morbid science experiment by Subject Zero. Charlie continues on to tell Nathan that every single one of these people have been injected with a similar serum as Subject Zero but each one is a slightly altered version. “So, let me get this straight… These people have all been injected with the same damn insanity poison as that madman and there’s absolutely no telling who could lose it and kill us with FUCKING TELEKINISIS!” “Yeah, pretty much. But I’ve been told that Subject Zero murders every failed attempt before they hurt any of his other precious test subjects. So far, all he’s done is prolong the insanity effects.” “Charlie, we have to somehow get the fuck out of here.” “We can’t. Do you not understand what I just said?” “Look, I get that these people are innocent but they’re obviously going to be massive dangers to humanity. We can get out of here. I don’t know how but… Somehow!” “Nate! I can’t get out of here.” “What the fuck are you talking about?” Charlie raises up his arm and reveals a small pinprick of a needle in his skin. “Charlie, what is that? No… Wait, you were injected too?” “Yeah.” “FUCK!” “Look, as far as I’m concerned, you haven’t been injected. There’s no needle mark in your skin. YOU could actually get out of here.” “I’m not leaving you behind again, Charlie! It was a nightmare seeing what they did to you the first time.” “Nathan, I -” Suddenly and very unexpectedly, one of the people in the crowd begins to scream from within the shadows. Nathan, confused and afraid, looks over at the man losing his sanity. Within seconds, the man stops screaming as the entire room falls into a deafening silence. The man looks in Nathan’s direction and shines a demonic grin with a stare that could pierce the soul of any mortal man. Knowing the man is coming toward him, Nathan slowly starts backing up against the cold concrete walls. The man, with all new senses, uses his new telekinetic ability to push others from the crowd aside. Charlie, being brave for the first and possibly final time in his life, attempts to stand in the way but is quickly subdued as he’s flung against the wall. Finally reaching Nathan, the man brings his gaze into a full on stare into Nathan’s soul. For Nathan, it’s as if death has come for him. Suddenly, the man’s gaze is ripped away by a familiar face of evil. Subject Zero heard the screams and came to claim his failed experiment. This led to an all-out brawl between the two men. Anyone would describe it in the same way you would if two rabid dogs were fighting over food. One dog gets up after being ripped open and the other gets its face gashed by a hard hitting blow, yet they still fight. Only difference between the two, one is just a dog wanting its food and the other is trained to kill. Suddenly, with a vicious blow, Subject Zero wins the fight when he takes the man’s head and slams it so hard into the concrete floor that his skull cracks open causing blood, brains, and skull fragments to fly over the silent crowd. With one final glance, Subject Zero looks over the entire crowd. He ends his gaze by making sure Nathan is the last to see his devilish eyes. Soon after, he leaves the room and locks the door. Nathan stares at the corpse lying on the ground with a look of pure terror and proceeds to collapse onto the floor while holding back tears. The small concrete room soon fills with despair as everyone watches the tears of pain and fear run down Nathan’s face. Charlie tries to make his long-time friend feel a little more hopeful, although he soon gives up as well until he has a moment of realization. He remembers back to when they first were searching for information he had found an article with some intriguing details. “Okay, so, there may be some hope after all.” “Charlie, what hope is there? Huh?! You’re pretty much fucked and I don’t exactly see a way out of here.” “One of the articles back at the house we were in said something about a self-destruct button. That’s also how you open the main doors. Apparently, no one ever bothered, or I guess, never got the chance to hit the self-destruct timer and run their asses to the door. What if we- I mean, YOU could actually do that?” “Charlie, I already told you I don’t want to leave you behind.” “GOD DAMN IT, NATHAN! I know… FUCK! I know. But I want you to survive. Can’t you just listen to me for once?! I would follow you through hell and back and it kind of feels that way right now. So? Can you just listen to what I want you to do for once while I’m practically on my deathbed?!” “Okay! Okay…” Suddenly, an unexpected chance of escape arrives at their feet. Subject Zero and a few of his mannequins walk in to remove the mutilated corpse from the room. Unexpectedly, one of the people in the crowd begins to scream out in pain just like the other man did moments ago before his demise. “Oh, great…” Subject Zero says irritatedly. Soon after, multiple others begin to scream out in pain until eventually the entire crowd follows suit. Nathan, and somehow Charlie have not been affected. The room quickly becomes engulfed in a hurricane of insanity. This leads Subject Zero and the mannequins to getting distracted by the madness and accidentally leaves the door open. Subject Zero quickly gets attacked by everyone in the room but he holds his ground firmly. Nathan knows this is the perfect chance to escape and signals Charlie to come with him. Charlie hesitantly comes along but right as they reach the door Nathan turns to hear the sounds of Charlie going through the worst pain of his life. Nathan looks in confusion but quickly realizes he’s about to have to accept his friend’s fate. Nathan refuses to accept it, but he knows he needs to. Charlie suddenly lunges at Nathan and uses his last act of sanity and control to push him out the door. “Get. To the button. Please.” “Charlie, I- I’m-” “I’m sorry…” Charlie finally snaps and is engulfed in pure raging insanity. He lunges at Nathan but before he reaches him, Nathan, with teary eyes, slams the door onto his friend, turns, and begins running out into the seemingly vast wilderness. As he runs, Nathan hears the cries of a dozen men and women as they get ripped apart. Knowing that among them is his best friend, Nathan begins to cry as he continues to run away from his previous hell.
End of Part 1.
submitted by BigMikeyP72 to creativewriting [link] [comments]
RESTRICTED AREA
ENVIRODOME “WE EXPERIMENT FOR THE SAFETY OF OUR PEOPLE”
SPECIAL ACCESS IS NEEDED BEYOND THIS POINT
Although it was obvious by the city-sized dome in the middle of the desert, this sign fully confirmed they were in the right place. They continue down the driveway until they finally reach a parking lot that lies in front of the only noticeably cube-like design of the entire facility. The parking lot was small, or at least it seemed that way based on how huge the building was. Nathan and Charlie assumed it would be glass, but instead, the decrepit building, now known to be The Envirodome, was made of a strong thick, yet rusted metal. They realized this was most likely by design considering the people who created it wouldn’t have wanted anyone to know what went on inside. Almost the entire building was covered in a thick layer of vines except for the front door. The doors at the entrance were oddly only covered in smaller vine growth that was far more fragile than the rest. Charlie parks the van as an awestruck Nathan barely waits for him to stop and exits the passenger side. Charlie hesitantly follows suit. Nathan reaches the double entrance doors and rips away the vines. He quickly finds the handle of the right door and much to his surprise, it cracks open. “Ooh spooky,” Nathan jokingly says to Charlie. “Shut up,” Charlie snaps back. As Nathan and Charlie open the large metal door and walk inside, they find far more than, yet somehow everything, they had expected. The duo walk inside only to find an entire small community within. Businesses, homes, trees and more fill the miles long dome in all directions, seemingly to no end. “There’s a whole damn town in this place?! How the hell did not a single person know this existed,” Charlie exclaims out of pure shock. “Dude… How the fuck am I suppose to know? That’s why we’re here, remember? To cover the story of this place and get it out to the people…” Nathan sarcastically snaps back. Charlie, nervous as all hell, ignores Nathan as they continue forward in the hopes to find information on this place somewhere inside. They don’t even reach but about 10-15 feet inside before the door slams shut behind them and locks itself into place. Once fully locked, the doors start to change as if there was never a door or wall there at all. It quickly changes into a hyper-realistic hologram of more trees and roads. Soon enough, it looked as if an exit never even existed. Nathan quickly realizes that there seemingly are no walls in any direction. However, realistically and logically, there must be dead ends in all directions, the dome was obviously designed in a special way. Although there was a dome surrounding the town inside, there were still plenty of places Nathan and Charlie could explore. With beautifully green trees all around, houses and even rundown businesses, the entire place looked and felt like a normal little town instead of the inside of a previously government owned facility. Despite absolutely not a single structural flaw in the dome, a small breeze glides through the air, whistling to the ears of any who would listen. Both Nathan and Charlie are confused, yet in awe, by the experience at hand, but still they carry on. Nathan suggests going to the nearest building to search for information as he takes his next steps into the oddly beautiful scenery. Charlie, however, hesitates his next step until he realizes Nathan is already further ahead of him. Trees dance and sway in the cool breeze, grass and vines grow over large rocks and multiple buildings, and even clouds sail through the beautifully blue skies that couldn’t possibly be real but at this point it’s not unbelievable. With so much to admire, Nathan quickly loses focus on the task at hand until Charlie speaks up. “Hey, Nate. Shouldn’t we hurry up and get to wherever the hell we’re going?” “Huh? Oh… Yeah, yeah. Sorry…” Nathan snaps back to his senses and continues forward. As they continue to what seems like a small neighborhood, they notice something in the distant wooded area. It’s a four-legged creature that could be a wolf or coyote. Nathan and Charlie pick up speed as they are unsure of what it could really be and prefer not to be attacked. On arrival to the neighborhood, the two men notice that multiple mannequins are oddly placed around as if they had been living a life. An eerie feeling washes over them as they both become a little more skeptical of being there. Nathan looks back to check on his friend and notices Charlie is visibly paranoid as he looks around. He feels a moment of guilt for making him come here for a story to cover, but that moment was just that. A moment. Nathan quickly nudges Charlie to get him to come with him as he walks up to an open house. As they walk in, they split up. Charlie searches the living room and kitchen. Nathan goes straight to the farthest bedroom in the back. Searching every nook and cranny, Nathan finds absolutely nothing but an old withered bible. He begins to walk into another room when suddenly, Charlie’s voice echoes through the empty hallway. “Holy fuck,” Charlie exclaims. “What’s wrong,” Nathan yells while running into the living room. Nathan finds Charlie holding an old yellowed stack of papers. Charlie hands them to Nathan without uttering a single word. On top is an old document that reads:
Aug. 17, 1953: Testing is ready to commence for Project 718/Operation “SUPER” in the environment dome. However, there are no volunteers for testing just yet.
Aug. 18, 1953: Chief scientist, Dr. Maximus Woods, has volunteered as prime subject under the name: Subject Zero. All tests are now being prepared.
Aug. 20, 1953: Day 1 of testing has started. The Super Serum has been injected into Dr. Maximus Woods A.K.A Subject Zero at approximately 12:53 A.M. It has been hours and nothing has happened thus far.
Aug. 25, 1953: Subject Zero has gained a slight form of telekinesis. Small signs of abnormally quick healing factors have also appeared, taking only a couple of hours to fully heal mid-large wounds made on the subject's body. Tests, so far, seem to be successful with no side effects.
Aug. 30, 1953: Subject Zero has had impressive changes with easy to control telekinesis, rapid healing, and even large amounts of strength.
Sep. 5, 1953: Over the past week, Subject Zero has been undergoing small changes in personality, possibly a slight side effect of the serum. This will be monitored.
Sep. 10, 1953: Subject Zero has become rapidly unstable, showing major signs of insanity. Subject does not seem to realize the environment is simulated and treats test mannequins placed around the environment dome as if they were living beings.
Sep. 17, 1953: Multiple teams have been sent in to try and allow real communication with living beings. However, all teams have been killed by Subject Zero. He also does not allow anyone to retrieve the bodies and it is unclear what he does with them.
Oct. 3, 1953: Subject has become far too unstable to continue any further testing. All research will be abandoned but a small team will remain in the overseer’s office. For full safety measures, this team has agreed that if the facility must be destroyed then they will die with it. This was the intended way in case of emergency. If the facility is self-destructed, no one inside will survive.
“What the hell…” Nathan says fearfully. “Read the newspaper article that’s attached,” says Charlie. The newspaper article reads:
October 3, 1953 Today, the government-run facility, Envirodome, had been shut down after multiple men had been slaughtered at the hands of the company’s very own test subject, Subject Zero. The few men who made it out alive today could not speak of or about the tests done but we were told that their subject is still inside the facility. Test Subject Zero was locked inside only as a safety protocol but many wonder, how long will he remain there?
Upon this discovery, Nathan stops to think and wonders if he screwed up by taking on this story to cover. Nathan, being himself, tries to lighten the mood but before uttering a single word, he is cut off by a rough and deep voice in the distance. The voice now being the only thing to focus on, Nathan and Charlie look out the front windows of the old house and spot the figure of a man playing baseball with a mannequin. Upon further inspection, the man is wearing clothes obviously not of this era. With an old 50’s jacket that is nearly torn to shreds, an old pair of blue jean slacks, a red shoe on one foot and a black one on the other and hair that clearly hasn’t been washed in years, the man is the exact look and description of pure insanity. Not just with his looks but also with his actions, he clearly is not a stable man. In the yard of the next house over, the man is talking and playing catch with a mannequin. “For the last time Jimmy, I’m tired of your shit! Catch the damn ball or at the very least attempt to instead of just standing there,” the crazed man screams as he chucks a baseball at its head resulting in its immediate decapitation. Nathan, with a humor full of bad timing, nearly bursts into laughter. “Shut the fuck up, Nathan! That’s the guy from the document and newspaper article. He’s Dr… Uh… Maximus Woods! Subject Zero! He’s been here since the 50’s,” Charlie fearfully exclaims. “There’s no way in hell, Charlie. The guy doesn’t even look like he’s past his mid-30’s.” “I told you to call me Subject Zero! That old name is dead to me!” The man, now confirmed to be Subject Zero, yells out to another mannequin. “Believe me now, asshat,” Charlie snaps at Nathan. “Shush! What was that?” Subject Zero quickly snaps his attention to Nathan and Charlie’s direction and begins to walk to them. The two men look at each other in fearful confusion and simultaneously say, “oh shit.” Instinctually, Charlie runs out of the house from fear and with a quick, “FUCK!” Nathan follows him. Running out of the house like a couple of preyed upon animals, they run up the street further into the neighborhood. Taking a quick glance, Nathan spots a strange sight. Subject Zero and many other figures are chasing after them. Upon further examination, Nathan realizes that what he’s witnessing is something straight out of a horror movie. The other figures are , in fact, not even humans. They’re mannequins! All the mannequins they had seen back at the other houses are now moving like humans and coming right for them alongside Subject Zero. Nathan is running so fast you could mistake him for a train breaking loose from its tracks, but sadly, Charlie is slowing down, unable to keep up with his friend. Nathan manages to reach a hiding spot behind a dumpster, unintentionally leaving Charlie to await his own horrors as Nathan is nothing but forced to watch. Charlie begins to stumble and trips over his own feet. Soon after, the mannequins catch up to him. Nathan wants to help, but knows he can’t so all he does is watch in horror. Lying on the ground, Charlie gasps for air as the mannequins and Subject Zero surround him. They stare at him for a moment before eventually beating him simultaneously until Charlie is soaked in his own blood, barely alive. Suddenly, they stop. Charlie, nearly lifeless, drags his gaze in Nathan’s direction. He mouths, “GO” before coughing up blood. Nathan holds back tears and vomit as he looks away in guilt. All the mannequins that were once beating the life out of Charlie turn around and scatter before ultimately becoming, once again, inanimate objects. Like a lion searching for its prey, Subject Zero scans the area. With danger nearby, Nathan looks around to find a house with any open doors to attempt to find safety. He spots a nearby house with an open window and decides it's his best option. Without hesitation, Nathan sprints to the window and leaps in like a gazelle escaping its demise. Much to his surprise, he went unnoticed. “I might be insane, but I know I wasn't just seeing double of your little friend here. Where the hell are you,” screams Subject Zero as two mannequins carry Charlie's bloodied, yet still alive, body away. Nathan, afraid, yet determined, locks himself inside the house and sits behind a kitchen counter. He looks up to see if it's safe enough to search the house. Once he realizes it is, he begins to look around. The kitchen is oddly empty. Not a single piece of silverware, plate or food. Out of the entire house, the living room is the best looking part, even though it still looks like a tornado came through it. With hopes of finding something, Nathan scrummages through everything lying on the decrepit wooden floor. After a moment of searching, Nathan notices multiple papers scattered around all dated October of 1953. All the papers say different things about Project ‘SUPER’ and Subject Zero. Although most papers essentially say the same things, one paper stands out the most. It’s a newspaper dated a few days after the imminent shutdown of the facility. October 9, 1953 The project was abandoned and only a few escaped but one former employee of Envirodome decides to speak up about the events. “The main doors may have been closed but they sadly were not locked,” the scientist tells our interviewer, “Oddly, the doors were made to allow people in but not back out unless you went to the overseer’s office and unlocked the main doors. All this means, anyone who decides to go inside without knowing this info will be trapped forever with a psycho maniac. Fortunately, Subject Zero’s insanity affected his mind so badly he doesn’t even realize he’s in a fake little world that’s specially made for him.”
A little further down the same newspaper article it reads:
The former Envirodome employee continues. “All documents will state that Dr. Maximus Woods volunteered to be Subject Zero, but that just isn’t true. We tricked him. You see, we needed someone and Dr. Woods was just this weird scientist that no one really liked. We convinced him that if he volunteered that he would be a hero. Someone who could save our world if the serum worked. He was so happy and we just laughed at him but knew we needed him for the tests. As soon as everything began, it all ended. As he became more and more deranged, he also became more determined to make the serum work. He eventually took living people he kept with him and made his own serum to try and perfect it. But it never worked. It just leads to each person to become crazier and far quicker. He ended up just killing everyone that the serum didn’t work on. God knows what he does to any poor soul that innocently walks into that building and gets trapped.”
With this new knowledge, Nathan knew he fucked up by coming into this beautiful hell. Now filled with dreaded emotions, he gets onto his feet and sets onward through the hallway. As he reaches the beginning of the hallway, the front door is unexpectedly busted down by an already all too familiar figure, Subject Zero. Reacting quickly, Nathan sprints to the farthest back room of the house. Being the master bedroom, it has plenty of space but sadly doesn’t have a lock on the door. Thinking quickly, Nathan slams the door and nervously shoves a large stand up dresser down on its side and in front of the doorway. He knows it won’t hold for long, especially considering, just a mere seconds ago, he witnessed Subject Zero burst a door off its hinges in the blink of an eye. Subject Zero is on the hunt, looking in every room all while Nathan stands in the master bedroom freaking out. Eventually, he comes to his senses and looks out the room's only window. It’s quite a drop below due to the house sitting on a slanted yard. Without hesitation, Nathan prepares himself for his only option. He opens the window and prepares to jump as the door of the room begins to be beaten upon. The door eventually breaks in half and standing on the other side is Subject Zero. Nathan slings himself out the window but it inevitably leads to pain. Nathan, with a possibly broken ankle, stands against the wall to stay as Subject Zero looks through the window wondering how he could lose his only entertainment so easily. Subject Zero eventually angrily wanders off as he cusses at himself. Nathan takes that as his cue to stumble his way into the nearby forest. Nathan manages to make it a decent distance into the forest before stumbling and falling next to a large oak tree. Expecting to be free from danger for at least a while, he relaxes against the tree and closes his eyes. Far too early for assumptions, he hears something and quickly opens his eyes to see Subject Zero’s fist unexpectedly rushing to his face, resulting in a knockout. After a while, Nathan cracks his eyes open, barely able to see. He looks around in a trance until he hears a familiar voice. “Hey, Nate! Nate! Wake the fuck up! I’m not dead!” Nathan fully comes to and looks over to see an upside down Charlie. Confused, he looks at Charlie unsure of what to say. Eventually he speaks. “What the fuck…? Why the hell are you upside down?” Charlie points to Nathan’s feet, revealing he is in fact, the one upside down hanging by his feet. “Oh, fuck… WHAT THE FUCK?!? Get me down, you asshole!” Charlie unties the rope, leading to Nathan falling on his head. Rubbing his head, Nathan gets up with ease, which leads him to wonder why there’s no pain in his ankle. He quickly shrugs it off and looks back at Charlie as he finally realizes the situation. “Wait a damn minute, how the hell are you alive? I saw you get beaten to a pulp.” “Yeahhhh… Well, first off, thanks for leaving me, but I’ll tell you everything I know, just as they did for me.” Charlie points over to a small crowd of people waiting behind the dark shadows of the room. With a short, yet detailed, briefing, he tells Nathan that these people are all the missing people they’ve been reporting about. They all have been curious people who have wandered into the facility but inevitably became a morbid science experiment by Subject Zero. Charlie continues on to tell Nathan that every single one of these people have been injected with a similar serum as Subject Zero but each one is a slightly altered version. “So, let me get this straight… These people have all been injected with the same damn insanity poison as that madman and there’s absolutely no telling who could lose it and kill us with FUCKING TELEKINISIS!” “Yeah, pretty much. But I’ve been told that Subject Zero murders every failed attempt before they hurt any of his other precious test subjects. So far, all he’s done is prolong the insanity effects.” “Charlie, we have to somehow get the fuck out of here.” “We can’t. Do you not understand what I just said?” “Look, I get that these people are innocent but they’re obviously going to be massive dangers to humanity. We can get out of here. I don’t know how but… Somehow!” “Nate! I can’t get out of here.” “What the fuck are you talking about?” Charlie raises up his arm and reveals a small pinprick of a needle in his skin. “Charlie, what is that? No… Wait, you were injected too?” “Yeah.” “FUCK!” “Look, as far as I’m concerned, you haven’t been injected. There’s no needle mark in your skin. YOU could actually get out of here.” “I’m not leaving you behind again, Charlie! It was a nightmare seeing what they did to you the first time.” “Nathan, I -” Suddenly and very unexpectedly, one of the people in the crowd begins to scream from within the shadows. Nathan, confused and afraid, looks over at the man losing his sanity. Within seconds, the man stops screaming as the entire room falls into a deafening silence. The man looks in Nathan’s direction and shines a demonic grin with a stare that could pierce the soul of any mortal man. Knowing the man is coming toward him, Nathan slowly starts backing up against the cold concrete walls. The man, with all new senses, uses his new telekinetic ability to push others from the crowd aside. Charlie, being brave for the first and possibly final time in his life, attempts to stand in the way but is quickly subdued as he’s flung against the wall. Finally reaching Nathan, the man brings his gaze into a full on stare into Nathan’s soul. For Nathan, it’s as if death has come for him. Suddenly, the man’s gaze is ripped away by a familiar face of evil. Subject Zero heard the screams and came to claim his failed experiment. This led to an all-out brawl between the two men. Anyone would describe it in the same way you would if two rabid dogs were fighting over food. One dog gets up after being ripped open and the other gets its face gashed by a hard hitting blow, yet they still fight. Only difference between the two, one is just a dog wanting its food and the other is trained to kill. Suddenly, with a vicious blow, Subject Zero wins the fight when he takes the man’s head and slams it so hard into the concrete floor that his skull cracks open causing blood, brains, and skull fragments to fly over the silent crowd. With one final glance, Subject Zero looks over the entire crowd. He ends his gaze by making sure Nathan is the last to see his devilish eyes. Soon after, he leaves the room and locks the door. Nathan stares at the corpse lying on the ground with a look of pure terror and proceeds to collapse onto the floor while holding back tears. The small concrete room soon fills with despair as everyone watches the tears of pain and fear run down Nathan’s face. Charlie tries to make his long-time friend feel a little more hopeful, although he soon gives up as well until he has a moment of realization. He remembers back to when they first were searching for information he had found an article with some intriguing details. “Okay, so, there may be some hope after all.” “Charlie, what hope is there? Huh?! You’re pretty much fucked and I don’t exactly see a way out of here.” “One of the articles back at the house we were in said something about a self-destruct button. That’s also how you open the main doors. Apparently, no one ever bothered, or I guess, never got the chance to hit the self-destruct timer and run their asses to the door. What if we- I mean, YOU could actually do that?” “Charlie, I already told you I don’t want to leave you behind.” “GOD DAMN IT, NATHAN! I know… FUCK! I know. But I want you to survive. Can’t you just listen to me for once?! I would follow you through hell and back and it kind of feels that way right now. So? Can you just listen to what I want you to do for once while I’m practically on my deathbed?!” “Okay! Okay…” Suddenly, an unexpected chance of escape arrives at their feet. Subject Zero and a few of his mannequins walk in to remove the mutilated corpse from the room. Unexpectedly, one of the people in the crowd begins to scream out in pain just like the other man did moments ago before his demise. “Oh, great…” Subject Zero says irritatedly. Soon after, multiple others begin to scream out in pain until eventually the entire crowd follows suit. Nathan, and somehow Charlie have not been affected. The room quickly becomes engulfed in a hurricane of insanity. This leads Subject Zero and the mannequins to getting distracted by the madness and accidentally leaves the door open. Subject Zero quickly gets attacked by everyone in the room but he holds his ground firmly. Nathan knows this is the perfect chance to escape and signals Charlie to come with him. Charlie hesitantly comes along but right as they reach the door Nathan turns to hear the sounds of Charlie going through the worst pain of his life. Nathan looks in confusion but quickly realizes he’s about to have to accept his friend’s fate. Nathan refuses to accept it, but he knows he needs to. Charlie suddenly lunges at Nathan and uses his last act of sanity and control to push him out the door. “Get. To the button. Please.” “Charlie, I- I’m-” “I’m sorry…” Charlie finally snaps and is engulfed in pure raging insanity. He lunges at Nathan but before he reaches him, Nathan, with teary eyes, slams the door onto his friend, turns, and begins running out into the seemingly vast wilderness. As he runs, Nathan hears the cries of a dozen men and women as they get ripped apart. Knowing that among them is his best friend, Nathan begins to cry as he continues to run away from his previous hell.
End of Part 1.
2024.06.09 23:27 11velociraptors Something has been eating our local wildlife. Last night, I finally found out what.
They found just enough of my best friend's body to mark him down as dead, not missing. The rest of his family wasn't as lucky. They found pieces of Wyatt, Emily, and Alice Forrester—teeth strewn across the parents' bed, strands of the girl's hair caught in the latch of her bedroom window—but there supposedly wasn't enough evidence to determine whether the rest of the family was dead or alive.
After the discovery, my town entered an unofficial, unspoken lockdown. Any peace of mind gained from Fred's arrest was shattered by the realization that, even if he was guilty of grave robbing and killing animals, there were far worse criminals operating in our community. I talked a big game in my last post, saying that I'd put down whatever entity I'd unleashed like some kind of wannabe ghostbuster. In reality, all I did for days was sit in my room, imagining the terror and pain Liam must have felt in his final moments. I submitted an application to visit Fred through the county jail's website, but it took a while to get approved.
Just over a week ago, I received an unexpected visit from Liam's girlfriend, Eleanor. When I answered her knock at my door, she instantly pulled me into a hug and burst into tears, so I figured, despite the two of us not being close, she'd come to commiserate over our shared loss. Not sure what else to do, I invited her inside.
In some ways, it was nice to have someone else who felt the same pain that I did, but in others, seeing her cry just made me feel guilty. She'd come all this way to confide in me, not knowing the role I played in her boyfriend's death. At one point my grandma came in from her garden and made Eleanor some tea, which helped calm her down a little.
It occurred to me that if I was supposed to be investigating the thing that killed Liam, Eleanor might be a good place to start. As gently as I could, I asked her if she'd noticed anything strange about Liam before the discovery.
She shook her head and told me: "He was the same as ever. I just can't see Liam or the rest of his family having any enemies. His parents owned a bakery—that's like the most innocuous job ever. And Alice, I mean, she was only twelve. The only person I might've suspected was your creepy boss. But he was already in jail by that night."
After a minute of silence, she sighed, saying, "That asshole is real bad news. I practically begged Liam not to take that job. We hardly ever disagreed on anything, but we fought about that stupid job all the time." Eleanor started tearing up, so I refrained from asking any follow-up questions. When she composed herself again, she set the teacup down and excused herself, so I walked her out to her car.
I didn't think much about it at the time, but when Eleanor talked about Fred, she seemed really upset. A lot of people in my town have long been wary of Fred, but Eleanor seemed particularly bitter, like there was a painful history between them. Who knows, maybe I'm not the only one who witnessed him messing with dead bodies. I'll have to ask her more the next time I see her.
Before I made it back inside the house, my grandparents appeared on the porch, dressed for an outing. My granddad let me know they were going to The Home Depot for a new raccoon trap, since apparently there was an issue with our current one. He said, "Every morning I find food everywhere and an open trap door. Either the thing's broken or the coyotes have grown opposable thumbs."
After that, they left me alone with the unpleasant notion that something other than coyotes had gotten into the trap. I walked to the edge of our front yard to investigate, and sure enough, the trap door was open and the dog food we used as bait was scattered all over the grass. It looked like someone had reached an arm inside just to knock over the dog food bowl, and yet when I looked closely, I saw a small clump of fur caught in a bottom corner. At some point, there had been an animal in that trap, but something else had opened the door for it. Whether they had done so out of compassion or because they wanted the trapped animal for themselves, I didn't know. I did know that after a week of doing nothing, I finally had a plan.
I spent most of last Saturday gathering supplies, hitting up most of the hunting and camping stores in our small town. My itinerary included four traps in total: two for raccoons; one for mice and other, smaller animals; and one bear trap. I also bought dog food and peanut butter to bait the raccoon and mice traps accordingly. Finally, I bought a pack of four trail cameras. All together, I spent so much that I practically blew through all the money I'd earned at Sundae Central, but I was hoping that it would be worth it.
On Sunday, I set up the traps. My grandparent's house, like all the others on this side of our street, borders a canyon. We've got a nice plot—a huge fenceless yard, at the edge of which sits a greenhouse that my granddad built for my grandma's 50th birthday. Beyond the flat portion of the backyard is a long, gradual decline to the arroyo below, not quite sheer enough to be called a cliff, but too steep and full of trees and boulders to do anything with.
I set up the first trail camera to point to the newly-replaced raccoon trap in the front yard, dedicating the area as Site A. Next, I placed the mouse trap next to the greenhouse, propped up the second trail camera against one of the greenhouse's shelves, and designated it as Site B. I set up the remaining raccoon traps at sites C and D, which lay right at the bottom of the hill and at the very edge of our property respectively. The bear trap, for the time being, I kept in reserve.
Nothing happened on Monday night. I stayed up late, watching the trail cams on my laptop, until I got bored and fell asleep. The following morning, I watched the sped-up recordings, and was both relieved and disappointed to see that nothing had paid the traps a visit.
Site B caught a mouse on Tuesday night. It crawled into the trap near the greenhouse at around 3 AM, but nothing else came to investigate. I released it into the woods the next day. The Site D camera caught something moving in the distance just before dawn, but the trail cam's night vision quality is so bad that I have no idea what it was. From the way the brush swayed in its wake, though, it was something big.
Wednesday night was when things started to get weird. At around midnight, I was sitting at my desk. I've been asked to speak at Liam's funeral, so I was fruitlessly attempting to draft a speech when I looked up at my computer screen to check the cameras. Clicking through the four feeds, I saw that the trap at Site C had caught an opossum. I full-screened the Site C feed and watched the animal scurry around inside the trap for a while. I sat there for a long time. When an hour passed and nothing else happened, I was ready to throw in the towel on the whole stupid operation and just go to bed.
And then, all of a sudden, the trap door slid open.
The opossum was still huddled in the back corner of the cage; the door seemed to have opened all on its own. Cautiously, the creature approached the exit, slowly making its way out of the metal cage. It took a few steps out into the night, and then it stilled. Its head turned to the side, its glowing eyes fixed on something that I couldn't see. I squinted at the video feed. For a moment, I thought I saw depressions in the grass, like something was walking next to the trap.
I blinked, and the opossum disappeared.
I've played back that footage so many times now, and I just can't make sense of what I saw. One second, the creature was standing there in the grass, and the next, it was simply gone. The next morning, when I investigated the area, I saw no trace of the opossum or any other animal. For reasons I still can't comprehend, the thing that's been taking our local wildlife isn't showing up on my cameras.
I focused my efforts on Site C. On Thursday evening, just before dusk, I swapped the dog food in the raccoon trap in favor of a slab of bloody, raw meat I'd bought from the butcher. I also hauled the bear trap down the hill and set it up in front of the raccoon trap, chaining it to a large tree and disguising it as best I could with leaves and dirt. Finally, I sprayed some bear and raccoon repellant around the surrounding area. I've never used a steel-jawed trap on an animal before—I've only ever used humane, catch-and-release-style traps for pest control and I'd like to keep it that way. It was my hope that the repellant would deter the animals from getting too close.
I stayed up the entirety of Thursday night for nothing. No animals graced the trail cam feed, nor did any monsters.
Friday night was similarly slow. I spent so many lonely hours struggling to write my speech and staring at grainy trail cam footage. Maybe I was going a little crazy from my self-imposed isolation, but I kept thinking I saw something moving in the background of Site D.
Last night was when everything went to hell. The slab of meat had been so thoroughly ravaged by flies that I swapped it out for a new one on Saturday evening. Then, I returned to my room to wait. At 3 in the morning, long after my grandparents had gone to sleep, something in the Site C camera caught my eye. Movement in the brush. Depressions in the grass, so slight I never would've seen them if I wasn't looking for them. I held my breath …
And then the bear trap snapped shut.
I stood up from my desk, ecstatic that I'd finally caught my prey and terrified that I'd finally have to confront it. With shaking hands, I quickly tied my shoes and fitted a headlamp over my forehead. As I prepared to leave, the bear trap thrashed around on my screen, presumably as whatever entity it held fought for escape. The last thing I grabbed before I jogged into the night was my granddad's rifle from his gun safe.
Once outside, I made my way towards the bottom of the hill. The weight of the gun in my hand gave me some reassurance as I descended, but I was still more scared than I'd like to admit. Eventually, I drew close enough to the trap to hear the clink of the metal chain. I clicked on my headlamp to see what I'd caught.
There was a woman sitting on the ground, her back towards me. Her hair was blonde, her frame was thin, and she wore a black dress similar to the one I'd seen on the woman outside of Sundae Central. The sight of that dress made my heart sink—instantly, I knew that I was dealing with more than one enemy.
The woman turned around to look at the source of the light, and as she did so, she released her leg. She'd been holding her trapped foot up to her mouth with both hands, and from the look of the gaping wound below her calf, she'd been trying to bite through her leg to free herself. The sight of all that gore made me sick to my stomach. When she saw me, she rose to her feet, though how she could possibly stand in such a state I couldn't fathom.
I pointed the rifle at her. Her lips and chin were completely stained with blood, but I could get a good look at the rest of her face—at her reddish-brown eyes and straight nose, at her freckles and pale skin. Unlike the dark haired woman I'd seen before Liam's death, this woman seemed more corporeal. There was none of the dizzying, distorted effect I'd gotten from looking at the other woman for too long. This woman also seemed younger. She shouldn't possibly have been older than 25.
"What are you?" I asked. She didn't respond, nor did she move at all. Blood dripped off of her chin and pooled on the forest floor beneath her.
"What are you doing in my town?" No response but an unblinking stare and an apathetic expression. I asked her a few more questions, though what exactly I said I can't remember, before finally asking her about Liam.
"My best friend was murdered two weeks ago, for no reason at all. Did you kill him? Did your friend?"
At that, the woman lowered her gaze. Her lips parted, revealing two sets of teeth—a row of normal, human teeth in front, and a row of jagged, shark-like teeth behind them.
"I didn't kill him, but I'm sorry he had to die." Her voice was surprisingly soft, but her words were difficult to make out. It seemed difficult, almost painful, to talk around so many teeth.
"What do you mean 'had to die'?"
"He interfered. He saw too much. And now so have you." Her tone carried no malice and her expression looked almost remorseful. I kept the rifle trained on her, but I took a few steps forward, studying her face. I noticed that she had two beauty marks, one under her left eye and one above her left eyebrow. The weird thing is, I'm pretty sure I've seen a girl with those exact birthmarks before. In fact, the longer I looked at her the more familiar she seemed, but I couldn't for the life of me put my finger on where I'd seen her before.
"Do I know you from somewhere?" I asked her, and she looked surprised.
"I don't …" She started, and then trailed off. She turned away from me, peering intently into the dark woods. I heard something faint, like boughs snapping in the distance, and a familiar feeling settled in my gut. I felt like I was back in the car outside Sundae Central, face to face with the thing that would eventually kill my best friend. Whatever I'd seen that night, I got the sense that it was approaching.
The blonde woman looked back towards me. "You should go," she said, and I didn't have to be told twice. I took one last look at her, trying to take in every detail of her face, and then I turned around and ran for my house.
By the time I was halfway up the hill, I was certain that I was being followed. I could feel a presence behind me, yet I heard no one: no heavy breathing, no snapping of twigs underfoot. Figuring that I couldn't hear my pursuer because they were too far behind me, I risked a glance backwards and failed to stop the scream that escaped me.
Less than five feet behind me was the dark haired woman I'd seen outside the ice cream shop. I have no idea how she got so close behind me without making a sound. Though I only caught the briefest glimpse of her face, I saw that her lips were torn at the corners, allowing her to open her mouth unnaturally wide. Like the blonde girl I'd spoken to, this woman's mouth was cluttered with a double-row of jagged teeth. Figuring I could run faster without my rifle, I threw my it at the woman and put everything I could into that final sprint towards my house.
I didn't stop or look behind me until I was inside with the door shut and locked. I couldn't believe I'd made it in one piece. Hurrying to the back window, I looked out across the backyard and saw, at the very edge of the property, the faint shape of the dark-haired woman. She was perfectly still, staring in the direction of the greenhouse, though at what exactly I'm still not sure. After a few minutes, she turned around and disappeared past the treeline. Her long, black dress swayed around her ankles and made her look like she was floating instead of walking on two feet.
The recording from Site C ended abruptly after I left the scene. When I returned to the scene in the daylight this morning, I found the camera in pieces at the base of the tree it was once hanging on. I also found that the bear trap itself was nowhere in sight. The chain I had used to tie it to a nearby tree was now connected to nothing, leaving me to wonder if the dark-haired woman bit clean through the metal links in order to free her friend.
It's Sunday now, and while I'm in desperate need of some sleep, I wanted to make sure I wrote everything down before I forgot all the details. Though I've learned a lot from my experiment, every new revelation has resulted in more questions. I know that I'm dealing with more than one creature, but I don't know what they are or what they want. I know that Liam was killed for "interfering", but with what exactly I have no clue. The blonde woman's face is still fresh in my mind; maybe I should draw a sketch or something before I go to sleep. She seems so very familiar, and I feel like if I figure out where I've seen her before, I might be one step closer to unraveling this whole fucked-up mystery. I also finally got cleared to visit Fred this week, so hopefully he'll shed some light on what we're dealing with.
Until then, I just have to pray that no sharp-toothed women kill me in my sleep for "seeing too much." I hate that they know where I live now, and that I have no clue how many of them there are. Whatever the case, I'm going to do my best to get to the bottom of it, and try to keep you all updated as I do.
Wish me luck.
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After the discovery, my town entered an unofficial, unspoken lockdown. Any peace of mind gained from Fred's arrest was shattered by the realization that, even if he was guilty of grave robbing and killing animals, there were far worse criminals operating in our community. I talked a big game in my last post, saying that I'd put down whatever entity I'd unleashed like some kind of wannabe ghostbuster. In reality, all I did for days was sit in my room, imagining the terror and pain Liam must have felt in his final moments. I submitted an application to visit Fred through the county jail's website, but it took a while to get approved.
Just over a week ago, I received an unexpected visit from Liam's girlfriend, Eleanor. When I answered her knock at my door, she instantly pulled me into a hug and burst into tears, so I figured, despite the two of us not being close, she'd come to commiserate over our shared loss. Not sure what else to do, I invited her inside.
In some ways, it was nice to have someone else who felt the same pain that I did, but in others, seeing her cry just made me feel guilty. She'd come all this way to confide in me, not knowing the role I played in her boyfriend's death. At one point my grandma came in from her garden and made Eleanor some tea, which helped calm her down a little.
It occurred to me that if I was supposed to be investigating the thing that killed Liam, Eleanor might be a good place to start. As gently as I could, I asked her if she'd noticed anything strange about Liam before the discovery.
She shook her head and told me: "He was the same as ever. I just can't see Liam or the rest of his family having any enemies. His parents owned a bakery—that's like the most innocuous job ever. And Alice, I mean, she was only twelve. The only person I might've suspected was your creepy boss. But he was already in jail by that night."
After a minute of silence, she sighed, saying, "That asshole is real bad news. I practically begged Liam not to take that job. We hardly ever disagreed on anything, but we fought about that stupid job all the time." Eleanor started tearing up, so I refrained from asking any follow-up questions. When she composed herself again, she set the teacup down and excused herself, so I walked her out to her car.
I didn't think much about it at the time, but when Eleanor talked about Fred, she seemed really upset. A lot of people in my town have long been wary of Fred, but Eleanor seemed particularly bitter, like there was a painful history between them. Who knows, maybe I'm not the only one who witnessed him messing with dead bodies. I'll have to ask her more the next time I see her.
Before I made it back inside the house, my grandparents appeared on the porch, dressed for an outing. My granddad let me know they were going to The Home Depot for a new raccoon trap, since apparently there was an issue with our current one. He said, "Every morning I find food everywhere and an open trap door. Either the thing's broken or the coyotes have grown opposable thumbs."
After that, they left me alone with the unpleasant notion that something other than coyotes had gotten into the trap. I walked to the edge of our front yard to investigate, and sure enough, the trap door was open and the dog food we used as bait was scattered all over the grass. It looked like someone had reached an arm inside just to knock over the dog food bowl, and yet when I looked closely, I saw a small clump of fur caught in a bottom corner. At some point, there had been an animal in that trap, but something else had opened the door for it. Whether they had done so out of compassion or because they wanted the trapped animal for themselves, I didn't know. I did know that after a week of doing nothing, I finally had a plan.
I spent most of last Saturday gathering supplies, hitting up most of the hunting and camping stores in our small town. My itinerary included four traps in total: two for raccoons; one for mice and other, smaller animals; and one bear trap. I also bought dog food and peanut butter to bait the raccoon and mice traps accordingly. Finally, I bought a pack of four trail cameras. All together, I spent so much that I practically blew through all the money I'd earned at Sundae Central, but I was hoping that it would be worth it.
On Sunday, I set up the traps. My grandparent's house, like all the others on this side of our street, borders a canyon. We've got a nice plot—a huge fenceless yard, at the edge of which sits a greenhouse that my granddad built for my grandma's 50th birthday. Beyond the flat portion of the backyard is a long, gradual decline to the arroyo below, not quite sheer enough to be called a cliff, but too steep and full of trees and boulders to do anything with.
I set up the first trail camera to point to the newly-replaced raccoon trap in the front yard, dedicating the area as Site A. Next, I placed the mouse trap next to the greenhouse, propped up the second trail camera against one of the greenhouse's shelves, and designated it as Site B. I set up the remaining raccoon traps at sites C and D, which lay right at the bottom of the hill and at the very edge of our property respectively. The bear trap, for the time being, I kept in reserve.
Nothing happened on Monday night. I stayed up late, watching the trail cams on my laptop, until I got bored and fell asleep. The following morning, I watched the sped-up recordings, and was both relieved and disappointed to see that nothing had paid the traps a visit.
Site B caught a mouse on Tuesday night. It crawled into the trap near the greenhouse at around 3 AM, but nothing else came to investigate. I released it into the woods the next day. The Site D camera caught something moving in the distance just before dawn, but the trail cam's night vision quality is so bad that I have no idea what it was. From the way the brush swayed in its wake, though, it was something big.
Wednesday night was when things started to get weird. At around midnight, I was sitting at my desk. I've been asked to speak at Liam's funeral, so I was fruitlessly attempting to draft a speech when I looked up at my computer screen to check the cameras. Clicking through the four feeds, I saw that the trap at Site C had caught an opossum. I full-screened the Site C feed and watched the animal scurry around inside the trap for a while. I sat there for a long time. When an hour passed and nothing else happened, I was ready to throw in the towel on the whole stupid operation and just go to bed.
And then, all of a sudden, the trap door slid open.
The opossum was still huddled in the back corner of the cage; the door seemed to have opened all on its own. Cautiously, the creature approached the exit, slowly making its way out of the metal cage. It took a few steps out into the night, and then it stilled. Its head turned to the side, its glowing eyes fixed on something that I couldn't see. I squinted at the video feed. For a moment, I thought I saw depressions in the grass, like something was walking next to the trap.
I blinked, and the opossum disappeared.
I've played back that footage so many times now, and I just can't make sense of what I saw. One second, the creature was standing there in the grass, and the next, it was simply gone. The next morning, when I investigated the area, I saw no trace of the opossum or any other animal. For reasons I still can't comprehend, the thing that's been taking our local wildlife isn't showing up on my cameras.
I focused my efforts on Site C. On Thursday evening, just before dusk, I swapped the dog food in the raccoon trap in favor of a slab of bloody, raw meat I'd bought from the butcher. I also hauled the bear trap down the hill and set it up in front of the raccoon trap, chaining it to a large tree and disguising it as best I could with leaves and dirt. Finally, I sprayed some bear and raccoon repellant around the surrounding area. I've never used a steel-jawed trap on an animal before—I've only ever used humane, catch-and-release-style traps for pest control and I'd like to keep it that way. It was my hope that the repellant would deter the animals from getting too close.
I stayed up the entirety of Thursday night for nothing. No animals graced the trail cam feed, nor did any monsters.
Friday night was similarly slow. I spent so many lonely hours struggling to write my speech and staring at grainy trail cam footage. Maybe I was going a little crazy from my self-imposed isolation, but I kept thinking I saw something moving in the background of Site D.
Last night was when everything went to hell. The slab of meat had been so thoroughly ravaged by flies that I swapped it out for a new one on Saturday evening. Then, I returned to my room to wait. At 3 in the morning, long after my grandparents had gone to sleep, something in the Site C camera caught my eye. Movement in the brush. Depressions in the grass, so slight I never would've seen them if I wasn't looking for them. I held my breath …
And then the bear trap snapped shut.
I stood up from my desk, ecstatic that I'd finally caught my prey and terrified that I'd finally have to confront it. With shaking hands, I quickly tied my shoes and fitted a headlamp over my forehead. As I prepared to leave, the bear trap thrashed around on my screen, presumably as whatever entity it held fought for escape. The last thing I grabbed before I jogged into the night was my granddad's rifle from his gun safe.
Once outside, I made my way towards the bottom of the hill. The weight of the gun in my hand gave me some reassurance as I descended, but I was still more scared than I'd like to admit. Eventually, I drew close enough to the trap to hear the clink of the metal chain. I clicked on my headlamp to see what I'd caught.
There was a woman sitting on the ground, her back towards me. Her hair was blonde, her frame was thin, and she wore a black dress similar to the one I'd seen on the woman outside of Sundae Central. The sight of that dress made my heart sink—instantly, I knew that I was dealing with more than one enemy.
The woman turned around to look at the source of the light, and as she did so, she released her leg. She'd been holding her trapped foot up to her mouth with both hands, and from the look of the gaping wound below her calf, she'd been trying to bite through her leg to free herself. The sight of all that gore made me sick to my stomach. When she saw me, she rose to her feet, though how she could possibly stand in such a state I couldn't fathom.
I pointed the rifle at her. Her lips and chin were completely stained with blood, but I could get a good look at the rest of her face—at her reddish-brown eyes and straight nose, at her freckles and pale skin. Unlike the dark haired woman I'd seen before Liam's death, this woman seemed more corporeal. There was none of the dizzying, distorted effect I'd gotten from looking at the other woman for too long. This woman also seemed younger. She shouldn't possibly have been older than 25.
"What are you?" I asked. She didn't respond, nor did she move at all. Blood dripped off of her chin and pooled on the forest floor beneath her.
"What are you doing in my town?" No response but an unblinking stare and an apathetic expression. I asked her a few more questions, though what exactly I said I can't remember, before finally asking her about Liam.
"My best friend was murdered two weeks ago, for no reason at all. Did you kill him? Did your friend?"
At that, the woman lowered her gaze. Her lips parted, revealing two sets of teeth—a row of normal, human teeth in front, and a row of jagged, shark-like teeth behind them.
"I didn't kill him, but I'm sorry he had to die." Her voice was surprisingly soft, but her words were difficult to make out. It seemed difficult, almost painful, to talk around so many teeth.
"What do you mean 'had to die'?"
"He interfered. He saw too much. And now so have you." Her tone carried no malice and her expression looked almost remorseful. I kept the rifle trained on her, but I took a few steps forward, studying her face. I noticed that she had two beauty marks, one under her left eye and one above her left eyebrow. The weird thing is, I'm pretty sure I've seen a girl with those exact birthmarks before. In fact, the longer I looked at her the more familiar she seemed, but I couldn't for the life of me put my finger on where I'd seen her before.
"Do I know you from somewhere?" I asked her, and she looked surprised.
"I don't …" She started, and then trailed off. She turned away from me, peering intently into the dark woods. I heard something faint, like boughs snapping in the distance, and a familiar feeling settled in my gut. I felt like I was back in the car outside Sundae Central, face to face with the thing that would eventually kill my best friend. Whatever I'd seen that night, I got the sense that it was approaching.
The blonde woman looked back towards me. "You should go," she said, and I didn't have to be told twice. I took one last look at her, trying to take in every detail of her face, and then I turned around and ran for my house.
By the time I was halfway up the hill, I was certain that I was being followed. I could feel a presence behind me, yet I heard no one: no heavy breathing, no snapping of twigs underfoot. Figuring that I couldn't hear my pursuer because they were too far behind me, I risked a glance backwards and failed to stop the scream that escaped me.
Less than five feet behind me was the dark haired woman I'd seen outside the ice cream shop. I have no idea how she got so close behind me without making a sound. Though I only caught the briefest glimpse of her face, I saw that her lips were torn at the corners, allowing her to open her mouth unnaturally wide. Like the blonde girl I'd spoken to, this woman's mouth was cluttered with a double-row of jagged teeth. Figuring I could run faster without my rifle, I threw my it at the woman and put everything I could into that final sprint towards my house.
I didn't stop or look behind me until I was inside with the door shut and locked. I couldn't believe I'd made it in one piece. Hurrying to the back window, I looked out across the backyard and saw, at the very edge of the property, the faint shape of the dark-haired woman. She was perfectly still, staring in the direction of the greenhouse, though at what exactly I'm still not sure. After a few minutes, she turned around and disappeared past the treeline. Her long, black dress swayed around her ankles and made her look like she was floating instead of walking on two feet.
The recording from Site C ended abruptly after I left the scene. When I returned to the scene in the daylight this morning, I found the camera in pieces at the base of the tree it was once hanging on. I also found that the bear trap itself was nowhere in sight. The chain I had used to tie it to a nearby tree was now connected to nothing, leaving me to wonder if the dark-haired woman bit clean through the metal links in order to free her friend.
It's Sunday now, and while I'm in desperate need of some sleep, I wanted to make sure I wrote everything down before I forgot all the details. Though I've learned a lot from my experiment, every new revelation has resulted in more questions. I know that I'm dealing with more than one creature, but I don't know what they are or what they want. I know that Liam was killed for "interfering", but with what exactly I have no clue. The blonde woman's face is still fresh in my mind; maybe I should draw a sketch or something before I go to sleep. She seems so very familiar, and I feel like if I figure out where I've seen her before, I might be one step closer to unraveling this whole fucked-up mystery. I also finally got cleared to visit Fred this week, so hopefully he'll shed some light on what we're dealing with.
Until then, I just have to pray that no sharp-toothed women kill me in my sleep for "seeing too much." I hate that they know where I live now, and that I have no clue how many of them there are. Whatever the case, I'm going to do my best to get to the bottom of it, and try to keep you all updated as I do.
Wish me luck.
2024.06.09 23:23 SabineRitter [ROUNDUP] UFOs, ultraterrestrials, IAA2025, space lab Gifted program, Hanford Atom Factory. Countries:🇲🇽🇺🇸🇨🇦🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿🇻🇪🇮🇹🇨🇿🇦🇷🇰🇿🇧🇬🇷🇸🇯🇵 Colors seen this week:🟢,🔴🔵
Last week's post https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d6ng7c/roundup_ufos_kepler_aerospace_and/
Archive https://wayback-api.archive.org/web/20240602211034/https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d6ng7c/roundup_ufos_kepler_aerospace_and/
Moon phase waning crescent 🌘 , four days before new
Mars Right Ascension 1h 36m 28s
.1 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d6nqv1/there_were_3_of_these/ photos, daytime sky, threelights observed, photo shows twolights, moving fast, low over treeline, jefferson city Missouri, submission statement issues, , removed by mods
.2 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d6nr9p/1979_ufo_close_encounter_a_version_was_posted_in/ sighting description, single object multiple lights, approach, directly in front, Laval Québec Canada 🇨🇦 , audio description beeping sound, scanning, oval-shaped, very dark, small colored lights racing along its middle ridge., the sonar beeps had reached me, hitting the ground around me in a rapid circular motion. , emotion of fear, witness left the area, vanishing, missing time 2 hours, subsequent entities
.3 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d6nyqn/balls_of_fire_in_mexico/ photo, daytime sky, fleet, on ridgeline, repeat visitors, Mexico 🇲🇽, “brujas bolas de fuego en Mexico”, following the witness, vanishing and reappearing, [GOODPOST]
.4 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d62ml5/what_is_this/ video, daytime sky, twolights observed, single object blackwhite possible metallic sphere, contemporaneous report, two witnesses, moving straight, at home, backyard, stationary overhead, trajectory change, right angle turn, departure, Utah
.5 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d53cim/uap_florida_53024/ video, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, single light object stationary, Satellite Beach Florida, near water Atlantic Ocean, above Patrick Space Force Base., USSF , similar sighting in comments
.6 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d6mkfc/possible_ufoarv_over_fort_collinsco_appx_1230_pm/ video, daytime cloudy sky, contemporaneous report, fort Collins Colorado, single light object, elongated, tictac, horizontal orientation, horizontal trajectory, disappeared into clouds, [GOODPOST], similar sightings in comments, two witnesses, appeared directly in front, possible reaction to being observed, right angle turn, departure, wtf_is_that, silent
.7 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d77rnx/the_cryptoterrestrial_hypothesis_a_case_fo new paper, ultraterrestrial
.8 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d6ur3sighting_in_joshua_tree_june_1_after_contact_in/ photos, nighttime sky, Joshua Tree National Park California, single light object, human initiated contact, moving and stationary and moving, going left, right, stopping, going left abruptly, zig-zagging or moving in circle., zigzag movements, loop
.9 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7c7pn/all_the_relevant_uap_updates_from_may_27june_2/ information, state of disclosure USA https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d76s3u/disclosure_process_series_year_1/ different OP, overview of events
.10 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7bs3t/with_all_the_ufo_stuff_in_the_news_i_need_to_get/ sighting description, urban area, Sydney Australia 🇦🇺, nighttime, single light object, orange 🟠, overhead, it looked to be the size of a room or helicopter. , emotion of fear, I felt this rush of anxiety, or panic., silent , moving toward water, pacific ocean, it seemed to have metallic / silver fins portruding from the top and the bottom, barely visible from its glowing orange center. , electronic effects phone battery died, similar sightings in comments, [GOODPOST]
.11 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7cra5/orb_flashes_hello_and_goodbye_may_19th_2024/ video, at home, backyard, nighttime sky, single light object moving, flashing erratically, two witnesses, duration 3 minutes, Southern California, between San Diego and Los Angeles, multicolored, brightness change, flareup and dimming, blue 🔵 glow, vanishing and reappearing, powerlines , flew over the witness home , repeat visitor
.12 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d763bx/diamond_shaped_craft_with_blue_propulsion_et_o sighting description, at home, backyard, south Carolina, two witnesses, evening sky, single object multiple lights, blue 🔵 glow, diamond 💠 shaped, flew overhead, low over treeline, descending and ascending, speed change, The craft just swooped down from behind us to about tree top high then went back up as it went away from us. As it went forward and back up it increased speed., disappeared into clouds, cloaking, has anyone seen?, similar sighting in comments
.13 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1d7226c/ive_had_telepathic_communication_with_galactic/ experience description and photos, orb, fleet, single object blackwhite, emotion of love, telepathy, dream description, entities, physical effects goosebumps,
.14 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1d79z3z/berwick_upon_tweed/ photos, nighttime sky, single light object, angular, color change, berwick on tweed England the UK 🇬🇧, near water north sea, contemporaneous report, moving erratically observed, duration 3 hours
.15 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d6txk6/lightning_flashes_a_new_brother_cries_live/ video, nighttime sky, storm, lightning, single light object, low below treeline
.16 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7kxuz/in_light_of_jason_sands_scott_andrews_and_now/ childhood experience description, [GOODPOST], nighttime, at home, urban area, Annapolis Maryland, men in black response, event amnesia, facility off of Defense Highway that I ran away from as a kid., Northrup Grumman, I think I might have been used in some compartmentalized government program as a kid and all I can remember is running away from one of the facilities., similar experience in comments https://wayback-api.archive.org/web/20240604170928/https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7kxuz/in_light_of_jason_sands_scott_andrews_and_now/ Archive
.17 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7otwj/weird_story/ sighting description, at home, nighttime, single light object, reaction to being observed, sudden departure upward, I felt like it immediately saw me and shot straight up at a speed I can’t estimate because it was gone within a blink. , subsequent odor, I walk back outside again and there is a very strange clean smell, almost like an ozone type smell I used to get from an air purifier ., eastern Tennessee, similar sightings in comments, low over treeline, near oak ridge national laboratory, contemporaneous report
.18 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d842p9/going_through_my_old_sketchbooks/ drawing, single object multiple lights, red and yellow 🔴🟡, diamond 💎 shaped, threelights, triangle formation, disappeared behind ridgeline, duration 15-20 seconds , has anyone seen?, Central Kootenays British Columbia Canada 🇨🇦, similar sightings in comments
.19 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7v2x2/what_is_the_orb_in_the_skynyc/ video, nighttime sky, single light object stationary, multicolored, low below rooftop, urban area, Manhattan NYC New York state, OP comments downvoted, big debunker energy
.20 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7w0gd/new_zealand_sub_readers_did_you_see_that_pyramid/ sighting description, has anyone seen?, Wanganui new zealand 🇳🇿 , single dark object, pyramid shape, multicolored, all the edges lit up like a prism., over water Tasman Sea,
.21 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d841nq/sacramento_june_4_2024/ video, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, at work, duration 3-4 minutes, threelights, triangle formation, blackwhite, flashing, formation change, speed change, vanishing, similar sighting in comments, low over treeline, Sacramento California , observed rotating, looked shiny and spinning,
.22 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7mshs/strange_lights_over_naperville_illinois_june_1st/ video, nighttime sky, single object multiple lights or fleet, flickering, threelights, formation change, low over treeline, anomalous to witness, Naperville Illinois, [GOODPOST], multicolored, flareup and dimming, lighting configuration change, stationary and moving, two witnesses
.23 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d7yjci/weird_lights_in_the_sky_over_my_house/ photo, nighttime cloudy sky, fleet, stationary duration hours, all night, the UK 🇬🇧, similar sighting in comments, https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d80bzg/weird_lights_in_the_sky_over_my_house_video/ video, lighting configuration change, flashing in pattern and steady, [GOODPOST]
.24 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1d788yv/every_few_months_i_keep_having_a_dream_seeing/ dream description, repeat visitor, contemporaneous report, at home, single dark object, splitting, ship then broke into pieces and did a spiral motion and then disappeared., I then wake up what looks to be a shape or at least the wall to ceiling was curved and extremely clean and silver white., similar experiences in comments
.25 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d86k5f/vectors_vs_pixels/ sighting and discussion of movement, it was there and then wasn’t. My brain/memory tried filling it in with it disappearing but not sure.
.26 https://old.reddit.com/Thetruthishere/comments/1d7jj3a/ghost_girl_in_my_house/ childhood sighting description, entity, humanoid, inside home , Venezuela 🇻🇪 , i saw her with a white dress passing by , mimicking sister, emotion of fear, witness left the area
.27 https://old.reddit.com/Glitch_in_the_Matrix/comments/1d7kkmu/house_disappears_in_time_slip/ experience description, building anomaly, disappeared, One day I passed it going to Landrum south Carolina,the other town, and then when I come back it wasn't there no more. , witness stopped the car and got out
.28 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d7yb8m/weird_message_in_the_head/ experience description, meditation, communication, AS5, AS5, AS5 and AS are my initials and number 5 in astrology stands for curiosity, knowledge and adventure., storm, lightning, contemporaneous report, the UK 🇬🇧
.29 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d7nzml/vivid_memory_of_alienlike_glitch_of_tv/ audio description, loud sound, appeared out of nowhere, at home, two witnesses, nighttime, strange noise came from the tv. It was a foreign noise, so not something a tv or channel would make. , similar to the slenderman jumpscare sound except less extreme and more alien like., analysis requested
.30 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d7bpbd/please_help_me_understand/ experience description, at home, repeat visitor, footsteps, circling, nighttime, anomalous animal activity, loud bird, bird squawking all night long, seemingly as if it’s right outside the windows, all around the house. , I would hear what sounded like rocks clicking together, the sound would circle around my trailer and I would hear rustling noises like something was moving all around my trailer. , similar experience in comments, Galisteo new Mexico
.31 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d7gtk4/possible_ufo_encounter_when_i_was_a_teen/ sighting description, Northwest Arkansas, nighttime, from car, two witnesses, single light object, flashing, blinking and spinning., rotating, low over treeline, brief duration 3-5 seconds, vanishing, witness stopped the car, previous sighting shadow figure, inside home , doorway
.32 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1d88kepeople_who_have_seen_entities_inside_were_they/ discussion of sightings, entities, inside building, [GOODPOST] if I do say so myself.
.33 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8apn8/zero_doubt/ art 🎨, painting, "Zero Doubt"
.34 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8b9bmajestic_giant_blue_orb_floats_across_the_sky_and/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, blue 🔵, Oceanside California, duration 2 minutes, flew overhead, trajectory change observed, right angle turn, similar sightings in comments, ISS? , repeat visitor https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d95ui2/4_orbs_one_flashes_when_i_asked_it_to_3_times_may/ more video, big debunker energy, two witnesses https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9xb1j/stop_and_go_dancing_orb_may_21st_2024/ more video, single light object moving, multicolored
.35 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8dykx/tampa_florida_9pm_est/ video and photos, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, single light object moving fast, additional objects moving straight, urban area, Tampa Florida, similar sighting in comments
.36 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8hdd6/congressgov_s4443_intelligence_authorization_act/ document, IAA2025 uap amendment advances out of committee
.37 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8lmki/strange_lights_over_gosport_uk_5624/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, spotlights type, diffuse, downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted, Gosport the UK 🇬🇧, contemporaneous report, low over rooftop,
.38 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8vxzd/any_ideas_what_this_could_be/ photo, nighttime sky, near water Atlantic Ocean, Tybee Island Georgia, triangle 🔺️ observed, ascending, moving and stationary and moving, hovered over the houses about 2 minutes before silently leaving. , had three large lights on each edge of the shape with smaller lights in between. , threelights,
.39 https://old.reddit.com/Glitch_in_the_Matrix/comments/1d8pbg6/camo_military_bomber_disappears/ sighting description, airplane anomaly, vanishing, two witnesses, appeared to be a b52 completely come out of nowhere and had to have disappeared. It was headed straight for the dam at a very low altitude and no way having enough time to pull up before either hitting dam or a mountain. Made no noise, silent, near water
.40 https://old.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1d8jd1v/what_is_this_and_howwhy_did_it_get_into_a_picture/ photo, daytime cloudy sky, possible entity, camping, Looks like a wooden robot heating up lava?
.41 https://old.reddit.com/InterdimensionalNHI/comments/1d8bul6/i_wish_i_could_some_how_let_you_all_see_what_i/ experience description, repeat visitor, ongoing, Pupcake3000, physical effects vision change, static, whenever a UAP is going to appear I can see a distortion that has a shape against the background of what it mimics or appears out of. I can track it until a flash occurs and then in place of the distortion, a physical UAP craft will appear.
.42 https://old.reddit.com/UFOB/comments/1d87eyo/uap_while_walking_outside/ video, daytime sky, powerlines, single light object, low over treeline, plane for comparison, possible interaction with airplane, possibly circling plane, possible jumpy movement or vanishing and reappearing, flickering erratically, repeat visitor, Clear cloudless days are better, sunglasses help a lot., [GOODPOST]
.43 https://old.reddit.com/Thetruthishere/comments/1d7ulw4/i_met_the_devil_in_florence/ sighting description, entity, urban area, Florence Italy 🇮🇹, emotion of fear, As if he had been a predator forever, a danger since the beginning of time. His face is giving me goosebumps all over my back and behind my ears even now as I describe it almost ten years later.
.44 https://old.reddit.com/Thetruthishere/comments/1d91a7b/my_friend_and_i_saw_a_ufo/ sighting description, nighttime, two witnesses, Central Arkansas, single light object, low over treeline, stationary and moving, physical effects paralysis, silent, horizontal trajectory, wtf_is_that, possible military response jets
.45 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9mygw/lights_in_phoenix/ video, nighttime sky, near fairgrounds, possible single object multiple lights, urban area, Phoenix Arizona, OP is not the witness , removed by mods
.46 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9nkwt/las_vegas_060524/ photo, nighttime sky, single light object, elongated, horizontal orientation, tictac, urban area, Las Vegas Nevada, contemporaneous report, submission statement issues, , removed by mods
.47 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8ym3d/strange_object_in_the_sky_recorded_on_night_vision/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, through night vision camera, single light object, elongated, angled from the horizon, moving, disappeared into clouds, contemporaneous report, fishing, near water, creek, not seen by eye, possible cloaked craft, a blurry section of sky moving through the clouds., Montana
.48 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9o965/someone_answe video, nighttime cloudy sky, hard to see, cylindrical shape observed, moving fast, submission statement issues , removed by mods
.49 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d97vta/im_reposting_with_an_edit_since_i_cant_edit_posts/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single light object moving fast, blackwhite, possible interaction with clouds, elongated, possible disk shape, downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted, big debunker energy , Connecticut, video analysis requested , possible ARV
.50 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d92ktp/saw_last_night_in_the_sky/ drawing and reference image, single object multiple lights, multicolored, contemporaneous report, nighttime, central Missouri, stationary, from car, possible reaction to being observed, witness looked away and looked back, vanished,
.51 https://old.reddit.com/RBI/comments/1d961ax/who_showed_up_to_my_home/ experience description, men in black response, at home, One day my uncle went out on a hike in the woods, when he came back he claimed to have seen a UFO flying above a river, A few days later I heard a knock at the door., I answered the door and saw 2 men wearing black suits, they asked me if uncle was there, they referred to him by his full name., 2 men showed up to his work and offered him money to retract his statements on the radio
.52 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9oitw/object_moves_right_to_left_large_cloud/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single light object moving fast, contemporaneous report, urban area, Chicago Illinois, lighting configuration change, dark to light, flashing erratically, duration 10-15 seconds , downvoted to zero , polarized sunglasses., blackwhite, horizontal trajectory, silent , deleted
.53 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9t4uy/sighting_in_sacramento_ca_65_930pm/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, Sacramento California, urban area, powerlines, low over rooftop, two witnesses, single light object, twolights or plane for comparison, interaction with airplane, pacing plane,.moving and stationary and moving, speed change, while flying off it was making erratic movements, almost like it was swirling while flying, and was slowing its speed down periodically. , duration 5-10 minutes,
.54 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9vnrassistance_in_narrowing_down_what_i_saw_i_the_sky/ sighting description, nighttime, contemporaneous report, twolights, single light object flareup and vanishing, moving in opposite directions, overhead, silent, duration 1 minute, near the Missouri-Arkansas border
.55 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1dabdoy/sketches_from_my_experience/ experience description and drawings, [GOODPOST], at home, nighttime, fleet, line formation, moving, outside bedroom window, electronic effects lights wouldn't turn on, physical effects vibration, Then everything started vibrating and everything began glowing a bright golden light., location anomaly, found myself immediately back on my bed., audio description humming sound, approach, started to get louder and louder., communication, “Be Warned”, my guess is the warning was to brace myself, sudden departure, missing time 8 hours, northwest USA, https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1dbgoxq/sketches_of_my_experience_pt_2/ more drawings
.56 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1daa5mmy_experience_at_11yo/ childhood experience description, no craft, at home, inside bedroom, daytime, felt observed, physical effects paralysis, I got the sense of aliens in the room watching me, and I got frozen there., similar experience in comments, Patagonia Argentina 🇦🇷
.57 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1dah6e9/i_uploaded_video_on_some_red_orangish_orbs_if/ video, nighttime sky, greeley Colorado, https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbbz46/ufo_sighting_here_in_greeley_colorado_last_yea reposted
.58 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dalmhq/objects_objects_like_moving_stars_that_disappea sighting description, moving stars, repeat visitors, nighttime, near water, pool, zigzag movements
.59 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dan7ed/do_you_see_it_what_is_it_see_body_text_location/ video, nighttime sky, urban area, Czech Republic 🇨🇿 , single light object stationary and moving, possible reaction to being flashed with light, vanishing, After it disappears the lights do something like a quick search , contemporaneous report , deleted
.60 https://old.reddit.com/observingtheanomaly/comments/1dafi3v/possible_ufo/ sighting, two witnesses, electronic effects camera jammed, Michigan not far from lake Michigan. , near water
.61 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dansg2/took_this_tonight_i_have_a_video/ photo, contemporaneous report, single light object, elongated, tictac, horizontal orientation, wishaw Scotland the UK 🇬🇧 , removed by mods https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dao5hl/video_of_object_over_central_scotland/ video, powerlines, low over rooftop, disappeared behind rooftops , removed by mods
.62 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1dalyhm/after_seeing_that_one_guys_sketches_i_thought_i/ drawing, experience, traveled to a burning golden world. Walking around the place was like standing on the surface of the sun without being harmed.
.63 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1daswk0/i_was_in_a_strange_gifted_program_in_the_early/ childhood experience description, no craft, Gifted program, space lab, rural south Georgia, early 1980s, similar experiences in comments, event amnesia, telepathy
.64 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1dav8fq/so_what_am_i_seeing_here/ video, nighttime sky, plane and star or twolights, multicolored, flashing, possible jumpy movement
.65 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1daqpxd/saw_this_weird_white_thing_in_pacoima_ca_today/ photo, daytime sky, single object multiple lights, worm 🪱, contemporaneous report, pacoima California, at work, stationary, duration 3 minutes, stationary and moving, descending below rooftop,
.66 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1db018u/%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B6%D0%B5%D1%82_%D1%87%D1%82%D0%BE_%D1%8D%D1%82%D0%BE/ photos, daytime cloudy sky, single dim object, elongated, angled from the horizon , low over treeline
.67 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1db54c7/interesting_sighting/ sighting description, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, at home, backyard, plane for comparison observed, single light object stationary, overhead, duration 1 minute, vanishing , removed by mods
.68 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1db23kd/what_was_that/ photos and video, single light object, observed stationary and moving, at home, very bright, low below rooftop, Almaty Kazakhstan 🇰🇿
.69 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1dayon4/this_was_about_200_feet_in_front_of_me_and_about/ photo, nighttime sky, single light object, elongated, observed moving slowly, vanishing, Yerington Nevada,
.70 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1db9n78/ufo_just_filmed_this_in_my_garden/ video, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, single dark object moving erratically, wobbling, shape change observed, the actual shape of it was quite inconsistent too, moving almost like it was not a solid object. , Derbyshire the UK 🇬🇧, at home , removed by mods
.71 https://old.reddit.com/Glitch_in_the_Matrix/comments/1d7aexj/i_saw_a_house_in_the_woods_once_and_then_neve experience description, possible landed craft, mimicking house, entities, scientists, Midwest USA, [GOODPOST]
.72 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbdwah/5pm_672024_over_bradenton_fl/ video, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, Bradenton Florida, two witnesses, over water, single light object, blackwhite, elongated, barbell, twolights close formation, zigzag movement observed, It was extremely shiny with no wings and it moved back and forth several times in an odd fashion.
.73 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1dbawxz/my_nhi_visitation_experience/ childhood experience description, at home, nighttime, witness woke up, entities, light shining in bedroom, angel, It was massive and seemed like it was coming from another dimension because it would not have fit in the space in front of my bed., emotion of calm, communication, telepathy, physical effects vibration, the vibrations were so loud and strong when it first spoke that I said ouch and kind of put my hands on my head in response to the intensity. It lowered the vibrations and asked me “is this better.” I responded yes., event amnesia, I can't remember that important thing it said to me where I told it I understood.
.74 https://old.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1dbfizd/ufo_sighting_darwin/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, orange 🟠, horizontal trajectory, low below treeline, Darwin northern territory Australia 🇦🇺 , near water, Timor sea
.75 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbey4c/flashing_object_over_seattle/ video, daytime sky, urban area, Seattle Washington state, over water, Puget Sound, single light object, flickering, flashing erratically, low over rooftop,
.76 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbfmrh/video_taken_back_in_the_middle_of_march_of_this/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, Bradenton Florida, two witnesses, twolights observed, moving and stationary, approach, directly in front, repeat visitor
.77 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbfs08/the_hanford_atom_factory_ghost_planes_and/ document, history, Hanford Atom Factory Washington state, multiple objects, repeat visitors, ghost planes, military response
.78 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbah9h/ok_second_try_to_post_thiszoomed_video_of_my/ video, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, two witnesses, plane for comparison, downvoted to zero, Sofia Bulgaria 🇧🇬 , duration 1 minute, appearing and vanishing, single light object
.79 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dban4e/ufo_serbia/ photo, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, single light object, green 🟢, moving erratically, speed change, trajectory change, all different directions, low over rooftop, Serbia 🇷🇸, single light object, worm 🪱 or M-shaped, duration 10 minutes , downvoted to zero
.80 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbtwu5/did_anyone_else_go_to_the_connecticut_cryptid_and/ photos of public event, Trumbull Connecticut, ufo convention
.81 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1db4yjm/some_sort_of_craft_flying_around_our_house_fo sighting description, contemporaneous report, at home, nighttime, single object multiple lights, outside bedroom window, 5 bright red lights on top and 5 blue lights on bottom 🔴🔵, horizontal trajectory, trajectory change, it started spinning, and things got weird., rectangular shape or cylinder, silent, moving erratically, diving, spinning, zig-zagging, hovering, and moved more like a bird having fun or eating bugs than anything else. , angled from the horizon, zigzag movements, stationary and moving, five witnesses, duration 35 minutes, near airport, Bailey Colorado, interaction with airplane, approach, at one point it looked like it was going to intersect with a plane heading to Centennial. They were very, very close, and the object darted higher into the sky quickly just before the plane passed., similar sighting in comments , [GOODPOST], downvoted to zero
.82 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1dbr1gx/farwell_to_hends/ drawing, art 🎨, entities, 2 species in cenos proxima centauri b.
.83 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1dbo5e8/sighting/ sighting description, has anyone seen?, from airplane, single light object, ascending and descending, vanishing and reappearing, over water pacific ocean, California
.84 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1dbud2w/invisible_silent_and_hyper_fast/ photo, possible cloaked craft, contrail, horizontal trajectory, moving fast, emitting orbs,
.85 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1db409e/how_do_you_think_it_works/ art 🎨, drawing, machinery
.86 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1dbwomneed_help_identifying_a_conversation_i_listened/ dream description, repeat visitor, urban area, being in a city that's "suspended" in the sky. These cities are connected to each other and you travel to them on vessels that are also suspended., emotion of fear, I remember the traveling parts of the dream the strongest because my fear was really strong and it allowed me to experience the dream more clearly. entity, has anyone seen?
.87 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbfy3z/garry_nolan_aaro_has_discredited_itself_beyond/l7sht44/ sighting description, historical event, Trumbull county Ohio, 1994 Trumbull County UFO Incident dozens of civilian witnesses and 3 different police agencies had around 6 or more police officers see it close up less then a few hundred feet above him and it shut down his patrol car and radio and lit up the area he was standing like it was 12pm not 12 am during the incident as reported., the entire craft is coated in some kind of thick rock/asteroid material that provides protection from radiation when traveling through out the solar system it also is extremely heat resistant. They also have 3 smaller craft that form a triangle around the craft using electromagnetic fields and a propulsion system and charged particles that defy gravity
.88 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dby11b/friendly_reminder_destroying_or_falsifying/ information, This is a friendly reminder that the act of destroying or falsifying records in advance of a GAO audit, even if legislation mandating the audit has not yet been fully ratified by Congress, is considered obstruction and will result in severe legal penalties., AARO, IAA2025
.89 https://www.reddit.com/UFOB/comments/1dbsf7v/spotted_in_the_air_over_southern_coast_of_japan/ video, nighttime sky, single light object moving, multicolored, south of Japan 🇯🇵, to the west of Hiroshima, right on the coast., near water, in the centre, there looked to be a black triangle 🔺️, dimming, vanishing, repeat visitor, similar sighting in comments
.90 https://old.reddit.com/Thetruthishere/comments/1dbq8yw/gilman_springs_is_an_extremely_creepy_and_haunted/ sighting description, entity, inside car, Gilman Springs California
.91 https://old.reddit.com/astrophotography/comments/1dblfhb/what_are_the_green_dots/ photo, nighttime sky, twolights, not seen by eye, 10 minute long exposure, overhead
.92 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1dbjool/ufo_sees_me_using_my_camera_and_disappears/ video, nighttime sky, at home, two witnesses, single light object stationary and moving, duration 3-4 minutes, reaction to being filmed, disappeared behind treeline
.93 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dc15zp/shadow_on_cloud_o video, daytime cloudy sky, cloud anomaly, stationary
.94 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dc34h3/ufo_spotted_during_drag_race_bakersfield_ca/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single object blackwhite, possible disk shape with dome, horizontal orientation, moving fast, from car, racecar, Bakersfield California
.95 https://www.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1dc3ebp/what_is_this_in_middle_of_video_several_lights/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, low over ridgeline, single light object, elongated, diffuse, vertical orientation, appeared out of nowhere, flashing, vanishing, repeat visitor
.96 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1dc0l6a/saw_something_on_a_recent_flight_what_was_it/ sighting description, from airplane, urban area, NYC New York state, metallic cylinder with acorn 🌰 shaped head, moving fast
.97 https://old.reddit.com/AnomalousEvidence/comments/1dbzpbq/anyone_seen_this_entity/ childhood sighting description and drawing, entity, has anyone seen?, at home, nighttime, inside bedroom doorway, physical effects paralysis, approach, pain, event amnesia.
submitted by SabineRitter to UFOs [link] [comments]
Archive https://wayback-api.archive.org/web/20240602211034/https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d6ng7c/roundup_ufos_kepler_aerospace_and/
Moon phase waning crescent 🌘 , four days before new
Mars Right Ascension 1h 36m 28s
.1 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d6nqv1/there_were_3_of_these/ photos, daytime sky, threelights observed, photo shows twolights, moving fast, low over treeline, jefferson city Missouri, submission statement issues, , removed by mods
.2 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d6nr9p/1979_ufo_close_encounter_a_version_was_posted_in/ sighting description, single object multiple lights, approach, directly in front, Laval Québec Canada 🇨🇦 , audio description beeping sound, scanning, oval-shaped, very dark, small colored lights racing along its middle ridge., the sonar beeps had reached me, hitting the ground around me in a rapid circular motion. , emotion of fear, witness left the area, vanishing, missing time 2 hours, subsequent entities
.3 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d6nyqn/balls_of_fire_in_mexico/ photo, daytime sky, fleet, on ridgeline, repeat visitors, Mexico 🇲🇽, “brujas bolas de fuego en Mexico”, following the witness, vanishing and reappearing, [GOODPOST]
.4 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d62ml5/what_is_this/ video, daytime sky, twolights observed, single object blackwhite possible metallic sphere, contemporaneous report, two witnesses, moving straight, at home, backyard, stationary overhead, trajectory change, right angle turn, departure, Utah
.5 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d53cim/uap_florida_53024/ video, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, single light object stationary, Satellite Beach Florida, near water Atlantic Ocean, above Patrick Space Force Base., USSF , similar sighting in comments
.6 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d6mkfc/possible_ufoarv_over_fort_collinsco_appx_1230_pm/ video, daytime cloudy sky, contemporaneous report, fort Collins Colorado, single light object, elongated, tictac, horizontal orientation, horizontal trajectory, disappeared into clouds, [GOODPOST], similar sightings in comments, two witnesses, appeared directly in front, possible reaction to being observed, right angle turn, departure, wtf_is_that, silent
.7 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d77rnx/the_cryptoterrestrial_hypothesis_a_case_fo new paper, ultraterrestrial
.8 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d6ur3sighting_in_joshua_tree_june_1_after_contact_in/ photos, nighttime sky, Joshua Tree National Park California, single light object, human initiated contact, moving and stationary and moving, going left, right, stopping, going left abruptly, zig-zagging or moving in circle., zigzag movements, loop
.9 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7c7pn/all_the_relevant_uap_updates_from_may_27june_2/ information, state of disclosure USA https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d76s3u/disclosure_process_series_year_1/ different OP, overview of events
.10 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7bs3t/with_all_the_ufo_stuff_in_the_news_i_need_to_get/ sighting description, urban area, Sydney Australia 🇦🇺, nighttime, single light object, orange 🟠, overhead, it looked to be the size of a room or helicopter. , emotion of fear, I felt this rush of anxiety, or panic., silent , moving toward water, pacific ocean, it seemed to have metallic / silver fins portruding from the top and the bottom, barely visible from its glowing orange center. , electronic effects phone battery died, similar sightings in comments, [GOODPOST]
.11 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7cra5/orb_flashes_hello_and_goodbye_may_19th_2024/ video, at home, backyard, nighttime sky, single light object moving, flashing erratically, two witnesses, duration 3 minutes, Southern California, between San Diego and Los Angeles, multicolored, brightness change, flareup and dimming, blue 🔵 glow, vanishing and reappearing, powerlines , flew over the witness home , repeat visitor
.12 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d763bx/diamond_shaped_craft_with_blue_propulsion_et_o sighting description, at home, backyard, south Carolina, two witnesses, evening sky, single object multiple lights, blue 🔵 glow, diamond 💠 shaped, flew overhead, low over treeline, descending and ascending, speed change, The craft just swooped down from behind us to about tree top high then went back up as it went away from us. As it went forward and back up it increased speed., disappeared into clouds, cloaking, has anyone seen?, similar sighting in comments
.13 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1d7226c/ive_had_telepathic_communication_with_galactic/ experience description and photos, orb, fleet, single object blackwhite, emotion of love, telepathy, dream description, entities, physical effects goosebumps,
.14 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1d79z3z/berwick_upon_tweed/ photos, nighttime sky, single light object, angular, color change, berwick on tweed England the UK 🇬🇧, near water north sea, contemporaneous report, moving erratically observed, duration 3 hours
.15 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d6txk6/lightning_flashes_a_new_brother_cries_live/ video, nighttime sky, storm, lightning, single light object, low below treeline
.16 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7kxuz/in_light_of_jason_sands_scott_andrews_and_now/ childhood experience description, [GOODPOST], nighttime, at home, urban area, Annapolis Maryland, men in black response, event amnesia, facility off of Defense Highway that I ran away from as a kid., Northrup Grumman, I think I might have been used in some compartmentalized government program as a kid and all I can remember is running away from one of the facilities., similar experience in comments https://wayback-api.archive.org/web/20240604170928/https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7kxuz/in_light_of_jason_sands_scott_andrews_and_now/ Archive
.17 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7otwj/weird_story/ sighting description, at home, nighttime, single light object, reaction to being observed, sudden departure upward, I felt like it immediately saw me and shot straight up at a speed I can’t estimate because it was gone within a blink. , subsequent odor, I walk back outside again and there is a very strange clean smell, almost like an ozone type smell I used to get from an air purifier ., eastern Tennessee, similar sightings in comments, low over treeline, near oak ridge national laboratory, contemporaneous report
.18 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d842p9/going_through_my_old_sketchbooks/ drawing, single object multiple lights, red and yellow 🔴🟡, diamond 💎 shaped, threelights, triangle formation, disappeared behind ridgeline, duration 15-20 seconds , has anyone seen?, Central Kootenays British Columbia Canada 🇨🇦, similar sightings in comments
.19 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7v2x2/what_is_the_orb_in_the_skynyc/ video, nighttime sky, single light object stationary, multicolored, low below rooftop, urban area, Manhattan NYC New York state, OP comments downvoted, big debunker energy
.20 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7w0gd/new_zealand_sub_readers_did_you_see_that_pyramid/ sighting description, has anyone seen?, Wanganui new zealand 🇳🇿 , single dark object, pyramid shape, multicolored, all the edges lit up like a prism., over water Tasman Sea,
.21 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d841nq/sacramento_june_4_2024/ video, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, at work, duration 3-4 minutes, threelights, triangle formation, blackwhite, flashing, formation change, speed change, vanishing, similar sighting in comments, low over treeline, Sacramento California , observed rotating, looked shiny and spinning,
.22 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7mshs/strange_lights_over_naperville_illinois_june_1st/ video, nighttime sky, single object multiple lights or fleet, flickering, threelights, formation change, low over treeline, anomalous to witness, Naperville Illinois, [GOODPOST], multicolored, flareup and dimming, lighting configuration change, stationary and moving, two witnesses
.23 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d7yjci/weird_lights_in_the_sky_over_my_house/ photo, nighttime cloudy sky, fleet, stationary duration hours, all night, the UK 🇬🇧, similar sighting in comments, https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d80bzg/weird_lights_in_the_sky_over_my_house_video/ video, lighting configuration change, flashing in pattern and steady, [GOODPOST]
.24 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1d788yv/every_few_months_i_keep_having_a_dream_seeing/ dream description, repeat visitor, contemporaneous report, at home, single dark object, splitting, ship then broke into pieces and did a spiral motion and then disappeared., I then wake up what looks to be a shape or at least the wall to ceiling was curved and extremely clean and silver white., similar experiences in comments
.25 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d86k5f/vectors_vs_pixels/ sighting and discussion of movement, it was there and then wasn’t. My brain/memory tried filling it in with it disappearing but not sure.
.26 https://old.reddit.com/Thetruthishere/comments/1d7jj3a/ghost_girl_in_my_house/ childhood sighting description, entity, humanoid, inside home , Venezuela 🇻🇪 , i saw her with a white dress passing by , mimicking sister, emotion of fear, witness left the area
.27 https://old.reddit.com/Glitch_in_the_Matrix/comments/1d7kkmu/house_disappears_in_time_slip/ experience description, building anomaly, disappeared, One day I passed it going to Landrum south Carolina,the other town, and then when I come back it wasn't there no more. , witness stopped the car and got out
.28 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d7yb8m/weird_message_in_the_head/ experience description, meditation, communication, AS5, AS5, AS5 and AS are my initials and number 5 in astrology stands for curiosity, knowledge and adventure., storm, lightning, contemporaneous report, the UK 🇬🇧
.29 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d7nzml/vivid_memory_of_alienlike_glitch_of_tv/ audio description, loud sound, appeared out of nowhere, at home, two witnesses, nighttime, strange noise came from the tv. It was a foreign noise, so not something a tv or channel would make. , similar to the slenderman jumpscare sound except less extreme and more alien like., analysis requested
.30 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d7bpbd/please_help_me_understand/ experience description, at home, repeat visitor, footsteps, circling, nighttime, anomalous animal activity, loud bird, bird squawking all night long, seemingly as if it’s right outside the windows, all around the house. , I would hear what sounded like rocks clicking together, the sound would circle around my trailer and I would hear rustling noises like something was moving all around my trailer. , similar experience in comments, Galisteo new Mexico
.31 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d7gtk4/possible_ufo_encounter_when_i_was_a_teen/ sighting description, Northwest Arkansas, nighttime, from car, two witnesses, single light object, flashing, blinking and spinning., rotating, low over treeline, brief duration 3-5 seconds, vanishing, witness stopped the car, previous sighting shadow figure, inside home , doorway
.32 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1d88kepeople_who_have_seen_entities_inside_were_they/ discussion of sightings, entities, inside building, [GOODPOST] if I do say so myself.
.33 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8apn8/zero_doubt/ art 🎨, painting, "Zero Doubt"
.34 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8b9bmajestic_giant_blue_orb_floats_across_the_sky_and/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, blue 🔵, Oceanside California, duration 2 minutes, flew overhead, trajectory change observed, right angle turn, similar sightings in comments, ISS? , repeat visitor https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d95ui2/4_orbs_one_flashes_when_i_asked_it_to_3_times_may/ more video, big debunker energy, two witnesses https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9xb1j/stop_and_go_dancing_orb_may_21st_2024/ more video, single light object moving, multicolored
.35 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8dykx/tampa_florida_9pm_est/ video and photos, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, single light object moving fast, additional objects moving straight, urban area, Tampa Florida, similar sighting in comments
.36 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8hdd6/congressgov_s4443_intelligence_authorization_act/ document, IAA2025 uap amendment advances out of committee
.37 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8lmki/strange_lights_over_gosport_uk_5624/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, spotlights type, diffuse, downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted, Gosport the UK 🇬🇧, contemporaneous report, low over rooftop,
.38 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8vxzd/any_ideas_what_this_could_be/ photo, nighttime sky, near water Atlantic Ocean, Tybee Island Georgia, triangle 🔺️ observed, ascending, moving and stationary and moving, hovered over the houses about 2 minutes before silently leaving. , had three large lights on each edge of the shape with smaller lights in between. , threelights,
.39 https://old.reddit.com/Glitch_in_the_Matrix/comments/1d8pbg6/camo_military_bomber_disappears/ sighting description, airplane anomaly, vanishing, two witnesses, appeared to be a b52 completely come out of nowhere and had to have disappeared. It was headed straight for the dam at a very low altitude and no way having enough time to pull up before either hitting dam or a mountain. Made no noise, silent, near water
.40 https://old.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1d8jd1v/what_is_this_and_howwhy_did_it_get_into_a_picture/ photo, daytime cloudy sky, possible entity, camping, Looks like a wooden robot heating up lava?
.41 https://old.reddit.com/InterdimensionalNHI/comments/1d8bul6/i_wish_i_could_some_how_let_you_all_see_what_i/ experience description, repeat visitor, ongoing, Pupcake3000, physical effects vision change, static, whenever a UAP is going to appear I can see a distortion that has a shape against the background of what it mimics or appears out of. I can track it until a flash occurs and then in place of the distortion, a physical UAP craft will appear.
.42 https://old.reddit.com/UFOB/comments/1d87eyo/uap_while_walking_outside/ video, daytime sky, powerlines, single light object, low over treeline, plane for comparison, possible interaction with airplane, possibly circling plane, possible jumpy movement or vanishing and reappearing, flickering erratically, repeat visitor, Clear cloudless days are better, sunglasses help a lot., [GOODPOST]
.43 https://old.reddit.com/Thetruthishere/comments/1d7ulw4/i_met_the_devil_in_florence/ sighting description, entity, urban area, Florence Italy 🇮🇹, emotion of fear, As if he had been a predator forever, a danger since the beginning of time. His face is giving me goosebumps all over my back and behind my ears even now as I describe it almost ten years later.
.44 https://old.reddit.com/Thetruthishere/comments/1d91a7b/my_friend_and_i_saw_a_ufo/ sighting description, nighttime, two witnesses, Central Arkansas, single light object, low over treeline, stationary and moving, physical effects paralysis, silent, horizontal trajectory, wtf_is_that, possible military response jets
.45 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9mygw/lights_in_phoenix/ video, nighttime sky, near fairgrounds, possible single object multiple lights, urban area, Phoenix Arizona, OP is not the witness , removed by mods
.46 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9nkwt/las_vegas_060524/ photo, nighttime sky, single light object, elongated, horizontal orientation, tictac, urban area, Las Vegas Nevada, contemporaneous report, submission statement issues, , removed by mods
.47 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8ym3d/strange_object_in_the_sky_recorded_on_night_vision/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, through night vision camera, single light object, elongated, angled from the horizon, moving, disappeared into clouds, contemporaneous report, fishing, near water, creek, not seen by eye, possible cloaked craft, a blurry section of sky moving through the clouds., Montana
.48 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9o965/someone_answe video, nighttime cloudy sky, hard to see, cylindrical shape observed, moving fast, submission statement issues , removed by mods
.49 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d97vta/im_reposting_with_an_edit_since_i_cant_edit_posts/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single light object moving fast, blackwhite, possible interaction with clouds, elongated, possible disk shape, downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted, big debunker energy , Connecticut, video analysis requested , possible ARV
.50 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d92ktp/saw_last_night_in_the_sky/ drawing and reference image, single object multiple lights, multicolored, contemporaneous report, nighttime, central Missouri, stationary, from car, possible reaction to being observed, witness looked away and looked back, vanished,
.51 https://old.reddit.com/RBI/comments/1d961ax/who_showed_up_to_my_home/ experience description, men in black response, at home, One day my uncle went out on a hike in the woods, when he came back he claimed to have seen a UFO flying above a river, A few days later I heard a knock at the door., I answered the door and saw 2 men wearing black suits, they asked me if uncle was there, they referred to him by his full name., 2 men showed up to his work and offered him money to retract his statements on the radio
.52 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9oitw/object_moves_right_to_left_large_cloud/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single light object moving fast, contemporaneous report, urban area, Chicago Illinois, lighting configuration change, dark to light, flashing erratically, duration 10-15 seconds , downvoted to zero , polarized sunglasses., blackwhite, horizontal trajectory, silent , deleted
.53 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9t4uy/sighting_in_sacramento_ca_65_930pm/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, Sacramento California, urban area, powerlines, low over rooftop, two witnesses, single light object, twolights or plane for comparison, interaction with airplane, pacing plane,.moving and stationary and moving, speed change, while flying off it was making erratic movements, almost like it was swirling while flying, and was slowing its speed down periodically. , duration 5-10 minutes,
.54 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9vnrassistance_in_narrowing_down_what_i_saw_i_the_sky/ sighting description, nighttime, contemporaneous report, twolights, single light object flareup and vanishing, moving in opposite directions, overhead, silent, duration 1 minute, near the Missouri-Arkansas border
.55 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1dabdoy/sketches_from_my_experience/ experience description and drawings, [GOODPOST], at home, nighttime, fleet, line formation, moving, outside bedroom window, electronic effects lights wouldn't turn on, physical effects vibration, Then everything started vibrating and everything began glowing a bright golden light., location anomaly, found myself immediately back on my bed., audio description humming sound, approach, started to get louder and louder., communication, “Be Warned”, my guess is the warning was to brace myself, sudden departure, missing time 8 hours, northwest USA, https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1dbgoxq/sketches_of_my_experience_pt_2/ more drawings
.56 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1daa5mmy_experience_at_11yo/ childhood experience description, no craft, at home, inside bedroom, daytime, felt observed, physical effects paralysis, I got the sense of aliens in the room watching me, and I got frozen there., similar experience in comments, Patagonia Argentina 🇦🇷
.57 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1dah6e9/i_uploaded_video_on_some_red_orangish_orbs_if/ video, nighttime sky, greeley Colorado, https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbbz46/ufo_sighting_here_in_greeley_colorado_last_yea reposted
.58 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dalmhq/objects_objects_like_moving_stars_that_disappea sighting description, moving stars, repeat visitors, nighttime, near water, pool, zigzag movements
.59 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dan7ed/do_you_see_it_what_is_it_see_body_text_location/ video, nighttime sky, urban area, Czech Republic 🇨🇿 , single light object stationary and moving, possible reaction to being flashed with light, vanishing, After it disappears the lights do something like a quick search , contemporaneous report , deleted
.60 https://old.reddit.com/observingtheanomaly/comments/1dafi3v/possible_ufo/ sighting, two witnesses, electronic effects camera jammed, Michigan not far from lake Michigan. , near water
.61 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dansg2/took_this_tonight_i_have_a_video/ photo, contemporaneous report, single light object, elongated, tictac, horizontal orientation, wishaw Scotland the UK 🇬🇧 , removed by mods https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dao5hl/video_of_object_over_central_scotland/ video, powerlines, low over rooftop, disappeared behind rooftops , removed by mods
.62 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1dalyhm/after_seeing_that_one_guys_sketches_i_thought_i/ drawing, experience, traveled to a burning golden world. Walking around the place was like standing on the surface of the sun without being harmed.
.63 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1daswk0/i_was_in_a_strange_gifted_program_in_the_early/ childhood experience description, no craft, Gifted program, space lab, rural south Georgia, early 1980s, similar experiences in comments, event amnesia, telepathy
.64 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1dav8fq/so_what_am_i_seeing_here/ video, nighttime sky, plane and star or twolights, multicolored, flashing, possible jumpy movement
.65 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1daqpxd/saw_this_weird_white_thing_in_pacoima_ca_today/ photo, daytime sky, single object multiple lights, worm 🪱, contemporaneous report, pacoima California, at work, stationary, duration 3 minutes, stationary and moving, descending below rooftop,
.66 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1db018u/%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B6%D0%B5%D1%82_%D1%87%D1%82%D0%BE_%D1%8D%D1%82%D0%BE/ photos, daytime cloudy sky, single dim object, elongated, angled from the horizon , low over treeline
.67 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1db54c7/interesting_sighting/ sighting description, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, at home, backyard, plane for comparison observed, single light object stationary, overhead, duration 1 minute, vanishing , removed by mods
.68 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1db23kd/what_was_that/ photos and video, single light object, observed stationary and moving, at home, very bright, low below rooftop, Almaty Kazakhstan 🇰🇿
.69 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1dayon4/this_was_about_200_feet_in_front_of_me_and_about/ photo, nighttime sky, single light object, elongated, observed moving slowly, vanishing, Yerington Nevada,
.70 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1db9n78/ufo_just_filmed_this_in_my_garden/ video, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, single dark object moving erratically, wobbling, shape change observed, the actual shape of it was quite inconsistent too, moving almost like it was not a solid object. , Derbyshire the UK 🇬🇧, at home , removed by mods
.71 https://old.reddit.com/Glitch_in_the_Matrix/comments/1d7aexj/i_saw_a_house_in_the_woods_once_and_then_neve experience description, possible landed craft, mimicking house, entities, scientists, Midwest USA, [GOODPOST]
.72 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbdwah/5pm_672024_over_bradenton_fl/ video, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, Bradenton Florida, two witnesses, over water, single light object, blackwhite, elongated, barbell, twolights close formation, zigzag movement observed, It was extremely shiny with no wings and it moved back and forth several times in an odd fashion.
.73 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1dbawxz/my_nhi_visitation_experience/ childhood experience description, at home, nighttime, witness woke up, entities, light shining in bedroom, angel, It was massive and seemed like it was coming from another dimension because it would not have fit in the space in front of my bed., emotion of calm, communication, telepathy, physical effects vibration, the vibrations were so loud and strong when it first spoke that I said ouch and kind of put my hands on my head in response to the intensity. It lowered the vibrations and asked me “is this better.” I responded yes., event amnesia, I can't remember that important thing it said to me where I told it I understood.
.74 https://old.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1dbfizd/ufo_sighting_darwin/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, orange 🟠, horizontal trajectory, low below treeline, Darwin northern territory Australia 🇦🇺 , near water, Timor sea
.75 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbey4c/flashing_object_over_seattle/ video, daytime sky, urban area, Seattle Washington state, over water, Puget Sound, single light object, flickering, flashing erratically, low over rooftop,
.76 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbfmrh/video_taken_back_in_the_middle_of_march_of_this/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, Bradenton Florida, two witnesses, twolights observed, moving and stationary, approach, directly in front, repeat visitor
.77 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbfs08/the_hanford_atom_factory_ghost_planes_and/ document, history, Hanford Atom Factory Washington state, multiple objects, repeat visitors, ghost planes, military response
.78 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbah9h/ok_second_try_to_post_thiszoomed_video_of_my/ video, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, two witnesses, plane for comparison, downvoted to zero, Sofia Bulgaria 🇧🇬 , duration 1 minute, appearing and vanishing, single light object
.79 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dban4e/ufo_serbia/ photo, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, single light object, green 🟢, moving erratically, speed change, trajectory change, all different directions, low over rooftop, Serbia 🇷🇸, single light object, worm 🪱 or M-shaped, duration 10 minutes , downvoted to zero
.80 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbtwu5/did_anyone_else_go_to_the_connecticut_cryptid_and/ photos of public event, Trumbull Connecticut, ufo convention
.81 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1db4yjm/some_sort_of_craft_flying_around_our_house_fo sighting description, contemporaneous report, at home, nighttime, single object multiple lights, outside bedroom window, 5 bright red lights on top and 5 blue lights on bottom 🔴🔵, horizontal trajectory, trajectory change, it started spinning, and things got weird., rectangular shape or cylinder, silent, moving erratically, diving, spinning, zig-zagging, hovering, and moved more like a bird having fun or eating bugs than anything else. , angled from the horizon, zigzag movements, stationary and moving, five witnesses, duration 35 minutes, near airport, Bailey Colorado, interaction with airplane, approach, at one point it looked like it was going to intersect with a plane heading to Centennial. They were very, very close, and the object darted higher into the sky quickly just before the plane passed., similar sighting in comments , [GOODPOST], downvoted to zero
.82 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1dbr1gx/farwell_to_hends/ drawing, art 🎨, entities, 2 species in cenos proxima centauri b.
.83 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1dbo5e8/sighting/ sighting description, has anyone seen?, from airplane, single light object, ascending and descending, vanishing and reappearing, over water pacific ocean, California
.84 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1dbud2w/invisible_silent_and_hyper_fast/ photo, possible cloaked craft, contrail, horizontal trajectory, moving fast, emitting orbs,
.85 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1db409e/how_do_you_think_it_works/ art 🎨, drawing, machinery
.86 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1dbwomneed_help_identifying_a_conversation_i_listened/ dream description, repeat visitor, urban area, being in a city that's "suspended" in the sky. These cities are connected to each other and you travel to them on vessels that are also suspended., emotion of fear, I remember the traveling parts of the dream the strongest because my fear was really strong and it allowed me to experience the dream more clearly. entity, has anyone seen?
.87 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbfy3z/garry_nolan_aaro_has_discredited_itself_beyond/l7sht44/ sighting description, historical event, Trumbull county Ohio, 1994 Trumbull County UFO Incident dozens of civilian witnesses and 3 different police agencies had around 6 or more police officers see it close up less then a few hundred feet above him and it shut down his patrol car and radio and lit up the area he was standing like it was 12pm not 12 am during the incident as reported., the entire craft is coated in some kind of thick rock/asteroid material that provides protection from radiation when traveling through out the solar system it also is extremely heat resistant. They also have 3 smaller craft that form a triangle around the craft using electromagnetic fields and a propulsion system and charged particles that defy gravity
.88 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dby11b/friendly_reminder_destroying_or_falsifying/ information, This is a friendly reminder that the act of destroying or falsifying records in advance of a GAO audit, even if legislation mandating the audit has not yet been fully ratified by Congress, is considered obstruction and will result in severe legal penalties., AARO, IAA2025
.89 https://www.reddit.com/UFOB/comments/1dbsf7v/spotted_in_the_air_over_southern_coast_of_japan/ video, nighttime sky, single light object moving, multicolored, south of Japan 🇯🇵, to the west of Hiroshima, right on the coast., near water, in the centre, there looked to be a black triangle 🔺️, dimming, vanishing, repeat visitor, similar sighting in comments
.90 https://old.reddit.com/Thetruthishere/comments/1dbq8yw/gilman_springs_is_an_extremely_creepy_and_haunted/ sighting description, entity, inside car, Gilman Springs California
.91 https://old.reddit.com/astrophotography/comments/1dblfhb/what_are_the_green_dots/ photo, nighttime sky, twolights, not seen by eye, 10 minute long exposure, overhead
.92 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1dbjool/ufo_sees_me_using_my_camera_and_disappears/ video, nighttime sky, at home, two witnesses, single light object stationary and moving, duration 3-4 minutes, reaction to being filmed, disappeared behind treeline
.93 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dc15zp/shadow_on_cloud_o video, daytime cloudy sky, cloud anomaly, stationary
.94 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dc34h3/ufo_spotted_during_drag_race_bakersfield_ca/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single object blackwhite, possible disk shape with dome, horizontal orientation, moving fast, from car, racecar, Bakersfield California
.95 https://www.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1dc3ebp/what_is_this_in_middle_of_video_several_lights/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, low over ridgeline, single light object, elongated, diffuse, vertical orientation, appeared out of nowhere, flashing, vanishing, repeat visitor
.96 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1dc0l6a/saw_something_on_a_recent_flight_what_was_it/ sighting description, from airplane, urban area, NYC New York state, metallic cylinder with acorn 🌰 shaped head, moving fast
.97 https://old.reddit.com/AnomalousEvidence/comments/1dbzpbq/anyone_seen_this_entity/ childhood sighting description and drawing, entity, has anyone seen?, at home, nighttime, inside bedroom doorway, physical effects paralysis, approach, pain, event amnesia.
2024.06.09 23:21 Responsible-Tailor53 where to live (not just survive) in america? / seattle vent post i guess
i guess anywhere can be a home if you find the right people and community or whatever but i have no idea what the fuck that looks like, like really at all. i just left my hometown and moved to seattle a few months ago hoping i guess that it'd be some silly transgender party town or something but still haven't made many lasting friendships and im all emo about it so heres my reddit post.
a part of that i think is the isolation that came from being transfem fucking up the entire first part of my life making it hard to understand relationships etc, bad childhood to bad early adulthood, ptsd whatever, but also this nagging feeling that every queer space is only basically tolerant of transfems? like i'm allowed but still could i just not. i start to look around and i'm (probably, clockably, whatever) the only one there and noone seems to want anything to do with me unless they want to fuck me and thats probably not gonna happen unless im really feeling bad about myself bc all i can do is dissociate thru sex anyway.
im pissed because i think i actually hate this city a lot especially as a lifelong poor person and dropout fuckup who can't hold onto money or a job or housing for very long. the stratification taking place here is unspeakably dystopian and terrifying. and all of it is in service of like, what, a nightmare playpen for tech yuppies and mummies to complain about being introverts who have to see homeless people from outside their tesla windows? every month its like im discovering some place with an actual history as a place that meant something for a real community of regular ass people just as it's closing forever and probably getting demolished to build luxury condos or whatever.
the catch is: i lucked into the best job ive ever had thru connections i built in community organizing back home and now i feel like i can't give it up, bc its close to an actual living wage with actual healthcare, its working with pinko queers kinda like me (although again i find myself the only transfem), we don't have a boss, i work outside yadda yadda.. basically everything i could ask for, but it's not a panacea to capitalism obviously. all of it is in service of raising already rich people's property values and thats pretty much it, which has made me so physically sick i've had to leave early at least once already. sometimes i cry for the entire length of my commute and then its like ok haha im here time to toil yipee. its a fuck of a lot better than working in kitchens but at least in a kitchen you don't have to pretend like you're oblivious to the class war of it all; when it gets too much thats when you go scream and get drunk or high off your ass in the walk in real quick like god intended.
is there any life in this city? i ask myself questions like this all the time and dont know how much im the problem. when i find things i'm interested in doing i end up becoming super self conscious about my age (i'm really just 28 now) realizing i'm surrounded by younger kids who didn't have their adolescence stolen from them and now its like heres this how do you do fellow kids ass 30 year old extremely desperately trying to have fun for the first time in her life in this dying city of cultural decrepitude. i wanna be like ok fuck it who gives a shit yolo up the punx etc because obviously im just kinda in my own head but its way harder to do than i expected especially alone. i've been transitioning for years (medically unstably, on and off hormones over and over) but i still feel like a moody teenager on some "no one understands me" bullshit. basically i guess where the fuck are the dolls? are we out here doing cool fun shit somewhere, or are we all at home on the computer all the fucking time while we work to pay off medical debts and landlords until we quietly die? where can you live and be a working person in this country and also have a vibrant queer community that's not just tolerant of transfeminine ppl but truly welcoming? does this exist somewhere because im honestly feeling pretty desperate at this point and starting to panic realizing theres only one planet to be on and im stuck on it. like idk im worried i'm just not cut out for this shit. i daydream about railways and ufo cult abductions, revolution and rainbows over the big rock candy mountains and worry none of it will ever be enough. how much isolation can you shove into one lifetime before somethings gotta give? these are the questions i have. so like ok i guess my question is hows philadelphia hows portland hows chicago hows pittsburgh hows boston like someone tell me theres something cool happening somewhere and that theres more to life than this cuz fuuuuuuuuckk
submitted by Responsible-Tailor53 to asktransgender [link] [comments]
a part of that i think is the isolation that came from being transfem fucking up the entire first part of my life making it hard to understand relationships etc, bad childhood to bad early adulthood, ptsd whatever, but also this nagging feeling that every queer space is only basically tolerant of transfems? like i'm allowed but still could i just not. i start to look around and i'm (probably, clockably, whatever) the only one there and noone seems to want anything to do with me unless they want to fuck me and thats probably not gonna happen unless im really feeling bad about myself bc all i can do is dissociate thru sex anyway.
im pissed because i think i actually hate this city a lot especially as a lifelong poor person and dropout fuckup who can't hold onto money or a job or housing for very long. the stratification taking place here is unspeakably dystopian and terrifying. and all of it is in service of like, what, a nightmare playpen for tech yuppies and mummies to complain about being introverts who have to see homeless people from outside their tesla windows? every month its like im discovering some place with an actual history as a place that meant something for a real community of regular ass people just as it's closing forever and probably getting demolished to build luxury condos or whatever.
the catch is: i lucked into the best job ive ever had thru connections i built in community organizing back home and now i feel like i can't give it up, bc its close to an actual living wage with actual healthcare, its working with pinko queers kinda like me (although again i find myself the only transfem), we don't have a boss, i work outside yadda yadda.. basically everything i could ask for, but it's not a panacea to capitalism obviously. all of it is in service of raising already rich people's property values and thats pretty much it, which has made me so physically sick i've had to leave early at least once already. sometimes i cry for the entire length of my commute and then its like ok haha im here time to toil yipee. its a fuck of a lot better than working in kitchens but at least in a kitchen you don't have to pretend like you're oblivious to the class war of it all; when it gets too much thats when you go scream and get drunk or high off your ass in the walk in real quick like god intended.
is there any life in this city? i ask myself questions like this all the time and dont know how much im the problem. when i find things i'm interested in doing i end up becoming super self conscious about my age (i'm really just 28 now) realizing i'm surrounded by younger kids who didn't have their adolescence stolen from them and now its like heres this how do you do fellow kids ass 30 year old extremely desperately trying to have fun for the first time in her life in this dying city of cultural decrepitude. i wanna be like ok fuck it who gives a shit yolo up the punx etc because obviously im just kinda in my own head but its way harder to do than i expected especially alone. i've been transitioning for years (medically unstably, on and off hormones over and over) but i still feel like a moody teenager on some "no one understands me" bullshit. basically i guess where the fuck are the dolls? are we out here doing cool fun shit somewhere, or are we all at home on the computer all the fucking time while we work to pay off medical debts and landlords until we quietly die? where can you live and be a working person in this country and also have a vibrant queer community that's not just tolerant of transfeminine ppl but truly welcoming? does this exist somewhere because im honestly feeling pretty desperate at this point and starting to panic realizing theres only one planet to be on and im stuck on it. like idk im worried i'm just not cut out for this shit. i daydream about railways and ufo cult abductions, revolution and rainbows over the big rock candy mountains and worry none of it will ever be enough. how much isolation can you shove into one lifetime before somethings gotta give? these are the questions i have. so like ok i guess my question is hows philadelphia hows portland hows chicago hows pittsburgh hows boston like someone tell me theres something cool happening somewhere and that theres more to life than this cuz fuuuuuuuuckk
2024.06.09 23:16 achago Trip Report (Family of Four with girls 11, 14)
I hope this report helps others as much as the ones before helped me plan!
May 30-June 8
Traveled to Japan from the west coast of US with husband and two daughters, 14 & 11.
May 30 Arrived at Narita Airport around 3 PM. The line at customs was over an hour long and it was stiflingly hot and humid in the customs area. the line wound around 2 giant rooms. We had done the QR code and it didn’t even matter- the line for QR code people and paper form people was the same line. After the long flight there, this was hard on us.
Arrived at our hotel- the FAV Tokyo Hotel in Ryogoku. I picked this hotel because of the price. It was high quality and the staff were super nice. The original room we had, though, was really small- 200 sq feet. we felt really cramped in there and ended up upgrading to a bigger room after 3 nights.
Upon arriving we unpacked a bit, walked around the corner to get some ramen, stopped at 7-11 to get some snacks and I checked the pharmacy for CPAP water. I found “soft water”- which I used and it seemed to be ok, even though they didn’t have official distilled water. We crashed around 8 pm.
May 31 It was a little rainy in the morning, so we changed up our plans and started in Akihabara. We went to a cat cafe and loved it- the cats were all super cute and healthy. They seemed pretty spoiled! We were underwhelmed by the anime stores in Akihabara though- I think you need to be really into it to like them. We were all feeling pretty tired so we went back to the hotel for a bit, then went out in the evening to Senso-Ji. Unfortunately all the vendors in Nakimise dori were closing when we got there, so we didn’t try a lot of the food we wanted to. But it was nice to see the temple when it was less crowded. We went to dinner at a sushi restaurant in Asakusa, and went to a cabaret dance show at Asakusa Kugua- which we all LOVED. We booked the tix through Viator but I think you can book directly. My 11 year old said it was her favorite part of the trip. I loved the shopping area around it. I actually wish we stayed in Asakusa- it ended up being my favorite area of Tokyo.
June 1 We started with day with breakfast at Yoshinoya which ended up being what we did every day, because my youngest daughter liked it so much. Traditional breakfast of miso soup, white rice and salmon. After that we went to Happy Pancake to see what all the fuss was about. I loved them- my daughters didn’t- they thought they tasted like eggs. After that, we did Shibuya scrambled, checked out Loft, went to Takeshita Dori in Harajuku and went to the Puma store in Shinjuku. I think it was a mistake to do these areas on a Saturday. The crowds were something I wasn’t prepared for- obviously I had seen videos but actually BEING in the chaos is a different story. I was really overwhelmed and tired by the end of this long day and I fell asleep by 7.
June 2 We started the day at TeamLabs Planets- which was really cool. We had booked our tickets well in advance and we didn’t feel overly crowded since they do timed entry. After that, we went to Yanaka Ginza, as I had heard that old town was a nice change to Shibuya. It was- but I wished for more- the “shopping street” was not as long as I thought it would be. Luckily it was walking distance to Nezu shrine, which was absolutely gorgeous. It started raining just as we arrived and I enjoyed the quiet, serene setting, watching the raindrops in the stream with koi fish swimming around. It was one of my favorite places in Tokyo.
June 3 This was our “theatrical” day. We started with a Samurai class that I had booked through Viator. Again, you could book directly through Samurai Theater. This was SO MUCH FUN. My husband’s favorite part of the trip. It was an hour long class, we got to dress up like Samurai’s (I’m plus size and it worked), and there’s a fun choreographed sequence they teach you that you do to music at the end. The instructors spoke great English and were just a lot of fun to spend time with.
We then went to Gonpachi- the restaurant that inspired the design of the restaurant in Kill Bill’s iconic sword fight scene. This didn’t disappoint- it’s a super unique interior design and we loved felling like we were in the movie (especially after having just had sword fights of our own!)
We ended the day with a Kimono Tea Ceremony with MAIKOYA Tokyo. This was also fun- the girls loved getting their hair done, getting to choose their kimono and we were all excited to learn how to make matcha tea and learn about the ceremony.
June 4 This was a “free” day so we decided to try Harajuku again on a weekday. It was a little less crowded and the girls were happy to get some fun clothes at ACDC Rags and Punyas. We also went to a puppy cafe. This one wasn’t as fun as the cat cafe. The dogs seemed really hungry- and it made me sad. (They looked well fed, but it makes me wonder if all their food comes through the hand feeding from visitors?) afterward, we went to the Pokémon Cafe for my 11 year old who loves Pokémon. The food was really bad- which we expected from reviews. I didn’t know, though, that you don’t get to take photos with Pikachu- he just does a little show and waves. This wasn’t worth it in my opinion. We then had ramen on “ramen street” at Tokyo station for dinner. We did the seafood ramen- I think I would have preferred a different one.
June 5 We traveled on the Shinkansen To Kyoto on this day. It was relatively easy as we connected through Shinagawa Station instead of Tokyo station. We checked into the Mimaru SHIJO (which was amazing and had free happy hour with beer and sake daily from 5-7!) and went straight to Nishiki Market and my husband tried allll the food. He loved all of it. The girls and I loved the shopping area connected to Nishiki. We did My Only Fragrance- a fun experience to design your own perfume (we had a reservation). I went to fushimi inari alone at sunset and was super excited that it wasn’t crowded and the light was stunning. I was there about 30 minutes. Later, My husband and I went out alone this evening in Gion. We saw two Maiko out and about (we didn’t take photos or harass). We also had the best sushi dinner of our lives in an 8-seat restaurant called Sushi Ninenzaka Numoto. We got REALLY lucky as we just walked in- I didn’t realize so many restaurants require reservations in Kyoto!
June 6 I woke up at the crack of dawn and my 14 year old and I took the Shinkansen down to Hiroshima. We went through the Peace Museum, which made both of us emotional- but her especially. She had to take some time afterwards sitting in the park on a bench while I explored the surrounding area- the dome, the different memorials, etc. we didn’t spend a lot of time in Hiroshima but it was important to me to go, and I’m happy we made the trip. My daughter said she wished I had warned her- had she known how emotional it would be she might have skipped it. I think it’s important that people learn from history so even though it was hard for her I’m glad she came with me. We were back in Kyoto by 2. We took a nap then took the train to Osaka to at least see the dotonbori- which was amazing. Such a great vibe. There was a live concert happening when we got there a girl JPoP band called Shinsekai Hero, and my daughters were super into it. We had conveyor belt sushi, tried some food at the stands and headed back to Kyoto.
June 7 Our last day in Japan. My husband and I went to Ninzaka and Sannenzaka at 10 when the shops opened up- we spent a lot. We loved the pottery shops and the doll shop. So many souvenirs bought. Later in the day we went to Kinkaku-Ji and it was everything I imagined and more. Even with the crowds it’s such a calming place. We tried to have dinner at a nice steakhouse that evening but again- no reservations.
June 7 Took the Shinkansen back from Kyoto to Tokyo station because we had an oversized bag and even with booking well in advance couldn’t get a reserved seat with the oversized bag connecting in Shinagawa. We made our connection (20 minutes!) but just barely and only because I had studied the Tokyo station map. If I hadn’t we would have missed our connection to the Narita express.
All in all- it was a great trip that was definitely a teaser for future trips. I wish we spent more time in Kyoto and Osaka- I think we would have liked those areas more than Tokyo. I also want to see more of the countryside, as I preferred the temples to the wild city.
Lessons learned -The subway was tricky for us- we gave up after day 1 and just took taxis which we not much more expensive than the subway and saved a lot of headache- we used Uber and the go taxi app - my daughter got a cold while we were there- the Payke app was a lifesaver as you could scan a bar code and the label with ingredients and instructions showed up in the app in English - my other daughters glasses broke - luckily there are a lot of eyeglass stores in Shibuya and they repaired them for a small fee - Make reservations in Kyoto - For language, I used “sumimasen” “nan ban nori ban?” and “arigato gozaimas” a lot but the other phrases I learned didn’t come up. I used google translate to type in and show people the Japanese when needed
submitted by achago to JapanTravel [link] [comments]
May 30-June 8
Traveled to Japan from the west coast of US with husband and two daughters, 14 & 11.
May 30 Arrived at Narita Airport around 3 PM. The line at customs was over an hour long and it was stiflingly hot and humid in the customs area. the line wound around 2 giant rooms. We had done the QR code and it didn’t even matter- the line for QR code people and paper form people was the same line. After the long flight there, this was hard on us.
Arrived at our hotel- the FAV Tokyo Hotel in Ryogoku. I picked this hotel because of the price. It was high quality and the staff were super nice. The original room we had, though, was really small- 200 sq feet. we felt really cramped in there and ended up upgrading to a bigger room after 3 nights.
Upon arriving we unpacked a bit, walked around the corner to get some ramen, stopped at 7-11 to get some snacks and I checked the pharmacy for CPAP water. I found “soft water”- which I used and it seemed to be ok, even though they didn’t have official distilled water. We crashed around 8 pm.
May 31 It was a little rainy in the morning, so we changed up our plans and started in Akihabara. We went to a cat cafe and loved it- the cats were all super cute and healthy. They seemed pretty spoiled! We were underwhelmed by the anime stores in Akihabara though- I think you need to be really into it to like them. We were all feeling pretty tired so we went back to the hotel for a bit, then went out in the evening to Senso-Ji. Unfortunately all the vendors in Nakimise dori were closing when we got there, so we didn’t try a lot of the food we wanted to. But it was nice to see the temple when it was less crowded. We went to dinner at a sushi restaurant in Asakusa, and went to a cabaret dance show at Asakusa Kugua- which we all LOVED. We booked the tix through Viator but I think you can book directly. My 11 year old said it was her favorite part of the trip. I loved the shopping area around it. I actually wish we stayed in Asakusa- it ended up being my favorite area of Tokyo.
June 1 We started with day with breakfast at Yoshinoya which ended up being what we did every day, because my youngest daughter liked it so much. Traditional breakfast of miso soup, white rice and salmon. After that we went to Happy Pancake to see what all the fuss was about. I loved them- my daughters didn’t- they thought they tasted like eggs. After that, we did Shibuya scrambled, checked out Loft, went to Takeshita Dori in Harajuku and went to the Puma store in Shinjuku. I think it was a mistake to do these areas on a Saturday. The crowds were something I wasn’t prepared for- obviously I had seen videos but actually BEING in the chaos is a different story. I was really overwhelmed and tired by the end of this long day and I fell asleep by 7.
June 2 We started the day at TeamLabs Planets- which was really cool. We had booked our tickets well in advance and we didn’t feel overly crowded since they do timed entry. After that, we went to Yanaka Ginza, as I had heard that old town was a nice change to Shibuya. It was- but I wished for more- the “shopping street” was not as long as I thought it would be. Luckily it was walking distance to Nezu shrine, which was absolutely gorgeous. It started raining just as we arrived and I enjoyed the quiet, serene setting, watching the raindrops in the stream with koi fish swimming around. It was one of my favorite places in Tokyo.
June 3 This was our “theatrical” day. We started with a Samurai class that I had booked through Viator. Again, you could book directly through Samurai Theater. This was SO MUCH FUN. My husband’s favorite part of the trip. It was an hour long class, we got to dress up like Samurai’s (I’m plus size and it worked), and there’s a fun choreographed sequence they teach you that you do to music at the end. The instructors spoke great English and were just a lot of fun to spend time with.
We then went to Gonpachi- the restaurant that inspired the design of the restaurant in Kill Bill’s iconic sword fight scene. This didn’t disappoint- it’s a super unique interior design and we loved felling like we were in the movie (especially after having just had sword fights of our own!)
We ended the day with a Kimono Tea Ceremony with MAIKOYA Tokyo. This was also fun- the girls loved getting their hair done, getting to choose their kimono and we were all excited to learn how to make matcha tea and learn about the ceremony.
June 4 This was a “free” day so we decided to try Harajuku again on a weekday. It was a little less crowded and the girls were happy to get some fun clothes at ACDC Rags and Punyas. We also went to a puppy cafe. This one wasn’t as fun as the cat cafe. The dogs seemed really hungry- and it made me sad. (They looked well fed, but it makes me wonder if all their food comes through the hand feeding from visitors?) afterward, we went to the Pokémon Cafe for my 11 year old who loves Pokémon. The food was really bad- which we expected from reviews. I didn’t know, though, that you don’t get to take photos with Pikachu- he just does a little show and waves. This wasn’t worth it in my opinion. We then had ramen on “ramen street” at Tokyo station for dinner. We did the seafood ramen- I think I would have preferred a different one.
June 5 We traveled on the Shinkansen To Kyoto on this day. It was relatively easy as we connected through Shinagawa Station instead of Tokyo station. We checked into the Mimaru SHIJO (which was amazing and had free happy hour with beer and sake daily from 5-7!) and went straight to Nishiki Market and my husband tried allll the food. He loved all of it. The girls and I loved the shopping area connected to Nishiki. We did My Only Fragrance- a fun experience to design your own perfume (we had a reservation). I went to fushimi inari alone at sunset and was super excited that it wasn’t crowded and the light was stunning. I was there about 30 minutes. Later, My husband and I went out alone this evening in Gion. We saw two Maiko out and about (we didn’t take photos or harass). We also had the best sushi dinner of our lives in an 8-seat restaurant called Sushi Ninenzaka Numoto. We got REALLY lucky as we just walked in- I didn’t realize so many restaurants require reservations in Kyoto!
June 6 I woke up at the crack of dawn and my 14 year old and I took the Shinkansen down to Hiroshima. We went through the Peace Museum, which made both of us emotional- but her especially. She had to take some time afterwards sitting in the park on a bench while I explored the surrounding area- the dome, the different memorials, etc. we didn’t spend a lot of time in Hiroshima but it was important to me to go, and I’m happy we made the trip. My daughter said she wished I had warned her- had she known how emotional it would be she might have skipped it. I think it’s important that people learn from history so even though it was hard for her I’m glad she came with me. We were back in Kyoto by 2. We took a nap then took the train to Osaka to at least see the dotonbori- which was amazing. Such a great vibe. There was a live concert happening when we got there a girl JPoP band called Shinsekai Hero, and my daughters were super into it. We had conveyor belt sushi, tried some food at the stands and headed back to Kyoto.
June 7 Our last day in Japan. My husband and I went to Ninzaka and Sannenzaka at 10 when the shops opened up- we spent a lot. We loved the pottery shops and the doll shop. So many souvenirs bought. Later in the day we went to Kinkaku-Ji and it was everything I imagined and more. Even with the crowds it’s such a calming place. We tried to have dinner at a nice steakhouse that evening but again- no reservations.
June 7 Took the Shinkansen back from Kyoto to Tokyo station because we had an oversized bag and even with booking well in advance couldn’t get a reserved seat with the oversized bag connecting in Shinagawa. We made our connection (20 minutes!) but just barely and only because I had studied the Tokyo station map. If I hadn’t we would have missed our connection to the Narita express.
All in all- it was a great trip that was definitely a teaser for future trips. I wish we spent more time in Kyoto and Osaka- I think we would have liked those areas more than Tokyo. I also want to see more of the countryside, as I preferred the temples to the wild city.
Lessons learned -The subway was tricky for us- we gave up after day 1 and just took taxis which we not much more expensive than the subway and saved a lot of headache- we used Uber and the go taxi app - my daughter got a cold while we were there- the Payke app was a lifesaver as you could scan a bar code and the label with ingredients and instructions showed up in the app in English - my other daughters glasses broke - luckily there are a lot of eyeglass stores in Shibuya and they repaired them for a small fee - Make reservations in Kyoto - For language, I used “sumimasen” “nan ban nori ban?” and “arigato gozaimas” a lot but the other phrases I learned didn’t come up. I used google translate to type in and show people the Japanese when needed
2024.06.09 23:12 DistributionOk5166 She told me she would break up with me if her friends told her to…
When I (21M) got into a relationship with my partner (20F), it was awesome. Then she involved her friends in the relationship. She came off as very codependent (“I’m very attached”) to her friends, even saying her friends (20F) are never wrong (you’re gonna see some red flags here that I was stupid to ignore). Met one of her friends - wonderful guy not a bad bone in his body, hope all of them could be Ike that. She expressed (I don’t even know jokingly) that her girl friends were jealous that she got a boyfriend - yet she wanted us to be friends.
I have never met such hypocritical people in my life on first meet. They would neg me constantly. My career (I earn decent money in school), my race (they’re the same race as me), the fact I didn’t drink underage, they would question my validity as a partner in earshot much to my partner’s silence. They would criticize my colloquialism after poking fun at me- I would say “shut the fuck up” when a funny story came up while laughing. They would tell my partner (not me) that they didn’t like it (happy to not say it if it makes them feel uncomfortable) but then they proceeded to tell me to shut the fuck up with impunity. The double standards sucked. The dishing out but not being able to take it sucked. I was always made to be the villain. When I brought these up to my partner - “Oh you feel that way because they have siblings, and you’re an only child”. They showed up to my apartment unannounced when I was on a date with my partner (I live on the 3rd story). After the date was over, they would make plans to go out and say “This is a friends only thing”.
I held my tongue for a lot of disrespect. The people were openly known in their friend group to be third wheels in the relationship. They used to call me a b-word and a groomer (because I had friends who were 2 years younger than me). I used to call the main instigator a horseface after she made fun of my forehead and looks. But then it was too far. They could say whatever to me but the moment I come back I’m in the wrong.
They would openly ask my partner “Did he even get girls before you” to which my partner felt she had to defend her “choice” in me. My partner had told me that we won’t talk about our sex life. I was like yeah ofc. Her friends then started to tease me with info from our sex life - and they didn’t hear it from me. I confronted her on this and she was like “Oh it was a wine night and we started talking”. It was all ok until she started downplaying my skills. Then when her friends made fun of me with this info - I would then make fun of myself and then they would go to her saying that THEY were feeling uncomfortable about ME making fun of MYSELF.
They would cause fights to the point where I’m crying and hoping I’m no more. I would dream they would make fun of me so much - I would get up and walk out (I actually did this once but chalked it up to having to take a phone call).
They would compare me to their brothers and fathers. Token me for my race but then ask me to set them up with someone from my race. They would make fun of my career, yet ask me to get them a job. I tried to play nice with these people. On my own birthday, one of these girls was stressing out over organizing a career fair, I walked 40 minutes to help her out. These people would cause fights between us and I would apologize to them about stuff they do to me all the time saying “I just want to be accepted by the group”.
Worst part came when her friends pulled switchblades out on a moving bus as a joke and were brandishing it. I was the only voice of reason telling these people to stop, protecting my partner, motioning others to sit down and telling them that the group can get in so much trouble because of their idiotic behavior. Yet all her friends laughed at the fact I was getting serious. One of her friends had come up to me afterwards and showed me her palm, laughing. It was blood- she had cut her hands on the blades trying to play with the knives. Laughing.
Whether it was them blacking out drunk, headbutting each other, and touching each other inappropriately- I need to make sure no one falls behind or gets in trouble. Her friends would smack me for sitting on their bed by accident just to charge my phone near the wall. Everyone would laugh.
Her friends dressed up during Halloween as red flags (can’t make this up) and they kept making racial remarks to my friend. “Dance white boy”, “bathroom’s over there white boy”, etc. He took it as a joke the first few times but then started to feel uncomfortable. He told me wayyyy too late that this is what he experienced.
One day, I had fallen through my chair and winced in pain to which they laughed. I had enough of their immaturity, their laughter at my pain, their double standards, and their unresolved hatred. I thought since these people frequently call me out for every small thing (albeit behind my back), I can confront them directly and fairly (never confronted them on their behavior before). I asked them to treat me with some respect and just apologize. My partner stood silent as they continue to make insulting and demeaning faces at me and avoid the issue. I had a freeze response. I could not get any more words out of my mouth. Then my hypervigilance took a toll on me 30 seconds later in the form of an extreme panic attack (first one ever) where I cried and clutched my chest on a train. They stared indifferently. I sat crying with the doctor hugging me, while they called an Uber to go to a bar. They called the paramedics- they were heroes. I had enough, went up and yelled some disgusting things at the main instigator, who was making disgusting invalidating faces at me while I was approaching her for accountability. Called her a horsefaced. Told her “Why should I die on the train? You go kill yourself!”
My partner threatened to break up with me if her friends had told her to and told me I wasn’t fit to meet her dad. The next day, her friends guilt tripped her “You made a choice to go home with him instead of come with us to the bar”. They talked about how it was “bizarre” why I was so kind to the doctors and the paramedics yet yelled at them.
Partner said “Oh they have panic attacks all the time”. “It must have been caused by something else”. “They make those faces even when their relative died”. “There was a girl who doesn’t like her because she didn’t apologize to her properly”. “She thinks you’re attacking her face - just like her dad and uncles”.
What do I do…
submitted by DistributionOk5166 to dating_advice [link] [comments]
I have never met such hypocritical people in my life on first meet. They would neg me constantly. My career (I earn decent money in school), my race (they’re the same race as me), the fact I didn’t drink underage, they would question my validity as a partner in earshot much to my partner’s silence. They would criticize my colloquialism after poking fun at me- I would say “shut the fuck up” when a funny story came up while laughing. They would tell my partner (not me) that they didn’t like it (happy to not say it if it makes them feel uncomfortable) but then they proceeded to tell me to shut the fuck up with impunity. The double standards sucked. The dishing out but not being able to take it sucked. I was always made to be the villain. When I brought these up to my partner - “Oh you feel that way because they have siblings, and you’re an only child”. They showed up to my apartment unannounced when I was on a date with my partner (I live on the 3rd story). After the date was over, they would make plans to go out and say “This is a friends only thing”.
I held my tongue for a lot of disrespect. The people were openly known in their friend group to be third wheels in the relationship. They used to call me a b-word and a groomer (because I had friends who were 2 years younger than me). I used to call the main instigator a horseface after she made fun of my forehead and looks. But then it was too far. They could say whatever to me but the moment I come back I’m in the wrong.
They would openly ask my partner “Did he even get girls before you” to which my partner felt she had to defend her “choice” in me. My partner had told me that we won’t talk about our sex life. I was like yeah ofc. Her friends then started to tease me with info from our sex life - and they didn’t hear it from me. I confronted her on this and she was like “Oh it was a wine night and we started talking”. It was all ok until she started downplaying my skills. Then when her friends made fun of me with this info - I would then make fun of myself and then they would go to her saying that THEY were feeling uncomfortable about ME making fun of MYSELF.
They would cause fights to the point where I’m crying and hoping I’m no more. I would dream they would make fun of me so much - I would get up and walk out (I actually did this once but chalked it up to having to take a phone call).
They would compare me to their brothers and fathers. Token me for my race but then ask me to set them up with someone from my race. They would make fun of my career, yet ask me to get them a job. I tried to play nice with these people. On my own birthday, one of these girls was stressing out over organizing a career fair, I walked 40 minutes to help her out. These people would cause fights between us and I would apologize to them about stuff they do to me all the time saying “I just want to be accepted by the group”.
Worst part came when her friends pulled switchblades out on a moving bus as a joke and were brandishing it. I was the only voice of reason telling these people to stop, protecting my partner, motioning others to sit down and telling them that the group can get in so much trouble because of their idiotic behavior. Yet all her friends laughed at the fact I was getting serious. One of her friends had come up to me afterwards and showed me her palm, laughing. It was blood- she had cut her hands on the blades trying to play with the knives. Laughing.
Whether it was them blacking out drunk, headbutting each other, and touching each other inappropriately- I need to make sure no one falls behind or gets in trouble. Her friends would smack me for sitting on their bed by accident just to charge my phone near the wall. Everyone would laugh.
Her friends dressed up during Halloween as red flags (can’t make this up) and they kept making racial remarks to my friend. “Dance white boy”, “bathroom’s over there white boy”, etc. He took it as a joke the first few times but then started to feel uncomfortable. He told me wayyyy too late that this is what he experienced.
One day, I had fallen through my chair and winced in pain to which they laughed. I had enough of their immaturity, their laughter at my pain, their double standards, and their unresolved hatred. I thought since these people frequently call me out for every small thing (albeit behind my back), I can confront them directly and fairly (never confronted them on their behavior before). I asked them to treat me with some respect and just apologize. My partner stood silent as they continue to make insulting and demeaning faces at me and avoid the issue. I had a freeze response. I could not get any more words out of my mouth. Then my hypervigilance took a toll on me 30 seconds later in the form of an extreme panic attack (first one ever) where I cried and clutched my chest on a train. They stared indifferently. I sat crying with the doctor hugging me, while they called an Uber to go to a bar. They called the paramedics- they were heroes. I had enough, went up and yelled some disgusting things at the main instigator, who was making disgusting invalidating faces at me while I was approaching her for accountability. Called her a horsefaced. Told her “Why should I die on the train? You go kill yourself!”
My partner threatened to break up with me if her friends had told her to and told me I wasn’t fit to meet her dad. The next day, her friends guilt tripped her “You made a choice to go home with him instead of come with us to the bar”. They talked about how it was “bizarre” why I was so kind to the doctors and the paramedics yet yelled at them.
Partner said “Oh they have panic attacks all the time”. “It must have been caused by something else”. “They make those faces even when their relative died”. “There was a girl who doesn’t like her because she didn’t apologize to her properly”. “She thinks you’re attacking her face - just like her dad and uncles”.
What do I do…
2024.06.09 23:09 Safe-Kitchen1500 Is he into me or am I crazy
Ok so, I’m not sure if I’m feeding a delusion here. Probably just one of those crushes that make you feel like they like you, but it’s all in your head idk.
If someone can help redirect me to realize I’m being delusional or maybe feed it, that’d be great lol
So this guy, is about 10 years older than me, I’m 23F he’s 35. He is also my supervisor. When I first started at this company (I’m a contractor in the trades) we wouldn’t talk to each other let alone look at each other. I’m also the only woman on site. He comes off as very stoic, super hard to read and kind of awkward. Slowly as time went on I started saying good morning, night etc. he slowly started to talk to me, about my work and coming to me directly about things (as opposed to my journeyman). He would completely dodge eye contact, and what I could only assume was very shy? Or just didn’t care. Well fast forward to now, he actually talks to me! Jokes around with me, seems to be encouraging and smiles a lot. He puts me on work alone (as opposed to working with a coworker since I’m pretty green), pulls me off jobs to do other things and help the others to catch up in their work. As far as I am aware he thinks I’m a good worker and thinks I’m reliable.
Well I’ve noticed he comes around where I work more often, doesn’t say anything but just comes by and looks at what I am doing. Just hangs out more in general. I’ll smile at him and say hi then he’ll start making conversation. I’ve also noticed he looks at me, from a distance often. Usually I look over and catch him staring, sometimes he moves his head quickly the other way. There was one incident we were having a conversation and when I was talking, he looked at me up and down, pretty slowly too. Like scanned my body, I couldn’t ignore it. Sometimes when we talk he stares at my neck or other parts of my body.
I also caught him straight up, just staring at me. I was bent over and when I came back up and looked over he was sitting down, with the tip of his glasses (the arm piece) in his mouth and just staring at me like that. Blank stare. I swooned.
Last week, he talked to me about being a boss and opened up a bit about the struggles, and I might have been stroking his ego a tad bit, being personable and asking him what I could do better in his opinion. He really liked that, he told me “just asking that says a lot about you”. He also joked around and jokingly went to hit my arm, but missed on purpose, I think he’s treading carefully.
Anyways, I just need to just get this off my mind. He’s my boss so Im not looking at making advances but I’d like to know if I’m being crazy (obviously I find him hot so that doesn’t help) or if he is taking a liking to me, maybe just in a friendly way. Thanks for the help in navigating my delulu. :)
Edit: reading this over now makes me realize I am most likely imagining things lmao.
submitted by Safe-Kitchen1500 to Flirting [link] [comments]
If someone can help redirect me to realize I’m being delusional or maybe feed it, that’d be great lol
So this guy, is about 10 years older than me, I’m 23F he’s 35. He is also my supervisor. When I first started at this company (I’m a contractor in the trades) we wouldn’t talk to each other let alone look at each other. I’m also the only woman on site. He comes off as very stoic, super hard to read and kind of awkward. Slowly as time went on I started saying good morning, night etc. he slowly started to talk to me, about my work and coming to me directly about things (as opposed to my journeyman). He would completely dodge eye contact, and what I could only assume was very shy? Or just didn’t care. Well fast forward to now, he actually talks to me! Jokes around with me, seems to be encouraging and smiles a lot. He puts me on work alone (as opposed to working with a coworker since I’m pretty green), pulls me off jobs to do other things and help the others to catch up in their work. As far as I am aware he thinks I’m a good worker and thinks I’m reliable.
Well I’ve noticed he comes around where I work more often, doesn’t say anything but just comes by and looks at what I am doing. Just hangs out more in general. I’ll smile at him and say hi then he’ll start making conversation. I’ve also noticed he looks at me, from a distance often. Usually I look over and catch him staring, sometimes he moves his head quickly the other way. There was one incident we were having a conversation and when I was talking, he looked at me up and down, pretty slowly too. Like scanned my body, I couldn’t ignore it. Sometimes when we talk he stares at my neck or other parts of my body.
I also caught him straight up, just staring at me. I was bent over and when I came back up and looked over he was sitting down, with the tip of his glasses (the arm piece) in his mouth and just staring at me like that. Blank stare. I swooned.
Last week, he talked to me about being a boss and opened up a bit about the struggles, and I might have been stroking his ego a tad bit, being personable and asking him what I could do better in his opinion. He really liked that, he told me “just asking that says a lot about you”. He also joked around and jokingly went to hit my arm, but missed on purpose, I think he’s treading carefully.
Anyways, I just need to just get this off my mind. He’s my boss so Im not looking at making advances but I’d like to know if I’m being crazy (obviously I find him hot so that doesn’t help) or if he is taking a liking to me, maybe just in a friendly way. Thanks for the help in navigating my delulu. :)
Edit: reading this over now makes me realize I am most likely imagining things lmao.
2024.06.09 23:06 HanktheObeseDog-2 Crush got an std (spiraling insecurity)
I (23M) finally understand posting on Reddit when in emotional crisis. All my friends are straight gamer bros who I don’t think can weigh in the way I need here. Hence strangers 😂. i think this’ll be a throwaway.
I met someone really great at a college party through a friend years ago. Great flirty night, drinks, I ended up leaving my phone at a bar and getting a ride home and he put his number in my phone and met me the next morning to return it. Flirty texting went nowhere until last month we met up. Amazing chemistry again. Maybe better. I should clarify, I really wasn’t in a place to date or meet anyone as I just moved in to take care of my stage 4 mom, this guy just felt like an exception, he was driving through, I had to say yes…there’s history.
He lives three hours in a way, but in a city I go to for work every two weeks, last weekend we spent pretty much the whole weekend together. It was great. Really great. Did everything but anal. Met his friends.
Lots of texting. Cute dynamic. I’m taking care to not too much too soon it, but I’m letting the connection grow and feel natural, and I’m letting myself be happy.
Now the complicated part: Due to some pretty heavy SA and shit when I was 12-13, I have some blocks when it comes to sex. The two times I’ve done anal, I just like, dissociated. And so I told myself instead of trying to just make it work, I would wait until it felt right. Plenty of insecurity in the execution of that plan, I am 23 with basically just a history of oral, even through two relationships, but I’ve been content being single for a while. Anyhow, this is finally the time where it felt right. Across all our sexual time I was present, in the moment, and having a great time. That’s such a fucking win, and I’m so happy something finally felt right, and nice.
Initially he told me he usually dates older (significantly, and he’s 3 years older than me) he’s on Prep, and clearly had alot of sexual experience. Obviously this doesn’t seem like a match, but I figured he’s either into me or not, his choice, I’m not going to manufacture an insecurity that the guy thats texted me for three years isn’t attracted to me 🤷♂️. I figured it would pretty much only come up when it was time to have sex, and if it was a deal killer for him that’s rough, but I’ll live. I told him from the get go we’d have to go slow and that I was not experienced and he was fine with that.
Fast forward to today. It’s clear we’ve both caught feels. I’m over here fighting and winning this whole internal battle against trauma (and reveling in finally just feeling good about sex) that I don’t think it makes sense to share with him, because it’s a lot. But it also is kind of the explanation for everything too, but everything is good vibes and it doesn’t feel to me like it needs to come up. Until today, he messages me he has chlamydia.
I should clarify, he’s handled it on his end like a champ, I’m not slut shaming, of course not. This is likely before my time anyway, and we aren’t exclusive yet, though that was the direction I wanted to move things after he meets my friends end of June. It just feels somehow like, unrecoverable for me. And it’s hard for me to see if I’m just being insecure, or if this really is a big deal, and I can’t give him any support through this which is likely making him feel bad, feels truly like the rug got pulled out from under me.
I’ll get tested/treated if I got it. It’s not that. It’s that now I’m in my head for all the reasons. He’s been much more vulnerable with me than I have with him I think, but I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to talk about my past, but without that communication I don’t think the relationship can progress. Am I just being insecure and this isn’t a big deal at all? Is this just a “walk away and work on yourself and if the connection picks up down the road that’s great, if not that’s fine”? Frankly am I being childish here? Or am I just clearly not in a space to date and should just back off and recalibrate. Any help or thoughts appreciated.
submitted by HanktheObeseDog-2 to askgaybros [link] [comments]
I met someone really great at a college party through a friend years ago. Great flirty night, drinks, I ended up leaving my phone at a bar and getting a ride home and he put his number in my phone and met me the next morning to return it. Flirty texting went nowhere until last month we met up. Amazing chemistry again. Maybe better. I should clarify, I really wasn’t in a place to date or meet anyone as I just moved in to take care of my stage 4 mom, this guy just felt like an exception, he was driving through, I had to say yes…there’s history.
He lives three hours in a way, but in a city I go to for work every two weeks, last weekend we spent pretty much the whole weekend together. It was great. Really great. Did everything but anal. Met his friends.
Lots of texting. Cute dynamic. I’m taking care to not too much too soon it, but I’m letting the connection grow and feel natural, and I’m letting myself be happy.
Now the complicated part: Due to some pretty heavy SA and shit when I was 12-13, I have some blocks when it comes to sex. The two times I’ve done anal, I just like, dissociated. And so I told myself instead of trying to just make it work, I would wait until it felt right. Plenty of insecurity in the execution of that plan, I am 23 with basically just a history of oral, even through two relationships, but I’ve been content being single for a while. Anyhow, this is finally the time where it felt right. Across all our sexual time I was present, in the moment, and having a great time. That’s such a fucking win, and I’m so happy something finally felt right, and nice.
Initially he told me he usually dates older (significantly, and he’s 3 years older than me) he’s on Prep, and clearly had alot of sexual experience. Obviously this doesn’t seem like a match, but I figured he’s either into me or not, his choice, I’m not going to manufacture an insecurity that the guy thats texted me for three years isn’t attracted to me 🤷♂️. I figured it would pretty much only come up when it was time to have sex, and if it was a deal killer for him that’s rough, but I’ll live. I told him from the get go we’d have to go slow and that I was not experienced and he was fine with that.
Fast forward to today. It’s clear we’ve both caught feels. I’m over here fighting and winning this whole internal battle against trauma (and reveling in finally just feeling good about sex) that I don’t think it makes sense to share with him, because it’s a lot. But it also is kind of the explanation for everything too, but everything is good vibes and it doesn’t feel to me like it needs to come up. Until today, he messages me he has chlamydia.
I should clarify, he’s handled it on his end like a champ, I’m not slut shaming, of course not. This is likely before my time anyway, and we aren’t exclusive yet, though that was the direction I wanted to move things after he meets my friends end of June. It just feels somehow like, unrecoverable for me. And it’s hard for me to see if I’m just being insecure, or if this really is a big deal, and I can’t give him any support through this which is likely making him feel bad, feels truly like the rug got pulled out from under me.
I’ll get tested/treated if I got it. It’s not that. It’s that now I’m in my head for all the reasons. He’s been much more vulnerable with me than I have with him I think, but I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to talk about my past, but without that communication I don’t think the relationship can progress. Am I just being insecure and this isn’t a big deal at all? Is this just a “walk away and work on yourself and if the connection picks up down the road that’s great, if not that’s fine”? Frankly am I being childish here? Or am I just clearly not in a space to date and should just back off and recalibrate. Any help or thoughts appreciated.
2024.06.09 23:01 TheDreadPirateRobots [Have Gun - Will Travel] - 1.16
[INDEX]
Blackheart Bill stared at us from the porch of the tiny cabin, his eyes filled with murder. A cruel smile crept across his face, causing me to break into a sweat — this was a man who enjoyed the suffering of others.
“Well, well. If it isn’t the two bounty hunters that killed half my gang,” Bill drawled, his voice dripping malice. “What do ya think we should do with them, boys?”
“Face me like a man,” I shouted at him. “I refuse to be hung like a criminal!”
Bill’s lips twisted into a grin. “Is that so?” He said. “You think I had you brought here so you can challenge me to a duel? You’re mistaken kid.”
“I don’t want to be hung,” I said, mentally instructing Horse edge closer to Silas’ mount.
“What you want and what I want are different things, boy,” Bill said, his face relaxing into an unreadable mask. “And what I want is for you to suffer for killing my men. Jim, get a rope.”
Gap-tooth laughed like a drunken donkey and swung down from his horse.
I brushed against Silas, pulling his gun from my Inventory. Silas was fast, insanely fast. The gun appeared in my hand for a split-second before Silas had it pointed at the outlaw and was firing sizzling black bolts of energy.
Blackheart Bill was faster.
The outlaw dodged to the side in a blur, firing off three wild Kinetic bolts, one passing on each side of Silas before the final one tagged the man in the chest with the sound of shattering glass.
I pulled my gun from inventory a moment later, regretting my decision to load it with Lightning rounds as I pulled the trigger. Thunder roared as I shot the bandit behind me, then I squeezed the trigger again, clipping the other with a finger-thick bolt of electricity. Stone bullets whizzed around me as Horse hightailed it around the corner of the shack. Triggering [Aimed Shot] I fired a third round and a clap of thunder fried the man guarding the wood door set into the canyon wall.
Silas rounded the building a second later, his gun firing wildly at the remaining bandits. Quick as a flash, he ejected the spent brass and reloaded from his gun belt, picking off two more as they rounded the corner.
A Metal bullet burst from the wood next to my face, grazing my temple. I shoved my Mongoose into a gap between the weathered boards and fired off the remainder of my Lightning rounds, setting the front of the shack on fire. My fingers flickered as I reloaded unprimed rounds into the gun, slamming the cylinder closed.
Silas took one edge of the cabin and I took the other, shooting at anyone who moved, trapped in a standoff with the remaining five bandits and Bill, who continued shooting through the walls at us while screaming obscenities.
“Told you I didn’t want to hang, you scar-faced freak,” I taunted the man, firing a shot at one of the bandits scurrying to find better cover behind a broken wagon missing its rear axle. The Kinetic Bolt spread as it covered the distance, growing from a finger-sized bolt of blue energy into a basketball sized cloud that dispersed with a crackle and pop. Somewhere in the back of my head I knew the range was only about twenty yards and chastised myself for wasting the bullet.
I had less than 550BP remaining, which was a lot for unprimed shots, but only 54 [Aimed Shots] or about 100 primed shots. If I needed to use any of my other Utilities, it would drop fast. The bandit I had missed popped off a shot from his new vantage point, punching a hole in the wall above my head. I sent a Stone bullet in reply, causing him to duck from sight.
\Ding**
A popup blocked the lower half of my vision.
-=-=-
📱 [New Power-Up Available!] 📱
🔫 Pinned down behind an old shack? Bullets not packing enough punch? Try [Overcharge]! 🔫
💥 Just 500 credits, Limited time only! 💥
🌟 Features Include: - [Overcharge] Utility**: Infuse your bullets with extra battery points and surprise everyone! - Costs 500 credits - Requires 82 Memory
⚠️ Important Notes: - Cannot be stacked with active Utilities - Overcharge can severely damage firearms
[Get Overcharge Now ✅] [Maybe Later ❌]
-=-=-
The 60 second timer counted down 2 seconds before I punched accept.
[Downloading…20%…32%…68%…87%…Done!] [Installing…8%…12%…49%…52%…91%…Done!]
“You get shot?” Silas asked, sparing me a glance while I was stuck waiting for my upgrade to finish.
I shook my head. “Psychic thing,” I said once the System was done shoving data in my head. The knowledge of how to use [Overcharge], was simple enough — just push extra BP through the runestone and increase the destructive power of the bullet.
I triggered [Overcharge] and pushed an extra 5 Battery Points into the runestone, bringing the total cost of the Stone bullet to 6BP, then squeezed the trigger. The projectile impacted the broken wagon like a grenade, sending fragments of wood flying everywhere.
The screaming started a second later, followed by the bandit whose face was covered in blood and splinters. Selecting [Aimed Shot] I put a Stone bullet into his head, shocked by the spray of gore that filled the air. Hot bile burned the back of my throat, forcing me to swallow hard and refocus on the immediate situation.
The sound of hooves reached my ears, followed by Silas swearing. “They’re escaping,” He said, turning to mount his horse and swearing again. The animal was trembling in shock, bloody froth covering its mouth as it struggled to breathe. I noticed the blood covering its side then, where it had been shot when we had retreated behind the shack.
The shack was now burning quite impressively. The flames had grown to the point that it was uncomfortable to remain close, so I moved to a cooler spot and took a seat on the sandy ground. Pulling the Marlin from inventory, I popped off the leather caps that protected the scope lenses and took aim at the fleeing bandits. The scope pulled them in close enough that I felt I could reach out and snatch them with my hand even though they were over a hundred yards away now.
Bracing the rifle on my knee, I sighted through the scope and pulled the trigger, worked the lever to eject the shell and fired again. On the fourth shot I watched as Blackheart Bill’s horse stumbled and dropped to the dirt. I was aiming at Bill, but taking out his horse was good enough.
I watched as Bill took cover behind his downed horse and yelled at his men to come back and get him. They didn’t even look back, hunkering down as he started shooting at them, hitting one and dropping him from the saddle. Taking aim through the scope, I shot a few more rounds at Bill, causing him to turn his attention back to me and return fire.
A gunshot from behind me caused me to jump. Turning to see the source of the gunfire I saw Silas standing over the body of his horse. I guess he decided to end its misery.
Holstering his weapon, Silas yelled at the outlaw. “It’s over, Bill! Throw down your guns!”
Bill fired off another few rounds, none of them even coming close. A gunslinger like Bill might be deadly at close range, but he was just as accurate with a pistol as everyone else at a hundred yards.
I fired off a Metal slug from the Marlin and Bill returned fire. Our standoff continued, none of us wanting to commit to a move.
“How far you think that is?” I asked Silas.
“About a hundred ten, hundred twenty yards. Why?”
“Long as I’m here I might as well try to zero in this scope,” I replied, sighting down the barrel while adjusting the stupidly expensive piece of equipment.
“It’s a nice scope,” Silas admitted, rolling a cigarette. “You’re only as good as your gun.”
I nodded, fired off another shot, adjusted the scope, then fired off another. Until I got this thing in a vise and did it properly, this was as good as I was going to get.
The top of Bill’s hat was just visible over the ribs of the dead animal, so I used [Aimed Shot] and fired, eliciting a string of curses from the outlaw as it was knocked from his head.
I grinned at Silas, who returned it with a smile of his own. “You think this is gonna take long?” I asked.
“Put a few of those explosive rounds into that horse. That should get ‘em moving,” Silas answered.
“That was an [Overcharged] stone bullet,” I said. “Not sure it’ll have the same effect with a Metal slug.”
Silas nodded his head. “Be careful you don’t Overcharge too much, you can damage the core of your gun or even cause it to explode,” he said.
I sighted down the scope and triggered [Overcharge] with 5BP, sending another five Metal slugs downrange just as quick as I could work the lever-action. The slugs tore through the carcass, kicking up little puffs of dust as they tore into the ground beyond it.
Bills hat began to wave over the remains of the horse, then it dropped from sight.
“Let’s give him a few minutes,” Silas suggested. “If he’s playing games, he’ll lose patience. No sense endangering ourselves if he decides to pop up and start firing.”
I shot a few more [Overcharged] Metal slugs into the carcass, the last one causing the hat to fall out of Bills hand. Through the scope I could see his limp arm draped over the side of the horse.
Pushing the Marlin back into Inventory, I rose from the ground and looked at Silas. “You take the left and I’ll take the right?” I offered.
Silas loosened his pistol in its holster and began walking.
“Is it always like this?” I asked the bounty hunter.
“Like what?”
“So…messy.”
Silas tossed the remains of his cigarette onto the ground. “This was pretty bad,” He admitted. “Most times it’s just some guy in a small town saloon or holed up in a shack somewhere in the woods. Someone who thinks moving a few towns away will cover their tracks. Some even try to start their lives over. Bill was a two gold bounty, someone a posse would chase down, not two men.”
“So why did we go after him?”
“Because I thought he was in the Hardash forest, not running roughshod over the patriarch of Silvertown,” Silas laughed suddenly, shaking his head. “The plan was to locate his hideout, collect a few more men to handle his gang, and ambush them.”
We eased around the bullet-ridden horse to discover Blackheart Bill bleeding out. One of my bullets had gone through the horse, through his back and exited his chest. He gave us a bloody grin as we approached with guns drawn.
“There’s a healing potion in the saddle bag under the horse,” the bandit said, spitting out a mouthful of blood. “I’m worth more alive than dead and you don’t want to throw away good money, do ya?”
Silas pulled the hammer back on his gun, pointing it at the outlaw’s head.
“Wait,” Bill said, coughing weakly. “I got a dragon core, a real dragon core. I’ll tell you where to get it.”
“Now where would you get a dragon core?” Silas asked.
“From the Silvertown mines,” Bill rasped. “One of my boys, his brother works the mines and told him that they found dragon bones. That’s when I took the girl and made her daddy my bitch. He’d do anything to get her back.”
Silas pulled the trigger, splattering the outlaws head all over the remains of the horse.
“I’ve heard enough,” He said, holstering his pistol. “He kidnapped the girl and the others, holding them hostage so the Patriarch and other townsfolk wouldn’t interfere with his scheme. Let’s find the girl and get back to town.”
“Damn, Silas. In cold blood,” I said, turning my head from the sight of the gore. This is twice today I’ve seen the inside of a man’s skull. I should be bothered by this, like really bothered, but I’m not. Not really. It’s like there’s a disconnect and the only thing my brain can process is how smooth and efficient Silas was when he pulled the trigger. I can still taste bile in the back of my throat though.
“You want to do that thing of yours? Or you want me to dig his core out?”
“I’ll handle it,” I said, kneeling to touch the man so I could trigger [Disassembly]. “You should go see about the girl, she’s trying to use my Horse to get away and is having a nervous breakdown because he won’t move.”
I asked Horse to mosey around the burning remains of the shack with his new rider and to meet Silas. He sent back an image of him riding in a wagon with me pulling it. I’m guessing that he’s not enthused about being a taxi service.
The girl, Loretta Jurgens, was not in good shape.
The door set into the wall of the canyon covered the dead-end shaft of an abandoned moon silver mine left behind by some prospector. Loretta had been kept in there for the better part of a month and was in hysterics trying to get Horse to move. I'll let Silas deal with her while I process everything.
I collected 2100 credits for the all bandits, another 130 silver that I split with Silas, and of course, all their cores which would need to be turned in for bounties. A dozen pistols and several score of bullets were added to my inventory as well, including several knives and other personal effects that Silas assured me would fetch a few coin at a local pawnshop or general store. And gold teeth.
All that remained now was to locate the loot and leave this hell hole.
[INDEX]
submitted by TheDreadPirateRobots to redditserials [link] [comments]
Blackheart Bill stared at us from the porch of the tiny cabin, his eyes filled with murder. A cruel smile crept across his face, causing me to break into a sweat — this was a man who enjoyed the suffering of others.
“Well, well. If it isn’t the two bounty hunters that killed half my gang,” Bill drawled, his voice dripping malice. “What do ya think we should do with them, boys?”
“Face me like a man,” I shouted at him. “I refuse to be hung like a criminal!”
Bill’s lips twisted into a grin. “Is that so?” He said. “You think I had you brought here so you can challenge me to a duel? You’re mistaken kid.”
“I don’t want to be hung,” I said, mentally instructing Horse edge closer to Silas’ mount.
“What you want and what I want are different things, boy,” Bill said, his face relaxing into an unreadable mask. “And what I want is for you to suffer for killing my men. Jim, get a rope.”
Gap-tooth laughed like a drunken donkey and swung down from his horse.
I brushed against Silas, pulling his gun from my Inventory. Silas was fast, insanely fast. The gun appeared in my hand for a split-second before Silas had it pointed at the outlaw and was firing sizzling black bolts of energy.
Blackheart Bill was faster.
The outlaw dodged to the side in a blur, firing off three wild Kinetic bolts, one passing on each side of Silas before the final one tagged the man in the chest with the sound of shattering glass.
I pulled my gun from inventory a moment later, regretting my decision to load it with Lightning rounds as I pulled the trigger. Thunder roared as I shot the bandit behind me, then I squeezed the trigger again, clipping the other with a finger-thick bolt of electricity. Stone bullets whizzed around me as Horse hightailed it around the corner of the shack. Triggering [Aimed Shot] I fired a third round and a clap of thunder fried the man guarding the wood door set into the canyon wall.
Silas rounded the building a second later, his gun firing wildly at the remaining bandits. Quick as a flash, he ejected the spent brass and reloaded from his gun belt, picking off two more as they rounded the corner.
A Metal bullet burst from the wood next to my face, grazing my temple. I shoved my Mongoose into a gap between the weathered boards and fired off the remainder of my Lightning rounds, setting the front of the shack on fire. My fingers flickered as I reloaded unprimed rounds into the gun, slamming the cylinder closed.
Silas took one edge of the cabin and I took the other, shooting at anyone who moved, trapped in a standoff with the remaining five bandits and Bill, who continued shooting through the walls at us while screaming obscenities.
“Told you I didn’t want to hang, you scar-faced freak,” I taunted the man, firing a shot at one of the bandits scurrying to find better cover behind a broken wagon missing its rear axle. The Kinetic Bolt spread as it covered the distance, growing from a finger-sized bolt of blue energy into a basketball sized cloud that dispersed with a crackle and pop. Somewhere in the back of my head I knew the range was only about twenty yards and chastised myself for wasting the bullet.
I had less than 550BP remaining, which was a lot for unprimed shots, but only 54 [Aimed Shots] or about 100 primed shots. If I needed to use any of my other Utilities, it would drop fast. The bandit I had missed popped off a shot from his new vantage point, punching a hole in the wall above my head. I sent a Stone bullet in reply, causing him to duck from sight.
\Ding**
A popup blocked the lower half of my vision.
-=-=-
📱 [New Power-Up Available!] 📱
🔫 Pinned down behind an old shack? Bullets not packing enough punch? Try [Overcharge]! 🔫
💥 Just 500 credits, Limited time only! 💥
🌟 Features Include: - [Overcharge] Utility**: Infuse your bullets with extra battery points and surprise everyone! - Costs 500 credits - Requires 82 Memory
⚠️ Important Notes: - Cannot be stacked with active Utilities - Overcharge can severely damage firearms
[Get Overcharge Now ✅] [Maybe Later ❌]
-=-=-
The 60 second timer counted down 2 seconds before I punched accept.
[Downloading…20%…32%…68%…87%…Done!] [Installing…8%…12%…49%…52%…91%…Done!]
“You get shot?” Silas asked, sparing me a glance while I was stuck waiting for my upgrade to finish.
I shook my head. “Psychic thing,” I said once the System was done shoving data in my head. The knowledge of how to use [Overcharge], was simple enough — just push extra BP through the runestone and increase the destructive power of the bullet.
I triggered [Overcharge] and pushed an extra 5 Battery Points into the runestone, bringing the total cost of the Stone bullet to 6BP, then squeezed the trigger. The projectile impacted the broken wagon like a grenade, sending fragments of wood flying everywhere.
The screaming started a second later, followed by the bandit whose face was covered in blood and splinters. Selecting [Aimed Shot] I put a Stone bullet into his head, shocked by the spray of gore that filled the air. Hot bile burned the back of my throat, forcing me to swallow hard and refocus on the immediate situation.
The sound of hooves reached my ears, followed by Silas swearing. “They’re escaping,” He said, turning to mount his horse and swearing again. The animal was trembling in shock, bloody froth covering its mouth as it struggled to breathe. I noticed the blood covering its side then, where it had been shot when we had retreated behind the shack.
The shack was now burning quite impressively. The flames had grown to the point that it was uncomfortable to remain close, so I moved to a cooler spot and took a seat on the sandy ground. Pulling the Marlin from inventory, I popped off the leather caps that protected the scope lenses and took aim at the fleeing bandits. The scope pulled them in close enough that I felt I could reach out and snatch them with my hand even though they were over a hundred yards away now.
Bracing the rifle on my knee, I sighted through the scope and pulled the trigger, worked the lever to eject the shell and fired again. On the fourth shot I watched as Blackheart Bill’s horse stumbled and dropped to the dirt. I was aiming at Bill, but taking out his horse was good enough.
I watched as Bill took cover behind his downed horse and yelled at his men to come back and get him. They didn’t even look back, hunkering down as he started shooting at them, hitting one and dropping him from the saddle. Taking aim through the scope, I shot a few more rounds at Bill, causing him to turn his attention back to me and return fire.
A gunshot from behind me caused me to jump. Turning to see the source of the gunfire I saw Silas standing over the body of his horse. I guess he decided to end its misery.
Holstering his weapon, Silas yelled at the outlaw. “It’s over, Bill! Throw down your guns!”
Bill fired off another few rounds, none of them even coming close. A gunslinger like Bill might be deadly at close range, but he was just as accurate with a pistol as everyone else at a hundred yards.
I fired off a Metal slug from the Marlin and Bill returned fire. Our standoff continued, none of us wanting to commit to a move.
“How far you think that is?” I asked Silas.
“About a hundred ten, hundred twenty yards. Why?”
“Long as I’m here I might as well try to zero in this scope,” I replied, sighting down the barrel while adjusting the stupidly expensive piece of equipment.
“It’s a nice scope,” Silas admitted, rolling a cigarette. “You’re only as good as your gun.”
I nodded, fired off another shot, adjusted the scope, then fired off another. Until I got this thing in a vise and did it properly, this was as good as I was going to get.
The top of Bill’s hat was just visible over the ribs of the dead animal, so I used [Aimed Shot] and fired, eliciting a string of curses from the outlaw as it was knocked from his head.
I grinned at Silas, who returned it with a smile of his own. “You think this is gonna take long?” I asked.
“Put a few of those explosive rounds into that horse. That should get ‘em moving,” Silas answered.
“That was an [Overcharged] stone bullet,” I said. “Not sure it’ll have the same effect with a Metal slug.”
Silas nodded his head. “Be careful you don’t Overcharge too much, you can damage the core of your gun or even cause it to explode,” he said.
I sighted down the scope and triggered [Overcharge] with 5BP, sending another five Metal slugs downrange just as quick as I could work the lever-action. The slugs tore through the carcass, kicking up little puffs of dust as they tore into the ground beyond it.
Bills hat began to wave over the remains of the horse, then it dropped from sight.
“Let’s give him a few minutes,” Silas suggested. “If he’s playing games, he’ll lose patience. No sense endangering ourselves if he decides to pop up and start firing.”
I shot a few more [Overcharged] Metal slugs into the carcass, the last one causing the hat to fall out of Bills hand. Through the scope I could see his limp arm draped over the side of the horse.
Pushing the Marlin back into Inventory, I rose from the ground and looked at Silas. “You take the left and I’ll take the right?” I offered.
Silas loosened his pistol in its holster and began walking.
“Is it always like this?” I asked the bounty hunter.
“Like what?”
“So…messy.”
Silas tossed the remains of his cigarette onto the ground. “This was pretty bad,” He admitted. “Most times it’s just some guy in a small town saloon or holed up in a shack somewhere in the woods. Someone who thinks moving a few towns away will cover their tracks. Some even try to start their lives over. Bill was a two gold bounty, someone a posse would chase down, not two men.”
“So why did we go after him?”
“Because I thought he was in the Hardash forest, not running roughshod over the patriarch of Silvertown,” Silas laughed suddenly, shaking his head. “The plan was to locate his hideout, collect a few more men to handle his gang, and ambush them.”
We eased around the bullet-ridden horse to discover Blackheart Bill bleeding out. One of my bullets had gone through the horse, through his back and exited his chest. He gave us a bloody grin as we approached with guns drawn.
“There’s a healing potion in the saddle bag under the horse,” the bandit said, spitting out a mouthful of blood. “I’m worth more alive than dead and you don’t want to throw away good money, do ya?”
Silas pulled the hammer back on his gun, pointing it at the outlaw’s head.
“Wait,” Bill said, coughing weakly. “I got a dragon core, a real dragon core. I’ll tell you where to get it.”
“Now where would you get a dragon core?” Silas asked.
“From the Silvertown mines,” Bill rasped. “One of my boys, his brother works the mines and told him that they found dragon bones. That’s when I took the girl and made her daddy my bitch. He’d do anything to get her back.”
Silas pulled the trigger, splattering the outlaws head all over the remains of the horse.
“I’ve heard enough,” He said, holstering his pistol. “He kidnapped the girl and the others, holding them hostage so the Patriarch and other townsfolk wouldn’t interfere with his scheme. Let’s find the girl and get back to town.”
“Damn, Silas. In cold blood,” I said, turning my head from the sight of the gore. This is twice today I’ve seen the inside of a man’s skull. I should be bothered by this, like really bothered, but I’m not. Not really. It’s like there’s a disconnect and the only thing my brain can process is how smooth and efficient Silas was when he pulled the trigger. I can still taste bile in the back of my throat though.
“You want to do that thing of yours? Or you want me to dig his core out?”
“I’ll handle it,” I said, kneeling to touch the man so I could trigger [Disassembly]. “You should go see about the girl, she’s trying to use my Horse to get away and is having a nervous breakdown because he won’t move.”
I asked Horse to mosey around the burning remains of the shack with his new rider and to meet Silas. He sent back an image of him riding in a wagon with me pulling it. I’m guessing that he’s not enthused about being a taxi service.
The girl, Loretta Jurgens, was not in good shape.
The door set into the wall of the canyon covered the dead-end shaft of an abandoned moon silver mine left behind by some prospector. Loretta had been kept in there for the better part of a month and was in hysterics trying to get Horse to move. I'll let Silas deal with her while I process everything.
I collected 2100 credits for the all bandits, another 130 silver that I split with Silas, and of course, all their cores which would need to be turned in for bounties. A dozen pistols and several score of bullets were added to my inventory as well, including several knives and other personal effects that Silas assured me would fetch a few coin at a local pawnshop or general store. And gold teeth.
All that remained now was to locate the loot and leave this hell hole.
[INDEX]
2024.06.09 22:43 mrplayer47 My experience with Tar/Asphalt, Tesla Insurance, and Tesla Collision
 | Hey everyone, last summer I had a bad run in with some not fully cured TaAsphalt on a common road where I live (UT, 30 mins north of SLC). It seemed maybe the construction crew opened the road up too early before it finished curing, so when I went over it, it completely caked the sides of my car, trim, and undercarriage with a large amount of tag. I didn't recognize it the moment it happened, so I did not save any dashcam footage of the event. submitted by mrplayer47 to TeslaLounge [link] [comments] I tried multiple auto detailing tar removal products, and it was on there so thick that these all had 0 affect. I took it to multiple detail shops, and they all turned me away and said it was too thick for them to do anything and that they recommend a body shop. I did not try to go after the city or construction company, because I felt like I would either get nowhere, or it would take more of my time than worth. So, I decided to file a claim with tesla insurance to see if they would cover something like this. Turns out with my coverage they did. At first, they tried to turn me away to detail shops, and eventually accepted it should go to a body shop. Through the app I scheduled a drop-off to Tesla Collison and Tesla insurance arrange a rental through Enterprise to pick me up same day. Overall communication with my insurance agent was pretty poor through this piece. Agent would take forever to respond, or not respond at all till 2nd or 3rd attempt by me, would misunderstand what I meant at times, etc. It took them a little under 30 days (this was very close to the max rental time I had with no out of pocket cost) to take care of everything once in the hands of Tesla Collision. The tech communicated with me well, multiple updates through the app each week, always responded when I had a question. The repairs were approved very quickly through insurance (they said when you have Tesla insurance, all repairs are pretty much auto approved). Part way through they let me know they were going to have to replace the wheels too, due to tar on the inside and outside they could not get rid of. This was a big plus for me as my wheels had bad curb rash from the previous owner since I bought it used. They told me it was cheaper to replace the doors, so I got 4 new doors. They replaced all trim that had tar on it. And repainted any other areas that needed it after tar damage. I believe they said some parts of the quarter panels and the rear bumper. Upon Pickup, I paid the $1,000 deductible directly to Tesla Collision by card and they brought my car around. The tar was gone! and the car looked practically brand new! I was pretty ecstatic to see this after driving around for so long with tar on my car. I did notice 2 things off though, the charging port cover wasn't sitting correctly and stuck out probably 1 cm, these are apparently easily adjustable, and they were able to fix this on the spot. The TPMS light was on showing one tire at 33 psi compared to the 42 psi of the others, they had me pull in to get topped off, then I was on my way. Haven't had an issue with the tire ever since, so the tech must have not set it right to begin with. Overall, I am pretty satisfied with my experience. The issues I had with the insurance agent and few tweaks needed at pickup were made up by good communication and quality work from the collision center. TLDR - Got really bad tar on my car. Had an overall good experience with Tesla Collision repairing the vehicle: The good:
https://preview.redd.it/pdg1ziidyl5d1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3201a4d53deab7e16df01bcfacb001edf468bc32 https://preview.redd.it/jnqmeiidyl5d1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=123498c2cf89148bad881d6a8c4b9b9927103238 https://preview.redd.it/81eh6jidyl5d1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d106e5aff90648d33533e34410950decf68726f4 https://preview.redd.it/zpl5vkidyl5d1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2e42a8fb4352cda4d3de4610a1ec6ae5f83875a3 https://preview.redd.it/yhfyvjidyl5d1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=da1a4a5b5ce5736c430f96d94ebf5ec5ecd97a30 https://preview.redd.it/9b3o64oeyl5d1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ddfe5f44251b5e868fef749b500896b829054362 https://preview.redd.it/71znwlneyl5d1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=57688786be844398fae36ca57c0009296e4b35af |
2024.06.09 22:42 mrplayer47 My experience with Tar/Asphalt, Tesla Insurance, and Tesla Collision
 | Hey everyone, last summer I had a bad run in with some not fully cured TaAsphalt on a common road where I live (UT, 30 mins north of SLC). It seemed maybe the construction crew opened the road up too early before it finished curing, so when I went over it, it completely caked the sides of my car, trim, and undercarriage with a large amount of tag. I didn't recognize it the moment it happened, so I did not save any dashcam footage of the event. submitted by mrplayer47 to TeslaModelY [link] [comments] I tried multiple auto detailing tar removal products, and it was on there so thick that these all had 0 affect. I took it to multiple detail shops, and they all turned me away and said it was too thick for them to do anything and that they recommend a body shop. I did not try to go after the city or construction company, because I felt like I would either get nowhere, or it would take more of my time than worth. So, I decided to file a claim with tesla insurance to see if they would cover something like this. Turns out with my coverage they did. At first, they tried to turn me away to detail shops, and eventually accepted it should go to a body shop. Through the app I scheduled a drop-off to Tesla Collison and Tesla insurance arrange a rental through Enterprise to pick me up same day. Overall communication with my insurance agent was pretty poor through this piece. Agent would take forever to respond, or not respond at all till 2nd or 3rd attempt by me, would misunderstand what I meant at times, etc. It took them a little under 30 days (this was very close to the max rental time I had with no out of pocket cost) to take care of everything once in the hands of Tesla Collision. The tech communicated with me well, multiple updates through the app each week, always responded when I had a question. The repairs were approved very quickly through insurance (they said when you have Tesla insurance, all repairs are pretty much auto approved). Part way through they let me know they were going to have to replace the wheels too, due to tar on the inside and outside they could not get rid of. This was a big plus for me as my wheels had bad curb rash from the previous owner since I bought it used. They told me it was cheaper to replace the doors, so I got 4 new doors. They replaced all trim that had tar on it. And repainted any other areas that needed it after tar damage. I believe they said some parts of the quarter panels and the rear bumper. Upon Pickup, I paid the $1,000 deductible directly to Tesla Collision by card and they brought my car around. The tar was gone! and the car looked practically brand new! I was pretty ecstatic to see this after driving around for so long with tar on my car. I did notice 2 things off though, the charging port cover wasn't sitting correctly and stuck out probably 1 cm, these are apparently easily adjustable, and they were able to fix this on the spot. The TPMS light was on showing one tire at 33 psi compared to the 42 psi of the others, they had me pull in to get topped off, then I was on my way. Haven't had an issue with the tire ever since, so the tech must have not set it right to begin with. Overall, I am pretty satisfied with my experience. The issues I had with the insurance agent and few tweaks needed at pickup were made up by good communication and quality work from the collision center. TLDR - Got really bad tar on my car. Had an overall good experience with Tesla Collision repairing the vehicle: The good:
https://preview.redd.it/ed2lui66yl5d1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f93d92be10e1ec1d80d38df022c3c40d24a377c https://preview.redd.it/rjyl9n66yl5d1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=efc22974a8611412a4d6692b32421d6968595e71 https://preview.redd.it/mu39bk66yl5d1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=984303079746faab287eb3b69ea16051b8a6850c https://preview.redd.it/nrleii66yl5d1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=73a9c6c4870acba43d57af25cf47df9e6e96a6d4 https://preview.redd.it/l95koi66yl5d1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cc33767908993cdf67a1e610276989a8a6a7144b https://preview.redd.it/ikpr86d7yl5d1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a3914cf05456bdc4a0bf2e0ac48ebca25f728c0 https://preview.redd.it/w24o36d7yl5d1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1f3e2c6701affffbb960eeca63f3e9b6b4a79270 |
2024.06.09 22:35 Technical_Mess_4090 How will AI take ALL of our jobs?
This sub is a place to ask questions without being mocked
So here we go (also english isn't my first language - 'cuse the grammer)
Maybe it's just because I've been blessed enough to hang around pretencious crowds and be born in a country that's not that high tech yet, but I'm struggling to belive the argument that it's going to take ALL our jobs.
How do people expect AI to help pull a calf out of a cow? Cook meals or pastries? Stock shelves? Walk/groom pets? Drive cars? (I mean they definitley can, but will people REALLY trust it?) Create events? Photograph the world?Host weddings, birthdays and so on?
Will lawyers and judges REALLY let AI take over THEIR turf? will something like ANIMAL BREEDERS/SHOW JUDGES be willing to let AI take over their jobs? Their way to self-intitled for that?
I've worked at a library as a part time job for a few years now (a job I've seen people argue will be gone to AI soon) and you would not BELIEVE how STUPID people can be - I just have a hard time believing AI will be able to keep up with the specific shinanigans people come up with
Also isn't it..crazy expensive? Will we really be in such an economy that EVERY company (or I guess the few big ones that will be left) will be able to afford it? What about, say, the Amish communities? Countries/cities who can't afford it? What happens to them?
I understand that it has already taken jobs, and I'm not denying it's a possibility, but I just can't rap my head around how it would work in a world that so complex..saying it's going to take ALL our jobs is not something I believe
I guess what I'm asking is, what is the world people are imagining? And how realistic is it?
submitted by Technical_Mess_4090 to NoStupidQuestions [link] [comments]
So here we go (also english isn't my first language - 'cuse the grammer)
Maybe it's just because I've been blessed enough to hang around pretencious crowds and be born in a country that's not that high tech yet, but I'm struggling to belive the argument that it's going to take ALL our jobs.
How do people expect AI to help pull a calf out of a cow? Cook meals or pastries? Stock shelves? Walk/groom pets? Drive cars? (I mean they definitley can, but will people REALLY trust it?) Create events? Photograph the world?Host weddings, birthdays and so on?
Will lawyers and judges REALLY let AI take over THEIR turf? will something like ANIMAL BREEDERS/SHOW JUDGES be willing to let AI take over their jobs? Their way to self-intitled for that?
I've worked at a library as a part time job for a few years now (a job I've seen people argue will be gone to AI soon) and you would not BELIEVE how STUPID people can be - I just have a hard time believing AI will be able to keep up with the specific shinanigans people come up with
Also isn't it..crazy expensive? Will we really be in such an economy that EVERY company (or I guess the few big ones that will be left) will be able to afford it? What about, say, the Amish communities? Countries/cities who can't afford it? What happens to them?
I understand that it has already taken jobs, and I'm not denying it's a possibility, but I just can't rap my head around how it would work in a world that so complex..saying it's going to take ALL our jobs is not something I believe
I guess what I'm asking is, what is the world people are imagining? And how realistic is it?
2024.06.09 22:33 daisy4841 Losing myself to grief
My dad has young-onset Alzheimer's and in the last two years I've felt myself become more and more of a shell of the person I used to be. As he gets sicker, the grief I used to deny becomes a part of me and new grief overwhelms me.
The things that used to fill my cup, like painting and knitting, don't interest me anymore. Even in moments where I want to do the things I love, I don't have the emotional energy to sit down and do them. I long for the fulfillment and outlet they gave me, but am filled with anxiety when I think about initiating a new project. Part of me is saddened by this, but another part of me is apathetic.
I struggle being around people. The only people I feel like I can connect with at times are my partner, my mom, and a friend who has experienced significant loss. Spending time with even my closest friends still leaves me feeling empty. They love and care about me. They do their best to support me. But they cannot understand the unique grief of losing a loved one to a degenerative illness - the grief of what you've already lost and the grief of what you still have yet to lose.
I used to have relatively adept social skills, but I now struggle to engage with strangers. I don't know very many people in the city I live in. I desperately crave community, but can't stand the thought of having to get to know new people. When meeting new people, I can't wait for the interaction to be over. Every conversation, smile, and laugh feels forced. I want to want to socialize, but I've become increasingly hermetic.
Most of all, I feel so disconnected from myself as a whole, not just my creative side or my sociable side. Some days I feel totally depersonalized, like a stranger is piloting my body and I'm just watching from above. I know my life can never go back to what it used to be and that's ok. I know I'll be forever changed by grief and that's ok too. I just really miss feeling like myself and I don't know how to get back to her.
submitted by daisy4841 to GriefSupport [link] [comments]
The things that used to fill my cup, like painting and knitting, don't interest me anymore. Even in moments where I want to do the things I love, I don't have the emotional energy to sit down and do them. I long for the fulfillment and outlet they gave me, but am filled with anxiety when I think about initiating a new project. Part of me is saddened by this, but another part of me is apathetic.
I struggle being around people. The only people I feel like I can connect with at times are my partner, my mom, and a friend who has experienced significant loss. Spending time with even my closest friends still leaves me feeling empty. They love and care about me. They do their best to support me. But they cannot understand the unique grief of losing a loved one to a degenerative illness - the grief of what you've already lost and the grief of what you still have yet to lose.
I used to have relatively adept social skills, but I now struggle to engage with strangers. I don't know very many people in the city I live in. I desperately crave community, but can't stand the thought of having to get to know new people. When meeting new people, I can't wait for the interaction to be over. Every conversation, smile, and laugh feels forced. I want to want to socialize, but I've become increasingly hermetic.
Most of all, I feel so disconnected from myself as a whole, not just my creative side or my sociable side. Some days I feel totally depersonalized, like a stranger is piloting my body and I'm just watching from above. I know my life can never go back to what it used to be and that's ok. I know I'll be forever changed by grief and that's ok too. I just really miss feeling like myself and I don't know how to get back to her.
2024.06.09 22:27 HuskyWuskyowo My O'Reilly AutoParts Experience
I'm on mobile, writing this brought back a lot of emotions. So if it's sloppy,I apologize.....
I've debated about posting this, but it's been a year now. So I should be ok. I've posted on Reddit before, asking about situations at the company but changed some things. So here we are, and here's a full run down of my time there
I started in May, 2019. Part time and straight out of highschool. By November, I was full time and had store keys, training to be a closing manager (RSS)
In 2020, we had a coworker stalk a new hire, as he really wanted to date her, she felt uncomfortable but since he was a manager, she felt inclined to do as he wanted. She came to me as we were close in age. I helped her talk with our boss. He was soon let go.
Then we hired another girl, and she was.... Something.
She decided that she was going to get the boss to fall for her, and be the favorite. Boss was annoyed by her, and she found it funny to walk up behind me when I was on a phone call, reach around and grab my chest. She did this in front of customers as well. Our store had no cameras.
Even after I told her to knock it off, she kept on. Soon the customers were trying to treat me the same. Trying to touch me, asking if they can "Rent me" and other gross things.
I'd told my boss, SM. But at the time, we had a very.... Slow to act DM. So nothing was done.
One day, I was training a new hire. I was on the phone with a customer, and he was beside me at the counter with a customer. She walked up behind me, reached around, but this time, one hand went up, one went down and she was telling our new hire "it's ok to do this cause there's no cameras" and slowly started undoing the buttons on my shirt.
I'd gotten permission from my boss at the time to react in anyway I had to to get her off me, as our DM didn't want to get involved but wouldn't allow him to fire her.
so I kicked her as hard as I could. She fell, and started laughing. After she left, I explained to him what's been going on. He understood but was upset and uncomfortable, not that I blame him. She'd been written up for this before.
The next day, DM was there. New hire had called tips, and told them if they didn't do anything about this he would go public, forcing the DM to do something. Well, we found out this day, that we had a new DM. As the company "had decided due to so many complaints under this DM, that they needed to take him from DM, and make him a SM again for awhile"
This one took swift action. She was canned. After this, the new hires we got were so much better. But unfortunately, the system we used, showed our phone numbers and addresses. So this, now ex coworker, started stalking me. Sending me threatening messages and following me home, company said just block and ignore. Police wouldn't help til she did something threatening my life. I'd come outside to my tires all flat, my car scratched, I'd be followed home, it was a mess. A few times I'd be followed, run off the road, one morning on the way to work, I called the store and told them I was being followed. Everyone knew by now what was happening, and they watched as I pulled in, my SM went outside to tell the girl to leave, as she tried to slam her car into mine. I'd Changed everything by then, moved, new number, new route to abd from work. Hadn't seen her in awhile.
I left that store in Feb of 2021, and went to a bigger store to be trained as a ASM and as a safety precaution, to create more space in case the chic came back. (As she still circled the store time to time) Once there, I helped run the store. I was there til August of that same year, I was "loaned" out to help a different store, but still was expected to run my second store. As the SM was out due to family issues.
So now I'm running two stores, one store where no one respects the store manager, and one store where there is no store manager. So I'm training people at one location while running this other store as the store manager is sleeping off a hangover In the office.
During this, I was training some guys from the second store, and on October 19th, 2021. I had been at store #3 getting stuff ready for the upcoming inventory, so I got home around 12AM. My phone was dead, I was tired and I had a husky needing to go outside. When two of the guys I was training pull up. They had gotten my address off of the computer and were here because "they were sick of the management and needed me back there" they knew what apartment number I was so they ran up the stairs and beat me to the door. I was tired and not in the mood to get into it that night, so they passed out on the couch and next morning, I'm being called due to them not coming in. So I answer and told them that they are currently passed out on my couch, I got in trouble for them not coming into work.
It went smoothly for awhile, then December 13th, 2021 comes along. At this time, my relationship with my mother was rocky. I had gone low contact with her. I also never told anyone my business, as I figured it wasn't anyones need to know. My personal life stays personal. Well, two store managers take it upon themselves to integrate me. It's their day off, so I'm running the store, only have one delivery driver that day, short staffed, they pull up and have me go into the back of the store, which has no walls. So everyone can hear what's being said.
And they lay into me. For 3hrs til I'm in tears and have told them everything that went on with my mother and why we're low contact. The store manager decides she's going to be my hero and go confront my mother, have her husband beat my mother up and have this show down. They told me to not worry, return to work and they'll handle it. And left. Leaving me crying, shaking and still trying to run a store, get people to lunch and my teams now more focused on me, what they heard in the conversation and some are calling the DM to report what just happened. This made a very awkward month, as now DM is involved, the SM's got a talking to and I had to relive this twice more. Once with the DM, then HR. Tho HR labeled this a "in house issue" and weren't willing to help.
After this, it calmed down. The SM's were now out to get me for "getting them in trouble" but otherwise, it seemed fine. Tho I was working with the store managers daughter, so she kept her mom updated, and made sure to mention my mothers abuse towards me and tell others about it as well. She liked the gossip of it.
Then on March 5th, 2022. The store managers daughter had been slacking. Big time. On her phone in the office, taking "favors" for reduced product, or just ignoring her job and making others pick up the slack. I was spread thin, mentally and physically. Trying to help with training a new store manager, training staff at my second store, and keeping this third one up. So when I was catching up on freight, and found she was off in the back on her phone watching TikTok, I got on her about it. She got upset, and said "you've been really moody lately. I think you're pregnant" to which I told her I'm stressed trying to get stuff going, I haven't had a break in awhile, and you aren't helping at all.( She also has this mindset that I slept with my first store manager. And that I was still with him and pregnant by him. )
She rolled her eyes, and on her break, she went out and bought a pregnancy test. When she returns, she hides my clipboard and paperwork, and had blocked my car in. Then, in front of the few staff I had that day, announces that I'm to take this pregnancy test, or she'll destroy the paperwork, and tell the SM that I wasn't actually in store, didn't do my paperwork and have been flaky. She had the DM and SM's wrapped around her finger. So I told her this isn't appropriate and that I'd rather not. This went back and forth, to the point of her getting in the way of me answering phones and helping customers, she'd physically take the phone from my hand and hang up, or tell the customer that I couldn't help them at this time.
So I told her, if I do, I'm going home for the rest of the day. I had 2 hours left of my shift. She said fine. But she needed to be in the bathroom as I took it, so I don't "cheat".
After that, she moved her car and I left. For the day. Went home, called HR. They told me it's an in store issue, and unfortunately they rather not get involved with it. So I told the DM. He had already received reports from the other staff, telling him what happened. She was talked to, but that's it. For the rest of the week, she talked about how cute it would be if I had a baby with my first SM, asked about what he was like in bed and if we did it in the store - this SM and I were close, he was a father figure/role model to me. If I couldn't figure something out, he was my first call. She ruined the friendship I had with him, as we both felt awkward when we worked together due to her. As she told her mom and the gossip spread like wildfire.
March 15th, 2022. I requested a week off. I needed a break, my car needed maintenance and I figured I would head to the ocean with my husky for a couple days. So the first day off, the 12th, I drop my car off at the dealership so they can replace a recall. They say it'll be 5 hours so I walk around town, just relaxing. Then they tell me that unfortunately, they found a new issue and are going to keep my car for a month, and have no way of giving me a loaner. I try to figure out why and it's the runaround, my buddy comes to my aid and helps me get my stuff from my car as they wouldn't let me back there to get my stuff. Then we go to my mother's house to try and get the spare car I have. But the rack and pinion blew on it the same day. So next day I spend trying to tear it apart. I get halfway through when work calls, and let's me know my vacation request ends early as the SM's daughter had an emergency and I need to cover for her. I tell them I'm without a car, in a city an hour away, and the SM says "not my problem. Figure it out. I need you in. If you aren't in, I'm writing you up and firing you"
So I rush to get the car going, and on the 14th, Im stressed, tired, sore and anxious. I push a tool a bit to hard and it slips on grease, comes flying out of the wheel well and hits me in the head, hard. My mother comes back an hour later to find me knocked out. My first concussion. (By this time, we'd had a better relationship/understanding and were working towards building it)
So that night, she drops me off at my apartment. No rental places had any cars, so that morning, I grab my scooter, my husky, and walk the 4hrs to the store. Two hours in, I start to have an asthma attack. My body's shaking, my heads killing me, but we get there. Almost falling in the parking lot. We get in, I sit by the door catching my breath. A driver who used to volunteer at the fire station, comes over and checks my pulse, gets worried and recommends I go to the ER. I tell him I'm okay, the SM has already left for the day. So I need to be here to close. I get cleaned up, and the DM calls. Saying the SM called to tell him I hadn't shown up, and to ask where I was. I told him I just walked there, im wheezing and he's concerned too. I tell him she threatened to fire me if I didn't get here. He said he'd talk to her. Nothing ever came of it.
July 6th, 2022. The DM decided to move me permanently back to my 2nd store, as the store manager was going through personal stuff and I was needed there. So I went. It had been a couple weeks before this, but on the 6th, my shifts were 7am to 7pm. Or til 9:30 if the closer didn't come in. So I come in on time, start working, and go into the back of the store to get hose for a customer. I'm still feeling the symptoms of the concussion from March, but power through. I'm not sure how, but I managed to slip on a piece of paper, fall back and hit the base of my skull on the shelf, then when I was getting up, hit my forehead on it too. A coworker came looking for me. And found me, in his words "in a puddle of blood". He gets me up and takes care of the customer, and gets me to the bathroom and cleaned up. Then we go to the SM and let her know.
She says "You're standing up. You can work. Clean yourself up and get on the counter" I had a two week vacation scheduled, starting the next day. So she thought I was trying to get off work early. Something I had never done. So I go the front after cleaning myself up, the nasty gash on my head swelling up and getting attention. The store is hot, it's 90 outside, and I'm in my jacket shivering cause I'm cold. This happened at about 9AM. I went to her at 12PM and requested a break so I could go out to my car, grab some pain pills and come back. She said no, as I might not return. So I worked through it. I tried calling a couple people to see if they could cover me, as I was feeling worse and worse. But nothing. By 3, a coworker comes in and sees me. His shift didn't start for another two hours, but he immediately told me to go home.
By how, the SM has sent two others home early as we were " slow" and didn't need them. She also wanted to leave, which would mean I'd be the only manager there. He was a manager in training. But he counted my til down and the SM said as I left "since you don't feel good, maybe you shouldn't go to your sister's and just relax. But if I see any pictures of you on vacation after this, I'll know you lied to get out of it."
I went out to my car, which was a 2019 base model Sentra, I left at 4pm. I didn't get home til 8:30/9pm. A drive, with traffic takes an hour. My car had no lane deparcher or blindspot monitoring. When I pulled into my spot at my boyfriend's apartment, as I had moved in with him after coworkers kept finding out where I lived, or gave my address out to random people. My car was scratched up, the rims had curb rash, the passenger side had scratches. I don't know where I went or why it took so long to get home. I remember getting into my car, turning it on, turning on the A/C and that's it.
I went inside and passed out on the bed, my boyfriend couldn't wake me up for dinner, next morning my mother came and got me, taking me to the ER. I had yet another concussion. The doctor told me to stay away from screens, loud noises, drink water and just relax. Refrain from hitting my head again.
After my vacation, I returned with a letter of resignation. As I did some thinking. I couldn't stand the job anymore, the gossip, the crap... The random guys who would get my number and say "someone gave me your number at the store." And I'd have to change my number again. I have a folder of some of the weirdest ones.
I gave my resignation to the SM I currently was under. She denied it. Said no, she needed me to run her store while she took care of stuff, but this was the same SM who believed that I slept with my first SM, denied my raise and SM training as "according to the 3rd store I was sent to. I didn't do anything of what I was supposed to do, got the SM and her friend and the daughter in trouble, I took my vacations without thinking of anyone else"
I went to my first SM, he faxed the paperwork in. My last day was scheduled for August 18th, 2022. Clearly stated on my resignation letter. I gave my two weeks notice on Aug. 4th. 2022.
Everyone started freaking out in management. My DM tried getting me to stay, as it was a shock to him. But I couldn't. On my last day, she scheduled me for a closing shift. With nothing on the following days. She put me on for that Saturday. She calls me, asking where I am. I tell her my last day was Thursday. She tells me no. That she decides when my last day is, and I'm needed there right now. She thought we had talked it out, and that I would "come to my senses" and see reasoning. I told her I was firm on no longer working there, and I had already turned in all my keys. She blew up. Calling me every name in the book, degrading me, she called other stores and a lot of my friends there, turned on me. As she told them straight lies.
I blocked everyone as I started getting hate messages, people commenting on my social media, saying awful stuff. It was hell. I blocked everyone, and for awhile. I had to block accounts or deactivate my stuff. Finally, it all stopped.
I thought I was going to be with that company forever. I missed friends events for it. Family stuff, and events I wanted to go to, cuz of the job..,.. but in the end, those who were assholes to me, got placed in higher positions. Praised for "dealing with everything" and took credit for everything I did. I still get messages asking how to do something, but those go unanswered.
I miss the challenges, the interactions with customers and cars. But I don't miss how HR worked. How tight some are, that they can easily sway things to benefit them just cuz they know each other outside of the company.
It was fun. But I'm glad I got out, and it's burned me... I miss certain people there. But I can't ever be positive about that company again
submitted by HuskyWuskyowo to OReillyAutoParts [link] [comments]
I've debated about posting this, but it's been a year now. So I should be ok. I've posted on Reddit before, asking about situations at the company but changed some things. So here we are, and here's a full run down of my time there
I started in May, 2019. Part time and straight out of highschool. By November, I was full time and had store keys, training to be a closing manager (RSS)
In 2020, we had a coworker stalk a new hire, as he really wanted to date her, she felt uncomfortable but since he was a manager, she felt inclined to do as he wanted. She came to me as we were close in age. I helped her talk with our boss. He was soon let go.
Then we hired another girl, and she was.... Something.
She decided that she was going to get the boss to fall for her, and be the favorite. Boss was annoyed by her, and she found it funny to walk up behind me when I was on a phone call, reach around and grab my chest. She did this in front of customers as well. Our store had no cameras.
Even after I told her to knock it off, she kept on. Soon the customers were trying to treat me the same. Trying to touch me, asking if they can "Rent me" and other gross things.
I'd told my boss, SM. But at the time, we had a very.... Slow to act DM. So nothing was done.
One day, I was training a new hire. I was on the phone with a customer, and he was beside me at the counter with a customer. She walked up behind me, reached around, but this time, one hand went up, one went down and she was telling our new hire "it's ok to do this cause there's no cameras" and slowly started undoing the buttons on my shirt.
I'd gotten permission from my boss at the time to react in anyway I had to to get her off me, as our DM didn't want to get involved but wouldn't allow him to fire her.
so I kicked her as hard as I could. She fell, and started laughing. After she left, I explained to him what's been going on. He understood but was upset and uncomfortable, not that I blame him. She'd been written up for this before.
The next day, DM was there. New hire had called tips, and told them if they didn't do anything about this he would go public, forcing the DM to do something. Well, we found out this day, that we had a new DM. As the company "had decided due to so many complaints under this DM, that they needed to take him from DM, and make him a SM again for awhile"
This one took swift action. She was canned. After this, the new hires we got were so much better. But unfortunately, the system we used, showed our phone numbers and addresses. So this, now ex coworker, started stalking me. Sending me threatening messages and following me home, company said just block and ignore. Police wouldn't help til she did something threatening my life. I'd come outside to my tires all flat, my car scratched, I'd be followed home, it was a mess. A few times I'd be followed, run off the road, one morning on the way to work, I called the store and told them I was being followed. Everyone knew by now what was happening, and they watched as I pulled in, my SM went outside to tell the girl to leave, as she tried to slam her car into mine. I'd Changed everything by then, moved, new number, new route to abd from work. Hadn't seen her in awhile.
I left that store in Feb of 2021, and went to a bigger store to be trained as a ASM and as a safety precaution, to create more space in case the chic came back. (As she still circled the store time to time) Once there, I helped run the store. I was there til August of that same year, I was "loaned" out to help a different store, but still was expected to run my second store. As the SM was out due to family issues.
So now I'm running two stores, one store where no one respects the store manager, and one store where there is no store manager. So I'm training people at one location while running this other store as the store manager is sleeping off a hangover In the office.
During this, I was training some guys from the second store, and on October 19th, 2021. I had been at store #3 getting stuff ready for the upcoming inventory, so I got home around 12AM. My phone was dead, I was tired and I had a husky needing to go outside. When two of the guys I was training pull up. They had gotten my address off of the computer and were here because "they were sick of the management and needed me back there" they knew what apartment number I was so they ran up the stairs and beat me to the door. I was tired and not in the mood to get into it that night, so they passed out on the couch and next morning, I'm being called due to them not coming in. So I answer and told them that they are currently passed out on my couch, I got in trouble for them not coming into work.
It went smoothly for awhile, then December 13th, 2021 comes along. At this time, my relationship with my mother was rocky. I had gone low contact with her. I also never told anyone my business, as I figured it wasn't anyones need to know. My personal life stays personal. Well, two store managers take it upon themselves to integrate me. It's their day off, so I'm running the store, only have one delivery driver that day, short staffed, they pull up and have me go into the back of the store, which has no walls. So everyone can hear what's being said.
And they lay into me. For 3hrs til I'm in tears and have told them everything that went on with my mother and why we're low contact. The store manager decides she's going to be my hero and go confront my mother, have her husband beat my mother up and have this show down. They told me to not worry, return to work and they'll handle it. And left. Leaving me crying, shaking and still trying to run a store, get people to lunch and my teams now more focused on me, what they heard in the conversation and some are calling the DM to report what just happened. This made a very awkward month, as now DM is involved, the SM's got a talking to and I had to relive this twice more. Once with the DM, then HR. Tho HR labeled this a "in house issue" and weren't willing to help.
After this, it calmed down. The SM's were now out to get me for "getting them in trouble" but otherwise, it seemed fine. Tho I was working with the store managers daughter, so she kept her mom updated, and made sure to mention my mothers abuse towards me and tell others about it as well. She liked the gossip of it.
Then on March 5th, 2022. The store managers daughter had been slacking. Big time. On her phone in the office, taking "favors" for reduced product, or just ignoring her job and making others pick up the slack. I was spread thin, mentally and physically. Trying to help with training a new store manager, training staff at my second store, and keeping this third one up. So when I was catching up on freight, and found she was off in the back on her phone watching TikTok, I got on her about it. She got upset, and said "you've been really moody lately. I think you're pregnant" to which I told her I'm stressed trying to get stuff going, I haven't had a break in awhile, and you aren't helping at all.( She also has this mindset that I slept with my first store manager. And that I was still with him and pregnant by him. )
She rolled her eyes, and on her break, she went out and bought a pregnancy test. When she returns, she hides my clipboard and paperwork, and had blocked my car in. Then, in front of the few staff I had that day, announces that I'm to take this pregnancy test, or she'll destroy the paperwork, and tell the SM that I wasn't actually in store, didn't do my paperwork and have been flaky. She had the DM and SM's wrapped around her finger. So I told her this isn't appropriate and that I'd rather not. This went back and forth, to the point of her getting in the way of me answering phones and helping customers, she'd physically take the phone from my hand and hang up, or tell the customer that I couldn't help them at this time.
So I told her, if I do, I'm going home for the rest of the day. I had 2 hours left of my shift. She said fine. But she needed to be in the bathroom as I took it, so I don't "cheat".
After that, she moved her car and I left. For the day. Went home, called HR. They told me it's an in store issue, and unfortunately they rather not get involved with it. So I told the DM. He had already received reports from the other staff, telling him what happened. She was talked to, but that's it. For the rest of the week, she talked about how cute it would be if I had a baby with my first SM, asked about what he was like in bed and if we did it in the store - this SM and I were close, he was a father figure/role model to me. If I couldn't figure something out, he was my first call. She ruined the friendship I had with him, as we both felt awkward when we worked together due to her. As she told her mom and the gossip spread like wildfire.
March 15th, 2022. I requested a week off. I needed a break, my car needed maintenance and I figured I would head to the ocean with my husky for a couple days. So the first day off, the 12th, I drop my car off at the dealership so they can replace a recall. They say it'll be 5 hours so I walk around town, just relaxing. Then they tell me that unfortunately, they found a new issue and are going to keep my car for a month, and have no way of giving me a loaner. I try to figure out why and it's the runaround, my buddy comes to my aid and helps me get my stuff from my car as they wouldn't let me back there to get my stuff. Then we go to my mother's house to try and get the spare car I have. But the rack and pinion blew on it the same day. So next day I spend trying to tear it apart. I get halfway through when work calls, and let's me know my vacation request ends early as the SM's daughter had an emergency and I need to cover for her. I tell them I'm without a car, in a city an hour away, and the SM says "not my problem. Figure it out. I need you in. If you aren't in, I'm writing you up and firing you"
So I rush to get the car going, and on the 14th, Im stressed, tired, sore and anxious. I push a tool a bit to hard and it slips on grease, comes flying out of the wheel well and hits me in the head, hard. My mother comes back an hour later to find me knocked out. My first concussion. (By this time, we'd had a better relationship/understanding and were working towards building it)
So that night, she drops me off at my apartment. No rental places had any cars, so that morning, I grab my scooter, my husky, and walk the 4hrs to the store. Two hours in, I start to have an asthma attack. My body's shaking, my heads killing me, but we get there. Almost falling in the parking lot. We get in, I sit by the door catching my breath. A driver who used to volunteer at the fire station, comes over and checks my pulse, gets worried and recommends I go to the ER. I tell him I'm okay, the SM has already left for the day. So I need to be here to close. I get cleaned up, and the DM calls. Saying the SM called to tell him I hadn't shown up, and to ask where I was. I told him I just walked there, im wheezing and he's concerned too. I tell him she threatened to fire me if I didn't get here. He said he'd talk to her. Nothing ever came of it.
July 6th, 2022. The DM decided to move me permanently back to my 2nd store, as the store manager was going through personal stuff and I was needed there. So I went. It had been a couple weeks before this, but on the 6th, my shifts were 7am to 7pm. Or til 9:30 if the closer didn't come in. So I come in on time, start working, and go into the back of the store to get hose for a customer. I'm still feeling the symptoms of the concussion from March, but power through. I'm not sure how, but I managed to slip on a piece of paper, fall back and hit the base of my skull on the shelf, then when I was getting up, hit my forehead on it too. A coworker came looking for me. And found me, in his words "in a puddle of blood". He gets me up and takes care of the customer, and gets me to the bathroom and cleaned up. Then we go to the SM and let her know.
She says "You're standing up. You can work. Clean yourself up and get on the counter" I had a two week vacation scheduled, starting the next day. So she thought I was trying to get off work early. Something I had never done. So I go the front after cleaning myself up, the nasty gash on my head swelling up and getting attention. The store is hot, it's 90 outside, and I'm in my jacket shivering cause I'm cold. This happened at about 9AM. I went to her at 12PM and requested a break so I could go out to my car, grab some pain pills and come back. She said no, as I might not return. So I worked through it. I tried calling a couple people to see if they could cover me, as I was feeling worse and worse. But nothing. By 3, a coworker comes in and sees me. His shift didn't start for another two hours, but he immediately told me to go home.
By how, the SM has sent two others home early as we were " slow" and didn't need them. She also wanted to leave, which would mean I'd be the only manager there. He was a manager in training. But he counted my til down and the SM said as I left "since you don't feel good, maybe you shouldn't go to your sister's and just relax. But if I see any pictures of you on vacation after this, I'll know you lied to get out of it."
I went out to my car, which was a 2019 base model Sentra, I left at 4pm. I didn't get home til 8:30/9pm. A drive, with traffic takes an hour. My car had no lane deparcher or blindspot monitoring. When I pulled into my spot at my boyfriend's apartment, as I had moved in with him after coworkers kept finding out where I lived, or gave my address out to random people. My car was scratched up, the rims had curb rash, the passenger side had scratches. I don't know where I went or why it took so long to get home. I remember getting into my car, turning it on, turning on the A/C and that's it.
I went inside and passed out on the bed, my boyfriend couldn't wake me up for dinner, next morning my mother came and got me, taking me to the ER. I had yet another concussion. The doctor told me to stay away from screens, loud noises, drink water and just relax. Refrain from hitting my head again.
After my vacation, I returned with a letter of resignation. As I did some thinking. I couldn't stand the job anymore, the gossip, the crap... The random guys who would get my number and say "someone gave me your number at the store." And I'd have to change my number again. I have a folder of some of the weirdest ones.
I gave my resignation to the SM I currently was under. She denied it. Said no, she needed me to run her store while she took care of stuff, but this was the same SM who believed that I slept with my first SM, denied my raise and SM training as "according to the 3rd store I was sent to. I didn't do anything of what I was supposed to do, got the SM and her friend and the daughter in trouble, I took my vacations without thinking of anyone else"
I went to my first SM, he faxed the paperwork in. My last day was scheduled for August 18th, 2022. Clearly stated on my resignation letter. I gave my two weeks notice on Aug. 4th. 2022.
Everyone started freaking out in management. My DM tried getting me to stay, as it was a shock to him. But I couldn't. On my last day, she scheduled me for a closing shift. With nothing on the following days. She put me on for that Saturday. She calls me, asking where I am. I tell her my last day was Thursday. She tells me no. That she decides when my last day is, and I'm needed there right now. She thought we had talked it out, and that I would "come to my senses" and see reasoning. I told her I was firm on no longer working there, and I had already turned in all my keys. She blew up. Calling me every name in the book, degrading me, she called other stores and a lot of my friends there, turned on me. As she told them straight lies.
I blocked everyone as I started getting hate messages, people commenting on my social media, saying awful stuff. It was hell. I blocked everyone, and for awhile. I had to block accounts or deactivate my stuff. Finally, it all stopped.
I thought I was going to be with that company forever. I missed friends events for it. Family stuff, and events I wanted to go to, cuz of the job..,.. but in the end, those who were assholes to me, got placed in higher positions. Praised for "dealing with everything" and took credit for everything I did. I still get messages asking how to do something, but those go unanswered.
I miss the challenges, the interactions with customers and cars. But I don't miss how HR worked. How tight some are, that they can easily sway things to benefit them just cuz they know each other outside of the company.
It was fun. But I'm glad I got out, and it's burned me... I miss certain people there. But I can't ever be positive about that company again
2024.06.09 22:17 strawberryjam1954 Question about the place I’m renting?
Very long story kind of short… my small family & I moved from a tiny 2 bdr home to a larger 4 bedroom. My aunt & uncle had a home just sitting in the country with 70 acres adjoined. The home itself was in pretty rough shape, more so than we could just physically see the first few times we looked around before deciding to move. An oral agreement was made for cheaper rent in exchange for kind of “fixing up” the home.. Since living here almost 9 months we have made significant renovations to this home. (Painting, ripping up carpet, taking off 8-9 layers of wall paper and redoing the walls with dry wall. Replacing the entire kitchen floor, the list goes on.) There is an absolute mouse infestation. I’m talking we are even seeing multiple during the day…. Who is responsible for getting this under control? Mouse traps aren’t working. Mold- the bathroom ceiling and door are covered and no matter how much wiping I do it’s RIGHT BACK! Which in turn makes me think both of my kiddos are sick from possibly mold. (Weird watery eyes sometimes, chronic diarrhea for WEEKS that we’ve been to the dr a few times for, and a weird dry cough). anyways, this has been working out ok until we had a small get together with family and a neighbor. We were chewed up and down from them for allowing people over here knowing said uncle has vehicles parked every where on the property. Old vehicles, new ish vehicles just parked in the yard scattered everywhere not being drove. Have been there awhile. Not only is this very frustrating to mow around but now they are causing issues for the entire property not being mowed around everything. When I tell you all there are rows of vehicles, and vehicles just scattered everywhere, I mean that. As well as other small random items that belong to them. There is also a single wide trailer blocking my entire drive that was supposed to be moved “early spring” therefore it is still taking up any kind of parking. With all of this being said, my 3.5 year old has gotten hurt twice now. There are multiple weird concrete slabs leading out the back door that are uneven with no railing. Which caused him to lose balance even though I did have his hand, and fractured his ankle. This has finally healed for the most part, and it happens again on the front stairs again no railing or grab bar of any sort.
After all of the ranting (just because I’m mad) is there any recourse here for suing?
Literally since we’ve moved here we’ve had to also replace multiple things such as (their stove, both my husband & I’s iPhone chargers, our dryer,& 2 plug in fans… someone explain this to me because each item seems “burnt” if that makes sense. Is this a coincidence or is something electrical going on? At this point there is so much going on here I’d love to call it quits and move. Unfortunately buying a home right this second wouldn’t be financially smart for us. Should we find another place to rent? Stop fixing up this place & continue paying the reduced rent? Consult with our lawyer about any recourse?
submitted by strawberryjam1954 to Adulting [link] [comments]
After all of the ranting (just because I’m mad) is there any recourse here for suing?
Literally since we’ve moved here we’ve had to also replace multiple things such as (their stove, both my husband & I’s iPhone chargers, our dryer,& 2 plug in fans… someone explain this to me because each item seems “burnt” if that makes sense. Is this a coincidence or is something electrical going on? At this point there is so much going on here I’d love to call it quits and move. Unfortunately buying a home right this second wouldn’t be financially smart for us. Should we find another place to rent? Stop fixing up this place & continue paying the reduced rent? Consult with our lawyer about any recourse?
2024.06.09 22:06 Weathers_Writing I think God might be real, just not in the way you think (Part 4)
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
We pulled off I-51 a little after midnight, stopping at a truck stop which was couched between the highway and a large forest.
We waited in the van for ten minutes or so. Trent had increased the sonar radius to its maximum of 30 miles a little over an hour ago. Somehow the red pings had kept up with us, holding a steady distance of around 20 miles. Considering we were averaging around 80 mph, and a coyote's top speed is only around 40 mph, we figured they had been enhanced in some way. Either that, or they shape-shifted into something faster. Regardless, now that we had stopped, we waited to see if the demon spawn would try and close the distance. Luckily, or unluckily, they didn't. They kept their 20 mile buffer, but we noticed they were beginning to spread out along the circumference of that boundary.
"We're close. They know that, so they're trying to trap us in." Trent said.
"Trying to?—more like they have."
We considered whether we should stay in the van and keep watch, but we figured that would do us little good. At their speed, they could be on us in ten minutes, which means we would need to stay up all night and keep tabs on their positions. Trent offered to stay up, of course, but I shut him down.
"The demon doesn't want to kill us now. You said it yourself. Plus, we need our rest. If they come, they come."
Trent didn't like it, but he acquiesced.
The truck stop had all the essentials: a gas station and mini mart with showers and an attached McDonald's, a large parking lot for truckers to idle and sleep, and even a section with lodging for those who wanted a more comfortable night's rest. I told Trent that he should take advantage of the showers, and after a little convincing, he agreed. While he was cleaning himself up, I patrolled the dingy, half-stocked aisles of "Daisy's Quick Mart". I probably would have been appalled at the quality of the store had I actually been paying any attention to it whatsoever. But I wasn't. I was thinking hard about what awaited me tomorrow.
During the drive, I had asked Trent why the demon would want us to return to the crash site. What did he mean that I would be 'confronting a dark entity in a place he couldn't help me'? He seemed hesitant to answer, but my little stunt outside the storage facility seemed to have sufficiently motivated him.
"When I said I've never done this before, I meant it." Trent started. "I've never done this exact thing before—meaning I've never projected someone into the past."
"So, I'm time traveling?" I asked.
"No—don't think of it like that." Trent paused, trying to come up with a good explanation. "It's more like I'm opening a window for you to look through: not a door. You're going to see the past, but you can't interact with the physicalities there. But that doesn't mean you can't interact with anything."
There was a space of silence as Trent tried to let me work out his meaning for myself. "I don't get it. Are you saying there's something I can interact with? Like what?" And then it hit me. "The demon. The demon can interact with me? Meaning what? It can kill me?"
"Meaning… I'm not exactly sure. You're going to be in a kind of psychic space. If it does damage, it won't be to your body. It'll be to your mind—or spirit. But I don't know what the limits of that damage could be. I just don't have those answers."
"If you've never done this, how do you know any of it will work?"
"That's an easy one." Trent answered. "Because it's been done to me."
There was silence.
"Look, if I know anything, I know my tech. Don't doubt that this will work. It's my job to make sure it does. I just need you to be in the right mental for this. Just because it knows your coming doesn't mean it automatically has the upper hand. It won't be able to see you unless you make contact with it first. In other words, you have to initiate contact. As long as you remain a spectator, you should be okay. Trust me. Just don't make contact."
I started pacing faster—fast enough to catch the attention of the overnight shift worker, a young man whose name I can't quite remember. I know it started with a "J". Jake, maybe? Anyway, he asked if I was alright, to which I responded in the affirmative. He left me alone for another couple passes, but when I almost ran into one of the shelves, he stood up and said, "Uh—I'm going to have to ask you to stop running around. I don't want you to hurt yourself."
I must have stared daggers at him, because he recoiled from my gaze. What's gotten into me? I thought. Then, steadying myself, I apologized. I looked around and grabbed the nearest edible looking piece of merchandise: a bag of Swedish Fish, and placed it down on the counter. "Just this, please."
The cashier rang me up. It was surprisingly cheap.
"Are you sure you're alright?" the young man asked. He was tall with brown hair. He seemed tired—maybe even more tired than me. But he also seemed kind.
I smiled as best I could and said, "No, I'm not. But there's not really anything you can do. Hell, there might not be anything I can do." I furrowed my eyebrows at my own response, realizing that imminent death may have broken my verbal filter.
On the other hand, the cashier did not seem surprised at all. "Ah, I see. It's one of those problems." He responded. "Well, hey, for what it's worth, you seem like one of the resilient ones. I think you'll be alright."
I only smiled and nodded at his mildly cryptic comment. Looking back, the whole interaction was a bit strange, but I had way too much mental clutter to recognize that in the moment. I took my Swedish Fish and walked through the anteroom which led to McDonald's. I found an open yellow booth that wasn't littered with crumpled straw sleeves and sat down, chomping mindlessly on my little red fish until Trent returned. When he arrived, he took my place, and I went to shower. After we were both clean and fed, we returned to the van. The pings were still pushed safely out of harm's way. But that didn't mean we were out of harm's way. Trent asked me if I wanted to sleep in the van, saying that "it'd be the safest place."
I thought it over. He was right, obviously. The van was not only outfitted with weapons I couldn't even begin to understand, but it was also our escape, and it would be just as difficult, if not more difficult to break into than the studio-style motel rooms with their wood doors and big windows. Still, if this was going to be my last night on earth, I wanted to sleep in a bed. A real bed. Trent understood and said he'd stay parked right outside my room for the night.
After purchasing a key from the night attendant, I moseyed over to the cement walkways which connected the twenty or so rooms. Mine was room #56, which I thought was odd since, like I said, there were only 20 rooms. I lugged in my tomato plushie and dad's old book and placed them on the queen mattress.
"I'll be right outside." Trent said after I collapsed onto the bed.
"Trent," I called out, stopping him half-way through the door.
"Yeah?"
All the blood in my body rushed up to my face as I realized my unfiltered mouth almost reflexively said the word "stay". I stared at Trent, my heart beating, my face hot. I considered asking him to sleep on the floor like my dad, but that would be childish and impolite. The alternative was to share my bed… Or I could take the floor.
"I'll just be right outside." Trent said before my mind processed a solution. "Come by if you need anything. I'll be up most of the night anyway."
"Okay," I replied in a faint voice.
Trent shut the door.
I sat atop the bedsheets and acquainted myself with my new living space. A feeling of regret closed over me as I considered that even sleeping on a carseat would have been better if it meant I didn't have to be alone. With a sigh, I turned on the bedside lamp and grabbed the book and stuffed tomato, using the tomato as a backrest as I slipped my legs under the covers and situated the book upright on my thighs. I cracked it open and was immediately blasted with a puff of dusty, old book scent. It was ripe at first, and I turned my head away to sneeze, but as I perused through the pages, the scent grew on me. It reminded me of the days growing up when I'd step into dad's study and read through one of the many volumes on cryptic topics which were at least two college degrees above my Lexile range.
I was only a couple minutes into browsing the collection of different scientific and philosophical works when I came across a page which contained highlighted text. This was unusual, as my dad would never mark up his books. He was a purist on that point. I rubbed my thumb over the yellow lines, and sure enough, it was highlighter.
The highlighted text was part of a small book by Carl Jung called "Synchronicity". There were a total of three pages that were marked, and they advanced like this:
Page 5:
The philosophical principle that underlies our conception of natural law is causality*. But if the connection between cause and effect turns out to be only statistically valid and relatively true, then the causal principle is only of relative use for explaining natural processes… That is as much to say that the connection of events may in certain circumstances be other than causal, and require another principle of explanation.*
Page 19:
…there are events which are related to one another experimentally, and in this case meaningfully*, without there being any possibility of proving that this relation is a causal one, since the "transmission" exhibits none of the known properties of energy…a situation which does not yet exist and will only occur in the future could transmit itself as a phenomenon of energy to a receiver in the present…Therefore, it cannot be a question of cause and effect, but of a falling together in time, a kind of simultaneity... "synchronicity"*
Page 22:
A young woman I was treating had, at a critical moment, a dream in which she was given a golden scarab. While she was telling me this dream I sat with my back to the closed window. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me, like a gentle tapping. I turned round and saw a flying insect knocking against the window pane from outside. I opened the window and caught the creature in the air as it flew in. It was the nearest analogy to a golden scarab that one finds in our latitudes, a scarabaeid beetle, the common rose-chafer… which contrary to its usual habits had evidently felt an urge to get into a dark room at this particular moment.
I flipped through the rest of the pages of the book. There was no more highlighted text, but there was a message on the last page which read:
Matthew 7:7-8
I'll meet you in the darkest place.
He also included his typical smiley face which had an ovular shape and three sprouts of hair which I now realized kind of resembled my tomato plushie. It was my dad's writing, of course. But why? And how? What did this mean?
The motel had a Bible stashed away in the nighstand drawer. I got it out and looked up the verses which read the following:
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
I spent maybe an hour ruminating on all of this. The whole discourse on energy and causality and a "falling together in time" just seemed so right. It was clear that my dad definitely did know what I was going through, but for whatever reason, he made it seem like he was oblivious. Why had he hidden that from me? I felt like I was being pulled in two directions. On the one hand, my dad loved me enough to leave this note, maybe even knowing the exact moment I'd need it. But on the other hand, he had neglected my struggles throughout my entire childhood. He even lied at times. Was this really enough to make up for all of that?
And then there was the section about the future transmitting energy to the past. I read back through the whole paragraph and the original writer had meant it to say this as something that wasn't possible, but my dad's highlighting made it seem like he wanted to flip the meaning. The future does affect the past. I thought about where I was headed and wondered if I would soon discover that for myself.
Lastly, dad's message. The Bible verse reminded me of the first time I prayed; how I reached out to God and received peace as an answer to my prayer. Now I feel like I'm actively seeking… something, but I don't know yet what I'll find. And then there's knocking. At first that reminded me of the story with the beetle tapping on the window, but then I went back even deeper in my memory and dug out the monster tapping at my window, and the words my dad spoke to me in order to set my mind at ease: "you're a superhero. And you know what your greatest superpower is? Your greatest power is you get to tell the monsters what to do. Because the monsters are only as strong as the stories you tell about them…so if you're ever scared, honey, just dream up a better story."
I was crying into my stuffed tomato now. I felt like all the blinking pieces of my life had finally been pulled together into a completed puzzle. This was all by design. My entire life, filled with so much chaos and confusion, was actually preparing me for this moment. And my dad thought I had the tools and strength enough to get through it. I flipped through the book one more time, thinking maybe he had left some other hidden comment—some formula to defeat this demon and return home. But there was nothing. Only that one comment: "I'll meet you in the darkest place."
What's the darkest place, dad? Is that where I'm going? Are you saying you'll be there, too?
With those thoughts in mind, my eyes became heavy shutters which, with a slight pressure on the pulley, winded shut. My swimming thoughts and firework-like fears dissipated, and I returned to a precious childhood memory. It was after an evening soccer practice. Summer. Dad was driving me to Dairy Queen. I got a cherry-dipped twist cone. I was happy.
So, so happy.
***
I woke up to sunlight blaring through my windows. Shit, I overslept, was my immediate thought. I threw off my covers and opened the front door. A glance at the clock showed 1:13 PM. I shouldn't have even been allowed to stay checked in this long. Damn, am I gonna get double-billed for this?
I heard a rummaging sound around the corner of my motel room. It sounded like a squirrel was trying to find an afternoon snack in one of the garbage bins. I stepped outside. The sun was extremely bright, to the point where I had to squint and put my hand over my eyes to even see the ground in front of me. I was trying to walk toward the van, but somehow I ended up in front of the trash bins where the animal's tail was sticking out from a turned-over, silver garbage can. Its tail was wagging excitedly, and I remember thinking that it was much too large to be a squirrel.
The animal bent down as if biting onto something, and I heard the sound of its growl as it struggled to tug whatever it was free from the barrel. Inch by inch, the creature backed out of the canister, and more of its sharp, sticky hair was revealed. I heard something snap, then the creature leapt back and I saw what it was chomping on. My eyes widened in horror as the pink tube of a human intestine was pulled taut like the end of a tangled hose. Blood and entrails were spilling out of the human's opened gut. And then, behind the canine, I saw the person's face. His face was pale white, his eyes closed, and his hair was slicked back… It was Trent.
Before I could react, I heard footsteps approaching from behind. I whirled around and saw my dad. But—no, it wasn't him. It was someone wearing a paper-mache face mask that was painted to look like my dad. The forehead of the mask was already beginning to crack, white specks breaking off like sawdust. Through the cracks, I could see the figure's true form. I didn't know darkness had its own type of light, but that's the only way to describe it. It was as if malevolence itself was reified into a skin which was actually an amalgamation of millions of little, oozing parasites that leached into the nearby light. When it finally spoke, the demon's voice was a full octave lower than the old man's at the deli. And it had an earth-stilling gravitas.
"Today's the day!" He sang and reached into his pocket. His lips curled upward into a foxy smirk. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this day." He said and held up a razor blade. Half his facade had already fallen apart, and now I could see the bugs up close, writhing in what was either horror or ecstasy. And his scent… it was somehow more rank than the rabid coyote rummaging through the trash can with Trent's cut open body inside. The demon closed in on my position, and in one, decisive motion, he brought the blade close to his chin, then sliced it across my throat. "Wake up!" He screamed.
I jumped out of my bed and grabbed my throat, feeling the cold sting of its quick slice. Hyperventilating, I patted the area down, trying to hold the blood in, but when I removed my hands, I saw they were dry. It was only a dream, I thought. Gray light was only beginning to filter in through the drapes. I'm in my hotel room. I'm safe. I tried consoling, but the pragmatic mental massages weren't enough to hold the force of my knees buckling. I dropped onto the carpet and cried for a long while.
Outside, rain was beginning to fall.
***
By the time I met up with Trent, I had already composed myself and decided to keep my dad's message and the nightmare to myself. None of it seemed particularly productive from a logistical standpoint, anyway. And I wanted to focus on the mission.
We stopped by McDonald's and bought a couple cups of coffee. Trent asked if I wanted any food, and I declined. Black coffee seemed like the only thing my stomach could take at the present moment. I could tell Trent was hungry, but he tried playing it off (I guess to be respectful of me?) I told him to knock it off and get something to eat. I didn't need my Charon getting lightheaded and dropping the paddle before he finished rowing me to Hell. He didn't care much for my joke, but he ordered a couple Chicken McGriddles at the kiosk anyway.
There were maybe ten patrons spread throughout the restaurant. We sat down at the same booth from the prior night, this time across from one another. Trent spent the first ten minutes or so babbling about our fuel supply and the logistics of the trip from here on in. Practical stuff. I've come to realize that's how he deals with his stress. He talks it out in short, durable sentences. I mostly nodded and watched as what looked like a storm front closed in on the truck stop. The sky was overcast, and there were darker clouds in the distance. The rain was still only a patter, but a middle-aged man wearing a yellow bow tie on the wall-mounted TV confirmed that there would be heavier rain and thunderstorms very soon.
After the worker delivered Trent's food and he ate it in record time, I posed the one question that was still on my mind.
"How do I fight him?" I asked.
Trent finished a large gulp of his coffee, then looked at me. It was the first substantial thing I'd said all morning; Trent could tell something was off with me, but he figured there was no point in asking what it was. "By 'him', I assume you mean the demon?"
I nodded.
Trent licked his teeth clean. "You could try praying again."
"I'm serious," I responded.
"I'm serious, too. It worked before, didn't it?"
"You mean at my house?"
Trent nodded.
"I thought you weren't a religious man?"
"I'm not. Just a practical one. If praying worked before, maybe it'll work again."
"That's the best you've got? A maybe?"
"No, I've got a lot of shit better than a maybe." He answered. "It's just not accessible where you're going. Which is why I recommend not making contact on the first run."
"First run? So we're going to do this more than once?"
"At least," Trent answered. Then, seeing my expression, he continued. "What? You thought this was going to be a one-and-done? We have to conduct some research first. I did tell you this was new for me, right?"
Somehow Trent's response had set my mind at ease a little. I was going to have more than one chance. Of course, why wouldn't I be able to go back more than once?
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? It would have gone a long way in easing my mind."
Trent lifted his hands in defense. "Sorry, I just thought that was a given. I mean, what we're doing is dangerous, just like I said, but it doesn't mean we aren't going to approach this as safely and scientifically as possible. However, there is a different problem with running multiple trials."
"The Organization?"
"That's right," Trent said like a proud parent. "Our little experiment will be like a giant spotlight, and the longer we wait around after it's on us, the greater the chance we'll have unwelcome company."
"So, safe but speedy."
"Safe but speedy. Exactly."
***
We fueled up and were back on the road a little after 8:00. From that point on, Trent and I were absolutely silent. I had the distinct feeling of being in the eye of a storm. The pings moved closer commensurate with our progress toward the crash site. The cloudfront continued its advance. And I noticed a haze beginning to descend onto the road ahead of us. It was fog.
We meandered further inland, the forest thickening around us until the rain almost stopped entirely—the leaves drinking it up before it fell onto our windshield. I kept my eyes on the radar. We were approaching the large yellow circle which indicated we had arrived. As we pulled closer, I began to feel things. Fear. Eeriness. Doubt. Then happiness. Hope. Love. Normally feelings like these had a clear source to picture, but these sensations came on in waves without any discernible reason. It was almost as if they were blinking into existence inside me.
"Here we go," Trent said like an airline pilot readying his crew for turbulence.
I still recall the exact moment we crossed the boundary into the area of higher energy. It was like something just "clicked" in my brain, and all of a sudden everything felt so much closer. The sound of the rain against the trees was almost right next to my ear. The trees in the distance would oscillate between their position a half-mile out, then suddenly seem five meters away. If I focused on something long enough, it began to radiate those same ethereal particles as when Trent released Ava's "phase lock". I checked to make sure the shifter wasn't set to "TD". Sure enough, it was still in drive.
"Can you see them?" Trent asked. "The shifts?"
"Yeah," I said in a dreamy voice. I felt like I was driving through a wonderland.
"It's the energy. I barely notice a difference. A bit of movement in the trees, but not much else. But I'm sure for you, it's a whole experience."
"What is this?" I raised my hand and caught some of the pixel dust dripping off the sun visor. It disappeared when it made contact with my hand.
"It's a kind of radiation. Everything emits it, just in different quantities. I'm still not exactly sure how it relates to the other realms, but I'm guessing it's a kind of primordial matter that helps connect our worlds."
"It's beautiful," I exclaimed. "I wish I could see the world like this all the time."
"Maybe you will," Trent whispered.
As we arrived at the crash site, I began to get glimpses of the past. My childhood dreams and memories were pushing their way out from my subconscious. I noticed an increased number of blinks, which were validated by Ava who reported the following: "Currently detecting 14,350 novel emergences and 2,777 controlled agents. Net anomalies: 2,777."
"That's a lot of blinks." I remarked. "Why doesn't Ava include them in the net anomalies?"
Trent turned his head so I could see his smirk. "Because blinks aren't anomalies."
I thought about it for a second. Blinks aren't anomalies. "I never thought about it that way."
"It's hard to think about it that way when 'normal' for most people means not picking up on a fundamental aspect of reality. But that doesn't make it any less real."
We continued past the epicenter of the yellow circle. "Are we not stopping?" I asked. "I think we already passed the crash site."
"It doesn't have to be exactly at the site," Trent said. "Plus, we don't want to stop on the side of the road and risk getting some civilian involved. There's a field about half a mile up ahead. I'm going to pull off the road and set up camp there.
The "field" that Trent was referring to was actually a large clearing that dipped down into several trench-like troughs which were filled to the brim with fog like witches cauldrons. Further on in the distance, I saw open fields, probably used for farming, and then a large hill where the trees once again reasserted themselves. We had pulled off the road and up a small incline where the trees had already been broken down, leaving a trail for us to drive through. When we surfaced at the edge of the clearing, Trent pulled us onto a flat bed of dried mud which was maybe thirty yards long.
"Here," he said with a sigh.
We both sat for a minute, looking around at the field. We had finally arrived. The rain was beginning to pick up, and the dark sky made it almost impossible to discern the time of day.
"You ready?" Trent asked.
I looked at him. Really looked at him. In his blue eyes. Was I ready? Did it even matter?
"Let's do this," I said.
***
This was the first time I was really able to inspect the back of Trent's van. He had talked up his gear a lot, and honestly, I was impressed. Not in the way that a scientist is impressed by another scientist's lab—I wasn't any kind of expert—but it still seemed remarkably well managed. Now that I was in a state where my vision had been enhanced, I could actually see the enigmatic particles circulating through the pneumatic tubes which were coiled like the pipes and valves of an elaborate wind instrument. The walls of the van, itself, were glistening white, making it easier to make out everything else inside. Along the floor were five overturned columns. Each column was dark and had a vibrating quality, as if they were charged with energy. Then atop the center three columns was a small altar which supported an apparatus with two skinny, metal arms holding a silver halo. At present, the arms were folded and the halo was suspended a few inches above the altar, faced-down. I thought maybe I'd see particles exuding from it, but instead it was emitting visible waves which bent and warped everything they touched.
"That thing is emitting a lot of energy." I remarked, gesturing toward the halo.
Trent stepped in between the columns and started pulling out the packages he had stuffed in there yesterday. "Just wait till' it's on."
Most of the packages contained only a single piece of equipment, and were otherwise packed with foam peanuts. We carefully removed each box and set them on the ground outside. I asked if the rain would damage any of the stuff inside, to which Trent only laughed and continued lugging out the boxes. When they were all out, Trent removed a box cutter from his pocket and went one-by-one opening them. There were eight pieces in total.
"What is it?" I asked as we fished the first item out.
"It's another apparatus, like the one inside. Except it'll mount on the ground out here."
I pulled out what looked like a metal tripod.
"Good, that'll go on the bottom."
"Where are we setting it up?"
"Over here," Trent said and stepped five paces away from the van. He coordinated himself up so he was centrally aligned with the inner ring, then stomped a few times. "This is the spot."
As we continued to work, I asked Trent about how the whole contraption works.
"Do you remember the first time we were in the van? When we had to escape from the semi-truck?" Trent asked and connected a secondary mounting apparatus on top of the tripod. It had four spider-like legs that made right angles and stuck into the ground.
"Of course," I said. "The 'phase lock'."
"Yeah," Trent said and gestured toward the metal stick that was in my hand. I handed it to him. "The phase lock is a seal on the level of energy that the van is allowed to release. It also controls its dispersion pattern so that it releases its energy in a steady wave. This allows Ava to scan for anomalies without causing us to become an anomaly." Trent stuck the plank into the neck of the tripod.
"So when you released the phase lock, we started emitting more energy."
"That's right." Trent confirmed. "Enough to create an alternate route through a different realm."
"So we blinked into a different realm, then back, just to avoid that truck?"
"That's right."
"But why couldn't we just move out of the way?"
"Because it had locked onto us. It was tracking our motion and adjusting its course based on the amount of energy we were emitting. So in order to escape, we had to radically skew our potential energy and then use it to shift."
"Couldn't he have just followed us?"
Trent connected four more pieces to the device which now looked like an elaborate teepee. He was fishing in the last box when he spoke again. "Yeah, he could have. But it was highly improbable that he would have found us." Trent returned from the bottom of the box with another silver ring in hand. "Think of it like this. Let's say you're trying to escape from some bad guy who's coming after you, and you enter a new room you've never seen before. Would you prefer this room to have three doors to go through, or ten?"
I thought about his riddle for a second, then responded, "It depends where they go."
Trent fastened the ring atop the teepee. "Let's say they all lead to random places, or let's say they're all closets that lead nowhere. The key is that more is better, because the more doors he has to check, the less likely he is to pick the correct one. Make sense?"
"So we opened up a bunch of doors and escaped through one at random?"
"Hence the gear 'TD', for 'Trap Door'."
I marveled at the insights, but not for long. Trent hopped back in the van and pulled a lever that I hadn't seen until now. The two metal arms raised the inner ring until it was perpendicular with the altar. Then Trent clicked one of three red buttons along the back wall, and I saw what looked like a large, glass eye suspended in a magnifying glass protruding from the wall, aligned with the center of both rings. A couple seconds later, the glass eye began to focus the energy which was being fed to it from the pneumatic tubes, and a blue pyramid of light projected from it into the first ring, then from the first ring into the second ring. All three pieces were aligned at slightly diminishing heights, so the cylinder of light beamed through the second ring, into the ground.
"Alright, time for the first trial."
I felt the nerves starting up in my stomach. Trent sensed this and hopped out of the truck. It was raining quite hard now, though it was still warm. Both Trent and I were soaked, but that hardly concerned us. He reached out and put his hand on my shoulder. "I know you're feeling scared." He said. "But trust me on this. You're going to do fine. Just keep in mind what we talked about. Stay a spectator. Okay?"
I looked into his blue eyes, which seemed especially gray in the dark. Still, Trent's voice was reassuring. All I had to do was trust him. Trust myself. Trust my dad. And it was all going to turn out right.
"I'm ready," I said.
Trent was still for a second, holding my eyes in his. Then he guided me behind the outer ring and into the cylinder of light.
"I should step into it now?" I asked, afraid I'd be called away immediately.
"It's not on yet, so don't worry. I still have to press another button."
I followed Trent's instructions and stood in the blue light which was centered on my chest. Then I watched as Trent ran into the back of the van and posted up next to the glass eye. "Ready?" He yelled out. It was hard to hear him over the rain, but I yelled back. "Ready!"
The next thing I saw was a blinding blue light beam from the van. I heard what sounded like a laser, then saw the cylinder oscillate, expanding and compressing. When the energy reached the second ring, I saw everything around me light up—it looked brighter than noon on a cloudless day. Then the oscillations made their way to me, and I was swallowed up whole.
***
When I came to, I was in the backseat of a car. I felt my butt rumbling. Everything was dim and quiet. And then I heard a woman's voice from in front of me.
"Mark, please, not with Lauren in the back."
The man, who I now identified as my father, pulled the cigarette away from his lips and blew the smoke at my mom. He eyed the back seat where I was sitting, using one of five markers that hadn't rolled off my lap to color a rabbit in my animal color book.
"The kid's fine." he said and took another drag.
"Mark," my mom repeated.
I saw my dad raise his hand in a rapid motion. "I said she's fine, Cheryl. Now check the map and make sure we're going the right away. I can't see shit with all this fog."
I took a moment to make sure I was really in the back seat. I patted myself. I clearly had weight. Then I tried touching the car. At first, my fingertips met a solid surface, but when I tried to press through, my hand slipped into the car. I quickly pulled my hand away as if I had reached into a fire.
That's when I heard the little three year old next to me start crying. I turned and saw that little-me had dropped another couple markers onto the ground and was struggling to reach them.
"Hey!" my dad shouted. "What did I say about crying?"
"Quit it, Mark. She just dropped her markers." said my mom; she turned to help me pick them up.
"What did you say to me?" Mark spat with a voice full of guile. He reached out and pushed her back into her seat. "Don't," he commanded. "She has to learn how to deal with life."
"Deal…" My mom started in disbelief. "Deal with life? Do you hear yourself? What's gotten into you?"
"Sometimes shit happens. It doesn't give her the right to cry. You helping her is just going to reinforce her behavior."
"Her behavior? What about your behavior? You're acting like a total dick."
I didn't even have a moment to react before my dad's hand was across my mom's face. I felt the slap more than I heard it, my own face seeming to swell with the force of the blow. I saw my mom cover her mouth and lean away. Then little-me began to cry even louder, which only challenged my dad to step up his own volume.
"Everyone needs to get a fucking grip before I crash this car." My dad shouted and took another drag. The scariest part was I couldn't tell if he was warning us or threatening us. I felt the sudden urge to do something. There was no way this was real. I was definitely in some fantasy concocted by the demon. He wanted to turn me against my dad. That was the only explanation for something like this. My dad was a good man, not… this.
As I contemplated what to do, I saw a small, golden light appear behind little-me's window. Apparently she saw it, too, because her cries hushed as she traced the wisp with her eyes. After a second, the wisp transformed into a bunny rabbit, reminiscent of the one she was coloring. The rabbit hopped alongside the window, then did a couple circles in place. I watched little me let out a playful laugh and reach toward the window.
"What's going on back there?" my dad asked with a scowl. Apparently the only sound more disturbing than cries were laughs.
I looked back to the front and saw my mom wiping blood from her lip. Her expression was miserable. "Leave her alone, Mark."
"I'll do whatever I damn well want to do, Cheryl. It's my kid back there."
My mom was quiet.
When I looked back toward the rabbit, it was no longer a rabbit but a person. Or at least it looked like a person. The figure radiated pure gold, and atop his head was what appeared to be a King's crown. I recalled Allison's experience of seeing the sun-like figure in her moment of distress. Was that what was happening here? Was this really all true?
"Hey!" My dad shouted, eyeing little-me from the rear-view mirror. "What are you reaching at?"
I looked and saw the golden figure extending his hand toward the window, and little me's hand was reaching back. "Mom, dad, it bright." little-me said.
"What's bright, honey?" my mom asked.
"Don't encourage her, Cheryl."
"Someone there!" little me shouted happily and dropped the rest of the markers and the coloring book onto the ground.
"Who's there?" asked my mom.
"Cheryl, I swear to God. Sit the fuck down."
Everything from that moment on happened so quickly I barely had any time to process it. My mom lifted out of her seat to either get little me's attention or help me pick up my coloring book. My dad responded by grabbing onto her throat, letting go of the steering wheel entirely. He threw her back against the car door, and her head hit the window so hard, the glass cracked. My dad had dropped his cigarette, and I could smell smoke coming from under his seat, but that didn't seem to bother him at all. He turned toward little-me at the same moment my three-year-old hand reached out and grabbed onto the golden figure, whose hand diffused through the window. When my dad turned, I got a whiff of the most awful smell that I wouldn't have been able to place had I not had that nightmare last night. He grabbed onto little-me's shoulder and tugged her away from the golden figure that was trying to pull her the other way. My dad's facade began to crack, and I could see those dark bugs crawling out from the pores in his arms, marching down toward little-me.
I reacted.
I grabbed onto my dad's arm and pulled him off little-me. I heard the sound of my shirt ripping as she was torn from his grip and pulled out of the car, diffusing through it like a ghost. My brief victory was immediately overturned as I saw what was now clearly the demon smiling at me, his wretched fingers curled around my forearm.
"Caught you," He sneered.
Then the whole world once again diffused into countless numbers of particles, only this time, instead of riding through it, I felt like I was falling through an elevator shaft with each floor darker than the last. The further I fell, the less I became aware of my surroundings, and the more I felt a deep sense of loneliness. It was as if I was the only person in the whole world: and the whole world was a prison designed entirely for me. This went on for so long, I began to forget who I was. Where I was. What was.
And then I landed.
***
Source Used:
Jung, Carl. Synchronicity. Translated by Sonu Shamdasani, Princeton University Press, 2010.
submitted by Weathers_Writing to weatherswriting [link] [comments]
Part 2
Part 3
We pulled off I-51 a little after midnight, stopping at a truck stop which was couched between the highway and a large forest.
We waited in the van for ten minutes or so. Trent had increased the sonar radius to its maximum of 30 miles a little over an hour ago. Somehow the red pings had kept up with us, holding a steady distance of around 20 miles. Considering we were averaging around 80 mph, and a coyote's top speed is only around 40 mph, we figured they had been enhanced in some way. Either that, or they shape-shifted into something faster. Regardless, now that we had stopped, we waited to see if the demon spawn would try and close the distance. Luckily, or unluckily, they didn't. They kept their 20 mile buffer, but we noticed they were beginning to spread out along the circumference of that boundary.
"We're close. They know that, so they're trying to trap us in." Trent said.
"Trying to?—more like they have."
We considered whether we should stay in the van and keep watch, but we figured that would do us little good. At their speed, they could be on us in ten minutes, which means we would need to stay up all night and keep tabs on their positions. Trent offered to stay up, of course, but I shut him down.
"The demon doesn't want to kill us now. You said it yourself. Plus, we need our rest. If they come, they come."
Trent didn't like it, but he acquiesced.
The truck stop had all the essentials: a gas station and mini mart with showers and an attached McDonald's, a large parking lot for truckers to idle and sleep, and even a section with lodging for those who wanted a more comfortable night's rest. I told Trent that he should take advantage of the showers, and after a little convincing, he agreed. While he was cleaning himself up, I patrolled the dingy, half-stocked aisles of "Daisy's Quick Mart". I probably would have been appalled at the quality of the store had I actually been paying any attention to it whatsoever. But I wasn't. I was thinking hard about what awaited me tomorrow.
During the drive, I had asked Trent why the demon would want us to return to the crash site. What did he mean that I would be 'confronting a dark entity in a place he couldn't help me'? He seemed hesitant to answer, but my little stunt outside the storage facility seemed to have sufficiently motivated him.
"When I said I've never done this before, I meant it." Trent started. "I've never done this exact thing before—meaning I've never projected someone into the past."
"So, I'm time traveling?" I asked.
"No—don't think of it like that." Trent paused, trying to come up with a good explanation. "It's more like I'm opening a window for you to look through: not a door. You're going to see the past, but you can't interact with the physicalities there. But that doesn't mean you can't interact with anything."
There was a space of silence as Trent tried to let me work out his meaning for myself. "I don't get it. Are you saying there's something I can interact with? Like what?" And then it hit me. "The demon. The demon can interact with me? Meaning what? It can kill me?"
"Meaning… I'm not exactly sure. You're going to be in a kind of psychic space. If it does damage, it won't be to your body. It'll be to your mind—or spirit. But I don't know what the limits of that damage could be. I just don't have those answers."
"If you've never done this, how do you know any of it will work?"
"That's an easy one." Trent answered. "Because it's been done to me."
There was silence.
"Look, if I know anything, I know my tech. Don't doubt that this will work. It's my job to make sure it does. I just need you to be in the right mental for this. Just because it knows your coming doesn't mean it automatically has the upper hand. It won't be able to see you unless you make contact with it first. In other words, you have to initiate contact. As long as you remain a spectator, you should be okay. Trust me. Just don't make contact."
I started pacing faster—fast enough to catch the attention of the overnight shift worker, a young man whose name I can't quite remember. I know it started with a "J". Jake, maybe? Anyway, he asked if I was alright, to which I responded in the affirmative. He left me alone for another couple passes, but when I almost ran into one of the shelves, he stood up and said, "Uh—I'm going to have to ask you to stop running around. I don't want you to hurt yourself."
I must have stared daggers at him, because he recoiled from my gaze. What's gotten into me? I thought. Then, steadying myself, I apologized. I looked around and grabbed the nearest edible looking piece of merchandise: a bag of Swedish Fish, and placed it down on the counter. "Just this, please."
The cashier rang me up. It was surprisingly cheap.
"Are you sure you're alright?" the young man asked. He was tall with brown hair. He seemed tired—maybe even more tired than me. But he also seemed kind.
I smiled as best I could and said, "No, I'm not. But there's not really anything you can do. Hell, there might not be anything I can do." I furrowed my eyebrows at my own response, realizing that imminent death may have broken my verbal filter.
On the other hand, the cashier did not seem surprised at all. "Ah, I see. It's one of those problems." He responded. "Well, hey, for what it's worth, you seem like one of the resilient ones. I think you'll be alright."
I only smiled and nodded at his mildly cryptic comment. Looking back, the whole interaction was a bit strange, but I had way too much mental clutter to recognize that in the moment. I took my Swedish Fish and walked through the anteroom which led to McDonald's. I found an open yellow booth that wasn't littered with crumpled straw sleeves and sat down, chomping mindlessly on my little red fish until Trent returned. When he arrived, he took my place, and I went to shower. After we were both clean and fed, we returned to the van. The pings were still pushed safely out of harm's way. But that didn't mean we were out of harm's way. Trent asked me if I wanted to sleep in the van, saying that "it'd be the safest place."
I thought it over. He was right, obviously. The van was not only outfitted with weapons I couldn't even begin to understand, but it was also our escape, and it would be just as difficult, if not more difficult to break into than the studio-style motel rooms with their wood doors and big windows. Still, if this was going to be my last night on earth, I wanted to sleep in a bed. A real bed. Trent understood and said he'd stay parked right outside my room for the night.
After purchasing a key from the night attendant, I moseyed over to the cement walkways which connected the twenty or so rooms. Mine was room #56, which I thought was odd since, like I said, there were only 20 rooms. I lugged in my tomato plushie and dad's old book and placed them on the queen mattress.
"I'll be right outside." Trent said after I collapsed onto the bed.
"Trent," I called out, stopping him half-way through the door.
"Yeah?"
All the blood in my body rushed up to my face as I realized my unfiltered mouth almost reflexively said the word "stay". I stared at Trent, my heart beating, my face hot. I considered asking him to sleep on the floor like my dad, but that would be childish and impolite. The alternative was to share my bed… Or I could take the floor.
"I'll just be right outside." Trent said before my mind processed a solution. "Come by if you need anything. I'll be up most of the night anyway."
"Okay," I replied in a faint voice.
Trent shut the door.
I sat atop the bedsheets and acquainted myself with my new living space. A feeling of regret closed over me as I considered that even sleeping on a carseat would have been better if it meant I didn't have to be alone. With a sigh, I turned on the bedside lamp and grabbed the book and stuffed tomato, using the tomato as a backrest as I slipped my legs under the covers and situated the book upright on my thighs. I cracked it open and was immediately blasted with a puff of dusty, old book scent. It was ripe at first, and I turned my head away to sneeze, but as I perused through the pages, the scent grew on me. It reminded me of the days growing up when I'd step into dad's study and read through one of the many volumes on cryptic topics which were at least two college degrees above my Lexile range.
I was only a couple minutes into browsing the collection of different scientific and philosophical works when I came across a page which contained highlighted text. This was unusual, as my dad would never mark up his books. He was a purist on that point. I rubbed my thumb over the yellow lines, and sure enough, it was highlighter.
The highlighted text was part of a small book by Carl Jung called "Synchronicity". There were a total of three pages that were marked, and they advanced like this:
Page 5:
The philosophical principle that underlies our conception of natural law is causality*. But if the connection between cause and effect turns out to be only statistically valid and relatively true, then the causal principle is only of relative use for explaining natural processes… That is as much to say that the connection of events may in certain circumstances be other than causal, and require another principle of explanation.*
Page 19:
…there are events which are related to one another experimentally, and in this case meaningfully*, without there being any possibility of proving that this relation is a causal one, since the "transmission" exhibits none of the known properties of energy…a situation which does not yet exist and will only occur in the future could transmit itself as a phenomenon of energy to a receiver in the present…Therefore, it cannot be a question of cause and effect, but of a falling together in time, a kind of simultaneity... "synchronicity"*
Page 22:
A young woman I was treating had, at a critical moment, a dream in which she was given a golden scarab. While she was telling me this dream I sat with my back to the closed window. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me, like a gentle tapping. I turned round and saw a flying insect knocking against the window pane from outside. I opened the window and caught the creature in the air as it flew in. It was the nearest analogy to a golden scarab that one finds in our latitudes, a scarabaeid beetle, the common rose-chafer… which contrary to its usual habits had evidently felt an urge to get into a dark room at this particular moment.
I flipped through the rest of the pages of the book. There was no more highlighted text, but there was a message on the last page which read:
Matthew 7:7-8
I'll meet you in the darkest place.
He also included his typical smiley face which had an ovular shape and three sprouts of hair which I now realized kind of resembled my tomato plushie. It was my dad's writing, of course. But why? And how? What did this mean?
The motel had a Bible stashed away in the nighstand drawer. I got it out and looked up the verses which read the following:
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
I spent maybe an hour ruminating on all of this. The whole discourse on energy and causality and a "falling together in time" just seemed so right. It was clear that my dad definitely did know what I was going through, but for whatever reason, he made it seem like he was oblivious. Why had he hidden that from me? I felt like I was being pulled in two directions. On the one hand, my dad loved me enough to leave this note, maybe even knowing the exact moment I'd need it. But on the other hand, he had neglected my struggles throughout my entire childhood. He even lied at times. Was this really enough to make up for all of that?
And then there was the section about the future transmitting energy to the past. I read back through the whole paragraph and the original writer had meant it to say this as something that wasn't possible, but my dad's highlighting made it seem like he wanted to flip the meaning. The future does affect the past. I thought about where I was headed and wondered if I would soon discover that for myself.
Lastly, dad's message. The Bible verse reminded me of the first time I prayed; how I reached out to God and received peace as an answer to my prayer. Now I feel like I'm actively seeking… something, but I don't know yet what I'll find. And then there's knocking. At first that reminded me of the story with the beetle tapping on the window, but then I went back even deeper in my memory and dug out the monster tapping at my window, and the words my dad spoke to me in order to set my mind at ease: "you're a superhero. And you know what your greatest superpower is? Your greatest power is you get to tell the monsters what to do. Because the monsters are only as strong as the stories you tell about them…so if you're ever scared, honey, just dream up a better story."
I was crying into my stuffed tomato now. I felt like all the blinking pieces of my life had finally been pulled together into a completed puzzle. This was all by design. My entire life, filled with so much chaos and confusion, was actually preparing me for this moment. And my dad thought I had the tools and strength enough to get through it. I flipped through the book one more time, thinking maybe he had left some other hidden comment—some formula to defeat this demon and return home. But there was nothing. Only that one comment: "I'll meet you in the darkest place."
What's the darkest place, dad? Is that where I'm going? Are you saying you'll be there, too?
With those thoughts in mind, my eyes became heavy shutters which, with a slight pressure on the pulley, winded shut. My swimming thoughts and firework-like fears dissipated, and I returned to a precious childhood memory. It was after an evening soccer practice. Summer. Dad was driving me to Dairy Queen. I got a cherry-dipped twist cone. I was happy.
So, so happy.
***
I woke up to sunlight blaring through my windows. Shit, I overslept, was my immediate thought. I threw off my covers and opened the front door. A glance at the clock showed 1:13 PM. I shouldn't have even been allowed to stay checked in this long. Damn, am I gonna get double-billed for this?
I heard a rummaging sound around the corner of my motel room. It sounded like a squirrel was trying to find an afternoon snack in one of the garbage bins. I stepped outside. The sun was extremely bright, to the point where I had to squint and put my hand over my eyes to even see the ground in front of me. I was trying to walk toward the van, but somehow I ended up in front of the trash bins where the animal's tail was sticking out from a turned-over, silver garbage can. Its tail was wagging excitedly, and I remember thinking that it was much too large to be a squirrel.
The animal bent down as if biting onto something, and I heard the sound of its growl as it struggled to tug whatever it was free from the barrel. Inch by inch, the creature backed out of the canister, and more of its sharp, sticky hair was revealed. I heard something snap, then the creature leapt back and I saw what it was chomping on. My eyes widened in horror as the pink tube of a human intestine was pulled taut like the end of a tangled hose. Blood and entrails were spilling out of the human's opened gut. And then, behind the canine, I saw the person's face. His face was pale white, his eyes closed, and his hair was slicked back… It was Trent.
Before I could react, I heard footsteps approaching from behind. I whirled around and saw my dad. But—no, it wasn't him. It was someone wearing a paper-mache face mask that was painted to look like my dad. The forehead of the mask was already beginning to crack, white specks breaking off like sawdust. Through the cracks, I could see the figure's true form. I didn't know darkness had its own type of light, but that's the only way to describe it. It was as if malevolence itself was reified into a skin which was actually an amalgamation of millions of little, oozing parasites that leached into the nearby light. When it finally spoke, the demon's voice was a full octave lower than the old man's at the deli. And it had an earth-stilling gravitas.
"Today's the day!" He sang and reached into his pocket. His lips curled upward into a foxy smirk. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this day." He said and held up a razor blade. Half his facade had already fallen apart, and now I could see the bugs up close, writhing in what was either horror or ecstasy. And his scent… it was somehow more rank than the rabid coyote rummaging through the trash can with Trent's cut open body inside. The demon closed in on my position, and in one, decisive motion, he brought the blade close to his chin, then sliced it across my throat. "Wake up!" He screamed.
I jumped out of my bed and grabbed my throat, feeling the cold sting of its quick slice. Hyperventilating, I patted the area down, trying to hold the blood in, but when I removed my hands, I saw they were dry. It was only a dream, I thought. Gray light was only beginning to filter in through the drapes. I'm in my hotel room. I'm safe. I tried consoling, but the pragmatic mental massages weren't enough to hold the force of my knees buckling. I dropped onto the carpet and cried for a long while.
Outside, rain was beginning to fall.
***
By the time I met up with Trent, I had already composed myself and decided to keep my dad's message and the nightmare to myself. None of it seemed particularly productive from a logistical standpoint, anyway. And I wanted to focus on the mission.
We stopped by McDonald's and bought a couple cups of coffee. Trent asked if I wanted any food, and I declined. Black coffee seemed like the only thing my stomach could take at the present moment. I could tell Trent was hungry, but he tried playing it off (I guess to be respectful of me?) I told him to knock it off and get something to eat. I didn't need my Charon getting lightheaded and dropping the paddle before he finished rowing me to Hell. He didn't care much for my joke, but he ordered a couple Chicken McGriddles at the kiosk anyway.
There were maybe ten patrons spread throughout the restaurant. We sat down at the same booth from the prior night, this time across from one another. Trent spent the first ten minutes or so babbling about our fuel supply and the logistics of the trip from here on in. Practical stuff. I've come to realize that's how he deals with his stress. He talks it out in short, durable sentences. I mostly nodded and watched as what looked like a storm front closed in on the truck stop. The sky was overcast, and there were darker clouds in the distance. The rain was still only a patter, but a middle-aged man wearing a yellow bow tie on the wall-mounted TV confirmed that there would be heavier rain and thunderstorms very soon.
After the worker delivered Trent's food and he ate it in record time, I posed the one question that was still on my mind.
"How do I fight him?" I asked.
Trent finished a large gulp of his coffee, then looked at me. It was the first substantial thing I'd said all morning; Trent could tell something was off with me, but he figured there was no point in asking what it was. "By 'him', I assume you mean the demon?"
I nodded.
Trent licked his teeth clean. "You could try praying again."
"I'm serious," I responded.
"I'm serious, too. It worked before, didn't it?"
"You mean at my house?"
Trent nodded.
"I thought you weren't a religious man?"
"I'm not. Just a practical one. If praying worked before, maybe it'll work again."
"That's the best you've got? A maybe?"
"No, I've got a lot of shit better than a maybe." He answered. "It's just not accessible where you're going. Which is why I recommend not making contact on the first run."
"First run? So we're going to do this more than once?"
"At least," Trent answered. Then, seeing my expression, he continued. "What? You thought this was going to be a one-and-done? We have to conduct some research first. I did tell you this was new for me, right?"
Somehow Trent's response had set my mind at ease a little. I was going to have more than one chance. Of course, why wouldn't I be able to go back more than once?
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? It would have gone a long way in easing my mind."
Trent lifted his hands in defense. "Sorry, I just thought that was a given. I mean, what we're doing is dangerous, just like I said, but it doesn't mean we aren't going to approach this as safely and scientifically as possible. However, there is a different problem with running multiple trials."
"The Organization?"
"That's right," Trent said like a proud parent. "Our little experiment will be like a giant spotlight, and the longer we wait around after it's on us, the greater the chance we'll have unwelcome company."
"So, safe but speedy."
"Safe but speedy. Exactly."
***
We fueled up and were back on the road a little after 8:00. From that point on, Trent and I were absolutely silent. I had the distinct feeling of being in the eye of a storm. The pings moved closer commensurate with our progress toward the crash site. The cloudfront continued its advance. And I noticed a haze beginning to descend onto the road ahead of us. It was fog.
We meandered further inland, the forest thickening around us until the rain almost stopped entirely—the leaves drinking it up before it fell onto our windshield. I kept my eyes on the radar. We were approaching the large yellow circle which indicated we had arrived. As we pulled closer, I began to feel things. Fear. Eeriness. Doubt. Then happiness. Hope. Love. Normally feelings like these had a clear source to picture, but these sensations came on in waves without any discernible reason. It was almost as if they were blinking into existence inside me.
"Here we go," Trent said like an airline pilot readying his crew for turbulence.
I still recall the exact moment we crossed the boundary into the area of higher energy. It was like something just "clicked" in my brain, and all of a sudden everything felt so much closer. The sound of the rain against the trees was almost right next to my ear. The trees in the distance would oscillate between their position a half-mile out, then suddenly seem five meters away. If I focused on something long enough, it began to radiate those same ethereal particles as when Trent released Ava's "phase lock". I checked to make sure the shifter wasn't set to "TD". Sure enough, it was still in drive.
"Can you see them?" Trent asked. "The shifts?"
"Yeah," I said in a dreamy voice. I felt like I was driving through a wonderland.
"It's the energy. I barely notice a difference. A bit of movement in the trees, but not much else. But I'm sure for you, it's a whole experience."
"What is this?" I raised my hand and caught some of the pixel dust dripping off the sun visor. It disappeared when it made contact with my hand.
"It's a kind of radiation. Everything emits it, just in different quantities. I'm still not exactly sure how it relates to the other realms, but I'm guessing it's a kind of primordial matter that helps connect our worlds."
"It's beautiful," I exclaimed. "I wish I could see the world like this all the time."
"Maybe you will," Trent whispered.
As we arrived at the crash site, I began to get glimpses of the past. My childhood dreams and memories were pushing their way out from my subconscious. I noticed an increased number of blinks, which were validated by Ava who reported the following: "Currently detecting 14,350 novel emergences and 2,777 controlled agents. Net anomalies: 2,777."
"That's a lot of blinks." I remarked. "Why doesn't Ava include them in the net anomalies?"
Trent turned his head so I could see his smirk. "Because blinks aren't anomalies."
I thought about it for a second. Blinks aren't anomalies. "I never thought about it that way."
"It's hard to think about it that way when 'normal' for most people means not picking up on a fundamental aspect of reality. But that doesn't make it any less real."
We continued past the epicenter of the yellow circle. "Are we not stopping?" I asked. "I think we already passed the crash site."
"It doesn't have to be exactly at the site," Trent said. "Plus, we don't want to stop on the side of the road and risk getting some civilian involved. There's a field about half a mile up ahead. I'm going to pull off the road and set up camp there.
The "field" that Trent was referring to was actually a large clearing that dipped down into several trench-like troughs which were filled to the brim with fog like witches cauldrons. Further on in the distance, I saw open fields, probably used for farming, and then a large hill where the trees once again reasserted themselves. We had pulled off the road and up a small incline where the trees had already been broken down, leaving a trail for us to drive through. When we surfaced at the edge of the clearing, Trent pulled us onto a flat bed of dried mud which was maybe thirty yards long.
"Here," he said with a sigh.
We both sat for a minute, looking around at the field. We had finally arrived. The rain was beginning to pick up, and the dark sky made it almost impossible to discern the time of day.
"You ready?" Trent asked.
I looked at him. Really looked at him. In his blue eyes. Was I ready? Did it even matter?
"Let's do this," I said.
***
This was the first time I was really able to inspect the back of Trent's van. He had talked up his gear a lot, and honestly, I was impressed. Not in the way that a scientist is impressed by another scientist's lab—I wasn't any kind of expert—but it still seemed remarkably well managed. Now that I was in a state where my vision had been enhanced, I could actually see the enigmatic particles circulating through the pneumatic tubes which were coiled like the pipes and valves of an elaborate wind instrument. The walls of the van, itself, were glistening white, making it easier to make out everything else inside. Along the floor were five overturned columns. Each column was dark and had a vibrating quality, as if they were charged with energy. Then atop the center three columns was a small altar which supported an apparatus with two skinny, metal arms holding a silver halo. At present, the arms were folded and the halo was suspended a few inches above the altar, faced-down. I thought maybe I'd see particles exuding from it, but instead it was emitting visible waves which bent and warped everything they touched.
"That thing is emitting a lot of energy." I remarked, gesturing toward the halo.
Trent stepped in between the columns and started pulling out the packages he had stuffed in there yesterday. "Just wait till' it's on."
Most of the packages contained only a single piece of equipment, and were otherwise packed with foam peanuts. We carefully removed each box and set them on the ground outside. I asked if the rain would damage any of the stuff inside, to which Trent only laughed and continued lugging out the boxes. When they were all out, Trent removed a box cutter from his pocket and went one-by-one opening them. There were eight pieces in total.
"What is it?" I asked as we fished the first item out.
"It's another apparatus, like the one inside. Except it'll mount on the ground out here."
I pulled out what looked like a metal tripod.
"Good, that'll go on the bottom."
"Where are we setting it up?"
"Over here," Trent said and stepped five paces away from the van. He coordinated himself up so he was centrally aligned with the inner ring, then stomped a few times. "This is the spot."
As we continued to work, I asked Trent about how the whole contraption works.
"Do you remember the first time we were in the van? When we had to escape from the semi-truck?" Trent asked and connected a secondary mounting apparatus on top of the tripod. It had four spider-like legs that made right angles and stuck into the ground.
"Of course," I said. "The 'phase lock'."
"Yeah," Trent said and gestured toward the metal stick that was in my hand. I handed it to him. "The phase lock is a seal on the level of energy that the van is allowed to release. It also controls its dispersion pattern so that it releases its energy in a steady wave. This allows Ava to scan for anomalies without causing us to become an anomaly." Trent stuck the plank into the neck of the tripod.
"So when you released the phase lock, we started emitting more energy."
"That's right." Trent confirmed. "Enough to create an alternate route through a different realm."
"So we blinked into a different realm, then back, just to avoid that truck?"
"That's right."
"But why couldn't we just move out of the way?"
"Because it had locked onto us. It was tracking our motion and adjusting its course based on the amount of energy we were emitting. So in order to escape, we had to radically skew our potential energy and then use it to shift."
"Couldn't he have just followed us?"
Trent connected four more pieces to the device which now looked like an elaborate teepee. He was fishing in the last box when he spoke again. "Yeah, he could have. But it was highly improbable that he would have found us." Trent returned from the bottom of the box with another silver ring in hand. "Think of it like this. Let's say you're trying to escape from some bad guy who's coming after you, and you enter a new room you've never seen before. Would you prefer this room to have three doors to go through, or ten?"
I thought about his riddle for a second, then responded, "It depends where they go."
Trent fastened the ring atop the teepee. "Let's say they all lead to random places, or let's say they're all closets that lead nowhere. The key is that more is better, because the more doors he has to check, the less likely he is to pick the correct one. Make sense?"
"So we opened up a bunch of doors and escaped through one at random?"
"Hence the gear 'TD', for 'Trap Door'."
I marveled at the insights, but not for long. Trent hopped back in the van and pulled a lever that I hadn't seen until now. The two metal arms raised the inner ring until it was perpendicular with the altar. Then Trent clicked one of three red buttons along the back wall, and I saw what looked like a large, glass eye suspended in a magnifying glass protruding from the wall, aligned with the center of both rings. A couple seconds later, the glass eye began to focus the energy which was being fed to it from the pneumatic tubes, and a blue pyramid of light projected from it into the first ring, then from the first ring into the second ring. All three pieces were aligned at slightly diminishing heights, so the cylinder of light beamed through the second ring, into the ground.
"Alright, time for the first trial."
I felt the nerves starting up in my stomach. Trent sensed this and hopped out of the truck. It was raining quite hard now, though it was still warm. Both Trent and I were soaked, but that hardly concerned us. He reached out and put his hand on my shoulder. "I know you're feeling scared." He said. "But trust me on this. You're going to do fine. Just keep in mind what we talked about. Stay a spectator. Okay?"
I looked into his blue eyes, which seemed especially gray in the dark. Still, Trent's voice was reassuring. All I had to do was trust him. Trust myself. Trust my dad. And it was all going to turn out right.
"I'm ready," I said.
Trent was still for a second, holding my eyes in his. Then he guided me behind the outer ring and into the cylinder of light.
"I should step into it now?" I asked, afraid I'd be called away immediately.
"It's not on yet, so don't worry. I still have to press another button."
I followed Trent's instructions and stood in the blue light which was centered on my chest. Then I watched as Trent ran into the back of the van and posted up next to the glass eye. "Ready?" He yelled out. It was hard to hear him over the rain, but I yelled back. "Ready!"
The next thing I saw was a blinding blue light beam from the van. I heard what sounded like a laser, then saw the cylinder oscillate, expanding and compressing. When the energy reached the second ring, I saw everything around me light up—it looked brighter than noon on a cloudless day. Then the oscillations made their way to me, and I was swallowed up whole.
***
When I came to, I was in the backseat of a car. I felt my butt rumbling. Everything was dim and quiet. And then I heard a woman's voice from in front of me.
"Mark, please, not with Lauren in the back."
The man, who I now identified as my father, pulled the cigarette away from his lips and blew the smoke at my mom. He eyed the back seat where I was sitting, using one of five markers that hadn't rolled off my lap to color a rabbit in my animal color book.
"The kid's fine." he said and took another drag.
"Mark," my mom repeated.
I saw my dad raise his hand in a rapid motion. "I said she's fine, Cheryl. Now check the map and make sure we're going the right away. I can't see shit with all this fog."
I took a moment to make sure I was really in the back seat. I patted myself. I clearly had weight. Then I tried touching the car. At first, my fingertips met a solid surface, but when I tried to press through, my hand slipped into the car. I quickly pulled my hand away as if I had reached into a fire.
That's when I heard the little three year old next to me start crying. I turned and saw that little-me had dropped another couple markers onto the ground and was struggling to reach them.
"Hey!" my dad shouted. "What did I say about crying?"
"Quit it, Mark. She just dropped her markers." said my mom; she turned to help me pick them up.
"What did you say to me?" Mark spat with a voice full of guile. He reached out and pushed her back into her seat. "Don't," he commanded. "She has to learn how to deal with life."
"Deal…" My mom started in disbelief. "Deal with life? Do you hear yourself? What's gotten into you?"
"Sometimes shit happens. It doesn't give her the right to cry. You helping her is just going to reinforce her behavior."
"Her behavior? What about your behavior? You're acting like a total dick."
I didn't even have a moment to react before my dad's hand was across my mom's face. I felt the slap more than I heard it, my own face seeming to swell with the force of the blow. I saw my mom cover her mouth and lean away. Then little-me began to cry even louder, which only challenged my dad to step up his own volume.
"Everyone needs to get a fucking grip before I crash this car." My dad shouted and took another drag. The scariest part was I couldn't tell if he was warning us or threatening us. I felt the sudden urge to do something. There was no way this was real. I was definitely in some fantasy concocted by the demon. He wanted to turn me against my dad. That was the only explanation for something like this. My dad was a good man, not… this.
As I contemplated what to do, I saw a small, golden light appear behind little-me's window. Apparently she saw it, too, because her cries hushed as she traced the wisp with her eyes. After a second, the wisp transformed into a bunny rabbit, reminiscent of the one she was coloring. The rabbit hopped alongside the window, then did a couple circles in place. I watched little me let out a playful laugh and reach toward the window.
"What's going on back there?" my dad asked with a scowl. Apparently the only sound more disturbing than cries were laughs.
I looked back to the front and saw my mom wiping blood from her lip. Her expression was miserable. "Leave her alone, Mark."
"I'll do whatever I damn well want to do, Cheryl. It's my kid back there."
My mom was quiet.
When I looked back toward the rabbit, it was no longer a rabbit but a person. Or at least it looked like a person. The figure radiated pure gold, and atop his head was what appeared to be a King's crown. I recalled Allison's experience of seeing the sun-like figure in her moment of distress. Was that what was happening here? Was this really all true?
"Hey!" My dad shouted, eyeing little-me from the rear-view mirror. "What are you reaching at?"
I looked and saw the golden figure extending his hand toward the window, and little me's hand was reaching back. "Mom, dad, it bright." little-me said.
"What's bright, honey?" my mom asked.
"Don't encourage her, Cheryl."
"Someone there!" little me shouted happily and dropped the rest of the markers and the coloring book onto the ground.
"Who's there?" asked my mom.
"Cheryl, I swear to God. Sit the fuck down."
Everything from that moment on happened so quickly I barely had any time to process it. My mom lifted out of her seat to either get little me's attention or help me pick up my coloring book. My dad responded by grabbing onto her throat, letting go of the steering wheel entirely. He threw her back against the car door, and her head hit the window so hard, the glass cracked. My dad had dropped his cigarette, and I could smell smoke coming from under his seat, but that didn't seem to bother him at all. He turned toward little-me at the same moment my three-year-old hand reached out and grabbed onto the golden figure, whose hand diffused through the window. When my dad turned, I got a whiff of the most awful smell that I wouldn't have been able to place had I not had that nightmare last night. He grabbed onto little-me's shoulder and tugged her away from the golden figure that was trying to pull her the other way. My dad's facade began to crack, and I could see those dark bugs crawling out from the pores in his arms, marching down toward little-me.
I reacted.
I grabbed onto my dad's arm and pulled him off little-me. I heard the sound of my shirt ripping as she was torn from his grip and pulled out of the car, diffusing through it like a ghost. My brief victory was immediately overturned as I saw what was now clearly the demon smiling at me, his wretched fingers curled around my forearm.
"Caught you," He sneered.
Then the whole world once again diffused into countless numbers of particles, only this time, instead of riding through it, I felt like I was falling through an elevator shaft with each floor darker than the last. The further I fell, the less I became aware of my surroundings, and the more I felt a deep sense of loneliness. It was as if I was the only person in the whole world: and the whole world was a prison designed entirely for me. This went on for so long, I began to forget who I was. Where I was. What was.
And then I landed.
***
Source Used:
Jung, Carl. Synchronicity. Translated by Sonu Shamdasani, Princeton University Press, 2010.
2024.06.09 22:03 Weathers_Writing I think God might be real, just not in the way you think (Part 4)
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Content Warning: Domestic Abuse
***
We pulled off I-51 a little after midnight, stopping at a truck stop which was couched between the highway and a large forest.
We waited in the van for ten minutes or so. Trent had increased the sonar radius to its maximum of 30 miles a little over an hour ago. Somehow the red pings had kept up with us, holding a steady distance of around 20 miles. Considering we were averaging around 80 mph, and a coyote's top speed is only around 40 mph, we figured they had been enhanced in some way. Either that, or they shape-shifted into something faster. Regardless, now that we had stopped, we waited to see if the demon spawn would try and close the distance. Luckily, or unluckily, they didn't. They kept their 20 mile buffer, but we noticed they were beginning to spread out along the circumference of that boundary.
"We're close. They know that, so they're trying to trap us in." Trent said.
"Trying to?—more like they have."
We considered whether we should stay in the van and keep watch, but we figured that would do us little good. At their speed, they could be on us in ten minutes, which means we would need to stay up all night and keep tabs on their positions. Trent offered to stay up, of course, but I shut him down.
"The demon doesn't want to kill us now. You said it yourself. Plus, we need our rest. If they come, they come."
Trent didn't like it, but he acquiesced.
The truck stop had all the essentials: a gas station and mini mart with showers and an attached McDonald's, a large parking lot for truckers to idle and sleep, and even a section with lodging for those who wanted a more comfortable night's rest. I told Trent that he should take advantage of the showers, and after a little convincing, he agreed. While he was cleaning himself up, I patrolled the dingy, half-stocked aisles of "Daisy's Quick Mart". I probably would have been appalled at the quality of the store had I actually been paying any attention to it whatsoever. But I wasn't. I was thinking hard about what awaited me tomorrow.
During the drive, I had asked Trent why the demon would want us to return to the crash site. What did he mean that I would be 'confronting a dark entity in a place he couldn't help me'? He seemed hesitant to answer, but my little stunt outside the storage facility seemed to have sufficiently motivated him.
"When I said I've never done this before, I meant it." Trent started. "I've never done this exact thing before—meaning I've never projected someone into the past."
"So, I'm time traveling?" I asked.
"No—don't think of it like that." Trent paused, trying to come up with a good explanation. "It's more like I'm opening a window for you to look through: not a door. You're going to see the past, but you can't interact with the physicalities there. But that doesn't mean you can't interact with anything."
There was a space of silence as Trent tried to let me work out his meaning for myself. "I don't get it. Are you saying there's something I can interact with? Like what?" And then it hit me. "The demon. The demon can interact with me? Meaning what? It can kill me?"
"Meaning… I'm not exactly sure. You're going to be in a kind of psychic space. If it does damage, it won't be to your body. It'll be to your mind—or spirit. But I don't know what the limits of that damage could be. I just don't have those answers."
"If you've never done this, how do you know any of it will work?"
"That's an easy one." Trent answered. "Because it's been done to me."
There was silence.
"Look, if I know anything, I know my tech. Don't doubt that this will work. It's my job to make sure it does. I just need you to be in the right mental for this. Just because it knows your coming doesn't mean it automatically has the upper hand. It won't be able to see you unless you make contact with it first. In other words, you have to initiate contact. As long as you remain a spectator, you should be okay. Trust me. Just don't make contact."
I started pacing faster—fast enough to catch the attention of the overnight shift worker, a young man whose name I can't quite remember. I know it started with a "J". Jake, maybe? Anyway, he asked if I was alright, to which I responded in the affirmative. He left me alone for another couple passes, but when I almost ran into one of the shelves, he stood up and said, "Uh—I'm going to have to ask you to stop running around. I don't want you to hurt yourself."
I must have stared daggers at him, because he recoiled from my gaze. What's gotten into me? I thought. Then, steadying myself, I apologized. I looked around and grabbed the nearest edible looking piece of merchandise: a bag of Swedish Fish, and placed it down on the counter. "Just this, please."
The cashier rang me up. It was surprisingly cheap.
"Are you sure you're alright?" the young man asked. He was tall with brown hair. He seemed tired—maybe even more tired than me. But he also seemed kind.
I smiled as best I could and said, "No, I'm not. But there's not really anything you can do. Hell, there might not be anything I can do." I furrowed my eyebrows at my own response, realizing that imminent death may have broken my verbal filter.
On the other hand, the cashier did not seem surprised at all. "Ah, I see. It's one of those problems." He responded. "Well, hey, for what it's worth, you seem like one of the resilient ones. I think you'll be alright."
I only smiled and nodded at his mildly cryptic comment. Looking back, the whole interaction was a bit strange, but I had way too much mental clutter to recognize that in the moment. I took my Swedish Fish and walked through the anteroom which led to McDonald's. I found an open yellow booth that wasn't littered with crumpled straw sleeves and sat down, chomping mindlessly on my little red fish until Trent returned. When he arrived, he took my place, and I went to shower. After we were both clean and fed, we returned to the van. The pings were still pushed safely out of harm's way. But that didn't mean we were out of harm's way. Trent asked me if I wanted to sleep in the van, saying that "it'd be the safest place."
I thought it over. He was right, obviously. The van was not only outfitted with weapons I couldn't even begin to understand, but it was also our escape, and it would be just as difficult, if not more difficult to break into than the studio-style motel rooms with their wood doors and big windows. Still, if this was going to be my last night on earth, I wanted to sleep in a bed. A real bed. Trent understood and said he'd stay parked right outside my room for the night.
After purchasing a key from the night attendant, I moseyed over to the cement walkways which connected the twenty or so rooms. Mine was room #56, which I thought was odd since, like I said, there were only 20 rooms. I lugged in my tomato plushie and dad's old book and placed them on the queen mattress.
"I'll be right outside." Trent said after I collapsed onto the bed.
"Trent," I called out, stopping him half-way through the door.
"Yeah?"
All the blood in my body rushed up to my face as I realized my unfiltered mouth almost reflexively said the word "stay". I stared at Trent, my heart beating, my face hot. I considered asking him to sleep on the floor like my dad, but that would be childish and impolite. The alternative was to share my bed… Or I could take the floor.
"I'll just be right outside." Trent said before my mind processed a solution. "Come by if you need anything. I'll be up most of the night anyway."
"Okay," I replied in a faint voice.
Trent shut the door.
I sat atop the bedsheets and acquainted myself with my new living space. A feeling of regret closed over me as I considered that even sleeping on a carseat would have been better if it meant I didn't have to be alone. With a sigh, I turned on the bedside lamp and grabbed the book and stuffed tomato, using the tomato as a backrest as I slipped my legs under the covers and situated the book upright on my thighs. I cracked it open and was immediately blasted with a puff of dusty, old book scent. It was ripe at first, and I turned my head away to sneeze, but as I perused through the pages, the scent grew on me. It reminded me of the days growing up when I'd step into dad's study and read through one of the many volumes on cryptic topics which were at least two college degrees above my Lexile range.
I was only a couple minutes into browsing the collection of different scientific and philosophical works when I came across a page which contained highlighted text. This was unusual, as my dad would never mark up his books. He was a purist on that point. I rubbed my thumb over the yellow lines, and sure enough, it was highlighter.
The highlighted text was part of a small book by Carl Jung called "Synchronicity". There were a total of three pages that were marked, and they advanced like this:
Page 5:
The philosophical principle that underlies our conception of natural law is causality*. But if the connection between cause and effect turns out to be only statistically valid and relatively true, then the causal principle is only of relative use for explaining natural processes… That is as much to say that the connection of events may in certain circumstances be other than causal, and require another principle of explanation.*
Page 19:
…there are events which are related to one another experimentally, and in this case meaningfully*, without there being any possibility of proving that this relation is a causal one, since the "transmission" exhibits none of the known properties of energy…a situation which does not yet exist and will only occur in the future could transmit itself as a phenomenon of energy to a receiver in the present…Therefore, it cannot be a question of cause and effect, but of a falling together in time, a kind of simultaneity... "synchronicity"*
Page 22:
A young woman I was treating had, at a critical moment, a dream in which she was given a golden scarab. While she was telling me this dream I sat with my back to the closed window. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me, like a gentle tapping. I turned round and saw a flying insect knocking against the window pane from outside. I opened the window and caught the creature in the air as it flew in. It was the nearest analogy to a golden scarab that one finds in our latitudes, a scarabaeid beetle, the common rose-chafer… which contrary to its usual habits had evidently felt an urge to get into a dark room at this particular moment.
I flipped through the rest of the pages of the book. There was no more highlighted text, but there was a message on the last page which read:
Matthew 7:7-8
I'll meet you in the darkest place.
He also included his typical smiley face which had an ovular shape and three sprouts of hair which I now realized kind of resembled my tomato plushie. It was my dad's writing, of course. But why? And how? What did this mean?
The motel had a Bible stashed away in the nighstand drawer. I got it out and looked up the verses which read the following:
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
I spent maybe an hour ruminating on all of this. The whole discourse on energy and causality and a "falling together in time" just seemed so right. It was clear that my dad definitely did know what I was going through, but for whatever reason, he made it seem like he was oblivious. Why had he hidden that from me? I felt like I was being pulled in two directions. On the one hand, my dad loved me enough to leave this note, maybe even knowing the exact moment I'd need it. But on the other hand, he had neglected my struggles throughout my entire childhood. He even lied at times. Was this really enough to make up for all of that?
And then there was the section about the future transmitting energy to the past. I read back through the whole paragraph and the original writer had meant it to say this as something that wasn't possible, but my dad's highlighting made it seem like he wanted to flip the meaning. The future does affect the past. I thought about where I was headed and wondered if I would soon discover that for myself.
Lastly, dad's message. The Bible verse reminded me of the first time I prayed; how I reached out to God and received peace as an answer to my prayer. Now I feel like I'm actively seeking… something, but I don't know yet what I'll find. And then there's knocking. At first that reminded me of the story with the beetle tapping on the window, but then I went back even deeper in my memory and dug out the monster tapping at my window, and the words my dad spoke to me in order to set my mind at ease: "you're a superhero. And you know what your greatest superpower is? Your greatest power is you get to tell the monsters what to do. Because the monsters are only as strong as the stories you tell about them…so if you're ever scared, honey, just dream up a better story."
I was crying into my stuffed tomato now. I felt like all the blinking pieces of my life had finally been pulled together into a completed puzzle. This was all by design. My entire life, filled with so much chaos and confusion, was actually preparing me for this moment. And my dad thought I had the tools and strength enough to get through it. I flipped through the book one more time, thinking maybe he had left some other hidden comment—some formula to defeat this demon and return home. But there was nothing. Only that one comment: "I'll meet you in the darkest place."
What's the darkest place, dad? Is that where I'm going? Are you saying you'll be there, too?
With those thoughts in mind, my eyes became heavy shutters which, with a slight pressure on the pulley, winded shut. My swimming thoughts and firework-like fears dissipated, and I returned to a precious childhood memory. It was after an evening soccer practice. Summer. Dad was driving me to Dairy Queen. I got a cherry-dipped twist cone. I was happy.
So, so happy.
***
I woke up to sunlight blaring through my windows. Shit, I overslept, was my immediate thought. I threw off my covers and opened the front door. A glance at the clock showed 1:13 PM. I shouldn't have even been allowed to stay checked in this long. Damn, am I gonna get double-billed for this?
I heard a rummaging sound around the corner of my motel room. It sounded like a squirrel was trying to find an afternoon snack in one of the garbage bins. I stepped outside. The sun was extremely bright, to the point where I had to squint and put my hand over my eyes to even see the ground in front of me. I was trying to walk toward the van, but somehow I ended up in front of the trash bins where the animal's tail was sticking out from a turned-over, silver garbage can. Its tail was wagging excitedly, and I remember thinking that it was much too large to be a squirrel.
The animal bent down as if biting onto something, and I heard the sound of its growl as it struggled to tug whatever it was free from the barrel. Inch by inch, the creature backed out of the canister, and more of its sharp, sticky hair was revealed. I heard something snap, then the creature leapt back and I saw what it was chomping on. My eyes widened in horror as the pink tube of a human intestine was pulled taut like the end of a tangled hose. Blood and entrails were spilling out of the human's opened gut. And then, behind the canine, I saw the person's face. His face was pale white, his eyes closed, and his hair was slicked back… It was Trent.
Before I could react, I heard footsteps approaching from behind. I whirled around and saw my dad. But—no, it wasn't him. It was someone wearing a paper-mache face mask that was painted to look like my dad. The forehead of the mask was already beginning to crack, white specks breaking off like sawdust. Through the cracks, I could see the figure's true form. I didn't know darkness had its own type of light, but that's the only way to describe it. It was as if malevolence itself was reified into a skin which was actually an amalgamation of millions of little, oozing parasites that leached into the nearby light. When it finally spoke, the demon's voice was a full octave lower than the old man's at the deli. And it had an earth-stilling gravitas.
"Today's the day!" He sang and reached into his pocket. His lips curled upward into a foxy smirk. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this day." He said and held up a razor blade. Half his facade had already fallen apart, and now I could see the bugs up close, writhing in what was either horror or ecstasy. And his scent… it was somehow more rank than the rabid coyote rummaging through the trash can with Trent's cut open body inside. The demon closed in on my position, and in one, decisive motion, he brought the blade close to his chin, then sliced it across my throat. "Wake up!" He screamed.
I jumped out of my bed and grabbed my throat, feeling the cold sting of its quick slice. Hyperventilating, I patted the area down, trying to hold the blood in, but when I removed my hands, I saw they were dry. It was only a dream, I thought. Gray light was only beginning to filter in through the drapes. I'm in my hotel room. I'm safe. I tried consoling, but the pragmatic mental massages weren't enough to hold the force of my knees buckling. I dropped onto the carpet and cried for a long while.
Outside, rain was beginning to fall.
***
By the time I met up with Trent, I had already composed myself and decided to keep my dad's message and the nightmare to myself. None of it seemed particularly productive from a logistical standpoint, anyway. And I wanted to focus on the mission.
We stopped by McDonald's and bought a couple cups of coffee. Trent asked if I wanted any food, and I declined. Black coffee seemed like the only thing my stomach could take at the present moment. I could tell Trent was hungry, but he tried playing it off (I guess to be respectful of me?) I told him to knock it off and get something to eat. I didn't need my Charon getting lightheaded and dropping the paddle before he finished rowing me to Hell. He didn't care much for my joke, but he ordered a couple Chicken McGriddles at the kiosk anyway.
There were maybe ten patrons spread throughout the restaurant. We sat down at the same booth from the prior night, this time across from one another. Trent spent the first ten minutes or so babbling about our fuel supply and the logistics of the trip from here on in. Practical stuff. I've come to realize that's how he deals with his stress. He talks it out in short, durable sentences. I mostly nodded and watched as what looked like a storm front closed in on the truck stop. The sky was overcast, and there were darker clouds in the distance. The rain was still only a patter, but a middle-aged man wearing a yellow bow tie on the wall-mounted TV confirmed that there would be heavier rain and thunderstorms very soon.
After the worker delivered Trent's food and he ate it in record time, I posed the one question that was still on my mind.
"How do I fight him?" I asked.
Trent finished a large gulp of his coffee, then looked at me. It was the first substantial thing I'd said all morning; Trent could tell something was off with me, but he figured there was no point in asking what it was. "By 'him', I assume you mean the demon?"
I nodded.
Trent licked his teeth clean. "You could try praying again."
"I'm serious," I responded.
"I'm serious, too. It worked before, didn't it?"
"You mean at my house?"
Trent nodded.
"I thought you weren't a religious man?"
"I'm not. Just a practical one. If praying worked before, maybe it'll work again."
"That's the best you've got? A maybe?"
"No, I've got a lot of shit better than a maybe." He answered. "It's just not accessible where you're going. Which is why I recommend not making contact on the first run."
"First run? So we're going to do this more than once?"
"At least," Trent answered. Then, seeing my expression, he continued. "What? You thought this was going to be a one-and-done? We have to conduct some research first. I did tell you this was new for me, right?"
Somehow Trent's response had set my mind at ease a little. I was going to have more than one chance. Of course, why wouldn't I be able to go back more than once?
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? It would have gone a long way in easing my mind."
Trent lifted his hands in defense. "Sorry, I just thought that was a given. I mean, what we're doing is dangerous, just like I said, but it doesn't mean we aren't going to approach this as safely and scientifically as possible. However, there is a different problem with running multiple trials."
"The Organization?"
"That's right," Trent said like a proud parent. "Our little experiment will be like a giant spotlight, and the longer we wait around after it's on us, the greater the chance we'll have unwelcome company."
"So, safe but speedy."
"Safe but speedy. Exactly."
***
We fueled up and were back on the road a little after 8:00. From that point on, Trent and I were absolutely silent. I had the distinct feeling of being in the eye of a storm. The pings moved closer commensurate with our progress toward the crash site. The cloudfront continued its advance. And I noticed a haze beginning to descend onto the road ahead of us. It was fog.
We meandered further inland, the forest thickening around us until the rain almost stopped entirely—the leaves drinking it up before it fell onto our windshield. I kept my eyes on the radar. We were approaching the large yellow circle which indicated we had arrived. As we pulled closer, I began to feel things. Fear. Eeriness. Doubt. Then happiness. Hope. Love. Normally feelings like these had a clear source to picture, but these sensations came on in waves without any discernible reason. It was almost as if they were blinking into existence inside me.
"Here we go," Trent said like an airline pilot readying his crew for turbulence.
I still recall the exact moment we crossed the boundary into the area of higher energy. It was like something just "clicked" in my brain, and all of a sudden everything felt so much closer. The sound of the rain against the trees was almost right next to my ear. The trees in the distance would oscillate between their position a half-mile out, then suddenly seem five meters away. If I focused on something long enough, it began to radiate those same ethereal particles as when Trent released Ava's "phase lock". I checked to make sure the shifter wasn't set to "TD". Sure enough, it was still in drive.
"Can you see them?" Trent asked. "The shifts?"
"Yeah," I said in a dreamy voice. I felt like I was driving through a wonderland.
"It's the energy. I barely notice a difference. A bit of movement in the trees, but not much else. But I'm sure for you, it's a whole experience."
"What is this?" I raised my hand and caught some of the pixel dust dripping off the sun visor. It disappeared when it made contact with my hand.
"It's a kind of radiation. Everything emits it, just in different quantities. I'm still not exactly sure how it relates to the other realms, but I'm guessing it's a kind of primordial matter that helps connect our worlds."
"It's beautiful," I exclaimed. "I wish I could see the world like this all the time."
"Maybe you will," Trent whispered.
As we arrived at the crash site, I began to get glimpses of the past. My childhood dreams and memories were pushing their way out from my subconscious. I noticed an increased number of blinks, which were validated by Ava who reported the following: "Currently detecting 14,350 novel emergences and 2,777 controlled agents. Net anomalies: 2,777."
"That's a lot of blinks." I remarked. "Why doesn't Ava include them in the net anomalies?"
Trent turned his head so I could see his smirk. "Because blinks aren't anomalies."
I thought about it for a second. Blinks aren't anomalies. "I never thought about it that way."
"It's hard to think about it that way when 'normal' for most people means not picking up on a fundamental aspect of reality. But that doesn't make it any less real."
We continued past the epicenter of the yellow circle. "Are we not stopping?" I asked. "I think we already passed the crash site."
"It doesn't have to be exactly at the site," Trent said. "Plus, we don't want to stop on the side of the road and risk getting some civilian involved. There's a field about half a mile up ahead. I'm going to pull off the road and set up camp there.
The "field" that Trent was referring to was actually a large clearing that dipped down into several trench-like troughs which were filled to the brim with fog like witches cauldrons. Further on in the distance, I saw open fields, probably used for farming, and then a large hill where the trees once again reasserted themselves. We had pulled off the road and up a small incline where the trees had already been broken down, leaving a trail for us to drive through. When we surfaced at the edge of the clearing, Trent pulled us onto a flat bed of dried mud which was maybe thirty yards long.
"Here," he said with a sigh.
We both sat for a minute, looking around at the field. We had finally arrived. The rain was beginning to pick up, and the dark sky made it almost impossible to discern the time of day.
"You ready?" Trent asked.
I looked at him. Really looked at him. In his blue eyes. Was I ready? Did it even matter?
"Let's do this," I said.
***
This was the first time I was really able to inspect the back of Trent's van. He had talked up his gear a lot, and honestly, I was impressed. Not in the way that a scientist is impressed by another scientist's lab—I wasn't any kind of expert—but it still seemed remarkably well managed. Now that I was in a state where my vision had been enhanced, I could actually see the enigmatic particles circulating through the pneumatic tubes which were coiled like the pipes and valves of an elaborate wind instrument. The walls of the van, itself, were glistening white, making it easier to make out everything else inside. Along the floor were five overturned columns. Each column was dark and had a vibrating quality, as if they were charged with energy. Then atop the center three columns was a small altar which supported an apparatus with two skinny, metal arms holding a silver halo. At present, the arms were folded and the halo was suspended a few inches above the altar, faced-down. I thought maybe I'd see particles exuding from it, but instead it was emitting visible waves which bent and warped everything they touched.
"That thing is emitting a lot of energy." I remarked, gesturing toward the halo.
Trent stepped in between the columns and started pulling out the packages he had stuffed in there yesterday. "Just wait till' it's on."
Most of the packages contained only a single piece of equipment, and were otherwise packed with foam peanuts. We carefully removed each box and set them on the ground outside. I asked if the rain would damage any of the stuff inside, to which Trent only laughed and continued lugging out the boxes. When they were all out, Trent removed a box cutter from his pocket and went one-by-one opening them. There were eight pieces in total.
"What is it?" I asked as we fished the first item out.
"It's another apparatus, like the one inside. Except it'll mount on the ground out here."
I pulled out what looked like a metal tripod.
"Good, that'll go on the bottom."
"Where are we setting it up?"
"Over here," Trent said and stepped five paces away from the van. He coordinated himself up so he was centrally aligned with the inner ring, then stomped a few times. "This is the spot."
As we continued to work, I asked Trent about how the whole contraption works.
"Do you remember the first time we were in the van? When we had to escape from the semi-truck?" Trent asked and connected a secondary mounting apparatus on top of the tripod. It had four spider-like legs that made right angles and stuck into the ground.
"Of course," I said. "The 'phase lock'."
"Yeah," Trent said and gestured toward the metal stick that was in my hand. I handed it to him. "The phase lock is a seal on the level of energy that the van is allowed to release. It also controls its dispersion pattern so that it releases its energy in a steady wave. This allows Ava to scan for anomalies without causing us to become an anomaly." Trent stuck the plank into the neck of the tripod.
"So when you released the phase lock, we started emitting more energy."
"That's right." Trent confirmed. "Enough to create an alternate route through a different realm."
"So we blinked into a different realm, then back, just to avoid that truck?"
"That's right."
"But why couldn't we just move out of the way?"
"Because it had locked onto us. It was tracking our motion and adjusting its course based on the amount of energy we were emitting. So in order to escape, we had to radically skew our potential energy and then use it to shift."
"Couldn't he have just followed us?"
Trent connected four more pieces to the device which now looked like an elaborate teepee. He was fishing in the last box when he spoke again. "Yeah, he could have. But it was highly improbable that he would have found us." Trent returned from the bottom of the box with another silver ring in hand. "Think of it like this. Let's say you're trying to escape from some bad guy who's coming after you, and you enter a new room you've never seen before. Would you prefer this room to have three doors to go through, or ten?"
I thought about his riddle for a second, then responded, "It depends where they go."
Trent fastened the ring atop the teepee. "Let's say they all lead to random places, or let's say they're all closets that lead nowhere. The key is that more is better, because the more doors he has to check, the less likely he is to pick the correct one. Make sense?"
"So we opened up a bunch of doors and escaped through one at random?"
"Hence the gear 'TD', for 'Trap Door'."
I marveled at the insights, but not for long. Trent hopped back in the van and pulled a lever that I hadn't seen until now. The two metal arms raised the inner ring until it was perpendicular with the altar. Then Trent clicked one of three red buttons along the back wall, and I saw what looked like a large, glass eye suspended in a magnifying glass protruding from the wall, aligned with the center of both rings. A couple seconds later, the glass eye began to focus the energy which was being fed to it from the pneumatic tubes, and a blue pyramid of light projected from it into the first ring, then from the first ring into the second ring. All three pieces were aligned at slightly diminishing heights, so the cylinder of light beamed through the second ring, into the ground.
"Alright, time for the first trial."
I felt the nerves starting up in my stomach. Trent sensed this and hopped out of the truck. It was raining quite hard now, though it was still warm. Both Trent and I were soaked, but that hardly concerned us. He reached out and put his hand on my shoulder. "I know you're feeling scared." He said. "But trust me on this. You're going to do fine. Just keep in mind what we talked about. Stay a spectator. Okay?"
I looked into his blue eyes, which seemed especially gray in the dark. Still, Trent's voice was reassuring. All I had to do was trust him. Trust myself. Trust my dad. And it was all going to turn out right.
"I'm ready," I said.
Trent was still for a second, holding my eyes in his. Then he guided me behind the outer ring and into the cylinder of light.
"I should step into it now?" I asked, afraid I'd be called away immediately.
"It's not on yet, so don't worry. I still have to press another button."
I followed Trent's instructions and stood in the blue light which was centered on my chest. Then I watched as Trent ran into the back of the van and posted up next to the glass eye. "Ready?" He yelled out. It was hard to hear him over the rain, but I yelled back. "Ready!"
The next thing I saw was a blinding blue light beam from the van. I heard what sounded like a laser, then saw the cylinder oscillate, expanding and compressing. When the energy reached the second ring, I saw everything around me light up—it looked brighter than noon on a cloudless day. Then the oscillations made their way to me, and I was swallowed up whole.
***
When I came to, I was in the backseat of a car. I felt my butt rumbling. Everything was dim and quiet. And then I heard a woman's voice from in front of me.
"Mark, please, not with Lauren in the back."
The man, who I now identified as my father, pulled the cigarette away from his lips and blew the smoke at my mom. He eyed the back seat where I was sitting, using one of five markers that hadn't rolled off my lap to color a rabbit in my animal color book.
"The kid's fine." he said and took another drag.
"Mark," my mom repeated.
I saw my dad raise his hand in a rapid motion. "I said she's fine, Cheryl. Now check the map and make sure we're going the right away. I can't see shit with all this fog."
I took a moment to make sure I was really in the back seat. I patted myself. I clearly had weight. Then I tried touching the car. At first, my fingertips met a solid surface, but when I tried to press through, my hand slipped into the car. I quickly pulled my hand away as if I had reached into a fire.
That's when I heard the little three year old next to me start crying. I turned and saw that little-me had dropped another couple markers onto the ground and was struggling to reach them.
"Hey!" my dad shouted. "What did I say about crying?"
"Quit it, Mark. She just dropped her markers." said my mom; she turned to help me pick them up.
"What did you say to me?" Mark spat with a voice full of guile. He reached out and pushed her back into her seat. "Don't," he commanded. "She has to learn how to deal with life."
"Deal…" My mom started in disbelief. "Deal with life? Do you hear yourself? What's gotten into you?"
"Sometimes shit happens. It doesn't give her the right to cry. You helping her is just going to reinforce her behavior."
"Her behavior? What about your behavior? You're acting like a total dick."
I didn't even have a moment to react before my dad's hand was across my mom's face. I felt the slap more than I heard it, my own face seeming to swell with the force of the blow. I saw my mom cover her mouth and lean away. Then little-me began to cry even louder, which only challenged my dad to step up his own volume.
"Everyone needs to get a fucking grip before I crash this car." My dad shouted and took another drag. The scariest part was I couldn't tell if he was warning us or threatening us. I felt the sudden urge to do something. There was no way this was real. I was definitely in some fantasy concocted by the demon. He wanted to turn me against my dad. That was the only explanation for something like this. My dad was a good man, not… this.
As I contemplated what to do, I saw a small, golden light appear behind little-me's window. Apparently she saw it, too, because her cries hushed as she traced the wisp with her eyes. After a second, the wisp transformed into a bunny rabbit, reminiscent of the one she was coloring. The rabbit hopped alongside the window, then did a couple circles in place. I watched little me let out a playful laugh and reach toward the window.
"What's going on back there?" my dad asked with a scowl. Apparently the only sound more disturbing than cries were laughs.
I looked back to the front and saw my mom wiping blood from her lip. Her expression was miserable. "Leave her alone, Mark."
"I'll do whatever I damn well want to do, Cheryl. It's my kid back there."
My mom was quiet.
When I looked back toward the rabbit, it was no longer a rabbit but a person. Or at least it looked like a person. The figure radiated pure gold, and atop his head was what appeared to be a King's crown. I recalled Allison's experience of seeing the sun-like figure in her moment of distress. Was that what was happening here? Was this really all true?
"Hey!" My dad shouted, eyeing little-me from the rear-view mirror. "What are you reaching at?"
I looked and saw the golden figure extending his hand toward the window, and little me's hand was reaching back. "Mom, dad, it bright." little-me said.
"What's bright, honey?" my mom asked.
"Don't encourage her, Cheryl."
"Someone there!" little me shouted happily and dropped the rest of the markers and the coloring book onto the ground.
"Who's there?" asked my mom.
"Cheryl, I swear to God. Sit the fuck down."
Everything from that moment on happened so quickly I barely had any time to process it. My mom lifted out of her seat to either get little me's attention or help me pick up my coloring book. My dad responded by grabbing onto her throat, letting go of the steering wheel entirely. He threw her back against the car door, and her head hit the window so hard, the glass cracked. My dad had dropped his cigarette, and I could smell smoke coming from under his seat, but that didn't seem to bother him at all. He turned toward little-me at the same moment my three-year-old hand reached out and grabbed onto the golden figure, whose hand diffused through the window. When my dad turned, I got a whiff of the most awful smell that I wouldn't have been able to place had I not had that nightmare last night. He grabbed onto little-me's shoulder and tugged her away from the golden figure that was trying to pull her the other way. My dad's facade began to crack, and I could see those dark bugs crawling out from the pores in his arms, marching down toward little-me.
I reacted.
I grabbed onto my dad's arm and pulled him off little-me. I heard the sound of my shirt ripping as she was torn from his grip and pulled out of the car, diffusing through it like a ghost. My brief victory was immediately overturned as I saw what was now clearly the demon smiling at me, his wretched fingers curled around my forearm.
"Caught you," He sneered.
Then the whole world once again diffused into countless numbers of particles, only this time, instead of riding through it, I felt like I was falling through an elevator shaft with each floor darker than the last. The further I fell, the less I became aware of my surroundings, and the more I felt a deep sense of loneliness. It was as if I was the only person in the whole world: and the whole world was a prison designed entirely for me. This went on for so long, I began to forget who I was. Where I was. What was.
And then I landed.
***
Source Used:
Jung, Carl. Synchronicity. Translated by Sonu Shamdasani, Princeton University Press, 2010.
submitted by Weathers_Writing to nosleep [link] [comments]
Part 2
Part 3
Content Warning: Domestic Abuse
***
We pulled off I-51 a little after midnight, stopping at a truck stop which was couched between the highway and a large forest.
We waited in the van for ten minutes or so. Trent had increased the sonar radius to its maximum of 30 miles a little over an hour ago. Somehow the red pings had kept up with us, holding a steady distance of around 20 miles. Considering we were averaging around 80 mph, and a coyote's top speed is only around 40 mph, we figured they had been enhanced in some way. Either that, or they shape-shifted into something faster. Regardless, now that we had stopped, we waited to see if the demon spawn would try and close the distance. Luckily, or unluckily, they didn't. They kept their 20 mile buffer, but we noticed they were beginning to spread out along the circumference of that boundary.
"We're close. They know that, so they're trying to trap us in." Trent said.
"Trying to?—more like they have."
We considered whether we should stay in the van and keep watch, but we figured that would do us little good. At their speed, they could be on us in ten minutes, which means we would need to stay up all night and keep tabs on their positions. Trent offered to stay up, of course, but I shut him down.
"The demon doesn't want to kill us now. You said it yourself. Plus, we need our rest. If they come, they come."
Trent didn't like it, but he acquiesced.
The truck stop had all the essentials: a gas station and mini mart with showers and an attached McDonald's, a large parking lot for truckers to idle and sleep, and even a section with lodging for those who wanted a more comfortable night's rest. I told Trent that he should take advantage of the showers, and after a little convincing, he agreed. While he was cleaning himself up, I patrolled the dingy, half-stocked aisles of "Daisy's Quick Mart". I probably would have been appalled at the quality of the store had I actually been paying any attention to it whatsoever. But I wasn't. I was thinking hard about what awaited me tomorrow.
During the drive, I had asked Trent why the demon would want us to return to the crash site. What did he mean that I would be 'confronting a dark entity in a place he couldn't help me'? He seemed hesitant to answer, but my little stunt outside the storage facility seemed to have sufficiently motivated him.
"When I said I've never done this before, I meant it." Trent started. "I've never done this exact thing before—meaning I've never projected someone into the past."
"So, I'm time traveling?" I asked.
"No—don't think of it like that." Trent paused, trying to come up with a good explanation. "It's more like I'm opening a window for you to look through: not a door. You're going to see the past, but you can't interact with the physicalities there. But that doesn't mean you can't interact with anything."
There was a space of silence as Trent tried to let me work out his meaning for myself. "I don't get it. Are you saying there's something I can interact with? Like what?" And then it hit me. "The demon. The demon can interact with me? Meaning what? It can kill me?"
"Meaning… I'm not exactly sure. You're going to be in a kind of psychic space. If it does damage, it won't be to your body. It'll be to your mind—or spirit. But I don't know what the limits of that damage could be. I just don't have those answers."
"If you've never done this, how do you know any of it will work?"
"That's an easy one." Trent answered. "Because it's been done to me."
There was silence.
"Look, if I know anything, I know my tech. Don't doubt that this will work. It's my job to make sure it does. I just need you to be in the right mental for this. Just because it knows your coming doesn't mean it automatically has the upper hand. It won't be able to see you unless you make contact with it first. In other words, you have to initiate contact. As long as you remain a spectator, you should be okay. Trust me. Just don't make contact."
I started pacing faster—fast enough to catch the attention of the overnight shift worker, a young man whose name I can't quite remember. I know it started with a "J". Jake, maybe? Anyway, he asked if I was alright, to which I responded in the affirmative. He left me alone for another couple passes, but when I almost ran into one of the shelves, he stood up and said, "Uh—I'm going to have to ask you to stop running around. I don't want you to hurt yourself."
I must have stared daggers at him, because he recoiled from my gaze. What's gotten into me? I thought. Then, steadying myself, I apologized. I looked around and grabbed the nearest edible looking piece of merchandise: a bag of Swedish Fish, and placed it down on the counter. "Just this, please."
The cashier rang me up. It was surprisingly cheap.
"Are you sure you're alright?" the young man asked. He was tall with brown hair. He seemed tired—maybe even more tired than me. But he also seemed kind.
I smiled as best I could and said, "No, I'm not. But there's not really anything you can do. Hell, there might not be anything I can do." I furrowed my eyebrows at my own response, realizing that imminent death may have broken my verbal filter.
On the other hand, the cashier did not seem surprised at all. "Ah, I see. It's one of those problems." He responded. "Well, hey, for what it's worth, you seem like one of the resilient ones. I think you'll be alright."
I only smiled and nodded at his mildly cryptic comment. Looking back, the whole interaction was a bit strange, but I had way too much mental clutter to recognize that in the moment. I took my Swedish Fish and walked through the anteroom which led to McDonald's. I found an open yellow booth that wasn't littered with crumpled straw sleeves and sat down, chomping mindlessly on my little red fish until Trent returned. When he arrived, he took my place, and I went to shower. After we were both clean and fed, we returned to the van. The pings were still pushed safely out of harm's way. But that didn't mean we were out of harm's way. Trent asked me if I wanted to sleep in the van, saying that "it'd be the safest place."
I thought it over. He was right, obviously. The van was not only outfitted with weapons I couldn't even begin to understand, but it was also our escape, and it would be just as difficult, if not more difficult to break into than the studio-style motel rooms with their wood doors and big windows. Still, if this was going to be my last night on earth, I wanted to sleep in a bed. A real bed. Trent understood and said he'd stay parked right outside my room for the night.
After purchasing a key from the night attendant, I moseyed over to the cement walkways which connected the twenty or so rooms. Mine was room #56, which I thought was odd since, like I said, there were only 20 rooms. I lugged in my tomato plushie and dad's old book and placed them on the queen mattress.
"I'll be right outside." Trent said after I collapsed onto the bed.
"Trent," I called out, stopping him half-way through the door.
"Yeah?"
All the blood in my body rushed up to my face as I realized my unfiltered mouth almost reflexively said the word "stay". I stared at Trent, my heart beating, my face hot. I considered asking him to sleep on the floor like my dad, but that would be childish and impolite. The alternative was to share my bed… Or I could take the floor.
"I'll just be right outside." Trent said before my mind processed a solution. "Come by if you need anything. I'll be up most of the night anyway."
"Okay," I replied in a faint voice.
Trent shut the door.
I sat atop the bedsheets and acquainted myself with my new living space. A feeling of regret closed over me as I considered that even sleeping on a carseat would have been better if it meant I didn't have to be alone. With a sigh, I turned on the bedside lamp and grabbed the book and stuffed tomato, using the tomato as a backrest as I slipped my legs under the covers and situated the book upright on my thighs. I cracked it open and was immediately blasted with a puff of dusty, old book scent. It was ripe at first, and I turned my head away to sneeze, but as I perused through the pages, the scent grew on me. It reminded me of the days growing up when I'd step into dad's study and read through one of the many volumes on cryptic topics which were at least two college degrees above my Lexile range.
I was only a couple minutes into browsing the collection of different scientific and philosophical works when I came across a page which contained highlighted text. This was unusual, as my dad would never mark up his books. He was a purist on that point. I rubbed my thumb over the yellow lines, and sure enough, it was highlighter.
The highlighted text was part of a small book by Carl Jung called "Synchronicity". There were a total of three pages that were marked, and they advanced like this:
Page 5:
The philosophical principle that underlies our conception of natural law is causality*. But if the connection between cause and effect turns out to be only statistically valid and relatively true, then the causal principle is only of relative use for explaining natural processes… That is as much to say that the connection of events may in certain circumstances be other than causal, and require another principle of explanation.*
Page 19:
…there are events which are related to one another experimentally, and in this case meaningfully*, without there being any possibility of proving that this relation is a causal one, since the "transmission" exhibits none of the known properties of energy…a situation which does not yet exist and will only occur in the future could transmit itself as a phenomenon of energy to a receiver in the present…Therefore, it cannot be a question of cause and effect, but of a falling together in time, a kind of simultaneity... "synchronicity"*
Page 22:
A young woman I was treating had, at a critical moment, a dream in which she was given a golden scarab. While she was telling me this dream I sat with my back to the closed window. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me, like a gentle tapping. I turned round and saw a flying insect knocking against the window pane from outside. I opened the window and caught the creature in the air as it flew in. It was the nearest analogy to a golden scarab that one finds in our latitudes, a scarabaeid beetle, the common rose-chafer… which contrary to its usual habits had evidently felt an urge to get into a dark room at this particular moment.
I flipped through the rest of the pages of the book. There was no more highlighted text, but there was a message on the last page which read:
Matthew 7:7-8
I'll meet you in the darkest place.
He also included his typical smiley face which had an ovular shape and three sprouts of hair which I now realized kind of resembled my tomato plushie. It was my dad's writing, of course. But why? And how? What did this mean?
The motel had a Bible stashed away in the nighstand drawer. I got it out and looked up the verses which read the following:
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
I spent maybe an hour ruminating on all of this. The whole discourse on energy and causality and a "falling together in time" just seemed so right. It was clear that my dad definitely did know what I was going through, but for whatever reason, he made it seem like he was oblivious. Why had he hidden that from me? I felt like I was being pulled in two directions. On the one hand, my dad loved me enough to leave this note, maybe even knowing the exact moment I'd need it. But on the other hand, he had neglected my struggles throughout my entire childhood. He even lied at times. Was this really enough to make up for all of that?
And then there was the section about the future transmitting energy to the past. I read back through the whole paragraph and the original writer had meant it to say this as something that wasn't possible, but my dad's highlighting made it seem like he wanted to flip the meaning. The future does affect the past. I thought about where I was headed and wondered if I would soon discover that for myself.
Lastly, dad's message. The Bible verse reminded me of the first time I prayed; how I reached out to God and received peace as an answer to my prayer. Now I feel like I'm actively seeking… something, but I don't know yet what I'll find. And then there's knocking. At first that reminded me of the story with the beetle tapping on the window, but then I went back even deeper in my memory and dug out the monster tapping at my window, and the words my dad spoke to me in order to set my mind at ease: "you're a superhero. And you know what your greatest superpower is? Your greatest power is you get to tell the monsters what to do. Because the monsters are only as strong as the stories you tell about them…so if you're ever scared, honey, just dream up a better story."
I was crying into my stuffed tomato now. I felt like all the blinking pieces of my life had finally been pulled together into a completed puzzle. This was all by design. My entire life, filled with so much chaos and confusion, was actually preparing me for this moment. And my dad thought I had the tools and strength enough to get through it. I flipped through the book one more time, thinking maybe he had left some other hidden comment—some formula to defeat this demon and return home. But there was nothing. Only that one comment: "I'll meet you in the darkest place."
What's the darkest place, dad? Is that where I'm going? Are you saying you'll be there, too?
With those thoughts in mind, my eyes became heavy shutters which, with a slight pressure on the pulley, winded shut. My swimming thoughts and firework-like fears dissipated, and I returned to a precious childhood memory. It was after an evening soccer practice. Summer. Dad was driving me to Dairy Queen. I got a cherry-dipped twist cone. I was happy.
So, so happy.
***
I woke up to sunlight blaring through my windows. Shit, I overslept, was my immediate thought. I threw off my covers and opened the front door. A glance at the clock showed 1:13 PM. I shouldn't have even been allowed to stay checked in this long. Damn, am I gonna get double-billed for this?
I heard a rummaging sound around the corner of my motel room. It sounded like a squirrel was trying to find an afternoon snack in one of the garbage bins. I stepped outside. The sun was extremely bright, to the point where I had to squint and put my hand over my eyes to even see the ground in front of me. I was trying to walk toward the van, but somehow I ended up in front of the trash bins where the animal's tail was sticking out from a turned-over, silver garbage can. Its tail was wagging excitedly, and I remember thinking that it was much too large to be a squirrel.
The animal bent down as if biting onto something, and I heard the sound of its growl as it struggled to tug whatever it was free from the barrel. Inch by inch, the creature backed out of the canister, and more of its sharp, sticky hair was revealed. I heard something snap, then the creature leapt back and I saw what it was chomping on. My eyes widened in horror as the pink tube of a human intestine was pulled taut like the end of a tangled hose. Blood and entrails were spilling out of the human's opened gut. And then, behind the canine, I saw the person's face. His face was pale white, his eyes closed, and his hair was slicked back… It was Trent.
Before I could react, I heard footsteps approaching from behind. I whirled around and saw my dad. But—no, it wasn't him. It was someone wearing a paper-mache face mask that was painted to look like my dad. The forehead of the mask was already beginning to crack, white specks breaking off like sawdust. Through the cracks, I could see the figure's true form. I didn't know darkness had its own type of light, but that's the only way to describe it. It was as if malevolence itself was reified into a skin which was actually an amalgamation of millions of little, oozing parasites that leached into the nearby light. When it finally spoke, the demon's voice was a full octave lower than the old man's at the deli. And it had an earth-stilling gravitas.
"Today's the day!" He sang and reached into his pocket. His lips curled upward into a foxy smirk. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this day." He said and held up a razor blade. Half his facade had already fallen apart, and now I could see the bugs up close, writhing in what was either horror or ecstasy. And his scent… it was somehow more rank than the rabid coyote rummaging through the trash can with Trent's cut open body inside. The demon closed in on my position, and in one, decisive motion, he brought the blade close to his chin, then sliced it across my throat. "Wake up!" He screamed.
I jumped out of my bed and grabbed my throat, feeling the cold sting of its quick slice. Hyperventilating, I patted the area down, trying to hold the blood in, but when I removed my hands, I saw they were dry. It was only a dream, I thought. Gray light was only beginning to filter in through the drapes. I'm in my hotel room. I'm safe. I tried consoling, but the pragmatic mental massages weren't enough to hold the force of my knees buckling. I dropped onto the carpet and cried for a long while.
Outside, rain was beginning to fall.
***
By the time I met up with Trent, I had already composed myself and decided to keep my dad's message and the nightmare to myself. None of it seemed particularly productive from a logistical standpoint, anyway. And I wanted to focus on the mission.
We stopped by McDonald's and bought a couple cups of coffee. Trent asked if I wanted any food, and I declined. Black coffee seemed like the only thing my stomach could take at the present moment. I could tell Trent was hungry, but he tried playing it off (I guess to be respectful of me?) I told him to knock it off and get something to eat. I didn't need my Charon getting lightheaded and dropping the paddle before he finished rowing me to Hell. He didn't care much for my joke, but he ordered a couple Chicken McGriddles at the kiosk anyway.
There were maybe ten patrons spread throughout the restaurant. We sat down at the same booth from the prior night, this time across from one another. Trent spent the first ten minutes or so babbling about our fuel supply and the logistics of the trip from here on in. Practical stuff. I've come to realize that's how he deals with his stress. He talks it out in short, durable sentences. I mostly nodded and watched as what looked like a storm front closed in on the truck stop. The sky was overcast, and there were darker clouds in the distance. The rain was still only a patter, but a middle-aged man wearing a yellow bow tie on the wall-mounted TV confirmed that there would be heavier rain and thunderstorms very soon.
After the worker delivered Trent's food and he ate it in record time, I posed the one question that was still on my mind.
"How do I fight him?" I asked.
Trent finished a large gulp of his coffee, then looked at me. It was the first substantial thing I'd said all morning; Trent could tell something was off with me, but he figured there was no point in asking what it was. "By 'him', I assume you mean the demon?"
I nodded.
Trent licked his teeth clean. "You could try praying again."
"I'm serious," I responded.
"I'm serious, too. It worked before, didn't it?"
"You mean at my house?"
Trent nodded.
"I thought you weren't a religious man?"
"I'm not. Just a practical one. If praying worked before, maybe it'll work again."
"That's the best you've got? A maybe?"
"No, I've got a lot of shit better than a maybe." He answered. "It's just not accessible where you're going. Which is why I recommend not making contact on the first run."
"First run? So we're going to do this more than once?"
"At least," Trent answered. Then, seeing my expression, he continued. "What? You thought this was going to be a one-and-done? We have to conduct some research first. I did tell you this was new for me, right?"
Somehow Trent's response had set my mind at ease a little. I was going to have more than one chance. Of course, why wouldn't I be able to go back more than once?
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? It would have gone a long way in easing my mind."
Trent lifted his hands in defense. "Sorry, I just thought that was a given. I mean, what we're doing is dangerous, just like I said, but it doesn't mean we aren't going to approach this as safely and scientifically as possible. However, there is a different problem with running multiple trials."
"The Organization?"
"That's right," Trent said like a proud parent. "Our little experiment will be like a giant spotlight, and the longer we wait around after it's on us, the greater the chance we'll have unwelcome company."
"So, safe but speedy."
"Safe but speedy. Exactly."
***
We fueled up and were back on the road a little after 8:00. From that point on, Trent and I were absolutely silent. I had the distinct feeling of being in the eye of a storm. The pings moved closer commensurate with our progress toward the crash site. The cloudfront continued its advance. And I noticed a haze beginning to descend onto the road ahead of us. It was fog.
We meandered further inland, the forest thickening around us until the rain almost stopped entirely—the leaves drinking it up before it fell onto our windshield. I kept my eyes on the radar. We were approaching the large yellow circle which indicated we had arrived. As we pulled closer, I began to feel things. Fear. Eeriness. Doubt. Then happiness. Hope. Love. Normally feelings like these had a clear source to picture, but these sensations came on in waves without any discernible reason. It was almost as if they were blinking into existence inside me.
"Here we go," Trent said like an airline pilot readying his crew for turbulence.
I still recall the exact moment we crossed the boundary into the area of higher energy. It was like something just "clicked" in my brain, and all of a sudden everything felt so much closer. The sound of the rain against the trees was almost right next to my ear. The trees in the distance would oscillate between their position a half-mile out, then suddenly seem five meters away. If I focused on something long enough, it began to radiate those same ethereal particles as when Trent released Ava's "phase lock". I checked to make sure the shifter wasn't set to "TD". Sure enough, it was still in drive.
"Can you see them?" Trent asked. "The shifts?"
"Yeah," I said in a dreamy voice. I felt like I was driving through a wonderland.
"It's the energy. I barely notice a difference. A bit of movement in the trees, but not much else. But I'm sure for you, it's a whole experience."
"What is this?" I raised my hand and caught some of the pixel dust dripping off the sun visor. It disappeared when it made contact with my hand.
"It's a kind of radiation. Everything emits it, just in different quantities. I'm still not exactly sure how it relates to the other realms, but I'm guessing it's a kind of primordial matter that helps connect our worlds."
"It's beautiful," I exclaimed. "I wish I could see the world like this all the time."
"Maybe you will," Trent whispered.
As we arrived at the crash site, I began to get glimpses of the past. My childhood dreams and memories were pushing their way out from my subconscious. I noticed an increased number of blinks, which were validated by Ava who reported the following: "Currently detecting 14,350 novel emergences and 2,777 controlled agents. Net anomalies: 2,777."
"That's a lot of blinks." I remarked. "Why doesn't Ava include them in the net anomalies?"
Trent turned his head so I could see his smirk. "Because blinks aren't anomalies."
I thought about it for a second. Blinks aren't anomalies. "I never thought about it that way."
"It's hard to think about it that way when 'normal' for most people means not picking up on a fundamental aspect of reality. But that doesn't make it any less real."
We continued past the epicenter of the yellow circle. "Are we not stopping?" I asked. "I think we already passed the crash site."
"It doesn't have to be exactly at the site," Trent said. "Plus, we don't want to stop on the side of the road and risk getting some civilian involved. There's a field about half a mile up ahead. I'm going to pull off the road and set up camp there.
The "field" that Trent was referring to was actually a large clearing that dipped down into several trench-like troughs which were filled to the brim with fog like witches cauldrons. Further on in the distance, I saw open fields, probably used for farming, and then a large hill where the trees once again reasserted themselves. We had pulled off the road and up a small incline where the trees had already been broken down, leaving a trail for us to drive through. When we surfaced at the edge of the clearing, Trent pulled us onto a flat bed of dried mud which was maybe thirty yards long.
"Here," he said with a sigh.
We both sat for a minute, looking around at the field. We had finally arrived. The rain was beginning to pick up, and the dark sky made it almost impossible to discern the time of day.
"You ready?" Trent asked.
I looked at him. Really looked at him. In his blue eyes. Was I ready? Did it even matter?
"Let's do this," I said.
***
This was the first time I was really able to inspect the back of Trent's van. He had talked up his gear a lot, and honestly, I was impressed. Not in the way that a scientist is impressed by another scientist's lab—I wasn't any kind of expert—but it still seemed remarkably well managed. Now that I was in a state where my vision had been enhanced, I could actually see the enigmatic particles circulating through the pneumatic tubes which were coiled like the pipes and valves of an elaborate wind instrument. The walls of the van, itself, were glistening white, making it easier to make out everything else inside. Along the floor were five overturned columns. Each column was dark and had a vibrating quality, as if they were charged with energy. Then atop the center three columns was a small altar which supported an apparatus with two skinny, metal arms holding a silver halo. At present, the arms were folded and the halo was suspended a few inches above the altar, faced-down. I thought maybe I'd see particles exuding from it, but instead it was emitting visible waves which bent and warped everything they touched.
"That thing is emitting a lot of energy." I remarked, gesturing toward the halo.
Trent stepped in between the columns and started pulling out the packages he had stuffed in there yesterday. "Just wait till' it's on."
Most of the packages contained only a single piece of equipment, and were otherwise packed with foam peanuts. We carefully removed each box and set them on the ground outside. I asked if the rain would damage any of the stuff inside, to which Trent only laughed and continued lugging out the boxes. When they were all out, Trent removed a box cutter from his pocket and went one-by-one opening them. There were eight pieces in total.
"What is it?" I asked as we fished the first item out.
"It's another apparatus, like the one inside. Except it'll mount on the ground out here."
I pulled out what looked like a metal tripod.
"Good, that'll go on the bottom."
"Where are we setting it up?"
"Over here," Trent said and stepped five paces away from the van. He coordinated himself up so he was centrally aligned with the inner ring, then stomped a few times. "This is the spot."
As we continued to work, I asked Trent about how the whole contraption works.
"Do you remember the first time we were in the van? When we had to escape from the semi-truck?" Trent asked and connected a secondary mounting apparatus on top of the tripod. It had four spider-like legs that made right angles and stuck into the ground.
"Of course," I said. "The 'phase lock'."
"Yeah," Trent said and gestured toward the metal stick that was in my hand. I handed it to him. "The phase lock is a seal on the level of energy that the van is allowed to release. It also controls its dispersion pattern so that it releases its energy in a steady wave. This allows Ava to scan for anomalies without causing us to become an anomaly." Trent stuck the plank into the neck of the tripod.
"So when you released the phase lock, we started emitting more energy."
"That's right." Trent confirmed. "Enough to create an alternate route through a different realm."
"So we blinked into a different realm, then back, just to avoid that truck?"
"That's right."
"But why couldn't we just move out of the way?"
"Because it had locked onto us. It was tracking our motion and adjusting its course based on the amount of energy we were emitting. So in order to escape, we had to radically skew our potential energy and then use it to shift."
"Couldn't he have just followed us?"
Trent connected four more pieces to the device which now looked like an elaborate teepee. He was fishing in the last box when he spoke again. "Yeah, he could have. But it was highly improbable that he would have found us." Trent returned from the bottom of the box with another silver ring in hand. "Think of it like this. Let's say you're trying to escape from some bad guy who's coming after you, and you enter a new room you've never seen before. Would you prefer this room to have three doors to go through, or ten?"
I thought about his riddle for a second, then responded, "It depends where they go."
Trent fastened the ring atop the teepee. "Let's say they all lead to random places, or let's say they're all closets that lead nowhere. The key is that more is better, because the more doors he has to check, the less likely he is to pick the correct one. Make sense?"
"So we opened up a bunch of doors and escaped through one at random?"
"Hence the gear 'TD', for 'Trap Door'."
I marveled at the insights, but not for long. Trent hopped back in the van and pulled a lever that I hadn't seen until now. The two metal arms raised the inner ring until it was perpendicular with the altar. Then Trent clicked one of three red buttons along the back wall, and I saw what looked like a large, glass eye suspended in a magnifying glass protruding from the wall, aligned with the center of both rings. A couple seconds later, the glass eye began to focus the energy which was being fed to it from the pneumatic tubes, and a blue pyramid of light projected from it into the first ring, then from the first ring into the second ring. All three pieces were aligned at slightly diminishing heights, so the cylinder of light beamed through the second ring, into the ground.
"Alright, time for the first trial."
I felt the nerves starting up in my stomach. Trent sensed this and hopped out of the truck. It was raining quite hard now, though it was still warm. Both Trent and I were soaked, but that hardly concerned us. He reached out and put his hand on my shoulder. "I know you're feeling scared." He said. "But trust me on this. You're going to do fine. Just keep in mind what we talked about. Stay a spectator. Okay?"
I looked into his blue eyes, which seemed especially gray in the dark. Still, Trent's voice was reassuring. All I had to do was trust him. Trust myself. Trust my dad. And it was all going to turn out right.
"I'm ready," I said.
Trent was still for a second, holding my eyes in his. Then he guided me behind the outer ring and into the cylinder of light.
"I should step into it now?" I asked, afraid I'd be called away immediately.
"It's not on yet, so don't worry. I still have to press another button."
I followed Trent's instructions and stood in the blue light which was centered on my chest. Then I watched as Trent ran into the back of the van and posted up next to the glass eye. "Ready?" He yelled out. It was hard to hear him over the rain, but I yelled back. "Ready!"
The next thing I saw was a blinding blue light beam from the van. I heard what sounded like a laser, then saw the cylinder oscillate, expanding and compressing. When the energy reached the second ring, I saw everything around me light up—it looked brighter than noon on a cloudless day. Then the oscillations made their way to me, and I was swallowed up whole.
***
When I came to, I was in the backseat of a car. I felt my butt rumbling. Everything was dim and quiet. And then I heard a woman's voice from in front of me.
"Mark, please, not with Lauren in the back."
The man, who I now identified as my father, pulled the cigarette away from his lips and blew the smoke at my mom. He eyed the back seat where I was sitting, using one of five markers that hadn't rolled off my lap to color a rabbit in my animal color book.
"The kid's fine." he said and took another drag.
"Mark," my mom repeated.
I saw my dad raise his hand in a rapid motion. "I said she's fine, Cheryl. Now check the map and make sure we're going the right away. I can't see shit with all this fog."
I took a moment to make sure I was really in the back seat. I patted myself. I clearly had weight. Then I tried touching the car. At first, my fingertips met a solid surface, but when I tried to press through, my hand slipped into the car. I quickly pulled my hand away as if I had reached into a fire.
That's when I heard the little three year old next to me start crying. I turned and saw that little-me had dropped another couple markers onto the ground and was struggling to reach them.
"Hey!" my dad shouted. "What did I say about crying?"
"Quit it, Mark. She just dropped her markers." said my mom; she turned to help me pick them up.
"What did you say to me?" Mark spat with a voice full of guile. He reached out and pushed her back into her seat. "Don't," he commanded. "She has to learn how to deal with life."
"Deal…" My mom started in disbelief. "Deal with life? Do you hear yourself? What's gotten into you?"
"Sometimes shit happens. It doesn't give her the right to cry. You helping her is just going to reinforce her behavior."
"Her behavior? What about your behavior? You're acting like a total dick."
I didn't even have a moment to react before my dad's hand was across my mom's face. I felt the slap more than I heard it, my own face seeming to swell with the force of the blow. I saw my mom cover her mouth and lean away. Then little-me began to cry even louder, which only challenged my dad to step up his own volume.
"Everyone needs to get a fucking grip before I crash this car." My dad shouted and took another drag. The scariest part was I couldn't tell if he was warning us or threatening us. I felt the sudden urge to do something. There was no way this was real. I was definitely in some fantasy concocted by the demon. He wanted to turn me against my dad. That was the only explanation for something like this. My dad was a good man, not… this.
As I contemplated what to do, I saw a small, golden light appear behind little-me's window. Apparently she saw it, too, because her cries hushed as she traced the wisp with her eyes. After a second, the wisp transformed into a bunny rabbit, reminiscent of the one she was coloring. The rabbit hopped alongside the window, then did a couple circles in place. I watched little me let out a playful laugh and reach toward the window.
"What's going on back there?" my dad asked with a scowl. Apparently the only sound more disturbing than cries were laughs.
I looked back to the front and saw my mom wiping blood from her lip. Her expression was miserable. "Leave her alone, Mark."
"I'll do whatever I damn well want to do, Cheryl. It's my kid back there."
My mom was quiet.
When I looked back toward the rabbit, it was no longer a rabbit but a person. Or at least it looked like a person. The figure radiated pure gold, and atop his head was what appeared to be a King's crown. I recalled Allison's experience of seeing the sun-like figure in her moment of distress. Was that what was happening here? Was this really all true?
"Hey!" My dad shouted, eyeing little-me from the rear-view mirror. "What are you reaching at?"
I looked and saw the golden figure extending his hand toward the window, and little me's hand was reaching back. "Mom, dad, it bright." little-me said.
"What's bright, honey?" my mom asked.
"Don't encourage her, Cheryl."
"Someone there!" little me shouted happily and dropped the rest of the markers and the coloring book onto the ground.
"Who's there?" asked my mom.
"Cheryl, I swear to God. Sit the fuck down."
Everything from that moment on happened so quickly I barely had any time to process it. My mom lifted out of her seat to either get little me's attention or help me pick up my coloring book. My dad responded by grabbing onto her throat, letting go of the steering wheel entirely. He threw her back against the car door, and her head hit the window so hard, the glass cracked. My dad had dropped his cigarette, and I could smell smoke coming from under his seat, but that didn't seem to bother him at all. He turned toward little-me at the same moment my three-year-old hand reached out and grabbed onto the golden figure, whose hand diffused through the window. When my dad turned, I got a whiff of the most awful smell that I wouldn't have been able to place had I not had that nightmare last night. He grabbed onto little-me's shoulder and tugged her away from the golden figure that was trying to pull her the other way. My dad's facade began to crack, and I could see those dark bugs crawling out from the pores in his arms, marching down toward little-me.
I reacted.
I grabbed onto my dad's arm and pulled him off little-me. I heard the sound of my shirt ripping as she was torn from his grip and pulled out of the car, diffusing through it like a ghost. My brief victory was immediately overturned as I saw what was now clearly the demon smiling at me, his wretched fingers curled around my forearm.
"Caught you," He sneered.
Then the whole world once again diffused into countless numbers of particles, only this time, instead of riding through it, I felt like I was falling through an elevator shaft with each floor darker than the last. The further I fell, the less I became aware of my surroundings, and the more I felt a deep sense of loneliness. It was as if I was the only person in the whole world: and the whole world was a prison designed entirely for me. This went on for so long, I began to forget who I was. Where I was. What was.
And then I landed.
***
Source Used:
Jung, Carl. Synchronicity. Translated by Sonu Shamdasani, Princeton University Press, 2010.
2024.06.09 22:01 Afro_Knight9577 [SF][FN] Gun Mage Episode 2: A Frosty Reception
~Gun Mage Episode 2: A Frosty Reception~
~Planet: Azuria~
I already knew what it was when I got here, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still annoying. Before the I’d left, I took the book with me, adorned my power armor, projectile resistant mask, and the robe of the magus hunter core. I took Hunter and boarded my ship for a four-hour flight down south, making it to the country of Bastion. It took me another thirty minutes to get to Slade City proper and land.
I’d found a decent place to stay for the night, but when I woke up in the morning to start poking around the city, it was just as I thought, no one wanted to talk to me. Of course, it didn’t help that I was in a set of purple power armor, a gold mask, and black robes with an intimidating cowl. No doubt I came across as the magic boogey man, but hell, I still had a job to do and I was going to see this through.
I’d spent the better part of a day asking different people on the streets if there were any strange sightings, but surprise, surprise, no one saw anything. Finally, after searching in the fourth district I found an officer, who finally gave me a little bit of her time. Well, it helps that she happened to be pinned down by a couple of thugs and I’d come to her aid.
You see I happened to be walking down a particularly seedy part of the Fourth District when I heard gunfire coming from a particularly grungy alley. Normally it’s against my principles to head towards gunfire, but considering I needed information then perhaps this was my chance. There was a single dumpster and three guys were laughing while standing in the open, shooting a few low caliber guns at an officer who was standing against a brick wall. There was blood dripping from her right hand and her gun was on the cracked concrete.
“Dance for us cop, maybe we’ll let you live.” One joked, while another took a shot after a swig of what I could only guess was a fowl smelling beer, “You’ve got no gun, you’ve got no friends, all you got is us baby!” They all laughed and I was officially over it.
“Bolt shot.” I held up Hunter as my revolver charged with electric energy. I took aim and fired, but it wasn’t a bullet that left the gun, rather a bolt of lightning that struck the first man, causing him to scream spasm, and fall to the ground. The other three squealed in surprise, “A mage, what are they doing in,” a second one began, but before he could finish, I shot a second round that caught him in the chest. Like the first he came crashing to the ground and it seemed the others were spurred to act as a result.
They began firing, but each shot bounced off my armor like they were throwing stones at me. I pulled my best interpretation of a maniacal villain, giving them my best evil laugh, “Fools, now I will experiment on your rotted corpses!” They screamed, but it wasn’t long before I shot the other two and disabled them before they could attract any other attention. The cop ran, dove, and picked up her gun to aim it at me.
Really, I just saved her and she aimed a pistol at me, well I guess I did act like a crazy cultist back there. So, I tried to be reasonable and put my gun away and held my hands up, “Sorry it was just an act, I was having a little fun at their expense.”
She kept the gun raised, despite the fact that she knew it wouldn’t even damage my armor. I rolled my eyes, “Look uh,”
“Sarisa.”
“Sarisa, you’ve got four disabled thugs, you’re still alive, and I put my gun away, so I can’t be that bad.”
“I’m sorry, I just got shot, a bunch of weirdos cornered me, and now a mage comes out shouting about how he’s going to experiment on their corpses.” She began and I thought that maybe poking fun at those thugs was a bad idea. She reached for a few zipties in her pack and bound the four. I kept my distance, though she was struggling to get them on with one hand. As she came to the third thug she looked up, “That wasn’t funny by the way.”
“I thought was.”
“It’s not especially when the Third District has gone through hell over the past few days.” She moved on to the final thug and wrapped him up before returning her attention to me, “Weird stuff like zombie attacks, people being bitten and the like.”
Finally, I was getting somewhere as this was the first lead I had, “These zombie attacks, was there anything off about them.”
“You mean aside from them being dead?”
“Well yeah, did they move as units, act in a manner that might be atypical.”
“Look man where I’m from the dead stay dead, I doubt the officers had time to analyze them for the subtleties you’re asking about.” She finished. Before she could start hauling them back to her car I asked, “One more thing, would you happen to know if there were other magic users involved?”
“Well, no, but Third District has its own local vigilante if that’s what you want. I’m not sure whether they can use magic or not, but he might have been the reason that the officers escaped.” I thanked her and helped her get the four criminals into the back of her squad hover-car.
She offered to ride me to the Third Precinct where I hoped to find answers. As I got out, I wished her farewell and headed towards the squat brick building, where two Trevaxi guards stood. Trevaxi were natives of Azuria just like humans, Sansarians, Nymeans, and Tarak, but they were a bit hardier than the rest of us. They were humanoid shaped gems with glowing eyes of different colors. The two in front of me happened to be emerald colored, each stood ready to gun me down with shotguns.
I nodded at them as I tried to walk into the station, but the on the left stopped me, “What’s your business mage?” He said in a commanding voice. I backed up a little, “I’m here to look into some strange,”
“We don’t need your assistance, now head back to your academy and stay there.” Well, as expected as that response was, I couldn’t turn back.
“Look my man, I need to speak with your chief, because there may be several magic users involved and I’m not sure,”
“You aren’t sure, you mages never are, now get lost before I throw you into the streets.” I looked back and the streets were crowded, no one particularly paid us any mind. This was not the sort of treatment that the station wanted on its record, but who would believe a gutless mage over a veteran officer?
I had to get in and this guy wasn’t going to stop me, “Look, I’m after this magic user because,”
“I don’t care.” I was starting to get pissed. Now, I wasn’t stupid enough to pull Hunter out, but instead lowered my shoulder and charged towards the door. It was stupid, I wasn’t going to get far, but hell I had to try something. Luckily, I took the Trevaxi by surprise and burst through the doors.
To be fair it was a nice office, the desk seemed nice and orderly, but I couldn’t quite get past all the officers with drawn pistols and laser pistols aimed my way. I quickly held my hands up to thwart any ideas of shooting me, but I got the feeling I was pushing it, maybe just a little. A very serious looking woman with a scar on her right eye walked forward, “You’ve got about ten seconds to tell me what you’re here for.”
“I was here looking for two individuals a vigilante and a necromancer, but your men here wouldn’t let me enter peaceably.” She turned to the two officers and gave them a stern look. I’m glad they couldn’t see my face because I was smiling at their misfortune; couldn’t be me. “Look I’m not trying to get in the way or start any trouble but,”
The woman held up her hand to stop me, “Listen, I know you mean well, but we don’t really trust mages, hell half the reason we’re in this mess is because of strange magic.” I sighed, knowing I wasn’t going to get much more in the way of information here. What I didn’t know is that there was another officer there who was paying attention to our conversation.
“While I’m sorry that my boys caused you trouble, I can’t exactly put you on the case with my officers. Your presence here will only cause a greater distraction from the mass of work we already have. Boys if you’ll escort him out.” Before the Trevaxi officers could take me out, a blue scaled Tarak walked towards us, “Hey boss I’ll take care of our mage friend here, I’ll even take him far away from the station.” This seemed to agree with the sergeant, so the officer took me out to his patrol car.
I got in and he started the hover-car then we set off into the mean streets of Slade City. The city was a lot larger than I remembered it being, repulsor roads arced throughout the city as neon lights and signs tried to grab our attention. Traffic was heavy, but this didn’t seem to bother the officer at all. After waiting for a few minutes till we came to an overcrowded part of the city, the officer introduced himself, “I’m Shos, Shos Vozza. You’ll have to excuse my colleagues, but we really have had our hands full.”
“I’m Jaden Blackthorn and to be quite frank I kind of expected that. Why don’t you tell me about this problem you all have?” I asked, but the officer held up a finger, “Look I couldn’t ask for your help with this case without at least letting me treat you to some food at a nice café here in town.” Well, this was a shock, an officer in Slade City that wasn’t jerk. We came around to a parking lot then landed then headed into the bottom floor of a large skyscraper that served as the headquarters for the Magia Technica one of the largest magical tech companies in the country. At the bottom, however, was a café with a classic wood finish and a few baristas running about in aprons.
I sat down with Shos and the two of us pulled up a holo-menu and ordered drinks and I ordered a blueberry muffin. We sat and ate for a few moments before I finally asked, “So, about this necromancer?”
He sighed, “We don’t know much, he’s worked in the shadows for so long, with the occasional zombie attack here and there, but nothing to catch him though. I’ve been working with a vigilante who calls himself the Shadow. He’s a mage just like you, though a bit less refined since he doesn’t have the same experience.”
“Then he may need help to bring down the necromancer. Is there any way we can get in contact with Shadow?”
“Of course, he’s actually a friend of mine, but I’m sure if the rest of the force found out I was working with a vigilante, then I’d lose my job.” He responded. I wanted to assure him that since he was working with a registered mage, he wouldn’t lose his job, but seeing how quickly they wanted me out, I’m sure that wouldn’t be true either. Shos gave me a pointed look, “I need two things from you if we’re to meet Shadow.”
“Name them.”
“The first, obviously, is that you keep my involvement with the vigilante a secret. The second is that you treat Shadow well. He’s not a bad guy, and he tries to do good with the magic that he was given. I know you’re a mage hunter so I think it goes without saying that the academy wants him put away.”
I stopped and thought about what he was saying for a minute. Most mage hunters were killers, but that was not all there was to our job. We were always meant to bring in mages alive to help them get their powers under control, so that they could contribute to society. I leaned back after eating a bite of my muffin before addressing his concern, “Look, I’m actually here to find a guy name Zerik Shin, a mage that specializes in the School of the Unseen.” This seemed to take the cop aback, so the Shadow and Zerik might be one and the same, “A colleague of mine, Dr. Isabela Silva, wanted me to bring him to Arxor Academy so that we could teach him there. This necromancer and vigilante kind of gave me the first leads to this guy’s whereabouts.”
“So, you’re a friend of Dr. Silva,” He laughed, “Man, I wish you’d opened with that.” This girl got around, didn’t she? I guess mages with the ability to heal were always in high demand and Izzy was one of the best. Shos seemed to relax a bit more, “Listen, I’m supposed to meet with the Shadow in a few hours. How about I drop you off, wherever you’re staying so you can make preparations and I’ll do the same. I’ll pick you up so we can go give him some backup.”
“I’d like that.” We shook hands then got up to leave the café. He drove me to the hotel I was staying, where I began to make preparations for the long night ahead of us.
submitted by Afro_Knight9577 to shortstories [link] [comments]
~Planet: Azuria~
I already knew what it was when I got here, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still annoying. Before the I’d left, I took the book with me, adorned my power armor, projectile resistant mask, and the robe of the magus hunter core. I took Hunter and boarded my ship for a four-hour flight down south, making it to the country of Bastion. It took me another thirty minutes to get to Slade City proper and land.
I’d found a decent place to stay for the night, but when I woke up in the morning to start poking around the city, it was just as I thought, no one wanted to talk to me. Of course, it didn’t help that I was in a set of purple power armor, a gold mask, and black robes with an intimidating cowl. No doubt I came across as the magic boogey man, but hell, I still had a job to do and I was going to see this through.
I’d spent the better part of a day asking different people on the streets if there were any strange sightings, but surprise, surprise, no one saw anything. Finally, after searching in the fourth district I found an officer, who finally gave me a little bit of her time. Well, it helps that she happened to be pinned down by a couple of thugs and I’d come to her aid.
You see I happened to be walking down a particularly seedy part of the Fourth District when I heard gunfire coming from a particularly grungy alley. Normally it’s against my principles to head towards gunfire, but considering I needed information then perhaps this was my chance. There was a single dumpster and three guys were laughing while standing in the open, shooting a few low caliber guns at an officer who was standing against a brick wall. There was blood dripping from her right hand and her gun was on the cracked concrete.
“Dance for us cop, maybe we’ll let you live.” One joked, while another took a shot after a swig of what I could only guess was a fowl smelling beer, “You’ve got no gun, you’ve got no friends, all you got is us baby!” They all laughed and I was officially over it.
“Bolt shot.” I held up Hunter as my revolver charged with electric energy. I took aim and fired, but it wasn’t a bullet that left the gun, rather a bolt of lightning that struck the first man, causing him to scream spasm, and fall to the ground. The other three squealed in surprise, “A mage, what are they doing in,” a second one began, but before he could finish, I shot a second round that caught him in the chest. Like the first he came crashing to the ground and it seemed the others were spurred to act as a result.
They began firing, but each shot bounced off my armor like they were throwing stones at me. I pulled my best interpretation of a maniacal villain, giving them my best evil laugh, “Fools, now I will experiment on your rotted corpses!” They screamed, but it wasn’t long before I shot the other two and disabled them before they could attract any other attention. The cop ran, dove, and picked up her gun to aim it at me.
Really, I just saved her and she aimed a pistol at me, well I guess I did act like a crazy cultist back there. So, I tried to be reasonable and put my gun away and held my hands up, “Sorry it was just an act, I was having a little fun at their expense.”
She kept the gun raised, despite the fact that she knew it wouldn’t even damage my armor. I rolled my eyes, “Look uh,”
“Sarisa.”
“Sarisa, you’ve got four disabled thugs, you’re still alive, and I put my gun away, so I can’t be that bad.”
“I’m sorry, I just got shot, a bunch of weirdos cornered me, and now a mage comes out shouting about how he’s going to experiment on their corpses.” She began and I thought that maybe poking fun at those thugs was a bad idea. She reached for a few zipties in her pack and bound the four. I kept my distance, though she was struggling to get them on with one hand. As she came to the third thug she looked up, “That wasn’t funny by the way.”
“I thought was.”
“It’s not especially when the Third District has gone through hell over the past few days.” She moved on to the final thug and wrapped him up before returning her attention to me, “Weird stuff like zombie attacks, people being bitten and the like.”
Finally, I was getting somewhere as this was the first lead I had, “These zombie attacks, was there anything off about them.”
“You mean aside from them being dead?”
“Well yeah, did they move as units, act in a manner that might be atypical.”
“Look man where I’m from the dead stay dead, I doubt the officers had time to analyze them for the subtleties you’re asking about.” She finished. Before she could start hauling them back to her car I asked, “One more thing, would you happen to know if there were other magic users involved?”
“Well, no, but Third District has its own local vigilante if that’s what you want. I’m not sure whether they can use magic or not, but he might have been the reason that the officers escaped.” I thanked her and helped her get the four criminals into the back of her squad hover-car.
She offered to ride me to the Third Precinct where I hoped to find answers. As I got out, I wished her farewell and headed towards the squat brick building, where two Trevaxi guards stood. Trevaxi were natives of Azuria just like humans, Sansarians, Nymeans, and Tarak, but they were a bit hardier than the rest of us. They were humanoid shaped gems with glowing eyes of different colors. The two in front of me happened to be emerald colored, each stood ready to gun me down with shotguns.
I nodded at them as I tried to walk into the station, but the on the left stopped me, “What’s your business mage?” He said in a commanding voice. I backed up a little, “I’m here to look into some strange,”
“We don’t need your assistance, now head back to your academy and stay there.” Well, as expected as that response was, I couldn’t turn back.
“Look my man, I need to speak with your chief, because there may be several magic users involved and I’m not sure,”
“You aren’t sure, you mages never are, now get lost before I throw you into the streets.” I looked back and the streets were crowded, no one particularly paid us any mind. This was not the sort of treatment that the station wanted on its record, but who would believe a gutless mage over a veteran officer?
I had to get in and this guy wasn’t going to stop me, “Look, I’m after this magic user because,”
“I don’t care.” I was starting to get pissed. Now, I wasn’t stupid enough to pull Hunter out, but instead lowered my shoulder and charged towards the door. It was stupid, I wasn’t going to get far, but hell I had to try something. Luckily, I took the Trevaxi by surprise and burst through the doors.
To be fair it was a nice office, the desk seemed nice and orderly, but I couldn’t quite get past all the officers with drawn pistols and laser pistols aimed my way. I quickly held my hands up to thwart any ideas of shooting me, but I got the feeling I was pushing it, maybe just a little. A very serious looking woman with a scar on her right eye walked forward, “You’ve got about ten seconds to tell me what you’re here for.”
“I was here looking for two individuals a vigilante and a necromancer, but your men here wouldn’t let me enter peaceably.” She turned to the two officers and gave them a stern look. I’m glad they couldn’t see my face because I was smiling at their misfortune; couldn’t be me. “Look I’m not trying to get in the way or start any trouble but,”
The woman held up her hand to stop me, “Listen, I know you mean well, but we don’t really trust mages, hell half the reason we’re in this mess is because of strange magic.” I sighed, knowing I wasn’t going to get much more in the way of information here. What I didn’t know is that there was another officer there who was paying attention to our conversation.
“While I’m sorry that my boys caused you trouble, I can’t exactly put you on the case with my officers. Your presence here will only cause a greater distraction from the mass of work we already have. Boys if you’ll escort him out.” Before the Trevaxi officers could take me out, a blue scaled Tarak walked towards us, “Hey boss I’ll take care of our mage friend here, I’ll even take him far away from the station.” This seemed to agree with the sergeant, so the officer took me out to his patrol car.
I got in and he started the hover-car then we set off into the mean streets of Slade City. The city was a lot larger than I remembered it being, repulsor roads arced throughout the city as neon lights and signs tried to grab our attention. Traffic was heavy, but this didn’t seem to bother the officer at all. After waiting for a few minutes till we came to an overcrowded part of the city, the officer introduced himself, “I’m Shos, Shos Vozza. You’ll have to excuse my colleagues, but we really have had our hands full.”
“I’m Jaden Blackthorn and to be quite frank I kind of expected that. Why don’t you tell me about this problem you all have?” I asked, but the officer held up a finger, “Look I couldn’t ask for your help with this case without at least letting me treat you to some food at a nice café here in town.” Well, this was a shock, an officer in Slade City that wasn’t jerk. We came around to a parking lot then landed then headed into the bottom floor of a large skyscraper that served as the headquarters for the Magia Technica one of the largest magical tech companies in the country. At the bottom, however, was a café with a classic wood finish and a few baristas running about in aprons.
I sat down with Shos and the two of us pulled up a holo-menu and ordered drinks and I ordered a blueberry muffin. We sat and ate for a few moments before I finally asked, “So, about this necromancer?”
He sighed, “We don’t know much, he’s worked in the shadows for so long, with the occasional zombie attack here and there, but nothing to catch him though. I’ve been working with a vigilante who calls himself the Shadow. He’s a mage just like you, though a bit less refined since he doesn’t have the same experience.”
“Then he may need help to bring down the necromancer. Is there any way we can get in contact with Shadow?”
“Of course, he’s actually a friend of mine, but I’m sure if the rest of the force found out I was working with a vigilante, then I’d lose my job.” He responded. I wanted to assure him that since he was working with a registered mage, he wouldn’t lose his job, but seeing how quickly they wanted me out, I’m sure that wouldn’t be true either. Shos gave me a pointed look, “I need two things from you if we’re to meet Shadow.”
“Name them.”
“The first, obviously, is that you keep my involvement with the vigilante a secret. The second is that you treat Shadow well. He’s not a bad guy, and he tries to do good with the magic that he was given. I know you’re a mage hunter so I think it goes without saying that the academy wants him put away.”
I stopped and thought about what he was saying for a minute. Most mage hunters were killers, but that was not all there was to our job. We were always meant to bring in mages alive to help them get their powers under control, so that they could contribute to society. I leaned back after eating a bite of my muffin before addressing his concern, “Look, I’m actually here to find a guy name Zerik Shin, a mage that specializes in the School of the Unseen.” This seemed to take the cop aback, so the Shadow and Zerik might be one and the same, “A colleague of mine, Dr. Isabela Silva, wanted me to bring him to Arxor Academy so that we could teach him there. This necromancer and vigilante kind of gave me the first leads to this guy’s whereabouts.”
“So, you’re a friend of Dr. Silva,” He laughed, “Man, I wish you’d opened with that.” This girl got around, didn’t she? I guess mages with the ability to heal were always in high demand and Izzy was one of the best. Shos seemed to relax a bit more, “Listen, I’m supposed to meet with the Shadow in a few hours. How about I drop you off, wherever you’re staying so you can make preparations and I’ll do the same. I’ll pick you up so we can go give him some backup.”
“I’d like that.” We shook hands then got up to leave the café. He drove me to the hotel I was staying, where I began to make preparations for the long night ahead of us.
2024.06.09 21:51 agentjbone1 Here is my story...
Hello everyone, not really asking for anything. Just sharing my story of marriage and upcoming divorce.
Me (36m) and my wife (37f) have been together for 13 years now and married for 7. When we began dating, I was fresh out of my first ever real relationship and to be honest, I was just looking for a one night rebound online. I found her and we hung out. It lasted longer than the one night. We dated for a couple weeks. I saw red flags immediately. She had MANY guy friends, they would be at her house with just her most nights drinking and playing beer pong and whatever else. She mentioned to me how right before we started dating, she woke up naked with a guy in her bed and had no idea what happened the night before. Major red flag that I ignored.
Soon after we started dating I tried to break it off. I knew she wasn't right and I didn't want to be with a person who would drink that much and end up in bed with a stranger and no memory. I allowed her to talk me into staying, my fault there. I wasn't firm enough with the decision. A couple weeks after that she was being kicked out of her house and I allowed her to move in with me since she had nowhere else to go. I didn't want to be with her but I felt like I was being the nice guy until she got on her feet. I decided I needed a change (for many reasons) and I planned to move out of state. I gave her the chance to come with me, part of me hoping she would have declined the offer and I would go alone. She accepted and we moved from CA to NV.
We got jobs here and started making things work. I wasn't going to split up with her just after moving out of state with her. And there were pockets of time where things seemed ok and may work out. We both made bad decisions early on (me sexting with randoms online. Her looking through local dicks on Craigslist and reaching out to them) Splitting up eventually was an option for me, then she got pregnant. Again, started feeling like things could work. I dropped the splitting up idea and focused on our son.
Two years later, she's pregnant again. I am so tired at this point with the one kid, graveyard job that lasted 12 hours each night I wasn't thinking about much of anything. Really sleepwalking through my days to be honest. Shortly after our second son was born my mother moved in with us. She was sick and things weren't looking good. Eventually she passed, very slowly and it was quite traumatic overall. I wasn't really thinking of divorce at that point, obviously. We also got married right around this time. Divorce was not something I was planning at the time even though I was unhappy.
A few months after we got married, I caught her cheating with two men from work (that I know of) and I was close to leaving her after that. I made the decision to stay because initially. I figured we can work this out as long as this was the only time. I wasn't perfect, made my bad decisions before so I gave her another chance. Immediately after that she started lying again. Hiding things from me. I considered leaving but I couldn't pull the trigger. There was the kids, me working so damn much that I was barely ever awake, and I felt bad leaving her while she wasn't making much money. So I stayed.
Things never got better. She never stopped lying, or hiding things from me. Then surprise! A global pandemic that caused me to lose my job. At this point we are focused on surviving, divorce far from my mind. Covid cleared up and I got a job without a steady paycheck. She got a promotion and is making plenty of money. I couldn't leave without having a steady paycheck so I stayed again. She has continued to lie, even just last week she blatantly lied to me. She hides things. I cannot trust her.
I sit here, 36 years old, scared shitless of divorcing. Mainly due to the fact I literally have no family besides my kids. I have friends at work, that's about all. The fear of being TRULY alone really scares me. Thanks for reading.
submitted by agentjbone1 to Divorce [link] [comments]
Me (36m) and my wife (37f) have been together for 13 years now and married for 7. When we began dating, I was fresh out of my first ever real relationship and to be honest, I was just looking for a one night rebound online. I found her and we hung out. It lasted longer than the one night. We dated for a couple weeks. I saw red flags immediately. She had MANY guy friends, they would be at her house with just her most nights drinking and playing beer pong and whatever else. She mentioned to me how right before we started dating, she woke up naked with a guy in her bed and had no idea what happened the night before. Major red flag that I ignored.
Soon after we started dating I tried to break it off. I knew she wasn't right and I didn't want to be with a person who would drink that much and end up in bed with a stranger and no memory. I allowed her to talk me into staying, my fault there. I wasn't firm enough with the decision. A couple weeks after that she was being kicked out of her house and I allowed her to move in with me since she had nowhere else to go. I didn't want to be with her but I felt like I was being the nice guy until she got on her feet. I decided I needed a change (for many reasons) and I planned to move out of state. I gave her the chance to come with me, part of me hoping she would have declined the offer and I would go alone. She accepted and we moved from CA to NV.
We got jobs here and started making things work. I wasn't going to split up with her just after moving out of state with her. And there were pockets of time where things seemed ok and may work out. We both made bad decisions early on (me sexting with randoms online. Her looking through local dicks on Craigslist and reaching out to them) Splitting up eventually was an option for me, then she got pregnant. Again, started feeling like things could work. I dropped the splitting up idea and focused on our son.
Two years later, she's pregnant again. I am so tired at this point with the one kid, graveyard job that lasted 12 hours each night I wasn't thinking about much of anything. Really sleepwalking through my days to be honest. Shortly after our second son was born my mother moved in with us. She was sick and things weren't looking good. Eventually she passed, very slowly and it was quite traumatic overall. I wasn't really thinking of divorce at that point, obviously. We also got married right around this time. Divorce was not something I was planning at the time even though I was unhappy.
A few months after we got married, I caught her cheating with two men from work (that I know of) and I was close to leaving her after that. I made the decision to stay because initially. I figured we can work this out as long as this was the only time. I wasn't perfect, made my bad decisions before so I gave her another chance. Immediately after that she started lying again. Hiding things from me. I considered leaving but I couldn't pull the trigger. There was the kids, me working so damn much that I was barely ever awake, and I felt bad leaving her while she wasn't making much money. So I stayed.
Things never got better. She never stopped lying, or hiding things from me. Then surprise! A global pandemic that caused me to lose my job. At this point we are focused on surviving, divorce far from my mind. Covid cleared up and I got a job without a steady paycheck. She got a promotion and is making plenty of money. I couldn't leave without having a steady paycheck so I stayed again. She has continued to lie, even just last week she blatantly lied to me. She hides things. I cannot trust her.
I sit here, 36 years old, scared shitless of divorcing. Mainly due to the fact I literally have no family besides my kids. I have friends at work, that's about all. The fear of being TRULY alone really scares me. Thanks for reading.
2024.06.09 21:41 mmini1990 Chicken Coop math help
 | Hello! I have recently acquired 12 chicks. Three lavender Orpington, three copper Marans, three sapphire olive eggers and three speckled Sussex. I was originally planing for 9 total birds, but, do to order minimums….. here we are. I am trying to see if I can pull off keeping all 12 rather than rehoming three (which would be going to my buddies farm). submitted by mmini1990 to BackYardChickens [link] [comments] My coops total floor space with run is 142 x 57” roughly 56 square feet. The sleeping quarters/egg laying area which is elevated is approx 55x44 16ish square feet. The sleeping area is my biggest concern, will 12 birds fit? I am able to provide 110 inch’s of roosting space. Possibly a bit more depending on how I arrange the roosts. There are 3 nesting boxes which are apart of the sleeping area but are hung outside the square footage I mentioned. During the day I am able to have the birds free range my fenced in back yard which is half and acre. Part 2. The brooder. Chicks are currently in a large stock tank (tractor supply style) and I am aware they are going to RAPIDLY outgrow that. I am planing on keeping them inside and I’m able to build a new brooder that’s 34”x74” with the front wall being 2.5 feet tall and back being 4. Would that be enough to hold these gals till 6 weeks? The second they are able I have a 4’x8’ kennel they can “free range” in during the day. My other option would be to move them into the garage once they outgrow the stock tank and use that kennel as a garage “brooder” and just add the brooder plate and pine shavings on top of a horse stall mat. Thanks for all the help. Just want to be sure I can support the 12 girls properly. |
2024.06.09 21:37 Individual_Air_7064 Followers on IG keep unfollowing / not engaging
So, I’ve been doing OF for 2 weeks now so I’m completely new to the game, however this 2 weeks I already gather 43 paying subs and made $600 so far. The thing is I personally took the choice of promoting on my personal IG I’ve had since I was 16 so it was easier to get everyone’s attention, I had an ok amount of followers (around 8000-9000) and years ago they were super engaging with my content, many likes and comments, but seems like a couple of years ago I stopped getting new subs, and now in loosing an insanely amount of followers (currently at 7800) but that’s not even the worst part, they won’t interact with me. I receive so few likes and almost no comments, feels like I barely have 100 active followers. I kinda get it tho, since the pandemic I pulled a lot of weight and stopped being the thin sexy goth girl and now I’m thicc, I also feel like my posts are boring and repetitive and now I’m promoting like crazy on IG so I guess that was such a rebranding por my old followers. So I do need advice. I already figured that they will keep unfollowing since in not the same gal I was back on 2018 and that’s ok, but how do I get new subs tho? Hashtags don’t work as they used to, reels barely get any views. I make questions on my posts and literally no one engages and I post stories like 3-5 times a day. Any advice is welcome! Also this is literally my first post on Reddit since I also know this is a great site to gain followers so advice in here is also welcome lol. Oh I also forgot to add that I’ve already created a back up account and started to post there to check and see if I get new fresh people, so let’s see how it goes.
submitted by Individual_Air_7064 to CreatorsAdvice [link] [comments]
2024.06.09 21:34 devious_creecher Map and lore of america as of the events of the show, circa 2296. Updated with people's suggestions. (Show spoilers)
Once again if there is anything I missed or any suggestions people want to make feel free to let me know.
NCR: following their loss to the ruler of the strip, and subsequent evacuation, ncr troops returned home to find California in an even worse state, the capital was destroyed nearly exactly as the second battle for the dam took place, and it's destruction plus the armies defeat sent the already struggling ncr economy into a steep decline, seeking a solution, the reformed government attempted another, larger invasion of the mojave a few years later, which led to significant losses on both sides and ultimately another defeat.
This time, troops returned to a nation in near complete chaos. Shortages of food, water, and a now nearly worthless currency led to poverty and famine not seen since the founding of ncr, and riots over said famine, draft protests, and the resurgence of powerful raider gangs meant police and army forces were unable to keep order in many parts of the country, during this time, Brotherhood forces also began to re-emerge, defeating the scattered army in multiple battles. At this point desertion within the ncr military reached its all time high, with thousands of troops either going missing or being confirmed deserters, many of these soldiers would eventually end up forming their own gangs and petty warlord kingdoms within abandoned territories, with most becoming only slightly better than the raiders they were originally supposed to be fighting.
Eventually, the strain on the nation became too much, and the ncr began to officially withdraw from the southern states, with boneyard being one of the first, followed by almost every settlement, one by one, until the line finally held, the new border stretching from Navarro and the coast in the west to the Big Circle and Reno in the east. The ncr was gravely weakened due to its withdrawal, and lost both much of it's citizens as well as much of its industrial and commercial centers, despite this it has consolidated what it does have, and it's remaining cities are enough to keep it standing as one of the major powers of the west, albeit much less capable of its previous feats and ambitions
As of right now, the ncr is pursuing a policy largely of isolationism, and the ideas and ideals of figures like former senator Hanlon and Tandi hold great sway over the republic. Since the collapse the ncr had mainly been forced to focus its energy into rebuilding the north and solving the lingering issues of the food and water supply, and while it still boasts a comparatively formidable army, that army is strictly defensive, with no plans to fight back or reclaim territory being put in motion.
SHI EMPIRE: following the collapse of the ncr, the shi returned largely to a more isolationist stance on the outside world, shutting their gates and sealing San Francisco off from much of the outside world. Despite this, rumors persist about secret weapons deals with various wasteland groups, ranging from particularly influential warlords to the ncr itself, though this is not confirmed
THE HUB: following ncrs withdrawal from the south, the hub fell under the control of a coalition of caravan companies, local officials and army officers, and eventually managed to mitigate the damage of the collapse, soon returning to its role as a hub of trade for southern California, albeit with markedly less profit and stability, they are also one of the only places left in the south that are still in constant communication with ncr proper, with the hub maintaining telegraph lines between the powers in exchange for ncr goods and ammunition.
RENO: during the collapse, New Renos crime families declared independence from ncr, retaking official control over the city and forming a loose alliance to govern it, however this coalition quickly broke down, and the city is currently embroiled in a civil war between the Wrights, who also lead the remnants of the alliance, and the Van Graffs, who are attempting to seize complete control. So far the conflict has remained within the borders of the city and its surroundings, however ncr and Follower presence on the border has increased, both in response to a refugee crisis as well as the possibility of further escalation
WEST COAST BOS: following the decline of ncr, the brotherhood got the breathing space in the war it sorely needed, the west coasts elders and clerics needed only to wait for the ncr to continue to weaken, and following their second loss in Vegas, as well as news from the east of their victories and incoming reinforcements, the western brotherhood pushed back, retaking many of its lost bunkers and pushing ncr forces back. Currently it has merged with a large contingent of the east coast brotherhood, and brotherhood forces have been seen attacking a remnant warlord force in the boneyard area, though the exact reason for this is unknown. (Also important to note, the brotherhood still holds very limited control of the regions identified as theirs, with most of the area being under warlord amd Hub influence, brotherhood only hold a presence in locations such as lost hills and the the observatory)
NCR REMNANT: largely regarded as a myth or hearsay, rumors persist about a large force of veteran rangers and soldiers who, upon receiving word or the retreat from Baja and later the south, remained in and defended the city of Dayglow, turning the city into a fortress, however due to the presence of multiple hostile groups and the lack of contact from the area, Dayglows remnants are regarded more as a theory than an actual unit. No attempts at contact have been made by either the Hub or ncr proper.
WARLORD TERRITORY: warlord territory refers to the largely lawless stretches of former ncr land that have fallen into the control of small territorial groups, whether they be raider gangs, former army units, former brahmin barons, citizens militias or whoever else may have the incentive and manpower to claim territory, quality of life in these areas is still barely better than it was in the collapse, and wars, raids, and starvation are still commonplace, as well as the re-emergence of practices like slavery
NEW VEGAS: following the victory of the ruler of the strip over ncr, little is known in the wider west about the state of Vegas, though it would seem that progress was being made towards greater stability following ncrs retreat, this wouldn't last though, as the second ncr invasion began, and was met with extremely stiff resistance from the securitron army, as well as numerous local groups. Ultimately ncr troops managed to inflicted major casualties on the strip forces, even attacking and breaching the strip itself, and the damage done seems to have shattered Vegas as much as it did the ncr, leaving whatever plans its ruler had unfinished
THE LEGION: following their defeat at hoover dam, as well as the death of Caesar shortly after, the legion began to deteriorate and eventually dissolve, with many of its tribes returning to their former ways or what was left of them, the legion remains however, mainly in and around the capital of Flagstaff, though severely diminished, they have largely taken to ruling over or pillaging the reformed tribal groups and former ncr border settlements. Though many within the legion still hold Caesars ideals, none have been able to recapture what was broken when he died, and so the legion continues to decline.
Post-legion Tribes: named Legionem Proditores (Traitor Legions) by The Legion proper, the term refers to those who have returned to their former ways following the death of Caesar and the destabilization that followed. Vast swaths of the legions subjects attempted to return to their tribes roots, often to little success. Instead forming new tribes that are often completely antithetical to the legions ideals, this has led to the early beginnings of a confederation of tribes and villages that have proven to be a powerful force against the ambitions of the legion and groups like it, using legion tactics and weapons against them in response to slave raids and attempts at reintegration
GREAT KHANATE: following their move to Wyoming, the Khans formed a powerful nomadic empire based off the Mongols of old, so far little is known about their new society, though there have been reports of khan riders as far off as the california coast
EAST COAST BOS: the east coast brotherhood continues to reign as one of the major powers on the eastern seaboard, being the most powerful military force in the area, the commonwealth is the current headquarters of the high elder maxon, as well as his most trusted clerics, choosing it for its abundance of technical artifact over the comparatively safer capital wasteland, however pressure has been mounting for the elder to move once more, as the CPG at large has been becoming much less favorable towards the brotherhood, which it sees as overly protective of its tech and as overstepping its bounds far too frequently
COMMONWEALTH PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT: following the destruction of the institute the minutemen, alongside the brotherhood and multiple prominent settlements reformed the CPG, a council of representatives from each group who would govern the commonwealth and surrounding areas, since its inception the cpg has grown by many settlements, and the minutemen have grown alongside it, developing a standing professional garrison in many major towns, though still relying on its militia as its major military force. Recently the cpg has begun to debate the brotherhoods place on the council, and many councilors are demanding an end to the confiscation of technology from their citizens, with many demanding a right to use force against such attempts or demanding an eviction of the brotherhood from their bases across the commonwealth.
THE FREE PITT: Following the Pitts liberation, progress on the cure was slow, and conditions in the Pitt remained dismal, albeit better than it was under the raider lords. As time went on however, improving conditions in neighboring areas such as the Commonwealth and Capital Wasteland led to marked improvements in the Pitt itself, as trade and interaction with the newly established CPG, capital wasteland towns, and the Brotherhood led to stability and an improvement in the quality of life for many of its residents. As of 2296, the Pitt, with the help of allied scientists, managed to create a cure to the plague, and due to its industry and trade, its residents currently enjoy a level of stability and prosperity not seen in the city for over a century. Currently the Pitts biggest concern is a mounting need to create a proper government, a proposal that continues to be widely unpopular and staunchly opposed, with many in the Pitt still preferring the anarchic freedoms that the Pitt has stood by since the revolution.
MONTANA BOS: Founded during the very start of the Brotherhood, the Montana chapter was founded by a military officer in the days following Maxons call to revolt. When the war started however, the Montana bunkers found themselves in a much better condition than the rest of the nation, with Montana, and specifically their area of it sustaining far less damage. As a result of this, as well as the relatively low local population, the Montana chapter is in a remarkably safe location, and has a very small number of active combat troops as a result. To compensate for this, the Montana Brotherhood have become some of the best scribes in the entire organization, and the chapters bunkers have become vaults of precious artifacts and texts ranging from FEV samples to the personal effects of Roger Maxon himself. The chapter is also responsible for much of the brotherhoods historical recording, though due to their isolation and the precarious situation the brotherhood had faced in previous years, they have only recently started analyzing and recording the events following the start of the D.C. expedition, and are not expected to finish it for some time.
THE ENCLAVE: Following their loss at the hands of the Brotherhood in Capital Wasteland, enclave forces in the area pulled back to their bases at Mount Weather, West Virginia and Chicago, since then they have largely kept out of major conflicts, attempting to regain strength and manpower before moving on the brotherhood again, however two of their recent attempts at restoration have failed, with an expedition into the commonwealth failing with high casualties, and a researcher in a west coast facility defecting with promising tech.
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NCR: following their loss to the ruler of the strip, and subsequent evacuation, ncr troops returned home to find California in an even worse state, the capital was destroyed nearly exactly as the second battle for the dam took place, and it's destruction plus the armies defeat sent the already struggling ncr economy into a steep decline, seeking a solution, the reformed government attempted another, larger invasion of the mojave a few years later, which led to significant losses on both sides and ultimately another defeat.
This time, troops returned to a nation in near complete chaos. Shortages of food, water, and a now nearly worthless currency led to poverty and famine not seen since the founding of ncr, and riots over said famine, draft protests, and the resurgence of powerful raider gangs meant police and army forces were unable to keep order in many parts of the country, during this time, Brotherhood forces also began to re-emerge, defeating the scattered army in multiple battles. At this point desertion within the ncr military reached its all time high, with thousands of troops either going missing or being confirmed deserters, many of these soldiers would eventually end up forming their own gangs and petty warlord kingdoms within abandoned territories, with most becoming only slightly better than the raiders they were originally supposed to be fighting.
Eventually, the strain on the nation became too much, and the ncr began to officially withdraw from the southern states, with boneyard being one of the first, followed by almost every settlement, one by one, until the line finally held, the new border stretching from Navarro and the coast in the west to the Big Circle and Reno in the east. The ncr was gravely weakened due to its withdrawal, and lost both much of it's citizens as well as much of its industrial and commercial centers, despite this it has consolidated what it does have, and it's remaining cities are enough to keep it standing as one of the major powers of the west, albeit much less capable of its previous feats and ambitions
As of right now, the ncr is pursuing a policy largely of isolationism, and the ideas and ideals of figures like former senator Hanlon and Tandi hold great sway over the republic. Since the collapse the ncr had mainly been forced to focus its energy into rebuilding the north and solving the lingering issues of the food and water supply, and while it still boasts a comparatively formidable army, that army is strictly defensive, with no plans to fight back or reclaim territory being put in motion.
SHI EMPIRE: following the collapse of the ncr, the shi returned largely to a more isolationist stance on the outside world, shutting their gates and sealing San Francisco off from much of the outside world. Despite this, rumors persist about secret weapons deals with various wasteland groups, ranging from particularly influential warlords to the ncr itself, though this is not confirmed
THE HUB: following ncrs withdrawal from the south, the hub fell under the control of a coalition of caravan companies, local officials and army officers, and eventually managed to mitigate the damage of the collapse, soon returning to its role as a hub of trade for southern California, albeit with markedly less profit and stability, they are also one of the only places left in the south that are still in constant communication with ncr proper, with the hub maintaining telegraph lines between the powers in exchange for ncr goods and ammunition.
RENO: during the collapse, New Renos crime families declared independence from ncr, retaking official control over the city and forming a loose alliance to govern it, however this coalition quickly broke down, and the city is currently embroiled in a civil war between the Wrights, who also lead the remnants of the alliance, and the Van Graffs, who are attempting to seize complete control. So far the conflict has remained within the borders of the city and its surroundings, however ncr and Follower presence on the border has increased, both in response to a refugee crisis as well as the possibility of further escalation
WEST COAST BOS: following the decline of ncr, the brotherhood got the breathing space in the war it sorely needed, the west coasts elders and clerics needed only to wait for the ncr to continue to weaken, and following their second loss in Vegas, as well as news from the east of their victories and incoming reinforcements, the western brotherhood pushed back, retaking many of its lost bunkers and pushing ncr forces back. Currently it has merged with a large contingent of the east coast brotherhood, and brotherhood forces have been seen attacking a remnant warlord force in the boneyard area, though the exact reason for this is unknown. (Also important to note, the brotherhood still holds very limited control of the regions identified as theirs, with most of the area being under warlord amd Hub influence, brotherhood only hold a presence in locations such as lost hills and the the observatory)
NCR REMNANT: largely regarded as a myth or hearsay, rumors persist about a large force of veteran rangers and soldiers who, upon receiving word or the retreat from Baja and later the south, remained in and defended the city of Dayglow, turning the city into a fortress, however due to the presence of multiple hostile groups and the lack of contact from the area, Dayglows remnants are regarded more as a theory than an actual unit. No attempts at contact have been made by either the Hub or ncr proper.
WARLORD TERRITORY: warlord territory refers to the largely lawless stretches of former ncr land that have fallen into the control of small territorial groups, whether they be raider gangs, former army units, former brahmin barons, citizens militias or whoever else may have the incentive and manpower to claim territory, quality of life in these areas is still barely better than it was in the collapse, and wars, raids, and starvation are still commonplace, as well as the re-emergence of practices like slavery
NEW VEGAS: following the victory of the ruler of the strip over ncr, little is known in the wider west about the state of Vegas, though it would seem that progress was being made towards greater stability following ncrs retreat, this wouldn't last though, as the second ncr invasion began, and was met with extremely stiff resistance from the securitron army, as well as numerous local groups. Ultimately ncr troops managed to inflicted major casualties on the strip forces, even attacking and breaching the strip itself, and the damage done seems to have shattered Vegas as much as it did the ncr, leaving whatever plans its ruler had unfinished
THE LEGION: following their defeat at hoover dam, as well as the death of Caesar shortly after, the legion began to deteriorate and eventually dissolve, with many of its tribes returning to their former ways or what was left of them, the legion remains however, mainly in and around the capital of Flagstaff, though severely diminished, they have largely taken to ruling over or pillaging the reformed tribal groups and former ncr border settlements. Though many within the legion still hold Caesars ideals, none have been able to recapture what was broken when he died, and so the legion continues to decline.
Post-legion Tribes: named Legionem Proditores (Traitor Legions) by The Legion proper, the term refers to those who have returned to their former ways following the death of Caesar and the destabilization that followed. Vast swaths of the legions subjects attempted to return to their tribes roots, often to little success. Instead forming new tribes that are often completely antithetical to the legions ideals, this has led to the early beginnings of a confederation of tribes and villages that have proven to be a powerful force against the ambitions of the legion and groups like it, using legion tactics and weapons against them in response to slave raids and attempts at reintegration
GREAT KHANATE: following their move to Wyoming, the Khans formed a powerful nomadic empire based off the Mongols of old, so far little is known about their new society, though there have been reports of khan riders as far off as the california coast
EAST COAST BOS: the east coast brotherhood continues to reign as one of the major powers on the eastern seaboard, being the most powerful military force in the area, the commonwealth is the current headquarters of the high elder maxon, as well as his most trusted clerics, choosing it for its abundance of technical artifact over the comparatively safer capital wasteland, however pressure has been mounting for the elder to move once more, as the CPG at large has been becoming much less favorable towards the brotherhood, which it sees as overly protective of its tech and as overstepping its bounds far too frequently
COMMONWEALTH PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT: following the destruction of the institute the minutemen, alongside the brotherhood and multiple prominent settlements reformed the CPG, a council of representatives from each group who would govern the commonwealth and surrounding areas, since its inception the cpg has grown by many settlements, and the minutemen have grown alongside it, developing a standing professional garrison in many major towns, though still relying on its militia as its major military force. Recently the cpg has begun to debate the brotherhoods place on the council, and many councilors are demanding an end to the confiscation of technology from their citizens, with many demanding a right to use force against such attempts or demanding an eviction of the brotherhood from their bases across the commonwealth.
THE FREE PITT: Following the Pitts liberation, progress on the cure was slow, and conditions in the Pitt remained dismal, albeit better than it was under the raider lords. As time went on however, improving conditions in neighboring areas such as the Commonwealth and Capital Wasteland led to marked improvements in the Pitt itself, as trade and interaction with the newly established CPG, capital wasteland towns, and the Brotherhood led to stability and an improvement in the quality of life for many of its residents. As of 2296, the Pitt, with the help of allied scientists, managed to create a cure to the plague, and due to its industry and trade, its residents currently enjoy a level of stability and prosperity not seen in the city for over a century. Currently the Pitts biggest concern is a mounting need to create a proper government, a proposal that continues to be widely unpopular and staunchly opposed, with many in the Pitt still preferring the anarchic freedoms that the Pitt has stood by since the revolution.
MONTANA BOS: Founded during the very start of the Brotherhood, the Montana chapter was founded by a military officer in the days following Maxons call to revolt. When the war started however, the Montana bunkers found themselves in a much better condition than the rest of the nation, with Montana, and specifically their area of it sustaining far less damage. As a result of this, as well as the relatively low local population, the Montana chapter is in a remarkably safe location, and has a very small number of active combat troops as a result. To compensate for this, the Montana Brotherhood have become some of the best scribes in the entire organization, and the chapters bunkers have become vaults of precious artifacts and texts ranging from FEV samples to the personal effects of Roger Maxon himself. The chapter is also responsible for much of the brotherhoods historical recording, though due to their isolation and the precarious situation the brotherhood had faced in previous years, they have only recently started analyzing and recording the events following the start of the D.C. expedition, and are not expected to finish it for some time.
THE ENCLAVE: Following their loss at the hands of the Brotherhood in Capital Wasteland, enclave forces in the area pulled back to their bases at Mount Weather, West Virginia and Chicago, since then they have largely kept out of major conflicts, attempting to regain strength and manpower before moving on the brotherhood again, however two of their recent attempts at restoration have failed, with an expedition into the commonwealth failing with high casualties, and a researcher in a west coast facility defecting with promising tech.