Dental assistant internship thank you letter

Looking to apply for MSCS in the US and am wondering if my shortlist of unit makes sense for my profile.
CGPA: 8.3 in top 3 NIT CS
Internship + Work experience: 1 summer internship + 1 year FTE both in FAANG
Research: I have only one paper published in a conference but it's of very poor quality as it was done to satisfy a course requirement in college. I would not cite this unless it's absolutely required.
GRE: 156 Verbal, 167 Quant, 3.0 Analytical
TOEFL iBT: 112 overall with least subsection score of 25.
Extra curricular: Did really well in ICPC (not World Finals level tho) and was quite active in coaching/organising in the CP community until I joined work.
Ambitious

• Stanford
• CMU
• UIUC

Moderate

• Georgia Tech
• UW Madison
• UCSD

These are all some colleges my seniors have gotten into before.
Not looking to apply to any safe schools as I want to join a really strong program and have good employment chances. I would prefer working here and getting promoted over risking doing MS in a safe school in the US.
Can anyone let me know if this list is in touch with reality? Thank you.

I work closely with a service provider in my role. The business is small. 1 director and he employees 2 cleaners. I assign jobs to this company and I represent 80% of his turnover. I spend £200k per annum. He has low overheads so a minimum 50% of this is profit. The director is, by his own admission, lazy. I ask him to do more work for me and he doesn't due to being happy with what he has and not wanting to work more than 4 hours per day, or every few days. He's behind on admin and also does not like admin at all. He is considering hiring an admin assistant. My colleague and I have helped him develop his business in order to assist us in our daily duties. We all have a really good relationship.
My colleague and I have realised that we'll never be well off and more than just comfortable unless we get out of employment and step in to our own business venture. We know that the business we work closely with could be scaled up and deliver huge profits, if it was given consistent energy and driven in to new sites.
We have a couple of ideas:

1. Ideally. We propose to the director that one of us is employed to run the operations. Instead of hiring an admin assistant, he hires one of us. I have 12 years of relevant experience in managing sites which use the same services so am more than qualified. My colleague has similar experience. The newly employed individual would have a set target turnover to generate before becoming a partner. Then another target and the other individual would be hired. Then another target and they would also be a partner. Meaning 3 individuals are equal partners of the business. We would grow and scale the business. Branching our in to more service sectors and securing contracts with existing contacts in the industry.
   
2. We start our own business and compete with his. Ultimately, this is not what we want. Higher risk due to needing to create the business from scratch and loss of income for the individual who would leave work to do this.
   

Can anyone help suggest ideas to assist? Can you ask any questions to help me develop this idea?
I do not want the director to think I am wanting a free ride, I genuinely believe that I will be able to increase the company's turnover by using my knowledge and experience to deliver cleaning contracts. I want the director to think it's almost his idea and that one of us would consider it.
It's worth pointing out that we work in a fast growing sector and there are 3 new opportunities on our doorstep for doing the same role. Whichever individual stays on at our current company could switch to another site to generate another opportunity to deliver cleaning services.
Thank you!

This is for entry level jobs (housekeeping, breakfast service etc. I moved 7 months ago for my partners job so this is all I can get for now, which is fine. I know they’re usually shitty environments ) I left my last job here after 6 months as it was not my standard of cleanliness at all and the entire team had issues with higher ups. Some already quit before me. It was time, and it was not a nice goodbye. I wasn’t unprofessional, they just didn’t like that I was direct in my displeasure with how they run things.
My partner thinks I should definitely put that the new job can contact the old for references, and though they can’t say anything negative about my standard of work, I have an amazing reference letter from a job that ended a month before I got this one. From Germany, I only quit to move here. I’m in a German speaking area and think this is enough and prefer they don’t contact this last job that was awful.
What say you? If I don’t include, is it obvious I quit/makes it look like I got fired? Or can I list something in cover letter about leaving for x,y,z reasons (entered workforce here and want to work at high standard facilities because I enjoy the attention to detail something something blabla)
Thank you.

hi can someone, help me find a part time job (virtual assistant or any remote work) preferably 4 hrs per night since i have full time job every morning. I don't have any experience being a virtual assistant but I am willing to start this new opportunity/ies. I've try on an online job posting for months but I always got decline because of experience and qualifications.
P.S I have Bachelor of Science degree in business administration with a major in operations management, and experience of 5 years in purchasing and supply chain as part time and purchasing for 3 years full time, based in Manila Philippines
I would appreciate if you can recommend me, your suggestion is highly appreciated.
Thank you

Hello, I really didn’t want to come to this but I’m out of options.
I need major dental work done where I’ll be having all of my broken teeth cut out. It will be split into several surgeries but it’s very expensive. After I have them all removed and I have recovered. I’m also getting dentures made. But sadly I can’t afford to do it. I do work 2 jobs but it’s not enough, after supporting my family, the cost of living, and bills. I just can’t manage to get this procedure done. I’ve tried cutting back but I’m a single father with 3 kids ages 13, 9, and 5.
The medication I’ve been on the past 20-25 years has made my teeth weaken and one by one just started breaking off.
I’ve been putting the surgery off for years now because I can’t afford it. And I’ve always tried to put my kids before me. But the pain is just to unbareible now and then the gum disease from the tooth decay. I’m afraid I can’t wait much longer.
I’ll attach a link with a photo of how bad my teeth are. But if anyone has a weak stomach or doesn’t like to look at gross stuff. I’d recommend not looking at it.
Here’s what’s left of my teeth.
Thank you and I’m very grateful for any help

Hello everyone! Hopefully my story reaches whoever needs it. I sadly struggled with BV for 9 months straight before it finally went away. It all started when I was sexually active with a guy that was no good for me. It was my first time ever having BV so I didn’t understanding what was going on with my body at the time. After ending the connection my vaginal health wouldn’t get better for the life of me. I was constantly going to the clinic getting tested, making multiple doctors appts but no matter how much antibiotics was given to me I would still have BV. The antibiotics I took were Flagyl (took this about 4 times) and Clindamycin cream (used this once) and both gave me the same effects. I always finished the meds and my downstairs area would smell like dirty water! I was miserable and super insecure. Before having any vaginal issues I was drinking a lots of water and taking my probiotics on a regular basis. In those nine months nothing was working! I spent around $200 in probiotics trying different brands and different strains to see what would work for me. I can’t say they didn’t work because I did feel and smell a difference but I still wasn’t back to normal. Finally after a long 9 months with lots of research and a good amount of money spent I am happy to say I am free of the shackles of BV. I been BV free for 4 months now. Here are some tips for anyone struggling.

1. Drink lots of water! I know it’s very cliché to say this but dehydration can intensify body odors. I recommend drinking about 40oz - 64oz a day. Stop drinking water when your pee is clear. You don’t wanna over hydrate your body and lose electrolytes.
   
2. Invest in a good probiotic and be patient. Sadly a lot of reviews online for probiotics are fake and some companies pay for good reviews. Avoid the brands that have reviews like "after one day of taking this probiotic all my problems went away." Learn from my mistake of being gullible enough to believe that. Look for probiotics with variety of strains, between 7 to 20 strains will do. CFU count can be a little tricky but I notice my body reacts will to 50 cfu. I don’t suggest 100 cfu because it could give you adverse effects and make your BV or yeast infection worst. If you need any recommendations feel free to message me.
   
3. TEA! There are lots of different teas that have amazing benefits for you vag. I researched the benefits of a lot of teas before i came across hibiscus tea. This tea has completely changed my life for the better. Funny enough I had a dream about hibiscus tea after i brought it and something told me to give it a try. Before i tell you this recipe I recommend you do your own research on this tea. If you have low blood pressure I do not recommend you drink this because it could lower it even more. Hibiscus is rich in antioxidants and assist the body in fighting infections. You could drink the tea alone but i personally didn’t feel the most benefits from doing that. What I do is brew a cup of tea for about 5 mins, add a SPLASH of Apple cider vinegar with the mother. ACV does have some antibacterial and anti fungal properties that could help with health of your gut and vaginal Microbiome and the "mother" is the cloudy particles you see within the vinegar, which is made of good bacteria. Not a shot but a splash of it, took much ACV can be harmless to your throat and teeth. To sweeten the tea I use 100% organic, honey. This is optional but if you have pure 100% pure cranberry juice not from concentrate in your home add a splash of that too. Literally a hour after drinking this I smelled significantly better and continued drinking this for 7 days straight, once a day. My ph balance was right back to normal on day 7. Now I make this for myself about 2-3 times a week. If you come to the conclusion that you can’t consume hibiscus tea a good alternative is green tea, ginger, turmeric, peppermint, licorice, and black tea.
   
4. Take a shot of Pure 100% cranberry juice not from concentrate twice a day. Yes cranberries are mainly used for UTIs, but with long-term consumption, it can help the overall pH balance of the vagina. I recommend the Lakewood Juice brand.
   
5. Ask for a different antibiotic. Please be vocal about a specific antibiotic not working for your body. A lot of doctors love to prescribe Flagyl because it’s considered the standard for BV but it doesn’t completely eliminate the problem. For any of my ladies who have been prescribed Flagyl over and over again please consider trying oral clindamycin! This is the only antibiotic that has completely cleared my BV. Please be cautious though, it can be really hard on the stomach so i do recommend you take a probiotic about an hour after the dose. For example, if you have to take two pills a day after your last pill take a probiotic a hour after. This is to prevent the loss of the healthy bacteria in your gut. YOU DON’T TO GET C DIFF. If you have IBS, Ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease please talk to your doctor to see if it’s a good fit for you. Tips 1-4 are for replenishing your Microbiome and maintaining your pH balance.
   

If you come to the end of this post, thank you so much for reading. I hope my story encourages you and gives you a sense of hope that you can gain control of your body again. Feel free to ask any questions or message me! F**k BV.

Hello everyone! Hope you all are doing well
So, here is the information about me: 3 Yr Law from Campus Law Centre, DU, LL.M in Corporate law from NLUO (2nd rank), 6 months litigation experience prior to LL.M
So, i am seeking a job in corporate law (securities law, M&A, insolvency or corporate restructuring to be specific), although i have no practical work experience in this field since i have only 3 internships in litigation and in PSUs, but i have keen interest in the field of corporate law, also with a good foundation in the same, i also have performed well academically. So, what should the path ahead look like ? I mean what is the salary i should expect and what are the firms where i should apply to get a good exposure and career growth ? Moreover i am also getting a few papers published while i have time, what else can i do for my CV to stand out?
Thanks and regards

So the story goes like this: My ex best friend F31 asked me F23 to come stay with her because she lives closer to where we had our internship although i had my space well equipped .and i did , and during that time i was going with my bfM32 from back then, things went wrong we broke up and i wanted to recover my belongings from his space , he didn't care even after many times s i asked him ,so one day he did agree ro bring em to me and i was having a walk by the beach with my exfriend , he came drunk and his friend was drunk,and before we knew that we had to get in the car because he was in the middle of the road, my ex friend nd had to call her dude M32 to come save us from this weird situation before we get SAed . He came and kept on asking me about the dude and i was very responsive because i felt like he hd the right to know since he saved us . He drove us back at her place i thanked him and he and went first to let them have a private convo . 5minutes later she joined me saying that he had something to do and he went . And for the records this guy is her ex . She already has a bf that lives thats was back then in a different country so it was our only option . The next 2 days , he kept asking her about me alot like crazy and she only mentioned that without telling me her responses. And i didn't give it much thoughts because she was my friend and i trusted her . Afew days later we got an invitation to an event 3 hours away from our city and we (girls) didn't feel safe to go alone so we thought we should bring with us someone(a guy) from the same field to keep an eye on us and it was my suggestion to call him since he was very protective and handled the situation well he seemed decent and worked where we had the internship. She talked to him(via messages ) and didn't wanna sound desperate trying to find reasons to call so she asked me to him -she said that i wanted to tell him something i talked to him(in a call) in front of her told him exactly just about the event and she took the phone went to the kitchen and finished talking . She came back saying he said he will see his shifts and will let us know asap . Again she said i dont want him texting me ,i already took his consent to share his number . Send him a message to tell him it's u so he will let u know if he is going or not . That conversation happened but it didn't end there he kept having a conversation about random stuff while my ex friend had access to the conversation and told me what to answer sometimes, at a certain level she said from now on i don't wanna know your conversation anymore yall seem very compatible and im just gonna tell u (me) this from a friend to another , he is a bad person manipulator ...telling me all the bad things he is , and that she's only warning me because im her friend and she cares about me. I was like girl do u have feelings for him and she went like no im just scared for you he knows how to talk . I had this conversation with her 10 times exactly and each and every time she was like know to me he is trash knowing that she is already with someone.
Now is where the weird behavior started , she started talking less with me , avoiding eye contact but she has always had a similar phase where she just hates u for no reason so i was like it must be it ignored her behavior until one day i told her that i wanted to check on my house it has been more than a month and i decided to sleep at my place ,texted her the morning im on my way to your house so we can go together to work like we do every day and she was like didn't sleep at my place just go without me . I did and then she started telling me about an aunt and how she met her cousins and stuff and she had fun while i know she has no aunt in the city ,i didn't wanna go hard on her and acted like i believed ed it . After we finished the shift i asked her about going to her place to recover some papers i had there and again she was like im going to have lunch with my aunt ,im not gonna be at home but ill be that at this hour if you want to come pick the things you need , i understood that she no longer wanted me there but maybe it's because of her room mates maybe she is running low on money maybe she just want some alone time although i wasn't intending to stay this long at her place she begged me every single le time to stay and not go and that i had nothing to fo there alone , i passed by a day later to take some of my stuff i couldn't nt take everything ng because i dont have a car and thanked her for her hospitality and left . During all of this time i was still talking to the dude very casually until ill one day he was like don't disappear for a long period of time and from that day on we had a continuous conversation but still very decent . Until one day we have met and he was like i can sense that we are not going to be just friend but u (me) keep lying to urself, nothing happened but we did agree that being friend is not enough for how much we are compatible in an implicit way nothing was directly said . I kept my relationship with her very normal when i met her at work because im not a fan of drama at work but she is so the next thing after kicking me out of her house is causing me problems with the supervisor complaining to him about how i just waste time and dont work and when i confronted her about it was all manipulative answers like u shouldn't have this much of a reaction don't raise your hands while talking i just left the argument because i didn't t wanna cause a scene at work .
Things with the dude are going slow and healthy she was right about some stuff but the majority was wrong not that it didn't happen between thembut because they didn't match it was always them fighting over the tiniest details .
Later on the dude started asking me about when did my parents get divorced and my financial crisis thing thats were never mentioned before in front on of me and no one took my consent to share -so basically she was telling everyone at work , him and her roommates that i was going through tough times and that i had to stay with her because she is helping me financially- and speaking about my parents they have divorced when i was 2 i was used to having my mom only and she did a great job providing like he didn't even have a space im my memory or my brain idk why she decided to mention that and make me look petty . She has also said that im in a huge fight with my older sister which is not true . I had to explain everything to the dude Also he asked me about how i feel now that we are going out out together knowing that she was my friend and stuff i also explained to him how i talked to her about this and how does she feel ,and he interrupted me saying we have only met a couple of times in the car we never went in a date. she is not my ex and it could be possible that she has feeling for me.
Me and the dude are having a stable relationship rn and idk how to feel about it please give ne ur analysis of this situation !

Hello everyone! I’m a wolski living in Poland for a few months now, not Warsaw, just working. First of all I really like Poland, people are nice and the place it’s lovely, so I’m deciding to stay and study here. However I would like to start university next year, specifically Finance. I saw rankings and Warsaw it’s pretty much the best in the country, I have a few questions about it: How hard is to get into it? I have good grades from highschool but not the best, is the admissions rate low? Would it be possible to work full time and study full time at the same time or I would need to find a part time? How’s the job market in this field here in Poland? I saw there are quite good possibilities. I have the problem that I’m gonna be quite old when I start, basically 24, so I’m gonna be almost 30 when finishing the master, is it gonna be hard to get an internship? If anyone studied there could write to me I would appreciate it a lot. It’s a lot of questions so thank you if anyone decides to answer some of them, wish you a nice Sunday!

I don't know what I am supposed to do. I can withstand unnecessary lectures, collective punishment, unfair scoffing and yelling, but what happened at this store was way out of line.
I wanted a full time job and I always diligently and quickly packed the customers trolleys but my main manager always found new ways to bully me. She would single me out in the morning and tell me my way of packing was wrong, when it was not, then when I packed it differently according to her instructions, she still had a sour face and gaslighted me that it was wrong. She told some ladies to come up to me and then make a complaint if I was not smiling and chatting the whole time while packing. This, I suspect was not a coincidence, because no one cares if their cashier is overly cheerful or not. I was not the most cheerful cashier but there were many coworkers who never even cracked half a smile, young boys and girls and older women alike.
I packed her trolley neatly and did the transaction quickly. The manager kept coming up to me to say I am packing it too neat, and that is not needed, I can just lower the item into the trolley and then gently drop. Then when I did that, she told me that is wrong and I am going to dent and break the item. I definitely did not damage an item, I have eyes, I have a normal attention span and I do not have shakey hands or Parkinson's disease.
I do not have convictions, I am not an aggressive person, I do not have addictions, I do not have crippling disabilities, I can be a bit awkward but it is not bad enough to call myself autistic, I never make offenses, facial, verbal or otherwise. I could literally observe that other cashiers were slower and less enthusiastic than I was, and yet, this manager singled me out every time.
One time there was a customer of another race, and then the manager came up right next to me, and pretended to retrain me, watching me with a very angry expression the whole time. I was starting to think that people are pranking me here.
One time they taught us safety training, and then we were told to call another department in case glass broke. How interesting then that soon after in the following days someone broke a glass jar and told me to come help. I was scared this person was hurt, and I was standing by greeting customers. I have enough faith in coworkers and customers that they're not going to rob the store dry the second I check the broken jar, which I did check because nobody picked up the phone from the departments we were supposed to call. I thought that people could be walking barefoot and seriously injure themselves. I checked the jar and called for assistance again, and finally someone came about. Of course, I was punished for this.
Multiple times I was called into office to have another, overweight (I never call people overweight in real life but given the physicality of the job, it was very ironic that I was being lectured by someone who was not working full time and not in a physical role either) manager stare me down and lecture me about meaningless things that other employees have done multiple times. This time I was being lectured over leaving to check the broken glass. I went to check because of the aforementioned reasons, but these people could not hear any of that.
I was starting to think I was soft-promoted to manager, because it made me want to write down names and minutes of my coworkers "not doing the job right". These people were horrible to me and all I wanted was stability and basic human respect. As I said, I have already experienced "my fair share" of unfairness... I am toughened up, but this deliberate targeting is what breaks people down if they do not have friends and family. Do they even care..? ATP I am the next Joker.
I did multiple sports in my free time, I almost have a full bachelors degree, I speak multiple languages and I hold conscientious values, but this environment made me feel like I was worse than worthless. How dare I ask for any hours or have any troubles at home that would make me not constantly smile?!? I already did so much stretching and diet adjustments to withstand having to stand and push for up to 9 hours a day and then I got harassed by two harpies who spend half their day sitting down in their cushy office.
I do not deserve this. We all need money and jobs. I deserve to live. These people were gaslighting me any way they could. I decided not to make friends there because I did not want to hear how much better they were treated.
Eventually people made friends with me, but our breaks barely aligned and I was not allowed to change my hours. When I wanted less hours, I was met with the same rage as if I had just set something on fire. They never appreciated anything I did, not the extra tidiness of the checkout stations, not the speed of my packing. If you have read this far it might seem like I am insufferable, and I am sorry. I just really, really wish these people got their karma. Thanks for letting me rant.

So the story goes like this: My ex best friend F31 asked me F23 to come stay with her because she lives closer to where we had our internship although i had my space well equipped .and i did , and during that time i was going with my bfM32 from back then, things went wrong we broke up and i wanted to recover my belongings from his space , he didn't care even after many times s i asked him ,so one day he did agree ro bring em to me and i was having a walk by the beach with my exfriend , he came drunk and his friend was drunk,and before we knew that we had to get in the car because he was in the middle of the road, my ex friend nd had to call her dude M32 to come save us from this weird situation before we get SAed . He came and kept on asking me about the dude and i was very responsive because i felt like he hd the right to know since he saved us . He drove us back at her place i thanked him and he and went first to let them have a private convo . 5minutes later she joined me saying that he had something to do and he went . And for the records this guy is her ex . She already has a bf that lives thats was back then in a different country so it was our only option . The next 2 days , he kept asking her about me alot like crazy and she only mentioned that without telling me her responses. And i didn't give it much thoughts because she was my friend and i trusted her . Afew days later we got an invitation to an event 3 hours away from our city and we (girls) didn't feel safe to go alone so we thought we should bring with us someone(a guy) from the same field to keep an eye on us and it was my suggestion to call him since he was very protective and handled the situation well he seemed decent and worked where we had the internship. She talked to him(via messages ) and didn't wanna sound desperate trying to find reasons to call so she asked me to him -she said that i wanted to tell him something i talked to him(in a call) in front of her told him exactly just about the event and she took the phone went to the kitchen and finished talking . She came back saying he said he will see his shifts and will let us know asap . Again she said i dont want him texting me ,i already took his consent to share his number . Send him a message to tell him it's u so he will let u know if he is going or not . That conversation happened but it didn't end there he kept having a conversation about random stuff while my ex friend had access to the conversation and told me what to answer sometimes, at a certain level she said from now on i don't wanna know your conversation anymore yall seem very compatible and im just gonna tell u (me) this from a friend to another , he is a bad person manipulator ...telling me all the bad things he is , and that she's only warning me because im her friend and she cares about me. I was like girl do u have feelings for him and she went like no im just scared for you he knows how to talk . I had this conversation with her 10 times exactly and each and every time she was like know to me he is trash knowing that she is already with someone.
Now is where the weird behavior started , she started talking less with me , avoiding eye contact but she has always had a similar phase where she just hates u for no reason so i was like it must be it ignored her behavior until one day i told her that i wanted to check on my house it has been more than a month and i decided to sleep at my place ,texted her the morning im on my way to your house so we can go together to work like we do every day and she was like didn't sleep at my place just go without me . I did and then she started telling me about an aunt and how she met her cousins and stuff and she had fun while i know she has no aunt in the city ,i didn't wanna go hard on her and acted like i believed ed it . After we finished the shift i asked her about going to her place to recover some papers i had there and again she was like im going to have lunch with my aunt ,im not gonna be at home but ill be that at this hour if you want to come pick the things you need , i understood that she no longer wanted me there but maybe it's because of her room mates maybe she is running low on money maybe she just want some alone time although i wasn't intending to stay this long at her place she begged me every single le time to stay and not go and that i had nothing to fo there alone , i passed by a day later to take some of my stuff i couldn't nt take everything ng because i dont have a car and thanked her for her hospitality and left . During all of this time i was still talking to the dude very casually until ill one day he was like don't disappear for a long period of time and from that day on we had a continuous conversation but still very decent . Until one day we have met and he was like i can sense that we are not going to be just friend but u (me) keep lying to urself, nothing happened but we did agree that being friend is not enough for how much we are compatible in an implicit way nothing was directly said . I kept my relationship with her very normal when i met her at work because im not a fan of drama at work but she is so the next thing after kicking me out of her house is causing me problems with the supervisor complaining to him about how i just waste time and dont work and when i confronted her about it was all manipulative answers like u shouldn't have this much of a reaction don't raise your hands while talking i just left the argument because i didn't t wanna cause a scene at work .
Things with the dude are going slow and healthy she was right about some stuff but the majority was wrong not that it didn't happen between thembut because they didn't match it was always them fighting over the tiniest details .
Later on the dude started asking me about when did my parents get divorced and my financial crisis thing thats were never mentioned before in front on of me and no one took my consent to share -so basically she was telling everyone at work , him and her roommates that i was going through tough times and that i had to stay with her because she is helping me financially- and speaking about my parents they have divorced when i was 2 i was used to having my mom only and she did a great job providing like he didn't even have a space im my memory or my brain idk why she decided to mention that and make me look petty . She has also said that im in a huge fight with my older sister which is not true . I had to explain everything to the dude Also he asked me about how i feel now that we are going out out together knowing that she was my friend and stuff i also explained to him how i talked to her about this and how does she feel ,and he interrupted me saying we have only met a couple of times in the car we never went in a date. she is not my ex and it could be possible that she has feeling for me.
Me and the dude are having a stable relationship rn and idk how to feel about it please give ne ur analysis of this situation !

So the story goes like this: My ex best friend F31 asked me F23 to come stay with her because she lives closer to where we had our internship although i had my space well equipped .and i did , and during that time i was going with my bfM32 from back then, things went wrong we broke up and i wanted to recover my belongings from his space , he didn't care even after many times s i asked him ,so one day he did agree ro bring em to me and i was having a walk by the beach with my exfriend , he came drunk and his friend was drunk,and before we knew that we had to get in the car because he was in the middle of the road, my ex friend nd had to call her dude M32 to come save us from this weird situation before we get SAed . He came and kept on asking me about the dude and i was very responsive because i felt like he hd the right to know since he saved us . He drove us back at her place i thanked him and he and went first to let them have a private convo . 5minutes later she joined me saying that he had something to do and he went . And for the records this guy is her ex . She already has a bf that lives thats was back then in a different country so it was our only option . The next 2 days , he kept asking her about me alot like crazy and she only mentioned that without telling me her responses. And i didn't give it much thoughts because she was my friend and i trusted her . Afew days later we got an invitation to an event 3 hours away from our city and we (girls) didn't feel safe to go alone so we thought we should bring with us someone(a guy) from the same field to keep an eye on us and it was my suggestion to call him since he was very protective and handled the situation well he seemed decent and worked where we had the internship. She talked to him(via messages ) and didn't wanna sound desperate trying to find reasons to call so she asked me to him -she said that i wanted to tell him something i talked to him(in a call) in front of her told him exactly just about the event and she took the phone went to the kitchen and finished talking . She came back saying he said he will see his shifts and will let us know asap . Again she said i dont want him texting me ,i already took his consent to share his number . Send him a message to tell him it's u so he will let u know if he is going or not . That conversation happened but it didn't end there he kept having a conversation about random stuff while my ex friend had access to the conversation and told me what to answer sometimes, at a certain level she said from now on i don't wanna know your conversation anymore yall seem very compatible and im just gonna tell u (me) this from a friend to another , he is a bad person manipulator ...telling me all the bad things he is , and that she's only warning me because im her friend and she cares about me. I was like girl do u have feelings for him and she went like no im just scared for you he knows how to talk . I had this conversation with her 10 times exactly and each and every time she was like know to me he is trash knowing that she is already with someone.
Now is where the weird behavior started , she started talking less with me , avoiding eye contact but she has always had a similar phase where she just hates u for no reason so i was like it must be it ignored her behavior until one day i told her that i wanted to check on my house it has been more than a month and i decided to sleep at my place ,texted her the morning im on my way to your house so we can go together to work like we do every day and she was like didn't sleep at my place just go without me . I did and then she started telling me about an aunt and how she met her cousins and stuff and she had fun while i know she has no aunt in the city ,i didn't wanna go hard on her and acted like i believed ed it . After we finished the shift i asked her about going to her place to recover some papers i had there and again she was like im going to have lunch with my aunt ,im not gonna be at home but ill be that at this hour if you want to come pick the things you need , i understood that she no longer wanted me there but maybe it's because of her room mates maybe she is running low on money maybe she just want some alone time although i wasn't intending to stay this long at her place she begged me every single le time to stay and not go and that i had nothing to fo there alone , i passed by a day later to take some of my stuff i couldn't nt take everything ng because i dont have a car and thanked her for her hospitality and left . During all of this time i was still talking to the dude very casually until ill one day he was like don't disappear for a long period of time and from that day on we had a continuous conversation but still very decent . Until one day we have met and he was like i can sense that we are not going to be just friend but u (me) keep lying to urself, nothing happened but we did agree that being friend is not enough for how much we are compatible in an implicit way nothing was directly said . I kept my relationship with her very normal when i met her at work because im not a fan of drama at work but she is so the next thing after kicking me out of her house is causing me problems with the supervisor complaining to him about how i just waste time and dont work and when i confronted her about it was all manipulative answers like u shouldn't have this much of a reaction don't raise your hands while talking i just left the argument because i didn't t wanna cause a scene at work .
Things with the dude are going slow and healthy she was right about some stuff but the majority was wrong not that it didn't happen between thembut because they didn't match it was always them fighting over the tiniest details .
Later on the dude started asking me about when did my parents get divorced and my financial crisis thing thats were never mentioned before in front on of me and no one took my consent to share -so basically she was telling everyone at work , him and her roommates that i was going through tough times and that i had to stay with her because she is helping me financially- and speaking about my parents they have divorced when i was 2 i was used to having my mom only and she did a great job providing like he didn't even have a space im my memory or my brain idk why she decided to mention that and make me look petty . She has also said that im in a huge fight with my older sister which is not true . I had to explain everything to the dude Also he asked me about how i feel now that we are going out out together knowing that she was my friend and stuff i also explained to him how i talked to her about this and how does she feel ,and he interrupted me saying we have only met a couple of times in the car we never went in a date. she is not my ex and it could be possible that she has feeling for me.
Me and the dude are having a stable relationship rn and idk how to feel about it please give ne ur analysis of this situation !

Hello! I didn't pass the PUPCET but i really want to give it a shot or chance man lang na makapasok by submitting reconsideration letter but i have no idea where or whom i will send the letter. Sabi kasi ng pinsan kong graduated from pup, sa mismong department or dean of your chosen course ipapasa and e-email, and try ko raw sa OOVP na magtanong or magpasa pero di ko alam kung anong email nila or anong process pag pumunta ako sa PUP Sta. Mesa mismo. Send help pls huhu (ive been bawling my eyes since the day of released result)
Btw binabalak kong kunin na course is Arki but I heard na mahirap makasecure ng slot dyan lalo na pag waitlisted since quota course siya, but im still considering taking BSID (interior design) kasi medyo align sa shs course ko. I'm not sure rin kung may Fine Arts sa PUP pero kung meron I will try rin naman.
Thank you in advance!

Hey everyone, This Is kinda my first post and English is not my first language so please ignore small mistakes.
So basically, I am a first year CS student who started applying for internships from this February. I applied for 250+ internships but got 0 interviews and few online coding assignments. I knew the market was tough as there are a lot of CS graduates out there. I somehow got an interview at a very small startup (they are literally building everything from scratch). I passed the interview and got an offer but turned out, it was an unpaid position. Since it was remote, and the title was AI/ML Intern on the offer letter, I accepted the offer as I thought this will be a good learning experience and will give a slight boost to my resume.
Now, to be very honest, since I am a first year student, I don’t know a lot of coding. Just some basics as I still haven’t been taught Data structure and Algorithms and the recruiters knew about these. Therefore, I thought an unpaid internship was kinda worth it seeing I don’t know anything. However, when I joined the team, I found that this startup has hired like 50 unpaid interns while it has only like 60 employees in total meaning only 10 people who are actually getting something. This startup is using unpaid interns to do free labour for them and building the entire front and back-end. I was shocked, however I was actually disappointed when on my first day, the co-founder asked all the intern to directly work on stuff like Cloud Dapp deployment, AI- Integration, etc. without any training. Everyone says you should ask lots of questions during your internship, but when I asked my boss a question, he said “maybe this internship is not for you as looks like you need a lots of help”.
We weren’t assigned a tech lead or anything, just a bunch of interns working together. You just have to Google or ChatGPT your way around every problem but I still most of the times can’t find anything. However now most of the interns just receive bullshit work like filling some Google forms with data or something instead of working on a LLM. They are still hiring more and more unpaid interns everyday but not training anyone.
What should I do in this situation? Should I stick around a little while or instead just quiet and learn some stuff from Coursera or Udemy this summer break? My title is still an AI/ML intern but Idk if I will actually do some programming stuff or not.
Thanks for reading through this long post and all opinions are welcomed. Please be as harsh as you need to be and be honest.

Pretty interested in going for the CAO China Overseas internship in sem 3.2! Any seniors willing to share their experiences & how I can increase my chances of successfully enrolling into the programme?
I’m from WKW (Communications), so I’m looking at a marketing role! Also I can converse in Chinese locally but not at a Chinese business level. Thank you

Community College counselor sexually harassed by student
Hi all. Not sure if this is the best place for this but I’m in need of guidance and wanted to see if anyone else has been in a similar situation. Apologies in advance for rambling
I am a community college counselor in CA .I specifically work with formerly incarcerated/justice impacted students. Sometimes my students are coming straight from being incarcerated to school. They are dealing with a myriad of issues including addiction, recidivism, homelessness,trouble finding employment ,mental health issues.. the list goes on.
As a young female counselor, I have from time have my students make flirty comments or ask for my number or social media. I find these instances fairly easy to shut down by saying that I am not allowed to share my private contact info with students or any kind of social media. I make sure to emphasize that it would be inappropriate. I had one incident in November that escalated somewhat but nothing compared to what happened a few weeks ago.
I had an appointment with a young man, about 20- this was my first time meeting with him. His energy seemed slightly off( I assumed he may have been high) but I proceeded with the appt. The first red flag was the he pulled up a chair to sit right next to me. My desk is pushed up against the wall and there are chairs to my left side and one behind me. I have a double monitor set up- Usually students sit to my left , and I turn the one monitor towards them so I can show them relevant info/work on their ed plan. That day my second monitor wasn’t displaying so I thought maybe that’s why the student got so close. Throughout the appt he was very fidgety and kept brushing up against my leg and turning my office chair( the spiny kind) towards him. The movement was just slight enough that I stupidly gave him the benefit of the doubt. I also felt “frozen” in the momen. Anyway we wrap up the appt and I ask him if he had any questions or if there was anything else I could help him with. In that moment, he grabs my face with both hands and kisses me. I immediately tell him to get the fuck out of my office and run over to my supervisor.
That day I filed a report with the campus title IX office. Just this week I got a letter of how things will proceed: interview me,him witnesses, a hearing and then a resolution n.
If you’ve made it this far I guess I’m hoping to receive any type of advice from professors, counselors, advisors, administrators etc who have been sexually harassed by students . What did you do? If you also went through title ix, what was the outcome. Did you press charges through the police??
Thanks in advance for any advice. Maybe I’m being dramatic but this has been tough for many reasons

So I work for a company that you really have to try to get fired from. My boss and I had a great relationship until one event. He sent me and a coworker out on a road call. Prior to a very important union voting meeting, which he knew about aslo my coworker brought up at the job briefing. He gave us a go-ahead to go to the meeting before the road call.
Long story short, upper management found out about the one hour delay before we made it to the road call. I, being me, owed up to the going to the meeting during the investigation. My coworker and my former boss blamed everyone under the sun. Still got 30 demerits, you need 60 to get fired, my union rep said we would have got none if my coworker during his meeting would have just followed his advice and agree to owning up to his mistake but he went on a hour tirade and f-ed everything up.
Anyways, me and my coworker got f-ed... My former supervisor got delayed a literal month before getting promoted to assistant manager. Which he held over me unit he got fired. I never understood why he blamed me, I never thought him under the bus my coworker did, and he (supervisor) threw me under the bus during the investigation. My coworker even admitted to him later on that I took full responsibility for the delay, and he threw the supervisor under the bus. But he didn't care. Apparently, I was the reason he took the one month delay on getting a promotion.
He targeted me for everything, but thanks to my reddit reading, I started recording everything. My companies coveralls have a great front pocket that lets a cell phone sit perfectly for recording. I recorded a job briefing that he called everyone racists (he's mMiddle Eastern) for over a rumor that he hired his wife's cousin company over the companies listed contactors. Which was true, and he got demoted for!
I hadn't submitted the video. He got demoted on his own accord for the beach of ethics. As a supervisor harassed me all the time, he gave me the shittiest of jobs, followed me everywhere, wrote me up for everything and anything. I noted everything, recorded what I could, and submitted it to my union rep, which I found out afterward was one of his best friends. So, the targeting and write-ups got worse.
Luckily on one particular day, I recorded a job briefing, another coworker filled a harassment claim against him, it was that coworker day off and this shitty supervisor decided during the job briefing went on a tirade about the harassment chaim and that he'll go out of his way to get this person fired or quit!
I held on to this video because I know my company needed more to get rid of him. I don't wait long. I found out again that was under investigation for breach of ethics and apparently fraud form when he was an assistant manager. One of my managers told me he'll probably keep his job and just get an unpaid suspension. At this point, I knew I had him, so I not only sent the videos, I also sent my harassment complaints to HR and the union president not including my union rep in the emails.
My supervisor took 6 months of stress leave before getting fired, got no charges put against him for fraud, and my company is weak as shit. My union rep got booted off the council... and filed a harassment claim because all the union members call him a rat and a management suckup, many posters and stickers float around our shop with his Pic on his knees in front of the former supervisomanager. Wish I had the photoshop skills for that, but it wasn't me. The company actually brought in the police to take fingerprints, but the new union rep stepped in and shut that down.
It's be a year since everything went down, found out it was another supervisors wife that made the posters and stickers, apparently she went to high school with the former union rep and hated him from then!

Hello everyone. I have a small business. No employee. Currently sa subd ang office address (mismong bahay ko) lumipat ako ng bagong house. New process ulit ng business permit para sa change address. Nag request ako sa sec. Ng HOA sa new house ng letter of “No Objection” for brgy clearance and locational clearance. Sabi sakin ng sec, “wow pede ba kami makisali jan sa business mo?” “Okay lang na pakihintay ung letter kasi hindi dito naka stay si pres.” “also, naniningil Kami dito sa hoa ng 500/month for business fee pwera pa sa association dues which is 500/month.After 3 weeks, dun ko lang nakuha ko ung letter.
Nagtaka ako. Kasi sa previous na subd na pinag stay ko ay hindi naman ako siningil ng ganon (business fee). Nag approach ako sa kapitbahay namin na may business din. Yes, Sinisingil din sila ng 500/mo (business fee). Nag increase kasi dati ay 300/mo lang.
To this, may i ask po your opinion? Is it legal po na maningil sila ng ganon? May same experience din po ba kayo nito? Thank you
PS. Minsan ng humingi ng padulas ang pres ng HOA namin nung time na nagpapagawa Kami ng bahay. May position sa government agency

High fantasy / sword-&-sorcery.
A group/circle of childhood friends. A boy is the "Leader" of the group, a novice with a sword but he has an appreciation for ice magic. He is "The Protagonist" who hitched a ride with traveling merchants to fulfill a calling, to be a hero like the legends and epics.
However, he mysteriously disappeared in the outside world with no trace, letters, or news. Nobody knows what could've happened to him for a couple of years (let's say 4 years just to gauge).
The circle grew old enough to get jobs, so they traveled as a group to find their missing friend and to explore the world. Along the way, they pick up missions and quests that'll fund their survival and travels, meeting a variety of people (humans, fairies, even gargoyles) and undergoing many events and adventures.
They'll ask around for any signs of their missing friend, only to end up with either nothing, a mislead ("I'm not sure he's your friend, but we've seen a guy who can do ice magic"), or maybe an outdated information.
Amnesia accident is too easy (and in some ways lazy/bad), kidnapped by the Big Bad needs a reason/benefit that would include the boy. Not sure how well other ideas will work like being ostracized from society or in a secret mission that requires him to be dead-silent.
What do you think? What else is possible? What could be reasons for a character to be "unheard of" even after years of being out in the magical world trying to be famous? How plausible is amnesia or being kidnapped by the Big Bad? Are there other ways to write his disappearance?
Thanks in advance!

My name is Rory Fars, and my little sister, Lily Fars, is the last family I had left.
A heavy sense of dread settled over me like a suffocating blanket as I sat in the worn leather seat of Lily's old jeep. The car, a relic of our happier days, seemed to groan under our shared sorrow. Beside me, Lily, my best friend, and confidante, absentmindedly twirled a strand of her long, dark hair, which swayed gently in rhythm with the haunting melodies from the oldies station on the radio. This car had seen us through countless joyful journeys when our family was whole. Almost three years had passed since that fateful Christmas trip in Texas when our parents were tragically killed in a horrific multi-car pileup. The memory of their loss was a constant ache, a wound that never fully healed.
My dad was from Amarillo, Texas, so my parents often took trips down there, visiting the places that held so many memories for him. During one of these trips, just before Christmas, a sudden blizzard struck while they were on the freeway. The snow fell in blinding sheets, making the world outside a disorienting white blur. As they tried to slowly pull to the side, their vision obscured by the relentless storm, they never saw the car barreling toward them at least forty miles an hour. The impact was devastating, an abrupt and brutal end to their journey and, in many ways, to our lives as we had known them.
My parents were always sticklers for safety, insisting on seatbelts every time we got in the car. So, of course, they had theirs on during that fateful trip. The initial impact wasn't what killed them, the coroner explained to me. Not even the first hit from behind, which was going at least fifty miles an hour, was fatal. I had to practically shake the information out of him—they were so resistant to tell me anything at first. By the time the third car hit, with an unknown speed, their survival was already in jeopardy. The coroner said that by the fifth car, they were likely dead. But it didn't end there. Another twenty-three vehicles slammed into the back of the pile, each collision further crushing their bodies, reducing them to a horrific, unrecognizable state. Each jarring impact pushed my parents deeper into a gruesome amalgamation of twisted metal and shattered lives.
I don't know why I felt compelled to demand those details at the time, but I deeply regret it now. I wish I had never asked. Almost every night, unless I drink myself into oblivion, I am haunted by nightmares of what they endured. I dream of driving up to save them, only to be caught in the same deadly barrage of cars, ending in a twisted metal tomb for all of us.
Lily is never in those dreams. Even in my most horrific imaginings, I can't envision her being hurt. Lily is my little sister, younger by eight years and three months. Whenever I mention our age difference, I see the judgment in people's eyes, but what can I say? Our parents never stopped loving each other. They had Lily late in life; she became our shared joy, our living reminder of the love that had bound our family together.
Lily wasn't my twin in the literal sense, but ever since she was born, it felt like we shared the inexplicable connection that twins often describe. As she grew up, our bond only deepened—we acted, sounded, and even looked remarkably alike. She became my rock, especially after our parents' tragic deaths. We leaned on each other, cried into each other's shoulders, and somehow found the strength to move forward. We eventually moved in together, finding solace in a two-bedroom apartment that became our sanctuary.
Lily seemed to handle our parents' deaths better than I did, or maybe she was just better at distracting herself with technology. Even before their passing, Lily was addicted to any kind of digital screen she could manipulate. Her ability to navigate the digital world was unmatched; she was the most intelligent person I had ever met. Her intelligence was a beacon of light in the darkness that had enveloped us, a testament to her resilience and brilliance.
After my parents' death, I embarked on a quest to find my spirituality by delving into paranormal investigations. I hoped these pursuits would bring me closer to my parents in the afterlife, spiritual realm, or whatever you want to call it. Instead, it created a chasm between me and any sense of spiritual existence. Each investigation seemed to push me further from the answers I sought, leaving me feeling more isolated and disconnected than ever.
I had hoped that by exploring these paranormal claims, I would discover a way to reach out to my parents and feel their presence again. Yet, as the years have passed, this endeavor has only deepened my loneliness and sense of loss. Despite knowing how detrimental it is to my mental health, I can't bring myself to stop. The hope that the subsequent investigation will be the one that proves the existence of an afterlife and that I'll find a way to contact my parents keeps me going. It's a desperate, unrelenting pursuit for a connection that remains heartbreakingly out of reach.
I should have accepted their death and moved on like any sane person would. Instead, I let my grief fester and dragged my sister and a stranger, Mark, through my obsessive quest for answers. My relentless pursuit of the paranormal didn't just alienate me; it consumed us all, leading to their untimely deaths. My name is Rory Fars, and I am here to confess my side of the story about the missing case of Lily Fars and Mark Lawrence.
This is the truth about how my desperate search for a connection with the afterlife led to a nightmare from which none of us could escape.
To start off, no, Lily was not a student of Mark's who fell in love with him and then got jealous of me hitting on him, leading her to kill him and herself. I know that sounds ridiculous, but given some wild theories circulating online, I need to address this one specifically since it seems to be the most popular.
First and foremost, Mark Lawrence was not, nor has he ever been, a professor at a university. Lily and I met Mark at the Local Museum in Redlin, a town nestled deep in the Appalachian Mountains. He was the curator of an exhibit showcasing the history of Raven's Nest, a forgotten mining town that neither Lily nor I had ever heard of. This is where our story begins, in a place steeped in history and mystery, far removed from the convoluted theories that now cloud the truth.
We were constantly searching for new ideas for our podcast about paranormal claims. Each of our twenty-five episodes so far had concluded with a rational explanation, so when Mark told us about the curse of Harper, I was immediately intrigued.
Mark was an older man, likely in his mid-sixties, with a full head of silver hair and a beard that stubbornly clung to its youthful color, only lightly dusted with grey. He had a presence that commanded attention, and his stories about the curse were delivered with an intensity that drew me in.
On the other hand, Lily was always more interested in the technical aspects of the paranormal. She had her own theories and was determined to debunk every claim we investigated. She wasn't easily swayed by Mark's tales about the curse of Harper, but she was willing to listen and give him a chance to prove himself. Her skeptical mind constantly checked my enthusiasm, and together, we hoped to uncover the truth behind yet another paranormal mystery.
"Hello ladies, care to hear about the mysterious town of Raven's Nest?" Mark asked with theatrical enthusiasm.
Lily and I exchanged a knowing glance, trying to stifle our amusement. Despite our attempts to remain composed, a smirk played at the corners of our lips.
"We're all ears," I replied, my tone laced with a hint of sarcasm.
He sighed, almost as if he was disappointed that we said yes. Taking a deep breath, he seemed to steel himself for the task ahead. "Well, you see," he began, his voice tinged with uncertainty, "in the early twentieth century, a man named Harper Franstein exploited many men and children in the coal mines. By the mid-1920s, he had established his own settlement in a secluded valley, which he dubbed 'The Raven's Nest.' It was never officially recognized as a town, but that's the only name we have to go off of."
I could see the beads of sweat forming on Mark's brow as he struggled to recall every detail. Despite his initial enthusiasm, he now appeared flustered, his confidence waning. Eventually, he resorted to consulting his damp and crumpled notes, a sign of his growing unease.
"Um, anyway, yeah, um," he stuttered, audibly gulping as his nerves got the better of him. Lily couldn't contain her laughter, emitting a snicker that earned us a glare from Mark.
"Hey, just relax," I interjected, trying to diffuse the tension. "We're not here to judge or intimidate you." With a gentle touch on his forearm and a chuckle, I attempted to reassure him, hoping to ease his obvious discomfort.
He paused, sharing a chuckle with me, while Lily struggled to suppress her laughter and eventually excused herself, leaving just Mark and me. Evidently, he felt more at ease with fewer listeners, so he pressed on with his narrative.
"Anyway," he resumed, "Harper held complete control over the town and the mine, and he made sure everyone was acutely aware of that fact. When the disappearances began, he tried to sweep them under the rug, attributing them to anything but his own negligence in mining practices."
"What do you mean by 'negligence in mining practices'?" I interjected, eager to delve deeper into his intriguing tale.
He looked up, clearly pleased by my question. "Yes, exactly," he affirmed. "Harper adhered to a mining technique outlined by Dwight Brunst in the mid to late nineteenth century. This method mandated only one entry and exit point into the mine."
"Wait, so they were forbidden from creating additional exits?" I pressed for clarification.
"Not explicitly," he explained. "The practice advocated for just one entry and exit as it was believed to minimize the risk of cave-ins, at least in theory. However, there were instances where miners, feeling uneasy about this restriction, took matters into their own hands and carved out what they called 'Emergency Exits' for themselves. After about half of the town started going missing, Harper couldn't take criticism about how he responded, but most people say he was losing money quickly and didn't want to live in a world where he was poor. He walked into the mine, never to be seen again, much like the cave's past victims. Visitors report seeing and hearing Harper, trying to get them to leave."
As I stood there, listening to Mark's enthralling narrative, I found myself captivated by the mysterious allure of Raven's Nest. Unable to contain my curiosity, I decided to pose a question.
"So, what does the town look like now?" I inquired, eager to learn more about the present state of this enigmatic place.
Mark's demeanor shifted slightly as he rifled through his notes, a subtle indication that he didn't have a straightforward answer to my query.
"You've never been there?" I asked, my tone softening with genuine curiosity.
He flinched as though my question had struck a nerve. "Shhhhhh... shut up," he demanded, his voice tinged with unease.
Suppressing a chuckle, I leaned in closer and whispered, "Okay, hear me out. My sister Lily and I are investigating paranormal phenomena. Your story about Raven's Nest sounds like the perfect addition to our podcast. What do you say we compensate you for your guidance? Let's say, three hundred bucks?"
He straightened up, contemplating my proposition for a few moments. Without uttering a word, he extended his hand, and I met it halfway with my own, sealing our agreement with a firm handshake.
Our journey to Raven's Nest was no easy feat. Situated a good twenty miles from town and nestled deep within a dense valley. After all of the tight turns, narrow dirt roads, and steep inclines, it took us a grueling two and a half hours to go twenty-something miles, but we finally reached the outskirts of the infamous settlement. As we stood at the edge of the "Nest," anticipation mingled with trepidation, setting the stage for the eerie exploration that lay ahead.
I glanced at my phone; the time read 11:56 pm, signaling the late hour. Sensing the exhaustion weighing heavily, I suggested we catch a few hours of rest in Lily's jeep. Mark, though visibly unsettled, remained silent from the back seat, his arms folded tightly across his chest as he slumped against the window like a sulking child.
Drifting asleep in the passenger seat, I soon found myself ensnared in a nightmare. In my dream, Mark was being dragged away into the darkness, his desperate attempts to claw his way back to safety only resulting in broken fingertips. Despite his struggles, he was powerless against the unseen force pulling him inexorably into the abyss. Suddenly, I was alone, engulfed in utter darkness, my heart pounding with fear as I ran blindly from an unseen terror that seemed to pursue me relentlessly, its malevolent presence palpable but unseen.
I jolted awake, gasping for breath, my heart racing as the remnants of dread lingered in the pit of my stomach. It was morning, and I was struggling to adjust my vision. Lily's frantic but comforting voice broke through the haze of my terror, grounding me in reality. With her comforting embrace, I gradually calmed my racing thoughts, drawing deep, steadying breaths.
As we sat there, enveloped in each other's embrace, Mark approached the driver's side window with an unexpected question, "Alright, what's for breakfast?" His nonchalant tone and casual demeanor were a stark contrast to the harrowing nightmare that had just consumed my thoughts, momentarily dispelling the lingering specter of fear that had haunted my dreams.
Lily and I both look up at him and back at each other as we burst out into laughter.
Amidst our shared laughter, Lily and I exchanged amused glances before turning our attention back to Mark.
"Ha...ha, yeah. No, but seriously, what's for breakfast? Eggs, bacon, toast, at least?" Mark pressed, hoping for a more substantial response.
His earnest inquiry fueled our laughter further, our giggles echoing through the quiet night air. Eventually, we regained our composure and stepped out of the jeep, stretching our limbs after the cramped confines of the vehicle.
Mark awkwardly moves to the side, still waiting for an honest answer. Lily tossed him a granola bar, eliciting a bemused chuckle from him. With a shared understanding, we set off on foot, embarking on the hike into the town.
The path ahead was clear: a single dirt road that wound its way from the abandoned coal mine into the heart of the small settlement. The road, now overgrown and muddy from years of disuse, bore the marks of neglect and isolation. Wary of the treacherous conditions, Lily opted to forgo the risk of getting stuck, steering clear of the decrepit road that likely hadn't seen a traveler in at least half a century.
We parked Lily's jeep at the entrance to both the mine and the town of Raven's Nest, opting to proceed on foot from there. Standing at the mountain's peak, gazing down at the desolate town below, I couldn't help but ponder the history beneath the dilapidated structures. I imagined how this valley must have once been a pristine landscape cherished by the indigenous people who roamed its lush terrain.
"Jesus, this place is more like a shit nest," Mark muttered in disgust, his disdain evident in his tone.
Lily shot me a knowing glance, silently communicating her skepticism toward Mark's assessment of the town.
Deciding to put Mark's knowledge to the test, I casually inquired, "So, what year was this area founded?"
Mark's reaction was almost defensive as if my question had caught him off guard. He hesitated momentarily before fumbling for his note cards in his pocket, a telltale sign that he wasn't as knowledgeable as he let on.
Before he could respond, I interjected with another question, "Mark, how long have you worked at the museum?"
As Mark froze, his gaze locking onto mine like a deer caught in headlights, I watched him closely, waiting for any sign of hesitation or discomfort. My narrowed eyes bore into his, silently urging him to be honest.
Finally, breaking the tense silence, Mark confessed, "Look, this is only my first week. I... I haven't had the greatest time lately, and I really need the extra money. I'm sorry I lied, but I'll help however I can."
I met his gaze unwaveringly, sensing the sincerity in his words. Clearly, he was a man in need of redemption, grappling with his own personal struggles.
"Alright, alright, don't cry too much," I teased lightly, trying to ease the tension. Gesturing towards Lily, who was busy preparing her wireless motion cameras in her backpack, I continued, "Lily and I already figured that was the case. Honestly, we're surprised you agreed to come along."
Mark remained frozen, but the tension seemed to melt away from his expression, replaced by a tentative smile. It was a moment of shared understanding, a silent acknowledgment that he was still welcomed into our expedition despite his initial deception.
"Alright, I have the cams and portable batteries to make sure the cameras and anything we have with power can last," Lily said, her voice brimming with determination.
We began our descent into the town, our hiking boots struggling against the thick, clinging mud produced by the constant light rain and years of disuse. Each step was a battle, the mud threatening to swallow our boots with every move.
After an eternity of trudging through the muck, we finally reached the town's only paved road—the main road. It had taken us only about fifteen minutes to hike down, but navigating the muddy slope had sapped our energy. We paused for a break, taking a few minutes to clean off our boots and catch our breath.
As we rested, I noticed Lily rummaging through her bag with a focused intensity. Curious, I asked, "What are you looking for?"
"I brought five motion-detecting cameras that I want to set up strategically throughout the town," she replied, pulling out one of the cameras. She walked over to the nearest building, a structure that served as a post office, police station, and fire station. She positioned the camera outside the building so it was pointed at the only road leading in and out of the town.
"We need to cover all potential points of interest," she explained, securing the camera in place. "This one will monitor any activity on the main road. We should place the other cameras around key locations like the mine entrance, the town square, and some more intact buildings."
I nodded, appreciating her thoroughness. "Good idea. We need to make sure we capture anything unusual."
Mark, having finally caught his breath, joined us. "Alright, let's get these cameras set up and see what we can find," he said, a hint of excitement in his voice.
"Look," Lily said, turning her tablet screen toward us. She waved her hand in front of the camera she had just placed. The tablet displayed five squares on the interface, each meant to show a feed from one of the cameras. Since Lily had only set up one camera so far, only the bottom right square showed any footage pointed at the road leading out of town. She stopped waving her hand, and the feed went to a blue screen.
"What happened? Did we lose connection?" Mark asked frantically, his eyes wide with concern.
Lily cackled, struggling to contain her amusement. Composing herself, she waved her hand in front of the camera again, and the bottom right square showed her hand waving once more. "It's motion-activated. It's the best way to save on battery life," she explained.
Mark seemed to relax, though he was still catching his breath after the brief panic.
I glanced at my watch, noting the time. "It's 8:30. We're behind schedule. If you want to place the rest of your cameras, we better move now," I said, walking down the street.
Lily immediately got up and followed me, with Mark struggling to keep pace behind us. We reached the market building, and Lily positioned her second camera on the side of the road, pointing up at the market.
It's not much longer before we make it to the Town Hall. I suggest Lily place a camera nearby. She nods and heads into a building across from the Town Hall labeled, "Slaughterhouse: LOCAL ANIMALS ONLY."
As Lily explores the building to find an adequate spot for the camera, I wait for Mark to catch up. While I wait, I can't help but imagine this town in its prime, picturing the streets filled with families who loved each other.
My thoughts are abruptly cut off by a sound echoing in the distance—a roar unlike any I've ever heard. It was a mix of a human screaming in pain, the roar of a lion, and, near the end, the howl of a wolf. The chilling sound sent shivers down my spine.
I jump to my feet and immediately call out, "Lily, you okay?"
There's no response from Lily, but I'm interrupted by Mark finally catching up, panting heavily.
"Holy... shit... did you... hear that?" Mark said frantically between breaths.
"Yeah, we have to find Lily," I say, bolting into the slaughterhouse. I glance back to see Mark bracing himself on the steps of the Town Hall, struggling to keep up.
As I enter the building, the stench of rotting flesh hits me like a wave, causing me to gag. The smell is too fresh to be decades old.
"Lily? Lily, where are you?" I yell, using my shirt to shield my nose from the overwhelming odor.
"Rory, I'm in here!" I hear Lily yell from a room two doors down. I pass the first door, peeking in to ensure I hadn't misheard, but I wish I hadn't looked.
Inside the first room, I catch a glimpse of what appears to be a pile of animal carcasses, their decayed bodies arranged in a grotesque display. The sight is horrifying, the flesh still disturbingly fresh. The bile rises in my throat, but I force myself to focus on finding Lily.
I rush to the room where her voice came from, pushing the door open. Lily is there, setting up the camera, seemingly oblivious to the horror in the adjacent room. Relief floods through me as I see she's safe.
"Lily, did you hear that roar?" I ask, trying to keep my voice steady.
"Yeah, I heard it," she replies, her eyes wide with concern. "I was just finishing up here. Let's get back to Mark and figure out what that was." She had placed the camera in a window, pointing directly at the Town Hall.
We hurry back outside, where Mark still catches his breath as we meet between the buildings. "We need to stay together from now on," I say firmly, looking at both of them. "Whatever that noise was, it's not something we want to face alone."
"Let's check out the Town Hall!" Mark says excitedly as he slowly clambers through a broken window.
"Did he not just hear what I said?" I mutter under my breath, shaking my head in disbelief.
Lily gives me a shrug, her eyes reflecting a mix of amusement and exasperation. "Guess we're heading into the Town Hall then," she says, adjusting her backpack and walking towards the broken window.
I sigh and follow suit, hoisting myself up and carefully maneuvering through the jagged glass. Inside, the air is musty, filled with the scent of old paper and decaying wood. Dust motes float lazily in the beams of sunlight streaming through the cracked windows.
The main hall is vast and eerily silent, with rows of empty chairs facing a stage draped in tattered curtains. The walls are lined with faded portraits and yellowed maps of the town, remnants of a time when this place was alive and bustling.
Mark is already at the front, examining a large, decrepit desk. "Look at this," he says, his voice echoing in the empty space. "It's like stepping back in time."
I walk over, glancing at the old papers scattered across the desk. Most are mundane—meeting minutes, maintenance logs—but one catches my eye. It's a letter dated June 1925, addressed to Harper Franstein.
"Harper, the disappearances are becoming more frequent. The townsfolk are getting restless, and I fear they may take matters into their own hands if we don't act soon. We need to find out what's causing this before it's too late."
I read the letter aloud, and the room fell silent. "Sounds like things were getting pretty tense," Lily remarks, her voice subdued.
As I'm distracted by the time capsule in front of us, Mark sneaks off.
I'm not sure how long it was before she noticed, but I saw Lily looking around before saying, "Where the hell did Mark go?" breaking me out of my trance.
I look around, turning my head in all directions, and shrug at Lily. I hear shuffling in the second room down the hall, so I slowly walk toward it.
"Mark?" I call out.
Just then, a loud crash reverberates through the building, making it sound like the whole place was about to come down.
We run in and see Mark struggling to keep himself from falling into a giant hole that must've broken under his weight. Trying not to laugh, I glance at Lily. We help him up as he dramatically falls onto his back, wheezing as he catches his breath.
Lily and I can't contain our laughter anymore as we bust out laughing hard. Startled by our sudden outburst, Mark jumps in fear. He looks around, confused for a few seconds, before realizing that we are laughing at him.
"Jesus, thanks, I guess," he says, clearly thankful but annoyed by our reaction.
After we contained ourselves, we headed back outside, exiting through the window Mark entered through. He struggles to climb out, but after Lily gives him a hand, he is safely out of the Town Hall.
"Alright, Ror, where should we put the next camera?" Lily asks me.
I stop to think momentarily, trying to picture the town's layout. "I think the only place left is the neighborhood," I respond confidently. I always talk like that with Lily. Over the years, I've realized she is the only person I can have that much confidence around. With anyone else, I'm worried about saying something stupid or wrong or how they'll view me, but with my sister, everything is easy.
As I look at the replica map of the town in its heyday from the museum, I determine that the neighborhood is to the East. "Okay, looks like we head East past the Library. Let's go." I say, walking away.
It only takes about eight minutes to get to the long strip of road that housed the town's workers. According to the map, there were fifteen houses along this strip of road.
The houses stand eerily silent, their wooden frames weathered and decayed by time. We walk down the road, our footsteps crunching on the gravel and echoing in the stillness. The air feels heavier here like the past is watching us, waiting to reveal its secrets.
"Let's put the last cameras on that house at the end of the road," I suggest, pointing to a house that looks slightly less dilapidated than the others, "another one at the last house on the other side, and the last we can save for a spot you choose."
Lily nods and heads toward the first house, pulling another camera from her backpack. She sets it up on the porch, positioning it to capture the entire street, and does the same in the opposite house. As I stand with Mark breathing hard, still unable to catch his breath since we first got here, I can't shake the feeling that we're being watched. I glance around nervously but see nothing out of the ordinary.
"All set," Lily says, breaking my reverie, "Still no ideas for the last cam?" Lily asks me.
"Like I said, wherever you think it would be best. I feel like we have enough good spots and angles, so go wild with that one," I told her.
She smirked and kept walking next to me. Mark was still struggling behind, but after the town hall mishap, he was trying his best to keep up. I looked at my watch, and it read '12:30 pm'.
"Holy shit, it's already 12:30," I said in amazement, but no one else seemed fazed. It felt like we'd only been here thirty minutes, not almost four hours.
We walked back down the street. Lily and I had been discussing on the walk that she should put the last camera at the town's only stoplight in front of the Library.
As we made our way to it, I could have sworn I was seeing something moving fast past my vision in the corner of my eye. Every time I turned to look, it was gone. I chalked it up to being my imagination until Lily and Mark both experienced the same thing.
"What the fuck was that?" Mark asked as he ducked, bracing for something terrible to happen. Lily and I looked back at him and then at each other as we shrugged. It was after that that I started seeing things, too.
I confided in Lily about the unsettling visions and sounds, and she admitted she had experienced the same phenomena but had kept quiet, fearing Mark would dismiss her as paranoid.
"Well, it's probably just a cat or something," I said, attempting to downplay the situation, but neither seemed convinced.
We continued our trek, and I noticed that the more we walked, the more frequently I caught fleeting glimpses of movement in my peripheral vision. It was beginning to grate on my nerves.
Finally, we reached the light in front of the Library. As Lily mounted the camera, I felt a sense of satisfaction. We were making good progress, and it seemed like a suitable moment to start exploring the town more freely. We decided to split up and cover different sections of the town.
"Wait, we have to go alone? Why can't we stay together like you said?" Mark asked frantically, but Lily and I ignored him as we headed in separate directions. He continued to protest, but we paid him no mind. Eventually, I was either far enough away to not hear him anymore, or he had given up. Either way, I was happy to enjoy the eerie silence of the town.
As I wandered, the stillness of Raven's Nest enveloped me. With its decrepit buildings and overgrown streets, the town exuded an unsettling charm. It was as if I had stepped into a forgotten world, a place frozen in time with secrets waiting to be unearthed. The ambiance reminded me of an amusement park's haunted town section—artificially eerie yet irresistibly intriguing. Despite the creepiness, the mysterious vibe of the town kept me engaged and eager to explore its hidden corners.
I glanced at my watch again, only to find the time glaring back at me: 3:19 pm. It couldn't be right. There was no way it had been that long since I last checked. Panic seized me, and I called out for Lily, my voice tinged with urgency. She appeared beside me in a matter of minutes, her expression mirroring my concern.
"What's up, Ror? You okay?" she asked, her voice laced with worry.
"How long would you say it's been since you put the last camera down?" I inquired, my heart pounding in my chest.
Lily's brow furrowed as she struggled to come up with an answer. "Uh, I don't know, thirty minutes?" she hazarded a guess.
I held up my watch, displaying the time: 3:20 pm. Lily fell silent, her eyes widening in disbelief. She was never great with time, but missing almost three hours of our memory was unprecedented.
"There's no way. Your watch must be—" Lily began, her voice trailing off as she checked her own watch, only to freeze in shock when she found it displayed the same time as mine.
"Lil, something is going on," I stated, my voice tight and apprehensive. I glanced up at the sky, my stomach churning as I noticed the clouds darkening and rolling in from all sides of the valley.
The sky closed rapidly, ominous clouds obscuring the sun as thunder rumbled ominously against the mountains.
"Mark? Mark, where are—" I began to call out, but before I could finish, Mark emerged from behind a wall, appearing as if he'd been too frightened to venture far on his own.
"We have to get inside!" Mark exclaimed urgently, his voice tinged with fear.